United Kwacha Alliance drags Hichilema over claims on economy, urges restrained celebrations

The United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) has cautioned Zambians against premature celebrations following Zambia’s debt restructuring deal.

Government recently secured a debt restructuring deal with international bond holders and the Official Creditors Committee (OCC).

Alliance Media Chairperson, Saboi Imboela, claimed that the jubilations were staged and misleading to Zambians.

Imboela also alleged that government was exhibiting political desperation to show good results while hiding their bad governance.

“President Hakainde Hichilema’s government’s debt restructuring celebrations are premature, a sign of political desperation meant to show intangible results while misleading the Zambian people,” she stated.

Imboela challenged government to acknowledge that the “debt restructuring deal” did not remove the burden of the Euro-bonds, except that they have been merely consolidated into two new ones – Bond A and Bond B in order to resume debt servicing.

Read More: Agreement with bondholders to provide Zambia with $2.5bn in cash flow relief —Finance Minister

She accused the President of deliberately choosing not to reveal to Zambians that the deal was not debt cancellation nor did it mean debt reduction in the official Euro-bond debt.

“The Government is not fully disclosing its financial predicaments and weaker status for this process, as the terms of the Debt Restructuring Deal will negatively impact the Zambian economy and worsen the cost of living for the majority citizens,” Imboela said.

She accused government of not disclosing what Zambians should expect and prepare for.

Imboela noted that government did not create any ‘sinking fund’ to set aside financial savings and secure resources to prepare Zambians for this debt repayment in the last couple of years the country was not servicing the debt.

“Now that after this deal we are expected to start paying, where will we get the money given our current very weak and in-crisis financial condition? This government is not disclosing and answering this question,” she said.

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