By Daimone Siulapwa
MICHAEL Sata inspired the nation with his address to parliament. He is a big dreamer and he will need to keep dreaming to continue directing the people where he wants our country to go. The question is how will the implementation process be? Does he have the right kind of people to drive his dreams into reality? So far so good, he has settled well in the driver’s seat, many pronouncements have been made and now we await implementation. He has also in just a few weeks exposed how the MMD government started sleeping on duty. As for the MMD this loss of power should come as no surprise, as the victory a few years ago was a struggle.
Any well meaning Zambian should be able to see clearly that if what has been pronounced comes to pass, we will be living in a better Zambia, no doubt about that. If Michael sata is able to achieve even half of his dreams and pronouncements, he will be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with other African great leaders.
I was one of the critics of Michael Sata, yes checks and balances must be put in place, our leader’s intensions must be questioned
, and only then, will we have credible leaders. My passport does not say the republic of MMD nor does my National registration card say the republic of PF, It says “The Republic of Zambia”, and that’s what we should all stand for. Political parties will come and go, leaders will come and go, but our country will always be there. Readers of my articles have no doubt noticed, I’m not one who is greatly troubled by hostile criticism. For me So long as the topic is “Zambia” my thinking aligns reasonably congruently with the current status.
Often times than not, when the Head of State officially opens Parliament with his address, we hear from almost everyone saying that the speech was good. And in most cases, they are really good.
Almost all outlines what the government intends to do, and the list is mouthful, touching on almost all the sectors. But President Michael Sata’s speech was a little different. He only touched on the core issues which he believes will define his legacy. Did anyone hear him talk about sport? No, why? This is something that the minister can ably handle. As for other sectors like mining, the PF policy is clear on that too.
Through-out the campaigns, the PF had hammered the point that they were aiming at making major changes within the first 90 days. And from the look of things, they are on track. We have already seen major policy changes. Signs are that this is not going to be business as usual.
While there are a number of issues that the President raised in his address, some of them stand-out, and they need to be pointed out. From where I stand, the issue of the constitution, the development of the rural areas, the education sector and the anti-corruption fight, are very critical.
Some people have already started arguing that it may not be possible to get a constitution within 90 days. Well, I think it is possible. For a start, we have had a number of constitutional review commissions, with the last one being the Wila Mung’omba-chaired commission. This commission did produce a draft constitution, which many critics hailed as being good. Before that, there was the John Mwanakatwe Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), which also produced a very good draft constitution.
In the case of the Mwanakatwe CRC, the Frederick Chiluba administration literally ignored all the good recommendations that were made including the holding of a referendum. In the end, what was produced was a republican constitution, which was very discriminatory and has no place in a modern society. This is a constitution that was clearly designed for an individual – it was aimed at preventing Dr Kaunda from contesting for the presidency in the 1996 elections.
As for the Mungomba CRC, we all know that the damage to it was done at the National Constitution Conference (NCC). This was another case of not only wasting the country’s time, but also abuse of the country’s resources with all those sitting at the NCC getting hefty perks. What was the essence of having an NCC when the commission had already gone round the country to get people’s views which were clearly reflected in the draft constitution that was produced by Mung’omba and team.
Clearly, we all know what we want in the constitution, and as such, there is no need to waste a lot of time and resources on the exercise. Like the President said, all that is needed is small team that can look at the recommendations that have been in the past. That said, we would want to see provisions like the 50 plus one, having the vice-president as a running mate, dual citizenship and cabinet outside Parliament among others.
Then, the second important pronouncement by President Sata regards the development of the rural areas. For a long time, rural areas have received a raw deal in terms of development, and yet they have been very faithful to successive governments. People are not prepared to settle in the hinterlands after retirement simply because these places lack essential social amenities, and this is 47 years after independence. We know that the majority of our people in the rural areas are peasant or small-farmers, and they have been responsible for feeding this country’s with the staple food as it is them who produce the bulk of the country’s maize. But for all their efforts, the deal that they have got is really raw. Few of them are able to send their children to school, pay medical bills and so on and so forth. These rural dwellers have no access to electricity, schools and hospitals. When they work hard to produce food, government determines the price of the maize. And because the government wants to please the lazy urban dweller, who wants to buy mealie meal at a give-away price, the floor price of maize is in most cases low if not poor. If indeed the urban dwellers thinks that maize is or should be that cheap, why not grow it themselves? And even when it is low, it takes a long time for the farmer to be paid his dues. Wanting to settle a few bills, the farmer is forced to sell his maize to a briefcase businessman, who will pay him cash but at a much lower price.
People are scared of settling in their home villages upon retirement simply because of these scenarios. We need to make rural areas attractive, if we are to have people settling there instead of the densely-populated townships.
Then, there is the issue of the corruption fight. Quite evidently, we saw the previous government take a lukewarm response towards corruption. This was evidenced by the fact that they could even amend the anti-corruption law that dealt with abuse of office. By them removing the clause, they made it attractive for civil servants in particular to engage in corruption. What was needed was for them to stiffen the penalties for those engaging in corruption, not the other way round.
And finally, it is good to see the government committing itself to improving the education sector. No nation or society can develop without enough investment in education. This, the country’s early leaders realised, the reason they went about building secondary schools, teacher training colleges and a university shortly after the country gained independence. And do not forget, this education was absolutely free.
Is it not shame that several years after independence, the country can only boast of three public universities, the University of Zambia (UNZA), the Copperbelt University (CBU) and if you like, the Mulungushi University? To all intents and purposes, the MMD failed to build on the foundation that was laid by the UNIP government.
Clearly, we can do better as a nation. And the PF government seems to have realised that. So far, so good!
Even tribalism.
Even nepotism
This is just a load of shit. Sata is a tribalist and no amount of propaganda from fellow tribalilsts like this ***** who wrote this will save him. Sata is a tribalist and he is very corrupt
Sichilima you are a moron, why cant u just objective for a moment and analyse things beyond tribal lines. Next time if you dont have anything to say just shut your dirty stinking mouth u wanker instead of embarassing yoself.
I M JUST WAITING FOR THE THIEVES TO BE BROUGHT DOWN to BOOK AND JAILED MANY YEARS! OTHERWISE SET FREE ALL THE PRISONERS WHO STOLE CHICKENS AND
CABBAGES DUE TO HUNGER (ICHIKASHA) AND POVERTY CAUSED BY THESE SELFISH LEADERS FOR 20 WHOLE YEARS. INVESTGATE THEIR WIVES, CHILDREN AND NO buiding HOUSES FOR THEM!!!
At last a breath of fresh air, it seems to me Diamone got all and even nicked the little wisdom from his demented brother -Humphrey. Good job sir but dont forget to write one on our confused brother -HH, he seems to be losing it.
Rubbish
What is rubbish about this you fool.
This Honda guy is a twart
What was lacking in Mr Sata’s speech:
1. Protection of the environment and commitment to renewable energy resources. Nothing about solar power. It is well known that 0.3% of solar energy in Africa can power the whole Europe!
2. Mine taxes.
3. Freedom of information act.
4. Education curriculum overhaul.
5. Medical and paramedical staff recruitment to drive the health reforms.
6. What exactly is meant by development in rural areas?
Now the PF government having been vindicated for the stance it took rejecting participating in the NCC must treat the payouts for the failed NCC as individual loans as it looks for local sources of funding for some of its programmes. This is misapplied taxpayer’s money!
i agree with you, one way or another individuals must pay back that money starting with one George Kunda!
Thanks Ba Diamond! Abesu. We Miss you and the gigs
you are thinking not like HH and his fools. keep it up writing such good articles.
deleted
#1 &3..were is this tribalism thing coming from? cant you just comment without linking anyone to tribalism? you stinking tribalists!
VIVA…ZAMBIA FORWARD…WE SHOULD PRAY THAT EVERY DREAM COMES INTO REALITY…ITS HARDWORK FOR THESE THEORIES TO BE REALISED….
What are the plans about zambians in diaspora?
I really dont care what was in Sata ‘s speach…All i need to see is ACTION. We have had nice speaches before and NO progress…To critics of this article, why dont you also give us your version instead of yelling one stupid word…
No.14. Ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country.
SATA AND HIS BEMBA GOVT WILL LOSE NEXT ELECTIONS. THE MORE YOU TALK ABOUT HH THE STRONGER AND POPULAR YOU ARE promoting him. Every hour we hear of people complaining about PF tribalist way of making appointment. for how long will we continue to hear that. where there is smoke there is surely some fire. It will be interesting to see how bembas will be running away from the inveded areas they are comforting themselves now. they want to drag tongas to a senseless tribla haterage. Please leave the tongas alone and if this attacks continue we shall advice ourselves
UPND CADRES U WANT TO TRANSFER YO TRIBALISM ON SATA?? THIS IS FUNNY
At #3, you seem to have lost your temperament and hence your sence of reason. Unfortunately for you, the majority of the electorate voted for ‘the tribalist’. The first reason why you ought be ashamed with your allegations is that H.E Sata, your president, has got the backing of most provinces and it is very soon that he will gain control in swing provinces that tend to favour the ruling party like Eastern, North Western and Central Provinces. Secondly, I do not see anything tribal about the Sata administration. Name names and criticise, do not speak with limited fact and sadly, limited vocab and lingo!
Thats great analysis,only fools will not understand the PF policies,Bravo Diamone
@ # 17, lol. You are so delusional. Firstly, you need to realise that despite you hating H.E Sata, you have to be objective in your analysis. Elias Chipimo Jr is highly likely to perform better than HH in the coming elections as he has taken over most of HH’s neutral supporters. However, Sata controls the most loyalist voters who will vote for him regardless his policies. Also, Sata’s labour stance will woo the neutrals and the employed. HH lacks marketability and is not likeable and hence electable. Give me statistics and not opinion. If you can write in English you must be able to defend your statements. I have come to teach sense into such like you!
U see me as HH and dont see tribalism or regionalism in my party. Look at it critically, i v more MPs in Sourthern Province than any other parties for the simple reason that people like me not because i am Tonga simply for the fact that they have no choice among the none tonga candidates. I lost in other provinces not because i am Tonga but simply for the fact that i see tribalism in these areas. As for my areas they are solidly behind me and will continue to do so as long as i am Tonga. You see again i defeated Sikota Sakwiba my cousin and then chased Bob Sichinga and Patrick chisanga bcoz we could never agree on anything as these people are Bembas and enemies of us from aaha ha. Dont blame me iam what iam and nothing wil ever change me. As for RB he is weak and needs replacement from ME
UPND IS A DEAD END
I am not a tribalist. Inonge Wina is not Bembe, Given Lubinda is not Bemba, Panji is not Bembe,
The Zulus, Simbyakula, Simuusa Mines minister, etc etc are not Bembe Guy Scot is not Bemba. Matonga former Pemba UPND MP is not in charge of FRA.
What is a well-meaning Zambian? Politics is how you make things happen. Sata fully understands this. that is why he opposed Mwanawasa, even when he brought Chiluba to court, and RB’s MMD. Any well-meaning Zambian should want to get these kaponyas out of givt as soon as possible. One term is too long. They should be opposed at every turn and their agenda should be made to fail. Let’s make sure that nothing happens in 90 days – no new houses in the shanties, no more money in your pockets, no new roads, no new successful budgets. Zambians should unite against this minority Bemba govt and make sure that these tribalists will not rule Zambia for a long time to come.
Iwe how dare u wish failure upon the current govt..Even though u are not pro sata and his policies or whatever he has brought hope to a lot of people and you saying failure should happen is mere heartlessness man..wish our president all the best whether u like him or not bachulasana abantu.
But what is exactly wrong with you, development if brought under the current will benefit all Zambians, so if you are not Zambian better not comment unnecessarily. You are really a let down.
HH will never go to plot 1
yes he will at the new cemetery on his farm
Sichilima 3, you need to sober up boy. You even know yourself that most of what you have said can not be substntiated. If Sata was corrupt and guilty of any meaningful offence, you think successive Government would have spared him??
He has been a pain in the flesh of many Government and they all knew that he had chances of defeating them, probably even did in 2006 and 2008, they had nothing to fix him for.
Now Tonga is not the only tribe in Zambia, ask yourself why no one labels other tribes tribal except some of you. Not, all Tonga by the way, I have some refiend comopolitan friends who make no issue of their Tonga tribe, its only their name that may give them away, but the likes of you dent the image of this great people with beautiful women, by the way!!!!
#21 Luciferous Calyptus! Wasosa! Bauze ntena! (except for your name pliz changeit) Say it again a hundred times, louder this time!
Iam Aushi or Bemba generally ,the more you say bemba ,this ,bemba that you make them be .Just discuss politics for the whole 13 million population and not a tribe,
#25 Mwasimu…u sound like u have serious issues in ur life…U re a real opposition party…oppose everything that PF and Sata does..even when they building roads u wana go and stop them…Man get a life…Guys like you are danger to sociaty..
It does not help to call the PF govt Kaponyas. They may be but they campaigned vigorously and people gave them the mandate to rule this country until 2016. Whether we like it or not Sata and PF are in charge. the best these PF men and women can work is to put on their toes.We are promised this and that and we are patiently waiting to see results and it was reasonable for Satanomics to fix Zambia within 90 days that was misplaced dream. I am still learning how SATANOMICS will be implemented. What is happening at BOZ there is still Governor not yet appointed. Is that institution no important to survival of our economy. What has happened to Nagnde Magande rumour that he might be the right choice.
@25, Linjoko
We have elected Sata to rule Zambia for the next ten years and he will finish his mandate smoothly and successfully. Sata has given direction on how best this country can be managed and his speeches are very consistant, progressive and mature.
It is now up to Zambians to take up his vision and move the country forward. If you and me fail to support him, no any president can do better becoz even that president will require my support and your support.Its a pity that some of you posting such comments are doing so bcoz your father, brother or uncle was fired for corrupt related activities with the ex gvt. But take it easy better days are coming for you. Dont overreact or else you will find yourself Muchimbokaila for causing anarchy in our beloved sweet country.
This is scarely the more pipo talk against HH the more he become popular. I am now worried tha PF is marketing HH by comm,enting unecessarily against him. A case in point was Sata who was abused by the public media and other independents.We better be careful as we seem to be blessing HH now.
Speeches are not action, wait and see what happens after some few months then you can criticise.MAN OF ACTION AT WORK WHILST THE TALKATIVE ONES ARE BUSY ALSO DOING WHAT THEY ARE GOOD AT.VIVA SATA VIVA PF.
considering Sata’s eductional background it was an excellent speech. However, the speech lacked something. It didn’t drive home the critical areas like mining taxes, reduction of PAYE, FOI Bill & cost cutting measures like shutting down the ministry of Info & broadcasting. Then under infrustracture development only roads are mentioned in 2 provinces but rail network which is cheaper is ingored.
It seems there are people who do not sleep because of the name HH! The gentleman did not win the election but seems to pre-occupy our thinking in every blog. He certainly did better this time than in the previous election; 28 MPs against 22…but he has a long road ahead of him. Keep trying; who knows… on the issue of dreaming by President Sata, we should be happy he has some vision. He will, however, let himself down by not consulting and resisting criticism.
Shallow topic. Daimon apears like an opportunist looking for a job in PF. We know you very well , its only a month ago when the whole bunch of you Tonga *****s called us all sorts of street names in PF. Who are you to question if we have the right people in PF to drive the dreams of our president mr Sata. Even our inspector general of police Dr Malama is much more qualified than that bantustan leader HH. And from where on earth did you obtain those titles? I thought you were a conman that is wanted by the SA police here is SA. Chikala uletekafye nkoko ne fibata or you can restart you old business of supplying kapenta to us JOZ
Mr Siulapwa there is no institution or group of people here in Europe, America, Asia or South America as you call Diaspora Advocacy Centre. Who are these people and what agenda is in their advocacy and who do they represent? We know you are seeking a plat form for your own views and do not come up with an imaginary group in Zambia purporting to represent Zambians out side. I challenge you to respond to me I belong to a Zambian based group in UK and the High Commissioner is aware of it. I await your response.
The MMD, UNDP are still spinning from defeat and all they now can utter is tribalist tags! Ubututu!
Please Mr. Siulapwa, highlight us on the article in ZDW. A South African company is looking for you in respect of monies you allegedly got from them dubiously.
A man writes agood article about our president and he gets in the line of fire.. Cheap minds
We this fake story long time ago that he delivered sub standard items and they want money, we heard its 6000 rtands, what a waste of time. U did did business for many years and are crying for 6000 rands.. Nosense..
under5 needs to get real
Zambia under mmd leadership was in auto pilot mode for quite long, illigal businesses and briefcase or middlemen took over service provision from passport aquisition to access to land, health and social facilities. Supa Ken being a teacher, we saw much education infrustructure in place, and then came King Fred MHSRIP being a conductor, he brought in all the Marcopolo’s and fancy buses and vehicles. Saint Patrict MHSRIP being a lawyer, he did much in building courts and strenthening the rule of law. Bwezani was a CEO of NAMBOARD and then went in foreign mission, he run down down Namboard then, and now he has run down FRA, During his diplomatic engagement he globe trotted, the same was a reality as a president, he flew everywhere to China, Australia, etc. Now we have an Ex- cop SATA wapya
No 42 mutale, you ceelee Bemba! You should know by now (especially with the new government) that “umulandu tabu bola” (there is no limit or statute of limitations on criminal cases)! And that’s the problem with most of us Zambians, a man steels and he is a hero! Even Ringo Phiri, people started speculating that ‘if it was me, I would have done this……..’ forgetting that the man stole!
MBM why is the story coming out now ZWD, its was on kachepa in June, is it becouse of this article… this same person Siulapwa used to write for ZWD some time last year I think. Now he writes for Lusakatimes and ZWD publihsed Kachepa stories.. dont you smell something here……
@ 25 for real you must get a life ,why oppose just for the sake of oppossing ,even in the bible yakana,thats jealous now yo you *****
#25 Masipa ahau. lets make sure his govt fails.. what nonsense? at whose expense are you going to do that? dont hate the player, hate the game.. fool…
“TIME ALONE,OOOOH TIME WILL TELL.U THINK U LIVE IN HEAVEN BUT U LIVING IN HELL” – BOB MARLEY
its time for HH to retire coz he has failed, just imagine this man is a failure in all the elections ever taken place in Zambia. the people winning are members of his party and not him y? the only thing i appreciate from HH is that he made PF and Sata ascend to power, coz he managed to reduce the grip MMD had on the people in Southern, Western and North-western provinces
I agree with # 15 PAN AFRICANIST we need action, Look at Obama, nice rhetoric on campaigns but is in trouble with the American economy, will not win the second term.
Diamone Siulapwa is wanted for Fraud
i agree with the other bloggers on the issue of fraud which is connected to you Siulapwa.Can you please clarify on this issue???
It is interesting to see that none of the people criticizing Mr.Sata ran in the past elections, let alone dreamed of running at all. They see all the faults but not their own. Hey if you want something done and done well, do it yourself. It seems to me, the critics we have here are interested in seeing others do what they think but they themselves cannot do. More importantly, they want to transfer their own failure to others. Ha!
The PF have fired my wife for no reason. I will only apriciate the PF govt if they re instate my wife. This govt should work for all the people of zambia not to make them suffer. Just because the husband was an MMD candidate the whole family is suffring!, shame on you PF govt. A lot of people have lost their jobs is that development? Is that what you promised people as more jobs and more money in their pockets? Now I believe what somebody told me. He said to me that ba MMD will lose their jobs if PF wins. It is happening, a lot of people have lost jobs, my wife too was fired. Lesa twafweni, this govt is killing us.
hey there and thank you for your info ? I’ve definitely picked up anything new from proper here. I did however experience some technical issues the use of this website, as I experienced to reload the website many occasions previous to I could get it to load correctly. I have been puzzling over in case your web host is OK? No longer that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances occasions will very frequently affect your placement in google and could damage your quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and could glance out for much extra of your respective exciting content. Make sure you replace this once more very soon..