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Conventional food producers claim that there is not enough scientific evidence for organic food production being better for the environment. This may be true but the facts speak for themselves.
Organic food production eliminates soil and water contamination. Since organic food production strictly avoids the use of all synthetic chemicals, it does not pose any risk of soil and underground water contamination like conventional farming which uses tons of artificial fertilizers and pesticides.
Organic food production helps preserve local wildlife. By avoiding toxic chemicals, usage of mixed planting as a natural pest control measure, and maintaining field margins and hedges, organic farming provides a retreat to local wildlife rather than taking away its natural habitat like conventional agriculture.
Organic food production helps conserve biodiversity. Avoidance of chemicals and use of alternative, all natural farming methods has been shown to help conserve biodiversity as it encourages a natural balance within the ecosystem and helps prevent domination of particular species over the others.
Organic food production helps the fight against global warming. Most organically produced food is distributed locally. As a result, less energy is used for transportation which automatically reduces carbon dioxide emissions which are believed to be the main cause of global warming.
Organic food production reduces erosion. Organic crop production methods do not foresee elimination of all vegetation except for crops. As a result, more soil is covered with vegetation preventing the wind to carry away the topmost fertile soil layers.
Despite the lack of scientific studies and existence of a few which even deny the environmental benefits of organic food production, there is no doubt about which food production methods cause the greatest harm to the environment.
The fact alone that organic farming methods strictly forbid the use of all synthetic chemicals is enough to reject allegations about organic food production not being any more environmentally friendly than the conventional farming practices.
The effects of pesticides and artificial fertilizers have been scientifically proven to be seriously damaging to both the environment and human health. Pesticides do not only kill pests but many beneficial insects too including honey bees, while some are even lethal for small mammals and birds.
Organic food production is, by some, accused to use more land to produce equal amounts of food. This may be true but unlike conventional agriculture, organic farming is significantly less disturbing for the environment because it often supports the local wildlife rather than striping it of its natural habitat. In fact, many organic farmers encourage wildlife species such as birds, bats and other predatory animals to live on their farmland and assist them in pest control.
One of the projects promoting organic farming is Zambia is the Civil Society Environment Fund, Phase 2 (CSEF2) project at Kasisi Agriculture Training Centre in Chongwe, the project is funded by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA).
The CSEF2 project promotes the technologies and land use practices associated with sustainable crop and vegetable production. By encouraging innovation in agricultural practices, farmers can secure more stable and sustainable livelihoods, restore soil fertility, foster sustainable use and management of natural resources and prevent environmental degradation.
Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa taking some notes during a public discussion organized by the Oasis Forum in Lusaka on Tuesday evening
By Sishuwa Sishuwa
A visitor to Zambia who restricts themselves to parts of Lusaka could be forgiven for thinking that they had entered a vibrant and developing nation. As they stroll around newly built shopping malls, usually packed with shoppers and shops retailing the latest consumer goods in seemingly abundant quantity, it might seem as if Zambia has changed dramatically from the time of shortages and empty shops in the 1980s. Yet, as I discovered during a recent whirlwind trip that took me across different parts of Zambia, this is at best a façade. Vast amounts of money have been poured into the construction of malls across the country. In Lusaka alone, for instance, there are now an astonishing ten malls, emerging in a context where critical national infrastructure has been left to crumble. A closer look at these sprouting shopping malls raises enlightening and incriminating questions. Where are the goods from? How many of the items on sale have actually been made in Zambia? How many of the shops are Zambian-owned businesses? Very few is the answer, if any.
My travels around Zambia, as any regular road user would recognise, were not straightforward. Zambia’s main roads are in a terrible state. Among the worst affected are Chinsali-Nakonde road, Mansa-Kashikishi -Chiengi road and those in opposition strongholds such as the Livingstone-Sesheke road, Kafue-Monze road, Solwezi-Mwinilunga road, and Mongu-Nkeyema motorway. As a landlocked country, the road network is critical to the imports and exports that sustain the economy, and that is why it is shocking that the government has allowed the Lusaka-Livingstone road – a pro-growth highway that leads to Zambia’s tourism capital city and links the country to the markets of southern Africa – to deteriorate to the level it has reached today. I am focusing on road network deliberately because the rail network is in too poor a state to even mention, having suffered decades of sustained neglect and corrupt mismanagement. Major roads between Zambia’s cities are littered with potholes with wide sections missing and no prospects of an upgrade seemingly imminent. Motorists are often obliged to go off the road and into the bush as if nothing has changed in the terrain over the last 200 years. This should be a national embarrassment. And yet the state of Zambia’s roads is taken for granted. Has our nation really sunk so low that we now have no aspiration even to have a functioning transport system?
It is hard to say what is more dangerous: the country’s roads or its hospitals. Once upon a time, we had a health system and network of provincial hospitals that, though not without their problems, at least functioned and could provide a range of basic medical services. Now, outside of a few quite good hospitals in Lusaka, it seems that a patient is more likely to survive if they stay outside any public hospital than if they entered it. This is another testament to the decades of neglect in maintaining our national infrastructure. Hospitals are crumbling with insufficient staff, shortages of medicine and a lack of basic medical equipment. Again, this should cause an outrage, since it is something that affects all of us – that is apart from those who can fly abroad to receive medical treatment.
What is worse is that this is not a problem that is concentrated to one area of the country. It is a nationwide crisis. When I visited Lewanika General Hospital in Mongu, Solwezi General Hospital in Northwestern Province and Mansa General Hospital in Luapula, for instance, I found patients lying on the floor, with no beds, let alone doctors to attend to them or medicine to cure their basic ailments. These fellow citizens had come to these hospitals for treatment and yet they were being left to die. The collapse of provincial hospitals has wider consequences. Patients, if they can survive the journey on Zambia’s deplorable roads, now travel to Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and consequently place an overwhelming burden on the resources of the nation’s highest health facility. This influx of patients who are unable to obtain medical care outside the capital city has reduced UTH to the kind of death trap that mirrors the provincial hospitals these patients were trying to escape from in the first place. Instead of saving lives, our public health facilities are now dispensing death en masse. Mortuaries, rather than operating theatres, are increasingly becoming the busiest parts of our public hospitals.
What frightens me even more is that a new generation of intellectually promising young Zambians is being educated simply to accept these conditions. The semi-derelict or dilapidated status of many of the country’s schools prepares our students for a lifetime among crumbling public physical infrastructure. Visitors to Hillcrest National Technical High School in Livingstone, for instance, could be forgiven for thinking that they were entering an abandoned building. At one time, Zambia’s schools were the envy of the region as the first post-independence government made strenuous efforts to create an education system in a country that had not previously possessed one. Founding president Kenneth Kaunda and his nationalist friends had a hard task as, even by colonial standards, Zambia’s education system was minimal. It would appear however that recent governments have sought to rival that record. School buildings are allowed to decay. Teachers are poorly paid, with many consequently indebted as they seek to cover for what the government is not providing. Science laboratories exist in name only, while institutional houses, where these are present, look like relics from another era. Public secondary schools that were built as recently as the 1970s are now in dire need of repair. For those schools that offer boarding services, pupils are packed into filthy and overcrowded dormitories and classrooms that are falling down around them. As a result of this unfavourable learning environment, our public schools are increasingly becoming deathbeds of reason, creativity and thought, churning out social delinquents who murder, rob, defile the children and are useful only to political parties as these organisations engage in a vicious struggle to acquire state power through the deadly language of violence and machetes, one that breaks all laws and ethical norms.
Those in power would do well to visit their old schools and see what has become of them. And they should do so soon because it is entirely possible that in a few years, many of these buildings will have collapsed. When I say ‘those in power’, I mean those in whose head and soul the pain of our pitiful state still strikes a chord. I do not mean those whose sole objective in public life is, in the words of former South African president Thabo Mbeki, ‘to acquire personal wealth by means both foul and fair, [and] whose measure of success is the amount of wealth they can accumulate and the ostentation they can achieve, which will convince all that they are a success, because, in a visible way, they are people of means… In this equation, the poverty of the masses of the people becomes a necessary condition for the enrichment of the few and the corruption of political power, the only possible condition for its exercise.’
The steady deterioration of our nation’s public schools suggests that within 20 to 30 years, pupils will be learning in the open air. Sadly, this decline in public physical infrastructure is not restricted to secondary schools. I did not have to travel far to see what has happened to the nation’s most prestigious university, the University of Zambia (UNZA). In many ways, UNZA is a microcosm of a national dream in ruins, for it has effectively become an upgraded secondary school. It is discretionary to continue calling the institution a university and miraculous that there is anything left to see at all. Many buildings that form the University of Zambia, both at Great East Road and Ridgeway campuses, look to be on the verge of collapse while some are engulfed by raw sewage from the institution’s long broken and effectively dysfunctional toilet system. When it rains, water pours into some buildings and the few resources we do possess are damaged irreparably. What is not damaged is hopelessly out-dated. The university’s main library, for instance, is like a museum of the 1970s, retaining as its latest collection books that were published when Kaunda, now 94, was still a youth. Little, if anything, has been added to the collection since then. I am embarrassed when visitors come to Zambia and see what our main national university, which at one time was one of the leading higher education institutions in the region, has been reduced to. Given the hostility of our leaders to (expert) knowledge, one that explains the total absence of a research unit in the vitally important Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development or the presence of a bar but not library at Sate House, it is no wonder that many of our university intellectuals have been retooled to primarily function as in-house advisers and consultants of multinational corporations and the so-called ‘development partners’. The smartest stars among us, continuously ignored by their own government when it comes to the formulation and implementation of policy and strategy, have been unwittingly hitched to a foreign official agenda that advances the interests of those who fund their research efforts to the detriment of our own. The university is the site of making critical knowledge and it is a shame that there is minimal support for this project from national leaders who, when it is convenient to them, decry foreign influence.
The truth is that we are a nation in terminal decline, a rot that cuts across several decades and the efforts of successive governments and one that is likely to get worse because of population growth and the mounting bill for debt service. Many people are resigned to accepting the mediocrity of our lives and leadership and what I have described above as an unfortunate but ultimately unchangeable fact about Zambia. They insist that there is little we can do to change our plight and consequently refuse to rebel against the pitiful state of our sub-human existence. This represents another kind of poverty: the poverty of ambition. At a time when the country needs a new vision – inspired in part by the very decay in both the physical infrastructure and the social supper structure I demonstrate here – to enable us to transform ourselves or to create a new future by destroying the present and building in its place that which will be new, Zambia’s national politicians and educated population expend an astonishing amount of effort and energy on trivial issues, ignoring major and pressing questions of national importance: health, education and transport. The developmental state, one that provides for citizens and was so central to the significant gains that were recorded in the first few years following the achievement of independence, is on its way out, thanks to the crafty efforts of those who seek and stand to benefit from the absence of such a state. What is even more scary is that we have a cadre of leaders running the country or aspiring to lead it who have lost any desire to re-build the developmental state and to identify and mobilise the social forces capable of leading the struggle for renewal and transformation such as the working class youths from both our urban and rural social environments.
What is our national strategy and who devises it? What exactly are our priorities? What has happened to us, Zambians? How did we get here? What went wrong? Why weren’t the basic needs I identify above met from the borrowing that has effectively landed us into a debt trap? Where did all the money go? What can be done to improve our lot as a nation – and if the answer is nothing, then why does Zambia exist at all? What would the world miss about Zambia if we simply vanished off the face of the world tomorrow? Are we, as I fear, nothing more than free-floating consumers of what we do not produce and custodians of the mineral wealth extracted largely for the benefit of others elsewhere? If we are still here next year or in ten years’ time, what would we have done to change our fate as a people, to alter the existing reality and future of Zambia?
We have a long way to go to get to a better future, but we must go there! Most importantly, we have work to do, lots of work, if we are to change who we are today. Tough times ahead – not that these and those before have been any better. Hello, is anyone listening?
Minister of National Development Planning Honourable Alexander Chiteme and Minister of Finance Honourable Margaret Mwanakatwe participating in the 16th Statutory Meeting of the Africa Group 1 Constituency at the IMF/World Bank 2018 Spring Meetings at World Bank Headquarters
An Africa analyst at Eurasia Group says negotiations with the IMF over a long-delayed $1.3 billion loan are unlikely to produce a deal before the end of the year.
Ty McCormick wrote in a client note this week that Zambia’s external debt is likely higher than the official $8.7 billion figure.
“A planned review of the situation has been delayed and the results may not be made public. The risk of default is low in 2018, but will increase substantially in 2019 and 2020 absent a concerted effort to cut spending” and an IMF program,” the note said.
“President Edgar Lungu’s cash-strapped government has resisted the IMF’s calls to rein in spending. Lungu will probably continue to borrow and spend in the lead up to the election” in 2021. Debt figures “will likely be revised upward after the Finance Ministry completes its debt sustainability analysis,” expected in June.
“Nonetheless, this is not a Mozambique-style ‘hidden debt’ situation;” rather a “breakdown” of the debt-tracking process as individual ministries and parastals secured project financing.”
“Rising copper prices will provide a small cushion in the short term, but the government remains highly vulnerable to external shocks such as a slump in commodity prices or a drought that dents hydropower production and in turn hurts the mining sector”
The Kwacha extended its decline to a four-month low against the dollar and its Eurobond yields soared as loan talks with the International Monetary Fund stalled amid concern the country is under-reporting its external debt.
KK with ZCID board members
The Board of the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue on Monday paid a courtesy call on the First Republican President Dr. Kenneth Kaunda at his residence in New Kasama.
This is an effort by the ZCID to bolster its image as it pushes for greater recognition over the impending national dialogue process.
ZCID Board Member Jackson Silavwe said the Board recognises the immense contributions made by Dr Kaunda through interparty dialogue and facilitating a crucial Constitutional amendment culminating into the return of multi partism in Zambia.
Mr Silavwe said ZCID believes that the current political leaders can emulate Dr. Kaunda and make decisions that will be an incentive to posterity.
The ZCID Board also wished Dr. Kaunda a happy 94th Birthday.
Zambia’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Emmanuel Chenda says President Mnangagwa’s administration is committed to improving the livelihoods of its people and Zambia will give Zimbabwe maximum support.
Mr. Chenda made the remarks last Thursday after paying a courtesy call on Vice President Constantino Chiwenga at his Munhumutapa Offices.
“The Government wants to ensure the people’s lives are enhanced and we commend them for that,” he said.
“Indeed Zimbabwe is open for business and we are strengthening our relations not only at government to government, but at people to people level also.”
Ambassador Chenda said no country was more connected to Zambia than Zimbabwe.
“We are connected by all major means of transport that is rail, air and road at the shortest possible time,” he said.
“My coming here is meant to strengthen our bilateral relationships. Economic development cannot be sustained unless there are strong bilateral relations. We have discussed economic, social, cultural and infrastructure development issues.”
He said one of the projects they had discussed was the Batoka power project.
“Both countries are in dire need of energy and industrialisation. Energy is key to that and it is our sincere hope that within the shortest possible time this project will take off.”
He added: “We also discussed the Lion’s Den-Kafue railway line which will be constructed and shorten the route to our alternative ports. All these are issues which will ensure the two countries develop economically and offer better opportunities and lives to our people.”
The University of Zambia has taken unusual step of asking female students to stop visiting the library “half-naked” because it distracts male students.
UNZA management put up a notices around its library telling the female students to dress more modestly.
“It has come to our attention that some female students dress half-naked as they use the library, a situation which is disturbing the male students,” the notice in the library reads.
“We therefore advise the female students to dress modestly as you use university facilities. Modest is the way to go!”
Management said it has observed that male students were failing to study because of indecent dressing among female students.
Some female students have since disagreed with the directive saying it is draconian.
“If your mission of going to the library is to study, why should you start looking at other things like a female’s legs? Just concentrate on your books, that’s all,” second year student Lucy Bwalya said.
Other male students like Paul Chileshe said management has done well to write the memo.
“Issuance of this notice by management is a sign that the alleged indecent (half naked) dressing by some female students has gone out if hand. Perhaps management should also prescribe the dress code for all library users like formal dressing although this may not be welcomed by students as others prefer casual wear. Female students should also take it upon themselves to dress appropriately. It’s a library and not a club, they say an occasion determines ones dress code it’s as easy as that,” Chileshe said.
Over 900 bicycles and four Toyota land cruisers have been distributed to districts in Southern Province under the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services.
Some of the districts that have benefited include Choma, Mazabuka, Namwala, and Siavonga Districts.
Speaking during the handover ceremony in Siavonga district, Community Development and Social Services Minister, Emerine Kabanshi said government respects the work of social warfare workers saying the vehicles will help them work effectively.
Ms Kabanshi urged Siavonga District Social Welfare Officer, Seshekanu Lumwayo to use the vehicle for its intended purpose to help the vulnerable in the district.
“Don’t use the vehicle for carrying charcoal for your home, when there are sick people around use it to take them to the hospital,” she said.
The Minister stated that government wants to ensure that it alleviates the suffering of all the vulnerable people in the country through the Social Cash Transfer Programme.
She advised the social warfare officer to provide wheel chairs to the physically challenged people in the area.
And Ms Kabanshi also distributed blankets to the aged and the physically challenged.
Speaking at the same event, Siavonga District Commissioner (DC) Lovemore Kanyama thanked government for includingthe district on the social cash transfer programme saying it will greatly benefit the vulnerable in the area.
One of the beneficiaries, Sailasi Njowe 92 from Chief Simamba’s area thanked government for helping the needy in society.
Attorney General Likando Kalaluka has urged the Constitutional Court to expeditiously deal with that case President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility to contest the 2021 elections before the 2021 elections.
This is in a matter in which four political parties namely Christian Democratic party,Zambia Republican party,New Congress party and Citizens Democratic party are seeking the court’s interpretation of President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility to stand in the 2021 elections.
Mr Kalaluka said that dragging matter until 2021 may disturb various electoral processes.
However, Constitutional lawyer John Sangwa, who is representing LAZ, argued that submissions by the Attorney General that the Constitutional court should deal with the matter before 2021 should not be entertained as it is not a legal, but moral issue.
The Attorney General submitted before the Constitutional Court that President Edgar Lungu is eligible to contest the 2021 presidential election.
Mr Kalaluka submitted before the bench of seven Constitutional court Judges that President Lungu qualifies to stand in 2021 because he only served one of the inherited term as opposed to the three years considered to be a full term of office by the amended constitution.
He said the current constitution does not cover circumstances under which President lungu was elected, urging the court to go back to the records of Parliament.
Mr Kalaluka wondered why President Lungu should be treated differently from others such as members of parliament and councilors who inherit a term of office and serve for less than three years in office.
But Mr Sangwa argued that President Lungu is not eligible to contest the 2021 elections he has already served two terms as stipulated by Article 106(3) of the constitution.
Mr Sangwa was further supported by lawyers representing the UPND who insisted that President Lungu is not eligible to stand in the 2021 presidential election asking the Constitutional court dismiss the matter.
UPND lawyer Keith Mweemba submitted that President Lungu was elected twice as president and did not assume the office through the vice presidency.
However, lawyer Bonaventure Mutale who is representing the four political parties submitted that President Lungu should be allowed to contest the 2021 presidential election arguing that his stay in office from 2015 to 2016 does constitute a full term of office.
The matter has since been adjourned to 8th May,2018 for continued hearing
The Zambia Revenue Authority says it has concluded the customs audit of all major mining companies in Zambia.
ZRA Spokesman Topsy Sikalinda said the results have of the customs audit have since been communicated in writing to the tax payers.
“Some of them are responding, while others have asked for more time which we have since granted,” Mr Sikalinda said.
He added, “Please note that this is a normal audit process and that the authority is not targeting any particular company. As soon as this process with the industry is finalised, ZRA will update the nation accordingly.”
Earlier today, Centre for Trade Policy and Development Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo urged the ZRA to update the nation on the progress regarding the tax audit of all mining companies.
We take a look at how our European-based stars fared at their respective clubs this past weekend.
BELGIUM
Midfielder Emmanuel Banda played the full 90 minutes in KV Oostende’s 2-0 away win over Beerschot on Sunday.
RUSSIA
Striker Fashion Sakala played the full 90 minutes but was not on target on Sunday in Spartak Moscow Two’s 2-1 away loss at Tyumen.
SWEDEN
Midfielder Edward Chilufya was on the bench in 10th placed Djurgarden’s 1-0 away loss at 12th positioned Brommapjkarna.
AUSTRIA
-RB SALZBURG: Midfielder Enock Mwepu played the full 90 minutes and contributed one assist for retaining champions RB Salzburg who beat rivals and runners-up Sturm Graz 4-1 on Sunday.
-LIEFERING:Striker Patson Daka came off the bench in the 71st minute scored a stoppage time winner in Liefering’s 3-2 home win over Hartberg on Friday.
ENGLAND
New Zambia U20 call-up Malumo Mwiya did not make promoted League One club Wigan’s 1-0 away win on Saturday over Doncaster.
Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo says Government will only accede the African Union protocol relating to the Free Movement of People after it consults all stakeholders and has National consensus on the issue.
Speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when he transited to Hong Kong to attend a Security Summit, Mr. Kampyongo said it was a constitutional requirement to subject decisions of this magnitude to National scrutiny.
He said Government was hopeful that consultations on the treaty to allow for Free Movement of people would be complete before the June /July 2018 Heads of States and Government Summit in Mauritania.
The Minister said it was the desire of Government to be part of the continental agenda but was conscious of the fact that all decisions made by government must be supported by majority Zambians.
“We would like Zambians to have a say through their representatives in parliament before we can sign the treaty of Free Movement of people”, the Minister said.
The African Union during the January 2018 Summit adopted a protocol to the treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to Free Movement of persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment after a series of Member States negotiations in different platforms.
The Free Movement Protocol allows for solidarity and integrity on movement of people in Africa and reiterates shared values of protection of human and people’s rights to movement as provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
On the issuance of the African Passport, the Minister said Zambia was going to be part of meetings that have been called by the African Union to develop guidelines on specifications, Production and issuance of the African passport.
Member States would be required to adopt standardized and inclusive policies based on a continental design and specifications as outlined in Article 9 of the Protocol, which allows for each member states the right to issue nationals a valid African passport to facilitate movement on the continent.
He said the issuance of the African Passport will only commerce after the guidelines on specifications are agreed upon by all Member States.
Currently, Chiefs of Immigration of African Union Member States are engaged in developing guidelines on specifications, production and issuance of the African Passport. This will enhance ownership of the African passport by Member States and promote its issuance to citizens of Africa.
So Far, the African Union has issued the African Passport to all Heads of States, Foreign Affairs Ministers and Ambassadors accredited to the African Union.
Mr. Kampyongo who travelled with a five member delegation from the security wings was received at Bole International Airport by Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Susan Sikaneta who commended Government for the decision to consult the citizenry through their representatives in Parliament before acceding to some treaties at the African Union.
She said the Protocol of Free Movement of Persons was particularly sensitive and it was only correct that in a democratic dispensation like Zambia, adequate consultations were made to ensure security and sovereignty protection for the National good.
Ms. Sikaneta who is also Zambia’s Permanent representative to the AU disclosed that meetings were held with Member States to agree on mechanisms of how the African Passport will be issued by individual states.
On the Security Summit in Hongkong, Mr.Kampyongo emphasized the need for Zambia to modernize its security systems in order to conform to international standards.
He said the security institutions in the country would only be able to fight sophiscated crime through modernizing of security systems.
He noted the need to interface some security institutions with International security institutions.
On Cyber Crime, Mr Kampyongo said his ministry had put in mechanisms to ensure social media platforms are not used to trample of people rights to privacy.
He said it was unfortunate that Zambia had in the recent past witnessed a lot of cases of cyber bulling and swindling.
Luapula Province Controller of Government Transport Alex Kalobwe says the on spot check of government vehicles in the province is not aimed at persecuting anyone.
Mr. Kalobwe stated that there are written down guidelines on how government vehicles are supposed to be used and that everyone using them is expected to know these guidelines.
Speaking during a 2 day inspection of Government vehicles over the weekend, Mr. Kalobwe explained that the inspection will help to reduce the abuse of government vehicles.
He explained that long distance driving of government vehicles should be left to those people who are employed for that particular purpose as they are professionals in that area..
ZANIS reports that Mr. Kalobwe further disclosed that out of the 7 vehicles which were impounded in the province, 3 were being driven by people who are not authorised to drive government vehicles beyond the radius of 50 Kilometres as one of the guidelines.
He has confirmed that his Ministry will be conducting these on the spot check regularly.
The Centre for Trade Policy and Development has called on the Zambia Revenue Authority to give an update on the tax evasion scam involving First Quantum Minerals (FQM).
Early this year, on the 20th March 2018, the Zambia Revenue Authority disclosed that it had uncovered a tax evasion scam in which a mining company evaded paying taxes worth K76.5 billion or the equivalent of about $7.5 Billion.
CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo said after number of speculations from various sections of society, his organisation observed a response from FQM refuting the tax assessment issued by ZRA.
“The Zambia Revenue Authority in that briefing informed the nation that the amount accrued resulted from the mining company dodging taxes by avoiding paying import duties on consumables and spare parts which it classified as mining machinery when in fact they were not, thereby unlawfully incurring a zero percent duty as by the Zambian tax law. This, according to ZRA was what transpired in the last 5 years. Later, the mining company came out to indicate that the amount disclosed by ZRA was not a true reflection of what the company owed the revenue authority.”
Mr Mwaipopo said FQM further indicated that the assessment did not have any discernable basis of calculation and was to continue working with the ZRA in resolving the case.
“Our concern and expectation is that ZRA would be updating the nation on the issue, as it is a serious matter, especially when we look at the prevailing challenges the country is facing when it comes to financing local development. It has been over a month now and the Zambia Revenue Authority has not made a single announcement on the issue, people need to know how far the investigations have gone,” Mr Mwaipopo said.
“It is often the outcome that such cases pass in silence and the matter easily gets wiped from public conversation, but $ 7.6 billion is too big an amount to be forgotten, this amount is over 5 times what the nation has been struggling to obtain as loan from the International Monitory Fund, this amount could finance the entire 2019 budget.”
Mr Mwaipopo urged the ZRA to continue treating this case with the seriousness it deserves as it will set precedence over how subsequent cases could be dealt with.
“We urge all citizens to get involved in demanding for accountability, this is the only way we will build a strong and resilient economy,” he said.
FILE: Minister of High Education Prof. Nkandu Luo inspecting hostels on how clean are now at UNZA during the tour of the facility
Minister of Higher Education Professor Nkandu Luo has directed all public universities and colleges in the country to open up separate bank accounts to be specifically used for maintenance as a way of enhancing accountability.
Due to the numerous complaints reaching the Professor Nkandu Luo’s office, regarding maintenance of institutions, lack of sporting activities learning institutions it has become critical that money collected for maintenance, sports and union activities are banked separately so that in the absence of these activities, the Institution can explain what they have done with a particular budget line.
Professor Nkandu Luo said, from now onwards, there is no need for institutions to have one bank account where all the fees will be paid into.She made the directive when she made an impromptu visit at Kitwe Trades Training Institute (KTTI) in Kitwe on Thursday. She found the hostels and workshops still in a dilapidated state.
Students in higher learning institutions apart from tuition fees also pay for; maintenance, recreation and union fees.Maintenance feesis supposed to go towards the maintenance of the school but that has not been the case and as a result students are subjected to learning in classrooms with broken doors and window panes, cracked floors and broken chairs among other things.
“It is extremely unfair and irresponsible to subject students to such a learning environment when each year students pay something towards maintenance fees to their respective institutions” Professor Nkandu Luo said.
She said it was high time management in the institutions started accounting for the resources and this was one of the ways to do so.
Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Ronald Chitotela
The Japanese government has committed to construct a bridge across the Luangwa river on the Great East road to replace the existing suspended bridge. Japan is also willing to give Zambia a grant to construct the bridge.
Japanese Deputy Minister of Lands Infrastructure Transport and Tourism Yoshiyuki Aoki revealed this when he met Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development Ronald Chitotela in Johannesburg, South Africa.
And Mr. Chitotela says a team of experts from Japan will be visiting Zambia to carry out an assessment on the type of bridge to put up and how much it will cost.
Mr. Chitotela says the Japanese government has since directed the Japanese Ambassador to Zambia to write a formal letter to the Zambian government on his country’s commitment to construct the bridge.
And Mr. Chitotela said the Luangwa bridge is important to Zambia as it is a gateway to the Port of Nacala in Mozambique.
He added that the suspended bridge has a disadvantage as it only allows one vehicle to cross at a time.
Mr. Chitotela further said the new bridge will boost trade and traffic volume between Zambia and the international community through the Port of Nacala in Mozambique.
Mr. Chitotela, together with three other Cabinet Ministers was in Johannesburg South Africa to attend the Japan-Africa Public-Private Economic Forum which was held in view of accelerating promotion of private-sector-led economic growth.
Meanwhile, The construction of the One-Million-US-Dollar Katembula dam in Lufwanyama district is almost complete and expected to be commissioned by President Edgar Lungu in two weeks’ time.
The dam which is one of the major projects on the Copperbelt is expected to store over 3 million cubic litres of water for domestic and commercial activities in Lufwanyama district.
Copperbelt Province Permanent Secretary Bright Nundwe says the completion of Katembula dam will address the water supply challenges that the people have been facing for a long time.
And Chieftainess Shimukunami of the Lamba people of Lufwanyama said the district has recorded meaningful development because of the good governance and leadership of President Lungu.
She said the people in her chiefdom are appreciating the leadership of President Lungu for honouring his promise to improve water supply in the area.
