By STUART LISULO in Solwezi –

Government has pledged to pay Kansanshi Mining Plc its fair share of the money obtained from the Skills Development Fund (SDF) to help bolster its Kwambula training programme, among others.
And Director of the Vocational Education and Training under the Ministry of Higher Education, Alex Simumba, has told graduating students of First Quantum Minerals’ (FQM) Kwambula programme to perform to the expectation of their employers.
Kwambula is an FQM three-year apprenticeship programme launched in January, 2012, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education designed to help high school graduates move into trades such as power electrical, welding, metal fabrication and mechanical skills.
Speaking during FQM’s first-ever Kwambula Graduation Ceremony where 101 students graduated with highly-specialised skills in different engineering fields, Mr Simumba pledged the Government will pay Kansanshi its fair share of the money obtained from the SDF to help bolster the vocational scheme, among others.
He told the jubilant graduates that Kansanshi would be getting the funds from the SDF in the coming few months for more young people to benefit from the programme.
“Definitely, either in the course of this year or sometime next year, Kansanshi will receive some money. We will agree which areas, but definitely that proportion is coming because those are the issues we want to include in the new MoU,” Mr Simumba added.
And Mr Simumba urged the graduating students to perform to the expectation of their employers.
He also appealed to the wider community to respect the Solwezi Trades Training Institute (SOTTI) property and guard against vandalism.
The SDF was introduced in the 2017 national budget to address the challenges of inadequate skills among local craftsmen and artisans, and is part of the long-term financing solution for technical, entrepreneurial and vocational education.
Meanwhile Barrick Lumwana expects graduates from tertiary learning institutions equipped with the technical skills to participate more fully in developing the district.
Barrick Lumwana’s learning and development manager Christian Davies urged the company’s employees to always be open-minded.
Speaking at FQM’s first-ever Kwambula graduation ceremony in Solwezi  where 101 students graduated with highly-specialised skills in several engineering fields, Barrick Lumwana’s Sustainability Manager, Christopher Mukala said the mining company wants graduates who benefited from apprenticeships to participate more fully in the social and economic development of the district and surrounding areas.
“Lumwana is changing now, from being rural to peri-urban. Eventually, it will be urban, and so you need to have the local people participate in the socio-economic development of the area. The only way you can do that is through education, that is how we feel the scholarship programme is very important,” Mr Mukala said in an interview at the Royal Solwezi Hotel on Friday.
“We need planners in that area; we need people who can do farming, different sectors. You can’t import those kind of people; you need people who are born and bred in that area to have those skills and contribute to the area. That is the vision that we have.” – Story courtesy of SUMA SYSTEMS