Lawmakers bemoan hunger crisis, gaps in teacher-recruitment exercises, others

Petauke Central Member of Parliament, Emmanuel Banda, has urged the government to declare the hunger crisis in the country a national disaster to attract aid from well-wishers.

Banda said the government should consider providing relief food to all Zambians following the reported hunger situation.

He made these remarks during a press briefing held in Lusaka on Thursday.

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“Right now when you come to Petauke there is too much hunger where people even just to have food on the table, they are buying maize-grind,” Banda revealed.

He further pointed out that the country’s resources were not for elected leaders but for the people of Zambia.

He emphasized that elected leaders must return the proceeds from the resources to the people.

“It’s not government money, it is the money for the people. So, when the people have got challenges government should come in using the same money to give solutions to the people,” he advised.

Furthermore, Banda encouraged the government to abolish the statutory instrument that required obtaining a permit to transport maize from Lusaka to Eastern Province.

“How can the government ask the businessmen from Eastern Province for a permit while in Eastern Province we are the one who are supplying this raw material to come up with mealie meal,” he said.

Meanwhile, Milenge Member of Parliament, Gystave Chonde, called on the government to reevaluate the recruitment of teachers, alleging that the 2023 teacher recruitment lacked transparency.

“We were promised that the teachers recruitment will be decentralized … All the people in Milenge that were seemingly recruited at district level, only one reapeared out of the list of all the teachers that were recruited last year,” Chonde stated.

Additionally, Nkana Member of Parliament, Binwell Mpundu, condemned the council for demolishing structures at Chisokone market that were built by local traders.

“Government will not have an opportunity to employ all those traders because Chisokone market has got 2000 traders if not more,” he pointed out.

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