Maravi

My ‘madness’ is haunting Rupiah – Sata

My ‘madness’ is haunting Rupiah – Sata
By George Chellah in Lusaka, Chibaula Silwamba and Christopher
Thu 29 Apr. 2010, 04:30 CAT

Sata with Nyau dancers on arrival in Kamutunju village where he addressed a rally to drum up support for Milanzi Constituency PF parliamentary candidate Albert Banda in Katete on Monday - Picture by Thomas Nsama

MY madness is haunting Rupiah, Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata has said. Reacting to President Rupiah Banda’s statement that he is a real mad man, Sata said President Banda’s hallucinations were now worrying. He said it was becoming evident that President Banda was failing to contain the pressure.

“Tell him that I am extremely glad that my madness is haunting him wherever he goes in this country and it shall continue haunting him even more. If I am mad as he claims, then there must be something really good or positive about my madness for him to be talking about Michael Sata everywhere,” Sata said.

“According to Rupiah, I am the mad one and he is the sane one so why is he preoccupying himself with endless talk about a real mad man? Tell him that it’s the same madness, which is haunting him that’s why he is hallucinating.”

Sata said he genuinely felt pity for President Banda because at the rate he was going, one would wonder where he would end up by next year.

“Rupiah doesn’t know that the vocabulary of insults is very limited. Whether one is using the language from Gwanda in Zimbabwe where he was born or any language from Zambia, insults have a limited vocabulary. That’s why I am not even concerned about his hallucinations because I know that he will soon run out of insults to pour on us,” Sata said.

“Tell him to keep cool because the games have just began. We haven’t even knocked off a quarter of 2011 yet. But I can assure him that I will keep the pressure until he overheats. I will continue telling the people the truth wherever I go that Rupiah is just a hijacker President with no agenda for this country and its people.

“Rupiah is reaping where he did not sow. He came from nowhere at night that’s why he is panicking and fighting for acceptance. But tell him that he can never be accepted through insults. He is really in trouble.”

Sata said President Banda was not a leader.

“In Nsenga they say ‘Chisilu chinamenya nkondo’. I have been building this PF, which is now giving him headaches and sleepless nights from strength to strength for the last 10 years. Whereas for him who is very sane he wants to reap where he did not sow. What has Rupiah done to build MMD? Rupiah is rapidly aiding MMD to become an opposition party just like he did to UNIP in 1991,” Sata said.

“In 1991 when UNIP was thumped, Rupiah ran away quietly without even having the dignity of calling a press conference to say ‘ladies and gentlemen, I am resigning from UNIP and I am going to my farm.’ In the same fashion, he came to MMD without even saying ‘I have come to join you.’

He just squeezed himself into MMD. But in my madness, I built the MMD, the very party he is riding on, for six years as national secretary. Can Rupiah tell you what he has done before and after UNIP’s demise to show that he is a leader?”

Sata said President Banda should not accuse him of using disparaging remarks against the people of North-Western Province.

“What he is talking about is an old lie which is no longer effective. Tell him that his attempts to tarnish my name to the good people of that province won’t yield anything because they know the truth, that I never said whatever they accuse me,” said Sata.

Addressing a public rally at Wishimanga Basic School on Monday to drum up support for MMD candidate Mulondwe Muzungu in today’s parliamentary by-election, President Banda said when he went to pray on Easter Friday at Lusaka’s St Ignitius, the noise from Sata made him realise that “nichisilu cha zoona (a real mad man)”.

President Banda said Sata was angry, vulgar and demeaning to people.

And addressing a rally at Mnthipa Basic School in Katete, Sata said President Banda did not care about the MMD because he was its ‘stepfather’. He urged Milanzi voters in today’s polls to make the right choice.

“Make a choice; the choice is yours. If our friends were right they were not going to bring maize, sugar, bicycles. They were going to come with the truth,” said Sata.

Former member of parliament for Milanzi Constituency Chimwala Phiri supported the candidature of PF candidate Albert Banda .

“Please vote for Albert Banda,” said Phiri.

Meanwhile, some UNIP members in Kafumbwe ward have complained that some MMD cadres were grabbing voters’ cards in the area.

During a campaign rally at Kulakwa village, some UNIP members said MMD cadres were grabbing voters’ cards in areas surrounding Mngulube village.

Bambe branch UNIP chairlady Esnery Thole told party spokesperson and chairman for elections Chigaga Banda that MMD was using its cadres and villagers to grab voters’ cards in the area.

Thole said a number of people would not vote today because they do not have voters’ cards. In response, Banda urged UNIP members to report MMD activities to their leaders.

Later at Galuwawo village, UNIP candidate Musa Banda urged the people to vote for him if they wanted development. Banda said the people should not be swayed by the government’s decision to open the maize marketing next month.

He said he would win today’s election because he had already started developmental projects in the area.

Former Luangeni member of parliament Besnert Jere, who is also vice provincial chairperson, urged women to vote wisely.

UNIP campaign manager Archangel Mbewe said his party was the only dignified party in Zambia. Mbewe urged the people to get whatever they were offered by other political parties but should vote for Musa Banda.

And drumming up support for MMD’s Whiteson Banda at Katiula Basic School on Tuesday, party national secretary Katele Kalumba said Sata was saying negative things about President Banda to portray him as a bad leader.

He said next year people will have to make a choice either to vote for Sata who insults or President Banda whom he described as a peaceful man.

Kalumba, who during his address continuously referred to Sata as a snake, also accused the PF leader of being violent. He urged the people of Milanzi to vote for Whiteson Banda for continuity of development in the area.

Kalumba also pleaded with the people in Milanzi to vote for President Banda in next year’s elections.

Katete district conflict management committee chairperson Bishop John Chipwatanga said his committee had not received any report of violence and electoral malpractices.

Bishop Chipwatanga said the committee had its review meeting last Tuesday where he urged political players to report cases to his committee.

And police spokesperson Bonnie Kapeso said there were some misunderstanding between PF and MMD members last Tuesday and that everything was resolved by the two parties.

But eye-witnesses said PF and MMD cadres fought running battles before resolving the issue at the police station.

Labels: ARCHANGEL MBEWE, BY-ELECTIONS, ESNERY THOLE, MMD, SATA, UNIP

posted by MrK @ 3:13 PM