Transition to next leader will be peaceful, assures Levy
Transition to next leader will be peaceful, assures LevyBy George Chellah
Saturday March 10, 2007 [02:03]
THE transition to the next President will be peaceful, President Levy Mwanawasa has assured. And President Mwanawasa said Zambia has learnt from some of its mistakes and was quickly making corrections. Addressing the visiting Malaysian business delegation at State House on Thursday, President Mwanawasa said Zambia was a peaceful country.
"Contrary to what may sometimes appear in international media that all of Africa is in turmoil, you will learn that here the contrary is true. We are a peace-loving people devoid of any turmoil and violence that you sometimes see in the news about other countries," President Mwanawasa said. "We run a democratic system of government with very peaceful elections every five years. On my part, my term ends in 2011 and I have all the confidence that the transition to the next President will continue to be as peaceful as before."
President Mwanawasa assured the delegation that their investment was safe in Zambia. "We follow our laws very strictly. Whenever government loses a court case, which we normally do, we never employ arm-twisting tactics to ignore the ruling. Court rulings are always obeyed," President Mwanawasa said. "In any case, as you will learn, there is a law in this country which makes it very hard for the state to expropriate people's investment. Expropriation in Zambia, if any, requires the approval of Parliament and even then, it may only be done with full compensation."
President Mwanawasa said he was hopeful that people in the delegation would each find an attractive area for investment. "As the experts will tell you, Zambia is full of profitable opportunities in all areas like manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, services and many more," President Mwanawasa said. "I urge each one to be very alert to the possibility that even though you may have had certain interests when you arrived, these may well change after you have seen and heard about other opportunities." He said he was confident that when the multi facility economic zone is completed in two years' time, it would offer wonderful opportunities. "For those wishing, take advantage of Zambia's central location to exploit the COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) market which stretches from Southern Africa all the way up to North Africa with several hundred million consumers," he said.
President Mwanawasa said Zambia had learnt from some of its mistakes and was quickly making corrections. "Since 1991, Zambia has undertaken major economic reforms. These reforms have included improved macro-economic management, reducing the involvement of the state in owning and managing enterprises through one of the most ambitious privatisation programmes in Africa," President Mwanawasa said. "Drastic financial liberalisation including the outright abolishing of all forms of exchange controls, rehabilitation of key infrastructure and putting more money into education and health." He said the external debt burden, which a few years ago was a major problem for Zambia, has been wiped out to insignificant levels.
He said he would count on the delegation to be Zambia's ambassadors to Malaysia and Asian investors. "Let me once again thank you for coming to Zambia to look at the opportunities available in this country. I hope and trust that you will have good memories of Zambia even when you are back in Malaysia. Kindly speak to as many business people as possible about the opportunities available in Zambian and our friendship," said President Mwanawasa.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, ECONOMY, MWANAWASA
posted by MrK @ 4:16 AM
2 Comments:
"THE transition to the next President will be peaceful, President Levy Mwanawasa has assured. And President Mwanawasa said Zambia has learnt from some of its mistakes and was quickly making corrections"
Theres nothing to learn theres been peaceful transiton in Zambia through out.
However as a zambian citizen am concerned about whose governing Zambia at the moment, Kamuzu ruled Malawi from a nursing home whilst suffering from alzehimers dementia for almost a decade, why? because hes 'mama' and the ever faithful intelligence around didnt want to let go.This is the chilling picture thats in Zambia today and we dont want to accept .
my prophetic word is we will have a new president before the next exit date, things are pretty bad.The political report as given at yesterday gives the impression that there is a large disbalance at what the reality and what the boss is aware of is,its ok if you thought there was a holiday and actually it was a working day, what if a mandate was given to sell 10 million dollars worth of shares at the stock market and its all in error?
I agree, the MMD is completely out of touch. They think that people in the rural areas are living in some kind of Eden like bliss. How often do they ask, 'but why do these people move to the cities?'.
The MMD is a clique of neocolonial elites, who do not know or care about the living conditions of ordinary people.
They don't understand that when they say 'the poor', they are talking about most of the people.
That is an explosive state of affairs.
It also presents a huge opportunity for a serious candidate, to sweep the next elections. What such a candidate would need, would be name recognition, and a political system on the ground. And they have 4 years to do it.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home