By Masuzyo Chakwe
INFORMATION minister Chushi Kasanda says some of the measures taken by the government may be discomforting to people, but they are intended to restore the country on a path to sustainable economic growth and development.
And Continental Leadership Research Institute executive director Mundia Hakoola has urged Kasanda to ensure that the Access to Information bill is enacted because it gives the public a general right of access to official documents and make provisions for incidental and connected purposes.
During a capacity building training workshop for journalists on effective reporting on human rights issues organised by the Continental Leadership Research Institute, Kasanda said the government believes that citizens’ enjoyment of their human rights cannot be complete without access to clean drinking water, education, health, food, shelter, and other social amenities and necessities.
She said it was for this reason that the government had embarked on a wide range of measures to revamp the country’s economy so that Zambians can lead good and happy lives.
“Some of the measures may be discomforting to our people but they are intended to restore the country on a path to sustainable economic growth and development,” she said.
Kasanda said the government was confident that Zambians would soon begin to feel the positive impact of some of the measures such as the record-breaking K25.7 million Constituency Development Fund (CDF) which it would start rolling out to the constituencies countrywide next month to accelerate national development.
She said the government was also on course to implement other landmark developmental targets such as the recruitment of 30,000 teachers, introduction of free education from early childhood to secondary level as well as the recruitment of 11,200 health personnel, among other priorities.
Kasanda said these were some of the benefits from the government’s decision to remove subsidies on fuel so that the money saved is spent on critical sectors to improve people’s living standards.
“The decision is premised on government’s conviction that spending resources on employing more teachers, more health personnel, building more schools and hospitals and provision of free education to our children, is a nobler cause than spending the country’s scarce resources on fuel subsidies which is unsustainable given the country’s huge external debt,” she said.
And Kasanda said the new dawn government was committed to ensure the rule of law was upheld in Zambia and that democratic principles are enhanced.
She said to achieve this, the role of the media was critical to ensure the voice of the people is heard through skilled and well researched reporting.
Kasanda said it gives her immense pleasure to note that the Continental Leadership Research Institute (CLRI) with the support of the United States Embassy in Zambia had embarked on a project that aims at strengthening the voice of rural communities through civic education programmess and also building the capacity of media personnel to effectively report on human rights activities.
“Government highly commends the initiative as it goes a long way in highlighting a number of human rights violations in our rural communities which include early and forced marriages of young girls, domestic violence, gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices. This project is, therefore, timely in supplementing government’s efforts in addressing these and other social vices in our rural communities,” Kasanda said.
She said the media could only contribute effectively to the fight through factual, objective and balanced reporting.
Kasanda also applauded the cordial relations that exist between Zambia and the US.
And Hakoola said the ATI bill was critical because it enables citizens’ exercise their voice to effectively monitor and hold government to account and enter into informed dialogue about decisions that affect their lives.
“The bill also aims to address challenges affecting media freedom of expression. The institute advocates for media freedom if they are to work around issues of human rights abuses and bring culprits to book,” he said. “Today, we send a resounding message that media freedom is not only a national but also a universal value. Free media protects both society from human rights abuse and helps citizens release their full potential.”
Hakoola said the institution had noticed challenges that call for definitive actions to protect human rights violations and that the media plays a pivotal role in combating “these violations”.
He said the most affected were women and children who had become vulnerable to abuse, neglect, exploitation and poverty due to lack of adequate access to economic rights.
“It is imperative that our society today takes extreme necessity to take decisive action by giving importance to journalists as a crucial component of the protection of human rights violations. This calls for media to be vigilant and also intensify efforts to investigate violation of rights and offer offenders to be prosecuted regardless of the offender,” Hakoola said.
He said the maturity of a society was measured by how well human rights violation issues were addressed.
“Looking at the number of abusive and discriminatory cases that go unpunished and unreported – sexual, physical, economic or otherwise, it is plain to see that we have a long way to go in creating an environment fit for all,” Hakoola said.
He said the project would promote and protect the human rights of youths and women in rural communities through sensitisation programmes in eight districts and creation of rural support group meetings and a platform for human rights issues to be discussed at rural community level through community radio programmes.