A senior government official has called for the establishment of a legal framework to regulate and formalise mining activities in Luapula Province.

Acting Mansa District Commissioner Charles Makwaya observed that government was loosing revenue from mining companies and individuals operating in the area because of lack of legal framework to regulate the mining and mineral prospecting activities.

He said some mining activities were being conducted without impact assessment from the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) and were causing degradation to the environment in the area.

Mr. Makwaya was speaking at his office when he received State House Chief Analyst for Policy Implementation and Monitoring (PIM) Tobias Mulimbika who paid a courtesy call on him .

The DC said there was need to legalise the activities so that mining companies and individuals are compelled to come up with programmes to mitigate the impact of mining activities on the infrastructure and environment.

“It has become very difficult for government to regulate the mining activities because we don’t have a legal framework to do so, that’s why we have a lot of illegal mining companies and individuals operating from whom we can’t even benefit but are using our roads to transport the minerals,” Mr Makwaya.

Mr Makwaya said the increased mining activities in the district had continued to deplete reserved forests especially in chief Matanda’s area.

There have been increased mining activities in Luapula Province which has attracted both local and foreign companies , that have ventured into mining of manganese and copper which is sold abroad.

ZANIS/CB/MKM/ENDS

The Eastern Province Program Management Team, EPPMT, of the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction CSPR) Provincial Coordinator Emmanuel Musonda has challenged government to disburse the allocated funds to the various sectors in good time so as to see to it to the success of the 2009 national budget.

Mr. Musonda said the 2008 budget failed to live to its expectations because of the late disbursement of funds and the same is likely to happen to this year’s budget if there is a repeat in the untimely disbursement of funds in 2009.

He said the success of the 2009 national budget which is worth 15.2 trillion Kwacha is highly dependant on how the allocated funds will be disbursed to the various sectors.

Mr. Musonda who issued this statement through a press release that was made available to ZANIS today also said early disbursement of funds and the providing of budget information to government departments and society would allow them to embrace the budget thus giving it the support it deserves.

And The business community in Kafue District has called on government to provide more funds to the local authority so that infrastructure can be improved in the district if more investors are to be attracted.

The community also says despite many people commending this year’s national budget, people in Kafue feel disappointed with it because it has not answered the problems of Kafue.

Power Five Enterprise Director Joseph Chanda told ZANIS in Kafue today that Kafue district has a lot of potential which can turn the economy of the area.

” While government is doing everything possible to help the once industrial town of Kafue to get back to its former status, the local authority must explore ways of making the town more attractive to investment,” he said.

Mr Chanda said among the areas the budget has failed is to create employment in the country. He said unemployment is still a problem government must endeavour to resolve as many Zambians have no jobs.

He said government should have also provided money to re-capitalize Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia. He said failure by government to resuscitate NCZ is killing the economy of Kafue as many business houses depend on the salaries of workers who make up the majority of residents in the area.

He further called on government to deliberately increase funding to councils so that infrastructure is improved in districts. He said infrastructure in many districts is very poor and investors may shun them.

Mr Chanda said Kafue district is too close to Lusaka to lack proper infrastructure and more investment should be directed to it so that it comes out of its problems. He said the local authority on its own can manage to improve the town if government does not intervene.

And another Businessman Muhammad Nurget commended government for having increased the threshold of those exempted from paying PAYE from K600, 000 to 700,000. He said this will provide more relief to workers as they will be having something to take home.

Mr Nurget however appealed to government to extend the exemption to those earning K1, 000,000. He said many workers in Zambia will not be spared from the economic problems the world is facing because business houses are increasing prices of commodities and yet salaries have remained static.
ZANIS/MK/ENDS

-The Zambian Chamber of Mines, ZCM, is happy with government decision to wave windfall tax on Copper and Cobalt prices.

ZCM president, Nathan Chishimba, said the measure reflects government’s commitment to assisting mining companies remain viable and sustain their workforce.

Mr Chishimba, however, said the negative effects of the on going global financial crisis and high production costs required measures to cushion the negative impact on the mining industry.

He expressed confident that the measure would also help promote investment in the sector.

Mr. Chishimba said the mining industry in Zambian does not control commodity prices at the world market and hence the sector could not isolate itself from the negative effects of the global economic recession.

He also said the high cost of doing business in Zambia create a barrier to economic growth and hence called on government to work with the mining industry to streamline the burden and other statutory costs involved.

Meanwhile, Vice Republican President George Kunda is tomorrow expected in Livingstone for the official opening of the 2009 African Mining Congress (AMC).

Mr. Kunda who is also Justice Minister is scheduled to arrive at the Livingstone International Airport around 08.30 hours and will be received by the Provincial Minister, MMD Provincial Chairman, the Permanent Secretary, the Mayor, and the provincial leadership.

The Vice President is also scheduled to receive briefings from the provincial leadership at the Royal Livingstone Hotel.

This is contained in a programme statement made available to ZANIS by provincial administration office.

After his arrival , Mr. Kunda will proceed to Zambezi Sun Hotel where he is expected to receive briefings from the AMC organizers.

Mr. Kunda is expected to depart for Lusaka after the official opening of the congress.

ZANIS/MM/MKM/ENDS

ENDS/AC/ZANIS/SJK

The Zambia Consumers Association, ZACA, is disappointed with the move by government to reduce customs duty on on clear beer at the expense of imported food items.

The consumer body expected government to reduce duty on imported flour and other food items in this year’s national budget.

ZACA Executive Director, Muyunda Ililonga, said the reduction of exercise duty on clear beer will increase alcohol abuse among the youth.

Mr Muyunda expressed hope that government will come up with a deliberate measure to bar young people from indulging in excessive beer drinking in view of the expected reduction in the price of the commodity.

He said the move to reduce the cost of beer is counter productive especially in a country that is striving to promote economic growth and alleviate poverty.

Meanwhile, a check by ZANIS at COMEA market found that traders have not effected reduction on the price of beer following the announcement by government to reduce customs duty on imported commodity.

One of the traders, Emmanuel Mukalele, told ZANIS that the price of clear beer on the market might not reduce significantly despite the reduction on customs duty due to the continued depreciation of the Kwacha.

ZANIS/AC/ENDS/SJK

The Zambia Association of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ZACCI, has observed a slump in demand for Zambian products on the global export market due to the current global economic recession.
ZACCI Chairperson, Hanson Sindowe, has advised government to increase its focus on diversification of the economy to increase the product range and value for exports in order to cope with the effects of the global financial crisis.

Mr Sindowe said this in Lusaka today in reaction to the 2009 budget which was presented last week.

He said although the country faced challenges of reduced earnings from copper sales, high inflation, and the depreciation of the Kwacha last year, it managed to grow the economy by 5.8 per cent.

He, however, said government, in the implementation of the 2009 budget should strive at reducing inflation and strengthening the Kwacha against major international currencies.

Mr. Sindowe has since commended Finance and National planning Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane for selecting the theme of ‘enhancing growth through competitiveness and diversification’ for this year’s national budget.

He said this year’s budget is an extraordinary one as it seeks to address major issues seen by allocating more resources to the agriculture, economic, education, and health sectors.

He also said the country needs to reverse the downward trends in tourists arrivals, maintain current employment level in the construction sector and encourage additional value for goods meant for exports and also explore new markets for new products.

Mr. Sindowe said the government should also revisit the measures taken on duty on imported mobile phones saying this will make local cell phones expensive and will also encourage smuggling.

He also said ZESCO should first perform effectively before it can consider increasing electricity tariffs.

ZANIS/GP/ENDS/SJK

Moomba Member of Parliament (MP) Vitalis Mooya says the funds under the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) government has allocated in 2009 national budget is too little.

Mr. Mooya said the government should understand that the CDF was vital in maintaining and finishing off different projects in constituencies by the Members of Parliament.

The Moomba MP told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka, that in as much as the country was experiencing the economic recession, government should have this time around increased the funding.

He said the increament of funds towards the CDF however shows that the government was willing to see MPs develop their constituencies.

Mr. Mooya called upon the government to continue with the same spirit of wanting to see development in the constituencies and the country as whole.

He also called upon the Members of Parliament to ensure that when given the CDF, they utilize the funds for the intended purposes in developing their constituencies.

Recently, Finance Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane presented the 2009 to Parliament in which K67.5 billion was allocated the Constituency Development Funds as compared to K60 billion in 2008.

ZANIS/AJN/ENDS/MM

Parliament has head that government plans to recruite 1500 new police officers to meet the shortfall of police officers in the country.

Home Affairs Minister, Kalombo Mwansa told Parliament yesterday that the recruitment will start in April this year.

Dr. Mwansa said the government wants to recruit more Police Officers in the country because there was a shortage of manpower in the Police Service.

The Home Affairs Minister was responding to Chililabombwe Member of Parliament (MP) Esther Banda who wanted to know when government will recruit more Police Officers.

Dr. Mwansa said once government recruits more officers it will immediatly deploy them in different Police posts country wide.

He also said in the next five to seven years, government will recruit 12000 more Police officers to meet the staff short fall.

The Minister said every year the government has been recruiting Police Officers adding that the state will also get 500 houses for the Police Officers.

He also said the government intends to increase capacity of Police Colleges as soon as resources are available.

ZANIS/AJN/ENDS/MM