Politics of name-calling are rendering some opposition leaders ineffective

Copperbelt based good governance activist Peter Mulenga says Zambians need to unite and work together as the New Dawn Government facilitates national economic recovery.

Mr. Mulenga, who is also an entrepreneur, said unnecessary criticism and accusations against the Government has the potential to disturb functions of the state.

He said members of the opposition, especially those in the Patriotic Front, must provide proper checks and balances to the UPND Government without malice.

“For the country to move forward, the practice of blame-game, which has found some comfortable space in the minds of many people, especially the likes of Emmanuel Mwamba, Bowman Lusambo, Given Lubinda and most of PF Folks’ should be cast away. The issue of Mr. Chikota castigating the police and claiming that Ministers are corrupt is just another attempt and the ongoing campaigns to get Ministers fired. On Saboi Imboela calling the President a slow learner or un-teachable, that makes sad reading indeed. What will Zambians benefit from that? All we need is a proper checks and balance, not childish talk,” Mr. Mulenga said.

“The President is too intelligent to fail for such a campaign. President Hichilema is one of the most intelligent presidents Zambia has ever had and I don’t see him falling for such smear campaigns. The least we can do as Zambians is to let the government function normally, yes checks and balances are needed but allegation after allegation will just unsettle the functions of the Government,” he said.

Mr. Mulenga said politics of name-calling are rendering some opposition leaders ineffective.

“We need to move from the culture of ‘’if you don’t help me, I will get you fired. We know a lot of people supported UPND and they need rewarding, but can everyone get rewarded surely? No one should be a spectator in the new dawn; we understand that, because, in their own right, everyone has a crucial role to play in building the nation, including Madam Saboi Imboela. Madam, advice for free, don’t join the old folks with politics of name calling, engage in issue based matters, then you will look relevant to Zambians. Of course, the government has the larger responsibility of developing policies that should promote resilience, reward for hard work and environments that make doing business worthwhile. This is the reason why you see the likes of Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba on a campaign to discredit the Government. Come on Emmanuel, it’s only 6 months now, give the guys a chance,” Mr. Mulenga said.

He added:”Now there are guns breezing on HH trip to Europe, come on people, this is the most important assignment the President needed to undertake, Every President would want to be at the EU-AU summit for simple reasons- Trade cooperation.”

Mr. Mulenga bemoaned the impact of Covid-19 on the local economy and welcomed Zambia’s new economic recovery strategies.

“Now let’s talk about the recently outlined several strategies to be employed when resuscitating the economy that has been terribly battered by the Covid pandemic. Allow me to digress a little. It is not Zambia’s economy alone that is going through troubled times. Everywhere in the world, prices of commodities are going up and governments are struggling to make their citizens less anxious. The World Bank predicted that commodity prices would go up globally. The same bank indicated that, from mid this year, economies would begin to stabilise and prices of essential commodities such as oil would begin to ease. The only challenge is that, in circumstances of economic depression, it is the poorest of the poor who feel the pinch the most,” he said.

“Zambia, like the rest of the world, is still battling the Covid pandemic, despite that the present crisis is way lesser than was the case from last year up to early this year. Still, even if the scourge got to the point where the world accepted it is longer a public health issue of serious concern, economic recovery is essential in any forward-looking agenda because the economy remains in bad shape. In fact, without broad-based economic expansion, addressing other challenges in sectors such as agriculture, education and health will not be successful,” Mr. Mulenga said.

Mr. Mulenga added:”It is refreshing to note that the UPND Government has not in any way denied that Zambians are going through tough times. Some sacrifices will be hard to stomach like Hichilema has been saying. That is what leaders must do. They should declare their plans and visions and allow that they should be continuously scrutinized as time goes on. As indicated above, a recovery plan has to look into various sectors of the economy and the one announced by the UPND Government is not leaving aside building a resilient and sustainable health system, education, social protection, building a resilient economy and labour market, and building an enabling macroeconomic policy environment. The areas further have corresponding specific measures designed to trigger sustainable production and productivity in the economy by various actors, state and non-state.”

He concluded:”Finally, we have a blueprint that is clearly spelling out the direction the country is taking in recovering and growing an economy severely stressed by the Covid pandemic. This is not HH’s plan. This is not the UPND government’s plan. This is a plan for Zambia. This is a plan which needs everyone on board if it is to be successful. If you are not directly involved in the implementation – though it is doubtful anyone should not be-at least play the oversight task.”