KABANSHI

By BRIAN HATYOKA-
GOVERNMENT has warned officers looking after elderly people in the country to be transparent and accountable.
Community Development, Mother and Child Health Minister Emerine Kabanshi said there was need for officers looking after elderly people in Zambia to be transparent and accountable.
Ms Kabanshi said her office would not tolerate a situation where officers in charge of old people’s homes mismanaged donations and other resources donated by the Government and other well-wishers.
She was speaking in Livingstone yesterday when Child Helpline International (CHI) donated detergents, disinfectants, cooking oil and mealie meal valued at K1, 000 to Maramba Old people’s Home.
CHI is a network of 178 child help lines operating in 143 countries around the world.
“We have been talking about transparency and accountability and whatever is being donated to elderly people should be used for the intended use.
“We want old people’s homes to be very accountable with their officers by making sure that elderly people benefit from what the Government and other stakeholders give them,” Ms Kabanshi said.
She noted that the private sector in Zambia would not supplement Government efforts in taking care of elderly people if supervisors for such homes were mishandling the donated facilities.
“We want the private sector to come on board and renovate this building at Maramba Old People’s Home.
“The infrastructure is cracking and very soon these things will fall but if we are not accountable and transparent, the private sector won’t come on board to supplement Government efforts,” Ms Kabanshi said.
She was however happy that the garden at Maramba Old People’s Home was being managed by Sun International Zambia.
“We want more members of the private sector to come on board and supplement our efforts,” she said.
Speaking earlier at the same meeting, Maramba Old People’s Village officer-in-charge Humphrey Chileshe said the Home was established in the early 1960s to cater for the elderly who were rejected by society mainly because of suspicion of witchcraft and other reasons.
Mr Chileshe said the elderly people had challenges because of their different mental and physical situations they were in.
Meanwhile, Ms Kabanshi said the Patriotic Front (PF) Government was committed to supporting elderly people in the country.
She said elderly people contributed a lot to the struggle for independence and that they were custodians of the country’s culture.
Ms Kabanshi said this yesterday when she paid a courtesy call on Livingstone District Commissioner Omar Munsanje.
In response, Mr Munsanje said the district was committed to supporting vulnerable children and elderly people.