By Sean Tembo
1. As Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) it is our considered opinion that the continued attempt by Government to get a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at a time that the price for copper is at an all-time high of about US$9,000 per metric tonne, is ample evidence that the PF have failed to run this country and need to be retired in the national interest on 12th August this year.
It must be noted that IMF bailout loans are meant for countries that have no resources and are on the brink of total economic collapse. However, Zambia has an abundance of resources and world economic parameters are in our favour due to the advent of electric vehicles which has caused a major surge in the price of copper which is a major component in their manufacture and is our major export commodity.
2. Given the circumstances at hand, our expectations as Patriots for Economic Progress were that the Government would be talking about how best the country should utilize the surge in copper prices for our economic prosperity and not talking about getting an IMF bailout loan.
The fact that the PF and its Government see borrowing as a solution to every national economic problem renders credence to our long held position that the Patriotic Front is a party that is made up of incompetent people that were in group C in class. Therefore, any reasonable Zambian should not expect improvement in the manner that the PF Government will run the affairs of this nation, should Zambians be naive enough to re-elect them back into office.
3. As Patriots for Economic Progress, we wish to appeal to the Zambian people to vote into office a political party that will competently and diligently run the affairs of this nation and which will be able to convert the huge economic potential that Zambia has into actual wealth for the benefit of Zambians. That political party is the Patriots for Economic Progress. The only thing that the PF and its Government are capable of doing is contracting more and more national debt, despite the fact that we have already defaulted on our debt repayment.
Come 12th August, if Zambians insist on re-electing this collection of group C individuals when group A is available, the end result will be continued shrinkage of the economy, unemployment, poverty, squalor and corruption. Zambians have a very important decision to make on 12th August this year. We have already seen what group C is able to do. It is now time to try group A.