Seven opposition political parties have said there is no doubt that the challenges the nation faces have left the Zambian people, deluded, duped, misrepresented, misinformed, tricked, fooled, misguided, beguiled, took in, hoodwinked, bluffed and hoaxed.
They stated that, “we need to make Zambians satisfied, contented, pleased, happy, joyful, gratified, delighted, blissful, jubilant, triumphant and elated.”
They stated that people had been calling upon the government to call an indaba in view of the dire economic situation the country found itself into but the government had not responded to this call.
“We are not here to repeat the call on government to call a National Indaba. It would be great if Government did call for the Indaba but, We the People have the Right … the Duty, to gather together with all people of Good Will to discuss and find solutions to the many challenges this country faces,” the parties stated.
They stated that the problems and challenges Zambia faced required all well meaning people to work together, saying no one person or group had the monopoly of knowledge and it would be wrong and deceitful for anyone to claim any one of could on their own correct or mend it.
They stated that they are convinced that the first step towards changing the mood from gloom to contentment and resolving nations problems was to have all well meaning people to acknowledge that there are problems that need to be fixed
They stated that the Zambian people expressed a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that things were not as good as they believed they would be.
The parties have stated that in their daily interaction with the citizenry, the parties had noted that the Zambian people in concert and unanimity felt that the country needed to heal and come together.
They stated that Zambian people had a general sense of disillusionment with the politics, economics and governance of the nation and were displeased by the shrinking democratic space leading to the loss of the political democratic space for the political parties and citizens alike.
They stated that the Zambians were also concerned with the gagging of citizens through legislation like the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act and the laws on criminal defamation.
According to the parties, Zambians regretted that in Foreign Policy, the country had taken a negative trajectory at regional as well as at continental and International levels putting country unnecessarily at odds with even some of our neighbors.
They have stated that there was despondent with the overcrowding in schools, leading to an increased pupil/teacher ratio, that was already high and the over working of teachers leading to their reduced effectiveness.
The parties also observed discontent with the disruption of supply chains for medical supplies as a result of well established supply chains being sidelined.
They stated that Zambians were further stressed that there was political interference in matters that should have been left to technocrats.
They stated that Zambians were perturbed that there was no plan B to the World Bank and IMF debt restructuring plan.
“Confused by the Reduced taxation to mining houses resulting in reduced income to the Government whilst, Zambians, who earn very little are being taxed to the bone. Left with Heads Spinning due to the rising Cost of living and spiraling inflation as a result of foreign exchange that is in freefall and now at an all time high,” read the statement in part.
“We are thus calling upon the good people of Zambia to insist that we all, (that is not only political parties (including the Ruling Party) but also CSOs, Church Mother Bodies, Law Association of Zambia, professional bodies and the general citizenry) meet under a neutral chair.”
The political parties include Citizens First, Forum for Democracy and Development, Golden Party of Zambia, National Democratic Congress, New Heritage Party, Patriotic Front Party and United Liberation Party.
This is according to a statement calling for the information of a broad cross cutting national alliance.
