Maravi

Sata to improve defence, security staff conditions

Sata to improve defence, security staff conditions
By George Chellah in Mpongwe
Wed 14 Sep. 2011, 13:58 CAT

MICHAEL Sata has pledged to improve the conditions of service and welfare of all defence and security forces. And Sata said the parallel vote tabulation, which President Rupiah Banda is scared of, is all set. Addressing a public rally in Mpongwe on Monday, Sata said he had received complaints relating to the welfare of the defence and security personnel.

Sata said he had been told that soldiers at one Commando unit in Ndola live in self-made mud houses and that their appeal to government to improve the housing had been to no avail.

"… soldiers and officers are owed millions in terms of claims and, the current figure on Zambia Army alone is around K290 billion. These claims are always paid to the same bootlickers," he said.

He also said soldiers had complained that army commanders recently bought lavish vehicles whilst troops were using Tata trucks and yet the primary concern should be the welfare of troops and not that of a few retired old generals.

Sata revealed that soldiers that had sued the state over its failure to pay them their allowances were being victimised, with some facing dismissal.

"Our friends in uniform are complaining. We have to maintain our defence and security in good shape. They need better conditions of service," Sata said.

"You know Rupiah Banda is playing because once you get the soldiers to start complaining, once you get the police to start complaining, then you are in trouble."

He said PF in government would not allow the defence and security forces to suffer.
"We have to improve their conditions," Sata said. "We want civil servants to feel proud of working for their people."

Earlier, Sata dismissed MMD propaganda that under the PF government, soldiers would be required to sweep the streets saying that only councils and not soldiers were supposed to perform such tasks.

And Sata said President Rupiah Banda had been informed that he could not genuinely win next week's election.

"He sent people to assess whether he can win or not and they told him ‘sir you cannot win this election'. Mr Rupiah Banda should be a gentleman. We know Mr Rupiah Banda wants to rig the elections. He has already sent some pre-marked ballot papers and we know where they are. In Luapula, he is targeting Mwansabombwe area and he is targeting the whole of Southern Province," Sata said.

"You all have to wake up because Rupiah Banda is creating bogus polling stations. Those bogus and fictitious polling stations that's where they are going to stuff pre-marked ballot papers. The civil society and PVT are ready and Rupiah Banda is very scared. Mr Rupiah Banda believes in cheating, Mr. Rupiah Banda believes in plundering and he believes in vandalising Zambia."

He appealed to young people not to be used because they were the ones feeling the impact of MMD rule.

He also told the crowd that the MMD had been cheating that he does not like Lambas.

"In 1984, Kaunda made me minister of state. Mpongwe and Masaiti were administered by Luanshya. When I came here I knew there would be no development so I decided to make Mpongwe a district, I gave it a district status. And when the people of Masaiti wanted self-development I gave them district status too. Can Namulambe show you what he has done for Lambaland," he said.

He said President Banda had reduced the fertiliser allocation to farmers and was failing to buy the harvest.

"The Europeans in Mpongwe started wheat scheme which is not here. PF in government will give you 15 bags of fertiliser free of charge and we shall give you another 15 on nkongole. Even the civil servants from this place rural areas will benefit," he said.

He said PF in government would extend the Luanshya road up to Kalulushi. "Another priority is for us to build a bridge so that we don't lose any more children. Once we put a bridge, people with bicycles will cross without paying anything. Here in Lambaland this is the richest place in Zambia," Sata said.

"But our chiefs are the poorest. PF in government; people who are running copper mines and emerald mines will have to pay loyalty to our chiefs.

"We have to provide a palace and a private residence to our chiefs. If there was no Catholic Church, no Ibenga and no Fatima, what will happen here? You have six chiefdoms and two secondary schools what type of a country is that? PF in government, every chiefdom shall have a secondary school named after that chiefdom. Mpongwe has no government hospital, why?"

He urged the commercial farms in the area not to pay people slave wages.
"God gave Zambia to Zambians and Zambians must enjoy. God gave emeralds to Zambia, God gave us copper, God gave us all sorts of minerals. We are not going to nationalise but we will make them investors respect us. We are the owners of the wealth," he said.

He said those who want change must ensure that change begins from their homes.
And Sata advised first lady Thandiwe Banda to desist from insults because she is fit to be his daughter.

Reacting to Thandiwe's recent remarks in Chipata that Eastern Province was President Banda's bedroom and voting for the opposition will be like tolerating bana ba muchigololo, Sata urged Thandiwe to tame her tongue.

"Mama Betty Kaunda when she went to State House there was a very strong opposition from the ANC but she never opened her mouth to issue derogatory remarks against the opposition. Even in the 1990s when Kenneth Kaunda introduced multiparty politics she never insulted the opposition," Sata said.

"Vera Chiluba and Maureen Mwanawasa also never insulted us. So Thandiwe Chilongo and her colleague Dora Siliya must watch their mouths. Just the other day Dora was equating me to her ex-husband whom she said was lazy in bed. And now it's Thandiwe Chilongo saying ndise bana muchigololo.

"Tell Thandiwe Chilongo that I take great exception to such insults particularly that she is fit to be my daughter. Both Thandiwe and Dora are fit to be my children. Therefore, let Thandiwe not insult us. We have respected and spared her because she is not a politician so let her not open a Pandora's box."

He said Thandiwe was free to join politics if she wanted.

"When she does that then we will talk to her as a politician. Rupiah must not use his women to insult us because his first wife was a highly respectable woman who never insulted anybody," Sata said.

"Therefore, those of us who have known this family from way back are surprised that this new wife of his is now insulting people. Something that has never been part of that family; Thandiwe is not a politician so she must stay like that."

Labels: MICHAEL SATA

posted by MrK @ 4:29 PM