By Walusungu Lundu
BREBNER Changala says 2021 is gone with its own challenges and the new dawn administration’s unfulfilled promises.
The good governance activist told The Mast that the UPND government promised prior to the elections that they would reduce the price of fuel by removing middlemen.
Changala asked if government has managed to find the middlemen they talked about in their election campaigns and asked what the challenge is for them to not remove them so that prices of the commodity are reduced.
He implored the UPND government to discuss that “middleman for God’s sake”.
Changala tipped President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration that the worst would be betraying people’s desires and expectations.
He said the country already had a challenge that the government had reneged on their commitment to be meeting the press as frequently as it is possible.
“2021 has gone and it has gone with its own challenges and a lot of unfulfilled promises. In 2022 we expect the new dawn administration to live up to the people’s expectations which garnered them a landslide victory. The worst would be to betray people’s desires, expectations.
We already have challenges at a moment in time that the new dawn administration has reneged on their commitment to be meeting the press as frequently as it is possible,” he said. “There are real issues that have gone on in the month of November and December.
The removal of subsidies on fuel in which the Government of the Republic of Zambia through the new dawn they have literally taken a back seat, having dropped the bombshell. They have not come back to explain the long term benefits and the challenges that made them make such a huge backtrack after promising the people of Zambia that fuel will be cheaper in that they will remove the middleman.
And they don’t want to discuss the middleman. For God’s sake, they have to discuss that middleman. Did they find the middlemen? And even if they found the middleman, what challenges have you found to remove the middleman.”
Changala slammed the new dawn administration for never talking about subsidies “as the cost that pushed the fuel out of range for many Zambians” when they were in opposition.
“When they were in opposition they never talked about subsidies as the cost that pushed the fuel out of range for many Zambians. So we need them to come back from wherever they have taken a back seat and hibernating to come and engage the people of Zambia.
Explain these austerity measures. Are they part of the IMF deal? Are they economic recovery agenda? How do they cushion an ordinary Zambian? How do they create employment? What is the role of the youth in this new dawn? What is the role of the women in this new dawn?” asked Changala.
“And these are issues that must be tackled immediately in the New Year. It will not be easy but it needs a government that engages the people, a government that doesn’t leave the people behind.”
