UPND secretary general Batuke Imenda says PF should wait until at the end of the five-year tenure if they want to know what it means to manage an economy.

And Imenda has asked whether Kabushi PF member of parliament Bowman Lusambo has ever been to the United States for him to compare some bridges or roads in Zambia to those in that country.

In an interview, Imenda said the PF cannot claim to have laid a foundation for development when they failed to do what was expected of them.

“Let me put it this way, the MMD made a solid ground and Zambia as a country had achieved the middle economy status to which the PF went on a rampage to spend and finished all the money in the reserves. They went further to get credit for which they cannot account for and built some hospitals which they left hanging because the monies for which they got through loan facilities could not be accomplished. So they built hospitals which they could not open because there was no money to do so,” Imenda said.

“However, when they were getting loans it was an arrangement where the buildings were constructed, workers were employed and equipment put in hospital but [they] left hospitals non-operational. So they cannot claim credit for failure to do what they were expected to do. As far as we are concerned, they have left a very weak foundation and if they would like to know what it means to manage an economy, let them wait until at the end of five years. As far as we are concerned, what they have done is just a mere attempt to do the work which [they] cannot get credit for.”

Imenda asked whether the Kabushi lawmaker had ever been to the US for him to begin to compare some bridges or roads in the country to those in America.

“Let them wait until five years, that is when they will know what it means to manage an economy. You cannot expect a cadre like Lusambo who just came from the streets to manage an economy. He does not know the difference between running a better economy and doing shambles in government, he does not know. That is why when he saw those bridges constructed along Great East Road, he compared these useless bridges to New York and that it is development. I do not know whether he has been to America in his entire life,” said Imenda.

“He could have known what it means for one to compare New York to these bridges. So what he calls a better economy is something that he does not even have the slightest idea of what it means to have a good economy. The chap is just a cadre who came from the streets and who by just mere luck found himself as a Minister. And remind him that he was saying ‘if UPND wins come and get my house’. Please, let him bring the keys to his house to my secretariat. We want to put that house as a facility for the youths who just win and win big.”

Delivering his maiden speech in Parliament, Tuesday, Lusambo said it would be very difficult for any President to ignore former president Edgar Lungu’s legacy of unprecedented development.

He added that when one moves around Lusaka, they could feel as though they were in Chicago or Los Angeles due to the good road network constructed by Lungu.