A PF councilor is disappointed with remarks attributed to the Human Rights Commission over the warn and caution statement recorded from Lusaka Province MMD Chairperson William Banda.

Emmanuel Chanda of Libala Ward 7 says the statement by the Human Rights Commission is unfortunate.

Mr Chanda says there is nothing wrong with police questioning Mr Banda over the unlawful assembly he held with about 20 MMD members at a named eating place in Woodlands, without a police permit.

He told ZNBC in an interview that the police were merely doing their job.

On Thursday, HRC Spokesperson Samuel Kasankha said in a statement that people are not obligated by any law to seek permits or to even notify police about meetings which involve small gatherings.

Mr Kasankha said notification of police is a formality, unless participants become uncontrollable and therefore pose a security risk.

ZNBC

Government has urged Zambians not to listen to people saying the PF government will remove the Christian nation clause from the constitution.

Information minister Given Lubinda says it is not true that president Sata’s government intends to remove the Christian nation declaration clause from the constitution.

Mr Lubinda says those spreading such lies are merely politicking and should not bring God’s name in politics.

And Mr Lubinda has advised some church mother bodies complaining that they have been left out of the technical committee to draft a new constitution not to feel left out.

He explained that the Zambia Episcopal Conference which is the mother body of all churches in the country will represent their views.

The minister was speaking at the annual conference for the Global Word of Life Pentecostal Assemblies in Kabwata on Saturday.

ZNBC

By Mr.Roy Mwaba

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions is disappointed with the approach taken by government to review the current statutory retirement age from 55 years to 65 years. Consideration to review the current statutory retirement age follows the Presidential directive to which the Ministry of Justice has already drafted the pensions Amendment Bills.

After wider consultations with affiliate members and Zambian workers in general, the Congress noted that the principle of consultation with main stakeholders such as workers representatives was greatly undermined in this process because the unions and employers were only given the opportunity to make contributions after the process of reviewing the retirement age had advanced.

In addition,the spirit of the review of the retirement age is closed and not accommodating contrary views.

In view of this, ZCTU does not consider the extension of the statutory retirement age from 55 years to 65 years as merited because there is no strong case so far advanced by Government to justify the revision of the statutory retirement age from 55 years to 65 years. In line with this, ZCTU has identified a number of factors that need to be taken into account before considering extension of the statutory retirement age to 65 years.

One of the factors to consider is the life expectancy. Life expectancy is not a mere statistic but should guide policy makers especially social security schemes to determine the appropriate retirement age which reflects realities on the ground.

Official statistics from CSO (2009) estimates life expectancy at 52 years while the UNDP report for 2011 estimates life expectancy at 47.3 years. Generally, the statistics show that even the current retirement age of 55 years is higher than the life expectancy of a common Zambian.

What this implies is that even at the current statutory retirement age, a number of employees die before retirement, denying them the opportunity to enjoy their pension benefits. It is a known fact that the attrition rates are high even for public service workers where teachers alone accounted for 11,443 in 2009 (2009 Education Bulletin) partly due to high death rates. This brings to question any likelihood that a higher minimum retirement age would lead to people working longer, translating in greater economic output.

This could explain why the retirement age in developed countries is set below the average life expectancy and not above. Examples would include Sweden where the statutory state pension age ranges between 61 and 70 years, with a life expectancy of 80 years and the United Kingdom where the state pension age is 65 years with life expectancy of 79 years.

In this regard, it is our view that increasing the retirement age is likely motivated by intentions to enhance solvency of pension systems because by implication there will be no retirement payments for the next ten years. What is overlooked, however, is the number of people that will possibly die before enjoying their benefits as a result of the extended period.

It can be estimated that over 6 million workers would die without enjoying the benefits of their lifetime hard work.

We note that currently, no one is prevented to continue working even after attaining the statutory retirement age of 55 years. It is not illegal to employ someone who has reached retirement age, the reason why statistics from the 2008 Labour Force Survey indicate a high participation rate for people above the statutory retirement age with over 470,000 people above the age of 55 years still actively employed.

Further, we cannot ignore the challenge of Youth Unemployment when considering extending the retirement age. There is no shortage of skills among the younger generation required to replace the elderly so as to warrant an extension of the retirement age. We have a number of qualified personnel already active and contributing to the development process.

Besides, there is a large number of unemployed youth graduates still looking for employment; about 70 percent of youth with degrees are unemployed (LFS, 2008). For the employed, a large proportion of the youths are in informal jobs where they have no social security coverage.

In this regard, Government’s focus should be to enhance social security packages and introduce financial management training to adequately empower retirees. Social security schemes should provide financial services such as business loans and mortgages to enable workers prepare for the time they would be out of employment.

Increasing the statutory retirement age in the absence of a revamped social security system will simply mean more people will even die before they reach the statutory retirement age than is currently the case. Equally important, there is need to improve service delivery in terms of health, education and sanitation in order to raise life expectancy to justify the change in retirement age.

Currently, the majority of the workers are in the informal sector and are not covered by social security schemes. Thus, the statutory retirement age only applies to a few formal sector workers estimated to be about 500,000 from the working population of about 4,600,000.

The majority of all workers, constituting about 90 percent of the total working population fall outside social security schemes. The worry of government in this regard should be to address the growing informality where an increasing number of people have no social safety nets rather than focus on a few formal sector workers already covered under social security schemes.

Alternatively there is need for a thorough assessment of the current pension system to consider best options of improving the schemes.
There have been long standing debates about the current arrangement of our pension system. One of the issues to be addressed is harmonising
the legislations. There is also need to harmonise the benefits structure and apply a common formula to standardise the benefits, and also ensure that no same category of employees contribute to different schemes; the case of teachers currently.

Alternatively, options should be given for early retirement. We note that only the PSPF Amendment Bill provides options for personnel in the Defence Forces, the Police Force, and Prison Service to retire on or after attaining the age of 45 years or after completing 20 years’ service. It is appropriate to extend such provisions to other workers covered under NAPSA and LASF. In this regard, ZCTU is proposing 55 years for early retirement or after completing 30 years’ service,with 60 years as mandatory retirement age.

In light of the above, we note that the government’s intention to increase the retirement age has not been done with adequate analysis of the current pension system to warrant an extension. No substantial justification has been advanced by government to extend the current statutory retirement age. In turn, this has generally been understood as a plan to create solvency in pension schemes because no retirees will be eligible for pension benefits in the next ten years.

Consequently, Government will not have the problem of paying retirees for the next ten years.In addition, not all of the people who could be due for pension benefits under the current system would be able to live up to 65 years and claim their benefits.

On this basis, ZCTU does not support the review of the retirement age from 55 years to 65 years. Our suggested option is to consider 55 years or completion of 30 years in service as early retirement and 60 years as a mandatory retirement age. Although we know that Zambia has one of the lowest statutory retirement age in the region, the decision to extend the statutory retirement age should be founded on justifiable empirical evidence. If the intention is to harmonise our statutory retirement age with that prevailing within the region, a comparative study within the region should inform such a decision. We cannot treat the retirement age like an import product. A systematic approach must be instituted to warrant such change.

MMD Chavuma Member of Parliament Kenneth Konga yesterday said that the Hummer police seized from his Kabulonga residence was acquired using the money Members of Parliament get from Parliament for car loans.

QFM News reports that Mr Konga revealed this in parliament today when asked vice president Guy Scott to tell the house whether the money the National Assembly gives MPs for car loans is stolen money for Police to seize his vehicle.

The vehicle was seized following a nine hours search police conducted at Mr Konga’s Kabulonga residence yesterday.

A combined team of investigators from the Zambia Police, Anti Corruption Commission and Drug Enforcement Commission also seized two motorcycles from the former minister’s residence.

QFM

MMD Lusaka province chairman William Banda is disappointed with the Zambia police’s reaction over the meeting he held with other party cadres. Mr. Banda wonders why the police officers bundled the party cadres in the manner they did when they would have talked to them in a proper manner.

He has since refuted media reports that the party convened a meeting to talk about the Patriotic Front Government’s performance in the 90 days. In an interview with Journalists, Mr. Banda says the party only decided to meet so as to decide the way forward as well as to elect the new district leadership.

The MMD provincial chairman said that it is good that the police have set a tone that whoever meets, regardless of the political party and without informing the police will be apprehended for illegal assembly.

[pullquote]The MMD provincial chairman said that it is good that the police have set a tone that whoever meets, regardless of the political party and without informing the police will be apprehended for illegal assembly.[/pullquote]

On Thursday, warned and cautioned MMD Lusaka Province chairman William Banda and eight other party members for unlawful assembly. Police said Mr Banda and about 20 other MMD members unlawfully assembled at a named eating place between Kabulonga and Woodlands where they were planning to organise people to rise against the PF government, for failing to fulfil its campaign promises within 90 days.

The Police said the group had a closed-door assembly between 10:00 hours and 14:00 hours and refused to answer knocks from plain-clothed detectives who approached them.

And The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has cited the police of having acted outside the law when they detained and recorded a warn and caution statement from Lusaka province MMD Chairperson, William and others for alleged unlawful assembly.

The Commission has since asked the Zambia police service to clarify to Zambians what it means by unlawful assembly.

[pullquote]He clarifies that notifying the police is a formality and is useful if the organizers of a meeting suspect that the numbers of participants will swell therefore pose a security risk.[/pullquote]

HRC spokesperson, Samuel Kasankha says the people who were picked up were not obligated by law to get a permit or notify the police about their meeting especially that it was a small gathering.

He clarifies that notifying the police is a formality and is useful if the organizers of a meeting suspect that the numbers of participants will swell therefore pose a security risk.

The Commission spokesperson notes that the police should slap the arrested people with a different charge other than unlawful assembly if there is evidence that Mr Banda’s meeting was meant to create disorder against the PF government.

Mr Kasankha has urged the police to ensure that their reactions to meetings are undertaken within the confines of the law. He stresses that the Zambian constitution guarantees freedom of assembly.

The Commission has since cautioned the police to be careful not to be seen to be biased against some sections of society.

United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema has been saved from prosecution for breach of parliamentary privileges and contempt of the house for ridiculing Parliament and the office of the Speaker.

This follows an article in the Daily Mail 9th December, 2011 headlined “Arrest me, HH dares Sata” in which he cast aspersions on the Speaker by doubting the credibility of the Speaker and questioning his impartiality by accusing him of siding with ruling Patriotic Front MPs.

In his ruling following a point of order raised by Kawambwa Member of Parliament Nickson Chilangwa whether the conduct of the UPND leader did not constitute a serious breach of the constitution and Chapter 12 of the Laws of Zambia and whether it was not a serious affront against the integrity of the Speaker and the whole House, Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini questioned how he has been siding with PF MPs when records show that of the 109 points of order raised in the house, opposition MPs the raised the majority.

QFM News reports that Dr Matibini stated in his ruling that Mr Hichilema not only ridiculed the house in his statement but also caused to publish misleading information which amounts to contempt of the house, which upon conviction would attract a penalty of 5,000 units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both.

The Speaker said he has graciously decided to counsel Mr Hichilema and the general public to desist from attacking the house and the office of the Speaker, despite the breach committed by the UPND leader warranting his prosecution.

QFM

Kapiri Mposhi district has recorded an increase in cases of rabies this year mostly resulting from several ordinary dog bites.

The district has recorded 42 cases of rabies involving humans out of 243 cases of ordinary dog bites this year alone.

This came to light during an emergency meeting called by Kapiri Mposhi District Commissioner, Urgent Mazuba to devise strategies aimed at mitigating the problem.

Mr. Mazuba summoned officers from the District Health Office (DHO),Veterinary Department, the Council and the Police Service.

The District Commissioner said the increase in the number of rabies cases is due to the increase in dog bites in the district due to a high number of stray dogs.

The increase is also attributed to lack of some dog owners to have their animals routinely vaccinated against rabies while some households are keeping more than the stipulated number of three dogs.

According to the Control of Dogs Act chapter 247 of the laws of Zambia it is a requirement for dog owners to obtain permits to own dogs from either the council or veterinary department and a household is allowed to keep not more than three dogs.

The Act further provides that dogs should be taken for routine anti rabies vaccination every after six months failure to which the dog owners are guilty of an offence and are liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 750 penalty units or a three month jail term with hard labour.

Mr. Mazuba advised dog owners to abide by the law and ensure that their animals are confined and vaccinated as required.

And a Medical Officer Charles Mwinuna said the increase in the number of rabies cases has strained the DHO budget to procure medication for the victims.

Dr. Mwinuna stated that the medication for rabies is very expensive therefore there is need for a lasting solution to curb the cases of
rabies in the area.

“Rabies carries five doses per case and each dose costs K100, 000 that is about K500,000 per patient. The Medical Office in the district does not have this kind of money to procure the doses”, Dr. Mwinuna said.

He said there is need to find a more cheaper and sustainable way to control the spread of rabies saying the curative stage is too expensive.

And the Council will soon deploy officers to carry out a door to door dog inspection exercise in order to take stock of the population of the animals per household in the district.

Council Secretary Venture Kafula said the local authority in conjunction with the Zambia Police will also embark on a dog control program to destroy stray dogs and those suspected to be infected with rabies.

“Working with the police, we are going to destroy some dogs especially those suspected to be infected with rabies by way of shooting them down and charging owners found flouting the Control of Dogs Act”, Mr.Kafula said.

The council has since commenced with the mobile sensitization of the public on the matter.
[ZANIS]