Tembo demands for Mwanakatwe’s resignation
By Staff Reporter
SEAN Tembo has demanded the resignation of finance minister Margaret Mwanakatwe for what he terms gross incompetence.
Tembo says Zambia has ample capable men and women who can diligently and competently discharge the functions of the office of Minister of Finance, unlike Mwanakatwe.
In a statement this morning Tembo, who is Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) president, outlined a number of “failures” which have accumulated on Mwanakatwe’s head as a finance minister.
He summed up such accumulation of failure on the minister’s head as “a parody of reckless and incompetent behaviour by Honorable Mwanakatwe, in the discharge of the functions of the office of Minister of Finance.”
Tembo stated that the PeP was requesting, and “we hereby do,” Mwanakatwe to consider resigning as finance minister on moral and professional grounds.
“Should the Honorable minister not see it fit or appropriate to resign her position as a Minister of Finance, then we wish to appeal to the Republican President His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu to consider transferring Hon Mwanakatwe to an inconsequential ministry where her incompetence can be quarantined so as not to have a retrogressive impact on the rest of the economy,” Tembo stated.
“As Patriots for Economic Progress, it is our sincere submission that this country has ample capable men and women who can diligently and competently discharge the functions of the office of Minister of Finance and help the country to successfully navigate its current economic hardships towards prosperity.”
He stated that the battle for Zambia’s economic success must not be fought with partisan interests at heart but that it must be pursued on the basis of patriotism.
Tembo stated that the PeP noted with regret that the performance of Mwanakatwe had been “littered with failure after failure, ever since she took up the office about a year ago.”
“In our view, this dismal performance is not by accident but is motivated by a total lack of seriousness in the manner that the Honorable Minister of Finance has been discharging her duties,” Tembo stated.
“Without cataloguing all the failures of the Honorable Minister of Finance, it is worth mentioning that it is during her tenure that this country has experienced the largest fiscal deficit that has averaged seven per cent. This means that the minister is unable to properly match government expenditure to government revenue, which is a basic purpose and function of the job of Minister of Finance.”
And Tembo stated further that it was Mwanakatwe who proposed “the most ridiculous and radical reforms regarding indirect taxes, by announcing the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) and replacing it with Goods and Service Tax (GST), without any form of consultation whatsoever, from industry or practice.”
