PF has ignored pleas to abolish DC role, says Chileshe
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Mon 20 Feb. 2012, 11:59 CAT
THE PF government has ignored appeals to abolish the position of district commissioner, says a business consultant. Lawrence Chileshe, who is also former Chamber of Mines of Zambia assistant general manager, said the appeals to abolish the position of district commissioner were made in good faith for government structures to reduce and make real savings on government expenditure.
Chileshe said the abolition of the position would show the government's seriousness in reducing its structure and expenditure.
"The reduction of government's structure will be deemed as ‘cosmetic' if the position of district commissioner is not abolished. With the creation of new districts and the appointment of district commissioners, with immediate effect, means that we no longer have 72 district commissioners. This is a large number of which if abolished, huge sums of money could be saved and the funds re-allocated, to improve conditions of service of other more critical civil servants or used in hospitals, schools, increasing empowerment funds or the funds sent to the provincial offices. How will this decentralization that President Michael Sata talks about become a reality?" he asked.
He said historically, the people appointed as district commissioners in the previous governments were used as ‘district political organisers' and not as purely civil servants.
"In the MMD government, the district commissioners would be said to be the link between the party and the government. However, this should not be the case in the PF regime, as the PF government had promised a reduced government structure, resulting in reduction in government's recurrent expenditure. The Patriotic Front party must ensure that party structures are strengthened and not rely on district commissioners to organise the party at district level. The former government did not strengthen the party structures at grass root level and this contributed in the party losing in the last general elections," he said.
"Sadly, we are now seeing PF officials being appointed as district commissioners. The new DC of Choma, Mr Golden Nyambe, is Choma PF district vice-chairman. The new DC in Chikankata, Mr Sylvester Simayaba, is Mazabuka PF district chairman. And PF Mazabuka Central losing parliamentary candidate, Lucia Mwiinde, has been appointed as DC for Monze. Is this position now being used to reward hard working PF party officials or another form of job creation just for PF officials? I am a PF supporter, but these positions need to be abolished. The PF government needs to be bold as it is implementing changes in fiscal policy."
Chileshe also said the government's action in the last few months had raised concerns over a possible increase in government expenditure for 2012.
"We have seen government creating districts and appointing office bearers with immediate effect. We have seen government embarking on a debasing of the currency, an exercise which is not cheap. Yet all this is not clearly budgeted for in the 2012 national budget. We have had so many pronouncements, especially by our President, which creates additional expenditure in this fiscal year. It is as though the government has not weighed the full implications of such actions, that it will have to spend in order to achieve all these pronouncements," he said.
"It will not matter whether induction workshops of permanent secretaries are reduced or even President Sata abandoning his motorcade and just using an ordinary bus when visiting Livingstone as will would matter is sober economic thinking and fiscal discipline."
Chileshe said the country needed real and tangible savings on government expenditure.
"Ministers need to be professional, very bold and advise the President on such matters that border on the economics of this country. It is not a one-man show; they must work as a team. Has the President appointed an economic advisor at State House? Maybe that is where part of the problem might just be," said Chileshe.
Labels: DISTRICT COMMISSIONERS, LAWRENCE CHILESHE, PF
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FISP needs reform, says Chileshe
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 14 Feb. 2012, 12:59 CAT
THE Farmer Input Support Programme still needs reform, says a business consultant. Lawrence Chileshe, who is also former Chamber of Mines in Zambia assistant general manager,
said the country cannot go on funding the same famers with fertiliser and seed.Chileshe said these farmers needed to graduate so that their farming become proper businesses that are self-sustaining.
"We need to establish a proper revolving fund rather than allowing the FISP to be
manipulated by politicians during their election campaigns. We have noted and commend the PF government for increasing funding to the agriculture sector, but the FISP programme still needs reforming," he said.
Chileshe, however, said it was disappointing that the PF government did not include short-term economic incentives to selected sectors in the 2012 national budget.
"It was expected that the PF government would provide short-term (immediate) incentives such as temporary tax relief on selected sectors. It is therefore worrisome that the government set a high growth rate of seven percent without immediate economic measures. How are we going to achieve the seven percent economic growth in 2012? There are no measures in place to achieve such an ambitious target. We have left achieving this target to chance and may only achieve this if, hopefully, mining and construction sectors experience a big boom in 2012. This is more of wishful thinking rather than being prudent," he said.
Chileshe said any country had short-term and long-term economic measures.
He said it had been the practice in Zambia to use the annual national budget in undertaking or implementing short-term economic measures.
Chileshe said such measures were usually used to address a particular issue in the economy or in a particular sector.
"For example, after the MMD took over power in 1991, one of the issues the then government sought to address was the shortage of public transport, especially in the cities. This was a ‘huge' problem that affected productivity and made life more difficult. The MMD government in the following national budgets introduced a tax incentive, allowing transport operators to import their buses tax free. This has changed the situation and the transport sector has never been the same," Chileshe said.
He said in a similar manner, the people were expecting the PF government to introduce certain incentives for specific economic sectors, in the short term.
"However, we have not seen the PF government including short-term economic incentives in the 2012 budget. I was expecting incentives in sectors like manufacturing, which has been ignored for years. Zambia Association of Manufacturing, for years now, has been advocating for incentives in the manufacturing sector, to propel increased investment and attract the establishment of value addition facilities. We were expecting measures such as tax incentives in this sector, which could be tax relief or exemption and reduction of corporate tax in the sector," Chileshe said.
He said another sector where immediate incentives were expected was tourism as it had great potential for growth.
Chileshe said information communication and telecommunication (ICT) was another sector which had contributed to the rapid economic growth of many countries.
He cited Mauritius, Rwanda and Singapore that have experienced great growth because their governments had made ICT as a priority sector.
"Can't we learn from these countries? Has the PF government prioritised ICT in the 2012 national budget?" he asked.
Chileshe said the quality of the 2012 national budget left many economic and business commentators concerned, although the atmosphere was that the PF was being given chance to settle in government and hopefully give the country a better budget for 2013.
"Though sadly, such an action is a loss of 12 months of potential growth. We now wonder if we concentrated more on ensuring that the elections are not rigged by the MMD, and forgot to formulate sound short-term (immediate) economic measures to be implemented the moment PF wins in the 2011 tripartite general elections," said Chileshe.
Labels: FISP, LAWRENCE CHILESHE
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Zambia needs development plan - Chamber of Mines
By Zumani Katasefa in Kitwe
Wed 28 Oct. 2009, 04:00 CAT
CHAMBER of Mines assistant general manager Lawrence Chileshe has said there is need for Zambia to have a development plan that gives direction to help various sectors to grow.
Presenting a paper during a post-budget tax review workshop at Kitwe’s Hotel Edinburgh, Chileshe also said there was need for the government to use tax relief strategies as one of the tools in promoting growth in different sectors of the economy.
“There is need for the country to have a development plan that gives direction, to help various sectors grow and also maximise on the benefits that the nation will derive from each sector,” he said.
Chileshe added that Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) would remain a very important source of financing.
“African continent continues to lag behind in attracting FDI. Over the years, it has been only attracting as little as three per cent of global FDI inflows, Zambia has been attracting less than one per cent of the said three percent of FDI that Africa receives,” he said.
Chileshe said the FDI figures were an indication of how much competition there was regarding FDI globally and also how important the level of investor confidence was in attracting investments.
And Chileshe said the 2010 budget did not present any changes in terms of taxation in the mining sector compared to the 2009 national budget.
Chileshe commended the government on its efforts in trying to mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis and the continued efforts to diversify the national economy from over-dependency on copper.
He said the mining sector was the largest foreign exchange earner and one of the major employers in Zambia.
Chileshe said the presence of viable mining houses contributed to the existence and growth of efficient local enterprises.
Labels: CHAMBER OF MINES, DEVELOPMENT, LAWRENCE CHILESHE
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