Radical speech

Radical speech
By Michael Sata, president of the Patriotic Front
Thu 28 Jan. 2010, 15:00 CAT

Michael Sata, president of the Patriotic Front
Radical reaction to “alleged” attacks on Chinese investors. I have recently been deliberately branded as an enemy of free enterprise by sections of the state media. An enemy of foreign investors to be specific.

The campaign against me has been systematic, ruthless and brutal. Sadly it has been grossly inaccurate and skewed with only one intention – to alienate me from the investors in this country and prospective investors abroad, including you respected voters.

I have been branded as the man who wants to wantonly and without regard for the law take over private enterprise when the Pact redeems Zambia from the current shackles of poverty in 2011.

I have been portrayed as a power hungry politician because I have constantly pointed out that Zambians are poorer under Rupiah Banda than they have been under any other government since independence and that the situation will get worse if Banda and his people remain in power.

Why have I endured these vicious and calculated attacks by the state propaganda machinery? I believe I have been a target of these attacks simply because I have pointed out one thing and one thing only…“you cannot wantonly and unilaterally as a government usurp the power of the people and auction off their jewels for nickels and dimes or kwachas and ngwees when there is an alternative.”

I have spoken against the senseless 75 per cent sale of Zamtel shares because it does pretty little to benefit you and I, your children and mine, your grand children and mine.

You don’t need to be a genius to know that a foreign company has one major interest, its foreign interest and the interest of its shareholders, while the interest of ordinary Zambians like yourself and myself who are struggling to put food on the table on a daily basis come secondary.

Whenever those state propagandists have called me names and plainly insulted me, they have been careful or simply ignorant enough not to notice that my position on state ownership is in fact the same as that of the United States, the last bastion of democracy in the world.

They have been ignorant enough not to notice that my position is similar to the position held by some civilised powers we kill each other trying to emulate such as Britain, Australia and Canada, whose governments up to now have some form of control or ownership in state enterprise on behalf of the people…ordinary people like you and me.

Why do I say this? Let me take you back to the global economic crisis for a minute because this is the time that classically show-cased how active western states can come to the aid of state companies.

For the record, I would like to point out a few facts to the ignorant state propagandists regarding some of the western countries we try to emulate; the United States to start with regarding two major companies called Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which came to prominence at the peak of the economic crunch last year.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the biggest providers of secondary mortgages or house loans in the United States are owned by the United States government on behalf of the people.

Before the two companies triggered the global economic crisis that saw a total of more than 50 million jobs world-wide lost according to the ILO, the government continued to support these companies to a tune of billions of dollars in a bid to provide or meet the ever increasing demand for affordable quality housing in the so called land of milk and honey.

In Britain up to now, the debate rages on whether the underground railway system, the oldest and probably most elaborate in the whole world should be privatised and the answer has been an emphatic “No” over and over again.

The reasons advanced for this refusal has been simple and straightforward – a private owner shall not look at the need to provide cheap efficient transport for an ordinary Londoner…a private owner shall look at the balance sheet first and satisfy the need of the shareholders, therefore price hikes may occur, not forgetting the inevitable job-losses that so often accompany privatisation.

A compromise has, therefore, been reached. Instead of completely privatising the underground, there shall be a PPP (private public partnership), which still ensures the public have a stake in the underground railways system and their interests are protected side by side with the interests of the private partner.

In Australia, one of the richest countries in the world where if you are a citizen, you get totally free high quality medical care and highly subsidised education, the government still plays a crucial role in the ownership of state enterprise such as
the Telephone Company called Telstra and the largest medical insurance company called Medibank private.

Despite constant opposition calls to privatise, successive Australian governments have maintained that there is no reason to privatise Medibank private or totally sell the state Telco, Telstra.

Part of their argument is that the government needs to have some form of income earner apart from income tax which they can subsequently invest in pension funds to pay senior citizens in their evening years when they retire, among other things.

The argument is that they can have enough money to build high class and high-tech hospitals where operations such as complicated heart surgery can be conducted without flying you to South Africa or India.

The argument is that there should be enough money to build schools and universities so that you don’t have to be exploited by some private entrepreneur charging exorbitant fees for your primary and secondary school going child or again go to South African universities.

The argument is that there should be enough public money to build and rehabilitate roads using state coffers on a regular and sustained basis rather than depending on the US or British tax payers to bail you out.

These are the arguments I have put forward over and over again – even though they have been deliberately ignored or distorted by the ignorant state propagandist – every time I speak about having some form of control in state companies.

Everybody does it as you can see because it also means the government does not have to over-tax you the few people that are in formal employment in order to deliver social services. In fact here in Zambia, they tax you and still don’t offer any social services. Isn’t that a shame?

The truth is governments need money in order to run, even our inefficient Banda government needs money to fly around the world on sight-seeing tours, but this money does not have to entirely come from your pay as you earn; it can come from enterprise partially owned by the government on behalf of the people.
We could lighten the burden on taxpayers by cutting down your taxes and become a healthier and happier nation if we had some other form of income other than squeezing the already squeezed formal sector by holding small shares in state companies just like our friends in the west do.

This is partly how the United States, Australia, Canada, including China, have continued to provide quality services such as education and health that we no longer provide for you.

It is through the partial ownership of state telephone companies, power companies, health funds, mines, pension funds and so on and so forth that they lead a quality life and they enjoy longer life spans than us.

Rupiah Banda on the other hand wants to auction the entire country in the name of efficiency when we can hire highly qualified private sector managers and pay them well enough to profitably run state enterprise: The British hired an American to turn around their railway underground system, Australians hired an American to run their billion dollar Telecoms company…we can join the queue.

Alternatively, we can hire highly qualified young Zambians to run Zanaco, instead of selling it, to run Zamtel, instead of selling it, to run Zesco instead of selling it.

We can sell part and hold a small part on behalf of your children and mine, your grand-children and mine instead of selling these companies at criminally low prices.

These are the issues I have tried to put forward time and time again regarding privatisation but the state propaganda machinery, in all its wisdom, has ignored this and concentrated on cheap distortions of the truth.

State propaganda machinery has chosen to avoid research on world trends regarding privatisation and cater to the needs of Banda and his friends to stay in power while running down your country making you and I poorer and poorer every day.

Let me conclude by saying, much as I cherish foreign direct investment, I encourage most of all, home grown business because, Zambians have a bigger obligation to build Zambia than a foreign investor whose interests I have already said are to protect the shareholders first before passing the crumbs to you and I.

Having said that, I also believe that a synergy between foreign investors, the government and local investors is one that can propel Zambia to the heights of South Africa and Ghana once well nurtured.

I am not here to chase foreign investors away…I repeat, I am not here to chase foreign investors away. I am here to ensure that Zambia owns a little something on behalf of your children and mine.

I am here to ensure that we don’t only have foreign investment but we have “quality” foreign investment that adds value to the lives of Zambians…ordinary Zambians like you and me.

Foreign investors under the Pact shall be more than welcome to do business in Zambia as long as they treat Zambians who host them with respect and dignity. Is that too much to ask for? Does that qualify me to be branded an ignorant power hungry politician who hates foreign investors?

Let us be serious and let us do a little research before we force half-baked and distorted propaganda information down the throats of unsuspecting readers in the name of journalism.

Let us report fairly and educate our readers instead of misdirecting them with carefully chosen out of context vox pops and quotations.

May the good Lord God Almighty bless you all. Long live the people of Zambia and long live the Pact.