Church will support genuine corruption fight - Fr Chisanga
By Darious Kapembwa in Kitwe and Kaombe Chimpinde in Lusaka
Thu 21 June 2012, 13:22 CAT
THE Church will support every genuine efforts aimed at stamping out corruption at all levels of society, says Fr Patrick Chisanga. In a statement, Fr Chisanga who is the head of the Fransiscan priests in Zambia saidZambia needed to reclaim the standards of human dignity by stamping out the scourge.
"As a Church, the living body of Christ, our hearts continue to bleed at the sight of injustice against the poor and vulnerable of society," Fr Chisanga said.
"We therefore demand zero-tolerance to corruption in our localities, public offices, work places and at all levels of leadership in our country," Fr Chisanga said.
"In this same regard, we usually repeat the same message that the quality of life in our country continues to go down because of the selfishness of a few individuals who continue to steal from the poor. Such are people who become apprehensive at any mention of the fight against corruption because corruption has become their acceptable standard of life and way of survival," said Fr Chisanga.
He said it would be a great injustice for the church to leave the fight against corruption to a few politicians.
He said the fight against corruption was a moral issue that needed to be fought viciously from all angles.
Meanwhile, Ng'andu Magande says corrupt elements were enemies of every government and its leader.
And Magande has advised President Michael Sata to have more friends who support his anti-corruption fight.
President Sata recently said his hard anti-corruption stance had made him unpopular among some 'powerful' corrupt elements in the country.
But Magande said the majority of Zambians wanted to support President Sata and the government in the fight against corruption and wanted the crusade to be accompanied with results.
President Sata said the government was working extremely hard and were becoming unpopular because corrupt people were very powerful.
But Magande advised President Sata to have more friends who could help him achieve his goals to rid the country of corruption.
"If you have enemies and you know them, the best thing is to have more friends who can help you. What I think the majority of people would want to do is to support the President on the fight against corruption," Magande said.
"Zambians can only continue supporting him if they see visible things he is doing for them. They will say 'as far as we are concerned, we are happy with the current government because they are doing this and that for us'. If you just keep taking sides every day talking about corruption, the other people who are not corrupt and who are in the majority don't see what else you are doing, then they can't help you to fight corrupt elements."
He said the war against corruption must be fought side by side with improving the general wellbeing of Zambians."As the government, you have to fight on all fronts…Because you are fighting for the whole country, all fronts have to be safeguarded," said Magande.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, PATRICK CHISANGA
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Chisanga bemoans Zambia’s political situation
Written by Ernest Chanda
Friday, April 03, 2009 6:45:59 PM
THERE is an atmosphere of hopelessness on the Zambian political scene, former UPND second vice-president Patrick Chisanga has said. Breaking his silence in an interview in Lusaka on Tuesday, Chisanga said the current situation had left a lot of disappointment in the minds of many voters.
"One thing that I have done in the last two years has been to interact with fellow Zambians at all levels. To interact very widely across all levels of the Zambian society: at the level of colleagues who have been active in political parties, people in other professions, young people and at the level of very ordinary Zambians," Chisanga said.
"And the picture that has emerged to me is that Zambians are generally frustrated about the direction of the country. Somehow at all levels there's a feeling that things are not going as well as they should. The expectations of the people at various levels have not been met and are not being met. One fears that actually it will get into a situation where Zambians slide in a situation of hopelessness, where they feel that there can be nothing hopeful for them to improve their lives. You begin to get that sort of feeling."
Chisanga said such an atmosphere compelled him to consider getting back into active politics.
"It is that feeling that has suggested to me that perhaps the time has not come for me to retire completely from active politics because many well-meaning ordinary Zambians have suggested when I have said that ‘look I have made my contribution, maybe it's time for me to just sit back and enjoy a quiet life with my family and friends'. And I have been told that people like myself who have had an opportunity to be exposed, to be enlightened and the sort of experience that I have accumulated, there's a feeling that it will be unpatriotic to say that [retiring from active politics]," Chisanga said.
He said he had engaged himself with other people in looking for options to the desperate political situation in the country.
"I have been, as part of my consultative process, putting heads together with a number of other Zambians, well-meaning Zambians, upright Zambians who are looking at what the options are for our country. And I cannot hide the fact that I have been actively involved in discussions in various fora, trying to reflect on what the possible options are, to give hope to Zambians, to bring cheer to the Zambian people, many of whom are very disillusioned now and frustrated about the future of this country," Chisanga said.
Asked if he was forming a political party or joining one of the existing parties, Chisanga said things were not politically that easy for him now.
"The issues are not as simple as that. I think the question of deciding to join MMD or to join PF or to join UPND or to join UNIP or any other political party, the issue is more complex than just meets the eye. Yes, joining a political party, one of the political parties is an option. Joining hands with those who feel that maybe another political party is an answer is an option," he said.
"But I have looked a little beyond that because my focus is to try and identify where the problems are, why we cannot resolve the issues based in our country. And the picture that emerged to me is that the answer does not necessarily lie in another political party. The problem we seem to have in Zambia is one of leadership. Zambia has a leadership problem, and the leadership problem cuts across all the political parties. We have seen a lot of infighting in many of the political parties, the active political parties. We have seen in many degrees a lack of intra-party democracy in many of these political parties. But I will surely be politically active before 2011."
Chisanga said this had led to many voters facing problems in choosing the right candidate at election time.
"We have seen Zambians at every election being faced with a situation where they are given a choice between candidate one two and three, and maybe Zambians want the fourth candidate who is not there. We have seen situations where at the end of every election, somebody is elected into office, but shortly after that Zambians are dissatisfied and disappointed. To me this indicates that we have a leadership drought. We need to resolve the leadership problem in Zambia," Chisanga said.
"I think Zambians many times we vote with our emotions rather than with our minds. This is why we say at the end of the day you get the leadership you deserve. Come 2011 let us elect leaders with a proven track record, leaders who do not have skeletons, whose levels of integrity are impeccable. And many Zambians are there who meet these qualities."
Chisanga was one of the founding members of the UPND in 1998 and served as the party's second vice-president until he resigned from the party and quit active politics in December 2007.
Labels: PATRICK CHISANGA, POLITICS, UPND
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‘Many boards don’t understand their role’
Written by Nchima Nchito Jr
Thursday, March 26, 2009 7:42:35 AM
MANY boards do not understand their primary function or tend to neglect their responsibilities as directors, former Institute of Directors (IoD) president Patrick Chisanga has said.
During the ongoing Global Corporate Governance Forum workshop in Lusaka on Tuesday, Chisanga said the boards’ lack of understanding of their primary functions was a costly practice to corporate governance.
“It is this dimension which has led to corporate failures and corporate scandals all over the world, including Zambia and the region generally. Over the last 20 odd years or so,” he said. “In any organisation, the board of directors is the focal point of the corporate governance system.”
Chisanga added that the board was ultimately accountable and responsible for the performance of the company.
And Chisanga said boards of both state-owned and private companies had similar mandates.
“Whether we are talking about state-owned enterprises or private companies, the key objective and purpose of the board of directors is to ensure the company’s prosperity by collectively directing the company’s affairs whilst meeting the appropriate interests of the shareholders and other stakeholders,” he said.
Chisanga called for boards of all companies to pay particular attention to risk policy and risk management as a component to corporate strategy.
“Board collective failure in the area of risk and internal control has probably contributed most to the failure of companies in recent times,” said Chisanga. “The financial crisis engulfing the world economy today has highlighted the fact that risk management, if not adequately addressed by the board of directors can bring about corporate ruin.”
Labels: GOVERNANCE, PATRICK CHISANGA
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Disunity in opposition saddens Chisanga
By Patson Chilemba
Tuesday August 12, 2008 [04:00]
FORMER UPND vice-president Patrick Chisanga has said the major opposition political parties in the country are fractured. In an interview, Chisanga said it was sad that major opposition parties such as the Patriotic Front (PF), United Party for National Development (UPND) and United National Independence Party (UNIP) had become shadows.
"I have observed with regret that most of the opposition parties have fractures. What we need is a strong opposition," he said.
Chisanga said UPND had never been the same since the 2006 party convention.
He said the convention resulted in the formation of factions such as the United Liberal Party (ULP).
"Unfortunately, that reduced the impact of UPND as a strong alternative government which it was. UPND was a government in waiting," Chisanga said.
He further said PF emerged from the 2006 general elections as a strong opposition but that it had been rocked with disunity following some members' participation in the National Constitutional Conference (NCC).
"One would have liked to see PF consolidate unity. That would have been a victory but at the moment what we read about are wrangles, which is not healthy as an opposition," Chisanga said. "UNIP also has factions, which seem to have eaten into the fabric of the opposition."
Chisanga said maintaining unity in political parties was paramount.
"We do need discipline and you can discipline members in various ways without having to divide the party," he said.
On the ruling MMD, Chisanga said the party had made positive strides in the economic and political advancement of the country but a lot needed to be done.
Asked on his political future and if he was involved in the formation of a new party in the offing, the Citizens Democratic Party (CDP), Chisanga said he was not party to the new arrangement.
"I am not involved in the new party but I am aware that various Zambian groups have been active in searching for an effective and positive way forward for the country. I am aware of people trying to put their heads together that 'what is the way forward'," he said.
Chisanga further said political opportunism should be discouraged at all costs in the country.
Labels: PARTIES, PATRICK CHISANGA, UPND
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Mining tax regime
By Patrick Chisanga
Thursday February 15, 2007 [02:00]
The changes announced by the finance minister in his budget address on Friday is a move in the right direction. Zambia needs to start taking more of such critical economic paths so as to develop and sustain the socio-economic status of our poor masses. Our neighbour, Tanzania, had initially given 20-year tax holiday period to mining companies operating in their country. This tax regime has been removed so as to bring forward the date these companies begin to pay their taxes.
Due to the huge earnings generated by natural resource companies as a result of high metal prices, the Tanzanian government has put their taxation at 30 per cent,whereas mineral royalties will be at 3 per cent, not so different from our case, besides as an African country we're a huge mining house on a global basis. In this respect, Barrick Gold and Resolute Mining both operating in Tanzania have had fruitful agreements in this regard.
The government should forge ahead and implement these tax regime changes. Second, the government should also focus on increasing their stake -shares- in some of these mining outfits. Through ZCCM-IH, it's possible to raise enough funds that would in turn be used to increase our equity in some of these mining ventures. Recently, ZCCM-IH managed to raise about $60 million which they subsequently pumped into the Lumwana copper venture,resulting in them having a 30 per cent stake in the project. I would suggest that, ZCCM-IH should aggressively spell out its financial intents and purposes on the international commodities market whereby it should be able to raise enough funds and increase its stake in all major mining operations in Zambia to at least 30 per cent.
Genuine investors in Zambia shouldn't run away from the principle of a tripartite symbiotic kind of benefit; that is to say the returns on any investment should benefit the investor,the government and the community in which they operate.Anything short of this is tantamount to economic genocide. Let’s think long term, one day these investors might just decide to vamoose, I mean they've done it before. Say they left in the future, ZCCM-IH would have by then had enough investment instruments which they would use to sustain the mines in the absence of a foreign mine investor.
Labels: MINING, PATRICK CHISANGA, UPND
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