Fire GBM, Sata told

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:35:33 +0000

The Minister of Defence Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba should be fired.

Former lecturer at Lilayi Police College Gideon Kamponge in the UNIP government has alleged that the defence minister is reckless and an alarmist.

Mr Kamponge was reacting to Mr Mwamba’s media statement that the plot to kill republican President Michael Sata was under probe.

He said Mr Mwamba’s statement was unfounded and that it was not proper for a Defence minister to make such alarming statements just to attract the attention of the people.

“Mr Mwamba’s statement that the plot to kill Mr Sata was under probe was unfounded and I don’t think it is proper for a Minister of Defence to issue such a statement, If he was aware about such kind of plot, he would have just provided security measures, instead of alarming the nation.

“For me, I think Mr Mwamba or GBM is not the right person to in that office and so he should be fired or taken to another ministry. Defence ministry is one of the important ministries and so we can’t have such a reckless person in that office,” Mr Kamponge said.

Mr Kamponge said Zambia was not at war with any neighbouring country for Mr Mwamba to just come out casually and issue a statement that the plot to kill Mr Sata was under probe.

He said matters of internal security should be left to the ministry of home affairs which has wings that deal effectively with issues regarding the security of the republican president.

“Mr Mwamba is a minister of Defence and so he should not talk to the media about the security of the president, but he should quietly work with his counterpart at home affairs when he thinks the security of the president is at risk, instead of just shouting for people to hear that GBM has spoken,” he said.

Mr Kamponge said the PF government and its ministers should be sensitive and diplomatic, instead of issuing statements without thinking what impact the statement would make.

He said the PF government and its ministers should not issue statements just to make people laugh or clap for them, but should make statements that would provide direction and leadership to the people and its nation.

He said issues of security especially the security of the Republican President should not be made casually by the Minister of Defence, but there should be a way of handling them without the entire country knowing about it.