President Rupiah Banda has said that there is no justification for some people to create unnecessary worries in the minds of Zambians regarding the recent hike in fuel prices.
The President has explained that countries that are on the importing side usually pay the price each time prices from oil producing countries go up.
President Banda said this is because countries like Zambia do not have oil fields of their own. He has since challenged people unnecessarily criticizing the hike in fuel pump prices to be realistic.
President Banda was responding to Journalists at City Airport before departure for the Northern Province
Meanwhile, the Public and Private Drivers Association of Zambia has officially announced a K300 bus fare increment on local routes across the country.
Association Spokesperson Steven Zulu confirmed the development to TV2 news in an interview on Monday.
Mr. ZULU said the K300 increment was agreed on following consultations with the Ministry of Transport and communications and the Commuters’ Rights Association.
[pullquote]He appealed to the travelling public to respect the increment and avoid conflicts with bus drivers and conductors.[/pullquote]
He appealed to the travelling public to respect the increment and avoid conflicts with bus drivers and conductors.
The Association has further appealed to the Road Transport and safety Agency- RTSA and other relevant authorities to consult his Association when increasing the penalty fees for traffic offences.
He said this would avoid what happened in Livingstone recently where bus and taxi drivers demonstrated over newly introduced fares.
In another development, the Association has expressed concern over the delay to open the newly constructed Kulima Tower bus shelter.
Spokesperson, Steve Zulu appealed to the council to quickly open the bus station. He said buses loading from the streets were inconveniencing both members of the public and companies operating from the area.
ZNBC
I am beggining to like the president
It is inevitable
People should come to Uk get jobs like I have and see that , these increament in relation to to the icmodern and econimic climate are realistic. I know I earn £60,000 a year but even when people earn less than this , they have to find ways of making it in life
I know we zambians the majority we are Aids is prevalent in particular regions in Africa – mainly central, southern and east Africa.
In 1995, 60% of all HIV cases in Africa came from these regions, although they only account for about 15% of the continent’s population.
More than 80% of people with Aids come from Africa. According to the United Nations Aids programme. We need education and privilidges It nakes me so sad when i look back
For sure I hope I live here forever I am better off
Thanks
Another serious statement at the airport! Surely fuel prices are an emotive issue which should not be glossed over so casually. Also our journalist, why should you ask the President about the fuel increase now when this has been in public domain for over two weeks now. Please rush to state house and not the airport to ask questions when he is in a hurry to leave for whatever destination.Dickson Jere is doing a bad job at keeping the relationship between the President and journalists up to speed.
I would rather he used the term INEVITABLE than REALISTIC
He does not buy fuel so what are we complaining about. The funny part though is how each time he keeps defending so called investors. Ba la lyamo?
I am on the UN website and i quote :
Zambia Population – 10.4 million people (Scotland – 5.2million)
Zambia Life Expectancy – 39 years (Scotland – 76.6 years)
zambia Annual Income per person – $ 780 (Scotland -$29,866)
zambia 63.6% of the population live on less than $1 per day
zambia 47% of population are undernourished
The price of copper is exploding, and money is pouring in to an impoverished African nation. That should be good news for the people of Zambia. We re barely seeing any of it – and sometimes it’s even going to shareholders in the UK. and especially China
Why cant we do something about this?
Someone answer me I am so scared and lost
Thanks
21.52 % of the population are living with HIV/AIDS (Ireland 0.11%)
#1 & 2, Uli cipuba sana. Just keep quite if you have nothing to say. Problem is some of you think through your mouth or the other hole downstairs, and not through your brain.
What has your staying in the UK got to do with fuel hikes in Zambia? Just continue wiping old white pipo’s backside.
Mr Donchi Kubeba please check Zambian Watchdog and comment on expelled rebel MPs case
RB doesnt buy fuel, and that why he is justifying the increases. 2011 will be an interesting year. We are waiting eagerly.
# 6 One day God will answer our prayers all plunders of national resources will be made accountable,
#3, Tahrir square, you are wondering why journalists have to interview RB at the airport and not state hous. The airport is where our president can be found, or in the air. Not state house my friend.
#2 Mushota
Ok Lets do sum maths shall we
60,000 a year = 5,000 a month,which in turn amounts to 1250 a week, in uk you pay rent weekly or fortnigtly, lets assume your rent is 300 a week,looking at the high life you lead,then you have food and groceries,lets say 200 a week,Bills ie,internet,gas,lighting 400,thats 900 and you save 350,and if you have a car on finance,that will knock you back another 180 a week.REALISTICALLY,60,000 a year is really nothing to write home about.Go to Zed and see how people are balling.Stress free life
Zambia is not the only landlocked country that imports petroleum products. The question is: why are petroleum products in Zambia much more expensive than in countries with similar circumstances? Even at the worst of the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, fuel was still cheaper there than in Zambia!
Maybe we change the president.He does not care.Ohhhh not Sata it is like jumping from a pan with hot oil into the fire.
The increases in fuel were done before Mubarak step down. What justification was there for the fuel which was already in our depots. I like (sic) my Pres., SO CASUAL.
@#14, In my view not even HH is capable of leading Zambia. By the way he happened to be UPND president by virtue of him being a Tonga, and was it was easy for him to succeed Mazoka. The people who are supposed to be presidents are not too prominent in the Zambian political arena. Only crooks are at the forefront.
This is what it means to have a corrupt man for a president.Rupiah is ever against the cries of the people. Prices are skyrocketing while employers pay peanuts to workers and the monster is ever on the side of his fellow oppressors of the poor. Lesa fye umwine.
#6 Mushota
You have the wrong data,sorry,get your figures right first then maybe someone will help you,otherwise its true you are lost.Zambia’s population is just under13Million.No wonder you are lost and scared
Ba Mushota you disapoint me because you have not taken time to find out the fuel prices in other SADCC countries. Why should fuel prices be ther highest in Zambia when we have indeni and TAZAMA pipeline. Take time and findout how much fuel is per litre in RSA.
I guess the alternative to fuel price increases is what is currently happening in Malawi. The fuel price issue in Zambia is a structural one and while many people will talk about it, the prices are not likely to go down unless a difficult decision is made on Indeni and real money is spent on the facilities in Dar es Salaam, the Tazama pipeline and at the storage facilities in Ndola. It is not a tax issue! In addition further investments in pipeline to main centres would be beneficial or at least a rehabilitation of rail infrastructure. If this does not happen we shall sing this song for many years to come both in and out of government. E.g. Recall 1991 Nawakwi and MMD said they would do away with middlemen, later it was Mpombo and Iran…fiddling on the periphary will not lower prices….!
#9 RB does not only buy fuel but his pay is not even taxed. But look at poor zambians PAYE as high as 50% . You will be lucky to pay 35% in PAYE.
# 2. Stay well, we love our country.
MUSHOTA 1& 2
You are back in action. You just love putting Zambia down all the time. As for your £60K, I am not surprised that its an attempt to show off.
## INDEPENDENT OBSERVER ## is relatively young and a millionaire in £ Stirling Pound. He is regular Blogger on LT. You never see him looking down on Zambians but inspires others to reach the sky, give back to Zambia and develop our country. A while ago, he was in the Financial News Paper about his City Equity Trader profile. It me proud to read the article
## HIV is another guy who has made it big time in the UK with his Property Development Business
These two guys and others are modest & humble people. I really wonder if you really get £60 per annum. That is not good money in UK if you pay rent or mortgage
RB should explain why Zambians are paying more for fuel than say Zimbabweans, is it that they have proper economic analysts than our useless Musokomuntu.I remember Magande warning RB’s Govt about the impending fuel increases and aptly advised RB to use the reserves to cushion against future fuel increases in order to maintain the momentum of our economy but alas it fail on deaf ears.ABASH INCORRIGIBLES!!!
Most governments without own oil fields enter into long-term contracts with suppliers at an agreed fixed price to minimize effects of price fluctuations on their people. I think they call this hedging. I wonder what kind of arrangements we have in Zambia.
I don’t make it a point to discuss issues I have little understanding of until I’ve done my own research and gathered a few pieces of information. I will therefore not air out much on this topic except to agree with a number of bloggers who have pointed out the fact that we have the highest fuel prices in the region even when our economy is claimed to be on the upswing. Zimbabwe is a good example where the economy is a mess, they are landlocked and have no inland petroleum deposits but they still have lower fuel prices than us. Can’t we learn anything from them? On a different note Ba Mushota please grow up and stop exposing your ignorance, stupidity and backwardness.
That structure at Kulima Tower looks like a goods shade.The best design would have one with shops on top for vendors like those who sell airtime, phone, newspapers, magazines and clothes. Unlike the situation where there are those canopies for loading passengers.The Eastern part bondering ChaChaCha should be demolished and pave way for two storey complex to accommodate the vendors who cant find space at Soweto or those that are over crowding Airtel shop of Freedom Way. This could be another source of income for LCC. As for Steve Zulu the building is still under construction and the rate its being built it may not be long before it will finished for handover and official opening by RB. It will be another campaign tool. Just wait and see.
…Eritrean prices are much higher than elsewhere on the continent, with Malawi and Central African Republic some way behind in second place at $1.71. Motorists in several other sub-Saharan African countries are required to pay more than $1.60 a litre – Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Zambia and Djibouti.
Petrol prices for consumers were higher in Congo-Brazzaville ($1.27), DRC ($1.28), Zimbabwe ($1.29), Chad ($1.32), Kenya ($1.33) Uganda ($1.42), Mali ($1.42), Burundi ($1.43), Burkino Faso ($1.44), South Sudan ($1.50), Madagascar ($1.52), Mauritius ($1.55), Senegal ($1.57) and Djibouti ($1.63).
According to the GIZ report, the cheapest petrol on the African continent is in Libya at $0.17 (fuel prices in North African and the Middle East), with Nigeria offering the cheapest prices south of the Sahara at $0.44, followed by Angola ($0.65) and Ghana ($0.82). Petrol prices in the Maldives are surprisingly cheap at $0.84, while Ertirean drivers may briefly lament independence from their erstwhile masters in Ethiopia, from a fuel price point of view at least – petrol in Ethiopia at $0.91 is a fraction of the cost in independent Eritrea.
Of the numerous other countries surveyed, there were several with a petrol pump price of under $1.25 a litre, including Botswana ($0.93), Sierra Leone ($0.94), Guinea ($0.95), Lesotho ($0.97), Liberia ($0.98), Benin ($1.04), Namibia ($1.06), Swaziland ($1.07), Niger ($1.07), Mozambique ($1.11), Mauritania ($1.16), Togo ($1.18), South Africa ($1.19), Cameroon ($1.20) and Tanzania ($1.22).
Am really starting to agree with HH and Sata that Rupiah has no clue on governance. The monkey seems to be very clueless or how to handle issues, what to do where and what to say where.
You’re cooked old rag, you’re been a waste of our two and half years and will remember you as having been, while you rot in Jail.
No. 20, Indeni’s relevance has been seen in the last 37 years years. If you think you can make fuel cheaper by tempering with the refinery you are merely experimenting and Petroleum sector is very sensitive.
As long as the source of fuel is not in Zambia we are so limited as to how much we can reduce the prices. Do a little more rsearch and consider tranporting Petrol or Diesel along a 1700KM pipeline. Consider the risk.
#13, You probably meant to say that even at the height of the economic crisis in Zimbabwe the PUMP price there was still lower than in Zambia. But was fuel readily available or you had to spend nights on the qeue?
That aside, even if it was readily available, Zimbabweans paid the price in many other ways including shortage of other basic commodities. You see in Mathematics there is what is called equality of terms on either side of the equals sign. If you increase one side you must proportionately decrease the other to maintain parity. So it means the Zimbabweans were paying the price elsewhere, and heavily at that.
this article was supposed to be about discuss such as the one #29 Mugabe robbertt brings not petty polics it has turned out to be
this article was supposed to be about discussions such as the ones #29 Mugabe robbert, #33 brings not petty poltics it has turned out to be
oh please the price brent oil last week was 105 us dolla higher than it was during the recessoin…………so a price increment was expected…………………………
Mushota, Mushota, my brain dead sister in whom I am really embarrassed.
My friend Mushota #1, there is nothing to boast about being an economic migrant. You are actually detested by your hosts nad considered a cancer eating away at their wealth. Look at measures being put in place against people like you. I have lived outside for a good five years and no matter what you do, you never belong. Always an alien, not talk about the usual racist insinuations. Get a life and coward.
The fact of the matter is that over 50% of ther cost of a litre of fuel is tax. Reducing tax on fuel will go a long way in making our fuel cheaper. What magic has bostwana got to have such cheap fuel when its our neba?!
The other issue is that government should work at setting up of a modern refinery that can handle Angola crude oil. We have serious problems as a country and we need serious people to solve them!
President Banda, is a President of the RICH and not the poor. Look at the way he supports rich people and investor’s companies.
Zambia could have made more money through proper taxation.
RB back to the farm.
Mushota, #1, #2, #6
young girl, you are living in a fools paradise. Fresh graduates with Masters degrees in UK earn about £24000. Most of you in Uk, especially ladies work as carer (musunga abakote) and you can never earn that much. I will believe if you said that you spend sleepless nights working from one care home to another OR working as a Support worker! mwebo ba Mushota mule umfwako insoni sure! the analysis made by #12 is true and was my experience in UK. you surely were off the cult again! We were not discussing income but fuel, ok! you need to disclose your Job title if am wrong about you working as a CARER FOR OLD PEOPLE. tell us the company you work for! mulefwaya ,muletinya fyenchenshi! Discuss fuel and not your poor income. infact, imwe ba “some of us” mwafula ama loan.
Wind fall tax could have helped minimise the adjustment.
#1/2/6 THE ANSWER IS POOR MANAGEMENT- WE DO NOT HAVE ECONOMIC MANAGERS TO OPTIMISE OUR RESOURCES. ALL WE HAVE IS ECONOMIC PLUNDERS AND CADRES RUNNING THE AFFAIRS OF THE COUNTRY.
WHAT WE NEEED IS MODERN MANAGEMENT WITH 21ST CENTURY MINDS……WE NEED SELFLESS LEADERS WHO CAN BEGIN TO RE-ENGINEER THE ECONOMY TO GREATER LEVELS…………
WE ARE DRIVEN BY THE WIND —(COMMODITY DRIVEN)??? WE ARE GOING NO WERE WITH THIS IN MIND…….
WE HAVE ALL WHAT IT TAKES TO CHANGE THE SITUTION IN THIS COUNTRY IF ONLY WE CAN CHANGE THE WAY WE DO THINGS…..STARTING WITH THE TYPE OF LEADERS WE BRING IN OFFICE…IT IS A SHAME INDEED!!!! WHAT A PIT TO POSTERITY
Zambia will never develop its economy with this system of governance. THE SYSTEM HAS TO CHANGE.
WE NEED TO DISECT THE SYSTEM AND LOOK THROUGH IT WITH CRITICAL EYES IF NOT MICROSCOPIC EYES. USE ”A FISH BONE” IDEOLOGYIN ORDER TO CONSTRUCT OR DESIGN A SYSTEM THAT WILL COMPEL ANY LEADER, COBRAS OR PYTHONS TO HIPOPOTAMUS TO FIT IN AND DELIVER WITHOUT MANIPULATIONS.
THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS ROTTEN OR BLEMISHED IF YOU LIKE AND IT NEEDS TO BE RE-EGINEERED FROM A TO Z. ONCE THIS IS DONE ALL WILL FALL INTO PLACE.
CHINA DID IT, SOUTH KOREA DID IT,BRAZIL HAVE DONE IT……DUBAI DID IT AND MANY SMALL NATIONS WHO WERE BEHIND US DID IT WHY CANT WE?? i gues corruption, their interest comes first… i dont care attittude,, we are not poor or HIV stricken……poverty levels are of our own making…
The truth of the matter is there is need to reduce the taxes on fuel. The taxes are way too much and this is leading to the high price in the fuel. Everybody at ERB and MoFNP knows this and they need to reduce it for the poor motorists. If they can reduce the taxes on the mines by withdrawing the windfall tax, they can also reduce the fuel levies and ensure that ordinary Zambians also benefit instead of always trying to target them. For once, let us also benefit instead paying taxes from our already taxed meager salaries
#48—-i concur with you.
#48 Now if this Tax was used to mend roads as it is meant, I could be less angry.I just wonder whether these polticians are from planet Earth or Mars?
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