President Lungu
Dr. Shamapande, who was president of the defunct National Leadership for Development (NLD) and took part in the 2001 general elections, says it is time to chande government as the current one does not seem to grasp the depth of the Zambian people’s real suffering and anguish.
He has endorsed the candidature of the opposition UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema, calling on Zambians to give him and his team a chance to fix the “broken” economy.
Dr. Shamapande believes Hichilema has the the qualifications, the temperament and a concrete practical programme to uplift the Zambian people’s lives and take the country to greater heights.
“I never take any political stand lightly. Here is my central argument – Zambia today is in distress, facing dire economic times as people’s suffering deepens because of the failed PF policies of the past five years,” Dr. Shamapande said in a statement.
“We have seen a collapsed Kwacha and skyrocketing inflation with devastating consequences on the people’s living conditions, with rising prices of mealie meal, kapenta, housing, fuel, transport, education, healthcare, and every essential for the survival of the vast majority of Zambians; daily power blackouts like never before seen in this country resulting from punitive load shedding; massive unemployment especially among the young people; job shedding in the mining industry; escalating poverty levels ravaging millions; ill health, severe hunger, homelessness and squalor; a return of street children displaying truly distressing scenes of human struggles for survival on the urban streets; shattered education with children out of school because parents cannot afford school fees; crumbling health care services whereby major hospitals like the UTH look like war zones; soaring budget deficits; a crippling national debt; critical deterioration and erosion of human rights and fundamental democratic and civil freedoms of assembly, expression and association, and more – all hitting the hardest within the past five years,” he added.
And Dr. Shamapande has observed that apart from the selection of Vice President Inonge Wina as President Edgar Lungu’s running mate, nothing of significance came out of the PF campaign and manifesto launch at Heroes Stadium.
“Last Saturday, on 21 May, we listened to PF launch of its manifesto for the August elections at Heroes Stadium amid pomp and circumstance. Apart from the selection of Vice President Inonge Wina as President Edgar Lungu’s running mate, nothing else of significance came out of that gathering, except for the usual political platitudes of saying “we have done wonders in developing infrastructure…”. Where is the PF vision to get Zambia across the river? Where is its concrete programme, if re-elected into office, to tackle abject poverty, mitigate the suffering, and bring down the run away cost of living with unaffordable prices of food, medicines, housing, fuel, transport etc? PF had nothing to say about the life-and-death issues facing this country.”