God will celebrate me for removing meal allowances – Prof Nkandu Luo

God will celebrate me for removing meal allowances – Prof Nkandu Luo

FORMER Minister of Higher Education Professor Nkandu Luo says God will not hold her accountable for abolishing student meal allowances because she did it for the good of every student in the country.

Appearing on Crown TV last night, Prof Luo said her 2019 decision to remove the allowances was because only two universities were benefiting.

She explained that to be fair, she, together with Zambian parents and other stakeholders, allowed the removal of the allowances.

“On the day of judgment, I will not be penalised for that. If anything, God will celebrate me for making it possible for all universities, colleges, and trade schools to benefit,” said Prof Luo.

“Would it be fair for you to continue just buying chocolates for your two sons or daughters, whereas the other five are eating nothing? So we had to think about how it would be possible to support all the universities.”

According to her, support for students across colleges, trade schools, and universities began during her time as minister, not under the UPND in 2021.

“Today, not from 2021, but from the time I was Minister of Higher Education, all the colleges, all the trade schools, all the universities, students were benefiting. So no one should credit UPND and say this is the first time it has happened from 2021. It is not true.”

She explained that when she became Minister of Higher Education, Zambia had three operational universities, namely, the University of Zambia, Copperbelt University, and Mulungushi University, but only two were receiving meal allowances.

“Of these three, only the Copperbelt University and the University of Zambia students were benefiting, and in small numbers,” said Prof Luo.

“The meal allowance was not a decision I made alone. It was discussed with parents and students and taken to Cabinet for approval.”

She said to support all students, the government introduced a skills levy and a loan scheme.
“I asked the Minister of Finance to introduce a skills levy so that all the colleges and all the trade schools could benefit from government support. Nobody talks about that because it cannot be used politically against me,” said Prof Luo.

She said the loan scheme allowed graduates to pay back and in turn support new students, while the government opened support to all seven universities that had become operational.

“The second thing we did was to introduce a loan scheme so that everybody who has gone through UNZA and CBU starts paying back, and that money is used to support the students,” said Prof Luo.

Kalemba