By Merlyn Mwanza and Isaac Zulu
President Hakainde Hichilema says he feels a sense of shame that countries that were economically smaller than Zambia are now bigger owing to the mismanagement of public affairs by the Edgar Lungu PF administration.
And President Hakainde Hichilema says anyone engaging in tribalism is damaging the country’s unitary status which has held since independence.
Addressing the nation on the national morals and values in Parliament today, President Hichilema railed against those in the PF for their fierce opposition despite him working to correct their mistakes.
“When others are correcting your mistakes, sit quietly. The best you can do is repent and provide correct advice,” President Hichilema said, adding that some of the decisions taken to address the ills may be painful but necessary.
The President has come under fire for appointments deemed as heavily tribal and nepotistic mainly skewed towards Southern, Western, North Western and parts of Central Province, against his campaign promises to right the wrongs from the Lungu administration which he says was heavily titled in favour of the Eastern and Northern regions of the country.
But during his address, the President railed against those who harbour ethnic complexes and were even free to talk about the same with the children, saying children will take that to be normal.
Zambia has diverse ethnic groupings which has promoted an inclusive society and which he said no one should digress from, the President said to loud murmurs and praises simultaneously.
President Hichilema said what happened in the past could not be allowed to continue, arguing that numbers do not lie.
“We must have a sense of shame when we reflect what we did wrongly,” the President said to loud objection and appraisals, with people from either side speaking over him.
He said the highest number of recruited teachers was in Northern Province.
He said that the negative caderism and political violence which characterised the Edgar Lungu PF administration have largely been brought under control, adding however, that bad habits die hard but the UPND will continue stepping over the ugliness of such vices whenever they arise.
He said the administration is fighting corruption involving leaders from the past and present as shown by his recent actions to fire some public officials over corruption charges.
President Hichilema said those who were using ethnicity as a shield in being prosecuted stole in their individual capacities and not for their ethnic grouping, saying the country’s economy went to negative 2.5 percent mainly because of corruption.
He urged people “with a normal “ heart like his to join in relief efforts against those affected by the floods to donate something towards relief efforts.
