Maravi

Why Mwamba is fighting Kabimba
By Editor
Mon 30 Sep. 2013, 14:00 CAT

On Wednesday last week, the editor of this newspaper was called and asked to urgently meet a good friend Sylvia Masebo. And Sylvia told the editor of this newspaper that in her attempts to try and find a solution to the wrangles in the party, she had a meeting with Geoffrey Mwamba at Parliament that same day to try and find out what the main problem was. She asked Mwamba what the problem was between him and Wynter Kabimba, the secretary general of the Patriotic Front.

And Mwamba's response was that he had no problem with Wynter; Wynter had done nothing wrong and he was a good guy. The problem was Wynter's friend, Fred M'membe, who was fighting Mwamba and who had made him lose a Zesco contract - a contract that was worth over US$6 million.

And Sylvia asked Mwamba to explain to her what was the issue with the endorsements of the President. She was told that he was protecting himself from being seen to be challenging the President in 2016. Mwamba said there were allegations that he and Wynter wanted to contest the presidential elections in 2016. And to be seen not to be fighting the President, Mwamba decided to announce his endorsement of the President in Kasama. Instead of Wynter joining him in that scheme, he was surprised that he fell into the trap of opposing the endorsement. And when asked why he allowed his friend to fall into the trap and not save him but finish him off politically, Mwamba said it was not him finishing off Wynter; it was Wynter finishing himself off.

Mwamba told Sylvia that it was not really Wynter he was after but Wynter's friend, who was fighting him. And because Wynter's friend, who is fighting Mwamba is not in politics and he is believed to be financing him, Mwamba decided to go for Wynter as a way of fighting his friend.

After this, Sylvia asked Mwamba if he was willing to meet with the editor of this newspaper and resolve their differences that were causing a lot of problems for the party. Mwamba agreed to such a meeting. And Sylvia promised him that she would talk to the editor of this newspaper and see if he would agree for them to meet and resolve their differences.

When this was presented to the editor of this newspaper, the response was that he had no issues with Mwamba. He said he didn't even know Mwamba; he only sees him from a distance. And as such, he didn't understand how Mwamba thought he was fighting him and hated him. The editor of this newspaper agreed to meeting Mwamba any time and at any place. He asked Sylvia to ask Mwamba to come up with any evidence of any articles that had been published about him by this newspaper that he felt were malicious or not true about him. And if indeed there were any such articles, the editor of this newspaper promised to publicly apologise to Mwamba and offer the necessary corrections or retractions in the newspaper. He told Sylvia that sometimes the newspaper made mistakes and if such mistakes were discovered or pointed out, they had no problem correcting them and offering the necessary apologies. He also told Sylvia that to the best of his knowledge, the paper had never engaged in any malicious or untruthful stories about Mwamba. But if such stories were there, there was no problem apologising and making the necessary corrections and retractions.

But to this day, Mwamba has not come back for the meeting.
We have never asked anyone to be sacrificed, killed or to be disadvantaged in any way for our deeds, transgressions or mistakes. And we do not want Wynter to suffer on account of our relations with him.
When it comes to relations with us, we always tell people to do what suits their interests, political or business. We have been victims of vicious hatred by various regimes that have governed our country. And those who have associated with us, voluntarily or otherwise, have had to pay the price. We do not want anybody to have any difficulties on account of us. We know how to deal with enemies. We have enough experience of dealing with hostile regimes and politicians. We have survived this for almost 23 years. Things have always been difficult for us and they cannot be any more difficult. In fact, many politicians have run out of ways to make things more difficult for us.

People and friends of ours should handle their relations with us in the way that best suits them and the resolution of their most pressing problems. We think that is the best way to show our sincere and selfless attitude towards others.

And moreover, Wynter was introduced to us by Michael himself. We were asked to assist Wynter in his work in any way we could. And we know how to respond positively and generously to men and women of goodwill, to those who are trying to do something good for our country and our people. When we take up a commitment, we honour it and give it everything that we have to ensure a successful outcome. We don't act out of convenience or out of opportunism. We believe in an honest policy and in loyalty to others.

And we mean it when we say that no one here has any personal issues with Mwamba. He is a news subject. And he deserves to be covered by us when he makes news. And it doesn't matter what type of news - positive or negative on his part - we will cover him. We have carried stories of Mwamba denouncing us, calling us all sorts of names and insinuating all sorts of things. If we can carry unpleasant stories about ourselves from him, why shouldn't we be allowed to carry honest and accurate stories about him that may not be pleasant to him? Again, we emphasise that we have no right whatsoever to defame or malign Mwamba. And on this, the editorial management of this newspaper has been very careful. If there is any story in which Mwamba has been defamed or maligned, it can never be deliberate. It can only be a product of oversight. But whatever the reasons for that, if such stories exist, we owe Mwamba a correction and an apology - not privately but publicly by publishing such corrections and apologies in our newspaper. And this is not an act of cowardice or fear. It is our policy to do that to every human being whom we may unjustifiably defame or malign by mistake or by poor quality work by our reporters and our editors.

We have no hatred for Mwamba whatsoever. We do not believe in the law of hate. We may not always be true to our ideals, but we believe in the law of love, and we believe you can do nothing with hatred. We would like to see a time when man loves his fellow man and forgets his colour, creed or tribe.

And when we criticise people, when we call for some people to be punished, it is not out of hatred. What's more, Jesus tells us we must love our enemies - he doesn't say we mustn't have enemies - and there is no greater love for a person who is doing something wrong than to prevent him from continuing to do the wrong thing.

We can only appeal to Mwamba not to take his fight against us to Wynter. We do not represent Wynter and Wynter doesn't represent us. Our relationship with Wynter was and still is a product of Michael's request to us.

If Mwamba has any issues with us, let him make us pay for our crimes and not attack a person he says is a good guy because of us. That is definitely not fair and just. And surely, should the Patriotic Front be decimated on account of our said friendship with Wynter? We leave this for the deep reflection and meditation of Mwamba, the leaders, cadres and members of the Patriotic Front.

Labels: CORRUPTION, FRED M'MEMBE, GBM, PF, SYLVIA MASEBO, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 1:53 PM