The Rainbow Party was formed by Wynter
Kabimba way back in 2003, however, Kabimba ditched the Rainbow when he joined
the Patriotic Front in 2009 and became its general secretary.
A lawyer by profession, Wynter had strong
objections to corruption and worked tirelessly to root out corrupt elements
from the ruling party when it came to power in 2011. More or less, Wynter became the second most
powerful man in the PF, second only to President Sata.
It was typical of Wynter to differ with
fellow cabinet ministers within the PF. This was especially the case when he
published corruption allegations against Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda
and Geoffrey Mwamba, the Minister of Defence.
In 2013 Wynter became embroiled
in a tit-for-tat with the Defence Minister Geoffrey Mwamba that went unresolved
until the latter resigned from the Cabinet in 2014. There were widespread calls
for the removal of Wynter Kabimba from within the PF to which President Sata
turned a blind eye.
Thus Wynter Kabimba became the
political spokesman of the PF, explaining and defending the social and economic
policies of the party.
It was Wynter Kabimba who advised
President Sata to appoint Mutembo Nchito as Public Prosecutor in 2012 in order
to remove the presidential immunity of former MMD President Rupiah Banda. It
was alleged that Rupiah Banda and his son Andrew had swindled the Zambian
government through a bogs oil deal signed between the Zambian government and Nigeria in 2009 to import crude oil from Nigeria Zambia
The political career of Wynter
Kabimba took a nosedive in August 2014 when he was relieved of his duties as
party secretary general and justice minister by the late President Sata.
The departure of Wynter Kabimba
was a foregone conclusion and caused relief within the ruling party.
Dissatisfaction
The Rainbow Party is one among the myriad
political opposition parties that were formed after the death of President Sata
in 2014 to express dissatisfaction with the current political and social
policies as the PF government under President Edgar Lungu.
The terminology of “socialism” is not
unique to the Rainbow Party, but is embedded in the political constitution of
the PF.
Dr Cosmas Musumali, the deputy general
secretary of the Rainbow, recently said that the Rainbow Party would not hide
that his focus was on workers, students, peasants and all progressive Zambians
who have borne the brunt of capitalism since its “adoption” (actually, moving
away from state capitalism) in 1991 by President Chiluba. “If you look at the
key documents of the PF constitution, you will find that under article 4, they
are talking about socialism.” According to article 4 of the PF constitution the
party shall wage a relentless fight against domestic and international forces
of reaction. It shall fight for the eradication of capitalism, with its
offshoots of hunger, ignorance, disease, corruption and the exploitation of man
by man.”
Musumali went on to say that governance
mistakes that have come as a result of capitalism should be exposed because
remaining silent on the matter would be like giving ammunition to those who
exploit others.
He said that Rainbow was not ashamed to
expose the past failures of “socialist” initiatives of the past.
“For our part we believe in the future of
socialism and we are not ashamed to expose the past failures because this is
what gives us legitimacy. We went the capitalist route in 1991 and to date. In
the past 24 years what have achieved in Zambia Zambia
It is a palpable fact that the Rainbow Part
does not have a mass following among the workers, students and peasants in Zambia
We in the WSM look askance at the
“Leninist-Marxist” version of “socialism” being propagated by the Rainbow
Party.
KEPHAS MULENGA
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