Chief Government Spokesperson Kampamba Mulenga says the release of UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema and his co accused is not a sign that government bowed down to international pressure but it is symbolic of the independence of the Judiciary.
And Mulenga says government will reconstitute the University of Zambia into five university colleges.
Speaking at a joint press briefing by State House Press Aide Amos Chanda, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya, and her Ministry in Lusaka yesterday, Kampamba said government accepted the decision of the DPP.
“Government has not bowed down to international pressure, it is because we have a good judicial system. And of course as government, we accept what has happened today and of course we accept the decision as government by the DPP and the country moves on, we have to move forward. This just shows that government has no interference with the judicial system and as government we are very free to criticism,” Kampamba said.
And Kampamba said there was need to restructure the University of Zambia because of its over population.
“Cabinet approved the restructuring of the University of Zambia to be reconstituted into five University of Zambia colleges namely: College of Medicine; College of Education; College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine; College of Engineering, Mines, and Minerals; and College of Humanities and Arts. Government has decided to restructure the University of Zambia in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the operations of the institution. This action is provided for under the Higher education act number 4 of 2013 (iii) section 13,” she said.
“The University of Zambia has become inefficiency in its management due to its current size. This has resorted in operational problems that have manifested in huge debt burden. Inadequate staff, infrastructure of teaching and learning as well as perennial strides to lecturers and students which have compromised the quality of education. In terms of students population, the University of Zambia has 23,000 students, Copperbelt University 12,041 and the Mulungushi University 4, 830 students.”
She further disclosed that government would liquidate statutory and personal related debts owed by the three public universities namely the University of Zambia, Mulungushi University, and the Copperbelt University.
“Cabinet approved a new financing strategy of financing public universities which among other things government will liquidate statutory as well as personal related debt owed by the three public universities. It is noted that environment for the higher education in Zambia has changed significantly. The honorable Minister of higher education will soon publish a full paged paper and issue a comprehensive announcement on the university reforms which cabinet approved,” said Kampamba.
One Response
In the name of freedom of speech under my bill of right I beg to differ with the minister of information on her points that the release of HH was due to the independence of the judiciary and that disbanding UNZA into colleges will improve efficiency.
HH was purely arrested by PF and the sooner she stop cheating the nation the better .The minister should have 1st apologized for the deplorable human rights violations by the police in instituting justice because arresting HH at night on RATSA offense was wrong ,investigations weren’t done,there was no treason,PF Mrs M Phiri instructed the police to arrest HH and the entire delaying tactics by judiciary were engineered from state house against the aspects of Zambia as a Christian nation.The nolle only came after international pressure mount of ECL who was controlling even visitation to mukobeko because i didn’t see why Mr obassanjo and Bishop Mpundu would get permission to visit HH from ECL. Almost 60% of inmates languishing in our congesting the cells are because they were arrested before concluding their investigations and this is a huge waste of government resources …and no wonder they eat poor food and sleep on top of one another while dying there every day because they cant be taken to the hospital in a Christian nation. The question is why should testing for HIV be so a matter of life and death when basic drugs in many rural health centers are missing and people are loosing their lives?. We cant put all the eligible HIV patients on drugs and we are now running into testing the new ones surely who is sponsoring this budget by the way?Fighting HIV is not just about testing but its also about behavior change,
job security ,good diet ,total compliance to treatment ,prevention programs , staff training ,sustainability strategies and put up laws to preventing HIV positive people from spreading the diseases.we cant win the war against HIV as long as we depends on the donor communities. I feel some one has been given a tender to supply these HIV kits and so he is in hurry to insure the deal go through.
Now changing UNZA into nice names wont help us as the problem there is about money because this government runs all its programs on credits .As long as the government doesn’t have money to pay the teachers , pay meal allowances , carry out repairs , improve on general conditions ,build more hostels and invest on equipment our UNZA is as good as dead.No wonder we are at 78 ht position on the best universities in Africa far behind Namibia and Botswana. Honestly speaking PF is failure and the best is for them now is to resign .they think Zambia can be developed through loans on none productive projects and they forget that these roads build today will need repairs in the next five years .Its like they have forgotten that Kaunda build us road to all the districts but we are still undeveloped.