Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo says the Capital City is sitting on a time bomb and if government officials don’t put their heads together, they would soon become a laughing stock for members of the public.

Speaking during a handover ceremony with his predecessor Japhen Mwakalombe who was transferred to Copperbelt Province, Lusambo said he was going to make tough decisions for Lusaka which would leave causalities.

“Lusaka has a lot of challenges and the decision has to be made. When you are making a decision, sometimes other people will be affected. And that is a good decision. A good decision is when you have casualties. When you don’t have casualties just know that this is the worst decision. So we are going to make some of the decisions which will affect people and that will be a good decision for this province. I can assure you that as Lusaka we are sitting on the time bomb. And if we are not going to put our heads together, the people of Zambia will laugh at us. So my coming in, we have come to change the face of Lusaka,” Lusambo said.

“The President has given us this opportunity to work. We won’t go to the President to ask him for us to do something. He has given us authority already. We are here to transform Lusaka. All of you, you know me. I’m not new to all of you. We started politics as cadres and we are still cadres and will continue to be cadres. We are pushing the manifesto of PF and we should all push the PF manifesto. All of us. What I don’t want to see is people doing politics in your offices.”

And Mwakalombe urged government officials not to resist transfers.

“In government everyone is transferable. Therefore it is very important that as a politician, civil servants, we take recognisance to the fact that when you are transferred it is not that government doesn’t like you. Also we should not resist transfers. Transfers are very important because they mean that there may be a challenge somewhere and your input and knowledge is required. So please my appeal to all of us is that let us accept transfers. Transfers should not discourage us but make us stronger,” said Mwakalombe.

“The civil service, the politicians, our role is to deliver to the masses of the people who don’t even belong to political parties. We have some of them who vote, some of them who don’t vote. Some of them voted for the ruling party while others voted for the opposition but what is important is to unite and ensure that we fight poverty. The only way we can do that is to be united.”