Thursday, 4th November, 2021

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Thursday, 4th November, 2021

 

The House met at 1430 hours

 

[MR SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair]

 

NATIONAL ANTHEM

 

PRAYER

 

______

 

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

 

LACK OF DIABETES TESTING REAGENTS IN KALABO

 

71. Mr Miyutu (Kalabo Central) asked the Minister of Health:

 

  1. whether the Government is aware that the following facilities in Kalabo District are not testing patients for diabetes due to a lack of reagents:

 

  1. Kalabo District Hospital; and
  2. Winela Clinic; and

 

     b. if so, what urgent measures are being taken to procure the reagents to avert a loss of lives, considering               that diabetes is a fatal disease.

 

The Minister of Education (Mr Syakalima) (on behalf of the Minster of Health (Mrs Masebo)): Mr Speaker, the Government is aware that Kalabo District Hospital and Winela Clinic in Kalabo Central Parliamentary Constituency were not testing patients for diabetes due to a lack of reagents. The House may wish to note that there was a period of two weeks in October, 2021, when some health facilities in Kalabo District experienced shortages of reagents for testing patients for diabetes. However, emergency procurement and mobilisation of the testing kits was made by the Kalabo District Health Office, and the facilities are now able to administer the tests.

 

Mr Speaker, the Government, through the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) is currently mobilising supplies that are available in the country to distribute to Kalabo District Hospital, Winela Clinic and other health facilities countrywide as an intermediate measure. The House may wish to note that in the 2022 Budget, there is a more than 100 per cent increase in the allocation to the procurement of medicines and medical supplies, from K1.3 billion to K2.7 billion. That increase will ensure stability in the availability of supplies not only for glucose testing kits and reagents, but also other medicines and medical supplies.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Kambita (Zambezi East): Mr Speaker, the situation in Kalabo is not very different from the situation in many other hospitals, including Zambezi District Hospital, where there is a shortage of reagents of one kind or the other. Of course, we all know that this problem emanates from the challenges that we had a few months ago, which our colleagues on your left caused. Now that we are where we are, could the hon. Minister give us the assurance that this responsible Government will ensure that this shortages of reagents in rural hospitals like in Kalabo and Zambezi will be a thing of the past? What strategy is there to sort out all these operational issues in the health sector?

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, as I stated, next year’s budget has been increased from K1.3 billion to K2.7 billion. That is an increase of more than 100 per cent. That, coupled with careful management, will make the lack of reagents a thing of the past. If the country is very prudent, that can go a long way in alleviating the suffering of the people. However, what has been happening is that even when the money is there, there is exaggeration of costs in procurement. There are long fingers, in other words. So, the warning is that anybody who tries to undermine people’s health will be dealt with accordingly.

 

I thank you, Sir.

 

Mr Mung’andu (Chama South): Mr Speaker, it is time for this Government to deliver solutions. The hon. Minister has rightly stated that overpricing is one of the things that the ministry will not tolerate. Therefore, he must put measures in place to ensure that our people are not affected.

 

Mr Speaker, diabetes or sugar disease is so serious that any delay in people knowing their glucose levels becomes a matter of life and death. What immediate measures has the ministry put in place to ensure that our brothers and sisters not only in Kalabo, but also in all the hospitals, who have the problem are not affected? We will not wait until the Budget is implemented next year.

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, if the hon. Member had cared to listen, he would have heard me say that emergency procurement and mobilisation of the testing kits was made by the Kalabo District Health Office, and that the facilities are now able to administer the test.

 

I thank you, Sir.

 

Mr Miyutu: Mr Speaker, I want to get a word from the hon. Minister concerning the proactiveness of the health personnel in these institutions in relation to the availability or non-availability of drugs. Would the hon. Minister not consider encouraging the workers to be proactive? Instead of being quick to send patients back to their homes, could the health workers not find alternatives means of attending to patients?

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, what we will certainly do is to encourage medical personnel to be quick in the way they react or to be proactive rather than reactive in the way they look at situations. Indeed, diabetes is quite a bad disease, if you like. So, everybody must be kept on their toes so that they can quickly see to it that medical reagents are provided as soon as they run out.

 

I thank you, Sir.

 

Mr J. Chibuye (Roan): Mr Speaker, the drug for diabetes is very expensive and, sometimes, quite scarce. I know that the Government spends colossal sums of money on procuring such drugs. What measures is the hon. Minister putting in place to ensure that there are no loopholes for pilferage of the very important drug that the Government procures for the people of Zambia at a very big expense?

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, indeed, there is a concern throughout the country that there has been a lot of pilferage of drugs in many of our health facilities. The sure way of ending that is to call on the workers to change their attitude. It also depends on how the workers are supervised. Everybody will have to change their attitude towards keeping Government property. It was very sad that for a long time, many drugs were found outside the net of Government facilities. So, we will put in place measures in order for drugs to be kept in the hospitals. As the hon. Member rightly said, the drug for diabetes is expensive, and the incidence of the disease is on the rise in many of our citizens. So, we will put in place measures to ensure that the pilferage that was there for the past ten years comes to an end. If a person is caught pilfering, the consequences will be too dire to contemplate.

 

I thank you, Sir. 

 

Rev. Katuta (Chienge): Mr Speaker, I believe this is a problem that most of us from rural constituencies are facing in our health facilities. We do not have the requisite reagents for any kind of case. However, in rural areas like where the hon. Member for Kalabo Central comes from, we expect those things to be at the fingertips; we should not wait for the district medical office to request for them. I say so because not having reagents seems to be the norm in all health centres, especially those in the rural areas. In Chienge, sometimes, we do not even have reagents for malaria. My question is: Is there a possibility of having something like a force account for such reagents for each district? I know that health centres are given a certain amount of stock, but can we have emergency stock for each rural health facility? 

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, earlier, I said that the health personnel must be proactive, not reactive. Similar to what she is saying, I stated that the budget has been increased and that we will now have a steady flow of medicines not only for diabetes, but also for all other medicines and medical supplies.

 

I thank you, Sir.

 

Mr Miyutu: Mr Speaker, the people of Kalabo want to get comfort from the Acting hon. Minister of Health as they continue wondering why essential drugs that are lacking in hospitals or health facilities are commonly found in local drug stores. What word of comfort would the Acting hon. Minister of Health give to the people of Kalabo?

 

Mr Mwanza: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

However, the hon. Member is not allowed to debate because he has not yet rendered his maiden speech.

 

Mr Miyutu: Mr Speaker, what word of comfort would the Acting hon. Minister of Health give over the lack of drugs in health facilities while they are available in the local drug stores? The people are wondering what is causing such a situation.

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, the people of Kalabo must be very comfortable that the New Dawn Government is not going to tolerate pilferage. Further, since we are assured of a more than 100 per cent increase in the budget, I think the shortage of drugs in hospitals may not recur.

 

I thank you, Sir.

 

Mr Emmanuel M. Musonda (Chimbamilonga): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister mentioned that the budget will be increased, but procurement efficiency is another issue. What specific long-term procurement measures will the hon. Minister put in place to forestall future shortages of the supplies?

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, the procurement chain is established by law. So, it should be followed. However, it can also be quickened. So, I do not think that there is anything problematic in terms of procurement. I am quite sure that supervision will be very strict so that our people get benefits from the Government.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

DEPLOYMENT OF ADDITIONAL POLICE AND IMMIGRATION OFFICERS TO KAFULWE WATERS

 

72. Rev. Katuta asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security when additional police and immigration officers will be deployed to the Kafulwe Waters in Chienge District to patrol the border between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

The Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security (Mr Mwiimbu): Mr Speaker, the border between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) near Chienge District is patrolled by our officers from Mununga Police Post, which is under Chienge Police Station. The number of police officers deployed in the area is not adequate. However, the Government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, has police recruits who are currently undergoing training. Once those recruits graduate, we will deploy them to needy areas, including border areas with inadequate police presence. Therefore, additional police officers may be considered for deployment to Kafulwe Waters in Chienge District to enhance security. Further, the House may wish to note that Kafulwe Waters is serviced by Chipungu Immigration Controls. To ensure adherence to the provisions of the Immigration and Deportation Act, immigration officers from Chipungu Station conduct routine joint patrols in the area.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Rev. Katuta: Mr Speaker, I thank the hon. Minister for the honest answer, but I only take it because he is new in the ministry.

 

Mr Speaker, there are only three police officers at Mununga Police Station who are on the Government Payroll. The rest are members of what we call Community Police Unit (CPU). Further, the police officers do not have any means of transport, not even a bicycle. This border –

 

Mr Mung’andu: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Mung’andu: Mr Speaker, I rarely rise on points of order, but this one is very compelling, and I raise it under Standing Order No. 134, which is on matters of urgent public importance.

 

Mr Speaker, if I do not bring this issue to the attention of our colleagues on the right, the people of Chama South –

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order, hon. Member of Parliament for Chama South!

 

The time to raise issues under Standing Order No. 134 has already passed. If the question is quite urgent, you can use other avenues to raise it.

 

May the hon. Member for Chienge continue.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Rev. Katuta: Mr Speaker, we are really at risk in Chienge because the police officers in Mununga do not have even a bicycle. So, if the answers the hon. Minister gave were from his technocrats, then, he was misled because the situation on the ground is different. Five police officers need to be urgently deployed to the area. Further, officers from Chipungu Immigration Controls do not patrol Kafulwe Waters.

 

Mr Mwiimbu: Mr Speaker, although no specific question was asked, I assure my sister that immediately police and paramilitary officers graduate in December, 2021, six officers will be deployed to the area instead of the five that she has requested for. I am adding an extra officer.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr J. Chibuye: Mr Speaker, part of my question has been tackled by the hon. Minister. However, are we proactive in such issues? If so, is the hon. Minister in a position to tell this House the kind of crime that is common in that area, considering that it is a border area? I am worried that –

 

Mr Mung’andu: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Mung’andu: Mr Speaker, because of the importance of the point of order I want to raise, I will refer to Standing Order No. 131(11), which states as follows:

 

“Despite the provisions of this Standing Order, the presiding officer shall decide whether or not the Point of Order is admissible.”

 

Mr Speaker, I indulge your powers and privileges. Let me raise the point of order and then you will decide whether it is admissible or not.

 

Mr Speaker, as I said earlier, if I do not bring this matter to the attention of the hon. Leader of Government Business in the House, the people of Chama South may suffer. This concerns food and hunger, and it might even lead to death.

 

Mr Speaker, the Government has a social protection programme under in which it identified people in the community who need help with fertiliser. The programme is called the Food Security Pack. The beneficiaries of this programme are not on the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). Instead, they are under the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services.

 

Mr Speaker, in Chama South, in the past five years I have been Member of Parliament, I do not know who the beneficiaries are.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

You may address your concern to the appropriate line ministry.

 

May the hon. Member for Roan continue.

 

Mr J. Chibuye: Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from the able hon. Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security whether we are going to be proactive on this issue, unlike waiting for something nasty to happen. Further, what kind of crime is mostly recorded at the police post? Looking at the proximity of the police post to our neighbouring countries, will the hon. Minister consider engaging his counterpart, the hon. Minister of Defence, so that the two ministries can work in tandem?

 

 Mr Mwiimbu: Mr Speaker, I reassure my hon. Colleague that my ministry is always conscious of the happenings in border areas and that it always works with the Ministry of Defence when issues arise. We deploy the defence forces to work with the police. In this situation, we have been very proactive in ensuring that the crime situation is brought under control, and that is why I assured the people of Chienge that immediately the pass-out of police officers takes place in December, 2021, we shall deploy six to Chienge.

 

 I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr C. Mpundu (Chembe): Mr Speaker, Chienge and Chembe are both border areas, and the trends are the same in both areas. What strategy has our able hon. Minister put in place to sort out the problems in all border areas? The officers in Chembe do not even have any transport, which makes it difficult for them to operate.

 

 Mr Mwiimbu: Mr Speaker, I thank the hon. Member for Chembe for this important question.

 

Mr Speaker, I mentioned that after the passing out of various categories of police officers in December, 2021, the ministry will consider deploying some of the officers to areas in need.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

COMPULSORY AGRICULTURE EDUCATION

 

73.  Mr Chanda (Kanchibiya) asked the Minister of Education:

 

(a)        whether the Government has any plans to make agriculture education compulsory at both primary and                  secondary school levels; and

 

(b)        if so, when the plans will be implemented.

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, I inform the House that the Government has no immediate plans to make agriculture education compulsory at both primary and secondary school levels.

 

Mr Speaker, due to the response in part (a), part (b) falls off.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Rev. Katuta: Mr Speaker, this is a very important question, and I take it as my own, looking at the standard of education in our country.

 

Mr Speaker, what criterion would the ministry use were it to include agriculture in our education curriculum? I ask this question because I have seen our curriculum be developed by foreigners instead of our local teachers, who understand better what is suitable for our children.

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, was that a question or was the hon. Member just complaining?

 

Rev. Katuta: Mr Speaker, my question is: If the ministry was to include agriculture as a subject from the primary level to secondary level, what criterion would it use? Would the course be designed by foreigners or would it be designed by our teachers, who understand what is best suited for our children?

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Hon. Member for Chienge, you should wait to be called upon before you stand.

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, in my answer to part (a) of the question, I stated that we have no immediate plans to make agriculture education compulsory at both primary and secondary school levels. The reason is that would mean the ministry revising the curriculum, constructing more specialised rooms and procuring implements. That said, should we decide to do so in the future, the curriculum will be developed by Zambians, since the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) is manned by Zambians. So, I assure hon. Members that the curriculum is designed by Zambians.

 

 I thank you, Sir.

 

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, I thank the hon. Minister of Education for that response. It is comforting to note that there are future plans to make agriculture education compulsory, and this is a very important undertaking that I urge the Government to consider implementing in the shortest possible time. Since the country intends to diversify the economy by moving from its mainstream activity of mining to agriculture, making agriculture education compulsory at the primary school and secondary school levels will make diversification a reality.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: I take that as a comment.

 

Mr Fube (Chilubi): I thank you, Mr Speaker. We are used to saying, ‘Madam Speaker’.

 

Mr Speaker, I would like to believe that what informed that question was the pledge by the United Party for National Development (UPND) Government to make agriculture the backbone of our economy. Currently, there is more than 85 per cent of arable land, and 60 per cent of our rural communities survive on agriculture as an economic activity. Given the answer from the hon. Minister, that the Government does not have a plan today, when his party has been championing the idea of making agriculture the backbone of our economy for twenty years or so and stating that it would put in place measures to mainstream agriculture once it got into power, how can the hon. Minister say that the Government has no plan to even mainstream agriculture into the curriculum?

 

UPND Hon. Members: Question!

 

Mr Muchima: Only two months!

 

Mr Fube: My belief is that mainstreaming works even into the curriculum, and that is how the country is supposed to get the fruits of agriculture. When does the hon. Minister assure the House that the UPND, which takes agriculture as the backbone of our economy – because human capital in agriculture is very important – will come up with a plan, within its five years, to mainstream agriculture into the curriculum?

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, had my colleague cared to listen attentively, he would have not asked this question.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, I said that we do not have immediate plans. For the information of the hon. Member, agricultural science is a sub-component of the integrated science that is taught to all learners at the primary school level. Is he aware of that?

 

Hon. UPND Member: No, he is not.

 

Mr Syakalima: At the secondary school level, from Grade 8 to Grade 12, agricultural science is taught as a stand-alone optional subject under the Vocational Career Pathway.

 

Mr Tayali: Are you aware of that?

 

Mr Syakalima: Does he understand that?

 

Laughter

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Teach him!

 

Mr J. Chibuye: He is now educating him.

 

Hon. Government Member: Ema Minister aba!

 

Mr Syakalima: So, like all practical subjects, agricultural science, being in the Vocational Career Pathway, has been allocated more learning time than academic subjects to, again, give the practical skills required.

 

Mr Tayali: Educate him!

 

Do you understand now?

 

Laughter

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Education is implementing a two-tier pathway system. One is called the Academic Career Pathway, which is an academic-based course or subject designed for learners with a passion for academic subjects. There is also the Vocational Career Pathway, which is a skills-based subject for learners with interest in technical and practical jobs, and agricultural science is in this framework. What the hon. Member of Parliament for Kanchibiya suggested is that the subject be made compulsory, and my reply is that cannot be done immediately because it will require us to revise the curriculum and build more laboratories for agricultural science, which goes with planning. So, to ask me to plan here and now will cause me to make a mistake. We do not fly before we walk,…

 

Mr Tayali: Not Cipantepante.

 

Mr Syakalima: I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mutale (Chitambo): Mr Speaker, I am grateful for the answers that the hon. Minister has provided, which are very detailed. Just for his information, I know that he has a lot of respect for education and that he has a strategic plan for the ministry. Is he going to incorporate this question as he implements his strategic plan?

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, indeed, the strategic plan for the ministry has been lying idly, I think, for several years. It was just withdrawn recently from where it was lying at Cabinet Office. The technocrats are looking at it, and will tell us whether they can incorporate this idea into it. Otherwise, I think the hon. Member is right about the strategic plan. I think it does not exist. It was there on paper only and, over the years, certain things have come up that we want to incorporate into it.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Kambita (Zambezi East): Mr Speaker, I heard the hon. Minister talk about a two-tier career pathway consisting of the Vocational Career Pathway and the Academic Career Pathway, that that anchor the curriculum currently in use in the Ministry of Education. What I wish to know, as a bonus answer, since he talked about those career pathways, is whether the New Dawn Government has any plans to review the current curriculum to ensure its practicability in most of the changes that have happened, especially to drive our new way of doing things and ensure that education now makes sense. Since I am alive to the fact that the current curriculum could even be the product of some foreign influence and that some courses are mumble-jumbled, could the hon. Minister give us an assurance of what lies ahead in the curriculum for Zambia?

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, indeed, we are revising the curriculum at every stage in order for it to be relevant in the 21st Century. So, hon. Members will see, in the future, how we want to make curricula beneficial to our pupils and students.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr C. Mpundu: Mr Speaker, does the hon. Minister of Education not think that by not making agriculture education compulsory, he is disadvantaging those who are pursuing agricultural education because their choices are limited at the moment.

 

Mr Syakalima: Mr Speaker, when we said the subject is optional, we meant just that. The pupils choose to either take the subject or other subjects. As to making it compulsory, I said that cannot be done now because of the reasons that I mentioned. So, those who want, for example, to do agricultural science have the option to do.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

________

 

MOTION

 

BUDGET 2022

 

(Debate resumed)

 

Mr Emmanuel. M. Musonda (Lupososhi): Mr Speaker, let me thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Motion on the Budget Address by Hon. Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance and National Planning, delivered on 29th October, 2021.

 

Mr Speaker, I thank the hon. Minister for the eloquent manner in which he delivered the Budget Speech. I must state that this is a very ambitious Budget in the sense that even the figures on the expenditure side, this should be put on record, are not balancing.

 

Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister came to this House saying that he was the bearer of a message from His Excellency the President of Republic of Zambia, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, recommending this House’s favourable consideration of the Motion to borrow for Government expenditure.

 

Mr Speaker, His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, as leader of an opposition party, strongly objected to borrowing to run the Government. He said that when elected President of Zambia, he would use his ingenuity to mobilise local resources to fund the Budget. Further, when the current hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning was an Opposition Member of Parliament, he strongly objected to the borrowing the Patriotic Front (PF) Government had embarked on, saying that his party had solutions. So, it really surprises me today to see the President, who objected to borrowing, and the hon. Minister carrying a message that he objected to so much, come to this House and tell us that we should favourably consider borrowing for expenditure on Government operations. It is quite unfortunate.

 

Mr Speaker, our colleagues said that they had intellectuals who knew how to seal the loopholes in sources of revenue and that they would be able to fund 100 per cent of the Zambian Budget using local resources. Today, those professionals have turned out to be professional borrowers. In their first year of operation and in their maiden Budget, they have proposed to borrow US$5 billion, an amount that is three times what the PF borrowed in one Budget year. Yes, we, as the PF, accept that we are amateur borrowers because we were very prudent in our borrowing. We have brought in professional borrowers and, mercilessly, they are going to increase our debt by US$5 billion, come January, 2021.

 

Mr Speaker, let me also commend the hon. Minister, Dr Musokotwane, for recognising that the PF did well in the water and sanitation sector, and proposing that he continues from where the PF left off with the projects and co-operating with the partners who are funding us in the sector. For that, I will commend him because the PF did a very good job under water and sanitation. However, what is surprising is that in his Budget Address, he proposed to scrape off application, registration and annual fees on boreholes. A few weeks ago, we had underground water contamination; faecal matter was found in the water supplied by the Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company (LWSC).

 

Mr Speaker, yes, removing application fees is a good idea. However, removing application, registration and annual fees will spur the indiscriminate drilling of boreholes. I expected the hon. Minister to come to this House and tell us how he is going to control the indiscriminate drilling of boreholes so that underground water contamination is curbed, but he has come to this House to say that people are free to drill domestic boreholes anyhow. This is a quite dangerous move. So, when the hon. Minister comes to respond, I expect him to tell us how he is going to go around this issue of contamination of underground water.

 

Mr Speaker, the other thing I expected the hon. Minister to address, under water and sanitation, is how the Government is going to construct dams and harvest water harvest, but there is nothing in this speech; the hon. Minister was quiet on it. Why?

 

Mr Speaker, another issue that I expected him to address is the eradication of cholera. We are entering a season in which there are outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases because of water contamination yet, in the 2022 Budget, the hon. Minister has proposed nothing.

 

Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister also proposes to increase the cost of electricity and fuel. That will spur inflation. So, when the hon. Minister comes on the Floor of the House, I expect him to respond to the issues we have raised, including how he is going to control inflation and reduce it to a single digit when fuel prices and the cost of electricity go up.

 

Mr Speaker, we welcome the proposed employment of 30,000 teachers. It is a good idea. In fact, as the PF, we would have employed more. However, the question is: Does the Government have housing units for the teachers and health workers that it is going to employ? Our colleagues have scrapped off the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) fees, yet the PTA was the one that was constructing houses in rural areas. So, where are the  30,000 teachers going to be housed? In my constituency, we need about 500 teachers. Who is going to construct shelters for the teachers? In the Budget, there is no amount for construction of houses, and some hon. Members of Parliament here are saying that we use the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) when the average cost of a two bed-roomed house in Lupososhi is K300,000. To construct fifty houses, one needs K15 million, and the CDF is only K25 million.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Speaker, there is nothing like corruption. As the PF, we are going to walk with our heads high. Actually, we delivered infrastructure development to the people of Zambia.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Mr Simbao (Luanshya): Mr Speaker, I would like to start by telling the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning that his Budget is very good.

 

Hon Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I am getting disappointed with most of the hon. Members on your left. Being a new entrant in Parliament, I thought I would have a lot to learn from the more experienced ones. However, I am beginning to realise that not all that glitters is gold, and I need to be very careful.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, what the hon. Minister presented was a Budget statement, and we should differentiate that from the arithmetic we learnt in Grade 3, where two, three and five, add up to ten.

 

Mr Fube: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Fube: Mr Speaker, my point of order is anchored on Standing Order No. 65.

 

Mr Speaker, I am concerned about the manner in which the hon. Member on the Floor is debating, especially with the content of his debate.

 

Mr Speaker, we are supposed to talk about the Budget, but I think he has gone –

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Fube: Hello! Why are you interfering in a point of order?

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Fube: Mr Speaker, I am concerned about the manner in which he is debating, especially with the language that he is using.

 

Is he in order to use the language that he is currently using?

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Hon. Member for Chilubi, your point of order is inadmissible.

 

The hon. Member for Luanshya may continue.

 

Hon Government Members: Hear, hear! Hammer!

 

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I was trying to say that to understand the Budget, one must have done some calculus and integration. When one hears, for example, the hon. Minister saying ‘Health’ in the Budget Speech, those are just highlights. He is not going to put everything there. That is why when one sees the items and figures in bold, one should know that they are just highlights. If one wants to see the details, one should go to the Yellow Book.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simbao: If after going through the Yellow Book, one still finds that the Budget is not balancing, then one can come and say that. The good thing is that as the hon. Members were saying that, I could see the hon. Minister saying, in his heart ‘Forgive them for they know not what they are saying.’

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, what one would expect of us is that we look at the Budget and find where the hon. Minister is talking about the Mineral Royalty Tax. A person like me, from a mining town, Luanshya, can now sit down and say, what has this Budget got to do with my constituency? The people out there are trying to look for opportunities in this wonderful Budget. Similarly, I immediately rang the mines in Luanshya and I asked them what their take on this Budget is, and they are very happy that the Government has introduced the measures it has introduced. Those are the things hon. Members of Parliament are supposed to take advantage of in this Budget.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, when I look at this Budget, I see where the hon. Minister is talking about the Multi-Facility Economic Zones (MFEZs). Look at Luanshya, which used to be a mining town, but is no longer that active, yet we have the infrastructure; we have the houses, hospitals, schools and people already there. If the hon. Minister could introduce an MFEZ there, it would really help. In fact, if it is possible, the hon. Minister should make Luanshya a pilot project for this wonderful thing so that if the companies –

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, before, one needed to have K500,000 but, now, the hon. Minister has reduced the money a Zambian who wants to operate from an MFEZ needs to only K50,000. Those are the opportunities we should be going for.

 

Sir, since time immemorial, the Governments have wanted to decentralise functions, but it never happened. Here is a Government that has said it is implementing the Decentralisation Policy, come January, 2021, and the people of Luanshya are very happy.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, before, what used to happen is that a young girl or boy in Mikomfwa, a place in Luanshya, could pass the examinations with very good results, like nine points, but not have the opportunity to be sponsored to further his/her education. However, there would be someone here, in Lusaka, who did not even pass but, straightaway, got a bursary just because he or she had links. What this Budget is telling us is that those at the wards will have the opportunity to tell us who qualifies for sponsorship.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simbao: Sir, at the beginning, I said I feared. If someone who has been here for a long time walks in and refers to the Budget as a simple piece of paper, what can one learn from that? I can only advise the hon. Minister to continue saying ‘Forgive them for they know not what they are saying.’

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Tembo (Feira): Mr Speaker, I refer to page 40 of the Budget Speech presented by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning. Under “General Public Service”, there are figures that are not balancing. Under “Economic Affairs”, the figures are equally, not balancing, and the case is the same under “Education”. Not even my two-year-old child, who is in baby class, can fail to add up those figures.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr E. Tembo: Mr Speaker, I want to emphasise that this is Parliament where we should not bring incomplete speeches. Under normal circumstances, this Budget would have been thrown out because we cannot have figures that are not balancing. I am even surprised that some of my hon. Colleagues want to – They should just own up and say that they made a mistake.

 

Mr Speaker, listening to the hon. Minister present the Budget, I remembered my lectures in EC 110, which is Introduction to Economics. The Budget was theoretical and utopian, not practical.

 

Sir, we should not experiment. I am aware that we have a new Government in place, but it should not be under pressure to appear populist because it has all the time in the world.

 

Mr Speaker, I find the presentation of the hon. Minister very unattainable. The Government has promised us the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and several other things like the employment of teachers. We are not against all those but, like the previous speaker said, not everything that glitters is gold.

 

Cikomekome chamukuyu mukati mwace mulinyelele, meaning that the devil is in the detail.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Tembo: Mr Speaker, let me address myself to the revenue side of things. Indeed, our hon. Colleagues have promised heaven on earth, but they have not clarified how they will raise the money. For instance, the hon. Minister said some of the income is contingent on an agreement being reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I must say that I do not believe in the IMF because the Bretton Woods Institutions have never developed any country. So, the Government should not be proud of the World Bank and all such institutions.

 

Mr Speaker, our hon. Colleagues criticised the Patriotic Front (PF) Government so much on debt, yet they have told us that they will borrow US$4.3 billion in one year through what they are calling concessional loans. Let me tell them that those loans have conditions. While on one hand the lenders tell you that the loans are concessional, on the other, they take away from the conditions that have been given. For instance, there has been talk of electricity tariffs and fuel pump prices being made cost-reflective by this new Government and of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) being reformed. All these are IMF programmes.

 

Mr Speaker, I would like to request one thing: The hon. Minister should tell Zambians what he means by ‘cost-reflective’. I know, for sure, that it means increment in electricity tariffs and in fuel pump prices. In short, we are saying we want to make Zambians suffer. All these are IMF conditions, not decisions made by the so-called United Party for National Development (UPND) New Dawn Government. These are conditions that should have been slapped on the Government by virtual of going to bed with the IMF.

 

Mr Speaker, our hon. Colleagues are also basing the income on copper prices, which is an external factor, and we have no control over external factors. So, I am very worried about how the Budget will be financed.

 

Mr Speaker, I said that the Government is borrowing after saying that the PF borrowed heavily, and even that the debt was choking, unsustainable and had reached the ceiling. So, it is very shocking, and the people of Zambia, Feira in particular, want to know about the US$4.3 billion the Government will borrow next year and the other year. The Government is telling us that it is going to borrow over US$30 billion in five years.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E Tembo: Oh, my God! That is nothing but hypocrisy.

 

Sir, the Government has also said it will borrow from domestic lenders. Again, we see a situation in which we will put the country into further debt.

 

Mr Speaker, I submit that development must be systematic and gradual. The Government should not throw big figures around that it cannot sustain. Otherwise, it is going to drown the country. Let me also say that this country is not for sale to the highest bidder. I have already seen that we submitted ourselves to neo-colonialists, and this country is being colonised in a new way. Let me just say that slave traders and colonialists never retired; they are still alive.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Tembo: They have just developed new ways like giving these harsh conditions. For instance, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation ZESCO) tariffs will go up. What will happen to our small and medium enterprises (SMEs)? The UPND is contradicting what it has said and done, including even setting up a ministry for SMEs while what it is doing the SMEs is counterproductive. In the same vein, let me also say that the increment in fuel pump prices will increase transportation costs, and that will make the cost of running business very high.

 

In summary, Mr Speaker, I say that from what I have said and given the mistakes in this Budget, to us, there is nothing worth talking about in this Budget.

 

Hon. Government Members: Question!

 

People are very excited about the figures in the Budget, but the Budget cannot be implemented. It is like someone offering to buy a jet for villagers when it is almost impossible. So, indeed, this is not a Budget that will bring growth. contrary to what the Government is saying, there will be no jobs created because it is a consumption Budget.

 

I thank you, Sir.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr B. Mpundu (Nkana) Mr Speaker, thank you for giving the people of Nkana, through me, an opportunity to contribute to debate on the Motion of Supply that was presented to this august House by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning.

 

Sir, as a precursor to my submission, I state that on the one hand, the 2022 Budget has significant pronouncements that are worth commending and, ...

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mpundu: … on the other, it has a few gaps that are worth bridging.

 

 Hon. Government Members: Ah!

 

Mr Mpundu: Let me make some submissions, starting with the mining sector.

 

Sir, I come from a mining constituency. If you took away Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) and Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), the people of Nkana would pack their bags and go to the village. So, because the Government took the ambitious step of taking control of MCM and KCM, our expectation is that this Budget will, if it has not already, allocate significant amounts or quantities of resources to the recapitalisation of the two mines because that is what will guarantee jobs for our people in Nkana.

 

Mr Speaker, let me also mention, with delight, that we have noted that, in the Budget, the hon. Minister has projected an increase in the production of copper, from the current 800,000 metric tonnes to 3 million metric tonnes, in the next ten years to take advantage of the booming copper industry. However, that does not make sense to us in Nkana if the Government leaves out the small-scale miners. So, we hoped the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning would scrap off or zero-rate machines used for copper processing and production because by so doing, would not relegate our small-scale miners to simply selling copper ores; they would go into actual value addition.

 

Mr Speaker, let me also talk about the plight of the workers. We take, with delight, the provisions in the Budget for creating 41,000 jobs in the education and health sectors. I think that must be commended. You may wish to note that the effects of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not spared the workers. So, while the prices of essential commodities have sky-rocketed, the workers’ take-home pays have remained stagnant. So, the people in Nkana are saying the dismal increment in the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE)-tax-exempt threshold is too little; they had hoped that the threshold would increase to about K1,500 so that it could match the promise that the New Dawn Government made to the people of Zambia to increase salaries by K1,500 across the board. Our hope, therefore, is that the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning will consider that.

 

Mr Speaker, as regards water and sanitation, whereas we take note of the scrapping off of fees to make it easy for everybody to have a borehole, we also note that we must address the issue of water contamination. 

 

Mr Speaker, in my constituency, the biggest problem is access to water. In communities like Buchi, people have even lost touch with the smell of a fried chicken because of blocked sewer lines. The Government embarked on a programme to overhaul the water and sewerage system in yesteryears, but the programme stalled because of a lack of financing. So, we hope that the hon. Minister will find resources necessary to restart that programme. You may wish to note that there is an area called D Section in my constituency where, to date, people use communal toilets. In the night, because of the fear of criminals, people have resorted to using what we used to call ama chamber when we were young. That is very sad, and the people of Nkana are asking the hon. Minister to go to their rescue by ensuring that the project that was embarked on by Nkana Water And Sewerage Company continues.

 

Sir, on the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), when I came to this House and made a presentation at some point, I noted that the biggest problem we had in this country was the unfair allocation of resources. I want to state, with delight, that this Budget has responded to the needs of our people in Nkana because it has given them resources and the opportunity to make decisions insofar as –

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Interruptions

 

Mr B. Mpundu: Let me continue.

 

Sir, it has given an opportunity to the people of Nkana to be the ultimate decision-makers insofar as development is concerned.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr B. Mpundu: Mr Speaker, on the education sector, we note, with delight, that the New Dawn Government has taken a few steps towards actualising free education, ...

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr B. Mpundu: ... but let me mention that education up to Grade 12 is meaningless if there is no opportunity to access tertiary education. It is, therefore, our hope that the hon. Minister will continue to equip the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board with enough resources so that every young man and woman out there might have the opportunity to access tertiary education.

 

Sir, on debt and its management, we note that 45.5 per cent of the 2022 Budget will go to servicing of debt, and that is absurd. The caution that the people of Nkana are calling for from the hon. Minister and the New Dawn Government is that Parliament be not used as a rubber stamp insofar as approving debt is concerned. Our hope is that before the Government contracts a debt, it will inform the people, through this Parliament, to see whether they are agreeable.

 

Hon. Government Members: Correct!

 

Mr B. Mpundu: Mr Speaker, on employment opportunities, the New Dawn Government, as I stated, has made strides in creating employment in the education and health sectors. However, the people in Nkana are lamenting that year in and year out, the Government continues creating employment only for the health and education sectors while other sectors, such as the agricultural sector, where we expect the employment of many extension officers, are lagging behind. Therefore, the hope of our people in Nkana is that we will spread opportunities equally so that accountants, lawyers, extension officers or students of in agriculture can also have opportunities. However, that is not to say that we should not commend the new Government over the strides made.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Mr Mulaliki (Senanga): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Budget Speech presented to this House on Friday, 29th October, 2021.

 

Mr Speaker, I should commend the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning. I believe he should be given an award for presenting the best ever Budget for this country.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mulaliki: Sir, the wonderful people in Senanga are delighted, and they have been calling to thank me and ask me to relay the message to the hon. Minister that he has finally taken money to them.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mulaliki: Mr Speaker, when I presented my maiden speech in this House, I raised a concern over the fact that resources in this country were not being distributed equitably; some regions and some people were receiving more while others were receiving less. With this Budget, every constituency is receiving the same amount. So, there is equity.

 

Sir, the 2022 Budget is a reflection of the United Party for National Development (UPND) Manifesto. When the Republican President was campaigning, he promised to provide jobs to the people, and he has provided 30,000 jobs to teachers and in excess of 11,000 jobs in the health sector. That was a promise, and it is being fulfilled.

 

Mr Speaker, let me make use of this opportunity to advise hon. Members on your left who are politicking about this Budget and trying to punch holes where there are none, that the people who are listening out there, like the 30,000 teachers to be employed, are getting agitated, and will rise against our colleagues because anyone who does not supporting this Budget is against their being employed. Anyone who is against this Budget is against over 11,000 health workers being employed. Further, anyone who is opposed to this Budget is against the idea of ensuring paying all retirees their terminal benefits.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mulaliki: Mr Speaker, people have been suffering. We all know the plight of retirees. When His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema has provided the resources for paying all retirees, but someone stands up and says that is a bad idea, how does he or she think those retirees will look at him or her?

 

Sir, let me advise the hon. Members in this House to tone down on their debate regarding this Budget because they risk being lynched out there.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mulaliki: Let me remind them, especially the hon. Members on your left, that they have been given a new name on social media; they are called ‘tu PF’ for being against a Budget that the people out there support.

 

Hon. Government Members: Tu PF!

 

Mr Mutale: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: A point of order has been raised.

 

Hon. Government Members: You will be lynched!

 

Mr Mutale: Mr Speaker, I rise on a very serious point of order under Standing Order No. 65(2)(c), which provides that an hon. Member who is debating shall not use unparliamentary language or offensive expressions.

 

Sir, the hon. Member debating knows the decorum and etiquette of this honourable House. Is he in order to cite hon. Members on your left and use a term that is very unparliamentary, saying that we shall be “lynched” out there?

 

I need your serious ruling, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Can the hon. Member of Parliament withdraw that word.

 

Mr Mulaliki: I withdraw the use of the word ‘lynched’ and replace it with the word ‘beaten’.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Question!

 

Laughter

 

Mr Kampyongo: On a point of order, Sir.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: You cannot raise a point of order on another point of order.

 

Mr Kampyongo: Mr Speaker, it is on the hon. Member on the Floor.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr  Kampyongo: Mr Speaker, you have just made a ruling guiding the hon. Member to avoid using terms that are unparliamentary and that tend to incite the public against your hon. Members, and I cite Standing Order No. 65(b).

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

You cannot raise a point of order on another point of order.

 

May the hon. Member of Parliament who was on the Floor continue.

 

Mr Kampyongo: I bear with the Chair.

 

Mr Mulaliki: Mr Speaker, thank you for your protection. We are here to bring out what the people who voted for us are telling us. 

 

Mr Fube: On a point of order, Sir.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Fube: Mr Speaker, Standing Order No. 207, among other things, refers to contempt of the House, and I have all the reasons to believe that this House is becoming contemptuous in the manner business is being conducted.

 

Mr Speaker, Standing Order No. 207(1) talks about contempt in the manner that debate is disrupted. It also talks about certain ways of debating in this House, including conduct of the business of the House. If you read parts (a), (b) and (c), you will find that in this House, points of order have been disallowed in some way; some points of order are being ruled out in a very unfair manner.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Fube: Hello, I have the right. Can I speak?

 

Sir, I further refer you to the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act, which gives Members of Parliament the right to express themselves. However, just yesterday, we had a situation in which points of order were not allowed. The reason a point of order is allowed is, for instance, if an hon. Member finds himself in conflict –

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Fube: I will raise my point of order. I am giving the background first.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: What is the question?

 

Mr Fube: Sir, as far as I am concerned, a point of order is not supposed to be raised on an hon. Member only, but also when the decorum of the House is affected. That is my understanding.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Fube: The decorum of this House is being affected. For instance, the cushion of the point of order, as I understand it, is that if an hon. Member on the Floor has injured me in a way, I have to raise a point of order so that I fuel the friction involved. Otherwise, and at the rate we are moving, people will soon start getting physical.

 

UPND Hon. Members: We are ready.

 

Mr Fube: I am afraid that this House has come to contempt.

 

That is my point of order.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Hon. Member for Chilubi, your point of order is not clear. When an hon. Member is raising a point of order, it is important that he/she states the Standing Order that has been breached. So, your point of order is not allowed.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!   

 

Mr Mulaliki: Mr Speaker, let me submit to this House that there are hon. Members of this House who have gone on social media and told the nation that they do not have the capacity to utilise the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). My suggestion is that the CDF for those constituencies be withdrawn and given to constituencies like mine, which have the capacity. I believe that the people who voted for us had confidence in us and know that we have the capabilities. The funds for constituencies whose representatives were voted for and, today, think the people who voted for them do not have the capacity, and are, therefore, not better placed to administer the funds, should be withdrawn from those constituencies and given to those of us with the capacity to administer them.

 

Mr Kang’ombe: On a point of order, Sir.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: No point of order from now.

 

Mr Mulaliki: Mr Speaker, we must commend our Republican President, His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema, for coming up with this maiden Budget, which is all-encompassing. 

 

Mr Speaker, in this Budget, there is a proposal to transform the agricultural sector so that we can have estates like Nakambala in Mazabuka. We want to see that in Senanga. We want to have a sugar plantation in Senanga as well because I believe it would create many employment opportunities, and that has never happened before. Yes, we will use part of the CDF, but we will also need a lot of input from the Government, and I am sure the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning and the hon. Minister of Agriculture, who are listening, will consider the plight of the people of Senanga. So, I support the Budget fully.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Ms S. Mwamba (Kasama Central): Mr Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity.

 

Sir, figures are figures; one plus one equals two and two plus two equals four. If figures, especially in a National Budget, do not add up, that is an area of concern that we should all look at, and that is why we are here to debate. If we all look at page 40 and go to the simplest of all the items, under “Housing and Community Amenities”, we will notice that the allocation to Water Supply and Sanitation is K2,352,236,641 while the allocation to the Millennium Challenge Account is K145,323,866. The correct total should be K2,497,559,507 but, in the Budget, it is K2,376,330,844, leaving a deficit of K121,228,663. Should we continue to say that figures should not add up?  Every time we come to the point of making a budget, be it in a home or a country, figures should always add up. When a Budget of K173 billion has a deficit of K37 billion, should we continue to say that there are some hidden figures? Should we continue dealing with hidden figures?

 

Mr Speaker, coming to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), yes, we all applauded when we heard that it has been raised from K1.6 million to K25.7 million. However, multiplying 156 constituencies by K25.7 million gives us K4 billion. When we relate that sum to the Budget of K173 billion, we find that the CDF is only 2.3 per cent. So, what were we all clapping for when the funds are not sufficient? Looking at the scope of works, there are bridges, school classrooms, court rooms and dams to be built, and bursaries and women and youth empowerment programmes to be funded. There are twenty-six Government departments at the district level, but the Government is running away from its duties and lumping them up on us, the hon. Members of Parliament, and we will have a serious logical nightmare. So, the K25.7 million is not enough.

 

Mr Speaker, in 2021, the Patriotic Front (PF) Government built 700 schools and its budget for education was 11.5 per cent of the National Budget. In 2022, the United Party for National Development (UPND) Government intends to build only 120 secondary schools, and its allocation for education is 10.4 per cent of the Budget. We are looking at a Budget premised on equity and equality yet, when you look at the number of constituencies, which is 156, against the 120 secondary schools to be built, there is a deficit of thirty-six schools. So, who will not have a secondary school built in his/her constituency? Definitely, the people of Kasama Central also want a secondary school.

 

Mr Speaker, the Government, which has been talking about free education, should have supported that with infrastructure development. For example, it intends to employ teachers, but will there be facilities for the teachers to teach from? Will there be houses for them to live in? Free education will end up being tree education because the majority of students will learn under trees due to a lack of infrastructure. The Government said it will create employment, and we are all happy. The people of Kasama Central are very happy to know that 30,000 teachers will be employed. However, are there not 156 constituencies? Our people need employment and the PF Government in this House trained all those teachers.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 

Hon. Government Members: No!

 

Ms S. Mwamba: They are citizens of this country, and the PF Government provided for them. If we divide 30,000 teachers by 156 constituencies, it means only 192 teachers will be employed in each constituency, and that is not enough.

 

Hon. Member: It is an achievement.

 

Ms S. Mwamba: Mr Speaker, in the health sector, the Government intends to employ 11,000 staff in the entire country, meaning seventy staff per constituency. Will the Government continue saying that it is providing jobs? Let alone, are education and health the only sectors in Zambia? That is not correct. Accountants; the people in the agricultural sector, such as aquaculturalists; meteorologists; and engineers are also looking for jobs; everybody is looking for a job. Where have they been catered for? They are not catered for in the Budget, and they have continued asking what the Government will do for them. Let us not give credit where it is not due.

 

Mr Speaker, this Budget is merely a mirage, and I am sure we all understand what a mirage is; it is an optical illusion, an example of which is when one drives on a road and believes that one is seeing water on the road but, as one gets closer to where one thought the water was, one realises there is no water. That is what this Budget is; it gives hope about things that cannot be achieved.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Hon. Member: Beautiful poem.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

Mr Mulunda (Siavonga): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to make a few comments on this wonderful Budget; a Budget that has never been seen before in this country.

 

Mr Speaker, I congratulate the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning on the job well done. I wish the Patriotic Front (PF) hon. Members could realise that this arrogance they are displaying today in this House is what made them to lose because they are injured the people. If only they knew how much pain we felt under their regime, they would not be talking like that.

 

Mr Kampyongo: Question!

 

Mr Kang’ombe: On a point of order, Sir.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

I will not allow any point of order, hon. Member.

 

Please, resume your seat.

 

 May the hon. Member for Siavonga continue.

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, the PF Government never shared development equitably across the country.

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, Hon. Mweetwa, who is now the Minister for Southern Province, used to point at the people on your left and call them bad people.

 

Mr Kampyongo: Budget!

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, I am debating the Budget and talking about delivering development through it.

 

Mr Speaker, this is the only Government that has taken money to every constituency and taken development closer to the people.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mulunda: Did the PF Government do that?

 

Hon. Government Members: No!

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, let me talk about education. At some schools with pupils from Grade 1 to 7, there are only two teachers, and the PF was very happy with that. The people of Siavonga –

 

Mr Munir Zulu: On point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Hon. Member for Lumezi, resume your seat. I will not allow any point of order.

 

Mr Munir Zulu: Mr Speaker, should I be labelled just because I am on the left? Should I sit on the right?

 

Laughter

 

Mr Munir Zulu: I am an Independent Member of Parliament. If the hon. Member is referring to hon. Patriotic Front (PF) Members, he should exclude some of us from his statements.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Hon. Member, I have ordered you. Please, oblige.

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, we need another orientation workshop because some hon. Members do not understand that they cannot challenge your ruling.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, we need another orientation workshop. You need to educate our colleagues that when the Speaker is talking, they are not supposed to talk.

 

Mr Speaker, the people of Siavonga are very happy with this Budget because the Government will create employment in their communities. The welders, carpenters and builders will benefit from the K25.7 million that has been allocated to the constituencies. What did the PF do that benefitted everyone?

 

Mr Nkandu: Nothing!

 

Mr Mulunda: Nothing!

 

Sir, where those who are ranting come from – the road from Chinsali to Nakonde is a sorry sight. Our colleagues were in power for ten years, for God’s sake.

 

Mr Mutale: On point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

He cannot use the word ‘ranting’.

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, in the health sector, 11,200 staff will be employed.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order, hon. Member for Siavonga!

 

You should use parliamentary language all the time.

 

You can continue.

 

Mr Mulunda: I am well guided, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Withdraw that term and replace it with another one.

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, I withdraw the word ‘ranting’ and I replace it with meaningless talk, like that of a Grade 1 child.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, regarding agriculture, we were allocated eleven dip tanks in Siavonga Constituency, but none of them has been completed because they were abandoned. Further, in Siavonga Township, there were six projects under implementation, but none of them were completed. So, I urge the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, Hon. Eng. Milupi, to follow up the contractors. Those contractors should be followed.

 

Mr Speaker, coming to education, some people said that their children will not benefit from this Budget, but the Budget is elaborate. It states that vulnerable children from poor families that are unable to pay for them will be identified by their communities and paid for using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The PF Government, which have rebranded to ‘Tu PF’, never cared for its citizens. The children in our communities who left school because of failing to pay examination fees, tuition fees and Parent Teachers Association (PTA) fees will now have an opportunity to complete school, and become great and responsible citizens because the Government will take money to the compounds, where it matters.

 

Mr Speaker, even though the CDF was little, we built eight clinics in Siavonga Constituency, but we did not have health personnel because the PF never cared to deploy any personnel and take medicines to our clinics and hospitals, and this is a fact that the PF acknowledges. Today, we have a responsible Government that is going to put up infrastructure, stock up all the clinics and hospitals, and deploy personnel to different places.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, the people in the constituencies of those who are talking are listening because they know that this caring Government will take money to them. No wonder, our colleagues lost; they did not get any votes in some constituencies because of ranting.

 

Mr Speaker, I withdraw the word ‘ranting’.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Hon. Member for Siavonga, that word is unparliamentary.

 

Mr Mulunda: I am well guided, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Withdraw it and replace it immediately.

 

Mr Mulunda: Mr Speaker, I have withdrawn it.

 

Sir, our colleagues, as hon. Members, should be responsible, and what they say should benefit their constituencies.

 

Mr Speaker, the Government will create employment in the Ministry of Education. Today, many youths who completed school are not employed; they roam the streets because they have nothing to do. However, the Government has put money aside for them to be employed. Our colleagues never cared even for the retirees. The retirees would go and sleep at the Ministry of Justice, demanding for what belonged to them, but the former hon. Minister of Justice would pass them by as he went  into his office. Also, our colleagues would give us two bags of fertiliser, but give farmers on the other side more and, on behalf of God, say that we would not have good rainfall. Can you imagine? Doing things shamelessly like that? What a Government! No wonder, the people kicked it out, and it will never come back.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Simumba (Nakonde): Mr Speaker, thank you very much for giving the people of Nakonde the chance to add their voice to the debate on the important document called the Budget.

 

Mr Speaker, I come from a rural constituency where the main economic activities are clearing and agriculture. That is why I moved a Motion that urged the Government to allow local authorities countrywide to retain, at least, 5 per cent of locally generated revenue for internal development. Alas, the people on the right shot the Motion down, and I assure you that the Motion will haunt them, come 2026, because about 200,000 people in Nakonde depend on clearing, and Nakonde contributes massively to the development of this country.

 

Mr Speaker, the population of my constituency comprises small-scale farmers, and agriculture is the main economic activity and source of income. So, when the Budget was presented to this august House, my keen interest was to see the incentives in the agricultural sector. however, some incentives were given to commercial farmers; those who practise mechanised farming, while none were given to peasant farmers. For the commercial farmers, this Government has zero-rated Value Added Tax (VAT) on farming equipment, and the move is very much appreciated, as it will improve the agricultural sector in the country. However, the Government has not taken care of small-scale farmers, who are crying for the price of fertiliser to be reduced.

 

Mr Speaker, you may recall that the United Party for National Development (UPND) Administration promised the people of Zambia, especially the people of Nakonde, that after forming Government, it would reduce fertiliser from K750 to K250. As I speak, the price has not been reduced, and the people in Nakonde are wondering when that is going to be done. When our colleagues were in the Opposition, they told us that once elected, the price of fertiliser and the cost of living would reduce. However, I feel small-scale farmers have been left out, and the cost of living, especially for people of Nakonde, has gone up. Were peasant farmers given any incentives, it would increase production, and their livelihoods would improve. I, therefore, urge the Government to look seriously into the affairs of peasant farmers and help them to buy fertiliser at reduced prices so that Zambians, especially the people of Nakonde, who are peasant farmers, can benefit from that.

 

Mr Speaker, on the education sector, the move to employ 30,000 teachers is most welcome, and no one can fail to support this idea. However, there is a concern on paragraph 177, which: Where will the money we are going to pay our teachers come from? The hon. Minister confesses in paragraph 177 as follows:

 

“Madam Speaker, I wish to indicate that our Treasury truly is very tight because of the excessive borrowing of the recent past. The numbers that I am about to present clearly show that the domestic revenues we shall collect are not even enough to service the debt and pay public sector salaries.”

 

Mr Simumba: Mr Speaker, this is my concern. We are employing, which is very okay, but I do not want a situation in which when we employ, our teachers start failing to report for work because there are no salaries.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simumba: We need to know where the salaries will come from so that our teachers get motivated.

 

Sir, it is like this Budget is dependent on borrowing, and this is the song that the leaders of New Dawn Government used to sing against the Patriotic Front (PF). They used to say that they did not want to borrow. This is more or less like watching a movie in which a man wants to marry a lady and then somebody advises him that the lady he wants to marry is a prostitute and that he should not marry her. However, the next day, the advisor goes to the same lady and marries her.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Mirage!

 

Mr Simumba: That is what the New Dawn Government has done. The things that its members were not happy with are the things that it is now –

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Hon. Member: Mirage!

 

Mr Samakayi (Mwinilunga): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving the people of Mwinilunga an opportunity to add their voice to the debate on this very important subject.

 

Sir, this Budget has been applauded all over the country. Therefore, it is surprising that our colleagues on your left, the Patriotic Front (PF), are only seeing a mirage in it.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Samakayi: Mr Speaker, I want to preface my debate with a short story.

 

Sir, at 1200 hours, on a Sunday, in December, 2017, I visited our party president at Community House to discuss with him issues patterning to my constituency. We met and, after exchanging pleasantries, the party president started telling me how he was going to run this country, and I was very attentive.

 

Mr Shakafuswa: On a point of order, Sir.

 

Mr Samakayi: He talked about how he was going to run the economy of this country; how he was going industrialise this country and enhance good governance, and the turning point –

 

Mr Shakafuswa: On a point of order, Sir.

 

The Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

No more points of order.

 

May the hon. Member for Mwinilunga continue, please.

 

Mr Samakayi: Mr Speaker, the turning point was when the President told me that if he was given the chance to rule this country, he would increase the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from K1.4 million to US$1 million. I did not to believe, but I did not express my doubt. When I came back, I talked to the people I trusted. To remove the doubt in many of you, I talked the hon. Minister of Finance then about it, and he said, “Yes, it is quite ambitious, but it can be done”. So, when I heard the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning announce that the CDF had been increased from K1.6 million to K26 million, I said, ‘Yes, now we have a visionary President’. Today, he has implemented what he said four years ago. Many leaders would have changed their positions five or seven times, but he has stuck to what he decided to do four years ago.

 

Mr Michelo: Vision!

 

Mr Samakayi: Mr Speaker, decentralisation has now been financed to the tune of K26 million. I know that previous Governments failed to decentralise, and the issue had been hinging on capacity. I have argued here before that the capacity is there because decentralisation means moving capacity from the Central Government to local governments, and that capacity are the financial and human resources. Now, the money has gone, but the people have remained in the Central Government. Now, we are going to see whether the District Agriculture Co-ordinators (DACOs), the District Education Board Secretaries (DEBSs) and the District Medical Officers (DMOs) are going to remain where they are when the money moves away from there. The money has moved to the local governments, and the officers will follow it.

 

Mr Speaker, extraordinary things are done by extraordinary people. Those in the Public Service will tell you that resources follow functions but, with our President, resources have moved together with functions to the local governments and this, alone, is going to create contract jobs, and enhance service delivery and development.

 

Mr Speaker, 30,000 teachers will be employed in one year, something PF leaders failed to do in ten years. In 2013, they had planned to employ 55,000 teachers over eleven years, meaning 5,000 teachers each year, but they failed. In the first year, they managed; in the second year, they employed only 3,000; and last year, they employed only 1,200, these pathetic failures.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Samakayi: Further, people are happy with the New Dawn Government over the recruitment of 11,000 health workers and construction of 120 secondary schools.

 

Mr Speaker, the only point I want to make about the CDF is that, yes, this time, it is very difficult to achieve equity because the New Dawn Government has just come into power. If you look at the issue of K25.7 million, and considering how big some constituencies are, equity is somehow not achieved, but we know that by the end of this term, we will be able to achieve equity because some of the bigger constituencies will have to be delimitated because –

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

Business was suspended from 1640 hours until 1700 hours.

 

[MR SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair]

 

Mr Samakayi: Mr Speaker, before business was suspended, I said that extraordinary things are done by extraordinary people.

 

Sir, the increase in the CDF has been well received in all the corners of the country. However, as we go towards the end of this term, there is a need to look at constituencies that are very big, especially those that have more than thirteen wards, and consider them for delimitation so that they can benefit from the increased CDF amount. As it is now, for us in Mwinilunga and, perhaps, Kasempa, Mufumbwe and a few other constituencies, there is no equity because our constituencies are very big. The ones that are benefiting from this money are the smaller constituencies. So, my appeal is that our colleagues here support us with big constituencies for delimitation.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Kapyanga (Mpika Central): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving the people of Mpika an opportunity to add their voice to the debate on this important national document.

 

Mr Speaker, let me describe this Budget through what transpired in Mpika during campaigns. There was a brother of mine from a named political party who went to Mpika and, during his stay there, he decided to go out to a bar one night. While in the bar, he bumped into a very beautiful-looking lady wearing good makeup ...

 

Mr Munsanje: Budget!

 

Mr Kapyanga: … and, because of the lights, my brother from the United Party for National Development (UPND) believed the lady was very beautiful and he went away with her.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Munsanje: Where?

 

Mr Kapyanga: The following morning when he woke up, he looked at her and found her looking like a leopard because of spots from scabies on her body.

 

Mr Munsanje: How did you know?

 

Mr Kapyanga: Even her hair, which had looked very beautiful the previous night looked like sisal. So, he realised how much danger he was in and started wailing like I do not know.

 

Hon. PF Member: Hammer!

 

Mr Kapyanga: Sir, due to the makeup and lights in the building, my brother had thought the lady was very beautiful. That is the scenario right now. Due to the makeup of the Budget, Zambians may be duped into thinking that it is a very good one. Yes, I appreciate the allocation of K25.7 million to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), but again, due to the responsibilities that have been put on the CDF, the amount becomes very minimal.

 

Mr Speaker, perhaps, let me appeal to the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to reduce on the responsibilities on the CDF. The Central Government should continue with its usual responsibilities and the offices under it should remain there, while the responsibilities of local authorities should continue as they are. The money, then, will be more than enough to facilitate the implementation of various projects in constituencies.

 

Mr Speaker, I find it very difficult indeed to visualise this Government of ours as committed, patriotic and nationalist. In Mpika, where I come from, we host the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) Headquarters, and nothing has been talked about it in the Budget. The recapitalisation of TAZARA has not been addressed.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Why?

 

Mr Kapyanga: Mr Speaker, TAZARA workers are wailing because they have not been paid for the last four months.

 

Hon. UPND Members: They will be paid arrears.

 

Mr Kapyanga: So, I find it very difficult to understand what kind of a Budget we have, which does not have the people at heart.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Kapyanga: Mr Speaker, on paragraph 81 of the Budget, the hon. Minister proposes to increase electricity tariffs to attract what he calls investment in the sector. However, investment in the sector was already done by the Patriotic Front (PF) Government. That is why we have projects like Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower, which gives us about 750 MW.

 

Mr Mwanza: Unprecedented!

 

Mr Kapyanga: That is unprecedented in the history of this country, but you will not hear any one of the borrowers on your right commending these kinds of projects.

 

Mr Munsanje: That project was started by RB (Mr Rupiah Banda).

 

Mr Kapyanga: Instead, we are still being told that we need to increase electricity tariffs.

 

Mr Samakayi: On which page does the Budget say that?

 

Mr Kapyanga: Sir, our colleagues should think about that salon owner in Mpika and Kalingalinga, barber shop owner in Mtendere and the welder in Nakonde because such people depend on electricity for their survival. Where are my colleagues taking them? Actually, the proposed increment in electricity tariffs is against the New Dawn Government’s campaign promises, and this clearly shows that the President is willing, but his lieutenants are not. There is a problem.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Question!

 

Mr Kapyanga: You can ask as many questions as you want.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Kapyanga: Sir, there is also a proposed increase in the price of fuel, which is against my colleagues’ promise to reduce the cost from the current price to a single digit one. Our colleagues categorically said, “We will reduce it to K5.”

 

Hon. UPND Member: Where was that promise made?

 

Mr Kapyanga: However, they want to increase the price now, and the hon. Minister is on record saying that fuel moves from wherever it comes from through Nakonde and Mpika to Ndola for storage and then goes back again to Mpika and Nakonde.

 

Mr Munsanje: Which page?

 

Mr Kapyanga: I want to put it on record that the PF Government constructed storage facilities in various provinces, including Muchinga, where there are storage facilities in Mpika. This is unprecedented in the history of this nation.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hammer, hammer!

 

Mr Kapyanga: Mr Speaker, the increment in electricity tariffs and prices of petroleum products –

 

Hon. UPND Members: Which increment?

 

Mr Kapyanga: The proposed increment. You know it.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Where?

 

Mr Kapyanga: What you have proposed.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Where?

 

Mr Kapyanga: The increment that you proposed will actually hamper the growth of our economy because small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be affected.

 

Mr Mwanza: Yes!

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Which increment?

 

Mr Kapyanga: You cannot ask which increment when you know we are debating the National Budget.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Where?

 

Mr Mwanza: They have not read.

 

Mr Kapyanga: They will read.

 

Madam Speaker, sorry, I mean Mr Speaker. I am missing the Speaker.

 

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Kapyanga: Mr Speaker, I  thank the PF Government for constructing the many schools where the 30,000 teachers to be employed will be deployed. I also thank it for constructing the many clinics and hospitals where the 11,000 health workers to be employed will be deployed.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Kapyanga: That has never happened in our country, and we all must agree that it is unprecedented. Without those schools, no single teacher would have been employed. Even the training of the teachers was done by the PF Government.

 

Hon. PF Members: Yes!

 

Mr Kapyanga: However, you will hear some people say, ‘Iyo, those on you left –’. Please, we are here to serve the people of Zambia. We are not here to confront each other.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Mr Kapyanga: I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 

Ms Sefulo (Mwandi): Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing the people of Mwandi, through me, to contribute to the debate on the Motion on the Floor.

 

Sir, during the orientation workshop for hon. Members of Parliament, one of the words I learnt was ‘apolitical’, and I was looking forward to seeing that. When the hon. Minister was presenting the Budget on 29th October, 2021, anyone who was watching saw that the people on the left were more excited than United Party for National Development (UPND) hon. Members. 

 

Mr Speaker, as the hon. Minister was announcing the 30,000 teachers to be employed, I could see the hon. Members on the left almost standing up and cheering; they were excited. However, when we came back to the House on Tuesday to debate the Budget, I was shocked to hear that the Budget is now a mirage. Our colleagues have changed.

 

Mr Speaker, I stand here in full support of the well-balanced Budget. One of the Former Presidents, the Late Mr Mwanawasa, SC., once said:

 

“Ignorance is bad, but little knowledge is dangerous.”

 

Sir, those commenting on the figures on pages 50 or 44 and have little knowledge will end up misleading the House. The Budget that we are currently debating is in balance. We, the people of Mwandi, a rural constituency for that matter, are very excited.

 

Sir, let me talk about the education sector. If you go to schools in Mwandi, you will find one or two teachers at a school. Even the schools in areas where Patriotic Front (PF) hon. Members are coming from are facing the same challenges, yet the PF was in power for ten years. Today, we have a Budget that wants to employ 30,000 teachers, but our colleagues are opposing it. Whom are they opposing? Not only are they opposing this Budget in the House, they are also opposing the recruitment of teachers who do not have jobs and our children who look forward to benefiting from those 30,000 teachers. They are also opposing that girl child in Mwandi, who does not have the opportunity to go to school because of a lack of teachers. Currently, the teacher-pupil ratio in my constituency is one to eighty. How do those children learn? It is difficult for them.

 

Sir, the health sector is a sorry sight. If you go to Mwandi today, you will see how overwhelmed our health workers are. You will also see that people who have been trained have no jobs, yet our colleagues still come into this honourable House and say that this Budget is a mirage. Today, every well-meaning Zambian should come to this Floor and support the Budget. On 29th October, 2021, I think the hon. Members on the left had forgotten that they were in the Opposition, and we stood in unity and supported the Budget. Even as we left the House, they were cheering because this Government is going to construct 120 schools, and some on the left who are opposing the Budget do not have even one secondary school in their constituencies. They came to this Floor and said that they did not have Government constructed schools in their areas. Here is an opportunity for them to have those Government schools, but they want to oppose the idea.

 

Mr Sing’ombe: What a shame!

 

Ms Sefulo: Mr Speaker, decentralisation is one cause that every well-meaning Zambian should support. The reason some people are opposing it is because our resources were centrally managed, which means that there was a lot of corruption because the money was in one basket. Today, that money is being taken to the constituencies, which reduces the risk of corruption. It will not happen. 

 

Sir, while some are saying that they do not have capacity, we, in Mwandi, are actually over-capacitated and ready to give them technical assistance so that they can manage the K25.7 million. Today, as we speak, a person who passed his/her examinations in Mwandi needed to come to apply for a bursary here, and that was very difficult. It also denied children who deserved bursaries the opportunity to get them because the bursaries were centrally managed. Today, the bursaries are going to Ward Development Committees (WDCs). Surely, who can oppose that?

 

Hon. Government members: Ask them!

 

Ms Sefulo: This Government, through this Budget, means well for every well-meaning Zambian.

 

Sir, I remember hon. Members coming to this House and saying that the UPND had promised free education. We are here to deliver, including to those who have children They do not support.

 

Laughter

 

Ms Sefulo: Their children will be supported with free education through this Budget. We, as a people, must ensure that the girl child benefits from free education, and all of us should support that.

 

Mr Speaker, on road infrastructure, today, if you went to Mwandi, you will be shocked because we do not even have any roads whatsoever, and the need for the Kazungula/Sesheke Road to be worked on is a song that has been a sung. The PF failed to work on the road in ten years. However, today, we have received good news. The road is an economic one from which all of us will benefit. Every well-meaning Zambian will benefit from that road, and that is why, as the people of Mwandi, we are in support of this Budget. This Budget speaks to us. Today, that farmer in Mwandi is being given an opportunity, through this Budget, under the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to also add value to his/her crops. We look forward to produce from Mwandi being sold in Shoprite, and that is all contained in the Budget. So, as we oppose the Budget, we are not opposing the hon. Members on the right, but the people of Zambia, because this is exactly what they look forward to.

 

Mr Speaker, I am an accountant. So, I can tell you that this Budget is balanced. No one should come to this House and tell the people that the Budget is not balanced. Which balancing do our colleagues want? If the hon. Members on your left want a challenge, I urge them to go back to the Budget that they presented to this House last year, extract the same figures and come back to report to this House. We do not want ignorance or exposing of little knowledge because they will end up misleading the people of Zambia.

 

With those words, the people of Mwandi support of this Budget.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Banda (Muchinga): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate the 2022 National Budget. I will not debate the Budget based on emotions. Neither will I debate it based on my belief. Instead, I will debate it based on the understanding that it is going to change the lives of the people I represent.

 

Mr Speaker, first and foremost, I want to look at mining.

 

Sir, Muchinga is a constituency that has a bit of some mining activity and, based on what the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning said, I want to believe that the people of the province will benefit. So, I thank the hon. Minister for offering the people of Muchinga and Zambia an opportunity to benefit from the 2022 National Budget. I believe the Government is going to put up measures that will compel big mining houses to give consent for locals to have mining licenses. Then, the mining will be done legally, unlike what is happening now, whereby locals are mining illegally.

 

Mr Speaker, on the issue of 30,000 teachers being employed, yes, Zambia has had the infrastructure, as it has been said by our hon. Colleagues who were in the Government. However, the Government has not been employing, although teachers have been trained. Now, the New Dawn Government has promised to employ 30,000 teachers, and this is good news to the people who have looked forward to being employed and have been praying about it day and night.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Speaker, I am debating based on what I think will benefit the people. I am not looking at the negativity that will not take me anywhere. The people of Zambia want development, and this is the development that we were crying for over the past ten years.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Banda: Mr Speaker, to the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, I say, let us now work on decentralising the recruitment of teachers so that our teachers in rural areas can be employed. If teachers are employed in the areas where they come from, they will appreciate the working there because they are used to those areas, unlike the current situation in which people are recruited, sent to rural areas just to secure pay points and then moved back to town, leaving our rural areas understaffed. That is the only concern that I have, as a representative of the people of Muchinga and Zambia at large.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Banda: Mr Speaker, I belong to this House, not to a site. I will not to go to whichever site. I am sure my friends are trying to tell me to debate with emotions, but emotions will not take us anywhere. Zambia needs development, and it is our job to bring the development by supporting what is right. We should not be arguing about what the people of Zambia want.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Banda: Mr Speaker, it is common knowledge that our President flies commercial. He has done that on two trips as a way of saving money. I believe any person who wants Zambia to develop cannot ask where the money to pay the teachers will come from when the Head of State has demonstrated that he can save money. The savings will be made in different areas. So, the people who are going to be recruited will be paid. No Government can employ and fail to pay. Of course, the hon. Minister knew what he was doing since he is a learned person.

 

Mr Kapyanga: Akamyalukila uyu wine!

 

Mr E. Banda: Nshakaalukepo!

 

Laughter

 

Mr E. Banda: Mr Speaker, let me now come to the K25.7 million.

 

Sir, many parts of Zambia did not receive development. The development that our friends have been boasting about did never reached Muchinga, and I cannot point at even a single road, bridge or school that was constructed. This time around, I know that the people of Muchinga are going to have what they want, including schools, hospitals and clinics. Further, the roads will be worked on, and there will be empowerment. I assure the people of Muchinga that if will be a good manager, as a Member of Parliament, they are going to have what they have been lacking over the past ten years. I am not ashamed to stand here and support the 2022 National Budget presented by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr E. Banda: Sir, the fact that I have debated in my eight minutes without any point of order being raised means that I have convinced those who are debating with emotions that what was – (inaudible).

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Kapyanga: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Speaker: No more points of order.

 

Hon. Member for Mkushi South, you have not yet delivered your maiden speech. So, you will be allowed to do so.

 

Mr Chisopa (Mkushi South): Mr Speaker, I thank you most sincerely for giving me this opportunity to debate. I am going to deliver my maiden speech and, thereafter, debate the Budget Address.

 

Mr Speaker, I congratulate the former chairperson of the Committee on National Economy, Trade and Labour Matters, who is now the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning. I also congratulate the former chairperson of the Committee on Local Government Accounts, Hon. Muchima, who is now the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources. On these Committees, I saw that when people were conducting elections, trying to select who would be chairperson, ours were transparent and open.

 

Mr Speaker, I take this opportunity to thank the almighty God who made me to be elected Member of Parliament for Mkushi South Constituency. Secondly, I thank the Patriotic Front (PF), starting from the Central Committee, headed by His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu; through the Provincial Executive Committee and the District Executive Committee; to the Constituency Executive Committee, for having given me the opportunity to stand as Member of Parliament for the third time. I take this opportunity to thank the family as well for their support during my tenure and tour of duty and for making it possible for me to win an election. I especially thank my wife, who is also an hon. Member of Parliament.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Chisopa: Mr Speaker, for the first time in the history of this country, a husband and wife were elected as Members of Parliament. I think this is important for this Parliament. Yesterday, I saw that in the Southern African region, this is the only Parliament that has produced hon. Members of Parliament who are husband and wife, and I think this should go into the archives.

 

Mr Speaker, I also thank the six Royal Highnesses in the area, namely Chief Mposhya, Chief Chikupili, Chief Kaundula, Senior Chief Mboroma, may his soul rest in peace; Chief Chembe and, lastly, Chief …

 

Laughter

 

Mr Chisopa: … Chikupili, for their support during the period that I worked with them as the Member of Parliament for their area. I also thank the people of Luano for giving me 75 per cent of their votes, which shows that they have a lot of confidence in me. I promise that I will never take them for granted during my tenure as their area hon. Member of Parliament, from 2021 to 2026. I must state to those who did not support me during the campaigns that, now, I am their Member of Parliament and that I shall be open to progressive ideas.

 

Mr Speaker, the same commitment to service provision that I had during the time I was with them will continue. In fact, this time around, it will improve because we need to improve the living standards of the people of Luano by providing selfless leadership. I hope and pray that the development agenda that I have outlined for Luano District shall be fulfilled through tangible collaboration with responsible institutions in Luano District to support infrastructure, agriculture, health and education. I also hope that Luano shall be one of the beneficiaries of the 41,000 people who have been targeted for recruitment.

 

Mr Speaker, Luano is made up of two parts, the valley and the plateau. Therefore, there is a need for concerted efforts to enhance communication by providing a road network and community radio systems so that every place in the constituency is kept abreast of the events in the nation.

 

Mr Speaker, I know that the New Dawn Government made many promises. So, we have started counting down, and we are waiting to see which ones will be fulfilled. We hope Luano will be one of the beneficiaries. For example, next year, we expect that Luano will benefit from fertiliser being sold at K250 per bag in shops, not the one under the Farmer Input and Support Programme (FISP); the K1500 increment in civil servants’ salaries; and the reintroduction of meal allowances for students. We are waiting, and we hope that the United Party for National Development (UPND) will appreciate our gesture of reminding it of what it promised the people of this great nation.

 

Mr Speaker, during its campaigns, the New Dawn Government promised to never borrow for running this country. I am waiting for that signal so that the people of Zambia can see. We, the Patriotic Front (PF), were accused of leaving behind unsustainable debt levels. So, we are waiting for the signal that will show that the New Dawn Government is going to run this country without debt, as promised during its campaigns.

 

Mr Speaker, I am waiting to see a reduction in electricity tariffs so that the people of Zambia can benefit, as opposed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) condition of increasing the tariffs. We also hope that Luano will be one of the beneficiaries of fuel production so that we can appreciate and say that we have a Government in place.

 

Mr Speaker, I put it on record that we, as leaders of this country, have the responsibility to make people feel that the country is being run by the right people, and to fulfil our promises to the people of Zambia. One of the important things is to ensure that issues to do with disasters are managed in a proper and non-selective manner.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The time for the hon. Member’s maiden speech expired.

 

Mr Chisopa: Mr Speaker, let me thank the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning for his presentation, and congratulate him on the Budget that he presented to this House, which was based on growth, jobs and taking development to the rural areas.

 

Mr Speaker, when I looked at the hon. Minister’s presentation, I saw the issue of job creation. In that regard, I will look at agriculture and, to be specific, the issue of scrapping off duty on the export of maize. 

 

Mr Speaker, when you export a raw product, you are simply exporting jobs because there is no value addition. When maize is produced in this country – For us to have introduced the 10 per cent duty, it meant that we needed to protect the local produce so that we promote value addition and increase the output. When you talk about increasing output, you are talking about producing mealie meal and feed for the animals we keep. In this Budget, the 10 per cent export duty on maize has been removed, and that means the product is going to be exported indiscriminately to the democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), since the hon. Minister has not put measures to control the export of maize, and the result will be that our millers are going to have a deficit. When our milling companies have a deficit, they are likely to close. Now, how is the Government going to create employment if there will be no production in terms of mealie meal? One of the issues that the New Dawn Government has talked about is employment creation.

 

Sir, it is better to export mealie meal, which is a finished product, and sell other products  of maize so that we create more employment for our people. Can the hon. Minister try to look into this matter and seriously analyse it? What is going to happen is that the milling companies in this country are going to close down and, when that happens, the result is that there will be no employment, yet we are looking at creating employment and self-sustenance for our youth. So, there will be nothing even in terms of agricultural support.

 

Mr Speaker, during his speech, the Republican President promised that this country was not going to borrow, but the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning says that we are going to use special drawing rights to employ our teachers. That is money given for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) problem that we had. It is not going to come every year. Therefore, how sure is the hon. Minister that we are going to sustain the employment levels? Further, the special drawing rights is not money we can just go and get at any time; we will be required to go and ask for it and we will be asked to pay it back. Will we have that kind of money to pay back?

 

Mr Speaker, I want to put it to the hon. Minister that we should have a proper mechanism. We are not against employing Civil Servants. As the hon. Minister has said, he wants to employ about 41,000 civil servants. I know that in his speech, he indicated that he is going to employ agricultural extension officers, too, but he has not given us the numbers. We hope that in the Yellow Book, there will be an indication of how many extension officers are going to be employed so that we know the allocation for that activity and the number that will be employed, just as he has indicated the numbers for the ministries of Health and Education. Are we able to sustain this employment level? Is it not going to choke the Government coffers?

 

Sir, in the hon. Minister’s statement, he maintains that we have to control our debt. If we are talking about controlling the debt then we have to work within the framework of what we have.

 

Mr Kampyongo: Hammer, hammer!

 

Mr Chisopa: Therefore, I appeal to the hon. Minister that as much as we agree that his party made many campaign promises, there is a need for financial discipline. We know that our colleagues can appease the people of Zambia by creating employment and ensuring that our children get employment. No one is against employment, but we need financial discipline. If we get to the level of credit we are headed for, that is, US$25 billion or US$26 billion, then, we will leave problems for our children and children’s children who will follow us. So, we hope that the New Dawn Government is going to put in critical mechanisms to ensure that it meets what it promised, as much as it is in a hurry. We know that, politically, it is under pressure because of the promises that it made, but we want it to ensure that there is financial discipline –

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: On a lighter note, you are not the first Zambian couple in Parliament. There was Hon. Sikota Wina and Hon. Princess Nakatindi Wina in 1991, and both were Cabinet Ministers. I remember that happened when I was in high school.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! He was not yet born!

 

Laughter

 

Mr Anakoka (Luena): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to pass my gratitude on behalf of the people of Luena.

 

Sir, the people of Luena, if I should start with their specific instructions, are very happy with this Budget.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Anakoka: So, they are surprised to hear that there are people, hon. Members on your left, who oppose it.

 

Sir, no one in this country takes the Patriotic Front (PF) seriously anymore.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Anakoka: Mr Speaker, someone stood up and said Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) employees have not been paid for the last four months. In case our colleagues have forgotten, as we speak, we are still working with the failed PF Budget for 2021. The New Dawn Government Budget only starts on 1st January, 2022.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Anakoka: So, if there is anyone to blame –

 

Hon. Government Member: It is the Patriotic Front (PF).

 

Mr Anakoka: Thank you.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Anakoka: Mr Speaker, the PF is known in this country for not being serious. In fact, even the goats of this country do not take the PF seriously because it promised them a trip to Saudi Arabia, but they are still waiting to this day. Who can take our colleagues seriously?

 

Laughter

 

Mr Anakoka: Sir, the PF is saying this Budget is not adding up, but I think we need to have workshops in order to teach people basic addition. This Budget is well balanced, and it will be proven so.

 

Mr Speaker, the people of Luena congratulate the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning on this Budget. By the way, he is my neighbour, as he is the Member of Parliament for Liuwa Constituency. Some people thought he was nominated and that his Budget was uninformed because he had no constituency to represent. However, he is my neighbour. Therefore, –

 

Mr Munir Zulu: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: No more points of order.

 

Hon. Government Members: Sit down!

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: You can resume your seat, Hon. Zulu.

 

Mr Anakoka: Thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Munir Zulu remained upstanding.

 

Hon. Government Members: No points of order. Sit down!

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: You can resume your seat.

 

Mr Munir Zulu: Mr Speaker, you are telling me to sit down, but there is noise coming from there (pointing at the Government hon. Members) telling me to sit down. Am I protected? Tukaiponona one day muno. I am not Patriotic Front (PF).

 

Hon. Government Members: Ah!

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Hon. Zulu, order!

 

Interruptions

 

Hon. Government Member: Sergeant-at-Arms, lift that boy!

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order, hon. Members of Parliament!

 

Let us behave in an orderly manner. The people are seeing what we are doing, and you were elected as leaders and representatives.

 

You can continue, hon. Member on the Floor.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hammer!

 

Mr Anakoka: Mr Speaker, the Budget on the Floor is themed, “Growth, Jobs and Taking Development Closer to the People”. The people of Luena look forward to the three..

 

Sir, the people of Luena look forward to having job opportunities. There are many youths there, most of whom have even been to college, who have not had the opportunity to earn a living through gainful employment because there were no job opportunities in this country. Today, when they see this Budget, which is promising a major economic turnaround and to take resources to their communities, they are very excited. Specifically, the people of Luena are excited about the K25.7 million that is going to them through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). I need, on their behalf, to reiterate that any suggestion of their not having the capacity to utilise the K25.7 million is misplaced. Instead, they would be happy to implement projects even if the CDF were doubled to K50 million.

 

Sir, the people of Luena are happy that the hon. Minister has announced that there will be no importation of desks. In fact, they want to make it very clear that when the K25.7 million is released, there will be no importation of desks from other districts to Limulunga District because that will entail taking away their jobs. There is a lot of timber in Sikusi, Simaa and Nganga. Further, there are many people who are capable of making desks for our schools, and they will make sure that they supply quality products.

 

Mr Speaker, on the 30,000 employment opportunities in the Ministry of Education, already, there are youths who have been to college, and most of them have been volunteering in our community schools. The people of Luena request that when it starts, the recruitment be done from the ward level just like it will be in the awarding of bursaries. The people in Lusaka or Kitwe should not go and look for jobs in Liuwa, Luena and Sikongo because the people who already volunteered to teach our children should be given the first priority.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!  

 

Mr Anakoka: Mr Speaker, regarding the 11,000 health workers the Government intends to employ, the situation in Luena is the same as in many other rural constituencies. Our people are in a dire need of health personnel. The people in urban areas complain when they have to be on long queues at the hospital. In the rural areas, there is nothing to wait long for because one individual works twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week without rest. At times, the patients just have to accept that the individual has a family and that he or she needs to be given time to rest. So, they wait until they are attended to. We do not want that situation to continue in our communities.

 

Mr Speaker, we have been told that the Government is going to borrow money, and some people are opposing that. However, if there is any regime that has the right to talk about overborrowing, it cannot be the PF. Who borrowed money to buy cameras to keep Zambians like prisoners in their own country, construct roads at inflated prices, buy expensive fire tenders, construct airports in the middle of nowhere and to buy teargas? Was it not the PF?

 

Laughter

 

Mr Anakoka: Today, the people of Luena and Zambia at large are very happy that with this Budget, we begin our journey to economic recovery. They appreciate that the little pain they will feel because of borrowing is the medicine that is necessary for the Government to retrieve the economy from the doldrums in which the PF left it.

 

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I pass a message of congratulations from the people of Luena to the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, the Republican President and the Vice-President. They also say that they look forward to the effective and efficient implementation of the Budget, for it truly represents the hope and help that have arrived in Zambia.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Mr Chala (Chipili): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the debate on the Floor on behalf of the people of Chipili Constituency, whom I represent.

 

Mr Speaker, in my view, the Budget the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning presented is people-centred. However, there are certain areas that I am not comfortable with.

 

Mr Speaker, when the hon. Minister presented the Budget, he talked about the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Three times, he proudly mentioned that we had been given US$1.3 billion worth of free money. I am failing to understand what he meant by free money. I call the IMF an animal that is not good for Africa; it is not here to develop Zambia or Africa as a whole.

 

Sir, this is not the first time the country is dealing with the IMF. In the real sense, the money that has been ‘donated’ is not free; there is something the IMF wants to achieve by giving us this money. The Fund is a business, and it is simply doing business; it is not here for fun. So, it cannot give Zambia free money. At the end of the day, it is going to get something out of the so-called free money.

 

Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister was part of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) that dealt with the IMF. What did that lead to? I know that the IMF has a programme that it wants Zambia to fit in, and it is going to control everything in the negotiations because it has given something to Zambia. The hon. Minister and his team will not object to IMF proposals. I know what is coming. The IMF did it in the past, and it will do it again. 

 

Sir, the IMF will tell the Government to not increase salaries, to increase electricity tariffs, to scrap off the Social Cash Transfer Programme, to cut the number of civil servants by 50 per cent, to increase the price of fuel and to scrap off the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). When the IMF does that, who is going to say ‘No’? Giving us the so-called free money is like a man giving a girl K200 every time he meets her. The time he will propose to her, she will remember that the money he was giving her was not free money and she will then understand that the man was up to something.

 

Mr Speaker, the IMF brought up voluntary separation for people who were working in the Public Service because it wanted the Government to reduce on expenses so that the Fund could recover its money, and some people opted to go on voluntary separation. So, we should not be proud to receive free money because the money is not free. There is something behind it.

 

Mr Speaker, with regard to the mining sector, I remember that when I was debating the President’s Speech, I emphasised that the Government was supposed to have shares in some companies, especially in the mining sector, on behalf of Zambians so that there would be control. For example, the Government proposes to increase copper production to 3 million tonnes, but I do not know how it is going to push the owners of the mines in which it has no hand to produce 3 million tonnes. I know that some of the companies are cheaters and crooks, and they have proposed to spend US$2 billion to increase production. However, I can assure you that they will not do that. They are just cheating the Government that they are going to do that so that they can, probably, be given a waiver on one or two taxes. We are going to lose out with some institutions.

 

Mr Speaker, this country can only develop if the State is involved. So, I would have loved to see this Government do things differently because the previous Government that the current Government has been referring to did the same thing that is being done now, that is, borrowing.

 

Mr Speaker, on agriculture, it is very interesting to note that the Government is going to open up farming blocks. However, how do we make money instead of depending –

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Mr Munsanje (Mbabala): Mr Speaker, thank you so much, and congratulations on your maiden Sitting as Presiding Officer.

 

Mr Speaker, I support the National Budget presented to us by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, a message from His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, a gallant son of Zambia, who has revolutionised this country. This is the best Budget ever presented in this Republic, and the people of Mbabala Constituency, who are very excited about it, have been asking me to convey their messages of gratitude to the hon. Minister and the Government of His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema.

 

Mr Speaker, it is said that the greatest of nations can be judged by the way it treats its weakest member, and we saw how the previous regime, the Patriotic Front (PF) Government, neglected our people. As my hon. Colleagues stated, retirees camped outside the Ministry of Justice and the then Minister of Justice had no remorse when entering his comfortable and air-conditioned office every day; he never cared for those people, yet they were suffering because of not being paid. Now, the New Dawn Government wants to clear the K1.2 billion arrears owed to all retirees. Is that not a wonderful thing? The retirees will now have a life, be able to participate in the economy and pay school or university fees for their children. Luckily enough, the United Party for National Development (UPND) Government has scrapped off school fees and other user fees. So, this is a double benefit for the people of this country.

 

Mr Speaker, the people of Zambia are very excited about the Budget. One hon. Member said it is just a piece of paper, but that is only because such hon. Members still have unfinished business with the Ministry of General Education.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Munsanje: Hon. Members must read and understand the content of this Budget.

 

Mr Speaker, the Budget addresses growth and highlights several sectors that will bring about the growth. For example, it addresses job creation and highlights several sectors that will bring about jobs. Even in our constituencies, we are going to create jobs, such as carpentry jobs, using the K25.7 million Constituency Development Fund (CDF), which our hon. Colleagues on the left said they will not use. For example, in my constituency, Mbabala, carpenters will fix all the broken desks; and bricklayers will fix the various small bridges, such as the bridges on the Pemba Road, which are not functional. The PF Government neglected those bridges for ten years and when they collapsed, it just looked at them despite numerous reports being filed in about them. Now, we have an opportunity, through the New Dawn Government, to fix those bridges and ensure that our people have jobs.

 

Mr Speaker, we are going to take development to the people. The sheds and other storage facilities will be constructed by the local people. So, this Budget is about equity; it is about development for all, in line with the United Nations (UN) motto of not leaving anyone behind. All the women, men, youths, children and persons with disabilities will be catered for in this Budget. For example, the money given to persons with disabilities has been increased to K400, and many other areas will be supported to help persons with disabilities to enjoy their lives and attain a higher quality of life.

 

Mr Speaker, the highlights presented by the hon. Minister on the Budget are adequate for us to judge the Budget and, overall, Zambians have judged it to be the best ever. However, those who are arguing will need to address their minds to the Yellow Book. Otherwise, as it has been shown, it would mean they have failed to do their job as the Opposition and must close shop. The argumentative PF in this House must close shop, go back home and leave the space of the Opposition to serious people who understand this Budget.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Munsanje: Those are the people we want to see here, not those who talk for the sake of it.

 

Sir, this Budget will bring freedom, and goods and services to every citizen. It will also take services to the people of Mbabala Constituency, who sent me here to represent them. For the first time, schools will be built in Mpinda and Mayobo because we need them there; dams will be built in Nabukowa, Chisikili and other areas; many clinics will be built in areas where we do not have them and in Muntanga Ward, where we need another clinic; and boreholes will be drilled in every village. These are services that every citizen desires.

 

Mr Speaker, agriculture is going to be improved, as activities like artificial insemination are going to bolster our agricultural services, including disease control, because in Mbabala Constituency, we are cattle herders and we want to see these services provided at the local level. So, the K25.7 million should be given to us. Those who have no capacity to administer it should leave it to us who have the capacity to deliver for our people.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Munsanje: We have come to change this country forever, Mr Speaker, and this country will never be the same because we are going to do even better in 2023, 2024 and 2025. So, the PF is buried and will never return.

 

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Daka (Chadiza): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving the people of Chadiza this opportunity to make their contribution to the debate on the Motion of Supply. My contributions will be anchored on three areas of the Budget, namely the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), debt management, and road infrastructure development and financing.

 

Mr Speaker, when one looks at the figure for the CDF, it seems a very good initiate by the New Dawn Government. However, looking at the responsibilities that have been removed from the Central Government, I feel like one very important responsibility should not be given to the local authorities under the CDF, and that is road and bridge construction. Being an expert in this field, I know what figures are involved in road and bridge construction. So, I plead with the able hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to reconsider the assignment of road and bridge construction to the CDF. Otherwise, if this idea is implemented, we will have no money to take to other socio-economic activities that the CDF is supposed to take care of.

 

Mr Speaker, the second area that I am going shed light on is the road financing model that the New Dawn Government has proposed on page six, namely public-private partnership (PPPs) through the Public Private Partnership Act No. 14 of 2009. I am glad to note that the able hon. Minister proposes to amend the Act. As it comes up, the amendments should not be without certain issues I will highlight.

 

Sir, the amendments to the Public Private Partnership Act should deal with the inconsistencies in policy and the timeframe involved in execution. Let the timeframe from the start of project development to the time of execution be reduced because it takes too long to execute or actualise a project under a PPP. Let the amendment also deal with capacity building because the concept of PPPs is new in Zambia and most staff in executing agencies is not experienced in it. Therefore, I appeal to the able hon. Minister to ensure that capacity building is addressed in the amendment of the Act.

 

Mr Speaker, if the Act that governs PPPs is not repealed, roads like the Chipata/Chanida via Chadiza Road will never be upgraded because in PPPs, we conduct prefeasibility studies. A prefeasibility study merely looks at whether the road is doable or not and includes a cost-benefit analysis. In that regard, very few roads in Zambia can pass the requirements of the cost-benefit analysis done in PPPs. Therefore, I plead with the hon. Minister to ensure that this does not become a failure. Considering that if this agenda fails – I have looked at the hon. Minister’s allocation of K4.9 billion to road infrastructure development, which I know he is aware cannot even clear the debt that local consultants are owed. Therefore, the PPP initiative is a must-do.

 

Mr Speaker, I have also looked at page 2 of the Budget, which addresses the construction of rural roads.

 

Mr Mulebwa passed in front of Mr Daka.

 

Hon. Members: Order!

 

The Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

A Member of Parliament is not supposed to pass in front of another Member who is debating.

 

You may continue, hon. Member on the Floor.

 

Mr J. Daka: Mr Speaker, on page 2 of the Budget, the able hon. Minister also talked about the Improved Rural Connectivity Programme (IRCP), which is being funded by the World Bank. This programme leaves much to be desired because the success rates are quite poor. Currently, there are seven running contracts under the programme, but very little progress has been recorded, basically because of the conditions that are tied to contracts funded by the World Bank. So, I plead with the hon. Minister to make a serious follow-up that will improve the implementation of this very good 4,300 km programme.

 

 Mr Speaker, I now get to debt management.

 

Sir, I have noticed, especially in the road sector, that the Budget is not clear because it did not differentiate between the arrears owed to local contractors and suppliers, and those owed to foreign ones. This will have a serious impact on the domestic economy. Further, the Budget is not clear on how the debt owed to local contractors and suppliers will be cleared, and this is very important because it affects our people, who have been waiting for a long time for their money and have gone through many problems. Now that there is a new Government, they feel like they can have some relief, and that should be a must. Local contractors have to be looked at, and there must be a clear road map for liquidating their arrears.

 

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I say that I will only support this Budget if:

 

  1. there will not be any fuel increase;
  2. there will be no electricity tariff increase; and
  3. appropriate legislation is presented to this House that will support whatever propositions I have made.

 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata (Pemba): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the debate on behalf of the people of Pemba Constituency.

 

Mr Speaker, my special thanks go to Hon. Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance and National Planning.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: I also extend my gratitude to the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, for giving us this Budget, which Zambians are happy with. The people of Pemba Constituency are very happy with the Budget that has been presented to this august House.

 

Mr Speaker, this Budget seeks to put more money in the pockets of vulnerable youths and women.

 

Mr Speaker, the woman walking long distances, selling vegetables and tomatoes to raise money to pay for a child who is at a primary or secondary school will now have disposable income and enough money to grow her business. Bally is fixing it. Further, the hawker pushing a wheelbarrow over long distances to raise enough money to pay for a child at a primary or secondary school, or university will have enough money to grow the business. Bally is fixing it.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: Mr Speaker, this Budget will evoke the sixth sense of the young entrepreneurs to begin to think big and be innovative while the provision of capital to them will help them to grow their businesses.

 

Mr Speaker, the New Dawn Government proposed an increase in the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation, from K1.6 million to 25.7 million. This is very good for the people of Zambia, and this Budget deserves to be supported by everyone.

 

Hon. PF Members: Question!

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: The people of my constituency will have the privilege to decide their own destiny. For example, they will now have the privilege to decide when and where to build a health post.

 

Mr Simumba: You are reading!

 

Mr Kapyanga: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

 

Interruptions

 

Hon. UPND Members: No points of order, iwe!

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Hammer, hammer!

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: No points of order.

 

Mr Kapyanga: But he is reading from a script instead of debating.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hammer, hammer!

 

Mr Hamwaata: The people of my constituency, Mr Speaker, will now have the privilege to decide where to build a classroom block.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: The people of my constituency, Mr Speaker, will now have the privilege to construct and rehabilitate a dam.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: The people of my constituency, Mr Speaker, will now have the privilege to rehabilitate feeder roads.

 

Mr Simumba: Are they the only ones who will access that money?

 

Mr Hamwaata: The people of my constituency, Mr Speaker, will now have the privilege to drill boreholes. What that means is that our women and girls who have been walking long distances to fetch clean water will now have water 200 m away from their houses.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: That is how good this Budget is.

 

Mr Speaker, this Budget provides –

 

Mr Kapyanga: Which one?

 

Mr Hamwaata: The same Budget you are holding, hon. Member.

 

Mr Speaker, this Budget gives to our people the privilege to decide where they are going to have a dip tank.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: Mr Speaker, in our local language we say …

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Utalumbi mubwa!

 

Laughter

 

Mr Hamwaata: yakula, inyonka mombe, meaning when you grow old, as a parent, you are to be looked after by your children.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simumba: Ulabeja!

 

Mr Hamwaata: That was not the case in the Patriotic Front (PF) Government ...

 

Mr Sing’ombe: No!

 

Hon. PF Members: Question!

 

Mr Hamwaata: … because people did not have employment.

 

Hon. Member: Mpukunya matobo!

 

Mr Hamwaata: Under the PF Administration, a graduate from the University of Zambia (UNZA) or Copperbelt University (CBU) still remained under the care of parents because there was no employment. Now, the New Dawn Government is going to create 44,000 jobs in 2022. Bally is fixing it.

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Hammer, Tonga Bull!

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: This is what we meant when we talked about fixing the economy. We are fixing the economy while others are watching.

 

Sir, the New Dawn Government, as a listening one, has heard the cries of the retirees, ...

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Even the Patriotic Front (PF)!

 

Mr Hamwaata: ... including of the PF hon. Members in the left.

 

Mr Kangombe: On the left.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Hamwaata: Mr Speaker, for the first time in the history of Zambia, a President, His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema, the Seventh Republican President of Zambia, and leader of the New Dawn Administration, is going to pay all the retirees. This is good for the country.

 

Sir, as I end my debate –

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

UPND Hon. Member: Wauma mulombwana!

 

Mr Mapani (Namwala): Mr Speaker, I thank you for this wonderful moment you have given me to debate the living Budget that was presented before this House by Hon. Dr Musokotwane.

 

Mr Speaker, let me look at the issue of decentralisation. From the word go, I make it very clear that decentralisation is one of the tenets of good governance, and the United Party for National Development (UPND) Government is the first ever to enshrine this tenet in the Constitution.

 

Mr Speaker, decentralisation entails that the people in the communities and constituencies will sit, debate and make choices on how they will be governed. So, they will be governed purely under the decisions they will make.

 

Mr Speaker, allow me to proceed by thanking the New Dawn Government for increasing the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from K1.6 million to K25.7 million per constituency. This has been done across the board regardless of ethnic affiliation, which is a plus for the UPND Government. Further, it is an opportunity for the people of this country to decide what they want to be done in their constituencies. This will, particularly, give the people of Namwala, the constituency that I represent, the right to choose the nature of development that should take place in their constituency.

 

Mr Speaker, a decentralised system will enable the people of Namwala to sit and debate, meaning there will not be anyone to interfere in the way they will be governed. Before, we used to have such decisions made by the Central Government. So, we support the stance taken by the New Dawn Government to allow the citizens to decide how they want to proceed in terms of the governance style. We, as the people of Namwala, hope to proceed by deciding which road will be worked on first. This will also give the people an opportunity to have dip tanks all over the wards. Living in a constituency that keeps livestock, we hope that all our farmers will be able, at their own time, to take their animals for dipping. That is one point. The second point is that we are going to ensure that our people have clean water by having boreholes all over the constituency. Surely, with those two initiatives, we expect to multiply the number of animals in our constituencies.

 

Mr Speaker, further, we will now look at constructing feeder roads and small bridges around the constituency. Before now, it was difficult in the sense that people strove to get access to the Central Government. However, if one did not affiliate oneself with the Ruling Party that was there in the past ten years, one did not see development, which is contrary to the dictates of the Constitution of this country.

 

Mr Speaker, furthermore, the people of Namwala will now have opportunities to choose which feeder roads will be worked on because the money is there. The United Party for National Development (UPND) Government has realised that governance should not be dictated, and this is happening for the first time ever in our country. People should not dictate. Instead, the citizens of this country should manage the affairs in their areas.

 

Mr Speaker, let me proceed to look at road infrastructure, another area in which the UPND, through this Budget, has scored. We are going to ensure that the road network is worked on using the CDF that has been allocated to our constituencies. That, alone, will improve the agricultural sector because people will have access to depots where they can deliver their maize or collect their inputs from. This is what we have been fighting for for a long time and, at last, the UPND Government has scored by actually providing the money for the people in the constituencies to decide on their own. This is a plus.

 

Mr Speaker, it was saddening to hear and see hon. Ministers or hon. Members of Parliament in the previous regime say that it is bad to allocate such huge sums of money to constituencies. That was wrong. How does one think like that? This is an opportunity for the people to govern themselves. For an hon. Member of Parliament to feel that it is ill-advised to do so, it can only be because, firstly, he/she did not read the Budget and, secondly, he/she still has the mentality of wanting to deprive the people of what belongs to them.

 

Sir, this Budget is corruption-free because the people in the constituencies will know exactly how much money has been allocated to them and what that money should be used for. So, they will follow up because decentralisation comes with three other elements of good governance, which are accountability, transparency and freedom of speech, because people will sit and decide what they want done in their constituencies. So, I commend the UPND Government for coming up with such ideas. Those who still think in the past; those who still suggest that the Central Government continues to control all things just want the people in their constituencies to not know exactly what is happening so that they continue dipping their fingers in the cookie jar. Under this New Dawn Government of the UPND, we are saying ‘No’ to that because we want everyone to participate and ensure that development is taken to the people.

 

I thank you, Sir.

 

Mr Hamwaata: Under the PF Administration, a graduate from the University of Zambia (UNZA) or Copperbelt University (CBU) still remained under the care of parents because there was no employment. Now, the New Dawn Government is going to create 44,000 jobs in 2022. Bally is fixing it.

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Hammer, Tonga Bull!

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: This is what we meant when we talked about fixing the economy. We are fixing the economy while others are watching.

 

Sir, the New Dawn Government, as a listening one, has heard the cries of the retirees, ...

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Even the Patriotic Front (PF)!

 

Mr Hamwaata: ... including of the PF hon. Members in the left.

 

Mr Kangombe: On the left.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Hamwaata: Mr Speaker, for the first time in the history of Zambia, a President, His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema, the Seventh Republican President of Zambia, and leader of the New Dawn Administration, is going to pay all the retirees. This is good for the country.

 

Sir, as I end my debate –

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

UPND Hon. Member: Wauma mulombwana!

 

Mr Mapani (Namwala): Mr Speaker, I thank you for this wonderful moment you have given me to debate the living Budget that was presented before this House by Hon. Dr Musokotwane.

 

Mr Speaker, let me look at the issue of decentralisation. From the word go, I make it very clear that decentralisation is one of the tenets of good governance, and the United Party for National Development (UPND) Government is the first ever to enshrine this tenet in the Constitution.

 

Mr Speaker, decentralisation entails that the people in the communities and constituencies will sit, debate and make choices on how they will be governed. So, they will be governed purely under the decisions they will make.

 

Mr Speaker, allow me to proceed by thanking the New Dawn Government for increasing the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from K1.6 million to K25.7 million per constituency. This has been done across the board regardless of ethnic affiliation, which is a plus for the UPND Government. Further, it is an opportunity for the people of this country to decide what they want to be done in their constituencies. This will, particularly, give the people of Namwala, the constituency that I represent, the right to choose the nature of development that should take place in their constituency.

 

Mr Speaker, a decentralised system will enable the people of Namwala to sit and debate, meaning there will not be anyone to interfere in the way they will be governed. Before, we used to have such decisions made by the Central Government.

 

Mr Miyutu: The people of Kalabo, Mr Speaker, are happy with this Budget, and they are saying –

 

Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Order!

 

(Debated adjourned)

 

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The House adjourned at 1841 hours until 0900 hours on Friday 5th November, 2021.

 

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