(LUSAKATIMES) Michael Sata: Anything now seems possible

Michael Sata: Anything now seems possible.
TIME PUBLISHED - Monday, October 17, 2011, 1:26 pm
By Daimone Siulapwa

MICHAEL Sata inspired the nation with his address to parliament. He is a big dreamer and he will need to keep dreaming to continue directing the people where he wants our country to go. The question is how will the implementation process be? Does he have the right kind of people to drive his dreams into reality?

So far so good, he has settled well in the driver’s seat, many pronouncements have been made and now we await implementation. He has also in just a few weeks exposed how the MMD government started sleeping on duty. As for the MMD this loss of power should come as no surprise, as the victory a few years ago was a struggle.

Any well meaning Zambian should be able to see clearly that if what has been pronounced comes to pass, we will be living in a better Zambia, no doubt about that. IfMichael sata is able to achieve even half of his dreams and pronouncements, he will be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with other African great leaders.

I was one of the critics of Michael Sata, yes checks and balances must be put in place, our leader’s intensions must be questioned
, and only then, will we have credible leaders. My passport does not say the republic of MMD nor does my National registration card say the republic of PF, It says “The Republic of Zambia”, and that’s what we should all stand for. Political parties will come and go, leaders will come and go, but our country will always be there. Readers of my articles have no doubt noticed, I’m not one who is greatly troubled by hostile criticism. For me So long as the topic is “Zambia” my thinking aligns reasonably congruently with the current status.

Often times than not, when the Head of State officially opens Parliament with his address, we hear from almost everyone saying that the speech was good. And in most cases, they are really good.

Almost all outlines what the government intends to do, and the list is mouthful, touching on almost all the sectors. But President Michael Sata’s speech was a little different. He only touched on the core issues which he believes will define his legacy. Did anyone hear him talk about sport? No, why? This is something that the minister can ably handle. As for other sectors like mining, the PF policy is clear on that too.

Through-out the campaigns, the PF had hammered the point that they were aiming at making major changes within the first 90 days. And from the look of things, they are on track. We have already seen major policy changes. Signs are that this is not going to be business as usual.

While there are a number of issues that the President raised in his address, some of them stand-out, and they need to be pointed out. From where I stand, the issue of the constitution, the development of the rural areas, the education sector and the anti-corruption fight, are very critical.

Some people have already started arguing that it may not be possible to get a constitution within 90 days. Well, I think it is possible. For a start, we have had a number of constitutional review commissions, with the last one being the Wila Mung’omba-chaired commission. This commission did produce a draft constitution, which many critics hailed as being good. Before that, there was the John Mwanakatwe Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), which also produced a very good draft constitution.

In the case of the Mwanakatwe CRC, the Frederick Chiluba administration literally ignored all the good recommendations that were made including the holding of a referendum. In the end, what was produced was a republican constitution, which was very discriminatory and has no place in a modern society. This is a constitution that was clearly designed for an individual – it was aimed at preventing Dr Kaunda from contesting for the presidency in the 1996 elections.

As for the Mungomba CRC, we all know that the damage to it was done at the National Constitution Conference (NCC). This was another case of not only wasting the country’s time, but also abuse of the country’s resources with all those sitting at the NCC getting hefty perks. What was the essence of having an NCC when the commission had already gone round the country to get people’s views which were clearly reflected in the draft constitution that was produced by Mung’omba and team.

Clearly, we all know what we want in the constitution, and as such, there is no need to waste a lot of time and resources on the exercise. Like the President said, all that is needed is small team that can look at the recommendations that have been in the past. That said, we would want to see provisions like the 50 plus one, having the vice-president as a running mate, dual citizenship and cabinet outside Parliament among others.

Then, the second important pronouncement by President Sata regards the development of the rural areas. For a long time, rural areas have received a raw deal in terms of development, and yet they have been very faithful to successive governments. People are not prepared to settle in the hinterlands after retirement simply because these places lack essential social amenities, and this is 47 years after independence. We know that the majority of our people in the rural areas are peasant or small-farmers, and they have been responsible for feeding this country’s with the staple food as it is them who produce the bulk of the country’s maize. But for all their efforts, the deal that they have got is really raw. Few of them are able to send their children to school, pay medical bills and so on and so forth. These rural dwellers have no access to electricity, schools and hospitals. When they work hard to produce food, government determines the price of the maize. And becausethe government wants to please the lazy urban dweller, who wants to buy mealie meal at a give-away price, the floor price of maize is in most cases low if not poor. If indeed the urban dwellers thinks that maize is or should be that cheap, why not grow it themselves? And even when it is low, it takes a long time for the farmer to be paid his dues. Wanting to settle a few bills, the farmer is forced to sell his maize to a briefcase businessman, who will pay him cash but at a much lower price.

People are scared of settling in their home villages upon retirement simply because of these scenarios. We need to make rural areas attractive, if we are to have people settling there instead of the densely-populated townships.
Then, there is the issue of the corruption fight. Quite evidently, we saw the previous government take a lukewarm response towards corruption. This was evidenced by the fact that they could even amend the anti-corruption law that dealt with abuse of office. By them removing the clause, they made it attractive for civil servants in particular to engage in corruption. What was needed was for them to stiffen the penalties for those engaging in corruption, not the other way round.

And finally, it is good to see the government committing itself to improving the education sector. No nation or society can develop without enough investment in education. This, the country’s early leaders realised, the reason they went about building secondary schools, teacher training colleges and a university shortly after the country gained independence. And do not forget, this education was absolutely free.

Is it not shame that several years after independence, the country can only boast of three public universities, the University of Zambia (UNZA), the Copperbelt University (CBU) and if you like, the Mulungushi University? To all intents and purposes, the MMD failed to build on the foundation that was laid by the UNIP government.

Clearly, we can do better as a nation. And the PF government seems to have realised that. So far, so good!
Daimone Siulapwa, a Businessman, Critic, Author and Political analyst. He is the Executive Director for Diaspora Advocacy Centre (DAC) in Lusaka. He writes in his own capacity