Minister's daughter reacts to scholarship allegations

By Staff Reporter 

Agriculture Minister's daughter has refuted claims that her father helped her get a Russian scholarship through the bursaries committee. 

Reacting to a picture published online by some section of the media, Namatama Lubinda, daughter to Given Lubinda who is Minister of Agriculture says she deserves a scholarship. 

“To the people that claim I attained the scholarship with the help of my father, kindly be informed that he was willing to pay for my studies in China, just as he did for my sisters who studied in Australia and Malaysia without a problem. Yes, he can afford it, but it was my decision to apply for a scholarship behind his back. If you must know, he had no idea about it until it was already granted to me. If you must know the reasons I applied for a scholarship I will gladly tell you,” she openly says. 

Namatama says her father, Mr Lubinda does not issue scholarships. 

“First of all, he is not responsible for the children on scholarship. That's the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. He is only responsible for me and my siblings,” she says adding that Mr Lubinda went to visit her in Russia as a parent and not a government official. 

She says a picture about her father which was published online on 5th this month suggested that she did not deserve a scholarship. 

“A picture portrayed that I do not deserve the scholarship that I am on, sponsored by the Russian government. Please understand the meaning of the word “scholarship”. According to the oxford dictionary (the world's most popular and accurate dictionary), the word 'scholarship' means “A grant or payment made to support a student’s education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement.” Do you see the word 'poverty' in that? It is awarded on the basis of academic achievement which you, and many other Zambians don't seem to understand that I worked hard to achieve,” stresses Namatama. 

Namatama says she graduated from high school with straight distinctions. 

“The bursaries committee saw the need to fairly grant me the scholarship. Kindly take a look at my statement of results, just for your viewing pleasure,” she says. 

Namatama has since urged media houses to learn to research before publishing stories.