Nawakwi Concerned with ZAF Accidents The opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has expressed concern over the high turnover of accidents involving ZAF aero planes. FDD president Edith Nawakwi says the Minister of Defence Edgar Lungu should issue a ministerial statement on the issue. Nawakwim who has catalogued the recent crashes of ZAF planes, said the country can no longer be dismissive about the high number of accidents. Below is the Full statement: FDD QUESTIONS CONTINUED ZAF PLANE ACCIDENTS The continued accidents involving our Zambia Air Force (ZAF) personnel can no longer be swept and draped under the flag of our land while we create an undying sorrow and anguish to the children and families of our fallen heroes. Looking at the nature and occurrences of these accidents, we feel compelled to think that there is something seriously wrong with the planes our decorated men and women at ZAF are using. We are alive to the fact that due to the nature of their job and duty of gallant men and women in uniform, they may never come out in the open to tell us that the nation is maybe failing them in its sacred duty to provide them with the right tools to work with. This is why we as a political party are seriously calling for the Minister of Defense to make a Ministerial Statement to Parliament on the cause of these accidents and to inform the nation what measures the government is taking in protecting the precious lives of the patriots that we have continued to lose to accidents. On 27th April, 1993, the nation lost the entire national soccer team and crew when a DHC-5D Buffalo Plane belonging to ZAF crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the shores of Gabon and the nation still does not know what exactly happened. On 12th March, 2013, we lost one of our finest pilots in the name of Major Misapa Mukupa when the ZAF Harbin Z-G helicopter he was flying crash landed at City Airport. On 23rd February, 2013, one of the ZAF pilots was forced to execute a precautionary landing at Kohima Baracks due to a faulty power regulator and on Monday, May 19, 2014, we lost Major-General Muliokela Muliokela and Colonel Brian Mweene in another ZAF accident. The training and competence of these gallant men and women cannot be questioned. General Muliokela was a distinguished Pilot of international repute and an instructor on seven different types of aircrafts. He was rated category ‘A’ endorsed for Very Very Important Persons (VVIP). Col Mweene was a highly trained pilot who minted the distinguished Flying, Africa Union, United Nations and Commissioning medals Surely as a nation we cannot continue to lose such highly qualified human resource in such a fashion. We wish to reiterate our call for the Minister of Defense to give a comprehensive Ministerial Statement to Parliament on the cause of these accidents. We further demand for the public release of the Report of the Board of Inquiry which was constituted to investigate the circumstances of the crash that killed Major Misapa Mukupa on last year’s youth day. Prepared and issued by: Edith Z. Nawakwi FDD President zambiareports/2014/05/24/nawakwi-concerned-zaf-accidents/
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 06:39:13 +0000
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