SLOW DELIVERY OF DEVELOPMENT WAS EATING ME UP – HICHILEMA

SLOW DELIVERY OF DEVELOPMENT WAS EATING ME UP – HICHILEMA

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has shared that one of the things that was eating him up when he assumed public office was the slow pace at which the public sector could deliver development to the public.

Speaking at the launch of the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) Forum in Lusaka yesterday, President Hichilema stated that being slow in delivering development to the country had been a challenge for some time.

He shared that it is for this reason that the PDU was formed so as to eradicate the slow pace of delivering to the people of Zambia.

The Head of State narrated that the PDU is an institution aimed at tackling key issues such as energy and high cost of living.

“This forum was formed in 2023 to address the issues around delivery. To address the inadequacies that are inherent in government systems, to deliver for the people. One of the great things that was standing in my way having been elected into office and was beginning to eat me up was the slowness of delivery by the public sector to the people.”

“Central government and local government. All I know was that both were not delivering to the people at the speed that was needed in order to resolve the challenges that we inherited when we took office. This was a topical conversation in cabinet meetings. I thought through and checked, even in how the first world are slow where patients wait for 15 months to see a doctor. There’s something in the public sector that takes away the appetite, the motivation to deliver for the people that put us into public office,” he said.

The President reiterated that it is the public sector’s obligation is to serve all Zambians effectively.

“We work for all the people of Zambia. We are obligated to serve all Zambians, to effectively deliver to the people. Today I speak here to draw the purpose of the PDU. No different from the parastatal ZESCO to deliver for the people. The president is only one and he needs people to work with. I cannot deliver alone, this why we have the PDU to help the President deliver to the people,” noted President Hichilema.

Kalemba