Maravi

Poverty fight a tale of missed opportunities, says Inonge

Poverty fight a tale of missed opportunities, says Inonge
By Edwin Mbulo
Thu 09 June 2011, 04:01 CAT

THE fight against poverty has been a tale of missed opportunities under the MMD government because of the failure to come up with far-reaching alternatives in rural areas, says Inonge Wina.

In an interview, Wina, who is PF national chairperson, said the MMD government was perpetuating poverty especially in rural areas by resorting to vote buying, especially in places like Kalabo.

“Poverty in Zambia is perpetuated by misplaced policies and political opportunism. The fight against poverty has been a tale of missed opportunities under the MMD government. I say so because the MMD has failed to come up with far-reaching alternatives in rural area,” Wina said.

She said the MMD want to reach out to voters with handouts by distributing maize and grouping women, especially in markets, with promises of loans in return for their voters’ cards.

“The MMD is not helping the people get out of poverty; they just want to win elections through manipulation. It is an insult for the MMD to target women for manipulation. This government should realise that women are disproportionally disadvantaged among the poor. Our government should ensure that they have far reaching and equitable formulas to alleviate poverty,” she said.

Wina said the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) was welcomed by many people but funds were being diverted to suite the MMD’s agenda.

“The MMD’s disregard for the poor goes beyond our understanding, you remember the HIPC initiative, that was another missed opportunity as the debt cancellation should have freed resources to be used to tackle poverty and unemployment but the MMD chose to empower the already economically empowered and the well-connected MMD members through dubious contracts,” said Wina.

Labels: CORRUPTION, INONGE WINA, MMD, PF, POVERTY, VOTERIGGING

posted by MrK @ 6:26 PM