Stakeholders welcome recruitment of teachers, health workers

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in Muchinga says it is happy with the government’s plan of recruiting 30,000 teachers and 11,200 health workers next year.

ZCTU Muchinga Province Regional Coordinator, Nondo Kasanda said the recruitment of the teachers and health workers will improve service delivery in both the education and health sectors.

Mr. Kasanda said the huge recruitment exercise will be happening for the first time after many years saying this confirms the new dawn administration’s commitment to transform the economic and social landscape of the country.

He further said the recruitment of civil servants next year will help fight unemployment and poverty levels which he said were on the rise.

Meanwhile, Mr Kasanda added that the Union is also happy with plans to dismantle outstanding arrears for retirees who had suffered so much.

“The paying out of retirees will go a long way towards social protection of our senior citizens,” Mr Kasanda said.

He has appealed to national union leaders to negotiate for better salary increment for civil servants during negotiations with government as the cost of living is high.

“Workers are going through tough time due to low salaries and I want to appeal to our national union leaders to settle for a better salary increment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Stakeholders in Chinsali District have praised the new dawn administration for ensuring that the 2022 National Budget addresses the many campaign promises made during the August 12, 2021 general elections.

A senior citizen, Felix Nongo noted that the budget shows that the United Party for National Development (UPND) promises to the people will be implemented with effect from January 2022.

Mr Nongo said there has been an outcry by many young people for a long time now over the escalating unemployment and poverty levels saying this will be addressed once the 2022 budget is implemented.

”We have seen unemployed teachers, health personnel among others on the street searching for employment but nothing was happening,” he said.

He stated that the employment of 30,000 teachers and 11,200 health workers among others is a great milestone that will change the lives of many people in the country.

And former Chinsali Mayor, Thomas Mutale said he is hopeful that the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) which has been massively increased from K1.6 million to 25.7 million kwacha will change the face of many districts in the country.

Mr Mutale has called for prudent utilisation of the funds saying government should put in place measures to ensure that the money is well utilised for its intended purpose once the local municipalities receive the funds.

”We use to receive little money which could not fulfil people’s needs but now with the K25.7 million most of the projects will be completed in Chinsali district,” he said.

He thanked the UPND administration for allocating a huge sum of money to CDF saying this shows a clear indication that development will be brought closer to the people as per the party’s campaign promises.

And Haggai Ng’andu, a Chinsali businessman said the business fraternity should see much more opportunities to improve their businesses because of the way the budget is structured.

”The budget which was presented on Friday gives an opportunity to the business communities, the youth and the women to position themselves through creation of cooperatives and have relevant documents to be able to participate in any business, ” he said.

On Friday last week, Minister of Finance, Situmbeko Musokotwane presented the proposed K173 billion 2022 national Budget which has seen an increase in allocation of CDF and other sub sectors.