The opposition Socialist Party (SP) on the Copperbelt Province has accused President Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND government of failing to prioritise key service delivery to the people of Zambia.
Member of the SP Copperbelt Media Team and immediate past Provincial Spokesperson Joseph Kangwa said President Hichilema and his government have completely failed deliver to the people of Zambia top services such as health and Agriculture as expected and as promised.
Mr. Kangwa said the UPND Government’s failure to stabilize the prices of essential goods and services such as food stuffs, fuel, electricity to mention a few is profoundly evident of their failure.
He said people expected Mr Hichilema to attend to their basic needs when they voted for change in 2021.
“President Hakainde Hichilema and his government have completely failed to prioritize top notch service delivery to the people of Zambia as expected and as promised. Their failure to stabilize the prices of essential goods and services such as food stuffs, fuel, electricity to mention a few is profoundly evident.It is the same story when it comes to addressing poverty as the majority of our population is still languishing in abject poverty. Lack of equipment and medicines in government healthcare facilities is still a major concern as poor people are dying everyday in these facilities because they do not have money to buy drugs, needles and cylinders as the only thing they get from these hospitals is a prescription,” Mr. Kangwa said.
He said the UPND Government has further failed to improve the mining sector and the plight of mine workers.
“Mine workers are also still faced with challenges of poor working conditions and wages; farmers are still experiencing late delivery of farming inputs.When Zambians voted for change, they hoped for a change in human development and human capital, and they expected Mr Hichilema to attend to their basic needs. They voted for change because they hated the living condition in the previous regime. It is unfortunate that the situation has worsened and President HH appears to be very insensitive with regards to the suffering of the poor Zambian people,” Mr. Kangwa said.
He added that Government’s failure to deliver faming inputs on time is against the UPND manifesto.
“Poverty being a major challenge in the country, late delivery of Farmer Input Support Programme packages send a bad picture on the government’s commitment to poverty reduction and improvement of the agricultural sector; late delivery of fertilisers through FISP will increase poverty levels in the country because the majority of our population derives its livelihood from agriculture. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation indicates that, “almost 72 percent of the Zambian population is engaged in Agricultural activities.” And according to the International Trade Administration, “small scale farmers represent the vast majority (approximately 90 percent) of Zambia’s agricultural producers are generally subsistence producers of staple foods with occasional marketable surplus.” In this regard, late delivery of farming inputs has the potential to impact negatively on the food security and worsening poverty and hunger in the country,” Mr. Kangwa said.
“According to the UPND Manifesto and I quote, “Agriculture is the critical priority sector in the growth and poverty reduction agenda of the UPND government” (UPND Manifesto 2021-2026, pg. 19) end of quote. The failure to deliver faming inputs on time is on itself an insult to the UPND manifesto. It is a shame that Mr Hichilema and his government have failed to deliver according to their manifesto,” he said.
And Mr. Kangwa has warned the New Dawn government against witch-hunt and trying to fix previous government leaders.
“Mr. HH and his government should stop exacerbating suffering of the poor Zambians through witch-hunt and trying to fix previous government leaders and arresting opposition political party leaders as witnessed everyday. Instead they should prioritize top notch service delivery. Find solutions to the obtaining abject poverty, hunger, lack of equipment and essential drugs in public hospitals and unemployment. President Hichilema should be reminded that he was voted into power not to fix the PF and opposition political parties but to fix the suffering of the people and the economy. Not to worsen poverty and hunger, but to reduce them.The people have the power,” Mr. Kangwa said.
Meanwhile, President Hichilema in recent days has been calling on Zambians not to despair amid some challenging bordering on the economy.
When officiating at the first ever ‘Economic Growth Forum’, themed “Delivering Economic Growth For Zambia,” President Hichilema said the UPND’s girst year in office was devoted to providing macroeconomic stability, but the second year will now be dedicated to unlocking domestic rigidities to economic growth.
“We extend our profound gratitude to the International Growth Centre (IGC), and particularly Professor Jonathan Leape the Executive Director, for facilitating this important Summit that convened senior political and departmental leaders, researchers and development partners to discuss and find solutions to constraints in economic growth.”
“We informed the conference that our first year in office was devoted to providing macroeconomic stability, but our second year will now be dedicated to unlocking domestic rigidities to economic growth.We further informed the Forum that our Government’s policies are directed at actualising our broader economic reconstruction agenda; among them to fight corruption in order to protect the integrity of public resources, and to reform public procurement to optimise value for money and to invest in local development through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) program.We urged all stakeholders at the forum to participate fully and provide solutions that will put our country on a pathway to prosperity,” President Hichilema said.