University of Zambia lecturer Phineas Bbaala has said President Rupiah Banda’s popularity has risen drastically in the last two years and is widely expected to win the 2011 presidential election on the back of the infrastructure development and an assured national stability.
Mr Bbaala, who is lecturer of politics and administrative studies in the school of humanities, said efforts to educate the people of Zambia on the many development projects such as the fertiliser input support programme (FISP) and a campaign generally based on issues were expected to influence the electorate to vote for Mr Banda.
He explained that historically, the sizes of political rallies were not the determinants of one’s popularity because people attended all rallies while others travelled long distances to attend political meetings, but that did not necessarily denote support for a particular speaker.
Mr Bbaala said many Zambian communities had been starved of infrastructure development such as clinics, schools, tarred roads and other needs and that when one delivered such, people generally felt a great relief and that such a candidate could not lose elections.
He said the Zambian opposition parties had generally failed to offer a strong challenge to President Banda because they had not explained what they would do differently should they assume power.
Mr Bbaala said this year’s elections would not be determined by tribal factors but people were seriously discussing what the contenders were promising the people of Zambia.
“At the moment we are not hearing these candidates explain what they will do better should they win the elections. People expect them to tell the nation whether they will stop constructing schools, bridges and roads and withdraw the mobile clinics.
“Will they discontinue the fertiliser [input] support programme? People are yet to be told their position on these matters,” Mr Bbaala said.
He said opposition leaders should have been speaking about what was not happening in Zambia which they would do and improve upon but they had stayed out of issues while the Government had centred its campaign on issues which made President Banda a stronger candidate on the ground.
Mr Bbaala said Zambians would not accept a leader who did not have a plan on how development projects would be implemented.
He said any campaigns based on any other issues apart from development would not yield positive results for any political party because the expectation of Zambians for development had grown.
[ Times of Zambia ]
Thanks for some sense….
The guy is eyeing a parliamentary sit under MMD
@ Madoda
lets receive the analysis with an open mind whether its pleasing to our ears or not. the best strategy to win elections is not only by refusing or avoiding to learn or know the posive side of your opponent, but probably learn more about them then come up with best appealing messages and strategies to challenge the other side
ARE PEOPLE GOING TO VOTE MMD BECAUSE THERE IS INFRASTRACTURE DEVELOPMENT WHILE THEY ARE JOBLESS AND HUNGRY? AND WHICH PEOPLE HAVE EXPRESSED GRATITUDE FOR THESE SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS WHICH HAVE NO EQUIPMENT APART FROM THE VERY BBALA AND THE CHIEFS? THE FACT IS THAT MMD HAS BECOME MORE UNPOPULAR WITH RB AS ITS LEADER. WAIT, YOU WILL SEE?
iwe iwe Bbaaaala mbolo yamugulu, walatusebanya ba UNZA, just shut your mouth than spit shit that u eat again. 20 years muletukasabanya mumatuvi you think we like it.. kuya bebele
PF zone iyo ka…VIVA SATA..2011..ukesaponoka ngatwa geta state house and thats a promise!!
sir, thats your academic opinion. but academic opinions and the reality are different. so keep on shouting. the president is listening not the voters.
Kwena Chishinka.
Very very true ba Phineas Bbaala……….you deserve a ministerial post after the elections.
I did not need a UNZA lecturer to tell me this, i knew it already. The opposition parties in Zambia have no development agendas, their campaigns are based on attacking the ruling party which has a clear and defined development agenda.
This is academics gone wrong. There is no doubt that Bbaala’s academic analysis is out of sync with life in the real world.
BBALA MADE ME DROP PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION WHEN I WAS AT UNZA DUE TO HIS POOR TEACHING METHODOLOGY
not that i i agree with Bbaala. I think you are just dull. PA is a course you can clear without attending lectures
@8, Do you think MMD has a development Agenda? A party with a development agenda will be seen to implement the agenda immediately it is put into power and not towards elections.Ku sabilafye uku and the end result will be very embarrassing and costly to the government beacuse most of the so many projects RB has commissioned ahead of elections will not be completed.
RB was busy flying from one country to another,why was he not commissioning projects the way he is doing now? ubu bupuba, to blindfold abantu. Wake up!!!
Academics gone wrong indeed. Where is the empirical evidence to support your thesis Mr. Bbaala. Not that I disagree with your overall sentiment.
Let us wait and see. The problem here is that this so called academic is talking like a politician. His analysis is not diffrent from the one that can be presented by William Banda. It is dangerous for RB and MMD to take such political talk seriously.
critics have missed the bus again, the challenge to the opposition is to tell the electorate what they can do, and what they can do better than mmd. in other words the opposition are supposed to be selling themselves, their parties and their party manifestos. alas, they are doing none of that, instead the opposition is unwittingly publicizing rb’s projects, even those that the electorate would not have known about. and the electorate is observing keenly and making decisions. as the situation is now, in the eyes of the electorate rb is setting the agenda and the opposition are dancing to his tune.
Mr Bbaala is trying to come out of poverty . When did he carry out this survey and as No 12 asks where is his stastistical data
to back up his claim. Being a Don at UNZA is no licence to daydream and mislead the masses.
Please do not behave like an MMD cadre and spare us this nonsense.
Haven’t you heard about the Chief in Chibombo area saying the will not vote for MMD because they are still drinking water from the stream!!!! What infrastrature are you talking about, when the people in rural areas are asking for basic needs.
there is a story doing the rounds on the copperbelt about mr sata. since he is unable to sell himself and his manifesto, preferring instead to allow rb to set the agenda and then criticise, supporters have concluded that mr sata has decided not to contest this year’s elections for fear of an embarrassing electoral defeat at the hands of rb. it is said that mr sata could cite health reasons, but many say that being a man addicted to his lies, he cannot say such a truth but will opt to boycott the elections. he is consulting his close confidants to manufacture some excuses, most likely aimed at discrediting rb’s assured victory.
you are a ful.l.
If he is that popular, how come ELECTED members of the party’s NEC are REFUSING to stand on the party’s ticket – THAT’S POPULARITY the RBish way – & a useless UNZA DON’s analysis!!
bbala is a junior lecturer at unza. so his analysis of rb’s popularity is not very mature it is not even academic. doc neoz poll embama!
pf government, if those rumours are true, and I would not be surprised if they were, then it is a sad day indeed. I have to be clear that I err on the side of the ruling party or the UPND having demonstrated they are committed to democracy within their own ranks. I dread, dread and dread what PF might do to our country. Back to 80s and 90s misery. Fortunately, I am convinced that Mr. Sata will lose miserably this time, way behind UPND even. Sad in a way as we need checks and balances, which hopefully HH will whip up. The Kaponyas remain deluded. Period.
hallucinating with your under 5 you will never see plot1
RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB RB fooooooorrrr 2011. VIVA VIVA RB.
An ignorant academic. With all those waterless Solar Geysers how does RB rise to the top? ZAMTEL? Mobile Hospitals? ETC? What benchmarks is this mental invalid using?
RB is winning convincingly this year wether sata and his sympathisers like it or not
#16 ndiwe galu maningi….imbwa iwe
rb is winning. Why?the majority of our country do not analyse the way you and me could on LT but and yet RB has something to point out to as service delivery to the people he promised. And many esp illiterates are happy with clinics, hospitals let alone Mobile clinics and roads whether tarred or feeder roads. According to them might be enough indicator that RB is working. As Sata supporters, we should be true to such realities esp that he is finding it difficult to have a clear campaign message
23 debate on issues than name calling, after 16 is just reporting on rumours, it is just a rumour after. Lets embrace civility in the manner we debate, no need for such politics is nothing but a game. relax
What popularity is this guy talking about?is this how low UNZA has sunk by hiring cadres as lecturers?How many by-elections on mp level has rhupia lost since taking over as mmd presido?ba bella if you want some kick backs from rhupia try a different way,not this crap that you are yapping.If this guy is as popular as you claim he is,announce the election date and see how badly he will fall,the mwanawasa sympathy vote that he got will not be there this time around,people have decided and trust me their choice is NOT mmd.
when u are good u are GOOD! RB 2011..watch this space..chwe chwe chweeee
Why cant he pump sense into his collegue, Ng’ona who pretended he was going to be ‘assassinated’ because he saw a ‘strange car’.
@23 Zero Boyz, thank you for the compliment pf cadre. if i can write and blog on LT like you do, then you and i are the same, we are both imbwas and galus, right?
But iyi ioneka monga ili clear…..ni nafuti nafuti…..
Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB! Vote RB!