Avoid politicising hunger
POLITICIANS should avoid celebrating or politicising hunger as it dehumanises people, Vice President Inonge Wina has said. Ms Wina accused some politicians of politicising the hunger which had affected some parts of the country. She was responding to a question from leader of the opposition and Monze Central Member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu during her 45 minutes of question time. Mr Mwiimbu, who quoted from an article in the July 21, 2019 edition of the Times of Zambia wanted the Vice President to categorically state whether Zambia is one of the hungriest nations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). “Government do not deny the fact that there is hunger in some parts of the country but politicians should not celebrate and politicise this unfortunate situation,” Ms Wina said. The Vice President said Zambia was not one of the hungriest nations in SADC. She said Mr Mwiimbu was quoting from a newspaper article whose interpretation by the journalist who wrote it could not be factual. “Hunger is not anything to celebrate or politicise because it dehumanises people. For the Leader of the Opposition to take delight in making hunger a political tool is very unfortunate,” Mrs Wina said. Mrs Wina said the 2019 rain season was below average leading to poor harvest of the crop. She said the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) is distributing relief food to the affected areas country wide. And Ms Wina encouraged Members of Parliament to go into farming as a way of enhancing food security for the nation. She was responding to a question by Lubansenshi, George Mwamba, who wanted to know whether Government has got plans to take social amenities to farming blocks as a way of encouraging people to venture into farming. “We talk about high prices of mealie-meal yet our contribution to maize production is at zero,” Ms Wina said. Meanwhile, the Vice President told Parliament that Government has directed Mopani Copper Mines to barricade a sinkhole which has been invaded by youths. The youths are illegally mining at the sink hole disregarding safety measures Mrs Wina was responding to a question by Mafinga Member of Parliament (PF) Jacob Siwale who wanted to know what government is doing about the sink hole at Mopani Copper Mines so that lives are not lost. She said Government has further deployed police to safe guard the sink hole.