Ndola City Council (NCC) has disclosed that it is considering various possibilities of digitizing payment methods in order to strengthen its capacity to efficiently deliver services.

Ndola City Council Town Clerk Cosmas Chalusa said the local authority was embracing technology in order to strengthen its capacity to expedite service delivery.

This came to light when the local authority held discussions with some entities on how to

successfully digitize revenue collection in order to improve collections, serve on time and subsequently improve service delivery.

Mr. Chalusa said when Kazang Zambia made a presentation to the council management on digitizing payments for selected services.

Mr. Chalusa said digitizing various aspects of the council payment modes would help officers work more efficiently, serve the residents on time and contain pilferage of resources.

“There is a need for Council workers to improve efficiency because the increase in the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) means that decentralisation is now in full effect.

The increase in CDF means that councils will oversee more projects, a situation which calls for the councils to find ways of working more efficiently in order to ensure that all projects are completed on time and completed properly,” he said.

He added that councils needed to prove that they have the capacity to oversee the increased CDF because some sections of society had expressed doubt in the capacity of officers in local authorities to manage the increased Fund.

Mr. Chalusa said digitizing some of the components of the council will enable officers have time to do more work.

And the Ndola City Council Director of Finance Mildred Nyambe urged council employees to embrace technology.

Ms. Nyambe said technology made it easier to track resources adding that the proposal by Kazang was a welcome move as it focussed on Council revenue collections in bus stations, markets, and car parks, areas that used cash transactions.

Meanwhile, Kazang Zambia National Sales Manager Bradley Chingobe said the merchants’ payments system the company is proposing will enable bus drivers, market traders and motorists pay using mobile money through the Kazang machine.

Mr. Chingobe said the system will also help the council monitor revenue collectors’ performance.

This is according to a statement issued to ZANIS in Ndola today by NCC Public Relations Manager Rebecca Mushota.

Respected engineer Bernard Chiwala says Zambia has adequate resources that can be used to change its economic landscape and become a prosperous nation.

Eng. Chiwala, the former Road Development Agency (RDA) chief executive officer, named mineral resources, human resources and improved Agriculture as some of the things that can make Zambia a prosperous nation.

The board chairperson of the Lusaka Multipurpose Cooperative Society (LAMCS) said Zambia has more resources that can be utilized to pay back the current national debt.

The experienced engineer is currently promoting the growing of avocado for export in his capacity as board chairperson of the Lusaka Multipurpose Cooperative Society (LAMCS).

Eng. Chiwala further called for merit in the utilisation of national resources.

“The debt levels we have at the moment compared to the resources we have is nothing. Sir, (Franklyn Tembo) I do know for a fact that this country is a gold country. We have gold almost all over the place. Let’s have that gold as a national strategic asset and only give institutions like ZCCM to manage it so that we can get the most out of gold, out of it and raise money and also use it as a reserve in the Bank of Zambia. That we can do, see what Botswana has done with their diamonds. Diamond is a strategic asset in Botswana we must do likewise and manage it well. Put the best people there you can find,” Eng. Chiwala said in a recent interview with ZNBC TV.

“If Zambians are in Ontario, bring them back if they are the best. The whole issue of meritocracy is a missing ingredient. I will give you an example of one country which is a leading producer of avocado globally: Mexico. One crop per year Three Billion Dollars, how much is our debt? 14 Billion, say 15 Billion. 3 Billion Into 15 Billion. In under five years from one crop, if we work hard on one crop, I am not talking about macadamia, cashew nuts or walnuts which are also of a very high value. We can change the economic landscape and make this nation the envy of the nations. Zambia has everything, we can do it but what we need to put up at the forefront is meritocracy. Reward merit, have the best people in all the places. That is what is going to transform Zambia; I have learnt from Singapore, Singapore is a tiny country that is 1000 times smaller than Zambia but look at how they catapulted from backwardness and squalor. In 1964 their economy and Zambia you could not even compare. Today they have in excess of Three Hundred Billion Dollars in the reserves,” Eng. Chiwala said.

“Tiny country, you can finish going throughout the country in a few hours but what did they put at the centre? Meritocracy puts a high premium on educating their own people so that they have the best education and then bring them into the civil service, the public service and the best people. The likes of Prof. Clive Chirwa, put them in strategic institutions. Just the best and give them space to do their work and to do it well and reward them well. The benefits that will accrue to our country will be tremendous in a very short period of time,” he said.

Eng. Chiwala added:”I will speak for myself, without the scholarship I got from ZCCM in 1984; I would have been a village today chasing rabbits. I didn’t know anyone. I just got this after my grade 10, I got this letter that I have been given a scholarship. I didn’t have to know a PS (Permanent Secretary), I didn’t have to know a minister. We had a system in this country which we lost, that looked for good students wherever you are whether you are in Shang’ombo or you are in Chinsali. That is what we must bring back, meritocracy, meritocracy, and meritocracy.”

The Ministry of Justice has acknowledged that the Public Order Act in its current form is inadequate and requires to be amended to ensure that power is given to citizens to exercise their rights as enshrined in the republican constitution.

Speaking during a stakeholder’s engagement meeting on Public Order Management and Legal Framework agenda in Lusaka today, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Mwenya Bwalya says without free public discussion on social, economic and political issues as well as public education and enlightenment which are essential to proper functioning and execution of government, it is impossible to foster the strengthening of the rule of law.

Ms Bwalya said in an effort to uphold the rule of law, protect human rights and to ensure that public order is managed, the public order act will be reviewed.

She has since assured the new dawn administration’s commitment to give independence to the police in the enforcement of the act and to put in place mechanisms that will allow for the reform in the manner in which regulation of public assemblies and processions are managed.

And Governance, Elections Advocacy and Research Services -GEARS- Initiative, the organizers of the workshop through its Executive Director MacDonald Chipenzi hopes government will not remain silent on repealing this act as it needs serious attention.

Meanwhile, Civil Society Organizations Access to Information Coalition says it does not expect any further delay from government to enact the access to information bill into law.

The Coalition says government should do everything possible not to divert from its pledge of enacting the ATI law especially that it is among the reasons that Zambians entrusted them with power.

Coalition Chairperson Reverent Father Alex Muyebe says it expects the ATI law to be enacted into law by June this year failure to which it will mobilize and galvanize the masses to join in demanding government to deliver on its election promise campaign to enact the ATI law as a key tool in fighting corruption.

Fr. Muyebe told a media briefing in Lusaka this morning that the coalition will also sustain a robust advocacy to see the legislation of the ATI law in Zambia as it is demanded by the Zambian people in an event that the bill is not enacted into law.

And MISA Zambia National Director Austin Kayanda says civil society organizations in the coalition are hopeful that the bill will be enacted now that it is on the calls list at parliament.

The Zambia Revenue Authority has intercepted a truck laden with 570 Bales of used clothing (salaula) on the northern route worth about K700,000.

This consignment is a case of outright smuggling that contravenes Section 132 and 149 of the Customs and Excise Act of the Laws of Zambia.

Facts are that the suspects forged customs documents purporting they have been issued by the Revenue Authority when in fact not.

Upon being intercepted, the drivers presented the fake documents but with the advancements in the use of technology by ZRA through the use of the newly introduced Customs Validation System, the officers can check and verify all documents on-site.

The newly introduced feature on the ZRA systems has already started paying dividends as it is expected to help clamp down on all forged documents.

ZRA Spokesman Topsy Sikalinda said, “has ZRA not intercepted this consignment, the Zambian people would have lost about K347,000 in taxes.”

“Smuggling is a big threat to the economic growth of any sector; it creates price distortions, unfair competition and robes the country of much-needed revenue. It is theft or robbery as it deprives the Zambian citizen of much-needed development,” Mr Sikalinda said.

“When we call you smugglers, we are being polite, you are thieves who are robbing the citizenry of the need for medication in hospitals and other social amenities. The Government of the Republic of Zambia announced various initiatives such as free education, increased Community Development Fund at the local level and many other positive initiatives that require tax revenue to be actualized.”

“The Authority wishes to advise everybody in the entire business chain of importing and exporting goods to take full responsibility and ensure that their business partners are genuine and doing the right thing. To all smugglers, the Authority is on top of the game and we are coming after you.”

By Bishop John Mambo

I wish to express my profound regret on some of our Christian groups that have vehemently and hysterically condemned our Republican President for visiting Pope Francis in Rome.

I wish to state that our immediate past President visited the same Pope but never received such astonishing criticism like the current President is receiving and that’s in itself is amazing.

First and foremost, the Pope is a Head of State and President Hichilema, I imagine, as Head of State visited him on that bilateral and diplomatic level, and not as a member of a particular church or denomination.

But most importantly brothers and sisters, the most important responsibility for any leader is to unite and not to divide, to include and not to exclude, to advance equity and fairness and not inequality, to gather and not scatter and I verily believe this is the very description and the profound character of Jesus Christ; to embrace and not to reject, to love and dialogue with those that are different from us, then to pour scorn and judge.

Reaching out to Moslems, Hindus and Bahais do not make one any of those faiths, but it makes one considerate, loving and Christ-like. Just like going out to trade in Dubai which is a preoccupation of some of those criticizing the President, does not make one a Moslem

From my standpoint, we must treat the body of Christ as being supreme and above religious or doctrinal affiliation. Christian is anchored on peace, love and harmony. Any message outside these three principles must be treated as not being from God, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

We must therefore emulate Christ by advancing the language of love than hatred because Jesus focused on reaching out to all even the gentiles.

Let’s give President Hakainde Hichilema a chance to unite a country that was once divided to it’s core. Those that condemn him for visiting the Pope must reach out to their consciences and decide if it’s not being done out of hate and anger, something the Christian faith preaches against.