Maravi

LETTERS

State media should deliver
By Concerned citizen
Monday September 22, 2008 [04:00]

Thank you for the efforts you are making in helping the Zambian masses see and know their leaders through your well balanced paper. Zambians are paying television licence fees and from the look of things, we have not disappointed ZNBC in paying these fees. Despite these efforts by the people to support the state media, we are not getting anything worth the tax we are paying.

Honestly, is it very difficult or is it against jounalism ethics to bring together all the presidential aspirants to articulate their manifestos on the national media as happens in other countries?

We have cried enough and now is the time to act because we are the ones that are making these managing directors in state media bodies to enjoy at the expense of the masses.

ZNBC has let us down, so has Times and the Daily Mail. They are full of adverts at the expense of real news.

These managing directors must be made to account to the masses.
And just as a compliment to Laura Miti, please continue to do the good work. I enjoy your columns especially the one titled ‘Piki piki na pikidoli.’


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=46358

Change is inevitable
By M H Munyati, RSA
Monday September 22, 2008 [04:00]

On October 30, Zambia goes to the polls to elect a new president.
However, there are a lot of concerns as to whether anyone is up to the challenge of running the affairs of the country and taking it to another level.

The current presidential candidates are not really addressing how they will get Zambia out of the situation it is in. Many public institutions are not properly managed; it is as though no one is in charge. The MMD government has failed to run institutions such as UNZA which is imperative for the present and future good of our nation.

Today, to get a good education, one has to go out of the country to study. The unemployment levels are also very high and those who are employed are not even able to feed their families for a month.

It is crazy that we still have people getting monthly salaries of not more than a million kwacha and what is more disturbing is that most of these people are working for international companies.

While many governments would protect their people from such slavery, our government does not and one is left to wonder why they are in office.

Change is inevitable if Zambia has to be a home for its people. But to whom can we give such a mandate?

MMD presidential candidate Rupiah Banda is surrounded by the very people who have been in office for more than 15 years now; the very people who are demanding huge increments to their salaries when many Zambians are living on less than a dollar a day.

What about Michael Sata? one might ask. He is known for doing his best in the offices he has held and one would be right to think that he is the right person for the job.

However, one still has doubts as to whether his government cannot be a one-man show. If only Sata could work on that, he might make a good president.

What he also needs to start talking about is how he intends to free our nation from the poverty it is in. He needs to stop claiming that he has our late president’s mandate.

What we want to hear is his strategy, not someone else’s. Hakainde Hichilema is another person who, if given chance, can do well. However, anyone who has a sound mind knows that today is not Hichilema’s time.

What Hichilema and Sata need to do is to strike a deal that will see them band together to kick out MMD from office. If not, they will be crying come October 30.

This is time to put aside their differences and stop insulting each other wherever they are campaigning. There are more important things at stake here than their ambitions for the presidency.

The MMD government is tired and has no more plans for our people. One cannot expect Rupiah to change the way MMD operates. It is like what Obama is saying in the USA, that “McCain cannot change the way Washington functions”. If he is in office, the Republicans will still be. This is analogous to RB’s situation.

However, this said, the ball remains in the hands of voters come October 30. People need to realise that whatever they do on that day will have consequences on their lives for many years to come.



http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=46360

Rupiah, Cabinet pay rise
By Kangwa Gary
Monday September 22, 2008 [04:00]

It is very interesting to hear and read that Vice-President Rupiah Banda has technically refused to assent to the salary increment bill for constitutional office holders and Cabinet ministers during a campaign.

What RB has done is a serious campaign tactic which well-meaning Zambians must laugh off.

When this bill was taken to Parliament, RB was very quiet and never bothered to stop the debate even when the people rose against such a selfish idea. Why then should we believe that he will stick to what he said when addressing cadres?

The refusal by RB to assent to the bill is temporal and soon after elections, it will become law and these politicians will be swimming in billions at the expense of the poor.
It is a well-known fact that people around him are not telling him the truth about the suffering of the common man.

Where are Mulongoti and Mpombo on this issue? I challenge the duo to continue justifying this looting of national resources. At the moment, civil servants are not paid their outstanding arrears for settling-in and other allowances. The housing situation for police officers is pathetic. I appeal to the government to pay all out-standing arrears before elections.

The campaign strategy adopted by MMD leaves much to be desired and must be checked especially that people around RB have questionable characters, which can put the country's economic confidence at stake.

posted by MrK @ 4:39 PM