President Hakainde Hichilema has commended the establishment of the Lusaka International Arbitration Centre that will provide a platform for resolution of commercial disputes.
President Hichilema noted that the centre befits international status and is expected to provide alternative dispute resolutions while helping the country improve the quality of transactions.
Speaking when he officially launched the Centre in Lusaka , the President said he expects more value from the institution to support the justice system within the country.
The Head of State said the platform is important to the overall economic expansion agenda for Zambia.He listed a number of transactions that could have been resolved without spending huge sums of money, had the Arbitration Centre been operational.
President Hichilema cited the debt restructuring that presented a complicated process, thereby causing challenges in unlocking the economy.
“This platform is extremely important to our overall economic reconstruction agenda, it provides a professional component to the various transactions,” President Hichilema said.
He explained that Zambia is one of the preferred investment destinations, hence the establishment of the centre will raise confidence to potential investors.
“We believe this Centre will discharge its duties to help us refine a number of frameworks for better transactions,”the Head of State noted.
He committed support to the success of the Arbitration Centre in an effort to unlock transactions that contribute to the country’s economic growth.
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Mulambo Haimbe said the launch is a significant milestone not only for the alternative dispute resolution community but also Zambia as a country.
Mr Haimbe said the LIAC represents a new chapter for Zambia’s journey of becoming a leading centre for commercial dispute resolution in Africa and beyond.
“Arbitration has long been recognised as a preferred method of resolving commercial disputes due to its flexibility, neutrality and expertise in specialised areas,” Mr Haimbe said.
And Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipola Mulenga highlighted the challenges businesses operating in Zambia previously faced in resolving commercial disputes through traditional court systems.
Mr Mulenga explained the complexities that hindered investment and economic growth in the country.
LIAC Board Vice Chairperson Lungisani Zulu said the place for commercial disputes or transactions will no longer be London but settled by Arbitration at the Lusaka International Arbitration Centre.He called on the business community to utilise the centre.
LIAC Board Chairperson Dr Chabuka Kawesha disclosed that the centre was incorporated as an alternative resolution administrational body by the private sector association including the Law Association of Zambia, Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bankers Association of Zambia, Engineering Institution of Zambia, Italian Business Club and French Business Circle among others.
So there now exists an organisation called Lusaka International Arbitration Centre ( LIAC). This is a positive development and is recognition of Zambia as a country with undoubted political stability and that there’s little or no chance that parties to a matter subject to arbitration would wake up and find that the jurisdiction has descended into widespread chaos as we have seen in some African countries. All those who are politically ambitious should pause and think what this means. Are they ready to run a government where the rule of law and respect for basic rights will be observed? Do they know the causes of conflict in post-colonial states? Social science scholars have been curious about this matter. Lots of literature exists as a result of that curiosity.
True crimes are at FAZ, subotaging country with goalkeepers. Every time their is world cup or Olympics they leave good young goalkeepers Francis Mwansa for boys and Chitete Munsaka for girls, they go bring Eunice Sakala from wherever.
Those are true crimes.
Maybe an arbitration with ZESCO will be ideal, our loadshedding in PHI according to ZESCO schedule is supposed to be from 10hrs today, it is 9hrs and power is already gone, notwithstanding that we have interrupted power supply every evening which is not even explained
Try to understand some of the costs that have been imposed on Zesco due to government policy of twisting the company’s arm to take electricity to unplanned settlements. Zesco has taken power to these areas and in turn has to incur very running costs to protect its distribution network from thieves (not vandals please). It’s also not easy for Zesco to locate an address easily in the event of a fault. These costs add up and Zesco has to recover them.