Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:07:38 +0000
The Patriotic Front motion to remove the immunity of former President Rupiah Banda will be closely followed if not simultaneously accompanied by a motion to impeach President Sata for constitutional abrogation, MMD Solwezi Member of Parliament Lucky Mulusa has said.
Opposition lawmakers, he said, were also determined to petition for a medical board of inquiry to examine the President’s suitability to continue at the helm of the nation.
Mr. Mulusa warned that while the PF leadership perceived the opposition to be weak, there was a common agenda which those in the opposition wanted to protect and defend.
President Michael Sata would be impeached, he said, as soon as parliament resumed to stop him from destroying the country’s democracy. Mr. Mulusa said that when Parliament adjourned in December last year, MPs reminded the PF government to walk away from destroying the opposition to nation building.
The opposition, he said, had hoped that a new spirit of constructive dialogue would develop “these debates fell on deaf ears. We are back this week with the same destructive PF. Parliament is likely to be paralyzed as all Parliamentarians are likely to be out campaigning. The nation will lose resources unnecessarily. In the name of the people, this must stop.”
“While we expect both motions to fail, the failure of the immunity motion will be a victory for President Banda, while the failure of the impeachment motion will leave indelible marks and damage on the Presidency. It will have far reaching implications beyond the PF. It will damage the country’s current MMD underwritten investment grade credit rating.
The Rating Agencies are likely to affirm the negative outlook with a possible downgrade. This is because political risk premium will go up due to the attempted vote of no confidence on the president. Investors will hold back investment as the environment of uncertainty ensues,” he said.
He said that the petition for a medical board of inquiry though might not succeed either, would put the President in the spot light and would bring pressure on him.
Mr. Mulusa said that the opposition was ready to face the PF in the house on various issues, adding that they would take them.
“The question the PF should ask themselves is; is this battle worth waging? For us we are ready for you in Parliament! We will take you on pound for pound and punch for punch. For far too long we have watched you pound us with so much hatred and toxic levels of desire to inflict both emotional and economic pain on the opposition. You have even failed to concentrate on running the economy for the betterment of the people. We will give you the taste of your own medicine,” he said.
He said that decision to block attempts to remove former President Banda’s immunity was in no way backed by the desire to protect wrong doing but to ensure that constitutional provisions and democratic institutions were not used by hypocrites with small, petty and unappreciative minds to achieve personal satisfaction.
“You are currently abrogating constitutional provisions. You are making unnecessary economic decisions that are not easily discernible because they appear normal to the public. Yet you are heaping huge costs on the unsuspecting public. You do not deserve the title of messiahs of the people.”
Mr. Mulusa has since urged well-meaning ‘original’ PF membership to reclaim the party’s position in society after a long struggle to power for it had been hijacked by the greedy and selfish individuals.
He said that there was need of unity of purpose among the opposition as they were under siege by the PF leadership.
Mr. Mulusa urged the PF leadership to take governance seriously unlike the way they were doing it now.
He said that it was sad that the current leadership did not give hope to the people of Zambia compared to other leaders in the Southern African region.
