Increase Nutrition funding, William Chilufya prods President Edgar Lungu
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Eneyah B-man Phiri with William Chilufya
By Derrick Sinjela-Rainbownews Zambia
CIVIL Society Organisation in Scaling Up Nutrition (CSO-SUN) Executive Director William Chilufya has petitioned Government to increase funding to the social sector, reports Derrick Sinjela.
And Chilufya says there is need for political will on nutrition as Zambia continues to grapple with stunted growth among children.
Chilufya said Government should ensure that it allocates substantial amounts of money to the social sector which include education, health gender, community development and child development ministries.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Budget Analysis, Chilufya restated the CSO-SUN resolve toward partnering with parliamentarian to build a food secure Zambia.
Meanwhile, Chilufya praised President Edgar Chagwa Lungu work on agriculture and water sanitation but expressed regret that Government is paying little attention to nutrition.
The African Union (AU) Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security guides member states to allocate 10 percent their national budget to agriculture development annually.
In a related development, National Action for Quality Education in Zambia NAQEZ) Executive Director Aaron Chansa is equally calling for increased budgetary allocation to the education sector.
Mr. Chanda says NAQEZ supports the splitting of the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and early Education into General and Higher categories on the belief that the action by President Edgar Chagwa Lungu will increase budgetary allocations to the education sector beyond 2016.
However, Chansa doubted the possibility of an increased amount to the education sector as Finance Minister has proposed about 17.2 per cent to what he termed a troubled and financially crippled education sector.
Following the reduction by five point two percent (5.2%) Chansa is now petitioning the 159 Members of Parliament (MPs) to make upward adjustments in line with the budgetary needs of the Ministry of General Education and Ministry of Higher Education.
Recently, President Lungu spilt the education ministry, subsequently appointing Dr John Phiri as General Education Minister and Dr Michael Kaingu as Higher Education Minister.
In total, Minister Chikwanda allocated K9,1 billion to education and skills development, with K1.0 billion allocated to schools, universities and trades training institutions, while K217.8 million is set aside for recruitment of 5, 000 teachers.
