10 November 2009
THE Bemba Royal Establishment (BRE) has been saddened by Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata's disrespectiful remarks against Paramount Chief Chitimukulu.
BRE Spokesperson Bwalya Chiti said in an interview yesterday that Mr Sata's accusations that Chief Chitimukulu's pocket had benefited from President Rupiah Banda's Government were unfortunate.
Mr Chiti said it was saddening that Mr Sata could choose to bring the name of the Paramount Chief into disrepute.
At the weekend, Mr Sata was quoted in the media as having said President Banda had achieved a lot of development in people's pockets like Chief Chitimukulu's.
This was in his reaction to Chief Mwatakazembe of the Lunda People of Luapula Province who praised President Banda for initiating several developments in the province in the one year President Banda had been in office.
But Mr Chiti said it was unfortunate that Mr Sata could bring Chief Chitimukulu in the subject when the paramount chief was not even the one who issued the statement.
He said Mr Sata's remarks were a sign of being disrespectful to the paramount chief and advised him to seek dialogue with the Chief if he had any issues to settle with him.
Mr Chiti said Mr Sata was a Bemba who was supposed to have respect for the paramount chief and wondered how he would respect chiefs from other provinces if he could not respect his own chief.
Mr Chiti said despite being a nephew to Mr Sata and differing politically, he had never insulted the PF leader and advised him to extend the respect to the chiefs.
He said he was close to Chief Chitimukulu and the help the paramount chief had received from Government was to receive medical attention abroad.
"Being taken for medical attention abroad by Government does not mean one has been bribed. Chief Chitimukulu is not the only one who has benefitted from being sent abroad for treatment as Mr Sata was also sent to South Africa by our late president Levy Mwanawasa and no one said he was bribed," he said.
He said it was Government's duty to take care of its citizens and that even then, it was not President Banda who decided but a committee of adjudicators which included doctors that decided to evacuate someone for treatment abroad.
And Luapula Royal Foundation (LRF) spokesperson Chief Chisunka said the LRF was also not happy that Mr Sata thought chiefs were corrupt just because they supported the government of the day.
Chief Chisunka said it was policy that chiefs worked with the government of the day and that should not be construed to mean they were compromised.
The chief, however, promised to issue a detailed statement over the matter.
Meanwhile, Luapula Member of Parliament Peter Machungwa wondered how Mr Sata, who was aspiring for a position of Republican president would be able to respect the chiefs in the country if voted in as president when he could not respect them now as a leader of an opposition political party.
Dr Machungwa said it was shameful for Mr Sata to think that chiefs were corrupt just because they were supporting the government of the day.
He said Mr Sata should remember that when he was in Government, the chiefs were working with the then government of the day and at no time did he say they were enjoying development in their pockets.
Dr Machungwa said the MPs from Luapula Province would also issue a detailed statement after a meeting this week.
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