Zambian youths have no one to look up to, those in positions of power use young people as ladders of their dreams - Former ZANASU Veep

Former ZANASU Vice President Prince Ndoyi has expressed disappointment with the state of affairs in the nation. 

Mr Ndoyi explained that youths in the country are disappointed with the turn of events as regards a number of challenges in the country including the nation’s economy, the civil society, the Church and the state of the media among other challenges in the country. 

He said as young people they lament the lack of economic opportunities, soaring prices of commodities and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. 

“As young people we want to add our voice on the state of affairs in the nation today. We express our utmost disappointment with the turn of events in our country as regards the economy, the state of the civil society in general especially the youth NGOs , the church, the media and the political landscape as regards our democracy. 

“As young people we want to lament on our ailing economy, the soaring prices of commodities continue to hurt us in the compounds, fuel and electricity increments will paralyse production. More and more people will fail to eat a cheap but balanced diet, three quarters of the population are living way off below the food basket threshold per household. With poor nutrition will come with it more illnesses and diseases and subsequently deaths and a sky rocketing infant mortality. But we will not pretend that these increases will not irk a hike in health care prices disadvantaging the poor even worse to die like animals,” he said. 

He said youths have no one to look up to as those in positions of power and influence only know how to use young people to achieve their own ends and later dump them. 

He said youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb that should be properly handled by those in office. 

“As youths we don’t have anyone to look up to because those in positions of power and influence only know how to use young people to pursue their interests and discard us. So many young people have been used as cadres and others have been used to write business proposals on behalf of those who have access to finance later dumping them. 

“Ask yourselves who supplies simple things in govt like paper and pens, and we are everywhere singing youth empowerment choruses. Youth unemployment is a time bomb and will definitely bottle over into a brutal revolution we have never seen before, subserviently if not handled properly. In the forthcoming budget we expect youth empowerment to be amongst the top priority sectors to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation,” he said. 

He accused the Civil Society of watching from a distance while a number of challenges go without a call for action. 

“The country is quite, the church, civil societies like NGOCC & OASIS FORUM are watching from a distance. Today everyone is playing politics, we have lost genuine causes on issues that affect us directly like clean and safe drinking water, decent and habitable housing, subsidised nutritional and dietary supplements, free and accessible Anti Retroviral Therapy drugs, etc. 

“Today Zambians can’t start a fight for anything and see it to its logical end, workers unions are bruised and the worker has no where to run to. Today’s politics and checks and balances have been left to Antonio Mwanza, Raphael Nakacinda and Peter Sinkamba the remaining lot are either sorry or compromised,” he said. 

He complained that corruption has become a norm in a country with so much resources but it’s people living in abject poverty. 

“What is happening to rumors of some Minister’s illegally exporting Uranium to China? What has happened to the sinking fund, how much have we saved and which account is it in, what measures are there to safeguard it against abuse? What happened to the rehabilitation of the falling and cracking Kariba dam wall which threatens to tsunami our economy? 

“In the name of common decency, humanity and common sense, surely the poor families should be shown some compassion and let their livelihood depend not only on laws and rights lost in the referendum but simply on morality and decency. We dread to think how much all this will cost the poor families. 

“What have the generous public charity donations and the tax payers done for Government to be so blatantly uncaring, stubborn and unbending . We beg can someone have the courage to stand for democracy and humanity and make the right decisions. People no longer stand up for what is right in this country, national issues have been reduced to how much do you have and what is your personal interest. The NGOs, Church, media and politicians lack the temperament to be relevant in today’s unique challenges,” he said. 

He added “On the economy and democracy our position is that our country is economically moribund, persists with policies that have demonstrably failed, we strongly believe that increasing democratic resistance is an indication of its vulnerability, our systems are increasingly becoming indifferent to democracy, is run by and for a small, self- perpetuating elite, and is slowing dying. We have surely made the wrong comparisons here. This is not the US without the electric chair; it is the USSR without the gulag.”