THE Zambian Government has submitted six project proposals for grant financing by the United States (US) government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for a financing agreement known as Compact.
Finance and National Planning minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said the proposals were in the areas of power generation and transmission, eco-tourism development, technical and vocational training, education, roads development, water and sanitation.
Speaking during a Press briefing in Lusaka, Dr Musokotwane said the Zambian Government had prioritised its submissions because it did not expect all the projects to be financed.
The minister further disclosed that a mission from the MCC was in the country until April 16 to review the project proposals for financing.
Dr Musokotwane said the review by the MCC was a step in the process of developing a financing agreement between the Zambian Government and the Compact.
“We were reselected by the MCC last year in December because we scored high on the MCC score card in strong policy performance in areas of just ruling, investing in the people, and economic freedom,” he said.
Dr Musokotwane said for Zambia to remain eligible for the grant, Government would have to sustain vigorous implementation of anti-corruption policies.
The projects that would ultimately be included in the Compact programme would need to meet investments criteria such as economic returns, environmental and social impact, and must be implemented within five years.
“The scope of the proposed projects was like to evolve further as more detailed feasibility and preparation work is conducted in the coming months,” Dr Musokotwane said.
Icho! RB is developing more infrastructure.
This man is serious about winning the 2011 election.
“We were reselected by the MCC last year in December because we scored high on the MCC score card in strong policy performance in areas of just ruling, investing in the people, and economic freedom,” he said.
The international community are seeing,the opposition cant see.May be they need special lenses.
Icho! Icho! Icho! Icho!
Stop begging for money and tax your own mines properly.
Then you might be able to build your own infrastructure and have a REAL budget.
Not some faked donor funded lifestyle.
its sad that the projects are mentioned in general terms and not specifically. This is why money is misappropriated. Be specific what school, road or facility will be built or refurbished.
What has happened to our fair weather friends in China,surely those projects are childs play for the chinese,cheap labour,cheap materials,they can host our president for another 10 days tro go and tour some manufacturing company,like we used to do at secondary school during JETS CLUB tours
Always begging while we can finance these projects with the abolished mine concession taxes
atase
Democratic peace theory says ” Democracy does not fight democracy” period. The western friends are democracies thus they will never fight MMD which is a functional democracy and allign with cheap popullists who are championing renationalization, and anti investor xenophobia.Marxicism and tribalism Sata, Fred Mmembe, Frank Bwalya and HH are holding on to are ideological taboos in the Zambian democratic despensation only synonymous with political outcasts.
The West have remained true to their principles for mutual trust with a democratic Zambia because of RB’s continuous spirit of open institutional democracy ushered in 1991.They know the risks of embracing populist dictatorships with individualistic partisan politics. Who doesn’t see dictatorship in Sata’s politics where everything evolves around one life time tyranny that vows never to allow anyone else to stamp up until his death.The West see institutional democracy in the MMD that is now in its 4th Presidency within 18 years.
Mr dear, Senior Citizen, you are right, Fred Membe is a die hard Marxist/Communist who lost $3 million dollars by badly investing it in a defuct airline and all hatred is just pain of what happened. Has anybody body questioned why the POST newspaper covers Cuba and Castro on stories that have nothing to do with Zambia? All because of his Marxist communist mentality. Zambian rejected the failed marxism and Mmembe and his boys need to know that the world belongs to the learners and the learned like him are stuck with knowledge and skills that are only applicable in a world that has gone past. Learn to read the times and adjust.
MMD Chief Bootlicker,
What is strange is that when some former marxist states are transition into free people driven societies, Sata, Mmembe, and Bwalya are turning themselves into “marxist revisionists”. They are not even making effort to sound dialectical but total utopians. They foresee a Zambia that will turn away from responsible pro-prosperity free market economics to the socialist utopia of free lunch as long as one can insult RB and join in peddling bathtubs in street corner.
#1and 3 Zoana Icho icho icho icho icho. On development initiatives, am giving this team a distinction, they mean business. I think they will record greatness, its unfortunate it will just be for three years, would have loved to see what they could have done in five. Manje kaya ngati azayi ona 2011. But should they do so, I have a strong feeling that this RB rule will go down in history as the greatest presidency ever. Keep pushing even if you loose 2011, chikulu some development initiatives would have been started. Go Go Go RB and Musokotwane.
Senior Citizend and MMD chief Booticker, I like the way you are comforting each other on the impending disasater next year. You are die hards who will not believe your deafet until the PACT leader is sworn in next year! All the people you have mentioned, HH, Mmembe can not be compaired to RB. They are not his equals. These are smart and wise while RB is dwaf, you too. Thats why you cant see that he his leading you 6 fit under next year!
Look at the headline, and look at the story! Typical of MMD and LT. The story does not mention any project this money will be used on. How can you solicit for funding for a NON-named project? What tenets of good governacy/project management are these? The charps want money yet they dont know where to use it. Thats why it ends up in their pockets. Enough is enough with these illiterates. Ask, we shall teach you project cycles. A project cycle starts with problem diagnosis and ends with evaluation but the MMD starts with borrowing before they identify the Projects. What kind of people are these? anyway, its the same people like senior citizen who cant add 1+1
LT, has the Secretary to the Treasurer stopped being Likholo Ndalamei? since when?
As long as RB & GRZ have failed to address issues raised in the Auditor General’s report, it will be suicidal for any government/donor agencies to give money to the Zambian government before presidential elections because these monies may end up being used for MMD presidential campaigns.
Ichalo #15: I totally agree with you. I suspect that is why some MMD cadres here are celebrating already. They see money for their campaigns but the truth is as long as there is no properly defined project on the ground, the Americans are giving us ZERO no matter the amount of parting of each other’s back you may do in this fools’ paradise.
KAYZ, # 5 this is just a newspaper MCC requires quite detailed proposals . Always try to research before you commenting on issues. Google on the millenium challenge account and you will find out more about the MCC and their projects. red card – smooth criminal # 6 well even with the chinese and even if we got the windfall taxes, the mcc would still be welcome. We should always aim for as much development as possible.# 13 red card and chiengi #15 – free at last. only specific projects with adequate preliminary analysis are approved by the MCC, go to their web site for more infor.
One area of good governance the government needs to look at is: illegal land allocation by MMD cadres led by William Banda!
Good Afternoon
This “MCC” and “Compact” financing programme by the US is just another debt trap of many that Western governments and their financial institutions use to hook African countries on their aid. Without even researching further on them, I can already see that they speak the same language as the IMF and World Bank.
As we have already witnessed with the latter, these foreign financing programmes always come with a painful price tag in the end. When will our government begin to realise that more than anything else, foreign debt has contributed to creating poverty, disease and death in Africa?
I agree multi millionaire but dont blame it on William Banda. MMD cadres have been doing from the 1990’s. Actually its from UNIP days.
Nine chale, i agree with you on the intentions of such initiatives. Firstly they are intended to satisft americab business and political interests. But note that this is a grant not a loan. I think our goverment realises that there are implications and costs but its a question of lack of choices.
This is now a global conomy and every country has to deal with the outside world knowing fully well that each country has its own interests. Its kind of like an educational or business loan. Yes the party giving finances wants a profit but how can you also benefit from it
I just wonder how I would respond to an able-bodied 40 year old man constantly knocking on my door to beg. Zambia is now 45 years old (going on 46) and still begging…
But again, that simply reflects the life of the ordinary Zambian citizens. Always begging for what is their right: begging for healthcare, begging for education, begging for food, even begging for National Registration Cards (NRCs). Yeah, that’s what we are, a begging nation.
Bushe tukabako bwino?
The problem pa zed comes from our politicians that have worked in GRZ for all their life and so bring that lazy mentality when they are in office too. Surely is there no long lasting solution to the ever re-occuring problems in these sectors in question? Every year we have to ask for donor money to maintain these sectors (especially roads). Do Zambian leaders even know what is really wrong in that country??? Zambia really needs a Messiah….. [-o<. becouse we all know what will happen to that donor money8->
Donnot begg for money from anywhere you have enough in Zambia, which you are missusing tax the mines properly, get some from Chiluba ,get back the money from Kapoko and his friends ,cut on your travals abroad ,trim your cabinet
Only a full will go begging for food from the next door neighbour when he’s got enough crop in his field. What is the reason for begging when the Zambian Mines are making so much money and we’re considered the biggest Copper exporter in Africa. There is no dignity in begging! What a shame?
Thought the Obama administration is no longer writing blank cheques………….
Ala mwe bana mwilalwa!!!