By Chanda K. Chishimba

Often times Zambians have grappled with the problem of lack of job opportunities, shrinkage of industries in the post- SAP implementation era, lack of drugs in hospitals, low education standards, and a general low life standard. Many of these issues have led to the erosion of confidence in the government. Hopes of a better life grow fainter each day. In my view there is so much that our government can do to stimulate economic activity which in turn would lead to the creation of jobs and improve the living standards of its people.

1. Government needs to make a sacrifice on the way it spends resources of the state. Cut down the size of government by eliminating the position of Deputy Minister. I don’t see what D/Ms do which cannot be done by a Minister. It would be more prudent and cost effective to strengthen the office of the PS and other Ministry Directors. These are the professionals who run Ministries. Further, we need to let the Ministers and other government officials pay their own cell phone bills. The bills are a drain on government resources. There is no concrete proof that all cell phone calls they make are for government business. The amount of money saved from these adjustments can be redirected to improving infrastructure such as schools and roads. This would lead to the creation of new jobs. And then the issue of hundreds of government officials, the police, army, and air-force seeing off or receiving the President whenever he travels outside the country is quite ridiculous. This takes away the valuable man-hours that these individuals would have put into their work if they had not gone to the airport to perform a function less important than the one for which our people might benefit.

2. Government should seriously consider the issue of Chiefs owning so much land. This land can be used to create new industries, which would in turn create jobs for the Chiefs’ subjects. As a matter of fact, it would be important to stick a clause in the agreements with the new companies, that the Chief should be paid a certain amount as royalty. This royalty is what will sustain the Palaces and make the Chiefs less beggars than what they are today. This move would eliminate the chiefs’ participation in politics and improve their standing in the eyes of their subjects. The current practice where a chief owns thousands of hectares of land is just plain right retrogressive and a barrier to expansion and development. We all fully understand the importance of chiefs in our heritage, but this is the 21st Century and the role of chiefs must be upgraded to economic and social development participants.

3. Government can also implement a radical shift in the way duty and taxes in border towns are spent. It would serve our people well if government can allow every border town to keep 45% of revenue from duty and taxes in that town or even province. This is the money which can be used to improve schools, build hospitals, build roads and create new industries and jobs. This measure would also ensure that people will start to move back to rural areas where they can find employment, thus, relieving the urban towns of much of the currently suppressed carrying capacity. Our rural towns will experience development never seen before. The practice of all revenue eventually ending up at the central treasury has failed because the funds almost always are diverted to less essential activities.

4. I would also propose legislation that would enable Zambians manage a portion of their individual retirement funds. Enforce legislation that would create Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA). As employees earn income, a certain percentage should be saved in an IRA and people can determine their own investment choices. With the Lusaka Stock Exchange now providing most people with investment alternatives, this would be a sure way to create wealth, lessen the burden in retirement, and leave children with an inheritance. The current system where NAPSA manages retirement funds for the people is subject to so many bottlenecks. No wonder people never get their pension funds after years of hard work

The path to economic development is not easy. Sacrifices must be made by both the governed and those with the mandate to govern. It is not enough to sit back and ask the citizens of Zambia to tighten their belts when those in power cannot embrace the same. We need to be steadfast in our endeavors to improve the livelihoods of our people. These challenges have been tackled successfully in many parts of the world, and Zambia should not be an exception.

President Rupiah Banda, has described as unreasonable plans by some opposition political leaders and cadres to demonstrate over rising food prices.

“Somehow the Patriotic Front thinks they can do it with demonstrations, they look ridiculous, there is no basis for that and Zambians have shown that they are not interested,” said Mr. Banda.

President Banda said opposition politicians should appreciate dialogue as an effective way of resolving issues affecting the economic welfare of the people as opposed to confrontation means.

Mr Banda said there was nowhere in the world where demonstrations have been used as an effective method of solving issues.

He was speaking to journalists shortly before departure to Burundi where he is expected to attend a one day heads of state and government summit on the Burundi peace process.

Commenting on the one day Burundi peace process summit, Mr. Banda said the summit was important as it was aimed at finding ways of bringing peace to that country.

“As you know our friends in that country have not experienced peace like us. So leaders in the region called for a one day summit to see what we can do to bring peace to that country,” said Mr. Banda.

He noted that Zambians should be grateful that the country has, since independence, enjoyed peace and tranquility.

Meanwhile, Mr Banda said he was aware that fugitive former Zambia Intelligence Service Director, Xavier Chungu, arrived in the country, adding that he will allow the law to take its course on charges of abuse of authority, among others placed on the former intelligence chief.

Mr. Banda, who is accompanied by Agriculture Minister, Brian Chituwo, Local Government and Deputy Minister, Eustarkio Kazonga and other senior government officials left the country aboard a Presidential jet Challenger at 06:25 hours.

Former intelligence Chief, Xavier Chungu’s lawyer, Nicholas Chanda said that he asked his client to return to Zambia because he had no case.

“I advised him to come back because the State had amended its charges unless it wants to start the cases afresh,” Mr Chanda said.

Mr Chanda said he asked Chungu to surrender himself to the police because he did not want him to appear as if he was running away from something although there was no case against him

And chairperson of the Task Force on Corruption, Max Nkole denied that the Task Force on Corruption had struck a deal with the former intelligence chief.

Mr Nkole said assertions that the Task Force had a deal with Chungu to make him a State witness were false because the latter voluntarily took a plane to come back home at his own cost.

He said Chungu’s return would be helpful to both the prosecution team and the defence.
“We are not trying to persecute him but to seek the truth out of him, everything boils down from him. He becomes relevant not only to the prosecution but also the defence,” he said.

Mr Nkole said the decision to have Chungu become a State witness depended on prosecutors who were handing his cases.

“However, the accused is at liberty to decide whether to become a State witness or for the defence,” he said.

He said in law, an accused person could opt to become a witness but in the present state Chungu still remained charged with various criminal cases.

Mr Nkole said Chungu landed in the country at midday and that the Task Force on Corruption was interested to know how he escaped and those who aided him would be prosecuted.

On whether certain cases Chungu was facing would be amended, Mr Nkole said this depended on procedure and the prosecution team who would decide if they would have to start the cases afresh.

When asked about where Chungu had come from, Mr Nkole refused to disclose on grounds that this could compromise the security of that country.

Prior to his escape, Chungu was facing a number of cases in court.

In one count for instance, Chungu was alleged to have abused authority of his office as ZSIS director general by making irregular payment of US$70,000 to church organisations abroad on February 16, 2000.
In the second count, Chungu on February 12, 1999, allegedly stole US$16,846 cash which came into his possession by virtue of his employment.

Then senior resident magistrate, Douglas Zulu, discharged Chungu following an application by the Anti-Corruption Commission to withdraw the case on grounds that he was facing a similar charge in another court.

THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) collected over K8 trillion by October this year, exceeding the government target for the whole year by K426.6 billion.
Government revenue collection target for this year was K7.75 trillion.

ZRA commissioner general, Chriticles Mwansa, announced this at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday.

He also said ZRA might not reach the targeted US$415 million tax collection under the new mining regime by this month end because the windfall tax had completely fallen off due to low copper prices on the international market.

Mr Mwansa said by the end of October, ZRA collected K10.597 trillion in gross taxes while the tax refunds stood at K2.415 trillion.

“The net tax take stood at K8.18 trillion against a target of K7.754 trillion, thereby registering a surplus of K426.6 billion or 5.5 percent above target,” he said.

Mr Mwansa attributed the K426 billion surplus to higher tax revenue collection, particularly under company tax, pay as you earn (PAYE), mineral royalty, medical tax, excise duty, trade taxes and medical levy.
He said all other types of taxes recorded higher than programmed with the exception of domestic value added tax (VAT).

ZRA collected K3.6 billion under company tax, K168.5 billion PAYE, K40 billion withholding tax and K167.6 billion mineral royalties.

The authority also collected K176.4 billion excise duty, K273.7 billion import VAT, K193 billion customs duty, K14 billion export duty and K3.1 billion medical levy.

And Mr Mwansa said ZRA’s major revenue collections were from the energy and mining sectors with the latter recording K293.1 billion under the new mining tax regime from April to October this year.

Mr Mwansa said of the K293.1 billion, K126 billion was collected as windfall tax while K22.2 billion came from mineral royalties.

He said ZRA might not be able to meet the targeted US$415 million by the end of this year because the windfall tax had completely fallen off while collections from mineral royalty had drastically gone down due to low copper prices.

“When you calculate the windfall tax at current copper prices, it has completely fallen off. This will not be collected unless copper prices change overnight,” Mr Mwansa said.

He said ZRA might not get much revenue from mineral royalty because it depended on the bulkiness and the price at which it was sold.

Mr Mwansa said although all mining companies were complying with the legal provisions set by Government, some of them were not up to date in remittance of funds to ZRA.

By October this year, revenue from the mines stood at K7.8 trillion against the 2008 Parliament target of K9.1 trillion, leaving a balance of K1.245 trillion for November and December.

Notwithstanding the drastic drop in commodity prices on the international market resulting from the negative impact of the global financial crisis, ZRA projections indicated that it was likely to surpass its revenue target by about K100 billion within the remaining period.

“In this regard, we are intensifying our enforcement activities so that we can mobilise more financial resources for the government,” Mr Mwansa said.

He said this year ZRA had recorded successes in areas like the mordernisation reform programme that aimed at enhancing effectiveness and greatly contributing to sustainable and predictable national revenue.

Mr Mwansa said, however, that ZRA had over the last 10 months continued to face some challenges in its operations, particularly where smuggling at border points was concerned.

He said ZRA had continued to engage law enforcement agents to help fight the scourge which was a danger to the country’s economy.

Mr Mwansa said ZRA had put in place measures to improve enforcement and compliance across various types of tax.

The authority had also strengthened information sharing with other stakeholders which had resulted in improved detection of tax evasion.
[Zambia Daily Mail]

Kitwe Police are looking for 38 year old John Makumba of Kitwe’s Kamitondo compound for alleged murder of his nephew over a plate of Nshima.

Police told ZANIS in Kitwe today that Mr. Makumba is alleged to have differed with his nephew identified as Winter Makumba of house number 2206 Kamitondo.

Mr Makumba allegedly hit nephew with a metal bar on the head after he discovered that he had eaten nshima that was left for him by his wife.

Police said Mr. Makumba started quarreling with his nephew after he discovered that he had eaten food that was left for him and in the process hit his nephew.

The body of the deceased was currently lying at Kitwe central hospital mortuary.

ZANIS/LK/CMM/ENDS

Zambia’s self imposed fugitive and former inteligence chief Xavier Chungu has handed himself to the Zambia Police Service.

Both police service spokesperson Boniface Kapeso and Task Force on Corruption Chairperson Maxwell Nkole confirmed in seperate interviews that Chungu was caught at the Lusaka International Airport by alert police officers after they identified him.

Kapeso explained that Chungu has been on wanted list for a long time and he is currently in police custody.

Chungu fled Zambia about four years ago following allegations of plunder of national resources during the 10 years he served as intelligence chief.

Government has revealed that the country has an estimated shortfall of 100,000 metric tones maize.

Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ronnie Shikapwasha, told journalists in Lusaka today that government has further established that the country will run out of maize at the end of February 2009 and that there will be need to import the shortfall to last until May 2009 when people will have harvested their own produce.

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha said both the Food Reserve Agency, FRA, and private dealers are encouraged to participate in the importation of the established shortfall.

“However, government is aware that availability of maize is not in itself a solution until this translates into what people can afford. To this end, the FRA has been instructed to and has started off-loading 20,000 metric tons monthly of its maize which is cheaper than importing maize to stabilize the prices,” explained Gen. Shikapwasha.

He noted that government will continue providing relief food to people, who are in areas which experienced floods last rain season.

Rev. Shikapwasha, who is also Chief Government Spokesperson revealed that so far government has

distributed a total of 5,714 metric tons of White maize countrywide saying government is assessing the situation on the ground.

He emphasized that contrary to Kalomo Central Opposition UPND Member of Parliament Request Muntanga, the maize government will import is non Genetically Modified Organism-GMO.

He assured Zambians that government has a source which will supply non GMO maize.

Meanwhile Rev. Shikapwasha said the formed Task force on rising food prices is expected to come up with a national Action Plan which will bring out the interventions needed to mitigate the ever increasing food prices  in the short, medium and long term .

He noted that government has taken note of the concerns expressed by various people and organizations about that state of food security in the country.

Gen. Shikapwasha said government is taking appropriate interventions to prevent people in all parts of the country from dying from hunger saying government is currently assessing the level of food insecurity.

He said there was no need for people to panic or some people making political mileage out of the food situation.

“The mealie-meal prices should not be used as an issue to incite unrest in the country because government is taking all the necessary measure. Moreover it is misleading to suggest as the Patriotic Front has done that President Rupiah Banda promised to reduce the mealie-meal prices,” explained Rev. Shikapwasha.

He explained that President Banda had emphasized the need to increase food production and promised increased subsidy on fertilizer for beneficiaries under the Fertilizer Support Programme.

He assured the Zambian people that there was absolutely no need for planned protests by opposition PF cadres saying it is a shame that leader, Michael Sata, has decided to support the planned demonstrations by his cadres.

Gen. Shikapwasha noted that the Task Force on rising Food Prices is studying the variance of retail prices between urban and rural towns and will advise government on how best to deal with the situation.

And Gen. Shikapwasha said the fertilizer issue has been taken out of context because neither President Banda nor government promised to reduce prices across the board.

He explained that the subsidized fertilizer is not for the open market but for targeted people belonging to co-operatives and benefiting the Fertiliser Support Programme.

He said there is no conman in government as the issue of reducing fertilizer prices under the Fertiliser Support Progarmme was announced way before the campaigns by former Finance Minister N’gandu Magande.