PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu says he gets worried when the economy begins to go down and people stop making money.

And President Lungu says late President Michael Sata did not promise that people will have more money in their pockets if they don’t work.

Meanwhile, President Lungu has thanked the people of Kanchibiya for complimenting him, saying he rarely gets praised even when things are being done right.

Speaking when he met the business community in Kanchibiya, Wednesday, President Lungu said he got worried whenever the economy began to go down.

“Ichikalamba sana chakuti tiyeni tubombele chapamo echo ningatemwa ukubombela pamo pantu abantu nga chakweba ati baleikala bwino muchalo, imwe naimwe mulepanga indalama ubuteko nawena ulepokako umusonko, tax efyo twalaya abantu ukutila tuka kula ama sikulu, ifipatala, imisebo, tuka kwanisha ukucita (What is important is that let us work together, when we do that, you make money and the government also makes money by getting taxes. And then we will be able to deliver to the people what we promised them such as schools, hospitals and roads). In short I am saying this government will support enterprise, this government will support businessmen and give them a conducive environment which you can make money for. You have already told us on the roads that are coming, you have already told us that the CBD is under construction and we expedite in terms of communal toilets, such little things matter because in the end, business thrives and when business thrives, the tax man collects his dues, from the little tax that you pay, we get the money, build schools, we get the money build hospitals, we do roads that way prosperity comes our way. Our job is nothing but to serve the people more especially if the people have money, when we have money we are able to collect the tax. We can only collect tax when the businessman is making money. That is why we get worried when the economy begins to go down and people stop making money,” President Lungu said.

“So we support you for to make your money, and we also ask you to pay just a little bit to ZRA that way ichalo chileya pantanshi (the country moves forward).”

And President Lungu said the ruling party was putting more money in people’s pockets.

“Ichakulekelesha kumitotela ukweba ati filya twatile ukweba ati ba PF nga ba teka mukalapanga impiya, ngantile more money in your pockets eifi filechitika. Pantu nga mwa panga impiya mwaingisha abantu inchito, balya abalekula ifikulwa nindalama bakwata ni more money in your pockets. Pantu paliba bamo baleba ati iyo ba Sata balitulayile indilama mu ntumba, ba Sata tabalandile ati kabiye wikale fye indalama shalaisa, iyo. Batile kabombe, nga wa bomba elyo indalama shalaisa. So we government ichinkankala chakuti kupanga ukweba ati chaba icha yanguka ukutila mwabomba (Lastly, I want to thank you and say that what we promised that we were going to put more money in your pockets, it is happening. Because when you make money, you employ people. I hear others say that Sata promised us that we will have more money in our pockets. He did not say that you should be idle and money will come to you, no. He said go and work that is when money will come to you. So what is important is that we make it easier for you),” President Lungu said.

“More money in your pockets can only come if you have an enabling environment as a businessman. No matter how small a business is, we want to make it easy for you to do business that way there will be more money in your pockets. When more businessmen become prosperous, tax can be lowered. We can have lower taxes in the country, it is not magic.”

Meanwhile, President Lungu lamented that PF rarely got compliments.

“Let me emphasize that this government is anchored on dialogue with all interest groups and stakeholders because alone, we can not succeed in all our plans, our policy pronouncements unless we partner with all other people, talk to them from time to time. I found it imperative to engage the business community in Kanchibiya so that we know exactly where we are in our quest to bring [development] to this rural part of Zambia. Let me deal with a few of the matters that you have raised on behalf of the business community here. Mine is simply to assure you that we have noted the compliments, we thank you so much, very rarely do we get compliments,” said President Lungu.

“Most of the time, we just get brickbats and criticism even for things we are doing very well. But again it is ungodly not to thank those that are doing well, encourage them to do more. I will urge Zambians to learn to compliment but what we get most is complaints that nothing has been done. This place here has changed from the time we declared it a district but I think we seek your indulgence and cooperation so that we fulfil some of the most needed needs.”