Open letter to President Edgar Lungu.
Dear Mr President,
I have just finished giving myself the first of two daily insulin injections. This is a privilege because there are thousands of Zambians out there who are diabetic like me but do not have the luxury of getting even one jab as they cannot afford it. My monthly insulin bill is K540 ( Five Hundred and Forty Kwacha ) not including the syringes which are K5 ( Five Kwacha ) each and are meant for single use only, meaning in a month I would need Sixty syringes times Five Kwacha, which would bring my monthly bill to K840 ( Eight Hundred and Forty Kwacha ). I cannot afford to use a syringe once, so I use it four times.
Now, Mr President, how many zambian diabetics can afford this? If the insulin was available at government hospitals, life would be so much easier for thousands of my fellow Zambians with this condition and there would have been no need for this letter, but there is no insulin at government hospitals.
So, Mr President, this letter is not meant to solicit for money or insulin, but it is a reaction to your willingness to set up a commission of enquiry to look into the privatisation of companies some twenty/ thirty years ago. Mr President, this Commission would require a lot of money to be able to carry out the assignment, maybe not less than Twenty Million Kwacha. I see absolutely nothing wrong with the Commission, but when the country is facing serious economic challenges, such as lack of insulin in government hospitals, is this Commission really of any commercial value? How
many vials of insulin would Twenty Million Kwacha buy? How many Zambian lives would Twenty Million Kwacha save?
President Sata had a commission of enquiry to look into the Barotseland Agreement of 1964. The report is gathering dust somewhere on some shelf. Nothing to show for money time and effort. You Sir, had the commission of enquiry on political violence set up. Has the violence stopped? Has the country benefited from the report? The report told us what we already knew. Had the money spent on that enquiry been spent on syringes, wouldn’t that have made your Zambia, my Zambia, our Zambia better?
Mr President, there was an outcry from all over Zambia about the over priced Fire tenders, a very obvious rip off, but you did not set up a commission of enquiry. The Forty Two Million Dollars went into private hands.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper Mr President, to ask the legal team, the accounts and audit departments at ZDA to carry out a forensic audit of the privatization of Twenty years ago? Wouldn’t the Auditor Generals’ office not manage that task at no extra cost, with a little help from the Financial Intelligence Unit and possibly DEC and ACC?
Zambia is headed towards an election and the Electoral Commission of Zambia have not been given enough funding to carry out that very important task, instead of setting up the privatisation commission why not give the ECZ the money?
Our national debt is so high and we are asking the lenders to give some breathing space. When we are not prudent with the Kwacha, how can they trust us with their Dollar? Maybe, rather than a privatisation commission, we should have a Debt Audit Commission.
Mr President, you were Chairman of the team in charge of the Lusaka Cold Storage Board unit which was awarded to Keembe but Galaun Farms had issues with the offer to Keembe and went to court to stop Keembe from getting the winning bid. Shouldn’t the Management buyout team have been given the offer as they were the only indigenous Zambians of the three bids received?Do we need to have a commission of enquiry to tell us that we should take you to task over your recommendations?
Mr President, this is not about politics, I do not belong to any political party but I am a poor Zambian with a wish that my country, nay, my government can take care of me in my time of need, and my time of need is now. Insulin is a must have necessity and I am sure there are other drugs for other conditions and illnesses that the money to be used for and by the privatisation commission could be channeled to, that poor ordinary Zambians like myself could truly appreciate.
Sincerely,
Boni Mubukwanu