By Staff Reporter
Hakainde Hichilema should not fall in Edgar Lungu’s trap where he became friends with his ministers and was failing to act on their incompetence’s and allegations of corruption, says Kantanshi member of parliament (PF) Anthony Mumba.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mumba warned that if President Hichilema does not decisively act on the various crisis affecting the country, he would only be creating a precedent against himself for 2026.
“He should not fall in the trap of former president Edgar Lungu where ministers became his friends to the extent that he was failing to fire them and we saw what happened in 2021 when the renewal of the contract was made available through an election. People looked at the entire leadership of president Lungu and one of the things that came out clearly is he was failing to make decisions,” Mumba said. “He was failing to act on ministers’ incompetence’s. He was failing to act on ministers that were accused of corruption and people said no no no, if he’s not acting on these then it simply means he’s in agreement with the decisions they have made. So even in this case the President cannot sit back and say because he has formed a task force then that will give us answers.
“No! If he was confident that he had ended load shedding and his speech to parliament when the PF murmured to say uhmmm which load shedding have you ended those investments came from PF he himself went on to say didn’t you leave a debt under this project and I made sure we found money, the contractors finished the work… I have ended load shedding. Now here we are we have gone back to 2016-2017. What will happen to our growth rate?”
Mumba said those skills the President claims to have this was the opportunity to now implement them through his ministers, whom he said were not up to the scratch in terms of what is expected to address the ongoing challenges.
“He has 156 members of parliament. He has also people he can pick outside parliament through the eight that the constitution empowers him. He has to go back to the drawing board before it’s too late because there is only 24 months remaining,” Mumba said, adding that this year must not be counted as it has already started including the election year 2026 and warned that if things start showing signs of improvement near the elections, Zambians will dismiss them as election gimmick. “So this is the year he has to make those tough decisions and that will include him getting rid of certain people to get certain things done for his own benefit.”
He said there were serious challenges in health, agriculture, energy, mining, saying everybody knows what is happening on the Copperbelt where workers in the mines have not been paid salaries, and that the monthly contribution that should come from Mopani to the council has not been forthcoming and contractors don’t have business.
Mumba said President Hichilema’s ministers have been a letdown, compounded by the shortage of drugs, late delivery of inputs and the ongoing crippling load shedding and high fuel prices, saying “unless if it’s the President himself who has a hand and the ministers are not able to execute their work because they have to wait for him to say now do this do that.”
He said the administration could not close the year with such a shambolic report in parliament on the shortages of drugs and farming inputs.
“You open the year with a security threat of load shedding and a threat to the growth of your economy because SMEs will definitely lose out, barbershops, salons and welders and those that really matter in the grassroots and later on in the manufacturing sector you will see job losses,” Mumba said.
Asked if he would do better himself if he were given the opportunity to serve as minister, Mumba acknowledged that there was no person God created as a fountain of wisdom, but added that he was in politics to be of service to the people and it was always an honour and privilege to be appointed to serve in Cabinet.
He bemoaned the direction the country was taking, even in the road sector where there were many unreported accident cases because of poor roads even when people pay toll fees, saying there was a crises cutting across several sectors but this provided an opportunity to resolve the issues given the strong mandate on President Hichilema from Zambians.
Mumba said President Hichilema should have fired board members at Zesco and the managing director, including those at Zambezi River Authority, wondering what the task force instituted was even for.
“Level 1 load shedding is what was proposed by the minister in December of six hours, within 48 hours of implementation we hit level 3 of 12 hours. What happened? And then you can say no we were not aware, there was over consumption of water. Where?” wondered Mumba. “Now that Task Force what is its terms of reference? And when they sit are they going to be getting allowances? We need to know that as a country? And those allowances they are for what? And if this Task Force has been set there okay, what is the Zesco board for?”
He pointed out that the task force has just been set up in one area when the same attention was needed in many other areas including in the road sector where he said no road project has been started by the UPND administration, and that even the “shambolic” Mukambo road, money has only been allocated now in the rain season. He said the administration should be anticipating problems rather than just engaging in firefighting always, noting that this was a rainy season and the possibilities of floods and diseases were anticipated but wondered if measures have been put in place to address the challenges when they arise.
