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In this issue
In this issue Zambians shun rural areas
Preliminary results of the 2010 census of
Zambians shun rural areas 1 population and housing indicate that the
The trade deficit that disappeared 1
population of Zambia has increased from
9,885,771 in 2000 to 13,046,508 (Times/
Stiffer penalties for pollution 2 Daily Mail 28). Central Statistical Office
(CSO) acting director John Kalumbi
New railway to Namibia 2
said a comprehensive preliminary report
Quotes 2 would be disseminated to the public soon.
Another drug shortage 3 Of the total population, 61 percent
(7,978,274) live in rural areas while 39
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percent (5,068,234) live in urban areas.
The confusion at ECZ 4
Lusaka Province has now surpassed the
Mahtani arrested - again 5 Copperbelt Province in housing the largest section of the population with 2,198,996 people,
followed by Copperbelt (1,958,623), Northern (1,759,600), Eastern (1,707,731), Southern
Is Sata a bad employer? 6
(1,606,793), Luapula (958,976), Western (881,524), and, finally, North-Western Province
Listing and de-listing on LuSE 6 with 706,462 people.
Don’t provoke us! 7 An economic commentator, Oliver Saasa, said there is no need for government and other
stakeholders to worry about the increase in population: “The population recorded is within
the capacity of the economy to manage” (Sunday Mail).
Editor’s note
He did however point out that the population is unevenly distributed. To counter urban mi-
gration, Saasa advised the government to invest in rural infrastructure to spur more develop-
It has become a regular feature to read ment in these areas: “Many people are shunning rural areas because of lack of infrastructure
about how Chinese investments in Zam- but I still believe that we can take people to rural areas where they can be productive. We
bia continue growing. This week it was must ensure that we put the right people in right places because right now the rural areas are
revealed that trade between Zambia and depleted of energetic people,” he said.
China exceeded 2.2 billion US dollars
in 2010. These articles are usually ac- The results also show that there were 6,069,753 eligible voters at the end of 2010, equivalent
companied by a bit about how great it is to 47 percent of the Zambian population, with Lusaka Province sitting on the highest share
that China is showing such an interest in of voters at 19 percent and North-Western Province at the smallest share at 5 percent.
Zambia – and how this will make Zambia’s
economy grow even more. The other day,
however, I spent quite a long time queuing
in a government agency. Ahead of me in The trade deficit that disappeared
the queue were four immaculately dressed
men whom soon got engrossed in some Zambia recorded a trade surplus of more than 840 billion kwacha in December 2010
serious bashing of – the Chinese. “They are bringing the annual trade balance to almost 9 trillion kwacha (Times 28). Central
even pushing out the Indians,” exclaimed Statistical Office acting director John Kalumbi explained that “[s]ince January last year,
one, while another cackled about his – the country has had monthly trade surpluses with the highest valued at 1.14 trillion
Chinese – shoes labelled “for ornamental kwacha in March 2010”. In October 2010, however, Kalumbi – himself – reported a
use”. The consensus was that the Chinese trade deficit of 451.5 billion kwacha due to the 45-day shutdown at Indeni Petroleum
are taking over – and it’s not good! I am Refinery, which resulted in increased importation of oil products. Back then he further
not the one to judge whether Chinese explained that continued appreciation of the kwacha against major convertible cur-
investments are beneficial to Zambia – rencies also negatively impacted on the country’s trade balance in October as export
overall – when one considers more than earnings dropped (Post/Times/Daily Mail 26 November).
economic growth and include issues such
as governance, environment and labour
conditions. The latter are all areas where
the Chinese have been criticised. But if the Inflation continues to rise
government believes Chinese investments
are good, it is doing a bad job at convinc- The annual inflation rate has increased from 7.9 percent in December 2010 to 9.0
ing its voters of the same. It is not enough percent in January 2011. The Central Statistical Office attributed the rise to increases
to simply praise the growing figures for in the cost of both food (accounting for 2.6 percentage points) and non-food items
Chinese trade, investment, mines, com- (accounting for 6.4 percentage points). This was the second month the inflation was
panies, etc. Someone should also try to rising since it hit an all-time low of 7.1 percent in November 2010 (Daily Mail/Post/
explain how these figures translate into Times 28).
better lives for everybody in Zambia.
”
explained that the government has power.
presented to parliament the Envi-
ronmental Management Bill, which MMD MP Sylvia Masebo (Post 28).
will repeal the current Environmen-
tal Protection and Pollution Control Act. “The Bill will give powers to the authority to punish,
fine or even jail the directors of companies found polluting the environment,” said Namugala,
who observed that mining firms were polluting the environment frequently because the cur-
“ Do not be cheated by these boys. Wait,
concentrate on your education because
it is the only key. These boys will cheat
rent law was not strong enough (Times 28). Konkola Copper Mines recently polluted the you and once your breasts are flat, they
Kafue River with mining effluent – for the third time. will not even look at you. Be educated
and you will find a better man who will
”
take good care of you.
Zambia is being rebranded Deputy Minister of Education, Boniface
Kawimbe, to girls at Kankumba Basic
Zambia is being rebranded to make it more appealing to international tourists. Minister of School in Rufunsa (Post 28).
Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Catherine Namugala said Zambia needs to be
repositioned as a tourist destination of choice through the rebranding of the tourism product.
An international slogan and logo competition has therefore been launched to replace “Zambia
– the real Africa” which has been used for 31 years (Daily Mail 29). “ It is not the government that is creat-
ing these jobs. They are being created
by the private sector. The duty of my
government is to facilitate the creation
”
The government has signed an agreement with a South African consortium, Epinsan, for a people.
feasibility study on the construction of a 1,000-kilometre railway from Solwezi in North-
Western Province through Mongu in Western Province into Namibia. Communications President Banda during the launch of
and Transport Minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa said the railway will assist in prolonging the the micro, small and medium-sized en-
life-span of roads in the country. Many roads buckle prematurely due to the burden of heavy terprises development policy (Post 29).
equipment such as mining machinery. The 4 million US dollars feasibility study will start this
month and conclude in February 2012 (Daily Mail/Times/Post 3).
“ What we know is that there are irregu-
”
larities in any election.
FORMER Inter-African Network
FIGURES: TAZARA for Human Rights and Development
(Afronet) executive director Ng’ande
TAZARA transported a total of 552,505 tonnes of goods in 2010 against a budgeted Mwanajiti – who has led several election
target of 651,408 tonnes – the best performance the last 18 years as it represented 84.8% observer missions in Africa and other
of budget goal and a 20.4% increase from 2009 (TAZARA managing director Akasham- parts of the world (Times 31).
batwa Mbikusita-Lewanika in Post 29).
”
mean we are being undemocratic.
(cell 0977 461 877, cabuus@zambia-weekly.com)
MMD chairperson for elections Mike
Zambia Weekly
Mulongoti – again – refuting allegations
that MMD’s provincial conferences were
undemocratic (Daily Mail 31).
t he fat he r o f a ndro m e d a
Organic certification needed An odyssey from Zambia, where colonial heritage, poverty,
Zambia is losing about 120 million US dollars in foreign exchange calamities, traditional beliefs, international influence and
earnings every year due to non-certification of organic honey, rice, fatal decisions challenge a young man in his passionate
pineapples and groundnuts (Daily Mail 3). A market survey from the search for education, employment and a decent life.
Organic Producers and Processors Association of Zambia has found
that Zambia’s organic production is too insignificant to tap into the The book is based on personal letters from Dixon Kelvin
high demand for the four crops in the regional and European mar- Chimuka Sikabota spanning a period of thirty years, from
kets. OPPAZ consultant Abraham Makano said small-scale farmers 1979 to 2009. It gives unique evidence of hardships faced
fail to pay the certification fee of 7,000 euro (50 million kwacha). by the common man in a developing country. Foreign aid is
literally given a slap in the face!
ECZ: Forget about getting to the bottom of things – at least for now!
The chairperson of the Electoral Commission Kalale’s tenure of office, said TIZ president Reuben
of Zambia (ECZ), Justice Florence Mumba, has Lifuka (Post 1).
resigned (Times 28). Yet her resignation has only
The contract with KPMG was actually not signed
intensified the debacle about the integrity of the
by Mumba but by two ECZ commissioners, Judge
commission.
Esau Chulu and Joseph Jalasi. This lead the strik-
Mumba stepped down on 27 January after ECZ ing workers, who went back to work after Mumba’s
workers went on strike on 24 January to demand resignation – in time for the upcoming parliamen-
for her resignation and for the reinstatement of tary by-election in Mporokoso on 3 March, assured
former ECZ director Dan Kalale – who was fired ECZ spokesperson, Cris Akufuna (Times 1) – to
by Mumba for undisclosed reasons on 21 January. give Chulu, Jalasi and the two other commissioners a
seven-day ultimatum to resign, failure to which they
Kalale claimed he was dismissed because he had ex-
would resume their strike (Daily Mail 1).
posed a scam in which Mumba had single-sourced
the international firm KPMG for a confidential Sata and Banda... and their letters
audit at a cost of 708 million kwacha – in breach Mumba said she had done nothing wrong in engag-
of tender procedures. But “well-placed government ing KPMG – and invited the Anti-Corruption
sources” challenged him to tell the public the real reason why he was Commission to conduct a thorough investigation of the ECZ – but
fired – and pointed out that the ECZ had “evaded” being audited by nevertheless later chose to resign to “maintain peace”. President
the Auditor General in both 2009 and 2010 (Post 28). Banda stated he had “reluctantly accepted” Mumba’s resignation
(Daily Mail 28).
A long list of irregularities
When choosing KPMG, Mumba had sent a memo to Kalale to Ha, retorted the opposition! In a letter to Banda, the Patriotic Front
explain that “[i]n order to support the restructured commission, there president, Michael Sata, claimed “the ECZ debacle is being or-
is need to review our finance systems in order to curb unauthorised chestrated by your government for its ultimate benefit” in this year’s
practices in our office as well as district offices manned by the officials elections (Post 29). He pointed out that Kalale – who has been with
over whom the commission has no direct control” (Times 31). the ECZ for 20 years (Daily Mail 29) – also is a relative of Vice-
President George Kunda.
But Kalale claimed that the single-sourcing of KPMG went against
tender procedures – and he was supported by the Auditor General, Nonsense, said Banda! In a letter to Sata he stated he found the lat-
whom called the move “grossly irregular”. But why, asked Transpar- ter’s allegations “not only ridiculous but preposterous”: “My gov-
ency International Zambia (TIZ), did the Auditor General fail to ernment has had absolutely no hand at what has been going on at
mention other irregularities at the ECZ such as lack of financial the ECZ” (Post 1). And Chief Government Spokesperson Ronnie
statements and annual reports – as pointed out by the Auditor Shikapwasha emphasised that the ECZ director is appointed by the
General herself years ago? These breaches of the law happened during ECZ chairperson – not by the government (Sunday Times/Mail).
Zambia Weekly
Veteran politician Rex Natala has died. President Banda led hundreds
of mourners including several politicians and traditional leaders at
Natala’s burial in Mazabuka. Natala served as Bweengwa MP and ini-
tiated the United Party for National Development. Natala, who died
of pneumonia, is survived by wife Mutinta, four children and several Zambia Weekly is a free e-zine that extracts the news you really
grand children (Sunday Mail and Daily Mail/Times 31). need to know about. It provides an effortless way of keeping up-
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Illegal export of timber in Zambia Weekly please contact the editor. Feel free to share
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cisms or suggestions are always welcome!
Seven trucks have been impounded at Chirundu border for trying to Editor: Camilla Hebo Buus
export unprocessed timber. Tourism, Environment and Natural Re- cabuus@zambia-weekly.com
sources Minister Catherine Namugala said the law did not allow the Mobile 0977 461 877
export of raw timber. Namugala assured the law will take its course.
The trucks belong to a Chinese company (Times 28).