Republican Vice-President Mutale Nalumango says the government has initiated numerous plans of action to address the high cost of living being experienced in the country and to ensure that Zambians can manage through the economic hardships.
Mrs. Nalumango says the government has not been idle in implementing programs such as debt restructuring to remedy the economic hardships it inherited after taking office in 2021.
“There is a lot of talk about the cost of living, and yes, we do agree, but it is as if this government is doing nothing. This government has done so much to allow Zambians to survive, if not to live, because of the many interventions that this government has put in place,” Mrs. Nalumango said.
Without achieving debt restructuring, Mrs. Nalumango says the country would not have been able to carry out any developmental programs due to the immense debt accrued by the previous PF administration.
“If we had not restructured the debt, we would be spending the entire budget on two items: the repayment of debt and only wages for the civil servants. This is where we could have been,” she said.
The Vice-President said Zambians are able to hope for a better future thanks to the interventions the government has undertaken to ensure that the country’s economy does not collapse.
“Today, Zambians are alive. It has been difficult, but we are alive because of the many interventions that have been put in place, and the first one I think of is that we restructured that debt. Somebody may underplay this, but it is important to the Zambian people,” she said.
Mrs. Nalumango was speaking this morning in Parliament when she answered a question asked by Bweengwa MP Kasauta Michelo, who sought to know what action plans the government has initiated to mitigate the economic hardships faced in the country.
