BALLY ‘FIX’ CABINET - MUNIR
‘Not time for blame game’
GOVERNMENT is at a standstill because there is no cabinet and it is important that this is rectified quickly by President Hakainde Hichilema so that things start moving, Lumezi independent Member of Parliament Munir Zulu has said.
Mr Zulu wondered why it was taking the President so long to name his cabinet because he knew the Members of Parliament who have been voted into office where he is supposed to pick from.
“It is high time that President Hichilema started ‘fixing it’ by delivering on the campaign promises than playing a blame game,” Mr Zulu said.
Mr Zulu said President Hichilema should put his house in order by appointing a cabinet instead of delaying and giving excuses.
In an interview, Mr Zulu said remarks by President Hichilema that his Government inherited empty coffers from his predecessor were unjustifiable and just mere excuses.
He said Zambians were eagerly waiting to see him fulfil his campaign promises and not giving excuses.
Mr Zulu said as the man in the driver’s seat of Zambia, President Hichilema should stop the blame game and provide solutions.
“President Hichilema should not think that he is still in opposition, he is now in the driver’s seat. Whether there is money or no money, he has to deliver because he promised the people free education, he promised that fertiliser will be reduced.
“He said during campaigns that ‘Bally’ will fix it, so let the ‘Bally’ fix it. He shouldn’t play a blame game because he is no longer in opposition,” Mr Zulu said.
People’s Alliance for Change (PAC) President Andyford Banda has urged Mr Hichilema to announce his full cabinet by tomorrow, as this will mark 14 days of him being in office.
In a statement issued yesterday, Mr Banda said that he has noted with great concern that up to now, “our country still does not have a full Cabinet two weeks since President Hakainde Hichilema took his oath of office as the seventh President of the Republic of Zambia.”
Mr Banda said that while people appreciate that the President needs reasonable time to appoint his ministers, he now appears to be indecisive and that the time lapse is increasingly becoming unreasonable.
He noted that failure to announce the full cabinet will only confirm the bureaucracy and red tape that is, increasingly being associated with the new regime right from its beginnings.
He said that as people appreciate the symbolism in prioritising the appointment of a minister of Finance as a statement of intent on fixing the economy, the reality is that the minister’s efforts are ineffective and severely handicapped without cabinet colleagues.
Mr Banda said that the country needs policy direction at ministerial level in the health sector to battle the Covid pandemic.
He alleged that the country has continued to run on auto pilot on the same destiny destroying trajectory set by the former Patriotic Front.