Excessive imports making Zambia a high cost tourist destination

Tourism minister Ronald Chitotela has stated that the situation analysis for the development of the tourism master plan has revealed that Zambia is branded as a high cost tourist destination, partly due to the excessive use of imported materials in the tourism industry for such facilities as accommodation and furnishings.

Chitotela said to deal with the perception of the high cost of tourism in Zambia, government is willing to empower local businesses to invest in furniture making businesses to cushion the high costs of importing furnishings for the tourism sector.

‘‘Let me be quick to mention that as government, we want to invite capable Zambians to work with us in addressing the challenges through building our local capacity. Imagine if today, we can find a local Zambian company and give them an order, those that are specialised with serving the Hotel and Lodge industries to manufacture high quality beds for us, obviously the cost of doing business in the tourism industry will reduce and more jobs will be created locally’’, said Chitotela.

He further stated that his government is not only challenging local businesses, but is also making sure that it provides the needed support. Chitotela said that even the minister of Finance has expressed desire to come up with incentives that can be extended to the tourism sector for the local content contribution for the tourism industry to grow.

‘‘Let me refer to the speech, delivered by President Edgar Lungu during the official opening of the fourth session of the twelfth national assembly, Zambia’s tourism industry has been labelled as high cost due to the heavy use of imported materials even were local materials can be used, resulting in high cost of accommodation, hindering the industry from scoring the highest optimum of business potential of attracting local tourists.

Further, the tourism Minister pointed out that community participation is key towards wildlife conservation saying, when local people are involved they provide defense and security thereby reducing the cost of investing in defense and security because the community themselves provide the defense.

He further emphasized that for Zambia to be branded as a sustainable tourism destination, local participation and local tourism should be number one. The Tourism Minister was speaking when he officiated at a consultative breakfast meeting between the Ministry of Tourism and its stakeholders including the Tourism Council of Zambia, the Zambia Tourism Agency, Ministry of Finance, National Airports Corporation, Civil Aviation Authority and Zambia Police, held in Lusaka on 30 October 2019, attended by the Zambian Business Times.

Tourism minister Ronald Chitotela has stated that

Ubuntu & Tuvwange to debut on Zambezi Magic

MultiChoice through Zambezi Magic has launched its two brand new shows; TUVWANGE and UBUNTU, on Zambezi Magic Channel 162.

UBUNTU is a much-anticipated dramatic serving that will hit the screens on 4th November 2019 at 21:30. The show promises an experience like no other in an unprecedented battle for the throne, boasting a reverting storyline that boarders around succession, single- dimensional diplomacy and everything in else in-between.

TUVWANGE a word driven from Mambwe tribe, which means (Let’s Talk), is set to premier on 7 November 2019 at 21:30 hours. This new lifestyle and talk show features a group of outspoken female hosts who reflect the modern times and culture as they share views and perspectives accumulated through varied life experiences. The team of inspirational Zambian celebrity women include; Mutale Mwanza, Natasha Van Der Maas and Esther Chungu among others.

MultiChoice Chief Customer Officer Leah Kooma told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that MultiChoice, through Zambezi Magic, continues to make great entertainment such as Tuvwange and Ubuntu accessible to audience across Southern Africa. Kooma added that Zambia’s favorite storyteller has made extensive investments in the development of original programming saying that in 3 years since Zambezi Magic was launched, has over 20 Zambian production houses have worked with the channel, clocking more than 1200 hours with locally produced shows.

‘‘As Africa’s most loved storyteller, we are excited to see the development of the local film industry, it is not just about the great stories we see on T.V, it is also about the lives that are positively impacted in the process. We estimate that more jobs are created each time a new local show is created. These jobs include Cast, Crew, the Extras and all involved in production of these shows,’ she added.

And Zambezi Magic Channel Head Mosibudi Pheeha, said Zambezi Magic will continue to keep it viewers glued to the edge of their seats with more new and exciting programs. ‘‘Our existence as a channel is a testament that we are serving up the right mix of content that the market enjoys. As a platform, we endeavor to find content that resonates with the market which has been a consistent ask from our subscribers in Zambia hence the decision to launch new and exciting shows to add to other popular shows such as Mpali, Zuba Spoiler and many more,’’ Pheeha. The Launch took place in Lasaka on 1st November 2019, attended by Zambian Business Times – ZBT.

MultiChoice through Zambezi Magic has launched its

Failure to collect revenue by councils to blame for salary delays

The Ministry of Local Government has refuted allegations that the continued delay in the payment of salaries for Local Authorities’ employees is largely caused by late and untimely release of the Local Government Equalization Fund – LGEF.

Minister of Local Government Charles Banda has explained that the delayed payment of salaries by Local council Employees should not be attributed to the delayed disbursement of LGEF as it is a failure to raise local revenues.

Speaking on October 23, 2019 to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Banda said the Local Authorities are expected to raise revenues and funds from levies, fees, charges, local taxes, permits among other revenues pursuant to the local authority Act as the LGEF is a supplementary fund.

He said the LGEF Act provides that local authorities shall use 20% of the fund to finance capital expenditure hence the implications that local authorities are not expected to solely depend on the LGEF to finance functions and salaries.

Banda added that government has consistently disbursed funds to all 116 local authorities from January to August 2019 worth K776, 374, 408. “Government has also put in place a mechanism that prioritizes disbursement to the identified 68 vulnerable local authorities that mainly depend on the grant to implement local authorities’ functions,” he said.

The minister has since stated that there is no need for local authorities to go on a go-slow as it disrupts service provision and industrial harmony. He has since directed all principal officers to submit reports to the ministry of local government on all employees participating in the go-slow in their respective local authorities.

Local Authorities seem to have become dependent on central government funding, when you look at the councils in major cities and towns across Zambia, you will find for instance unregistered taxis, town centre and city parking fees being collected by non council youths and a lot of business levies being issued and funds paid unaccounted for leading to massive revenue leakages.

Moreover, the councils have not been able to find solutions to collecting land and property rates due to political interference. The local government function in Zambia suffers from a historical centralization of key economic functions which seem to have led to a dependency on central government.

Some of the key revenue driver base such as council houses were sold off to sitting Tennant’s and councils have not been recapitalized after this huge sell out of their revenue earning asset base. There is need for capital injection into the local authorities to enable their revenue earning potential to be realized.

The Ministry of Local Government has refuted

Students lack commitment required to pass ZIALE bar exams – LAZ

The Law Association of Zambia- LAZ has attributed the low pass rate of University graduates to the fact that Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education – ZIALE trains students into practicing lawyers unlike universities and colleges that focus mainly on the academic part.

ZIALE is the sole institution responsible for training law students into practicing lawyers has continued to record a low pass rate at bar exams, which has caused concern on Zambias ability to provide adequate manpower for the smooth operation of the civil and criminal justice system across all the ten provinces of Zambia.

LAZ president Eddie Mwitwa in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT stated that “the students themselves lack academic commitment because they have other works to do and most of them have only given school part-time, which is also contributing a to low pass rate”. He further commended women students saying that “women mostly take up the lead in scoring high marks due to their commitment”.

Meanwhile, Kabwe central lawmaker Tutwa Ngulube has since called on ZIALE and LAZ to call for a stakeholder’s meeting and discuss the dismal performance of students to find a lasting solution to the poor results. He added that the ZIALE should reduce on the number of students enrolled in order to have a good student to lecturer ratio and interaction.

Ngulube said that having too many students in one class may compromise service delivery. He was however quick to mention that most students coming out of Universities are allegedly half baked He further noted that some students who graduate from some of the Universities fail to draft even a simple legal letter, when they go on attachment at his law firm, a situation he described as disheartening.

This year ZIALE has recorded another low pass rate of only 5 students out of 355 students who sat the 2019 final exams. Only 5 made the grade to be admitted to the Bar, representing 1.4% pass rate. ZIALE has since been called upon to review its curriculum and improve on transparency. South Africa had similar problems in the past but after some reforms, the situation is now tenable and Zambia can take a lead from there.

However, ZIALE has defended themselves saying that there was nothing wrong with their bar examinations except that students needed to work hard to make the grade. They have stated that their training is for practice as opposed to the academic training.

Calls for reform to enable justice for both the elite and ordinary citizens have grown. The set up of local, magistrate and high courts across the country received a boost with construction and expansion of these facilities across all the ten provinces of Zambia. But access to lawyers and legal aid to enable a fair and equitable civil and criminal justice system remains largely for a few elites with the concentration of lawyers at 87% in Lusaka alone according to a research report by GRMI in 2019.

The Law Association of Zambia- LAZ has

Handicrafts exports grows 53%, but Zambia’s share remains small

Private enterprise Program – PeP Coordinator Brain Ross has revealed that exports of handicrafts from developing economies in the world grew by 53% from 2002 to 2010 adding that developing economies have dominated the sector with handcrafts counting for 65% of the total world exports in the handicraft sector.

Speaking during a presentation at the consultative workshop on Art and Crafts in Zambia organized by the Private enterprise Programme – PeP on October 22, 2019 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Ross said several converging trends indicate that demand in the artisan sector will continue to expand including consumer and company interest in sourcing locally produced artisan goods.

At the same event Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Director of Foreign Trade Lillian Bwalya said there is need to develop road maps that will identify various intervals of the trade and encourage the development of art and crafts sector towards creating sustainable jobs for Zambians.

She said the market for Zambian handicraft has witnessed moderate growth due to increased interests in consumption  of local cultural products among others but that despite having unique arts and crafts which are produced in the rural areas, the opportunities for exports and scaling up production has not fully been exploited.

“Zambia’s exports of handicrafts remain small due to ever changing global trends and stiff competition. The global community is constantly looking for unique art on the market hence the market has not been fully exploited due to product quality issues and the inability to scale up production,” She said. The Director has since called on the private sector’s active participation in the export market if growth is to be captured.

And Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research – ZIPAR has called on the urgent need to invest is data collection for evidence-based decision making to definitively gauge the developments in the creative industries such as the arts and crafts in particular.

ZIPAR Researcher Shebo Nalishebo has stated that the sector needs to embrace innovations in ICT’s to able to, among other things use computer –aided designs for the arts and crafts. Nalishebo said there is also need to build art, crafts and antiques online platforms to enable sellers sell their products online to capture the overseas market.

Private enterprise Program - PeP Coordinator Brain