When you come to the Copperbelt Province, you can even see on your own that here there is a minister who is in control, says provincial minister Bowman Lusambo.

Responding to a caller who wanted to find out why the minister had given too much powers to cadres when he featured on ZNBC’s Government Forum, Monday, Lusambo said his office was in control.

“For Copperbelt Province I am in charge and for me, I don’t tolerate lawlessness. When you come on the Copperbelt Province you can even see on your own that here there is a minister who is in control. We don’t tolerate politics at bus stops and we don’t tolerate lawlessness where land is concerned. We have put our foot down and we are in control. So for Copperbelt province, I think we are safe, we are in control. The reference which he [the caller] has made, I think he has made reference to the wrong territory. He is talking about Lusaka so I can’t talk about Lusaka. We are concentrating on the Copperbelt Province and when you come to Copperbelt Province we haven’t given any powers to the cadres,” Lusambo said.

“What we are doing, we are contributing to the growth of our economy. As government we have not given any cadre contracts to work. When you come to the Copperbelt province you will find that all the contractors who are working in the province are contractors with a value and they are adding value to our projects. So I don’t know if he has missed his contribution, I don’t know what he meant by giving power to the cadres.”

Asked to compare MMD projects to those implemented by the PF, Lusambo said it was difficult for him to compare the two because he was just a cadre in the previous regime.

“Let me put my record straight. Chitalu (host) I was a sympathiser of MMD. I wasn’t in any position in MMD when MMD was governing. I was just like any other person who had believed in the party as a supporter. For me, I should not start comparing the projects in MMD and in PF. I can just say that as Patriotic Front government of His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, because I am in government and I know that we are doing a lot to transform the lives of our people in all sectors. So I can assure you that the government of His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, we are doing a lot to transform the lives of our people. And the President himself wants to leave a legacy. Yes, at the end of the day the President will retire after running for his two terms, and he wants to leave a legacy. He wants to leave a legacy politically, economically and socially and this is what we are doing. So I can’t start comparing projects which I don’t know. I don’t know the projects in MMD,” Lusambo said.

“I know the projects in PF because I’m in PF and I am a minister in PF in charge of Copperbelt Province. Copperbelt Province we are doing a lot and we want to thank His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, he has given us a lot of projects. Multi-million dollar projects. Very soon we will give our people in Luanshya, Masaiti, Mpongwe and Ndola, safe drinking water from the Kafulafuta dam. Its a very big dam which we are putting up in Kafulafuta. And that dam will come with other activities. We will deal with aquaculture with that dam which we are putting up in Masaiti. So those people who want to compare, I can just tell them that I can’t compare but we are doing a lot as PF government under the able leader his Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu.”

Meanwhile Lusambo said the contractor of the Chingola Solwezi road had assured him that the road would be handed over to government soon.

“On the Chingola-Solwezi road, I can comfortably say we on course. The contractor has assured us that very soon they will hand over to government. I inspected that route from Chingola, 20-30 km into Solwezi-Chingola road and as minister of Copperbelt province I can assure that we are here to transform Zambia,” said Lusambo.