Maravi

Give Sata a chance, says Kapata

Give Sata a chance, says Kapata
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Sun 11 Mar. 2012, 11:59 CAT

ZAMBIANS need to give President Michael Sata a chance to effectively serve them, says Jean Kapata. And the Mandevu member of parliament says first lady Dr Christine Kaseba is passionate about maternal health and would do everything to change the situation for the benefit of the Zambian woman.

In an interview at the Waterfront Lodge, Kapata who is community development, mother and child health deputy minister said the PF government was in a hurry to implement its campaign promises in all sectors.

"We are on course as the PF government, we are looking at each ministry and we want to execute whatever we told the people prior to the 2011 tripartite elections and we will implement them to the fullest and expectations of the people," she said.

Kapata said President Sata would serve Zambians well.

She said President Sata persevered as an opposition leader because he knew that he would serve Zambians better than anybody else.

"Personally, I view President Sata as a man who did not falter in all setbacks as an opposition leader; he persevered despite the disputes in the other elections because he felt he was going to serve the Zambian people better than any other person and this is what we are trying to do as PF. We need to implement our manifesto especially on issues of education, health and other sectors," Kapata said.

She also thanked President Sata for creating a ministry specifically for chiefs and traditional affairs so that the gap between the government and the traditional leaders could be bridged.

She said the creation of the ministry meant that whatever happened at village level would get government's attention more quickly than was the case previously.

And Kapata said she buys into Dr Kaseba's passion for development of the girl child and women health issues especially on cervical cancer.

"Her quest to reduce the maternal mortality rates is rated high on her agenda and all we need to do is follow what the technocrats like herself have put on our table. We basically have three issues on our table: one is the distances the women have to cover to get to a health centre; availability of trained midwives; and changing the mindset of the women as in most instances the woman has to seek permission from her husband to get to a clinic," Kapata said.

She said there was need to have midwifery training become compulsory for all direct entrants into nursing training schools and that expectant mothers' shelters be built so the women can lodge in three or four days before the expectant date.

"If the Jehovah's Witness can build a church every five kilometres, what about us as a government? I 'm happy that we will be able to put 650 health centres and with the help of the donor community we can do more," Kapata said.

Labels: JEAN KAPATA, MICHAEL SATA

posted by MrK @ 5:35 PM