 Point in time. I'd like to invite questions. We shall take three questions at a time. When you stand, please state your name and the media organization from which you come. But also stick to one question. I have not seen Uncle Frank around here, so I don't expect someone to say as a rider to that question. So you stick to one question, give us your name and the media organization. So we take the first three, if I can see some hands, take this lady here first. You can come up here. Just state your name and the media organization from which you come. Good afternoon, Mr. President. Good afternoon. My name is Virginia Chilongo from Movie TV. Mr. President, after taking office in 2021, your plan for your first year was dedicated towards stabilizing the economy. For the second year, your plan was dedicated to unlocking resources. But for your third year specifically, what is your plan? I thank you. I want to spread as much as possible. Yes, you. Good afternoon, Your Excellency. And congratulations on the season to you and the first family. My name is Paul Shingongo. I work for KBN TV, also known as Ken Mac Broadcasting Network. I just have one question for Your Excellency, which I want to begin by commanding you first of all by being consistent in holding the press conferences quarterly as pay or promise. These are important engagements for us as the press. My question, a certain section of society are worried and concerned over your working relationship with our own advice president. There are indications, Your Excellency, that you are sidelining the vice president. Others have wondered why the vice president is rarely sent on assignments outside the country. Even just presidential inaugurations, we see Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Kakubo, being the one sent to those assignments. It had to take Secretary to Cabinet to also convince the Zambians that even when you're outside the country, she's the acting president. You had to call for a whole press conference just for that. Your Excellency, I'd love to hear your comment on this as this has worried many Zambians. I thank you. Good afternoon, Your Excellency. My name is Mugwe Magelala from Millennium Radio. There has been concern from the civil society section of the church and opposition political party leaders that your government, that under your government rather democratic space has been shrinking and that your government has been using institutions of government to annihilate opposition political parties, and in this case, the patriotic front where two factions have imaged. What is your position to these concerns and what is your take in regards to the state of the opposition patriotic front? Thank you. We'll allow the President to attend to those. Thank you very much. Yeah, I have to smile. I think it's important that I smile. I'm not really sure. I thought the rules of engagement were that the questions would be around the subject, because that's why people end up writing totally different things and leaving the message of the press briefing unattended. I thought that's the rule of engagement that you gave. So I would suggest, colleagues, that everything has its own time. This is a time for us to report to the nation what we've been doing in the last one year and before. So it would be helpful to focus on that. The next quarter you can ask maybe other questions you want, but this quarter is so important that we invest in the issues that we embrace. It's part of the disciplines, part of professionalism to do things like that. But because we've asked the questions, I will answer them since I'm your servant. But for the next question is, please focus on a lot of things that require interrogation here that we have raised. Journalists, let's not focus on superfluous issues, perceptions, views. Kaunda used to call it kachepa in the morning, kachepa at lunch, kachepa in the evening. And that's what ruled the day. I remember I was still young when you used to say that. So Virginia Chirongo, plan for third year. Thank you very much for that very relevant question to the subject. Our plan for this year, 2024, as I said in my speech, our speech here, the headline message is to drive growth. Virginia, to drive growth, economic growth. In the statement I talked about, us being able to turn around the economy from the minus 2.8 percent growth to 4.3 projected this year, and we believe we'll be getting there, and then to bigger numbers next year. That's a plan. So that we flip the coin on the assumption that we'll close the debt restructuring, which is really, really hamstrung us. Even the things that we've said here, the free education, the roads we're talking about, the other infrastructure, it's just because we're ingenious. Otherwise, we're never going to do them, because basically we were a bankrupt state. Once you default on your creditors, you're sending a signal that you're bankrupt, but we have been able to do these things. But to avoid that knife edge way of living, our focus would be to grow the economy. Investments, trade, prudence, lowering the costs at which we do things in government, driving the partnership between government and the private sector, the PPDF platform I talked about, the PDU platform, presidential delivery unit, making sure that we can lower the time it takes to get a water permit from Wama to irrigate. Remember, I was talking about irrigation. Lowering the time it takes to get Zema license to put up a factory. It takes too long now. Sometimes 25 months. Used to. We've lowered it, okay, but we want to lower it more. To be able to give a power purchase agreement to an investor in energy quicker so that the investment takes place. Remember, I talked about now implementation. We've signed so many agreements. Now we'll focus on implementation. Flip the envelope. Growth, growth, growth. For jobs, jobs. For more contracts for goods and services. You will see we are promulgating a law now. You will see it in 2024 where we want to give deliberate favor to Zambian suppliers of goods and services. Deliberately. Give them priority. You see, I'm glad you have been following the way we had structured what we're going to do. Sometimes we flip over because circumstances beyond our control like the debt has taken longer. But that's the thrust Virginia. And we invite the support of other citizens in that space. That's our request. That is our narrative. When we do it properly, you see growth scaling to close to 5% or more. That's our agenda. We're ambitious. Very ambitious, but we're held back. Thank you. I hope I've answered your question. Of course, there's a consequence of the growth of the economy. You see more employment. You see more teachers, more nurses, more other people's service, but more private sector jobs. That's what our drive will be. Thank you. Paul, some so sad members are worried about vice president being discriminated by the president. I don't know anything about that. That's news to me. You have to tell me what you know, which I don't know. We work within the law. The vice president has a role to do under the constitution. She performs that role. I know maybe partially where you are getting this narrative. This is what I call side shows. Paul, this is a side show. Honestly speaking, my friend, you are teaching me something I didn't know since I formed government. We formed government. Her role is in the constitution. It's legislated. As the role of a former president is legislated. It's in the constitution or in the secondary laws. Every time the president is out of this country, I sign something where she is the acting president. Every single trip I take, she's here. Maybe she should answer the question. It's good she's here. And I will ask her to add on, actually. The mic is there. Every time I travel, even if I'm going for a day only, I sign an instrument. Secretary of the Cabinet is there. Now you are saying it took him to explain what you mean. He does what the law requires him to do. So it is that smell you drive because you felt HH would never be president. That is where this is coming from. There's nothing else we are saying here because you are uncomfortable that somebody who didn't want to be president is president. And the only way the country will be normal is for her to be the president. That's when you feel comfortable. Those members of society who feel like that. Because everything is legal. It's there. All the instruments, maybe you can also come and compliment my answer because it's necessary once I'm done. So we do this thing once and for all. When the president is out of the country, she's acting president. When she's acting president, she cannot attend parliament because she is the president at that time. She cannot sit in parliament. When the president in the country, she is a leader of government in parliament. When she's acting president, she will not sit in parliament. This is a story being parroted that she's being demeaned because when the president is out, defense minister is the acting president. No. Then she nominates the defense minister herself or someone else to be the leader of the house. I don't even get involved myself. It happens automatically. I don't know whether it's cabinet. Is it you who does that? It's her who does that. So if you have any issue with Lufuma, raise another matter. Lufuma is a citizen of Zambia as she is as I am. I know one day there was someone else who was acting leader of the house. I think Lufuma was not in the country. You would know better. Was it Jack or something? You have a roster. You will explain a bit. So I think she will explain a bit more. I think it's important. This is really what is typical of Zambians to bring other mediocre things that really have no basis. And I repeat mediocre things which have no basis at all. And the speculation, the narratives that, oh, the president should only come from this region. That is the issue now. That is the only issue now. How do you think fellow citizens feel when you think that they should never produce a president? What do you think they feel? But who are you anyway? For you to be the only ones to take the president? Who are you? Who are you? Which law are you using? Which constitution are you using? So that's what happens. She can't sit in the house. She delegates, as I delegate to her, she then delegates, the chain continues. Right? That's what the issue, the issue of trouble. She's just returned from Geneva now. Just now, I think she will speak for herself. You must have been there for 10 days or so. Maybe seven days. She will speak. She does trouble. The other day she was representing me in Tanzania. The issue about the minister of foreign affairs, that is his portfolio. The minister of foreign affairs is the first, there are two people who are faces of the country's foreign policies, the president and the minister of foreign affairs. The minister of foreign affairs is doing his function. You don't like the name Kakubo? You have a problem with that? You're asking where he was born? That's not my job. That is his duty. I must be strong on this matter, because this is what goes on and this is what occupies social media. These are the narratives, divisive agendas, trying to create division inside UPND because there's no division inside UPND. Oh no, no, no. UPND has chosen, Combo is the new president. In UPND, there's a system there. And someone now wants to say, Combo is the one taking over from HH and not the vice president. Again, back to the smell of ethnicity. That's what it is. Let's call things by their names. This is what it is, poor. I think as a young general, sometimes people ask you to ask questions. You must examine the questions they ask you to ask on behalf of people, because then you really become the one who looks a little bit bad in a case like this. So I would suggest that the vice president gets a bite on this one, and then the secretary of the cabinet. He didn't need to explain that. I am the one who told him to explain, by the way, poor. I'm the one who said, call a press conference. And I said to him, wave the instruments. I think you wave the instruments. You carried them? Yes. So I hope this subject can be dealt with by the vice president this year. I don't read any issue. We perform our functions constitutionally. That's the way it should be. Anything else, you have to amend the constitution. You want something else? Go and amend the constitution. You are the one who will make the constitution. So I will come to this issue just now. Let me answer the third question. Chilala, the concern about democratic space shrinking colleagues. Honestly, I was hammering earlier about how you couldn't go to intercity. How I could not even use airspace myself in the opposition. I couldn't use airspace. One time I was going to Chibata. I was detained on the runway there. And I deliberately told the pilot to take off. And I said to the commissioner of police then that I will sleep on this runway. Tell me where I need a passport. Do I need a passport to come into Chibata? And I was wearing those heels in Chibata. Triggers, gunshots to stop my freedom of movement. Have you seen Panga since we took office? Have you ever seen the way Panga looks like? You have forgotten already. Which democratic space are you talking about that is shrinking? They are by elections that have just passed. Three of them, UPND 12, I think PF 11. Everybody was campaigning freely. Before that time, I was not allowed. She was not allowed to go to a place where the vice president or president was in the business. I got gunshots 10 days before elections in Chingola. We haven't forgotten. We forgive, but we don't forget. That's a rule of engagement. Civilize human beings. We forgive, but we don't forget. I had to sell that car. It ripped off the door handle of the seat where I was sitting. And I was only going to church on a Sunday morning in Chingola, 10, 11 days before elections. That was no democratic space. That was no freedom of movement. So I'm not sure what you're talking about. Or those society members. I know you're asking on behalf of the people. Again, I'll say to what I said about poor. Sometimes refuse to ask questions on behalf of other people. Because you know it yourself. Unless you lived in a different country. People say things about this president every day. And there's a democracy in Souths. One Shontembo, every morning, his job is to insult HH. Every morning, you check every posting. It's HH, I do you. He calls me Uyundani Uyundani. And I read. I must tell Shontembo, I read. But I just smile. I just laugh at it. I have more important things to do. I don't even pay attention to them. As I told you, one of them said, the coup happened next in Zambia. I already covered that issue. Crazy, isn't it? This is serious craziness. So there is democratic space here. What you are seeing is what we had lost. Because we are enforcing the rule of law, now those guys who were breaking the law believe that this is abnormal. What was abnormal became normal under the PF. What we are doing, which is normal, is now looking abnormal to them. That's where the problem is. That's where the problem is. The public order act is in parliament and is being reviewed. We have taken it to court again, sorry, to parliament the first time in 30, 40 years. In fact, not in 30 years. Since colonial time. Except, let me be correct, one Mulundika who took it, a unique person then, to court, to amend one or two things. So this is the second time. And that was amended via the Supreme Court ruling. But this time, we have taken it to parliament ourselves. But law and order is not equivalent to anarchy. The day you become president, my friend, you realize you are responsible for both sides of the coin. Democracy and space is two sides of the coin. Where your rights end, someone else's rights start. Surely, that's natural justice. To go and say we are going to break shop right in town and burn it and invite people to take goods in there. And that is freedom and that's democratic space. And the police know that that's what you want to do. And then you go in town and do that. It will be an irresponsible police and home affairs minister. Absolutely. Let me remind the gathering here. The British government has just brought back the Public Water Act, the British government in the last three months or so. Why? Because people were doing it every day. They were in the streets of London every day and breaking property, beating people. Prime Minister Sunak said no, no, no. This is anarchy. This is not democracy. This is not the rule of law. This is nothing. This is anarchy. And they've now amended their laws to restrict anarchy. It's there. Check. You know, me, I scan my eyes globally, regionally to see what's going on. So that doesn't mean the British people have taken away democratic space. The British people don't want other peace-loving citizens to be inconvenienced out of Upper Brook Street every day. Those of you who know London well, I lived in that part of London, Upper Brook Street, Parkland. Every day, toy, toy, toy, toy, toy, toy, and you can't produce. Look at South Africa. Every day, toy, toy, toy, toy, toy, toy, burning Woolworths. Because the Woolworth belongs to a Jewish person, and because of the Gaza, Gaza and Israel war, you organize in the name of democratic space, you go and burn your Woolworths' shops. Can we afford to burn shopriders ourselves or to burn zombie shops? What are we doing? I thought I should spend a bit of time around it to distinguish between space, democratic space, constitutional right, and anarchy. Two sides of the same coin. Let me be also candid. When I was in opposition, maybe you've forgotten I suffered the most. There's no politician whose life was persecuted the way I was. Let me be direct today. I am the one. I am the one who got tear gas every move. I'm the one who got live bullets every move. One bullet meant for me took away Joseph Kounder. Ten hours in the morning, around police headquarters there, high court area, took out an innocent 23-year-old life. That bullet was meant for me. Joseph Kounder. Another bullet went on some and some. In case you've forgotten, through you, that community section, that things like that. I've talked of the bullet in Chingola. I've talked to San FM, roofed up there. I think San FM is here. They were there. Your colleagues were there. I had to go through the roof. There is no radio station that has been closed under us and none will be closed or television stations. So what are we saying in this society? Which country do we live in? There are by elections that have been announced now. People filed. No problem. They will campaign. No problem. Whoever wins, that's democracy. It's okay. We lose tomorrow. We win another one. We don't have to fight. When I was in opposition to Chingola, I did not allow my members to go in the streets to fight. 2015, we think our election was stolen. The first thing I did was to order press conference to say, you don't go in the streets. You want to be president. You can't allow your members to go in the streets and break the nation down. What are you going to lead? Which nation are you going to be? Look at how the debt is creating problems for us. Now add a country in smoke. 2016, we think our election was stolen. Again, I told my members, do not go in the streets. Actually, they thought I was not worth supporting because I was a coward. They said, oh, you think HHS is a coward? Then you don't know him. Then you don't know HHS at all. You think you know him? You don't know him. God gave us certain things, but not fear. But it's responsibility. You don't ban your country in the name of democratic space. You don't ban Simson building. Who is going to rebuild it? Who compensated him? Because I asked, I went to court. I didn't go in the streets. I went to court in 2016. I was never heard against the bill of rights, the right to be heard. I was never heard. Our petition was never heard up to now by the same people saying there's no democratic space. Never heard. But I have the right to be heard. It's a bill of rights. Did I go in the streets? No. We just worked harder and harder and realized where the loop was at. We sealed them. We won the election. Today, the country is peaceful. There's democracy. There's law and order. Not anarchy. So let me talk about the issue of causing trouble in PF. I'm not a PF member. I've never been PF. How can I go and cause problems in PF? I'm an outsider. Maybe this lady is doing it. She's an outsider. It is incorrect to shift one's problems to other people. Honestly speaking, PF have their own systems and processes. And they've not started today. They started a long time ago, 2014. It was mayhem to select a successor to President Sartre. May he so rest in peace. There were fights. There were pangas in Kawa there. There were parallel elections there. One for ECL, one for Myosampa. 2014 for the 2015 elections. We were in opposition. How is it that we influenced that bloodletting? That lady was PF. She was beaten in Kawa there. There she is peacefully there. She's not even afraid of any attack. Ask her what was happening in 2014. The election was in 2015, January. But 2014, it was mayhem in PF. That's how they select their leaders. It's not our culture. It's not ours. I'm afraid. Don't bring the smell to me. Take it to the owners. That's their smell. It's not my smell. It's not our smell. I must also tell you something which is true. It's difficult to run an opposition but I know it. You need discipline. You need patience. When we were in opposition, PF took away every Vice President we appointed. They took them away. Yes. My Deputy Secretary General is there. He took away my National Chairman. They took away Vice President Cimenda. Two, three, they took away Vice President Capita. He's there. He's alive. He's there. Took him away. I was with him in Northwestern. We were touring before the 2016 election. He says to me, Mr. President, I have any emergency in Lusaka. He's mine. I'm in Northwestern province. He's in emergency in Lusaka. What's happening in Lusaka? He leaves me. The next thing he's left me. I'm campaigning in his province and I need him the most. He defects to PF. Did you ever hear me criticize in Capita? I simply said, I wish you well. That's my standard answer. I never pointed a finger at PF. Next, who do I, I find now two, I said let me put two Vice President now. One goes, one remains. Right? Who do I put? Kanisha's Bander and the GBM. First to go is Kanisha's Bander. Next, the man who said, I will never go back to PF. GBM was gone. Did I say anything bad against Capita? No, standard answer. Wish you well. Maturity. Understanding. You need to be, your heart must be big in opposition. Because some people can't wait. They can't be patient. They like things now. I never demonize any of my colleagues. I simply wish them well. I think the history is there. The records are there. I never pointed at PF. Why are they pointing at me? I'm not Miles Sampa. Miles Sampa is a PF member. The same fight that there was in 2014 between Miles Sampa and ECL is just a reincarnation of what happened in 2014. Almost. That time they split into two groups. That's what is there. So how do I come in, my dear colleague? This is unfair, colleagues. This is incorrect. We have no business in choosing who runs PF or who runs Socialist Party or who runs Citizens Fest. These are entitled to participate in politics. How they organize it, their culture is their business. Not ours. I must say. Honestly speaking, I feel we are being shortchanged. But I'm just quiet. I don't talk. Because if I talk, I will lose the time I need for debt restructuring. I will lose the time I need to fix free education. To fix CDF. That's my attitude. So I really think that media, it's unfair sometimes to run these narratives. I've been watching press conferences, briefings. But if PF are fighting for succession, they must do it within the law. When they start fighting at their secretariat and beating each other, the police will move in. That must not be misunderstood to mean that the President of UP and the Republican President is interfering. No. That's law and order. If you beat your wife, are you married? Try and beat your wife one day. The police will be there. At that point, it becomes a breakdown in the rule of law. Simple. I think I'll be illustrative. Let me thank you for asking this question. I think I never really had the opportunity to say, to clear the air. I hope today I've cleared the air. I also want to thank Paul for asking this, that question. Because I've been smithering here, there, a bit of simmering here and there. Now what is the issue, these people? Am I not a citizen of Zambia to be President? Where will I aspire for office? Where? If I can do it here. Anyone can be President of this country. Anyone. That's a law. Anyone. Vice President, I think it's obligatory for you to say something about the issue and what you have to say something. He's the head of the public sector. Mr. Kamu. Thank you. You can do it seated, madam. It's better I stand here. Thank you. Your Excellency. The colleagues, cabinet, the permanent secretaries, the media personnel. It wasn't definitely my time to say anything, but I am put here because of the question that the young man from the media house, KB, KBF. KBN, KBN, sorry. KBN. Mr. President, I would sit down just to say you did respond that these offices are controlled by law. You make a constitution and you say it's people's document. If it is people's document, it's important that you go through it. That's what I would say because sometimes expectation is beyond what is provided for. I found myself in this debate, your Excellency, from a very funny angle. But I'll tell you that if there is any intention to think that, oh, President Hacahinde is not fit, it should be Nalumango, then you are wrong. Completely wrong. I am Talena Nalumango. Willingly, freely joined UPND. Willingly, freely supported the President through it all. I didn't have to be vote. Just to know who your Vice President is, you don't have to fight for me because I know who I am and I know what I want to do and I make my own decisions. So if people have issues with the President, come out and tell him your issues. I am capable of standing and doing that which is right in my heart and before the living God. So for now, I am the Vice President. I am not the President of the Republic of Zambia. I think the President has truly described how we work and in no single trip has the President made because I've heard those things. No single trip has the President made outside the borders of this country when somebody else acted. I even remember your Excellency, there was a time we were crisscrossing almost. You were going to Congo and I had to arrive just before. So I remain with the instruments of power and I have copies. I am not just told I have copies. If I knew this question would be asked, I would have come with them because I keep them. They are physical, hard copy and I have each one of them from the first trip the President went to New York. That was your first trip that I got. You forgive my voice, I have some cough. So Zambians should be able to stand for what they want but to want to put me in the sport to be the instrument of a fight. No, I am a Zambian and my papers being here, I ask God all the time is not what you think. It is to serve Zambia, to ensure Zambia has unity and I wait to you PND knowing exactly what the position was and I remain there and I will support this man through and through. It's a decision I make. It's a decision I make. So don't you use me for your own political fight or tribal fight. In fact, I stand to fight tribalism, regionalism. Don't put me there. It is the presidency press briefing. It's not mine. I need a political rally to tell you that this is wrong. Don't use me. I know what I feel. I know what I think. I'm capable of making my own decisions. You can't use me. I am a Zambian. That's who I am. I hope you know me a little today. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. You honor the vice president, honorable cabinet ministers, senior government officials, permanent secretaries, members of the press and the country at large. Mr. President, after we had discussed this issue, I made it very clear as to the process that goes through for dedicated function. I'll just touch on it a bit for those who may not have had the opportunity to know the process. Mr. President, each time the president is leaving the country and we are making arrangements for his travel, my office, using the constitution, prepares a statutory instrument for the president to delegate his responsibilities to the vice president. This has been done, as has been said, by the vice president and the president himself. I have done this religiously. Each and every outing, the statutory instrument is signed and once it's signed, I make a copy available to the vice president. In most cases, I will even go there and give a brief on the departure and the return of the president. Mr. President, it does not end there. Once that is done, I again sign a further document, which is sent to the government printers for them to produce a government gazette. This is important because this is where the public is informed. I know government gazette is not a public document. It's not a document most of us know, but it's an important document for us in government because once we've produced that, it confirms to the public what is in the statutory instrument. So I then sign necessary documents and convey the statutory instrument to the government printers and they will then print in the government gazette that our own other vice president is acting and the president is out of the country. Now, the delegation done is for all functions and powers of the president except appointments, disappointments, and dissolution of parliament. I do not see any side lining when you have all the functions powers except for those three functions. I further guided that apart from the government gazette for those who want to see publicly whether the vice president is acting, which you can do anytime, is that we make sure that the vehicle she's traveling in has a different flag. Traditionally, she flies in an ordinary Zambian flag, but when she's acting, she uses the flag that is on the right here with the president with the frills around the flag. Yes, Mr. President, that's what we put on the vehicle. That signifies that she is acting and we include the use of the red carpet. We also include the presence of service chiefs when we are at ceremonial functions. I just thought I would say that about the delegated responsibility. The second part of it is that I honor the vice president really has our own mandated functions according to the constitution which she performs amongst them disaster management and mitigation unit, the resettlement department, nutrition, and leader of government business in parliament. And at no one time has any of these functions being taken from the vice president or she's side line. We have always run those functions with her. Lastly, Mr. President, is the fact that I honor the vice president attends cabinet and is with the president all the time and consultations are held. Can you imagine she traveled from Switzerland straight from the airport into cabinet, the last cabinet meeting, and a lot of interactions and a lot of consultation. It was on Monday, Mr. President. That was Monday when we had that cabinet. Again, a lot of interaction, a lot of discussions for the good of our country. Apart from that, we had a senior, what the president is now calling a senior management meeting, where there was further consultation. Again, I honor the vice president was there to guide all of us who are called to that meeting. These meetings always happen. And from my point, my job requires to have a president and a vice president. And I cannot do without both of them. And the constitution clearly states. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, sir. Your Excellency, in the interest of time, permit me to take the last three questions. Since we've been seated here long enough, I'll take Brian here. You can come. Mr. President, good afternoon. And thank you very much for the access to information bill, as I want to believe every jazz in the country is very happy. Mr. President, this year has been a very tough year for Zambians. The cost of living has been very high. What assurance do you have for Zambians that 2024 is going to be a different year in that regard? Thank you. The two of you, Darius and Sharon. Good afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Sharon Calimbola from Times of Zambia. I'll take you back a little this year because the question is similar to what Virginia asked. 2023 is rather for the United Party for National Development Administration. It declared it a year of reducing rigidities or bottlenecks. In this regard, the Constituency Development Fund has been increased for the past two years, this year inclusive, and is expected to increase in the future. But then the displacement of the resources and the implementation of some of the projects have delayed and have been attributed to the bottlenecks or rigidities, like you like to call it. How would you rate the implementation or the fulfillment of your call to reduce these rigidities in 2023? Good afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Darius Johnia from Diamond TV. Mr. President, we have seen and heard Finance Minister Drs. Tubekom Sokotwane make assurances on interventions to minimize the volatility of the quarter. But it has kept performing badly. Mr. President, is there a hope of the local currency ever appreciating against major convertibles? Thank you. Allow the President to attend to us. Thank you very much to the questions. Most appreciated. My colleague friend from ZNBC, 2024, the cost of living has been high. Could we see some improvements? I think I spent some time articulating the link here and I deliberately spent time deliberately. So I can only refer you to what I said already in today's messaging right here, that because we damaged the economy, ourselves, ourselves as a country, let's leave who was there. We know who was there, but that's not the issue. And the pressures that we face, our duty is to continue working on those pressures, the vessels that are delivering pressure on the cost of living, many, many will put measures, national service, correctional services, FRA, aligned millers. We push that agenda quite a lot and we'll continue pushing it, my colleague, so that we do increase the production. I deliberately labored that point earlier in the day and that we also mitigate the imported inflation aspect, imported, meaning the pressure for food from, let's be specific, Congo, Malawi and other neighbors. And the solution for us is not smuggling, is not, if you like, shutting the borders. The solution is to structure the markets, like I said, with Congo, the place and order. The solution is to increase production. That's why national service and others. Let me put it here that President is the Commander-in-Chief by law. Earlier you heard me say that no one who has kissed the emery has the right to use the emery and shoot at people, no one. Only the Commander-in-Chief can decide that on behalf of the people. But what we are now saying to our men and women in uniform, the Commander-in-Chief has called them to assist in reconstructing the economy. That is what is done in other countries, which countries? Egypt, Tanzania next to Orwanda. That's why you see national service building bridges, Army building bridges. The Army are just doing a couple of bridges in the northern corridor right now. But more important to produce food. And you see the irrigation, correctional services, doing a lot of irrigation and national service is deliberate because the Commander-in-Chief has asked them to do that in peace times without them forgetting their role as military men and women. So it deliberate again. So it's all to help produce more food, move towards 10 million tons of maize as an example, and then stabilize the price of the coal for you citizens to produce just one hectare. I'm repeating what I said. Just one hectare and be more productive. Keep some for your own need. Sell the other. Supply side will benefit. Credit window. Continuing with fiscal but cleaning it up. There was a lot of cheating in fiscal. I'll be the first one to admit. A lot of cheating there. Non-existent human beings were receiving petalizer. Today you distribute fiscal petalizer. Tomorrow in the market is being sold. And some of it, unfortunately, will be sold to Mozambique, to Malawi, to Congo. Fellow citizens are doing that. So we're working on all those measures. One of the measures I didn't talk about today is that all fiscal beneficiaries in 2024 have to sell their excess maize to the FRI. If they don't sell to FRI, they will be removed from this fiscal list. You agree, isn't it? They'll be removed because they end up selling maize illegally to neighboring countries and creating a pressure here. But that maize they produced, to be honest technically, belongs to the government because the petalizer and seeds came from the government. So essentially there was a lapse in the system. Now we are tightening the system that they must sell to the FRI so that the strategic reserves can benefit from that. They don't want to sell to FRI. They must raise their own money to buy petalizer and seeds. That's discipline, isn't it? So when you hear them complain next year, you must remember this press briefing that that is by intention. Because some of them, like the minister, is the minister northern here. Some of them in Pulungu in Baila were selling green maize to the Tanzanians. They are still in the field. They are selling it. No, we want to sell to Tanzania properly. Tanzania must place an order with us. And I've shared this with my fellow colleagues, presidents. We're happy to do that. But first we have to feed our own people and stabilize the prices. I think that would be generally my answer. Except the big one, the debt. Where is my friend who asked that question? When the debt is restructured, remember the numbers I was giving you. It will now create some headroom for us, including the pressure on the kwacha will come down, including us being able to grow the credit window, put more money there for irrigation. So those are the measures. There is no other way. I know, I hear what people are saying. No, you can sell sujilite. No, you make 20 billion dollars in selling sujilite. Those are stories for the bar. Those are stories for the streets. The streets are people normally in the streets because they're not intoxicated, but in the bar, because then they are high. They say anything there, anything goes. We're aware of that sujilite issue. We're aware of the Emirates issue. I have said it before. The minister is there. We're putting measures to get value from the Emirates. More money, including sujilite. If you may know, the minister there is conducting a mapping of the sujilite area. Am I right, minister? So that we can now exploit it legally and properly, including marketing it. You saw me at the jewel of Africa visiting the factory. You saw me not long ago. It's all steps leading towards us now looking at the value of Emirates semi-pressure stones to our economy. 2024. Remember who asked me the question, Virginia? Those are the issues we're looking at. Expanding the economy, bringing more value from different resources that we have, including Emirates, including sujilite, including lithium. That minister is just putting a policy statement that no one will mind lithium and export the raw material. No one. I said it earlier. But of course, you couldn't maybe connect the dots. So in Mapartizia now, where our citizens discovered lithium, I must confess, we didn't discover the lithium. It was our citizens who discovered lithium on their own in Mapartizia. So is the gold in Karsenseli. It's our citizens. It's our citizens in Impeka. We have discovered gold. You should ask the question, why? Because we have not been exploring. We've not been spending money on exploration. Now we are. Now we are. And I think I covered it earlier. So there's a lot that's going on, my dear colleague, ZNBC. A lot. We just have to work together. But remember the 2000s. We had to go through this pain. And let's not allow, again, I repeat, let's not allow to, to, to regress, to degrade, to reverse to this negativity of dead mountain. Sharon, CDF increase, but rigidities, performance. I talked about it earlier that we have to improve continually the performance of CDF. The problem is not CDF money. The problem is absorption. The problem is it's a learning curve. Remember, people are shocked that the 30 million question in the constituents, you multiply that by the number of constituents in the province for the first time. There's so much money in the constituent. There's a bit of a shock there. But from where I sit and my training, that's a shock we need. We need that shock, Sharon. And then people quickly now begin to respond as they are now. There was an audit done on CDF. I think you've seen it. You haven't seen it. It's there. It's picking issues there. We're following through those audit issues. In addition, we are mending the law. I said earlier to remove the rigidities. Procurement to allow local procurement, local companies, instead of companies. That's what I said earlier on in Lusaka and Copper Belt. Two regions only were doing work in the constituents. Copper Belt and Lusaka. Now we want contracts to be given to people in the constituent. We have to amend the law. We're mending the law. Little things glitches. I'm not happy myself. I want to confess to you because you are my bosses. I'm not happy. We're slow. We're too slow there. We must do it much quicker. We shouldn't be sitting on things that we can change. So that's the issue. But also I did mention to you that yesterday I signed laws, including the amendment to the Public Procurement Act, which was making it difficult for the constituents, the districts, for the constituencies. Let me change the English. For the districts to adjudicate on contracts for the constituencies. Much quicker. There were rigidities and contradictions. So the Minister of Justice, thank you very much. And your team and sector ministers for moving to amend those laws. I talked to the Public Procurement Act. I talked to the Public Private Partnership Act, so which I signed yesterday again. So all those have been amended to facilitate now unlocking the rigidities. But we'll continue. This checklist, Sharon, my dear friend. Today you can sit and I can publicly call you a friend. When we were sitting in opposition, I wouldn't because you'll be beaten outside by the Thugs, by the party Thugs. But you have followed us from opposition. We've remained consistent. The things we've been saying. But we've amended the laws now. You will see a pickup of speed, but also precision and priorities. I must say, colleagues here, you can't put money without priorities. The priorities for CDF is education, it's health, it's water supply and sanitation. People need water. It is basic infrastructure, it's agriculture. That's why there's maintenance capacity being developed there. Then, of course, there's women fans there, youth fans, there are some grants there, there are some loans there. I think the CDF loan, anyone from local government here, is the lowest. I think it's 5 percent. It's 5 percent. You go and get a CDF loan, small loans for a saloon, a loan for a barber shop, a loan for a welding shop, because we must take care of our people there at that level. It's 5 percent only. Where would you get money at 5 percent? Not any. But again, ZNBC, Zanis, just take around, go around, go around and do this field work and bring this information. Diamond, prime. By the way, I'm fighting an issue in the government now, and I'm fighting legally, but also by police and conviction. There's no reason when a government team is moving around why not carry the private media as well, because the private media will angle a story in a different way. So why are we resisting that? Which money are we using? It's a public money. It's government departments. But who is public? It's the private media as well. That's their money. So we can get a test of a different story from a different angle. And by the way, viewers like seeing different stations, so that is the fight I'm having with the Secretary of the Cabinet and other people. It's a health fight. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying, that we're exchanging blows and no, no, no. It's a debate. I believe when the President travels, he must also carry the private media as he carries the public media, so the story can be taught from all angles. CDF is a game changer. Sharon, I, I, I, I rigidities. I detest a stand in the world development. We have to dismantle them. Darius, Forex volatility, will the culture improve? Darius, I spent time. Who is Darius? I spent time on this matter. That I explained how it's impacting on the foreign exchange on inflation. Uncertainty breeds instability in the market. I don't want to talk like my true training, because I'll lose people around here. A price is driven by many factors. Forex is a price. The dollar, quarter exchange rate is a price. In a simple language, it's a price. The price gets affected by real movements of goods and services, export, you know, activity, bringing in revenue on the supply window of foreign exchange to mitigate the demand window for foreign exchange. But it also works on sentiments, on fears. Currently, what you're saying is a fear that we will not close the debt restriction. We may not close the debt restriction. I am saying here, we will close the debt restriction. So the markets must become, but the markets want to see delivery, like they've seen on Mopane. They've seen on delivery on Mopane. Now, this money going in Mopane, you're going to see more activity, more production, more revenues. That's the way it works. We just need to manage. We're doing very well, but the delay in concluding, which is not our control and our control. We've done everything. That's why the IMF board two days ago passed, we passed the test, the World Bank board yesterday. Again, you can see they were not scaring. This note you saw here was from our colleagues in Washington. I asked Marshall to call our colleagues in Washington. They didn't want us to raise the matter here because they have a period within which the board meets. And then anyone who has an objection has a couple of hours to raise objections. You raise an objection and you are given six hours. The board meeting resolved unanimously in our paper. Networking. Friends who understand what we are going through here, what we are doing. Like the IMF board was unanimous. It doesn't happen no more. There in Washington, they are voting unanimously for you here. There's work behind that. You don't see it, but there's a lot of work. So we advise that as the press briefing is taking place, the six hours will have lapsed because of a time zone difference. The six hours will have lapsed there. I think the six hours have lapsed and we've announced it here. So all those are positive measures that derives. If they felt that the debt restructuring, remember they are tied to the debt restructuring, which is part of our economic restructuring. If they felt that it will not happen, the IMF board would have not approved the $187 million, which takes us to half a billion dollars out of the $1.3 billion. And we passed all the tests. We've done our part. We are confident the debt restructuring will close and it has an effect on the foreign exit. There are things that beyond our control. In our field, we call them exogenous variables. Indogenous variables, those under our control, we are dealing with. But those outside our control, we can only lobby, network, negotiate. That's why I met President Macron in Dubai. That's why I met the vice premier of China. That's why we are in touch almost all the time. Vice President, one day these social media people almost got me in trouble with my wife. Crystalina, the IMF managing director. We're growing to be very good friends. So every time I'm going out to this meeting, the secret is Crystalina coming to greet me, hug me, I hug her. So the process, they're inciting my wife to riot when I'm just doing my job. Truly, one of our agendas, that's why you see the Zambia rating has gone up, is to create friendships in the positive sense. There's a new World Bank president. Before when we came in, there was Mao Paz. Now there's Ajay Banga. Mao Paz became our very good friend. Now Ajay, first time we met in Paris in June, now Ajay and I are close buddies. That's my job. That's why I told you I'd be the chief marketing officer. But typical Zambian, every friendship, you read something else which is not there. Don't bring trouble in my house. So these are colleagues we are cultivating relationships, very professional. That's why even before the board meeting met, we already knew that we've done our part and we passed the test. We passed the test. So Darius, we continue doing what we can. Those things beyond our control, we continue networking. We continue loving. And that's why I said earlier on, on the date, for example, we expect the church, all churches, all political parties, all civil society, all media colleagues, we must sing the same song. There's no benefit in the delays in the debt restrictions to anybody unless you're a witch. Unless you're a witch. Luckily, I don't fear witchcraft myself. But I know people are wicked. Some people are wicked, wishing the country ill. I think we should go home. We'll end our day. Thank you, Excellency. It remains now to only but thank you for the elaborate report you have given your bosses, the people of Zambia, through the media. I think we've ended the year on a good note. And I would like to take the opportunity now to invite the House and you, Excellency, to be upstanding as we sing the National Anthem.