Maravi

Letters - Leadership, Passports and Mine Closures

Zambia needs leadership
Written by Chantry Mweemba, Mansa
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 5:35:47 PM

While we were cheated by our leaders on the impact of the global financial crisis, it has become clear even to small entrepreneurs that it’s survival of the fittest world-over.

The kwacha has depreciated and so import costs have gone up. Copper, our long-time forex earner, is selling much lower than before and most miners have lost their jobs. At the time people are losing their jobs, inflation is also high, thus the little money the jobless have reserved is stretched as food prices are high.

We also don’t see employers and especially the major one - government - responding by increasing salaries for civil servants.

This will no doubt result in strikes, especially in the education and health sectors. Poor children in schools and the vulnerable in government hospitals will have no one to attend to them.

This crisis knows no beaureaucracy because decisions have to be made fast. We need to quickly correct things because already, we have gotten it wrong with the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP) which has resulted in fertiliser landing in wrong hands. Therefore, Rupiah must act quickly to redeem the country.

There will be serious food shortages this year if nothing is done. Let’s look at small livestock in the immediate short-term, let’s look at irrigation of maize and substitute crops for our food in 2009.

Mr President, it’s you in whom we want to see leadership and not Cabinet.


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/3468/64/

Passport renewal
Written by Mwamba, Mongu
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 5:36:19 PM

The Ministry of Home Affairs needs to be realistic. There is no way we can be made to renew our passports in this manner. Imagine some of us, our passports have more than half a decade before they expire. Thus, it is my sincere appeal to authorities to extend the deadline to at least 4 years. The other alternative is for one to renew when their passport has a year before expiring or when about to travel. The price for renewal is just too much for some of us to afford. Please spare the immigration authority, unnecessary congestion, bribes and other eventualities.


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/3467/64/

Closing the mines
Written by Hannilie Zulu
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 5:37:03 PM

I am reacting to CM Mulenga's letter titled: "Stop mine closure" in The Post of January 3, 2009.

CM Mulenga argues that the government should intervene and stop mine closures, adding that we should imitate the First World's free-market economies and their solutions.

It is good to be observant of what is happening around us. Those free markets and their solutions are crumbling of and there is not much to learn from any of the solutions.

It is thus wise to close the mines as copper pricing is at its lowest. If the valuable resources continue to leave Zambia as we have seen in the past 12 months, there will be nothing left for Zambia because the prices are different this time.

The thing is, while it is true that we live in a globalised world, the fact remains that there are still huge divisions among nations.

In this case we have Europeans, Americans, Russians and Chinese; let me say the whole Asia, all in need of the copper.

Thus, if we do the maths properly, we shall realise that the biggest investors to earn from copper in Zambia are the Chinese because they have very flexible foreign policies or rules on how to get copper or anything they are interested in outside the country, while Europeans are mainly stuck with their human rights and work condition policies that have become a drawback in the world business wars.

Right now, copper on the Copperbelt Province is valuless, no one is buying it. Though a lot of copper is being stored, you will find that 1 tonne of high-grade which used to sell around 1300 and 1400 US Dollars is selling at 30 US Dollars. In this case, how do you advise the government not to act wisely?

It is better to close the mines and wait for better prices on the world stock market. As we can see, it is going to be a long wait because the global financial banking systems and its markets are diving to the bottom of the sea. Better to wait for a new economic system.

Labels: AGRICULTURE, JOBLOSSES, NEOLIBERALISM

posted by MrK @ 5:36 PM