aydpels

Take empowerement funds seriously

2009-10-29T02:58:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

THE announcement by the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) that it has allocated K10 billion to each province for disbursement this year is most welcome.
This revelation is a definite pointer to Government’s determination to ensure that the policy on citizens’ economic empowerment succeeds.

Already, the commission has approved 61 applications from nine provinces for September 2009 alone. The beneficiary provinces include Lusaka, Eastern, Western, Southern, Luapula, North-Western, Northern, Central and Copperbelt.

With this development, we urge fellow citizens to take the CEEC initiative seriously and prepare themselves to participate in the global economy as Government increases citizens’ access to investments through the CEEC programme.

Since the programme started last year, it is clear that Government wants to increase Zambia’s access to investment so that citizens, including women and the youth, have an opportunity to fully exploit their entrepreneurial abilities in many ways.

The creation of multi-facility economic zones on the Copperbelt and in Lusaka province is, incidentally, another way of empowering the local people in order to uplift their standards of living through job creation.

It is abundantly clear, therefore, that Government is keen to ensure that Zambians fully participate in the economic affairs, at both the national and international levels.

President Banda has repeatedly assured the nation that his Government on its part will continue implementing prudent macro-economic policies to safeguard gains made so far while ensuring that all economic activities benefit the people. The focus for this year is to grow the economy and diversify into various sectors, including agriculture and tourism.

Fair-minded and objective people will agree that so far, the country’s economic, political and social programmes are on the right track. This is evidenced by the positive economic developments which can be seen across the country.

It is with this background that we wish to encourage those who still habour mixed feelings about the CEEC to shake off their fears and anxieties and visit the nearest office in their area for advice on how to access the finances so that they are empowered to participate in national development.

The projects which the CEEC recently approved were mainly in manufacturing, information and communication technology, transport services, education, trading, tourism, agriculture, mining and construction.

This goes to show that the areas of interest are wide and there is room for the general population to engage in many projects of their choice. We, therefore urge members of the public to apply for funds and join other emerging entrepreneurs and get empowered through the CEEC programme.

As prospects for the global economy begin to brighten again, this is the time for Zambians to take advantage of the CEEC instrument and engage in entrepreneurial activity to help grow the national economy.

The notion that only Government is responsible for the growth of the economy is archaic as it does not tally with reality in today’s world.

Growing the national economy should be everyone’s business, especially now that Government has set up this facility that helps equip citizens with financial resources to start business ventures in any sector.CEE Funds are there for the taking. It’s up to citizens to rise to the challenge.

Livestock, key to growth, poverty reduction

2009-10-02T02:16:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

AGRICULTURE remains the key to growth and poverty reduction in Zambia as more than 60 per cent of the population derives its livelihood from it.

But it is clear that agricultural development has not received adequate support in the past, hence the deliberate shift by the government to give it the brace it deserves.

Statistics show that in the recent past, Government spending on agriculture has been less that five per cent of the national budget, and less than one per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This low spending has resulted in the run-down of agricultural infrastructure, poor extension service delivery and has sparked high and repeated incidences of livestock diseases. The effect has been low agricultural productivity and high prevalence of poverty, especially in rural communities.
Livestock production, in particular, which is a common urban and peri-urban income generating activity with potential to reduce poverty among households, has suffered a great deal due to insufficient support.

Outbreaks of the contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) in various districts, particularly in Southern and Western provinces, coupled with the foot and mouth disease, have, for example, threatened and significantly reduced the cattle population in these areas.

Reports indicate that the outbreaks are mainly due to uncontrolled cattle movement, coupled with a serious breakdown of animal disease surveillance systems in the country.

Raising cattle, or any other livestock for that matter, is therefore, a risky business in Zambia. A whole range of diseases can easily attack one’s herd with depressing regularity, often killing hundreds, if not thousands, of animals with each outbreak.

In some cases, diseases have wiped out entire herds, leaving the owners, mostly villagers, destitute.

The cost of disease weighs most heavily on the rural poor, who depend on cattle and other animals for their livelihood. Cattle are, in fact, in many areas a traditional store of value, a kind of bank account on hooves.

But despite the ever-looming danger of disease, few farmers vaccinate their animals or, better still, test them for infection. When animals fall sick, they usually die for lack of diagnosis. Medical assistance is rarely available, and when it is, villagers often don’t trust it to work.

Furthermore, there are too few veterinarians in the country, and those available usually work exclusively with large, commercial cattle owners. Most vets have little interest in serving the poor farmers, who are spread out across the countryside. Yet these are the people who need such help more.

President Banda’s statement in Cuba that his administration is in a hurry to fight poverty in rural communities through reducing and eliminating livestock diseases is, therefore, a clear pointer to Government’s resolve to help the poor rural communities.

Mr. Banda was emphatic when he said rural communities in Zambia depend heavily on livestock as a source of income and means of labour for their livelihood, hence the need to fight livestock diseases with renewed vigour.

It is necessary therefore that the existing gaps that have led to a breakdown of animal diseases surveillance systems and poor support to rural farmers are urgently addressed so that the livestock industry can be protected to improve agriculture and reduce poverty in the country.

Ease land acquisition to Zambians

2009-09-25T01:28:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

If it is difficult for Zambians resident in the country to acquire land, it is almost a nightmare for those living abroad to do so. Yet land is the first factor to consider if one is contemplating investment in property development, agriculture or business.

It is common knowledge that the government and the business community are working hard to develop a conducive environment for doing business in Zambia. The recent developments in the mines and modern shopping malls springing up across the country are there for all to see.

What is of concern, however, is whether ordinary Zambians are also getting a fair share of their own land to enable them to engage in income-generating ventures, including agriculture.

A Zambian economist, Yusuf Dodia, recently observed that some quarters of central and local government have, unfortunately, been extravagant in allocating land to all descriptions of investors, whether local or foreign.

Huge tracts of land have been given out to people and businesses that have sat on these properties only to re-sell them years later at astronomical prices, while local residents cannot access land for domestic and small-scale commercial or agricultural development.

Mr Dodia cites the shores of Lake Kariba from Siavonga right down beyond Maamba, where big chunks of land have been given to people outside the local communities. Many of these pieces of land have not seen a single piece of development in the form of buildings or other infrastructure beyond a simple barbed wire perimeter fence.

This scenario is, in fact, common in most parts of the country where huge tracts of land are left idle for a long time only to be sold to foreign investors with plenty of liquid cash.

Land acquisition by ordinary people is not an easy matter as it is further compounded by the long and arduous procedures one has to follow at the councils, Ministry of Lands or through the traditional rulers.

The directive by President Rupiah Banda to Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane and Minister of Lands Peter Daka to find ways of easing the process of acquiring land, especially for Zambians living abroad, is, therefore, very timely.

Zambia is currently an ideal destination for investment, and financial magnates across the globe target land and other resources for their investments. As the country opens up to the outside world, it is important that indigenous people have access to their own land and are not reduced to hopeless spectators.

Yes, local communities are encouraged to accept and support developments driven by foreign capital as these can lead to improvements in the quality of their lives. But when the people feel that they are mere spectators, they are likely to resent the developments and look for ways of undermining them.

There are also short- and long-term political ramifications of such a situation.
Addressing scores of Zambians living in New York on Tuesday, the President was emphatic that land is valuable and Zambians regardless of where they live should acquire pieces of land for agriculture and other investments. The “big investor” syndrome should not hold sway in perpetuity.

The challenge now is for the relevant stakeholders to do some domestic housekeeping and ensure that strategic planning of land allocation is instituted to enable local people and those in the diaspora to access land without difficulty.

Swine Flu causing havoc in Zambia

2009-09-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WE fully understand and appreciate many people’s concern at the increasing number of cases of suspected Swine Flu in the country, especially among school children.

After all, already, health authorities on the Copperbelt have closed Luanshya Trust School after the institution recorded a drastic increase in the number of children suffering from suspected Swine Flu or the H1N1 virus.

At Mpande Girls Secondary School in Kapiri Mposhi, 31 pupils are reportedly quarantined on suspicion that they are suffering from Swine Flu. The situation is the same in Ndola where more than 100 pupils at Ndola Girls National Technical High School were earlier in the week quarantined for suspected HINI infection.

This development is worrying in view of repeated warnings by medical authorities that Swine Flu is highly contagious and has already spread rapidly to 191 countries, starting from America to Europe and Asia and may well be taking its toll on Africa, including Zambia.

What complicates matters is that the signs and symptoms of H1N1 and seasonal flu are very similar and, like with common flu, most persons with H1N1, it is said, may get better even without any specific treatment. Transmission of the virus can, therefore, not easily be stopped.

It is also important to note that in an individual with a normally functioning immune system, the body is capable of effectively fighting off the virus using its own internal defences. But, as reports indicate, the infection could be fatal in individuals with low immunity. And there is evidence that the virus has already claimed lives in Mexico and other parts of the globe.

That’s why many people share the fears expressed by the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Leonard Hikaumba, who said in Kabwe that the situation may get worse if urgent measures are not taken to bring it under control.

In the view of Mr Hikaumba and others, the government should consider temporarily closing all schools countrywide in order to prevent the spread of the Swine Flu.

Experts reviewing the HINI pandemic worldwide, however, point out that closure of schools or public places like cinema halls and malls can only delay, but cannot stop, the spread of H1N1
They argue that closing schools is not a solution because the affected pupils would spread the disease to their families and the communities in which they live.

The experts say a vaccine is the most effective tool for controlling the spread of H1N1.
We think both viewpoints are valid and neither can be dismissed completely. What is needed, and quite urgently, is a careful study of all available options to come up with the most practical, effective, measure to safeguard life and avert the costs associated with treatment and care.

We welcome steps taken by Government to encourage individuals and communities to observe respiratory etiquette, hand hygiene and other measures to protect themselves against the disease. We hope the same zeal will be applied to secure a vaccine because it appears to be the most feasible measure available for controlling the spread of the pandemic.

In the meantime, Government should consider putting up emergency measures to ensure that pupils in examination classes continue learning even in the event that they are quarantined. Otherwise, they will be greatly disturbed and disadvantaged come examination time.

UNDP aids DATFs

2009-07-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WE COMMEND the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its decision to provide financial resources to the Ministry of Health for six months to facilitate operations of the District AIDS Task Forces (DATFs) around the country.

This follows the delayed disbursement of money by the Global Fund pending on-going investigations into the alleged theft of public resources at the ministry.

The move is commendable because the government is facing challenges to finance the health sector in view of the investigations at the ministry. The funds from the UNDP will, therefore, ameliorate the situation and assist sustain the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The funds are most welcome particularly because the government is currently implementing the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework (2006-2010), which led to the establishment of the National AIDS Council (NAC), the nine Provincial Task Forces and the 72 District AIDS Task Forces to support comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programmes.

DATFS normally receive funding per quarter from the Global Fund through the Ministry of Health for various AIDS sensitisation activities but this has not been possible since June 2009 because of the on-going negotiations between Government and the cooperating partners.

Support to the DATFs is crucial because they are responsible for mobilisation and coordination of the national response to HIV/AIDS at community level where its impact is most felt.

The human toll as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a tragic reality and the assurances by the UNDP resident coordinator Macleod Nyirongo that funding to the ministry will continue, therefore, gives us hope that help will continue to reach the districts where majority of the vulnerable rural communities live.

We are aware that despite the multiplicity of donors and of funds towards the HIV/AIDS fight, most of the programmes have not benefited the poor majority. But by decentralising the institutional response for HIV/AIDS programmes in rural communities, through the DATFs, the government has stimulated community-based initiatives in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment.

It is with this background that we salute UNDP for the gesture to support the DATFs for the next six months because the funds will promote a national response at the district level.

DATFs are district-level associations of political, community and non-governmental organisation leaders that work in partnership to coordinate HIV/AIDS activities in the communities.

We urge other organisations to emulate UNDP to assist DATFs access funds and improve on their ability to develop strategic HIV/AIDS plans, driven by local concerns and priorities.

To show gratitude for this magnanimous gesture, the DATFs should also use the resources prudently to ensure continued support.

Bumper maize harvest relief to families

2009-05-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

THE announcement by Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Brian Chituwo, that the country has recorded a maize surplus this year is welcome news to most households.

Dr Chituwo said on Thursday that the country has recorded a maize surplus of 203, 271 metric tonnes, which is sufficient both for human consumption and industrial utilization.

The maize surplus is a relief in most homes because families will now anticipate a reduction in the prices of mealie meal and other products, whose prices went up because there were insufficient stocks of the commodity in the country.

Maize was in some cases imported at a great cost forcing some millers to increase prices due to high production costs.

Government through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) was in the process prompted to subsidise the commodity to cushion the impact of high production costs and enable families afford to buy the staple food.

Now that the country has been informed of a bumper harvest, the nation is anxious to know what the floor price will be so that farmers, millers and other stakeholders can decide what to do this season.

We urge the Government to quickly announce the floor price of maize so that the farming community particularly peasant farmers do not rush to sell their maize to traders who will not receive value for their produce.

We, however, hope that the abundance of maize in the country will enable millers to cut on their production costs and pass on the benefit to consumers by reducing the price of roller and breakfast meal as well as stockfeed to ease the price of poultry products.

In light of the surplus, the government can also review the issue of maize exports but we wish to caution that exports be allowed only when the country has sufficient stocks in strategic reserves.

The experience of the recent past when emergency measures had to be instituted to import the commodity was costly and should be avoided by ensuring that the country has enough and affordable maize stocks to last until the next season.

We urge both large and small scale farmers to expand their hectares and stock enough seed to plant next season so that the country can have another bumper harvest.

We also urge the nation to work harder to produce other food crops because this year’s bumper maize r harvest is an indication that it is possible for Zambia to feed itself.

We believe the same attitude of hard work can be extended to other products so that the country can reduce its dependence on imports especially in view of the current global economic recession.

Quality education in Zambia on the horizon

2009-05-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

EDUCATION in Zambia is a basic human right and is vital for the development of the nation because it empowers people, enabling them to be proactive, to control their lives and broaden economic and social opportunities.

However, the education system in Zambia has suffered a decline in the recent past as a result of a drop in national revenue and other factors.

Despite this set back, the government has however, made serious effort to recover and reform the education sector.

We are, therefore, cheered by the on-going programme to decentralise education and the subsequent creation of education boards because this is a sure way of delivering quality education to the people.

It is commendable that the Ministry of Education is equally supportive of free primary education that has resulted in a massive increase in enrolment across the country.

The announcement by Education Minister Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa on Tuesday that Government is now involving all stakeholders in the provision of education is therefore a laudable move to ensure no one is left behind in the educational reforms.

Prof Lungwangwa said in Livingstone that Government has, through projects like CHANGES2, been encouraging the involvement of community participation so that it can render direct support to the operations of the education institutions.

This is how it should be because decentralising the delivery of education and involving local communities dismantles the top-bottom approach in planning and budgeting for education boards.

Planning for orphans and vulnerable children, for example, can better be done by local communities in which the orphans live as opposed to centralised prescriptions from the ministry headquarters in Lusaka.

It is gratifying that the performance of CHANGES2, a programme supported by USAID, which trains at least 800 teachers annually has so far proven to be a very useful tool to decentralise education.

The programme provides small grants for schools to begin income-generating activities, produces learning materials on HIV/AIDS, school health and nutrition, to support effective teaching in schools and communities.

We thank the United States government for supporting this progamme since inception in 2001 and we hope other well-wishers can assist the Ministry of Education reach out to other areas in the country.

We are aware that despite the reforms, investment in education is inadequate and support largely depends on external sources and we urge other cooperating partners to emulate USAID to accelerate the decentralisation of education in the country.

The government, too, should, on the other hand, seriously look at improving local resources and strengthen support to the education sector because it is a priority area in national development.

It is equally important that the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is still one of the most formidable challenges facing the country and the education sector in particular, is given attention because there are inadequate education and support services for students and teachers. Teachers are just beginning to come forward for HIV counselling and testing.

We hope under the decentralised system of education, HIV/AIDS education will be high on the agenda by the education boards, the high schools and the teacher training institutions and protect future generations.

Zambia's power black-outs to end soon

2009-05-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

ZAMBIA, like other countries in southern Africa, has been hit by a power shortage and has been rationing electricity supply for some time now.

The beginning of last year in particular brought a challenging period in the electricity sector in the country.

The national power grid failed on January 19, last year, and the whole country plunged into darkness.

Power was only partially restored in the early hours of Sunday, January 20, 2008. It was a difficult period for the nation as all sectors were affected.

Miners were trapped in shafts while other industries could not produce projected quantities as power was unreliable.

The nation was later informed that the black–out was initiated by a disturbance in the Zimbabwean grid, which resulted in the loss of a major load and shut down of the Kariba North Bank power station.

This caused overload and subsequent tripping of the machines at Kafue Gorge and Victoria falls power stations, resulting in the black-out.

Subsequently ZESCO Ltd, deepened power rationing to domestic consumers while the Copperbelt Energy Corporation, which supplies power to the copper and cobalt mines, also cut back supply following disruptions in electricity imports.

Although there is some stability in electricity supply, rationing has continued creating the need for alternative sources of electricity.

It is in this light that government through the Ministry of Energy and Water Development is looking for private partners to finance, construct and operate a hydroelectric power plant located in the Kafue Gorge, approximately 65km upstream of the confluence of the Kafue River with the Zambezi River to provider a source of power to supplement national demand.

Kafue Gorge Lower will be located immediately downstream of the existing 900 megawatts Kafue Gorge Upper hydroelectric power station.

It is therefore a positive development that the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation has this week invited officials from the Ministry of Energy and Water Development to Washington, D.C, to initiate discussions on the technical work completed on the Kafue Gorge project.

Once discussions with government are completed and a better understanding of the dam size is proposed, the next step will be to look for investors with knowledge of international best practice in large scale hydro-electric and dam projects as well as experience of working in emerging markets, preferably within the context of Southern Africa.

The need for increased electricity supply cannot be over emphasized because with increased activity in the mines, agriculture and other industries, consumption will also increase.

The country’s population is also on the rise and domestic needs for electricity are also increasing.
We are anxious to see an end to the costly power cuts as they affect production while domestic and industrial machines risk breaking down due to power surges.

The proposed Kafue Gorge hydropower project, which will have a capacity of 750 megawatts, is therefore the country’s only immediate hope that may end the power black-outs.

We urge all the stakeholders in the project to take the negotiations very seriously so that the project can be a reality in record time.

Zambians urged to work hard, diversify economy

2009-05-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WE SALUTE the international donors who have so far given Zambia US$174.1 million out of the US$312.88 million pledged for this year.

The government is obviously elated at this gesture because these funds will support the national budget to meet various development projects in the country.

The disbursements come in the wake of President Banda’s assurances that Government is committed to lift the living standards of the people and would work tirelessly to achieve this goal.

He has said his government is in a hurry to meet the aspirations of the people and that with hard work and cooperation, the desired development will be achieved.

Apart from these assurances, the government has put in place far-reaching measures to control inflation, curb corruption and has created an enabling environment for investment in the economy.

We therefore see the disbursement of the funds by the donors, which represents over 55 per cent of the projected budget support for 2009 as an indication of the confidence the international community has in the leadership of Mr Banda.

The decision by the donor community, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is a clear indication that the government can be trusted as it has demonstrated the desired leadership to serve the people of Zambia.

However, as much as we are grateful for the support from the donors, Zambians should continue working hard especially through economic diversification to enable the country have reliable and multiple foreign exchange generating sectors.

After almost 45 years of independence, the nation should by now be able to have several other economic sectors to fall back on especially since the mixed fortunes of the mining industry cannot always be counted on.

We therefore call on the nation to work harder and diversify the economy so that the country can generate financial resources from other sectors and reduce dependence on copper and lessen on foreign aid.

Apart from receiving grants from donors, the country should be able to tap the abundant local resources and create the much-needed wealth.

In that way, the country will be able to sustain itself economically while the generous assistance the country continues to receive will complement what the country has.

On the other hand, we wish to appeal to those charged with the implementation of donor-funded projects to ensure the money is used as intended.

Chinese firm takes over Luanshya mine

2009-05-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

THE Copperbelt is slowly getting back to its feet with the announcement that China Non- Ferrous Metal Company (NFCA) has been selected to take over Luanshya Copper Mine (LCM) and subsequently re-open it.

President Banda said negotiations are expected to end on May 22 in preparation for takeover of the mine at the end of this month.

This is a positive development for the country especially for the thousands of miners on the Copperbelt who lost jobs in the past few months at the height of the global economic crunch.

We are all anxious to know how the Chinese firm will handle LCM operations including the company’s social responsibility to run the Luanshya Mine Hospital, the Trust School, the Craft School and the sports recreational facilities in Luanshya.

One thing for sure is that NFCA faces a mammoth task to reorganize production of the mine and this may entail engaging new miners and other specialists including the use of new technology in mining.

A huge investment outlay will obviously be made to revive production as well as serious planning done to effectively run the Mine Hospital, schools and the sports facilities.

It is with this view in mind that we call for patience by all the stakeholders to give management at NFCA time to settle down once the negotiations are concluded and allow the company operate without any interference.

Stakeholders should therefore not expect miracles or overnight accomplishments in Luanshya - but with patience, the difficulties that beset the mine may just become history.

We call on the Mineworkers of Zambia (MUZ) and the National Union of Mineworkers Workers (NUMAW) and politicians to join government and assist the technical committee handling the negotiations with NFCA to arrive at a mutual package that will protect both the employees and the entrepreneur.

This is not a time for fault-finding but a time for solidarity to find long- lasting solutions to the mining industry.

Mining is not an easy task and it takes entrepreneurs with a heart for the nation to risk their finances and invest in copper production during this time of the global economic meltdown.

The price of copper is improving but this is not an automatic signal that investors can pump their monies anyhow where the metal is available.

The Chinese, particularly NFCA should therefore be praised for being magnanimous enough to take up this challenge to direct their resources into a mine where others have failed.

We are confident that the Chinese being a hard-working people, a trait they are known for, both by critics and admires, will soon bring a positive environment to LCM.

We urge the new mine owners to reconsider re-employing the miners who were retrenched and offer business opportunities to local suppliers and contractors to ease the unemployment in Luanshya and the Copperbelt region as a whole.

We also appeal to other mining firms in the country to emulate NFCA and re-invest in Zambia because the country still has the potential to remain a copper giant for a long time to come.

We urge other investors to take advantage of the prevailing peace in the country and the attractive concessions in the mining sector to tap the vast mineral wealth not only on the Copperbelt but in other areas as well.

Africa should step up Swine flu surveillance

2009-05-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

REPORTS that swine flu may have spread to Africa are worrying and we urge the nation to become more alert and report any suspicious case to the nearest medical authorities.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), some 12 suspected cases of swine flu were under investigation by Friday last week, though there is no confirmed case on the continent so far.

WHO Regional Director for Africa, Luis Gomez Sambo told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of African Ministers of Health in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that results of five cases under close investigation were being expected.

One of the five suspects is from Benin, while the remaining four are from Seychelles. There are also suspected cases in Kenya and Uganda while the suspected cases in South Africa have proved negative to the H1N1 strain of the virus.

We do not wish to alarm the nation but we feel duty bound to caution the public that although no case has been confirmed in Africa so far, the fact of the matter is that the continent “is under siege” and no country should sit on its laurels and think all is well.

As a country, Zambia therefore, needs to step up the surveillance system and ensure that concrete measures are in place to meet the emerging threat of the H1N1 and related epidemics.

Zambia is already a casualty of other pandemics like the HIV/AIDS and if the country is to be hit by the flu virus, the cost to respond to the disease may be too huge to bear or the country may even fail to adequately deal with problem.

It is for this reason that we wish to remind the nation to be more alert and vigilant over any possible outbreak of the H1N1 virus because if it is confirmed in some of these African countries, which are not too far away from Zambia, then the risk of spreading here become even higher.

We commend WHO for the quick response to the disease particularly its understanding that African countries are vulnerable and the response capacities of the individual governments need support.

The organisation is monitoring the outbreak and providing technical guidance to all countries, in addition to dispatching stocks of 1,000 Tamiflu vaccines to each member states in Africa to strengthen their response.
We join WHO’s call that disease surveillance be increased and that appropriate information about the disease.

continues to be provided to the public while relevant medicines should also be stockpiled for any eventuality.
According to the latest update from WHO, 23 countries have officially reported 2099 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.

Out of this number, a total of 44 deaths have been reported, including 42 in Mexico and two in the US.
We hope the African health ministers who gathered in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to discuss public health challenges confronting the continent, as well as efforts to improve maternal, neonatal and child health also came up with joint strategies to face the challenge posed by the new influenza outbreak.

With new the H1N1 influenza virus, now in our midst, the life expectancy on the continent may go down even further, hence the need for African countries to pull their resources together and be counted in taking the lead to protect the people from pandemics such as the swine flu.

Zambia, DRC frequent consultations critical

2009-05-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

ZAMBIA and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are neighbours who share one of the longest common borders in Africa and enjoy harmony despite the diversity of culture of the two peoples.

In fact, for a long time, even prior to independence, the two countries have co-existed as a family and have shared both difficult and happier times together.

It is due to this bond of cooperation that the successive governments in the two countries have over the years and in different ways tried to bring the people of the two countries much closer to each other.

Apart from the high-level bilateral visits by leaders in the two countries, the general population at different levels has also expressed the desire to live as one people, hence, the criss-crossing at border areas by both Zambian and Congolese nationals.

Some townships on the copperbelt are even popularly known as “little Congolese towns” because of the high population of the Congolese nationals living there and we are convinced that deep inside the DRC, some Zambians are obviously also at home there. This is how it should be - the true spirit of pan-Africanism.

We are therefore cheered by the current visit of the DRC interior and culture minister, Jean Marie Dikanga Kazadi, who said in Ndola on Wednesday that there was need for the two countries to meet regularly to discuss matters of common interest.

We agree that Zambia and the DRC should often meet as a family to discuss issues that concern both countries to enhance peace and cooperation.

Issues that immediately come to our mind include the current voluntary repatriation of Congolese refugees to their home country and the modernisarion of the Chembe border post.

We are aware that plans are underway to redesign and turn Chembe border in Mansa district into a modern town to prepare the area for an anticipated increase in the number of business activities since the commissioning of the Levy Mwanawasa Bridge.

Mansa district council Town Clerk Bwanga Kapumpa recently disclosed that the authority would use the K150 million Integrated Development Plan (IDP) funding from government to turn Chembe into a modern border town. How far have these plans gone? It will obviously be in the interest of both countries to know if there is progress.

The tarring of the Pedicle Road is also still outstanding and is one of the many issues that can boost development in the two countries, if it was concluded quickly.

We are also anxious to know if the repatriation of the Congolese in Zambian refugee camps is on course because there were reports that some of them were reluctant to go back home.

Such programmes and many others affecting the two countries call for dialogue so that there is harmonization in the implementation process.

It is commendable therefore that Mr Kazadi is in the country because the presence of the minister in the DRC delegation is an indication of the value the government of President Joseph Kabila attaches to the cooperation between the DRC and Zambia.

We hope the consultative talks will address pertinent security issues affecting the two countries and provide the platform for consensus to deal with other matters agreed in the joint regional permanent commission.

We agree with Copperbelt permanent secretary Villie Lombanya that the joint permanent commission, which was last convened in 2007, needs to meet regularly so that the momentum to enhance cooperation between the two countries is not lost.

Financial indiscipline rocks Ministry of Home Affairs

2009-05-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WE are disturbed by reports of glaring financial irregularities in the Ministry of Home Affairs that were exposed by the Public Accounts committee in Parliament on Wednesday.
In fact, our heart bleeds to learn that billions of Kwacha have either gone missing or are unaccounted for by a law enforcement ministry.

Workers who observed Labour Day yesterday must have shuddered in disappointment to learn that some workers in the Ministry of Home Affairs were recklessly embezzling funds running into billions of Kwacha despite the difficulties the country was going through and worse still, when they are the ones who are supposed to be curbing such malpractices.

Honestly, how does one explain such high levels of indiscipline by a Ministry which is supposed to be in the forefront in enforcing the law? It is really shameful indeed.

The public officers in the Ministry of Home Affairs who are misusing or misapplying public funds are as bad as ordinary thieves because they are stealing from the people.

This is day-light robbery if workers can take advantage of the loopholes in the ministry and deliberately fail to account for public funds.

We understand that some of the financial irregularities at the ministry include failure by workers to process loss reports, unvouched expenditure, over-statement of prices, non-recovery of loans, missing payment vouchers, unsupported payment vouchers and delayed banking.

Other irregularities include variation of contract prices, undelivered motor vehicles paid for using public funds, irregular contracts, unreturned imprest and wasteful expenditure.

We are agree with Public Accounts Committee chairperson, Charles Milupi that the permanent secretary, Mrs Ndiyoyi Mutiti, who is the controlling officer, has a mammoth task before her and she must ensure that all culprits are brought to book.

Mrs Mutiti should adhere to the directive that she should submit all the names of the officers that have misused or misapplied public funds. We are all anxious to see proof of action that has been taken against the officers.

Their names must be submitted to Parliament without hesitation and even made public because after all, there is nothing sensitive about publicising names of people who embezzle public resources.

It would not be enough for the controlling officer to recover money from an officer who steals public funds but the affected officers must be dealt with according to the law.

The ministry has to be cleaned and order restored because they were tarnishing the good image of a hard working government.

It was only the other day when Acting Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning Daniel Bowasi assured the nation that government had made progress by implementing comprehensive reforms to promote transparency and accountability.

But with reports of such reckless financial mismanagement at the ministry of Home Affairs, the public will start wondering about the truth was and this will derail the good intentions of the government.

We appeal to higher authorities to move in and stop the rot at the ministry and we recommend that those officers who will be found wanting be dismissed immediately or better still be turned to the Police for prosecution because their behaviour is scandalous to say the least.

Lift sanctions on Zimbabwe

2009-05-05T04:24:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

ZIMBABWE has suffered enough and it is time that the international community lifted the economic sanctions to allow the country implement the economic recovery programme.

The all inclusive government is now in office and it is commendable that it is trying by all means to improve the well being of its people.

It is in view of this that we echo President Banda’s call to lift sanctions that were imposed on Zimbabwe.

We feel the European Union and the United States in particular, can now reflect on their positions and join the SADC region and assist Zimbabwe succeed in its recovery programme.

The path which Zambia has taken to deepen the economic relations with Zimbabwe is commendable as it will go a long way in ameliorating that country’s economy which has been in limbo a long time.

The effects of the world-wide economic recession have obviously also hit Zimbabwe, making the country more vulnerable, hence the need for other countries to adopt a more sympathetic stance and lift the sanctions.

We are aware that the countries that imposed the sanctions acted in that manner because of problems of democracy that had surrounded Zimbabwe but that phase has since passed as there is now an all inclusive government in place to address the interests of the people.

The continued imposition of sanctions is therefore an unnecessary punishment on the people of Zimbabwe.

There is need to reduce poverty, improve infrastructure and increase trade and enhance agriculture and food security in Zimbabwe but this can only be achieved if all the cooperating partners work together.

Zimbabwe has the potential to fully exploit its economic potential and return to be a major food basket in the region but it needs help from the rest of the international community.

It is gratifying that the leadership in Zimbabwe is also sticking to the agreement between political parties and this should dispelled doubt in some sections of the international community about the success of the unity government.

Instead of continuing with sanctions, we appeal to those countries to take a second look at the potential of Zimbabwe’s agriculture and tourism and direct investments in those areas.

Mr Banda rightly observed that other countries should help Zimbabwe overcome her difficulties instead of looking for faults in the unity Government.

This is a time for reconciliation and we hope Zimbabwe will again become a member of the international community free from economic sanctions.

Zambia obseves May Day

2009-05-01T04:28:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

TODAY we join the rest of the nation in commemorating Labour Day which is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world to mark the economic and social achievements of workers.

It is a historical day as it provides for reflection on what the workers have achieved over the year and an opportunity for workers to take stock of their situation and plan ahead.

We are aware that this year’s celebration is being observed when the country is facing some of the most difficult times due to the adverse effects of the world-wide economic recession.

We agree it has been difficult for workers to make ends meet due to the high prices of food and the job losses especially in the mines.

This is however, not an opportunity for anybody especially opposition parties to politicise this year’s Labour Day celebrations.

There are reports that some political parties are planning to hold demonstrations over the job losses in the mines and this is uncalled for.

We appeal to such political parties to call off such demonstrations because the workers would not like to see their day being spoiled by politicians.

It would be unfortunate for politicians to hijack the day and use it to settle political scores by holding demonstrations.

We appeal to the workers and the public at large not to allow themselves to be used to fight personal and political battles by some disgruntled politicians who have no interest of the nation at heart.

We have said before that the current job losses in the mines and high prices cannot be blamed on the leadership of President Banda because they are as a result of circumstances beyond the control of the Zambian government.

Demonstrations over the job losses would therefore not solve the problem.
We appeal to those harbouring ideas to demonstrate to be level-headed and instead use the occasion to plan ahead and find solutions to the current economic problems.

We are all concerned about the plight of the workers who lost jobs in the mines and the government has engaged in talks with the various stakeholders to mitigate the effects of the global recession.

The problems affecting Zambia have also hit many other countries and there is no need to make political capital out of the global economic crunch.

The government, opposition parties, workers’ representatives and the workers themselves should instead put their heads together and help find solutions.

Swine flu causing havoc, Zambia on alert

2009-04-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

SWINE influenza, also known as swine flu is a deadly viral disease which has so far claimed at least 152 people, with 1,614 suspected victims still under observation in Mexico, raising world-wide concern as it has the potential of becoming a pandemic.

Already, there are reports that new cases of the flu have been confirmed in New Zealand and Israel. The United Nations has warned that it cannot be contained.

The US, Canada, Spain and Britain have also confirmed cases but no deaths have been reported outside Mexico, where the virus was first reported.

We commend the Ministry of Health for reactivating the national surveillance system to monitor a possible outbreak of the disease in Zambia.

Setting up screening facilities at Lusaka’s International Airport is an indication of how serious the Ministry of Health views the problem.

We urge the ministry to ensure that similar facilities are established at major entry points such as the Livingstone International Airport where there is high traffic of tourists coming into country.

It is gratifying that although Zambia is geographically far away from the affected countries, Government is on high alert.

The government is obviously aware that the country is not immune to infections because the disease is airborne and the virus can easily spread from one area to another.

Health Minister Kapembwa Simbao said on Monday that Government is working with the World Health Organisation and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a public health agency, to mobilise drugs and logistics in case the swine flu breaks out in Zambia.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease suffered by pigs and is caused by an influenza virus, which according to the CDC, the symptoms and transmission of infection from human to human is much like that of seasonal flu.

Common symptoms include fever, lethargy, and lack of appetite and coughing, while runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea have also been reported.

It is believed to be spread between humans through coughing or sneezing of infected people and touching something with the virus on it and then touching their own nose or mouth. Swine flu cannot be spread by pork products, since the virus is not transmitted through food.

To prevent infection, it is recommended that people should take standard personal precautions against influenza.

The public is advised to stay in good general health and observed the recommended standards of hygiene, get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.

We wish to warn people especially those with intense exposure to pigs that they are at risk of infection from these animals, if the animals carry a virus strain that is also able to infect humans.
The current swine flu outbreak is the spread of a new strain of an influenza virus A (H1N1) that was first detected by health agencies in March 2009 in three areas in Mexico.

The CDC has recommended the use of drugs for the treatment and prevention of swine influenza viruses but that the virus isolates that have been tested from the US and Mexico have shown resistance.

We call on the public to cooperate with the medical authorities and observe personal precautions against influenza during this difficult time.

We also appeal to other stakeholders to mount sensitisation campaigns about swine flu and assist the government to adequately prepare the nation for any eventuality.

New medical diagnostic centre set for Lusaka

2009-04-29T08:10:00.001-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso
ZAMBIA has joined several other African countries in reducing the number of deaths from malaria by more than half through aggressive control measures.

This is a remarkable achievement and a tribute to the hard work and commitment by the Ministry of health and its partners, who over the years mapped out various strategies to combat the killer disease.

Some of the measures included an accelerated distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and in-door spraying of households.

These were preventive measures which resulted in a 66 per cent reduction of malaria in the country.

We revisit the issue of malaria again this week as a reference to remind the nation on the importance of prevention being better than cure following reports that Bharat Nuclear Scans of India plans to set up a diagnostic centre in Lusaka at a cost of US$3 million.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry and Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) in Lusaka on Monday, the Company Managing Director, Dr Emmanuel Rajamani said his firm is in talks with Government on the possibility of setting up the centre, which is likely to be established in six months time once discussions are concluded.

The firm is also discussing with the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and private health institutions on how it can work with them.

Such a medical service is more than welcome because it will not only enhance medical care but will result in a reduction on the number of deaths amongst the people.

We are confident that the introduction of a new diagnostic centre will also reduce the cost of health services in the country because it will provide for early detection of diseases and enable medical personnel to prescribe appropriate treatment in good time.

As Professor Neil Nkanza said, the first thing in health management is correct health management and treatment can be effected once the proper diagnosis is known.

The plan to set up the new diagnostic centre is therefore commendable because, at the moment, Zambia lacks proper diagnostic facilities.

Apart from Nkanza laboratories in Lusaka and some X-ray equipment at UTH, and the CT scan in Kitwe, some of which are obsolete, the country has no diagnostic facilities to talk about.

Most patients are often treated without any diagnosis about the ailments they complain of while others spend huge sums of money on travel abroad where the facilities are available.

Many have died because of insufficient diagnosis and we feel this is unacceptable.

We are, therefore, cheered by reports that Bharat Nuclear Scans plans to set up a medical diagnostic centre in Lusaka because the service will augment the few established diagnostic centres in the country and assist early detection of diseases and save lives.

North-West urged to partner with investors

2009-04-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

FORMER World Bank country manager Ohene Nyanin once described the North-Western Province of Zambia as an awakening giant in the Zambian economy.

This is because of the recent economic activities particularly the booming mining industry from the production of copper at Kansanshi and Lumwana mine near Solwezi. Lumwana is now considered to be the largest copper mine in Africa.

The copper mines have attracted many people with various business and investment interests and have made Solwezi in particular to become one of the fastest growing towns in Zambia.

Only a few years ago, some workers were reluctant to be transferred to North-Western Province because of its underdevelopment and many considered it a demotion to be transferred there.

But this is no longer the case as the province is quickly graduating into the new Coppperbelt of Zambia.

The North-Western Province is endowed with abundant natural resources waiting to be developed and these include large quantities of various mineral deposits, woodlands, large tracts of fertile land and good rainfall, rivers and above all, hard working people.

All these provide good opportunities for investments and other economic activities.

It is with background that we join the call by North-Western Province permanent Secretary Dr Eustern Mambwe to the people in the province to take advantage of the investment opportunities by forming partnerships with foreign investors.

Speaking when he officially opened the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) business climate investment workshop in Solwezi over the weekend Dr Mambwe said it is up to the people of the province to stand up and be counted in national development.

We agree with Dr Mambwe that for too long, this part of Zambia has been called a cinderella province and with increased investment in the province, the people need to take up the challenge and be counted by partnering with investors.

Dr Mambwe said Government is convinced that the development of the country will largely depend on the North-Western Province as the area holds 50 per cent of minerals.

The province is the second largest in the country and holds 52 per cent of water in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which is not put to good use.

Furthermore, the province is endowed with rich biodiversity and wildlife areas that remain largely untapped, for example, the West Lunga National Park and its adjacent Chibwika-Ntambo, Lukwakwa and Musele-Matebo Game Management Areas (GMAs), which are undeveloped and have been depleted but hold promise for recovery.

There is definitely need to ensure that the vast resource endowments do not just remain potential opportunities but become real and actual investments for the benefit of the province.

We commend traditional rulers in the province for the role they are playing in attracting investment because the country stands to benefit from productive relationships between community leaders and investors.

With such concerted efforts from community leaders and other stakeholders, the province is certainly headed to be an economic giant that it should be.

Master Plan to ease congestion in the capital

2009-04-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

LUSAKA is facing huge challenges such as traffic congestion and poor sanitation which are impacting negatively on efforts to attract investment.

The proposal by Lusaka City Council to create satellite towns around the capital to relieve pressure on population growth in the city is therefore most welcome.

Lusaka City Council director of engineering Bornwell Luanga said on Thursday that the council intends to develop satellite towns to ensure that development and business activities were not only in Lusaka but also in surrounding districts as well.

The satellite towns would be self-contained and would help decongest Lusaka city through the Lusaka City Master Plan which was devised last year with the support of the Japanese government.

The Master Plan is aimed at developing water supply and sanitation, public transportation, traffic and infrastructure improvement in dwelling places.

We are particularly elated by this Master Plan because focus will be directed on public transport to have ring roads to reduce traffic congestion in the central business district.

The town centre has become a no- go area particularly at peak hours due to traffic congestion and this is not good for any business, hence the need to open up the area.

Two types of ring roads have been proposed and would include the inner and the outer routes, which under the first phase, will run from Kafue Road through Misisi to Musi-o-Tunya extension near Woodlands Stadium and then run parallel to Chilimbulu road.

The second phase will run from Kafue road through Chibolya and John Laing and will join Lumumba road.

With such a vision, we are hopeful that the capital city will be transformed and traffic congestion in the business district would become a thing of the past.

The Master Plan that will include building of standard houses, putting a reliable water supply, proper sanitation, streetlights and creation of shopping centres, will certainly revive the glorious days of Lusaka when it was a garden city with beautiful surroundings.

With this type of development the quality of life of the people will certainly be enhanced.

Congolese refugees urged to go home

2009-04-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

ZAMBIA has a long tradition of hosting refugees that flee civil and political strife from their own countries.

The refugees mostly come from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with a smaller but significant number from Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia.

With peace now returning to some of these war-torn countries, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in, conjunction with the Zambian government, has in the recent past been helping repatriate these refugees to their countries of origin.

It is with this background that we join the call by Ministry of Home Affairs permanent secretary Ndiyoyi Mutiti to Congolese refugees in Zambia to take advantage of next month’s voluntary repatriation programme so that they can contribute to the reconstruction of their country.

Mrs Mutiti said on Thursday last week that conditions in Congo are conducive for refugees to return home.

The Zambian government, she said, would work hard to ensure that it played its role in the implementation of the repatriation programme.

We are aware that some refugees may no longer want to return to their native countries and would want to prolong their stay in Zambia.

With assistance from the UNHCR, some refugees have, for example, set up fish farms, poultry units and even a bakery at Meheba refugee camp and many would be tempted to prolong their stay in the country.

But such refugees, who have made Zambia a home for themselves must be mindful of the fact that the UN refugee agency will close voluntary repatriation programmes in the next two years.

Without help from the UNHCR and other donor organisations, which have rendered commendable support over the years, the refugees who may try to put off their return home may just find themselves stranded and it is best that they seize this opportunity to return home when there is still goodwill.

In the 2006 and 2007 season, 74,000 Angolans and 7,000 Congolese refugees were repatriated to their countries of origin. The UN humanitarian agencies are hoping to assist some 26,000 Congolese and other refugees return home during the 2008 and 2009 season.

The International Organisation for Migration is expected to facilitate transportation while the World Food Programme will provide food to the returnees.

It is clear that the necessary support and logistics are in place for the safe return of the Congolese refugees.

It is gratifying that the Secretary-General of the Congolese Ministry of the Interior and Security Bynza Sanda, who was in the country for a meeting with the Zambian government and the UNHCR, was also satisfied with talks on the repatriation programme and subsequently called on his fellow nationals to return home and take part in the development of their country.

Thumbs up to grain traders for reducing prices

2009-04-17T02:05:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WE commend the grain traders who have reduced the price of roller meal, wheat and stockfeed by between K10, 000 and K15, 000.

This is a significant reduction and it has come as a huge relief for most households who were unable to afford mealie meal, bread and let alone chickens and eggs due to high prices.

As the Millers Association of Zambia vice-chairman Peter Cottan said on Wednesday, the reduction will definitely stimulate consumption of the staple food and the other foodstuffs.

Most traders are increasing prices of essential commodities and often exaggerating the effects of the global recession and causing untold hardships in homes but grain traders have chosen a different direction. This is how it should be.

We are particularly cheered by the reduction in the price of roller meal because it is consumed by most people and constitutes the much needed energy food for majority of the people.

We are confident that with a reduction in the price of wheat and flour, bakers will also push the benefit to consumers of bread, which has become part of the main menu in most households especially for breakfast.

The price of wheat on the international market has reduced from $600 per tonne to between $300 and $400 per tonne and the decision to push this relief to consumers of wheat products is commendable because bread will become more cheaply priced.

The price reduction of stockfeed will also enable many families to afford chickens and eggs, which had become prohibitive.

We are anxiously waiting for the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to announce the floor price of white maize for this season but so far indications are that a bumper harvest is expected this year.

It is estimated that Zambia’s total white maize out -put in 2008/2009 is expected to exceed 1.2 million tonnes produced in the previous season.

With such amounts of grain in the country, we hope more price reductions will be effected to include breakfast meal.

We appeal to peasant farmers in particular to patiently wait for the announcement of the new maize price so that they can get real value for their produce.

Once FRA collects the maize, millers will in turn receive adequate quantities and flood the market with cheaply priced mealie meal.

We also wish to warn unscrupulous traders who are in the habit of clinging on to high prices to stop the practice and pass on the benefits of price reductions to consumers.

It is important that the country has sufficient and affordable mealie meal because this constitutes the main diet in most homes and the nation cannot afford to have skyrocketing prices of essential commodities when it is grappling with the effects of the global credit crunch.

EU pumps K261.1bn to boost Zambia's health service

2009-04-16T05:53:00.001-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WE salute the European Union (EU) for committing a grant of K261.1 billion to the government to help improve public health service delivery.

We have no doubt that with such an injection of financial resources, the government will use the funds judiciously to improve the quality of life of the people.

Zambia’s health sector is weak and is challenged by several factors that include a high and complex disease burden, which is compounded by the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and malaria.
The hospitals across the country face staff shortages while the supply of drugs and other medical requirements needs to be improved.

Most of the medical equipment and accessories need to be upgraded while at the same time improving the general working environment.

The grant, whose agreement was signed in Lusaka last week by the EU commissioner for health and consumer protection, Mrs. Androulla Vassiliou, and Minister of Health, Kapembwa Simbao, has therefore, come as a relief as it will go a long way in addressing the bottlenecks in the health sector.

The grant is under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) for Zambia, under the period 2009-2011 and it will be channeled through sector budget support, which is Government’s preferred aid modality.

This support is a clear demonstration of the confidence the EU has in President Rupiah Banda’s Government’s to protect core sectors of national development in the light of the global financial and economic crisis.

The assurance from Mr. Simbao that Government was determined to provide a comprehensive policy and legal framework for effective coordination, implementation and monitoring of health services is also commendable particularly now when fears are mounting that the global recession may get worse.

During hard times like now, the nation pins its hope on an effective health system and it is gratifying that the EU has come to our aid when help is needed most.

The country is already feeling the harsh realities of the recession and it would be a tragedy to have a non-functioning health sector.

We urge other cooperating partners to emulate the EU and show compassion to poor nations like Zambia and assist where possible.

Zambians urged to unite as global recession bites

2009-04-15T05:58:00.001-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WITHOUT doubt Zambians are feeling the effects of the world-wide economic recession but it is also a time of reflection as a people to cast individual differences aside and strive to be more united than ever before.

As the minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Lieutenant-General Ronnie Shikapwasha observed on Monday, this is a crucial time for the nation to provide the necessary leadership to overcome the difficulties the country is facing.

We are aware that there are some politicians including some members of the clergy and civil society organisations who want to take advantage of the situation and fan trouble.

The peace and tranquility Zambia is enjoying may just fizzle out if the country is not careful. This is a timely warning which should be taken seriously.

It is with this background that we echo Lt-Gen Shikapwasa‘s call that those in leadership, at all levels, should refrain from politicising economic problems but join government in finding solutions.

The various interest groups should instead work with the government to mitigate the effects of the recession.

We also agree with the opposition party- UNIP- that the global economic recession had put the national economy at stake and that it would be irresponsible for political parties, civil society organizations and church organizations to use its effects to settle political scores.

The nation should be on alert and ignore statements aimed at inciting people to rise against the government but should concentrate on promoting peace and unity in the country.

We are mindful of the fact that a lot of workers have lost jobs particularly on the Copperbelt and residents must be very careful with some members of the clergy and civil society groups who may want to upset the peace in the region.

Inspector-General of Police Francis Kabonde should be commended for issuing a timely warning to would be trouble makers that the law will visit them if they try to use the economic crisis for their own selfish motives.

Destroying peace has devastating consequences and it would be naïve for anybody to blame the leadership of President Banda for the recession because his government was nowhere close to the origins of the credit crunch.

It is very clear that the scale of the global recession is vast and that in every country, workers are confronted with the urgent need to fight back against job losses and pay cuts. Other countries are even worse off than Zambia.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that this year, the world is heading for the first year of zero economic growth since 1945. As many as 51 million jobs could go, bringing official global unemployment to 240 million by the end of this year.

With such a scenario, there is definitely need for prudent planning and unity of purpose by every nation, Zambia included.

Peace be with you: Catholic Church not political

2009-04-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

IT IS a sigh of relief to hear that the Catholic Church it is not a political party to fight and criticize the government but that it was in fact a partner in development.

The assurance from Catholic Bishop of Mongu diocese, Paul Duffy, at the weekend, has dispelled mounting speculation in the country that the Catholic Church was at logger-heads with government following some recent developments within the church.

We were particularly concerned with activities and statements surrounding some of its leaders such as those attributed to Radio Icingelo station manager, Father Frank Bwalya, who is alleged to be at the centre of a political movement through which he is calling on Zambians to “change or die for Zambia.”

Father Bwalya’s activities including his reaction to the general leadership of President Banda leave question marks on what his role is at the radio station, let alone, his role as a leader of one of the most influential churches in the country.

We are concerned on whether Father Bwalya consults his superiors in the Church or if he has the blessings of the leadership and general membership about his work or about what he intends to do now.

The Catholic Church has generally been an inspiration about its messages of dialogue and reconciliation, but the recent happenings in the church like the recent boycott of the national consultative forum on the economy, was a clear indication of double standards.

Its silence on the activities of Father Bwalya, has also raised questions on whether the leadership in the Catholic Church consults its members in the same spirit, it has repeatedly called on the government to consult on important issues affecting the nation.

We wonder therefore, whether members are consulted before the leadership issues pronouncements, some of which, border on unwarranted attacks against the government.
The church is a sacred institution whose role is to provide healing and guidance to the nation and not a source of conflict.

We are therefore delighted that Father Duffy, who met and held fruitful talks with President Banda in Mongu, has assured the nation that the Church and the government will work together for the ultimate benefit of the people of Zambia.

The assurance is commendable particularly that it was made during the Easter weekend, which is an opportunity for all Christians and the nation at large to renew their hope and pray for a better country.

North-South Corridor urged to address HIV/AIDS

2009-04-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WE ARE happy with the efforts of our leaders in Southern African Development Community (SADC), East African Community (EAC) and Comesa to open up these regional groupings and strengthen integration among people under the North-South Corridor, as this will enhance development and reduce poverty.

We are, however, worried that as much as this development is desirable, the resultant effects of such integration could worsen the HIV/AIDS epidemic which is ravaging the three sub-regions.

The bottlenecks in infrastructure, particularly the roads and rail systems, once improved, will result in quicker flow of trade and consequently, the people too, will find it easier to cross from one country to another.

The much-needed economic activities will be enhanced and this is critical especially in the wake of the world-wide economic meltdown. But while our leaders find funds and ways to harmonise policies and regulations including infrastructure development, they should also pay attention to curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS that may increase due to deepened integration.

We agree with Britain’s Minister of State, Gareth Thomas, who said last week in Lusaka that there was need for the sub-region to invest more in the fight against HIV/AIDS while developing the North-South Corridor project.

Mr Thomas made the call during a transport, HIV/AIDS and health roundtable discussion organised by UK’s Department of International Development.

It is with this understanding that, as much as we welcome the North-South project, we hope that clear measures will also be taken into account to combat the epidemic as we develop the region’s infrastructure.

Obviously, human traffic along the corridor is bound to increase with improved policies but this can also have negative consequences as it may trigger more problems associated with HIV/AIDS.

Furthermore, there is a general assumption and perception that truck drivers are spreading HIV and STIs and although little data is available to support this assertion, researchers say increased mobility is one of the drivers of HIV/AIDS.

We therefore urge our leaders, donors and other partners to critically look at the problem of HIV/AIDS and plan for its inclusion as they come up with packages including funding for the North-South Corridor.

The corridor is intended to uplift the living standards of the people and it would be a futile exercise if the same population the project is aimed at assisting is imperiled further by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Zambia confronts global economic crisis

2009-04-04T04:06:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

The die has been cast and all eyes are now on Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka where the National Conference kicks off today to find solutions to the country’s pressing economic problems.

The next two days will either spell boom or doom for Zambia as more than 500 delegates deliberate for solutions to challenges facing various sectors of the national economy.

Uncertainty and instability in international financial, currency and commodity markets, coupled with doubts about the direction of monetary policy in some major developed countries, have contributed to a gloomy outlook for the world economy and this has presented considerable risks for developing countries like Zambia.

We salute President Banda’s government for convening this consultative meeting because it is timely and focused.

This consultative meeting is also a plus for Zambia because the country is probably the first in Africa to hold a meeting of such magnitude, so soon after the G20, the world’s most influential nations, met in London two days ago in search of solutions to the global crisis.

If leaders of the world’s richest nations can take the trouble to consult amongst themselves, what more with poor nations like Zambia? The conference is, in fact, a matter of life and death for us because the majority of our people are poor and the economic meltdown will worsen if not confronted in good time.

We obviously do not expect eminent personalities who have been invited to turn the meeting into a mere talking shop but to use the occasion to explore strategies that can offer hope and bring solutions to the country’s economic problems.

We are aware that the conference provides great temptation for politicians to engage in diatribes intended to catch the attention of voters, but we warn all those who may try to do so that the red card is already up for them.

It is a pity that the United Party for National Development (UPND) and the Patriotic Front (PF) have boycotted the national conference.

The two opposition parties should have seized this opportunity to articulate their concerns and spell out their proposals on the global economic crisis instead of boycotting a national cause of this nature.

President Banda has adopted an open door policy that also embraces opposition political parties and it is disappointing that UPND and the PF have decided to shun the Indaba.

However, it is not too late for them to get to Mulungushi and join the rest of the delegates because their voices could make a difference.

The recent closures of the mines, which have led to thousands of people being jobless, are an indicator that not all is well in the economy.

Zambia’s stock markets have fallen and the Kwacha has depreciated to worrying levels, resulting in difficulties to engage in meaningful trade with other countries. Large financial institutions have also collapsed and this has had an adverse effect on Zambia.

Governments even in the wealthiest nations have had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems, and we hope rescue plans for Zambia will emerge from the conference.

It is during such times of crisis that unity of purpose is required and we call on all delegates to be patriotic, serve mother Zambia and help turn the economy around.

Hunger Stalking rural Zambia

2009-03-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

Hunger is not a pleasant experience. In fact no one wants to be hungry at any time. Even those who fast for reasons best known to themselves, don’t envy the experience because the immediate effect of hunger is pain, which if prolonged, can be severe, and could lead to death.

We are therefore disturbed about reports of looming hunger in Gwembe, in Southern province and Kalabo in Western province, where local people are feared to be on the verge of starvation.

Chief Simumba of the Tonga people in Siavonga is worried that his subjects may not survive unless Government provides relief food. Most people in the chiefdom did not produce enough food during the last farming season because of drought and the destruction of crops by elephants.

We are worried that what could be seen to be isolated cases of people without food could turn out to be a national disaster of famine if urgent measures are not taken to avert the hunger situation.

We are concerned because prolonged hunger or famine can result in death and disease, destruction of livestock and seed, crime and other social disorders, and unnecessary migration by the people.

People who lack sufficient food lose weight and grow extremely weak. Many victims become so feeble that they die from diarrhea or some other ailment. Old people and young children usually are the first to die and we do not wish to see this happen, especially in the wake of a national bumper maize harvest in the last season

It’s however commendable that in Kalabo, the government has already swung into action, and so far 900 tonnes of relief maize have been sent to the area through the Disaster Management Unit (DMMU), which was working in conjunction with the World Food Programme (WFP).

We hope the same speed is applied in Southern province so that the people of Gwembe, Siavonga and Sinazongwe are equally distributed with relief food.

What is worrying us further is that reports of hunger in Gwembe and Kalabo seem to have become a perennial problem and there appears to be no solution.

Kalabo district was last year among the areas in Western province which were affected by flooding and heavy rain, causing destruction to crops and infrastructure like bridges.

We fear this destruction could happen again this year considering the high rainfall the country is experiencing.

We know government has a multitude of priorities but averting hunger and death should be treated as an emergency because a myriad of other problems can follow.

Cholera, for example can easily break out in an area where there is hunger and such a disease can easily take many lives because people weakened by hunger do not recover easily from disease.

Large numbers of people affected by hunger can also flee from their homes and live in crowded areas where they will scrounge for the little food they find and further compounding the spread of diseases. Such people will also frequently drink impure water, which can carry disease.

Destruction of livestock and seed can also prolong the disaster. Many farm animals will be killed for food. Farmers may end up eating all their seed before the planting season begins. Such damaging losses will hinder them from returning to a normal life and may lower production levels.

Crime and other social disorders would increase too. Crimes such as looting, prostitution, and theft can multiply. Desperate people will steal food and other items they would not obtain otherwise. They may sell stolen goods to buy something to eat.

There may be scattered outbreaks of violence, particularly near food distribution centers. This is not what we want to see in the Gwembe valley or any place for that matter. Government should quickly move in and help the people.

Case of abuse of commuter rights

2009-03-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

To: The Deputy Director- Road Transport
Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA)
P.0 Box 32167
Dedan Kimathi Road
Lusaka

From: Pelekelo Liswaniso
C/o Zambia Daily Mail
P. O. Box 31421
Lusaka

16th March, 2009

Dear Mr. M’tonga,

Re: Complaint against Kuhoma Transport at Inter-City Bus Terminus

I wish to bring to your attention to the ridicule and inconvenience the travelling public are subjected to at Lusaka’s Inter-City Bus Terminus, perpetrated by operators such as Kuhoma Transport.

Some of these cases border on shameless day-light robbery, fraud, cheating and harassment, contrary to the laws of Zambia.

A case in point is yesterday on Sunday, March 15, 2009, when my son and his friend, who were returning to school in Ndola, bought bus tickets at 07:20 hours, in the presence of my wife, after being assured by the conductor of ABL 2284, which was travelling to the Copperbelt that it was a time bus, scheduled to leave at 08:00 hours when in fact not. The bus belongs to Kuhoma Transport of Kitwe.

My son and his friend innocently jumped on the bus after paying K120, 000 (K60, 000 each), hoping to leave at 08:00 hours and arrive in Ndola safely and in time to also safely catch a taxi to the boarding school.

However, the bus did not leave at 08:00 hours as promised. The two pupils were even more shocked three and half hours later when they were told that the bus would not leave until it was full.

Realising the predicament in which they were and the fear of arriving in Ndola in the night, as it had happened before when my son had spent seven hours languishing in a bus at the station in a similar circumstance earlier at the beginning of the school term, he called me from his mobile at 10:30 hours complaining about the delay.

I rushed to the Inter-City Terminus immediately, only to find the said bus with only a handful of passengers inside. The purported passengers who were earlier seen on the bus had vanished in thin air.

When I inquired from the man, the conductor I suppose, who had sold my son the tickets, and still had a receipt book in his hands on why the bus had not left for the Copperbelt as scheduled at 08:00, he rudely retorted that it was not a time bus and that it would only leave the station when it was full.

Please find attached the photo of the said conductor in checked shirt besides the Kuhoma Bus.

I informed the said conductor and the colleagues he was with that I was worried about the safety of my son and his friend as they were pupils and I did not want them to arrive in Ndola in the night and subsequently asked for a refund so that they could get on to another bus.

To my surprise, the conductor simply walked away and said in Bemba mixed with English that: “ Mule umfwa, te time bus iyii, and there is no refund.”

Realising that I was heading nowhere with the bus crew, I was prompted to ask for the telephone number of Kuhoma Transport and one of them said I could contact the owner on Cell: 097-7-822868.

I immediately rang the number and to my further disappointment, the man who answered my call and claiming that he was the owner of the bus flatly refused to listen to my explanation and that no refunds will be made because it was not a time bus.

I was shocked to say the least because his reaction was out of this world. He was rude and his answers had no resemblance of any public relations at all. He humiliated me even further for trying to get some redress from him saying before he cut off the line that I could go anywhere and complain if I wished.

Ha… I was dumb founded…! A bus owner speaking to a customer like that. I shuddered and wondered what had befallen me. Again, I had hit a brick wall. I gave up and left them.

I then inquired from other buses and fortunately found a Euro Bus almost full with passengers travelling to the Copperbelt. I pleaded with the bus crew, and luckily, they sold me two tickets and the boys, retrieved their luggage from the Kuhoma Bus and boarded the Euro bus which left ten minutes later. I parted away with K120, 000 (for the two boys). What an agonizing day!

I decided to go home and almost treated the episode a closed matter but on second thoughts, I decided to report the matter to the Police within the Inter-City Bus Terminus. The matter was officially recorded at 11:30 hours the same day on Sunday, March 15, 2009 and to my disappointment again, the Police said there was nothing they could do.

I left the Police Post feeling more demoralised and wondered whether they were any laws being respected vis-à-vis the rights of the traveling public.

It is with this background that I have found no other way of addressing the matter than lodging this complaint to your good office, hoping that sanity prevails at Inter-City Bus Terminus.

Kindly facilitate my refund from Kuhoma Transport for the fare by my son and his friend as they did not travel by that bus.

I also hope that measures are introduced to protect the travelling public from such ill-treatment and RTSA should strongly consider opening a help desk at Inter-city bus station to curb such unscrupulous bus crews.

I thank you in anticipation.

Pelekelo Liswaniso
Online/Production Editor
Cell: 097-7-280464

c.c Commuter Rights Association of Zambia
c.c. Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA)

Crackdown down unscrupulous bus operators

2009-03-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

TRAVELLING by bus or coach, especially now that we have a lot of road-worthy fleets is supposed to be enjoyable but not any more because of the unbecoming behavior of some bus operators especially at Inter-City Bus Terminus in Lusaka.

Despite the abundance of buses in the country, the terminus has become a no- go area and a nightmare if one has no choice but to use a bus to travel out of the capital and this is very disturbing.

What first hits a traveler the moment they enter the Inter-City Terminus area is a horde of calls boys, who in their quest to get a tip from bus crews literary drag customers to the waiting buses.

Worse still, passengers are subjected to unwarranted ridicule and unnecessary inconvenience, perpetrated by some unscrupulous transport operators who claim to be running scheduled buses when in fact not.

Travellers are made to buy tickets in advance on promises by unscrupulous bus crews that the buses they were boarding would start off at a given time when this was not the case.

Many travellers including pupils returning to schools are forced to wait for long hours before the buses they have boarded start off for their destinations. Most of them end up travelling or arriving late in the night, which is risky, while others end up spending nights on the buses to wait for dawn the following day to get to their final destinations.

There is a lot of unfair business practice amongst bus operators and having a Police Post at the station was not helping matters because nothing is done to address the complaints and yet some of the cases border on shameless day-light robbery, fraud, cheating and harassment, contrary to the laws of Zambia.

What is more shocking is that some bus operators have allegedly employed people to sit on buses to pretend they were passengers whilst they were not and were being paid K20,000 at the end of the day for conning the travelling public. Commuter Rights Association of Zambia (CRAZ), President Aaron Kamuti disclosed this yesterday. Worse still, some distraught passengers are denied refunds when they choose to leave the buses.

It makes sad reading to learn on page 3 of today’s Zambia Daily Mail that passengers’ rights are abused on a daily basis and that the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has been flooded with complaints.

Zambia is a country of laws and no one is above the law. It’s unacceptable that some bus operators seem to derive pleasure cheating and troubling the travelling public.

We are, however, cheered by the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) which has warned that it will start revoking licences from operators who abuse passenger’s rights.

Hats off to RTSA director, Frederick Mwalusaka, who said yesterday, that the agency cannot sit idly while the public were being cheated and ridiculed by some bus operators.

As Mr Mwalusaka stated, time is very important in any business but this has not been the case with the operators at Inter-City Bus terminus.

For those who were in the dark about their rights, Mr Mwalusaka explained that travellers have the right under the Transport Act to get a substantial amount of the fare as refund any time they changed their mind not to travel and it was illegal for operators to refuse to do so
.
He said customers had the right to be refunded if they were not happy with the services being offered by any operator.

Yes, any operator found wanting should firmly be dealt with to bring sanity at Inter- City Bus Terminus than allow gangsters to control the area.

We are anxious to know the outcome of the petition by RTSA to the Minister of Local government and Housing Benny Tetamashimba to include the agency on the proposed boards, which would help regulate Inter-City Bus Terminus and the industry in general.

We are also asking for extra vigilance from the travelling public not only those who use the Inter-City Terminus in Lusaka but elsewhere in the country to report any misconduct by bus operators so that there is order at the stations and on our the roads.

Further measures should also be introduced to protect the travellers and we hope RTSA will consider opening a help desk at the station to curb unscrupulous behaviour.

We urge the public to also report cases of misconduct to the CRAZ and the Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA), who are the watchdogs of consumer rights.

Increased food production answer to economic woes

2009-03-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

ZAMBIA is fortunate not to have been included on the just released International Monetary Fund (IMF) list of the world’s poorest countries hard hit by the global financial crisis. Those named in the report as vulnerable countries include Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan and our neighbour, Angola.

The IMF report says poor countries face greater exposure to the current crisis because they are more integrated into the international economy than they used to be.

These countries, according to the IMF, are more likely to feel the impact through a downturn in trade and falls in foreign investment and remittances - money sent home by people working abroad.

We say Zambia is fortunate because the credit crunch taking a toll in other countries is already being felt here. Our Kwacha has depreciated to an all-time low of K5,690 to US$1 and it is feared its volatility may continue.

Trade with other countries has dwindled while the backbone of our economy - the copper mines - are closing down, leaving thousands of workers jobless. Prices of commodities including, mealie meal, and the staple food have skyrocketed, plunging the country into a state of uncertainty.

However, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. The call by Bank of Zambia Governor, Caleb Fundanga, for increased food production in order for the country to earn the much needed foreign exchange through food exports, should be taken very seriously.

During a meeting with the business community in Ndola on Thursday this week, Dr Fundanga said the Zambian economy would only register growth through diversification from mining to agriculture following the drop in metal prices globally.

We agree with Dr Fundanga that this country is not poor. It has a lot of land on which to grow more food that can be exported to neighbouring countries and generate foreign exchange.

Increased food production is the only answer to the effects of the global meltdown, which is already causing havoc in many countries.

In the recent past, there was relative food security in Zambia because the country was blessed with good rains. But the policy of encouraging maize production in every region and subsidised prices did not work well for the country as this resulted in a big change in the eating habits of the people, with maize taking unusual prominence in the diet while traditional crops such as sorghum, millet an cassava were abandoned.

Apart from land, Zambia has abundant water resources which have not been fully developed and utilised for increased food production. The full exploitation of the irrigation potential, for example, can enhance and maximise farming profits, reduce the risk of financial loss due to bad weather and improve household food security.

We are aware that Government is also putting in place measures to ensure quick and equitable allocation of water rights among farmers and other users. The testing of new irrigation technologies and the transfer of appropriate technologies to the agricultural sector is also being encouraged.

Not too long ago, Zambia helped most of her neighbours to attain independence and it’s unfortunate that the country now finds itself having to import food from these countries.
With its resource endowment and vast potential, Zambia should, instead, be the one producing for export to these countries and to earn the much needed foreign exchange.

Now that the envisaged multi-facility economic zones are becoming a reality, the local business community should also take advantage of their establishment and help turn around the economy. Diversification is truly the only way out of our current economic problems.

Review Forestry Policy

2009-03-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

LOOK around and you will enjoy the scenery of a green environment annually handed down to us by nature as our inheritance at this time of the year when the country is blessed with rain.

The surroundings, especially our forests, look lush and fresh because trees are growing and blossoming, which is a healthy sign. But this is deceptive. Somewhere deep in the forests, some illegal activities are taking place.

Charcoal burners are busy logging and burning trees. Other people are busy exporting timber illegally and getting filthy rich. Trees are being removed on a daily basis without due regard to the long-term effects this will have on our country. It’s green now, but for how long if deforestation continues unabated? This is a matter of serious concern.

Which is why we are greatly cheered by President Banda’s announcement on Wednesday that Government will this year review the country’s forestry policy with a view to improve management of the forest resources and curb illegal timber exports and charcoal burning.

Government is further determined to mainstream climate change issues which include the forests in all development plans and strategies to insulate the country’s economy from climate shocks.

President Banda assured the nation about these measures when a team of visiting European Union (EU) students, teachers and journalists paid a courtesy call on him at State House.
Hats off to the President! We urge the relevant authorities to follow up his concerns very seriously and ensure that our forests are protected.

The negative effects of deforestation are not a figment of academic conjecture – they are real and there for all to see. Apart from the well known fact of encouraging desertification, deforestation is a contributor to global warming and has been cited as one of the major causes of the greenhouse effect.

The greenhouse effect refers to the change in the steady state temperature of the earth caused by the presence of an atmosphere containing gases that absorb and emit radiation. Zambia is part of the global village and should be seen to act along with other international players in reducing greenhouse emissions. It can do so by, for example, curbing rampant deforestation to help make the atmosphere clean.

The nation ought to know that deforestation also affects our water cycle. In a country where most of the people do not have access to clean or adequate water, any disturbance in the water cycle will spell nothing but disaster for many.

We should also point out that trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, there will be no trees to evaporate away this water and this results in a much drier climate.

Further, deforestation reduces the content of water in the soil and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. Deforestation also reduces soil cohesion, resulting in erosion, flooding and landslides. Now, floods and landslides are things nobody wants to see.

That’s why we welcome a review of our forestry policy to ensure that we have a framework for better management of our forest resources as a basis for the development of economic sectors such as agriculture and tourism while addressing the impact of climate change.

A vibrant energy sector crucial for Zambia’s economic growth

2008-01-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

DESPITE an economic boom owing to revival of mining activities and a rise in global copper prices, the majority of Zambians still live in abject poverty.
The benefits of the economic boom still elude the majority of Zambians as poverty is still deep and widespread.

Over 70 per cent of the population is poor and has inadequate access to healthcare and education, nutritious food, clean water, clothing and housing, according to the Rural Poverty Portal of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Unemployment is high while diseases are widespread and hunger looms in most households.
And if Zambia is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - to halve poverty by 2015 – drastic measures must be taken at all levels and in all areas of society.

The need for intervention is great. It’s probably this realisation that prompted the Zambian government to formulate an anti-poverty strategy, whose implementation is, however, heavily supported by other countries and donor agencies.

When he assumed the Chairmanship of the Southern African Development community (SADC) earrly this year, President Mwanawasa, he would concentrate on the development of infrastructure because it was a pre-requisite to economic development.
Mr. Mwanawasa said the region required a good road network, rail transport, telecommunications and energy among other things.

The Fifth National Development Plan (2006-2010)-a comprehensive five –year blueprint that will guide Zambia’s development process- shows that Zambia is richly endowed with a range of indigenous energy sources, particularly woodlands and forests, hydropower, coal and renewable sources of energy.

Woodland and forests cover about 66 per cent of the total land area and provide about 70 per cent of the country’s energy requirements.

The country’s hydropower resource potential stands at an estimated 6,000 Mega Watts (MW) while the installed capacity is a mere 1,876 MW.

Hydro-electric plants represent 99 per cent of electricity production in the country with the major sources being Kafue Gorge, Kariba North Bank and Victoria Falls Power Stations – all in the southern part of the country.

Kariba and Victoria Falls power stations are on the Zambezi River, shared by seven other riparian states in the SADC region.

The country’s electricity is predominantly consumed by the mines, accounting for 68 per cent while households only use 19 per cent of the total.

The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) says vigorous efforts are needed to remedy the energy situation in Zambia because only 20 per cent of the population has access to electricity.

Proven coal reserves are estimated at 30 million tonnes with several hundred million tonnes of probable reserves.

Currently, a coal mine is in operation at Maamba in the Southern Province with a design output of 1 million tonnes per annum.

In recent years, the contribution of coal to total energy consumption has declined to barely two per cent due to production constraints.

Established infrastructure for petroleum import and processing include the 1,710 kilometre TAZAMA Pipeline, the Indeni Petroleum Refinery and the Ndola Fuel Terminal. Indeni is designed to process around 1 million tonnes of spiked crude per annum.

The main distributor of electricity is the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO), a parastatal, while the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) is a relatively new investor in the Zambian energy sector and plays a critical role in the mining industry.

The Zambian power system is interconnected at a high voltage with Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo and at a lower voltage to the north of Botswana and Namibia. These countries form the large export market.

The government appreciates that the availability and accessibility of modern energy services result in sustained economic growth, environmental protection and poverty reduction.

Access to energy services is a prerequisite to the achievement of the MDGs and poverty can be reduced by increasing access to energy services because every economic and social sector needs adequate, reliable and affordable energy input to grow.

Furthermore, increasing accessibility of the majority of the population to modern energy services and efficient devices would lead to improvement of living conditions for Zambians in rural and urban areas.

Low income households, for example, tend to rely on basic forms of energy such as firewood and charcoal while high income households use higher forms of energy such as electricity.

The use of low forms of energy such as wood, dung, and other biomass lead to indoor air pollution, which is a major by-product of traditional energy sources, further diminishing the quality of life of poor households.

Such poor patterns of energy use result in adverse effects on nutrition, health, productivity, and the environment. Instead, programmes should focus directly on creating opportunities for poor people to improve their energy services.

Access to electricity can improve people’s lives dramatically and can subsequently make companies grow and work effectively.

Currently, only 20 percent of Zambia’s population has access to electricity. In rural areas, a paltry two percent has access to electricity.

Former Energy and Water Development Minister Felix Mutati, now at Commerce and Industry, has repeatedly said the present use and production of energy must be changed, partly to meet the needs of a greater number of people for electricity and energy for their heating and cooking, and partly to reduce the destruction of the environment.

Energy consumption patterns must also be changed. Charcoal burning at the moment is the order of the day leaving a trail of destruction in the forests.

When he launched the Electricity Consumer Charter in Lusaka in April this year, Mr. Mutati said electricity faults should also be rectified promptly and consumers notified about any power interruptions.

Load-shedding of electricity should also be done in an equitable and transparent manner and an atmosphere for complaints should be created in order to inspire confidence. Zesco, Energy Regulation Board (ERB) and the consumers should work closely together and create harmony in the energy sector, Mr. Mutati said.

The ERB, he said, should ensure areas of inefficiency were addressed and ensure it performed its arbitration role in cases of disputes between consumers and the utility company in an effective manner).

In order to avert the looming deficit in the generation capacity of electricity which is focused to occur between 2007 and 2008 as a result of increased economic activities in the country, government has embarked on the expansion of the Kariba North- Bank Power Station.

In addition, progress has been made in the preparatory works for the construction of Itezhi-tezhi and Kafue Gorge hydro-power projects.

Government is also exploring construction of mini-hydro power stations in potential areas of Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt and North-Western provinces where natural water falls are available.

Solar energy is another form of energy being promoted by government. To this effect some of the chiefs’ palaces, schools and health centres around the country have already benefited from the installation of solar equipment. Some rural districts have also been connected to the national grid.

In its planning process, government is also integrating the management of the energy sector by ensuring that various players that use water resources are considered when implementing the energy policy, and thereby, essentially translating the ideals of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) into practice.

PAWD Project ends as IWRM gains momentum in Zambia

2007-12-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

DECEMBER is a month of festivities and reflections in most countries in Africa and Zambia ‘s water sector will particularly be taking stock of achievements and failures, if any, of the Canadian funded Partnership for Africa’s Water Development (PAWD) project whose four-year financial support comes to an end.

Specialists in the country’s water sector are meanwhile reviewing the final draft of Zambia’s Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Water Efficiency Implementation Plan for water related sectors, which is strongly linked to the country’s Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) and the long-term 2030 vision before the PAWD project comes to an end

PAWD Project Manager Chimwang’a Maseka confirmed in Lusaka that the PAWD project ends in December 2007 but was confident that groundwork had been laid to implement IWRM in the country’s planning and development process.

The overall purpose of the PAWD project was to contribute towards the achievement of water-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) targets supporting sustainable water resources management in Africa by facilitating action-oriented planning and implementation in selected African countries.

In other words, the overall goal of PAWD was to support African countries in the sustainable management of their water resource as a contribution to eliminating poverty, improving well-being and protecting natural resources.

The specific objective of the project was to facilitate IWRM at the national and regional level through action-oriented planning and implementation of IWRM frameworks, integration of water in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and strengthened partnerships in selected African countries and regions.

Beneficiaries of this project included stakeholders involved in water management in the selected countries in the region and ultimately, the beneficiaries will be the population in general who will access water and sanitation and improved livelihood.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has over the years supported the implementation of the PAWD in selected African countries, which include Malawi and Zambia in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

CIDA decided to channel the support through the Global Water Partnership (GWP) working with the country water partnerships, in this case the Zambia Water Partnership, (ZWP), to facilitate the process since the GWP network has developed technical expertise in IWRM and is a platform for multi-stakeholder groups.

Mr. Maseka said IWRM planning is underway in Zambia under the water sector reform process specifically under the Water Resources Action Programme (WRAP) process and other initiatives such as PRSPs and Environmental Management programmes.

The PAWD process, he said, has added value by increasing stakeholder capacity and awareness in IWRM and consolidating the various activities and plans.

He said the IWRM/We Implementation Plan has become a tool to guide the implementation of water programmes in the FNDP and the national budget in a coordinated and integrated manner in order to maximise economic efficiency, environmental suitability and social equity.

Already, the Zambian government, through the Ministry of Energy and Water Development has supported calls for developing countries to prepare national IWRM and Water Efficiency plans proclaimed at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A key target agreed at the Conference and endorsed by the Heads of State was for countries to prepare national integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005.

And in Zambia, the planning, management, development and utilisation of water in a sustainable way has not been effectively undertaken.

During the just-ended 8th IWRM symposium in Lusaka, Energy Minister, Kenneth Konga admitted that while Zambia had attained significant progress in reducing the number of people without access to safe and adequate water supply, there was still a huge challenge in addressing sanitation service provisions and that Government would embrace IWRM process in its development plans.

The Minister also expressed fears that Zambia may not meet the MDGs on sanitation by 2015, hence the need to ensure that the planning and utilization of water is done in a sustainable way unlike at the moment when the process is rather sluggish.

Mr. Maseka however, cast some hope saying efforts to move towards IWRM was gaining momentum and have been initiated specifically with the Water Sector reforms and the 1994 National Water Policy in Zambia that advocates the implementation of IWRM/We plan.

The plan is seen to be a tool, which will bring together the various multi-sectoral initiatives and serve as the guideline for stakeholders implementing various initiatives to realise optimal results.

“The process of developing the IWRM/WE plan Implementation Plan has reached an advanced stage,” Mr. Maseka said, noting that the key stages followed in the process included the preparation of a discussion document containing the situation analysis of the water situation in the country.

Another stage was the presentation of the discussion document to stakeholders through the national workshop for directors in various government ministries and their heads of departments of planning, which was held in Ndola early this year, to kick-start a consultative process at catchment, provincial and sectoral level including the Water Sector Advisory Groups (Water SAG).

The water SAG is a forum that government has put in place to improve the coordination within the water sector. It includes all stakeholders from government departments, donors, civil society and other agencies that are active within the water sector and they meet quarterly to plan and review progress in the water sector

The final draft of the IWRM/WE Implementation Plan is now ready and water specialists and other stakeholders are being asked to submit their submissions and comments on the report which covers the period 2007-2030.

The IWRM/WE Plan states in part that economic development and improved well-being of the 11.7 million Zambians is dependent on an efficient planning process to reduce the pervasive poverty in the country.

IWRM has been defined by GWP as a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

Operationally, IWRM approaches involve applying knowledge from various disciplines as well as the insights from diverse stakeholders to devise and implement efficient, equitable and sustainable solutions to water and development problems.

As such IWRM is a comprehensive, participatory planning and implementation tool for managing and developing water resources in a way that balances social aand that ensures the protection of ecosystems for future generations.

Water’s many different uses, for agriculture, for healthy ecosystems, for people and livelihoods, demands coordinated action.

An IWRM approach is an open, flexible process bringing together decision-makers across the various sectors that impact water resources, and bringing all stakeholders to the table to specific water challenges facing them.

In Zambia, majority of the population lives in income deficit and suffer from other deprivations such as little access to water and sanitation and poor quality services.

Poverty is high in rural areas in comparison to the urban areas but lately poverty has rapidly increased in urban areas due to failing industries and the subsequent rise in unemployment.

Now that IWRM has been embraced in the country’s FNDP, is there hope for a positive turn-around in the development of the people?

IWRM Under spotlight as Zambia hosts International Water Symposium

2007-11-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso in Lusaka, Zambia

Zambia, which bustled with activity two months ago during the 27th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government summit, is under spotlight again this month when Lusaka, the capital, plays host to yet another international event - this time - a regional water symposium.

The 8th symposium under the auspices of Water Research Fund for Southern Africa (WARFSA), Water Net, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP-SA) and the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP) provides a platform for researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders to exchange ideas on how best to resolve Southern Africa’s water problems. More than 200 delegates are expected from SADC member’s states.

The symposia have been held annually in the region for the past 7 years to facilitate the sharing and dissemination of research results in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

IWRM is a process that promotes the co-ordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising sustainability of vital ecosystems

The symposium to be held at Cresta Golf View between October 31 and November 4 will, among other issues, focus on best water management practices and policies as well as sustainable water supply and sanitation.

Anti-poverty efforts around the world, guided by the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and country-level strategies, increasingly recognize the importance of good water management.

Southern Africa faces many challenges in the water sector, especially as most of the national economies in the region depend on agriculture or other water related activities such as fisheries.

Rainfall is the dominant source of water in the region and to address the water demands, most countries are undergoing reforms that are encompassing IWRM.

But for IWRM to take root, political will and involvement by all key stakeholders are essential - no wonder the wide spectrum of representation to the conference.

Delegates to the symposium are expected to address human development and socio-political aspects of water including conflict management and resolution, resource governance as well as issues of HIV/AIDS and Gender.

Other topics include Hydrology, Water and Environment, Water and Land, Water and Society, Water for People and Water Resources management.

The theme for this year: “Moving from Concepts to Practice” is an indication of the region’s enthusiasm to find practical solutions to this part of Africa’s water blues.

The theme could also be a reminder of the importance of practicing IWRM because of the sluggish pace at which principles have been applied, a development which could be ascribed to different levels of understanding of what practically needs to be done.

The last symposium was held In Lilongwe, Malawi, last year, where southern African governments were asked to commit significant proportions of their budgets to planning and management of water related issues as a strategy to enhance economic development in the SADC region.

Social scientists, researchers, engineers and policy-makers were also urged to equally be engaged in collective action plans to fight poverty and avoid the fear of looking ignorant in implementing water plans in their respective countries.

WARFSA was established in 1999 in order to contribute to the sustainable development and management of water resources in the SADC region.

The Fund exists to ensure that water is used in a sustainable manner that promotes social and economic development with due consideration to the ecological requirements.

It is a capacity building initiative that seeks to promote dissemination and utilisation of research results.

WaterNet, on the other hand, is a regional capacity building network established by training institutions from southern and eastern Africa.

The mission of the WaterNet is to enhance regional capacity in IWRM through training, education, research and community outreach.

GWP-SA is part the global GWP family. The mission of GWP-SA is to promote collaboration and sustainable utilisation and management of water resources in Southern Africa.

It aims to harness IWRM academics, policy makers and practitioners at the symposium.

GWP-SA Executive secretary Ruth Beukman said the symposium is a key annual activity that will greatly benefit policy-makers, academics, practitioners and ultimately all those that the partnership serves on the ground as well as the key cooperating partners.

This includes the donor community in identifying regional issues, gaps and priorities requiring further support.
The symposium in Zambia comes at a time when pressure is also high in the region to improve living standards.

Various options are being sought at different levels to improve livelihood and it’s not clear if IWRM is the solution for the multitude of problems facing the people in the sub-region.

IWRM practices still remain poorly understood or appreciated but the symposium organisers hopeful these are helpful despite the odds facing the region.

A renowned University of Zambia (UNZA)researcher Dr Daniel Nkhuwa, agrees that the contribution of the symposium to IWRM practices may still be a bit difficult to determine, especially that the region is still struggling, to a great extent, in defining IWRM.

Dr Nkhuwa was optimistic however that the symposium was also an effective tool for advocacy and sensitisation to raise the profile of the IWRM process.

Dr Nkhuwa, a lecturer in the school of mines, warned however that the “region must not be in a hurry to implement concepts we do not fully appreciate, or what the majority of stakeholders do not understand.

There are probably certain groups of people that have grasped the IWRM concept” he said in a recent interview.

Professor Nyambe Imasiku, founder member of ZWP and senior lecturer in the school of mines, said the idea of bringing different players in the water sector to the symposium “is a right step to bring all of us to the same level of understanding.

The symposium will certainly improve our understanding and do a great deal of good to bring everyone to the same understanding of what we mean when we talk IWRM.”
ZWP Chairman Osward Chanda appealed to various stakeholders in the water sector to participate in the symposium as it provides a strong base for networking.

Mr. Chanda also called for a sustained media campaign on IWRM so that the principles are clearly articulated to the people and enable the communities at grassroots to apply them.

“We should not confine IWRM to the academics and researchers because water affects everybody. Water is a cross-cutting issue. The media are a necessary tool,” he said.

Mr. Chanda who is also Director of the National Water and Sanitation Council (NWSC), a water regulator in Zambia, has since appealed to GWP-Southern Africa to assist bring to the symposium journalists from other countries to cover all sessions in a bid to help publicise the benefits of IWRM.

The symposium will be held in the wake of many other challenges in the water sector which include recent floods that hit the region, leaving 85,0000 people homeless, and almost 1,000 dead.

With support from SARDC IMERCSA and DANIDA

Water: critical for regional development

2007-08-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

SADC says there is need for multi-dimensional and integrated interventions to exploit water resources

Water is critical for regional development, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states resolved at the just ended 27th summit in Lusaka, Zambia.

Stressing the need to fight poverty, the 15 member grouping agreed that there is need for concerted efforts to improve access of clean water especially to the poor rural majority in the region. In this way, the health of the people would improve and boost development.

This is according to reports obtained during the just ended SADC conference held at Lusaka’s Mulungushi International Conference Centre.

SADC, which is now chaired by Zambia’s President Levy Mwanawasa, called for multi-dimensional and integrated interventions to exploit water resources in the region.

SADC is an intergovernmental grouping of now 15 southern African States. The group comprises Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and Madagascar They have all pledged to ensure that there is an equitable economic integration and sustainable development in the region.

According toa SADC progress report, the sub-region is well endowed with natural resources that form the basis for economic development and on which the majority of the population depend. The natural resources include land, water, mineral and energy resources, forests, and marine and coastal resources.

The most important resources are land and water. In the region only 7.6% of the land is arable. The productivity of that limited arable land, and of the less fertile and vulnerable rangelands covering 41% of the SADC region, must be protected and improved to feed the fast growing regional population.

The SADC progress report on the implementation of Agenda 21 and Sustainable development was submitted to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Maseru, Lesotho.

On average more than 40% of southern Africa’s population lives in abject poverty, while 40% of the labour force is either unemployed or ekes out a living out of drought-prone peasant agriculture.

Water
Water is needed to support food production and for industrial and household use. Without adequate access to clean water, people and especially children get sick and die sooner and more often of dehydration or waterborne diseases than from lack of food. Agricultural production and water resources are both crucial to support regional industrial and energy development.

Southern Africa also suffers from recurrent drought cycles, which necessitate improved planning and management of water to reduce dependence on drought relief.

The impact of drought extends beyond food shortages and negatively affects national economies and reduces SADC states’ ability to export crops and generate foreign currency. Drought also affects the availability of water particularly in rural areas where the majority of the people live.

Due to droughts and rainfall variability, urgent measures need to be taken to better manage water resources. This calls for a new water ethic in Southern Africa that is based on equitable and fair distribution of this scarce key resource.

The biggest supplier of surface water in the region is the Zambezi River, which stretches and flows for 3000 kilometres, through gorges, rapids and cataracts, uniting eight countries in the SADC region. It is the source of food, water, electricity, transport, communications and recreation for millions of people in Southern Africa.

Regional estimates put renewable freshwater resources at an annual average of 650 million cu. meters, distributed in rivers, lakes and groundwater bodies in the region, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

IUCN says increasing water demand is a matter of current concerns in the region because of increasing human population and economic activity.

In water-scarce Namibia for example, demand for state supplied water increased from 37 million cu. meters in 1970 to 95 million cu. meters in 1993, that is, an average increase of 4.2% per annum and above population growth rate of 3%.

“Seasonal variations and unreliability of precipitation make irrigation much more important in the region that might otherwise be the case. Irrigation is of particular concern when considering the region’s future planning” the IUCN report said.

“Irrigation is regarded as a way of increasing agricultural productivity to meet increased livelihood demand from population growth. For example, in South Africa, the region’s biggest irrigator, only 1% of the agricultural land is irrigated, but it produces 30% of the value of agricultural production in the country. Of the total amount of water available in South Africa, 51% is used for irrigation, 15.5% for ecological conservation, 12% municipal and domestic needs, 7.6% for industry, 7.5% for forestry, 2.7% mining, 2.3% hydro-electricity and 1.5% to water stock,” IUCN observed.

The SADC region has a large number of dams for generating hydro-electricity including the Kariba, Carbora Bassa, Kafue and several in DRC and Angola. Only about 1% of the region’s hydroelectric power potential, outside South Africa has been developed. DRC and Angola have the greatest potential. Only about 4% of existing capacity in Angola has been developed due to past civil wars. The region is projected to record impressive growth and availability of affordable power could be a strong impetus for that growth.

Fisheries
The region’s inland water bodies also support a thriving inland fisheries industry. The lakes such as Tanganyika, Victoria and Malawi provide almost all the inland commercial and subsistence catches in the region totaling 500 000 tones per year. According to SADC reports, about 200 000 people are already directly employed in the SADC inland fisheries industry. Between 600 000-800 000 more are indirectly dependent on this industry, and fish are often a large part of the diet of people living in the region.

In addition to freshwater, there are also marine fisheries. More than half of the SADC states have coastal areas, Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, DRC and Seychelles. For example, Namibia is poised to be a major world player in the marine fishing industry, benefiting, as it does, from the Benguela Cold current.

The country’s total landings from its waters were 850 000 metric tones in 1994 and government estimates such output creates 15 000 new jobs yearly over a 5-year period. The Namibian fisheries sector contributes more than 35% annually to the GDP and jobs have more than doubled to 12 000 since independence in 1990.

Fisheries in the region include traditional artisan and commercial. On the Mozambique Island of Inhaca, about 1000 men use boats to fish and their annual catch is 400-500 tones. Tanzania’s artisanal fisheries employ 2.5 million people. These coastal areas have an enormous influence on trade, use of marine resources and recreation.

Water pollution in southern Africa is, however, a serious problem that needs to be addressed. As demands for potable water have increased worldwide over the years so have human impacts on freshwater systems, according to UNEP.

Water used for domestic purposes, industry or agriculture is frequently returned to its original source polluted or contaminated with chemicals or other harmful substances, thus reducing the amount of good quality water e.g. the Mukuwisi River in Harare contains high amounts of nutrients, such as phosphorus nitrogen sulphate, calcium, magnesium and fluoride, aluminium and iron, largely from industrial dumps along the river banks.

Pollution also arises from mining products and agricultural chemicals. The result is water borne diseases, cholera and cancer.

Excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers pollutes the soil resulting in acidification, which releases toxic substances, impairing the growth of crops. About 5000 sq. kms of land in South Africa are acidified – some 10% of the country’s cultivated lands.

A large proportion of fertilizers either washes off the soil into rivers or leaches through the soil into ground water and then into rivers.

These nutrients are as effective in increasing plant pollution resulting in floating vegetation reaching pest propositions.

Manufacturing and service industries are the primary source of pollution in Southern Africa, producing tones of effluents, solid waste and air pollutants. Major polluters include thermal power stations, which burn coal and petroleum products, fertilizer factories, textile mills, chemical manufacturing plants, pulp and paper plants, slaughter houses and tanneries.

Water is the usual recipient of industrial pollution because disposal of wastes into water bodies is cheap and convenient. Eventually these wastes can accumulate to a point where they become toxic and health hazards.

In coastal areas, industries dispose of their untreated wastes directly into streams or rivers
running to the oceans. Industrial wastes are found in ocean waters, near major centres along the entire coastline from Dar-es-Salaam, Maputo and Durban on the east coast to Cape Town in the South to Walvis Bay up to Baiado Cacuaco, 15 kms north to Luanda in Angola.

Marine pollution due to human activity, in and around major cities e.g. Beira, Maputo and Luanda has sometimes reached toxic levels. Maputo had three times more people by 1922 than it could support, resulting in sewage and pollution problems.

In Angola, untreated industrial wastes are being pumped into the bay of Luanda resulting in bacteria contamination. Rapid and unplanned settlements have created a city with virtually no sanitation, sewage system and refuse collection facilities.

Only 13% of Luanda’s population is estimated to have sewage connections and 16% has septic tanks. Oil tankers can also be a major contributor to pollution in the marine environment. Some 650 large vessels transport more than 150 million tones of oil along the region’s coast annually. There have been at least 6 major oil spills affecting southern Africa since 1965.

Achievements
To develop sustainable and integrated water management, SADC countries need to build a strong partnership involving different sectors of society. People should be empowered to make decisions and manage their problems and find solutions for them. Efforts should be made to exploit to advantage, the many positive aspects of indigenous water uses.

“Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens at the relevant level. Recognizing the importance of water in the region, SADC Ministers responsible for water resources, in 1995 made a decision to develop a regional strategic approach to integrate water resources development and management.

According to the Regional Strategic Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management in the SADC Countries for 1999–2004, this decision
constituted a significant commitment towards the supply of adequate water in the region and the protection of the environment.

With the exception of Mauritius and Seychelles, all the other continental SADC countries share international drainage basins with one or more neighbouring countries. Competition for the use of these trans-boundary waters is increasing among some of the riparian states.

SADC has thus recognized that in the absence of balanced cross-boundary and cross-sectoral integration riparian countries may easily get into conflicts over shared waters. As such the development and management of regional water resources in a holistic manner provides an opportunity to prevent possible occurrence of such conflicts.

The signing of the Protocol on Shared Water-course systems in 1995, by the majority of member states, and the creation of the SADC Water Sector Coordination Unit in 1996 are clear manifestations of SADC’s recognition of the need for regional integrated water resources development and management in these shared waters.

Alleviating poverty for the majority of the over 145 million people in the region is the overriding SADC goal and priority, reflected in numerous SADC initiatives in the health, nutrition, education and agriculture sector.

There has also been a significant increase in the proportion of the population with access to clean water, and all countries in the region are undertaking policy, institutional and legislative reforms for sustainable management of water resources.

Way Forward
Regional integration of water development and management requires a multidimensional
planning and implementation approach that fosters interventions directly at changing constraints at both the national and trans-boundary levels.

Many opportunities exist in the region that will be built upon. The identification of these interventions is associated with several major issues.

The current progress by SADC countries to strengthen cooperation among themselves is a significant foundation for improving management of the region’s water resources. The key opportunities for improved regional water resources management include the following:

· A political environment and level of awareness to promoting and implementing regional opportunities for integrated water resources management, and with priority to access to clear potable water especially in rural areas;

· Political stability in the region, a precondition for co-operation and development;
· Institutional, legislative and policy reforms in all countries towards integrated water
management approaches that include environment management;
· Reforms in line with international consensus on integrated water resources management, already started in a number of countries;
· SADC Protocol that forms a basis for the management of shared watercourses systems and the establishment of the SADC Water Sector;
· Need for the international community to increase flow of financial resources.

ROLE OF WATER IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ITS IMPORTANCE AND LINKS

2007-07-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WATER SUPPLY
Water is the most common substance on earth. It covers more than 70 per cent of the earth's surface. It fills the oceans, rivers, and lakes, and is in the ground and in the air we breathe. Water is everywhere. Regardless of language or culture, all humans share this basic need that is essential for survival.

We drink water, cook with it, bathe in it, sprinkle our lawns with it, fill our backyard swimming pools with it - even create theme parks based on it.

We, however, take its abundance for granted when much of the world, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes Zambia, access to clean water is a luxury. More than half of Africa's villages lack access to a clean water supply. In many of these villages, women and children must walk up to ten miles every day carrying heavy buckets and containers to fetch the day's supply of potable water for their households. Those hours could be spent on other more profitable ways.

Without water, there can be no life. In fact, every living thing consists mostly of water. Your body is about two-thirds water. A chicken is about three-fourths water, and a pineapple is about four-fifths water. Most scientists believe that life itself began in water, in the salty water of the sea.

Animals share the same water sources as humans, doing neither any good. During the dry seasons, water supplies are inadequate or non-existent in many villages so that both people and cattle go thirsty while contaminated water is responsible for a myriad of health problems in the country including dysentery and malaria.

Ever since the world began, water has been shaping the earth. Rain hammers at the land and washes soil into rivers. The oceans pound against the shores, chiseling cliffs and carrying away land. Rivers knife through rock, carve canyons, and build up land where they empty into the sea. Glaciers plow valleys and cut down mountains.

Water helps keep the earth's climate from getting too hot or too cold. Land absorbs and releases heat from the sun quickly. But the oceans absorb and release the sun's heat slowly. So breezes from the oceans bring warmth to the land in winter and coolness in summer.

Throughout history, water has been people's slave - and their master. Great civilizations have risen where water supplies were plentiful. They have fallen when these supplies failed. People have killed one another for a muddy water hole.

They have worshiped rain gods and prayed for rain. Often, when rains have failed to come, crops have withered and starvation has spread across a land. Sometimes the rains have fallen too heavily and too suddenly. Then rivers have overflowed their banks, drowning large numbers of people and causing enormous destruction of property.

Today, more than ever, water is both slave and master to people. We use water in our homes for cleaning, cooking, bathing, and carrying away wastes. We use water to irrigate dry farmlands so we can grow more food. Our factories use more water than any other material. We use the water in rushing rivers and thundering waterfalls to produce electricity.

Our demand for water is constantly increasing. Every year, there are more people in the world. Factories turn out more and more products, and need more and more water. We live in a world of water. But almost all of it, about 97 per cent is in the oceans. This water is too salty to be used for drinking, farming, and manufacturing. Only about 3 per cent of the world's water is fresh (unsalted). Most of this water is not easily available to people because it is locked in icecaps and other glaciers. By the year 2000, the world demand for fresh water may be double what it was in the 1980's. But there will still be enough to meet people's needs.

There is as much water on earth today as there ever was or ever will be. Almost every drop of water we use finds its way to the oceans. There, the sun evaporates it. It then falls back to the earth as rain. Water is used and reused over and over again. It is never used up.

Although the world as a whole has plenty of fresh water, some regions have a water shortage. Rain does not fall evenly over the earth. Some regions are always too dry, and others too wet. A region that usually gets enough rain may suddenly have a serious dry spell, and another region may be flooded with too much rain.

Some regions have a water shortage because the people have managed their supply poorly. People settle where water is plentiful, near lakes and rivers. Cities grow, and factories spring up. The cities and factories dump their wastes into the lakes and rivers, polluting them. Then the people look for new sources of water.

Shortages also occur because some cities do not make full use of their supply. They have plenty of water but not enough storage tanks, treatment plants, and distribution pipes to meet the people's needs. As our demand for water grows and grows, we will have to make better and better use of our supply.

Water in our daily lives
Every plant, animal, and human being needs water to stay alive. This is because all the life processes, from taking in food to getting rid of wastes, require water. But people depend on water for more than just to stay alive. We also need it for our way of life. We need water in our homes, to brush our teeth, cook food, and wash dishes.

We need water in our factories to manufacture almost everything from automobiles to zippers. We need water for irrigation, to raise crops in regions that do not get enough rain.

Water in living things
All living things need a lot of water to carry out their life processes. Plants, animals, and human beings must take in nutrients (food substances). Watery solutions help dissolve nutrients and carry them to all parts of an organism. Through chemical reactions, the organism turns nutrients into energy, or into materials it needs to grow or to repair itself. These chemical reactions can take place only in a watery solution. Finally, the organism needs water to carry away waste products.

Every living thing must keep its water supply near normal, or it will die. Human beings can live without food for more than two months, but they can live without water for only about a week. If the body loses more than 20 per cent of its normal water content, a person will die painfully. Human beings must take in about 2.4 liters of water a day. This intake can be in the form of beverages we drink, or water in food.

Water in our homes
In our homes, we use far more water than the amount we need simply to stay alive. We require water for cleaning, cooking, bathing, and carrying away wastes. For many people, such water is a luxury. Millions of homes in Asia, Africa, and South America have no running water. The people must haul water up by hand from the village well, or carry it in jars from pools and rivers far from their homes.

WATER FOR IRRIGATION/AGRICULTURE
It is estimated that 70% of world-wide water use is for irrigation. In some areas of the world, irrigation is necessary to grow any crop at all, in other areas it permits more profitable crops to be grown or enhances crop yield. Various irrigation methods involve different trade-offs between crop yield, water consumption and capital cost of equipment and structures.

Irrigation methods such as most furrow and overhead sprinkler irrigation are usually less expensive but also less efficient, because much of the water evaporates or runs off. More efficient irrigation methods include drip or ttrikle irrigation, surge irrigation, and some types of sprinkler systems where the sprinklers are operated near ground level.
These types of systems, while more expensive, can minimize runoff and evaporation. Any system that is improperly managed can be wasteful.

In most countries including Zambia, people have had a rich heritage of managing and living with their environment including water since time immemorial and they have demonstrated to be effective custodians of water for agricultural purposes. Rainfall and water has been central to their lifestyles, and influencing their farming activities.

Most of the plants that people raise need great quantities of water. For example, it takes 115 gallons (435 liters) of water to grow enough wheat to bake a loaf of bread. People raise most of their crops in areas that have plenty of rain. But to raise enough food for their needs, people must also irrigate dry areas. The rainfall that crops use to grow is not considered a water use, because the water does not come from a country's supply. Irrigation, on the other hand, is a water use because the water is drawn from a nation's rivers, lakes, or wells.

The water a nation uses for irrigation is important to its water supply because none of the water remains for reuse. Plants take in water through their roots. They then pass it out through their leaves into the air as a gas called water vapor. Winds carry away the vapor, and the liquid water is gone. On the other hand, nearly all the water used in our homes is returned to the water supply. Sewer pipes to treatment plants, which return the water to rivers so it can be used again, carry the water.

WATERPOWER OR HYDRPOWER
Water power, or hydropower, furnishes about 7 percent of the world's commercial energy. Where water flows from a high place to a lower one, the gravitational energy of the falling water can be captured and used to produce other forms of energy. Most waterpower is used to generate electric power. Waterpower supplies energy without pollution and without using up the water in the process. But costly dams and other structures are required to harness waterpower.

People also use water to produce electric power to light homes and to run factories. Electric power stations burn coal or other fuel to turn water into steam. The steam supplies the energy to run machines that produce electricity. Hydroelectric power stations use the energy of falling water from waterfalls and dams to produce electricity.

In Zambia, electricity is relatively cheap due to the abundance of hydroelectric power sources as well as reasonably large coal reserves. Most of the electricity is supplied from major hydropower stations located in the Kafue Gorge, Lake Kariba north bank and the Victoria Falls as well as from the mini-hydro power stations in Lusiwashi, Musonda Falls, Chishimba Falls and Luzua. The domestic electricity supply is 240 volt, 50-hertz alternating current, with 415 volt single and three phase supply available for industrial use

WATER FOR INDUSTRY
It is estimated that 15% of world-wide water use is industrial. Major industrial users include power plants, which use water for cooling or as a power source (i.e. hydroelectric plants), ore and oil refineries, which use water in chemical processes, and manufacturing plants, which use water as a solvent.

The rivers, dams and lakes of Zambia are a source of water, food, electricity and recreation providing the engine of economic growth in various sectors. Zambia has a very large number of dams, which generate hydro- electrical power to various industries.

The industry in turn uses water in many ways. It uses water for cleaning fruits and vegetables before canning and freezing them. It uses water as a raw material in soft drinks, canned foods, and many other products. It uses water to air-condition and clean factories. But most of the water used by industry is for cooling. For example, water cools the steam used in producing electric power from fuel. It cools the hot gases produced in refining oil, and the hot steel made by steel mills.

Although industry uses a lot of water, only 6 per cent of it is consumed. Most of the water used for cooling is piped back to the rivers or lakes from which it is taken. The water consumed by industry is the water added to soft drinks and other products, and the small amount of water that turns to vapor in the cooling processes.

FISHERIES
Southern Africa’s in land water bodies also support a thriving inland fisheries industry. Fish catches vary from place to place, with the largest yields associated with major lakes and dams. The larger lakes, such as Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi are quite productive in fish and provide almost the entire inland commercial and subsistence catches in the region, totaling 500,000 tonnes per year.

According to SADC, about 200,000 people are directly employed in the SADC inland fisheries industry. About 600,000-800,000 more are indirectly dependent on this industry and fish are often a large part of the diet of people living in the region including some parts of Zambia.

Floodplains, for example, are a very productive aquatic environment. Several thousand tonnes of fish are harvested annually from the floodplains such as the Barotse plains, which are part of the Zambezi in Western province of Zambia and the Kafue plains in Zambia, which yield about 11,000 tonnes of fish per year.

MINING
Mining contributes to over 50 percent of national economies of some member states in the Southern African region including Zambia, although it is a potential danger to the environment. Mining operations occur in a number of wetlands in the region, for example, the extraction of salt in Etosha (Namibia), gold panning along the Zambezi River and iron mining in the Kafue flats (Zambia).

The copper mines of Zambia for example, discharge waste in the Kafue River polluting the Lusaka swamps but mining continues because it is the engine of the economy contributing more than 80 per cent of Zambia’s foreign exchange earnings.

WATER FOR TRANSPORT/RECREATION

After people learned to build crude small boats, they began using rivers and lakes to carry themselves and their goods. Later, they built larger boats and sailed the ocean in search of new lands and new trade routes. Today, people still depend on water transportation to carry such heavy and bulky products as machinery, coal, grain, and oil.
People build most of their recreation areas along lakes, rivers, and seas. They enjoy water sports, such as swimming, fishing, and sailing. Many people also enjoy the beauty of a quiet lake, a thundering waterfall, or roaring surf.

ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
Explicit environmental water use is also a very small but growing percentage of total water use. Environmental water usage includes artificial wetlands, artificial lakes intended to create wildlife habitat, fish ladders around dams, and water releases from reservoirs timed to help fish spawn.
Like recreational usage, environmental usage is non-consumptive but may reduce the availability of water for other users at specific times and places. For example, water release from a reservoir to help fish spawn may not be available to farms upstream.

Water flowing from the mighty Victoria Falls is a spectacular sight in southern Africa and provides an array of tourism activities. The Falls lies between Zambia and Zimbabwe, about halfway between the mouth and the source of the Zambezi River.

The mist and spray created by the Falls can be seen from a great distance. This cloud and the constant roar caused the people of the area to name the Falls Mosi -oa -Tunya (smoke that thunders). British explorer David Livingstone sighted Victoria Falls in 1855. He named it in honor of Queen Victoria of Britain.

There are similar water falls elsewhere and rivers which all provide a source of tourism, generating huge financial resources and entertainment for the country. The Ku-omboka ceremony of the Barotse people of Western province is another toursit attraction which is observed every year drawing huge number of tourists to witness the Lozi King being paddled from the flooded plains of the Zambezi River at Lealui to high ground in Limulunga. The splash and flow of water in streams and fountains also soothes and inspires many people and they love to be near water to simply pass time and for leisure.

SANITATION
Sanitation is a field of public health. It involves various efforts to control the environment to prevent and control disease. Sanitation also includes personal cleanliness, which helps protect against disease and the presence of water is critical.

In most countries various government agencies work together to protect the health of communities. Sanitary engineers work in designing and administering water treatment plants and sewage treatment plants. Government agencies establish and enforce laws that help promote a healthful environment. Sanitation activities include food processing and distribution, sewage treatment, solid waste disposal, water treatment, and numerous other measures, such as control of air pollution and rodents.

Food processing and distribution
Food and beverages can easily be contaminated by bacteria, viruses, worms, and other organisms and by chemical poisons. Many agencies are involved in food and beverage control. For example, the department of Agriculture in most countries usually inspects meat before and after an animal is slaughtered. It also checks the processing, labeling, packaging, and distribution of food. The public health service provides communities with model laws that recommend requirements for producing, processing, and handling food. Some laws deal with pasteurization of milk and milk products.

Sewage treatment
Sewage is water containing waste matter produced by people. It contains about a tenth of 1 per cent solid waste. It comes from sinks and toilets in homes, farms, restaurants, factories, and office buildings. Much industrial sewage contains harmful chemicals and other waste materials.

Sewage must be treated before it flows from sewerage systems into lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water. Untreated sewage contaminates the water and, in time, can kill fish and aquatic plants. The sewage makes the water unsafe to drink and can also prevent use of the water for swimming, fishing, and other recreation.

Most cities and towns have at least one sewage treatment plant. In most rural areas, homeowners must provide their own sewage treatment. Most do so with large underground containers called septic tanks or pit latrines.

Solid waste disposal has become a major sanitation problem. Solid waste, which is also called refuse, consists of garbage and trash from cities and towns, plus by-products of farming, mining, and manufacturing. Such by-products include animal carcasses and manure from farms, sawdust and scrap metal from factories, and pieces of coal and various metals from mines.

Almost all methods of solid waste disposal can create environmental problems. For example, open dumps look unpleasant and may have a foul smell. They also provide homes for rats and other animals that carry disease. Burning solid waste causes smoke, which makes the air dirty. But when land disposal sites and incinerators are properly operated, they cause little harm to the environment.

Water treatment
Most water must be treated before it is used for drinking, cooking, bathing, or laundering. Almost all untreated water contains bacteria, viruses, and other tiny organisms. It also may have an unpleasant odor and taste and contain minerals that make the water less useful as a cleaning agent.

Cities and towns obtain water from one of two sources: (1) the ground or (2) rivers and lakes. Most communities get their water from the ground. Such water requires little treatment. Most of the larger cities get their water from rivers and lakes for various reasons. In many cities, for example, there is not enough water in the ground to supply the large population. Water from rivers and lakes is piped from its source to a treatment plant, where chemical and physical processes purify it. Pipes under the streets distribute the water to houses and other buildings.

Most communities have regulations that require dwellings, factories, hospitals, and recreation areas to meet certain sanitary standards. Sanitation also includes insect and rodent control, noise control, and licensing of operators of public facilities.

OWNERSHIP/WATER RIGHTS
In Zambia the ownership of all water is vested in the President while the responsibility of allocating water is delegated to the Minister responsible for water resource allocation. The Water Act of 1948 empowers the Minister to appoint a Board to allocate water to competing uses. The Water Board administers the provisions of the Act by issuing water rights to all users.

Water resources in Zambia is slowly becoming recognised as a strategic commodity, with supply limited in terms of quantity and demand increasing due to population growth and economic development. This has resulted in competition for the limited water resources between domestic, agricultural, environmental and hydropower use.

There is therefore no right of property in water. Everyone has the right to use water found in its natural channel in places where lawfully access may be. The Water Act puts water into two categories, private water and public water. For practical purposes all water found in watercourses whether visible or not is considered public. A watercourse consists in most cases of running water, which will find its way into a larger drainage system where access by others will be made. This determines its public nature.

Private water is loosely defined as that water which will not extend into a drainage system and hence inaccessible to the public. Under the Water Act all ground water is defined as private water. This, however, does not mean that it acquires characteristics of private property.

NATURE’S WATER CYCLE
The waters of the earth move continuously from the oceans, to the air, to the land, and back to the oceans again. The sun's heat evaporates water from the oceans. The water rises as invisible vapor, and falls back to the earth as rain, snow, or some other form of moisture. This moisture is called precipitation. Most precipitation drops back directly into the oceans. The remainder falls on the rest of the earth. In time, this water also returns to the sea, and the cycle starts again. This unending circulation of the earth's waters is called the water cycle or hydrologic cycle.

Because of nature's water cycle, there is as much water on earth today as there ever was or ever will be. Water changes only from one form to another, and moves from one place to another. The water you bathed in last night might have flowed in Russia's Volga River last year. Or perhaps Alexander the Great drank it more than 2,000 years ago.

The waters of the earth
The earth has a tremendous amount of water, but almost all of it is in the oceans. The oceans cover about 70 per cent of the earth's surface. They contain about 97 per cent of all the water on earth, and are the source of most precipitation that falls to earth. Ocean water is too salty to be used for drinking, agriculture, or industry. But the salt is left behind during evaporation, and the precipitation that falls to earth is fresh water. Only about 3 per cent of the water on earth is fresh water and most of it is not easily available to people.

Water in the air
At one time or another, all the water on earth enters the air, or atmosphere, as water vapor. This vapor becomes the life-giving rain that falls to the earth. Moisture in the air comes mostly from evaporation. The sun's heat evaporates water from land, lakes, rivers, and, especially, the oceans. About 85 per cent of the vapor in the air comes from the oceans. Plants also add moisture. After plants have drawn water from the ground through their roots, they pass it out through their leaves as vapor in a process called transpiration.

Precipitation
The air moving over the earth carries vapor. The moisture-filled air cools wherever it is forced up by colder air or by mountains or hills. As the air cools, the vapor condenses into droplets of liquid water, forming clouds. The droplets fall to the earth as rain. If the vapor is chilled enough, it condenses into ice crystals, and falls as snow.

About 75 per cent of the precipitation falls back directly on the oceans. Some of the rest evaporates immediately--from the surface of the ground, from rooftops, from puddles in the streets. Some of it runs off the land to rivers. From the rivers, it flows back to the sea. The rest of the precipitation soaks into the earth and becomes part of the ground water supply. Ground water moves slowly through the ground to the rivers and returns to the sea. This movement of ground water to rivers keeps the rivers flowing during periods without rain.

WORLD DISTRIBUTION OF WATER
The earth has an enormous amount of water, about 326 million cubic miles (1.4 billion cubic kilometers) of it. In a cubic mile, there are more than a million million--1,000,000,000,000 gallons, or 3.8 million million liters.

However, 97 per cent of this water is in the salty oceans, and more than 2 per cent is in glaciers and icecaps. The rest totals less than 1 per cent. Most of this water is underground, and the remainder includes the water in lakes, rivers, springs, pools, and ponds. It also includes rain and snow, and the vapor in the air.

A country's water supply is determined by its precipitation. In regions with plenty of precipitation year after year, there is plenty of water in lakes, rivers, and underground reservoirs.

The earth as a whole receives plentiful rain. If this rain fell evenly, all the land would receive 34 inches (86 centimeters) a year. But the rain is distributed unevenly. Generally, the world's most heavily populated areas receive enough rain for their needs. These areas include most of Europe, Southeast Asia, the Eastern United States, India, and much of China. But about half the earth's land does not get enough rain. These dry areas include most of Asia, central Australia, most of northern Africa, and the Middle East.

PELEKELO LISWANISO: CURRICULUM VITAE

2007-06-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

C/o Zambia Daily Mail
Longolongo Road

P.O. Box 31421

Lusaka
Zambia 101010

Tel/Fax: 260-211-221364
Mobile: 260-97 -7-280464

Home: 260-211-264543

E-mail: pelekelo05@yahoo.com

PELEKELO LISWANISO
Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM), Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Fellow (Journalism and Public Affairs), University of Maryland, USA,
BA (Journalism), Stefan Gheorghiu Academy, Bucharest, Romania,
Certificates 1& 2 (Marketing) Copperbelt University, Kitwe, Zambia
Certificate (Public Relations), Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, Lusaka, Zambia.

Date of Birth: 31-1-59

Place of birth: Sesheke, Zambia

Nationality: Zambian

Marital Status: Married/Two children

Objective:To become a successful and enterprising Media Manager /Consultant/Diplomat

EXPERIENCE: More than 20 years as a Journalist/Editor/Media Manager/Advocate for sustainable development including on democracy, the environment, water and HIV/AIDS.

EMPLOYMENT:

April 6, 2009 to May 20, 2009, Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka, Zambia

Acting Deputy managing Editor-

Duties: Head of editorial department and proving policy guidelines to line editors and supporting staff including the Sunday Mail. Writing daily commentaties and in charge of the administration of the Company, which has a total workforce of 160 employees.

July 2004 to April 6, 2009. Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka, Zambia
ONLINE/PRODUCTION EDITOR-
Duties: In charge of the Online version of the Zambia Daily Mail and its sister paper- the Sunday Mail; Copy editing and layout; supervising quality controls in the production of the two newspapers. Being the last gatekeeper in the information chain before printing in close liaison with Sub-Editors.

July 1998 – July 2002, Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka
CORRESPONDENT/ HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMIN OFFICER:

Duties: Writing in-depth articles, commentaries and analysis on political, social and economic issues for local and international publications in Southern Africa; Published weekly column- Tuesday Spotlight; Supervising workforce of 138 employees in terms of discipline, training, recruitment and general administration at head office and regional bureaus in Kitwe, Ndola and Livingstone. Acted Human Resources and Administration Manager September 1999 to March 2000.

May 1998 – July 1998, Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR-
Duties: Head of the Sub-editors. Copy editing; co-coordinating page design, lay- outs and headlines on a computerized network and proof-reading in readiness for camera work; selecting and editing foreign copy;

April-May, 1998, Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka
ACTING EDITOR- IN- CHIEF-
Duties: In charge of all editorial departments providing policy guidelines to desk editors. Chairing editorial meetings and coordinating marketing functions, printing and distribution of the newspaper.

April 1997 to May 1998, Zambia daily Mail, Lusaka
NEWS EDITOR-
Duties: Head of news; In charge of head office in Lusaka and the regional offices in Livingstone, Kitwe and Ndola; plan, supervise and coordinate news gathering activities; selecting and editing news on computer from staff reporters, correspondents and stringers on a daily basis to meet deadlines; co-coordinating news diaries and photographs; liaising with chief sub-editor on stories available and allocation; attending editorial meetings; in charge of staff discipline, office maintenance and budgetary requirements including transport for all the offices; providing professional guidance to student journalists on attachment from Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, Africa Literature Centre and Norma - Jean College of Broadcasting and Communications; as the link man between the Managing Editor and the other departmental editors in the general administration of the company; liaising with Marketing and Advertising Manager to improve advertising revenue and sales; monitor the performance of Chief reporters for periodic appraisal; liaising with news agencies; establish and maintain reliable news sources and cover major national and international events.

Sept 1996- April 1997- Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka
SENIOR SUB - EDITOR/COLUMNIST/Correspondent
Duties: Page design and layout of the Zambia Daily Mail and its sister papers the Sunday Mail and Financial Mail on a computerized network; co - ordinating flow of stories and photographs with desk editors; writing headlines; correcting grammar and editing out defamatory material in copy;

As a columnist: - Gathering and writing in depth articles and analysis on the trend in Zambia's mining industry for my weekly column Spotlight on the Mines in the Zambia Daily Mail

As a Correspondent for: - African Mining- a leading South African mining magazine- Writing in-depth articles on mining activities in Zambia and serving as the magazine's representative in Zambia for advertising and subscriptions.

As a Correspondent for: - The Voice, a newspaper in Botswana, and the Mirror, a newspaper in Malawi, providing in-depth articles on issues of public interest in the region through Letter from Zambia columns and with Panos Feature service in London.

December 1987 - to August 1996, Zambia Daily Mail, Kitwe
BUREAU CHIEF-.
Duties: As head of the daily paper's regional office, serving as Chief Reporter in charge of staff of 10, covering fax and telex transmissions of general news, features, sports and business desks and advertising for the Zambia Daily Mail and the sister papers - Sunday Mail and Financial Mail, supervising the distribution of the three papers in the region.
Under my supervision, staff gathered hard news, features, photographs and advertisements from around the Copperbelt towns of Kitwe, Chingola, Chililabombwe, Kalulushi and the North Western provinces; performed duties as the company’s spokesman or public relations officer on professional queries in the region; providing professional guidance to student journalists on industrial attachment; responsible for the general administration of the office, maintenance and staff discipline.

December 1986 to December 1987, Zambia Daily Mail, Ndola
SENIOR REPORTER-
Duties: Covering day to day news on political, economic and social issues; accompanying the state president on international conferences at OAU, The PTA and SADC; covering civic functions, disasters; sometimes in charge of regional office in the absence of Chief Reporter; Writing in-depth news for features desk, Business Mail and Weekend Entertainment pullout.

February 1984 to December 1986, Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka.
REPORTER-
Duties: Gathering and writing day-to-day news and feature articles on social, political, economic and scientific issues. Covering courts and investigative reporting; summarizing speeches and rewriting press statements; accompanying the state president on official international visits and conferences as well as covering state house functions; feature writing on issues of poverty, agriculture, international cooperation, population control, health, environmental problems, transport, food shortages, shelter, clothing etc

Aug 1982 to Sep1983 Zambia News Agency, Lusaka
REPORTER-
Duties: Joined as Assistant Reporter and rose to Reporter; gathering and writing hard news stories for broadcasting on Radio and Television Zambia and for dissemination to the local and international news agencies such as Reuters, Tass, PANA and AF; gathering and summarizing news from house journals, speeches and press releases

Education/ Training
· Postgraduate Diploma, Media Management and Leadership, Rhodes University, South Africa, February 2005- November 2006
· Fellow (Journalism and Public Affairs) Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, USA, September 2002- June 2003.
· Certificate (English for professional development/Communications), University of Arizona, USA, August 2002
· Intern, Washington Times, Washington D.C., USA, December 2002-January 2003
· Certified Member (American Management Association (AMA), March 2003.
· Intern, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington D.C., April 2003
· BA (journalism), Faculty of Journalism, Stefan Gheorghiu Academy, Bucharest, Romania, October 1979- June 1982.
· Certificate (Public Relations), Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, Lusaka, November 1993.
1st and 2nd Certificates in Marketing, Copperbelt University, Kitwe, 1994-1995.
University of Cambridge School Certificate, December 1978; School Certificate in Division Two with five "O" Levels in Joint Examination for the School Certificate and GCE held at Libala Secondary School 1978, Lusaka.

Short courses/Seminars
· Economic Reporting - World Bank, Inter - Continental Hotel, 1992, Lusaka
· The Role of the Media in the Third Republic- Nkana Hotel, 1992, Kitwe
· The Media and Consumerism - Edinburgh Hotel, 1993, Kitwe
· The Media and Secretaries - Edinburgh Hotel, Kitwe 1993
· French language - Alliance Francaise, Lusaka, Ndola and Copperbelt University,
· Rural Reporting - Panos Institute (UK) and the Zambia Union of Journalists, 1994 Mongu and villages in Western province.
· The impact of HIV/AIDS in the Community, Africa Literature Centre Kitwe, 1995
· Reporting from a Foreign Country, Nordic-SADC Journalism Centre, Harare, 1995.
· International Water symposium/Underground water /ZCCM, Konkola 1995
· Ethnicity and the Media - Africa Literature Centre and the World Association of Christian Communications, 1995, Kitwe.
· Desktop publishing - Zambia Institute of Mass Communication, November 1996,
· Environmental Reporting - Institute for the Advancement of Journalism, Johannesburg, South Africa, December 1996.
· Convention of African Journalists on AIDS/ HIV Reporting, Pamodzi hotel, Lusaka, April 1997.
· Internet use by Journalists/Environmental focus, ZAMNET/ University of Zambia Lusaka, June 1997.
· Gender sensitisation. Gender in Development, / Ministry of Information and Broadcasting- Rimo Motel, Kafue, September 1997.
· Economic and Financial Concepts, Inter Press Service (IPS) Harare, Zimbabwe,
· November 1997
· National workshop on alcohol, tobacco and drub abuse- Andrews Motel, Lusaka, March 9-14, 1998.
· Global Water Partnership, briefing on Water Resources/ International Conference
· on Water and Sustainable Development, Le Meridien Montparnasse / UNESCO
· Headquarters, March 18-21, 1998- Paris, France.
· Global Water Partnership (GWP) Consultative Committee Meeting, April 1998,
· Harare, Zimbabwe.
· Packaging Population Advocacy, Information, Education and Communication by
· Journalists, August 31-October 23, I998, Accra, Ghana.
· National Workshop of Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Siavonga, May 1999
· X1th International Conference on AIDS and STDs, Lusaka, September 1999
· Business Management for Print Media Executives, RhodesUniversity, S.A. 1999
· Xth Congress of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), Melbourne,
· Australia, March 200
· Global Water Partnership launch of the Southern Africa Water Partnership- May
· 2000, Accadia hotel, Pretoria South Africa.
· X111th International Conference on AIDS, July 2001, Durban, South Africa
· 2nd Asian Water and WasteWater Conference, May 6-10, 2001, Tehran, Iran.
· Ist Annual Consultative Partners Meeting of the Global Water Partnership (GWP)-Southern Africa, July 25-26 2001, Harare, Zimbabwe.
· 9th International Conference on the Conservation and Management of Lakes, October 11-16, 2001, Shiga, Japan.
· 2nd Annual Consultative Partners Meeting of the Global Water Partnership
· (GWP) - Southern Africa, July 4-7, 2002, Farm Inn, Pretoria, South Africa.
· Power Point presentation skills November, 2002, University of Maryland, USA
· Society for Environmental Journalists Convention, October 2002, Baltimore, USA
· International Finance and development, International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank headquarters, March 24-28, 2003, Washington D.C., USA
· Conflict resolution, April 20-25, University of Maryland, USA

Community projects
· Vice-Secretary, Zambia Fulbright Humphrey Alumni Association, ZFHAA April 2005 to date
· Chairman, Southern African Editors Forum (SAEF), August October 2004 to date
· Editor/Writer, HIV/AIDS News, (a National Aids Council publication), June 2004 to date
· Secretary, NAC Information/Advocacy Committee Committee, March 2005 to date
· Chairman, Media Enviro Forum, April 2001 to date
· Member, International Institute of Education (IIE) network, USA, June 2003 to date.
· Consultant, Culture and International affairs (Meridian International Center), Jan 2003-June2003, Washington D.C., USA
· Member, Press Association of Zambia, 1995 to date
· Member, Olympus gym, September 2002-June 2003, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
Member, Bethel Outreach Church, September 2002-June 2003, Silver Spring Maryland, USA, Regional Secretary, Planned Parenthood Association (PPAZ) 1990 - 1996.
Member, Programme Evaluation and Development Committee (PPAZ) 1996 to Present
· President, Kitwe Press Club 1991.
· Vice - President, Kitwe Press Club, 1989 - 90.
· Vice - Secretary, Ndola Press Club, 1986 - 87.
· Member and Public Relations Officer (Itimpi Lions Club - Kitwe), 1995 - 1996.
· Member, T&T Sports Club, 2000 to present
. Member Bank of Zambia Social Club, 1998 to Present
. Member, Lions Club of Kapila, 1999 to 2001

. Member, Seventh Day Adventist Church, 2007 to date

Hobbies
Writing articles for the African Mining in South Africa, Panos Institute London, Inter Press Service (IPS), The Voice in Botswana, the Mirror in Malawi, National Aids Council publication, World Health Organisation, Style magazine in South Africa, Network Africa on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Gemini News Service, Commonwealth Press Service, drama and theater, music, movies, chess and basketball.
Countries visited

Countries visited
Albania, Angola, Austria, Botswana, Cyprus, Italy, Kenya, Romania, Tanzania, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, France, Britain, Ghana, Singapore, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Hong Kong, Japan, the United States of America, Namibia, Swaziland and Mozambique.

Referees
Dr. Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika
Zambia’s Ambassador to the United States of America
2419 Massachusetts Ave., N.W
Washington D.C., 20008
USA.

Professor Reese Cleghorn
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
University of Maryland
College Park 20742
USA

Mr. Parkie Mbozi
Regional Manager

Panos Southern Africa

Plot 32A, Leopards Hill Road
P. O. Box 39163

Woodlands, Lusaka

Zambia.

Mr. Francis Mdlongwa
Director, Sol Plaatje Media Leadership Institute (SPI)
Rhodes University
P.O Box 94
Grahamstown
South Africa.

Chulumanda calls for increased regional trade

2007-06-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso in Maputo, Mozambique

ZAMBIA´s High Commissioner to Mozambique, George Chulumanda has called for increased regional cooperation between Zambia and Mozambique saying the potential for trade and tourism were highly favourable in the two countries.

Mr Chulumanda who is also accredited to Swaziland and Mauritius said similar opportunities exisit in the two countries and Zambian business entrepreneurs should cast their nets wider and venture into businesses with neighbouring countries.

Speaking in an interview at the Zambian High Commission in Maputo on Thursday, Mr Chulumanda said the bilateral relations which Zambia has in the region should shift focus from being political to economic development.

Mr Chulumanda who has been in the country for the past three months, said there were a lot of joint projects between Zambia and Mozambique that require maximum exploitation.

He cited the Cabora Bassa hydro power project, which he said, will have greater economic benefits for the people in Zambia particularly those in Eastern province. Such projects, he said should be guarded jealosly.

Mr Chulumanda said President Levy Mwanawasa and his Mozambican counterpart, President Armando Emelio Guebuza have laid strong and favourable parameters conducive for investment because of their resolve to fight corruption, ensure financial discipline, create wealth and the desire to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“We need to improve our rail transport, energy and concentrate on implementing projects that have been identified in the region as well as look for other opportunities which can benefit our people,”Mr Chulumanda said.

He has already made contacts with officials of the Mozambican airlines to explore the possibility to have direct flights between Lusaka and Maputo. He has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lusaka to facilitate a business tour for Zambian business entrepreneurs to the forthcoming Mauritian Trade Fair to be held towards the end of next month.

“As a mission, we are not on holiday but working very hard to woo investors coming into Mozambique to know what we can offer as well in Zambia and I´m pleased to say that in the three months I have been here, there has been growing interest by investors to look for opportunities in Zambia,” he said.

He pointed out that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates improved from 2 percent in 1999 to over 5% in 2005 while inflation and interest rates also manifested a declining trend over the same period.Poverty levels in Zambia have also declined from 73 percent to 68 percent of the population “and this is what we wanted.”

“We may not have diamonds but we have other resources such as copper and other minerals… huge water resources as well as the potential to improve our industries, manufacturing and commodity trade especially that Mozambicans were rebuilding their country,”

He said SADC member countries need to develop relations which were not dependent on one country but based on regional cooperation.

He dismissed fears that language differences of Portuguese being spoken in Mozambique could be a barrier saying the leadership including the President, Ministers, and those in the private sector were conversant in English.

Mr Chulumanda has meanwhile taken a swipe at some opposition political leaders in Zambia who were bent on spreading falsehoods and ill coated promises which will yield nothing to stop misleading the nation but to direct their energies to more productive issues. The people of Zambia, he said, should instead support President Mwanawasa´s vision to develop the country.

Earlier, when he hosted a dinner at his residence for a Zambian delegation attending a
water conference in Maputo, Mr Chulumanda said now that there is global warming, the
West would be looking for a cleaner environment and even food and its time to ensure
that he country’s environment is kept clean all the time.

The Zambian delegation that is here under the auspices of the Global Water Partnership – Southern Africa and Dannida was led to his residence by Permanent Secretary - Planning and Economic Management Division at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Mr James Mulungushi.

“Talk less and implement projects”

2007-06-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso in Maputo, Mozambique

Ministry of Finance and National Planning Permanent Secretary, James Mulungushi has called for fewer workshops and seminars in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) so that money saved was used for programme implementation.

Mr Mulungushi who is in charge of the Economic and Planning Management Division said there should be a reduction in conferences to direct financial resources and time to implementation of national and regional economic plans.

He was speaking on Wednesday when he presented his keynote address to a SADC multi-stakeholder Water Dialogue in the Mozambican capital.

“I think there must be less talking ….we hold too many workshops, seminars and conferences in the region,” Mr Mulungushi said amidst applause from delegates who had convened at the Joachim Chisano Conference Centre.

Mozambique’s Minister of Public Works and Housing Felicio Zacarius, who, earlier opened the meeting, urged the SADC region member states to take water high on their agenda in development plans.

“SADC is endowed with a lot of water resources which we can harness especially to improve our hydropower and it’s critical that this resource is well managed,” the Minister said.

In his presentation under the theme: Watering development in SADC: beyond IWRM concepts and the converted, Mr Mulungushi said governments in the developing countries have a challenge to reduce poverty and realize the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“Key to these challenges is water for food, water for agricultural productivity, water for domestic use, and water for energy and environment. The achievement of these milestones depend on how we manage and use natural resources especially water resources,”

Mr Mulungushi stressed that financial resources should be channelled towards construction of schools or health centres and the improvement of water, a resource, which, he said, cuts across all economic sectors.

“We need to improve our water because it is critical for increased agricultural production and food security, increased mining and industrial production, transport and communication, promotion of tourism and recreation as well as hydropower generation”

For social development, water is key in the improvement of people’s well being through accessibility to clean and safe water, Mr Mulungushi said, adding that water was not an engineering equation. It affects everybody and is a cross-cutting issue like gender and environment.

To yield maximum benefits programmes outlined in the 5th National Development Plan (FNDP) require Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), as an approach for inter-sectoral coordination.

There is need therefore to have an integrated and coordinated implementation framework among sectors to avoid duplication and overlap and to achieve maximum impact.

The SADC region, he said has a wide wealth of plans and projects that require implementation and he expressed happiness that the Zambian economy has been growing over the past five years.

Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates improved from 2 percent in 1999 to over 5% in 2005. while inflation, interest rates and poverty levels have also declined. To build on this success, however demands more economic growth, wealth creation and further poverty reduction in the 5th National Development Plan.

Mr Mulungushi paid tribute to Global Water Partnership Southern Africa and the Zambia Water Partnership for their critical role in ensuring that the priority interventions in the water and sanitation are included in national planning process.

Earlier, SADC Director of Infrastructure and Services, Remigious Makumbe said although the SADC is home to 15 shared watercourses, the region remains water deficient resulting in a mismatch between water availability and water demand.

“Water scarcity continues to cause region-wide negative impact on human populations and today not one SADC member state demonstrates a score higher than 61.9 on the Water Poverty Index. More than half of the Sub-Saharan population lack access to safe water while, more than 40 percent lack adequate sanitation,”

SADC develops protocols to manage water resources

2007-06-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso in Maputo, Mozambique

Pumulo Sililo is a 67 - year old man of Simungoma village in Zambia’s Sesheke district. He retired from the Copperbelt where he had worked for close to thirty years at one of the mines but decided to settle in the village with his wife Muyunda and their three children.

This was twelve years ago. At the time of his relocation from the bright lights of Kitwe on the Copperbelt, Sililo thought it would be an easy change to move from the city and settle in the village with his pension benefits and the long-held belief that life is cheap in the rural areas.

However, life has not been rosy for the Sililo´s family. All their dreams of a happy rural life just fizzled out in no time and the family became sober to the grim realities of rural life.

Food was hard to come by because of the frequent poor rains. The little food they would grow in the fields was hardly enough to see the family through to the next season. They ended up buying mealie meal, the staple food and other necessities, and in no time Sililo’s hard earned pension ran out. He became an ordinary village as poor as any other in Sesheke district, daily being haunted by the extreme poverty, disease and hunger.

Fresh water for drinking and for bathing was difficult to find and became an agonising task to search for. Each day Sililo’s wife and children have to walk long distances, sometime for as long as ten kilometres in search of water, which they draw from dirty streams or shallow ponds.

His children are frequent victims of diarrhoea, dysentery and other water borne diseases because of poor sanitation. Their village has no toilets or pit latrines and they have to answer the call of nature from nearby bushes, posing a health risk to the family and other villagers.

Sililo had hoped to have electrical power in his house but even after living for 15 years in the village, that dream has s remained a pipe dream although there are electric power lines passing over his village.

Poor Sililo and his family are but an example of the many rural dwellers and poor people in rural and peri-urban of Zambia and in neighbouring countries that are still exposed to the harsh realities of life of marginalised communities who have been left to the vagaries of nature including the impact of the dreaded HIV/AIDS pandemic.

They are part of a vicious circle of poverty ravaging most, if not all the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Economic development in general has been slow in the region because of a wide range of factors - lack of water being probably the main contributing factor.

Mama Tshepo, a small scale farmer in Limpopo, South Africa, made a moving presentation in a wheel chair in Maputo, Mozambque, last week, highlighting the plight of poor South Africans saying authorities in SADC need to get down to the local people and help them come out of poverty and strenghthen local communities.

Mama Tshepo, who is in her late 70´s, described herself as a “loose cannon” saying despite her advanced age, she has enough energy which has assisted her to successfully harvest rainwater, combined with organic farming techniques, to boost agricultural produce in her gardens and feed her family. Most villagers in her age in South Africa, she said, were suffering and need help.

Another activist, Mr Kunda Chimambo, a community leader in Zambia´s Chalimbana River Catchment area, east of Lusaka, made a passionate appeal to the Zambian government to protect water recharge areas in forests so that there is continous flow of water to rural communities.

“If recharge areas are degraded, the poor become more vulnerable and this complicates their livelihoods because the quality and quantity of water become more scarce,” Mr Chimambo said.

“ Sewer disposal in natural streams from sinks further contaminates water upon which communities living at the lower ends of the streams depend and this has health implications,”he added, citing Chalimbana area as an example of sewer disposal, which requires control to protect the lives of the poor villagers in Chingwe, east of Lusaka.

Water infrastructure, be it for domestic and industrial water supply, sanitation, hydropower generation, irrigation, flood control, drainage, is inadequate in Zambia and the SADC region in general and often operates inefficiently due to problems of operation and maintenance or simply lack of it.

Despite SADC being home to 15 shared watercourses, the region remains water deficient resulting in a mismatch between water availability and water demand. This has resulted in lack of water for food, for sanitation and other needs causing misery in most communities.
“Water scarcity continues to cause region-wide negative impact on human populations and today not one SADC member state demonstrates a score higher than 61.9 on the Water Poverty Index. More than half of the Sub-Saharan population lack access to safe water while more than 40 percent lack adequate sanitation,” said Remigios Makumbe, the SADC Director of Infrastructure and Services.

Other challenges that the region confronts include irrigation which accounts for approximately 70 percent of the water consumption in the region but shows insufficient ground water protection and widely varying efficiency rates.

Another example is the energy sector. Water is a very important factor in the energy equation as it provides the source of hydropower, which must be further harnessed to avoid serious energy shortages in the region.

Some studies from the region indicate that hydroelectric generation accounts for about 20% of the total energy supply to SADC countries. However, the undeveloped hydro-power potential is very high resulting in most people especially in rural areas living without electricity.

According to the information obtained by Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP), 50% of short-term projects required to improve energy supplies and avoid energy shortfalls involve hydropower, thereby depending on the water resources of the region.

If water is not well harnessed, majority of the populations in the region will therefore continue wallowing in extreme poverty and lack of electricity for many years to come.

All is, however, not lost because there is hope on the horizon. Sililo and his siblings could possibly come out of their misery in the near future.

Governments in the SADC region together with non-governmental organisations, social activists and other stakeholders have pledged to introduce interventions in their economic plans to fight poverty and its offshoots of huger, disease afflicting most communities like Sililo´s family.

This came to light at the just ended 7th SADC Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue held in Maputo, Mozambique at which the region resolved to change the course of development and focus on alleviating the plight of the poor in the region.

SADC comprises South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Angola, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

“The main challenge of our generation is to help the poorest of the poor to escape the misery of extreme poverty so that they begin their own ascent up the ladder of economic development. In this way we will have a better world for all of us,” said Mr Remigious Makumbe, SADC Director of Infrastructure and Services.

Speaking at the opening of the 2007 SADC Dialogue at Joachim Chissano International Conference Centre, in Maputo, Mozambique, Mr Makumbe pointed out that central to the suffering of most of the people in the region was poor access to water.

He disclosed that various instruments have been developed at the regional level with regard to the management and development of water resources in the region. These include the SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses which was adopted in 2000 and came into force in 2003.

State parties to this Protocol have undertaken to harmonise the water uses in the shared watercourses and maintain a proper balance between resource development and enhancement of the environment to promote sustainable development and a higher standard of living for people in the region.

“SADC also has a Regional Water Strategy that translates the policy further into implementable strategies. In addition, SADC is addressing the water management challenges in the region through a number of programmes and projects that form part of the Regional Strategic Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management which is a component of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan,” Mr Makumbe said.

All these instruments do provide a framework for sustainable, integrated and coordinated development, utilisation, protection and control of national and trans-boundary water resources in the SADC region for the promotion of socio-economic development, regional integration and improvement of the quality of life to all people in the region.

SADC recognizes that water is the engine for economic growth and that member states have adopted Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as the fundamental approach to water resources management to ensure that water is adequately contributing to poverty eradication, regional integration and socio-economic development in a sustainable manner.

The IWRM principles have been accepted by all member SADC States who are increasingly recognizing that water resources in the SADC region are limited, demands are rising rapidly and the potential for disastrous water shortages is high unless these resources are managed with great care and for the benefit of all.

Zambia’s Permanent Secretary for Economic Planning in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, James Mulungushi said since water is cross cutting in all sectors of economic development like gender and environment , there is need for all actors in the planning process to involve all stakeholders and not only water engineers and natural resource conservationists.

“Make different sectors appreciate the role of water…and ensure that there is bottom – up and top-down planning,” Mr. Mulungushi said.

He said if water is a key ingredient in economic development, there is need to conserve it, and use it in a sustainable way,” Mr Mulungushi said, adding that this calls for collaboration by all stakeholders at all levels including the catchment, country and international levels.

Mr Mulungushi said this in a key note address to the just ended 7th Multi-Stakeholder Water Dialogue at Joachim Chisano International Conference Centre in Maputo, Mozambique.

At household level, he said, IWRM should translate into food security, improved health, and access to clean energy sources as well as a source of income.

At National level, it should go beyond partnerships and move to implementation plans.

At international level, IWRM should go beyond observing international agreements, conventions, global values and good neighbourliness to sustainable utilization. Indeed, if all these interventions were made, the suffering being experienced by the likes of Silolo´s family and others would become a mere statistic and history for Africa.

Meanwhile, former diplomat in Lesotho, Reggie Teka Teka was elected chairperson of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) Southern Africa after polling 13 votes beating Malawian Geologist, Grain Malunga, who polled 6 votes and Gender activist Norma Neseni of Zimbabwe, who polled 4 votes during the 7th Consulting Partners meeting held at Cardoso hotel in Maputo last week.

Mr Teka Teka pledged to raise the agenda of IWRM in the SADC region and called for cooperation amongst country water partnerships in the fight against poverty in the sub region.

Build AIDS resilient Governance Structures - IDASA

2007-06-05T07:30:00.001-07:00

FROM Pelekelo Liswaniso in Cape Town, South Africa

AFRICA’s growing and in some cases fragile democracies could collapse unless the dreaded HIV/AIDS pandemic is addressed in the continent’s electoral system and governance structures.

This fear came to light at the on-going 2nd Governance and AIDS Forum under the auspices of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) at the Southern Sun hotel, in Cape Town.

Delegates drawn from various institutions dealing with governance issues across Africa including members of parliament agree that there is need to build AIDS resilient democratic institutions and communities if the continent is to move forward in the wake of the pandemic, which is devastating all sectors of human development.

For the past four years, IDASA Governance and AIDS Programme has conducted innovative studies to investigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the electoral systems and processes in Africa to assist African governments to deal with political and economic consequences of the pandemic that have until now been based on assumptions.

The research was conducted from the perspective of democratic governance and has profiled information highlighting numerous political, civic and economic issues that urgently need to be addressed in response to the pandemic.

The evidence which was generated from the research makes it possible for decision makers to plan more concretely to address the many challenges posed by HIV/AIDS.

Research
The study was carried out in Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal and Zambia and presents the first insights into the implications for a sustainable democracy in the face of the continuing onslaught of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The research provides insight for the implications of HIV/AIDS on sustainable democracy, the consequences of depleted leadership pools and the rising economic costs associated with replacing deceased elected representatives.

Delegates were informed that HIV/AIDS was eroding leadership pools of legislators and other high profile political leaders in parliaments.

The stigma associated with the disease has made many leaders to avoid going for Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) while others die without accessing Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART).

It was not easy to know leaders whose lives could have been claimed by AIDS, but the costs associated with replacing such leaders through by-elections were high.

The research further addresses the capacities of strategic political institutions such as parliaments, political parties and electoral management bodies to sustain healthy democracies. It also looks at the effect of stigma and discrimination on citizen participation in democratic processes like elections.

The outcomes suggest that HIV/AIDS could place further burden on national treasuries and poor management of the pandemic could potentially weaken the quality of governance in Africa but also suggest that most of the effects could be managed if governments adopt appropriate strategies.

IDASA Governance and AIDS Programme Manager Kondwani Chirambo said the multi-country studies were undertaken by the Centre for Social Research (CSR) at the University of Malawi, the Namibian Institute for Democracy (NID), the Economic and Social Research Foundations in Tanzania (ESRF), the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) in Zambia, the Southern African Centre for Policy Dialogue and Development (SACPODD) in South Africa and the Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Cheik Anta Diop in Senegal.

Key findings
Mr. Chirambo who reviewed key findings on the impacts of HIV/AIDS on the electoral system in the region pointed out that a pilot study undertaken in 2003 in Zambia which uses the First-Past-the Post (FPTP) electoral system, indicates that between 1964 and 1984, the 20-year period before the advent of HIV/AIDS, a total of 46 by-elections were held, 14 of them as a result of death by illness and accidents combined.

However, over an 18-year period, from 1985, the year the first case of AIDS case was documented in Zambia, to February 2003, a total of 102 by-elections were held and 59 of those were due to death by disease.

Most of these by-elections, altogether 39, were held between 1992 and February 2003, which are the years in which the HIV/AIDS pandemic peaked in Zambia.

The majority of the deceased fell into the age group of 40-60, which is the most susceptible to HIV/AIDS and sexually active age cohort. There were no MPs below the age of 40 at the time of the study.

While there may be no specific information on the nature of the illnesses that led to the deaths of people’s representatives, trend analyses can be indicative of the influence of the pandemic, Mr. Chirambo said.

FODEP Executive Director Elijah Rubvuta and University of Zambia lecturer Derrick Elemu, in a joint presentation, stressed that there was growing understanding that the epidemic was having considerable impact on governance in general and electoral processes in particular but that governance and elections had largely been left out in the national HIV/AIDS response.

Mr Rubvuta pointed out that the electoral system in Zambia is very vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS era, especially on the replacement costs for elected leaders.

“The impacts can be disruptive both in the economic and political sense,” he said, adding that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), which has been tasked to oversee the country’s electoral system, has not been spared either.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has adversely impacted on the ECZ in many respects, although the exact extent is difficult to establish due to unavailability of the relevant information.

“The problem of attrition is more disruptive at provincial and district level where the ECZ depends on other government ministries and departments to administer elections.

The Ministry of Education, upon which the ECZ depends for most of their grassroots personnel, has particularly been singled out as one ministry in Zambia that has been adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and statistics are easily available.

Furthermore, the electoral reforms which have been tasked to re-assess the operations of the ECZ and other critical electoral institutions have not taken on board the implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for good electoral management and administration, Mr Rubvuta said.

ECZ Deputy Director for Elections and Voter Education, Ms Priscilla Isaacs who was also in attendance and chaired one of the sessions explained that the commission was in the process of developing an HIV/AIDS policy and would also consider the issue of regularly updating the voters register by removing voters who have died through collaboration with the National Registration department.

This would be done under the continuous voters’ registration which will provide for the daily registration of voters.

FPTP Electoral System
The FPTP electoral system appears to be the most vulnerable system in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This system is likely to be even more expensive to sustain as the epidemic spreads further, Mr. Rubvuta said.

“There is therefore need to reconsider Zambia’s Electoral System in order to take on board the implications arising from the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” he said.

He noted that Government has now widely acknowledged that HIV/AIDS is negatively impacting on the legislature in Zambia.

In the same presentation, Mr Elemu explained that HIV/AIDS is causing MPs, key legislative personnel and administrators, and other support staff to fall ill and or die, leaving gaps in different positions, skills, experience and talent.

Mr Elemu, giving the latest findings of the study pointed out that the frequent deaths of MPs and other political representatives as a result of illness have only become common in the last ten to fifteen years in Zambia.

The number of by-elections as a result of death of incumbent MPs and councillors has also increased during the last 15 years.

While there were only 46 by-elections between 1964 and 1984, with only 6.4 per cent resulting from the death of the incumbent, there were 146 between 1985 and 2005, with about 60 per cent of them due to deaths of incumbent MPs.

Power shifts
HIV/AIDS has made political parties very weak in many respects, Mr Elemu said. The epidemic continues to deplete dependable personnel both in terms of organization, mobilization and financial support, most opposition political parties have become relegated to what was termed “ad hoc assemblies that only become alive for election purposes.” Mr Elemu said.

Opposition parties he said have generally been losing the majority of the by-elections, mainly because they have not been able to compete with the well-resourced ruling party.

Election fatigue:

The high frequency of by-elections has contributed to election fatigue as evidenced by the low voter turnout during by-elections.

The tendency by contestants to engage in electoral corruption also kills the value and essence of elections being the ‘free expression of the will of the electorate’ due to such vices as bribery and other enticements that are rife during the by-elections.

Mr. Rubvuta said that parliament was well positioned to positively influence HIV/AIDS policy.
He said some HIV/AIDS programmes are going on, but that a lot needs to be done to have significant impacts.

“Most of the responses are donor-driven rather than internal to Parliament. Parliament has not done well in eliciting appropriate policies for HIV/AIDS or People Living with HIV/AIDS. MPs as individuals are also not doing much in HIV/AIDS in their constituencie, Mr Rubvuta said.”
He noted that in spite of the fact that Parliament has been in the process of setting up the HIV/AIDS response for a number of years, little progress has been made so far.

Mr Rubvuta said research had shown that MPs and support staff were not keen to test and know their HIV status, and that few have gone for VCT.

Notification or disclosure of their HIV status is seen as suicidal due to the stigma that follows. Infact the associated stigma and discrimination is perceived as the main reason for poor VCT and disclosure by members of Parliament or councillors.

As regards access to treatment, at least in theory, there are efforts at Parliament towards treatment and care services. However, these have remained inactive and ineffective, they said.
Delegates here have agreed that to have an AIDS resilience Africa demands not only improved management of the pandemic by state institutions such as parliament, but the existence of thriving democratic communities, able to confront the epidemic and its consequences, with confidence, looking towards a more hopeful future.

IDASA through its Governance and AIDS programme has instituted an ambitious campaign to promote democratic governance on the continent by creating a culture of collaborative problem-solving involving states and non-state actors, which can lead to the unlocking of resources across communities to deal with HIV/AIDS and promote development.

Recommendations
IDASA has recommended that stigma and discrimination is weeded out at all levels of society in Africa as citizens recognize each other’s democratic roles.

Furthermore, democratic institutions should be strengthened and take full account of the political and organizational implications of the epidemic and plan strategically.

“Elected leaders and top officials in government at every level should be seen to be actively involved in addressing HIV/AIDS, while acknowledging that they cannot fight the pandemic on their own, without the collaboration of citizens across the society, including people living with HIV/AIDS,” a communiqué issued here said.

IDASA Executive Director Paul Graham and Professor Nana Poku from the African Studies of the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in UK, called for a more strategic approach in dealing with the complexity of HIV/AIDS in the governance process.

Ben Botolo from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development in Malawi said participation in leadership should not be based on one’s HIV status. Policies and development plans should treat HIV/AIDS as a continuing priority, while focusing on building democratic hope and empowering citizens to shape and create a society of the future.

South Africa’s Transport Minister and acting Minister of Health Jeff Radebe, who officially opened the conference, said the challenge for Africa was huge and that there was need for a multi-sectoral response to the pandemic and that there must be no leadership vacuum in the HIV/AIDS fight.

“We need to ask the question why individuals and the environment make sub-Saharan Africa the epitome of HIV and AIDS in the world,” Mr. Radebe said adding that while everyone is at risk of HIV/AIDS, the groups at higher risk are poorer populations especially young women in the age-groups of between 25-35 years.

HIV/AIDS has posed serious health system challenges on the continent including shortage of human resources and inadequate infrastructure.

Access to affordable and quality medicines and limited social security for the poor constitutes the majority of the population, also remain a serious challenge.

“There is no better opportunity than now, at a point where we seem to have reached the peak of the HIV prevalence. What we do in various countries in the region will determine the extent to which we effectively leverage on this natural trend,” he said.

Mr. Radebe agreed that an effective national response to HIV and AIDS cannot be the responsibility of the health sector or the state alone. There must be democratic governance and a culture of collaborative problem-solving in national response to the pandemic.

‘Let us harvest rain water’

2007-04-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

The famous Ku-omboka ceremony of the Barotse people of Western province has come and gone but not forgotten in many respects. Hopefully, the mighty Zambezi River will next year again burst to its seams from torrential rains and flood the Barotse plains to relive this spectacular ceremony once again.

Ku-omboka, which means, “to come out of water” was obviously to many visitors and local people, yet another big traditional celebration of lozi culture held every year.
It was the biggest celebration held in the Lozi flood plains of the upper Zambezi during which the Litunga or the Lozi king leads his people from the flooded plains to higher ground in Limulunga.

It is perhaps the only traditional ceremony, highly associated with deep waters to enable the Nalikwanda, the royal barge, to be paddled safely across the plains to higher ground. This ecstatic royal movement across an expanse of water attracts more interest as a celebration of local culture each year than any other in Zambia.

Memories of the festivities for those who travelled to Mongu, Lealui and Limulunga, to witness the ceremony will definitely remain fresh in their minds for many years to come while the exuberance of the abundant water in western province will equally linger in their hearts.

There will be wishes and fears of what can result from the flood plains and the obvious pointer, which immediately comes to surface, is that it was also reminder of the aftermath of the heavy rainfall which filled up the Zambezi river resulting in hundreds of people being left homeless across the country.

The Zambian government has in fact come under mounting criticism from local civic organisations for its apparent inability to assess recent flood damage and making a coordinated response to the crisis impossible.

Torrential rains, which began in early December 2006, have swamped at least 21 of the country's 73 districts, washing away houses, bridges and crops, while some schools have been forced to close and the Barotse people are among the hundreds of people displaced.

In addition, there has been little information about the extent of the damage, besides the repetitive line by government's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) that assessment of the affected areas was "still ongoing" and the findings would be published in "due course".

Nonetheless, hats off to President Levy Mwanawasa, who was chief guest to the Litunga at this year’s Kuomboka ceremony, for assuring the nation that Government will soon start rehabilitating infrastructure destroyed by floods throughout the country.

Temporary shelter, clean water and proper sanitation and other non-food relief supplies are in short supply in the affected areas and the government is obviously worried that there could be an outbreak of water-borne diseases such as cholera. Further, rains are expected throughout this month.

Although this highly treasured traditional ceremony is over and was held successfully, there are major lessons about water, which the country needs to critically address in view of this year’s heavy rains and other similar wet seasons to come.

The issue, which has become a subject of discussion in many academic and development circles, is that the Ku-omboka ceremony should open people’s minds and that the nation should not take for granted the abundant water which the country is blessed with this year.

It is high time that the abundant water in the Barotse plains and elsewhere for that matter is conserved for future use because weather and rain patterns are unpredictable.

Some leading water development exponents, some of whom attended this years Ku-omboka ceremony feel its high time that the country began to take deliberate steps to harvest rain water during the rainy season and look at floods as a panacea to most of the country’s development problems.

Water brings life to our cities and plants and provides the habitat for living things. It is vital for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, industry and countless other purposes. When it is in abundant, it is crucial, therefore, that it is preserved.

The country’s rivers and dams are now full of water but there is no guarantee that the nation will have good rains again next year to flood our rivers and lakes. The country could actually be headed for a drought, who knows?

Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP) Executive Secretary, Professor Nyambe Imasiku, who attended the Ku-omboka ceremony, said Ku-omboka should send another message to the nation to learn to prepare for the future in how the country manages its water resources and food reserves.

ZWP is facilitating the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) plan as a solution to the efficient management of the country’s water resources and enhance national development plans.

“Yes, we can marvel at the abundant water in the Barotse plains and enjoy the Ku-omboka ceremony as we have done but let us also look at how we can harvest this rain water for agriculture and other purposes,” Prof Nyambe said.

Prof Nyambe, a geology senior lecturer at the University of Zambia (UNZA), said that rain water harvesting was a method of utilizing rain water for domestic and agricultural use and that this practice was already applied widely in many parts of the world.

Rain water harvesting is a method, which has been used since ancient times and is increasingly being accepted as a practical method of providing potable water in development projects throughout the world, he said.

“There is need for the country to seriously start harvesting water for agricultural use and other purposes. We are just looking at rain water running off and yet we can collect it and use it wisely,” Prof Nyambe said.

A water specialist, Chimwang’a Maseka, who is the project Manager for Partnership for Africa’s Water Development (PAWD) in Zambia, said that rain water harvesting had a wide application in urban and peri-urban areas where the reliability and quality of piped water was increasingly being questioned.

A study released by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) also says that rain water harvesting is simply collecting rainwater that falls on your property and then putting it to use around your home or yard!

But how many people bother to collect rain water in Zambia? There is simply water run off everywhere and rain water is taken for granted. Very few people, if any, both in urban and rural Zambia harvest rain water.

“It’s time we learnt the importance of capturing water. Rain water harvesting is a way to capture the rainwater when it rains, store that water above ground or charge the underground and use it later.

This happens naturally in open rural areas. But in congested, over-paved metropolitan cities like Lusaka there is need to create methods to capture the rain water,” Mr. Maseka explained.

In some countries, people use rainwater to irrigate trees, lawns and other landscaping.

“You can substantially lower your water bill, help reduce local flooding and reduce landscaping and property maintenance needs--- all by putting water harvesting ideas to use around your home.

Whether you're building a new home on an single lot, designing a major subdivision, or just making a few improvements around your yard, water harvesting can be easily incorporated into your plans,” Mr. Maseka added.

And according to the FAO study, rain water harvesting is a proven technology to increase food security in drought prone areas.

In other words, drought prone areas such the Southern province particularly the Gwembe valley should take rain water harvesting very seriously.

Erosion control and recharge of ground water are additional advantages of water harvesting techniques.

According to FAO, it has also been observed that in most countries that extension and irrigation staff have often very limited knowledge about the various water harvesting techniques and the associated socio-economic implications.

An example on how to harvest rain water is that if you live in a single dwelling house or a multi-tenant block of flats, for example, is that you already have 80 percent of the rain water harvesting system. What needs to be done is to re-orient the plumbing design.

According to FAO, the present design of your house will take all the rainwater from the roof and all the ground level areas surrounding the house and flow the water towards the street. (where it floods the street, clogs the storm drains and sewer lines for a few days, before flowing away as sewage water).

From the roof tops, bring the rainwater down using closed PVC pipes and direct it to a sump. Include a simple 3-part filteration unit consisting of sand, brick jelly and broken mud bricks.

If you do not have sump, use a well. In many parts of the Zambia, old wells when they go dry are used as garbage dumps. Please clean the well and put the rain water into it.

If you do not have a well, construct a baby well (about 2ft in diameter and about 16 feet deep based on soil structure).

Another method of rain water harvesting is by collecting ground water and stopping its flow at a gate by putting a concrete slab with holes in it, build a two feet deep pit, across the full width of the gate. Collect and connect a pipe and flow the water to a well or a baby well.

And according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) of India, a rainwater harvesting system comprises components of various stages - transporting rainwater through pipes or drains, filtration, and storage in tanks for reuse or recharge.

One can only hope that this will open people’s eyes and minds and not take the huge water resources now available and ensure that in future, steps are taken to harvest rain water because the practice is simple and goes a long way in enhancing economic development.

Water planning, management under FNDP

2007-01-23T01:55:00.000-08:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

IT WAS probably one of the most highly profiled gatherings in the water sector in recent years because it constituted some of the best brains Zambia has ever produced in academia, economics, finance, planning and other disciplines.

This was the just ended National Workshop for Directors of Water-Related Government Ministries and Heads of Planning, which took place at Mukuba Hotel in Ndola early this month.

Delegates were all directors drawn from various ministries and government departments across the country with the common purpose of raising the agenda of water and sanitation in the process of implementing the 5th National Development Plan (FNDP).

Finance Minister, Ng’andu Magande presented the document to President Mwanawasa a few days ago at Lusaka’s Mulungushi International conference centre.

The directors’ workshop was organised under the auspices of the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP) in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.

ZWP is part of a regional network of the Global Water Partnership (GWP- Southern Africa) that collaborates closely with both the SADC Water Division at the regional level and government departments in many SADC members states to promote and influence Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

After four days of brain-storming and planning by some of the country’s think –tanks, it was resolved that water and sanitation were a key strategy in fighting poverty and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.

The MDGs have galvanised unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. They promote maternal health, gender equality and aim at combating child mortality, promoting environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.

Director of Planning in the Ministry of Energy and Water Development, Benny Chuundu, announced at the close of the workshop that the delegates agreed that the current efforts in water resources management were disjointed and fragmented.

It was therefore crucial that the various stakeholders should address poverty and attain the MDGs by applying the principles of IWRM.

IWRM is a process, which promotes the coordinated development and management of water and land resources to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

Mr. Chuundu who was speaking on behalf of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Water Development, Buleti Nsemukila, who had earlier officially opened the workshop, said the challenge now was to implement the IWRM plan with concrete activities that are measurable.

Zambia, he said, was endowed with abundant water resources but that the country suffers from low levels of water utilisation and development and it was a shame that the country was still wallowing in poverty.

“There is need for increased water use and development imperatives for economic and social development,” Mr Chuundu said.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Dr Nsemukila outlined how Government initiated the water sector reforms in 1994 with the launch of a forward looking water policy, and also begun comprehensive water resources reforms in 2000 under the Water Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

The reforms have targeted the legislative and institutional frameworks in order to enable the Ministry of Energy and Water Development manage the country’s water resources more efficiently and effectively.

Dr Nsemukila said now that the FNDP has been finalised and approved, it would require considerable resources to implement. Within the water related sectors, it has long been recognized that IWRM is the approach for intersectoral coordination.

“There will be need to have an integrated and coordinated implementation framework among sectors to avoid duplication and overlap and achieve maximum impact, he said.

The FNDP shows that the lists of development programmes are sectoral with each sector outlining its implementation mechanism.

Dr Nsemukila said his ministry has water and sanitation as one of the priority sectors in the FNDP.

“As the common adage Water is life proclaims, social and economic development cannot progress without a well developed and managed water sector, ”he said.

Dr Nsemukila observed that managing water is cross-sectoral with various institutions undertaking various interventions, adding that water in its natural state is “one resource” and knows no division and that this makes managing water complex.

To accelerate implementation of the IWRM and the Water Efficiency Plan in the FNDP, the directors agreed that sector consultations across provinces be arranged with the Water Sector Advisory Groups (WSAG), technical working groups including the health sector.

It was agreed that a national workshop to sensitize permanent secretaries in ministries with functions related to water provision should also be arranged soon and that all directors engaged in planning should monitor and evaluate the various national activities to ensure that water and sanitation were given priority.

Former Director of Planning and Economic Management, James Mulungushi, also agreed that implementation of the FNDP will require substantial resources.

Mr Mulungushi noted that a number of priority programmes have also been identified in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2007-2009 relating to Water Resources Management, Water Supply and Sanitation as well as irrigation for development.

He said the Ministry of Finance and National Planning was pleased to be associated with the directors’ meeting on water and sanitation as it marks the beginning of a coordinated effort to implement objectives of the FNDP.

He observed that expectations from the FNDP were high partly because the consultative process has been extensive and many people feel a degree of ownership.

Mr Mulungushi, who has just been appointed permanent secretary by President Mwanawasa for the newly created Planning and Economic Division, will be responsible for strategic planning of Zambia’s development.

“We have consulted so much, that surely the possibility of failure to capture significant ideas that are fundamental towards the development of our country cannot be a possibility. In addition to the process, we should all be expectant of this plan because the economic environment upon which is to be delivered, is a positive one,” Mr. Mulungushi said.

Mr Mulungushi said this year’s policy framework aims at enhancing rural development, especially agriculture, strengthening the linkages between the resource sectors with manufacturing, fostering a competitive and outward-oriented economy and improving infrastructure and social delivery including water.

The economic performance of Zambia has shown considerable improvements in the last few years, he said. Real Gross Domestic Product growth has averaged 4.7 per cent between 2002 to 2005 as opposed to an average of 2.2 per cent in the previous four years.

“Greater growth was actually experienced in 2005, at 5.1 percent compared to the 5.4 per cent of 2004. For the same period, per capita income grew at 2.3 per cent annually, as opposed to the declining trend of the 1990s,”

The overall inflation and interest rates during the period 2002 to 2006, he said also assumed a declining trend.

“Inflation was at 8.2 in 2006. Interest rates too, have exhibited a downward trend, as a result of the vigorously pursued government policy to reduce government borrowing,” he said.

Furthermore, Zambia has benefited from debt relief under the heavily indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC). Due to this initiative and government’s timely debt service payments, Zambia’s debt stock has significantly reduced.

At the end of 2006, data indicated that Zambia’s external debt stock stood at US $500 million as opposed to the US $7.1 billion at the of 2004.

An elated Mr. Mulungushi said the implications of these write-offs are tremendous because Zambia will be saving annually an estimated US $180 million or K600 billion in debt service.

Clearly this is a significant amount of resources, which can be channeled towards reaching some of the Millennium Development Goals.

Government is therefore determined to focus its policies and programmes, through the FNDP in order to take opportunity of this generous external debt service scheme,”

In order to enhance the implementation of the FNDP, Mr. Mulungushi said government is implementing public sector reforms such as through the Public Sector Reform Programme covering Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accounting Reforms (PEMFA).

Components of PEMFA include the development of Integrated financial management and Information System (IFMIS) and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework designed in order to improve accountability, transparency and management of public resources.

“As we move forward, it is absolutely important that we do not reduce the significance of these reforms, which promote greater efficiencies and effectiveness,” he said.

The macro economic framework for 2007, he said, include accelerating pro poor growth, stabilise inflation to single digit, achieve exchange rate stability while the macro economic targets include achieving real GDP growth of 6 per cent, achieving inflation of less than 5 per cent, limiting domestic borrowing to 1.3 per cent and achieve the official gross international reserves to 2 months of imports.

Indeed, if water and sanitation are prioritized in the framework, there is no doubt that Zambia is heading for a turn around and a definite improvement in the lives of the people.

Water, Sanitation: High on Development Agenda

2007-01-14T07:27:00.000-08:00

By PELEKELO LISWANISO

THE year 2006 is gone but not forgotten. And as the nation braces itself for new challenges in the New Year, the next five days will go down in the annals of history as special days on the Zambian calendar because they will mark a major turning point on how water resources in the country can help improve lives of the more than 12 million people, majority of whom are poor in rural and peril-urban areas.

Government in collaboration with the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP) is organising a national forum from January 7 to 11 for stakeholders in the water sector in a bid to improve water supply services and sanitation in the country.

The forum, which has been dubbed as The National Workshop for Directors and Sanitation Related Government Ministries and Heads of Planning, has been slated for Ndola’s Mukuba Hotel.

The organisation of the workshop arises from the fact that water resources development and management is one of the key sectors in the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) in fostering the country’s social economic development.

Announcing this before the close of last year, Secretary to the Treasury, Evans Chibiliti said the workshop would kick start the water sector and provincial consultations as well as mark the start of the implementation of interventions outlined in the FNDP.

The strategic focus of the FNDP is socio-economic infrastructure and human resource development aimed at promoting wealth creation through sustained broad-based economic growth and poverty reduction.

The workshop is envisaged to introduce the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Water Efficiency Plan.

IWRM is a process, which promotes the coordinated development and management of water and land resources to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

The IWRM and Water Efficiency Plan has been taken in Zambia as a road map to guide the country from fragmented ways of developing, managing and using water resources. It helps the government to address key water problems such as water for food, water for agricultural productivity, water for domestic use and water for energy and environment.

It is a key milestone for poverty reduction and the realisation of water related 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The plan is cross-sectoral and explains the responsibility of water related government agencies such as the Ministries of Energy and Water Development, Agriculture and Cooperatives, Health, Gender, Local Government and Housing, Environment, Tourism and Natural Resources, Finance and National Planning.

The plan outlines the actions and resources required to manage, use and develop water resources in an integrated manner to maximise the socio-economic benefits and improve people’s livelihoods now and in the future.

“In addition, it is expected that the workshop will identify key challenges and opportunities in the water sector and priority areas to be considered in the 2007-2009 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and in the 2007 budget,” Mr. Chibiliti said in invitation letters to participants.

In the medium-term, Government’s objectives are aimed at preserving and consolidating the macroeconomic stability achieved in the last few years.

The importance of inter-sectoral coordination and integration in the implementation of programmes in the water related sectors in the FNDP would also be highlighted. Benefits of IWRM will be identified and strategies for implementation mapped out.

The FNDP was developed through a consultative process involving major stakeholders including the civil society, cooperating partners and the private sector. The process involved considerable input from stakeholders through the District and Provincial Development Coordination Committees and at the central level, through the Sector Advisory Groups (SAGs).

Some of the priority sectors in the FNDP include water and sanitation, public safety, education and health, agriculture and infrastructure. With regards to water and sanitation, government has also recognised the role it plays in the improvement of people’s well being as it is key in the operations of almost all sectors.

Among the speakers scheduled to make presentations include ZWP chairman, Mr. Osward Chanda, who is also the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NAWSCO) director, Professor Imasiku Nyambe, a geologist at the University of Zambia.

Others are director of Water Affairs, Mr Adam Hussein and Mr. Lubinda Aongola of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Kenneth Chense of Nkana Water and Sewerage Company, James Mulungushi, Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Peter Lubambo, Ministry of Local Government and Housing, Mr. Benny Chuundu, Ministry of Energy and Water Development, Mr. Rees Mwasambili, Ministry of Local Government and Housing and many other water specialists.

According to information released by the ZWP secretariat at the University of Zambia, government has committed itself to meeting the international goals of providing water and sanitation facilities to all citizens in the country.

It is in view of this background that has prompted the government to place water and sanitation as one of the priority sectors in the FNDP. This is also in line with Zambia’s aspiration for clean and safe water supply and sanitation envisaged in the vision 2030.

According to information available to the Daily Mail, the FNDP has been finalised and its implementation will require substantial resources.

A look at the programmes in the NDP shows that the lists of programmes are sectoral with each sector outlining its own implementation mechanism.

Similarly, a number of priority programmes have been identified in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework relating to water resources management, water supply and sanitation as well as irrigation development.

Therefore, for the implementation of these programmes to yield maximum benefits, it has long been recognised that IWRM is the approach for intersectoral coordination.

“There will be need to have an integrated and coordinated implementation framework among sectors to avoid duplication and overlap and to achieve maximum impact,” explained, Mr Chimwanga Maseka, the ZWP Project Manager for the Partnership for Africa’s Water Development (PAWD) project.

Mr Maseka observed in an interview that the government through the Ministry of Energy and Water Development, with facilitation from ZWP, has been developing a long term implementation framework on IWRM plan for water related sectors linked to the national long term vision (2030).

“An IWRM plan for water related sectors is in line with international developments for improving planning and sectoral coordination among sectors,” he said.

The workshop comes in the wake of resolutions made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2000 where water was identified as a key element in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This led to the establishment of a target “for countries to establish IWRM and water efficiency plans by 2005”.

The international community pledged to support countries in meeting this target, which is a key element in achieving the MDGs of halving by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation services.

In 2004 the Ministry of Energy and Water Development initiated the process of preparation of a national IWRM and Water Efficiency plan for the sustainable management of water resources in Zambia and this was facilitated by ZWP through the PAWD project.

It is important, therefore, that the country takes cognisance of the fact that sustainable water development and management is a critical component of development for all societies and Zambia cannot afford to be left behind in planning for the future. This meeting in Ndola coming at the very beginning of the year 2007 is, therefore, very timely indeed.

Editors to fight HIV/AIDS in a big way

2006-12-12T01:06:00.000-08:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso
(SAEF- Zambia Chairman)

The Zambia chapter of the Southern African Editors Forum (SAEF) is very excited to join the rest of the world in commemorating the World AIDS Day falling today on December 1, 2006.

This is a special day because it is an opportunity for people worldwide including Zambians to unite in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

In line with this year’s theme: Stop AIDS; Keep the Promise – SAEF Zambia has decided to be fully involved, hence our decision to come up with this supplement and join the rest of the international community, some of whom have expressed their views in this special supplement we call Media Business Unusual.

We are also excited by the idea of media talking to itself about this pandemic and more especially to demonstrate to the world that we are not passively concerned about others being infected but that we are equally infected or affected and would like to join the anti Aids fight in a big way.

We are concerned about the pandemic because our work as journalists makes us vulnerable to infection, as we have to move from one place to another in search of news. This high mobility makes us a high- risk group and there is need for us to take action and protect ourselves.

We believe it is up to you, me and everyone to stop the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS before the scourge kills more people, as there is currently no cure.

We hope this is the beginning of a consistent involvement of the Zambian media as part of its promise to stop AIDS, which has caused so much misery and suffering amongst our people.

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are 38.6 million people living with HIV including 2.3 million children.

The latest report estimates that during 2005 some 4.1 million people became newly infected with the virus and the numbers increase in every region every day. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they reach the age of 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

All sectors of society including the media is worried about who will be struck next and its time concerted efforts are made to try and reverse the trend.

The media fraternity in Zambia has obviously responded well to highlight the dangers of HIV and AIDS and publicity has been given due prominence in various media outlets.

Newspaper columns like Reflecting on AIDS, with Dr Mannasseh Phiri and ZNBC’s Health Matters are examples of a clear demonstration of the vigorous campaign by the media to put HIV and AIDS high on their agenda.

There are several talk shows about HIV/AIDS on radio and news and feature articles are published regularly, which is also an indication of the consistent campaign and advocacy against the pandemic. But obviously, there is more the media can do to fight the pandemic.

It is for this reason that SAEF Zambia, which constitutes some of the most senior editorial staff in print, electronic media and media education, felt that a new strategy be applied to stop the spread of HIV by introducing new programmes which include work place programmes in the newsroom.

A number of media houses have in recent months been holding meetings with SAEF representatives to come up with sustainable workplace policies in newsrooms.

As gate- keepers in the information chain, we feel our position as editors is strategic in ensuring that anti HIV/ AIDS messages reach out to the intended audiences and we hope we can be engaged all the time by the various stakeholders to halt the spread of the scourge in all sectors including the media industry.

We have pledged to take the war even further, hence this supplement to jumpstart our campaign.

The idea of the supplement came out of discussions within the Media Action Plan (MAP) roll out, which is a process initiated by SAEF to scale up the fight against HIV/AIDS.

SAEF Zambia is now fully registered and this has given us a legal framework to operate from and we hope all those engaged in the AIDS fight will take advantage of our presence, our relevance and strategic position to engage us and halt the pandemic.

We are grateful to Panos Southern Africa for providing us with funding to successfully register the Forum. We are also thankful to the management of Lusaka hotel who have offered us a venue for our meetings free of charge and we hope the government, the cooperate world, the United Nations, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders will also come on board and participate in our activities.

We are concerned about HIV and AIDS because in many countries AIDS is erasing decades of progress made in extending life expectancy. Millions of adults are dying young or in early middle age. Average life expectancy in some African countries like Zambia is now pegged at 47 years, when it could have been 62 without AIDS.

The effect of the epidemic on households is also very severe. Many families are losing their income earners. In other cases, income earners are forced to stay at home to care for relatives who are ill from AIDS.

Many of those dying have surviving partners who are themselves infected and in need of care. They leave behind children grieving and struggling to survive without a parent's care.

The epidemic is putting a strain on the health sector while schools are heavily affected. This is a major concern, because schools can play a vital role in reducing the impact of the epidemic, through education and support.

HIV/AIDS also dramatically affects labour, setting back economic activity and social progress. Employers, schools, factories and hospitals have to train other staff to replace those at the workplace that become too ill to work.

However, there is growing evidence that prevention efforts can be effective, and this includes initiatives in some of the most heavily affected countries like in our own mother Zambia where HIV prevalence rate is at 16 per cent for a population of 11 million.

Effective prevention campaigns have been carried out in Senegal, which is still reflected in the relatively low adult prevalence rate of 0.9%.

The experience of Uganda also shows that a widespread epidemic can be brought under control. HIV prevalence in Uganda fell from around 15% in the early 1990s to around 5% by 2001. This change is thought to be largely due to intensive HIV prevention campaigns.

More recently, similar declines have been seen in Kenya, Zimbabwe and urban areas of Zambia and Burkina Faso. However, the extremely severe epidemics in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique continue to grow.

There is need, therefore, for a massive expansion in prevention efforts to prevent new infections through various interventions that should include condom use, provision of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), Mother To Child Transmission (MTCT) and provision of Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART), male circumcision and a campaign against multiple sexual partners.

All these interventions require support and editors are there to provide the leadership in ensuring that appropriate and correct information and messages are disseminated to the public as a strategy to reverse the pandemic.

As we commemorate the World AIDS Day, let us all remember that you have an ally in us, the Southern African Editors Forum (SAEF).

SADC urged to invest in water to enhance development

2006-11-14T01:03:00.000-08:00

By PELEKELO LISWANISO in Lilongwe, Malawi

GOVERNMENTS in southern Africa have been asked to commit significant proportions of their budgets to planning and management of water related issues as a strategy to enhance economic development in the SADC region.

Social scientists, researchers, engineers and policy-makers should equally be engaged in collective action plans to fight poverty and avoid the fear of looking ignorant in implementing water plans in their respective countries.

National governments should also take cognisance of their technical capacity and offer local technocrats competitive packages comparable to foreign experts to ensure equal output and equal pay in the water resources sector.

These challenges emerged during the just ended 7th Water Symposium held at Capital Hotel in Lilongwe, Malawi, which was attended by more than 200 water specialists from the SADC region including university lecturers and researchers.

The delegates included a team of 12 SADC journalists drawn by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the SADC/DANIDA Regional Water Sector Programme to assist the media understand Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as a concept and to witness its practical implementation on the ground.

IWRM is a process, which promotes the coordinated development and management of water and land resources to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

It was probably the largest water symposium in recent years under the auspices of WaterNet/Water Research Fund for Southern Africa (WARFSA) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP)- Southern Africa.

Malawi’s Minister of Irrigation and Water Development, Mahommed Sidik Mia officially opened the symposium whose theme was Mainstreaming Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Development Process.

Noting that the SADC region has been plagued by drought, floods, hunger and poverty, Mr Mia said it was time to reverse the trend and urged policy-makers and other stakeholders to redirect their efforts and ensure that water was high on their development agendas.

‘Time to act is now before it’s too late,” Mr Mia said, adding that the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will remain a pipe dream if adequate resources were not pumped into harnessing and effectively managing the region’s water resources.

Southern Africa has a population of about 193 million people and 65 per cent live in rural areas where poverty levels, disease, poor sanitation and poor water supplies are high. The peri-urban areas in these countries are equally poor, forcing women and children to walk long distances in search of water.

Most people in these countries depend on the exploitation of natural resources including water, resulting in water scarcity, pollution, poor sanitation and climate variability which has often led to droughts, desertification, floods and other natural disasters.

Former Malawian diplomat, Professor Zachary Kasomekera, in his keynote address, said Southern Africa is equally hard hit by HIV/AIDS while subsistence economy and overall narrow based production has led to persistent poverty.

Environmental degradation is a further contributor to the decline in water availability, through loss of vegetation, and the disruption of microclimates and hydrological cycles.

Dense stands of alien vegetation in Southern Africa are particularly disruptive because they use much larger amounts of water than indigenous species.
In some areas of Southern Africa, up 50 per cent of wetlands have been transformed. The Caprivi wetland in Namibia, for example, has been reduced to almost 25 per cent of its original size.

Wetlands act as sponges, absorbing excess water in times of heavy rainfall and buffering the effects of flooding while providing catchment base flow during the dry season.

It is with such degradation that researchers feel there is need to incorporate IWRM in all development activities to ensure a balance between benefits from the development and conservation of natural resources.

Prof Kasomekera stressed that mainstreaming IWRM into the development process and taking advantage of the vast shared water resources in the region was a way out of abject poverty and persistent economic woes in Southern Africa.

He expressed concern that a variety of gatherings and declarations have in the past been made to incorporate water resources into the development process but implementation seems to be elusive.

Some of the declarations date as far back as 1977 during the International Conference on Water. Others include the World Consultation on Drinking Water and Sanitation in New Delhi, 1990; the Dublin Conference on Water and Environment, 1992; the Rio World Summit, 1992.

Other meetings were the Ministerial Conference on Water and Sustainable Development, Netherlands, 1994; the Ministerial Conference on Water and Sustainable Development, Paris, 1998; the Sixth session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, 1998; and the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg,
2002.

It was recommended that development projects in SADC be evaluated to ensure the incorporation of IWRM ideals and that developers embrace the importance of IWRM in their projects.

National technocrats should also be required to execute their chores through collective and consultative systems so that they are able to include IWRM in their planning and implementation of development projects.

It was further recommended that regional meetings on water resources should have an inherent monitoring and evaluation mechanism with measurable trigger indicators of the main issues to assess the success of the meetings and isolate main constraints to the implementation of the IWRM process.

The SADC team of journalists, that was taken on a field trip for an on the spot demonstration of IWRM at Chikuntha farm, about 30 kilometres from Lilongwe, was amazed by the use of natural based technologies like crop residues, manure and gravity fed irrigation and earth canals to produce a wide variety of food crops, fed from water diverted from a nearby a stream.

Owner of the farm, 62-year old Glyvnys Joseph Chikuntha, explained that IWRM is also at work on the farm through the application of biological pest controls and land management technology using herbs and flowers, whose scent repels pests, or the use of spices, or vetiva grass for preventing and controlling erosion. He also uses manual labour to till the land.

The farm, located in Chinkwiri village in Dowa district lies on a flood plain of Nangu stream, which the locals regarded for a long time as a wasteland.

After retiring from government, Mr Chikuntha, who has since been bestowed with an honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Malawi, started his farm in 1982 with land of only 100 square metres but now has 20 hectares in use.

The main source of water is diverted from Nangu stream for irrigation and he has dug water-harvesting structures all around the farm including furrows. He has also dug eight ponds for aquaculture (tilapia fish and for irrigation).

The water harvested drains directly into the plots while ground water from shallow wells with a hand pump is mainly for domestic use. Excess water is channelled to irrigation canals spread out on the farm.

The benefits from his style of farming are unique in that there is ecological sustainability as the farm supports biodiversity like birds and fish and microbes.

There is also economic empowerment for his family of five children and a wife, Christine, because the herbs, vegetables and spices fetch good money from the hotels.

He nets annual returns of between 3 million and 5 million Malawian Kwacha (US $30,000 or about K120 million).

The farm has also demonstrated some social and economic status for the country, as it has become a popular centre of agricultural research and training. It has become a centre of attraction for college students, Non-Governmental Organisations, local communities and foreign visitors.

The success story at Chikuntha Farm, however, has its own challenges and what is critical is the increasing water scarcity on the farm due to increased water demand from new users upstream of the farm where about 1,000 other farmers are putting pressure on water flow.

It is now apparent that there is need to construct a dam to supply enough water to all users in the area as droughts are also imminent while the influx of visitors to the area is putting pressure for water use in the few available toilets or for household use.

Earlier, founder member of WaterNet, Professor Van Der Zaag, said the WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA symposia has been held annually in Southern Africa for the past six years and the purpose is to facilitate the sharing and dissemination of research results in IWRM.

It provides a platform for researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders to meet and exchange ideas and has become the premier IWRM event in Southern Africa.

Among the participants at this year’s symposium included Malawi’s principal secretary in the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Development, Grain Malunga and Professor Zimani Kadzamira, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malawi and lecturers from the Copperbelt and the University of Zambia.

IUCN Water Programme Coordinator, Lenka Thamae, the SADC/DANIDA regional water sector component manager Hastings Chikoko and the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) head of programmes Clever Mafuta, all pledged to engage the SADC media in raising the profile of IWRM in the region.

That handsome face could be HIV positive

2006-10-26T05:38:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

EMMANUEL Bulaya has just returned from Europe. He was away for six years, having studied economics at a famous university in the United Kingdom. He later worked for a consultant firm in London for two years before coming back home.

He is not married, but he had left a child with a girlfriend, Bertha, whom he had impregnated while at school at Kamwala Secondary School in Lusaka ten years ago.

As he drove around in his new Nissan saloon car which he bought soon after arrival in Lusaka, all eyes on Cairo Road could tell that he was new in town. This was last week.
He was smartly dressed in a silky white shirt with matching Pierre-Cardin black trousers, leather shoes and a gold chain around his neck.

He was wearing powerful perfume whose scent could be smelt minutes after he was long gone. He is tall, well shaven, short hair with a pencil-line moustache. He is handsome in all respects and quite irresistible to most women.

"That guy is cute," a sales counter lady, remarked as Bulaya entered Shoprite. "I wouldn't mind having a date with him," said another, and they burst out laughing and giggling as he walked past them and bought a bottle of champagne from another counter. He seemed to have been in a hurry for a date.

His friends said he had been seeing a fellow graduate at a bank in town and several other girls who are excited about his looks and hope for a promising future with him.

They all seemed to be in love with him. He had abandoned his old faithful, Bertha, and only remembered her because of the child they had together. He was living in his own world.

His bank account had a steady balance and he could afford to entertain, buy the girls presents, wine and dance at will. He had what he called "not too serious affairs", with a nurse, a student at a college in town, a married woman in Makeni and two secretaries.

He has actually been a busy bee ever since he came back shuttling between the women and having a good time with all of them and of course sexually! He was just awaiting an appointment letter as an assistant director and the girls were all looking forward to a continued relationship with him.

None of them seemed to care and even question on whether they had an idea that he had other relationships with other women. To them Bulaya is their dream. One wonders whether they use any contraceptives or not when going to bed with Bulaya because to them he is the man of their life.

The girl at the bank has already even told her parents that her dream has come true after meeting Bulaya and that she will do "anything" to keep him. She doesn't know that he is a Casanova.

Even while he was in Europe, Bulaya had too many affairs including patronising the "red lights", notorious corners for sex workers. He also had affairs with two married women at the University and three working girls in the city.

He was a starter in his own way whether as a student or a worker at home. Nightclubs were his favourite pass-times and he admits that he has had his fun while in Europe. What he doesn’t know is his health status.

Could he be HIV positive? He doesn't know and does not wish to know. He abhors the idea of an HIV test. His girlfriends do not know their status either and have neither bothered to test themselves after a series of sexual bouts with him.

But the possibility of being infected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS is there. In fact the chances are 50-50 and he could spread the virus and possibly not. Many International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa (ICASA) have alluded that it's difficult to tell from one's looks on whether someone is HIV positive or not.

Some men could be as handsome as Bulaya and hold important positions in society, but still, they could be carriers of HIV.

What you see is not always what you get. You could be seeing a killer wearing a broad inviting smile that could take you to your grave earlier than your time. HIV/AIDS is real and at least 14 million people have died over the past 20 years. A further 33 million people are believed to be living with HIV and could include the likes of Bulaya.

Because they have more partners, men like Bulaya are likely to contract and transmit the virus to others worldwide. Women may be more affected by the consequences of HIV/AIDS, but it is the sexual behaviour of a large minority of men like Bulaya which enables the virus to spread.

Men's behaviour threatens women. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say more men than women are HIV positive, i.e. living with the virus, so watch out! That handsome face would be HIV positive

Chalimbana Catchment attracts Water Partnership

2006-10-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

By PELEKELO LISWANISO

REGARDLESS of language or culture all Zambians share basic needs essentials for survival, which include food, shelter and water.

Yes, water. We drink it, cook with it, bath in it, sprinkle our lawns, fill our backyard swimming pools with it and even create parks with water around.

We take its abundance for granted, but in much of the country’s rural areas and peri-urban areas, access to clean water is a luxury.

Although water is relatively abundant in Zambia as compared to neighboring countries in the south particularly Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, most of the villages in Zambia lack access to clean water.

In many of these villages, women must walk up to 10 kilometers every day to retrieve the day's supply of potable water for their households.

The annual rainfall averages between 700mm in the south and 1400 mm in the north, with an extensive river network, lakes and a number of aquifers in various parts of the country. The irony is that these water resources are not properly managed.

“The management of these water resources is critical if equitable access by competing needs particularly the vulnerable poor, women and children is considered,” said professor Imasiku Nyambe, a geologist and executive secretary of the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP).

In addition, there are significant variations across the country with a strong seasonal distribution leading to water deficits in specific localities.

In certain areas, competition for available water resources has already manifested itself such as among the farming community in the Chalimbana River Catchment area, east of Lusaka. Conflict over water is likely to increase with the economic development in the country.

“For these reasons Zambia should seriously look and implement water demand management if she has to manage her water resources,” Professor Nyambe said.

It is this realization that has prompted the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP) through the Partnership for Africa’s Water Development (PAWD) to target the Chalimbana River Catchment area and alleviate the suffering of the people.

“People there need water and we have to act now. We need to create access to safe, consumable water to the people of Chalimbana Catcment because it is not only a basic human need, it is human right, said Mr. Adam Hussen, the PAWD chairman.

”Our goal is to raise money for the construction and maintenance of clean water including dams in the area,” said Mr. Hussen, who is also director of the department of Water Affairs in the Ministry of Energy and Water Development.

He said this last week during a consultative meeting of the PAWD Core Team at the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO), where it was agreed that a national stakeholder workshop to address the problems of the Chalimbana Catchment area be convened soon.

PAWD project manager Chimwanga Maseka was directed to ensure that the secretariat, which is based at the University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Mines, takes up the issue of Chalimbana River high on the agenda of ZWP and convene a workshop for stakeholders as soon as possible.

ZWP has targeted the Chalimbana River Catchment as a pilot project to apply the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in resolving water resources management issues in the country.

An IWRM strategy ensures that social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources and ZWP hopes this can be realised in Chalimbana.

A study supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the PAWD project shows that the Chalimbana Catchment has seen many water resources management problems, which has qualified it as a “hot spot” needing IWRM application.

According to the study, the catchment, which at one time was well forested and captured enough water for the river to flow throughout the year, has undergone significant changes.

The unspoiled forests that covered the catchment to protect the headwaters and recharge areas have continued to diminish due to de-forestation leaving the area bare in many places leading to increased run-off and erosion. This has eventually led to the current worrying situation of the river and reduced base flows.

The population and settlements have also increased over time and water use activities have developed with many commercial interests. Some of these activities are not only depleting the water resources of the river but are also polluting the river. Consequently, water has become inadequate for the various users with some of them going without it as the river flows continue to decline with some parts of the river drying up during the dry season.

It is apparent that the current systems of resolving the above issues, both institutional and legal have proved inadequate and problems continue to grow.

“It is clear that the situation is getting desperate and needs a new approach to address these issues,” the study says, noting that Zambia’s water sector reforms have provided a favourable environment for addressing the issues of the Chalimbana Catchment using IWRM.

It is in this light that ZWP under PAWD decided to operationalise IWRM on the Chalimbana Catchment and demonstrate that indeed IWRM is a sure way of managing water resources in a sustainable way.

Over the years, government ministries and departments have played various roles in both the water supply and water resources sub-sectors, often without clear responsibilities and co-ordination creating operational overlaps and gaps, leading to duplication of activities and thereby straining the resources.

The water reforms have established very clear institutional structures from the national or central level to the local government level and it is expected that Water Resources Action Programme (WRAP) would also compliment the Chalimbana project. WRAP manager Andy Mondoka, was also present during the PAWD core team meeting.

WRAP aims at supporting the National Water Policy in the establishment of a comprehensive framework, which will promote the use, development, and management of water resources in a sustainable manner.

WRAP seeks to develop a framework for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The programme draws heavily from the National Water Policy and global paradigms such as the Dublin-Rio Principles
ZWP chairman, Mr. Osward Chanda, who is also director of NWASCO, and whose organisation was established under the water supply and sanitation Act (28) 1997 and is responsible for regulating the provision of water supply and sanitation services throughout the country, emphasised that a lot of time had been wasted and it was time to act in Chalimbana and ensure that adequate water is available in the area.

Water partnership tackles Water Supply, Sanitation

2006-09-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

By PELEKELO LISWANISO

A FEW weeks ago, pupils at Munali High school in Lusaka went on rampage stoning vehicles on the Great East road because of the persistent shortage of water at the school.

The action by the students, though crude, was inevitable because the water shortage had become so serious that diseases were imminent and could have easily broken out and claimed young lives.

The students were condemned for their violent reaction but a huge lesson was learnt from that episode that water is indeed a precious commodity which should be made available all the time.

Thanks, however, to new initiatives by some organisations in the country, which have put water high on their agenda.

One such organisation is the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP), which at its recent national elections held at Lusaka’s Pamodzi hotel last week, pledged to be more inclusive by involving various stakeholders in the water sector to ensure that water is available and managed sustainably.
Leading the challenge is the newly elected ZWP Chairman, Oswald Chanda, who is also the director of the National Water and Sanitation Council (NWSCO).

Mr. Chanda said in his maiden speech that there were great opportunities for the partners in the water sector to ensure that they assisted government to ensure that this resource was managed properly.
Indeed, if water resources were managed properly in Zambia, cases of perennial shortages and the crisis like the one, which beset Munali High school, would be unheard of.

The task of improving and sustaining water supply and its distribution to the local communities, therefore, relies squarely on all stakeholders who use this resource.

Water brings life to cities and plants and provides the habitat for living things. It is vital for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, industry and countless other purposes.

ZWP under its new leadership hopes many other institutions will come on board and integrate water in their national plans to ensure that this scarce resource is abundant in the country so that the lives of the people can be improved.

ZWP is a national representation of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) whose main objective is to facilitate multi-stakeholder consultations and the creation of awareness and understanding of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as well as the sharing of knowledge and experiences in water resource management for the purpose of attaining sustainable management of the country’s water resources.

In other words, ZWP hopes to spearhead the concept of water resources management by integrating a number of water sub-sectors such as hydropower, water supply and sanitation, irrigation and drainage, and environment.

An integrated water resources perspective ensures that social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources and ZWP hopes members and other stakeholders will realise this goal, which is part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to bring about improved health and eliminate poverty by 2015.

The ZWP new leadership, which was voted to steer the organisation, includes Mr. Chanda as chairman; Professor Imasiku Nyambe secretary, from the University of Zambia School of Mines; Zambia Daily Mail Online/Production editor, Pelekelo Liswaniso publicity secretary; People Nature consultant, Monica Chundama, treasurer.

Other committee members are Chiseche Mutale, the chief planner of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources; George Phiri, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives ADB Small scale irrigation project Coordinator; Wilson Sakala, the Zambezi River Authority Hydrologist and Kunda Chimambo from Chalimbana River Catchment Conservation Committee.

The membership of ZWP comprises partners or stakeholder groups drawn from government departments, non-governmental organisations and the private sector, academic and research institutions and the media.

ZWP was launched in 2000 in partnership with GWP-Southern Africa following discussions with the Ministry of Energy and Water Development and has been hosted by the UNZA School of mines, where a Secretariat has since been established.

At the global level, GWP was created in 1996 following the first World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. It was subsequently registered as an organisation in Sweden in 2002 to provide support to countries in the sustainable development of their water resources.

The founding members of GWP were the World Bank, the UNDP and Sweden. Since then, other donors have come on board and these can be described as core donors comprising Denmark, UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

Other donors for special programmes include the European Union, Finland and the United States.

GWP Southern Africa executive secretary Ruth Beukman and the regional project manager of the GWP- SA, Alex Simalabwi, praised ZWP for the lead it has taken to advocate for water in national economic plans.

Ms Beukman described the elections held by ZWP as having been mature and that other countries can learn from Zambia’s experience to raise the profile of IWRM in their countries.

Mr. Simalabwi also congratulated the new ZWP leadership saying the task before it was enormous but was confident that together with partners, the concept of IWRM will grow even stronger.

He stressed that water was critical to most of the MDGs as it facilitates the fight against poverty, improves health and sanitation, and the environment and boosts food security.

During discussions amongst ZWP partners, it was clear that the issue of urbanization is a reality of the changing world and Zambia has not been spared from its effects.

Delegates agreed that water, like air, is a vital resource without substitute. Its supply, allocation, and disposal present numerous challenges, all of which must be met to support the growing population in the country.

The provision of potable water and sanitation in urban areas are especially significant challenges. Surface water and groundwater resources are increasing over-exploited. Lack of wastewater treatment and insufficient control over other waste disposal also place water systems in the country at risk of microbiological and chemical contamination.

“We have a big task ahead of us,” Mr Chanda said when congratulating his team noting that for a long time water supply and drainage services have been strongly subsidized by governments. The results have been severe financial deficits and wastage of the resource through leakage and inefficiency of use.

In recent years, rapid urban growth and insufficient finances have further restricted governments’ capacity to satisfy demands, extend distribution systems to areas with poor service, and provide adequate wastewater treatment prior to disposal or reuse.

Overcoming these challenges necessitates developing innovative ways for service provision, financing and regulatory structures and a focus on integrated water resources management.

Kwacha appreciation: The implications for Zambia

2006-08-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

Is the appreciation of the Kwacha a “fluke”, a political motivation or as a result of changed economic fundamentals? This is the million-dollar question posed to Dr Denny Kalyalya, deputy governor – operations at the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) during a lecture at the American center in Lusaka recently.

Dr Kalyalya explained that one factor largely unobserved is that over the years, there has been continuous and fundamental changes in the economy generally and particularly to the operating environment in the foreign exchange market.

The continuous change with respect to authorities’ commitment to a comprehensive economic reform program culminated in reaching the enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in April 2005 whose effect has had a major spill over effect.

Dr Kalyalya who was speaking at the Zambia Fulbright-Humphrey Alumni Association (ZFHAA) lecture reviewed the background to the development of the Zambian foreign exchange market, economic developments and explained the recent appreciation of the Kwacha and the implications for Zambia.

ZFHAA is an association of Zambian scholars trained in the United States of America that aims at developing a network of graduates of the Zambian American Center for Education and Cultural Exchange (ZACECE)- Fulbright program.

The association is committed to public service through first –rate multidisciplinary competence of its members and their presence in Academia, and many public and private institutions. Dr Kalyalya, who is an economist at BOZ, is an alumnus of the Association.

Not long ago in 2004 Zambia’s external debt was a staggering US $ 7.1 billion but has now been reduced to less than US$500 million.

Dr Kalyalya pointed out that it was important to understand that improved macroeconomic management is an essential criterion in reaching HIPC noting that macroeconomic management in Zambia has remained on course since June 2004.

Furthermore, in 2005, there was the implementation of the fiscal and monetary policy and money supply growth was kept under check at 0.4 per cent while domestic budget deficit was at low levels in many years at 1.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Reaching the Completion Point under HIPC Initiative unlocked disbursements of budget and balance of payments support from Zambia’s cooperating partners.

He said US$ 155 million was received in 2005 of which 58 per cent was in the fourth quarter of the year.

The country’s profile and attractiveness to foreign investors also improved resulting in US$120 million recorded foreign portfolio investments in government securities at the end of December 2005. A total of US$264 million investment pledges were also recorded last year.

Dr Kalyalya noted that other recent economic development included debt service, which reduced dramatically. For instance, IMF debt service due was US$251.1 million but the IMF provided US$238.9 million relief under the enhanced HIPC Initiative and resulted in net payment of US$12.2 million.

“Total debt service in 2005 to various bilateral and multilateral non-IMF creditors amounted to US$133 million,” Dr Kalyalya explained.

Other recent economic developments included the record high copper prices and continued improvement in non-traditional exports (NTE’s) performance, which largely contributed to the overall improvement in merchandise exports in 2005.

Giving a breakdown of exports, he said, in 2005 there were: US$2,186 million; in 2004: US$1,779 million and in 1983: US$1,052 million. Dr Kalyalya said there were also a number of green and brown mines coming on stream.

In addition, following the resolutions of the Gleneagles G8 summit, Zambia qualified to the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) resulting in 100 per cent cancellation of the multilateral debt owed to the IMF, World Bank and the ADB. The IMF delivered a total of US$581 debt relief in January 2006.

“It is clear from the above that the supply of foreign exchange on the market has been largely higher than the demand for it, particularly during the second half of 2005,”he said.

Also confirming this is the growth in foreign currency deposits at commercial banks saying in June 2005: US$436 million was deposited while in December 2005: US$551 million was deposited.

Dr Kalyalya pointed out that underpinning the operations of the foreign exchange market is a system of dealership, which was introduced in 2003 with the aim of broadening and deepening the market.

The system has so far performed well in promoting transparency in pricing and information flow so that the exchange rate at all times reflects the underlying market conditions.

“The system is anchored on a code of conduct that conforms to international standards. We have two-way quotes without advance knowledge of whether the customer would be buying or selling foreign exchange,” he said

Pointing out the implications for Zambia, Dr Kalyalya said the attainment of HIPC Initiative Completion point indicates that prudent and forward-looking macroeconomic management is possible in Zambia.

“Inflows of foreign currency to take advantage of interest rate differentials between Zambia and other jurisdictions is indicative of the confidence outsiders have in us as an economy,” he said, adding that the system of dealership in the foreign exchange market also allows the foreign exchange rate to reflect the underlying market conditions.

The decline in Zambia’s debilitating external debt stock from US$7.2 billion in December 2005 to less than US$500 million after delivery of HIPC Initiative and MDRI relief has triggered an improved sovereign rating and motivated higher private sector investment.

Dr Kalyalya said Zambia has now joined the league of progressive nations and unfortunately subject to the unenviable but inevitable scrutiny of every policy announcement and socio-economic developments.

The exchange rate of the Kwacha against the US dollar is increasingly becoming sensitive to developments in global commodity markets particularly copper.

He said the exchange rate of the Kwacha against the US dollar will increasingly reflect developments in the global commodity markets and influenced less by developments in domestic markets.

Another implication is that market participants’ now have a better appreciation of the issue of competitiveness particularly the role played by exchange rate fluctuations and the need to implement market based solutions devised by market participants themselves and not direct government intervention.

Dr Kalyalya stressed that there is an urgent need to develop new products and services that would offer some measure of protection to individual market players.

The Central Bank, he said, stands ready to collaborate with other market participants, as was done in the period leading to the introduction of the current system and to develop the system further to better manage currency volatility.

“On the question of competitiveness of our exports, emphasis needs to be placed on increasing productivity and adopting superior management techniques and systems for production and supply chain management”

There is need to use the available resources or emerging opportunities made possible by the appreciation judiciously, (since appreciation has come with increased supply and availability of foreign currency, low inflation and declining lending interest), to expand further our production frontiers, Dr Kalyaya said adding:

“The irony therefore, is that given the right mindset, a strong currency environment can stimulate exports with greater sustainability.”

Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and Gender in water plans

2006-08-02T03:31:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

STAKEHOLDERS in water resource management in southern Africa have been urged to come up with strategies to integrate and mainstream HIV/AIDS and Gender into the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) plans.

The call was made at the just ended two-day Annual Consulting Partners meeting of the Global Water Partnership-Southern Africa (GWP-SA) held at the Gaborone Sun hotel.
Botswana’s Minister of Minerals and Water Resources Charles Tibone officially opened the meeting and stressed that the SADC region could meet the Millennium Development Goals and fight poverty and disease by applying the principles of IWRM.

IWRM planning is a process which promotes the co-ordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

It is simultaneously a philosophy and an implementation strategy to achieve equitable access to, and sustainable use of water resources by all stakeholders.
In the past water resource management has been fragmented in its approach. However, experts say integration has to occur in all the sectors including HIV/AIDS and Gender as they all cut across all economic sectors.

HIV/AIDS has also become the biggest individual killer in sub-Saharan Africa and it is important that the partnership of the water sector in the region comes up with strategies at all levels to fight the pandemic.

“The partnership should discuss ways of how this can be done, develop and adopt tools that can be used to strengthen the partnership,” GWP-SA Executive secretary, Ruth Beukman said this when reviewing progress the partnership has made over the years.

The human toll and suffering due to HIV & AIDS is already enormous. AIDS is now the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the beginning of the epidemic more than 20 million Africans have died from AIDS. During 2005 an estimated 2 million adults and children died as a result of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

Many countries in Africa have failed to bring the epidemic under control. Nearly two-thirds of the world's HIV-positive people live in sub-Saharan Africa, although this region contains little more than 10 per cent of the world's population.

There is a significant risk that some countries will be locked in a vicious cycle, as the number of people falling ill and subsequently dying from AIDS has a tremendous impact on many parts of African society, including demographic, household, health and the water sector, educational, workplace and economic aspects.

GWP-SA chairman, Kenneth Msibi pointed out that water, like air, is a vital resource without substitute. Its supply, allocation, and disposal present numerous challenges, all of which must be met to support the growing populations in southern Africa, which is also slowly being ravaged by HIV/AIDS. The provision of clean water and sanitation in the region therefore poses a significant challenge.

“As consulting partners of this poverty stricken region, we have to re-examine our strategies if they are meeting the MDGs among other things to improve lives of the poor. Our regional leaders have declared HIV and AIDS a regional disaster, hence there is need to constantly remind ourselves of this single greatest enemy of mankind which is rapidly eroding the little and scarce human resources capacity,” he said.

“There is need to mainstream HIV and AIDS in our programmes. HIV and AIDS is everybody’s problem. It is our problem. If you are not infected you are in one way or the other affected by it. However, there exist an opportunity to turn the situation around as it has happened in some countries in our continent who were badly affected,” Mr Msibi said.

During a session chaired by Noma Neseni from the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development in Zimbabwe, it was clear that HIV/AIDS dramatically affects labour in all sector including the water sector, setting back economic activity and social progress. The vast majority of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa are between the ages of 15 and 49 - in the prime of their working lives.
AIDS weakens economic activity by squeezing productivity, adding costs, diverting productive resources, and depleting skills. Also, as the impact of HIV/AIDS on households grows more severe, market demand for products and services can fall. The epidemic hits productivity through increased absenteeism. Comparative studies of East African businesses have shown that absenteeism can account for as much as 25-54 per cent of company costs.

A study in several southern African countries has estimated that the combined impact of AIDS-related absenteeism, productivity declines, health-care expenditures, and recruitment and training expenses could cut profits by at least 6-8 per cent.

NamWater, Namibia's largest water purification company, reported that HIV/AIDS was hindering its operation as absenteeism rose and productivity dropped. A study of a sugar mill in South Africa put the cost per worker per year at R9,500 (about £800). Of this, the cost of replacement of workers, lost productivity, and absenteeism account for about a quarter each.

Company costs for health-care, funeral benefits and pension fund commitments are likely to rise unexpectedly as early retirement and deaths rise. A study of a commercial agricultural estate in Kenya showed that AIDS-related medical expenditure exceeded projected expenses by 400 per cent. Funeral costs are also provided by a number of employers in Africa and they are rising sharply.

However, GWP-SA has been able to bring IWRM into the national development agendas in the planning processes in Zambia and Malawi. Both countries have succeeded in convincing senior policy makers from across the different national ministries that national development goals including poverty eradication can only be met through addressing integrated water management and development approaches.

Significant achievements have been the active engagement of the ministries of Finance in both countries in the IWRM processes, creative involvement of parliamentarians and the media. Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and gender in the water plans, however, remain a challenge.
Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and Gender in IWRM comes in the wake of calls last September by Heads of States at the Millennium +5 Summit who stated that IWRM plans should be integrated into national development processes.

Furthermore, IWRM was seen to be an effective strategy in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and in the economic growth of southern Africa.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2002 also called for all countries to craft IWRM and water use efficiency strategies by the end of 2005. Such strategies are meant to support countries in their efforts to meet development goals, such as reducing poverty, increasing food security, fostering economic growth, and protecting ecosystems.
The strategies were also meant to tackle specific water challenges such as controlling flooding, mitigating the effects of drought, expanding access to water and sanitation and addressing increasing competition for water and water scarcity.

Following the Summit, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) has meanwhile received funds from the Canadian and Dutch governments to support the development of IWRM plans in 11 African countries; Senegal, Mali, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia (supported by CIDA) and Cape Verde, Eritrea, Benin, Cameroon, Swaziland and Mozambique (supported by Dutch) This support is under the umbrella of the Partnership for Africa’s Water Development project.

The overall purpose of the Partnership for Africa’s Water Development is to contribute towards the achievement of water related MDGs and WSSD targets supporting sustainable water resources management in Africa by facilitating action oriented planning and implementation in these African countries.
GWP-SA is facilitating these processes in Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia through respective Country Water Partnerships.

Capacity building is an integral part of the PAWD programme and forms one of the outputs at regional and country levels for IWRM planning and implementation.
In order to ensure coordinated capacity building at regional and country levels, GWP-SA has developed a regional capacity building programme to support both the planning and implementation of IWRM plans.

The programme will be implemented in partnership with GWP-SA regional partners and institutions nominated by countries. GWP-SA and WaterNet Secretariats will jointly coordinate the capacity building programme and develop strategic frameworks for capacity building on identified training needs.

HIV/AIDS and Gender mainstreaming in the IWRM planning process was identified as a one of the issues that should be considered for the regional capacity building programme.
At a regional capacity building-planning workshop held in March 2005, the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development (IWSD) was identified as one of the institutions to lead the regional Training of Trainers (ToT) on HIV/AIDS and Gender mainstreaming in IWRM planning.
The nominated institution will partner with IWSD in adapting training materials and also in delivery of the ToT.

The institute has also partnered with Southern Africa HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination Service, a regional organisation whose mandate involves responding to HIV and AIDS through the employment of communication and information strategies, including mainstreaming and capacity building of development sectors

Stop dry sex…! Women told

2006-07-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

By Pelekeleo Liswaniso

A TRADITIONAL healer in Lusaka has called on women to stop taking herbs that promote dry sex because the practice was a recipe for HIV/AIDS.

Dr Rueben Mutombo, Secretary-General of the Zambia National Council of Ng’angas, said a woman’s sexual organs are naturally porous, wet with fluids and soft tissues.
He said when “this hot environment” is subjected to contraction resulting from these herbs, the soft tissues become dry and fluids stop being secreted.

“The outcome of this is internal tear, wear and bleeding” he said. Dr Mutombo operates a traditional clinic in Soweto area of Lusaka.

He was supported by a visiting Kenyan Consultant and Public Health Specialist Dr Francis Mburu who said the internal wounds in a woman’s sexual organs are a good environment for diseases including HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Dr Mutombo said there was an overwhelming number of women and men who seek services of traditional healers, a trend he said should be encouraged because traditional medicine was equally effective as an alternative remedy for ailments.

He noted that conventional medicine in hospitals, clinics and pharmacies was expensive and scarce compared to traditional medicine.

Dr Mutombo was speaking at Mulungushi Village during a joint review program of the National Aids Council (NAC) Technical Working Group on Traditional Remedies, Research and Ethics.

He emphasized that traditional medicine was infact the ‘mother of all medicines” but with complicated diseases like HIV/AIDS, STIs and TB, there was need to be careful on some of the cultural practices like dry sex which should be avoided at all costs.
“People should therefore concentrate on traditional remedies that can cure diseases and not engage in habits that endanger their lives”.

Don bemoans local HIV/aids research

2006-06-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

A ZAMBIAN medical researcher has bemoaned the lack of indigenous research on HIV/AIDS in the country.

Dr. Ray Handema, a virologist at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and lecturer at the University of Zambia (UNZA), who was reviewing barriers in HIV/AIDS research said there is inadequate HIV/AIDS research by local researchers.

He raised the issue during a communication material development meeting convened in Siavonga, where delegates noted there were many Zambians looking for HIV/AIDS research findings.

According to Dr Handema, most HIV/AIDS research conducted in Zambia is done using foreign funding and based on foreign agenda leaving out national priorities.

“There are a lot of traditional healers who claim to have alternative remedies for HIV/AIDS management, but there is no funding available to carry out research to verify their claims,” he said.

Dr. Handema added that HIV/AIDS research findings were taken outside for analysis. For instance, a Ndola rural herbalist, Mr. Maila’s traditional concoction was taken to Japan in 2001 to verify its efficacy, where it was found to have no effect on the virus.

“Mr. Maila handed in another concoction, which he improved and would like it tested for its efficacy. We are in the process of testing to check if it can work, but we still do not have adequate funding,” he said.

Dr. Handema said local HIV/AIDS research was limited such as the research on the types and strains of the virus. Some local researchers have also conducted research on other HIV/AIDS related issues as well.

Delegates noted that most HIV/AIDS research conducted by local researchers was not addressing research needs of Zambia, especially issues that appeared to be complicated.

Delegates recommended that local researchers should reveal what they have achieved so far in the area of HIV/AIDS. The findings can be disseminated through local medical journals more frequently so that potential sponsors know about indigenous HIV/AIDS research.

It was also recommended that a resource centre should be established at National AIDS Council (NAC), which can document the findings in different formats for easier dissemination.

It was noted that there is a lot of HIV/AIDS research information about Zambia available outside the country but little in the country.

Zambian researchers were urged to identify research areas and write proposals while availing their remedies to the Ministry of Health, Central Board of Health and institutions like the (NAC) Technical Working Group on Alternative Remedies.

Chairperson of the NAC Technical Working Group on alternative remedies Dr. Patrick Chikusu announced that government had invited all those that claimed to have alternative remedies for HIV/AIDS to submit their samples for testing to determine their efficacy.

Sex wokers threaten marriages of the high profile

2006-06-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

WIVES married to some prominent and educated men are allegedly losing their husbands to commercial sex workers who provide them with explosive romantic sexual pleasures they miss in their matrimonial homes. A lot of marriages were now on the rocks because of sex workers. This is, however, a recipe for HIV/AIDS.

The threat is said to be more pronounced in Eastern province where about 400 commercial sex workers in Katete and the surrounding districts have partners from some of the affluent sections of the community.

A United Nations Volunteer, (UNV) Ms Maximina Mwale, who is engaged in HIV/AIDS co-ordination activities in the area, said the affected commercial sex workers told her that they usually have sex with some of the married men between 17.30 hours and 19.00 hours on a daily basis.

“ Some of these high profile men even forget their degrees when they are with the sex workers and just enjoy themseleves,” Ms Mwale said with a smile.
She said the affected married men complain that they are not given the romance they expect from their wives at home.

“Usually, it’s the maids who provide them with food when they get home. They are not greeted and do not get the attention they want. This forces them to have affairs with commercial sex workers,” she said. Ms Mwale works in the office of the District Commissioner (DC).

“These commercial sex workers also have what they call "Ba Pema" (Permanent partners) who they meet frequently. The men are either bored with their love life at home or their wives are just too engrossed with kitchen parties, church business and the like.

“Some of the men complained that their wives attend to too many kitchen parties or go to too many church functions and when the women get home, they are usually tired or drunk and fail to perform the romance the men want.

“Men are like children… you know, they like to be pampered,”she added.
In addition to "Ba Pemas", the sex workers sometimes have sex with six partners in a night.
“When the ‘Pema’ is around, booked in a room, its difficult for a one- night stand customer to be serviced. They only become available at such a time when the ‘Pema' has completely left for home.

Ms Mwale explained that the commercial sex workers were “helpers” or comforters” and have taken advantage of the situation the men find themselves in and lavishly provide them with abundant sexual pleasures. A total of 390 commercial sex workers were recorded in Katete by a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“The danger is that in the process, some of them might decide not to use a condom, when the men agree to pay more, and obviously the consequences are that HIV will be transmitted in one way or the other,”she warned.

Ms Mwale who was in Lusaka attending the National Aids Council (NAC) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Technical Working Group national workshop at Mulungushi International Conference Center warned wives in other parts of the country not to take their romantic lives with their husbands for granted.

“Do not be surprised if you lose your husband to a maid or a sex worker. These men want attention, love and sex and you better provide it or else they will go elsewhere,” she warned.
“Sex does not care whether you are a prominent person or not. These commercial sex workers have these men wearing suits and driving posh cars as their clients. Why? The simple reason is that they are bored at home and they want excitement elsewhere,”

They prefer to be with the sex workers soon after work and before 19.00 hours news so that they are not suspected of being mischievous.

Ms Mwale is in the process of arranging workshops in Katete to talk to married women about their conjugal obligations. “They need refresher courses,” she added.

Limulunga's Poverty/Illiteracy under siege

2006-06-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso
Penelope Masilokwa is a seven- year old, double orphan girl, who was born on November 28,1998 in Limulunga, one of the two compounds of the Litunga, the Lozi traditional King in the Western province.

The compound lies on high ground at the fringes of the Zambezi flood plain, 15 kilometres from Mongu, the provincial capital. The Litunga’s other compound is Lealui, which is used during the rainy season when the Lozi King moves during the Ku-omboka ceremony.

Penelope was a premature baby, born at six months of pregnancy, but survived, despite the fact that she was neither incubated nor taken to any hospital after such a birth. Penelope’s mother suffered great pains rooting from that childbirth and died when Penelope was only two years old.

Penelope’s father also died a year after his wife’s death and because of these losses, Penelope had to be taken care of by an over burdened grand mother, whose own husband had died after a long illness, leaving her with their nine children to look after.

The agony is that Penelope is also sick. Her illness started at the age of three and her health has continued to fail her. The major concerns of her suffering seemed to be coming from what looked like, swollen neck glands.

As time went on, her body was noticed to have stopped growing but no confirmed illness would be pointed at. Due to lack of funds, her caretaker has failed to date, to have her medically tested and examined, to ascertain whether or not her ill health is due to any disease or disorder.

As at now, Penelope’s grand mother has three double orphaned grand children, all less than eight years of age, nine children of her own to care for. Their only income comes from casual work and small commodities, which is sold on the market by some of the children who are school dropouts, most of whom are young girls.

There is also Inambao Ndiyoyi, a nine-year old boy, born on May 4, 1994 in a family of six, two boys and four girls. Inambao also lives in Limulunga royal village with his mother. Inambao and his other siblings are orphans, without a father. Their father died in 1999, when Inambao was only five years old. Inambao and three of his siblings live with their mother in great poverty. To feed the children, Inambao's mother depends on the little she can grow in between her illnesses, and the food does not meet their daily needs.
Inambao’s school attendance is generally good, although at times when he has nothing to eat he would miss school and go fishing to help his household find food. He also has very few clothes and usually goes round in torn and dirty clothes.

Despite, the lack of adequate food, clothing and the fact that Inambao is going through many other hardships his school work is very good, many times he tops his class during mid and end of term tests.
Inambao loves school and continues to do well in class; the only concern is Inambao’s mother’s ill health. Inambao’s mother’s ability to provide food for the family, even the little that she does, would without doubt be reduced as, the children’s demands increases. The fact is that the bigger they get the more food they require, their size of clothes cost more each year that passes and school demands also increases with time.

Such poor families are a common feature in Western province and hundreds of young people such as Penelope and Inambao, trudge the Barotse plains daily in squalor and almost scavenging for survival.

Like most parts of Western province, Limulunga is hard hit with disease, illiteracy, malnutrition and squalor, denying the local people and children the basic human necessities, despite the wealth of the abundant natural resources of the Zambezi River close by.

Because of poverty, most orphans like Penelope are less likely than are other children to be able to go to school or to have access to adequate health care. They are also more likely to live in perpetual poverty and to be malnourished. They are more likely to engage in hazardous labor, including commercial sex work that in turn exposes them to greater risk of HIV infection.

Orphans like Penelope, have no choice but to form child-headed households in which older children raise their younger brothers and sisters. Child-headed households, weakened by HIV/AIDS, are among the most economically vulnerable in Zambia and such children end up suffering multiple psychosocial problems. A large number of them, deprived of proper parental guidance have actually been left disadvantaged, vulnerable, and under-educated without hope and opportunity.

Nonetheless, hope is not completely lost for the young people of Limulunga because the old American tradition of helping others help themselves is knocking at Limulunga Community School to help overcome extreme poverty in the area.
An ambitious programme to provide education, health, clean water, food and care for the young people including orphans was unveiled during the Earth Week, which commenced on May 22, 2006, and climaxed during the Africa Freedom Day celebrations on May 25, 2006.
On that day Limulunga Community School (LCS) held celebrations under the theme: FREEDOM FROM DISEASE AND POVERTY through cleanliness, clean water and better sanitation as well as the ERADICTATION OF ILLITERACY.
By combining learning and doing, The LEAGUE, a US based non-profit organization, was, through the Mukola Memorial Trust, at Limulunga Community School, sharing skills to assist the local communities overcome some of the vagaries of poverty and illiteracy.

The LEAGUE facilitated acquisition of materials worth $2,000 that included cleaning tools (wheelbarrows, rakes, spades, hoes, slashes) and seedlings, plants and food drinks for the Earth Day activities. Pupils including Penelope, Inambao and many other disadvantaged children, led by their parents and teachers, cleaned up the school and were exposed to new skills in child education.

Limulunga Community School was conceived and established by Princes Mbuywana Mbikusita-Lewanika in 1999 out of a dream or idea of reaching the handicapped youth in the Limulunga Royal village and the surrounding community.

The idea was welcomed by Mukola Memorial Trust, three churches (The Limulunga Baptist Church, New Life Church and the Church of Barotseland) and the community in general with the sole purpose of providing free basic primary education (from Grade 1 to 7) to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

Embroidered in the program is the teaching skills training to the community’s youth, who, failed to enroll in colleges of higher learning nor to get employed for various reasons. Limulunga Community School focuses its attention mainly on the reduction of illiteracy, through its social and academic programs.

The school started in 2001 and has improved its performance through the efforts and sacrifice of various sectors of people. Locally, a large piece of land was given freely, where the permanent school structures have started to be built with the help of the local community.

Bubbling with confidence and happiness, Princess Mbuywana, who is also the School headmistress said now that the school was receiving more support, young people in Zambia particularly those in Limulunga were assured of a better future.

She paid tribute to The LEAGUE for facilitating the cleanliness drive as well as the initiative to include Limulunga Community School as part of the international pilot to teach pupils how to have a sustainable clean environment.

Princes Mbuywana explained that The LEAGUE is funded by the Kellogg Foundation and other generous donors. The beneficiaries from The LEAGUE include over 190 diverse U.S. schools in Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Texas with Limulunga Community School coming on board as one of the new beneficiaries.

And in a joint statement released during the celebrations, Princess Mbuywana and Ms Dipika Chopra, the Chief Operating Officer and International Partnerships, explained that The LEAGUE powered by Learning to Give, intends to make the world a better place to live. The main aim of The LEAGUE is to change lives of many people across the globe including Zambia.

The joint statement explained that Learning to Give, is a wonderful combination of lessons and events that teach pupils knowledge on why they should be a part of their community they live in and why they should act for the “common good” while providing volunteerism and public service

The LEAGUE intends to ensure that its model is globally relevant across all nations and plans to test the program with special partner schools in 15 different countries.
These international pilots will give The LEAGUE valuable suggestions and feedback from students, teachers and schools.

Limulunga Community School pupils were taught lessons about the scarcity of water in the world and environmental stewardships as part of the celebrations of Earth Day.

Western Province Assistant Secretary, Namukolo Kamona, who officiated on behalf of the provincial minister, Alex Luhila, commended Princess Mbuywana, for establishing the community school to help eradicate illiteracy saying the project was a testimony of how local communities can assist government in bringing about development through self-help projects.

Mr. Luhila also commended The LEAGUE for choosing Limulunga as a beneficiary and hoped that this would continue and spread to other areas of Zambia.

Among the guests who attended the celebrations included parents, heads of government departments, parastatal chiefs, managers of private enterprises, bank officials and other leaders.
Some of the highlights at the celebrations were that the Western Province was endowed with huge natural resources. Freshwater, from the Zambezi River, for example, brings life to the towns and plants and that it further provides the habitat for living things. The pupils were reminded that water is vital for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, industry and countless other purposes. This resource was, however, finite, scarce and vulnerable and that water actually sets the limits to development.

The LEAGUE’s website also explains that Learning to Give is an innovative educational initiative seeking to maintain and enhance a civil society as it educates the youth about philanthropy and the importance of giving their time, talent and treasure for the common good. This empowers the youth to take voluntary citizen action for the common good in their classrooms, their lives and their communities.

The programme was mooted on the premise that most schools in America and elsewhere have relied in the past on churches, families, friends and neighborhoods to teach children the value and significance of service and giving.

“We have assumed that our children know their heritage as citizens who do not need to be "empowered" by an outside agency, but who are born empowered as their inherent right of citizenship. It is sadly ironic that today, as emerging foreign democracies seek our assistance in establishing philanthropic traditions of their own, the traditional forces for teaching this ethic to children in the United States are eroding,

“The very skills and community cohesion necessary to offset forces of social disintegration, especially in an increasingly diverse culture, are skills and experiences found in the nonprofit or third sector. Yet an understanding of this sector remains a mystery to many American children,” the website reads.

The Council of Michigan Foundations and a Steering Committee of thirteen collaborating leaders in education, volunteerism, and nonprofit leadership have successfully completed a unique effort to write, field test, implement and disseminate high quality K-12 curriculum lessons, units and materials on philanthropy. Nurtured and piloted in Michigan, Learning to Give is proceeding with plans for a national and international infusion of this academic content into the core curriculum of schools.

“For a child to feel a sense of worth, he or she must feel that he belongs and that his existence is meaningful. And just as family provides the framework from which that sense of worth develops, the child’s formal education should include an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of individuals to the greater whole of society,”

The long-term goal of the project is to develop and replicate curriculum lessons, units, and materials for perpetuating a civil society through the education of children about the nonprofit or independent sector, and to achieve their commitment to private citizen action for the common good. The lessons, units, and materials that are a part of the curriculum, contain both academic content about philanthropy, and skill development activities, which involve students in giving and serving their communities.

“We’re living in a society where money has more power than God; where human life is worthless than someone’s jacket. We must teach our children about tolerance, unselfishness, and about giving. We need to teach them that sometimes we need to compromise or give up something that would be good for us as an individual so that what we’re choosing instead is good for all,” the website reads.

When a child has the courage to say, “I think this is wrong,” to defend and befriend the child who is isolated or outcast, and to feel empowered to care and respond when they encounter human need in their school, their community and their world, parents are deservedly proud that they have done their job well.

The basic strategy for the project is a grassroots teacher -led effort to infuse academic content about philanthropy and the service learning process into the curriculum. Classroom teachers in school systems serving a variety of communities are developing lessons, units, and materials, piloting, field-testing, and building authentic evaluation processes.

The teachers are in kindergarten through senior high school classrooms, in public and private schools, and in rural, suburban and urban settings.

The modules and materials are available under “Teachers” and “Resource Room,” on the Learning to Give website to be shared nationally and internationally without cost. During the process of writing and testing, national and international educators have been linked into the writing through the Internet, presentations at meetings, communications and informal networking.

Begun in 1997, this carefully designed program is poised for a national growth in Zambia. It has already generated an enthusiastic response from classroom teachers and school administrators at Limulunga Community School. Hope for young people like Penelope and Inambao is indeed on the horizon and one day they could have a better tomorrow not only for themselves but for their community at large.

Would be priest turns AIDS into a mission

2006-05-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

David Chipanta was turned down for the priesthood when he tested positive for the AIDS virus. So he has become an ‘ambassador’ instead in the fight against the deadly disease.
“Now my whole life is AIDS work said Chipanta.

His heart set on becoming a Catholic priest, Mr Chipanta was diagnosed as HIV-positive during a compulsory medical examination soon after completing secondary school.
“My initial reactions to the test results oscillated between self-pity, blame and desperation” he recalls. Then he realized hoe he could channel hid desire to be a priest. “I saw AIDS as a new vocation.
His mission is to spread awareness of the illness, and also to speak up for the rights of people with HIV or AIDS.
“ There is an AIDS pandemic to fight and it has to be tackled on the economic, political and social fronts,” he points out.

He is co-ordinator of the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS and president of the Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS, which covers 30 countries with thousands of active members.

“The idea of the network is to provide a united front for people with HIV or AIDS so that we can advocate for their rights, interests and responsibilities,” he says.
He is also one of 10 “ambassadors for positive living” selected from across Africa by the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) Africa centre. With his love of reggae music and evident zest for life, Mr Chipanta is indeed a positive ambassador, an ambassador his peers can relate to.

The ambassadors chosen by the programme have to be knowledgeable about the topic and articulate. They visit schools, churches, mosques, government officials and policy planners all over Africa to explain how they are coping with HIV. They also try to persuade people to adopt sexual practices that will curtail the chances of spreading the virus.

The CYP Africa aims at making young people more aware of the problem and to get the issue on the political agenda in order to persuade governments to put more resources into combating the spread of the virus.

Mr Chipanta’s mission has taken him to Australia, Botswana, Britain, Canada, Geneva, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Malta, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe. He has on several occasions appealed to African governments to protect the rights of those afflicted by the disease. This includes making available drugs of proven use in the treatment of AIDS.

Such drugs are expensive, he admits, but “with a little political will and commitment by African leaders and others in authority, they can easily be made available on the continent. He urges African governments to cut down on military spending and luxuries and invest more in health care.
“Our priorities are not set right,” he says. Most hospitals in Africa are death traps because drugs are always scarce and it is difficult for medial authorities to treat opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis.

“Many people die prematurely because of opportunistic infections. There is need for us to be strong and guard such infections and have a good attitude towards control so that we are safe,” he says.

He himself leads a normal life, drinks a beer occasionally and enjoys traveling. Though unmarried, he has a partner and he says they always use a condom. He is always busy. If he is not traveling, he is planning strategies for the expansion of the Zambian Network, often holding discussion groups and counseling sessions late into the night. He admits that he sometimes feels low or disappointed, especially when friends and colleagues die of the disease.

“It leaves me frustrated but at least we have a Network where we can meet and try to help ourselves,” he says.

And he has remained a catholic despite his rejection from priesthood. As the interview finishes, he gets into his car and plays his favourite reggae, Yellow Man, the first line of which is “Brother Life must go on…”

The dilemma of Media Managers in Zambia

2006-04-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

There is a cartoon in one of the newsrooms in Zambia of a journalist writing his story on a typewriter and around his neck is a rope about to be pulled by someone he cannot see. The caption below reads: Be responsible and know what you are writing!
This is a clear warning to most journalists particularly Editors and Media managers, especially those working for state-owned media, that as much as there is press freedom enshrined in the Constitution, they have to be careful and know their limits.
This, obviously, results in many of them applying what has become to be infamously known as self-censorship. As reporters gather and write the news, the media manager is the last gate-keeper and those employed by the state carefully scrutinize the news content to ensure that the tone, language and the message is palatable for the powers that be and at best does not annoy or injure the appointing authority.
“If you have to survive in Africa, you must know what your masters want or else you will be shown the door faster than you came in,” one editor, who still works for one of the State-owned newspapers once told me, adding: “You have to play it safe to remain in a job.”
One of the difficulties greatest difficulties media managers have to face is to find a common ground between being professional and reporting and publishing the truth and realizing that that one has a family to take care of and that there is someone, somewhere, watching each step you make. One must be aware the neck can easily hang that one if one crosses paths with the appointing authority!
Despite media organizations belonging to the state, there is no re-capitalization and operations depend on obsolete and outdated machinery that were installed a long time ago, during the days of the typewriter in the newsroom. Due to wear and tear and lack of spares, the printing and processing machinery often break down and compromise quality in newspaper production. However, each day, there is a postmortem on the quality of the newspaper.
But these are copies with ink smudges, poor images of photographs and unattractive news items. The irony is that managements of state-owned media organizations are told by their boards of directors that they should run the media as business concerns and make profit to sustain operations, sell the news and find resources to buy new equipment and operate efficiently.
One would have expected some injection of funds from the government but save for the initial investment of the buildings the newspapers are situated with old Goss machines for printing and obsolete cameras and plate makers, there has not been any new investment to improve operations. There is little income that trickles in from advertising and circulation. Most of the income is swallowed up in salaries and maintenance costs.
As a result operations in general are of a sub-standard nature to say the least, and compounded by a lack of vision to emulate what others in the industry were doing, one wonders how the media continues to operate. The computers in use in newsrooms operate on cheap pirated software and often break down too because of viruses affecting daily production work. In addition, the Internet is a preserve of the top management officials and reporters’ research is never in-depth. This demoralizes managers who want quality.
The online publications are also not well designed while the manner in which the pages are updated is slow, rigorous and worse still, they do not have an archive system, making them not user-friendly.
Furthermore, a Media Manager has to deal with the perennial problems of lack of transport for editorial and distributions purposes, whereby reporters including editors have to cram for a pool car during assignments, delaying the process of timely newsgathering. Once a newspaper is produced, distribution is done with one van at one of the state owned papers! And yet a newspaper is supposed to be national. Only a few people along the line of rail read newspapers.
Majority of the people have no access to newspapers because the courier service is inadequate. Procurement of production materials such as newsprint, plates, films and so on, which are imported is a daily nightmare for mea managers because they have to ensure timely delivery of these items
At the same time, they have to raise enough funding to pay for the consignments. There are cases where some management have been threatened with court action bordering on closure of newspaper plants because of debts on newsprint to suppliers. There is still a huge debt amounting to over $400,000 owed by one of the leading state-owned newspapers, which is still being serviced for consumption of newsprint that was supplied more than ten years ago.
The managers have to figure out the best option to keep production going and at the same time ensure that suppliers are satisfied and do not rush to court for a solution. Because of the insufficient resources, a media manager is also not very popular with unionists who every year demand salary increments and improved conditions of service.
Almost every year there are work stoppages in media houses due to worker’s demands, posing a serious challenge on how resources should be shared from the limited income generated from advertising sales. There is also concern on the caliber of supporting staff, especially in marketing and advertising that do not seem to be proactive and creative in generating sales and this has resulted in incomes remaining almost static.
Editorially, most news stories are not usually appealing to the readers because of the monotony of being propaganda pieces by those in power. The newspapers therefore, do not sell as much as they would if they were written with a flare to reach out to most audiences. In most cases, the media managers are in peripheral management and are hardly consulted in decision-making such as editorial policy and recruitment. Decisions are made at executive level and yet the day-to-day queries are left to the editors. The manager further has to deal with the problem of lack of incentives. At the Zambia Daily Mail for example, employees in middle management are not entitled to overtime while unionized employees get more in terms of salary than some editors! Editors have difficulties in acquiring decent housing and live in compounds together with their junior and general workers. One would have thought Zambia’s transition to multi-party politics in 1991 would lead to significant changes in state media but nothing much has changed. There was brief period just before and soon after 1991 when it appeared that the media would become an independent influence in a democratic environment. But any movement in that direction has been thwarted by the continued state control of the country’s major news establishments. On the other hand, the private media is weak due to a hostile political and legal environment and severe economic conditions. Most of them have sprang up and quickly closed down because of high operational costs exacerbated by the poor economy. So managers in the media have done little to effectively contribute to the democratic dispensation and at the same time make a profit for their firms.

Pele is back in Zambia

2005-12-16T05:51:00.000-08:00

My dear friends and collegues. This is to let you know that I'm now back in Zambia and I have resumed duties at the Zambia Daily Mail. I will continue to update you on some of the developments in the country, and I hope you will find the information I will be posting useful. Please feel free to get in touch with me on issues you would like me to follow up or provide some indepth undersdtanding. I wish you well over the X-mas festivities.

The Raphael Centre: Hope of light in Grahamstown

2005-11-16T05:37:00.000-08:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso
In the midst of social troubles and disease ravaging South Africa, I see hope for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis in the Eastern Cape. The hope has been brought about by AVERT, an international charity, providing HIV/AIDS counseling and treatment to local people in Grahamstown, through the Raphael Centre.
The centre is a local innovation to assist scale down the rate of HIV infection in Grahamstown, where infections are believed to be extremely high and that many people were dying from AIDS.
Community initiative:
The Raphael Centre is a community initiative, providing care and support to people with AIDS, supporting and developing community action, and through the openness of the HIV positive people involved with the centre, to fight the stigma and discrimination surrounding the pandemic.
The centre was started by local volunteers in 1999, and is based in a house in the centre of Grahamstown. For a while it provided a limited service of support for people with AIDS. Then AVERT- the Aids Education and Research Trust- became involved at the end of 2001 and began providing financial support as well as practical help and advice. Since then the centre has employed staff, widened its services that directly supports more people living with HIV and AIDS, including Tuberculosis and has taken education into the wider community.
Pre-Test Initiative:
“This is our response to the Pre-Test Initiative and we try by all means to attend to the clients referred to us from the clinics including those on TB treatment. We are aware that TB is a killer and weakens the immune system of those with HIV,” explained Annalie Van Nikerk, the centre Manager.
Several confirmed cases of TB have since been referred to the centre from clinics in Grahamstown and they are now receiving treatment including food supplements, she said. Annalie who is popularly known as “Jabu” explained in an interview that AVERT is a charity with limited funds, and that it has only been able to guarantee support to the Raphael Centre until the summer of 2005.
“We now need to raise £40,000 a year for the next two years, if we are going to be able to continue to provide the current services, and hopefully extend and develop them further. The need is so great, but this unique centre has already shown how much can be achieved, how many people can be helped, and how many lives can be saved,” she said.
"Our outreach program is having an effect because we are attracting many visitors who drop in just to talk about HIV/AIDS. Quite often these are people who are worried they may be infected. Some of the visitors then come back for the VCT service. One woman came back the next day with vulnerable members of her family," Jabu explained. She appealed for financial assistance to well wishers including international donor agencies so that the project continues.
VCT:
A major service the centre provides and most popular is VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Treatment). People flock to the centre in increasing numbers as a result of the new community education program. The centre began its services in the autumn of 2002. Since then people are able to turn up, and using rapid testing, less than one hour later, they can find out if they are infected with HIV.
Grahamstown Bishop, Thabo Makgoba, features prominently in the centre’s brochure as one of the leading figures that knows his HIV status after a test at the Raphael Centre. He tested negative on March 1, 2004 and is considered a role model to encourage others to test and know their status. The centre also provides:
· Individual counselling and support from a lay counsellor as well as the opportunity to take part in group discussions
· Help for getting access to treatment, as well as basic medicines
· HIV/AIDS life-skills education including personal hygiene and nutrition
· Pregnant women are provided with education and access to drugs and formula milk, to prevent their children from becoming infected.
Stigma and discrimination
Stigma and discrimination have been, and indeed remain, a major obstacle in the fight against AIDS in South Africa. But the Raphael Centre took the first step to confronting the problem by encouraging clients to talk about their status openly.
Many people involved with the Centre have now personally taken the very courageous step of telling others their HIV status.
A well-known HIV positive person in the area, Xoliswa Mjuleni, says she has known she was HIV positive since 1999. She said she was initially terrified about the news but after she started going to the centre, she acquired confidence, new friends and “a reason to live.”
"We support each other. It doesn't always help having someone who has not experienced it, telling you HIV is not the end of the world. It is so much better to have someone who knows exactly what it is like to live with HIV, someone who has the same problems, the same pain. To have their sympathetic support really helps," she said
Xoliswa has declared her HIV status to her family and the black community in which she lives. They have all been supportive and those who are HIV positive, or fear that they may be, often approach her for guidance. However, another resident in the area simply, named, as Pamela has not been as fortunate. Apart from her sister with whom she lives with, her family is said to have rejected her because she is HIV positive. She has not declared her status in the community in which she lives, but she says some people know.” I’ve even brought other HIV positive people to this centre. If you spread the word about it, people come here," she explained.

Black South Africans still caged in squalor

2005-10-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

My heart bleeds when I see the poverty ravaging the black people of South Africa’s Grahamstown. They sleep amongst goats, cows, donkeys and chickens. These are the poor Xhosa speaking communities in the black townships of Grahamstown, one of the poorest towns of South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.
Thousands of people live in impoverished shanty homes, made out of weak patched-up housing structures that are easily destroyed by storms and rain. Some of these shacks recently crumbled during a downpour. Many others are surrounded by sewage filled standing water.
Eleven years after the break of the obnoxious apartheid rule in South Africa, it is appalling to see such huge disparities between the rich white suburbs and the poor “locations “of the black people in the town.

Poor hygiene
They have no toilets. They still use buckets to help themselves and clear human excreta, amidst buzzing flies. This is obviously a recipe for disease but also a job for a proud provider of an extended household!
Black students at the nearby Rhodes University, once a privy of the white community, wonder at the squalor, dirt, poor housing, high unemployment, and sheer poverty of today’s black townships of Grahamstown.The overcrowded shanty settlements are the remnants of South African apartheid planners who moved black and mixed-race people to the poor areas in the 1960s as part of a whites-only policy for urban areas.
“The disparities are unbelievable,” says Jacqueline Kabeta, a student from Zambia studying for a Masters Degree in Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes. “It is hard to believe the remnants of the past regime still have so much effect on people’s well-being. Something has to be done,” she said.
The so-called streets have never seen any resemblance of tarmac. They are covered with mud during the unpredictable rain pattern in the town while dust is the order of the day when it’s dry.

HIV/AIDS/TB

In the night, the entertainment dens come alive and are congested with drinkers of all sorts of alcoholic beverages and smokers. Illicit activities including commercial sex as a trade mark amongst most unemployed youths and adults, attest to statistics that rate South Africa as one of the leading countries in HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Such conditions are also a recipe for Tuberculosis, another killer disease in South Africa. Tuberculosis is in fact said to be the number one killer among South Africans suffering from HIV and AIDS. Signs of disease amongst the people’s faces are widespread and a chilling reality. I hope the powers that be can surely look into the plight of the black communities of Grahamstown and work towards bringing about some desirable positive changes. It’s an awful feeling really.

Aydlinn:

2005-10-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Aydlinn

2005-10-14T03:28:00.000-07:00

My wife, Aydlinn, (above) is a consulting partner at aydpels on various issues in business, investments, public relations and marketing and I hope you will find her contributions to the blog equally useful. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Zambia. Currently, she works as the Marketing and Public Relations Manager for the Kafue Gorge Regional Training Center for Hydro Power Training and Conferences for Africa and beyond. She can be reached on: aydlinn@yahoo.co.uk or aydliswaniso@kgrtc.org.zm

Pele's photo

2005-10-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

History of the blog

2005-10-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

History of Aydpels:

The idea of starting my own blog was triggered by a lesson in Media Convergence at the Sol Plaatjie Media Leadership Institute (SPI) at Rhodes University, South Africa on October 12, 2005. The name of the blog is a combination of the first few letters of my dear wife Aydlinn and myself, Pelekelo. I'm a journalist by profession while my wife is an Economist. I feel I can share quite a lot of issues about Zambia and Africa in general to the world at large in various ways as a communicator. Please feel free to comment, add or clarify on the information I'm posting to enrich our interaction and make issues more interesting.If you have questions to ask, please feel free to do so. I hope I will be useful in the public sphere to enhance debate and interaction amongst my friends and those who will have access to my blog. To begin with find below is my bio:

Bio:

Mr. Pelekelo Godfrey Liswaniso, a Journalist, works for the Zambia Daily Mail as the Online/Production Editor. He holds a B.A. in Journalism and Certificates in Public Relations and Marketing from Stefan Gheorghiu Academy, Romania and the Copperbelt University, Zambia respectively. He has just graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM) from Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. Mr Liswaniso was recently in the United States as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, an academic honour, for his excellence in Journalism and Public Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also a graduate of an intensive course in English for professional development from the University of Arizona, USA. Mr Liswaniso has held senior positions as a reporter and Editor at the Zambia Daily Mail and is a correspondent for various publications in Africa and Europe. In addition, he does research in the field of sustainable development.

E-mails: pelekelo05@yahoo.com or pele@zamnet.zm