By MAIMBO MWEEMBA
Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Anthony Bwalya says there is no way the PF officials can deny that the Treasury is empty when they failed to pay retirees, Contractors, and suppliers of materials when they were in government
Mr Bwalya said that State House has announced that government is in the process of eradicating dishonesty and lack of transparency in the management of public resources.
Mr Bwalya said President Hakainde Hichilema’s administration has continued discovering many financial anomalies since assuming office, and has assured Zambians that this will be fixed once and for all.
He said that lack of financial discipline made Zambians to remove the PF Government as the cost of living kept rising.
But, the National Democratic Congress, NDC, said that President Hakainde Hichilema’s statement about the country’s treasury being empty is very unfortunate and irresponsible to say the least.
NDC deputy spokesperson, Zuwa Sinkamba said that Zambians should know that when the Patriotic Front left office, they left $2.9 billion in the country’s reserves that translates into five-six months of import cover. .
“Technically speaking, a country cannot have its treasury empty. Our country’s Control 99 account is not empty as stated by our president, seeing that we are able to pay suppliers, civil servants and undertake certain critical expenditures. Notably also is the fact that government still has the ability to collect various taxes, fines, fees and dividends from various portfolios as our Gross Domestic Product, GDP, is still functional,” he said.
Mr Sinkamba said that the public, foreign investors, suppliers and bond holders should know that the country’s treasury is not empty as stated by President Hichilema on BBC’s “Focus on Africa”.
He reiterated that the country is nowhere near bankruptcy and investors should feel confident to invest in Zambia.
