Maravi

Sata Reflects On One Year In Office

Sata Reflects On One Year In Office
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in New York
Fri 28 Sep. 2012, 12:30 CAT

ZAMBIA has seen reasonable improvements since PF took over office, says President Michael Sata who has also thanked Zambians for ending his 10-year stay in the opposition.

And President Sata received standing ovation from the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly when he unveiled a whole female-led Zambia's legal-judicial structure.

Meanwhile, President Sata says high unemployment levels, especially among the many Zambian youths who voted for the PF, remain the most pressing problem facing his regime.

In his inaugural address to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, the head of state said the Zambian economy continues to perform reasonably well.

President Sata also said he was indebted to Zambians for again undertaking the change process in a peaceful manner and giving the government "overwhelming support".

"It is my desire to utilise my experience at both ends of the leadership spectrum to make a worthwhile contribution to our democracy," he said. "I trust that Zambia will be able to share her lessons and to equally learn from those with longer or even better democratic experiences. Since my government assumed power in September, 2011, the country has seen reasonable improvements in our economy with an inflation rate down to 6.6 per cent and a gross domestic product growth rate in the region of six per cent in spite of the low global economic trends. This has been attributed to the enhancement of the investment policy framework and improving infrastructure and human capital development. Despite these efforts, however, 60.5 per cent of the Zambian people continue to live in poverty."

President Sata said it was his government's desire to take development to the micro level.

"The PF government's focus is to enhance agricultural productivity and access to markets for peasants and small scale farmers, provide improved health services as close to the families as possible, improve quality of education, and, facilitate access to decent housing and accommodation," he said. "We are still faced with considerable challenges, in terms of meeting the basic needs of the majority of the Zambian people. Shortly before I was ushered into office, there was much publicity of the positive macro-economic indicators, but these results did not trickle down to the average citizenry."

And President Sata was applauded by the UN General Assembly when he announced that key legal-judicial institutions were led by women whom he expected to perform better than men who had previously led them. He said corruption remained the biggest stumbling block to achieving good governance and the rule of law.

"My government attaches similar importance to promoting good governance, and as such we have put in place a robust anti-corruption programme, with improved and increased resources which should set a new stage in our development," he said.

On Millennium Development Goals whose target date is narrowly three years away with little achievement in sight, President Sata said there was need for renewed commitment to human-centered development goals to ensure weaker nations develop. He warned that abandoning MDGs would harm most weaker nations.

"As we draw closer to the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, the international community needs to maximize its efforts towards achieving all the eight (8) goals," said President Sata. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has appointed a panel comprising Indonesian President Susilo Bambang, Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and British Prime Minister David Cameron to advise on the post-2015 global development agenda.

Labels: MICHAEL SATA, PF

posted by MrK @ 5:26 PM