Zambia’s President Michael Sata has wondered why Zambia has no national airline when it has qualified people in strategic positions to help establish and run such modes of transport.
The President said this at State House today when he swore in Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Permanent Secretary Julius Shawa.
Mr Sata also expressed great concern over the transport system in the country. Mr. Sata said the current transport system in the country was not as reliable as it was when Zambia just got independence.
He said there was therefore need to improve the transport system in order to ease movements of goods and people.
Meanwhile, President Sata has directed relevant authorities to ensure that the rebasing of Kwacha is properly done by the end of this year.
[pullquote]President Sata  said he does not want to see the country experience any food riots as was the case in one of the previous regimes.[/pullquote]
He noted that although the Kwacha has already been rebased, there was need to have the process completed successfully.
Mr. Sata regretted that the Kwacha has continued to have less value as compared to other foreign currencies.
On the other hand, the President has urged ministers to serve and protect the people who voted for them.
Mr. Sata said this in reference to the increase in mealie meal prices that the nation has experienced in the recent past.
President Sata said he does not want to see the country experience any food riots as was the case in one of the previous regimes.
President said that he will ensure that Mealie meal prices stabilize to avert food riots in the country.
President Sata said that he will not allow millers to overcharge on Mealie meal when government has sold them maize at a subsidized price of K60,000.
The President has since held a closed door meeting with the millers at State House immediately to find a way forward on the issue of mealie meal prices.
ZANIS
Failed short of mentioning ,”Kaunda regime”.kwena ni CNP.
I think you meant to write “Fell short of mentioning ‘Kaunda regime.’ …”
Ba Sata, you wonder too much. Stop wondering and do something about it!
Its trial and error wane so you have to wonder!!!
Ba Sata..how can start wondering why Zambia has no national airline when it was you and your friend Chiluba who made sure Zambia Airways went under resulting in Zambia not having a national airline…Am sure after you appointed your niece Grace to serve as secretary political at our mission in India you will later wonder who appointed her
It was not MMD who made ZA go under, but ZA management. ZA was mismanaged over a long time such that it owed more than it was worth. MMD tried to salvage the airline, ploughing in cash, tried to restructure but it was too late to save ZA.
What MMD should have done was start the process of reconstituting a new airline soon after the demise of ZA
Get your facts right. How was the airline mismanaged when even at the time of liquidation it was one of the best airlines on the continent? Some top managers who worked for this airline at the time it was scandalously liquidated are still alive to date. How come no one has ever thought about calling them to answer for mismanaging the airline?
You know?i also wonder why we Zambians just know how to insult one another instead of contributing some ideas.
Firstly, when did you learn that Zambia has no airline?
Secondly, who liquidated the national airline?
Also, why do you want to create a national airline? Is it so that you can provide employment via another unprofitable venture that will be funded by taxpayers’ money?
Exactly. Let’s leave business to businessmen. Let government only beregulator and facilitator ans pass laws to attarairline and whatever industry they feel is needed. That way we are not distracted from governing and our money is also safe from cusioning failed or failing ventures. Additionally thereis too muchcorruption and our government dosent have sufficient systems in place to ensure such a venture and other parastatals are closely monitored and are abreast with market trands and competition. Politics also gets involved in decision making…
Lasltly nut not the least, a national airline is almost rock bottom of our priorities if it is on our priorities at all.
He should be one of those to answer. Why wonder when you were one of the leading character in government at the time? Look at the promises you made to people and work instead of wondering.
We are still waiting for a press conference ba presido, are you scared to answer endless questions on your governments performance ??
This man is the biggest baboon to have ever become a president. Does he wonder why the USA has no national airline?
To compare Ukwa to baboons is to commit a great injustice to all baboons that have walked on this earth.
You have hit the nail on the head. You do not need a national airline to travel around the world. Not all countries of the world own national airlines but their citizens are able to travel everywhere.
This CNP was no.3 in the MMD hierarchy when Zambia Airways was liquidated. Stop with the stupidity!
So Mr. President, is this now a directive from you that a national airline should be established immediately? I am also wondering why you should wonder about this issue when you have all the answers.
People like Sata were telling Zambia Airways empoyees: ‘Tukamwisala’. That is the problem with recycled leadereship, it forgets that it initiated the problem in the first place. I hope he will not start saying ‘we so not have enough doctors’, because he is the one who fired them in the first place.
He thinks zambians have short memories.He thinks we are stupid….He thinks we dont know he was a key figure in raping zambia airways
Zambians do have short memories that is why Ukwa is their president.
But was he not next to Chiluba when Zambia Airways went under after he served in the former dictator KK’s government which ran down all parastatals? But at least he still remembers food riotes during KK’s regime during which they killed 30+ people.
Dictator Sata is a shameless lier. How does he wonder today about the absence of a national airline in the country? Sata thinks Zambians are fools not to know that he, Sata was once in MMD as third man in leadership when Zambia airways was disbanded to give way to Chiluba’s, Mwila, et al failed Zambian air line. Then Mutembo Nchito and Membe who are today in his govt are failing to pay back K14 billion borrowed from DBZ for a failed airline. K14 billion is Zambians tax payers money. In dreaming Sata tells Zambians why the nation hasn’t got a national air line. Only foolish Zambians fail to comprehend Sata’s taking Zambians as fools.
If you don’t have anything good to say about some one,better you shut your stinking mouth.
We just have too many debts already Puuuuhhhhleeeeaaase. An Airline will just add more debt to our already overstretched kwacha. We have more personal cars now than at independence bosses…we also have more buses, taxis and we even have Mini-buses…I cant remember UBZ ever being efficient bosses….we used to sleep at the Bus Station for long distance trips …today we Dont… we also have more airlines flying into Zambia using all the 3 International Airports…do we need any more? No-
Very dull. And how many airlnes do we hav that are running. U are comparing cars, minibuses to aircraft. Do u know how much an airbus costs?
If the Head of State, not President, is wondering, what should stop the whole nation from wondering and you wonder why the country is on auto-pilot? Isn’t because the Head of State is wondering?
Am so happy about all the suffering going on right now in Zambia . The increased mealie meal prices, fuel,transport costs and no jobs for youths. I hope more misery should before on you because it’s pay back time you are reaping on what you sow Ba sat on your call. Tomb are whistle
I so agree with you let bakolwe suffer so that the realise how s.t.upid the are…
I will be watching them from the side enjoying a victoria bitter. For easter i will visit vic falls as a tourist and wonder why you are poor
This is the stuff headaches are made of 🙂
One can reliably expect a bus every 45.4 seconds on some Lusaka roads. One can also expect to see pedestrians scampering for safety as buses randomly cross incoming traffic to whistle and call out to a potential customer. I guess South Africa found a way to rid itself of old buses to very willing Zambia. Why stop there… SAA old dinosaurs could become our national carrier. Oops, we already do have a national carrier. SAA. Flies regularly to Livingstone, South Africa 🙂 National pride indeed.
You are quite ignorant on where buses are imported from pa zed.Japan, china and Brazil and never SA.
I am wondering why people voted for this man.
Bemba tribalism and misguided youth and the fact that Zambians have the collective memory of a jelly fish.
Some pipo will never seize to amuse me!!
I think you meant ‘cease’ not ‘seize’
Richer in the region? How can Zambia be said to be rich when we are borrowing money at every opportunity?
That borrowed money does not count as credit, it is a deficit.
Unless we have a sensible and intelligent president in 2016, who is going to work hard uniting this country again, Zambia is definitely headed for a split any time – and it will just take a small match to light up the fire countrywide. Sata himself today can come and ask why Zambia has no national airline when he was among those that privatised Zambia Airways and Sata actually bought one of the executive former-Zambia airways houses in Rhodes Park where he has been staying until he recently went to state house. Zambians are being taken for a ride, but some of the Zambians one day will be fed up with this stupidity. Sata knows very well that parastatal corporations never work and that is why they were sold. Or is it another strategy for him to grab another when the new airline fails!?
He is wondering? Surprised to come from someone who has always been in the govt except for the 10 years in the opposition. Even then he was in the opposition where all the info came his way. He was not on planet Mars.
Majority of African Airlines are in deep crisis and he is making such ill informed utterances. What does he do when he is in State House?Snooze all day…. does he not know that African skies are not liberated and its very difficult for a new comer to be competitive.
This short-gun approach in the presentation of issues is unbecoming of a president of a country. Why not call a press conference and present all the issues to the nation and then entertain questions from journalists. Why wait until there is a swearing in ceremony only to tell the nation half truths. It is true this man is not presidential material.
It seems this president is eager to retire and fire officials so as he can look forward to these swearing-in ceremonies.
Is it so that you and Kaunda can take the plane for shopping trips and put everyone whose is supposed to be travelling at the intercontintal for a week all expenses paid. Zambians wake up you are going backwards.
I thought Sata was a prominent member of the MMD govt when they decided to close the airline. Today, he is wondering why the nation has no national airline? I am getting confused. Please I need guidance on how I should interpret what the President is saying.
how many ceremonies of this kind so far? but abakalamba aba
he has spent all his entire life in government so what is wondering about? apart from the few years he spent on the subways and rail stations in london clean shoes, were else has he worked apart from boma?
The strength of the Kwacha or the lack of it is based on the strength of the Zambian economy. Besides its not advisable to have a strong currency because it makes the country’s exports expensive and uncompetitive on the international market. It’s also very scary that the whole of the President thinks that the price of mealie meal is somehow related to the ‘strength’ of the Kwacha. No Mr President , there’s no connection. The problem lies with the amount maize in the market. You can adopt the US dollar or the British Pound today, the problem will not go away if the supply of maize on the market remains the same. Mr President, you’re unqualified for the job!
The moment you stop to wonder and actually do something about that which always makes you wonder, the less wondering you’ll have to do.
It’s that simple ba ka teka naimwe.
Hypocricy at its best/worst. Zambia has no national airline because SATA was the Chief Adviser to President Chiluba to ensure the closing down of Zambia Airways in order to appease the white investors. Sata cannot escape and brush aside his unpatriotic role just because Chiluba is dead. Besides, when Guy Scott attends African leaders Meetings many African Heads of State get irritated to see a white man represent an independent African country as if all intelligent black Zambians are extinct. Being a foreign immigrant from Tanzania, Sata has no regard for indegenous blacks – as he feel good to use them and later damp them. We pity the plight of Given Lubinda, GBM, Kambwili etc. These are hard facts the youths must know.
Why Zambia has no national bus company should bother him more
Zo ona UBZ ili kwi?
Well… beacause the national airline was abused by politicians and went bankrupt mr president, its name was zambia airways. didnt we grow up with the kids of people who managed it? Werent they gong to usa 3 times a year? who do you think was paying for that.
Ba Sata, is this the way forward “wondering president” as most people have pointed out that you were part responsible for the collapse of the Zambia Airways. Now today you wonder why? I think there are more pressing issues that the govt should focus on such creating jobs, improving health and education in the country.
Zambians are not stupid we deserve someone better.
My sincere hope is that we don’t go that way. Zambia at the moment has no capacity to maintain a National Airline, it would be too much for the country’s weak economy to bear. The reason we are out here in the diaspora and offering our professional service to other countries, is that the industry back home is unsupported simply due to capacity. lt would at this time even be better to try and improve the airport infrastractures than to think of a National Airline.
God gave Zambian a man of action to do wonders in the country. HE MCS has come at the right time to redeem the country and take to the promised land where milk and honey shall flourish in abundance.
VIVA BA SATA.
Mr Sata please stop that wondering. You know why we dont have an airline. Get to work and get QZ back.
The President is bluffing. How can he wonder when he was there in Chiluba’s govt when they liquidated ZA. Instead of wondering, provide solutions your excellence.That was why we put you there for. It is like the head of the house is wondering that there is no mealie meal in the home. stop wasting our time with your swearing ceremonies and start working.
Somethings which he doesn’t wounder….how he built the fly over over bridge at near Zesco HQ,how he organised the burial site at independence stadium for the soccer heroes who perished off the Coast of Gabon.Next he’s will wounder why the council have no housing units…..and why ZR has no modern passenger train?
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