Chitotela wants the culture of character assassination to end in Zambian politics

He says jealous politicians will always find faults and make false accusations rivals supportive to the president with the hope of wanting them isolated.

By Francis Maingaila
Lusaka (20-01-19) The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has called for an immediate end to the tradition of character assassination saying it has the capacity to derail the development agenda.
Pambashe PF Member of Parliament Ronald Chitotela told journalists at the PF Interactive Forum held at Longacre Lodge on Sunday that the people have the duty to trust elected leaders.
Hon Chitotela said jealous politicians will always find faults and make false accusations on people supportive to the sitting president with the hope of wanting them isolated.
He said the accusations being made against ministers serving under president Edgar Lungu were made before to the minister that served under successive presidents before and no evidence was provided to justify the claims.
Not even the presidents were spared from these thieving allegations as can be seen from the cases of former presidents Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda and Michael Sata,” Hon Chitotela observed.

Hon. Chitotela expected the people that accused the former presidents of which some have died to come up with evidence to justify their claims.
The most annoying thing is that, today some of the accusers are calling the late presidents saints whom they accused of being of being thieves bedore their death.
He waned president Lungu to be on the look out on people attacking his minister because when there will be no one to attack, they will go go president him.
He regretted that the tradition which has creeped into the Zambian society using the thieving tag is not helping solve problem the country is facing today.
He said it is not in the best interest of the country to malign innocent people all in the name of politics.
He advised people bent of creating thieving stories against innocent people to respect the will of the people for electing those leaders.
Hon. Chitotela observed that, the people have the right to determine whom they want to be their leaders.
He said the people of Zambia chose president Edgar Lungu whom they gave the mandate to make decision on how best he can serve their elections.
He said there is no sane government world over that will make a decision which is contrary to the wishes of the people who put then in the office.
Hon. Chitotele is of the view that elected leaders make decision that are in the best interest of the people and no should sit on their way when they are executing their duties.
He said in democratic countries like Zambia, the government draw the mandate to rule from the people that elect them.
He said the involvement of the people in the leadership will always lead the government to succeed in its execution of duty.
In line with this principle, Hon. Chitotela explained, president Lungu gave him the mandate to lead the ministry of tourism to great success.
Under his leadership, Hon. Chitotela wants the Tourism to be the major contributor to the national economy.
In trying to bring the best out of tourism industry in Zambia, Hon. Chitotela said his governmwnt will engage the local people because they know the torain in their areas.
“The starting point is to help the people understand what tourism is all about  and begin to appreciate the local product within their locations.”
Besides Victoria fall which is drying out due to climate change in Southern  province, Hon. Chitotela observed, Zambia has many other untapped tourist attractions, including culture, food, waters falls present, in many parts of the country.
While the ministry of tourism is pushing a private sector driven tourism, Hon Chitotela said, the citizens also should have a stake in the industry because they are are the primary beneficiary.
It is for this reason Hon Chitotela wants the Ministry of Tourism and Culture under his charge engage the local people in the running of tourism industry.
“It is high time the government engaged all stakeholders in advertising the many untapped tourist attractions littered across country especially in the northern circuit of Zambia.”
One of the plans Hon Chitotela has in mind to promote local tourism is the introduction of an exchange program in tourism countries that cherish tourism including China, India and France.
Under this program, Hon Chitotela said, tourism there will be a government to government arrangement where tourism from outside Zambia will come to see wealth culture activities taking place here and then the local tourists will go to those countries not only to appreciate but also learn new tricks of tourism industry.
He said this program should be supported with the issuance of Visa on arrival as an incentive to appreciate the arrival of tourists in the country.
He said this will enable more tourism not only come to Zambia but also Zambians go to those countries in an exchange programs.
He said tourism in Zambia has the potential to grow tourism grow if only the available resources in terms of human and material are put to good use.
As already, indicated, Hon. Chitotela recalled, the government and its people should begin to devise the agenda that will attract the tourist both local and international.
He said the focus should be on the young generations becsuse the dictate the agenda in the world today.
For example in Europ and Asia, Hon. Chitotela further recalled, the young people decide where to spend their holidays  with their parents.
This is where now the media come in to play the role promoting tourism in their writing.
He said if the media begin to tell a positive story about Zambia, more and more tourism will be attracted to come to Zambia for holidays.
The starting point therefore is for the media to begin reviving the existing tourist attractions littered across the country.
In this, Chitotela suggested, the government should lead the change before engaging the private sectors.
He said the government is more than determined to ensure that a positive story about Zambia is achieved.
He said pricing and hospitality that  local, region and international tourists should also be strategic in so far as it will attract the target groups.
He observed that 70% of the money used in the construction in Zambia today is coming from the private the people.
He suggested that the companies doing the work come with their own money to use in the construction and this money does not need to be paid immediately.
In the same vain, Hon. Chitotela suggested there is need for the people come up with innovative ideas that will attract investment in the tourism industry.
He said in tourism attraction, the idea is more important than money.
“Failure by people to come up with good ideas cannot therefore be blamed on government but the people tasked with the job to improve the situation.”
He said he has more than enough human resources to come with the creative ideas that will grow the tourism sector in Zambia.
Hon. Chitotela is passionate about the tourism industry because the world today is moving away from the industries in the strict sense to tourism industry.
Meanwhile Hon. Chitotela has denied there are Lechewes in the Luangwa game park that got lost.
According to Hon Chitotela the purported stolen Lechewes were just translocated from one park to another.
He said the translocation of the Lechewe was done with the full blessing of the government.
He also denied the Lechewe in Zambia are an endangered species.
As far Hon Chitotela is concerned, the Lechewe is the largest in the Zambian national parks.




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