Hichilema hits back at critics, calls them ‘jokers’ for mocking his use of statistics to show country’s progress

President Hakainde Hichilema has described people who are mocking him for using graphs to explain Zambia’s economic situation during a press conference last week as “jokers”.

The President says a nation which fails to understand numbers through graphs and Venn diagrams is doomed and can only be described as one that is full of jokers.

Hichilema said this when he officially flagged off the distribution of the Constituency Development Fund Monitoring Vehicles to the 156 Constituencies on Wednesday in Lusaka at the Showgrounds.

He said the graphs he used during his recent press briefing at State House were meant to show people the economic progress that has been recorded from the time UPND assumed office and the future prospects of the nation.

“You can’t run a country without numbers, then you are a joker because you can not run a country without knowing that if you borrow too much and you consume that money, you get into a debt trap,” the Head of State said.

Hichilema further warned people tasked to monitor Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects not to abuse the vehicles.

“The new dawn administration has taken deliberate steps to develop the entire Zambia and this will be done in an equitable manner regardless of which party holds a particular constituency,” he said.

The Head of State has also called on traditional leaders to help government to monitor the use of the vehicles in chiefdoms and report any abuse.

Read More:UPND reacts to remarks by catholic priest, Salangeta, who called out President Hichilema, other politicians

“I want to direct the Minister of Finance Situmbeko Musokotwane to ensure that the CDF money is deposited in the accounts and received at once by all the Constituencies in the country,” Hichilema said.

He also disclosed that government will build 110 Palaces for chiefs and procure vehicles for them in order to enable them monitor the projects being implemented in their chiefdoms.

WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.