Whoopi Goldberg has insisted that Will Smith won’t have his Oscar taken away from him after he broke the Academy’s code of conduct by slapping Chris Rock.

Will, 53, has since apologised for assaulting Chris, 57, at Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony, saying his behavior was ‘unacceptable and inexcusable’ and left him ’embarrassed’.

The group that hands out the Oscars condemned Will’s actions on Monday and said it had started a formal review of the incident, yet Academy Governor Whoopi has insisted that the fallout won’t be as dramatic as stripping Will of the honour.

Speaking on the US talk show The View, Goldberg, who is a serving Governor for the Academy’s Actors branch, went on to defend Will’s actions, reasoning: ‘sometimes you behave badly’.

Will had slapped Chris in front of the world on live television after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.

Whoopi said on Monday’s show: ‘I think it was a lot of stuff probably built up.

‘I think he overreacted… I think he had one of those moments where it was like [God damn] it, just stop. I get it, not everybody acts the way we would like them to act under pressure. And he snapped…

‘Sometimes you get to a point when you behave badly. I myself have behaved badly on occasion.’

Whoopi’s co-host Sunny Hostin said that she was ‘surprised [Will] wasn’t escorted out’, and questioned if there was the possibility of Will’s Oscar being taken away.

Whoopi replied: ‘We’re not going to take that Oscar from him.

‘There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they’re going to do, particularly because Chris said ‘Listen, I’m not pressing any charges.’

Despite Whoopi’s comments, there have been calls for the Academy to strip Will of his Best Actor Oscar.

The Academy, in its code of conduct, is known to take a very a dim view of violence of any kind.

After the award ceremony was over it tweeted: ‘The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.’

The Academy reestablished its Code of Conduct in 2017 during the Me Too Movement.

‘Academy membership is a privilege offered to only a select few within the global community of filmmakers,’ AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson wrote to members following various scandals in the industry.-Daily Mail

hen Hakainde Hichilema defeated incumbent president Edgar Lungu in Zambia’s August 2021 elections, many people hoped that the assault on democracy and human rights that had characterised his predecessor’s time in office would end. This prospect was reinforced by Hichilema’s presentation of himself as a reform-minded politician determined to restore the rule of law, launch an anti-corruption campaign, strengthen democratic institutions and protect human rights. 

Nearly seven months into his five-year term, Hichilema is turning out to be a major disappointment on all these issues; a pattern of worrying political developments suggest that democracy is not returning to Zambia, as many people seem to believe. 

Lack of institutional reform 

A new government’s commitment to democratic and institutional reform is usually demonstrated in the first few months in office — sometimes in the first 100 days — when it lays out its legislative agenda. Hichilema’s administration has been in office for more than six months, but has shown little appetite to change the laws that weaken democracy, undermine human rights, and enabled the authoritarian tendencies of his predecessor. 

These include:

• The law on defamation of the president, which makes it an offence punishable by up to three years of imprisonment to publish “any defamatory or insulting matter, whether by writing, print, word of mouth or in any other manner … with intent to bring the president into hatred, ridicule, or contempt”. The provision does not define the terms “defamatory” and “insulting”. This has opened the law to wide interpretation and application that has deterred legitimate criticism of the president. It has also undermined media freedom, led to the arrest of critical voices and, especially under Hichilema’s predecessor, a climate of fear and culture of self-censorship. 
• The Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act, which subjects cyberspace to appropriation by the state and imposes unjustifiable limitations on free speech, including through policing the use of social media. This law, hurriedly enacted by the Lungu administration on the eve of last year’s election, also violates the right to privacy by allowing the authorities to tap ICT devices, effectively turning everyone into a suspect, and to confiscate electronic gadgets without proper procedural safeguards. 
• The Public Order Act, a colonial-era piece of legislation that regulates public gatherings and that requires any person who intends to convene a public meeting or demonstration to “give police at least seven days’ notice”, specifying the date, place, and duration for the assembly. In practice, this law has been used by successive administrations to restrict the rights to public assembly and free speech since people meet to talk or express themselves. Meetings of opposition parties and civic demonstrations against the government were, especially under Lungu, repeatedly curtailed on unspecified security concerns or expedient inability by the police to supervise the event. Violations attract a six-year prison sentence. 

In opposition, Hichilema repeatedly vowed to repeal the first two statutes immediately after assuming office. However, in power, he has shown a studied disinterest in fulfilling these campaign promises. Under Zambian law, a motion to repeal an Act of parliament can be moved any time and its success requires a simple majority. Given that his governing United Party for National Development (UPND) holds a majority 99 seats in the 164-member national assembly, the president has no excuse. 

The UPND also pledged to reform the problematic Public Order Act. Tellingly, it is not among the proposed bills that the governing party has taken to parliament for enactments into law in the current legislative session. 

Emasculating the independent press and abusing the public media

A free press is the lifeblood of any functioning democracy. Under Hichilema’s predecessor, critical media outlets that served as key platforms for opposition parties and civil society were shut down. The Post, Zambia’s leading independent newspaper since the reintroduction of multiparty democracy in 1991, was forcibly closed in June 2016, less than two months before a key general election, using the pretext of failure to settle a disputed tax bill. The publication was subsequently placed into liquidation. (Recently, the supreme court annulled the liquidation of the paper and ordered a retrial of the matter in the high court). Prime TV, the country’s leading private television station since 2013, was forcibly closed in April 2020 in the “public interest”, although no specific charges were laid against the channel. 

Although Hichilema’s administration is yet to close any media station, it has overseen four developments that undermine media freedom. 

• First, the government has introduced 16% VAT on newspaper sales for both print and electronic copies; a move that is widely seen as targeted at the three private daily newspapers, because state-owned publications face no consequences for failure to meet their tax obligations. In a country in which the economy continues to perform poorly and newspapers are already struggling to cope with the advent of social media and meeting already existing tax liabilities, the move threatens to raise the price of newspapers (already out of reach for many Zambians), collapse the industry and, ultimately, affect the public’s right to be informed. 
• Second, the government has continued with the Lungu-era harassment of the private media. In January, a private TV station, KBN, published a leaked audio of a telephone conversation between Hichilema’s political aide, Levy Ngoma, and permanent secretary in the ministry of home affairs, Josephs Akafumba, in which the duo was heard plotting to use state institutions to undermine the operations of the opposition Democratic Party ahead of a key parliamentary by-election. In addition to the officials’ (ab)use of state resources to promote the partisan interests of the UPND, what outraged many was the revelation by the presidential aide that the scheme was sanctioned by Hichilema and Vice-President Mutale Nalumango.

When initial attempts to quell the ensuing public backlash by discrediting the audio as fake failed, the authorities accused journalists of having tapped the pair’s telephone conversation. And instead of interrogating the presidential aide and permanent secretary, the police arrest the journalists who had publicised the scheme. Meanwhile, in what is emerging as his signature response to serious governance concerns, Hichilema, who no longer holds press conferences and has adopted Lungu’s unwanted legacy of addressing the country through press aides and on airport tarmacs, spoke through deafening silence. 

• Third, the authorities have employed threats to intimidate independent media. Last month, a lawmaker from the governing party, Kankonyo MP Heartson Mabeta, threatened News Diggers, arguably the most influential and popular private newspaper, with closure after the publication ran a story quoting the UPND secretary general saying the party, which was elected on a campaign of job creation, did not sign a contract with anyone to guarantee them employment. In a country reeling with record unemployment, especially among youths, the public backlash that followed was huge, especially after the paper published the audio recording of the interview. Mabeta accused the newspaper of malice and warned that it risks meeting the same fate as that of The Post – forced closure and liquidation – if it did not change course. Tellingly, no one from the government or the UPND distanced themselves from the MP’s threats, suggesting that his views had the backing of the senior leadership. 
• Fourth, the UPND have emulated the Patriotic Front’s (PF) unwanted legacy of denying coverage to opposition parties on the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) television and radio stations and in the Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia newspapers. So extensive is the coverage extended to government officials, UPND figures, and supporters of the party in power by the state TV, radio, and newspapers that one might be forgiven for thinking that Zambia has reverted to a one-party state. In opposition, Hichilema pledged to stop this culture by transforming the state media into genuine public platforms, establishing legal safeguards for their editorial independence, and reviewing legislation that both undermine their governance structures and leave them highly vulnerable to political interference. In power, it is business as usual: his administration has blacked out opposition voices from ZNBC TV, radio and the two newspapers much in the same way that the PF did when in power. What was previously condemned is now praised. 

Assaulting free speech 

The assault on free speech under Lungu’s presidency was aided by the earlier cited law on defamation of the president, which, in the absence of what constitutes an insult, effectively criminalises any criticism of the president. Any expectations that things would be different under Hichilema have been dashed in the last few months. Three examples illustrate this point. 

1. In December 2021, police in Lusaka arrested opposition PF official Raphael Nakacinda on a charge of insulting the president after he advised the frequently travelling Hichilema to “put your buttocks down” and address the prevailing high cost of living. 
2. In January, police arrested Morris Lungu, a 42-year-old taxi driver in Livingstone, on a charge of defamation of the president for saying that “if there is a president who is a fool, it is the one who is there”. 
3. Last month, a 24-year-old Saliya Laisha was arrested in Lusaka on a charge of defamation of the president following allegations that she accused Hichilema of having sacrificed, for ritual purposes, six youths who died in unclear circumstances while on a boat cruise on Lake Kariba “so that he can work well as has failed to do so”. 

These arrests and court cases on charges of defamation have a demonstrative and chilling effect on even those who are not caught up in them, as they show the costs of criticising elected public officials in ways that are deemed inappropriate by the government. Instead of having their lives upended and spending months or even years in protracted legal cases, many seek to avoid such outcomes by gradually resorting to self-censorship. 

The casualty is free speech and poor citizen participation in governance processes. In arresting suspects, police are not acting outside the law since the legislation on defamation of the president remains on the statutes. This shows the urgent need to repeal the enabling law – although Hichilema can in the meantime also request the police not to arrest any critic in his official name. The Minister of Justice Mulambo Haimbe has indicated, without providing any timeframe, that both the POA and defamation of the president laws will be reviewed soon. 

Dismantling opposition parties 

Given how activities of opposition parties were continuously obstructed by Lungu and the PF, it was expected that Hichilema and the UPND would behave in a different manner. Not so far. Two examples are sufficient or useful here. 

1. On 15 March 2022, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Malungo Chisangano, who, like the speaker Nelly Mutti, is generally seen as aligned to the governing party, issued a 30-day ban from parliament on 30 lawmakers from the opposition PF for holding a peaceful protest in the House. 

The facts of the matter are that on 30 November 2021, when starting debate on the 2022 budget, the affected MPs noted an anomaly where the minister of finance had presented the Yellow Book using references to 1996 constitutional provisions that no longer exist, following the repeal of the earlier law in 2016. The leader of the opposition in parliament, Brian Mundubile, asked the deputy speaker to direct the minister of finance to correct the error before debate could commence and avoid breaching the Constitution, which members had sworn to protect. 

When the request was not honoured, the PF MPs converged in front of the speaker’s mace in protest. This resulted in the suspension of business for about 20 minutes. On resumption, the minister of finance presented a corrected version of the Yellow Book and debate proceeded peacefully. Two MPs from the governing party then asked the speaker if it was acceptable for the opposition MPs to remain in parliament when they had “intentionally disrespected it” by protesting in the manner they did. Gary Nkombo and Mulambo Haimbe, who are also cabinet ministers, claimed without evidence that “the only permissible means for members to express displeasure was by walking out of the House.” After ruling on the matter was reserved to a later date, it was finally delivered on 15 March. 

The PF is Zambia’s leading parliamentary opposition party with 51 MPs. Suspending 30 of its lawmakers, especially since nine others are already outside parliament after the speaker had earlier in December 2021 ordered them to stay away until their election petitions are disposed of in the courts of law, suggests an organised effort to weaken the party. It also means that there is effectively no opposition party in the National Assembly, except a handful of independents. 

Protests are a commonplace tactic practised in many functional multiparty democracies around the world. The form of expression that such protests take is hardly prescribed anywhere. To treat the action by the PF MPs as a major offence only serves to highlight Zambia’s new slant towards repression, where any attitude towards those in power except craven support becomes prohibited.

Moreover, the deputy speaker’s decision is problematic for two reasons. First, Chisangano failed to establish how the protest by the PF MPs amounted to contempt of parliament and does not fall under the legitimate expression of their democratic freedom. Second, she failed to explain how she arrived at the conclusion that their conduct of merely standing in front of her seat deserved the maximum punishment. Under the law, the National Assembly’s presiding officer has the option to severely reprimand MPs for any misconduct. Yet Chisangano chose to ban them from parliament and suspend their salaries and allowances for a month, despite acknowledging that they were first-time offenders.

The deputy speaker may have reasoned that if the affected MPs were to challenge their suspension in court, the matter is unlikely to be decided before the expiry of the ban, thanks to the slow pace at which even urgent legal matters are decided by the courts in Zambia. 

For instance, three months later, the Constitutional Court is yet to determine the matter in which nine other PF MPs had filed an urgent legal challenge to the speaker’s decision to suspend them from parliament on 7 December 2021. Here, we see a possible motivation of the latest suspension: to dismantle or intimidate the opposition into submission and curtail criticism of executive actions. 

The decision to suspend the PF MPs also appears to be motivated by a desire for revenge by the UPND. In June 2017, the then PF-aligned speaker of the National Assembly suspended 48 UPND lawmakers for boycotting then-president Lungu’s state of the nation address to the National Assembly. At the time, Hichilema and the UPND condemned the move as draconian and a brazen assault on parliamentary democracy. 

Yesterday’s victims are today’s culprits. The only thing that has changed is the silence of those who previously criticised Lungu and the PF for similar conduct. 

In other words, the mass suspension of PF MPs should not be seen in isolation; it is as part of a wider pattern of an emerging assault on democratic institutions and human rights in Zambia under the Hichilema administration. This new onslaught has not attracted much outrage because broad sections of civil society and international, mainly Western, actors who condemned brazen attacks on democracy and human rights under Lungu’s rule now either support the new government, think it is too early to criticise the actions of the officials, or simply consider the PF as undeserving of sympathy, given their terrible record on similar issues when in power. 

It is no wonder that when Shebby Chilekwa, a PF member and suspect in a murder investigation, recently complained that he had been severely tortured by the police while in detention and even displayed graphic evidence in form of whip-induced scars on his back, not even major human rights bodies expressed outrage. 

2. The other example of how the governing party is out to undermine the opposition occurred in January this year. Days before the Kabwata parliamentary by-election in the capital Lusaka, a candidate from a small opposition party, the United Progressive Party (UPP), published a letter announcing his “withdrawal” from the 20 January race under highly dubious circumstances. Some speculate that the UPND had induced the move for two reasons. 

The first would have been to facilitate a new election date when Hichilema, who had a tight itinerary abroad in January, would be available to campaign for the party’s candidate. If there is substance to this allegation, then the consideration was not without foundation. In October 2021, Hichilema’s penchant for travel and failure to dedicate adequate time to the campaigns had cost the ruling party a key parliamentary seat in a previous by-election, won by the opposition PF. 

The second reason would have been to enable the ruling party to change its relatively unpopular candidate, Andrew Tayengwa, following internal party resistance to his adoption. During the nearly month-long campaigns heading into the 20 January vote, some disgruntled UPND members, voters, and the opposition in Kabwata alleged that Tayengwa was a foreigner from Zimbabwe who only obtained Zambian identity on the eve of the nominations in December 2021. 

Whatever the case, it is highly unlikely that the UPP or any opposition force would have been behind the withdrawal, as there is no obvious way they would benefit. Zambia’s Constitution requires the cancellation of an election if any adopted candidate resigns from his or her party after the close of nominations, the filing of fresh nominations by eligible candidates, and the holding of a new election within 30 days. 

Much to the delight of the other opposition parties contesting the poll, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) refused to call off the by-election, explaining that the candidate had merely withdrawn from the contest rather than resigned from his party, whose leadership complained that they had failed to reach him to establish the authenticity of the withdrawal letter as he had gone into hiding and switched off all his phones. 

A few days later, the electoral body claimed to have received a second letter from the fugitive candidate in which he categorically stated his “resignation” from the UPP but chose not to avail the same document to the public. Curiously, the said letter was addressed to the ECZ, not the UPP, the candidate’s party, whose leader insisted that they had neither heard nor received anything from their member. 

Notwithstanding the uncertainty surrounding the purported resignation, the ECZ postponed the poll to 3 February. The UPP was unable to field a candidate in the rearranged election, explaining that they had emptied their resources in supporting the nomination and earlier campaigns of the fugitive candidate. 

Meanwhile, the UPND, when it became too obvious that the public would see through the scheme, re-adopted Tayengwa. Freed from travel, Hichilema, alongside several cabinet ministers, literally camped in Kabwata constituency and even flouted the campaign schedule that the electoral body had allocated to the competing parties, helping Tayengwa to a narrow victory over the PF candidate. 

This episode suggests that in addition to pressuring supposedly impartial state institutions to directly get involved in an internal party matter, the ruling party is instigating divisions within opposition parties and over-stretching their meagre resources in the same way that the PF did while in government. Opposition parties with little power are potentially being used to manipulate electoral law to suit Hichilema’s party. Again, the UPND is using the same tactics as the PF to rule, but without the consequences of criticism from civil society and international actors. 

Weakening the power of civil society 

Over the years, Zambia’s democracy has benefited greatly from the presence of a robust and effective non-state sector capable of checking the power of the government. Almost by default, such actors assumed principled positions that appeared to be in tandem with those adopted by the UPND when in opposition. The election of Hichilema has consequently affected the effectiveness of civil society in two main ways. 

The first is that many of the critical voices from academia, civil society and the church who spoke truth to power under Lungu have failed to remain impartial after Hichilema’s election. The demobilisation of progressive forces has seen previously neutral and influential voices become part of the choir of praise or lulled into silence after the opposition they were sympathetic to won. 

Others have been co-opted into government through appointments to parastatal boards, public bodies such as human rights commissions, or presidential advisory entities, while one or two have applied for professional ranks that can only be conferred by the president and are therefore unlikely to speak out on Hichilema’s worrying tendencies unless their bids fail. Some remain in the long queue for appointments to public office, including diplomatic service. 

The second is that previously effective civil society organisations such as the Law Association of Zambia, which were generally seen as having aligned themselves to the PF under Lungu, now lack legitimacy to critique the actions of Hichilema and the UPND. The result is a weakening civil society and a situation where the PF, the same party that almost collapsed the country’s democratic institutions and economy, ironically find itself thrust into a position where it is slowly becoming the new defender of public interest and leading opposition voice. 

The passage of time is slowly presenting Hichilema as someone who is out of his depth on many key issues, lacks meaningful responses to Zambia’s crises and only appears good in contrast to the disastrous record of his predecessor. After memories of the PF’s terrible record in office have faded, this developing reality may dawn on many. 

If the public become disenchanted with the UPND, and with the possible fallout from the adverse effects of the soon-to-be implemented IMF programme, voters are more likely to see the PF differently, especially if the former governing party manages to resolve its leadership question well and comes out of its elective conference united. If he fails to deliver on the economy, and with his political position threatened, Hichilema may resort to bribery or repression, or both, to retain support. Unless civil society wakes up sooner than later or new progressive voices emerge, Zambia’s democracy may soon be back to the same position in which it was under Lungu. 

Nurturing corruption 

Hichilema has demonstrated a genuine lack of commitment to fighting corruption in three main ways. 

1. The first is the lack of example. Elected on a platform of anti-corruption, accountability and transparency, Hichilema has so far failed, in typical Donald Trump fashion, to release his assets value – the first major-party presidential nominee and Zambian president, alongside Lungu, in more than 30 years not to disclose his net worth. 

Zambian presidents have generally used state power to accumulate. For instance, in less than sixteen months in power, Lungu’s net worth grew from K10.9-million when he first ran for election in 2015 to K23.7-million in 2016 when he ran for re-election. Since the president’s salary is gazetted and he had no known businesses, angry Zambians demanded to know the source of this exponential growth of his earnings. Lungu’s failure to explain fuelled accusations that he had acquired the wealth corruptly. 

The former president’s assets value may have increased considerably since 2016, which could explain why he did not release his net worth last year out of fear that the public’s knowledge of his opulence would increase calls for the removal of his immunity if he lost the election. 

Although there is no evidence yet to suggest that Hichilema has started stealing public funds or using public office to promote his private interests, the president’s reluctance to publish his net worth is most concerning, given his extensive business interests. Zambians interested in knowing the difference in his assets value between 2021 when he assumed office and, say, 2026, when he will be filing his nomination papers for a second term, will be left frustrated.

2. The second is that over six months in office, his government’s anti-corruption strategy is chaotic at best and non-existent at worst. The grand corruption of the Lungu era is well known. To date, not a single member of Lungu’s regime has been taken to court on serious corruption charges. The arrests and prosecutions that have been initiated so far have little to do with corruption. With a tone of vengeance around them, they mainly relate to political offences committed against the UPND or its members by PF officials, such as Emmanuel Chilekwa or Mumbi Phiri, when in power. 

Although Hichilema continues to brand PF leaders as having presided over a corrupt administration, he appears to do so to delegitimise the opposition party’s standing in the eyes of the electorate not because he harbours any serious plans to act against senior officials of the Lungu administration who looted public funds. Moreover, members of the kleptocratic networks that were deeply involved in high-level corruption under Lungu have since transitioned and cultivated new allies in the governing party. 

3. The third is that Hichilema has turned a blind eye to serious accusations of the corruption in his government. For instance, when opposition parties presented evidence showing executive involvement in inflated procurement of fertiliser in a contract that was awarded to the president’s business associate, Hichilema kept quiet. 

Moreover, Hichilema’s lacklustre attitude towards fighting corruption has been shown by his backtracking from a key pre-election commitment to delink the presidency from chairing the board of the parastatal mother body, the Industrial Development Corporation, as part of curbing corruption in government and enhancing corporate governance. 

In opposition, Hichilema repeatedly condemned Lungu and, earlier, Michael Sata for failure to amend the IDC Act, which provides for the anomaly where the president is the chairperson of the board of the parastatal. In power, Hichilema no longer sees anything wrong in doing the same thing that he condemned when done by his predecessors. 

Given that the president’s chairmanship of the holding company of all parastatal bodies in the country provides him with immense patronage influence to determine appointment of boards and key personnel (often party cadres and sympathisers), Hichilema’s hypocritical turnaround is not accidental; it is the substance of realpolitik. 

Failure to tackle political violence 

Under Hichilema’s predecessor, political violence, particularly clashes between supporters of the then-governing PF and the UPND during elections, was a staple. The perpetrators were usually the PF while the UPND were the victims. The police hardly arrested PF cadres but were quick to unleash brutality on opposition members, occasionally culminating in fatalities. 

Again, Hichilema pledged to end this culture of political violence. If the two parliamentary by-elections that have occurred since his election are any indicator, then very little has changed. Both the Kaumbwe parliamentary by-election in the Eastern Province and the recent one in Lusaka’s Kabwata constituency featured a series of violent activities that saw the beating of opposition supporters by suspected UPND cadres. 

As was the case under the PF, none of the culprits have been arrested to date even when the victims have identified the perpetrators and formally lodged reports to the police. The political violence in Kabwata, for instance, was even preceded by clear threats of violence from senior UPND members, none of whom has been arrested or reprimanded by the party’s leadership. 

 The narrative of a democratic resurgence in Zambia is false

Although it has slightly improved under Hichilema, Zambia’s democratic trajectory remains most concerning. Based on the early track record, the Hichilema administration has shown a lack of willingness to make structural changes that strengthen accountable, democratic governance. As a result, the political imperatives are likely to leave Zambian institutions as susceptible to manipulation as they were under Lungu. 

The recent narrative of a democratic resurgence in Zambia does not adhere to the reality, one that has seen the intimidation of independent media, the arrest of critics for insulting the president, the use of state institutions to undermine the opposition, the weakening of civil society, and the continued corruption in government. Contrary to what many are saying, Zambia is not returning to democracy. Not yet. 

CREDIT: http://mg.co.za/africa/2022-03-28-this-is-how-hichilema-is-undermining-democracy-in-zambia/

LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICE COMMISSION COMMENCES STAFF & QUALIFICATIONS AUDIT FOR COUNCILS

…move aimed at uprooting cadres from councils; LGSC says doesn’t want to rely on rumours, innuendos

Local Government Service Commission-LGSC-has embarked on its first-ever Human Resource Audit of all local authorities across the country aimed at establishing whether the staff occupying council offices have the right qualifications or not.

Addressing the Press at Lusaka City Council-LCC-chambers this afternoon, LGSC, Ackson Sejani says the numerous social media rumours, innuendos, speculations and mere perceptions that a lot of mischief characterised the local authorities in the country has necessitated the audit, whose time flame he said was yet to be determined.

Mr Sejani charged that the strong rumour that most local authority staff were cadres, employed in large numbers and not qualified to hold the positions they were holding was too strong to be ignored, adding that getting the right people to occupy public office was key in ensuring effective service delivery for the expectant, masses.

He stressed that it was only proper and prudent that the newly-established Commission established whether the right people with the prerequisite qualifications were occupying local authorities’ offices, or, to determine whether the “strong” rumour that most of those positions have been occupied by political party cadres were either false or in the affirmative.

He was among a number of commissioners from the LGSC among them his deputy, Brian Ndumba and Grace Chibwa.

Sejani charges that the finding at the Zambia’s major local Authority, LCC, will determine how and whether the Commission proceeds with conducting similar audits at the remaining 115 councils across the country.

And, asked on whether there will be punitive measures against council workers who will shy away from unveiling themselves for questioning before the Commission, Mr Sejani charged that “only ghosts who are not council employees will shun away from the on-going staff and qualifications audit”.

He emphasized that the findings at the largest local authority will form the basis for the interrogations of what was obtaining in the 116 local authorities across the country.

He said if it was established that a lot of staff were wanting in the local authorities as far as decentralisation policy was concerned, the Commission would ensure that it established the Human Resources Management Committee that would be empowered with the power to recruiting personnel in the local authorities.

UPND MEDIA TEAM

An Accountant in the office of the Accountant General has told the Ndola Magistrate Court how ZamPost misappropriated the Social Cash Transfer funds by instructing the bank to first deposit the funds in a fixed deposit account.

Elijah Kapotwe, 53 of Lusaka, a principal accountant at the Ministry of Finance said that it is only the controlling officer who is responsible for the identification for investment of funds appropriated under the Ministry of Community Development.

In this matter, McPherson Chanda, Best Mwaichi and Isaac Kamwimba appeared before the fast track Economic and financial crimes court under Magistrate Kaunda Sakwanda.

In December 2021 the Drug Enforcement Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested former Postmaster General, Macpherson Chanda and two directors for corrupt practices involving over K300 million.

The trio, in their capacities as Postmaster General, Director of Finance and Director of Operations, respectively, were said to have unlawfully diverted social cash transfer funds amounting to K335,108,834.00 without lawful authority.

ZANIS reports that in all the counts, Chanda and Mwaichi are charged with theft by public servant contrary to Section 265 as read with section 277 of the penal code.

Chanda, Mwaichi and Kamwimba all pleaded not guilty to the charges respectively.

When the matter came up for continued trial, Kapotwe told the court that funds for social cash transfer are appropriated by

Parliament to be disbursed to social beneficiaries by following the social protection guidelines.

“The social cash transfer funds are appropriated by parliament to be disbursed to social benefits to beneficiaries identified through the social protection guidelines and were not appropriated as investment funds.

“And therefore, where the controlling officer under the ministry of community development needed to apply the funds as investment funds, she was required that the Secretary to the treasury take such investment,” said Kapotwe.

He said he reviewed the status of the investment of the funds which were generated by ZAMPOST and some irregularities existed and that the social cash transfer was appropriated to the Ministry’s edge of revenue and expenditure.

Kapotwe said the person mandated to oversee the execution of such funds was the Permanent Secretary as the only officer mandated to request for the investment of funds appropriated.

Kapotwe said the first irregularity is that the letters were generated by ZAMPOST and not the controlling officer and second being that of misapplication of the interest earned.

He added that the arrangement between ZAMPOST and the ministry of community development, was that ZAMPOST was an agent to disburse the social cash transfer funds to beneficiaries and was to be paid commission

And a former assistant manager operations at ZAMPOST Moses Musonda said he was a signatory based on instructions.

Musonda testified that the authority came from Postmaster General, Director Finance and Director of Operations.

Magistrate Sakwanda then adjourned the matter to March 29, 2022 for continuation of trial.

The former ZAMPOST postmaster General and his co- accused are charged with 13 counts of theft by public servant.

MASEBO SHOULD USE THE OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL

“Use of external auditors without recourse to the Office of the Auditor General, is illegal”

By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba

The statement by the Minister of Health, Hon Silvia Masebo to call for external auditors to supervise the recruitment of 11,200 health workers, the Ministry’s payroll and to audit health facilities, is shocking.

While there could be need for audit and consulting services to audit health facilities, reconcile and clean-up the payroll and ensure that the recruitment of health workers is done above board, such functions are constitutional and procedures are laid out on how they should be done.

It is for this reason that the Office of the Auditor General exists.

The Office of the Auditor General is the only supreme audit institution in Zambia mandated to audit all government institutions, parastatal organizations, statutory boards, donor funded agencies and any other institute in which public resources have been invested.

It is in extreme rare circumstances that external entities are sub-contracted or out-sourced.

Further, if Ms. Masebo suspects corruption in the recruitment process, she can also involve the Anti-Corruption Commission or similar law enforcement agencies in the process.

Unfortunately, the use of external auditors without recourse to the constitutional Office of the Auditor General or following set procurement processes, has increased under President Hakainde Hichilema’s government.

Recently, an unknown company, MVC Consultants and a Mr Lovemore Mbita Chifunda, were illegally hired by the Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Agriculture to audit the Farmers Input Support Programme (FISP)- the Government’s agriculture input subsidy programme.

There are other government entities where private audit firms are being hired to do the work and services which fall directly under the ambit of the Office of the Auditor General.

President Hakainde Hichilema, having come from a private audit and consulting firm, may easily be accused of illegally facilitating the procurement of audit and consulting services from his previous professional networks, in clear breach of the Republican Constitution.

And Masebo’s disclosure of names of purported ghost facilities under the Ministry of Health, is questionable as a quick verification will expose her statement as based on lies again.

Speaking shortly after a briefing, Ms. Masebo revealed that following the verification of nine out of 10 provinces, Nangoma Mission Hospital, Macha Hospital, Monze Hospital, and Kalabo Rural Health Center are some of the non-existent facilities detected.

She further disclosed that her Ministry has since written to Cabinet Office to seek authority to engage an external auditor to audit health facilities including the on-going recruitment of 11,276 workers.

For starters,we know that Nangoma Mission Hospital exists.

And Ms Masebo, despite having served in Government as Cabinet Minister in the last twenty years, appears not to know her boundaries and by her own numerous pronouncements is exposed as overreaching in matters of administration, technical, procurement and controlling, which functions fall under the controlling officer, the Permanent Secretary.

WHY AM I AT WAR WITH BARBRA MUSAMBA CHAMA

By: Maxwell Nsama
Monday || March 28th, 2022.

It’s a long story but I will cut it short… Barbra Musamba Chama has been against my political stance to support and defend Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba for PF President.

She came to my inbox trying to tell me all sort of foolish lies – illusions against Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba killed Chiluba and Sata but I asked her to prove evidence as well as to where Pres. Chiluba was when died? What killed, who was with him?… She failed to provide the answers.

When I didn’t agree with her… She began accusing me of being frustrated-insane and many UPND think that I am insane and after she pist me off… I told her off that UPND will mess up big time and then we blocked each other… But she felt defeated and was hurting and due to her failed mission to convince me that Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba is a what she paint him to be like she always says… She went on to contact a certain Defence Chief (ZNS) of whom I happen to be in contact with on the quest to turn him against me and when that General came out so unwise to complain to why I posted his pic in uniform on fb page as if I am the first and only one to ever post a pic of him when there are tons of his pics posted on social media.

When I told that General that energy (influence) was coming from Barbra Musamba Chama, he felt embarrassed-ashamed and him and Barbra began to contact my relatives to try and stop me from criticizing the UPND and participating in Political & Governance issues… These two have been threatening my relatives hence causing confusion among relatives but that does not bother me because I am not a dependent to be manipulated by my relatives.

They have since been cooking up foolish stories against me but that wont work on me because I am not moved by foolishness especially if the foolishness were to shut me up because I only get worse. Barbra Musamba Chama is liar, manipulator, gossiper/slanderer, accuser and bully who will do and say anything to satisfy herself and enjoys to pick up fights with people but picking a fight with me was a terrible mistake because she will wish she never knew me. You can’t use my relatives to get to me because that doesn’t work on me.

Ati HH was in a hurry to marry

The HARD FACTS have raised a lot of dust and debate in the past few days so the author is back to FUN FACTS in trying to calm the storm.

Enjoy !!! 😉😉

FUN FACT

DID you know that President Hakainde Hichilema was in a hurry to marry?

For details, follow the excerpt below from

(Conversations with Memorable Personalities)

Amos Malupenga:

Before we proceed to talk about the politics, tell me about your family. Who is your wife and children?

Hakainde Hichilema:

Amos, thank you for asking the family question. I am a family man. I have more or less broken the family rule. I come from a large extended family but I am married to a dear lady, a lady I love so much called Mutinta Hichilema. We married in 1988, two years after I graduated from UNZA. I was in a hurry. Like I said to you, I have sort of done things fairly quickly. A lot of my age group would be doing different things but I will try and move on.

Amos Malupenga:

Why were you in a hurry to marry?

Hakainde Hichilema:

It’s my nature. I wanted to settle down quickly and settle down on the job. So I thought family was a stabilising factor. As I travelled a lot, I needed a family to come back home to. And I am very fortunate to have found this lady.

We have lived happily ever since and we have three children – a daughter called Miyanda… We have a son, Habwela… and we have another son, Chikonka. The girl and the boy are out in boarding school.

Amos Malupenga:

Did you meet your wife at the university?

Hakainde Hichilema:

Not at all! I met her in Lusaka. Incidentally, she used to work for Barclays Bank. We met during one of these travels in Lusaka and I started tracking her down until she agreed to my proposal.

Amos Malupenga:

What’s her profession?

Hakainde Hichilema:

She is an office manager.

Amos Malupenga:

Is it by design that you only have one wife despite the fact that you are Tonga or there is still time for…?

Hakainde Hichilema:

No, Amos, one of the things that my wife and I are pleased about is that we have decided that one husband and one wife is enough for either of us. As I said, we come from a polygamous family life situation. We look after each other but I think it is important to stick to one partner. You cannot love two people the same way. I am a strong believer in that. So Mutinta is sufficient for me and I don’t have to have another. I actually advise others to keep to one partner.

Amos Malupenga:

Aren’t you breaking the Tonga tradition?

Hakainde Hichilema:

Slowly, it will break down and I would like to take leadership in that. You are aware of the HIV situation. But even without HIV situation, Amos, you can’t look after more than one wife equally. That’s where inequities start in society.

(An excerpt from Conversations with Memorable Personalities)

Source: Conversations with memorable personalities

===============

PF media has reported that, President Hakainde Hichilema has reportedly sent the Director of Public Prosecution, Lillian Fulata Shawa-Siyuni on forced leave.

But constitutional experts are already calling the action illegal and unconstitutional.

Siyuni was appointed in 2016, was ratified by Parliament and enjoys constitutional tenure of office and can only be removed through succeful findings of a judicial tribunal.

Article 182 provides;

• Tenure of office of Director of Public Prosecutions;

1. Subject to this Article, the Director of Public Prosecutions shall retire from office on attaining the age of sixty years.

2. The Director of Public Prosecutions may retire, with full benefits, on attaining the age of fifty-five years.

3. The Director of Public Prosecutions may be removed from office on the same grounds and procedure as apply to a judge.

4. The Director of Public Prosecutions may resign from office by three months’ notice, in writing, to the President.

State House has been said to behind maneuvers to pressure Siyuni to resign or be appointed as a High Court Judge but she has turned down both offers hence the latest assault on her tenure of office.

Because the Office enjoys independence and autonomy in decision making of prosecution of criminal cases, State House is determined to employ a compliant officer to the office.

State House has since been pushing a disputed case of alleged stolen MMD vehicles in which the DPP has refused to sanction prosecution for lack of merit, as a case of unethical conduct which the Nevers Mumba team reported to the Judicial Service Complaint Commission.

But the Constitution provides total independence to the DPP;

Article 180(7) states that;

7. The Director of Public Prosecutions shall not be subject to the direction or control of a person or an authority in the performance of the functions of that office, except that the Director of Public Prosecutions shall have regard to the public interest, administration of justice, the integrity of the judicial system and the need to prevent and avoid abuse of the legal process.

PF IN POWER STRUGGLE

…there’s hostility, mistrust towards each other – Chirwa

By Christopher Miti

PATRIOTIC Front member and Lusaka lawyer Joseph Chirwa says the former ruling party should sober up and stop the trends that led to its downfall in the last election.

We must change, for example, in the way we handle conflicts within the party. We are still hostile towards each other. There is still mistrust within the party. There is power struggle within the party. As we are speaking, we haven’t rebranded. We are still the same party,” he told The Mast.

Announcing his decision to contest the position of national chairperson for legal affairs at the PF convention, Chirwa said every member should be allowed to contest positions they want from the presidency going down.

“I think that I can contribute to the revival of the PF. Are you aware that I tried to contest the same position prior to the general elections but unfortunately there were no elections? People were imposed on the general membership and this contributed to the bad performance of the PF,” he said in an interview.

“The PF as a party should sober up and stop the trends that contributed to its downfall. This is the time that, as the constitution provides, every member should be allowed to contest for the positions that they want. From the president, they should allow Brian Mundubile, Chishimba Kambwili, Emmanuel Mwamba and every person to stand as long as they are members of PF.”

Chirwa said majority of the people that were imposed on the general membership were not wanted.

He said this was not a right time when a party should be run like a cartel where leaders were imposed on the people.

“The moment we impose leaders on the people the party will not survive. The party will not be revived. The party will die by 2026. We are an opposition party, the time to dictate…even the former president should not have a hand in anyone,” Chirwa said.

“Him (Edgar Lungu) is a father figure. He is a patron of the PF. So let him facilitate a smooth transition of power so that we have a new membership in PF that has been voted and wanted by the party.”
Chirwa said the central committee of the PF was imposed on the general membership of the party.

On rebranding, he said it was difficult to rebrand with the same people.

“You can only rebrand with new people; meaning that you have to adopt new ideas. The pomposity that we had as a party where even our songs, our conduct as if we took people for granted that whether they wanted or not we will be in power… That pomposity, that pride, that ego should be dropped,” he said.

“To rebrand means that you have to change. You cannot rebrand something that hasn’t changed. We have to change our philosophy. We have to change our message. The most important thing is that we have to change our leadership. We cannot rebrand with the same leaders that are responsible for the status quo that we are in. We have to change our systems and our processes, that’s the only way.”

Chirwa said the rebranding process for the PF should have started immediately the party lost power.

He advised the party to critically look at issues that led to its loss in the last election.
“We must change, for example, in the way we handle conflicts within the party. We are still hostile towards each other. There is still mistrust within the party. There is power struggle within the party. As we are speaking, we haven’t rebranded. We are still the same party. We haven’t sold the new message to the people,” said Chirwa.

“We must be in a position to offer an alternative message. We cannot use the same tactics, for example, that the UPND were using when they were in opposition and us, we want to adopt those, no! We must be truthful to ourselves. We shouldn’t choose, for example, there is a postmortem report. Me, I am a member of PF, I was intimate with the campaigns but I have not even read it. The postmortem report must be published to everyone for us to know where we went wrong and where we need to focus on. The report must not be a secret document.”

By Mwaka Ndawa

FORMER PF secretary general Davies Mwila says it is in the public interest that his law suit against the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) is determined on merit, unlike curtailing it on baseless grounds.

He alleged that the UPND was trying to use State machinery to stop him from being heard by the courts by asking it to dismiss his case on a point of law which he said was wasting the court’s time.

Mwila has sued the State in the Lusaka High Court over the DEC’s decision to quiz him and Antonio Mwanza regarding the former ruling party’s source of funds during campaigns prior to the August 12, 2021 general elections.

Mwila who has commenced the action on behalf of the party wants damages for intimidation and harassment of PF members by the DEC.

He is seeking damages for discrimination, misrepresentation and defamation of character.

Mwila also wants the court to declare that the party cannot be compelled to disclose its source of income and that the money was not laundered.

The State had asked the court to dismiss the case with costs on a point of law.

The office of the Attorney General had submitted that Mwila’s action was an attempt to challenge the Commission’s statutory authority to conduct criminal investigations relating to allegations of money laundering against members of the public.

It said the reliefs Mwila was seeking were aimed at curtailing the ongoing criminal investigations, which involved some member of the PF, through the institution of the civil proceedings.

But in an affidavit in opposition to affidavit in support of notice of motion to dismiss the action on point of law, Mwila clarified that the action did not in any way attempt to circumvent the DEC from conducting its criminal investigations against him and other known persons.

“The defendant has merely failed to deduce or comprehend the questions which the pleadings have raised,” Mwila said. “The pleadings have raised the following questions which are supposed to be determined by the court; (1) whether or not the DEC has got the constitutional or statutory mandate to compel the plaintiff to disclose its source of funding used in the 2021 campaigns?

(2) whether or not the government has got a legal framework or statute which can be used to compel the plaintiff to disclose its source of campaign funding used in the 2021 general elections?

(3) whether or not political party funding is or amounts to money laundering?

(4) whether or not the action of the defendant through DEC was discriminatory when it’s only singled out the PF to disclose its source of campaign funds but left out other political parties which participated in the 2021 campaigns and the general elections?

5)Whether or not the DEC misrepresented facts and consequently defamed the plaintiff when PR manager maliciously misinformed the nation through the press that it summoned the plaintiff and the media director for purpose of investigating money laundering relating to the said individuals and not the party.”

Mwila said the court had not issued any court order compelling the Commission to stop carrying out its statutory obligation of investigating money laundering allegations.

He said the PF was not an institution regulated by the DEC’s supervisory authority.

“Out of the 16 political parties that participated in the 2021elections, the PF are the only ones that have been singled out and targeted by the DEC, and the discriminatory attack on the party has instilled fear in the mind of its members,’’ Mwila submitted.

“DEC knowingly and deliberately made false statement about the purpose of the interrogation the PF party’s media director and the said Commission knew that it was making a false statement to the public through the media and the malicious statement was actually published by several media houses. The Commission’s false statement made on September 21, 2021 about the purpose of interrogating Antio Mwanza, harmed the reputation of the plaintiff as members of the public were made to believe that the plaintiff was involved in money laundering.”

He said the DEC contumeliously disregarded his rights, damaged the reputation of the PF, and continued to threaten the existence of the party and the welfare and rights of its members.

“I am at pains to understand an untrue and unresearched assertion that this action is frivolous. The mode by which this court has been moved to determine the defendant’s application is not available in matters commenced by or against the defendant as such this application is improperly before court, consequently robing the court of its jurisdiction to determine the application,” said Mwila.

PRESS STATEMENT

28 TH MARCH 2022

DON’T BE TOO EXCITED; YOUR CASES COULD LAND YOU IN TEARS VERY SOON

PF members being arrested for corruption must tone down and stop being too excited. Zambians are not interested in stories of how clean they have become now or issuing threats to the Investigative Agencies. Those stories are for their fellow inmates once they are locked up. The fact that they are accused of being in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime means that the burden of proof of their innocence rests on their shoulders.

Should they fail to satisfy the Courts on how suddenly they became filthy rich, the law will take its course. Zambians are eagerly waiting for their stolen money from PF. In fact Zambians are very uncomfortable to continue mixing freely with these highly corrupt elements in our society. These corrupt elements must be very careful in whatever they say in front of cameras. Their excitement and arrogance will one day end up in tears. INSANSA SHINYA UBULANDA.

The issue of parading yourselves before the cameras each time you are arrested is uncalled for. Why are you all of a sudden claiming that you are innocent? Just wait for your time to lay your evidence before the Courts of law. Whatever you have as your defense please keep that to yourself and use it in Court. You stole from the Zambian people therefore don’t expect Zambians to sympathize with you, stop mocking them with your rhetoric. Zambians are only interested in seeing that what was stolen from them is recovered.

Always remember that, had you not stolen that money a life could have not been lost because the money you stole was meant to purchase drugs. Why would you want to hoodwink innocent Zambians in your greediness, it’s not Zambians that sent you to go and steal, you had a choice of stealing or not. Zambians will never sympathize with people who deprived them of jobs, decent living and sent their loved ones early to their graves. Crooks and thieves cannot appreciate anything, they think they are too cleaver that’s why they managed to steal and are still very free. The right place for any crook and criminal is prison; correctional facilities are just too decent.

Percy Chanda

UPND – NMC Member and Chairman for Mines

Youths, stop black ‘muntu mentality’; otherwise UPND should arrest you for not repaying loans – Part 1

By Austin Mbozi

I praise UPND: first, they listened to my article ‘Mr. President, Pay Faith Musonda’s K65 million to UNZA staff’ (The Mast, 12/11/2021). They paid it to UNZA youth tuitions. Second, they will release huge funds for youth empowerment.

Here are next proposals to UPND. First, do to youths what Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu calls ‘mental decolonisation’. Tell youths that their parents/teachers lied to them that it is slavery/colonialism/neo-colonialism/politicians making them poor. What makes us poor is our black ‘muntu mentality’ of consuming more, working lazily and wanting free things. Second, give loans only to youths who had been BOSSES/OWNERS in their respective businesses for a minimum four years. Third, those four-year experienced youths must employ, say, one youth per each K15,000 loan they get. Fourth, district administrators’ offices must monthly inspect details of each funded project and reposes it if it shows signs of wasting loans. Fifth, a youth failing to repay at least 60 per cent of the loan must repay it by working in prison for us, the tax payers contributing those loans.

To help UPND, I hereby address youths on ‘mental decolonisation’. Zambian youths, stop the ‘muntu mentality’ that makes blacks everywhere they live including USA, the poorest race. Stop believing in the lie that your poverty is due to the slavery/colonialism/neoliberal capitalism from the likes of Walter Rodney’s 1974 book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Even your fellow Zambian Azwell Banda is insinuating that rich people ‘hyenas’ feeding on the carcasses of suffering poor (The Mast 27/12/21). Azwell is writing from South Africa where he is enjoying the same capitalist/former apartheid wealth. Why did blacks not enslave/colonise/exploit the whites in the first place? Fact: blacks were already poorer during the white/black formal contacts in the 15th century. In 2005, philosopher Mathias Riise published a journal article, ‘How does the global order harm the poor?’ trying to support Azwell-type arguments. Yet, he admits that the wealth gap ratio between Europe and Africa was 3 to 1 in 1820. Why was Africa not richer? Fact: Because your ancestors could not get rich by gathering/ eating wild imbula fruits instead of producing. Europeans did not enslave your ancestors because they were black but because they were productively weaker. White ancient Greeks kept white slaves and later kept Indians at Natal. Arabs of King Pharaoh kept ‘white’ Israelites of Moses. A black freed slave wrote a biography, Equiano’s Travels (1967): His own Igbo tribesmen caught and sold him to fellow Africans, initially as a domestic slave. On October 25, 1897, British resident representative in Barotseland Major Robert T Coryndon announced to King Lewanika that the British government has banned slavery. The indunas refused to release my Tonga slave ancestors and nearly fought him.

Some blacks even credit slavery for being born in the great America rather than backward Africa. When Muhamad Ali visited Zaire (Congo DR) in 1974 to fight George Foreman he joked that, ‘’thank God my granddaddy got on that [slave carrying] boat!’’ Thus, at the World Conference against Racism in Durban in September 2001, Senegalise president Abdoulaye Wade rejected suggestions of Europeans compensating Africa, saying that even his own ancestors kept slaves.

Revise history, stop self-pity. Your unproductive ancestors enabled the evils of slavery. Yet, in an article ‘Colonialism and Economic Development’ published in 2012 , researchers Leander Helding and Robinson James found that colonialism actually increased life expectancy in Uganda and Zimbabwe from a mere average of 24 in 1942 to 32 in 1965. But you messed it. Zambia inherited from colonial masters a per capital GDP of over US $500. But this declined to $250 by 1991. Now governments feed you on nkongole.

Replace your ‘muntu mentality’. Get great ideas from Chika Onyeani’s book ‘Capitalist Nigger’. In 2001, addressing a black entrepreneurship conference at the Morgan State University, Maryland, USA he said: ‘’my topic today is about the Black Race…My discussion is about the truth; it is about honesty and frankness. It is about no more lies, no more hiding the truth, and no more blaming others for what is happening to the Black Race. It is about accepting responsibility for our actions; it is about playing the same games that others are playing and becoming successful. …The Black Race as now constituted, though as endowed as others, is a non-productive race. We have to accept the fact that the Black Race basically is a consumer race, depending on other communities for culture, language, our feeding and our clothing.’’

You think Onyeani is just yapping? Are you crazy? Onyeani was a successful businessman, beating whites within the USA. He is an Igbo, the most successful black ethnic group on earth. Don’t argue. You Zambians feared president Edgar Lungu, barking at him in dark corners in fear like puppies barking at an elephant with tails pulled behind their behind legs. But an Igbo, Seer 1, fought him out as ‘One commando’. Even that Chinua Achebe you learn in high school literature is Igbo. Jay Jay Okocha and Nwanko Kanu whose soccer dribbles you enjoy watching are an Igbo. Innocent Chukwuma who makes Innoson Motor vehicles is Igbo.

Your leaders like Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba, Michael Sata or Edgar you accuse of causing your poverty come from your muntu mentality community as you. So, it is a ‘muntu mentality’ voting for a ‘muntu mentality’. Among productive peoples like Asian Tigers, even dictators grew economies, like Adolf Hitler did. Asian and white Zambians, living among these your leaders, are prospering. Their culture is productive, selling you expensive phones and jackets they don’t wear. No wonder non-Christian Chinese mock you that they can manufacture and sell Jesus to you.

Watch out for Part 2 on Thursday 24 March 2022

The deeper this author gets into his PhD, the more he realises that most African PhD holders are only increasing their consumption/pomposity, not productivity.

Email: austin.mbozi2017@gmail.com. Phone: +260 978 741920.

DISCUSSING ZAMBIA’S IMF DEAL WITH ALEXANDER NKOSI- HAS THE IMF DEAL COLLAPSED? IS ZAMBIA NEGLECTING LOCAL SOLUTIONS? DOES IMF DEAL GUARANTEE ECONOMIC RECOVERY? IS IMF DICTATING RECRUITMENT?

By Alexander Nkosi

As the IMF debate rages on, there is so much information being thrown at the public, I have therefore decided to share this article to address the burning questions.

LOCAL SOLUTIONS

1. What do we need to make local solutions work? There are many factors we need to address but I will focus on four for illustration purposes:

1.1 Increasee access to affordable credit
1.2 Reduced cost of production
1.3 Government infrastructure investment
1.4 General enabling environment

2. 1 How do we increase access to affordable credit (low interest rates)?

One of the main reasons interest rates remain high is that government borrows heavily on the domestic market, crowding out the private sector. As long as debt service outlays remain high, government will continue borrowing heavily on the domestic market and interest rates will remain high.

How will the IMF deal help address this? It will allow us restructure our debt which will reduce annual debt service outlays and hence reduce domestic borrowing. It will further help us access concessional borrowing so that instead of borrowing heavily on the domestic market, we will access concessional loans. This will push interest rates down and allow the private sector have access to affordable credit for investment. This will make local solutions work.

2.2 How do we reduce the cost of production?
Zambia is heavily dependent on imports, both for production and consumption. We need to import machinery for us to produce better products and compete both in the domestic and foreign markets. We further need to import key inputs like chemicals we need in production. We also need to import fuel which is a key input in production.

However, as long as the kwacha remains weak against the dollar, the cost of imports will remain very high. What affects kwacha performance? We earn less dollars from exports, remittances and capital inflow. On the other hand, we lose more dollars through debt service and expensive imports like fuel and agriculture inputs. This creates a situation of low supply of dollars and high demand pushing the cost of dollars up.

How does IMF deal help address this? Debt restructuring will reduce the amount we spend on debt service. We pay our foreign debt in dollars, so the less dollars we lose through debt service the less pressure on the kwacha. The IMF deal also helps attract capital inflow as confidence builds. We get more dollars and opportunities for joint ventures. Increased investments lead to increased production and export earnings (dollar earnings). Hence we lose less dollars and gain more leading to kwacha appreciation. With a strong kwacha, our entrepreneurs are able to import machinery, chemicals and inputs required for production at a low cost. We are also able to import fuel and fertiliser at a low cost. This pushes down the cost of production and increases competitiveness of our products and profitability. Local solutions flourish, producing more, exporting more, earning more revenue and reducing dependency on borrowing.

2.3 How does government invest in support infrastructure? Right now most roads, schools, health facilities, dams, industrial yards and many other projects have stalled because we need to borrow heavily to finance them as domestic revenue is exhausted by debt service and salaries. Even if we reverse tax deductibility of mineral royalties and earn an additional K3.2 billion, it won’t finance these projects. Do we increase taxe rates? If we do, we will kill consumers and producers? Do we borrow heavily? If we do, we will worsen our debt situation.

How does an IMF deal come in? Debt restructuring reduces annual debt service outlays and releases resources needed for investment in infrastructure so as to enable local entrepreneurs flourish (local olutions). Increased confidence in the economy also helps boost PPPs required to leverage financing of projects like roads and energy projects.

2.4 General enabling economic environment. Consumers need tax relief to increase disposable incomes and encourage consumption as well as savings and investment. People have to save their money in banks for others to borrow. They also have to save to invest. How do we reduce tax rates if we have pressure to raise more to pay debt? Debt restructuring helps reduce this pressure and this is how the IMF deal helps address this.

Government has a total domestic debt of K189.7 billion which should be close to K200 billion by now. Domestic arrears stand at K46.9 billion and this could be above K50 billion by now. Most contractors and suppliers have lost properties to people they owe, their businesses have closed and workers have lost jobs. Clearing this debt and arrears is key to unlocking economic activities, but where does government get the money to speed up the process of dismantling debt and arrears? Borrowing at commercial rates will worsen the situation.

How does the IMF deal help? Debt restructuring reduces expenditure on debt service and releases money which can be channelled to dismantling domestic arrears. IMF deal also improves access to concessional borrowing which can help finance projects so that we can channel resources meant for these projects to dismantling arrears. Paying contractors and suppliers helps boost economic activities (local solutions).

WHAT IF WE ABANDON THE IMF DEAL?

3. What happens if we abandon the IMF deal?
Having reached a staff level agreement, creditors are ready to negotiate and potential investors are assured of a more objective debt sustainability analysis and management which can help them commit long term investments.

The moment this deal breaks down? Debt restructuring will break down and debt default alarms will go into overdrive. This will be followed by capital flight and rapid kwacha depreciation. The cost of borrowing on the international markets will skyrocket and most local banks will fear dealing with government. Investors will shift their investments elsewhere and production will be negatively affected and domestic revenue will shrink. Due to kwacha depreciation, imports will be very expensive. Inflation will go up; further pushing up the cost of living.

Given this analysis, how can domestic solutions work in such an environment? Where do we get money to subsidise fuel, agriculture inputs and education? There will be no resources for mass recruitment. In short economic recovery will take very long and it will be a very painful process characterised by increased poverty, mortality and other far reaching negative consequences. We fear IMF conditionality? We don’t have money to fund anything we fear IMF will object to. In short, there will be more things we will fail to do without the IMF deal.

DOES A COUNTRY NEED TO BE ON AN IMF DEAL TO DEVELOP?

4. Does it mean a country has to be on an IMF deal to develop?

The answer is no! Even Zambia did not need to be on an IMF deal to develop. We found ourselves here because we mismanaged the opportunity to manage our resources and domestic solutions well at a time our debt was so low, kwacha below K10/$, single digit inflation and GDP growth rate above 5%. This was the best time to work with reduced borrowing, go flat out to implement local solutions without requiring IMF deal. While a certain level of borrowing is required, we ended up with foreign debt of USD 12.9 billion, domestic debt of K189.7 billion and domestic arrears of K46.9 billion.

Despite this heavy borrowing, GDP shrunk to around USD 23 billion from around USD 27 billion. We remained dependent on copper with the manufacturing and tourism sectors not changing much. Challenges in the agriculture sector persisted. In short despite some positives like investment in transport, education and health infrastructure, we are in deeper economic problems than before. This is what is pushing us to IMF and we are doing it to make local solutions work.

DOES AN IMF DEAL GUARANTEE DEVELOPMENT?

5. Does being on an IMF deal automatically mean development?

No! The IMF deal gives us the much needed breathing space; it helps us restructure our debt, attract investments, access concessional borrowing and also comes with a USD 1.4 billion loan under the extended credit facility. As seen above the IMF deal is not all about the USD1.4 billion, it comes with all these benefits which we need to make our local solutions work. Success of the deal therefore depends on how we utilise the breathing space we get and all these opportunities that come with the deal. This is where we need to be very innovative and use resources well.

5.1 Infrastructure: For infrastructure development, we should go for PPPs where possible and use ZNS and local contractors where PPPs are not possible. This will enable us work on infrastructure at a way reduced cost and also ensure resources remain within the economy by using ZNS and local contractors.

5.2 Mining: In the mining sector, we should support small scale mining firms as part of our local investers’ incubation program. We should further monitor all mining firms closely to cut down on revenue leakages and ensure they stick to their commitment to invest USD 2.5 billion in expanding production after being given the tax incentive (deductibility of mineral royalties). We should also increase local stake in Mopani and future mining projects to ensure we increase local ownership of means of production. Lastly, we need to emphasise value addition in the sector through joint ventures, like the initiative we have embarked on with Congo DR.

5.3 Manufacturing: In the manufacturing sector, we should provide economic incentives to firms since we will be spending less on debt service after debt restructuring. There is also need to cut down on bureaucratic processes affect smooth operations of businesses. We also need to step up trade facilitation and tag in the private sector in bilateral trade negotiations within the region and beyond. Improved business environment coupled with an Kwacha appreciation arising from the IMF deal will local firms import machinery and other inputs to expand manufacturing.

5.4 Agriculture: A strong kwacha will help our farmers get inputs at a low cost. Government should therefore clean up the agriculture inputs procurement process and ensure these benefits are passed on to farmers. Reduced debt service should enable government invest in improving agriculture extension support. Government through ZNS should further construct dams across the country for water harvesting and irrigation so that we can have a significant increase in agriculture production.

5.5 Tourism: In the tourism sector, let us reduce the cost of tourists reaching Zambia. We should also speed up infrastructure development in key tourist hot spots in the northern circuit. We should promote state and private sector joint ventures in establishing parks in tourist hot spots to diversify tourism products. We should also promote local packages so as to increase the number of local tourists. Our embassies abroad should be given strict targets and run tourism promotion campaigns to increase foreign tourists visiting Zambia. We also need to monitor players in the sector closely so as to cut down on revenue leakages. Some African countries earn as much as USD11 billion per year from the sector, so there is huge potential.

5.6 Overall, we need to revisit our investment policies, review the repatriation of profits and ensure local investers across sectors are receiving favourable treatment. Increased participation of the private players in the energy sector is also important so that electric power generation keeps pace with growing industrial needs.

HAS IMF DEAL COLLAPSED?

6. Has the IMF deal with Zambia collapsed? Why is it taking long?

The deal is very much alive, it is a process. After reaching the staff level agreement, a debt sustainability analysis was conducted by IMF. This essentially gives a clear picture of our debt situation which is then used to engage creditors. A committee of bilateral creditors will be constituted and private and multilateral creditors will also be engaged. Once this is concluded, details will be presented to the board for approval. It is a thorough process.

IS IMF DICTATING CIVIL SERVICE RECRUITMENT?

7. Is Zambia getting permission from IMF to recruit? The whole deal requires engagement in a transparent manner. Mass recruitment of health workers and teachers is a huge cost with potential to worsen our debt situation which IMF is facilitating to resolve with our creditors. Hence to finance this recruitment, we are using part of the Special Drawing Rights granted under IMF. This explains why the recruitment was discussed with IMF.

CONCLUSION

8. In conclusion, I’m challenging critics of the IMF deal to explain in clear terms how we can address our economic challenges in a better way than through engaging IMF. Produce detailed papers indicating how we are going to handle our debt crisis, ensure kwacha appreciates, lower the cost of production, lower interest rates, dismantle arrears, invest in infrastructure and other economic and social sector spending required for local solutions to work. Include actual figures year by year so that we have practical alternatives. It is not enough to just keep ridding on Pan African slogans without any implementable alternatives. Don’t just say we implement local solutions, answer these questions and share all the necessary details.

IMPLEMENTORS TEAM’S OPINION!!!

Lusaka – 27th March, 2022.

UPND YOUTHS STILL CRYING IN PRISONS AS PF THUGS WALK TO FREEDOM!!!

In this brief morning analysis, we write with deep shock that up to now UPND Youths who were accused of different charges by the PF regime are still crying in Prisons and Cells while PF thugs who tortured and murdered many innocent Zambians are either walking freely or have been freed by the Courts. In November , 2021, 23 dangerous PF thugs were released by the Magistrate and last week, their gang Leader, Innocent Kalimanshi finally walked to freedom! On the other hand, Police Officers with instructions from Ministers are quick to detain UPND Youths! As we write this, tears are flowing on the UPND Youths as they remember how they are persecuted by the same people they voted for! Equally, as Implementors team, we are shocked and shedding tears as we see UPND Youths detained at Central Police for a month without being taken to Court while others are at Chimbokaila, other Prisons and Cells!

Last year in July while during the Road show in Matero by Gilbert Liswaniso ( National Youth Chairperson), Police captured a Strong Youth called CONCRE and accused him of murder which occurred in Kanyama, infact at the time Concre and other Youths were on Road show in Matero. Police didn’t end there, but they had to raid the Youth Command Centre where other Youths were captured! Eight ( 😎 of our innocent Youths were jointly charged of murder which all well-meaning Zambians condemned and the only hope was for President HH and the New Dawn Administration to free them. However, it’s surprising that the search and arrests of UPND Youths has worsened now as our Youths are leaving in fear! Surely, how do you send ” C5″ to arrest our Youths on fake allegations by the PF?

Prior to October, 2021, many people on these forums and out there were saying that the President would free them on Independence day or any other day, but to our surprise these innocent Youths are still crying in Cells and Prisons!!!

WAY FORWARD:

1. We humbly appeal to President HH to get the Cry of our Youths.

These are strong Youths who heavily campaigned for us and there is need to take care of them. Mr. President, you understand the pain of being in Cells and Prisons on fake allegations! We ask you not to stay aloof from the issues surrounding our many Youths who are in Prisons and Cells.
Let the process of Justice be quickened.

2. We appeal to the Minister of Justice who is a strong Lawyer to be equally concerned on the justice system! Why should our Youths be in Cells for a Month without going to Court or be represented?

3. In our view, the Minister of Home Affairs is a let down, many people have lost confidence in him! Why should he be mute when some people are instructing Police to arrest our Youths or is he one of them?

The current situation isn’t good as UPND Youths are dissappointed! If this scenario continues, we foresee a situation where our Youths would shun going into by – elections or any other activities that require their services! Lets take care of our Youths and never embarrass them as if they were PF thugs! Why should PF thugs who used to torture and murder Zambians walk to freedom while our innocent Youths remain crying in Cells and Prisons?

This week, we shall be going round Cells and Prisons within our reach and we shall give you more information on these Youths who are crying for justice.

Ours is to analyse, advise and recommend for implementation without fear or favour.

Implementors Analysis Crew

IMF HAS GIVEN US PERMISSION TO EMPLOY 41,000 WORKERS-MUSOKOTWANE

FINANCE minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says IMF is in agreement that this year government hires 11,200 health workers and 30,000 teachers.

He says this is so because the modern economy is premised less on the natural resources but brain power of its citizens.

Following Dr Musokotwane’s ministerial statement on progress in discussions with the International Monetary Fund and on the country’s debt restructuring initiative yesterday, Chama North PF member of parliament Yotam Mtayachalo sought clarity on whether the Fund was agreed to the recruitment of staff in the health and education sectors.

“Madam Speaker, I’m alive to the fact that Zambia owes colossal sums of money – multilateral, bilateral and also commercial debt. I want to find out from the minister, that since the new dawn government is in the process of employing 30,000 teachers and 11,200 health workers and other ministries are about to do the same,” said Mtayachalo.

“What is the position of the IMF? Have you agreed, has the IMF agreed for this government to employ those workers taking into account that 50 per cent of our income actually goes to personal emoluments? Has the IMF agreed for the new dawn government to employ those workers within this year?”

In response, Dr Musokotwane said the Fund was agreed.

“The answer to your question is yes. The IMF are in agreement that this year we hire 11,200 health workers and 30,000 teachers. Madam Speaker, the modern economy, the modern economy, is premised less on the natural resources that we have. And moreso on the brain power of citizens of the country. We have seen this in places like Japan, countries like Taiwan, countries like Malaysia, they have no minerals. The country like Hong Kong even to build an airport, they had to import sand because there’s no space. There is no land. They had to import sand from Indonesia to go and pour into the ocean to create land for the airport,” explained Dr Musokotwane.

“So it is the brain power and therefore it follows that unless Zambia trains her youth, gives health to our young people, then the future of the economy of this country is in great jeopardy. So yes, Honourable Mtayachalo, there is absolutely no problem with that. It is all agreed, sealed up. The money is ready by colleagues who are about to recruit.”

Earlier, Dr Musokotwane said Zambia has been struggling with unsustainable debt since about 2016.

He said the manifestation of the problem has been through continuous loss in the value of the kwacha, rising inflation, loss of jobs and many other problems.

He said on realising that the debt was crippling the economy, Zambia approached the IMF to seek assistance out of the quagmire.

“IMF assistance is required for two reasons. Firstly, the IMF alongside other international bodies can help to broker a deal between the Zambian government and the creditors or those that the government owes. In such a deal, creditors will be persuaded to restructure Zambia’s debt. The desired outcome after the restructuring should be such that the debt that remains is serviceable. This then will enable the country to return to the group of respected countries which borrow, pay back and be able to borrow again if necessary because lenders will trust her,” Dr Musokotwane explained.

“Secondly, the intervention from the IMF will enable the country to get onto an IMF programme. That IMF programme will make it possible for Zambia to access long term concessional funding as she moves forwards. The funds will be concessional because the terms include interest rate at zero, grace period of five and half years and 10 years to pay. In essence therefore, the Zambia will access cheap money at a time when she needs money most.”

He said Zambia and IMF have agreed on the need to attain fiscal and debt sustainability and also on the need to invest in human and economic development to ensure recovery and long-term growth, especially for Zambia’s most vulnerable sections of society.

Dr Musokotwane said the Staff-Level Agreement had also paved the way for debt restructuring talks with creditors.

He said the debt restructuring would be implemented while upholding the principle of comparability of treatment across creditors.

“Zambia’s creditors will therefore be treated fairly under the auspices of the Common Framework for debt treatment beyond the debt service suspension initiative,” he said.

Dr Musokotwane said in the aftermath of the completion of the Debt Sustainability Analysis, the next important milestone is the formation of the Official Creditor Committee.

“The committee is composed of Zambia’s bilateral creditors. The bilateral creditors will analyse Zambia’s debt situation as illustrated in the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis. The bilateral creditors will then provide indications of the debt relief that they would be willing to provide to Zambia and indicate that comparability of treatment which will be expected from commercial creditors,” he said. “Commercial creditors, though not participants in the Official Creditor Committee, will be invited to provide comparable relief to Zambia to ensure fair burden-sharing.”

He anticipated that the official creditor committee would be formed within the next few weeks paving the way for the commencement of the restructuring discussions. Dr Musokotwane said the discussions with the official creditor committee are expected to culminate in providing financing assurances to the IMF executive board to enable the approval of a US $1.4 billion extended credit facility (ECF) for Zambia.

“…the resolution of Zambia’s crippling debt situation is paramount to reviving the economy. We can’t expect a strong economy as long as the debt situation is not brought back under control. The path the country has taken to get into an economic programme with the IMF is the only credible route to arrest the debt situation- is the only credible approach for now that will help to deliver debt relief and a return to normalcy,” said Dr Musokotwane.

“For this reason, the Zambian government remains in constant touch with the IMF so that we reach the full board economic programme by the middle of this year of 2022. In this regard, Madam Speaker, the Zambian government is firmly on track to ensure that what we have planned regarding debt relief and attainment of the IMF program becomes a reality without fail.”

Brenda Nglazi Zulu

Access To Information Bill – Take it to Parliament

I would like to have access to the draft Information Communication Technology (ICT) National Policy and also a report on why social media was restricted on poll day on 12th August 2021. This information is held by public bodies. The right to access such information held by public bodies will be empowered by the enactment of the Access To Information (ATI) bill into law.

The draft ATI bill has limited exceptions on what kind of information public bodies are supposed to share with citizens. Zambia has a good draft ATI bill. This encompasses a right to request and receive information, as well as an obligation for governments to publish information proactively even on their websites and social media sites.

We are in a digital era where there is easy movement of information. If citizens want to apply for a passport for instance, the passport office could easily make the application papers available online. The citizens would have access to the passport application form (information) online. Even issues of eCommerce would apply were necessary.

The best example would be the Patent And Company Registration Agency (PACRA) website which delivers all kinds of Business Registration Services application forms online. Already they have continued to help many Zambians have access to information.

There is need for government websites to be created and be made functional by uploading information for the citizens to access. There is need for government to have standardised email addresses for every civil servant. It sad to see Yahoo and Gmail dominate as email addresses for government workers in Zambia for government business. The dot.zm domain name has stalled and government needs to revive it by making sure all government workers drive traffic home by using the dot.zm domain name.

The ATI will empower the digitalisation of documents by the public bodies that the citizens may need to access.

For the past 20 years Zambia has failed to enact the (ATI) bill. The Movement for Multiparty and Democracy (MMD) and the Patriotic Front (PF) governments made promises to enact the ATI bill but failed and left a draft copy.

The draft ATI bill was picked up by United Party for National Development (UNDP) in the new dawn government.

President Hakainde Hichilema has said that the ATI should be enacted. The draft bill has been relooked at by the Government, citizens, the media and Civil Society Organisations (CSO). Those eyes are not enough as the Ministry of Information and Media wants to consult people in the 10 provinces over the ATI bill. This act of taking the bill to the provinces was done already in the past 20 years.

Let’s take the ATI bill to Parliament.