School

Poverty°, that besetting vice which persistently haunts man to this very day. Though
engraved in the very aims of the United Nations (UN) over fifty years ago as one of the
chief enemies to be fought to the bitter end, poverty waxes stronger by the day.

Physical poverty scarcely needs describing because it is there for all to see. We see it in
our homes, on the streets and on the electronic media. It comes in various degrees but
certain things are its characteristic marks. By way of broad definition, poverty is when
people consistently live in constant deprivation, hunger and without the basic necessities
of life such as clean pure water, proper health care, education or gainful employment for
every one. The said people are so entangled in trying to survive from day today not
knowing where their next meal will come from. Most of the sources of pure water are
now heavily polluted due to industrial waste, untreated sewer disposal and the large
populations which exert great pressure on the said scarce water resources. In certain
places, the catchment areas (source) of the infant rivers have been destroyed by the finger
of man (Anthropogenic activity) leading the once perennially and flourishing rivers
drying up. Generally the water therefore is not safe for human consumption without
special treatment. Not only is clean water a luxury, food, clothing and shelter are far
fetched dreams for these helpless people. For example in Lusaka the number of the
homeless is on the rise. There are more kids hurled and languishing on the streets and
unwillingly given to begging. Their lot is the pauper’s den. When illness and disease
descend on them, they do not have the money to pay for their medical treatment.
Subsequently, myriads perish in the streets. Nobody seems to have time for the other in
these degenerate days. Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest holds true here. The
poverty stricken can neither fix their minds on education nor lay hold of a well paying job
because both these demand someone to have the money, right training, connections and
appropriate skills. We live in a rapidly changing world where education has some what
become the major key to practically all privileges. Sadly the very poor are marginalized

°
Poverty comes in different types but all of it is basically deprivation. Three types come to mind: Poverty
of the mind, physical and spiritual poverty.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 1

with no one to look well into their plight. Their cry for help goes to the wind as no one
cares to listen. Truly, as the wise men once said “The poor man’s wisdom is despised,
and his words are not heard” . Yet another said “There is always more misery among
the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher” . Poverty is almost always
inseparably connected to dense population and intense crowding leading to insufficient
social amenities catering for every one. This creates a high pressure on the available
social amenities resulting in high wear and tear. Further more, by its very nature, poverty
carries with it a certain negative stigma. This state of affairs on a large scale is fertile
ground for epidemics, civil strive, national instability, crime, corruption and excruciating
suffering to exacerbate among the masses. Look at the trouble spots in the world today,
what is the common denominator? Is not poverty the bottom line?

In a nut shell then, poverty is when people live in the lack of the bare necessities of life
such as food, clean water, health care, education or any kind of gainful
employment or trade.

But, what is the measuring yard stick for poverty? What are the parameters to be
employed? We may further ask, what are some of the root causes of this
undesirable vice? In measuring poverty, we must note that we are confronted with
at least, two problems. The first is to establish the poverty line and secondly we
must establish the intensity or degree of poverty suffered by those whose
resources are below the said line. Ideally, each country has a standard minimum
wage or income that a person has to earn or generate in order to live reasonably
well. This is called the poverty line or the poverty datum line. Different
countries have different minimum level income. If some one earns below that
given line, then they are said to be living in poverty because their income cannot
sustain them to provide the basic necessities of life. The said earners cannot afford
enough food, decent, clothing, accommodation and to take their progeny to good
schools. In Zambia for example the poverty datum line may be around K200, 000
per month below which a person is considered to live in poverty. If that assumed
figure is correct, then the majority of Zambians live in perpetual chronic poverty.
The majority earn incomes in the range of K60, 000 to K100, 000 per month.
Having established the poverty datum line, we of necessity proceed to investigate
the intensity. There are certain indexes which are probably used to measure the
degree of abject poverty of the suffering one. A detailed treatment of this is
beyond the scope of this paper but suffice it to say that once poverty datum line
and intensity are ascertained, only then we can properly define what we mean by
poverty strata.

What are the root causes of this undesirable defect? A number of answers immediately
come to the fore but the following will suffice for now:


Ecclesiastes 9:16
Victor Hugo(1962).
Estimate as at 1994/95

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 2

Firstly poverty is incipiently caused by the rural-urban drift. As people in the rural areas
attempt to escape the unbearable problems of hunger or famine, in the quest to
appropriate more humane living standards, they migrate to the cities. They hope
to get better jobs, education, steady income, proximity to good health care and
assumed better social services .This results in over crowding in the cities,
inadequate social amenities and obviously, hampered meaningful development.
Slums and compounds mushroom unchecked all around cities which render the
urban centres ugly, unsafe, over crowded, unstructured city expansion, poor
sanitation, poor maintenance and filth littered alleys and streets. The urban centres
become an eye sore. In such scenarios, epidemics are hardly a surprise when they
strike. As at 1993, 43% of the Zambian⋅ population was in the urban areas! (This
is a staggeringly high figure indeed) warranting great concern to all and sundry. A
curious question to pause is “What are all these people doing in urban areas? Are
they productive? Who then is developing the land in the outskirts of cities?” The
answers are crystal clear. The Zambian urbanisation growth rate is equally
startling. From 1980 to 1993, this rate stood at 3.9% . Comparisons with
neighbour Malawi only 13 % were urbanized (1993) and the growth rate stood at
6.8 % from 1980 – 93. Zambia’s figures are significantly frightful. Further, many
people migrate to other countries in search of a better “economic oasis”. These
economic refugees cause problems elsewhere displacing the indigenous people.
By implication, we can see the time bomb in our laps and the potential
consequences which will ensue. Unless some drastic remedial measures are
applied, the results will be catastrophic in nature, suppose the other economies
cannot absorb these migrants.

Secondly, the other side of the same coin-over population. As people migrate to the
towns, population builds up and the pressure on the land grows too. Strangely the
poor people want to have as many children as possible. This is in order to beat the
high death rate (both infant and adult mortality rates) so as to secure their futures.
The parents envision that if they have more children, then the probability of
receiving more support from their many offspring will be greater as their frail
bodies begin to decay due to old age. In short, they hope to secure their futures.
Another reason is prestige. People with more children are viewed (though this has
slightly changed in urban areas) as being wealthy and worthy of respect. This is
especially true if they have Sons although girls are now fast turning into some
income generating activity. In our semi – civilized society sons are viewed as the
ones who have the drive and enthusiasm, hold the key and carry on posterity.
They are like a gun in the right hand ready to intercept and defeat poverty as it
creeps towards them. Obviously this notion is slowly dying away. All humans are
equal regardless of gender. Ironically though, Africa on the whole is still
relatively under populated. It is the amenities that are not adequate.

The third root cause of poverty is the lack of family planning on the part of the poor.
Since most of them are paupers and ignorant, they are blind to the associated costs
⋅
Source:……..
Source:……….

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 3

 of raising too many children. They are usually bereft of the critical information to
make informed decisions. These siblings are littered all over the parents such that
there are hardly any resources to adequately look after them. The government
embanked on family planning could be a contributing factor. Granted that the
cultures come into play but the good government must not rest until the ‘pros and
cons? Of family planning are imbibed by all citizens especially the disadvantaged.

In the fourth place, the attitude of many a people towards work and education are bad.
Their work ethics, though good on paper, are extremely poor. No effort, no due
diligence or initiative is exhibited. Many poor wait for hand – outs even when
they have the potential of working hard. Despite being able bodied, people need
to be trained to be diligent, consistent and unrelenting in their success pursuit. The
poor usually are so bogged down with trying to survive that they hardly have any
motivations to use initiative to work hard. For example, in Lusaka the destitute
resort to begging having escaped the pathetic circumstances in the public
institutions. But curiously most of these have some form of trade which they do
not exploit .The truth is that they have no moral of financial support from any
body. Absolutely, no well workers at hand.

Fifthly, priorities of the government of the day has a direct bearing on the plight of the
people .Most successive governments spend a very significant provision of their
budgets on defence and security at the expense of the underprivileged. Further,
corruption has hijacked many a government so that only the “select few gobble
the meagre finances destined for the improvement of the paupers’ lot. This has
caused not a few potentially beneficial projects to grind to a halt. As long as the
governments are not disinfected from the corruption, the crumbs will continue to
elude the poor. Priorities and stern action against corruption is a key to
development.

Sixthly, many a country like Zambia has a lot of natural resources teeming in almost
every sector of the country. But lack of resources to exploit these leads to further
poverty, no jobs and no development. This gives ammunition to those who want
to migrate to the urban areas so to do at will. Presently, most countries do not
have the capacity to tap all the latent natural resources or to promote other
industries like tourism. Their financial muscle is too frail to embark on such large
sustainable development project. Sustainable development is a far fetched dream
for many nations. More could be said on this concept but article scope deters.
Further, if the country’s production base is shaky or non – existent, then the
nation will inevitably turn into a trading country. This typical of what has
happened in some countries as they turn from one form of economy to another,
especially from a command to a capitalist/market economy. The lapses in between
leaves a lot of people in the cold as they lose their jobs. This has occurred in
Zambia in the past three to four years , there is severe suffer out there due to
economic mutation. In the process, as the brain drain takes its toll, many countries

As at 1995 when the write up was done.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 4

 lose valuable skilled human resources who could have been instrumental to
implement many projects to benefit the poor.

Seventhly, the tax base in many countries is very small rendering it impossible for the
government to maintain proper expenses. Therefore the government does not have
enough revenue to use to maintain or expand the existing social amenities. The
vast majority of people in Zambia for example are in the informal sector selling
their merchandise popularly called the “Ntembas”, the revenue authority does not
touch them at all. Ironically, that is where most of the loose liquidly lies rather
than from the pitiful wages of the formally employed, the formally few employed,
only 400,000 of them, are over taxed as to raise money barely sufficient to
maintain the already existing structures. In other words, 400,000 workers bear the
burden of over 10 million people! All this imbalance results from a poor tax
collection strategy from the revenue authority. No further development is
undertaken there fore. This has the effect of de – motivating the formal worker
who gets a poor wage and from that meagre pay, a significant tax rate is slapped
on.

Eighthly, since the emergence of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, myriads upon myriads
have perished at the hands of this terminator. Many have fallen victim. This has
left many children homeless and without any care, they have turned to the alleys
as their home. As a result, many have abandoned school having been ejected onto
the streets. Left in the cold to fend for themselves, many are abused, exploited or
killed. As though that were not bad enough, in these days of privatization,
thousands have lost their sole means of livelihood through retrenchments. Since
profits are the ultimate for the business person, companies have sought to cut
down on expenses by reducing their work force. Re-engineering and down sizing
are buzz words in these latter days. The result is that many have been rendered
homeless, destitute and some have actually died because of stress.

The ninth is of historical nature-the disturbance to our native culture brought about by the
colonialists. Although some of the early pioneer missionaries meant well, their
descendants cared nothing for the colonised except the profit they derived. As
they settled on colonised lands, they imposed their culture, attitudes and
preferences on the natives. In the long run, what the master defined as right is
what carried the day. That explains why development is defined by western
standards. Further and even more damaging, was the introduction of the now
entrenched dependence syndrome, where the majority of the former colonised feel
inadequate and unsure of them selves unless their masters approve. Perhaps this
accounts for the laissez faire attitude towards work and weak strategic thinking
powers. In a nutshell, the social fibre is still in disarray as the once colonised
nations are still yet to recover. In addition, the dependence syndrome has been
perpetuated for many generations now. The imperialists know exactly which
switch to pull if they want to paralyse a given nation.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 5

Tenthly, the debt burden with its attendant conditionality strings. This has been eased to
some extent since the HIPC write off but the debt burden threatens to return since
the said impoverished countries still borrow heavily with no tangible plan of how
to liquidate these debts. Zambia is an example which having landed a near total
debt cancellation in 2005 has already attracted debts of over $ 1 billion! (2008) If
countries continue on that path, they are well heading back to Calvary!

In the eleventh place, the boxed thinking. People have been oriented to think small rather
than big and broad. In Zambia, thousands of graduates needlessly roam the
streets. On fails to understand why they cannot find something creative to do. All
of us think of one route, High school->College/University->employment in a
company or government. But who said that only salaried employment will jettison
poverty? There is urgent need to creatively think outside the box and grab the
opportunities out there as they make themselves available.

In the twelfth and last place, war has been identified as another root cause of poverty. The
motive for this war comes from various angles ranging from political, religious
and some times purely ideological. More would be said on this point but the war
torn countries eloquently tell the story. Another point would be lack of full
employment emanating from a weak and shrunk economy. Today, thousands of
graduates roam the streets and many more are churned out like sardines annually
from the educational institutions. Sadly, most of these cannot be absorbed into the
industry. Most of them live with shattered or retarded dreams. Another late
addition would be land tenure issues. Strategic Entrepreneurship thinking may be
the answer to all these woes.

These then are the few but in exhaustive root under dying causes of poverty.

Having looked at the causes, we proceed to look at the effects of the afore mentioned
points. Without much ado, one of the off shoots is the rise in crime wave. Looking
at our country (Zambia) crime has sky escalated to such high levels because there
are fewer job opportunities, insufficient clothing, food and care. Inadequate
avenues have been created for the people to divert their raw energies. As
population rises, so also the consumption rate of resources. In other words, with
the advent of exponential population explosion, comes greater consumption of
natural resources. Most of these are wasting assets which are irreplaceable.
Indiscriminate consumption of natural resources like wood lead to deforestation,
desertification, over farming and overgrazing. Pollution and degradation are
inevitably other consequences of over population. Due to poverty, the
environment alleys, corridors and over population are identical twins and as
much, must be handled simultaneously. The diagram below helps us see the
effects.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 6

 Cannot clear pollution pollution, deforestation

Higher death rate overgrazing, vandalism

Potential epidemics,
Over crowding,
High density in area,
Over farming
Shorter life expectancy
<-------------------------------------------
Inadequate water, food, clothes, amenities, homeless
--------------------------------------------------
Excruciating suffering, insufficient land, no accommodation,
lack of family planning
Crime escalates

As earlier intimated, due to lack of proper family planning, the population explodes
exponentially which is not manageable leading to strife, instability and it gives room for
epidemics to take root. In the early years of independence in Zambia for example, an
average family was 10 but today most of these are reaping the effects. However, there is a
trend towards smaller family units. One of the problems less developed nations like
Zambia experience cholera out breaks for example, is because of poverty. Closely
connected to population is the mushrooming of the slums compounds and the haphazard
expansion of the cities. Poverty handicaps a society to do the right things which ought to
be done, further the highly populated communities do not give an enabling environment
proper child development, health care or adequate attention, the children needs protect
from parents, affection, encouragement, friends, health care, proper diet and a pat on the
back for every success. The women, often the worst culprits of poverty do not have
sufficient economic power or the ability to control family planning choices. The power
to decide when to have a child or not largely lies in the hands of the male folk. This is not
only due to ignorance but lack of economic potency. The other side of the lever is equally
unimpressive. The young who have untapped raw energy do not have avenues to vent out
their youthful prowess. Many feel disillusioned, directionless and destitute. Therefore, in
order to escape reality, they seek to find solace in drugs and alcohol abuse. A quick scan
around our towns confirms this, many are “hooked” to some drug or unproductive
activity. This is vividly evident in our towns today. Given the right attention and nurture,
these youths would be profitable citizens and rise to the occasion to display their worth.
No doubt most of them would fly above the poverty datum line. As at now, many of them
are below the absolute poverty levels since there production out put is near zero while
drug and alcohol abuse are on the increase. These tender adolescents swing to opposite
negative extremes exhibiting frightening depravity levels. Many have in most cases
swung to be worst hair raising levels once hooked to drugs. Now these appetites must be
constantly satisfied, hence the high juvenile delinquency incidences. The unsatisfied
addicts of these vices will resort to any and every means to raise money so as to further
indulge in abuse .Poverty is the engine for all the above poverty effects.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 7

Poverty cripples governments or individuals to be environmentally conscious so as to
clean the environment, retard desertification, soil erosion or to foster sustainable
development schemes. Poverty instead forces people to resort to indiscriminate
destruction of trees to get cheap fuel poaching and lack of care for the population they
cause on the environment. In many villages people are not aware of the need for the
importance of nature.

Now that our landscape is well surveyed, we now proceed to consider some suggested
possible remedies bearing in mind the various aspects of poverty.
If we are to liberate our selves from the firm poverty clutches, we must reactivate
agriculture. In many countries, agriculture features low on their priority list. I firmly and
unreservedly assert that if we rediscover the power and potential that is in agriculture we
are on our way out to prosperity. Let us go back to the land, put the tools and fertilizers in
the hand of the farmers. A conducive agricultural base is cardinal. It is reported that in
some countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe many who work in the city have fields on
which they consistently labour every weekend. Come Friday, they pack their office gear
fold their sleeves and they head back to the country side to labour on their pieces of land.
We need such a resolve in Zambia. The government brought up two classic resettlement
schemes which drove about 5,000 youths back to the land∏. The Kambilombilo and
Kanakantapa schemes are excellent beacons for us to emulate, but sadly, the majority of
those youths have since trekked back to the urban centres due to lack of support from the
powers that be. 1988 was indeed a good year. The said youths are now counter
productive and contribute to the escalating crime wave. More recently, the government
resettled the retirees and the retrenched. These are good efforts and they ought to be
saluted by all other. Once agriculture base is firm, we can look at the future and defy its
threatenings. With agriculture in our right hand, the trend will reverse to be an “Urban –
rural drift” ultimately leading to decongestion of the urban areas.

The industrial base must be strengthened. The least developed nations must move from
mere suppliers of raw materials to producers of finished goods. We have seen the raw
material suppliers of the world the trend must charge. Many countries, in transition to a
liberal market have let the local manufacturing industries to die because they cannot
survive the vigorous high quality competition from aboard. For example, a country like
Zambia has suffered at the hands of liberation because presently, it is basically a trading
country not a producing country. It is hoped and envisaged that in the near future the
right safety valves will be in place. If production is improved, then more jobs, people and
greater gross National Production will reaped. Further, Zambia must look at its core
competencies where it has a clear comparative advantage and maximize on that. For
example, Zambia towers above many countries in the world as a potential tourist
destination and yet this vast industry idly lies untapped. The service industry may just be
the silver bullet as opposed to mining and other potential lucrative economic growth
areas.

∏
This happened in 1988 and more recently on a small scale, 2005. See my book, Chusa at the resettlement
for more insight into this phenomenon.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 8

The Zambian people’s attitude must completely over hauled. Many are content to put in
the bare minimum effort in their work but if we are to recollect, this work must undergo a
drastic and complete culture shift. A radical paradigm shift is the need of the times.
People should be given the right incentives so that they will be more willingly to work
than to leisure around. Isn’t it true of the GRZ scenario? What about the nations that have
risen from ashes to prosperity? Are there not there for all to see? Look at Germany and
Japan today, how did they get where they are? What makes them tick? Handwork,
strenuous sweaty, smart handwork!! We too can rise to prove our mettle. Strategic
entrepreneurial thinking and acting, as earlier intimated, is the key.

The government must introduce community based projects like “food for work” The
World Food Programs are to be commended, aside from the attendant offshoots of such
help. Women and children or simply, the skilled are taught to work for their food and
thus this culture will spread to all. Co – operatives with different appropriate objectives
must be re- introduced encouraged and supported. These should teach basic vocational
skills like carpentry, farming and plumbing. Having sharpened the people, loans must be
at hand to encourage entrepreneurship.

The government must advocate for and offer free land as well as loans in the rural areas.
Land tenure issues bug many. Thus, the title deeds must be speedily issued. This will
cause people to feel a sense of belonging and ownership of the land with the deeds, they
can easily get loaning. Development will then ensue. This is probably one of the reasons
why many abandoned the resettlement schemes of 1988, no title deeds until recently.

More women must be co-opted into the decision making positions in all sectors of the
economy. They must be littered everywhere in the corridors of power. Places such as
Parliament and community based projects which are traditionally the private preserve of
the men folk must now be teeming with the female scent. They must not be only
relegated to women leagues but must be considered equal partners in development. In
more ways than one, women tend understand and feel with and for the people more than
men generally do. Then they can intelligently fight cause for the needy. √

Strengthen the NGOs, especially to supplement the government efforts. These NGOs
should have clearly outlined certain ethics which will ensure their freedom and
effectiveness. Their objectives must be clearly stated for all to see and these must be
deliberately tailored to benefit the least catered for in society, the under privileged or
disadvantaged as the case may be.

The Government and individuals must be extra vigorous on family planning campaigns,
especially to empower the women economically, women need to know that they are not
inferior either in the home or in society. The day they realize that they are not always
failures or blameable, this will revolutionalise their thinking. There is need to think
broadly outside the traditional box.

√
These are strong opinions held by the author.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 9

The Governments must look well into the children rights as reported by UNICEF in
1995. The children need help, care, and a comfortable home. Therefore, let them
(children) express themselves! Protection, affection, liberty to show feelings, learn while
playing, feel proud, share dreams and fantasies, enjoys good food understand limits, live
in violence free environment and good health care .

Watch out for various shades of discrimination based on tribe, creed, class, race, age or
colour. Seek to stamp out these evils. If justice becomes our necklace, many a poor
people will be better helped.

The AIDS Pandemic cannot be ignored anymore. It is far too big to cast a blind eye at.
People need to be shown the actual devastating effects of wilfully contracting the HIV
virus. The must change their sexual habits at all costs. Campaigns must reach them in the
“high ways and the by ways”, in the community halls, electronic media and from house
to house. We must unflinchingly go all the way to pluck out some from this potential
shimmy pit of death, by relentlessly strumming it down their ears drums. AIDS is real,
therefore, we must not relent persuading and warning people from this impartial is a
deadly foe, it has contributed immensely to poverty as children and many house holds are
left un fended for. AIDS is an impartial killer and it knows no class, creed, race or status
in life. With advent of modern drugs such as the ARV, there is hope of a prolonged life
span, and if meticulously handled, one can live a full life akin to one suffering from
asthma or any other genetic disease. That besides, HIV infection must be avoided at all
costs. Fighting poverty is one way of mitigating the pandemic potential effects.

Put up an active international fight against corruption and drug peddling. In Zambia, the
Drug Enforcement commission is doing an excellent job ‘but funding is poor’. Zambia
was once more transit point for the drug trade but recent reports indicate that Zambians
are increasingly becoming consumers of the same.

Reduce expense on security and military. Instead channel the scarce resources to
development. Our budget show a good percentage of it devoted to security, if the same
amount were diverted elsewhere, couldn’t the funds make a significant positive
contribution?

Although this does not necessarily fall in the UN’s court, the indigenous people must be
helped to ensure that the right people with unquestionable characters enter the corridors
of power. People with a vision, for without a vision people perish. Drive, pragmatism
must be their hall mark as opposed to what obtains today.

The tax base must be widened. The local Revenue must be vigorous so as to collect from
the informal sector as well. This will reduce the heavy tax burden imposed on the few
formally employed. If this is done, it will ultimately result in better social services and
development i.e. Building more housing units, roads etc.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 10

Further, Infrastructure must be renovated so that the dilapidated old shacks are done away
with. Some however must be turned into heritage sites. More than just buildings, the
roads and other communication sectors must be revisited. This has a way of attracting
foreign direct investment (FDI). The poor networks make would be investors to scamper.

Restructure the present educational system to suit the local needs. Illiteracy must be
fought from all fronts. More schools should be built, Re introduce vigorous Adult
education and offer scholarships where appropriate. Proper education is a right for
everyone and it must not be denied no matter how plausible the excuse. More than that,
the education system must be reformed so that it becomes relevant to the times. People
must no longer be trained to work in the office only but be taught to think broadly and
innovatively.

Remove the subsidies from various commodities so that the true economic price is borne
by the consumer . Yet in the same breathe, employers must pay sufficient wages which
correlate to the current prevailing inflationary trends at the time.

Protect the local infant production industry from vigorous foreign competition by
maintaining taxes on imports especially finished goods. The value of the tax rates is
relative as the situation may dictate.⇔

Avoid civil strife and unrest such as wars or strikes at all costs. The consequences of
these wars are they far reaching that many a country cannot recover in along time. The
worst sufferers are the poor. Poverty inflicts untold misery.

Effective food reserves and Granaries. The government must raise reserves for all
essential things. This includes food, fuel and human resources as strategic reserves.

Governments must be willing to invest heavily in research and development. They should
not only content themselves with sustaining the present status but should seek to improve
upon the status quo continuously. This will call for a lot of money but the results are for
universal benefit.

Finally, let us not give up in our struggle against poverty. Admittedly, the poor will
always be amongst us but we can do better. 50 years have elapsed since the UN first
resolved to eradicate poverty it stubbornly, still persist done, much more remains, yet to
be done. We can rise from the ashes of failure and march on valiantly to the future. Let us
not give up. A few battle more, a few struggles more and we shall have left the world a
batter place than we initially found it. It is not a battle for the faint hearted yet it can be
fought and won successfully over many years though the battle rages on endlessly each
day, let us resolve to right on with perseverance.

This was done in Zambia in the early 1990’s as part of the structural adjustment program (SAP)
⇔
Care must be taken here not to be at daggers drawn with the WTO and the current globalization trends.

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 11

 !

Bibliography

Beer Frik de and Swane Poel Hennie, Introduction to Development studies, Oxford
University Press South Africa, 2nd edition 2000

Readers’ Digest (South African edition), “Uncovered slavery returns to Africa” March
1996 issue PP 31 – 35 (Edited by Brian Eads)

UNAIDS

UNICEF

Poverty in Zambia Billy Sichone 12