Sam Banda Junior, AfricaNews reporter in Blantyre, Malawi Photo: Banda addressing a rally
This coming Thursday would be a political showdown between Zambia`s acting president Rupiah Banda and Michael Sata. The poll is to find a suitable replacement for the late former president Levy Mwanawasa. Sata 71, who lost against Mwanawasa in the 2006 elections, has been tipped the favourite.
According to Zambian newspapers, Sata who is running for the Patriotic Front (PF) has been campaigning alongside Banda with both promising to lower taxes and increase farm subsidies.
Banda, 71 was Mwanawasa’s deputy. He was sworn in late June after the former president suffered stroke during an African Union summit in Egypt. Now a leader of Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), Banda who was born in Southern Zimbabwe in 1937, is a former diplomat who was sent to Zimbabwe by Mwanawasa ahead of an AU summit to improve relations.
Mwanawasa who won the hearts of donors with his prudent leadership, died in August in France.
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