I am not bitter -Mukupa

By ADRIAN MWANZA I AM not bitter about the dissolution of the Road Development Agency (RDA) Board of Directors, says former board chairperson Samuel Mukupa. Mr Mukupa said he was leaving the RDA with his head high because he had delivered according to his mandate and that he had no regrets for heading the board. He said it would have been a different scenario if he failed but that he had achieved his purpose at RDA largely due to the support by the technocrats and officers. On Thursday, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development Minister, Charles Milupi dissolved the RDA board. Mr Mukupa is national chairperson of the Patriotic Front, the former ruling party which lost the August 12 general elections. Mr Mukupa said the minister was in order to dissolve the board as the action was within the law and that he needed to work with people he was comfortable with. “If I was in his shoes I would do the same and the minister did not err to realign the board and what has happened is legally in order,’’ he said. Mr Mukupa said if time had permitted he would have gone an extra mile to ensure that RDA completed a number projects countrywide. He said when he was appointed board chairman, RDA was celebrating the 10th anniversary but that there was a high turnover at Chief Executive Officer level, but that he managed to stabilise the situation. Mr Mukupa said he presided over intellectuals comprising permanent secretaries and heads of institutions like the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU). He said he was sure that the new board that would be constituted would also be viable and would deliver according to what Zambians expected.