WE CAN DO IT
By Percy Mwale
Zambia is endowed with immense natural resources that if harnessed, can push us out of poverty. Some of these resources are largely prohibited and face restrictive trading conditions. The question then is why? It’s because the Capitalist and Imperialist nations know that Zambia will experience Economic Emancipation once she uitilises these God-given resources.
In as much as we may argue for or against, the fact still remains that ZAMBIA MUST PROSPER because Jehovah God has blessed us exceedingly and abundantly. He has given us very favorable climatic conditions and plenty of arable land to ensure that these natural resources thrive.
1. Let our government realise that the ivory and elephant tusks that they destroy after confiscating from poachers is unrealistic. Why not sell because they fetch a lot of money on the international market? We must find a way to grow elephant numbers and protect them to ensure that this is not abused by selfish individuals.
2. The Mukula tree grows well on our land. Why can’t Zaffico a State Owned Enterprise (SOE), grow it on a large scale and export it? Or even help the local industry use it in the wood industry and maximise on returns and job creation? Why can’t the government allow private commercial farmers to also grow it?
3. What is the major occupation of ZNS apart from being a big drain on the wage bill without much to show? Let the government, through Zambia National Service, Zambia Army and Zambia Correctional Service grow marijuana and export it. The same developed countries that have brain-washed us into banning this ‘green gold’ are busy legalising it for consumption because it has over 200 chemicals and unmatched medicinal properties.
We’ve been misled so let’s open our eyes and reflect seriously.
We shall have no other opportunity to develop Zambia if we don’t change our mindsets and ignore the oppressive West. They don’t want us to develop so that we continue begging from them and be their slaves.
Thanks!
The point of destroying it is to prevent any ivory industry of any sort.
Wait a second, they destroy ivory but auction Mukula logs, mwati ba PF mwaliba amano?
The author should have done a bit of research before publishing this piece.
The Ivory has to be destroyed to starve the intended market. This market is what drives poaching and this illegal trade. So profiting from this would be immoral and very wrong.
Mukula does not grow overnight. How our government has managed Mukula is criminal. They can not burn the logs because it is them that harvested them and selling them via proxies. It is pure greed and gross theft. That is why we are never told exactly how much Mukula we export. Thanks to the Chinese ambassador, we know it is 90million USD annually. But our government have told us its only 2million USD
Stupidity of the highest level …thinking like those SA Boers who lobby for auctioning off stockpiles of confiscated ivory to the Chinese…how can you talk about conservation then put something back into circulation…that’s like telling DEC to sell off all the Class A back to the dealers….they will just come back when they finished selling it off.
@Jay jay oh please give us a break.Kenya doesn’t need to burn anything to attract tourists..its a well known tourist destination! Whilst I support conservation (because I was taught by the colonialists) I think its time we used our brains and decided for ourselves how we will use our natural resources. Marijuana is illegal coz white man told us so ,now white man has changed his mind and we will follow suit and legalise it. We will remain forever slaves with our thinking.
Maharaji – So what do you suppose they do with 100 tonnes of Ivory illegally poached put it back in circulation don’t you know that criminals will take advantage of that filter in their own stock. Take the example of Mukula logs that have all disappeared because of corrupt politicians …you have no idea of the power of publicity simply here to talk rhetoric you have no idea how tourism works..already 2000 hippos are being corruptly butchered for fun and you are here talking about issues you barely understand…you want to talk about slave mentality dont go to church tomorrow and let’s have an Afro-consciousness discussion instead? Yes you will remain slaves as you are consumers of everything but your own products.
By the way be coherent in your debate ..don’t shoot with a…
a shotgun.
AMwale naimwe where will you export or sell Ivory when there is a CITES ban on the market. Remember you can produce the copper but you can only sell it on the LME you can’t sell it on your own market. Muzungu has tied up your hands and brains so that you can only benefit him as and when he wants.
This is “good food for thought”, we are no doubt a bunch of hopeless pipo with no future at all. Everything mudzungus say we just JUMP about without deep thought. The wild animals in the jungle are ours and no one should tell us what to do about them. The mudzungus told us never to smoke MBANJE but here we’re in Europe; even the Police smoke it openly and whilst making huge sums of money from it’s properties. Little wonder we were colonised indeed
ECL – That cannot stop the trade for as long as ivory products are not illegal on the market. Destroying the ivory just disadvantages the source countries (mainly developing countries), and this is sponsored by the West. We need more policing of poaching but confiscated trophy must be sold not burnt – like drugs.
Who is this Percy Mwale? Tell us what you do and who you represent..What benefit do you want from selling as if the money will be pumped back into Wildlife conservation…Have you seen the level of misappropriation by LAZY LUNGU’s govt? I mean it’s the West that’s even against the auctioning off ivory and insist on burning it. Why don’t you sell off drugs then..what is the difference? Kenya was the biggest country with Ivory stockpile 100 tonnes worth $250 million and they burnt all …who do you think is the next country with a large stockpile? Yes SA…they are lobbying such actions think what do you need 50 million for when you are wasting more than that on overspends, delays on just one GRZ project.
Africans don’t understand the value of Natural resources until someone tells them! It’s amazing how Botswana has not been burning but stockpiling while Zambia is busy playing holy, burning money because Muzungu said burn!
The folly of African countries has been relying heavily on Western debt instead of adding value to what they have! As long as we continue exporting raw materials, we’ll remain poor! The debt crisis Zambia is in today is a result of PF greed! They are now playing Donchi Kubeba on their citizens! Somehow the citizens also deserve the leaders they get! Wake up!
Kenya burnt off 250 million worth of Ivory in 2016 and I can assure they have recovered all that because of the publicity it brought in tourist numbers ….as for Botswana they dont have any stockpiles to sing about as they have one of the best Wildlife Protection agencies in Africa equipped with helicopters. They have an elephant problem as result of this excellent conservation program…why do you think Prince Harry was in Zambia last ? To bring awareness to Botswana’s elephant problem…help moving some to neighboring countries like Zambia before Botswana passes a law to cull some..
Let’s not be lazy thinkers …saying all its muzungu this and that!!!
Different thread …..
but for lungu to say he does not know why police are not arresting violent lawless cader PF thugs is hypocrisy at its highest.
How many years have these thugs been terrorising people ??
Does lungu not get intelligence reports or even read news ???
Lungu you can not dupe us, we know you are fully aware of what is going on….
Lungu only came out and said what he said when he saw and realised citizens are turning against the caders like when some citizens in kabwe went to chase the pf thugs who were attacking CK
Ok to the thread at hand…..keep the ban.
Comment:Ivory is not because ZAMBIA subscribes to Protocols to protect endangered species
The problem ..we foolishly follow… ivory is not destroyed to starve the market ivory is destroyed to keep the price high..and secondly if they say the burnt five tons how do you verify after the fire…wake up Zambia
You need permission from cites to sell any ivory product. This is to prevent politicians and leaders from using their powers to deplete elephant populations to enrich themselves. Just look at how they have sold off 2000 hippos in the name of culling.
Please educate these morons …you can not have it both ways!!
The best would be to STOCKPILE ALL IVORY RECOVERED IN A HIGHLY PROTECTED AREA(WAREHOUSE)!! Just like with Marijuana, at some Stage, the WEST will allow countries with stockpiles to sell or THEY WILL BE WILLING PAY COMPENSATION TO DESTROY THE STOCKPILES AND INJECT THE MONEY IN CONSERVATION PROJECTS! Burning Ivory stockpiles cannot bring tourists to Zambia because we are NOT yet so well known!That will be burning our POTENTIAL INCOME!! Yes, MUKULA and other Tropical hard woods take long to grow, BUT we need to look to future generations! NOTHING WRONG TO PLANT MUKULA AND TROPICAL HARD WOODS TO BENEFIT THOSE COMING 100 YEARS FROM NOW, IN FACT WE SHOULD BE DOING RESEARCH TO MAKE THESE TREES MATURE FASTER!!
What an *****. Destroy our wildlife to profit from killing elephants? You make more money attracting tourists to see wildlife. You should be ashamed of yourself.