NAREP leader Elias Chipimo has strongly castigated the PF government for the maladministration it has allegedly subjected Zambians to.
Mr Chipimo, an Oxford trained lawyer turned politician charged that the PF has for too long practiced what he called pit-latrine politics.
He said the PF administration has filled too many holes with their putrid waste and the smell within the organization has become unbearable.
The NAREP leader was speaking on Wednesday during a news briefing at NAREP Secretariat.
Mr Chipimo said in a weekly basis, the PF administration is being accused by its own members of stealing from the public purse and doing everything within its means to rob the nation blind.
“What is happening is only the beginning of a sad and slow death of a party that had promised so much hope to the people of Zambia when its founder, the late President Michael Sata began his crusade to lead our country,” Mr Chipimo said.
Below is the full statement issued by Mr Chipimo during the news briefing
National Restoration Party Press conference
Wednesday 23 January 2018
What have we done wrong?
My fellow Zambians, I speak to you with a heavy heart. I speak to you at a time when mediocrity, corruption, greed and neglect have reached the highest levels ever witnessed in our history. Not even in my wildest nightmares did I ever foresee a situation in which serving government officials and so-called leaders would be falling all over themselves to amass as much wealth as they can greedily lay their hands on and within the shortest possible time.
At a time when we have massive unemployment, cholera, delayed agricultural inputs, unsustainable national debt, increasing child prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse, early marriages, teenage pregnancies, gender based violence, defilement, and corruption the party in power has simply folded its hands and decided to act as if someone else was in charge.
The response to each of these challenges by our so-called leaders has been to issue threats and blame someone else for the ills they have single-handedly caused to the people. Our so-called leaders are fighting battles with ordinary citizens trading on the streets – the very people they should serve – and putting them out of business without any alternative plan as to how they will fend for their families.
On a weekly basis, the Patriotic Front administration is being accused by its own rank and file of stealing from the public purse and doing everything within its means to rob the nation blind. What is happening is only the beginning of a sad and slow death of a party that had promised so much hope to the people of Zambia when its founder, the late President Michael Sata began his crusade to lead our country.
Which leader in their right frame of mind remains silent in the face of strong allegations of corruption from former ministers within the very same administration? Only a leader who believes he can get away with it. Which country can allow its most precious natural resources like the Mukula forests to be wantonly plundered for personal gain?
Only a country whose leaders have become so blinded by greed that they are willing to sacrifice the future of their own grandchildren. Make no mistake about it, the crimes that are being committed through the illicit trading of the Mukula tree will be paid for – it is just a matter of time. Our nation has become a nation of official gangsterism – a nation in which the privilege of power is used as a tool of oppression to further the greedy ambitions of an elite few whose god is their stomach, their loins and heir insatiable appetite for ill-gotten wealth.
The PF as a party is a good as dead. It exists only in so far as it is able to control the organs of the state. It is effectively on life support, clinging onto the machinery of government like a parasite sucking the oxygen out of a limping economy.
For too long now, the PF have been practicing what can only truly be described as pit-latrine politics. They have filled too many holes with their putrid waste and the smell within the organization has become unbearable. So unbearable in fact that the cadres themselves that once championed the cause of the party, have decided that enough is enough and began to call time on the rot.
The stain of corruption will always stain the conscience of those who practice it and no doubt God is calling time on this evil that has robbed our citizens not only of their livelihoods but indeed their very lives. How may people have to die before we can finally address the root causes of diseases such as cholera? How many young girls need to become prostitutes before we tackle the factors that lead children as young as 12 years old into commercial sex work?
Cholera can easily be prevented if we set the right standards for sanitation and provide access to clean safe water to every Zambian as well as a proper and durable sewerage system to carry waste from communities. 53 years after independence, it is shameful to think that people have to dig shallow latrines that flood in the rains and cause untold misery to residents of high-density locations. It is a shame to think that 53 years after independence our men and women work for wages as low as K400 a month as maids, gardeners, security guards.
It is a shame that after 53 years of independence we still have no solution for dealing with the challenge of street vending. It is a crying shame that we have leaders today that brag and boast about corruption and being bootlickers. It is a shame that we have former leaders shouting from the rooftops about corruption once they have left power having enjoyed the very fruits of the corruption they now condemn.
Taking care of less than 17 million people in a country endowed with huge natural resources should not be hard with all the lessons of the past. Instead of sending the army into the community to terrorize and beat up citizens that have been shown no better way to make a living than to trade on the streets, we need to engage our military personnel to deliver civil works together with the communities that lack proper infrastructure.
We need to get back to the food-for-work programmes that built drainages and roads and tie this in with skills development and training. We need to allocate government contracts to a wide spectrum of stakeholders within our communities and offer them training as part of the package. We need to do this with the help of civil society and the private sector in a transparent manner so as to avoid the corruption and lack off foresight that has characterized the awarding of public contracts.
We need to turn the cholera crisis not into and opportunity for a select number of protected presidential cronies to make even more illicit money for themselves but into an opportunity to make ordinary people’s lives whole again. Instead of wasting precious resources on unjustifiably expensive fire engines and ambulances which could have been purchased from less costly suppliers, we should have been putting our limited resources into areas that would directly benefit the people and lead to lasting positive change in our communities.
We cannot justify a national airline with our current governance set up when we routinely flout the law and hold no one connected to the president accountable. The reason Zambia Airway originally went under was not because it was could not make a profit; it was because there was no accountability for the manner in which it was being run. Nothing has changed since that time – in fact, things have only gotten worse.
The lack of accountability is clear when you see the misapplication and misappropriation of funds as set out in the annual Auditor General’s report. What action is ever taken to discipline or follow up missing or misapplied funds? Contracts are entered into by the government in breach of he constitution and nothing is done. Article 210 of the Constitution makes it clear that equity held by the government in any state entity shall only be disposed of with the approval of two thirds of the members of parliament. How was the Top Star transaction legally concluded if this was not done? The Constitutional Court makes rulings that are conveniently ignored by the very government that passed the laws. When will the ministers pay back the money they have been ordered to? When will there be respect for the institutions that regulate law and order? How can a mere citizen threaten the head of the judicial arm of government and the Minister of Justice remains silent? The Head of State remains silent?
Let us rise up as one and demand an end to the mediocrity, corruption, greed and neglect that have so deeply permeated our country’s national leadership structures. Let every sincere believer pray that God not only continues to expose the rot that has infected our country’s national governance structures but that those responsible for bringing misery and harm to our nation be made to account for their actions and their crimes.
Let me end with a direct call to President Lungu:
– Do not use the army to terrorize citizens; use them instead as community partners to build the water and sanitation infrastructure required to put an end to the numerous water-bone diseases and to be an example to the youth in the community of discipline and duty
– Do not stay silent in the face of corruption but set up independent and impartial panels to investigate the corruption in your regime regarding roads; ambulances; fire trucks; medical supplies
– Do not condone continued plunder of our natural resources by pretending the illicit Mukula trade is under control but organize our urban and rural residents to plant trees and to protect them
– Do not allow current and future generations to become permanent beggars by borrowing recklessly and beyond our means but authorize a national debt audit and bring full transparency to the debt procurement process
– Finally, do not treat street vendors and marketeers like animals but see them as you would your very own children, providing opportunity for them to achieve their God-given potential.
WHERE TO NOW CHIPIMO …..NDC OR UPND ….CHOOSE PF
Exactly what Trump said. Zambia and many African countries are sh!thole countries.
Chipimo has a certificate from oxford university. He is not an oxford trained lawyer.
He doesn’t have a PhD like me does he ?
Look I don’t want to undermine the man but he has to accept that PF is the choice of the Zambian people.
They want to be Governed by PF and atleast until 2026 nothing will change.
Bassop!
Thanks
BB2014,2016
Kekekeke this is best of this year.
Exactly of what it is, pit latrine. Not toilet, but pit latrine.
Mr Chipimo you forgot to mention the drought which the nation and all of Southern Africa is facing, this drought is such as big threat that the State should actually declare:it a national emergency and we must take steps to avert famine. This is the time at least while there is still a little rain left!
Chipimo looks like a CHOLERA Lawyer. Mushota is right, He is not an oxford trained lawyer.
Mushota
Are you not supposed to be mourning and resting after your tradegy instead of kneeling in front of lungu ??
Well articulated observations.
The problem is the target personnel will not bother to read this, and if they do, their morals are already too elastic to adjust.
Perhaps it will make an impact if you paste it on alcohol bottles, to be read again and again when elbows are being raised.
@Nostradamus
What do you call a pit latrine in bemba? I want compare with Donald Trump’s S-word
At Least they are practicing politics. Imwe ba Chipimo don’t even have any politics going. Kuwaya waya fye.
It’s open space defecation politics, chinyenye politics, the bush called zambia is littered with human waste, it’s contaminated with vibrio cholerei.
Ama poilitics yamuchibusu.
REGECTAMENTA KIND’A POLITICKING – CHIPIMO JOINS THE RANKS OF HH UNDER 5 KIND’A POLITICS.
=================
When a loser is ejected out’a political grouping it ain’t nothing to do with normal accusing fingers righteousness. Fact that these rejectamentas have nothing more to showcase on their blatant accusal mode nature makes them incredibly corrupt themselves.
Well said Chipimo I wish people can actually take time to read this article. You have raised some valid points, well done
PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE, PLEASE DON’T PANIC, EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL- WE ARE JUST A POOR AFRICAN COUNTRY WHOSE LEADERS ARE MEDIOCRE. THE WAY WE ARE GOING RIGHT NOW I WOULD HATE TO SEE AN ARMY TAKEOVER IN THIS COUNTRY THEN WE WILL BE KAPUT FOR GOOD.
This guy is not sincere. A lot of things you mentioned were worse under UNIP and MMD. Such lies will not take you anywhere in politics. Tell people what you would do differently to better this country and its people.
@1.5 I remember his father being marched on foot by Unip vigilantes from the Bank of Zambia where he was governor to Unip HQ at Freedom House. Maybe he wasn’t born that time.
“The patriotic behind is practicing sh!thole politics” – Chipimo
It is not fair to insult the poor people who have pit-latrines. You may have been born with a silver-coated spoon in your mouth, but some of us had to make do with hard work and suffering. Do not demean us.
@ THE SAINT,
Let’s not be emotional, honestly, pit-latrines is not meant to insult poor people. The biggest insult to the poor people is actually current political scene and how politics it is being played. That should be the most concern for all of us.
These people are so focused on themselves and busy looting they will not heed any normal word used, by using such words like pit-latrines, maybe that would attract their attention for a second to reflect.
#The Saint, much as I admire the young man I am he’s so detached from the real people. He was brought up in one of the richest , most educated and most reclusive families. I remember how his late father did not like funerals because they adversely affected production. Even himself though not arrogant doesn’t see people passing by. …at the Ndola catholic cathedral I greeted him but it was like he was either deaf or blind. …like I didn’t exist.
My President where have been
He was in the latrine, cogitating…
Ka Chipimo nakena he’s just woken up from a deep slumber…Chipimo and HH are best suited as Technocrats in the Government not Politicians…
Keep talking. You have been absent for far too long.
I am sure there is an obscure fellow by the name of Antonio Mwanza who does not agree with you ba Chipimo!
At least this one is miles better than the first pit latrine politician called Chishimba Kambwili. I can vote for him not HH. I wish he could master the art of mobilization because politics is not about addressing the press from the secretariat.
I would like to know why you wouldn’t vote for HH, but vote for him?
I honestly see another Gen. GM KIND’A POLITICKING in the young man. I see him varnishing in the political environment like a lightening flash in the nimbus skies of the night. Getting finished alone with untested policies and political concepts. These pit latrine political nonentities, awe sure.
You don’t know ? Tribalism is all over his face. I pity GBM because he’s a sitting duck that will be easy to shoot. ..like reporting him to the police for forging a certificate. …
You can’t even give a proper answer. I knew you will go tribal.
So in short ba Ndanje you have zero reason for not wanting to vote for HH just dislike te? HH practically speaks all 7 major Zambian languages. The dull one can only speak Bemba and Chewa. In your learned opinion who is tribal between the two?
This not exam where you have only one answer. I’ve given you my reasons for my detest for your worm. Take it or leave it.
Dude does he even speak chewa? Have never heard him speak kaonde, lunda, luvale, ushi, lamba, soli, lenje,lozi. He is only fluent in bemba. Why he can’t grasp other zambian languages only his tribal brain knows.
My opinion is you are just a hateful little bugger supporting the dullest president in the history of the word dull. And your reason has been debunked as illogical since I have put it to you that HH speaks a number of Zambian languages. Fact that you insist on clinging on to your kama fake excuse is the hallmark of a thick skulled PF cadre so I blame you not.
Divide, come to think of it you are right. Lungu can only speak Bemba. He simply does not have the intellectual capacity to grasp any other language.
Tribal sw(i)nes I can hear you rhymes like male turned female sopranos. Sha(me)less corrupt tribalists. Just listen to yourselves. Let HH speak the world if you care, we will do our business at the ballots the best we know how. Send him crying to the courts and his blind followers. Tayali and Chomba called him a black lucifarian worshiper, HH has not denied these allegations. No serpent and known tribalist shall enter plot 1.
Ba Thorn in the butt, you really are quite childish and also pretty dull. Standard prerequisites to be a PF supporter so you pass my friend!
Pit latrine politics also known as sh1thole politics = makes a sh1thole cholera country like Zambia
These are wasted years!!
Paipa pano……kekekekekekeke….Chipimo breathing fire out of frustrations…..kekekekeke ….a wise Antonio Mwanza has crossed over to Mighty PF and now its all smiles chabe for him!!
People such as Chipimo,HH are not politicians and in Zambia,they cant win the presidency!!Chipimo and Kainde may talk whole day long and nobody shall listen to them.just talking is cheap but actions speak louder than words.DID CHIPIMO AND KAINDE SAW ON ZNBC TV TODAY HUGE RALLIES WHICH ECL ADDRESSED IN MUCHINGA DAY AGO?those are PF who vote for PF baba.
But yes i agree with Chipimo that ECL should control some soldiers (pro upnd ones) who are beating innocent bus drivers and others in Lusaka.recall,we have a lot of bantustans in the army who are pro Kainde-SO THEY ARE TARNISHING PF’S IMAGE-PLEASE CAGE…
If you are not bantu, what are you?
The best the country would hope for after lungu is in th courts of law is a GRZ of national unity…..include all these bright politicians without any fraud convictions to clear up the mess created by pf..
WELL WRITTEN CHIPIMO. YOU GOT TO ALL THE RIGHT POINTS.
CHIPIMO, MIYANDA,NAWAKWI these politicians speak with sound reasons for the need to change the political system but they have failed to run their own political parties successfully. WHY NOT JUST JOIN FORCES with say HH and/or SINKAMBA and create a MASS MOVEMENT the way MMD came with a CLEAR MANIFESTO and ROAD MAP of WHAT TO DO after removing the current government from power?? THAT WAY WE MAY TRUST THE NEW SET OF LEADERS AS BEING THEIR TO SERVE THE MASSES NOT THEIR OWN INTERESTS!!
That is right….a grouping of national unity to include all promising politicians and hopefully after forming a GRZ of national unity we will have less politicking more national development by all
That can’t happen with the politicians in the opposition! Each one of them wants to be called president. Their egos are too big… Remember, the good general formed the Heritage party and wanted only “clean” members, there was talk of a pact between PF and UPND that died in its infancy because they couldn’t agree who was going to be top dog, the learned HH or the Cadre MSC. Madam became party president of FDD more or less by default as she was “the last man standing”. All her colleagues she dicthed the MMD with either gave up on the dream or sneaked back to MMD to keep working and support their families…
That doesn’t work. …they will be jostling for positions. It happened with MMD unless you were not there. In any case the idea is not to join forces against PF but to expand your voter base by convincing the masses with your vision. The way people like Kambwili is campaigning is easily brushed aside by the people. Insulting the sitting president is not a sensible campaign material.
A good politician inspires. He convinces you to give him a vote. Tayali has just successfully presented evidence to the authorities and exposed Kambwili’s corruption; He has inspired a good number of people to vote for his party and himself. Here’s Mr. Chipimo, created Narep over 7 years ago yet he has totally failed to even have a councillor with Narep ideology in power. He now comes on stage and calls a party that started with 1 mp and eventually swept to power a pit latrine party. This clown is a complete political failure who has no business attacking the PF, in reality, his is a pit latrine politics practicing party that has failed repeatedly to inspire the masses. Uli ka su.s.h.i Elias!!!
“Cholera can easily be prevented if we set the right standards for sanitation and provide access to clean safe water to every Zambian”
Sorry Elias, the money that was supposed to be used for that is either in Lungus bank account or spent on his travel allowances.
Do you really want him to listen? He is too drunk on Jamesoni to hear you!
From losing candidates! Means nothing.
The problem i have with this politician especially hh ,ck now chipimo is you dont tell as wat u will do differently and calling zambian people poor whom you dont feed its not wise ,find better words guys instead of saying unwise word to people you have not helped in anyway its not only in govnt for u to assist even outside
Here we go again you playing the poor card, that is nonsense, that has kept people remain supporting pit latrine politicians, whose only aim is to enrich themselves once elected, someone told us others were putting on patapata now they putting on python skin shoes, and you think they care about your poor status, keep playing that poor status while balekulila amasuku pamutwe chi koswe iwe.
Firstly what are the benefits of one always aiming to be poor? I mean why would someone be proud of a government that calls itself pro poor government? It means this pro poor has no intention of uplifting people from poverty? I feel associating oneself to a pro poor government is cursing oneself to perpetual poverty, because their survival is based on you been poor.
All hot air. Tell us something new we haven’t heard! Like how you intend to strengthen law enforcement agencies to curb corruption and pursue culprits cited in the auditor general’s report. How are you going to prevent cholera if you are going to allow street vending? Do our soldiers have the capacity to carry out such tasks as you mention like building water and sanitation infrastructure? I expect better from an Oxford trained, have you missed the change in strategy on Zambia Airways relaunch? This time around it will be a JV with Ethiopian Airways!!! But then I guess you don’t want the people to know that… Ok, we have taken note you are still around.
Unfortunately, Mr Chipimo is talking to a small god the Alfa and omega. How can this president see people being chased from streets like his own children? If he had that heart the money he spends on touring the world could have helped those people. The money he is using to build could have bought drugs in hispitals. Tanzanians are blessed to have such a caring president not our pretending humble president. He is a disaster!!
There is one point Mushota has raised that is so loud it has deafened me.
Mushota is usually a clown but clowns occasionally think straight too.
Listen to what Mushota said…
The people CHOSE this government to lead them. They did not give narep any seat. Get that fact into your heads.
So if vendors complain, they should be told you wanted this, you chose it, now sit back and enjoy it. Lusaka District voted overwhelmingly for PF. Even if HH alleges fraud, past historical results show Lusaka is a PF stronghold. Full Stop.
So who to blame ?
You chose the pit latrine, now live with it.
What historical past can pf give us about lusaka, 2001,2006, lusaka was upnd, fdd and mmd, check your historical facts baba.
I thought Chipimo was better than the other guy but …!
And I though you were wiser Chipimo. You are beginning to sound like Dr Kaunda’s kids where you think you can asap the genius of your father by virtue of being born of him. Why the heck as an academician did you support the PF? Probably, you were hoping for an appintment as well. Tondolo musuma sometimes because you arenot Elias Chipimo senior.
True BaMule! I wonder what has changed. Because not long ago he went with His excellency to Brazil with Nawakwe? It’s the language is unlike Alias. Any way reminds of our children. When they what attention. They kick anything around them and even ppy on themselves. Continue to be civil Chipimo.
Well written, but can Ba Koswe
Listen? Fipuba sana.
Can’t beat them, join them so goes the adage. Welcome to the league of vulgar language bwana Elias Chipimo
Imagine, what a waste. It’s not surprising, this ka chap has no structures anywhere, he is just a media politician.
Chipimo has the right to express his opinions. At least he has the balls to hold conference and say what is on his mind.
Iwe you safe from Cholera and able to have three meals a day, including snacks….poloni, jam, butter, meatpie ang pure mango/orange juice. Let the ignorant and illiterate voters continue to rip what they sowed. They are still waiting for more money in their pockets….indalama shaya nama chocholi…….!
Cholera is a deadly disease. It appears during the rainy season. If left untreated, then cholera patients could die in a matter of hours. In Zambia, cholera has never been left untreated. It receives attention, in some cases at the expense of other pressing needs. However, cholera is a disease of poverty. It is prevented by healthy environments to live in. Functional drainage, portable water, clean sanitation and proper hygiene are the basic tools for cholera prevention. To the extent that cholera is precipitated by overcrowding under rapid urbanization, cholera is a disease of success rather than failure. The disease cholera is a disease of the past. Cholera has no place in the future of the country.
Pit latrine in bemba, “insolani” kikiki. awe chavuta ma politcs yangena muchinbuzi. Hope we wont have politicians wiped by cholera.
Ifikansa fya mu nsolani ati?
kikiki. lunshi mumpoto
Pit latrin and no soccer way
And he wants to lead people he can neither see nor hear…
Chipimo can call Edgar anything he likes.
Edgar will not jail him for some reason.
So Elias keep talking and fight for fellow Zambians while you enjoy immunity from Edgar.
What a come-up!from Elias Chipimo over PF party once a darling and PF satellite party. Zambians have not forgotten when Elias Chipimo and Edith Nawakwi accompanied late Sata to Brazil on PF expenditure. This is the same PFand you too is practising pit latrine or toilet politics.
so sad the govt which preserve the nature is in for front destroying the enviromnet.Mukula trees are gone bcos of lungu and Kapata.Guys do u think about africa or u want your children to run to european countries?do u think?why selling the country when u have future generation.Animals are also being smuggled by da president and the minister of tourism.
Iwe CHIPIMO, if you have proof report to the police like Tayali has done. What you are doing is like catching fish using a mosquito net without a specific target. When you say ministers why do you not mention even a single one for they all have nouns to identify themselves? You had a chance to challenge for Presidency but ended up a scared politician. At least those who participated know their rating and YOU do not. So shut up!
Imwe mwe bantu its not soccer way but SOAK AWAY. Chizungu cha mu Pit chakuti.
Chipimo it is not the PF practising what you call “pit latrine” politics It is the whole politics of Zambia and the rest of the world. But for Zambia your father (chipimo) was in KKs UNIP and those where the politics – Thugs in party ligalia terrorised people, the “shushu” saga was common knowldge. Your degree sir must help you to direct your arsenal at the right point. The only reason your party NAREP does not have thugs (cardres) is that you are so few you have no where to hide. The real issue is how can we help political parties isolate the thugs within their ranks or isolate thugs riding on popular political parties? and not this “Oxfordish” thinking.
Comment:
I never imagined that one day even well- brought up people such as Chipimo would resort to street-lunguage politics of insults, joining low-calibre politicians, GBM, Kambwili and such-like.