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FILE: HH and GBM being Interviewed after the Dialogue Meeting
THE Constitutional Court has warned that it will throw out the petition where UPND president Hakainde Hichilema and his former running mate, Geoffrey Mwamba, want the court to declare that the Speaker of the National Assembly should have assumed powers of the President when the election petition was in court.
Justice Palan Mulonda said the matter will be dismissed if the parties in the matter will fail to comply with the orders for directions.
He said this when the matter came up for status conference in the Constitutional Court last week.
This is in a matter where Mr Hichilema and Mr Mwamba petitioned the court in August 2016 after the presidential election seeking an order directed at the Speaker of the National Assembly to assume executive powers until determination of the presidential petition.
They also wanted the court to prohibit President Edgar Lungu from performing the executive functions. The petitioners sued President Lungu and the Attorney General.
When the matter came up last week, however, lawyer representing the UPND leader, Jeffrey Chimankata, said his clients where serious about prosecution of the matter but that they wanted to amend their request in the petition.
“At the last sitting, he had indicated to the court that the petitioners are desirous of amending the petition. However, after further deliberations our instructions are that we should continue with the way things are on record as it is now a question of interpretation, stated Mr Chimankata.
“We will rely on the skeleton arguments filed on August 31 2016 save for an amendment to the prayer that was there. Otherwise, the petitioners are serious with prosecuting this matter and would like to see it concluded,” Mr Chimankata said.
Meanwhile, counsel from the Attorney General’s Chambers, Francis Mwale, said he will wait for the amendment to the petitioner’s prayer so that they could respond.
Justice Mulonda however, said he was granting the last status conference and ordered parties to file the necessary documents as agreed by July 9 this year or he would dismiss the matter for want of prosecution.
“Having heard from the petitioner that they are serious with their intention to prosecute this matter, my court will take it that these agreed upon dates will be observed, failure to which this matter will be dismissed for want of prosecution,” Justice Mulonda said.
The World Bank group has launched the solar and wind resource atlas and handed over the resource mapping measuring equipment to the Ministry of Energy, aimed at giving accurate information on the solar and wind resources in the country.
Minister of Energy Mathew Nhkuwa has disclosed that government is diversifying the national energy mix through the utilization of the abundant renewable energy resources available in the country, with a view to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Mr Nhkuwa however noted that the sector has been facing challenges in the process of diversification due to inadequate information on solar and wind resources which can be used for planning and project formulation.
He said this is why the World Bank, in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy has been conducting the resource mapping project for the past two years, starting in 2016, whose outcome is the resource atlas for wind and solar.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka today, the Minister said the resource atlas mapping presented will provide variable information that will encourage developers to invest in solar and wind as a way of complementing hydro power which is vulnerable to climate change.
Mr Nhkuwa added that with the launch of the mappings it is expected that power developers will have reduced feasibility study costs as they will have power generation.
The Minister further explained that the equipment will also be used for continuous measurements of the resources as the modelling of the projects will require latest raw data.
He noted that government will ensure that equipment is managed sustainably by local institutions, who will include the University of Zambia and the Zambia Meteorological department who were selected to ensure that effective mechanisms are put in place for sound operations and maintenance.
And World Bank Group Country Manager Ina-Marlene Ruthenberg said Zambia is endowed with enormous renewable resources, including solar energy, wind and small hydro plants which have remained undeveloped due to lack of data.
Ms Ruthenberg added that lack of available resources, lack of available funding and inadequate policy provisions has negatively affected the development of potential renewable energy in the country.
She said the World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) working with government initiated the assessment of solar and wind resources with an aim to develop the solar wind resource maps for Zambia, in order to provide quick and easy access to solar and wind resource data.
Under the project eight wind masts of 80 metres high and six state of art solar measuring equipment were installed across the country to collect valuable data for the resources.
The Zambian Government has sent a message of condolence to the Federal Democratic Republic Ethiopia following the killing of four senior government officials.
The armed attacks saw the assassination of among others, the Chief of Staff and the regional governor of Ahmara Region.
Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Emmanuel Mwamba says Zambia strongly condemns the attacks that occurred in Addis Ababa and Bahrda cities in which the President of the Ahmara Region and Head of the Military were killed.
He said Zambia and Africa have welcomed democratic and economic reforms being spearheaded by the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and was therefore saddened by the attacks against his government.
Mr Mwamba wished the President, Prime Minister and the people of Ethiopia strength during the difficult period.
He was speaking on Sunday at a Diplomatic briefing called by both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the matter in Addis Ababa.
Meanwhile, the Government of Ethiopia has assured that the attempted coup was quelled and that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
And the security in Ethiopia has been raised and security measures such as cut in internet connections have been implemented following the armed attacks.
Government has named a retired Brigadier General who was recently pardoned and released from prison as having led the attacks against the Ahmara regional government.
This is contained in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today, by First Secretary Press and Tourism at the Zambian Embassy in Ethiopia Inutu Mwanza.
Rt. Rev. Chinyemba,OMI ( with Microphone) addressing Journalists
The Catholic Bishops in Zambia have launched a campaign to raise slightly over 9 million US dollars for relief food to be distributed in areas that were hit by drought and floods during the 2018/2019 farming season.
Making the announcement recently, Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) Bishop Director for Caritas Zambia Rt. Rev. Evans Chinyemba, OMI said that if the hunger situation is not addressed, people could soon starve to death in the affected areas. Bishop Evans Chinyemba, OMI said the hunger situation is bad and water has equally become a problem in the areas hit with drought in the southern part of the Zambia.
“To fully comprehend the hunger situation in the country, the Catholic Church through Caritas Zambia working with Diocesan partners gathered information from the affected households using community interviews, focus groups, direct observation and household field visitation in the affected areas.
Aware that the hungry people are vulnerable and easily manipulated leading to loss of dignity and having analysed the reports of the hunger situation in Southern, Central, western, Eastern, Luapula and other parts of the country, we would like to inform the nation of our concerns as well as to make an earnest appeal.”
“Listening to the Word of God inspires us to be instruments of justice, peace and love in order to spread this love to all people especially those who are currently suffering from hunger and lack of clean water,” Bishop Chinyemba said.
Bishop Chinyemba said some households did not have enough food to take them through until next year. “Southern, Western and some parts of Eastern, Central and Lusaka provinces experienced total crop failure.
This means that households in these areas did not harvest anything that would help to sustain their livelihoods up to the next agricultural season. There are 50 districts affected by this situation and households are currently already experiencing serious hunger,” he said.
“According to the vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) under DMMU (Disaster Management and Mitigation Unity), a total of 418,969 households were affected by the dry spell hazard. In the places visited by the Catholic Church agents, 79 per cent of the crops were affected by drought, 13 per cent by floods while four per cent were affected by both drought and floods.”
Bishop Chinyemba also shared that water supply to the people and livestock had been affected by the adverse rainfall. “Apart from crop failure, the prolonged dry spell during the last farming period has created water shortage for both people and animals. There are already reports from Gwembe that people are sharing water with animals,” he said.
“There are currently many households that have nothing to eat and are surviving on wild fruits or are getting-by without any food. This will certainly compromise the nutrition and health status of most people especially the children and if nothing is urgently done, we may begin to experience deaths from hunger.” Bishop Chinyemba said evidence of widespread food distribution to all “these people is missing.”
“In places where this is happening, the amount of food given is so little that households are failing to meet their food requirements,” he said.
“The ZCCB through Caritas Zambia in collaboration with the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Norwegian Church Aid, and CAFOD is putting together relief effort to contribute towards the alleviation of hunger in the affected regions. This effort will target 10 per cent (42,000 households) of the total estimated number of 418,969 households currently in dire need of help and we call upon Zambians with the ability to make contributions to this noble cause.”
And appealing to Christians, Bishop Chinyemba said: “As followers of Christ, the mark of being truly His disciple is to respond to the needs of the little brothers and sisters who suffer.” “Remember that many of your brothers and sisters do not have access to clean water and lack this basic necessity. Your support no matter how little will go a long way in saving that little child in Kaoma, Pemba, and Kazungula,” he said.
Bishop Chinyemba further asked politicians to avoid taking advantage of people’s desperation, and asked the government to declare a hunger disaster.
“Government of the Republic of Zambia must consider declaring the hunger situation in some parts of the country as a disaster,” Bishop Chinyemba said.
Zesco United CEO Richard Mulenga says the door will always be open for outgoing striker Lazarus Kambole at the seven-time champions.
Kambole is leaving Zesco after six seasons with the Ndola club to join South African side Kaiser Chiefs on a three-year deal starting on July 1, 2019.
On Saturday, Kambole capped his final competitive home match with Zesco’s last goal in their 4-1 win over Zanaco in the 2019 ABSA Cup final played at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
“It was a brilliant goal. We just wish him well and we wish him the best of luck where he is going,” Mulenga said.
“He has been of great service to our team and if he ever wants to come back, our door will always be open for him.”
This will be Kambole’s first foreign stint since Zesco plucked him from Konkola Blades in 2014.
The Zambia Police Service on the Copperbelt has engaged Lusaka Office to help with the re-arresting of Chifubu Member of Parliament Frank Ng’ambi for allegedly beating his wife.
Copperbelt Police Commissioner Charity Katanga says this is because Mr. Ng’ambi is out of jurisdiction.
Mr. Ng’ambi was discharged through a nolle Prosequi before the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered for his re-arrest.
Copperbelt Police Commissioner Charity Katanga has also clarified that the prosecution entered a nolle prosequi without informing the Police.
Mrs. Katanga told ZNBC News that the instruction to re-arrest the suspect was only given after a day.
She said in a normal situation, prosecutors are supposed to inform the police before entering a Nolle if there is need to re- arrest a suspect.
Mrs. Katanga further explained that the prosecution of cases is no longer being done by the Police but by the National Prosecution Authority (NPA).
She said Police can only know if the suspect needs to be re-arrested after a nolle upon being communicated to by the prosecutor.
Mrs. Katanga said when Mr. Ng’ambi was arrested, the police refused to grant him bond looking at the seriousness of the matter.
She said the accused was only given bail by the court.
Last week the DPP issued a statement claiming that the state entered a nolle in the matter with the view to re arrest Mr. Ng’ambi.
The DPPs office wondered why the accused has not been rearrested when instruction was allegedly given.
The DPPs office explained that the reason for entering a nolle prosequi was to slap the suspect with appropriate charges that are in line with the gravity of the offence.
Zambians must not be silent, but voice out against corruption and all forms of oppression in the country, the Organisers of the Yellow Card campaign have said.
Laura Miti, one of the campaigners said K6.1 billion of Zambia’s money has been stolen, and while this theft is a crime, Zambians being silent about it is an even bigger crime.
Ms. Miti has reminded Zambians that corrupt politicians are the biggest criminals of all, because corruption is a weapon of mass destruction and mass poverty.
She said through corruption, thousands die in hospitals without medicine, others die from accidents because of undone or poorly done roads and infrastructure.
Ms. Miti said through corruption, thousands are denied access to decent water and sanitation, thousands more languish in poverty because they are denied basic human rights – education and job/business opportunities to improve their lives.
She said for this and many more crimes, including the authorities denial of their freedom of expression to hold a peaceful protest at Arcades today, Zambians must all rise in solidarity, show the PF the #YellowCard, tomorrow.
FDD President Edith Nawakwi has proposed that the Manganese mining must be given to the Zambia National Service to run the business.
Ms. Nawakwi a Former Finance Minister in the Chiluba administration said Zambia has minerals and ZNS is lubricating their equipment every week and must be given one manganese mine to excavate and raise money to even pay some of the debt.
“We have our ZNS with all the equipment being greased weekly with tax payers money and somehow some of the miners hire our ZNS equipment,” she said.
a carat of emerald is $6,000 while a ton of copper is $6,000
Ms Nawakwi advised Zambians to take note that a carat of emerald is $6,000 while a ton of copper is $6,000. She said Zambian mining engineers are unemployed and ZNS have the equipment and the country has people with the minds.
She said that if she had a chance, she would have given a concession of manganese mine and emerald mine to Zambia Army and Zambia Prisons Service and equip them with all the requirements and the skills they need to work in the mining industry.
Mrs. Nawakwi said that unfortunately, all the nice spots including rare earth have been given to foreigners.
Mrs. Nawakwi noted that Zambia is land of limitless opportunities but the only problem Zambians have is that they do not love each other.
Zambia National Service (ZNS) Caterpillar operator clearing the area for the new ultra Mongu Stadium shortly after the launch
Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi. FILE PHOTO | AFP
THE Chinese government has written-off more than US$22 million as part of debt that Zambia owes the Asian country to reduce the debt burden.
And China has given Zambia a grant amounting to US$30 million towards support to various projects of development to accelerate industralisation and job creation agendas as espoused in the Seventh
National Development Plan.
On the debt cancelation, this followed recent consultations on partial debt cancellation between the two countries and China agreed to exempt Zambia from its obligation of paying back one batch of interest free loan that matured in December 31, 2018.
Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi said here on Monday that the US$22 million (150 million RMB) interest-free loan was provided in the Agreement on Economic and technical Cooperation between the two sides of China and Zambia signed on July 2, 2007.
Mr Wang said his government cancelled that debt because it was keen to see Zambia attain more economic development, and no amount of propaganda peddled by some sections of society would frustrate China from offering more support to African countries.
“Today, we are signing this debt cancellation because we are keen to see Zambia grow from strength to strength and we shall do what we can
to support Zambia’s development agenda, ” he said.
He was speaking during the signing ceremony for economic agreements and debt cancellation between deputy director of China International
Development Cooperation Agency Zhou Liujun, who signed for China while Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji on behalf of Zambia, and was witnessed by Zambias Ambassador to China Winnie Chibesakunda at Diaoyutai Hotel.
Mr Wang said China’s offer of a grant of US$30 million (200 million Yuan) was coming in view of further developing the friendly relations.
He said the Chinese were confident that through such a grant, among significant infrastructure such as Levy Mwanawasa Teaching Hospital in
Lusaka project could be completed by end of this year.
He said President Xi Jinping and President Edgar Lungu collaborate well and share ideas of development which result in China remaining
focused to ensure funded infrastructure projects in Zambia were completed to better the lives of citizens.
And Mr Malanji said Zambia was grateful to the generosity offered by China citing the writing-off the debt which was coming at the right time when Zambia was enjoying cordial bilateral ties.
He said Zambia’s population was growing and there was huge demand for infrastructure ranging from roads networks and bridges and as such,
Government was not borrowing for consumption but to inject significant projects of development.
Mr Malanji said the support from China was accelerating efforts of economic diversification as being emphasized by President Lungu from
mining to industralisation and agriculture as espoused in the Seventh National Development Plan.
Green Eagles coach Aggrey Chiyangi says Zesco United’s 4-1 win over Zanaco in 2019 ABSA Cup victory is not a factor heading into their 2019 FAZ Super Division title decider on June 29 at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.
Eagles and the defending league champions Zesco clash for on June 29 to decide the this seasons’ FAZ Super Division title.
“We are not shaken by Zesco United’s 4-1 win at the weekend. Every game is different, and this Saturday will be a whole different game,” Chiyangi told The Daily Nation.
“Yes, Zesco played well, showed maturity from individual players because of experience.
“So I expect a tough game, it will not be an easy game .we are not under pressure, pressure is on Zesco who are looking for an eighth title.”
Eagles are chasing their debut league triumph and should they do that; the Choma-based side will become the first side outside the football hotspots of the Midlands and Copperbelt to win the FAZ Super Division crown.
Zesco on the other hand will become the third most successful club and move them one behind Mighty Mufulira Wanderers and four adrift of Nkana.
In the video the Viral Video maker Lily Mutamz talks about how indirect discrimination exists in the UK when it comes to employment opportunities. Despite gaining experience through her practice placement during her degree studies at University of Winchester, she has been told several times that she does not have work experience.
The YouTuber says in the video that despite this barrier she still cleaned in order to invest in her farm business in Solwezi. The YouTuber further advises Africans to invest back home with what ever little money they make from menial jobs. The YouTuber managed to buy herself 100 Hectares of farm land in Solwezi where she spent 6 weeks last year clearing the land with the help of Solwezi Prisoners. Lily Mutamz who is a qualified social worker states that Solwezi is the place she feels is home and wishes to use her qualifications to work with vulnerable groups of people in Zambia. Lily Mutamz also plans to set up a clinic and a school for the villagers where her farm is located in Solwezi.
From the comments on the YouTuber’s video, many Africans across the world have been inspired by her story. When we asked Lily Mutamz why she was proud to share her story, she said ” The job I do does not define the gift and vision I carry, the end results is what matters and that’s hustle with a purpose”. The YouTuber has now even reached 11,000 plus Subscribers and is presently the highest Zambian Vlogger with international following.
Evangelical Christians have flocked to Israel for a mass faith-healing by a celebrity Nigerian pastor outside Jesus’s hometown of Nazareth.
Some worshippers sang in various languages while others collapsed and even vomited during Sunday’s event, presided over by T.B. Joshua, who has amassed millions of followers on social media from his base in the Nigerian city of Lagos.
“Jesus’s father, Joseph, and his mother, Mary, came from here. What a blessing. No other place would have been better for Jesus to come from. It was God’s design,” Joshua told the crowd gathered in a sun-baked stadium on Mount Precipice.
When the self-described prophet descended from the stage to bless attendees, placing his hand on their heads, several declared themselves healed from sickness or infirmity. Attendants stood ready to catch those who fainted in excitement.
Minerva Resendiz, from Mexico, said she had come to see Joshua as part of the two-day gathering “to ask for healing, for a breakthrough … to resolve conflicts in the family”.
“I would like that (all people) could see a miracle through Jesus Christ,” Resendiz, 40, said. Other pilgrims came from China, Russia and African and South American countries.
Joshua founded and leads an evangelical ministry called The Synagogue, Church of All Nations. His Christian television network, Emmanuel TV, says it is Youtube’s most subscribed to ministry channel with well over one million followers.
Evangelicals made up roughly half of the more than 2 million Christian pilgrims who visited Israel in 2018, according to the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which oversees evangelical outreach to Israel.
Once again, there is some misconception by a certain section of our society that the Report published by the Eastern and Southern African Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) to the effect that law enforcement agencies in Zambia rely on facts passed to them by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to prosecute money laundering cases has exposed Zambia’s law enforcement agencies. This is a misplaced argument in relation to the current public discourse on whether the FIC has, based on the law that creates the institution, the mandate to publish what it calls Trends Reports – a report which covers matters that have been referred to, and may be under active investigation by Law Enforcement Agencies. This article scans the lawful mandate of the FIC to publish statistical reports to the public vis-à-vis its mandate.
Understanding the FIC and its mandate
From the outset, it is important to make it clear that both Government and those against the release of the Trends Reports have been very clear that FIC was constituted to complement and support the work of the Law Enforcement Agencies such as Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), generally referred to as the “investigative wings”. Like other intelligence agencies, FIC is an important intelligence gathering wing of the Government.
The question is whether FIC, as created by Zambia’s statutory law, has the mandate to release what are known as Trends Reports in their current format. This questions requires an understanding of the laws governing these intelligence entities.
The FIC is a member of the: so-called Egmont Group, the informal international association of FIUs. World over, although FIU’s share the same core functions of receiving, analysing, and disseminating financial information to local law-enforcement agencies and foreign FIUs to combat money laundering and related activities, they differ in many ways.
The 2004 publication by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank dubbed “Financial Intelligence Units: An Overview,” provides some insightful data for citizens who seek to understand an entity like our FIC. From the outset, it is clear that, in general, an FIU is a central national agency responsible for receiving, analysing, and transmitting disclosures on suspicious transactions to the competent authorities.
Although Zambia saw the need to respond to the calls of the international community in establishing our FIC, our lawmakers had to make a decision as to the functions and the modalities of the operations our FIC which is based on Zambia’s own crime-fighting policy objectives, resources, and priorities but most importantly, they deliberately harmonised the responsibilities of the FIC with those of DEC, ACC, Zambia Police and other existing agencies involved in the fight against financial crime, including law enforcement and supervisory agencies and policy-setting government bodies.
Both the World Bank and IMF recognised in their report that the FIU must only be given the means to successfully pursue these objectives, for which it will become accountable but also that care is always taken not to give the FIU more responsibilities than it can cope with, given its expected resources. The Report stated the following: “Overlapping functions should be avoided to the extent possible, and to the extent such overlap is unavoidable, coordination mechanisms should be established to minimize conflicts and maximize cooperation between the concerned agencies.”
Little wonder then, that law enforcement agencies in Zambia, who have the primary mandate of investigating money laundering and financial crimes, would receive the reports from FIC but those reports are never treated as conclusive, in terms of the allegations of money laundering or financial crimes. No one must therefore be surprised with what the Drug Enforcement Commissioner, Ms. Alita Mbahwe, said about the FIC reports:
“…the intelligence reports disseminated [by FIC] to law enforcement agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Commission sometimes turn out to be false on enquiry leading to closure of cases, a situation which is always misconstrued as inaction by investigative wings.”
DEC and other law enforcement agencies do confirm, therefore, that FIC submits or disseminates intelligence reports to them, as required by law, but they have gone a step further to state that “sometimes” these intelligence reports “turn out to be false on enquiry leading to closure of cases, a situation which is always misconstrued as inaction by investigative wings.” This information has not been disputed by FIC because their duty ends at disseminating these intelligence reports to law enforcement agencies for these agencies to investigate each and every allegation. However, not every investigation: will result in prosecution, because in some cases, the so-called evidence, upon further in-depth inquiry, is found to be unrelated to criminal activity as suspected. That is the whole purpose of referring such “suspicious financial activities” for further detailed investigation by law enforcement agencies which are in fact equipped to make such further inquiries and investigations.
Zambia’s Financial Intelligence Centre falls into the category of what the IMF/World Bank refers to as an administrative-type FIU. The other types of the FIUs are the law-enforcement-type FIU, the judicial- or prosecutorial-type FIU, and the “mixed” or “hybrid” FIU.
As an administrative-type FIU, Zambia’s Financial Intelligence Centre, is an autonomous body but with a reporting line to the Minister of Finance. The main rationale for such an arrangement was to establish a “buffer” between the financial sector and the law-enforcement authorities (DEC, ACC, ZP) in charge of financial crime investigations and prosecutions.
Usually, financial institutions are faced with problematic transactions but do not have hard evidence that those receiving or sending money in sums of over US$5,000 are involved in criminal activity or in criminal organizations, therefore the financial institutions may be reluctant to disclose such transactions directly to a law-enforcement agency, out of a concern that their suspicion may become an accusation that could be based on a wrong interpretation of facts. Such doubtful transactions are disseminated to the FIC as suspicious financial activities. The role of the FIC is then to substantiate the suspicion and send the case to law enforcement agencies in charge of criminal investigations and prosecutions only if the suspicion is substantiated.
Because Zambia’s FIC is established outside the law-enforcement system, its powers are limited to receipt, analysis, and dissemination of suspicious transaction to law enforcement agencies, and has not been given investigative or prosecutorial powers. Similarly, the powers of the FIU to disclose the information contained in transaction reports – in whatever form – as narrowly defined, are limited to disclosure to law enforcement agencies only for purposes of preserving the confidential character of the information provided to FIC by financial institutions.
In short, Zambia’s FIC acts as an interface between the financial institutions, on the one hand, and law enforcement authorities on the other hand, thus avoiding the creation of direct institutional links between these institutions and law enforcement agencies while bringing disclosures to the attention of law-enforcement agencies.
In other countries where FIU’s are established the law will expressly provide for the functions of the FIU to publish statistical data on money laundering and inform the public about money-laundering and other financial issues, but the Zambian law has narrowly defined the FIC’s mandate to “educate the public and reporting entities of their obligations and inform them of measures to detect, prevent and deter money laundering and financing of terrorism or proliferation.” There is no mandate for the FIC in Zambia to publish even statistical data on money laundering and other financial crimes, let alone the sources and types of transactions which have been reported to FIC.
The justification provided by the FIC to release the Trends Report, as quoted in their statement on their website was that “the Trends Report on AML/CFT is intended to increase public awareness and understanding of Zambia’s AML/CFT regime. It provides a synopsis of suspicious financial transactions analysed and related financial crimes identified by the FIC during the year.”
A perusal of the FIC Act, 2010 and the Financial Intelligence Centre (Amendment) Act No. 4 of 2016, shows that there is no such mandate conferred upon the FIC by our laws in Zambia except that of educating the public and reporting entities of their obligations and inform them of measures to detect, prevent and deter money laundering and financing of terrorism or proliferation. The claim by FIC officials that they required by law to publish their so-called Trends Report, lacks any basis whatsoever, in the enabling law, and the question to show which part of the Act gives the FIC the authority to publish such raw data to the public has always been dodged by those who believes they have the mandate to do so.
CONCLUSION
The Zambia Financial Intelligence Centre, as can be seen above, is a very key government agency in receiving, analysing, and transmitting disclosures on suspicious transactions to law enforcement agencies who are the only competent authorities to determine whether there has been any money laundering and other financial crimes on the part of the information supplied by financial institutions. The mandate to disseminate substantiated information which the FIC receives from the bank is narrowly defined as dissemination to law enforcement agencies; dissemination to the public is not provided for or included.
As long as the FIC fails to categorically point at the law that allows them to publish their data on money laundering, the FIC should strictly abide by its statutory mandate of educating the public about money-laundering issues and reporting entities of their obligations and inform them of measures to detect, prevent and deter money laundering and financing of terrorism or proliferation. That is what the law states expressly and leaves no room for unjustified extensions thought up by the FIC itself.
It is clear that a reading of the enabling law, the FIC Act, leaves no room for the current debate as to whether the FIC can, or should, make public the information it disseminates to the law enforcement agencies, even in redacted form, that is without mentioning names of persons or institutions.
The FIC has no lawful mandate whatsoever to publish the intelligence assessment or information which they substantiate from financial institutions because such information is still raw data for onward transmission to the investigative agencies which are then required to investigate. To release a “substantiated suspicious report” in our environment is like throwing a duck to water or lighting a match stick in a room full of open drums of petrol.
(Disclaimer: The views in this article do not necessarily represent the views of this media nor the institutions the author is affiliated to or has membership on but represent the views of the author who is a governance and legal expert)
Hundreds of employees at Cavmont Bank are to lose their jobs after the bank announced that it was closing down four of its 19 branches.
The branches to be shutdown are the Industrial Area, Mpulungu, Mwense and Mufumbwe.
In a statement, Bank Chief Executive Officer, Peet Van Der Walt announced that the bank’s restructuring is aimed at optimizing the performance to ensure its long-term sustainability.
Mr. Van Der Walt said the restructuring process will consist of two main components, being the rationalization of the branch network and the streamlining of head office support functions.
The rationalization of branches will be subjected to the key changes which include, branch mergers centralization of branch back office operations and branch closures in the industrial area, Mpulungu, Mwense and Mufumbwe.
Mr. Van Der Walt said customers of the industrial branch can continue to access the ATM network as well as the other Lusaka-based branches while clients of the Mpulungu, Mwense and Mufumbwe branches will continue to have access to local Cavmont bank ATMs, make use of electronic and digital channels and they can access banking services from Mbala, Mansa and Solwezi.
He said Cavmont has sought approval from the Bank of Zambia to ensure full compliance with statutory regulations and approval was granted for this restructure.
Mr. Van Der Walt said the bank has also met with the representative trade union, Zambia Union of Financial Institution and Allied Workers and the Ministry of Labor to inform them of the intended restructure and the regrettable impact of it.
He explained that details of the restructure was discussed with the Cavmont Bank trade union in advance and that communication regarding the bank’s restructuring will in addition be sent to affected customers and employees of the bank as well as to affected service providers.
