By NATION REPORTER
BREBNER Changala says President Hakainde Hichilema should start by firing Cabinet Ministers and Permanent Secretaries who have defied his directive and government policy against buying the luxurious Toyota VXs motor vehicles before putting the said vehicles on the market for sale.
Mr Changala, the civil rights activist is challenging President Hichilema to tell Zambians the disciplinary action he has taken against all those who were involved in the procurement of the VXs motor vehicles without his knowledge.
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Mr Changala says President Hichilema should not just rush into auctioning the expensive government assets like he was FredJoe Auctioneers before taking disciplinary action against those who had defied government policy against extravagance.
He said the head of State should tell the nation who had ordered the VXs motor vehicles against his instructions, wondering whether there was Cabinet approval for such a purchase to have taken place.
Mr Changala said President Hichilema had become good on making statements that would make him popular but was unable to take action against his appointees who were ignoring his policy directives.
He said the biggest challenge with President Hichilema was that he had personalised the country and was micromanaging the governance of the country, which he claimed was dangerous and should not be allowed.
“President Hichilema should tell Zambians whether he is in-charge or someone else is running the country on his behalf. The VXs motor vehicles as expensive as they are, the head of State should certainly have noticed the movement of money that some assets of value were being bought. Let President Hichilema be specific and tell us who bought the vehicles and there must be consequences. It should not just be about selling…but he must start by disciplining the people who have defied his directive which is government policy before rushing to put the VXs on the market for auctioning like he is FredJoe Auctioneers,” Mr Changala said.
Mr Changala said President Hichilema should answer questions as to whether the purchase of the said vehicles was single-sourced or the procurement was done by open tender.
He is wondering whether the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) was involved in the procurement of the expensive and luxurious motor vehicles.
“Was the authority to procure the vehicles from Cabinet or it was just an individual who decided to purchase the VXs? Was there a Cabinet decision and was the money to procure the said vehicles budgeted for? And was the Ministry of Finance involved in this transaction which President Hichilema does not seem to know? And where are the same vehicles that are about to be sold? Mr Changala asked.
Mr Changala said there was a possibility that President Hichilema could only be exciting Zambians that he was a thrift leader when in fact there was clear extravagance in his government.
He said President Hichilema and his government had deliberately elected to misinform the nation about the true cost of the Presidential Jet, the Gulf Stream for purposes of exciting the people and attracting some political popularity.
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