By NATION REPORTER
HE UPND government has reduced the cost of living and Zambians are enjoying being governed by President Hakainde Hichilema despite the governance journey not having been all rosy as a result of the drought and geo-political wars in the Middle East as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Batuke Imenda has said.
Mr Imenda, the UPND secretary-general said in a statement that the three years of UPND being in power had been a journey of new hope under the stewardship of President Hichilema.
“UPND has reduced the cost of living and Zambians are now enjoying. We know that the three years have not been without challenges. We have experienced a drought, which has created serious load shedding, leading to suffering of some of our brothers dealing in welding, hair business, and others,” Mr Imenda said.
“The drought has created a serious hunger situation arising from destroyed crop there by pushing the cost of food price up. We have also suffered effects of war in the Middle East which have a bearing on the rising world cost of living, among other external shocks such as the huge debt mountain we inherited and promised to restructure,” he said.
Mr Imenda said some of the successes of UPND had been the removal of 3, 000 ghost workers from the civil service, free education, and has taken Zambia into the premier league economically. “We are also aware that the cost of living is still high given the war situation in the Middle East which has pushed the cost of fuel in the world high, and created economic stress the whole world leaving some countries in massive protests,” Mr Imenda said.
“Regardless of these challenges, Zambia has emerged victorious in growing the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), recruitment of youths, job creation, increasing CDF (Constituency Development Fund) to K30.6 million and disbursement of grants to citizens under the CEEC (Citizens Economic Empowerment Fund) and CDF,” he said.
Mr Imenda said the UPND administration created a resilient economy which had remained unshaken amid the world economic challenges, with the price of basic necessities marginally going up compared to other countries in Southern Africa and Africa as a whole.
“We have confidence that the UPND new dawn government will turn round the economy in the same manner we have managed to fulfil other campaign promises and recovered stolen assets amounting to over $53.6 million, and revamping the mining sector,” he said.
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