DOING AWAY WITH ROYAL PROCESSIONS WILL INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
AUSTERITY MEASURES
The UNITED KWACHA ALLIANCE would like to congratulate President Hakainde for finally bowing down to our, and other opposition parties, calls for this government to put in place austerity measures.
We are glad that President Hakainde has finally woken up to the need to start addressing this issue as we have been demanding.
We agree that the ministers trips must be restricted to the barest minimum. This should be, not only for foreign trips, but also for local trips.
President Hakainde must put his money where his mouth is by ensuring this pronouncement is not a mere public relations stunt and statement but make it a promise that he will keep.
Zambians demand that politicians must keep their promises and not turn them into lies.
To turn his decree about austerity to become a reality, PresidentHakainde should therefore do the following;
Stop ministers traveling to campaign at by elections, including even Ward elections. Recently we saw four ministers go to campaign at a ward election. The fuel, allowances and accommodation for themselves and their drivers could have been saved.
Have the V8s that several ministers are still driving sold as was promised months ago so that vehicle that are more efficient and have lower fuel consumption are used.
Ensure that after every trip outside Lusaka an activity report is filed and published by the minister within seven days of the trip having been made.
In the case of trips outside the country, have the minister issue a ministerial statement in Parliament within seven days of their return. If upon their return Parliament is adjourned and not in session, the ministerial statement must be made within seven days of the next sitting.
These measures will ensure that only important trips are undertaken and that the country is kept informed on what is being done on their behalf.
The President must equally reduce his trips as currently he has recorded a record of being Zambia’s most travelled President. If anything, presidential trips are twenty or thirty times more expensive than ministerial trips.
The President must immediately move to State House as the frequent commutes to and from Community House are an unnecessary drain on state resources.
Some of the austerity measures he United Kwacha Alliance President would put in place are
A. The UKA President would move into, and reside at, State House in order to ensure that there will be no need to;
i) erect a helipad at the personal residence of the President
ii) provide dedicated ZESCO supply lines and transformer station to the personal residence of the President
iii) transport staff housed at the State House compound on a daily and nightly basis to the personal residence of the President
iv) have frequent police details to be posted on the route to and from the President’s personal residence to State House
B. The UKA President will stop having the ‘Royal Processions’ to and from the airport each time the President flies out of and into Lusaka in order to;
i )avoid locking down traffic for Lusaka residents who are stopped by the traffic police for very long periods of time
ii )save on fuel used to transport every government official from the Vice President, ministers, service chiefs, secretary to the cabinet, District Commissioners right down to many civil servants. All these troop and participate in the Royal Procession merely to go and line up to shake the President’s hand.
C. The UKA President will utilize the helipad at State House to go by helicopter to either city airport or the international airport. Last minute instructions can be given at State House or whoever has to be interacted with urgently before the trip can fly with him in the helicopter to the airport.
D. Apart from saving money, doing away with the Royal procession will increase productivity.