PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu says those who are not working are leaving his government on their own.
And Lungu says people calling on him to fire home affairs minister Stephen Kampyongo will be the ones to lose jobs in government.
Speaking after attending mass at St. John Catholic Parish in Chinsali district today, President Lungu said he was assessing the input of every member of his government and knew those who were working and those who weren’t, as others had started leaving on their own.
“Ulu tepitana mu Zambia ndemona abalebomba nabashilebomba nibanani. Lelo bambi baletila iyo tamfya uyu inchito pantu nafilwa. Ala chimo naku bola ni 90 minutes. Pakutendeka umuntu bola taleteya bwino kumupelako chance mwamona ifyo abomba. Bambi baleti fire this minister talebomba, alabalebomba cishupilefye. Abashilebomba, namumona ndebatamfya one one, bambi baleifuminamofye abenefye beka. So mwisakamana sana, twende babili temwenso…lelo uushile bomba twala mufunyamo, lekeni ninebo njishibe. Pantu ningufwa utulimbusha notusebo tulenjebati ngabalifumishemo ulya ifintu kuti fyabomba wino, iyo. Elyo nalepanga Cabinet natile nine coach, nimwene wa team ninebo, newishibe uleteya bola ninebo, balya abashileteya nakulabafumyamo umo umo nabikamo bambi pantu tatwacepa iyo tuli bengi sana elyo amano nayo bonse twalikwata. (With my recent tours in Zambia, I am inspecting on who is working and who is not working? While others are saying fire this one because he has failed, it is like in football. When a player is not playing well on a starting line up, he or she is give a chance to see his skills. Others are saying fire this minister, he is not working. These ministers are working, things are just hard. Those who were not working, you have seen that I have fired them and others are leaving on their own. So don’t worry, but those who are not working, we are removing them from government, leave it to me. I have heard rumours that when I fire that one and that one, things will be fine in Cabinet. What I am saying is I am a coach, the owner of the team, who knows who is playing well and who is not. Those who are not playing well, I will be removing them one by one and bring others because we are not in short supply,”
President Lungu said.
He also said those telling him to fire Kampyongo were wasting their time.
“Ifi bambi balepafya ati fumyamofye Kampyongo ninshi ifintu fyawama, awe teimwe teimwe mwamusalile ninebo namusalile. Imwe bonse mwebo tuleteya nenu bola ba minister tekwesha ukunjeba ati fumyenimo uyu pantu taleteya wino. Muleteyanakwe munenu mukonkeni ati boi tauleteya bwino (Others are pushing me to fire Kampyongo that then, things will be fine. No, you are not the ones who appointed him, it is me. All you ministers, don’t tell me that remove this one because he is not playing well. He is your friend. Follow him and advise him). What I am saying is leave me alone to work with my team and I will decide on who to substitute and at what point in time…By coming to me to tell me who to fire, you are wasting your own time. Landeninabo nibamuninenwe,” President Lungu.
He called on the church to pray for political players, regardless of the parties they represented.
President Lungu also said he had noted difficulties in the e-voucher system that had contributed to the delay in input delivery.
He alleged that there were people who wanted the e-voucher programme to fail.
“Ilyashi lya e-voucher, I want to see how e-voucher is implemented, ubwafya bulipi? From what I can see ubwafya epobuli, lelo twalashindawilapo twala bombelapo ukuti bulya ubwafya bwikabako next year because this system is new. Kuli nabambi abalefwaya ati e-voucher icita succeed pantu balelya bwino muli conversional system twakwete, ubun’go nokwiba fyalifulile, ala baleiba (There are others who didn’t want the e-voucher system to succeed because they used to steal from the previous system),” said President Lungu.