UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma says President Edgar Lungu is mocking Zambians by saying that he laughs and chuckles when people say things are bad in Zambia.

In an interview, Kakoma said President Lungu was out of touch with reality.

He said it was inhumane for President Lungu not to feel the sufferings of the people.

“President Lungu is out of touch with reality because the suffering that people are going through is not affecting him. He eats free food, he just decides what to eat, the last time he bought a bag of mealie meal was in 2014 and he does not know what has transpired. The last time he bought fuel for his vehicle was in 2014, he is not experiencing load shedding at State House, he cannot even remember the last time he paid a water bill and he receives free medical attention. The best medical attention that anyone can get in Zambia, he is getting it. His children are being educated by the State, he is not feeling the pinch of paying school fees. All these things that the country is experiencing, he is not experiencing, that is why he thinks things have improved, they have just improved for himself, and his friends. They have looted resources of this country. He could be misled that things have improved,” said Kakoma.

“If he knows that things have gone [wrong] and he is saying those things then obviously it amounts to mockery. We can also assume that he is speaking out of ignorance because he doesn’t know the realities on the ground. Both ways, he is wrong. He is taking people for granted knowing too well that the people of Zambia are suffering, he is mocking them. Obviously even the statistics that they are giving him from the Central Statistical Office indicate that poverty levels have worsened. If he is not feeling the pinch himself, then at least the statistics are saying so. People are in dire poverty, it is wrong, it is inhumane for a President not to have feelings of the majority. He should be the first one to have feelings for the people of Zambia who are suffering. But if he doesn’t care and if he thinks that things have improved then obviously it is a clear sign of mockery.”

Speaking when he was conferred with the honorary freeman of the city of Lusaka, Saturday, President Lungu said Zambia was doing very well.

“As we look to the future we have to learn to deal with the new issues such as the global COVID 19 pandemic, climate change and the global economic environment which all the nations of the world are currently grappling with. I laugh and chuckle when I hear people say that things are bad in Zambia like they are better anywhere else. This global pandemic of COVID 19 has hit the globe, all of us. Economies have been affected negatively. We just have to work together to see how we can get out of this and I think Zambia is doing very well. Let us give ourselves a pat on the back. We can not continue blaming ourselves and portraying ourselves as failures when actually we can succeed if we work together and we are succeeding. Some situations don’t deserve being made political. What we are in is a situation which we should all push and pull together not to divide ourselves in the name of politics especially as elections come near. Let us be real,” said President Lungu.