EU call to chop off President,Veep privileges gets local backing

Governance Expert George Chimembe says the recommendation by the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to remove from the law undue campaign privileges for the President and Vice President to ensure equal campaign conditions for all candidates should be supported.

Chimembe, who is also former Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) Executive Director said the recommendation is progressive, as it will ensure that there is a level playing field for everyone contesting at presidential level.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Chimembe said the campaign privileges given to the President and Vice President disadvantage the other competitors while the political parties that the President and Vice President belong to are advantaged.

“We have also seen some abuse of public resources or even those privileges, they are used to disadvantage the competitors, we saw the former Vice President going around giving lifts to the running mate of a former president, which was against the provisions of the electoral code of conduct”, he said.

He said another abrogation of the provisions of the electoral code of conduct was to extend the privileges accorded to the President and the Vice President to candidates that were contesting in those particular general elections.

Chimembe noted that during his stay at FODEP, the organisation proposed that when campaigns begin, the president should no longer continue being the president and the speaker should instead take over the executive functions so that the president can be looked at like any other presidential candidate adding that some countries like Malaysia have done that.

However, Chimembe has expressed displeasure at the European Union Election Observation Mission’s recommendation to remove the G12 academic qualification requirement from aspirants for elective political positions.

Chimembe said the issues that are debated in parliament border on policy and law making among others therefore the need to have people who are not ill qualified as they would not be able to provide quality contributions and their debate would not be detailed, analytical and informed.

He said there is need for people with some level of education to represent the people, which will enable them to analyse issues brought in parliament with some educational framework adding that people with no requisite qualifications will not be able to understand some of the issues that will be brought into the house thereby disadvantage the representation of the people.

“Our colleagues who are bringing these proposals, what is their standard there, we need to ask our colleagues from Europe what their standard is, do they allow anybody just because he is a citizen, I don’t think so. At the level of parliamentary candidate, I think grade 12 is very fair, otherwise we could have even asked for a diploma as a minimum and a degree would be ideal. At councilor level you tend to have problems getting people that are qualified, we saw that a lot of political parties cried foul but at the end of the day they looked for those people and those people were able to compete so let’s not downgrade.”, he said.

Governance Expert George Chimembe says the recommendation

Council workers get 12% pay rise

By staff analyst

Government has increased salaries for local authorities’ employees across the board by 12%. This is on the back of the country experiencing a double digit inflation rate, with the move expected to help workers maintain their purchasing power.

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Permanent Secretary-Technical Services Wisdom Bwalya said the increment is meant to ensure that Local Authorities, among other things, maintain a positive work environment that boosts employee morale, retention and productivity.

Bwalya reiterated that Government is committed to improving the welfare of employees as demonstrated by the award of the said 12 % Salary increment amidst hard times. “I now challenge the Local Authorities’ employees to reciprocate this gesture by working hard to improve service delivery to the people,” Mr Bwalya said.

The PS said the 2022 improved salaries/wages and conditions of service will be financed using the 2022 Local Government Equalisation Fund and locally generated revenues. He has since directed principal officers of Local Authorities to develop strategies to improve revenue collection to provide satisfactory services to communities and raise resources to pay salaries/wages on time.  

Local Authorities, and Zambia United Local Authorities Workers Union (ZULAWU) and Fire Services Union of Zambia (FIRESUZ) concluded negotiations for the 2022 improved Salaries/Wages and Conditions of service for Local Authorities employees. The negotiations, for the employees in Division II, III and IV, were held from 27th January to 5th February, 2022 in Lusaka.

By staff analyst Government has increased salaries

100% failure rate at rural school exposes Zambia’s education inequities

The confirmed 100% failure of the entire complement of grade nine 9 pupils at Mumena Secondary school of Kalumbila District of North Western Province has exposed the inequalities that rural learners face compared to their urban counterparts.

The saying that education is a great equalizer is more easier said than done. Mumena Secondary school is a rural school in Kalumbila District of North Western Province, located about 30 km away from Solwezi town. Imagine schools that are 100 or even 200 kilometers from the provincial capitals.

The Examinations Council of Zambia – ECZ by this revelation should now be compelled to be making the entire country school examinations results statistics available than continue with the current masking were only the high level national and provincial averages and statistics of exam results are publicly available.

ECZ as a matter of national interest and equity should publish the examination results statistics that shows how rural schools have been performing relative to their urban schools, so that government policy can be informed as regards to resource allocation. How many rural schools recorded over 90%, 80% or even 70% failure rate?

To further investigate if such results were there is 100% failure rate are feasible, the Zambian Business Times – ZBT exclusively interviewed Author of Exams made Easy, Rozious Siatwambo who diclosed that it is difficult to understand that all the 38 candidates at the school who had sat for the 2021 grade 9 exams failed.

Dr. Siatwambo, who is also CEO of Great North road Academy, noted that where the matters of exams is concerned, it would be unfair to put a blame on the learners or the examiners adding that other pupils who had sat for the same exam in different schools performed better than the said school.

He added that it is a concerned school and it really need to look into its teachings. Meanwhile, the National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) has described the 100% failure at mumena secondary school as an academic taboo.

NAQEZ Executive Director Aaron Chansa said the ugly reality at Mumena School, has raised fundamental academic, social and cultural questions about this school. Chansa further noted the need for honest scanning of the academic background of the said candidates, the absenteeism rate by both teachers and learners, the school environment, teacher motivation at the school, the attitude of the learners and the community towards school as well as the relationship between teachers and the school administration.

He has also urged the Ministry of education to further investigate the levels of parental support the school received, the commitment of teachers to work as well as availability of teaching and learning materials at the affected school.

The confirmed 100% failure of the entire

NGO questions EU recommendation to scrap G12 qualification

GEARS Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi has questioned whether Europe has academically unqualified Members of Parliament in their parliaments after the European Union Election Observation Mission ( EU-EOM) recommended that Zambia scraps off the G12 academic qualification requirement for those seeking elective political positions.

Chipenzi said Zambia must instead advocate for upward adjustment of qualifications for position of Mayor/Chairpersons, MPs and Presidents from G12 academic to a degree qualifications for quality leadership and debate in parliament.

In an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Chipenzi has opposed the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM)’s recommendation to do away with the G12 academic qualification for one to aspire for elective political position.

He said in this millennial era, going back to those dark times when people went into these positions without defined qualifications, are long gone and now requires all to have some qualifications to their names.

Chipenzi explained that with the decentralisation process at its peak, having councilors, mayors/council chairpersons, MPs/Ministers and Presidents who can barely read and write or competently debate, dissect and analyse local, national and global issues will undermine the decentralisation process in Zambia and is tantamount to a democratic suicide.

The Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services (GEARS) Initiative Executive Director said as of today, Zambia has enough secondary school and university graduates to provide leadership nurseries with qualifications to participate in politics and any field favourably.

“We have enough G12 graduates now than ever before to fill all layers of elective and nominative political positions in Zambia. Zambia now has more than one secondary school in each constituency and is not short of G12s”, he said.

He mentioned that further, the electoral demands that an MP can aspire for election in any constituency even where s/he is not registered from while to be a councilor and Mayor/chairperson, one has to be domiciled and registered in that district.

“For instance, in 2020 alone, 147, 055 pupils sat for school certificate examinations at G12 level. Out of the 147,055 candidates that sat for the examination, 94,010 (63.9%) obtained a full certificate, 49,032 (33.3%) obtained GCE certificate while only 4,013 (2.7%) actually failed”, he said.

“From the above, just for 2020 G12 graduates who obtained full G12 certificates and GCE are enough to fill all the elective positions at ward level (1852 seats), Districts (116 seats), Constituencies (156seats), vice president (1) and President (1) which is a total of 2,126 seats” Chipenzi said.

Chipenzi added, “Now, add the number of G12 graduates Zambia has since 1964 to 2021 and one thinks the country would fail to identify one for elective leadership? What is deficit is motivation among citizens to participate in partisan politics due to perceptions that politics is a dirty game and not qualifications”.

He has therefore opposed the scrapping off of the G12 academic qualification requirement as recommended by the EUOM adding that Zambia needs quality law and this can only be done with well-qualified elected leaders.

 

GEARS Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi has questioned

Delay in opening Livingstone bus terminus & ultra-modern market costly

Livingstone residents have expressed concern over the delayed operationalizing of the newly built inter city bus terminal and the untra modern market five months after it was officially  opened. The residents have accused the council of lethargy.

A check with the Livingstone City Council (LCC) has confirmed that the Livingstone Intercity Bus Terminal and the ultra-modern market in Livingstone, which were commissioned in August 2021, are both not yet open to the public, a move that has a huge opportunity cost.

LCC Public Relations Manager Melvin Mukela said the Ministry of Local Government, the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and the council are still ironing out certain issues and once concluded, the two facilities will be open to the public. He however did not disclose the specifics of the issues at play.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Mukela stated that the two facilities are not open because certain logistics were not put in place but he is confident that the two facilities will soon open. He however did not give a specific timeline.

On the value which the two facilities will give to the tourist capital of Zambia, Mukela explained that it is anticipated that there will be more business as people will be able to take up more shops at the modern market and bus station and that business will improve adding that the two facilities are modernized and passengers will be able to buy tickets online before going to the bus station.

“We are in the modern world and the bus station has been constructed in such a way that it is the state of the art, currently the situation is that Livingstone does not have a permanent bus station. We don’t have a shelter, so bus operators are operating in a difficult condition but once the bus station is open they will have a shelter, they will have a place where they can bath and proper toilets, so it will help both the commuters and the bus operators”, he said.

Mukela added, “You can buy bus tickets wherever you are, you go to the station and just present the receipt and be able to board any bus you wish to get on. It will operate like the way we operate at the airport”.

He mentioned that the local authority would also benefit because more revenue will come in as a result of the shops that will be operating at the bus station noting that the facilities have lifted the face of the district being a tourist capital. The LCC PR Manager added that the council and the residents are all longing for the facilities to be open to the members of the public.

The Zambian Government has over the past decade embarked on a massive infrastructure drive, which eventually led to debt accumulation  mostly due to the over 60% depreciation of the local currency – the Kwacha, making US dollar denominated debt serving unsustainable.

Productivity and economic efficiency remains one of the biggest challenges most emerging market countries like Zambia are facing. The country currently has notable infrastructure projects which are completed but not operational, while others are at over 70% completion stage, but are not being completed leading to costly wastage and huge opportunity costs of funds already invested.

Livingstone residents have expressed concern over the

LCC blames waste pile-up in Lusaka on bad attitudes

Residents as well as traders in the capital city of Lusaka are to blame for the filthy state of some trading places and neighbour-hoods, a situation that is a ticking time bomb for waterborne diseases with the current rainy season.

Some areas of Lusaka that include parts of the central business district, Lumumba and Chachacha roads, Kamwala trading area, and some markets across the city are currently a health hazard following the piling up of uncollected garbage and mass littering.

Citizens have called on new local government minister Garry Nkombo and the various local municipalities to take charge and ensure that public places are kept clean to avoid disease outbreaks that will even be more costly to the nation than upscaling the clean up exercises.

A check with the Lusaka City Council – LCC by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT revealed that the council is indeed aware of the piling up of garbage and the resultant public health risks.

LCC admitted that they are facing challenges in managing waste but blamed it on the indiscriminate and illegal dumping, littering and a public which is seemingly not sensitive to the garbage around it.

LCC  Public Relations Officer Mwaka Nakweti told ZBT that the Local Authority has been facing challenges with waste management in the central business district – CBD due to indiscriminate disposal of waste by members of the public.

Nakweti confirmed that the cleaning of the CBD is done on a daily basis but the challenge is that waste generators neither want to dumb waste in designated places nor subscribe to have their waste collected, a combination that defeats the daily efforts of the local authority.

She stated that in a bid to bring sanity to the Central Business District (CBD), LCC has placed waste receptacles on islands on Freedom Way, but that it is disheartening however to note that despite the waste receptacles being placed in strategic places, some traders and members of the public still opt to dispose off their waste indiscriminately.

Disposing off of waste indiscriminately and failing to subscribe for waste collection goes against the solid waste regulation and management regulation which mandates waste generators to subscribe for waste management services.

Successive governments and ministers of local government in Zambia have for years struggled to clean up the city of Lusaka. With the change of government and a new minister in Garry Nkombo, many hoped that the situation would be different.

Waste management continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing the city of Lusaka. With the size of waste being generated and indiscriminately dumped continuing to increase annually, there is an urgent need for a long lasting solution.

There was proposal to create a waste management company that would operate as a government agency after a devastating cholera outbreak, but those plans seem to have been shelved and may only be revisited when another waste management related public health pandemic emerges, a clearly re-active than pro-active approach.

With the current above normal rainfall that is being experienced, uncollected garbage is not only blocking the drainages, but also posing unquantified health risk on both surface and underground water pollution.

Residents as well as traders in the