By Daily Revelation Editor
It is clear to all that President Hakainde Hichilema and those he leads in government are in overdrive to try to project success over the K230 Zambia National Service (ZNS) mealie meal, which despite being the cheapest on the market, is still the highest price Zambians have bought the commodity at from all the previous administrations since independence.
There has been so much hullabaloo from the moment this K230 price was announced from ZNS, starting with the headline announcement from the minister of Information Cornelius Mweetwa, to another re-emphasis statement by acting chief government spokesperson Makozo Chikote who went to the extent of saying that “the government has observed that debate has continued raging over the cheaper mealie meal that has been offloaded on the market by the Zambia National Service (ZNS).
Chikote’s statement was followed up by the mother of all celebrations when Hichilema left the corridors of State House, or is it Community House, either one of the two, to interact with citizens in the Lusaka Central Business district along Cairo Road and ShopRite, stating that “it is gratifying to see that citizens recognize our efforts to reduce the price of commodities such as mealie meal under the Zambia National Service.”
That Hichilema and his officials are doing a ‘victory lap’ for managing to reduce the mealie meal, albeit the ZNS one to K230, as the other brands are still selling the highs of above K280, in comparative terms is just plain laughable, considering that the same President condemned the K120 the commodity was trading at just over two years ago as being too expensive and that with his proper management style he would reduce the same to K50. Well, those still holding on to that hope, we are sad to inform you that that will never happen, just going by Hichilema’s extreme joy at celebrating the “cheaper” K230 price.
And the fact that the price has risen to the highs of K230 barely two years of Hichilema being in office is a serious indictment on him and his management style. You can’t surely claim to be a good manager when you found the price of mealie meal at K120 and you raise it to such highs. Hichilema owns this high mealie meal price, it has completely nothing to do with his predecessor Lungu. He also owns the high fuel prices which have escalated to almost double figures from the time Lungu left office.
Yes, Lungu failed in many areas and he deserved to be voted out but if Zambians are going to vote for the alternative who escalates prices of essential commodities in just less than two years, it will be reasonable to ask why the people voted for that same change in the first place. The reason why people vote to change governments is in order to have their living standards improve. We don’t know how many Zambians out there will claim that their cost of living has improved since Hichilema came to office.
In saying so we do not discount all the goods Hakainde has delivered, including lessening the uncontrollable vice of cadres as used to happen during the Lungu reign, plus other achievements, yet there are many other issues that have compounded life in this country, including the very high cost of living. Mind you, Hichilema was elected to do good always, that’s the expectation from the Zambian people. Never in the history of this country have Zambians purchased a bag of mealie meal at over K230, and never have they bought a liter of fuel at around K30 and never have they spent so much on electricity connection fees and units and on bus fares.
And for those who keep referring to PF whenever issues about the current government are raised, we ask the question. Why did the people of Zambia overwhelmingly vote out PF in favour of UPND if you are always going to be referring the failures of this administration to the PF?
When Zambians question the price of fuel, some ask what the price of the commodity was during the PF. When issues about tribal appointments are raised, some will always want to refer to what used to happen under PF. Wasn’t Hichilema voted for because he promised to handle matters differently from the failures of PF? Didn’t he say he was a better manager than the “visionless Lungu” and all the other leaders he engaged as an opposition leader, from Levy Mwanasawa, Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata to Lungu himself?
So why should the best manager be leaving State House or Community House to go into town to interact with citizens in the Central Business District to check on the cheaper K230 mealie meal in Shoprite, the most expensive mealie meal ever presided over by any president in this great Republic?
There is this concerted effort from the UPND administration to try to impose upon the people to accept mealie meal going for K230 as cheap.
Zambians must not accept this as a new normal.
Related
By Daily Revelation Editor
It is clear to all that President Hakainde Hichilema and those he leads in government are in overdrive to try to project success over the K230 Zambia National Service (ZNS) mealie meal, which despite being the cheapest on the market, is still the highest price Zambians have bought the commodity at from all the previous administrations since independence.
There has been so much hullabaloo from the moment this K230 price was announced from ZNS, starting with the headline announcement from the minister of Information Cornelius Mweetwa, to another re-emphasis statement by acting chief government spokesperson Makozo Chikote who went to the extent of saying that “the government has observed that debate has continued raging over the cheaper mealie meal that has been offloaded on the market by the Zambia National Service (ZNS).
Chikote’s statement was followed up by the mother of all celebrations when Hichilema left the corridors of State House, or is it Community House, either one of the two, to interact with citizens in the Lusaka Central Business district along Cairo Road and ShopRite, stating that “it is gratifying to see that citizens recognize our efforts to reduce the price of commodities such as mealie meal under the Zambia National Service.”
That Hichilema and his officials are doing a ‘victory lap’ for managing to reduce the mealie meal, albeit the ZNS one to K230, as the other brands are still selling the highs of above K280, in comparative terms is just plain laughable, considering that the same President condemned the K120 the commodity was trading at just over two years ago as being too expensive and that with his proper management style he would reduce the same to K50. Well, those still holding on to that hope, we are sad to inform you that that will never happen, just going by Hichilema’s extreme joy at celebrating the “cheaper” K230 price.
And the fact that the price has risen to the highs of K230 barely two years of Hichilema being in office is a serious indictment on him and his management style. You can’t surely claim to be a good manager when you found the price of mealie meal at K120 and you raise it to such highs. Hichilema owns this high mealie meal price, it has completely nothing to do with his predecessor Lungu. He also owns the high fuel prices which have escalated to almost double figures from the time Lungu left office.
Yes, Lungu failed in many areas and he deserved to be voted out but if Zambians are going to vote for the alternative who escalates prices of essential commodities in just less than two years, it will be reasonable to ask why the people voted for that same change in the first place. The reason why people vote to change governments is in order to have their living standards improve. We don’t know how many Zambians out there will claim that their cost of living has improved since Hichilema came to office.
In saying so we do not discount all the goods Hakainde has delivered, including lessening the uncontrollable vice of cadres as used to happen during the Lungu reign, plus other achievements, yet there are many other issues that have compounded life in this country, including the very high cost of living. Mind you, Hichilema was elected to do good always, that’s the expectation from the Zambian people. Never in the history of this country have Zambians purchased a bag of mealie meal at over K230, and never have they bought a liter of fuel at around K30 and never have they spent so much on electricity connection fees and units and on bus fares.
And for those who keep referring to PF whenever issues about the current government are raised, we ask the question. Why did the people of Zambia overwhelmingly vote out PF in favour of UPND if you are always going to be referring the failures of this administration to the PF?
When Zambians question the price of fuel, some ask what the price of the commodity was during the PF. When issues about tribal appointments are raised, some will always want to refer to what used to happen under PF. Wasn’t Hichilema voted for because he promised to handle matters differently from the failures of PF? Didn’t he say he was a better manager than the “visionless Lungu” and all the other leaders he engaged as an opposition leader, from Levy Mwanasawa, Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata to Lungu himself?
So why should the best manager be leaving State House or Community House to go into town to interact with citizens in the Central Business District to check on the cheaper K230 mealie meal in Shoprite, the most expensive mealie meal ever presided over by any president in this great Republic?
There is this concerted effort from the UPND administration to try to impose upon the people to accept mealie meal going for K230 as cheap.
Zambians must not accept this as a new normal.
Related
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