Maravi

It'll be easy to defeat Rupiah, declares Sata

It'll be easy to defeat Rupiah, declares Sata
By Patson Chilemba and Chibaula Silwamba
Wednesday September 10, 2008 [04:00]

It will be easy to defeat Rupiah Banda because apart from his unsuccessful leadership background he is also a known tribalist, opposition Patriotic Front president Michael Sata declared and charged yesterday.

And Sata has called for an indaba between PF and the Hakainde Hichilema-led United Party for National Development (UPND) to have a collective agreement on the way forward, especially on a plan to defeat the MMD government.

Commenting on the election of Vice-President Banda by the MMD national executive committee (NEC), Sata said it would be easy to defeat him because apart from his unsuccessful leadership background, Vice-President Banda was also a known tribalist.
Sata said he had a proven track record in public service as opposed to Vice-President Banda who served in several government positions but with nothing to show for it. Sata said most recently, Vice-President Banda’s Cabinet approved hefty salary and allowance increments for constitutional office holders and senior government officials.

“When he was at NAMBOARD, he never employed anybody except people from Chipata. Rupiah Banda is a known tribalist and his tribalism is so cheap because he even discriminated against the people from Katete, Nyimba and Petauke. As far as he is concerned, they are supposed to be led,” Sata said.

He urged Vice-President Banda not to deceive himself into thinking that he would build on president Mwanawasa’s programmes because he was nowhere close to the late president.

Sata further challenged Vice-President Banda to state publicly if he had officially resigned from UNIP. He said MMD had shown a lack of confidence in its party members by adopting Vice-President Banda.

He said Vice-President Banda has surrounded himself with all sorts of questionable characters. Sata said there were strong signs of regionalism and opportunism in Vice-President Banda’s camp.

“Rupiah was born in Southern Rhodesia. He’s not brave enough. He’s never come out in the open to say he has come out of UNIP. President Mwanawasa once said that Professor (Clive) Chirwa should start from the branch; which branch is he Vice-President Banda coming from? If he is elected President, Zambia will go back 360 degrees backwards,” Sata said.

He also said political parties and individuals who were questioning his health status were just scared of him.

“Rupiah Banda is older than me. I’m challenging all the political party presidents that we go and test for three things, HIV, Kaposi Sarcoma and let them examine our hearts,” said Sata.

And speaking on Sky FM Radio in Monze, Sata said there was need for interaction and exchange of ideas between the leadership of UPND and PF.

“All I am appealing to my brothers and sisters all over the country, I am have put a proposal publicly today, if we have to have anything meaningful, the entire 22 members of parliament from UPND and our members of parliament from PF our Central Committee, the National Management Committee of UPND, we must have an indaba because once we have an indaba we are going to go through a number of things: pros and cons, how do we share the spoils and all that goes on,” Sata said. “But if Michael Sata agrees, yes, I am going to be in the background and comrade Hakainde becomes president I am going to have people…I have once had that same thing, we agreed with the Catholic church - ZEC, CCZ, EFZ, NGOCC, Women for Change that unless we amended the NCC to suit the people of Zambia we will not go to NCC. My 22 members of parliament defied and went to the NCC because there is money. Our colleagues in UPND at first said they will not go but they went but it doesn’t matter…I need this time a collective agreement between UPND and PF, not between Michael Sata and Hakainde Hichilema.”

He was commenting on numerous appeals from listeners for the PF and UPND to join hands if the MMD was to be dislodged during the October 30 presidential election.
“What I want is that what we agree is not just for the two of us but an agreement for the people who are the representatives of the people who are the owners of PF and UPND,” Sata said.

Sata further said he was the only person who had president Levy Mwanawasa’s vision because the two had a two-hour discussion and during that meeting the late president told him about his vision.

“I am very devastated because as far I am concerned the differences I had with Levy are behind us and it is me today in Zambia the only person with Levy’s vision,” Sata said. “If I would have been a Michael Sata of yesterday, I would have revealed what plans he had for some of his ministers. But we talked, he is not here, he did not implement what we discussed so therefore I don’t have to talk about it.”

Sata also said Lusaka lawyer, Dr Rodger Chongwe, was supporting Vice-President Banda’s presidential candidature on tribal grounds.

“Comrade Rodger Chongwe is trying to use tribalism thinking that if he comes in the open to support Rupiah Banda and when Rupiah Banda is elected, he is going to get his (Chongwe’s) US $2.5 million but that should not be our preoccupation,” said Sata.
He said former president Frederick Chiluba and president Mwanawasa refused to pay Dr Chongwe the US $2.5 million which he was claiming from the government after being shot in Kabwe on grounds that the judgment was obtained in a foreign country and the Zambian government had not been given an opportunity to defend itself.

Labels: SATA, UPND

posted by MrK @ 4:36 AM