By CHARLES MUSONDA
THE UPND government is rewarding the 2.8 million who voted for it by subjecting them to ever rising cost of living, acting Patriotic Front (PF) president Given Lubinda says.
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Lubinda said every Zambian has become aware of the fact that in the 2021 general elections they were deceived and that the only people who are not seeing the rising prices of essential commodities are some UPND top leaders.
He said even President Hakainde Hichilema himself admits that the cost of living has become unbearable and that even Vice President Mutale Nalumango stated in Parliament that they would increase fuel price to reduce it, another admission of the high cost of living.
He said with this free rise of prices on a monthly basis introduced by the UPND government, the cost of living is also expected to rise every month if not every week.
“This is what unfortunately people voted for in August, they voted on the basis of deceit. They promised to give Zambians three square decent meals a day but now Zambians are having half a meal a day.
“Even sales for women who sell cabbage at Soweto market have dwindled, they are not selling the same amount of cabbages that they used to sell because people cannot afford to buy that cabbage as they used to buy in the PF time,” Mr. Lubinda said.
He said even at filling stations fuel attendants are begging motorists to fuel and that it has never been like this in Zambia where fuel attendants have to run after motorists begging them to refuel.
He said this is a sign of bad times in which Zambians are living and that the only people who are spending insane amounts of money on drinking and eating are people in the UPND government. Mr. Lubinda said a certain Permanent Secretary recently posted on social media that he was eating a sumptuous Korean meal which could feed six people but he bragged that it was for him alone. He said there was another posting of restaurant bills of K50, 000 for one evening.
“For the rest of all of us we are suffering. Very few people are able to put a full tank in their vehicles and if you see them put full tank just know that they are connected. The rest of us are driving by refuelling on an hourly basis and that is all because of the cost of living which is escalating on a daily basis. I just want to advise Zambians to tighten our belts because they told us already that we are going to have hard times,” he said.
Mr. Lubinda said the UPND government will soon introduce value added tax on newsprint and wondered what would happen to newspapers and books.
He said the UPND government is made up of big time capitalists who are just looking for ways of making money hence the reason Finance and Economic Planning Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane said they do not have a written economic recovery plan.
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