MATERO PF member of parliament Miles Sampa says he feels sorry for UPND because they need magic to deliver on their campaign promises.

And Sampa says being in the opposition is easier than being in government.

In an interview, Sampa said UPND would have to consult some sangomas to deliver on some of their promises.

“Having been in government myself, I feel to some extent sorry for the UPND and the Ministers and everybody. I am not a prophet of doom but I am a realist and it is going to be very difficult for them to deliver on any promise unfortunately. I think if they delivered, it will be good for every Zambian. These five years will just go by and I can assure you that out of 10, they will deliver only one. We will keep hearing the removal of cadres in markets and bus stops, yes they did that. I personally commend them. On the rest, it is going to be difficult, they will need to do magic if not go to Luapula to consult Sangomas,” Sampa said.

He said the 2022 budget was not dependent on tangible revenue.

“The rest of the promises which hinge on the budget and finances , I think even when they unveiled the budget I debated where I questioned that budget was not attainable. It was not going to be achieved. If anything it was even going to collapse. It is dependent not some much on tangible revenue or revenue that was controlled from the domestic sources, it actually relied on pledges from IMF and other donors. That $1.3 million promised by the IMF, they are only sitting in June for the board to approve, who knows they might even postpone it because of the now Ukraine/Russia war. So both internal and external economic factors are not supporting. It is easier said than done. So they will run out of excuses, first it was PF, they didn’t leave money, six months down the line it is COVID, soon now we are going to have Ukraine/ Russia,” Sampa said.

And Sampa said being in opposition was easier than being in government.

“It is just that governance is not easy, for me to be in opposition it is actually easier to be in governance especially in Africa. How do you create employment, I have tried to ask this question? I have asked the youths. We have about 5 million youths unemployed in the country and they are charged, they have the energy. How are they going to employ them? Even the 30 000 teachers or nurses they undertook, they are struggling, where will the money come from? To meet the current expenditure, it is very difficult, we saw ZRA failing to meet its target. It means that even just to keep the government moving it is a problem,” said Sampa.

“Next we resort to borrowing again, the same things over and over that the PF was condemned. I just think that it is going to be very difficult for those in power to deliver. When they do I will be the first to commend them, like I am commending them on removing cadres from bus stations and markets. That was something I was very passionate about, I tried, I got abducted, I got abused, only if my party had listened, because that is one reason that was used against them to remove them from power.”