WE SHALL PRIORITISE JOB CREATION TO ABSORB THE JOBLESS CADRE OF YOUTHS – HH
UPND President Hakainde Hichilema has assured students from institutions of higher learning that his party in government will prioritise job creation in order to absorb the huge human resource that currently is going to waste.
President Hichilema said the country is endowed with a huge base of human resource that has remained underutilized due to poor and inconsistencies in economic policy implementation by successive governments resulting into high unemployment rate especially among youths.
The UPND leader told students drawn from Evelyn Hone and the National Institute of Public Administration, NIPA that his administration will place emphasis on the provision of skills training in order to create a pool of entrepreneurs for national development.
He added that it was a pity that the education sector had become too expensive for most average families to comprehend hence the UPND’s insistence on free quality education as means of individual and community poverty reduction.
President Hichilema also bemoaned the high national debt burden which has led to much of the country’s earnings being channeled towards debt servicing and promised the students that his administration will ensure that there is prudent financial management.
“It is a pity that the country has been choked by the huge foreign debt burden which currently stands at 17.6 billion dollars and more than 58.9 billion kwacha domestic debt leading to a neglect on social services such as education and health.The money that goes towards servicing these debts would have been channeled towards students meal and book allowances.We have a plan and that includes borrowing from friendlier sources and not the black market.This is our plan but it needs all of you to get involved as a mass student movement”, he said.
The visibly excited students told the UPND leader that they were ready to lead a mass student movement ready to deliver the UPND into government at the next general election as they complained of failures in economic and social sectors of the country.
President Hichilema was accompanied by several national Management Committee members.
UPND MEDIA TEAM
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