Masebo should resign on moral grounds – Musenge

Masebo should resign on moral grounds – Musenge

By Isaac Zulu in Kapiri Mposhi(The Mast)

ADVOCATES for People’s Prosperity leader Mwenya Musenge says Sylvia Masebo is a tried and tested leader who has failed.

Musenge, who is also former Chimwemwe member of parliament, has charged that Masebo has been given opportunities to serve in different government ministries but has failed the people of Zambia.

“Sylvia Masebo served as local government minister in the MMD government. And if you remember that was the time the issue of the procurement of hearses came to the fore with a lot of question marks. She was replaced by ba late [Benny] Tetamashimba, but that issue was still hot,” he explained in an interview. “She also served in the Patriotic Front government and there was a scandal… She was dropped by ba (Michael) Sata but ba Hakainde Hichilema decided to pick her and give her a ministerial position. Now we have this ZAMMSA scandal. And this is the same Sylvia Masebo that the UPND while in opposition through their leader ba HH (Hakainde Hichilema) used to condemn Sylvia Masebo through and through. Clearly, Sylvia Masebo has been tried and tested but failed.”

He urged Masebo to resign from her ministerial position on moral grounds.

“This country is not short of people to take up leadership positions and replace Sylvia Masebo. This Sylvia Masebo is embarrassing the country for her actions and words to the international community. No one hates her, she hates herself for the things she has been doing as minister. She has fallen out of grace and the honourable thing for her to do is to go to her retirement home,” Musenge said. “Sylvia Masebo should resign from her position on moral grounds rather than waiting for the Head of State to take action against her. This is a tested and recycled leader who has failed to deliver at ministerial level. We cannot continue on this trajectory. We have taken note of the video circulating where honourable Sylvia Masebo is responding or retorting. As a leader, you don’t do that. She was supposed to listen to the voices of the general citizenry.”

And Musenge condemned the decision taken by the UPND administration to construct a cancer hospital in the Central African Republic whose cost is estimated at $21 million when the cancer centre at the University Teaching Hospital has obsolete medical equipment.

He said it is morally wrong for the government to embark on the construction of a cancer hospital in the Central African Republic when Zambian citizens are dying on queues while waiting to seek medical care outside the country.

“You even go to an extent of constructing a cancer hospital in the Central African Republic when the cancer hospital at the University Teaching Hospital is in a dilapidated state, with obsolete medical equipment. Who are you trying to please as the UPND government? It is morally wrong for the UPND administration to start constructing a cancer hospital in another country when the cancer hospital at the University Teaching Hospital is in a dilapidated state…the medical equipment is obsolete,” said Musenge. “The health infrastructure in the few general hospitals that we have leave much to be desired. The worst thing is that Zambian citizens are dying on the queue while waiting to seek medical care outside the country. I recently visited the Ministry of Health in order to seek an evacuation of my daughter who needed medical care in India. The way I was received and treated was as if I am an outcast. As though I never even served as a minister in this country. I had to find resources to have my daughter evacuated to India. Luckily, my daughter is back in the country and well. And what we found in India is that most of those who have been evacuated to India for specialised medical attention are from a few provinces of the country. What we need is to improve our health system and healthcare in the country.”