KANCHIBIYA member of parliament Sunday Chanda says the 10 more votes that the PF got in Dundumwezi compared to the 2016 general elections is an improvement for the party.

And Chanda says President Hakainde Hichilema has everything at his disposal to succeed as Head of State.

In an interview, Sunday, Chanda said had former president Edgar Lungu won this year’s general elections, he would have continued to take development to Dundumwezi.

He advised President Hakainde Hichilema to ensure he continued on Lungu’s trajectory without segregating any constituency in the country including those that didn’t vote for him.

“We want to believe that the government is going to take development to all parts of Zambia including Kanchibiya without any segregation whatsoever. Remember that when PF was in power when president Lungu was in office, he took development to areas that did not even vote for him. We saw president Lungu taking development to areas such as Dundumwezi even when he got 252 votes. We want to believe that his successor President Hakainde Hichilema is going to continue in the same trajectory that areas that did not vote for him will still receive development because that is democracy,” he said.

“Well, it is an improvement and I mean you want to also respect the people’s freedom of choice. The people of Dundumwezi exercised their rights and we got 10 more votes compared to 2016, it is democracy. Even with what was happening and I can tell you that had president Lungu won this election, he was still going to take development to Dundumwezi because at the end of the day, democracy is what it is, elections are what they are over and beyond elections, the President and the government has the responsibility to discharge its functions to all parts of Zambia without leaving anyone behind.”

And Chanda said President Hichilema had everything at his disposal to succeed.

“I think that in all sense, the government is a system where the Presidency is an institution. So the new President has moved in and he has moved into an institution. I want to believe that we have competent technocrats, we have specialized offices and agencies that are at the President’s disposal for him to use in order to deliver effectively. He has got everything at his disposal to deliver or not deliver,” he said.

“He has taken over a system and it’s up to him how he uses the government, how he uses the system, how he uses this particular institution called the Presidency. The question of experience is neither here nor there, he is President. He has taken over the institution, he is running the government which is a system.”

He advised President Hichilema against discarding everything which Lungu worked on.

“I think if there is anything that we can say from our own view in advising the President is that he mustn’t discard everything that president Lungu did. There is a lot that President Lungu did and you know there are tendencies of new governments to throw away everything your predecessor did especially when there has been a change of the government. This is also responsible for much of Africa’s under development because that is retrogressive,” he said.

“The reason we have succession of power is to build on the good that is left by your successor but also to learn from their mistakes. I think that is what the Zambian people are expecting and so he has got an opportunity to build on the successes of president Lungu and he also has an opportunity to learn from the shortcomings of president Lungu.”

Meanwhile, Chanda said it was important that the mining sector was led by Zambians especially now that the copper prices were at a record high.

“I also spoke about KCM and Vedanta, the Zambians have made their positions very clear on this matter and even if the President wants to change the players, what he must not do is to change the principle. The principle is that the mining sector must be led by Zambian people. Of course there is nothing wrong with having investors, but we want to run this particular sector. We know that copper prices are record high and there is a reason why Vedanta would want to start negotiating now,” said Chanda.

“The President must avoid at all costs giving in to the voice of Vendata on this particular matter because by doing so, he will be injuring society, doing so will be betraying the people. We want to believe that he is listening not to voices that are commending him but also voices that are criticising him of which is the leadership he has promised to offer to the Zambian people.”