Lusaka, December 11, ZANIS—President Michael Sata has observed that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has become irrelevant because it has not offered solutions to the unemployment levels facing many African countries.
Speaking at State House this morning when he met ILO Director General Guy Ryder, the President said the organization does not seem to have solutions to the unemployment facing many countries.
Mr. Sata said Zambia was facing the highest unemployment levels in its history, a situation he said required urgent attention.
“ILO was relevant when Zambia had full employment but like many African countries, Zambia now has the highest unemployment levels in the history of the country,” he said.
The President has since urged the ILO and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to come up with initiatives that can help arrest unemployment in the country.
“If you can’t come up with suggestions on how we can create employment then you are not relevant,” he said.
And Mr. Ryder said he was in the country to consolidate relations with government and the labour movement.
Later on, President Sata went into a closed door meeting with Mr. Ryder where he (Sata) further called on ILO to offer practical interventions to the alarming high levels of unemployment.
This is according to a statement issued to the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in Lusaka today by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations George Chellah.
Mr. Sata also stressed the need for ILO and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to work together and develop practical strategies for employment creation in Zambia.
The Head of State further said Zambia was a beacon of peace and stability and was therefore suitable for more investment, which would subsequently create more jobs and opportunities.
President Sata has therefore called for increased investment attraction activities in the country.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour and Social Security Fackson Shamenda disclosed that Mr. Ryder was in the country to launch the green jobs project which will create over 5,000 new jobs and help build capacity of up to 2,000 small scale contractors in North-western and Central Provinces.
Mr. Shamenda said Mr. Ryder will also witness the launch of the Zambia jobs portal, an initiative under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
ZANIS
Nice one Mr. President. Its high time we questioned relevance of some of these international organisations that survive on contributions from countries. They are supposed to be providing solutions to Govt on Labour matters but are always silent when strikes and related happenings are taking place.
Do we need a white man to come and show off a nice Italian suit just to tell us stories about unemployment? Thank you for the questiones to this fellow Mr. President , I salute you on this!
@mwentungwa
you are a very good day dreamer,, you made me laugh hahahahahahah!
@Ndobo, help me understand that #1 Mwentungwa, is he supporting Sata who just fired Nurses?
@Nostradamus
yes looks like Mwentungwa supports sata as he day dreams
Talking about nurses!! there is confusion,,, 100 lusaka nurses have been reinstated while 40 chipata and 40 ndola nurses have been fired… some good maths there
source,,, zambia reports and The post
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SATA SATA SATA SATA SATA SATA !!!!!!!!
You never cease to amaze. Its like every day you look for ways to outdo yourself.
ILO to provide jobs to Zambia!!!!?????
So you blame ILO for high unemployment levels in Africa, especially Zambia?
My Godooooooo. Wonders shall cease-ooooo!!!
And @Mwantungwa supports? – Tufyako!!!!
Just adopt one child policy and send those excess chaps to gas chambers.
Sata ‘s confusion needs to be checked ,other wise aletusebanya sana. Amafi yabasungu aleesenda pa Victoria station pa London yalimufulunganya sana Sata.How can he ask for solutions of unemployment from the world trade unionist? I think his advisers are damn useless if they can not find practical solutions to high levels of unemployment in the country.
Since when did ILO become an organization which offers solutions for job creation? Even a grade 7 pupil knows the objectives of ILO. Sata and his govt are responsible for job creation. I will not be surprised one day to hear that Sata has appealed to FAZ to help find solutions to the violence in PF
Since when did ILO become an organization which offers solutions for job creation? Even a grade 7 pupil knows the objectives of ILO. Sata and his govt are responsible for job creation. I will not be surprised one day to hear that Sata has appealed to FAZ to help find solutions to the violence in PF
Did I miss a certain part of PF campaign. I do not recall PF mentioning ILO to come and help create employment in Zambia. Why ILO now?
Phew! For a moment there I thought I was the only one wondering that. What is the purpose of the Central Bank, the Labor Ministry and facilitated private sector? Sometimes I just want to…
Just puked.
YES, we remember the promises but Why are we members of ILO anyway?
You want ILO to come and create employment in Zambia? Is that the job of ILO?
I thought that is the duty of each respective government!
Well not change of tone here but just trying to justify the point of Zambia’s affiliation to the ILO. Ofcourse every govt has the mandate to increase jobs in their jurisdiction. However, my question still remains as to why we should affiliate ourselves to a ‘labour’ organisation that does not help us solve labour related problems. Its having a board that does not look at the performance or operations of the company! >>> HELP
OK, if you genuinely want “help” I’ll spare the remarks about Chainama and advise you to visit the ILO’s website instead. There you can learn about the organization’s true mandate and why it is….. well….. crazy to expect the ILO to create jobs or solve labour problems of individual countries. They are not our “board” as you say!
If after educating yourself on the ILO you still feel that promoting dialogue between workers, governments, and employers on issues that include workplace safety, global youth unemployment, social protection, microfinance, forced labor, child labor, labor law, rights of domestic workers, freedom of association and other things dealt with by the ILO each and every day are irrelevant to Zambia, then please come back and tell us!
PF mediocrity is nauseating! How the hell do you expect ILO to come and create employment in Zambia?
You want ILO to invite investors to Zambia, fight corruption, stop PF wasteful expenditure, create industries, etc? How sick!
You’ve got a strong stomach – I just lost my snack from all the nonsense. The mediocrity indeed stinks!
And ILO to stop the wasteful by-elections? And trim our bloated cabinet? Well,let us start by admitting that many of our problems are self-inflicted.
@spuds @James @kalok,@maila
Good thinking!
You true patriots of Zambia, the country needs you to correct the mess created in 2011 election.
This is the most telling example that the PF government is indeed Chimbwi no plan. Asking ILO for employment solutions. I hope Sata can step down not only for incompetence, but due to lack of understanding of basic facts of life.
Brilliant thinking
I can’t believe that there are Zambians who see sense in what Sata said. ILO does not create Jobs anywhere on earth. It protects interests of the employed at a global level. Its the responsibility of gvt to create an environment that promotes job creation..my message to gvt is pliz don’t embarass us. Just do the job u were elected for.
spot on.
Unfortunately they are there. They have an IQ far less than sata(the toilet cleaner)
Can some tell the Zambian President that is his duty and his government’s responsibility to manage the economy and create jobs in Zambia.
Partners like ILO are there to help the government to implement their own strategies and not to impose in creating strategies in Zambia.
Each country has different natural and other resources hence the need for different approaches or strategies that would lead to job creation.
For Zambiaz, it sector like agriculture,tourism and mining that should be built to create more jobs.
Look at the mess currently going on in the Zambian agriculture and tourism industries! How does the President ILO DG to do when the Zambian government is failing to manage the two key industries that have enabled many economies in Africa to create jobs.
Sata has has never accepted responsibility for anything. He blames others for his lack of leadership and education.
My friend just asked me what i mean by lack of education because according to him, things to do with the ILO, UN etc are covered in our primary and junior secondary school syllabi. It was at that point comrades when I realized that the man never finished primary school. The man is a Grade 2 drop out. He failed to solve equations like 2 + x = 5.
this man, your president looks to be in pain. can’t someone provide adequate pain control for him? this is unacceptable. who is his physician?
Delirium,dementia and amnesia spiced with schizophrenia is litho combination for a prsident who will never know his left foot to the right.
Bravo Zambia.
NAREP president Elias Chipimo says Zambia’s greatest crisis is a lack of quality leadership at all levels of society.
Addressing journalists at the party’s press conference review for 2013 in Lusaka on Monday, Chipimo called on Zambians to ‘rise up’ against what he termed ‘the tyranny’ of the PF.
Our greatest crisis in this country is not malaria, poor infrastructure or HIV/AIDS; it is a lack of quality leadership at all levels of society. I do not want to be part of a country that simply sits back and watches as the leadership that we have in power destroys the future of our women and youth.
Chipimo hammer hard don’t sugar coat your criticism of the rogue PF regime!
Mr. President sir if you have no solutions for unemployment- especially youth unemployment please resign and stop wasting our time!
Please say that again!
The ILO can only make recommendations to Governments about policies and strategies that could improve employment levels in countries. At the end of the day, it is up to the Government to agree to make the necessary changes and implement. The attack on the ILO is rather misplaced in my opinion because ILO cannot dictate what Government should do, it can advise but ultimately, it is Government’s decision to choose to act on the advice or not.
Why Is Zambia So Poor?
By Michael Hobbes
(About Michael Hobbes lives in Berlin. He blogs at Rottin’ in Denmark).
This landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa isn’t a failed state in the traditional sense: There’s no dictator, no child soldiers. But most of its 14 million people live on less than $1 per day. How did things get this way, and can they ever get better?
Before we get started, I should admit something: I have no idea how a country goes from being poor to being rich.
I know that my own country did this, sure, and that Western Europe and Australia and Japan and Korea and lots of other places did too. But I don’t know anywhere that did it without totally unique circumstances, without an ugly century or two on the way.
Everyone crowds in, grabbing their bags, and you do, too—it’s all over in about 45 seconds. At no point are you indoors. As you leave, you hear a European in a suit remark, “I wish they did it like this everywhere.”
Probably Zambia isn’t a country you’ve thought about much. It’s a landlocked patch of 14 million people smack-dab in the middle of Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of its immediate bordermates—Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola—you know from the lowest quintile of various corruption, failed state, and poverty indices.
But relative to its neighbors, Zambia is actually doing pretty well. The religious groups (mostly Christian, some Muslims) largely get along, as do the various ethnicities.
Sata ,who’s been in govt for ages wants this int’l organization to come and do the job he’s failed to do for 2 decades? Wonder of all wonders i tell ya.
@Enka
Just shows what the carrying of buckets of amafi for a long period can do to some one.
For once Sata has told the truth: “… Zambia now has the highest unemployment levels in the history of the country, ” as opposed to the false rants of “we’ve created 300 000 jobs” or some such crap.
Here is how you create jobs ba wishi: fire all nurses and create more bye-elections, then plunge all big buses into the Luangwa river. Teka ubone!!
I ve never been so embarrassed like when I watched the clip on news. Are all the advisors to the president cadres who just watch the president make such mistakes? These advisors must be fired for failing the nation.
They need to remind the president that he never mentioned ILO to give us jobs during his campaign.
That the answer to unemployment lies squarely with him and not any other organisation.
That there is no country world over which ILO has ever developed.
That blame game has never worked anywhere.
That such talk is aimed at diverting voters attention from him and start blaming ILO for the unemployment we are facing.
That Zambians are watching and will have their day.
It has nothing to do with advisers. The man bubbles at random without giving any chance to his advisers to do their Job.
Can Sata be advised?
Does it mean that PF has failed to create meaningful employment for millions of youths?
I thought the President gets a briefing on who is coming to see him and what they are coming to do. This is a DISASITA!
THE ONLY PROBLEM SATA DOES NOT TAKE ADVICE FROM OTHERS AND HE DOES NOT ACCEPT TO BE CONTROLLED. HE THINKS HE IS MR RIGHT. NURSES ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FIRED BECAUSE THEY KEEP OUR LIVES.DOES IT MEAN THAT HE WANTS PEOPLE TO START DIEING BECAUSE OF LACK OF HUMAN RESOURCE UNDER HEALTH ALL WHAT? AM VERY DISAPPOINTED TO SEE HOW OUR COUNTRY IS GOING DOWN.DONT BLAM SATA!!!!!!!!!!! YOU PROMISED US YOUTHS MORE JOBS BUT THIS TIME THERE ARE NO JOBS. THERE ARE MANY UNZA GRADUATES WHO HAVE NOT BEEN EMPLOYED DURING LAST SEPTEMBER’S EMPLOYMENT PERIOD. NOW WHAT ELSE ARE WE GOING TO DO IF YOU CAN NOT EMPLOY US ? BASATA WE LIKE YOU AND WILL CONTINUE LIKING YOU ONLY IF YOU CHANGE THE STRATEGIES YOU ARE USING TO RULE THE COUNTRY OTHER WISE NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH YOU AT THIS MOMENT