WHEN you see a President becoming rich, just because he is President, know that he has stolen, says Fred M’membe.
Meanwhile, Dr M’membe has urged the government to plan for the future warning that the country’s population is likely to hit 34 million by 2036.
The Socialist Party president says those who steal at the Ministry of Health send people to early graves.
He was speaking on a Hot Seat programme on Hot FM radio yesterday.
Dr M’membe said the salary of a President in Zambia was not a secret but gazetted.
“The salary of a Cabinet minister in this country is not a secret – it’s gazetted. The salaries of top government officials are not secrets – they are gazetted,” Dr M’membe said. “When you see a President becoming rich, just because he is President, know that he has stolen. He is a thief! He should explain where that extra money is coming from! Why didn’t he become rich before he was President?”
He argued that one could not become rich on the salary of a President.
“It’s low!” Dr M’membe said. “You can’t become rich on the salary of a minister or a member of parliament. It’s a low!”
He added: “when you see your leaders become rich, just know that they are stealing from you.”
“There are no two ways about it! If they are not, let them explain the source of that income, because money does not grow on trees,” he said.
Earlier, Dr M’membe criticised unbridled theft in the Ministry of Health, for it has sent so many people to their early graves.
“Every ngwee, every cent that you steal from the Ministry of Health results in a death. Whatever kwacha you steal from the Ministry of Health, know that you are killing some human beings. Do they care? No, they don’t!” he said. “They make money out of those deaths. It’s heartless!”
Dr M’membe added that the Ministry of Health had a history of corruption, not only by civil servants but also by politicians.
“It is a ministry that has been used to fund political activities for a long time. Over the last 30 years, the Ministry of Health has been ransacked, looted. It’s a conduit,” Dr M’membe said. “There is a lot of money from the treasury and from donors that goes to the Ministry of Health. Both donor money and money that has been generated by our poor people through taxes have been stolen.”
He further regretted that the suppliers of all sorts of services to the Ministry of Health were the country’s political leaders.
“They are the suppliers of medicines and all sorts of things. What do you expect, when you are the manager and the supplier?” asked Dr M’membe. “How come, people who did not have much, immediately they went to that ministry they became so wealthy?”
And the Socialist Party leader fears that without planning for such growth, the country could be sitting on a time bomb.
Dr M’membe says investing in the future should be part of quality leadership.
“It is possible for our country to devote a great part of its efforts to that struggle for the future. The consequences of not struggling, working, planning for the Zambia of 15 years’ time will be disastrous,’’ he warned in a statement on Wednesday. “Hunger, riots, falling governments, and chaos are all potential consequences of ignoring the future. If we don’t then we shouldn’t cry in 15 years that we didn’t see it coming. We are sitting on a time bomb!”
Looking at the current population growth rate, Dr M’membe feared that in 15 years the situation could be delicate for the country.
“At the current population growth rate of 2.89 per cent (2020 estimate) in 15 years Zambia will have not less than 34 million human beings to feed, house, educate and provide health services, water, sanitation and all the services required in an organised society too,” Dr M’membe said. “Despite having a very high death [rate] of 11.6 deaths per 1,000 population, a very high maternal mortality rate of 213 deaths per 100,000 live births (2017 estimates) and infant mortality rate of 56 deaths per 1,000 live births and a low life expectancy of 53.6 years (2020 est.) our birth rate of 35.733 (2020 est.) is still high enough to give us a very high population growth rate of 2.89 per cent.”
He said population growth had a limit where it could be accommodated.
Dr M’membe highlighted services that a population of 34 million people would need, which required serious planning starting now.
“Rapid population growth at rates above two per cent acts as a brake on development. Up to a point, population growth can be accommodated. But the goal of development extends beyond accommodation of an ever-larger population; it is to improve people’s lives,” he said. “This doubled population of Zambia in 15 years will need all these services a modern human being can’t do without – food, education, health, housing, water, sanitation, and so on and so forth. How are we going to provide these services at these very low economic growth rates we are experiencing? What are our leaders doing to prepare our country and our people for this future that appears so sombre?”
Dr M’membe reminded the government to plan now for such population growth.
“There’s need for our leaders and our people to realise that the Zambia of the future, of 15 years’ time, will not be built in the future, in 15 years’ time but on the threshold of what we do today. The future is not built in the future; it is built on or by what we do today,” said Dr M’membe. “I think that the future nation is the most important and most noble idea that a serious leader, a revolutionary can harbour. Revolutionaries have always fought, struggled, worked for the future. Commander Nsingu, the old man Mpezeni – his father, and those 10,000 young Ngonis fought the future…They were all fighting for the future. To fight for the future, to struggle or work for the future does not mean to avoid doing everyday what must be done for the present. These two ideas must not be confused.”