ECONOMIC Front leader Wynter Kabimba says UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa thinks most Zambians understand the fuel increment because he and his colleagues receive fuel allowances and can’t feel the pinch.

Commenting on Mweetwa’s recent remarks that only Zambians who were harbouring a lot of malice did not understand the recent fuel price increment, Kabimba said in an interview that no Zambian was happy about the fuel increment.

“It is surprising in my view that six months into their term of office, the UPND are suffering from the same syndrome of taking the Zambian people for granted. If you take a survey across the country, nobody is happy about this fuel increase. So I don’t know which country called Zambia the UPND are in charge of, where the people are happy with these continued increases of fuel against what they said during their campaigns [while] in opposition. That they will make the pump price of fuel cheaper than we ever saw it under the PF. So he thinks now that Zambian people are foolish and they are going to buy cheap explanations like that from the UPND. That he can speak for the Zambian people because he himself and his colleagues in government are getting fuel allowance and they don’t feel how this is affecting the lives of the ordinary people,” Kabimba said.

“That is the problem when you get into power and you forget the plight of the people that voted for you. Because for him and his colleagues in government, they are now getting free fuel. Because they are being paid fuel allowance. So they don’t feel the financial burden of the fuel increase. And that’s why he can sit in the comfort zone today and purport to speak on [behalf of] the Zambian people, that because his getting free fuel himself, the Zambian people also understand why the fuel increases are becoming the order of the day.”

And Kabimba said he saw the UPND going the same route as PF and being victims of Zambians’ intelligence.

“That is the mistake that PF made. To think that Zambian people were docile, that they could accept every explanation from government however ridiculous it could be. And when the day of voting came, the Zambian people were able to show PF that they were more intelligent than what they thought they were. And I can see the UPND going the same route and being victims of the intelligence of Zambians. There is no way any cabinet minister today can be so arrogant as to issue a statement like that coming from Cornelius Mweetwa. That is utmost arrogance, that is taking people for granted,” said Kabimba.