UPND Pledges To Boost Opportunities For Young People
United Party for National Development leader Hakainde Hichilema has pledged to boost opportunities for young people in Zambia, saying the country needs to do more or risk raising a generation of delinquents.
Mr Hichilema said that if his party were brought into power next year, he would ensure that the cost of doing business in Zambia is brought down significantly in order to enable more young people to start companies and spur economic growth.
On Tuesday morning the UPND leader signed a symbolic social contract at the party’s secretariat in Lusaka. The document promises the young people of Zambia a fertile business environment based on local investment, as opposed to the current model which is tied to foreign money.
Furthermore, Mr Hichilema promised that young people would receive leadership roles in sectors such as mining, tourism, agriculture and manufacturing, adding that no country has successfully developed without the participation of younger generations.
The social contract was formulated by UPND youths on the Copperbelt, who are seeking to set up a limited liability company, with shareholders spread across each of the province’s ten districts. The contract outlines the youths’ demands for mining rights and licences as a way to increase their contribution to national development.
“ I have asked the youths from the Copperbelt to not limit this document to mining rights alone. Include youths that are in different sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fish farming, timber trading, milling and other economic driving sectors.Our government will strive at ensuring that the cost of raw materials such as fertiliser is reduced from the current K 600 to K 250 to allow more youths participate in the agriculture sector and in the process reduce on the cost of living.Let me also assure Zambians through you that our government will ensure that all expatriates intend doing to invest in the country do so in partnership with locally based Zambians.This document should also include people living with disabilities as partners in national development through engagement and consensus”, HH said.
Hakainde Hichilema singing the youth social contract in Lusaka