Dr M’membe urges Zambians to liberate themselves
By Staff Reporter
SOCIALIST Party 2021 presidential candidate Dr Fred M’membe says the country is on fire and urged people to liberate themselves.
Addressing a public rally at Nsansa grounds in Chimwemwe, Kitwe this afternoon, Dr M’membe said he had offered himself for the leadership of the country because of the suffering and humiliation the majority of the people were enduring.
“I am here because of your suffering. I am here because of the humiliation you have to endure everyday due to unemployment, poor housing, sanitation, water supply, failing to feed your children and pay their school fees,” he told multitudes of Kitwe residents.
“I am here because of the challenges you are facing in paying medical bills for yourselves and your families. I am here because of the difficulties you are facing to clothe yourselves and your children”.
He said Zambia was among the four poorest countries on the continent despite its natural resource endorement due to poor leadership.
Dr M’membe said whilst countries such as Chad and Central African Republican were ranked among the poorest, they did not have adequate natural resources.
“Today our country is the fourth hungriest country in Africa after Chad, the Central African Republic and Madagascar. We are number four in Africa kunsala. If it was soccer we would qualify straight to the semi-finals of the Africa Cup,” he said.
“We are blessed with good soils and plenty water. What do we need from God? Mana! Tayakamoneke mana. Inshiku shakwa Noah tashakabwele”! How can we be number four in Africa kunsala na fyonse ifi Lesa atupela? Tatuletekwa bwino”!
Dr M’membe said poverty levels on the Copperbelt remained at 30.8 per cent despite it being an industrial centre of the country.
“Of course, this is not the worst. We have poverty levels of 82.2 per cent in Western Province; 81.1 per cent in Luapula Province; 79.7 per cent in Northern Province; 70 per cent in Eastern Province; 69.3 per cent in Muchinga Province; 66.4 per cent in North-Western Province; 57.6 per cent in Southern Province; 56.2 per cent in Central Province and 20.2 per cent in Lusaka Province,” he said.
He said despite the country waging a liberation struggle for independence, a better and more dignified life had not come, and things were actually getting worse.
“It was like jumping from a frying pan into fire. Now we need to quickly get out of the fire before we are all burnt to ashes. But not jumping into the frying pan again,” he told the cheering people.
“This is where your party, our party, a party of the humble, by the humble, for the humble, the party for all those who toil to make a living – the workers’ party, the Socialist Party – comes in. This is where you come in; this is where I come in”.
He urged the people to directly take over the governance of the country through Socialist party, guided by the working-class ideology of socialism, or else they would be jumping back and forth from frying pan into fire.
“What you can’t do for yourselves, no one will do it for you. Those you have entrusted to govern for you have governed against you. Only you, yourselves, can govern in a manner that benefits you the worker,” Dr M’membe said.
“Only a leadership truly and sincerely committed to the cause of the working class; a party for the poor masses; a socialist leadership can serve the interests of the worker, the poor. And this is what I am deployed by comrades to pursue as President of the Republic of Zambia”.
He said his many years of commitment to working class causes and personal experiences had prepared him for the deployment.
“However, I am not a messiah – there can only be one Messiah, and that is Christ,” he said. “I am simply a guide to this struggle. The heroes and heroines of this struggle are you the humble workers of this country, the poor of this country. And it is you, and only you, who can establish a more just, fair and humane society – a society anchored on honesty, equity, humility and solidary – in our homeland”.
Dr M’membe said the challenges before the country were gigantic and required a lot of knowledge and very strong principles.
He said a lot of effort was required to create jobs in a country, and a world that was everyday losing jobs to technology and artificial intelligence systems.
“No matter how many foreign investors we bring in, we will never have those big armies of mine workers we used to have. Today a few pieces of high-tech equipment wipe out thousands of mining jobs,” he explained.
“The big numbers of workers we used to have on commercial farms are gone. They have been replaced by more efficient machines – combine harvesters, digitalised tractors navigated by satellite”.
Dr M’membe, however warned that the problem was not advancement of technology but the capitalist system that did not fairly share the benefits of technology with the worker – the worker who created the technology.
He said technology should not necessarily lead to loss of jobs but reduced working hours and using the time saved on further studies, family, sports, arts, visiting relatives and spiritual development.
“And with industry, banks and other sectors of our economy not creating sufficient and quality jobs our survival will depend on increasing agricultural production and agro-processing,” Dr M’membe explained.
“But very little, if not nothing, will be achieved without investing much in education, without prioritising education; without investing big in health services for our people”.
He said the growing unemployment, inequality and poverty had not been ordained on the people by God.
“ If it were, I would say let’s just walk across to that cemetery and bury ourselves alive because there’s nothing we can do against God’s will. But this is a creation of human hands; greedy people. And because it is a product of human decisions and actions, with hard work and tenacious struggle, we can remedy it,” Dr M’membe said.
“This is a product of capitalist exploitation, oppression and humiliation. It can only be corrected by you the exploited, oppressed and humiliated taking your destiny into your own hands by you, the poor masses, becoming the rulers of this country”.
He urged the people to remained focused and continue the struggle enable them win political power and use it to build a society in which their dignity that comes from justice, equity and peace was restored.
“Together we will struggle to ensure that all have jobs, free education and free health services, dignified housing, sanitation, clean water, food and all the other services required in an organised society,” Dr M’membe said. “Today, here in this same Kitwe, we launch our peaceful struggle for a more just, fair and humane Zambia”.
Dr M’membe assured that in the coming days, weeks and months the party would elaborate how the struggle would be done.
