Government has embarked on an ambitious programme of ensuring that operations in the foreign missions do not escalate to levels they cannot contain.
ZANIS reports from Gaborone that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba told journalists in an interview yesterday that government is at present working on a programme to reduce the cost of doing business in foreign missions.
In realising this goal, Mr. Kalaba said government has embarked on drafting a Cabinet Memorandum (Cab Memo) to propose the issue of Zambia’s foreign mission to acquire mortgages with countries of their residence for consideration to Cabinet Office.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs further explained that such a proposal means that the Zambian government will now embark on a programme to buy its own property in the missions.
“The cost of renting in comparison to that of obtaining mortgages is much reasonable, “observed Mr. Kalaba.
The Minister pointed that the huge amount of money spent on rentals can be channelled to other needy areas of the economy thereby making the operations of the Foreign Service effective and efficient.
He said it was necessary for Zambia to expand its foreign mission base if the country is to realise increased investments for enhanced economic development to improve the living standards of the people.
The minister narrated that he was recently in Lubumbashi, the provincial capital of Katanga in the DRC, where such a programme is under consideration.
He further said that his deputy will be visiting the Zambian mission in Zimbabwe to undertake the same programme.
Meanwhile Mr. Kalaba has disclosed that government has opened a Consular in Guangzhou, China and has advised Zambians travelling to that country to take advantage of the opportunity.
Zambians living in the diaspora have in the last years appealed to government to put in place a diaspora policy that will assist in providing a platform for their participation towards Zambia’s economic growth and development.
To this effect, government has plans through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to host a national indaba on the diaspora policy in October, this year.
“The cost of renting in comparison to that of obtaining mortgages is much reasonable, “observed Mr. Kalaba.
SO, IT IS BETTER TO RENT!
To me, this may just be a ploy to use plundered money for senior govt functionaries to acquire property abroad. Their supervisor , Edgar has no vision so people may attempt to take advantage
The only problem is our Government is broke
They have Eurobond hence all these ideas all of the sudden….very soon ministers will own all these embassy properties.
The intention to buy properties is good but the method to acquire the properties are very bad. Borrowing money in every nation where we have offices is just not acceptable. PF with it’s thirsty for more money in cadre’s pockets will sell the whole Zambia. Just imagine Zambia owing not only the Eurobond financiers but also owing money to different countries or companies in interest with different rates for the money we borrow from them. How can Zambia fail to buy from our own money when we are wasting money each year on cadre embassy or high commission staff who are doing nothing. The opposition should take PF on this one too.
Most MPs are not educated to understand this!!
What is this empty tin talking about? Are you telling us you dont own that property in Europe? He is now a Property Development expert….truly laughable!!
Another ZAMTROP. These thieves want to syphon our cash by pretending to be buying property for GRZ when in fact its their own property they are buying. Instead of being strategic they want to open embassies all over the world. Even rich countries do not own Embassies world wide. We should use our little resources prudently and wisely.
You have hit the nail on the head fellow citizen, why the sudden interest in saving money when its to do with properties abroad when they can have an immediate effect by cutting down the bloated cabinet. Prices will be inflated the way its done with road contracts and the same bloated cabinet will end up with properties world over. Then some skivvy with not even a mattress to his name will shout praises
If GRZ was a prudent government they would make use of the highly educated pool of Zambians already living in those countries, by incidence, those Zambians have there own accommodation and GRZ will not need to pay rentals. but this not possible because of the need to appoint illiterate caders who have no experience.
Poor prioritization of resources still remains an endemic problem in Zambia.
Now! Why only now? We’ve had these missions for decades