Maravi

Letters - 2009 Budget, NCC, Councillors

2009 budget, financial crisis
Written by Patrick Chibipe , AZICA, ACCA
Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:34:57 AM

The 2009 budget presented on January 30, 2009 by finance minister was a litmus test on the preparedness of the government to deal with the financial crisis inasfar as it affects Zambia. It has come out that the government is not appreciative of the ongoing financial crisis although lately they have been referring to it, as an excuse for their failures.

I was hoping that for once, sanity would prevail, and that one of the drastic measures the government would take to mitigate the effects of the recession on the local economy would be to release money to workers in form of reduced Pay As You Earn.

This would have helped to cushion any unwanted turbulence on the local economy because the extra income to the workers would have buoyed local demand hence keeping our local enterprises running and therefore reduce on the number of jobs that could be lost.

This is strongly supported by the fact that during a recession, the contribution to the local economy from exports become insignificant as the case is with our copper and therefore, countries to a great extent must rely on their local market to keep a few local industries afloat.

Workers in this regard are a major source of demand in any country. But it appears these simple basics are not appreciated by those tasked to handle financial matters on our behalf. This is why I even question the strategy of trying to lure investors in times such as this one. Which genuine investor would come when entities are struggling to survive?

That’s why you have heard of US President Barack Obama and many more advocating tax cuts; it’s basically to sustain local demand and save the few jobs left.

I am sure it’s not too late to consider my argument.


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/4617/64/

NCC is irrelevant
Written by Chola Chama
Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:35:29 AM

I agree with former Secretary to the Cabinet Sketchley Sacika (The Post, 20 January, 2009) that the NCC is irrelevant, not adding any value to the constitution-making process and that it must be stopped. But, I do not agree that the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission dealt with everything the Zambian people wanted.

First, the composition of the NCC is flawed because government appointees and people serving their own interests dominate it.

Second, the process has been boycotted by a wide array of important stakeholders and public opinion makers, among them the PF being the country’s largest opposition political party, alongside other political, social and church organisations which together, as Sacika rightly observes, constitute an important political constituency in Zambia. By its very strength and influence upon Zambian politics, the PF is the government in waiting.

In the event that the PF takes over government in 2011, will it inherit a constitution whose enactment it has boycotted in the first place? The answer is obviously No! And what will this mean? The PF government will start a fresh constitution-making process and tax the Zambian workers again in excess of the K300 billion currently being treasonably plundered by the money mongers sitting on the NCC today!

Further, even assuming the same government continues after 2011, a constitution surrounded by so much controversy and boycotted by so many important stakeholders cannot be a legitimate product of the people and stand the test of time!

The principle of self-preservation in political science is in operation at the NCC and the recommendations the NCC is making attest to the self-interests inherent in it. The selfish people sitting on the NCC want to tailor the constitution to suit themselves. For instance, the PF rebel MPs on the NCC shamelessly want the Constitution to keep their seats as independents once their party expels them! What nonsense!

The commissioners also want two thirds majority of Parliament to approve doctors’ recommendation to retire a terminally sick president! But does Parliament also debate and vote whether a President who falls sick must be flown to South Africa for treatment or does any employer hold an extraordinary meeting of shareholders to debate whether an employee certified unfit to work by doctors must in fact not work?

Likewise, is the recommendation of the medical board lawfully constituted under the workers compensation Act or indeed the local authorities superannuation fund Act to retire a worker on medical grounds subjected to approval by other non-experts elsewhere? In all these cases, the doctors’ decision is final and rightly so! Of course, the report of the medical board on the president’s health should go back to Parliament being the originator of the inquiry, but Parliament must be bound by the recommendation of the medical board.

The majority of NCC members are political appointees whose jobs and other benefits are owed to the President. They must therefore appease him and make his removal difficult for their own self-interests. For why else, and in whose interest, would Parliament insist that a president whom medical experts have certified incapacitated and unfit for his work should in fact continue to work as president unless its members decided the contrary?

The Mung’omba Draft Constitution must be properly cleaned up by patriotic and decent and morally upright citizens for a number of reasons.

First, the process of writing that draft constitution was hijacked and rushed by a few loud mouths and loose organisations who had no mandate to represent the Zambian people they purported to represent.

Second, a critical analysis of the Mung’omba Interim Report which contains the submissions from Zambians shows that the Mung’omba commissioners added things from their own heads into the draft constitution which no Zambian submitted about and left out many things which people requested to be put in the constitution.


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/4680/64/

Underperforming councilors
Written by Mkandawire Stein
Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:36:06 AM

One wonders whether the Kitwe City Council cares for the city or are just interested in drawing monthly pay.

The city, which is supposed to be the hub of Copperbelt, is very dirty. Potholes are no longer potholes but ditches and trenches. Just at the centre of the city, the area covering the post office and Shoprite is horrible. There are too many potholes and yet the city council collects too much money every day from the motorists for parking their vehicles on potholes.

The place which used to be Vestra Cinema and Nkana Hotel are uglier than the word itself. There is no single activity that takes place at these places. The places have been abondoned and there is tall grass that has grown there and yet our councillors are just sleeping, waiting for 2011 to have these places as their subject of campaign. Where are the councillors who are demanding sitting allowances before the end of the meeting? What do they deliberate if they cannot think and talk about the outlook of the city centre and the two places mentioned?

Are these councillors waiting for a presidential visit or directive to start looking for potential investors to take up these places or what? If the council has failed to find investors, why not use part of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to resurface the roads in the city centre. Honestly, the city centre belongs to a certain constituency whose CDF can be used for this genuine cause rather than give CDF to party cadres just to clear a small portion of residential drainages and claim that the money was used for this and that.

I have a serious problem with the performance of both the town clerk and councillors for failure to plan properly for the city and ensure that the general outlook of the city is uplifted.

Labels: 2009 BUDGET, CONSTITUTION, COUNCILS, NCC

posted by MrK @ 9:34 AM