Favourite K. Chisi

The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has urged government to invest in the welfare of children. CSPR Programmes Coordinator, Eddy Musosa has expressed concern that six in every ten children are poor and coming from poor households. "In Zambia out of every 10 children, 6 are poor and coming from poor households, meaning they are unable to have access to basic needs such as food, clothing and decent housing. This problem is huge and heavier in rural areas compared to urban areas". Speaking at a joint briefing ahead of the commemoration of this year's Day of the African Child which falls today, 15th June, 2019, Mr. Musosa says about 60 percent of children in rural areas suffer from at least three deprivations or more such as lack of access to Nutrition, education, health, water and sanitation, adequate housing among others compared to 10 percent in urban areas. "However what is actually more saddening is that the challenge of child poverty has been downpl...

  “President Edgar Lungu and his government should desist from the temptation of dismissing the Financial Intelligence Centre reports, but must instead endeavor to address their contents with the seriousness they deserve Fr. Emmanuel Mumba has advised”. Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) Executive Director Emmanuel Mumba said t he increase in the reported suspicious transaction from K4.5 billion in 2017 to K6.1 billion in 2018 is worrying. “This money could have addressed many economic and social challenges if it had been earned or spent in a transparent manner. K6.1 billion is almost three times the budgetary allocation of K2.2 billion to social protection in the 2018 national budget”. Fr. Mumba said. “The increase in the abuse of resources is also reflective of the entrenching culture of corruption and impunity in the country. Of the 176 suspicious transactions analyzed, 80 of them were forwarded to law enforcement agencies for action and corruption w...

"We have begged for too long, we should not be going to investors’ table to get the crumbs so that they paint a school with lime,” Council of Churches in Zambia General Secretary, Father Emmanuel Chikoya said. Speaking during the two days Southern Province District Alternative Mining Indaba (DAMI) organized by the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), OXFAM, Centre for Environmental Justice, Joint Country Programme, and other partners, Fr. Chikoya said Zambians should not be begging in order for them to receive development from the Mining industry. "We need to move from being beggars to being a people that are empowered; we need to begin to demand what belongs to us [natural resources] because there is nothing that will be given to us on a silver platter, I can assure you" Fr. Chikoya emphasized. Fr. Chikoya has encouraged community members in Sinazongwe District to ens...

By Favourite Kalando “We are not ready now to handle the consequences and costs that come with Genetically Modified Food (GMOs),” HIVOS Southern Africa Advocacy Officer for Sustainable Diets, William Chilufya has said. Last year, the National Bio-safety Authority, a government agency tasked to oversee and regulate agricultural related products - less those inclined with GMOs, granted three distributors new permits to import products that may contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) after a risk assessment was conducted by the scientific advisory committee. By allowing the import of products that may contain genetically modified organism Mr. Chilufya feels government has let the people of Zambia down owing to the fact that it has been assuring citizenry that it would uphold the late President Levy Mwanawasa’s legacy of saying no to GMO. In 2002 the then President late Levy Patrick Mwanawasa described them [GMOs] as “poison” and refused to allow GMOs in the country. He ...

The Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) has revealed that some farmers under the Direct Input Supply (DIS) were issued with expired maize seed during the distribution of farm inputs in the 2018-2019 farming season. IAPRI senior research associate Auckland Kuteya has also disclosed that a total of 371,616 farmers in 45 districts were covered under the conventional FISP while 650,818 farmers remained under the e-voucher. Speaking when he made a presentation at the Implementation Review meeting of the E-voucher and DIS during 2018/2019 farming season, Mr. Kuteya also noted that farmers were not given a choice to inputs as this was already pre-determined, which he says defeated the diversification agenda. He says diversification is stifled due to delivery of fertilizer and mainly maize seed. And Mr Kuteya has observed that late release of funds under E- Voucher prevented full participation of the private sector and delayed release of inputs. He has ...