THE JOURNEY THAT WE CALL DEVELOPMENT! The UPND Perspective.
Most of our people misunderstand what development is. To some, it is building hospitals; to some, roads; and to some, mass employment. But let me explain to you what real development is.
After 2021, the first presidential directive was to stop cadres from harassing innocent citizens, regardless of their political affiliation. Well, as a nation, that was the first development that we needed – a Zambia that belongs to all. You must understand that the burden of the President, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, was to restore the rule of law. You cannot build a road where innocent citizens are harassed for wearing red attire and still call that development.
The first tangible development that a nation must see is where the rule of law is restored. After restoring sanity in a nation, the second step in real development is to decentralize. A nation cannot develop unless its citizens are allowed to make independent decisions. It is for this reason that every developmental program you see in the nation today has a bottom-up approach. The citizens sit to decide what they want through the office of the Ward Development Committee (WDC), and the files are later scaled up to the CDF committee for possible consideration.
To develop a nation, you need to put up programs that enhance and improve the local economy. Until small-scale businesses are funded with startup capital without them providing collateral, you cannot call that development. The UPND government introduced grants and loans under CDF to ensure that constituencies begin to raise business giants from funds allocated to their constituencies.
Africa has a lot of talented youths, Zambia included. The problem that Africa has had is the failure to enroll these youths in skills training facilities where their skills can be sharpened. You cannot call a nation developed because it has good roads but the youths have no economic activities. While it is important to have good road infrastructure, it is pure development when the youths who walk on those roads are empowered with skills.
The strength of Europe today is innovation. To bridge the visible gap, the UPND government introduced skills training under CDF to ensure we have youths who are not only talented but guided under seasoned tutors. Unless a nation consciously embarks on such a journey, you cannot call it developed.
Luka Phiri,
For and on behalf of Roma Ward.
They don’t want to hear the truth Mr Phiri.You are right sir