YALI urges President Lungu to do more to meet people’s expectations

The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) says President Edgar Lungu’s administration needs to do more to meet the aspirations of the Zambian people.

Analyzing President Lungu’s first 100 days in Office,YALI Governance Advisor Isaac Mwanza says while the 100 days have been better in many respects, the actions of his administration on the constitutional reform process have fallen short of expectations.

Mr Mwanza says it is hope of YALI therefore, that the next 6 months will show a stronger commitment by the President to the enactment of a new supreme law that many Zambians can proudly own.

He notes that the slow progress and his administration’s lack of positive action to galvanise stakeholders towards consensus in this constitutional reform process, is not inspiring.

Mr Mwanza says YALI also wants President Lungu to re-commit himself to fighting corruption both within and outside his administration, and particularly pay attention to concerns of corruption and malpractices against the people that surround him.

He has encouraged the President to distance himself from those who may want to engage in wrongdoing using the name of the President or his Office.

On the economic front, Mr Mwanza notes that while the current poor state of the economy cannot be attributed to President Lungu’s administration, there is need to moderate or slow down on the rate of borrowing by his administration and that the Ministry of Finance must look to foreign borrowing only as a last option.

He states that with almost every major currency around the world tumbling against the dollar, government must scale up its efforts to redressing the depreciation of the Kwacha.

Mr Mwanza points out that Zambia has a huge government which is spending too much in unwarranted or avoidable expenditure.

He says Government must start by cutting luxuries and should then find ways of promoting exports to earn foreign exchange.

On human rights and press freedom, Mr Mwanza says YALI calls on President Lungu to improve his Administration’s respect for the editorial independence of both the public and the private media and avoid instances where Ministers direct law enforcement agencies to crack down on the media, stifling investigative journalism.

YALI has also called on Government to address the challenges affecting the youth due to limited opportunities for higher education, access to Government bursaries and low rate at implementing the students’ loan board that should have enabled more of the youth especially from poor families to access quality education.