Continued students’ riots sadden UPND

The Opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) has expressed sadness with the riots that have continued to rock the country’s higher learning institutions.

UPND President Hakainde Hichilema says his party also particularly finds it sad that nothing much has happened in the area of water and sanitation from the last time he toured Evelyn Hone College in 2012.

In a statement to Qfm News Mr. Hichilema has noted the recent closure of Mulungushi University due lack of water and poor sanitation as one other problem that persisted without being addressed.

Mr. Hichilema states that this is in addition to students at the University of Zambia (UNZA) and Copperbelt University not being paid their meal allowances.

He says these similar are the same challenges of water and sanitation and general dilapidation due to lack of maintenance in many other colleges around the country.

The UPND leader has charged it is however unacceptable that after failing to sponsor thousands of students into higher learning institutions, government is now failing to look after the few that are currently in these same institutions.

He says this is especially that government has embarked on building more of these institutions when they cannot even look after what we already have.

Mr. Hichilema has observed that this is clearly lack of planning that his party talks about and that it is thus time that priorities were set right as a country in moving forward.

He says the UPND thus call on the Patriotic Front government to immediately pay the students their allowances in full and attend to the poor water and sanitation issues affecting these institutions.

Mr. Hichilema has however indicated that his party does not support riotous behavior that results in damage to property, but that his party wonders what other options students have to air their grievances.