Maravi

Sata has a heart for the people - Maureen

Sata has a heart for the people - Maureen
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Mon 04 June 2012, 07:00 CAT

MAUREEN Mwanawasa says President Michael Sata has a heart for the people. In an interview in Ndola on Saturday, Maureen said President Sata had the same vision of creating decent jobs for Zambians as that of her late husband, former president Levy Mwanawasa.

She said the government was on the right track to see that Zambians had decent and permanent jobs.

"Late president Mwanawasa had a vision and a plan for Zambia. He was a president for the people because he considered Zambians first. And this is what I am seeing in President Sata; he has a heart for people because he wants to create decent jobs for Zambians," she said.

Maureen said Mwanawasa was a pragmatic person who changed and improved Zambia's economy.

She said Mwanawasa reviewed the national development agenda that was removed by the Frederick Chiluba government to create jobs for Zambians.

Maureen said during the seven years that Mwanawasa was in office, people were able to see tangible results.

"All these achievements that happened during late president Mwanawasa were for the good of Zambians. This is what I see in the current government. The PF government has only been in government for nine months and we are able to see results. I can see that President Sata means well for Zambians. Decentralisation will for sure create more jobs," she said.

Maureen said some of the projects that were started by her late husband were being implemented by the PF government.

The government has admitted that unemployment among youths remains a big challenge.

And President Sata on Saturday said he did not believe in creating casual jobs for Zambians

"Our compatriots are complaining that we are delaying in creating jobs, I don't believe in creating casual employment. When we create jobs, it is forever," President Sata said.

"Don't be in a rush because when you are in a rush you make so many mistakes. We want to calculate and as you have seen we, as a working government, has started putting more money in people's pockets; we have reduced taxes and we're creating new districts and in those districts permanent jobs are being created," President Sata said.

And Maureen said the PF government should consider introducing windfall taxes.
She said windfall tax ensured that the country benefited adequately from its natural resources

"The benefits of a windfall tax include proceeds being directly used by governments to bolster funding for social programmes. The profits that will come from the tax should be reinvested to promote innovation that will in turn benefit society as a whole," said Maureen.

Labels: JOBS, MAUREEN MWANAWASA, MICHAEL SATA

posted by MrK @ 2:34 PM