 we witnessed the harassment of even small enterprises we bring to mind when mobile phone operators were thrown off the streets just for window dressing to show 20 heads of state w are coming to Lusaka that Lusaka is clean we removed mobile boots And now we are those people languishing in our compound. Who has destroyed their lives? It is not only small and medium enterprises that have been harassed. Even big businesses have been harassed. And you know you are reading in the papers how businesses are also being followed everyday. They are being harassed everyday because they are believed to be PF sponsors, PF sympathizers, or that they are competitors. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not surprising that 17 long months after forming government, Mr. Haga Indehijidema is still blaming the PF for the poor performance of the economy. I say it is not surprising because those of us like me who know Haga Indehijidema for many years know him as a motivational speaker but not a performer. Even then we knew what more Zambians are now coming to know about him. That the man believes even in his own lies, he believes his own lies. Once he tells a lie, he believes it, he convinces himself that it's true. I am not saying this from without and I don't mean to demean the president but the truth of the matter is that he makes himself believe his own delusion. I'll give a few examples in case somebody wants to quarrel with me. I'll give a few examples. Remember how convinced he was when he said these words? Vote for me at 10 hours. I'm suonina 12 hours. 14 hours the dollar will be 10 kwacha. For some of us when you are saying something that you don't believe in you can see it on the face. But for Bali, I have to respect him for his ability to say even lies in such a manner that he will convince you. He has that ability. Another example I can give you. Remember how you stand out on the queues to go and vote? When he said to us the petrol prices will reduce to 12 kwacha a litre because PF are stealing through their middlemen 3 kwacha per litre. I'll reduce it from 15 kwacha to 12 kwacha when he was saying that you believed him and he believed himself. That's what I'm saying. He is a man who believes even his own lies. Remember how convinced he was when he told all of us Zambians? Oktober 2021 after he win elections the price of a bag of 50 kg bag of minimum will be 50 kwacha. Imagine how he convinced farmers, even people in the rural areas they turned out to vote because the man was convincing because he had convinced himself. When he said, I promise you farmers when I come I'll give you eight bags of fertilizer each. Remember what he said to the farmers? When I come, I'll come and pay you 250 kwacha for a bag of maize. In my life I've been taught one thing if you want to convince people convince yourself first and if a person can convince himself by words such as these that I've quoted he convinces himself that yes I'll reduce the price of petrol and when the time comes you ask him have you reduced it then he says PF then you should know that that person qualifies to be called BMW in Itonga it says Bali Muntu Wabu Beja Countrymen and women the poor performance of the economy from the way I've explained it might not be understood by many people but this can be demonstrated by the basic needs and nutritional basket which only a few months ago stood at 9,400 kwacha per month 9,400 kwacha to feed a family of six how many zambians earn 9,400 kwacha today they have told us that they have increased the minimum wage for a domestic worker to 1,300 but the domestic need is 9,300 9,400 how many zambians are living below that food basket is the majority of zambians but also my dear countrymen and women during this period of festive season every year you hear firecrackers popping in places this year how many firecrackers did we hear in our townships the defining silence and lack of shopping and lack of celebration activity during this festive season is a big testimony to the serious economic challenges our people are facing the cost of living is at its highest ever there has never been a time in the history of Zambia when a bag of minimu costed 20% of the lowest salary today that is the case with regard to the revised minimum wage of a domestic worker of 1,300 kwacha if you compare 240 kwacha bag of minimu to 1,300 kwacha minimum wage for a domestic worker 20% of that person's earning 20% goes to only one bag of minimu how can that person survive let me now move to the state of governance we have witnessed the wanton abuse of state institutions as seen during the kwacha in usangazi by elections we in the PF were unrelented in standing by our constitutional right to field our adopted candidates against all odds we were treated to a very shocking situation where two courts of the same judiciary delivered conflicting judgements on the same matter and on the same day we were also rudely shocked to be treated to a rapidly convened election process which left the PF out of the race we were more shocked to see people celebrating a victory which was for all intents and purposes a one horse race can you imagine you have your own horse racing on its own because you have stopped other horses to race and when it crosses the line the finish line you celebrate the violence that we witnessed in various by elections and the violent inhibition of our candidates from filing nominations has happened in southern province calls for us in the PF and all other democracy loving citizens to brace ourselves for the armour that is needed to protect our rights to vote for candidates of our choice I want to sound this very clearly this will not come easily we need to be resilient and firm Haga india will not give it to us on a silver platter we have to stand resolved to make sure that we give ourselves our democratic rights we have also seen the abuse of law enforcement agencies where they have been turned into tools of oppression and harassment especially against the opposition during the year under review under the watch of Mr Haga india we witnessed several citizens being arrested then detained for as long as 14 days when the law limits such detention to 48 hours only currently we know of the recent issue of kaisazulu even after the court has given the man was abducted and not be traced for months on end only to be rescued by a late neighborhood youths who later became victims of threats of the same agencies that should have thoroughly investigated the abductions in the first place we were shocked to hear that such a heinous crime as abduction and sexual slavery was referred to by president Haga india as gender-based violence how can the abduction of citizens enslaving of citizens they are kept away in hiding for months how can the president say this is gender-based violence what can be more heinous than keeping a person in slavery the fight against corruption has been turned into a program to destroy and silence senior leaders of the opposition in those fears to be business competitors for example we were shocked to hear president Haga india at his Christmas motivational rally when appointing officers of state when he said when he warned that you will see what will happen to the KCM matter how can the president say I'm appointing SEC director general I'm appointing DPP and because of these appointments you will see what will happen to the matter of KCM has he already judged or is he giving instructions and you call that good governance the president of a country is a president for all even for the accused he is president and as president he has to make sure that the rights of even the accused are protected it is not that the president is only president for the righteous no he is president even for the accused and the accused should go to him and say my rights are being infringed upon but in this particular case he is saying that those accused of you doing in KCM must not go to him as president to say they have rights what president is he Zambia is not a country of angels no Zambia is a country of human beings fallibo human beings human beings who make mistakes and all of us deserve to have our rights protected by the head of state what disturbed us about that warning is that it clearly shows that Mr. Again they will not stop at anything to direct the operations of even state offices that are sacrosanct the constitution says very clearly that the office of the DPP shall operate without and due interference from anybody that's what the constitution says but the president is one who tells us you will see I have appointed this DPP Musachiyo Onamanji tiza onachia ni his DPP let him do his work don't interfere with his work don't make the DPP appear to be receiving instructions from you because if we believe that society would have no respect for the office of the DPP we advised him when he moved anti-corruption commission to state house we told him this is wrong he did not listen my dear country men and women Mr. Again yesterday had the time and the money state money to celebrate what it terms as the abolishment of the death penalty yesterday he was celebrating at state house he called people from across the country chiefs from far flang areas he paid for their coming to Lusaka to come and have a lunch to celebrate the so called abolishment of the death penalty it is either my brother Mr. Again de Ijilema is ill informed by his advisors or he has a hidden agenda under his sleeve we say this because the president ought to know that the death penalty even after yesterday still exists in article 12 of the constitution which states and I quote a person shall not be deprived of his life intentionally except in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under the law enforcing Zambia of which he has been convicted end of court that means article 12 of the constitution gives power to a judge to hunt down a death sentence for any criminal offence which exists in Zambia that means the death penalty is there now article 1 sabatiko 4 of the same constitution states as follows and I quote the validity or legality of this constitution is not subject to challenge by or before a state organ or other forum the vital provisions of the bill of rights of which article 12 is a part can only be amended by way of a referendum the question is what authority does Mr. Again have to challenge the validity of article 12 of the constitution what authority does he have Mr. Again should be sincere to the Zambian people and he said to us the Zambian people that what he did was simply to amend the Pino code to make the death penalty non mandatory that's what he did he just made it non mandatory he must not say I abolished the death penalty no he made the death penalty non mandatory but it still exists in the constitution I just want to advise him that such public gymnastics when you start playing gymnastics political gymnastics with the feelings of the people they will lead you into trouble they will lead you into self-destruction by the way he should be reminded that the last time there was a warrant of execution signed by any president in Zambia the last time a person was sentenced to death the last time such a person was killed in Zambia was 28 years ago 28 years ago by then Harain was only 33 years old that was the last time a person was committed to death 28 years ago Zambia has been a defect to abolish in this country for as long as that for 28 years Zambia has been an abolitionist country all successive presidents from Levy Manawasa wanted the death penalty abolished if somebody cares to go and read the report that I presented on behalf of president Edgar Chagwalungu to the United Nations peer review mechanism I did indicate that it was the desire of Edgar Chagwalungu to abolish the death penalty however the reason why the previous presidents not abolish it was because they understood that they could only do so meaningfully truthfully and sincerely by amending the constitution through a people centered referendum and not by decree in Zambia we are a democracy you don't amend the constitution by decree you amend especially part three of the constitution through a people referendum the people themselves must express themselves on the death penalty it is not up to one individual no actually nidae remind me he was the main sponsor against the referendum to amend the bill of rights in 2016 has he forgotten only six years ago he was the major campaigner when we said let us amend the bill of rights he campaigned vigorously against it when we said let us remove the death penalty from the constitution he campaigned against it wherever upnd1 in 2016 the referendum failed wherever pf1 the referendum succeeded should we remind him that hadn't it been for Haga indes unfated appetite for political rhetoric the bill of rights could have been amended in 2016 the death penalty would not have been on the constitution now but because of his hypocrisy he fought against the referendum because he wanted to make all other presidents look bad so he comes and says for the first time for the first time for the first time I abolished the death penalty I abolished the death penalty I abolished the death penalty I abolished the death penalty I abolished the death penalty We abolished the death penalty We abolished the death penalty Country man and country woman we also aware that the repeal of the law against the defamation of the president is another public relations tint my friends who have been threatened to be arrested for defaming the president if you celebrate now that oh this law has been repealed In 17 months, more citizens have been arrested than were arrested under six presidents. At this stage, all we can say is countrymen and women watch the space. There is nothing to celebrate yet. Watch the space. Let us wait and see how long it will take before another citizen is arrested for expressing opinions not in the liking of Haga-Indes keepers. Even I sitting here today calling him openly Bali Muntuwabufi. They can come and arrest me. They can come and arrest me. So don't celebrate countrymen and women. Don't celebrate gymnastics. Wait until the reality dawns. Nadia countrymen and women, let me move to another important sector, the health sector. The health sector has literally collapsed. The shortages of medicines, medical supplies and laboratory resurgence has gone on for over a year now. It has gone on for as long as President Haga-India has been president of Zambia. This was confirmed by the report on medicine and medical supply shortages in this country-wide conducted by the parliamentary committee on health and community development. What saddens us are the continuous denials by government despite the availability of abundant verifiable information on the crisis. The committee of parliament established that the availability of HIV and AIDS and TB drugs and vaccines stood at 53.1% contrary to the WHO minimum recommendations of 70 to 80%. Actually, all these drugs were donations. Can you imagine all the drugs which the parliamentary committee found in our health facilities country-wide? All of them were all donations. They were not bought by your taxpayers money. They were donations. Hadn't there been donations, what could have happened? We could have been zero drugs on HIV, zero drugs on TB. All we have to say is thank you God that there are some people who are kind to Zambia and they can give us free medicine. Otherwise we could have been dying like chickens. The availability of the 13 essential drugs, declared essential drugs by the WHO. Those drugs were only 23% in the country. 23% meaning out of every ten people who go to the hospital only two will be given medicine. The rest will have to be sent away with prescriptions without money in their pockets. They may have enlisted 11,000 people for recruitment and I'm saying enlisted because to say employed is a different word. It's a misnoma. The truth of the matter is not all the 11,000 have been put on payroll yet. So they have enlisted 11,000 people for recruitment in health sector. However, I want to ask you countrymen and women, of what use is it to employ 11,000 health workers when they have no facilities and they have no drugs with which to address the health needs of the sick. Just to stand there and to see them. There's a poll I want to, you are employing 11,000 health workers. What's the use?