By Patson Chilemba
Kantanshi member of parliament (PF) Anthony Mumba says he can’t refuse a ministerial appointment from President Hakainde Hichilema, saying it doesn’t matter which political party one belongs to, and “I really don’t care how anybody would describe it.”
And Mumba said on account of the stability in the Kwacha he is now saving K50,000 on the fees he pays in USD for his children, and with increased CDF, if used properly in the provision of grants and loans, it will reduce the burden on MPs, and that while free education has increased school enrollment, it is a good thing that more children are in school with opportunities to grow infrastructure.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mumba said his son recently told him that from the $10,000 he was paying for his and the sisters school fees last year, the value was around K230,000 but now that same amount only translated to K174,000 because of the appreciation of the Kwacha, and that he was now making a saving of K50,000 on the fees.
“(He told me) now that K50,000 you can use it at home for a period of maybe six months to meet your day to day obligations or you can use it as a saving to come and pay the next terms fees which will be term three, those fees will be due like in August. So he went on to ask me, he is reading on social media that UPND has not done anything. So he was asking me ‘dad are you also saying UPND hasn’t done anything?’ So I said yes, they have done some good things, for example this saving I have made,” Mumba said.
He said equally the cross border traders who struggled to raise $10,000 because it was K230,00, now to raise that $10,000 is K170,000, can make the argument that they now have more capital and a lesser cost, and are able to do more trade. Mumba said the only thing was that traders could not pass that benefit to Zambians because of the way the economy has been structured in this country.
He said the Zambian economy was made in such a way that when prices go up there were only two products that prices comes down, petroleum products and mealie meal, mainly because of political influence, but for the other goods once the prices go up they do not come down.
Mumba said there were good things Zambians can identify from the UPND administration.
“If you look at CDF, if we implement the grants and loans to vulnerable people properly that will save the MP thousands and thousands of Kwacha. Because ideally speaking for myself in Kantanshi,it was always my pocket. It was always me going into our family savings for the people. Why? Because I have always believed that as local leader or as a leader your role is to change people’s lives for the better,” Mumba said. “So on one hand, yes there is the government with a national budget. On the other hand you as a face of that constituency you cannot just sit and say no, I will wait for the budget to come and empower people. CDF has come in, if it’s properly used, MPs will save a lot of money. MPs will no longer be running away from phone calls because they know that there is that money which if I tap in properly a lot of people will benefit. A lot of lives will become better.
“So, if you look at free education, one can argue to say no, now there are too many children in class. That’s what we need. We need our children to be in class. Now with that challenge it creates new opportunities now for that school; expansion in infrastructure. So more classrooms will be constructed. What does it do at national level? It attracts employment opportunities. So would you not say that is a good thing? It’s a good thing.”
Mumba said whether one was PF, UPND or MMD, these basics were accruing to everybody, saying the only thing he thought the government had not paid strong attention to was the cost of living, mainly the basic necessities.
He said most of the things like soaps, sugar and salt were manufactured in Zambia, and it was his view that under the Ministry of Commerce there could have been a strategy where taxes could be dropped off on manufactures, saying they may argue that they import the raw materials but the Kwacha has appreciated against the US dollar.
Asked if he would accept a ministerial appointment from President Hakainde Hichilema on the suggestions he was making, Mumba responded: “Why would I refuse an appointment? It’s to serve the people of Zambia. The President has all the powers to choose whoever he wants. Okay! It doesn’t matter which political party you belong to. First of all the question will be as a minister of the UPND government, will that change my life for the better? The answer is no. Because I already have everything. Will that give me an opportunity to contribute better for the people of Zambia? The answer is yes.”
He said for him what mattered most was contributing effectively towards national development.
“And I really don’t care how anybody would describe it, because if God has appointed me at that particular time to serve as a minister under the UPND, why should I refuse? Leadership is drawn from God, so why would I refuse? Why would I not take these ideas and say look ‘why are we allowing our manufactures to continue raising prices putting pressure on government to say the cost of living is rising?’” Mumba asked.
He talked about some of the mechanisms that could be applied in the manufacturing sector to reduce the cost of living, saying the country has seen the changes that have been made in the mining sector to attract investment.
Mumba said the national budget would be passed soon and ideas should be included in there which will enable the manufacturers to pass on the benefit to Zambians and thereby reducing pressure on the government.
He said he could afford the basic necessities, but the question was on whether the people who gave him the job as member of parliament could afford the same too.
