Hichilema’s refusal to reside in State House costing Zambia money, Patriots for Economic Progress petition court

Leader of the Patriots for Economic Progress, Sean Tembo, has petitioned the Constitutional Court over President Hakainde Hichilema’s refusal to shift to State House since he was elected in August, 2021.

Tembo said the petition is with the realization that the Head of State is spending huge sums of money through his trips from Community House to State House on a daily basis and putting at risk the safety of many Zambians in the route he is using to access his house.

He said the same money which is being used on a daily basis can be channeled to other areas of need such as procurement of drugs in hospitals and books for readers in schools.

Tembo said recently a woman was hit by the Presidential Motorcade and such incidences are likely to continue if the President does not consider moving into State House, which is the official residence for any sitting Zambian President.

“In this regard, we are talking about the president having to commute, having to make daily trips from his residence to his office at State House and these are generally two trips a day and sometimes four times if he decides to have lunch at home,” he said.

Tembo said Zambia being a developing country which has needs and most of are critical such as good road network, adequate safe drinking water, medicines in hospitals among others.

“The second issue is public safety, when you look at where State House is located, it is a sparsely populated area which is suited for Presidential Motorcade moving at high speed but when you look at where the President’s private residence are, you realize that it is in a densely populated area and this puts people at risk,” Tembo said.

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