Statement | YALI Not In Any Contest With Political Party Or CSO – Ntewewe

Lusaka ~ Sat, 03 Oct 2020

As you may all be aware, a consortium of civil society and student organizations on  Thursday, 1st October, 2020 formally submitted to Republican President, Mr. Edgar  Chagwa Lungu, a petition signed by 40,289 Zambians calling for the President to constitute a Commission of Inquiry into the privatization of our State assets during


the 1990s. As one of the 10 organisations, we confidently and firmly speak and act on  behalf of over 40, 000 across the country who are seeking a closure to this discourse  surrounding the manner in which the privatization process was handled and in  seeking justice.


We thank God that we are speaking the same language with many of our country’s key leaders. We firstly want to thank President Lungu for welcoming us and listening  to our voices as citizens of this country, even when he does not need to consult anybody to set-up a Commission of Inquiry.


Much more importantly, we thank President Lungu for honoring his open-door policy  with the various groupings such as churches, artists, traditional leaders, etc. whom he has continued to accommodate in his busy schedule, whenever his time allow to meet with anyone who constructively seek to engage him. For the President, there is no first or second-class citizen. We are all citizens of the same country with equal worthy.


We also extend our sincerest appreciation to leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND), Hakainde Hichilema, who has come out to welcome the setting up of a Commission of Inquiry. This is as it should be. We hope we can continue to engage in a civil manner around this issue.


We are however surprised that the NDC leader, Chishimba Kambwili, was belaboring to speak against the position of the UPND leader who has welcomed the setting up the Commission of Inquiry. Almost everyone with discernment understands themotivation behind the behavior of Kambwili.


We have heard varying positions from some Zambians, a few of whom are worthy engaging and debating with, in accordance with the dictates of our democratic norms; there are also many other nonentities and political cadres seeking attention from their leaders ahead of adoptions in 2021. We will not respond to you because YALI stands


for issue-based politics that speaks to real issues that can be addressed, improved or resolved.


YALI is not in competition with any political party or other CSOs at all. It will not be us whom political parties will be contesting against in 2021. Since inception, ours has always been a mission to contribute towards improved governance, democratic growth and practices, leadership development, education and entrepreneurship. We


will therefore not lower ourselves to mudsling anyone or any organisation. We have no time for time-wasters.


We welcome healthy debate that effectively delivers real benefits to us the Zambian people; debate based on issues raised rather than personalities; debate which promotes the principles and values enshrined in our Republican Constitution.


We also want to thank those who have brought to our attention the privatization of ZAMTEL which became LapGreen but was later reversed and repossessed by the State and turned back into our National Asset. And now, we are here again, faced with public institutions and assets which if found to have been unjustly acquired, need to


be forfeited back to the State just as Lapgreen was repossessed. All well-meaning Zambians should rally behind us if they seek justice for the victims of this processBut most importantly, we have called for this press briefing to underscore the response in Parliament by Her Honour the Vice President, Madam Inonge Mutukwa


Wina, that our calls or decision by the President to set-up for a Commission of Inquiry is not targeted at an individual but the process and the injustices that left our people destitute, and some without any or meaningful compensation.

Indeed, the spirit behind constituting a Commission of Inquiry will be to conduct a post-mortem of what happened during privatization process, and learn from it for purposes of doing things differently, if our country will take that privatization route again. But if indeed anyone or entity would be found wanting, the law would have to


be applied fairly unless those opposed to this route are telling us that ‘some citizens are more equal than others.’


Having formally submitted the petition, our next course as an institution and collectively with the like-minded civil society organization is to continue engaging with the people, both in areas where they were negatively affected and other provincial centers where they want to bring this privatization discourse to an end. Now that the Commission will be set up, we will be working in different parts of the country to ensure those were negatively affected and those of us who still see the injustices and disparities the mismanagement of privatization caused to the nation are


able to speak up and cooperate with the Commission.


Our biggest end game as YALI is to ensure what happened during the privatization of State assets in the 1990s never happens again. As a country, we still have public assets that we must guard jealously, the same way we did with Zamtel. Let us build and restore the wealth of our country.


If, in future, Government decided to privatise the remaining State assets, the proceeds must never again go into the pockets of the individuals or the process must never be used as a vehicle for self-enrichment at the expense of the majority poor Zambians. If we look around the world, our global super powers are where they are because those


nations built and continue to grow their wealth. That is our interest as YALI, good governance and sustainable solutions across sectors that benefit generations to come.

God Bless Zambia