PAZ laments small-scale farmers’ failure to form cooperatives
Written by George Zulu in Monze
Saturday, March 28, 2009 8:33:38 PM
POULTRY Association of Zambia (PAZ) executive manager Mathews Ngosa has said the failure by small-scale poultry farmers to form and promote cooperatives was the greatest challenge the organisation was facing in protecting the industry from unfair treatment.
In an interview in Monze after the district Annual General Meeting, Ngosa said his organisation was not happy that small-scale poultry farmers had failed to form and promote cooperatives as a business entity in order to increase and pull production together to compete favourably on the local market.
Ngosa said the formation of poultry farmer groups would help to determine and dictate the market price of poultry products and reduce on the cost of managing the business unlike having the freestyle the industry was facing.
“I should say that as PAZ, we are very disappointed and not happy that farmers are reluctant to form cooperatives, I have to mention that cooperatives are important as they help out farmers in so many ways to increase production and receive extension services which are difficult to receive when you operate as an individual small-scale farmer. The formation of cooperatives enhances competition and increases production hence they will be able to dictate the market price of their produce and other bulk buying incentives,” he said.
And Ngosa has said his association was saddened by some millers who were quoting prices of feed in foreign currencies, saying the trend had an adverse effect on the Zambian economy.
He said major players in the poultry industry were small-scale farmers, hence quoting prices of feed in US dollar was an expensive move which would lead to the collapse of the industry which had recorded some steady growth in the recent past.
ìDollarisation is our serious concern in this industry; our poultry farmers have been affected, we have asked government to subsidise maize to millers as it would reduce the prices of feed and it will be a relief which will ensure farmers are kept in the business,” said Ngosa.
And Tiger Feeds technical advisor Justine Chibwe said unstable market trends had affected the operations of the company due to the economic difficulties the country was experiencing resulting from the current global credit crunch.
Chibwe however said his company had come up with a mitigation measure by introducing two cost-effective feeds on the market, the Stargro and Grofin, to enhance businesses of small-scale poultry farmers.
Labels: COOPERATIVES, PAZ, POULTRY
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COMMENT - Time for even commercial farmers to get off chemical fertilizer, and onto locally produced organic fertilizer.
Skinner bemoans cost of 2008-2009 farming season
Written by Justin Katilungu in Mkushi
Saturday, March 28, 2009 8:24:13 PM
MKUSHI Farming Bloc marketing committee officer Bruce Skinner has said the 2008-2009 farming season has seen the most dramatic increase in costs ever experienced by farmers in Zambian history.
In his presentation to President Rupiah Banda who visited the district on Wednesday, Skinner said there was need for the government to assist farmers ride through the turbulent times they were facing if they were to align themselves firmly once the economic upturn happened.
"At the time of planting, compound fertiliser prices shot from K3.3 million per tonne to K8.8 million. Diesel prices doubled from K4,860 per litre the previous year to K8,500 at the time of ploughing and planting the maize crop in the ground now," Skinner noted.
He said the prevailing circumstances had led to huge borrowing from the bank to purchase inputs for maize production which when coupled with the low wheat prices prevailing at the moment worked against farmers in their efforts to settle bank loans as well as borrow more.
"At the moment, commercial farmers are about to start combining and drying early maize at considerable costs to themselves; whilst we respect the need the need to cushion the effects of high prices on the consumer, it cannot be at the expense of production," he said.
Skinner noted that it would be difficult to market early maize whilst millers were buying highly subsidised maize.
"We know that yourselves (government) and the farmers union have held consultative talks on this issue but we stress the urgency in the handling of it.
"Mkushi alone will produce 30,000 tonnes of early maize in April/May and if we lose this market, the results are dire as prices drop quickly once the main crop is available to miller," Skinner warned.
Owing to high input costs for maize production, Skinner observed that there was a significant swing away from the commodity to Soya production in Zambia in the 2008-2009 farming season as it required less fertiliser.
He was saddened that the global economic recession had affected the purchasing power for consumers, especially under the mining sector.
“This has led to the reduction in the amount of poultry consumed and this in turn will no doubt have an adverse effect on the amount of Soya beans required for stock feed to the poultry and pig industry,” said Skinner. “We feel that it might be appropriate this year to allow significant exports of Soya cake to allow the surplus beans to be sold to our neighbours in the region.”
Labels: BRUCE SKINNER, COOPERATIVES, POULTRY
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MMD suspends Kazala
Written by Katwishi Bwalya
Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:52:42 AM
THE MMD has suspended former Nchanga member of parliament Richard Kazala for alleged indiscipline. But Kazala said no one can root him out of the MMD because he is more genuine than some people in the party. MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga said the secretariat had suspended Kazala for what he termed "sulky language" against President Rupiah Banda and the party.
"If a person can say Zambians have no hope in the President [Rupiah Banda], it means they can even talk that about their parents in the same way. Now, you don't talk like that in the African society," Mabenga said. "If there is anything you want to talk about, he [Kazala] has all the avenues as a member of the party. He has a provincial minister there, he has the provincial party leadership there. In fact, I don't know if he is still in the party leadership or not but, he has had the opportunity where he could talk. No one is refused to talk, no one is refused to suggest provided he uses the correct language befitting the kind of a person he is speaking to and, number two, the correct time and place and not anywhere you find."
Mabenga said Kazala had been suspended for defying party directives for members not to issue statements without clearance.
He said none of the party officials had received any correspondence from Kazala for him to make such statements.
"It still stands that no member shall issue statements without clearance from relevant authorities especially in this case that he goes ahead to use sulky words against his own President; that is unbecoming," he said.
He said no member was allowed to talk about President Rupiah Banda and the party through the press.
He said it was against the African tradition to speak against elders in public, adding that such a thing could not even happen in a home.
"This man talks about his own president, his own party president in the media and talks negatively against him. Surely, hasn't he got better avenues where he can discuss these matters if ever he has got that feeling? Why go to the press?" Mabenga asked. "Once you do that you are dissociating yourself with such a person and your own party president. So, he is dissociating himself with the party president and hence the action that the secretariat has taken."
He explained that the party had meetings at parliamentary, national, constituency, ward and branch levels where Kazala could have aired his grievances.
He said Kazala's suspension did not mean that the party was trying to silence its members.
"That is not silencing at all, there must be a system in every organisation. You don't just stand up and talk. How do you just wake up and say things in the papers? Surely, if Mr Kazala belongs to the district executive committee or whichever, he has an opportunity to say whatever there, and not run to the paper that is indiscipline and that is against the directive I gave," Mabenga said.
He urged MMD members to desist from making statements that ridiculed the party leadership.
Mabenga said MMD members needed to respect President Banda because they adopted him as their candidate and he was eventually elected President by the people.
"Surely, they should respect that because it is their own making. The presidency is theirs and therefore, I expect them to respect their own decision and not to disrespect their own decision that they made when they put him as candidate for MMD," he said.
Asked if President Banda had sanctioned Kazala's suspension, Mabenga responded: "He has not, I didn't even talk to him. We are the party, President Banda is a leader but we are the party. The people make the party, he is part of that and when we think that what is being talked about him is wrong, we acted."
But Kazala, who confirmed that he had been informed of his suspension by MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande, vowed that no one would root him out of the party because he was a genuine member of the party.
"Jeff Kaande phoned me, he says we are expelling you from the party but I told him 'you write to me, don't just phone me'. But I told him that I have been speaking for the voiceless members of the MMD and I told him that [Dr Kenneth] Kaunda ruled for 27 years and he silenced Zambians. There is no way Jeff Kaande can silence me, an ordinary member of the MMD," Kazala said. "[I told him that] 'I am only advising you [Kaande] so that this party [MMD] of ours can resurrect but you don't take my advice and instead you said you are expelling me from the party. Anyway you write to me but before you write to me think twice because I am going to take a lot of people with me wherever I am going to decide to go'."
Kazala said he had decided to speak out because a lot of MMD members were scared of talking.
"The thing is that a lot of people in MMD are scared to speak and there is no way Jeff Kaande could be telling me on the phone that 'you people have got other means and ways of communicating'. How do we have other ways and means of communication when a branch leader can't even afford to get on a bus to come and see Jeff Kaande and tell him that ‘this is what I need’?" Kazala asked.
"The party structures are dead, all they do is come and give us mealie-meal, Kapenta and K100,000 for foot soldiers. After they get their votes, they get positions in government and they forget about the people."
He challenged President to fulfil his campaign promises.
Labels: MICHAEL MABENGA, MMD, RICHARD KAZALA
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There’s selfishness in some foreign missions – Rupiah
Written by Patson Chilemba
Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:51:43 AM
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday said there is selfishness in some foreign missions where ambassadors and their wives want everything to themselves. And President Banda said some ambassadors had been recalled because they were not wanted in the countries where they served.
During a swearing-in ceremony for ambassadors and high commissioners among other government officials at State House, President Banda said there was no selfishness when he served in the foreign service.
He told the newly sworn-in ambassadors and high commissioners that no matter how far they would be, the nation was aware of their activities because walls had ears.
President Banda asked the diplomats to be disciplined, saying some had been re-called because they enjoyed themselves and abandoned their families.
He said he was appointed to serve in the foreign-service when he was young and that could have been the time to play around but he survived.
President Banda said ambassadors should put the interests of others above their own because that was what leadership entailed.
"People come to me with some of them expecting that the President will show concern. The same to you," he said.
President Banda said he expected the envoys to handle public money and property properly and be the envy of other embassies from other countries.
He said those using government facilities to play politics back home would find themselves in problems.
President Banda said the envoys had been chosen deliberately because he knew they were up to the task and that they could withstand any kind of problem and defend the interests of Zambia.
He told the ambassadors and high commissioners that they were not going on holiday but to work and that each one would be judged by their performance in terms of things like investment and scholarships offered to Zambia.
President Banda said some ambassadors and high commissioners had been recalled because the countries where they served had demanded so.
"It's happening where we have ambassadors who are not wanted by the countries where they are," President Banda said. "We hope this won't happen to you."
Those sworn in were former Republican vice-president and Victory Ministries founding pastor Nevers Mumba [High Commissioner to Canada], Dr Wamundila Mbikusita Lewanika [Ambassador to Japan], Cecil Holmes [High Commissioner to Ghana], Darius Bubala [High Commissioner to Tanzania], Ephraim Mateyo [Ambassador to Germany] and Sipula Kabanje [High Commissioner to Zimbabwe].
President Banda also swore-in Allan Mbewe [deputy minister energy], Lubinda Imasiku [deputy minister science and technology] and Francis Kabonde [Inspector General of Police].
On Kabonde, President Banda said the police chief had served in the Police Service all his life.
He said both Kabonde and Mateyo were proof that even in the police, people could rise to the top and serve other people.
President Banda said he had no doubt that Kabonde would perform.
On the deputy ministers, President Banda said Mbewe and Imasiku knew what led to their appointment.
He said the duo had to be truly loyal to the country and to the President who appointed them.
President Banda said he had picked them because of their loyalty to the party and government.
And in an interview after being sworn in, pastor Mumba said he was humbled over his appointment by President Banda.
He said Canada was a good country to do business with especially with the current global economic downturn.
Pastor Mumba said Canada's support had no strings attached and his job was to cement relations with that country.
He said he would push for Zambia to be one of Canada's priorities for aid.
Pastor Mumba also revealed that he had been accredited to Cuba, Bahamas, Jamaica and other countries in the West Indies.
He said he would try to exploit mutual interests with these countries.
Asked if he had given up his presidential ambitions now that he had been appointed to serve in the civil service, pastor Mumba responded: "I am a civil servant and on my way to Canada." Pastor Mumba supported and vigorously campaigned for President Banda in the October 30, 2008 elections.
Labels: AMBASSADOR, RUPIAH BANDA
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Rupiah swears-in envoys
Written by Patson Chilemba
Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:50:17 AM
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda on Friday said there is selfishness in some foreign missions where ambassadors and their wives want everything to themselves. And President Banda said some ambassadors had been recalled because they were not wanted in the countries where they served.
During a swearing-in ceremony of ambassadors and high commissioners among other government officials at State House, President Banda said there was no selfishness when he served in the foreign service.
He told the newly sworn-in ambassadors and high commissioners that no matter how far they would be, the nation was aware of their activities because walls had ears.
President Banda asked the diplomats to be disciplined, saying some had been re-called because they enjoyed themselves and abandoned their families.
He said he was appointed to serve in the foreign-service when he was young and that could have been the time to play around but he survived.
President Banda said ambassadors should put the interests of others above theirs because that was what leadership entailed.
"People come to me with some of them expecting that the President will show concern. The same to you," he said.
President Banda said he expected the envoys to handle public money and property properly and be the envy of other embassies from other countries.
He said those using government facilities to play politics back home would find themselves in problems.
President Banda said the envoys had been chosen deliberately because he knew they were up to the task and that they could withstand any kind of problem and defend the interests of Zambia.
He told the ambassadors and high commissioners that they were not going on holiday but to work and that each one would be judged by their performance in terms of things like investment and scholarships offered to Zambia.
President Banda said some ambassadors and high commissioners had been recalled because the countries where they served had demanded so.
"It's happening where we have ambassadors who are not wanted by the countries where they are," President Banda said. "We hope this won't happen to you."
Those sworn-in were former Republican vice-president and Victory Ministries founding pastor Nevers Mumba [High Commissioner to Canada], Dr Wamundila Mbikusita Lewanika [Ambassador to Japan], Cecil Holmes [High Commissioner to Ghana], Darius Bubala [High Commissioner to Tanzania], Ephraim Mateyo [Ambassador to Germany] and Sipula Kabanje [High Commissioner to Zimbabwe].
President Banda also swore-in Allan Mbewe [deputy minister energy], Lubinda Imasiku [deputy minister science and technology] and Francis Kabonde [Inspector General of Police].
On Kabonde, President Banda said the police chief had served in the Police Service all his life.
He said both Kabonde and Mateyo were proof that even in the Police people could rise to the top and serve other people.
President Banda said he had no doubt that Kabonde would perform.
On the deputy ministers, President Banda said Mbewe and Imasiku knew what led to their appointment.
He said the duo had to be truly loyal to the country and to the President who appointed them.
President Banda said he had picked them because of their loyalty to the party and government.
And in an interview after being sworn in, pastor Mumba said he was humbled over his appointment by President Banda.
He said Canada was a good country to do business with especially with the current global economic downturn.
Pastor Mumba said Canada's support had no strings attached and his job was to cement relations with that country.
He said he would push for Zambia to be one of Canada's priorities for aid.
Pastor Mumba also revealed that he had been accredited to Cuba, Bahamas, Jamaica and other countries in the West Indies.
He said he would try to exploit mutual interests with these countries.
Asked if he had given up his presidential ambitions now that he had been appointed to serve in the civil service, pastor Mumba responded: "I am a civil servant and on my way to Canada." Pastor Mumba supported and vigorously campaigned for President Banda in the October 30, 2008 elections.
Labels: AMBASSADOR, RUPIAH BANDA
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Biti warns of unrest in Zimbabwe if no aid comes
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:48:59 AM
Finance minister Tendai Biti has warned of possible unrest in Zimbabwe if the international community does not come to the aid of the country.
Biti has previously said foreign investment would be crucial to rebuilding the country's economy but he has now warned of possible violent civil unrest if the donor community does not come to Zimbabwe's aid.
He said the inclusive government needed international financial backup to work successfully.
"The consequences of it (unity government) not working are drastic, it will lead to a failure of the state, a collapse of the state and all the civil unrest that follows the failure of a state," Biti said at a joint press conference in with the visiting Norwegian International Development Minister, Erik Solheim.
Most donor countries have mounted a "wait-and-see" approach on the inclusive government before they can commit their funds. Most of them have said they will maintain humanitarian aid, with minimal pledges for non-humanitarian aid.
Western countries feel Zimbabwe first has to implement genuine and comprehensive political and economic reforms, before they can lift sanctions or provide direct financial support to the government..
The United States has gone even further by demanding a new and democratic constitution in Zimbabwe within the next 18 months, followed by fresh elections, before it lifts sanctions or provides significant financial support.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made it clear, in a statement released on Wednesday that it was cautiously holding back on investment in Zimbabwe until such a time that the government can produce "a track record of sound policy implementation, donor support and a resolution of overdue financial obligations to official creditors.."
Most countries that have pledged money to Zimbabwe in recent weeks have only done so by channelling money into humanitarian agencies working on the ground rather than for balance of payment support.
Labels: DONORS, TENDAI BITI, ZIMBABWE
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Zambia records 0.9% decline in inflation
Written by Florence Bupe
Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:47:49 AM
THE Central Statistical Office (CSO) has observed that Zambia is recording trade deficits as a result of the global financial crisis which has negatively impacted on copper prices.
And the country has recorded a 0.9 percentage point decline in the rate of inflation for the month of March, 2009, from 14 per cent in February to the current 13.1per cent.
Releasing the monthly bulletin in Lusaka on Friday, CSO director Efreda Chulu said with the prevailing global economic challenges which had affected commodity prices, the country was recording reduced revenue from copper exports, hence the deficit trade balance.
Zambia recorded a trade deficit of K163.3 billion for the month of February.
“During the month of February 2009, the country exported less than it imported in value terms. The total value of exports in February 2009 was K1,128.5 billion compared to K1,117.9 in January 2009,” she said.
The major source of Zambia’s imports in February was South Africa, accounting for 40.9 per cent of the total value of imports, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through the import of copper ores and concentrates.
The Asian market accounted for the largest export market share, accounting for 19.7 per cent, followed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with 19.2 per cent.
And the country’s inflation rate has recorded a further decline mainly due to reduced food prices.
“The decline in the annual rate of inflation in March 2009 was mainly due to reductions in the prices of food products such as fish, kapenta, vegetables and alcoholic beverages,” said Chulu.
Labels: INFLATION
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US, Spain have learnt nothing about Cuba’s resistance – Fidel
Written by Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba
Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:46:11 AM
FORMER Cuban president Fidel Castro has said the United States and Spain have learnt nothing about the heroic resistance of Cuba.
In his essay Lies at the service of the empire in the Cuban online forum Cubadebate dated March 25, Fidel also explained that recent restructuring of the Council of Ministers of the Government of Cuba was a matter of purely legal procedures.
He stated that President Raul Castro had nothing to do with any dismissals.
Fidel was reacting to cable stories stating that former Council of Ministers vice-presidents Pedro Miret and Osmany Cienfuegos are two historical figures who have been dismissed from their posts by President Raul.
He described two news agencies, Reuters and EFE (Spanish), as two of the Western news agencies closest to the United States' imperialist policy.
Fidel said the latter behaved more poorly even though it was much less important than the former.
"Pedro Miret is a magnificent comrade, having great historical merits and whom we all respect and for whom I have a lot of affection," he stated.
Fidel explained that for several years now, for reasons of health, Miret was unable to occupy any post.
"The slow progress of his illness led to the gradual cessation of his political activities," he stated. "It is not fair to describe him as having been "fired", without any consideration whatsoever."
Fidel then stated that Osmany Cienfuegos, the brother of Camilo, carried out important tasks not only as Vice-President of the Council of Ministers but also as party member.
He stated that Cienfuegos also fulfilled his [Fidel's] instructions while he was Commander-in-Chief.
"He has always been, and still is, a revolutionary," Fidel stated. "His functions were gradually ceasing from a time much earlier than that of my illness. He no longer held the post of Vice-President of the Council of Ministers. Comrade Raul Castro, President of the Council of State, has absolutely no responsibility for any of this. In both cases, it was a matter of purely legal procedures."
Fidel noted that European Union Centre director Joaquin Roy in Miami said Spain had been rediscovered as a key country in certain regions of the world that were of interest to the United States such as Latin America highlighting Cuba and Venezuela.
Roy told EFE that the United States' major interest more than pressuring for an opening and changes was the stability on the Island.
Fidel said it could not be more crystal clear that "the ideas of the old Spanish empire on crutches, trying to assist the corrupt, tottering and genocidal Yankee Empire [USA]."
"Nothing has been learned by the United States superpower and the Spanish mini-power about the heroic resistance of Cuba," stated Fidel.
Labels: CUBA
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Banda must apologise for distorting FSP – Sata
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:44:56 AM
OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday demanded that President Rupiah Banda must apologise for having distorted the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP) as a campaign tactic last year, which led to misapplication and abuse of farming inputs. And Sata challenged President Banda to produce Deputy Chief Justice Irene Mambilima's ruling which he claimed indicates that he [Sata] lied to the Supreme Court in his electoral petition.
Reacting to President Banda's statement that his government was unhappy with the management of the FSP because of poor supervision that led to misapplication of farming inputs, Sata said President Banda should be honest enough and apologise that he caused the disturbance in the FSP programme when he announced at a campaign rally that the price of fertiliser had been reduced to K50,000 per bag and allowed civil servants to buy subsidised fertiliser under the FSP.
"You remember during the campaigns or prior to the campaigns when he changed the rules himself to say that 'now fertiliser will be
K50,000.' And he said civil servants, whether they have farms or no farms, they are entitled to fertiliser. He made those directives; the people he is blaming were supposed to adjust," Sata said.
He said since the FSP started, it had been going on very well but President Banda had messed up the programme because of his selfishness to win the presidential election last year.
"We had not heard any complaints. Why is it that people are complaining now? It's Rupiah Banda with his corruption ..." Sata said. "He used that same fertiliser, when he went kwa Gawa Undi's Kulamba, he donated 2,000 bags of fertiliser. We don't know how many more he donated to other chiefs in Eastern Province. That was why chiefs were writing letters ordering their village headmen that go and vote for Rupiah."
He said President Banda had no moral right to blame junior officers who were supervising the FSP.
"So how can he today have the morality of blaming the people who were supervising when he the acting President and in-coming President, instead of supporting the people who were supervising that programme, he is the one who came to disturb them. He should be part of the people to be blamed," Sata said. "He should be honest enough to admit that, 'sorry, I disturbed the programme because of my selfishness.'"
He said President Banda could not dispute his observations because the announcements of the head of state were well-documented.
"Rupiah says I lie but I don't lie, this issue was documented by ZNBC, Times of Zambia, Daily Mail, The Post, Radio Breeze, Radio Chikaya, Radio Maria and others. They reported the orders of President Banda that fertiliser will be K50,000 and civil servants, whether they have farms or no farms, should access that fetiliser," Sata said. "As leaders, we should be serious to say words which we will not retract tomorrow and as leaders, we should make decisions to support the junior officers who are working under very difficult conditions. We cannot push the blame and make supervisors unpopular."
He also challenged President Banda to explain the K15 billion alleged to have been paid to a businessman to supply fertiliser.
"A businessman was given K15 billion to bring fertiliser, can Rupiah Banda confirm that the fertilizer came?" Sata said.
On Wednesday, during his meeting with farmers in Mkushi, President Banda admitted that fertiliser under FSP had been misapplied and distributed late.
During a campaign rally in Nyimba, in Eastern Province before the October 30, 2008 presidential election, President Banda said: "You will buy fertiliser at K50,000 from the K200,000 which it would have cost you if we did not subsidise."
President Banda further said he had received a report that defence force personnel and other civil servants were excluded from buying subsidised fertiliser because they were salaried employees.
"...Because I am head of state of this country, hear me! From today onwards, all soldiers, all policemen, all civil servants, people who have salaries are entitled to this [subsidised fertiliser] if they can prove that they are bona fide farmers."
And Sata said President Banda should stop lying that he [Sata] lost his petition because he lied to the Supreme Court.
"Rupiah wants to lie to the nation that Sata is lying. I want him to produce the ruling from Mambilima which said I lied; lied on what? They did not count the votes, so what did I lie on? They would have only caught my lies if they would have counted but they refused to count," Sata said.
And Sata wondered why President Banda had not informed the nation whether the investor, he had instructed finance and national planning minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane to meet in London over Luanshya Copper Mine (LCM), had come to take over the operations of the closed mine.
"When Rupiah got intelligence report on the problems of Luanshya Copper Mines, he rushed there and when he came back from there, he instructed his finance minister to go to London to bring Rupiah's friend but up today, Rupiah Banda has not come back to tell us that his friend has come," Sata said. "When [the late president Levy] Mwanawasa brought the citizens empowerment, he amended the minerals and mines Act. Today because Rupiah Banda has friends in Nigeria, he has brought the same thing that is part of his legacy and continuity, he is amending that Act to say that land must go to everybody; land must go to foreigners instead of Zambians."
He said Zambians should not allow President Banda to be giving land to foreigners when Zambians did not have land.
"While people in Zimbabwe have been suffering to protect their land, here we have a Jonnie Walker President who has now come to surrender land to foreigners," said Sata. "By the end of his term of office, there will be nothing left for Zambians, and we have to be very careful because he might have even auction State House and the state helicopter."
Labels: FSP, SATA
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Zuma says Zimbabwe sanctions unfair
Reuters
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:50:00 +0000
SOUTH African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma on Friday criticised Western powers for holding back aid to Zimbabwe while President Robert Mugabe was still in power.
"This is very unfair to the Zimbabwean people. Because here is Mugabe, he is a factor. He is there. He leads a party that has been in government for over 20 years," Zuma told Reuters in an interview.
Zuma said the creation of a unity government where Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai share power had begun Zimbabwe's stabilisation, but it was only a starting point.
"You cannot say it has stabilised but it has entered a phase of stabilisation politically," Zuma said, adding that the unity government agreement, pushed by southern African leaders, was the only option. There was nothing else".
Western powers, who accuse Mugabe of ruining the country and violating human rights, are reluctant to begin pouring in aid to repair the devastated economy while the veteran leader remains as head of state.
In the highest-level African criticism of this stance, Zuma said it was wrong to hold back aid.
"When there was an election, it is not as if not a single human being voted for Mugabe in Zimbabwe. He had a very big percentage himself. He has a sizeable support."
Western donors have made clear they will only provide a large aid package to help rebuild the country once economic reforms are in place.
Much will depend on whether Mugabe and Tsvangirai can work together after years of animosity. Any new power struggle that divides the new government could undermine efforts to win the confidence of donors and foreign investors.
- Reuters
Labels: JACOB ZUMA, SANCTIONS
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COMMENT - I guess Morgan Tsvangirai saw the light. Or was that a flash?
Farm minvaders will be arrested - Tsvangirai
Ralph Mutema
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:57:00 +0000
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said that anyone invading farms will be arrested. Tsvangirai said the recent land invasions "are actually acts of theft".
President Mugabe has said that the Zimbabwe Government would continue to seize designated white-owned farms as part of the land reform policy.
"This government is aware that most of the ongoing disruptions of agricultural production, which are being done in the name of the land reform process, are actually acts of theft," Tsvangirai told a meeting of diplomats, civic society and business leaders, in one of his first public appearances since the death of his wife in a car crash earlier this month.
"Those continuing to undertake these activities will be arrested and face justice in the courts.
"I have tasked the minister of home affairs to ensure that all crimes are acted upon and the perpetrators arrested and charged."
The prime minister did not specify which home affair minister he gave that task.
There are two home affairs ministers in the inclusive Government. Neither party would cede control of the ministry which is responsible for the police when the inclusive Government was formed.
Last month, President Mugabe said there would be "no going back" on land reform, dismissing a ruling from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) tribunal last year that the seizures were illegal.
A commitment to continue the land reform policy was a key part of the power-sharing agreement signed by both parties. In the GPA, the parties also agreed that the program was irreversible.
Labels: LAND REFORM, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Africa needs fair trade more than aid-- Malawi Finance Minister
Goodall Gondwe
27 March, 2009 03:40:00
There is little doubt that the current global financial crisis was triggered by the failure of regulatory authorities to arrest the systemic risk posed by the use of derivatives and other such innovations in the US subprime housing sector.
The consequences of the downturn, as is already becoming clear in many countries across the world, are profound. But it is crucial that lessons be drawn from this slump to make a recurrence less likely.
A key outcome of reforms to the global financial architecture should be the expansion of the regulatory authority of multilateral organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It is essential that the Financial Sector Assessment Programme, for example, should be extended to economies across the world. This would enable regulators to go into countries and conduct in-depth financial sector assessments with the dual purpose of providing early warnings on possible risks in the financial system and advising on fiscal policy that would maintain macro-economic stability.
In addition, surveillance should involve peer review within the IMF to ensure that members, whether in industrialised countries or least developed economies, feel the need to pursue responsible policies. For Africa, the downturn may well spell a reduction in overseas development assistance. Governments in developed economies are already feeling the pressure to cut public expenditure and it stands to reason that development aid will not be spared the cutbacks.
But this approach would deal a terrible blow to developing countries and millions of the world's poor population. It will mean developing countries will have falling revenues and will inevitably fail to maintain the high rates of economic growth that have been experienced in recent years. This makes any moves to increase the capacity of lenders such as the IMF to boost aid highly necessary. This should include the reactivation of Special Drawing Rights (freely usable currencies at the disposal of the IMF) or indeed any other new credit facilities at the IMF and the World Bank.
In this context, it is essential that African leaders have their voices heard in the debate on possible reforms to the global financial architecture. While it is noteworthy that the British Prime Minister has invited notable African leaders to discuss issues that are of interest to the continent, it would be appropriate that Africa should be more adequately represented in the G20. The current situation where only South Africa represents the continent is less than appropriate.
More importantly, it should be understood that fairer global trade regimes would be more useful to Africa than aid. Not only is the African farmer threatened by the fall in commodity prices, particularly agricultural products, but he is also threatened by the producer subsidies that are being introduced in developed countries, especially in the USA and Europe. These subsidies price the African producer out of the global market, exacerbating poverty as a result.
Africa's trading partners could therefore help by instituting measures that will promote the growth of the market for African products at a price that will sustain production. In addition, a fund could be set aside to compensate the African producer for losses arising from declining terms of trade. Eligibility could be based on evidence-based research justifying the need for additional help from developing countries.
The last decade has seen impressive levels of economic expansion in most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Malawi, for example, has seen growth rates increased from a meager 2 percent to 8 percent within a few years.
African policymakers should ensure that the prudent macro- economic policies that have yielded accelerated growth are maintained, despite the downturn. In particular, there is need to maintain or increase expenditure on infrastructure development, education and health. The reduction in global oil and fertiliser prices should provide Africa with fiscal space for additional investment in development enhancing activities such as expenditure on education, health and infrastructure development.
On their part, developed countries could help Africa by ensuring that development aid continues to flow despite the challenges being faced in their respective economies as a result of the crisis.
Goodall Gondwe is Malawi's finance minister.
Labels: GOODALL GONDWE, IMF, MALAWI, TRADE
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COMMENT - This level of skewed reporting and ineptitude deserves a running commentary - MrK
Zimbabwe farmer: 'I'm not giving up'
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Dozens of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe have reportedly been invaded by supporters of President Robert Mugabe this month as the long-time opposition joined a national unity government.
Some suspect this is part of an attempt by hardline Mugabe supporters to scuttle the agreement. Catherine Meredith, 40, tells the BBC what happened to her farm.
Catherine Meredith
On February 6, a crowd of 30 men showed up on our land. Most of them were young, many of them wearing [President Mugabe's] Zanu-PF T-shirts.
I was away in South Africa visiting my son at university but my husband had stayed behind. We had a feeling that something could happen so we decided one of us should stay.
They told my husband that our farm was now being taken over by a local businessman. Their manner was boastful and arrogant.
[This starts off well. What is the level of arrogance and boastfulness observed among white farmers, I wonder? - MrK]
When I came back from South Africa a few days later, I was advised by the French embassy not to return to the farm (I'm originally from France).
[So 'white farmer' Meredith is an immigrant. Ok. - MrK]
This is because in 2008 there were similar invasions of white-owned farms and it got quite violent. Back then, there were people threatening to kill us and we had to leave our farm for some time.
[I wonder why they want them dead. - MrK]
This time, there was less violence, but I was in touch with my staff on the mobile from Harare. They told me the invaders had been menacing towards them and stopped them from working. This made my staff very angry, but they were under strict instructions from me not to lose it.
[I wonder how much 'her staff' get paid - say, per hour. - MrK]
'Rent-a-crowd'
After a week, my husband and I returned to the farm. In the meantime we had obtained a court order in Harare saying the squatters had no right to our land.
[So the original population are 'squatters'. Interesting. I guess that is why the BBC doesn't do interviews with them, because they might find out who really owns the land. - MrK]
File pic of a farm owner walking through the shell of his tobacco barn, torched by war veterans, near Harare
Past farm occupations by so-called war veterans have turned violent
The crowd was still there. The atmosphere was very tense, very unpleasant.
[Gee, I hope 'medem', or is that 'madame', wasn't too 'inconvenienced' or made 'uncomfortable' - MrK]
We calmly handed the eviction papers to the leader of the pack.
[So they're 'a pack' now, like 'wild animals', aye - MrK]
We want to follow the law by the letter. The local sheriff was with us. He explained to them that they had no right to be there.
They kept saying they hadn't been violent. But that isn't true. Last week they seized a member of my staff and pushed his face to the ground to get him to hand over the keys to our garden gate.
Then, 17 of them broke into our garden. Luckily, the police for once stuck up for us and prevented them from breaking into our house.
These squatters are arbitrary people who have been paid to squat on our farm. We call them 'rent-a-crowd'.
[And of course, being a BBC 'journalist', she takes her word for that. After all, she is a white farmer, and the 'the squatters' are mere Afs - right? And who would ask the Afs for their version of events? Not the BBC of course, because teh BBC has become a mouthpiece for the Foreign Office. But then, they never did interviews with the ANC before Apartheid came down, although they always did interviews with Pik Botha, or had Conservative apologists like William Waldegrave give the Apartheid version of events. - MrK]
But generally the local police haven't been very helpful. Despite the eviction order, they haven't tried to force the squatters off our land. They claim they haven't got the manpower to help us.
[Maybe for some mysterious reason, their hearts aren't in it. - MrK]
'Greedy people'
There are several reasons why these people have invaded our land now, just as a new unity government emerges.
[She means to say, several reasons why they could have. MrK]
Either it's a last push from Zanu-PF to seize all commercial white farms.
[Proof, sources? This is the level BBC 'journalism' has sunk to since Zimbabwe. - MrK]
The businessman who ordered the invasion is a Zanu-PF member - He seems to be a collector of farms
[Proof, sources, a name, perhaps? - MrK]
Or it's an attempt by the old regime to endanger the new government and show that it isn't working.
[No, that is the United States' job - if it wasn't, they would have lifted sanctions against Zimbabwe, specifically scrapped or amended sections 3 and 4C of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 - the sections that prevent the Zimbabwean government from borrowing or rescheduling loans - MrK]
Or it's just the last attempt of a group of greedy people who don't own their own farm to grab one from others.
[Here it gets truly absurd - how can poor, landless people at the same time be 'greedy'? - MrK]
Although the men that invaded our farm were wearing Zanu-PF T-shirts, it doesn't necessarily mean they are members of the party. They might just be one of the few t-shirts they own - Zanu has handed out so many.
But the businessman who ordered the invasion is a Zanu-PF member. He seems to be a collector of farms - he already owns three others that he has taken by force.
[Proof, sources, names? - MrK]
Financially this has cost us a great deal. The man who ordered the crowd to seize our land has allowed his cattle to walk through our maize fields. This has partly destroyed our crops.
[I'm sure not entirely unintentionally - but then, I don't think 'hints' are something she can wrap her brain around - MrK]
Emotionally, it's absolutely draining. You think you are protected by the law and then this happens.
[Gee, I wonder who that happened to before - you think you are proteced by the law, and then something called the British South Africa Company shows up, kills all the defenders they can, and give your land away to their 'kith and kin'. - MrK]
All of our children are grown up and have moved away and thank goodness for that. Otherwise we would have to worry about their safety as well.
[They wouldn't have to worry about anything, if they took a smaller farm or moved to Australia - for which they would be amply compensated by the British government - another option Zimbabweans don't have. - MrK]
On the surface, this invasion seems more peaceful than the one last year. But there are still about 12 of them on our land and you never know what they are capable of. They drink and smoke pot quite a bit, and it worries me.
[Ja, the 'Afs' might get out of control, aye? - MrK]
I have lived here since I was 23. Zimbabwe is my home now, I wouldn't know where else to go.
['Her home' and 'her land', but not 'her people', apparently. MrK]
My husband was born in this area and he speaks Shona. We belong here.
[Why, because he deigned it worthy to learn to speak the national language? And she has been in Zimbabwe for 17 years, but she still hasn't learned the language of 'her people' oh I forgot, the Zimbabweans aren't 'her people', but Zimbabwe is 'her home'. In which she didn't learn a word of Shona. Even though that is the language of 80% of Zimbabweans? - MrK]
We are not giving up. We strongly believe that change is coming to Zimbabwe.
My feeling is that we are very near the end of these troubles. We have a new prime minister now.
I'm 100% confident that in five years' time, I'll still be living on this farm.
[Or a much smaller one. Oh and by the way, nowhere in this article is it mentioned what the actual size of this 'farm' is. Is it one of those 2500 hectare estates - which was the average size of a 'commercial' farm in Zimbabwe before land reform, or is it bigger than that? The A1 commercial farms the Zimbabwean government is redistributing are 250 hectares in size - over 2.5 times the average farm in the EU, which is 90 hectares. And still, the 'white farmers' are not satisfied, they want their estates back. - MrK]
Zimbabwe 'to arrest land thieves'
Friday, 27 March 2009
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said that anyone invading farms will be arrested - in an apparent challenge to Robert Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai said the recent land invasions "are actually acts of theft".
[Actually, that is, still, President Mugabe, not Mr. Mugabe. - MrK]
President Mugabe has said that the government would continue to seize white-owned farms as part of his land reform policy. Veteran opposition leader Mr Tsvangirai joined Mr Mugabe in a power-sharing government last month. The seizure of white-owned land is one of Mr Mugabe's defining policies but his critics say it has destroyed the economy.
[Which critics? Names, sources, proof? For what reason do 'these critics' not believe that it was forcing the Zimbabwean government to operate on a cash only basis would destroy the economy. Of course they did, but they want to blame land reform for the effect of the sanctions they santimoniously and cowardly pretend do not exist. See sections 3 and 4C of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001. I quote:
... the Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against--
(1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or
(2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.
- That is what destroyed the Zimbabwean economy, sanctions, issued by the Bush Administration, drawn up by MDC member Eddie 'Crash And Burn' Cross. - MrK]
The occupation of farms resumed shortly after the power-sharing government was sworn in, with some accusing hard-line allies of Mr Mugabe of trying to scupper the deal.
[Some? Sources, names? - MrK]
"This government is aware that most of the ongoing disruptions of agricultural production, which are being done in the name of the land reform process, are actually acts of theft," Mr Tsvangirai told a meeting of diplomats, civic society and business leaders, in one of his first public appearances since the death of his wife in a car crash earlier this month.
['Ongoing disruptions to agricultural production' - I guess Morgan is just being 'a good boy', and favoring 'business' over the rights of his own people. No wonder he is the darling of the BBC - MrK]
"Those continuing to undertake these activities will be arrested and face justice in the courts.
"I have tasked the minister of home affairs to ensure that all crimes are acted upon and the perpetrators arrested and charged."
However, there are two home affairs ministers in the unity administration, as neither side would cede control of the ministry which is responsible for the police.
Last month, Mr Mugabe said there would be "no going back" on land reform, despite a ruling from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) tribunal last year that the seizures were illegal.
[This was the tribunal in which a Botswnanan judge found in favour of white farmers, because, as the beneficiaries of rhodesian apartheid were all white, and the people whose land was stolen were all black, giving white owned land back to black people constituted 'racial discrimination'. Oh and by the way, SADC has no juristiction over land redistribution in Zimbabwe - MrK]
The government's seizure of white-owned land since 2000 was often accompanied by violent invasions by supporters of Mr Mugabe.
[More often, it was effected by African people who wanted their ancestral land back - not something you will see reported on the BBC. In fact, if you read the BBC, you would not think any African farmer actually wanted his land back at all, and that they were 'just fine' with working as Mrs. Meredith's 'staff'. And that's another thing - why are only white farmers interviewed atlength by the BBC? Why is there not a single interview with one of the 314,000 resettled African farmers who think land reform was great? It is almost as if the BBC has an agenda... Could that be? Could it be that the reputation the BBC has built up for itself, on 'objectivity', 'fairness' and of course 'evenhandedness' is just hot air? - MrK]
Mr Tsvangirai has long criticised the way land reform was carried out. But a commitment to continue the policy was a key part of the power-sharing agreement.
[You had better believe it. If they try to reverse land reform, there will be civil war. Those 314,000 'friends and cronies of Mugabe' aren't going to be turfed off their land easily again. - MrK]
Labels: LAND REFORM, NEOCOLONIALISM, RHODESIANS, WHITE FARMERS
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Parliament passes Mines Act
Written by Ernest Chanda
Friday, March 27, 2009 4:15:23 PM
PARLIAMENT on Thursday passed an amendment to the Mines and Minerals Development Act that seeks to open up investment in industrial minerals to foreigners.
According to the 2008 Mines and Minerals Development Act, mining rights for industrial minerals were only to be granted to Zambian citizens and companies of Zambian citizens.
The Mines and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill passed through to committee stage after extensive debate at second reading.
And debating the same motion, Siavonga UPND member of parliament Douglas Siakalima accused government of taking everything away from Zambians.
"I'm extremely petrified, extremely horrified that this government is pulling everything away from Zambians. If their only purpose is to make citizens labourers then I don't know the intention of government. Why is it that it is a Zambian who has to bend all the time?" Siakalima asked.
"Two days ago you removed the windfall tax and now you are giving away the rights of Zambians to invest in minerals. Why is it that it is only in Africa where we have to bend? We bended the other time when Africans were sold as slaves. Who were selling slaves, is it not our chiefs? And that is how colonialism came in. They went with our minerals and now upon realising that we still have some minerals these people are coming back. And we are again bending. I think Africa is the only confused continent."
And Kasama Central Patriotic Front (PF) member of parliament Saviour Chishimba said it would be irresponsible for this generation to fail to work for the next generation.
"It would be irresponsible for this generation to fail to work for the next generation. In Zambia one does not need to pay for information. Information is available on the street. The people of Zambia have facts that this government is amending a law to accommodate one individual who is coming to manufacture cement. I would not be surprised to see that after this Bill is amended we start receiving friends of ministers as investors in the mines. Whatever we do today should not just benefit us, it should not just benefit Chishimba. If I benefit today, what has that got to benefit the country?" asked Chishimba.
"It is very clear that the MMD have horrendously failed, they have run out of ideas. That's how far their capacity can take them. It is a sign that the statecraft should be taken over by a new leadership with new ideas. This country can't afford to hide in procedures that can't work."
Labels: DOUGLAS SYAKALIMA, FDI, MINES AND MINERALS ACT, NEOCOLONIALISM, NEOLIBERALISM, PARLIAMENT
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Magande Tribunal
Written by Editor
We maintain that no one is, or should be, above the law. And if Ng’andu Magande has committed a crime, let him be prosecuted for his crime. But we know that Magande has not committed any crime contrary to Rupiah Banda’s claim that he had documents showing that Magande was corruptly trying to forgive Zambian Airways of its liabilities to state institutions.
The truth is that neither Rupiah nor anyone else has any document showing that Magande attempted or wanted to corruptly forgive Zambian Airways of its debts. If there was such evidence, it wouldn’t have taken such a long time for them to arrest and prosecute Magande. The only letter or correspondence that was ever issued by Magande on this matter is the letter that was released to the media by Michael Sata. And there is no reasonable police, Anti-Corruption Commission, Drug Enforcement Commission officer who can arrest Magande for corruption on the basis of that letter. There is no reasonable prosecutor who can be prepared to appear before a court and argue on the basis of that letter that Magande committed a crime. There is also no reasonable Director of Public Prosecutions who can sanction the prosecution of Magande on the basis of that letter. And indeed, there is no reasonable court that can find Magande with a prima facie case of corruption or abuse of office on the basis of that letter and put him on his defence.
If ever Magande was arrested and taken to court on the basis of that letter, this would be a serious case of abuse of the judicial process on the part of Rupiah and all those involved. And we think by now, Rupiah and his friends know very well that they have no case of corruption or abuse of office by Magande. We also have no doubt that all fair-minded Zambians who have read that letter and other stories published and broadcast in the media are today in no doubt that Magande did nothing wrong, he is an innocent man who is just being victimised, harassed for the political decision he took to try and get adopted as the MMD presidential candidate in last year’s presidential election against Rupiah. This is the only crime Magande has committed. Our judges read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch television and are following what is being said on this issue. And they can clearly see that there is no case of corruption against Magande.
And on deep reflection, we think that the Chief Justice will have great difficulties justifying the setting up of a tribunal to investigate allegations of corruption or abuse of office by Magande. We say this because everyone can see that there is no corruption or abuse of office here to be investigated; all that is there is simply dirty politics on the part of Rupiah and his friends. There is no legal issue here; what is there is just a case of bad and evil politics. Yes, they have tried everything dirty, filthy and defamatory to tarnish Magande’s incorruptible image. If ever the tribunal were set up for Magande, it would not be founded on the belief by the Chief Justice that Magande might have done something wrong, might have abused his office. It would simply be founded on a desire by the Chief Justice to clear Magande’s good name that these shameless liars have tried to tarnish. For this reason, we would be very surprised if the Chief Justice agreed to devote public resources and the valuable time of Supreme Court and High Court judges to a matter that is clearly political.
Painful as it may be to Magande, he has no choice but to go through the normal civil courts and seek redress for libel and slander. Of course, Rupiah has immunity from legal proceedings in our courts of law. But George Kunda, Ronnie Shikapwasha and Dickson Jere and his Executive Issues have no such immunity, and Magande is at liberty to sue them for defamation. The process takes time to conclude but it will be concluded, the truth will eventually come out and his name will be cleared. There are no shortcuts. That’s how things stand.
But this calls to mind the need for very high levels of integrity on the part of individuals who seek to become or are elected presidents in our country. It is not fair for a man with such high levels of immunity from legal action to go around defaming other citizens recklessly and without any due care. Rupiah is abusing his presidential immunity to character-assassinate others because he knows that he will get away with it. This is not right. This is wrong and he must stop it. Those who have immunity need to take a lot of care because that protection was not given to them for abuse but for a legitimate cause, to help them perform their duties without fear of personal legal action. It was not meant for abuse, for them to use to tell lies and slander fellow citizens. Actually, it’s immoral, unethical for the president to go around telling lies about an innocent citizen. If Rupiah had evidence of Magande’s wrongdoing, Magande would have been behind bars by now. These gentlemen don’t have that type of patience when it comes to their enemies or political opponents.
Those who occupy high political office in our country must be ready at all times to advance the truth, to stand up for the truth, because truth is in the interest of the people; they must be ready at all times to correct their mistakes, because mistakes are against the interest of the people.
And as we have advised before, it is always better to fight using the truth. There is no better tactic, no better strategy than to fight with clean hands, to fight with the truth. These are the only weapons that inspire confidence, that inspire faith, that inspire dignity. Lies are weapons that help no serious leader, and no serious leader ever needs to resort to a lie. Their weapon is reason, morality and truth.
And as we have stated before, crime must be fought, corruption must be exposed, denounced and prosecuted but this must be done with truth. If it is done with lies, it will be of no use because a liar is no whit better than a corrupt person, and if his mendacity takes the form of slander, he may be worse than most corrupt elements. It puts a premium upon knavery untruthfully to attack an honest man, or even with hysterical exaggeration to assail a bad man with untruth, with lies and malicious propaganda. Indiscriminate assault upon character does not good to the fight against corruption, but very great harm. As we can see from the response, the excitement of Frederick Chiluba and his tandem of thieves towards the issue of Magande and Zambian Airways, the soul of every scoundrel is gladdened whenever an honest man like Magande is accused of corruption. We cannot fight corruption with lies, with malice and in an untruthful fashion because to do so does more damage to the public mind than the crime itself.
But probably we are asking or we are expecting too much from these friends of ours because there is no other way for them to fight their political opponents except with lies, baseness. How can they survive if not with lies? How can they explain their abuses if not with lies and calumny, trying to discredit those who oppose them, those who are different from them?
But whatever they do, whatever they say, it’s just a matter of time, the truth will come out. Truth cannot be destroyed, defeated. It will always triumph in the end, no matter how long it takes. It is said that no matter how hard its adversary – falsehood – may try to overwhelm it, truth refuses to yield. Of course, we know that these liars are not interested in what happens tomorrow, they live only for today. They don’t care whether the truth will be known tomorrow, they are only interested in the present because tomorrow owes them nothing.
Labels: MAGANDE, RUPIAH BANDA, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS
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UNIP to keenly follow probe of Zambian Airways
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Friday, March 27, 2009 6:14:09 AM
UNIP has indicated that it will keenly follow the probe into the dealings of Zambian Airways.
Responding to the invitation by The Post newspapers to be part of the organisations to do a forensic audit of Zambian Airways, UNIP, through its acting secretary general Reverend Alfred Banda, stated that it would follow the probe of the airline, which suspended its operations in January.
"There is no harm in knowing the truth. We thank The Post Newspapers Limited for the invitation and shall follow the probe with keen interest," stated Rev Banda in his letter addressed to Post deputy managing director Sam Mujuda dated March 20, 2009.
Last month, The Post invited organisations such as Transparency International Zambia (TIZ), Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), Bankers Association of Zambia, ZICA, Federation of Free Trade Unions in Zambia (FFTUZ), Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Southern Africa Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD), church mother bodies, media bodies and political parties to check if the newspaper did anything wrong by investing in Zambian Airways.
It also invited political parties such as UNIP, MMD, UPND and the Patriotic Front to be part of stakeholders to probe the dealings of Zambian Airways.
The Post, which is a shareholder in Zambian Airways, had also written to Investrust Bank, Finance Bank, Intermarket Bank, Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ) and National Airports Corporation (NAC), asking them to disclose all aspects of its dealings with these institutions pertaining to Zambian Airways.
The Zambia Police, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) are currently investigating Zambian Airways.
Zambian Airways suspended operations in January due to high operational costs caused by a rise in fuel prices.
Labels: PRIVATISATION, UNIP, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS
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Banda is the most inefficient president, charges Sata
Written by Patson Chilemba
Friday, March 27, 2009 6:12:41 AM
RUPIAH Banda is the most inefficient president after four months of taking office, Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata charged yesterday.
And Sata said President Banda has failed to come up with economic policies to address the problems facing the nation.
Reacting to President Banda's statement that people who were saying that he had not done any developmental project should realise that even a magician could not build a school in four months, Sata argued that President Banda was vice-president to late president Levy Mwanawasa and campaigned on the slogan of continuity in the 2008 presidential election.
He said President Banda had no capacity to continue on president Mwanawasa's legacy.
Sata said in fact, President Banda had managed to undo most of the elements that constituted president Mwanawasa's legacy.
He said President Banda has been a "Johnie Walker" who was more preoccupied with visiting other nations but failed to address the many challenges that had beset the country.
"He took over office at window level. He was assistant foreman. He says he should be given enough time, what time should he be given? In four months, he has been to Nigeria, he has managed to fire political opponents from the party. He has been to Kasaba-Bay and formulated laws to favour his Nigerian friends. Why didn't he say he was only four months into office?" Sata asked.
"So the question of time does not count. What matters is efficiency, but he has been the most inefficient compared to the other presidents of Zambia in the first four months of taking office. He is more of a magician because what is his policy on anything? Yesterday he was in Mkushi, one would have expected a policy on agriculture and policies on the food crisis in the country. But he was talking about Michael Sata."
Sata said President Banda was governing the country like a magician because he had failed to formulate policies to address the development challenges during the economic crisis that had hit the country.
"He looks and behaves like a magician. He cannot govern the government as a magician. He should govern like a political president, not a magician," Sata said.
On Wednesday, while addressing a mini-rally at Damust Farm on his arrival to tour farms in the Mkushi Farm Bloc, President Banda said although people were saying he had done nothing, his administration's budget was being debated in Parliament.
And Sata said his criticism of President Banda was not bent on malice.
He said what he wanted was action from President Banda rather than being a "Johnie walker".
On President Banda's assertions that Sata lost his electoral petition because he lied to the Supreme Court, Sata said President Banda knew in his heart that he was in State House fraudulently.
He said he did not lie because the Supreme Court failed to order a recount to prove if President Banda won a clean election.
Sata said PF would not recognise President Banda's election until he used his discretion to order for a recount of last year's disputed election.
"The Supreme Court ruling made by [deputy Chief Justice] Irene Mambilima, there wasn't a word saying 'lies'. Probably he was given a different ruling where they said 'lies'. Rupiah Banda has never been elected President," said Sata.
Sata's comments come in the wake of President Banda's remarks in Mkushi that the PF leader lost the presidential petition because of lies.
President Banda said there was no way people could elect Sata, who is fond of insulting and lying about other people.
Labels: RUPIAH BANDA, SATA
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Dr Mambwe testifies of Dora’s instruction to re-enter bids
Written by Maluba Jere
From yesterday
Silwamba: Now, in P17 does Mr Mukupa talk about a joint venture or a company in South Africa participating in the process?
Dr Mambwe: No.
Judge Chitengi: The question I asked was did Mr Mukupa answer directly your concerns?
Dr Mambwe: Yes, he did separately.
Judge Chitengi: How?
Dr Mambwe: In an internal memo.
Silwamba: So P15 reflects the contents of a report you received?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: Please show the witness exhibit P9 and P10. Have you seen P9?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: What is it?
Dr Mambwe: It is an internal memo from the minister to myself.
Silwamba: What is the date?
Dr Mambwe: 5th January, 2009. The subject is evaluation of tender bid on evaluation of radar.
Silwamba: It was addressed to the permanent secretary. Were you still at the ministry?
Dr Mambwe: Yes, I was.
Silwamba: Read the contents.
Dr Mambwe reads the minister's memo.
Silwamba: Did you act on that?
Dr Mambwe: Yes, I did.
Silwamba: What did you do?
Dr Mambwe: I wrote to the director general ZNTB as in exhibit P10 informing him that the minister had directed that we re-tender the procurement of radars.
Silwamba: What is the date on P10?
Dr Mambwe: 6 January, 2009.
Silwamba: So, the following day you authored the letter?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: Please read the contents, first the addressee is...?
Dr Mambwe: The director general Zambia Public Procurement Authority, in order to ensure only manufacturers of radars and not middlemen...
Silwamba: Did you notify the minister that 'although you are instructing me to write, I have already sent a letter to the bidder'?
Dr Mambwe: It bothered me but the instruction was very straightforward...
Judge Chirwa: You wrote to the tender board, why didn't you mention that you had already written to the director general that you had written to the bidder?
Dr Mambwe: The director general directed me to write to the winner.
Judge Chirwa: Why didn't you write to him?
Dr Mambwe: According to procedure, I can only write to the director general after the instructions to tender because she just instructed me to write to the director general to re-enter the bids.
Judge Chirwa: I thought P9 is 5th January?
Dr Mambwe: Yes, my lord.
Silwamba: And the minister's letter to the director general is P20. Dated?
Dr Mambwe: 11 December.
Judge Chirwa: Would you not have told the minister that you had already written an offer letter to the bidder?
Dr Mambwe: My lord, the directive from my superior should be in writing or it would be insubordination...I didn't.
Judge Chitengi: Because you feared to be charged with insubordination?
Dr Mambwe: I had been directed.
Judge Hamaundu: Did it not bother you that the cancellation would have legal consequences?
Dr Mambwe: It did, but the tender was written by ZNTB so I had to write to them...Because the tender was outside me, it was done by ZNTB, I had to convey the directive and they would make a decision.
Silwamba: Please show him exhibit P18. Dr Mambwe you've seen exhibit P18?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: Who is the author?
Dr Mambwe: Myself, my lord.
Silwamba: The date?
Dr Mambwe: 7th January, 2009 my lord.
Silwamba: Who is the addressee?
Dr Mambwe: Dr Joshua Kaganja, Secretary to the Cabinet
Silwamba: The same reference number?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: Please read the contents.
Silwamba: And this letter was written on the 7th of January?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: A day after you had written to the tender board?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: My lord senior counsel Mr Kabimba advises me its 10:30.
The tribunal adjourns for 15 minutes
After the usual 15 minutes break, the tribunal resumes sitting.
Judge Chirwa: Yes, State Counsel.
Silwamba: Obliged my lord. Dr Mambwe, what prompted you to write P18?
Dr Mambwe: My lord, it was the reaction from the minute from the Secretary to the Cabinet, he wanted to be briefed on this tender.
Silwamba: And to support your contention in your letter, you enclose some documents?
Dr Mambwe: Yes, the report from the evaluation committee. Yes, I did.
Silwamba: At this stage, did you take time to study the report?
Dr Mambwe: Which one?
Silwamba: From the evaluation committee.
Dr Mambwe: Yes, I glanced through.
Silwamba: Reacting to the head of the civil service, you glanced through?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: On page two of that letter, I want you to look at paragraph five.
Dr Mambwe reads the paragraph in the letter.
Silwamba: Your position is that you rely on, you are referring to which people?
Dr Mambwe: The department of procurement.
Silwamba: In this particular tender, who was handling it?
Dr Mambwe: The department of procurement...
Silwamba: At this stage bring to your attention the new supplier named Selex?
Dr Mambwe: I don't understand.
Dr Mambwe then informs the tribunal that the Selex issue came about through correspondence from the managing director National Airports Corporation, responded to directive from Civil Aviation Department
Silwamba: Yes, that's the repair but we are talking about the procurement.
Dr Mambwe: This is mentioned in the minister's letter.
Judge Chirwa: To who?
Dr Mambwe: In the letter to the tender board and Selex was mentioned.
Silwamba: I was saying in terms of procurement, Selex was coming up for the first time as opposed to repairing?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: Did the procurement experts inform you that Selex and Thales were stiff competitors in this area?
Dr Mambwe: No, my lord.
Silwamba: My lord, with your leave, I would like to show the witness P11.
Judge Chitengi: Sorry Mr Silwamba, in this area you mean radar manufacturers?
Silwamba: Yes, my lord. Dr have you seen the letter?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: The date?
Dr Mambwe: 14 January, 2009.
Silwamba: The addressee?
Dr Mambwe: Dr E Mambwe, permanent secretary Ministry of Communications and Transport.
Silwamba: Read the subject and the first paragraph.
Dr Mambwe reads the first paragraph of the letter and Silwamba asks him to read the rest of the letter, which he does.
Silwamba: So Dr Mambwe can you confirm that by that letter, ZNTB found no compelling reason to cancel the tender?
Dr Mambwe: Correct.
Silwamba: In other words, they refused to cancel the tender?
Dr Mambwe: Correct.
Silwamba: To your knowledge, did they subsequently cancel the tender?
Dr Mambwe: I don't know.
Silwamba: On page three in paragraph two, Mr Kapitolo says the secretariat has verified bids submitted as well as from the Internet that Thales... This letter was addressed to you, did you go on the net to check on any of the bidders?
Dr Mambwe: No.
Silwamba: Can you confirm that none of your members of staff went on the net?
Dr Mambwe: No.
Silwamba: It's a pity because if you had gone, you would have known that Thales has allegations.
Dr Mambwe: No I didn't get that information.
Silwamba: Remember when I showed you P21?
Dr Mambwe: Yes, my lord.
Silwamba: Which refers the letter of 13 May, 2008, you still confirm that you are not the author of that letter?
Dr Mambwe: No.
Silwamba: You recall yesterday I asked that you had made inquiries and you refused?
Dr Mambwe: I said I can't remember who authored the letter which made inquiries to the suppliers?
Silwamba: Are you confirming that you are the author of the letter dated 13 May, 2008?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: Do you recall the contents?
Dr Mambwe: Unless I look at it.
Silwamba: But you can confirm that you never talked about making inquiries?
Dr Mambwe: I don't recall.
Silwamba: Please show the witness exhibit P1. Dr Mambwe you told the tribunal yesterday that you saw that document for the first time?
Dr Mambwe: Yes.
Silwamba: Did you see a draft?
Dr Mambwe: I don't recall
Silwamba: Did you see any internal memo regarding this MoU?
To be continued
Labels: COURTS, DORA SILIYA, PETAUKE, PRIVATISATION, ZAMTEL
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Mozambique, S/Africa to build $620 mln fuel pipeline
Written by Charles Mangwiro
Friday, March 27, 2009 6:09:29 AM
MAPUTO (Reuters) - A Mozambican and South African consortium, Petroline Holdings, plans to start building a $620 million oil pipeline linking Johannesburg to the port of Maputo before the end of this year.
Mateus Kathupa, chief executive of state-run Mozambican company PETROMOC, which holds a 40 percent stake in the consortium, said on Thursday the construction of the petrol and diesel pipeline would take six months.
The 450-km (280 miles) pipeline, with an annual capacity to transport 3.5 million cubic metres, will facilitate fuel imports via Mozambique's Maputo port, which is closer to Johannesburg than any of South Africa's major ports, including Durban.
"Our aim is to have this project up and running before 2010 in order to have an additional capacity in terms of oil supplies to South Africa," he told Reuters in an interview.
Pipeline construction was originally scheduled to have started in September last year.
Katupha said the delay was related to problems in the approval of an environmental impact study, but he expected them to be resolved by May.
"There are little issues to be ironed out such as compensation of land to the people residing in the areas where the pipeline will pass through," he said.
Other stakeholders in the project include South Africa's Woesa Consortium, which holds 25 percent, and Gigajoule International, which controls another 20 percent.
Companhia de Desenvolvimento de Petroleos em Mocambique (CDPM), a Mozambican consortium of small and medium companies, holds the remaining 15 percent.
Katupha said the pipeline would reduce the risk of fuel shortages in the interior of South Africa and cut deficiencies in transport and storage capacities.
"This is a very ambitious project that (will produce revenues of) over $800 million a year from the pumping and distribution of oil in South Africa," he said.
Labels: FUEL, MOZAMBIQUE, OIL, SOUTH AFRICA
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Kibaki rules out early election in Kenya - media
Written by Reuters
Friday, March 27, 2009 6:08:20 AM
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has ruled out bringing forward the next election after calls from some quarters for a snap poll due to the poor performance of his unity government, local media said on Thursday.
Kibaki and his Prime Minister Raila Odinga -- who formed a coalition a year ago to end violence after the disputed December 27, 2007, election -- have faced a tide of criticism from Kenyans, including some calls for a new election.
But the 77-year-old president, on a visit to western Kenya, ruled out bringing forward the next presidential poll from 2012.
"We just held elections recently. We will have to wait for four years. Do not expect it now or tomorrow," he said, according to the local newspaper, The Standard.
Kibaki and Odinga's alliance stemmed a national crisis in the first months of 2008 that killed at least 1,300 people, displaced more than 300,000 and crippled important sectors of the economy like tourism and agriculture.
Critics say, however, that they have failed since then to rein in corruption, stop police brutality, push forward political reforms or counter economic hardships being felt around the east African nation of 35 million people.
Labels: ELECTIONS, KENYA, MWAI KIBAKI
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COMMENT - This is what I mean when I say that nearly all the money gets stuck at the ministerial level. I want the ministry of Finance and National Planning to have electricity, but $48 million sounds like a lot of money to spend just on a ministry. That is two times the budget for the Ministry of Technology and Vocational Training.
Zambia receives K274bn loan from Japan
Written by Florence Bupe
Friday, March 27, 2009 6:04:05 AM
THE Japanese government has provided a
K274 billion (approximately US $48 million) Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan to Zambia for the implementation of the Increased Access to Electricity Services Project.
The two governments yesterday signed an exchange of notes for
the electrification project at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning in Lusaka.
During the signing ceremony, finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane said limited access to electricity services was a major factor undermining the pace and scope of rural development.
“The limited access to electricity services has been a major factor that has been undermining the pace and scope of rural development. This has hindered the growth of income generating activities and incapacitated government’s ability to provide public services in rural and peri- urban areas,” said Dr Musokotwane.
The Increased Access to Electricity Services Project is a five-year deliberate intervention embarked on by the government under the Rural Electrification Project to address the challenges hindering the smooth distribution of electricity in the country.
And Japanese charge d’affaires Toshihiko Horiuchi said access to electricity was a prerequisite to the eradication of poverty in Zambia.
“The government of Japan considers access to electricity as a critical prerequisite to the eradication of poverty in Zambia by stimulating economic and social development in rural areas,” he said.
Horiuchi explained that this was the first ODA loan provided to Zambia since 1992.
“The Japanese government has not extended an ODA loan to Zambia since 1992 because the Zambian government was suffering from heavy indebtedness. However, following Zambia’s attainment of the HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) point in 2005, we are now able to resume the provision of ODA loans to Zambia,” said Horiuchi.
Labels: DEBT, ELECTRIFICATION, JAPAN, MINISTRIES
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Mr Biti should listen to Mr Brown, Washington Consensus is dead
Comment
Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:20:00 +0000
CAPITALISM, at least the version once respected by British Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair and former US President George W Bush, is officially dead. Gordon Brown yesterday 'admitted' this hard fact when he had breakfast in Wall Street.
The "Washington Consensus is dead" said the British premier a day after saying the same thing to the European Parliament during a debate on the forthcoming London G20 summit.
"I propose that we in Europe take a central role in replacing what was once called the old Washington consensus with a new principled economy for our times," Brown told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
In his first speech to European Union (EU) lawmakers as British prime minister, Brown said that Europe should take the lead to ensure that every continent makes necessary changes in its own banking systems, participates and cooperates in setting global standards for financial regulation and injects the resources into their economy needed to secure economic growth and jobs.
This is called "interference" in the economy. What else can it be called? Is this Brown's new command economy?
With nine days to go before the G20 leaders meet on the financial crisis and the world economy, Brown said he was confident that the summit would reaffirm commitment to "do whatever it takes to create the growth and the jobs." Whatever it takes? Including commanding the economy?
Mr Brown masks it as "strengthening financial regulation." Is he, in a way accepting that the government failed in regulating underperforming companies before?
"Tough regulatory standards should be set across Europe and the world, agreed to and fully monitored, not just in one country but in every continent," he said.
Mr Brown is effectively reversing the New Labour project. We can all smell political expediency in the air and the loss of his reputation for prudence.
He is indeed rewriting the New Labour Project, but is not prepared to admit it. But it is clear that he is grasping the ideology of socialism as the answer to the global financial crisis, or simply put the demise of the Blair-Brown-Bush version of capitalism.
Simply put, Mr Brown is a socialist and the bond market has started eating him up. the bond auction in London yesterday came up short. The UK Treasury failed to sell all its government bonds in an auction for the first time since 2002. It wanted to sell £1.75bn of 40-year bonds, but investors only bid for £1.63bn of the debt.
Mr Biti beware. Take heed! Please do not go where others are running from.
Labels: GORDON BROWN, NEOCONSERVATISM, NEOLIBERALISM, TENDAI BITI
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No more opposition to Govt - Mugabe
Ranganai Chidemo
Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:13:00 +0000
Zimbabwe President Robert Gabriel Mugabe giving a speech at the funeral of Mrs Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of the Zimbabwean Prime Minister who died in a crash.
PRESIDENT Mugabe says the inclusive Government is working smoothly as there is currently no opposition in the country.
Speaking after a high-level meeting with visiting Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development Erik Solheim President Mugabe said although the inclusive Government was facing some challenges it was working smoothly.
"At the moment, we feel in partnership with those who have joined the Government. It (inclusive Government) is smoothly running, it is now in our rhythm. It’s like tradition," said President Mugabe.
"We no longer have an opposition and we are working together towards the same goals we have set as a Government."
Norway, which is not a member of the EU, has no sanctions against Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe said Zimbabweans with differing political views had a tradition of working together adding that this was not the first time Zimbabwe has had a coalition government.
"In 1980, even though Zanu PF had won the elections, we included four ministers from Ian Smith’s party. At the moment I am working with Prime Minister Tsvangirai as my brother," he said.
The president said the inclusive Government faced various challenges.
"We face a challenge to establish peace among the people, for them to work together and avoid violence," he said adding that the inclusive Government needed capital investment to get the mines and industry to work again.
"The main challenge for the inclusive Government is to get the economy to improve, turning it around," he added.
He said the economic sector needed revival in order to harness the country's rich resources.
"We also want the economic sector to become viable, our factories to get moving and the mines to start producing the various minerals found in the country," he said.
He, however, said while Zimbabwe was in need of foreign aid; it must come on Zimbabwe's terms.
"We have had amendments to our laws but there are still some countries that have set conditions for them to give aid.
"That is what they have always done but we would want to say if it comes, it must come in friendly terms, we must be equal in status and we do not have to go on our knees for them. We only do that for one person and that person is up there (God)," he said.
President Mugabe said the land reform program was irreversible, as it was a constitutional matter and was the reason the liberation struggle was fought.
"When we were negotiating before independence, we agreed with the British that there shall be a land reform programme.
"It also has to do with the right of the people to land, a decolonisation of the country," he said.
The president said the British must respect Zimbabwe’s sovereignty even if they want to assist the inclusive Government.
"If they do not accept that we are a sovereign country, they can still go hang," he said.
Labels: MUGABE, NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT
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Did businesses starve Zimbabwean people?
Natasha Mararike - Opinion
Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:14:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR - I was shocked to hear that goods have started to appear in Zimbabwe shops.
Surely there has not been a major change in the operating environment for business. We know that the foreign currency issue has not been eased.
Not much foreign investment has gone into the country since the formation of the inclusive Government. Industry has also not improved that much in the last few months.
What then has changed which necessitated the reappearance of goods on store shelves.
One is forced to ask: "Where businesses in Zimbabwe deliberately hiding goods in Zimbabwe as the Government always claimed?"
If this is the case our businesses should be ashamed of deliberately starving the nation.
If not, well done for a sterling effort.
___________________
Natasha Mararike
Johannesburg
Labels: FDI, TREASON
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'No political prisoners in Zimbabwe'
Ralph Mutema
Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:37:00 +0000
PRESIDENT Mugabe and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Simbarashe Mumbengegwi have denied media reports that there are political prisoners in Zimbabwe.
Speaking on two separate occasions this week, the two leaders denied denied that Zimbabwe had political prisoners saying the country upheld the rule of law.
Addressing journalists after his meeting with visiting Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Trade Erik Solheim, Minister Mumbengegwi said: "We have never had political prisoners in Zimbabwe and the three parties making up the inclusive Government have agreed that suspects go through the whole process of the law through the courts."
All those who had any grievances, Minister Mumbengegwi said, should seek redress in the courts.
In a closed-door meeting with the visiting Norwegian minister on Wednesday, President Mugabe is said to have reiterated the same issue.
He said that Zimbabwe had political prisoners and indicated that all persons presently before the country’s courts were facing criminal charges that required prosecution.
Officials said the President also pointed out that no farm invasions were taking place.
Instead, President Mugabe said, Government was facing resistance from white commercial farmers who were refusing to vacate land that had legally been acquired for resettlement by the State.
"The President was very categorical on the fact that these people were in the courts on criminal charges that do not have anything to do with politics.
"He also cleared the air on the purported ‘fresh farm invasions’ as Government was actually facing resistance from white former commercial farmers who were served letters indicating that the farms had been acquired for resettlement," an official told the Herald newspaper.
Labels: MUGABE, SIMBARASHE MUMBENGEGWI
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I didn’t see it necessary to obtain receipts - Siliya
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Thursday, March 26, 2009 6:58:29 PM
COMMUNICATIONS and transport minister Dora Siliya on Thursday said she did not think it was necessary to obtain official receipts for the funds advanced to Petauke Council because she was in a hurry.
And Petauke Council secretary Boyd Mboyi has told the tribunal that no other council official was present when Siliya gave her K6 million out of the K12.5 million at a filling station in Petauke.
This is in a matter where former communications and transport minister William Harrington and ten civil society organizations had petitioned Chief Justice Ernest Sakala to set up a tribunal to investigate alleged corruption and abuse of office involving Siliya.
Harrington and the ten civil society organizations urged justice Sakala to probe Siliya for allegedly breaching the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct in her engagement of RP Capital Partners of Cayman Islands to value Zamtel's assets before partial privatization and her cancellation of a tender that was awarded for the installation of radars at the Lusaka and Livingstone international airports.
Siliya is also being probed over her alleged claims of K12.5 million from Petauke District Council as refund for two hand pumps for two boreholes sunk in Nyika ward, when in fact the hand pumps were procured at K5 million.
During continued cross-examination by Eddie Mwitwa, Siliya told the judge Dennis Chirwa tribunal that she hurriedly gave the first advance payment amounting to K6 million to Mboyi, as she was leaving Petauke for Lusaka to attend President Rupiah Banda's inauguration on November 1 last year.
Siliya said Mboyi and herself just signed on a piece of paper to show that the money had been advanced to Petauke District Council to facilitate for the drilling of boreholes in Tasala 2 and Show Grounds areas of the district.
"It was sort of in a hurry, especially on the 1st of November, trying to rush back to Lusaka for the inauguration," Siliya responded to Mwitwa's question.
Siliya said she was again in a hurry when she gave Mboyi the K6.5 million balance of the advance, in the car park at Lusaka's Manda Hill Shopping Mall on November 8, 2008.
She explained that she was worried as to what proof would be there that she did advance money to Petauke Council, hence her decision to append her signature on the piece of paper, on which Mboyi equally appended his.
Mwitwa said it was evident from the pieces of paper that no other council official witnessed the hand-over of the funds from Siliya to Mboyi.
Siliya agreed that there were no other council officials that witnessed the transaction but that Mboyi was in the company of other council officers when the decision to advance the funds for the boreholes was made, in view of a water crisis in the locations concerned.
Siliya said the funds were advanced to Petauke District Council, and not necessarily the Constituency Development Committee, because it is the council that manages the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
She said the money for the sinking of boreholes was usually from CDF funds. Siliya said the project to drill the boreholes in the two locations was approved by the constituency development committee.
Asked in what capacity she advanced the funds, Siliya said she did that in all her three capacities; as a minister, member of parliament and individual, who is a national leader.
Siliya also agreed with Mwitwa when he asked if she was aware that before the council borrows funds, the decision should be made through a full council resolution.
And testifying before the tribunal Mboyi said he was not in the company of any other council official when he got the advance from Siliya.
Mboyi said Siliya had accused Petauke Council of having failed in water provision following the break down of the high-light pumps that were supplying water to the district sometime in August last year.
He said during a meeting with other council officials on November 29, 2008, Siliya agreed to advance funds to the council for the drilling of the boreholes in Nyika ward after she was told that drillers from the Water Affairs in Chipata were in Petauke.
Mboyi said they requested Siliya to advance them the money because the council had no funds at the time and on condition that the money would be refunded as soon as Siliya claimed and once the CDF had been released into the accounts.
Asked by tribunal member and Supreme Court judge Peter Chitengi if the council chairman was among the officials where Siliya agreed to advance the council K12.5 million, Mboyi said he was not in attendance.
Meanwhile, Siliya said earlier, during re-examination by one of her lawyers Eric Silwamba, that she did not ignore any opinion from the Attorney General's Chambers over the RP Capital memorandum of understanding (MoU) and that she signed the document after an assurance from the ministry's director of planning that all was well.
Siliya said the tender to supply, deliver, install and commission a radar at the Lusaka and Livingstone international airports was still active despite her instruction to her former permanent secretary, Dr Eustern Mambwe, to request the Zambia National Tender Board to cancel the tender.
Siliya said ZNTB refused to cancel the tender.
Hearing continues.
Labels: DORA SILIYA, GOVERNANCE, PETAUKE, RP CAPITAL PARTNERS, WILLIAM HARRINGTON, ZAMTEL
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