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The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has ordered a top Zimbabwean banker George Manyere to exit from both controlling shareholding and directorship in the fintech company MyBucks after violating banking rules.
The Brainworks Capital Management founder, but now former managing director and chief investment officer of the equity firm, allegedly violated banking regulations in the neighboring country.
A letter seen gleaned by NewZimbabwe.com Business, and signed by the BoZ director of non-bank financial institutions supervision, Freda Tamba shows that problems have been brewing for the top banker since September 2020.
The BoZ believes Manyere’s actions and his counterpart, Barkat Ali were detrimental to the stakeholders of MyBucks Zambia after the duo allegedly guaranteed for a sum of US$10 million in favour of Ever Prosperous in exchange for an asset purportedly valued at US$5 million that was to be acquired at a later date.
“The view of the Bank is that the transaction was irrational and failed to satisfy the requirement that it was done in the ordinary course of business of MyBucks. These actions constitute unsafe and unsound practices as defined by section 2 of the Banking and Financial Services Act (BFSA),” said Tamba in the letter.
The BoZ, therefore, found Manyere; “not to be fit and proper to be a shareholder and director” of a financial services provider.
The decision was implemented basing on section 41 (2) of the BSFA which empowers the Bank to remove a person from office, if it considers that its requirements have been breached.
Accordingly, MyBucks Zambia is expected to dispose of its 45% shares to Xtenda, which if approved by BoZ, is expected to provide for an orderly divestment of shareholding in the company.
Meanwhile, Ecsponent Ltd will dispose of its entire 25% shareholding in MyBucks Zambia while MyBucks SA will sell 20% and remain with 45% shareholding among other transfers.
“After all the procedures, this means that your shareholding in MyBucks Zambia will be reduced to 40.9% through MyBucks SA,” added Tamba.
Contacted for comment on the developments could Manyere neither acknowledge nor dismiss the allegations.
“I cannot comment on confidential matters from the Regulator (Bank of Zambia) and in my decades long banking career, I address any issues of a regulatory nature directly with the Regulator,” he said.
The BoZ did not respond to e-mailed questions on the matter at the time of publishing.
Government has reiterated that the COVID-19 vaccines which Zambia will receive are verified by credible sources.
Minister of Health Jonas Chanda has disclosed this adding that his ministry will follow the necessary procedures required in receiving and giving vaccines to members of the public.
Dr. Chanda said the issue of COVID -19 vaccines will first have to be taken to Cabinet after which he will issue a ministerial statement in parliament according to what would be agreed upon.
ZANIS reports that Dr. Chanda has since reassured Zambians that the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines will be done in a transparent manner and everything that government is doing is in the best interest of the people.
He said in a briefing after touring Maina Soko hospital in Lusaka today that there will be no back door vaccines that will enter the country and be given to people to endanger their lives.
“Every vaccine that is developed has to answer to the questions of efficacy and safety of the people being vaccinated and as government we will not leave things to chance,” Dr. Chanda explained.
He has meanwhile called on private health institutions that are carrying out COVID-19 tests to desist from exploiting members of public by charging exorbitant prices.
Meanwhile, Dr. Chanda said testing positive to COVID-19 is not a death sentence that should make people panic.
He said government has state of the art equipment and facilities that would handle COVID-19 cases that are being reported in the country.
Dr. Chanda further said people that are testing positive to COVID-19 and are asymptomatic should stay home, use prescribed home remedies and only rush to health centres when they need medical attention.
He said the policy is to admit those with symptoms.
The minister of health has meanwhile emphasised on preventing the spreading of the virus by observing the five COVID-19 prevention golden rules, which are masking up, social distancing, sanitising and staying home where possible.
“We have the capacity to handle and contain this virus as a country. The only thing missing is the enforcement of preventive measures and people not taking individual responsibility,” Dr. Chanda said.
And Dr. Chanda has called the on the Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) to rise to the occasion and make sure that all the drugs that are on the market are authorised.
He said all drugs that are not licensed and are being served to members of the public should be withdrawn until certified fit.
The health minister noted that public confidence in the health sector has gone down hence the need for all concerned stakeholders to reassure members of the public of their safety.
He further said there was need to take charge and regulate the messages being given to the public on how to treat and protect themselves from contracting the virus.
Meanwhile, Zambia has recorded nine COVID-19 related deaths, 602 new cases out of the 4, 800 tests that were conducted in the last 24 hours.
Health Minister Jonas Chanda said when he gave the routine daily update on COVID-19 that 254 patients are currently on oxygen with 17 being in a critical condition.
Dr. Chanda said most of the deaths are being recorded in health facilities because some people are getting to the hospital with irreversible conditions.
He urged members of the public to make sure they seek medical attention in good time to avoid losing lives.
“Although deaths are being recorded every day, it is good to note that recoveries are also being recorded hence the need to keep guarding against the spreading of the virus and taking personal responsibility wherever we are,” said Dr. Chanda.
And government has designated Maina Soko military hospital as a COVID-19 isolation centre in order to decongest the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and Levy Mwanawasa Hospital.
Maina Soko military hospital Commandant, Bernard Kapatamoyo said the hospital is happy to work with the Ministry of Health in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brigadier General Kapatamoyo has therefore called on people that usually get health services from Maina Soko hospital to seek services elsewhere as the military hospital will now be dedicated to serving COVID-19 patients.
“As a hospital, we are always ready to offer service whenever we are called upon and has currently offered 86 bed spaces that will be dedicated to COVID-19 patients,” he said.
The hiring of Highgate Advisory Ltd by GRZ to advise on debt restructuring-related communication with all creditors and stakeholders is shameful, a waste of the taxpayers money and is symptomatic of our clueless PF government.
The Socialist Party had in May 2020 criticised the unnecessary USD 5 million hire of the French Company, Lazard Freres. This company was contracted to provide advisory services regarding liability management for Zambia’s debt portfolio. Our Party had consistently given GRZ free advice on debt restructuring. We warned of the immense hardships the masses of our people were going to face as well as the damage to the international reputation of our country if no urgent action was taken. In the typical arrogance and parasitic behaviour of the PF government, this advice fell on deaf ears.
The Socialist Party views the hiring of foreign companies for debt restructuring services as corrupt, wasteful and retrogressive. Senior Officers in the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Zambia have over the past 10 years provided valuable options on how debt sustainability could be achieved. Several workshops have been held, study tours conducted, econometric models developed and a policy framework suggested.
However, all these efforts were thrown away and rubbished because the PF leadership did not want a systematic structure and process for debt management. Transparency and accountability was never a top priority. This is a government that thrives on chaos and disorganization. They deliberately created conditions under which debt contraction could allow high-level corruption.
Today, GBP 333,403.54 from the taxpayer is going to be spent senselessly on Highgate Advisory Ltd! This company is by all standards a briefcase one and whose owner has a questionable background. The picture emerging is that we have a cartel of former French graduates, who went through the corrupt, elitist Grande Ecole university system, worked in the finance and prime ministers offices, then went on to work for a number of dubious state actors that found themselves in a debt trap, such as in Greece and Ukraine.
In vulture-like style, this cartel has found out that corrupt, clueless governments whose economies are dying under a debt burden are the easiest victims. Such governments are ready to dish out millions of dollars to any “healer” who promises success without them being accountable to the citizens.
The Socialist Party calls upon all people with a heart for this country to strongly condemn this open theft and wasteful use of public resources.
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has cautioned all broadcasting stations in the country against requesting callers to disclose personal information such as National Registration Card Numbers live on air when participating in promotional campaign programmes.
In a statement made available to the media today, IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma explains that requesting callers to reveal whether in part or in full, full names and mobile numbers, live on air possess a security risk to them.
“IBA wishes to advise all broadcasting stations against requesting their callers to reveal personal information such as National Registration Card Numbers whether in part or in full, Full Names and Mobile Numbers, live on air when participating in promotional campaign programmes. Revelation of such details poses a security risk to them” she said.
Ms Mapoma said the authority has issued the directive following consultations with the Bank of Zambia.
She added that to this effect, all broadcasting stations should obtain such details from their listeners or viewers, off air in order to avoid public disclosure.
She further noted that the disclosure of personal information on air may result in increased cases of fraud by impersonation thereby affecting the achievements that the country has recorded in migrating people to a digital economy through digital financial services.
“It is important to note that the disclosure of such detailed personal information on air may provide a ripe environment for fraudsters to perpetuate fraud through impersonation and may erode the gains the country has made in migrating people to a digital economy through digital financial services,” she stated.
Ms Mapoma hoped that all the broadcasting stations would comply with the above stated directive.
Minister of Gender Elizabeth Phiri has bemoaned the escalating number of defilement cases in the country.
Ms. Phiri noted that despite efforts being made by the ministry to ensure that offenders pay for the crime, perpetrators of the crimes are mostly protected by their families.
She observed that while the ministry has made strides in ensuring that punishments are stiffened as per call from the general populous, very few individuals come forward to report crimes committed by those they term close family.
The Minister narrated that most cases that are being heard of in the public domain are those of family members who inflicted pain on fellow family members, but wondered why her office is not receiving such crimes for processing.
Ms Phiri has urged stakeholders to play a role and assist in enforcing the law in order to help reduce the continued escalating cases of defilement in the country.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS today, Mrs Phiri said this moral decay in the country has to be dealt with the urgency it deserves.
She said the government has done its best to enact laws that deter people from committing such immoral vices, hence the need for all stakeholders to come on board in order to curb such vices.
Mrs Phiri has further encouraged people to talk about such happenings in their homes in order to avoid defilement cases.
She added that it was saddening to note that most perpetrators of defilement and sexual Gender-based violence are sadly people who are meant to protect the victims.
Mrs Phiri said Zambia is a Cristian nation and entails that people should live by the biblical standards, if cases of defilement are reduced in the country.
“My appeal is for the church to also come in, and help preach about such happenings,” Mrs Phiri said.
“We have to preach about any evil vice, it has to start from the family level, community level and also the nation.” She added.
Mrs Phiri also said the media which is a bigger voice should not only be writing when defilement cases happen, but should also take a leading role in giving precautions before such evil vices occur, through feature articles and hard news stories.
President Edgar Lungu has encouraged citizens including those working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to work hard in order to help stimulate the country’s economy.
The President has cautioned that “working from home” is different from “staying at home”, and, therefore, citizens working from home must use the available ICT tools, to work hard rather than deciding to abandon work.
President Lungu observed that from last years’ experience, many citizens who were asked to work from home decided to stay at home and abandoned work.
He stated that abandoning work when allowed to work from home will not just negatively affect productivity but will negatively impact the county’s economy.
“Whether you are in the informal or formal sector and you have been made to work from home, work the way you would work at your place of work. Apply seriousness on what you do despite operating from home.
“Those who are positive with the coronavirus but are asymptomatic or are showing little symptoms must equally work hard from home and must not abandon the work they do. Do your normal chores, while observing the recommended health guidelines,” the President said.
Meanwhile, the Head of State has also encouraged people engaged in farming to ensure they visit their farms regularly, despite the surging cases of COVID-19, in order for the county to continue doing well in food production and security.
He noted that like all citizens, farmers need to observe the coronavirus health guidelines which include wearing masks, social distancing, hand sanitising, and steaming among others, but should not abandon their fields.
The President said he visited a farm recently where owners had not been to their field in fear of the COVID-19 pandemic and in their absence army worms attacked their produce.
He added that the World Bank’s Enabling Business of Agriculture (EBA19) Report, launched last Thursday, places Zambia third in Sub Saharan Africa, among the top countries that are encouraging the private sector to invest in agriculture.
The EBA 19 report assesses the laws and regulations impacting agribusiness Value chains and farmers in 101 countries. It ranks governments whether they make it easier or harder for farmers to operate their businesses, and identifies actionable reforms to remove obstacles for farmers seeking to grow their business of agriculture.
“My government has done very well in regulations relating to speedy supply of seeds, registering fertilizers, securing water, sustaining livestock and accessing finance, among other thematic successes, and hence scoring 63.73 from a possible 100, which is way above the regional average,” he said.
President Lungu added that “Therefore, this is a big score by Zambia as we are only behind South Africa and Kenya in Sub-Saharan Africa, and this is because of my administration’s performance in Agriculture. We can only push ourselves to be the best, but if we renege because of covid-19, agriculture production will drop and the consequences on the economy and our people will be dire,” the President says.
“Therefore, I want to encourage all households to work hard amidst the covid-19 pandemic and engage in some farming activity so that we end hunger and create capital for ourselves from the surplus that we produce,” said President Lungu.
This is according to a statement issued to ZANIS in Lusaka, by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Isaac Chipampe.
Off the album ‘Kunkeyani’, Tha Jedi Give us a second video titled “Kabwata“. Kunkeyani pays respect to the city and the Hood that raised him, with giving them a hood anthem to vibe too. A Cloud City Media production Shot and Directed by Verb D.O.P by VIC 47
Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Malanji has handed over his personal Mercedez Benz S-350 car to Kitwe’s Our Lady of Peace Parish Priest Fr Benedict Ng’andwe.
The car will be for the personal use of Fr. Ng’andwe.
Mr. Malanji who is also Kwacha Member of Parliament where the Parish is located also donated a 30-seater Rosa bus to the Parish.
And Fr Ng’andwe has advised Mr. Malanji and other senior Government officials to ignore those that are speaking ill of the donations they are making.
Father Ng’andwe noted that Mr Malanji’s gesture of giving back to the community in his constituency is purely out of generosity.
The clergy was speaking when he received donation from Mr Malanji comprising 70 Thousand Kwacha to parishioners and a S-350 Mercedes Benz car including a 30-seater brand-new Rosa Bus to the parish.
Father Ng’andwe has since encouraged Mr Malanji to continue with his generosity, stating that God loves and blesses a cheerful giver.
He thanked Mr. Malanji for fulfilling his promise of helping the church with transport, saying the gesture will facilitate movements especially during evangelical works.
And at the United Church of Zambia-UCZ Kwacha East Congregation, Mr Malanji donated a similar 30-seater Rosa Bus and a further 50 Thousand Kwacha to go towards the construction of a new church building.
The Minister also donated over 100 Thousand Kwacha to five choir groups before handing out 1400 blankets and five thousand facemasks to three churches meant to benefit the vulnerable in society.
And Mr. Malanji handed out a third 30-seater Rosa Bus to St Peter’s Catholic Church in Ipusukilo Compound and another 110 Thousand Kwacha towards church logistics.
Zambia is a nation founded on copper. Its foundations are built such that they reach deep and rest in the earth on the sulfide and oxides ores that host the metal. When Zambia’s founding mythology is eventually written, copper will be its cornerstone. The country is so intertwined with copper that the amber color of the metal has equal standing on the national flag as black standing for the people of Zambia, and red standing for the fight for independence. Two times we find the mining of copper on the coat of arms: first, there beneath an unfurled African fish eagle is a pick-ax crossing a hoe, and there again at the foot of a common man in a safari shirt and shorts is a mine shaft and hoist house.
The Coat of Arms of Zambia
A copper crown tops the National Assembly building where Members of Parliament deliberate and make laws for the country. Perhaps more telling, when Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visited Zambia in 1979, she rode in a copper clad Land Rover.
The metal seeps into the nationhood of Zambia in deeper ways than merely symbolic. Mined and worked in the Congo and Zambezi river basins for millennia, it was partly in pursuit of copper and other resources that the British came to Zambia (Northern Rhodesia at the time) in the late 1800s and early 1900s bringing with them high volume mining techniques and rapid European population growth. Copper production in Northern Rhodesia rose to second highest in Africa. Now, well into the 21st century, Zambia is still a high copper producer and still second only to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa.
The global price and the tons of copper mined in Zambia have particular implications for the country. As it happens, Zambia is not only a major producer, but is also heavily dependent on copper—copper accounts for 80% of the country’s exports. Measures of national income follow the cardiogram like ups and downs of global demand and copper prices.
These ups and downs reach into the lives of ordinary Zambians in a manner that often bewilders their efforts at well-lived lives. Among the most consequential result of these pendulum swings is the unremitting dispersal of the Kwacha’s buying power, and the attendant tendency for prices of essentials to rise but never to fall—stubbornly unresponsive to desperate efforts to arrest the increasing cost of living. The relentlessly declining Kwacha is one of a myriad of issues that chronically poison and sap the joy of life for ordinary Zambians who must fully dependent only on their own industry for survival.
What wealth the nation receives from its copper does not accrue equally to all citizens. By some means or other, some Zambians enjoy more of the largess than others. But this is an age-old question—how to fairly distribute a nation’s wealth among its citizens?
Kenneth Kaunda, the first President of Zambia thought the answer to this question could be found in humanism—his own adoption of socialism. It combined African values with western socialist and Christian values.
One important outcome of Humanism in Zambia is the rather, in end, unsuccessful 25-year experiment with government ownership and management of the mines. Taking over the mines in 1969, with copper production at its historical highest, the shift in focus for the mines to providing employment and using copper revenue to nurse other sectors of the economy sent copper production into a slow but steady downward spiral, bottoming out in about 2000 when production was similar to that in the mid-1940s.
The failure of the mining industry as a public enterprise and loss of revenue, and the subsequent essential commodity shortages played a part in the ouster of Kaunda by Zambians in 1991—ending his 27-year rule.
Fredrick T. J. Chiluba, elected as the second president of Zambia in October 1991 embraced with gusto the tenets of capitalism and a market driven economy. His government embarked on a wholesale program of privatizing state-owned enterprises with a special focus on the mines. It took 10 years for the mining industry to shake off the inefficiency hang-over of Kaunda’s rule. But around 2000, copper production began to rise again. The rise in production coincided with increased demand for copper, especially in China, and higher prices reaching an all-time high in 2011.
Something else besides positive copper market vibes happened in the mid-aughts that gave an optimistic tint to Zambia’s future—debt relief. Through the Kaunda years, and for various reasons, including support for Southern African liberation movements, dwindling copper revenue and high oil prices, Zambia accumulated a staggering debt of $7 Billion given the size of its economy. This debt, owed to western countries and the IMF and World Bank, was canceled around 2005. Zambians could start over. They had another shot at financial independence. Returns on copper sales could now be used to develop the country and not go to pay off debt.
Times were good. Zambians sensed the country’s wealth and theirs rise on a track commiserate to the promise at independence. The high demand for copper and soaring prices brought on private western banks and Chinese loans eager to rip returns from emerging markets. The loans bought new roads, bridges, and mega sports stadia. New shopping malls and consumer services keen to relieve Zambians of their new-found wealth popped up around towns at any open space that might have been a green space in some alternate planned cities.
Overnight, ordinary citizens were speculators, buying land and building homes—for some, the era of multiple home ownership and landlordship had arrived. It was a time when you had to have land and perhaps a structure on it to be somebody; every conversation, in due course, succumbed to the gravity pull of owning land and building. It all made sense. With the ever-evaporating value of the Kwacha, real estate was the one investment with any true promise to hold and even increase in value in the long term.
And it appeared after debt relief that Zambian governments had finally figured out how to pilot the country. Now, in the third decade of the third millennia, nearly 60 years after independence, it is apparent that the sensation of flight was an illusion. Zambia is still on the ground taxing uncertain of lift-off, or even of destination. With presidential elections in 2021, and the national debt at an all-time high, the next few years is when we must take to the air because here is where we run out of runaway. The population grows and resources deplete—think copper here. There is likely a gap at some point in this divergence that becomes impossible to bridge.
For some among my fellow Zambians, acknowledging the poor performance of the mines under government ownership and the now dismal outlook of the country in general, leaves a sense akin to a broad-brush accusation of incompetency leveled at the entire nation; suggesting the foul idea of failure to manage our own affairs. For the mines, part of the reason has to do with the removal of the profit motive and positive investment performance requirements as the ultimate end of enterprise and a shift to a mission emphasizing mass employment and social engineering. For the country as whole, it is the pervasive failure among leaders to value legacy and lack of follow-through on the patient work of building strong institutions serving all of society rather than individuals. There is an all-too common and apparent refrain that a little rot here and there does no harm when it benefits those working for the country.
So things carry on in Zambia—much talk of creating employment and accelerating development through infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and so on and so forth—all part of the ritual language of development economics and political campaigns with a rotating cast of characters, but in practice the answer to problem after problem for Zambia is always seen as copper and the mines. But how much copper do we have left, and is it enough of a bridge to get us to the next phase when agriculture, tourism, and manufacturing finally take over?
The Department of Fisheries and Livestock in Kabompo district in North Western Province has cautioned farmers to report any livestock movement from other areas as there is an outbreak of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) disease.
District Veterinary coordinator, Geshom Chungu said movement of any type of livestock should be reported as the disease is capable of wiping out the district’s livestock population in a very short time.
Dr. Chungu said this in Kabompo yesterday during a stakeholders IDP validation meeting.
“We have an outbreak of CBPP livestock disease which has affected almost the whole district, thus all movement of animals should first be reported to the department of veterinary”, Dr. Chungu said.
He said the veterinary department is currently encouraging to slaughter any animal found being suspected to have CBPP as a way of reducing the further spread.
Speaking at the same event, District Commissioner, Patrick Kasoka cautioned the general public to look out for unscrupulous people coming in the district with unauthorized livestock empowerment programmes as they are likely to be swindled.
“I am aware of organizations that are coming in the district through individuals that have come with unknown livestock empowerment programmes and soliciting for money, kindly report to my office and the police as people are being swindled”, Eng. Kasoka said.
He said he is aware of certain organizations currently in the district soliciting people to contribute money and in return receive various livestock such as goats and village chickens.
Eng. Kasoka therefore, appealed to the general public to report such individuals or organizations to the police as many people have reported to be swindled through such activities.
He also gave a two weeks ultimatum to Kabompo residents through the traditional leadership to ensure that all animals were confined to reduce the increased number of stray animals in the township.
“Let me take this opportunity to appeal through the traditional leadership to ask our people to confine their cattle, pigs and goats to help us reduce the number of stray animals in the district as well as the CBPP livestock disuse,” Eng. Kasoka said.
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of Kabompo public health office, Mahongo Kabanda said the local authority in collaboration with the fisheries and livestock department will soon conduct an animal cropping exercise for stray animals roaming in the township.
“The local authority together with the fisheries and livestock department will soon conduct a cropping exercise for stray dogs and animals if people do not adhere”, Mrs. Kabanda said.
She said various sensitizations have been carried out thus it is expected that the general public will adhere to public health regulations by confining their livestock in the district.
The government has called on the media to heighten protective measures against the Coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking in a statement issued to the media in Lusaka yesterday, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Dora Siliya indicated that media personnel are part of frontline workers hence must make protecting themselves against COVID-19 a priority.
Ms. Siliya implored the media to ensure that they adhere to the five protective golden rules against the virus whenever they are in the field.
She explained that the second wave of COVID-19 is the most dangerous, thus stressed the need to adhere to the public health guidelines by having access to personal protective equipment.
“Government wishes to advise that no media personnel should conduct an interview without wearing a mask and that media personnel must demand that sources wear masks before interviewing them. Media personnel should also ensure that they wash or sanitize their hands regularly, especially after handling microphones,” Ms. Siliya directed.
The Minister further called on the private sector to continue supporting the media fraternity with personal protective equipment such as gloves, face masks and sanitizers for personal use.
She reiterated the government’s appeal to all Zambians to heed to President Edgar Lungu’s call of taking personal responsibility against the pandemic in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19.
The country has continued to record a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases and which has not spared media personnel given the nature of their work which demands interaction with different members of society, hence pose a higher risk of contracting and transmitting the virus.
As Zambia continues to witness a spike in cases of Coronavirus disease, the Minister of Health has called for multi-sectoral enforcement of public health guidelines.
Dr Chanda has also encouraged the use of additional local home-based and traditional remedies to manage the less fever and non-symptomatic patients at home.
And the Minister of Health has announced that the Maina Soko military hospital is now the new additional isolation centre.
He says the Maina Soko military hospital will admit moderate to less critical patients.
Dr Chanda further disclosed that the Ministry of Health has seconded staff to work with the existing staff at the facility.
He says the development will assist in improving clinical management as the Levy Mwanawasa and the University Teaching hospitals isolation centre are decongested.
Dr Chanda expressed optimism that the decongesting of the two isolation centres will result in the efficient utilisation of oxygen and better patient outcomes.
Zambia has recorded 1,531 Coronavirus cases out of the 8,749 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.
According to a Ministerial statement issued and signed by Minister of Health, Jones Chanda, the country’s cumulative number of COVID-19 cases now stand at 37,605.
Dr Chanda revealed that 305 patients are currently in government healthcare facilities with 206 on oxygen therapy while 16 are in a critical state.
The Minister of Health disclosed that a total of 1,053 people are due for discharged today bringing the cumulative recoveries to 26,159.
On a sad note the country has recorded 9 mortalities with 7 in health facilities and 2 in communities in the last 24 hours bringing the cumulative pandemic related deaths to 546 ( 209 COVID-19 deaths, 333 associated and 4 yet to be classified).
Economist Chibamba Kanyama has raised questions over the recent decision by government to engage a UK based public relations firm to handle communications over the country’s debt for the next six months.
Government has hired Highgate Advisory Limited of the UK as the GRZ Communications advisor for the debt management process at a total cost of £333, 403.54 (US$452,897.36 or K9.7 million).
In a statement, Mr Kanyama said the decision to engage Highgate was not properly placed.
He however commended the Ministry of Finance for publicly communicating this undertaking as it helps to enhance transparency on debt matters.
“I urge government to continue with this stance. We should give no room to speculation if our desire is to improve public perceptions on the governance of the nation,” Mr Kanyama said.
“The contention I have about this decision is that it is not properly placed. Last year, we engaged Lazard to advise on the restructuring of the debt and bring Zambia to debt sustainability levels. Lazard also came with legal advisors. What I know is that any kind of restructuring goes with a communications strategy.”
He added, “I was team leader for the restructuring of ZSIC limited (spliting it into three entities). I worked with the consulting firm, First Mutual of Zimbabwe and the process took two years. The communications component was one of the seven key restructuring pillars (in other words, there was a communications strategy within the restructuring strategy).”
“What is debt restructuring without a communications strategy by those undertaking the assignment?”
He said, “I would have seriously thought the money being paid to Lazard included coming up with a communications strategy. This is not a presumption, we were told Lazard understood the expectations of stakeholders (including bondholders) and hence our engaging them.”
Mr Kanyama also questioned whether the decision to engage Highgate is not duplicating efforts by Lazard.
“Is this not duplication of efforts, paying more money for an exercise that should be undertaken by Lazard Lazard has no communications experts given the kind of work they do?”
“Was the communications component an oversight for us to fail to understand its importance when engaging a restructuring consultant? Given the meager resources before us as a country and the demand for prudence as stipulated in the Public Finance Management Act 2018, we need to demonstrate serious commitment to our own pronouncements.”
Mr Kanyama stressed that the Ministry of Finance should be ahead of all ministries in exercising frugality, due care and leadership with regards to public finance management.
“If we do not do this, even the newly launched Economic Revovery Programme will have little traction. I advise government to consult more and more locally on such intentions before engaging external consultants at huge cost.”
“There are certainly many Zambians willing to guide their own government on effective economic strategies at no cost. The debt problem is a battle for all of us and we want to see its back sooner than later.”
