Maravi

Letters - Inflation

Consumer goods price increase
Written by James Mutungu Chiwala, Ndola
Monday, May 04, 2009 4:03:07 PM

Allow me to air my concerns regarding the escalating prices of various goods and services in this country. Of late, consumers have been subjected to price increases of almost all the essential commodities, including mealie-meal. We are being told that the removal of subsidies on maize has led to this price increase.

Essentially, the cost of production has been passed onto the consumers by the millers, which I personally consider as being a normal business action for any company that wants to survive. We need to look at the issue of input costs very critically. It is common fact that the cost of production in this country is very high. It is also a known fact that a number of local companies have been liquidated citing various reasons but all pointing to high production costs.


In addition, we have noticed, in the recent past, that some multinational corporations, especially those involved in the manufacture of detergents and other household goods, have taken turn-around strategies by either closing their operations in Zambia completely or relocating to other countries within the sub-Saharan region. These developments should be a learning curve for our technocrats in government and other statutory bodies. For instance, instead of the Zambia Competition Commission (ZCC) calling for the government to open up our borders to allow traders to bring in various commodities such as cement to compete with local ones, they should find ways of reducing taxes and the cost of inputs to make the local products cheaper. In any case, we should encourage exploitation of our vast and rich natural resources and value addition of raw materials instead of importing finished products. We need to work on our gross domestic product if this country is to come out of the current economic quagmire. I was recently taken aback when I captured in the local media that ZCC is encouraging traders to bring foreign goods especially cement to compete with locally manufactured ones. Whereas this action may assist to bring the price of cement down on the market in the short term, the dumping of foreign goods, however, may pose a danger to our struggling industries. It is common knowledge that the importation of cheap foreign products is one of the factors that has led to the closure of many companies resulting in massive job losses. I wonder whether ZCC is aware of this. Most of the people who have been retrenched are languishing in the streets and yet ZCC does not appear to see that its action by the call for foreign goods means more people being thrown out of employment. In fact, this call will defeat the Citizens Economic Empowerment efforts as it will veer many towards becoming middlemen as their own home-grown products and services will be more expensive and therefore undesirable to the consumer. I implore the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry through its relevant government bodies such as the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) and (ZCC) to quickly institute some mechanisms that will assist in the reduction of production cost such as energy which is very high in this country. The effect of not doing this is that even the new entrants into the industry via CEEC funding or otherwise will fail to survive in this harsh business and economic environment which should not be blamed squarely on the global crunch since the crisis only came into being less than a year ago. Finally, we need to revive the ‘Proudly Zambian Campaign’. What has happened to this excellent initiative which was aimed at encouraging the consumption of locally produced goods and services (at affordable prices)? Is it another ‘Made in Zambia’ concept that has taken the usual trend of a lot of hype at inception but, due to poor planning and strategising and perhaps poor political will in and outside government, it fizzles out and remains in some file gathering dust ‘till the next Indaba’? Can the Zambia Institute of Marketing and government please drive this important GDP creating idea.

http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/8117/64/

Foreign investors
Written by Kaunda Wisdom, Kabwe

Zambia has continued to tolerate many foreign investors and expatriates who are incompetent in our official language. I am always shocked most of the time a Chinese contractor is being interviewed.

Most of them can't clearly express themselves. As a country, we can't continue accepting foreigners to work as supervisors when they can't even say a single word which can be understood. Countries like England will even test the language competence of most people wishing to work in that country even if they are coming from a country which has adopted English as an official language such as Zambia.

You can't achieve anything good with poor communication. No wonder we have some shoddy works being done in some projects.


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/8093/64/

Labour Day vs miners
Written by Proud miner,Rabby Kajoba Malasha, Chingola.
Monday, May 04, 2009 4:42:35 PM

The mining sector has contributed tremendously to Zambia’s development. The country’s economic success or failure cannot be separated from the performance of the mining sector. Most of the infrastructures that are now dilapidated were built through the earnings of the mining industry at the time when the country was led by Dr Kaunda, a visionary leader.

In sports, the mining conglomerate, ZCCM bankrolled football clubs and other sports discipline in the mining township. Undoubtedly, that episode had been the best part of Zambia’s success story in sports in general and football in particular. It was also around this era when the football national team was dominated by Copperbelt-based players that Zambia was a force to reckon with on the African continent.

Today the mining industry still is the engine room of our country. At the centre of this vibrant industry is a miner who risks his life to contribute to the well-being of our beloved nation Zambia. He wakes up in the hours of the morning and in the night when the nation is fast asleep leaving the comfort of his bed just to go and ‘dig’ the copper that earns the nation millions of dollars through taxes and other revenues. Though he engages in this physically challenging and drenching job, he has little to show off at the end of the month and later on when he retires. In spite of this, he still gives his whole to the industry with discipline, hard work and dedication all his working life.

How I wish the rest of the country could emulate the discipline, hard work and dedication to duty of a miner especially the parastatal companies and the civil service. This country would be in a better shape than it is in now if the work culture that exists in the mining sector were replicated in the other sectors of the economy.

It is for this reason as we commemorate Labour Day, I would like to applaud all the miners who have contributed to the well-being of our beloved nation. Just imagine a Zambia without you.

Labels: INFLATION, LABOUR

posted by MrK @ 3:05 PM