University of Zambia (UNZA) students have taken over the Commonwealth Youth Centre building and are planning to take over the houses that were occupied by its’ employees. The students locked the building on Tuesday and drove the Sports Council bus around the campus. The Commonwealth Centre was built in the 1970’s and according to the University of Zambia Students Union (UNZASU), the memorandum of understanding that was signed in 1975 provided that the structure would be handed over to the university when the Commonwealth closes its activities. The students union has stressed that the Centre was officially closed last year but wondered why it is being used by the Sports Council of Zambia for fundraising ventures when students have no accommodation. But Youth and Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili insisted that there was no closure last year to necessitate its hand over to the University of Zambia and warned that the students’ action was illegal and the law will follow them should they refuse to hand back the building. The students however argued that their action was backed by documentation and accused Kambwili of exposing his ignorance on the matter and stressed that they won’t allow him to intimidate them. When Kambwili was reminded of the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) that was signed he said his Permanent Secretary will soon travel to London to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding and accused one member of the university council of pushing for the handover of the building. Meanwhile, Kambwili has accused UNZA Radio of trying to make the country ungovernable and warned that the system knows their agenda “All you are trying to do is to incite students and because of your programme students have taken over the Commonwealth Centre and the bus, we know your agenda Mark, the system knows what you and other people are doing to insure the government is ungovernable,” Kambwili claimed.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 12:37:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015