By ROGERS KALERO
IT is ridiculous and a cheap way of gaining political mileage for the UPND government to increase the 2023 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) when nothing tangible or beneficial had come out from the previous 2022 CDF,” veteran politician Mwenya Musenge has said
And Patriotic Front (PF) Kwacha constituency chairman Alex Mr Chembo has said the 2023 budget just like the 2022 budget was not inspirational and had exposed the new dawn administration of being an incompetent government which wanted to divert its incompetence by persecuting political rivals.
Mr Musenge said before increasing the CDF from K25.7 million to K28.3 million in the 2023 budget, the UPND should have first reviewed the performance of the fund in 2022 to understand the challenges and how best to improve on it
In an interview in Kitwe at the weekend, Mr Musenge said the UPND government must not be quick to excite people with unattainable pronouncements, but must be systematic in the manner it was running the country because running the country on lies and deceit will only serve to agitate citizens
Commenting on the 2023 budget announced by Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane on Friday, Mr Musenge said if the UPND government had failed to release the K25.7 million CDF for K2022, how was it going to afford to release the K28.3 million CDF for 2023
“Whoever wants to find out about the achievements for 2022 CDF, let him or her get on the ground and find out. Even youths themselves don’t know.
And Mr Chembo has said it is ridiculous and a clear indication of incompetence for a political party like UPND which promised Zambians a better life to abandon its campaign promises and start persecuting whoever was criticising its mediocre leadership
Mr Chembo was reacting to the persecution of former republican President Edgar Lungu by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and other law enforcement agencies
Mr Chembo said it was shameful that the UPND which promised Zambians “Heaven on Earth” during the 2021 elections had abandoned its campaign promises and was slowly turning Zambia into “hell” through political persecution and worsening hunger and poverty levels.
He said Zambia was slowly being turned into ‘Hell’ by the New Dawn Administration through political persecution which included arrests and seizure of property of perceived political enemies, while poverty and hunger was worsening in various communities
“It is sad and disappointing that, after failing to fulfil its campaign promises, the new dawn administration wanted to govern the country through ‘blackmail’ to silence its critics, intimidation, threats and other forms of dictatorial tendencies
“It is almost a year now since the UPND or the new dawn formed government, there is nothing which it has done to bring hope to the majority poverty stricken Zambians. Things are getting from bad to worsen. Prices of essential commodities are sky-rocketing every day,” Mr Chembo said.
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