MWENDA MOCKS UPND OVER COST OF LIVING

By Lumbiwe Mwanza

IT IS unfortunate that the New Dawn Government will soon be celebrating its two years in office amidst high cost of living, opposition Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP) party spokesperson Trymore Mwenda has said.

But Evangelical Youth Alliance (EYA) Executive Director Moses Lungu said while it was important for the opposition political parties to offer credible checks and balances, there was a need for sobriety in the manner they criticised the Government.

Mr. Mwenda told The Scoop that if no deliberate strategies were put in place, the welfare of citizens would continue to deteriorate as the cost of living continued to escalate.

He said that amidst such hardships, it was critical that the New Dawn Government showed more commitment towards issues affecting the citizenry.

“Before the prices of mealie meal skyrocketed, ZMP had advised the Government to not offload maize from the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to neighbouring countries as that had the current implications such as shortages and high prices,” Mr. Mwenda said.

He said that if the challenge was not tackled quickly, the UPND administration should be ready to face the negative effects in 2026.

He emphasised that modalities aimed at cushioning the high cost of living needed to be strengthened or risk losing citizens confidence.

He said that efforts aimed at tackling the rising cost of living should be the Government’s priority at the moment.

“The Government should urgently take various measures to help the people cope with the rising cost of living. It is concerning that the cost of living in Zambia, which has been on the rise the past months, would continue. Consumers will need some form of cushioning from this rising cost of living,” he said.

But Rev. Lungu said people like Mr. Mwenda who were political prostitutes must not even open their mouths to talk about the challenges facing the country because they contributed to the challenges Zambians were going through.

“When the PF was in power, it was people like Mwenda who were busy praising every wrong move the party was making. All the challenges we are facing today were not created by the UPND but the PF. Had we not recklessly borrowed, we would not have been where we are today because we are simply feeling the effects of poor decisions made by the PF which Mwenda supported.

“He has now jumped ship in the hope that he would revive his fortunes but at the end of the day, what is it that his party has to offer? They messed up the PF and took it into opposition by defending everything but today they have shifted camp and they think they will make it. Yes, things are bad but who got us here?” Rev. Lungu asked.