‘Come to My Rally And Get A Job’
Promises, Processes, and the President’s Own Handiwork (Imaginary Parliamentary Speech)😁
By Linda Banks
Madam Speaker,
We have heard the news from Kasama, Isoka, Kaputa: volunteer nurses, who have given their time and sweat to heal our people, told that if they come to the President’s rally, they will be employed. That their years of service count for nothing unless they stand in the crowd and cheer. That the path to a job is not merit, not qualification, not due process, but attendance at a political gathering.
Let us start with the facts, for facts matter here. How are health workers legally employed in Zambia? Under the Service Commissions Act No. 10 of 2016, recruitment belongs solely to the Civil Service Commission, working with the Ministry of Health. The rules are clear: vacancies are advertised; applications are vetted against qualifications, professional registration, and valid licences; independent panels shortlist and interview; and appointments are formalised by the Commission, not by a politician at a rally, not by a list scribbled by an aide on the back of a notebook.
So I ask: Are rallies now recruitment centres? Is the President telling our engineers, teachers, plumbers, agronomists that they must abandon their trade, turn up at his next gathering, and only then might they be considered? Is this how we build a nation by measuring skilled Zambians by applause, not expertise?
Madam Speaker, this is not generosity. This is seduction. The word is deliberate: to lure desperate people with false hope, to trade dignity for votes, to make citizens feel they owe their livelihood not to their own hard work, but to one man’s favour. It is wrong. It is unlawful. And it sets a terrible precedent, that the rules apply to everyone except the President himself.
We see this same pattern elsewhere. Only days ago, the President ordered the Food Reserve Agency to start buying maize. Yet the Agency, bound to safeguard our reserves said plainly, “we cannot”. Moisture content is up to 18 % in places, when safe storage requires no more than 12.5 %. To buy it now would risk spoilage, aflatoxins, and the loss of millions of tonnes of food.
Here is the paradox: when his agencies follow procedure, they are ignored. When they don’t follow his orders, they break the rules. The President complains constantly,publicly that his ministers come to Cabinet intoxicated and sleep through discussions. That civil servants are lazy and unresponsive, that our diplomats, including High Commissioners in South Africa and Australia, have engaged in sexual misconduct and neglected duty. Yet what has he done? He complains, but does not act. He criticises, but does not correct. He points fingers, but cannot fix the system he leads.
And what of the promises? Five years in office, and we were told every district would get a modern hospital, every constituency a technical school, every rural area proper roads and clinics. What do we have instead? Small classroom blocks, a few toilet facilities, and endless talk of “progress” that never matches reality.
Now let us speak plainly of debt and borrowing. When this government took office in 2021, total public debt stood at US$24.6 billion. By end‑2025, it had risen to US$28.9 billion, an increase of US$4.3 billion in just five years. Domestic debt alone has grown from roughly K193 billion to over K253 billion more than K60 billion extra borrowed inside our own borders. Yes, we inherited a heavy burden, but we have added to it, not eased it. Restructuring has rescheduled payments, not erased what is owed; we have merely shifted the load forward, so our children and grandchildren will pay for it long after we are gone.
Compare us to Ghana, where President Akufo‑Addo took office at almost the same time, facing even higher debt‑to‑GDP ratios. In five years, Ghana restructured faster, cut borrowing costs, stabilised its currency, and expanded hospitals and free secondary education nationwide. We? We keep borrowing, yet show little to show for it.
Where has the money gone? We ask, and no one answers properly:
• US$80 million sent “in error” to China meant for ZESCO, vanished, with explanations that change by the week depending on what relish a government official ate with their nshima that day. .
• Gold seized at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, worth millions, that disappeared from custody.
• A truckload of life saving medicines left to rot at a private home, while clinics ran out of basics.
• Billions in questionable contracts, inflated prices, and unaccounted spending no audit has untangled. And don’t get me started on the missing truck load of sugilite, allegedly stolen at a police station.
Madam Speaker, the President says he wants accountability. But it starts at the top. It means not using desperate people as rally props. It means respecting the law and due process. It means keeping your word to build, not just promise. It means borrowing wisely, not spending recklessly, and leaving our children a legacy of opportunity, not endless debt.
The volunteer nurses of Kasama do not need favours. They need a fair process. They need respect. They need to know that in Zambia, the law applies to everyone, even the President.
I yield the floor.
Video credit; President Hakainde Hichilema ‘s Page.
‘Come to My Rally And Get A Job’
