‘Indaba not political’

Since the days of first Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda has held multipurpose meetings called under Kaunda "National Conventions" but since the late President Levy Mwanawasa as "Indabas". Now President Banda has called his own Indaba and in this story carried by Times of Zambia April 1, 2009 ZANIS reporter Christeter Macha reported March 31, 2009 from Matsapha airport in Swaziland that the president did not see the "Indaba" as a political tool:

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has said that the national indaba scheduled for this weekend is not political but intended to help resolve the economic problems brought about by the global economic recession.

In an interview with ZANIS at Matsapha airport in Swaziland before departure back to Lusaka, Mr Banda said that it was sad that some political parties had misinterpreted the planned indaba.

“It is an economic indaba intended to enable Zambians talk about their country and to find ways of overcoming the effects of the global financial crisis,” Mr Banda said.

The Government had in this year’s Budget provided a number of incentives aimed at cushioning the impact of the global economic meltdown on the country’s economy. President Banda was in Swaziland to attend a one-day Southern African Development Community (SADC) extraordinary summit aimed at discussing and charting the way forward on the economic recovery plan for Zimbabwe and to also resolve the political unrest in Madagascar.

And Mr Banda described the summit which came to a close last night as a success.
He commended King Mswati III and his government for organising the summit, saying countries in the region were committed to solving problems affecting member states. Mr Banda said some of the key issues discussed during the summit were the economic recovery plan for Zimbabwe and the political insecurity in Madagascar, adding that the heads of State and government in the region were happy with progress made in the implementation of the unity government in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, President Banda is concerned that men and women in uniform were involved in violating the constitution in Madagascar. He said what happened in Madagascar was unconstitutional in many ways, adding that the ousting of a legitimately recognised government and ushering into office of a president who is not of constitutional age is another serious violation of the constitution of Madagascar.

“Indeed the constitution has been violated in Madagascar and we have seen men and women in uniform taking the law into their own hands by bringing in a person who is not of constitutional age among other acts,” he said.

Mr Banda said that all SADC countries are constitutional and the heads of state have condemned what happened in that country. The president was among eight heads of State and government who attended the summit, which was chaired by King Mswati III who is also chairperson of the organ on politics, defence and security.—ZANIS