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VICE-President George Kunda yesterday presented in Parliament for first reading the Public Interest disclosure Bill, which seeks to protect whistle blowers in the private and public sectors.
Presenting the Bill on behalf of Mr Kunda, Home Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani said the Bill would provide a framework within which public interest disclosures would be dealt with independently.
Mr Mangani said the Bill would provide procedures in which employees would disclose information regarding unlawful or irregular conduct by their employers.
Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha also presented the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Amendment Bill.
Acting Commerce Trade and Industry Minister Bradford Machila presented six other Bills related to registration of companies and trading requirements.
Mr Machila said the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines- Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) had not published its annual reports since the financial year ending June 2005.
He told Parliament that the delay in finalising the reports for 2006, 2007 and 2008, although already audited, was as a result of the need to report ZCCM-IH at a fair value in compliance with the international accounting standards.
He was responding to a question from Nchanga Member of Parliament Wilbur Simuusa (PF) who wanted to know when the annual reports for ZCCM-IH were last published.
He said that ZCCM-IH in subsidiary and associate companies had previously been reported at cost in all annual reports.
Mr Machila said following the completion of audit of accounts for the year 2006 and before publication, the company in 2007 engaged external consultants to undertake valuation of its investments.
“Unfortunately, the valuation exercise by the consultants has not been finalised to the satisfaction of ZCCM-IH’s external auditors due to lack of comprehensive resources data from the mines,” Mr Machila said.
And Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mutale Nalumango has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to issue a ministerial statement over the issuance of national registration cards (NRCs).
She said this after Mfuwe MP Mwimba Malama (PF) had earlier on asked when NRCs would be issued to eligible citizens in his constituency.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister David Phiri (MMD) explained that the issuance of NRCs was an on-going exercise.
But Chongwe MP Sylvia Masebo (MMD) argued that there were a lot of inconsistencies in the issuance of the identity cards, and asked the Speaker to direct the ministry to issue a ministerial statement.
And Gender and Women in Development Deputy Minister Lucy Changwe (MMD) told the House that 1,198 gender-based violence cases had been recorded from 2007 to date.
Of these cases, 911 men were convicted for the offence, while six women and 220 youth were convicted. Ms Changwe said this when she responded to a question from Kankoyo Member of Parliament Percy Chanda (PF) who wanted to know the number of people convicted for gender-based violence.
And Mr Machila said that the Pepsi Zambia plant in Lusaka would be opened by March this year. He said that the bottling company had invested US$30 million in the project and that 214 direct jobs would be created, alongside 600 indirect jobs.
He was responding to a question from Kanchibiya MP Davies Mwango (PF) who wanted to know when the plant would be opened and the number of jobs to be created.
MORE than 100 families in areas affected by floods in Lusaka have registered for the relocation process starting tomorrow, District Commissioner Christa Kalulu has said.
Ms Kalulu said the response from the families in the affected areas was good because they had understood that it was for their own protection.
She said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the water levels in some parts of the city were high and that the Government would do everything in its means to lessen the suffering of the people.
The townships worst hit by the floods are Chawama and Kanyama. Other affected areas are Mandevu, Mtendere, Kaunda Square, Kalikiliki and some parts of the light industrial area.
A Times check yesterday showed that many houses were submerged in water, forcing the residents to wade in filthy water ponds when leaving their homes.
The Government would remain supportive to the affected families and had secured land for the victims where they would be safe.
Ms Kalulu said the District Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), through district disaster management unit, had enough resources and had already put up tents, lavatories, and security, among other things.
Ms Kalulu said the DMMU was working closely with Lusaka City Council, Members of Parliament in the affected areas, and the ward development councillors where the registration was taking place, to make the exercise a success.
The shifting of the residents was the only option the Government had at the moment to prevent people from contracting diseases.
She said a lasting solution to the floods would be found at a later stage since, at the moment, pumping out water in face of the continuing downpours would not be a sustainable method.
The district commissioner thanked the office of the vice-president, Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company, and all the stakeholders for the support rendered to the relocation exercise.
Several residents complained in separate interviews that the flood situation in their townships was worsened by the under-developed drainage systems.
Amos Banda, of Chawama Township said it was sad that the drainage system had remained unattended to for a long time.
Mr Banda, whose house was flooded with dirty water, said he and other residents lived in fear of an outbreak of waterborne diseases like cholera because of the contaminated water.
Charles Mulenga, a Kanyama resident, wondered why the local authority failed to rehabilitate drainages during the dry season and only showed willingness when floods ravaged the area.
SECOND Republican president Frederick Chiluba has said he will defend his statements against Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata even if he was dragged to court.
Dr Chiluba acknowledged yesterday, through his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba, that he had received a letter from Mr Sata’s lawyers demanding an apology for the allegations stated against him during a Press briefing.
Dr Chiluba said it was a gamble for Mr Sata to even threaten to take him to court over remarks he made at a Press briefing held at his residence on Sunday last week, and that he was ready to defend every statement.
According to a letter written to Dr Chiluba by Mr Sata’s lawyer John Mulwila from Ituna Partners, the law firm had been retained in connection with the alleged innuendos and remarks that were also published by the Times of Zambia.
Mr Sata was particularly concerned about the allegations by Dr Chiluba that he was dismissed by the Northern Rhodesia police force and that he was arrested and imprisoned because of some criminal offences committed in the police force.
He was further concerned about Dr Chiluba’s allegations at the same Press briefing that he led a polygamous life and had a relationship with a woman in Ndola, yet he was receiving Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.
And Mr Sata’s lawyer stated that the words complained of by his client were in no doubt defamatory and the estimation in which he stood in the opinion of others had been affected by false statements.
Dr Mulwila said the statements by Dr Chiluba were an infringement on Mr Sata’s rights.
Mr Sata was now demanding a retraction of the words by Dr Chiluba within seven days and an apology through an appropriate media approved by his lawyers.
He warned that legal proceedings would commence should a favourable response not be made.
Meanwhile, a Ndola-based Bank of Zambia (BoZ) employee alleged to have two children with Mr Sata has not been available to give her own side of the story following Dr Chiluba’s revelations.
A Times reporter who went to the BoZ regional offices in Ndola on Monday was initially informed that she was available but security personnel later made aU-turn and said she was not on duty.
Efforts by the Times yesterday to either see the woman at the offices or meet her at her residence in Itawa proved futile as the reporter was told that she had shifted to Kansenshi.
Later in the day, the reporter learnt, through further investigations that the woman had travelled out of town for official duties.
Chief Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha has dismissed allegations that government is not taking action on the Auditor General’s report because it is shielding some people.
Lt Gen. Shikapwasha says government does not take action before the report is released but only does so once information is availed to all ministries and government departments.
Lt Gen Shikapwasha who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka that government will never do things without following procedure.
He explained that government was merely waiting for the right time to take action against those mentioned in the Auditor General’s report as opposed to assertions that it is trying to protect some people.
Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha noted that government understands that any misapplication or misappropriation of public resources is retrogressive to the development process of the country.
He explained that when the report is released it is taken to all the ministries so that each ministry is aware of issues that concern them.
He has since advised people to desist from blaming government on issues they do not understand properly.
Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha has since appealed to the public to have information on issues before issuing any statements to safeguard the peace the country has continued to enjoy.
On Thursday last week, Luena Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Milupi accused government of not taking action on revelations in the Auditor General’s reports as a way of protecting some people.
Mr. Milupi said issues of misappropriation of funds, non retirement of imprest and projects not being completed on time contribute to the country’s underdevelopment.
Immanuel Church of the Nazarene in Towamencin will see close to 400 youths shoot free throws into 18 basketball nets in order to raise money to build dormitories for students in Twachiyanda, Zambia, and to provide for care centers for orphans in Swaziland.
Hoops of Hope will run from 1 to 7:30 p.m., and all of the participants are the 400 or so youths in the church’s Upward Basketball League.
The event can be attributed to coincidence and being at the right place at the right time.
When Richelle Holnick, 13, a Pennridge Central middle schooler, attended a Revolve concert in Philadelphia, she witnessed a speech from 15-year-old Austin Gutwein about his nonprofit organization he started in 2004 called Hoops for Hope, which raised money for children in Africa orphaned by AIDS.
“That experience showed me what one kid can do,” Richelle said. “If we wanted he said he would e-mail everyone a way to start their own Hoops of Hope and the money will go to his organization to send over. I really wanted to help them out.”
At around the same time, Marie Jansen was reading “A Hole in Our Gospel,” which mentioned Gutwein and his effort.
Jansen and Holnick, unbeknownst to one another, approached the youth pastor at the church with the same idea and the same message.
“We got together,” Richelle said, “and now we are getting to do this.”
Each child participating in the event will get a sponsor to donate money toward their day of standing at the free-throw line shooting 1,000 baskets in honor of the children of Zambia and Swaziland.
“After I found out I was able to do this, I was happy that I could help and that other kids could help too,” Richelle said.
Youths will be broken up by groups and proceed to shoot hoops. Each one will try to sink 1,000 baskets.
“The idea is kids are coming in and getting sponsors to raise money, and that money will go to build a dorm in Zambia, where Austin Gutwein has raised money to build a school,” said Richelle’s mother, Cathy Holnick. “These kids have to walk so far for school, that they are sleeping in the school. They want to build a dorm so they have a place to sleep and they can go home on the weekends.”
Hoops of Hope “shoot-athons” have funded the building of a high school for 1,000 students, a medical lab and a counseling center, according to Holnick.
Most recently, Hoops have helped fund a water project in Kenya and a second medical clinic in Zambia.
The Hoops of Hope universal goal is to raise $580,000 to complete dorms for the high school.
All money collected through Hoops of Hope go to World Vision, a nonprofit that facilitates the building of Hoops of Hope projects.
Because it is in its preliminary year, the church’s Hoops of Hope event will feature only youths in its Upward league.
“Let’s see how we can do with this the first year. In subsequent years, we are hoping we can open it up to the community,” Cathy Holnick said. “Certainly, people can come from the community and be supportive at the event and they can donate as well.”
Individuals can also show up and sponsor a child through World Vision, she said. A World Vision table will be at the event.
Businesses in the community have asked to either be sponsors or to donate prizes.
“We want to make it a festive event and keep kids motivated,” Cathy Holnick said.
Scores of Chinese nationals resident in Zambia shooting pictures of their friends and relatives during the Chinese new year celebration in Lusaka
International media have reported up a storm on the recent surge in China-Africa links. They invoke a theme familiar from the past two centuries of colonialism and Cold War: Africa is beset by poverty and ignorance, caused by ruthless and corrupt rulers. Westerners are trying to bring them to book and instill order on the continent, but other forces, in this case Chinese interlopers, are making that difficult.
The facts on the ground show China’s engagement in Africa has been more positive than this discourse claims. The Chinese are getting bad press in the West because they are from a country that is neither liberal democratic nor white, yet are effectively competing with those who are – to the point that some Africans see Chinese development activities as providing a model.
The Chinese, it is said, are in Africa only for natural resources, to feed China’s industry and huge population. To exploit the continent, they provide loans and aid to rogue regimes.
They worsen the plight of Africans by dumping cheap, shoddy products in their markets and ruin local industry. Chinese investors pay Africans a pittance, in contrast to more ethical Western firms. Given all that, China can only be an obstacle to Africa’s development.
It’s an exciting tale but, alas, the media have gotten it all wrong. It’s not mainly China that impairs Africa’s development, but a world system of neo-liberal capitalism, based on privatization, trade liberalization, and reduced social spending, into which China is now partly integrated. As part of the same world system, China and the West have many activities in common in Africa, but there are also some distinctly Chinese trade and investment practices and these are often more appealing to Africans.
China-Africa trade was $3 billion in 1995, but $107 billion in 2008. That’s still only 4 percent of China’s world trade. Yet, it makes China Africa’s second largest trading partner and trade is balanced in Africa’s favor. On imports from Africa, the China-in-Africa media discourse focuses overwhelmingly on oil. It’s often alleged that Chinese demand for oil perpetuates Africa’s reliance on petroleum exports, preventing growth of more labor intensive industries, such as agro-business and manufacturing.
Most of what China buys from Africa is indeed oil (62 percent) and ores and metals (17 percent), but in 2008 oil was 88 percent of US imports from Africa and minerals made up most of the rest. China’s investment in oil production in Africa equals only 8 percent of that of Western multi-nationals and 3 percent of all investment in African oil. China received 9 percent of Africa’s oil exports, but Europe and the US each took 33 percent.
China also couples oil acquisition with low or no interest loans to build the infrastructure Africa needs, at a much lower cost than the West is willing to do. For 2006-2013, China lent or will lend $28 billion to Africa for infrastructure and as trade credit. There is also less scope for corruption with China’s loans for infrastructure projects – often built by Chinese firms paid directly by China’s government – than with the all-purpose aid Western sources provide African governments, such as the money for primary education in Uganda in the 1990s, four-fifths of which never reached the designated schools .
The focus of the China-in-Africa discourse on China’s exports is almost wholly on basic consumer items and their alleged negative consequences. Chinese goods are held responsible for the decline in Africa’s textile and clothing (T&C) industry. But when Chinese goods first came in mass around 2000, Africa’s T&C was already decimated by the international financial institutions’ forced trade liberalization of the 1980s and 1990s, which opened the market to second-hand and new clothing from developed countries. The fact is that Chinese goods are much cheaper than imports from other countries, as well as locally made goods that are made costly by poor infrastructure, pricey utilities, and corruption. A British government study found that Chinese exports to Africa mainly displace developed country exports.
China’s stock of investments in Africa rose from $49 million in 1990 to $7.8 billion in 2008. The total stock of FDI in Africa in 2007 was $36 billion, with most of it from the EU, US and South Africa. There are about a thousand significant Chinese enterprises in Africa, but the media discourse focuses only on investment in extractive industries, particularly on one investment, the Non-Ferrous Metals Corporation Africa (NFCA) Chambishi copper mine in Zambia.
Conditions at the Chambishi mine, with its 2,200 employees, have indeed been deplorable. Chambishi, however, is not the only Zambian mine where conditions are highly oppressive, as the many strikes at Western and white South African mines show. Zambians regard all the mines as much worse now than they were before privatization, at World Bank insistence, in the late 1990s. In any case, Chambishi mine is not the largest Chinese-owned enterprise in Africa. In Nigeria, a Chinese conglomerate employs 20,000, including many local managers, yet the media dwells on Chambishi.
A comparison of Chinese and Western firms in Africa would find that many on both sides have oppressive conditions, but Western firms garner much higher profits. In contrast to Western investments, many Chinese enterprises are equity joint ventures, sharing profits with Africans. Most produce for the local market and focus more on infrastructure and manufacturing than do Western companies.
China is presented in the discourse as “indifferent to Africa’s authoritarian despots, as it courts the continent for energy and minerals,” as a leading British journalist put it. But the US and France support most despots in Africa, providing them with military assistance and legitimacy. The West is also implicated in the trade in money and trade in people. Some 40 percent of Africa’s private wealth has been sent overseas (Martin Meredith, “The Fate of Africa: a Survey of Fifty Years of Independence,” Washington Post, Jan 20, 2006), much of it to banks that trade interest and secrecy for these funds. London and Zurich, not Beijing, receive these fruits of capital flight and tax evasion. Western states trade their citizenship for the skills of hundreds of thousands of African professionals, especially doctors and nurses who have trained in, but are now lost to Africa. China has trained tens of thousands of Africans to be doctors, engineers, agricultural specialists and they generally return to Africa (“China has Education Cooperation with 50 Countries,” Business Daily Update, Nov 28, 2005).
The China-in-Africa discourse lacks a comparative approach and reflects Western elites’ perception of their national interests and moral superiority. Its proponents fail to question Western government rhetoric about “aiding African development” and “promoting African democracy.” At the same time, they seize on any example of supposed exploitation by Chinese in Africa.
Many Africans – and some Westerners – question the binary view of a new Western “civilizing mission” versus the actions of “amoral” Chinese who don’t fully practice neo-liberalism by, for example, conditioning loans to African states on reduced spending on social services. They are increasingly rejecting a discourse that draws attention away from Africa’s systemic problems of exploitation and human rights and toward blaming Chinese, not for what they actually do in Africa, but for being the newly perceived strategic competitor of the West.
Barry Sautman is a political scientist and lawyer at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology who works on ethnic politics in China and China-Africa relations. Yan Hairong is an anthropologist at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the author of New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development and Women Workers in China (Duke University Press, 2008). The article first appeared in Yale Global online on Feb 10, 2010.
[China Daily 02/24/2010 page9]
By Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong (China Daily)
Ex-Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Kalale has returned to promoted Nkana FC.
Kalale popularly known as “Ichoni Mwibala” rejoined Nkana after leaving the team six years ago when they were relegated from the top-flight.
The goalkeeper went on to play for arch-rivals Power Dynamos and lately Nchanga rangers before returning to Nkana this season.
Kalale rose to fame in 2000 after joining from Nkwiza as Emmanuel Mschili’s able number two before making the position his own a season later under then coach Patrick Phiri.
He had a brief stint with the national team under former Zambia coach Jan Brouwer after earlier being under-20 goalkeeper.
Kalale reunites at Nkana with another contemporary midfielder Clement Mulenga who are now the only two players in this team from their last ever league triumph in 2001 under Phiri.
Visiting Norwegian State Secretary for Development, Ingrid Fiskaa,says she is encouraged by the works the Auditor General has been doing in fighting corruption in the country
Ms. Fiskaa said the office has exposed a lot of misappropriation of public funds which has put pressure on government to act but was quick to mention that her government was impressed with the results from the Zambian government.
She said the Zambian government was acting responsibly in respect to the public funds.
Ms. Fiskaa has pledged her government’s continued support to the Auditor General’s office and other institutions.
And Auditor General, Anna Chifungula says her office is happy that relevant authorities have started taking action on some of the concerns raised in the audit reports.
Ms. Chifungula says the actions taken are indications of the keen interest the authorities have towards ensuring that the misuse of public resources and fight corruption as reported in the auditor general’s reports are dealt with.
She cited the probe in the purchase of motor vehicles which is currently under pursuit as one of the many successes that have been made in response to the audit reports.
Ms. Chifungula said this to journalists after Norwegian State Secretary for Development Cooperation, Ingrid Fiskaa and her delegation called on her in Lusaka today.
She has also disclosed that there has been a reduction in the number of cases of misused public resources in the recently released auditor general’s report.
She added that the auditor general’s office has intensified the coverage of audited institutions which has also helped in further reducing the misuse of public funds.[quote]
Ms. Chifungula has meanwhile hailed the Norwegian government for its continued support to her office through various programmes in the last ten years.
The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested 62 peasant farmers countrywide and seized over ten tonnes of cannabis in the last seven days.
DEC public relations officer John Nyawali disclosed this during a media briefing in Kitwe.
Mr Nyawali said the latest arrest was yesterday when the commission arrested two peasant farmers of Kasata farming block in Chingola district who were found with 2.8 tones of cannabis field.
The two farmers, Kelvin Kabimbi and Tandeo Mwena, both aged 25 years, were cornered in an operation conducted by the DEC officers.
Mr Nyawali said the seizure in Chingola was the largest on the Copperbelt in the last five years.
He said the commission has also arrested 60 people country wide in the last one week after an operation in which 7.3 tones of various psychotropic substances were confiscated.
He said among the people arrested was one inmate of Mukobeko Maximum Prison in Kabwe, who was found with 19 balls of cannabis, and a grade 10 pupil of Imbolela high school in Serenje district, who was also found with 10 rolls of the banned drug.
Mr. Nyawali said the cultivation of cannabis in the country has reached alarming levels.
He has therefore appealed to farmers in the country to concentrate on growing cash crops which would sustain their food security and not engage in growing illegal drugs.
Former Defence Minister George Mpombo has complained that he is being treated unfairly by government following his naming in the 2008 Auditor General’s report.
The 2008 Auditor General’s report on the Ministry of Defence alleges that Mr. Mpombo fraudulently retired receipts amounting to K49 million in respects to accommodation and meals when he served as defence minister.
Mr. Mpombo has described this as political witch hunt meant at politically hurting him. He has since advised the MMD government that they will not be in power forever and should not use power to silence him.
He has vowed not be silenced and intimidated by those in government. Mr Mpombo says he continue championing the cause of democracy in the MMD, and nothing will stop him from challenging the republican president Rupiah Banda at the MMD national convention.
He was speaking last evening on QFM’s Monday Night Live. During the same show, Mr. Mpombo reiterated that as a result of president Rupiah Banda’s leadership, the MMD has slumped into its biggest political recession.
Mr Mpombo said the MMD needed strong leadership to make a strong political comeback and reverse the party’s dwindling political fortunes. He said that his vision is to breathe a blast of fresh air in the leadership of the MMD.
He said the poor performance of the ruling party in the Kasama Central by-election and the loss of the Solwezi central seat is a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the party’s acting president Rupiah Banda.
Mr Mpombo said this called for the change of direction in order to reinvigorate the party’s general membership in terms of vision.
Mr Mpombo also dismissed as incorrect the suggestion that the ruling MMD is making inroads in the copperbelt province to dislodge the Patriotic Front.
He said as a person who comes from the Copperbelt, the province remains 95% a Patriotic Front stronghold.
He said there is no real party organization taking place on the ground to claim that the MMD is making inroads on the copperbelt.
Dr. Henry Farrar, a pioneering medical missionary in Africa, died Feb. 22 in a Nashville, Tenn., hospital. He was 83.
Six days before his death, Farrar fell and hit his head after arriving at Carthage, Tenn., General Hospital where he worked. The fall caused a neck fracture and complications from which he never recovered.
In 1965 Farrar became the first located surgeon at Nigerian Christian Hospital, a church-supported medical mission in southeastern Nigeria. The West End Church of Christ in Nashville sponsored Farrar.
British physician Dr. Robert Whittaker succeeded Farrar 20 years later. Whittaker came to Nigeria after reading an article by Farrar inviting physicians to spend vacation time at the hospital.
Dr. Henry FarrarFarrar earned his medical degree from the University of Tennessee. In addition to his work in Nigeria, he served as a surgeon at Chimala Mission Hospital in Zambia. In 2005 a leader of the Asa community in Nigeria gave him the honorary title of chief. He and his wife, Grace, had six children.
At his bedside, Farrar’s family sang his favorite hymns, including “Let the Lower Lights be Burning” and “We’re Marching to Zion,” said daughter Marty Highfield.
Janice Bingham, associate professor in the College of Nursing at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., described Farrar as an “icon in medical missions.”
In a message to Farrar, Bingham wrote, “You have influenced literally thousands of people to serve the Great Physician in Africa.”
Zambia’s Emmanuel Mbola and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Mum In Guk fight for the ball during the international friendly match played at Nkoloma stadium in Lusaka, Zambia The Tottenham Football club of England has signed Zambian-born Emmanuel Mbola in a £1 million deal, officials confirmed here Tuesday.
The 16-year-old defender, who already has clocked up a remarkable 20 caps for his native African country, was the youngest player in the recent African Cup of Nations in Angola.
The youngster plays for Armenian side Yerevan ; and will be sent abroad for ’first-team’ experience next season, though astonishingly, he already qualifies for a European ’work permit’, his managers said.
Tottenham officials have welcomed him as “a star of the future”, having beaten their competitors West Ham FC to secure the teenage Zambian’s signature.
Zain Zambia, a unit of Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain, posted an 8 percent rise in profit before tax for the year to end-December as its subscriber base grew by more than 15 percent.
Zambia’s largest mobile service provider and one of Africa’s fastest-growing mobile companies said on Tuesday profit before tax rose to 416 billion Zambian kwacha as at December last year, compared with 386 billion kwacha in 2008.
Zain Zambia, whose current market share is about 70 percent, compared with rival MTN Zambia’s 27 percent and and state-run Cell-Z’s 3 percent, recorded a pre-tax profit of 342 billion kwacha in 2007, finance director Andrew Jones told Reuters.
Jones said Zain Zambia’s subscribers had increased to 3.076 million in December 2009, compared with 2.669 million in the same month in 2008 and 700,000 in 2005.
The company’s revenue rose to 1.38 trillion kwacha last year from 1.22 trillion kwacha recorded in 2008.
“The outlook for our business in 2010 … is more positive although we must remain cautious,” said David Holliday, Zain Zambia’s managing director.
Holliday added that the group was planning to launch its own international voice service and 3G network, which has video link for mobile phone users, during the first half of 2010.
Zain had started tests on 3G transmission technology and would roll the service out as soon as the communications authority granted it permission, Holliday said.
“These should provide potentially significant upsides to both revenue and profitability,” he said.
Holliday added Zain Zambia would also introduce other strategic initiatives to increase revenue and reduce costs.
Zain Zambia, which competes with rivals Cell-Z, a subsidiary of state-owned Zamtel and MTN Zambia, a unit of Africa’s biggest listed telecom firm, MTN (MTNJ.J) of South Africa, has spent $500 million on improving its network since its inception in 1998.
India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd is in talks to buy most of the African assets of Kuwaiti telecoms group Zain for $9 billion.
The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has revealed that Zambia National Team coach Herve Renard is among the many tacticians who have applied for the Tanzania job.
TFF’s General Secretary Fredrick Mwakalebela told Daily News Newspaper in Tanzania that t Renard was among high profile coaches who sent in their applications. Over 12 coaches have sent in their applications to replace Brazilian Marcio Maximo, whose contract expires in July.
Herve Renard impressed in the African Nations Cup in Angola by reaching the quarter-finals, but he is now seeking greener pastures.
In the wake of Maximo’s pending departure TFF has started the process of searching for his replacement and Mwakalebela said coaches from Venezuela, United Kingdom as well as other European countries have already submitted their application vying to take over from Maximo.
Reports also indicate that Cote D’Ivoire’s national soccer coach Vahid Haliihodzic who pitched camp with his team in the East African state ahead of the just ended Orange Caf Africa Nations Cup in Angola is also interested in taking charge of the Taifa Stars.
He will however be available after leading the Ivorians through their World Cup campaign this summer in South Africa.
Over the last few weeks, I have been looking back at the last decade particularly on the impact it has had on the Zambian marketplace. The last ten years, in Zambia, has seen a huge investment in real estate and property development. Zambia now booms with many shopping complexes all over the country. Housing estates all around Lusaka are equally booming.
Perhaps, another huge economic development that is new in Zambia is the emergence of banks and other micro lending institutions. In 2009 alone, Zambia saw five new commercial banks on the market—the largest number of new banks in a single year. Micro lending institutions continue to be on the rise, as a result this is creating a new need on the market—financial advisory and debt collection. Here are business opportunities to explore in Zambia. I have already written comprehensive business plans on this. Anyone interested?
Chinese investment in Zambia increased significantly in the last 10 years. It is estimated that by the end of 2008, Chinese investment in Zambia reached $800 million, representing a growth of over 35 percent as compared to the previous years. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China is likely to double if not triple in the next 10 years. Therefore, the next decade will continue to see an increase in Chinese investors looking for opportunities in agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and mining sectors.
The last ten years have all not been uphill. There have been a few downturns—Zambia was hit with the recent global economic crisis which saw copper prices fall. As a result, mining companies closed including other supporting industries. This meant little or no revenue for the government which strongly depends on taxing mining companies. Thankfully, the copper prices have risen again. However, it is now time the Zambian government explored other options of raising revenue.
In the next ten years there will be a huge increase in food production provided the government creates the right environment and implements the right policies. There is a sense of urgency for many Zambians who are involved in farming, food preservation and using new and more productive farming methods. In addition, many international organizations are at our mercy and investing hugely in this department. Zambia has all the necessary resources to make it the food basket for the southern region by 2020.
Another undoubtedly likely boom in Zambia is going to the internet use. Currently, high speed internet in Africa is at about 2% and perhaps lower in Zambia. The fiber optic cable from East Africa will bring about a big change in the way the internet will be used. With high speed internet we will see many households having internet in their homes. Therefore, many businesses will begin to align themselves on the web so as to target the users. Internet advertising will likely increase since it is cheaper, more targeted and easily updated.
Although many things will become more and more efficient and even cheaper I have big reservations for the transportation industry. At the rate we are going, in this country, we shall continue paying heavily on transportation and communication. There is not much investment on roads, railway lines and other forms of transportation even when there will be an additional million cars in the decade. This will just mean transportation will become slower and more expensive.
In Zambia, there are mainly three mobile phone service providers. The market is controlled by these three and new entrants into the market face insurmountable challenges. In this decade, the phone companies will continue reaping huge profits. There may be some efficiency one way or the other as far as a variety of services offered by these companies but they will come with a price. Users will continue paying handsomely throughout the decade provided there are no new entrants on the market.
It is not easy to predict on what the economy will look like in the next ten years because the activities of the government are not very clear. Government has not sold its policies to the Zambians and we are therefore left to wonder. However, if we are to make predictions on what the next ten years will be like, it will purely be based on history—what has been happening previously. Based on this we can predict some slow growth if copper prices continue to rise.
Finally, the next ten years present clear and big challenges for our leaders. We can make this decade to be the turnaround decade. A decade when turned tables for the millions living in poverty. A decade when we turned tables for the struggling entrepreneur. A decade when we turned tables for many farmers. A decade when we made the right decision that changed and improved our lifestyle here in Zambia. Let us make this decade our decade.
