23 questions for President HH in 2023
By Aaron Ng’ambi
To occupy the office of President for the Republic of Zambia is a sacred trust and responsibility. Above everything else, this office requires transparency and a great deal of honesty in all the dealings of the office bearer. The worst thing that can ever happen to the President of Zambia is when the majority of the people lose their confidence in that man or woman they elected in the first place, especially halfway through that term of office. It is no secret that the Hakainde Hichilema (HH) presidency has come short on many promises and pronouncements previously made by the Head of State both in opposition and in government. Therefore, in light of these short comings many people have questions on their minds for which we present to His Excellency the current President of Zambia.
1. Sir, the new dawn administration has on several occasions bragged about some achievements or things that you have so far scored on. And among your major accomplishments is the increased Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation, which has been on the lips of government officials whenever we talk about what this government has done for its people. However, from the last budget speech of the minister of finance; he categorically stated that the disbursement of CDF country wide was at 75 per cent, while utilisation or actualisation of the same funds stood at 10 per cent in 2022. Mr President, how can you or anyone in government argue that this undertaking has been a success with just about 10 per cent utilisation of the funds allocated?
2. The Zambian mines contribute about 80 per cent to our revenue base. The government is still scraping about with the issue of Konkola Copper Mine and Mopani Copper Mine on the Copperbelt Province while the lives of people in Mufurila, Chingola, Kitwe, and Chililabombwe towns remain under stress. It has been well over 16 months since you formed government, and yet there is nothing to show for in the mining sector. Therefore, will this government get it right in 2023 as far as our mines are concerned in terms of operation and ownership?
3. What is your projection as a government in terms of how much you aim to collect from the mines in 2023? Sir, many people have argued that you have given tax holiday to foreign mining companies which are currently operating in our country. In the minds of many Zambians, it is so hard not to believe this narrative after finding out that your government has decided to still export electricity to other countries while we experience load shedding.
4. Also, the allegations that the government through the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines – Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) has given gave up 20 per cent shares in Kansanshi mining, in exchange for royalty taxes of three per cent. Mr President, these shares of ZCCM-IH belong to the Zambian people and giving up such national assets requires the government to follow what is provided for in the Constitution on the disposal of national assets. Did you engage Zambians through their members of parliament (MPs) in this matter before you undertook such a measure?
5. Mr President, when you took office in August 2021, you are on record saying that your appointments to any political or government office shall be based on merit. Sir, if you look at people you have appointed in cabinet, as permanent secretaries, civil servants, and even diplomats; is this how meritocracy looks like in the books of President HH?
6. In fact, for appointment of diplomats, you even went further to state in a paraphrased version that, “the record I want to be proud of as President, is when a child from a village from Kaputa or other distant rural place without political connections can be appointed as a diplomat.” Since you have been over a year in office now, Sir, are you proud of your diplomatic appointments so far, including those of people beyond retirement age?
7. During your time in the opposition, Mr President, your rhetoric about the performance of the Kwacha was decisive. In fact, you were so confident that this was a simple issue for you to fix when elected into office. Yes, you are on record of saying that “when elected and sworn in at 10:00 hours, the Kwacha will appreciate at 14:00 hours.” Now just for clarification, please check these facts but I am very certain that for the last two to three months of the Patriotic Front (PF) government, the Kwacha appreciated from K24 to K17 against the US dollar. This is one issue I personally argued and told the Zambian people, that the PF was just doing cosmetic fixes for the sake of the upcoming elections; I was on Diamond TV discussing this issue with one of the journalists. Today the Kwacha is not doing so well, it’s trading at $1 to K18. What happened to that promise?
8. Actually, the explaining we got from government when the new dawn administration took over and the Kwacha appreciated to K15 against $1 was that “the currency is appreciating because of our hard work.” But when the currency fell to K17 to $1, the language changed to “we have stabilised the Kwacha.” Now that the currency seems to be depreciating due to whatever factors, the government has gone quite on this issue. Thus, we ask politely, Sir, what has caused our currency to depreciate at this rate, because we have not heard anything substantive from the government on this issue?
9. Sir, this government has on many occasions preached about debt restructuring and fiscal discipline, yet our 2022 budget shows that 42 per cent of our budget will be financed through borrowing and debt; would you agree with me that this is a contradiction in terms? How can you in one breath talk about eliminating debt and engaging the IMF, while on the other hand you continue to borrow to finance the budget?
10. Mr President, when will your government begin to directly engage with our actual creditors face to face on a round table meeting? For example, we have heard nothing about government meeting with Eurobond holders or our biggest creditor, China.
11. Sir, the monthly review of fuel prices has been a disaster, small-scale businesses cannot plan ahead or even make accurate projected profits because of the uncertainty of the cost of doing business when fuel prices keep going up every month. What happened to the promised K12 of fuel under the UPND Alliance government?
12.There is no doubt the unstable monthly upward adjustment of the fuel pump has seen the cost of living go up, what is your long-term plan to address this?
13. Your Excellency, the abolishment of the death penalty is an achievement this government has celebrated. However, all the previous constitutional review commissions, including the popular Willa Mung’omba Review Commission, the Zambian people overwhelmingly voted for the death penalty to be kept on our statutory books. Do you think that you as President did the right thing to unilaterally abolish this law without consulting the Zambian people at large in a democratic country?
14. The removal of the defamation of the President clause from our laws is a welcome move by many, but are you not worried that the presidency or office of President will now be easily brought into disrepute at any time?
15. Sir, what other constitutional reforms do you intend to pursue under your administration, which you firmly believe are in the interest of the public?
16. Mr President, under your administration Zambia has signed a lot of memoranda of understanding between us and other nations. As an example, the MoUs signed between Zambia and Rwanda when President Paul Kagame visited our country. The MoUs signed between Zambia and DRC, also between Zambia and Eswatini, Zambia and the United States etc. All these MoUs are not made available to the public, yet these are agreements entered into by our government with our bilateral partners. We need to know the content of all these documents. Hence, when will your government enact the Freedom of Information or Access to Information Bill?
17. The call for the enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill is something that the United Party for National Development (UPND) championed while in opposition. Therefore, can this UPND Alliance government show leadership and pass this bill into law as soon as possible?
18. Sir, the Speaker of the House ordered a parliamentary committee to go out into the country and conduct a feasibility study on the claimed shortage of drugs in hospitals. The committee’s report in part read that indeed the supply of drugs in hospitals was not at full capacity, suggesting that general hospitals only had about 51 per cent of the drugs required. Mr President, what are you doing personally as the Head of State to sort out the issue of drugs in hospitals?
19. Just as a reminder, when Honeybee supplied drugs that were alleged to have expired, Sir, you and the UPND were outraged, and rightfully so. In fact, you talked about how the PF regime and Honeybee should be held responsible for the death of many of our people due to expired drugs. Thus, who should our people hold responsible now for any deaths that will occur as a result of shortage of drugs?
20. Unfortunately, after that parliamentary report on drug shortage in hospitals, The Vice-President went around the country in what she said was an inspection tour of hospitals to see if there was indeed a shortage of medicines. Sadly, the Vice-President claimed after her visits to a few hospitals, that the drugs in hospitals country wide were at 70 per cent, 80 per cent and 90 per cent. So, who is telling the truth between a parliamentary committee tasked to do this job or the Vice-President? Sir, I hope that you listen to whoever is telling the truth between the two.
21. Mr President, you said this in July 2022, “we have ended load shedding in just under one year on being in office.” And you later went on to admit at the December press conference of 2022 that the Zambian government is currently selling power to neighbouring countries, and hence the justification for the scheduled load shedding. Sir, which President HH should the Zambian take seriously, the one who ended load shedding a year after being elected or the one who is now selling power to other countries at the expense of Zambia’s consumption?
22. Are you not worried that extended load shedding will adversely affect some of the significant progress you have made in terms of economic indicators such as the inflation rate at single digit, debt restructuring etc? We ask this because everyone knows that small and medium scale enterprises are the backbone of our economy. Hence, how are these businesses supposed to operate with load shedding of 12 hours on most days of the week?
23. Mr President, when are you relieving some of, if not most of your non-performing cabinet ministers? It is evident that there is so much incompetence in most of these ministries, of which you are fully aware and perhaps you have just decided to pay a blind eye to these under-performing ministers, because to you, loyalty is more important than meritocracy?
In a nutshell, these 23 questions for you, Mr President, are in no way coming from a bad place. These questions are important questions for which we hope that you will ponder and reflect upon, as you lead this great nation. We did ask your predecessor 20 questions in 2020, and 21 questions at the beginning of 2021 these are questions in good faith for the sake of our Republic. Sir, we wish you well and pray that you succeed.
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