 Yes, men and women, we are here at Ibex police station to see one of our counterparts, Chilfiata Ali, who was arrested yesterday and detained here at the police station. We had a chance to see the officer in charge who mentioned to us that he is under very strict instructions that no one should see Chilfiata Ali. We therefore were unable to see him because we were not given access. We want to say this to the Zambian people that what is happening now is a very sadder development in our democratic dispensation. This is a government that is governed based on the constitution which guarantees freedoms, freedom of expression, freedom of movement among others. When you look at the statements that were made by President Dhaka in the HLMA in opposition then and what is happening now, this is yet another failed promise. He promised to improve and enhance people's freedoms, freedom of expression. When you hear them speak now, they say Zambia is better now than it was yesterday. So the case of Chilfiata Ali here behind bars, away from his family, is that what they are telling us that Zambia is now better? Things that they complained about previously and nowhere close to what they are doing now. So we are indeed very saddened that this is the Zambia that we live in now. If Chilfiata Ali made a political statement, a political statement should only be traversed by yet another political statement. We know that in opposition the UPND had a very vibrant media team when they were making promises. What has happened to that vibrant team? That vibrant team is unable to speak now because they've realized that most of the things they said were not true. They've realized that most of the promises that they made cannot be actualized. So we want to call upon the leadership of the UPND, including the President himself, that he should live by his undertaking, his promise to govern this country using the rule of law and constitutionalism, he tells that citizens should be free to associate, citizens should be free to express themselves. If Zambians are going through hardships as they are now and one Chilfiata Ali takes it upon himself to complain and he did express himself on these hardships, he does not commit an offense because what he is saying is just true. What he is saying is speaking for the millions of people out there. So a word of caution and guidance to the UPND, you will not govern with an iron fist. It will not work. The Zambians have tested freedom. The Zambians know what it is to be free and the Zambians indeed know what a good life is. They know what a high standard of living is. If you increase fuel, if you increase millimio and increase fertilizer, the Zambians are going to complain. And they've got that right to complain, especially against the promises that you made. You will go all about and sing about free education. The reality on the ground is that those classrooms are full. Teachers are even failing to interact with their students. They are failing to interact with their learners. So even as you sing and celebrate free education, get on the ground and understand the dynamics out there. You will not silence people because you released CDF meant for the first quarter and you released it in the second quarter and you expect no one to speak but sing praises for you. So this is failure of governance by the UPND and we want to call upon them to sober up, begin to readjust and understand what is involved in governance. You have to be tolerant. We've said this time and again that to govern, you've got to have a very big chest, to govern you have to have a thick skin. You should not be one that begins to run just at the sound of a single item of criticism. When citizens hold dissenting views use that as feedback so that you know where to put your effort, you know where to deploy and not using that now to use an iron fist and using the police to oppress those that may want to express themselves. As politicians, learn to speak to your people, learn to respond to your people. I think that using state machinery to oppress political opponents is not something that we are going to sit and watch. Speaking on behalf of my party, the patriotic front party and my capacity as a member of the Central Committee and indeed the leader of opposition in parliament, I want to express my utmost disappointment with this particular arrest because it's very clear where this direction is going, where this government is taking us sooner than later. We may have a government full of dictatorial tendencies. It's something that we don't expect. This is something we did away with in 1991 and want to call upon the Zambians to condemn the arrest with the contempt that it deserves. First of all, whether or not the Russia situation has an impact on our situation for oil, my position is that it should have been anticipated. It was either a war, it could have been COVID, disruptions or increases in oil prices is something that we should expect. I have saved before as the chairman for the energy regulation board. I understand the dynamics within that sector. So to pretend that you didn't expect there to be increases, you will be feeding the Zambian people. The question is, if oil prices have gone up, what is it that a responsible government will do to cushion the impact on its citizens? That's the only question. I think that governments in the world over, even in this region, that have introduced subsidies have done so because they have put the welfare of the citizens in the center. Now, to want to be rigid and say, look, we removed subsidies because the IMF told us to remove them and we can't go back there. Then you are subordinating your own citizens to the IMF. The IMF, yes, we need their assistance, but they should not be the ones to dictate everything that we have to do, even in the interest of the welfare of our citizens. So for us to answer your question, it does not matter what impact the war in Ukraine and Russia has, what matters to us is what is government going to do to cushion the impact on its citizens? We don't want to be told that the president had to forego driving a limozin, but increase fuel. It doesn't make sense. I would rather he drive the limozin accept the limozin for his safety because we want him to be safe and reduce the price of fuel. So let's not trivialize governments and bring in small things. No, he has foregone his pay for eight months. Who wants to hear that? Who wants to hear that? What impact has that got on the poor people? It was significant. Why didn't it go to cushion the price of fuel? So let's talk about serious things. Let's not begin to bring in small things as if it's a Mickey Mouse arrangement that we are running. We are running government and to be able to run government you have to be serious. So we don't want to start listening to those childish statements being made. He has foregone his salary for eight months. No, he didn't accept the limozin. What is here now is the cost of living for the Zambian people and the cost of living for the Zambian people is unbearable. The undertaking or the promise that was made by the UPND they made a promise to improve the living standards of the Zambian people and that was made with full awareness of our debt situation. It was made with full awareness of all our challenges. So the assignment that President Akain Dehichilema took up was with the full awareness of what the environment was. So you can't come in government to say we are prioritizing debt dismantling. Why didn't you tell us from the beginning to say when we take over government we will first of all dismantle debt for the first five years and you only begin to see good life thereafter. Zambians should not forget that when the UPND was making these promises they were attaching timelines. There were times when they would say I take over ten hours by 14 hours exchange rates we will change. Those are the benchmarks. Don't let that slip through. That's what he said. Now seven months later he was giving us hours. Seven months later the exchange rates have not improved and somebody must come to you and say give them time. Really? Give them time. The Minister of Finance is telling us we will employ 30,000 teachers by January. And this is April and you want them to be given time. We will employ 11,000 workers by January and you want them to be given time. So I think that we need our friends in government to be serious to be able to govern this country and just deliver on the promises that they made. It will not help how many citizens are they going to arrest because every other citizen out there is complaining about the hardship. So how many are they going to arrest? Tyali is just one of those. He was speaking on behalf of others. Even as we speak now many others out there are complaining about the same things. So I thought it was very important that first of all we highlight the very fact that the arrest of Tyali is necessary. It should be condemned with the contempt that it deserves. We are in this democracy where people must express themselves. If Tyali takes it upon himself to express himself about what is going wrong it should not anym a room encastered in a police station as it is. I thank you. Restructure Well of course it is undisputed when you hear our colleagues go out there and say this government did nothing it is laughable because we are here at this police station they were able to employ 30,000 or they are attempting to employ 30,000 teachers because they put up infrastructure they are attempting to employ 11,000 employees because they put up infrastructure so if all this will amount to nothing then we are really interested to see what they will do in these 5 years. If all this infrastructure that we put up for the police if all that infrastructure that we put up in terms of road infrastructure in terms of health infrastructure education infrastructure amounts to nothing according to our friends the clock is ticking it is 7 months later we have 4 years down the line we want to see at the end of 2026 what they would have done compared to what we did. Thank you