Sata's Plan

Michael Sata continues his attack on the reputation of the Election Commission of Zambia and again accuses them of preparing to rig the forthcoming election.

His tirade is nothing more than a desperate attempt to inflate the expectations of his cadre and bait them in to reacting violently when (and not if) he loses the presidential by-election.

This is hardly a new tactic for a politician who has built his reputation by being a bully! If anyone needs a reminder of Sata’s past tactical thinking, they just need to review this BBC article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5396884.stm) and look at these photos to remind themselves of the sort of thing that the PF candidate is planning.

The Sata strategy is one that is employed when a candidate knows he is going to lose the election, but wants to unfairly affect the outcome through a program of intimidation once the results are announced. Normally this strategy would be expected to have little potential success but recent events around Africa, namely the elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe, prompt concerns. Because their election results were set aside and an ‘Africa Solution to an African problem’ was negotiated through mediation. It is not by accident that recent stories have been placed in our media trying to set the expectation that a Kenya or Zimbabwe government of national unity will be necessary after the election.

The actions of Sata and his followers have not gone unnoticed, as reports in today’s paper have stated. The Inspector General of the Police, Ephraim Mateyo has summoned the Anti-Rigging of Zambia president, Kelvin Bwalya to report to police headquarters or face arrest. The Inspector General intends to warn the Sata supporter that stern action will be taken against those who continue to make statements of their intent to take power through unconstitutional means.

This is actually what the Sata campaign is attempting to do and is something that Zambians need to be aware of, it is your duty to spread this message; the Zambian people do not want a coup d’etat, they want a smooth transition and a true democratic election to find someone to fulfill the Late President’s term.