Hamududu:There’s More Evil In Zambia Than Christianity

Bweengwa UPND member of Parliament Highvie Hamududu told Parliament on Thursday evening that there is more evil than Christianity in Zambia owing to the high poverty levels obtaining.
Hamududu said if the government wanted to deal with inequalities and poverty, then it should create more jobs.
“As I have told people that Zambia is a Christian nation but let me tell you, there is more evil in this country than Christianity. There is nothing Christian about this poverty,” Hamududu said.
“Yes, this country has so much evil, with this inequality, you go to Arcades, you will think that you are in Sandton City yet 500 metres away you see squalor and those are Zambians. There is therefore nothing Christian about this country but so much evil.”
Hamududu said it was unacceptable that Zambia’s economy had continued to grow steadily and yet poverty levels among ordinary citizens were still dangerously high.
“This economy has been growing in the last 10 years above five per cent and this has actually been above average in the SADC region but employment is quite low and therefore poverty is high,” Hamududu said.
“According to the 2012 labour survey report, out of the reported employment of five million Zambians, about four million are employed in the informal sector and about 600,000 in the formal sector, there is another problem. The economy is moving from formal to informality. The informal sector is called the black economy and so the economy is becoming black, darker and darker and that’s why when you move around you see the country regressing.”
Hamududu said there was no pride in informal employment and that was a misnomer.
“A few people are living well in Zambia while the majority are living in squalor. This is a very bad picture, it’s a dying population, it’s a regressing population and we must do everything within our powers to reverse this.”
Hamududu said it was even shameful to report such high levels of informal employment.
“Sir, the growth that we have been experiencing has been very paradoxical. If someone is reading about Zambia’s macro-economic indicators somewhere in New York, they would think this country is quite good, the living standards of the people are reasonable but when they come here, they see the complete opposite. This growth is not rooted in people, it’s actually called ruthless growth,” said Hamududu.
In moving the motion, Hamudulu, who chaired the committee on economic affairs, energy and labour, urged the government to continuously invest heavily in electricity subsector.
And Kasama PF member of parliament Geoffrey Mwamba says there is indeed a number of jobs that have been and continue to be created since the new administration assumed office in 2011.
Seconding a motion moved by Sivaonga UPND member of Parliament Kennedy Hamudulu urging the House to adopt the report of the committee on economic affairs, energy and labour, Mwamba noted the numerous government pronouncements on new job creation.
“Mr Speaker, as the mover stated, there are indeed a number of jobs that have been created and continue to be created, however, monitoring job creation goes beyond mere figures,” Mwamba said.
“One of the social challenges that Zambia faces is high poverty levels currently affecting over 60 per cent of the Zambian population. It is therefore important to ensure that every job that is created is decent and sustainable.”
Mwamba noted that during his committee’s interaction with witnesses, it was informed that the government needed to ensure that jobs created were decent and sustainable through the enforcement of labour laws.
He said the same laws also ensured the provision of social protection by making sure that workers worked in a safe and healthy environment and that social dialogue was promoted at all times.
“The enforcement of these laws, Mr Speaker is done through the periodical labour inspections but what our committee observed on the ground during its local tours across the country was different,” Mwamba said.
“District labour offices lack capacity to enforce labour laws and to collect, analyse and to compile labour statistics. For instance, the Ndola labour office does not have the full complement of staff. Only 52 per cent of the required professional staff is employed and to compound the situation, there are no labour inspectors employed despite being provided for under the staff establishment.”
Mwamba said there was also inadequate transport and operation equipment such as computers, land phones and post office boxes.
“Mr Speaker, your committee is therefore recommending that the ministry of labour should build the capacity of district labour offices as they have an important role to play in monitoring job creation,” Mwamba said.
“Your committee is expecting that the 2015 budget estimates will include capacity building activities for district labour offices.”