WHAT WE SAY AND DO HERE, WE SAY AND DO IT EVERYWHERE, HH TELLS SOUTH CHIEFS
President Hakainde Hichilema has implored traditional leaders across the country to partner with government for speedy delivery of development to the people.
And the Head of State has warned Zambians against being cheated by those who destroyed the country into believing that they can now do better than when they were in power.
Speaking when he met local traditional leaders before addressing a public meeting in Katimba ward, Monze District of Southern Province yesterday afternoon, President Hichilema said his government had already started taking development to all parts of the country without any segregation.
“We thank you for the vote in last year’s election. What we are saying and doing here is what we are saying and doing across the country. Within our few months in office, we have implemented some of the policies never done in many years,” he said.
“When we told people that free education was possible, they questioned us on the source of funds. But today, our children are going to schools without paying anything from grade one to grade twelve.”
The President said he was aware of some critics who were saying the free education policy had failed because of overcrowding in classrooms.
He wondered what was wrong with more pupils in classes because it showed those children in schools were previously unable to access education.
“As a mitigation measure on over-enrollment in classrooms, your government is now employing more than 30,000 teachers and more money has been allocated for school infrastructure development through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF),” the Head of State said.
He also underscored his administration’s other major achievements such as employment of more than 11,000 health personnel, bringing law and order in the country, increasing the number of bursary beneficiaries in public universities and other learning institutions, and the increase in fertiliser support programmes, among other successes.
And in a meeting with Monze-based traditional leaders who appealed for palaces, the Head of State said the UPND government policy will change slightly so that official palaces can be built on a more permanent basis.
This is unlike the current situation where a palace is built but when a traditional leader vacates the throne through whatever means, they still occupy the same residence as their personal property while government is forced to build another palace for the new traditional leader.
The Head of State reiterated the UPND government’s vision of not interfering in the selection of chiefs as that was the preserve of royal families.
The President also committed to ensuring that major investments such as mining activities benefit local citizens in their areas.
And during tour of agricultural exhibition stands, the President called on researchers to come up with early maturing varieties of seeds as a way of mitigating the effects of climate change.
He also called on citizens to avoid deforestation through charcoal-burning and encouraged them to, instead, plant trees.