Maravi

Rupiah campaigns for his 2011 re-election in Milanzi

Rupiah campaigns for his 2011 re-election in Milanzi
By Chibaula Silwamba and Christopher Miti in Milanzi
Fri 16 Apr. 2010, 04:10 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has declared himself physically and psychologically ready to defeat his opponents in next year’s presidential election.

And President Banda announced that the government will open the crop marketing season next month instead of the usual June to avoid briefcase businesspersons from buying farm produce at low prices.

Drumming up support for the MMD’s Milanzi parliamentary candidate Whiteson Banda on Wednesday, President Banda, who ironically spent most of the time campaigning for his re-election in next year’s polls, hoped that his character and behaviour had been exemplary to Zambians during his Presidency for them to vote for him again.

As cadres sang a song with lyrics: “White ku ma final Whiteson Banda in the electoral finals“, President Banda said his turn was coming in 2011.

“I want to say that my turn is coming; in 2011 the Constitution says that we have to go through an election in order to choose a President for our country. I have said it before and I am saying it now in front of all of you that if elected by my party, I am going to stand in 2011 and I am ready psychologically and physically to defeat all those others,” President Banda said.

“You will not hear me insulting anyone because it’s everybody’s right to stand and when it comes to the Constitution, the Constitution of Zambia allows every Zambian to stand,” President Banda said.

“Therefore, I hope that the Zambian people will judge each one of us who will stand for the elections on the basis of their work to their experience of what they can do, of their character, what kind of people they are. I hope that you will also as I offer myself hoping that my character and my behaviour has been exemplary to the Zambian people when I have been your President to all the Zambian people.”

President Banda urged the people of Milanzi to elect a leader that would listen to them.

“When you elect a President, you elect a leader like our leaders here; our chiefs; our headmen, they are our leaders and when you choose a leader you want a leader who will listen to you carefully and with respect to what you are saying to them,” he said.

“You don’t want a leader who is going to tell you what he wants you to do and not what you want him to do as your servant.” President Banda said he was not satisfied with what he had done in the last one year he had been President.

“I have been President for only one year; I wish I could do more than what I have done. I am not satisfied with what I have done. Naturally, I would like to have done more. I want to do more; I want to build more roads for this country. I want to build more schools. I want to build more health centres. I want to send more children to school to various levels of schools, I want to create jobs for the people of Zambia. I cannot do that in one year. I require time like any other person would require that time in order to succeed to fulfill his promises to the people,” President Banda said.

As cadres sang a song with lyrics: “RB boma RB is government”, President Banda remarked that he was the government.

“Nizo ona, ndine boma. Yes! I am the government! You know, sometimes you read in the newspapers, sometimes you hear on the radios, TV sometimes you can believe that those that are talking are the boma. The boma is me who is standing in front of you, not them,” said President Banda prompting the cadres to sing another song with lyrics: “Rupiah limba mtima. Rupiah be strong.”

In response, President Banda said: “I can assure the people here at Milanzi that ndine olimba mtima. Achepa, amene afuna mpando umeneu ndidzagwetsa I am strong hearted. Those who want this Presidency are small, I will trounce them. I was not nominated president, I went for an election, a full election and defeated them all,” President Banda said.

In an apparent reference to the PF-UPND Pact leaders Michael Sata and Hakainde Hichilema, President Banda described them as “zero plus zero equals zero”.

“Some of them who are making so much noise were defeated three times in the history of our politics. Some of them were defeated two times and they believe that if they come together, if they gang up that perhaps they can defeat me. They are liars. 0+0=0,” President Banda said.

He expressed gratitude to the village headmen that met him prior to the rally because they had raised concern about the need for roads, clean water, crop marketing and other issues affecting their people.

“They raised a number of issues that I would like to respond to as follows; your government is very concerned about these issues and everything is being done in order to try and meet your needs halfway within the limit of our funds of our money limit of our economy. We realise that our people need clean water and will try to see that boreholes are provided to our people in rural areas all over Zambia,” President Banda said.

And President Banda expressed concern at briefcase maize buyers that were duping farmers.

“We are going to open the market sooner than normal. Normally the markets are opened in June, the market to sell our maize but because we know that briefcase business persons are going round and buying maize from our people are paying them peanuts.

We are going to open the markets in the coming month in May so that you can sale your maize at a proper price and we will soon announce the floor price of maize and other crops which the government is going to set before the markets are open,” President Banda announced.

On Whiteson Banda’s candidature, President Banda told the electorate that if they elected the MMD candidate, he would have express access to him unlike if they elected an opposition candidate.

President Banda said he would give Whiteson Banda his cell phone number so that he could be phoning him directly whenever he had a problem in Milanzi as parliamentarian.

“Azakala ndi cell phone number ya a Presidenti. Zikabvuta kuno sapitila mwina iyai, ango tenga cell phone, ‘ndinu a presidenti uko?’ Ndi kati, ‘eeeh’. Azakamba ati, ‘pepani zabvuta ku Milanzi zakuti zakuti’. Mukasankha wina adzikalandila ndalama zachaje. When there are problems here, Whiteson Banda will just get his cell phone and call me to tell me about the problems you are facing here but if you elected other candidates they will be getting paid for doing nothing,” said President Banda.

“I would like to assure you that if you give me Whiteson Banda to become a member of parliament for Milanzi that we will work together with him as we worked with the late Reuben Banda, we’ll work with him in order to meet some of your problems. I don’t want to tell you lies and say that when you vote for Whiteson Banda or when you vote for me all the problems will solved. I will be lying to you people of God.

I want to tell you that we are committed to serve you to work for you.”
President Banda said the MMD wanted Whiteson Banda to continue from where the late area parliamentarian Reuben Chisanga-Banda left.

President Banda apparently forgot to bring Whiteson Banda onto the stage to formally introduce him to the gathering until the candidate personally walked up to the podium.

Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, KATETE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 1:58 PM