GBM can run but can’t hide

Sat, 27 May 2017 11:00:24 +0000

IT IS so embarrassing that the whole of Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, bulky as he is and so critical to the future of UPND following the incarceration of Hakainde Hichilema, can go into hiding. Running from what?

There is no time than now when UPND needs the leadership of those who claimed they were ready to be arrested or die for the party by taking up senior positions in the second biggest opposition party.

In the absence of their leader, GBM is supposed to be presiding over the affairs of the party and lead by example. He was chosen to deputise HH because he convinced the top leadership of the party that he had the charisma, courage, organising skill and a fat cheque book to take care of all the needs of UPND.

By hiding in the bush in Zambia, or holed up in some seedy hotel in one of the neighbouring countries, is proof that GBM is a coward, has no leadership qualities and has no heart for UPND. He must listen to the advice of those who may not agree with him politically but feel that by running away he is stabbing UPND and HH in the back at a time they need him most.

Mr Mwamba claims that he went into hiding because he received reports that the police were going to arrest him. Really, is that a good reason to flee his country if he did not commit a crime? And he will be in hiding for how long?

As it is Mr Mwamba is courting arrest. First of all he has violated the conditions of his bail by failing to appear in court a week ago in the case in which he is accused of military drilling and storing weapons of war at his Lusaka offices. He is also in court over the ‘Go for his throat’ case where he is accused of threatening the Head of State.

No only that. He has two other cases pending in Luanshya and Kitwe on which he is on bail. In Luanshya Magistrates Court he faces several charges with HH, including illegal assembly. In Kitwe, his Chisokone market assault case was winding down when he failed to appear because he allegedly went to attend a relative’s funeral.

What excuse will he give the court this time through his emissaries? We wonder for how long he thinks the prosecution will wait for him before the State applies for his warrant of arrest for jumping bail.

GBM says he fears arrest, but he is actually applying for arrest on matters he cannot defend himself. Jumping bail is a serious offence which attracts severe punishment, in most cases imprisonment. How does he hope to extricate himself from that?

As Enock Tonga of the 3rd Liberation Movement says, Mr Mwamba is stripping himself of any esteem and respect that Zambians held in him. How does he run away when the police have not indicated they were looking for him?

He is supposed to stand his ground and show the world that he was prepared to ‘‘die’’ for his beliefs and the well-being of his party and its entire membership.

UPND, is the absence of Hakainde Hichilema, is in dire straits. Very soon Parliament is reconvening and nearly all of its 54 Members of Parliament face expulsion from the National Assembly for boycotting President Edgar Lungu’s State of the Nation address for the second time in six months last September.

Even if they escape expulsion and receive a long suspension from the business of the House, these are serious matters that need to be analysed and discussed by the UPND national management committee at the highest level before Parliament resumes so that they prepare adequately for any consequences as a party.

The man who was supposed to chair these crisis meetings is Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba who is in self-imposed exile. This is the worst form of betrayal UPND can suffer. But, with all these cases hanging over his head, GBM has forgotten a very simple saying: You can run but you cannot hide.