By Oliver Chisenga
THE governance system under PF were left rotten to the core so people should not expect a radical shift in correcting the putrefaction without any form of turbulence, says Mwenya Musenge.
“If you look at what we are seeing, all those key people in various ministries appearing before the Public Accounts Committee and the issues that are coming out in relation to financial irregularities and abuse of their positions and offices is alarming,” he said.
In an interview, Musenge, the National Democratic Congress interim leader, said expecting miracle from President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND in government barely four months after taking over is attempting to make soup from a stone.
He insisted the President Hichilema and the UPND are in government to correct the many governance errors left by the previous regime.
“Critics of President Hakainde Hichilema are not being fair to him. One thing they ought to understand is that political players who were
campaigning, who participated in the elections, were making various comments without understanding the intricacies at play when you are in that office,” he said. “For me as much as our colleagues made those statements, I would still give them a benefit of doubt and give them an opportunity to run government. They have only been in government for less than four months and you cannot expect a miracle to be done within this short period of time.”
Musenge, a former Copperbelt minister, noted that the PF government became so unpopular “a sign that there were a lot of things they did very wrongly that the current administration needs to overhaul”.
He said in their attempt to remain in power, the PF went to an extent of subsidising fuel which the earlier government of Michael Chilufya Sata had withdrawn.
“Over time we came to learn that the subsidy was again implemented. So let us allow our colleagues to begin on a clean sheet. If you observe, there is a lot that our colleagues promised. So beginning of next year, which is a few days away they will have to start implementing the 2022 budget. And a lot of Zambians are expectant especially the youths who worked extremely hard to change government,” Musenge said.
He noted that in the 2022 budget, there will be about 30,000 teachers recruited and 11,000 health workers, which translates into a very huge wage bill for the government.
Musenge said with the coming of such a huge wage bill, it is important to look at areas where the country is spending money unnecessarily and brought in a sector that would help the Zambian people.
“I don’t know which government or party in government has ever embarked on such an ambitious programme. We expect that those 50,000 employed civil servants once paid, will give business to the informal sector and it will grow.
They will be able in return to look after themselves well. They will be able to send their children to school and will be able to meet all their day to day needs,” he argued. “Apart from that, once these civil servants are employed, we expect that most of them as they settle will employ a maid or two to assist them in their daily chores at home and again we will see a good number of people that will benefit direct and indirectly.”
Musenge urged Zambians and those in opposition to support the government stating that it is not easy to turn around and creating an enabling environment without tough measures being applied.
“Government has got a huge challenge because the entire governance system of this country was rotten to the core. If you look at what we are seeing, all those key people in various ministries appearing before the Public Accounts Committee and the issues that are coming out in relation to financial irregularities and abuse of their positions and offices is alarming,” he said. “Where you find a Chinese contractor has so many contracts across the country, where you see letter of excuses from three different Chinese companies; you can tell that the system was rotten to the core. With the UPND in government, they have to work extremely hard to turn this around and we shall certainly expect turbulences on the way.”
Musenge appealed to President Hichilema to encourage his minister and all those with the responsibility to speak on behalf of the government to explain to the people in various languages why certain firm steps are being undertaken.