People’s Alliance for Change (PAC) president Andyford Banda has insisted that PAC will eradicate the culture of only empowering political party cadres to help liberate young people and drive entrepreneurship in the country.

In PAC’s weekly newsletter to News Diggers! Banda insisted that once in power, a PAC government would introduce an entrepreneurial government driven by a fresh group of new generation politicians.

He explained that PAC existed to transform Zambia and the lives of the people and this could only be done if job opportunities were created for all, regardless of political affiliation.

“PAC is here to transform our country Zambia and transform the lives of many Zambians. This can only be done if we create opportunities for all as opposed to monopolising opportunities as is the case currently with the PF government. Even though we may have been insulted by the Minister of Sports and Youth development Moses Mawere, who used a derogatory remark referring to us as dogs by the use of the term ‘barking’, we shall not relent to call for the empowerment of the majority of Zambians,” Banda said.

“Yes, we insist here, again, many empowerment projects have failed because of the PF’s appetite for empowering cadres. In addition, the idea of the PF or any political party in power of empowering a targeted few cadres is for selfish and greedy reasons! This is just for them to be guaranteed of a certain constituency’s support of their continued stay in power. The PAC government will change this narrative.”

He articulated PAC’s mission as being beyond just ascending to power.

“Our purpose and mission is beyond just ascending to the helm of the ladder of power. We endeavour to demonstrate that selfless and dedicated leadership can achieve a lot not just for our generation, but also for generations to come. There should be one persistent question that should always beg an answer from all those seeking leadership; and that question is: ‘How can I contribute to the transformation of people’s lives, especially the most disadvantaged in my community or country?” Banda stated.

He noted that he had seen people campaigning for any strong political party, not because they believed in the ideologies, but because they wanted to control contracts once their preferred candidate won elections.

“We have seen people sweating during elections, campaigning for any of the strong political parties not because they believe in the ideologies of that party, but because they want to monopolize contracts once their preferred candidate or party wins elections. This is so because there is no system that fairly allocates opportunities from the government to the people of Zambia. And there is no structured support base for those that want to venture into entrepreneurship. Once this is sorted, our politics will change because no one individual will be able to take advantage of the system and in the end, they will start supporting a political party based on the ideologies not based on what is in it for them,” Banda said.

He said simple projects were being contracted to foreign-based companies despite Zambians having skills owing to the lack of systems or political will to empower Zambians.

“Owing to the lack of systems or a will to empower our own, we have seen simple projects, such as building of a school being contracted to foreign-based companies when we have skills that can deliver once they are structured as per the new CEEC (Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission) under PAC. Our bricklayers have built mansions in Chalala, Silverest, New Kasama, Lilayi and yet cannot be entrusted to build a simple block of class rooms. Our carpenters have made various sophisticated home and office furniture and yet cannot be entrusted to make simple desks for a school for pupils to sit on. Our people are suffering while working for foreigners and making blocks and yet have not been entrusted or empowered to make blocks for our schools,” Banda lamented.

He explained that PAC would introduce an entrepreneurial government driven by a fresh crop of new generation politicians.

“As PAC, our firm belief as already alluded to in our earlier article titled: ‘Zambia needs an entrepreneurial government’, a government led by people with diverse ideas working in unison is what the country needs. This is in contrast to the current style of fire-fighting leadership that is void of planning and implementation. PAC is poised to deliver unprecedented results through the introduction of an entrepreneurial government driven by a fresh crop of new generation politicians. We believe this can only be achieved through an entrepreneurial ecosystem that has a solid support base supported by current thinking, policy and goodwill,” stated Banda.

“We have emphasized time and again that all non-special skill government contracts will be exclusively shared among numerous Zambians. This is in a quest to break current systems that are designed to support a few individuals as opposed to supporting the majority of Zambians. This is also in an effort to ensure that the Zambian-buying population is boosted and subsequently spurs a chain reaction of waking up sleeping industries.”