Don't be proud to have poor people - Rupiah
Don't be proud to have poor people - RupiahBy Chiwoyu Sinyangwe and Kabanda Chulu
Friday August 01, 2008 [04:00]
VICE-President Rupiah Banda has urged Zambians not to be proud to have poor people within societies. And delegates attending the Global Southern Africa International Dialogue (GSAID) Smart Partnership conference yesterday visited the exhibition stands at the Lusaka Showgrounds to have a practical interface with Zambia's economic opportunities.
During a dinner hosted in honour of the visiting smart partnership delegates, Vice-President Banda called for development transformation to ensure that the lives of peasants were uplifted.
"We need to transform our societies. No one of us should be proud to have a peasant within our families," Banda said. "No one from our society should go without three meals in a day; no one in our families should not have access to electricity, lighting, television...we need to transform our societies.
We have for a long time taken our peasants for granted and we even glorify it but that is the status we need to eliminate. We need to transform our development in the country."
He also called on all Zambians to help in alleviating the problem of peasants in the country saying the decision should not be left to politicians alone.
"The development of society requires participation of all of us. Government alone cannot build all the roads, universities and the social services," he said. "Now, if you are a chinondo, wealthy person you should help out and not just show it by buying a big car or get an extra wife."
Vice-President Banda urged the senior citizens not to shy away from engaging the younger generation as the country seeks solutions to the numerous challenges that the country faces.
"In Africa, we believe that older people have the wisdom but this dialogue has shown that the younger people have a lot to teach us the older people. This has been quite a revelation for us. It has taught us to stick to the younger generation if we will be able to solve some of our problems," Vice-President Banda said.
He also called for the establishment of the local partnership dialogue as way of enhancing resolutions of domestic problems.
"I have discovered that this dialogue, we have a lot to learn from this dialogue that wherever there is a problem, we must dialogue," said Vice-President Banda.
"In fact, we should have our own local smart partnership dialogue. My colleagues in government would agree that it would help to diffuse the tension and the many misunderstandings in the country."
And during a visit to the Showgrounds, former Namibian President Sam Nujoma said the Zambian government had done well to create an enabling environment in the mining sector and urged Nambian investors to find ways of establishing partnerships with Zambians.
Smart Partnership joint dialogue convener, Dr Mihaela Smith said Zambia was in a position to transform its communities through realising the vision 2030.
Labels: GSAID, POVERTY, RUPIAH BANDA, SAM NUJOMA MIHAELA SMITH, SMART PARTNERHIPS
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