PROF. LUO BEST CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT LUNGU’S RUNNING MATE-ANTONIO MWANZA
… says her appointment will cement his legacy as a fighter and soldier for gender equity and advancement of women’s rights in governance issues
Lusaka, Monday 18th May 2021
(SMARTEAGLES)
Patriotic Front (PF) Deputy Media Director Antonio Mwanza has said that Professor Nkandu Luo is the best choice for President Lungu’s running mate.
Speaking when he featured this morning on Live radio’s LIVE ISSUES program, Mr. Mwanza explained that President Lungu settled for Pro. Luo as his running mate because she is an accomplished politician who has a proven track record and has a sound solid academic background.
“It was not easy for the President to chose his running mate because he has a number of individuals because of three things. One, a person who is supposed to be a running mate must be a person who has a proven track record; they must be experienced, they must be competent, they must have the intellectual soundness and the work experience that comes with running the Presidency and madam Nkandu Luo has it all,” Mr Mwanza said.
“Number two is that she has worked in government for a long time starting with being the head of the microbiology at the University of Zambia to being Member of Parliament where she served as MP for Mandevu, Member of Parliament for Munali and also has served in various government ministries,” he added.
And Mr. Mwqnza has charged that leadership is not child’s play where people experiment with anything but need someone who is mature and has a proven track record.
The PF Media Director added that Prof. Luo will not only be a running mate but a Vice President who will use her experience both as a political player and an academician as well as a mothet and grandmother to give guidance to His Excellency President Edgar Lungu.
He charged that Prof. Luo is a tough woman who does not tolerate corruption and this will make it difficult for people who want shortcuts to work with her.
He further explained that the appointment of Prof. Luo as running mate will cement President Lungu’s legacy as a fighter and soldier for gender equity and advancement of women rights in governance issues.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mwanza has clarified that the cancellation of meal allowances for students at the Copperbelt University and University of Zambia was a collective decision by cabinet and not an individual decision by Prof. Luo when she served as Higher Education Minister.
Mr. Mwanza explained that Prof. Luo made it very clear why her Ministry had proposed to remove meal allowances from the two public universities.
“And that decision was not the Minister’s alone, there was a case study and analysis that was done to arrive at that decision. The historical background of meal allowances is that when President Kaunda and the UNIP government put up the University of Zambia it was the only university that we had and we had very few students,” Mr. Mwanza explained.
He added that it was easy then for government to feed and cook for students at that time but this 1989 became difficult for the UNIP government to continue with the program.
The PF Media Director explained that the PF government realized that government was spending more on meal allowances to support few students and hence decided to remove meal allowances in order to support more students in other public universities and colleges through student loans and scholarships.
” So what government decided was that we are going to remove meal allowances from students at CBU and UNZA and give scholarships to students at Chalimbana University, Kapasa Makasa University and all other public universities and colleges,” he said.
And Mr. Mwanza disclosed government is delighted that today they are more students accessing government scholarships and bursaries following the scrapping off of meal allowances.