The Parliamentary Committee on Local Governance, Housing and Chiefs Affairs says there is a need to prioritise issues that directly deal with interventions aimed at reducing poverty among Zambians and change their status quo.
Committee member, Maureen Mabunga, said she is concerned about the alarming levels of poverty in the country.
Ms Mabunga, who is also the Member of Parliament for Mfuwe Constituency in Lavushimanda district, said it was important that interventions to reduce poverty were prioritized when developing District Integrated Development Plans (IDPs).
Ms Mabunga said this when the committee visited Mambwe district to review the IDPs in local authorities.
Meanwhile, Committee Chairperson, Newton Samakayi, said the IDPs needed to reflect the needs of the people.
Mr Samakayi, who is also Mwinilunga Constituency Member of Parliament, said the committee was touring various districts to learn and understand the challenges faced by many people and what caused those problems.
He added that it was for this reason that the committee was engaging stakeholders in various districts to help interrogate the issues of implementing the district IDPs.
The Mwinilunga lawmaker added that the committee also wanted to understand the performance of government as well as private institutions in the country and what people said about them.
Meanwhile, Mambwe Town Council Secretary, John Mwanza, said the Mambwe district IDP, which covered a period of five years from 2020 to 2025, was developed using the stakeholder engagement approach.
Mr Mwanza said the multi sectoral stakeholder consultative and engagement meetings brought out core issues affecting the district.
Among the issues were the high rate of deforestation, poor road network, human-wildlife conflicts, limited economic activities and inadequate access to clean and safe drinking water.
