POST PRESS CONFERENCE ANALYSIS

 POST ANALYSIS TO THE PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE

By Brian Namakobo

A review to the fire which were  quenched in the press conference.
The rest need self introspection.
Personally here are the takeaways. 

✓ Bringing China on board into the Creditor committee to restructure Zambia’s Debt and there by pave way for the conclusion of the IMF deal. A key major factor.

✓Creation of Public Private dialogues on development of various sectors of the economy. This is massive. I know there is one about to start with Ministry of SMEs. This is as well a move to tackle the high cost of living. 

✓Mention of Johnstone Chikwanda, an accomplished Energy expert.  If he is going to be advising the President on Energy, that is a smart direction.

 This meant that the President is open to other experts in various fields regardless of appointments, advising him and his Govt. The efforts are so because the energy sector affects the high cost of living. 

✓ The President took time to also highlight the spread of falsehoods, the President was clear that the law will be ENFORCED. This law already exists. So, it is nothing new as per say. It was just selectively applied in the past. This is a good development because ubufi bwachilamo mu Zambia. These are laws that he did not enact but were inacted by the previous regime.

✓The President reaffirmed his position that the appointment of a Liquidator at KCM was a wrong move government made.  An administrative receiver should have been appointed. So, I welcome this position. The President is on good ground because when he was CEO/MD at Grant Thornton, his form was involved in liquidations and receiverships. So, I expect him to understand this space very well.. 

✓ The President reaffirmed his position that Ministers should be accessible and said he will reinforce that message. I hope the Ministers have taken heed. And that they can not run away from the rule of law.

✓ The President said the DPP has no right to stop someone from being arrested and the DPP has no right to give immunity to anybody and so it is right for anybody to complain against the DPP and follow the right procedure in so doing. So the immunity Fracas Ms. Lilian Shawa Siyunyi  is on her own. The burning fire was state house signing for immunity, now that  the President made it clear we await new stories. The previous regime didn't even give space to the DPP but went straight away to fire.

✓ Referring to veteran journalist Frank Mutubila, the President noted the need for the young and old to work together in addressing the Nation’s challenges. 

Journalist need to be ethical and professional and stay away from misinforming the public. 

✓ The President admitted that the UPND Govt had made a mistake in allowing illegal mining and so from now on mining licenses will be given to people to mine.

 The other burning issue was the black mountain of which he took responsibility and working on correcting it. 

To this far the president might regain the confidence that the other opposition parties claim the people have lost in the New Dawn and the President Hakainde Hichilema. 

✓ In responding to the IDC question, the President gave an  example of Botswana and how they had dealt with Diamonds and reiterated the need for foreign companies to work with. The need for Zambia to do something similar with copper, highlighting that Zambia and Congo are the two leading countries with resources needed to build electric cars.

So far kudos.