SATA AT CLOSE QUARTERS

By GERSHOM NDHLOVU
You got to love Michael Sata, Zambia’s fifth president, or hate him—for his abrasiveness bordering on rudeness tinged with crude language—and now as head of state, disregard for protocol. The case that immediately comes to mind in this “department” is his conduct on his first international trip as head of state when he allegedly defied Uganda’s protocol officials at the Intergovernmental Conference on the Great Lakes Region meeting in Kampala recently.
Another—call it strange—case is when Mr Sata caused a security and protocol nightmare in Livingstone where he went to meet Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in Livingstone, on the border with Zimbabwe. He refused to use regular vehicles in the presidential motorcade which usually comprise Mercedes Benz cars, BMWs, high end Toyota models, an ambulance or two and numerous luxury cars. He demanded a blue and white UTTA type minibus to ferry him from the Harry Mwaanga Airport to the venue of the meeting.
But the story that has prompted me to do this write up is what started off on Facebook but later reported on some Zambian news websites, that the current President of the Republic of Zambia (POTROZ), arrived at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport from an international trip during a downpour but declined to be covered with an umbrella by an aide.
Am I surprised? No! In my younger days as a reporter on the Zambia Daily Mail’s Sunday Mail, I had an opportunity to travel with Mr Sata on some trips outside Lusaka on more than a couple of times where I got at close quarters with the man. I am also one who experienced his abrasiveness first hand particularly when he was MMD national secretary and I as Deputy News Editor and Mr Sata’s mbuya.
The first time was when we travelled to Eastern Province when he was Minister of Health c1995 on a tour of health facilities. Using a Zambia Flying Doctor Service plane, we flew to Lundazi after failing to land in Petauke which was to be the first scheduled stop but the airstrip was overgrown. The welcome in Lundazi was sort of muted because he was not expected to get there when he did. But by the time we arrived at the next stop, Chipata, the organisers had sorted themselves out.
Forget about the visit to Chipata General Hospital which was a very officious affair with Mr Sata taking to task the executive director to task for a few things he thought they were going wrong. Come the political leg of the trip, we were driven to Navutika, a shanty compound to the west of Kapata township. There, party cadres had organised themselves singing and dancing to welcome Mr Sata. The way the man jumped into the action, hugging the dirty looking villagers, shaking hands with them, laughing and singing left me speechless.
For the night stop, we went to Katete where we found cadres gathered at Mphangwe Motel. To cut the long story short, there was a lot of merry making with enough food, drink and jokes with everybody who was there. What was in short supply was the nonsense about “balekeni baMinister bapumule.” In the end it was Mr Sata who ensured we were all safely tucked in our beds for those of us who were to spend the night at the motel.
The Eastern Province trip over, a few weeks later I was to accompany Mr Sata to Chanyanya, to the south west of Kafue. I can’t remember exactly what the assignment was but I think it was to open a clinic or something to that effect. What moved and convinced me that Mr Sata was a man of the people is what he did during the meals that were prepared by the villagers.
Mr Sata washed his hands in the same bowls that everybody had washed and ate from the same plate as everybody. There was nothing like “iyi ni mbale yaba minister”—and this at the time when there were stories of how one aspiring MP used to go to campaign to his constituency carrying Hungry Lion take away and shunning food prepared by villagers he wanted to represent. That aspiring MP lost the elections, no doubt.
From all what is going on in the first few months of Mr Sata’s presidency, Zambians should be happy that the man is redefining the presidency. The office is not occupied by gods but by ordinary men (and women hopefully). I hope we will no longer have to kneel before the president or whisper his name when talking about his shortcomings.
The last four presidents have brought their own attributes to the presidency—Kaunda brought independence; Chiluba brought plural politics; Mwanawasa fought corruption; RB came to finish Mwanawasa’s projects; Sata is opening up the presidency!

PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY MUST BE LIMITED TO THE TERM OF OFFICE

By GERSHOM NDHLOVU

That Zambia has had to remove the immunity of a former president before and ordinary Zambians are at least looking at the possibility of removing that of another former president, it shows clearly the need to make the process easier than having to rely on parliament to do it. Granted that the Constitution grants a sitting president immunity well into his retirement via clause 43 and its attendant sub-clauses which read as follows: “(1) Civil proceedings shall not be instituted or continued against the person holding the office of President or performing the functions of that office in respect of which relief is claimed against him in respect of anything done or omitted to be done in his private capacity. “(2) A person holding the office of President or performing the functions of that office shall not be charged with any criminal offence or be amenable to the criminal jurisdiction of any court in respect of any act done or omitted to be done during his tenure of that office or, as the case may be, during his performance of the functions of that office. “(3) A person who has held, but no longer holds, the office of President shall not be charged with a criminal offence or be amenable to the criminal jurisdiction of any court, in respect of any act done or omitted to be done by him in his personal capacity while he held office of President, unless the National Assembly has, by resolution, determined that such proceedings would not be contrary to the interests of the State. “(4) Where provision is made by law limiting the time within which proceedings of any description may be brought against any person, the term of any person in the office of President shall not be taken into account in calculating any period of time prescribed by that law which determines whether any such proceedings as are mentioned in clause (1) and (3) may be brought against the person.”

When this is done, it will definitely stop people ascending to the presidency from conducting themselves in a potentially criminal manner both in their official and personal capacity knowing fully well that they risk going to jail at the end of their terms. Zambians have lived in poverty for far too long while their leaders have gone on to acquire unimagined wealth most of it in matters not devoid of impropriety.

With the revelations coming out regarding the conduct of Zambia’s immediate former president Rupiah Banda in his three short years in office, it is increasingly becoming necessary for people to demand that Mr Banda be stripped of his immunity just like it happened to Zambia’s second president, Frederick Chiluba. Mr Banda himself inadvertently admitted to abusing public funds when he said “remember that the next election will judge you also. Treat those who you have vanquished with respect and humility that you would expect in your own defeat…. It is not for us to deny the Zambian people. We never rigged, we never cheated, we never knowingly abused state funds. We simply did what we thought was best for Zambia…” The extent of the abuse must and can only be determined when Mr Banda is stripped of his immunity which demands that the matter be taken to parliament going if his statement that he is ready to be investigated is anything to go by. In the case of the ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF), this may be a tall order as it is short of numbers required to remove a former president’s immunity which requires a two thirds majority. In this case, Zambians must do themselves a favour by making it easy to prosecute former president by limiting the immunity guaranteed by the Constitution especially that we have a chance to work out a new document under the PF government. When this is done, it will definitely stop people ascending to the presidency from conducting themselves in a potentially criminal manner both in their official and personal capacity knowing fully well that they risk going to jail at the end of their terms. Zambians have lived in poverty for far too long while their leaders have gone on to acquire unimagined wealth most of it in matters not devoid of impropriety. When that happens, Zambians must ensure that future leaders are made accountable for their actions both in the official and private capacities. Having leaders ensconced in the bubble of the constitutions will forever leave Zambians mourning after the departure of untrustworthy leaders from State House.

MORENO-OCAMPO MUST FOCUS HIS SIGHTS ON ZAMBIA

By Gershom Ndhlovu
“Let us crush them,” an MMD official is quoted in a TV news clip of one of Zambia’s TV channels in reference to opposition Patriotic Front (PF) members who are going about their business campaigning for their party for the forthcoming September 20 tripartite elections that will include presidential, parliamentary and local government polls.
The irony of it all is that the unidentified official made the statement in a police station where the Lusaka Province MMD chairman, William Banda was summoned for interviews for violence which had occurred in Chongwe district, 40 km outside the capital city.
In Chongwe, at the alleged instigation of William Banda, a former UNIP stalwart who used to harass MMD members when they were in opposition in the early 1990s and was later deported by President Chiluba, ordered the beating up of the villagers apparently because they supported the PF candidate and former MMD MP Sylvia Masebo.
A few weeks earlier the PF through its secretary general, Winter Kabimba who is a lawyer, had issued instructions to his members to defend themselves from acts of violence perpetrated against them by members of other political parties.
In the last few weeks, a Facebook group called Zambian Peoples Pact, a forum on which netizens discuss political issues especially those pertaining to the forthcoming elections, launched a petition against violence before, during and after elections.
But with the unfolding events in the country, it seems International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be busy with indictments of Zambian politicians after the elections if President Rupiah Banda and his security apparatus do not restrain, even stop, the marauding MMD cadres and others bent on promoting violence.