OFFICIAL STATEMENT
HAKAINDE HICHILEMA
LABOUR DAY MESSAGE
Dear country men and women, every year, the 1st of May is commemorated, as a day in our working lives, when we celebrate the benefits of our labour. It is an occasion when leaders take a deep reflection on the decisions they make in ensuring commensurate compensation for the efforts the general workforce makes in attaining output in various sectors of the economy.
For a long time now, we have heard successive Governments talk about quantity of jobs and NOT the quality of those jobs. We have heard from the Government, on numerous occasions, that so many new jobs have been created, yet most of these jobs do not offer decent work. Quality employment is about security of tenure and prospects for career development; it is about working conditions, hours of work, safety and health, fair wages and returns to labour, opportunities to develop skills, balancing work and life, gender equity and equality, job satisfaction and recognition, and social protection. It is also about freedom of association and having a voice in the workplace, as well as society. Finally, it is about securing human dignity and eliminating discrimination.
The ILO report on Global State of Employment asserts that more than 65% of Zambians, despite being in full time formal employment, are still considered employed poor. Ladies and gentlemen, an employed poor person is a person who earns less than USD1.25 or ZMW7.00 a day. With this kind of statistic, it is imperative for us to critically review the kind of employment our Government claims to be creating. You may ask, ‘Why is this important?’ The answer is quite simple; the working class makes up the middle class. The middle class are the majority consumers; consumers drive the production sector when they buy goods and services. For as long as we do not build the numbers of the middle class, by looking at quality of employment, we are fighting a losing battle. This, my fellow citizens, is amongst the major reasons the current Government has failed.
Our promise to the Zambian Worker, on this day, is that under the UPND Government, our priority will be to create quality and equitable employment. Whoever signs up for a job must get satisfaction and a living wage. This is the reason why our first line of attack will be to address the cost of living through economic reforms, improved management, fiscal discipline and prudence. We shall adequately and effectively invest in Education to equip the workforce with the right skills for the job market. We shall further invest in our health care system to ensure that we have a healthy workforce. When we form Government, we shall immediately go for a decent living wage in place of a minimum wage. A minimum wage is not a living wage and this is the reason we still have workers who are very poor.
Without UPND, this economy will continue to slide into the doldrums, as the PF government has proved beyond reasonable doubt, over and over again, that they are clueless when it comes to economic management or anything to do with fiscal discipline. If we do not address the challenges that the workers are facing, these challenges will affect the worker’s productivity, and productivity is the single most important variable to being competitive.
Once in power, the UPND will also address the modern day slavery which has manifested itself in many ways, including low wages, under employment, servitude and a basic denial of human rights being abated by a corrupt and careless PF government. A PF Government that has failed to negotiate proper wages and decent employment with employers. This is compounded by the fact that employers cannot pay high wages when the fiscal and monetary policies are highly volatile and unpredictable. Today, an employer gets a credit line at 9% policy rate, the very next day, this policy rate is adjusted to 12%. How do employers plan like this? One day there is SI33 and 55, the very next day they are reversed or replaced by SI89 and reversed by the President.
It is impossible to have a sustainable wage and decent pay when the Government is the leader in illegally firing its own workers, like they did with the nurses and many other cases before the courts of law. We can all attest to this.
Countrymen and women, we, therefore, have an urgent need to take deliberate measures to restore the middle class, who form the majority of the working class. A UPND government’s major aim is to affirm that this happens by ensuring that our workers are rewarded with an honest salary for an honest day’s work. My responsibility will be to ensure that the worker gets what is due to him or her for the hard work, responsibility and sacrifice they make, regardless of sex, tribe, party affiliation or state of physical being. This means that we shall fight to eliminate social exclusion in all areas of our lives, like the work place, and guarantee that we shall establish a path of social cohesion where all the human resource that we have will be used as a an asset in nation building and having a strong economy, unlike now where even the peace and unity that we have all enjoyed since independence is under serious threat. This is to ensure that we all get the products and services that make our lives meaningful and comfortable, as well as build a strong nation and economy for ourselves and our children.
There is need to protect workers with a decent social security scheme, as well as investment instruments that will look after them when they are no longer in formal employment. Our desire is for people to be able to retire comfortably whereby they can own houses and, after so many years of labour, be able to enjoy such rewards with real benefits. Hence we shall advocate for favourable interest rates and affordable mortgages to make the workers feel compelled to build or buy houses. We are also alive to the fact that there are more people in the informal sector than the formal one hence we shall work hard to ensure that they are given their rightful place in the economy and that their contributions to GDP and the overall growth of our economy are acknowledged, formalised and captured. This will also help broaden the tax base and reduce the tax burden of those that are in formal employment.
Lastly, I wish to agree with UPND Chairman for Labour, Percy Chanda, on his call last Sunday to all workers to boycott this year’s Labour Day celebrations. There is nothing to celebrate on this Labour Day for workers in Zambia. I reiterate that, let the workers stay at home and spend time with their families instead of going to march in front of politicians that do not care about their plight, when the politicians are receiving free fuel and other allowances at our expense. And we all know that these politicians will not protect them from any violence that may erupt after being instigated by their militias or men in uniform.
A great day to you and continue to work hard for mother Zambia. I thank you all!!!
Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President
This a very brilliant speech Mr. President.
Mr President your message is inspiring and soothing. Without a shadow of a doubt you are now ready to lead Zambia to a prosperous future.
Your message makes a lot of sense than all this madness being spewed in the media about by the PF minions.
UPND and HH I am definately in!
Is this not the same HH who was vehemently opposed to the increased minimum wage? A modest increase.
Indeed politicians are like diapers – they should be changed often for the same reason!!
What happened to asking the nation to boycott the celebrations? Hope u got the message ba HH. Nobody listen to you.
An excellent statement! The workers in Zambia urgently need the funeral scheme, Social health insurance scheme and other social protection schemes, the Credit Union Bank, the Pension reforms and the living wage they were promised by the PF government in 2012. We need a government that will show leadership, champion and implement these important reforms.
I am off from all sites. Had done a research by contributing negatively , very negatively, positively and very positively on stories on this site and other sites. Have established that Zambians have been anti-establishment and get carried away with sloganeering, media hype and manipulation by interest groups.
I am off now for good.
Indeed, what a profound message. Unlike PF leadership who shunned any Speech at such an important event, Labor day. That “today there will no speeches” acclaimed the “poor fellows” PF.
This stupendous message by Hero of Humanity,HH, is uplifting, the gist of his life policies for the people are meaningful. The only hope people have is HH with candid economic prospects of sustaining the economy and eliminating all forms of poverty.
HH a man with a plan. Great honor.
Peace be with you HH.
Peace and Love be upon all Zambians wherever they may be.
this sound more like a modern politician ,”our first line of attack will be to address the cost of living through economic reforms, improved management, fiscal discipline and prudence. We shall adequately and effectively invest in Education to equip the workforce with the right skills for the job market. We shall further invest in our health care system to ensure that we have a healthy workforce”
where is the minister shamenda going to get money to give to workers or improve their salaries when the economy is not doing fine. miracle….can any employer increase a salary when the company is not doing fine. miracle…we need you to free this country
Thumps up HH & the whole Upnd team. The future is promising for Zambia & it is the Zambians to make better & we will do it through bringing sober people like HH & his team to govern this great nation.
Anyone can say what has but said but the change is to speak with numbers that dont lie. The role of the government is to create an enabling business environment through policies that then result in creation of jobs. Zambians need change of mindset not always to wait for better condions of service (emlloyees) but how we can become employers.
I thought his workers had boycotted the day! This boy is crazy!
What an awesome speech big ups to our next president HHelp!
What is this Underfive yapping about now? The problem I have with HH is that he does not measure himself at his true modest worth. For sure he is not even a heavyweight politically in this country. And he says when UPND comes to power, but the question is where is he going to get the votes when he is only popular in Southrn, and parts of Western and North Western Province? I know his narro-minded supporters will come to his defense, but what they won’t manage to do is wipe out reality that their Tribal president is too small, too little to have any influence on the Zambian people. He can win elections on social sites but will always be a very distant third in elections with results like 25% in 2006, 19% in 2008 and 18% in 2011. To give him a little credit I see him distant second in 2016
Tray to compare his statement with what come out from H.E. the President and, if you can understand, you will realize origins of failures of current demagogic/senile administration.
Kalinda i get disgasted with pipo like yu.Yu always hate pipo because of tribe.Instead of criticing what HH said you start talking of under five bla bla.HH can no longer be confined to southern province he has an MP in Coperbelt ,a councilor in In coperbelt ,In the last elections he got half the votes Sata got to win as president of Zambia.so stop this tribal talk its to out dated and it belongs to welensky times of northern Rhodesia.This is mordern Zambia which should be ruled by qualified MANAGERS not dinosours Swiming in tribalism and satanism.
Distant second to which PF moron?
You stop your Tonga bull friends from attending yet you run from the back door to attend. U5 for sure
Shame
@Lamfras, get the facts right, HH did not attend the circus of your Labour day. Your Sata failed read his speech, HH was busy with maltitudes of jobless youths in Mtendere.
Go to an audit firm where he is a partner Grant Thornton, a qualified Acca gets K1000. Finshi alesabaila uyu, he is rich coz of stealing pensioners money. Pitful
@Kombo
Stop lying please. My cousing works for Grant Thorton and only has level 2 ACCA but earns about K6500 + take home after tax. Do your research before you vomit rubbish here.
Mayo Mpapa: Do you understand the Queen’s language, HH is opposed of minimum wage, and he says it again in the speech above. Read it again and note that he says he will instead bring a “living wage” in place of minimum wage because he wants people to be able to have a living out of their wages. Mukwai, go don’t criticize if your brain falls short! An economic manager just spelled out what we need to do to have a decent country, healthy community and sanity!!
Jo, your memory is too short to reason properly.
HH’s opposition to the minimum wage when it was implemented was that it was a job killer as most employers would not afford to pay their workers. He went on to say that employers would bue left with no choice but to lay off workers – which “will just make unemployment worse”. So, if the minimum wage was too high for employers to afford, then how are they going to afford his so-called “living wage”? If he (and you of course!) understand what the expressions mean!!
Chachine muli matako, and you’ll never be in front!!!
This guy is demented and extremely confused. He is spouting twisted alien class-based reverse rhetoric in a futile attempt to ameliorate the common knowledge that he is a venal, self-serving, money-grubbing non-entity who thinks that invoking tribalism and racism will somehow miraculously catapult him into power. THINK AGAIN! Or at least step aside for another future presidential candidate (maybe it could even be a Tonga one whose name is not Hakainde Hichilema?) who has some hope of winning
@Clutchplate Banda
I doubt if your are a Banda. I think you are pretending to be from the East when you actually are a clueless mwachusa.
@Clutchplate Banda
You are spot on.
If ‘his workers’ had heeded his call for a boycott which workers was this shameless tribalist address?
Was he NOT ashamed at seeing the masses, our people throng and grace the occasion? If the majority defied his boycott call, where will this guy get the vote?
Whilst your message if good as far as it goes. You need to grow up HH for people to respect you as a serious politician and a serious presidential material. Stop being negative and contribute to the development of Zambia and Zambians.
Thanks mr president in waiting. Whn yu speak, everyone listen and follow. Yu called sata from india last time, he came. I was shocked to see sata boycotting labour day and drove off without even giving a speech or awards. For once I realised that sata follows whtever HH says. Go ahead above 80 man that what shud be done follow modern, young energetic and innovative politicians not cadres.
Ba HH go and look for political consultants like RB did wit image builders, otherwise yu are still an under five Political figure
You are expecting HH to take lessons from RB how to become corrupt?
You are forgetting that we are in this predicament thanks to RB and his bunch of corrupt minions.
Just compare and contrast this statement with the bizarre behaviour of one character of questionable sanity and you ask yourself the question, just how did we end up in this mess? I hope Zambians have learnt a lesson they will never forget, that their vote is too important to mess around with. The stupidity of giving a vote to a person on the basis of grand but impossible to fulfill promises should never be repeated. You were warned but you chose not to listen. Now you must endure the remainder of PF’s five year term with no assurance there will even be peace beyond that period as the manifestation of madness exhibited by one individual just gets worse. We are in serious trouble. Pray that we do not end up like Rwanda or CAR.
THE INCOMING PRESIDENT HH.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE INSPARING SAGE SPEECH. WE KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE A ZAMBIAN WORKER TO HAVE ADECENT WAGE AND SALARY.
VIVA HH. VIVA UPND