Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya says President Edgar Lungu is spending sleepless nights over how to deal with the economic hardships which the country is currently facing.

And Kafwaya has commended the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) for procuring the luxurious presidential jet saying they made the right judgement on behalf of the country.

Speaking on Pan Africa’s News Feedback radio program, Sunday, Kafwaya said President Lungu would act and make sure Zambia’s problems were resolved.

He said this when he was asked if the high cost of living, electricity crisis, corruption in the civil service and high unemployment levels were not going to stand in their way in 2021.

“The issues you have elaborated are important issues. Important to the people, important to their leaders, I think they may be important to the opponents of President Lungu because the people that [those] who are opposing President Lungu [are the ones who] want to lead, [they] are the same people President Edgar is leading today. As a nation, we must come out of these problems and one way which we can easily come out is when can bring ideas together. Ideas which make sense not like the alternative budget which we saw from UPND that was I don’t know…those are not ideas we need proper ideas from anybody. The consolation is this, President Lungu is not sleeping on these issues he is always looking to make sure that we the people he has given some power to act in one way or the other to do so, I think we are going to act as a government. I think that President Lungu is going to act and make sure that we resolve these problems,” Kafwaya said.

And Kafwaya commended ZAF for procuring the Presidential Jet.

“We must understand that this craft belongs to ZAF and all the ridicule which we pour on them, you must remember how much ZAF sacrifices for this country. So when ZAF takes a decision to protect their Commander-in-Chief to make him comfortable, I don’t have the right to ridicule the judgement of the generals in ZAF. I respect the decisions of the service men and women in uniform because they have the right judgement for this nation. I think the servicemen who took the decision not only to buy that aircraft but several other air crafts to be used in various ways did a good job,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kafwaya said Zambia Airways would start operations once the certification process with the Civil Aviation Authority was completed.

“The Zambia Airways will be with us once we finish the certification with the Civil Aviation Authority because I think to get just an air operating license is all that is remaining and after that we proceed. But this is a certification process that we have no control over because it is a natural process, it happens in every country,” said Kafwaya.