By KASONDE KASONDE –
PAMBASHE Member of Parliament Ronald Chitotela has distributed more than 60,000 exercise books to eight schools in Kawambwa District.
The books are part of the Presidential Initiative aimed at equipping the vulnerable pupils with the necessary school requirements.
Mr Chitotela, who is Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development, said President Edgar Lungu had a heart for the poor and would continue providing sustainable assistance to them.
The minister appealed to people politicising the distribution of the exercise books by the President to be reasonable and think about the poor Zambians who were struggling to send their children to school.
Mr Chitotela said people should remember that not everyone had the capacity to provide all the necessary school requisites for their children, hence the decision by the Head of State to do so.
He also distributed 150 desks and gave 34 pupils scholarships worth K40,000 from the 2017 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for the 2018 school calendar.
Mr Chitotela said various women’s groups had also been given K40,000 with each group receiving a seed capital of K5,000 starter pack.
Sub-chief Chisha of the Chishinga people of Kawambwa District urged the President not to pay attention to people that were criticising him for his initiatives aimed at improving people’s livelihood as they were selfish and had nothing good to offer the Zambians.
The traditional leader said it was unfortunate that some politicians were politicking instead of offering people good leadership and progressive ideas.
He thanked President Lungu for the initiative to help the vulnerable by providing free exercise books and empowering women.
Chief Chisha said the Government had shown true leadership and their continued support to the vulnerable in society through various initiatives was yielding positive results as poverty was reducing among the masses.