Luo should be fired before she completely destroys the higher education system – NDC
Prof Luo
NDC spokesperson Eric Chanda says Higher Education Minister Nkandu Luo should be fired before she destroys the higher education sector in the country.
Chanda said President Lungu should fire Professor Luo for gross incompetence as she has failed to run the higher education sector in the country.
He said the crisis at CBU was due to the incompetence of the Minister who has continuously failed to resolve the challenges at high learning institutions.
“You tell comrade Edgar Lungu that as NDC we demand that Higher Education Minister in the name of Nkandu Luo to be fired from cabinet for gross incompetence. Nkandu Luo has failed to manage the education sector in our country.
“Firstly the demands of students at the Copperbelt University are very genuine and if this woman was a competent minister she should have found the money and the students should have been given their entitlements by now but because this woman is so incompetent an innocent life has been lost and the students have been brutally beaten shame on her.
“What has happened to CBU is a repeat of what happened at UNZA and it seems this woman is emptying her head and cannot resolve the challenges at high learning institutions. All she knows is suspending the unions and denying students their entitlements now this is totally unacceptable in a government that is supposed to educate its people and take care of the needs of students.”
And Chanda condemned the dismantling of UNZA into colleges.
“Secondly, this woman who wants to destroy the reputation and the academic stands in the country has been on record that she wants to dismantle UNZA into colleges what a shallow thinking, you remind this woman called Nkandu Luo that UNZA has struggled through the years to earn itself a reputation as one of the best universities in Africa and dismantling it into colleges will only reduce the institution to nothing and this will kill the standards of education at UNZA.
“Does she think about that? The only thing she knows is failure. Now you tell comrade Edgar Lungu in case he does not know this woman called Nkandu Luo has failed to care for her constituency, the people of Munali constituency are complaining day in, day out and now she is spreading her failures to the education sector the best she can do is to pack her katundu (belongings) and leave the ministry of education. Let our children earn decent education,” he said.
And former COBUSU President Gerald Chiluba noted that Luo and her advisers seem to only have one solution for the challenges being faced by Universities which was abolishing and dissolving students’ unions.
He said what the Minister is doing was detrimental to the growth of democracy in the country as learning institutions are a breeding ground for democracy and leadership.
“There is a break down in institutions of higher learning, it seems like the only solution currently available in the Minister’s head and her advisers’ is to shut down the voice of students by abolishing student unions. This type of governance is detrimental to the growth of our democracy because institutions of higher learning are a breeding ground and nursery for leadership and democracy.
“I want to urge students and management of all institutions of higher learning in the interest of safeguarding the reputation and integrity of our universities and colleges to morally stand on firm ground and call for the immediate dismissal of Hon. Nkandu Luo as she has terribly failed to find lasting solutions to problems affecting institutions.
“The only thing she has managed to do is to bring our education system into shame. We thought that her being a mother she would have a motherly heart in her approach to dealing with challenges of students but unfortunately she has a dictatorial approach,” Chiluba said.
Meanwhile CBU students have vowed not to resume classes until the wounds of all injured students are healed.