Wednesday, 22nd September, 2021

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Wednesday, 22nd September, 2021

 

The House met at 1430 hours

 

[MADAM SPEAKER in the Chair]

 

NATIONAL ANTHEM

 

PRAYER

 

_______

 

ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM SPEAKER

 

DURATION FOR DEBATE ON THE MOTION OF THANKS

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Members, the House will recall that debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address commenced on 14th September, 2021.  In accordance with Order 19 of the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders, 2021, the debate lasts for ten sitting days. Therefore, the last day for debating the Motion is Wednesday, 29th September, 2021. In this regard, and by practice, the last three days are reserved for the Executive to debate and respond to the issues raised by the Backbench. This means that starting from Friday, 24th September, 2021, priority will be given to hon. Ministers to debate the Motion before it is wound up on Wednesday, 29th September, 2021.

 

I thank you.

 

_______

 

RULING BY MADAM SPEAKER

 

MATTER OF URGENT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE RAISED BY MR R. CHITOTELA, HON. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR PAMBASHE CONSTITUENCY, AGAINST HER HONOUR THE VICE-PRESIDENT AND LEADER OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS IN THE HOUSE

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Members, the House will recall that on Wednesday, 15th September, 2021, when the House was considering the Motion of Thanks to His Excellency, President Hakainde Hichilema’s Address and Mr R. Mutale, hon. Member of Parliament for Chitambo Constituency, was on the Floor, Mr R. Chitotela, hon. Member of Parliament for Pambashe Constituency, raised a matter of urgent public importance pursuant to Order 134 of the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders, 2021.

 

The issues raised by Hon. Chitotela can be summarised as follows:

 

  1. whether the security briefs rendered by the security wings to the President of the Republic of Zambia will be subjected to Cabinet approval;
  2. whether it was in order for the United Party for National Development (UPND) political party to issue statements on behalf of the Government; and
  3. whether it was appropriate for the Republican President, who was State property, to fly economy class during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

 

Hon. Members, in my immediate response, I reserved my ruling in order to make enquiries on the matter. I have since studied the matter and will now render my ruling.

 

Before I consider whether the issues raised by the hon. Member for Pambashe qualify to be raised as a matter of urgent public importance, I wish to explain this rule, which was introduced in the House for the first time in the 2021 Standing Orders.

Background 

Hon. Members, this rule was introduced in order to restrict points of order to matters of breach of procedure in the House. It was observed that hon. Members would rise on points of order in order to bring to the House’s attention an urgent matter that occurred in the country or in their constituency. Recognising that this was an abuse of points of order, it was decided that a new rule be introduced to enable hon. Members to bring to the attention of the House a serious and urgent matter requiring the immediate attention of the Government.

 

The rationale behind the introduction of a matter of public importance under Standing Order 134 was the recognition that there were some serious and urgent matters that only a Member of Parliament could be privy to that, if not brought to the immediate attention of the House and the Government, could result in a catastrophe, leading to loss of life or property. Such urgent matters include natural disasters like floods or fire and invasions by humans or animals. Therefore, while an issue may appear important, if it is not so urgent and serious that it requires the immediate attention of the Government to avert a calamity, then it is not admissible under Standing Order 134.

 

Hon. Members, it is now important to consider the rules governing the raising of a matter of urgent public importance.

Timing 

Standing Order 51 provides for the order of business of the House on any given day. According to the Standing Order, a matter of urgent public importance must be raised before any of the following items on the Order Paper:

 

  1. the Vice-Presidents Question Time;
  2. ministerial statements or statements by the Vice-President;
  3. personal explanations;
  4. questions;
  5. Bills; and
  6. public and private business.

 

From the foregoing, it is clear that an hon. Member cannot raise a matter of urgent public importance once the House has reached any of the outlined stages of business. Instead, the hon. Member must wait for the appropriate time on the next business day to raise the matter.

Admisability 

Standing Order 135(1) provides the following admissibility criteria for a matter of public importance:

 

  1. it is a case of recent occurrence;
  2. it does not relate to a general state of affairs;
  3. it involves the administrative or ministerial responsibility of the Government;
  4. it requires the immediate attention of the House and the Government; and
  5. it deals only with one substantive issue.

 

Further, Standing Order 135(2) renders a matter inadmissible if:

 

  1. it has not been raised at the earliest opportunity;
  2. it has already been discussed by the House during the session;
  3. it is not so serious so as to require urgent attention; or
  4. it is sub judice.

 

Hon. Members, Standing Order 135(1) makes it clear that all the set criteria must be met for a matter to be considered as one of urgent public importance. In this regard, a matter which fails to meet even one of the set criteria is inadmissible. Further, Standing Order 135(2) categorically states instances when a matter of urgent public importance is inadmissible. For instance, if a matter has not been raised at the earliest opportunity or it is not serious enough to require urgent attention.

Procedure 

Hon. Members, Standing Order 134 provides the steps to be taken by a Member raising a matter of urgent public importance. It also provides the action to be taken by the Presiding Officer once such a matter has been raised.

 

The steps a Member should follow in raising a matter of urgent public importance are as follows:

 

  1. a Member must rise and say, or indicate electronically: “Matter of urgent public importance, Madam/Mr Speaker”;

 

  1. after being recognised by the Presiding Officer, a Member must say: “Madam/Mr Speaker, I wish to raise a matter of urgent public importance under Standing Order 134 directed at ...” followed by “Her Honour the Vice-President” or an appropriate Minister;
  2. the Member must briefly state the urgent matter and conclude by saying: “Madam, Speaker, I seek your direction on the matter”; and
  3. the hon. Member must take his or her seat.

 

Hon. Members, once a matter of urgent public importance has been raised, the Presiding Officer has the sole discretion to make any of the following decisions:

 

  1. allow the matter as being one of urgent public importance and direct the Vice-President or a Minister to respond to the matter immediately or on a future date;
  2. to direct the Member to reduce in writing the urgent matter of public importance and schedule it for debate on a specific future date; or
  3. disallow the matter as not being one of public importance.

 

Hon. Members, having explained the procedure and admissibility criteria for raising a matter of urgent public importance, I now wish to address the matter raised by Hon. R. Chitotela.

 

Firstly, Hon. Chitotela raised the matter while the House was debating the Motion of Thanks to His Excellency the President’s Address, which is public business. From the timing outlined earlier, it is clear that an urgent matter of public importance must be raised before the House begins to consider public business. In this regard, the matter was raised out of time.

 

Secondly, while the issues he raised may be important in the governance of the country, they are not so serious or urgent that they require the immediate action of the Government to avert a calamity as envisaged by Standing Order 134. In view of the foregoing, the matter is inadmissible as a matter of urgent public importance.

 

Hon. Members, I have further observed that some hon. Members have been confusing the procedure for points of order under Standing Order 131 with that for raising a matter of urgent public importance under Standing Order 134. I am confident that the guidance I have given on how to raise a matter of urgent public importance will help resolve this problem.

 

Hon. Members, I wish to seize this opportunity to urge all hon. Members to familiarise themselves with the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders, 2021, and consult the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly for guidance when in doubt.

 

I thank you.

 

_______

 

      MATTER OF URGENT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

 

RAISED BY MR KAMPYONGO AFTER THE RULING BY MADAM SPEAKER ON A MATTER OF URGENT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE RAISED BY MR R. CHITOTELA, HON. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR PAMBASHE CONSTITUENCY, AGAINST HER HONOUR THE VICE-PRESIDENT AND LEADER OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS IN THE HOUSE

 

Mr Kampyongo (Shiwang’andu): Madam Speaker, thank you so much, once again, for the guidance you have provided to the House. Indeed, we, as your hon. Members are well guided.

 

Madam Speaker, I rise on Standing Order No. 144 to raise a matter of urgent public importance, and I will proceed as you have guided.

 

Madam Speaker, recently, we have had reports of violent activities in different parts of the country. One of your hon. Members, the Member for Mkushi North, Mr Chisopa, who was appearing at the courts of law to hear his petition was harassed and bundled in a motor vehicle by the police to go and get detained without getting your permission. Further, we had a Council Mayor who was petitioned in Kabwe, who equally was harassed when he appeared before the courts of law. In yesterday’s edition of The Daily Nation Newspaper, Volume 7, on the front page, there is a headline, “UPND Cadres Attack PF Secretariat”. In this story, I will quote just a few paragraphs as follows:

 

“Unruly UPND cadres yesterday ambushed the PF secretariat in an attempt to disrupt a press conference addressed by its vice-president, Given Lubinda.

 

“After being thwarted by alert PF youths who were manning the premises, the cadres went on rampage beating up innocent people in town and causing destruction to property.

 

“The cadres allegedly also beat up a police officer whom they had captured and tried to trade him for the freedom of their colleagues in Kamwala area.”

 

Madam Speaker, as I speak to you, unconfirmed reports are pointing to the fact that this police officer is no more. Those are unverified reports.

 

Madam Speaker, in today’s Daily Nation, there is another captured story on page 2, headlined “UPND Cadres Attack, Strip Woman Clad in PF Regalia” and I quote a few paragraphs of this story as follows:

 

“Rowdy UPND cadres yesterday terrorised residents of Chilenje where they stripped a woman who was wearing a PF T-shirt and asked her to walk home without a top.”

 

Madam Speaker, you can imagine how dehumanising this can be to a woman. Violence as cited by His Excellency the President can only generate into lawlessness and disorderliness in the nation. Therefore, there is need to curb it and make sure that our people coexist without living in fear. It does not matter who perpetrates it. It does not matter what political affiliation one has. We are saying we should be a country whose governance is anchored on the rule of law.

 

Madam Speaker, this is your institution, which should hold the Executive accountable and ensure that the liberties of your people are protected, as guaranteed in the supreme document of the land, the Constitution.

 

Madam Speaker, I seek your serious guidance on this very important matter of national urgency.

 

I thank you.

 

I lay the cited newspapers on the Table.

 

Mr Kampyongo laid the documents on the Table.

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Members, the matter raised by the hon. Member for Shiwang’andu and Patriotic Front (PF) Party Whip, Hon. S. Kampyongo, is, in my view, both urgent and of public importance within the contemplation of Order No. 134 of the National Assembly Standing Orders, 2021. Therefore, in accordance with Standing Order No. 134(3)(a), I direct the hon. Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security to respond to the matter raised not later than Tuesday, 29th September, 2021.

 

I thank you.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 

______

 

MOTION

 

MOTION OF THANKS

 

(Debate resumed)

 

Mr Hamwaata (Pemba): Madam Speaker, kudos to His Excellency the Republican President, Mr Hakainde S. Hichilema, for sticking to his word of appointing a regionally very well balanced Cabinet in an effort to stop regionalism, the practice that had engulf Zambia during the Patriotic Front (PF) Administration, and thereby bring about national unity.

 

Hon. Ministers, you are the engine of this ‘New Dawn’ Administration. I believe that we, the hon. Backbenchers, and the hon. Members on the left side of the House, will support you so that, together, we deliver on our various campaign promises and on His Excellency the Republican President’s pronouncements during the Official Opening of the First Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly, to propel this country to greater heights. It is, therefore, my prayer that you will listen to us as we will be presenting to your offices the problems affecting our constituencies.

 

To my family; my wife and children, I say, ‘Thank you for supporting me’. You endured insults from my competitors and sacrificed the scarce resources to support me and the party. To friends and relatives, I thank you for the support you rendered to me. You came to my rescue when I was financially low. What could I have done without you?

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the leadership of my party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), for giving me the opportunity to contest on its ticket. The ward, constituency, district, provincial and the national management committees are the reason I am standing on this sacred Floor of this august House.

 

Madam Speaker, I would be standing on loose ground if I did not recognise my predecessor, Hon. Mutinta Mazoka, for the financial and moral support she rendered to me. Despite losing my biological mother some years ago, I never felt lonely on my political journey to Parliament because of her motherly care and love. For this, I say, ‘May God bless you abundantly’.

 

Madam Speaker, my joy will be incomplete without mentioning and thanking the people of Pemba Constituency, who woke up in the early hours of 12th August, 2021, and stood in long queues as early as 0200 hours to vote out the oppressive regime that depleted the national coffers. It is for this reason that the people of Pemba are saying ‘Yes’ to the Fast-Track Court to recover the embezzled national resources. It is for this reason that the Zambian people are saying ‘Yes’ to the creation of a Fast-Track Court to prosecute those hiding huge sums of illicit money in their houses.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the people of Pemba Constituency for entrusting me with this huge responsibility of superintending over their welfare. I promise to work with them to bring development to their doorsteps. I also promise to speak for them in Parliament and conduct myself in an honourable manner, both inside and outside this august House.

 

Madam Speaker, the hour has come for the youths of Pemba Constituency to have equal employment and education opportunities with their colleagues from Shiwang’andu, Kabushi, and the rest of this country.

 

Madam Speaker, the Zambian people spoke in unison to reject and eject those who were bent on dividing us. As a people of this great nation, Zambia, never shall we, again, experience the days of 2011 to 12th August, 2021, under the rule of the PF. We, the UPND Members, were beaten and undressed for merely wearing UPND regalia; ...

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: ... when our freedom of assembly and freedom of movement were curtailed by PF cadres in police uniform.

 

Hon. PF Members: Question!

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: We thank the Zambian people across the country for giving the PF Administration a red card. Bravo, bravo, to you Zambians.

 

Mr Wamunyima: What is that?

 

Laughter

 

Mr Hamwaata: Madam Speaker, Pemba Constituency, like most rural constituencies, has a number of challenges. These include a lack of dip tanks; safe drinking water for both people and animals; and poor road infrastructure, especially the Muzoka/Moyo, Pemba/Mapanza, Pemba/Maambo, Chisekesi/Maambo and Habbanyuka/Mambo roads, among many others. These are very important feeder roads in my constituency, whose people’s livelihoods are dependent on agriculture.

 

Madam Speaker, the population in my constituency is over 100,160, with only twenty-three health facilities. Of these, one is a mini-hospital built in Moyo Chiefdom, but it is not fully operational. Thanks to the World Vision for building the mini-hospital. The need for a district hospital cannot be over-emphasised.

 

Madam Speaker, this is your institution, which should hold the Executive accountable and ensure that the liberties of your people are protected, as guaranteed in the supreme document of the land, the Constitution.

 

Madam Speaker, I seek your serious guidance on this very important matter of national urgency.

 

I thank you.

 

I lay the cited newspapers on the Table.

 

Mr Kampyongo laid the documents on the Table.

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Members, the matter raised by the hon. Member for Shiwang’andu and Patriotic Front (PF) Party Whip, Hon. S. Kampyongo, is, in my view, both urgent and of public importance within the contemplation of Order No. 134 of the National Assembly Standing Orders, 2021. Therefore, in accordance with Standing Order No. 134(3)(a), I direct the hon. Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security to respond to the matter raised not later than Tuesday, 29th September, 2021.

 

I thank you.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 

______

 

MOTION

 

MOTION OF THANKS

 

(Debate resumed)

 

Mr Hamwaata (Pemba): Madam Speaker, kudos to His Excellency the Republican President, Mr Hakainde S. Hichilema, for sticking to his word of appointing a regionally very well balanced Cabinet in an effort to stop regionalism, the practice that had engulf Zambia during the Patriotic Front (PF) Administration, and thereby bring about national unity.

 

Hon. Ministers, you are the engine of this ‘New Dawn’ Administration. I believe that we, the hon. Backbenchers, and the hon. Members on the left side of the House, will support you so that, together, we deliver on our various campaign promises and on His Excellency the Republican President’s pronouncements during the Official Opening of the First Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly, to propel this country to greater heights. It is, therefore, my prayer that you will listen to us as we will be presenting to your offices the problems affecting our constituencies.

 

To my family; my wife and children, I say, ‘Thank you for supporting me’. You endured insults from my competitors and sacrificed the scarce resources to support me and the party. To friends and relatives, I thank you for the support you rendered to me. You came to my rescue when I was financially low. What could I have done without you?

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the leadership of my party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), for giving me the opportunity to contest on its ticket. The ward, constituency, district, provincial and the national management committees are the reason I am standing on this sacred Floor of this august House.

 

Madam Speaker, I would be standing on loose ground if I did not recognise my predecessor, Hon. Mutinta Mazoka, for the financial and moral support she rendered to me. Despite losing my biological mother some years ago, I never felt lonely on my political journey to Parliament because of her motherly care and love. For this, I say, ‘May God bless you abundantly’.

 

Madam Speaker, my joy will be incomplete without mentioning and thanking the people of Pemba Constituency, who woke up in the early hours of 12th August, 2021, and stood in long queues as early as 0200 hours to vote out the oppressive regime that depleted the national coffers. It is for this reason that the people of Pemba are saying ‘Yes’ to the Fast-Track Court to recover the embezzled national resources. It is for this reason that the Zambian people are saying ‘Yes’ to the creation of a Fast-Track Court to prosecute those hiding huge sums of illicit money in their houses.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the people of Pemba Constituency for entrusting me with this huge responsibility of superintending over their welfare. I promise to work with them to bring development to their doorsteps. I also promise to speak for them in Parliament and conduct myself in an honourable manner, both inside and outside this august House.

 

Madam Speaker, the hour has come for the youths of Pemba Constituency to have equal employment and education opportunities with their colleagues from Shiwang’andu, Kabushi, and the rest of this country.

 

Madam Speaker, the Zambian people spoke in unison to reject and eject those who were bent on dividing us. As a people of this great nation, Zambia, never shall we, again, experience the days of 2011 to 12th August, 2021, under the rule of the PF. We, the UPND Members, were beaten and undressed for merely wearing UPND regalia; ...

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: ... when our freedom of assembly and freedom of movement were curtailed by PF cadres in police uniform.

 

Hon. PF Members: Question!

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Hamwaata: We thank the Zambian people across the country for giving the PF Administration a red card. Bravo, bravo, to you Zambians.

 

Mr Wamunyima: What is that?

 

Laughter

 

Mr Hamwaata: Madam Speaker, Pemba Constituency, like most rural constituencies, has a number of challenges. These include a lack of dip tanks; safe drinking water for both people and animals; and poor road infrastructure, especially the Muzoka/Moyo, Pemba/Mapanza, Pemba/Maambo, Chisekesi/Maambo and Habbanyuka/Mambo roads, among many others. These are very important feeder roads in my constituency, whose people’s livelihoods are dependent on agriculture.

 

Madam Speaker, the population in my constituency is over 100,160, with only twenty-three health facilities. Of these, one is a mini-hospital built in Moyo Chiefdom, but it is not fully operational. Thanks to the World Vision for building the mini-hospital. The need for a district hospital cannot be overemphasised.

 

Madam Speaker, in Mapatizya, we have a mine, and the constituency is rich in minerals, but the mine is nothing to speak about. Kariba Minerals Limited, a parastatal mine, mines amethyst, tin and quartz, yet it is not connected to the international or national grid, although power is generated only 50 km away in Livingstone or 30 km away at Maamba Thermal Power Station. Further, the mine has contributed nothing to the area though it was contributing to the economic growth of the past Government. the mine has no corporate social responsibility, and there is no school at the said mine, but it is a parastatal under the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH). As a result, mining in Mapatizya has been taken advantage of by foreigners who have seen an opportunity to exploit the resource and our people. Foreign nationals with questionable papers and trading licences come and exploit our people, and buy the minerals very cheaply.

 

Madam Speaker, Mapatizya is an area rich in agriculture. We are livestock farmers in Mapatizya but, lately, livestock farming has been hit by the famous Foot and Mouth Disease and the people of Mapatizya lost a lot of cattle due to the said disease. There were no medicines and we were told to be washing our cattle with salt and soda. These are some of the few problems we have, but the main one concerns agriculture or grain farming. In 2019, Mapatizya lost many lives due to food poisoning.

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

As you continue debating, please, mask up.

 

Mrs Munashabantu: Madam Speaker, I thank you for the guidance.

 

Madam Speaker, coming to the speech delivered by President Hakainde Hichilema on 10th September, 2021, the people of Mapatizya and I feel it was on point because it gave hope to the Zambian people, was all inclusive and touched many areas, but let me just mention a few.

 

Madam Speaker, on minerals, the President mentioned that there will be equal distribution of the wealth from mineral resources. As I said earlier in my maiden speech, that is not happening in Mapatizya and, I believe, in Zambia at large, looking at the poverty levels in a mineral rich country. Foreigners like Chinese nationals have benefited in this business.

 

Madam, let me talk about the amethyst business. Amethyst was being exported to China in its raw form without value addition. The ore is being ferried from Mapatizya to Lusaka and South Africa without Zambians benefitting. Land is being dug out and people are looting the mineral and, I believe, the same is true for other mineral-rich regions in Zambia. In this manner, Zambia will be poor in the next few years because we do not know where the mineral is going. The common man or the citizens of Zambia are not benefitting. If they were, Mapatizya Constituency would have been electrified by now and there would have been good roads of bituminous standard but, contrary to that, the former Government mined, sold and gave mineral rights to other people when the local Zambian citizens are starving to the point of eating roots. 

 

Madam Speaker, the President said that he will improve the agricultural sector by bringing farming inputs on time and making them affordable. Agriculture is the cornerstone of human civilisation because food is one of the basic needs for human life. There is an adage that goes ‘a hungry man is an angry man.’ Like I mentioned earlier, in 2019, we saw children eat roots because there was terrible hunger. Especially in the southern region of Zambia; we had no food, and that was a reflection of the decision the PF Government made to reduce the distribution of fertiliser through the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) from eight bags to two. Therefore, grain production was affected by drought. Looking at the climatic conditions in the south, if you do not plant early with fertiliser, you will not harvest on time. As a result, Mapatizya was affected, and the people who were hungry also became angry. We do not want that. My President and I, as Member of Parliament for Mapatizya, do not want angry Zambians; we want people who will work and be motivated to contribute to the economic development of the nation.

 

Madam Speaker, on health facilities or the health policy, there are no hospitals in Mapatizya; we just have small hospitals. As I stated earlier, the roads are terrible. So, we have seen a high mortality rate among pregnant women. In this regard, the President was on point when he said that the ‘New Dawn’ Government is going to provide medicines in hospitals and employ adequate medical staff. As a result, the speech created hope that there will be life after 2021 in the ‘New Dawn’ Government. Families can go back to normal and plan accordingly. Someone who lives in Mapatizya had to consider whether to resort to family planning given the state of hospitals there. However, we thank God for the ‘New Dawn’ Government because people are going back to their normal lives. Pregnant women will be safe, young children will live longer lives and the high mortality rate will go down as a result of the policies of the ‘New Dawn’ Government.

 

Madam Speaker, having said all I have said, the people of Mapatizya are very happy and feel that the President’s Speech was on point. They look forward to the ‘New Dawn’ Government implementing the policies and improving Zambia by making our country a happy, united and developed country.

 

I thank you, Madam Speaker.

 

Mr Munsanje (Mbabala): Madam Speaker, thank you for according me this opportunity to deliver my maiden speech and contribute to the debate on the President’s Speech.

 

Madam Speaker, may I begin by thanking the almighty God for giving me life to date, and the opportunity to serve the people of Mbabala and the Zambians at large. I am truly humbled by the responsibility the people of Mbabala and Zambians have placed on me and my party, the mighty United Party for National Development (UPND), through His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema, who is the Seventh Republican President of Zambia, while I am the Seventh Member of Parliament for Mbabala Constituency. I congratulate His Excellency the President.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Munsanje: Madam Speaker, I also thank Her Honour the Vice-President, Mrs W. K. Nalumango, and congratulate her on being the running mate and Vice-President. I also congratulate the UPND on the landslide victory in the 12th August elections. Indeed, God’s time is the best.

 

Madam Speaker, I pledge to serve the people of Mbabala and all Zambians with diligence, love and honour to meet their aspirations.

 

Madam Speaker, may I also join my colleagues in congratulating you and your two Deputies, Hon. Chisangano and Hon. Moyo, on your respective election to the positions of Speaker, First Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker. Your election as the first female Speaker demonstrates the UPND Government’s resolve to accelerate equal opportunities for women and men in Zambia.

 

I also congratulate the new Cabinet, nominated hon. Members of Parliament and our Whips in the mighty UPND.

 

Madam Speaker, on a sad note, allow me to observe a moment of silence for our fallen heroes, some of whose lives were cut short by the brutal Patriotic Front (PF) regime. I wish, first of all, to recognise and observe a moment of silence on the death of His Excellency Dr Kenneth Kaunda, who was our Founding President and my patron when I served as National Director at Habitat for Humanity in Zambia. I also observe a moment of silence in honour of Mr Alfred Chiyabi, Senior Headman Hagonta, who was one of my fifteen supporters during the nomination process, but passed away before we had the elections.

 

Madam Speaker, in recognition of our fallen heroes whose lives were lost at the hands of the brutal PF regime, I recognise Mapenzi Chibulo, Vesper Shimuzhila, Grayzer Mapata, Joseph Kaunda and Nsama Nsama, just to mention a few. All these young people’s lives were taken away and their families left with no mother, daughter or father. That was the regime we endured for ten years; we were led by a violent regime for ten years. However, as Zambians, we waited for 12th August and, once it came, we sent them to the Opposition.

 

Madam Speaker, my political mind was ignited years back by the wind of change in 1991 when I was a young boy listening to the late Kebby Musokotwane, may his soul rest in peace, campaign in my village at Buchenje Hall in Macha. I listened to the United National Independence Party (UNIP) primaries and went on to learn more about politics in this country from my late elder brothers, Kembia and Webster, who were then students at the University of Zambia (UNZA). From there, I grew and also went to UNZA, where I became vice-president to Mr Emanuel Tembo who, ironically, has also joined this House as Member of Parliament for Feira. From that young age, I learnt to be a servant of the people, going on to serve in the UNZA Senate for two years and as overseas student representative at Cambridge University.

 

Madam Speaker, following my landslide victory in Mbabala, where we got 96 per cent of the votes cast, I pay tribute to my parents, Mr and Mrs Edward and Maina Munsanje, both deceased, for raising me and my siblings, who are a great team of children. We are proud of you, mother and father. May your souls rest in peace.

 

Madam Speaker, I also thank my immediate family; my wife, Vel, and my sons, Sims, Siinda and Linos. I also thank my brothers and sisters, namely Edgar, Jonathan, Dr Elliot in the United States of America (USA), Ernest in Botswana, Vivian, Webster, Mutinta, Effie and Regina, and their families for supporting me and my family.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank His Royal Highnesses, Chief Mapanza and Chief Macha, for their blessings to my election. I also thank the UPND national management; the provincial leadership, Mr Makwembo and team; the district leadership, Mr Jonah Munkombwe and team; the constituency leaders, Mr Hebby Sibajene and team; and all the leaders of the twelve ward committees and the branches for my nomination and election.

 

Madam Speaker, I also thank my campaign team, Mr Makaya and all the people in the constituency who campaigned with me, such as Mr Sydney Hanakoma and the inner team of Mr Hichibulo, Michael Banda, Nana Mudenda, Isaac Muloongo, Dr Munsanje and Regina Munsanje. I thank them all. I also thank my musician, Mr Phiri Kanenga, and my security team. I further thank His Worship the Mayor of Choma, Mr Javen Simoloka, and all the Councillors who campaigned with me. Additionally, I thank the supporting teams in the Diaspora and locally. I also thank my church, Brethren in Christ Church, Bishop Nseemani, Rev. Munachonga, Rev. Soko, Rev. Botani and his Macha District congregation, as well as all the churches in the constituency their support.

 

Madam Speaker, in Mbabala Constituency, we are faced with a number of challenges that will need us to work hard with the mighty UPND or ‘New Dawn’ Government to resolve. We have challenges in the area of the road network, water and sanitation, as well as veterinary services that need to be dealt with. We want to have water for animals, as we are a farming and ranching community.

 

Madam Speaker, nothing happened over the last ten years to demonstrate that we had a Government because Mbabala Constituency was not getting any resources from it. Apart from the Choma/Namwala Road, which was left by His Excellency President Mwanawasa, there has been no development in the last ten years of the PF’s rule. Further, no youth from Mbabala can demonstrate that they got any share of the youth and church funds that were given out, and that demonstrates that we have had no Government to support us. There was no equity or equality in the services delivered to the people of Zambia.

 

Madam Speaker, the PF demonstrated that it did not care or love the people of Zambia, and there was no equity. As such, we believe that the ‘New Dawn’ Government will work with a view to delivering to the people accordingly. I will start my work with a clear situational analysis of Mbabala Constituency. Then, I will develop a strategic and monitoring plan to ensure that the work that we do in five years will be visible to all and easy to understand.

 

Madam Speaker, as an agricultural and rural community, we wish to ensure that we receive the inputs timely, in terms of fertiliser, as indicated by the President, as well as get support for animal husbandry activities to curtail the diseases that ravage our animals. These and many other issues that I have highlighted, like water and sanitation, and road and infrastructure, will be key priority areas in which we have to deliver.

 

Madam Speaker, to my community; the non-governmental organisation (NGOs), the disability movement, and the child rights movement, which I come from, I am at your service and I will welcome you when you wish to raise any issues.

 

Madam Speaker, I now turn to the President’s Address, and begin by congratulating His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, on a well-delivered speech during the Official Opening of the First Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly. Unlike my PF counterparts who are debating the logistics of the speech, I will debate the contents of the speech and the issues that the President raised.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Munsanje: The President raised clear issues on economic transformation, job creation, human and social development, environmental sustainability as well as good governance.

 

Madam Speaker, I begin with the issue of good governance. We have always said that Africa’s problem is leadership. President Hakainde Hichilema used to tell the PF to use leadership to end violence and uphold the rule of law. However, the PF failed and perpetrated violence for ten years until the day we had President Hakainde Hichilema elected and issued a statement that ended violence. For ten years, we endured the PF’s violence. As such, we have seen that leadership is the key to everything. Now that we have a leader in State House, things have begun to change, as we can see. So, to enhance good governance, as the President put it, we shall all support governance institutions to offer good oversight for the good of the country. I, therefore, support the establishment of a fast-track court to help recover the stolen funds and other Government resources that are in the many hands of thieves. I, therefore, urge the hon. Minister of Justice to quickly put in place the correct laws that will help us to recover those stolen funds.

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

The word ‘thieves’ is unparliamentary. Please, withdraw it.

 

Mr Munsanje: Madam Speaker, I replace it with ‘babulafye’.

 

Madam Speaker: Meaning?

 

Mr Munsanje: Meaning, ‘they have moved it to themselves’.

 

Madam Speaker, I also support the President’s message on a self-regulating and free media. We should have legislation in this direction that will ensure that we continue to expose the thie –

 

Laughter

 

Mr Munsanje: We continue to expose the people who have got our resources, as a country; people who have privatised or made our resources personal. Just yesterday, we saw money amounting to over K65 million that had been taken away by individuals to make it their private property. That is our money, and the media will help us to expose such because most of this money is on your left.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Fube: On a point of order, Madam.

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Fube: Madam Speaker, the practice in this House is that when we are talking about figures, especially when people refer to what has been stolen and the like, there must be evidence to that effect.

 

Is the hon. Member of Parliament in order to speculate that monies have been stolen without providing evidence?

 

Hon. Member: No Standing Order.

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

May the hon. Member stick to facts. If there is any need for allegations to be made, they should be supported by documents. 

 

The hon. Member on the Floor continue.

 

Mr Munsanje: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker, we now have a prudent Government that is able to distinguish people’s resources from personal resources. So, we will never hear about fire tenders costing US$1 million or US$42 million being taken away from the people of Zambia. We shall never hear about expired drugs, condoms with holes and all that.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Munsanje: We shall never hear such kinds of things from ‘tenderpreneurs’. It is those kinds of things that we do not wish to ever happen in this country. Thankfully, we have a quality leader today who understands public resource management.

 

Madam Speaker, human and social development is based on a good foundation of the education of our people. As such, we will support research and development (R&D) in the ‘New Dawn’ Government to ensure that we no longer have a Government that goes to gas its children like Vesper was gassed in a student room. Instead, we will support the education of our children. We have to collect all the stolen – all that ...

 

Mr Sialubalo: Embezzled.

 

Mr Munsanje: ... embezzled money so that, next year, we can provide free education to the children of Zambia.

 

Mr Chilangwa: On a point of order, Madam.

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Chilangwa: Madam Speaker, thank you for giving me an opportunity to raise a point of order. I quote Standing Order No.132.

 

Madam, the hon. Member for Mbabala has continued using unparliamentary words despite the fact that you have guided.

 

Is he in order?

 

Madam Speaker: Thank you for that point of order.

 

Would the hon. Member for Mbabala desist from using unparliamentary language. In certain instances, you have withdrawn but, please, let us observe that we use appropriate language in the House in order to maintain the decorum and dignity of the House.

 

Continue with your debate.

 

Mr Munsanje: Madam Speaker, thank you.

 

Madam Speaker, the President emphasised the need for water and sanitation services. It is my prayer that adequate resources will be invested by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to sink boreholes in Mbabala, especially since we are going to recover that money from your left.

 

Laughter

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Munsanje: Madam Speaker, the people of Zambia must understand that T-borne comes from herding cattle and, as such, we want our cattle to have dams so that we can have good water in Mbabala Consistency and continue to supply this country with the beef T-borne that people enjoy.

 

Madam Speaker, environmental suitability is key. As we know, the future of our children and grandchildren depends on what we do today. As such, we will not allow things like the massacre of the Lusaka East Forest Reserve No. 27 by the people on your left because we would like to ensure that the future is good for our children.

 

Mr Kampyongo: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Kampyongo: Madam Speaker, my point of order is derived from Standing Order No. 65(b), “Content of Speech”. I quote:

 

“Ensure that the information a member debating provides to the House is factual and verifiable.”

 

Madam Speaker, people have been oriented. We are all new and we get oriented using these rules.

 

Is the hon. Member of Parliament for Mbabala in order to continue, with impunity, to debate in the manner he is debating, drawing fellow hon. Members on your left hand side into his debate and accusing them of all sorts of allegations of what he intends to recover? Is he in order to continue debating in that fashion? We need to make him understand the rules of debate.

 

I seek your serious ruling.

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

My short ruling or guidance on the matter is that the issue of the Forest No. 27 is in the public domain and is being discussed. However, since it is still being investigated, it is not yet known whether or not the people who were given that land got it in a lawful or unlawful manner. Since that matter is under investigation, the hon. Member who is debating can refer to it, but not assigning blame to any particular person.

 

Mr Munsanje: Madam Speaker, I thank you for your excellent ruling.

 

Madam, I conclude by saying that we are now relieved, as a country, to have a safe Government; a Government that can be trusted by all Zambians, a Government that means what it says and a Government that is pragmatic; the Government of His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema and Her Honour the Vice-President, Mrs Nalumango.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

I assure Zambians that as alluded to by many of them in the last three weeks of this ‘New Dawn’ Government, this is the best thing to happen to Zambia, and this is the best Government for today’s Zambia. No more Government without plans. Now, we have a solid people-loving Government. We are blessed as Zambians.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Munsanje: Madam Speaker, may God bless President Hakainde Hichilema and his leadership, and the people of Zambia.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank you.

 

Madam Speaker: Before I call on the next hon. Member to debate, may I just remind hon. Members to indicate on the screen even if their Whip has submitted a list of debaters. This will assist me as I call out the hon. Members who are going to debate. So, I am following the list on the screen. I am following the Electronic Chamber (e-Chamber) Screen, I have been corrected.

 

I recognise the hon. Member of Parliament for Nchelenge as the next speaker.

 

Dr Mwale (Nchelenge): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker, over a decade ago, I embarked on a journey to this august House. It was a journey into what was then uncharted waters for me. I surely faced many setbacks and challenges along the way. It is, however, gratifying that, finally, my labour was not in vain. This is why, today, I am on this Floor to present my maiden speech. It is surely a testimony today that I stand here and can fulfil the saying that ‘if you stay for a long time on a queue wanting to have a haircut, you will surely have it’.

 

Madam Speaker, I owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Nchelenge for voting for me and depositing their trust and confidence in me to represent them and be their voice in this noble House. I particularly thank the people of Nchelenge, the Church and the community at large for the heavy trust that they have put on me. I really want to say and sincerely resolve within myself that I will represent them well to the best of my ability. This is the promise I give to the people of Nchelenge.

 

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to be part of the First Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly of this House, which begun its life in this our beloved great nation almost a century ago as a  Legislative Council.

 

I extend my gratitude to you, Madam Speaker, for according me the opportunity to deliver this speech. I also take this opportunity to congratulate you and your two Deputies on your election to your respective offices. I remain very hopeful that you will discharge your duties without fear or favour, and provide the necessary guidance to this House.

 

Madam Speaker, I am greatly indebted to God almighty for being so gracious to me and making it possible for me to be here today, all to His glory. I am also very grateful to the Patriotic Front (PF) party and its leader, Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and the entire leadership of the PF for choosing me as a candidate for Nchelenge Constituency in the just-ended election, in which I emerged victorious.

 

Madam Speaker, Nchelenge is a constituency located in Luapula Province, about 250 km away from Mansa, the Provincial Capital. The constituency is about 60 per cent land, 30 per cent water and about 10 per cent taken by swamps.

 

Madam Speaker, like any other rural constituency, Nchelenge has its own share of challenges, and I will highlight some of them here.

 

Madam Speaker, it cannot be denied that an uneducated population is not only a danger to itself, but also to society as a whole. Sadly, the literacy level of the Nchelenge population is still very low, with only 10 per cent finishing Grade 12 and 20 per cent not even going to school. Therefore, there is a need for us to encourage our people to take education as a serious issue for us to ease understanding and bring about development in our constituency. Surely, more needs to be done by this regime in power, the United Party for National Development (UPND), to improve the literacy levels in our constituency by providing free and quality education accessible to all, in accordance with its campaign promise on education.

 

Hon. Member: Hear, hear!

 

Dr Mwale: Madam Speaker, the road network for the constituency leaves much to be desired. The constituency is linked by only one paved road, which goes up to Saint Paul’s Mission Hospital, linking to Chienge and Kaputa. All other roads are unpaved, which renders them not as useful as they should be in easing movement. They also become impassable in the Rainy Season. There is a need to look into the improvement of feeder roads within the constituency, which are critical in supporting the agro sector, which needs more enhancement now than ever before.

 

Madam Speaker, the main source of livelihood for the people of Nchelenge is fishing and, because of over-reliance on it, the fish levels in the main water body are nearing depletion. There is a need to encourage our people to diversify so as to improve on the economic activities within our constituency.

 

Madam Speaker, Nchelenge has huge potential for tourism which, if well harnessed, can result in the Government collecting the much-need revenue and creation of jobs for the people through this sector. I request that the current Government looks into opening up this sector in my constituency.

 

Madam Speaker, the Constituency is endowed with many water bodies. Alas, we have serious issues to do with clean water for our people. We look to this Government for support to be able to have clean water in our constituency.

 

Madam Speaker, I will not be shy to further entreat His Excellency and the UPND-led Government to play big in reviewing the national economy for the benefit of our people across the 156 constituencies of this country. There is a need to uphold the concept of “One Zambia One Nation”, which has been proved by me, Simon Mwale, having been a candidate, and now, a Member of Parliament, in Nchelenge.

 

Madam Speaker, I now share my concern regarding the distribution of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). Currently, from what I have gathered, the same amount is distributed across all constituencies without regard to the geographic and demographic factors of respective constituencies. No doubt the current mode of distribution is the easier way out. However, I propose that at the opportune time, in this House, we should consider devising a more scientific and methodical mode of distributing the CDF, which will consider geographical and demographic factors in each constituency. I submit that the mode of distribution must be responsive to the geographical and demographic conditions of each constituency. With that said, I rest my case.

 

Madam Speaker, let me just comment on the President’s Speech. I have read the speech, but I just want to share the comments that I got when I was coming to the house. When I left Nchelenge and told the people that I was coming to Parliament to represent them, and one of the issues that came up was that of free education.

 

Madam Speaker, the issue of free education was very serious during the campaigns of the current Government, and I guide and advise it our colleagues to not take it lightly. They should take it very seriously because it is something that everyone out there is waiting to see happen.

 

When I reached Mansa, on my way to Lusaka, I met some people at Mansa Shoprite who were saying they would grow the agriculture sector. Madam Speaker, this is an issue that has been addressed, and I just want to encourage the Government of the day by saying that the issues of agriculture are serious, and that the sector will help us as a country to go forward besides mining.

 

Madam Speaker, issues of empowerment are also in the President’s Speech. It is said that there will be serious empowerment of our people in the communities. I suggest that we need to devise a serious mechanism that will surely help the system run smoothly rather than be run by cadres. If we allow cadreism in the empowerment system, then, the UPND may not fulfil what it wants to do, which is to improve people’s lives in terms of their welfare.

 

Madam, I end here.

 

I thank you, Madam Speaker.

 

Mr Musumali (Zambezi West): Madam Speaker, thank you very much. I will make my maiden speech first and then I will comment on the President’s Speech.

 

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the wonderful people of Zambezi West Constituency and, indeed, on my own behalf, allow me to thank you most sincerely for according me this rare opportunity to deliver my maiden speech and, later, contribute to debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.

 

Madam Speaker, let me begin by congratulating you and your two Deputies on your deserved election as Presiding Officers for the First Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly. Your ascendance to the position of first female Speaker of the National Assembly is not only a great achievement on your part, but also, most importantly, a great milestone and inspiration to many Zambian women. I have absolutely no doubt that you will rise to the challenge of meeting the heavy responsibility that goes with the job.

 

Madam Speaker, in the same allowance, let me join many other hon. Members in congratulating His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Hakainde Hichilema; Her Honour the Vice-President, Mrs Mutale Nalumango; and the United Party for National Development (UPND) leadership and its alliance partners for steering the Zambian people to a second Independence on 12th August, 2021. The resounding victory of this historic day was a clear testimony of the confidence that the people of Zambia have in the leadership of the ‘New Dawn’ Government.

 

Madam Speaker, I also take this opportunity to congratulate all my fellow hon. Members of Parliament, elected or nominated, because we are a family chosen to represent the aspirations of the Zambian people. In addition, I congratulate all those who have been appointed Cabinet and Provincial Ministers for the confidence that the appointing authority showed in them to lead their respective ministries and provinces.

 

Madam Speaker, my speech will be incomplete if I do not thank the Zambian people for ushering in a responsible ‘New Dawn’ Government. We have a UPND Government that is free of corruption and full of the desire to address the challenges affecting the Zambian people.

 

Hon. PF Members: Question!

 

Mr Musumali: Madam Speaker, secondly, I thank the people of Zambezi West for being part of the general electorate who fostered regime change, and for voting for me as their Member of Parliament. Allow me to thank the youths of Zambia, in general, and of Zambezi West, in particular, for utilising their vote wisely by turning up en masse and for their vigilance in protecting the votes. I also thank the traditional leaders for their wise counsel and guidance, and the business community in Zambezi District for all the support rendered before, during and after the elections.

 

Madam Speaker, I pay glowing tributes to the following people, whose contribution and support was invaluable to my campaign and subsequent victory: My dear wife, Belinda Debeer Musumali; and my children, Viswamo, Chilombo, Kayembe and Princess. I also thank my brothers and sisters, my nephews and nieces, friends and extended family for their unwavering financial, spiritual and material support in my journey to Manda Hill. I also thank my campaign team comprising of Mr Stephen Sanjolomba and Mr Noah Kaviswile as campaign managers, Mr Lilwiji as Constituency Chairman, Mr John Samungole, the resource manager who ensured that the available resources in the form of finance, materials, transport and time were prudently utilised, which enabled us to finish our campaign ahead of schedule.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the constituency, district, provincial and National Management Committee (NMC) of the UPND for the faith and trust they deposited in me by choosing me to be the party’s flag carrier for the parliamentary seat of Zambezi West.

 

Madam Speaker, the rejection of the Patriotic Front (PF) regime by the Zambian people was as a result of the gross mismanagement of the affairs of the country. Surprisingly, instead of accepting reality, our hon. Colleagues have resorted to blaming their loss on the imaginary existence of widespread violence only known and seen amongst them. They have even forgotten that they were the ones responsible for maintenance of law and order at that time. It is regrettable that they have turned around and claimed the opposite today. They have taken advantage of the freedom of speech in the House to the detriment of others. To deliberately orchestrate the narrative that the UPND is a violent party is extremely unfortunate. I say so because what is being insinuated, that the past elections were premised on violence, when they were the ones in charge of both the elections and the maintenance of law and order, is completely unfounded because the people of Zambia know too well which party is associated with violence.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Musumali: Madam Speaker, it is, again, unfortunate to politicise the death of a single individual at the expense of so many others who have been wantonly murdered in cold blood during the reign of the former Government. We all know that the matter of the person they are constantly referring to has not yet been determined by our courts of law. Let me turn to development in Zambezi West.

 

Madam Speaker, the word ‘development’ is alien to the people of Zambezi West. Arguably, it is the least developed constituency in the whole country. In spite of its having abundant resources like water, fish, and grazing pastures for animals like cattle, goats, sheep and game, the area has lagged behind in development. In addition, it has arable land for growing crops like rice, sugar cane, potatoes and cassava. Further, it has unexploited rich mineral deposits like oil which, if exploited, will turn around the whole economy of this country. Its geographical proximity to neighbouring Angola makes it a sleeping giant or a potential trading bloc.

 

Madam Speaker, while my hon. Colleagues are speaking of unprecedented development in their respective constituencies, in terms of hospitals, clinics, schools, boreholes, communication towers and staffing levels in Government institutions, I am left wondering if such development was coming from the same resource envelope. I was actually imagining to myself that there should be more hospitals, clinics, schools, communication towers, boreholes, teachers and medical personnel than the people being saved by the facilities in those constituencies, which is very unfair to a constituency like mine.

 

Madam Speaker, development should never be allowed to be concentrated in some regions at the expense of others in our country; it must be seen to cover the rest of the country equitably as it is being epitomised by our responsible ‘New Dawn’ Government.

 

Madam Speaker, it is due to the lack of development in my constituency that I shall endeavour to lobby my responsible Government, through the respective line ministries, to address the developmental challenges prevailing in Zambezi West. Some of the challenges are:

 

  1. rehabilitation and maintenance of bridges on major streams and rivers, such as Muyembe, Kucheka, Mwange, Kambizana and the foot bridge at Chinyinji ferry point;
  2. poor road network, especially of economic roads throughout the constituency;
  3. lack of mobile and Internet connectivity due to non-availability of communication towers;
  4. dilapidated public infrastructure, such as schools, clinics and civil servants’ houses;
  5. the non-existence of agricultural infrastructure, such as satellite depots, in far-flung areas to ease storage of inputs and outputs for farmers –

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

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

 

Mr Musumali: Madam, I now move to contribute to the debate on the Motion of Thanks.

 

Madam Speaker, I wholeheartedly support the excellent speech delivered to this august House by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, in that it addressed literally all the fundamental challenges affecting the Zambian people, especially those in my constituency. Further, it clearly provided a roadmap of how we intend to address these challenges as the party in Government.

 

Madam Speaker, it is common knowledge that our Budget has not yet been tabled and approved by the House; we are still using the previous regime’s Budget. In this regard, therefore, and in the interest of the time given to me to comment on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Speech, I have extracted some salient points that addressed the issues that are in serious need of prioritisation, which have delighted the people of Zambezi West Constituency.

 

Madam Speaker, on page 8 of his speech, the President spoke about the need to rebuild our economy in order to deliver jobs and better livelihoods to our people. Secondly, on page 10, the President spoke of “Creating a united, prosperous and equitable Zambia: Restoring economic growth and safeguarding livelihoods” as being the theme of his address. Third, the President bemoaned the unacceptable levels of poverty and pledged to end the vicious cycle of poverty and bring prosperity to all, as contained on page 11. Fourthly, on page 12, the President availed his national development agenda for the next five years, I repeat, for the next five years, not one month, starting from the period 2022 to 2026. This economic transformation will deliver our national vision and aspirations to all our people. For those questioning the non-attachment of timelines to the provision of free education, employment provision, infrastructure development and such issues, should now understand that we have a five-year mandate, ...

 

Mr Nkombo: It is ten years!

 

Mr Musumali: … and probably beyond, to deliver to our people.

 

Madam Speaker, fifthly, the President spoke of creating jobs and reducing poverty in the job-rich sectors like agriculture, mining, tourism, energy, commerce and industry, green economy, transport, information and technology. Further, he spoke about raising of livestock production and fisheries, and promotion and increase in livestock production, with the main focus on restocking and stocking, and enhanced disease surveillance and control on pages, 15, 16 and 17.

 

Madam Speaker, the President spoke about rehabilitation and upgrading of road infrastructure, especially in rural areas. I repeat because of my constituency being rural: In rural areas. That is on page 30. You can now see why the President’s Speech has delighted the people of Zambezi West and, indeed, me from the above extracts as highlighted. There is literally everything that they wanted addressed.

 

Madam Speaker, there are clear developmental intentions that give policy directions that need no further explanation in order to be understood.

 

Madam Speaker, it is strange that the Opposition is insinuating that the speech lacked detail while the majority of Zambians are praising it. A speech is a speech, not a book. If we were to borrow the thinking of the Opposition, we would have the President even up to this day, reading the speech because it would have been too long.

 

Madam Speaker, on corruption, I fully support the President for saying that the law must be applied on past, present and future cases by forming a fast-track court to recover the plundered resources of this country. The recent happenings, in which stashes of money were being recovered, not in safes, but in bags, is a clear indication that there is a need to give more teeth to our investigating institutions, such as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), to search homes of suspected looters and bring them to book. I am saying this because it should be the concern of every one of us, whether in the Ruling or Opposition parties, to gang up and condemn, not defend, such occurrences, as it would not augur for the general public.

 

Madam Speaker, if corruption is left unchecked, we are all going to have countless cases of such nature, which is not good for anyone to defend, unless one is also perpetuating the same vice. Posterity will judge us harshly.

 

Madam Speaker, with these few remarks, I thank you.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr A. Banda (Chimwemwe): Madam Speaker, I am grateful for this opportunity to rise for the first time in this august House to make my maiden speech.

 

Madam Speaker, may I start by thanking my living God for giving me His grace to still be alive.

 

Madam, I thank the Sixth President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Edgar Lungu, for having noticed some potential in me and giving me the chance to stand for Chimwemwe. I also thank the  Patriotic Front (PF) Members of the Central Committee (MCC); all PF Committees; my  campaign team in Chimwemwe; the lovely churches, Bishops and Priests of Chimwemwe who prayed for me, guided me and gave me wisdom; my family; and all my colleagues, too numerous to mention.

 

Madam Speaker, it is a particular privilege and honour to speak as an Opposition Member of Parliament whose role is not just limited to offering checks and balances, but also includes dissecting and opposing policies which are detrimental to the wellbeing of the people of Chimwemwe. Reminding the Government of idiom that ‘A promise made is a promise kept’, the people are expectant. However, I shall only support policies that will bring the desired development to the people of Chimwemwe. It is, therefore, my hope, while in this House, to promote constructive solutions based on equity and social justice, to the greater problems that challenge us today.

 

Madam, during the campaigns, I made a commitment to the people of Chimwemwe to fight tenaciously for their interests and that be accountable directly to them. This means working towards a political culture that promotes team work, respect, and empathy to deliver the needed outcomes for Chimwemwe Constituency. I will do whatever it takes to achieve that culture.

 

Madam Speaker, it is time to set a better example to our communities, especially to our youths, and show that political violence and aggression are not tools for negotiation. If we are a progressive, inclusive and innovative society, as we say we are, it is now time to say ‘No’ to violent behaviour and wasting in the political realm. The violence that transpired during the past elections, and it seems that it has continued, should never be supported by any well-meaning Zambian, not even for political expediency. Losing the lives of our brothers and sisters is deeply regretted. May their souls continue to rest in peace.

 

Madam Speaker, we are mobilised to do a job, and we need to spend our time productively. Our communities are also tired of roadblocks, red tape, and a system that is designed to stifle and block initiative instead of encouraging it. Let us nurture the possibilities instead of being fearful of change or losing and retreating to the safety of the unknown.

 

Madam Speaker, most communities understand that there are plenty of things a Member of Parliament cannot do alone. They also understand that with a concerted effort from other players, their community, with support from Government, can make real headways towards achieving their goals. This effort has to be encouraged and organised through visible, energetic and positive leadership by all of us. It requires a new culture in politics; a new way of getting things done.

 

Madam Speaker, let us promote respectful behaviour and be good role models to our communities, especially our youth; concentrate on what we can do versus pointing out what someone else has not done; use our energy, networks, knowledge and resource constructively; respect the people in our communities enough to tell them the truth even if we fail to live up to our promises; not give false hope to our youths or their vulnerable parents; look beyond the next election in our decision-making; be authentic, decent and genuine in our intent; build trust and respect through being brave and not following the convenient way because it is easier; unite in partnership and a joint commitment to make this Session of Parliament one to be truly remembered; and be the change that the people in the past, present, and future would want to see.

 

Madam Speaker, I now come to my point. Democratic freedom is not just a matter of the political arrangement of Constitutions, laws, elections and majorities; it also depends on what the French political philosopher and historian, Alexis de Tocqueville said, and I quote:

 

“Habits of the heart: civility, the willingness to hear the other side, respect for those with whom you disagree and friendships that transcend the boundaries between different parties and different faiths.”

 

Madam, those things must be taught again and again in every generation. If there is one insight above all others gained from Jewish history, it is that freedom depends on education. To defend a country, you need an army, but to defend a civilization, you need schools. Free education has been promised, and people in Chimwemwe Constituency are eagerly waiting for it.

 

Madam, all levels of Government prioritise education and employment opportunities. There is no greater opportunity than the opportunity to fully utilise unused facilities that could be repurposed as enterprise and training hubs. I refer here to Kitwe Vocational Training Centre (KVTC) Campus in Twatasha/Racecourse of Chimwemwe Constituency. We seek a commitment from the Government to support KVTC efforts to buffer up against future economic downturns and ensure that school leavers are not lost to our community. That site is a valuable part of the strategy.

 

Madam Speaker, Chimwemwe is a vast constituency encompassing both peri-urban and urban areas, yet it has very few secondary schools. We need more schools in the constituency, especially in Salamano area. I, therefore, urge the Ministry of Education to consider constructing a secondary school. The walking distance to the nearest school in that area is not less than 8 km. So, pupils there find it very difficult going to school.

 

Madam, learners at Kapoto School in Kawama Township, in this age, still sit on the floor due to a lack of desks while some classrooms do not have blackboards. Further, all the secondary schools in the constituency need school halls because school assemblies are conducted in the open and, as a result, during the Rainy Season, it becomes very difficult to give information to pupils.

 

Madam Speaker, Chimwemwe Constituency is blessed with a large number of school leavers anxious to go to universities. Therefore, they are banking on the free education that was promised. 

 

Madam, I wonder whether, even now, we value teachers sufficiently highly as guardians of our liberty. Schools teach us theories and facts, help us answer the questions: What do I know? and What can I do? They also teach us the story of our nation, what freedom is and how it was fought for; what freedom struggles and battles those who came before us had to fight. They also help us to answer the questions: ‘Who am I?’ ‘What story am I a part of?’ and ‘How, then, shall I live?’ They also teach us about keeping faith with the past while honouring our obligation for the future. At best, they teach us collective responsibility for the common good. However, we have a serious shortage of teachers in Chimwemwe Constituency, where one teacher is made to teach 100 learners. Therefore, with your permission, I say, ‘Let us value our teachers and celebrate our schools’. Keeping education at the top of our priorities, we will raise a generation of Chimwemwe Constituency children who will help us and make us proud. May the Ministry of Education hire more teachers, provide enough desks, build more classrooms and ensure the K1,500 pay rise promised to teachers is actually given to them because they are over-working themselves.

 

Madam Speaker, in health sector, we desperately need the commencement of the construction works to upgrade Chimwemwe Clinic to a district hospital. After the ground-breaking ceremony that took place in April, 2021, the residents have been anxiously waiting for the commencement date. Chimwemwe is the second constituency in Zambia. Hence, a district hospital is a must. To enhance health and to achieve the 4 km radius clinic accessibility requirement, the Ministry of Health needs to expedite the construction of more maternity clinics and health posts in the constituency, especially in Salamano area, Garneton East and Chimwemwe East, which all need to have twenty-four-hours operational clinics.

 

Madam Speaker, water is cardinal in socio-economic development and fundamental for sustaining all forms of life. However, most parts of my constituency do not have any clean piped water or proper sanitation facilities. The residents are still dependent on shallow wells and shallow pit latrines. I, therefore, urge the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation to work together with the local water utility company to meet the aspirations of people.

 

Madam Speaker, the Social Cash Transfer Programme reduces extreme poverty, especially among the aged and the vulnerable youth. Unfortunately, most elderly men and women have not been captured as beneficiaries of the fund. There is a serious need for the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services to cast its net wide in order to capture and assist the vulnerable aged in our area.

 

Madam Speaker, Chimwemwe is blessed with a large number of small-scale entrepreneurs and marketeers who lack start-up capital because of the five Cs of credit, a method used to evaluate a borrower by the banks and other financial institutions. I, therefore, hope and pray that the Government will continue with the empowerment grant programme, which will assist our people in Chimwemwe.

 

Madam Speaker, in ending, I say how grateful I am and, indeed, how grateful my family has been, for the courtesy and kindness extended to me during my orientation and introduction to the House. I thank, in particular, the staff of the National Assembly, for their patience and support. I also thank you and your two Deputies for your patience during the presentation of my maiden speech.

 

Madam Speaker, may I now just make a few points from the President’s Speech, which was given to us on 10th September, 2021.

 

Madam Speaker, I perused the speech very well and found certain parts of it very interesting. What goes around comes back around. Here, I am looking at the Bill of Rights and the Public Order Act. The PF Government fought hard to expand the Bill of Rights and reform the Public Order Act. When the United Party for National Development (UPND) was in the Opposition, it vehemently opposed those efforts, and de-campaigned and politicised the referendum. It actually misled the people. Surprisingly, today, the same people who did not want the referendum to work are here, asking us to move with them and bring it forth. I do not know whether they expect the PF to side with them or to oppose them, because one thing they have done is to leave such a huge footstep that all of us in the PF, now in the Opposition, are in that footstep and getting out of the footstep will take a bit of praying. However, the PF is a very democratic party, and  it will not be like the UPND.

 

Mr Lusambo: Hear, hear!

 

Mr A. Banda: We shall ensure that whatever the people want is given to them. We do not wish to politicise anything to do with the Constitution because that concerns the people’s lives.

 

Madam Speaker, looking at mining, there was hope when the President talked about increased participation and ownership of the locals. However, the President did not tell us at what level we are going to benefit when it comes to ownership. What people are expecting, especially on the Copperbelt, is to know what percentage of shares the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) will retain because the more the shares ZCCM-IH retains, the more guarantee there is that a Zambian like me and my brothers in the village will one day be able to buy those shares when they are floated on the stock exchange. We know that, sometimes, it is good to have foreign investors, but our foreign investors on the Copperbelt have brought more misery than development. Most Zambian suppliers and contractors have been wallowing in poverty for the past ten years. The reason being that the only business given to them is that which the South African suppliers do not need, because the investors have companies outside the country. So, what they do is to ensure that all the businesses are shoved to South Africa. We want the President to tell us how this will change, especially if the business is given to the foreign investors.

 

Madam Speaker, the President did not say anything about Chambeshi Metals, which is not working. We all know it is under care and maintenance, and it looks like care and maintenance has now become a trend. Once an investor reaps his returns on an investment, the next thing he decides to do is put the business on care and maintenance, and go on holiday. When the same investor comes back, he brings new conditions and does not want to pay our taxes. That is why some people on the Copperbelt are contemplating and saying that, probably, the best thing would be for Zambians to run our mines.

 

Mr Sing’ombe: You could have told your President

 

Mr A. Banda: That is why you have to do it.

 

Madam Speaker, on agriculture, the President spoke about inputs, especially fertiliser. He said he wants to engage new players in fertiliser manufacturing. The biggest question is: Why should we bring in new players when we have our own giant, the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ)? Why not recapitalise and look after the NCZ, a company that we know has the capacity to manufacture fertiliser for the whole country and export some excess? We do not want new players at this time, especially private-sector ones. We know that when we leave everything to them, there will be collusion. Already, we have noticed that in cement manufacturing. We need the NCZ to be recapitalised.

 

Ms Chonya: Hear, hear!

 

Mr A. Banda: Madam Speaker, as regards the cotton farmers, I never heard the President say anything on Mulungushi Textiles, another Government asset that is just sitting idly and needs recapitalisation so that our cotton farmers can have a ready market.

 

Madam Speaker, I hoped to hear the President encourage farmers to export excess maize. Even the millers should be allowed to export their mealie-meal. Having promised us that a bag of mealie-meal would very soon sell at K50, I think the millers can make an extra income to grow their factories and employ more youths.

 

Madam Speaker, I am very happy that education will soon be free. However, I am very doubtful about the President’s statement that learners be chosen based on their potential to excel. I think that will be very unfair to my children, nieces and daughters in the village. It is quite difficult to notice the potential to excel in a child who lives in the village because the playing field is never even; children in the village have many chores at home before they go to school. They do not have the luxury of lights to study at night. So, I think the President should have just told us that education would be free for all regardless of whom one is. Besides, when we talk about vulnerability, in Chimwemwe, what we have noticed is that 90 per cent of the children who go to Government schools are the vulnerable in society. So, I do not know what criteria the Government will use when offering free education. So, I think free education should just be provided to every child who goes to a Government school because those with extra income are able to take their children to private schools. Even civil servants take their children to private schools because, right now, there are even private schools that are cheap; they charge K500 per term.

 

Madam Speaker, I said what goes around comes back around. I am very surprised that when the PF Government was busy contracting roads, our colleagues in the UPND kept reminding us that people do not eat roads.

 

Mr Chaatila: It is true, they do not eat roads.

 

Mr A Banda: Thank you very much. They still do not eat roads. However, I was surprised that the President said he wished to construct roads in tourism areas and some villages. If our people do not eat roads, but the President is doing that, probably, he should teach us how they eat roads. Maybe, we have to munch from the middle, the – (inaudible) or the curb stones. As far as I am concerned, the construction of roads is cardinal to economic development.

 

The Madam Speaker: Order!

 

hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Mr Amutike (Mongu Central): Madam Speaker, thank you for affording the people of Mongu Central an opportunity to debate the President’s Speech.

 

Madam Speaker, firstly, I express my most sincere gratitude to the people of Zambia for bestowing upon us, the United Party for National Development (UPND), the responsibility to lead this beautiful nation. We reiterate our commitment to serving the people with honesty, sincerity and diligence. We are taking the baton to represent our people with humility, not the arrogance the people of Zambia experienced at the hands of the failed Patriotic Front (PF) Government. We remain committed to our pursuit of the collective dreams and aspirations of our people.   

 

Madam Speaker, making Zambia a growing economy and functional state, which is what His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, outlined in his address, will mean developing the attributes that will enable the Zambian economy to improve the human capital base of the economy, reducing inequalities in both per capita income and expenditure, sufficiently modernising the Zambian Public Service by embedding it in communities, and fundamentally transforming the economy. By embedding the Public Service in communities, we mean that the people in rural areas like Kama Ward or Namasho Ward in Mongu Central must also be able to enjoy the basic services provided by their Government, which they also vote for. The services include good roads, clinics with medicines, clean water and proper sanitation. We also want to build an entrepreneurial state where our young people and everyone with zeal for business can be supported and helped to grow small businesses and bring them into the mainstream economy so they can be managed and governed properly to allow their greater participation in the economy.

 

Madam Speaker, our strategic thrust, led by His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, as outlined in his address, reflects our commitment to achieving the status of a developmental state. The President has proved himself to be a man of great values and principles, which lays a solid foundation for him to build a thriving economy and a stable society.

 

Madam Speaker, it is very clear that the country is lagging behind in extending social services to the majority of our people across all parts of the country, especially in rural areas. The challenge is still the transformation of the economy, which has not performed well under the failed PF Government. No wonder, the people of Zambia kicked our colleagues out of the Government with over 1 million votes.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Amutike: Madam Speaker, as the UPND Government, we are concerned about the structural elements of the economy that remain unchanged, and which will continue to undermine our economic growth efforts if not attended to. Development must also take place in the far-flung towns and areas, not only in selected major towns of Zambia.

 

Madam Speaker, the persistent challenges of access to quality education, good roads and good primary health care in some parts of the country pose a great challenge to growing an equitable and stable society. In Mongu Central Constituency, for example, Namasho Ward does not have a single school or clinic in this time and era. It is a very disgraceful state of affairs to have such a situation in 2021, and these challenges have a direct bearing on peoples’ dignity. As Zambia enters this new dawn of democracy under the UPND, and in pursuit of the objectives of our party in Government, let us proclaim a bold and ambitious goal; a unifying purpose to which we must dedicate our resources and energies.

 

Madam Speaker, we shall ask the hon. Minister of Education if free education can also be given to our hon. Colleagues on your left hand, because they do not seem to understand the purpose of the President’s Speech.

 

Mr Mwila: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Mwila: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order regarding Standing Order 58, which requires a Member not to read a speech during debate.

 

Madam Speaker, I have noticed that throughout his time on the Floor, the hon. Member has been reading.

 

 I need your serious ruling, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Member for Mongu Central, please, try not to read.

 

Hon. Government Members: It is a maiden speech.

 

Madam Speaker: No, it is not a maiden speech. Only a maiden speech can be read. The hon. Member is speaking for the second time in the House. I know hon. Members have not yet familiarised themselves with the Standing Orders. Please, let us do that. As you debate, please, avoid reading as you.

 

Mr Amutike: Madam Speaker, one of the purposes of the President’s Speech in Parliament is for the President to outline the overall strategic direction and priorities of his Government. That is then followed by debate by Ministers, after which the hon. Minister of Finance comes and outlines the resourcing framework for the priorities indicated in the President’s Speech. All these platforms allow for debate and engagement at an appropriate level of detail. So, the purveyors of the misguided narrative that the President’s Speech was slim on detail are disingenuous, and I do not understand that. Hence, we propose free education for them so that they can learn some of the intricacies of debate.

 

Madam Speaker, the President made specific mention of sectors and interventions that he intends to make in them to help turn the economy around. He elucidated on areas of great potential, including stimulating local manufacturing; developing new markets; investing in mining, agriculture and agro-processing; and increasing international tourist arrivals. So, those who claim that the President’s Speech –

 

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

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Fube: Madam Speaker, I believe that what the hon. Member is holding is not the President’s Speech and that after your guidance, he has continued reading.

 

Is he in order to continue reading the speech?

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Member for Mongu, you can continue. I am using my discretion. The Standing Orders are still fairly new. Further, when you already have a speech and have not prepared to speak off-the-cuff, it can be a challenge.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Amutike: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker, those who claim that the President’s Speech is all about dreams do not understand that all major revolutions worldwide begin with an idea. People without dreams, vision and purpose are people with no future. It was young President Hakainde Hichilema who dreamt about growing the UPND as a party and becoming the President of the Republic of Zambia. Yesterday, he gave the most powerful speech any Zambian President has ever given at the United Nations (UN). It is a reality now that he is President, but it was because of the dreams.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Amutike: He is President despite the many setbacks the PF set for him, including putting him in a maximum prison on fake treason charges. One must have a dream of where one wants to be and, indeed, President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND Government have a good dream of where this beautiful country of Zambia should be in five, ten and 100 years from now when the UPND will still be in power. We want Zambia to be a land of milk and honey, peaceful and united in diversity.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Amutike: Madam Speaker, we have already experienced the nightmare the PF Government put us through in the past ten years; the nightmare misrule that polarised the nation and rendered it lawless. The people of Zambia shall not go back to the PF’s way of governing, and will never forget the PF’s injustices.

 

Madam Speaker, in this epoch in Zambia, we are fortunate to have a great visionary in the calibre of President Hakainde Hichilema as Head of State. He is a big dreamer and a big doer at the same time. During his campaigns, the President made a commitment to reduce the number of ministries in order to save costs and rationalise the structure of the Government. Before he even began his work as the President, he finalised the rationalisation by reducing the number of Ministers and ministries, and it is the President’s constitutional right and prerogative to structure ministries as he sees fit, just as it is his prerogative to appoint and disappoint Ministers. Those who wish to exercise this right and also restructure ministries must first win elections and become Presidents too so that the people of Zambia can give them that mandate.

 

Madam Speaker, the successful reduction of Government ministries approved by this Parliament is a very important achievement that will result in more efficiency and integration of programmes for better results at a lower cost to the Government.

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

The hon. Member’s time expired.

 

Business was suspended from 1640 hours until 1700 hours.

 

[MADAM SPEAKER in the Chair]

 

Madam Speaker gave the Floor to Mr Mung’andu.

 

Mr Mung’andu (Chama South): Madam Speaker, I already debated. According to the Standing Orders, I cannot debate twice on the same Motion.

 

Ms Mabonga (Mfuwe): Madam Speaker, thank you for giving me an opportunity to present my maiden speech and, later, comment on the President’s Speech.

 

Madam Speaker, may I, first, take this opportunity to congratulate you and your Deputies on your election as Speaker, First Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, respectively.

 

Madam Speaker, before I render my vote of thanks, I join my fellow Patriotic Front (PF) hon. Members in paying tribute to our late brother, Mr Kungo, and many others who were mercilessly murdered in cold blood by the United Party for National Development (UPND) for only trying to exercise their right to vote.

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

It is public knowledge that the member you are referring to died, but assigning blame for his death is a matter that is pending determination before the courts of law, and I earlier guided on how hon. Members should debate on matters of such a nature.

 

Please, continue, but bear in mind the guidance that I have provided.

 

Ms Mabonga: Madam Speaker, most obliged.

 

Madam Speaker, I was paying tribute to the late Mr Kungo and many others who were murdered during the just-ended elections. As a woman and a mother, I feel very sad, and my heart bleeds. My heart is torn into pieces knowing that my fellow woman, Mrs Kungo, is now a widow and her children are orphans because of violence. My heartfelt condolences go to the entire family left behind. May the soul of our brother rest in peace.

 

Madam Speaker, I put it on record that as a woman and a mother, I detest violence, more especially that in which somebody’s child gets killed or injured. Such things should never happen under our watch as leaders. No human being should lose his/her life because of politics or for supporting any political party.

 

Madam Speaker, allow me to acknowledge and express my gratitude to the people who helped me during my campaign and the elections. I thank my party President and sixth President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu; all the Members of the Central Committee; and the entire leadership of the PF who gave me the opportunity to serve the people of Mfuwe and Zambia on the party’s platform.

 

Madam Speaker, I congratulate the Former President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, on showing exceptional leadership and maturity in the manner in which he handled the smooth transfer of power. Had it not been for his heart, we would have witnessed a serious war in this country, and children and women would have been disadvantaged. 

 

Madam Speaker, I also thank my handsome husband, Mr Francis Kaoma, for his moral and financial support, patience and understanding before, during and after the campaigns and elections. I thank my two sons, Lubuto and Mapalo, and my daughter, Malaika, for their patience and understanding during the long campaign and election period; my family members and close friends for their financial and spiritual support; and Their Royal Highnesses, Chief Mpumba and Chief Chiundaponde, and all headmen and headwomen for their support and encouragement.

 

Madam Speaker, special thanks go to the party’s District Chairperson for Mfuwe, Mr Kawama Kawame, and the Constituency Chairman, Mr Thompson Mwenda, alongside their committees; and all the ward committees for their tireless and exceptional support and conduct during the campaigns. My big thanks go to the people of Mfuwe Constituency for voting for me and for turning up in large numbers to cast their vote, and to all Zambians, notwithstanding the violence, myths and taboos that characterised this year’s elections. It is sad and shocking that women and men were told to go and cast their vote without wearing underwear. I feel sad that my fellow women and young women were downgraded to that level.

 

Madam Speaker, special thanks go to the young people, more especially the women, for their support during and after the campaigns. I will forever be indebted to them.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the Church in its diversity, for its spiritual and moral support. I thank my predecessors, Hon. Mwimba Malama and Dr Malama, for their support and contribution to the constituency. From their reigns, I take over. I also thank the men and women in my campaign team for the hard work and tolerance. They include Ben Tembo Mabonga; Chimwemwe Phiri; Mando, my driver; Oswald; Kelvin; and Ba Chama. Above all, I thank God Almighty for allowing me to serve in this capacity. It is, indeed, a great honour and rare privilege. 

 

Madam Speaker, as I take up community service for the people of Mfuwe Constituency, I am aware of the challenges that they face, especially with Mfuwe being a rural constituency and Lavushimanda a newly-created district. Working with the people of Mfuwe, the Government and stakeholders, and based on the priorities, I shall endeavour to deliver development in the constituency through addressing the following challenges in the next five years: I will push for the construction and rehabilitation of the Mpumba/Chiundaponde, Muwele, Chibali, Ngweshi, Mwendachabe, Lulimala, Mupamazi and Mabonga roads; the people of Mfuwe await the official opening of the two mini-hospitals that were built by the mighty PF Government; and rehabilitation and construction of more schools in order to achieve the objective of promoting quality education. Civil servants’ accommodation, bridges, clinics, mortuaries and mothers’ shelters are placed highly on the developmental agenda during my tenure of office.

 

Madam Speaker, the promotion of sports and recreation, and youth and women empowerment are at the centre of the youth and women empowerment and development agenda in my five-year term.

 

Madam Speaker, access to safe and clean drinking water remains a priority for my constituency. The efforts to improve this situation will take into account sanitation issues in order to prevent communicable diseases.

 

Madam Speaker, my constituency is disadvantaged with regard to access to market for farmers. This compels farmers to sell their produce below market prices, and this hinders production. I will work towards improving the situation by creating market linkages, including the formation of co-operatives that will help farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.

 

Madam Speaker, limited access to finance and low livelihood skills among women and the youth are part of the challenges in my constituency. I look forward to the development of entrepreneurship skills and linkages to affordable agricultural inputs and commodities for the people of Mfuwe. The people of Mfuwe look forward to the promotion of equitable access to opportunities, those presented by the Government and other stakeholders, in improving livelihoods. I shall promote diversified agriculture, with a focus on high-value crops, taking into account the changing climate conditions.

 

Madam Speaker, as a privileged female leader, I will work with others to promote inclusive development through addressing inequality and promoting access to education, especially among girls and women, who are currently left behind for various reasons. Promotion of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools and through skills development centres that I intend to put in place for out-of-school youth is on top of the development agenda for Mfuwe.

 

Madam Speaker, my constituency has great potential in tourism. So, I will focus on the promotion of this sector, especially local tourism, because my constituency has a lot to offer in that area.

 

Madam Speaker, it is a very well-known fact that rural communities, including mine, are way behind in terms of communications and technology. The people of Lavushimanda expect the installation of more communication towers to add to the ones that were put up by the PF Government in order to improve mobile network coverage. The said roadmap will be underpinned by cross-cutting issues, such as human rights, governance, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), teenage pregnancy, child marriages and gender issues.

 

Madam Speaker, this speech highlights what will characterise the development agenda for Mfuwe Constituency in the next five years.  

 

Madam Speaker, allow me to make a brief comment on the speech by the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema.

 

Madam Speaker, I can best describe the address as a good speech that lacks inspiration. The speech was not specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART), according to me. I say so because this first speech, I believe, sets in motion the Government’s policy for the next five years. The speech has many good words, but does not give a clear time frame of realisation, thereby making the majority of young people, including me, wonder if the promises made by the President will be achieved within the first term.

 

Madam Speaker, let me say that I will support the Government to realise the set objectives, but I will also make critical, yet relevant, objections to ideas that are not in the best interests of the majority of Zambians.   

 

Mr Simuzingili: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Simuzingili: Madam Speaker, I rise on a very important point of order.

 

Madam, is the hon. Member debating in order not to follow the laid-down Standing Orders that if you are debating –

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

Hon. Member, can you state the Standing Order that has allegedly been breached?

 

Mr Simuzingili: Standing Order No. 131, which states that an hon. Member should not be reading, but glancing at notes and at the same time debating.

 

Madam Speaker: As I guided earlier, the rules or the current Standing Orders are still new. Unless it is a maiden speech, you are not supposed to read during debate. However, like I said previously, these Standing Orders are fairly new and people do not yet know what they provide. So, I will use my discretion to allow you to continue but, next time, please, do not read speeches during debate in the House.

 

Ms Mabonga: Madam Speaker, I thank you. I continue with my debate.

 

Interruptions

 

Ms Mabonga: Can the hon. Members, please, stop interrupting me?

 

Laughter

 

Hon. Member: Hear, hear!

 

Ms Mabonga: Stop intimidating me.

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Members!

 

Can we allow the hon. Member to continue with her debate.

 

Ms Mabonga: You will not manage to intimidate me. I am a woman and a half.

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

May the hon. Member debate through the Chair, please.

 

You may continue.

 

Ms Mabonga: Madam Speaker, I feel sad that many Zambians, especially the youth, voted based on the promises that the UPND is now running away from. The youths in Mfuwe are waiting for jobs, the 25,000 jobs that were promised. They are waiting for free education, among many other promises that were made. By now, reality has dawned on Zambian youths; they have realised that they were duped by the UPND because it ascended to power on fake promises that we in this House all know may not be achieved.

 

Madam Speaker, the other comment is on the creation of ministries. I feel that the creation of new ministries was not necessary at this point, looking at the cost implication and knowing well that, as a country, we are not doing fine. It is the UPND that has kept saying that we have empty coffers. So, I thought that it would be more considerate when it came to spending or unnecessary spending. I still feel that all the policies that the UPND is coming up with could have fit in the ministries that existed already.

 

Madam Speaker, I would also like to comment on the abolition of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and National Guidance. As a Christian, I neither support nor believe in that, but I will wait to see what this Government will come to or what will happen in Zambia.

 

Madam Speaker, in conclusion, allow me to advise the hon. Colleagues on your right that the PF is now in the Opposition. There is no need for them to continue opposing the PF Government because they are in the Government now. No amount of propaganda, intimidation and blaming the PF will help them to perform to the expectation of the Zambian people. I, therefore, urge the hon. Ministers to concentrate on developing Zambia as they promised all of us. Time waits for no one. Further, those holding ministerial positions should not forget to streamline the gender agenda in their strategic oversights.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank you.

 

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Michelo (Bweengwa): Madam Speaker, I thank you for allowing me to deliver my second maiden speech on the Floor of this House.

 

Madam Speaker, it is a great honour to stand here in this august House as a Member of Parliament for the great people of Bweengwa. I stand here because of them, with a firm resolve to represent them diligently.

 

To you the people of Bweengwa Constituency, I appreciate your trust and love for me. I will truly cherish it by serving you with all my heart.

 

Madam Speaker, allow me to thank the people of Zambia for turning out in large numbers to vote, not just merely voting, but voting for real change. In this vain, I offer my sincere gratitude to my campaign team, my family members, my children and my wife, Priscilla, for the unwavering support shown to me.

 

Madam Speaker, I congratulate you on being the first-ever female Speaker of this august House. It is, indeed, a wonderful time to be alive and be part of your history-making. We, the majority Zambians, are proud of you. I also congratulate the First and Second Deputy Speakers on their victories. Further, I congratulate all hon. Members of Parliament on their victories in their respective constituencies, not forgetting the nominated ones.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the United Party for National Development (UPND) and our President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, for the resilience shown during our twenty-three years of being in the Opposition. It was not an easy journey all the way through, especially the last seven years under the rule of a tyrant. Under very difficult circumstances, we emerged victorious and are here.

 

Madam Speaker, let me thank the people of Zambia from all the ten provinces of this country for voting for His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, mwana mubotu. The last seven years under the Patriotic Front (PF) felt like a 100 years of bondage.

 

Madam Speaker, as we all know, Bweengwa Constituency is an area rich in livestock, especially cattle. Therefore, I will make sure that our people increase their herds and improve their breeds through improved animal husbandry as well as artificial insemination, just as the President stated in his speech on the Floor of this House. This will be attained through improved quality of extension services. We will also rehabilitate and construct new dams and dip tanks for our farmers. That way, our animals will not be covering long distances to access water. All these things I have mentioned were magic to the PF Government. Our friends in the PF saw no value in them.

 

Madam Speaker, a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. There is no way a reasonable Government can supply expired drugs as well as leaking condoms in hospitals and expect the nation to be healthy and wealthy.

 

Mr Nanjuwa: Shame!

 

Mr Michelo: We will ensure that unexpired drugs are available in our hospitals. We voted for change, and we will not take revenge on the dictators who brutalised innocent citizens.

 

Madam Speaker, for years, the Monze/Niko Road, which connects Monze, Bweengwa and Namwala districts has been neglected. It has now become impassable and needs the urgent attention of the ‘New Dawn’ Government.

 

Madam Speaker, as I have already congratulated the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, and his team, allow me also to congratulate Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu on fulfilling his words that he had no vision for our great country, Zambia. The man has really proved to the people of Zambia and the world at large that he had no vision. He destroyed our country both economically and politically. The man was a very serious dictator. Under his leadership, the PF was more brutal than the colonial masters. The PF Government promised us more money in our pockets, cheaper fuel from Saudi Arabia and 1 million jobs, but what did we see? Tear gas, expensive fuel and purchase of armoured police vehicles for brutalising innocent citizens and UPND sympathisers. This was all that was on the minds of PF leaders.

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Ki masholi!

 

Mr Michelo: Madam Speaker, the victory of the UPND and the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, was seen as early as 2017, when Mr Hakainde Hichilema was arrested on trumped-up charges of treason by the PF brutal regime, an offence he never committed. Imagine an innocent citizen suffering for 127 days? However, we will not revenge. There were several other notable indicators that blew in the direction of the change of the Government. Some of them were the killing of Grayzer Matapa in Chongwe, Mapenzi Chibulo and Vespers Shimuzhila by the PF –

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

On the reference to who killed who, I have already guided. Those issues are not yet determined. It is understood, and it is public knowledge that those people were killed, but by whom, I think is still a matter to be determined.

 

Mr Michelo: Madam Speaker, thank you so much. Let me simply say that those people were killed under the watchful eye or leadership of the PF. Lawrence Banda was killed during the leadership of the PF. Namugala, a twelve-year-old innocent boy was also killed during the leadership of the PF. The killing of Nsama Nsama was also during the leadership of the PF. Kaunda was killed under the leadership of the PF, and the list is endless. The attack on President Hichilema and his campaign team in Sesheke happened during the PF regime, and so did the attack on a helicopter in Shiwang’andu by the PF. The brutalisation and macheting of citizens wearing UPND regalia were done by the PF. There was also the gassing of innocent citizens under the watchful eye of the PF Government. From time immemorial, the Zambian people had never been gassed under any other regime; it was in the PF’s brutal regime that they were gassed for the first time. We promise the Zambian people that under the ‘New Dawn’ Government, there will never be the gassing of innocent citizens. We promise them, ‘Not anymore’.

 

Madam Speaker, I believe the perpetrators of gassing are here in the House, and we are asking for the reinvestigation of the gassing incidents.

 

Mr Nkombo: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Michelo: Madam Speaker, we will not forget the blocking of the President Hakainde Hichilema from campaigning during the 2021 General Elections by the brutal PF regime.

 

Madam Speaker, grand corruption among the PF big wigs was one of the indicators that the UPND would win the 2021 General Elections. We have not forgotten about the purchase of fire tenders at K42 million, and the case is still very active. We have also not forgotten about the US$17 million Honey Bee saga and the people who sold our mukula. We are aware that some of them are still stuck with the mukula in some places. We have not forgotten about the ambulances and the speed cameras.

 

Mr Nkombo: Bad governance.

 

Mr Michelo: We have not forgotten about the PF’s torture chamber called Kamugodi, which was funded by two suspected criminal PF former Ministers. I can see them right now. The criminals are here.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hammer!

 

Mr Michelo: Madam Speaker, we will never forget the violence perpetrated by the PF during and after the 2015 Presidential By-Election.

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

The use of the words ‘the criminals are here’ is not appropriate. It is public knowledge that those torture chambers exist. However, who was running them? You need to state facts when you come to this House.

 

You may continue.

 

Mr Michelo: Madam Speaker, thank you for your wise counsel.

 

Madam Speaker, we will never forget the violence that was perpetrated before, during and after the 2015 Presidential By-election and the 2016 General Elections. We still remember, and we will not forget. We have not erased the memories of how the people and their children in the Southern Province, in particular, Monze District, were denied National Registration Cards (NRCs). The Ministry of Home Affairs in the PF regime did not suit to be referred to by that name. Instead, it should have been called ‘the Ministry of D&S’, meaning, ‘the Ministry of Discrimination and Segregation’.

 

Laughter 

 

Mr Michelo: They are here.

 

Madam Speaker, we may forgive, but we will never erase those memories. As the UPND, under the leadership of His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, we will never segregate or discriminate against any tribe in this country. We believe in ‘One Zambia One Nation’.

 

Madam Speaker, these were indications enough –

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

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

 

Mr Michelo: Madam Speaker, allow me to go straight into debating the President’s Speech.

 

Madam, the President delivered the most intelligent speech, which is very practical. I am sure that when we put into practice all the things he has mentioned in this speech, Zambia will be a different country compared to how it has been in the last ten years under the rule of a brutal regime.

 

Madam Speaker, the President talked much about livestock. For example, he said that we will improve livestock and improve our breeds. He also said that we will improve the agricultural sector by introducing mechanisation to our farmers.

 

The President also talked about health and education. On health, we saw people under the previous regime supply expired drugs. We promise the people of Zambia that we, in the ‘New Dawn’ regime under the leadership of Mr Hakainde Hichilema will never provide expired drugs to them. We will never provide leaking condoms to the people of Zambia.

 

Madam Speaker, because of corruption, you remember what happened with Honey Bee? It is the reason we, the Zambian people, have been consuming expired drugs ordered by the PF regime. We have lost so many lives because of corruption. I think we lost more people as a result of the corruption of the PF than we lost to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

 

Madam Speaker, coming to the issue of education, there are some hon. Members of Parliament who said that the speech is Jelita and Mulenga. I think under the leadership of His Excellency Edgar, oh, no, His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema –

 

Mon. PF Members: Hear, hear! Bwekeshapo!

 

Mr Michelo: Let me simply say to those people who were saying that this is Jelita and Mulenga that we will provide free education. At least, the President was here, on this Floor of the House, saying that we will provide free education to such hon. Members of Parliament.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Michelo: We will do that so that the hon. Members can realise that the pronouncement is not Jelita and Mulenga. There was no single mention of ‘Mulenga’ or ‘Jelita’ in this whole speech. All that the speech was is an intelligent discussion from our President.

 

Madam Speaker, if you look at the previous Presidents, especially the recent past one, and compare with the current one, and compare and contrast the presentations made at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), you can really tell that a certain man has a heart for this country while the other did not. I think you can really tell from the two speeches.

 

Madam Speaker, what also excited me about the President’s Speech is the issue of corruption. On corruption, the President said, as the ‘New Dawn’ Government, we are going to come up with fast-track courts so that we can recover assets and money stolen from the people of Zambia. On that score, I am giving the President credit. He did very well, and that was very good. You know that corruption under the PF was evergreen for the last ten years, and our economy was badly hurt because of it. Zambia, today, is poor because it was poorly governed by the PF regime. The PF created an environment that legalised corruption, with its members saying, “Uubomba mwibala, alya mwibala. Ubelekela mu muunda, ulida mu muunda”. That is what they meant.

 

Madam Speaker, those who engaged in corruption must be punished in accordance with the law. Corruption under the PF killed more people than COVID-19. That is what happened in this country because of corruption, and the corruption should be treated as a crime against humanity. Just ask yourself how many people have died as a result of consuming expired drugs? How many people have contracted diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) through the use of leaking condoms, all because of corruption?

 

Madam Speaker, as I draw to the conclusion of my debate, allow me to ask members of the PF a fundamental question. I want to ask PF members wherever they are. I am sure they are listening.

 

Mr Sing’ombe: Some are here!

 

Mr Michelo: Why did you steal money from the Zambian people with impunity? You must explain.

 

Thank you so much, Madam Speaker for allowing me to debate.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Madam Speaker: As we debate, hon. Members, let us make sure that we do not use unparliamentary language.

 

Mr Simunji (Nalikwanda): Madam Speaker, I express my sincere gratitude to you for according me this opportunity to address this august House for the first time on behalf of the people of Nalikwanda Constituency.

 

Madam Speaker, I will begin by rendering my maiden speech and then contribute to the debate on the Motion on the Floor.

 

Madam Speaker, allow me to join my hon. Colleagues in congratulating the people of Zambia on electing the United Party for National Development (UPND) into office under the able leadership of His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema …

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Simunji: … to take this country forward. We are proud, as a nation, of this resounding victory over the Patriotic Front (PF). Indeed, this is the change that the people of Zambia had been waiting for.

 

Madam Speaker, I also congratulate you, the First Deputy Speaker and the Second Deputy Speaker on your election to preside over the affairs of this House. Congratulations also go to all my fellow Parliamentarians on their election or nomination to represent the people of Zambia in this august House.

 

Madam Speaker, allow me to take this opportunity to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, and the UPND National Management Committee (NMC) for not only adopted me to stand in Nalikwanda Constituency on the UPND ticket, but also for their collective hard work during the campaign, which saw me emerge victorious. I will always be grateful for this privilege. I also sincerely thank God Almighty for making it possible for me to win the Nalikwanda Parliamentary seat against all odds. Many thanks also go to my family; my brothers, sisters and friends, for their invaluable support before, during and after the elections. I also humbly thank the people of Nalikwanda for electing me as their Member of Parliament. I assure them that I will diligently serve them all, including those who did not vote for me, in order for us to continue facilitating the much-needed development in our constituency.

 

Madam Speaker, as I briefly discuss the problems that my constituency is facing, I will focus on the following areas:

 

  1. road infrastructure;
  2. health;
  3. education;
  4. agriculture;
  5. electricity; and
  6. water and sanitation.

 

Madam Speaker, Nalikwanda being a rural and vast constituency, we are in a dire situation in terms of road infrastructure. We require the construction of a good road network as well as bridges to connect wards to the provincial centre. Due to the non-existence of a road network, people find it difficult to transport their agricultural produce to the market. So, I appeal to the able and listening Government of His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, to quickly come to our aid on this issue.

 

Madam Speaker, you may wish to note that Nalikwanda Constituency has been totally neglected in terms of health infrastructure, such as hospitals. There is no hospital in Nalikwanda. What are available are health posts with a bed capacity of only two on average. These health posts are manned by an average of three health workers trained at workshops only. Therefore, for our people to access the face of a doctor, they need to travel about 70 km to 100 km either to Mongu or Luampa Mission Hospital, which is risking people’s lives, and it is at variance with other regions of the country where every constituency has a mini-hospital or two where people are able to access medical treatment when they are sick. I urge the ‘New Dawn’ Government to attend to this problem in Nalikwanda as quickly as possible

 

Madam Speaker, the constituency has a problem relating to non-availability of teachers. Most schools are poorly staffed and mostly manned by an average of three or four teachers. The constituency had only three secondary schools but, in early 2021, as a campaign tool, three schools were upgraded by the PF to secondary schools without consideration for the staffing levels in those schools. The schools are Lwandui, Lyande and Namusheshe. The most prominent problem is that most teachers drawing their salaries at rural schools are stationed in urban schools. This trend needs to be corrected with the urgency it deserves so that rural children can have an adequate number of teachers like those in urban schools.

 

Madam Speaker, under agriculture, it is important to note that Nalikwanda Constituency is suitable for cattle rearing and rice growing. I, therefore, call upon the Government to support the activities by constructing more dip tanks to stop the spread of animal diseases, such as Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP).

 

Madam Speaker, a lack of electricity in Nalikwanda is a big problem. Nalikwanda is one of the few constituencies in Zambia that are not connected to the National Electricity Grid. In the constituency, only one Government institution is connected to hydro-electricity power supply, namely Siwa Primary School, located at the edge of the constituency and only 20 km from Mongu Town. The Rural Electrification Authority (REA) carried out survey activities in 2018 with a view to connecting power from Namushakende to Nakanya Secondary School via Lwandui Primary School. That programme has since become a white elephant without any explanation.

 

Madam Speaker, despite Nalikwanda being closer to many water sources, it is not serviced with water supply. People obtain water from shallow wells, which results in diarrhoeal diseases due to water contamination. I have no doubt in my mind that the ‘New Dawn’ Government under the able leadership of His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, will squarely address the above-mentioned and other challenges Nalikwanda Constituency is experiencing.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! Hammer!

 

Mr Simunji: Madam, let me now turn to the Motion on the Floor.

 

From the outset, I put it on record that the speech by His Excellency the President –

 

Mr Simunji removed his mask.

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

As you continue debating, may you, please, mask up. I know that it is uncomfortable, but we have to observe the rules.

 

You may continue.

 

Mr Simunji: Madam Speaker, from the outset, I put it on record that the speech by His Excellency the President was both visionary and inspiring for a number of reasons. Allow me to highlight a few of the reasons.

 

Madam Speaker, I have been made to wonder by our hon. Colleagues on the left. These are the people who were managing our resources for ten years. One of their sources was the Eurobond, but no one from the left has mentioned the Eurobond and the investment they realised from it.

 

Hon. Government Members: They shared!

 

Mr Simunji: What I know is that when a country has a fiscal deficit, it goes to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, our hon. Colleagues from the PF opted to go to the capital market and borrowed from the Eurobond.

 

Hon. Government Members: Why?

 

Mr Simunji: Why did they do that? Is it because of a lack of good governance, which is one of the IMF and World Bank conditions?

 

Madam Speaker, let me school them on the issue of the World Bank and the IMF. These are organisations to which our country belongs. The country can go there and borrow money for investment in water, education or road construction at minimal interest rates or at no interest rates. When a country is faced with problems, it can still go back and restructure the debts. Unfortunately, our hon. Colleagues opted to go to the commercial market, and the end result is that they failed to pay interest rates and so, they defaulted. When they defaulted, our rating was downgraded.

 

Madam Speaker, at the time the people on your left were borrowing the Eurobonds, I was working for the National Assembly of Zambia. I would like them to tell me how they used the money because in Nalikwanda, there are no hospitals or roads. Our colleagues were not even training teachers because if they did, we would have had many teachers and the teacher/pupil ratio would have improved.

 

Madam Speaker, His Excellency the President stated that the creditors will be re-engaged so that the debts can be structured. That means that we are likely to see interest rates go down, and when the rates go down, the end result is that we are going to make huge savings from the debts. The money will go to free education, which the people on the left are talking about, since they left no money in the coffers. The savings will be used to construct hospitals in Nalikwanda, and train doctors and nurses. It will also be used to construct dip tanks for our animals. Further, it will be used to drill boreholes for our people. So, I urge those who will talk after me from the left to speak about the issue of the Eurobond.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank you.

 

 Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! Quality!

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

I know we like urging fellow hon. Members to continue debating. However, in the process, we interfere with the debate and even confuse the hon. Member on the Floor.

 

Mr Mabenga (Mulobezi): Madam Speaker, thank you very much for granting me this opportunity to deliver my maiden speech and comment on the President’s Speech in this august House. I join others in congratulating you on being elected the first female Speaker in the history of Zambia. You deserved it. I also congratulate the First and Second Deputy Speakers.

 

Madam, I thank God for the gift of life that He has been and is still giving me. God made us win these elections convincingly against all odds stacked against us by the Patriotic Front (PF) regime. We now have a second independence since 1964 and everyone feels free to move about, unlike in the past.

 

Madam Speaker, Mulobezi is a rural area, but it is endowed with untapped resources, such as timber, agricultural produce, minerals and wildlife. We now require many genuine investors to help us to develop the area in a sustainable manner. The name ‘Mulobezi’ means ‘sleeping’, and it is for this reason that we want to change it because it is demeaning to the people. So, the name ‘Mulobezi’ is going to change very soon.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the people of Mulobezi for giving His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, and Her Honour the Vice-President, Mrs Mutale Nalumango, a historic landslide victory. I thank the branch, constituency, district and provincial officials of the United Party for National Development (UPND) for their support during the primaries and general elections. I also thank my wife, Lillian Mabenga; our children and grandchildren; our relatives; and friends for being on my side all the time. A big ‘thank you’ goes to the campaign team, which did a wonderful job under difficult conditions. Many people were denied National Registration Cards (NRCs), as mobile machines shunned most rural areas, but we still won the elections convincingly.

 

Madam, let me comment on the challenges. The only lifeline, which is the Livingstone/Mulobezi Train, is not functional because the railway line is a death trap due to a lack of maintenance by the PF regime. It needs urgent major rehabilitation so that life can come back to normality. Further, the Livingstone/Sesheke Road, which is an international road, failed many years ago due to failure by the PF regime to maintain it. Another important road is the shortcut from Simungoma to Luampa, which was last maintained in the United National Independence Party (UNIP) days. Additionally, during the Rainy Season, some pupils do not go to school because streams are flooded and there are no bridges. We want the main roads and feeder roads to be upgraded to an all-weather standard. We can use a cheaper method of building tarred roads in sandy areas called Otta Seal, which uses marginal materials by the roadside. This is what we did in Botswana, where conditions are similar to Mulobezi. In this way, we can tar many feeder roads at minimum costs and replicate that in other constituencies in Zambia.

 

Madam Speaker, most of the existing schools are dilapidated with potholes, and pupils sit on the floor due to a lack of maintenance by the PF regime. Further, the teacher/pupil ratio is too high. Worse still, the schools are far apart. So, children walk over 7 km one-way every day. Some basic schools like Bwina were declared secondary schools, but there was no infrastructure to go with the declarations. As regard hospitals and clinics, there are no medicines to talk about and no facilities, and community clinics have no trained staff.

 

Madam Speaker, communication, in this age of rocket science, is very important. However, in most parts of Mulobezi, there are no communication towers. Communication is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, and each tower should have three networks as opposed to the current arrangement. We also need a community radio station to disseminate information quickly.

 

Madam Speaker, Mulobezi was declared a district in 2012 by the late President Michael Sata, may his soul rest in peace, but the construction of offices and houses stalled immediately he died. We request that those projects be completed as soon as possible. We also need a police station with adequate officers’ accommodation and transport to manage the vast constituency. Further, the constituency needs to be split into two as we conduct the Census.

 

Madam Speaker, due to climate change, some streams have dried up, and people and animals have to walk long distances in search of water. When they finally find it in shallow wells, it is not fit for human consumption. Therefore, water points are required in Mulobezi so that people can have access to clean and safe drinking water.

 

Madam, being a district, Mulobezi needs all the facilities that befit its status, such as a youth skills training centre, social amenities for sports, banking facilities, co-operatives, youth empowerment funds, as well as more storage sheds. These are not there.

 

Madam Speaker, when Mulobezi Sawmills, which was used to cut timber closed, the former workers were abandoned in the area, and the population has now grown. Therefore, we request that some areas be de-gazzeted to accommodate the increase in population, as the people have nowhere to go. They were born and grew up there. In addition, we would like some areas to be declared Sub-Bomas so that we can decongest Sichili. 

 

Madam, the PF regime gave licences to Chinese loggers to cut rosewood and mukwa without value addition and social responsibilities. Meanwhile, schools have no desks and chairs, and trucks ferrying logs continue to further damage the bad roads. Therefore, cutting of timber must come to an end forthwith. We want to review the process.

 

Madam, we also need the electricity grid to be extended to some places and solar power installed where the grid cannot reach. Many schools have no access to computers and learning is a challenge.

 

Madam Speaker, the people of Mulobezi are still waiting for justice to prevail over our people who were shot at and wounded in the 2015 Presidential By-Election. The victims were Mushaukwa, Mbangu and Simanga. They want this case to be taken to court now that the UPND is in power so that they can be compensated.

 

Madam Speaker, in conclusion, the people of Mulobezi want roads, schools, clinics, water points, communication towers, radio stations, jobs, women’s empowerment and facilities that go with district status.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank you and I now move to President’s Address.

 

 Madam, as regards to the Motion on the Floor, His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, gave policy directions that would benefit all the people of Zambia from 2022 to 2026. A policy document does not contain many details, as these will be provided by Ministers. The Speech is line with the UPND manifesto, and addresses the wishes of the 2.8 million Zambians who voted for him, as compared to the 1.8 million who were against him. It should also be borne in mind that Rome was not build in a day. You cannot expect a child to start running immediately it is born. The ‘New Dawn’ Administration is only about a month old and has not yet come up with its own Budget. People who are still running the Government are from the previous regime. Therefore, please, give us time to settle down.

 

Madam Speaker, I would like to highlight a few examples from the comprehensive speech.

 

Madam Speaker, the President said that the ‘New Dawn’ Administration will maintain, rehabilitate and upgrade road infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, and Mulobezi is a rural area. Therefore, we need this policy. As stated in my maiden speech, there is no infrastructure to talk about in Mulobezi. Therefore, this is a welcome move for us. The PF regime failed to repair the Sesheke/Livingstone and Simungoma/Luampa roads, but built massive flyover bridges in Lusaka and elsewhere, and claimed that there was mass development countrywide. It is good that the ‘New Dawn’ Administration will reverse this lop-sided development.

 

Madam Speaker, agriculture is the backbone of the country. His Excellency the President, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, talked about restructuring the sector to raise production in crops, livestock and fisheries. The PF regime failed to do this for sure. Not even artificial insemination of animals was done in Mulobezi. The PF also failed to control Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in the Western Province, particularly in Mulobezi. The disease is still there, and animals cannot be brought to Lusaka for sale.

 

Madam Speaker, the President talked about maximising the benefits from gold, cobalt, manganese and other minerals. He also talked about exploration and value addition. In Mulobezi, people were given licences for exploration, but they just dug out minerals and left dangerously deep holes. Therefore, this trend must stop forthwith.

 

Madam Speaker, the President talked about construction and the upgrading of roads and airstrips to tourism sites. This will be wonderful to Mulobezi. The PF failed to develop tourism in Mulobezi, but gave professional hunting licences animals in Sichifulo while the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) is busy arresting villagers found with meat left over by lions and other big cats.

 

Madam Speaker, the President talked about accelerating the construction of dams, water schemes and boreholes. This is a welcome move, and it is what the people of Mulobezi want, as they are tired of moving long distances in search of water.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the President for this policy direction to nip corruption in the bud. Corruption is a dangerous cancer that has robbed Zambians of development. The fast-truck court should be set up quickly to prosecute suspects, especially economic saboteurs.

 

Madam Speaker, many previous regimes paid lip service to decentralisation; they lamentably failed to implement it. The Decentralisation Act needs revision now. The ‘New Dawn’ Administration has now come to accelerate the implementation of the decentralisation of functions from the Central Government to local authorities with matching resources. We shall see the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) increased and used for the benefit of Zambians.

 

Madam Speaker, women play a very important role in our lives by working tirelessly day and night. Therefore, it is gratifying to note that the ‘New Dawn’ Administration will provide skills training for self-employment and increased access to credit. For the youth population, the Government will create opportunities for job and wealth creation. This is our cry.

 

Madam Speaker, in conclusion, the Motion on the Floor must be supported by every patriotic Zambian, as it is for the benefit of all of us. The ‘New Dawn’ Administration has made the motto of ‘One Zambia One Nation’ a reality again since the United National Independent Party (UNIP). What more do we want from the President? Let us give him chance to unite and develop this country. Mere criticism will never take us anywhere.

 

Madam Speaker, I second the Motion 100 per cent.

 

I thank you, Madam. 

 

Ms Chonya (Kafue): Madam Speaker, let me begin by thanking God Almighty for His grace that saw us through the gruesome campaign amid fears of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Indeed, His grace is sufficient and He does grant the desires of our hearts when we seek Him. We can attribute this sweet victory, particularly the ushering into office of the ‘New Dawn’ Government, to His divine intervention and pray that He continues to reign over and direct the affairs of our land as we seek national rebuilding and prosperity.

 

Madam, let me congratulate our Seventh Republican President, His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema, and Her Honour the Vice-President, Mrs Mutale Nalumango, on convincingly winning the 12th August General Elections. Let me also congratulate you and your two Deputies on your election, as well as all my colleagues in this august House on their victory in last month’s elections.

 

Madam Speaker, I owe my victory to the support I received from my party at all levels, especially our campaign teams that worked tirelessly to deliver victory in Kafue for the President and his vice, the Council Chairperson, me, and fifteen councillors out of eighteen in the constituency.

 

Madam, I pay special tribute to Mr Meddy Muleya and his family; Mr Manford Siaju; Mr Joseph Kanyama; Mrs Kalio; Mrs Victoria Shamamba; Gift Muzyamba; Gracious Habene; Mr Fanwell Liswaniso; my four boys, Goodson, Chanda, Charles and Amon; and many others for their support and encouragement that enabled me to sail through the election.

 

Madam Speaker, my family, nuclear and extended, stood by me, as we always do, as sons and daughters of our deceased parents, the late Hon. Aaron Muleya Chonya and Dora Mutebe Chonya. They certainly would have been very proud to see what their offspring have achieved in life. May their souls continue resting in peace.

 

Madam Speaker, I am very proud of my family and will forever cherish my better half, Casewell Chinyama; my children, Dora, Ronnie, Brian, Elvis and Harriet; and our two grandchildren, Chimwemwe and Ralph. Aba mbibandimana bumba, meaning, they take away my loneliness, if I may borrow from the song of our late legendary musician, Mr Smokey Haangala.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mrs Chonya: The wisdom exhibited by all of you makes you not only my family, but also my friends and confidants.

 

Madam Speaker, let me continue expressing my deep appreciation for the people of Kafue for giving me a renewed mandate to preside over the affairs of the constituency for the next five years. If by God’s grace I complete this term, I will be the first Member of Parliament to give Kafue two terms of unbroken service. I am humbled by this opportunity and I can only endeavour to reciprocate the gesture of the good people of Kafue by doing my best to serve them faithfully and diligently, as I did in my previous tenure.

 

Madam, our task, as a new Government, is to work towards addressing some of the pressing challenges our people are facing. Top among these are joblessness and a lack of means of livelihood to enable our people to lead decent lives. This is due to limited job opportunities in Kafue, and I would like to quote from my first maiden speech. I submitted as follows:

 

“Historically, Kafue was an industrial hub that hosted many industries, including the defunct Kafue Textiles of Zambia and Bata Tannery. Today, the town only boasts of the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia and the Kafue Steel Plant. However, these industries still face grave challenges and have not been operating at optimal levels”.

 

This remains the position, and this narrative needs to change if the people of Kafue are to appreciate the ‘New Dawn’ Government. The town has been a sleeping giant waiting to be awakened by a transformational leadership that puts people and human development first at the core of its business, and I believe that is what the UPND Government stands for.

 

Madam Speaker, industrialisation and recapitalisation should be the buzzwords if we are to uplift the welfare of our people. Supporting Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) to operate at its full capacity will not only create the much-needed jobs, but also boost our agricultural sector, which will, in turn, create more jobs and assure food security in our country and beyond. Agriculture and support to all its associated activities is the way to go.

 

Madam, for our youth to derive meaningful benefits from the labour market and our economy, they need to acquire knowledge and skills. The victory of the last election has been attributed to the many youths who went en masse to cast their votes to bring about the change we all desired. There will be no better way of rewarding them than by completing their youth resource centre in Mungu Ward, which has remained incomplete since it was initiated under the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) Government.

 

Madam Speaker, educational support for our youth remains key to enabling them to pursue their studies in various institutions of learning, both public and private. This was our promise, and we are obliged to ensure that no youth drops out of school, college or university on account of a lack of financial support. Similarly, our women desire various forms of empowerment, and I pledge to remain engaged with them as we explore various opportunities under the new dispensation.

 

Madam Speaker, Kafue still lacks in many social services, like good roads, clinics, schools, water supply and markets. These remain the cry of our people. Kafue Township only benefitted from a paltry 15 km from the Lusaka 400 Road Project. More needs to be done to change the face of our town. The residents of Kafue Estates, Shantumbu, Chawama, Kasendele, Shikoswe, Greenfields, Chiawa, Muchuto and many other areas, who are taxpayers, all desire to see roads of bituminous standard in their communities. Equally, many feeder roads are in a deplorable state, and we hope that the road works already in motion can be expedited before the onset of the Rainy Season, especially with the coming support from the World Bank. I am particularly happy that Shamilonga will get a tarred road from this support. For the first time, the people there will see a road and, hopefully, many other services will follow that they have been denied, like education and health. I am proud to be associated with this development, which is a result of our collaborative effort with the local authorities and the resilient people of Shamilonga.

 

Madam Speaker, the Link Zambia 8000 Kilometre Road Project from Leopards Hill to Chirundu via Chiawa will ease a lot of the traffic and pressure on the Lusaka/Chirundu Road via Kapiri Ngozi, where many lives are lost.

 

Madam, let me reassure the people of Kafue that I will remain their true servant. My passion to serve them is reinvigorated by the trust they demonstrated in me through their massive vote even when it was commonplace to say Kafue was a one-term constituency. We have broken this record together, and I will remain indebted to them for that.

 

Madam, amidst adversity and heavy criticism from opponents who attempted to paint the picture of failure, the good people of Kafue were able to judge and see that despite being in Opposition, I was able to lobby for some developments in Kafue, which include, but are not limited to:

 

  1. the construction of township roads, which I alluded to earlier;
  2. the construction of a mini-hospital in Chiawa and police staff houses in Kafue Town;
  3. the construction of Chifwema Secondary School and the partial opening of Chikupi Day Secondary School;
  4. the erection of telecommunication towers in various locations;
  5. the initiation of classroom blocks in collaboration with the communities of Kanyanja in Chisankane; and
  6. undertaking of various projects with the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), among them the construction of staff houses, police posts and maternity wings.

 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear! ECL legacy!

 

Ms Chonya: Madam Speaker, my social responsibility extends to meeting the educational needs of a limited number of vulnerable children, supporting youth sporting activities and providing designated transport for use by bereaved families in Kafue. Thus, I rededicate myself to the service of Kafue without fear or favour, and extend an olive branch to those who sought to bring me down, so that we can together work for the betterment of our people and community, because the people of Kafue have spoken. One well-wisher succinctly put it this way:

 

“This showed that the people of Kafue like and love your works. I know there is a minority that want or wanted to frustrate you, but you stood firm and absolute to face the challenge head-on and came out victorious. You are the best for Kafue at the moment. Embrace all of us as your own.

 

Madam Speaker, I am always humbled by such sentiments, and I can only seek to do the best I can in return.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Ms Chonya: Madam Speaker, let me now make some few comments on the President’s Speech. Of course, the comments come in the wake of having listened to the speech that was just delivered by His Excellency the President at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which has received a lot many accolades the world over. It should give us pride, as Zambians, that we have sent a man who is flying the Zambian flag very high. Indeed, our President is a reflection of the collective wisdom and choice of the Zambian people; a man who seems very competent and confident in his job. Never again will Zambians choose a President based on a song. I remember that last time, people simply sung, “Uyu wine eo batushila” and then we went with it.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Ms Chonya: What we have now is the choice of the people. After listening to his speech at the UNGA, I reflected on the speech that he delivered during his inauguration at Heroes Stadium.

 

Madam, looking at the speech we are now discussing, which was delivered during the Official Opening of the First Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly, indeed, it gives a lot of inspiration to some of us who genuinely want to analyse it with all the objectivity that it deserves. The speech touched on pertinent issues and all critical areas of our economy and social well-being. There is no way somebody can fail to see the substance and the inspiration that in that speech.

 

Madam Speaker, I agree with what another hon. Member observed; that the President was not here to give us technical jargon of what was going to happen in Zambia. He was here simply to give us a direction and set the direction to where we needed to have been going, and I think he managed to do that.

 

Madam Speaker, the other day, I was reading an article by Mr Dickson Jere, who actually confirmed that arising from the President’s Speech in which he gave direction to the courts and law enforcement agencies to ensure that people were not held unnecessarily long, it had become easier to get a police bond. That is just a demonstration of the intent of that speech. So, it remains for his technical team, the competent men and women of his Cabinet, the Directors and Permanent Secretaries (PSs) in the ministries to do what the speech set direction for.

 

Madam Speaker, on a different platform, I said that it was not for the President to come here and tell us how many hectares of soya beans or tobacco we should grow in order to diversify in agriculture. Those details will come in the technical reports of his people. It is the duty of all of us to support the President in different ways so that he can attain those aspirations. After all, those aspirations are meant for the good of us, the Zambians. We shall not sit here, fold our arms and wait for the President to fail so that we can come and criticise him in 2026 after having not done our part to ensure that his aspirations are realised. So, l call upon the men and women on both sides to do our best in our various constituencies to support the President’s vision because it is meant to emancipate us, the Zambians, from poverty.

 

Madam Speaker, from the three speeches by the President I have mentioned, I took an interest in the comments on gender. At the inauguration ceremony, it was almost silent. However, during the Official Opening of Parliament, the comment on gender issues was magnified. At the UNGA, the President spoke well and made good commitments around gender equality, which gives us, women, a lot of hope that, indeed, he is set to change the narrative of women representation in this country. Currently, there is 13 per cent women representation. In fact, it is less than 15 per cent at Parliament, in the Cabinet and among Councillors. Women are supposed to help in making decisions because they understand the challenges that we all face. The other day, I was saddened to learn that in the entire Northern Province of Zambia, there is only one female Councillor. How then are we going to ease the challenges of access to water, since women are the ones who walk long distances to fetch water? Women also look after the sick and bear the burden of most of the challenges that we all face. So, men, especially the men of this House, should support women, who are our mothers, sisters and daughters. If we do not support reforms that are meant to enhance the status of women, then, we are only helping to do injustice to our daughters, granddaughters and nieces, who should be helped to take up these responsibilities if we did the right thing.

 

I thank you, Madam Speaker.

 

Mr Miyutu (Kalabo Central): Madam Speaker, thank you for according me this chance to present yet another maiden speech, which is the third one. I will then positively pass some comments on the President’s Speech.

 

Madam Speaker, firstly, let me congratulate you on being the first female Speaker in the history of this country, which got Independence in 1964. We are happy that, today, a female is presiding over the business of this House. It is not an easy activity to come up with the votes to elect a female Speaker. Let me also congratulate the First Deputy Speaker, who is equally female, and the Second Deputy Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker, let me also congratulate His Excellency the President of this country, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, and Her Honour the Vice-President, Madam Mutale Nalumango, on coming out victorious and winning the elections with a landslide. In the difference is clearly seen the fact that the people of Zambia were aiming for a mighty change. You could not doubt, looking at the figures, that the whole country wanted change and that the change was to reject the Patriotic Front (PF) Government and replace it with the United Party for National Development (UPND), headed by the man who we call in the Western Province HH, Habulela Hapumi, meaning that he does what he says.

 

Madam Speaker, I congratulate all my hon. Colleagues in this House, those returning and those coming for the first time, on winning their seats in the past elections, which took place on 12th August, 2021. The twelfth day of is a very important day for the people of Kalabo because they have rejected the PF three times. So, it was a great day for us. By 0600 hours on 13th August, 2021, the UPND had already won; it was a marvellous day and a clear-cut win.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank all the levels of the UPND Administration, the National Management Committee (NMC), the provincial committee in the Western Province, the district committee, constituency committee, the ward committees and the section committees, for agreeing to allow me to contest and to make the party win. I cannot forget to thank my family; my mother, my children, my wife and everybody in that stream, for their efforts and for allowing me to go on the campaign trail, which was very tasking.

 

Madam Speaker, the people of Kalabo never knew violence. They choose people not because of colour, sex or religion; they choose those they believe will work.

 

Madam Speaker, what are we going to remember the PF for? In Kalabo, we will remember it for being discriminatory and supplying relief food to PF cadres only. We are going to remember the PF for failing to provide medicine in hospitals and clinics. People resorted to buying medicine in non-existent drug stores. In Kalabo, we are going to remember the PF for failing to construct the Kalabo/Sikongo Road, a very important economic road, which would have joined Kalabo and Zambia to Angola for quick trade. We are also going to remember the PF for the failed Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 10 of 2019. It did all that it could, but the Bill could not go through. Further, we are going to remember the PF for failing to construct even one school in the whole district for the ten years that it was in power. You can tell what type of a Government it was. Additionally, we are going to remember the PF because it enabled all the projects to be done in Lusaka, but it could not allow projects to be done in Kalabo. That is what we are going to remember the PF for.

 

Madam Speaker, the new Government is equal to the task. In view of the speeches the President made at the inauguration ceremony, Official Opening of the National Assembly and at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), it is clear that we really have a President who fits to be a President for the people of Zambia.

 

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Miyutu: Madam Speaker, imagine, fifty-seven years after Independence, we still use the word ‘brutal.’ The days for a government that promotes brutality are long gone. We now want a government that is going to promote and enhance human rights, and respect people.

 

Madam Speaker, today, you can walk on the streets of Kalabo wearing a T-shirt of any political party, and nobody will touch you. So, I thank the ‘New Dawn’ Government.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Miyutu: Madam Speaker, let me now say one or two words on the President’s Speech.

 

Madam Speaker, I read the speech from the first word to the last. If we had speeches of this nature and worked accordingly, this country would have gone a long way forward. So, we have to support the good things in the speech. The President has not opposed anything about the PF. Instead, he used the word ‘enhance’ and, when such a word is used, it shows appreciation of the former. So, I do not see why somebody can fail to support a speech that is all-embracing. The speech is appreciating, only that the Government is going to add where our colleagues failed.

 

Madam Speaker, the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) has to be relooked at because it has not worked the way it was planned to. So, the President said that it is going to be reviewed so that it serves its purpose.

 

Madam Speaker, let me not forget to talk about the education sector. There are words that are very cardinal there. The problem is that some people just talk without analysing words. 

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Miyutu: Madam Speaker, to enable a vulnerable child is at the centre of education, and that is what we are crying for. Our people in rural areas are not able to pay school fees. So, the Government has to enhance or enable, especially, the girl child who is being married off before the right age. Walking around in villages, you find many girls married. The reason is very simple; the PF did not construct schools, employ teachers or support education.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Miyutu: That is how it is.

 

Madam Speaker, is it possible for a child to be born, grow up and become aged within a day? No. in nature, there is nothing like that. Everything has to pass through time. There is time to start, there is morning, there is afternoon and then there is evening. Therefore, you cannot expect evening time to come in the morning of the day. So, we expect free education, but not today. Four weeks after the President got into office and our colleagues want to see free education. This is why I support colleagues who are saying that we need to educate some people because they do not know how these things should be implemented. Adult education should be promoted so that people can understand issues. Where I come from, there is a saying that goes, nakolo kekuhya kukwatala, meaning, when you are hungry and you find a fruit that is not ripe, you will look at it and think that it will ripen instantly, but no, it will not. You will have to wait for it to ripen and be ready to be eaten at the right time. There is, therefore, a need for patience because things are coming. Already, you can see that there is calm in the country and everybody is breathing freely. Even the old people in villages are happy and still celebrating. This shows that we are on the right course.

 

Mr Sampa: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Sampa: Madam Speaker, I rise on a breach of procedure of Standing Order No. 65, which states that an hon. Member who is debating shall confine his or her debate to the subject under discussion.

 

Madam Speaker, the President’s Speech did not mention anything about free education. Why is the hon. Member talking about it? I seek your serious ruling as to whether he has confined himself to the content of the speech.

 

I thank you, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Member, that point of order is not admitted because from the time that we started, there has been debate on free education and how it will be implemented. Therefore, the hon. Member debating is on the right track.

 

Hon. Member, continue with your debate.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Miyutu: Madam Speaker, I thank you.

 

Madam, in paragraph 38, the President says:

 

“In addition, we will provide health facilities with modern equipment and adopt a systematic approach to health infrastructure maintenance.”

 

Madam Speaker, that is the President caring for the people. When you look at Kalabo District Hospital, you would not think it is found in a country where there is no civil war. It is a hospital like one in a discarded or war-torn country. That was under the PF regime, the former Government.  Now, the President, through this speech, is going to take care of such structures. That is the hope that he is giving to the people of Zambia and the people of Kalabo, in particular. I am sure the people of Kalabo are waiting for the rejuvenation of the district.

 

Madam Speaker, the President talked about rural development and taking care of people in rural areas. To implement those plans, he has created a ministry responsible for rural development. That is very cardinal, as it shows that this Government is for everybody. We want this service that the people in urban areas receive to also reach the people in rural areas.

 

Madam Speaker, I do not want to overemphasise this because it is already a clean game. We are at the beginning of our five years and are very hopeful that all the failings of the PF are going to be buried and new things will come up.

 

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Kolala (Lufubu): Madam Speaker, firstly, allow me to congratulate the President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Mr Hakainde Hichilema, and Her Honour the Vice-President, Mrs Mutale Nalumango, on the sweet victory that they have given to the people of Zambia.

 

Madam Speaker, I also congratulate all hon. Members of Parliament. Nominated and elected, congratulations to them all.  Further congratulations go to the Presiding Officers, that is, you and your two Deputies.

 

Madam Speaker, before I say much, allow me to appreciate some people, beginning with the President of the Republic of Zambia –

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

As you appreciate those people, please, mask up.

 

Mr Kolala: Madam Speaker, I am sorry. I thought this was done for prevention of transmission of the disease, but the nearest to me is about six metres away. I did not know that the requirement was also a bit academic.

 

Madam Speaker: Please,  just mask up. Those are the rules, and we should comply with them.

 

Mr Kolala: Madam Speaker, I thank you.

 

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, for his resilience in fighting for this country. At times, I fail to imagine how Zambia would have been had he not won the election. When you look at where he has come from, he endured fifteen years of persecution, yet he stood firm and the family supported him. Today, we can see sobriety in this country. He deserves credit for that.

 

Madam Speaker, I feel it is important for any normal human being in this country today to thank the President and be inspired by him. We have read stories about Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela. It is so gratifying that, today, we, as Zambians, have a story to tell because we have our own who suffered for this country for fifteen years. That is why I feel that Zambia will no longer be the same.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the members of the United Party for National Development (UPND) at all levels because they supported our President and our Vice-President, and gave us the opportunity to be in this House and be able to debate issues that should bring development. My special thanks also go to my campaign manager and his team, and my family and friends. More special thanks go to the people of Lufubu Constituency for giving me this opportunity to be here and be able to represent them. What a time to be a Member of Parliament. This makes me remain indebted to President Hakainde Hichilema because this opportunity has come at a point when Zambia is making history. For me to be part of the history of Zambia has been because President Hakainde Hichilema fought the battle to this end. The Presidents for other political parties have been seen to faint the moment they are called to a police station.

 

Laughter

 

Mr Kolala: Others would even – You know, there are many things we can refer to, but I really appreciate and will remain indebted.

 

Madam Speaker, indeed, this is the time the people of Zambia have been waiting for; a time for Zambia to be liberated from the bondage of poverty, deprivation of liberties, unexplainable inequalities, deliberate abuse of human rights and the worst tribalism ever, to mention but a few. The people of Lufubu Constituency are very excited about this change of Government and have great expectation from the ‘New Dawn’ Government. Lufubu, I think, is the only constituency that has never tasted even an example of development. For you to understand this, let me, maybe, just describe the constituency a bit

 

Madam Speaker, the constituency is 6,036 km2 and has approximately 25,000 people who purely depend on farming. It is a beautiful constituency that boasts of abundant land with good fertile soil, and generally plenty vegetation and water. It is in Lufubu Constituency where you will find the larger part of the Lukanga Swamps, a place that even when you go outside Zambia, for example, to America, where the President is, when you mention the Lukanga Swamps, it will be one of those features that define Zambia. Further, the constituency hosts a stretch of about 80 km of the Kafue River, from Mongu at the boundary of Mumbwa and Mpusu in Chief Kaindu, to Luswishi at the boundary of Chiefs Ngabwe, Mukubwe and Mwinuna.

 

Madam Speaker, Lufubu Constituency is in a new district called Ngabwe, exactly 157 km from Kabwe Post Office to the site proposed to host the district offices. I am saying this because right now, the only thing that is there are a few unfinished houses. Even the foundation for the Civic Centre has not yet been laid.

 

Madam Speaker, to really show you that there are certain places that were seriously neglected, allow me to just highlight a few of the challenges our constituency is facing.

 

Madam Speaker, the last time the road in my constituency was graded was in 1988. By then, I was still young. I got this history from people who were there. The road is extremely bad, to the extent that one spends six hours or more to drive over a distance of 157 km. To make things even worse, during the Rainy Season, the road –

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

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

 

Mr Kolala: Madam Speaker, I support the speech of the President because it has highlighted many issues that really affected the country. I will mention a few issues raised although there were many. The speech was, maybe, one which some of the Presidents would not have managed to come up with because it was quite long and had a lot of detail.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Kolala: Madam, the speech talked about human rights being abused. It is His Excellency the President who even said in his speech that there would be no cadreism. Those of you who are not from Lusaka would not know how bad the situation was. It became a problem to even pick up your wife from town because cadres would come and harass or even beat you in the presence of your wife and children because you needed to pay them for picking up your own wife. That issue was addressed in the President’s Address. Right now, there is total tranquillity in Lusaka and all towns.

 

Madam, if we talk about the most critical component for us from rural constituencies, this speech categorically, and in all aspects, gave us hope that there would be development in rural areas because the President said we are driving development or funds from Lusaka to rural areas. So, what more would we want? Our friends stand up to talk about free education. I think it was there in the speech. The only thing was that it will be given to those who deserve it. I do not know why people must capitalise on this and use it to criticise the President’s Speech. Otherwise, the speech addresses all aspects of life. There is unity; the spirit of ‘One Zambia One Nation’, which we did not see in the past seven years. In the past seven years, if you listened to the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Television or Radio, the only thing you heard was that there was the majority and minority, and that Tongas would never rule. I do not know whether Mr Hakainde Hichilema has now managed to become President because he has turned into a Tswana or a Sotho.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Madam Speaker, when you look at the Speech, you will see that it was a call to unity and talked about issues that affect the ordinary Zambian. Talk about youth and women empowerment, it is all there. As someone who comes from a constituency where our people have never been supported in any way, I feel this speech brings hope to the people of Lufubu Constituency and those who have better results, but do not have the capacity to go to colleges. It also gives hope to those who do not have what other children here, in town, have. They hope to have those things too.

 

Madam Speaker, I am very sure that this coming Rainy Season, Lufubu Constituency will not be cut off because this ‘New Dawn’ Government will answer to my call and do something to make sure that we remain connected to the rest of the world.

 

Madam Speaker, when you look at the map of Zambia, you will see that my constituency is at the centre of that map, but there is no communication there. However, this speech gives me hope because everything was mentioned. Everything will be given to rural constituencies, and I am happy, I should repeat this, ‘I am happy’ to be part of the team that will make history. I say so because for us, having all these things and seeing development will be history, as they are things that have never been there before. Our friends boast of unprecedented development in Zambia, but we do not know where it is.

 

Madam Speaker, this Government has people who are capable of delivering. So, let us not compare it with the calibre we used to have in the past seven years; the kind that would tell you there was nothing it could do. In this Government, everything has got answers. When you look at the calibre of the hon. Ministers, you can tell that things are going to work out, not those thieves – Forgive me. When I went to school, they did not teach me any other word to use in place of thief. Maybe, ‘criminal’ can do.

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

Mr Kolala: These criminals deprived ...

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

Kindly withdraw the word ‘thief’.

 

Mr Kolala: Madam Speaker, I withdraw it. However, I hope that next time, you will help me with a better word to use because people stole, and I do not even know which term to use to describe them.

 

Madam Speaker, those who were just there to steal did not have solutions. We have people who are here to serve, and they have solutions to every problem, including the need for free education. Everything contained in the speech will happen because –

 

Mr Chilangwa: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

 

Madam Speaker: A point of order is raised.

 

Mr Chilangwa: Madam Speaker, you have guided our hon. Colleague to withdraw that term, but he continues running around with that word. How can a gentleman debate like chilingalinga, which is a headless chicken or snake? How can he continue defying your directives and direction? I seek your serious ruling. People must come to terms, start behaving like hon. Members of Parliament and start debating in an honourable fashion. I seek your serious ruling on this particular matter. When you have guided, you have guided, and nobody must challenge you. I submit.

 

Madam Speaker: Thank you for that point of order.

 

The hon. Member who is debating is actually out of order. I have guided and he should follow the guidance from the Chair. If he has no alternative word to use, then he should avoid using the word that is unparliamentary.

 

Continue, but please withdraw the word ‘thieves’ or ‘stole.’

 

Mr Kolala: Madam Speaker, I withdraw, and I thank you for the opportunity that you have given me to speak on the Motion.

 

Mr Nyambose (Chasefu): Madam Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to make my maiden speech. I will start with my maiden speech and later contribute to debate on the President’s Speech when he opened Parliament.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank you once again for according me this opportunity to deliver my maiden speech on the Floor of this august House. As I do so, let me join other hon. Members in congratulating you on your election as the first female Speaker of our great nation. I also congratulate the First Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker on their deserved election to their positions.

 

Madam, I pay a special tribute to my dear wife, Priscilla Kamona Nyambose; my children; and the entire family for being on my side during my political journey. Being an independent Parliamentary candidate, especially in the Eastern Province, and Chasefu, in particular, was not an easy journey. I will be failing in my duties if I do not tell this House and the people of Chasefu that it was a difficult campaign, as the powers of the then Government descended on me, but the people stood with me. I am here in appreciation of the people of Chasefu.

 

Madam Speaker, I also pay a special tribute to Mr Green Makamo, Mr Moses Simfukwe, Mr Chabala, and Mr and Mrs Remmy Nyirongo, the people who believed in me and stood with me during this journey.

 

Madam, I would also be failing in my duties if I did not recognise the great effort and dedication of my campaign team led by Mr Yamikani Zimba and other senior members of my campaign team like Mr Muyeyiso Chirwa, Pearson Chunda, Mabvuto Mbewe, Suzyo Ngoma, Dickson Zimba, Mushabati Musazulwa, Gijibu Nyirenda, Sandson Kamanga, King Saonga, Diamon Ziba, Mama Mercy Tembo, Museveni Zimba; all co-ordinators; and ward officials, just to mention but a few.

 

Madam Speaker, I also pay a special tribute to all council workers in the Republic of Zambia and all civil servants for good reason; I stand here, a Member of Parliament, having come from the rank and file of council employees. I was not a council officer, but a clerical officer, who rose to become president for council workers in this Republic for over fifteen years. I became Deputy Secretary-General of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and a Commissioner in the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Now, I am a Member of Parliament. My special thanks go to council workers from among whom I came, and to all the civil servants who gave me that opportunity to serve them in various positions.

 

Madam Speaker, as I said, I alluded to, I served as President of the Zambia United Local Authorities Workers Union (ZULAWU) for many years. I also served as Deputy Secretary-General of the ZCTU, where I was in charge of finance and business. I also served on various boards, such as Chairman of the Staff Affairs Committee of the Local Authorities Superannuation Fund (LASF), and member of the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) Board.

 

Hon. Member: Ema Independent!

 

Mr Nyambose: I also served as Commissioner in the current CSC, but I resigned.

 

Mr Amutike: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

 

Hon. Members: Maiden speech!

 

Madam Speaker: It is his maiden speech. So, he has the right to read.

 

Mr Amutike: He should not bore us with –

 

Madam Speaker: Continue, hon. Member on the Floor.

 

Mr Nyambose:  Madam Speaker, thank you very much.

 

Hon. Member: Ema CV aya!

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

Mr Nyambose: Madam Speaker, you may wish to note that I have been taking time to orient myself on what happens, and I did not realise that I was out of order by giving my background. Thank you so much, for your protection.

 

Madam Speaker: Hon. Member, just continue with your maiden speech. You are losing time.

 

Mr Nyambose:  Madam Speaker, I will be failing if I do not appreciate the people who have greatly contributed to my political life. One of them is Hon. Sylvia Masebo, the current Minister of Health, who was my Member of Parliament and Minister of Local Government when I was a Clerical Officer at Chongwe District Council, where I was also a union leader at the same time I was President of the union. Today, I have joined the person who mentored me in Parliament, and I would be failing in my duties if I did not appreciate her.

 

Madam Speaker, I also appreciate Hon. Elvis Nkandu, the Minister of Youth, Sport and Arts. He was my dear colleague when we were transforming the local government system. He was with the Zambia National Marketers Association (ZANAMA), and he introduced StreetNet in this country when we were trying to formalise the informal sector.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank Hon. Mike Mposha, who was Deputy Mayor at that time and we were together in the union. Hon. Samakayi also mentored me when he was in local government as Director of Finance. Hon. Yotam Mtayachalo, who is my colleague now, was the General-Secretary of National Energy Sector and Allied Workers Union (NESAWU) while I was President of ZULAWU. We have come a long way.

 

Madam, I also recognise Hon. Steven Kampyongo, who was my Minister at Ministry of Local Government, and whom I have joined here.

 

Interruptions

 

Mr Nyambose: I also recognise Hon. Chitotela, who was also my Minister at the Ministry Local Government. Hon. Kang’ombe was President of the Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ), and we have met in this House.

 

Madam Speaker, I also pay special tributes to the entire trade union movement, especially those I worked with, both former and current leaders, such as Hon. Fackson Shamenda; Hon. Joyce Simukoko; Hon. Roy Mwaba; Mr Leonard Hikaumba; Chishimba Nkole; Mr Cosmas Mukuka, who was my General-Secretary when I served under him as Deputy Secretary-General; Mr Elaston Njobvu; Joy Beene; and Mr Joseph Chewe.

 

Madam Speaker, I thank the almighty God, whose great mercies have sustained me from the time the former ruling party rejected me and I decided to stand on the people’s ticket as an Independent; the position that I hold as I stand here today.

 

Madam Speaker, my sincere gratitude go to senior Chief Magodi V and Chief Phikamalaza V, and all their indunas and headmen; the clergy; and all the people of Chasefu Constituency for adopting me and eventually electing me as their Member of Parliament.

 

Madam Speaker, I will be failing in my duty if I do not express my displeasure on the discriminatory manner in which development was distributed.

 

Madam Speaker: Order, hon. Member!

 

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

 

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Nyambose: Madam Speaker, I start by appreciating the President’s Speech. During my time in leadership, I have read many speeches, and I have followed many speeches delivered by Former Presidents, leaders and Members of Parliament. In this speech, for the people of Chasefu, there is hope.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Nyambose: Apart from having hope in the speech, the people of Chasefu have hope in President HH (Mr Hakainde Hichilema). I say so because of how discriminatory development in this country was. From the time I sat here the first day, I have been listening from both sides, and my heart bleeds when I hear some people indicate that there was unprecedented development in this country and our hon. Colleagues claim that they were developing this country without leaving any one behind. If you went to Chasefu, you would not believe you are in this country. Fifty-seven years after Independence, we still have a road like the Lundazi/Chama Road. Some people boast of unprecedented development, yet we have the worst roads in this country; a bad gravel road, yet it connects one province to another. Two months from now, Chama will be cut off because the bridge at Lwambwa has collapsed.

 

Madam Speaker, I will not only speak about the Chama/Lundazi Road. Actually, it is ‘Chasefu/Chama’ Road because when I say Lundazi, it is like I am including Lundazi. The bad road actually starts from the boundary of Chasefu and Lundazi.

 

Madam Speaker, economic recovery or transformation will be a pipe dream for the people of Chasefu if the Chasefu/Chama Road is not constructed. So, the President’s Speech gives me hope because I am very positive that there will be equal distribution of resources in this country.

 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

 

Mr Nyambose: Madam Speaker, as you leave Chipata going to Chasefu, there is yet another bad road called the Chipata/Lundazi Road. When you are driving and there is a small Toyota Corolla ahead of you, you would think it has turned the other way off the road while going through a ditch. That is the worst road and, as a Member of Parliament for Chasefu, I will not talk about Chasefu only. Economic transformation starts with good roads. I am very hopeful, and I appeal and request the ‘New Dawn’ Government to look at the people of Chasefu by making a bituminous standard road for them.

 

Madam Speaker, the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) is a national scandal, and I am very happy today because one of the media –

 

Madam Speaker: Order!

 

(Debate adjourned)

 

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The House adjourned at 1910 hours until 1430 hours on Thursday, 23rd September, 2021.

 

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