FORMER Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu says he would be lying if he said he is satisfied with UPND’s governance so far.

In an interview, last Wednesday, Archbishop Mpundu said Zambians were anxious to see meaningful change, adding that the pace at which everything was being done was insufficient.

“Well I would be telling a lie if I said I’m satisfied, the pace at which everything is being done is not sufficient. People want to see change and they can’t wait for that change. So as a government, they have to sit down ‘where are we having it wrong’? People are anxious to see change and change that is meaningful. So the ball is in their court, not to be satisfied but to be all the time pushing and pushing themselves to deliver the services,” he said.

“The problem is that we too as human beings sometimes expect a lot. After independence people were saying now things are going to change because we are ruling ourselves. The change came very, very gradually and most of the time it was not even satisfactory. So we as people should not be satisfied, we should always pressurize the government to say ‘please we want to see more development here, we want to see more democracy here’. For example, the toleration of people’s views instead of taking that as criticism, no. People have a right to speak.”

And Archbishop Mpundu urged the government to strive to perform better for the benefit of the people.

“We have to test them sufficiently. Listening means something is there and people are not happy about it. They listen, they are prepared to listen and prepared to adjust and that’s what democracy is all about. I don’t want to be satisfied because then we will stop moving. So change is good but we have to make it better by making that change perform for the better, for the services of the people. Don’t be satisfied, work extra hard and certainly the way that resources are used must be used properly and be used to benefit the people. We want to see this happening as soon as they are able to make it and let them make it quick because people cannot wait for too long. We are impatient and rightly so,” said Archbishop Mpundu.

“Change is good, you remember in the old days of KK when there was no change? Then you know that once there is no change, there is no movement, nothing is going on. We should strive to do more and more. The change that came in August last year is the change that was expected and it was longed for. People turned up in their numbers, in their thousands to vote because you know the most important thing we have in a democracy is the vote.”