President Edgar Lungu has been urged to call for a national economic indaba immediately in order to find ways of coming out of the current economic quagmire that our country is faced with, and not find pleasure in the privatisation saga, involving his arch rival.
The Zitukule Consortium says it is deeply disturbed and concerned that some government officials have continued to push the privatization narrative in public discourse at the expense of current the challenges facing the country including poverty, low productivity and free fall of the Kwacha.
“It is totally unacceptable that government officials, elected to promote and protect the well-being of citizens could be spending time discussing the Opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema when the nation is bleeding economically and majority citizens are becoming more and more impoverished. This should not be allowed to continue,” says the Consortium.
The Zitukule Consortium says this continued narrative by government officials is a well calculated ploy to shield their own failures and to divert citizens’ attention.
“It is our considered view that the sustained campaign by government officials on privatization and calls for a commission of inquiry focusing on one individual could be a deliberate and well calculated scheme meant to not only divert citizens attention from real issues affecting the nation, but also to justify and lay grounds for a possible arrest and harm to the UPND leader,” says the Consortium.
The organization adds that it must be noted that as things stand in the country today, any move by government to arrest and or harm the UPND leader may not be received well by the citizenry.
“For those calling for a commission of inquiry on privatization, have you forgotten how tax payer’s money has wasted on numerous politically motivated commissions of inquiries in the past 8 years with no tangible outcome. What has the nation benefited from the commission of inquiry on voting patterns and political violence when the status quo remains the same or even becoming worse?
“We wish to advise government to direct resources and energy on resolving the numerous challenges facing our people today including long hours of electricity blackouts, the ever-depreciating local currency, procurement corruption and debt management among other things.
“Arresting or planning to harm Hakainde Hichilema won’t launder the image of those in power today ahead of the 2021 general election.
“Unlike in 2016, arresting the leader of the biggest opposition party 10 months before the election on flimsy grounds would destabilize national peace and unity and put the country in big trouble,” adds the Consortium in a statement, issued by its Executive Director, Nicholas Phiri.