Maravi

Sata is a visionary person - Dr Kaseba

Sata is a visionary person - Dr Kaseba
By Sheikh Chifuwe in London, UK
Mon 13 Feb. 2012, 13:01 CAT

FIRST lady Christine Kaseba says her husband Michael Sata is a visionary person who is very clear where he wanted to take Zambia, but people around him needed to cope with his pace of doing things.

In an interview in London on Saturday evening, Dr Kaseba said: "He is doing well, he is always much ahead when it comes to planning and what should be done but again when people are not really on the same pace, they will not be able to understand; they might misconstrue but later on they will come to appreciate."

Dr Kaseba said it had been difficult for President Sata to detach himself from physical contact with the people after he assumed the presidency as soft power approach had always been his principle in both politics and private life.

She said it was a pity that people were not referring to the President's speech during his address to Parliament which outlined his development agenda for the country.

She hoped that people could measure his administration's performance against the commitments he made to the country during the official opening of Parliament.

Dr Kaseba appealed to Zambians to give the new government enough time to deliver on its promises.

She said people were free to criticise the Patriotic Front government and President Sata, but challenged those who were patriotic to offer solutions instead of just criticising for the sake of it.

"At the end of the day we only have one Zambia which we need to serve. We should be able to say, ‘here Mr Sata, you are veering away from what you promised and I think we need to do ABC' and if Mr Sata doesn't listen to such advice, then we should be able to say you have not done well," she said.

Dr Kaseba said it was difficult for President Sata to perform a miracle and turn things around but that he needed everyone's involvement in resolving the many problems the country was facing.

"I am not trying to speak on his behalf but you know and do understand as well that even when Mr Sata was in his private life as a politician, even before he became a politician, he used to see (meet) a lot of people. But now because of security issues, it becomes difficult for him, it becomes challenging for him," she explained.

She said Zambians needed to be proud of their identity because at the end of the day, everyone needed to participate in the governance system of the country.

She said Zambians understood the culture and values of the country, which could not be blown away by individualistic people. On her social and outreach programmes, Dr Kaseba said she was a serious advocate of the fight against cancer diseases and that she was lobbying the government and the private sector to help fight cancer-related complications that had claimed many lives in the country.

She said the Ministry of Health had developed a strategic framework which was holistic in nature by including governance and financing. She said so far a lot of money had been allocated to health, which she said was a positive development for the country.

Dr Kaseba said infrastructure development was key to mitigating the suffering of the people in terms of health service delivery. She said the local expectations and misconception on what the first lady should do was challenging as her office was not constitutional.

"It becomes a daunting task to change things and meet people's expectations when you know very well that it is not a constitutional office. But because of the need to meet people's expectations from the first lady, you have to do something," she said.

"It's actually tiring and demanding, a lot emotionally because you do realise there is a need there for the people, but you are incapable to reach out to them because of the virtual way the office of first lady was constructed."

"Zambia needs supplementary effort not only from the first lady but from everyone else."

She also disclosed that she was working with other people over the possibility of creating a sustainable foundation that compliment the NGOs already working towards mitigating the suffering of the people.

She believed that foundations should never face extinction with the departure of the sitting first lady at State House.

"They should be independent of the first lady," Dr Kaseba said.

Dr Kaseba, who was on her way from Holland where she visited the country with local government officials, said Zambia had a lot to learn from that country.

Labels: LOCAL GOVERNMENT, MICHAEL SATA, PF

posted by MrK @ 3:17 PM