‘Why are you pretending to be rich?’ HH asks Gov’t officials who insist on traveling on business class
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has described government officials that prefer travelling on business class as cheats and pretenders.
The head of state has revealed that the country has limited resources, and it does not make sense for a government official to move in business class at the expense of the treasury.
The president said following the declaration of a national disaster as a result of the prolonged dry spells that there will be for prudent usage of resources.
“We will aggressively shift resources from consumption, wastage travel, and business class. Secretary to the treasury, I hear there are people who want to travel business class from Lusaka to Johannesburg?” he said, “for one hour 30 minutes [you want to be on business class], we sit on our stools for three hours we village people,”
He wondered what was wrong with a government official travelling on economy class.
What’s wrong with economy ticket for one hour 40 minutes, this is what I call pretence, for one hour 40 minutes you want to fell rich, that’s cheating,” the President said.
He said he has already given his cabinet the signal that there will be no more unnecessary travels.
“There will be no more of such things, including unnecessary travels, size of delegation, I sent this signal to my colleagues in cabinet and I have made this official, resources are limited, the question is how do we utlise the limited resources,” Mr Hichilema said.
Meanwhile, he warned that there will be accountability in the utilization of resources and those found wanting “Will be on their own”
(Mwebantu, Monday, 4th March, 2024)