The Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti, has called upon Members of Parliament (MPs) to acquaint themselves with the reformed national budgeting system, emphasizing the transition from activity-based to output-based budgeting in recent years. Ms. Mutti highlighted this significant shift, which has been facilitated through the enactment of the National Planning and Budgeting Act of 2020.

Addressing MPs during a social sector analysis training workshop, Speaker Mutti stressed the importance of sector-specific budget analysis as a means to strengthen Parliament’s role in the budget approval process. She emphasized that this approach would allow for a more comprehensive understanding of budget allocations across various sectors.

Furthermore, Speaker Mutti noted that the transition process included a pilot exercise in 2022 involving two parliamentary committees: the Committee on Agriculture, Lands, and Natural Resources and the Committee on Energy, Water, Development, and Tourism. This pilot phase, she explained, is set to continue as part of the scrutiny process for the 2024 budget estimates, with an additional five committees to be included.

United Nations Resident Coordinator, Beatrice Mutali, expressed her satisfaction with the Zambian government’s commitment to expanding the social sector budget, particularly in areas such as health, education, and social protection. This reflects a positive development toward addressing critical social issues in the country.

Meanwhile, Herrick Mpuku, Executive Director of the Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR), highlighted the pivotal role of Parliament in economic management. He stressed that MPs play a crucial part in the development and approval of the national budget, as well as in closely monitoring and controlling government expenditure. Dr. Mpuku emphasized the necessity of equipping MPs with the tools and knowledge required to scrutinize the national budget effectively, ensuring a balanced approach between expenditure and revenue.

As Zambia continues to refine its budgeting system and enhance parliamentary oversight, these developments are expected to contribute to more effective governance and resource allocation, ultimately benefitting the nation’s citizens.

Government has expressed concern over the increased reports of human-wildlife conflict as it affects the lives of people and food security.

Minister of Tourism, Rodney Sikumba said human-wildlife conflicts are more prevalent in communities that live near protected areas and game management areas.

He said currently the number of human lives that have been lost this year due to human-animal conflict stands at ten.

Mr Sikumba said human-wildlife conflict has continued to be a major challenge affecting the wildlife conservation efforts.

He attributed increased cases of human-wildlife conflict to population growth, bushfires, poor agriculture practices and significant reduction of prey in game management areas.

ZANIS reports that Mr Sikumba disclosed during a media briefing that in the second quarter Zambia recorded 4,206 human wildlife conflict reports.

He cited Muchinga, Eastern, Lower Zambezi, Southern, Western and Kafue region as areas with most reports of human-wildlife incidences.

Mr Sikumba indicated that most of the human-wildlife animal conflicts were caused by elephants, buffaloes, hippopotamus, crocodiles and bush pigs.

He further disclosed that a total of 53 problematic animals were controlled as part of conservation measures as they became a threat to human life.

And commenting on the increased reports of human-wildlife conflicts in Livingstone, Mr Sikumba explained that African elephant herds often move out of the park at night in the dry season in search of food in surrounding areas.

He said due to lack of a buffer zone, animals end up straying in communities between Livingstone and Kazungula thereby destroying people’s gardens.

Meanwhile, Mr Sikumba has announced that the Ministry of Tourism through the Department of National Parks and Wildlife will next month in October beef up deployment of wildlife officers in hot spot regions so as to reduce human wildlife conflict.

He named the hot spot regions where more reports of human wildlife conflict have been reported as Muchinga, Eastern, Lower Zambezi, Southern, Western and Kafue region.

On poaching, Mr Sikumba said cases of animal poaching across the country have reduced as a result of increased enforcement and patrols by the wildlife officers.

Meanwhile, a 38 year old man of Maloni Compound has been found dead after he went missing on Sunday September 17, 2023.

Southern Province Police Commanding Officer Auxensio Daka said Police in Livingstone picked up the body of Peter Mwangala near Maloni Sakubita collapsed bridge.

He said the body of the deceased had multiple injuries as it is believed that he was trampled to death by an elephant.

“Police received a report of a dead body having been discovered at Maloni Sakubita bridge and visited the scene and established that the person could have been killed by an elephant as it had multiple body injuries and in a decomposed state”, he said.

Police have since picked up the body and deposited it in Batoka Hospital Mortuary awaiting burial and post mortem.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Dennis Zulu of Zambia as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Jamaica, with the host Government’s approval. Mr. Zulu will also be responsible for coordinating UN work in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos and Cayman Islands.

Mr. Zulu has more than 20 years of experience in development work, the private sector and academia. Prior to taking up his appointment as Resident Coordinator, he served as Director of International Labour Organization (ILO) Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean. There, he led efforts to provide programmatic support and guidance to ILO constituents in identifying and addressing their country Decent Work priorities.

He also directed the formulation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the substantive work programmes of the Decent Work Team. His work helped policy development through the promotion of the Decent Work Agenda dimension to social, economic and environmental policymakers and other stakeholders.

Mr. Zulu also served as UN Resident Coordinator a.i. for Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Aruba and Curaçao from March 2022 to June 2023. He has also served as ILO Director for English Speaking West Africa and Representative to the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS), based in Nigeria, from 2015 to 2019.

Mr. Zulu holds a master’s degree in business administration from Mzumbe University, United Republic of Tanzania, a post-graduate diploma from Stellenbosch University of South Africa and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Zambia.