27/06/2024
Fellow Citizens,
On Monday morning, I watched our President, Dr Hakainde Hichilema invoke the Bible when he said, “hunger is biblical and that he was not a Magician who can end poverty with a magic word”. The Zambian leader likened the current hunger disaster to the proverbial Egyptian famine that lasted seven years as espoused in Genesis 41: 46-57.
From that perspective, President Hichilema openly acknowledged the problem at hand we face-a national famine and indirectly, he exposed his leadership inadequacies to feed and manage the nation by misinterpreting our good biblical scriptures. I feel profoundly sorry for him and remain deeply touched by over 6 million Zambians threatened with hunger due to HH’s poor leadership and bad government policies.
There are things President HH can learn from the past PF administration and myself in terms of policy and political leadership in the agricultural sector. Like the story of Egypt’s ancient Prime Minister, Joseph he cited in the Bible, my government had sound policy direction, leadership, foresight, preparedness and effective governance personnel to grow, feed and stock surplus maize, wheat, soya beans, groundnuts, fish, cassava, rice, and other crops in times of plenty to rely on and use in times of drought. In the Bible story, Joseph had seven years of plenty which saved the next seven years of scarcity and hunger. This was the policy style of my government.
Honestly, droughts should never be used as an excuse for bad leadership and poor policies.
In 2018, after experiencing a crippling drought, I put together a competent team and gave it one major task—“grow our maize reserve and food security to an extent that Zambians would not starve during any future drought”. From 300,000 tons of maize in 2018, we increased the harvest to 433,000 tons in 2019 and kept increasing the harvest to more than 3 million tons by 2020.
Clearly it was our distinguished political leadership that made a huge difference. When we left office in August 2021, our maize strategic reserves record stood at over 2 million tons, ensuring Zambia´s food security for the next two years or more in case of drought. I remain proud of this record as former President. Had I been in power today, Zambia would have still been feeding from our own strategic maize reserves and the price of mealie meal would have been much lower than the current K380 or K420 depending on where you are buying the commodity from.
How did we achieve national food security with strategic reserves? My government decided to increase and double maize production countrywide. We increased our national budget for the agriculture sector. Importation of Agricultural equipment was made tax free; we decisively ensured that the distribution of seed and fertilizer was timely everywhere. FRA was funded to buy farming outputs on time. We partnered with traditional leaders, farmers unions, women cooperatives and everyone.
In short, we worked smart and strategically, planned for both years of plenty and years of scarcity. We made honest and practical policy decisions. We didn’t just talk; we walked the talk.
As a President, my team ensured national food security was a reality, regardless of the rainfall pattern. I want to advise Mr. Hichilema to avoid getting into ´denial mode´ regarding the food crisis that has been worsened by his own poor leadership. The Zambian government was foretold about this drought in 2022 when we had strategic stocks of maize left by my administration. Records show that our president rejected timely expert advice not to export maize due to his arrogance and ‘know it all’ attitude. Yes, he reject expert advice!
We are in this food crisis mainly because the current administration exported all our emergency food stocks, leaving no reserves for our people to feed on in times of drought like these today. During the press briefing, Mr Hichilema missed an opportunity to expressly apologize to Zambians for exporting our maize reserves abroad and intentionally starving our citizens who had huge maize reserves in stock. It was extremely wrong and ethically inhumane to prioritize commerce over human life!
When he addressed the nation, our president needed to share with Zambians practical solutions to the current food crisis and disastrous drought. Instead, he chose rhetoric and empty promises again. Regrettably, while six million Zambians face starvation for the first time in almost sixty years, their own president (HH) is dramatizing everything before the eyes of poor, helpless and hungry citizens by ´mocking’ that he is not a magician to feed them. Again, this is a gesture of cruelty and so unacceptable especially for a man who condemned our every effort to produce enough food for our people and made huge empty promises in 2021.
In 2026, Zambians must bring back leaders who do not only care for them, but also respect human life and possess experience to ensure food security and availability is a reality. Leaders who made sure that basic commodities such as mealie meal, sugar, salt, tomato, electricity, water, cooking oil, petrol were cheaper and affordable.
Soon or later, PF and our comrades in UKA will seek to offer a tested, trusted, honest, united and reliable leadership for our people. ‘UKAN’ Zambians!
God bless you all.
H.E Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
Sixth President of Zambia
President of Patriotic Front (PF)
United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) Member
