Maravi

Unza lecturer urges more resources to health, education

Unza lecturer urges more resources to health, education
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Tue 30 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT

UNIVERSITY of Zambia (UNZA) head of development studies Mufana Lipalile has advised the government to channel more resources towards social sectors such as health and education if economic benefits are to trickle down to ordinary citizens.

In an interview, Lipalile said economic benefits had not trickled down to the poor as could be seen by the poverty levels, which he said were still high.

“At the moment, it is very difficult to say that economic benefits are trickling down to the poor because poverty levels are still quite high. A lot of poor people still do not have access to essential goods and services,” he said.

Lipalile said expenditure patterns in the country also tended to be tilted towards consumption and this mostly benefited the elite.

He bemoaned what he termed as the unprogressive tax regime that did not give relief to the poor.

“In other countries, the tax regime tends to be softer on vulnerable groups but in Zambia the tax regime is not progressive so to say. We have income tax of 35 per cent across the board,” he added.

Lipalile called for a specific pro-poor strategy by targeting the disadvantaged, especially in rural areas.

He said channelling more resources to health and education would help overcome constraints that poor people faced in accessing such services.

Lipalile said few poor people had access to health and when they accessed it, the quality was compromised because of the patient-to-doctor ratio that saw too many people being attended to by one or a few doctors.

He said there was need for more resources to go towards water and sanitation as well as feeder roads.

Lipalile said although the government could argue that they faced resource-constraints, they could still do better in terms of pro-poor economic strategies.

And Lipalile said it was important for the government to take action against officers that were cited in the Auditor General’s report as having misappropriated funds meant to benefit the majority citizens.

Lipalile urged the government to deal with cases of misappropriation of funds as highlighted in the Auditor General’s report.

Labels: EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, MUFANA LIPALILE, NEOLIBERALISM

posted by MrK @ 2:37 PM