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NGOCC Chairperson Sara Longwe
The Non Governmental Organizations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has observed that President Lungu’s speech in parliament failed to address the immediate pressing needs of the economy such as the job losses being experienced in the mining industry as a result of massive load shedding.
In a statement released to Qfm News, NGOCC Chairperson Sara Longwe says the laying off of workers due to power-cuts is reducing the household incomes and thus also compounding the work of women that are trying to look after the welfare of their families, the sick and the elderly in a country without state-based social schemes.
Ms Longwe says the president yet again failed to deliver on his campaign promises to give the people of Zambia a new Republican Constitution before the 2016 General Elections.
She says the deferral of the Bill of Rights encourages the continuation of gender discrimination against women and it further dis-empowers women, youth, and people with disability, the elderly and the poor.
She adds that the piecemeal constitutional approach adopted means that the next regime after 2016 will have to restart the constitutional reform process that will again gobble more public funds meant for social services that would have been intended to alleviate women’s work, which women are currently doing without the state’s help.
Meanwhile, the NGOCC Board Chairperson says the women’s movement is pleased that the president addressed the issue of diversifying the economy which they have for a long time been calling for.
She says they believe that if the country invested in improving the agriculture sector where over 60 percent of women work, this would not only improve the economic status of women, but bring about economic development and food security to the country.
Ms Longwe has also commended the president for among another issues making pronouncement to address the power deficit by building other hydro electricity stations and the promotion and exploration of other forms of energy such as gas citing that they believe that by improving the energy sector, the will not only grow the economy but better the lives of women who currently cannot afford the high cost of energy.
She has however cautioned that these pronouncements should not end at being political rhetoric but be actualized and be given the much needed attention and urgency they deserve.