Sata advises Teta to ‘stop living in a fool’s paradise’

Sata advises Teta to ‘stop living in a fool’s paradise’
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Monday, November 10, 2008 7:48:26 AM

Tetamashimba should stop living in a fool's paradise by making statements that will lead to unquenchable violence in the country, Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata warned yesterday.

And Sata said he is ready to concede defeat if the suggested recount of results from the just-ended presidential election by the Supreme Court confirms that President Rupiah Banda won the poll.

Meanwhile, PF spokesperson Given Lubinda said MMD spokesperson Benny Tetamashimba is bent on injuring everybody around him in his high-spirited fight for a ministerial position.

Reacting to Tetamashimba's assertions last Saturday that he wanted to cause post-election violence so that he could have a stake in the government through the formation of a crisis government, Sata said he was not as desperate as Tetamashimba was.

“I am not as desperate as Tetamashimba to try and look for a job in a corrupt organisation like Rupiah Banda's government. That is only for people like Tetamashimba. In any case, what job can I do there?” Sata asked. “Those are stories that Tetamashimba is manufacturing. Tetamashimba enjoys violence. If Tetamashimba wants violence, he has no means of quenching that violence.”

Sata said even the police and army would be overwhelmed by the violence that Tetamashimba wants to ignite through his provocative utterances, because the number of people in the two security institutions was outnumbered by the Zambian people.

“Tetamashimba should stop living in a fool's paradise because he can plunge this country into chaos that even the police or the army cannot quench. I understand the capacity of the police. I understand the capacity of the army,” Sata said. “Let him get all the jobs that he wants from Rupiah Banda and he should count me out.”

Sata said it was unfortunate that Tetamashimba had trivialised his call to his supporters not to get on the street in protest against the presidential election outcome.

“In 2006, I maintained the same position and the election of 2006 had some bit of semblance than this one,” Sata said. “I can't ask for a job in Rupiah Banda's government. First of all, what does he stand for? He is not MMD but he is UNIP. There are differences between me and Morgan Tsvangirai and that guy in Kenya. I understand government.”

And Sata said Tetamashimba should instead focus on the issue of the recounting of election results in view of PF's application to the court to recount results from about 78 polling stations.

“If the recount from the Supreme Court will confirm Rupiah Banda winner, I will concede defeat but I will not work in his government,” he said.

Sata further said the recent increase in mealie-meal prices have proved his earlier arguments during the election campaign that the price reduction, which was effected by National Milling Corporation a few weeks before the poll was politically motivated.

“Now, what has happened to Peter Cottan? I said that reduction in mealie-meal prices was a UNIP way of doing things,” Sata said. “It is not the issue of accusing the millers, because the thing that is affecting the pricing is increase is the price of fuel, electricity has also not been reduced.”

Meanwhile, Given Lubinda advised Tetamashimba against provoking the emotions of Zambians by downplaying the PF leadership's call for calm and peace during the post-election period.

“It is not the leadership of PF who are angered but it is the many Zambians who voted against Rupiah Banda who are annoyed,” Lubinda said. “Tetamashimba should not provoke them by insulting their intelligence. One question that Tetamashimba should ask himself is that, why is it that while the whole world, including Zambia, is celebrating Barack Obama's victory, there is no one in Zambia, except Rupiah Banda and Tetamashimba, who are celebrating Rupiah Banda's victory?”

Lubinda said the only job that Sata had been seeking since 2001 was that of president.

“Tetamashimba must ask himself how they shall assist Rupiah Banda to govern this country because unless they put their act together, Rupiah Banda is bound to make a lot of mistakes in the governance of this country,” he said.

And on the discussions by the UPND which point to that party's moves to enter into a pact with PF ahead of the next general election, Lubinda said his party would for the time being leave the UPND to exhaust the issue internally.

Lubinda said if UPND's discussion would entail meeting with the PF at some stage, his party would be willing as they did before to discuss any modalities.

“As a party, we have always had our arms wide-open to welcome discussion which would strengthen the opposition and strengthen multi-partysim,” Lubinda said. “However, when our colleagues decide to bring such matters into the public arena, they must ensure that they are truthful. They must not go to the public and make statements, which are based on half-truths because others are bound to react. For example it is not a fair statement, which was attributed to (Tiens) Kahenya that the discussion around the UPND/PF Pact before the October 30 election was frustrated because of lack of trust between Hakainde Hichilema and Mr. Sata.”

Lubinda said during the discussion between Hichilema and a team that was negotiating for PF and Sata, it was agreed that one church leader moderates the discussions.

“The question to be answered by my friends in UPND is, who was it that decided that the discussion should be cancelled?” asked Lubinda. “Now for the sake of this nation, it is best to leave all that behind us and summon our collective wisdom in search for a workable formula which will strengthen Zambia's democracy.”