The presidency is a tough job – Nevers

Nevers Mumba

The problem with the Patriotic Front is a lack of fiscal discipline, says Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) leader Nevers Mumba.

In an interview with 5FM yesterday, the opposition leader observed that the PF “has a lot of grandiose ideas of buildings and doing stuff but this had to come from a source which has an envelope which has money in it,” .

He went on to discuss the role he played in bringing the $7.8 billion investment by Barrick-Gold when they bought Lumwana Mine after moving the bulk of their investment from Chile to Zambia. He explained that the Barrick-Gold CEO was attracted to invest in Zambia because of the sound economic policies that the MMD had in place and because of the good political rhetoric they heard form the then president Levy Mwanawasa.

He lamented how the PF has failed to significantly grow the reserves the MMD left behind in 2011. He said that the PF should stop blaming global factors for the current economic crisis. He gave the example of how the MMD between 2007 and 2009 managed to manage the Zambian economy well despite their being a worldwide financial crisis. He said Zambians did not even feel the crisis.

He emphasized that good leadership is important to navigate through any difficulties that are created by external factors. He said that the Zambians will not accept such excuses because they expect their leaders to take responsibility and solve the problems since that is why the elected them into office.

“No one is going to excuse this government to say ‘Because of China, we forgive you’. It doesn’t work that way. We provide leadership, that’s why we stand for elections. It’s a tough job to be president and I think people should take responsibility when we take those offices,” Dr Mumba said.