Kamwala shopping mall plunged into chaos
Lusaka Central business district plunged into chaos With only a few months before Zambia goes to the general polls, the country's peace is been threatened by the increasing levels of violence the nation has started recording. Zambia's capital Lusaka on Thursday March 31 had business in the central district brought to a stand still by violence allegedly iginited by some cadres from the PF and the ruling MMD. One entering Zambia's capital city's central district will wonder why all shops from the Kamwala shopping Centre spreading into town centre going as far as Lusaka's biggest trading centre the City Market to Lumumba bus station. One wonders whether the police will manage to contain the violence which cadres from both political parties are accusing each other. The cadres crushed as all want to take charge of the trading place. The violence by political cadres in Lusaka is quite the opposite of what President Rupiah Banda is talking at the SADC Troika summit currently underway in Zambia's tourist capital Livingstone. President Banda has appealed to his fellow presidents in the region not to take citizens for granted and to learn from the North African upheavals. But with Thursday's confusion were one just wakes up and demands that he or she takes over the control of a market just because they belong to the ruling or the opposition political party is quit unfortunate. This of course calls for serious political leadership intervention as letting it go uncondemned is creating a very fertile ground for violence. And once Zambia's peace is broken it will be very difficult to be restored. Zambia has seventy three tribes all of them have since the country's independence enjoyed peace and all the tribes have lived in harmony and considered each other as brothers and sisters, however the urgly face of political hooliganism is slowly plunging the country into chaos. Political cadres in an effort to please their superiors have gone out of their way to outclass each other by sizing each other with anything they can lay their hands on. President Banda urges SADC member states to learn from North African nations. President Rupiah Banda has urged the SADC member states not to take the legitimate expectations of citizens fro granted and learn from the upheavals that are taking place in North Africa. President Banda urged the member states to continue consolidating democracy through establishing institutions that uphold international laws. He said this at the SADC Troika summit in Livingstone today. President Banda says SADC has come of age and should help bring about home-grown solutions towards electoral disputes. He called upon the SADC TROIKA to bring to life mechanisms such as the SADC Electoral Advisory Council, the SADC mediation reference group and the panel of elders, whose establishment was approved at the Windhoek summit in August last year. Present at the summit includes Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, South African President Jacob Zuma and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza. Also present are SADC ambassadors and high commissioners and the SADC executive secretary, DR. Tomáz Salomão. Ends---dry….

President Banda’s speech on investment AS WE COME TO THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTH ZIBAC MEETING, I WISH TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR THE FRUITFUL DELIBERATIONS HELD YESTERDAY. FROM THE PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS, IT IS VERY CLEAR THAT ZAMBIA HAS MADE SIGNIFICANT AND STEADY PROGRESS IN CREATING A FAVOURABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR INVESTMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR GROWTH. I AM CONVINCED THAT WE ARE IMPLEMENTING THE RIGHT REFORMS AND THAT THESE REFORMS ARE NOW YIELDING POSITIVE RESULTS. ALMOST ALL THE SECTORS ARE GROWING AND IN SOME CASES, THE GROWTH IS UNPRECEDENTED SUCH AS IN THE AGRICULTURE AND MINING SECTORS. INDEED WE NEED TO BE PROUD OF OUR ACHIEVEMENTS. CHAIRMAN, EXCELLENCIES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, NOTWITHSTANDING THE ACHIEVEMENTS MADE, IT HAS ALSO BEEN MADE VERY CLEAR DURING OUR DISCUSSIONS THAT THERE IS STILL A LOT THAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO TO FURTHER IMPROVE THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT. OF SIGNIFICANCE, IS THE NEED FOR POLICY COHERENCE AND IMPROVED COORDINATION AMONG GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS TO AVOID CONTRADICTIONS IN THE REFORM PROCESS. WE NEED TO MOVE WITH RENEWED STRENGTH AND VIGOR IN IMPLEMENTING THE REFORMS THAT WILL IMPROVE THE EASE OF DOING BUSINESS IN THE COUNTRY. WE WERE REMINDED THAT WE ARE OPERATING IN A GLOBAL WORLD AND TO BE COMPETITIVE, WE NEED TO REDUCE THE COST OF PRODUCTION AND ENHANCE PRODUCTIVITY. IT IS WITH THIS IN MIND THAT, SKILLS TRAINING AND INCREASED USE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY HAVE BEEN PRIORITISED IN THE SIXTH NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN. THE WAY FORWARD REQUIRES TOTAL COMMITMENT BY ALL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS TO IMPLEMENT MEASURES THAT FACILITATE PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION. AS I STATED IN MY OPENING REMARKS, I EXPECT ALL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS TO EMBRACE PRIVATE SECTOR REFORMS AND IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SEVENTH ZIBAC. THE SUCCESS OF THE REFORM PROGRAMME WILL REQUIRE A CHANGE OF MIND SET IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE. MY GOVERNMENT IS COMMITTED TO ENHANCING THE PROGRAMMES TO CHANGE THE MINDSET WITHIN THE PUBLIC SERVICE SO THAT THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS VIEWED AS A VALUABLE PARTNER RATHER THAN A COMPETING ENTITY. I WILL ENSURE THAT THERE IS TOTAL COMMITMENT TO THE REFORMS BY MY CABINET AND ALL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT WE ARE NOT MARKETING OUR ACHIEVEMENTS ENOUGH. WE MUST EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE ALL OF OUR SUCCESSES WITHIN ZAMBIA AND OUTSIDE SO THAT EVERYONE CAN APPRECIATE WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED AND THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT HAVE BEEN CREATED. IN CONCLUSION, I WISH TO THANK OUR INTERNATIONAL ADVISORS FOR THE INVALUABLE ADVICE. YOUR PRESENTATIONS AND INSIGHTS SHOW CLEARLY THAT THERE IS A LOT OF GROUND WE NEED TO COVER TO REACH WHERE WE DESIRE TO BE. WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS FOR US TO GET THE BASICS RIGHT. LET ME ALSO THANK THE PRIVATE SECTOR FOR THEIR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AND ASSURE YOU THAT WE ARE A LISTENING GOVERNMENT. AFTER ALL, YOU ARE OUR PARTNERS IN WEALTH AND JOB CREATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION. WE WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH FOR DEEPER AND WIDER REFORMS WHILE ENSURING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF WHAT WE HAVE ATTAINED. EXCELLENCIES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AS YOU TRAVEL BACK TO YOUR RESPECTIVE DESTINATIONS, I WISH YOU ALL SAFE TRIPS.

FODEP UNHAPPY WITH CONSTITUTION BILL FAILURE The Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has noted with profound sadness the failed Constitution Amendment Bill. This is yet another lost opportunity to avail the Zambians a people-driven Constitution. The most unfortunate thing is that the Constitution-making process in Zambia gobbled huge sums of taxpayers’ money which have been thrown into a drain. FODEP is alive to the fact that the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Draft Constitution did not contain all the key issues that stakeholders had presented to the Mung’omba Constitutional Review Commission. For instance, the NCC failed to support the issue of appointing ministers from outside parliament, issue of presidential running mate; the 50% +1 threshold for a winning presidential candidate; inauguration period among others. In the face of this reality, it was difficult to build consensus around the Constitution-making process in the current sitting of Parliament. Notwithstanding, the NCC did, indeed, address some of the concerns of the people of Zambia. Among these were: the Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMPR) electoral system; enshrinement of election date; rights of persons with disabilities; funding of political parties, etc. For the latter reason, it is FODEP’s view that the current sitting of Parliament should have gone ahead to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill No. 60 of the National Assembly of Zambia in its present form. There is, unfortunately, a bitter lesson that the people of Zambia must now learn from the failed Constitutional Bill. The lesson is that it is a big mistake to leave the constitution-making process largely in the hands of politicians. If this lesson is not learnt, Zambia’s constitution-making process will forever remain inconclusive. There is also a lesson that our politicians must learn from what has just transpired. Their lesson is that it is a fundamental mistake to champion partisan interests at the expense of the concerns of the voters who sent them to Manda Hill (Parliament). As regards to the way forward, FODEP is of the opinion that a SMALL group of broad based experts be constituted immediately. The task of this group is to combine all the progressive suggestions made by the people to all the previous Constitution Review Commissions (CRCs). And once the group concludes its work, adoption of the constitution should be by a Constituent Assembly (CA) as recorded by the previous CRCs.