Must be supported, which translates, Madam Speaker, to more jobs, to more businesses, opportunities, and other benefits. Some are simple to see, others are embedded and you may not see them, but we can see through as citizens and we appreciate this. This is a great achievement, Madam Speaker, but we still have work ahead of us. A lot more work to do.
Madam Speaker, access to information and media freedom remains fundamental to democratic governance in our country. Our administration has undertaken legal reforms to modernize the media landscape in our country. The government passed the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act number 26 of 2025 and the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Act number 26 of 2025. Yes, this is to promote independence, fairness, and accountability in broadcasting while safeguarding press freedom and public interest.
Madam Speaker, all freedoms must recognize public interest at all times. Personal interests must be embedded in broader public interest. Madam Speaker, human dignity, equity, social justice, equality, and non-discrimination. Madam Speaker, since 2021, the UPND New Dawn administration has continued to advance human dignity, equity, social justice, equality, and non-discrimination as the central pillars of national development, not peripheral but central.
We have expanded community-driven investment and strengthened social protection like never before. We have empowered the youth and women. We have improved access to education, as I've said already, health, water, sanitation, and justice. The foundations of a loving and caring society are these issues we are discussing now. Madam Speaker, once more, our commitment is underscored by the substantial increase in the budgetary allocation, as I said already, to CDF.
Numbers don't lie. From 1.6 million per constituency per year in 2021, to 30, to 36, and now to 40 million. Let me repeat, Madam Speaker, from 1.6 million to 40 million. And Madam Speaker, this is walking the talk. When we were in opposition, we were saying we'll increase CDF to be equivalent to a million dollars. Where we are now, this is more than $2 million per constituency at today's exchange rate. This is it.
Madam Speaker, I'm being enticed to stay with my program, but definitely just hear me out a little bit. So to crown it all, Madam Speaker, so people don't whisper and giggle, from 1.6 million to 40 million in less than 5 years. And we are going to increase this again next year. Madam Speaker, we are going to increase this again next year. But hear me out. Through God's will, courtesy of the people of Zambia, who will make this possible through the elections that are coming. We understand that the voters decide, but we do believe that voters will acknowledge this progress that has been made.
The people of Zambia give us the opportunity to serve them. And only they do that. When they give us this opportunity, we must use it effectively and not squander it. Take money to them which they never had before. Through the CDF, Madam Speaker, we have empowered the youth, the women, and the vulnerable in our communities. We have provided bursaries to our learners attending secondary boarding schools. Parents don't have to sell chickens every January. The government, your government, Madam Speaker, has taken responsibility for raising our children.
This is an emotional issue for some of us who came through from villages and only because of education we are here. It is an emotional issue and it is a matter of responsibility to give to our children. Madam Speaker, secondary boarding schools across the country and the decisions are made at the constituency level, not in Lusaka. This cannot be anything greater than this. And full skills development as well. Those that don't make it to colleges, this government is taking care of them through skills training, sponsoring them, and many now are molding bricks to help build schools, clinics, and other facilities. This is a great, great development for our country.
Madam Speaker, just to reinforce, this is a giant step in the right direction and we will not rest until every Zambian family feels the benefit of this generational change activity, if I may call it that. Madam Speaker, we are delivering for the people of Zambia from a place of love and deep care, not from any other angle. Let me be specific. The reason we deliver these things is because we love the people. We respect them for giving us an opportunity to serve them. We care for them. How do we show this? More health services are now within reach for our communities than ever before with the provision of lifesaving ambulances up to the constituency level.
And the ambulances are getting to all the places across the country. Appropriate ambulances, lifesaving. You look at what is contained in that ambulance. It's a small hospital. It's great. More of our mothers, especially in rural areas, can now deliver in appropriate maternity facilities. Opportunities many of us never had. But it's our duty to give them to our aunties, our mothers, our nieces across the country. Madam Speaker, the policy of attaching a maternity wing at every health center is working and these MPs are delivering. I want to thank them for that.
Madam Speaker, acceptable sanitation is a minimum. But also lighting, solar allows us to do that now and we should do it. These are priorities. I urge all people sitting in this house that these are not matters you must say I don't support. Supporting this government is supporting the people who elected you into government. Those are the beneficiaries, not this party or that party. Please, let's work together on this issue. We are picking revelations that in some constituencies members of parliament are resisting these minimums. You are punishing your people, our people, and we will not allow you to do that. No. Thank you.
More of our children are learning in decent classrooms now, which classrooms now have desks instead of kids sitting on the floor opposed to previous situations, commonplace situations where kids will be sitting on a log. How can the attention span be anything longer than 10 minutes? Madam Speaker, more of our students are receiving bursaries, meal allowances, which were taken away. They are back. More of our health workers and teachers in urban and rural areas are providing critical services to our communities because we've employed more. More of our communities can now access clean, safe drinking water. More of our traders are conducting their business in modern market facilities.
Madam Speaker, more of our small-scale livestock farmers can now access dipping facilities, vaccinations, and treatment drugs within their communities. Madam Speaker, more of our communities are becoming safer with construction of police posts and provision of police vehicles in each and every constituency, including Kananchi in Mafken. Madam Speaker, Mafken is Mufila. Fellow citizens, we commit to continuing to deliver for each and every Zambian citizen because we love them. As I said, we care for them. We value them. Their welfare is our welfare.
Madam Speaker, human dignity, equity, and social justice cannot be attained without social protection interventions. Not possible. We have expanded our social protection programs across the country. The social cash transfer value for vulnerable households, numbers don't lie, and beneficiaries has been doubled from 200 to 400 per month. For beneficiary households where there is a member with a disability, the value has increased from 400 to 600 per month. This year alone, we've increased the number of beneficiary households on social cash transfer from 1.3 million people to 1.5 million countrywide.
Madam Speaker, this house has supported this measure and we ask the house to continue supporting such measures going forward. Elections must not stop us from delivering for the people. We must continue delivering for the people. Under the food security pack, Madam Speaker, the number of vulnerable but viable farmers has increased from 240,000 to 320,000 beneficiaries. Tremendous. We have expanded the cash for work program. Madam Speaker, we have expanded the cash for work program to cover all the 116 districts across the country.
Madam Speaker, this is from an initial number of 84 districts because or essentially this was targeted at those who were adversely affected by the worst drought in living memory which we experienced. Now we said let's extend it to all the 116 districts. So the members seated here please make sure that these programs are taking place in your constituencies because there's work to be done. This is better than Tantamin. People work then they get paid. I think that's a culture shift that we need in our country.
Madam Speaker, access to clean water and sanitation as well as adequate... sorry I'll repeat it. Access to clean and safe water as well as adequate sanitation is fundamental to our citizens' health. Dignity, Madam Speaker, dignity. Just imagine from a pit latrine to a flush toilet. A young teacher 24 years, 25 years old posted to Muombia and now she can go in a toilet and she can flush the toilet. Dignity. This is very important. This is important, Madam Speaker. It means that this young teacher will go to Muombia and teach with happiness because her basics are met and she will remain attractive. That is important.
And Madam Speaker, government has implemented an array of interventions to expand access to safe water across the country. And I want to encourage members of this house, water and sanitation is one of the central priorities in CDF. So is education, so is health. Please do not deviate from there because we don't want one part of the country to be left behind. We don't want that. Let's not make a human decision to punish innocent community members through these interventions. Madam Speaker, over 4.9 million citizens have been provided with clean and safe water. This is a significant number, but we are not resting until every Zambian has access to clean water.
Madam Speaker, the UPND New Dawn administration remains firmly committed to addressing economic and social barriers to children's participation and progression in education. Yes, there's free education, but there are some inherent issues that hinder kids from going back to school. In 2021, we introduced the free education policies. Yes, but we still have other things to do, other interventions to do. As always, Madam Speaker, you know, I'll say it that education remains the best investment, equalizer, and true inheritance. Best investment, equalizer, and inheritance. We should all remember this issue. Many of us here without education will be in very difficult circumstances today. Many of us here, very difficult circumstances, including the speaker.
Madam Speaker, with the implementation of this policy, we can today, today Madam Speaker, you should be proud of this. We can today announce that over 2.5 million children have been given the opportunity to go back to school. Last time we were talking about 2.3, now we are talking about 2.5. Please follow the numbers. This is gratifying, but we can still do more. We can push. There's a kid out there who is not yet back to school. Members of parliament must look for these kids. Counselors, chairmen, mayors, let's all look for these kids in our communities. And Madam Speaker, with your strong leadership, let's remind these MPs to do that every now and then. They will save a life. They will bring a future president back to school. That is important.
Madam Speaker, we've also scaled up support to vulnerable girls. These are the issues through keeping girls in school initiative. The program benefited 127,233 girls in 2025 from a small number of 38,551 in 2021. The geographical coverage has also increased to 95 districts from 39 in 2021. The agenda is to cover all the districts without exception. In addition, we have strengthened menstrual hygiene management among girls in school. The number of girls supported under this program, Madam Speaker, increased from 186,670 in 2021 to 1.7 million in 2025. This is truly, again, an emotive subject. As a rural boy, I would see girls not sitting in class because of this problem. You all know that. Now you can see what this has done, this support has done to our girl child. They can stay in class, be competitive like any other child. That's our aspiration, Madam Speaker.
Further, we've expanded the school feeding program. Madam Speaker, hear me out. This house and the nation, we have expanded the school feeding program. Very, very important program from 1.5 million in 2021 to 4.7 million. These are all learners. These are not just numbers, Madam Speaker. These are human beings. These are our children in 2025 because we love and care for our people, our children. Madam Speaker, it is gratifying that these interventions are contributing to improved school attendance. These are the outcomes now. Improved school attendance, retention, and learning outcomes among vulnerable learners, particularly those in rural areas and indeed peri-urban underserved communities. Very important.
Madam Speaker, in 2025, we recorded, Madam Speaker, an impressive pass rate in public schools of over 70%, the first time in the history of our country at a grade 12 level. This is the highest ever. Contrary to those who criticize the free education policy that it will dilute quality, numbers don't lie. Here you are. People complained about more high enrollment. Our response is to build more classrooms, to buy more desks. It's a responsible action, it's not to work against the policy. It's to say how can we improve this policy. These are the results. Incredible. This was not an accident, Madam Speaker. It was a direct outcome of deep, broad, and well-planned policy reforms long held. I must say we pay tribute to all teachers, pupils, parents for this remarkable achievement. Thank you to all. You can have a learning teaching environment but if pupils, teachers, communities don't respond, the results will be less than what you could achieve.
Madam Speaker, to promote human dignity and equity, the UPND government prioritized investment in the health and wellness of our people. Since 2021, we have recruited over 18,000 health workers with an additional 2,000 to be recruited this year. Further, we have continued to improve access to health services for our citizens through the construction and equipping of facilities at all levels. Equipping these facilities with basic equipment, soft and hard, not just people, but tools to work with at all levels across the country. Madam Speaker, these are intentional measures. These are deliberate measures. They are not opportunistic. They are intentional. They're deliberate. They're planned.
Madam Speaker, to ensure dignity and social justice and non-discrimination in the employment and labor sector, government has undertaken important reforms including a more transparent public procurement system. When we recruit, for years now, you see adverts, database applications come when we've not exhausted because jobs are fewer than applicants. We maintain that database and use it in the next round. It's organized. We introduce new measures in the pension system to allow for partial withdrawal of pension benefits. Madam Speaker, this is an important issue. This is an important issue for me. In my opposition days, I watched this issue. I said there's a problem here. When we got the opportunity to serve the people, we went for it. We've gone for it and it is now bearing fruit. You can see families investing now long before they retire. That's important.
As of January, Madam Speaker, as of January this year, 51,183 members of the National Pension Scheme Authority, NAPSA, had accessed their 20% partial withdrawal. Madam Speaker, in monetary terms, this is amounting to 10.6 billion kwacha has gone to the owners long before they retire. They are completing their houses. They are putting water and sanitation. They're buying farming equipment to be productive. Madam Speaker, this is important to make families self-reliant and not to wait until they're too tired to work to use their money. And this is optional, by the way, Madam Speaker. It's not mandatory, but you can see the uptake that it is working for families and it's long overdue. This is tremendous and is life-changing for our people.
Madam Speaker, some criticize this policy and say it will bankrupt NAPSA. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need to understand money matters. You cannot bankrupt an institution. Some of the times money sits there in a latent form. It's better to give it to the owners and the owners will do something of economic activity and create jobs and add to the growth of the economy. This is the flip side of those who argued against this. Very important. We have also extended pension coverage to the informal sector which accounts for over 70% of our workforce. We have increased the minimum wage, Madam Speaker, and enhanced legislation on occupational safety and health in line with our decent work agenda. Minister of Labor. This has improved income security, enhanced financial resilience, and ensured broader social protection for our citizens.
Madam Speaker, to facilitate speedy dispensation of justice, government has deployed resident high court judges to all our 10 provinces. We have enhanced access to justice by expanding legal aid services to districts across the country. Further, we have completed, Madam Speaker, if an MP here doesn't feel, doesn't see that in the community, all they need to do is to say so, we'll look into that matter. And I think it's important that we have feedback as we implement these programs. Madam Speaker, our administration remains focused on reducing overcrowding in our correctional facilities to safeguard the dignity of our inmates. They are human beings. You can ask me the question, how do I know? I know because those were my apartments some years back.
Madam Speaker, to promote equality and social justice among our youth, government has been focusing on economic inclusion and skills development. As I said earlier, Minister of Youth. Yes. Yes. Elovis. We continue to implement important youth empowerment programs under the Youth Empowerment Fund, Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission, and CDF. Your CDF. Madam Speaker, the UPND New Dawn administration is focused on promoting equality, social justice, and non-discrimination in the provision of electricity to our people. We have successfully completed almost 60,000 new connections even in great difficulty with the decapitation of the generating capacity because of the drought through this Rural Electrification Authority program and many other interventions including off-grid energy. That is how we are proceeding.
Madam Speaker, technology is transformatory and we must uplift it, upload it, all of us. Further, government, Madam Speaker, has significantly reduced electric connection fees for households in peri-urban and rural areas. The reduction is part of the Accelerated Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation Initiative. Thank you, Minister of Energy. Madam Speaker, that minister was complaining that Mr. President, you are putting too much pressure on me. Now, with the developments that you see, I can see he looks happier these days.
Madam Speaker, as part of our commitment to delivery, we have tackled the electricity challenges head on. We did not skate around. We acknowledged that we had a problem in electricity. We apologized to our people of Zambia. We told our people we're working on it. And you can see the benefits of this. Yeah, you can see the benefits. Madam Speaker, reducing, drastically reducing the hours of load shedding and in many locations completely ending it. This has been a difficult situation and it has taught us lessons and these must be national lessons, not the UPND government lessons. Lessons for the nation that when we are in good times, we must continue to invest in these facilities and not wait until we're in a difficult situation like the one we were. But flipping the coin, great opportunity and we are taking the opportunity. We want to address our fellow citizens directly whenever we have problems. Madam Speaker, we don't want to hide. We don't want to conceal a problem. We want to acknowledge the problem and deal with it and also ask citizens for ideas because they may have better ideas in this house.
Madam Speaker, last time I asked the members of parliament to come on board to invest in electricity. We pushed reforms that allows everybody, anybody. There's no opposition here. There's only citizens of Zambia. Let us work together. You on my right, you need to embrace these on my left. You on my left, you need to mingle with those on the right. Madam Speaker, once more we take this opportunity to apologize to the people of Zambia for the pain they endured during the difficult times with electricity shortages. And we also want to thank the people of Zambia for their patience and for their support throughout this period and in the spirit of dialogue, in the spirit of civility. We saw citizens not going to basically toyi-toyi in the streets but talking to each other. This is the culture we want to see in this country. Yeah, there's no solution in the streets, solutions are in the rooms like this one, in boardrooms, on the grounds at solar power stations being constructed as a nation.
For decades, the energy sector has been neglected and this is regrettable. On behalf of those who sat in the chair I see today, I want to apologize for not having taken proactive measures together, all of us, collectively. Zambia is basically an asset, a nation that is yes timeless but also in continuity. Yes. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So we should all work together. Madam Speaker, this is not a joke. Please don't take this as a joke. We should all work together. Reforms have been put in place. Opportunities are there and I want to thank the MP for Kumbu who took the opportunity to do what. Thank you.
Madam Speaker, the establishment of solar power stations is a great initiative, on-grid, off-grid, expansion of clean core power technologies. Madam Speaker, very important already successful importation of electricity. I hear some members were saying this government was hiding electricity. You can't store electricity like water. No, you generate it, you use it. We couldn't have been hiding it anywhere. It's the measures that we have taken to make electricity more available. Yeah. Yeah. Hydro of course will continue despite these vulnerabilities and we'll continue to expand this especially in the northern corridor of our country where we have more water but also, Madam Speaker, to connect water systems, water basins is what every country does. Morocco is moving water from the north to the south. Israel is moving water from the north to the south. China is moving water from the north to the south. There's something about north and water, right? We have to do the same here so that we can fully utilize the generating capacity we already have. And the power, Madam Speaker, is available to every household in the country. It's available to every mine, including the mine that will be coming up in Sindila. And I'm very happy about it. In Sindila, big mine is coming there. Yeah. So that mine needs power. So we need to move water where it is to the dry areas where the capacity is. That's what the nation does.
Madam Speaker, good governance and integrity. The UPND New Dawn administration is committed to promoting good governance and integrity in our nation. The fight against corruption is central to our work. We are now able to prosecute corruption and economic crimes within 5 months due to the reforms that we have made in the judicial area. This is a huge contrast to what used to happen, Madam Speaker, where some cases could take 20 years. 20 years. This is unacceptable both to the accused and to the nation. This is unfair. Further, our Operation Asset Recovery initiative is yielding results. Madam Speaker, we have made the largest ever recovery of assets in the history of our nation. Real estate, vehicles, helicopters, helicopters, helicopters, as well as cash have been recovered.
We are returning these assets to the true owners, the rightful owners, the citizens of Zambia. We are walking the talk. Madam Speaker, we have much more work to do. We acknowledge that ahead of us. We will continue to fight past, present, and future corruption. Please take note of that. If you are corrupt, you are on your own.
Simple. If you know a corrupt person, don't go on social media. Go to the police. Go to ACC. Go to anybody. Go to DEC, drug enforcement. That's the road you must be going, not on social media because social media sometimes becomes abusive. Just go and report. I'm one, Madam Speaker. Even in my opposition days, I used to challenge people. Do you think I've stolen anything? Go to the police. And none went to the police. No, no, no, no. Someone went to the police and I won the case. There was nothing. There was nothing. We should not be afraid of this thing and we should not create dark issues and dark corner conversations. This is open. These are our laws. These are our laws. We inherited these laws. All of us. We didn't create them. Right. So we are all walking the talk and we should do that. Leaders in this house must work together on this issue.
We have much more work to do. As I said going ahead, we will continue to fight, as I said, past, present, and future corruption. If you are corrupt, I repeat, you're on your own. It is immoral. Madam Speaker, it is immoral to support corrupt activities. Society must abhor corruption, stealing from the school children, and it's immoral even to support the people involved for whatever reason. It says, 'Show me your friends, right? Then I will know most likely who you are.' Let's walk away from supporting the corrupt. Let's work together to improve our corruption perception index. Some of the times the index is affected because it's perception by what we say on social media. Just go to police and report.
Madam Speaker, we are determined to ensure that all those entrusted with the management of public affairs and resources act responsibly and operate in the interest of citizens. We will continue to address persistent structural, institutional, and capacity challenges to further enhance good governance and integrity. And on this call, we want to work with our partners, cooperating partners, that if you know better ways of fighting corruption, come forward and share this experience and uptake it. Absolutely. As opposed to saying things that we hear, come to the table. In short, it must be easier to do honest business and get the support you need from your government. I'll repeat this. In short, it must be easier to do honest business, such as electricity generation, such as the Gwembe MP is doing, and your government will support you. He led a team to China. An opposition leader leads a government team to China looking for investments and we support him. We will support any one of you. Please do that for the good of our country.
Yeah. There are no shortcuts. Madam Speaker, let me repeat this. There are no shortcuts, no pickings. Life is not designed like that. Shortcuts, easy pickings. No, no, no, no, no. Madam Speaker, we in this house must show leadership and must not promote shortcuts, easy pickings. No, communities are watching us. Even the way we manage CDF, communities are watching us and they see more than we see. Let us work together on this one.
Sustainable development. Madam Speaker, we have positioned our country on a green growth trajectory. In the past four years, we have scaled up climate change adaptation, Madam Speaker, and mitigation efforts. We've upgraded all climate monitoring stations across the country and we've enhanced national early warning systems. Vice President, thank you. Disaster management is able to come on board whenever we have a problem quickly and our men and women in uniform are now working together to help remedy a bridge is gone. Commander-in-chief issues an instruction, they run and get bridges done. That's what society must be. We all do our part. Through these efforts, we have strengthened resilience in agriculture and other sectors, directly protecting our farmers and their families and national food security.
Madam Speaker, deforestation remains a major challenge in our country. Our administration has therefore been promoting natural regeneration and tree planting programs as well as the use of alternative sources of energy. I must admit, Madam Speaker, we still have a lot of work to do here. Alternative energy, when we say to our people no charcoal burning, the next question is what will be their source of energy. I think we need to work on that together. Our scientists, please let's use the skills we have to find alternative energy, but also let's benchmark which country is doing this better. That's the call. We are all promoting, we should all be promoting sustainable utilization and protection of natural resources such as the wildlife. We need our children to know what a buffalo is 50 years from now and they can see it, kudu, all of that. But Kasanka, I'm sure those colleagues from there know what I'm talking about. And so these endowments can bring us a lot of money through tourism. See what countries with less endowments than us are doing and bring in tourism. We need to do more together. Our rivers are important. Our wetlands are important, very, very important source of livelihoods.
Furthermore, the number of hectares of forests, Madam Speaker, forest land placed under community care and management has more than doubled from 4.1 million hectares in 2022 to 10.4 million in 2025. And involving communities is the way to go so that the communities can provide the protection and the support. Madam Speaker, we call upon our traditional leaders and civic leaders, the church, civil society, and our communities overall to work with the government, their government. Madam Speaker, there are times I hear people saying this government, that government. It's your government. You elected it, it's your government. Anyone who wants to aspire to lead this country, you must know when you are in this chair, you care for everybody because you are a product of society. You're elected by society. So let us work together in this way and no corner of the country should say we are different. There's no one different here. We are the same. Interests are the same. Permanent interests of the nation are the same. Individual interests can shift but permanent national interests are the same. They can only be better.
So, Madam Speaker, the Keep Zambia Clean, Green, and Healthy campaign remains key in driving behavioral change and promoting public health. We urge our citizens and all our public and private institutions to prioritize cleaning, just cleaning your house, your environment, painting your house, your plant, your factory, just get it painted, clean drainage around it. And if we all do that in our spaces, the nation will be cleaner. Madam Speaker, throwing litter on that same house land every week you clean, two days later, there's litter all over on that road. Throwing litter from cars, cans, plastic bags, and we cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. And we will keep our plastic bags in the car, cans, when you reach home, collect them, put them in a bin, and they'll be taken away properly. This must be a national, of course, personal responsibility. Madam Speaker, I'm not sure if you need to look at legislation around this issue, but compliance is the problem. Compliance is the problem. Local authorities, ministers of local government, we need to do more in this area. There's just a problem there. So, let's work together, colleagues. We should respect the adage, prevention is better than cure. We keep our environment clean, surroundings clean, we will be healthier.
Madam Speaker, the increased investment in mining has come with its own challenges. I want to admit it has brought new jobs and opportunities. Yes, but we also have seen more or some negative impact on local communities and the environment. Our government has strengthened the regulatory framework to promote safe mining, secure, legal, structured, sustainable mining practices to avoid the needless loss of life. And all of us in this house must not misunderstand opportunity to mean risking lives of our children to go down there without properly planned mines, small, large, micro. There's no father or mother who sends their child in a pit knowing that they may not return. Then you're not a true mother or father and something wrong with you. So let's work together in this area. There's no need to lose lives as we seek income. We're also destroying the biodiversity, throwing mercury into our river systems. That cannot be allowed. We need the same water for irrigation. We need the same water for human consumption. So we shouldn't go the direction other countries have gone. We should not go there. Then that will be irresponsible. We must ensure that the extraction of our natural resources does not become a source of insecurity and instability in our country. Mumbi is one area where there was even a gun market there. Rival gun markets run by non-Zambians. We had to take the action we took. Conflict in countries around us started just like that.
Madam Speaker, you always look for softer solutions. If people don't heed soft solutions, you use hard solutions. That's why these institutions are created. Yeah. And now Kafue is having roads, having infrastructure going on there. ZCCM and your own citizens will now be mining. I must say that resources belong to citizens. But citizens invite partners in a legal and structured manner. That is important. This house must take note of this. It's important. We don't want Kafue now to become a source of conflict area. We want a proper phosphate mine there. And for my colleague from Kafue, we've also negotiated that we process the phosphate in Kafue. And mark my words, we will have over five to 10,000 jobs in Kafue. It will be a different place from what you knew. But insecurity is not part of the menu. Madam Speaker, insecurity is not part of the menu. That is out and we must work together here. Short-term interest can damage long-term prospects.
Madam Speaker, sustainable development occurs when peace and hard work are rewarded by prosperity, not shortcuts. The Kwacha, Madam Speaker, has been one of the best performing currencies in the world, not in SADC or in Africa, but in the world. Numbers don't lie. Just click, you'll see the numbers will come out. Go to the internet. So, we don't have to argue about these things, colleagues. Right? So, Minister of Finance, thank you very much. Thank you very much. But I've always told the Minister of Finance, he's only the keeper of things. These benefits are coming from mines, from agriculture, from tourism, from digital, from technology. That's where they're coming from, but recorded at finance. So we thank everybody, all of you including this house for passing progressive laws.
Madam Speaker, inflation which was standing at 23%, not long ago, is now single digits, slightly ahead of schedule based on the plans. Ahead of schedule. And this minister will tell you that if we don't loosen up in the next 30 or so days, maximum 40, 50, we will now achieve the inflation range of 6 to 8%. This is dramatic. It has a huge impact on the cost of doing business. I'm sure you saw the Bank of Zambia lowering the monetary policy rate. Please don't worry about the word and tongue twisting. It simply means wholesale interest rate to commercial banks and commercial banks now must lower the rates because they borrow at a lower rate. Very simple. And this has a positive impact on the overall economic situation. I have talked about three things, Madam Speaker. Inflation down, exchange rate, Kwacha doing well. The third triplet, these are triplets: inflation, exchange rate, interest rates should be coming down. Normally the triplets, amongst the triplets, interest rates comes last. So that's what's happening. It should come through. Madam Speaker, these are interesting times. These are not times we should waste. We should utilize this convergence positive. So I must say, Madam Speaker, our economic fundamentals are getting better with a clear, what we call, positive alignment. Let's utilize them as I said earlier on.
At the same time, we acknowledge that citizens are yet to feel the full benefits and that the cost of living should be stabilized further. But with this macro stability now firmly in place, Madam Speaker, the benefits will increasingly be felt by all citizens through a gradual but sustained easing of the cost of living. That's how it works. There's no other way. Madam Speaker, this is not an event. It's a process. You align things, work hard, align things, then benefits start coming through. As we work to increase wages on the other side of the coin, flip side of the coin, costs coming down, wages going up, we will also work with the private sector to help further drive down the cost of doing business and thereby stabilizing prices for the benefit of our people. No one else but our people. As always, we commend, Madam Speaker, the Zambia Association of Manufacturers, our friends in the private sector. This government took public office knowing that we alone in the public sector cannot make things work. We need partners in the private sector. We set up the Presidential Delivery Unit, Madam Speaker. We set up the Public-Private Dialogue Forum. Early on we knew what we wanted to achieve and this is where we are now. So we commend the Zambia Association of Manufacturers, ZAM, for responding to the positive economic fundamentals by lowering prices and we urge other businesses to do the same. We notice that retailers in the compounds are not responding where they're ordering goods, the prices have come down. They too must respond by lowering the prices, those that have been lowered by the suppliers, the producers.
Madam Speaker, in conclusion, national values and principles are embodiment of who we are as a people. Our national character and policy choices are firmly anchored on these values and principles. They are not isolated. They are the bedrock. They are the fundamental framework that we work within. As such, notwithstanding the tremendous progress we have made together, we have more work to do ahead. This house needs to know we're only beginning. We have a lot more work to do ahead of us. What we have done so far was the most difficult, such as what? Debt restructuring, very complicated. Such as what? Macro stability, fiscal consolidation, right? What else? Getting to work on the exchange rate regime. And please, all of us, Madam Speaker, we are salesmen for our country. When we promote Zambia we must know that Zambia has no exchange controls. I was at the mining indaba two weeks ago and I challenged the full house. I was giving the keynote speech and at the end I said Zambia is ahead of others in the business operating environment. I said I want one hand in this room where they live in a country where there are no exchange controls on this continent. There was not a single hand. Let's sell this asset. Let's promote this country, all of us. Doesn't matter whether you are opposition, independent, or what. Country first. Country first. Madam Speaker. Yeah. Country first.
Madam Speaker, I want to say again, notwithstanding the tremendous progress we have made together, not us alone, but together, we have more work to do ahead of us. And let's not derail this trajectory because of personal interest, party interest, other isms. Let's work together. We all have a duty to turn our national values and principles into action from a place of love, deep care for our people and the nation's well-being at all times. Madam Speaker, this year on Thursday, 13th August 2026, this year the country will be holding general elections. We ask every Zambian to rise to the highest standards of patriotism, integrity, and peaceful coexistence before, during, and after elections. As citizens, we must reject all forms of violence. All forms of violence. We must all say no to hate speech. No one should hide in a foreign country and push hate speech on our social platforms. Lies, creating an environment which we are cleaning up for investment and making investors think that there is trouble in Zambia. There's fire all over. We are working on it slowly. We're working on it. Slowly but sure. Slowly but sure because our country's interest comes first. You put personal interest somewhere outside of our jurisdiction. You are sending falsehoods and allowing our children to consume hate messages. It is not right. We must all work together on this issue. And some of these colleagues are known to us. Let's just tell them, take a first.
Madam Speaker, I'm only saying slow down. Let's be responsible. Let's be responsible. This country, our beloved country, is more important than anything. That's all we have. This country, that's all we have. So as we ask every Zambian to rise to the high standard of patriotism, integrity, and peaceful coexistence before, during, and after elections, we are asking for personal commitment to this issue. Elections are a democratic process, but ultimately we want the country to remain stable, secure, so we can focus on development. We may be unhappy about one or two things. Let's deal with those issues. Let's not destroy the country. As citizens, we must reject all forms of violence. We must all say no to hate speech. We all must abhor cyber crimes. We must reject divisive politics. Divisive politics. These vices have absolutely no place in our society. We therefore call upon all political actors once again, all candidates and supporters of these candidates, the civil society, the church, the church, the body of Christ, where we should all go for counseling, our traditional leaders, my friends, the students, our friends, the students, the youth, our friends, the youth, our children, the media, all citizens to demonstrate the highest level of restraint, respect, and responsibility as we head towards the polls. Madam Speaker, we call upon every citizen, Madam Speaker, to contribute towards the realization of greater national unity for development. Unity for development. As we reiterate our commitment to delivery, to moving Zambia forward together, we have responsibilities. Yes. Yes. We call upon every citizen, Madam Speaker, to abide by our guiding principle. Once again, one Zambia, one nation, one people. I shall repeat that. One Zambia, one nation, one people.
Madam Speaker, Madam Speaker, I want to say to your members, I'm only saying don't get me into be the one who... Madam Speaker, we love our people. We care about our people and therefore we remain focused on delivery so that we can improve the well-being of the citizens of this country across the whole country and I think we've demonstrated that. Madam Speaker, may the good Lord our God bless us all. May the good Lord our God bless us with a continued peace, security, stability, for development, for prosperity. And may the good Lord, Madam Speaker, our God, bless our beautiful country, Zambia. Madam Speaker, I thank you for your kind attention.
