KABUSHI PF member of parliament Bowman Lusambo says it will be very shameful if the UPND government fails to deliver because PF already created a foundation for development.
And Lusambo says when he becomes President, he will also create new Ministries to give to his friends like what President Hakainde Hichilema has done for Felix Mutati and others.
Meanwhile, Lunte PF member of parliament Mutotwe Kafwaya says some changes which President Hichilema has made reflect the lowest standards.
Delivering his maiden speech in Parliament, Tuesday, Lusambo said it would be very difficult for any President to ignore former president Edgar Lungu’s legacy of unprecedented development.
“I want to thank the former president of Zambia Edgar Lungu who has given me an opportunity to serve in his administration. In 2016 after the victory in Kabushi, we embarked on unprecedented projects or developments in Copperbelt province. We constructed the Kitwe-Chingola dual carriageway, the Ndola International Airport. I am a proud member of the Patriotic Front. Former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu embarked on unprecedented development in this country. He gave me another opportunity to serve the people of Zambia by transferring me to Lusaka province as Lusaka Minister. During my tenure in Lusaka Province, we managed to construct roads, expanded roads such as the great east road. Today when you move in Lusaka you feel proud as a Zambian,” he said.
“When you move around Lusaka you feel as if you are in Chicago or Los Angeles because of the good road network which Edgar Lungu constructed. Zambia is transformed. We have created a foundation for the UPND. If the UPND today fails to deliver to the expectations of the people of Zambia, I can assure you that it will be very shameful for the entire executive of the UPND. As I speak as a member of parliament for Kabushi having lost the presidential election, I am very proud because former president Edgar Lungu has registered his legacy in development. His legacy will be very difficult for any President after him to ignore the development which Edgar Lungu has given to the people of Zambia.”
And Lusambo said when he becomes President, he would also create new Ministries to give to his friends.
“I want to say that the motion which has been presented by the honour the Vice-President this afternoon, this motion is non-controversial. The creation of Ministries and the merging of Ministries lies in the powers of the President. Even me when I become president I will create other Ministries to give my friends, like the way His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema has created Ministries to give to his friends like honourable Mutati and others. So for me, this is a non-controversial motion,” said Lusambo.
Meanwhile, in his maiden speech, Kafwaya said under President Hichilema, the lowest standards had been created in the country.
“I have observed from the time President Hichilema assumed office from the Heroes stadium that some of the changes reflect the lowest standards that have been created in our country. For example, there were two people who were fighting to walk the President to the guard of honor. One was dressed officially and the other one was a fella, totally unknown in no regalia whatsoever. The gentleman who was ceremonially dressed was elbowed out,” he said.
“This is a change where we are saying we are coming from lawlessness to the rule of law, so I was very surprised and I am still shocked that a thing like that can happen. That sunk the ceremony to the lowest of all time. You will agree that when the President came into the House and sat on the throne, it was very bad. The President had no speech because his Aid de Camp had no speech. The President rose on the throne and begun to converse with the clerk and the fella appeared from nowhere with a black folder and handed it to the President. I was very attentive and sat very close and I am sure you saw that the President is not to blame because he did not see that fella. That is a very bad change because it lowered the decorum of this House and it must not be allowed. The President while speaking to us on the throne said we need to change how things are done here. Where did the President draw the authority to begin to tell us to change the way things are done here? The President has no authority to change how things are done in this chamber.”
Kafwaya said he was still shocked that no UPND leader had condemned the booing of Lungu at Heroes stadium.
“I feel bad that years after gaining independence we can still lose people on account of political violence. We need to forge a Zambia where no one is allowed to lose their life as a result of political violence. When UPND sat on this side of the House, I criticized them for having been the manufacturers of political violence in the Mufumbwe and Mapatizya formula. The UPND have the responsibility to stop their creation of political violence,” said Kafwaya.
“If they do so we will never experience another death in this arena. I also detested the booing of former president Edgar Lungu at Heroes stadium. The sixth president was booed by victors. Whereas I thought there is honour in victory, what I saw was dishonour. I want to put it to the UPND that I am very unhappy that no leader took the opportunity whether at the inauguration ceremony or at another platform to condemn the booing. That should not have happened.”