Africa-Press – Zambia. By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Today I woke up to calls and messages warning me that the UPND Media team, its online rogue media and its 23 Spokespersons will “finish” and “destroy” me.
I laughed.
My crime?
Well it’s many things but it appears that the last straw that broke the Camel’s back was my small article referencing John Sangwa’s comments stating that he doesn’t remember UPND Media Director, Mr. Zicron Mark Simuuwe as his law student.
Now let’s discuss the act or promised battle of finishing of me.
When I joined the Office of the Second President in 2002 (I don’t know where all these fellas were at the time) and before long, Dr. Frederick Chiluba made me his Spokesperson, fire and brimstone began to rain on me.
First the attacks were soft and mere soft showers.
This is 2002. There was an emerging mobilized public and private media supporting the new President, Levy Mwanawasa in his “fight against corruption” and the villain was a highly vilified former President, Frederick Chiluba with his former team cast as “tandem” of thieves, on the other side.
I quickly noted that all ethical and professional reporting standards were totally abandoned as both the public media led by an excited ZNBC and the private media led by The Post newspaper, relentlessly and savagely attacked Chiluba’s legacy, personality, character, morality and “exposed” his “matrix of “theft and plunder”.
I was frustrated.
Chiluba refused to respond or stage a media fight back.
It took a longtime for me to convince Dr. Chiluba, who lived by the virtue “Silence is Golden”, to persuade him to respond to the lies or entice him to tell his side of the story, especially with the credible facts, documents and paper trail available before him.
For example, when the “scandal” broke out of how $42million was “plundered” from the ZAMTROP Account, a controversial London-based account run by the Intelligence (Zambia Security Intelliegnce Service(ZSIS), where some individual snd non-government payments were made including payments to Chiluba’s Swiss tailor, a key factor was deliberately omitted.
The Intelligence had advised Chiluba to route international donations for the party and himself through the ZAMTROP account.
The ethical or sound nature of this advise is a matter of discussion for another day.
Audits later conducted by both Grant Thornton and PriceWaterHouse revealed that Chiluba had over $8.5million private donations emanating from Libya, Sudan, Angola and other sources made over the years.
Over $25million from the account was paid to a USA Security company to install and upgrade security features at State House, Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence, ZSIS, and the International Airport.
But the media had portrayed that Chiluba stole the entire $42million and were determined to stand by this clay foundation.
The Government and prosecutors hid this critical information about the $8.5million and sought that only their story of his alleged plunder stood.
Relentless Personal Attacks
When Dr. Chiluba finally came round and made me his Official Spokesperson in 2003, much damage was done to his public image and the State and his political opponents had literally won the propaganda war. He was deemed a thief, a plunderer who had stolen public resoruces.
He was at his weakest. He was now a former President. He was isolated and many friends and well wishers had deserted him quickly and shamelessly aligning themselves with the new President.
His assets were seized, his bank accounts were frozen, his friends were extremely few, his many Pentecostal friends and pastors had fled and his financial well-wishers for ten years, had disappeared.
I had to claw back some damage with little or no resources required to wage a media war of this size.
With UK’s DFID funding the “fight against corruption” (£40million was spent between 2003-2008) I had to contend with an international media, keen to demonstrate, demonize and justify the arrest and prosecution of the former President.
Government, with cooperating partners, appointed Serious Frauds Office of London and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigate and trace Chiluba’s proceeds of crime and stolen wealth.
When their detailed investigations drew a blank, Government was embarrassed to disclose the facts.
I came as a quiet, still but persistent voice, facing this local and international media infrastructure, beginning to peel off every lie, lift off every lid of facts and introducing and telling Chiluba’s side of the story.
It was an uphill battle.
I refused to tell lies or embellish his story.
The facts were solid and I knew the Truth had a habit of defending itself.
At first it was my family that was alarmed when they learnt that I was now working with the Second President.
“You are fighting government, they will destroy you. Besides you were NOT in his Government and therefore you “did not” eat with them. Leave this war to them”.
Levy Mwanawasa’s State House and Cabinet officials first chose to privately speak to me.
“We can appoint you as a District Commissioner.”
The position I held was that of a Deputy Permanent Secretary, so I didn’t even bother to consider or update their ignorance.
When I didn’t get back with an answer, they must have realized their folly and came back with a higher offer.
“You are young. You have a young family. This Chiluba war is NOT necessary for you. It’s not YOUR war. The President has offered you a position of Permanent Secretary or Ambassador in foreign Service.”
I respectfully declined and stated that the former President had trusted me with the responsibility of being his official Spokesperson and stated that I couldn’t betray this honour.
Then the dirty war began.
The worst about me was written and portrayed.
Some of the worst online and newspaper pictures, stories cast in an unfavorable posture on were taken and published during this period.
All sorts of falsehoods and lies were relentlessly written about me.
Further more serious harm was done against me.
I was poisoned three times in one case severely.
I was constantly threatened and my family.
I was one of the most surveilled persons as I was deemed as Chiluba’s eyes, ears and legs.
We once caught a group of four men with guns in a Toyota Corolla following me.
When we surrendered them to the Police at Woodlands, they were beaten and quickly confessed they were intelligence officers.
It had to take their Director to persuade Dr. Chiluba to have them released and the case dropped.
I was isolated and constantly vilified too. I had few friends as people choose the soft and lucrative side of the State.
Many people fear to be seen with persons vilified by the State.
Sometimes the toll on the family is greater and may not be seen.
In a play at Church I was horrified to find that my son was given a role of Judas Iscariot in the Easter play despite enrolling far earlier and choosing to be one of the good disciples.
Another day I picked my son from school and I found him crying. He was in lower grade.
A son to a Cabinet Minister who was his friend had said to him;
“My father said I shouldn’t play with you because your father works for a thief”
I was broken. All I was, was a Spokesperson for the former President and a mere dedicated government worker.
When my work began to show and their lies challenged, in a Cabinet meeting, President Mwanawasa personally fired me.
He instructed the Attorney General (George Kunda who was also Justice Minister) and Permanent Secretary at Cabinet Office to dismiss me.
“We can’t have a government worker insulting the President”.
I sued Cabinet office and Government.
Upon hearing this Mwanawasa personally instructed the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, George Kunda to defend the case.
I won in High Court.
George Kunda appealed to the Supreme Court.
I also won in the Supreme Court.
But no one could touch my file or reinstate me despite the two judgments, in the High Court and Supreme Court.
For five years I remained unpaid despite the orders of the court.
It took the death of President Mwanawasa for Cabinet Office to finally reinstate me and pay my past dues!
So when I hear that certain people want to finish me, I laugh.
In 2014, at the height of the fight between Guy Scott and Edgar Lungu and the negotiations to bring the two belligerent parties together, Guy Scott’s demands was in two fold.
•Appoint Miles Sampa as Vice President and
•fire Emmanuel Mwamba.
The question was fire me from what?
President Micheal Sata had already fired me a few months before.
So at the press conference called the following day to present the two belligerent parties together to be held at Government House, Scott was shocked to find me organising the press conference and liaising with Oscar Chavula from HotFM for the live broadcast.
Scott immediatetly confronted me without minding the cameras flashing and rolling.
“What are you doing here? I specifically asked that you should be fired and be removed from the campaign” Scott shouted.
I mumbled an answer but Scott couldn’t wait.
“You are very dangerous. You are more dangerous than Fred Mmembe”
He was furious.
“For Fred Mmembe has an infrastructure (The Post) but you have none but yet you are more dangerous!”
“Come Upstairs,” he ordered.
Scott was Acting President at the time.
I sheepishly followed him upstairs where we found the Director General (ZSIS) ready to give the Acting President the daily briefing.
Charlotte Scott didn’t make things better for me as soon as we arrived upstairs she showed her husband my new posting on my FACEBOOK page announcing to my audience a peace deal to be signed shortly.
This infuriated Scott afresh!
“ Are you the Secretary General of the Patriotic Front? Are you the Spokesperson of the Party?. Who has given you this information? Who has authorized to release to the public?”
“Anyway go back and regard today as a new page”
That’s how Im not in the famous reconciliation pictures of 2014.
So for those seeking to destroy me. You are welcome.
I’ve endured the insults, the trolling, the lies, the attacks, the accusations, and the shaming.
I’ve been through the fire, and emerged, not as charcoal but as diamond.
I just focus on what I do best. Do my job and focus on pursuing the Truth.
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