VICE-PRESIDENT Inonge Wina says government has diverted public resources which were earmarked for certain projects to respond to disasters such as flooding.

And Vice-President Wina has appealed to members of parliament to understand government when they do not receive responses for requests made on behalf of their constituencies.

Vice-President Wina said this in the National Assembly, Tuesday, when she responded to a question from Luangeni PF member of parliament Charles Zulu who wanted to know why University of Zambia lecturers had not been paid.

“I am aware that these disasters are coming after the budget and most of these bridges were not budgeted for. I would like to hear from you Your Honour the Vice President that arising from these disasters, how is our economy going to be impacted? What is the impact of these disasters on the economy of the country? I am also aware Mr Speaker that some institutions of higher learning like the University of Zambia lecturers haven’t been paid the money that was meant for grants has gone to these disasters. How are these disasters going to impact our economy?” asked Zulu.

In response, Vice-President Wina said government had to divert resources to addressing emergencies.

“Mr Speaker, indeed disasters can have long and negative impacts on communities as I have said earlier. And government has to divert a lot of resources to address emergence responses to disaster situations. It means that money that was earmarked for certain programs and government projects may be diverted to address an emergency. This is a situation as we know it in our country today. It’s very important for honourable members to make note of this fact and this situation that sometimes when they do not see a response to a certain challenge in their constituency quickly from government, they should not think that this is a deliberate move or a discriminatory move taken by government because government is impartial and addresses all the challenges including those of disasters as they come,” said Vice-President Wina.

“The current floods in the country have meant that resources have to be channelled to support the people because we know that with floods, everything is washed away. And this poses a great threat to food security in the country. It is for this reason that we are calling on the honourable members of parliament to partner with government to address some of these issues in their constituencies.”