Editorial comment: Zambians should never miss Pharaoh’s pots of meat now!

Those who are familiar with the story of the persecution of the Isrealites in Egypt don’t need a binoculars to understand why Zambians should ‘never miss Pharaoh’s pots of meat’ in the midst of hardships.

Zambia is officially a “Christian country” by constitution. Christianity is the state religion in Zambia according to the 1996 constitution, and the vast majority of Zambians (95.5%) are Christians of various denominations, but many other religious traditions are present.

To have a short memory of how our freedom was threaten because of the rising cost of commodities, is not being different from what is written at Exodus 16:3;

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”—New International Version.

Borrowing from those words, some citizens feel it would have been better to continue with caderism while eating bread and buying subsidised fuel than enjoy freedoms.

We are not saying President Hakainde Hichilema is Moses, but there is a lot to learn how suddenly a man sent to rescue the children of Israel was condemned because things became harder shortly after leaving Egypt.

In the same vein, some Zambians today seem to lose sight of the persecution they went through at the hands of the Patriotic Front.

Today, the same people who oppressed the weak want to be the loudest to say they have solutions to the problems they created.

How come they never wanted to be held accountable for numerous decisions, some of which are now before law enforcement agencies?

To ask the people to move on from the past without providing answers to questions that have been hanging changes nothing.

Robert Heinlein said, “a generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.”

And we are here to remind them and those who want to regret making change that, if ever we should try to condemn Bally, those who mistreated should not be the ones to speak for us.

We should never again trade freedom for bread and wine.

We have been on this path before. At the start of 2000, Zambia was one of the Highly Indebted Poor Countrys(HIPC).

Late President Levy Mwanawasa took over a broken economy, broken health care system and “an almost broken everything.”

The same could be said when Frederick Chiluba became President.

What followed is still there for us to see.

Rather than join the queue of people complaining without offering help, look at the abundant natural resources at our disposal. Look at the amount of rain we have received.

This is pretty much like manna in disguise.

We are not refusing that the UPND government should not be held accountable yet to be fulfilled promises, but we must recognize his five years ends in August 2026.

To call Mr Hichilema a failure before even reaching half of term is being immature(no apology attached).

How we react to the challenges we’re faced with now will determine the kind of future we are preparing for our children.

Once again, don’t join the bandwagon of Pharoah for his stubbornness only led him to a humiliating end in the red sea.

By Fanny Kalonda

ACTING Financial Intelligence Unit (FIC) director general Liya Tembo has expressed happiness that the cases the institution has been handling in the last five years have reached an advanced stage with arrests being made.

During a meeting with members of parliament at Southern Sun Hotel yesterday, Tembo said FIC has seen more arrests being carried out in the recent months.

“There was a question on how far cases have gone in the past five years. We are now confident that many cases, with some of them now have reached a stage where arrests are being made, will be made and prosecution is ongoing. I think that we have seen that more and more in the recent months,” she said.

Tembo also said the institution is happy with the performance of its operations in the country.

She however noted pressure from influential persons on the institution but that their goal is work within the law.

Tembo said she is impressed with the arrests being made in relation to FIC investigations carried out in the past five years.

“The environment that we have encouraged is to work within the law, the legal framework. If you work within the legal framework, yes you may be dealing with prominent individuals but the question is, have you done it in a manner that is required? So whatever pressures may have been there, the goal has always been to deliver according to expectations. And I think that is why we are saying that out of the five, we insist on being 4.9,” she said. “The pressure will come at different angles but the question is that are you ready for the task? And if you are taken to task yourself, are you able to defend that you are working within the sphere.”

Tembo said the fact that FIC has been able to provide intelligence even as there were challenges with the rule of law is a plus.

“In terms of the successes made by FIC, they are numerous. We are assessed vigorously from our legal framework up to the systems you have employed for analysis. The structure as well as the cases,” she said. “Having an FIC that has been able to offer intelligence even at times when there were challenging conditions in terms of the rule of law, I think that is definitely a success story that we are still operational. We are still an independent organisation. We have an institution that has received support. In terms of our rating, I would say 4.9 out of five. Another achievement is what is done by ZRA (Zambia Revenue Authority). The figures have been quiet huge and very consistent with actually giving us feedback in terms of how much recovery has been made when it comes to recoveries. So it is a very big achievement.”

Tembo said Zambia was also looking into strengthening legal framework concerning the protection of whistleblowers.

“We rely on enforcement agencies in terms of other pieces of legislation and the whistleblowers Act and will also engage the security wings on comments that the whistleblower is not being protected. But I think you may be aware that Zambia is also looking into strengthening this area in terms of the legal framework that play a critical role to ensure that the measures that we will introduce in terms of how the institutions are looking into strengthening the protection of whistleblowers,” she said. “In terms of FIC, whenever we receive information from the member of the public, the best that we do is that we tell them not to disclose who this individual. We also caution them not to go around saying that they gave information to the FIC.”

And Tembo refuted social media reports that they were receiving information in exchange for money.

“We deal with complicated cases and sometimes issues would be raised so that we lose our focus. We did not want to sit and ignore that allegation. So we did our own internal checks and discovered and verified that the reports were not legitimate. Should anyone who claims to have solid evidence we are very available to be engaged,” she said.

Tembo also refuted claims that FIC taps phones during investigations.

“We work within the confines of the law. The question was direct. Do you tap phones? We don’t. That is the simplest answer that I can give. We don’t have the mandate,” said Tembo.

TIME FOR BLAMING PF IS LONG GONE, START WORKING- Hon Kampyongo implores Government.

……says to make the opposition irrelevant is not to fix their voices but to do what the people are expecting.

Lusaka…..Friday, April 1, 2022 (SMART EAGLES)

Former Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo says the New Dawn Administration should stop blaming the previous Administration and start finding solutions to the problems facing the country.

Hon Kampyongo said the UPND must realise that they are in charge and that it is time to find solutions for the people.

And Hon Kampyongo said it is not necessary to fix the voices of those giving checks and balances in order to be at peace.

He said to make those talking irrelevant, the people’s expectations need to be met.

Hon Kampyongo was speaking on Radio Phoenix let the people talk programme.

“Blame game will never work, it cannot even put food on the table. You can only blame your predecessor to a certain extent as a way of trying to buy peace with the people but at some point it will wear out. Let them realise that they are in charge because blame game won’t reduce the fuel price,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hon Kampyongo said it is Prudent to collectively discuss solutions to the problems facing the country.

“Offering checks and balances also means to also agree in those issues that are being progressive. The issue of fuel is affecting both the Ruling party and the opposition.

If there were mistakes that were made knowingly or unknowingly in our time, that is part of public service. Human beings are prone to mistakes. Even the new dawn Government are not angels,” he said.

In another development, Hon Kampyongo has reiterated that there is need to avoid using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) as the only way of implementing the decentralisation policy.

He said CDF should be one among other modules to implement decentralisation.

“If you do not have structures on the ground, it will be very difficult for you to implement decentralisation because some of the districts are far apart. There are still issues that we need to resolve such as empowerment for the youth and women which is supposed to be a revolving fund. Let’s have structures that can deal with the component of Empowerment. The CDF committees may not have the capacity to assess beneficiaries of these empowerment funds and recover the funds,” he said.

DISCUSSING INCREASE IN FUEL PRICES- HUGE DEBT HAS LEFT US VULNERABLE TO EXTERNAL FORCES!

By Alexander Nkosi

Fuel is one of the most important inputs in production. When fuel prices go up, the cost of transportation goes up and the cost of goods and services also goes up. To producers, the cost of production goes up. To consumers, the cost of living goes up, this affects savings and investment. Hence, government’s goal is to keep fuel prices low, this is key in speeding up economic recovery lift people out of poverty.

For a country like Zambia, fuel prices are affected by prices on the international market and the exchange rate. So how do we keep prices low? 1) Build enough reserves so that we can cushion the country against external forces, 2) Strengthening the currency so that we don’t spend more kwacha to get dollars to procure the commodity, and 3) Clean up the procurement process to reduce inefficiencies. Number 1 and 2 can be achieved in the medium to long term while number 3 depends on the legal aspects of the running contracts. Terminating running contracts comes at a very huge cost.

Given this background we are faced with a very big dilemma to address high fuel prices. We are already subsidising (foregoing over USD 40 million in suspended taxes), implying that prices could actually be higher than this. What do we do? Do we subsidise further? How do we finance the subsidies? Our domestic revenue isn’t even enough to pay salaries for civil servants and meet annual debt outlay which currently is K78.6 billion. There is nothing to divert to fuel subsidies, even the previous government could not finance the the subsidy, hence the reason we accumulated huge debt. We are already borrowing to finance the rest of the items in the budget.

How do we finance the fuel subsidy? Let’s look at options:

(i) Borrowing heavily from the capital markets: Who pays for this? It is us Zambians as it will worsen our debt situation. It will affect debt restructuring negotiations and will have counterproductive result which will further push fuel prices up. Our economy right now depends so much on the success of debt restructuring. If this doesn’t work, we might end up with a situation where domestic revenue is not even enough to cover annual debt.

(ii) Increase taxes to raise funds to pay for fuel subsidy: It comes back to the same thing, Zambians have to pay high taxes which will push up the cost of production and cost of living. Tax the mines more? They have a clever way of reacting; they will shelve investment plans and take their investments elsewhere, they will cut down on production and since we are heavily dependent on the mines for export earnings, this will hit the economy hard and send our currency into depreciation. The result will be an increase in fuel prices.

In conclusion, painful as it is, we have limited options and the one that represents less consequences in future is passing on the increase to consumers. It will affect the economy and rate of economic recovery but borrowing to finance subsidies will have worse consequences.

We have a great opportunity to sustainably keep prices low once we review procurement which is currently limited by legally binding contracts signed. Once the IMF deal is approved and debt restructured, funds released from debt repayment will be used to build fuel reserves and cushion consumers against temporal external forces. Capital inflow and reduced loss of dollars since we will be paying less debt will lead to kwacha appreciation which will push down fuel pump prices.

Thank you.

Of Middlemen and Sourcing and Supply agents

I have noticed that the debate on the issue of Zesco contracting foreign companies to supply poles has escalated and now being narrowed down to just that of removing middlemen from the supply chain.

Firstly, who is a middleman? For those who know English, a middleman is simply an intermediary or agent between two parties especially: a dealer, agent, or company intermediate between the producer of goods and the retailer or consumer.

In Zambia, the term middlemen has been popular in regards to supply of petroleum products and fertilizer. Many of us have cried that government need to quickly remove middlemen so that we can have cost reflective prices for these commodities.

In business, however, middlemen can also be referred to as sourcing and supply companies. Their role is to simply identify or look for business from companies that need something and then look for manufacturers or producers to make and supply the needed goods. It is a very acceptable business practice world over. The scenario is not different from that of using an insurance broker instead of going direct to the insurance company. It helps in terms of getting optimal services such as customer service and after sells since a middleman or sourcing and supply company may actually have a presence near the customers.

Unfortunately, for Zambia, the middlemen in the supply of petroleum and fertilizer have been foreigners with a few indigenous Zambians working only as fronts or minor shareholders. This is where the problem comes in. Whatever money these middlemen or sourcing and supply companies have made, has actually left the country leaving no benefits on the ground.

Those of us who have interacted or worked with big manufacturers before will agree that, many of them prefer to concentrate on their core business of manufacturing and therefore depend on business agents, middlemen or sourcing and supply companies to bring business to them. Many intermediary or sourcing companies have a presence in many countries which help them to identify business opportunities, tender and win contracts. Manufacturers on the other hand, do not open up offices all over the world, if they participate in a tender, it is mostly a targeted or an invited tender.

Therefore, in the case of Zesco, all they need to do whenever they want to buy something that is not locally made or manufactured is to work out estimates of how much it can cost them to land whatever they want to buy from abroad, then allow a local indigenous Zambian supplier to add a reasonable markup that they can actually cap not to exceed a certain percentage. This actually helps in terms of customer service and after sells services as Zesco will have someone closer who can interface between them and the manufacturer unlike dealing directly with a manufacturer who may not even have a presence in Zambian making it expensive for Zesco to always pay to have them attend to them locally.

FUEL TO HIT 34 KWACHA PER LITRE BEFORE END OF YEAR UNLESS…

1. THE TAX HOLIDAY ON FUEL IS ENDING IN JUNE

A lot of people are not aware that the only reason why fuel prices have not yet hit the K30 mark per litre is because the UPND Government has maintained the tax waiver that ECL introduced last year; ECL removed both Excise Duty and VAT on all oil products in order to maintain low fuel prices.

This tax waiver is coming to an end on 31st June, 2022. With the pressure for money and with the pressure to please the IMF for the pending 1.6 billion dollar Kaloba, it is most likely that President Sammy will have no choice but to scrap off the waiver. Once VAT and Excise duty are re-introduced, the fuel prices will immediately shoot up to at-least K30 per litre.

2. JOBS AND BUSINESSES

Fuel is the blood that runs the economy. Without fuel the economy collapse. High cost of fuel means high cost of production; this will lead to low production and productivity, reduced forex, high cost of living, loss of jobs and a worsening unemployment situation leading to mass poverty.

3. DOES ZAMBIA HAVE THE MONEY TO SUBSIDISE FUEL?

Let me clear a few things before we even go far:

a) President Sata, removed fuel subsidies on fuel in 2013, there are no fuel subsidies that President Sammy removed on fuel, that was simply a punka story.

b) Fuel subsidies are not for consumption but production because fuel is the key factor of production.

There is no economy, small or big that doesn’t subsidise certain strategic economic tools or economic sectors. Subsidies can be used to cushion the burden on the poor or to reduce the cost of production as well as the cost of doing business with the aim of increasing productivity in order to create jobs, reduce poverty and grow the economy.

The question is do we have the money to subsidise fuel?

The answer is YES;

President Sammy has given mines, tax holidays at a time the copper prices are at their historical highest.

If President Sammy scraps off the tax holidays he has given his corporate mining friends, we will be able to raise about 1.2 billion dollars per annum from the mines. This is the money we need right now to pay for subsidies and inject in the economy to increase productivity, create jobs, increase forex and grow the economy.

So let President Sammy scrap off the tax holidays he has given his mining friends and re-introduce fuel subsidies in order to save and grow the economy.

People are stressed, kuli ma pressure muma komboni; there is no money in this economy, it is dry and the cost of living is going higher and higher.

Ba President save the economy before it’s too late, scrap off the tax holidays you have given the mines and use that money to pay for subsidies on fuel and grow the economy.

Antonio M. Mwanza
01/04/22

Why the fuel Price Jump

“ERB sneaks in huge regulatory and marking fees in the price of fuel”

By Amb . Emmanuel Mwamba

The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has announced fuel pump price increase for Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene.

The pump price of Petrol will now be K26.50, Diesel at K26.22 and K19.32 for Kerosene.

ERB claimed that the increase in fuel prices was due to the continued strain in global oil supply mainly due to the geo-political conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

This maybe true.

But ERB neglected to inform the nation that it had also hiked regulatory and marking fees incorporated in the fuel price.

ERB also neglected to inform the nation that it had also adjusted marking fees that they pay to a private company.

ERB pays Authentix Zambia, marking fees calculated per litre of fuel.

Authentix Zambia is an authentication and information services company that marks fuel.

The covert fuel marking programme is the process of adding an invisible bio-chemical substance to all legitimately sold fuel in the country and subsequently monitoring the marker concentration levels.

ERB increased marking fees from 0.096 to 0.204 per litre and ERB fees from 0.159 to 0.196 per litre.

The Board neglected to explain and justify why these fees had to be increased when the nation is suffering from a sharp high cost of living.

Was the increase of ERB and marking fees even necessary during this global fuel crisis period?

Another matter, although ERB says the increase of price of fuel is to make it cost-reflective, the pump price is far from being reflective as Government suspended all taxes on petroleum products in 2020 of; Customs Duty (25%), Value Added Tax (VAT) and Excise duty.

Until these taxes are restored, the price of fuel will remain artificial enjoying indirect subsidies because of the continued taxes’ suspension.

The statutory instrument suspending taxes on petroleum products was extended from January 15, 2022 to June 2022.

And until Indeni Petroleum is incorporated in the fuel chain, Zambia will continue to suffer from high fuel prices.

“WE KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING ABOUT IT”, SAYS PILATO

The responsibility of the government is to provide leadership to a country. This leadership is in finding solutions to the challenges faced by the citizens. It is not enough for the government to explain the problems, they should tell the citizens what they are doing to address the problem.
Today we are faced with fuel prices going up substantially and the best we have received is a commentary on why the prices are going up and not what the government is doing to address the problem. The minister of energy as well as other government officials have only explained to us what has necessitated the increase but have not indicated what they are doing about it. It’s like going to a doctor for a headache and instead of the doctor treating you for the headache, they only tell you the cause of the headache and let you leave. I think the Ministry of Energy and the government in general should be able to give more than just commentary to the problem. WE NEED SOLUTIONS not narrations of what is happening. We all know what is happening in Ukraine, you knew of the war in Ukraine, what did you do to avoid the worst impact locally?

I have expressed my concerns on the monthly reviews of the fuel prices on this platform before and how disturbing it is especially for small scale businesses. It is a scandal that will kill many businesses in the long run. The monthly revision of fuel prices is likely to negate even the positives that the government is doing in addressing other economic challenges. For example, the CDF, the power of the K25.7m now is not the same as it was last month. As prices go up the the value of the money is going down. The increased social cash transfer will end up buying the same things that the previous amount could buy. This will in the end compromise all other gains that we should be celebrating together.

My appeal to the Ministry of Energy, The Energy Regulation Board and the government in general is that revise this monthly revision. Instead of monthly make it a quarterly review or a 6 months review. Give an opportunity to small scale businesses to plan and invest in some form of “long-termish” businesses. Some businesses take about 3 months to realize some profit, if the prices keep changing every month, then it becomes difficult for them to invest in businesses that take longer than 30 days to get profits. The K4 increment is quiet substantial which is likely to affect commodity prices substantially.

My proposal, instead of monthly reviews, make it 3 months reviews. The increase if any should be done at an average percentage that should cover the incidental increments within the projected 3 months. If we monitor the trends, we should be able to estimate what the increments will look like in the coming 3 months. We then can pick the average percentage and enforce that as cost of fuel for the period of 3 months. During that time prices will be stable and people will have the ability to plan and manage their lives easier. This would address a number of problems both for the government and the general public.

For some of us that understand the damage that was done to this economy, this was expected. When we said no to the PF early enough, our goal was to avoid getting us into the deep they got us. We knew our economy was being butchered at every corner that is why we called to stop them. If we had stopped them early enough, we would have avoided the mess that we have found ourselves in today. Today it is the UPND in power, we want to see a difference in the approach. We want to experience the difference. The poorest of our people do need a government to protect them from social and economic shocks. We know what is happening in Ukraine and we know what the PF criminals did to this country but we want to know WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO MAKE OUR LIVES BETTER TODAY. How are you protecting us from global events that have the capacity to take away our dignity? What are you doing to ensure that we can afford a meal for a day?

WE KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING ABOUT IT.

…says the business of wanting to use rules and regulations to intimidate people should be a thing of the past.

Thursday, 31 March, 2022 (Smart Eagles).

Former Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection Raphael Nakacinda says Parliament and the speaker of the national Assembly are not above reproach.

He said it is for this reason that the business of wanting to use rules and regulations of Parliament to intimidate people should be a thing of the past.

Hon Nakacinda was speaking after appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Privileges, Absences and Support Services.

This is in relation to a complaint which was raised by Lukulu East Member of Parliament Christopher Kalilila against Hon Nakacinda over an article attributed to him in one of the daily tabloids alleging that the speaker was emotional and also questioned her impartiality in one of her decisions.

Dr Kalila further sought a determination a determination on whether or not Hon Nakacinda was in contempt of Parliament.

And Hon Nakacinda Bemoaned the hesitance by the committee to put what they are alleging to strict proof of evidence.

“I am hopping that through this matter, Parliament will be called to order. This is the people’s Assembly and it is not above reproach. Madam Speaker in her execution of her duties is not above reproach. We want to put it on record that Parliament and the speaker are not above reproach

“Dr Kalilila is saying that I may have gone against the persona of madam speaker when I commented on some of the decisions and rulings she had made in the house. We are demanding that they avail each of those rulings the speaker made so that we examine if I am offside with the comments I made,” he said..

Hon Nakacinda also expressed disappointment on the low number of bills advanced in the current session of Parliament.
Meanwhile, Hon Nakacinda’s Lawyer Tutwa Ngulube said the committee is citing a law that does not give them power to do what they want to do.

Mr Ngulube said Hon Nakacinda has a protected right to give his opinion adding that the statement attributed to him boarders on opinion.

He says the idea of Parliament waiting and lying ambush that anyone who says anything about madam speaker should come and appear before the committee is being Militant.

“We have had a problem in the committee because it appears that they do not want to guide whether they now have powers to prosecute members of the public who say anything about madam Speaker.

Moreover, the article in the Daily Nation was not written by Hon Nakacinda. So how do we conclude that everything was said by Hon Nakacinda,” He said.

Mr Ngulube expressed disappointment that Parliament wants to behave like a court.

“They are refusing that they are not a court but they want to proceed as if they are a court. They have told us they will not give us the footage, they assume that Hon Nakacinda is guilty and that he said what was said. They trampling on the rights of Hon Nakacinda. When you say Madam Speaker was emotional is that insulting the whole Parliament??…,”

THE Patriotic Front party has denied owing Kalandanya Music Promotions proprietor Bwalya Kalandanya K13.5 million for production of campaign songs for last year’s campaigns.

Kalandanya in January this year sued PF party acting secretary general Nickson Chilangwa, demanding payment of K13.5 million with interest for services rendered to the party last year.

In his statement of claim filed in court by his lawyer KBF and Partners, Kalandanya stated that he entered into an agreement with PF through the national chairman for production, promotion, development of campaign songs and political advertisements.

Kalandanya stated that he was approached between April and May 2021 to provide the said music services to PF and on June 12, 2021, he entered into an agreement with PF where it was agreed that he will be paid K13.5 million.

But the PF through its lawyer Tutwa Ngulube has filed a defence in court, denying owing Kalandanya the money he is claiming.

The PF stated that the party has never engaged Kalandanya for the purpose of production, promotion or development of any campaign songs.

It stated that if any such songs were ever
produced, then it was at the gratuitous and self-imposed intention of Kalandanya.

“The songs referred to in the statement of claim were recorded at his instance and not of the defendant because the defendant did not request or engage in the production of the alleged campaign songs as the same was done by the plaintiff at his own volition,” the defence read further.

The PF added that it did not agree to any implied terms over the alleged contract as far as it was
concerned.

It stated that Kalandanya was aware that the production of such songs would not produce any economic benefit.

“All transactions of the political party were
submitted and approved by the Central Committee and not the National chairperson and the aforementioned was within the knowledge of plaintiff (Kalandanya). The parties national chairperson has no capacity, right, authority whatsoever to engage or enter into any contract or transaction on behalf of the party as that authority rests on the secretary general with the assent of the party Central Committee. Therefore, the alleged contract was invalid. The political party never agreed to any transactions with the plaintiff more so for an astonishing amount of thirteen million five hundred thousand kwacha (ZMW13,500.000.00).

The plaintiff shall be put to strict proof of the same,” stated the PF.

(Mwebantu)

DEFEND HH
…PF damage extensive to be corrected in blink of an eye – Kazabu

By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone

THE failure by UPND officials to defend President Hakainde Hichilema against unwarranted attacks by the PF is worrying, says Luxon Kazabu.

Kazabu, a former livestock and fisheries deputy minister in the Michael Sata administration, says the damage that was done by the PF under Edgar Lungu is so extensive to be corrected just in a blink of an eye.

The former Nkana PF member of parliament appealed to UPND officials to “up their game in defence of President Hichilema”.

“The inability of those holding positions that are supposed to be defending President Hakainde Hichilema is worrying to all of us who know that the President where he is cannot be responding to PF leaders who are criticising him at sunrise, lunch and sunset,” he said.

“What is so difficult to in responding to the unwarranted attacks directed at the President left, right and centre? What is so difficult? You know some of us who don’t hold any position (in the party) tend to be cautious because you might open your mouth believing that you are defending the party and its leadership only to step on the toes of other people.”

Kazabu noted that those who hold positions that ought to speak out on behalf of the UPND and the President don’t come out in defence quickly.

“You ought to wonder why they don’t come out quickly? We can’t leave the presidency vulnerable to unwarranted attacks by even people who have not made any contributions worth writing home about,” he said.

“I think that it is important that our colleagues who are in positions that should defend the President do so and they should always be alert. I wish I could be a spokesperson one of these days. You know the English people say ‘you hit the iron when it is still hot’.”

Kazabu said the UPND cannot have leaders who just remain mute while President Hichilema was being attacked left, right and centre.

“No! We can’t run a party like this. They must speak out and you know most of the statements, most of the criticism, are baseless. The people who attack the President don’t have the facts of what they are attacking him for or accusing him of,” he stressed.

“To some leaders in PF it’s like the name of President Hakainde Hichilema has become a chorus, anything that happens they say, no.” Kazabu noted that the damage that was done by the PF under the leadership of Lungu would take some time to repair.

“All we know some us is that the damage that was left behind by Edgar Lungu’s regime is so extensive and to repair such damage can’t just be a blink of an eye. It will take time and President Hakainde Hichilema and his fellow leaders need the support of all well-meaning Zambians to be able to correct what went wrong during the seven years of Lungu’s reign,” said Kazabu.

31st March, 2022

WHY IS UPND PUTTING FOREIGNERS FIRST AND ZAMBIANS LAST?

The decision by ZESCO to give foreign companies a huge contract to supply treated poles at the exclusion of local Zambian companies is a testament that the UPND Government cares more about foreigners than Zambians.

This is also an indictment that the UPND have no plan or intention to help support our own local Zambian companies to grow and enhance their ability to compete with foreign companies.

Further, the statement by the Minister of Energy, Hon. Peter Chibwe Kampala that it is not the strategic objective of ZESCO to create business for our people just goes to show how far detached the UPND leadership is to the difficult economic realities our people are actually going through on the ground. To them all is well kaili they are eating and enjoying free government resources.

ZESCO is one of the largest parastatals in Zambia and creating employment and business opportunities for Zambians must be one of its strategic objectives.

By giving huge contracts to foreigners, UPND is denying Zambians a chance to grow their businesses, create jobs and it is further externalising our hard earned foreign exchange to Zimbabwe and South Africa thus creating jobs and industries in those countries at the expense of Zambia.

How will the UPND Government manage to grow the economy, create jobs for the millions of the unemployed youths and create business opportunities for Zambians when they are giving huge contracts to foreign companies at the expense of Zambians?

ZESCO like all parastatals falls under the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) which is under the influence and direct supervision of the Republican President, who is the Chairman of the board.

When in Opposition, President Hakainde Sammy Hichilema consistently pledged that all government businesses that can be done by local companies will be given to local Zambian companies but today he has negated that very promise just like he has done on many other promises that he made to the Zambians when he was seeking their vote.

Mr Kapala in his statement is insinuating that the foreign companies they have contracted are cheaper than our own local companies, in this regard we challenge the Minister to publish the estimated costs proposed by local suppliers as compared to what the prices foreign companies quoted (including delivery up-to Zambia) so that Zambians can do a comparative analysis of the cost implications and draw conclusions for themselves if indeed the foreign suppliers are cheaper.

In 2018, President Edgar Lungu commissioned a pole treatment plant along the Kalulushi-Sabina road on the Copperbelt to supply treated poles. This plant has a capacity to produce and supply up to 6000 poles per month. Besides, we have numerous local suppliers who have been supplying ZESCO with poles all along, why have they been excluded?

The UPND Government has refused to pay local suppliers and contractors their money; How are they going to create jobs when they are killing local companies and industries? How will our local companies and industries grow when they are being denied business and payments?

We beseech President Hakainde Sammy Hichilema and his IDC board to prevail over this matter and cancel the said contract and re-tender it and ensure that our own local businesses are given a fair share of the deal.

Mr President, your party slogan says ‘Zambia first’ but your actions are putting foreigners first, why? You have given foreign mining companies tax holidays but you are punishing your own people with high fuel prices, high electricity tariffs and high water bills when the money you are allowing the foreign mining companies to ship out of our economy through the tax holidays you have given them is the same money you could used to cushion the cost of fuel, electricity and water; this is the only way you can increase forex and reduce the cost of doing business thus reducing the cost of living for our people.

Issued by
Antonio M. Mwanza
PF Media Director

Hating and Hurting Local Businesses

By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba

It’s sad when policy-makers join an established tendency that expresses negative sentiments and despises local businesses in preference for foreign ones.

They call our entrepreneurs names; middle-men (yes because succeeding Governments decimated all semblance of manufacturing and industry) unreliable, untrustworthy, crooks, thieves, tendrepreneurs or give them party labels.

Let me give an example;

As Permanent Secretary in Northern Province (and Muchinga), we advertised a tender for big water projects in Nakonde, Isoka, Chinsali, Mpulungu and Kaputa districts.

The first people to rush to my office were some Members of Parliament from these constituencies demanding that the contracts should be given to Chinese companies because they were; “fast, reliable, serious and deliver on time”.

These sentiments were echoed by procurement officers and other civil servants that cautioned me; “Zambians deliver shoddy works, that if they do deliver at all”.

My point in all this was that the response to the bid document and the evaluation of both technical and financial capacity should be the basis to inform us of who was suitable to do the job.

I refused to make decisions based on unfounded prejudices and utter disdain that we treat our local businesses with.

Yes there a few indiscipline business entities but this cannot be a blanket assessment of the state of all local businesses.

It is therefore disheartening to read sentiments expressed by the Minister of Energy, Hon. Peter Chibwe Kapala, against local suppliers, and his failure to recognise the need to promote a local supply and value chain eco-system.

But this disdain and sentiments by Hon.Kapala expresses itself officially in many ways including by Law Enforcement Agencies that only pursue and investigate local Zambian businesses and will not touch those of Indian, Lebanese, European or Chinese origin that infact obtained the largest of contracts from Government.

At township or village level, a business or home shop ran by Indian, Burundese, Rwandese or Somalian will never be accused of practicing witchcraft!

Similarly we treat our professionals the same way.

While our doctors, engineers and other professionals excel in foreign lands, back home, we treat them like they should be grateful that a government exist and the sun rises from their air-conditioned offices!

Surely, where do we expect Zambians to benefit from?

ZESCO IS BUYING POLES FROM COMPANIES THAT USUALLY IMPORT TIMBER FOR THEIR POLES

By Amb.Emmanuel Mwamba

KAPALA’S ARGUMENT IS UNPATRIOTIC

Energy Minister, Hon Peter Chibwe Kapala says ZESCO will buy poles, associated electric materials and equipment from international and primary sources and not from middlemen.

He says ZESCO is importing the poles, driven by the urgent need to dismantle the backlog of 60,000 customers pending connections.

He has admitted that the approach to buy from South African and Zimbabwean “primary” sources may inadvertently disadvantage local entrepreneurs, middlemen and enterprises.

He says this is because ZESCO will not participate in political or empowerment schemes of growing local businesses. He says that ZESCO will also not be available to be used to meet political objectives.

He says buying poles from abroad will serve trees in Zambia and mitigate against climate change.

UNPATRIOTIC

I am appalled at the unpatriotic and subversive disposition of the Minister, the reasons given and his failure to recognise that ZESCO is a multibillion firm and one of the largest utilities in Africa.

Therefore both its core business and its huge procurement budget must contribute to the economic growth of Zambia and its value chains.

Hon. Kapala would rather empower foreign firms, foreign middlemen, and help create jobs in foreign economies than use similar institutions to provide capacity and create jobs for his own people.

PRIMARY SOURCES

Hon. Kapala’s biggest argument is that when both ZESCO and Rural Electrification Authority (REA) purchase materials from primary sources, they will save costs and efficiently connect more people on their pending list.

In his entire argument, Hon. Kapala didn’t place ZAFFICO or Copperbelt Forest Company in the government plans.

ZAFFICO having its own and vast plantations, has recently invested and opened a timber treatment plant.

There is also Copperbelt Forestry Company (CFC) with own sizeable plantations and doing similar business requiring such tender offers from ZESCO to help grow the company.

Similarly, companies Hon. Kapala is calling middlemen are fundamentally not different from the companies that ZESCO is buying the poles from.

I therefore took time to search on the ten (10) companies that ZESCO has hand-picked and shortlisted to supply electric poles from Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Here are my findings;

One is home-store shop, another is a general trader.

Others actually grow, mill and manufacture timber and timber products such as transmission, distribution and construction poles.

However the majority on the list hold timber and pole treatment plants that source timber from various suppliers and plantations in their country or outside their countries.

But what is fascinating is that when these companies have huge orders from the region like Zambia to supply poles, they also import timber from other countries especially from Swaziland and Brazil that have large plantations for Eucalyptus, Pine and Douglas fir trees, suitable for poles.

So here are ZESCO’s primary sources.

1. Lomagundi Poles- It’s a home-goods Store based at Mount Hampden Junction, Mashonaland East Zimbabwe.

2. The Wattle Company Limited is the only Wattle Extract producer in Zimbabwe with a capacity to produce 6000 tons per annum. The Wattle Company is a forestry company based in the Eastern Districts of the country. It is the largest kiln dried all round timber in Zimbabwe. It produces treated poles for fencing, telephone and transmission poles.

3. Border Timbers- Zimbabwe
Border Timbers is in the business of growing , milling and manufacturing timber from managed plantations.

4. Capital Timbers -Capital Timber (Pvt) Ltd -Zimbabwe – it is a specialists in production of transmission, telephone and fencing poles. It has a treatment plant in Mutare.

5. Hotspeck Enterprises -Zimbabwe-based at 106 Jotali Building, Mutare 020
Manicaland, Zimbabwe and exports creosote treated fencing, telegraphic, fibre optic, transmission poles and cross arms.

6. R&B Timber Group-South Africa. R&B Timber Group; grows, harvests, processes and pressure treats wooden poles to produce its treated pole brand called the HardPole. The company grows, harvests, and pressure-treating wooden poles.

7. Treated Timber Products -South Africa ; Timber Products (TTP) specializes in the production of Transmission, Telephone, Fencing and Building poles.

8. Vuka Timbers-South Africa-“Vuka Timbers is based in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

It is sources from Eucalyptus forests and plantations in the area. Vuka manufactures and supplies pressure-treated wooden poles.

9. Timberg Quality Timber- South Africa- it has customers such as Electrical Contractors, Power Utility Companies, Municipalities, Retailers and Farmers

10. Lowes Creek Treated Timbers- South Africa-It’s has a vast pole treatment facility. It advanced production facilities – specializing in kiln dried, pressure treated, Creosote or Copper Chrome Arsenic (CCA) poles.

CONCLUSION

Zambia can be a primary producer of poles to supply ZESCO and the region.

As seen above,there is need to invest in large scale wood treatment plants which create value addition to the timber, imported, or grown locally.

Further if ZESCO is absent in this processes to empower local companies and local entreprenuers, it will continue to support jobs and industrialization in other countries.

Lots of respect and best wishes to Senior Counsel Gilbert Phiri on his deserved appointment as Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

When it was life threatening to even think of providing legal services to Present Hakainde Hichilema (Bally) under the Patriotic Front (PF) reign, Senior Counsels Gilbert Phiri and Keith Mweemba were brave enough to give it a go and with God on their side, managed to save Bally from the jews of the predatory PF judicial system in that 2017 trumped-up treason case.

Senior Counsels Phiri and Mweemba wrestled against the predetermined state position to find Bally wanting and convict him so that he could be disqualified from contesting the 2021 elections. During that trial, the nation saw an exceptional display of courage, calmness, and intelligence from defense counsels Phiri and Mweemba. This was not the only case the duo represented Bally, they also represented him when he was appearing at Luanshya Magistrate court on the alleged unlawful assembly and seditious practices case.

Counsel Phiri is a very qualified and experienced criminal defense lawyer with many years of professional practice. He is an Advocate of the High Court and holds a Bachelor of Law (LLb) degree from the University of Zambia and Master of Laws degree from De Monfort University in England. His career practise has seen him have stints with the National Legal Aid, Muleza and Company and PNP Advocates where he is a partner among others.

Senior Counsel Phiri is a right choice at the right time. More so, an outside person was needed at ACC considering the level of infiltration and damage that the PF has had on the institution. Without doubt, he has a huge task at ACC. He will not get it easy as he could face frustration from inside ACC but ultimately huge decisions like this had to be made. Having worked at ACC, I understand the environment better; it is a work environment best suited for strong, collected and tenacious persons like Mr. Phiri.

Congratulations Senior Counsel Gilbert Phiri on this deserved appointment.

Wishing you all the best in this noble role! 🎉👏

@The Falcon

TAYALI TRASHES ENERGY MINISTER’S DEFENCE OF ZESCO…SAYS ITS ALL ABOUT GIVING BUSINESS TO INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS

He wrote….

THIS IS NOT ABOUT WHATEVER CRAP KAPALA IS TALKING ABOUT BUT TO GIVE BUSINESS TO THE UPND INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS AT THE EXPENSE OF ZAMBIANS

These are some of the issues I was talking about which made me not to vote for President Hichilema but voted for President Lungu albeit facing jail if the latter had won. I voted for my Country – Patriotism, because HH represents foreign interests.

You may call me names, but President Hichilema cares more for his Capitalist friends and – here we go!

President Hichilema was funded by the Afro-Americans and the Brenthurst Foundation owned the Oppenheimer family who are the economic super-powers in Africa with a political agenda to control a number of Countries in Africa.

The Oppenheimer family supports various political parties such as the DA in South Africa, MDC in Zimbabwe, led by Chamisa and they are fighting to put him in power in Zimbabwe.

Since HH won elections with their help, he has to make his financial contributions through such big contracts awarded to companies connected to the Oppenheimer family so that they prop up other political cronies and achieve their agenda.

Forget the hogwash of the shandy Hon. Kapala, of Zambians are too expensive with no capacity, this is about paying back to their friends.

And this is the difference with the PF, at least they were stealing and the money used to go round within the County, this is why we used to see cadres playing around with money while slay queens used to flash expensive wines in Kabwata, Salama Park and elsewhere.

The point is, money used to be in circulation and somehow it used to help, because those cadres used to give business to local people hence making the economy running.

But with UPND, money is straight going away to foreign Countries.

I don’t care if the business is given to UPND cadres as long as they are Zambians, somehow we will all benefit, but foreigners, no one will benefit apart from HH and a few who will keep money offshore.

Look at how they are paying foreign companies, in the debt dismantling bid, leaving out Zambians.

Being led by UPND is like being ruled by foreigners and you will see more.

You can’t even pay Soldiers, shame on you!

Napwisha tukanene ba Bally Praise Singers.

TAYALI THE PUBLIC LAWYER OF THE PUBLIC COURT OF OPINIONS!

By CIC Investigations.

WE CAN’T BE THREATENED BY JOE MALANJI- DEC

Drug Enforcement Commission Director General Mary Chirwa says the Commission is not persecuting anyone, stressing that the evidence it has against former Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Malanji is credible and will stand in court.

Last week, DEC through its Anti-Money Laundering unit, arrested Malanji who is Kwacha PF Member of Parliament, for money laundering activities involving K10 million and $700,000.

The Commission went further to seize Malanji’s Gibson Royal Hotel in Kitwe together with two of his helicopters which were in South Africa.

However, the former minister threatened to sue the commission for damages, saying he had never bought anything using proceeds of crime.

“Those people who know me in Kitwe when you look at even when they say we are seizing the hotel, people who know me from Kitwe know when I bought those premises. It was way back before I even had an idea of being an MP. At the end of the day, there will be repercussions, I mean I am going to sue. There will also be a provision for me, I am a citizen and there is a provision for me to sue for damages. Those who know me, know what is obtaining. I have never had anything bought from proceeds of crime myself,” said Malanji.

But in an interview, Chirwa said DEC was a professional body and not in the business of persecuting innocent people.

When asked whether threats from politicians were affecting the investigative process, Chirwa said the Commission was not distracted, as there was evidence against Malanji that would stand in court.

“Definitely not, we are not distracted by distractors. We are basically a professional institution and whatever matter that we handle, we handle it professionally. Anything that you read in the papers, it means we ourselves as the Drug Enforcement Commission are convinced that the evidence we have is one that will stand before the courts of law. So there is no persecution, we are just doing our work professionally and we shall not be threatened by anyone.” she said.

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE POSITION TAKEN BY ZCTU AGAINST FUEL SUBSIDIES IS SHOCKING;

30th march,2022.

First and foremost I’m compelled to respond as a former labour leader and as well as a representative of the people to the statement attributed to my friend Mr Chishimba Nkole who is Zambia Congress of Trade Unions President (ZCTU) in which he is quoted urging the government not to succumb to pressure to reintroduce fuel subsidies in view of skyrocketing price of crude oil on the international market.

This statement is shocking to say the least because it ought not to come from a seasoned trade union leader because the removal of fuel subsidies affect more the working class and the most vulnerable in society because those who controls the means of production merely transfer the cost to consumers.

Further Mr Nkole should realize that the high cost of fuel triggers the high cost of living and doing business in the country and as such employers are reluctant to increase salaries and wages because of increased overhead costs which affect their profit margins.

By and large the cost of basic needs have skyrocketed in the last few months hence eroding the purchasing power of the workers which I feel should worry the labour movement more importantly that there is no corresponding increase in salaries and wages especially in the public sector.

Furthermore the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) should be alive to the fact that almost all countries in the world have maintained fuel or energy subsidies including oil exporting countries such as Angola ($3.5bn) Nigeria ($26bn) and Saudi Arabia ($45bn) just to mention but a few in order to protect jobs and forestall the high cost of living and doing business besides these countries have higher per capita incomes than Zambia as the majority of zambians live on less than 50cents per day.

Therefore who are we not to cushion the negative impact brought about by the escalating price of crude oil on the international market and as such leaving everything to market forces to determine the price of fuel which is cost reflective may lead to far reaching negative economic consequences and needless to say that it may give rise to industrial unrests and political instability because the price of goods and services would be beyond the reach of many ordinary Zambians.

In conclusion as long as the price of crude oil continues to skyrocket to unsustainable levels in light of the raging conflict between Russia and Ukraine,the government may be left with no option but to reintroduce fuel subsidies or suspend certain taxes on fuel and perhaps eliminate middle men in the supply chain for the purpose of ensuring that petroleum products are affordable to the majority of citizens because the energy sector is key to the economic development of the country and as such the government has an obligation to protect it’s citizens from the high cost of living and doing business in the country by putting in place intervention measures.

Issued by:

Hon Yotam Mtayachalo
Member of parliament for chama north.

Minister of energy wrote…

AVOIDING MIDDLE-MEN IN PROCUREMENT IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

The New Dawn government is committed to ensuring universal access (100% coverage) to electricity for our people. To achieve this goal by 2030, ZESCO and the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) have to double their efforts in connecting people to the national grid and mini-grids. This means dismantling the backlog of connection applications that have been pending and building up for years.

Even though we need more power generation to cater for future demand and even new connections, the current installed capacity is adequate enough in the short term. The areas that need urgent attention and work in the short and medium term are the transmission and distribution of electricity to the end user.

Our plan is that all 60,000 pending connections have to be cleared by ZESCO by the end of this year. This means that ZESCO needs to have all materials needed to make this happen. The national power utility is therefore in the process of procuring treated poles, insulators, earthing materials, cross arms, transformers, cables, etc so that when our people apply for connections they are not simply placed on a waiting list but are connected upon paying the fees and meeting all conditions as per guidelines. Based on the ever-rising numbers of pending connections necessitated by years of no or few connections being made, the quantities of poles and other materials to be procured will be very high. This effort to procure these materials will cost a lot of money and it is prudent for ZESCO and REA to procure their materials – including treated poles – from manufacturers and primary sources as opposed to getting them from middle men, whether Zambian or not. In procuring from the source, ZESCO may be seen to not be empowering the Zambian middle-men and not helping these to increase their entrepreneurial capacity. However, the strategic objective here is not to grow Zambian businesses through ZESCO procurement but to connect as many Zambians as possible through the efficient and effective use of the budget available for this exercise by buying materials, equipment and tools at factory costs. The New dawn Government believes that ZESCO has to stick to its core-business and not being used to meet political objectives.

The long term gain from this approach is a serious reduction in cutting down of trees for making charcoal and hence the slowing down of deforestation in Zambia at a time we are facing effects of climate change. This effort will reduce dependence on charcoal and also speed up the economy as many business premises that have been awaiting power connections will come online and start contributing to the GDP in earnest.

Further, my office is also working with other arms of government to see how best to respond to the new world order that has changed the way the petroleum products are now being bought and marketed. Whereas we are not going back to subsidies in the face of increased international prices of oil products, we plan to do bulk buying from June 2022 onwards. Government will work to ensure that we can accurately calculate the shipping costs, mark-up on transport, and other costs to get the pump price and avoid the end-user having to pay even higher costs. The full details and modalities of how we shall work with the OMCs and how we shall package these bulk purchases will be communicated to every one closer to June this year. Suffice to say that the policy direction remains that INDENI will become an OMC to manage government fuel depots, blend fuel, do fuel marking and possibly produce ethanol to be used in blending and medicines.

Lastly, we shall continue to work towards having large storage capacity for oil products to always ensure we can withstand shocks when unforeseen circumstances lead to disruption in the supply chain.

Good afternoon.

Hon. Eng. Peter Chibwe Kapala
Minister of Energy

By Cephas Chisange.

WELL DONE HONOURABLE ACKSON SEJANI.

We applaud Honourable Ackson Sejani, Local Government Service Commission Chairperson for moving in quickly to conduct a staff audit at Lusaka City Council.

This is exactly what the people of Zambia voted for. I have heard many people complain and condemn the President for not firing Cadres holding key position in government institutions who are still loyal to the *finished opposition PF.

Please calm down, I advised few days ago, it is not Constitution and right for the President to lower himself to such levels, remember his mission is to unite the nation. The people to clean the system are those responsible for such institutions where opposition PF still boast to control. These are people with Powers now to Carry these audits to remove the unqualified Cadres and ghost workers promoted by PF.

This is a great move and Honourable Ackson Sejani should be commended for moving in to set the standard. We hope and pray that those who were afraid to clean the system from other institutions can learn one or two things from this move.

Let those who are qualified get the jobs so that we have professional Civil Servants in our Country. Don’t allow Cadres subotage government programs, it may be too late to remove them. You have given them chance to repent but it seems they still have a feeling of love for PF. I can assure you, PF Cadres in local government will never learn or change, corruption and illigality is in their blood,the only cure is to fire them or do a total blood transfusion. To those willing to work with the government of the day, keep them if they are qualified even if they were brought by PF.

We love you Honourable Ackson Sejani , hope this exercise will not die a natural death as we wait to see how Mr Mumba , Chairperson of the Civil Service Commission will tackle the same issue of Cadres and ghost workers in the Civil Service.

Mine is to open your eyes .

True Son of the soil.

MR EYE OPENNER.

CIC PRESS TEAM.

FUN FACT

Did you know that veteran politician, Vernon Mwaanga, once dated that very beautiful Congolese songbird, Tshala Muana, and could have married her [in the 1980s] if he did not back out of the relationship?

For details, follow the excerpt below from

(Conversations with Memorable Personalities)

Amos Malupenga:

What epitaph would you like on your tombstone?

Vernon Mwaanga:

Well, whoever delivers the eulogy when my hour comes, I hope over and above whatever I have achieved or whatever negative I may have registered in life at least one thing should reflect on my tombstone that I did my best to serve my country and my people. That alone will give me satisfaction even when I am lying six feet below.

I did my best for my country and my people when it mattered most and no man is capable of exceeding his best. One of my satisfying achievements was to get Zambian soldiers involved in the United Nations peace keeping operations starting in Mozambique, Rwanda, Angola and now Sierra Leone.

President Chiluba and my Cabinet colleagues embraced this concept and so did the service chiefs – Nobby Simbeye, Ronnie Shikapwasha, Funjika and Xavier Chungu who gave their full support before I approached Kofi Annan who was then in charge of peace keeping at the UN headquarters in New York.

But one thing that intrigue me about the country is the attempt by people who don’t even know me to edit my history. They don’t have to like me but it would be a travesty to even remotely attempt to edit my history.

I have often said that men without a past cannot be used as a reliable guide to the future. Notwithstanding the current difficulties the country is going through, we should not lose ourselves as a people. We must turn self-doubt into self-belief. Any country at war with itself cannot develop no matter how great or noble its plans maybe. Consensus building and dialogue are an indispensable component of governance and development.

Amos Malupenga:

Finally, are you not going to talk about the issue of Tshala Muana being your lover. A lot was said about this, what is the truth?

Vernon Mwaanga:

Well, I must confess the answer I am going to give will probably break a few hearts. But in the interest of truth and integrity, I can say that I did have an affair with Tshala Muana. I first met her in Paris in the 80s and I was introduced to her by a mutual friend of ours who is a prominent business man in France.

As we moved near to elections’ time, Tshala Muana was invited to come here in 1991. She was supposed to assist us in MMD to raise some funds. She came here twice as you can remember.
Her visit caused controversy because there were close friends of mine who wanted to get involved with Tshala Muana but she said she was having an affair with me and she wouldn’t want to double cross me with other persons.

My friends took it badly and started scandalizing me over Tshala Muana. My relationship didn’t develop to the extent where she wanted it to be. She essentially wanted to get married to me but I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want the relationship to drift perilously towards marriage. I was content with maintaining the relationship where it was and I thought it was an appropriate level.
Such is human experience. I was single at the time and I was entitled to go for gold. But things didn’t work the way she wanted them to be. And it ended there.

Amos Malupenga:

And that issue was discussed in Cabinet?

Vernon Mwaanga:

Yes, the issue was discussed very informally and I remember my failed colleagues raising the issue with malice in Cabinet. They raised it by way of compliant. They said there are people, meaning I, who are having an affair with a singer.
Instead of being transparent enough and admit that they wanted this singer, they chose to scandalize me.

Men are entitled to try but when they are rebuffed, I don’t think they should scandalize other men who succeed, which is not right.

Amos Malupenga:

Thank you for your time and your forthright answers.

Vernon Mwaanga:

Thank you very much but these guys really tried to scandalize me after they tried their luck and bit the dust.

(An excerpt from Conversations with Memorable Personalities)

Pictures Below:

(RIGHT): Vernon Mwaanga

(LEFT): Tshala Muana

A DIARY OF ZAMBIA’S PRESIDENTS: OUT OF MY BASHFUL EYES

By GEORGE CHOMBA

After bidding fare-thee-well to Rupiah Bwezani Banda, the fourth President of Zambia who died on March 11, 2022, I had a self-soul searching session about my interaction with the former Head of State.

But this ended up to be a reflection of over the last three decades of interacting with Zambia’s Presidents so far.

However, if you ask me about ‘dancing’ with either President Hakainde Hichilema or his predecessor, Edgar Lungu, I will plead suffering from amnesia.

Since the two still mingle with us, their stories are for the President’s men to confirm or deny.
All I can say is that it has been an enjoyable journalism work career, interacting directly or indirectly with State House job holders.

I guess it is true what mentors say about journalists; that they can dine with the poor in one moment and the Kings and Queens in the next hour.

Just how do you explain this life which struggled in the dark ‘continent’ of Kitwe’s Kamatipa township in the 1970’s to later relocate to Lusaka’s Woodlands near State House and then years later in the profession to attend a gathering of over hundred Heads of States at the United Nations in New York in 2015?

In this journey, sharing meals whether privately or in open space with all Heads of State of Zambia, has not been an underground operation. It has been a reality.

I have travelled with some locally and other Presidents internationally in pursuit of the product called news which is the fruit of my profession.

For example, when others discuss Konkola Copper Mines and its challenge, my memory lane drives me to the third President of Zambia Levy Mwanawasa when I covered him in Durban, South Africa.
This is when I broke the news that the investor in KCM, Anglo American Corporation, was pulling out of Zambia without leaving an exit package to allow for the operations of the mine.

At the World Economic Forum in South Africa, Dr Mwanawasa was upset that the Frederick Chiluba’s administration had not signed an Exist Clause for compensation in case of an abrupt Anglo American withdrawal from the investment.

There I was as a reporter with Zambia Daily Mail jumping on to a lead story of a major investor pulling out of a rich copper mine.

This was however not the beginning of my interaction with Mr Mwanawasa.

He was Mr Chiluba’s Vice President at Government House, opposite Ndeke Hotel which is now Chrismar Hotel was a journalist’s playground.

Unlike now when Ministers and the top two rarely have official meetings at their official residents, the MMD leaders attracted home working visits where journalists joined in toasting wine and breaking bread some after the change of Government from the Dr Kenneth Kaunda of UNIP to Mr Frederick Chiluba of MMD.

That is what has been from October 1991 when I joined the profession, a month before Dr Kenneth Kaunda left the State House after Mr Frederick Chiluba emerged victorious in the multi-party general election.

To start the journey with Mr Chiluba in the new culture, I was perched on one of the statue lions at the Supreme Court as the new Head of State read his acceptance speech on that November 1991 inauguration day.

Mr Chiluba was making a solemn promise to Zambians that freedom had come in the midst of a liberalized social, economic and political set-up.

He was not as hypnotizing as one Kenneth David Kaunda.

Talk about Dr Kaunda and those who knew him as KK, would confess that the first President of Zambia possessed some magical attraction around him.

Indeed, the first President possessed a hypnotic charm which made the public pay attention.
In July 1979, when with friends we vowed not to wave at KK as his motorcade drove on Independence Avenue to State House after welcoming Queen Elizabeth at the then Lusaka International Airport, I was to outdo others as my hand went up faster at the sight of the President of Zambia.

This was before I joined the profession of pushing pens and note books.

As a journalist, when I joined the department of Zambia Information Service under the Ministry of Information, it was evident that Dr Kaunda was a workaholic.

Maybe it was because he had set multi-party election for October 31, 1991 but to be honest, there was no playing under KK’s presidency, especially for a young man like me working in the press office.
I can confidently say the press office has been devalued but back then in our days, it was the first point of call for Presidential assignments and other ministerial public appearances.

The press office had a diary in which all government press assignments were recorded and the press officer on duty was expected to ensure coverage.

This office brought me in full contact with State House and I would end up in the midst of seasoned journalists covering assignments ranging from breakfast meetings, lunch, to dinner engagements of Dr Kaunda.

This did not happen once but every day of Kenneth Kaunda’s remaining days in State House.
On October 31, 1991, Dr Kaunda voted from the State House polling station and on this day, I hold the bragging rights with few other journalists having had the last lunch with Dr Kaunda after he played his golf on the lawns of plot one.

As they say, the curtains closed for Dr Kaunda and in entered Fredrick Chiluba, as second President of Zambia.

There was no Constitutional provision of a grace period of seven days before a new head of State takes oath of office and therefore as soon as Dr Kaunda had conceded defeat, then the Chief Justice was on the Supreme Court entrance with Mr Chiluba holding the Bible.

The initial days and weeks of Mr Chiluba’s were not as busy as Dr Kaunda.

From the press office of the Zambia Information Service, the first call around 07:30 hrs was to State House, which remained friendly in the early days to relax.

After being transferred to Kalulushi as District Information Officer, State House become distant until Joshua Mutisa led Copperbelt members to embark on the third term bid for Dr Frederick Chiluba.

When I splashed the first the first story of the third term bid for Dr Chiluba, it also signed my returned to Lusaka under the umbrella of Zambia Daily Mail who offered me a job.

Dr Chiluba’s bid failed and in came Mr Levy Mwanawasa and this is how I ended up covering him in South Africa and later in Angola on a State Visit.

I was News Editor of the Zambia Daily Mail when Dr Levy Mwanawasa died in Paris, France and the announcement was made live on national television by Vice President Rupiah Bwezani Banda amidst a bucket full of tears.

Mr Banda was to become the fourth President of Zambia and when he was invited to officiate at Zimbabwe’s Agriculture Show in Bulawayo, the air ticket was in my hands to offer coverage.

It is from Bulawayo that I joined President Rupiah Banda’s entourage to become one of the few Zambian journalists to know and see his birth place in Miko, Gwanda in an area of Gold mining.

Mr Banda, popularly known as RB was later to earn the shortest serving Zambia’s head of State when he won the presidency in 2008 and lost it to Michael Chilufya Sata in 2011.

I will not bore you that Michael Sata was a friend when he was Senior Governor at Lusaka City Council and I was a dramatist in the Council Theatre Club.

I will also not tell you that two weeks before Mr Michael Sata won the presidency, he stormed one of the Zambia Daily Mail editorial meeting where I was present to shout down the Chief Executive Officer for allegedly concocting a story about him.

Mr Sata was so confident such that during the encounter he warned that Zambia Daily Mail staff never knew their next President which would be him as fifth President of Zambia.

Well, Zambia Daily Mail sued Mr Sata for company trespass and demanded some billions kwacha but after two weeks, only the Courts of Law can tell what happened to the legal suit.

As earlier stated, President Hichilema and his predecessor Edgar Lungu are reserved for another day, whenever it comes.

For now, this is the edited interaction out of my bashful eyes of Zambia’s first five Presidents.

Mwansa Chalwe Snr

The first quarter (3 months) of the New Dawn 2022 Budget has just elapsed. If it was in the private sector, we would be assessing the organisation’s performance as part of monitoring and evaluation of the first quarter. The exercise is done with a view to determining variances, finding out the reasons why and taking corrective action. It is hoped that the State House and Cabinet office, will carry out a similar exercise given that President HH was elected on a platform of his private sector management skills.

The New Dawn administration has been criticized by a number of economic players for lacking a plan for economic recovery in general, and a comprehensive and well thought out Youth Job Creation road map, in particular. One of the critics has been former Commerce Minister Bob Sichinga. He was quoted by the News diggers Newspaper in an interview, stating that government has no clear plan on how it is going to create jobs for the youths. This assertion is not entirely true or accurate.

In the first place, the UPND has a Manifesto on which they campaigned to win the 2021 election. The Manifesto is a plan in its own right. Secondly, all over the world, any incoming administration takes over a bureaucracy with plans from previous administrations in order to make further improvements. It is only a fool who will throw away all the previous plans of their predecessors. New administrations do not make wholesome changes to the plans and policies of the previous administration. The Patriotic Front government, for example, built on the plans of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). The road infrastructure programme and the Eurobonds loans were not their plans or initiatives. They were initiated by the MMD. They just continued with them.

Apart from the Manifesto, the UPND has access to vision 2030 done by the MMD – which is a long term plan. The ruling party also has the draft 8th National Development Plan which is being finalized. Towards the end of 2021, the 2022 budget was prepared and that is a 12-month plan. The Minister of Finance, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane stated that he had used the draft 8th NDP to prepare the 2022 budget, because it is a requirement of the law that the budget should be anchored on a National Development Plan. The question is what plans are critics talking about?

The UPND Alliance should not be criticized for the lack of plans but rather for its failure to design new innovative Programmes and Projects, implement the existing ones vigorously, and communicate the same to the Zambian public so that they know what is going on. Zambian Economist Alexander Nkosi did make a correct observation that Zambia and the UPND Alliance does not need new plans but rather an improvement in policy implementation and monitoring and evaluation.

“Our economic challenges cannot be blamed on lack of plans, we have produced very good plans, spelling out how to address our challenges. These are excellent documents produced by competent experts. These plans are developed by technocrats with wide consultation from both internal stakeholders and external experts”, He wrote in his Op-Ed in an online publication Zambian Watchdog.

It follows that the debate that we should be having is about policies, programmes, projects and their implementation. The UPND administration through the Civil service has to translate the UPND policies and President HH’s vision, as outlined in his numerous speeches, into programmes and projects, and implement the same. In almost all the African countries that I have lived in, my experience has been that they all have drafted brilliant plans and policies in glossy dossiers. But, what they lack is the design of practical programmes and projects and putting those policies into practice.

The practical reality is that drafting policies and having a vision is the easiest thing to do in the economic management value chain. Plans could even be cut and pasted from another country’s documents. The difficult bit is to interpret those policies into actionable and practical activities by designing Programmes and Projects. This is where you require thinkers, innovators, and experienced and exposed people. And the practical design skills are mostly found outside the bureaucracy- in the private sector. This is the reason that the African Development Bank Study has recommended that African governments ought to work more with the private sector in programme design and implementation. The UPND should therefore not be criticized for the lack of plans because they do exist, but at the moment most seem to be paper plans. Needless to say that it is early bells but it’s the trajectory that is important.

The two major issues the UPND administration should criticize, in terms of the planning value chain. Firstly, there is an apparent lack of designed Programmes and Projects with a view to implementing the policies and communicating the same to the public. Secondly, the UPND Alliance appear to be seemingly adopting a one-dimensional approach to economic recovery. The New Dawn administration has overemphasized and placed too much reliance on the IMF Programme and the increase in Copper production as the panacea to Zambia’s economic recovery. The Finance Minister, Dr . Situmbeko Musokotwane has repeatedly talked about this strategy. And recently, in an interview with the News Diggers Newspaper, he made it crystal clear that the UPND administration’s core strategy is to increase Copper production in order to create jobs and for the economy to recover through the trickle-down effects.

“The very first thing in the economic plan is to resolve the issues of excessive debt, you deal with it by going through an IMF programme. Secondly, we need to take steps to produce more goods and services because that is what creates jobs that so many of our people are looking for. Now in increasing economic growth, we have said that we want to push mining outputs to reach 3 million tonnes in the next 10 years”, He told News Diggers in an interview.

There is no dispute that the implementation of the debt restructuring strategy and improving the performance of the mining sector is important, but it is no magic wand; although it is a necessity and priority.

It is the overreliance on this strategy that most informed and patriotic Zambians are questioning. This strategy of pumping up copper production will not produce the required results of reducing youth unemployment in their millions based on past experience. In Zambia, the Copper driven growth was averaging 7% in the past but did not create jobs or reduce poverty. The reality in Zambia is that there are insufficient benefits that trickle down into the economy and ordinary Zambians from copper. The copper price has been above $8,000 in recent years. On 25 March 2022, the Copper price on the London Stock exchange was $10,278.85, but despite Copper being the main foreign exchange earner, the Kwacha has continued depreciating when Copper prices have been high. The Opposition leader, PeP President Shaun Tembo, was on firm ground for bemoaning the lack of benefits from high copper prices in his recent social medial posting.

“This time around copper prices on the world market are not just high, but they are the highest ever, at more than US$11,000 per metric tonne. But the nation does not appear to be benefiting in any way. There is no significant appreciation in the Kwacha against the dollar. The cost of living is extremely high. Economic growth is stagnant. Our foreign reserves are depleting at a very fast rate as BOZ tries to support the Kwacha,” He wrote.

In neighbouring Botswana and Namibia, their diamond driven economies were at one time in the 90s and early 2000s, growing around 7-10%, but they were not generating sufficient jobs. They still experienced high Youth unemployment, and research by African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in 2017 proved this.

“Assessing the growth versus unemployment performance achievements of the four countries and other African regions demonstrates that although African growth has been impressive over the last decade, the positive growth achievements have not translated into high employment generation rates. Growth rates do not guarantee productive employment for the increasing population and labour force. Among the four Sub-Saharan case study countries, Botswana and Namibia,” Wrote the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in its study of Youth unemployment in a few SADC Countries.

On the basis of the above analysis, it is illusory, naïve, theoretical and simplistic, to think that the promotion of foreign direct investment and pumping up copper production, will create the millions of youth jobs required. The facts, figures and experience in Zambia for the past 30 years, do not support this assertion. Yes, they will create a few thousand but they will dent the unemployment rate.

The type of growth generated by foreign direct investment (FDI) and the mining industry, in particular, have been criticized by many experts, including two prominent Pan Africans and Opinion leaders: Africa Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi Adesina and Kenyan Professor Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba for failure to produce inclusive growth.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, while presenting the 2020 African Economic Outlook (AEO) report, stated that people cannot eat Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and African countries’ growth figures were not trickling down to the ordinary people as poverty levels were still very high in Africa.

“Growth must be visible. Growth must be equitable. Growth must be felt in the lives of people,” The President of the African Development Bank argued, in his 2020 African Economic Outlook report.

Kenyan Professor Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba did agree with the AfDB Chief while addressing the Mining Forum in Tanzania in 2021. He advised African countries to stop relying on lucrative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures in defining the mining sector’s contribution to the African economies but rather assess the sector’s contribution on the basis of how it is impacting people’s lives.

“GDP and per Capita income means nothing if you have no money in your pocket. Nobody eats GDP because it is not edible at all and what matters is the money in people’s pockets,” Professor Lumumba observed.

There is, therefore, overwhelming evidence that the current core strategy by the New Dawn administration which seems to be anchored on the promotional of foreign direct investment and boosting Copper production, is highly flawed because it has miserably failed to create sufficient youth jobs and reduce poverty in the past. The strategies that can produce inclusive growth are those based on programs involving local entrepreneurs and those that address the issue of the informal sector. It is this vein, that the newly created Ministry of SMEs is critical. And one hopes that it is headed by a knowledgeable and experienced Chief Executive officer in form of a Permanent Secretary, backed by a good team of experienced experts in the MSME ecosystem.

The advice to the Finance Minister, therefore, is that he should pay equal, if not more attention, to the promotion of local Zambian investors through supporting Micro, Small and Medium businesses by ensuring that incentives available to foreign direct investors be extended to Zambian entrepreneurs. That is how you achieve inclusive growth and create millions of jobs that are required.

The implementation of policies, programmes and projects, and monitoring the same, should be the number one issue that President HH should laser focus on. He needs to ensure the Civil service’s mindset is changed and it starts performing if he wants his vision to be achieved. The role of Permanent Secretaries is crucial in this process. He should put the current ones on probation for 9-12 months so that after that period, non-performers should be replaced. He also needs to ensure that he looks outside the inner circle for talent and ideas.

The template for the fast-tracking economic transformation of an African economy was laid down by the late Tanzanian President Joseph Pompe Magufuli. Although he may have had some weaknesses, especially in democratic governance, he was a transformational leader who changed Tanzania in a very short period of time. He transformed the Civil Service, minimized corruption, mobilized domestic revenue mobilisation, minimized borrowing, managed to ensure Multinational companies were contributing to the treasury and complying with the law of the land and he was independent of both the West and China. And his main strengths were that he was humble and never believed in waste and luxury using public funds. The was incorruptible and he walked the talk by matching his speeches with action. As a result, everybody – Civil Servants, Multinational Enterprises (Investors), China, the West and the population – knew that you don’t dare mess with JPM. It is unfortunate that his blunder of being a pandemic denialist resulted in him paying the ultimate price and shortening his life. Nevertheless, he is worthy to be selectively emulated, if an African leaders want to transform his country quickly.

The writer is a Chartered Accountant and Author. He is a retired international MSMEs Consultant and an independent financial commentator. He is also an Op-Ed Contributor to the Hong Kong based, Alibaba owned, and South China Morning Post (SCMP). Contact: pmchalwe@gmail.com, www.youthemplymentcreation.com