Mulusa endorses Mundubile, Makebi

FORMER Special Assistant to the President for Projects and Monitoring Lucky Mulusa has endorsed Brian Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu for the August general election, saying the pair is offering the strongest leadership to govern Zambia.

Speaking during the Red Hot Breakfast Show on Hot FM yesterday, Mr Mulusa said Zambians have endured five years of economic hardship under President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND administration.

He explained that public confidence in the government had declined, with many citizens frustrated by the high cost of living, unemployment and what he described as the government’s failure to fulfil its campaign promises.

“The strongest, focused, tested, reliable, exposed and forward-thinking leadership available to Zambia today is Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu,” Mr Mulusa said.

The former Minister of National Development Planning also questioned the government’s announcement that Zambia’s international reserves had risen to US$6.5 billion.

Mr Mulusa said the Bank of Zambia had previously reported reserves of about US$5.5 billion in December 2025, making the reported increase of roughly US$1 billion within three months difficult to explain.

“If those figures are accurate, government must clearly explain where that increase came from because Zambia’s economy would ordinarily struggle to generate such an increase through domestic economic activity alone,” he said.

On mining, Mr Mulusa criticised what he described as government’s tax policies, arguing that ordinary Zambians continue to bear a heavy tax burden while mining companies benefit from tax incentives.

He said government had justified the incentives by promising they would encourage investment, increase copper production to three million metric tonnes and create jobs, but argued that those expectations had not been realised.

Mr Mulusa also questioned why Zambia was not benefiting proportionately from high global copper prices, recalling that the Windfall Tax introduced under the late President Levy Mwanawasa came when copper was trading at about US$5,000 per tonne.

“Today copper prices are much higher, yet Zambia is not seeing proportional benefits from its mineral wealth,” he said.

He further argued that increased mechanisation in the mining sector had reduced employment opportunities, resulting in fewer jobs and lower collections from Pay As You Earn (PAYE).

Mr Mulusa also criticised President Hichilema’s recent remarks referring to Mr Mundubile and Mr Zulu as “boys”, describing the comments as unfortunate and inconsistent with the dignity expected of a Head of State.