By Angela Moonga
Patriots for Economic Progress leader Sean Tembo has demanded that President Hakainde Hichilema should undertaken a performance review of all the wings of government that have been involved in sorting out the washing away of the culvert at Kankumba that cut the Eastern Province with Lusaka.
In a statement, Tembo stated that it was disappointing to more that the UPND administration, through the various wings that include the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), Zambia National Service (ZNS), Road Development Agency (RDA) and Lusaka Province Administration, have, to date, failed to repair the simple culvert that was washed away at Kankumba Stream in Rufunsa District, about 4 days ago.
He stated that he was worried about the defense and security of the country if the entire government machinery was unable to sort out a simple culvert collapse, which had brought about the continued closure of one of the nation’s busiest roads.
Tembo stated that his expectation was that the problem would have been sorted out in a matter of hours, and not days, especially given the fact that one of defense wings, the Zambia National Service (ZNS) was also deployed to the disaster site.
”This brings into question, the competence, credibility and reliability of the Zambia National Service, and whether the nation is really getting value for the taxpayers money that we spend on the salaries of its personnel,” Tembo stated. “In the premises above, we demand, as we hereby do, that President Hakainde Hichilema should undertake a performance review of all the wings of Government that have been involved in trying to sort out this matter, and that appropriate disciplinary action should be taken. Our nation does not deserve to be subjected to this level of mediocrity.
Tembo argued that the continued closure of Great East road had not only cut off Rufunsa and Luangwa Districts from the rest of the country, but also the entire Eastern Province, as well as two important neighbouring countries, being Malawi and Mozambique.
”Therefore, the economic cost of this continued closure of Great East road cannot be overemphasized,” stated Tembo. “As Patriots for Economic Progress, we were further disappointed to note that all the heads of Government wings that were deployed to the disaster site, prioritized taking selfie pictures of themselves instead of actually getting the job done.”
