*THE CASE OF PROF. NKANDU LUO AND MEAL ALLOWANCES*
_By Percy Mwale_
The announcement of Prof. Nkandu Luo as President Edgar Lungu's running mate was met with mixed feelings and shock in some quarters. Indeed it was a surprise! I personality least expected it.
So how has the nation reacted?
The women folk and civil society has lauded ECL for sticking with women as it gives them leverage and prominence in national affairs.
The general public, basically has no problem with the Professor as she is impeccable in her public life. No one can raise their finger to point at one act where her personal interest over rode that of the public. In short, she is a woman of integrity.
The only section she has received a lot of stick from is from the opposition. In particular, the United Party for National Development (UPND). They celebrated the appointment with the view that they had where to attack her from. And that is the issue of Meal Allowances. Which football team would criticise their opponents for fielding a weakened team? The UPND claims Prof. Luo is a weak link. Why doesn't the UPND celebrate and wait for 12th August so that they win?
So let's put this Meal Allowance issue into context.
For a long time, Zambia only had two public universities, namely the University of Zambia (UNZA) and the Copperbelt University (CBU). So issues of tertiary education and bursaries where practically restricted to these two institutions as they boasted of the cream of Zambia's intelligentsia.
As Zambia's population grew, demand for university education places also increased. The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government opened up the sector and allowed for private participation. This gave birth to many private institutions such as University of Lusaka (UNILUS), Lusaka Apex Medical University (LAMU), Copperstone University, Cavendish University, etc. Not to be left out, the Government of the Republic of Zambia built and upgraded some institutions. These are Robert Kapasa Makasa University, Kwame Nkhruma University, Palabana University, Chalimbana University, Mukuba University and Mulungushi University.
Fast forward to 2019. Prof. Nkandu Luo is Minister of Higher Education. A very unpopular decision of removing Meal Allowances is made. Who was responsible for this? It was a collective government decision and an individual can never be held responsible. Whether the Professor was for, or against the decision, it still remains a PF government decision. And be reminded that not all unpopular decisions are wrong ones.
The public must never be made to think that the entire UNZA and CBU population is affected as only a portion of these students were, or are still on government bursaries. UNZA and CBU alone have a combined enrolment of around 45,000 students. Can bursaries service such a huge number? Actually, students that had government bursaries prior to 2019 are still receiving until they complete their studies. The only ones affected were the 2019 First Years.
With its limited resources, the PF government sought a way in which they could spread their tentacles and provide for its increased number of universities. With this, the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board (HELSB) was set up. This meant that the little available resources were now to be shared among all these institutions. The bursaries that were previously given were no longer sustainable and a loan approach was mooted.
Under the loan scheme, accommodation and tuition fees are paid direct to the institutions and students only receive Book Allowances. And these are actually being repaid into the revolving fund allowing more students to access them. As I write this, the HELSB are calling for prospective students at Mulungushi University to apply.
World over, bursaries are very restrictive and not handled the way it was handled in Zambia. If anything, it was the connected and well-to-do that benefitted from it. So what was the purpose if a deserving student from shanty compounds could not access it but a minister's child got it?
Only a party such as the UPND that has warped thinking and a deranged mind would go about using Meal Allowances as a campaign tool. Let the UPND be honest and practical and show us how their free education policy would work in Zambia when even the richest nations on earth do not do it the way the UPND hallucinate about it.
I look forward to a time when students from Northern Technical College (NORTEC), National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), Evelyn Hone College (EHC) and a host of teacher training colleges and nursing schools will access these loans.
Zambian education system is far bigger than UNZA and CBU.
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