Thursday, March 28, 2024

Sata explains why he avoids foreign trips

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PF Leader Michael Sata adressing a rally in Chongwe

PRESIDENT Michael Sata says he avoids taking international trips because he does not want to waste the country’s meagre resources which can be channeled towards poverty alleviation for the benefit of the majority poor Zambians.

Mr Sata has said that he did not want to undertake costly trips abroad because he wanted to minimise on expenditure so that money could be channeled to helping ‘defeat’ poverty for which the Zambian people elected him into office.

Addressing a mammoth public rally at Chongwe grounds to drum up support for the PF candidate for the Chongwe parliamentary by-election scheduled for Monday, President Sata said he was an accountable leader who had rejected a number of recent foreign trips, including one to Australia and another to Malawi.

The president said he could have spent a lot of money already had he been traveling indiscriminately because all his trips required a horde of security and other personnel accompanying him, all of whom were entitled to allowances.

He said such expenses would be enough to build a hospital for the people of Zambia.

President Sata said his first trip outside State House was only on Wednesday this week when he travelled to Magoye in the Southern Province.

Mr Sata said he could not back-track on his position on expensive foreign trips, especially that he condemned and referred to his predecessor, Rupiah Banda, as a mobile president because of the numerous trips he undertook.

And Mr Sata has said that UPND president Hakainde Hichilema should not be trusted with the presidency because he allegedly failed to account for money from the privatisation process.

Mr Sata said when he was minister under the Chiluba administration, then Finance minister Ronald Penza invited Mr Hichilema to manage the privatisation of Luanshya Copper Mines, Kagem Mine and Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone but that the UPND leader allegedly chose to become chairperson of the same hotel he had privatised.

The president said the Government had allegedly not seen money raised from the privatisation of the facilities to which Mr Hichilema was associated and warned that he would abuse power should Zambians make him president.

He said Mr Hichilema lacked experience as a politician, especially that he had never served at lower ranks but merely jumped the ladder to lead the UPND after the death of founder president Anderson Mazoka.The Chongwe parliamentary by-election resulted from the resignation of Japhen Mwakalombe as an MMD MP.

Mr Sata said he had decided to give Mr Mwakalombe a job as high commissioner because the former MP was a credible man who did not want to benefit from a corrupt victory.

Mr Mwakalombe won the Chongwe seat in the September 20 elections.Other candidates contesting the Chongwe seat are Adrian Bauleni of the UPND, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has DavidChulu while UNIP will be represented by Jahannes Mativenga.

The president said Mr Bauleni was appointed Zambian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo where he was allegedly rejected by the government of that country and later resigned to join UPND.

The president urged the people of Chongwe to equally reject Mr Bauleni to avoid poverty and underdevelopment.

Mr Sata also said his critics had been proved wrong after having had campaigned that his presidency would deliver Zambia into war.

[Times of Zambia]

Editors note:Our sincere apologies for the errors in the article and the inconvenience caused

105 COMMENTS

  1. Well good luck Mr President continue with that same spirit but do not refuse to undertake very important meetings outside which needs your presence and development in our coubtry. God bless you

  2. The article makes good reading yet too much questioning. What’s with your keyboard LT? get it fixed or better still check the article before posting. Makes me not focus on the bone of contention here………………..

  3. Question marks make reading your articles very hard to read nowadays. This is the second article I am seeing with loads of question marks.

  4. Inconsistency LT, please be consistency in the manner you report not just mixing up every issue. Where did you learn your reporting?

  5. Mr president as much as we appreciate your services rendered so far stop politics of attacking individuals. I personaly I want to call a spead a spead. Where were you all this time that you start telling us about privatisation? When did those transactions take place? I think its high move away from politics of attacking individuals.

  6. LT, please check your  editing skills of your staff. There is no logic in having question marks all over the article. This is incompetence at its worst.

  7. Some trips are very important Mr President and as a country,we expect to be represented at the highest level and not sending Winter Kabimba to go and represent us.We have messed up our foreign policy in the past two months and there’s every need for us to go and mend these differences instead of just sitting at home.The country needs foreign investment and this can only come about by the President moving around the world and interracting with others.A father who just sit at hope the whole day will definitely starve his children hence the need for him to go out and look for food.People will say a lot of bad things but at the end of the day,they will see sense in your movements.

  8. Thank you Mr President for saving money which could have gone to your trips.

    Equally, please save us more money by abolishing costly by-elections that arise when a politician defects to another party. Let the seat belong to the party that won the election and not to the individual MP, so that when the MP defects, the political party that owns that seat picks someone else to fill the seat. In that way Mr President, Zambia will avoid the by-election and save even more money.

    • Such issues may need to be addressed in the new Constitution, otherwise people will keep on defecting and causing unnecessary by elections. But we also need to remember that there are Independent MPs who may defect!

    • Very good point. In fact that is the system in Namibia currently. It is the party that wins seats, not the candidates. They just have a cut-off list that gets succeeded each time someone opts out or defects.

  9. Mr President, you should not just stuck to your own ideas. Umwana ashenda, atashanyina ukunaya ubwali.. Try to assess the pron and cons of these international trips.

  10. # 9,that is a very good suggestion. It will even stop this madness of people crossing from Party to the other in search of food.

  11. #12 How many presidents do you see moving up and down? whats the use of ambassodors or high commissioners or even veep? cut down on useless travel costs and just attend the UN or AU summits. not the marcopolo banda style. am sure he is missing travelling out again but now in his dreams

  12. Sata is a sick man. He has a weak heart and has been warned by doctors not to exert pressure on his heart from high altitudes. The medicine is also changing his skin complexion to become light and swells his face. Flying would cause serious consequences.

  13. This is pure madness that can only be seen by an unbiased mind. If Michael the Satan does go to Australia but his vice goes with an entourage, what saving is being made. cheap politics meant to deceive only shallow minded cadres.

  14. Thank you Mr President. Thank you for saving us those billions which RB could only want to wring out of us!

  15. just tell us that you are a patient sir..you can’t fly long distances..hahaha..stop talking about HH when you are campaigning for you MPS..

  16. Seeing that Zambians were gullible enough to believe in the 90 days nonsense, windfall tax, Chinese infestors who are now investors, constitution and Barotse Agreement, I guess they will be gullible enough to believe Chilufya’s latest lie about foreign travel and accept that his uncharacteristic refusal to parade himself on the international stage has got nothing to do with his failing health whatsoever. What should be very worrisome for his supporters is the fact that he is obviously more ill than Mrs Betty Kaunda whose health though failing is not grave enough  to prevent her from undertaking a gruelling and arduous trip to China.

  17. #19 Jane, spot on. i was tempted to think VP too but realised VP’s security requirements are lower. Actually a VP can even just walk himself to a hotel, no elaborate security needed. LOL

    #11 KimZ Thanks. Yes we really need to stop wasting money on by-elections that are caused by an individual’s greed. A seat should belong to the political party whose manifesto won it, not to the individual MP, who was sponsored by that political party.

    If our election campaigns were based on issues, it would be easier to understand this concept of a seat belonging to a political party and not an individual MP..

  18. You are lying Mr Sata as usual.And why say those things at rallies,implies politicking on your party. Just check how cheap you became when by promising to electrify all villages in Chongwe. Surely the whole presidency cheating like that just for MP votes. Be sure that nobody beleived you.

    • I thought he was speaking at political rally, so what else do expect other than politicking at such an event?!!!!!!!!!!!

    • When the boy cried lion twice the villagers decided not to believe him because there was no lion to worry about. When the lion finally descended on the sheep, the boy screamed lion and noone came to his aid! This could just be those times when a politician could be telling the truth!

  19. Way to go Mr Presido…Foreign trip are indeed costly…..By the way, campagin for Sata comes natural…this is what he is good at ..poking holes into MMD and UNDP in just one setence…

  20. Ah Basata, we know you ve been advised by your doctors to take lots of rest if you are to finsh your term. Even my 3 months old baby boy knows!

  21. This is bullsheeting. Is he telling us that KK and others are walking to china? SATA does not use his brains. We have the worst president. Let him just say that he has no proper tongue to propound good English at international fora.

    • mwisho ,its not the poor english command that the old fool lack,his mouth is full of rotten teeth that are likely to offend other world leaders , plus a bad heart that is likely to mulfaction at high heghts.

  22. I’m put off with these question marks(????????????) .
    Ok stay home then mr president, thanks for the explanation we were guessing wrong!
    I suggest KK should stay home now to risk for the old man to fly over ten hours flights.
    Lastly the vice presido should stay home too,he is confusing the world people think Zambia is a member of the euro! 
    Awaaa kimwambo fela !

  23. Not much is saved because even when the president is represented by the Vice-President, a lot of money is spent on such trips. But seriously, it is very important that the President is personally present at some of these international functions to promote foreign investments into the country. The amounts of money spent on foreign trips pales into insignificance when compared to the benefits the country derives from such trips.One does not need to be a Ph.D ecomist to understand this.

  24. This also raises more questions than answers?
    Is this man healthy enough to travel at least one trip outside the country for 1 week will dispel these rumours .

  25. Ex post Journalist,

    I feel bad for you, it is not easy to hate someone so much, how are you going to manage this hatred until 2016?? Am sure someone is cheating you that he is dying soon, those who only survive on dead peoples Parties!!!!

  26. Ba LT, what you don’t know is that you are a relatively popular newspaper going by the number of people visiting your website? Make some money from advertising and then employ quality reporters to gather your own news? and IT people for your website? This cutting and pasting is no good and you can not even edit? The president should only go on important trips abroad? How much did Zambia gain from RB’s numerous foreign trips? Were these guys stashing money into foreign accounts? Now, how does that sound?

  27. The truth z Sata mulwele.
    How does the Gay Scot foreign expense become less to his?
    U can never ran away from the illness you have.
    Sata must rest

  28. Sata can be in wheelchair and still be more effective than HH and RB combined…So i dnt give it fk if he is sick or not…. If MMD has continued one could have ever heard of Liato and his stack of kwacha…Sata go get them…

  29. He cannot trvale because he has to sleep on a ventilator at BFC Hospital every night, thats why he has not even moved to state house. TOO RISK FOR ROTTEN TEETH. And mulivichani mukamimba kake wamene oyu wabboza chilufyana ST…….nyoko??????????

  30. Umuntu nga alenda every other day ati ni kamwendo munjila, he stays at home ati mulwele…people are just unbelievable, give the guy a break!!

  31. Mr President, in as much as we welcome your cost saving measures, certain trips are important in attracting FDI at the highest level. Though i would agree with you that VP Guy Scott’s presence is equally a good attraction & message to communicate to FDI.

    If you are honest on cost saving measure, try to review the salaries for the Members of Parliament even avoiding the unnecessary by elections which are costing us a lot of money.

    Mr President Sir, now you are a Head of State, try and avoid personal attack on your citizens, you might not like certain individuals, but they are all under your custody as the Zambian people whom you swore to protect and defend.

  32. Sata thinks that he just has to be different from RB to be a good president. He does not travel because Banda did too much of that. How cheap can you reason, how low can you sink? This man is even worse than we thought. worse than a Kaponya. We want a leader who can make decisions and travel when it is important. We will know if you just take useless trips at our expence. RB is not our yard stick. We are the people

  33. What a load of rubbish. The Commonwealth Conference was attended by Guy Scott, the price of the air ticket is the same as if Sata was flying there. Every trip that Sata has declined he has sent somebody else in his place….some MP should table a question in Parliament asking who has travelled to where and what the cost is. Just because Sata himself does not travel does not mean that Zambia is saving money, pah. God this man thinks we are stupid. He is sick and everybody knows it. In the election campaign Al Jazeera interviewed him and had to stop every 10minutes for him to rest. If he, for once, was honest and told the Zambian people the truth and that he is saving himself for the more important matters of State then he might be believed…for once!

  34. Yaba! Meaning the country doesn’t spend when the VP travels? This is insulting people’s intelligence. Very very cheap politicking.

  35. Sick or not sick, he has just assumed power. And pipo like him might not die any time sooner. Long live Mr. Presdo,so far so good. I disliked RB’s time in power and dont want to think about anything he said or did. Long live ba Sata. Amanone mu bwato!!!

  36. 42 Zebb Mpinganjira –

    Dont feel BAD FOR ME, cause you are wasting your time. I take it you FEEL BAD for reading the truth. The president is a sick man and we are not wishing him to die but we understand why can not travel and has to come up with excuses. Even KK was one time advised by doctors not to travel much by air between 1985-1987. The oldman   KK did not hide the truth, Levy was sick, Chiluba was sick too and nothing to be alarmed about the truth. RB has a problem with his Knee and he never hides

  37. Hmm ba Sata – just tell the truth – mule-tina ndeke!! And Your Excellency ba Michael, I strongly urge you to at least take one very important foreign trip – to the UK so you can get a new dental formula / set of teeth from the plastic surgeons on Harley Street

  38. I suppose KK’s trips are cheaper because he has been sent cris crossing the globe on nearly a weekly basis since PF took over.

  39. Don’t cheat us that u are saving mane. what is 1+1 if you are telling the truth. Leave HH alone and show us leadership qualities!!!!!!!  Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!
      

  40. Sata is still supricing some pipo..King Cobra is different from the RB mobile presido..all these trips Sata turned down; Commonwealth, Comesa SADC dont mean much meaning to the man on the street..Commweath is now irrelevant apart from addressing Britain Royal succesion plan, SADC/COMESA are ministrial forum not wealth HE Sata..

  41. #53 Chimpi and #54 Yaba, you guys are too emotional to even realise what the president is saying. He didnt say the government doesn’t spent money when he doesn’t travel abroad, he said the government SAVES money when he doesn’t travel abroad. Yes the president sends his representatives and its cheaper to send a representatives to these meetings than himself because he needs a BIGGER escort party than his representatives. Think about it, he needs his advance security, ministers and ‘senior government officials’ then he needs the Challenger to go with him and his personal security and staff that sit with him on the plane. all these need money. But his representatives need less company than him, in turn saving you and I money. I hope my statement makes sense to you now.

  42. #60 PanAfricanist i totally agree with you, did these MMD guys expect Sata to spend all that time and money to go to Aussie to sit in a room and listen to David Cameron talk about how the UK should change their succession plan and have baby girl have the chance to ascend to the Throne? How will that make Zambia a better place, we dont care who is the king or queen of england what we care about is if we can feed our families and have a good health care system in the country. Rupiah Banda would have been more than happy to attend such a stu.pid meeting and he brainwashed the country so much that upto now people think the job of the a president is to fly around the world, Even the US has a secretary of State who attends the not so very important meetings on behalf of the president.

  43. People are saying KK should not travel, he should be resting (health reasons).
    Sata doesnt want to travel (health reasons?) again people are not happy. Want him to travel. What do we want?

  44. Please be sympathetic to our president. How can you jump into a jumbo jet with tubes all over your body even if you are doing business class? The cabin is pressurised and it wouldnt look good for the prsident to sweat the entire journey. Lets pray for him to get well. But he should stop attacking HH at his every campaign rally. HH is not on the ballot. This makes the president appears dull

  45. YOU HAVE TO SELL AND GET INVESTMENT FOR MOTHER ZAMBIA NOT JUST YOUR MINISTERS??/
    WE HOPE YOU SHALL ADJUST IN DUE COURSE YOUR EXCELLENCY???????????

  46. With modern technology (Conference call, webx, Telepresence (video conf) business travelling is scalling down.. Sata may call the other presidos using these tools.. Wrt KK going to China, my guess is this is special case, KK was/is China-man Friendly hence the rite man to ‘mend’ Sata perceived ‘hatred’ of the China man…KK can surely be a peace ambasador..not necessarly FDI agent…. Taking of Sata being ‘travel-phobic’ my guess is Sata going Magoye or Chongwe is more risky than going to China..!?!.

  47. Sata- all old politicians are thieves.thats why you can leave politics to younger new generation like in the developed world.No politician is clean.We have seen it under Kaunda,Chiluba,MMD-RB and now PF
    There is so much out there.The k2.1Billion discovered at Liato’s farm is just a tip.there is much more we wont even know.
    Expert thieves

  48. Stay focussed Mr President. Let those who talk, talk and talk for nothing continue to talk.

    We disapproved Rupiah’s extravagant travels, and called him “Kamwendo mnjila” and “Vasco da Banda”. Work is here in Zambia, not out there.

    There is no point of having a foreign minister if the President has to be the one covering foreign related business.

    So, well done Mr Sata!

  49. #23 Italian Bunga Bunga (Original)

    Its too early to judge Sata on on his foreign trips. Sata and his PF are just afraid because they have minority seats in Parliament at the moment. No wonder he is confused and harassing his political opponents. Anyway Zambians can nolonger tolerates wastage of our public funds.

  50. The problem with talking too much and telling people how you avoid certain things and how you are better than the previous guy is that people will not forget and will raise it up when you digress, just as we will never forget “Im allergic to corruption” waffle

  51. How come this article does not tell us who the candidate for PF is in the Chongwe parliamentary by-elections? I mean it goes to the trouble of naming candidates from the other parties aside from the MMD and the PF! And are we to conclude that what was said about Hichilema was said in Magoye? Just wondering ba LT.

  52. Maxwell, have you ever seen a President in Zambia who leans on a speaker’s podium and literally reads everything even for a campaign rally. See how he read the parliamentary speech with elbows on the table???? Isnt that a sign of illness?? This is not about saving money…what about these Commissions of Inquiry???? Which president has had so many of them????

    • Your name suggests you are really frustrated. However; if you observe past appearances of Sata he has never changed his posture whenever he speaks. If there is a podium or lectern he does that. Trouble in Zed is we lack the power of analysis. We rather think it is a waste of time and it is that waste of time that embarrasses us often.

  53. Very old man Sata tell the nation hoow much you are saving for staying at your presidential insure Omelo Mumba road as opposed to state houes.
    RB save K40 billion for not embarkink on useless renovations at state house.He never single sourced for his relative to do that work.But you sata you have awarded your relative Chikwanda a contract to renovate state house without following tender procedures.You may not live up to 2016 when you live office to face proscution but pipo like Chikwanda hopefully will and we shall ask for our money.
    We know are using such projects to syphony money to pay the catholics for the job well done.We are watching you .

    • My friend have you just crawled from under a fossil rock chi RB wanted to an extension to State House with a Heli-pad, not single sourced anything why do you think James Banda is in the press, how did all those chaps give those billion kwacha road contracts or how did the Turks win the International Airport……the list goes on!!!

  54. No# 33 Michael Me, as No# 79 little miss has put it hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Am in tears please every one read comment 33.

  55. I always find it frustating when the prople outside Zed can comment on things they do not even appreciate. Our president is doing a good job so far. President travelling is different from a minister. VP is a Cabinet Minister and the security level required is that of a Minister. Its a big expense when president travels.

  56. Sata we dont care about the money. the most important thing is that we are avoiding embarassment the longer you stay in state house. with your verbal diarrhoea, who know what u’ll say to another head of stay. continue sending guy scott and kaunda,, at least they have ma break pakamwa..

  57. @78
    look at this chap!
    My friend have you just crawled from under a fossil rock chi RB wanted to construct  an extension to State House with a Heli-pad, not single sourced anything why do you think James Banda is in the press, how did all those chaps get those billion kwacha road contracts or how did the Turks win the International Airport contract terminated by this government……the list goes on!!!

  58. STUPID SATA.WHY SAY HH STOLE MONEY WHEN HE WAS IN MMD.WHY DID HE ENTER THE ALLIANCE WITH HH IF SATA KNEW THAT HH HAD STOLEN MONEY.
    THIS IS THE STUPID THINGS OUR POLITICIAN DO WHEN IN POWER.
    WE WILL JUDGE SATA AND HIS BOOTLICKING PEOPLE SOON

  59. Its a weekend i can read LT. You fulls its  like you have nothing meaningfull to get you going than ventin your frustration in the air. Get a life you fulls than being proffessional blogers for nnoo pay.

  60. @Kalok your reply at 77…your name sounds like you are “locked-up” or something and think your comment/s is/are the only ones “well-analysed” and the rest of us are lazy in analysing things???? Get out of your shell and smell the coffee you are not the only analyst!

  61. Mr president that is the way forward not the kamwendo munjila type of president we voted out and his minions.Foreign trips too costly and some not vital just deligate a minister and job will be done.You people talking about the presdent being sick you are heartless God has given him the mandate to preside on the affairs of this nation hence Yahweh Saboth is watching and protect him from all evil.Mind you in bemba we say ipompo lilapona ibone lyashala.God bless Sata

  62. If that’s the true reason and not bad health, then it is good that the president does not want to waste tax payers money through travel!

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