PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2021
WE ARE CONCERNED WITH THE RATE AT WHICH OUR YOUTHS ARE LOSING EMPLOYMENT ACROSS THE COUNTRY
We want to express our concern as African Youth Movement Zambia over the speed and alarming rate at which our young people, women, differently abled are losing employment in various companies across the country.
Quiet appalling and disgusting to our ears to be informed that many contractors as well as suppliers of goods and services are laying off and/or declaring many Zambians redundant mainly because they can no longer afford paying them anymore. Our structures have informed us that from the time Government signed a freeze instruction on payments of contractors and suppliers, many young people, women and differently abled persons have had their employment statuses affected. We hear of redundancies, forced leave and terminations being effected on them because employers have reached levels where they can no longer afford their wage bills due to a freeze in payments by the New Dawn Government as per notice from the office of the Secretary to the Treasury.
We are saddened as an organisation because we understand the adversaries that will surely come with this on our people across the nation. It is without doubt that the economy is on a standstill due to the fact that their is no money in circulation due to that not so good decision by the new Dawn Government to freeze payments. Families are suffering, contractors and suppliers are suffering because they can not have salaries and the bigger interest rates which are accrued with different banks as some of these contractors and suppliers got moneys from these financial institutions with a hope that Government will pay them the money it is owing them. If this is left unchecked, we are likely to face a serious problem as a Country.
It is therefore our plea and request to President Hakainde Hichilema to have a serious relook at this matter if his promises of economic recovery would have anything meaningful. We urge our republican President who is a business man to immediately engage the Treasury with a hope of lifting the freeze before things get to a worser scenario. It is not too late to have this matter resolved, the many youths that voted for Mr Hakainde are looking forward to seeing a nation that will have citizens that can have three meals a day against what is currently obtaining in the country.
President Hichilema must understand also that some of the contracts signed by Government with these contractors have clauses that discuss a specific duration in which payments ought to be made, failure to which, huge interest rates would start accruing in favour of these contractors bringing about a huge debt responsibility on Government whose income is mainly from Tax Payers. Must we wait to reach such levels? We feel it is not the way to go.
Please Mr President, may you have a relook at this matter as a matter of urgency before we plunge our country into a serious circus.
Signed
AFRICAN YOUTH MOVEMENT ZAMBIA
Chanoda Ngwira
Executive Director
