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Suspended DPP Mutembo Nchito
Suspended Director of Public Prosecution Mutembo Nchito has withdrawn the appeal in a matter where he lost his quest to prosecute Post Newspaper Editor Fred Mmembe, who has been sued for allegedly defaming former President Rupiah Banda.
Mr. Nchito has withdrawn the appeal in the Supreme Court, based on the opinion from Attorney General Likando Kalaluka that his quest to prosecute Mr. Mmembe is against Public Policy.
The appeal was before Supreme Court Judge Roydah Kaoma.
Meanwhile, Judge Kaoma has reserved ruling on the cross -appeal by Mr. Mmembe in the same matter.
In March this year High Court Judge Chalwe Mchenga, quashed Mr. Nchito’s application to take over the prosecution of Mr Mmembe in the matter where the later has been dragged to court for allegedly defaming former President Rupiah Banda.
Judge Mchenga had ruled that it was not befitting public interest for Mr. Nchito to take over the prosecution of Mr. Mmembe,in the defamatory case before the Lusaka Magistrate Court.
THE beauty that once characterized the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) Kalulushi complex comprising of 438 housing units is slowly fading away because of prolonged non occupancy of the infrastructure.
The housing units which were constructed at a cost of K274 million, were commissioned for sale last year in July by Labour Minister Fackson Shamenda. At commissioning,the low cost houses were pegged at K450, 000 each and the medium cost houses at price ranging between K612, 000 and K771, 000 each while the high cost housing units ranged between K930, 000 and K975, 000.
The project that was started in 2010 has 438 housing units.Despite being completed the houses have remained unoccupied.The complex comprises of 19 low cost, 360 medium cost, 59 high cost
houses.The complex as well as semi- detached structures and covering an area of 35.9 hectares.
Mr Shamenda said during the launch of the sale of the Kalulushi housing units that they were not as cheap as they should have been.
The minister wondered then how the NAPSA Kalulushi housing units were going to benefit the ordinarily citizens in view of the exorbitant prices.
As observed by the minister, it is apparent that the NAPSA Kalulushi housing units were pegged at exorbitant prices and this could be the reason they have remained unoccupied to date.
The housing units which were constructed at huge cost using tax payers’ money are slowly turning into a white elephant.
Empty NAPSA housing project in KalulushiEmpty NAPSA housing project in KalulushiEmpty NAPSA housing project in KalulushiEmpty NAPSA housing project in KalulushiEmpty NAPSA housing project in Kalulushi
David Cameron has been re-elected as Britain’s Prime Minister after his party, the Conservatives, defied opinion polls and won the general election as as defeated opposition leaders Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage all resign from the leadership positions of their respective parties.
The Conservatives made gains in England and Wales and are forecast by the BBC to secure 331 seats in the Commons, giving them a slender majority.
The main opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said he would stand down, saying his party must “rebuild” with a new leader.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who had been in a coalition with the Conservatives, has also said he will quit, with his party set to be reduced from 57 to 8 MPs.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage is also quitting after he failed to win his seat, losing by nearly 2,800 votes to the Conservatives.
The Conservatives have now won the 326 seats needed to form a majority administration, meaning they are able to govern without the need for a coalition or formal agreement with other parties.
The Labour leader Mr Ed Miliband today announced he was quitting as Labour leader after calling David Cameron to congratulate him on his extraordinary election victory.
He insisted he took full responsibility for the dreadful night of results, which saw big names including Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander and Jim Murphy swept out by the Tories and the SNP.
He thanked his supporters for their backing, selfies and the ‘most unlikely cult ever’ Milifandom, as he confirmed Harriet Harman will take over as acting leader.
‘I am truly sorry I did not succeed. I did my best for five years,’ he said. ‘We’ve come back before and this party will come back again.’
Mr Miliband said: ‘Britain needs a strong Labour Party, Britain needs a Labour Party that can rebuild after this debate so we can have a government that stands up for working people again.
‘And now it is time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this party. So I am tendering my resignation, taking effect after this afternoon’s commemoration of VE Day at the Cenotaph.
‘I want to do so straight away because the party needs to have an open and honest debate about the right way forward, without constraint.’
And Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader also resigned as Lib Dem leader after seeing his party all but destroyed by his decision to take them into coalition with the Tories.
The former Deputy Prime Minister admitted his party had suffered a ‘cruel and punishing night’ in which he was one of just eight of the 57 MPs to survive.
Nigel Farage of the Ukip also quit as Ukip leader after failing in his bid to become an MP – but hinted he could make a comeback after a summer break.
The straight-taking Ukip leader had promised to step aside if he did not succeed in becoming MP for South Thanet against the Tories.
FIVE opposition political parties have formed an alliance called the United Front for Democracy (UFD) to champion for the enactment of the new constitution before the 2016 tripartite elections.
People’s Party (PP), Christian Democratic Party (CDP), All People’s Congress (APC), Zambia for Development and Democracy Movement (ZDDM) and National Democratic Party (NDP) have formed the alliance to have what it calls a united and strong political opposition voice on the constitutional making process.
Reading a statement on behalf of the other political parties, NDP leader Tentani Mwanza said the need for a united and strong political voice on the constitutional making process is pivotal and essential in achieving the desired enactment of the constitution in the shortest possible time.
“As UFD we recognise the role of a strong political opposition front is pivotal and cannot be overemphasized in any functional multi party democracy,” he said.
Mr Mwanza added that the front is here to provide credible checks and balances required to promote democracy and good governance.
The PF government has now released a roadmap which includes the presentation of a constitutional bill at the next sitting of parliament which will address all contentious issues except those that fall under Article 79 which require referendum. The proposal is that for those issues where a referendum vote be held concurrently with the Tripartite elections.
The front has announced that they have agreed to meet the justice minister early next week.
“It is our intention to engage the minister of justice and later president Edgar Lungu himself, to discuss specific clauses of interest such as the 50 plus one, running mate, the appointment of cabinet outside parliament and the declaration of Zambia has a Christian nation.”
The front has further pledged to share a common platform on many other critical issues of national interest.
The UFD has been formed for the sole purpose of championing for the enactment of the constitution before the 2016 elections and will not go into any electoral pact or alliance.
In attendence during the press briefing were the leaders of the parties that include Dr Danny Pule, Mike Mulongoti, Nason Msoni and Edwin Sakala.
A Chinese man and woman have been shot and wounded by police officers after they were allegedly found trespassing on a farm while armed in Lusaka’s Balmoral farming area.
The man and woman were rushed to the University Teaching Hopsital (UTH) where they have been admitted while two others who were in the same company during the shooting incident have been detained at Lusaka Central Police Station.
The four were trespassing on a farm hunting for owls while armed with a pistol and a short gun.
The incident happened on Wednesday around 22:00 hours. Lusaka Police commissioner Charity Katanga said the four Chinese, Yi Lei, 28, Liu Ping, 32, Liu Bing, 27, all male and Xi aol Luo, 25, a woman all of 28 B Sable road in Kabulonga would be charged for criminal trespass.
Ms Katanga said the owner of Kasavara farm in Balmoral area in Lusaka, Dirk Jan Muids, 63, of Dutch origin and his farm supervisor heard gun shots coming from the vehicle which was parked at his farm. The vehicle was also spotted on April 7 this year and gunshots were fired from the same vehicle.
Police officers and the owner of the farm went to the farm and noticed the vehicle moving from its initial spot into other parts of the farm. They waited until the vehicle drove back after which police officers stood and ordered the driver to stop. The driver did not obey and drove fast past the officers who then opened fire on the vehicle as the occupants of the car were armed.
The bullets went through the tyre and deflated them. The four bolted and police gave a chase and found the vehicle abandoned with two dead owls, wires, cutters and a torch.
The police used the torch to light the area and look for the vehicle occupants. One jumped off the fence while the other ran away, the two who were hiding were injured and called for help. The four were apprehended and police recovered a shot gun, a pistol, 28 rounds of ammunition for the pistol and 16 cartridges for the shot gun.
Inonge Wina
VICE-PRESIDENT Inonge Wina has warned political party cadres and councillors against illegally sharing land at the expense of the majority Zambians in need of the resource.
Ms Wina said Government would not tolerate any political party cadre or councillor who illegally shared land to benefit themselves or other people.
“This culture of party cadres and councillors sharing land among themselves should stop now. Government will not tolerate it,” she said.
Recently, political cadres in Lusaka and Ndola, councillors and council officials have been cited for involvement in land grabbing wrangles and illegal land distribution.
Police have since arrested a number of cadres in Lusaka.
Ms Wina said Government would not protect anyone from prosecution that was embroiled in illegal land demarcation.
The Vice-President was speaking when she officiated at the Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) women’s mortgage promotion in Lusaka that would run for two months starting this May.
The promotion is offering women access to finance to build or purchase housing at 14 per cent interest instead of the regular 16 per cent.
Ms Wina also directed relevant institutions that deal with State and traditional land to implement the policy to ensure that 30 per cent of land was exclusively given to women because despite it being in place, it had not been implemented.
She said title deeds should be made available to citizens in the shortest possible time and not two, three or more years as has been the case for some years now.
The processes involved in land acquisition, Ms Wina said, should be made easier and accessible to people especially women.
Ms Wina said she was happy that ZNBS had come up with such an initiative because it would contribute to economic development by giving land to the mainly vulnerable in society, who were women.
She said Zambia was facing a decent housing deficit, which if not addressed, would lead to creation of more shanty townships and all stakeholders should work together to ensure that all challenges were dealt with like ZNBS had done.
ZNBS board chairperson Goodwell Kapema said ZNBS had taken into consideration that most women lacked the time to get information on housing finance or collateral or verifiable income to access mortgages.
Mr Kapema said ZNBS had come up with a product to help women access housing finance because they were vulnerable but key to economic development.
Bank of Zambia deputy Governor Tukiya Mabula said financial institutions should step up measures that promoted financial inclusion of all sections of society.
A CHINESE man and woman have been shot and wounded by police officers after they were allegedly found trespassing on a farm while armed in Lusaka’s Balmoral farming area.
The man and woman were rushed to the University Teaching Hopsital (UTH) where they have been admitted while two others who were in the same company during the shooting incident have been detained at Lusaka Central Police Station.
The Times of Zambia reports that the four were trespassing on a farm hunting for owls while armed with a pistol and a short gun.
The incident happened on Wednesday around 22:00 hours. Lusaka Police commissioner Charity Katanga said the four Chinese, Yi Lei, 28, Liu Ping, 32, Liu Bing, 27, all male and Xi aol Luo, 25, a woman all of 28 B Sable road in Kabulonga would be charged for criminal trespass.
Ms Katanga said the owner of Kasavara farm in Balmoral area in Lusaka, Dirk Jan Muids, 63, of Dutch origin and his farm supervisor heard gun shots coming from the vehicle which was parked at his farm. The vehicle was also spotted on April 7 this year and gunshots were fired from the same vehicle.
Police officers and the owner of the farm went to the farm and noticed the vehicle moving from its initial spot into other parts of the farm. They waited until the vehicle drove back after which police officers stood and ordered the driver to stop. The driver did not obey and drove fast past the officers who then opened fire on the vehicle as the occupants of the car were armed.
The bullets went through the tyre and deflated them. The four bolted and police gave a chase and found the vehicle abandoned with two dead owls, wires, cutters and a torch.
The police used the torch to light the area and look for the vehicle occupants. One jumped off the fence while the other ran away, the two who were hiding were injured and called for help.
The four were apprehended and police recovered a shot gun, a pistol, 28 rounds of ammunition for the pistol and 16 cartridges for the shot gun.
Dr Rajan Mahtani Zambezi Portland Cement Chairman
ZAMBEZI Portland Cement Company has told its customers and the general public that the company is now under Antonio Ventriglia and Manuela Sebastiani and that they should ignore Mahtani.
In a statement, Mr Ventriglia said all cement sales would resume and customers would be expected to to deposit the money into the Zambezi Portland Cement account held at First Alliance Bank in Ndola.
Mr Ventriglia has since advised customers and the general public to the ignore the purported claim by Rajan Mahtani that he owns the cement manufacturing company, saying Zambezi Portland is rightly owned by the Ventriglia family.
He explained that according to the court order, the affairs of Zambezi Portland cement must be run by Mr Ventriglia and Ms Manuela Ventriglia which he said must be obeyed.
He said it was unfortunate that Dr Mahtani was claiming ownership of Zambezi Portland cement when the courts had ruled that the rightful owners of the company were the Ventriglias and wondered how a company could be run by two groups with opposing interests.
Mr Ventriglias said by claiming ownership of Zambezi Portland Cement Company, Dr Mahtani was undermining the rule of law because the court’s decision was in the public domain.
He has appealed to Dr Mahtani’s lawyer John Sangwa to advise him to respect the rule of law rather than encouraging him to disregard the court ruling, a situation which has potential of injuring Zambia’s conducive investment climate.
He added that some investors may find it difficult to invest in a country where they think their investment cannot be protected.
The Grand Coalition on the Campaign for a People Driven Constitution in Zambia has said that it is opposed to the plans by the government to take piecemeal amendments to parliament when the National Assembly resumes on 2nd June 2015.
In a statement released to the media today and signed by Fr. Leonard Chiti , the Grand Coalition said that it is against the against a patchwork approach to the constitution because that is against the expectations of the people of Zambia.
Below is the full statement
PRESS STATEMENT
For Immediate Release
Lusaka, 08 May, 2015
Grand Coalition insists on people driven constitution making process
The Grand Coalition on the Campaign for a People Driven Constitution in Zambia is aware of the plans by the government to take piecemeal amendments to parliament when the National Assembly resumes on 2nd June 2015.
The Grand Coalition is against a patchwork approach to the constitution because that is against the expectations of the people of Zambia. Our position is that the people of Zambia must drive this process so that we get a new constitution that will stand the test of time. And the only way of achieving this is by allowing the people of Zambia to adopt the constitution through a national referendum.
We are also aware, and very concerned, that there is currently no law in Zambia that protects the content of the draft constitution. In our view, the only way of protecting the content is to take the draft to a national a referendum.
We are wondering how the government wants to take the process to Parliament without any legal framework. That clearly undermines the authority of the people of Zambia in this very important matter. If the government has a conscience, there is no way they can bulldoze their way against the will and expectations of the people of Zambia, who continue to bear the brunt of the current faulty constitution.
We are going to work with our partners in Parliament to resist attempts by the government to take the bill to the National Assembly. We insist that the government must first put in place a law that protects the content, before taking the constitution to Parliament. We call upon all Honourable Members of Parliament to resist any attempts to bring the constitution to parliament without a law to protect the content.
It is amazing that the Patriotic Front Government are even going against their own manifesto. In case they have even forgotten what they promised the people of Zambia, section 22 (Page 42) of its manifesto for 2011 to 2016, the Patriotic Front clearly commits to “a new Constitution that reflects the will and aspirations of the people, and which could stand the test of time”.
The PF, in their own words, stated that failed processes by previous governments were “a sheer waste of scarce resources that could have been applied to meaningful national development … nothing but a betrayal of the Zambian people”. We agree with the PF that because of the current faulty constitution “the rule of law, social justice and the justice delivery system have been compromised”, and that the only way for redress is a “a constitution which will reflect the will and aspirations of the people for submission to a referendum and subsequent enactment only, by the National Assembly”.
We wish to remind the government that this constitution is not their private document, but it is the supreme law of this country which must represent the views of all Zambians. We will therefore resist every attempt by the government to make it appear like they would be doing any of us a favour by letting the constitution go for a referendum.
Like we have said before, we believe the only stumbling block to a people driven constitution is lack of political will and a disrespect of the people of Zambia by the government.
The Grand Coalition has also noted some recent hullaballoo in some quarters regarding some of our members’ political affiliation. We will not dignify some of this mischief by responding to it. These are clearly efforts to sway us and derail our focus. We will not fall into that trap.
We are campaigning for a new people driven constitution, adopted through a national referendum.
HIP-hop artiste Slap Dee recently attended a conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which discussed xenophobia following the latest attacks on foreigners in South Africa.
The conference was organised by the ANIKE Foundation and Slap Dee was invited along with 11 other African artistes, who were encouraged to become ambassadors of peace in Africa.
Notable among the artistes in attendance were Nigerians Tiwa Savage and 2Face Idibia, Diamond from Tanzania and Lira from South Africa. “The conference dealt mainly with the root causes of xenophobia and what we as African artistes can do to encourage unity among African countries,” Slap Dee explained.
He said the conference revealed how xenophobic attacks arise when a country’s economy is imbalanced and its resources are not distributed equally.
However, Slap Dee noted that xenophobia is not confined to South Africa alone, but happens in other parts of Africa although on a smaller scale.
One of the resolutions arising from the conference was the idea for African artistes to collaborate even more as a way to unite different African cultures. “As artistes, we play a huge part in changing negative attitudes that may exist among Africans of different nationalities about each other,” he said.
Additionally, the artists were encouraged to use their influence to talk about the beauty of other African countries and not regard Africa as comprising different countries but rather as one country. “It’s all about encouraging the spirit of Ubuntu or togetherness as artistes,” Slap Dee said.
Other than creating music that spreads messages of unity and peace, Slap Dee learnt that touring other lands and learning about different African cultures are an effective way of bridging the gap among Africans of various origins.
Muchinga province deputy permanent secretary Jewis Chabi addressing hundreds of job seekers who stormed the office of the district commissioner (DC ) Evelyn Kangwa demanding to know when the construction works at the new provincial administration site in the district would commence so that they can be employed
By Kalima Nkonde
There is no doubt that the number one problem that Zambia faces is unemployment with its offshoots of poverty, crime, prostitution and other social ills. I am a firm believer that Government should not be the main focus for job creation as it does not generate revenue and pay tax but rather relies on taxes from private sector to operate. The PF administration, however, has fallaciously believed that Government can be the main source of jobs as demonstrated by its big government policy of creating a myriad of districts, embarking on fast tracking some infrastructure projects that have no immediate economic value, the creation of a bloated government with one of the biggest cabinets in the world ( bigger than UK, USA, South Africa and Nigeria which are bigger economies).
Zambia has an overpaid civil service which consumes 50% of the Government budget and one of the highest per diem rate for foreign travel which is as big as $500 per day for some senior staff and is higher than most developed countries thus encouraging foreign travel and creating a per diem industry within Government.With the latest ill timed lifting of the wage freeze, the civil service wage bill will soon balloon to 55% or 60% of total Government expenditure and mark my words, sooner or later civil servants wages will either be delayed, or not paid in time as they may be no revenue to meet the wage bill!
In regard to job creation, which is the essence of this analysis, I would like to suggest, as a non partisan and patriotic Zambian, who has run businesses in a foreign country, read about how economies can create jobs, I would like to suggest some simple, practical and short term policy measures that the Government can put in place immediately in order to generate sustainable quality jobs from the private sector.
Mining as a source of indirect jobs
The Government has recently given in to the mining houses’ demand for revising the royalty tax regime to suit their interests and one wonders what we got in return for reducing the tax from 20% to 9%. In my view, as part of the negotiations, we should have given the mines, some non tax conditions before agreeing to the reductions so that we have a give and take and win -win situation. This strategy could have an impact on employment creation and thereby enabled us to recover some losses the revision. The following is how the mines could be made to empower Zambians and create employment indirectly:
They should be required to purchase the majority of their requirements apart from heavy equipment from Zambian suppliers. At the moment, the mines are exporting our copper and exporting jobs too. There are exporting jobs by purchasing most of the requirements from abroad especially South Africa. This should not be allowed when they have been arm twisting Government about reducing taxes reversing policies.
The Government should tell the mines and ask their suppliers abroad to set up shop in Zambia and partner with Zambians so that industries that are dependent on the mines can flourish and create jobs in Zambia and not abroad. One can ask how many companies have been set up in Solwezi and Kalumbila to support the mines? This is a great anomaly and Government policy should ensure foreign companies with technology and know how and currently supplying the mines are made to set up shop as joint venture with Zambians in all mining towns. Mining towns will boom and this is not rocket science to implement. I suggest that the Government should take stock and find how many companies supplying mines are domiciled in mining towns! They should challenge the mining houses to ensure this anomaly is corrected!
Improve compliance to 20% reservation on infrastructure projects
At the moment, the Government has a policy of ensuring that foreign contractors should subcontract 20% of their works to Zambians as an empowerment policy. Government should give consideration to increase this percentage to 25% . There should, however, be strict monitoring to compliance to this requirement and heavy penalties for non compliance imposed. Zambians especially party cadres who get jobs when they have no capacity and then “ sell” them to foreigners should be made to account and punished. The President has appointed Lucky Mulusa as the Project implementation and Monitoring assistant who I can call the Projects implementation Czar to borrow from the term from Obama administration’s expert appointees during the 2008 financial crisis. His department’s role should include the job creation impact of the infrastructure projects as well as the skills transfer from the foreigners to locals.
The department should also ensure that foreign contractors do not employ foreigners for jobs that can be done by Zambians! The major problem the reservation policy and many more positive policies meant to create jobs is the lack of monitoring and ensuring the parties involved are complying. The problem is that nobody checks when the parties are complying! Funds should be invested in ensuring that foreign investors are complying to the undertakings they took in their bids and when signing of contracts. The employment of expert Zambians for the monitoring aspects, is money worth spending money on as it will have a direct impact of acting as a deterrent to foreign companies not taking the country for a ride.
Government domestic borrowing as killer Jobs
The massive domestic borrowing by Government is actually killing jobs in Zambia. The Government is crowding out the private sector in the money market as financial institutions are lending more to Government which is considered to be risk free in financial theory rather than the private sector. Why should banks lend businesses and take on more risk when they can lend to the Government risk free! The private sector especially the SMMEs are unable to access finance as the Government is gobbling the bulk of the financial cake. In cases where the private sector succeeds to borrow it is at very high interest rates. This is not rocket science but basic common sense economics which appears alien to our economic managers. The consequences of the lack of loan capital for private business because of excessive Government domestic borrowing is that the businesses cannot expand or grow and new businesses cannot be set up. It is the private sector that is a source of jobs and who pay taxes and not government! The short of it is that excessive domestic borrowing by Government is one of the causes of unemployment in Zambia and this is a reality and not theory! President Lungu has to address this and ask the technocrats to be frank with him especially those who have been in the real business world and not text book economists.
Lower interest rates
The cost of borrowing in Zambia is astronomical and the Bank of Zambia is partly to blame because commercial banks have gotten away with murder as they are able to earn proportionately more from Bank charges than from interest on loans compared to others in countries. Bank of Zambia as the regulator is partly to blame! Banks in Zambia are exploiting customers and something needs to be done about this. The writer has maintained accounts with Natwest Minster bank Plc in England, Stanbic bank in Botswana and Standard bank in South Africa and Stanbic Zambia and discovered that Zambia has the highest bank charges which are not justifiable at all! There is no incentive for banks to lend especially to SMMEs when they can make easy money through bank Charges. The Bank of Zambia has a major role to play through its monetary policy instruments to lower interest rates so that it will be cheaper for businesses to borrow for investments and expansion. Businesses will inevitably employ more people!
Promotion of non traditional exports to African Countries
In Zambia, export promotion is not as pronounced as it should be and massive jobs can be created by exploiting the export market! We should ask the Chinese, Japanese, Americans, South Africans and Zimbabwe in 1980s and 1990s before the self imposed economic melt down. My view is that for short term employment creation, we need to be smart and put in policies which have immediate impact on our unemployment rather than engage in theoretical and textbook analysis and measures for employment creatiion . For as start, we have neighbours who are big markets for our food and agriculture products and are swimming in billions of dollars and we have no deliberate and aggressive efforts by Government to exploit such opportunities by engaging them. I have in mind Angola and democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC). It is so easy to earn billions from them if we have proper strategies to exploit these markets. We can sell agriculture products to them and earn easy money. Our agricultural products like maize, wheat, our beef, soya beans, beef, fish etc can find a market there but we are not making efforts to exploit these ready markets. By taking steps to exploit these markets, hundreds of thousands of jobs can be created! We are just not strategic, imaginative and committed . We are too obsessive with politics and the next election.
Nigeria is another big market to exploit and thanks to the initiative by Zambeef and CEC who have entered that massive market and more companies should be helped by Government and be encouraged to export to Nigeria. We should forget about South Africa as an export market and focus on African countries because that country’s white interests are entrenched and they have so many barriers to entry. Another issue related to the exploiting the export market of our Southern African neighbours is that we have not benefited economically from the liberation struggle and we should engage in aggressive economic diplomacy with countries like Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and sign bi lateral agreements for the most favoured nation status with them so that our goods and services can be exported there in preference to other countries and not subject them to rigorous tariff and non tariff barriers!
We helped and paid dearly for these countries in the late 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s when we were rich with our copper and when one could buy goods with kwacha in London, Rome, Nairobi etc. Our children and grand children do not know about this especially with the poor reading culture we have. We have not benefited anything from our investment in liberation struggle as well in helping countries like Botswana when they were “poor”, as our political leaders have been naïve and not strategic and just concentrated on politicking!
All we should be asking for from our neighbours who we helped, when we were rich is to merely buy our goods on favourable terms instead of buying from countries who never helped them! ! This will create a market for our non traditional exports products in which we have a competitive advantage with our neighbours and beyond. Exporting to these countries will create thousands of jobs, earn foreign exchange, stabilize the ailing kwacha and diversify the economy from mining! One just hopes that our politicians will find sense in this suggestion. I am proposing and take immediate action.
Foreign Investors,Mines and RSA Chains as Exporters of Jobs from Zambia
We should not import products that can be produced in Zambia such as tomatoes, onions, beans from South Africa. Strict restriction of imports that we can produce and technically referred to as import substitution is a must for job creation. When we import what we can produce from South Africa for example, the South African farmers will produce more and employ more South Africans and our farmers will lay off their workers. In addition, we will need to externalize dollars to the South Africans and so our kwacha will lose value and it will cost more to buy goods in Zambia which are mostly imported. This is not rocket science! We just wonder how our politicians have allowed a situation where Zambian imports even tooth picks are imported. Patriotic Front, as the ruling party, please live up to your name and ensure we only import stuff that we cannot import! Please do not facilitate export of jobs! This is a lesson that I will openly say Presednt Lungu can learn from Mugabe! Protect your local industry! All countries, including Chinese, USA, UK do that!
Zambia is just to open! Our trade deficit according to the latest central statistics is K300million plus for last month! Our market has just been too open for unnecessary imports and people wonder why the kwacha is under so much pressure! It is gratifying that Government has recognized this as evidence by President Lungu’s instruction to super markets to buy more Zambian products when he opened the Mukuba Mall in Kitwe. Commerce Minister, Mrs Mwanakatwe also followed up by inspecting some Supermarket chains in Lusaka and noted that they needed to stock more Zambian products. MMD sold our soul as far as foreign interests were concerned! We need to correct this and we should not be ashamed as other smart countries do the same! Minister Yaluma recently made a decision to award Zambian transporters to participate in the oil market which has been predominantly foreign denominated. These are welcome initiatives by Government and they should be commended..
Graduate internship programmes
There is a administration measure that the Government can try by absorbing graduates in Government institutions and private sector companies for a period of two years for them to gain experience and be marketable. The graduates should be paid less than the market value remuneration as they are being given experience and effectively still undergoing training. This will address the issue of graduates being rejected by the market place due to lack of experience. Private sector companies should be encouraged to enter the programme and given tax and other incentives to employ college and university graduates.
Learn from neighbours – South Africa and Botswana about employment creation policies.
In South Africa, they have a Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment policy (BBBE) which requires big cooperates to ensure compliance with empowering the previously disadvantage community through employment, skills transfer, procurement, equity participation and partnership. In Botswana they have policies that ensure that activities such as butcheries, bottle stores, brick making etc are not for foreigners through their Reservation policy. The Botswana have also made a name by ensuring that De beers had to bend and agree to have diamonds traded in Gaborone and not London and thus creating jobs! Zambian copper is traded in some dubious markets and the foreign exchange never comes home!
For readers’ information, the Citizen Economic empowerment Commission CEEC) did not just drop from heaven nor was it a local initiative. It is a copy cat initiative suggested by Zambians residents- including the writer – in Botswana who recommended it to President Mwanawasa during his visit to Botswana. President Mwanawasa, intellectual and patriotic as he was, saw sense in it and considered it worth replicating. He saw it as a successful SMMEs financing model which Zambia could emulate. The Botswana’s Citizen Economic Empowerment Agency (CEDA) was therefore copied to be implemented in Zambia to help SMMEs development as traditional banks were not interested in helping SMMES thus the CEEC.
Labour intensive small scale farming ( irrigation farming) and Domestic tourism promotion potential
There is so much potential to promote small scale farming and the promotion of domestic tourism which can create more jobs in rural areas and these have not been exploited yet but I have not addressed them in this analysis and I will deal with them in the future.
I have attempted to suggest some simple, practical but effective job creation measures that I believe are well known to the Government, the technocrats and other experts but which I believe have not been vigorous been implemented as there is a fallacious belief that jobs can only created by some complex ,text book measures and through foreign direct investment (FDI)! I believe I have an informed, practical and layman’s angle which the man on the street can relate to by reading this article. Creating jobs is not rocket science. It just needs vision, political will ,implementing and monitoring policy pronouncements,and understanding the key drivers of job creation! I hope I have contributed in a small way to our leaders to think outside the box and I also hope that they learn to tap brains from Zambians with my three Es – Educated, Experienced and Exposed rather than a adopt a know it all attitude.
The writer is a retired financial and management consultant and a Chartered Accountant by profession, currently back home, who lived in the diaspora in England, South Africa and Botswana for over 25 years. He was one of the key persons in the USAID sponsored $30 million project in Botswana called “the Botswana Private Enterprise Development Project ( BPED)” in the early 1990s which was housed by Botswana Confederation of Commerce and Industry and Manpower( BOCCIM ).The Project transformed the Botswana’s economy and improved the working relationship between the Government and the Private sector in terms of policy dialogue which has made the Botswana economy the envy of Africa.
The Engineering Institution of Zambia has announced intentions to raise funds on the Lusaka Stock Exchange to construct a mixed use office property to serve as its head office.
According to a prospectus availed, EIZ has a clear vision for its new office park facility in which the Engineering profession in Zambia will be celebrated and honoured in the design of this building.
In order to raise the required capital to complete the project, EIZ has incorporated a real estate investment company in Zambia called EIZ Properties Plc or to be called (EProps).
The site is located at the Agriculture and Commercial Show Society of Zambia in Lusaka, right behind the Arcades shopping complex, along Thabo Mbeki Road.
The plot was secured from the Agriculture and Commercial Show Society, with the lease commencing 17 October 2011 for a 50 year period and the lease is registered with Ministry of Lands.
The complex will have two interconnected office blocks with an elevated carpark, Offices of EIZ, Auditorium for 500 seating capacity, Exhibition Galleries, Lettable office space and other spaces include Crèche- Gym- Coffee shop/deli.
EProps will provide lettable offices, conference and exhibition facilities.
The Company will operate on a commercial basis.
The Quantity Surveyor’s estimated project cost is approximately 60.0 million based on the design and engineering drawings approved by the EIZ Council.
The contractor appointed for this project is Hua Chang Infrastructure Engineering Zambia Limited.
Following the tender process conducted by EIZ, Hua Chang estimated the works to cost K47 million and proposed to complete the work in a period of 110 weeks.
Rapheal Nakacinda-Communications Director- Office of the President-MMD
TWO more opposition political parties have welcomed the amendment of the non-contentious and election-related clauses of the constitution before the 2016 general elections if Government does not have enough money to carry out the exercise.
The MMD and 4th Revolution said in separate interviews yesterday that selected clauses in the constitution must be amended before the 2016 general elections.
MMD spokesperson Raphael Nakacinda said his party had, prior to the January 20 presidential election, advocated the amendment of some clauses in the constitution and it is good that the PF has shown political will to act on that.
Mr Nakacinda said the amendment of some clauses can help deal with unforeseen situations.
And 4R president Eric Chanda also echoed Mr Nakacinda’s statement, stating that it has been the position of the party since its entrance in politics.
Mr Chanda said the party wants inclusion of an article that would curtail unnecessary by-elections.
“We want to deal with certain issues so that we can avoid by-elections at all costs,” he said.
On Wednesday, the People’s Party, Christian Democratic Alliance, All People’s Congress and the Green Party said in separate interviews that non-contentious and election-related clauses of the constitution should be amended before next year’s elections if Government does not have enough financial resources to carry out the whole exercise.
The Zambian Road Safety Trust (ZRST) has mourned eight people who died in a head-on collision on Sunday, 3rd May 2015. A journalist from PRIME TV, Mr. Muunga Hansingo, his wife, daughter, and four other family members were pronounced dead at the scene and have been buried today (Wednesday, 6th May 2015) in the same mass grave.
Chairman of the Zambian Road Safety Trust, Mr Daniel Mwamba said:
“Every death is tragic but the loss of 8 people from the same family is appalling and a senseless waste of life. This is a fourth accident involving members of the same family this year.”
Mr. Hansingo and his family were returning from his brother’s wedding in Livingstone when their Toyota Noah collided with an oncoming Land Rover Discovery.
In view of the alarming increase in fatal road crashes, the Trust calls on government to drastically change the transportation policy, giving top priority to safety and sustainable mobility. The current transport policy which was formulated in 2002, over 10 years ago has failed to address the current transport problems.
The new policy should address traffic-danger related injuries and mobility as a public health and human rights issue, design roads taking account of the role of the public space and rights /needs of vulnerable users and employ more appropriate terminology such as Crash, Collision, Injury, in place of ‘accident’.
“I just feel so frustrated by the loss of life of preventable accidents every week. It is very difficult to know what is to be called for, but we don’t want people to be killed in accidents that are avoidable and needless,” he said.
Road traffic accidents do not have a single cause. They result from a number of contributory factors that combine in a way that leads to a road user failing to cope in a particular situation.
The Road and Transport Safety Agency (RTSA) should be proactive in identifying the contributory factors that lead to road accidents, understand how they inter-relate and how they can be modified and prevented, to produce a safer environment and safer road users.
“The lack of proper sustained coordination among the key stakeholders such us the Police, RTSA, Hospital, Fire and Local authorities is a source of concern and a clear demonstration of lack leadership by those paid to protect our lives”. Mr. Mwamba added.
Bowman Lusambo in the Mazabuka FM studio KAMBWILI SHOULD TONE DOWN
LUSAKA—We find the recent statements by Information and Broadcasting Minister Chishimba Kambwili in bad taste and against the spirit of national building.
As Chief Government Spokesman, Mr Kambwili should be reminded that he holds a very strategic position in the nation and therefore should be very careful with his utterances.
His anti-Dora Siliya stance has exposed Mr Kambwili’s lack of leadership and his narrow view of politics. By continuously issuing disparaging remarks against Ms. Siliya, Mr Kambwili has managed to demonstrate his selfish and hypocritical stance on national issues.
By threatening to sell his soul to the devil, Mr Kambwili who vehemently claims to have been a loyal student of late President Michael Sata has gone against Mr Sata’s very principles and values.
President Sata always stood for reconciliation and forgiveness throughout his long political life.
His reconciliation with late President Levy Mwanawasa was well documented and well received. He also went on to reconcile with late Willie Nsanda, Sylvia Masebo and several of his at one time political adversaries.
Who then is Mr Kambwili to start issuing conditions to Ms Siliya before she could be embraced in the PF?
Mr Kambwili has also abused his position to issue distasteful statements against Mr Sunday Chanda, a key member of the PF Media Team.
As MMD youths, we want to warn irresponsible politicians like Mr Kambwili that they should not use young and emerging politicians like Mr Chanda only when it suits them.
We find it laughable that Mr Kambwili can today question the existence of Mr Chanda in the PF when he fully remembers the role that Mr Chanda, Brian Hapunda, Emmanuel Mwamba and many unsung heroes in the PF played to ensure that President Edgar Chagwa Lungu assumed office.
Mr Chanda along with several other young politicians stood by Mr Lungu’s through his many trials and tribulations when the likes of Mr Kambwili’s vowed that he will not stand on the PF ticket in the January 20 presidential election.
There is video and audio evidence of Mr Kambwili calling Mr Lungu all sorts of names prior to the election. What is however missing is evidence of Mr Kambwili apologising to the PF in general and President Lungu in particular over his diabolical conduct weeks before January 20 2015.
Our stance as MMD youths is that Ms Siliya just like any other politician has the right to belong to any political party of her choice without Mr Kambwili’s approval.
We will also not take kindly to the trend by the likes of Mr Kambwili to unfairly attack and harass young politicians in the manner he wants to do to Mr Chanda.
Mr Kambwili should be reminded that as young politicians, we stand together beyond partisan lines in the defence of our democracy. If one of us is attacked, it essentially means that all of us as young politicians have been assaulted and we shall rise to defend our role in Zambia’s politics.
Every Zambian knows that Ms. Siliya brings a lot of value to Zambian politics than what Mr Kambwili ever will and we therefore appeal to him to use his time in Eastern Province this week to reflect on his outbursts and tone down for the sake of national building.
