Lungu’s speech sobering, says Sinkamba

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 06:16:53 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu’s national address to Parliament last Friday was sobering and could not have come at a better time than now when the country is seriously divided, Green Party president Peter Sinkamba has said.

Mr Sinkamba applauded President Lungu for giving a national address that ‘‘left no stone unturned’’ and pointed out situations as they were.

He said in an interview with the Daily Nation that all the issues that the Head of State touched on during his national address in Parliament last Friday were as they were in reality.

Mr Sinkamba described the address as sobering and a true reflection of the calamities that had befallen the nation in the recent past.

He explained that the country was truly currently divided and that there was need for co-existence as the President had rightly put it.

Mr Sinkamba also pointed out that the Mukula tree and other natural resources were being mismanaged and depleted without remorse.

“The national address was a true reflection of what is obtaining on the ground and we commend the President for that. All the things he pointed out are of concern to all of us; look at how the Mukula is being smuggled and indeed the need for co-existence,” he said.

Mr Sinkamba said that President Lungu did well to send a strong message against the misuse of land in the country and in directing the minister in charge to present to Cabinet a revised Land Act. He also noted that too much land was left in foreign ownership and that it was the reason why Government was now lamenting that there was no land for burial sites in Lusaka. Mr Sinkamba explained that it was imperative for all MPs to be part of such national issues in Parliament for the sake of the people they represented.

He advised President Lungu not to stoop low and get into any engagements over the UPND MPs’ boycott as the Zambian people had already judged them on their own.