Maravi

MMD has entered a state of diminishing returns – HH

MMD has entered a state of diminishing returns – HH
Written by Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:16:07 AM

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has said the MMD has entered a state of diminishing returns.And Hichilema said The Post must be allowed to survive. During the newsmakers forum organised by The Press Freedom Committee of The Post at Hotel Edinburg in Kitwe last Saturday, Hichilema said the MMD was virtually in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), which in economics could be referred to as having entered "a stage of diminishing returns."

He accused the current leadership of President Banda of having wrong priorities.

Hichilema said Zambians needed a leadership that had both the political will and love for its people to be able to solve the current problems being experienced.

He said any government worth its salt needed to justify its stay in office by meeting people's aspirations.

"This MMD government has a casual approach to problems; they treat politics as a game. But I'm smelling that Zambians are done with MMD," he said.

"Imagine taking you back to the UNIP days where you have to buy mealie-meal with NRCs [national registration cards]! He has taken us back to the one party state and I am sure those of you that were there in the late 80s do remember how we used to queue up for mealie-meal, I have never seen Zambians as stressed and restless as they were those days."

Hichilema said it was a tragic error of judgment for the government to have earlier denied that the global economic crunch would not affect Zambia.

Hichilema added that because of the government's initial denial, measures to mitigate the crisis were not put in place in the 2009 budget.

He charged that the budget lacked a clear stimulus or recovery plan aimed at mitigating the effects of the crunch in the short, medium and long-term.

"And the budget is very critical in sending clear signals that 'we are in trouble and this is what your government is doing about it'," Hichilema said. "But this is an ordinary budget that is expected to deal with extraordinary circumstances."

Hichilema said there should have been a clear message from the President, especially amidst the tremendous job losses in the mines.

He said the diversification that the MMD always sung about was just lip service.

"If we were in government, we would have created revenue to cushion the job losses being experienced but in this case it is like asking chickens to sweep the chicken run. They cannot do it because they do not have the capacity," Hichilema charged.

He said the major flaw in the 2009 budget was that 32 per cent of it was directed to consumption when there was a crisis.

"Only 20 per cent was directed to the economic sector. In our view, we would have cut down on recurrent expenditure substantially and put money in the economic sector. We made specific suggestions to this government," Hichilema said.

He further said the government could have downsized the Cabinet thereby making substantial savings from such a move.

Hichilema added that the budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector fell far short of the Maputo Protocol and that this was a recipe for more food shortages and higher prices next year.

He also doubted if the government's dream of realising 12 world class hotels in the Northern circuit would be achieved given the poor state of roads and infrastructure there, as well as the budgetary allocation for tourism which he said was only 0.5 per cent of the total budget.

Hichilema noted that every kwacha invested in tourism created jobs, as the sector was service based.

He also said it is bad behaviour for President Banda to have been on eight foreign trips with large delegations barely four months in office when Zambians were experiencing serious economic hardships.

He said instead of politicking, President Banda should have been holding weekly briefings on the state of the economy to send a clear signal that the government was aware, concerned and doing something about the problems they were experiencing.

"Rupiah Bwezani Banda has had eight foreign trips. If your priority is about helping [Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi become president of the united Africa, you wouldn't understand what Hakainde is saying. You can't have ministers flying to Washington to learn how [US President Barack] Obama is responding to the problems in his country when [President] Obama is busy working," Hichilema said.

And responding to a Kitwe resident, Luckson Kazabu, who wanted to know if Hichilema would defend The Post given that those in power were determined to see it collapse, Hichilema wished The Post long years ahead.

He charged that President Banda had brought a culture of the one party state in a multiparty democracy.

"The Post must be allowed to survive. If there are any issues, people must not use their government positions to cripple the media," said Hichilema.

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, MMD, THE POST, UPND

posted by MrK @ 9:15 AM