Why Banda lost Zambian elections

HUMPHREY NKONDE
Correspondent | Tuesday September 27, 2011 00:00

Former president Rupiah Banda, 74, conceded defeat last week after the September 20 general election, igniting several questions.  What contributed to his downfall? Was he the right candidate after the death of the country's third president Levy Mwanawasa? Was he supposed to stand on the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) ticket in this year's elections?

To start with, Banda is a man who became head of state by default.  Mwanawasa brought him in as vice president after then office bearer Lupando Mwape was defeated by a PF rival in his constituency in the Northern Province in the 2006 general elections.

Mwanawasa could have been right to bring in Banda, who was a former member of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) from the Eastern Province, so as to hold the party together. Since Mwanawasa was not eligible to stand in the 2011 presidential elections, he would have caused division within the MMD if he selected one of the insiders to become vice president.

Propelling an insider to that position would have been misinterpreted to mean that the second-in-command was being groomed as a presidential candidate for the 2011 elections.  Instead Mwanawasa nominated Banda as Member of Parliament (MP) and appointed him republican vice president.

Unfortunately, Mwanawasa died in August 2008, creating space for Banda to step in as acting president. The MMD had an advantage of choosing Banda in the subsequent by-election because as acting president the post gave him access to public resources, state security and transport.  Mwanawasa was mourned for 21 days - his body was taken to nine provincial centres and in a way, the government induced grief in people and diminished the time for opposition parties to campaign since the initial duration for the funeral was seven days.  Analysts said that Banda beat Sata then because he received a sympathetic vote to become the 'caretaker' president.

Banda used the state-owned aircraft to reach out to several places during the 2008 presidential by-election.  This year Sata also used a hired helicopter to campaign.  As a new entrant into the MMD, Banda realised that there were others within the party who intended to challenge him in this year's election.  This was perhaps why he promised the people in 2008 that his role was only to finish Mwanawasa's term.  Banda's government did not in fact uphold Mwanawasa's legacy.  The Task Force on Corruption that was created by Mwanawasa was disbanded and the abuse of office clause in the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act was removed.  The government spent K135 billion (P190.9 million) on a failed constitution whose draft was shot down by Parliament in March this year.

Others claim that Banda had a hand in the acquittal of deceased second president Frederick Chiluba of corruption charges and that his government should have apologised when protesters were shot dead in Mongu in Western Province over the 1964 Barotseland Agreement early this year.  In the 2006 elections, Western Province was an MMD stronghold, but now Mongu Central and Nalolo constituencies in that region are in the hands of Sata's PF.

Windfall tax on base metals, including copper, which Mwanawasa's government introduced, was dropped by Banda's regime.  Barely a week before the September 20 general elections, Finance Bank was sold to First National Bank (FNB) Zambia, a subsidiary of South Africa's FirstRank Bank.  Opposition parties said even if the mandate to offload the Finance Bank, privately owned by local Indian tycoon Rajan Mathani, rested with the Bank of Zambia, it was an action that should not have been executed in the absence of the National Assembly and cabinet.  After assuming the presidency in 2008, Banda diverted from his promises - he could not listen to the people and he backtracked from the pledge that his role was only to finish Mwanawasa's term.  Despite a public outcry, his government went ahead with partial privatisation of the state-owned Zambia Telecommunications Company (ZAMTEL) to a private company that had connections to ousted Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Some former ZAMTEL managers stood on the PF ticket in this year's elections. For example Fackson Shamenda, a former ZAMTEL employee and ex-president of the Zambia Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) is the new PF legislator for Ndola Central.

Banda fell from grace because of young voters, The Post newspaper and the police.  The youth rioted in Lusaka, Ndola, Nakonde and Mufulira after the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) delayed announcing election results.

Earlier, youths raided the Ndola Civic Centre, sparking protests in the city centre.  They claimed that council officials were trying to rig the elections.  They carried a mock coffin wrapped in MMD campaign materials, saying that they had just returned from the cemetery to bury Banda.

The Post newspaper published an article on September 22, predicting that Sata would win with 59 percent from results obtained from PF's Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT). It also published pictures, exposing some of the gadgets, including laptop computers, which were allegedly used by intelligence officers to produce extra voters' cards and national registration cards, aimed at rigging the election. (Sila Press Agency)