State House has noted considerable progress in controlling armyworms in districts that have been invaded but has expressed disappointment at the absence of most Members of Parliament in the operation.
Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda says President Lungu is deeply concerned with the absence of some MPs in the operation to control armyworms and in the distribution of inputs and seeds in their constituencies.
ZANIS reports that Mr. Chanda said the Head of State wants all MPs to emulate the Vice President, Copperbelt MPs, the Acting Minister of Agriculture and District Commissioners who have taken a lead in controlling armyworms in all the affected areas.
He said President Lungu expects all MPs to return to their respective constituencies to take a lead in combating the worms that have destroyed crops by helping farmers to spray pesticides that are being distributed by government.
Mr. Chanda said considerable progress in combating armyworms has been recorded following the distribution of pesticide in affected areas but noted that there is need for about 9,600 litres of pesticide to be sent to areas that have been badly hit by armyworms.
The President has since incorporated the Zambia National Service (ZNS) into the join team to ensure that armyworms are quickly exterminated.
President Lungu has also directed the Ministry of Agriculture to give a comprehensive statement in the next one week on the operation to control armyworms.
State house has also announced that procurement of early maturing seed will be completed today and distributing will start to ensure that places that report crop failure could be given for replanting.
About 90,000 hectres of farmland has been affected by armyworms in Lusaka, Central, Copperbelt and Luapula provinces.
Well if you feel your worthless ministers are not doing their jobs then fire them.
@TCSoccer, you mean all MPs are ministers?
Maybe if you employed skilled ministers with relevant qualifications you would get advice. Go to the agriculture or science department at university of Zambia . There will be a scientist who can help you with this problem useless lawyer Lungu. This is what happens when you appointment an agriculture minister ( Lubinda) who has no qualifications in agriculture. He would not even know the Zambian specialist who would be able to advise on this problem.
Ignore Lazy Lungu and his silly utterances…who is in govt? Isn’t it his ministers what does he want MPs to do…this is what happens when you dont have any vision. You blame everyone for your failures…the chief was right about this bum!!
Good Point Bo ECL!
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Lol! Yeah! you kind of wonder if there are no farm’s in the MP’s areas of jurisdiction. Mighty Michael SATA once called his own MPs Useless.
Happy New Year your Excellence. Mwana mubotu!
Amos Chanda and PF are cowards, mention the names of absentee MPs.
And Kambwili is most hardworking MP to fight armyworms on Copperbelt.
Please don’t politise a very straight forward issue. MPs have very little or no knowledge of how to eradicate army worms. Let the technocrats in ministry of Agriculture and other related agencies do their work with minimum political point scoring! !….. army worms are not like cholera which is a symptom of a failed health system
But the MPs should be at the forefront speaking about how farmers in their areas are affected, how many of them are affected, whether the pesticides have arrived in their areas, and if it is a question of transportation of pesticides to their areas, the MPs should be offering their vehicles to ferry the sprays. That is part of their role as MPs. They need to care about their constituents. They should be on TV, on radio, visiting the farmers, etc. So the President is right on this one.
Thats true but this is one chance for any MP to show his concern about his constituency’s livelihood
The problem with our MPs is they do not know what their job is. Most of them think it ends at winning elections. The consequence of which State House is now doing everything – announcing of seed purchase, distribution of seed and fertiliser, combatting army worms, engaging Zambia Army and now ZNS. The National Assembly should probably hold workshops to educate MPs of what their job is.
By the way, where is the Minister of Agriculture? How can she travel at a time of crisis??? Misplaced priorities. This, I blame ECL, he should not have given permission for the trip.
The job of MPs is whiskey, woman and wala!
Wheres the Minister of Agriculture? She’s been absent from all agricultural related matters ever since her appointment.
She has been sent to do a two year course in Crisis Management and Problem Solving.
Please let the MPS also enjoy the sweetNess of Lusaka iwe Lungu.
Our MPs in Zambia except like 8, are all useless. I am including PF, UPND, MMD, FDD and independent MPs in the useless category.
You get through to a call centre, get referred to some pleasant sounding DACO, then to a field camp officer, make an enquiry to collect some GRZ chemical , only to be told they received some twenty or so 1lt bottles to be distributed amongst 5000 or so households. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the endless circus. Meanwhile people are screaming their lungs out trying to cinvince you that they are on top of things. Cry My Beloved Country. God help us.
There is only the acting minister of Agriculture. Where is the real min of Agric?
This is what happens when you have an incompetent president and minister. That Lungu appointed Siliya as minister of agriculture. Her background is journalism! She doe not know anything about agriculture! What kind of president appoints a minister of agriculture who does not have any knowledge of agriculture. A useless president with no vision. Dr Austin Sichinga is an expert in agriculture. He has a PhD in agriculture. If the president had common sense he would have appointed him minister of agriculture.
Very disappointing from LUNGU. Last week he was ordering SOLDIERS to go fight Army Worms. Are MPs or SOLDIERS magicians whose presence will scare away the Army Worms? The question that should be asked are:-
Have sufficient quantities of pesticide been made available/procured?
Do we have enough QUALIFIED MANPOWER (Agri-Officers, NOT soldiers) on the ground to spray?
Do they have enough SPRAYING EQUIPMENT including aeroplanes?
Do they know the MIXING PROCEDURES for the pesticides?
Do they know the exact GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION of the Army Worms?
Does the MANPOWER have logistics, e.g. lodging, transportation, food etc?
Is their SUPERVISION for the Manpower
Its not the MPs job to be chasing worms. Their job is to dose in parliament and say ‘Yaya yaya!!’. Chase the DCs and DACOs.
Empty leadership does not know that politicians have nothing to do with agro-chemicals! Clearly shows how emptiness of the brain is a serious handicap!
WHERE IS DORA ??????????