Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya says it is strange for former ministers who served in the PF government to attack the ruling party today when they did nothing sensible during their time in office.
And Kafwaya says he is confident that the people of Zambia will vote for the Patriotic Front in 2021 because the party has transformed the country in terms of road infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Kafwaya says he will support all progressive articles in Bill 10, including the delimitation of Constituencies.
Speaking when he appeared on a Pan African Radio News Feedback programme, Sunday, Kafwaya charged that the former ministers did nothing but steal from the Zambian people.
“There are a lot of colleagues who were ministers, when they were ministers, they could not do sensible things but today, they are saying they want to be presidents so that they can help the Zambian people. How are you going to help the Zambian people just because you are president? When you were given a role as a minister, you did nothing. In fact, when we remind you that even that mining you did in Lower Zambezi, you start running away saying no it is Cabinet,” Kafwaya said
“When we ask you how Cabinet can approve a policy which is not sponsored by a minister, you cannot answer the question. You are given a good chance to help the Zambian people, you steal their cash. Up to today, people are suffering, people are dying, you cannot even have the remorse that ‘now that I want to be leader, let me show some leadership I go back to these people and say when I was given chance to run this, I mismanaged it, let me pay back’. But all you are saying is when we become leaders, we are going to do the right thing.”
He said unlike President Lungu who had left a legacy in Chawama, the former ministers had not done anything to write home about.
“When Michael Sata used to campaign he used to tell us I built this flyover bridge, I built Intercity, I built the bank houses in Emmasdale, so what do you have to say? President Lungu left a legacy in Chawama, he was an MP this why President Michael Sata before he died he gave him all the positions,” he said.
And Kafwaya bragged that the PF had transformed roads in Zambia.
“When you see the feeder roads that President Edgar Lungu’s government is doing across the constituencies, he is trying to help the diversification of agriculture. Because President Edgar Lungu knows very well that agriculture takes place in the rural areas and so for inputs to be able to be delivered and outputs for the marketing to be easier, feeder roads need to be done. This is why you are seeing all these things. The reason why you are seeing these beautiful roads being done, it is to facilitate for tourism because President Lungu, in line with what you see in that book, he wants to make it easy for tourism to thrive. Because tourism can help to change this country,” Kafwaya said.
“So clearly, the Zambian people as far I see it, they are going to judge President Edgar Lungu not based on social media, not based on hatred, not based on all the ill feelings that you see, they will judge him based on his focus upon the Zambian people. When I win an election [for instance], Lunte people are going to decide based on what they perceive I have been able to do for them as their area member of parliament and also to some degree when I was given responsibility to run the two important portfolios; the Ministry of Works and Supply and now the Ministry of Transport and communications.”
Kafwaya said President Lungu had not failed to run the country.
“You cannot say ba President ba kangiwa (the President has failed). It is the same President who has changed Mwanawasa hospital, it is the same president who has built all these roads, it is the same president who is constructing these towers, it is the same president who is enabling the environment. No, there is no resigning, we are going to the polls in 2021.What you must tell your UPND colleagues is that they should sell their manifesto. In fact, last time I was saying this UPND group is a joker I challenged them here to produce their manifesto but what they produced is not a manifesto,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kafwaya said he would support all progressive articles in Bill 10, including the delimitation of Constituencies.
“Bill 10 is certainly not up to me as a Minister of Transport and Communications and member of parliament for Lunte. For me, in Bill 10, I will be projecting my thoughts, I will be projecting the thoughts of People in Lunte and also other Zambians so I will be supporting all progressive articles in Bill 10 including the delimitation of constituencies because I want Lunte to be cut in between so that I can have manageable wards in Lunte. If I have a chance of being re-elected or those who will come in future, when there are two constituencies there, the distance will be easier to cover and Constituency Development Fund (CDF) will cover many more projects in a smaller constituency so this is what I will be looking forward to and I will be looking forward to all those contentious clauses which both UPND and PF don’t want to be amended out of Bill 10,” said Kafwaya.
2 Responses
Development yes personally I see it as stated by the Honourable Minister especially roads in Lusaka and I like it but the question is at what cost? Is there value for money? This goes to other procurements the government has undertaken. Good governance requires transperancy. Giving an example, Ministry of Finance years back used to publish funding released to Spending Agencies monthly in our two public news papers. What went wrong with this? Note that Lusaka is not Zambia. Let us extend this road thing to rural areas as well.
i find it difficult to read some articles in the diggers columns. Do the writers proof check what they write?