Biti scuttles inputs deal
By Mabasa Sasa
Government, largely through the Finance Ministry, has spurned repeated attempts by Pretoria and a South African company to fully operationalise the US$210 million inputs scheme, in the process jeopardising the 2009/2010 cropping season, investigations by The Herald have revealed.
Documents in our possession show that South Africa’s Finance Ministry and ASP Marketing have made frantic efforts to get Finance Minister Tendai Biti to sign a guarantee that will unlock thousands of tonnes of fertilizer and seeds.
Yesterday, Minister Biti said he had never met ASP, that the whole story was a fabrication to make it look like he was sabotaging agriculture, and that the documents in this paper’s possession were fake.
He refused to look at the documents and — after having said he had never spoken to ASP —oddly enough added that he had given them "all the documents they need".
"I speak to Parvin Gordhan (SA Finance Minister) almost every day and there is nothing like this," said Minister Biti.
However, the documents tell a different story.
Government on September 9 entered into an agreement with ASP for the supply of inputs through the ministries of Finance and Agriculture, and CBZ Bank as lead financial institution.
ASP undertook to supply Zimbabwe with grain and inputs worth US$114 million while supplies worth the remaining US$96 million would come from AIG.
The inputs would be distributed at GMB depots via a loan facility largely overseen by CBZ.
ASP asked for a 10 percent down payment before they could move the inputs.
The money was paid a month after the signing, but an irrevocable letter of credit and Government guarantee as stipulated in the contract have not materialised and ASP has in turn found it difficult to finance the movement of the inputs.
ASP needed the guarantee to get its bankers, Absa, to release funding for the project.
Indications are Minister Biti refused to process these documents and a Government guarantee covering US$43,63 million was only issued by Acting Finance Minister Elton Mangoma on October 8 when the substantive minister was out of the country on official business.
This was after Reverend Frank Chikane, formerly director-general in ex-president Thabo Mbeki’s office and the Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, had been dragged in.
A letter from Rev Chikane to Dr Sibanda on October 19 confirms as much.
"Your intervention assisted greatly as the Acting Minister of Finance immediately sent a ‘Government guarantee’ letter dated 8th October 2009 to ASP Marketing," Rev Chikane said.
However, when ASP took the guarantee to Absa, the South African bank rejected it saying it did not meet expectations.
On November 3, Mr Keith Dutch —an Absa official — wrote to ASP saying: "I have reviewed the Zimbabwean Government guarantee and comment as follows: Document provides little comfort certainly when viewed as security for a B2B (bank-to-bank) with the SA government (No SA entity is mentioned in the document)."
They felt Minister Mangoma’s guarantee only implied backing for CBZ in the event that farmers defaulted on the loaned inputs but gave no security to ASP that Government would indeed pay them for bringing the seeds and fertilizers to Zimbabwe in the first place.
Rev Chikane suggested that the matter be taken up at a government-to-government level.
He wrote to Dr Sibanda saying: "The challenge they (ASP) are now facing though is that their bank (Absa) in South Africa is not able to release the necessary capital to finance the purchase and supply of said inputs . . .
"I have since talked to senior officials in the Department of Finance in South Africa and they are of the view that if the Government of Zimbabwe (through your Ministry of Finance) were to request for such support it would in all likelihood be favourably considered.
"As you would know, I do not really have authority on this matter as I am no longer in Government.
"It would therefore be helpful if the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Zimbabwe could take up the matter directly with the Ministry of Finance in South Africa.
"I have sent a letter to the Minister of Finance to advise accordingly in this regard and hope that the ministry will consider this approach as a way of unlocking the delivery of these inputs which are urgently needed in Zimbabwe.
"ASP has assured us that they are ready to deliver all the inputs requested as a matter of urgency once they have received such a guarantee to enable their bank to release the funds.
"ASP is also mindful of the deadlines related to the rainy season of Zimbabwe."
After that, ASP officials visited the SA Finance Ministry and were given the assurance that any such request from Minister Biti would be actively supported and the inputs would soon be released.
However, indications are that Zimbabwe’s Finance Ministry did not take up the offer.
Keen to assist Zimbabwe, SA Finance Minister Gordhan went to the extent of drafting the kind of letter requesting support that Minister Biti should send to him.
"Minister Gordhan basically wrote a letter to himself and simply asked Minister Biti to put a Zimbabwe Government letterhead on it and append his signature to it.
"The letter would be sent back and would be used by the South African government to unlock funding so that the inputs would start moving," officials close to the developments revealed.
The strategy was for South Africa to unveil R500 million in budgetary support that Pretoria said it would extend to Zimbabwe in March last year and the money would be used to kick-start ASP’s procurement and distribution.
The draft, dated October 27, 2009, reads in part: "We recognise that the processes of establishing government guarantees may take a while and we will certainly miss the deadline of the 2009-2010 rainy season.
"Accordingly, we would like to make a special request that your government allow us to either use the budget support you generously granted us (for urgent infrastructure projects) to secure these urgently needed inputs or use the budget support as a guarantee for the lines of credit provided for in the contract between the Government of Zimbabwe and ASP.
"A guarantee against RSA resources will give confidence to ASP bankers to release the necessary funds to finance the supply of agricultural commodities i.e maize, seeds and fertilizers.
"We would be grateful indeed if our request can receive your urgent and favourable consideration in order to ensure the recovery of the economy and to obviate a potential food shortage in 2010-11."
The copy of the letter in our possession shows Minister Biti never signed and sent it back.
Yesterday he denied its existence and said if The Herald indeed did have it, then it was fake.
Finance Ministry sources, however, said he saw the letter and blew a fuse.
"He did not take kindly to getting a draft of a letter written by South Africans which he was only required to officialise. He said he did not need anyone to teach him his job."
ASP representatives have written letters to various Government officials indicating dismay at what they perceive as lack of co-operation.
In one of them, dated October 9 and directed to Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono, a representative says: "The delay on the part of the Government of Zimbabwe heavily compromises the nature of our business in the long term."
An ASP official told The Herald: "We have gone out of our way to help with inputs and grain. The SA government has also gone out of its way but nothing is moving.
"What is our interest? Yes, there is a profit motive. We are a grain trading company and we have been dealing with the Government of Zimbabwe for over 20 years now.
"We don’t understand these sudden delays when the rainy season has already started.
"We always get assurances that things will soon move but nothing materialises.
"We don’t want to get into a situation where we look as if we are deliberately sabotaging your agricultural season by not supplying inputs so that we can get a bulkier and more lucrative contract to supply food aid next year."
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT, MDC, SOUTH AFRICA
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Biti blocking operationalisation of inputs from SA
The Herald/TZG
Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:17:00 +0000
THE Minister of Finance Tendai Biti has spurned repeated attempts by Pretoria and a South African company to fully operationalise the US$210 million inputs scheme, in the process jeopardising the 2009/2010 cropping season, according to
a report in the state run Herald newspaper.
The paper claims that South Africa’s Finance Ministry and ASP Marketing have made frantic efforts to get Biti to sign a guarantee that will unlock thousands of tonnes of fertilizer and seeds. Biti is reported as saying that documents held by the paper were fake.
"He refused to look at the documents and — after having said he had never spoken to ASP —oddly enough added that he had given them 'all the documents they need', said a report in The Herald.
"I speak to Parvin Gordhan (SA Finance Minister) almost every day and there is nothing like this," Biti was quoted as saying.
However, the documents tell a different story.
Government on September 9 entered into an agreement with ASP for the supply of inputs through the ministries of Finance and Agriculture, and CBZ Bank as lead financial institution.
ASP undertook to supply Zimbabwe with grain and inputs worth US$114 million while supplies worth the remaining US$96 million would come from AIG.
The inputs would be distributed at GMB depots via a loan facility largely overseen by CBZ.
ASP asked for a 10 percent down payment before they could move the inputs.
The money was paid a month after the signing, but an irrevocable letter of credit and Government guarantee as stipulated in the contract have not materialised and ASP has in turn found it difficult to finance the movement of the inputs.
ASP needed the guarantee to get its bankers, Absa, to release funding for the project.
Indications are Minister Biti refused to process these documents and a Government guarantee covering US$43,63 million was only issued by Acting Finance Minister Elton Mangoma on October 8 when the substantive minister was out of the country on official business.
This was after Reverend Frank Chikane, formerly director-general in ex-president Thabo Mbeki’s office and the Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, had been dragged in. A letter from Rev Chikane to Dr Sibanda on October 19 confirms as much.
"Your intervention assisted greatly as the Acting Minister of Finance immediately sent a ‘Government guarantee’ letter dated 8th October 2009 to ASP Marketing," Rev Chikane said.
However, when ASP took the guarantee to Absa, the South African bank rejected it saying it did not meet expectations.
On November 3, Mr Keith Dutch —an Absa official — wrote to ASP saying: "I have reviewed the Zimbabwean Government guarantee and comment as follows: Document provides little comfort certainly when viewed as security for a B2B (bank-to-bank) with the SA government (No SA entity is mentioned in the document)."
They felt Minister Mangoma’s guarantee only implied backing for CBZ in the event that farmers defaulted on the loaned inputs but gave no security to ASP that Government would indeed pay them for bringing the seeds and fertilizers to Zimbabwe in the first place.
Rev Chikane suggested that the matter be taken up at a government-to-government level.
He wrote to Dr Sibanda saying: "The challenge they (ASP) are now facing though is that their bank (Absa) in South Africa is not able to release the necessary capital to finance the purchase and supply of said inputs . . .
"I have since talked to senior officials in the Department of Finance in South Africa and they are of the view that if the Government of Zimbabwe (through your Ministry of Finance) were to request for such support it would in all likelihood be favourably considered.
"As you would know, I do not really have authority on this matter as I am no longer in Government.
"It would therefore be helpful if the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Zimbabwe could take up the matter directly with the Ministry of Finance in South Africa.
"I have sent a letter to the Minister of Finance to advise accordingly in this regard and hope that the ministry will consider this approach as a way of unlocking the delivery of these inputs which are urgently needed in Zimbabwe.
"ASP has assured us that they are ready to deliver all the inputs requested as a matter of urgency once they have received such a guarantee to enable their bank to release the funds.
"ASP is also mindful of the deadlines related to the rainy season of Zimbabwe."
After that, ASP officials visited the SA Finance Ministry and were given the assurance that any such request from Minister Biti would be actively supported and the inputs would soon be released.
However, indications are that Zimbabwe’s Finance Ministry did not take up the offer.
Keen to assist Zimbabwe, SA Finance Minister Gordhan went to the extent of drafting the kind of letter requesting support that Minister Biti should send to him.
"Minister Gordhan basically wrote a letter to himself and simply asked Minister Biti to put a Zimbabwe Government letterhead on it and append his signature to it.
"The letter would be sent back and would be used by the South African government to unlock funding so that the inputs would start moving," officials close to the developments revealed.
The strategy was for South Africa to unveil R500 million in budgetary support that Pretoria said it would extend to Zimbabwe in March last year and the money would be used to kick-start ASP’s procurement and distribution.
The draft, dated October 27, 2009, reads in part: "We recognise that the processes of establishing government guarantees may take a while and we will certainly miss the deadline of the 2009-2010 rainy season.
"Accordingly, we would like to make a special request that your government allow us to either use the budget support you generously granted us (for urgent infrastructure projects) to secure these urgently needed inputs or use the budget support as a guarantee for the lines of credit provided for in the contract between the Government of Zimbabwe and ASP.
"A guarantee against RSA resources will give confidence to ASP bankers to release the necessary funds to finance the supply of agricultural commodities i.e maize, seeds and fertilizers.
"We would be grateful indeed if our request can receive your urgent and favourable consideration in order to ensure the recovery of the economy and to obviate a potential food shortage in 2010-11."
The copy of the letter held by The Herald shows Minister Biti never signed and sent it back.
Yesterday he denied its existence and said if The Herald indeed did have it, then it was fake.
Finance Ministry sources, however, said he saw the letter and blew a fuse.
"He did not take kindly to getting a draft of a letter written by South Africans which he was only required to officialise. He said he did not need anyone to teach him his job."
ASP representatives have written letters to various Government officials indicating dismay at what they perceive as lack of co-operation.
In one of them, dated October 9 and directed to Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono, a representative says: "The delay on the part of the Government of Zimbabwe heavily compromises the nature of our business in the long term."
An ASP official told The Herald: "We have gone out of our way to help with inputs and grain. The SA government has also gone out of its way but nothing is moving.
"What is our interest? Yes, there is a profit motive. We are a grain trading company and we have been dealing with the Government of Zimbabwe for over 20 years now.
"We don’t understand these sudden delays when the rainy season has already started.
"We always get assurances that things will soon move but nothing materialises.
"We don’t want to get into a situation where we look as if we are deliberately sabotaging your agricultural season by not supplying inputs so that we can get a bulkier and more lucrative contract to supply food aid next year." -- The Herald/TZG
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, FARMING, MDC, TENDAI BITI
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Dear Kamuzu Banda
By Nyasa Times
Published: November 28, 2009
Sir, sorry that I have to write you at this time of the year, and at a time when your soul is peacefully Resting In eternal Peace. But, I am sure that wherever you are, as the founder of the nation, and one who was booted out of power on reasons of dictatorship, to pave way for multiparty democracy, you could be more concerned about the plight of Malawians, fifteen years down the line, since your tragic fall from echelons of power, and about a decade ago since your demise.
I write you because I think we have derailed and need peaceful intervention of saints to pray for our country. Knowing that you are closer to canonised saints up there, I thought you would confide in them. We have not gone too far the bad way, but certainly political leaders are taking us too far there.
We refuse this.
Sir, in my beautiful country, I never knew I had to come from a particular region until a while ago. I never knew I had to search for my tribe till days ago. I never knew my parents come from two different tribes and regions till a week ago. I am now left wondering, figuring out my tribe. My surname is not enough, where I am presently staying matters even more.
You may think I am the only one in this predicament, nay, there are several others experiencing it this way.
You see, it is now important that one knows where s/he comes from. It will soon be a basis for one’s selection into the university. It may also give one an advantage or two over others to get somewhere in this society… so on and so forth.
Leaders, fifteen years after you were dethroned, are publicly uttering divisive and tribalist speeches. They are openly referring to Malawians as Southerners, Central(lers), Northerners and Easterners. And, they go as far as referring to one region as only being a friend to the rest, for instance, “anzathu a [ku chagawo chakuti].
In fact, statistics have been worked out to demonstrate how much more people of particular regions contribute to the country’s GDP. How this can be calculated in a country where each region has people from any other, is a puzzle for your thought.
Sir, how best do you explain it when appointments are being made based on political, tribal and regional belonging? You may frown, but that is some reality.
Well, it could be coincidence that those who qualify and please the appointing authority every time there is a vacancy for top positions are only those from one system of thought. However, should it still read as coincidence when it goes beyond three times? I know you have the best answer, you equally have experienced power in abundance, not so?
After all, it is also claimed you are the first architect of this unwritten policy.
Sometimes one would want to blame you. You know what? The whole breed of national leaders, enjoying in the perfumed gardens of power, wealth, corruption, and sycophancy, are products of your mentorship, directly or indirectly.
They have recycled over and over again. Some have lost taste, but still hold on to the stage, even when the show is over and curtains have been drawn.
This breed of politicians still practices the type you taught them. Political threats, unilateral decisions, bootlicking, political arrests, a culture of political and party ‘henchmen’ (though gender insensitive) and arrogance. It is not a surprise that most leave the stage, one by one, through an embarrassing vote of no confidence. Ask JZU and Muluzi.
The country has been rocked with issues of third term, open term, bouncing back, section 65, intraparty democracy, lack of party conventions so on and so forth. There is no better explanation than to reveal that these leaders have read the concepts of democracy but can not practice them, they can not upgrade their mental operating systems.
I assure you, a medical doctor working on their brains would recommend a complete overhaul and formatting of their grey matter. It is gone past its usefulness. It should not even get closer to the younger generation for fear of contamination. It is contagious, unfortunately.
Aaah! It is the second time I am writing you. The first time was through The Nation, in 2004. Yes, I was a varsity student then. I could not cope with academic pressure and at the same time writing you from time to time. Hence, the break. I do not promise, but once in a while, I will be writing you.
Rest in eternal Peace.
Labels: HASTINGS KAMUZU BANDA, MALAWI
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Malawi President’s daughter to follow dad’s footsteps and marry Zimbabwean
By Nyasa Times
Published: November 27, 2009
Duwa Mutharika, daughter of Malawi President Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, will follow her father’s footsteps to tie the knot to a Zimbabwean national next month. President Mutharika married late Ethel Mutharika originally from Zambia.
The Weekend Times has reported that Duwa who divorced a Malawian husband Mixon Kafoteka will exchange matrimonial vows to a Zimbabwean only identified as Tonderai. Duwa, Malawi President’s last born daughter “engaged” to her Zimbabwean boyfriend at state’s Sanjika Palace on November7, 2009.
The Ethiopian born President’s daughter told the evening paper that her wedding will be publicised in the Guardian newspaper which she runs as Managing Director.
“I will make it exclusive to the paper,” she is quoted as saying.
Duwa divorces Kafoteka in court last year over “infidelity” matters and “irreconcilable differences”.
However, she told Timve magazine recently that she hopes to marry soon.
I am separated from my husband as we finalized the divorce. While I am no longer married I hope to remarry in the near future”.
Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, DUWA MUTHARIKA, WEDDINGS, ZIMBABWE
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The politics of tribe in Malawi
By Nyasa Times
Published: November 26, 2009
The cultural festival of the Lhomwe tribe took place on 25 October in the village of Chonde in the Mulanje District of southern Malawi, its Malawian heartland. This is close to the Mozambican border over which this group migrated in the course of the last two centuries and across which chiefs Mutharika (whose name Bingu borrowed when he tired of his original name of Brightson Webster Thom), Nasiyaya, Mpeni and Khoromana came for this celebration.
It was attended by the Lhomwe’s most prominent member, President Bingu wa Mutharika, and thus attracted to this small village in the shadow of Mulanje mountain a crowd estimated at 40,000; also a large number of official limousines and military uniforms, a television crew from the state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, many yards of Mulhako wa Alhomwe cloth, and a host of soft drinks traders to serve the usual thirsts of the country’s hot season.
It was a peaceful and colourful festival which the President insisted, in his opening speech, was “non-political”. “Some critics”, he explained “suggested that I should not come to this function because I am president of this country ….
But the Mulhako is non-political. It is about promoting Alhomwe cultural and traditional values including our language” [Daily Times 26/10/09]It is Malawi’s misfortune that almost everything a president does is political.
When its first president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, shifted the country’s capital-city from Zomba to the heartland of the Chewa people, at Lilongwe in the Central Region, and made their language into the official one of Malawi, it was a political act against the Tumbuka-speakers of the North and the Yao and Ngoni peoples of the south, however justified by the brutal logic of modern state-building.
When Malawi’s second president, Bakili Muluzi, made public appointments from his own Yao people, and was seen to be favouring the Yaos’ Muslim faith over Christian ones, and to be building more roads and power lines in their Mangochi district than elsewhere, he was strongly criticised too.
The fact that post-independence Malawi has escaped large-scale ethnic violence, and is proud of its peaceful and friendly spirit, cannot altogether conceal those bitter ethnic resentments and jealousies that plague other African states and which lie close to Malawi’s surface at all times.
A president’s favour or disfavour can make or break an entire region’s economy, just as they can do for individual careers, and if those favours and disfavours are seen to be based on tribe, then resentments gain political force and coherence.Suspicions of Bingu’s ethnic favouritism had already surfaced before the Chonde gathering. The arrival there of official limousines containing Lhomwe Cabinet ministers such as Patricia Kaliati, Anna Kachikho, George Chaponda, Richie Muheya, and the President’s own brother and minister of Justice, Peter, was not the only occasion for a counting of Lhomwe heads in Bingu’s government.
Lhomwes at the head of the Anti Corruption Bureau (Alex Nampota), the police service (Peter Mukhito), the Malawi Electoral Commission (Anastasia Msosa); of government-owned corporations such as the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Charles Matabwa) and the Malawi Social Action Fund (Edward Sawerengera); of Principal Secretaries of major government departments (Joseph Mwanamvekha is the latest on the scene: Chairman of Mulhako wa Alhomwe, and since October, Chief Secretary to the Treasury); the Chief Justice (Lovemore Munlo) and the Attorney-General (Jane Ansah) – all these Lhomwes in high places had been noted with varying degrees of alarm. Nor were the sellers of soft drinks the only businessmen at Chonde to profit by their proximity to greatness. Leston Mulli, the rapidly rising star of the Malawian business community, with a multitude of blossoming investments in Malawi’s freight and passenger transport, tourism and timber concessions, and in Mulanje District’s large tea estates, was there too as patron of the event. He too is a Lhomwe and the brother of Felton, another of Bingu’s cabinet ministers.The suspicion of Mutharika’s “tribalism” by members of Malawi’s twenty , or so, other ethnic groups expresses itself in many different ways.
The veteran Sena-speaking political baron of the Lower Shire valley, Gwanda Chakuamba, who was leader of the powerful Mgwirizano Coalition in the 2004 elections, and who now leads the New Republican Party, was recently convicted (but not punished because of his age and growing eccentricity) of incitement to violence against the Lhomwe people. He told a crowd in November 2008 that the Lhomwe were becoming “cheeky” and deserved to be beaten-up. More significant, perhaps, was the more recent action of Harry Mkandawire, a powerful figure in Malawi’s Northern Region and (until his sacking last month) within the ruling Democratic Progressive Party hierarchy. His “Open Letter” to the President of 22 October expressed the concerns of Malawi’s northern, largely Chitumbuka-speaking, peoples, who had given Bingu overwhelming support in the recent general election, but who now feel sidelined and ignored by him. Mkandawire’s particular complaints were directed against the reintroduction of Kamuzu Banda’s old regional quotas for the selection of university students (because northerners were, and are, seen to be over-represented in the student population); and the Southern bias in Bingu’s appointments to government departments and corporations.
He expressed a particular concern about Mulhako wa Alhomwe: “As the President of Malawi, you are expected to … embrace all tribes and their cultures. It is a paradox for you to be looked upon as favouring one tribe which is synonymous with being called a tribalist”.Malawi’s ethnic and regional politics are, for the time being, balanced by a growing sense of a common, non-violent, Malawian culture. Its tribalism is often expressed in a healthy respect for cultural ties across those political frontiers established by nineteenth-century European colonialists with little knowledge or respect for such things. It still offers important solidarities and reassuring cultural identities and it allows the presidents of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa to celebrate their common Chewa, Zulu, Lhomwe, Tumbuka, heritages as easily as their own people have always done .
Bingu may be genuinely innocent of deliberate tribalism. His Democratic Progressive Party on the approach to the 2009 elections did well in the Tumbuka-speaking North, the Chewa-speaking Centre and the Sena-speaking South. But he has to be careful to ensure that the legacy he leaves for Malawi in 2014 will be the golden one he anticipates.
He hopes that it will be that of the modern Moses, leading all of his people to the Promised Land of economic and political security. But it could be that of Humpty Dumpty on the wall in the popular nursery-rhyme of another cultural tradition, who carelessly fell off and could not be put together again. The tribal politics of Kibaki’s Kenya are a grim warning to Malawi of what happens when a president becomes careless with tribal politics.
Malawians familiar with Michela Wrong’s “It’s Our Turn to Eat”, are now openly wondering whose turn it will be “to eat” after the Lhomwes of Malawi leave the dining-tableThe cultural festival of the Lhomwe tribe took place on 25 October in the village of Chonde in the Mulanje District of southern Malawi, its Malawian heartland. This is close to the Mozambican border over which this group migrated in the course of the last two centuries and across which chiefs Mutharika (whose name Bingu borrowed when he tired of his original name of Brightson Webster Thom), Nasiyaya, Mpeni and Khoromana came for this celebration.
It was attended by the Lhomwe’s most prominent member, President Bingu wa Mutharika, and thus attracted to this small village in the shadow of Mulanje mountain a crowd estimated at 40,000; also a large number of official limousines and military uniforms, a television crew from the state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, many yards of Mulhako wa Alhomwe cloth, and a host of soft drinks traders to serve the usual thirsts of the country’s hot season.
It was a peaceful and colourful festival which the President insisted, in his opening speech, was “non-political”. “Some critics”, he explained “suggested that I should not come to this function because I am president of this country …. But the Mulhako is non-political. It is about promoting Alhomwe cultural and traditional values including our language” [Daily Times 26/10/09]
It is Malawi’s misfortune that almost everything a president does is political. When its first president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, shifted the country’s capital-city from Zomba to the heartland of the Chewa people, at Lilongwe in the Central Region, and made their language into the official one of Malawi, it was a political act against the Tumbuka-speakers of the North and the Yao and Ngoni peoples of the south, however justified by the brutal logic of modern state-building.
When Malawi’s second president, Bakili Muluzi, made public appointments from his own Yao people, and was seen to be favouring the Yaos’ Muslim faith over Christian ones, and to be building more roads and power lines in their Mangochi district than elsewhere, he was strongly criticised too.
The fact that post-independence Malawi has escaped large-scale ethnic violence, and is proud of its peaceful and friendly spirit, cannot altogether conceal those bitter ethnic resentments and jealousies that plague other African states and which lie close to Malawi’s surface at all times.
A president’s favour or disfavour can make or break an entire region’s economy, just as they can do for individual careers, and if those favours and disfavours are seen to be based on tribe, then resentments gain political force and coherence.
Suspicions of Bingu’s ethnic favouritism had already surfaced before the Chonde gathering. The arrival there of official limousines containing Lhomwe Cabinet ministers such as Patricia Kaliati, Anna Kachikho, George Chaponda, Richie Muheya, and the President’s own brother and minister of Justice, Peter, was not the only occasion for a counting of Lhomwe heads in Bingu’s government.
Lhomwes at the head of the Anti Corruption Bureau (Alex Nampota), the police service (Peter Mukhito), the Malawi Electoral Commission (Anastasia Msosa); of government-owned corporations such as the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Charles Matabwa) and the Malawi Social Action Fund (Edward Sawerengera); of Principal Secretaries of major government departments (Joseph Mwanamvekha is the latest on the scene: Chairman of Mulhako wa Alhomwe, and since October, Chief Secretary to the Treasury); the Chief Justice (Lovemore Munlo) and the Attorney-General (Jane Ansah) – all these Lhomwes in high places had been noted with varying degrees of alarm. Nor were the sellers of soft drinks the only businessmen at Chonde to profit by their proximity to greatness.
Leston Mulli, the rapidly rising star of the Malawian business community, with a multitude of blossoming investments in Malawi’s freight and passenger transport, tourism and timber concessions, and in Mulanje District’s large tea estates, was there too as patron of the event. He too is a Lhomwe and the brother of Felton, another of Bingu’s cabinet ministers.
The suspicion of Mutharika’s “tribalism” by members of Malawi’s twenty , or so, other ethnic groups expresses itself in many different ways.
The veteran Sena-speaking political baron of the Lower Shire valley, Gwanda Chakuamba, who was leader of the powerful Mgwirizano Coalition in the 2004 elections, and who now leads the New Republican Party, was recently convicted (but not punished because of his age and growing eccentricity) of incitement to violence against the Lhomwe people.
He told a crowd in November 2008 that the Lhomwe were becoming “cheeky” and deserved to be beaten-up. More significant, perhaps, was the more recent action of Harry Mkandawire, a powerful figure in Malawi’s Northern Region and (until his sacking last month) within the ruling Democratic Progressive Party hierarchy.
His “Open Letter” to the President of 22 October expressed the concerns of Malawi’s northern, largely Chitumbuka-speaking, peoples, who had given Bingu overwhelming support in the recent general election, but who now feel sidelined and ignored by him.
Mkandawire’s particular complaints were directed against the reintroduction of Kamuzu Banda’s old regional quotas for the selection of university students (because northerners were, and are, seen to be over-represented in the student population); and the Southern bias in Bingu’s appointments to government departments and corporations.
He expressed a particular concern about Mulhako wa Alhomwe: “As the President of Malawi, you are expected to … embrace all tribes and their cultures. It is a paradox for you to be looked upon as favouring one tribe which is synonymous with being called a tribalist”.
Malawi’s ethnic and regional politics are, for the time being, balanced by a growing sense of a common, non-violent, Malawian culture. Its tribalism is often expressed in a healthy respect for cultural ties across those political frontiers established by nineteenth-century European colonialists with little knowledge or respect for such things.
It still offers important solidarities and reassuring cultural identities and it allows the presidents of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa to celebrate their common Chewa, Zulu, Lhomwe, Tumbuka, heritages as easily as their own people have always done .
Bingu may be genuinely innocent of deliberate tribalism. His Democratic Progressive Party on the approach to the 2009 elections did well in the Tumbuka-speaking North, the Chewa-speaking Centre and the Sena-speaking South. But he has to be careful to ensure that the legacy he leaves for Malawi in 2014 will be the golden one he anticipates.
He hopes that it will be that of the modern Moses, leading all of his people to the Promised Land of economic and political security. But it could be that of Humpty Dumpty on the wall in the popular nursery-rhyme of another cultural tradition, who carelessly fell off and could not be put together again.
The tribal politics of Kibaki’s Kenya are a grim warning to Malawi of what happens when a president becomes careless with tribal politics. Malawians familiar with Michela Wrong’s “It’s Our Turn to Eat”, are now openly wondering whose turn it will be “to eat” after the Lhomwes of Malawi leave the dining-table
Labels: MALAWI, TRIBALISM
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BJ hits out at Mutharika for lending Zimbabwe cash
By Nyasa Times
Published: November 26, 2009
Malawi opposition politician, Brown James (BJ) Mpinganjira has criticized President Bingu wa Mutharika government for lending Zimbabwe cash. Mpinganjira said there are areas President Mutharika is doing well but observed that there are also areas of great concern such as the loan to Zimbabwe.
“How he [Mutharika] lends US$100 million to Zimbabwe, but surely this is the country that doesn’t have that cash,” said BJ.
“When we receive monies from the IMF, from World Bank, it is usually in the range of US$20 million, US$26 million and we all go to town every paper, every radio carries that and here we are, we are getting US$26 million from IMF and we in turn are lending US$100 million to Zimbabwe,” said Mpinganjira on Capital Radio.
“Surely that’s to say the least, that misconception. That is wrong. It should not have happened,” he said.
The money was lent to Zimbabwe in June 2007 loan via the Reserve Bank of Malawi to enable the Zimbabwean government to buy maize in Malawi.
The loan, guaranteed by the Malawi government on the basis of a personal understanding between President Mutharika and his close political pal President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, is due for repayment at the end of December.
General Manager of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Wilson Banda told a news conference that Zimbabwe government is failing to pay back the loan.
Mpinganjira also rebutted allegations that he influenced Mozambique to pull out of a project to establish a shipping route from landlocked Malawi to the Indian Ocean, along the Shire and Zambezi rivers.
“That’s shear madness. I don’t believe that there are too many people who share that madness,” said Mpinganjira after reports indicated that President Mutharika named him during a DPP caucus to have played a role in Mozambique’s withdraw from the project.
However, Mpinganjira said the dream project is good but not necessarily for Malawi now.
“I admit it is a very good project for Malawi but I have said all the time that the sheer size of it, the sheer economics of it, the amount of money to be spent on it probably this is not the right time for that.
“Probably we need to spend that money on other areas of development and probably 10 to 15 years from now that will be a viable project,” he said.
Added the former minister: “As of now, I have never believed that we should be spending that much money when we don’t have schools, when we don’t have hospitals. I think that sort of money would be better spent here on other development projects.”
Mpinganjira maintained that he has not been in contact with Mozambique President Armando Gebuza and that he has no personal connections.
Labels: BROWN JAMES, POLITICS, ZIMBABWE
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ESCOM boss fired
By Nyasa Times
Published: November 26, 2009
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom), Chief Executive Officer, Peterson Zembani has been fired, Nyasa Times has learnt. A well placed source told Nyasa Times that Zembani received his letter of dismissal on Wednesday.
Escom board chairperson, Davis Katsonga, confirmed Zembani’s sacking saying the body need “new ideas to steer the institution out of its persistent problems.”
Zembani has received the boot after last week Malawi experiences the nationwide blackout as President Bingu wa Mutharika’s government faces continuing accusations of economic and infrastructure neglect of the country of 13 million inhabitants and growing urban centres.
Malawi has been experiencing frequent abrupt power outages which in some cases have forced surgeons at hospitals to turn patients away from their scheduled surgical operations until the country’s sole electricity utility company stabilises supply of power.
Escom has since raised its tariffs by 36 percent after revelations by the power utility is “technically bankrupt” with an overdraft of K1 billion.
On the other hand, Escom through instructions of Zembani donated K365, 00 n towards celebrations of President Bingu wa Mutharika’s tribal heritage group, the Mulhakho wa Alhomwe
Government wants Escom to repay its bank overdraft of K1billion by increasing the tariffs so that customers should bail it out.
Consumer Association of Malawi Executive (CAMA) Director, John Kapito had called on Mutharika to fire en masse Escom)managers after a revelation that a whooping amount of K113 million was spent on a party and towards board expenses in the just ended fiscal year.
Kapito said he does not understand how Escom would spend such huge amount of money on an end-of-year party and towards board expenses when Escom is failing to provide adequate and uninterrupted electricity to the people of Malawi.
Labels: DAVIS KATSONGA, ENERGY, ESCOM, PETERSON ZEMBANI, POWER OUTAGES
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Are SA mercenaries assisting Guinea’s military junta?
by Michael Trapido
Within a matter of weeks of Britain’s Simon Mann being granted a pardon for his part in a foiled 2004 coup attempt on Equatorial Guinea (which included a number of our guys), South Africans are once again being linked to mercenary activity. This time the allegations relate to Guinea where they are purportedly training soldiers for Guinea’s military junta.
This is the same junta which received international condemnation for the September massacre of opposition protesters by security forces.
In response to claims that our mercenaries have been spotted training Guinea’s military the director-general of South Africa’s International Relations and Co-operation department, issued a statement that the matter was being investigated.
The same would have regard to the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act a copy of which is provided here.
In terms thereof the relevant sections are :
Definitions :
(iii) ‘‘foreign military assistance’’ means military services or military-related
services, or any attempt, encouragement, incitement or solicitation to render
such services, in the form of—
(a) military assistance to a party to the armed conflict by means of—
(i) advice or training;
(ii) personnel, financial, logistical, intelligence or operational support;
(iii) personnel recruitment;
(iv) medical or para-medical services; or
(v) procurement of equipment;
(b) security services for the protection of individuals involved in armed
conflict or their property;
(c) any action aimed at overthrowing a government or undermining the
constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial integrity of a state;
(d) any other action that has the result of furthering the military interests of
a party to the armed conflict,
3. No person may within the Republic or elsewhere—
(a) offer to render any foreign military assistance to any state or organ of state,
group of persons or other entity or person unless he or she has been granted
authorisation to offer such assistance in terms of section 4;
(b) render any foreign military assistance to any state or organ of state, group of
persons or other entity or person unless such assistance is rendered in
accordance with an agreement approved in terms of section 5.
8. (1) Any person who contravenes any provision of section 2 or 3, or fails to comply
with a condition with regard to any authorisation or approval granted in terms of section
4 or 5, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment
or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) The court convicting any person of an offence under this Act may declare any
armament, weapon, vehicle, uniform, equipment or other property or object in respect of
which the offence was committed or which was used for, or in connection with the
commission of the offence, to be forfeited to the state.
Accordingly if South Africans have been training foreign military without authorisation as set out in sections 4 and 5 of the act then they have committed an offence in terms of the act and are liable to punishment in terms of Section 8 thereof.
In terms of the definition set out in iii above it would appear that any South African found with the junta’s military would have an extremely difficult time explaining the reason for his being there. The act is clear; you cannot render foreign military assistance inside or outside the republic without permission.
It is bad enough that we have the people of this continent killing their countrymen on a daily basis without allowing leaders, particularly those that allow their own to be massacred, to start importing guns for hire.
With the above you should now be able to follow this story with a bit of insight.
Labels: MERCENAIRIES, SIMON MANN
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DC bemoans bureaucracy in input distribution
Friday, November 27, 2009, 18:18
Solwezi District Commissioner Frobisher Fulayi has appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to urgently send deposit books to the district to enable farmers access fertilizer.
Mr. Fulayi said the district had run out of deposit books and this has delayed the issuance of fertilizer to farmers in the whole district.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS today, Mr. Fulayi said that with the absence of the deposit books, farmers cannot be issued the fertilizer as they would not be able to deposit the 20% contribution to enable them access the inputs.
He said the Ministry should send the books by Monday November 30th so that farmers can start accessing fertilizer adding that further delays would greatly impact on the yields for most of them.
Mr. Fulayi said it was sad to note that the bureaucratic way of input distribution still existed even after government had issued directives to stop the trend.He noted that the bureaucratic tendencies would only hinder government efforts to fight hunger and extreme poverty.
Mr. Fulayi said government was working hard by ensuring that inputs are in the country and distributed to all parts of the country as early as possible.
He added that deposit books should be made available to Provincial Agriculture Coordinating Offices so that districts that run out of the documents can easily request and access the books.
ZANIS
Labels: CORRUPTION, FSP, RED TAPE
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Remain calm over power blackout, Minister tells Mongu and Kalabo residents
Saturday, November 28, 2009, 8:47
Energy and Water development Deputy Minister Hastings Imasiku has appealed to residents in Mongu and Kalabo districts to remain calm as government and ZESCO are doing their best to restore power in the two Districts.
Mr. Imasiki said ZESCO is currently working on moving a bigger transformer from Sesheke to Mongu and another one from Lusaka to Sesheke.
He told ZAINS in an interview that ZESCO is working around the clock and that power will be restored by Tuesday next week.
And Mr. Imasiku has said a back up system would be connected to the water and sewerage company to supply water to the residents.
ZESCO Mongu main transformer was damaged by lighting on Wednesday this week leaving residents in Mongu and Kalabo districts in a power blackout.
The power blackout that began on Wednesday afternoon has affected Mongu, Kalabo, Senanga and Kaoma, also resulting in erratic water supply in the affected towns.
[ZANIS]
Labels: HASTINGS IMASIKU, ZESCO
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Mulongoti’s U-turn on convention is uninspiring, observes Mpombo
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 28 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
FORMER defence minister George Mpombo yesterday said Mike Mulongoti’s U-turn on the convention is uninspiring. And Mpombo said he is not ready to reconcile with President Rupiah Banda’s leadership that is undemocratic and insults late president Levy Mwanawasa’s legacy.
Commenting on works and supply minister Mulongoti’s statement that the MMD was now reorganising to go for the national convention, a U-turn on his earlier position, Mpombo said there was no way President Banda and Mulongoti could be allowed to treat people like children.
Mpombo said President Banda, Mulongoti and their colleagues should resign for having brought confusion in the party on account of agitating for the postponement of the convention.
“That U-turn is not inspiring, number one, because it has done a lot of bloodletting in the party. It has fractured party unity, and the party has lost its credibility, and now the party is almost being reduced to a political shell because of poor leadership,” Mpombo said.
“They should apologise to the general membership for turning the name of the party into ridicule. It amounts to bungling political incompetence, the kind of leadership that cannot take the party to any political height.
It is a recipe for political disaster. The best thing really is even as we go to the convention, Mr Banda must not seek confirmation as party president. He has shown excessive incompetence.”
Mpombo said the U-turn by Mulongoti showed that Zambians had become mature and were not in a mood to brook dictatorship, saying politics of bootlicking had no place in Zambia.
Mulongoti, who had consistently asked proponents of the convention to make financial resources available for the undertaking, said the MMD constitution stipulated that party leaders should renew their mandate every five years.
Mulongoti said the party was now reorganising and was on its way towards holding the convention.
But on September 16, 2009, Mulongoti asked former finance minister Ng’andu Magande, Mpombo and those championing the holding of the convention to make resources available for the undertaking.
Mulongoti’s statement was amplified by President Banda in Kasama when he asked those who were agitating for the holding of the convention to resign from the party and join other parties that were going to hold a convention.
And reacting to information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha’s statement in a recent edition of the Times of Zambia that the MMD was willing to iron out the differences that exist between the party and Mpombo, Mpombo said Lt Gen Shikapwasha and his colleagues had taken this approach because the political climate was not favourable to them because they were insulting president Mwanawasa and attempted to postpone the convention.
“It is quite a difficult moment. You see, Gen Shikapwasha has not lived up to his expectations having been closer to the late president. He has not defended him on some of the unfair allegations that have been levelled against him,” Mpombo said.
“If we continue insulting Mwanawasa, that is going to erode our constituency as MMD. So it is not morally right, it’s un-Zambian to release a barrage of attacks on somebody who can’t defend himself, I would not have my conscience free in an environment where Mr Mwanawasa is being attacked.”
Mpombo asked President Banda to be careful with Vice-President George Kunda, saying the man was a political chameleon who would desert him once he was out of office.
He said Vice-President Kunda had deserted president Mwanawasa.
Mpombo said it would not do for President Banda to fail to adhere to democratic tenets in the party and entertain insults on president Mwanawasa’s legacy.
He asked President Banda to address fundamental issues in the party and nation.
“And also the government must be able to listen. They must not dare people all the time like what happened on RP Capital and the recent fuel crisis,” Mpombo said.
Mpombo said his differences with the MMD arose from the manner President Banda was running the party and national affairs.
He said he did not understand what Lt Gen Shikapwasha meant by reconciliation because he had been treated shabbily by the government.
“I have been treated like a criminal, like not even a former minister of defence. For instance, government allowed a trigger-act permanent secretary to instruct police to impound my car, personal-to-holder vehicle wherever they found it. A vehicle that I was entitled to buy, but they used technicalities to deny me from buying,” said Mpombo.
“I was bundled out of the house like a criminal, and right now, the conditions of service when I was employed as minister I was given some K22 million as settling allowance, and I am entitled to repatriation allowance with my two house servants. Up to this time I think Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence have refused to pay me. I had to hire transport to move my katundu property out.”
Mpombo maintained that whether there would be reconciliation or not, he did not believe that President Banda was the right person to lead the MMD into the 2011 general elections.
He said President Banda did not have what it took to win the elections.
Lt Gen Shikapwasha was quoted in the Times of Zambia as saying that the MMD was willing to iron out differences that existed between the party and Mpombo.
Labels: GEORGE MPOMBO, MIKE MULONGOTI, MMD, NEC, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA
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Lubinda queries Rupiah’s involvement in oil deal
By Chibaula Silwamba
Sat 28 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
PF spokesperson Given Lubinda yesterday charged that President Rupiah Banda has turned State House into the centre of procurement negotiations like crude oil tender the government wants given to Russia’s LITASCO.
Commenting on revelations that the US $1.4 billion two-year contract to supply and deliver 1,440,000 metric tonnes of commingled petroleum feedstock will not be transparent because the government, through energy minister Kenneth Konga, had already selected Lukoil International Trading and Supply Company (LITASCO) as a preferred bidder and that the ongoing bidding process being done by the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) will just be a rubber stamp procedure, Lubinda advised everyone involved in this procurement to come out clean.
He also challenged the ZPPA to publish the conditions of the tender to allow all competitors to compete on an even footing without exchanging things midnight to suit the government’s preferred bidder.
“The problem we have is that Mr Rupiah Banda has turned State House into the centre of all procurement. Mr Rupiah Banda has reduced himself from being State President to being chief negotiator for contracts,” Lubinda said.
“That is why you see many people trooping to State House to go and fix and mix and whisky the contracts such as the one we are talking about. What ZPPA are saying that they can vary the conditions of tender during the process of tendering is nothing but just a pack of falsehoods.”
Lubinda said in this particular case, he had no doubt that ZPPA wanted the tender process to favour LITASCO.
“I want to challenge those who are in Parliament who are involved in this; we know that there is one or two individuals working with their friend … and we know that person to be known as chief rigger. When this man is involved in anything, it is because he is thinking about how to perpetuate his stay in politics,” said Lubinda.
“Therefore, I have no doubt that they are doing this with the intention of mobilising resources in preparation for the 2011 elections. This is just an MMD fundraising oil venture but the Zambian people must stop Rupiah Banda and MMD from doing that.”
A well-placed government source revealed that President Banda, using Konga, is determined to award the bid to LITASCO because he started discussions with them around June.
Another government source said the government directed the ZPPA to design tender evaluations and specifications that could only be met by LITASCO and that the first cargo delivery was scheduled by January 1, 2010 and yet bids would close on December 18, 2009.
But ZPPA director general Samuel Chibuye said making changes to the tender document is a normal procedure.
Chibuye said ZPPA had received correspondence from other bidders, without mentioning their names, who complained that the conditions were too difficult, hence ZPPA and the Ministry of Energy and Water Development were looking at those concerns to find a level playing field.
Labels: GIVEN LUBINDA, KENNETH KONGA, LITASCO, OIL, PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS, ZPPA
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‘Zambian music floods Malawian radio stations’
By Moses Kuwema
Fri 27 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
ZAMBIAN music is flooding the market in Malawi and enjoying even more airplay than the local music, local media in that country have revealed. According to the Nyasa Times of November 19, 2009, Music Association of Malawi (MAM) president Mapemba has since blamed private radio stations for the development.
Mapemba said the private radio stations were favouring Zambian music at the expense of Malawian songs.
“It’s you radio stations who are opening up Zambia music. Radio stations are giving too much air time to Zambia music,” Mapemba said during Capital Radio Straight Talk programme which was monitored live by Nyasa Times last Thursday night.
“All radio stations in Malawi have been playing Zambian music and have been playing frequently other than local music,” pointed out Mapemba.
Asked by programme host, Brian Banda, what the music association is doing about the matter, Mapemba said MAM has tried to lobby the media houses.
Banda asked Mapemba if MAM has conducted any research into why Zambian music is having more airplay, but the MAM president blamed it on the Malawian altitude toward local products.
“It’s our Malawian altitude, we are not proud of our products. Why can’t we start looking at our Malawian music as the best?” he said.
“Even our State President says time and again, it's high time Malawians loved our products,” he pointed out.
Nonetheless, Mapemba said Malawian music is “booming”.
“During the {late Daniel] Kachamba time, there were few musicians. Look today almost popular musicians are young ones. It means we are moving,” he said.
“Look now an example is Tay Grin. For the first time he has won an award. It means the music is booming,” Mapemba said.
Mapemba also disclosed that international artistes coming to perform in Malawi will have to pay a fee to the music association.
“There is no way you can leave this country if you are a footballer to play football in South Africa without being registered with the football association,” he said.
He appealed to Malawians to be first in promoting local music.
Labels: MALAWI, MUSIC, MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF MALAWI, RADIO
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Judicial officers’ private interests shouldn’t interfere with professionalism, says Malila
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 28 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
ATTORNEY General Mumba Malila has warned judicial officers against allowing affairs of their private interests to interfere with professionalism.
In a keynote speech presented on his behalf by Attorney General's Chambers parliamentary counsel, Diana Sichalwe at a Judicial Complaints Authority and Law Association of Zambia organised workshop on the Judicial Code of Conduct in the administration of justice at Lusaka's Pamodzi Hotel on Thursday, Malila said such acts would erode public confidence in the judiciary.
He said if the public had confidence in judicial officers, their orders and judgments would be respected and complied with.
“The public have faith in the judiciary once it is viewed as one of integrity, impartiality and fairness. The very existence of judicial institutions depends upon the judges, who constitute the system, and the judges have a responsibility not to erode the trust that the public have for them by conducting themselves in a manner not befitting that of a judicial officer,” Malila said.
“A judge should therefore be conscientious, just, impartial, indifferent to private, political or partisan influences, indifferent to public praise and fearless of public clamour. He is expected to administer justice according to law and not allow other affairs of his private interest to interfere with the due performance of his duty, nor should he administer the office for the purpose of advancing his personal aims or increasing his personal popularity.”
Malila said there was also need for civil society's participation in the selection of judges for them to feel an affinity with the judicial process.
“The importance of participation of civil society in the justice dispensation system cannot be overemphasised. For instance, there is need for their lay participation in the selection of judges. That is one simple way in which civil society may feel an affinity with the judicial process which, after all, impacts on it in a most severe and direct way,” Malila said.
“In addition civil society is very instrumental in advocating for democracy, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, which is relevant for an ideal justice dispensation system.”
Malila advised judicial officers to mould the law so that it moved at the same pace with society.
“The law must keep pace with society to retain its relevance and continue to govern our justice delivery system. If the society moves but the law remains static, it shall be good for neither of them. Judicial officers must consciously seek to mould the law so as to serve the needs of the time,” said Malila.
And LAZ vice-president Kafunya Mbindo said lawyering was not about making money, but dispensing justice.
“We, as lawyers, chose to be part of a noble profession. We all swore before many to uphold the law and the cause of justice. We professed to set ourselves apart and to be role models for the citizens of this country.
Despite the popular misconception, we all know that lawyering is not just about making money. It is also about undertaking the sacred duty of upholding justice without fear or favour,” Mbindo said.
“Our desire as an association is to see a profession committed to practicing in earnest and along a just system. In our community we interact with many people at different levels. As we train and improve our knowledge of the law, we become better equipped to provide a deserving service to the public as a whole. And in so doing we are respecting the tenets of the administration of justice.”
Meanwhile, justice deputy minister Todd Chilembo advised the public not to raise complaints against judicial officers based on rumours.
“Reckless rumours or complaints can cause permanent damage to the reputation of an innocent judicial officer. Complaints, if any, should be based on facts. It is my hope that once we have understood the role of the Judicial Complaints Authority, it will be easier for us to know what to do,” said Chilembo.
Labels: DIANA SICHALWE, JUDICIARY, MUMBA MALILA
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The heat is now building on Rupiah – Kavindele
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 28 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
THE heat is now building on Rupiah Banda because people are speaking boldly over national issues, former Republican vice-president Enoch Kavindele has says. And Kavindele said it was absurd for information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha and President Banda to think that they were more MMD than him.
Reacting to Lt Gen Shikapwasha's statement that he had no right to attack the MMD with regard to the decisions it made on how to run the country because he was neither a member of the party nor the government, Kavindele said whereas in the past there had been too much hero-worshipping, even worshipping inefficiency, the Zambian people had now shown that they would not accept mediocrity.
“Yah this leadership is mediocre. That is why we are now losing ward elections in areas that were 100 per cent MMD,” Kavindele said.
He wondered on what basis the MMD allowed him to challenge President Banda's MMD presidential candidature last year if he were not a member of the party.
Kavindele said the man whom he recruited into the MMD, Lt Gen Shikapwasha, was now questioning his party credentials.
“I recruited Shikapwasha from Heritage Party after he lost the Keembe parliamentary election. The background is that the ex-service chiefs were undergoing challenges after reverting to civilian rule, and I convened a meeting at my office, the Vice-President's Office, where I met them. Based on the meeting, president Mwanawasa agreed to do something about retired service chiefs,” Kavindele narrated.
“But some had gone to opposition parties, it was suggested that we recruit them to MMD, and that is how Shikapwasha found himself in the MMD and was subsequently our candidate in Keembe.”
Kavindele said Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda even sued him over a statement he made whilst campaigning for Lt Gen Shikapwasha.
Kavindele said he had been a member of MMD since 1992 while others joined the party after it won the elections of 2001.
He said he stood as independent candidate in the 2006 to protest against the MMD's adoption of a former UPND member whom he once defeated.
“It is absurd that Shikapwasha can think that he is more MMD, or Shikapwasha or Rupiah can think that they are more MMD than I am,” said Kavindele. “So I am a member, and in any case you have had people who in the morning are in a different party and hours later they become MMD, and they are appointed to very high positions. It happened to Banda himself.
He was UNIP and most of these come from other parties, now they are in leadership. Even my own recruit Shikapwasha is now challenging the credentials of the man who appointed him. How can Shikapwasha question my credentials? I recruited him.”
Kavindele said he would continue criticising the mismanagement currently happening under President Rupiah Banda's “mediocre leadership”.
He said he was an MMD member and as a citizen was entitled to air views over the management of the party and the nation.
“Also as a citizen, I shall continue commenting on the management of the economy and the suffering arising from corruption. For instance, in the procurement of petroleum, it does not only affect MMD members, everybody is affected. The intended fraudulent sale of Zamtel concerns all citizens and therefore, whether in MMD or otherwise,” said Kavindele.
Lt Gen Shikapwasha was quoted in the Times of Zambia this week as saying Kavindele had ceased to be a member of the party the moment he decided to contest the 2006 elections when he stood as an independent parliamentary candidate.
Earlier, Kavindele had said the MMD's loss in Solwezi showed that President Banda could no longer win elections on the back of president Mwanawasa's legacy because people had now discovered his leadership style.
Labels: ENOCH KAVINDELE, MMD, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, RUPIAH BANDA
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Namulambe refuses to be intimidated
By George Chellah
Sat 28 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
SCIENCE, technology and vocational training minister Gabriel Namulambe yesterday warned that he will not be intimidated by anyone because he is neither a coward nor a lightweight in politics.
Reacting to MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande and newly-appointed Lusaka Province MMD chairperson William Banda's attacks that he was being tribal, Namulambe stood by his earlier observations on the late president Levy Mwanawasa's legacy.
“There is nothing tribal about what I said. Those were just facts about the late president's legacy and what people feel in Lambaland,” Namulambe said.
“Therefore, I will not even lower myself to go into their tribal talk. Those were facts and there is nothing tribal about that.”
Namulambe dismissed Banda's allegations urging him not to twist his well-meant statement.
“William Banda is elderly enough. If he says 'I must discuss in Cabinet', he must equally not go to the press to attack me. If it's William Banda, those are the same people who misled Dr Kaunda but I am not the kind of person who keeps quiet when things are wrong,” Namulambe said.
“And let them not twist those hard facts I have presented into tribalism because that's far from it. There is nothing tribal about that.
“They are elders, we are young ones. As elders, the best way they (Banda and Kaande) could have done was to call me and sit with me so that I explain to them as opposed to reacting to me in the press. What manners are they teaching the young ones?”
Namulambe said there was need for William Banda to show gratitude to the late Mwanawasa.
“William Banda should even be the last one to say that because he was brought back from Malawi by the late Mwanawasa and therefore he is supposed to join in the defence of Mwanawasa's legacy,” Namulambe said.
“For Mr. Kaande, if he is defending the legacy as he claims then he must realise that the statement I made doesn't amount to tribalism. In fact, what I said is what the Lambas are saying because the Lambas are the ones I have been speaking to and a lot of people, non-Lambas have even joined in defence of the legacy. Haven't they been following what people from there have been saying after I said that?”
Namulambe said he would not be intimidated by anyone.
“William Banda and Kaande will not intimidate me because I am not a coward. They must not think that I am a lightweight. I am young, yes, but I am not a lightweight as they think,” said Namulambe.
Yesterday, Banda was quoted in the public media as saying that Namulambe should realise that Mwanawasa was not elected President because of being a Lamba.
“It is sad that Mr Namulambe could be dragging the entire Lamba tribe into tribal politics. Or maybe is he the spokesperson for the Lamba speaking people he is referring to or was there any meeting where he was chosen as spokesperson for the Lamba-speaking people for him to insinuate that all Lambas are hurt?" Mr Banda asked.
And Kaande described as unfortunate Namulambe's remarks. He said much as he also did not like people insulting the late president, Namulambe should desist from dragging the late president's name into tribal politics because Mwanawasa was not a tribalist.
Namulambe had earlier said that the Lamba people feel so frustrated, hurt and injured that some people have publicly declared that they hated Mwanawasa whom they allege was corrupt.
Labels: GABRIEL NAMULAMBE, MWANAWASA
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Give farmers adequate training, State told
Herald Reporters
Government has been urged to provide adequate training and extension services to farmers to ensure that they increase productivity on farms.
The call was made by Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union chief economist Mr Peter Gambara while giving oral evidence before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Water, Lands and Resettlement on Monday.
"The Government should provide training facilities to farmers to increase production per unit area. Government should capacitate farmers so that they are able to produce on their own," he said.
Mr Gambara said many farmers were producing one tonne of maize per hectare instead of a potential 10 tonnes that could be achieved with proper farming methods.
He said the farmers should be adequately mechanised to improve production. The ZCFU chief economist said Government should repossess farms from farmers who were failing to use the land productively.
In its presentation to the Committee, the Commercial Farmers Union urged Government to look at the tariffs charged by parastatals such as Zinwa and Zesa, saying they were affecting farmers’ viability.
CFU said the operational challenges facing Sable Chemicals had negatively impacted on farmers since it was a major producer of fertilizer raw materials.
The Kwekwe-based company has buckled under the weight of high electricity tariffs, but the Government has since bailed it out.
Labels: A1 FARMERS, A2 FARMERS, EDUCATION, FARMERS
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Increase soyabean production: Taskforce
Agriculture Reporter
Soyabean farmers should increase production to be able to meet rising international demand, National Soyabean Promotion Taskforce chairman Professor Sheunesu Mpepereki has said.
Prof Mpepereki told journalists that there was demand for the crop coupled with lucrative markets.
"Plant as much hectarage as you can and dangers of inaccessible markets will not be experienced," he said.
Another taskforce member, Mrs Elizabeth Musimwa recently said she was concerned about the continuous decrease in soyabean yields.
"We have better crop varieties, but still yields are poor and there has to be research to solve the issue of yields," Mrs Musimwa said.
She urged the responsible authorities to consider investing in research on climate change and how it affects agriculture.
"Agritex officers should also work hand in hand with soyabean producers to ensure quality yields at the end of the season so that we can meet the growing demand," she said.
Recently, a delegation from Italy enquired about national soyabean production levels and potential exports.
Prof Mpepereki urged farmers to fully use the growing window period to ensure a successful harvest. To realise optimum harvests, the cash crop should be planted between November 15 and December 15.
He said agricultural inputs were now available with the price of Rhizobium, crucial for production, coming down when compared to last year.
A packet of Rhizobium sufficient for one hectare is going for US$10 down from US$25 last year. Rhizobium is mixed with the seed before planting and manufactures nitrogen fertilizer for the plant.
Farmers last season could not afford the chemical, a single packet of which, substitutes three 50kg bags of ammonium nitrate.
Prof Mpepereki advised farmers to use certified seed from registered seed houses.
"We advise farmers not to buy seed from street vendors," he said adding, "those unable to purchase can use retained seed from last season, but not more than one season old."
Farmers intending to use seed from granaries have to first carry out a germination test before planting on a large scale, he said.
On the use and application of herbicides, Prof Mpepereki said extreme caution should be taken lest farmers lose the crop.
"Care should be taken when applying herbicides, there are farmers who last season lost the entire crop after using non-selective herbicides," he said.
Soya bean production levels in the country reached a peak of 95 000 tonnes between 2005 and 2007.
However, rising production costs due to economic challenges the country faced over the past decade saw the levels falling.
Labels: SOYA
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Coltart must apologise to ZC
WHEN controversial Australian journalist Peter Roebuck decided to describe the Zimbabwe Cricket leadership as a bunch of fraudsters, abysmal thugs and nasty creatures — in reports in newspapers Down Under and South Africa — we felt that he was entitled to his opinion, foolish as it might appear.
When the same journalist called for the isolation of Zimbabwe from the international cricket family, in his series of damning reports, we also felt that he was — in a global democracy — also entitled to his opinion, stupid as it might appear.
When Roebuck attacked all those men who are seeing the light and returning to their fatherland, to try and play a part in lifting cricket back on its feet after years of paralysis fanned by such media hounds, we also felt that he was also entitled to his flawed opinion.
When the same journalist hailed those who are still stuck in the trenches, fighting the ZC leadership and prolonging their battle to try and destroy domestic cricket, we also felt that the British-born journalist, who turned himself into an Aussie, was entitled to his view.
It might have hurt us, to read our fellow Zimbabweans, in particular, and national sports leaders — for that matter — being branded thugs and nasty creatures but, in a world pregnant with diverse views, we grudgingly accepted that such is the nature of life. Even when Roebuck decided to call ZC chairman Peter Chingoka a snake and a chameleon, we felt that — to quote Aussie cricket captain Ricky Ponting — it was ridiculous and way over the top but we accepted that our world is, indeed, a sticky wicket.
After all we have travelled on this path before — the dosage of vitriol aimed at our cricket leadership over the years, questions about their credibility, questions about their accountability and all the sort of nonsense that goes with such drama.
However, we got worried when we realised that such hogwash, as spat by racist lunatics like Roebuck, actually found its way onto the personal and official website of the minister who is responsible for the welfare of sport in this country.
We acknowledge that we have no business telling the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, what to put and what not to put on his personal and official website.
What we have a problem with is when that website, being part of the public domain, is used as a medium to publish the crazy views of such lunatics like Roebuck — especially the part where he describes a bona-fide national sports leader as a snake and a chameleon.
Our problem with Coltart, who personally posted those reports on his official website, is related to the grand question of what he intended to achieve by using his personal medium to publish such inane and crazy views that add nothing to the value of our game?
Was Coltart trying to ensure that the local people, who probably don’t read the Australian and South African newspapers where these reports were first published, would also get a platform from where they could read what Roebuck thinks about Chingoka and his crew?
If so, what was the ultimate objective, and would the ZC leadership be wrong to assume that the minister carries a hidden agenda against them and is just waiting for the right moment to strike as and when it fits his agenda?
What do Zimbabwean readers, in particular, have to gain from reading the views of a deranged Australian journalist — on the website of the minister responsible for local sport — who believes that Prosper Utseya and his troops should be isolated from international cricket so that the game dies here?
What do Zimbabwean readers have to gain, from reading the silly views of a sick man — on the website of the minister responsible for their sport — who criticises those who have accepted the olive branch extended by the ZC leadership and have come back to work for the good of the game? Are we wrong to believe that, by giving such crazy views on his official website and, to make it worse, personally posting them there, Coltart appears to believe every word that Roebuck wrote and wanted more people to get access to such racist rhetoric?
We know that relations between Coltart and the ZC leadership have been tricky, to say the least, because of a background of lack of trust emanating from that dark past when some of the cricket leaders believed he was on the side of the rebels who walked out on the system.
But, even if Coltart was on the side of the rebels, which he was entitled to in a global democracy, it was then — a period of turmoil — and he didn’t have any official or national responsibilities that stopped him from standing in their corner.
Now, thanks to the inclusive Government, things have changed and he is now the parent minister in charge of sport and that means also extending an olive branch to those who might have been on the other side during the dark period of turmoil.
Chingoka and his administrative crew might not be angels in the eyes of a lot of their critics but you can’t take away the fact that they fought for a cause, which was right, to take cricket away from the hands of just a few white men so that the boy in Gokwe could also fancy his chances of playing for his national team one day.
They were accused of being fraudsters but an International Olympic Committee investigations into their accounts cleared them much to the anger of those who have been preaching the gospel that Chingoka and his team were looting Zimbabwe cricket.
If the ICC says that there is no anomaly with their accounts then who are we to question their accountability?
Today Zimbabwe Cricket is slowly taking steps back to its place in the Test arena and it needs the support of everyone and that is why we salute Heath Streak, Dave Houghton, Alistair Campbell and all those who have returned to their fatherland to try and help the game.
We salute Chingoka and his troops for extending that olive branch and letting bygones be bygones where they put the interests of the game ahead of their personal interests.
We have shown, in recent weeks, that we are better than Kenya, as good as Bangladesh which is playing Test cricket and we played so well, in the first ODI against South Africa, the world stood and noticed our qualities.
Domestic cricket is finding its way back to life and not even the stupid attacks from such people like Roebuck — and the unfortunate of the accommodation of their views in an official website of the minister responsible for sport here — can stop that march.
The best that Coltart should do, if he hasn’t done that privately already, is to call Chingoka and apologise for this mess.
Labels: CRICKET, DAVID COLTART
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Ex-envoy exposes Blair
AFP
LONDON. Britain’s Tony Blair may have swung behind US calls for regime change in Iraq after meeting President George W. Bush at his Texas ranch in 2002, a top diplomat told an inquiry into the war yesterday.
Christopher Meyer, then Britain’s ambassador to Washington, said Blair’s line seemed to harden following
talks at the Crawford ranch in April 2002, much of which were held in private with no advisors present.
He also detailed the warm personal relationship between the British prime minister and US president, saying Bush could talk to Blair but saw other world leaders as being "like creatures from outer space".
Blair was Bush’s closest ally in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, carried out without UN Security Council approval. He resigned in 2007, partly due to the war’s unpopularity.
The probe heard that toppling Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was not an early priority for Bush, but on the day of the September 11, 2001 attacks by Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, the US raised questions about possible links to him.
Meyer, ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2003, said he was "not entirely clear what degree of convergence was, if you like, signed in blood at the Crawford ranch". But the day afterwards, Blair made a speech in which he publicly mentioned regime change for the first time.
"What he was trying to do was to draw the lessons of 9/11 and apply them to the situation in Iraq which led — I think not inadvertently but deliberately — to a conflation of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein," he said.
"When I heard that speech, I thought that this represents a tightening of the UK/US alliance."
Britain was still encouraging Washington to act with the approval of the UN Security Council, Meyer said.
The US position at this stage was a significant change from the Bush administration’s early days, when Iraq was seen as being like a "grumbling appendix", the retired diplomat added.
While there were concerns over Saddam, there were initially no plans to take action, despite calls from US hardliners like Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he said.
This changed after September 11. On the day of the attacks, Meyer spoke to Condoleezza Rice, then US national security advisor.
"She said: ‘There’s no doubt it’s an Al-Qaeda operation’ but at the end of the conversation, she said: ‘We’re just looking to see whether there could possibly be any connection with Saddam Hussein," he told the inquiry.
The following weekend there was a "big ding dong" — or dispute — at Camp David, the US presidential retreat, when Wolfowitz "argued very strongly" for action against Iraq, according to Meyer.
But he added: "The decision taken that weekend was that the prime concern was with Al-Qaeda, it was with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and Iraq . . . had to be set aside for the time being."
There was, though, a "fault line" emerging between Secretary of State Colin Powell on one side and Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the other. — AFP.
Labels: CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NEOCONSERVATISM, TONY BLAIR
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COMMENT - Right on, VP Mujuru! :)
Vice President Mujuru blasts FinMin Biti
The Zim Independent/TZG
Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:35:00 +0000
PRESIDENT Joice Mujuru on Tuesday lambasted Finance minister Tendai Biti over the contentious handling of the over US$500 million facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in what officials this week said was the most dramatic high-profile clash within the inclusive government since its formation in February.
The stormy showdown between VP Mujuru and Biti -- which was followed by some reconciliation -- is said to have left President Robert Mugabe and ministers shell-shocked because of its emotional intensity and ferocity.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who has mutual respect with VP Mujuru, was not at the meeting because his flight from South Africa had to return to base in Johannesburg after experiencing a serious technical problem airborne in Zimbabwean airspace.
Sources said VP Mujuru fired brickbats at Biti at the meeting chaired by President Mugabe, accusing him of stalling the disbursement of the IMF advance and in the process disrupting the purchase of agricultural inputs for the farming season.
Biti has also been fighting with Reserve Bank governor Dr. Gideon Gono over control of the financial levers of the state and the same money. The minister says he wants to channel part of the funds towards budgetary support, while Dr Gono says it has to go directly to certain sectors of the economy.
"There was blood on the floor at our meeting on Tuesday. Mujuru attacked Biti in the most unprecedented way over the IMF funds and all ministers were shaken by her angry attacks," a senior government minister said.
"We have never seen that before and up to now most of us are still in a state of disbelief."
A source familiar with the incident said VP Mujuru "took no prisoners" in her assault on Biti who was said to have remained quiet and failed to respond with his characteristic aggression during the encounter. It is said the minister tried to ward off the assaults by offering an explanation and pleading for protection from President Mugabe. The source said President Mugabe did not intervene and remained subdued.
"The attack astonished everyone. Mujuru was up in arms, but Biti did not aggressively fight back," the source said. "He was agitated but largely managed to remain unruffled by the incident."
Biti is said to have tried to explain that the money had not yet been utilised because it was in the form of special drawing rights (SDRs) which needed to be converted into hard currency before use. Mujuru is said to have retorted that those SDRs must be quickly converted to buy inputs for farmers and finance other government projects and programmes.
It is said Biti managed to reconcile with the VP after the meeting.
A top Zanu PF official said VP Mujuru wanted the money for farmers.
"She wants the farmers to get money but I think it was an attempt to show political muscle. It was an attempt to show that she is leadership material and display power and authority," the official said.
Although there have been many clashes in the inclusive Government between top political leaders and ministers, sources said Tuesday's confrontation stood out as the most fierce.
After the stormy meeting, President Mugabe called another gathering on Tuesday afternoon between VP Mujuru, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Biti, Dr. Gono and himself in a bid to manage the fallout by addressing the issue of the dispute over IMF funds.
Tsvangirai did not attend the meeting although at that time he had managed to catch another flight back home. The prime minister was returning from visits to Morocco and Libya during the weekend.
Sources said shortly before the second Tuesday meeting, VP Mujuru and Biti managed to talk and reconcile "like mother and son". "There was no bitterness afterwards," a source said. "It was like a fight between mother and son."
After the second meeting chaired by President Mugabe on Tuesday, Biti and Dr. Gono were directed to sort out the issue.
VP Mujuru and Biti also came face to face yesterday during a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs chaired by President Mugabe where Biti presented his "budget assumptions" before he could take his blueprint to cabinet on Tuesday next week. After that Biti will present his first budget on December 2.
Labels: IMF, JOICE MUJURU, NEOCOLONIALISM, TENDAI BITI
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Corruption in public procurement
By Editor
Fri 27 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT
Public procurement is one of the main sources of corruption in this country.
The problems our country is today facing in many sectors are as a result of corruption in public procurement.
Even the fuel shortages we are today facing and the relatively high prices that we are paying for petroleum products is as a result of corruption in public procurement. This is a fact that was even acknowledged by Rupiah Banda himself three weeks ago on November 11, when he said: “...there are a lot of vested interests in the procurement of fuel. Of course there are vested interests and they get upset that we may be interfering with what they have been doing all along.”
But what Rupiah did not tell the nation is who is behind these vested interests that have caused the nation these shortages of fuel. Rupiah knows very well who is involved in the procurement of fuel but he doesn’t seem prepared to tell the nation who these people are and what they are doing that is causing us problems.
Why? It is simply because he will be opening a Pandora’s box. We say this because some of those vested interests come very close to him, so close that he himself may be personally accused of vested interests in the procurement of fuel.
And as long as these opportunities for those in power and those connected to them exist to make huge amounts of money through public procurement, problems will be there in every sector. Today the Zambian people are paying the highest prices for fuel in the region simply because of corruption in the procurement system. Equally, the Zambian people are paying relatively high prices for mealie-meal because of corruption in the procurement of fertilisers and other farming inputs that make the production of maize expensive.
For instance, why should the Zambian government contract private individuals to supply fertilisers when we have the Food Reserve Agency, Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia and the Zambia National Farmers Union, among other credible institutions, to supply fertilisers to our farmers at reasonable prices?
And the profits that these institutions would make would indeed go a long way to improve agriculture in the future because they would eventually pass on the benefits to our farmers and to the consumers, a thing these individuals, these briefcase suppliers will never do.
It will be very difficult to sort out the issue of fuel supplies and high prices if this corrupt system of public procurements is not addressed.
And the consequences of tolerating this type of corruption are not small. In the end, our industries – agriculture, transportation, mining and so on and so forth – will not be able to compete with their counterparts in the region and indeed in the whole world because our production costs will continue to escalate, making our products too expensive. In the end very little, if not nothing, other than copper will be exported from this country.
It will be very difficult to curb corruption in public procurements if our laws and attitudes are not drastically altered. Today we have a president who doesn’t see anything wrong with his family members being the suppliers of GMO maize to the Zambian people.
We have a president who doesn’t see anything wrong with his son being involved with RP Capital to acquire contracts to render questionable services to the government for which they are paid millions of dollars without even following proper tender procedures. It will not be wrong for anyone to accuse the President of this country of being indirectly involved in public procurement contracts through his sons, relatives and friends.
Who in this country doesn’t know that public procurement contracts are the main source for kick-backs for those in government and one of the main sources of finance for the ruling party? When one looks at the road maintenance contracts, most of the tenders have gone to people connected to those in power and the ruling party. And it is through these characters that those in power and their party fundraise.
It will not be possible to fight corruption in government if we have wrong practices that are legally and otherwise permissible for those who work in government, for those who lead government institutions and their associates. Today most of the public procurement contracts go to people who are public servants through their agents or associates or to those who give them commissions or kickbacks of one sort or another. The biggest business in this country is the supply of goods and services to government.
And this is under the control of those in power. Those who control government, as we saw in the Dora Siliya and RP Capital case, have their way in these matters. How else can one explain what Dora did in the RP Capital’s contract and Rupiah’s son Henry’s involvements with RP Capital in the same transaction? The same can be said also about the involvement of Dalbit, an unknown Kenyan company, that has been assisted directly by State House and Rupiah’s family to get a contract to supply fuel to Zambia.
One would not be wrong to link the first lady’s safari holiday to Kenya to these characters and their transactions. One would not be wrong to assume it was them who paid for the charter plane that took the first lady to Kenya for her safari holiday when her husband was enjoying himself watching naked young girls paraded before him by his royal Swazi host.
As long as this type of business continues, corruption will not stop in this country. This is why we have everyone from president to cleaner in government trying to be a supplier of this and that to state institutions – directly or indirectly. There is too much vested interests by those running government in everything that they can get money from.
In short, what we are trying to say is that this system is reeking of corruption in every pore; it is inherently corrupt and serves no other better purpose than to enrich those with the appropriate control of government institutions or those with the necessary connections.
For this reason, the observations made by the Parliamentary Committee on Communications, Transport, Works and Supply deserve serious considerations by our legislators, all our leaders and all our people. This committee told Parliament that there is rampant corruption in the public procurement process and that as a result of this, the government is spending more than necessary; sometimes the works procured cost three times higher than the normal price and the advice of professionals is ignored.
We saw this in the issue of Dora and RP Capital where professional advice was ignored and the Zambian taxpayer paid millions of dollars for a service that was questionable.
This is not a public procurement system that will serve the needs of our people well, diligently and with frugality. It is not a system that will help us run government business in an efficient, effective, orderly and honest manner.
It is not a system that will help us develop a meaningful, progressive and honest interaction between government and the private sector. We cannot build a strong private sector on the threshold of such a corrupt public procurement system.
There is a serious problem with any system where the people who are supposed to protect public resources, government funds by ensuring that activities such as public procurement are done transparently and in an accountable way are the ones who are mooting schemes to loot the treasury through all sorts of questionable contracts. How can one be a controller, a referee, a monitor and a player at the same time?
This is what the activities of those in government insofar as public procurement is concerned amount to. This means that the planning of government activities is not consistently driven by the interests of the people but by those of the public servants who are in control of government machinery.
This is surely not a recipe for governing well. It is a recipe for unbridled corruption, veritable chaos and anarchy in the country. If this continues, at the end of the President’s term of office, there will be presidential immunity lifted to pave way for arrests and prosecutions.
If this continues, when the life of this government comes to an end, there will be another Task Force to prosecute Rupiah, his sons and others connected to him. The only way to avoid this is to change things so that government business is conducted in a transparent and honest manner.
Labels: CORRUPTION, PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS, RUPIAH BANDA
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