Friday 17 July, 2020
HOME NEWS
Prudential Grants $80,000USD Towards Fighting Covid-19 In Zambia
DAILY
6
Stop it, UNIP warns detractors By ANDREW MUKOMA
e r u
t c i p Prudential Life Assurance Zambia has, through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Fund, donated US$80,000 to two local Non-Governmental Organisations working to combat COVID-19 in Zambia. Following a call from Prudential’s community investment arm, The Prudence Foundation, Prudential Zambia identified Vision Africa Regional Network Zambia (VAREN) and John Snow Health Zambia (JSH) as beneficiaries of their COVID-19 relief fund. “During our rigorous selection process, we looked at the possible impact these initiatives would have on the community, as well as their sustainability over time,” said Prudential MD, Krishnaswamy Rajagopal. “We are proud to be able to make this contribution because, like many nations, Zambia has not been spared by the impact of the Coronavirus; economic and social activity as we knew it, has had to change and the government has appealed to businesses to join in its efforts to tackle COVID-19 in the country,” he continued. Vision Africa Regional Network is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that addresses poor Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in the communities within which it operates through sensitisation and infrastructure. Through this fund, they propose the construction and installation of 24 toilets, 48 foot-operated hand washing stations, 96 hand-operated hand washing stations, and 6 water tanks in schools and public spaces in three disadvantaged communities in Lusaka.
This will cater for over 10,000 pupils and almost 2500 vendors at local markets that do not have access to basic hygiene facilities for proper hand washing and other sanitary practices. Similarly, John Snow Health, in partnership with USAID DISCOVERY-Health and the Ministry of Health, are supporting the dissemination of correct information about COVID-19 to rural communities through the vast network of traditional leaders and chiefs in Zambia. They propose to direct the funds toward the printing of informative materials, that have been translated into 7 local languages, in an effort to reinforce the dialogue around the Coronavirus, dispel rumours, and, ultimately, improve prevention of the disease. They plan to impact around 5 million Zambians in more than 100 chiefdoms. “Zambians in marginalised communities and rural areas are the most at risk of being affected by the Coronavirus. As a result, we are confident that through these two initiatives, Prudential will be filling important gaps in the community as we work to minimise the spread of COVID-19”, said Prudential GM, Maunga Kwenda.
Learn more visit: www.prudential.co.zm
Life Assurance Zambia
UNIP acting national chairman Captain Robert Mukengami has warned individuals who are fanning confusion in the former ruling party to stop. Cap Mukengami charged that a group of individuals claiming to be UNIP members were causing confusion in the party. He said in an interview in Livingstone that the same group had been going round issuing statements and commenting on the matter which was active before the courts of the law. Capt Mukengami said as far as the party was concerned, the case involving UNIP had not been disposed of and was still active in court. “I am talking now as acting national chairman. I want to warn all those disgruntled leaders who are not UNIP members who are going round calling all my provincial chairmen telling them that the case has been disposed of and UNIP lost the case to stop it “Actually now, the case is starting and trial for the main case is starting soon. Those were just preliminaries issues which were raised but the main case starts soon,” he said. Capt Mukengami said that the ills such leaders have against the UNIP president, Tilyenji Kaunda, and the leadership would not bring them results. “Let them stop talking about UNIP because they will never be our members,” he said. And Capt Mukengami has urged interested young people who have interest in politics and wanting to contest at various levels in the 2021 general elections to start submitting their credentials to the party leadership in Southern Province. “We are inviting all those interested and intending to contest the positions of councillors, council chairpersons, mayors and Members of Parliament during the forthcoming general elections in 2021 to start submitting their applications,” he said. He said that applications should be forwarded to the provincial leadership in Livingstone.
