By Martin Lubasi
Former Chifunabuli member of parliament Ponde Mecha said when President Hakainde Hichilema said “Bally will fix it,” critics mocked him.
Mecha stated that critics used the collapsing Kwacha, crushing debt, rising prices and now load-shedding to decampaign his government.
”Today the story is changing: the Kwacha is strengthening, debt has been restructured, investor confidence is returning and copper exports are rising. So critics have shifted again: ‘Why are people still poor?’ Zambians must see through this pattern,” Mecha stated. “We have a habit of destroying reform just as it begins to work: After debt relief in the early 2000s, discipline was abandoned and borrowing exploded. After mining reforms revived production, policy reversals chased investors away. After stabilisation under past administrations, populism returned.Neglect of power infrastructure produced the load-shedding we suffer today.”
Mecha stated that President Hichilema started by fixing the bleeding, and now the Kwacha was strengthening and import costs falling, rentals, school fees and goods returning to Kwacha pricing.
”CDF building clinics, classrooms, roads and market shelters. Youth & SME funds circulating in communities. Farmers accessing inputs more reliably. Emergency power imports and diversification into solar and private generation,” he stated. “I am Not a Prophet But This Is What We Will Likely Feel by 2031: The Full Harvest. More jobs from mining, construction and manufacturing. Lower food prices as agriculture systems mature. Cheaper transport as fuel costs stabilise. Higher household incomes from SMEs and exports. Reduced load-shedding as new power projects come online.”
Mecha stated that poverty was not a switch but a pipeline, stressing that the blockage had been cleared and the water was flowing, but it must reach every household.
”This recovery will be lost if we keep quiet. Ward by ward, let us show what has already changed: Photograph clinics, desks, roads and markets built through CDF. Share stories of youths and farmers supported. Show solar projects, new classrooms, health posts and water points. Talk about school bursaries etc,” Mecha stated. “Let every ward tell its story. So to those attacking HH with new narratives, the challenge is simple:
_How will you protect these gains without uprooting the reforms? We are not yet there but we are finally on the right road. Let us not uproot the tree just as it begins to bear fruit.”
