ALLIANCE FOR BETTER ZAMBIA (ABZ) PRESS STATEMENT JULY 2, 2014 SUBJECT: HANDING OVER POWER TO MR KABIMBA AS ACTING PRESIDENT VITAL POINTS IN THIS STATEMENT 1. Demands by the public for proof that President Sata handed over power to Mr Wynter Kabimba point to people’s lack of trust and confidence in the PF government. 2. PF has proved to be dishonest. They have lied even on simple governance issues hence they are to blame for people’s lack of confidence in them. 3. If PF were transparent and accountable they would have proactively undertaken full disclosure even before the public started demanding for proof that President Sata handed over power to Mr Kabimba thereby breaking the tradition of appointing Mr Alexander Chikwanda for the same. 4. Zambians should pray for Mr Sata and his family during this period of darkness. They should also pray for honest leaders. The demands by the public for proof that President Michael Chilufya Sata handed over the instruments of power to PF Secretary General Wynter Kabimba speak volumes about how the people of Zambia have lost trust and confidence in the PF government. Ordinarily the issue of whether President Sata handed over power to Mr Kabimba and whether procedure was followed should not have been a big issue at all. However, it has become a very big issue because of the manner government has handled the disappearance of President Sata. The public has been left to guess and speculate the state in which Mr Sata was when he left the country. This has fueled speculation and the blame for this speculation lies squally on government. The sad reality is that PF has proved to be dishonest and they have chosen to tell lies even over straight-forward governance issues. For instance they lied with a straight face that the constitution draft report had gone missing. They also lied about what was causing the delay for the Technical Committee on drafting the new republican constitution to handover their final report to the Republican President and the people of Zambia simultaneously. PF has in the past lied about the itinerary of President Sata and they have claimed that he was in good health when his physical appearance was telling a different story. The litany of PF cheating is long. Against this background, PF should not blame anyone else apart from themselves for losing the trust and confidence of the general public. If the PF government were a transparent and accountable government they should have taken a proactive approach of making a full disclosure on this subject. Such a mature approach would have demonstrated much needed leadership in our country during this time of anxiety and panic. But as usual the PF government has chosen to feed our people on a diet of lies. As ABZ we think that it is not too late for the PF government to tell the truth and put an end to the unproductive speculation and useless panic that has engulfed all of us. We know that PF’s approach to national issues is “Don’t Kubeba” literally translated as “Don’t tell them”, but on this one, we are begging them to show leadership and seriousness and make a full disclosure. We want to urge the PF top leadership to realize that Mr Sata as Republican President is a property of all Zambians including those that didn’t vote for him. These people have a right to know the truth about the condition of their president. They also have a right to know whether he actually handed over power to Mr Kabimba and they want proof that the law was followed when undertaking the handover. Finally, we call upon all Zambians to pray for Mr Sata and his family during this period of darkness. We urge them to continue praying for honest leaders that will respect the tenets of good governance especially transparency and accountability. Frank Bwalya (Fr.) ABZ LEADER
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 10:59:46 +0000