July
20th 2002, and ex-Zambian President Frederick Chiluba is a tired and
stressed man.
In the
last fortnight, he has been accused by his successor - President Levy Mwanawasa
- of massive corruption - when in a special sitting of parliament and under a
declaration of a “zero tolerance stance on corruption” - Mwanawasa presented a
list of damning accusations against Chiluba - including twenty million dollars
squandered on a phantom arms deal, thirty five million dollars undeclared in the
sale of State Copper Mines & one million dollars paid to Chiluba’s personal
tailor.
At
this special sitting, Mwanawasa asked parliament to lift Chiluba’s immunity
from prosecution – which had Chiluba scrambling for a court interdict in
desperate defence of his very life.
These
developments are a bitter irony for Chiluba who after ten years in office had
tried to manipulate the political system to stay in power for another term.
When this attempt was thwarted, Chiluba hand-picked Mwanawasa to succeed him –
believing they would work in covert partnership.
But
the underlying question goes to who really is the good guy & who the
villain – is Mwanawasa’s declaration of “zero tolerance” for real or is it just
a ploy to eliminate those who pose a threat to power-base?
It
is widely believed that he illegally used large amounts of government funds to finance his lavish
election campaign - in an election that the majority of Zambians believe was
rigged.
For
the people of Zambia - over the past forty years - from Kaunda to Mwanawasa via
Chiluba - the ongoing constant, blighting their lives is seemingly Government
Corruption - and against this backdrop
of endemic “national mischief” – despite billions of dollars of international
aid, everyday Zambians remain poor with corruption filtering into every aspect
of their lives.
…………………..