Get rid of greedy leaders, advises Rev Matyola
By By Agness Changala
Wed 06 Apr. 2011, 03:59 CAT
ZAMBIA should get rid of greedy leaders, according to Reverend Malawo Matyola. Rev Matyola, who is executive secretary of Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD), called for a revolution that will bring hope to the many suffering Zambians.
“The country must get rid of greedy leaders and ensure that those who love themselves and are able to extend their love to others are brought on board,” Rev Matyola said.
“I know that people depend on politicians to rekindle hope but currently we don’t seem to have such leaders.”
Rev Matyola observed that the greediness of the leaders will cost the country. He said selfless leaders who are motivated by love are needed to lead Zambians.
“I mean the love where one desires the highest good to occur in the life of another,” Rev Matyola said.
He said once this is done, it will be easy for leaders to progress for the benefit of every citizen. And Rev Matyola said leaders must learn to listen to dissenting views on matters of national interest because some problems are solved by just listening to others.
He observed that stubbornness and greediness is the motivation for leaders who don’t care about what people say.
“And to them, anything you suggest or say aims at reducing their pocket or you are starting a fight with them,” he said.
Rev Matyola said there was no political muscle or enthusiasm to give hope to many suffering Zambians.
He further said Zambians needed leaders that will visualise the country people want and desire to have.
Rev Matyola said it was a pity that many seeking to be leaders were just interested in getting rich.
Labels: MALAWO MATYOLA, NEOLIBERALISM
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Zambian politicians are behaving like children - Rev Malawo
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 23 Feb. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ZAMBIA Council for Social Development (ZCSD) executive secretary Reverend Matyola Malawo has said Zambian politicians are behaving more like children.
In an interview yesterday, Rev Malawo said politicians should begin to give Zambians real developmental issues of how they would develop the country if elected next year, rather than behaving like children.
“The current politics happening now, those of us in the development profession, we feel like some of these political debates are done at the expense of development.
It's more like children who are playing. We want to see developmental issues, how we have developed the country's national development plan,” Rev Malawo said.
He said development should be the centre stage of politicians' debate rather than who had done what and name-calling.
Rev Malawo said Zambia should start graduating from the kind of debates that were based on personalities.
“There are a lot of problems we face as a nation and that is why if you analyse the FNDP (Fifth National Development Plan)… who among the politicians talks about it? How was it implemented? What are the challenges and how will these challenges will be addressed?” he said.
Rev Malawo said what Zambians wanted to hear was how the politicians would solve the country's problems.
“The country should spend more time talking about development and things affecting the people than name-calling, it's frustrating generally to us,” he said.
Rev Malawo said what Zambians wanted to see were alternatives.
“If, for example, the MMD is not performing well, we expect the PF or UPND to bring alternatives in a clear and open manner. Development is not a secret so everyone should know what is happening,” he said.
Rev Malawo said Zambians were fed up with the current debates surrounding politics. He urged politicians to concentrate on what alternatives their parties would offer Zambians as the country drew nearer to the 2011 general elections.
Labels: MALAWO MATYOLA
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Mediocre MMD lacks priorities – HH
By Ernest Chanda, Masuzyo Chakwe and pictures
Tue 09 Feb. 2010, 08:30 CAT
He said the current leadership lacked priorities in terms of resource allocation.
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has charged that the
MMD leadership is so mediocre that it cannot plan for annual disasters such as floods.
And Barlastone Assemblies of God Reverend Matyola Malawo said it was quite frustrating that every year, issues of poor drainage and sicknesses of cholera and dysentery should be talked about.
During a tour of areas affected by floods in Lusaka on Sunday afternoon, Hichilema said it was not possible to deal with such problems under a leadership that was more interested in travelling than working.
Hichilema toured Ng’ombe, Kanyama, Chawama and Misisi compounds to check on the effects of the floods. He said the current leadership lacked priorities in terms of resource allocation.
“What we are lacking is priority. If we had a government that understood priorities they would definitely cancel one of the trips. For example, the President has been travelling a lot. If he cut one of his trips of course you will save one, two, three, four, five billion kwacha because he travels with a huge entourage. And we would save money. Some of this money could be used to build bridges and we can save people’s lives,” Hichilema said.
“These things happen year in year out, they are busy travelling. What we need is a change of government. The people of Zambia must understand that the quality of your life is connected to the leadership that you have. If you have mediocre leadership like MMD, people will continue dying. When we change leadership there’ll be better planning, better resource allocation and also quick implementation of issues like this.”
Hichilema called for more funding to constituencies so that the people themselves could deal with crises such as floods.
“We need to change the allocation of funds to constituencies. That is why we in the UPND are talking about allocating K5 billion to every constituency under the Constituency Development Fund. We need to have more money which the constituency controls because currently K600 million is nothing,” he said.
“Look at Kanyama, how many years have we been talking about Kanyama? Floods come year in year out. All it takes is a very simple thing, to put drainage in Kanyama. For us we want to make sure that we build an artificial dam in Lusaka West where we can direct all the water from Lusaka into that artificial dam so that in the dry season we can use that water for agriculture and other things.”
Hichilema charged that the office of the Vice-President and the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit had become a disaster itself.
“We have a disaster management fund under the Vice-President’s office. We are being told by the District Commissioner Lusaka that the funds are there. If the funds are there why are there no bridges? The disaster management arm of our government, may be, instead of dealing with disasters it is a disaster itself because the funds are not being utilised properly,” Hichilema charged.
“Otherwise we could have had quick action, bringing in the army. Within two, three days this bridge will have been done. A country that is alive does that. This country under the dead leadership of the MMD will not be able to do this bridge. This year children will die here, next year they will die here.
But I want to say to the people of Zambia that all of this will be a thing of the past in 15 months time. The power is in your hands to change leadership. MMD is flat, MMD is tired, MMD is too corrupt. The leadership is busy travelling earning allowances; paying themselves so much money at the NCC. The Vice-President is even in the forefront to collect or to reclaim more money for his colleagues in the NCC. That money should have come here to build this bridge.”
And Rev Malawo who is also Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD) executive secretary said Zambia should learn from the past.
“These problems have been with us for many years. In George compound, the road to Zingalume is impassable because of the poor drainage. The road is in a bad shape and children can’t even go to school. People have complained to their area member of parliament but things are not improving,” he said.
He said it was unfortunate that this was happening when leaders were introducing new ways of remunerating themselves.
“I think if the K5 billion is used to improve on some of the things we are talking about, things would be different. It is time especially as we go to 2011, we should reflect as citizens of Zambia and begin to explore ways of ensuring that we choose people that will have a heart for us as citizens,” he said.
Rev Malawo said it was difficult for people to go to church because of the floods.
He said the government should set its priorities right.
“Every time we bring up issues, there is no money but when certain things emerge, resources are found. There is need for the government to priortise such type of development of projects. When cholera breaks out, they begin to deal with the problem. We should be thinking of preventing the problems,” he said.
Rev Malawo said the government should priortise the lives of people and value life.
“Life is a precious gift from God and just as the government wants support from the church, they should ensure that they put the life of humanity as priority. Even if they try to intervene when cholera breaks out, it is a mockery to us when these things could have been prevented,” said Rev Malawo.
Labels: FLOODS, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, MALAWO MATYOLA, MMD
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Malawo advises govt to embrace criticism
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 26 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ZAMBIA Council for Social Development (ZCSD) executive secretary Reverend Matyola Malawo has urged the government to embrace criticism the same way they embrace praise.
In an interview, Rev Malawo said political leaders must be flexible to criticism because there was praise and criticism in every position of leadership.
“Everywhere we have such types of critics, let’s be tolerant to criticism and advice,” said Rev Malawo.
And Rev Malawo said the year 2009 had a lot of frustrations for Zambians.
He said the media came under threat on the issues of statutory regulation of the media.
However, he urged media organisations to continue the fight on self regulation.
Rev Malawo said there were also attempts to stifle Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) through the enactment of the NGO bill.
“It started with us NGOs then went on to the media, these are what we can consider frustrations for 2009 and the inability for the DDP Director for Public Prosecutions to appeal against the Frederick Chiluba case because this was a straightforward issue. All these issues raised a lot of questions than answers,” he said.
Rev Malawo said he hoped the government could begin to provide answers to the many questions that Zambians were raising.
Labels: MALAWO MATYOLA
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‘Govt is quarrelling with every key sector of society’
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Sunday, October 11, 2009 4:08:46 AM
A LUSAKA clergyman has said it is a big problem that the government is quarrelling with every key sector of society. In an interview yesterday, Reverend Malawo Matyola, who is also Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD) executive secretary, expressed concerned that the government was fighting with all the key sectors such as the Church, donors, civil society, media and ordinary citizens with opposing views that were advising it on various issues.
“There is a very big problem; what is happening currently in our country is bad where we have the government quarrelling with all the key sectors. Every sector is in conflict with our government,” Rev Matyola said.
“The government is not just quarrelling with the media, it is also quarrelling with the Church, the donors, civil society and everyone. That is why you even saw with the NGO Act.”
He wondered why the government went to the extent of even accusing donors and diplomats of funding Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that were calling for honking against the acquittal of former president Frederick Chiluba.
“It was out of anger that the Civil Society Organisations resorted to honking. You saw the minister [of home affairs Lameck Mangani] accusing CSOs of being paid by donors. Now after we resolve to temporarily suspend the honking, I am now wondering, is the minister going to accuse us of having been paid by the IG [Inspector General of police Francis Kabonde] because he had accused us that we were paid by the donors,” Rev Matyola said.
He said the government’s attacks on people and groupings with different views on national issues showed the problem with the current leadership.
“It is clear demonstration that what they are doing is wrong,” said Rev Matyola.
“Two days ago the minister of home affairs was on radio accusing CSOs. Instead of them accusing us, the minister or the President could have said ‘you 18 CSOs, instead of doing what you are doing, come here let us dialogue’. But they are quarrelling with everyone.”
Labels: GOVERNANCE, MALAWO MATYOLA, ZCSD
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Rev Matyola urges disclosure of assets by NGOs
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe
Saturday, July 11, 2009 3:41:39 PM
ZAMBIA Council for Social Development (ZCSD) executive secretary Reverend Malawo Matyola has said non-governmental organisations must be willing to declare their assets the same way they have been calling on public service officers to do so.
Giving reflections on the NGO bill, Rev Matyola, who said the 2009 NGO bill bore little difference from the 2007 bill the government had withdrawn however appreciated the new provisions where the board shall prescribe rules for the declaration of assets and liabilities of officers of non-governmental organisations.
“This is a new provision from the 2007 bill and on the whole, it is our considered view that this provision in itself is not an impeding one in the work of NGOs especially in view of the principle of accountability and transparency.
And even more so is the fact that most Non Governmental Organisations have been calling upon public service officers to declare their assets and it would therefore follow that personnel within NGOs must be ready and willing to live the virtues that they have been calling upon others to live,” he said.
Rev Matyola said some provisions of the new bill, if enacted, would have implications on the work of non-governmental organisations in Zambia. He said under the 2009 bill, the minister had wide discretionary powers.
Rev Matyola said the definition as provided for in the bill where non-governmental organisations were defined more in terms of compartments was unacceptable on the premise that such could limit the scope and nature of their work and forms a good platform for the arbitrarily de-registration by the authorities on flimsy grounds.
He said the composition of the board was something that needed to be debated.
Rev Matyola said although the bill was silent over the fifty-fifty per centum basis, it had nevertheless provided for equal gender representation to the board.
He said the 2009 bill provided that the board shall among its many functions, register non-governmental organisations in Zambia.
Rev Matyola said it was their view that this was an administrative responsibility that the Office of the Registrar could competently discharge and not the board and thus must be removed.
He said the current bill also provided that the board shall recommend the rules and procedures for audit of the accounting of non-governmental organisations.
Rev Matyola said the current bill provided that the board shall approve the Code of Conduct as prepared by a Council of non-governmental organizations
He said the bill was also not clear on registration of non-governmental organisations after their formation.
Rev Matyola said the section where a non-governmental organisation must specify the areas of operations of its activities sought to restrict their work by requiring them to first state at registration where they would operate from, saying this could also be a ground for refusing to register or for de-registering it.
He also said the bill stated that the non-governmental organisations shall specify the possible sources of their funding to the Registrar, noting that this would become a ground for either registration or otherwise of a non-governmental organisation.
Rev Matyola said the bill provides that the board can reject the application for registration of a non-governmental organisation if it failed to define what public interest it was established for.
Labels: MALAWO MATYOLA, NGOs, ZCSD
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