PF Politicizing Suffering with Branded Mealie Meal – UPND

UPND spokesperson Anthony Bwalya has criticised the politicization of the suffering of Zambians by the PF after the party distributed branded mealie meal to miners. 

“President Hakainde Hichilema is saddened by the gross, shameless and open politicization of the suffering of the Zambian people by the Patriotic Front (PF) regime in a quest to hoodwink the masses into keeping the regime in office,” Bwalya has stated. 

“We note that the desperate poverty, job insecurity and economic helplessness miners and their families are going through is as a result of the failure by the PF regime to stabilize and sensibly manage the mining investment environment for the benefit of the Zambia people,” he continued. 

Bwalya suggested that the PF is exploiting the poverty it has deliberately created in order to hold Zambians to ransom. 

“We are, therefore, urging miners and their families, that while accepting the handouts, they must unquestionably resolve to support a change of political leadership in Zambia and deliver a UPND leadership that will empower miners through aggressive but constructive overhaul of the mining sector to assure jobs and better working conditions for miners,” Bwalya conclude. 

Hichilema has been highly critical of the Government’s approach to the sector, which has seen widespread redundancies. He has also criticized delays to the full payment of redundancy packages owed to miners as a result of the job losses.