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
She is talking crap, if that was the intention you could have mentioned
Ba Luo, please just argue your case without bringing in God. Donot cheapen the name of God by bringing Him into your murky politics.
God cannot be mocked.
When Professor Luo removed the meal allowance, she was simply being her controversial self. Whichever ministry she served in as Minister, there were fireworks.
Under MMD she was Minster of Health and got caught up in the ICASA conference scandal over contracts and inflated costs. When she moved to the Ministry of Transport she ordered minibuses to be painted in (MMD?) blue. Again there was an uproar but she insisted. Minibus operators were incensed by the unnecessary cost.
During the reign of PF, she was appointed Minister of Chiefs Affairs by Mr. Sata. True to her character, she picked a fight with the current Chiti Mukulu, blocking him from ascending to the throne after the demise of his predecessor. They wanted to shift the succession lineage to Chinsali from Kasama. They had their own preference. Apparently she had the backing of Mr. Sata. Mr. Lungu, who was then Minister of Home Affairs, even dispatched about 400(?) paramilitary police to Mungwi to enforce the blockade. The BashiLubemba (who are responsible for choosing the successor to the throne) were unfazed and said they were willing to wait. And sure enough, Mr. Sata passed on and Ba Sosala ascended to the Chiti mukulu throne.
Then came the meal allowance saga after she was appointed Minister of Higher Education(?) By Mr. Lungu. Iam not sure if God will celebrate her for all these controversies. Wherever she has served, she has generated fireworks.
She would do well to leave God out of her politics.
Shut up Luo, why do they bring this man to release such statements
God already punished you by removing you from power.
Madam you are personally making it very difficult for people to respect you.
Nkandu Luo should just shup up and maintain a semblence of dignity.
The is the fullest professor I have ever seen. And her thesis could only be in microbiology and nothing more serious.
She should have remained in a microbiology lab playing with test tubes not dealing with humans. It requires bigger brains.
As a parent, she failed dismally and this crap about consulting parents on her galactically diabolical decision as a blatant and shameless lie.
Which single ECL friend and let alone minister would consult anyone on a decision? We all know how those goons used to ignore even their sissy “president” when making decisions. Even cadres were pseudo presidents!
How can you as a parent, ban all the children from drinking tea “indefinitely” because you are only releasing K10 and not ready to give them K50 for enough bread for all? The K40 difference is going in your pocket for beers!!!
She had grand children not qualified to enter UNZA and CBU and her children were paying at other colleges. So she to punish the more intelligent boys and girls who beat her grand children by cancelling their meal allowances altogether.
We know she sent her sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews for postgraduate studies ignoring the waiting lists at Ridgeway campus when she was health minister.
This woman is so evil even Satan is ashamed of her extremes.
As if to add salt to injury, she now wants to justify the worst decision a parent can ever make on her children after one Hakainde Hichilema embarrassed her with the right solution to her debacle. And it had to take the President himself not a minister to give back allowances – compare ECL who let a minister kill poor children. That is the difference between an intelligent president and a bird brain president. No wonder late ECL did not educate his children. The IQ was miles apart. That explains why he never accepted open debate with his rival.
These nincompoops were removed by God himself from further punishment of innocent Zambians.
They are lucky these dimwits that HH was not raised like them. Otherwise a person like Mwanawasa or Chiluba would have taken all of them to a stinking jail for their atrocities.
I rest my case.
The is the dullest professor I have ever seen. And her thesis could only be in microbiology and nothing more serious.
She should have remained in a microbiology lab playing with test tubes not dealing with humans. It requires bigger brains.
As a parent, she failed dismally and this crap about consulting parents on her galactically diabolical decision as a blatant and shameless lie.
Which single ECL friend and let alone minister would consult anyone on a decision? We all know how those goons used to ignore even their sissy “president” when making decisions. Even cadres were pseudo presidents!
How can you as a parent, ban all the children from drinking tea “indefinitely” because you are only releasing K10 and not ready to give them K50 for enough bread for all? The K40 difference is going in your pocket for beers!!!
She had grand children not qualified to enter UNZA and CBU and her children were paying at other colleges. So she to punish the more intelligent boys and girls who beat her grand children by cancelling their meal allowances altogether.
We know she sent her sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews for postgraduate studies ignoring the waiting lists at Ridgeway campus when she was health minister.
This woman is so evil even Satan is ashamed of her extremes.
As if to add salt to injury, she now wants to justify the worst decision a parent can ever make on her children after one Hakainde Hichilema embarrassed her with the right solution to her debacle. And it had to take the President himself not a minister to give back allowances – compare ECL who let a minister kill poor children. That is the difference between an intelligent president and a bird brain president. No wonder late ECL did not educate his children. The IQ was miles apart. That explains why he never accepted open debate with his rival.
These nincompoops were removed by God himself from further punishment of innocent Zambians.
They are lucky these dimwits that HH was not raised like them. Otherwise a person like Mwanawasa or Chiluba would have taken all of them to a stinking jail for their atrocities.
I rest my case.