HH GOD SENT -SYAKALIMA
By Walusungu Lundu
WE paid for every child who goes to school regardless of whether you are rich or not, says education minister Douglas Syakalima.
Syakalima says President Hakainde Hichilema was God sent adding that he didn’t need to be President to be who he is.
He said the country is bleeding stating that, “people (PF leaders) said they were in government for the past 10 years and told you there was unprecedented development, nothing. So Zambia requires national healing. No one was favoured, we had criminals in the state”.
Addressing the media on Friday, he said Zambians needed to thank God that there was someone who was doing the right thing.
“We paid for every child who goes to school regardless of whether you are rich or not. For school fees, tuition fees, everybody was paid for, including rich people…it has never happened. And Zambians must come to their right senses and say somebody wants to work for them. Because I remember when I was responding to the opening of the schools someone just said ‘you know they don’t have money, this is why they have postponed…’ We postponed because we wanted the children not to go and face the calamity. But within that we paid before the 10th [of January] across the board, including the same person if you have kids, I understand you have kids from everywhere – that was Bowman Lusambo who we are talking about. So I paid for his kids,” Syakalima said, about implementation of free education in public schools.
“When good things or good tidings are coming to you, you must actually thank God that there is somebody who is doing the right thing. President Hakainde is a God sent person. Hedidn’t need to be a president to be who he is today. He is paying back. That’s the way sometimes people thank God. It’s to pay back to the society. Today somebody, when it was 1st January…where are the 30,000 teachers? Because they were used to not being systematic. I have on my plate 10,000 teachers who have not been upgraded, and those are the things we are trying to sort out first of all.”
He slammed the PF for having “messed up” the country.
He argued that there was no part of the country that was favoured under the PF administration.
Syakalima also stressed the need for the country to heal.
“There are no jobs around here. You are talking about the PF, the PF are gone. They messed up this country and I feel pity for those who were voting for them. Because I have gone around this country…in six provinces and this is why I’m now preaching healing. I am calling everybody, start healing. These people hurt the whole country. I have been to Muchinga, I have been to Eastern Province. The treatment which is there is the treatment which I found in Southern Province. So there was no one who was advantaged. The whole country was short-changed, that I can tell you. I found bleeding in Eastern Province, then it was called the stronghold for the PF. There was nothing like that. That was evil treatment of the people who were actually voting for them,” he said.
“I have on my desk 150 stalled schools. Chibombo 111, [I] went to Petauke, 70 kids pregnant. We had evil people in government. 10,000 students applied for bursary loans at the University of Zambia, PF budgeted for 2,000. That 2,000 now on loan costs K65 million yet a little girl was found with K65 million in the house. We had a reckless government who didn’t care for anyone of you. If it was a normal country, our colleagues would not even have survived as a political party today. The country is bleeding. I went to 10 provinces and I saw the damage. It really hurts me to see 78 pregnant kids and they were brought to me. I saw 21 kids brought to me in Shiwang’andu yet we have a big infrastructure where the kids could have been there. I retrieved eight from forced marriages. And I was counting I have lost a doctor here because they were pregnant. I have lost a pilot, an engineer. And people said they were in government for the past 10 years and told you there was unprecedented development, nothing. So Zambia requires national healing. No one was favoured, we had criminals in the state.”
On sale of uniforms in schools that some institutions have continued to do despite the presidential directive of allowing parents to purchase uniforms from open markets, Syakalima said head teachers who want to go against the President’s directive should resign on their own.
“And this is the behaviour that we have been talking about. If you do not agree with what government is stating, then leave. PS (permanent secretary), tell the head teachers that if they do not want to agree with what the President is saying, let them leave. On your own go away. Just on your own go away,” he said.
On the issue of protests over payments at the University of Zambia (UNZA), Syakalima said there had been no protests at the institution as people are getting paid on time under the new dawn administration.
“People can’t get used to wrong things for a long time. They were not responding to anybody in the last 10 years. In the shortest period of time, when the President has given me the privilege of running the institution of education I have done a lot. So if people were not patient enough for 10 years, how can they not be patient for five or three months especially for me who has been in this seat for three months? There used to be protests over non-payment of salaries at the University of Zambia, for 10 years. Last month we gave them two grants for November and December. For the first time they celebrated Christmas with a salary. Ever since Hakainde Hichilema became President, they have been getting paid every month. Have you ever heard people at UNZA protesting? It has finished. So there are certain things that have been taken care of and people must appreciate, of course it is our duty to do that,” said Syakalima.
“If things were bad in the last 30 years and I’m trying to correct them within five months then I must be praised. That I can tell you…Patience pays. And for your own information, the President has donated three industrial boreholes for the University of Zambia. There were no protests. It’s only one union which protested…What I can tell you is that old habits die hard. Zambians are used to bad things. We must bring them back to start thinking new, to start thinking that good things should be appreciated. We are in an abnormal state, that I can tell you. But to bring people to normalcy it becomes very difficult but we will try to manage that. And I think we will manage that.”