Maravi

Rupiah went to China on a tourism stint – Kabimba

Rupiah went to China on a tourism stint – Kabimba
By George Chellah in Lusaka and Patson Chilemba in Petauke
Mon 08 Mar. 2010, 05:50 CAT

RUPIAH Banda went to China on a tourism stint, Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Wynter Kabimba said yesterday. And Petauke's Radio Explorer on Saturday refused to host PF president Michael Sata despite prior formal agreement to do so.

Commenting on President Banda's recent visit to China, Kabimba said it was clear that President Banda did not accord seriousness to the duties and demands of his office.

“I looked at one of the TV footages where he was seated in a factory and asking questions like a classroom boy to a Chinese manager, I think it was a steel production factory.

Firstly, the fact that as head of state the guy can go away from a country that is facing so many problems in the social and economic sectors, there are floods in this country, people are going hungry, there is no sufficient fuel to run our industries, we are struggling in every area and the guy can go for a state visit to China for more than a week means that the President is just not serious or he is not taking his office as head of state seriously,” Kabimba said.

“I know of no serious head of state from Europe or America that has gone on a one-week state visit to any country because those guys take their work seriously.

The President of the Republic of Zambia is not according seriousness to the duties and demands of his office on behalf of the people of this country. You cannot learn from China let alone any other country how that country has developed by going on a tourism stint. To go and be put on a boat cruise to go and inspect a factory and then make a statement that you can come back and develop this country.”

He said China did not have to go to America to go and learn how to develop their country.

“The Americans did not have to go to Britain to go and learn how to develop their country. So RB will be the first head of state that has gone out on a five-day stint to a country that is developing and can hope to come and develop his country from that miracle. He will be the first one in history,” Kabimba said.

“What has made countries develop is the leadership which they have put in place that spends sleepless nights working out formulas that are applicable to their social and economic problems and have found answers to those problems.

That is how China has developed, that is how America developed after its civil war and its colonial history with Britain. That is how Brazil today is developing, that is how Russia is developing.”

He explained that these countries had not been developed through tourism expeditions by their heads of state to other countries that were making progress.

“Brazil today has been able to cut its infant mortality rate to 23.5 in a thousand of live births not because their head of state President Lula De Silva has gone to America to go and learn how that is done. So what Mr Rupiah Banda is supposed to tell us is that he actually went to China as a tourist because we saw him with his wife on a boat cruise, we saw him like a grade seven child going round the Great Wall of China which he had just heard, he had never seen,” Kabimba said.

“So he went as a tourist but spending huge amounts of taxpayer's money which money we do not even have. So he cannot convince any reasonable person in this country that this state visit is what is going to bring about development to Zambia. And I think it is an insult to the Zambian people for him to say that.”

President Banda returned from China on Saturday.
And Petauke's Radio Explorer on Saturday refused to host Sata despite prior formal agreement to do so.

Sata, who had travelled for about three hours from Chipata to Petauke, proceeded straight to Petauke’s Radio Explorer when he arrived in the district for what was supposed to be a live programme, but was told by staff at the station that they were not expecting him on Saturday.

One of the radio announcers at the station, Raymond Sakala, said the station only learnt of Sata's programme on Friday, through his secretary.

But Sata showed the workers at the radio station letters, which detailed the agreement that was made between the two parties.

“There is no way we can come from Chipata, we come here and say you are not airing me… this is Petauke Explorer, are you not Explorer? 09:00 hours to 10:30 hours, K1.2 million,” Sata read the quotation he received from Radio Explorer on February 20, 2010. “What date is there date on the quotation?”

One of the workers responded, “February 20, 2010.”
Sata then asked Sakala and the other staff how possible it was for them to learn of his visit to the station on Friday when they generated the quotation on February 20.

“So how do you say you were only informed yesterday? You sent the quotation on February 20, 2010,” Sata said, before producing a programme schedule, which indicated that he was supposed to be hosted by the station.

But Sakala, who earlier claimed not to have received the programme, which Sata purported to have, said they expected to host Sata on Monday March 1, 2010.

“Who did I speak to, to say I promised last Monday? I told you 'give me your quotation'. I didn't say I will come on Monday,” Sata said, as Sakala responded, “I was just told by your secretary, Brenda.”

When Sata convinced them, he was asked if they could record his programme so that it could be broadcast later but he refused.

“There is no way I will give you a recorded programme. Here in rural areas you know it very well. Once you record that statement, Office of the President are going to call for it, they are going to say 'remove that, remove that,'” Sata said. “Once you record this statement, they are going to dictate when it should be aired. First of all, they want to listen to all of it, they are going to edit it.”

Sata said this was not the first time he had fallen victim of the MMD government's interference in the operations of the media.

“You are a small district, and you remember one time, is it not this station where somebody threatened that he is going to withdraw a licence because you allowed me to speak live on radio? Have you forgotten this happened during the Kapoche by-election?” Sata asked.

Sata said the owner of the station, who was reported to be at church during the incident, was under very heavy intimidation from the Office of the President.

However, Sata left Radio Explorer and went to have his programme aired live at PASME Community Radio Station, situated a few kilometers from Radio Explorer.

On PASME, Sata said those in government had made it a habit to insult him wherever they went, instead of telling the people what they planned to do for them.

Sata said instead of talking about him wherever they went, people like President Rupiah Banda and Vice-President George Kunda would do well to tell the people what they had achieved in terms of development.

He said they should tell the people of Petauke why they had failed to build roads such that if people wanted to travel to Mambwe from Petauke, they had to use a very long route of going through Chipata.

On assertions that the people of Eastern Province felt insulted by Sata's statement that President Banda was building a road for animals by developing a road to Mfuwe, Sata said foreigners were more respected than the citizens.

“Because Europeans go to Mfuwe, they need tarred roads. Chewas should not have a tarred road. The road to Mfuwe is important, but not more important than the road going from Chipata to Chama,” Sata said. “Let us balance, we are spending so much money, if you look at ZAWA, they are well looked after, but our own police don't have… I did not despise the road, I explained to chief Jumbe what I meant. Can you imagine, 90 kilometers of the road going to Lundazi, it takes five hours.”

Asked on why the people should elect him in 2011, Sata said he was action-oriented, and his works were there for all to see such as one major bridge in Lusaka, and roads like the Los Angeles Boulevard.

He said he left the MMD because they were not as fast as he was to deliver development.
Sata said President Banda had found it fit to leave Zambia for the other countries.

He said next year, President Banda should not even say he had spent little time in office for him to deliver meaningful development, because he had served at the highest level since 2006.

“He is supposed to know what should be done. The only politics they have is Michael Sata. Can they show us what they have done? If there is a government, Musumbazi bridge in Petauke has broken three times, where is government?” Sata asked.

He said PF would bring back the dignity to chiefs so that they could coordinate development in their areas, saying they should no longer be moved by khaki envelopes.

Sata wondered how the mobile hospitals which President Banda planned to procure from China would move on the very bad Zambian roads.

He said President Banda had halved the supply of fertiliser when he promised people cheap fertiliser during the 2008 presidential election campaigns.

“Those bringing suffering to us are your own relatives, Dora Siliya, Peter Daka and Rupiah Banda. It is up to you to continue voting for the MMD if you want to continue to suffer,” said Sata.

Labels: CHINA, RUPIAH BANDA, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 10:37 AM