PRESIDENT Lungu has challenged those charged with the responsibility of procuring services and contracts to get value for money to avoid turning Zambia into a dumping ground for substandard Chinese and European products.
And President Lungu says his administration will explore ways of introducing tourism zones similar to those of China’s seaside resort city of Sanya in order to attract both local and foreign tourists.
Mr Lungu said China is an interesting country because that is where one can get the best or the worst products.
“China is an interesting phenomenon because you can get the best or the worst. It is up to you to shop around but as you shop around including for contracts, we tell them that either you give us the best or you remain behind.
“I was just telling some people a while ago that you cannot turn Zambia into a dumping ground, give us value contracts and by value contracts I mean give us contracts, which will provide services to the people of Zambia which are sustainable,” Mr Lungu said.
The President told journalists here yesterday that contracts can only be sustainable if the pricing is good, competitive and includes backup services and training programmes for Zambians who will man those institutions or services brought into the country.
“Zambia indeed cannot be a dumping ground but China has got its own economy. So it is a shopper’s matter, so if you shop the worst and go home, you can’t blame the Chinese.
“So those of us who are charged with the responsibility of procuring services on behalf of the Zambian people should endeavour to get value for money. Our procurement processes should be impeccable and beyond question,” Mr Lungu said.
President Lungu described the hospitality of the Chinese people as exceptional.
“I have experienced the tourism sector, which seems to be anchored around here (Sanya) and how the Chinese have used it to contribute to the economy of the country. It is a destination of choice for the Chinese nationals.
“One can say it is concept which probably we would like to introduce back home and see whether we can have tourism zones and support them to the fullest so that we can excite local tourism as well as tourism coming from beyond the borders,” Mr Lungu said.
And on his experience at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference 2015, the President said it works out for the concept of regional integration to participate in the global village.
“Because I believe that the region where we are coming from has got SADC (Southern African Development Community), EAC (East African Community) and ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States), we are saying that unless as the sub- region belonging to SADC begins to integrate its efforts in the economic sector, we will fail to make the grade on the world platform.
“It is for that reason that we are saying that the Asian community has come together and they are also lobbying to go beyond the geographical and geopolitical area known as Asia into Europe and Africa.
If they come and find us segregated, it will not work for us but when we unite,” he said.
and work as one in the region, it will be easier for us to interface with bigger players in the global economy and participate for our benefit,” Mr Lungu said.
A very bold move and strong message EL. We want value for money. If unchecked, they can take Zambia as a dumping site.
Intelligence and wisdom 101. You have nailed it well your Excellency.
Inestimable show of leadership, wisdom and boldness. Way to go Mr. President
EC Lungu: A lot of words but no substance! If you want serious engineering go to Germany; if you want the best pizzas go to Italy, if you want best tourism go to Alcupuco or Bahamas- why go to Sanya where they dont speak your language or haven’t trained their staff to be multi-lingual! Equally, If you want the best hospitals in the world you don’t go to hospices like Milpark or Israeli cancer treatment centres, you go to Canada or the US. India or Pakistan, you will definately see a quack!
Iwe ka MB.. Chinese in Sanya can speak and write far much better English than this crap you are spewing here. News Flash!!! Israel has some of the best doctors and majority of medical institutions here in the States like Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Medical Group are run by Israelis. Milpark Hospital in SA is an Israeli run institution. So what are saying?? Koswe iwe..
@MB, it is now clear why us Africans were NEVER adventurous and explorers. It is because of the kind of mentality by people like yourself—and you wonder why we just sat and waited to colonize.
Baba, fear not! Go out there and learn their language if you can. This will put you at the advantage when dealing with them in business. Surely the Chines aren’t sitting around waiting. While you simply complain about the Chines, they themselves are busy sending their people to learn Zambian languages and understand our way of life so they can penetrate our society even further—that’s being smart!
If anything, Zambians should be clamoring to learn Chines because, whether we like it or not, China is slowly replacing Europe and America in terms of financial muscle. Get ready!
@mb.u have raised a profund statement but look at the negative grading.its all about exposure and reading culture which is lacking per zedian mindset.
People like you and your fathers that have stolen money from Zambia since independence, have held our country back. President Lungu has spoken wisdom here, if you buttocks still hurt from your choice candidate losing, maybe your candidate is just a mere politician. Do not bark just for the sake of barking.
Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the best president zambia will ever hav,the man we hav all been waitin 4,the obama of africa,his excellency edgar chagwa lungu!!!! He is tha man capable of takin us out this economical mess we r in
Learning tourism from the Chinese? I thought there was a delegation to Namibia for the inauguration? That is a model of tourism that you can learn from just next door! Sub-standard or standard is the purpose of the existence of your Standards Body (it only exists, like most entities in Zambia, to pay salaries). This trip is beginning to get a little ludicrous after all.
Yeah, with people who have thick skulls like yourself poo pooling everything and anything progressive/intelligent, no wonder it will never work for us as a country.
Sometimes we should learn to support things and ideas which have the potential to make a difference to our situation back home. What is “ridiculous” about learning from people who have succeeded in life? If anything, you are the one who sounds ridiculous: How do you expect the president to turn an invitation to attend a presidential inauguration in Namibia into a learning trip for tourism? I mean, how silly are we going to get in our comments?
If there is need to learn from the Namibians on tourism, I am sure there will be a proper time and place for that. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from the Chines!
Sounds like a broken record to me. How many delegations have we sent to China so far? All have been to the same SANYA region HE.
Losers are blinded by their loss, they can no longer see anything useful. Fellas, you are simply damaging yourself and yours, not a single damage to President Lungu for we are fully behind him. Why do you think we voted for him even when you told us that he was a sickler, that he had no vision blah blah? And remember that we gave it to him even when he campaigned for only 24 days, and this did not include a single campaign in Munkombwe’s country.
In short, for all the shortcomings that were preached against Edgar, we the voters still thought that he was far better than his opponents, yes we thought a sickler was far better than the likes of Nawakwi, HH, etc combined! And for your information, we still believe that we have not misplaced our faith in Edgar.
That is mouth full, never tell me that all the previous Presidents did not know about China’s segregative way of taking development to each cuntry, Chinese know exactly who deserves what from them. Go in Europe where their Bearou of standards is strong, China exports the best of their products, not in Zambia where the body has been heavily compromised. What LUNGU need to do is first to strengthen our Beaurou of STANDARDS wing, then you can import good things from China. It is the duty of every country to protect its citizens, so if you have in place mediocre departments to protect your citizens, what do you expect. KK knew this that China was dumping useless products to Zambia, even so called SATA had to swallow his pride later when he became a President. Do not waste CHines time. Just…
….yes, the answer is in the efficiency and vigilance of our corrupt free officers at the Bureau of Standards…..not long ago, I bought a brand new 4 way electrical adaptor…..within weeks all the 4 sockets melted…a potential fire hazard….. the shop had boxes and boxes of the same….I wondered how such could have found its way into the country
Ba Rasco. Bomfyeni fye ichi Tonga pantu ichi Sungu cha moneka kwati chali mishupako panono
why importing? We should be exporting after 50 years of independence. Build factories to manufacture and export finished goods instead of building malls. How can a president be so excited when taking of importing goods? Its only in zambia
As long as Zambia manufactures nothing it will be a dumping place for sub-standard products from other countries. The president must implore the relevant sectors of the Zambian economy to up their perfomances otherwise the country will be a big “garbage” dump. We need an economic think-tank in place (if there is not one).
Looks like the opposition are now becoming irrelevant to our political arena. If you think criticism is the other meaning of opposition then you are wrong. Try to reason from a neutral point of view sometimes and you will see how it will work for. Heecl is a smart fellow and yu can’t take that out of him. Besides pf doesn’t need yo support to win an election but upnd, fdd, etc needs us more.
TENDERS VS OPEN MARKET SYSTEM FOR EDUCATION BOOKS
OPEN MARKET SYSTEM
1. Ministry has approved books from Publishers WHO HAVE INVESTED IN THE NEW CURRICULUMN
2. Ministry sends the list to all schools
3. Ministry send Budget to all schools
4. Publishers promote their books countrywide
5. Schools select books they want to buy and place orders
6. Booksellers pick up orders and send them to respective Publishers
7. Publishers deliver books to Booksellers who in turn delivers to respective schools
8. Publishers are paid by DEBS or whoever wants to pay after proof of delivery by the school
TENDER SYSTEM
1. Ministry advertises a tender
2. Ministry receives bids
3. Ministry puts together an evaluation team to evaluate the books (criteria not known)
4. These few people selects…
A full and excellent analysis and conclusion of things developmental.
What we now need is to make a strong resolve about progressing our development in Zambia.
The Chinese development was born in sweet and blood. They have been criticised, excluded, called names and threatened, yet they kept their focus because they knew what they wanted to achieve. Today, Chinese development and economy are the envy and inspiration of the ones who would have been their detractors.
So , it is resolve, resolve, resolve.
Chinese this china that……me too. That kind of attitude will not get us far. Things here are different.
There is serious socialism in china and you can’t copy china advancement and paste them here. copy the way their political system is also.
Kabimba ideology is the way to go…period
Welcome back to slavery?
Kabimba ideology has failed even in the country of origin!
Kikikikikiki!!!!!Ka Kabimba ??? Ka mumbulu!
Good Mr President.This shows how much you care for your people
great now make some policies otherwise you end up being just like all the other minsters and presidents ……talk talk talk and no implementation or strategies……..Lungu my sit down with his advisory board, private sector to make a plan
Asia is only interested in Africa because of all the natural resources it has. They will say or do anything to get them.
Ba James. Shhhhh. But don’t tell anyone that that’s exactly what the Europeans did. Pwaaz!
Actions speak louder than words. I have been hearing beautiful speeches since I was born. Tanzania have a law banning labour readily available from being imported, we have a speech. And here again we have a speech.
Every foreign investor should have a local partner. They come with their money, we have the land. E.g for mines what is machinery without land were the resources are? That machinery is scrap metal before it is used for mining. We get the dividends and taxes. What do you think the net income will be to Zambia. So in every investment we should have at least a minimum of 15% of shares.
Lets us also have a campaign against the levels of beer drinking in the country. Zed has become a very large beer hall. Has early has 06hrs people are already drunk. No please……..