By Daimone Siulapwa
The ruling party, the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) seems to be celebrating the happenings in the PF-UPND Pact. Well, understandable. The more problems there are in the Pact, the brighter the chances the MMD has of retaining power. That obviously is the thinking in the MMD.
As things stand, the chances of the Pact surviving through to 2011 look all but over. However, that scenario does still not absolve the MMD of any blame for putting the country in the economic position that it is today.
The MMD came to power on the back heel of goodwill from the Zambians. They, in turn, promised to reverse the ‘misfortunes’ that the UNIP government of Dr Kenneth Kaunda had created.
No prizes for guessing whether that really happened.
The MMD government found a very vibrant middle-class existing in this country, only to destroy it through their reckless privatisation policies that left thousands of workers redundant some of them without any pay. No where else was this felt than on the Copperbelt and Lusaka were industries closed like taps of water.
If the MMD wants to know why they continue to perform poorly, this is the reason.
Having caused much of the damage during Frederick Chiluba’s tenure, there was some glimmer of hope that the administration of Levy Mwanawasa will correct the mess, but little happened other than the re-opening of mines in Luanshya and the selling of the Anglo-America Mines to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
But if you ask miners or their children whether their life is better off now than it was during the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), the answer again, does not carry any prizes for guessing.
As has happened in the three elections, the MMD is likely to draw most of its votes from the rural areas. This is not because they have taken development there. Forget about the bumper maize harvest and the Fertiliser Input Support Programme (FISP), these have done little to improve the welfare of our people in the countryside.
The majority of our people in the rural areas are peasant farmers, and believe me; they are among the poorest despite largely feeding us. The price for which we pay the maize, grown by our peasant farmers is a joke to say the least. And it has its history.
Maize is always a political crop in this country. When President Kaunda tried to raise the price of maize in 1989, it triggered riots by youths. And since then, the urban population and the government have come to treat the issue of maize as a sensitive issue while being insensitive to the needs of our rural folk. We fail to pay them a good price for the maize they produce so that we can keep those of us who do not want to get a plough happy. In other words, we have enslaved our rural folks. They are subsidizing our living so that we can buy the latest vehicle on the market and drink our favourite beers in the most cosy bars.
Like Lusaka economist David Punabantu said in his article of October 26, 2009 in the Times of Zambia that 45 years after independence, many peasant farmers still use hoes and sell maize under mango trees at frighteningly low prices.
Indeed if maize is that cheap, why don’t we all not grow it instead of looking for a white collar job? While we want our peasant farmers to sell us this maize cheaply, we do not offer them anything. They do not have clean water, have to walk long distances to access a school and clinics.
Unfortunately, these rural folks are the people the MMD continue to hoodwink for votes with fertilizer in return for votes. Whatever the outcome of the elections, the MMD owe the rural folks.
From where am reading this article its early morning, maybe thats why i feel it ends befoe it begins.Just cant figure out what message its trying to convey!!!
President Banda and MMD have never celebrated the turmoil in the so-called packed wrecked at its conception. MMD has better social contracts with Zambians than waste time on unholy marriages of conveniences. To RB and his pro development MMD administration, nation-building is of priority. He knows that it is a long and challenging political process that is disconnected from utopia and the entrapments of a dependence syndrome. They know that it is a process that selfless leaders, together with the citizenry, must undertake with seriousness and determination for sovereignty.
To my fellow patriotic Zambians, the sooner we understand that most nations have their unique circumstances and each one, throughout history, has built and developed itself around certain distinguishing core features the better for us.Forget about that political shell called pact, its doomed wreckage.
To us regardless of economic times and political era, our primer has always been the conscious cultivation of a national identity, the sense of belonging, based on shared values, tradition, history and aspirations. National identity is the foundation of social cohesion.
Celebrating the crisis of an embattled brother is unZambia which MMD will never do.Other value we hold high is the establishment of institutions and laws of governance which formalize the relationship between the leaders and citizens, and their expectation of service every delivery in best national interest which the spirited leadership of RB is doing with focus around the country.
this story has no significance. the current MMD scenario and that of 1990 are different. MMD was a movement of workers, students, church, ngo, politicians etc. MMD is now a political party whose position is to improve the standing of citizens in all areas of human endevor. Sata and HH have promised to do the same but they have no muscle. It takes umwaume pa baume to do what RB and MMD are doing
Unapologetically though mishandled in the first years, liberalising the economy was the first good decision the MMD has made; because that cut out undue governmental interference in the running of the economy, based on the universally accepted principle that Government is a poor business manager and should only supervise the economy. That is why as a country we are on bound to have so many people either employed in private employment or running their own businesses like never before.
One of the policy areas where we have begun getting it right is what development economists call the primary growth sector – the sectors and sub-sectors that produce goods and services. These include agriculture, tourism, mining, infrastructures, value added food processing industries, ICT and housing development. To this list if we could show leadership on forestry, manufacturing, discovered oil and gas sectors, Zambia could be splinting for a success story within the next 5 years of RB’s last tenure.
Its all because of liberalization of the economy, we are experiencing a paradigm shift in the sense that mining, which has been the single most dominant economic driver in the GDP share is now being heavily balanced with other sector values such as agriculture and tourism a sign that the economy has now diversified and other areas have grown significantly. What is left is to increase the productivity levels in the agricultural, tourism and manufacturing sectors and modernize it. Soon under RB agriculture will all be mechanized as a move towards commercializing it as an entreprise of economic value.
Nice article my man Siulapwa.Indeed it is very annoying when you look at the fact that the rural folks are always the ones at the apex of helping the inconsistent MMD return power.MMD along the line of rail is almost non existant coz in these places pipo see how much it pains to pay high tax for the betterment of the country just to realise that the sacrifised tax doesn`t go toward the improvement of things,apart from perhalps buying gasoline for the presidential challenger and ministerial vehicles used when receiving the president at the airport.MMD has been plying on the gulibility of our rural folks for long in the name of fertilizer.It is a pity that despite all that, these pipo have seen little or no change in their lives.It indeed sucks.
I am a founding member of the MMD and I regret ever having been. Reason is the crooks that we voted in in the form of FTJ and Co have taken the country 1000 years backwards. Democratically they are worse than Unip and KK. They are worse than the Colonial government, who inspite of being foreigners built us schools, good roads, sports infrastructure, health facilities. All these were of high class.
#s 2,3,4,6 and 8 Senior Citizen, your comments are quiet enlightening, but can’t you make your point in one or two points? I find it boring to read all the comments that you have posted, try to do an article like Daimone has done. Back to the subject, Daimone has a point, the MMD should not sit on its laurels. They need to stand up and market themselves. They need to employ a better marketing strategy than they have done in the recent past. They need to appoint pipo who are eloquent to be their spokesmen, and just to reposition themselves. In my opinion, theirs is the story of Moses and Aaron in the Holy Bible, they need pipo who can clearly explain to the general populace what they are doing and they have done. Their current PR pipo are perceived to be arrogant.
RB this RB that,what nonsense is this,guy is never in office,what time does he work? Just because you have a job in America does not mean HERB is working akuna!
“The MMD government found a very vibrant middle-class existing in this country, only to destroy it through their reckless privatisation policies that left thousands of workers redundant some of them without any pay. No where else was this felt than on the Copperbelt and Lusaka were industries closed like taps of water.
If the MMD wants to know why they continue to perform poorly, this is the reason.
Having caused much of the damage during Frederick Chiluba’s tenure,” [END QUOTE]
You cannot disconnect that point from the Pact because a certain pact big wig aspiring candidate as well as aspiring republican president for 2011 loved the FTJ administration so much that he wanted it to continue for a 3rd term.
# 13 Mr. Capitalist – 3 E’s steering economic growth There was no middle class during Kaunda’s reign, it was completely destroyed. He in fact wanted to create a classless society The author did not have his facts right on this one. The Mwanawasa govt started creating a middle class and I believe this has continued even now.
Very shallow article and as #1 puts it ..I don’t know if it is just beginning. Is this the best PF Kaponya authors can do? Certainly the beginning was great and the setting of the awesome especially the first 3 paragraphs and then the whole story just drops dead with no points to follow through the stage set. very Shallow , looks like the author went to the toilet and forgot he had an article he was writing and when he came back he just sent ti to LT. I hope you your thoughts together better next time. No this abrupt ending!!!
Otherwise we are ready to rebut an y useless point you raise and you have denied us that opportunity , shame really.
On “As things stand, the chances of the Pact surviving through to 2011 look all but over,” this is about true because the PF will compete against the mighty UPND Group in the Kaumbwe Ward by-election in Petauke District of the Eastern Province, Zambia, against the 2009 PF-UPND PACT and latest PACT guidelines.
However, the PF-UPND PACT may survive if Mr PF serpentine MC Sata will do the needful of letting HH of the UPND Group to be PF-UPND PACT 2011 presidential candidate after HH is voted for by the PACT NGC and other PF and UPND members at a joint PF-UPND PACT convention.
As for the MMD, I hope they will recall Ng’andu Magande from his farm to stand on the MMD presidential candidate ticket in the 2011 elections. If not, the results may be disastrous.
Be blest.
_
Matt…
Siulapwa is stu.p.id upstart political analyst. the best empowerment one can give the rural areas is let them grow crop which is their preoccupation. The acceptable crop price for rice maize etc is being dictated by govt. what more does Siulapwa want the govt to pay for crop? Ati Kaunda left middle income society by 1990. you are very myopic ka siulapwa Chi.ka.la at that time the country was classless with shortages and cholera all over. there was no economy to talk about. Iyeee ati LPM tried to bring back middle class. Far from it because LPM brought the family tree. RB IS TAKING DEVELOPMENT TO THE COUNTRY SIDE BY BUILDING SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS AND PUTTING MONEY THEIR POCKETS THRU BUYING THEIR CROPS and roads are being constructed in most parts example Mutanda Chavuma Road & Moyombe RD
Well when the MMD was in tumoil the PACT celebrated NO? Anyhow this is time for hard work and not political experiments..1990 was a cocktail of euphoria and anti KK..20 years on Zambians are wiser and no pretender will cause change just so he/she can occupy state house..we are a better citizen then we were in 1990
People on the line of rail keep voting for cycle mata because they are guilible and lazy who believe in turning the economy in 90 days and thru lower taxes and more money in their pockets. Typical Kaponya mentality how can you vote for Sata mwebantu. Sata being a socialist and gay rights activist can only turn the economy upside down. This is the man who cannot draw a line between two sisters of the same womb. to him everything is ‘chewable
The Pact is dead. Requescat en pace!
Nice article.The author has hit the nail on top of the head.Cheap fertilizer in exchange of five years of turmoil.
#15 MMD bootlicker sometimes you are hilarious.You’ve made my day ati the author went to the toilet and forgot he was writing an article ha ha ha Yes the article actually doesn’t make sense looking at the title and the body of the story.
Deja Vu says 10#
Don’t be thoughtless & silly!!.
How did Zambia look like 1000 years ago? First of all, there was no Zambia, Northern Rhodesia & colonial masters a centuary ago
Talk sense, not barking like a mad dog.
Senior citizen you post the same comments in every article you are so smart it is like the mmd taking equipment from UTH and take to chawama hospital were there are no doctors
Ba Siulapwa, the sweetest thing about your article is that it condemns Mr Sata. I am sure that by now you have learnt that you cannot condemn the MMD of the 1990 to 2001 and at the same time isolate our Michael Chilufya Sata. It is not far fetched to imagine that the main reason why MMD failed to deliver in those 10 years was because of Mr Sata himself. And who can argue with that, he hounded out all progressives Levy and many others and the MMD lost the dream as a result. But that is the old MMD that you still live with now called PF. Our new MMD smells the sweet scent of an intelligent development agenda. Any challenge, ba PF, can you deny that you are the old MMD?
I cannot trust anything that comes from Seventh Day Adventists any more. The hate that has been displayed here by one SDA member against Mr Sata seem to show how hateful and venomous this church can be. With no substantive reason, but based on tribe and jealousy, this Seventh Day Adventist advocate has used hateful and derogatory remarks in a very sinful and hateful way. Suppose this hate was coming from the Catholic Church advocate against HH, what will everyone say about the Catholics? The only ones who append biblical quotations are the ones who in fact have displayed the waste hate for another human being. They have called Mr Sata names and have failed to read the verses they append to their hate mongering messages. Shame on the SDA Church and its Advocates.
:d Any one who has objectively analysed the results of the past two presidential elections should know that PF lead by Sata cannot and will never win the presidential elections.The reasons for this are simple and straight forward.
1.Very poorly organised party structure which in many parts of Zambia is actually non existant.e.g during last election PF failed to field parliamentary candidates in a number of constituencies.
2.Lack of a tangible campaign strategy.e.g PF operate on the wrong assumption that the mere mention of Sata will win them votes.
3.Regional/Tribal voting patterns e.g PF will never get significant votes from Southern,Western ,Northwestern and now Eastern provinces.
4.Poor voter turnouts in so called PF strongholds in urban areas e.g on average 40-50% of registered.
What I have noticed about this paper is that most of you are MMD sympathizers. It is ironic that you presume to know so much about our beloved country and yet have foreign flags against your names, which only signifies your lack of patriotism and lack of touch with reality. It is embarrassing from this part of the world to be a Zambian because our country is associated with every bad statistic you can ever think of. It hurts me to hear people like you praising the nomenclatura when so many people are literally scraping a living in our back home while the leadership seem to be surrounded by pomp and splendor. If you think the current administration has done its homework, please visit home and see how your relatives are living. You disgust me and you all smack of nepotism.