UPND GOVERNMENT NOT BEING TRUTHFUL
….they are saying there is no money to employ doctors but yet they want to create 55 new constituencies, says SP
Lusaka…. Wednesday June 4, 2025 — The opposition Socialist Party (SP) says the UPND government is not being truthful that there is no money to employ more medical doctors in the country and yet they want to create 55 new Constituencies through Bill No. 7 of 2025.
SP General Secretary Dr Cosmas Musumali says the UPND government lacks priority in governance of the country.
Dr. Musumali says by creating more new Constituencies in the country, the government will be spending more for the new Members of Parliament.
He says roughly, the country will be spending about US$25 million for transportation needs of the Members of Parliament.
He said this during the ‘SP Hour’ programme on Hot FM Radio in Lusaka this morning.
“The Minister of Health is not being truthful because the doctors have been airing their grievances for a long time. They have engaged government on several occasions and this has been in the public domain, it’s not a state secret that doctors have been complaining and they have tried everything possible but government has not listened to them. The doctors are actually crying for help they are saying they want to save lives in the country but you also have to take care of us, give us the jobs that we need. I don’t think the Minister has the moral right to speak to them about saving lives more than they do,” he said.
“The Minister is talking of the fiscal space, what does that mean? Because the same government is coming up with Bill 7 of 2025 which is going to create atleast 55 new Constituencies. If you do simple arithmetic just about the transport requirement of the Members of Parliament, it will come to about US$25 million; that is what will be needed to service the transport requirements of MPs according to Bill 7.”
Dr. Musumali has emphasized the need for the country to employ more medical doctors to attend to the health needs of the people.
“How many medical doctors are required now? We need a lot of medical doctors. This country is short of medical doctors as we have about 3, 000 medical doctors available. About 2, 000 are in Lusaka and 1, 000 out of Lusaka. What is the required number of medical doctors according to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards; it says one doctor should serve one thousand people. And we are 22 million people in this country, if we do the arithmetic, we need about 22 thousand medical doctors but we only have 3, 000,” he added.
“We are not fair to the 3,000 medical doctors and they are saying there is no money to employ more medical doctors yet the same government is trying to dish out money to consolidate its power by creating more Constituencies. This is a government that has no priorities. It’s a government that is lying to Zambians!”
The SP General Secretary said the medical doctors in the country are not düll to understand that the country has enough resources to employ.
“And the medical doctors are not düll, they know that the government has money but it’s not setting priorities right,” he concluded.
How many teachers and other qualified professionals are out there and need employment? On one hand we say Government can’t employ every one but on the other hand you want to employ 22 thousand medical Doctors. Can’t they get jobs in the private sector or start their own practices like lawyers and other professionals? How about agriculturists, don’t they need jobs in the public sector to boost food production? Let us look at a broader picture instead of prioritizing one profession over the others. Creation of 55 constituencies will undoubtedly lead to employment of doctors through extention of CDF which will be given to the new constituencies who also want health facilities near there areas. Let us be fair. All professionals are required and I wish all could be absorbed into the public sector. The current Government has tried compared to the previous one on job creation. Just spend time to reflect on the employment situation in the 10 years prior to 2021 and compared the level of employment with the 4 years from 2021 including employment in other sectors like private sector including the mines. What is your honest opinion?
Dr. Musumali’s argument is very miopic. Firstly, there are many people in all spheres of life who need employment, not just doctors. Think of all graduates from Colleges and Universities! Now, are you going to wait with developments until every one is employed? Imagine the benefits of developments to a whole community from CDF; schools, desks, clinics, roads, name it, benefits for the whole community.