Malawi formula coming to Zambia – FDD
By Tony Nkhoma
FORUM for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Chifumu Banda says the United Party for National Development (UPND) government prefers foreigners to Zambians when in the running of the country’s economy.
Banda, State Counsel, said in the four years President Hakainde Hichilema has been in government, he had made history by abandoning the Zambians in preference for foreign investors.
“What is happening now is quite shocking. The picture the UPND is portraying amidst the high cost of living and unending electricity load shedding is pathetic. They would rather please foreigners at the expense of their own people,” he said.
Banda expressed doubt about Hichilema’s understanding of the pain Zambians were experiencing under the UPND’s rule.
“The cost of living is too high for any Zambian to meet basic needs, and this is the record the UPND is proud of. I don’t know whether our friends in government know that a lot of people cannot afford a single decent meal in a day,” he said.
Banda said the UPND had abandoned all the nice promises it made while in the opposition.
“Why do we abandon our own people and keep the investors happy? Investors are smiling with pockets full of money when Zambians are wallowing in poverty,” he said.
Banda said next year’s general elections won’t be easy for the UPND because widespread hunger, lack of jobs and business opportunities coupled with the high cost of living would determine the future of Hichilema in power beyond 2026.
He said Zambia was experiencing exactly what happened in Malawi – increased load shedding of electricity, high food and fuel prices, high cost of farming inputs, deep-rooted corruption and lack of respect for the rule of law.
These were the factors that birthed regime change in Malawi.
“In Malawi, the problem was hunger, too, and it spoke. And the people have spoken. In Malawi, too, electricity was a problem. And the people spoke. So, let’s learn. Let’s take lessons from what is happening next door to do better,” Banda said.
He said it was worrying that after Hichilema won the 2021 elections, he had abandoned the people of Zambia who voted him into power in preference for foreigners now cashing in big through government contracts.