The former ruling party, the Patriotic Front(PF), has said that they are glad to hear that President Hakainde Hichilema has come out of what the party termed as self-imposed seclusion to address the nation via a press briefing.
In a statement released to the media yesterday, PF acting Secretary-General Nickson Chilangwa said that the party hoped that today’s press conference will not be another motivational talk show aimed at self-praise and bragging at a time that our people have lost hope in the capacity and sincerity of this Government to deliver any meaningful change.
PF said that they expect the high cost of living, corruption and the erosion of public trust, the KCM and Milino Saga and the continued caderism in the country.
Below is the full statement
HAKAINDE HICHILEMA’S PRESS BRIEFING
24th April, 2022
We are glad to hear that President Hakainde Hichilema has finally decided to come out of his self-imposed seclusion and will tomorrow address the nation via a press briefing. Mr. Hichilema on several occasions boasted that he would regularly be holding press briefings to update Zambians on pertinent national issues. In fact, after his first and second international trips in August and September of last year, Mr Hichilema held two press briefings at which he spent over four (4) hours praising himself and boasting on how he met President Biden at the White House. However, after that he went into seclusion, leaving the people wondering whether or not he is aware or let alone cared about the many agonising economic challenges that our people are going through.
We sincerely hope that tomorrow’s press briefing will not be another motivational talk-show aimed at self-praise and bragging at a time that our people have lost hope in the capacity and sincerity of this Government to deliver any meaningful change.
We ask the President to comprehensively and HONESTLY address the following issues in his address tomorrow:
1. HIGH COST OF LIVING
The cost of living has continued to escalate since Mr. Hichilema and the UPND came into power contrary to the promise he gave Zambians that once elected, the cost of living and the cost of doing business will go down. He promised the people that mealie meal will be K50 per 25 kg bag from around K114; today a 25kg bag is selling around K150; the price of fuel has jumped from K17 to K26, the price of fertiliser has jumped from K650 to as high as K1000 a bag in some places. Conversely, prices of all essential goods and services have either doubled or tripled. This situation is putting enormous stress on our people and must urgently be addressed.
We hope that tomorrow m, Mr. Hichilema will give a clear road map of practical measures his Government is putting in place to arrest the sky-rocketing prices of goods and services.
2. CORRUPTION AND EROSION OF PUBLIC TRUST
Mr Hichilema has gone to the moon accusing the Patriotic Front (PF) of being corrupt. In fact, he has been presenting himself and his party as saints who can do no wrong. However, after eight (months in Government, the UPND regime is struggling to cleanse itself from the many scandals that its top leadership has found itself embroidered in. From the scandalous procurement of exorbitant fertiliser through a single-sourced deal with one of the friends of the President, the embarrassing Hon. Kakubo Calendar and Pen Saga at Sinoma to the Milingo Gate Scandal, the UPND has continued to erode public confidence in their so-called fight against corruption.
All that the UPND has been doing is to accuse the Patriotic Front leadership of being corrupt without convicting anyone of the said corruption. This is a carefully calculated UPND strategy to paint the PF black and use that negative perception to try to annihilate the PF from the political space.
It is our hope that tomorrow the President will address the numerous accusations of corruption within his own government. We hope that tomorrow, he will demonstrate courage and leadership by axing his Ministers and other senior State House and Government officials who have been accused of corruption.
3. THE MILINGO SAGA
If there is a scandal that has angered and shocked Zambians this far, is the Milingo Saga. The President and State House have been caught in a web of accusations of lies, illegalities and inappropriate behaviour.
The President and his Government have laboured in vain in a desperate but futile attempt to try to cleanse themselves of this alleged scam but the more they try to exculpate themselves, the more unbelievable and hypocritical their defence sounds. We want to make it categorically clear that we don’t want to hear the President in tomorrow’s press briefing saying that he has not given Mr. Milingo Lungu IMMUNITY from prosecution, NO! Article 180 of the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia is very clear, it is only the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who has the authority to discontinue any criminal case before a court of law. The President has no authority whatsoever under our law to give anyone immunity from prosecution so the story of whether he gave Milingo immunity or not is null and void and is not even the issue that Zambians are asking about. The issue here is whether or not the President or his staff at Stare House met Milingo. That is the elephant in the room, not the issue of him giving Milingo immunity, that is purely the preserve of the DPP, the President has no such powers.
We therefore challenge the President, tomorrow to:
a) Show proof that neither him nor his staff at State House met Milingo.
b) If indeed they did not meet Milingo, we challenge the President and his Government to sue Milingo for giving false testimony in the court of law contrary to our laws.
c) If the President is serious with the fight against corruption, we challenge him to axe his staff and officials that have been named in corrupt and fraudulent deals.
We know that they are using the DPP as a scapegoat and a sacrificial lamb now that they have been caught and exposed in their scheme; this is why they are pushing for her removal from office on baseless and unfounded accusations.
4. THE KCM-VEDANTA SAGA
We are aware that the reason why State House had been meeting Milingo was to persuade him to resign as KCM liquidator so that the UPND Government could appoint their own preferred liquidator with the aim of giving back KCM to VEDANTA. We are equally aware that senior representatives of Vedanta are in the country, in fact they have been here since March.
Tomorrow, we expect President Hichilema to come clean on the issue of KCM; is the UPND planning or negotiating to give KCM back to Vedanta? Can the President give a clear answer on this issue, tomorrow.
6. DETERIORATING SECURITY SITUATION AND THE RISING CRIME RATE IN THE COUNTRY
In the last few months, we have witnessed a deteriorating general security situation and a rise in the crime rate. The number of people whose houses, shops, cars are being broken into on a daily basis has seriously risen. The number of people who are being robbed of phones, laptops and other valuables in a smash-and-grab criminal style is on the rise.
In short, the general security situation in the country has deteriorated with serious and daring crimes such as the reported kidnapping of our dear sister Pamela Chisumpa being reported.
We hope that tomorrow, Mr. Hichilema will address this issue and that he will spell out clear strategies and mechanisms that his Government is putting in place to address the deteriorating security breaches in our country.
7. CADERISM, INSULTS AND THREATS BY UPND MEMBERS
One of the commitments Mr. Hichilema made to the Zambian people was that he would end the culture of caderism, a culture that most of our people detest and abhor. In fact the UPND have been bragging that they have ended the ugly culture of caderism.
However, contrary to all those fake claims, the reality on the ground is that caderism has worsened and taken a new form altogether in some cases. For instance instead of the open extortion and harassment of bus drivers, taxi drivers, marketeers and booth operators that was the case in the past, the UPND have devised a secret but ruthless system to extort and harass marketeers and drivers among others. For instance in November last year it had to take the Lusaka Magistrates Court to order the UPND cadres to allow all suspected Patriotic Front bus drivers who were chased from Kulima Tower Bus Station to start operating without any interference or harassment.
Last Friday, the Lusaka Central Business District (CBD) was engulfed in riots when the UPND cadres ran amok after the Lusaka City Council decided to move in and remove forcibly them from Intercity were they have been extorting money from drivers, marketeers and others business operators.
In January this year, UPND cadres stormed the office of Kasama District Administrative Officer, madam Beauty Namukoko and savagely beat her after accusing her of failing to give UPND cadres empowerment funds. Council Police who tried to stop the violent assault were also assaulted.
Further, we have continued to see videos that have gone viral on social media were UPND cadres are insulting and openly threatening to beat and kill anyone who is criticising the President.
We have seen UPND cadres threatening and marching against the DPP, in an attempt to bully her into resignation.
Three weeks ago, Copperbelt Minister, Elisha Matambo threatened to assault and tie with wires anyone who criticises President Hichilema.
The President and the entire UPND leadership have neither condemned nor acted on all these threats and violent acts by their cadres. In their usual fashion they have opted to pay a blind eye to the unbecoming behaviour of their cadres.
We challenge the President to show leadership tomorrow and act on his cadres before things completely get out of hand.
8. PAYMENT OF SUPPLIERS AND CONTRACTORS
Since August, 2021, the UPND Government has not paid local Suppliers and Contractors the money they owe them for the goods and services they have been rendering to Government. This has adversely affected local businesses as it has continued to starve them of the necessary liquidity and fiscal space that they need to continue operating their businesses. A lot of businesses have either closed or downsized their operations and workforce due to lack of funds to operate at full capacity. The action by this Government not to pay local suppliers and contractors has worsened the unemployment and poverty levels in the country.
It is horrifying that a President who claims to be an economist in a country that is grappling with high youth unemployment can instruct his government not to pay local businesses what is duly owed to them. Why is the UPND killing our own local businesses but fully propping foreign companies by paying them promptly and giving them huge contracts such as the supply of poles to ZESCO at colossal amounts? Why is this President working against our local businesses? Why?
It is our expectation that tomorrow, the President will direct the Ministry of Finance and all other Ministries to start liquidating the colossal sums of money owed to our local suppliers and contractors.
9. TAX HOLIDAYS FOR THE MINES
It is ironic that this Government is trotting to and from New York everyday pleading for a 1.4 Billion Dollars IMF bailout when it could easily raise in excess of 1.6 Billion Dollars from mining taxes alone. It beats logic that a Government that is struggling to raise revenue and service debt has given tax holidays to foreign mining companies at the expense of local businesses. This is yet another testament that President Hichilema is a puppet of the Western capitalists who have been financing UPND for the last 23 years. He has no interest for Zambia, all he cares about is the welfare of the western capitalist friends of his.
We challenge the President to give tax relief to local businesses, this is the only sure way to grow the private sector and create jobs. Foreign mining companies are externalising most if not all their profits thus creating jobs and businesses in their countries while leaving nothing but craters and pollution in Zambia.
Lastly we challenge the President and his Government to come up with a clear economic plan that will address the rising cost of living, the rising cost of doing business and ensure that the private sector thrives in order to create jobs and business opportunities for our women and youths.
I thank you.
Issued by
Hon. Nickson Chilangwa, MP, MCC, AIH
Acting Secretary General
Patriotic Front
He is the one who wanted and sung about a culture of addressing Zambians. When things got tough he hid away like a tortoise in its shell. So let him come out and answer the issues raised
AND I SUPPOSE ECL WAS A FINE EXAMPLE OF ADDRESSING THE NATION
HH HAS PROBABLY APPEARED ON TV AND RADIO MORE TIMES THAN THE PREVIOUS PRESIDENT IN HIS 10 YEARS
Its ironic that PF is issuing pointers they want HH7 to address in his Press conference when they lamentably failed to address any of them infact we are here today because of that failure of LAZY LUNGU to address the selfsame issues…even a Press Conference was non existent under him.
PF you are distracting him from addressing how you destroyed the Lusaka stock exchange.
The president and his administration need to talk about what it will take to fix the Lusaka stock exchange or if he has fixed it.
“Stock exchanges play a vital role in the functioning of the economy by providing the backbone to a modern nation’s economic infrastructure. Stock exchanges help companies raise money to expand, hire more qualified staff and repair or replace equipment. They also provide individuals the ability to invest in companies.”
Hehehehehehe………….
What a shameless party of jokers.
The PF empowered and enabled caders……..
This is like a rapist advising women to not walk alone………..
It’s hard to comprehend GRZ and IMF how they go about lending money to Zambia without addressing the Lusaka stock exchange operation.
UPND administration needs to address whom they have reached out to invest in the Lusaka stock market. How many ordinary Zambians Since they came to power have Invested in the Lusaka stock Exchange?
Did Lungu even had one press conference you mappets? Just shut the hell up and let our Presido do his work. Every day HH this HH that, don’t you have tangible things to do?
Can’t you read you upnd dullards? We are clear in saying that ECL never prophesied to constantly address the nation, he never promised to give conferences to anyone because he was busy working. Hh on other hand has encouraged people to ask him questions. No one forced him, that’s his choice. So let him deal with the questions since he wants to be asked
You should try your best not to take anything trolls say seriously. No matter how poorly they behave, remember these people spend countless unproductive hours trying to make people mad. They’re not worth your time of the day.
THE SO CALLED CHIEF STRATAGIST KIKIKIKI
As much as the PF does not have goodwill of the Zambian people, I agree that some of the points mentioned are valid and need to be addressed. The PF should introspect and also answer as to why Milingo was given such a contract that is to the detriment of the Zambian people. HH should also address whether he met Milingo, based on the contract Milingo signed, I would encourage DPP to settle with Milingo so that his payout is significantly reduced. That said, over the Vendatta issue, as much as nationalizing the mine was and remains popular, this was a political decision which may cost the tax payer loads of money, it was illegal.
But the man doesnt want anything to do with you na mwankole. Why do you want to hear from him? Hypocricy at its best,isnt he the man that you are attacking day in day out? Are you that inferior to ask to be heard or offer advise. Let alone advice from mongers. I can guarantee for as long as HH still leaves,he will never dine with the PF stoogies. Never! he never did while in opposition and he ll never now and in eternity!
PF, always full of rubbish
Thank the 2.8 million voters who voted UPND , Opposition PF has a voice outside government….lol.
Noted shikulu, HH said he reads online blogs anyway, so he has taken note of your demands. Have. Productive week.
Nobody is listening to PF, PF was rejected through a democratic process and today they should make demands. How, No ways, most of the wrong things still going on are legacy issues from the PF government
The damage caused by the PF is what we are still living with which the current government is addressing I am sure, the damage by the PF was just too deep and I can understand that it will take time for things to change under this government,
Most of us PF members have defected, so who is this PF SG talking for. PF should just disband. It is not adding any value to the country’s democratic advancement , it has no quality members, Visitors who joined us in PF like Bowman and Nakachinda are even worsening the fortunes of the party with their foul language with no admonishing from anybody
To the PF and all your minions, you need to have a sense of shame! Your attempt at self-righteousness is so pathetic, to say the least. Your ECL who took over from the late tribalist Michael Sata suffered deeply from a serious case of imposter syndrome that he could not face the public in the entire seven years in power. For you to now bore us with your long and disjointed article in which you demand to set the agenda for the Presidential presser is nothing but a laughable attempt at relevance. We haven’t even finished year one of five, and you can’t contain your hatred of HH and anger at the loss of power. You have gone into high gear with your disinformation campaign on a number of news platforms that you seem to have started believing in your own lies. Who doesn’t remember the forex…
rate when you came into power in 2011, and what it was in August 2021, when the New Dawn government won the elections?
Just in case you forgot, the effective foreign exchange rate of the ZMW to USD in September 2011 when Michael Sata became president of Zambia was K4,843.75 (or K4.84 rebased), while in January 2015 when ECL was officially sworn into office was K6.47 to US$1, per BOZ statistics. Fast forward to the month of August 2021 when ECL lost the elections; the Kwacha had sunk to K18.15, a depreciation of -180.5% (negative one hundred and eighty percent!) in value in the 7 years that your humble leader ECL was tongue-tied in power at State House. Today, eight months after the New Dawn, the exchange rate of the ZMW to USD stands at K16.93, a value GAIN of 6.7%.
Sure enough, the…
price of fuel has gone up from what it was, as in every country in the world including oil producers like the US, due to the supply-chain bottlenecks caused by the prevailing war situation in Europe. Consequently, the cost of living has been negatively affected by the inflationary pressures derived from the increased price of petroleum products. This is not news to you or anybody else with sense. However, in your arrogance and greed, you feel this is a welcome situation you can exploit to lie to the uninformed voters that you were a better alternative. Good luck with the prolonged political heartburn. Nine years in the proverbial wilderness feels like forever. Viva HH!
One Praise Singer?
https://www.boz.zm/monetary-and-financial-statistics.htm