NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE ZAMBIA – SANGWA
MOVEMENT for National Renewal leader John Sangwa says citizens must realise that there is no saviour that is coming to save Zambia because the turning around of the country is a responsibility of every citizen.
Sangwa says it is not possible for government to fix all of the country’s problems, arguing that citizens must acknowledge that the country is in a bad place and make a collective decision to improve the situation.
Speaking when he featured on Crown TV, Wednesday, Sangwa said his movement’s main message to citizens is that the transformation of the country cannot be left to those in government alone.
“The starting point is this; since independence, we have been made to believe that citizens should just sit there and government will fix everything. The truth of the matter is, that is not possible and that has not worked. What we are saying as the Movement for National Renewal is that, the turning around of this country is a collective responsibility; it is not the responsibility of a single leader.
What is required [is] that each and every Zambian must be able to step forward, we must first of all, as Zambians, make a collective decision to acknowledge where we are, that this is not a good place we are in, we shouldn’t be where we are and then make a collective decision to say, ‘we deserve better, we should be in a better place,’” Sangwa noted.
“It requires us to be able to join hands. It’s not a job of the leadership alone, it is the job of those elected as well as the citizens themselves, holding hands, to choose to transform this country. That is the primary message that we are saying.
Citizens must come to this realisation that there is no saviour that will come to save Zambia, and there is no president or leader that can save Zambia [but] that we, together, with those elected and ourselves as citizens, we are the solution to our problems. It’s not about whether you have a particular economic policy or not, that is the starting point, to accept first of all. Zambia’s problem is not about policies, it is invariably our failure or political will to implement those policies”.
Sangwa stressed that there has been a decline in the quality of life since 2021, adding that the country’s challenges are much greater now compared to four years ago.
“If you look at one of the issues that we are talking about in the National Renewal is to ask Zambians first of all, to acknowledge the extent and the depth of the challenges that the country faces. The moment we acknowledge that, then the next question that we should be talking about is what do we do about those challenges?
But when we keep telling ourselves lies that things are okay, and in any case you don’t even need to tell an average Zambian as to how he feels, they know the reality as to what they are going through. In fact, if you ask any average Zambian to say, how is your life today compared to 2021, I don’t think people will say there’s been [an] improvement. In fact, there’s been a decline in the quality of life and many other factors. The challenges are far much greater than they were,” said Sangwa.
“But of course, this is not attributable to a single government, all the governments that we have had since 1964, they have largely contributed to the situation where we are and that is why we are saying that it is time for us to pause and reflect and call for the renewal of the country. The problem is, the population has grown but the economy has not kept up with that population growth. Our population has grown faster than our economy.
At independence, our GDP was roughly a billion dollars. That one billion dollars in today’s terms would be equivalent to $10 billion but what was last year’s GDP? It was $25 billion.
Basically, you are saying, from independence to date, you have only added on something like $15 billion, which would be roughly about one and a half or two and a half times but during the same time, the population has grown seven times. The economy is not growing as it should”.
Sangwa urged political leaders who were promising voters what they would do for them once elected to ensure that they created wealth first because the country was broke.
News Diggers
So why are you standing as President? Your entire sprech is a reguritation of what the President has been saying.
He is putting the aspirations of Zambians first and his actions speak to that.
So you John Sangwa, yeaterday you said HH had failed. Tell us how? As you now admit that the nation is bad shape. We all know that. But its in much better shape than the state PF left it. Yet you want to cast aspirationon that same man that has made tremenous strides to move the country from where it was to where it is.
You lack the fortitude to stand your ground from what you state last week now you are ocilating from position to position. Ba lawyer without prinicipals imwe
Ba Sangwa, you are correct and that is exactly what President Hichilema stands for, he always says ” work and work and more work for all of us Zambians to build our country and improve the economy together.He advises Zambians to criticize objectively or advise ” mule voka” this is slang language meaning you must speak.To develop Zambia is not to eye Presidency but to atleast show how you can make the difference by indicating how you can improve the economy with facts that give hope and not self praising.Make mention your innovations, good plans and point at wrongs and show your suggestions based on best practice that comes with good evidence to really make people believe in your explanations.So far nothing tangible you have shown.
Sangwa if you’re not that saviour, better than hh, then forget becoming Zambian president. We already have hh doing it right, soon there will be nothing for the opposition to talk about. Tell us what you will do better. It’s not enough just to say hh has failed this or that. People won’t vote for you based only on cheap rethoric. Bring out your solutions to the table on how best you will do it. Stop being an armchair critic with no vision.
Muleumfwa ba Kalaba? Not your fake promises ati “I will end loadshedding, I will increase civil servants’ salaries”. It is the people who have the solutions and they need to be enticed to be part of the act instead of being spectators (Boma iyanganepo!).
Apart from the people taking on the responsibility of developing our country, there must be full accountability. Often, policians and government workers are not held responsible for their actions or inaction. The misuse of government transport is rampant with the attendant excessive maintenance and fuel costs. We have too many parasites living off the national treasury. Why do we have to build a former president a house after we take care of him for five years without him having to use his salary? Why do we have to build a former Speaker of the National Assembly a house after retirement? Why do have so many retired “constitutional office holders” drawing salaries as part of their retirement benefits?
The fact is, in Zambia we are lazy and our work culture is pathetic. What Mr. Sangwa is saying won’t go down well with the majority of Zambians. They believe in a saviour who will wave a magic wand and make our challenges disappear. None will be forthcoming. There is only one saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.