Kaunda endorses Banda for president

HUMPHREY NKONDE
Correspondent | Friday October 10, 2008 00:00

 

The country goes to the polls on October 30following the death of president Levy Mwanawasa on August 19 in France.

Chief Justice Ernest Sakala has confirmed that the successful candidates who lodged their nomination papers for Zambia's first presidential by-election are Banda, Michael Sata, the leader of the Patriotic Front(PF), Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda, president of the Heritage Party and one-time vice president under ex-president Frederick Chiluba, and Hikainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPD).

Last week government handed over the house that was built for Dr Kaunda. The house in Lusaka has been constructed to the tune of K 7.4 billion. At the handover ceremony 'KK' said Sata - Banda's strongest challenger - 'could only make a good minister'.

Kaunda was ousted from power for the first time since 1963 by the MMD when fresh winds of change swept through Africa in the early 1990s in which several countries embraced multi-party politics.

So why would Dr Kaunda endorse Banda of the MMD, the political party that removed him and his UNIP [United National Indepence Party] from power after almost three decades of uninterrupted rule?

Firstly, to Kaunda, Banda would be more sympathetic towards UNIP than Sata who had defected to the MMD before the 1991elections. Banda did not resign from UNIP following the emergence of the MMD that was spearheaded by Chiluba and the late president Mwanawasa, among others.Banda stood on a UNIP ticket in Munali constituency in the October 1991first multi-party elections, but lost to MMD's Ronald Penza, who was later appointed finance minister by Chiluba.From that time, Banda remained in political obscurity within UNIP until Mwanawasa nominated him as member of Parliament and vice president in October 2006.

Before that, Mwanawasa's vice-president was Lupando Mwape, who lost his seat in Lukashya in Northern province to Sata's candidate. But because Banda had helped the MMD to make inroads into Eastern Province, which had been a UNIP stronghold, he and the region were compensated with the vice presidency of the country.

Tilyenji, Dr Kaunda's son and current UNIP president, indicated last month that he would not challenge Banda in the October 30 presidential by-election. According to Tilyenji, 'Banda knows UNIP principles', so there is no need to oppose him.   

In the 2006 elections, Dr Kaunda supported the umbrella opposition political party, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), comprising UNIP, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD), which was formed by MMD 'rebels' expelled for opposing Chiluba's third term bid in 2001, as well as the United Party for National Development (UPND). KK then endorsed its leader Hichilema, basically due to the fact that his (Kaunda) two sons Tilyenji and Panji were members of the alliance.  Hikainde's presidential bid failed, as he finished in third place after Mwanawasa and Sata.

FDD has indicated that it will not participate in the October 30 presidential by-election, thus weakening Hichilema's position as UNIP is throwing its weight behind Banda.
Meanwhile, economic and development experts say expenditures on the election campaigns would contribute to inflationary pressure in Zambia at a time when financial markets (stock exchanges) have collapsed worldwide. Minister of Finance and National Planning Ng'andu Magande has indicated the election expenditure would eat into the budget to about 1.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), but that this would be kept below two percent.

The country needs about K 400 billion for the presidential by-election, on top of the K 50 billion spent on Mwanawasa's funeral after he died in a French military hospital in Paris on August 19.
(Sila Press Agency)