Economic gains not trickling down to Zambians, observes ZCEA
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sun 18 Sep. 2011, 13:53 CAT
THE macroeconomic gains the country has achieved so far will not trickle down to Zambians if the education they receive does not prepare them to seize opportunities, says a child rights activist.
Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA) executive director Judith Mulenga urged whichever political party that will form the next government to prioritise the improvement of the quality of education as a way of meaningfully reducing poverty in the country.
"The macroeconomic gains that Zambia has achieved or is poised to achieve will not trickle down to the many Zambians currently living in poverty if the education they are receiving does not prepare them to seize opportunities that are presented by such economic development," she said.
Mulenga said although the country had made great strides in achieving the Millennium Development Goal on access to primary school, the quality of education left much to be desired as evidenced by many researches done on the issue.
She said the factors that contribute to the provision of quality education were also well known, well documented and publicised.
Mulenga said what needed to be done was for the next government to emphatically and unwaveringly demonstrate political will to genuinely and holistically strive to improve the quality of education in the country.
She said this entailed, among other things, reducing the pupil/teacher ratio, learning materials/pupil ratio, provide humane and adequate school infrastructure and ensure a safe environment for the learners in and outside school.
Mulenga said the government needed to also seriously stem the high attrition rate of teachers by addressing its root causes.
She said continuous recruitment and retention of teachers in the system should also be prioritised.
"Contact hours between the teachers and pupils should be increased. High schools should ideally revert to the system in the first Republic when lessons ended at 15:30 hours. There should not be shortcuts in the provision of quality education," she said.
Mulenga also said implementing the new education Act No 23 of 2011 would ensure that learners' needs take centre stage rather than the current situation when the teachers and parents in that order take centre stage with the learners featuring in the cracks between the two categories of adults.
She said the Ministry of Education should distribute and publicise the new Act to all stakeholders.
Mulenga said currently, most senior provincial or district officials or heads of schools had no copies of the new Act and were ignorant of its provisions and yet them were supposed to be the key implementers of the Act.
She said the ignorance exhibited by some headteachers on the provisions of the Act was alarming.
Mulenga said surprisingly, headteachers argue and were convinced that they had the right to administer corporal punishment when the law prohibits it.
"They believe that corporal punishment and discipline are one and the same when not. How can a nation have education providers who do not respect the law? No wonder this malaise of ignoring and disrespecting the law manifests itself even in the governance of the country! This type of ignorance on the part of education providers also contributes to the low quality of education currently pertaining in the education sector," said Mulenga.
Labels: EDUCATION, GDP, JUDITH MULENGA, NEOLIBERALISM, ZCEA
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Removing ‘abuse of office’ will turn Zambia into a corrupt haven - ZCEA
By George Chellah
Sat 02 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ZAMBIA Civic Education Association (ZCEA) executive director Judith Mulenga yesterday said removing the abuse of office clause from the ACC Act will turn Zambia into a corrupt haven.
Commenting on the government’s removal of the abuse of office offence clause from the revised Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act, Mulenga said the removal of section 37 from the ACC Act, if passed by Parliament, would be a serious indictment on this Parliament.
“The removal of abuse of office will turn this country into a corrupt haven. Can the executive explain in very simple terms to the Zambians the mischief it has found with section 37 of the ACC Act?” Mulenga asked.
“In explaining this, we demand that the government should show a comparative list of all the cases tried under section 37 of the ACC Act and juxtapose all these cases against the ones tried under section 99 in the Penal Code. This way the public can see for themselves which of the statutes is more effective. What is the hurry in removing this section if not for very powerful vested interests?
In Zambia today there are many archaic laws that are still sitting on our statutes. Why hasn’t the government moved quickly to update the statutes? For instance, the comprehensive review of legislations relating to children was started in 2004 and thus far it is still dragging even with the support of the process by child rights cooperating partners.”
Mulenga said Zambians knew that issues of corruption were very complex.
“Cases of corruption are actually white collar crimes and in most progressive countries, special units are created and trained in special skills to investigate such crimes and hence the creation of the Anti Corruption Commission. South Africa has the Scorpions,” Mulenga said.
“Section 37 gave the ACC the clout it needed to be effective in the fight against corruption. Removing it is like removing the canines of a dog, then giving it a bone to chew.”
Mulenga reminded Parliament that Zambians were watching.
“This will be a litmus test for Parliament to act in the public interest. Let not this Parliament be like the one that overnight made murder a bailable offence because the then President’s son was facing a murder charge, or the other Parliament that also overnight made motor vehicle theft an unbailable offence because a cuckolded president wanted to punish his wife’s alleged lover,” Mulenga said.
“I strongly urge the Honourable members of parliament not to pass this Bill for the sake of the many helpless Zambians who do not hold high offices and who are at the mercy of public officials.”
According to the National Assembly Bill number 41 of 2010 presented to Parliament last Friday for first reading by acting leader of government business in the House Mkhondo Lungu, section 37 which catered for the offence had now been replaced by concealment of offence.
The bill states that a person commits an offence if they intend to defraud or to conceal the commission of an offence under this part or to obstruct an officer in the investigation of any offence.
Labels: ACC, JUDITH MULENGA, ZCEA
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‘Appointments to public or private positions should be on merit’
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Fri 05 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ZAMBIA Civic Education Association (ZCEA) executive director Judith Mulenga has said appointments to public or private positions should be based on merit not on ethnicity, family connections or friendship.
Commenting on the International Women’s Day which falls on March 8 under the theme ‘Equal rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for all,’ Mulenga said society should strive to remove inequalities that stopped every Zambian from accessing services such as education, health, shelter, safe clean water and sanitation regardless of their social class, ethnicity, ancestry or physical disabilities.
Mulenga hoped the theme for International Women’s Day would not end up in slogans and marching in smart outfits but should be reflected in all laws, policies and procedures.
“Equal rights and equal opportunities do not manifest themselves through the production of banners, placards and T-shirts and marching in various chitenge outfits but that this important calendar day’s themes will start a process of serious reflection at all levels of society to incorporate elements of this year’s theme not only in policies but also in attitudes and relationships among all,” she said.
Mulenga said discriminations, stereotyping and prejudices that perpetuated inequality in every facet of life needed to be confronted at a personal and institutional level.
Mulenga said institutional cultures should abhor any form of discrimination that hindered progress for all such as sexism, which was the belief that one’s gender was inherently superior or inferior to another, sexual harassment, ageism, which discriminated people because of their age, disability, religion or ethnicity.
“For example, many people will make discriminatory remarks or jokes about individuals based on gender, age, disability, religion or ethnicity because of ignorance, or prejudice and often such remarks and jokes seem harmless but unfortunately even something which seems to be harmless fun can be painful to others and have wide reaching consequences on the self esteem of the victim,” said Mulenga.
And Lucy Muyoyeta urged political parties to adopt more women during elections.
Muyoyeta, who is former Non Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) board chairperson, said it was well-known that women had done a lot in terms of organising themselves both from political parties and other sectors.
She said Zambia had made some progress in some areas as far as women’s rights were concerned.
Muyoyeta said there was some progress in the education sector particularly primary education, which had seen an increase in the enrolment of girls but there was still a struggle at higher levels of education.
She said there was an improvement in the maternal mortality rate.
“We are still struggling with women in decision making. We are nowhere near the 50 per cent AU declaration of women in decision making and the 30 per cent SADC declaration of women in decision making. We are still struggling with old issues, gender-based violence still remains a big problem,” said Muyoyeta.
“We are still struggling with new issues like human trafficking which is little talked about yet we know it is a growing issues, it affects girls and women. Issues related to climate change yet they have an impact on the women.”
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, JUDITH MULENGA, LUCY MUYOYETA, NGOCC, ZCEA
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Most policies in Zambia are child blind – Mulenga
By George Chellah and Masuzyo Chakwe
Sat 02 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ZAMBIA Civic Education Association (ZCEA) executive director Judith Mulenga yesterday said most government policies in Zambia are child-blind.
Mulenga said the Zambian government was not among the most child- friendly governments in Africa.
“Most government policies in Zambia are child-blind, politics in Zambia do not put children first, laws do not give equal protection to all citizens including children and there is chronic under-funding to national budget programmes that are meant to provide for the country’s most vulnerable children’s basic needs. This has been re affirmed by the African Report on Child Wellbeing: How child-friendly are African Governments?
A report compiled by the African Child Policy Forum in which Zambia is ranked 27th out of the 52 African countries surveyed,” Mulenga said. “This ranking is a telling effect on this government’s governance record which has focused with chilling intensity on squabbling with every sector of society instead of instituting comprehensive protective legal and policy instruments that would meet children’s survival and development needs. The report has shown that it is politics, and not economics, that account for differences in government performance towards the realisation of children’s rights.
“The Child-friendliness Index used by the Child African Policy Forum shows that a government does not have to have massive oil reserves to provide a better country for children. For example, according to the report, despite their relatively low GDPs, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Burkina Faso are among the best child-friendly governments in Africa.”
She said Zambia had not comprehensively put in place appropriate legal provisions to protect children against abuse and exploitation.
“Corporal punishment continues unabated in homes and public places such as schools.
The case of the 15-year-old girl who lost first both her legs and then her life after corporal punishment from her mother and a neighbour soldier is a case in point. The acceptance and even glee of violence by cadres from government leaders such as Hon Shikapwasha’s smug applaud of cadres’ violence on hapless journalists sends a message to the children of Zambia that violence is acceptable, justifiable and may be applied whenever there is a conflict,” Mulenga said.
“A recurring explanation or excuse given by governments for inadequate provision of the minimum core content of adequate standard of living for children is limited financial capacity, lack of resources and poverty. But to what extent is this true for Zambia? How does one explain the failure by this government to recover the money awarded to Zambia through the London Judgement? Nor the failure to rigorously pursue the recovery of US $20million from the arms deal, US$ 8.5million from the Carrington maize deal?”
She said the recovery of all these monies could provide universal basic education, health services, housing and community amenities to Zambia’s six million children.
“The absence of a social security policy for poor children and the consistent low allocation to social services demonstrates the lack of this government’s commitment to the realisation of children’s rights. The misapplication and ineffective use of resources as demonstrated by the Ministry of Health scams is an indication of government’s poor management of national financial resources,” Mulenga said.
“How does one explain the US $6.7 million award in damages to an individual who has been left with no permanent physical injuries and yet many people have either been left maimed or dead by the same police brutality.
Yes, there should be compensation but this should be proportion to the injuries suffered. Why is there discrimination on the proportion of effective remedy in this country? For example, the family of an Armco security guard Chanda Chayafya who was murdered by police on suspicion of being one of the murderers of former Minister of Finance, Mr Ronald Penza, was only compensated K13 million for loss of his life this year, 10 years after his brutal killing!”
She said the tenets of democracy were hurriedly being eroded such as gagging civil society organisations and the media by hostile laws that fly in the face of free expression accorded to citizens all over the world in all true democratic countries.
“The lack of tolerance of dissenting views dubbed ‘insults’ and the lack of respect for other professionals who are consistently and continuously being heckled as ‘quacks’ shows this government’s refusal to be held accountable by the people it governs. This is a strange and disturbing heresy. Child-friendly governments are truthful, honest and critical of themselves both at an individual and collective basis,” Mulenga said.
“Message for 2010; we citizens should insist on our constitutional right to freedom of expression but, most importantly, we should have the courage and be the first to speak out and engage in the defence of the inherent rights of all human beings including children. We citizens should resist despair. Yes, there are considerable challenges facing us Zambians, but change and progress are possible and feasible even at individual levels of development.”
And Mulenga said the chronic hunger being experienced by many Zambian children, including those in urban areas, was hindering universal primary education.
Mulenga said Zambia should make primary education compulsory if it was to meaningfully attain MDG number two and beyond 2015 for sustainable development and effective participation of citizens in national governance.
She said the supportive environment to achieve universal primary education that Zambia had put in place is good.
“For instance, the Ministry of Education gets a big chunk of the national budget. However, the current measures lack the legal backing to ensure every Zambian child who is of school going age gets access to primary education without discrimination. A minimum age limit should be set when a child can legally leave school. Making primary education compulsory will also protect children from early marriages and child labour because these are the two factors that force children to leave school,” she said.
Mulenga said the persistent low progression rates that were being experienced in certain districts in North Western, Western, Luapula and Northern Provinces due to children dropping out of school would not exist once primary education was made compulsory.
Labels: JUDITH MULENGA, YOUTHS, ZCEA
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