Maravi

Sata warns against re-electing Rupiah

Sata warns against re-electing Rupiah
By Patson Chilemba in Mbala
Sun 21 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT

Michael Sata has warned Zambians that they would suffer more if they re-elected President Banda. And a sorry sight greeted Sata at Mbala General Hospital when he visited patients and found some sleeping on the floor, while those who slept on beds had no beddings and could only rely on their chitenge materials to protect from the unusually cold weather in Mbala.

Clarifying the Bemba term he used when he addressed a rally at Mbala’s President’s Park that if Mbala residents gave President Banda another five years “ikaba iyakapeleko”, Sata said what he meant was that giving the MMD another term would announce the end of Zambia in terms of development.

He said voting for the already uncaring President Banda would be suicidal. Sata, who is PF president, said people’s suffering would become more unbearable if they elected President Banda. He said the MMD should be shown the door because they had outlived their usefulness, and as a result had become relaxed to develop the nation.

“Rupiah Banda doesn’t care. That is why you find even his own ministers have started complaining. Namugala is complaining over the allocation of land to the foreigners,” he said.

Sata said the people of Mbala had been betrayed by their own Lungu and Mambwe sons. He recited the story of Abel and Cain from Genesis 4 of the Holy Bible, reminding people that Cain killed his own brother because of jealousy and selfishness.

“Kapembwa Simbao came and took his sick father from here because he could not sleep in Mbala General Hospital. So it is right for you to sleep in Mbala General Hospital without medicine and not Simbao’s father. I went to Mbala Hospital, but even Gaston Sichilima Mbala-Central MMD parliamentarian, can he sleep on that bed which has no mattress and blankets?” Sata asked.

“But you must cry for yourselves. That young man newly elected MMD parliamentarian for Mpulungu Given Mung’omba, before he even speaks for the people, he President Banda gives him minister because they know he won’t talk for the people.”

Sata said the Mambwe people were very dignified but wondered where they had taken their dignity such that they were now importing goods from Tanzania.

Sata said the people had brought suffering on themselves because of their poor choices during the 2006 and 2008 elections.

And Sata bemoaned the poor state of Mbala, asking the people to compare their own infrastructure to the one in their next-door neighbour, Tanzania. He challenged parents to consider their children’s future when casting their votes.

He said it was sad to see most children not attending school.

And Sata welcomed tourism minister Catherine Namugala’s remarks on the allocation of land, especially in protected areas. He said Zambians would start fighting another liberation war because President Banda’s government was recklessly giving huge chunks of land to foreigners.

He said it was now allowed for foreigners to kill Zambians, like the Chinese would attempt to do, provided they paid compensation.

Sata told the people that there were no blankets in hospitals because donors had withheld their funding on account of stealing in government.

He thanked the people of Mpulungu for overwhelmingly reducing the gap on the MMD, adding that with a little bit more effort they would succeed to get a PF parliamentarian elected in the area.

Later in the evening after addressing the rally, Sata visited Mbala General Hospital where several patients were found sleeping on mattresses and with no beddings.

Sata had specifically gone to check on an elderly woman he had assisted get to the hospital earlier in the day. He met the woman on his way to chief Zombe’s palace who had earlier in the morning lost his sister.

At the hospital, several women gathered around Sata in one of the wards and complained of the deplorable conditions in the hospital.

Sata told the women that government claimed that they were building more hospitals when patients were dying in existing ones because of lack of medical personnel and drugs.

He said the women were complaining because they made wrong choices in the beginning during elections.

Labels: KAPEMBWA SIMBAO, MICHAEL SATA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 1:32 AM