Amsterdam a gold digger - Kabimba
By Joseph Mwenda and Kombe Chimpinde
Thu 07 Mar. 2013, 14:00 CAT
Opposition playing into Amsterdam's agenda... JUSTICE minister Wynter Kabimba has described international lawyer Robert Amsterdam as a senile old man who is a gold digger.
Kabimba said this in an interview after the Commonwealth fact-finding team yesterday held a meeting with the Zambian government in which Cabinet ministers present and judicial representatives challenged the opposition petition to the international body.
The Commonwealth secretariat was represented by Jarvis Matiya and Koffi Soya while the Zambian government was represented by Solicitor General Musa Mwenye, Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito, foreign affairs minister Effron Lungu, information and broadcasting minister Kennedy Sakeni and Kabimba, among others.
Kabimba thanked the Commonwealth secretary general for sending a team to come and get the truth from the Zambian government.
"This follows the document that was submitted to them by the opposition under the team called the Coalition for the Defence of Democratic Rights (CDDR) with Mr Robert Amsterdam as their Godfather," he said.
"The opposition and Amsterdam wanted to sneak that document to the secretariat but they didn't know that international organisations don't work like that."
Kabimba said Amsterdam was trying to make a fortune from leaders that had allegedly squandered the treasury of their own people.
"Mr Amsterdam is a senile old man who is a gold-digger… He wants to turn the victims of such situations into villains and villains into victims. President (Thaksin) Shinawatra ran a corrupt regime against the people of Thailand, so the people of Thailand were the victims of his deeds and so is Mr Rupiah Banda," he said.
Reminded that Banda warned that the current government would be haunted by the precedence it was setting on removing his immunity, Kabimba said the PF leadership was not afraid.
"We are not afraid of that (having our immunity lifted) after leaving office. This is precedence now that we are setting. So it is incumbent upon us in public office that we shall do so in the service of the people of our country and not to enrich ourselves," he said.
Kabimba said the government presented its position to the Commonwealth secretariat and showed evidence of the lies peddled by the CDDR.
"There was a clear attempt by Mr Amsterdam, Rupiah Banda, Hakainde Hichilema, Pastor Mumba and Sakwiba Sikota to mislead the international community that Zambia was sliding back to the one party state, that their civil rights were being infringed, that their freedom of association was being interfered with and their freedom of expression…there was an attempt by the Zambian government to obliterate the opposition, that our Judiciary did not enjoy any judicial independence. And that the public order Act was infringing on their civil rights. To their dismay, the team has availed the same document to us and we have responded through this team to the issues that they raised in that document.
The issues were either distorted or totally false in substance," he said.
"We were able to respond and clearly show that this is an attempt by citizens of a country as leaders of the opposition to vilify and malign their own country in collaboration with citizens of a foreign country, purely to source financing from or through Mr Amsterdam for their weakening political fortunes back home. They are acting like conmen purportedly riding on a political platform to raise money for themselves."
Kabimba said the opposition was helping champion Amsterdam's agenda.
"They are playing into Mr Amsterdam's agenda to protect Mr Rupiah Banda and his family against the offences that they committed for the people of Zambia during his reign. We were able to tell the Commonwealth team that this is a scheme to circumvent the due process of the law here in Zambia to call Mr Rupiah Banda and his family to account for the wrongs they committed while in government," he said.
"We told them that this is a group of opposition political parties that all over a sudden have turned against their own public pronouncements that the MMD was a corrupt government, today they see nothing wrong about the wrongs committed by the MMD against the people of Zambia.
We also told the Commonwealth team that it is not the intention of the PF government to kill the opposition. The problems facing the opposition are internal and not external. The MMD and UPND leadership have failed to win the confidence of the Zambian people in the manner that the PF did during the time it was in opposition."
He said the Commonwealth team did not immediately respond to the government's submission.
"They didn't give us any response because this is a fact-finding mission. They will have to go back and submit a report to the Commonwealth secretary general," Kabimba said.
And reacting to Mumba's claim that the State entered into a nolle prosequi in his case because they were afraid of the Commonwealth team which was in the country, Kabimba reminded him that he still had another case in court.
"This is not the first time that the State has entered a nolle prosegui against an accused person. In fact, if you want to show how preposterous that assertion is by Mumba, you will see that a nolle has been entered against a case in his disorderly conduct and not the one where he is alleged of having abused his office while he was High Commissioner in Canada. That case is still running and he can be assured that no nolle will be entered against that case. We shall go all the way to show the people that we respect the independence of the Judiciary," said Kabimba.
And according to sources, the Commonwealth team has assured government that the petition presented by opposition political parties did not contain serious issues to worry about.
"Of course we put forward our case as government, one of them being the bitterness the opposition have shown ever since they lost the election. We also gave them the background to this whole issue; that our colleagues have been driven by bitterness and jealous from the time they lost the election. On the other hand, we had a dossier about our colleagues in the opposition which we presented to the Commonwealth team," said sources.
"And they told us that from what our colleagues presented to them, there was nothing serious that we should worry about. They said there is nothing that should warrant Zambia's suspension from the Commonwealth or that any sanctions should be imposed on Zambia. So the opposition were simply wasting their time by incurring such expenses of holding a conference in a foreign land to denounce their own government."
Labels: COMMONWEALTH, ROBERT AMSTERDAM, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Opposition didn't exhaust local avenues, says HRC
By Moses Kuwema
Wed 06 Mar. 2013, 13:59 CAT
THE Human Rights Commission has urged the government to dialogue with opposition groups that have raised human rights questions and have sought the Commonwealth's intervention. In a statement yesterday, commission chairperson Pixie Yangailo stated that the call to a national dialogue must be done now.
She stated that it was common practice that any matter pertaining to human rights violations to be addressed and positively tackled by international and regional bodies including the United Nations and the Commonwealth, it must first be addressed by all possible legal and other recourses at national level.
She stated that it was clear the opposition leaders (MMD's Nevers Mumba, UPND's Hakainde Hichilema, ULP's Sakwiba Sikota and others) did not exhaust local avenues before going to submit a dossier to the Commonwealth.
Yangailo stated that from a human rights point of view, there was "absolutely nothing wrong with people, irrespective of their nationalities or political affiliations, addressing press conferences in foreign countries to draw attention to what they may perceive as violations of human rights of nationals by their sitting government."
Yangailo, however, stated that the commission was "uncomfortable" with the call to suspend Zambia from the Commonwealth and impose sanctions on her.
"Experience has shown elsewhere that the targeted politicians do not suffer when sanctions are imposed on a country.
The brunt of the sanctions is fully borne instead by the innocent majority people in the affected country who have little influence on the political direction of the country once they have elected a government into office. As such, the Human Rights Commission totally disagrees with this call as it might lead to more rights being denied to the common people of Zambia," she stated.
Yangailo stated that in the Human Rights Commission's view, complaints about human rights violations might be "justifiable in certain instances".
"Lately, Zambia has indeed experienced suppression of some of the fundamental rights and freedoms, and in the greater majority of instances, this has been directed at prominent politicians and selected political parties which, it may be speculated, are seen as the major threat to the ruling Patriotic Front."
Yangailo stated that what concerned the commission now was that the government had not been seen to take public steps to "address these concerns" being brought forward by its own people.
She stated that the commission expected the government to lead the way by sitting down with the various political parties and dialogue on concerns raised.
"Lack of genuine dialogue between the government and opposition political parties can easily lead to desperation and exasperation on the part of those that may feel not to be part of the country's democratic process and thus seeking foreign intervention in frustration," she stated.
"Consequently, as a Commission, in our capacity as a constitutionally established national human rights watchdog, we now earnestly and urgently call upon our government, to initiate genuine dialogue with all political parties that have concerns regarding the running of the affairs of our country. After all, that is what is expected of a listening government."
Yangailo stated the fact that matters had gone far to involve the international community should not be an impediment to local dialogue.
Yangailo stated that deliberate effort to commence dialogue among all concerned parties with honest intentions was most appropriate at this point.
She noted that other segments of the Zambian society, including the the three church mother bodies, Law Association of Zambia, NGOs and individuals have raised concerns on human rights issues with the government.
"The Catholic Bishops recently issued a Pastoral Letter which also touched on violations of human rights in our country. All these various segments of our country cannot be speaking from without. These developments suggest that something may have seriously gone wrong in our country and this is what our government must rise to and address."
Labels: COMMONWEALTH, HRC, HUMAN RIGHTS, OPPOSITION, PIXIE YANGAILO
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Commonwealth should make own assessment of Zambia - Mpasa
By Godfrey Chikumbi in Kawambwa
Fri 15 Feb. 2013, 15:20 CAT
COMMONWEALTH member states should treat allegations of human rights abuses by Zambian opposition leaders as mere falsehoods, says Catholic Vicar General for Mansa Fr Mambwe Mpasa.
Commenting on claims in South Africa by UPND's Hakainde Hichilema, MMD's Nevers Mumba and ULP's Sakwiba Sikota that the country was experiencing injustices and human rights abuses at the hands of the PF government, Fr Mpasa said the three opposition leaders' allegations were exaggerations resulting from impatience and panic.
Father Mpasa said the Commonwealth was well aware of the peace and tranquility that Zambia, as its member country, was enjoying hence listening to the three opposition leaders' opinions would be wrong.
He said by advocating for the suspension of Zambia from the Commonwealth, the three opposition leaders were not caring for the Zambians they claimed they were representing.
"Who will be affected if the Commonwealth slaps sanctions our country? It is the ordinary Zambian," said Fr Mpasa.
Fr Mpasa said the opposition leaders were lying about the situation on human rights in Zambia because the alleged abuses had not reached alarming levels to warrant suspension from the Commonwealth.
He said by choosing to address the press on foreign soil, the opposition leaders were washing dirty linen in public because they abandoned domestic avenues to sort their problems out in a foreign country.
"Why go to such extremes when there is nothing alarming? Why choose to seek international attention at the expense of domestic avenues to air your grievances?" asked Fr Mpasa.
He explained that Zambians had not complained about any human rights abuses as was alleged by the opposition leaders.
"Zambians are old enough to decipher right from wrong. They are able to speak out when their rights are abused. It would therefore be wrong for the Commonwealth member states to take as gospel truth unwarranted opinions by three political characters," said Fr Mpasa.
"Let us learn to be truthful; there is no need to lie about situations in the country when all is well. If there are human rights abuses our courts are more than able to deal with such," he said.
"Leaders in the Commonwealth know that we are a true democratic nation and our people have not been subjected to the alleged injustices by those leaders," said Fr Mpasa.
Fr Mpasa urged Commonwealth members to conduct their own observations about Zambia in order for them to make informed decisions about the country.
He said the opinions made by the opposition leaders in South Africa were aimed at inciting Zambians to rise against the government
"Let them (Commonwealth) come on the ground and see what is obtaining. Let them talk to Zambians themselves," said Fr Mpasa.
Labels: COMMONWEALTH, MWAMBE MPASA
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COMMENT - More opposition tactics. Clearly, as neoliberal stooges, they cannot turn to the Zambian people for support.
HH justifies Commonwealth petition
Time Posted: February 14, 2013 8:55 am
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has justified the intent of opposition political leaders’ visit to the Commonwealth secretariat in South Africa to request for the organization’s intervention in the alleged violation of Commonwealth values and principles by the Patriotic Front government.
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has justified the intent of opposition political leaders’ visit to the Commonwealth secretariat inSouth Africa to request for the organization’s intervention in the alleged violation of Commonwealth values and principles by the Patriotic Front government.
Mr. Hichilema has told Qfm News that the move by opposition leaders to lodge a complaint to the Commonwealth Ministerial action group was not ill-intended but merely to find a lasting solution to the gross disregard of democratic principles by the PF.
He said that since coming into government, the PF has abrogated fundamental human rights contrary to the values endorsed by the Commonwealth.
Mr. Hichilema has since stated that leaders of the opposition that made a bold step to go to South Africa must not be condemned for merely requesting the Commonwealth to investigate human rights abuses by the PF government.
He says the opposition has tried every means to engage government on matters of national interest but that the government has not shown willingness to listen to advice.
Mr. Hichilema says it is therefore not strange for the opposition to engage the Commonwealth to investigate abuse of human rights by government.
Meanwhile, the national youth league of the National Restoration Party (NAREP) has expressed sadness over remarks made by Zambian opposition leaders at a press conference in South Africa.
The national youth league of the National Restoration Party (NAREP) has expressed sadness over remarks made by Zambian opposition leaders at a pressconference in South Africa.
National Coordinator Aquino Mutale says MMD president Nevers Mumba, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema and ULP leader SakwibaSikota should learn to place their priorities right.
Mutale says opposition leaders should know better than to discredit, castigate and undermine the state of the country in a foreign land.
He tells QFM that at no time has any opposition political party in the country been denied their freedom to hold press conferences from their respective secretariats.
Mutale says the opposition leaders need to ask themselves who would suffer the most if not the people of Zambia they claim to serve if the Commonwealth was to meet the demands they made.
He wondered where the leaders have placed their duties as citizens to promote and defend the country by shamefully openly attacking their state in the manner they did.
QFM
Labels: COMMONWEALTH, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, OPPOSITION
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