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The Patriot Front has warned against politicizing the shooting incident that occurred at the Post newspaper offices yesterday.Shots were fired from the roof top and into the newsroom sending panic among reporters who were in the middle of production.A bullet landed close to where a pregnant journalist usually sat.She had just left her seat moments prior to the shooting.
However PF media and publicity Vice chairperson Sunday Chanda has warned Zambians against what he termed as mischievous headlines and opinions all based on falsities and cooked propaganda that are bound to follow in the aftermath of the shooting.He castigated UPND president Hakainde Hichilema for alleging that the PF were behind the shooting incident.Mr.Chanda urged Zambians to allow the Police to conclude their investigations.
Post Newspaper senior general manager, Sheikh Chifuwe said the Post will wait to hear from the police, but as a media organisation, they feel they have a duty now, more than ever before to inform citizens of what is going on in their country.
“We will not rule out anything because we are coming from a background where the Head of State announced that he was at war with our editor-in-chief. Practically, with that statement, President Edgar Lungu put a bounty on our editor’s head,” Chifuwe said. “So this can be anything. What we are sure of is that whoever fired the weapon understood what he was doing and also knew his target.
Below is the Full Press statement
POST NEWSPAPER REPORTED SHOOTING AND MR. HAKAINDE HICHILEMA’S CARELESS REMARKS– STATEMENT BY SUNDAY CHANDA, VICE CHAIRPERSON, MEDIA AND PUBLICITY COMMITTEE
Lusaka, Zambia, 1st October 2015 -While the reported shooting incident at the Post Newspapers remains highly unfortunate and undesirable for a society such as ours, we want to caution against excited members of our society especially those drawn from the political space who wish to treat a sensitive matter with political gloves. It is in the best interest of investigations that political commentators in the nation do not derail the course of investigations by the Zambia Police. This we say because of the cheap propaganda that is going to follow in the aftermath of the reported shooting. In the days ahead, Zambians will be treated to mischievous headlines and opinions all based on falsities and cooked propaganda. This we must guard against jealously. It will be a disservice to the traumatized reporters at the Post Newspaper if anyone, including the paper itself, plays political ping-pong with this matter.
On that premise, it is highly uneducated of UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema to allege that the Patriotic Front (PF) is behind the reported shooting incident which is still under investigations especially considering that it occurred under very uncommon circumstances. There will be busy and desperate mouthpieces which will line up for headlines and statements prepared on their behalf in order for the shooting incident to suit their narrative. We wish to warn Mr. Hichilema against careless remarks and cheap political propaganda on this matter. He instead has a duty to tell Zambians his role, if any, in Zambia’s infamous privatization.
We wish to reaffirm the position that the PF under His Excellency President Edgar Chagwa Lungu remains committed to the rule of law and has refused to participate in cessation of life of any human being, including those who insult and demean him day-in and day-out. President Lungu has continued to speak peace even in the midst of individuals and institutions that drew battle lines just when it became apparent that he would succeed late President Michael Chilufya Sata.
We therefore ask Zambians of good conscience to allow the Zambia Police carry out investigations. This is also because of what is likely to be a divided opinion on the matter if it is allowed to be reduced to a political issue. With that said, we wish to assure that if the matter will be reduced to a political one, as the PF we shall be more than ready to respond to it politically. In the meantime, we ask citizens, including the Post Newspaper to allow the Zambia police to conclude with its investigations.
Issued by: Sunday Chilufya Chanda, Vice Chairperson, PF Media and Publicity Committee
An 11-YEAR-OLD girl has told the Livingstone Magistrate’s Court that her alleged defiler made her drink Castle lager before he had carnal knowledge of her.
The girl told the court that the alleged defiler, Zachariah Muwowo, 40, who had earlier picked her from home, locked her in his car after she drank beer, and returned later to defile her.
This is in a matter where Muwowo, who is charged with defilement, contrary to the laws of Zambia, was appearing before magistrate Benjamin Mwelwa.
The juvenile testified to the court that on July 29, 2015, at about 19:00 hours, she was outside the house playing with a friend and her two siblings, when Muwowo went to their house to buy airtime.
“We told him that we didn’t have talktime, and my friend directed him to another place where he could buy talktime,” she said.
The juvenile told the court that Muwowo then asked her and her friend to escort him.
The victim told the court that she got on the accused’s vehicle together with her friend, who sat at the back, whilst she took the front seat.
She said when they reached the place where they were going, Muwowo sent her friend to go and buy airtime.
And after that, the accused started driving in a different direction, prompting the girls to ask him to take them home, but he did not do so.
She said Muwowo did not respond but drove quietly until they reached a bar on airport road. He disembarked to go and fetch some beers, leaving the two girls locked in his car.
The victim explained that the accused later returned with two bottles of Castle lager and gave them a bottle each.
The victim told the court that she had never tasted alcohol before, therefore, she only managed to drink half of it and so did her friend.
She further narrated that the accused locked them inside the vehicle again, while he went back to the bar. He later drove the girls to his house, and at this point the victim tried to open the front door of the car but failed. She asked her friend to open the back door and she managed to break free.
“I requested her to open for me as well, but she failed. So I moved to the back sit so that I could drop off, but Mr Muwowo drove off to Guinea Fowl Street, where he parked the car and came to the back seat where I was,” she said.
The victim told the court that the accused undressed her and also removed his clothes and had sex with her in the car.
“After he slept with me, he told me not to tell anyone or he would deal with me,” she said.
Gospel Artist , Tio, has been in the new recently for having a hairstyle that some say is not appropriate for a gospel artist .
For those who may not know who Tio is , here is his profile courtesy of retunes.com
“Tio, born Taonga Nyirongo, is one of the most talented artists we have ever had a chance to know. To describe him in a few words we would say his “God fearing, multi-talented, perfectionist, wise, and passionate”, those are but a few words that describe this young man.
Born in the humble city of Kabwe and growing up in Lusaka, Zambia, God has used him to reach people around the world one soul at a time. His an example of what God will do in your life if you use your gift for him. God has moved him around from the humble streets of Chilenje to the high ways of Copperbelt, from the youth gatherings like WarZone to stages in Kenya and Namibia. His gift has seen him before kings, hearts of mothers, children and those in pain, and with all that said its just the biginning of the big plans God has in store for him.
We at retunes have sat in amazement at how his music is slowly rushing out of Zambia to countries like Great Britian, Australia, USA, Botswana, India and other countries on the retunes network.”
File:GBM flashing the PF symbol on arrival in Solwezi to drum up support for PF Parliamentary candite Newton Malwa on September 10,2014 -Picture by THOMNAS NSAMA
Former Kasama member of Parliament Godfrey Mwamba yesterday told the Lusaka High Court that the decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly to declare his seat vacant has glaring inconsistencies, is contradictory and absolutely unconstitutional.
In his submissions before High Court Judge Florence Lengalenga, Mr Mwamba said he was concerned with the irrational manner with which the Speaker went ahead and declared his seat vacant when the matter was pending before the courts of law.
Mr Mwamba, through his lawyer Ms Martha Mushipe said Dr Matibini acted in total disregard of the judicial proceedings before the courts, despite an earlier injunction not to allow the Patriotic Front to expel him from the party under which he became MP.
“The applicant is trying to show the court the glaring inconsistencies and contradictions made by the second respondant.
“The Speaker clearly and illegally exercised the interpretive functions and further exceeded his own power by exercising judicial functions.
“We therefore submit that the Speaker acted ultra vires on the constitution and further have highlighted cases and decisions and that he did not follow the procedure and as such his decision was procedurally wrong,” he said.
Mr Mwamba, referred to as GBM, said there was a degree of unfairness and discrimination in the manner in which the speaker usurped the powers of the Judiciary more so after his earlier decisions pertaining to two other members of the legislature.
He explained that such an illegal and excessive exercise of power undermined the independent functions of the courts of law and ultimately interfered with the constitutional function under Article 91 (1) of the constitution.
He said the Speaker acted discriminatory against him despite there being 11 other cases with similar backgrounds, but instead took a controversial stance by expelling him from the House.
Mr Mwamba, who is UPND vice president for administration said he was trying to show the court lacunas in the law affecting eleven other parliamentary seats affected by similar matters.
“I urge the court to take judicial review of the fact that 11 parliamentary seats have been affected by the lacunas in the law and serious constitutional issues arising therefrom,” he said.
The applicant filed accompanying affidavits to further claim for damages for loss of emoluments and privileges and costs as a result of the action taken by the Dr Matibini.
File:An aerial view of delegates inside the Mulungushi international conference centre during the national indaba 2009
It is an undeniable fact that we are faced with one of the unprecedented economic challenges of our generation. The acute power shortage which has spiral effects such as down-scaled production and generally dwindling national productivity has triggered another vicious circle. This includes indiscriminate cutting of trees for charcoal burning, which in turn will affect the climatic condition hence poor rainfall and therefore more and more load shedding. These challenges have been compounded by plummeting commodity prices on international market which in turn has adversely affected the performance of our currency and job security.
Amidst all these challenges there has been too much blame game, instead of soberly seeking for short, medium to long term solutions. The opposition has squarely hipped the blame on government. The government on the other hand has attributed the challenges to nature and international forces. In all these, there has not been any demonstration of unity of purpose by key stakeholders in finding solutions to the economic woes we are in. What is evident is the effects of the challenges such increased cost of living, poor quality of life due to power outages, increased prices of basic foods such as bread, cooking oil and others.
However, during the opening of parliament, our President outline the government’s interventions through short to long term measures. Indeed the speech was rated as generally inspiring by most stakeholders, however, others still criticised it as mere rhetoric and that the President did not address the challenges in the mining sectors.
Zambia is blessed with highly competent technocrats in the line ministries, the opposition, the civil society, private practice, in academia both local and international. The question is why can’t we sit down on a round table, share and brain storm on progressive ideas to find solutions for our own problems? I would like to urge the government to serious consider calling for an indaba so that all key stakeholders can share ideas and map ways of tackling our economic challenges. I would propose that this is done immediately after the 18th of October national day of prayers and reconciliation. I pray that God will give us wisdom to put our political affiliations aside and tolerate divergent views if the views will contribute to solving our economic challenges.
Let posterity charge us fairly as a people which can stand as one in challenges and solve our own problems, after all we are One Zambia, One Nation and we only have one Zambia.
by Shem Sikombe (Mr)
Lecturer: Copperbelt University, School of Business
File picture:Give us a bribe…Traffic police officers confront a public service bus driver at Longacres in Lusaka
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is cautiously optimistic that Government will revise traffic fees as has been stated by Chief Government Spokesperson, Honourable Chishimba Kambwili. We hope, though, that remarks by the Minister will not be another political rhetoric by the Patriotic Front Government in the same manner the PF have given assurances in the past on important national issues.
While we are happy with the assurance from Chishimba Kambwili on Government’s commitment to revise traffic fines, we believe it is important for Government to engage with the motoring public when revising the traffic fees and that it must provide the actual timeline.
It will be extremely saddening to see the PF revise these exorbitant fees in 2016 as a campaign tool targeting the motoring public especially bus drivers and the youth who supported the PF ascendancy to power in 2011. We therefore challenge Government to state when these revisions will be done as opposed to giving blank statement that has no timeline.
YALI would like to remind Government that citizens can only pay what they get and there is no doubt that our people’s wage equivalence on relative terms, as aggregate for average population in Zambian, is very low where most bus drivers get paid $0.315 per hour as compared to other countries with high traffic fees such the United Kingdom and the US where the lowest paid gets a national minimum wage of £7.20/hr and $8/hr, respectively.
It is therefore ridiculous for a taxi, bus driver or indeed any other lowly paid motorists to be asked to pay a fine of K450 while carrying a K30 fare.
YALI believes the concept of law is to construct a citizenry that is aware and knowledgeable on basic corporate citizenship responsibilities in adherence to law and order and NOT looking for who to punish or sheer extortion of money as is the case with administration of traffic rules and regulations.
What is more saddening is to see traffic police officers who hide at blind spots along the road to intercept motorists and the increase in roadblocks and police checkpoints that damage our roads and no one in government seems to care about this.
Issued by
Isaac Mwanza
Governance Advisor
Young African Leaders Initiative
Defence Force personnel during the Golden Jubilee celebrations in Lusaka on October 24,2014 -Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
Eighteen ex-military personnel based in Chingola protested over delayed land allocation caused by Chingola Municipal Council contrary to a 2013 Presidential directive order.
The ex-service who expressed disappointed said Chingola Municipal Council has failed to implement the Presidential directive order for two years.
Ex-servicemen spokesperson Boniface Malambo said in 2013 the permanent secretary from the ministry of local Government and Housing Bernard Namachila wrote to all town clerks and council secretaries that they should secure settlement land for ex-servicemen.
Mr Malambo said the directive was from the late President Michael Chilufya Sata to ensure that men and women in uniform from the defence force be allocated suitable land for their settlement in retirement.
He said since then the Chingola Municipal Council has not secured land for military personnel, but issued land to civilians and left out ex-servicemen contrary to Presidential directive order.
Mr Malambo said the list for Chingola district comprised eighteen ex-servicemen personnel presented to Chingola Municipal Council was manipulated in which nine ex-military personnel waere removed and replaced by high rank officials who are still in service.
He said six high ranking military personnel were included on the list contrary to Presidential directive order that only ex-military personnel were eligible to be given land.
“We are concerned with the high level of corruption that is prevailing at the Chingola Municipal Council.Clearly the Town clerk George Mulenga has failed us by failing to comply with the lawful directive from the office of the President” Mr Malambo said.
Mr Malambo said evidence of corruption is visible in that none of the retired military personnel’s names had been included on the list which Chingola Municipal Council has.
“We are appealing to the Ant-Corruption Commission to investigate and bring to book all the culprits that have caused this matter to drag on for three years” Mr Malambo said.
He also said the group of ex-servicemen will not sit idol but said should the Chingola Municipal Council fail to them plots within 24 hours they will take the matter to Lusaka and see the President Edgar Changwa Lungu to inform him about the indiscipline and corruption that is prevailing in Chingola Municipal Council.
“As ex-servicemen we are not begging for land but just claiming for entitlement” Mr Malambo said.
Chingola Municipal Council Public Relations Manager George Sichimba acknowledged the Presidential directive order which was circulated in all council to allocate land for ex-servicemen.
Mr Sichimba said for Chingola district the council had no list of approved names that should get plots despite receiving several lists which were not approved.
He said the council has since engaged major Hambula to help verifications of names for the ex-servicemen.
“I beg the ex-servicemen to be calm we are just verifying the list and very soon plots will allocated to them”, Mr Sichilimba said.
MTN Zambia is disobeying Government Directive.Labour Minister Mr Shamenda we ask for you to intervene in the matters below. Despite your interaction with MTN management, MTN Zambia has disobeyed your directive to outsource employees with the same conditions. As it stands ISON BPO are still standing by the pathetic offers given to employees.
To enlighten you more on a few issues currently going on at MTN Zambia with relation to the outsourcing of permanent employees. As I type this currently no employee affected has received redundancy benefits or any benefits entitled at all.
Part of the Notice of Separation Letter given to the employees states:
“You are accordingly advised that you are entitled to redundancy benefits as specified in the Separation Agreement to be availed to you immediately prior to your final separation.” The final separation being dated the 30th of September 2015.
To further quote what the labour laws state to when redundancy packages should be remitted is below.
“THE EMPLOYMENT ACT (CHAPTER 268 OF THE LAWS OF ZAMBIA)
PART IV ORAL CONTRACTS OF SERVICE
26B. Termination by redundancy
(3) An employee whose contract of service has been terminated by reason of redundancy shall-
(a) be entitled to such redundancy payment as agreed by the parties or as determined by the Minister, whichever is the greater; and
(b) be paid the redundancy benefits not later than the last day of duty of the employee:
Provided that where an employer is unable to pay the redundancy benefits on the last day of duty of the employee, the employer shall continue to pay the employee full wages until the redundancy benefits are paid.
(4) The provisions of this section shall not apply to-
(a) an employer who ceases to carry on business by reason of bankruptcy or compulsory liquidation;
(b) a casual employee;
(c) an employee engaged for a fixed term and the redundancy coincides with the expiration of that term;
(d) an employee on probation; or
(e) an employee who has been offered alternative employment and who has unreasonably refused the offer.”
However the case today, shows clearly these laws have been breached. I am not a lawyer yet but I surely know how to read. We appeal to the Labour office to intervene and ensure MTN is operating within the labour laws. Am not trying to paint a bad picture on anyone but these are some of the things foreign investors do and easily get away with. Not long ago,this very company had a scandal over the listing of shares through ikulileni Investments on the stock exchange. To shade more light on more issues, MTN Zambia has not being remitting NAPSA of which deductions are made from employees on their pay slips showing that they are remitting.
We appeal and ask once small for government’s intervention.
FAZ Super Division side Mufulira Wanderers on Wednesday afternoon laboured to draw 1-1 with Division 1 North outfit Mufulira Blackpool in a friendly match at Kachofa Stadium.
Wanderers needed an 85th minute penalty to salvage a draw as they renewed their old rivalry with Blackpool in the derby friendly.
Midfielder Malama Chisopa converted the penalty to cancel Laston Katuta’s 38th minute strike.
The earlier friendly between the reserve sides finished 2-2.
Dalitso Mwanza and Moses Nyambe scored for Mighty while Blackpool scored through Stanley Nondo and
Joseph Bwalya.
Wanderers are preparing to face Napsa Stars away in Lusaka on Saturday in a Week 26 tie.
On the other hand, promotion chasing Blackpool, who are four points away from the second promotion spot, are scheduled to host Zesco Solwezi on Sunday.
Zambian born, British bred singer/songwriter, Katongo, has released a music video for her new single ‘Baba.’ It is the follow up to her previous Zambian hit, ‘Joy’ which featured Zambian music legend JK. Her song ‘Joy’ reached number 7 on Nigeria’s beat 99 FM and peaked at number 5 on Zambian radio stations. The song also received airplay on BBC 1xtra and several radio stations in Africa and Europe. ‘BaBa’ seems headed for similar success.
‘Baba’ is an Afropop song written and Produced by one of Zambia’s leading producers and songwriters, Chali Bravo. It is an upbeat, fun, flirty song that lyrically shows appreciation for the African man. Paired with Katongo’s sultry vocals, you have a match made in heaven. Baba is simply music to your ears. Predicted to be one of the best songs with an international Afropop crossover appeal, ‘BaBa’ certainly does not disappoint.
Listeners are drawn in by the up tempo afro drums, and the catchy chorus. It’s hard not to find yourself involuntarily moving to the rhythm. ‘BaBa’ is definitely a song to match the greatest Afropop songs ever released, and one that fans will not get enough of. The Video is out now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7sAfqWCprs Connect with Katongo on social media :
I wish to correct the impression created by some online media houses that I called the interviewer Bruce Chooma a fool. As a matter of fact I personally know many journalists including Bruce.
Honestly we may have our own weaknesses as individuals but surely would never sink that low as to call a journalist a fool. Even when we have been abused and labelled all sorts of names by some media houses, we never called them fools. Anyone can access the recording from Millennium Radio and listen to the full interview.
The correct context following a question from one caller on my role in the MMD privatisation process which the PF have been trying to smear on me went something like.
.”My job is to valuate your property and when I valuate, I give you the good price at which you can sell your property. Then because you are a bad negotiator you do away with the higher value at which your property is worth as advised by ourselves and you sell it at a cheap price, then after many years you turn to the evaluator and say, I didn’t sell my property well……then you must be a fool.”
Surely in that statement the moderator is by far from being called a fool nor is he mentioned or linked.
I also mentioned that the privatisation process was an MMD government project and that I was just a young boy working for myself. In that MMD government’s Frederick Chiluba government were key ministers such as late Micheal Sata who became the PF and Republican President, the likes of Nkandu Luo, and many others.
Equally in the private sector were many of us each one playing a different role such as lawyers, etc. How powerful then could I have been as a young boy to have influenced the entire government machinery to do a wrong thing?
We know journalists may choose what they wish to report but surely that part was just a very small segment of the entire close to 2 hours interview where we articulated a number of our economic policy alternatives compared to what our friends are current doing. We talked about the energy crisis, the falling Kwacha, economic diversification measures in sectors such as agriculture, job creation for youths, how we could have saved jobs in the mining and other sectors, how we could have been prudent in utilisation of resources, education sectors and many other things.
We fully know that not everyone will like us and what we do, but please let’s be fair to each other in our reporting and spreading malicious propaganda against us. At least let’s learn to tell the truth on each other as God fearing people in a christian nation.
We shall continue engaging our citizens on various media platforms and those with time please join us this morning at 08:30 on QFM and we fully appreciate your feedback.
Dr Scott (Lusaka Central): Mr Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to commend our Government and its representatives in this House. I include His Excellency the President and, in this context, the Governor of the Bank of Zambia for taking a mature attitude towards the problem of the market crisis because it could have gone much worse.
Sir, I am not saying it is a nice story which we would like to happen again. What I am saying is that given that it happened, there are various things that could have gone wrong. The exchange control regulations could have been re-introduced immediately. We know, from our experience, as mature politicians and students of economics, that that does not work however much we want it to work. It keeps all investors out. There are many people with millions and billions of dollars which they would like to keep in Zambia or have just removed from Zambia. However, they do not want to put it back where it is trapped by an exchange fence. So, controversial as it may be, I would say that they have exhibited maturity. It is not difficult to see where some of the maturity is coming from. Forty-one years ago, our hon. Minister of Finance presented his first Budget to this House. Now, forty-one years later, which is more than double his age, he is in charge of the economy again.
Laughter
Dr Scott: Sir, I knew him when he was still a youngster. I am sure that if something like this had happened at that time, he would have reached for his statutory instruments, left and right, and started shooting from the hip, except he already had the statutory instrument then. So, he did not have to do that. Now, he is able to take this as a negative market occurrence that needs to be market-managed, if I can put it that way.
Mr Speaker, the Governor of the Bank of Zambia is also a very experienced manager of these issues. We could have easily ended up throwing billions of dollars at this problem and not actually have achieved the solution. So, in this world of imperfects where nothing is as you would like it to be, I am glad that things are a little bit better than they might have been. I just hope that the hon. Minister does not come to this House with his new Budget next week or whenever and oblige me to withdraw my congratulations. I would rather not be forced to do that.
Sir, I just want to talk a lit bit about the side issue of maturity in the Government. My idea or take on various Parliaments and forms of Government institutions across the world is that they contain veterans and wise men and women, champions of the State who are a repository of this kind of stability and institutional memory and realism. I am sure Her Honour the Vice-President has been of great help to this Government. She can remember even longer back than I can because she is three years older and she is also part of what I would like to see as the establishment of the House of Lords presence of wise people who had had, like in her case, a whole life in politics, having been married to a very senior politician, to still bring help. I hope the idea that she seems to be currently selling out is a printing mistake of some sort because the last time she moved a Motion that the House adjourns, she said:
“I urge the hon. Members of Parliament, as they move around their constituencies, to identify young people who can be mentored into future leaders. We need to pass the baton to some of the young people who aspire to be politicians. Perhaps, this message is for hon. Members who have been in this House for the last twenty or twenty-five years.”
Mr Speaker, there is not a single hon. Member of Parliament who has been in this House even for fifteen years. I am in my third term and about twelve other people. We are the longest serving hon. Members. There are the two-termers and some of them have even been speaking earlier. However, most hon. Members are one-termers.
Sir, this Parliament is a body that suffers from instability and fluidity. Most hon. Members have to learn from first principles of legislation. There are, however, few who know these principles and can teach them.
Mr Mbulakulima: That is correct!
Dr Scott: So, we should not sacrifice the composition of this House just to pacify our cadres or anything of that sort. Passing on the baton of leadership should not be a question of short-term political convenience. The composition of this House is as good as the collective wisdom this country gets and we should ensure that it is strengthened and available to whatever the Government is doing. If some of the chaps – sorry, not chaps …
Laughter
Dr Scott: If some of the hon. Members on the front benches of your left agree with me, I must be on the right track …
Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Dr Scott: … because there is nothing else I agree with them on.
Laughter
Dr Scott: I am a practical kind of person. I am a counter and I do not know how many times I have had to count the word ‘diversification’. I have heard Her Honour the Vice-President and many others in this House say that we need to diversify our economy so that we have something else to sell for United States Dollars. We need to diversify from just exporting copper which, at the moment, is not worth very much in United States Dollars.
I sat down with my friends to take a case example of how we can diversify and chose a commodity. Ideally, we looked at producing a commodity which involved adding value to copper, since we have plenty of it. Although we looked at this from an economic point of view, we also took into consideration the environment and chose something which is generally simple to make in Kalingalinga or somewhere like that.
Sir, we came up with a solar geyser. The hon. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry should know that Zambia is the only country in the world which does not make solar geysers. We get solar geysers from South Africa or China. We give other people our copper and they engineer it into pipes, radiators and so on and so forth to make a solar heater and send it back to Zambia where it is bought for a high price. At the prime of the last election, I think the Government bought and installed solar geysers on roof tops houses of police officers’ houses.
Laughter
Dr Scott: Other countries also use our copper in many other ways. We cannot even supply ourselves with a simple heating instrument which captures the sun’s energy. The sun’s basic function is to warm up the earth. All that we need to help the sun heat our water is a simple instrument. Solar geysers really work and I have switched over to them. The water is hot even at the crack of down.
Therefore, I wonder how we are such poor diversifiers that we are unable to produce this elementary object. This is a no-brainer, as they say in east England. One does not even need a brain to make these things. What is the problem? So, my friends and I consulted some businessmen. As usual, there was a long list of complaints. There are various issues that came up and I think the Government needs to attend to them.
The first one, of course, is the interest rate. If you are going to import a machine for making copper pipes, which also will be very useful in plumbing, because we import it for that as well, you need to borrow money. If your interest rate is 27 or 28 per cent, which it is at the moment, and you are trying to fight against the Chinese who are at 6 per cent and South Africans at about 9 per cent, you will lose. It is a very straightforward trade off. I mean you just look at the numbers side by side. You do not have to be mystified by it. This strays into straight based policy of trying to stop the private sector from borrowing money, but what is one to do in order to strengthen the currency market.
We are trying to stop the private sector and leave the Government unhindered in borrowing money. Hence this negative effect that you are sitting there and sending a customer to China over something which is not at all sophisticated, but is made on the other side of the world. You have to put it on a ship and bring it on a truck.
The second concern that was frequent among all the businessmen we were discussing with was they keep writing to the multi-facility economic zone (MFEZ) management and applying for plots to build factories on the 2,000 hectare establishment on the Leopards Hill Road.
Mr Speaker, there are two factories there, each of them about one hectare in a 2,000 hectare plot. Not even 1 per cent of the land has been used. There is a barley malting plant for Zambian Breweries to make lager, a small installation for a pharmacist to make pills and an office.
It is like – I do not know whether hon. Members can remember because it was many years ago – there was a film called Pirates Texas. I am sure Hon. Simuusa knows it because he plays the guitar.
Mr Simuusa laughed.
Dr Scott: This person in the film loses his memory and he is seen wondering around what looks like the MFEZ. It is a vast tract of bush with massive power lines and six-lane highways and people going from nowhere to nowhere. This fellow is stuck in Texas in the bush unable to know where and which way he should go.
Mr Speaker, it might be educational for us, as Parliament, to view the movie and see how he got out of the bush with the lack of development and proceeded from there. So, I think we should, somebody said, “walk the talk”. I agree with this. We used to do it in my office. We said, “If your mention the word ‘potential’ one more time, you pay K50.00 and again…
Laughter
Dr Scott: … and, again, a K100.00.” We all got drunk on the money that one sacrificed talking about potential and still the potential is just thin air.
This diversification is the same word basically. It is the same idea, but there is no actual, touchable, tangible, graspable reality to it unless you get in and look at the dirty details and make them come our way, as well as stop the corruption that also surrounds the licences and the number of organisations from the Zambia Bureau of Standards to the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), the Energy Regulation Board, you can go on and on. You will never get a chance to actually make your geyser in this country because you are too busy trying to find the person who is supposed to be in the office.
Sir, , I think I will just conclude my contribution because the story very nearly came out yesterday when the hon. Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development was responding to a question from your left hand side where the answer was, “No, it is just a regulator.”
Laughter
Dr Scott: The question was what the Zambia Revenue Authority’s powers are as I understand it. Not the Zambia Revenue Authority but the Zambezi River Authority.
When the Kariba Dam was built and the power station on the southern bank was also built during the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, there was no competition between the two nations. There were no two owners, but only one which was the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
When the federation split, the power station was kept as a unitary entity operated by a company called the Central African Power Corporation (CAPCO) whose function was to operate this on a rule based neutral basis and ensure that both owners got their fair share. Even the power station in Zimbabwe, as it became, or Rhodesia, we, as Zambia, owned half of it. They also owned half of the so-called power station on the north side except it was very complicated because of having to evade sanctions by the World Bank by legal finangling. For some reason, we decided to split. I think it was in the 1990s. We decided to split this organisation so that we, as Zambia, have our power station, whereby if we want to turn it on, we turn it on and if we want to turn it off, we turn it off. There is a regulator now in place of CAPCO who is supposed to tell us that no, you cannot do that. This is part of the background to the story.
The timer in the Chamber went off.
Dr Scott: I will get another twenty minutes.
Laughter
Dr Scott: Do not worry, Sir. It does not really work that way. Basically, what we have now is a weak regulator sitting between two puppies drinking milk from the same saucer. If one does not lick fast enough, it will not get as much as the other one. The equity between and the neutrality of that installation has got to be restored somehow by effectively bringing back the judgmental status of the neutral body and the discipline between the two countries.
Sir, it is terribly difficult to have a situation where a whole sovereign country can be regulated by a foreign regulator. It cannot happen. It needs to be built into something which you can rely upon such that you are not going to finish the water by September and then look for another source like the ship stranded on the shores of Mozambique.
Sir, this has been made much worse by the 360 MW contraption which was turned on last year. I am the one who turned it on and I said, “Is there enough water for this?” It was a huge contraption and everybody said yes, but we were only taking the peeks, anyway. When I went to sleep at the hotel down from the Kariba Dam, all night and morning the water gushed past. Once they had their toy, they pushed the button, turned it on and left it and down went the water.
I think it is a legal managerial issue, hon. Minister, that has to be addressed. It is not just a technical issue. It is very difficult to share hydro electric facilities with other countries. It is extremely difficult between two countries. It is a well-known problem throughout the world and I think it needs to be addressed.
A security man on guard at the ZESCO LTD Kafue Gorge power station
The Zambia Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO) has handed over 13 houses that were constructed for the people of Hachipilika village who were displaced from Kafue Gorge lower power plant project area.
The power utility company has also handed over a fully furnished dormitory for girls at Hachipilika secondary school, a clinic, staff houses and two boreholes with a solar powered pump as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.
Construction of the houses, school infrastructure and rehabilitation of the clinic cost ZESCO about K8 million.
ZESCO limited displaced 25 families who were living in Kafue Gorge lower in order to pave way for the construction of a 750 megawatts power plant.
Out of the 25 families, 13 families opted to be repatriated to Hachipilika village in Chirundu with an option of being provided with new houses as compensation while 12 families opted for monetary compensation of K50, 000 cash.
ZESCO has also built houses for chief Sinadambwe and village headman Hachipilika who are the traditional leaders of the people of Hachipilika.
Deputy Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development Richard Musukwa handed over the houses and other pieces of infrastructure constructed by ZESCO for the people of Hachipilika.
Mr. Musukwa commended ZESCO for compensating villagers and urged the power utility company to expedite construction works at the Kafue Gorge lower power plant in order to address the power deficit the country is facing.
He said government is anxious to see the hydro power project start by the end of this year saying in the next five years, the country should be looking at a developed power station which would increase the generation capacity.
And Acting Managing Director for ZESCO, Victor Mundende said his company has also equipped the community with relevant skills in order to survive and make families that were disturbed comfortable in a new area.
Mr. Mundende said the company’s corporate social responsibility policy prescribes that it remains a good corporate citizen that embraces social and economic values in the course of business by both investing in the community and giving back.
The handover ceremony was attended by chief Sinadambwe, chief Sikongo and headman Hachipilika of Chirundu district.
President Lungu addresses Zambians living in USA at the permanent mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, September 30,2015 -Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
President Edgar Lungu on Wednesday evening cancelled his appearance on a scheduled live interview with the BBC on Focus on Africa at short notice.
The interview which was set for 19:30 Hours Zambian time from New York, USA was pulled out after President Lungu informed the BBC that he was unavailable with minutes into the program.
The BBC had asked Zambians on its Facebook page to post short watts up videos asking questions directed at how President Lungu is administering national affairs.
Some of the questions ranged from how President Lungu is dealing with the depreciation of the Kwacha, load shedding and whether mining companies like Glencore are paying enough taxes.
Program Presenter Sophie Ikenye announced that President Lungu had informed the BBC that he will not proceed with the interview.
No reasons for the withdrawal were stated.
President Lungu addresses Zambians living in USA at the permanent mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, September 30,2015 -Picture by THOMAS NSAMAPresident Lungu with First Lady Esther Lungu and children at the permanent mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations in New York where he addressed Zambia’s living in USA on Wednesday, September 30,2015 -Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
