Mumbi roasts ‘timid’ PF officials

THE Patriotic Front (PF) has been accused of being silenced by opposition propaganda which has demeaned the strides and development attained by Government.

According to Mr Edward Mumbi, who is a development activist, ministers and other senior PF Government officials were failing to explain that the tremendous infrastructure development visible to all Zambians was being achieved at a cost to the Treasury.

“They are allowing opposition propaganda based on corruption allegations to overshadow the positive achievements attained by Government,” Mr. Mumbi said.

He said ministers must be ashamed of themselves that they were failing to explain to the people what Government was doing to develop the country to defuse lies peddled by the opposition.

He said the calibre of some ministers was questionable as they were spending too much time talking about the opposition instead of dealing with real issues affecting the nation by explaining what Government had achieved.

Mr Mumbi said most ministers were either purposefully failing to explain what their ministries were doing because they wanted the opposition to gain ground, or were inadvertently doing because they were incompetent.

“Just last week, President Edgar Lungu was commissioning a very important road in Eastern Province. Other than the commissioning itself, what else have they told us? Nothing. This Government has done a lot but the people who are supposed to explain these development projects are just quiet.

“PF ministers are just scared of the opposition. Their behaviour only draws one reasonable inference that they are intimidated by the opposition. That is why they cannot speak and this is not healthy for anyone holding a public office,” Mr. Mumbi said.

He said President Lungu had done a lot since coming into power in 2015 but that what he lacked was a team of credible individuals to help him quell lies that were spread by the opposition who were always talking about incompetence in his Cabinet.

Mr. Mumbi said most of the ministers, permanent secretaries, and directors in most ministries were failing to explain policies within their ministries and wondered how they could manage to challenge the opposition to a logical debate based on facts.