By Staff Reporter
Ruling UPND secretary general Batuke Imenda has described the harmonising role late fourth Republican president Rupiah Banda played in bringing President Hakainde Hichilema and then incumbent president Edgar Lungu together, as his signature achievement.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Imenda said people were made to believe that there was a standoff, but president Banda stepped in to call both President Hichilema and president Lungu and what the nation witnessed following that meeting was a shake of hands between the two main competitors in the 2021 elections, which resulted in the election of President Hichilema.
“We were not privy to what was discussed in privacy but at the end of the day we were pleased to see the handshake. That is a signature achievement on his part,” he said.
Imenda said president Banda left a sound economy on leaving office in 2011 following his defeat to late president Sata of the PF.
“The economy was very strong. He left the country at middle income compared to what it is now. We appreciate what he did with his team. He left a strong economy and a lot of money in the reserves, and not what it is now in the manner PF left it. And from what he did he must be appreciated for what he did,” said Imenda, adding that even the much talked about roads in compounds were started under his reign, as people were exposed to the infrastructure they had never seen their neighborhoods before.
President Banda died yesterday at his residence following his long battle with colon cancer.
