National Democratic Congress leader Chishimba Kambwili says President Edgar Lungu and his colleagues in the Patriotic Front have stolen enough from the Zambian people and they need to be stopped.

And Kambwili has promised to revive agriculture and put an end to theft of public resources once elected into office.

Speaking at a rally in Sinda ahead of the local government by-elections, Tuesday, Kambwili said President Lungu had stolen enough and he needed to be stopped.

“We will set up processing plants in villages where crops can easily be processed. This country is very rich people should not be suffering. What is making people suffer is because our leaders today are pre-occupied with stealing public resources for their own good. President Edgar Lungu, when he was standing as President was made to sign to tell the nation all that he owns. When the President first made his declaration, he told the country that he had only K1 million worth of assets and money in the bank. One year after being President, he went to do the same declaration where he told the nation that he now had assets and money worth K23 million Kwacha. The Presidents salary is K48,000 per month. If you multiply K48,000 but 12 months, it’s going to give you about K596,000. So, the money that Edgar Lungu gets from the government is K596,000 in that year, but where did he get the K23 million. It clearly means that he stole. We know that the PF has got a lot of money that they have stolen. They stole a lot. But we will not allow these people to continue stealing. This is not their money, so we won’t allow them to steal. That is why we won’t stop fighting,” Kambwili said.

And Kambwili said the NDC would support farmers by increasing the number of fertilizer bags they were getting from government.

“The other thing that confused the agricultural sector is that government allowed the providers of seed and cotton and then government decided to start deciding at what price they will paying. And they decided to reduce the bags of fertilizer from eight to four. That is where the confusion of the agriculture sector started. You people in the Eastern province, you grow cotton, you grow soya bean and maize, so how can you allow these people to start getting your produce? What we need is a government that will make sure that whatever you grow as farmers, you have to get a profit, at least of more than 30 per cent if all the crops that you grow. What we want as NDC government is to bring respect and dignity to the farmers. Because without respecting the farmers, there can be no survival in a country in as far as food security is concerned. What we are going to do as NDC is the following, we shall continue with this fertilizer support programme, where each farmer will be given eight bags of fertilizer,” he said.

“Apart from the eight bags, we shall introduce a credit facility where every farmer will be allowed to borrow fertilizer from the government according to their ability to farm. What we are saying is that we shall continue with the FISP program and ensure that fertilizer is deliver to farmers by the first of August every year.”

Meanwhile, Kambwili promised to stop theft once he formed government.

When you go to some hospitals you will find a guard is the one giving medicines instead of nurses. Because all the money has been stolen. At the rate we are going in this country, if we don’t change government, if we don’t change the leadership, you will find that even Panado will not be administered. We have come as NDC and these people who are working with me are aware that if I find them stealing, I would send them to jail. We want all the money to go to the people. If you go to South Africa, if you go Botswana, even if you live in a grass thatched house, there is electricity, there a TV and there is a fridge. This is how we wan our people to live like here. So, nobody should lie to you that if you don’t vote for PF there will be no social cash transfer. or that there will be no money. Money will be there. And we will do away with the grade twelve clause in the Constitution,” said Kambwili.