President Edgar Lungu must be emulated by others in preaching peace, preach non-violence and tolerance ahead of 2021 General Elections, the Young African Leaders Initiative has said.
Speaking during a press briefing held on Sunday at Mika Lodge on the State of Nation address, YALI Legal and Governance Advisor Isaac Mwanza said Zambia must be a unitary, peaceful, and stable nation with an empowered young population who are dedicated, resilient, and innovative.
Mr. Mwanza commended the determination by President Lungu to ensure the country remains food secure, to ending load-shedding through increased power generation, to conduct transparent, free and fair elections and to empowerment of youth and women.
“We want to commend Government for what has happened in the last two farming seasons where inputs had been distributed on time and no farmer has complained as regards payment for their produce,” he said
Mr. Mwanza said the energy sector remains a key driver for economic development as the success of all other sectors such as mining, agriculture, commerce etc are dependent on the energy sector.
“May we be among the first to congratulate the President and his Government on this mammoth achievement of getting 750 Megawatts of power into the national grid. Zambians are aware that Zambia had lagged 40-years behind in infrastructure development and do appreciate this developmental agenda to meet the infrastructure deficit,” said Mwanza.
Mr. Mwanza said YALI share the ethos tabulated by President Lungu that 2021 elections must be about peace-building, unity and stability which can only be necessitated through a violent-free, issue-based campaigns and further applauded Government for the half a billion empowerment fund set aside for young people.
“The President has set a tone that even as we are going to differ in terms of opinions and ideologies, no one should lose blood because of this political contestation. So let everyone preach peace,” he said.
While welcoming the partial reopening of bars and night clubs and schools as pillars to sustainable development, Mr. Mwanza reiterated the call for citizens to become responsible with their lives knowing that the COVID-19 pandemic is still around.
Source: Lusaka Times
