ANDREW Banda says FDD leader Edith Nawakwi is frustrated because her political fortunes have dwindled.
He also says the nation would not keep quiet about the gassing of innocent citizens early this year.
Nakwakwi, leader of the opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD), accused UPND president Hakainde Hichilema of being a thief who benefitted from the country’s privatisation process of the 1990s.
But Andrew, a senior UPND member, argues that Nawakwi was re-establishing her political career using negative propaganda against Hichilema.
“There’s some element of frustration; she’s been president of FDD for a long time, she has not performed very well. If you remember, if you go to figures, you will know that between HH and Edgar Lungu, they share 98 per cent of the vote,” Andrew said in a walk-in interview. “And two per cent of that vote to the other opposition parties which includes Ms Nawakwi’s party. So, I don’t want to say much, but let us leave for the public to judge whether she’s of any consequence in Zambian politics. She has reached a point where, I think, she wants to re-establish her political career, perhaps in the Patriotic Front.”
He said it was clear that there were forces behind Nawakwi’s accusations.
“We know, obviously, that there are forces behind her. She has ambitions, right. She’s obviously trying to please somebody. And we all know who she is trying to please. My sister, Edith has been in politics for a long time; she has been in politics as long as I have been,” Andrew explained. “We worked together in the MMD and we were the youngest candidates for the MMD in 1991, so I can claim that politically I know her very well.”
Andrew said among other attributes of a good leader, Nawakwi was very vibrant and courageous, articulate and visionary.
He said it was very difficult to understand what had gone wrong.
“Being an Energy expert and leader of one of the oldest parties, one would have expected her to use her experience to provide solutions to the energy sector in view of load-shedding which had killed our economy; being a farmer minister of finance, one would have expected her to provide solutions on how to solve our economic problems today,” Andrew said. “Being a senior citizen today, one would have expected her to find ways of uniting our country which is today polarised by politicians in power due to greed, among others. Just what has gone wrong with Edith?
Her job in opposition is to provide checks and balances rather than become personal to the extent trying to tarnish the name of an innocent citizen like Hakainde.”
Andrew explained that propaganda against Hichilema started when he entered politics in 2006.
He said Hichilema’s political opponents accused him of several things, including tribalism.
“Those that we suspect are behind her radio programme have a very strong propaganda machinery which has been at this for a long time. It started with the issue of tribalism, and they were very hard on it. At first it was working very well when Hakainde stood in 2006 and in 2011, and to some extent in 2015; and that didn’t work,” he said. “You only have to look at the numbers in elections, right. Hakainde in 2006 had about 20 per cent. Today, he’s at 48 per cent of the vote cast despite the rigging of elections. So, in other words what I’m trying to say is that this man has been gaining. So, they tried the tribal issue and they failed.”
Andrew explained that even traditional leaders were being used by the ruling party against Hichilema.
“Then came the issue of him being a freemason, right! Then came the issue of the treason charge that they gave him and the prison issue where they kept him for over 120 days and accused him of wanting to topple the Government of the Republic of Zambia. Then came the gassing issue. Remember, they diverted attention, yes!” he said. “They were almost blaming Hakainde Hichilema that he was responsible for that. But, again, it didn’t work. They’ve gone back to the tribe again. They used one of the most powerful chiefs in this country, [Paramount] Chief Chitimukulu to accuse Hakainde of having insulted him, which also was not true. And the Zambians are not stupid, they’ve been following all these things.”
Andrew said it was no wonder that social media was awash with negative comments about Nawakwi.
He said the privatisation topic was another arrangement from the PF, which it hopes would divert people’s attention.
“This issue of privatisation comes in as another propaganda arrangement in the hope that citizens of Zambia would buy that to divert attention from the problems that this country has. The problems are straightforward. The food basket is almost K10,000 today, which when they came into power it was at almost K2,000. You tell me, who can afford that?” he asked. “The level of unemployment is very high. Poverty and hunger, the issue of load shedding is a mess, the economy has literally collapsed. They found the inflation rate at less than seven per cent, and the normal inflation rate is three per cent. We are now getting close to 20 per cent; we are heading the Zimbabwe way. The exchange rate which they found at US $4.60 is now at almost 20. And now with the firing of [Bank of Zambia governor] Dr [Denny] Kalyalya confidence has been lost and the exchange rate will further depreciate.”
Andrew said the PF were using such propaganda to divert people’s attention from real problems.
He said Nawakwi’s attacks on Hichilema were very personal, which was not expected from a seasoned politician like her.
Andrew warned citizens to watch out for more antics from weak opposition leaders as the country heads for the general election.
“One wonders what has necessitated this. Ordinarily, a genuine opposition party leader would not attack a fellow opposition leader, there must be some motivation in this. Of late, Harry Kalaba has also been attacking the UPND, it’s a shame! There is definitely something behind these attacks, watch the space,” Andrew said.
“The Patriotic Front must watch out. The motive from Edith is very clear. We can speculate that she is aiming at getting a very senior position before 2021 presidential and general elections. Knowing the PF the way they operate, genuine and founder members will not allow that happen.”
And Andrew warned that those behind the gassing incident which rocked the country early this year would certainly be made to account.
“And even on this use of gassing, I still want to say [that] we will not leave this matter of gassing because over 50 citizens died and no report has been given; nobody really has been taken to court. Where is this young man Spax who is one of the people that is suspected to have been involved?” asked Andrew. “So, we will still raise that issue; we won’t shut up because it nearly caused a problem in this country. And one day those responsible for this will pay the price.”