PRESIDENT Michael Sata has urged Zambians to reflect on the values and principles of the brave and spirited men and women that fought for the country’s independence.
President Sata urged Zambians to take time to observe and celebrate Independence with remembrance and deep gratitude to those who made it possible to be liberated.
“In the same vein, we must also reflect on values and principles of the brave and spirited men and women who relentlessly and selflessly fought and sacrificed for our independence.
“Their sacrifice would be in vain if we betrayed their patriotism with narrow and selfish interests and their vision of a free, united and prosperous Zambia must not be betrayed today, or at any one time in the future,” he said.
In his address to the nation on the eve of the 49 th Independence anniversary, President Sata thanked God for his grace and mercy that the country would celebrate another milestone of the journey as a nation.
He said the road to independence was not an easy one, but the gallant men and women remained resolute and persevered till they liberated the country and the nation would eternally be indebted to them.
The Head of State said, reflecting on the sacrifices and the vision of the founding fathers, this year’s independence day would be celebrated under the theme: “commemorating God’s favour of Zambia’s 50 years of independence for continued peace, unity, democracy, patriotism and prosperity.”
He said the theme would not only guide in preparations for the jubilee celebrations next year but this also becomes the proclamation and vision for Zambia for the next 50 years.
Mr Sata said this year’s anniversary was a momentous occasion as the country commemorated the golden jubilee and that historically the 50th year was a year of restoration.]
He said the golden jubilee should be celebrated with thanks-giving, reconciliation, works of kindness and a renewed sense of God’s given destiny and purpose as a country.
“We therefore, have a duty to rise above the challenges of nation-building with resolve to serve this country with passion, selflessness and loyalty in our endeavour of national development because no one will develop it but ourselves,” he said.
He said as the country approached the golden jubilee, Zambians must thank God for his favour and abundant blessings of peace, unity and stability.
Mr Sata said reflecting on the 49 years of independence, Zambia has been a hub of peace in the region and continues to play its role in promoting global and regional peace and security.
He said in the spirit of promoting peace, Zambia has also played mediatory role in several conflict situations would continue to promote reconciliation among parties in conflicts.
Mr Sata said despite being a country of 73 tribes, Zambians continue to live together in harmony because of the sustained efforts of the founding fathers and mothers who were determined to create a unitary state of equal rights and obligations.
Mr Sata called on Zambians to develop its democracy with a sense of mutual respect and tolerance, so that in the process democratic foundations on which the country was built are we strengthened.
The Head of State said Government had put the interests of all Zambians at the top of its national development agenda and the aspiration of the Government was to transform and modernise the country’s economy in order to alleviate poverty and create jobs.
The President said the destiny of the country was in the youth who were the majority of the population and the torch bearers of the future of the country.
Well said speech remember that youths have no jobs stop employing very old. Retire old hynenas and employ the youths.
Me, I wont celebrate nothing unless the man who has free food, tv, transport, medical, retirement package, clothes, security, houses, cars, helicopters, planes, entertainment refuses to tax me more by giving up his TWENTY SEVEN percent pay rise which is TAX FREE meaning at 35% income tax it translates to 77% effective tax increase. And oh, I have not included the inflation factor as our tax rates are not indexed.
The man is the definition of GREED – a true donchi kubeba!!!
Sata is the most taxing President since Kaunda. Facts:
i. Removal of subsidies = tax on consumption
ii. Toll gates = further tax
iii. Ground rents exponential increase = more tax
iv. Property rates = more, more tax
v. Removal of turover tax on property thus increasing taxation from 3% to 10% or a whopping 233%
vi. PAYE increase by 20% ie. non indexing of income tax rates (using inflation factor)
And yet the man deceived me to vote for him by promising lower taxes!!!
George Chellah, AB Chikwanda, Shamenda, Kapeya…..please dispute the above. And I am not asking the bloggers who specialise in nothing but insults to comment. Tax is the real thing. I demand comments from Berlin Msiska or Fredson Yamba. Why are you deceiving employees???
One tribe one nation is the slogan for Sata
And yet he is the waste tribalist and nepotist the country has never had.
….next year the “celebrations” will be held in Chinsali.
@#1 Muchindo, is your father a youth? If not, is a old hyena too?
Why insult elders, are you learning this in PF or where is it coming from?
“Their sacrifice would be in vain if we betrayed their patriotism with narrow and selfish interests and their vision of a free, united and prosperous Zambia must not be betrayed today, or at any one time in the future,” he said.
Can Zambia really be said to be truly free, united and prosperous?
No.
49 yrs of political independence….congratulations to Zambia. This transcends across any political divide.
I urge all Zambians to get out of their state of docility and take charge of their country, their destiny and not leaving everything to politicians.
Take time and reflect on whether most of these politicians have any feelings for you other than their own.
Seriously, do you think Kambwili has your feelings at heart, to deliver you out of poverty?
Do you think HH after stealing from you and laundering his loot will deliver or just loot more?
we are the majority and there is power in numbers but we cant utilize our numbers to get what we want and desire as citizens.
Docility makes us look like third class citizens in our own country we are even chased from hotels… wow!
walk the talk Mr. President! things ant easy. we cant find market for our to masmall farms. You are allowing big companies like Zambeef to be producing 1 million chickens/week. Do you know how many backyard chicken keeper this will take out of the market? small scale feed producers will also be affected. Imwe bantu you are creating a monopoly! where is Aka? do we still have economists in this country?
Well said boi.
Congratulations Zambia, KK and all men and women who fought along side during independence and when Ian Douglas Smith and the Boers terrorized our great country for our unwavering support and sacrifice to ensure our brothers and sisters in the Region became free as well.
Zuma’s sad comments on Africa and Malawi have come at a wrong time when we are celebrating our achievements. However, it is not surprising that generally our South African brothers think they live on the moon and we Africans are backward.
The only consolation is that Madiba does not think so. The first country he came to upon being released from prison was Zambia. To thank us for our sacrifices of making Zambia, the richest country in the World to one of the poorest, all for the sake of liberating South Africa.
I’m going to celebrate my independence day with his excellency Micheal Chilufya Sata SE in Kitwe uochakalipa aichite hang……………………………….ifwe tuleteka.
As a Zambian, I am conscious of this day as it is a day when our forefathers stood up against the colonialists and made a difference that we see today. Zambia is far more developed than what the colonialists left compared to our neighbours who inherited everything and managed to destroy everything in ten years. Zambia has come a long way and no non Zambian can take pride in the achievements of the Zambian people. May peace and prosperity continue to prevail in Zambia.
U fools stop politicising HH’s message. He has the brains is why he is what he is & u are what u are coz u lack the brains. Thanks to the teacher who taught u how to spell brain the term u cant define even in simple terms. Stop living in the past live life today & reflect on current issues that are affecting the nations development. Your relatives out there in the village cant afford a K2 for salt, Yet King cobra is paying himself more than K50 000 000 per month, u dunderheads that is stealing in the daylight & u cant see coz u are blinded by tribalism. Go clap for them so they can get more than K20 000 000 allowances at the end of the day & what will the imaginalised people of Zambia get?
Yaba am just feeling sorry for myself, I think zambians luck’s graduates that king kong is not suppose to be there but it’s zambian pipos who this falafala n power. Zona nibamwankole
Sata’s message lacks substance, does not inspire nor motivate. It is simply saying “things should remain as they are”. This is a disaster, particularly to the vulnerable youth, but they do not realise it.
well said
Great message, wrong conveyor.
The so-called message is hollow and boring, it has been preached over and over for the past 50 years and it carries nothing but irritation to many Zambians.
Why not address the many issues the people are asking, for example explain your policy on appointments to foreign missions abroad. Recently you appointed your sister-in-law, a mere nurse to be ambassador in Turkey and the same woman is a holder of dual citizenship which you are against. These issues will not go away until they are explained. What independence celebrations?
We have got one zambia,one independence day [24th october]. Let us celebrate this day wisely with the spice of unite whole zambia. We ought to forget about to political disease we suffering from by replacing it joy with when we Remember how our old fathers and mother how they faulty bringing peace in our beloved nation zambia. Happy 49th birthday to loving zambia. With much regard to ba super kellys Dr kk. May God bless us all.
Matero captal city of lusaka in
zambia.
After reading both speeches from president Sata and Mr HH, Zambians know who is more concerned about the welfare of the nation. After assessing the content and substance of the speeches clearly state house issued its usual hypocrisy of ‘donch kubeba’ rhetoric of “I will do this and that”. Typical of PF national building and inclusiveness to detract the Bemba Tribalism talked about by both PF party membership and most Zambians. I am aware other people do not like this comment but its a reality with PF government, just like they deny Sata ‘s sickness.
On the other hand HH presented a statesmanship speech that inspires and brings hope if issues raised can be worked on. Am not UNPD but give credit where its due.
Congraturations!! zambia 49 years old!……..ONE ZAMBIA! ONE NATION!…..Tiyende pamodzi ndi mtima umo!!…God bless this beautiful Land.
Great speech and inspiring .For once we have a speech that is not filled with hate and politicising. HH can learn a few things from such.For all our bloggers talking about tribe just know that in your children s life time ,tribe will be as meaningless as the color of their skin ,for them they will all be Zambians.
Happy Independence day Zambia!
It is always good to acknowlege what our fore-fathers did to liberate the country from colonial rule. The danger would be to constantly remain in the past because Zambia is still classified as a rural country. Most of the towns bear the remnants of run-down structures that where erected in the colonial era making me wonder what we are celebrating. Zambia needs to be fast-tracked into the modern era in leaps and bounds. At the time of independence, we where economically at par with Singapore but they have since left us way behind. I think the main problem we have is that we still revere leaders with a colonial mentality who think that the politics of the 60’s can still work in the 21st century, hence, comparing himself to Obama who also has a white vice-president is a big thing for Sata.
Indeed we thank God for His favor upon this nation.We had some good rains from last evening to this morning over the copperbelt and the weather has been perfect.It hasnt rained on independence day for a long time.I can see God’s favour on our nation.Good theme and well said speech.God bless ZAMBIA.
well said
sata’s message is hollow compared to that of HH. School is always seen in many ways and one of these ways is how one articulates his or her philosophies on paper.
sata’s message is same paragraph to paragraph. Makes me think probably someone wrote it for him and he did not even read it. Shame!!!
Am enjoying driving in polished roads.
job creation, a must for our government… Employ energetic youths nt old guys who have become inactive.