By Patson Chilemba
Kabushi member of parliament Bowman Lusambo says Zambians cannot afford to have a President who has no heart for the people, saying Hakainde Hichilema has failed as president and must immediately dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections.
Speaking with Daily Revelation on the steep hike in fuel prices by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB), Lusambo said when the country was facing an electricity crisis on account of the global crisis leading to massive load-shedding under the government of President Edgar Lungu, President Hichilema then as opposition leader opposed that saying the PF had failed to govern as they had failed to provide solutions and that he had those solutions.
He said when the Covid pandemic hit the country and people were being urged to follow all the health regulations and calling for more donor funding to address the situation, President Hichilema said they were lying as they were on a fundraising venture to raise money for PF campaigns.
He said President Hichilema now wants Zambians to understand him for arguing that he is increasing fuel prices on account of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying this is being used as a pretext because the same President increased the fuel prices from K17 to K21 when he assumed office, long before the conflict in Ukraine started.
“What happened to the increment which they effected on our people from K17 to K21? So forget about the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Lusambo said. “This government has failed to perform. It has brought misery on our people.”
He said “this President we have today is not a political president”, saying he was fit to be a CEO of a company and not managing the country, and that the President did not have a heart for the people.
“Today he was supposed to say I have resigned because what I have found in government is different from what I thought,” Lusambo said. “Very soon we shall be finding our people dead in homes because of hunger.”
Lusambo said President Hichilema has been advised on a lot of things, including paying suppliers and contractors as the money would eventually find its way through to the communities and thereby increasing liquidity in the economy.
“This government is about suicide mission. They are taking the people of Zambia on suicide mission. How are people going to survive?…We can’t have a President who has no heart for Zambians. He has given tax holidays to the whites when the copper prices are at their highest on the international market. They are making millions of dollars,” said Lusambo.
The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has increased the price of petrol from K21.96 to K26.50, while diesel has been increased to K26.22 from K21.54, and Kerosen at K19.32 from K15.39.
