Former Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Emmanuel Mwamba has said that he was surprised to hear President Hakainde Hichilema state that no sitting allowances, as was done in the past, will be paid to both Ministers and Permanent Secretaries when they hold a workshop in Lusaka next week.

In a statement posted on social media, Ambassador Mwamba said that sitting allowances were abolished in 2012, and he expected a quick rebuttal or clarification from Cabinet Office.

Mr. Mwamba said that the 2012/13 Policy revised conditions of service and payment of allowances to government officials and it abolished almost all remunerative allowances such as sitting, overtime, lunch, bonuses allowances and consolidated them into a salary.

Below is the full statement

By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba

I was rather surprised to hear His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema state that no sitting allowances, as was done in the past, will be paid to both Ministers and Permanent Secretaries when they hold a workshop in Lusaka next week.

Sitting allowances were abolished in 2012. I expected a quick rebuttal or clarification from Cabinet Office.

It has not.

Remunerative allowances that include sitting allowances were abolished in 2012/13 when the Government implemented the 2010 Pay Policy.

This Policy revised conditions of service and payment of allowances to government officials. It abolished almost all renumerative allowances such as sitting, overtime, lunch, bonuses allowances and consolidated them into a salary.

Sitting allowances were abolished.

However, the Government retained only duty-facilitating allowances. Government still pays duty-facilitating allowances for those officers working outside station, outside town or outside the country.

The government introduced Daily-Subsistence Allowances for officers and officials traveling outside town.

Even in this case, sitting allowances were abolished as government pays for accommodation and food, and a small out-of-pocket allowance.

In the case of the workshop due next week, Government will NOT pay any allowances, including sitting allowances to Ministers and Permanent Secretaries based in Lusaka.

However, it will pay duty-facilitating allowances to those Provincial Ministers and Provincial Permanent Secretaries from outside Lusaka to allow and facilitate their travel, and their accommodation.

In fact, for fuel, imprest was abolished and a standard formula was devised to pay based on number of kilometers to be covered. The Minister or PS from Kabwe, Central Province will not receive the same fuel amount as the PS coming from Solwezi or Kasama.

So to be clear, no Minister or Permanent Secretaries based in Lusaka received or were paid allowances for their meetings, workshop, ad-hoc, committees and other such functions being held at Mulungushi International Conference or Government Complex which form part of their normal daily duties in Lusaka.

However, every government, including that of President Hichilema has bemoaned the abuse of public resources using unnecessary workshops or deliberately moving such meetings and workshops to places like Livingstone so that officials could benefit from stipends.

This must be curtailed and justification is shown why such Meetings should take place outside town or in person.

In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that nearly all meetings including Cabinet Meetings and one due to take place next week can take occur virtually and this can save huge government resources.

The Minister of Energy Peter Kapala has announced that the government has placed the Indeni Petroleum refinery, in Ndola on care and maintenance as part of reforms aimed at promoting efficiency and stability in the petroleum subsector.

Mr. Kapata said that the move will result in having fewer employees at Indeni with the option of re-deployment of staff and voluntary separation for those who may wish to leave the company.

Mr Kapata aid that products such as petrol, Jet A1, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Kerosene and Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) will all be transported via road as they will no longer be produced by the refinery.

The Energy Minister however said that the government intends to implement the pumping of Low Sulphur Gasoil (LSG) Diesel through the TAZAMA pipelines as one of the reforms.

Mr Kapata has said in a statement that as promised, the new dawn government has begun the process of reforming the fuel supply chain in a bid to achieve least-cost pricing while ensuring a stable supply of petroleum products and assured the nation that reforms in the fuel supply and procurement system will be done in a transparent manner with the participation of the private sector.

Below is the full statement

Agriculture Minister, Reuben Mtolo has said that the government has never paid ALPHA Commodities $50 million to procure fertilizer.

Mr. Mtolo said that it is unfortunate that lies have continued to be peddled, adding that the standing orders indicate that whatever is brought to the floor of the National Assembly is factual and empirical.

Mr. Mtolo was responding to Kabushi Member of Parliament Bowman Lusambo who wanted to know whether it is true that the Government paid ALPHA Commodities instead of giving the resources to the Food Reserve Agency to pay farmers.

Of late ALPHA Commodities has been in the spotlight on social media with reports alleging that a fertilizer tender was awarded to Alpha Commodities whose major shareholder is Minister of information Chushi Kasanda’s husband Morris Jangulo and that she did not declare any conflict of interest.

Further allegations are that an advance payment of $50m has been paid?

All these allegations have been dismissed by both Government and UPND party officials.

Minister of Transport and Logistics Frank Tayali says the government will not be reviewing the Zambia Airways principal shareholders agreement signed with Ethiopian Airlines and that the fundamental principles will not change.

Mr Tayali, however, states that the government through the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is reviewing attendant agreements with Ethiopian Airlines to ensure that its terms and conditions are equitable and do not in any way disadvantage the Zambian government.

He says the review process has since commenced and is focusing on the two agreements entered into between Zambia Airways 2014 Limited and Ethiopian Airlines.

The Minister was responding to a question by Kantanshi member of parliament Anthony Mumba who wanted to find out whether the government has any plans to urgently review the contract between Zambia Airways Limited and Ethiopian Airlines, to ensure a win-win situation, before the launch of the national airline scheduled for 1st December 2021.

The Minister notes that his ministry at no time made a statement that the Government will discontinue the Zambia Ethiopia deal.

Mr. Tayali also said his office is aware that the previous Government procured 4 aircraft believed to be in Russia for the establishment of the airline and that the matter is under investigation.

Mr. Tayali said Zambia Airways will focus on domestic routes and said that Government will give the necessary support to the airline to enable it to grow and start taking regional flights.