Maravi

HH urges Zambians not to tolerate corruption

HH urges Zambians not to tolerate corruption
By Mwala Kalaluka
Monday May 07, 2007 [04:00]

UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has said Zambians should not tolerate corruption. And the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZVAC) under the Office of the Vice-President has indicated in an assessment that the recent heavy rains and floods impacted negatively on crops than wildlife.

In an interview during the official opening of the first session of the House of Chiefs, Hichilema advised people never to award corruption but abhor it because it was inimical to the public interest.

"Corruption is inimical to the interests of everybody," Hichilema said.
"In a general sense we must abhor corruption as a nation. We must not award corruption by dancing around the issue."

Hichilema was responding to a question from journalists who wanted to know his position on the recent judgment handed down by the London High Court in the case where former president Frederick Chiluba and others were found liable of plunder of national resources.

Hichilema said he would only be in a position to give a sensible comment on the matter after reading the whole judgment thoroughly.

On the constitution-making process, Hichilema called on people to bury their differences and find an amicable way of solving the current impasse surrounding the issue.

"We must amicably resolve the issue of the constitution because the people of Zambia have already decided that we must have new constitution without further delay," said Hichilema.

And informing the House of Chiefs on the interventions that the government had put in place to mitigate the effects of the floods, President Mwanawasa said the overwhelming effects that the floods have had on crops would have an implication on the next consumption season.

"The affected population will have a low crop yield or no crop to harvest," President Mwanawasa said as the chiefs agreed with him. "The affected population with crop losses of between 50 to 10 per cent but have access to wetlands will need to be assisted with winter cropping inputs in order to recover from the heavy losses."

According to statistics from the Office of the Vice President, the floods affected about 1,443,585 people in 41 districts of the nine provinces.

The government intends to provide food security packs for winter cropping to 12,050 households and provide veterinary drugs to 690,000 animals at risk apart from instigating timely crop monitoring and forecasting.

Labels: CORRUPTION, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, MAIZE, MWANAWASA

posted by MrK @ 4:43 AM