Maravi

PF cannot be trusted – UPND

PF cannot be trusted – UPND
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 01 Oct. 2010, 04:02 CAT

UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa yesterday said PF leader Michael Sata cannot be trusted because this is the perception that Zambians have. And Mweetwa has charged that the future of the PF-UPND pact is unpredictable because of a few individuals in the PF, including Sata, who are harbouring selfish interests. Speaking on Joy FM Radio, Mweetwa said it was not for the UPND to trust Sata.

“It is not a question of us trusting Mr Sata. I am saying the perception, which we have had to deal with as the people of Zambia, is can you trust Mr Sata because he has been seen to stand on fake grounds to take turns at each time it appears convenient for him,” Mweetwa said. “People have referred to his stance on the third term and how he remained in MMD until the presidency eluded him. That is the only time the MMD became a bad vehicle.”

Mweetwa accused Sata of taking a stance against MMD only because the MMD presidency eluded him.

“People have referred to the support he gave Mr Chiluba in 2006 shoulder to shoulder, sending cadres to go and sing for Chiluba at the airport; giving him a messages of solidarity at the airport and accusing Mwanawasa of persecuting Chiluba,” Mweetwa said.

“People have referred to Mr Sata’s unpredictable stance on mineral royalties. Today he says he supports windfall tax, tomorrow he says he does not support windfall tax.”

Mweetwa said that it was clear that Sata was inconsistent in most of his arguments and debates.

“People have referred to Mr Sata as having worked with Kaunda, having worked with Mr Chiluba, but today you should hear how he disparages Mr Chiluba. If you not a Zambian, it is difficult to believe that this man has worked with Mr Chiluba,” Mweetwa said.

“Today in The Post, Mr Sata is talking about a leadership of under five and he says that the young people of this country are associated with corruption, that Zamtel was sold by the young people, that young people are just flying around. Now this is a contrast to what is true and if this is what he is saying, talk about corruption…when was corruption at its peak? It was during Chiluba's government, in which government Mr Sata was a Cabinet member. He is bound by collective responsibility,” he said.

And Mweetwa said it was more decent for Sata to own up to mistakes which Chiluba’s government made since he was part of it.

“The point I’m making is when you are part and parcel of a decision, the MMD decisions ten years ago, do not come out to denounce the decisions to which you were part. It is a decent thing to come out and say ‘yes we made our own mistakes. I have learned from those mistakes, maybe I can do something more decent’,” Mweetwa said.

“He has talked about the sale of Zamtel and flying around. Who is flying around? It is Rupiah Banda his age mate. Perhaps under fives now are his age mates. It is the old people who are flying to go and celebrate with Goodluck Jonathan that he should blame, not the young people of this country.”

Mweetwa said he sympathized with Zambians whose only hope in the Pact was at a verge of collapse because of selfish senior individuals PF.

“I want generally to share the grief of the many Zambians out there who have been ravaged by the rising levels of poverty and disease, whose hope and hopes had been reposed in the Pact. Now some people have positioned themselves to destroy the Pact. They are on a warpath to bring the Pact down,” Mweetwa said.

“They are busy stifling every effort intended to sustain the Pact. They are suffocating the Pact. They are dismantling the Pact because of their selfish interest or narrow perception of things which is blind to reality. I’m a very sad person.”

Mweetwa said UPND was clean and that its members had always been committed to the Pact at the expense of many warnings about PF'’s inconsistencies.

“We have stood true to the values and foundations upon which the Pact was formed, namely mutual respect for each other as individual political parties, provide checks and balances against this excessive government then secondly offer a platform that would offer a hopeful platform for the people of Zambia come 2011,” he said.

“We have respected our colleagues in the Patriotic Front. Everyone who undermined and was against the Pact we have disciplined them and we remain the party who are sincere with anyone we enter into an agreement.”

Mweetwa expressed doubt about the Pact’s future.

“The situation of the Pact right now is unpredictable in the sense that what is currently obtaining, the statements you get from the two leaders… sometimes these quarters of statements are largely contrasting,” he said.

“You read the media today and listen to what the leader of the Patriotic Front is saying, you read the media yesterday listen to what some of the leaders of the Patriotic Front are saying, read the media yesterday and the days before and listen to what the leaders of UPND are saying, you can safely conclude that the Pact is standing on very shaky grounds.

“It’s unpredictable in the sense that for us as UPND, everybody agrees that from the first day the Pact was pronounced we have used every single platform to promote the virtues and ideals of the Pact. We have not been distracted by negative comments arising from a few individuals in PF who have attacked the integrity of UPND because we know that the enormous task of us ahead of 2011 requires humility.”

Labels: CORNELIUS MWEETWA, MICHAEL SATA, PF, PF-UPND, UPND

posted by MrK @ 6:33 AM