Rupiah Banda’s presidency: One year later
- Sunday, November 1, 2009, 10:58
- Special Reports
- 37 comments
President Banda being sworn in a year ago
By KENNEDY LIMWANYA-THREE hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days ago, all eyes were on the one man who walked up the dais, lifted a copy of the Bible in his right hand and solemnly pledged to uphold the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia in the office of President.
It was a touching speech that he delivered on a sweltering Sunday afternoon at the National Assembly grounds, coming only weeks after the casket of his predecessor Dr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa SC had lain in state there.
He promised the nation that he would be “President of all Zambians.”
Mr Rupiah Bwezani Banda had just been elected fourth president of the Republic of Zambia in the country’s first-ever presidential by-election which he scooped on his very first attempt at the plum office.
It is safe to admit that for the most part of the year since that November 2, 2008 inauguration, President Banda has come under abnormally heavy bombardment of verbal and editorial spray. Some of it from a collage of strange bedfellows, only united into one deathly squadron by a common but morbid desire to unseat him, whatever the cost.
Confessedly, it has been a difficult first year in office, given the many seemingly insurmountable hurdles that lay ahead of the way with high priests of doom praying for the worst.
Economy
The global financial crisis that had emasculated even the strongest of the world’s economies did, not spare Zambia which, like most Third World countries, is heavily dependent on donor support for survival.
It was a trying season for President Banda; a period that would test his ability to provide leadership in the midst of an impending catastrophe.
While the government was busy working out solutions to the sagging economy, President proved to the world that he was a believer in team work by putting together a national indaba aimed at identifying the possible way forward for the country.
The two-day indaba opened in Lusaka on his 153rd day in office under the theme “Global economic crisis: a wake-up call for Zambia’s economic transformation.” It brought together more than 600 delegates from all walks of life, including a delegation from the Zambian Diaspora whose recommendations the Government has taken seriously hence the opening of a Diaspora Desk at State House.
The gathering was indeed a timely response to the call by World Bank vice-president for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili who had advised African governments to engage their citizens in finding solutions to the crisis that threatened to negate all the gains of the last few years.
She showed the World Bank’s confidence in Mr Banda’s administration by attending the Lusaka indaba which also attracted African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka.
That was a critical period in which some opposition parties had been hoping that the donor community would abandon Zambia. It was a slap in their faces as this gathering came just four days after the cooperating partners, at a high-level policy dialogue in Lusaka, had pledged to continue supporting Zambia’s development programmes.
And President Banda has kept his development agenda alive and not departed from his inauguration speech in which he pledged to do all he could to ensure that all Zambians were empowered.
While some interest groups labeled him all sorts of names, Zambia attracted important financial institutions such as commercial banks from such countries as Nigeria and South Africa. The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Union (EU) among others provided considerable financial support for a variety of economic development programmes.
In the period when he was dismissed as a globe-trotting President with no concern for impoverished populations, he saw to it that the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) bought 175 330 tonnes of maize worth K228 billion at the price of K65 000 per 90kg bag from around the country.
It should be asked whether an incompetent President would run a Government that has signed an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) to facilitate the $210m expansion of Manda Hill Shopping Centre in Lusaka? And preside over investments such as the $160m world class shopping mall to be constructed on the Copperbelt and spark 1000 job opportunities?
What about the $1bn in investment attracted to the Chambishi Multi-Facility Economic Zone where he commissioned a new ultra modern smelter? How could an incapable President enable Government to pour K500bn into development programmes in Northern Province? The list is endless.
But then, one need not be a political scientist to see through the schemes which seem not to have a consistent premise of misrepresenting President Banda as they ogle the 2011 presidential and general elections, now about 25 months away.
They now want to align President Banda to all sorts of imaginary misdeeds and make him answerable to more questions than the number of days he has been in office.
It is a frightening indictment of the sharp descent that our politics have taken that politicians of all hues, and other Zambians who are generally expected to be better informed, shift their positions and fire barbed words only meant to derail the country’s progress.
To the doomsayers, Mr Banda has done nothing positive and they are determined to peddle that message, no matter how personally unconvincing it may be even to themselves.
They will say nothing about how in the first national budget under President Banda, Government has sought to raise productivity in agriculture by allocating K1.1 trillion to the sector agriculture sector while zero-rating tax on major agricultural implements to encourage local manufacture of the equipment.
Further, they are not prepared to agree that that the removal of windfall tax on copper incomes and retention of variable income tax were part of the cost reduction measures aimed at encouraging further investment in the mines and forestalling further job losses in the wake of the downturn.
Nor, in their parochial opinion, is there any good in the two national budgets presented in 2009 by Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane whose thrust has been economic growth while, at the same, time cushioning the effects of the global financial crisis.
Should it not matter that within the first one year in office, President Banda has presided over a government that has, at long last, changed the budget cycle to ensure that the financial year begins at the very threshold of the year?
It is the first time since independence in 1964 that this is happening and it must be noted that it takes firm but fair leadership to change trends that have almost become tradition.
There are still a lot of difficulties that need even more of President Banda’s time and commitment, but Zambia is not on its knees. By far.
None of the country’s problems, especially in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, can be expected to be solved overnight. This is one fact that has been acknowledged by International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn who has said that while the global crisis has taken a little longer to reach the low-income countries, the outlook for these economies has deteriorated dramatically and that a global recovery would be delayed into 2010, even if the countries adopted the right policies to fight recession.
Zambia is no island, and credit must, undoubtedly, go to President Banda’s pragmatism in handling serious national issues as opposed to pandering to narrow and short-term political gains.
In fact, is it not a phenomenal achievement that despite the current crisis, the Central Statistical Office has forecast a 6.3 per cent growth rate?
China, which is now a global leader in economic growth, is just below eight per cent while most developed countries are sub-zero.
Friendly
Over the one year that Mr Banda has been president, Zambians have had the time to assess character and personality. RB, as the President is fondly known, is a friendly and likeable person who loves people.
This is the one man who, as is no longer unusual, often defies security restrictions to extend his hand to greet an ordinary Zambian in many of his travels around the country.
The last one year has provided an opportunity for the Zambian people to see the two faces of President Banda; one, as portrayed by his sworn opponents and all manner of image builders, and the other as actually seen when one gets to meet him physically.
He has that natural charm with which he makes audiences feel at ease in his presence. There are not too many presidents, least of them in Zambia, with the time to bow before an ordinary poor citizen. Yet this is almost second nature to President Banda.
He has not departed from the humility that he showed when he served as vice-president under the late Dr Mwanawasa and in the run-up to the October 30, 2008 presidential by-election.
A different president, considering what material the country has on the elections menu, would throw the nation into tense subservience. That high office would have no friendliness and no empathetic face.
A journey back to November 2, 2008 reveals streets of unwarranted provocative remarks from the media, opposition politicians and – rather oddly and even more destructive—former senior members of the MMD who have shown an eccentric bent for poisonous language.
In spite of the barrage of hot chillis, President Banda has remained patient and steadfast. Not just for biased claims’ sake, it is true that in RB, the country has a fatherly overseer whom opponents should oppose with a sense of goodwill rather than the vehement ill-will on display day in, day out.
The arrogance and high-handedness exhibited by some opposition political leaders is alien to President Banda who believes in team work, which is why he stands out among all candidates ahead of the 2010 elections. Accused of corruption, he launched the National Anti-Corruption Policy on his 299th day in office… proof of corruption indeed!
One might think that Zambians, after the loss of president Mwanawasa, needed a calming personage of reassuring demeanour ,such as RB has proved to be. This is the amiable man whom some political warlords would like voters to see as a monster.
Just under a month ago, when the shortage of petrol was beginning to bite, President Banda chose not to engage in the flip-flopping that has become characteristic of some of Zambia’s leading opposition leaders.
With a straight face, he apologised to the nation and regretted that the petrol shortage had inconvenienced many Zambians: and earned mockery for that.
All this was happening with one year of his presidency.
Yet Zambians know of some politicians who, eight years later, have still never apologized for shepherding a horde of machete-wielding hoodlums on a maiming spree in Chawama Township in Lusaka.
Eighteen years later, there has been no apology from those who commandeered bulldozers on a demolition exercise of poor people’s houses in Kanyama Township.
Some people may have forgotten these ugly episodes, but many still have bitter memories of the reign of those who now pretend to be the saviours-in-waiting.
Many Zambians are now living in squalour because of the manner in which the country’s mines were privatized while those who headed the privatisation teams are literally swimming in opulence and simultaneously firing hateful accusations.
They are too arrogant and proud to apologise. All they can do is use the wealth to mount a no-holds-barred campaign to get to State House, regardless of whether their partner is someone they described, not too long ago, as uneducated and uncivilized.
It surely appears that a man who stands for nothing will fall for anything. It is important for people, particularly politicians, to remember that life is lost at finding itself all alone. This is the advice from Jose Ortega Y Gasset in Revolt of the Masses (1930).
He adds that mere egoism, as exhibited by some new entrants on the political scene, is a labyrinth. To live is to be directed towards something; to progress towards a goal.
Humility
Leadership and pretence do not go together. The humility to show remorse when things do not appear to go well is a virtue that leaders ought to embrace at all times.
It does in no way mean weakness.
Despite Mr Banda’s obvious humility in harnessing every Zambian’s effort in charting the country’s course, the attacks – many of them personal – have shown no signs of petering out.
The attacks have even extended to President Banda’s grown-up children who, like any other Zambian, have the right to determine their own destiny. At his age, Mr Banda has educated and mature children who defined their own fortunes in life during his earlier years in Government, diplomatic service, business and retirement.
World
“When will President Banda visit Zambia?” mockers have laughed in jest.
His participation at regional, continental and world events has served Zambia well, for in this day and age every nation needs international recognition. He now chairs the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and is vice-chair of the SADC organ on politics.
Zambia is tangibly present on the world stage.
From that level to featuring as a special guest at the Chakwela Makumbi ceremony of the Soli people in Chongwe last weekend, President Banda serves as a unifying factor that it is time Zambians so recognized and appreciated.
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This is really a waste of time and energy, or maybe this is one of the hired RB image-builders. Trying to persuade and convince people with praises for RB will not save RB. Attending a traditional ceremony does not make RB a unifying factor: We as Zambians have been united since Independence. This Article contain a myriad of mistakes in reasoning which have resulted in false conclusions by the author. In Logic, these are called Fallacies!!!! I am going to fetch for fuel now……… in Tunduma.
Good analysis, but it should have been balanced, dont just concentrate on the positive side. U hav just dan the exact oposite of what the post newspaper are doing. 4better analysis next tym cover both +ve and -ve sides. This wu make mmd sympathisers hapi but at the same tym it wil anoy pf/upnd cadres.
You know when you analyse all available leaders, HH very young had great potential but this new suit he has adopted from Sata, isnt the best suit ever(Insults, tribal politics, dictatorial leadership) leaves him vey undesirable compared to Sata (dictatorial leader,although has reduced insults, still a bemba tribalist, no education,cant comprehend certain things, RB(very old, but wise, doesnt insult, travels a lot, mwanawasa’a mistake president, never ever utters tribal sentiments) The question is of the three devils above who is he better devil? Be careful that we do not bring another muyaya or dictator that we will fail to remove ten years later, and have another Chiluba experience!
By the way, how many of the 365 and a 1/4 days has he ACTUALLY spent IN Zambia?
ok am forced to comment on this one…it cheap propagander from the writer, nd frankly spaking R&B has done more hurm thn good to the Zambian people…Talking bout Manda Hill Investmens both in Lusaka and in the Copperbelt, first thing first those investors are coming to Xploit Zambians secondly the profits to be made there are way much more than the investmen put aside. So what job creation are you toking about sales man and lady type? thats the type of jobs am seeen coming from there.
i can wait to see that thing 4 a president leave office in 2011…and MMD as a whole…mwatuchusha sana.R&B is a minority president thanX to rigging ya…I challeg any person to tell me what VISITON this old man is driving @? Oh apart from Uniting them pepo of Zambia which is just being a lunatic if u ask me…we are not @ war nor are pepo killing each other…
You can tell from the article that the chap who wrote it is a boy with no experience. He is a beneficially of taxpayers money. When countries like Kenya are busy reducing government expenditure RB is busy wasting and mismanaging our resources. Shame boy go back to school if God has not given you enough wisdom to talk about the truth.
Ba Zambian Watchdog, if you’re going to publish an article like this at least try to be much more objective and undistorted by such personal and emotional bias. Politics aside, RB may have made headway in certain aspects of his presidency for the last year he’s been in office, HOWEVER you cannot ignore the many glaring challenges that Zambians continue to face today, that have impaired and greatly undermined his efforts.
Please ba ZWD give us a complete picture, rather than this repulsive, one-sided, sorry excuse of a report that accomplishes the exact opposite of what it was intended!
Good question, when is he visting Zambia?
I did a google search,the author of this story is employed by Times of Zambia so we all know what’s up now.Kennedy has authored similar articles to ”paint a good picture” about Banda but all this is in vain.
I look forward to the day that ZNBC,Times of Zambia & Daily Mail will be privatised.I wonder what happened to the term ETHICS,it seems Zambian journalists don’t know about it no wonder they have just formed a body to regulate themselves.Such articles should be left for PR experts or Banda’s chap Jere including MMD strategists & cadres not a journalist from a national paper.
Watchdog,remove this nosense frm this sit,its not good to prostitut yrself like this,u must hve runout of stories to break,break,g news means as it is hapen,g? these days u are so behind.
Even in Investment Appraisal, we asses a projects worthwines by analysing both ‘costs’ and ‘benefits’ Please Mr Journalist, Analyse his strengths and weaknesses.. Let the people and him the President have enough information to make an informed decisions! I guess thats your job, don’t be biasd.. And don’t make people support who you want.. Its both killing a person telling them either 100% good or 100% bad. Tell a person 50-50.. That way you would have helped him. Its only JESUS CHRIST who should be potrayd like that in an article because he is 100% right.
what is this nation coming to? why should a rational educated person write such crap? we’ve got a govt press that is extremely biased to one side, and a private media extremely biased to the other side. i believe the nation is being run by armchair analysts who don’t live in the real world. do they love their children? if they did they’d work hard to create a better future for them!
God Bless President Banda and his family. Lets pray he works well for the country for the next 2 years.
Kennedy Limwanya used to work at the Times of Zambia before he was recruited by Dickson Jere to work with him at State House. So this is why he is writing such cr.ap.
This article is a good one. It is good not because it defends RB, but because it tells what he has actually done. If anyone has something against it, let them tell us what he has not done. I am not interested in Zambian politicking, but I can say that when the developed world were in recession, (less than zero percent growth for four consecutive quarters), even 1% growth for them would have been lauded!
I hate to read the word projects, especially as used by politicians kennedy says they have spent K500 billon on projects in n/province, why not itemize what those projects are at least give us the notable ones. the shopping mall you are talking about on THE copperbelt, has been talked about since 2004, UNTIL we see the building start better to keep quiet those are the things that annoy the C/B DWELLERS!
Is this mampara smoking his socks?
I did not want to comment but the bias in the article forces me to ask a few questions. Could the president’s words in Kasama concerning the PF MP’s be construed as insults? What about his advice to the electorate in Eastern province to vote for a local guy, can we not say that is a tribalistic comment? I think the author of this piece is drunk with love for Rupiah. This Kennedy fellow is actively looking for a job from RB. In my humble opinion, RB’s tenure has made things worse rather than better. There have been too many scandals in 12 short months, more than in KK’s 27 year rule! Bwezani is an incompetent, ignorant, selfish politician in whom I see nothing positive. Mr. kennedy, try another trick coz we ain’t buying this useless bootlicking piece.
The problem with Aficans is that they are too dependent on others for their everything. Government to them is the one holding the spoon to be fed from.
Is it no wonder that they remain in poverty? The better thing to do is to stop whining and do something useful.
Every simple thing, you hear the loudest whining and complaining enough to wake the dead. Grow up you losers.
long haul:
This is not a problem in Africa alone. I detest this patronising of Africa. We have fewer resources and there are fewer people, that is why every little thing is noticed. In the USA, several contracts on Iraq rebuilding went to Bush’s friends and associates and Former VP Chenney had one of the largest. In Afghanistan, the present President was handed this because of oil pipe line contracts he held for the US. In UK, BAE systems paid bribes to secure contracts with Saudi Arabia and South Africa. The state stopped the prosecution because of ‘no public interest.’ Time would fail me to enlist corruption in France, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia etc. What I will agree on, is that in many of the developed countries, there is an ethic of honesty and integrity in many that has been passed on down through the ages and their investigating wings are not partisan. In Zambia, the rot starts at home. We have all been brought up with a culture that is intricately interwoven with corruption. Corruption IS our second nature, but we are so used to it that we are blinded. The simplest example is this: A policeman catches you driving beyond the speed limit. You admit the charge but apologise. Seeing who you are and what kind of an important person you could be, he lets you off. No money has exchanged hands, but in his mind, you now owe him big time. This is corruption because the police officer has acted as investigator, prosecutor and judge all at the same time. When a crime is committed, the police officer’s duty is to present it for prosecution. It is the judge who must decide the punishment or not. To many of us this is a familiar scenario. We did not think this is corruption at all, because were the beneficiaries. I know a former minister who stopped a Zambian parastatal company from employing his wife in a different town from Lusaka, simply by a phone call and a threat of dismissal to the would-be employer. ‘Give my wife this job, and consider yourself fired!’ This person is still in politics and waxes lyrical against corruption! The point of what I am saying is that we need to start from home. Our children must learn to fairness. They must learn not to take anything for nothing. In Zambia, the bill boards should read, ‘There is no such thing as a free lunch! Do not acceot anything for nothing!’
This article appears in both the Times of Zambia and Daily mail. It could have been a good read if both negatives and positives were thrown in RB is not as perfect as u would like us to believe. You even state he is humble yet he is on record for having said that he is stubborn.the two dont go together.
Chairing of SADC or Graet lakes are rotational among nations and not something to write about unless you have nothing to write. This rubish puts Rupiah in far worse image than before. What a poor image builder.
Some glaring mistruths in this article
1. The expansion of Manda Hill was started in the Mwanawasa regime. Construction had even began and it was only the LCC which blocked the expansion. The case went before a tribunal which only concluded its work early this year. Will the author please tell us how RB comes in?
2. Same case as with the Chambishi MFEZ. Ground works had began even when RB was still sleeping at his farm
3. When it comes to international recognition, the only time Zambia was recognised was when some chap fell off an elevator. I don’t see how this is helpful to the nation
4. The Copperbelt shopping mall project is the same way. The plans have been there since 2004
5. The K500bn he is refering to, I assume, is the Lumwana Copper Mine. How RB is supposed to have initiated this is beyond me.
6. Windfall Tax was based on the copper price per tonne. At the time it was removed, Copper prices were below USD6000 per tonne, which was the trigger price. So to claim that the removal of this tax helped stave off job losses is chicanery of the highest order. We are now involved in the stupid and unnecessary debate as to whether to reinstate WT AGAIN!
This article is like what used to happen in Russia. The Govt would go back in history to alter facts if they are not in comformity with the current thinking. This is what this author is trying to do.
Please ZW, if such a paper is to be published, I think you need to ask another person from across the spectrum to issue a rebuttal. This article is very hollow
Severe deficiency of analytical tools is displayed by this writer
And one more thing. If I apologise for pooping on your front step, whithout first cleaning up the mess, please do not expect me to forgive you. A fuel crisis was created, and even though the president apologised, he did not bother to fix it, or fire the errant officers, which means he is as much a part of the cause of the crisis. He is busy trying to sort out Zim’s problems when we have enough on our plate. 1st remove the log in your eye. Zim may have political problems but its motorists are not queuing for fuel!
Young Kennedy.
This is what we call “yellow journalism”. My humble appeal to you Kenny is please go and train at an approved institution especially Hone or UNZA. You surely must have attended one of these back door colleges. In case you have no funds, talk to Dickson Jere.
What a laughable article…!!!! I can’t seem to see the vision in this article….God help mother Zambia…what a joke of an article…
useless time waster fulwe
This Article is total rubbish (Bootlickers) .Compare this to 100 days which was given to Obama this is shit -100%. Bo Bweleza Ndalama mwanya apapena .Splaka I like your contribution,
Over the one year that Mr Banda has been president, Zambians have had the time to assess character and personality. RB, as the President is fondly known, is a friendly and likeable person who loves people. I think the writer is an id107 who don’t know what the ohther hand is doing.Supporting blindly because of few blown envelops is BAD.I will remaind you this guy is stubon,selfish,arogant & doesn’t listern to any one including you.Sorry
Over the one year that Mr Banda has been president, Zambians have had the time to assess character and personality. RB, as the President is fondly known, is a friendly and likeable person who loves people. I think the writer is an id107 who don’t know what the ohther hand is doing.Supporting blindly because of few blown envelops is BAD.I will remaind you this guy is stubon,selfish,arogant & doesn’t listern to any one including you. Sorry for the above copy and pest.
Banda is a great man.show him respect,he is our president! God bless RBB!
please stop judging banda so negatively, hateful bastards! u r the same chaps who will still complain of the pact wins in 2011,never satisfied people.
I guess the writter has no clue on how to measure national leadership perforamnce. In the first place President Banda has never presented a simple structure of his vision i.e. what he wants to achieve by 2011. The first thing any leader does at any level is to give a roadmap of where he is going. Even if one is in office for one week he should state what he would do within that one week. To borrow Edith Nawakwi`s description, Rupiah Banda is a vey incompetent president whose leadership is propelled on tribal and regional alignments. The guy will go in history with shortest tenure of office and the worst president.
The article has a lot of flows and most of the success attributed to Banda Bwezani were started in the late president era. Thanks that he was able to continue with those programmes and projects. I feel the author missed alot of Banda Bwezani misdeed in the one year he has been in office. The man has failed to provide the much needed leadership and there are lots of evidence to confirm that. Within MMD, the party is divided which is due to poor leadership. For instance, political violence of the Chiluba days is back and his rivalry with Satani of the PF has further worsen political violence. Awarding of an evaluation contract to RP on sell of Zamtel under closed doors is another sure way of perpetuating corruption and to whose benefit anyway. The political erana has gone to the dogs and the author can not tell me that Banda Bwezani has performed.The man is not a democrat.
The recession which hit mature economies should not be an issue but a lesson. Banda Bwezani can not say that he provided the much leadership to take us through the recession. The man did not institute a strong survival plan to cushion the recession but what we saw was him and cronies enjoying airborne trips at the expense of Zambians.
In short, Banda Bwezani has no plan for Zambia and his surviving on what was already started by the late president. Most projects i see in the country side are those initiated by the late president and he can not disband that. Bwana author, no matter what you say, i don’t what Banda Bwezani to rule me beyond 2011 election. MMD must find a suitable candidate for presidency and not Banda Bwezani.
You can only manage to deceive a blind and deaf man. We know the truth.