IMPRESSED with the crowd of youths that gathered in Lusaka for Youth Day celebrations, President Sata poked fun at leaders of the opposition MMD and United Party for National Development (UPND) for advising their youth to boycott the event.
Mr Sata said the turn-out at the Freedom Statue was unprecedented and proved that the MMD and UPND were inconsequential. The President said some leaders of the two parties used stolen money to bribe youths into shunning the celebrations.
Mr Sata said this in Lusaka yesterday when he graced Youth Day celebrations at the Freedom Statue. The MMD and UPND boycotted the celebrations, claiming that they feared harassment from PF cadres.
“After stealing money, you buy voters and become leaders of political parties. Don’t use stolen money to give youths so that they can boycott this important day,” Mr Sata said.
He said the MMD and UPND are inconsequential as the celebrations were successful despite youths from the two political parties boycotting the event.
“I would like all of us to give a round of applause to MMD and UPND because they thought this event would be a flop without their participation. But we have shown them how inconsequential they are,” he said.
[pullquote]“After stealing money, you buy voters and become leaders of political parties. Don’t use stolen money to give youths so that they can boycott this important day,” Mr Sata said.[/pullquote]
Meanwhile, President Sata has challenged the Zambia Federation of Employers (ZFE) to provide employment to youths. Mr Sata was reacting to the call by ZFE for Government to create employment opportunities for young people around the country.But the President said instead of calling on Government to create jobs for young people, ZFE should spearhead the creation of employment opportunities for Zambians.
And MMD and UPND youth boycotted celebrations of Youth Day in Livingstone, leaving it to the PF youth and those from schools and other organisations in the tourist capital. The youth who attended the celebrations marched from Mukuni park in the town centre to Village Grounds, a distance of about three and half kilometres.
And 10-year-old Christine Mbinji, a grade six pupil at Mujala Demonstration School of Zambia, called on Government to ensure that it fulfils the promises of employment creation for the youth so that they too can contribute positively to national development.
Mbinji, who wants to become a medical doctor, also advised her fellow young people against engaging in alcohol and drug abuse.
And acting Southern Province permanent secretary Linda Siwale said Government is working to address problems affecting young people in the country.
Its abuse to let a 10 year old speak about youth employment, there were supposed to be a better representative from the affected youths. Abuse is in different forms and people should be aware of this.
BA NENANI,
WHAT AGE GROUP CONSTITUTES A YOUTH?! SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF SOME ONE OLDER THAN YOU DOES NOT IMPLY BEING ABUSED. COME ON MBUYA NAIMWE!
A ten year old is still in school about grade 5 what can she know about unemployment and is she affected
Fusekeni
Zambia is sitting on a time BOMB. It is a youth un employment. There are millions of Youths without JOBS in Zambia. Travel to the slams of Lusaka. as early as 08:00hrs they are drinking cheap beer to quench their sorrow. Job creation must be intensified by all PF, MMD and UPND must put effort together to solve this problem.
That’s just how far his IQ can go. Slander and scorn, who can tell this character that he should rise above petty issues. For him he thinks by scorning at the opposition he has gained. If he were clever, no matter the attendance at the celebration, he would go and dig out the underlying factors to the boycot and try to resolve issues. He is surely scratching at the tip of an iceberg. Anyway he lacks the much needed wisdom to run a country.
Any political leader the world over can condemn such useless petty politics being exhibited by the opposition…..what will they gain from staying away from youth celebrations? why should these old disgruntled leaders influence young people just to push their own agendas….besides we all know the reason why the youths boycotted the celebrations…..THE OPPOSITION HAS KNOW MONEY TO BUY CHIBUKU FOR THEIR SO CALLED “35+ OLD YOUTHS”……BRAVO to those who attended the event…..
TruthTeller, I agree with Mimi, the President should have kept quiet or merely urged all youths to be above politics. He should have said, even if he never meant it, that he would have been happy as the father of the nation to have all his people attend the festivities. Would that have been so bad?
I absolutely agree with you Mimi. It is quite exasperating to have such quality of leadership at the helm of the Nation; the man has no vision of his own; he was at his best (if ever) only when he was a henchman following orders but he is not a formidable thinker except as it relates to petty inconsequential notions based on cheap politics
Shame on UPND and MMD leaders who agitated for boycott. But the youths were trooped in huge numbers to attend the celebrations.
Any political leader the world over can condemn such useless petty politics being exhibited by the opposition…..what will they gain from staying away from youth celebrations? why should these old disgruntled leaders influence young people just to push their own agendas….besides we all know the reason why the youths boycotted the celebrations…..THE OPPOSITION HAS KNOW MONEY TO BUY CHIBUKU FOR THEIR SO CALLED “35+ OLD YOUTHS”……BRAVO to those who attended the event…..
Yes now I have agreed what late Presindent Chiluba said about us Zambians. Late Chiluba said Zambians have shot memory, because of this they forget easily. Sata when he was in opposition had been boecorting all national fanctions and used to castigate all what the gorvement will propose. Now because is the one in power oppositions should dance to his tune. ‘DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WANT THEM TO DO UNTO YOU. He should just look back and recall what he used to do.
longman, you have told truth teller the truth!! Truth teller has a short memory, about 1 byte, could be less.
But it was Mwanawasa who said Zambians had short memories. The comments by you @Longman and @Modern then justifies Mwanawasa’s comment as such.
#2 walasa,youth unemployment is a disaster in waiting.radical & pragmatic decisions wil need to be made.these boycotts are useless i mean boycotting frm wat..marching?even as i was reporting 4work today youths were drinking by the roadside-its a daily routine.this is wat all stakeholders led by the govt should be doing -creating jobs.millions are unemployed so this isnt a simple matter!
as always Sata has shown little diplomacy , it was expected. A true leader would have expressed regret at the boycott of the oppossition parties and hoped that in future the differences would be resolved so that all zambians participated. He is also falling for the false crowds of youths that were ferried from different PF districts and given chibuku and tu giligili. the circus continues…. pop corn please
I think there is no one in power in Zambia… everybody seems to be in opposition. it will interesting to see what Kalaki has written today…
Myopia would not realize a clear and present danger exponentially building up for implosion. Egypt’s Mubarak, Tunisia’s dictator president Ben Ali and Romania’s Nicolae Ceau?escu alike all called dissent names, felt they had it all, overlooked the issue of unemployement, social welfare of the people and conditioned the people’s success to being their party cadres all else. When people decided to reclaim their dignity, they built a winning critical mass that guns and riot gear could not subdue. If these dictators reigned over the people over time, this myopia will reign too in Zambia.
The president also did the same when he was in opposition. He even boycoted the constitution making process, causing rebel MPs, we lost money and bcos of that we failed to a have a constitution. All the opposition are doing is to give him the test of his own medicine. Problem is he cant connect so he can quickly look for ways to reconcile, instead, he wants to hit back. Zambians bless yourselves for 5 years of bickering
Indicators are there yet you see it not. Ask Willie Nsanda and Samuel Mukupa kicked and dumped in a swimming pool in Lusaka’s Chadleigh on Friday by their own PF cadre now realizing and tired of the lies sold.
It is not a question of how huge the youth crowd was but solving the problem of youth unemployment. There is no need for our pres to exhibit euphoria, the number of youths that boycotted is by far larger than the crowd that attended the cerebrations.
Job creation needs people of focus in nature, so far PF needs to rethink on what they want to focus on and work at it with all their energy otherwise at the rate things are going we are headed for trouble.
I and Mukupa dived into the pool to enjoy the cool waters . . . .nothing big except we did not remove our cheap chinese tripple breasted suits!
Hahahahahaha! And we swam ashore with ease, save for a few deadly gasps due to pool depth.
@mimi you wanted the president 2 spend the whole youthday celebrations pleading to mmd nd upnd for them 2 attend,harasment was the reason they boycoted. Now tel me who was harased even prior 2 the celebrations, didnt u see mmd women clad in mmd regalia much past sata on womens day wave nd scorn him in the presence of pf caders? Who harassed them, are they not the ones who harassed him by passing those coments they did? So you thot you’l rule forever wake up from ur shock.
You are too shallow-the President should be bigger than the boycotters. He is the president of the nation for God’s sake. He is supposed to embrace even his prodigal children not mock them. What does he achieve, a tit for tat situation? I mean I never even tell my children to mock people who are doing bad to them. He is a catholic and the catholics are good with their peace greetings; even Mugabe’s hand was shaken by Prince Charles becoz of the “peace be with you” rite. This should be embodied everyday not just on Sunday. So in that setting he should have extended an olive branch to the boycotters. Would that hurt you or him in any way?
How the hell do we allow a system like the one we have in Zed……ma grade 2 in charge of the country. What do you expect from an illiterate president. He sees politics everywhere ! i feel so ashamed to be zambian.
you who think you are educated you the most useless people in this country grade is nothing as long as one has the will to do work he will do it. keep your grades to yourself us youths what we want is to help in creating work and not only waitng for the jobs so for you grade 2 am sorry what kind of education u have.
Actually, ask the educated in Up and Down (UPND) who felt their strategy was going to work. Professor Chirwa researched the situation and asked them to join the party that was forming government at 2:3 ratio; not bad for under 5s. Yet they used education to reject the very starring in there faces. You see, the educated to not think; they are the some of us type that would not have moved an inch to remove the MMD. So your thesis of grade 2 makes no sense at all. Its passion for the land, being with the right people (majority) and that is to continue for as long as the educated remain “educated fools”. From 1991 to 2011; they were all educated, and look the rate at which they stole wealth!!
Well, it appears it will be politicking throughout till 2016. However, i get very offended when a president who is supposed to unite people in this country begins to behave like a kaponya. The so- called president must have decorum and ettiquent. Mwanawasa used to lose his temper but would later realise his folly and behave himself. The description given to the Executive Director- ZFE , is highly unbecoming of a person holding the office of president. Beside that Chibanda said the truth and SATA is hurt by that. How do you stand on public platform and accuse others of being THIEVES when these people can easily be reported to the police or ACC. Such defensive behaviour is common in FAILURES and SATA is a failure.
you the big failure to society
Even those days Mr.Sata you used to boycot state functions some youths attended.It didnt mean all was well.No doubt you are in free fall
It would be better for the President to concentrate on uniting the nation instead of dividing it with ridicule and insult.
The MMD was wrong to boycot the youth day celebrations because that’s not the attitude of their president RB who has showed maturity when it comes to attending state functions. Pls behave like your master in the area where he has scored 10/10
Sata must just shut up if he has nothing to say. He is so childish and undiplomatic
unemployment! employment does not fall like mana bane. preparation,displine and many years of schooling is a key! youths napapata dont let thez useless politician lie to you. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ! LETS DO OUR THING AND SOMEDAY WE WILL BE SOMEPIPO. FORGET ABOUT THE POLITICIANS AND MOVE-ON!
At what point do the president stops politicking and when does it start. Seems like theres no end to end it. Good luck Zambia
It is very refreshing to see Youths turn up in huge numbers despite calls from UPND and MMD to stay away. Zambian youths are not as immature as some bloggers here. They know for sure that creating employment can not happen over night. They know PF has been in power for less than 10 months. Only HH and his followers are blind to this fact. They will continue crying until their eyes run dry of tears, mean PF is ruling. and will continue ruling even after 5 years.
Here is a President showing a bad example by sowing seeds of discord and distortion into young minds that have no strong moral compass as yet. And as we know, ridicule begets ridicule. Lying begets lying. False promising begets false promising. A young mind is like a sponge that will absorb anything around it. Put it in water it will absorb water. Put it in oil, it will absorb oil. Put it in poison it will absorb poison. And then as we know, what goes around comes around. In adulthood these young people will have a hard time interacting with the rest of the World because of the wrong diet they are being fed as youths.
thank you for you post, it has hit home. its a shame religious leaders have never said anything in line to what you have just said. we miss the big picture in most cases.
government should do the following:
1. re-introduce trade schools so youths can learn skills such as IT, Engineering, Building etc.
2. Provide loans to small business start ups and owners so they can expand and grow.
3. Develop and manage sport as a multi million dollar industry like how the western world does so talented youth can engage in sporting disciplines and earn a living off it.
4. Employment comes in many forms therefore reduce tax on the private sector so they can be profitable and grow and therefore hire more.
5.Invest in manufacturing industries.
6.Instead of insulting the opposition, see how you can include them in national development. 7.increase tax on rich and this can be used to sustain middle income earners. 8. introduce dual citizenship so youths in diaspora can be encouraged to return and implement their skills in Zambia. These are just some of the simple things can do for us youths at the moment. Sadly our president seems to be more concerned about running his mouth at the opposition. I have not heard any concrete plans regarding the development of the nation YET.
yes despite your name thats the spirit we should move with.
There is nothing statesmanship about the current president of Zambia. He used to boycott state functions himself and his party so he is being given the taste of his own medicine. Big turn-out of unemployed youths who went to march in order to eat something is not something a president of a country can be proud of. Clearly, Zambia will be a country of dry bones under PF. Anyway Zambians are reaping what they sowed in September 2011.
mmd chap continue talking nonsense no one will ever regret put pf in power
It is just the usual, dancing by the wretched and no policies, no solution, no idea and just being at state house. Now it is, “find jobs for the youths from the money you stole”. We are yet to see!
I think the President should have been more inspiring to the cause of the youth of today. The problem is huge. He should have brought out into focus the fact that he understands the gravity of their problems and then move on to show solutions in a way that youths would be inspired. It is not time to preach negativity or division to our children. We must instill a sense of unity in them for the prosperity of our nation.
Longman and modern..
you guys are missing the point, who said am supporting SATA…..am against the whole idea of these OLD people politicizing youth functions….
LEARN TO 1. READ 2. UNDERSTAND and then comment….simply put….read before you type!!!!
The above picture simply tells why youths cant find jobs. It comprises very old fellows beyond retirement age even if we were to put at 65. They have blocked the young people.
But sata you boycotted these functions and NCC,you must be a lunatic.
Turbor charged motor-mouth, please slow down or else you shall crash very soon. You have all the woes of failed election promises to contend with and the thorny Barotseland and Southern province fiascos, it’s not as though you do not have enough on your plate you *****!
employment with a grade 7 ceteficate sure, no trade, no nothing. we have very few companies that require people for digging trenches coz marchines are doing that, what elso then! lets go back to school, educated people wont be difficult to employ ee
I DONT SEE ZAMBIA DEVELOPING WITH THE CURRENT POLITICAL LEADERSHIP WE HAVE.WE ONLY HAVE POLITICIANS NOT LEADERS.
It is sad that our president seems to enjoy preaching hatred and division at any given opportunity. And sadder still is that he preaches this poison to idle youths that have nothing to do and can easily be incited. Beware of another Rwanda right here! Mark my words!
I said it, UPND and MMD boycotts are inconsequential. Life goes on. AND indeed life went on better in their absence. The opposition are using intellectually impoverished means to meet their selfish goes. AND that is not working shamefully.
The boycott just hit Sata’s ego. Sata should grow up and stop thinking everyone loves him and approves everything he does. There’s no perfect person on earth!
More of the same!
youth day has nothing to do with unemployment. This scurge has been with us since time immemorial. I don’t remember a time when employment was plentiful for all. i just hear the mythical historical stories of the good old days when companies where lining up to recruit grade twelve school leavers in high schools but there is realty no proof. since i was born, Zambia has been amongst the poorest of the poor and it will be so for the foreseeable future.
youth day is here to acknowledge the influence the youth can exert in society when compelled. And believe me you, most revolutions are youth driven. With Facebook, twitter, sms, mms and vuvuzelas, i will sleep with one eye open if I was to be president..
But I thought the reproduced speech did not show any of this. So where did this come from? @MMD Chief Bootlicker, your comment please. You sounded very objective on another thread, but one would equally appreciate your comment on this statement allegedly made by the president at the youth day function from which this site reproduced his full speech.
Yes, like no. 36 (Non-Partisan) has pointed out, we don’t have leaders indeed, what we have in government are politicians. They have been too much in opposition that they still think and behave like opposition. I have a bowl of ichiwaya for a change, anyone want some?
hahahahahaha..how dulll..the fact that there were so many youths should show you that you are not doing fine sir..they should have been working but there is no employment!!stop talking about the opposition but tell us what you are gonna do which you are failing to show..get a life!!
@Mwine
You are lost Boss!! That was a National Public Holiday and everyone was resting (well atleast me) save for Chinese slave-labourers like you. You are the one who should get a life lad!!
Its really interesting that all of you shower insults on the opposition, Remember: MC Sata boycotted all national programs during Late LPM and RB’s government, can’t you people just apply your brains for once and stop using emotions ….
To MC Sata, Tell the people what the PF plans to do for them …. shallow politics Pa Zed, Yaba, then you have educated people on this blog, growing hai on the heads instead of thinking ….
I am starting to think twice about our president
This president – awe sure!!!! We are in for it. We kind of spelled a curse on ourselves and it will take 5 years to be delivered! Pray Zambians!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sowing seeds of hatred in children! I end here!
MR PRESIDENT THIS IS MORE THAN 120 DAYS OF YOU AND PF BEING IN POWER AND TO DATE YOU STILL HAVE THE MMD IN YOUR HEAD; STILL BLAMING THEM; WHEN ARE YOU SIR GOING TO EXPUNGE THE MMD FROM YOUR HEAD AND TELL US PF-WHAT PF HAS FOR US IN THE NEXT FEW SECONDS, MINUTES, HOURS ETC WITH CONVICTION NOT RIDICUING OTHERS.
I notice that the opposition in Zambia are happy to jump at any opportunity and chance to wine and dine with the Secretary-General of the United Nations; and seek audience with him to present their grievances; but are quite unwilling to attend one day to celebrate the Zambian youth and an opportunity to show their concern for the plight of the youth! Instead, they boycott the event. How does that help their case or the case of the youth? How indeed, does it hurt the ruling PF, and more specifically, Michael Sata the President? It shows immaturity, irresponsibility and not to be entrusted with power.
Fake Journalist: what is there to celebrate when there are no jobs, the youth eat one meal a day, the youth are not going to school because of high school fees, some are homeless etc. In developed countries, during labour day, workers demonstrate against harsh working conditions and unemployment. As long as we ignore the suffering of people, zambia will contue sinking deeper and deeper into poverty.
Please ba Opposition can we just swallow the very bitter pill, Sata is ruling educated or not this is the fact can you please accept the reality and come to your bloody senses?
Its the same old boring story. It was told under Chiluba, Mwanawasa, RB and now Sata. More of the same indeed, and while faces have changed, we are in the same place as we were as far back as two decades ago. What a shame! We want real change, not just replacement or is it substitution of key players.
And 10-year-old Christine Mbinji, a grade six pupil at Mujala Demonstration School of Zambia, called on Government to ensure that it fulfils the promises of employment creation for the youth so that they too can contribute positively to national development. from the article.
then the answer to this child is create employment and do not ask the govt…..there is contradiction here. If Sata is happy about some sector not attending national events it simply implies he is a president for PF cadres and not for the nation. He will soon look for them, let him wait and see.
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic post.Thanks Again. Really Great.