WE agreed with my wife to disagree, says Miles Sampa.
And Sampa says he does not know why he was linked to Ruth Mbandu’s death.
Responding to a caller from Kabwe only identified as HM on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk programme who wanted to know how Sampa was going to manage Lusaka City when he had failed to manage his own home, the PF mayoral candidate said he did not have to be married for him to perform to the expectations of Lusaka residents.
Sampa’s wife Mwika in May this year filed for divorce in the Lusaka High Court after the couple had been on separation for over two years.
Mwika Mwenechanya Sampa, an economist at the Bank of Zambia (BOZ), who was lawfully married to Sampa on April 14, 2007 at St Ignatius Church in Lusaka, stated that their marriage of 11 years had broken down irretrievably.
“The other thorny issue of my marriage, it’s unfortunate we had to divorce. For political reasons, you should know that the late Michael Sata was my uncle and he was key in my marriage at St Ignatius. He is the one who signed at our marriage and he married me off. Matebeto was at late Sata’s house. The idea is when you get married, it has to be lifelong; you don’t get married to get divorced. But in my circumstances, which are unfortunate, we had irreconcilable differences with my ex-wife way before I even applied to become mayor. The two of us said ‘In Lusaka, people were shooting each other…husband shooting wife, wife shooting husband, boyfriend shooting girlfriend and boyfriend shooting girlfriend. We have those cases in court. I said my ‘dear wife’ and she said ‘my dear husband let us agree to disagree’,” Sampa said. “We signed a consent order the two of us where we said, ‘we are divorcing’. She signed and I signed and we took it to the judge and the judge just appended to that. It’s unfortunate but as a mayor and a leader, I think voters should look at my ability to perform as a mayor. Will I be able to collect garbage and make Lusaka clean as I join the people doing it; my President and the team. Will I be able to work as a mayor? Those who are married, Lusaka residents, please stay in your marriages. In my case, we didn’t want to remain in a shipikisha club. That’s what it is. It’s the ability…there are leaders, ministers who have performed but they are single.”
And responding to HM again who wanted Sampa to clear the air about the death of Ruth Mbandu, who was a student at National Institute for Public Administration (NIPA) in 2012, Sampa wondered why people had linked him to Mbandu’s death.
“I am vying to be mayor so we should talk about everything about Miles Sampa positives, negatives and the listeners have a right to ask questions. But I must say I commend the minister…I am privileged amongst all the contestants in that I have encyclopedias of people who have ideas. These people are people I call graduates of the school of Michael Sata of politics. There are certain graduates who have mastered the art of politics and I am a student. Honourable Kampyongo (home affairs minister) is one of those graduates, the President [Edgar Lungu] himself, Davies Chama [defence minister], Davies Mwila [the] SG, Given Lubinda [justice minister], Jean Kapata [lands minister]…all those. When you do well, they commend you and when I do wrong, they reprimand you. Let me start with the issue of Ruth Mbandu before I come to the issue of my marriage. I must say listeners, that is why this issue of Ruth Mbandu, I have not been able to respond because I found it very absurd. It seems in politics the more something is told on social media, the more it is believed. For example, I was told that I spent K60,000 at a night club, Capones at East Park when I just went to greet people. I didn’t even spend anything. I didn’t even get a drink but people believed the story,” Sampa said. “I have never answered this question on Ruth Mbandu…first of all people are very insensitive to the family of Ruth Mbandu. May I say that may her soul rest in peace. As my minister said, I never knew that person called Ruth Mbandu…never spoke to her, never knew anybody that knew her. I just heard on radio that somebody had been killed in Matero. After that we have had so many ritual murder cases all over Matero. I had to do my own investigations on why Matero was prevalent with ritual murders. I was told that it’s because there are those foreign businesses people who believe in these ritual. I didn’t know that person. So, when I was flirting with the opposition, formed my own party…do you think my colleague here, a graduate of Michael Sata School of politics would not have arrested me for that crime?”
Sampa said Kampyongo, as home affairs minister, would have had him arrested if he was guilty of the crime.
Asked by the presenter if it concerned him that he was linked to Mbandu’s death, Sampa said: “It doesn’t concern me and I don’t even know the reason why I was linked to her death. Even now, I can say it…if anybody has got information please take it to the police. But I will tell you what it is…when people have no issues, they cook up issues. The opposition have no issues against me so they have to cook up something and it’s politics.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Kampyongo who was with Sampa on the programme said it was unfair for Zambians to link Sampa to Mbandu’s death.
“I want to say that every MP even as I was coming here, I was informed about someone who has passed on in the constituency and it is my responsibility to help the family of the deceased. I remember the MP being available to the family of the deceased and he pledged some amount of money to say, those who were going to help in the investigations would be rewarded. So, there is no MP who is not connected to what happens in the constituency. When a major thing such as that one happens, obviously, how would the MP stay away? Now, if being available to our people becomes a crime, that’s a story for another day. That was a case that was under investigations. The matter went to court and people followed what happened. Suspects were rounded up and it’s not fair to be personal when it comes to such,” said Kampyongo.
And Kampyongo said Sampa had learnt his lessons and that he was the first one to welcome him back to PF.
“He remained my comrade and brother even when he went to the other camp. But I knew deep down my heart that he was certainly going to find it in his heart to come back home because we knew what we believed in together when we were in PF as an opposition political party until we formed government. Yes, we all make mistakes. No human being is straight forward…we are all not righteous. We as the youth have ambitions so sometimes we mismanage these ambitions and you end up in situations. The President has embraced him and to all part members, let us learn to appreciate one another and embrace our colleagues who could have erred in one way or another in their political judgements,” Kampyongo said.
“He is back and we have welcomed him. He is with us and we are going to make sure that we stick together for him to serve the people in the mandate that people are going to give him. We know how much they believe in the PF and we know how much they believe in the PF leadership. So, the President…we appreciate him as a father, a parent…you know, president [Michael] Sata was embracing even those that had injured him terribly…those that had insulted him. There was a time president Sata was on radio and he was attacked and insulted by late Willie Nsanda but when time came for him to join the PF, everyone was like ‘no, how can you allow this person to come back?’ But president Sata said ‘It’s not you he beat-up, it was me.’ Let us welcome him. You all saw how committed ba Nsanda was to the party. So Miles Sampa has come back to the party, we will encourage him to soldier on as a leader.”