FFTUZ tears PF apart for sloppy development policies

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:32:04 +0000

Zambia is groping in darkness because the Patriotic Front (PF) government has no policies and programmes to move the nation forward, Federation of Free Trade Union of Zambia (FFTUZ) president Joyce Nonde Simukoko has said.

Ms Simukomo said it was sad that the PF which made a lot of promises during the 2011 election campaigns has kept Zambians in the dark for almost one year, instead of setting the stage for economic development by coming up with policies and putting them into action.

She said in an interview in Lusaka at the weekend that it was sad and disappointing that, instead of coming up with sound national development policies for the citizens, the PF government was busy appointing and, firing people and creating new districts and ministries

“To say the truth, as a country, we are in the dark because there are no policies to follow. All we are hearing is the appointments and disappointments of people and creation of new districts and ministries. The PF government should come up with policies and programmes for people to follow

“It is disappointing that after promising people a lot of things during the campaigns, the PF has failed to come up with policies and programmes for national development,” Ms Simukoko said

She advised the PF government to embrace criticism and stop over reacting whenever it was criticized either by the Church, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) or the Civil Society Organizations (CSO)

“People don’t just wake up and criticize something, when they criticize something it means there is something wrong and so the PF government should not over react to criticism, but should first analyze the criticisms before over reacting,

“It is sad that the PF is still behaving as if it is in the opposition. It should know that it is now in government and it will receive all sorts of criticisms which may be genuine, while others may be petty, but it should know how to handle criticisms,” she said

The FFTUZ Chief also advised the PF government to desist from victimizing people perceived to be holding different views from the ruling party.

He said politics of victimization were retrogressive and so the PF government should be seen to provide leadership by embracing divergent views especially on issues of national interest.