HH asks Zambians to unite against thieves
By Staff Report
OPPOSITION United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has called on Zambians to unite against what he termed a cabal of self-confessed thieve and stop them from destroying the country further.
And Hichilema, in a posting on his Facebook page this morning, said the closure of Nkrumah University in Kabwe like other institutions of higher learning was reckless as government was only using the cover of cholera outbreak to keep them shut.“ ”We are calling on all citizens to for once rise above these political partisan lines and unite for the good of our country,” he posted. “We are letting a cabal of self-confessed thieves to rob the country under our watch.
If we are truly a Christian nation, we need to rise and apply the Christian principles to stop our country from being overtaken by ruthless people.”
Hichilema said UPND was aware that the closure of these institutions might not necessarily be due to poor sanitation as claimed, but simply because the PF leadership had diverted the money meant for lecturers, support staff and students’ meal allowances to other projects.
”These projects are a priority for them because the few corrupt individuals in Government are getting kickbacks under the ‘Ubomba mwibala alya mwibala’ modus operandus,” he said. “This clearly shows the complete lack of priorities in the utilisation of our meagre resources, where you have UNZA closed, CBU closed, Nkhruma closed, NRDC sold, and the list is endless.”
Hichilema said assuming that the sanitation facilities at these institutions were so bad for human habitation, it should be shameful to the government, that Day Care, Primary and Secondary schools that had younger people within the vicinities of these big institutions were open while the universities were closed due to neglect in maintenance.
He said the institutions that got closed outside the academic calendar lost their integrity, which was a fundamental value for any university.“ ”What reputation do UNZA, CBU, Mulungushi and now Nkrumah have for their graduates to compete at the global stage? Does it therefore make sense to procure second hand fire tender engines at US $1 million each and continue spending huge amounts on constructing new overpriced projects when we can’t maintain the already existing public infrastructure?” Hichilema asked.
He said these were issues that people should be spending time discussing.
”When we speak as UPND, we are labelled bitter. Yes, we have to be bitter if our children cannot go to school because a toilet is broken and yet the money which is supposed to go to fix the toilet ends up in someone’s pocket,” said Hichilema.
