PATRIOTIC Front (PF) secretary general Davies Chama says no party member wishing to become president after Edgar Lungu has been unfairly treated.

Mr Chama said PF central committee acted in accordance with the party constitution. He said the PF conference held last year elected President Lungu as its candidate giving him a five-year mandate.

“No party member has been unfairly treated. We had a general conference late last year, and people who wanted to be president filed in their nominations and expressed their interest to stand, but President Lungu was elected and has a five-year mandate which ends in 2019,” he said.

He said all party members have read the PF constitution and understand that President Lungu’s mandate is up until the next general conference in 2019.

“Everyone has read the constitution and those who haven’t read should read the document and understand that once a president has been elected to lead the party, he has a five-year mandate,” Mr Chama said.

He said as secretary general, he has not received any report from any party member expressing interest to stand on the PF ticket in 2016.

Mr Chama said those with presidential interests to lead the party will have to wait until 2019.
Recently, the PF central committee re-affirmed its decision to adopt President Lungu as its candidate for the 2016 general elections.

Meanwhile, Mr Chama says the PF has continued to gain ground in all the 10 provinces in Zambia, an indication that people are happy with the development programmes by the ruling party.

Mr Chama said contrary to assertions by some opposition political parties in the Northern Province that the PF is finished, the ruling party is getting stronger.

“PF has continued to gain ground in all the 10 provinces and we are determined to ensure that we change the perception that the party is violent by cleaning out all thuggery behaviour,” he said.

He was reacting to assertions by the MMD leadership in Northern Province that PF is finished as well as comments by UPND vice-president for administration Geoffrey Mwamba that the PF is scared of him in Kasama.

“Who doesn’t know that the MMD is a finished party? They have no popularity to brag about. And instead of claiming that the PF is scared, why rush to court when the Speaker (of the National Assembly) declared the Kasama Central seat vacant instead of going for a by-election, if you are really that popular,” Mr Chama wondered.

Today’s Scripture

“…Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”
(Psalm 81:10, NIV)

What Are You Expecting

There is greatness inside of you! As a believer, the Holy Spirit dwells and lives within you. You have all the power and authority in heaven and earth living on the inside of you! Do you have your mouth open wide today? In other words, are you expecting God to fill you and increase you beyond measure?

One thing that closes off what God wants to do in your life is negative thinking. If you go around thinking, “Well, I don’t think I’ll ever meet my sales goals this year with the economy like it is;” or “I don’t think I’ll ever get promoted. I’m not that qualified;” or “I don’t think I’ll ever get well,” then the problem is that your mouth is barely open. But Jesus said, “According to your faith it will be done unto you.” He might as well have said, “If you’ve got a cup, I’ll fill you with a cup level of blessing. If you’ve got a bucket, I’ll fill you with a bucket level of blessing.”

Jesus is saying today, why don’t you take the limits off? Why don’t you believe for supernatural opportunities? Why don’t you go out each day expecting increase and promotion? Expect favor, expect peace, expect joy. If you’ll go out each day expecting far-and-beyond favor, if you’ll “open wide your mouth,” you won’t be disappointed. He’ll fill your cup until it overflows so that you can live the abundant life He has in store for you.

A Prayer for Today

“Father, I come before You today with an open and humble heart, ready to receive all You have for me. Teach me to live a life that is pleasing to You so that I can be an example of Your love in the world around me in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

UPND Chairperson for Rural Development Mapani Moono says the people are still waiting to hear from the Head of State as to whether the country will have a new constitution before the general elections or not.

Mr. Moono says President Lungu during campaigns ahead of January 20th Presidential by-elections made it clear that he will not hesitate to deliver a new constitution before the next general elections.

Mr. Moono says President Lungu should take advantage of this month’s address to parliament to give his clear position regarding the constitution so that people should know what is coming ahead of them.

And Mr. Moono has asked President Lungu to show leadership and give clear direction where he is taking the country to.

He says agriculture, economy, mining, health and education policies being implemented by the PF are not inspiring confidence in the minds of the people and thus the need for him to clearly indicate how he will address challenges in these sectors.

He adds that President Lungu should also show political will in creating employment opportunities not just mare pronouncements without action but that he should fulfill his promises of creating jobs for young people.

The International Monetary Fund as observed that Zambia’s legal framework for Public Finance Management is fragmented, and much of it is outdated.

The IMF says the laws fall short of capturing both recently introduced reforms and internationally accepted practices.

In its latest country report for Zambia, the IMF says the government has prioritized a revision of the existing legal framework for Public Finance Management and national development planning.

It says this revision will permit a range of important Public Finance Management reforms that are ongoing or planned to be incorporated within the legal framework.

‘These reforms include medium-term planning and budgeting, a performance oriented approach to budget management, the introduction of comprehensive commitment controls, adoption of international accounting and reporting standards (International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM) 2001), implementation of a treasury single account (TSA), and recognition of electronic transaction processing arrangements,’ it said.

It said an updated legal framework would permit other important improvements in current practices to be incorporated.

“These amendments include extending the coverage of the law from the budgetary central government to general government and financial oversight of the wider public sector, harmonizing definitions and terminology, provisions on the management and monitoring of fiscal risks, and the approval for borrowing and guarantees issued by the government.”

It added, “Clarification of the roles of the MoF and the BoZ on cash and debt management, clear rules and procedural arrangements for supplementary budgets, excess expenditure, and the end-year carry-over of unspent appropriations and broadening the sanctions regime for breaches of financial regulations to the controlling offices of organizations as well as individuals.”

It added that a revision of the legal framework would facilitate the strengthening of existing institutions, in particular the powers of the National Assembly to scrutinize the government’s medium-term fiscal and budget strategy and to oversee the execution of the budget, and the independence of the Auditor General (AG).

The IMF also suggested that consideration could also be given to elevating the position of the Accountant General to Permanent Secretary level, in line with several other African countries.

The Fund also noted that revisions to the Public Finance Management legal framework will need to be harmonized with the new Constitution, a draft of which was finalized in 2014.

“In addition, the government has embarked on a decentralization reform which by 2017 will substantially increase the autonomy of and the amount of fiscal transfers to local governments,” it said.

It said the reform will require the establishment of legal provisions for enhancing intergovernmental fiscal relations, including central government’s oversight of local government fiscal operations as well as harmonization of the Local Government Act (LGA) with the Public Finance Act (PFA).

The IMF also noted that the government is currently proposing a two-track approach to revising the Public Finance Management legislation.

“The first track comprises a Planning and Budgeting Bill (PBB) that has already been drafted and should be submitted to the Cabinet and National Assembly in summer 2015. The PBB covers broadly the preparation of the national development plan (NDP) and the budget. The second track would comprise the preparation, in longer time, of the revised PFA and other specific PFM-related laws, including on debt management, state-owned enterprises (SOE), and local government finance.”

The IMF said it has reservations about the government’s two-track approach as there are risks that the two laws will not be comprehensive, and will lack consistency and comparability.

“A preferred approach would be to prepare a single integrated PFM law—a new Public Finance Management Act (PFMA)—taking elements from the PFA 2004 and the draft PBB, and consolidating and updating them.”

It said many other African countries (such as Kenya, Liberia, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, and Uganda) have followed a similar path in updating their legal framework for budgeting and public finance.

“If the government decides to continue with the two-track approach, it is very important that the process of drafting legal framework is managed by a single technical working group, and the work is closely coordinated with relevant experts in the MoF, the Ministry of Local Government and Housing (MoLG), the Cabinet Office, and other government ministries and agencies. Ideally, the two Bills should be presented to the Cabinet for approval concurrently, followed by their combined submission to the National Assembly.

The country report proposes a road-map for completing the process of drafting and adopting the revised legal framework.

“It will be particularly important to consult at an early stage with all stakeholders, especially the National Assembly. Early engagement with the legislature may convince them that it is necessary to extend the timetable for consultation and drafting in order to prepare a fully integrated legal framework as emphasized above.”

GOVERNMENT has released US$120 million on the market to arrest the depreciation of the Kwacha against major convertible currencies, a move that will see the Kwacha start rebounding by today.

President Edgar Lungu said the money has been released to offset Government bills in sectors like health, education and construction.

This is according to President Lungu’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda who briefed the Press at State House yesterday to announce measures Government had put up to arrest the rapid depreciation of the Kwacha and energy deficit.

President Lungu said the interventions to arrest the plummeting Kwacha include the release of the US$120 million from part of the recently procured $1.2 billion Euro bond.

The money was released between Thursday and today.

“The Kwacha will, starting today show signs of recovery because of the money that is been released. Part of the reason that the Kwacha has been performing badly is because some sectors have slowed down due to non payment,” he said.

President Lungu said the increased volatility of the Kwacha appeared to be reflecting market panic more than underlying fundamentals.

The President has therefore directed the Finance minister to work closely with the Central Bank to assess additional market intervention measures to address the volatility.

Mr Lungu urged the public and private sector to reduce on imports and increase exports as well as avoid activities that would lead to further demand for forex as a way to calm the Kwacha.

The Kwacha has been depreciating due to among other reasons, low price of copper, a commodity which is the country’s main forex earner.

In the energy sector, President Lungu has sanctioned remedial measures including power importation and transferring shares from the Ministry of Finance to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) which would allow the IDC source an initial $500 million to invest in the energy sector.

The President has instructed Zesco to operate more efficiently by being self sufficient, reliable and not rely on expensive measures like importing power.

Government has also signed a contract with an independent power supplier and was talking to another to supply power by January among other interventions.

The measures would see Zambia export power in less than two years. He has thanked Zambians for putting up with inconveniences of power cuts which have affected both small and large businesses.

“This is what I think about every day. I want the nation to know that no one feels the anguish of these disruptions more than I do,” President Lungu said.

Meanwhile, President Lungu has said it was regrettable that some people had reduced the power and currency challenges to factors of political rhetoric.

He said Government was in control and citizens should not panic but instead work together to rise above the problems.

The President would announce major measures Government had taken on September 18, this year when n he addresses Parliament.