I'm addicted to The Post, says Sata

I'm addicted to The Post, says Sata
By Amos Malupenga
Friday February 23, 2007 [08:09]

I am addicted to The Post, said Patriotic Front president Michael Sata yesterday. Explaining why he decided to subscribe with The Post online when he was out of the country for almost three weeks, Sata said he didn't see the need to subscribe when he was in the country because he always bought a hard copy. "Even when I toured the country during the run up to the September 28 elections, I didn't miss The Post because wherever I went, I found The Post first thing in the morning or latest by mid-day depending on the distance from Lusaka," Sata said. "But when I went out of the country to India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and England, I felt the gap, I experienced poverty of information.

I asked the High Commissioner to India Kelly Walubita if they had subscribed. That's how I contacted you for subscription and I was fed with information everyday. Now that I am back, I will not use it because I get the hard copies but I will keep the subscription running as I will need to use it every time I am out of the country." Sata said he had even encouraged more people in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as India and England to subscribe to The Post online if poverty of information was to be concurred. "It is not possible that all the people will like what is reported or written in The Post but they have to know what has been published," Sata said. "Sometimes The Post tell the truth in a negative way but at other times it is positive. But I am addicted to The Post. My life has been consistent with everything I do and I always like change and that change is for good, not just for the sake of it."

He said he had always resisted monopoly so when The Post was born as a weekly newspaper, he voluntarily participated in its circulation although he had no pecuniary interest. He said apart from the role he played as a voluntary newspaper vendor for The Post, he has always contributed to the growth of the newspaper in that he has proved to be one of the key sources of news. "In the early days, The Post wrote anything about me; they reported about my goats and even when I married Dr Kaseba The Post said 'Sata has finally married his long time girlfriend'," Sata said.

He said although he was addicted to The Post, he didn't like everything that came out of it and when he was aggrieved, he took legal action against the newspaper. He said at one time, he had to sue the newspaper for libel following an editorial comment and he was awarded K1 million in damages. "But the K1 million came at great pain because former chief justice Matthew Ngulube who sat as a psuine judge said I was being economical on the truth and that all public figures should develop thick skin when they are criticised," Sata said. "And if I was a light-weight, I could have turned my back against The Post during the run up to last year's elections when there was that series of damning editorial comments. Even when I was in government as minister, it was government's position that we have nothing to do with but I disagreed that it was not the best way of doing things. For me I continued associating with The Post even when I was in government."