LUSAKA Province Minister Bowman Lusambo says even if government injected billions into the economy, some people would still remain poor because they are lazy.

And Lusambo says government is not ashamed to borrow because the money has been put to good use.

Meanwhile, Lusambo says the ruling party has met the expectations of the Zambian people.

Speaking when he appeared on Muvi TV’s The Assignment programme, Wednesday evening, Lusambo said in life, it was impossible for everyone’s fortunes to be the same.

Lusambo said the Zambian economy was doing well because some families were able to go for holidays to Siavonga.

“These roads you are seeing are part of development. Zambia is developing in all sectors. When you are doing good in Agriculture, when you are doing good in the health sector, when you are doing good in Education in health sector, when you are doing good in the economy, when people are going for work, they are able to pay for school fees, they are able to pay for medicals and other bills. They are able to for holidays and have meals. I was just coming from Siavonga, I went to Chirundu. You know that it is part of my district. From there, the officers told us that there is something we need to do in Chief Sikongo’s area and it’s very near to Siavonga. We went to Siavonga, we spent a night there, and the rooms were full to capacity. And we wanted to start off from Siavonga at 05:00. I told my guys that we can’t start off at that time, I want to see the people that have come here. When it was around 07:00 people were coming from their rooms with families, they have gone for a weekend,” Lusambo said.

“Ichalo efyo chaba teti abantu bonse babe fimo fine (this is how life is, we can’t all be the same). We are bettering the lives of people. When you go to South Africa, there are people who are poor and rich. Ichalo efyo chaba nififine whether twabika ama billions mu economy, abantu bakaba aba pusana. Kwaliba nabantu banang’ani bafwaya fye ukubaletela ati akulya (This is how the world is. Even if we put billions in the economy, people will be different. There are also people that are lazy, they want things on a silver plate).”

And Lusambo said government borrowed to better the lives of citizens.

“America borrowed from China and other countries are borrowing. Even you (the host) you have borrowed in your life. So for us to borrow is not a miracle, we are borrowing to make sure that we give development to our people. And we are not even ashamed. We have borrowed and some of the money which we are talking about is not only coming from the PF government under President Edgar Lungu, other governments also borrowed. For us the money which we borrowed we have used it in the normal manner. And we can’t shy away that we are not borrowing, we are. Even America borrows. We are using it very wisely. The President you see in State House is a President who has a vision for this country and he is a no nonsense President. And whatever things which have come to this country, it is audited. There is no one who can squander government’s money. Government’s money is audited money. No one can eat government’s money,” Lusambo said.

Meanwhile, Lusambo said the country was in capable hands under President Lungu and that the ruling party had delivered to the expectations of the people.

“We haven’t failed as a country, Zambia is not a failed state. Zambia is in the capable hands of His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu and the government of Edgar Chagwa is working. We are working and we were delivering to the expectations of the people. The people of Zambia told us they needed roads, we are giving them roads. The people of Zambia told us that they need schools, we are constructing schools, the people of Zambia told us that give us hospitals, health posts, we are doing that. The people of Zambia are saying ‘no, the Zambia Army needs houses’ we are constructing houses for them. The police need houses. We are doing that. The people of Zambia are telling us that we want food, our staple food is Nshima, we want maize in this country, and we invested in agriculture,” said Lusambo.

“And we have a bumper harvest. How much are we buying a bag of mealie meal? In other shops we are buying it at K90. There was a time when people of Lusaka almost started lining up for mealie meal because of other selfish individuals. And mealie meal is also all over. The mealie meal is fetching at an affordable price. Tell me the town where people are complaining that there is no mealie meal. When we offload this mealie meal in town, people are buying, go to Shoprite and see how many trucks per day. Take me to our compounds; Kalingalinga, Mtendere, Chawama, Mandevu, [and] Kanyama, people are buying mealie meal. My concern as a government is to know and see if we have shortage of mealie meal in my compounds and the answer is no we have plenty of mealie meal.”