The FDD and UPND has commended President Lungu for hiding to their advise on the increment of electricity tariffs but has also condemned the continued policy inconsistencies of the PF government.
Party Spokesperson Antonio Mwanza says his party is happy that President Lungu has conceded to what FDD told him that it was counter productive for government to increase electricity tariffs at a time when the country’s economy is on its knees.
“We are happy that President Edgar Lungu has finally conceded to what we as FDD told him that it was wrong and counterproductive for the PF Government to increase electricity tariffs at a time when our economy is on its knees.
We advised the President that his assumption that increasing electricity tariffs would result into increased investment in the energy sector was flawed and did not make any economic sense. Even a Grade Two child knows that when you increase electricity tariffs you automatically increase the cost of production and subsequently you suffocate people out of business,” Mr Mwanza said.
Mr Mwanza how ever expressed shock at the continued policy inconsistency of the PF government saying “One wonders whether this Government even takes time to consult and analyse the economic variables before making a policy decision. It is clear that Mr Lungu and his Cabinet are completely lost at sea and don’t know what is going on. How else can one explain this embarrassing policy inconsistencies? The PF are running the government like a kindergarten: no vision, no planning, it’s pure Chipante-pante. They have no policy direction: everything is kwalola umwela.”
He further urged President Lungu and his government to learn to do thorough analysis and consultation before making policy decisions as the continued U-Turns on policy is hurting the country as it is eroding investor confidence.
“This type of Chipante-pante type of governance is eroding investor confidence. There is no investor who would be willing to invest in a country whose Government policies are neither consistent nor predictable.
We strongly urge Mr Lungu and his Government to learn to do thorough analysis and consultation before making policy decisions. This would help every stakeholder to make correct business decisions and help them plan their investment,” he noted.
And in statement posted on his face book page UPND President Hakainde Hichilema noted that President Lungu seems to create problems and pretend to fix them after sometime with a view to solicit and gain credit for curing the disease he creates.
Below reads part of the statement picked from the UPND leader’s face book page.
We have consistently warned our friends about this approach to decision making, which causes investors to lose confidence in our country. Loss of confidence leads to capital flight and weakens the country’s economy. It also makes it more costly and difficult for Zambian businesses to plan effectively.
And this is exactly what we mean by chipantepante (trial and error) government that keeps back peddling on key economic policies, including how they carelessly handled the mining tax regime which contributed to massive job losses in the sector as investors became nervous and withdrew or scaled down.
But Zambians must know that even on this back peddling, as they have done previously for political reasons, it is nothing but another cosmetic arrangement meant to merely calm and dupe voters. If Lungu and the PF won the forthcoming elections, which is unlikely, they again will hike the electricity tariffs as they did towards the January 2015 elections when they politically reduced fuel prices only to triple the prices soon after being declared winners. They have done the same with maize subsidies, fuel, motor vehicle licensing and other key economic measures.
It is shameful that Lungu and his PF Government always deliberately create problems and later pretend to fix them with a view to solicit and gain credit for trying to basically cure a disease they created themselves.
In the UPND, we believe in consultative leadership to inform bold and firm decisions that we are and would never be ashamed to defend once the key stakeholders have had their inputs.
We have now fully been vindicated that the only thing that is consistent about the PF is the constant inconsistency.
Yesterday President Lungu directed ZESCO to old tariffs after a cross section of society complained that power had become too expensive.
You’ve been dribbled again!
The donator of Jiggies to TB patients entire president kabotolo Lungu. It’s like watching amateur hour
“We have now fully been vindicated that the only thing that is
consistent about the PF is the constant inconsistency.” I swear somebody posted this comment on this site, HH must be a fan of Lusaka Times commentators.
We are his army
Viva HH
Only a fool can not see through the cheap gimmicks and propaganda the PF is propelling, sad for our young economy as this inconsistency and lies have become the life blood for the ruling party, but for how long?
PABWATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,lelo ni lelo no more NCC and NGOCC,no technical committee no heft allowances
The word which is coming out most in both the FDD and UPND is “Chipantepante” kind of governance from PF
it is okay ukucila ba chiluseluse parties
Uncle Eddie just amazes me with his honesty and integrity, almost as pure as a baby. He is such a breath of fresh air compared to all others before him, and of course especially the current crop of so called major opposition leaders, yes you guessed right I mean the underfives of this world.
Underfive is so disappointed with the reversal of electricity prices to give chance to go back to the drawing board. To him all he could see was chaos, riots, disunity, despondency, on top of job losses, lining up his route to state house. Sorry underfive, that will not happen under Uncle Eddie, the route to the Zambian state house has always been lined with rose flowers and ballot papers, not riots.
By the way tell us about your threat to sue the Times of Zambia, you are now issuing statements fro…
@Terrible,
Could you kindly share and clarify what successful business you own, or are a Director of, where these ever-changing unpredictable electricity tariffs have been of great help to your business in planning ahead?
@Terrible,
Terrible?…. Hello……Are you still there?
ECL and honest and integrity are words that do not belong in the same sentence.
Ignorance, dullness, deception and dishonesty are more appropriate.
Try rephrasing your comment to more accurately reflect REALITY, otherwise people may just ignore you as a deluded F0OL.
By the way, tell us about your threat to sue the Times of Zambia, you are now issuing statements fro facebook, have you changed your mind? I advise you not to change your mind, for we shall conclude that you are so inconsistent that you do exactly the things that you condemn in others, i.e. inconsistency.
It’s good to see you follow our HH is on Facebook, it shows you are a keen follower of what he says
I did not make a comment on Antonio Mwanza and his boss, well they are not worth a comment. Well, maybe just to say bribing voters with farming inputs will not take you anywhere, it’s not enough under the new constitution of 50%+1. You need more than that, e.g. show us that you are socially stable, for how else do you expect us voters to judge your suitability for state house imwe ba FDD?
Uncle Eddie did not have to listen to you Fdd or uPMD, he listens to the people because he interacts with them. Sorry guys no credit to both of you.
is it wrong for him to hear what the pipo have complained about we have millie meal at k80 and most of the essential commodities are very expensive not until the economy stabilises that is when we will be able to look into those issues your concern is on the investors who keeps on siphoning your money,it is better we put the pipo first and the investor later we are talking about getting into a full throttle agriculture,lets work on that and see how we are going to perform,increasing power to 300% would have made cost of production to go up and make the cost of living for the poor zambian pipo go up let us be realistic,let us look at the common zambian who survives on a k500 per month
A government of U-TURNS which some people call listening government. If Obama did such things as consistently as our PF friends he would have been fired a long time ago. Its ridiculous!!!
MWE BANTU, why do you like comparing situations to people outside, it’s a sign of inferiority complex, who is Obama? Is he God? only God is beyond compare so don’t bring the Obama issue in Zambia. Be proud of yourself we are all created in the image of God. As for the U- Turns, yes it’s good as a human being when you hear a complaint you take heed, it’s a sign of godliness. Even the almighty God does that, at one time he told Hezekiah that you will not live but die, Hezekiah cried to God and his request was Acquiesced 2 Kings 20:1 – 6. In another instance, God wanted to destroy the children of Israel for their sin, but Moses prayed to God and the situation was resolved. Now, if the Immortal God could change his mind how much more a human being. Is God inconsistent? No! Read what he…
@ Big Tribe
Can you please enlighten me on what God say about corruption? What He says about theft of People money? Or about pathological liars?
Thank you.
Comparing yourself to higher standards is not a sign of inferiority complex. Problem is you don’t want to think outside the box. Just want to parrot what your leaders are doing or saying. If you are close minded you will think you are the best but you are actually the worst. I will give you an example not related to politics. Conlyde Luchanga our young man should rate himself against people like Messi and Ronaldo not anyone in the Zambian league otherwise he will remain sub standard just like our politicians and please don’t bring in religion because that will be another argument altogether. .
and yes U-TURNS are normal but our government has made it a standard. If you are in business you know you can’t plan with the back and forth we see in our government. I assume you are not in business otherwise you would certainly understand what I am talking about.
One thing that worries me about FDD and UPND is that they think ECL is not a listerning president and that’s where they get it wrong.ECL is not a president for just PF but also for Nawakwi & the saddist HH.He is there to save them as a servant as Zambians.Zambians cried for a constitution and we hv it now,Zambians cried when he increased zesco what did he do he listerned.what more can you ask of him
MWE BANTU: Unfortunately I am not the type of a person who compares himself to any man because man can fail anytime and disappoint me. My standard is Christ. So to me when you talk about Obama it really baffles me. Any person is special in the sight of God, what makes a person special is his peculiarity. There is only one HH, ECL, Mwe Bantu. The fact that when mwe bantu dies he can not be replaced, no matter what you do, makes him special. Understand your value you were bought at a price and each person after his/her kind.
Jameson Kadansa by his own admission called himself a “ton of bricks”, that’s neither servant nor listening. As for his inconsistencies, well, maybe his BOZ governor will make some people understand how much harm that has caused to Zambia’s economy.
Those Who do not recognise Leadership (ECL) do not recognise God who instituted leadership. The Bible tells us to pray for those in leadership or authority because there is no leadership except that which the almighty God has instituted. Our prayers should be offered so that they rule in fear of God. Anyone who does not recognise leadership is not worth to rule, for it is God who rules over the affairs of men and who gives leadership before you are even born you are in the lineage of leadership. So it is not what you processes in terms of education, money, wisdom etc but what God has for you in stock. To conclude some people will rule at no cost, others at a cost while others still, no matter what they will do, say, spent will never rule. Why because God has plan and no one can advise him.
Antonio Mwanza should know that policies are made based on assumptions mostly and if those assumptions change or no longer hold, why should government still stick to the policies that do not work for the benefit of the majority Zambians?
The obvious answer to your question is that the people that make the “assumptions” are just too dull, ignorant and VISONLESS to make proper assumptions!
Obviously, you deserve a self pat on the back, FDD, but it has to be pointed out that most Leaders aware of economic strife in any country would be hesitant in making life harder for its citizens. It’s hardly a genius point to understand. However your comment that PF us all at Sea is vindictive! The fact is that a good Leader must be able to provide ad hoc solutions in any stormy weather, where they are unable to control the elements. Therefore you have given PF and His Excellency an own goal, backhanded critic that shows you in bad light on that point.
Fact remains that forthcoming elections are a factor in the decisions government is making today.
Mwanza is right. Proper analysis was not made about zesco tariffs and this coupled with lack of constant feedback through the presidency interacting more through briefs results in misconceptions. Comparisons with other human beings are just alright. Yes Jesus Christ is the ultimate standard but humans fall short by far. Obama is transparent and interacts with his people. Not with the PF style. This is part of the campaign. But that is alright. It is up to Zambians. PF campaigned through promises of a new constitution. It took the death of a President and the removal of one Kabimba from the ruling party as well as increased popularity of one HH for the people of Zambia to get a part of…
Ba shonongo you are happy about paying less yet usual insults.
For hiding to the advise? Do you mean heeding to the advice?