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Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo has urged the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) and Police to bring to book people using social media to scandalize President Edgar Lungu and other innocent people.
Mr. Lusambo has wondered why the institutions have taken long to arrest people abusing social media when they have the capacity to do so.
The Minister has invited a ZICTA Director in charge of cybercrime and Lusaka Province Police Commissioner at his office tomorrow to discuss how they can curb social network abuse that is rampant.
Speaking to ZNBC News in Lusaka, Mr. Lusambo said society values should be respected as they hold the integrity of the country.
He has also assured citizens that the government will address social media abuse.
Minister of Fisheries and Livestock Hon Prof. Nkandu Luo MP
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Nkandu Luo has threatened to cancel the Memorandum of Understanding with the Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF) for the construction of an agricultural industrial park in Chipata worth over $1 billion.
Professor Nkandu Luo has said that the intention to cancel the MoU is being necessitated by the federations’ failure to honor its commitment signed in August 2018 despite her ministry making frantic efforts to engage ZCF on the matter.
She said that the government has done its part by allocating 210 hectares of land for construction of the industrial park while ZCF has failed to honor its commitment to rehabilitate fisheries research stations in the country, adding that despite ZCF moving and starting works on the site which is located at the fisheries research station in Chipata, it has not commenced any rehabilitation works on the research stations in Chipata, Chilanga, Kasaka and Fiyongoli in Mansa as stated in the MoU.
Professor Luo has told NAIS in Chipata that she is disappointed with the federation and will not tolerate any institution whose actions impede the industrialization of the rural areas of the country.
The agriculture industrial park is meant to house a veterinary medicine plant, milk packaging plant, feed plant, fish processing and cold storage facilities among others.
According to the MoU, the state-of-the-art industrial park is expected to produce 600 tonnes of fish per annum and will enhance value addition of crops, fisheries and livestock if constructed.
Professor Luo said efforts to get in touch with ZCF Director General James Chirwa have failed for the past three weeks despite assurances that he will be with her in Chipata during her visit to the site.
HH meeting Fred M’membe at the Julia Chikamoneka awards
Member of the Central Committee for the Fred M’membe’s Socialist Party in Zambia Faston Mwale has said that United Party for National Development (UPND) President Hakainde Hichilema a politician couched from the capitalist bourgeoise traditions, and has an infinite lust for power, glory, and fame accompanied by a ferocious appetite for material wealth driven by unbridled greed and an inexhaustible crave for corruption.
In a statement posted on the party’s social media page, making a case for the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Mwale said that politicians of the HH type are proxies for capital and that their aim is to serve capital rather than than the expressed needs of the people.
In an indirect reference to HH’s trip to the US to court Investors, Mr Mwale wrote: ” Going on a “wild hunting spree” for investments is a dangerous excursion and this is what pits HH against the people. He is widely seen as a dealer rather than a leader. ”
Below is the full post
COMRADE FRED IS THE OBVIOUS CHOICE OF THE WORKING CLASS MASSES
The question by the on-line ‘Kwacha Times’ publication requiring the members of the public to state as to who has the people’s interest at heart is laudable. There is a higher likelihood that the Patriotic Front will face an embarrassing defeat in the upcoming 2021 general elections.
The foregoing, therefore, sets the premise for the media and others to begin to shape the public psyche towards engaging in productive political discourse around which candidate would better serve the needs of the people. In order to draw useful insights, I would insist that such discourse must emphasize ideological positions rather than personal inclinations and attributes that are un-helpful. I must actually concede from the outset that I lack the ‘political flair’ of engaging in unproductive personality politics that are characteristic of Zambian politics. To avoid falling prey to backward forms of politics and make a rational contribution to the issue at hand, I will apply a Marxist analysis framework – a non-subjective and scientific method.
Comrade Fred is the preferred choice. The choice of comrade Fred is not driven by mere whims and caprices but by a clearly defined ideological path. He is thus far, the only one openly and evidently championing the cause of the working class. His leadership qualities and achievements have been pivotal in the struggle for humanity and freedom nationally, continentally and internationally. He is a valiantly independent and formidable political thinker, a feat accumulated over a span of forty years of revolutionary politics. His influence has shaped the course of history. He is among the gallery of leaders whose exemplary life is a role model and is worthy of being emulated.
A leader not motivated by a lust for power, prestige and glory and indeed not driven by material goods is all what Zambians need for a President and comrade Fred is one such a person. In him and through him Zambians are assured of a leadership that would transform Zambia into an oasis of justice, peace and equity. He is a socialist from the Marxist-Leninist tradition with robust pan African and internationalist credentials and convictions. We need him. Africa needs him and the world needs him to lead a working class collective fight against capitalism and imperialism. Our oppression, our exploitation and our vulnerability to expropriation is not rooted in human nature, so to say, but in a structural system that subjugates us to despicable human conditions. He, who has given his life to the struggle against all forms of injustices is of the people and must be revered as a true revolutionary icon and comrade Fred is.
Now, the contrast is this: Couched from the capitalist bourgeoise traditions, Mr. Hichilema is un-apologetically a capitalist. This breed of politicians has an infinite lust for power, glory and fame accompanied by a ferocious appetite for material wealth driven by unbridled greed and an inexhaustible crave for corruption. Though they speak the common language of the working class, they are not of the working class. They are proxies of capital. Theirs is to service capital rather than to serve the expressed needs of the people. That is why their vocabulary is never short of the term “foreign investment” as if foreign investment is a blue print for development, yet of the 54 or so countries of Africa, there is no one country that has developed with foreign investment.
This view, however, does not posit that investment is be despised. Going on a “wild hunting spree” for investments is a dangerous excursion and this is what pits HH against the people. He is widely seen as dealer rather than a leader.
History is replete with lop-sidedness investments. We must learn from them. A comprehensive conjunctural analysis must precede any determination of the kind of investment and the associated processes and protocols that attend a particular investment vis a vis the socio-economic, political and cultural factors that will play a complimentary role to the investment project.
In most cases, there is just a straight and ruthless rush for investment to accrue maximum profit. As a result, Africa has had a raw deal – what is invested is far too little compared to what is taken out of the continent, through transfer pricing, tax evasion, importation of intermediary products, etc. The extractive industry is a good case in point.
Given the above, comrade Fred is far more preferable than his counterpart Mr. Hichilema.
Finance Minister Dr BWALYA NG’ANDU addressing investors from North America, South America, Europe, Middle-East and Asia, at an Investors Forum held at the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington DC, USA
The Zambian Government is on course with the economic reform and transformation agenda despite the country’s power supply and fiscal space constraints, Finance Minister Dr BWALYA NG’ANDU has said.
Making a presentation to Zambia’s financial asset investors on the sidelines of the 2019 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the Minister took the opportunity to share an in-depth perspective on the state of the economy; the 2020 Budget; and the medium term debt strategy.
During the presentation, the Minister highlighted the strides that the country has made in its development efforts through measures targeted at addressing some external, internal and natural vulnerabilities being faced.
Dr Ng’andu discussed issues ranging from growth, fiscal adjustment, investment flows, debt and Zambia’s financing plans going forward.
“In the last eight months, revenue collections were 9.9 percent above the budget target for the period,” he said in reference to resource mobilisation efforts.
The Minister also clarified that the upward movement of the external debt figure over the last few fiscal quarters mainly reflects new disbursements from already contracted and existing loans.
Among the assurances sought by the investors was Zambia’s plans related to the current Eurobonds, asset monetization, fiscal adjustment and the commitment to the achievement of macro-economic targets.
The Government is in the process of developing a Eurobond refinancing strategy which, once Cabinet approves, will be published, the said to the investor’s audience.
Dr Ng’andu also added that the dismantling of domestic arrears remains a priority that will be implemented to the latter in 2020 and beyond.
The Minister was accompanied to the Investors Forum by Secretary to the Treasury FREDSON YAMBA, Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary (Economic Management and Finance) MUKULI CHIKUBA and Bank of Zambia Director (Economics) Dr Jonathan Chipili.
Finance Minister Dr BWALYA NG’ANDU addressing investors from North America, South America, Europe, Middle-East and Asia, at an Investors Forum held at the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington DC, USA
Economics Association of Zambia president Dr Lubinda Habazoka (R)
Economics Association of Zambia president Dr Lubinda Habazoka has called on South Africa businesses operating in Zambia to increase the use of local banking services.
Dr Habazoka has said the use of local banks will help foreign businesses sustain their investments in Zambia.
He was speaking at the 4th Zambia -South Africa Bussiness Forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dr Habazoka assured foreign investors of security for their investments as Zambia was politically and economically stable.
He said there was need for foreign businesses to increase the use of local banks and products for foreign businesses to help grow Zambia’s economy.
Dr Habazoka encouraged South African businesses to liberalise their trade policies in order to accommodate more local products, particularly in the retail sector.
He said this will help level the playing field between the two countries.
Dr Haabazoka said Zambia was a primary destination for capital investments as it was peaceful and had stable economic apparatus.
The Business Forum was organised by the Zambian Mission in Pretoria, South Africa, the Zambia-South Africa Business Forum and Zambia Development Agency, among others.
It was attended by over 250 business executives and government officials who included North Western Province Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu and Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa Major General Jackson Miti.
UN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi with Proviuncial Minister
UN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi concluded his two-day trip in Zambia on Friday with a visit to the Mantapala settlement, in the north of the county, where he met with refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and with hosting Zambian communities. He visited some of the facilities that they share, including the health clinic, a primary school, and the market established by UNHCR together with CARITAS Czech Republic. Grandi also went to the UNHCR’s protection counseling office and the safe space for girls, run together with UNHCR’s partner, CARE Canada.
The Mantapala integrated settlement was set up within the framework of the comprehensive refugee response in 2018, and incorporates both Congolese refugees and Zambian villages through an inclusive approach, that aims to ensure that support to refugees also benefits the host community. The refugee response is Government-led supported by UNHCR. WFP provides food assistance and UNICEF supports education, child protection and water and sanitation. UNHCR works also closely with non-governmental partners to support technical sectors, such as education, livelihoods and protection services.
“We should never forget that when refugees come to a country like Zambia, local people are the first to respond,” said Grandi. “Here, they have generously shared their meagre resources – including water, land, and firewood – and of course it is difficult. The presence of refugees impacts the environment and local infrastructure and places pressure on already-overstretched services. We have spoken to people both from the local community and refugees, and they have told us that they live in harmony together.”
At the school, Grandi interacted with the young pupils, who thanked the Government of Zambia for enabling them to continue to go to school despite being displaced. The Ministry of Education generously provides teachers and materials to the schools, but with 7,000 children the needs are immense. The class rooms are at times are filled with up to 500 learners at the time. After the session, the High Commissioner handed over 300 books and learning materials
to the Provincial Minister as part of UNHCR’s support to the Ministry of Education. UNHCR, with funding from the European Union, is also completing the school infrastructure in the settlement and building accommodation for teachers.
Earlier this week on Thursday, the High Commissioner met with President Edgar Lungu, to whom he reaffirmed the UN Refugee Agency’s commitment to advocate for additional resources to support the country’s comprehensive refugee response. Grandi noted that Zambia has demonstrated true solidarity with people forced to flee conflict, war and persecution. He specifically thanked the President and the Zambian people for the strides made towards the local integration of former Angolan and Rwandan refugees.
The UN refugee chief also spoke at the fifth Conference of African Ministers Responsible for civil registration in Lusaka. He highlighted the importance of documentation and registration of refugees and asylum seekers as well as the fight to end statelessness. He noted that millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa are left without a proof of their identity as their birth is not recorded. Grandi highlighted pledges to curb statelessness made by states at UNHCR’s annual Executive Committee gathering in Geneva earlier this month.
“Twenty African states, including Zambia, have made pledges related to birth registration. I think that we are moving in the right direction and I hope that this conference will be an opportunity to discuss more how to make those pledges a reality,” he said.
Grandi joined stakeholders from the Government, donor countries, UN agencies, NGO partners and refugees at a forum where they discussed the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees, a framework adopted by the UN General Assembly last year, which seeks more predictable and equitable sharing of responsibility. Economic inclusion of refugees will be one of the topics under discussion at the Global Refugee Forum, a high-level meeting to be held in Geneva later this year. States, the private sector and other actors will announce high-impact contributions that will give refugees a chance to use and further develop their skills and contribute to economic growth in their host communities.
Zambia hosts over 84,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Mantapala, Mayukwayukwa and Meheba settlements, as well as urban refugees in Lusaka. Most are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia.
UN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi with Proviuncial MinisterUN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi being welcomed in Zambia
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER RECONCILIATION AND REPENTANCE
By Rev. Kapya Kaoma
The serious observance the National day of Prayer, Fasting and Reconciliation illustrates the extreme religiosity of millions of Zambians. Politicians will always jump on it to win votes as did pastor Nevers Mumba, when he called on us to pray ourselves out of the current national crisis. Yet this predicament is caused by selfish politicians, among them, those who dine with Pastor Mumba and shout ‘Amen’ the loudest.
Pastor Mumba wants us to believe that the “crisis has not chosen which Zambians to target,” it has. The effects of the drought are not equally felt—like Lazarus in the Bible, politicians and the rich throw away food while we envy the crumbs from their tables.
The PF wants us to blame the drought for the current famine and other economic challenges—yet the egotistical PF administration is responsible. The drought was projected in 2017, and we had millions of metric tons of maize the same year. Rather than saving, the PF government exported maize—suggesting the deficiency of leadership in the Lungu administration.
God has never abandoned us, but politicians. Year after year, we pray. We fast and pray for more money in our pockets. Our prayers are constantly answered; God has repeatedly exposed the thieves, who call themselves honorable, but in truth, they are dishonorable politicians. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” Jesus said (John 10:10). Who does not know that the dishonorable MPs, Ministers and Lungu’s grand goal is to steal, destroy and kill?
So is the National Day of Prayer a way of pacifying masses? While PF cadre MPs and ministers voluntarily fast for 3 hours, we are forced to fast daily. Our prayer is, “give us this day our daily bread,” but bread is now a luxury. “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people,” Karl Marx argued. But that is not the religion of Jesus. Our suffering is caused by heartless and dishonorable politicians. They call on us to pray and fast, but they never fast from corruption, injustice and violence. So how can you expect us the robbed to reconcile with these seasoned honorable robbers? To a religious fanatic, with God everything is possible. To the God of the oppressed, the robber must be fought, defeated and imprisoned.
It is said, “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” Although the exact source of this critique of colonial Christianity’s role in the exploitation of Africans is debatable, it fits the PF call for prayers while stealing from the masses. Next time we pray, let us open our eyes—their protruding bellies tell it all. Thieves, thieves, thieves!
Reverend Godfridah Sumaili knows better. Ancient Israel called itself God’s nation. And like our dishonorable politicians, its leaders called on masses to fast and pray, but oppressed workers, betrayed justice, and killed those who opposed their evil schemes. Isaiah’s words speak for themselves:
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter;
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
These words are an indictment of the PF administration, its enabling pastors and the so called Christians for Lungu. How can we pray while carrying guns and pangas? Surely, we cannot cry of prayer, fasting and reconciliation when PF cadres’ prayers are insults and lawlessness. Is this not a mockery to God? Well, we are a Christian nation led by thieves.
l prayed that God raises up another Moses to deliver us from this malicious “Christian nation” singing regime. I prayed that God sees the tears of mothers whose children die like flies, while politicians parade before president Lungu as if before God. Like a triplet mother’s womb, so are their tummies. One would think they would give birth to justice, only to discover they give birth to more and more corruption.
Today, I pray. God of justice, see that dying baby–to call him or her is to curse our humanity. The exposed ribs and protruding eyes speak to the evilness of our politicians. Like your Son on the cross, it cries out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” With this cry, it curses our Christian nation.
I pray that every thief in power pays the ultimate price–in this life or in the life to come. Merciful Lord, strengthen our prophets to stand up for the oppressed; the poor to demand what is rightly ours, and open our eyes to see the injustice of corruption, injustice and violence. Wipe our tears—for us the poor, your Son died to set free. Amen.
True religions and religious are now very rare to come by. or (Increasingly, true religion is becoming difficult to identify)
Religious hypocrisy and fanaticism have become the order of the day in Zambia.
These trends negate the cores of religion. What we see today is the growing fake religious practices, bitter religious superiority contestation, chaos, intolerance and tension.
The current motives of religions and the religious are now rather human, unethical, biased and materialistic. Thus, the emerging endemic religious issues are fuelled by narrow politics and capitalism confronting nations like Zambia.
A nation free from religious hypocrisy and fanaticism is bound to be truly religious and tap hugely from the rich prospects of religion, rather than the current otherwise obtained in Zambia and the like nations.
The ugly developmental calls for wide aggressive religious re-orientation and reformation are rather misplaced and misguided.
What best accounts for this course is religious hypocrisy and fanaticism. The situation presents contradictions to the thrust of religion – morality, faith, pragmatism and ethics.
Religion thus appears to have digressed from their classical precepts, thrust, vision, mission and goals. Also, it thus seems to be an irony or a dilemma of a societal institution tied to faith, clothed with pretence and the reverse of what they preach.
Zambia, a religious nation, is rather plagued with religious woes, even worse than those of the biblical Egyptian plagues on being recalcitrant to Israelites’ freedom demand and order, perhaps her people – Zambians – are guilty of worse heinous sins and sacrileges, not just against God Almighty but humanity too, than the then Egyptians’ and Sodom/Gomorra’s. The paradox is that a nation of religiousity without religion is bound to be distressed by religion. It is not an overstatement to note that only barely 5 percent of Zambians, like her ‘religious chameleon’ contemporaries elsewhere, are truly religious, while others are religious hypocrites, fanatics, entrepreneurs and capitalists, preaching and spreading the negative of classical religious tenets, precepts, mission, visions, goals and what have you.
Who has ever seen God physically? If none, why then do we hate one another, God’s physical representatives yet claim we know/love God?
Hypocrisy is claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behaviour does not conform; pretense. In fact, the ancient Greek word comes from the word for a stage actor or one who wears a mask. It is not necessarily the fact that the sin that makes them a hypocrite, it’s the fact that they don’t acknowledge it. They don’t admit that their lives contradict what they say. They are inauthentic and imposters. They teach one thing and live the opposite.
Combatting hypocrisy was a passion for Jesus. In fact, much of Matthew 23 is dedicated to this topic. Here are some excerpts:
“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see…
“‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
“‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.’”
Jesus took hypocrisy very seriously. Many people who claim to be Christians don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Perhaps they are Christian in name only.
A Christian is called to grow in faith and progress to being more like Christ.
It is not hypocritical to fall. It is hypocritical to deny that you fell and pretend that you were successful.
A Christian is called to live a life of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Colossians 3:12).
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will…”
(Romans 12:2, NIV)
Be Transformed
In the original Bible language, the word “transform” is “metamorpho.” It’s where we get our word “metamorphose.” When a caterpillar changes from a little worm-like larva into a beautiful butterfly, it is called metamorphosis. The caterpillar starts out as possibly one of the most unattractive insects. It’s very plain, nothing special about it. But God destined the caterpillar to go through a transformation. It goes from being one of the most ordinary creatures to one of the most beautiful, colorful and graceful. Instead of having to crawl on the ground, it can now fly to wherever it wants to go.
Paul is saying that if you’ll get your thoughts going in the right direction and not dwell on negative, condemning, “not able to” thoughts, and program your mind with what God says about you, then a transformation will take place. The only way to release your butterfly is to get your thinking in line with God’s Word. If you will keep renewing your mind and agreeing with what God says about you, it’s just a matter of time before that transformed person comes out. When your thoughts are better, your life will be better.
A Prayer for Today
Father, thank You for the work You are doing in my life. I surrender every part of my being to You. Thank You for transforming me as I keep my heart and mind stayed on You in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Chipolopolo unconvincingly toiled to 2020 CHAN qualification after eSwatini held them 2-2 at home in Lusaka on Saturday.
The result saw Zambia qualify 3-2 on aggregate but the qualification was met with a hail of bottles and objectiles from dissatisfied fans after the final whistle at National Heroes Stadium.
” Well to be honest I feel some of these fans need to be questioned why they want to kill the players? Yes we accept we didn’t play well, but why stone us?”Chipolopolo coach Aggrey Chiyangi said.
Meanwhile, a brace by Emmanuel Chabula in the 4th and 56th minutes salvaged the home draw.
But Dlamini Phinda struck in the 58th minute while Sifiso Matse equalized in the 76th minute to stugger and pin Zambia to the final whistle.
HH meeting with investors in the US after he concluded his presentation on State of Play in Zambia
By: Anthony Bwalya – UPND Member
The recent invitation of Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), to speak at the Woodrow Wilson Center and address an audience of esteemed leaders from.the world of politics and business, is a clear demonstration of the confidence and the highest premium the international community continues to place on his ability to provide leadership at the highest level of government.
The invitation of Mr. Hakainde Hichilema also underlines the desire by the international community for there to take place constructive and productive political and economic change in Zambia, the kind of change that would benefit both the citizens of this country, as well as our international partners.
It is also important to note, that serious investors will always put a heavy premium on sound political leadership that guarantees adherence to the rule of law, consistency around macro economic policy, guarantees a respect for human rights and leadership that is committed to stamping out grand and political corruption as these pose and impose a danger on the credibility and integrity of the investment environment.
The $25bn in active investment pledges are a further unequivocal endorsement of the quality and standard of public leadership the International community expects Mr. Hakainde Hichilema to enforce should Zambians trust his enough to form and lead the next government post 2021.
These $25bn investment conversations should in essence be taking between investors and the PF government of PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu, but that is not the case. And I do not want to leave Zambians in any amount of doubt about why this is not the case – Investors cannot and will not trust their big money projects with the PF government. It will cost investors anything between 10% – 25% on top of the actual investment value to invest in Zambia, owing to corruption and bad business environment managing practices being perpetrated by the PF government.
But what is heartwarming to note, is that Mr. Hakainde Hichilema emphasized to our international friends that while Zambia remains open for business, we seek constructive and actual business partnerships between our local and international investors.
We cannot build long-term resilience within our local economy by settling for 20%.
We need investment partnerships that will substantively enhance capacity and confidence within our local investor community. This is why the UPND is keen to reinvigorate the capacity of our local banking system to fully respond to this strategy by reposition the balance of resources away from government control and much towards individuals, households and SMEs.
As citizens, we must never underplay the value of sound political LEADERSHIP.
Everything rises and falls on it.
Future opportunities for the next generation of Zambians firmly rest on what we will do at the ballot in 2021.
The Board of ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc has announced the appointment of Mr Mabvuto Chipata as Chief Executive Officer of the Company effective 11 October 2019.
Mr Chipata replaces Dr Pius Kasolo who was sacked in February this year.
He joined ZCCM-IH in July y2012 as Chief Financial Officer, the position he held until early 2018 when he was appointed Chief Investments Officer responsible for the Company’s investments function.
He has over the years been involved in a number of strategic developments in the Company leading different project teams.
Prior to joining ZCCM-IH, Mr Chipata worked in various senior management positions in sectors such as money and capital markets, insurance, and manufacturing.
He has worked as Managing Director for Intermarket Securities Zambia Limited, Finance Director for ZAMPOST, Chief Operating Officer for Intermarket Banking Corporation Zambia Limited, among others.
He currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on a number of companies including Kansanshi Mining Plc and Lubambe Copper Mines Limited.
Mr Chipata is an accomplished finance and investments professional with over 20 years’ experience.
He holds a Bachelor of Accountancy Degree from the Copperbelt University and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) and the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants.
He is also a trained Stockbroker.
The Board says it is confident that with his experience, Mr Chipata will make a valuable contribution to the success of the Company.
Economist Chibamba Kanyama has urged the Zambian delegation attending the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC to approach the meetings seriously.
Mr Kanyama said the team led by Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya Ng’andu and his counterpart at Planning Alexander Chiteme should not use the opportunity to be in the USA for shopping.
He said the trip is an opportunity for Dr Ng’andu to demonstrate to those international analysts that doubted his economic credentials that he has the acumen to strike a deal with cooperating partners.
“When such a huge delegation travels for such meetings, a lot is expected in terms of outcomes especially given our current need for a financial bailout. I am confident Dr Ng’andu and his assembled team of technocrats has sufficiently prepared itself with a data-backed narrative that will prove to various international stakeholders that Zambia is this time more than serious to engage the IMF,” Mr Kanyama said.
He added, “A number of economic watchers for Zambia, particularly investors in our sovereign bond, want assurance that the ‘stabilization trajectory’ Zambia has been preaching lately will be more than rhetoric.”
He said the cost of sending this large delegation is significantly huge and coming back empty-handed but for simple assurances is not in the interest of the nation.
“In certain previous engagements, corridor gossip in those institutions during similar meetings was about how huge the Zambian delegation was meeting only one person the other side of the table but without a clear engagement strategy, ‘They had no data whatsoever to back up their narrative, why did they all come here?’ a mission chief once whispered to me.,” Mr Kanyama narrated.
“I have confidence in Dr. Bwalya Ng’andu and am sure he is leading a highly focused team that seeks to redeem Zambia’s economic fortunes.It is simply not business as usual for them. If possible, Dr Ng’andu should divide the team into groups, each team focused on meeting strategic counter-parties so that we do not fill boardrooms with a large number of people who just take notes.“
He said, “ Everyone must possess the necessary collaborated data and articulate the economic stabilization strategy with clearly defined outcomes. We should prove to the IMF that the measures we have taken are not only there to massage negative investor sentiment but that we have the discipline and commitment to implement them.”
“There must never be time for shopping, we have enough malls back home. It sends a bad message to the partners when they see us in embassy vehicles visiting malls just after communicating to them about our commitment to austerity measures. Those little things are always observed and get talked about in those corridors. Come back with something Minister and make a difference. We are here to support you 100 percent in every way we can.”
Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema used his trip to the United States to thank that country for assisting Zambia in various sectors of the economy.
And Mr Hichilema has revealed that private investors from the US have pledged to invest over US$25.8 billion in Zambia in the first 5 years of his administration.
Mr Hichilema was speaking in Washington DC at the Woodrow Wilson Centre where he discussed the State of Play in Zambia.
When asked if he would support sanctions through withholding aid, Mr Hichilema noted that this support to the Zambian people remains critical and should continue.
He said withholding such assistance would only harm poor Zambians.
Mr Hichilema thanked the America taxpayers for supporting Zambia’s HIV and AIDS programme.
“Aside from promoting investment opportunities available in our country, we thanked the American taxpayers for their engagement through successive governments on HIV/AIDS through its PEPFAR program that has benefitted and continues to save lives of many Zambians,” he said.
“We also acknowledged the Millennium Challenge Compact in Zambia through which the U.S. government invested in water supply, sanitation and drainage infrastructure to decrease water-related diseases and flood losses.”
“On the security front, we noted with gratitude the role that the State Department and Department of Defense have played in training Zambia Defence Forces through the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) and the Africa Contingency Operations Training Assistance (ACOTA) program,” he stated.
He said the engagement has been central to Zambia Defence Forces deployment for United Nations Peacekeeping missions.
“As of August 31, 2019, Zambia was the 22nd leading contributor in the world to UN peacekeeping missions with 1,025 personal. It was humbling meeting with some of the previous American Ambassadors to Zambia.
He said the audience’s main interest were the human rights and economic situation in the country.
Mr Hichilema said the audience were also interested to know what the UPND would do differently if it were in office.
“On the human rights abuses, we assured them that we as opposition charged with the responsibility of providing checks and balances will continue holding the PF government accountable.”
He reiterated the party’s resolve to amend certain pieces of legislation such as the colonial Public Order Act that limits people’s freedoms of assembly and does not conform to the current international standards and norms.
“On the economy the various stakeholders we engaged in a side event, especially investors, are very worried about the mounting debt. We requested that the investors in the room could begin to speak to their fellow private sector players on possibility of debt restructuring. They made a commitment that once they see a serious commitment to fiscal discipline, they are willing to help the country to renegotiate the debt held by private sector.”
“We spoke about the opportunities for the investors to come and partner with our Zambian businessmen. They had no objection to creating joint ventures. They pledged investment of about US$25.8 billion over a period of 5 years. They are interested in electricity, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, infrastructure and mining. The bulk of their investment will be in electricity generation and portfolio diversification, they also see agriculture and tourism as main foreign exchange earners.”
He said the investors believe that reliable infrastructure will also provide dividends to their investment.
Mr Hichilema stated that the investors repeated the pledge for joint ventures as long as the government has policy consistency and fiscal discipline.
“Ultimately the stakeholders we met are very optimistic about the country after we shared our plan for revitalising the economy. They placed the onus of creating a Zambia we want, on ourselves as citizens of the country.”
He added, “Our appeal to all Zambians is that we need to work together and ensure a peaceful and democratic transition by massively voting for UPND in 2021 so that these investment pledges can come forth. We have a great plan and vision for Zambia. Let us all seize the moment to rebuild our great country.”
