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It’s shameful to celebrate bumper harvest when Rupiah has failed to pay farmers - Sata

It’s shameful to celebrate bumper harvest when Rupiah has failed to pay farmers - Sata
By George Zulu and Florence Bupe
Mon 15 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT

MICHAEL Sata has said it is shameful and embarrassing for President Rupiah Banda to celebrate the bumper harvest when he has failed to pay farmers. And Charles Milupi has described government’s management of the country’s maize bumper harvest as a tragedy.

Featuring on Mazabuka’s live wire programme on Saturday, Sata said it was disheartening and shameful to see President Banda celebrating the bumper harvest when he had totally failed to pay small scale farmers for supplying maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

“How do you celebrate a bumper harvest when you have failed to pay small scale farmers for supplying maize to (FRA), when you have failed to provide a sound marketing system? That is total intoxication of power which Rupiah is experiencing. He went to Mpulungu during a by-election and paid farmers, is that what you call governance? That is failed governance because you can not pay farmers because there is a by-election,” he said.

Sata said it was unfortunate that Zambia has a head of state who was concerned more about other countries’ welfare.

“Look it is not every Zambian who has electricity but yesterday (Friday) Rupiah went to Katimamulilo to give our own power to Namibians yet our own people don’t have electricity, is he telling us that Namibians are more important than Zambians?” Sata asked.

He said Zambia was the only country in the region were foreigners enjoyed more prominence than local investors, and accused President Banda of having given his blessings to the abuse of Zambians by Chinese investors.

“That is why Chinese nationals are shooting Zambians because President Banda has given them more prominence than you, they are not supposed to come here and starts shooting us, but you have a government which has failed to condemn the act. Have you ever heard of compensation for attempted murder, that is what your government has done?” Sata said.

And Sata said President Banda was very anxious to hold on to power hence doing all sorts of things to eliminate opposition leaders.

He said Zambia in general needed a new political administration in order to address social and economical challenges.

Sata said President Banda had mounted a vicious campaign of discrediting opposition leaders by using state owned and controlled Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), Times of Zambia and The Daily mail.

“It is a big challenge for the opposition in this country; Rupiah has all the state machinery at his disposal, he is using ZNBC to discredit us, he is using Daily mail to campaign, you have seen his big pictures on the front page, it is the same with the Times of Zambia and we only depend on community Radio stations like this one but again the coverage is too small. You are restricted you are not like ZNBC. It is only The Post which is not facing such restrictions and it has helped this nation adequately on various issues and Rupiah is not sleeping because The Post is always ahead of him,” said Sata.

And Milupi, who is Luena ADD member of parliament said government had lamentably failed to manage the 2.8 million metric tonnes of maize that was harvested in the 2009/ 2010 farming season.

“The way government is managing the bumper harvest is tragic, and this is what we mean when we say government had little input in the production of the maize. If they had planned for such a huge harvest, they could have been more prepared to manage it,” he said.

Milupi said it was clear that a significant portion of the maize grain would go to waste due to poor storage.

The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has over the years continued to be challenged with inadequate grain storage facilities and the situation has this year been worsened by the unprecedented bumper harvest, with stocks in some parts of the country likely to go to waste.

There have already been reports of grain getting soaked in areas where rainfall has started.

“One can almost predict that a significant portion of the maize will get soaked and go to waste. We have silos that are not working, agricultural production in this country is just inefficient,” he said.

Milupi said the failure by government to properly store the harvest was a clear sign that the bumper harvest was not a product of government’s agricultural policies, but the favourable weather that the country experienced.

Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, FARMERS, MAIZE, MICHAEL SATA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:09 AM