Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
THE Zambia Congress of Trade Unions has urged government to consider waiving duty on the importation of generators in view of the massive countrywide load shedding.
ZCTU Secretary General Cosmas Mukuka has told a media briefing in Lusaka today that this because people did not plan for these power outages.
Mr Mukuka says with the intermittent load shedding, economic development will obviously be hampered because factories and other production outlets will close down thereby disrupting production.
Mr. Mukuka says those in authority should not downplay the effect of load shedding on the national economy as productivity levels will be negatively affected and people and companies will have no option, but resort to using generator sets which will push the production costs up.
And Mr. Mukuka says the ZCTU is disappointed with the decision by Parliament to increase the debt ceiling from K35 to K60 billion.
He says the congress concerned because government has not indicated which areas of development are in dire need of funds.
He states that if the money will be spent on non productive ventures, then the country is headed for another phase of indebtedness which he says will take the country backwards in terms of economic development.
Meanwhile Mr. Mukuka says the ZCTU is worried by the non commencement of negotiations between government and the public sector unions.
He says the unions would not like to see the negotiations drag any further considering the fact that the 2016 budget will be presented in October this year.
Mr. Mukuka states that they expect the negotiated salaries to be included in the budget so that government does not use the excuse of delayed conclusions of the negotiations as reason for inadequate allocation in the budget.