ZMA confirms Masebo’s combative meeting with doctors

The Zambia Medical Association (ZMA) has expressed disappointment over the extremely unflattering terms in which Health Minister Sylvia Masebo addressed the medical profession during the recently held 58^th ZMA Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM).

On 7 August 2022, the Zambian Business Times-ZBT reported that Masebo had a combative meeting with the medical doctors at the conference and the minister was lambasting the doctors, a situation which did not go well with the doctors and ZMA members in attendance.

The meeting did not go well, this may have led to the PS being seen in bad light and Masebo may have influenced the decision to have Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary-PS Administration Dr. George Magwende fired.

ZMA General Secretary Dr. Roy Tolopu said the association has taken exception to the unsubstantiated accusations that the chronic and critical shortages of drugs and medical supplies in public institutions is a result of pilfering by healthcare workers.

According to Information made available to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Dr. Tolopu refuted accusations that medical doctors in senior management positions within Ministry of Health
structures and allied statutory bodies are running down the health system and stealing government time by undertaking private practice during work hours.

Dr. Tolopu said doctors make many sacrifices and donations from their own time and pockets to ensure that patients receive the highest possible care, even in the face of nationwide shortages.

“Any doctor or nurse can tell you about long-standing challenges we encounter in delivering
life-saving interventions such as oxygen therapy and procedures such as lumbar puncture.
Public suspicion concerning these procedures stems in part from high-level misinformation, delivered decades ago. To be accused of stealing from a system we are breaking our backs to support is nothing short of a slap in the face”, he said.

He stressed that the association’s primary interest is good stewardship of the nation’s health therefore ZMA’s first and overriding concern is the potential long-standing damage caused by erroneous statements made by high-level officials whose official capacity commands the public trust.

“To suggest without evidence that all medical doctors are stealing government time, knowing as we do the price the profession continually pays to deliver on the government’s mandate to maintain a healthy nation, is at best baseless conjecture and at worst, malice”, Dr. Tolopu added.

Dr. Tolopu explained that with regards to the management of large complex institutions, Districts and Provinces, ZMA counters that doctors have done a great deal to improve functions and decrease mortality and morbidity in centres throughout the country, often finding creative ways to do so when government grants have been delayed or diminished.

He noted that the medical profession has done much to build synergies between the private and public sector, by optimizing rare highly specialized skills and equipment and indeed, successful health systems make good use of a mix of private and public facilities, which in part serves to life the burden from government, and from the poorest patients.

The General Secretary said ZMA National Executive Committee along with senior members of the profession are engaging the minister on these matters of grave concern and has called upon its members to exercise magnanimity, restraint and patience, as the association works to address this matter with professionalism and decorum.

 

 

 

 

 

The Zambia Medical Association (ZMA) has expressed

ECL break in linked to inner circle

Political Analyst Dr. Levy Ngoma says the break in at former President Edgar Lungu’s house raises many questions than answers.

Unknown people broke into former President Edgar Lungu’s house in Ibex Hill area, Lusaka on 9 August 2022 and stole two smart television sets valued at K66, 000. The thieves gained entry through the back of the house by climbing the wall fence where they also cut the electric wire.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Dr. Ngoma said the thieves who broke into the former President’s house are people who know his movements because the incident occurred when he was out of the country.

Dr. Ngoma explained that it is strange that at the time the break in took place, power cut at the residence between 01:00hrs and 06:00hrs in the morning adding that this made it easy for the thieves to cut the electric wire.

He noted that there were two armed police officers guarding the place the time the incident happened and none of them knows anything adding that there are security doors that were damaged and it is questionable how those security doors were damaged.

“The police who were guarding the place didn’t hear anything?, they can’t say it was raining and making noise and therefore we didn’t hear anything, this incident actually raises more questions than answers and therefore this country has to be concerned, it’s a very scary situation. The former President is a very special person who deserves proper national security”, he said.

He mentioned that an inquiry into the matter is required adding that there is need to beef up security at the former Head of State’s residence to ensure that this does not happen again.

The political analyst mentioned that such an incident has never happened before and reports suggesting that it has happened before are incorrect.

 

Political Analyst Dr. Levy Ngoma says the

Teachers pensions lowest among civil servants – Union

Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia-BETUZ has revealed that teachers receive low pension payoffs compared to other professions in the public service adding that in its current form, the pension fund is not enough to compensate a worker who would have worked for so many years.

BETUZ Public and International Relations Director Kabika Kakunta explained that a teacher who is a certificate holder and works for atleast 20 years of unbroken service before retiring at the retirement age is entitled to a pension payoff of between K400, 000 to K500, 000.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Kakunta added that a retired teacher who worked for the same years but holds a diploma may receive a pension payoff between K500, 000 and 600, 000 adding that a degree holder may receive between K600, 000 and K800, 000.

Kakunta said other categories of workers such as Permanent Secretaries who could have served for the same period and are possessing the same qualifications get more money than teachers.

He noted that Members of Parliament will serve for 5 years but they are compensated highly in terms of gratuity and some of them are not even highly qualified and are diploma holders with others only having a diploma but in that 5 years, they will qualify for a motor vehicle of their choice and a huge gratuity after their term ends.

“But it is the same country that is compensating one category of workers in a certain fashion and another category of workers in another fashion. The pension to us is the last money that a worker gets after toiling for government between 25-30 years of service and they come out of their service with less than a million kwacha”, he said.

“It is that same money that they would want to buy their retirement house, maybe they were staying in a government house and when you compute all those you begin to see that the value for money does not match the service that these teachers give to government becauseat the end of the day we have always said that the children that we have taught in the end begin to determine poor pensions for us”, Kakunta added.

Kakunta mentioned that in the pension reforms,government must begin to work out how they can standardize the payment package so that the package is equal to the service provided.

“What is the argument for someone who could have worked only for 5 years as member of Parliament as compared to a teacher who has served for 20-30 years in government and have qualifications”, he said.

He added that these are dynamics that government should start talking about and ensure that workers benefit from these pension funds adding that as a labour movement, BETUZ has been advocating that these pension houses should go in a venture where they build houses and sell them to contributors like teachers so that whilst they are working,they would have already had a house where the pension fund can be deducting slowly.

“One thing that we see is that they get money from the members and when you see the houses that they build,for example those houses for NAPSA which are at SOS, no teacher can afford to buy such houses from their pensions but they have been built by the teachers’ contributions, they are expensive even to rent”, he said.

Kakunta said retirees are not able to leave comfortable lives afterwards because of the low funds they receive and that is why most of them die early as their pensions do not meet their aspirations after employment.

Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia-BETUZ has

Private schools lose half of it’s teachers

The Association of Private Schools in Zambia says most teachers leave the private sector in preference for the civil service because they are lowly paid compared to government salaries.

Association Interim President Enock Kaputula said the association has lost more than half of its members following government’s recruitment of over 30, 000 teachers adding that the association had over 7, 000 teachers working in the private sector.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Kaputula added that a number of teachers tend to leave the private sector for greener pastures as primarily; government offers better salaries than the private sector.

Kaputula mentioned that government also provides job security, as most teachers have assurance of keeping their jobs once they are in the civil service than in the private sector where they are working on contract basis.

He however said the association is working on improving its conditions of service to avoid losing its members to government in order to maintain the workforce adding that it is not something that will happen instantly but gradually as the association is growing and most of its members are still small.

The Association President also noted that in as far as parents are happy with the good service received from private schools, one of the biggest challenges the private sector is facing is payments from most parents that do not seem to be consistent.

Kaputula explained that the inflow of cash from parents in most private schools is not consistence hence finding it hard to improve the conditions of service for the teachers.

He said, “That inconveniences the operations of the sector as most of the parents with children in private schools pay in instalments and when payments are due they would come through and only to make promises to pay later.”

Kaputula however could not state the minimum or maximum pay that teachers in private schools get but mentioned that payments vary from school to school and the size of a school determines how much the teachers are paid.

 

 

 

 

The Association of Private Schools in Zambia

Foreigners owning more land as locals continue to sell

Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Elijah Muchima says local people are the reason behind the escalating number of foreigners owning a huge percentage of prime land compared to indigenous Zambians.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Muchima explained that local people are selling their pieces of land to foreigners and sometimes, foreigners are using Zambians to acquire land.

The Minister added that some foreigners have formed companies and are having those companies registered under the names of Zambian individuals, which is making it easy for the foreigners to acquire land noting that various ways are used to acquire land by foreigners.

Muchima noted that it is unfortunate that when an individual owns land, they cannot be told what to do with the land or whom they can sell it to adding that local people are aware of the consequences of selling most of the land in the country to foreigners but they are too hungry for money.

He mentioned that there is a law in place that disadvantages foreigners from owning land therefore, they can only own land in Zambia under the signature of the President or recommendations under the office of Lands and Natural Resources Ministry.

“It takes a few weeks but it is a procedure because it has to go to state house, the president has to be satisfied”, he said

Muchima has since urged Zambians to guard their lands because once land is gone it is difficult to claim it back.

 

 

Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Elijah