Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Locals frozen out of business opportunities at Kazungula one-stop border post, Finance Minister told

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Minister of Finance Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane yesterday visited Kazungula one-stop border post to check on operations.

In his tour, Dr. Musokotwane advised Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) at the border to normalize economic activities so that local people can equally benefit from the benefits of having the bridge in the district.

This was after Kazungula council Chairperson Ms. Mbozi Tatila requested for government’s intervention following the systematic barring of locals from benefiting from economic activities that came with the opening of the bridge in May 2021.

All economic activities have been locked inside the new border with few monopolistic companies from outside the district. Insurance, clearing agents, mobile money service providers, restaurants, car wash businesses have all been affected because the border is now a One-stop border post and has restricted business inside the border to one business type in the aforementioned different sectors.

Ms. Tatila suggested that it’s illegal to monopolize the business. The free-market policy that was introduced in 1991 should allow businesses to compete.
The Finance minister advised that an open trading area should be identified by the Council outside the border facility to allow everyone to trade.
Currently, as it stands no locals are allowed to carry out their business activities inside the border.

Ms. Mbozi Tatila added that the Monopolistic trade tendencies on the border have also affected the council restaurant thereby affecting revenue.

A meeting to normalize business activities at the border between ZRA and the council has been called upon.

It is in this meeting where the Council Chairperson hopes that ZRA will provide space for the Council to have an office so that levies are properly collected, unlike the current situation where the Council has no office in the border but operates under an umbrella at the Entry and Exit point.

“The rainy season has come and I shudder to imagine how efficient we will be operating as Council while collecting levies from truckers in the rain.” She added.

This was contained in a short briefing before the minister left for Lusaka after his tour.

19 COMMENTS

  1. Ms Tatila just wait for worse things to come. Currently there are plans to ban or restrict the mobile money booths operations because the banks are failing to compete. Yet the majority of the workers who work in these booths are youths who voted for the Upnd. Nipano 2li.

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  2. @ London – What do you mean it is ECL project ? This is our money – Taxpayers money. Lungu was just there, like any other Civil servant who does his work in the office and we paid him for that.

  3. How did those charged with the One Border Facility operations leave the local authority as its also a major stakeholder? We tend to ignore the locals when it comes to business opportunities, give space to the locals so that they are not left behind. They should feel being part of the one stop border facility.

  4. Life under the new dark govt. We built the infrastructure and yet upnd are failing to merely use it to benefit the people

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  5. @London are you a sycophant. Anyway, away from that — I have noted with dismay how it is that we still do not seem to plan adequately for our own people to function when we have partnered international initiatives. We are always on the backfoot. Imwe ba UPND onesesaniponi apo kaili! We are happy the drivers got some word in ku SA uku. Manje pa border apo napeve requires ka something.

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  6. This project was started by Mwanawasa under the MMD.. Financing was secured through the World Bank and African Development Bank, which PF would not have managed due to their recklessness. Only the naive will give them credit

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  7. The World Bank, the ADB dont come into countries with turmoil in whatever form So give praise to whoever led us throughout the project.

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  8. We certainly don’t want the border post to be a market place for dried fish and bananas! And, the council restaurant has no favour, perhaps because of poor catering standards. You cannot be prioritised just because you’re a local council business, even when your services are shoddy. Revamp your services and people will come to you.

    #plant a tree now please!

  9. This project was initiated by the MMD but it faced delays because of Zimbabwe complaints. Funding was secured but Robert Mugabe held up the project and protested that it was going to encroach on Zimbabwean territory. Mugabe insisted that Zimbabwe should be part of the project. When Botswana and Zambia agreed, Zimbabwe failed to raise counterpart funding. Botswana and Zambia then approached Namibia to curve the bridge over Namibian territory……this is the reason why the bridge has a westward bulge. By the time the bridge had been redesigned the PF had taken over power. Technically PF played no role in the initiation and sourcing funds for this project.

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  10. Why do people like creating fake stories. JICA was supposed to fund the bridge. But because their contractors lost the tendering, they withdrew on the Zambian side. Zambia mainly used own resources to do so. ADB assisted on the one stop border, not the bridge. Get your facts right.
    Ground breaking was done by Dr Guyscott as Veep to Michael Data. Give credit where it is due.

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  11. Lusaka times in the last couple of weeks is full of PF sympathisers. It seems to be the only channel were they seem to have a remaining voice. I wonder why!!

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  12. THEY WERE NOT ,WILL NOT BE AND WILL NEVER BE CHAGWA’S PROJECTS BECAUSE THEY DID NOT COME FROM HIS POCKETS. HE AND THE pf WERE JUST CUSTODIANS OF THE ZAMBIANS WHO PAYED THE TAX.
    THAT BRIDGE BELONGS TO THE ZAMBIAN AND BOTSWANA GOVERNMENTS. THEY ARE NOT LUNGU’S ,HH OR KHAMA’S AND MASISI’S PROJECTS.
    THE BRIDGE WAS A DREAM OF UNIP ,INITIATED BY MMD AND COMPLETED BY pf.
    STOP GLORIFYING A THIEF.

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  13. Why should council receive money from vehicles in form of council levy? What service do they provide? Roads are now under RDA and toll fees are collected so even that umbrella which they are using should be done away with.

  14. Francis.
    The nation doesn’t go away but administrations change according the party coming into power I mean you cannot talk of Mwanawasa who died long before this bridge was built, better we credit where it is due turning back to the ancient won’t help our people as Mwanawasa had his own flaws like any other past president.
    This time is for us awaken the sleeping UPND to wake up and do what is good for mother Zambia than just complaining about PF.

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