By OLIVER SAMBOKO
A CAMPAIGN based on cost of living and prices of goods is wicked and those promising Zambians instant improvement in the economy are setting the country on a dangerous path, the Evangelical Youth Alliance (EYA) has warned.
The Alliance also warned that crowd chanting ‘we want change’ will turn ugly with disillusionment and disappointment when prices do not change.
EYA president Reverend Moses Lungu urged politicians to desist from setting the country on a path to destructions by giving exaggerated economic solutions to the country’s current Covid-19 induced woes.
“South Africa is burning because pliable unemployed youths and economic victims of Covid-19 have been forced to criminal conduct through heartless social media and twitter campaigns,” he said.
Rev Lungu said in an interview that it was worrying that some opposition leaders had gone out of their way to give false economic recovery hopes, a situation which might lead to violence in the event that such lofty promises were not met, in the same manner that that South Africa found itself on fire.
He said regardless of who carried the day on August 12, some people will be expecting prices to fall because that is what they have been made to believe.
“This is dangerous and may lead to violence and riots because people will be disappointed after being too expectant,” Rev Lungu warned.
He said with the Covid-19 pandemic still ravaging the world, it was difficult for any country to achieve much in price reductions because production has been affected.
He said for instance, South Africa, where Zambia imports most products stocked by major chain stores, has had to shut down industries as part of its Covid-19 lockdown measures, leading to reduced production and job losses.
As a result, he said, the cost of products brought into Zambia has gone and may go up even higher because we have no control over what happens in South Africa.
He advised politicians to concentrate on home-grown solutions and to offer electorates some tangible measures not based on lies.
He said world economies are being driven by the Covid-19 and the same was true for Zambia.
“It is therefore wicked to continue feeding people with fake information on prices of commodities. Opposition leaders should stop this,” Rev Lungu said.
