I DON’T THINK ZAMBIANS ARE COMFORTABLE WITH EATING PROMISES… We are seeing the fact that maybe our colleagues were never ready to rule – Lusaka Lawyer

I DON’T THINK ZAMBIANS ARE COMFORTABLE WITH EATING PROMISES

… We are seeing the fact that maybe our colleagues were never ready to rule – Lusaka Lawyer

Lusaka, Monday, October 9, 2023 (Smart Eagles)

Amid the historic high cost of living that Zambians are grappling with under the New Dawn Administration, Patriotic Front (PF) Member Celestine Mambula Mukandila says “we are only hopeful that only God can save us in this case.”

Despite the “heaven on earth” kind of promises that President Hakainde Hichilema fed Zambians prior to the 2021 elections, fixing the economy, an “anthem” that saw him elected into power has remained a wishful dream to the masses.

Prices of essential commodities have continued skyrocketing, the scarcity of money in circulation has hit even those singing praise for the President and hunger has become an order of the day.

And featuring on Millenium TV’s “State of the Nation” last night, Mr Mukandila, a Lusaka Lawyer lamented that “we are living in times when the nation is crying, Zambian people are crying, our families are crying because of the escalating cost of living. We have the staple food which is mealie meal of course escalating at a skyrocketing price, the escalation is very constant in the upward direction.”

He complained that it is extremely unfortunate that government has failed to maintain the pricing structure of the mealie meal prices.

“The Zambian people right now, I don’t think they are comfortable with eating promises. We can’t keep promising what we cannot achieve, it is very unfortunate. It has been a lot of promises and nothing, all talk and nothing is happening,” he said.

Commenting on the 2024 budget which the majority well-meaning Zambians have frowned upon, the PF member said most of the budgets that UPND government has presented contain words like unlocking rigidities, unlocking potential and unlocking investment.

“We have had a lot of unlockings… mere talks and nothing has been happening. Right now, the same budget that was read has indicated that there has been a downward growth of the economy of about 4.2%, that is unfortunate. This is the third budget that the UPND is reading. And we are almost clocking five years. What are they ever going to achieve?” he asked.

“We are seeing the fact that maybe our colleagues were never ready to rule. Maybe they were ready to continue in opposition because this is clear indication that we may not be going anywhere… our colleagues never had a plan for the country, they did not know how government operates.”

He slammed UPND over numerous alleged illegalities in the procurement process.

“That is why right now we have seen a lot of illegal procurement procedures, a lot of breaches in the procurement procedures. Fertilizer tenders being procured in a very illegal manner where we had single sourcing being the order of the day, where we had a leader, who is supposed to be respected as the President of the Republic of Zambia complaining that the procedures and processes should never be considered as much as the result should be,” he said.