High cost of living, worsening poverty, hunger worry Bishop Kazhila

A RENOWNED Copperbelt-based cleric is deeply concerned with the ever-sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, worsening poverty and hunger, cholera outbreak and the dry spell, which he fears is threatening the country's food security that could plunge Zambians into serious famine.

Bishop Joseph Kazhila, the General Overseer of the Life Gospel Fellowship Ministries Church International has since urged the governing party and the opposition to refrain from fighting and mocking each other, but come together to find solutions that would help to mitigate the challenges facing the nation

In an interview in Kitwe,

Bishop Kazhila said the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities was making it difficult and impossible for many families to put food on the table hence the increasing number of children on the streets.

Bishop Kazhila said apart from the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, poverty and hunger in the communities, the outbreak of Cholera had also taken a toll on the country's treasury, while the Kwacha was under pressure, losing value against the United States dollar.

He said Zambians were hoping that the debt restructuring would give the nation relief but nothing had been implemented yet the country had been heavily hit with cholera, which had taken a toll on the national treasury.

“The cost of living in our country, Zambia is extremely high as prices of commodities, especially essentials of life keep on rising. It is so stressing to families are failing to put food on the table. You can just see, there are so many street kids who are out there begging. This is not a good radius for the country,” Bishop Kazhila said.

'”But, there are reasons why these things have happened. Look, our Kwacha is under heavy pressure, it keeps on falling because we are not exporting more, but importing more. We are also paying the loans that the nation accrued over the years. All these are putting pressure on the Kwacha. We were hoping that the debt restructuring will give us, a relief but up until now, nothing had been implemented,” he said.

Bishop Kazhila said the country was now faced with a dry spell, which was threatening the country's food security and may plunge the country into serious famine if the dry spell turns out to be a drought.