Thursday, March 28, 2024

President Lungu’s address to Parliament gets support from cross section of people

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President Lungu (Right) greets opposition members of Parliament after addressing the Fifth Session of the Eleventh National Assembly in Lusaka on Friday, 18th September 2015. Picture by EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATE HOUSE
President Lungu (Right) greets opposition members of Parliament after addressing the Fifth Session of the Eleventh National Assembly in Lusaka on Friday, 18th September 2015. Picture by EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATE HOUSE

DIPLOMATS accredited to Zambia, opposition political parties and the civil society, have welcomed the pronouncements made by President Edgar Lungu in his address to the Fifth Session of the Eleventh National Assembly in Lusaka yesterday.

German Ambassador to Zambia Bernd Finke has welcomed President Edgar Lungu’s speech to parliament, and said that his country shares and supports the President’s call for more decisive action to fight poverty in Zambia and to speed up the diversification of the economy.

Mr Finke said Germany stands ready to continue to support Zambia in these endeavors and to assist the country in overcoming the current economic crises.

In a press statement released yesterday in reaction to the President Lungu’s opening Speech to the fifth session of the Eleventh National Assembly, Mr. Finke said he had taken note of President Lungu’s strong
commitment to protecting and promoting human rights and the rule of law, especially with a view to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly and to apply a zero-tolerance approach in the fight against corruption.

He further cited the call for more inclusive economic growth in order to fight poverty, the call for a diversification of Zambia’s economy and for better financial management and accountability which are being made year after year, government after government.

Norwegian Ambassador to Zambia Arve Ofstad said in an interview that the President’s speech was progressive as he touched on a number of issues currently affecting the people.

“The President’s speech was good and inspiring as it clearly points the direction in which his Government is moving to develop the country.

“It is clear that the President wants to alleviate the challenges affecting Zambia and it is important that everyone works together with him in achieving this goal. On that basis, the future for Zambia is bright,” Mr Ofstad said.

Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said the speech by President Lungu indicated that the Head of State was committed to alleviating the country’s economic challenges.

Mr Yang said every country had its own challenges which could be overcome if political leaders worked together in the spirit of coexistence.

“It was a very comprehensive speech, touching on a lot of issues that are currently affecting the country.

“The problems that Zambia is going through are temporal and can be overcome if the Government is supported with the input of new ideas particularly from Members of Parliament (MPs),” he said.

Meanwhile, Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) Luena MP Gertrude Imenda was happy that the President touched on the issues that she was advocating for Government intervention during the previous sitting.

Ms Imenda said she had advocated for the President to give a roadmap on the reintroduction of the National Airline, workplace productivity and the construction of a fuel pipeline between Zambia and Angola.

Lunte MMD MP Felix Mutati called on President Lungu’s administration to support the ideas coined by the Head of State in ensuring that his vision for the country was implemented.

“The President has the right ideas but the concern has been that of policy implementation by the other Government office bearers.

“The bureaucracy attached to some projects should now be a thing of the past and with the right people backing him, the country will move forward,” he said.

Lukulu West UPND MP Misheck Mutelo said progressive Bills brought to the House by the Government during the current sitting would be supported as the role of MPs was to help improve the livelihood of the people.

The Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) has commended the President for separating the different Ministries which had become inefficient due to their size.

ZNWL has since urged Mr Lungu to appoint more women as Cabinet Ministers in the newly created Ministries to bridge the gender disparity in Government.

51 COMMENTS

  1. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

    Words are cheap. Will we see actions to match these lofty ideals?

    When we see some deadwood being cut from government for nonperformance the verdict will be out.

    • Words can also be very telling. Look at the quotes from the diplomats. Gotta love the diplomatic language. They are locking him in to his own words by highlighting in diplomatic speak, their real areas of concern.

      “…strong commitment to protecting and promoting human rights and the rule of law, especially with a view to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly and to apply a zero-tolerance approach in the fight against corruption…” Germany

      “…call for more inclusive economic growth in order to fight poverty, the call for a diversification of Zambia’s economy and for better financial management and accountability which are being made year after year, government after government…” Germany

      “…alleviate the challenges affecting Zambia and it is important that…

    • “…everyone works together with him in achieving THIS goal. ON THAT basis, the future for Zambia is bright…”

      Human rights, corruption, stop excluding the people in economic growth and better financial management and accountability. Work together for a common goal.

      There are a lot of good ideas on the wish list but to me it remains a wish list because I cannot see where the money is going to come from. The budget should be interesting. No one wants Zambia to fail but it’s still hard to see people working together for common goals when corruption is endemic from the root.

    • It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

      Harry S Truman

      The problem with each of our governments and is evident in the current one, is that they need to remember they will not be there forever and there will be continuity of plans they start and so should expect to be questioned. ED has outlined plans now let him face questions about the nitty gritty of how, when, how much and in some cases why and most importantly if one goes ahead WHO. I don’t think he has the team that can produce greatness. How willing is he to make those changes to his ineffective team? Proof is definitely in the pudding!

    • And Bank of Zambia inter-bank exchange rate did not reflect any “optimism”:
      18 September 2015 15:30 9.9772 9.9972
      18 September 2015 12:30 9.9533 9.9733
      18 September 2015 09:30 9.9719 9.9919

    • Edgar has created 5 new ministries, meaning he will employ 5 new cabinet ministers, 5 deputy ministers and 5 permanent secretaries each of them entitled to a GX at K2 million each and another 4×4 at about K1 million…so just on car the govt will use close K50 million. Colleagues ask yourselves is this a priority? associated cost will go in hundreds of millions.

    • Diplomats? How is what diplomats accredited to Zambia say important? It’s the view of ordinary Zambians that should matter. Does the journalism in Zambia sufferer from an inferiority complex – always quoting foreign diplomats? Is the Zambian ambassador in the UK asked to comment on the Queen’s Speech after her address to the Houses of Parliament?

    • I would have loved to see LT start with the reaction of ZACCI, EAZ, MAZ, Prof Saasa, Dr Habazoka, Noel Nkhoma, Yusuf Dodia, in short Zambians.
      What the Norwegians & Chinese think is secondary.
      But then we are just zambian, phew!!

  2. Words are words. It’s like telling a beautiful single girl all the charming things like I will take of you but completely do the opposite. THESE PROVEN FAILURES (PF) HAVE NOT ACHIEVED ANYTHING, WHAT MAKES YOU SURE A SPEECH WILL LEAD TO TANGIBLE RESULTS. MOREOVER, SOMEONE ELSE WROTE THAT SPEECH FOR HIM. I HIGHLY DOUBT HE EVEN WROTE A SINGLE WORD IN THAT SPEECH. EVEN WORSE, MEAN THE WORDS HE SAID. ACTION SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS, CORRUPTION HAS BEEN THE ROOT AT SOME OF THESE PROBLEMS WE ARE FACING AND THAT WORD IS MISSING IN THE SPEECH. HAD MONEY BEEN USED FOR QUALITY GENERATORS INSTEAD OF VOTE BUYING AND INDUCED ELECTIONS WE COULD HAVE LESS PROBLEMS

    • TRUE. AND PEOPLE LIKE HH ONLY HAS WORDS, NOT EVEN THE POWER, NOT EVEN A GOVERNMENT TO RUN. SO U CAN SEE WHY WE SAY………….TO THOSE WHO BELIEVES HIS EVERY LETTER IN THE PROMISES HE UTTERS. TALK IS CHEAP TRULY!!

  3. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and rule of law! what a slur, the opposite is happening to the opposition day in and out. There are different freedoms and laws for the people in PF and for those in the opposition.

  4. The country urgently needs the enactment of a new constitution.
    All the progressive announcements by Edgar Lungu are meaningless without a people-driven constitution.

    • THAT IS WHY A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE AND INDEED OTHER AGREEMENT/COVENANTS ARE AUTHENTICATED OR DONE WITH A WRITTEN AGREEMENT ANS SIGNED NOT JUST BY WORD OF MOUTH THAT CAN EASILY BE BRUSHED OFF AND FORGOTTEN.

  5. Cheap words.Of course simple minds are easier to be impressed by mere speeches especially from a visionless leadership.

    Try this same speech in an educated society like Israel and see.

  6. Zambia can never progress of we applied the minds of the opposition parties because there plans are aimed at plotting failure on the govt not knowing that the zambians can only support them if they preach good will to the present govt.

  7. As is usually the case, the speech, like other speeches before this one, raises very important matters. The problem of our country is not a lack of great speeches. It is the implementation! The speech must be analyzed by professionals/professional bodies/academia, industry leaders, policy experts for it’s cost implications, timing of implementation and impact on our economy and lives of our people. Rigorous and objective dialogue of independent experts is essential and should be aired on ZNBC to enable the citizens to understand the speech. Whether a speech is great or not the real test lies in how the pronouncements improve the lives of ordinary people. It will be interesting to forecast how this speech will do that in 5 years or 10 years!

  8. Reading a speech written for you and implementing it are tworking different things, Like it or not Lungu has no answers for these problems that Zambia is going through do not waste your vote again we need charge period.

    • The best way forward is to divide the country into upnd and pf then see which state will outperform the other. Otherwise, there will be no peaceful coexistence between these two peoples for a long way to come; short of this will be civil wars, this is what Africa is made of, mark my words.

  9. Through his word, God separated darkness and light. Well done my president, just get the right people to work with all shall be well. We are more than already to make you a successful president.

  10. Its easy for an lazy bum to dress up in the morning at the expense of tax payers and read a speech by his speech writers in Parliament.

  11. Seriously, PF was founded on the mindset of the ideology of “Don’t ukubeba”. So, expecting them to ‘walk the talk’ is failing to understand PF’s mindset.

  12. Metaphorically speaking, the Die has been cast, and now we await to see if the moulded product conforms. Nonetheless, to a large extent, the President’s Speech was brilliant.

  13. I would have been more encouraged if the president outlined steps to heal the hemorrhage of dollars by addressing imports of things can can be produced in Zambia, thus creating more jobs. Instead he talked about signing more trade pacts when we import even tooth picks.
    Corruption at border posts is endemic, just the other day we found out we still import cooking oil when a truck overturned. And the corrupt customs say they need machinery to tell different oils when it was cooking oil bottles we saw. How usless can you be if you see a cooking oil bottle and say you need machinery for checks.??.
    Instead of dreaming of manufacturing ipads fix what is apparent and would give immediate results.

  14. Great speech and good plans for our country. Let’s pray for the willingness to it make so. Otherwise, it will be an empty speech if words are not matched with actions.
    Adios.

  15. I am not a politician so I dont need them to run the country. PS can do most work. No need to increase the Ministries just another drain. It will time to establish these Ministries before the next elections.

    Good luck Zambia

  16. Its not all cross sections of people that support president Lungu’s address to parliament.
    Diplomats mention have a duty as envoys to encourage government to be as reasonable as possible. Not long ago diplomats were concerned about violence to opposition meted by the government. Katanga just yesterday vowed to wipe out UPND out of Lusaka for offences committed by Masebo a PF member of parliament.
    As stated ealier, Lungu’s speech does not provide panacea to the grave economic situation beset on Zambians. When we have government officers claiming it as a world financial meltdown responsible for power outage, weak Kwacha and total collapse of government systems, signifies highest level challenge in governing the country. Many Zambians are worried with corruption levels and misuse of…

  17. misuse of resources for denelopment. Lies to Zambians that development comes fro state house is totally false as a way to win elections. PF under Sata was not in statehouse when he won presidential elections. It was failure by MMD leader to provide convincing reasons why he should continue as president. On the other hand Sata gave an impression that he would fight corruption and develop the nation. Zambians believed Sata though he was the worst president Zambia has ever seen to be overtaken by Lungu with his own adimission that he has no vision for the nation. However, abolition of presidential retirement house and other huge benefits to be drastcally reduced is long over due and welcome to 16 million Zambians.

    • Its laughable that the masses are talking about him stopping to construct mere homes when there is rampant corruption; imagine this govt is constantly signing overpriced million dollar contracts with Chinese govt companies that are not transparent and do not publish records…also imagine how many millions these leaders are pocketing in kickbacks; your Lazy Lungu will have no neck by 2016 like Buffoon Kambwili.

    • JJ, it looks like these are front companies created by PF with the sole purpose of over charging the country and pocketing the difference. Take the company that supplied and installed the kariba turbines, after all the criticism, not once did they try to defend their reputation as a reputable transparent company would. It’s total silence as if those turbines were made in Zambia and installed by PF.

    • Its sickening …If the next gov’t came in and tried to investigate they will get nowhere as they Chinese will not release any information!!

  18. What really constitutes a so called lean cabinet?Are the advocates of alean cabinet convinced about their alleged disparities in the cost impliations between a lean cabinet and a bloated one(whatever this means)? My view is a thorough investgation would be way to go to determine the ideal cabinet size.Can some research house give us a feed on this?Or do those in govt know better?I personally find it hard to complain about this when i’v never been in govt.

  19. UPND,u ve been criticising the president for not addressing us on the measures government is taking to arrest the economic challenges we re facing,well u ve been attended to,but just check what u re saying.U dont inspire many people and u attract votes like that. The president has given u a VISION of up to 2064.

    • With all due respect to the president. But the country can’t wait until 2064 or until we learn how to manufacture ipads. with current problems we are facing, we expected immediate measures to arrest the catastrophic decline.

  20. @ ba jay jay I don’t think mere comparisons with cabinet sizes of other countries would be enough for a fair informed decision.I’d like to believe Kenya has its own structural build that rightly so conforms to its geo political,economic and demographic nature.But even this wouldn’t be enough to convince a curious mind.Is the Kenyan cabinet the ideal size that their president would convincingly present as a model for others to copy? I dont think so.And what abt the corruption we hear abt kenya?

    • The fact of the matter is the Zambian Cabinet with its deputy ministers is already bloated and add to that you have Provincial Ministers, District Commissioners all this at the time when this lazy bum Edgar is adding a boma into district every 4 months.

  21. You have called Edgar visionless – well, now he has laid out his vision to you. But now you have realized that a vision is a dream – the realization of that dream comes back to your hard work. You realize you are lazy and all you do is to criticize – so you go back to criticizing Edgar – a feat you have polished and are experts in!!!!

    • How can we work when there is no electricity ? how can we work when the cost of living is fast overtaking earnings if at all you have not been layed off and the ZKW is in free fall ?

  22. What is knew, which your Chagwa has said nothing , just creating more ministries , without the money. Now he is busy, planning his trip to come to New York with big entrouge, any way he knows he is not coming back, this is his last year. Of parliament, UN , sadic, African Union. Let him gallivant
    With Bushman Kalaba.

  23. “In the beginning was the Word”…..even God started with the word and then the word became reality….so what will HH and his ilk start with? WORDS…..all of them start with words/promises and are judged by how much of that word is turned into reality…..so cut the crap ba UPND and simply say let’s wait and see if EL is a man of his word….

    • We started 2011 with the words “1 million jobs to be created ” 4yrs later and with job shedding and 4billion in the red we go into 2016 with words 500,000 jobs to be created by then.

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