Opposition UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has bemoaned the poverty levels in border town of Nakonde despite the amount of revenue the town collects at the border point. And Mr. Hichilema has reiterated that agriculture production will be one of UPND’s key priorities as that was one sure of way alleviating poverty among the rural communities and lower the cost of food. Speaking in separate meetings when he addressed scores of Nakonde and later Isoka residents during the campaign meetings in Muchinga province, Hichilema said a good portion of resources generated from Nakonde border point should be channeled to the development of the area’s infrastructure, such as health and education facilities. He said he will continue a number of projects embarked by the previous regimes but this time with locally generated resources instead of excessive borrowing which is PF’s way of raising money. “Even this place here is heavily endowed with good vegetation and it’s a border area. Locals should easily be exporting foods and other materials from this place. In fact, this place should have a local production industry as it would be easy to export without worrying about huge transport costs,” he told the crowd. He reiterated that unemployment for the youths was a major challenge that should be tackled through deliberate measures favouring youth investments and SMEs. “Like I have said, other than reducing the retirement age from 65 to 55 in order to create room for the youths, our party will embark on other deliberate policies meant to have more people, especially the youths be in gainful employment activities. There is nothing more demoralizing and frustrating than for the young, energetic, educated and skilled people have no opportunity to earn a decent living. Yet this is the current reality for many of the youths in Zambia today.” Mr. Hichilema reminded the people that his childhood was tough due to poverty but was lucky because education helped him to go further using a government bursary. “I owe everything I have to Zambia and now I want to serve my country to make sure everyone has that same opportunity to succeed. We can achieve more and work towards a better Zambia. But we must do this together, united. I don’t care which province you come from or which tribe you are part of. We are all Zambians”, he said. In Isoka, former MP Paul Sichaba, former District Commissioner and a number of businessmen joined the UPND. Mr. Hichilema is today expected to continue with his campaign in Muchinga, visiting Muyombe, Tendere and Malole. Mr Hichilema will be accompanied by Lunte MP Honourable Felix Mutati and UPND National Chairperson Mutale Nalumango.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:07:42 +0000
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