Agriculture Minister Dora Siliya has blamed delays in the distribution of farming inputs for the 2016/2017 farming season is partly due to the presidential petition.
Ms Siliya stated that the decision by the UPND to petition the outcome of the August elections meant that full government operations were also affected by everyone awaited the outcome of the petition.
She said in an interview that government only started operating in full around October after the presidential petition application was dismissed.
“So from late August right through to October, there was little we could do because there was this petition hanging over the nation,” she said.
Ms. Siliya said the situation was further compounded by the fact that this is the first season that the E-voucher scheme was being piloted.
She said like every new system, there have been some teething problems with the implementation of the E-voucher system.
“The truth is that the farming season has been problematic this season but Government cannot be entirely blamed because there have been a number of factors that have contributed to the problems we have faced,” Ms. Siliya said.
“People are forgetting that during the period of the petition, there was very little that we could do. The whole uncertainty during that period didn’t help with preparations for the farming season,” she said.
Ms. Siliya assured that government will next year conclude the distribution of all farming inputs under Farmer Input Support Programme before the commencement of the farming season.
Really laughable..no further comment!
Imputti isula tabula kubwekeshapo!
This Siliya just insulted Zambians that the ministry of agriculture continues existing if Dora is waiting for petition or not.
Very silly Siliya!!
Dora was appointed on sept 27 so what’s this excuse about?
Kwena Zambia – that’s why I left!
Dora … keep quiet and get down to work for your bosses; the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise. Chop off those sister girl nails painted in blue and get them dirty with some soiled clay. We need to see you more in an overall than in cutex.
We all expect you more in the field, your position is not that of public appearance or public oratory. Yours is that of rolling sleeves and getting things done. Step down if you cannot handle the job; keep quiet we don’t want to hear you talking, we want to see you working.
Every time you speak, you come up with an excuse … time for politicking is over, it is time to govern. The petition is water under the bridge; no more excuses please, just execute!
We know who to slap and feed cow dung to then!!!
ba PF baleteya akalambe mu kafment sure!
This is the consequence of bedding your subordinates! How do you discipline them after you have eaten?
The best thing is to apologize and commit to a better service next time around. What is wrong with us Zambians with this ego all over the place. The procurement of farming inputs should have done before the campaign period by the relevant PSs. When did the Minosters approve procurement of inputs? Did the Minsitriea stop functioning during the campaign period? The whole system knew about the elections in August so giving or rather using the petition for the mess in this years farming season is just rhetoric. Apologize naimwe
The best thing is to apologize and commit to a better service next time around. What is wrong with us Zambians with this ego all over the place. The procurement of farming inputs should have done before the campaign period by the relevant PSs. When did the Ministers approve procurement of inputs? Did the Minsitries stop functioning during the campaign period? The whole system knew about the elections in August so giving or rather using the petition for the mess in this years farming season is just rhetoric. Apologize naimwe
What non.sense! What crap!
Ba Agric Minister please liven up yourself to the fact that Zambians are now smarter and can see through that which does not make sense! This is not time for excuses to divert failure of fixing the problem faced at all times with approaching maize production cycle! There simply was no money to kick off the distribution of farming inputs and in the same vein that you argue of not Dora Siliya being the Ministry of Agriculture the technocrats were in offices to kick start the program it didn’t need a minister! The Ministry of Agriculture had no readily available financial resources period! The plans for the 2016/17 production cycle were included in the 2016 Budget I presume and to suggest the delays are a result of political positions’ jittery delayed start is beyond logical comprehension!…
contd… Ba Minister its best you stop propounding your lame excuses on the sector Zambians understand very well that you have no deep exposure to! Leave it to the technocrats so you quote then otherwise other reason for the delays could have been your unavailability for the ceremonial flagging off of the distribution!
Lungu,Dora and PF are mistaken if they think the UPND Petition was “dismissed”. U cannot dismiss a Petition without Hearing it and determining it. The Petition is very much alive but it is being blocked from being heard by illegitimate Lungu.As long as the Petition is unheard and disposed off, it will continue to haunt the illegitimate PF govt.The mistake that the illegitimate PF govt is making is to assume that the Petition is dead and buried. It is not and the sooner Lungu realises this the better. Stealing elections and clinging on to power has grave consequences. Illegitimacy has a huge cost to the economy and Zambia will not be an exception. Wherever Lungu goes he will be stigmatised as an Election Thief, Fraudster and Rigger. Lungu will not get joy from the International Community…
SERIOUSLY?!!! DORA IS FUNNY. IS THAT YOUR EXCUSE NOW!!!! THIS MINISTER OF “CHIGOLOLO” IS TAKING ZAMBIANS FOR F00LS.
“DORA IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY JUST GO ON ANOTHER HOLIDAY. STOP TREATING ZAMBIANS LIKE CHILDREN. STOP THE NONSENSE.
MINISTER OF CHIGOLOLO!!!!
This is the most ignorant reason in the history of Zambia. How again was she appointed as minister?
Bottom power, what else?
I thought you said the ministry is supposed to continue to function whether Dora has gone to plant her seeds for herself or not.
Ubufi bulabwela. She forgot that this is not the Ministry of Dora Siliya
@Umuswema – my sentiments exactly. If the Ministry continues to function without her, why should the petition affect it? Civil servants were there working, so she is lying. Today she says one thing, tomorrow another. These people keep changing statements.
@ Sata didn’t lock up up journalists, she’s an epitome of short memory for its hardly a week that has passed when she reminded the nation of the same! She’s gathering straws to construct a roof!
Comment: When your at fault it is better not to be talking the loudest, it helps to keep quiet coz if you dont it is very easy to contradict oneself. When she was in the states the ministry remained functioning cos the Ministry of Agri is not Dora. Now she is saying the ministry was not functioning because of presidential petition. Zambians are very intelligent people, time will come when cheating and looking at citizens as tools who can be used anyhow will come to an end.
She has a lot of fat in her brain.
Dora , were ministers not getting paid during the petition period ? If you were not getting paid fare enogh but if you were collecting salaries and sitting at home…..
..just thrown-up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jeez wept – that ot thru????????????????????????
Nzelu, she is the hon. minister of agriculture for the same reason you are NOT! What kind of brain do you have to keep writing the same old tired disrespectful insults every day? You and your ilk surely must tire from attacking this resilient, teflon woman. You seem glued to her name ! Look in the mirror and what do you see? i Can see for you…..an a zz …….ho! Leave my minister alone , and by the way she can have a life just like you!
@ zambianoizme
Take your incompetent minister to your home
A pilot can have a life as well. That doesn’t F’ing mean that the f’ing pilot can take leave mid flight when there’s severe turbulence and the computer is on the fritz. Fukc you and all like you!
The quality of leadership in the country is very shallow.
So the government was functioning when she was on leave but not when the petition was in place?
I bet the next excuse for PF will be the election of Trump.
Those who continue to bury their heads in the sand should be pulled out to listen to proof from Dora that this is surely an impotent government. Does anyone remember any other ministry shut down when the Presidential petition was launched? Lungu himself refused to step aside during that period. I have yet to learn of a more shameful and atrocious excuse than this!
‘Once upon a time, the RATs and the APEs raided a farmers barn and ate and destroyed all his farm produce. It all started when the farmer came up with the idea of domesticating these creatures because his children lacked entertainment. After they multiplied and munched his maize and groundnuts He could not even complain to anyone because he realized he had asked for it. No one to complain to really’.
It looks like the minister spearheading agriculture department went on honeymoon. We do not need excuses. We are are already suffering while you are enjoying for not working. This is very serious issue. The season will never wait on us. I can’t believe this is happening and our president is staying mute.
Ever since she came back from USA, she always looks tired and out of breath, she really had a Christmas to remember.
Dora is right. Petition delayed distribution of agricultural inputs. Dora and PF are aware that they are a fraud. The did not win the Presidency and were 101% sure the courts would not extend their illegal stay in GOVT if the petition was to be heard. Spot on Dora, and thats why your PF is still afraid.
Ineptitude of the worst kind. Now where are PF morons who were supporting this misfit the other day when the issue of her holiday came up? This level of incompetence is beyond reproach. Its better to be level headed when analyzing issues than to be swayed by political inclination which devoids one ‘s capability to think analytically and coherently. She clearly said that she does not go with the ministry during her sexual escapades but who cares? You can not distribute inputs in January and expect to have a bumper harvest. UPND petition? What a lame excuse and the vision less one is sitting idle listening to this nonsense. Instead of distributing inputs they were busy with the maize scandal. Bamakaka.
Dora is right the PF govt was paralyzed by the UPND Petition. The thinking was that if the Petition was heard and determined Lungu and PF were going to be out of power becoz they knew Lungu had lost the Election to HH. To prevent the Petition being heard Lungu and his friends and “Night” Judges at Concourt schemed and blocked the Petition from being heard. It is only after the Petition was “dismissed” that Lungu’s Ministers started working thanks to Concourt. Since Concourt’s Ruling is final Lungu thought he had killed the Petition only to see the Petition resurfacing via the High Court which administers the Bill of Rights. Lungu is trying in vain to block the Petition in the High Court.
AU has ruled that President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia will not be recognized after his term…
What a foolish excuse is this not the same person who was just telling us that she is not the ministry of agriculture and that government continues to function because they are permanent secretaries,pls Dora wake up this is not Vegas
CRY MY BELOVED COUNTRY………
Problem with Zambians they don’t reason , even in a house hold if their are problems things do not work well so guys reflect well you will see that what Dora has said is true.
@20 Moya, that is what I keep talking about, that (UPN)Donkeys cannot interpret the law. On one hand their lawyers rush to lodge in the president petition because the constitution gives a time limit of 7 days to do so, but on the other hand the same Donkeys cannot understand the 14 days time limit of disposing the petition (whether heard or not) within the same paragraph of the same constitution. Of course their petition lawyers understood this requirement which is why they are not among the opportunistic lawyers pursuing the remnants of the petition to make a quick buck out of the gullible HH. In fact the petition died during the lodging itself, there was a hurry to meet the 7 days but the petition really was doomed to failure because the UPNDonkeys did not have time within the 7 days to…
Contd….
In fact the petition died during the lodging itself, there was a hurry to meet the 7 days but the petition really was doomed to failure because the UPNDonkeys did not have time within the 7 days to compile any evidence at all. To me the UPNDonkeys should be challenging the tight time frame for lodging the petition which did not give them enough time to prepare adequately. But then I am not a donkey but human so our reasoning is at variance.
In fact because they had no evidence the UPNDonkeys spent and wasted all their 14 days timeframe demanding that the president should step down during the petition hearing because he may influence the court proceedings.
Its like saying that there should be no president during the election period because he may rig the elections, you know the Donkey stuff! Where on earth? It dies not happen in America, UK or even China and Russia, so it will never happen in Zambia even if HH were president of Zambia…..kikikiki
Dora Siliya do not hide your failure under the petition. Tell the nation if the petition stopped you from drawing your salary. If you were getting paid without doing your job of distributing fertiliser, then you are confirming that you have been sitting in that office only for money. Did the petition block you from going to the office, if it did not what were you doing in that office as the petition was still in court? Shame madam Minister of agriculture without policies.
This woman needs sexual therapy, her brain is always thinking of sex and not work.