(NYASATIMES) Malawi President Banda triggers controversy over arms deal
By Nyasa Times Reporter
November 29, 2013
Malawi President Joyce Banda has hit international headlines with a controversial arms deal with a charitable foundation linked to an African arms company whose director is running a reputation management campaign by Banda to win back foreign donors following a corruption scandal.
Britain’s broadsheet newspaper, The Daily Telegraph exposed the arms deal in their publication, quoting an email accidentally sent to the publication Eric Ichikowitz, executive director of Paramount Group, Africa’s largest private defence and aerospace firm, instructs that Banda only give face-to-face interviews, adding that telephone interviews “send the wrong message”.
The paper reported that Banda commissioned seven interceptor boats from Paramount which will be fitted with arms to patrol Lake Malawi.
President Banda has also committed to paying for Paramount to provide training and maintenance for the boats over the next five years, as well as potentially buying other, larger boats from the company, the report said, quoting the email.
President Banda in an interview with UK’s Daily Telegraph
It was reported that as well as taking orders for military hardware, Ichikowitz, through a private equity firm called Trans Africa Capital, is also understood to have signed agriculture and fuel contracts with Malawi’s government.
A family foundation set up by Ichikowitz and his brother Ivor, Paramount’s executive chairman, is running the government’s public relations operation.
Bell Pottinger, the London PR firm leading the operation to instil confident in western taxpayers and politicians about Banda’s ability to tackle corruption, already counts Paramount and its associated companies, among its key clients.
The newspaper also revealed that inyerviews President Banda is conducting with interntional media are being arranged by Bell Pottinger, and the Malawi leaser confirmed, saying “friends positioned those people to come and talk to me”.
“It’s neither here nor there who they are or who pays them – what is important is for me to send our story out to the international community,” she is quoted saying.
President Banda also defended the buying of military equipment at a time when Malawian doctors and nurses were threatening to strike over non-payment and a lack of basic drugs and equipment.
She said that not only did Malawi need to reinforce its “porous” border, but it was facing an “invasion” by Tanzania because of a row over the ownership of Lake Malawi, where a British firm is currently prospecting for oil.
“It is the human trafficking and the illegal entry that is paramount for me – for the people of Malawi it is the boundary and feeling vulnerable that our army is vulnerable and not well-equipped to face anything and protect Malawians,” she said.
“Buying of equipment for the army to us is a must and it is a priority.”
Meanwhile, Sir Malcolm Bruce, chair of the UK’s International Development Select Committee, which recommended that direct aid be resumed after Banda came to power, said her apparent spending priorities were “concerning”.
“Joyce Banda has to be very careful that by going down that lane she does not finish up undermining the much more fundamental partnerships with donors,” he said.
“Donors will not be keen on supporting military expenditure and if she is diverting resources to it, it will not just mean that she will not get budgetary support now but it may mean that all future support is reviewed.”
Banda insists that the order of armed vessels from a South African defence firm “was a request from the people”, despite Malawian finances being hit by donors’ departure over corruption scandal.
Labels: DONORS, JOYCE BANDA
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Donors concerned with country's fiscal situation
By Gift Chanda
Thu 25 July 2013, 14:00 CAT
ZAMBIA'S development partners yesterday said they were greatly concerned with the country's deteriorating fiscal situation.
But Secretary to the Treasury Dr Fredson Yamba said the country's debt and fiscal deficit positions were within sustainable levels.
During the first poverty reduction budget support (PRBS) review meeting for 2013 held in Lusaka yesterday, the cooperating partners, who provide poverty reduction budget support to Zambia, emphasised the need for sound fiscal management, saying it was an extremely important condition for budget support.
The partners said they were concerned that the budget deficit was expected to be much higher than planned, with significant gaps this year and next year.
"The fiscal trajectory sends a worrying signal on Zambia's performance," Kevin Quinlan, representative of the cooperating partners, said.
Quinlan, who is also head of the Department for International Development (DFID), said cooperating parents had, however, seen some policy decisions that align well with the goal of reducing poverty this year.
"These include the 2013 budget increases for health and education and frontline staff, a doubling of the budget for essential drugs and the removal of costly fuel subsidies that mainly were benefiting wealthier Zambians," he said.
"On the other hand, in some cases the government's decisions can appear to be inconsistent with the goal of tackling poverty. For example, the recent generous wage increases for public sector workers, whose income was already well above the poverty line."
He said the partners appreciated that the government wanted to pay its civil servants decent salaries but the large and mostly unbudgeted cost risks crowding-out resources for programmes targeted at the poor.
"Looking ahead, we appreciate that rewards are closely related to returns and so we urge the government to use the recent wage increase to leverage higher performance from the civil servants," Quinlan said.
On corruption, Quinlan said the cooperating partners appreciate the government's commitment to combating the vice.
"We also welcome the progress being made with the government's new strategy for strengthening Public Financial Management, as well as continued implementation of important reform programmes such as the decentralisation of public procurement and human resourcing. However, as budget support partners we remain concerned over the deterioration in the credibility and transparency of the budget in recent years and continued challenges with implementing the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS)," he said.
"We urge the government to take every effort to return to producing consolidated quarterly budget execution reports in a timely manner and to share these reports with cooperating partners in order to assist the government in monitoring the analysis of the budget execution."
But Yamba said the execution of the 2013 budget was on course despite recording a K900 million shortfall to finance the K2.5 billion expenditure budgeted for June 2013.
He also said the government remained committed to the fight against corruption as noted from the strong political will.
He added that there had been a rise in the number of corruption cases being prosecuted in the courts of law.
On peace, human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law, Yamba said the government was cognisant of issues of human rights and has taken measures to address them by signing international treaties on the promotion of human rights.
"Additionally, we have taken steps to revise the Sixth National Development Plan in line with the Patriotic Front manifesto," he said.
The cooperating partners said they shared concerns raised last week by the Human Rights Commission around on-going infringements of the freedom to assembly of opposition parties.
Quinlan said the cooperating partners consider an active and free opposition as an essential element of democracy.
"We are also concerned about recent allegations of constraints of freedom of the media in Zambia," Quinlan said, adding that the partners have further noted on-going debate on minority rights issues in Zambia.
Labels: DONORS, FREDSON YAMBA, KEVIN QUINLAN
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Britain remains Zambia's biggest bilateral donor - Chikwanda
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 28 Sep. 2012, 12:10 CAT
FINANCE minister Alexander Chikwanda has requested Princess Anne to help market Zambia's agricultural potential in her country.
During a dinner hosted in her honour by the govern- ment at the Lusaka's InterContinental Hotel, Chikwanda who is also acting Republican president said the country had good climatic conditions for farming.
"As Zambia strives for higher economic growth rates in order to eradicate poverty, agriculture will be our major thrust. It is very significant for us that you have nodded our efforts in that area. You will be our powerful ambassador to the investor community, especially those who would have the inclination for large-scale agriculture," he said on Wednesday night.
On the economy, Chikwanda said the real challenge for the Zambian government was to stimulate development in rural areas.
He said as a result, the government had spent its one year in office preparing the economy for the next fiscal year.
"The wide range of projects we will embark on has a very high job content. Unemployment is the biggest challenge for our country, particularly given the demographic reality of a population that is predominantly young," Chikwanda said.
"The United Kingdom, despite challenges in its economy, still remains the biggest bilateral donor to Zambia. A very large chunk of the aid package from Britain goes to budget support which gives us consid- erable leeway of allocation of resources for our devel- opment agenda."
And Princess Anne hailed Zambia's links with Britain, which she said trickled down to individual level.
She said because of the country's hospitality, there were so many British nationals who migrated to Zambia and had settled in various business areas.
"The Commonwealth Agricultural Society has been fascinating from our perspective because we've heard from small-scale farmers, commercial farmers; we've heard how you relate to the increase in capacity and potential for the future. And that potential for the future is really exciting. And I hope that Britain will share with you; and again we can create even more links in future, not just businesses but between the people which is important," said Princess Anne.
"Zambia does now play an increasing role on the world stage and that chal- lenges you in a way, particularly in relationships with the Commonwealth; you set very high standards too."
Labels: ALEXANDER CHIKWANDA, DONORS, UK
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Is development aid to Malawi anything more than Neo-Colonial Life-Support?
By Nick Wright
August 8, 2012
President Bingu wa Mutharika (with encouragement from Robert Mugabe) was beginning to develop a policy in Malawi that was designed to free Malawi from aid dependency. It was a poorly-conceived policy, and very crudely executed, like everything under Bingu’s immediate direction, but it had the potential to free Malawi from its humiliating status as international beggar.
There was something almost heroic in Bingu’s defiance of the world-order as he, the leader of one of the poorest countries in the world, sent the British ambassador packing and told the donors to “go to hell”. His sudden death in April of this year changed all that. His Vice-President, Joyce Banda, took his place according to the rules of the Malawi Constitution, and reversed that policy. The donors (IMF, DfID, EU, USAID etc) are now pouring back into the country with their bags full of aid-money: hoping to get things back to the old order when that money was injected direcly into the Malawian government as “Budget Support”. Back to the good old days of past-president Bakili Muluzi and his UDF party who knew how to get rid of that money quickly, and without fuss.
No-one has a good word to spare for Bingu these days. The foreign-exchange bureaus are functioning again and the petrol pumps have fuel to sell. Bingu’s appetite for personal self-enrichment and luxury, always suspected, is now obvious for all to see. His scowling, bullying, finger-wagging brand of leadership has been replaced by a more open, more honest and more colourful presidency with a genuine freedom of speech and of the media. The Police and the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation are no longer agents of dictatorship.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, meets with Malawi's President Joyce Banda at the State House in Lilongwe.
These are very important developments and the western donors are as pleased with them as are the Malawian people.
But is Malawi in danger of losing something important as the aid-money begins to flow again into Lilongwe. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is a good example. It is back again as Malawi’s biggest donor, with £90 million to spend every year there from its overall budget of £8,000 millions. DFID will be followed by a new British High Commissioner to occupy the vast British embassy in Lilongwe. The hundreds of Malawian NGOs and international charities with offices in Lilongwe are lining up again to spend that DFID money, as are the government ministries (Agriculture, Education, Health) which no longer have to worry their heads about awkward policy- issues and budgets. With an exchange-rate of 436 kwacha to every pound, £90 million pounds converts to so many devalued Malawian kwacha that no-one needs to worry about exhausting that pot. There’ll always be another western donor standing eagerly by, to fill any awkward holes.
Hilary Clinton is due into Lilongwe at the end of this week.
In Britain, and in much of Malawi, DFID is considered to be a benevolent and politically-neutral player on the world stage: concerned only with reducing poverty. Indeed, the money DFID spends on fertilizer- and seed- subsidies in Malawi: (that part of it, at least, which gets past the corrupt Malawian middlemen who are given the government contracts for its purchase from South Africa and Saudi Arabia and for its transportation to the Malawian farmers) DOES some real good for the poor. There really IS poverty-reduction in Malawi, if only for a few months.
BUT does this aid come at a serious political price? Is DFID really politically neutral? Is Joyce Banda’s “good behaviour” as interpreted by the western donor countries irrelevant to it? Is President Banda, for example, free to re-value her hugely de-valued currency without the donors’ authorization? Is she allowed freely to interfere in the tobacco-market, as Bingu so often tried to do, against the US tobacco-buying monopolies and on behalf of Malawi’s tens of thousands of poor tobacco-farmers? Is any of this aid money allowing Malawians to be more self-sufficient? I guess not.
Joyce Banda is the darling of the West, at the moment, and will remain their darling as long as she does what they tell her to do. Paul Kagame, in Rwanda, who was, only yesterday, the blue-eyed boy (so to speak) of the US and British political establishments has now been stripped of his DFID aid-money because of his support for the “wrong” side in the DRC.
As long as the aid money keeps flowing to Malawi, will anyone care about the almost-invisible strings attached to it? The strings will always be pulled by very nice, university-educated, well-intentioned, people, in London, like Andrew Mitchell (the British minister currently in charge of International Development). These people would reject any accusation of “neo-colonialism” with genuine indignation and they have a huge British government department to prepare their self-justifications. Malawian politicians in Lilongwe will hardly feel the pressure exerted by these strings until they dare to renege on the unwritten contracts. Then there’ll be no mistake about the pressure, as Malawian subsistence-farmers are forced to confront serious famine once again and as Malawian voters threaten to change their minds about their political masters. What is a political master worth in Malawi if he doesn’t have “development” funds at his disposal?
The British Empire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was administered by nice and well-educated men like the British prime minister, David Cameron, and his Conservative party-colleague, Andrew Mitchell, who believed that they were doing good for the silly “natives” in Africa. It was called “Civilization” then, and is called “International Development” now. In the cold light of history we can now see that the British Empire did as little lasting good for the colonized natives as it did for Britain itself. It actually impoverished them both.
DFID is following a very, very, familiar track.
*Nick Wright
AUTHOR’S REQUEST
“The author would be glad to read polite and well-informed comments on his article by people who have actually read it, and understood what is being said in it. Preferably commenting under their own names. He does not want to be accused of being an enemy of Malawi, or to be told by people who are afraid of their own names that Nick Wright doesn’t really exist !!. Nick Wright does exist and is actually a “mzungu” with some small understanding of, and a real love of, Malawi. He is also quite attached to his own name”
Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, DFID, DONORS, NEOCOLONIALISM, NEOLIBERALISM
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COMMENT - It isn't begging when you are being robbed. The fact that Donor Aid is about the same amount as the taxes that the mines aren't paying should be a big clue as to where 'Donor Aid' ultimately comes from. If Zambia collected all the taxes due today, it would not need any Donor Aid.
Begging won't take us far
By The Post
Tue 26 June 2012, 13:25 CAT
FOR more than four decades, we have been dependent on begging from others, on aid from donors. But where has it taken us? Yes, there are some countries who have exploited our resources for many years and one can claim that they have a duty to pay back. But there are other countries that have nothing to do with our colonial past that have for the last four decades been assisting us financially and otherwise. Again, where has that aid left us in terms of development?
It is clear that we need a different approach to our development. But on what basis should our approach rest? It should rest on our own strength, and that means development through our own efforts, relying on what we ourselves are able to organise, mobilise.
We stand for self-reliance. But this does not mean we are opposed to international cooperation. International cooperation will always be important and a necessity because no country in this world can solve all its problems by itself. We therefore should hope for foreign assistance but not be dependent on it; we need to depend on our own efforts, on the creative power of our people.
And Michael Sata is right; the culture of begging has to come to an end. We have no right to expect others to always do things for us, even the things we can do for ourselves. Every meaningful project of ours has to be undertaken by donors, this is not on. This is not sustainable. This will not bring development to our country and our people.
We shouldn't cheat ourselves that we will develop and live better without much effort, without much sacrifice. No country in the world has ever developed without much effort and sacrifice from its people and without the great vision of its leaders.
The Europeans took great risks to sail to far-off lands to bring the necessary goods to their people. Many perished in those early voyages of discovery. Americans have lost astronauts in their quest to conquer outer space. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery.
It's all part of taking a chance and expanding their horizons. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted; it belongs to the brave. It is dangerous expeditions that have been pulling them into the future.
What makes us think everything will come to us on the cheap, as manna from some benevolent friend in Asia, Europe or America?
We must thoroughly clear away all ideas among our people of winning an easy life, easy development through good luck, without hard and bitter struggle, without sweat and blood.
There are big possibilities for success, but there are also many dangers. We have many challenges. But as a country beginning to develop itself, we must in the first place work, above all, at organisation. And we should learn to approach the practical problems we face using our own heads.
This may seem to be an abstract and rather vague opinion, but it's something very important. We have to learn to pay attention, above all, to particular realities. Yes, our politicians should carry on constant propaganda among the people on the bright future ahead so that they will build their confidence in themselves.
But at the same time, they must learn to tell the people the truth, the things they may not want to hear, that there will be twists and turns before they get to that better life the future is promising them. There are still many obstacles and difficulties on the road to economic development and social progress.
We know that some people do not like to think much about difficulties. But difficulties are facts; we must recognise as many difficulties as they are and should not adopt a policy of non-recognition of difficulties. It doesn't make sense to paint a picture that everything is going to be easy; it will be instant coffee. We must recognise difficulties, analyse them and combat them.
There are no straight roads in this world; we must be prepared to follow a road which has twists and turns and not try to get things on the cheap from donors, friends and other well-wishers. It must not be imagined that one fine morning we will wake up and find all the roads tarred, all the schools and hospitals renovated and stocked with all the medicines and equipment we need.
Things don't happen like that in this world. Even if the leadership of Michael works so hard and in the most honest way, things won't happen that way, that easily. We are not in a dream world; we are in a real world. In a word, while the prospects are bright, the road has twists and turns. There are still many difficulties ahead which we must not overlook.
We should forget about the campaign rhetoric or the demagogic promises of some cheap politicians. To push our people out of poverty and bring prosperity in their lives will require a lot of work and sleepless nights on the part of Michael and his leadership and on the part of all of us as a people, as a nation.
But by uniting with the entire people in a common effort, our leaders can certainly overcome all the difficulties and enable us to live better.
Anyone who sees only the bright side but not the difficulties cannot work effectively for the development that our people are yearning for.
The wealth of a society is created by the workers, peasants and working intellectuals. If they take their destiny into their own hands and follow correct policies and take an active attitude in solving problems instead of evading them, there will be no difficulty in the world which they cannot overcome.
We therefore urge our political leaders, especially those in government, to take all this fully into account and be prepared to overcome difficulties with an indomitable and in a planned way. But in times of difficulty, we must not lose sight of our achievements; we must see the bright future and pluck up our courage. New things always have to experience difficulties as they grow.
It is sheer fantasy to think that in 90 days or in nine months everything can be changed, all our rags can be thrown away and everyone can be in new clothes, eating three square meals a day. It is sheer fantasy to imagine that all will be plain sailing and easy success, without difficulties and setbacks or the exertion of tremendous efforts.
To give our people a good and comfortable life needs intense efforts, which will include, among other things, the effort to practice strict economy and combat waste, that is, the policy of building up our country through diligence and frugality. We must not take a short view of things and indulge in wastefulness and extravagance. We must take resolute measures against anyone wasting public resources and pay special attention to thrift and economy.
Thrift should be the guiding principle in our government expenditure. It should be made clear to all government workers that corruption and waste are very great crimes.
But there is another dangerous tendency that our leadership has developed over the last two decades - an unwillingness to share the joys and hardships of the masses, a concern for personal fame and gain. This is very bad.
No amount of donor aid, international assistance, will make us live better if we ourselves do not take the necessary measures and exert the necessary effort to improve our lives. It is said that it is what we make of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
Begging, aid, assistance may take us somewhere but it will certainly not take us far. Assistance from others is simply a ladder to get us on top of things. There is no use whatsoever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb himself.
And moreover, the rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other foot somewhat higher. Aid, international assistance, cannot be a permanent way of life for us. Our lives should be permanently anchored on self-reliance.
Labels: DONORS, OLIVER SAASA
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Saasa calls for action to reduce donor dependency
By Mwala Kalaluka
Tue 26 June 2012, 13:25 CAT
ECONOMIST Professor Oliver Saasa says President Michael Sata's statement that Zambia was tired of begging is a loud and clear message that the country should have a conscious effort to reduce donor dependency.
Commenting on President Sata's statement at the just-ended United Nations Summit on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that Zambia was tired of moving with a begging bowl, Prof Saasa said in an interview that he had been a donor support expert over the last two decades and therefore was conversant with the issue.
He said the above statement was more of a challenge to the government and the Zambians than to the donors, because Zambians have continued to depend on donor support despite being endowed with God-given resources.
"It makes a lot of sense when it is considered in that context," Prof Saasa said. "We haven't, as a country, taken advantage of these resources instead we have continued with the calabash begging."
He said President Sata's statement was a challenge to Zambians to take advantage of their natural resources, as this would eventually translate into reduction of donor dependency.
"We must have a conscious effort to reduce donor dependency," Prof Saasa said. "Free money is never free. It comes with conditions. Have you seen? The hand that receives is always below that which gives."
He described President Sata's admission that Zambia was fatigued by donor dependency, as rare, especially that it was made at an international forum.
"Let us start translating what the President is saying through clear policies of how we are going to do it," he said. "For me, that challenge from the President was very important but it is now our lieutenants in government to start translating. The challenge is on the government itself. The challenge really rests squarely on our shoulders."
Prof Saasa said the private sector also needs to be enabled to play its role in translating President Sata's challenge but that this could not be done in an environment like the current one where Zambians are almost like second-class citizens when it comes to incentives for investors.
"We should not always think that when we talk about investment, we think about foreign investment. I think that is where we go wrong," he said.
Prof Saasa said access to finances was difficult for most local investors, who are also excluded from the incentive regime.
He said the people have now heard of the PF's policies, dreams and aspirations but what they wanted to see was a little bit more conscious effort from the government.
Prof Saasa said President Sata's donor support concern was a loud and clear message that all Zambians were fed up with what was happening.
Addressing the Rio Summit on climate change, President Sata said Zambia does not need money but technology from the donors.
President Sata said Zambia was tired of moving with a "begging bowl" from one developed country to another as the country had the capacity to become self-reliant and lift its millions of unemployed youths out of poverty if its vast natural resources were exploited to the benefit of Zambians.
"Zambia is an extremely large country with relatively smaller population," he told a United Nations Development Programme-organised discussion on exploring economic development beyond GDP measurements.
"Some of you, 13 million population of Zambia is what you have in your cities and towns. It is most unfortunate and God will not forgive us that out of a small population of 13 million, you can still find unemployed people. The reason is that we are not utilising our natural resources which we have more than other countries."
President Sata said he admired and was grateful to Brazil which was leading in utilising its natural resources to improve lives of its ordinary people. I don't want the syndrome of 'take this'; the reason Africa has not developed is that we have always relied on begging from the super bowl. Time has come for us to develop ourselves and let others come to beg from ourselves because we have more resources than the people we are begging from."
President Sata said only technological advancement to ensure sustainable development would lift Africa out of its current economic and developmental doldrums.
"You donors keep your money but we need your technology. All we need from you is good technology," said President Sata amidst applause from the audience.
Labels: DONORS, OLIVER SAASA
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President Sata criticizes donor funding dependency
TIME PUBLISHED - Thursday, June 21, 2012, 9:30 am
President Michael has said technology transfer is critical for the sustainable development of natural resources in African countries including Zambia. PRESIDENT Sata says Zambia’s unemployment problem is a direct result of the poor management of the country’s natural resources.
Mr Sata, who is attending the Rio+20 world conference on climate change and sustainable development here, also said Africa will never develop on handouts but on technology transfer from developed and some developing countries.
He was speaking during a side session on greening the gross domestic product, dubbed Beyond GDP, organised by the head of the United Nations Development Programme, Helen Clark.
Mr Sata said it is sad that a country like Zambia, which is endowed with natural resources, including minerals, water bodies and wildlife, is still suffering from acute unemployment.
“Zambia has only 13 million people, which is the population of some of the cities in the world. But out of those 13 million, it is most unfortunate that a lot of people are unemployed and God will never forgive us for that.
You can keep your money, just give us technology because that is what we need to sustain ourselves. No country has ever developed by begging. That is not sustainable. Africa has been begging for a long time and it is time to make a real difference through technology transfer
“This is so because we have not managed and used our natural resources the way we are supposed to use them, for the benefit of our people,” he said.
President Sata said the well-being of people in general depends largely on how well their countries manage natural resources.He said Zambia has to move fast in promoting sustainable management of its natural resources for the benefit of its citizens.
On technology transfer, the President said this is part of the key to reducing poverty and taking care of the environment across the world.
Mr Sata said Africa does not need aid, in the absence of technology transfer which is known to spur development.
“You can keep your money, just give us technology because that is what we need to sustain ourselves. No country has ever developed by begging. That is not sustainable. Africa has been begging for a long time and it is time to make a real difference through technology transfer,” he told an applauding audience of delegates.
He said global technology transfer would help a great deal in making the world a better place to live in.Mr Sata also said Zambia is greatly inspired by the technology being applied in Brazil, which has helped to enhance the economy of the South American country of 192 million people.
Brazil is able to make fuel from sugar cane and soya and has been managing its energy sector by finding alternative sources of energy.
“That is great technology, bring it to Zambia. We need technology transfer from the North to the South and West to East, for a better world,” he said.
The President also extended an invitation to delegates to attend the United Nations World Tourism Conference which will be co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe in August next year.
“Come to Zambia and see what we have. We will waive some visa requirements and give you a visa on arrival,” he said.
Mr Sata peppered his speech with his usual sense of humour.
“We have enough water for everyone, including the Greeks and Italians. We have wild animals and there is a lot more to see. The only thing we do not have in abundance is whisky and that is because whisky pollutes the environment,” he said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt said she is proud of her country’s contribution to a greener world and Denmark would continue on that path.
She said Denmark runs an energy-efficient economy and no effort would be spared to make more positive decisions for the greater good.
“Inaction can be costly. We have to make good decisions now,” she said with reference to making a deliberate effort to create a world free of pollution and general environmental degradation.
President Sata is today expected to address the conference.
[Daily Mail]
Labels: DONORS, MICHAEL SATA, NEOCOLONIALISM
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NGOs hail Sweden's resumption of health sector funding
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sun 17 June 2012, 13:21 CAT
THE Civil Society Health Forum has welcomed the resumption of funding by the Swedish government to the Ministry of Health following the former's suspension of financial support to the Zambian government in 2009 due to alleged misappropriation of donor funds.
The Swedish government last Monday released K33.5 billion for the health sector to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Swedish Ambassador to Zambia Lena Nordstrom said the fight against corruption was an ongoing task and she asked the Ministry of Health to strengthen its accountability structures.
Ambassador Nordstrom said her government was committed to supporting the Zambian health sector following the progress made by the Ministry of Health in recent years to improve accountability and transparency in management of funds.
Co-chair of the Civil Society Health Forum, Felix Mwanza, said the resumption of funding could not have come at a better time than now when the country was going through hardships in health service delivery following the dwindling of funds by both multilateral and bilateral partners as a result of the financial crunch, the euro crisis and the paradigm shift in development aid due to other pressing global needs such as climate change.
Mwanza said while welcoming the resumption, the CSOs should not be left out of the table of discussion for resumption of such donor assistance as failure to do so would result in failure by CSOs to provide the necessary checks and balances that were expected of them.
He said the plan of action agreed upon between the cooperating partners and the government to put in place among other things systems of accountability, transparency and best practice also had space for civil society to be involved in everything that the duo embarked upon.
"It is important to also mention that while both the Zambian government and its Swedish counterpart have put pen to paper for support amounting to K33.5 billion, it is the Zambian grassroots that have sacrificed and endured hardships and at times lost their loved ones because there was no assistance coming through as a result of a few selfish individuals that chose to misuse the funds that should have served the public good," he said.
Mwanza called on both the government, cooperating partners and the Swedish government to ensure that proper oversight and fiduciary measures were put in place to safeguard that which belonged to the people of Zambia.
He called upon the Ministry of Health to quickly assist other needy initiatives in the community such as the Chilanga Hospice, Kalingalinga, Zatulet and many other community-based initiatives that were threatened with closure to benefit from the resumption of such funding.
The Civil Society Health Forum is an alliance of organisations working in the health sector and have expertise in maternal health, sexual reproductive health, child health, immunisations, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, nutrition, health systems and services, monitoring and evaluation, media and mental health.
Labels: DONORS, HEALTHCARE, NGOs, SWEDEN
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COMMENT - Heehee, the MMD are complaining about bad governance. Why don't they ask George Mpombo, Chansa Kabwela, President Sata himself and all the people they put in prison for political reasons? Or explain how much they were paid to reverse the windfall tax? Or the give away ZAMTEL to the Libyan government?
Robert Amsterdam is the lawyer for Rupiah and Henry Banda. Other clients include oligarchs
Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Yukos, Russia's richest man and 16th on the Forbes billionaires list) and
Thaksin Shinawatra.
Open Letter to Donor Community of Zambia
6 June 2012
Open Letter to the International Donor Community to the Republic of Zambia
RE: Crisis of Confidence in Zambia’s Public Institutions
Dear Friends,
We are writing to you today on an urgent basis to draw your attention to worrying events that have arisen in the Republic of Zambia since September 2011. The developments outlined below, which have taken place under the Patriotic Front administration of President Michael Chilufya Sata, have contributed to a rapid erosion of public trust across all of Zambia’s institutions of government, resulting in a crisis of confidence. Providers of foreign aid
can no longer trust the Zambian government at its word to observe the law or fulfill its promises, and steps must be taken to monitor and ensure that these critical resources are not diverted away from their intended purposes.
It is our concern that continued unconditional donor support to the Patriotic Front administration will further fuel the disturbing trends that represent a sharp departure from the laws, norms, traditions, and constitutional culture of the country. As detailed below, President Sata has engaged in an concerted effort to 1) install members of family and friends in all key positions of the country’s economic management, 2) assault the independence of the judiciary, and 3) systematically eliminate democratic rights of the political opposition and freedom of expression.
Foreign aid is critically important to the Zambian economy and the wellbeing of her people, and we do not make this appeal without measured consideration.
[That is what lawyers call 'a veiled threat'. In other words, if you dare to prosecute our clients for their crimes, we are going to scream about 'rule of law' and 'political prosecution' and 'malicious prosecution'. - MrK]
However, as international donors, there is a responsibility to ensure that the resources provided in trust to the guardians of the state will include a reasonable expectation of delivery of public goods and services to the citizens.
[An expectation that the MMD did not meet after 20 years in office. - MrK]
Given the alarming circumstances
[Alarming only to those who are about to go to jail, like Henry Banda. - MrK]
related to the deterioration of governance in Zambia, we are calling on the donor community to closely monitor compliance of programs by the state, and where possible, work directly with recipient groups to ensure against diversion of resources by unaccountable state officials. In these circumstances it is reasonable for the donor community to ask basic questions concerning the intentions and motives of the Patriotic Front government.
[So they should question the spending of donor aid, where they did not do so with regards Rupiah and Henry Banda's MMD? - MrK]
1. Nepotism and Deficient Economic Management
The most worrying sign that Sata’s government is incapable of competent economic management is the wide-ranging trend of nepotism across most key positions. Sata appointed his uncle, Alexander Chikwanda, as Minister of Finance. He has appointed his nephew, Miles Sampa, as Deputy Minister of Finance. As Secretary to the Treasury, the third position in the hierarchy of the Ministry of Finance, Sata has installed a Brother In Law, Fredson Yamba. He appointed Robert Sichinga as Minister of Commerce, whose son is married to his daughter. He also appointed another nephew, Godfrey Bwalya Mwamba, as Minister of Defense. Further, in a country of so many regions, more than 50% of his cabinet originates from his region.
As a result of the installation of close members of family over the key financial levers of the state, we have already observed rampant abuses of power and several alleged cases of corruption that bear close examination by the donor community.
Contributing to the crisis of confidence in Zambia’s public institutions was President Sata’s rushed decision to repossess Finance Bank from its South African owners, First National, and hand the financial institution back to the bank’s former owner, Rajan Mahtani, one of Sata’s largest financial supporters.[1] This transaction was executed on October 3, 2011 – just ten days after Sata’s inauguration – while two charges of forgery against Mr. Mahtani concerning his management of Finance Bank were mysteriously dropped without reason by the new government.
The seizure of Finance Bank by the Patriotic Front government calls into question the independence of banking regulation in Zambia.
[Actually it is the seizure and swift sale of Finance Bank by the MMD that was politically motivated. The MMD confiscated this bank, because it appeared they were donating campaign financing to the then biggest opposition movement, the Patriotic Front of now President Sata. When the PF came back into power, the bank was given back. It was the MMD that 'undermined investor confidence' by seizing the bank without cause. - MrK]
On December 31, 2010, the Bank of Zambia (BOZ), whose Governor is tasked with public oversight of the country’s financial institutions, issued a Government Gazette outlining all the violations of law by the management of Finance Bank that prompted the State to intervene. The findings of the BOZ investigation of Finance Bank, which included fraudulent representation of shareholdings and numerous violations of the Banking and Financial Services Act, CAP 387 (BFSA), have never been disputed or retracted.
The repossession of Finance Bank and transfer back to the former owner was conducted in violation of normal judicial process. Dr. Caleb Fundanga, the highly regarded Governor of the Bank of Zambia,[2] was removed from his post by President Sata.
[Highly corrupt too. He always opposed the Windfall Tax. And guess what - dr. Fundanga is MMD, then the PF came into power, they had the right and obligation to appoint their own people. That is not a breakdown of the democratic process, it is democracy at work. Do the MMD think government belongs to them indefinitely? - MrK]
The position was left vacant for a period of three months, essentially rendering Zambia in the unique position of having no acting regulator over the banking sector for a considerable period of time.
The installation of members of the president’s family to key economic posts has also resulted in highly controversial public procurement awards.
[How ironic - because that is what Henry Banda is suspected of. - MrK]
For example, President Sata has recently awarded a 600 million kwacha no-bid contract for the renovation of State House to a company owned by Finance Minister Chikwanda. The ownership of the company and the single-sourced nature of the contract is not disputed by the government.
[Chickenfeed. K600 million is $120,000 at K5000/$. The MMD has embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars in procurement contracts. - MrK)
A company owned by Sata’s nephew and Minister of Defense, appropriately titled “GBM,” has procured a lucrative contract for the provision of foodstuffs to the armed forces, and is alleged to be involved in other public contracts.
In addition to these conflicts of interest, President Sata has begun personally rewarding his political cadres with positions in state-owned companies, when by law the candidates for such positions should be nominated and selected only by the board of directors.
[I remember the appointment of lots of cadres under the MMD. - MrK]
At several key public companies, such as ZESCO, ZNBC, the Zambian National Building Society (ZNBS), Food Reserve Agency (FRA), National Pension Scheme (NAPSA), and the Workers Compensation Fund, Sata has appointed new chief executive officers and other positions.
[We all remember the MMD's NAPSA scandal. Read for instance the Post editorial: "NAPSA, the new Zamtrop". Or: "NAPSA deal raises Lubinda’s eyebrows", "Explain $15m NAPSA deal - Kapijimpanga" - MrK]
The competency of the individuals chosen for these important positions has been called into question – for example, Sata appointed the secretary general of the party, Wynter Kabimba, to act as interim head of Zamtel, the re-nationalized telecom, despite a total absence of any experience in telecommunications.
2. The Patriotic Front’s Attack on the Independence of the Judiciary
Accompanying this takeover of Zambia’s economic institutions
[Talk about hyperbole. - MrK]
has been a parallel campaign to take political control over the judiciary, damaging the ability of Zambia’s courts to administer justice, and leaving the system vulnerable to abuses benefitting friends and allies of the president.
[Talk about projection. - MrK]
As clearly stated in the Patriotic Front’s 2011-2016 Manifesto under Section 22, page 42, the government declares its intention to install PF members throughout all positions of the judiciary, which by definition contravenes the principle of judicial independence.[3]
In the brief eight months since Sata has been in office, there have been numerous instances of executive interference in judicial matters, as the president has sought to circumvent due process through politically appointed commissions of inquiry, persecuting opponents with false cases, tribunals, and calling for the removal of independent judges.
This worrying confrontation between the executive and the judiciary culminated in May 2012, as President Sata brought judge with whom he has a personal relationship from Malawi to sit on a judicial review tribunal aimed at clearing out members of the judiciary he deems as insufficiently loyal to the Patriotic Front. Even before the Tribunal could sit, and providing no stated reason, Sata suspended one Supreme Court judge and two High Court judges for their involvement in a ruling in the case of Development Bank of Zambia (DBA) vs. JCN Holdings, Nchito, Nchito, and M’membe.
One of these judges had found that the defendants, which include newspaper editor Fred M’Membe – Sata’s close political ally – and Mutembo Nchito – who works as Sata’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), were liable for the repayment of a 14 billion kwacha debt to the publicly owned financial institution following the bankruptcy of Zambian Airways. The president intervened to suspend the judges for this “unfavorable” judicial finding, and appointed a Tribunal to remove the judges despite the fact that the case in question had not yet gone through the appeals process, representing a constitutional violation.
On May 17, a High Court judge issued an injunction on Sata’s Tribunal pending the outcome of two of the suspended judges’ appeals for judicial review, postponing until May 30 a decision whether or not the unlawfully formed Tribunal will be able to proceed. In response, the Patriotic Front’s Minister of Justice Sebastian Zulu lashed out at the judiciary with pointed threats, saying that they had acted out of “panic.”[4]
The government’s attacks against judicial independence have increased in recent weeks. The Deputy Minister of Mines Richard Musukwa was quoted in The Post Newspaper on June 4, 2012, arguing for the complete dissolution of the judiciary, leaving Zambia entirely without any legal system for a period of months while a new politically loyal judiciary would built anew. Days earlier, Justice Minister Zulu threatened that the Patriotic Front would be willing to dissolve the judiciary in the event that they are unable to accomplish their agenda. Such statements are deeply troubling to foreign investors and cause significant damage to Zambia’s reputation of stability and sanctity of contracts.
Amid calls by Patriotic Front members for the Chief Justice and other members of the judiciary to resign en masse and then “reapply” for their positions, Justice Minister Zulu remarked “This growing trend where we are having a dictatorship of the judiciary is a recipe for anarchy, and if not nipped in the bud may lead to serious problems in this country.”[5]
These events occur within the context of an ongoing campaign to apply pressure on the judiciary and instrumentalize the courts with pre-determined verdicts.
During the swearing in ceremony of Mr. Nchito to the position of DPP,[6] President Sata violated the constitutional separation of powers by giving specific instructions regarding prosecution. President Sata stated the following:
“Today we have a very deadly legal joint with attorney general, the solicitor general and yourself. We expect you to assist the judiciary because don’t blame the judiciary if they are acquitting people if you don’t prepare your cases properly. If you are you have half baked cases, you have to improve. Look at some of the old cases privatisation of Roan Mine, privatisation of Kagem, privatisation of Lima Bank, privatisation of Intercontinental Livingstone. All of those are cases stinking with corruption. You have all been called back. Your former chairman is now permanent secretary and the minister of home affairs and I’m sure that with the attorney general who was once harassed because they didn’t like his hands stinking or that he was going to round them up, we expect to leave Zambia better than we found it. There are still some Chinese companies, there are still some Chinese companies which are funding MMD If you get in touch with the people the drug enforcement they’ll give you the details, and they will give you the names, and when you go to Zamtel don’t look at Zambians only. These Libyans is the one who corrupted Zambians so don’t go for Zambians you must also go for the Libyans from “Lap Green” They are the ones who have dirty money and dirty hands. Sort them out!” (emphasis added)[7]
In the first eight months of the Patriotic Front’s administration, no fewer than eight separate Commissions of Inquiry have been appointed. These handpicked commissions have served as a convenient tool to circumvent normal judicial processes to justify both the seizure of assets and persecutions of opponents. Concluding that “President [Sata] had a pre-determined idea” in establishing his commissions of inquiry, Zambia’s Centre for Policy Dialogue has found that “the commissions of inquiry constituted by President Michael Sata to investigate the alleged corruption activities by the MMD are a waste of public funds”.[8]
The credibility of several of these Commissions of Inquiry has been called into question for the independence of the appointed chairpersons. The commissions are rarely chaired by politically neutral judicial figures. The commission studying oil supply deals is chaired by the aforementioned Mr. Kabimba of the Patriotic Front party, while the commissions on the revenue authority and Zamtel (which was already expropriated) were chaired by Justice Minister Zulu. Another Commission of Inquiry has investigated the sale of Zanaco bank, which has raised fears that another expropriation could be forthcoming.[9] These fears of expropriation have resulted in two successive credit rating downgrades by international rating agency Fitch.[10]
Beyond the judiciary, President Sata is determined to appoint members of the Patriotic Front throughout every level of public institutions. Since his election to the presidency, Sata has repeatedly violated protocol by naming the Secretary General of the party, Mr. Kabimba, as third in command behind Vice President Guy Scott and ahead of the speaker of parliament – despite Mr. Kabimba not having an official portfolio in the cabinet.[11]
3. Sata’s crackdown on opposition and freedom of expression
In conjunction with the installation of family members throughout the Ministries of Finance, Commerce, and Defense and the campaign to eliminate judicial independence, President Sata has embarked on an increasingly open war on the rights of the political opposition and freedom of expression.
Under the disguise of an “anti-corruption campaign,” the Patriotic Front has persecuted numerous political opponents on implausible grounds. The report by the Commission of Inquiry set up to look into the Zambia Revenue Authority has been the main source of allegations mounted against former Finance Minister Musokotwane as well as the former President Rupiah Banda. President Sata has exerted clear pressure over this commission to deliver the desired results. On December 23, 2011, Sata publicly berated the chairman of the Commission for failing to take action against the former government over scanners, over which he was personally convinced of wrongdoing despite the absence of an investigation and a normal judicial process.[12] Following that intervention, the Chairman of the Commission returned on January 27, 2012 recommending that Rupiah Banda, Musokotwane, and eleven other government officials be sanctioned over the procurement of scanners and a tax deferment.[13]
The government’s manipulation of the investigative wings has had a profound impact on the ability of opposition parties to operate. Despite very few formal charges or concluded trials, the Patriotic Front has seized hundreds of vehicles, thousands of bicycles, and even bags of cornmeal and t-shirts from various opposition figures, preventing them from competing in upcoming by-elections.
The anti-corruption campaign has also been used to launder reputations of members of the Patriotic Front. For example, the President’s son, Mulenga Sata, briefly appeared before the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to answer questions regarding two luxury vehicles that were allegedly given to him in exchange for access to the president. He was promptly cleared without undergoing any serious investigation. Similarly, the PF Member of Parliament Sylvia Masebo was cleared by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in a case involving the procurement of funeral vehicles. While former members of MMD who switched parties to the PF have had their cases dropped, not a single member of the opposition has been cleared by the anti-corruption authorities, leaving some on the hook since October 2011, with their property seized and movements limited.
Although the President enjoys immunity from prosecution, he initiated a series of defamation lawsuits aimed at his critics that stifle freedom of expression among the Zambian media. In May, a civil servant employed by the Zambian government was convicted and sentenced to three months in jail for having allegedly defamed the president. Within a period of one week, the independent Daily Nation newspaper has received two legal suits from President Sata for defamation of character, demanding payments of more than US$400,000.
President Sata has also sued University of Zambia lecturer Choolwe Beyani over comments made in a news article. Hakainde Hichilema, an opposition leader of the United Party for National Development, has also been named in a lawsuit from President Sata for having commented publicly about the aforementioned no-bid contract to renovate State House. President Sata has also launched lawsuits against the independent radio station HOT FM, along with UPND member Douglas Siakalima. In total, the president is seeking payment of more than $1 million in these various suits, which, no matter what the outcome in the courts, place enormous financial pressure on the opposition and the few remaining independent media outlets in the country.
In light of the witch hunt currently being conducted against the opposition under the guise of “anti-corruption” and the ongoing attack against any media outside the state’s control, we urge the international donor community to demand a higher standard of conduct from the ruling party.
Conclusion
Given the events and circumstances described above, Zambia is currently experiencing a crisis of confidence in the quality of its governance, raising credible and legitimate doubts that the current group of individuals in the seats of power can be trusted to issue debt, transparently manage financial resources, or conduct themselves within the boundaries of the constitution.
Considering the nepotism exercised within the Ministry of Finance and the unlawful handling of major transactions such as the repossession of Finance Bank and the judicial intervention to block the repayment of 14 billion kwacha to the state, it is no longer possible to regard the Patriotic Front administration as operating with constitutional regularity framed by observation of the law. Members of the international donor community must be made aware of these worrying signs of state capture by a small group of economic elites who have repeatedly applied their influence within the official apparatus to manufacture outcomes directed toward their personal gain, rather than the public good.
It is expected of the donor community that they will act in the interests of the Zambian people, and support their universal rights to freedom of expression and association to participate as citizens in the administration of public affairs no matter what political beliefs they may hold. In order to effectively protect these rights, while we encourage continued financial and other assistance to Zambia, as we are concerned about our own Zambian tax payers money, we expect that the donors too would ensure that their own tax payers money is used to promote the above.
Among the questions that should be answered by the government of President Sata as donors provide aid are the following:
* Why was a large donation of fuel made to Malawi just weeks before Zambia experienced its own fuel shortage? How was the company selected to carry out the transportation of this fuel to Malawi?
* In the recent oil procurement contract awarded to Trafigura and Gunvor, why were the more competitively priced bids overlooked? Who acted as agent for these suppliers, and does this person have a relationship to any political figures?
* Which government accounts have been moved to which commercial banks since President Sata was inaugurated as president?
* Which insurance government portfolios have been shifted to which insurance companies since Sata’s inauguration?
* Who acted as agent for the company selected to print currency as part of the rebasing of the kwacha?
We believe in light of the above, an emergency visit should be undertaken where members of civil society, opposition, and the government might dialogue with you to work out a suitable arrangement to ensure that donor funds reach those who were intended.
Sincerely,
Nevers Mumba
Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)
Hakainde Hichilema
United Party for National Development (UPND)
Charles Milupi
Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD)
Sakwiba Sikota
United Liberal Party (ULP)
Edwin Sakala
Zambia Direct Democracy Movement (ZDDM)
Robert Amsterdam
International Counsel to the Former President Rupiah Banda and son Henry Banda
[1] Rajan Mahtani’s financial support to Sata’s campaign was first acknowledged in a newspaper advertisement following the 2008 elections, in which Sata thanked his financiers for all their generous support.
[2] Dr. Fundanga was named the 2008 Central Bank Governor of the Year by Annual Meetings Daily. A citation by the Annual Meetings Daily stated: “Zambia’s monetary policy, in the past half a decade has been designed to have a positive impact on the country’s economy. Today, the economy is buoyant, thanks to a number of factors, including the work of the economic management team, favourable commodity prices and of course, sound macro economic policies managed by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ).”
[3] Under Section 22 of the Manifesto, the ruling party declares its intention to “Deploy government sponsored law graduates to public legal institutions, such as the magistrates courts, attorney-General’s and DPP’s chambers, Public Defender’s chambers as well as local authorities.” Source: http://www.scribd.com/Zambian-Economist/d/52257938-Patriotic-Front-2011-16-Manifesto
[4] http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=27286
[5] http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=506338&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21
[6] “Sort Out Lap Green, Sata Orders Nchito,” The Post, Jan. 14, 2012 (http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=24703)
[7] The video of President Sata’s comments to the Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito was uploaded by MuviTV on January 12, 2012 (http://youtu.be/Pz46kPD1t9Q)
[8] “Simuntanyi: All commissions of inquiry by Sata waste of public money”, Zambia Watchdog, April 11, 2012 (http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/?p=33330).
[9] As recently as May 18, 2012, President Sata threatened to expropriate Zanaco bank from its private owners. Source: http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=27313
[10] “Fitch revises Zambia outlook to negative,” Reuters, March 2, 2012. http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE82105320120302
[11] On April 26, 2012, Mr. Kabimba was given “a position” in the cabinet, but no one is sure what his duties are, while Mr. Kabimba himself has subsequently denied that he has any role in the government (http://www.lusakatimes.com/2012/05/18/role-government-kabimba/).
[12] “Inquiry on ZRA annoys Sata ,” The Post Newspaper, Dec. 23, 2011. (http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=24332)
[13] “Prosecute Rupiah, urges ZRA inquiry ,” The Post Newspaper, Jan. 27, 2011. (http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=24824)
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, CORRUPTION, DONORS, MMD, TREASON, UPND
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COMMENT - This blogger, who claims to speak for The Zimbabwe Vigil, (read: (NYASATIMES)
EU petitioned to suspend aid to Malawi over bankrolling Mugabe), an organ of British Intelligence (neither of which may be present where he types from), sees it fit to issue veiled threats to the President of Zambia, for telling the truth, which is that there are economic sanctions against Zimbabwe which must be lifted. The United States must annul the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, and all other acts that interfere with the domestic and foreign policies of the sovereign state of Zimbabwe.
If the writer means that the government of Zambia must be sabotaged by withholding donor aid,
the way the Malawian government was sabotaged by withholding donor aid, I suggest that in any such event, the Zambian government retaliates by collecting all the taxes that are due, or starts nationalizing all British owned mines, and collect it's 'donor aid' that way.
Any questions?
Also read:
Zimbabwe and the Power of Propaganda: Ousting a President via Civil Society, By Michael Barker, Global Research, April 16, 2008
(The Zimbabwean/Tumfweko) ‘Sata Needs To Be Educated’
You have to hand it to Mugabe: he is good at making friends. It must be the ‘charm’ noted breathlessly by British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert. No sooner does Mugabe lose his number one bootlicker, Mutharika of Malawi, than he pulls another out of his other boot: Michael Sata of Zambia who, as a former platform sweeper at London’s Victoria Station, is even better equipped.
It may be we have to hand it to Sata – in the form of a pouch of ‘grubby stones’ such as given by Liberian butcher Taylor to the bejewelled model Naomi Campbell. After all, Mutharika was given a stolen Zimbabwean farm.
But perhaps the Vigil is being unkind to Sata. It might not have been necessary to buy him. He could – let’s be fair – just be stupid. One way or another, how else do you account for his comments during his visit to Zimbabwe to open the wildly successful trade fair in Bulawayo (the majority of stands taken by the Chinese and many of the others by bankrupt parastatals with nothing to offer, such as Air Zimbabwe)?
For us at the Vigil Mr Sata’s bizarre pro-Mugabe comments raise a number of important points: what are the MDC and the British government doing about it? For the MDC’s part, it appears that Tsvangirai has protested by boycotting Sata’s visit. But what purpose does this serve? Wouldn’t a confrontation have been better?
Whatever the MDC’s strategy, the Vigil believes that the government here in Britain should not let pass Sata’s gross interference in Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs. Mr Sata complains about sanctions on Zimbabwe: what is the High Commissioner in Lusaka doing?
Eventually the British government was provoked into suspending the aid that kept Mutharika’s economy going. The Vigil believes that Britain should now take a close look at its priorities in Zambia. We suggest some of the huge aid package given annually to Zambia should be diverted to the undoubtedly daunting task of educating Sata.
Labels: DONORS, EU, GEOFFREY VAN ORDEN, MICHAEL SATA, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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Continued donor support shows faith in PF government, says Dr Scott
By Lovely Kayombo
Thu 23 Feb. 2012, 12:01 CAT
VICE-President Guy Scott says the continued support by donors shows that they have faith in the Patriotic Front government.
Speaking on Tuesday when the Danish government handed over a water reticulation and purification plant valued at K800 million to the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, Vice-President Scott said donors were initially suspicious of the PF government thinking they were going to wreck the country.
"They donors were very suspicious initially especially the times they thought we were going to wreck the country. Now they are giving us fancy 'katundu' (goods) to maintain and operate; it means they are coming to believe that we know what we are doing, that we know how to rule the country and that we can be relied upon," he said.
Vice-President Scott called on the DMMU to utilise the machine efficiently so that it saves lives and wanes out diseases like typhoid.
He directed the DMMU management to give a report within six month of its utilisation and urged them not to station the plant permanently in some towns to treat water.
Vice-President Scott emphasised that the machine was for emergency supply of clean water only.
"We expect lives to be saved, we expect diseases like typhoid to be on the wane when we get this machine. It might have been very useful in Mufurila if we got it earlier, but please let's use it to show that we know what we are doing and that we are responsible and serious so that he (Danish Ambassador Thomas Schjerbeck) can go back to his government and say Zambia is worth caring for..." said Vice-President Scott.
So beware. There will be political pressures from these donor countries to lessen money on the Third World countries if we don't take care of the things we are given; if we look after things properly, they will feel like giving us more."
And Ambassador Schjerbeck said when disaster strikes in different ways, there was need for quick and efficient help to make sure basic things like pure drinking water was made available to people who are suffering.
Labels: DONORS, GUY SCOTT, PF
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Donors await improved accountability from LDCs
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wed 04 Jan. 2012, 13:25 CAT
KEY donors are still willing to continue helping African countries despite the prolonged eurozone debt crisis but that would depend much on recipient countries improving accountability, says EIF executive director Dorothy Tembo.
Tembo, head of Genève-headquartered Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), a multi-donor programme, which supports LDCs to be more active players in the global trading system by helping them tackle supply-side constraints to trade, admitted that key donors were currently financially stressed by the prolonged eurozone threatening the continued relevance of the European Union.
"The resources are still there. If anything, from our programme, the development partners have clearly said LDCs remain a priority," Tembo said about the programme which operates in 47 LDC countries, the bulk of operations being in Africa.
"The only thing they emphasise, you have LDCs ensuring that the resources that are provided are able to be accounted for in terms of the results that are obtaining; that you can progressively start seeing the impact on the ground in terms of contributing to poverty reduction efforts."
She said although the donor resource envelope had shrunk, the developmental needs of LDCs still remained a high priority.
"You may see a situation where there will be cuts by some countries that have been traditionally providing support," she said.
"That message has been clear to everyone. But within that adjustment, I am convinced the LDCs remain a priority for the development partners because the message they keep coming forward with is that they have challenges themselves. Resources are there, it's more of a challenge on the part of the countries LDCs to be able to utilise these resources in a meaningful way and quite understandably, a number of poor countries at the same time do not have the necessary capacity to be able to develop the projects that would be processed by the EIF board."
Tembo, a former director of foreign trade in the Ministry of Commerce praised the PF government's commitment to EIF programme which was started under the MMD regime.
"We had a very positive exchange with minister commerce minister Robert Sichinga and we are happy that they PF government are absolutely committed to the programme," said Tembo.
Zambia is currently trying to reorganise the national EIF structure, under the tier one, with specific focus on honey collectors from North Western and Central provinces and the dairy sector in Southern Province.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DONORS, TRANSPARANCY
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COMMENT - The author does not understand the nature of donor aid. DA is replacement taxation, it is not charity. By stopping 'donor aid', the West would force African nations to start taxing their extractive industries, which is why will maintain DA at all costs. They are not run by their own people, but by representatives of the same trillionairs who own the mines, the IMF/World Bank, and transnational banks.
Untaxed/Unshared Exports from Africa: $1000 billion
Donor Aid: $250 billion
Taxes paid: $0 billion
Charitable giving: $6 billion
No one gives away a quarter trillion dollars. It is a scam, with the misery industry functioning as cover and a disinformation device. Donor Aid is paid involuntarily by western middle class, working class and ordinary companies. Transnational corporations do not pay taxes anywhere, all they do is hoard wealth for their trillionair shareholders.
How Africa can weather global melt-down
30/12/2011 00:00:00
by Tafadzwa L. Chaunzwa
ALTHOUGH I am never particularly thrilled to be thousands of feet above the ground for any prolonged period of time, I have in the past few years learnt to love long flights. Not because of the additional, superficially free meals on the plane but rather the exceptional people I always seem to meet and converse with on these long trips. Except for the occasional obnoxious fella, I usually luck out and sit next to some of the most interesting people from all over the world when I take lengthy transcontinental flights.
From philanthropists coming back to America from a summer working in rural Zambia to a brilliant 21 year old Harvard graduate about to start her 2nd year at Johns Hopkins Medical School, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with some very intellectually engaging individuals. Through this, I have not only come to learn a lot from what these people have to say, but a lot more about my own perspective and stand point on various issues.
On one of my most recent trips – an Ethiopian airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Rome, Italy, I was fortunate enough to sit next to a very pleasant gentleman from Germany. Reinhardt, as he introduced himself shortly after I took my seat, was on his way back home to Giessen, Germany after an African safari break in Zimbabwe.
With the still ensuing debt crisis in Europe preoccupying my concerns about the global economy, I knew if Reinhardt would be interested in discussing the economic situation in Europe at any point during the flight, the flight would not be so long after all. Surely only the naïve would disregard the profound implications of a European economic collapse on the world and the African continent in particular.
EU nations and their American partners are the major financiers of most international aid organisations and global financial institutions. Unfortunately, the Americans have gone through their own share of trouble lately, having only recently experienced their first ever credit down-grade in August of this year.
Further still their leaders have failed to reach a consensus on how they will deal with a massive budget deficit, a deadlock that has further perturbed the already volatile global financial markets. With the world’s largest economy going through this ordeal, a European collapse would not only serve to exacerbate the global financial crisis but also spell doom for institutions like the IMF, the Global Fund, WHO and even USAID should the Obama tabled sequestration go into full effect come 2012.
This would surely have dire consequences for many African countries which unfortunately rely on international aid to keep their own economies afloat. Anti-aid advocates like Dambisa Moyo – author of “Dead Aid” would be quick to point out that African nations should not be extending their hands out for this “aid” (which only brings corruption and further poverty to our shores) in the first place. However, looking at the situation on the ground, African countries (for the most part) are stuck with autocratic leaders that are neither willing to relinquish power nor re-orient the foreign aid arrangement that seems to benefit them so well.
While both sides of the isle seem to recognize this as a problem (for example in a recent political debate, my fellow Duke University alumni and US presidential candidate Ron Paul criticized American aid as taking money from poor people in America (a relatively “rich” country) and putting it in the hands of rich people in poor countries) no one seems to be willing to take major restructuring measures with regard to aid. Indeed the aid arrangement doesn’t do people on either side justice. Never-the-less, in an interconnected world, it is difficult to picture a scenario where Africa would not be directly and adversely affected by a European failure, even if aid was not in the equation.
Luckily these gloomy thoughts were somewhat put to rest (at least for the next few hours or so) by my very optimistic plane buddy who turned out to be a renowned economist at the prestigious University of Giessen. While he acknowledged that there is no easy fix to the predicament the world’s poorest continent finds itself in, he did suggest several approaches that may be followed to leverage and emancipate the African people.
Not much for solving a problem within a problem, Reinhardt quickly discarded the idea of throwing away foreign aid in its entirety as this is in all honesty just a child of the much bigger and ever deepening economic entrenchment Africa has been growing into since the days of colonialism.
Although I initially disagreed with much of his recommendations as I thought them to be pertinent only to large and industrialized economies, we were able to reach common ground on a number of points. Together, we were able to formulate a list of changes that we felt needed to be made in order for the African continent to become globally competitive. I list some of these measures in the remainder of this article, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. I deeply encourage the same level of discourse among all peoples; African and non-African alike, to come up with solutions for the continent’s problems.
Regional Blocks
While the problems faced by the Euro zone do not do this strategy justice at this point in time, creation of regional economic blocks may be the way for Africa to truly achieve self sustainable economic structures that have realistic chances of tangible growth.
Africa makes up a meager one percent of the global market and with 54 countries on the continent; the contribution of each country on average is laughable. But if you sum up the “negligibles” you will surely have a tangible. If African countries can bring their economies together we can have entities that are globally competitive. For instance a Southern African Union, where Angola helps bring in the oil, Zimbabwe the diamonds and brain power, South Africa the much needed industry and commerce and the other countries bringing what they can to the table, we would surely have a formidable economic force.
Again with the lessons of the euro zone, regional blocks may in the future help enforce fiscal discipline among member states. France and Germany have been at the fore-front of making sure weaker EU economies adhere to strict austerity measures before they can receive any bailout funds to dig them out of the holes they dug themselves into by careless spending and building up sovereign debt that far surpasses their GDP.
Should the Euro zone survive this phase, it is not unreasonable to anticipate appropriate reforms in Europe. These reforms may in turn lay down the basic ground work needed for a successful integrated economic block, be it in Africa, Europe, Asia or Latin America.
While it would be premature to lay down any additional guidelines for future economic blocks on the continent, I believe one of the greatest issues that are also key learning points from the euro crisis has been that of currency. If a group of nations is going to agree to use the same currency, they may as well be willing to get into some sort of political agreement that allows a functional federal system that undermines a great deal of their national sovereignty.
Looking at the cases of Greece and the US state of Michigan, which also went through an economic meltdown of comparable proportions, it is not difficult to see the importance of an efficient federal center to the success of any union.
Under normal circumstances a state would devalue its currency to make its products more competitive on the global market when faced with such difficulty. However because both Greece and Michigan were stuck in single currency zones (the Euro and US dollar respectively) they were not able to do this. Unlike Greece, however, Michigan happens to be part of an established federal union (The United States), and could be bailed out by the Federal Reserve relatively easily avoiding the same catastrophic failure that we have seen in Greece.
Smaller government
This is a non-starter in most African countries, but I will go ahead and mention it anyway. When it comes to small government, the American Republicans seem to get it. It is deplorable that as much as 97.8 percent of GDP in countries like Zimbabwe goes into government spending.
Governments, due to populist politicians often push socialistic agendas that allow excessive spending programs the countries simply CAN NOT afford. As countries like Spain, lreland, and again, Greece have come to learn in recent year, you can live outside your own means only for so long. Huge entitlement programs have plunged these countries into the crisis they find themselves in today and there should be no room for this in Africa.
While I believe governments should do the best they can to provide their citizens with the very basics like security law and order (excluding healthcare) African countries are simply too poor to have governments provide for their people without running their countries down.
Again take Zimbabwe as an example – in the mid to late 2000s the central bank had to resort to printing money to keep the government from shutting down, the same move that brought about the worst inflation run in the world’s history. Rather governments should look to privatize most sectors. This not only brings liquidity to an economy but encourages foreign investment, as businesses run away from excessive government regulation.
Individual as capital
A rather unorthodox look at the individual as capital may also be central to solving the African problem at the core. After all, society is merely a summation of individuals and just like everything else; reflects the quality of separate entities it’s made-up of.
That is, if your country has a low literacy rate, has most people living without access to any form of media, how then do you expect them to chose (if they even have this privilege) the right leaders. Intuitively an empowered and educated individual can do a lot more for their community than can one who is not. If African states sought to emancipate their populations at the individual level, the “African trajectory” would almost certainly change its course. In a nutshell - build a well educated generation and trust them to make good decisions.
Diaspora Bonds
To spear-head economic growth in the very countries where excessive emigration has led to economic depreciation, the African Diaspora itself may be the answer. People usually have a home country bias when it comes to investing. For instance, a Zimbabwean living in the United States may be more willing to overlook some risks associated with investing in a Harare business than would an American of equal standing.
African countries may take advantage of this inherent lack of objectivity that individuals have towards their countries (whether this is necessarily a positive or not is purely subjective) to have them buy bonds and provide the much needed capital necessary to keep an economy going.
As I mentioned before the list above is non-exhaustive and there are several other strategies that I have formulated or learnt from others, but thought these were worth mentioning in my first article here. I will in the future look to discuss issues of African development from as objective and informed a stand point as I can and encourage you to look out to this space in the future. I welcome your feedback and look forward to engaging in constructive discourse aimed at developing our homeland.
Tafadzwa L. Chaunzwa is a Zimbabwean research scientist at Harvard and MIT in the United States. He can be contacted at chaunzwa@MIT.EDU
Labels: DAMBISA MOYO, DONORS, GREAT DEPRESSION II
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Africa must shun Western aid
Monday, 07 November 2011 00:00
Tendai Moyo
It seems some world leaders, though misguided, are clearly driven by archaic and racist theories propagated by discredited individuals like Charles Darwin, who centuries ago proclaimed that the white people are a superior race with the inherent responsibility to enlighten and subjugate other dark-coloured races.
This could succinctly explain recent condescending threats by British Prime Minister David Cameron to cut aid on countries that are not supportive of the indecorous homosexual rights. Surely if this is not the highest exhibition of the so-called superiority complex then what could it be?
Mr Cameron in an interview with BBC was quoted saying that, "Britain is now one of the premier aid givers in the world. We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights, and that includes how people treat gay and lesbian people."
He went on to say that, "British aid should have more strings attached, in terms of do you persecute people for their faith or their Christianity, or do you persecute people for their sexuality? We don't think that's acceptable."
What the British premier dismally failed to realise was that his empty threats were actually a form of persecution against those whose faith do not condone the disgusting and uncivilised practice of homosexuality.
In a way, though blurred by failed racist theories, his statements betrayed his blatant hypocrisy and disdain for other peoples' religions and beliefs. This kind of distorted thinking inordinately reveals a bigoted failure to appreciate that there are a plethora of other cultures in the world that view homosexuality as anathema.
To most Africans, the issue of homosexuality is an affront to their moral and cultural values and thus is inadmissible in their social or political discourse. It is an abomination by all standards and remains so despite the hollow threats from Cameron. Mr Cameron should also appreciate that Africa, in its plurality; also has 19 countries that have Islam as the dominant religion.
Islam strictly forbids homosexuality. A simple statement from Prophet Muhammad reinforces this belief.
It says, "When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes". This graphically explains why homosexuality is not tolerated in Islamic countries.
It does not matter whether Cameron withdraws his aid or not, Islamic countries will not condone his pro-homosexual mantra due to their undiluted religious faith. This is the brute reality that Mr Cameron should simply swallow. This world is constituted by a people with diverse cultural orientations and as such it is purely unfathomable for him to believe that his culture should be superimposed upon other world races.
Notwithstanding being an affront to the Africans' moral and cultural norms, the attempt to foist homosexuality on Africa evidently undermines the inviolable principle of sovereignty which categorically upholds a nation's right to determine its own policy of governance. Where is our sovereignty now if the "big brothers" of this world would like to coerce us into adopting their despicable cultural practices that are clearly averse to our cultural beliefs?
Although Cameron rightly acknowledges that we have divergent cultural backgrounds when he said, "They are in a different place from us on this issue . . ." he went on to disdainfully proclaim that, "I think these countries are all on a journey and its up to us to try and help them along on that journey."
What an insult! The British premier feels that we should get a lot of handholding for us to be delivered from our culturally informed anti-gay position. Like children, he feels westerners have the moral obligation to guide us into supporting the unnatural act of homosexuality. As usual, the imperialists think that they have been God-sent to alienate us from our culture and beliefs.
This is a brazen continuation of their previous forays during slavery and colonialism to ideologically and physically subjugate Africans for their own benefit.
The British premier's opaque thinking also opens the issue of "aid" to another trajectory of debate. The question is who benefits from this "aid"? In other words, who does the "aid" aid, the donor or the dependent?
Clearly, from Cameron's line of thinking, the "aid" is a tool created to conveniently aid the perpetuation of the supposed superiority of the Caucasians over other races. Like sanctions, it is a congenial instrument designed to cow other races into pandering to the depraved whims of the Caucasian ego.
We could put it in another way: when Cameron advocates for gay rights in Africa, in the belief that such a dispensation is superior, he gains votes because he is doing the age-old phenomenon of civilisation.
In their racist mentalities, whites believe that they are duty-bound to "civilise" lesser people. And what do we get from it? Just like the "civilising" mission of colonialism raped and underdeveloped the continent, "democratisation" and "human rights" will ultimately spell ill for Africa.
The most important point to make here is that nothing good will come out of a self-serving and Godforsaken West. So what is there for Africa to learn?
The inescapable lesson for Africans is for them to gradually wean themselves from being overly dependent on Western aid. Countries in the continent should come up with self-empowering policies that should disentangle them from the parasitic hands of Western donors. In this vein, programmes like the land reform and the indigenisation and empowerment programme should be viewed as appropriate measures to protect African identity and dignity.
The people of Zimbabwe must now rethink the ideas about foreign direct investment and jobs that are being propounded by some sections of the country. Nothing comes free: Britain and the West will tie conditions such as homosexuality for them to invest and create jobs in the country. The myopic and ultimately unhelpful ideas about jobs and investment must be rejected by all self-respecting
Zimbabweans for it opens the door for destructive western influence.
However, Zimbabwe is now practically immune from Cameron's threats because it is not currently receiving any meaningful aid from the British. In fact, it is trying to diligently harness its natural resources for the benefit of its people without any assistance from these foreigners. More importantly, recent developments have shown that these international bullies can surely be tamed. At the Commonwealth leaders' summit in Australia, the African caucus managed to put asunder Western efforts to force the group to adopt a recommendation that calls for an end to laws against homosexuality in 41 member nations.
Similarly, a caucus of African diamond producers at the recently held Kimberly Process plenary session in Kinshasa DRC also successfully stood up against spirited attempts by Western countries and their allies to block Zimbabwe from selling its diamonds from Marange without any hindrances. It is clear that if African countries stand together, they can defeat imperialism and its self arrogated superiority complex.
Labels: DONORS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, NEOCOLONIALISM
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Donor squeeze brings down ‘zero-deficit’ budget
October 28, 2011
The stubbornness of Malawi leadership is costing the country more with a new stand by the international donor community that they will never release funds unless President Bingu wa Mutharika overcomes political and economic hurdles.
This has clearly led to failure of Malawi’s saviour paper, the zero-deficit budget, as donors are not willing to release over US$500 million pledge aid. The World Bank is concerned with threats to press freedom and what it terms
‘shrinking political space’ in reference to intolerance by the current leadership.
This is a blow to Malawi government, which in June this year, convinced the public that the country can be run and managed using locally generated revenue under what it termed a ‘zero-deficit budget.’
Lipenga: We are addressing non -economic issues. Photo: Times Group
The national budget at K304 billion was expected to be financed by taxes and government introduced new and increased some of the existing tax bands as a strategy to meet the 40 percent budgetary support given by donors.
According to World Bank country manager for Malawi Sandra Bloemekam, the current economic status is continuously raising Malawi’s profile in the international community in negative light.
Bloemekamp, the incumbent chairperson of Malawi’s Common Approach to Budgetary Support (Cabs) which comprises of the donor community, said the country’s international partners are highly concerned with lack of progress to have IMF programme back on track.
But in a clear sign of defeat and indication that the much-touted zero deficit budget is failing, Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga said he has noted the stand by donors and that government would fix all problems raised and find solution to the current challenges in the country.
“We are taking certain actions including enganging the IMF. As a government we have a responsibility to certain action. We know what needs to be done,” said Lipenga.
“We are also addressing certain non-economic issues, the issues that are to do with governance,” he added.
This is not the first time government has acknowledged in its actions of the budget failure as recently President Mutharika separately dispatched high-powered delegations to Washington D.C and London to plead with the west so that Lilongwe should have its lifelines in foreign aid back.
On the other hand Malawi’s donors have firmly said they would not throw any penny in government coffers without the IMF programme and assurance that violence on innocent Malawians calling for human rights is assured.
The United States has even suspended its compact program which was supposed to finance upgrading of the country’s electricity sector valued at US$350 million.
Labels: DONORS, MALAWI
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