[Chief Pilgrim Dr Canisius Banda writes]
I REGRET NOTHING, I HARBOUR NO GRUDGES
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I did my part whilst on the field. I helped build Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND.
That I helped make Hakainde Hichilema Republican President is an indelible national historical record.
To me his becoming Republican President was merely fulfilment of my own prophesy I made to him on 25 December 2006.
How can I regret occasioning success in his life and the life of the UPND? I do no such thing. Instead, I have an enduring smile in my heart. I rejoice.
I am rejoicing for him.
I was tear-gassed for him. I suffered insults, shame and ridicule for him. I was called a Judas Iscariot for working with him. I sacrificed my all for him.
With Chakawa, his cousin and ADC then, as an act of extreme economy, I ate unbuttered local buns with him on aeroplanes.
In pursuit of a worthy life for others, seeking a better Zambia, at one time I nearly died with him as our helicopter began to smoke in the air, and had to make an emergency landing in a forest.
In the end, he/they rejected me.
I give thanks in all situations realizing that my having been hounded out of the UPND in 2016 was the will of God for me at the time.
It is well for me for all things happen for good for all those that love and trust God and are called according to His purpose. And I am one of these people.
I occasion good in the lives of others wherever I go. I build lives. I emit light. I am a pilgrim.
I wished Hakainde Hichilema well then, and I still do now.
To illustrate this, every year since I ceased to be his vice president, without missing a year, on the 4th of June, his birthday, I have written profound and heartfelt messages to him and his family, wishing him and his family well.
I was among the very first citizens to congratulate him both privately and publicly on his ascendance to the republican presidency.
I take no credit for anything. I am merely one of God’s vessels. The glory for all I do belongs to God.
For as long as I live, I will remain grateful to Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND for having afforded me a platform to serve my country.
I did all I did NOT for me but primarily for country and him.
For now, allow me to decrease, let them increase and govern Zambia and occasion good in the lives of God’s creation.
Much national work remains undone.
Every dog has its day. And indeed, time and chance happen to all.
Even if he tried, Hakainde Hichilema will never forget me. It is finished.
Dr Canisius BANDA
Development Activist
Pilgrim
30 August 2021