Thursday, March 28, 2024

President Lungu shocked with high level of alcohol abuse

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President Edgar Lungu delivers his speech during the State of the Nation address at Parliament Buildings
President Edgar Lungu delivers his speech during the State of the Nation address at Parliament Buildings

President Edgar Lungu has expressed concern at the high levels of alcohol and substance abuse among the youths.

President Lungu observed that the abuse of alcohol has contributed to moral decay among the young people.

He said lack of inactivity is leading youths to indulge in substance abuse.

However, President Lungu has revealed that government is making steady progress in strengthening the enforcement of the relevant laws and regulations so as to curb alcohol and substance abuse.

The Head of State said this when He addressed the second meeting of the second session of the twelfth National Assembly, on the progress made in the application of national values and principles.

President Lungu told the house that government has intensified the implementation of youth empowerment programmes aimed at equipping the youths with skills, equipment and start up capital for income generating activities.

He also disclosed that last year 2,667 youths street vendors were empowered with loans while an additional 1,000 youths were empowered with motorised cargo tricycles.

And commenting on the sporting fraternity, President Lungu says government is implementing the anti doping programme.

President Lungu said the programme is aimed at sensitizing athletes, sports administrators, coaches, physical education teachers and youths against the dangers of taking performance enhancing substance.

He disclosed that 5,400 individuals have been trained so far in five provinces.

Commenting on child marriage, The Head of State said government said is in a process of implementing a five year national strategy on ending child marriage.

He explained that the national strategy is aimed at achieving 40 percent reduction of child marriages by 2021.

President Lungu said the strategy also highlights the causes and consequences of harmful traditional practices that encourage early marriages.

The President said government is working with traditional leaders as they are the custodians of customs and traditions.

He noted that 80 chiefs and 84 headmen have been oriented on the harmful effects of early marriages and teenage pregnancies in 2017.

President Lungu maintained that traditional leaders are important players in ending child marriages.

67 COMMENTS

  1. Alcohol abuse is a serious public health problem. To deter youth from drinking make alcohol more expensive thru an alcohol tax( money that should then go to the health sector), close bars earlier than the normal time, no alcohol to be sold after 17hrs on Sundays for example,enforce strict drinking and driving laws, most importantly stop stealing the youths future by getting the country into unnecessary debt and give youth hope for a better Zambia

    • Hahahahahahah look who’s talking
      Lungu you are the number 1 alcohol abuser plus you are also kawalala…Uubomba mwibala alya mwibala

    • You could also have a loan program in agriculture rather than just in trading. The markets can’t accommodate chalo conse

    • President Lungu shocked with high level of alcohol abuse…(Mr President the people might be fed up of things and this is there way of expressing their anger, You will well relate to them sir!, You have important things to do don;t you sir?).

    • ECL should be instrumental in curbing the debilitating alcoholism that has taken over Zambian culture by quitting alcohol himself and establishing rehabilitation centers for Youth alcoholics that will also train them in trade skills

    • But Lungu is a comedian. Most drunks are comedians.

      Had it not been for his corruption, incompetence, and deception, his jokes would have been funny.

      However, Zambians can put this right in 2021.

      Let him tell these jokes from the comfort of his jail cell. We can then laugh together.

    • They youths are inspired.
      Us got inspired in being vegetarians, singing, playing guitar, and pet insults.

    • He has soon realised that the Younger ones are beating him to it and he is jealous ……meanwhike LT what is this?…….. “He said lack of inactivity is leading youths to indulge in substance abuse”
      I thought the PF are bragging about millions of jobs they have created

    • Lungu is No:1 abuser of alcohol, how can he show fake suprise when he and his team close state house at 4:00 am. When he wakes up he signs important documents on our behalf with closed eyes hence external debt haunting us day in day out. Look at the ever dizzy looking special assistant for strong jamerson

    • What else can you expect,when the ‘father’ of the.nation himself is a drunkard.Some youths look to him as a role model,so they do what he does.ECL’s poisture all the time is that of a drunkard (always looking drunk)

    • @ 1 Latissimus, I do understand where you are coming from. Unfortunately research shows that increasing the price of Alcohol in the case of Zambia WONT WORK, as people will just gravitate to more lethal concoctions of Alcohol like Kachasu, Mbamba, Solopi, & Katata.
      What needs to be fixed is the economy.
      With the economy fixed jobs will increase, our citizens though engaging in drinking will have less drink time as their time will be taken up by gainful employment.
      When someone sees no future, as the case for the majority not in Government, they will increase their risky behaviors as theres nil prospects & nothing to lose.
      Unfortunately P.F only feed citizens, vitenge, chibuku, & bicycles, so till 2021, NI ZIPAYE WEKA!

    • I wonder if there are normal Zambians who can take Lungu seriously, he talks about things that he himself is a terrible example, sometimes it pays to keep quiet than displaying gross hypocrisy.

    • Where we sober at the time of delivering the speech. Any way former South African president Jacob Zuma was charged with corruption on Friday over a $2.5 billion state arms deal, a stunning judicial ruling on a continent where political ‘Big Men’ rarely face their day in court.
      Zuma, who was forced to resign by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) last month, was at the centre of the deal to buy European military kit that has cast a shadow over politics in Africa’s most industrialized economy for years.
      Zuma will face 16 charges relating to 783 instances of alleged wrongdoing, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said.
      Zuma has also been implicated by South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog in a 2016 report that alleges the Gupta family, billionaire…

  2. you should ask yourself what are the causes of this abuse. 98% cause is frustration. Nothing is working for as GRZ has no solution. A few people that are corrupt have obstructed so much that the youth think life is fruitless. Its not a Joke, PF is too corrupt and people are tired. We wont mind having HH as the next president and if he also pusas we will change till we find the best to redeem Zambia.

  3. THIS ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT IS A PLOY TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM THE ISSUE OF HIS FRAUDULENT NATIONALITY AND FROM THE LEAKED INFORMATION ON HIS EXTRAVANGANCY AND RECKLESS MISUSE OF NATIONAL RESOURCES.
    IN FUTURE IF HE GOES TO ADDRESS PARLIAMENT HE SHOULD ALSO BE MADE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

  4. The pot calling the kettle black!! This chap drinks like a fish, he must the speck in the eyes of the youth and is blind to the log in his own! What a joker and an embarrassment of a president. Not inspiring at all. This is a leader no one would want to be because he is a very bad example.

  5. The new President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa has travelled to Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique (today). The Zambian President Edgar Lungu had to travel to South Africa to meet CR! That must say something about where Lungu is slotted in SA’s the “pecking order” of leaders in the region!

  6. Mr President sir, there are more pressing issues to talk about and act on than our idle youths drinking habits. These youth would not be drunks if you created jobs for them and made alcohol more expensive. we have so many factories shut that could be reopened and jobs created for our youth. Sir how about clarifying the monies for your huge trips?

    • He thinks shopping malls and dishing out empowerment loans to drunks is creating tangible employment….this is the caliber of leader we have in State House.

  7. “…. on the progress made in the application of national values and principles….”

    Yes , kaizer Zulu values and principles…

  8. Is this the long awaited speech from the president after causing a pandemonium in traffic in the city? There are more questions that need answers from him lest the whole country goes kaput due to his government’s inefficiencies.

  9. Political parties contribute to the scourge by giving youths beer during campaigns and sponsoring them to cause unnecessary confusion. Most cadres, majority of them youths, are always intoxicated with alcohol and no wonder they are violent.
    Mr President begin from there to outlaw beer drinking during political gatherings.

  10. What a president we have !!!.

    When he tries to say corruption we have everybody thinking 42/42…….when he tries to say early mattages we have pictures of him half naked looking at your girls in swaziland….when he tries to say moral decay we have people pointing at kaizer Zulu…….when he tries to say GRZ cost cutting we have leaks of hudge expenditure with his large entourage abroad……yaba, lungu , ndiwe kawalala zoona…..

  11. Jacob Zuma to be prosecuted on corruption charges
    By Lindsay Isaac, CNN
    Updated 1352 GMT (2152 HKT) March 16, 2018

    Take note lungu.

    • Can s..thole CNN report that, all s..thole CNN knows is ,.. Trump this, trump that. S..thole CNN reports nothing apart from bringing trump down.

      Am shocked you can quote S..thole.

  12. Yaba!!
    Only pa Zed does a career Alcoholic condemn fellow alcohol misusers.
    Kawalala’s in leadership condemn petty thieves.
    How the Presidency has lost value in Zed, when one compares the chaff we currently have, as opposed to proper leaders like K. K.

  13. Just increase duty on alcohol, reduce bar operating hours and find out which councilors own bars and taverns.

    • Peace maker trust me it won’t work, people will go to unregulated Shebeens, & ‘Kachasu Dens.
      What is needed is for this thieving bunch to be thrown out of office Kaiser included, change the Constitution to ensure Presidential powers are stripped, as even if the Holiest non corrupted leader is voted in under this current Constitution, he or She will have cadres & cheerleaders who will swell their ego, & this rot will continue.
      Only after the Constitution is changed, will we have checks balances economy will grow & hopefully mindless alcoholism will reduce, as people will have more, & care about their future.

  14. “President Edgar Lungu has expressed concern at the high levels of alcohol and substance abuse among the youths.

    President Lungu observed that the abuse of alcohol has contributed to moral decay among the young people.“

    What a nice seat to politicking on.

    Somethings should not come as a surprise to our leaders.

  15. ECL!!!!You must lead by example bamudala. . . .”amenshi yakoka umufolo” or else you should be the last one to give such advice to the idle minded youths. Shut up!!!!

  16. Most Zambians have been drunks from times before. President Kaunda should have been the first to do something about it. Tax alcohol with unreachable rates and things start to change. Police bars and night clubs. It is easier than it looks to control.

  17. Thank you Mr. President! Please take a stand and help our nation. People must learn that “Alcohol does not drown problems, it irrigates them.” Never listen to the spirit of confusion and witchcraft in the party of the disobedient and children of the disobedient.

  18. Correct.
    Chibwantu, Karate, kachasu, imbamba name it. Drinking is a choice. Most Zambians’ choice is a bottle of hydrocarbons CH3CH2OH, C2H5OH, CH3CH2CH2OH and CH3CH(OH)CH3. Yes Zambians are drunks from rural through shanties to suburban and urban. Someone is telling you SENSE you trash him with abysmal impunity. No wonder you vote with drunken hearts and brains. You ‘re doomed to even importing a toothpick and a Razer blade. Lazy drunken crooks.

  19. Correct.
    Chibwantu, Katata, kachasu, imbamba, 7day fermented mukoyo, chibuku, katubi name it.
    Drinking is a horrible choice. Most Zambians’ choice is a bottle of hydrocarbons CH3CH2OH, C2H5OH, CH3CH2CH2OH and CH3CH(OH)CH3. Yes Zambians are drunks from rural through shanties to suburban and urban. Someone is telling you SENSE you trash him with abysmal impunity. No wonder you vote with drunken hearts and brains. You ‘re doomed to even importing a toothpick and a Razer blade. Lazy drunken crooks. You shall reap what you sow.

  20. It’s not as simplistic as raising tax or prices on alcohol. The way people behave, for the most, is dictated by the underlying economic base. To change the mentality and frustrations that are fed by a lack of work and access to services that contribute to a more humane quality of life and an environment that encourages innovation, the country needs to re-generate. Create industries that you have been talking about for donkey ages (Zambia has enough resources to feed this) Invest in improving run down structures, in relevant education, planned agricultural policies and health. Other things will follow. A dirty environment, run down facilities and lack of jobs nourish the off shoots of anti-social behaviour and moral decadence. Raising the cost of alcohol in such circumstances actually…

  21. … only works to exacerbate poverty. The reasons for turning to alcohol remain but the little resources are further used to fuel the trend.

  22. I did not know that it was that easy to play ignorance in front of everyone and the nation at large. During elections we are supplied with thousands of liters of alcohol, current Minister of Finance even follows us in the SHABINS buying us alcohol. That is the problem when you let others write speeches for you without your in put. On second thought, I think whoever wrote that speech had the intention of embarrassing you. That is what was happening to Robert Mugabe in his last days.

  23. He speaks of empowering the vendors and youths through loans and tri-cycles. Question is, how effective has this been? Are there any tangeable results? And if business been so good since the loans, have they started paying back so others can also benefit from such an initiative?

  24. People say when you get older, it’s harder to be a bastard. Well, this rule does not seem to apply to Lungu!

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