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Zambia's governing party presidential candidate promises to tackle poverty

Xinhua, January 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

The candidate of Zambia's governing party in next week's presidential election has promised to tackle poverty head-on if he wins the election, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Friday.

During his last round of rallies in northwestern Zambia's Solwezi district, Patriotic Front candidate Edgar Lungu, who is accompanied by former Zambian President Rupiah Banda in his campaigns, said his first task will be to reduce poverty because the governing party was founded on the principle of uplifting the living standards of the poor.

"In the midst of high poverty levels, lack of transport and communication as well as lack of quality education for our people, I cannot prioritize the constitution and because of this, I will not sign the so-called social contract, but this does not mean that I will not deliver the constitution," he was quoted as saying by the paper.

A consortium of civil society organizations, the Grand Coalition on the Constitution, has drafted a social contract for all the 11 presidential candidates to sign to show seriousness in delivering a new constitution if elected into office.

The coalition has since vowed to ensure that any candidate who fails to sign the contract does not win the election.

So far, five presidential candidates have signed the social contracts.

Poverty in Zambia has remained high with government figures putting it at 60.5 percent while civil society organizations believe the levels are as high as 80 percent. Endi