THEY CAME LYING
…but they’re not delivering, Miles mocks UPND
ByThomas Ngala
I WISH to go to the finance minister Musokotwane, he keeps complaining about PF’s debt, deal with it, advises Miles Sampa.
He charged that the UPND “came lying, they will buy pizza, they will do this but they are not delivering.
Commenting on the debt the PF government accumulated which has seemingly been a thorn in the UPND administration, Sampa said even PF found debt but it dealt with it.
“I wish to go to the finance minister, Hon [Situmbeko] Musokotwane, he keeps complaining about PF’s debt. Deal with it. This is almost a year since UPND took over power. When PF took over power in 2011 we found, Musokotwane himself was the minister. We found debt,” he said. “He had debt that he accumulated under formula one, huge debt. And I happened to be the deputy finance minister at the time. We didn’t complain, we dealt with it. Paid it back. Found some money, paid it back.”
Sampa likened the debt situation to a man who marries a divorced woman.
He said such a man should just ensure that he takes care of the woman and not blame his failures on the previous husband.
“It’s like you when you marry a woman, you find that she has been divorced somewhere, it’s your job to give her a child. Don’t start complaining, ‘no she is what she is’. Deal with that. Within no time she needs to start spitting,” Sampa said. “So them, this UPND government, almost a year, Zambia is this woman. They have married this woman. We are about 18 million, none of us is spitting. They keep complaining, ‘no the previous husband’ Why did you fwaya (go for) her. So they came lying, they will buy pizza, they will do this but they are not delivering.”
The Matero PF member of parliament also mocked Vice-President Mutale Nalumango over her stance on inflation and the cost of living in the country.
On Friday during the Vice-President’s Question Time in Parliament, Vice-President Nalumango said the going down of inflation rate was “very real” adding that the cost of living was also going down.
But Sampa, when he and other PF MPs addressed the media after parliamentary proceedings, said Africa is laughing at Zambia and wondering why it was the only country where inflation was going down while the cost of living is escalating.
“In Zambia now, the Vice-President, Nalumango, I would like to call the situation as Nalumangonomics. Increasing in order to reduce, that’s Nalumangonomics. I have just come from South Africa. The entire world or Africa is laughing at Zambia,” he said. “They keep forwarding me. You Zambians, how come you are the only country in the world, on Africa, where inflation is reducing? Everybody else inflation is going up because of the war and yet your country also the cost of living is going up. So you see the Nalumangonomics are not agreeing with the basic economics.”
And Sampa advised the new dawn administration to invest further in power generation.
“And remind Hon Musokotwane, the debt was meant for infrastructure. The PF invested all that money that was borrowed importantly in power generation. I am just from South Africa, in Zambia we thought we had problems with power cuts. In South Africa its 20 times more. It’s on level six,” he said. “So I remind Hon Musokotwane to start thinking of investing in power further. Pick up from where PF left and invest further in power. The population is growing, then we will go back to power cuts. Then they will start blaming PF again.”
On Constituency Development Fund, Sampa said the programme is being such a big talk with no actions.
He wondered why the government has started with evaluation before they could implement the CDF programme.
Sampa insinuated that the year would end without implementing the programme.
“CDF is being such a big talk and zero action. We are now in July. I think what they have started, they have assumed that everybody steals. All the MPs steal! So they have put this CDF money, immediately they start auditing it. It hasn’t even been implemented. How can you audit something you haven’t implemented? So they have started with evaluation. Any project you first plan, you implement. You put in the money then you start investigating, has the money been stolen? Them they started by investigating. And the year will finish they will still be investigating,” said Sampa. “So this CDF to me is big talk and no action. What they are doing now is they tell their cadres in our constituencies, go and see the MP, that is where the CDF empowerment is. Yet the MPs have no money. Even the ministers, when their UPND cadres go to see them, they chase them. Go to your MP, that’s where the CDF is. That’s where empowerment is! They can’t even help their own youths.”
(Credit: The Mast)