By Staff Reporter
Go to school and have your own clinic with your parents, rather than waiting for government to employ you, PF central committee member Paul Moonga has charged.
And Moonga has prayed that God should forgive President Hakainde Hichilema for he did not know what he was talking about when he was making promises to the Zambian people, saying the “moment the IMF and World Bank praises you then know you are doing something wrong.”
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Moonga said the government should not be employing 11,200 and 30,000 teachers in this day and era, including providing free education to the people as they risked suffocating the national treasury.
“How many nurses graduate every year? Surely if people are going to go to the school of nursing hoping that the government will give them a job then they are wrong. Go to the school of nursing and have your own clinic with your parents. You cannot be employed by the government, anybody now. If Paul Moonga will be crying for government to employ my children then I am very foolish and stupid. In that time (upon assuming Independence) yes, employment was waiting for us. Bygones are bygones,” Moonga said. “HH should come to reality, tell the people of Zambia, ‘I never knew governance is like this. I can’t give you all those jobs. I was calculating if you employ 40,000 workers, civil servants, nurses and teachers alone, at K6000 you are going to spend K2.8 billion at the end of the year at the expense of development.”
Moonga said President Hichilema was cresting a consumption budget and not one tailored for development.
“How do we develop? If you are going to have so many civil servants, teachers are the highest people in the civil service. Add that 30,000 plus 11,000 is K2.8 billion for only those,” he said.
Moonga urged President Hichilema to repent to God.
“As Jesus Christ says ‘Father, Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.’ So Father, God, forgive HH he never knew what he was talking about. Now he’s inside, the saddle, leadership, he knows what is inside now. The best thing to do if I were HH is to come back and address the people, I promised so many things I have not fulfilled. In black and white and you lose nothing,” Moonga said. “For instance he promised civil servants K1500 across the board, he has failed to do that simple thing. He would have cushioned the civil servants, even if fuel prices went up, the civil servant would be able to buy fuel. For the minibuses as they go for work. That has not gone well with the civil servants. Unfortunately my brother I don’t know who is advising him.”
Moonga said President Hichilema must be working on home grown solutions to addressing the challenges rather than dancing to the IMF and World Bank tune, saying “they will kill you to the grave and celebrate with a new government.”
“IMF and World Bank when they praise you just know that you are doing a wrong thing. I am appealing to my brother HH whom I love so much that let him try to do certain things for the sake of mother Zambia. And you cannot have free education now. The population was too small at that time. There were very few lawyers at independence, every graduate had a job,” Moonga said. “So I really sympathise with my brother but let him come to reality, tell the Zambian people I never knew governance issues, now I am learning the hard way. People of Zambia will understand and forgive you.I never knew how mealie meal would cost now, fertilizer so much.”
Moonga argued that as opposed to government’s argument, that Russia-Ukraine conflict had nothing to do with the price of fuel in Zambia which has gone up by K9, from K17.62 to K26.50 in the eight months the UPND has been in power.
“That is the IMF and the World Bank that if you want $1.6 billion do the following. They pushed Chiluba into a corner, MHSRIP…things are expensive yes, but he can find a way. Subsidy can never be undone anywhere in the world. The IMF, World Bank should not kill HH. I repeat they will put him in the corner, they won’t bring him $1.6 billion,” said Moonga. “We can get the money from the fuel taxes. Let HH make people’s lives easier by running this government alone, forget about the IMF and the World Bank. If he can increase taxes so that we contribute to this economy, much better. But if you are going to bring money on electricity and fuel it’s very difficult.”
