Maravi

Letters - Taxing The Mines, Farmers Prices and Extended Families

ZRA, mineral royalties
Written by Edwin Zulu
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:43:45 PM

The revelation by the ZRA director that some mines are not paying mineral royalty and other taxes makes sad reading. It is the duty of every institution and organisation operating in Zambia by law to pay taxes.

This is the money that helps the country to develop, pay salaries and help the country to run.

How can some mine owners surely not pay tax when it is law and common knowledge that they need to give part of their money to the government?

lt is immoral to ignore the rules of the country and expect justice to prevail on them. Governments all over the world operate on money realised from taxes remitted by institutions, including government itself.

We hope the advice given is enough to make the mine owners heed to the government's concern. Pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.


Small-scale pork farming
Written by Alex Zulu
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:42:39 PM

I am a small-scale farmer who wishes to register my disappointment over the prices at which we are selling our pigs to the processors.

The cost of production has trippled in the last few years but market prices have stagnated over the years. The pigs were being sold at K10,500.00 per kilogramme last year, without taking into consideration increases in production costs.

The cost of soya, maize, wheat bran, medicines and other ingredients required to raise a pig are very high.

This has compromised greatly on the quality of pigs being produced. I was very touched to read on BBC that ZAMBEEF, the holding company of Master Pork, is making huge profits.

The small-scale farmer needs to survive and therfore these processors must offer reasonable prices to the farmer.

I would be comfortable at least, if the price on the market was around K13,500.00 dressed weight.

I wish to urge the people responsible to look into this matter seriously before we the small-scale farmers become irrelevant in this business.


Extended family ties
Written by Bob M Silungwe, Mazabuka
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:41:39 PM

Allow me to add my voice to the article which appeared in The Post dated April 10, 2009 bemoaning the breakdown of extended family ties. Indeed, this is very true as people have reduced their family sizes to that of a nuclear one.

The question begging an answer is that, is it really the economic hardships that have made us reduce our family size to that level or it’s just one way of failing to admit that we have adopted a foreign culture and have failed to go back to our own culture?

The answer to this question lies in what we hold now because most of us hide in the saying, ‘each one for himself and God for us all,’ forgetting that some of the people we meet, see and admire are products and benefeciaries of extended families in one way or the other.

Imagine what would have happened if relatives from the extended families did not assume the responsibilities left by their breadwinners resulting from death or divorce?

Countless times, our clergymen have always reminded us by quoting from the Bible on the ten commandments among them, love your brother the way you love yourself and do unto others as you will have them do unto you so that your days will be much longer.

That is to say, whichever area you are strong in, you are expected to use it generously to strengthen your own brothers, nieces, nephews and many others.

We are not equally gifted, but we are all gifted to give or assist those in need or else we are not complete without others.

The rate at which family ties are breaking down has made the situation worse resulting in more people not understanding the value of preserving family ties.

There is need to encourage and strengthen extended family systems to reduce on streetism, indecent dressing, deliquencey and many social vices in our communities.

Remember people without knowledge about their past are like trees without roots. Africa is for Africans, both those at home and abroad. As Zambians, we need to go back to our drawing board and re-correct our values, norms and culture to build a better country.

Let’s not embrace what we cannot understand culturally or else we are a dead nation. Cultural diffussion has been the biggest monster in this country and it has swallowed our values and norms making us believe that what is foreign has more value than what we are holding now.

Is it the level of education we have attained that will force us to ignore our relatives?

‘The only way to happiness is to put joy into other people’s lives rather than concentrate on oneself’, claims one scholar. Blood is thicker than water.

Labels: FARMING, TAXATION, ZRA

posted by MrK @ 5:42 PM