Why were you quiet? Where were all these Ideas when you occupied office?
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Twalasupawila fye!
When President Michael Chilufya Sata promoted and deployed me as Permanent Secretary to Northern Province in November 2011, I immediately got to work.
Until then, I had been serving for ten years as Deputy Permanent Secretary (Administrative Assistant) and Official Spokesperson in the Office of the Second President.
The challenges for the Province were many and extensive.
WORK IN NORTHERN PROVINCE
- Muchinga Province is Born
The biggest and urgent task was the presidential proclamation and directive to birth Muchinga Province out of Northern Province.
We had to consult with local government technocrats, negotiate with traditional Chiefs and authorities that were highly suspcious of the move and determine many delicate political, civic and administrative issues.
We also had to determine key issues such as provincial boundaries, provincial headquarters for the Province including new budgets based on district needs and the urgent construction of the new provincial headquarters.
Our pragamatic and hands-on approach made us quickly achieve these monumental assigments within a record periof of six months.
Before long the Province had a Minister, Permanent Secretary and Provincial structures.
- Kasama Coffee
The Coffee company had been closed since 2008.
A fradulent investor had bolted after borrowing from banks in excess of $11million against the assets of the coffee company.
The company was in receivership.
In March 2011, Northern Coffee Corporation (NCCL) was formed to take over the assets of Kasama Coffee Company, which had been in receivership since 2008.
The new special purpose vehicle comprised a shareholding structure of the Zambia Development Agency(ZDA) and the indebted banks to turn seek a new equity partner.
The assets consist of five estates on 5,866 hectares of land. Approximately 1,580 hectares on three of these estates were previously cultivated for coffee production with dams, canals and reservoirs for irrigation.
The assets also included dry and wet processing facilities, warehouses, drip irrigation, employee housing and recreational centre, as well as a research centre.
I began to make frequent trips to Lusaka to resolve this crisis.
The Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry and ZDA were proved helpful.
A detailed negotiations with banks revealed that the loans were almost written off as it had been years after default and their commercial interest in the coffee company would be to pay-off the Receiver Manager.
This made the load lighter.
We prepared to seek a credible investor.
We advertised in Zambia, South Africa and London.
It wasn’t long before ZDA had bidders.
After a thorough financial and technical evaluation, and fighting hard against entrenched corrupt interests, a credible company from Singapore won the bid.
Olam International Limited (“Olam”), a leading global, integrated supply chain manager and processor of agricultural products and food ingredients, acquired 100% equity interest in Northern Coffee Corporation Ltd (“NCCL”), the largest coffee estate in Zambia.
The deal was for approximately US$6.15 million.
The company pledged an immediate US$40 million investment as capital expenditure and pre-operative expenditure to fully develop 2,000 hectares of Arabica coffee plantation over the next five years.
The estate planned to yield approximately 4,500 metric tonnes of Arabica coffee beans by financial year 2021 at steady-state.
Now, Northern Coffee Corporation Ltd is the single-largest employer in the province with 2,000 workers and running an out-grower scheme of 3,500 small holder farmers.
MPULUNGU HARBOUR
I was fascinated by the huge potential that Mpulungu Harbour holds.
The recorded exports to the big market of the Great Lakes of commodities such as cement, steel, and foods was impressive.
To-date, in both Burundi and Rwanda, cement is called “Chilanga” because of the decades old supply of the Chilanga cement commodity brand to the region!
But the Harbour is old, inadequate and has no railway link fir bulk products.
The old plans I dusted up showed that integrated approved plans existed to develop a link through TAZARA from Nseluka to Mpulungu and the construction of an ultra-modern Harbour and coupled with new cargo and passenger ship.
Imagine, Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest lake in the world depends on an old passenger 1913 warship, the SSLiemba made by the Germans for the First World War I.
I interested African Development Bank Country Director for Zambia, Dr. Freddie Kwesiga( MHSRIEP) on the harbour project.
He had taken interest in my earlier forceful presentations many times, on rural development agenda, water and sanitation projects and the need to eliminate extreme poverty.
He guided me on what could be done to get funds for feasibility studies and an the construction ultramodern harbour.
We began this process with the team at the Ministry of Finance.
An initial $150million was targeted and later secured to begin feasibility study and works on the rail link and ultramodern Harbour.
I later worked closely with Dr. Kwesiga on a similar grand project to secure funding to revitalize the cashew industry in Western Province.
CHILUBI DISTRICT
An adamant area Member of Parliament had forcefully stalled the construction of a District Hospital in Chilubi for three years!
He had determined that the hospital would be at the Island, the BOMA with a population of 20,000 people.
At the BOMA we have a catholic-run mission hospital, Santa Maria built in 1909.
We had recently invested in the hospital with a new mortuary and operating thearter.
But technocrats had proposed for the new district hospital to be located on the mainland where a population of 100,000 people lived and had no hospital.
The arguments were not tenable by the MP and gis supporters! That the mainland had no power and a District Hospital had to be at the BOMA.
Our people in Chaba area on the mainland accessed medical services hundred of kilometers away either at Santa Maria Mission Hospital on the island or had to go to Lubwa Mission Hospital in Luwingu.
I travelled to Chilubi Island and held consultative meetings.
I immediately overturned the decision to locate two hospitals in a 5km radius and took the hospital to Chaba wgere it was most needed.
I met resistance, threats of witchcraft and faced dismissal.
The provincial Permanent Secretary has limitation and peripheral indluence as projects are run by sector ministries and we were mere supervisors.
I have previously written about this matter of Chilubi District Hospital extensively in the article; “Making Hard Decisions in the Face of Threats”.
But with hindsight, it was worth the risk and the right decision to serve and save a population of 100,000 people in Chaba area on the mainland.
But a bonus was on the way.
Because of relentless troubles of professional staff deserting education and health facilities in rural areas, at our repeated submissions as provincial Permanent Secretaries, Government decided to pioneer setting up of nursing and midwifery schools, and more teacher training colleges in rural areas with a bias to recruit persons from those areas.
Chilubi District benefited from this final investment decision and now has Chilubi Island College of Nursing and Midwifery built and working.
INFRASTRUCTURE
At the time, the Permanent Secretary for Northern Province was Vice-Chairperson to the Permanent Secretary of Local Goverent to the Water and Sanitation Committee that pioneers water and sanitation projects across the country and heavily funded by cooperating partners.
Driven by data that showed areas of high maternal and infant mortality rates in the province usually driven by water and sanitation diseases, we lobbied for some of the biggest water projects in the province. We obtained projects for Nakonde, Isoka, Mpulungu, Kaputa and Chinsali districts after it was identified as the new provincial capital for Muchinga Province.
We also followed up on roads whose funding under project financing with China had stalled after MMD lost power.
We unlocked the Mbala-Nakonde Road, Luwingu-Mansa Road and the upgrade of Lunzua Hydro Power Station which was upgraded from 0.75 MW to 14.8 MW.
We also pushed for the Kasama-Mporokoso Road which had nearly stalled because of political issues.
CONCLUSION
So was I quiet and had no development agenda?
I will tell you on my conceptual and pioneering role on Link Zambia 8000km, reforms for procurement processes and others.
Look for the next articles on initiatives achievements and development agenda for Eastern and Western provinces.
Further look for the innovative work done at Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services and our development tour as Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa and Ethiopia and our remarkable work as Permanent Representative to the African Union ( AU) and to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).