Maravi

Sata caught in a web of lies

Sata caught in a web of lies
By Editor
Thursday November 01, 2007 [03:00]

We did not expect Michael Sata to be ashamed of his questionable dealings with Taiwan, especially the dubious manner in which he asked for US $50,000 because the old man has no shame. Sata exaggerates his worthiness when the man is just a shameless liar. He says he is faster and more intelligent than President Levy Mwanawasa’s government which we are sympathising with. This cannot be anywhere near the truth. What is correct and true is that Sata is faster in creating stories and telling lies. But he forgets that lies have got very short legs to stand on .

Their lifespan is as short as that of dew. In no time, they crumble.
As it is, Sata’s lies are crumbling in his face and he wants to divert attention from that. But we will not give him the space. We will ensure that he is exposed for what he is - a seasoned liar.

As we have stated before, no amount of name-calling or accusations will deter us from telling the truth. It is all right for Sata to give us tip-offs about many issues including those to do with his political enemies but it is not all right for us to receive tip-offs from other sources, including Sata’s political enemies, about newsworthy issues.

It’s all right for Sata to walk into our newsroom and demand that he be interviewed or accompanied wherever he wants to go by a journalist of his choice, but it’s not all right for other politicians – who don’t even burst into our newsroom - to be covered in our newspaper. When we cover other politicians in the manner that seems positive in Sata’s eyes, then we are sympathetic to their cause or we are converted.

If that were true, then it could be said without doubt that The Post is Sata’s or PF’s converted disciple because Sata is more covered in our newspaper than any other politician in this country, even when he is talking nonsense like he is doing today.
When we denounce, when we are very critical of Levy and his government, we receive accolades from Sata and his minions. They say we are a professional and objective newspaper. But when we are critical of their activities, especially the questionable ones, then we are sympathetic to Levy and his government.

Sata is today accusing us of conniving with the MMD, the way we allegedly did during last year’s general elections, to destroy him and diminish his party’s chances of winning a parliamentary by-election in Chingola.

This is cheap propaganda. Is Sata saying that the MMD and ourselves are responsible for his mischief, for his monkey business? Is Sata suggesting that the MMD created that letter to the Taiwanese government in his name, asking for US $50,000 and then leaked it to us so he could be destroyed? Is Sata denying being the author of that letter to the government of Taiwan, asking for funding for him to continue his mission of discrediting China? Is Sata saying we cannot write any negative story about him and his party, that we should turn a blind eye to his misconduct and lies? Is Sata suggesting that we should be his constant praise singers and Levy’s constant critics?

And if we may ask Sata, is his aim to destroy other people, politicians included, when he leaks information about them to us? Is Sata declaring himself the only official and registered source to leak or provide information to The Post?
We receive and seek information from everywhere and anyone, including our enemies and those we do not agree with on certain issues.

Let it be made clear that no one, not even ourselves, can succeed in destroying Sata if his dealings are without blemish. Sata can either build or destroy himself through his actions. The choice is his. But as it is, Sata is just destroying himself with his shameless lies.
By the way, we do not aim at destroying anyone in our work. We are here to tell the story, the truth. We also like telling the story behind the story; like we exposed Sata’s letter which was behind his invitation to give a talk at Harvard University.

And talking about Sata’s lies and contradictions, here they are, in case some may think we are up to no good with the old man and his PF. Sata is bitter with us and calling us all sorts of names because our only sin is to expose his contradictions and lies.
When he briefly returned to Zambia from London where he allegedly lost his passport last week, Sata told us that his passport was stolen by a Chinese porter at Crowne Plaza Hotel, where he was staying and that he had reported the matter to the police, who promised to investigate the matter.

But when we contacted the hotel management about the matter, the management said no such incident occurred and Sata did not bring anything to their attention. We proceeded to ask the police in London, whom Sata said he reported the matter to and were investigating. The response from there was negative. The Metropolitan Police, together with those from the inner city of London said they did not have any such report about Sata’s missing passport. They added that it was easy for them to trace all complaints because of their computerised system which enables them to capture complaints as soon as they are lodged.

Yesterday, when we asked Sata to reconcile these statements, he shamelessly changed his position on the matter. He said he reported to the Zambian mission in London that his passport was mysteriously misplaced. But he forgot that last week he said a Chinese porter at the hotel stole it.

And instead of disclosing which police station he reported the theft of his passport to, Sata chose to accuse the Metropolitan Police of conniving with us to cover up. Cover up what? He was just short of linking us to this fictitious theft of his passport. If our security agencies were very vigilant, they would have by this time established that there was something fishy about Sata’s claim that his passport was stolen by a Chinese porter.

And when he was asked to explain why he wanted to put money meant for PF in his personal account, Sata said there was nothing wrong with that. He said this forgetting that only a few months ago, he accused Levy of money laundering for keeping donated MMD money in his personal account. These are some of Sata’s lies and inconsistencies. And when we say he does not do anything on principle, that he is a hired gun, we do not mean to be malicious. We mean just that.

Not long ago, in his desperate attempt to look good in the eyes of one of the leaders in the SADC region, Sata lifted a document authored by a party wing where this leader belongs and presented it to us as his own statement denouncing the enemies of this leader. We saw through his deception and just ignored that statement. If we had proceeded to expose it, Sata would have been the first to cry foul and accuse us of craving to destroy him.
This is the man who wants to rule Zambia.

When we say Sata cannot be our people’s saviour for the reasons that we keep repeating, we are accused of de-campaigning him.
On our part, we are not worried about Sata’s tantrums because over the years, we have learnt the art of tolerating his mischief. So we are ready to accommodate him at any time despite his accusations against us.

Labels: EDITORIAL, SATA

posted by MrK @ 5:36 AM