Lungu’s speech full of contradictions – Mulenga

THE Zambia Civic Education Association has ‘laughed at’ President Edgar Lungu’s ‘illogical’ Parliamentary speech.

ZCEA executive director Judith Mulenga says the President should seriously consider replacing all the people responsible for his recent speech in Parliament because: “the speech put the presidency in disrepute.”

On Friday last week, President Lungu was at Parliament buildings for the ceremonial opening of the fourth session of the 12th National Assembly.

The President lamented that climate change was the main reason for Zambia’s socio-economic hardships.

President Lungu’s speech was themed ‘Accelerating sustainable development for a better Zambia amidst the impact of climate change.’

Mulenga observed that the presidential speech had no resonance with its theme.

“President Lungu’s state of the nation address was so full of contradictions that defy logic. How is a speech [that is] spelling out the devastating effects of climate change and the debt crisis, lead to ‘accelerating sustainable development for a better Zambia?’ [It] completely defies logic!” Mulenga said, in a press release.

“You are facing problems that you have not faced before, which have made things worse for you, and you think you can accelerate from such a situation! How? How do you accelerate while ‘driving’ a stationary vehicle?”

She stated that there was nothing sustainable in a development that suffered knocks from climate change or other natural acts of God.

“A sustainable development plan would have ensured that communities that are suffering from hunger would have built resilience against the adverse consequences of the drought. Since there was no resilience built, there is nothing sustainable in our development plan,” Mulenga stated.

“If the theme of the address had ‘mitigating climate change’ in it, it would have been more logical than hoping to accelerate to the main roads from a roundabout that has no filter roads. No matter how much you press on the fuel peddle, you will still be in the round about!”

Mulenga stated that President Lungu made climate change as the running motif of his speech but that he did not link how climate change had led to the debt crisis that Zambia found itself in.

“We wanted to know if climate change led to the borrowing for the massive infrastructure development. He spoke about the ‘art of borrowing’ in the same breath acknowledging that his government’s model of the art of borrowing has led to austerity measures that will seriously affect the efficacy of the 2010 budget,” Mulenga stated.

“Surely logic dictates that if we had perfected our art of borrowing, we would not be putting in place austerity measures neither would we have accumulated pension arrears.”

On President Lungu’s caution that the ‘austerity measures’ that his government was putting in place would seriously affect the 2020 national budget, Mulenga explained that it was clear to see that the statutory obligation of debt payment had already compromised service delivery.

“The 2020 budget will not bring any relief, in terms of service delivery,” she observed.

Mulenga argued that unlike the President’s view, the state of trades schools in the country could not impart skills in the youth for them to compete favourably with the Chinese or South Africans, for instance.

She stated that through climate change the President was lamenting about, Zambia had drought that has led to an energy and food security crisis.

“The President tells us to have small gardens at household level. Where do we get the water for the gardens? Has he seen the household levels in our compounds? Where do the people in our compounds find the space to grow vegetables when several families live in one building?” she wondered.

Mulenga also questioned the President’s reference to the numbers of employment created by his government because he did so: “without letting us know the gross number of youths needing employment.”

“[That way], we can measure how his government is on track on his promise of creating one million jobs, three years after the five-year period deadline,” she stated.

As he read his speech, President Lungu deviated and told some disinclined members of parliament that if they are not willing to have the Constitution amended, “we’ll refine it.”

On that, Mulenga stated that President Lungu just confirmed: “what most of us knew beyond reasonable doubt that the current constitution amendment is not in the interest of Zambia but in the interest and image of the PF.”

“However, as he very well knows the Constitution has a complex character as it derives its authority from the people,” she stated.

“As long as there is no meeting of the minds of the people of Zambia in power and in opposition, the constitution-making process will continue after PF leaves power. That is assured as the sun rises and sets.”

Meanwhile, Mulenga, on the national topical issue of degazetting water source forest reserves, wondered that the President only gave a directive of not allowing anyone to build in such forests but not directly and boldly addressing the topical Forest Reserve No. 27, east of Lusaka.

“We would have wanted a direct ‘eviction’ of the intended squatters on Forest No. 27,” stated Mulenga.