PF ‘Was Damaging Our Country Even Before Covid-19’ - HH

UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema has described the Patriotic Front (PF) party as a ‘virus’, that was “damaging our country even before Covid-19 came”. 

Speaking in a telephone interview with Zambezi FM radio, Mr Hichilema argued that the PF had let Zambia down in failing to deliver on jobs, lower taxes, and a reduced national debt.

“Look at the debt mountain!” He said, “They damaged the economy, it was growing at 7%, now it’s growing at less than 2%”.

The opposition leader then went on to criticise the government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis, which he accused of mismanaging donated materials and unnecessarily politicising the pandemic through the printing of PF-branded face masks.

HH added that responsibility for the death of Ian Mutambo, a medical researcher who died while transporting Covid-19 samples on a public bus, “falls squarely on PF”.

Mr Hichilema concluded that the solution to this PF ‘virus’ was his own UPND.

“The solution and cure to this virus his Dununa reverse virus that has been damaging our country before COVID-19 came is UPND,” he said.

He assured Zambians “Don’t loose hope, hope is on the way”.

The criticism comes as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Zambia climbed to 267 over the weekend, while the IMF has predicted a contraction of Zambia’s economy by 3.5%.