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Former State House Special Assistant to the President Rapson Chilufya has warned that Michael Sata’s security may be in jeopardy because of the controversy surrounding his unexpected trip to Israel.
And Chilufya, who worked for Presidents Levy Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda said in Lusaka that the people handling the presidency would be held responsible if anything happened to Michael Sata in Israel.
“I have worked for two consecutive presidents as Special Assistant to the President and we have never had such an experience. This is strange because it seems the system at State House had collapsed,” he said.
Chilufya said whenever the president was travelling out of the country, it should not be a secret to the people because the president was an employee of the people of Zambia.
“We are surprised with the new system because we do not know when the current president is travelling out of the country. The new system that is there now is very surprising because we are never told when the president is leaving and what time. We are only told when he arrives in a foreign country. We don’t know when he travels, how he travels and who he travels with,” he said.
Chilufya, who retired from State House after the MMD loss in 2011 said there were so many inconsistencies and disjointed statements coming from the government over Michael Sata’s foreign trip to Israel.
He said the people of Zambia who elected Michael Sata were not aware when Sata left the country, although the government was insisting that he left on Friday last week.
After Michael Sata left, the Zambia Army sentries continued mounting an guard at the main entrance to State House. The Zambia Army guard outside State House symbolizes the presence of the President inside State House, but this time, Michael Sata had left the country but the sentries continued with their armed guard for two continuous days.
Defence Minister Edgar Lungu said the sentries were wrongly on duty, but Chilufya has disputed this statement saying it was difficult to believe the state from the Minister of Defence.
“The sentries come from across the road in Arakan Baracks where they just walk to the gates of State House. The sentries do not just go there by themselves. There is a system that assigns them. They cannot be on duty wrongly and it goes to show that there is no co-ordination or there is something between State House and the Zambia Army. The normal system has collapsed or it is shrouded in secrecy,” he said.
Chilufya said the presidential handlers would be held responsible in case anything happened to Michael Sata, adding that the country was not sure whether State House even sent an advance team of presidential security personnel to prepare for Michael Sata’s arrival in Israel.
He said security personnel from State House are usually sent ahead of the president’s impending travel to go and prepare for his arrival in the foreign land.
“Usually, the security people from State House go in the advance party to ensure the president is safe when he arrives. They work with the security system of the foreign country but we are not sure whether this was organized in the trip to Israel,” he said.
Chilufya warned that the people handling Michael Sata must not play around with the presidency.
“These people should learn to consult these people who have worked at State House and how these things are done. We must learn to work together as a nation. Right now we don’t know where the president since we have been told his counterpart is in the United States. Maybe he is just on the beach sun basking,” he said.
Chilufya said he knew what he was talking about because he had worked with two presidents and he therefore, had requisite experience and authority to discuss the presidential travels.
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