GOVERNMENT has appealed to Zambians to ensure that they get in contact with foreign missions each time they travel out of the country so that their presence is known for easy location and identification in view of unexpected events such as political violence and natural calamities.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kabinga Pande told journalists in Lusaka on March 20 it was easy for Government to locate and evacuate all Zambians who were in Libya when fighting heightened between that country’s leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and rebels because all of them were registered with the Zambian mission in the North African nation.
Mr Pande appealed to all Zambians living abroad to register with embassies so that their existence in foreign countries is known.
The minister said currently, it is difficult for Government to ascertain whether or not all Zambians who were in Japan at the time of the tsunami and earthquake are safe because the Asian country is made up of several islands.
“Japan is a big country, and there are many islands that constitute it. As of now, there is no report of any Zambian caught up in the disaster there.
“This also brings me to the point where Iam appealing to Zambians that each time you are going out of the country, you must make sure that the nearest embassy or foreign mission is aware of your presence in a particular country for them to keep data,” he said.
Mr Pande said there is no information from Japan on the safety of Zambians whose presence in that country is not known by the embassy there.
The minister appealed to Zambians who are still in Japan on business visits and other errands to quickly leave that country or move to places where there are no nuclear reactors.
“If there are nearer to where nuclear reactors are, they should leave that country or get to safer areas instead of waiting for the last minute,” he said.
Last month, Government managed to successfully evacuate all the 42 Zambians who were living and studying in Libya.
However, Government has not been able to evacuate any Zambian from Japan because there are no reports so far of Zambians caught up in the disaster.
On March 11 this year, an earthquake and a tsunami hit north east Japan, destroying infrastructure and displacing thousands of people.
On March 20, an unexpected rise in pressure inside a troubled reactor set back efforts to bring the country’s overheating, leaking nuclear complex under control as concerns grew that minor contamination of food and water is spreading.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
That is being responsible bwana Minister. VIVA MMD & RB
This is welcome but can we have a website where Zambians can register online rather physically going to the embassies as this not practical in all cases, take for example a Zambian visting Australia is serviced by the embassy in Tokyo!
The Zambian Embassies are hostile!!!!
Just make a website online where people can register. It is difficult to deal with the unprofessional cadres that have been assigned in many embassies. Also it is about time we started voting abroad.
Bring professionals then we will start registering. Those cadres we have have no respect for us.
NO COMMENT!!!!!!!!
I can see where it makes sense to register with the embassy if living overseas or visiting certain (unstable) parts of the world, but a blanket request to register for each and every trip seems a tad impractical.
The ministry of foreign Affairs knows how many Zambians are in each particular country. The Embassies where we apply for our passports do have our records. What more registrering do we need. It is just a waste of time for Zambians in NZ an Australia to register through these uncaring embassies and High Commisions.
Wrote an e-mail to my Embassy here. No response. Tried to call them- number out of service. Then I gave up. One day some locals were going to that city and I gave them my particulars to leave at embassy. The did and were given no response whatsoever. Educate these guys first and we shall respond well. At least my name and address is with them out of my own intiative.
# 2, 3 & 5 you are right
Registering online will be more ideal than the cumbersome process of dealing with MMD-cadre-run embassies and missions
Firstly I will rebuke you Mr. Pande because you have done a mediocre job in Foreign Affairs. There are complaints all over the Embassies that Zambian officials are incompetent and ill trained. Your Foreign Policy has just been to entertain investors and government officials. You have done nothing for Zambians at large. You have had that office for how many years now?? And is this the day you should call for Zambians to register?? There isn’t even a well set up system for any sort of registrations, to top that off the incompetent diplomats you have are very rude and want nothing to do with ordinary Zambians
You ba Minister are a serious failure. The Embassies are a reflection on your competence and your job. If indeed you follow blogs you will see that the Zambians in diaspora are suffering, Embassies only entertain diplomats, government officials and relatives of politicians.
In China it is bad, very very bad, Chinese investors are welcomed and treated lavishly, but Zambians are treated like dogs. In Japan the Zambians there are wondering who the Embassy has been in contact with because they are all very worried and scared but are surprised that the embassy is claiming all five Zambians are fine. Which five Zambians??? There are so many concerns there, China is flying people out, America is doing the same. And should it take a calamity for you to realise you are doing nothing, and should…
Bwana Minister, please address IT governance first. Don’t you have border controls (land and air) that tell where a Zambian is going each time they exit? Harness that. Don’t you have passport control for embassies registering Zambians renewing their documents? Harness that too. Don’t you have capacity to create websites similar to social networks where Zambians can register?? I have discovered a lot of ex-class mates through websites than through political callups to register myself. After all visits to embassies are met with hostile looks with the thinking that we are stranded or need money from your embassy staff. Not good at all. Please face reality before you jump on the bandwagon of pretending to be good to your citizenry. Time for political rhetoric is over bwana!
should you in a calamity start cheating people that all is well. Surely ba Pande if indeed the five Zambians are safe, why the sudden call for registration and evacuation. why can’t you offer voluntary evacuations like America. The Zambians in Japan are obviously below 50 and flight tickets can be arranged whether to Zambia or nearby countries temporarily.
This is just cheap propaganda and political capital.
You have failed in that Ministry, all you have done is kept Bwezani happy and kept foreigners happy.
What are you doing for the ordinary Zambians, if a Zambian was in trouble or needed assistance in a foreign country your policy Mr. Pande is just to chase them away without a meal or a bed, you dont even help people
Zambians should be flown out immediately. What is the embassy waiting for? incompetence at its best!!
When entering or leaving a developed country like China, the system is so advanced that they know who is in and who is out. If anything were to happen they’ll have preliminary records to check with. For us it is laziness and greediness on the part of our Minister who is not implementing good policies and work ethics throughout the Ministry and in the Embassies. A disaster shouldn’t be a time for wrong chaps to start campaigning, this is time to accept your shortfalls and find solutions. The embassy in Japan is now lying to the people saying everything is OK, we are watching news and if America and China are worried or are atleast safeguarding there people, why would Zambia which has very few people there look the other way and say everything is OK. So America is lying tefyo?
There it is, people have been complaining for so long. Why are you not implementing any change old Minister? Your Ministry simply complains of political appointments, but surely that is not the real reason. No matter how incompetent ***** cadres in Embassies can be (and I have seen it in America, in Japan, in China and in Russia), if the boss, the manager, the supervisor is useless…then the situation is non starter. You ba Pande should be implementing better policies, giving better training and recalling some nincompoops in the embassies. If a survery were launched to evaluate performance of Embassies and ordinary Zambians were asked how they felt, you would be embarrassed. You have successfully trained your diplomats to not be personable, if you yourself were personable..
If you checked on these embassies, if you evaluated their performance, if you gave strong policies surely even a nincompoop can follow those instructions. It is very simple to register Zambians, they are the most humble and peace loving people, if they are invited in a friendly manner, welcomed humbly and taken care of respectfully in times of trouble, would you have complaints??? Manje vipuba vili muma embassy sure….yaya, you have failed to give them instructions, it doesnt matter if nichi puba but you are the commander. Now today ba commander ati the embassy in Japan said so and so, we don’t trust their word because our friends there are in danger and have contradicted those statements
Waiting for politicians (Pande and Zambian Ambassador in Japan) to fashion there words into a response that will sound genuine but not solve anything will only lead to adverse effects on our brothers and sisters in Japan. It is unclear who is safe and who is in danger but radiation is a complex thing which Zambia does not fully comprehend. It will affect those people, their friends, neighbours and their great grandchildren. I suggest we find it in ourselves (because we are more human than politicians looking for political capital from their bosses instead of from the masses), we contribute some small money that will go a long way to buying flight tickets out of Japan
My uncle, a prominent businessman, met the Ambassador on one of his trips here in a high power delegation. I had expressed my reservations to him concerning the Embassy because of my previous experiences where incompetent chaps even confessed to their incompetence. To assist me with my problem at that time he mentioned me to the ambassador and was promised that it will be sorted out. So I was told to arrange a meeting. It has been over a year now and this meeting has never taken place, I have traveled time and time again, I have made phone calls, sent letters, contacted other officials and even my emails have gotten no response. And the only reason I have continued is because my uncle insists, I was better off without all this and all I need is a document/letter
I wonder which diplomat will be in charge of such registrations and how slow they will go. ma diplomat batu, niba ku lundazi mwe. By the time you are being registered and they are trying to get in touch with you, you would have come and gone ten times
how do we contribute to the air fare???
Ama tobo ubu kulu. Surely which Zambian can fall for this nonsense? The majority of Embassies don’t even know the meaning of registration. Our embassies don’t know who will take care of that or who will update go through such records in case of an eventuality. Aku lyeni fye chikanda not trying to campaign here ba onalebo kamfulumende pande. Is it the Accountant who will handle this? or maybe the minister councilor, loko kapena ba secretary??? If today the ministry was asked how many zambians are abroad they wont even be able to approximate how many are in brazil
BLOGGERS I INVITE YOU TO NAME ANY INCOMPETENT CHAPS YOU MAY HAVE COME ACROSS IN THESE OUR NTEMBA EMBASSIES
hahahahahahaha…first good joke av heard from a government official in a long time.
How do we vote through the Embassy bwana Minister??
# 3 You got that right. They behave like they own the damn offices!
Should Zambian Embassies/High Commission only register its citizens in emergencies only? No!
Our Embassies ought to be aware of the presence of its countrymen, as soon as a persons gets Visas or/and arrive in foreign.
There are so many people in the Diaspora and if any of our Zambian Embassies are ignorant of the presence of their citizens, then I question the reason of existence and for mantaining such offices. Waste of tax payers money.
Wake up call Mr Minister, establish registers of your citizens wherever they are and do not wait for times of crisis.There are more benefits in having correct statistics than just for evacuation
:-w
A lot of sarcasm at Washington embassy. Any way, what do you expect from political cadres manning these embassies? Malabishi!
There are good and there are bad missions. I must say that there has been much improvement in comparison to those days when diplomatic staff were either political cadres, relatives or dangerous retired soldiers who could cause problems back home. Now we have more professional guys, but there is still that ka little bit of nsanje when they see a Zambian doing very well abroad popping up to say ‘hi.’ The conversation always goes to, ‘when are you going back to help your country?’ So, if you are caught in a disaster, these guys will be more than happy to say, ‘suits you well! Ha ha ha ha!’ By the way, in Libya, weren’t all or almost all Zambians there sent by GRZ? In other countries some Zambians are illegals.
the option for registration must be increase to include online registration, phone call, sms, by post etc
@ # 24. At DC embassy, I dealt with Kalaba, the chap is cheap. I don’t want to deal with them, I would rather go to Zambia and do all I need from there than waste my time talking to them chaps.
@#24. At BJ we have a few chaps though how things work u can’t even know who’s still there or been recalled. ordered poorest to poorer performance mwatafaly, mulilo, simasko
Register with an embassy that wont even give you passport forms. In what event can the embassy help.
Let them register themselves.
Ben Kangwa
Kalaba
Siwela
to understand this minister better, and if you want to understand why the zambian embassies carry on as they do, visit the website of the ministry and you will get it in the words of the Minister that they are a business and are offering a service to their “clients”! In protecting interests of Zambians how do you have clients? Meaning the ones bringing cash and investment are more important than Zambian citizens….should Zambians also start paying for any sort of service from this Ministry? I now understand why we are treated like beggars and why ba zungu even shit all over our embassy and its staff. anyway next time i will try and bring some business.
@UNDER PERFORMANCE,
I have also heard of kalaba and the other chap mentioned in china
Hahaha,i’m glad i’m registered with a real republic like South Africa.Any Barotselanders out there should not bother with these amazambians.Look at how they treat their own people then imagine how much worse you’ll be treated.It would be better for us to register with the Litunga or other authorities in Mongu as they’ll take better care of our people.That way when time comes for a referendum for Barotseland they’ll know how to get the votes of us in the diaspora.Why register with a soon to be foreign land?Free Barotseland is coming soon and you will get the feeling and passports of a real republic.
Ama Hotline, SMS, FB,Tweeter for embassy outreach in emergencies. Nkanshi ya shani pa zed??? awe sure
I had a different experience with the zambian embassy in the USA. when i wanted to travell to zambia in 2009 i applied for a passport and in less than 2 months i had my new passport sent to me from washington. Anyway that was my experience and i have no problem with the embassy in USA. This is my perspective, what is yours?
Charity begins at home. Hon Minister, put some order in your ministry. The foreign missions are a disaster and an embarrassment.
@ MWANAWASHIKU above for a second I was dazed when I read you name. Thought I had typed in my sleep hahahaha.
@ Barotseman above I hope you are not a foreign agent impersonating a Zambian, if so leave. For the people of western province are Zambian and beautiful if I may add, the women that is. This is a welcome venture but the ministry knows our passports verify were we are going use that. Plus educate embassy officials.
Maybe King Cobra Sata can make a difference in ensuring that things work properly at the missions abroad, as he did within his ministry when he was minister of health those days!!!. There is no monitoring of proper work done in most of our foreign missions. Timi tamba chabe….
#41 mwanawakwitu-Am every bit from western province born and raised in Senanga and still have family there.The fact that i hold a south african passport through my wife does not take away my right to my ancestral land,my family there and my fellow tribesmen.That is a bond that no mere paper can break.The Mongu riots did not happen for no reason and Barotseland is our land and was long before zambia was there so that takes precedence and thus zambia is therefore just an artificial thing to us.A free Barotseland will come into being one day and we will be our own rulers like it was long before “zambia”
@Barotseman
don’t be an ***** pa blog. many of the useless cadres in these embassies are actually from parts of the former barotseland. simasiku, matafwali
I won’t No! I ve tried getting help with my passport and I was treated like a rebel. I decided I will have no dealings with this embassy whatever my plight! I can look after myself. Perhaps when the govt changes I will befriend them but I doubt.
there is no Zambian Embassy in Mexico ! how do i register?
Men ,, i have a questions to ask.Where do they train Diplomats in Zambia? If at all they do ,how long? Is a weeks crash course at NIPA enough? What is the man objective of the diplomats in the missions? Ae they assessed?
Pande, you are displaying the type of incompetency that inhabits your ministry, how do you come up saying, “zambians should move away from “all” nuclear reactors! Does that include the so many that are not involved in the rest of Japan??
As for registering, THIS ONLY BECOMES RELEVANT IF YOU BELIEVE THE EMBASSY WILL EVER HELP YOU or that it would be spying on you or WOULD ACTUALLY HUMILIATE YOU when you are in need of help. The calibre of officers really doesn’t infuse confidence in one!!
#11 Mr Pande: Well-spoken. He has been Minister of Foreign Affairs for so long so you can see this is just a by the way. Not a Ministry policy. The NIPA crash course doesn’t work as can be seen by the number of incompetent diplomats we have. They need a two year course with a certificate or diploma. UNZA can come up with a post-graduate course or curriculum.
OK thats a good ideal but the fact is most of the MMD carders working in foreign mission live much to be desired the are not in offices half of the time and when you get hold of them they can’t of any good help i can give an example of the passport issue it was impossible to get a passport through most embassy’s eg in the USA them champs are of no help just eating government money hope this will change with time we need people on more profession level them them licking the MMD and it world be a good ideal just to do it online since technology is now the odder of the day it wouldn’t work to do it in personal coz of the people you have working in foreign missions are not user friendly.
i can’t or will never go to DC to face them nonprofessional people working at the USA embassy they all need to be fired coz a friend of mine had the hardest time to get a travel document so he could travel to Zambia thats after he lost his mother they couldn’t even help with him getting a new passport coz the were just full of stories that lift us wondering so we offered some money and the promised that it would be sent with fedex next day, but what worked out was paying someone back home to get the passport and he had it in a few days makes me wonder what the are doing or which certificates or associate degrees the hold are from Mr minister your cry will never work the best is first clean your embassy’s and start the registration after the cadres are fired!!!
i can’t or will never go to DC to face them nonprofessional people working at the USA embassy they all need to be fired coz a friend of mine had the hardest time to get a travel document so he could travel to Zambia thats after he lost his mother they couldn’t even help with him getting a new passport coz the were just full of stories that lift us wondering so we offered some money and the promised that it would be sent with fedex next day, but what worked out was paying someone back home to get the passport and he had it in a few days makes me wonder what the are doing or which certificates or associate degrees the hold are from Mr minister your cry will never work the best is first clean your embassy’s and start the registration after the cadres are fired!!! :d[-(
Mr Minister while we know all the advantages of being registered , i would never waist my time with people who think they are the best when abroad.Put an online facility and will do that without any difficulty
Merci
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