OUR THREE YEAR JOURNEY OF NEW HOPE UNDER PRESIDENT HICHILEMA AND HIS TEAM – UPND SG BATUKE IMENDA

UPND SECRETARY GENERAL BATUKE IMENDA MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

13th August 2024

OUR THREE YEAR JOURNEY OF NEW HOPE UNDER PRESIDENT HICHILEMA AND HIS TEAM

Country men and Women ,

12th August 2024 marks exactly 3 years of our people’s power from the time Zambians made a decision through the ballot to change for the better Zambia on 12th August 2021.

Firstly , it is important for us to thank the people of Zambia for electing us and allowing us to run the country peacefully , devoid of thuggery behavior ,and bloodshed .

We know that the three years have not been without challenges . We have experienced a drought, which has created serious loadshedding, leading to suffering of some of our brothers dealing in welding, hair business , and others . The drought has created a serious hunger situation arising from destroyed crop there by pushing the cost of food price up . We have also suffered effects of war in the Middle East  which have a bearing on the rising world cost of living , among other external shocks such as the huge debt mountain we inherited and promised to restructure.

Regardless of all this , we have scored on most of the promises  we made to the electorates in 2021 . But most importantly , allow me to draw your attention to  some of the things we have achieved in this short period arising from our campaign messages before we assumed leadership.

When President Hakainde Hichilema and the rest of the UPND members were campaigning, the following key messages resonated with the people of Zambia :

1. Free education
2. ⁠Revamping the mining sector
3. ⁠Increasing CDF to over a million dollar
4. ⁠paying civil servants on time
5. ⁠reinstatement of students meal allowances
6. ⁠improving the agricultural sector
7. ⁠Investing in alternative source of power or energy
8. ⁠Unlocking Zambia as a potential tourist destination
9. ⁠Restructuring the debt
10. ⁠Reversing the liquidation process
11. ⁠restoring the rule of law
12. ⁠ending carderism in markets and bus stations
13. ⁠Uniting the country by coming up with a cabinet which represents all the 10 regions in Zambia
14. ⁠unlocking  the PF wage freeze and employment freeze
15. ⁠resolving Domestic debt owed to thousands of suppliers
16. ⁠End over 3000 ghost workers in the civil service
17. ⁠fighting corruption in the past , present and the future
18. Restore budget credibility
19. ⁠reduce the cost of living
20. ⁠reduce inflation to single digit
21. ⁠reduce the cost of doing business
22. ⁠Pass and sign  access to information bill into law
23. ⁠institutional and judicial reforms
24. ⁠and above all take Zambia into the premier league economically.

ANALYSIS OF OUR JOURNEY SO FAR

Fellow citizens, among the things we promised during the campaigns , we are proud to announce that :

1. Free education is a reality and we have so far on aggregate close to 10million pupils in school from the 5 million we found in 2021 . In addition to free education, we have build more than 1000 classroom blocks under CDF across the country. We have also bought more than 1.5million desks in various schools across the country under the same CDF .

2. Allow me to also state that we are now happy to have restructured the debt making , Zambia the first country under the G20 framework to have succeeded in restructuring the debt with creditors accepting to give Zambia an extended credit period which will create enough relief for the country to restore the economy .

3. It is also important to inform the country that we have managed to recruit over 39,000 teachers  and over 14,000 health workers in the past two years . This is a milestone and all of us know that it has never happened since independence.

4. It is with so much joy that we have also managed to clinch an investment deal with Mopani Mine attracting an investment of over $1.3 million . Government has also managed to secure 49 percent holding in this mine , which is a serious investment for the country.
As a result of this mine , the local authorities in Kitwe were paid K87 million owed and this money was used to pay retired council workers .

In addition to this payment, government has collected in taxes over K250million from the time the investor took over the mine this year , 2024.

In addition to revamping Mopani , we now have KCM back and running , having also paid the creditors their money.

You may recall that bringing back KCM is one of the campaign messages we gave to the people of Zambia during the campaigns.

We have also managed   to attract more investment with Shaft 28 coming back in Luanshya and Kalumbila Mine and Lumwana investing more than $4million for expansion works in two years. These expansions will result in more jobs for our people and more taxes to finance free education, increase CDF and buy medicine in hospitals.

5. As promised during the campaign, we are proud to announce that we have managed to restore budget credibility and we can now spend within the budget line .

6. ⁠As promised during the campaigns , Student allowances which were scrapped off by PF  have also been reinstated and extended to 7 more universities.

7. Critical to the development of agriculture , we have managed to commence training citizens in free skills training in general agriculture under the CDF programme.

Further , we have commenced empowerment of 17,000 farmers announced early this year with irrigation equipment given the drought that ravaged  the country.

We have  also introduced credit facilities under agriculture with the first one being over K30million which was disbursed last season . This credit facility has attracted the civil servants and many other citizens from different walks of life .

We have further continued to empower citizens in various agricultural activities under the CEEC , and we have so far empowered over 3000 small
Scale farmers .

Additionally  , government has managed attract a fertilizer manufacturing plant investment amounting to $138million built in Lusaka . This plant will produce 300,000 metric tons of Urea and 700,000 metric tons of D-compound once at full capacity.

8. It is also important for us to indicate that as promised during the campaigns , no media house has been closed under the UPND .
President Hakainde Hichilema has continued to give the message of hope to the press to self-regulate . This is a milestone for our brothers and sisters in the media .

9. Most importantly, we also improved allocation towards CEEC to over K365million benefiting so far over 2,800 citizens from the PF’s K41million in 2021 in which they only disbursed about k10million .

11. In terms of institutional and law reforms , the UPND government has passed 96 Bills in parliament and over 500 statutory instruments which is also a huge improvement for our law development.

Further , we have managed to create the Commission to regulate mining in Zambia , and  through the cabinet,  we have passed  a policy that for supplies in the mines below k25million , all
of them shall be given to Zambian contractors. This is good news for Zambian contractors to grow and become more competitive .

It is also important to note that we have removed the defamation of the President from the penal code cap.  87 of the laws of Zambia . We have also repealed the death sentence clause from our legislation . What this means is that no citizen will be sentenced to death in Zambia moving forward .

12. For our brothers and sisters in government , we are proud to announce that , our campaign messages to council workers that we would clear their 7-15months salary arrears accrued under the PF are now a reality. We have managed to walk the talk even in this area .

We have further restored order in the council and now council workers can collect levies in markets and bus stations which were subjected to carders under the PF .

13. Today , we are even able to control carders such that no carders are brandishing unregistered guns and machetes anymore . We shall
continue to work towards the restoration of order and the rule of law .

14. In terms of the cost of mealie meal , understanding the challenges our citizens go through , government has taken initiative to strengthen Zambia National Service (ZNS) by ensuring it becomes a beacon of food security in Zambia .

To this effect , K1million was released by government in 2022 conduct audit of farm blocks across the country and many have so far started operations under the ZNS administration. ZNS  has also introduced more quasi department which have invested in Security Services , construction , Milling, Manufacturing and textiles , to mention but a few which shall create jobs for our people .

15. In terms of the private sector, government has managed to create over 13,000 jobs in the private manufacturing sector alone , among the other over 10,000 jobs created in various sectors which include  , the hospitality industry, tourism , and transport sector.

16. It should also be noted that in the defence , over 4500 youths have been recruited plus over 3000 recruited Zambians under Local Government .

17. Under skills training , over 65,000 citizens have so far been trained in carpentry , welding , farming, aquaculture and bricklaying  at government expense .

18. In terms of the fight against corruption, we have witnessed unprecedented improvements with the Transparency International rating an improvement by 4points which is good for our country. The improvement has been attributed to the recovery of stolen properties , money and the establishment of the fast -track court which has made it easy for financial crimes to be tried speedily .About 4 convictions have so far been secured too .

19. In resolving the energy crisis , the UPND government has passed a policy to allow citizens to earn a living in supplying power through Solar to ZESCO , in addition to the liberalized energy sector which has allowed for the commissioning of over 60Megawatts of a plant in Ndola under the CEC and an extra 105 megawatts coming up in Ndola , plus the 150megawatts coming in Western Province. These initiatives will also create  jobs for our people and increase the number of taxpayers, apart from addressing the energy crisis  alone.

It is also important to re-emphasize that our 3 year journey has not been without challenges especially after the worst drought ravaged our agricultural sector which has made government adjust the budget for 2024.

President Hcihilema and his team  must be commended for responding so promptly to the drought situation by  declaring the  drought as a disaster.

We are also aware that the cost of living is still high given the war situation in the Middle East which has pushed the cost of fuel in the world high , and created economic stress the whole world leaving some countries in massive protests .

Regardless of these challenges, Zambia has emerged victorious in growing the GDP , FDI , recruitment of youths , job creation , increasing CDF to K30.6million and disbursement of grants to citizens under the CEEC and CDF .

The UPND government has created a  resilient economy which has remained unshaken amid the world economic challenges, with the price of basic necessities marginally going up  compared to other countries in Southern Africa and Africa as a whole . We have confidence that the UPND New Dawn government will turn round the economy in the same manner we have managed to fulfil other campaign promises and recovered stolen assets amounting to over $53.6million , and revamping the mining sector .

In conclusion , I want to call upon all well – meaning Zambians to join the UPND as it is the only party giving hope to citizens. For those wanting to join the UPND , we urge them to visit the UPND Secretariat in their respective towns and districts. Where you face challenges , call Ms Lucy Maliwa on +260 97 1009979

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