By NATION REPORTER
UNENDING Presidential trips are unnecessary especially that President Hakainde Hichilema had curtly condemned his predecessor, Edgar Lungu over the same and it is the expectation of Zambians that the head of State should have been thrift in managing the country’s resources, Saboi Imboela has said.
Ms Imboela, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) president says President Hichilema has been full of self-praise about how thrift he has been yet he has been traversing the world in search of Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs), for which Zambians will not see any tangible economic benefits.
She said President Hichilema has made uncountable foreign trips in the last one and half years trips to different countries which had been causing a lot of stress on the treasury.
She said the head of State had been making unending international trips under the justification that he was going to negotiate and sign different MOUs that were beneficial to the country yet the trips were but a waste of resources.
Ms. Imboela said the justification for the Presidential trips were unjustified because before MOUs which were being signed were not an automatic gain for Zambians who were living under extreme difficult economic conditions.
She said the frequent trips President Hichilema was making were often at short intervals as the head of State was hardly in Zambians and that it was not possible that the Office of the Attorney General could clear the MOUs in the time the President was travelling.
She stated that every MOU would take a maximum of five days for the Attorney General to sign and approve and would normally take five days before the trip and could not be true that the President travels were to negotiate and secure the MOUs.
“There is no special negotiating skills of the President on the trips that bring into being these MOUs. The President and his praise singers should not, therefore, boast that the international trips are bearing fruit via the signing of MOUs,” Ms Imboela said.
Ms. Imboela MOUs were negotiated long before the presidential trip and that they were approved by AG before a trip.
She said MOUs could still be signed even if the President was not there as ministers and Ambassadors in various countries could sign on behalf of the country.
Ms. Imboela said President Hichilema promised to reduce presidential travels once he got into office and it was disappointing to see him do the very opposite of what he condemned his predecessor for.
“When President Magufuli promised to reduce Presidential travels in Tanzania and stuck to his words, we saw how much money their country saved and was able to invest in other sectors. If President HH does the same, we will certainly save a lot of money,” she said.
