Thu, 10 Aug 2017 10:14:48 +0000
By Violet Tembo
LUANSHYA is host to a lot of fake politicians who have no agenda for the suffering masses but are out there to enrich themselves, Copperbelt Province Minister Bowman Lusambo has charged.
In an apparent reference to Roan Member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili, Mr. Lusambo wondered why those who were boasting that they had money to waste by going to London just to have a cup of coffee and come back had failed to share their resources with the poor.
Speaking in Luanshya when he toured the area identified for relocating vendors from the Central Business District, Mr. Lusambo said leaders were not supposed to occupy offices to acquire wealth at the expense of the poor but to serve.
Mr. Lusambo, who is also Ndola’s Kabushi Member of Parliament said he was a seasoned and exposed politician who was able to differentiate true leaders from fake ones whose preoccupation was to amass wealth and brag to electorates like Mr. Kambwili about how rich they were.
“I have heard some people here in Luanshya saying they can go to London to have a cup of coffee and come back the same day but what I want to put across is that as a leader, one must lend a helping hand to the poor.
“Poverty levels are high in our country and as leaders, we should not be occupying offices to amass wealth at the expense of the poor people. The best we can do when we have resources is to lend a helping hand because the poor are just at our door steps,” Mr. Lusambo said.
He said it was the responsibility of leaders to ensure that living standards of the people were uplifted. He told marketeers that the district was host to some fake politicians with no vision for Zambia and no heart for people of Luanshya.
He has since urged local politicians to desist from politicising issues related to vendors’ relocation exercise. He has commended the Luanshya Municipal Council for the manner in which it had handled the relocation of street vendors.
Mr. Lusambo indicated that the new trading site was conducive for trading and assured marketeers that government was alive to their challenges and would ensure that their businesses did not suffer by providing them with alternative trading areas.
