The Grand Coalition on the Constitution has demanded that government must provide footage of President Michael Sata’s working holiday in Israel to halt speculations and rumours that the Head of State is in fact in Tel Aviv for medical treatment.
Grand Coalition on the Constitution chairperson Leonard Chiti has said the secrecy that has surrounded President Sata’s departure for Israel and his mission was creating a lot of tension and anxieties among Zambians and that it was important for government to tell the nation the true health status of the Head of State.
[pullquote]
it is unfair for Dr Scott to speak harshly about online media over speculations about the head of state’s health condition when government was failing to provide Zambians with accurate information.
[/pullquote]Fr Chiti said government was not being truthful to Zambians over President Sata’s alleged working holiday in Israel because of the conflicting and contradictory statements that had so far been issued.
“If government fails to show us pictures of President Sata while on a working holiday in Israel, then we shall conclude that he is gravely hill. The President left the country without Zambians being informed about his visit to the Middle East country and we were only told about his arrival in Israel after a flood of rumours and speculations hit the nation that the Head of State had been evacuated. Since government is comfortable and sincere about Sata’s Israeli working holiday visit, we want to see footage of his activities in Tel Aviv,” Fr Chiti said.
He said it was shocking that Vice-President Guy Scott and the entire government did not know for how long President Sata would be in Israel and when he was likely to return home.
“We only got to hear about his visit and working holiday to Israel after he had already arrived. And what is more shocking is that government does not know for how long President Sata would be in Israel for his working holiday and when he is likely to come back home.,” Fr Chiti said.
Fr Chiti, who is also Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection executive director said he was disappointed that Vice-President Scott could speak angrily to anyone who was expressing concern about President Sata’s visit to Israel.Fr Chiti said he expected Dr Scott to exhibit good leadership skills in the management of the tension and anxieties that had gripped the nation since President Sata left the country.
“Lack of clarity of president Sata’s visit to Israel is the reason for speculations and government officials must not be annoyed with anyone questioning the whereabouts of President Sata,” Fr Chiti said.
He said the President was not private property but a national asset and as such Zambians who voted for him reserved the right to demand to know where he was going and what he was doing because he was not representing himself.
Fr Chiti stated that it was unfair for Dr Scott to speak harshly about online media over speculations about the head of state’s health condition when government was failing to provide Zambians with accurate information.
And United Party for National Development (UPND) presidential advisor William Banda has condemned and described as unprofessional the manner in which government officials had been handling the President Sata’s visit to Israel.
Mr Banda also dispelled assertions that the UPND and its leader Hakainde Hichilema were allegedly causing the speculations about President Sata’s health.
He said the UPND and Mr Hichilema had always wished President Sata well because he had a lot of responsibilities delivering the promises he made to the Zambians.
“President Sata is my elder brother and best friend and at no time has anyone from UPND wished him dead including Mr Hichilema,” Mr Banda said.
[DailyNation]
We are tired of the same story. Get a life pls!
@MIGHTY SHANSA….. As tiring as this story may be… facts have to be put out to the public… You of course have a choice ….. don’t read.
Lets keep the pressure on. Zambians have been labelled as having short term memories and easily fooled. Those taxes you pay go towards funding government officials to work not to go sight seeing.If your monies are being wasted its your business. ZRA is at our necks if we don’t pay tax so in the same vein we should be on governments necks if they are wasting our money.Show us footage that President Sata is working for the benefit of Zambians? How long does it take to woo an investor?
Ninshi mwebena Zambia tamwakwata fwakuchita mwa ? Ine mulampapusha.Ubu bupuba bane.
“Demands by some people that cabinet should produce proof that Wynter Kabimba was appointed by President Sata to act as President is pure gobbledygook”-George Mpombo.
Donchi kulanga!
Donchi kubeba
Coalition of nonsense!
My prediction is that Sata will come back alive from Israel and his supporters will vigorously rejoice. But he will continue to be in and out of hospital for the rest of the year if that. But I also predict that Sata will not make it to the end of this year. He is dead man walking. He has prostate cancer, he is diabetic with bad kidneys and also has lung complications from his chain smoking days. For the last 6 months or so, Sata has been in pain, perhaps he is paying for his evil deeds. We cannot pray for him until and unless, he admits that he is sick and needs our prayers.
Lord have mercy……
Africans in Israel?….Racism Report:
Israel’s hatred of Africans and people with black skin! ?
The Apartheid Condition is very real.
At this point Im left hanging in the balance as to weither to belong to any church or not given the state of the so called men of God
I concur with Father Chiti…. the country has a right to know. Scott has absolutely no right to respond angrily when asked about the president.
@Iamfras don’t see what Father Chiti comments has to do with belonging to any church. He also happens to be Chairman of the Grand Coalition on the constitution by the way not that being a Father should stop him from commenting.
The clergy do not live in a vacuum. They are also affected by poor governance and any other misdeed that the current regime subjects the nation to. Besides they are religious leaders so they need to help address the anxieties of their following.
Nobody therefore should attempt to shush them!
Questions are simple- inform the nation with proof, the whereabouts and current health status of Charles Mwango Katongo, aka H.E MCS.
He demanded the same from others during his time in opposition. Surely is it too much for us to ask?
It’s us HIS voters and employers asking. ….
He demanded the same while he was in opposition but time has caught up with him on the dearth bed
These fools have got nothing to do Ha! Can`t you just wait and see instead of yapping on the same thing over and over and over? Did the president go pots in your kitchen where by you have nothing to use to cook your food?? Just be patient if the govt is lying the truth shall come out……
Seems a reasonable enough request in this day and age unless of course you are a dull panga fighter supporter who sees nothing wrong with being lied to in the morning, noon, evening and night only for the whole process to be repeated the following day. Imagine the collective noise that would have been bellowing from the stinky mouths of panga fighters had RB gone awol without explanation during his tenure as republican president!
So if you are given the video , so what ? Is that going to provide food for those in need.
This demands are becoming childish and boring !! Don’t people have better things to do? This is why we Zambians and Africans in general are poor and we keep blaming the white man for our own foolishness, incompetence and laziness.
Boooooooring !!!!!!
NOW I AM CONVINCED ZAMBIAN POLITICS HAVE TRULY BECOME PETTY AND MEANINGLESS. THE SO-CALLED NGOS ARE BEING MANIPULATED BY THE OPPOSITION.
WHAT THE HECK IS THE GRAND COALISION GOT TO DO WITH THE PRESIDENT’S VACATION? OR HIS HOSPITALISATION? OR HIS DEATH?
WHAT ARE U GOING TO USE THE FOOTAGE FOR ????????
These NGOs who send poor people’s pictures ,women and children to their would be sponsors to beg for money. When they receive that money build themselves bungalows. Muleumfwako insoni,can we fail to help ourselves just by paying a k20 per month to such programmes? MPaka mwalaisebanya mu ma foreign medias.. and those pictures you send I even doubt if at all you get consent from the people.Selfishness bane….
Whether Sata is ‘wooing Israeli investors’ or idling or ‘cuddling on the beach of the Dead sea’ reality has hit him so hard and has learned the hard way that being president is not a Sunday afternoon picnic and that is why a footage of what is happening to him will never be released.
I thought this was a group of NGO s pushing for the constitution, they must have a bigger agenda than a constitution. Their black Friday failed, honking also failed, then they still think they have the support of zambians.
WHAT IS SO GRAND ABOUT THIS COALITION OR IS IT A GRAND “COLLUSION”? IF THEY CAN FAIL TO ORGANISE EVEN A SIMPLE HONKING DEMONSTARTION OR BLACK FRIDAY? ARE THE PEOPLE REALLY IN SUPPORT OF THIS COALITION, OR THE ORGANISERS ARE JUST DELUDED?
Ubuwelewele mucalo cesu icawama fi ….tukashila fye ba kabwalala….Come on ,get serious ,work…don’t just yap.yap natu ma jacket twakuwasha mu boom ati iyoo nifwe ba NGO.Ma rubbish ya bantu,no wonder you keep on sending useless pictures to your would be sponsors only very poor,sick looking images…shame. You want people to send you money that they beg through the media abroad as they say only e.g £2 per month. People bakuntikilwa they pay imwe uko in the name of NGO you are busy building your houses. By the way how much is £2 in or kwacha? about K20 or so,you people in Zambia can you fail to be contributing that kind of cash to help yourselves mpaka ukuisebanya mwa……these are the issues we must always be debating and you reporters must be covering.Tebuwelewele iyoo.
Zambians are denied information about their president and threatened with arrest if they dare speculate and theorize. Are these people normal? Do they expect us to just forget about Sata’s disappearance? But that’s not how the mind works, in the absence of credible news, the brain will automatically slide in speculation mode. In this case it’s looking increasingly clearer that the president is either dead or dying fast. If Sata is busy frolicking and sipping champagne cocktails on the beaches with potential investors where is the evidence? The footage?
DONT PRETEND HERE. EVEN IF SATA CAME BACK TODAY, YOU WILL STILL NOT BELIEVE. YOU WILL SAY HE IS A MASQUARED.
THIS STORY IS NOW STALE. LET SATA ALONE. IF HE IS RECOVERING , LET HIM RECOVER.
Ba LT kanshi what’s your problem? What’s wrong with my comment? Why are behaving like ZWD or PF?
@pretty
I thought the coalition was about the constitution? whatsup with this outburst now?
Quite an interesting development right there
There is an “Acting President” & this is still a question?’