By Chinoyi Chipulu
President Hakainde Hichilema has urged opposition members of parliament not to derail development in their constituencies on account of not liking the government in place.
The president said that the deliberate failure to utilise constituency development funds by members of parliament must be regarded as an act of sabotage, particular for the less privilege in society.
He said this when he addressed Parliament on the progress made in the application of national values and principles, that relevant authorities sit on these fund because they knew that the Ministry of Finance would not claim it back.
“No member of parliament should derail development in their constituencies simply because they do not like the government in place. And there is need for delimitation by geographical and population of some constituencies in the country,” he said.
He said government would put in place mechanisms to ensure no MP delayed development because of belonging to a different party.
The head of state said politicians should use politics to drive development and build bridges towards each other.
He said it was important to reach out to each other and compete in ideas than to promote hate and division.
He said government remained committed to upholding human rights because dignity, human dignity were non discriminative.
“These principles are fundamental in fostering peace, unity and development in our beloved country,” he said
President Hichilema urged political players to be civil in their language.
“Ugly things started from the language, how you address each other, let us be civil. Let us abide by the electoral code of conduct. We are one people madam Speaker, even when we compete in elections, we remain one people,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Hichilema called on all members of parliament and Civil Society Organizations (CSO)s to support government’s planned constitutional reforms.
President Hichilema says the constitutional reforms would result in the delimitation of some big constituencies which had failed to develop because CDF remained inadequate to solve challenges like it has done in other constituencies.
President Hichilema said many people were failing to repay loans accessed through the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC), CDF empower funds, saying such people were contributing to the shrinking of the fund and failure for others to access the loans
“We are concerned over the increasing number of people who are borrowing loans from CDF and Citizens Economic Commission with the intention of never paying back,” he said.
And President Hichilema urged the youth to desist from taking alcohol and other substances.
He said the government would continue addressing child marriages and teenage pregnancies by withdrawing girls from early marriages.
