EASTERNERS GIVEN A RAW DEAL IN PRESIDENT HICHILEMA’S GOVT
…as Msoni urges President Hakainde Hichilema to apologise for short-circuiting and neglecting Easterners
By New Dawn Reporter
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema should take his two- day working visit in Eastern Province to explain why he has decided to give Easterners a raw deal in his government, All Peoples Congress (APC) UPND alliance partner leader Nason Msoni has demanded.
And Msoni has urged President Hichilema to explain why Eastern Province should support and believe in him after failing the agriculture sector which he promised to be an economic engine of Zambia if elected prior to 2021 general elections.
In unsolicited interview, Msoni noted with sadness how the UPND government has excluded Easterners in most decision-making positions and hoped that President Hichilema as he meets people and traditional leaders in the province, would be able to explain why he had left out easterners in his administration.
“We hope the President can use this trip to go and apologize to Easterners for maligning them in his government. The representation in this UPND government, it is at its lowest in-terms of representation compared to other regions. Whether it is at Permanent secretary level, whether it is at diplomatic service level, very few Easterners have been appointed. Despite the fact that Easterners gave Mr. Hichilema 49 percent of votes against former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s 50 percent votes,” he said.
Msoni observed that unlike in 1991 when Easterners remained behind with UNIP when other regions moved with the change, the 2021 general election reflected how willing the people of Eastern Province supported Mr. Hichilema who has now damped them.
He explained that Zambians and Easterners were assured that the nation will remain united but sadly, the country is divided across region looking at the appointments he has made so far both at Ministerial, Permanent Secretary level and diplomatic service level.
“All this happened because Easterners were persuaded firstly by the demand for regime change messages, secondly, Easterners and those that campaigned for him were able to convince Easterners to be part of the regime change for equity, peace and unity. And that they should not remain behind when the country needed that change to a new regime and people from Eastern Province bought into that massage and in that massage for unity, they were assured that this country will remain united and that is the change that we thought which should have reflected a national character because all regions were resolved to change government for the better,” Msoni said.
He said Easterners have been given a raw deal, a deal which is not worth their input in the 2021 general elections.
“But sadly, look at what transpired after the change, look at the character and kind of government that President Hakainde has, clearly it has excluded Easterners, more people from Eastern Province believe that Easterners have had a raw deal from President Hichilema. Easterners have a raw deal in the New Dawn government, and we hope he will use this period he is in the province to go and explain the disparities and the exclusion of Easterners from his government and what he is trying to achieve by doing that. Easterners want to know whether what he is doing by leaving out our people in his government is the way he will say thank you to you Easterners for voting for me,” he said.
And Msoni has urged President Hichilema to take time and explain his failures to distribute inputs as promised.
He said President Hichilema must realise that what people got is not what they had bargained for.
“I want to tell out President, President Hakainde Hichilema that as he is in Eastern Province, he should use his two days working period to apologize to the people of Eastern Province. Firstly, for the mishandled and botched 2022-2023 agriculture season, nkani ya fataleza was poorly done and handled by his government and a lot of people will suffer serious consequences or hunger because of the way government mishandled the distribution of inputs. And a lot of people in protest, have clearly grown other crops which means that they will be less food for the province.
And this is coming as a result of the poor handling and management of the distribution of input, people were not given inputs despite paying for them, and those that were luck to receive, got only a meda. Going forward we urge him to assure Easterners that the coming agriculture season will be handled differently and these are the issues our people will be waiting to hear from him. It is not a secret that most of our people in the province feel that they have been neglected by this regime they fought so hard for, which was not fashionable to do. The distribution of inputs was a disaster and citizens everywhere else got less than what they had bargained for. They did not get what they had been promised for by President Hichilema compared to other regions who got something, our people did not receive adequate inputs they had paid for,” said Msoni.
Msoni who is in the UPND alliance has been a serious critic of President Hakainde Hichilema and his government.
He has criticized President Hichilema on the dwindling democratic tenets in the country as well as the abuse of police and state machinery against the opposition and the general populace.