Mon, 03 Oct 2016 09:01:02 +0000
PETER Sinkamba should read the Constitution and understand it before he begins to blame President Edgar Lungu over the creation of new ministries and his argument about cost is misplaced because we had a bloated Cabinet in the past regimes than now, the Youth in Action for Sustainable Development (YASD) has said. Reacting to Mr. Sinkamba’s comments that the creation of new ministries was ill-timed considering the economic hardships that the country would have to endure, YASD programmes manager Zebedy Lukwesa advised the Green Party leader to read the Constitution before pointing an accusing finger at the ruling party.
Mr. Lukwesa said there was nothing wrong with the creation of new ministries because the Constitution mandated President Edgar Lungu to appoint a total of 30 Cabinet ministers and that the creation or realignment of certain ministries should not be politicised because the move is aimed at enhancing service delivery to the Zambians.
He said Zambia had faced huge economic challenges in the past while having a bloated Cabinet which included deputy ministers, yet the country managed to come out of its economic malaise, adding that the creation of four more ministries could not be compared to the expenditure the treasury incurred when deputy ministers were in office.
He said it was unfortunate that the opposition in Zambia took pride in criticising those in Government for whatever they did without taking a keen interest to identify the positives from such undertakings, adding that it was not President Edgar Lungu who came up with the Constitution but that Zambians were architects of the law and therefore, should be the ones to be blamed when the same law backfired on them. He said the creation of new ministries would address the challenges and fill in the gaps that were left by already existing ministries, adding that there was no need at this time to criticise such a constitutional provision until the ministries failed to operate according to the expectations of the Zambians.
“To Mr. Sinkamba, our advice is that he should not just make statements because everyone else is doing so, but first understand the subject matter before drawing conclusions which do not help the country as the Constitution is very clear and President Lungu, just like any other citizen, is bound by the law to protect the Constitution and so, the creation of new ministries is not ill-timed as the Constitution is already in place. “It is also wrong to say that the venture is expensive because we had more people in these ministries when the position of deputy ministers was still in effect.
Actually the treasury spent more money compared to what it will spend for 30 Cabinet ministers. So, it is imperative that we look at this issue from a positive perspective and avoid being political because at the end of the day, it is the people of Zambia and not the party in power that will benefit,” Mr. Lukwesa said. He said YASD supported the creation of new ministries because it guaranteed improved service delivery.
