HH CHASED ME…after 4 years of detoxifying him, making him a national figure – Banda
By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
FORMER UPND vice-president Canicius Banda says his exit from UPND was
plotted by party leader Hakainde Hichilema on suspicion that he was leaking information to then president Edgar Lungu.
“Now that is four years of campaigning for Hichilema and detoxifying him, making him a national figure,” he said.
Dr Banda said when he featured on Muvi TV’s Assignment Programme that had
he stayed in the UPND he was ‘going to die’.
“I went with him village by village. I was on helicopters with him. We nearly crashed one day. I thank him for saving our lives that day
because he is the one who saw the smoke coming out of the helicopter and he told the pilot ‘land’ and we landed in the bush, seeking a better Zambia with me,” he said.
“HH shouldn’t have chased me from his party. He made a mistake. Don’t
chase people that have value, people that are educated by poor people. Me, I am from Mandevu compound. The citizens invested in me, graduate of UNZA and I was there with him and we were talking. Now I left because
I had my dignity to preserve. And I was one of the private advisors to president Lungu.”
He narrated how he was removed from the UPND.
“They said ‘this one is Banda…’ Now that is four years of campaigning for Hichilema and detoxifying him, making him a
national figure. You should look at the statistics of the UPND from the [Anderson] Mazoka election in 2001 to 2011. The votes were going down. But from 2011 to 2014 with me in the team, the UPND became the most
popular party in Zambia,” he said. “But after working so hard, this world is tough. They said ‘this is Banda, this is (Edgar) Lungu, they all come
from Kumawa (the east). When we sit, this person is taking what we are saying to
Lungu’. God is my witness. President Lungu can be summoned to testify, I never did that.”
Dr Banda claimed Hichilema called for his expulsion.
“And then Hakainde used Easterners, Paul Thole the current PS, William Banda, his advisor, and Michael Chuzu and a guy called Joseph Lungu. He brought them here to Muvi TV to call for my expulsion. The suspension letter went to the press. It did not come to me. He didn’t call to tell me ‘you have offended, what are you saying’. It was scandalising Banda. I was going to die if I stayed. My purpose in the UPND was served but my purpose for Zambia is still unfolding,” he said. “It is his time. But the issue here is is fuel K12 today? Mealie meal, is it K50 today? Fertiliser is it K250 today? Has he sold the jet?
The loans there (higher education), have they suspended repayment? You said
eduction will be free from primary to university, is it the case today? No it is not the case.”
And Dr Banda said he had confidence in Vice-President Mutale Nalumango whom he described as sincere.
“She was my junior. She was actually part of my campaign team. I was the leader and we had Mutale Nalumango and late Lupando Mwape and the rest of them. We did a good job. She deserves to be republican
President. I am happy she is [Vice-President]. She is much older than me, I think let
her sit there. I just wish her well. Let her do the best she can for Zambia. And you see Mutale Nalumango is a sincere woman,” said Dr Banda.“She is a sincere woman and she does it based on Christian beliefs.”