musician Mozegeta (not in picture) at the just ended 8th Southern
Tourism, Agricultural and Commercial Show Society (STACSS).
SEVERAL aspiring parliamentary candidates for the Livingstone Constituency have pledged to empower youths and women in the Tourist Capital once they are elected as area Member of Parliament (MP).
The candidates further vowed to denounce violence ahead of the August 11 General elections and pledged to upgrade infrastructure and Township roads in Livingstone to improve the City.
This was at Livingstone Lodge on Friday night during the first Public Debate Forum for aspiring MPs hosted by the Livingstone Press Club (LPC).
The participating candidates were Gladys Kristafor from Patriotic Front (PF), Edward Ntinda also from PF, Regina Musokotwane from United Party for National Development (UPND), Matthews Jere also from UPND and Teddy Andrew Mulenga from the Green Party.
Ms Kristafor, who is former Permanent Secretary for Southern Province, said women and youths were important to national development and she would empower then if she was adopted and elected as Livingstone MP.
She said women were going for their education to various schools just like men but they were marginalised in most cases.
“We are talking about equality here. Women, who are qualified, should be allowed to do their job and they should not just end as sympathisers.
“Some many women in Zambia are qualified but they have never been given an opportunity. Citizens who qualifies irrespective of genders should be given an opportunity to participate in national matters,” Ms Christafor said.
She said tourism was a priority and she would work with Government to establish an international convention centre and open up Livingstone through aggressive marketing to attract more tourists.
Ms Musokotwane, who is former Katombola MP, said she would introduce youths training centres to train the young people in carpentry, bricklaying and other skills.
She said most young people had nothing to do for their living and hence they were engaging in violence.
And Dr Mulenga, who has already been adopted by Green Party, said he would not buy beer for youths but he would instead talk them to Zambia National Services (ZNS) for training in life skills.
Dr Mulenga said he would put a lot of pressure in Parliament to lobby for the development of Livingstone especially he understood the challenges of the City.
“I have suffered here and I know this town. I know the roads in Livingstone which were seen in 1974 and have not yet been upgraded.
“The Government has done a commendable job to improve roads and other infrastructure in Livingstone but there is more to do. Look at Libuyu Bridge, crocodile come when it is flooded,” he said.
He asked Livingstone residents to avoid voting on party lines or voting for recycled political parties.
Mr Ntinda, who is former Provincial Engineer for Southern Province, said he would create job opportunities for street kids as well as elderly women and men in Livingstone once he was adopted and elected.
He said the PF Government already had a youth empowerment policy which he would use to create jobs for the young people.
“We have poor roads in townships and we need to improve on them. PF has a lot of programmes which need to continue until they are logically concluded.
“The modern market and bus station will be completed and you will need a forceful person like myself,” he said
Mr Jere, who is former Deputy Mayor for Livingstone under the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), said he would use his experience in the Livingstone City Council to improve the Constituency.
He said he would address the poor state of roads especially in Townships to attract tourists to those areas.
“We want tourists to visit Songwe, Jack Mwanampapa, Sinde and Kasiya in the outskirts of Livingstone instead of just visiting the central business district.
“I will also not allow a situation where political party cadres’ take over construction jobs that are meant for experts like the case was during the 2013 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly,” he said.
Mr Jere said he would engage employers, youths and Government to seek ways of creating jobs for youths and women.
“Currently, the conditions of service are poor and so we will improve on that while encouraging the youths to venture into entrepreneurship,” Mr Jere said.
Lazy Day Dreamers, Some of them have been MPs in the past and failed to help youth and women. What has Hon, Jean Kapata done in terms of tourism which is a minimum of $14 billon industry. Absolutely failed to tap or build this industry. Some of these MPs are blind because most of these youth and women can be employed in this industry. Where are they going to get the money since the allocation for the Livingstone and south province province is limited. These guys have very little to offer and to empower the youth. How are they going to do and how would they raise money to help most of the women and youth in the province. In my view both men, women and youth need to be empowered. Position should be based on ability not on sex.
Livingstone deserves development being the tourist capital.
This country is becoming more rotten every day. First the police arrest the ritual killer musicians at Nakonde, they are released, then again a reward is offered for their re-capture! What’s going on?
How can people even tolerate such nonsense from these outdated politicians without visions and strategic plans on her they intend to empower the women and youths some of whom have failed. Time waiters to hell with the. People never be cheated again.
How can UPND be floating a fossil in the name of Regina Musokotwane.
STOP LYING TO THE YOUTH. EMPOWER THEM FROM WHICH FUNDS? WHY HAVE YOU FAILED TO EMPOWER THEM DURING THE 5 YEAR TENUR WHEN THERE HAS BEEN NO ACCOUNTABILITY OF FUNDS.