BACKGROUND
Elections in Zambia take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy with elections held every five years. Electoral manifestos play a crucial role in the electoral process as they illustrate a party’s vision for the country if elected to office. An election manifesto is essentially a list of plans and policies that a political party says it will enact if it is voted into offi¬ce at a general election. The word “manifesto” itself originates from the Latin word manifestum, which refers to a list of facts.
In 2016, before being given another term of office, the Patriotic Front (PF) party set out a list of things it would do once elected to office. These are contained in its 2016-2021 party manifesto. Among the promises contained in the Party Manifesto is the construction and establishment of universities in each province targeting Eastern, Northern, Southern and North-Western Provinces.
This fact-check story is the first in a series of stories that aim to check if the PF has kept, broken or compromised any of the promises made in its party manifesto for the period 2016-2021.
Procedure
The ACA Fact-checking Unit began by operationalizing the key terms in each promise to determine exactly what the PF committed to doing. In this case, the key terms are Construct and Establish. According to Oxford Dictionary, to Construct is the action of building something e.g building University structures. To establish is to set up on a firm or permanent basis. From the two terms defined above, it is clear they (the PF) committed to building and setting up Universities in Eastern, Northern, Southern and North-Western Provinces.
To check the above claim, the ACA Fact-checking Unit reviewed the Higher Education Authority Website Higher and the 2019 State of Higher Education Report. The Higher Education Authority is the institution responsible for the quality of delivery of services by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Public and Private Universities.
Findings
According to the Higher Education Authority website, Zambia has 9 public higher education institutions. The 9 public higher education institutions and their history have been listed below:
- The Copperbelt University is a public university established through Act of Parliament No. 19 of 1987. It currently operates from five campuses: Jambo Drive Main Campus, Parklands Campus, Ndola Campus,
- Robert Kapasa Makasa. University construction was completed in 2016 before the elections and is currently operating under the Copperbelt University
- Chalimbana University is located in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia. It was founded in 1939 The TAZARA campus is currently offering only Railway, Mechanical and Electromechanical Engineering. These campuses are located in suburban areas in the cities of Kitwe, Ndola and Chinsali in the Copperbelt and Muchinga Provinces of Zambia.
- Kwame Nkrumah University was established by Part IV, Section 14 of the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013. The institution was opened in 1967, as Kabwe Teachers Training College. It trained junior secondary school teachers at its inception. Four years later, the president of Zambia at the time, the late Dr Kenneth Kaunda, re-named the college Nkrumah Teachers College, in honour of Kwame Nkrumah, the founding president of Ghana. During the period when Levy Mwanawasa was president (2002 to 2008), the college began transforming into a university, a process that was concluded while Michael Sata was in office (2011 to 2014).
- The Levy Mwanawasa Medical University (LMMU) was established as a Public University on 22nd May, 2018 through Statutory Instrument Number 39 of 2018
- Mukuba University is a public university in Garneton, Kitwe, Zambia. The Mukuba University, formerly Copperbelt Secondary Teachers College (COSETCO), was established in 1974 by the Ministry of Education to train Teachers of Science for deployment in secondary schools around the country.
- Mulungushi University is in Kabwe, Zambia. It was earlier the National College of Management and Development Studies and was turned into a university by the Zambian Government in a private-public partnership with Konkola Copper Mines. It comprises three campuses; the Great North Road Campus located 26 kilometres North of Kabwe, on the banks of Mulungushi River and the Kabwe Town Campus located along Mubanga Road, off Munkoyo Street in the heart of Kabwe town And the Livingstone campus located in Livingstone. Established on 1 January 2008
- The University of Zambia was inaugurated on 13 July 1966 following the appointment of President Kenneth David Kaunda as the first Chancellor on 12th July 1966.
- Palabana university, through Statutory Instrument Number 69 of 2019.
CONCLUSION
Only two Universities namely Levy Mwanawasa and Palabana have been opened in the period 2016-2021 both in Lusaka Province with the construction of all the 9 named universities starting before 2016. Therefore, the promise to construct and establish universities in each province targeting Eastern, Northern, Southern and North-Western Provinces was BROKEN.
The ACA Fact-checking Unit is part of the European Union funded ‘Ask Project’