Africa-Press – Zambia. ZAMBIA Must Prosper leader Kelvin Fube Bwalya says President Hakainde Hichilema’s selling of the Gulfstream jet is as a result of a personal vendetta he has against former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu. He wondered why President Hichilema had continued to use other facilities “procured irregularly by the former ruling part like the roads”.
Speaking when he featured on KNC radio on Saturday, Bwalya wondered why President Hichilema was not selling other facilities that were procured ‘irregularly’ including schools, roads, among others adding that there is nothing about selling the Gulfstream presidential plane that will benefit Zambians. He recalled that President Hichilema insists that he won’t use the Gulfstream but would sale it because it was procured fraudulently.
“Objection, how can you say the plane was fraudulently obtained and I won’t use it when Mulungushi Conference Centre [Kenneth Kaunda Wing] where you give lectures was also constructed… but that’s where you go to give lectures…” he said. “These schools that you are claiming to be giving to the children as free education, they are also part of the infrastructure that was obtained fraudulently by the PF. Why are you not selling the schools? Why are you not selling Mulungushi Conference Centre. Why are you not selling the other things? Why are you not selling the roads – the roads constructed by the PF which you’re using? Don’t cheat the people. That we refuse. This is a personal vendetta HH has against Lungu pakushitisha ilya indeke (for him to sell that plane). There is nothing here which is going to benefit the country.”
Bwalya wondered if anyone had seen an economic pronouncement that the President has made which has shaken the country other than increasing fuel, failing on FISP and failing to buy medicines in hospitals. He said even with the free education policy, the quality of education is dropping.
“And the problem we have right now is that the UPND is failing. It is blaming everybody except itself. The problem we have with the UPND, they really do not have a clear manifesto, economic manifesto, let alone a political manifesto apart from the fight that they want to bring against individuals. Not even against corruption because they keep arresting and not prosecuting, not even convicting. It has been one year plus of the UPND. I can ask you or ask the viewers out there, what have you seen as an economic pronouncement that the President has made which has shaken the country other than increasing fuels, failing on FISP (Farmer Input Support Programme), failing to buy medicines in hospitals, failing to even simple infrastructure that is required?” Bwalya asked. “They will speak of free education when the quality of education is dropping. You have got to move with everything. So the first thing they should have done is delay the free education, build more schools so that the teachers know that pupils are going to have enough classrooms…Then the ratio, the teacher-pupil ratio must improve. You can’t have a teacher teaching 150 pupils in one class. That is not education. That is madness. So for us, we are trying to look at all these things analytically. The problem we have in the UPND is they do not plan. They want to justify what they are doing but you and I know it is not working. Even the people that want to access that free education are complaining…”
He noted that the UPND is always playing a blame game where it is always someone’s fault and not theirs. But Bwalya reminded President Hichilema that he is in State House today and no one else.
“Therefore, he must take responsibility and be the leader that he claims to be. This is where the problem is. I have said before and I will repeat, the UPND is always playing a blame game. It is always Mr Someone’s fault, not their fault. Let us remember they have been in power for a year plus. Who do they want to blame now? They still want to be looking in the rearview mirror and blame the PF? Let us not be cheated. HH is in State House today, no one else. He must take responsibility and be the leader that he claims to be, be the economist that he claims to be. He had theories running around telling us how fuel was going to drop, why isn’t that dropping?” he asked. “What we have done as Zambia Must Prosper is that we have given a critical think as to how we are going to approach the economy. We have used the woman as a baseline for development. We know that the woman in Zambia has been marginalised. That is why in Zambia Must Prosper we have said you (women) are the first wave of attack. We are taking care of the women but we are putting you first because we want to take care of the women first. We are very different as a political party. We don’t want to be talking pa, pa, pa, pa.”
He also said the UPND does not have analytical criminal lawyers “who know where to find evidence therefore the PF will get away”. Bwalya said to make things worse, “UPND is frustrating civil servants who could give them information about what PF did or was doing”. He said both PF and UPND are bad for Zambia.
“We are not going to sit 22, 23 years in opposition. That is not us. Zambia Must Prosper, we are ready to take over government tomorrow. We are ready. That is why it is important for the women of Zambia to realise, here is a political party that has put the women first and where a woman is important is in this party,” he said.
Bwalya said the UPND was punishing Zambians by having them pay taxes and not the foreign mining firms that are supposed to prosper the country. He said this is because Zambia has a manager and not a leader in State House. He said President Hichilema is a manager and does not have a vision.
“A manager goes to implement the vision of a leader. A leader comes up with policy, a manager implements the policy. There will be no pronouncement which will be a clear cut policy, because he didn’t think through. When ego is problem, when a president has got an ego bigger than the country, the country is in trouble,” noted Bwalya.
For More News And Analysis About Zambia Follow Africa-Press
