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The Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) says there is huge gap and mismatch between the targets in the Action Plan and the annual budgetary allocations meant for youth employment creation and promotion of children’s rights.

CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo said: “We have observed that Zambia is increasingly dedicating more resources towards debt servicing and thus leaving the government with limited ability to stimulate the economy for higher employment for the nation at larger and young people in particular.”

Mwaipopo added that the institution remain deeply concerned that social sector spending has been reducing as demonstrated by the relative low funding to tertiary education compared to primary and secondary education.

“It makes sad reading that government is failing to pay lecturers on time. As we speak, there are lecturers who have stopped teaching as they are demanding to be paid their salaries. Government should take note of research evidence which shows that tertiary education has a significantly higher impact on the growth in GDP in Africa than other levels of education,” he noted.

And Mwaipopo further urged  government to join hands with young people in finding lasting solutions to the challenges they are facing. According to the 2015 National Youth Policy, it spell out intentions that seeks to provide equal access to opportunities while the National Action Plan for Youth Empowerment and Employment targets to create 200,000 jobs annually of which 40% should be for the youths.

“There is great need to move away from the old tradition of always addressing young people; we need to find time to listen to them. They have ideas and solutions to most of the challenges they are facing. The increasing dropout rates, limited opportunities for University and College education, low funding to Institutions of higher learning, failure to harness the Entrepreneurial skills of Youths and many others, will conjointly create a population of disadvantaged youths,” he mentioned in a statement.

Mwaipopo further highlighted some of possible considerate measures needed to urgently address the rising cases of unemployment, which has become a serious factor to the growth of the country.

“Zambia needs to invest in human capital development through ICT and innovative practices in the Agriculture and Manufacturing sectors in order to generate more employment opportunities. The current construction boom needs to be supported through reducing interest rates in order to support construction sector employment creation.

causimgtGovernment should consider hosting a Jobs summit aimed at finding lasting solutions to employment challenges young people are facing, this must be a private sector led process aimed at bringing together industry players and policy makers,”

On March 12, 2019.  Zambia commemorated youth day under the theme;   “Zambian Youth: Generation unlimited.”

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The Centre for Trade Policy and Development

Sport

Prince William,  who is president of the Football Association – FA, accused clubs that fail to support players of a “dereliction of duty”. He also said that the habit of treating players like “financial assets” must change. He made the comments during a meeting with mental health staff at the Irish Football Association in Belfast.

He met participants of the Ahead of the Game programme which aims to support clubs and volunteers when dealing with mental health issues with a focus on challenging the stigma and preventative measures. The prince, who has been a strong advocate for mental health, created the charity Heads Together in 2017 with the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

He has spoken regularly and openly on the subject, including at last month’s Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland. And he now wants football to take action on how to help players, including those who fail to make it to the top level. “Some of these clubs don’t do anything about mental health,” he said. “They pick a player up, he plays football, ‘no good’, move on.

“If we’ve got to change anything, we’ve got to change the whole way we look after players. “Many players come from difficult backgrounds and may have all sorts of issues going on. “So just to have them as a complete financial asset is pretty… it’s a dereliction of duty I think, having these players not given the key building blocks or support.

“We’re working on something with the FA at the moment, trying potentially to get a mental health FA Cup to have a really punchy campaign we can base something around.”The prince also raised questions about the resilience of the next generation growing up playing games where everyone is supposed to win.“Are we setting up some of our children at the moment for more mental health issues in the future, by the way we are creating a win-win situation and scenarios?” he said. “Because resilience has to be built within everybody.

“From a very very young age, nobody wants to be told they’re not good at something but of course that could prove a difficult situation to handle when life comes along with school and jobs and so on. How do they learn to pick themselves back up again?“When they lose a match, you’re gutted. But that’s part of what sport is all about. Every sportsman and women knows what it takes to be at the top of their game.”

The prince’s comments were praised by Michael Bennett, the head of welfare for the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) with more and more players using its welfare services. Several former and current high-profile players have spoken of their battles with mental issues including Tottenham and England full-back Danny Rose, former England winger Aaron Lennon and the now retired striker Stan Collymore. 

“Clearly, not everyone is earning £100,000 a week,” said Bennett. “There are things you don’t see. Players could suffer an untimely death in the family or suffer a serious injury. “Money isn’t going to stop emotional feelings surfacing.”

Story curtesy of CNN Sports

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Prince William,  who is president of the

Sport

Zambia Under-23 and Nkana football club coach Beston Chambeshi ho guided the Zambia under 20 to lifting the Africa under 20 championship and went on to have a superb display at the under 20 World Cup.

Chambeshi, who was part of the exploits at the 1988 olympic has the experience and pedigree needed to guide the team to global football supremacy. He has named 26 local players for next weekend’s final camp ahead of the March 20 first leg encounter against Malawi in Blantyre.

He has kept faith in his Under 20 stars naming seven foreign based players among them Patson Daka, Enock Mwepu (both of Red Bull-Austria), Fashion Sakala (KV Oostende), Emmanuel Banda (AS Beziers-France), Edward Chilufya (IF Djurgardens-Sweden), Gampani Lungu (SuperSport United-RSA) and Boston Muchindu (Academica-de-Coimbra-Portugal).

Chambeshi has also drafted Zesco United forward Maybin Kalengo in his squad that regroups on Monday in Lusaka and is expected to be in camp until they play Malawi. Team manager Hastings Ndovi told FAZfootball.com which is monitored by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the team will shift its training sessions to Independence Stadium on the artificial turf in preparations for the encounter at the Kamuzu Banda Stadium.

“The boys will be expected to regroup on Monday (March 4) by midday and we expected that the team will be in camp until the game is played,” Ndovi said.

Foreign based players will be expected to join in the final stanza of the preparations.

Zambia plays Malawi on March 20 away and at home four days later with the winner facing either Burundi or Congo Brazzaville in the final qualifying round. Eight teams will qualify to the Egypt 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with the top three at the tournament automatically qualifying to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The bulk of the current Zambia U23 team were graduated from the 2017 Under-20 Africa Cup winning side and represents Zambia’s best hope for continental and Olympic medals.

TEAM LIST

(GOALKEEPERS)

Mangani Banda (Zanaco), Jackson Kakunta (Power Dynamos), Charles Muntanga (Nkwazi), Lameck Siame (Kitwe United)

(DEFENDERS)

Wayne Museba (Kabwe Warriors), Kebson Kamanga (Nkwazi), Sydney Phiri (Gomes), Paul Banda (Lusaka Dynamos), Solomon Sakala, Shemmy Mayembe (Zesco United), Moses Nyondo (Nkana), Chiboni Kondwani (Power Dynamos), Field Kandela (Kabwe Warriors)

(MIDFIELDER)

Boyd Musonda (Zanaco) , Prince Mumba, (Kabwe Warriors), Lameck Banda, Edward Tembo (Zesco United), Crispin Sakulanda (Red Arrows), Harrison Chisala (Nkana), Ngosa Sunzu (Buildcon), Benson Kolala (Forest Rangers), Linos Makwaza (Power Dynamos)

(STRIKERS)

Biston Banda, Mangani Phiri (Circuit City), Klings Kangwa (Buildcon), Maybin Kalengo (Zesco United)

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Zambia Under-23 and Nkana football club coach

Sport

World soccer governing body FIFA has partnered the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the African Union (AU) in the quest to clean the African game. African football has in recent years been blighted by controversy that range from bribery to mal administration. But the problems of graft also saw the change in top leadership at FIFA and UEFA and followsed through into the regional and country associations.

Last year saw former CAF vice-president, Ghanaian Kwesi Nyantakyi being banned from soccer activities. This year has also witnessed CAF Executive Committee member Musa Bility accusing the president of the continental football governing body Ahmad Ahmad who hails from a non African soccer powerhouse country of running down the sport in Africa.

But FIFA president Gianni Infantino has joined hands with CAF and the AU by signing a memorandum of agreement (Mou) in a bid to what was termed as ‘cleansing African football’. “The MoU, signed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki and Confederation of African Football president Ahmad Ahmad will see FIFA, the AU and CAF implement common strategies and programmes with a focus on the areas of education, good governance and the fight against corruption, as well as safety and security at football matches,” said CAF in a statement seen by the Zambian Businesss Times – ZBT.

There has also been controversy on the Africa Cup of Nations hosting rights for the 2021 and 2023 editions. With FIFA president pledging to help clean African football, CAF have already confirmed support for Infantino to serve another term at the helm of FIFA. However, even the European game was mired in the same controversy as the head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter was ousted on allegations of graft. The in line to succeed Blatter, Frenchman Michell Platini was also passed over and removed on similar charges.

Just last month, on February 27, 2019, FIFA banned for life former Zambia Football Association former treasurer and later Vice President, Boniface Mwamelo, who later confirmed he intends to appeal his life ban imposed by FIFA. He was adjudicated as guilty of “having accepted bribes in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics. Mwamelo was also fined $10,015. FIFA stated that Mwamelo is banned from all football-related activities following an investigation which started in October 2017.

The probe surrounded the participation of Zambia’s Under 23 team at an international tournament in July 2010, with Mwamelo accused of collaborating with the convicted Singaporean match fixer Raj Perumal. Mwamelo, who confirmed receipt of FIFA’s decision, denies any wrongdoing. “I am glad it is an appealable case, I will do everything within my means to clear my name,” said Mwamelo in a statement.

However, soccer analysts and fans accross Africa have accused local football admistration rivals of using FIFA to settle their local political scores. What one should think of is that all these associations have disciplinary committees, why is it that all decision are comming from FIFA? If indeed these allegations hold water, the bans would have started from the local associations disciplinary committees. It’s actually an indictment on the local and country committees charged with this responsibility to wait for FIFA, when this very evidence they are sending is generated locally.

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World soccer governing body FIFA has partnered

Sport

Merifin Capital of Belgium has signed a US$ 200, 000 sponsorship extension deal with the Olympic Youth Development Centre – OYDC to fund the “Teulings Youth Sports Challenge” for the next two years which will resume on the 23rd February, 2019.

The Teulings Youth Sports Challenge was initiated in 2011 with competition in Basketball, Football, Tennis, Hockey, Volleyball and support academy sport.

OYDC Director Dr. Fredrick Chitangala announced that the newly signed sponsorship deal will now include Swimming, Netball, Taekwondo, Hockey and Beach Volleyball as some of the sports disciplines which young talented athletes will be competing in.

Coen Teulings, Chairman of the Merifin Capital in Belgium has been an all weather supporter of the OYDC and his sponsorship has helped the centre in discovering some of the great talents that are even representing Zambia.

Merifin Capital is a European private investment group with offices and executives operating in Brussels, Geneva, New York and London. The firm has successfully invested in traditional and alternative asset classes for a period of over twenty years. At the present time, Merifin Capital and its affiliates manage a substantial investment portfolio and maintain an active investment program.

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Merifin Capital of Belgium has signed a

Tech

Following the recent Trans Kalahari Fiber project that was built between the West Africa Undersea Cable System – WACS landing station in Swakopmund – Namibia and the Zambian Sesheke border, Paratus Africa has activated additional capacity between(WACS) and Lusaka, Zambia.

The company now carries this capacity as far north as the town of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Within the Group, Paratus Zambia is the first to take full advantage of the Trans Kalahari Fiber project.

“Our primary focus has been to establish our own infrastructure and this is vital to ensure that our operations are able to provide the best customer experience. We view the extremely volatile economic conditions as an opportunity to further invest in Africa, Paratus Group CEO Barney Harmse has said.

This project shows that investment in telecoms infrastructure does have its benefits and it allows Paratus Africa to solidify its position as a leader in quality connectivity across Africa.

“Joined with the backhaul network through Namibia, we are now able to provide more options to our client base.” Paratus Zambia country manager Marius van Vuuren has said.

Vuuren says the g the group being able to provide backhaul, metro and various access options; this makes the company more competitive and more ready to service the pan-African client base.

“We have already earmarked various infrastructure investment projects and are stringently investigating the viability thereof. We are confident that by continuing our investment strategy, Paratus Africa will become the preferred pan-African operator,” concludes Harmse.

Trade between Zambia and DRC is set to boom following the so far peaceful transition of power in DRC. South Africa and other neighboring countries also transit their trade through Zambia.

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Following the recent Trans Kalahari Fiber project

Tech

Liquid Telecom Zambia has partnered with Sigfox to demonstrate the uses of the ‘Internet of Things”- IoT as a key tool to drive smart business and economic development by increasing its accessibility and reducing maintenance cost of the technology.

Liquid Telecom Zambia Chief Executive Officer Susan Mulikita said the internet of things is indicative of strides that have been made in the ICT world which have greatly shifted the use of the internet from a people dominated sphere to one that relies on machines working together to produce a smart network.

She was speaking at a workshop which took place at Taj Pamozi Hotel in Lusaka attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT.

Mulikita said in order to embed connectivity and intelligence in a range of devices, the internet of things has increasingly been used to collect large quantities of data which when analyzed will help businesses make smarter decisions and operate more effectively.

‘’During the workshop held on 6 March 2019, Sigfox will showcase a variety of use cases which demonstrate how our partners and customers can effectively utilize the internet of things in diverse sectors as banking, the transport sector, agriculture and the fisheries industry.” She said.

And Sigfox vice president Nicolas Andrieu said its partnership with Liquid Telecom is to accelerate the roll out of the IoT network in order to present and introduce what technology can bring to the ICT sector in the country.

The vice president said the internet of things is beneficial as it will help people achieve their focus on a smart Zambia.

Speaking at the same event, Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority – ZICTA Director General Patrick Mutimushi said IoT as well as big data have the potential to bring about enormous social and economic benefits which will help organizations target products, deliver services, develop policies and personal peoples online experience.

Mutimushi addded that ZICTA is committed to contributing towards government’s strides to achieve its industrialization strategy and stand to promote the facilitations partnership to innovate ICT products and services.

“Iam encouraging all of you to embrace the technologies and use it productively, remember, the development of the ICT sector in Zambia relies on you and me”. He said.

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Liquid Telecom Zambia has partnered with Sigfox

Lifestyle

The Kitwe District Chamber of Commerce and Industry has announced that it will hold this years award giving gala. The chamber says the award giving gala is very important to the business community in enhancing value and encouraging companies to perform better.

Kitwe is Zambia’s second biggest city by population and the Chamber President Anthony Kabaghe told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the event is equally important to the chamber calendar as it is held annually and deserving companies are awarded in different categories.

“As you know the chamber comprises of different companies and categories, we have got these annual events were we bring all these companies. We will have our 2018 event at newly opened Garden Court hotel, on the 7th of December at 19:00 pm and we are expecting Minister of Commerce Trade and Industry Christopher Yaluma to grace the occasion.

Companies are going to be recognized and encouraged to do even better,”he said. In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Kabaghe added that professional bodies have been engaged to assist and assess companies short listed and the categories.

“For instance will be giving an award in Occupational Health and Safety so we have engaged our friends at Occupational Health and Safety department to do the assessment, so we give them that assignment they assess for us and they give us to say the best in this category is this. For the mines, its the same, we also engage the Chamber of Mines to assist us to assess,” he explained.

“Our members are included, we send these categories to them to say can you choose best companies, say in the category of bank of the year award who are the best. You know as a Chamber of Commerce we also work hard to give value to our members.

So as a Chamber we have to make sure we give value to our members, as you you know this is a voluntary organization, we do not force any one to belong to the chamber. We make sure that who ever comes in as a member the Chamber gives and get value from the other members,” he said.

He highlighted the fact that, in organizing the event donations were made from its members. “So like the Garden Court hotel itself, they are giving some subsidies on certain things because they are our members. In terms of sponsoring the event, we have asked for Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsorships.

As people are coming to the event and as our members are coming in, they will see the brand name’s as part of our marketing activities and also in terms of an advantage for sponsoring they is just that recognition because we have to display this event has been sponsored by this company and so on. That is also good corporate social responsibility, “ he stated.

Kabaghe further disclosed that the Chamber also organises monthly Breakfast meetings for its members to discuss various topics of interest in the industry. “We invite our members to come to together and discuss on a topic of interest and a speaker is called for that particular topic.

The last meeting at Garden Court we invited the speaker from Lusaka to talk about nuclear energy. Zambia has signed an MoU on nuclear energy for scientific purposes. So it is an important topic that we thought our members should come and hear and see how they can prepare their businesses or organizations they work for.

The Chamber is a must join organization for a business to appreciate the business environment they operate in, the more we are the better we share ideas,”he narrated.

The occasion will comprise of 19 categories which include:
Mining Company of the year in Occupational Health and SafetyPresidents Award of the year, Most Innovative Company, Commercial Supply Company, Industrial Company of the year.

Other categories include Bank, Insurance company of the year, Tourism and Hospitality Company, Mining Company, Mining Contractor, Consumer Manufacturing Company, Accounting Company, Most Outstanding Corporate Company, Service Company, Business Executive, Most Popular Radio Station and Broker of the year awards

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The Kitwe District Chamber of Commerce and

Lifestyle

The Copperbelt’s Bwana Mkubwa Constituency lawmaker Dr. Jonas Chanda has called for increased funding to the education which he said would lead to production of high quality human capital which is the most important source of competitive advantage for a nation to achieve economic growth and development.

Dr. Chanda, a medical doctor by profession said this when he was speaking in parliament as he advocated for increase budget allocation to the education sector in the 2019 budget. He stated that Zambia had lagged behind in school infrastructure as the population grew, leading to demand for school places outstripping supply, a situation which has created a “funnel-shaped” education system.

Dr. Chanda further stated that “this funnel shaped system had led to a situation were about 500,000 children start school in grade 1 but only 100,000 (which is 20%) completing grade 12, representing an 80% drop out rate”.

“While international conventions recommend spending 20 to 26% of the national budget on education, in Zambia, only ZMW13.3 billion (about USD1.1 billion) which is 15.3% of the budget is allocated to education for both Ministries of General Education and Higher Education” the lawmaker stated.

The first ever global Human Capital Index (maker HCI) published by the World Bank in Bali, Indonesia this year urges countries to prioritize investment in people by simultaneously investing more financial resources in education, health and economic development.

Zambia, with 82% of the population below the age of 35, must invest more in its young people. Results of HCI shows the highest scoring countries are all East Asian – Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, while Britain is at number 22 and the USA is at number 24, but African countries are at the bottom of the list,” he said.

The Lawmaker further said any good education system consists of quantitative expansion, qualitative expansion and equity. “The Patriotic Front – PF government has embarked on quantitative expansion of school infrastructure by constructing hundreds of primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities to close the “infrastructure gap” which was created over so many years due to previous governments low investment in school infrastructure.

Consequently, Zambia lagged behind in school infrastructure as the populationRuling Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament for Bwana Mkubwa Constituency Dr. Jonas Chanda has said increased funding for education leads to production of high quality human capital which is the most important source of competitive advantage for a nation to achieve economic growth and development.

He reiterated that the quality of education in a nation determines the quality of human capital produced, which drives economic development. He has commended government for removing all 743 Teachers with forged certificates from the education system but says they must be prosecuted, and no teachers with forged certificates must be employed. He also thanked government for acting against rampant examination leakages which compromise the quality of education.

Meanwhile on need for equity in an education system, Dr Chanda said education is a universal human right for all, and universal education must be for all with no pupil left behind. He thanked government for increasing school enrollment for both boys and girls. He says more needs to be done for children living with disabilities in public schools, including recruitment of specialized teachers for children with special needs like blindness, deafness and mental impairment.

Dr. Chanda further urged government to ensure that the 2-Tier Educational System in secondary schools which offers academic and vocational options to pupils, is more industry-based so that pupils can acquire “industrial skills,” than the current situation where it is confined to learning institutions.

He has also called for increased government support to community schools which emerged as the 4th-Tier of the Education System in the 1990s due to “infrastructure gaps” in the public school system.

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The Copperbelt's Bwana Mkubwa Constituency lawmaker Dr.

Lifestyle

AB InBev local unit, Zambian Breweries, has applauded the Zambian Revenue Authority – ZRA for its recent action to thwart smuggling of almost ZMW1 million worth of alcoholic beverages at border posts.

The company’s Country Director Jose Moran said, it is commending ZRA in its continued effort to curb the rising trend in smuggling of alcoholic beverages at border posts.

We were pleased to learn of the recent action by the ZRA in confiscating smuggled alcohol worth almost K1 million.
“This is a step in the right direction in curbing the colossal sums of evaded tax and ensuring a level playing field for businesses and consumers. This commendable action by ZRA confirms the existence of smuggling being rampant in our border posts and boundaries. Concerted efforts by all stakeholders are cardinal in curbing this scourge.”

In October Zambian Breweries launched the 2018 Euro monitor market analysis of illicit alcohol in Zambia, which catalogued an appalling fiscal loss of US$103.7 million compared with US$38 million in 2014 through the smuggling of ethanol and finished alcoholic beverage products into Zambia.

According to the report, smuggled alcoholic goods range from premium spirits, sparkling wine, cider and clear beer brands usually sold cheaply at wholesale markets and also distributed directly by smugglers through trade channels.

“Throughout the ages, wherever there are borders and taxes, there has been smuggling, as unscrupulous traders attempt to dodge duties and procedures in favour of a quick profit. It’s a simple formula: if you can avoid paying customs duties and taxes then you can undercut the market price of goods at the market price and pocket the difference,” said Moran.

And according to the recent 2018 Euro monitor report it explains the different categories of organised smugglers including small traders who bypass border checkpoints completely and represent the majority of smuggled alcohol volume originating mainly from Namibia, Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa.

The large-volume smugglers mainly cross from Namibia at the Katima Mulilo border. The large illicit traders are said to falsely declare their merchandise at Customs and may proceed into Zambia using cartels that organise them, according to industry sources cited by the report.

The report names townships such as Matero, Mandevu and Chilenje in Lusaka as competing with COMESA Market in distributing smuggled alcohol and other illicit products. The cholera clean-up conducted by the authorities from September 2017 to January 2018 resulted in many open stalls around COMESA Market, the largest wholesaler market, being removed.

Unfortunately, large amounts of smuggled alcoholic beverages are substituted or refilled and some of Zambian Breweries’ regional and global brands have been affected on the pretext of importation.

In a statement availed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Moran further added that as a responsible brewer, Zambian Breweries has backed the National Alcohol Policy, which calls for targeted action in solving alcohol issues.

The brewing company pledged support by encouraging licit business along the value chain and partnerships with its stakeholders in providing well-researched and informed pragmatic recommendations to the authorities to ensure the complete removal of smuggling.

“ZRA’s action is a step in the right direction but more needs to be done to ensure a change in the public’s mind-set about smuggling and smugglers. We recommend deregistration of businesses involved in smuggling as the tax evaded has the potential to derail the nation’s development. There is an emphatic need for the stakeholders such as ZRA, the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS), security wings, representatives of the private sector and other partners to formulate a taskforce to curb smuggling,” he said.

Moran also emphasised the need for private and public partnerships to help solve the problem, under which government and industry can pool resources, expertise and intelligence to develop workable solutions. Public and private partnerships can be leveraged to address other issues, such as collating robust data on smuggling, he explained.

 

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AB InBev local unit, Zambian Breweries, has