Opposition leaders selfish - Siabutuba
By Roy Habaalu
Tue 14 Jan. 2014, 14:00 CAT
PARTNER Siabutuba says opposition political parties cannot unite for a good cause because their leaders are selfish. Siabutuba, who is Youth Development Organisation director, said there could not be unity among opposition parties because it was targeted at ousting PF from power.
Commenting on Alliance for Democracy and Development president Charles Milupi's statement last week that there are political parties that want to get into political alliances for the sole purpose of riding on others, Siabutuba said some of the parties that were calling for a united opposition lacked a clear manifesto thereby giving Zambians no hope.
"If these opposition political parties want to unite to fight PF, they have it wrong. Of what use is it to fight PF or Wynter Kabimba? We don't want many shadows to come together and become one big shadow; that's not what Zambia's democracy means," he said.
Siabutuba said Zambians were not interested in fighting PF but in finding solutions to the challenges the country was facing.
"They need to provide solutions on how they would improve the living conditions of the people and tell PF what they are not doing, not fighting them. Leaders of some of these parties are not genuine; they are without a clear and prospective programmes for this country and they end up confusing Zambians more. It's not about unity; it's about a CV and to have it on record that I once headed a political party," he said.
Siabutuba said some opposition parties had lost continually and were not offering hope.
Milupi, in an interview last week, said he was aware of some opposition political parties and leaders that were not in existence to serve Zambians, who wanted to use any opportunity to project themselves as being more popular than others.
"We will not be ridden on by anybody. If someone feels that his political party is so big, let him go ahead and win elections. It will not be the end of the world if we are not part of the next government and the world has not ended because we are not part of the current government," said Milupi.
Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, OPPOSITION, PARTNER SIABUTUBA
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Ministers failing to explain policy, says Siabutuba
By Gift Chanda
Wed 25 Sep. 2013, 14:00 CAT
SOME ministers have difficulties explaining very basic and straightforward government policies to the people, says former CSPR board chairperson Partner Siabutuba.
Commenting on President Michael Sata's call on ministers to explain developmental achievements under the PF's tenure, Siabutuba said some ministers behave like they do not believe in the President's vision.
"The President is spot-on to urge his ministers to go out and explain government development success. But ministers need to also go out and explain government programmes and policies so that people can understand exactly what the government's intentions are in as far as bringing development is concerned," Siabutuba said in an interview.
"What is worrying however is that some of the ministers have difficulties explaining very basic and straightforward policies. It is as if they don't believe in the vision of President Sata himself or the PF manifesto."
President Sata last week questioned why ministers and party officials have remained quiet when people and opposition leaders like United Party for National Development president Hakainde Hichilema were busy attacking the party.
He told the ministers to explain the government's succeses, saying nobody was going to defend the party and the government if they did not protect party policies from attacks and explain to the nation what the government was doing.
But Siabutuba said unless ministers fully understood both President Sata's vision and the PF manifesto, they would somewhat "sabotage" all efforts to take the country forward.
"Therefore, the President must not just end at encouraging his ministers to just go out and explain development success. He should challenge them to also understand and appreciate government and PF's vision so that they can go out and explain the vision perfectly to the grassroots," he said.
Meanwhile, Siabutuba said the government needs to explain how the electronic voucher system would be used in the distribution of farming inputs under the state-run Farmer Input Support Programme.
He explained that some farmers in Southern Province were panicking as information on the e-voucher system has been scanty.
"...and panic is not good when you are heading into the farming season," said Siabutuba.
Labels: PARTNER SIABUTUBA, POLICY
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Siabutuba implores youths to be useful
By Cynthia Phiri in Choma
Wed 23 Jan. 2013, 13:59 CAT
YOUTH Development Organisation executive director Partner Siabutuba has implored young people in the country to take advantage of the government's political will in youth leadership by being useful. In an interview, Siabutuba said the PF and its government had given a lot of leadership positions to the youth to serve at various levels and advised them not jeopardise their opportunities by allowing political parties to use them in perpetrating violence.
"For a long time now we have not seen youths take up leadership positions like we are seeing today. Most of our youths have been given jobs in foreign missions which is a plus to our generation. So youths should not shoot themselves in the foot by being disorderly," Siabutuba advised.
And Siabutuba urged youths in the country to fully participate in the Mpongwe and Livingstone by-election by electing leaders of their choice. He appealed to politicians to make good use of the youth than using them as tools for perpetrating violence.
"There is a lot that youths can do other than violence, like the situation we saw at Woodlands police station where they assaulted a police officer; instead youths can be mobilised and used as peer educators who can actually disseminate their party manifesto, there is no democracy in violence," Siabutuba said.
He said for the youth to enjoy respect, they need to have self-respect first and be able to show the rest of the world that they were ready to take up leadership positions.
Siabutuba explained that when the youth are known for lack of respect and violence, they tend to take away from what society perceived them to be.
Labels: PARTNER SIABUTUBA, PF, YOUTHS
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MMD is taking advantage of the poor - CSPR
By Kombe Chimpinde
Sun 08 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda’s government is taking advantage of the poor in rural areas by promising things they have failed to provide in the last 20 years of MMD’s rule, says Partner Siabutuba.
Siabutuba, who is Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) board chairman, said in an interview that MMD should stop capitalising on the suffering of the majority Zambians which it inflicted on them by making failed and empty promises of development.
Siabutuba said this year called for serious reflection for Zambians on the need to install a proper management that will govern the affairs and resources of the country.
“To a great extent MMD has taken advantage of the poor by going to rural areas and promising things, the same things that they have failed to provide in the 20 years that they have been in power,” Siabutuba said.
He said the government should instead apologise to Zambians for the poverty and suffering that it subjected them to for a long time.
He observed that President Banda was going round to initiate and promise various projects in a bid to woo votes from the poor majority, an act he described as desperate.
“I think that’s an act of desperation. What we need is a proper management in place to govern the affairs of this country,” Siabutuba said.
“We have talked about the need for this government to get serious with the fight against corruption. It has not listened. Zambians continue to be denied of their natural resources. This government has failed to heed the wishes of Zambians on the constitution, the removal of the abuse of office, the acquittal of plunderers and the procurement of mobile hospitals . This government has also failed to re-introduce the windfall tax. All these things have fallen on deaf ears.”
Siabutuba urged Zambians not to just take whatever promises they were given but to judge politicians on their experience.
Last week, chief Chisunka said people in Luapula Province are not seeing the developmental achievements President Banda’s government claims to be delivering.
In an interview, chief Chisunka said people were just hearing about the development but had not seen it. He said there was too much unemployment in places like Mansa.
“When they bring development people should be employed. Right now there is nothing. It is just some private investors who are operating what we may term illegal mines. Let them government put one mining plant here in Luapula. There are many precious metals like Manganese but people are not processing anything because of lack of electricity,” said chief Chisunka.
Labels: CSPR, MINING, MMD, PARTNER SIABUTUBA, POVERTY
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MMD on a clear path to abusing national resources - Siabutuba
By Kombe Chimpinde
Wed 09 Mar. 2011, 04:00 CAT
The MMD is on a clear path to abusing national resources, says Partner Siabutuba. And former finance minister Ng'andu Magande says the Sixth National Development Plan will remain an exercise on paper as long as the MMD remains in power.
Siabutuba, who is Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) board chairman, said his organisation was concerned by the fast pace of misuse of public funds by the MMD. Siabutuba predicted that if unchecked, MMD would continue squandering national coffers at the expense of urgent development, such as the Sixth National Development Plan.
“We are predicting massive looting of public resources ahead of these elections, before and when parliament is dissolved and everyone goes to the constituencies to campaign. We foresee a situation where MMD will multiply theft of funds to give to constituencies where the MMD is not popular ... view to woo support at the expense of the poor as we saw in Mporokoso, where MMD was dishing out money in the name of women empowerment,” Siabutuba said.
“So you can imagine how resources will be abused, even the money that is being earmarked for projects will just land in the hands of MMD without enhancing or improving people's lives.”
Siabutuba said it was sad that the MMD government had continued to manipulate elections using the poor people.
“We are aware, and we have said it before that we are not going to have free and fair elections with very high levels of poverty. And what is of specific concern is the manner in which the Minister of Community Development Honourable Kaingu is distributing colossal sums of money without following the laid-down procedures of how communities are supposed to access funds for women empowerment,” Siabutuba said.
“What Kaingu is doing is a total disregard for laid-down procedures. So in the light of the removal of the abuse of office clause from the Anti Corruption Commission Act, you don't expect anything less than the abuse of public funds … The pace at which we are abusing the resources is an indication of government inability and lack of seriousness in improving the wellbeing of this country.”
And Magande said the current government lacked seriousness in implementing projects as evidenced by its failure to successfully end the Fifth National Development Plan.
“Technically it's well written. We are going to elections, what will happen is that the whole of the financial structure will be upside down. You can see how many government ministers are already going round to campaign using public resources. This government has shown us that it can't manage resources judiciously and prudently,” Magande said.
He said the first three years of the FNDP, which he spearheaded when he was Minister of Finance, were a success because there was will on the part of government to manage resources prudently.
Magande said executing medium-term plans, such as the successful development plan that would culminate in poverty reduction, demanded transparency, accountability and level-headedness which the government lacked.
He expressed concern over the government's plan to increase external borrowing during a period when the country could utilise its mineral resources.
“It's an issue that has to be dealt with carefully because you can build a lot of schools. Now these will only attain productive levels after 20 years. By then most of the loans will have been due for repayment. What we need is to borrow to ensure we prepare a productive team so that through taxes, loans can be paid. You can borrow to build roads which foreign companies will destroy with their heavy trucks, but we are not taxing them adequately,” Magande said.
Labels: CORRUPTION, MMD, NG'ANDU MAGANDE, PARTNER SIABUTUBA
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MMD is to blame for poverty levels - CSPR
By Kombe Chimpinde
Sat 05 Feb. 2011, 04:00 CAT
CSPR says Zambians should not forget that MMD is to blame for the high poverty levels the country is experiencing as they choose leaders this year.
Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) chairman Partner Siabutuba warned in an interview that Zambians should not buy the MMD’s failed manifesto ahead of this year’s general elections as it had greatly contributed to the country’s underdevelopment.
He said the MMD had a tendency to make economic adjustments when the country drew to elections for its advantage.
“As CSPR we are concerned about the high poverty levels. Given that people have experienced poverty for a long time now they must seriously reflect on the 20 years rule of MMD. MMD has introduced a number of programmes in the name of reducing poverty like the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP), youth empowerment fund policy,” Siabutuba said.
“We have seen initiatives like the national development plans, the Fifth National Development Plan for instance and many others which have all been a mess. We have had a lot of money put in all the initiatives but very little has come out.”
Siabutuba said the MMD’s manifesto was merely policies on a piece of paper, which were used as a ticket for misapplication of funds.
He said many policies that had been embarked on with so much vigor had seen little or no meaningful implementation.
“Zambians must demand for better and new ideas. Don’t let political parties sell you ideas that are old and have failed. What the country needs right now is new workable ideas in the agriculture sector, new strategies of marketing products, a proper road network, decent employment for all,” he said.
Siabutuba said the MMD must refrain from asking for a fresh mandate from Zambians during its campaigns because it had enough time to prove its worth.
He said in the event that the MMD remained in power, it needed to give Zambians a good reason as to why it should be entrusted to run the country’s affairs after having lamentably failed.
“Zambians should demand for a clear explanation from President Banda’s government about the much talked about economic improvement which was not benefiting the majority Zambians. Economic improvement that has so much been talked about does not reflect what is happening on the ground. Diseases like malnutrition are still recorded at most health cares in both rural and urban areas,” he said.
“Their policies have failed to improve the livelihood of Zambians. They have had all the time to adopt and work on new strategies that will have to reduce poverty levels in the country. But it seems like it lacks both the political will and a vision for this country. Even in their campaigns it is clear that they have nothing new to offer to this country.”
He said there was nothing new and inspiring in the MMD’s political statements.
Siabutuba called on the electorate to critically analyse all the parties’ manifestos for new policies and ideas that would further the country’s national and economic development.
Labels: CSPR, MMD, NEOLIBERALISM, PARTNER SIABUTUBA, POVERTY
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Govt is perpetuating poverty - CSPR
By Kombe Chimpinde
Sun 23 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
A CIVIL society organisation says the government is perpetuating poverty among majority Zambians by failing to secure the workers’ well being.
Civil Society for Poverty Reduction’s remarks come in the wake of the government’s announcement of the new minimum wage for an average worker pegged at K419,000 from K268,000.
CSPR board chairperson Partner Siabutuba said the new minimum salaries would accelerate the existing high poverty levels the country was experiencing.
“The increment is far from making sense because there are very clear yardsticks that government would have used to determine what an adequate salary for a Zambian would be. Say the basic basket requires that an average family of six should have about K2.3 million a month to meet all its needs,” Siabutuba said in an interview.
“Now when you compare it to K419,000, it is far from making sense.”
Siabutuba said it was disheartening to see the government glorifying the increment because there was nothing to be proud about.
“As CSPR we are saddened because we are trying to fight poverty in order to elevate the economic status of the majority Zambians living in poverty, but this government is trying to frustrate this,” he said. “It is clear the current wages cannot meet the daily basic needs and services for workers thereby pushing people into poverty.”
Siabutuba challenged the government to raise the minimum wage to at least the taxation threshold, which currently stands at K1 million.
“This is why we are even questioning the quality of Chinese and other foreign investors in the country because they are taking advantage of weak laws set by the government. One even wonders whose interest they are serving,” he said.
Siabutuba argued that the number of jobs provided by the investors did not matter but the quality.
“At the end of the day foreign investment is not working for Zambians but the nations where investors are coming from and a few leaders in MMD. The salaries of Zambians in sectors that are the highest employers of the majority currently do not even meet the taxation threshold. You wonder how this government thinks it will raise enough revenue after having scrapped the windfall tax,” he said.
Siabutuba warned that Zambia risked remaining a perpetual beggar if the lack of proper economic management was allowed to continue.
Labels: CSPR, MMD, NEOLIBERALISM, PARTNER SIABUTUBA, POVERTY
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Banda should consider benchmarks for free, fair elections - SACCORD
By George Zulu
Wed 12 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
SACCORD says President Rupiah Banda should seriously consider taking the benchmarks for a free and fair election as demanded by Zambians.
In an interview yesterday, SACCORD executive director Lee Habasonda said it was not only high levels of poverty which could make an election fall short of credibility but also high levels of corruption.
“We agree in totality with our colleagues in CSPR Civil Society for Poverty Reduction that it would be difficult for Zambia to hold a free and fair election in view of high levels of poverty being experienced but also we need to check on the rate of corruption in the electoral process of this country. There is a lot of vote buying, distribution of foodstuffs. All these question the credibility of an election,” Habasonda said.
CSPR board chairman Partner Siabutuba on Monday said President Banda’s government should concentrate on addressing high levels of poverty across the nation if this year’s elections were to be free and fair.
He said it was difficult to hold free and fair elections in an environment where poverty and corruption among the electorate was rife and perpetuated by leaders.
And Habasonda said it was very important that the government heeds to dictates of democratic governance by ensuring that corruption and any form of conflict was addressed with regards to poverty reduction.
“Conflicts in elections are not only born out of disputes that may arise from the results but the conduct prior to the elections. So the question of poverty and corruption, not forgetting violence should be taken seriously by President Banda. Let him address these issues seriously for the campaigns to be credible. For the election to credible, things should start now, not any other time,” said Habasonda.
Labels: LEE HABASONDA, PARTNER SIABUTUBA, RUPIAH BANDA, SACCORD
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Abuse of public resources in MMD’s election campaigns
By The Post
Wed 12 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
Simply permitting the opposition access to the ballot box is not enough for us to have elections we can say are free and fair. Elections in which
the ruling party has almost unlimited access to and use of state resources to the exclusion of the opposition cannot be said to be free and fair.
The party in power may enjoy the advantages of incumbency but the rules and conduct of the election contest must be fair. Those in power have to arrange things in a manner that does not put those in the opposition at an unfair disadvantage. There ought to be transparency, accountability and fairness in the use of public resources.
All parties should as far as possible have equal access to public resources, including equal access to the publicly owned media; and the publicly owned media should be compelled to report political campaigns fairly and accurately.
And looking at things this way, it is easy to see why Partner Siabutuba, the board chairman of Civil Society for Poverty Reduction, is calling for strict monitoring of the use of public funds by the ruling MMD and ensure that such funds are not abused. This call is not without basis.
We have a history of ruling parties abusing their incumbency. We have many cases of the ruling party abusing public funds and resources for its election campaigns. In the petition against the 2001 election of Levy Mwanawasa as president of the Republic, people who were in charge of the ruling MMD’s campaign went to court and showed that public resources were abused to have him elected. And those who gave evidence were the ones behind the abuses. Of course, why they did this is simply because they had differed with Levy, who had allowed their prosecutions for corruption. So they were hitting back at him in anger. But what they were saying was true.
It is not a secret that in 2001, Kashiwa Bulaya, as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health, facilitated the abuse of that ministry’s funds to finance Levy’s campaign. Automobiles were removed from that ministry and given to Levy’s campaign. Money also moved in the same way. We also saw similar abuses of the Ministry of Health automobiles in Rupiah Banda’s 2008 election campaign. This newspaper carried pictures of Rupiah’s image builders being ferried around the country by Ministry of Health automobiles. We also carried pictures showing Rupiah distributing sugar and mealie-meal at election campaign meetings in Katete. This sugar and mealie-meal came from government stores, bought with public funds.
There was also abuse of government aircraft to ferry Rupiah’s friends who were helping him campaign. The state-owned media was totally hijacked by Rupiah for his campaign, to the exclusion of the opposition. To this very day, the state-owned media is still part of Rupiah’s campaign propaganda machinery. The state-owned media behaves and conducts its business as if it is owned by the ruling MMD. There is no meaningful coverage of the opposition in that media. This is not new. In 1991, UNIP behaved the same way until a court order was obtained by the Press Association of Zambia to stop it from abusing the publicly owned media and had its cadre editors removed. Probably the opposition should consider doing that today because the MMD has no right to use the state-owned media as though it were its private property. They may need to assert their right to equal access to this media.
Parastatal companies like Zesco, NAPSA, the Food Reserve Agency, among others, are still being abused by the ruling MMD for its election campaigns. It was not by accident that the other week the Food Reserve Agency donated K5 million to the MMD. And the MMD only returned that money when the opposition Patriotic Front threatened to take legal action. If there was no such threat, that money would have gone to MMD’s campaign. Money is being skimmed from parastatals and other quasi-governmental organisations by the MMD in all sorts of ways. Government-funded institutions are giving money to MMD cadres who they know very well will not be able to pay back. And they are not demanding any collateral in case of default. Contracts are also being given to party cadres who pay back some of the proceeds to the party and its key leaders. Even transnational corporations are given all sorts of government favours in return for contributions to the MMD’s election campaigns. Those who show inclinations to funding the opposition are ostracised and excluded from government business. Everyone is being shown that it pays to work with or to support the MMD.
The story does not end here. Other government institutions are also made to serve the MMD’s election agenda. The police and other law enforcement agencies, including the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, are also put to the MMD service. They are made to harass the opposition and its cadres while allowing MMD cadres to go scot-free with all sorts of transgressions. The list of such abuses is almost endless. This is not good for the country, its politics and democracy in general. In the long run, abuses of this nature by the ruling party can undermine public trust and threaten the viability of our democratic endeavours. While anti-corruption laws are important in the fight against abuses of this nature, they need to be embedded in a broader strategy that promotes intra-party democracy, party competition, transparency and monitoring by an informed public and an active civil society. While corrupt political parties can thus stall or even destroy processes of democratisation, political parties that are not distorted by corruption, but which are part of a well-institutionalised and competitive political framework can play a vital role in our democratic endeavours and perform valuable political and social functions. And everything possible should be done to combat abuses of this nature if we are to harbour any hope of governing ourselves in a manner that is fair and just, and of holding elections whose results truly reflect the wishes of the voters. It is necessary to remind all our political parties, including the ruling MMD, that politics and the elections that accompany it are for the good of the people and the country, and not for the political survival of any individual or political party. If the spirit of the primacy of the common good were to animate all our political parties, we would not witness such abuses of public resources by the ruling party, its leaders and cadres which leave the public dismayed and disheartened.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, CORRUPTION, KASHIWA BULAYA, MMD, PARTNER SIABUTUBA
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‘FRA should find alternative maize storage facilities’
By George Zulu
Tue 30 Nov. 2010, 04:00 CAT
A local NGO says the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) should swiftly find an alternative for maize storage facilities before the grain goes to waste. In an interview Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) vice chairperson Partner Siabutuba said FRA would face challenges in maintaining the bumper harvest if it did not consider finding alternative storages.
Siabutuba said with the onset of the rain season, it was clear that the much talked about maize bumper harvest would go to waste because in most areas in the country the maize was not covered.
“This is the confusion FRA finds itself in. We are boasting about bumper harvest but we have failed to manage it. The rain has started and I am sure that in some places it has already been socked, let them find an alternative storage than letting the maize go to waste,” he said.
Siabutuba said the problems faced by FRA were as a result of failure on the part of government to plan for the farming and marketing season.
“How do you plan haphazardly, God gives you a good harvest, you get confused and fail to pay all farmers until the other rain season comes. You leave the maize to be socked by rains. It is a scandal on the part of government and those managing the exercise,” said Siabutuba.
Siabutuba advised President Banda to cut on his ‘unnecessary’ trips to serve and pay farmers still queuing at banks for supplying maize to the FRA.
Labels: FRA, MAIZE, PARTNER SIABUTUBA, STORAGE
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CSPR urges FRA to find alternative maize storage
By George Zulu
Wed 24 Nov. 2010, 04:00 CAT
CSPR has urged the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to swiftly find alternative maize storage facilities across the country before this year’s crop goes to waste.
In an interview, Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) vice-chairperson Partner Siabutuba said FRA would face challenges in maintaining the bumper harvest recorded from the 2009/2010 farming season if it did not consider finding alternative storage facilities.
Siabutuba said with the onset of the rainy season, it was clear that the widely talked about maize bumper harvest would go to waste because a lot of maize in most areas of the country was not covered.
“This is the confusion FRA finds itself in; we are boasting about the bumper harvest but we have failed to manage it. The rain has started and I am sure that in some places it has already been socked. Let them find alternative storage rather than letting the maize go to waste,” Siabutuba said.
Labels: CSPR, FRA, MAIZE, PARTNER SIABUTUBA, SILOS, STORAGE
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Execution of 2011 budget faces challenges – CSPR
By George Zulu in Monze
Thu 14 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT
CIVIL Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) vice chairperson Partner Siabutuba has said the execution of the 2011 national budget faces a lot of challenges because there is
no political will in the fight against corruption and abuse of public funds.
In an interview, Siabutuba said it would be difficult for the government to implement and execute the 2011 budget without
putting in place the mechanism to fight abuse of public funds and corruption.
“From the face value it gives a good budget for any economically oriented country in terms of figures. However, the challenge will remain obvious especially that donors have decided to reduce their commitment,” he said. “In other words donors have decided to pull out because they are frustrated, they are not respected by the current leadership.”
Siabutuba said Zambia had for a long time now been experiencing abuse of both locally organised and donors’ funded resources without any government commitment to fight the vice.
“History is a big lesson enough for us because we have seen a lot of abuse of locally organised resources; we have seen a lot of abuse on donor contributed funds, so it doesn’t matter whether it is a K20.5 trillion budget, there should be financial discipline among government officials,” he said.
Siabutuba said levels of abuse of public funds as presented annually by the Auditor General was another area government had failed to address, adding that it was a source of concern and a challenge to the implementation of next year’s budget.
“Money is still abused and this still remains a thorn which government needs to address. Government needs to look at how they will ensure that tax-payers money does not find itself into irresponsible hands. This remains a thorn into the national developmental processes, so even if it is a good budget and we don’t address the issues of corruption and the issue of abuse of public funds, then we are not going anywhere,” he said.
Siabutuba said the donors’ reduction of their budgetary contribution to Zambia was enough warning that the trend could continue down the line in the process of implementing the national budget.
“You have also seen that the British government has moved its visa office to Pretoria, if you want to acquire your visa. How can that be done? So for me these are issues which are pointing directly to poor and pathetic government donor relations in terms of budgetary implementation and execution,” he said.
“Donors might continue pulling out because they are frustrated. We have not been accountable, we have been irresponsible in the way we have been managing their funds, we have been irresponsible in the manner we have been responding to their demands for accountability. Donors have been asking government to present accountability in the manner we have been using their funds but we respond by asking them to pack their bags and go. Those are the answers donors are not going to entertain, they may not respond directly but actions speak louder than words and we are beginning to see those things.”
Siabutuba said it was time government apologised to donors for their past mistakes because President Rupiah Banda and his government had committed serious economic crimes by abusing donor funds.
Labels: 2011 BUDGET, CSPR, PARTNER SIABUTUBA
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Rupiah’s speech to Parliament lacked inspiration - CSPR
By George Zulu in Choma
Mon 27 Sep. 2010, 04:00 CAT
CIVIL Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) vice chairperson Partner Siabutuba has said President Rupiah Banda’s speech to Parliament lacks inspiration to Zambians regarding poverty reduction.
In an interview, Siabutuba said President Banda’s speech was not good enough to meet the expectations of Zambians because he failed to address critical issues.
“As civil society, we expected the President to deal with issues on how Zambia is going to move forward in reducing poverty, especially that we are now concluding on the Fifth National Development Plan and embarking on the Sixth National Development Plan,” Siabutuba said.
“These are the issues we expected the President to elaborate very clearly. How we are prepared as a country in terms of financial resources, especially that he has asked donors to pack their bags and go. We were eagerly waiting for his comments on donors because you know that a few weeks ago, he said that donors should pack their bags and go, and yet in Parliament he appeals for donor support to be able to have Zambia realise its vision.
“His statement doesn’t tie well with the Secretary to the Treasury’s position that Zambia will require about K75 trillion for the 2011-2012 national budgets and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.”
Siabutuba said the MMD and President Banda needed to realise that the country could not attain the desired level of development without the support of cooperating partners whom the President recently asked to pack their bags and leave.
He said the civil society throughout the nation expected President Banda to apologise and retract his scathing remarks on donors who were concerned about the high levels of abuse of public funds by the government.
“We expected President Banda to say sorry for urging cooperating partners to pack their bags and go. It is a big contradiction for the President to be able to say donors should support us and at the same time he says they should pack their bags and go. These technocrats are projecting K75 trillion. Where is that kind of money going to come from if the President and his government are frustrating donors?” asked Siabutuba.
“We expected the President this time around to have withdrawn that statement he made, nothing else apart from withdrawing because we need donors for national development. I can assure you that even the Sixth National Development Plan will be a pipedream. We shall not realise, we have not achieved much in the Fifth National Development Plan. Therefore, it is now or never that we should actually ask those donors who are not here to pack their bags and come to Zambia; not the other way round.”
Recently, President Banda asked donors to pack their bags and leave if they were not happy instead of poking their noses into the country’s business. However, President Banda last week said the country could not attain its vision of being a middle income country by 2030 without the support of cooperating partners.
Labels: CSPR, PARTNER SIABUTUBA, RUPIAH BANDA, SIXTH NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
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CSPR condemns Mulongoti’s attacks on donors
By George Zulu in Monze
Tue 17 Aug. 2010, 04:01 CAT
CIVIL Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has described Mike Mulongoti’s statement against donors and NGOs as very irresponsible especially that much of the developmental activities in the nation are donor funded.
In an interview on Saturday, CSPR vice chairperson Partner Siabutuba said it
was unfortunate for works and supply minister Mulongoti to suggest that donors were in the habit of withholding funds because they wanted a regime change whenever developing countries neared elections.
Siabutuba said CSPR found the statement very difficult and provocative because donors only wanted their monies to be used prudently and not misappropriated.
“Has Mulongoti forgotten about what happened in the Ministry of Health
where donor funds were allegedly stolen, misappropriated by government officers
and when donors withhold funding will they be accused of agitating for a regime change?” Siabutuba asked.
“This government should be very serious than accusing donors and NGOs who speak against graft in government institutions especially theft of donor and public funds.”
He asked the government to explain why the donors should not talk about abuse of funds, money meant to benefit the poor Zambians.
Siabutuba said Mulongoti should have apologized to the donors for having accused them of supporting regime.
He said it seemed to be very difficult for the MMD government to accept that donors had a responsibility to demand accountability and transparency in the manner their funds were utilized.
“The major issue is that the people of Zambia have for a long time now been preparing for elections whether a regime change or not, the people of Zambia know what to do next year,” said Siabutuba.
“The problem with MMD leaders is that they are jittery about the current situation in the country so they will throw all their missiles in all directions. It is very wrong and we find it to be difficult for government to claim that NGOs and donors were enemies of government.”
Recently, Mulongoti accused donors of pushing for regime change by withholding funds whenever developing countries like Zambia were about to hold elections.
Mulongoti, who featured on Mazabuka Radio’s live wire programme, also said non-governmental organisations (NGOs), apart from donors, were enemies of the government.
Labels: CSPR, DONORS, MIKE MULONGOTI, PARTNER SIABUTUBA
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CSPR condemns Mulongoti’s attacks on donors
By George Zulu in Monze
Tue 17 Aug. 2010, 04:01 CAT
CIVIL Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has described Mike Mulongoti’s statement against donors and NGOs as very irresponsible especially that much of the developmental activities in the nation are donor funded.
In an interview on Saturday, CSPR vice chairperson Partner Siabutuba said it
was unfortunate for works and supply minister Mulongoti to suggest that donors were in the habit of withholding funds because they wanted a regime change whenever developing countries neared elections.
Siabutuba said CSPR found the statement very difficult and provocative because donors only wanted their monies to be used prudently and not misappropriated.
“Has Mulongoti forgotten about what happened in the Ministry of Health
where donor funds were allegedly stolen, misappropriated by government officers
and when donors withhold funding will they be accused of agitating for a regime change?” Siabutuba asked.
“This government should be very serious than accusing donors and NGOs who speak against graft in government institutions especially theft of donor and public funds.”
He asked the government to explain why the donors should not talk about abuse of funds, money meant to benefit the poor Zambians.
Siabutuba said Mulongoti should have apologized to the donors for having accused them of supporting regime.
He said it seemed to be very difficult for the MMD government to accept that donors had a responsibility to demand accountability and transparency in the manner their funds were utilized.
“The major issue is that the people of Zambia have for a long time now been preparing for elections whether a regime change or not, the people of Zambia know what to do next year,” said Siabutuba.
“The problem with MMD leaders is that they are jittery about the current situation in the country so they will throw all their missiles in all directions. It is very wrong and we find it to be difficult for government to claim that NGOs and donors were enemies of government.”
Recently, Mulongoti accused donors of pushing for regime change by withholding funds whenever developing countries like Zambia were about to hold elections.
Mulongoti, who featured on Mazabuka Radio’s live wire programme, also said non-governmental organisations (NGOs), apart from donors, were enemies of the government.
Labels: CSPR, DONORS, MIKE MULONGOTI, PARTNER SIABUTUBA
Read more...
