Maravi

Fulfil your promises, Musokotwane tells PF

COMMENT - The Bicycle Man is telling people to 'calm down' again.

Fulfil your promises, Musokotwane tells PF
By Allan Mulenga and Abigail Sitenge
Mon 23 Apr. 2012, 13:29 CAT

THE government must calm down and focus on the issues that Zambians voted them for, says Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane. In an interview, Dr Musokotwane, a former finance minister, said the Patriotic Front should stop being excited by the fact that they are now in government.

"Calm down and focus on the issue that you promised Zambians. You said you were going to create employment, where are the jobs? You said you are going to create more money in our pockets, where is the money? You promised universities all over the place, where are the universities? This is what the people are looking for, not just the heap of confusion; today it is this; tomorrow it is that. That is not what we are looking for," he said.

Dr Musokotwane said the government should explain its economic policies to Zambians.

"Stop being excited by the fact you are in the office, stop being excited by the fact that you are now a minister or deputy minister or a member of parliament; that is now history. What the people are looking for is how you are going to improve their lives, that is what people are looking for," he said.

And Musokotwane expressed concern over the decline in the country's foreign reserves ratio.

Zambia's gross international reserves has dropped from US$2.371.4 billion in February to US$2.317.7 billion in March.

"We are unhappy that the levels of the reserves have gone down. The time we left office, we left this country with US$2.6 billion which was the highest amount in recent history that the country has ever had and within a short period of time this has come down to US$2.3 billion, meaning that the level of reserves has gone down by more than US$300 million from when we left office," he said.

Dr Musokotwane attributed the decline of reserves ratio to mismanagement of national economy.

"The reserves have gone down because it is all about confidence. You cannot bring money to a country unless you are absolutely sure that the government where you are taking the money to is a competent government; it is a government that adheres to agreements; and it's a government that respects private property. There is nothing happening that is why people rather than bringing money in the country, they are taking money out of the country leading to the depreciation of our currency from K4,748 to K5,300. In fact, the exchange rate would have been worse if the central bank had not been taking money from the reserves to defend the currency. So we are not happy with that," said Dr Musokotwane.

Labels: SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE

posted by MrK @ 5:58 PM