Edwin Sakala leader of the opposition ZDDM says he is very disappointed with Patriotic Front functionaries like Lamerk Mangani who continue to demonize former president Rupiah Bwezani Banda and accusing him of scheming to bounce back to power.
In a press statement to Zambian Eye on Monday, Sakala urged Mangani who is the PF Eastern province Chairman to leave the former president alone.
“Please allow me to set records straight, Former President Rupiah Bwezani Banda has never made any statement that he wants to comeback to active politics,” Sakala said. “It has been ZDDM which has been in the forefront and which has brought his name on the political scene.”
He explained that ZDDM launched the campaign to persuade RB to consider coming back to active politics mainly because of the current division in the opposition.
“We picked on RB because he is one leader who commands the respect of the leaders of the two strongest opposition parties in Zambia. He is the only leader who can unite and work with other leaders,” Sakala said. As ZDDM we have a lot of respect for UPND leader Hichikema Hakaimde and President of MMD Nevers Mumba who we believe are very capable of offering Zambia the best alternative national leadership but our concern is that the two would split the vote in favor of the PF. It was against this background that we decided to launch a comeback campaign of RB because he is the only leader who can win an election single handedly.”
“For the attention of Mr. Mangani and all interested parties we can reveal that RB to this day is not keen. In spite of our effort to persuade him in person he does not seem interested and seem to believe that Zambians do not fully understand the realities the nation has to deal with and a people not yet capable of appreciating good leadership though the deep crisis facing Zambia,” said Sakala.
Sakala said It is unfortunate that Mangani should accuse a man who has no desire to return to politics of scheming to form government.
“If anything we have been pressing on him to endorse support for either MMD or UPND leader but he seem to be sharing our view that the only option and way forward for Zambia is for all political parties to find a formula of working together in national interest,” he said.
Sakala who was spearheading the campaign for RB to comeback to politics said despite his unwilling, the public response has been good and encouraging.
“Many Zambians in the urban and rural areas of the country have supported and openly joined us but we have found ourselves in a very awkward position because the man we want to come and help us unite the opposition and nation at large is not keen,” Sakala explained. “We cannot blame RB for being reluctant to comeback to Zambian politics because the major problem in this country is that our people do not realize that our altitude as a people is responsible for what the nation is going through.”
The ZDDM leader said Zambians unlike citizens of neighbouring countries treat politics like a game of soccer where they can sit back and cheer the players.
“They don’t realize or appreciate that political players are risking their lives for the common good of the country. The day when Zambians learn the need to take responsibility for their future Zambia will continue to sink deeper into the current misery,” he observed. ” While citizens of other nations work together for their common good Zambians enjoy sitting back and remaining as arm chair critics without themselves playing their role to help correct the situation.”
Zambians have sat back with arms folded watching fellow Zambians with courage fight for them killed and persecuted. Instead of appreciating the sacrifice Zambians will laugh and try to intellectualize the tragedy. This is forcing us to press for unity in the opposition.
What has been disappointing is that since we as opposition parties presented our case to the Commonwealth in Johannesburg South Africa we seem to be more divided. Our suspicion as a party is that the PF has infiltrated the opposition and planted individuals working at frustrating all efforts towards unity of purpose.”
Sakala said his party would want to see a united opposition adding that if efforts to have the opposition work together fail he shall not hesitate to put pressure on RB to save our nation from the PF which he said is destroying the country by behaving like they are more Zambian than other Zambians.
“Zambia URGENTLY needs a mental revolution to make them appreciate the fact that every citizen has a duty to save the country from self destruction but for this to happen we need a government which can promote love, unity of purpose and a people driven agenda hence setting our eyes on RB,” said Sakala.
Mangani is quoted in the Post edition of Monday saying the former president is using his son Andrew to push for a merger between MMD and UPND so that he can comeback to power indirect.
On Saturday, Andrew announced that he had launched a campaign to merge the two biggest opposition parties with any other progressive ones to serve the country from the misrule of the PF.