Flooding cuts 2007 maize output

1. We saw this coming.Nkhataboy where are you? This wonderful topic has come back the way we predicted.
   Nkhataboy please come back I miss your wonderful contributions.Come and defend Kapita again, he is in trouble, already he sold some maize and we still have a long way to go to the end of the year.Zambia in the Sun.Ci Citizen where are you? Another scandal for you.Within 3 days we have had three successful scandals from the New deal govt.But the most worrying is feeding us on contaminated ARVs

2. #1 Kuku, It is too early to comment but to thank the farming community for making it to realise more than 1.2 million tonnes which is our national requirement per annum despite the floods experienced last season in the 41 districts out of 72 across the country. Otherwise, how are Kuku? I am attending to some business in Germany and I will be back to Zambia on 20th June 2007. More contributions then.

3. This is well explained as compared to Magande’s mine royalty tax of 0.6%. But still there are more questions than answers when it comes to maize export with a view that both commercial and subsistence farmers depend much on the natural rain with high levels of uncertainties of which can compel the govt to improve and built the storage facilities across the country (silos). I still brief a fall of 4.4% is yet to increase when taking into consideration the already haversted maize being soaked and compiling data of all affected areas. Surely, can’t the govt learn from the past that central,northern, eastern and western parts of the country are normally hit by winter rains within a cycle of 2-3 three years? where is the contract haulage system that KK introduced? We need practical men and women in sensitivity govt positions.

4. #2 Nkhataboy your muteness was worrying.Welcome back and finish off your business and then let us share the spoils.But do you know that there is oil in NWProvince?
   What Kapita has just intimited is a tip of an ice berg.Alot of things are going to be derailed.Like Sam says in#3 the most grown maize is from peasant farmers and the quality is always compromised with winter rains.We have never given attention to this issue.There is more to this than just sees the eye.The figures he has given give another discount of 20% that is what we shall work with in reality.

5. zambians should learn to eat other carbohydrates as well. This way reduces dependence on maize. Lyonse chibwali? lyonse chibwali. Ba jose alelya kandolo na tea. Good way!!! By the way aka bwali ka tute kale kata the whole day. Try it especially aka pa mwinilunga.

6. Iwe ci Titus, the point here is food security. We had this discussion a month ago when Chuchu sold maize to ZIM. We need leadership that can plan ahead noti ngabamona infula yaloka at tuka kwata bumper harvest. Munsteadi achite store the supplus ba sampwisha what kind of leaders are these.

7. Br kuku, titus has jst come from Mwinilunga to see how cassava is been eaten with Ifishimu ne mbalala shakocha.Alilya alwa notufitu nifintu nshimona we mwana wakumwesu.Bajoze where are you we miss you. Any latest? Sam, I support you, we still have no cement in Zed but soon pipo are export to other countries. How can Zed develop? Shame Chuchu wth is policy. We are now buying from Zim & Malawi when we produce more than the two countries.

8. Good morning here against here we are the say kuku complaining like a cocoroci,wiwiwiw, Did you ZNS is busy cleaning bushes to winter maize. Food security is important Sage but remember maize can not be stored more than two years it easy get rotten. So we have to look for alternative foods like Kandolo, Sorghum, Rice, sweat potatoes.Fruits can be also an assumption for they cover up the gapbut give required vitamins fo the body.Iwe Kuku everything for you is a scandal I have seen person who is critic like you are. Nkataboy it seems you know kuku very well displine him after your meeting in Germany he is becoming a problem. The Zimbabweans have targeted our maize that is good our brother need also to eat instead of runing away from their native land.Over shortage of cement itsa big concern CEOs find doing this must get maximum imprisonment of 25 years like it in the state. Over ARVs this not the first time that medicine has been withdrawn from the market….

9. continued… two years ago USA had a similar problem with a Germany company. What I would advise any one affected by taking this medicine to seek legal aid and sue for compensation the company will pay. We should play with lives of pipo.

10. #8&9 Mwaice Easy you still have a problem with English,how did you manage to get to USA?Were you in the same class with Cho that murderer who killed 33 students at Virgin Tech.Read through your comments the english is pathetic despite it being you second language, you know the difficult part with english exclusion or inclusion of a word distorts the meaning of your sentences.I for one Iam finding it difficult to comprehend your opinions.Before you get embroiled with todays discussions take time and polish your grammer.Or try and do ESOL.
    Mwaice I was a born a critic and always gets what best suits me hence my successes.My criticism is always constructive I dont argue without data, there is always a fact underlying my arguments and I hope you take after me to critise constructively,ask Bauze .Sondashi once said if you want to know how a crocodile lives ask the hippo.Mwaice this world is about diversity and dynamism,knowledge is power.But posako amano ku cisungu uletusebanya,

11. STATE LOSES K110 BILLION
    GOVERNMENT has lost over K110 billion in irregular payments to contractors engaged by the Ministry of Works and Supply, Auditor-General, Anna Chifungula, has revealed in a special audit report released yesterday.The report titled: “Administration of selected contracts in the Ministry of Works and Supply,” says 14 contracts were over-paid by K110, 678,772,372 million because of avoidable variations that officials allowed between 2000 and 2006.“The payments of these variations and fluctuations are not a fair charge to public funds,” Ms Chifungula said. “There were other charges which could not be explained for lack of documentation on them.” Ms Chifungula explained that between 2000 and 2005, the Ministry of Works and Supply entered into contracts with various contractors but the management of the contracts was poor and therefore caused huge losses of State funds.“Consequently, contracts which could have been discharged at lower costs ended up being discharged at higher costs due to variations and fluctuations in labour and material costs and interest on delayed payments,” she said. Of the various extra payments beyond what was originally agreed, K16.8 billion was cited as unexplained charges and K1.6 billion as interest.She said the extra costs could have been avoided had the rights and obligations provided for in the contracts been complied with by both parties.In a detailed account illustrated by pictorial evidence of site inspections of unfinished and poorly done works, damaged roads and works not done at all but for which payment had been made, the Auditor-General lamented the wasteful expenditure she said was avoidable.Some of the works in question include the Chirundu road which gobbled an extra K32.9 billion; the Chitondo-Namwala road (K56 billion), and the reconstruction of the Kasama-Luwingu road (K14.9 billion).The Auditor-General also questioned the 17 months-delay in the commencement of the construction of the freight terminal at Chirundu, a situation that cost Government an additional K1 billion.“It is not clear why, contrary to the Appropriation Act, the Ministry (of Works and Supply) budgeted for an activity in 2004 which was only going to commence in 2005,” she said.“It is also not clear why commencement of the works was delayed. As a result of the delays, the contractor made claims in labour and material fluctuations amounting to K894, 118,717.” The claims were at the ruling bank interest rate.In some cases, such as the Sable Transport works on the Kasama-Luwingu road, the contractor piled up gravel on the road for a long time and when it was washed away by rains, the firm returned to claim extra payment and that was allowed.And Tarcon Construction had its tarmac works of February 2006 peeling off in less than a year because of the thinly spread-out layer.The culverts it put at several points were left blocked while others got vandalised. And in another special audit on parastatal bodies, the Auditor-General reveals glaring irregular payments on expenditure including K4 trillion which the disbanded Central Board of Health (CBoH) spent without following tender procedures.Mrs Chifungula disclosed in her 2005 special report covering the period 2005to March 31, 2006, that CBoH did violate Government tender regulations when they spent K3, 736, 484, 550 on accommodation facilities for workshops and other procurements in what appears like panic spending in the final days of the national health body whose dissolution was hinted two years earlier.”A scrutiny of records relating to purchases of goods and services and related supporting records revealed that payments made in respect of accommodation facilities on seminars and workshops were made without obtaining three competitive quotations, contrary to procurement guidelines,” Ms Chifungula said.Payments for allowances in respect of workshops and seminars amounting to K618, 687,455 were not supported by acquittal sheets and were not made available for audit, thereby violating Financial Regulation No. 156.Payment vouchers amounting to K3,108,000,968 also went missing, making it impossible to verify the authenticity of the transactions. And contrary to CBoH workers’ conditions of service that no employee should be granted a salary advance before the earlier one was fully recovered, cash advances of up to K178,907,350 were not recovered.The report also reveals that the former director-general went away with a CBoH vehicle after the board was dissolved in March last year.Mrs Chifungula also said the Medical Stores used K4,640,080,490 to purchase drugs without supporting documents such as purchase orders, invoices and goods received notes, contrary to Financial Regulation No.156.”This could therefore, not be verified.We could not obtain assurance that these payments were made on account of obligations of the Ministry of Health,” she said.Medical Stores also used K2,290,357, 853 to buy drugs that up to now had not been received and no receipts and disposal details were available.And 30 tonnes of drugs expired because of over-stocking and poor storage, costing the taxpayer a whooping K24.3 billion. “The expired drugs were not destroyed but were merely removed from warehouse and stored at the company’s premises,” Ms Chifungula said.She also observed that the fixing of the remuneration package of the Zambia National Tourist Board managing director, by the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources in 2005, was irregular as it was contrary to the Act. The ZNTB managing director’s remuneration was pegged at K47, 240, 000 per month, by far exceeding other chief executives of grant-aided groups within the same ministry.For instance, the Zambia Wildlife Authority director-general got K22, 306, 900 while his counterpart at the National Heritage Conservation Commission got K15, 149, 192 and lowest was the Museums Board director at K12, 250, 177.

12. ZAMTEL PAYS K113M. TO ‘NOBODY’
    THE Auditor-General’s latest special report has revealed that the Zambia Telecommunications Company Limited (ZAMTEL) allegedly remitted over K113 million to a foreign company to pay for a half-page advertisement in the Fortune Magazine of the United States. The transaction, which was made in two equal installments to Global Business World, was carried out between May and October 2002. Auditor-General, Anna Chifungula, said inquiries with ZAMTEL management revealed that there was no evidence to show that the advertisement was published in the named magazine and that no contract was signed. In his November 2006 response to inquiries, ZAMTEL managing director stated that the company had made efforts to trace the advertising agency that was paid the money but that such efforts had been fruitless. “He stated that all the contact telephone numbers on the file were not working.The managing director further said the authority to pay was made by the director of commercial services who was no longer with the company,” Mrs Chifungula said. She said ZAMTEL also entered into an agreement with Manda Hill Centre Limited to rent Shop No. 27 A at Manda Hill Shopping Complex at a cost of US$3,656 per month.However, despite the agreement having been signed in May, 2003, the company only started operating from the shop 16 months later when it had already paid K317,153,277 (US$66,531). When asked why the company did not start operating from the shop upon signing the agreement, the managing director said the commercial department could not do so because the building was still under renovation. It was also observed that despite the Bank of Zambia’s directive that the company’s transactions be denominated in Kwacha, ZAMTEL went ahead to pay rentals in US Dollars.The special report also revealed that salaries and allowances of the National Airports Corporation Limited (NACL) managing director, directors and the corporation secretary were pegged in US Dollars.This was contrary to Government’s directive or policy on the use of foreign currency on local experts. And in 2005, when the Kwacha appreciated against the US Dollar from K4,900 in April to K4,650 per dollar in July, NACL directors requested their board in August to revise their salaries because of the exchange rate that had dropped following the local currency’s appreciation.The board accepted the request and fixed the directors’ salaries at K4, 900 per US Dollar when the exchange rate was at K4, 420.The board also gave the directors salary arrears from April 2005, to compensate for the months the local currency appreciated.This resulted in the corporation paying a total of K15,734,000 to the managing director and five other directors.The report has further observed that the corporation did not hold title to any of the airports in the country contrary to sections 25 and 29 of the Aviation Act Cap 444 of the Laws of Zambia.

13. #79 &79 Many thanks for such information,the New Deal govt is doing very well in the fight against corruption.So when LPM said 3trillion had been stolen he wasnt just dreaming it was factual and its even more than that if 4 trillion can not be accounted for alone at COBH.What a waste of resoruces,this is high profile crime, I wish Anne chifungula had powers to prosecute because involving ACC all these details will vanish in thin air.Jean where are you?You collegues must be seen to work for their money.This is a bottomless pit.Zambia has lost direction in the fight against corruption really.How can a company pay to NOBODY? Who are the external auditors for ZAmtel?Heads must roll, I hope that ex commercial director is alive,These are cases where QC Smith must be outsourced to net proper sentences to these thieves.This is frightening, Well done Anna and your men

14. #11. Paparazzi
    Let us respect other people’s efforts by indicating the source.

15. … of the news or article.

16. #14&15 you are absolutely right but look at the name, must you doubt the obvious? The other article of K110billion is in the Daily mail

17. The source is today’s daily mail. I have posted the two reports to show you all that we have to collectively put our brains together and help change the country for the better out of our respective education. I believe its not just Government with the mamorth challenge to change criminals’ fearlessness on public resources.

18. #8 maze can be stored for more than 5 years as longer as grain moisture content of about 10% is maintained of which is can be achieved by timely harvesting and good storage facilities and besides sulphur dusting of storage areas to prevent infestation of weevils and other pests.

    #2 the target 1.2 million tonnes per year can be a time bomb if the country is hit by 2-3 consecutive droughts, thus govt must not only confine within spectrum of one year and thinking all is well by reaching that target.Expand your focus and make projections for more than three years, then the food security will have its meaning.

19. #8 maze can be stored for more than 5 years as longer as grain moisture content of about 10% is maintained of which can be achieved by timely harvesting and good storage facilities and besides sulphur dusting can be used in storage areas to prevent infestation of weevils and other pests.

    #2 the target 1.2 million tonnes per year can be a time bomb if the country is hit by 2-3 yrs consecutive droughts, thus govt must not only confine itself within spectrum of one year and thinking that all is well by reaching that target. Let it expands the focus and make projections for more than three years and then the food security will have its meaning.

20. #19 Sam K,
    I agree with you very much on the point of extending the capacity of maize storage. And I think that issue is being addressed. Zambia has got a loan from the Chines government in order to address the issue of repairing all the silos in the country. You should admit that between 1991 to 2001 everything interms of agriculture infrustructure was destroyed to the point of no return. It is only now that we seem to be doing something. Your point is highly appreciated. It is being addressed.

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