If KCM Is Doing Well, Pay Miners – HH Challenges PF

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has responded to claims by the PF that Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) is doing well by challenging them to pay the outstanding amounts due to miners as a lump sum.

“The fact that the first instalment will come before elections and the rest after, is not acceptable to us. All the money owed to the miners must be paid as a lump sum before elections,” Mr Hichilema stated.

“The PF is not trusted, we therefore stand with the miners demanding their full gratuity now. Progressive union leaders agree with this position after we engaged them about this anomaly,” he continued.

The opposition leader has also spoken out on his plans to tackle corruption if he is elected to State House in upcoming elections this August.

“One of our pivotal undertakings as UPND government, will be to fight corruption. It is undoubtedly enemy number one to the welfare and livelihoods of the people of Zambia. Corruption is a cancer that short circuits government's institutional robustness to deliver meaningful development and other essential services to citizens, and our government will leave no stone unturned in fighting this evil,” Mr Hichilema explained.

“Our fight against corruption will be decisive but impersonal and institutional. It will not be Hakainde fighting a set of individuals, it will be independent institutions fighting the heart and soul of corruption. We will therefore build strong institutions whose operations will be unrestrained by politics and anchored on transparency and accountability to the people of Zambia, through the body of parliament,” he set out.