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Second Republican President Fredrick Chiluba today held a press conference at his residence in Kabulonga. Below is the speech in full

PRESS STATEMENT ON MY VISIT TO THE COPPERBELT FROM 18TH TO 31ST JANUARY 2010.

I have been rather startled or shall I say petrified by the reactions to my recent visit to the Copperbelt by some people. I cannot understand the sense or the thinking behind their vehement opposition to my visit to the Copperbelt which has been my home for many years as a young man, a worker, a trade unionist and a father until I became president in 1991.

Does it really matter whether I go there for a funeral or just to meet with anyone I want to visit? Why does it become necessary for them to know where I go and who I meet? I am a free man and citizen and one of the principle architects of our modern democracy.

My agitation and fight for democracy goes back to the 1970s when as a trade union leader I did not conceal my distaste for the dictatorial politics of the one party state. As chairman general of the ZCTU, I made a public statement in May 1989 calling for the abolition of one party politics and the introduction of plural politics and democracy. That was at the height of the one party state when even the thought of opening one’s mouth to comment on political matters was considered treasonable.

But I boldly and bravely stood up and challenged the status quo and urged Zambians to engage in contemporary political thought in line with events in many parts of the world which were fighting against dictatorship. It is worth noting that at that time in 1989 both Mr. Sata and his nephew, secretary general of PF Wynter Kabimba were enjoying the fruits of the one party state as governor and town clerk respectively without a thought for the future.

But even long before then, Timothy Walamba, late Chitalu Sampa, Newstead Zimba and I were detained not for criminal offences but for our opposition, to the one party state. The environment was not as friendly then as it looks now. People were frightened and lived in fear. But that was the time I stood up.

How in light of that information, does Mr. Sata or Mr. Kabimba expect to scare me now in this day and age with their threats? How do they expect me to cower in these circumstances? That is sheer wishful thinking.  No amount of thuggery or political intimidation can ever succeed to trample down or rob me of my hard worn freedoms and liberties; No. No. No. These are my inalienable rights and anybody dreaming of tampering with them would be committing too ineffable a crime to contemplate.

[quote]

I am aware though that some people have been addicted to politics of dictatorship and intolerance and they find it almost impossible to change and acclimatize to the new order of democracy. It is hard for them to accept that people are free to decide to accept them or reject them and their ideas. They are simply politically and democratically ineducable. But somehow they are sensing that their relevance is wearing thin as people no longer accept their conduct. They are thus behaving like defeated soldiers on the retreat violently destroying anything in their path.

Violence, intimidation and thuggery are part of their political culture and such people not only seek to tyrannize the country at large but keep their own unregistered members in perennial fear. At every opportunity or election, they get inebriated with the distant smell of political power and begin to frighten people. One shudders to think what would happen if by any stretch of imagination such people crawled even further and got near the seat of power? God forbid! I can’t imagine the mayhem and sheer anarchy.

But they must be reminded that Zambia divested itself of that dark political cloak and wore a transparent material in 1991. They must be told that 1991 was a turning point, an epoch in our political history which forever buried dictatorship and tyranny. 1991 was the death and burial of the politics of violence and the birth of modern democracy represented by political pluralism and free speech.

There can be no going back because democracy is here to stay. Restored is our freedom of conscience or the right to think reason and disseminate one’s ideas without interference. I consider freedom of conscience as the mother of other rights and liberties of man. For one can only speak, associate and assemble or worship freely and form parties when they are not interfered with. It is in essence the foundation of all other freedoms.

It is our bounden duty as free citizens of Zambia to defend, protect and promote our nascent democracy and strengthen its tenets and practices. It is our duty to fight and reject protagonists of violence and vandalism bent on turning the clock back. We must not allow leaders of political vandals to come back on the political scene.

COPPERBELT VISIT

That said, I want to state that yes I went to the Copperbelt in broad day light and I will go back there and elsewhere again and again as and when need arises. I do not need permission from opposition parties or media to travel or do what I want done. This is not therefore an exculpatory statement but one of affirmation that I exercised and enjoyed my right to move freely. I am not seeking political office because I already have one. I am the holder of MMD membership card No 0002 and Comrade V. J is No 0003.

The almighty God ordained that I, Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba be the 2nd president of the republic of Zambia and it was so. That is already in the annals of Zambia and world political history. No one can erase that. I am not fighting anybody but simply doing that which is not unlawful to the country or harmful to our people.

Ex-miners invited me to interact with them because they know me having worked with them well during my tenure of office. They and their good families were beneficiaries of my government empowerment policy whose legacy still stands out bearing testimony to the era of political and socio economic emancipation. It is a legacy no amount of cheap political and media propaganda can destroy or erase, because any legacy must comprise both tangible and practical landmarks.

So, miners invited me because they and their families still live in homes bought under the empowerment policy when I was president. They expressed confidence that I could help them convey their problems and plight to president Rupiah Banda. I obliged and went. I addressed meetings in Chingola, Mufulira, Kalulushi, Kitwe and Luanshya. I have already presented a report to his Excellency for his perusal and eventual action on all my meetings with ex-miners.

But for purposes of this press meeting I want to highlight only the following points of interest miners raised and asked me to convey to the president and tell the general public because of their character and urgency.

1. Procrastination in issuing title deeds.

Ex-miners are petitioning his Excellency the president to instruct councils and the ministry of lands to expedite the issue of title deeds to people who bought houses under the empowerment policy. They argue that this procrastination is a deliberate political ploy by P. F to create areas of dissent in ex-miners against the government of president Banda whom they falsely accuse of neglecting the poor. This procrastination has robbed house owners of any opportunity to borrow money from established financial institutions due to lack of collateral which is held in the frozen title deeds.
This is a matter they consider rather urgent.

2.Inordinate increases in land rates.

P. F run councils have turned land rates into rentals which they have used to threaten continued ownership of houses bought under the empowerment policy.

There are stories on the Copperbelt of house owners whose furniture was confiscated by councils for failure to pay rates. I am not too sure if the rateable values are being competently assessed by expert district valuers because for a house which may have been bought for such little amounts as K10,000, K15,000 or K20,000 to be suddenly valued at K60,000,000 for purpose of rates is criminal and totally unacceptable.

To impose such excessive land rates on households the majority of whom do not earn regular incomes from any formal employment is one way of saying to them ‘get out of those houses, you do not deserve to own them’. It is impolitic. Sadly many in this category are widows and widowers with a lot of dependants who attend school. P. F run councils must be held fully responsible for the plight of the people.

MR. SATA’S POST 2006 ELECTIONS PRONOUNCEMENT.

It would be politically naive and dangerous for the nation to forget the strong 2006 post election policy statement, the P. F leader Mr. Michael Sate made when he said; ‘Mr. Mwanawasa will run state house but I will run the country through the councils. We must never forget that because people are now paying a high price for electing P. F councillors and MPs who have followed their leader’s policy statement to the letter and caused all the misery.

THE ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

The road infrastructure even in councils which were doing quite well only a decade ago has collapsed. Roads have become a hindrance to Development. There is no excuse whatsoever for PF councillors to turn local authorities into chambers of conspiracies to wage political war against central government.  P. F councillors have forgotten the role of local government in developing our country and have instead concentrated on criticizing the president and MMD government.

THE CONSTITUENCY DEVELOPMENT FUND

Over the years as a way to ensure increased local government participation in projects implementation, government introduced and has increased constituency development fund from K30 million to about K600 million per constituency per budget year. This is a considerable amount of money and for district councils with three or more constituencies that brings in an extra amount of close to K2 billion.

Where is this money? What is it used for? His Excellency president Banda was right in calling for auditing of councils especially those with huge budgets such as in Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe and all over the Copperbelt.

RENTALS ON COUNCILS HOUSES

Rentals imposed on houses owned by PF run councils are simply outrageous. PF run councils have already proved to be too callous to be expected to do anything for people. They are simply incapable of running councils. They are not focussed. They know how to charge excessive rentals on houses which they do not maintain.

PF councillors take turns with their MPs to criticize the president or government while doing more damage to the lives of the people, they purport to represent and care for. They have made it impossible for those who did not complete early paying for council houses bought under the empowerment policy to do so because the purchase prices demanded now are too high as they are commensurate with increased rentals which are highly disproportionate to ordinary Zambians income. Will it be in the interest of any sensible politician or leader for people to lose their houses?

The entire exercise is an affront to empowerment. PF are clearly reversing the empowerment policy. Zambians are being robbed of one of the rare moments they had to bridge, the gap between the rich and poor. The 2006 tripartite election which they thought would increase the tempo of socio-economic development actually brought them into throngs of political exploiters. Thank God they now know them. Under those circumstances, how can a free citizen of my status fear to point out such anomalies just because someone will say that I am politicking?

What are my education and experience for if not for helping our people? Yes, I will talk. Although there are no hard and fast rules about the role of a retired president it is common knowledge and practices that on retirement the president is not disconnected from the incumbent. He in fact essentially becomes a goodwill ambassador whom the president can send on any assignment or mission. He is not in opposition to government unless he is forced into it.

Examples,

• Jimmy Carter, conflict resolution.
• Bill Clinton. Freeing American journalists in North Korea.
• In Africa president Mandela at 2010 world cup and At public rallies with ANC presidential candidates.

I am available to render my free services to the president, our party and government and above all to the people of Zambia.

MY DETRACTORS AND ATTACKERS

It seems for most part that those who are out to oppose everything I say and do have lost their sense of balance. Instead of feeling happy that I am helping our people to convey to government their requests and petitions for leaders to hear and know what our people are in need of, they attack me and threaten me. These people always attack rather relentlessly hoping to silence me. They even talk about my person and my marriage!  I will today try to respond to some of their accusations after some long silence which is my usual way of managing such people.

a)MR. SATA

Mr. Sata has been on rampage trying to discredit me pouring out a lot of insults against me.  a)He has kept saying that I stole public funds, but I have a tape in which he declared in 2006 that I did not steal and that those were false allegations by late president Mwanawasa. I will not too far from now play the tape for people to hear. Mr. Sata always pontificates about democracy yet grows cold feet to hold elections. He always fought against our independence.

Let me ask Mr. Sata to tell the country the truth. Were you a police constable in the colonial government which was oppressing us or a freedom fighter?  Were you imprisoned for your participation in the fight for independence? Or can you say why you were jailed and dismissed from the police force?

Remember I was in office for ten years as president and I had records on every one of my ministers. As the appointing authority of the prisons and police services commission I came to know the truth about you Mr. Sata. I challenge you to tell the people you want to lead the truth about your background. Were you a colonial police constable or a freedom fighter?  Did you resign from the colonial police force or you were dismissed? And for what reason were you dismissed?

Let the Zambian people know the truth about you so that they are not in any doubt about the leader of PF.

b)MR SATA A MORALIST OR POLYGAMIST?

In the post newspaper of 19/09/2009 Mr. Sata questioned my sincerity as a born again Christian condemning my marriage to my wife Regina calling it a sham and that in fact I just robbed Mr. Mwanza of his wife.  But my marriage to Regina was consummated in accordance with the law and custom. It was conducted above board fulfilling all the requirements by first sending elders from my side to her people who agreed together to allow us to marry as she was a divorcee already. This was almost two years after my divorce.

So our marriage was and still is a very clean affair. But you Mr. Sata do you have one wife or you are polygamous? Who is Petronella Mpundu, a biological sister to Bishop Mpundu of the Catholic Church? Do you have any relationship with her? Are her two children Mukupa and Chilufya your children? Are you the biological father of Mukupa and Chilufya?

Did you by any chance consummate your marriage with her in a Bemba customary arrangement known as ichombela ng’anda or not?

Since you are a man of sound morals tell us who this young woman who was working for the ministry of finance in Lusaka but now working at the Bank of Zambia in Ndola is to you? Tell us if you are not the father of her two children.

Finally, with this murky picture about your single or polygamous life why does the Catholic Church allow you to take part in the Eucharist? Is it an oversight or you have not disclosed your true marital status even to a church you seem to follow rather obediently and religiously?

I will however reserve my other comments about acts of abuse of office which are documented. What about the illegal and irregular transfer of ministerial accounts?  I do not want to be compelled to talk about an innocent African from a friendly country you wanted me to deport for personal reasons claiming or alleging that the man was a threat to national security!

As for party leadership, those who were members of the NEC of our party when you were national secretary will remember how I saved you as they wanted to pass a vote of no confidence in you having failed to write minutes of NEC several times as the language you used was more Taiwanese than English. All minutes sounded more Taiwanese than the official language of English putting punctuations such as comma and full stop only where you stopped to breathe.

2)MR. HAKAINDE HICHILEMA

As for my neighbour Hakainde Hichilema I have my one big concern about him because he chose to conceal the truth when it mattered most, to save my name. I have always believed that it is a character and mark of true leadership to rise to the occasion and reject injustice responsibility when others quiver with fear.

On 11th July 2002 when late president Levy Mwanawasa addressed a special session of parliament and made serious but false allegations against me he mentioned that I was responsible for the loss of US$ 35 million paid by RAMCOZ for their purchase of Luanshya division. He also alleged that I stole US$12million paid in the same transaction.

But even when this statement was being made president Mwanawasa had been made aware by the ministries of finance and mines that those two huge amounts of money were received by appropriate authorities. Read Mr. Mwanawasa’s speech to parliament on page 4-5 11/07/2002.

The US$ 35million was duly received by ZCCM while the US$ 12 million was received by Grant Thornton who appointed receivers for RAMCOZ and Mr. Hichilema was fully aware because he was working for them. Sadly he could not tell the country and the world that his firm were the receivers who acknowledged receipt of the said amount but instead even opted to insult me publicly calling me a thief.

Why would a leader choose to keep quiet when he was both aware and accountable for the money in question? How could I be sure if he became president that he would be impartial and fair to all including me? Can he tell the country now that he knew about the matter?

Both leaders of the pact do not impress me as serious contenders for the highest political office in the land. My unqualified support for president Rupiah Banda is based on my personal judgement and assessment of the man. I am impressed that he is capable of re-uniting our nation, bring development to all parts of Zambia, give every Zambian equal opportunity and of course promote equality of treatment.

I am convinced that given a fresh mandate of his own as our MMD party president and president of the republic, president Banda will bring sanity to our nation. We are also happy that God gave him great wisdom to appoint Hon. George Kunda his vice president.

Hon. George Kunda is loyal, very loyal to the president, a decent professional who is efficient articulate and capable of providing sound support to our president. Nobody in Luapula would ask for more. We are satisfied.

OUR PARTY

We are all raising our voices about our party because we want to enhance our chances of soundly winning elections in 2011. Traditionally the MMD from its very inceptions has been a mass party with open doors to all and that is why we have been winning soundly.

We must not allow our party to become a closed shop because we cannot afford in this competitive political arena to have a closed shop. Our president of the party and of the republic rightly said that at Ndola Airport recently politics is a game of numbers and indeed democratic politics especially require even greater numbers.

Indeed the more numbers of people we have, the greater the chances of winning elections. In this regard the best example is the province of Lusaka where our party led by the young vibrant Chairman William Banda and recruited a lot of members some of whom may form part of future party leadership and Luapula province has gone in the same way as Lusaka attracting a lot of people in the party and the political landscape in both Lusaka and Luapula has changed. Our duty is replicate this in every province so that the party can be 100% sure of victory we need to rekindle the 1991 party spirit to ensure that our party president is re-elected both as president of the party and president of the republic of Zambia.

Now is the time the re-election of his Excellency Rupiah B. Banda as president of the party and the republic. Let us go out and look for more votes, because our party is popular and is sure of winning the 2011 elections. Finally lets us look for more votes, lets us not look for personal benefits.

DR. F.J.T. CHILUBA –M.Phil
SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA

The United Party for National Development has accused the Speaker of the National Assembly Amusa Mwanwambwa and the ruling MMD of unjustifiably protecting expelled Namwala Member of Parliament Major Ronnie Chizyuka from losing his seat in parliament.

UPND Vice President for administration Richard Kapita says Major Chizyuka has been expelled from the UPND and his Parliamentary seat should be declared vacant by the speaker of the national assembly.

He says if Major Chizyuka feels he is popular and his decision to allegedly discredit the UPND-PF pact them he should go for by elections and see if he has the backing of the people of Namwala.

Mr. Kapita wonders why the speaker of the national assembly is not declaring the Namwala Seat vacant when Major Chizyuka has been expelled by the political party that sponsored him to parliament.

He says the speaker said he cannot declare the seat vacant because he heard the case was in court a position Mr. Kapita says is not true.

Mr. Kapita says the speaker of the national assembly cannot keep major Chizyuka based on hearsay.

QFM

FINANCE Bank Zambia Limited board chairperson Rajan Mahtani has resigned in order to protect the interest of the bank and to also defend himself from allegations made against him.

According to a statement released by Finance Bank last night, Dr Mahtani’s resignation is with immediate effect and the board of directors has since accepted his decision.

“In his letter of resignation addressed to the board and copied to Dr Caleb Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, Dr Mahtani said the decision to resign was entirely in the interest of the continued prosperity of the bank and in order to freely defend certain allegations made against his person and thereby protect his integrity and that of the bank,” the statement reads in part.

According to the statement, the Finance Bank board of directors convened an extra-ordinary meeting during which they accepted Dr Mahtani’s resignation.
They thanked him for the decision he made in the interest of the bank.

Dr Mahtani thanked Dr Fundanga and his team, the board, management and staff of Finance Bank Zambia for the support and understanding during his tenure of office as board chairperson.

A suitable replacement for Dr Mahtani will be announced soon by the bank’s board of directors after consultations with various stakeholders.

Dr Mahtani is one of the people appearing before the Magistrate court for the alleged money laundering case by Zambezi Portland Cement Limited, which is a subsidiary of Finance Bank Zambia Limited.

Last week, the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers raided Zambezi Portland offices housed within Finance Bank Limited office on Cairo Road to carry out investigations.

Later, Finance Bank Zambia Limited corporate affairs manager Mr Noel Nkoma released a statement categorically stating that the developments at Zambezi Portland Cement Limited had nothing to do with his bank as the company was just a subsidiary of his bank.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

By Henry Kyambalesa

It is unfortunate that our brothers and sisters in Milanzi constituency in Katete district will again be going to the polls to elect another Member of Parliament (MP) after the passing of their area MP, Mr. Reuben Chisanga-Banda, who had served his people for less than two years, just like his predecessor, the late Dr. Chosani Njobvu, who died in Slovenia where he had gone to attend the APC-EU joint parliamentary assembly in March 2008.

But while we await the announcement of the date for the by-election by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), I wish to urge candidates who are going to be fielded by their political parties to engage each other on issues rather than on personalities.

There are a lot of important projects and programs in Eastern Province which the candidates would do well to explain the role they would play in implementing them. Such projects and programs include the following:

(a) Maintenance of the just-completed Chipata-Mchinji railway line—a project initiated in 1982 as a joint venture involving Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique during the UNIP administration; and facilitation of the creation of the planned Shire-Zambezi Waterway designed to open up a cheap transport route for imports and exports by connecting Zambia to the Indian Ocean port of Chinde in Mozambique through the inland port of Njase on Shire River in Malawi.

(b) Construction of an international airport in Chipata district similar to the Chileka Airport in Blantyre in neigboring Malawi.

(c) Upgrading of both Chadiza and Nyimba clinics into district hospitals, and enhanced control of mosquito breeding throughout the province.

(d) Provision for the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation dams, canals, bridges, and trunk roads.

(e) Promotion of the small-scale mining industry through low-interest loans, and processing industries to process cotton, tobacco, sunflower, groundnuts, and other products within the province.

(f) Improvement of the availability of safe and clean water for both rural and urban areas through boreholes, dams, water pipes, and protected shallow wells, and provision of modern sewage facilities and both public and private conveniences.

(g) Upgrading of resettlement schemes in the province by providing financial and material resources for constructing and/or rehabilitating boreholes, water wells, irrigation dams and canals, feeder roads, culverts, low-cost houses, clinics, schools, police posts, and other essential public services and facilities. Such schemes include the Chipangali-Madziatuba, Chipangali-Rukuzye, and Petauke schemes.

(h) Improvements in conditions of service for healthcare personnel, employment of more healthcare personnel, and ensuring that healthcare facilities throughout the province have adequate stocks of medicines and medical supplies and equipment regardless of whether they are operated by missionaries or the government—including the Mwami Mission Hospital, Lundazi District Hospital, Kamoto Mission Hospital, Nyimba Hospital, Minga Mission Hospital, Njanje Hospital, Petauke Hospital, Chipata General Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, and all rural heatlth centres.

(i) Construction of more educational and training institutions in the province and rehabilitation of existing institutions in order to make it possible for each and every child in the province to have access to education near their homes in all the districts—that is, in Chadiza, Chama, Chipata, Katete, Lundazi, Mambwe, Nyimba, and Petauke districts.

(j) Addressing the problems facing educational and training institutions in the province, including the lack of teachers, housing, educational supplies and equipment, inadequate salaries and allowances, and entertainment at all the educational and training institutions.

(k) Ensuring that salaries and allowances are timely disbursed to all the districts so that teachers and other civil servants will not have to trek to designated locations to pick up their money only to be told that their dues are not yet available.

These kinds of projects and programs can be funded through financial and material resources which could be saved by getting rid of top-level sinecures in government, merging some of the government ministries and agencies which have similar functions, reducing the number of foreign missions, reduction in the number of foreign trips, and so forth.

Similar projects and programs nationwide can be funded by creating a government that is smaller, a government that lives within its means, and a highly innovative government that would do more with less.

THE National Constitutional Conference (NCC) yesterday rejected a clause that could have allowed political parties to merge, saying the exercise would be costly because of by-elections.

Debating article 162 which said Members of Parliament whose parties merged should not lose their seats, most delegates said that a merger amounted to dissolution of parties and such MPs should seek a fresh mandate.

Namwala MP Robbie Chizyuka said the article to allow for political party mergers should be dropped because it would be costly for Government to hold by-elections for 100 MPs.

Bishop Harrison Sakala said the merging of political parties should be avoided unless coalitions while deputy chairperson of parliamentary committees Mkhondo Lungu said that although merging before elections was good, merging just after elections was costly.

Chifunabuli MP Ernest Mwansa said in case of a merger, MPs should have an option of joining the merger or remain as MP for their constituencies and lawyer Patrick Matibini also said MPs should remain as independent in case of a merger.

Vice-President George Kunda said the norm in Zambia was such that those who joined a merger should lose their seat while UPND vice-president Richard Kapita also said no MP should keep a seat when they changed or rejected their parties.

Pastor Godfridah Sumaili said that it was in order that MPs lost their seats in case of a merger while Chieftainess Nkomeshya said the clause to allow merging of parties should be dropped but another delegate Dan Musenge said mergers should be allowed because of the right to association.

Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe said the article to allow for political party mergers would weaken the stable political system while Works and Supply Minister Mike Mulongoti said MPs would be endangered if mergers were allowed.

The NCC also adopted article 99 (1) which states that a general election would be held every five years on the last Wednesday of September after the last general elections.

Meanwhile, the NCC yesterday adjourned sine die to facilitate for the sitting of the National Assembly which resumes on Tuesday.

NCC chairperson Chifumu Banda told the conference that yesterday’s sitting was the end of the session and that the House would adjourn sine die.

Mr Banda said while it was true that the NCC had not concluded all matters, it should be acknowledged that it had made several achievements in debating various committee reports.

The NCC had considered the legislative, executive, local government and democratic governance committee reports while three quarters of the human rights report had been covered leaving the general constitutional principles report to be tabled later.

“We intend to call the House in April. You know we cannot sit when Parliament is in session,” he said.

He said that after concluding all committee reports the NCC would prepare a draft report and Constitutional bill, adopt them and publish them for the public to make comments.

After that public comments would be considered and then the conference would present its draft Constitution to the minister of Justice for onward considerations.

[Times of Zambia]