By Patson Chilemba
Former Finance minister Ng’andu Magande says the UPND must not fall into the same pit, where they will be saying they are equalising development, while discriminating against other regions of the country.
Commenting on the ministerial statement on the feeder roads carried out between 2016 and 2021 in all the 10 provinces, which revealed that Southern, Western and North Western provinces were discriminated against in the distribution of resources, Magande said the government must aim to produce sector development programmes, especially that the current administration was talking about not wanting to leave anyone behind.
Magande said the new administration must publicise the development projects they will be undertaking, so that people can know what they mean when they say they are equalising development in the country, as others will feel they are doing the same things PF did.
“If sector development programmes are there, if they share the information we will say ‘you have left out this district and Province’. Now for example the road issue has been highlighted that some provinces were not catered for. So when they come up with projects, those projects can be publicised,” Magande told Daily Revelation, saying there is a risk that they could be talking about equalising, meanwhile falling in the same pitfalls as PF did.
Magande said the PF was able to do what they did because “a small clique” in Lusaka held on to the information, without publishing it, which he said must not be allowed going forward.
He said people do not want to feel that national projects were being hidden from them.
“Having seen the pitfalls of hiding public information, they should pass the information bill so that everybody can search, so that members of the public can access that information,” Magande said.
On the 2022 budget which has been criticised by several stakeholders as an appeasement budget, which will not be realised, as things like doing away with fees in schools have been tried before but failed, Magande said he is someone who believes in doing things that have been done before, but doing them differently.
He said as far as he was concerned, it was an ambitious budget, saying even on a personal level someone could not achieve anything without ambition.
Magande said the UPND had never been in government before, and that this probably gave them the opportunity to do things that have been done before differently.
In a ministerial statement to parliament, Central Province had a total 1,746 kilometers of feeder road at a contracted sum of K2,284,014,083.66 and a certified amount of K567,607,270.66; Northern Province 1,888 kilometers at K2,767,264,485.11 with a certified amount of K962,968,565.96; Muchinga 1,354 kilometers at K1,741,696,600.32 and certified at K440,006,276.16; Lusaka 893 kilometers at K1,307,963,159.77 and certified amount K283,724,357.26; Copperbelt 757 kilometers at K1,061,367,737.79 certified at K158,931,988.94; Southern Province 98 kilometers at K96,149,854.22 and certified amount K62,840,077.48
The other provinces were Western at 152 kilometers and a contracted amount of K270,553,973.98 certified at K57,669,557.66; Eastern Province 1,909 kilometers at K2,495,680,465.75 and certified at K886,515,340.12; Luapula 612 kilometers at K915,245,092.14 with a certified amount of K160,666,963.30 and North Western Province received literally nothing.
Finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has said the government will use the US$ 1.2 billion acquired loan to equalise development projects, through construction of secondary schools in areas that were discriminated against, something Magande said must be publicised.
