I expected President Hakainde Hichilema to give directives to his ministers and not defend them-Chanda

New Congress Party President Peter Chanda has called on the United Party for National Development – UPND to give a proper direction to the country and not tamper with the bureaucratic process of how the government runs.

Mr Chanda said that the UPND risks being voted out in 2026 because the Zambian people have already experienced their governance system.

Mr Chanda mentioned that in the year 2023, people should be able to expect something different to be done by the UPND Government especially on the governance sphere, because 2022 was a rough year in that the country was experiencing issues such as the shortage of drugs, adding that the 2023 Budget has already been announced and therefore, the Ministry of Health should endeavour to do the right thing this year.

“I was very disappointed with President Hakainde Hichilema’s address because I expected him to give directives and not defend, I expected the President to caution Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo as to why she refused to accept the report that there’s inadequate medicine because the people are crying, I want to advise President Hichilema that he is not on the position to defend what you have failed to do but you are there to direct respective Ministries to do the right, don’t micromanage the country yourself, allow your Ministers and all the officials appointed to do their work, you are their as their supervisor to make sure that they do the right thing,” he said

Mr Chanda said that a healthy nation brings about a developed country, therefore, the health sector cannot be compromised all in the name of trying to get rid of suppliers who are deemed to be inclined to the former ruling party the Patriotic Front – PF.

He mentioned that President Hichilema needs to know that he is elected to be President and sitting on the throne, and he is not supposed to be told what to do, adding that a President is not supposed to be so petty that he even goes down to the level of a person that says that is a PF thing or person because it has never been a crime to belong to a political party in this country.

“So in nutshell, I want to say that 2022 was rough but this year 2023 we expect the government to do the right thing in all the sectors, we just don’t want to hear that the budget has been allocated but we want the money to be released in January to ensure that things such as fertilizer is bought on time, and medicines is also bought on time, otherwise, I will be on the line of those that are going to protest over the health care within this year,” he said

Mr Chanda stated that the recent attack on two radio stations on the Copperbelt compromises the promise that President Hichilema made where he stated to say that they will be freedom of expression under his leadership, because the political space had shrunk under the Patriotic Front, but it’s the same shrinking of the political space that gave President Hichilema the leverage to form a government as an opposition leader.

“But if we are going to go with this trend, that we should not appear on radio stations and other media platforms, then that is very wrong,” he said

He cited that the abolishment of defamation of the President should not be used as a scapegoat to begin to insult the President, because as long as one is a President of a political party and deserve respect, President Hichilema also deserves respect.

“We cannot allow a situation where the democratic space is shrunk further than what it is at the moment, the UPND cadres need to be tamed and President Hichilema needs to come out strongly to condemn this vise,” he said

And Mr. Chanda disclosed that one of the resolutions for their Party this year is to position themselves for the future as there are only three years remaining to go to the General Elections, as their Party will focus on party mobilization, and at the same time they are not overlooking the concept of political alliances evident hence they will coordinate themselves.