Rupiah is mocking Zambians – Sata

Rupiah is mocking Zambians – Sata
By George Chellah and Chibaula Silwamba
Fri 23 Oct. 2009, 04:00 CAT

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) leader Michael Sata yesterday said President Rupiah Banda was mocking Zambians with his insincere apology over the current fuel crisis.

And parliamentary committee on energy former chairperson Gary Nkombo charged that President Banda must have taken a punitive action against energy minister Kenneth Konga. Reacting to President Banda’s apology to the nation over the fuel shortage, Sata observed that President Banda thinks Zambians are very foolish.

“Rupiah is just mocking the people of Zambia, he is not apologising. He is not genuine with his apology on the fuel crisis. He thinks that Zambians are very foolish,” he said.

On President Banda’s statement that nobody believes that he Sata goes to queue up for fuel, Sata wondered whether President Banda’s government had ever advertised for filling stations that were exclusively for ‘big people’ the President referred to.

“Since he is a ‘big man’ like he has said it himself, let him tell us where ‘big people’ are supposed to go and queue up when there is no fuel,” he said.

Sata said it was difficult for President Banda to appreciate the fact that he was able to move with a container and queue up for fuel like anybody else because the President lacks humility.

“Rupiah doesn’t care about the people because he is a ‘big man’ and as a ‘big man’ he is not affected by the current fuel shortage. That’s why I am saying he wasn’t even apologising, he was merely mocking us for being on the queue for fuel whilst ‘big people’ like him were calmly waiting for their tanks to be filled,” Sata said.

“He says since I would like to be the next President why should I go to a filling station with a container? Probably let me also ask him what sort of a President he is who is not concerned with the suffering of the masses. He is so detached from the problems people are facing that’s why he doesn’t care. He only loves flying on his presidential jet leaving problems and all such issues back home. ”

He said President Banda was aloof.

“Rupiah is having difficulties of queuing for fuel because he has never been close to the people. I have always been close to the grassroots…the masses, that’s why I understand the difficulties they are facing. This is what distinguishes me from him and his colleagues,” Sata said.

“But for him, he is always close to the ‘big people’, no wonder it’s only the ‘big people’ that are advising him on this fuel crisis.”

Sata warned that the fuel situation if left unattended would have serious effects on the country’s agriculture sector. And Nkombo, who is also Mazabuka Central UPND member of parliament, said President Banda was brave to apologise over the fuel crisis but that was not the solution to the problem.

“I think it is only proper to give him the necessary accolades for his bravery to make a public apology for the mess they have caused. But I am sure he realises that he cannot go on masquerading forever,” Nkombo said.

“He President Banda has demonstrated that the levels of sincerity are not as high because this matter required not only a corrective action to demonstrate his disappointment with his minister but a punitive one because I mean this is terrible. I keep saying that a lot of man-hours have been lost in the economy because all that people do now, their preoccupation is to queue for fuel.”

He said the current fuel crisis was affecting production in the country.

“Who is going to compensate for those lost hours of work, of productivity? So it’s not sufficient for him to just say sorry and yet nothing is still correct. You cannot imagine a situation where the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. And every so often I am sure he exchanges notes with his minister. So I think they have failed, they must just admit,” Nkombo said.

“However, it will be unfair to just condemn the man completely, better late than never.”

Nkombo said the fact that President Banda apologised showed that he admitted the mistakes but it did not mean that he had solved the problem.

On Wednesday, President Banda apologised to the nation over the fuel crisis the country has been experiencing for two weeks now.