Mon, 03 Dec 2012 07:10:41 +0000
IT is shameful and embarrassing that President Michael Sata whom his supporters claimed was a “man of action” has failed to prove that he was a “man of action” in the more than one year he has been republican president because he had failed to provide leadership and direction.
Alliancefor Democracy and Development (ADD) Kitwe District Vice-Chairperson Victoria Muhau said it was clear that Mr Sata had failed to prove that he was “man of action” in the more than one year he had been in office because things were getting worse than they were left by the MMD.
Ms Muhau said in an interview inKitweat the weekend that some of the things which were indicating the Patriotic Front(PF) government’s failure to provide leadership included the failure to pay farmers on time, late delivery of agricultural of inputs, alleged corrupt activities among ministers and other government officials.
The ADD Kitwe District Vice-Chairperson said other indication of the PF government’s failure to provide leadership included the high mealie meal prices which arose from the shortage of the commodity, the failure by the local authorities to provide quality services which had resulted into heaps of uncollected garbage which were posing a health hazard to the public.
“If President Sata was a man of action, he would have sorted out the problem of delayed payment of farmers for the maize they sold to FRA, If Mr Sata was a man of action, he would have sorted out the problem of late delivery of agricultural inputs, If Mr Sata was a man of action, he would have come out strong against some of his ministers implicated in corruption, but he has been quiet.
“It is really sad that after making change of government, things are getting worse than they were left by the MMD. At one time, there was a shortage of mealie meal which has resulted into high prices of commodity, while the local authorities are also failing to provide quality services and this has resulted into heaps of uncollected garbage city centre.
“So one is made to ask what kind of man of action is our republican president? What progressive action has President Sata performed so far? May be it is the creation of new districts to create jobs for PF cadres,” Ms Muhau said.
Ms Muhau said it was clear that Mr Sata was not a “ man of action “and the PF government has no plan for the country and have now resorted to creating new districts and making promises of creating new universities in some provinces which were not budgetted for in the national budget.
She said it was not right to talk about creating new districts and universities when old ones were either in a dilapidated state or had no infrastructure and facilities.
Reacting to President Sata’s creation of a new district, a promise to create a stadium and university in western province, Ms Muhau said the people of western province wanted to see real development in the area and not mere political rhetoric to divert people’s attention from the issue of the Barotseland Agreement.
“President Sata doesn’t know the map of western province. If it is true that the PF government to develop the province by giving it new districts, it should consider distances between districts in the province because if you are driving from Mongu to Senanga, it is 50 minutes drive.
“Now if he saying that Nalolo is going to be a district, from Nalolo to Senanga it is 35 minutes drive and from Mongu to Nalolo, it is 15 minutes drive and so i don’t see the the reason of creating another district, but what is needed is infrastructure like good roads, schools, health centres with medicine, medical personnel and equipment,” She said.
