Maravi

Letters - Zamtel and Agriculture

Stop Zamtel sale
Written by FK

I refer to your editorial comment on the sale of Zamtel by the MMD leadership. Your paper has always done this country proud and most, if not all, issues you have raised on corruption have been proved true.

It is about time, however, that we Zambians from all walks of life took keen interest in ensuring that the greedy Rupiah government does not take us for a ride.

We need to rise and galvanise all means of energies at our disposal and stop this government from looting the little left from the Chiluba plunder.

We stopped the one party system from perpetuating itself on the political arena, we also demonstrated our vigour and made it in stopping Chiluba's third-term bid.

We should equally rise and stop this government from selling Zamtel to Rupiah's children and their tandem of thieves.

I wish to call upon all technocrats, students, unions, workers, political parties, the clergy and all well-meaning Zambians to join arms and stop this government from continuing with the loot.

Let us take to the streets, demonstrate, honk and stop them as we did during the issue of the third term.

This is a country where leaders from the judiciary, executive and legislature have no drop of shame to resign even when one's legitimacy to continue in office is out of question.


Privatisation of Zamtel
Written by Worried Zambian

I totally agree with Standard Bank South Africa head of Africa Research Group Economics Yvonne Mhango when she says in The Post of September 7, 2009 that the government should gauge the security risks involved in the sale of Zamtel if this is one of the concerns being raised by stakeholders.

She also said, she didn’t see why the government should privatise an institution if it’s a move that will compromise the security of the state, unless it is a corrupt government that is after making money."

Indeed there are several risks involved in the plan by the government to sell 75 per cent of Zamtel shares. One of our worries is that 75 per cent is just too high. Even if it was just one per cent, we would still need to be very careful about the way to handle it. Our second concern is that up to now the equity partner is unknown.

How can the government plan to sell such a high percentage of Zamtel shares to somebody unknown? Is it not like inviting people to your wedding before you know your spouse?

Personally, I am opposed to the privatisation of a single share of Zamtel unless the business is justified beyond any reasonable doubt and the justifiers must not only be politicians in the ruling government but also ordinary citizens.

If, for reasons unknown to me, Zamtel should be privatised, the process must be democratised at every stage.

Let us settle on the equity partner together as a nation. Let us clearly know what is involved in the partnership as well as the track record of the partner.

Let the partner answer as many questions from us as possible. It is the level of his or her commitment that should determine whether we can have this binding commitment with the equity partner or not. We do not want to grope in the dark about it.

We have plenty of qualms and misgivings about the privatisation of Zamtel. Has there been any government in Zambia that has ever privatised any company in a democratic way, that involved the people at every stage and was praised for the job?

The answer is a resounding no! What should make us believe that the current government will make a difference in the privatisation of Zamtel?

We do not want to pretend that uncertainities are certainities.


http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/13435/64/

Prioritise agriculture
Written by Gady Mwamba Museka, Mazabuka

I was dismayed when I read in the Business Post that the government has reduced the budget allocation for agriculture in next year’s budget to be presented soon in Parliament. To reduce the high poverty levels currently in Zambia, the government need to give priority to sectors like agriculture by spreading proportionately resources to agriculture along side other sectors such as health and education.

The government must pay closer attention to food security by ensuring that there is growth in agriculture. The government should promote increased investment in agriculture through farming input assistance with particular attention to small-scale farmers.

To achieve this, we need high-level political will to inspire and prioritise agriculture in the national budget to be presented soon.

It is indeed important for governments to prioritise agriculture therefore, we’ll continue to call for agricultural policies that better address food security for the masses!

Labels: AGRICULTURE, PRIVATISATION, ZAMTEL

posted by MrK @ 5:06 PM