President Mwanawasa has pledged to secure K44 billion from the national treasury to help resolve the stand-off between University of Zambia management and unionised staff over insufficient funding to the institution.
UNZA Public Relations Officer, Stanslous Chewe said President Mwanawasa held a meeting with management at State House where he promised to provide additional resources to the institution.
Mr. Chewe told ZNBC news that Dr. Mwanawasa met UNZA management early this week over the matter.
He disclosed that the President made an undertaking to ensure an initial K20 billion is quickly given to the University.
Government had allocated K74 Billion to UNZA in this year’s national budget.
And Mr. Chewe has appealed to the three unions to call off their indefinite go-slow in order to pave the way for negotiations for improved conditions of service.
But the three unions at the Great East Road Main campus have vowed to continue with the go-slow.
The University of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers Union (UNZALARU), the University of Zambia Allied Workers Union (UNZAAWU) and the University of Zambia Professional Senior Staff Association (UNZA PRO-SA) have withdrawn their services to press for increased funding.
Why in the first place allocate the same amount as the previous years budgetory allocation was? What is Lungwangwa doing being the immediate deputy vice chancellor and who is supposed to know what goes on at UNZA since he was the deputy CEO of this firm.
One wonders why the money has to be stashed in the treasury when it is supposed to be used. People should be accountable and not waste time. When they were making the budget, which i believe started around July-August 2007, why did they opt to alot the same amount to such an institute even when they increased their own emoluents? Clear greed and lack of planning. Should it take the president to start looking for money?
I think heads of state owned firms like ZESCO, ZAMTEL, UNZA and even the on who asked who looks after our 49% at ZANACO should be democratically elected into office by us the tax payers if we want our country to go forwad.
This seems to be a dedicated effort by H.E, it looks as though he wants to solve this financial conundrum asap hence the meeting at state house, its my sincere hope that his efforts will be implemented by the affiliated stakeholders and govt. ministries looks like Levy is on the ball this year first quarter of the year has been impressive, i just hope his efforts wont be scuppered by lazy apams who cant duplicate his hard work
# i cant make sense of your blog. Do you have enough grammer and vocabulary? Re do your blog or ask competent people to do it for you please.
Coming to the issue, # 3 also seems to be misplaced. Ask your selves, what is the job of the minister of finance and his two deputies? What is the role of the permanent sec’s at finance and education as controlling officers? There is nothning wrong in sourcing for funds. But why should it been seen as though in the first place there was no money at all. Wake up zambia and stop politics of poverty. PLAN PROPERLY IN ADVANCE and adequately.
LPM should not be seen as the one moving things, mind you he is already sick and no over burdening him because he
is already tired and has run out of ideas. Next we will hear him fundraising for health or may be science and technology.
Give us a break please.
The 74billion was already in governments coffers in 2007. Why was it not taken to the rightful place, be it health or education. Why create uncessary black holes in the budget? So that people will see that LPM is working because he can source for funds, rubbish thinking and illogical way of doing one’s duty.
Iye ati ba ENIGMA….these mysterious guys te sana ! My friend it is u who is misplaced LPM is not fundraising at all, the money has already been allocated for the ministry of education however due to the unfortunate impasse that is destablising UNZA H.E is directing the treasury to modify the budgetary structure for the ministry of education so that it deals with the pressing issues arising from UNZA there is no black hole being created it simply means the lower tiers of education i.e primary and Secondary will have their allocations squeezed. The guy might be sick but he is working hard i know of ppl who are not sick but do nothing for this country and u could be one of them for all i care
The UNZA management every year in and out makes a budget in line with its requirements but the people responsible for approving those budgets do not honour the budget. In short, I do not understand why UNZA management are asked every to come up with a budget which is not honoured at all. It is a mockery and a shear waste of time to learned and busy people. Minister of Education is equally to blame for what is happening at UNZA. He does not have UNZA at heart because of his onwn selfishness and greediness. I say so because he knows the problems of the institution since he was the former deputy vice chancellor and several occasions acted as vice chancellor.
Not only tha Lungwangwa was not ashamed to sue the university for his monies while he knew the plight of the institution. It made nosense to an intellectual like him. The university has specialists in every field of learning including budgeting but the institution is let down by those in the govt with the PHD phd=pull him/her down syndrome) attitude. It is a very bad attitude always at aiming at let the person in position not to succeed. The govt should be making vain promises during the graduation ceremonies speeches. It should permit Prof. Simukanga and his staff perform their duties effectively and efficiently provided with all the resources asked for in the budget.
They have bright plans for the institution. let them implement their plans and you see a better UNZA than it is now. I also ask the UNZA management to sell their ideas to the Zambian populace so that they will understand and share their views too. UNZA management come on the media with those plans you were sahring with the Schools so that people will advise and make constructive critisms about them. They maybe flawed but some will be acceptable. These are my personal views. pay the all the outstanding arreas to the employees or take everybody on permanent instead of contracts which you do not owner at the end. Those are promisory notes of KK era.
Gentlepersons, why should we always run to state house to have our problems sorted? Let someone put a stop to all this knid of behaviour.
We have ministries responsible to do a great job, but they are failling us. Let us encourage our ministers to takeup refresher courses in planning and management.
Thanks Mr President Mwanawasa. “Once a monko, always a monko” as UNZA students say. We need to make sure UNZA is working properly. Abrupt closures at UNZA have a telling impart on students. Most of us former UNZA student have now been used to working when there is pressure to hand-in something or write exams because of the way UNZA has been running.
Do something, please.
# 6, you are a terrible blogger. Get your points in place. The point here is why LPM not Lungwangwa doing the job of sourcing for money in his ministry. “Moderate for nothing”.
# 10 has summed it all. Why should we be running to state house any way? Is is a bank? I beleive Lungwangwa is even ashamed and as #8 put it, he is the very guy who sued UNZA for non payment of his dues yet when he was DVC, he told every one to follow the queue on the terminal benefits list.
Prof Lungwangwa foolish………stupid professor
what interesting comments people make when the president intervenes !!! when he doesn’t….. the comments are even more hilarious !!!
lets face the fact here and not be like someone who says there is no crisis where everybody sees one. LPM is not a controlling officer for MOE. The PS is and budgetatory allocations should be tied to activities year in and out. So, its not proper to turn state house aka LPM into a fundraising venture or a bank of some sort lest we create another slush fund. UNZA is not cheap to run and hence the allocation should be way over the K 74 billion. We find money to fund the task force entourage to go and meet Katumbi (a forgiven suspected plunder, LPM knows) in Kitwe and parade TF officers on TV handing over a trunk full of clear and quality emeralds, and yet we fail to fund our own UNZA,JOKE>
But ENIGMA uli chinangwa ye….lol….. you are an incompetent blogger u are the one wide off the mark, u are like HARRY MILANZI in front of goal teti wingishe……lungwangwa did his job however because the sum of money that was asked was sky high, it was pertinent that the President intervened……there is no ministry in zambia which can secure more than K10bn from the treasury without the president’s consent let alone K44bn…….. however i concur with u on no.10s comment that the management in our ministries leaves much to be desired apo pena u are right..but dont paraphrase other bloggers here to convince me dig up the real facts and make use of semantics to understand the article.
Folks this is only a stop-gap measure. We need a long term solution for UNZA. I have never heard of MPs not getting there allowances or salaries, it’s all a matter of priority. UNZA seems to get a lower priority no matter which regime comes into power.
Sir Levy, put more efforts to solving problems like this more than your Zimbambwe s efforts.
We do not want to be running to the president soliticing for UNZA funds. Why do budgeting every year? The govt is very clear on all the problems at UNZA. It is not a proactive govt but a reactive govt. Does the govt but for all the by-elections? Do they know how many MPs would die or resign from their positions? The office of the president should not be used as if it has its own bank where any organization has financial problems should runs to. We are setting a very big example and should be stopped henceforth. Govt should serious look into its many policies that include agriculture and education and implement them accordingly. Zambia should undertake serious investment in education,
education and health. Let us be a practical govt but not just a theoretical one. The University of Zambia must be saved from its problems. Have you ever seen the student hostels? UNZA infrastructure is obsolete and does not match with the number students. Five or six students sharing a room that was meant for two comfortably accommodated students. Imagine these students using the same toilets and bathrooms. I do not see any difference with the accommodation that was provided for that Indian company contracted by Mopane Copper Mine to construct the copper smelter. Govt do something long lasting our UNZA.
Shame on Professor Lungwangwa.Levy will have to source the same amount next year.
Next to state hous will be teachers union. Because an example has been set already. State house has become very cheap making the role of minister null and void. Lungwangwa should be fired because has no job.
Why can’t the UNZA alumni mobilize to raise money to help run the university? If you think the university will make a turn around by depending on the goverment funding ,am sorry then that person is living in a fool’s paradise !!!
UNZA alumni have limited capacity to mobilize ENOUGH funds for the university.The amount of money that alumni are able to raise depends on how much money is circulating their world, and I tell you, there isn’t enough of it in the world of the UNZA alumni.The problem of funding UNZA is not an easy one to solve.Just like any university, UNZA needs both government and private sector monies.But the system is so messy that monies are not flowing from these sources. Monies flow from govts to universities thru…
…budget allocations, research grants and scholarship grants.GRZ does offer any research grants, budget allocations alone are not enough, and scholarship grants are also tiny since only about 3000 students are on these scholarships.Monies flow from the private sector to universities thru donations, research grants and parents/guardians.UNZA has not had any donation fromthe prvt sector in yrs, research grants from prvt. orgs. are non existent in Zed and parents/guardians are barely making ends meet, let alone met their obligations to UNZA.The ultimate solution lies in improved economy.UNZA also needs to make its mark as a relevant institution in solving Zed’s problems.
Apologies for my typos and rather broken grammar in 23 and 24 above. I’m using an AZERTY keyboard instead of the widely used QWERTY. I hope you’ve gotten the message though.
We’ve seen.
The problem is at MOF budget office where we trim all those budgets submitted by our colleagues from other departments because of ABB budgeting systems.
Bane when we debate, lets have respect for one another. We may have very different views on issues, which is a good thing, but lets be as calm as possible to accommodate everyone otherwise people may stop posting and we will have missed a chance to read some wise words.
Many thanks for your time.
#15 Moderate, i only hope you can read other peoples blogs before you start shooting your water bullets in thin air.
If you dont understand the duties of the minister and PS, shut your loud dirty mouth. Its you who is rather completely off the bearing. Since when did each minister get a 10billion kwacha maximum? i bet you go and check each and every ministry’s budgetory allocation. We are not talking of mere sourcing, why was the 44billion not allocated in the first place? Well i have worked with lungwangwa and i simply know how crooked he is. so better dig up more facts before you become irrelevant to the topic.
Why is it that Professor Lungwangwa portrays himself as a brainless person by poor decisions at all levels of education in Zambia? If he has no idea on what Zambia needs, he should seek audience with Mr. John Mwanakatwe and ask him questions on how to handle our institutions of learning. As a nation, we have regressed to days before independence because of poor management and leadership in GRZ.
No.29 ENIGMA u see its ur agressive nature and the way u respond 2 my comments is what makes me have a loud and dirty mouth i will not be stepped on its rather funny that u were posting comments at 5 am in the morning, what were u doing on the internet at that time because me i was enjoying my last hour of sleep? anyway here it is: i didn’t say each ministry has a K10bn maximum rather H.E has to know about it, Why wasn’t the 44bn not allocated? simple, this impasse was not foreseen hence LPM’s expediency to give them an initial 20bn and FYI if u knew semantics u would know i was not talking about mere sourcing but implementation of govt policies agreed upon prior to budgetary allocation.
#31 it doesnt help u at all with your method of thinking. I work in the ministry of education and i know varoius processes that need to be followed when doing budgetory allocations. The 44 billion was not allocated for anything and if need be, it could as well be an invisible slash fund still operating.