Cairns, Levy differ over economic development
Cairns, Levy differ over economic developmentBy Joan Chirwa and Mutale Kapekele in Livingstone
Tuesday July 24, 2007 [04:00]
CHAIRMAN of the Zambia International Business Advisory Council (ZIBAC) Lord Simon Cairns yesterday said Zambia had over the last three years made very little progress economically with regard to implementation of recommendations made by his council.
But President Levy Mwanawasa, who officiated at the 5th ZIBAC conference being held in Livingstone, differed with Lord Cairns over concerns that the Zambian government had not acted on some recommendations saying this would discourage investments.
In his address to the conference, Lord Cairns earlier indicated that a number of steps agreed in the 2004 report had not been acted upon.
“I am going to be very frank. We have had this range of meetings and have developed a series of ideas and reports with both the public and private sector. In a number of cases, we have reached sensible agreements but quite frankly, nothing much has happened over the last two to three years,” Lord Cairns said.
“There are 72 steps that we agreed upon in 2004 but have not been acted upon to date. Independent people that have been coming have said they haven’t seen a lot of work being done. There are quite a number of things needing change, although I know that change is painful and it doesn’t always suit everyone.”
But President Mwanawasa said he disagreed with Lord Cairns over his concerns that little had been done on recommendations of the ZIBAC council.
“I don’t agree with Lord Cairns that very little has been achieved since we started our meetings as ZIBAC. You yourself earlier acknowledged that Zambia is not what it used to be some 15 years ago. It is somewhat discouraging to some of us in the business of developing Zambia,” President Mwanawasa said.
“When something is good, it is essential that we should be patted on the back. There is need to ask ourselves why in some cases, implementation has not been possible.”
Among the issues recommended to the government by the ZIBAC advisors in 2004 was the liberalisation of the International Gateway (IGW), which is currently operated by the Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel).
A number of concerns have been raised over the current situation regarding the IGW, since private telephony providers in the country see the access fee of US$12 million as a protectionist measure against competition for Zamtel.
But President Mwanawasa said the private mobile phone providers should first lobby for the liberalisation of the IGW in their countries of origin.
“MTN is a South African company and they were not involved in the liberalisation of the international gateway in their own country but it is easy for them to fight for this in Zambia ,” President Mwanawasa said. “For Celtel, it is the same in Britain. Only three companies are using the international gateway and all these are owned by the government to some degree. Now I tell them that first of all, they should get the British gateway before trying to get it in Zambia.”
President Mwanawasa further blamed the slow implementation of some programmes related to telecommunications on delays by some operators to pay access fees to Zamtel.
“How can we be efficient if you are withholding money? MTN has refused to pay fees. We had gone to court and the court decided in our favour. However, MTN appealed, but they owe Zamtel US $25 million,” President Mwanawasa said. “And now they are saying the international gateway is not efficient.”
He urged the private and public sector to encourage themselves and recognise areas of successes in economic reforms agreed upon in the previous ZIBAC conference.
“There is a lot we need to do but let us not discourage ourselves, we are on the right course,” President Mwanawasa said. “While the delay on the international gateway is regrettable, government has the responsibility to undertake necessary consultations before acting on the matter as sensitive as this one (IGW). The motive of our policy is that we will not implement any programme which is not beneficial to Zambia and its people.”
And Lord Cairns further said the private sector in Zambia should be proactive through interaction with the government so that Zambia can enhance its economy.
He advised the public and private sector in Zambia to work together and move ahead in developing the country’s economy.
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