National Movement for Progress (NMP) president Ng’andu Magande says Zambia is slowly slipping into a dictatorship under the Patriotic Front.
Featuring on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview programme, Magande said he was disappointed that young people had shown lack of principle by easily defecting to the ruling party causing unnecessary by-elections.
Intolerance
“We are getting back to the old days of the one party state where clearly it was said at a mass rally that if you do not vote for us we will not bring development. Now that is not supposed to be in our democratic dispensation,” said the former finance minister between 2002 and 2008.
He said the culture of intolerance that is being championed by the PF government that has seen several opposition leaders being arrested at the slightest occasion was bad for the country.
“I want to plead to the president to leave a legacy of a peaceful Zambia, right now there is a lot of anxiety among a lot of people especially the young politicians who are being detained wherever they surface. Let him give the space also to express themselves,” Magande said.
By -Elections
He said the excuse by defectors that they were crossing over the floor to take development to their constituencies was defective.
“The by-elections we have analyzed them and we said to ourselves, is this a worthwhile exercise? We said to ourselves it is not because at the end of the day what are the issues?” he wondered.
“Yesterday (Saturday) somebody resigned in Northwestern province when they discussed his elections all they said was now that I have resigned from this party and joined the ruling party development will come. How?”
He said it was disappointing that young people had shown lack of principles.
[pullquote]Recently somebody resigned in Northwestern province when they discussed his elections all they said was now that I have resigned from this party and joined the ruling party development will come. How?[/pullquote]
“Some of these people who are resigning from the opposition parties to go and say because I have joined this party development will come to you, they do not understand and sadly most of them are young people,” he said.
“Young people are supposed to have principles, they are supposed to understand, have visions which they can give to the people that under whatever circumstances wherever I will be what I believe in is what I am going to do.”
He said, “If you are going to be changing like some of them are changing at the moment then I do not know where we are going. I remember one of them failing to answer a question that; if PF loses in 2016 and another party wins are you going to join the other party to hunt for development? And he could not answer that question”
Magande said the steps being taken by the PF government smacked of dictatorship.
“So for me really the question that you can only deliver development in your area if you belong to a ruling party to me that is in a dictatorship.”
He said, “Some people suspect that it is where (by-election) most of the money is going, that is why some of the things are having prices increased, that is why mealie-meal prices are being increased we have exhausted the budget for by-elections. Is that a good thing for national development when people require money elsewhere. It is not worthwhile.”
[pullquote]So for me really the question that you can only deliver development in your area if you belong to a ruling party to me that is in a dictatorship[/pullquote].
Pf’s disastrous Fertilizer Support Program
Magande said the Fertilizer Support Programme under the PF government had proved disastrous.
“The economic reason is not there. I am an Agriculture Economist, you need eight bags of fertilizer minimum per hectare of maize… now that it is two bags, I do not know what you can produce on two bags,” he said.
“They should take it where it was that is why we are having difficulties with food security in the country. People are given two bags and they cannot produce and when they produce they cannot produce a surplus.”
Removal of Subsidy on Fuel
Magande said removing the subsidy on fuel was wrong.
“Somebody was saying after all the government was right to remove the subsidy on fuel and I said that do you know that fuel affects even the least, the most vulnerable, the least developed person out there in the villages,” he said.
“This time is harvest time, you need to move the crop now and they have increased the price for diesel.It means therefore the vehicles that are going to collect the crop for this poor guy to take it to the market they are going to increase the price.”
He said, “I know that someone can say that we are increasing ministers’ prices because some ministers have vulnerable relatives but there are certain economic fundamentals that certain resources, certain assets they do peculate …they go down up to the lowest level. Just now because of fuel prices somebody at Chazanga who has a child who has to be rushed to Matero health centre the taxi driver has put another five kwacha there and he cannot deliver his child.”
Zambia has been hit by rampant fuel increases that have seen fuel, mealie meal and bus fares shooting up.
Source:Zambia Reports
Sata must go. The whole nation needs re-education. They keep electing stupid people.
Party leaders are free to team up between themselves. They do not need to explain or justify their motives. At the end of the day, the most popular party or its alliance, block or front will win victory. My view is, politics in a democracy is about freedom and development. Instead of romanticizing opposition, it would be better for Magande to give PF chance to rule the country and bring about development. Any person that breaks the law is subject to arrest, anytime, anywhere. Being questioned by Police is not antidemocratic. In 2001 in Isoka East, a zealous police officer stopped a parliamentary opposition party candidate for questioning on election day. The incident was embarrassing. Today, that opposition party is in power. Police officers must be free to question new political players.
Nonsense!! this government has been the most tolerant of all governments since Welensky times. E.g morons like Chanda Chimba would have been long dead or in prison for all manner of cases against them had they transgressed against /during the past regimes. Now that does not means people should get away with murder just because they are in opposition, when and if they commit crimes just us commoners they need to be punished.
Are u an allien or what? PF government tolerant !” When they say eni sha, shoot! they say far,shoot!” Do u know that eni sha is a greeting? Someone greet u and u kill them! What about thse arrested for meeting a chief? And blocking opposition from public meetings. Tolerant government indeed.
dude, totally hope u are being sarcastic coz if u’re not, u’re the dumbest SOB this side of the equator with your head shoved so far up your butt……….i try not to be nasty but xsay, tolerant? are u being real with yourself right now???
Please can someone improve this website, it is giving me this error (The page you are looking for could not be found.Try searching for it in the address bar above.) As result i can’t ready the story properly, And the Network that am using its a good network, so the problem is with the Website i think.
I warned pipo who supported PF, these guys have never had positive solutions to the economy, during campaigns all promises were made and the simple question pipo were not asking is ” HOW will the implementation be done”…True to my concerns then, still PF can not answer the How they will implement their promises?? I dont kn if there is anyone out there who can help me see which direction this Gvt is taking us???
we are tired..when shall we ever talk development..all the time its by elections..
But, tina zigo’nga teka, don’t kudabwa imwe bantu, 2016 is near, let’s just tighten our belts to the last notch!
ZRA AND TEACHERS, these are the only sectors in Zambia which can bring Money to the government in order for the government workers to get paid including the president himself, so Where do think he will get the money in order implement all the promises.
Zambians deserve to have Sata as president,Zambians deserve to have money wasted on By elections,Zambians deserve the bad roads,bad hospitals—why? Because we are the ones who have been voting for bad leaders or not showing up to vote for good leaders,our roads are pathetic and all we do is blog about it,A big let down has been the Zambian women- look at our supreme court judges like Judge ChibesaKunda,look at our I.G Stella Libongani,look at our politicians like Masebo……We will remain in this state till we do something……..BUFI
What rubbish is magande talking about? If Zambia is indeed slipping into dictatorship how come he was allowed to say so on ZNBC? Under his friend mwanawasa and his boy friend RB we never saw the opposition leaders allowed to appear and discuss issues on ZNBC.
@james banda
its slipping into dictatorships… its not yet there but moving in that direction towards dictatorship.
So for now there is a small degree of tolerance which is also diminishing,,, thats why magande was allowed on ZNBC… CHIZUNGU bane! grade twelve rewrites,,,
Too much circus pa Zed pesu.
MMD had educated people like Magande, Chituwo, Musokotwane, Simbao, Chigunta, Fundanga, Lungwangwa etc who had experience in all areas. PF lacks such people, all minister under PF dont seem to know what they are doing, they cant articulate on issues dealt by their ministries and ministers like Chikwanda can barely speak, all they do is travel.
The other problem is that the current crop of Permanent Secretaries are ignorant cadres who have no idea of the civil service and issues under their ministries. 90% of Permanent secretaries under MMD were Docs and Profs who had mastered how to keep food and fuel prices down. Sata’s first mistake was to fire the MMD PSs, had he kept them, they would have helped him not to get in the mess he is in. Worse days are yet to come. I cry for Zambia
And did these guys u have mention bring meaningful development to mother Zambia or most the them just looted the country?
No MANKUNU they didn’t bring what you call “meaningful development’ but food, fuel, travelling etc was affordable for all Zambians when they were in power. I hope you are not waiting for “meaningful development’ from PF because it is not coming. I voted for PF but im being objective here, these guys are useless ans selfish. I regret voting for them.
we definitely need a bite of change in govt but surely not the bantustan UPND ifipuba . Zambia under tonga bufi.
HH tatule mufwaya pantu nga aba presido, takukaba ukwibe ndalama. Akaso mTonga.
Oh! Goodmorning Sir. It was a long sleep really. Your friends have already cleared the Eurobond and that is when you are working up. People are lining up for the coming USA-Bond ($2 billion- Zebige).
ati “working up!” Maybe tifunika mufana presido kapena tingaphuzinleko cizungu, mwati ninkonte ziliko….talema mwe. Manje mweo mukana atonga aliserious nakusebenza, mufuna bani?
WE CIPUMBU WE!!! ANY MENTION OF THE LETTERS “M M D” MAKES ME PUKE! IF YOU ARE A FOOL, DON’T THINK THE REST OF ZAMBIANS ARE! WE ARE IN THIS MESS BECAUSE OF THIS BUNCH OF CORRUPT *****S WHO WERE STEALING. ZAMBIANS OVERWHELMINGLY VOTED FOR PF BECAUSE THEY STRONGLY BELIEVED THINGS WOULD IMPROVE.
SO FAR SO GOOD!! THE PF SEEM SERIOUS ON REVAMPING OUR ECONOMY. WHEREVER YOU LOOK THERE’S CONSTRUCTION. YES, JOBS ARE NOW BEING CREATED!! UNLESS YOU ARE EITHER A FOOL OR HAKAINDE, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE…!
AS FOR MAGANDE, I DON’T KNOW NGA NAPENA OR WHAT TO BE GIVEN A PLATFORM ON NATIONAL TV TO MAKE WILD AND ALARMING ACCUSATIONS ONLY TO CLAIM PF IS BECOMING A DICTATORSHIP! WOULD HE HAVE BEEN GIVEN SUCH PLATFORM UNDER MMD? WHO IS INTOLERANT BETWEEN THE MMD AND PF??
dude, your shouting is messing up my fragile lil’ ears. take a chill pill, a nap and come back wen u’ve calmed the eff down 🙂 P.S. PF is still full of dunderhead morons who dont know white from black. No matter how much u scream and stomp your feet in a kama tantrum, thats just a fact elo considering the proportion of comments for your dunderhead govt as opposed to against, its gotta get u thinking dude…..chill
Martinez,,, we kapuba we… ubuffi!
4 de frst tym am beggng 2 see a reasn y USA hs mst its presido frm Harvad Versity. it z bcmng vry aparent ths govt z fndng it vry diffclt 2 project effects/impacts of their decisns. thts y u ve de entire cabinet blndly arguing tht fuel increase wl ve mo benefits. ladies & gentlemen, lets prepare our bombasas 4 HARD times 2 com. ths z a decision we made despt being warned by several pipo not 2 trust Sata & hs grp & nw tym has com 4 us 2 live wth de consequences of our decision.
Pipo just dont appreciate. Since when did we have opposition party leaders featuring on ZNBC under Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda to attack govt? Its only PF that has allowed this to happen. How do u call such leadership dictatorial when they can even allow you to use a govt own media to attack them?
Ba Magande, even under your leadership with Levy, you never allowed Sata on TV except when you were attacking him. Give credit where it is due. PF has just shamed many who thought otherwise. People now can even afford to watch ZNBC.
Let’s have a revolution! They are tinkering with the bus drivers, street vendors, students, teachers,Doctors, nurses, chiefs, opposition leaders,Gays, young people, list goes on and we are expected to stand and watch. They will spend every ngwee left in the coffers to ensure hardship for who ever takes over. Zambia bane wake up before it’s too late!!
Magande should be talking about the behavior of the opposition when an MP from their side talks to the government about development of his constituency and the consequences they have to face. These people are complaining of by-elections but they are forgetting that they are the ones triggering them by expulsions of MP’s from their private clubs on trivial reasons. MP’s from the opposition are not free to speak their mind, they are operating under the fear of expulsions by their party leaders. Mugade should be the last person to talk about bringing development to opposition constituencies, he was the finance minister when the MMD leadership public declared that Copperbelt Province and other provinces supporting the opposition will not receive any development of any kind!
10 years and CB was neglected as if it was not the money earner for the country. RB continued with the same threats and I wonder why people are developing amnesia when Mugade is lying? This was MMD policy and as a finance minister he was implementing this policy when he neglected CB! People should just look in the archives of older papers on this subject and they will find the deliberate policy MMD employed to punish people for not voting for them. Mugade is now crying dictatorship since he is outside but he did practice this when he was in power!. The opposition leaders should also tone down their dictatorial tendencies of expelling their MP’s, they should let the people who voted for them to decide through the ballot.