‘Zambia’s use of Norwegian taxpayers’ money needs to be revisited’
Written by George Zulu and Ernest Chanda in Monze
Sunday, September 27, 2009 2:09:30 AM
NORWEGIAN Agency for Internal Development (NORAD) director-general Poul Engberg Pedersen has said the donor community is following intently events following the acquittal of former president Frederick Chiluba.
And Pedersen has revealed that the Norwegian tax payer is getting impatient with the lack of results for the money being pumped into Zambia's different economic sectors.
Meanwhile, Patriotic Front (PF) spokesperson Given Lubinda has said the rise in poverty and corruption levels in the country is due to an ignorant citizenry, weak institutions and systems of governance introduced by the ruling MMD government.
In an interview, Pedersen said although the donors did not want to interfere with Zambian politics, they were following all events surrounding Chiluba’s acquittal.
“I think you have to ask that question to our Ambassador. The Ambassador here takes care of all the views we have there. I can only say on that point that we are of course following very, very intently what is happening in this case. All of the donors are looking to what would be the outcome. But of course we do not want to interfere in the politics of Zambia,” he said. “Yes, we will continue our support to Zambia there’s a very strong commitment from our government. We have enjoyed working with Zambia over several decades and have also now been here, seeing that there’s still poverty; still very many difficulties in Zambia and the Norwegian government will work with you on that.”
And Pedersen revealed that the rate at which Zambia was spending the Norwegian taxpayers’ money was worrying and needed to be revisited.
He said it was sad to note that the government was failing to deliver to the expectations of the people, hence the ever increasing poverty levels in the country which were, unfortunately, affecting rural communities.
“Corruption and political mismanagement by those entrusted with the management of the country is taking a toll on donor funding and there is need to change both government and society mindset with regards to the use of funds meant at addressing poverty,” he said.
Pedersen told delegates who included former finance minister Ng'andu Magande, Lubinda, Luena member of parliament Charles Milupi, TIZ executive director Goodwell Lungu, traditional leaders and other cooperating partners during the Matantala Rural Integrated Developmen Enterprise [M-RIDE] and NORAD organised workshop in Monze that countries such as Vietnam and South Korea had in the last 50 years improved their economies.
He said it was unfortunate that development aid had continued to be a source of corruption and had failed to produce tangible results as noted by the number of poor people, especially in rural areas.
Pedersen said Zambia, unlike other countries, was capable of avoiding donor aid dependence and bureaucracy as long as those in leadership changed their mindset and took keen interest in the affairs of citizens.
And making a presentation during the workship, Lubinda said a combination of corruption and poverty was too dangerous as it allowed for abuse of public resources for those in authority.
He said weak institutions of governance such as the judiciary, the treasury and the police had led to the abuse of resources by a few individuals at the expense of the majority of citizens.
“The problem with Zambian governance especially under the MMD leadership is that they don't want people to be aware of what they are doing. They like an ignorant citizenry, and that is the biggest problem and the
Labels: DONORS, NORAD, POUL ENGBERG PEDERSON
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Zambia is not poor – NORAD Director General
Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 13:36
NORAD Director General Poul Engberg Pederson has observed that Zambia has enough resources although the country is among the less developed nations. Mr. Engberg says Zambia must ensure that resources transform the entire country by changing the mind set over dependency on donor aid.
He was speaking during the Matatantala Rural Integrated Development Enterprise workshop held at the Southern Comfort Motel in Monze today. He said there was need to avoid aid dependency and corruption on aid in order to harmonize situations that would create an enabling environment where the economic would easily thrive.
Mr. Pederson noted that aid dependency would effectively be addressed with proper and responsible management of local resources. He said that for the country to overcome the challenge of higher poverty levels there must be change in the manner national affairs are managed. He added that dependency on donor aid, coupled with corruption must be avoided at all cost.
Mr. Pederson said this was the surest way to deal with poverty reduction in the country. And former Norwegian ambassador to Zambia Terj Vigtel who is currently head of civil society under NORAD commended traditional leaders for supporting the rural development through initiatives such as Matantala.
Mr. Vigtel said Matantala was able to bring development to the people of chief Chona with support from traditional leaders and stakeholders. He said traditional leaders must take the lead in critically addressing the wrong traditions that were obstructing development in their chiefdoms.
Meanwhile economic advisor Professor Oliver Saasa said during his presentation that Zambia is not poor but the people are poor due to lack of proper management of resources.
Professor Saasa said Zambia as a country has valued resources which have never been recognized as important to its economic development.
He said that poverty levels were very high in the country because the rural areas had been neglected in terms of development through failure by government to evenly allocate resources.
Professor Saasa said that government must ensure that people are able to meet the basic needs if poverty is to be effectively addressed.
He also said that donor dependency was not good for development of the nation adding if aid was to be received it needed to be received and managed within the policy.
The economic consultant said that government must ensure that a transparency and accountability are made priorities in the management of resources.
ZANIS
Labels: NEOCOLONIALISM, NORAD, OLIVER SAASA, POUL ENGBERG PEDERSON
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NORAD gives GART $25m to implement farming projects
By Kabanda Chulu
Friday February 01, 2008 [03:00]
NORAD has committed US $25 million to the Golden-valley Agriculture Research Trust (GART) for the implementation of conservation farming projects across the country. GART will carry out the projects in conjunction with the Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) for five years and target 120,000 farmers in five provinces.
According to a statement released by the Conservation Farming Unit yesterday, NORAD was funding the entire project that would see small-scale farmers being introduced to new techniques and crop rotation systems.
It stated that there was need to introduce Zambian small scale farmers to methods that would preserve soil fertility through growing of plants that were rich in nitrogen nutrients.
“The five-year project worth US $25 million will end in 2012 and it is funded by Norway and will be implemented by GART and CFU across five provinces targeting 120,000 farmers, whom we intend to introduce to new systems of preserving soil fertility through crop rotation,” it stated. “These farmers will also be encouraged to plant crops together with the faidherbia albida (musangu) trees that are rich in nitrogen nutrients hence there will be no need to apply fertilisers since conservation farming entails one to have soil fertility through use of dead leaves and residues.”
It stated that small-scale farmers would also be encouraged to grow cassava and jatropha plants as live fencing for their crops.
The project would be undertaken in Central, Lusaka, Western, Eastern and Southern provinces.
Labels: CONSERVATION FARMIING, GART, NORAD
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