By ADRIAN MWANZA
THE MMD government entrusted privatisation of parastatals with individuals who ended up enriching themselves from the process, Raphael Nakacinda has said. Mr Nakacinda, who is former Water, Sanitation and Environmental Protection Minister, said some individuals handled the process in a reckless manner that resulted in Zambia losing most industries.
He said this in Kitwe yesterday when he featured on a programme on Radio Icengelo. Mr Nakacinda said the Patriotic Front (PF) could not be blamed for the mistake the MMD made by entrusting crooks and criminals to handle the privatisation exercise.
“That’s why as MMD we are taking responsibility that some of the issues of the consequences or offshoots of the programme we undertook should be traced to the mistakes we made,” Mr Nakacinda said. He said the PF government is making efforts to correct the mistakes of privatisation by focusing on industrialisation.
Mr Nakacinda said Zambia would start increasing production so that the country could compete on the global stage. Meanwhile, the battle for supremacy in the MMD has continued with Nevers Mumba alleging that Mr Nakacinda is a hired gun whose aim is to bring confusion in the MMD.
But Mr Nakacinda, who is Operation Save MMD general secretary, said Dr Mumba was not a factor and his claims were misguided. Mr Nakacinda said that the MMD had decided to rally behind the head of state because he was a good man that had the heart. ‘’I don’t want to fight with Dr Mumba but I must say it is a shocking that he is accusing me of bringing confusion when the people have resolved to work with President Lungu,’’ he said.
The New Hope MMD leader Nevers Mumba said that he was not going to step down and would contest Thursday’s election unlike what was being purported by certain sectors of the media. ‘’Can you imagine that out of over 120 countries the Zambia police was at 117 worst in performance which was not a good signal,’’ he said.
