DON’T DIVERT ATTENTION; ADDRESS THE CRITICAL ISSUES LUBINDA HAS RAISED

DON’T DIVERT ATTENTION; ADDRESS THE CRITICAL ISSUES LUBINDA HAS RAISED
Dear Editor,
THE United Party for National Development (UPND) government must stop running away from the critical questions being asked on its failure to keep the head-spinning promises it made to Zambians.
It is embarrassing that the Minister of Information and Media, Ms Chushi Kasanda could issue a statement based on the malicious headlines being published by the UPND’s surrogate media outlets instead of responding to the serious issues that the PF acting President, Mr Given Lubinda raised in his press statement issued on Tuesday, this week.
We know that the government is under intense pressure to deflate the increasing public anger at the failure by President Hakainde Sammy Hichilema to deliver the promises he made to the people on which he rode into State House.
The issues in Mr Lubinda’s statement which Ms Kasanda and her government must respond to are:

1. President Hichilema used to boast that his government would reduce the price of fuel from K15 to K12 but has increased it from K15 to K21. He has consistently accused the PF government of stealing K3 from every litre of fuel; is he telling us that the UPND Government is stealing the K9 difference following the recent price hike?
2. Why has government allocated K25.7 million to each constituency under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) without providing guidelines on how the money will be utilised?
3. Why is the Government failing to release the CDF money so that vulnerable children can access bursaries, women and youth can access empowerment resources when the 2022 National Budget is in effect?
4. We are disappointed that the K960 million released for the payment of farmers for the maize they sold to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has come so late in the season that the farmers will not be able to utilise it to invest in the 2021/2022 farming season.
   What is worse is that the amount falls short of paying all the farmers who have waited for so long for their money. Why has Government failed to pay thousands of farmers their money?
5. Since August 2021 the government has not been paying contractors and suppliers, which is having a spiral negative effect on households and the economy generally.
   Is the government not aware that their failure to pay government contractors and suppliers is killing businesses and jobs and increasing poverty?
   6.The attempt by Minister of Finance, Situmbeko Musokotwane to explain the road construction contract under the public private partnership (PPP) with the Southern African Business Forum, a de-registered South Africa based non-governmental organisation with no track record in construction does not make sense for the following reasons:
   (a) When the PF government engaged in discussions with the NGO it was about human settlements and not construction of roads as alleged by the UPND Government.

(b) It is practically impossible for Government to recover the colossal amount of US$3.7 billion in 25 years as it will require a minimum of 13, 000 trucks and paying a minimum of K500 toll fee per truck per day using these roads for the Government to recover the money; this is simply not possible.

7. The K324 million released as the first quarter funding for public schools aimed at implementing the much talked about free education is too little to make any impact as it translates into K30, 000 per school, which means K10, 000 per school per month.
   Even if we were to follow their own calculations, the grant given to schools is K600 per student per year. This is a joke.
   This action by the UPND government is compromising the quality of education as the money allocated to schools is extremely insufficient.
   These are the issues the UPND government must respond to instead of falling for the falsehoods of the yellow media.
   The Patriotic Front is disappointed with the yellow journalism being practised by some media houses to appease the UPND government by deliberately misinterpreting facts to suit their agenda.
   Yellow journalism or yellow press refers to journalists and newspapers that throw to the wind legitimate, well-researched news while instead publishing misleading eye-catching headlines to increase sales.
   In the case of Zambia, the deliberately misleading headlines are meant to appease the government and instigate hatred against the PF, which will not work.
   It’s laughable that some media outlets could sink as low as to report that the PF admitted that it used to steal K3 from every litre of fuel when it was clear that Mr Lubinda was using question and answer rhetoric to expose the lies by the UPND that fuel was expensive because according to them, PF was stealing a K3 per litre from each purchase of fuel.
   The vice president used a rhetorical statement/question to draw attention to the harsh effects of the recent increase in the pump price of fuel. It was not a confession or admission of any wrong doing because the claim by UPND is nothing but lies.
   He was simply saying if the UPND is saying that we were stealing K3 from every litre of fuel when we were in power does it mean it is also stealing the K9 difference?
   EDWIN LIFWEKELO,
   PF Deputy Media Director.