By SIMON MUNTEMBA
THE PF government was hesitant to secure the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement because the conditions were against the pro-poor ideology, former minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo has said.
Mr Kampyongo said it would have been a betrayal to ignore the needs of the vulnerable citizens just to secure an IMF package which comes with hash conditions that have a negative economic impact on citizens.
He said in an interview that unlike the UPND government which is for the rich, PF is a poor-poor party which did not want to disadvantage the vulnerable Zambians.
Mr Kampyongo said some of the IMF conditions were inappropriate for a developing country like Zambia.
He said PF led government was pro-poor and could not make a decision to disadvantage the vulnerable citizens across the country in order to strike a deal with IMF.
“As PF, we do not regret missing the opportunity to strike a deal with the IMF because some conditions were against the party’s ideology of supporting the poor citizens,” Mr Kampyongo said.
The IMF recently reached an agreement with the Zambian authorities on a crucial three-year lending programme worth around $1.4billion that would help the country to restructure its extensive debts.
