By Kamuti Muyambela
President Hakainde Hichilema’s speech to Parliament was not inspiring, says Milanzi member of parliament (PF) Melesiana Phiri.
Contributing to the motion on the speech delivered to the 1st session of the 13 National Assembly by President Hichilema, Phiri said the address did not address specifics in terms of economic transformation and job creation.
She further said the speech failed to acknowledge the strong infrastructure foundation left by the PF, as airports, roads and bridges were building blocks to a strong economy.
“The speech by the President was not inspiring as expected for a number of reasons,” Phiri said. “…on energy I expected the President to acknowledge that load-shedding is over, thanks to the PF administration for investing in power generation.”
Phiri, a former ZNBC broadcaster, said on good governance, the President missed the opportunity to condemn political violence, which she said had characterised elections in the country, leading to the death of former North Western PF provincial chairperson Jackson Kungo.
She said she expected President Hichilema to provide a road map on how his administration will creat jobs for the youths, and that the UPND campaigned on free education from nursery to university.
“And students are asking when they will implement free education…on agriculture farmers are expecting cheap fertilizer as promised by UPND. Again the President failed to explain how he was going to reduce the price of fertilizer from the current price (around K700) to the K250,” said Phiri.
Bwacha member of parliament (PF) Sydney Mushanga said young people are waiting for their promised jobs, and the civil servants too were waiting for the K1500 salary increments across the board to show on their January 2022 pay-slips as promised during the campaigns.
He said people were also expectant that the price of fuel will reduce from the over K17 to K5.
“If you are not listening, the same way people gave PF a red card…at least for us we were in government for 10 years…and you can even be less than five years. Even 2026 may be too far,” said Mushanga.
Kantanshi member of parliament Anthony Chanda Mumba said he expected much more from President Hichilema’s speech especially given the caliber of person he was, describing the speech as open ended, which did not even have any targets.
He said as someone who came from a mining province, he expected to hear much more on how the mining industry would be used to better the lives of the people.
He further said that Zambian soccer stars who play in the English Premier League, Patson Daka and Enock Mwepu, were denied participation in the Tunisia game on account that Zambia is categorized to be in the red Covid zone, saying therefore he expected to hear a road map in terms of vaccination strategy from the President.
“I hope UPND can do better, especially with the type of President they have,” said Mumba.
Lunte member of parliament Mutotwe Kafwaya, who observed a moment of silence over the death on Kungo on commencing his speech, said he prayed that no Zambian will have to lose their life on account of political violence.
He said he felt ashamed that people were still dying from political violence 57 years after independence, saying he criticised the UPND for being manufactures of political violence through the Mufumbwe and Mapatizya formula, and that they have a responsibility to stop “their creation.”
Kafwaya decried the booing of former president Edgar Lungu during the swearing-in ceremony of President Hichilema, describing such as dishonor in victory and that no leader in the UPND even attempted to stop or even condemn the act.
He also called out a situation where two people were seen fighting to walk the President to the dais, with one of them elbowing the one in military uniform, wondering what sort of change that was if people were talking about doing things differently.
Kafwaya said a similar incident happened at parliament where the presidential aide did not have a speech, only for another “fella” to appear from nowhere with the speech, saying that was not good for the decorum of the house.
But Mufumbwe member of parliament (UPND) Elliot Kamondo said the people of North Western Province never benefited during the PF government as there was a lot of segregation and development inequality, and that they were hopeful that things will be done differently in the “new dawn government.”
He said the district was very vast and therefore required the creation of another district, and that the Kaoma-Kasempa road needed to be worked on as the road is also used to transport copper to Walvis Bay in Namibia.
