Maravi

Time is up for MMD - Sata

Time is up for MMD - Sata
By George Chellah
Tue 28 Dec. 2010, 04:02 CAT

ZAMBIANS must prepare for change in 2011, says PF leader Michael Sata. And Sata says there is need for peace, justice and reconciliation as the country heads towards the 2011 elections.

In a telephone interview from South Africa where he is nursing his wife Dr Christine Kaseba who recently suffered a heart attack, Sata said he was saddened by hardships that the people were experiencing.

“We are coming to an end of another disastrous year under the leadership of Rupiah and his MMD administration. It’s clear that there is nothing our people should hope for in terms of general development and improved welfare,” Sata said.

“Our people are hopeless because Rupiah’s government doesn’t even inspire them at all. My message to the many people that are suffering back home is that 2011 is a year of change. Tell the Zambian people that they must prepare for change because change is definitely coming next year.”

He said like any election year, 2011 would pose a lot of challenges especially to the opposition.

“You can see already they have started using state institutions to intimidate and harass opposition leaders and their supporters. But we are not moved because we have seen it before. Besides, this is not the first election we will be contesting. We expect excited people like William Banda to step up their violent campaigns. But my word of caution to William and others like him is that Zambians have already made up their minds, the time is up for MMD,” Sata said.

“The Zambian people should know that this is an outgoing regime and when such regimes realise that the people’s desire for change is much stronger than what they had bargained for, they become ruthless and things like state orchestrated intimidation and harassment, violence and general abuse of state organs and institutions become the order of the day.”

Sata said there was need for peace, justice and reconciliation as the country heads towards the 2011 elections.

“As PF we shall play our part to promote these ideals in the coming year and beyond. We shall also practice forgiveness in our party and outside our organisation. We challenge Rupiah and his MMD militia to make similar commitments,” Sata said.

“We also implore all well meaning citizens, the civil society, media and the church to join us and the rest of the people in Zambia in this challenging mission to serve our country.”

He urged people to remain resolute in their quest for a better, honest and transparent government.

“It’s not a secret that this country deserves better leadership than what we currently have. And it’s also not a secret that Mr Rupiah Banda has failed, we all know that. It’s just a matter of time and Zambians will soon speak through the ballot,” he said.

He said youths were a cornerstone of national development and that the failure to integrate them in development projects and programmes had resulted in mass youth unemployment.

He said the majority of the youths have remained ill-educated and without any formal skills to enable them earn a living in society. He said PF would expand educational facilities and vocational training centres to absorb all school leavers as well as integrate youths into leadership and decision making organs.

He said PF would also establish a micro credit financing facility to lend to established district vocational training centres and small-scale enterprises for the youth.

“This programme will immediately absorb the youths in the overall economic development agenda to achieve national development,” he said.

Sata said he had seen a complete failure to achieve the prescribed threshold of women representation in decision making as prescribed in the 1995 Beijing declaration and platform of action or the 1997 SADC declaration on gender and development.

“As PF, we recognise the important role which women would play in the development of our country and the family as the smallest institution of a person’s growth and development. We shall therefore, ensure the immediate domestication of all international protocols relating to women and gender in development,” he said.

He said PF would accelerate the policies and enactment of laws, which provide for equal opportunities in employment between women and men. And Sata has given Vice-President George Kunda a seven-day ultimatum to apologise for the recent defamatory remarks against him or face legal proceedings.

In a letter dated December 24, 2010 to Vice-President Kunda, Sata through his lawyers W M Kabimba & Company Sata demanded for an apology.

“Dear Sir, We have been retained by Mr Michael Sata, president of the Patriotic Front regarding statements attributed to you in The Post newspaper edition dated Wednesday December 22, 2010 during a meeting of MMD members which you addressed in Kitwe,” read the letter in part.

“During the said meeting you made the following remarks about our client: ‘Sata was a violent and corrupt trickster who had relegated UPND to the level of a village party. Sata thrives on telling lies and your job is to diffuse those lies. He was once a Minister of Local Government but not a single market was built and at the health ministry the situation was pathetic and drug shortages were rampant and Sata had a lot of cases and dockets opened against him…’

“The foregoing words are highly libelous of our client and hence injurious to his character and reputation as a political leader of the largest opposition political party in Zambia. In view of the above, unless we receive an apology in writing from you personally within 7 days from the date hereof, we have instructions to commence legal proceedings against you without any further notice.”

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, MICHAEL SATA, MMD

posted by MrK @ 3:55 AM