Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Zambian Government Buys Luxury Jets Whilst the People Suffer- MEE

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Recent news that the President of Zambia Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu and the PF government purchased five luxury planes at a staggering price tag of USD 400 million is extremely disturbing. It is also a colossal error in judgment and shows a high level of irresponsibility at the highest level of the Zambian government.

The non-denial denial statement from the Ministry of Defense permanent secretary, Mr. Stardy Mwale, does little to assure the country that the government of Zambia has the best intentions and interests for the people of Zambia. Neither does it show that they are able to bear the fiduciary responsibilities bestowed upon them by the Constitution of Zambia. The explanation given by Mr. Mwale that the government has “embarked on a programme to replace its aging fleet of transport and fighter aircrafts and other associated air defense equipment” is their failed attempt to explain the obvious. There is absolutely no urgent need for the government to purchase these planes and therefore the explanation given should not be believed as the real reason these luxury planes were acquired.

Barely a month ago, the government of the UK suspended, and may completely withdraw, its aid payment to Zambia amid allegations of rampant corruption and outright fraud. Other countries including Norway, Sweden and the USA have also either suspended or are considering suspending their pledged aid to Zambia due to corruption and misuse of donated funds.

At the time when the majority of Zambian people are experiencing unimaginable levels of poverty resulting from the failed economic policies of President Lungu and the PF party, the government should not be diverting these resources to seemingly non-urgent needs of the country.

A responsible government would put USD 400 million to good use such as to improve and upgrade dilapidated infrastructures in health, education, water and sanitation services (cholera prevention) or accelerate the construction and widening of the road networks to reduce carnage on the road that we continue to experience. This would thereby bring these infrastructures to the acceptable levels that the people of Zambia rightly deserve.

As an illustration, according to the Lusaka Times, the first ever district hospital in Masaiti was built at a cost of K22 million. With USD 400 million the government would be able to build almost 200 similar new hospitals.

At the moment only one out of every three children who start primary school makes it to the end of secondary school. Yet the PF government has seen it fit to reduce education provision in the budget from 20% of the national budget in 2015 to only 15 % of the national budget for 2019. A paltry K258.8 million is budgeted for school infrastructure in 2019. That is equivalent to only USD 21 million.

The Movement for Economic Emancipation (MEE), condemns in the strongest terms the decision by Mr. Lungu and the PF government to purchase luxury planes when our country has other urgent and pressing issues on which these funds could be used. USD 400 million would go a long way to alleviate the suffering of the Zambian people.

Furthermore, MEE would like to implore Mr. Lungu and the PF government to reconsider and rescind the decision to purchase these luxury planes and instead use these funds to help the suffering people of Zambian.

V. Ngoma, &
R. Moobola

For and On Behalf of THE BOARD-
MOVEMENT FOR ECONOMIC EMANCIPATION PARTY (MEE)

62 COMMENTS

  1. Who doent know that Freeman Sikazwe is Edgar Wu`s Sangoma opposite Arakan Barracks . Chimbwili was on point!!

    • From Chawama compound….do you think Lungu really care….Lungu now cares less about the poor…he has made it in life…his dream has now come to pass hence this kind of immoral behavior towards the Zambian people

    • I dont think Lazy Lungu cares about any bodies opinion…he knows by 2021 docile foooools will be even be poorer and easy to bribe with bread crumbs.

    • This is pure immorality and thats how i will describe it….telling the poor to fast and pray….hahahahahahah Dununa Reverse….

    • This article hasn’t outlined anything new, it’s just a repeat of what most of the people have said on this forum when the news first came out.
      Please, take it as a WORK UP call for you docile Zambians. No need for any strong words. I think it must be clear to any reasonable Zambian who really cares, to see how reckless our government is. Just look at the pictures on the left compared to those on the right, and the message should be clear. Excuse those Fuuls that keep on defending even such an i.di.otic decision, unless they are benefiting one way or the other, otherwise they have manure in their heads instead of brains. And if that is the case, then it doesn’t make sense to debate with such people.

    • The issue isn’t just luxury planes but even luxury SUVS which they drive around in, yet they want the normal average Zambian to be paying left right and centre for everything. Boreholes, landlords must pay rent, employers napsa for your workers and even the worker too must pay for napsa, tax for everything yet we don’t see much improvement, toll gate fees on the roads…these are such easy areas for any opposition to capitalize on yet they fail… Why just talking about the planes?

    • Whoever wrote the article above wants PF to be equal to everyone else. Is that realistic? It’s like wanting Kanye West (YE) to be equal to JK.

    • We need jets Please buy as many as you can or possible. Remove all aging fleet. We still remember Gabon Disaster and we don’t want to name another Stadium Namwala Disaster. Please replace all aging planes including the Presidential ones, helicopters etc. This is noot news. It is FAKE NEWS from Namwala.

    • Lazy bum illiterate tribal hooligan bully son of a polygamist father who never taught him toilet training pooping in public HAGAIN. He needs a diaper HAGAIN.

    • This is a story concorted by a bitter loser. It doesnt surprise me because the tone in which its written tallies with what the under5s posts here. Some useless preak is busy writing fake articles and LT buys them and post them here. If you havent read it the local print media or tv radio then its a fake story.

    • this is what we call hating someone for nothing. What connection is really there. He never advised him to buy these expensive planes.

  2. Corruption scandals: Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans Corruption scandals: Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans

    “…reconsider and rescind the decision to purchase these luxury planes…”? Yeah right, perhaps too late for that now as the contract has already been signed and these luxury jets are already out of the production line and on their way to Zambia.

    We need proactive solutions and advice to these dimwits, and not always coming late after the fact.

    Question is what are you guys going to do about it? We have so many NGOs in the country who are just full of yawning from the sidelines. Write to him, Lungu directly and organise demonstrations to send a real message.

    • Comrade the jets can be for all the incoming presidents but tax payers’ money is being stolen through this kind of procurements …lol
      pfoooooooooools government is full of criminals nga ta waishiba mune

    • You are missing the point. We all know the presidential plane is not personal property for Lungu but the issue at hand is the plane necessary at this moment going by our economic situation prevailing in the country? This is one of the more misplaced priorities by the PF led govt.These guys have really taken us for a ride but they should not forget that the clock is ticking. Life has taught me that it can change in a twnikle of an eye. Be ware.

    • The clueless ch1mp in the U.K is squatting @ the Zambian Embassy, wasting taxpayers cash, co’z it is related to some top P.F official, & hence was given a job to daydream & get paid.
      With such Nepotism, any wonder this one cell amoeba Gundixy does not see anything wrong with Chakolwa, & Kaizers corrupt priorities??

    • ITS NOT A personal jet. And people must know and understand. Secondly the jet alone does not cost k400 million as suggest but around k45 million. However at extreme times like these when government must be saving as much to ensure loans are paid, government has continued to over spend money on things that have no economic value. What is the impact of such a jet? what economic value will buy of teargas canes have on the Zambians? people keep advising PF what they dont seem to listen, they have become proud and arrogant.

    • So what if it’s not personal? People are dying from cholera and you say you don’t have money to collect garbage and yet you have money for private jets?! It is nonsensical! We should simplify the presidency and develop under the radar with simple vision. Another example, we don’t have enough ambulances and yet brand new vehicles come out during elections! No bwino bwino.

  3. Edgar lungu overrates himself.
    He has little to no understanding of leadership.
    He has an outdated “law degree” from unza of which rumors from his fellow dingbat kabimba has it that he graduated with distinction.
    He must have spent a lot of time unemployed and being a lawyer theoretically as the only reason of him getting to politics and impressing his drinkmates in and around chawama …LUCK “boom ba sata bafwa” lelo ni kateka.

    • I am yet to come across an “outdated law degree” from UNZA or elsewhere in the world or any other degree for that matter, particularly that you appear to suggest that ‘rumour’ has it that Edgar Lungu’s law degree was even a DISTINCTION.

      Please let us be objective in our view of things and avoid being crowded with personal prejudices.

    • Jean!
      How do you explain such incompetence.
      The self same is heaped with accolades on things that he is not.
      Their is no record of him ever winning a case in court, all we hear is his debarring by LAZ after chawing a widows money.I stand to be corrected lawyers have an advantage when it comes to talking in front of people but aba bena awe kwena we scored an own goal.

  4. Yaba just coz it’s not ECL personal property then the wasteful expenditure can be justified.
    What are u on!

  5. “……. MEE would like to implore Mr. Lungu and the PF government to reconsider and rescind the decision to purchase these luxury planes and instead use these funds to help the suffering people of Zambia.

    V.Ngoma &
    R. Moobola”

    Don’t worry, the IMF will give us a bail out for now….and 2021 is not too far out, a nice time to show these PF go.o.fs our teeth. They will have two years to enjoy the luxury, after 2021 they will be running around in tropical sandals as we pursue them.
    Forget Tri.bal Hacks, he will have buried himself before 2021. Trib.alism is far worse than any form of corruption.

    • The deal has already been done and it cannot be rescinded. Zambians should have questioned this when it was first reported by the news diggers 2017, now it is too late to cry over spilt milk. Please question every story you hear in the news or internet wheather true or false because we have a Govt who denies everything, so stop believing what they say and believe these stories when they come out and not say it’s is propaganda or some one is bitter, bane most of these stories are true because they are leaked by individuals within the system who are not happy

  6. Zambian’s, once again I’m saying the same thing. This PF government is going to destroy us and send us back to the stone age.
    Vote to kick them out or be ready to suffer even more, we ha e it in our hands to make the change or have we all become so corrupt that we dont care…. If so I still care, why do you all say

  7. …contd with Tri.bal Hacks buried, what about Chishimba Kambwili?
    He is leader of NDC isn’t he? That means he is guilty of receiving a salary as PF MP under false pretences. If someone can steal a mere parliamentary salary, what more can he steal? Evidence is there in abundance to lock this f.atso sti.nking pig away before nominations for 2021 begin.

  8. ..contd
    Now that’s three sets of “leaders” out of contention for 2021. I read your faces, don’t worry, there will be no leadership vacuum in 2021.

  9. He is praying to eradicate Zambia from poverty. Even set a special day for it! October 18(don’t you dare forget that). Manna should be falling from heaven anytime now! Get your baskets ready, mine is! He cannot go, please! No other leader has ever prayed for us the way he does!

    • He declared prayer day a holiday. People didnt work..meanwhile him and his goons received allowances for the day wtf? Ati reconciliation..mr lungu..don’t u have the numbers for the ones you want to reconcile with?

  10. Sour grapes by people who do not understand anything. They have taken everything out of context. Why don’t these chaps ask their “god” to bring back “his” money from the so called tax haven and contribute to the development of the country? This is the most absurd comparison that the so called educated people can make.

  11. Jonthan doesn’t care about poor people, he cares about his image more than anything, he cares more about luxury he doesn’t even earn. What do you expect from a convicted thief who can steal from a widow that’s how low this chap can go. With all these scandals uncovered every day he still just doesn’t give a sh!t about the man on ground and how the people are suffering. That’s why the chap just doesn’t give a press conference probably the only president in world who doesn’t do that and he see`s nothing wrong with these scandals, coz he is a born thief and loser and the priceless thing is their are people out there who still stand by him through this wrong.

    • Jona WILL NEVER, NEVER, NEVER EVER repent from his thieving ways!
      After embezzling a Widow’s cash years ago, you would think he did repent, but then he went to Israel, with his usual bunch of P.F thieving sc.umb@g parasites, cut corrupt deals, went to the Tomb of Jesus, lay down there & wept, & as soon as he left the Tomb, the corruption in his blood, like the H.1.V virus that never leaves resurfaced in FULL FLOW!
      Jona used to bath from ka basin in Chawama, so the Bling bling loving brute cannot see cash go by without dipping in it, co’z those COLD JULY DAYS, bathing in ka basin scare the living daylights out of Jona Chakolwa!

  12. IYO SMART ZAMBIAN ENTERPRISE, TIYENI NAYO!!
    B.R junior is hiding, currently in deep hibernation, co’z rumor has it junior was busy running to Switzerland, & other cash havens to hide Monday Chanda’s brothers stolen social cash from Post Zambia, for a corrupt cut, in their typical “Nachitolafye Congole’ habit”.
    JONA AYENDE, P.F. KUYABEBELE!!!

  13. Government needs to apply concept of opportunity cost.Is it worth it buying planes when hospitals and schools luck basic needs?There are certain things which government can dispense with and channel resources to needy areas.

    We are not serious with eradication of poverty in this nation.No wonder,we are proud of terms like alleviation of poverty rather than eradication of poverty.Poverty can only be eradicated if we put our resources where it matters most.Education is the best way of eradicating poverty.An ignorant nation is a threat to itself.We are creating a nation of hostility and belligerents because of not investing in education.

  14. What sort of politician echoes a fake story. K400,000,000 is ten times an exaggeration. This has been cleared and established. He is either so dull he does not do any research or he is just trying to gaming political mailage on a fake story. Either way her is not for me

  15. This is better than the crap we are subjected to by Kambwili, Hichilema and others. I am surprised that we still have Zambians who can think critically, obviously these chaps were educated by Fonkofonko. Can you please come back and bring sanity to politics instead of hiding in the diaspora like rabid UPND Larry. Edgar is on a rampage, he’s not the chap you used to meet at Club Mulamu. He has stopped listening to advice, his praise singers will only realize after being booted out. The empty terraces during his prayers is an indication that people aren’t happy, but they can’t give power to Hichilema the tribalist dictator. So come quick you chaps, else we take it that you’re cowards

    • Dont speak for every one. when did you become our spokesperson. Yes I dont like what the president is doing but I like HH.

    • You are indeed NOT the sharpest tool in the box.

      These planes are real. They are meant for “VVVIP”.

      Only the planes that people from eastern province use at night cost 49 million USD.

  16. Zambians drink water (raw untreated river water) while PF drinks fine wines- that’s the analogy that fits PF’s outrageous example.

  17. This is really the worst of all worst things someone can do to his own country. The man thinks he is a star or footballer to start enjoying lavish life at the expense of the suffering majority of the country. A Mr Mwalwa is dead wrong. Just how do u replace old fleet at a time like now. You preach austerity measures and you are busy wasting money on luxuries. These guys are the worst kind of humans. They are satanists hiding behind the church. I am slowly boycotting church if such people continue going to church and forming Religion Ministries and continue stealing from the poor.
    They are the worst disaster to have ever happened in Zambia.

  18. If running a country were like being suggested here, all countries were going to be the same in status. Unfortunately,it’s not ascribed status emanating from MBAschool or PHD STUDENT. It’s politics that runs a country. If l were him l would have gone for 10. You think the peace you bost about comes just like that? Do you know what goes on 24 hrs when you and your useless papers are busy sinning. If you understand what safety is, you will withdraw posting of yours instantly. Avoid making comments on things you don’t understand. Thats my advice for you. Yes you can talk about politics, economy and the like, but restrain from security issues. Let us just enjoy freedom of speech responsibility.

  19. Don’t make me believe that the plane in question is meant for emergency exit when things gets bad…in the country
    Preparation commences.. Kikikiki

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