Government today unveiled a K 15.3 trillion national budget for 2009 under the theme ‘ Enhancing growth through competitiveness and diversification,’ whose larger portion would be financed locally.

This year’s budget represents an 11 percent increase from the 2008 national budget of K 13.7 trillion.

The total budget represents a drop in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from last years of 26.7 percent to 25.4 percent.

Of the total budget, K 10, 645.9 billion ( representing about 69.7 percent ) will be financed locally while K2, 768.7 billion ( 18.1 percent ) would be sourced externally through grants from cooperating partners.

The balance of K1,864.5 billion or 12. 2 percent will be financed through domestic borrowing of K1,069.0 of 1.8 percent of GDP and External borrowing of K795.5 billion or 1.3 percent of GDP.

K2,768.7 billion , K810.1 will be through Direct Budget Zone (DBZ) while K409.6 billion is expected to be funded through sector budget support.

Presenting the 2009 budget to Parliament today, Finance and National Planning Minister, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane said government has proposed to spend K 4.865.5 billion on government general services.

He said government has provided K50 billion for the National Constitution conference (NCC) , K248.5 billion for dismantling areas, domestic debt interest K978.8 billion and external debt K372.0 billion and K173.1 for compensation and wards.

Dr. Simukotwane said government has also provided K610.7 billion for public and safety , representing 4 percent of the total.

Government has also allocated 3,021 .2 billion for economic affairs , K117.3 billion for environmental protection , K587.3 billion for Housing and Community amenities and 1,823.4 billion representing 11.9 percent of the budget to the health sector while the education sector has 2,628.0 billion , which is 17.2 percent of the budget.

On Infrastructure government has allocated K1,356.8 billion for roads of which K 250.3 billion will go towards rehabilitation of feeder roads and for provincial rural units that will be used to operate road maintenance equipment procured last year.

And government has this year increased allocation to the Ferliser Support programme (FSP) from K185 billion for last year to K435 billion in this years budget.

Dr. Musokotwane said the measure is meant to empower small scale farmers with inputs in efforts of improve national security .

He has further allocated K 100 billion for the strategic food reserve and K 70.7 billion for livestock development and a further K56.5 billion for irrigation development.

On Transport and Communication, government has allocated K 21.2 billion towards the rehabilitation of Kasama , Solwezi, Mfuwe and Mansa airports and a further K 10.0 billion for the completion of the Chipata Muchiji railway.

Dr. Musokotwane said government has provided K 214.4 billion to the national Rural and urban water supply programme and a further K10 billion towards the improvement of drainage system in Lusaka city.

On the allocated for Public order nada safety, government will send K475.8 on policing services and K35 billion for the construction of houses for defense personnel.

Public service pension fund has been allocated K174.3 billion while a further K128.1 has been allocated as government employer contribution to the fund.

K40 billion has been proposed for the Citizen Empowerment Fund (CEF) while K67.5 billion has been allocated towards the Constituency development Fund (CDF) .

Dr. Musokotwane has revealed that key ministries will publish booklets showing resources allocated for each projects in order to facilitate effective monitoring by stakeholders.

He said the measure is meant is meant to enhance transparency and accountability on the part of government .

ZANIS/SJK/MKM/ENDS/MM

President, Rupiah Banda, is expected to arrive in Addis Ababa tomorrow to attend the twelfth Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union Heads of State and Government.

Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande who confirmed to ZANIS here said the President will be accompanied by First Lady Thandiwe and other government officials.

Mr. Pande said a busy schedule awaits Mr. Banda with the first call of duty prior to the commencement of the summit being a meeting of the Great Lakes Region which will focus at the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.

He said on the first day of the Heads of State and Government summit of the African Union, President Banda and his counterparts will dedicate the whole day to discussing the possibility of forming a United States of Africa government.

Mr. Pande said the issue of the budget of the AU will also rank highly on the agenda of the AU summit where Zambia has expressed concern on the utilization of the AU budget.

He said First Lady Thandiwe has been invited by the African Union to participate in programmes for the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS, OAFLA.

Mr. Pande said the summit to be held under the theme “Infrastructure Development in Africa”, is of particular importance to Zambia because Zambia is in a hurry to develop.

He said infrastructure such as roads and bridges are key to the development efforts of government.

On the issue of Mauritania of which Zambia is the current Chair of the Peace and Security Committee of the African Union, Mr. Pande said the AU has facilitated that the political situation in that country be discussed.

Mr. Pande said the African Union strongly feels that coups should not be entertained as such acts are things of the past which are denting Africa’s growing democratic dispensation.

And Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Patrick Sinyinza said Ambassadors of the AU members states had prior to the on-going Council of Ministers meeting held a meeting at ambassadorial level where a number of key issues and recommendations were made to the meeting of ministers.

Mr. Sinyinza said borders concerns, issues of integration, peace and stability and the issue of international displacements were highlighted.

The 17th ordinary session of the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) of the African Union (AU) began here on Monday, ahead of the 12th heads of state and government summit, with the theme: “Infrastructure development in Africa.”

Financial issues that dominated the debate of the committee, which comprises African Ambassadors accredited to the AU.

The meeting’s agenda focused on budgetary constraints of the AU Commission as well as on specialised institutions (African Parliament, African Court of Human and People’s Rights, the Commission of Human and People’s Rights).

Besides, the African financial and monetary integration is on the agenda of the committee.

In this regard, the relations between the AU Commission on alternative funding sources for the Union as well as the African Stock Exchange and the African Monetary Fund were discussed thoroughly about 10 days after the meeting in Addis Ababa of the extraordinary conference of the African finance ministers on these issues.

Desertification control was also addressed during this two-day meeting, with Ambassadors being urged to examine the 2008-2010 draft Action Plan under the Great Green Wall Initiative for the Sahara and the Sahel initiated in Senegal by President Abdoulaye Wade.

African women and the issue of gender equality were high on the agenda of the meeting of the committee, alongside the review of the summary of national reports on the implementation of the African Union’s Solemn Declaration on gender equality in Africa.

ENDS/AM/PK/ZANIS

Mongu Subordinate Court yesterday sentenced a 22 year old man to 12 months imprisonment with hard labor after he pleaded guilty to one count of theft contrary to section 272 cap 87 of the laws of Zambia.

Appearing before Magistrate Humphrey Chitalu was Muyunda Siyanga of Mbikusita Compound in Mongu. Particulars of the offence are that on 21st January 2009 around 09 hours at Shoprite checkers Mongu, Siyanga was spotted by Derrick Nyambu, hiding two packets of energizer batteries valued at K47000 under his pants.

He was later apprehended and taken to police station after he paid for a loaf of bread he picked from the bakery. In mitigation, Siyanga asked the court to have leniency on him saying he was a school going pupil.

ENDS/BPM/PK/ZANIS/MONGU

Government has maintained that Zambia has never hosted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secret prisons as reported by the international media

Clarifying reports in some sections of the international media, Defense minister George Mpombo told parliament in a ministerial statement that Zambia was not one of the countries with the secret US states.

He stated that Late Republican President Dr. Levy Mwanawasa had opposed the US plans to set up a base, the position which has never changed.

He said the article from the United Kingdom Guardian weekly issue of Friday , January 23 2009 was not true.

The Minister’s response follows a point of order that Patriotic Front (PF) Vice President Guy Scott which he raised over UK’s paper revelations of the CIA secret prisons existence in Zambia.

But US Ambassador to Zambia Donald Booth also denied the existence of the CIA prison facility or any similar entities in Zambia .

In a press release, Ambassador Booth said there had never been any such prison facilities in Zambia

ZANIS /AH/GP/MKM/ENDS

A Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) has urged the National Constitution Conference (NCC) to seriously review and adopt Article 149 in the Willa Mung’omba Draft Constitution that has the provisions of the Presidential running mate proposal with a view to avoiding the costly running of the Presidential by-elections.

Chikondi Foundation President Bishop John Mambo says there is need for NCC to adopt Article 149 that provides the adoption of the Vice President as a running mate of a Presidential candidate in case a calamity befalls the President.

Bishop Mambo, who is also Nyamphande Orphanage President, told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that NCC plenary should adopt Article 149 as it will play a crucial role in bringing political stability as well as help to foster economic development in the country.

The Lusaka-based Clergyman said there is need for the NCC not to dilute the provisions contained under Article 149 in the Willa Mung’omba Draft Constitution as this would help to prevent political divisions and fighting’s in the country’s political parties.

Bishop Mambo, who is a former CRC Commissioner, said that the NCC should work-out special modalities that would answer to the needs and aspirations of the Zambian citizenry in the final constitution.

He observed that if the new constitution is to stand a taste of time, NCC members should ensure that the views of the majority Zambian were reflected in the final constitution.

Bishop Mambo was reacting to the NCC which yesterday deferred to the full NCC plenary the Article 149 in the Willa Mung’omba’s draft report on whether a Republican Vice President should be a running mate to a Presidential Candidate or be appointed by the President.

And Bishop Mambo has thrown-out calls by some opposition political parties to institute an independent body to audit the National Constitution Conference (NCC).

Bishop Mambo said there was no need for some opposition political parties to start calling for an independent audit body because the NCC had not misapplied funds and that its mandate was costly for it to misapply funds allocated to the exercise.

The clergy has since called on the opposition to fully support NCC to enable it execute its duties with the stipulated time.

ZANIS/TK/MKM/ENDS

The opposition Patriotic Front (PF) has called on government to ensure that the 2009 budget was designed in a manner that would address the country’s challenges which have come as a result of global economic recession.

PF vice president, Guy Scott, said the opposition party is concerned with the negative impact of the global financial crisis.

Speaking during a media briefing at the party headquarters in Lusaka today, Dr. Scott said there was need for government to heed to calls from his party to cut on its expenditure.

He said cutting government expenditure would help address some of the challenges the country is facing due to the prevailing global financial meltdown.

And the PF vice president has urged government to expeditiously issue a report on the alleged secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisons in the country as reported in the international media.

Dr. Scott said his party was waiting for a report from government because the American government through its embassy in the country has since denied operating secret CIA prisons in Zambia.

The call for the report follows an order from US President Barrack Obama to close secretly operated CIA prisons in various countries, including Zambia as reported in some sections of the international media.

Meanwhile, PF spokesperson Given Lubinda alleged that most of the Permanent Secretaries which were recently appointed to government were not competent to run the civil service because they did not have the technical knowledge and experience.

Mr. Lubinda charged that the appointments amounted to abuse of office and a campaign strategy by the ruling party for the 2011 elections.

He further alleged that most of those appointed to the position of permanent secretaries are people that campaigned for President Banda during for the October 30th 2008 presidential elections.

Meanwhile two former senior MMD official and ministers in the second republic have defected to the opposition PF.

The duo, who held various portfolios in the Fredrick Chiluba led government are Kuyoto Kunyanda and William Harrington.

They announced their resignation from the ruling MMD to join opposition PF at the same media briefing, citing weaknesses in the MMD leadership.

ZANIS/CM/KSH/ENDS