 Unohia bakun Blues kwa yaanmak abundanto nile, na k又a So crankatery kabuguru nili котором watu Ramпya to pani prayers Kwa mandera kupu yaka W Three years down the line, the president has shown his true colors that point into the fact that he will go down as presiding over the number of falsehoods and unfulfilled campaign promises until our dismay he sees nothing wrong with continuing lamping up more falsehoods. One, recent by elections. The recently held word by elections clearly shows that the UPND is not willing to embrace democracy but will use any means to project itself as the most popular political party when in fact not. The levels of vote buying, distribution of millimio were so high during these elections. This will surely end in tears in 2026. And I would want to say that it is not something that should even worry those of us who are in the political field. When you hear that the UPND has won, they have not won, in fact they have lost. The volumes of money they are dishing out to get those elections to their side, the levels of violence that they are pushing. I'm not speaking from without. I was a victim myself where I was harassed by UPND kadas in full view of two ministers that I must say one minister was level headed. But the other minister was the one even pushing the kadas to push insats at an opposition leader. But for those who are involved in electoral violence and supporting such, I want to tell them that their videos being kept and your day of reckoning is fast approaching. Congratulations to our leaders in the citizens first, headed by our national chairman who are physically on the ground, but also those who shared their resources to enable our party participate in the elections. For the citizens first, our mobilization continues. And I can tell you with confidence here that we are aware that the upcoming work by elections are to be held in Shuangandu, are to be in Impeka and as well as in Milenge. The citizens first will continue participating in these work by elections, regardless of what ever comes. Because for us these by elections are being used as a platform to announce our coming into government in 2026. Two, government's response to the Cecele mine disaster in Chingola. It is sad to see how government has handled the Cecele mine disaster. This issue has demonstrated the clear lack of leadership and care but the UPND government. Second, Kali speaking, this incident happened on Thursday and the government was briefed in the early hours of Friday. While the nation is at a loss and in a state of mourning, it is ironic that the president saw it fit to remain in Dubai rather than heading home to come and provide guidance at such a trying time. Losing as we are hearing, losing over 30 lives, we are yet to confirm that but if we have lost even 2 lives in that thing or 5 lives or 10 lives is not a small challenge for the nation. And there are a few questions I would like us to pose to the government of president Againda Hilema. One, what action has been taken so far and what hope do we have of recovering end survivor among those youths that are stuck in the rabu? Two, what is the total number of youths that are currently under the rabu and what arrangements have been made with their families to cushion the applied during these trying times? Why did they take 3 days for an official statement to be issued by the acting president? Four, why did the president decide to remain in Dubai when there is such a tragedy at home? We find it inconceivable but the head of state would elect to stay away from home when such a big tragedy has hit his nation unless of course he does not care about his citizens. A president who means well and cares for his citizens should have dumped everything he was doing to come and be with his citizens at such a trying time. I will give you an example, in 2017 when Sowatu Market was gutted the then president, Red Gachagwa Lungu who at the time was attending an AU summit in Azababa Ethiopia made a decision to abandon the summit to head home and provide leadership and console those who had lost their goods in the inferno. We have seen progressive and caring presidents take the same course of action including the US president who recently had to stay away from an important global summit to be able to provide leadership and stand with his citizens at such trying moments. Alas, ours paid no attention to what was going on at home and opted to stay in Dubai and only head home after he had finished with his calendar. There is no sense of agency from our president. You can clearly see that as citizens of this country we are on our own and nothing is going to move the president from stopping his taking of selfies, wherever he is and pictures and posting on his page to impress his friends here that is working. My last question on this to the president is what does it take for him to be moved? If he cannot be moved by the death of what we hear of about 30 plus citizens what will it take for him to be moved and start caring about the warfare and the lives of zambians? Is this a clear sign of who the people voted for? And if that is the case, should we brace ourselves for West? Just to buttress this point, colleagues, those of you that might not have taken time to understand the history of our country, we had a similar crisis in the 70s. I think 1970, Dr. Kawanda was president then and I think the crisis happened in Mufulira so my mother saves me right. Dr. Kawanda had to spend one week on the copper belt and he spent not less than an hour at each of the bereaved homes personally consoling them. That is what a leader does. A businessman will not care about that. Three, economic performance. The last two years of the UPND government have brought untold proportions of hunger in the lives of zambian citizens. While we are alive to the fact that there have been some global challenges that could have had a knock on effect on the global economy we are alive to the fact that the zambian economy is not directly correlated with most western economies. Therefore, the challenge in Ukraine should be seen as an opportunity for countries like Zambia to increase its agricultural production and take advantage of the void that would have been created by the Ukraine-Russia war. In essence, the war presents an opportunity for Zambia to increase agricultural productivity and not the current situation where the zambian government is opting to be selling farmland to other countries. First it was 15,000 hectares to Kenya and now we have been informed that President Akainda Ichilema would like to sell of 10% of Zambia's arabo land which is equivalent to 75,000 hectares to a Dubai-based investor. If he has failed to address the challenges this country is faced with he should simply resign rather than looking for anything that he could sell as part of his economic solution. Going by this rate I would not be surprised if they would not resort to selling citizens. Inflation has continued to age upwards going to about 12.9% as at November last month while the cost of funds is expected to increase owing the central bank's adjustment of the statutory reserve ratio. On the other hand the kwacha is under pressure and has continued to lose ground against other convertible currencies. Zambia being a net importer and in the absence of any congent interventions it is highly likely that the rate will go beyond 25 kwacha for the first time in the history of this nation. This is not as a result of having bad central bankers but purely because we have a government that places needs of foreign entities over the interests of the nation. We would like the president to employ his method which he told all of us before he came into government the president had said that formula which he was going to reduce the price of petroleum the Y-minus C formula why has the president delayed in employing that Y-minus C formula? We want him to employ that formula he should not be wasting our time. The kwacha needs to be supported by returning of proceeds into the country by exports especially by mining houses because currently when mining houses export their produce this government has allowed them to keep the money in whatever banks they wish. We want the mining houses to export sell their copper without government interference but let the money is first overheat the banks here to protect the kwacha and in that regard the kwacha will have some strength but given what we are given kwacha will continue collapsing. There is also need to re-adjust the mineral tax to pre-upnds so as to help restart the economy and bring us back on the growth trajectory. As you all know the UPND government reduced the mineral tax from 6% to 3% meaning that our country's source of income was halft by the UPND this is the first act they did when they came into government otherwise the ambition of increasing Zambia's GDP to 40 billion dollars by 2026 will be nothing but a fallacy. 4. Zambia's debt position In the spirit of transparency we would like to request that the minister of finance issues a statement and advises the nation what the status of the bond holders is and what the available options are for Zambia seeing that we seem to have a standoff with the bond holders We would also like to request that the minister advises the nation on the country's total debt position and what percentage of GDP that is In the same spirit we would like to know how many local contractors government has paid since the UPND took over and what proportion of that debt is represented in the nation's total debt stock It is our understanding that the debt owed to local contractors is being serviced based on patronage and that most contractors have actually lost money as they have been paying some non-members of the UPND in order for them to facilitate release of payments from the treasury in seeking to provide lasting solutions to the country's economic challenges and based on the rates at which things are going The CF would like to recommend that government considers calling for an economic endeavor while a multi-partisan approach can be taken to discuss how best to address the kind of economic challenges Our view is that the UPND has serious blind spots and cannot be relied upon to come up with a home-grown economic solution list the nation, recedes further and falls in an economic abyss 5. Increase in corrupt practices While the UPND was voted on the commitment of addressing corruption and ensuring that the nation was rid of corrupt practices we have ever seen the UPND evolve into a more corrupt institution than what was obtaining under the PF government I would like to bring out a few fundamental issues that the citizens must start interrogating One of the biggest challenges that was raised in the nation under the previous government was around the Mukula tree and I speak as the former minister of lands and environment The question is why has the handling of Mukula been given to Zambia National Service under the UPND as opposed to Zafiko whose mandate is to deal with the forest Just why Why is it that the same Zambia National Service has been given to handle Mt billion dollar road projects and yet owing to the fact that the Zambia National Service is under the defense this institution is never audited and yet billions are pumped there Do our roads Do the Mukula This must begin raising questions in all of us sit here and those of us watching must hear How can a president who believes in transparency be making significant investments in an institution that cannot be audited The nation has seen a significant increase in single sourcing under the current government and under any other government we have had in this country We have seen friends of those close to the people in the corridors of power being given business opportunities even when their pricing is higher than the market rate How do you justify the procurement of drugs from Egypt at the value of 24 million dollars without following the procurement procedure It is clear that Zamsa and Zambra had dropped the ball in that procurement and following our joint press briefing on 16 November 2023 when we made that revelation and normally in the procurement of drugs we saw the anti-corruption commission swing into action at Zambra and five people being dismissed and hit placed on suspension at Zamsa This ugly hand of corruption has also resurfaced and manifested itself in the area of consent judgments that are today being used as a means of siphoning money from government More so at a time when the country is faced with serious challenges in meeting the basic needs of the citizens This government has decided to reward its cadres through consent judgments but they have failed to repair the city's scan and extra equipment in hospitals They have been rewarding each other with millions of kwachas while they are giving fatalizer and inputs in medas to be shared among four or five farmers This economist is busy rewarding his friends through consent judgments but people are dying because there are no drugs in hospitals Can the UPND leadership explain why ZCCMIH would be compared to sell out its 20% shareholding in one of the most profitable mining houses in the country and yet maintain its positions in loss making ones What logic did the UPND and this leadership use to arrive at that decision These are issues comrade machindi when we form government that you should be taking out of This government is very corrupt and I must say that we are happy that the donor community has finally begun to see what we have been singing about It is also reassuring that most diplomats have started calling out the corrupt activities under the UPND government including calling for the president to declare his assets This call for the declaration of assets is intended to enhance the level of transparency and ensure that the president brings about credibility to his leadership But clearly if one has something to hide he will do everything to avoid declaring his assets 6. Poor governance Political intolerance and the diminishing democratic space The UPND was voted into office on the promise of a level playing field and the promotion of the rule of law We have noticed with disme an increase in targeted attacks against perceived political operands of the ruling party The arrest of the journalists for simply sharing information with the citizens is one thing that continues to unsettle the UPND The continued housing of oversight institutions under the wings of the president means they will be reluctant to call out some corrupt activities that are linked to those that are close to the president Political arrests have become the order of the day and opposition leaders are not given permits for them to carry out their party mobilization But I hope that the rally which the opposition is going to have this weekend they have notified police and we hope that nobody will stand in their way because they have already notified the police don't find more police to stop them from having their meeting let them have their meeting if you've got nothing to hide let them go ahead and have their meeting Zambia being a signatory to the many human rights protocols one would expect the Zambian government to seek equity and balance if we are to return the respect Ladies and gentlemen it's hard to note the ever increasing pace of attacks on perceived enemies of the ruling party this must come to an end and people must be guaranteed their rights and freedoms as enshrined in the Zambian constitution it is also worth mentioning that the use of institutions of governance to harass and intimidate opponents must come to an end as it has no room in a 21st century political environment our commitment for the Zambian citizens I want to assure all well meaning citizens and compatriots that in spite of how repressive and corrupt this regime may be time is not on their side and in the next two and a half years just the next two and a half years they shall be shown the door and will be made to account for all the assets they would have misappropriated it is our greatest conviction that right shall triumph over might clearly the UPND government has failed and needs to be called out for their failures and their mask is topped in the 2026 elections we would like to encourage all civil servants men and women in uniform private sector players the youth women and senior citizens to choose to be on the right side of the argument decide to do the right thing and preserve the image of Zambia as for us in the CF we will continue to work with all progressive parties with whom we share the value of raising the people of Zambia the shackles of poverty and human degradation we are committed to working together with the civil society the change mother bodies and religious leaders NGOs pressure groups and indeed other political parties to ensure that we read this nation of a repressive government and asha in an accountable government that will place the citizens of this nation at the foe of all its plans and actions finally we would like to take advantage of this opportunity to announce and launch our rallying cry of Zambia Nicharo Chatu Zambia is our country Zambia Charo Cheso Zambia Chisi Cheso Zambia Kina Hayalon this rallying cry is intended for the so purpose of sending a strong and clear message that will not allow any form of divisive actions and activities that are meant to disadvantage the citizens of this country we shall defend the constitution preserve the peace of the nation and more importantly ensure that the wealth of this nation is secured for the people of Zambia thank you and God bless our republic