 Kuntrimen and women, this month marks two years since the UPND was voted into office and like all elected parties, the UPND was given a mandate not to just form government but to rekindle hope, arrest corruption, enhance the rule of law, increase food security, create employment and unite the country. Alas, in the last two years we have seen a deterioration of the very fundamental issues upon which the UPND was voted for. Wao zambians have continued to wallow in poverty. The world is busy singing praises for the proverbial naked king who is too busy globetrotting to realize that his citizens are suffering and can barely afford one meal a day. One does not have to be a genius to know that at the rate we are going as a country the price of meal meal will be over 400 kwacha by year end and yet no tangible solution is being devised to avert sending citizens into abject poverty. Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to engage you as members of the fourth estate to help us make the clarion call to the president and his team that the citizens of this nation are tired of stories and the challenges that this country is faced with can never be solved by rhetoric and a multimillion dollar PR public relations contract to project the nation in a positive light of the outside world. When the citizens are starving and dying from lack of medicines and poor dietary conditions that fall way below the recommended daily allowance. No amount of PR will help you Mr. President Sir. Get to work and stop globetrotting. We would like to call upon you to take your role and ensure that you highlight the ills that are being perpetrated today by those entrusted with the responsibility of managing the affairs of government. We have seen the continued erosion of economic activity resulting in most of our partners beginning to realize that indeed zambians were sold a lie. Oversight institutions such as the DEC, the ACC, FIC and the auto general's office are first losing their relevance while at the same time civil society organizations are being compromised by targeted appointments. That are intended to weaken any dissenting voice. Again as this background we are happy to host you at today's press briefing under the theme Mr. President. Step up or step aside. Countrymen and women. As we endeavour to highlight some challenges we are faced with in the country, we would more importantly like to accord you our partners an opportunity to ask questions. As the CF6 to provide checks and balances in the governance of the nation, we are alive to the fact that the biggest challenge we have is a repressive leadership that is taking its citizens for granted. By continuing to exploit the resources for personal enrichment. We have seen corruption going unpunished and known individuals who have been at the foe of abusing public resources enjoying the protection and the cover of the very person who saw an oath to protect the very constitution they are abrogating. The challenges we are sharing with the nation are by no means exhaustive but rather a fraction of the ills that play in the country. It is our conviction that some of these challenges we are highlighting will help you understand that we have a leadership that cares less about the citizens but seems more interested in representing foreign interests. How do you explain a situation where two groups of suspects are arrested and one is accommodated in a lodge while the other is locked up in a prison cell? The difference between the two is that the group of Zambians is remanded in jail while the group with foreigners is booked in a lodge. And yet they are all believed to have committed the same offence. I leave you to make your own judgement on this. Our concerns include one, cost of living. The country has seen a significant rise in the cost of living while the average salary has remained around 4,500 per month. The food basket has moved from around 7,000 in August 2021 when the UPND took over government to just over 9,300 in August 2023 representing a 32.61% increase in the cost of essential commodities in a period of two years. This is according to the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection. The citizens first is concerned with the levels of poverty that the citizens have had to endure. We have seen families having one meal a day while others do not even have enough to even afford a meal. The citizens first is concerned with the levels of poverty that the citizens have had to endure. We have seen families having one meal a day while others cannot even afford a meal a day. And yet the cost of essential commodities has also gone beyond the reach of the average citizens while a few politically connected individuals continue to live in poverty. The disparity between those who have and those who do not have is so wide that if not addressed, this has the potential to threaten the peace of the nation. While economic hardships continue to so, the president has continued to say that the people of the country will continue to live in poverty. While economic hardships continue to so, the president has continued to globetrot with a very blotted entourage in the name of signing MOUs. How long are the citizens going to suffer before the president realizes his continued galavanting is having a biting effect on the cyber economy? Iniwenwa today, the price of millimail is at 360 Kwacha. While in some parts of western province, the commodity is nowhere to be found. At times people have to travel over 100 kilometers to find the commodity. Shame, our call to the president is that he needs to realize that his citizens in Zambia are suffering and that he is president of this country and that he must show restraint in his desire to travel and channel those resources to enhance food security in the country. We would also like to call him out on the appasad management of inputs to the farmers. It is worrying that two years in a row the impulse around management and supply of fertilizers continued. This is what happens when a leader is focused on scoring short term gains at the expense of building and providing sustainable solutions. Two, management of farmers. The citizens first is extremely concerned at the UPND's government's failure to manage the agriculture sector besides the sector being a key pillar in the country's economic recovery plan as well as it representing immense potential to support the diversification of foreign exchange earnings that are currently driven by mining. While in opposition, the UPND are condemned the PF government's agriculture policies pretending to have a better alternative when they form government. The reality however has been nothing but continuous lamping of blame on the previous government. The continued preference for single sourcing of fertilizers and other farming inputs has resulted in higher cost of inputs that ultimately increases the cost of production on the part of the farmers. This vicious cycle has led to high price of millimio. Two, political intolerance. While the UPND government was voted in office at the back of addressing the intolerance that characterized the previous government's cadres and use of the police to harass innocent citizens, it is amazing that we are seeing the same level of political intolerance under the UPND government. Even west, they have continued to use the police to frustrate people's civil liberties under the guise of the Public Order Act. For a president that condemned the abuse of the police service, it is inconceivable that he can resort to using the same approach to try and frustrate his perceived political enemies. In Kalulushi, I was arrested. I was detained in Kalulushi. For only having lunch at our national chairlady's home. She's here. They came and threatened even to throw teargas because I did not inform the police commander that I was in Kalulushi. Since when? It is important for those in government to realize that the continued intimidation of perceived political opponents will not slow down the opposition, but rather it will serve as a catalyst that will help opposition parties to set their differences aside and focus on kicking out this repressive government in 2026. 4. Accountability and president's failure to declare assets. There is clear lack of accountability under the UPND that has been compounded by the president's refusal to declare his assets. The citizens first, and I speak slowly here, the citizens first has continued to call out the president on this issue. As it will cause him to be a subject of investigations once he leaves office. If indeed he has nothing to hide, why is it that he has failed to make his net worth public? Why? Just why? The failure by governments to be more accountable has rendered the fight against grafts to be an exercise in fertility that is primarily targeted at the opposition leaders. We have seen people crossing over to the UPND as a means of gaining state protection against any perceived activities they believe to have participated in under the previous government. This is not just retrogressive, but also makes a sham of the fight against corruption. In typical UPND style, the country witnessed the frustration of the alter general who refused to rabastamp the hiring of private audit firms to audit the defense forces. In clear breach of the law, this led to the resignation of the attorney general and the wikening of the alter general and the wikening of the alter general's office. Five, youth unemployment. The ever increasing number of youth unemployment concerns the CF. And what is of greater concern is a continued delay by government to address the issues surrounding Mopani and KCM mines on the Kopa belt. On August 12, 2021, youth stand up in large numbers to vote for the UPND following the continued motto of the Bali fixing the economic challenges that the country was faced with while promising them jobs. Two years down the line, the situation has gotten worse than it was under the PF and the government continues to lay the blame on the previous government. The CF would like to call the UPND to share a roadmap that will address youth unemployment rather than continuing to issue promises that do not seem to deliver intangible results. The situation as it stands is very desperate and calls for immediate redress. The continued recruitment of women and men in uniform is not sustainable as it only saves to increase government's cost best without addressing the income side, which should be addressed by driving private enterprise driven by Zambian entrepreneurs rather than foreign entities. We advise government to identify and support Zambians in our quest to rebuild the country and creation of employment. The citizens first is dismayed with the continued use of the police under the guise of the Public Order Act to intimidate political opponents. The continued use of the police to threaten citizens has eroded confidence and only serves to reduce the political space in a country that has end international acclaim in terms of upholding democratic tenants. In a classical example of lame excuse, the PF notified the police that they intended to launch the strategic plan and in their rejection the police advised that they did not have enough resources to protect them. But when the PF proceeded to organize their meeting it was surprising how many police officers were deployed to disrupt them. Why was it easy to mobilize police officers to disrupt the PF when the same resources should have been deployed to provide the much needed protection to the PF in their quest to launch the strategic plan? Fishumletina, we are aware that most police officers would like to operate in a professional manner as they do not have anything to do with politics but the powers that be continue to push them to attack innocent citizens simply because they are members of the opposition. Zambia being a signatory to many human rights conventions and protocols entails that the government must be at the fore of upholding the protocols that we are a signatory to. Instead we have seen a situation where opposition leaders are being arrested and detained under frivolous charges and subjected to intimidation as a means of silencing them. We shall not be silenced and will continue to mobilize and work together as a united front until we read the nation of any kind of repression. The CF is calling upon the police command to change its posture and ensure that it becomes more accommodating to the citizens and avoid any form of partiality. 7. French ambassador designates. The citizens first would like to challenge governments to share the criteria that was used in accepting the enomination of Jean Maffa who is French ambassador designate to Zambia. Has this person been cleared by the system or is government that desperate that we are now accepting any name that is given to us without carrying out some form of due diligence? I call upon President Akainda Ichilema to make use of the investigative wings and dig into the background of Jean Maffa and let him make those findings public so that the people of Zambia can know who is coming into this country as French ambassador. Failure to which we request that the government makes the right decision and rejects the nomination of Mr Maffa. We know what we are talking about. 8. Zimbabwe elections. I want to end this briefing by addressing the elephant in the room. Which are the elections in Zimbabwe? Firstly, as citizens first, and I'm sure I speak for other political parties, that we are very happy that the president appointed Dr. Nevas Mumba to lead the Saudi Collection Observer Mission in Zimbabwe. It is there for our expectation and hear me well. It is there for our expectation that the Zambian government will also ensure that the same standard that Dr. Mumba is prescribing for Zimbabwe is what will obtain in Zambia. Zimbabwe elections. Right through to the 2026 tripartite elections to avoid what transpired in the Kwacha and Kawushiba elections where some candidates were disenfranchised. Because what is good for the goose is good for the ganda. And he who calls others to equity must have clean hands. Our call, however, is that if the Saudi team had gotten involved much earlier in the electoral process, they would have flagged some of the concerns that they raised and therefore helped to enhance the confidence levels of all the election participants in that country. It is our informed view that constitutional issues cannot be addressed during the period allocated for monitoring elections, as that is too late. At that stage all that is left is to use the existing constitution to ensure that elections are held in a free and fair manner. Our concern over these elections is the sighting of Dr. Mumba's Observer team when the country Zimbabwe had many Observer groups including the African Union team that was laid by the former Nigerian president is excellency president Goodluck Jonathan. Notwithstanding that, we would like to advise the president to exercise caution in the manner in which he handles the election issues in Zimbabwe. As that, as how he handles it, has the potential to destabilize the country of Zimbabwe if not handled well. It is important that this issue is dealt with in a sober manner and avoid any emotions as it has potential to inflame the people of that country. In conclusion, the citizens first will continue to hold government accountable in order to help restore the country's glory by ensuring that government provides opportunities to Zambians in every aspect of commerce. It is for this reason that our manifesto seeks to drive a propoa agenda with the aspiration of creating homegrown millionaires through business incentives and opportunities being provided by government. We are alive to the fact that the current government has failed to create opportunities for Zambians in preference for foreign entities and individuals who end up externalizing all their returns. In view of a homegrown economy, our view of a homegrown economy is one that puts Zambians at the fore of business and commerce while creating an enabling environment for citizens to actively participate in wealth creation and job creation rather than relying solely on government employment. We therefore challenge the president and his government to step up or step aside. I thank you for your attention and the prayer that will work together as one even as we seek to raise the voice of the suffering majority in Zambia. God bless you and God bless Zambia. I thank you.