5 September 2008
FINANCE and National Planning Minister, Ng'andu Magande has said that he was chosen by the late President Levy Mwanawasa as his successor with the full knowledge of Cabinet.
Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Magande said it was regrettable that even Cabinet ministers who attended the meeting and knew about the late president's will could not speak about it.
He challenged members of the Cabinet to reveal what transpired in the meeting when the president talked about the succession.
Mr Magande said Dr Mwanawasa stated in the meeting that he (Mr Magande) had helped him turn the economy around and it was for that reason that he wanted him to take over from him.
"The late president had preferred me to be his successor and I am not the only one who is aware of this because he said it in a Cabinet meeting and all those who were present know about this," he said.
Mr Magande said, however, that although the late president preferred him to be his successor, he would still be subjected to national executive committee (NEC) scrutiny because Zambia was a democratic country.
When asked why he took long to come out in the open, Mr Magande said the late president told him not to talk, and he was hopeful that Dr Mwanawasa would come back to announce it.
"For the last six months before the late president died you saw me travelling around with the president whether locally or overseas. This is indication that the president preferred me to succeed him," he said
But acting President, Rupiah Banda's campaign team chairperson Benny Tetamashimba said that the anointed candidate was Mr Banda because he is the one the late president handed over power to before he left for Egypt.
Mr Tetamashimba said at a Press briefing yesterday that Mr Banda was already one foot into State House and that it would be risky to replace him with a person like Mr Magande.
He also dismissed claims that President Mwanawasa left a political will that Mr Magande would succeed him saying such a will could not work in a democracy because people still had the right to choose their preferred leaders.
He said the issue of numbers did not favour Mr Magande because he could not even win Southern Province but that Mr Banda had support from all parts of the country.
He said allowing Mr Magande to stand on the MMD ticket would easily give away the election to the Patriotic Front.
Mr Tetamashimba said the NEC members were credible people who could not be bribed to vote for another candidate because doing so would mean killing the MMD.
He said ministers should not be afraid of losing their jobs because Mr Banda had no ill-feelings against anyone and that his team stood for reconciliation because there was a lot of hatred in the country.
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