Michael Chilufya Sata (6 July 1937 – 28 October 2014) was a Zambian politician who was the fifth President of Zambia, from 23 September 2011 until his death in 28 October 2014. A social democrat,[2] he led the Patriotic Front (PF), a major political party in Zambia. Under President Frederick Chiluba, Sata was a minister during the 1990s as part of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government; he went into opposition in 2001, forming the PF. As an opposition leader, Sata — popularly known as King Cobra — emerged as the leading opposition presidential contender and rival to President Levy Mwanawasa in the 2006 presidential election, but was defeated. Following Mwanawasas death, Sata ran again and lost to President Rupiah Banda in 2008. After ten years in opposition, Sata defeated Banda, the incumbent, to win the September 2011 presidential election with a plurality of the vote. Early years Michael Chilufya Sata was born in 1937[3] and brought up in Mpika, Northern Province. He worked as a police officer, railway man and trade unionist during colonial rule. He spent time in London working on the railway sweeping the platforms. Among other things, he was a porter at Victoria railway station.[4] Sata began actively participating in the politics of Northern Rhodesia in 1963. Following independence, he worked his way up through the rough-and-tumble rank-and-file of the ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP) to the governorship of Lusaka in 1985. As Governor, he made his mark as a man of action with a hands on approach. He cleaned up the streets, patched roadways and built bridges in the city. Afterward he became a Member of Parliament for Kabwata constituency in Lusaka. Though once close with President Kenneth Kaunda, he became disillusioned by Kaundas dictatorial style and he left the UNIP to join the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)[5] during the campaign for multi-party politics in 1991. After Frederick Chiluba defeated Kaunda in 1991, Sata became one of Zambias most instantly recognizable faces. Under the MMD, he served as minister for local government, labor and, briefly, health where, he boasts, his reforms brought sanity to the health system. In 1995, he was appointed as minister without portfolio, the partys national organizing secretary during which his political style was described as increasingly abrasive. He graduated as a Bachelor in Political Science at Atlantic International University on 2011. Michael Sata died on the 28. October 2014 in London.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 08:20:30 +0000
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