For a long time, the state of the nation is such that we concentrate on politics at the expense of economics. We have been focusing too much on slogans at the expense of uniting our people to move forward. We have become perennial people who are preoccupied with factions within political parties, forgetting that we have factors to make sure that our country moves forward. We want to do down that one. We want to do down that other. That is not what we want. The state of the nation Mr. Speaker is not a good state of the nation.
Go to the doctors; ask them what the state of the nation is all about. The state of the nation is so sorry that the doctors cannot be catered for. They cannot even attend to our hospitals – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – That is the state of the nation. Go to the nurses, they will tell you that they cannot even administer a paracetamol – that is the state of the nation. When pregnant women are being asked to come to hospital with their own water and blankets, that is the state of the nation.
Hon. Speaker Sir, the state of the nation is so sorry that we have a problem that we need to solve as a country and as a people. The state of the nation can be told by the Dzamaras. When you go and ask the Dzamara family – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – they will tell you that they do not have one of their own. They will tell you that they cannot even account of a citizen for a citizen, after 1980 independence, internally displaced persons. That is the state of the nation.
The state of the nation is such that it will tell you that when you go into our provinces, they will tell you that they have never received any support from the Government in terms of infrastructure to make sure that our country is better than what it is supposed to be. The state of the nation is in the schools, where you have a whole Minister of Government trying to tear apart a curriculum which has been serving this country so well – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – That is the state of the nation; where you have a Minister who just wakes up on a drunken stupor, he wants to change a national curriculum. He has no basis for changing that national curriculum. What does he do, he wants to introduce alien concepts into our education. I want to give you one secret Mr. Speaker Sir and Hon. Members would know…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order Hon. Members. Hon. Chamisa, there is a workshop on this curriculum. So, let us not pre-empt what we are going to discuss there.
HON. CHAMISA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am so guided, I know there is a workshop on Monday.
*HON. MASHAYAMOMBE: On a point of order. My point of order is that Hon. Chamisa said drunken Minister. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order Hon. Members. Hon. Chamisa, may you withdraw the word stupor?
HON. CHAMISA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I withdraw that humbly. In fact, my intention was not to indicate that the Minister is drunk, but that it is the stupor. I hear you and I withdraw that Hon. Speaker Sir. I was condemning the stupor and not the Minister. I just want to say the State of the Nation is ably told, if you go into the high density suburbs, a neighbour cannot even visit their neighbours because the roads are so tattered and torn. You have the sewer system, it is so shambolic and that is the State of the Nation. It tells you that the centre can no longer hold. We cannot come here as Hon. Members of Parliament and continue to preside over an economy, a Government and administration that is so distant from the ideals of the liberation struggle.
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