Mike endorses Sata

Mike endorses Sata
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 01 July 2011, 04:02 CAT

MIKE Mulongoti has endorsed the candidature of Michael Sata and the PF during this year’s tripartite elections. And Mulongoti says he has greatly suffered in his mission of defending the ideals of democracy and good governance in successive governments.

In a press statement, Mulongoti, who was dismissed as works and supply minister following his decision to challenge Vice-President George Kunda who was President Banda’s favoured choice for the MMD vice-presidency before the position was scrapped, stated that he did not need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate the strength of the PF and its leader Sata.

“I have today the 29th June of 2011 decided to make known to the people of Zambia that I am endorsing Mr Michael Chilufya Sata and his party PF as my choice for support in the forth coming tripartite elections. I am making this announcement conscious of the fact that it has far-reaching implications,” he stated.

Mulongoti stated that since he left the MMD and government he had been receiving calls to state his future, saying some charlatans had continued announcing his joining this or that party.
He stated that he had been shabbily treated in the MMD by some people who had no basis for being in the party in the first place.

“They represent the worst in political character and on reflection I feel shamed to have been associated with them. The MMD made a grave mistake that at admission to membership we did not pay attention to due diligence as we assumed that those admitted would have some modicum if not decency to respect our values and ideology,” Mulongoti stated. “To our surprise it was the proverbial ‘camel’ and the rest is history. I do not need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate the strength of PF and its leader Michael Sata. I can attest to this because we fought on the electoral front on many occasions and had it not been for the benefit of incumbency MMD would have been history today.”

Mulongoti stated that with the foreoing in mind, he wished to pledge his total support to the presidential candidature of Sata and all his candidates, saying he would now dedicate his energy and intellect to the fight to ensure a PF victory.

He stated that he did the same for MMD and it was now their time to lick the wounds after the eminent defeat.

Mulongoti stated that he was grateful for the wonderful and welcoming support from Sata, PF leaders and members in general even when they knew he was not one of their members but that they had a common agenda “to bring about change”.

“The greedy, selfish and dishonesty of a clique that have overthrown true MMD’s patriots in the MMD have given Zambia a bad name. The good people in leadership have been terrorised and confounded to numbness and appear helpless due to the level of intimidation from the powers that be,” Mulongoti stated. “Time for their liberation has come. I challenge them to come out of their cocoons to join the fight for building our cherished democracy. Their future is in their hands and continued silence and fear will do them more harm. They must not fear the unleashing of scavengers and their elk on them; it is only when they stand to this scum that they will earn respect and admiration from the people of Zambia.”

Mulongoti stated that history was replete with many leaders who had lost it on account of moral deficiency, avarice, greed, arrogance, vanity and being egoistic, saying the current situation in Zambia spoke volumes.

He said Zambians most of whom were poor were crying for change.

Mulongoti stated that the cry for change must not be misconstrued as to mean disrespect or demeaning to those in leadership.

“We have heard of developmental projects as if that is all there is to life. Governments the world over are expected to deliver on their promises. It is therefore warped thinking to believe that we have delivered before asking the beneficiaries whether they are satisfied with our performance,” Mulongoti stated. “It is for instance not enough to boast about projects when these steal the future of the same people they are intended to benefit.”

Mulongoti stated that for instance the people had continued to cry for the benefit from their natural resource more especially minerals, and that an attempt was made to bring equity through windfall taxes, but these were suspiciously removed by architects of poverty under the guise that they were encouraging and protecting investment.

“When the story is finally told it will be discovered that the political elite and the bureaucracy will have lined their pockets to deny to poor Zambians their fair share. It is surprising that the answers from the same investors point to the fact that they pay money to the leadership,” Mulongoti stated. “The perils of poverty must never be glossed over by those pretending to be providers of good things to the people. Why have the leadership not challenged these investors who continually give those answers to workers.”

He stated that the challenges of the moment were constitutional reform, fight against corruption, devolution of government to bring about equity, justice and its availability to the poor and less privileged, upholding the rule of law, adequate support to education and vocational training.
Mulongoti stated that with the current circumstances, it was only the PF which had the national appeal and support to bring about the desired change.

He stated that his assessment of other parties was that they were only useful for democratic purposes and could not be the promise for the future.

“I therefore call upon all citizens and all progressive Zambians to join me in supporting the PF and the candidacy of Mr C.M. Sata for President,” stated Mulongoti.

And speaking at a press briefing at hotel Edinburgh in Kitwe yesterday, Mulongoti said he was fired in the Second Republic for condemning the third term and President Banda also persecuted him for contesting the vice presidency in the MMD.

He said he did not hate President Rupiah Banda as a human being but the undemocratic tendencies he brought in the MMD.

Mulongoti said he would work closely with prominent individuals like Mbita Chitala to push the agenda for change of government because the country would collapse if the MMD were given chance to be in power for the next five years.

Mulongoti said his persecution in public by President Rupiah Banda and the subsequent expulsion from the party spoke volumes of how intolerant and undemocratic the party had been rendered.

“We were in Kasama with the President and I told him that I will contest for the position of vice-president. He gave me a go-ahead and assured me that my rights to contest would be respected and supported.

But the only thing he mentioned was that he will not support me in public because there was a serving vice-president. From that time... only to hear that I have been dropped.

Surely Zambia is a democracy and the tenets of democracy must be respected,” Mulongoti said.
He said the PF was the favourite party in the forthcoming elections because it had rich ideals that had given people hope of economic and political transformation.