Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo has warned UNZA students that he will work closely with law enforcement agencies and management to ensure that unruly students are rooted out of the institution.

On Saturday evening, University of Zambia students blocked parts of the Great East Road and stoned motorists in a protest sparked by a ten-minute power outage.

But in a statement shared on his Facebook page, Sunday, Lusambo stated that the behavior of UNZA students indicated that Zambia was breeding a society of stupid, spoilt and entitled children.

“Rushing to be streets to protest over a less than 10 minute power disturbance shows the kind of society we are breeding. We are breeding a society of stupid, spoilt, entitled and irresponsible children who do not take time to analyze issues before they act. It now remains the duty of parents and guardians to inculcate national values, ethics, patriotism and principles in the minds of these children. Please help society by raising responsible children before you send them out to university. Going forward, my office will work closely with law enforcement agencies and university management to ensure that unruly students are rooted out of campus,” Lusambo warned.

“The Government of His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu desires a harmonious learning environment and will not condone stupidity from those that are receiving assistance in the pursuance of their education. I therefore wish to warn the students that as Minister for Lusaka Province, I will not tolerate such types of actions that seek to distrurb public peace and order.”

He apologized to motorists who were affected during the fracas.

“As Minister responsible for Lusaka Province, I wish to firstly apologize to the residents of Lusaka and specifically to this motorists who were caught up in the disturbances occassioned by the unruly students. I further wish to sternly warn the students that I will not tolerate such levels of irresponsibility in the province. As intellectuals, they are expected to understand and appreciate the level of investment that the Zambian people through government are making to enable them stay in school, they should therefore not exhibit their ingratitude using such archaic methods,” stated Lusambo.

“I wish to point out to them that road protests by student populace is an old and tired method of expressing displeasure. In the year 2018, the students are not expected to be running battles with police, burning tires and destroying private and public property. They are expected to be engaging the university management and other authorities on a round table whenever disagreements emerge. This is a modern and proven way of resolving issues. Power outages occur everywhere even in developed countries and could be caused by a variety of reasons. What the students ought to have done, was to engage relevant authorities to find out what caused the power failure.”