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The Livingstone Museum Director General has disclosed that the workers from both the Livingstone Museum and Victoria Falls who took strike action and led to the paralyzing of operations for the two tourism centers have returned to work.

Gorge Mudenda, the Director General for the Livingstone Museum confirmed that the employees are back to work and everything is back to normal. He stated that the employees refused to work because they were demanding for better condition of service for 2022.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the Museum Director said the condition of service that the workers were demanding for have not yet been met but are being worked on. The ministry responded to the union through the permanent secretary, he stated.

He further added that the permanent secretary will hold a meeting with the workers union to continue to dialogue on the stipulated demands by the union workers.

The workers abandoned their posts due to non-implementation of agreed 2022 conditions of service. The delays by government to appoint management boards for the National Heritage Conservation Commission and the National Museums Board.

According to some workers, they accused the Ministry of Tourism of frustrating the process to implement the agreement despite giving authorization for negotiations to take place for improved conditions of service.

And the Ministry of Tourism through a statement seen by ZBT stated that the union has not followed procedure for their members to go on strike and has not engaged with the Ministry regarding the respective issue.

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The Livingstone Museum Director General has disclosed

Agribusiness

Agriculture Permanent Secretary Green Mbozi says the K7.2 billion (about $420 million) agriculture budget deficit will be financed by the supplementary budget.

The new dawn government had set aside K3.6 billion (about $212 million) for the procurement of fertilizer for the 2022/2023 Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) but the increase in prices of fertilizer between the time of budgeting and now has meant that the funds are now inadequate.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Mbozi said the ministry engaged the treasury because as soon as the suppliers start supplying and they meet all the conditions they will require to be paid according to contract, therefore government needs to have the funds readily available.

Mbozi explained that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance agreed that the total cost of procuring is now estimated at K10.8 billion (about $630 million) while the allocated budget was only K3.6 billion, so the difference of about K7.2 billion is the deficit which the treasury will have to Finance.

When asked by ZBT how the deficit will be financed, Mbozi states that “we would not have advertised if we had not resolved the issue of how to finance the deficit. The financing of the deficit has been agreed, as you know if normally we are within budget, we could have just advertised the procurement without seeking authority from the treasury”,he said.

He noted that there was a delay in advertising until the modalities of financing the deficit were agreed and since they have been agreed the ministry has been allowed to advertise.

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane is pushing to access $1.4 billion from an IMF extended credit facility which he now projects to get by the end of quarter three (end of September 2022). But even when accessed, these funds are expected to be disbursed over a period of three years.

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Agriculture Permanent Secretary Green Mbozi says the

Companies

Minster of Infrastructure Charles Milupi has an impossible job, at least for 2022 after revelations that his Ministry has been allocated a relatively paltry K4.9 billion (about $290 million) for the entire 2022 to work on and complete the vast number of outstanding infrastructure projects dotted across the country.

Milupi confirmed that his Ministry which used to be under the Ministry of Finance, was only allocated K4.9 billion but has big priority projects that it intends to do. As a result, the Ministry has opted to pursue the option of undertaking infrastructure projects under the Private Public Partnership – PPP.

The Infrastructure minister revealed that two years ago [2020], the funds allocated for infrastructure projects was about K10.55 billion, last year [2021], it was K6.5 billion and this year [2022], it is K4.9billion, hence it has had a three year reduction trend.

Milupi however added that his Ministry is hopeful to carry out the majority of projects under the PPP act. Analysts however say PPP can be costly if not well managed as private partners go in with a profit and short term motives.

In an an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Milupi said that concessions for  some of these projects are underway or awaiting for the concessionaires to reach financial closure for the projects to get started.

Among the projects the Minister mentioned to be done under PPP is the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriage-way, the Chingola – Chililabombwe – Kasumbalesa road, the Solwezi- Mutanda dual carriage way, the Kasempa , Luampa, and Kaoma roads among others.

He said that some of the projects have their concession already given and some are about to be given like the Lusaka -Ndola and the Chingola-chililabombwe-Kasumbalesa. Milupi further added that, the ministry does not have enough funds, and admitted that there are issues with funding because the budget is limited.

The infrastructure minister said that the economy produces money that is not sufficient.” Our locally generated revenues is K98.9 billion which is just about US$ 5 billion for the whole country”, he said.

Zambia has massive infrastructure needs that includes schools, roads, hospitals and others, but the country has struggled to leverage its extensive mineral wealth to generate more revenue for its treasury. Agriculture which is the one of the alternative sources for exports remains highly politicized with crop market prices which are not reflective of input costs.

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Minster of Infrastructure Charles Milupi has an

Lifestyle

Zambia National Union of Teachers – ZNUT has called on the government to first investigate the Human Resources (HR) officers who are responsible for the alleged issue of overpayments to teachers before before any recovery is initiated.

ZNUT spokesperson Godwin Maseka said the HR officers who credited these allowances that were not due to these civil servants should be investigated first as to why they gave allowances when they were not supposed to.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Maseka said the government should hold the idea of recovering the allowances from the affected civil servants in till  investigations are done because the thought is there is more to the recovery of the funds and why they were given in that manner.

He further added that the payroll system in the ministry of Education is porous, there is more that needs to be done. He said there is a serious mismatch. He said there is a procedure that is followed for teachers to be awarded certain types of allowances and is approved by the Head Teacher of a respective school.

The ZNUT spokeperson stated that the unions desire is for the Ministry of Education and Finance to go on the ground and ascertain the abnormalities in the education sector, so that as they sit to recover the allowances, it is well appreciated.

He has since urged the respective ministries to wait until investigations are instituted and concluded before the move to the recovery of the allowance funds is taken.

The ministry of education is on the move to recover about K209 Million that was accredited to Teachers and some civil servants as funds for different allowances among them is , housing, rural hardship, remote hardship, double class and responsibility allowances to about 9,444 civil servants in the education sector.

This issue has attracted the attention of almost all the teachers unions and they have called for the investigation of the human resource offers. Any move to recover these funds should be put on hold until investigations are instituted and concluded. Any abrupt recoveries risks affecting the general welfare and morale of various affected teachers.

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Zambia National Union of Teachers - ZNUT

Mining

Zambia National Service – ZNS has been blamed for the continued delay in the re-opening of Zambia’s second largest gold mine – Kasenseli gold mine of Mwinilunga. This is because it’s unit guarding the mine site are awaiting official communication from their high command weeks after the mines ministry gave a go ahead for re-opening.

A source who asked that their identity be withheld told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the ZNS unit on the site have refused to allow officials who have the official authorization from the ministry of mines to re- open the mine on grounds that only their chain of command can ask them to leave the mine not a civilian.

This means Zambia Gold Company and its officials, suppliers and support staff cannot have its personnel on site to service equipment and prepare the plant for re-opening. This is further lengthening the re-opening timelines which is resulting in further loss of production time and revenues.

The Source further told ZBT that despite the Ministry of Mines lifting the suspension of the operations the mine, the current delays to reopen is squarely because of the bureaucracy of government operations. The ZNS officers are reducing to cede control of the gold mine on account of “no instructions have come through from the –ZNS- Command”.

And when contacted by ZBT to confirm if these allegations were true, ZNS Public Relations Manager Colonel Nakazwe Chinunda confirmed that ZNS and the commander have not received official communication on the matter.

Colonel Chinundu said ZNS will wait until such a time when they will be told to move out by the high command. “ZNS does not receive direct orders from the Ministry of mines or any ministry, adding that the commander has not received any official notification on the matter.

Kasenseli Mine is said to have huge gold deposits that are key to opening up a viable revenue line for government and Zambia in terms of forex earnings. The prolonged closure has further affected announced plans by the central bank – BOZ to build gold reserves that can help the country to stabilize its local unit – the Kwacha if well harnessed.

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Zambia National Service - ZNS has been

Tech

Zambia Railways Limited – ZRL has confirmed that it does not have any plans currently to introduce electric trains in the railway transport sub-sector. This is despite the company running a system that is currently slow and needs rethinking.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times –ZBT, ZRL Public Relations Manager Caristo Chitamfya explained that the introduction of electric trains will mean abandoning what is there which might be too expensive at the moment.

He said the Zambia Rails Limited is however working on improving the current speed and infrastructure. To bring an electric train system without sorting out what is already there may be a challenge, Chitamfya said.

“We don’t have plans now, Zambia railways is working on improving what we have now because we can’t go for an electric train when we have not sorted out what we have now, so at the moment, we working on rehabilitating what we have,” he said.

He said he was not aware if there are any plans to implement the electric trains were under the current regime. The Zambia Railways Former Chief Executive officer Professor Clive Chirwa had in February 2013 disclosed plans and designs to construct a US$1.5 billion train system in Zambia with an underground electric train rail line for passenger trains in Lusaka to decongest traffic in the city.

The Railway designs were meant to revamp the Zambian Railway sector and turn it into a modern railway system that was efficient and profitable. ZRL was also allocated part of the Euro bond funds but little was seen and heard of on how those funds were utilized.

An electric rain railways system are a climate smart and efficient and the cheapest method of transporting people and goods in the world there by promoting economic growth while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. They are a clean, cost effective  and compact way to move millions of tons of goods across countries and continents.

Fast forward to the present day, the railway system in Zambia remains largely stagnated. This is a sharp contrast with most developed countries which reveals that railway systems investments remain prioritized with most of the human and goods traffic between cities and towns done through rail.

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Zambia Railways Limited – ZRL has confirmed

Tech

The Zambia Forestry and Forest Industries Corporation (ZAFFICO) has expressed shock over the Power utility ZESCO’s stance that local companies that supply wooden poles are not able to deliver the required number, specifications and quality of poles ordered, hence the reason why the utility has opted to import the poles.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ZESCO Spokesperson Henry Kapata stated that the local suppliers [ZAFFICO and CFC] have no capacity to supply 100% of the poles order and that they are unable to meet 100% pole quality requirement standards.

ZESCO has insisted that local companies are falling short on quality and has proceeded to award the tenders to foreign firms at the expense of local and even Lusaka Securities Exchange listed ZAFFICO.

He said quality poles demand that a poles should be able to stand for twenty five years without having any challenges. “We go for quality and specifications, we may have certain local companies that are in business and if they are going to deliver poles that [are thin and] look like street pole lights, we cannot go for them. Am not saying there is anyone but specifications and quality is what will determine who to award the contract to deliver poles,” he said.

He said ZESCO will not go beyond boarders if the local are producing and delivering the quality poles. The challenge ZESCO is currently facing with the Local suppliers is that they do not meet the demand whenever they are engaged.

But when contacted by the Zambian Business Times –ZBT, ZAFFICO Public Relations Manager Ireen Chipili said she would not comment further on the matter stating that “ZESCO is an independent company and they choose which suppliers they want to deal with”.

“Am actually surprised that that the statement you got from [ZESCO] because we actually have a running contract with ZESCO since 2020 and we are still supplying them with high quality poles,” she said.

When further asked why ZAFFICO is not investing more to meet the quality specifications, ZAFFICO Public Relations Manager Chipili requested for a formal press query so that she could give more details on the matter.

Some stakeholders have accused ZESCO of deliberately coming up with some technical standards to disqualify ZAFFICO, CFC and other local suppliers in order to justify contracting firms from outside Zambia. Others say it’s because of vested interests and possible corrupt practices that may be driving some of these decisions to import when the country has huge forests to meet the entire annual ZESCO poles demand.

ZESCO is yet to issue a comprehensive statement to clear the air on what has motivated the company to proceed with the issuance of the tender to foreign firms when Lusaka Security Exchange listed companies such as ZAFFICO could meet the demand. See article were ZESCO claimed that there was lack of capacity with local firms ZAFFICO, CFC have failed to meet pole quality-specifications-zesco/

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The Zambia Forestry and Forest Industries Corporation (ZAFFICO)

Tech

One of the colleges that has been listed for forging Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority – TEVETA registration certificates to access Constituency Development Fund – CDF has protested the report, and instead accused TEVETA of not having its correspondence and records properly kept.

Heavy Duty Operators College of Zambia has disclosed that it did not and has not receive any formal notification from TEVETA but only saw the name of institution circulating on social media along with nine (9) other institutions that

General Manager for Heavy Duty Operators College, Gift Mwandila said the statement by TEVETA was unjustified and illegal. He said the TEVETA registration certificate for his institution expired on March 31st 2022 and there was an appeal for re- registration or renewal of the certificate. What surprised us is that before the issue was concluded, our college was then listed among those colleges which are operating illegally.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Mwandila said the institution which has three (3) campuses in Lusaka, Kitwe and Solwezi has valid TEVETA registration certificate for the Lusaka campus. TEVETA then went for inspection as part of the procedure to acquiring registration certificate and it went against the institutions favor, which we later appealed and we were not given audience to be heard.

And when asked if the institution was enrolling students as early as January even in other two of its campuses that do not have valid TEVETA registration certificate, he said that the institution was receiving applications from all three campuses because they knew that the registration for the other two campuses was going to come through for it was already in the process. Mwandila added that TEVETA did not specify as of which campus was shut down since campuses are certified separately.

Mwandila said TEVETA should not have listed the institution as illegal because it is them that did not respond to the appeal by Heavy Duty Operators College. “It means we were denied justice because even when the shutdown was announced, no one came to our offices to tell us that you have been shut down”, he stated.

Heavy Duty Operators college of Zambia is among the ten (10) colleges that have been alleged to be involved in the illegal act of forging TEVETA registration certificates to access CDF funds for students. TEVETA is yet to confirm if the names of the colleges have been reported to relevant investigative and law enforcement offices. See article on https://zambianbusinesstimes.com/10-institutions-caught-forging-teveta-certificates-to-access-cdf/

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One of the colleges that has been

Agribusiness

The Food Reserve Agency-FRA has announced that it will be buying a 50kg bag of maize at K160 for the 2022 crop-marketing season, which is an increment of only K10 from last year.

FRA Board Chairperson Kelvin Hambwezya said the agency has pegged the buying price for a 50kg bag of soya beans at K550, an increase of K50 from last year’s K500 and has maintained the price of a 40 kg bag of paddy rice at K200.

Speaking during a media briefing monitored by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Hambwezya explained that the agency intends to purchase at least 170, 000 metric tons of maize, 1, 500 metric tons of soya beans and 1, 000 metric tons of rice.

Hambwezya noted that FRA undertook a process of crop price scenario analysis and consulted with some key stakeholders in the agriculture value chain adding that the stimulus in price will enable farmers to adequately prepare for the upcoming agricultural season and further be motivated to increase crop production and productivity.

The Board Chairperson mentioned that FRA purchased 947, 777.55 metric tons of maize valued at K2.8 billion, 121.60 metric tons of soya beans valued at K1.2 million and 656.80 metric tons of rice valued at K3.2 million in the 2021 crop marketing season.

 

 

 

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The Food Reserve Agency-FRA has announced that

Companies

Nkana Independent Member of Parliament Binwell Mpundu says the Constituency Development Funds – CDF that was awarded to different constituencies for the first quarter (January to March 2022) are yet to be utilized because there are delays from the casual approach from the ministry of local government compounded by the attached guidelines.

The Ministry of Local Government is currently under the charge of Mazabuka MP Garry Nkombo. The minister has been conspicuously silent on leading the CDF process with limited to no updates on what exactly is being done to clear the blockages.

Mpundu said that even if constituencies push for more money now, they still have not exhausted the CDF for the year 2021, projects have not yet started, Imagine that “in my constituency Nkana, that’s when they are about award the contracts for the 2021 CDF” , he started.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT,  the Copperbelt MP said here are two things that are delaying the process, the cumbersome procedure which has been provided for through the CDF guidelines and the inertia and casual approach by the technocrats with the mandate of executing the project.

“Me as Member of Parliament working alongside my CDF committee, we end at identifying which projects must be done and the implementation. The procurement, contract awards and the releasing of funds is entirely done by the local authority, so the delay is purely because of lack of capacity by the local authorities”, he revealed.

He further added that going forward, there is need to have an honest conversation with the Ministry of Local government to relax there guidelines so that the process becomes less cumbersome. He stated that there is also need to push the local authority to capacitate them.

Mpundu stated that because of the delays, there is definitely going to be struggle to achieve developmental targets because this time, we are implementing the 2021 projects, so there is going to be an overload.

Some stakeholders are attributing the delays in disbursements of the CDF and the excessive tax refunds by ZRA to the mines as being the main reasons for the current liquidity “no money in circulation” challenges which is leading to low demand for goods and services.

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Nkana Independent Member of Parliament Binwell Mpundu