Dora Speaks Out on JJ
By Dickson Jere
Dora Siliya, the flamboyant former Minister, has opened up on events that led to her loss to her rival Emmanuel “JJ” Banda in the Petauke parliamentary elections of 2021 and the eventual defeat of the Patriotic Front (PF).
She named names in her blockbuster book, which was released last week. Chief among those fingered is former President Edgar Lungu and his statehouse aides as well as businessman Valdan Findlay.
“These were strange days,” she writes in her book titled “Minding My Fathers Country”.
“How could we expect to win an election in the province (Eastern) with an alleged ‘thug’ using the Edgar Lungu Foundation name as his brand?” She asked, referring to JJ who had just been elected as PF Provincial Youth Chairman.
She disclosed that she once approached President Lungu and asked him about it but he gave her what she termed as “unsatisfactory” response.
“Once during Cabinet tea break, he announced to everyone that I was accusing him of sponsoring JJ when he had nothing to do with it,” Siliya says on page 433 of her thriller.
“If he could not discipline someone whom everybody called a ‘thug’ and even allowed him to use his foundation name – and he could not see anything wrong with that – then dearly I had missed my opportunity to leave”, she expressed her regrets.
She disclosed having confronted the President on the central police violence that was linked to JJ and the President expressed concerns too.
“And I rubbed it in. I said an attack on the police was an attack on his symbol of authority, and sent a message that he was weak…” she writes in a candid manner, adding that the Minister of Home Affairs then was also close to JJ.
“The president immediately called Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja, asking why the ‘thug’ had not been arrested,” the former MP minister further disclosed.
Dora says PF Secretary General Davies Mwila was her ally and also concerned with the activities of JJ but was shocked that President Lungu preferred JJ as Petauke MP instead of her.
“The shock according to him was that JJ was a criminal being protected by statehouse,” she further writes, quoting Mwila.
She also disclosed that her own chairman in Petauke was working against her with statehouse to make sure that she lost the election and he was even gifted a brand new vehicle by statehouse.
“By the time the election in August 2021, my chairman and I were not even talking and he was the Chief campaigner for the independent candidate. Such is the way of politics,” she says.
At one time, she briefed the President about the views of chiefs in Eastern province on his performance but he turned against her saying the same chiefs told him that they did not want her too.
“You cannot trust chiefs, as the ones in Petauke also said they did not want you,” she writes, quoting President Lungu as having told her.
She also disclosed that at a meeting in Petauke, President Lungu openly said unpopular candidates should withdraw from the race instead of wasting their little money from their businesses.
“It was only recently that I realized that he had been talking about me,” she disclosed.
JJ Banda was a criminal and was being protected by Edgar Lungu’s statehouse- Dora Siliya
