Maravi

Poverty in Luapula worries Fr Chabu

Poverty in Luapula worries Fr Chabu
By Simon Mutuna in Mansa
Wed 19 Oct. 2011, 08:20 CAT

LUAPULA Province Caritas coordinator Fr Nicodemus Chabu says poverty levels in the province are still rated high despite the province being heavily endowed with a lot of natural resources.

Speaking during commemoration of the Civil Society Day on Monday, Fr Chabu said poverty levels were higher among female-headed households. He appealed to the government to address the issue of poverty in the country.

Fr Chabu said civil society organisations working with the grassroots had noted with dismay the extreme poverty that citizens continue to wallow in especially in the rural areas.

He appealed to the government to urgently address the problem of inadequate resource allocation to rural poverty reduction programmes.

Fr Chabu also said the CSOs were concerned at the loss of taxes through illegal mining activities in the province and reports of poor people being displaced.

He said people in the area were not seeing the benefits of having mining activities.

"There have been reports of poor people being displaced, the benefits of having mining activities leaves much to be desired and it calls for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to curb this vice," he said.

Fr Chabu thanked the government for decentralising the Ministry of Mines by opening an office in the province.

Mansa mayor Ackson Miyambo said the government was committed to improving people's living standards.

He said the PF government would promote tourism, mining and agriculture programmes as a way of creating wealth for people in the province.

He said that according to statistics from the living conditions monitoring survey of 2006, poverty levels in Zambia dropped from 68 per cent in 2004 to 64 per cent in 2006 while in Luapula Province, the levels stood at 73 per cent compared to 79 per cent in 2004.

Miyambo said that the PF government would work very hard to reduce the poverty levels in the province and the nation as a whole.

He said Luapula Province was endowed with a lot of natural resources like waterfalls, minerals, lakes, wildlife and white sand beaches and that the tourism sector must be effectively marketed.

Labels: LUAPULA PROVINCE, POVERTY

posted by MrK @ 2:16 PM