COMMENT - Translation: Africa must do what is in the interests of the oligarchs that rule the United States and 'the West'. They want our resources, and they need roads and energy to get them out. Securing Africa's resources for the oligarchs is the reason for the creation of AFRICOM.
Africa must focus on transportation facilities, energy - US
By Kabanda Chulu
Thu 14 June 2012, 13:23 CAT
AFRICAN countries must focus on developing energy and transportation facilities if they are to increase benefits from AGOA, says a senior United States government official.
In a teleconference with Zambian journalists on Tuesday ahead of the 11th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum on US-sub-Saharan Africa trade and economic cooperation, director of economic policy at the Bureau of African affairs, Amy Holman, who could, however, not give categorical answers to several questions asked, said the forum that started in 2001 has been the US government's signature trade initiative with Africa aimed at diversifying exports and expanding economic opportunities for Africans.
"AGOA aims at creating jobs and reducing barriers to trade and with 6,000 products receiving duty free treatment when exported to the US market. AGOA has helped generate hundreds of billions of dollars in trade and investment opportunities in its short lifespan," Holman said.
"To keep this momentum, this year's AGOA forum will focus on enhancing infrastructure development in Africa, which is a critical part of unleashing Africa's economic potential, including the tremendous intellectual, technical and business capital represented by Africa's youth, women and entrepreneurs."
And Director for African Affairs under the Office of the US Trade Representative Dean Coleman said AGOA provided a framework for improved access to US credit and technical expertise and establishes a high level dialogue on trade and investment.
"It is an integral component of the United States' overall trade with sub-Saharan Africa, increasing the two-way trade between the US and Africa to over US$95 billion in 2011, which is an increase from the US$13 billion recorded in 2010, thus bringing a total of US$716 billion in the two way trade since 2001," said Coleman.
The AGOA forum started earlier this month with a series of trade networking events and meetings aimed at linking African entrepreneurs and their US counterparts but the main conference will take place from June 14-15, and the Zambian delegation is led by commerce, trade and industry minister Bob Sichinga.
Labels: AGOA, ENERGY, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT
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Farmers cry foul over transport fares
Wednesday, 18 April 2012 00:00
Obert Chifamba Senior Agriculture Reporter
TOBACCO farmers yesterday accused transporters of charging exorbitant fares to ferry tobacco to the auction floors. Farmers at the auction floors said the transporters were taking advantage of their desperation to demand unrealistic charges.
“Can you believe that we are paying US$25 per bale regardless of its size and weight.
Transporters really know that when we have baled our tobacco we can no longer keep it at our homes so they adopt a ‘take or leave it’ attitude,” a farmer from Hurungwe in Mashonaland West said.
Another farmer from Chundu area in Hurungwe said the transporters, especially those with seven or nine tonne trucks were making a killing out of the farmers.
“They can carry between 100 and 125 bales per trip and if you do your calculations correctly you can see that they make a lot more than the tobacco farmers when the season finally ends,” he said.
“If you buy a cart and want to ferry it back home they are charging US$130, while for a wardrobe they demand US$50, a bed attracts US$15 with a grinding mill attracting US$100 while for a bag of fertiliser they charge US$6.”
Farmers from Mutorashanga said they were paying US$20 per bale while those from Nyazura and surrounding areas said transporters were demanding between US$12 and US$20 for a single bale.
One farmer Mr Onisimo Kureva said it would make sense if transporters just asked for a cover charge for a trip and not charge unit by unit, which was making it very expensive.
Most of the farmers agreed that a charge of between US$8 and US$10 per bale was reasonable and would leave them with a significant percentage of their revenue.
“Transporters also charge US$10 for the farmer to accompany his produce when we expected them to at least be compassionate and allow the farmer to be covered by the charges paid for the load.
“Some of the transporters are even in the habit of inflating their charges when they get here and you will be surprised when the deductions done through stop orders indicate that the transporter got more than you had agreed on,” he added.
The majority of the transporters present at the floors were not willing to talk to the Press.
However, there was one who gathered his nerve and defended their actions saying they were only charging what would enable them to maintain their vehicles on the road.
“Most of the roads in the farming communities are very bad and there is a lot of wear and tear that the vehicle picks so if we charge peanuts we will not remain in business,” he said.
Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri confirmed hearing complaints over transporters’ atrocious charges.
He urged farmers to be organised and work as groups when negotiating with the transporters.
“I think farmers’ unions too must assist the farmers in securing transporters who are genuine and not leave them at the mercy of mercenaries who only want to bleed the farmers.
“The disappointing thing is that most of the farmers that are falling victim to these unscrupulous transporters do not even want to come into the open and complain. Maybe they fear reprisals back home so they suffer silently,” Dr Matibiri said.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, ANDREW MATIBIRI, TRANSPORT
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E/Province farming input transporters demand dues
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Mon 02 May 2011, 04:00 CAT
TRANSPORTERS of farming inputs under the Fertiliser Input Support Programme (FISP) in Eastern Province have complained about the government’s delay in paying them. The transporters from various districts of the province wondered why the government was delaying to pay them despite them having delivered the inputs four months ago.
One of the transporters who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was unfortunate that transporters in the province had not been paid while those from other provinces had already been paid.
“Some of the transporters have been to the provincial permanent secretary’s office to follow up the payment,” he said.
He appealed to the government to look into the matter and ensure that transporters were paid as soon as possible.
Eastern Province Provincial Agricultural Coordinator (PACO) Dr Obvious Kabinda said his office was aware that transporters had not been paid and that he was doing everything possible to ensure that they were paid.
“Some of the papers (containing details of the transportation process) had anomalies, so we sent them to our district offices to rectify those anomalies. Those without anomalies have been sent to Lusaka because as you know, transporters are paid from Lusaka,” Dr Kabinda said.
He said once the anomalies were rectified, the transporters would be paid.
“We don’t want to overpay or underpay any transporter but they will be paid. They just have to forgive us for taking long but we are going to pay them. You know, we have to make sure we do a good job because there are issues like auditing and the like,” said Dr Kabinda.
Labels: EASTERN PROVINCE, FISP, TRANSPORT
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Zambia, Congo DR and Namibia sign agreement on transport
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Mon 08 Mar. 2010, 06:10 CAT
ZAMBIA has signed an agreement aimed at
harmonising all aspects of transport, trade and spatial development with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Namibia.
During the signing ceremony on the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor Development at the Zambezi Sun Hotels in Livingstone on Thursday, communications minister Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa said according to various publications by our regional bodies, transport costs in Africa were in the range of 60 per cent.
“Transport costs in our region as a share of value of exports are high. According to various publications by our regional bodies, transport costs in Africa are in the region of 60 per cent. The high cost of transport in our region and Africa as a whole has negatively impacted on our competitive capacity on the global economic market,” Prof Lungwangwa said.
“As ministers responsible for transport under this corridor, there is need for us to cooperate and work tirelessly to reduce this cost for the benefit of our people we are serving in our respective countries.”
He said excessive documentary requirements and insufficient use of automated systems at border posts also hindered smooth trade in the region.
Prof Lungwangwa said the inadequate border facilities at most border posts was another bottleneck as some officials were forced to work under trees.
On the issue of immigration, Prof Lungwangwa said commercial drivers were subjected to obtaining VISAs valid for seven days in some cases when they had to spend more days on the road hence wasting time and raising transportation costs.
Prof Lungwangwa said the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor Development was of critical importance to the southern African region’s economic development.
“We are going to witness the signing of an agreement which is also focusing on harmonisation of all aspects of transport, trade and spatial development initiative among the participating states namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Zambia,” he said.
Prof Lungwangwa said the initiative of the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor Development was initiated by then Namibian president Sam Nujoma and former president Frederick Chiluba in 1997 during the state visit to Namibia by late DRC president Laurent Desire Kabila.
“As ministers of transport in the three countries, we were then directed to establish this corridor. We have taken so much time to have this corridor become a reality because of various consultations our officials were making. They had to consult the donors, the public and private sectors and other international organisations including the regional economic grouping such as SADC and COMESA. This agreement establishing the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor was also subjected to legal scrutiny by our respective ministers of justice,” Prof Lungwangwa said.
He added that the agreement was being signed to facilitate cross border trade and transit-transport cooperation among the three states.
“Give landlocked countries of Zambia and the Katanga Province of DRC unimpeded access through Namibia’s territory to the Port of Walvis Bay and development initiative aimed at the developing other economic areas along the corridor such as mining agriculture and tourism to mention a few,” Prof Lungwangwa said.
And Namibian minister of works and transport Helmut Angula said developing countries were particularly challenged as a result of remoteness from international markets, unfavourable terms of trade, limited investment in infrastructure development and maintenance as well as other policy-related dilemmas.
“The share of Least Developing Countries in world trade also remains dismal over the years. Thus establishment of functional transit-transport arrangements through bilateral treaties conventions, policy reforms and harmonisation of common rules and standards are imperative as we seek to take advantage of global trade instruments,” he said.
Angula said the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor Development was equally a fulfilment of sub-regional protocols on cooperation and development.
“I urge that the virtues of our agreement be operationalised or risk degenerating into a mere dream in the increasing competitive corridor and cross border business. Thus the need for trade facilities through removal of both physical and non-physical barriers cannot be overemphasised,” Angula said.
And permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Transport Dominic Sichinga said Livingstone City faced a lot of challenges as a transit town in terms of infrastructure and other socio-economic problems.
“Accidents are on the rise in this city because of high traffic of trucks transiting through the city. HIV/AIDS cases are also on the rise in this city. Statistics show that a major contributing factor is that a great number of truck drivers spend a lot of time from their homes and engage themselves in sexual activities. I would urge trucking companies to develop HIV/AIDS policies in places of work,” said Sichinga.
Labels: DRC, GEOFFREY LUNGWANGWA, NAMIBIA, TRANSPORT
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Zim freight industry resumes int'l operations
Newsnet
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:52:00 +0000
ZIMBABWE'S freight industry has been given the green light to resume international cargo operations, in a move expected to increase business activities. The move was approved at the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations’ Annual Congress in Geneva this week where it was resolved that Zimbabwe’s cargo industry was on a recovery path.
Shipping and Freight Forwarders’ Association Chairman Juren Mutemeli said the arrangement will broaden the revenue generation for local operators.“The initiative is actually expected to increase revenue inflows a move that will benefit the local industry as well as broadening the scope of business activities,” he said.
The cargo industry was suspended from international business activities seven years ago after experiencing depressed trading volumes.
However, Mutemeli said the restoration of stable economic conditions has improved business activities.
The industry is exploring markets in the COMESA region following the introduction of a Customs Union that seeks to remove barriers to trade.
Labels: TRANSPORT
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Transporters urge govt to work on Serenje-Mpika road
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Saturday, September 26, 2009 6:02:19 PM
LONG distance transporters have appealed to the government to quickly rehabilitate the dilapidated stretch between Serenje and Mpika because it has become a security hazard.
In a walk-in interview on Friday, Agri-Fuel drivers Mark Kalusha and Yohan Soyala complained that because of the bad state of the Serenje-Mpika road bandits had taken advantage of the slow pace at which they drive their truck and they were now waylaying them and stealing the goods they were transporting especially cement and sugar.
"We transport cement and sugar from Lusaka to Mpulungu but we now have a serious problem because of the 'ditches' between Serenje and Mpika. We move slowly and thieves ambush us and they offload from our trucks. Unfortunately you can't stop the truck and challenge the thieves because they move in groups of 30 plus," Kalusha said.
"We are, therefore, appealing to the government to urgently repair that stretch of the road. The government should speed up the patching or mending of that stretch. It has become a security hazard."
And Soyala said whenever drivers are robbed in this manner, they are charged by their employers.
"So we will appreciate if the government can repair that road," said Soyala.
Last week Road Development Agency (RDA) public relations manager Loyce Saili said her agency had requested for K7 billion from the Ministry of Finance through the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) to mend road between Serenje and Mpika.
However, Saili said a full-scale rehabilitation of the stretch would cost about over K100 billion.
Labels: ROADS, ROBBERS, TRANSPORT
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Singh accuses govt of denying local transporters contracts
Written by Margaret Habbuno
Monday, May 25, 2009 3:54:09 PM
TRUCKERS Association of Zambia (TAZ) chairman Satwant Singh has accused the government of awarding transport contracts to foreigners at the expense of local transporters.
In an interview, Singh said most local companies had been forced to park most of their trucks due to lack of business and they were considering laying off thousands of workers.
"We want the government to intervene in this matter of giving contracts to foreign nations to do business here in our county at the expenses of we the local transports. Our government is too weak to protect the local transporters and currently, we have parked all our trucks because there is no business for us the local transporters," Singh said last Friday.
He said the association had written to former minister of communications and transport Dora Silliya but that she did not respond.
"On several occasions, we have written to the minister of transport and communications, in the letters we indicated the many challenges we are facing as transporters but the government has never responded to any of our letters." Singh complained.
"Right now, as I’m talking to you, I have more than 123 workers just seated outside, no job to offer them."
And TAZ vice-chairman Collins Nzovu said it was unfortunate that the government had continued to give contracts to foreigners and turned a blind eye to the local transporters.
"If you go in the roads right now, you will find foreign trucks working and not Zambian-owned trucks. 70 trucks are parked at our offices because there is no business to work on, all the business has been given to foreigners," Nzovu said.
He said there were a lot of loopholes in the transport sector that the government needed to urgently address.
"We keep on wondering if at all the continuous offer of contracts to the foreigners, most of whom are South Africans, is because the local transporters are incompetent," he said.
Nzovu said the government should protect local transporters.
"You cannot go to South Africa as a Zambian citizen to go and grab their business like they are doing it here in Zambia. The government should stop giving so much power to the foreigners. If this matter is not addressed as soon as possible, we are going to lay off 6,000 workers," Nzovu said.
Efforts to get a comment from acting communications and transport minister Felix Mutati proved futile.
Labels: COLLINS NZOVU, SATWANTH SINGH, TAZ, TRANSPORT
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Happy New Year TTI readers: economic review, countermeasures
Written by Professor E. Clive Chirwa
2 Jan 2008, The Post
Happy New Year to all my beloved TTI (Transport, Technology & Innovation) column readers. Thank you very much for your support in 2008 that has injected strength in me to continue writing this column.
The column also extends its festivity greetings to His Excellency Rupiah Banda and may The Lord help him guide us to a better future, to His Honourable PF president Mr Michael Sata and His Honourable UPND president Mr Hakainde Hichilema for their constructive checks and balances that have yielded a developed democracy. Last but not least to my fellow Zambians and friends of Zambia who are experiencing the economic downturn that will continue to degenerate well into 2010 before bottoming out.
I want to dedicate this first article of 2009 to reflect on where we are on transport and technology, inform you my readers of the true picture of the global economic crisis and how that seriously affects us as Zambians, talk of issues at the heart of our disgruntlement such as cost of mealie-meal, transport cost, demise of inward investment, business closures, bankruptcy and unemployment.
At different stages of our enlightenment process, I will suggest countermeasures that need to be taken seriously if we have to survive this storm which is ripping and uprooting everything in its wake even those stable countries with long history of economic prudency.
This is my picture alone not a party political memorandum. I am sharing it with you my readers because I need to inform you of the very bad days ahead of us. This is not scare mongering but common sense and you will remember these words if at all you believe in not protecting yourself. Please be prepared than ever before and remain focused at all times if you want to be the last person standing after the global crisis. Bear in mind that the crisis we are experiencing has not been instigated by us Zambians.
Since we are part of a globalised economy, our umbilical cord is firmly attached to the world events that affect every human being. It is imperative to know that Zambia will never get the same high level of inward investments it attracted just after privatisation as investors who borrowed in low-yielding markets to invest in Zambia are retreating from the risks, while new investors will be difficult to attract due to global lack of liquidity money for investment. This is our chance to change things and become producers. More about that later.
Let us go back to the beginning of year 2008. The car industry was still booming with new models coming out every other week. Even long- term vehicle projects were moving at speed to concept cars. The American, European, Japanese and Korean motor industries were working full blast to meet demands, which as we have now learnt, fuelled by borrowed money. It was not until March-April that weaknesses in the American financial system began to be exposed through the collapse of a few banks, which resulted in the US government drawing up a rescue plan and inject the stimulus funds into these institutions. One of the biggest rescue plans was the US$300 billion given to CITI Group. This was the beginning.
The US domino had fallen and in its wake triggered unprecedented catastrophic events around the globe that saw the demise of the world’s banking system as we know it under capitalism.
Countries around the globe started to rally and save their institutions. In the UK, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the second biggest financial institution after Barclays had just hours before it went into meltdown at a point of no return when the British government extended its olive branch full of stimulus money.
The same happened to banks all over Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Currencies of the countries with poor regulatory systems such as Iceland completely collapsed; those with huge reserves such as rich developed nations were now pumping in rescue funds to maintain these companies afloat.
With respect to Zambia, a country with a small reserve that cannot do much, so far has seen the storm pass-by. It has been lucky not to feel the full brunt of the economic woes since our banks did not engage in deep irresponsible lending practices. But do not be complacent as Zambia has the umbilical cord still attached to outside influences. As predicted by economists, Zambia's domino will fully fall around 2010. Therefore there is still a lot of pain we are going to endure before we start feeling better by the election time in 2011.
For us to reduce the pain to the minimum we have to forget about party political scoring and work together to deliver one of the most ambitious economic programmes Zambia has ever seen. The worst is coming, so let us prepare ourselves. The loss in copper revenue to the nation will start filtering through the Zambian economy soon, tax collection will be far less than originally projected. In short, three things need immediate attention.
The first and what people are worried for is the cost of food especially the mealie-meal prices that are just too high for 85 per cent of Zambians who are at the same time seeing other amenities go up in costs. In the short term, let us use our food reserves to cushion out the escalating prices. In the long term, I want us to revisit the mandate of Food Reserve Agency and make it good for Zambia. I am surprised, perhaps astonished, as to FRA being a buyer rather than a producer. The question we must ask ourselves is why the FRA is not investing in producing food. How can you be a food reserve master if you depend on outside countries to supply you with most basic commodities?
If Zambia was Hong Kong or Singapore, I would understand. But we have so much land that is lying idle without being utilised and labour is in abundance. FRA should be a think tank to help the government formulate proper policies on food reserve. I therefore expect the agency to have started farming or sponsoring farming as a strategic move. Why should the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) embark on a four-year food security project in Chama and not FRA? There are just too many unanswered questions on the shoulders of FRA.
Time has come to really assess its books. Based on this analysis and numerous calls by Zambians and institutions in food production, FRA has failed and has let the people of Zambia down. Perhaps it is better to get rid of it and channel the effort through The National Service who are best suited to run this type of agency with utmost discipline.
The second, and what Zambia as a nation should really be worried about, are the falling prices of copper. This is extremely alarming since we are a mono-economy that ‘fully’ depends on copper.
To lose this enormous national revenue-generating machine is the same as sending Zambia to the grave. For over four years, I been talking of moving Zambia from its dependency on copper to establishing new industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. Manufacturing is at the heart of our future in the 21st Century. If you do not manufacture you are a dead duck on the shore of a muddy pond.
The whole project in developing new industries should be driven by the government not only through policy but by investing in these companies of strategic importance. If we need a nuclear power station, a new refinery, a new fertiliser plant, new roads and new railway, etc, we should not wait until an investor from outside drops from the sky to build things for us. This will never happen.
Not everything we are doing in Zambia must be through direct investment from overseas. We are a developing country and we must do it ourselves with our resources or borrow to invest. Otherwise nobody will come to our rescue. Look at Luanshya Copper Mine (LCM), it has abandoned us when we really need it. This is despite the fact that it acquired the mines virtually for free.
The productivity cost of copper at LCM was about $2.75 per pound weight and it is still being sold at higher value than that despite the drop in copper price. So why has LCM abandoned us? The answer is simple. This was a speculative enterprise which was not meant for the long term.
They came in with a plan to make a fixed amount of money as all investors do. Once that money has been made they can pack up and go. In the early years China suffered the same by Americans coming in obtain subsidies and as things became tough declared bankruptcy. We need the government to get the grip of this and make sure this is not the beginning of the end on copper mine investment.
If not sure, I will urge the government to even partially nationalise LCM. Who would have thought US government will nationalise the banks and car companies. This was thought to be socialism. But capitalist and market-oriented governments around the world are nationalising institutions. We must be thinking of that very deeply if we will salvage some jobs.
Tourism is another good money-earning venture. I was pleased to hear His Excellency point to developing Tourism. That is in the long term. In the short term we must see how we can capitalise on the 2010 World Cup to be staged in South Africa in 2010.
Why is Zambia not advertising on international media? People who will come to the football will 100 per cent like to visit Zambia and see Victoria Falls. Everybody I have spoken to keep on asking me of how to get to the Falls? Zambia, at the level of government, should put this as a priority item to boost tourism around Victoria Falls. Many are scared to go to Zimbabwe, therefore I can assure you that the great majority will see Victoria Falls from the Zambian side.
If we play our cards right, we may generate up to $0.5 billion if not more for those few days. Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Namibia are advertising heavily and I know of some people who will be going to South Africa before and after the World Cup. Let us not lose this chance.
The truth is that doing business in Zambia is a very costly affair. Vehicles deteriorate quickly due to bad roads and therefore the maintenance cost of cars has escalated. That is why we see public transport fares also going up.
This trend will persist regardless of fuel prices so it must not be confused with the cost of oil. Spare parts have become dearer because the Japanese and other car manufacturers have cut down production. If we really wanted to help the public transporter let us build new good roads. I am pleased to say that the Minister of Communications & Transport Her Honourable Dora Siliya has just initiated the work on a Transport Master Plan. I went to her office when she was on her annual leave to show my appreciation and to see how I could contribute to the formulation of the plan using my EU experience.
However, I met one of directors and we had a good discussion. I want Zambia to put transport at the top of development. This will enable us to tap into some money from overseas that will see us building buses in Zambia. Since the year has began, I will look forward to have an audience with Her Honourable Dora Siliya so that I can present my plans and show her how we can solve one of the mobility problems, namely public transport.
From this end I am optimistic that Zambia will go through this storm. Do not be alarmed but be prepared. Have a happy and prosperous New Year.
Labels: CLIVE CHIRWA, DORA SILIYA, ECONOMY, GREAT DEPRESSION II, TRANSPORT
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Minister urges collaboration in African transport sector
By Fridah Zinyama
Wednesday June 04, 2008 [04:00]
TRANSPORT and Communication deputy minister Mubika Mubika has said African countries need to collaborate their transport sectors especially the air transport systems if the continent is to integrate economically. During the Civil Aviation Committee meeting held last Friday at COMESA offices, Mubika said the collaboration amongst Southern Africa Development Communities (SADC), East African Community (EAC), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was important as it would help to bring about a robust, cost-efficient and competitive air transport on the continent.
“The speedy implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision on open skies policy as well as programmes relating to air transport safety, aviation security, strengthening of state oversight in air transport and infrastructure development are very important,” he said.
Mubika said the creation of an enabling environment for the air transport industry had become more urgent for addressing the quality of lives of the African people and global competitiveness.
“It is imperative that we address all bottlenecks within this sector, as our people continue to look to us for social-economic development,” he said.
“We need to improve our air transport as we have the challenge to host not only the world cup in 2010, CAF cup in Angola and All-Africa games in 2011. All these major events require a sound reliable and cost-effective air transport system in place by then.”
Mubika said it was important for the three regional economic communities to realistically deal with the challenges that the continent is experiencing like poor connectivity among our member states.
“Other challenges like connectivity delays which ultimately lead to poor service will have to be dealt with,” he said. “And the continued uses of hubs outside our region for travel between countries in our sub-region, the high cost of travel in our sub-region compared with global norms all have to be dealt with.”
Labels: MUBIKA MUBIKA, REGIONAL INTEGRATION, TRANSPORT
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Road traffic accidents
By Editor
Wednesday May 07, 2008 [04:00]
We are losing too many people every day through road traffic accidents.
The University Teaching Hospital is receiving, on average, over 100 cases of road traffic accidents every week. This loss of valuable human resource through road traffic accidents needs to be addressed by serious policy considerations and practical measures.
We are losing over a trillion kwacha every year as a result of road traffic accidents. This constitutes three per cent of our Gross Domestic Product. And statistics show that every year we are recording not less than 12,000 accidents. And we lose at least 1,000 lives through accidents every year, with at least 2,000 of our citizens left with serious injuries and 3,000 with light injuries.
These statistics are indeed worrisome and demand far-reaching measures to correct the situation. It is easy to forget that dry statistics represent real people and real lives. Every single injury and death caused by a road traffic accident is totally preventable. Thus, road traffic accidents remain a serious problem that tragically affects thousands of victims annually. Road accidents rank as the third-highest cause of death after malaria and AIDS in this country.
However, there are a number of actions which can contribute towards a reduction of this problem. Some of them have already been articulated by our Inspector General of Police Ephraim Mateyo and others by other agencies. What remains really is action. Of course, we should continue to seek more and better ways of curbing road traffic accidents and there should be no end to this quest.
Something has to be done to drastically reduce this problem. And we should always remember that driving is a privilege, not a right. Just as we do not licence people who violate certain standards in other areas, we should not hesitate to revoke the licences of those who are bad or reckless drivers, those who lack good judgement.
Automatic licence revocation along with a mandatory jail sentence may be more effective, for certain grave violations, than just licence revocation.
Everything possible should be done to reverse this worrying trend on our roads. The morbidity and mortality that road traffic accidents cause are quite as significant as is the economic burden arising out of these accidents. It also shouldn’t be forgotten that the actual impact of road traffic accidents falls mainly on pedestrians and public service passengers, and to some extent, children.
Yet road traffic accidents have not been really identified as a public health problem in particular and consequently better formulated intervention that needs a multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral strategy is either lacking or limited. This impairs the successful implementation and effectiveness of the programmes or initiatives.
Yes, it cannot be denied that attempts targeted at addressing the problem of road traffic accidents and road traffic injuries have been initiated in Zambia. But lack of policy implementation shows that in terms of human resource, financial and other capital resources appear to be limiting any achievement orimpact in reducing mortality and morbidity due to road traffic accidents. As such, past and current trends in road traffic accidents will continue. Our traffic police, as things stand today, don’t really have what it takes to control bad or reckless driving. As we have experienced with speed controls, more resources and equipment will be needed to curb bad or reckless driving.
We can’t continue to have a reputation of being the country highest prone to road traffic accidents in the SADC region. The number of motor vehicles on our roads is growing at an alarming rate and if this is not matched with more strict road traffic controls, our roads will increasingly become more and more dangerous. We can’t do with a laxity of the days when automobiles on our roads were very few. Today even a humble worker has more than one car. Our roads are increasingly becoming congested with traffic. There is need for sanity on the roads and this won’t come by itself; it has to be introduced by the authorities.
Clearly, there are many ways we can use to try and address this problem – let’s use all of them.
And as Inspector General Mateyo has correctly observed, the country needs to develop and implement a safety strategy that is responsive to the causes of road traffic accidents. It is imperative that we develop a road traffic safety strategy to curb the rising number of accidents and deaths on our roads. We need to take another deep look at our road traffic laws and regulations to try and reduce the carnage on our roads.
Labels: ROADS, TRANSPORT
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Mateyo calls for responsive strategy on traffic accidents
By Lemmy Likando in Siavonga and Masuzyo Chakwe in Lusaka
Wednesday May 07, 2008 [04:00]
THE country needs to develop and implement a safety strategy that is responsive to the causes of road traffic accidents, Inspector General of Police Ephraim Mateyo has said. And Passenger Rights and Advocacy Network executive director Prince Kaping'a has called on Mateyo to introduce highway patrols in the country to help reduce road traffic accidents.
Closing a three-day workshop on enforcement of the road traffic Act No. 11 of 2002 in Siavonga, Mateyo observed that it was imperative to develop a road safety strategy because the country currently experienced a lot of accidents.
Mateyo, who was represented by director police administration Standwell Lungu, further observed that it was through development of a work plan and legal enforcement of traffic law that unimaginable road carnage could be avoided.
"It shall remain government policy to deal sternly with all those that violate the law regarding road use. I wish to implore all police officers and members of RTSA Road Traffic and Safety Agency to treat the enforcement of these laws as noble duty," he said.
Mateyo reminded the police and RTSA workers that all those that engaged in corruption would face the wrath of the law and be dealt with severely.
However, he bemoaned the lack of a formal and comprehensive offences list that includes fines at both police and RTSA level, saying deliberate efforts were needed to develop standards for traffic offences.
"In an effort to improve the administration of enforcement vis-a-vis- the management of fees paid for various offences, a deliberate effort is needed to develop common procedures and standards for traffic offences and attendant penalty fee listed in the statute books," he said.
Mateyo added that a working task force had already been established for the consolidation of road signs and traffic offences.
Mateyo also announced that from next year a common enforcement work plan would be developed by both police and RTSA each year to focus on resources required for effective road traffic law enforcement.
And RTSA deputy director of transport Robert Mtonga said in an interview that the objective of the workshop was to orient participants to the road traffic Act No. 11 of 2002.
Mtonga said the workshop was also designed to identify offences that exist and categorize them into impoundable and non-impoundable offences to come up with a framework of administering the traffic offences.
"We want to come up with a formal way of administering road traffic offences which is going to be standard and be followed by whoever is implementing it. But in order to do this we will need a budget," he said.
However, Mtonga assured that implementation of the work plan that includes the budget would be almost immediate saying currently RTSA had managed to source about K1.4 billion for enforcing activities in all provinces.
And Kaping'a said motorists would be forced to be cautious on the road once patrols on the highways were introduced, as they would not be in a position to know when the police would pounce on them.
Kaping'a said expensive as it might be, the culprits must be made to bear the costs by handing them heavy fines.
"You may be interested to learn that traffic police checkpoints are very common in Central and Copperbelt provinces and yet the anarchy on the roads continues. Traffic check points especially in the said provinces have become a circus," he said.
Kaping'a said when minibus drivers with 'ramshackle minibuses' got a signal from their colleagues that there was a police checkpoint ahead, they would park their buses by the roadside until the roadblock was dismounted.
Kaping'a said if by any chance the drivers were asked to pull over by the police, negotiations would commence after which they would proceed as if nothing happened.
Road traffic accidents have in the past been rife, leading to loss of life.
University Teaching Hospital (UTH) spokesperson Kennedy Makukula on Monday said the institution received over 111 cases of road traffic accidents last week alone.
Labels: EPHRAIM MATEYO, ROADS, TRANSPORT
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Levy calls for functional transport system in health sector
By Mwala Kalaluka and Nyambe Muyumbana in Mongu
Monday April 14, 2008 [04:00]
PRESIDENT Levy Mwanawasa has partly blamed Zambia's high maternal mortality ratio on the failure to adequately address the transport needs of most health institutions. And President Mwanawasa has said Litunga Lubosi Imwiko will be among the first nine traditional leaders in the Western Province that will benefit from a government supported car loan facility.
Meanwhile, President Mwanawasa has said the delays in completing the Shangombo District Hospital project were regrettable.
In a speech read on his behalf by defence minister George Mpombo during the hand over of 17 Land Cruisers and 38 motorbikes to the Ministry of Health in the Western Province yesterday, President Mwanawasa said even though still abound in the government's efforts to address such challenges, the health sector had recorded positive strides.
"It is my hope that the provision of these vehicles shall significantly contribute towards the safeguarding of the lives of both the Zambian mother and her child," President Mwanawasa said.
"Today's hand over of these vehicles to the Western Province is part of an on-going exercise as each of our 72 districts shall eventually receive these vehicles whose total cost is estimated to be K25 billion."
He said for the government to realise its vision to provide Zambians with quality health services, there was need to address the demands that go with a functional transport system in the health sector.
"These vehicles will significantly strengthen emergency obstetric care in particular, and will also help meet the requirement of emergency health care in general," President Mwanawasa said. "It is our aim that these vehicles shall eventually be used as utility vehicles as well as ambulances."
President Mwanawasa said the strengthening of the health transport system augured very well with the recent introduction of the direct entry midwifery training.
"An increase in the number of midwives coupled with the availability of ambulances should surely impact positively on the nation's provision of maternal and health services," he said.
And President Mwanawasa said in a speech read for him by Mpombo at the Litunga's Palace in Limulunga yesterday that the vehicle loan facility would ultimately enable traditional leaders to be mobile and allow them monitor development programmes in their areas.
"All these things are being done to improve the status and welfare of our chief," he said. President Mwanawasa said the government was committed to ameliorating the difficulties that over 285 families faced because of a hunger situation due to floods experienced in the province.
"By the end of March 2008, a total of 3, 238 metric tones of maize were distributed," he said.
President Mwanawasa assured that no one would die from flood-induced starvation in the province.
He also said the government was committed to addressing the poor road network scenario in the province and that funds had also been disbursed towards the construction of housing units in the province.
Meanwhile, President Mwanawasa said the government had released K1.7 billion to the Ministry of Health to find another contractor on the Shangombo Hospital project following the failure by Tomorrow Investments to complete the project.
He also revealed that 59 development projects amounting to over K26 billion had been initiated in the province's health sector, among other projects.
On the Kuomboka Ceremony, President Mwanawasa said he had directed community development and social services minister Catherine Namugala to make the cultural sector visible through focusing on the development of infrastructure at places where traditional events take place.
"The Kuomboka traditional ceremony indeed, is a custodian of oral and intangible heritage," said President Mwanawasa.
Labels: HEALTHCARE, MWANAWASA, TRANSPORT
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