DAILY PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES FOR THE FIRST SESSION OF THE ELEVENTH ASSEMBLY

Thursday, 17th November, 2011

The House met at 1430 hours

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

NATIONAL ANTHEM

PRAYER

________

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

TYPHOID OUTBREAK

14. Mr Miyutu  ( Kalabo Central) asked the Minister of Health:

(a) what caused the outbreak of typhoid in Kalabo District;

(b) how many patients were affected as of 16th November, 2011;

(c) what measures had been taken to contain the spread of the disease in view of lack of transport and manpower in the district; and

(d) what measures had been taken to prevent the occurrence of the disease in future.

The Deputy Minister of Health (Dr Chikusu): Mr Speaker, the typhoid outbreak in Kalabo District is suspected to have been caused by contaminated water from the main pipeline supplied by the water utility company in Kalabo. The machine, which chlorinates the water, had a fault during the said period. However, it has since been repaired.

Mr Speaker, the first case of typhoid was detected on 24th October, 2011. As of 16th November, 2011, the cumulative number of cases was 110, thirty-six of whom were still admitted to Kalabo District and Yuka Mission hospitals respectively. The number of cases has been declining and no death has been recorded so far. This is an indication that the outbreak has been contained.

Mr Speaker, the following are some of the measures that have been put in place to contain the spread of the disease:

(i) all cases are in quarantine;

(ii) the cases are treated;

(iii) the community is sensitised using a public address system;

(iv) contacts are traced; and
 
(v) active surveillance is strengthened.

Mr Speaker, typhoid, like cholera and dysentery, are water-borne diseases, hence the basic principle for controlling typhoid is personal hygiene, such as washing hands with clean water and soap. The lasting solution is to make drinking water safe and educate the people on maintaining good hygiene practices. This message was broadcast on the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Television by the hon. Minister of Local Government, Early Childhood and Environmental Protection on the commemoration of the Hand Washing Day last month. The importance of this cannot be overemphasised.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Miyutu: Mr Speaker, I appreciate the response from the hon. Minister. However, I would like to seek clarification on the hon. Minister’s answer concerning the broken water pipe as the source of the disease. Has he received a report from the Western Water and Sewerage Company (WWSC) concerning the broken water pipe?

The Minister of Health (Dr Kasonde): Mr Speaker, perhaps, the issue has not been fully understood by the hon. Member. The pipe that was critical in this case was not the one carrying water, but the pipe that was putting chlorine into the water. This is a matter that belongs to the appropriate body which you have mentioned. I think that when our colleagues from local Government report on action taken, our two interests differ. Whereas they are interested in the repair of the pipes, we are interested in making sure that the water is safe. We have reported that the water is safe.

I thank you, Sir.

Professor Lungwangwa (Nalikwanda): Mr Speaker, the response from the hon. Minister has not been very specific because of the use of the term suspected. At this stage, we would expect a more specific response, especially that the outbreak is an aspect of manifestation. However, there could be a latent aspect to the bacterial infection and that requires investigations in order to establish the magnitude of the problem. Are investigations still going on so that certainty can be established as to the magnitude of the latency of the problem?

Dr Kasonde: Mr Speaker, as I have stated on the Floor of this House before, the hon. Member has my admiration for his concern for evidence-based-decision making. I am sure he will understand that I could not have proceeded to make any decision without evidence.

Mr Speaker, the story of cholera and typhoid is a long standing and well-understood phenomenon. We have no doubt whatsoever that as it was showing more than hundred years ago, it still stands. It is contamination through the flow of contaminated water.

It is also as a result of hands not being washed. In this case, the hon. Deputy Minister has made it clear that surveillance is one of the measures that have been instigated. We believe that surveillance involves the collection of evidence and the use of that evidence to determine what steps to be taken next.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Musokotwane (Liuwa): Mr Speaker, we have been hearing that the outbreak of typhoid is not just confined to the urban part of Kalabo, but also the rural parts of the district. Given that, is the hon. Minister still reassuring this House that the only source of the outbreak is the pipe that is mentioned or would it not be a wider problem emanating from many other sources?

Dr Kasonde: Mr Speaker, I agree with the hon. Member that there could be possibilities of other sources. However, I beg the hon. Member to look at the evolution of this story. In this case, following the outbreak, we were able to establish what it was. We were able to establish that after what was considered to be the source had been dealt with, the problem was controlled.

We, therefore, had reason to believe that in this case, it was the contaminated water that was the cause. However, in agreeing with the hon. Member, I would say that the essence of surveillance is not to study the way the disease has spread and where it is spreading to, if it is spreading. Perhaps, we shall come forward with other answers, but we know the answer to this particular incident and we are looking for the answers to any other incident.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Chituwo (Mumbwa): Mr Speaker, my colleague, the hon. Minister of Health, has emphasised, on many occasions, the need for evidence-based decisions. In the case of the typhoid outbreak in Kalabo, in the surveillance programme, has he looked at the standards that are being followed and that, in fact, there will be a time when we will have more contamination detected before the actual disease outbreak?

Dr Kasonde: Mr Speaker, I very much appreciate the comments of the hon. Member for Mumbwa. Naturally, as he would expect, his views and mine on an issue of such scientific nature will coincide.

Laughter

Dr Kasonde: I have no reason to believe that my approach, namely that of surveillance, which includes finding out what is happening before the outbreak, is definitely very much in line with the recommendation of the hon. Member for Mumbwa, and I thank him.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Ndalamei (Sikongo): Mr Speaker, there is a serious shortage of manpower and transport at Kalabo District and Yuka Mission hospitals respectively. What measures has the ministry taken to help the two institutions tackle the outbreak of typhoid?

Dr Kasonde: Mr Speaker, I wonder if the hon. Member is addressing the issue at hand. Perhaps, we will be generous enough to accord him that favour that he is actually addressing the question partly.

There are separate issues related to human resources for health in the region and in the area. We have, on previous occasions, referred to the master plan on human resource development. We have also addressed the issue of transport which was raised by another hon. Member and which, with your guidance, we suggested would be a serious matter for discussion at an appropriate time, as it concerns mobility which has, in recent months, involved all sorts of vehicles, some of which may not be suitable for discussion at this moment. Nevertheless, it will come when we present plans for emergency and mobile care in our service provision.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chishiba (Kafulafuta): Mr Speaker, I would like to quickly find out from the hon. Minister of Health whether the utility company has a conventional laboratory to detect typhoid. If it has, at what point was it detected? Was it at the laboratory stage or when the disease just broke out at the hospital?

Dr Kasonde: Mr Speaker, the hon. Member cannot receive a quick answer. This matter must be answered appropriately and with the duration that might be required to answer it. However, the point he raised is an important one in the sense that laboratory confirmation of such a disease is always essential before treatment. In this case, we did have laboratory confirmation which was obtained by culture of the water which showed that it was typhoid. I believe this is sufficient for us to work on. I do not believe we need to go any further.

I thank you, Sir.

ZAMBIA CHINA-MULUNGUSHI TEXTILES

15. Mr Chishimba (Kamfinsa) asked the Minister of Defence:

(a) what plans the ministry had for the re-opening of the Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles in Kabwe;

(b) what the shareholding structure of the company was; and

(c) how much money was required to re-open the company.

The Deputy Minister of Defence (Colonel Kaunda): Mr Speaker, Mulungushi Textiles Limited was established in 1983 with the assistance of the Chinese Government. From its inception, the company was managed by the Zambia National Service on behalf of the Zambian Government.

Mr Speaker, due to poor performance, the Zambian Government entered into an agreement with Qingdao Textiles Corporation of China in 1997 to manage the company as a joint venture, Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Joint Venture Limited, for a period of thirty years. However, the joint venture company closed down in January, 2007 and has never re-opened since. Nevertheless, our ministry is studying ways of reviving the company.

Under the joint venture agreement, Quingdoo Textiles Corporation of China has sixty-six shares and the Government has thirty-four shares.

Mr Speaker, although initial indications are that it will require a substantial amount, the cost to determine the amount required to reopen the company has not yet been established, as no valuation has been carried out.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chishimba: Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister has mentioned the fact that the industry closed in 2007 due to the inefficiency of the former Government.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chishimba: Mr Speaker, what measures will the Government put in place to protect the industry from cheap imported fabrics once the industry starts to operate?

The Minister of Defence (Mr Mwamba): Mr Speaker, the hon. Deputy Minister informed the House that no evaluation has been carried out to determine the amount required. Furthermore, there are some internal problems in the company that the ministry is yet to sort out because Quingdoo Textiles Corporation of China owns 66 per cent shares and the Government owns 34 per cent. We are a minority shareholder. At the moment, we are trying to buy Quingdoo Textiles Corporation off China. Once this is done, we will be able to restructure Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Joint Venture Limited.

I thank you, Sir.

Colonel Chanda (Kanyama): Mr Speaker, may the hon. Minster confirm whether there is any care and maintenance arrangement to ensure that equipment remains reasonably serviceable while the problem is being resolved?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, there has not been any maintenance arrangement because there have been some internal wrangles but, as soon as those wrangles are resolved, we shall put all the measures in place.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chisanga (Mkushi South): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the Floor, but my question has already been asked.

Mr Kapyongo (Shiwang’andu): Mr Speaker, based on the answer that has been given, there must have been some confusion right from the start. May I know if there was a comprehensive exit plan for the majority shareholder?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, no, there was no such arrangement.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Lufuma (Kabompo West): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister continues to refer to internal wrangles. I would like to find out what internal wrangles necessitated this situation?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, as usual, when there are two partners, normally, the majority shareholder tends to take an upper hand. In this situation, we had requested that the majority shareholder recapitalises the operations of the company but, unfortunately, it was not willing. That is what has brought about these internal wrangles.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Kapyanga (Kabwe Central): Mr Speaker, when is the due diligence tour by the ministry going to be conducted because it seems there was no exit plan by the Chinese?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, the due diligence plan has already been made.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Mushanga (Bwacha): Mr Speaker, I am one of the interested hon. Members because I come from Kabwe. Can the hon. Minister tell the House and the nation that once the company is opened, it will not be politicised and run by cadres to impede any closure which can result into it being turned into a piggery industry again?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, as I said, we are not the majority shareholder. I would like the nation to understand this. We only own 34 per cent and Quingdoo Textiles Corporation of China owns 66 per cent. As a result of this, the majority shareholder has an upper hand. Secondly, it has turned it into a piggery because the shareholder is manning the factory at the moment.

I thank you, Sir.{mospagebreak}

Ms Lubezhi (Namwala): Mr Speaker, we all appreciate that the textile industry in this country has gone to sleep. Therefore, we are not going to sit and watch the Government wait for the internal wrangles to end when the hon. Minister is not giving us a timeframe within which the wrangles will be resolved. Will the hon. Minister, please, tell us what the Government is doing about the internal wrangles?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, as we all know, the due process of the law takes long in this country. As a result, we are not able to make progress.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Belemu (Mbabala): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister has indicated that the due diligence process has already been done. What are the highlights of the report?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, that is a new question.

I thank you, Sir.

Laughter

Mr Mwanza (Solwezi West): Mr Speaker, during the campaign trail, the PF campaigned vigorously that it would reopen the factory immediately it formed Government. Can the hon. Minister state, now that the PF has formed Government, that it is going to reopen it and when?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, I have already said, in my earlier statement, that we are not the majority shareholder and also that since the matter is still in court, there is very little that can be done at this point. We promised to resuscitate Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Joint Venture Limited, and I still repeat that we shall do it as soon as these internal wrangles are resolved.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Livune (Katombola): Mr Speaker, can the hon. Minister state whether the minority shareholder is happy to see pigs and goats in that factory?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, it is common knowledge that no one would be happy to see that, but the law states that those who have the majority shares are in control of the business, if the hon. Member did not know. As I have said, we have very little to say at this point.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Chituwo: Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister of Defence has emphatically stated how helpless he is in this matter.

Laughter

Dr Chituwo: Has he got any plans to initiate the opening of a plant that we can call our own in order to avoid such issues of inertia and indecision?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, in fact, the former Government is the cause of all this.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwamba: We have just inherited these problems.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Nkombo (Mazabuka Central): Mr Speaker, I initially thought that the issue of pigs was a simple joke, but the moment I realised it was serious, I generated a question for the hon. Minister of Defence. I would like to find out whether this change of business at Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Joint Venture Limited was a board resolution. Since the Government is a minority shareholder, it must have had board representation at the meeting at which the course of business was changed. Can the hon. Minister shed some light on this?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, yes, there was a board meeting but, unfortunately, as I have said, we are a minority shareholder.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Kazonga (Vubwi): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister said that he has the status report of Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Joint Venture Limited which is known as the Due Diligence Report. In one of his responses, he also talked about the problem of the shareholding structure. In view of this, what is the way forward to resuscitate Mulungushi Textiles?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, as a Government, we would like to see that Mulungushi Textiles is resuscitated. Unfortunately, due to the court case, we are unable to make progress.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Simbao (Senga Hill): Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from the hon. Minister of Defence whether he realises that the present situation leaves the people of Kabwe in the same desperate situation they were in under the MMD Government and that his Government should have, by now, provided a solution?

Mr Mwamba: I think the hon. Member should realise that we have only been in Government less than six weeks and that there is very little we can do about this situation.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Question!

Mr Monde (Itezhi-tezhi): Mr Speaker, seeing that the problems of this company are similar to those of many other companies that the PF Government has inherited, when will His Excellency the President form a commission of inquiry on this company?

Laughter

Mr Speaker: Order!

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, I think there is no need to form a commission of inquiry on this company. Apart from that, this is a new question.
 
I thank you, Sir.

Mr Sing’ombe (Dundumwezi): Mr Speaker, I believe that our partner is a foreign company. I would like to know whether the business plan was varied from that of textiles to piggery.

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, I have said on the Floor of the House, time and again, that we are a minority shareholder. If my brothers do not understand what minority means, they are free to come to my office and I will tell them what it means.

I thank you, Sir.

Ms Siliya (Petauke): Mr Speaker, can the hon. Minister of Defence confirm that the problem of China-Mulungushi Textiles Joint Venture needs to be looked at wholly in terms of the whole industry in this country and that this is a matter beyond the Ministry of Defence? Can he further confirm that there is a need for consultation with the other stakeholders such as the private sector and the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry?

Mr Mwamba: Mr Speaker, I am surprised that Hon. Dora Siliya could ask such a question, considering that her Government was the one that was in the driving seat. Why did it not apply what she is just telling me?

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Member: Hear, hear!

FRA DEBT

16. Dr Chituwo asked the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock:

(a) when all farmers owed money by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) for the purchase of the 2010/2011 crop would be paid;

(b) what the FRA indebtedness to farmers at (a) was as at 14th October, 2011; and

(c) what had caused the delay in paying the farmers.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (Mr N. Banda): Mr Speaker, the FRA was scheduled to have paid all farmers who were owed money for the 2010/2011 marketing season by 14th November, 2011. However, due to the additional maize and paddy rice that was purchased over and above what was targeted, payments are still being made to farmers. All outstanding balances owed to farmers stand at K378, 650,135,000 and are anticipated to be cleared by the first week of December, 2011. Of this amount, the Government is expected to release K164,006,005,000 whilst the FRA will source the remaining K214,644,130,000 from commercial banks.

Mr Speaker, by 14th October, 2011, the FRA owed farmers K738,304,300,000 for the crops purchased. At the close of the marketing season on 31st October, 2011, this amount reduced to K378,650,135,000 as already stated above.

Sir, the 2010/2011 marketing season, which closed on 31st October, 2011, saw the highest maize purchase records in the history of this country.

Mr Speaker, approximately 89 per cent of 1,621,602 metric tonnes of maize was delivered to the FRA satellite depots countrywide in five weeks between the first week of July and 20th September, 2011. This caused overwhelming strains on the operations of the FRA in terms of mobilisation of funds, procurement and supply of marketing materials such as grain bags and tarpaulins, as well as the transportation of crops.

Mr Speaker, the rushed delivery of maize by farmers affected the scheduling of payments, as Treasury releases were coming in tranches. Additionally, the arrangement of funds from commercial banks by the FRA was dependent on the procedure which entailed meeting certain collateral requirements.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Dr Chituwo: Mr Speaker, realising the bottlenecks at various stages of initiating payment, I would like to find out whether the Government has any plans to mitigate these impediments in the payment process.

The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (Mr Chenda):  Mr Speaker, we are concerned about the delays of the financial institutions contracted to pay farmers on behalf of the FRA. In this regard, we have engaged them in discussions so as to persuade them to speed up the process.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chisanga: Mr Speaker, farming is a business. I would like to find out if this delay in payment will attract interest towards the farmers.

Mr Chenda: Mr Speaker, we appreciate that there is a financial loss to the farmer as a result of the delay. Regrettably, there will not be any interest paid to the farmers and we sympathise with them.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Sing’ombe: Mr Speaker, the current requirement is that before a farmer goes to ask for fertiliser or seed, he/she is required to make a deposit of about K280,000 per pack. What is the ministry doing to ensure that farmers who have not been paid their monies can also access the inputs in good time?

Mr Chenda: Mr Speaker, whether there have been delays in paying farmers or not, we have ensured that the closing dates for payment of subscriptions to the co-operatives by the farmers is extended. This is to allow the farmers to be paid before they access their entitlement.

I thank you, Sir.

Ms Lubezhi: Mr Speaker, the payments have delayed, but one cannot negotiate to delay the rains. So, what is the hon. Minister doing in an event that some farmers are not paid because they are supposed to start planting by the first week of December?

Mr Chenda: Mr Speaker, I wish I were in a position to control the rains. However, we are doing everything possible to pay the farmers soonest. It is in this regard that everything possible within our means is being done so that the payments are made.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, the former hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning allocated K150 billion to the FRA and about K15 billion to the Food Security Pack programme. May I know how much money the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has disbursed so far, and what the shortfall from the allocation that was given by the former Minister of Finance  and National Planning is.

Mr Chenda: Mr Speaker, to date, we have paid more than K1.8 trillion towards maize purchases.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chipungu (Rufunsa): Mr Speaker, we have learnt from the hon. Minister that the delay in paying the farmers is caused by the financial institutions. What measures has the Government put in place to ensure that the situation is corrected? Is there any form of punishment to the financial institutions?

Mr Chenda: Mr Speaker, I said that we have engaged the financial institutions so as to speed up the process of paying farmers. I am glad to say that the response has been good. We hope that next year we will be able to handle this situation better than we have done this year.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Kazonga: Mr Speaker, my question has already been asked by Hon. Chipungu.

Mr Livune: Mr Speaker, is the hon. Minister of Agriculture and Livestock aware that farmers in Kazungula are suffering because they have been spending nights in Livingstone for over three weeks to chase for the payments?

Mr Chenda: Mr Speaker, we have done everything possible to pay the farmers on time. Within the sixty days of the PF Government’s rule, we have paid over K800 billion. Surely, this is a demonstration that we are determined to deal with this issue effectively and efficiently.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ntundu (Gwembe): Mr Speaker, if I heard the hon. Deputy Minister correctly, he said that the Government intends to release over K100 billion. The hon. Minister said that the delay is caused by the financial institutions that have been engaged to pay the farmers. Can I know which one is the correct position?

Mr Chenda: Mr Speaker, in our response, we stated that there is K378,650,135,000 that is outstanding to the farmers which is expected to be paid by the second week of December, 2011. The K164, 006,005,000 that is being referred to is an amount that is expected from the Treasury. Therefore, there is no contradiction here.

I thank you, Sir.

CANAL DREDGING AND CONSTRUCTION

17. Mr Chisala (Chilubi) asked the Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications:

(a) how many canals were cleared and deepened from January, 2010 to September, 2011, in the Northern Province;

(b) why the funds for canal clearing, deepening and construction were administered by the Provincial Administration in the Northern Province and not the line ministry in the period at (a); and

(c) why the Provincial Administration decided to engage contractors for the works above instead of using the local communities as had been the practice.

The Deputy Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication (Mr Mwenya): Mr Speaker, in 2011, the ministry released K150 million to the Northern Province for clearing and deepening of canals. However, the Provincial Administration did not carry out any works. The canals earmarked for these works were as follows:

District Canal

Chilubi Santa Maria-Bukotelo

Nsombo-Bangweulu

Chaba-Bangweulu

Bukotelo-Kasomalunga.

Mpika Ngungwa-Chiundaponde

Munyikashi-Mutwamina

Kopa-Mutwamina

Sir, in 2011, the ministry has not disbursed any funds to the Northern Province because the earlier funds have not been expended.

Mr Speaker, the then Ministry of Communications and Transport, now the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications, did not have personnel in the Department of Maritime and Inland Waterways to undertake canal works in the Northern Province. Therefore, it made use of the Provincial Administration, which is an extended wing of the Government. With the merging of the two ministries, our presence is now assured and we will use our personnel in future.

Sir, on why the funds were not expended, the ministry will consult with the Provincial Administration on the matter.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Chisala: Mr Speaker, the hon. Deputy Minister has just indicated that funds were not disbursed in 2010 and that it is not only Chilubi District which was affected, but also Mpika and Luwingu districts. May I know where the funds were during the period between January and December, 2010.

Mr Mwenya: Mr Speaker, the 2010 funds were at the Provincial Administration in the Northern Province while the 2011 funds are still with the ministry.

I thank you, Sir.

ZAMBIA FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE

18. Mr Chisanga (Mkushi South) asked the Minister of Health when the Zambia Flying Doctor Service would start servicing the following communities of Luano Valley in Mkushi South Parliamentary Constituency:

(i) Chimika;

(ii) Mboloma; and

(iii) Ching’ombe.

Dr Chikusu: Mr Speaker, the Zambia Flying Doctor Service suspended operations in the Luano Valley in Mkushi South Parliamentary Constituency in May, 2010 following the brutal killing of Major Masumba, the then Chief Pilot, by the Mailoni brothers. The insecurity in the area has continued to this year as there have been reports of people being murdered by the same group. The services will be resumed in Chimika, Mboloma and Ching’ombe as soon as these areas are declared safe for operations by the security wings.

Mr Speaker, the House might wish to note that the rural health centres in Chimika, Mboloma and Ching’ombe have continued providing static services despite the insecurity in the area and the Government is putting in place measures to improve the security of the area to enable the Zambia Flying Doctor Service to resume operations there.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chisanga: Mr Speaker, are you aware that the people of Luano Valley depend on the Zambia Flying Doctor Service due to the fact that the roads are impassable during the rain season.

Dr Kasonde: Mr Speaker, the reason for interrupting the Zambia Flying Doctor Service was lack of security in the area. It must surely be clear to the hon. Member that the security of those who work in the area should come before any other consideration. Surely, the hon. Member will take into account that the measures that are being put in place and of which we shall, in due course, be advised, are aimed at resuming that service as soon as possible. I hope the hon. Member will sympathise with our position.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

CHIEFDOM BOUNDARIES

19. Mr Namulambe (Mpongwe) asked the Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs:

(a) when maps showing boundaries of chiefdoms countrywide would be distributed to all the chiefs; and

(b) whether there was a statutory instrument that had narrative description of the boundaries at (a) above.

The Deputy Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs (Ms Kawandami): Mr Speaker, I wish to inform this august House that the maps showing boundaries for chiefdoms were distributed to all hon. Members who were in the last Parliament under the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), district commissioners (DCs), council secretaries and chiefdoms early this year. By May, 2012, all stakeholders will be provided with copies of the maps.

Secondly, Mr Speaker, I wish to inform this august House that there is no statutory instrument which has the narrative description of boundaries of chiefdoms. However, the House of Chiefs, during its sitting in 2004, agreed that 1,958 maps should be used to resolve the boundary disputes.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Mr Namulambe: Mr Speaker, in the absence of the statutory instrument that has descriptions of the boundaries, how are the chiefs going to be convinced with the maps that were allegedly distributed since they may not know where the boundaries pass?

The Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs (Mrs Wina): Mr Speaker, the chiefs, themselves, in 2004, agreed to use the maps that were designed by the Colonial Government in the 1950s. However, we are appalled to hear that for the twenty-seven years that the United National Independence Party (UNIP) was in power and the twenty years that the MMD was in power, none of them could come up with an idea of re-mapping the chiefdoms in this country.

Laughter

Mrs Wina: Mr Speaker, as soon as funds are made available, the PF Government will look into the matter of new boundaries.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Muntanga (Kalomo Central): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister said that maps were given to hon. Members who were part of the last Parliament under the MMD Regime. I would like to know which hon. Members she is talking about because, in the last Parliament, no one got a map. It was agreed that the maps would only be issued to the chiefs. The chiefs were, however, not issued with any maps. If she has them, when will they be given out?

Mrs Wina: Mr Speaker, we obtained this information from the records of the previous Government, the MMD.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Wina: We do, however, promise that by May, 2012, we will be able to distribute new maps to all hon. Members of Parliament and other stakeholders.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sing’ombe: Mr Speaker, the hon. Deputy Minister indicated that the maps were distributed to hon. Members of Parliament who were in the House then, DCs and council secretaries. The question is when will the maps be distributed to the chiefs? 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Order!

That question has already been answered.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member for Namwala.

Ms Lubezhi: Mr Speaker, my question has been overtaken by events.

Dr Chituwo: Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs stated that nothing was done concerning the boundary disputes when the MMD was in power. Is she saying that a number of boundary disputes still exist because we did nothing about them when we were in power? If the boundaries are not the source of contention, then what are the other areas of dispute? There must be evidence.

What is she doing about the disputes because they are there throughout the country?

Mrs Wina: Mr Speaker, this Government is aware of the various disputes over boundaries among the chiefs. Some of the boundary disputes have come about as a result of some chiefs having moved with their people to other areas, either for shelter or because of natural calamities. Once there, these chiefs have claimed a territory, much to the objection of the other chiefs who are already in the area. There are a number of such disputes. I am very surprised that Hon. Dr Chituwo, who was in-charge of Local Government and Housing under which chiefs’ affairs fell at the time, could not come up with solutions to the disputes.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nkombo: Mr Speaker, I do share the concern of the hon. Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs that two successive Governments, over a period of forty-seven years could not resolve the issue of chiefdom boundaries which is a potential source of conflict. In her response, she said that when money is made available, the PF Government would endeavour to start re-mapping these chiefdoms. If she appreciates the fact that this is a potential source of conflict and it has taken this long to be sorted out, I would like to know whether she can give a time frame within which the PF Government will address the issue of re-mapping the chiefdoms.

Mrs Wina: Mr Speaker, re-mapping big areas such as the whole of Zambia is not a cheap exercise.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Wina: I have already explained to the House that when funds are made available we will undertake this exercise. I will not give a time frame at this particular moment. 

I thank you, Sir

Hon. Government embers: Hear, hear!

Mr Pande (Kasempa): Mr Speaker, there is a big issue regarding sub-chiefs. Is the re-mapping going to include areas which are under sub-chiefs, thus leading to their recognition?

Mrs Wina: Mr Speaker, I am afraid that is a new question. However, let me point out that some of the disputes have nothing to do with boundaries. Some of the disputes were started by the MMD Government. There are a number of disputes …

Hon. Member interjected.

Mr Speaker: Order!

Let the hon. Minister explain herself.

Mrs Wina: Mr Speaker, there are a number of disputes that have come about because some politicians felt that if they installed certain chiefs they would get more votes.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Wina: This has been one of the biggest causes of disputes we have in different parts of the country today.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Ms Siliya (Petauke): Mr Speaker, my question has been overtaken by events.

_____{mospagebreak}

MOTIONS

BUDGET 2012

(Debate resumed)

Mr Lufuma (Kabompo West): Mr Speaker, …

Mr Mulusa: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Kambwili: A point of order on whom? You need a seminar!

Hon. Government Members: On whom?

Laughter

Mr Speaker: You may proceed.

Mr Mweetwa: Point of order pamene apa!

Mr Lufuma: … thank you for allowing me to contribute to debate on the Motion on the Floor of the House.

Sir, may I take this opportunity …

Mr Mulusa: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, is it in order for us to debate the Budget when the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning and his Deputy are not around?

Hon. Government Members: Aah!

Mr Lubinda: The Government is here! Hon. Ministers are here!

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: The position is that the Leader of Government Business is in the House together with various hon. Cabinet Ministers. Thus, there is no need to suspend Business in the absence of the Minister of Finance and National Planning and his Deputy.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Interruptions

Mr Kunda, SC.: Lubinda you used to raise that issue!

Mr Lubinda: No!

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order!

The hon. Member may proceed.

Mr Lufuma: Thank you, Mr Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning for the well-presented Budget Speech.

Sir, I would like to start my debate by talking about the theme which says, “Making Zambia a Better Place for All.” I assume making Zambia a better place for all simply means reducing the poverty levels by putting food on the table, creating employment for all, ensuring that parents take their children to school, better health and good communication facilities. It also means that people have adequate shelter and are able to access the basic necessities. The Budget Speech is essentially supposed to outline the polices which will ensure that the people get to enjoy the good life which they are looking forward to.

Mr Speaker, firstly, allow me to recognise the fact that the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning talked about one of the most fundamental factors of production which, in my view, is necessary for the creation of an environment in which the manufacturing industry is supposed to thrive. This is the area concerning interest rates.

In the speech of the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, you will notice that there has been a reduction in corporate tax from 40 per cent to 35 per cent. This is for the purpose of releasing money into the economy. There has also been a reduction in the statutory reserve ratios from 8 per cent to 5 per cent. Such moves increase the liquidity in the economy which, in turn, are supposed to lead to the lowering of lending interest rates and, in turn, encourage the private sector to borrow money for production purposes. However, what is happening at the moment in our economy is that we have high interest rates. These high interest rates are inimical to the expansion of the manufacturing sector. These days, most people in this country borrow money from the bank and use it to buy certain commodities which they resell later on. They do that because it is very difficult to borrow money and utilise it in the manufacturing sector.

Mr Mweetwa: Hear, hear! Point!

Mr Lufuma: Why? This is because the cost of capital is too high. If you use that money to go into production, you will never be able to repay the loan. You can only do so if  you are selling salaula.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: That is why currently, we have a nation full of traders.

Mr Mweetwa: Hear, hear! Point!

Mr Lufuma: Sir, there are a few farmers engaging in production, but a lot of traders going to buy their tomatoes and chickens for resale. Such a situation is not conducive for job creation. We need a situation whereby the private sector can borrow money from the bank and enter into production. That process encourages job creation.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Livune: Not iya ma Chinese!

Mr Lufuma: That is what we want to see.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: At the moment, we have a stunted manufacturing sector because of high interest rates. This is what contributes to the lack of employment opportunities in the country. This is the situation as it exists at the moment.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: Therefore, I would like to applaud the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning for recognising one of the fundamental constraints to industrial development and doing something about it by lowering the interest rates. This will lead to a reduction in the cost of capital.

However, Sir, I would like to warn that the lowering of interest rates that we are ushering into the economy should be well monitored by the Central Government. Otherwise, what will happen is that in order to benefit more from the liquidity in the economy, the commercial banks will tend to buy Government bonds and securities instead of lending money to farmers.

Mr Mweetwa: Yes!

Mr Lufuma: That will defeat the very purpose for which we are trying to lower the interest rates.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear! Mwaumfwa!

Mr Mweetwa: Point! Quality!

Mr Hamududu: Even Given is also agreeing with that fact.

Mr Lufuma: Mr Speaker, the next issue I would like to talk about is the Government’s debt policy and oversight of Parliament. It is gratifying to see that there is something mentioned in the Budget Speech on the oversight role of Parliament. I hope this will translate into legislation being looked at on this matter so that debt contraction is ratified by Parliament.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: I also want to touch on the agricultural sector. We are all aware that most rural folk are engaged in agricultural activities for their livelihood. Since the Patriotic Front (PF) Government claims to be pro-poor and wants to grow the agricultural sector, it becomes imperative that it respects certain regional protocols that have been put in place. In this regard, I am talking about the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security which states that if countries seriously want to grow their agriculture sectors, they should allocate, at least, 10 per cent of their national budgets to this cause.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: Sadly, the allocation to agriculture is only at 6 per cent of our National Budget.

Hon. UPND Members: 5.9 per cent.

Mr Lufuma: 5.9 per cent to be exact. This is not enough for us to grow our agriculture sector. Furthermore, if you take a closer look at how much has been allocated to this sector, you will find that 50 per cent of this allocation goes towards production of maize. There is K500 billion for the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) and K300 billion for marketing. This leaves only K800 billion, out of a total of K1,698 billion, for other activities in the sector, including salaries and allowances for agricultural officers and other expenses. This definitely is not enough, given the fact that the PF Government also claims that it would like to diversify the agriculture sector so that we move away from dependence on maize. Now, if that is the case and we allocate 50 per cent of the total budget for agriculture to maize production, how is the PF Government going to diversify agriculture? It will not be possible.

Mr Speaker, I would now like to come to the issue of education. The increase in the allocation to this sector compared to the previous allocation is noted. The construction of an additional 2,000 classroom blocks is also commendable. However, sometimes, the measure of a good budget is not in the proclamations and figures, but how it is implemented and this is what we would like to see. Further, what I would like to see is that these 2,000 additional classroom blocks are concentrated or distributed more in the rural than urban areas.

Hon. Opposition members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: When we moved around the countryside, one notable thing in the education sector was the lack of teachers. I am glad a provision has been made for the recruitment of 5,000 teachers but, I am afraid, this is a drop in the ocean. It is not enough and more must be done because, according to education authorities, at least 15,000 additional teachers are needed in order to meet the full requirement. The recruitment of 5,000 more teachers means that there will be a shortage of 10,000. Therefore, we should work very hard to improve the teacher:pupil ratio.

Mr Speaker, addressing this ratio is very important because it hinges on the quality of education. The lower the teacher:pupil ratio will be, the better the quality of education. So, if the PF Government would like to see an improvement in the quality of education in this country, which we all want to see, it is important that more teachers are recruited.

Mr Speaker, another increase in allocation has been noted in the health sector. However, when you compare this allocation to the total Budget, it is only 9.3 per cent. This falls short of the Abuja Declaration, which advocates for 15 per cent of African countries’ national budgets to go to health. We have a lot of work to do here. I would encourage the PF Government to ensure that some of these protocols are adhered to in the next Budget.

Mr Speaker, it is noted that there will be a recruitment of 2,500 front line medical staff. Our tours in the countryside revealed that there is a critical shortage of staff. In fact, the staff register, which was just handed to us, shows clearly that there is a lot of work to be done in this regard.

Mr Speaker, local government and housing has been cited as one of the key sectors the PF Government is going to concentrate on. Unfortunately, these policy statements are not backed by actual action. Only 0.92 per cent of the Budget has been allocated to local government. This is a drop in the ocean considering what the local government is supposed to do. Most of this money will be used for settling salary arrears and so we do not expect any impact at all at this level.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: Furthermore, the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is an instrument we would like to use to ensure that funds are devolved to the local level. Unfortunately, our pleas, here in Parliament, to increase this fund from K720 million to K5 billion per constituency have not been heeded. Instead, only a meagre K80 million has been added to K720 million and that is not going to help at all.

The Government should desist from holding on to financial power. This has been and will continue to be the problem. The Government has a tendency of not wanting to devolve financial resources to local authorities. This is why a lot of things that could have been done at the local level cannot be done.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lufuma: If K5 billion was given as CDF to each constituency, the bridges, roads, health centres and schools that need urgent attention could easily be worked on. However, those in power do not want to do that. So, we would like to encourage the PF Government to look into this, at least, in the year after next if not next year.

Mr Speaker, on revenue, I have not seen the broadening of the tax base. Instead, it has been virtually maintained. The burden is going to be lifted on the shoulders of those in the informal sector.

Sir, the PF Government campaigned very heavily on the windfall tax.

Hon. Opposition Members: They lied.

Mr Lufuma: Mr Speaker, the windfall tax is one of the ways to broaden the tax base, but what has happened is that taking on the responsibility to reintroduce this tax has cowed the Government. Leadership requires making hard decisions. At the moment, the interest of extractive industries is not to be charged this windfall tax. However, it is our responsibility, as people’s representatives, to ensure that the windfall tax is charged because, without doing so, we will have little money to go into infrastructure development, health, the growing of the agriculture sector and the economy as well. So, I would like to ask the PF Government to seriously consider going into discussion with the extractive industries immediately so that the windfall tax is reintroduced in the country. That, in my opinion, although not a panacea, is what will assist this country to grow its economy.

With these words, I would like to end my presentation.

Thank you, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mooya (Moomba): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this chance to debate the Motion on the Floor. To start with, I would like to say that I support the Motion. In supporting it, I have comments to make only on one item and that is the CDF.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, I was going to discuss the CDF under two headlines, namely the purpose and beauty of the CDF and the justification for it to be increased to K5 billion.

UPND Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, however, let me thank the hon. Member of Parliament for Lukulu East and also the last debater, who ably discussed the beauty and purpose of the CDF. So, my debate has actually been made simpler. I will just go straight into the justification of the increase of the CDF to K5 billion each year.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, I wish the hon. Minister was here.

Hon. Opposition Members: He is there!

Mr Mooya: Where is she?

Laughter

Hon. Opposition Members: He!

Mr Mooya: No, I wanted the hon. Minister of Local Government, Housing, Early Education and Environmental Protection because I remember when we were winding up on the President’s Speech, she asked for a justification. I wished she had done that much earlier because we would have justified the figure of K5 billion. Nevertheless, here I go.

Laughter

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear! Hammer, badala!

Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, infrastructure development is expensive. It is not cheap and I think we should stop fooling the people around. There is nothing that you can do with the K100 million each year. Allow me to repeat what the hon. Member of Parliament for Lukulu East said yesterday that this K800 million is only good for the urban constituencies. It is not enough for the majority 119 constituencies, which Moomba Constituency is among.

Mr Speaker, may I start by justifying the figure of K5 billion in relation to road infrastructure. It is said that development follows good roads. If there are no good roads, there is no development.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mooya: Now, I just want to restrict my example to Moomba Constituency although I know that this example is common in all the 150 constituencies. Moomba Constituency has a total road network of 200 km and I am lucky that this constituency is one of the smallest in Zambia. I know that whatever I will discuss here could be even twice or three times worse in other constituencies. To have a good rural feeder road constructed to enhance development, you just have to spend K100 million per kilometre. That is a fact. Now, for 200 km, you are talking of K20 billion. When we talk about the construction of good roads, especially feeder roads, we are talking about well-formed roads with side drains, mud drains and gravel on top. Not these feeder roads that we have.

Hon. UPND Member: Chinese road.

Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, the Chinese roads as somebody has said. However, what I am saying about roads is that we need K100 million per kilometre. My constituency requires K20 billion just for feeder roads.

Mr Speaker, let me come to bridges. I have taken an inventory of all these things. There is a need for me to build ten bridges in my constituency. I have been crying for this for the past ten years. This is my eleventh year in Parliament. I need money to build these bridges. The cost of building an average 10 m bridge is K150 million per metre run. If you multiply ten, which is the number of bridges required, by 10 m, the average length of each bridge, it comes to K15 billion which comes to K35 billion on roads and bridges only.

Mr Speaker, as regards teacher’s houses, I have twenty basic schools in my constituency and I need, at least, two houses for teachers at each school. This brings us to the construction of forty houses, if I am not mistaken. According to the rate that we are using here, it costs K100 million to build a standard house for a teacher. If you multiply forty by K100 million, it gives you K4 billion.

Mr Speaker, let me move on to the issue of dams. Moomba Constituency is semi-arid and it needs twelve dams. All this is documented from 2002. The former Hon. Ministers in the Ministry of Lands had all this correspondence. However, ten years later, there is not a single dam in the constituency.

Mr Speaker, you will be interested in knowing that in my constituency, in Moomba Ward in particular, which is in Gwembe Valley, many people have never seen a dam. They are born and die without ever seeing a dam.

Mr Speaker, the average cost of constructing a dam is about K600 million. If you multiply that by twelve, you get about K7 billion.

Mr Speaker, four health posts are required in my constituency. We are constructing each health post at roughly K200 million, which works out to close to K1 billion for four health posts. I can go on and on. The items that I have here that need attention have given me a total figure of K57 billion. If you divide by K800 million, it will take me seventy-five years to have these things done.

Laughter

Mr Mooya: If we have K5 billion, it will take roughly about eleven years to do these things. To me, this sounds reasonable.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mooya: When we demand that the CDF be so much, we are speaking from experience. We are not at war nor are we politicising here. We are here to make life easier for the Zambians. As a civil engineer, it breaks my heart when I hear an hon. Minister say, “you must justify the increase in the CDF. We will not give you K5 billion. Instead, we will give you K800 million.” This is nothing. Who is fooling who? We are fooling the people of Zambia.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, I read an article in The Post last week where somebody was querying the amount of K5 billion, saying it is supposed to be implemented by the Central Government.

Mr Speaker, we have the capacity to implement and execute projects worth K5 billion each year. There are about 1,600 Zambian contractors that are registered with the National Council of Construction. The threshold for most of them is in the category of K4 billion, K5 billion and K6 billion. So, K5 billion is a minimal amount.

Once more, as an expert in this field, having spent - I am not trying to show that I am learned …

Hon. UPND Members: No. Just go ahead!

Mr Mwiimbu: Show them that you are.

Mr Mooya: … thirty-one years in this field, I am appealing to this Government …

Mr Speaker: Order!

Hon. Opposition Members: Mwayasa, aishya, kamukkala biyo.

Mr Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1615 hours until 1630 hours

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, before business was suspended, I was justifying the K5 billion CDF. I would like the PF Government to listen to this free advice.

Mr Speaker, in fact, the MMD Government was intending to increase this figure to more than K1 billion. For sure, they would have done that.

Mr Speaker, it must be known that development is very expensive. The K5 billion must be reflected in this year’s Budget. This is the money for the people. Like I said, I have been in this House for ten years, and have seen capital projects in the Yellow Book. Unfortunately, Moomba Constituency has never benefited from any capital project. One way of empowering the people of Moomba and other constituencies is by increasing the CDF to, at least, K5 billion.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Mbulakulima (Chembe): Mr Speaker, my first responsibility is to thank you, for giving me this opportunity to …

Mr Mwiimbu: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.

Mr Mwiimbu: Mr Speaker, I rise on a very serious point of order. Is the Government in order to be absent in this House, especially the hon. Cabinet Ministers, apart from the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning?

Mr Nkombo: I am here representing them.

Laughter

Mr Mwiimbu: Are they in order to miss very serious debate that affects the management of the finances of the country? They are busy drinking tea when we are raising serious issues in this House.

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order!

The Motion before the House is a very important one. Therefore, it is important that all hon. Members of Parliament, both the left and right, but more so the right, as far as possible, are present because this Motion has been moved by an hon. Member on the right. Therefore, it is important that all hon. Members on my right are present. We expect, in due course, that hon. Members on my right respond to the issues that are being raised by hon. Members on the left. It is unfortunate that a sizeable number of the hon. Members on the right are, in fact, not present.

I would urge all hon. Members of Parliament at large that we should observe the strict time lags that are available for conduct of Business. Business is suspended merely for a period of fifteen minutes and no more. I expect that at the expiry of the fifteen-minute break, the House should resume, all hon. Members take their seats and continue debating. I hope that the Leader of Government Business in the House will seriously take note of the ruling that I have made and I hope that in the immediate future, we would detract from this negative practice. We are conducting very serious business on behalf of the people of the Republic of Zambia and I do not think they will take kindly to this kind of conduct.

Certainly, the hon. Member for Monze Central has raised a valid point of order. They are out of order.

The hon. Member for Chembe may continue.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!{mospagebreak}

Mr Mbulakulima: Thank you very much, Sir.

Before I was interrupted, and genuinely so, by the hon. Member for Monze Central, I was appreciating the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning for being magnanimous in acknowledging in the Budget Speech the good works of the MMD. As the MMD, this comes from the bottom of our hearts. We know that the hon. Minister was not under any obligation to include that in the speech but, because of his maturity and realisation of continuity, he had to say that.

I have been looking to see a Budget that will work for everyone, but I see none. Although this Budget is dubbed pro-poor, I have failed to see that.  The hon. Member for Moomba, as an engineer, took time to discuss the issue of road construction. So, let me also take time to look at the issue of poverty.

Mr Speaker, poverty is routinely defined as a lack of what is necessary for material wellbeing. It is also worth mentioning that many factors converge to make poverty an inter-locking multi-dimensional phenomenon. On page 5 of the Budget Address, the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning talked about the key strategies and interventions as follows:

“Mr Speaker, the PF Government recognises the efforts of previous administrations in establishing strong growth. However, indicators of human development in Zambia are dismal, with poverty remaining consistently above 60 per cent. In rural areas, the situation is even worse at 77.9 per cent. Unemployment levels have remained unacceptably high, especially among our youths. According to the 2011 Human Development Report, Zambia is still ranked among the poorest at 164th position out of 189 countries.”

Mr Speaker, in this regard, what are we doing, as a country, to reverse this?  Oftentimes, I have heard people using the term ‘human development’ loosely. What does it actually mean? While this scenario could be true, one may wish to know what positive measures are being put in place to reverse the trend. Let us take a critical analysis of the term Human Development Index (UDI) which is normally used loosely and understand this concept in its proper perspective.

Mr Speaker, the Human Development Index is relatively a new concept for measuring poverty. The first report was published in 1990. Then, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) adopted this basic criticism of income measurement. This is a shift from the old and traditional concept of per capita income measurement, which is normally measured only in monetary terms. For example, we are all used to $1 per day and anyone living below this is deemed to be poor and living in abject poverty. The report defines development as a process enlarging people’s choice.

The Human Development Index indicates how progress has been in a particular year. At the same time, the indicator can be used to determine poverty levels. The UNDP, therefore, defines poverty as a denial of opportunities and choices most basic to human development. This is to say poverty is conditioning of that which reflects physical, social and political development as well as lack of income and assets.

The human development index focuses on six or seven variables. Unless we attend to these variables, our economy is not likely to grow. The ranking of Zambia as 164th out of 189 countries will remain stagnant. What measures is this Government putting in place to reverse this trend? I see none. There are three more critical variables out of the seven

The first one is the opportunity to lead a long and healthy life. That is one major way the Human Development Index is measured. What is the position in Zambia today?  The Government has abolished the user fees. That is a positive move. However, the total Budget falls below the Abuja Declaration at 15 per cent of the national Budget on health, as ours stands at 10 per cent. In that regard, as far as the first variable is concerned, Zambia falls short of the Abuja Declaration.

The second variable is the opportunity to acquire knowledge. Therefore, education is critical. Although the MMD Government had K3.8 trillion for this sector the PF Government has set aside K4.8 trillion which, again, falls below the requirement. The MMD Government was 1.8 per cent above that for the Pf. So, in terms of education, we are still at a risk. In fact, the hon. Minister did not mention the total increment as regards the total budget amount. So, we still fall below the international standard.

I want to agree with the hon. Member for Mazabuka Central who talked about the need to expand private universities. We need to fund the private universities because they open up avenues for most of the people to attain university education. I am one of the students of the Zambia Open University. This university is providing education and job opportunities to many people. The hon. Minister of Education was my lecturer at the same institution although I did not know that, actually, he was on the boat.

Laughter

Mr Mbulakulima:  I thought he was one of us this side. However, today, I see him on the right.

Mr Speaker, the third point is the opportunity to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living. As I said, 79 per cent of the people are in the rural areas while 21 per cent are based in the urban areas. In this regard, therefore, the failure to increase the CDF means that we shall not touch the lives of many people in the rural set up.

Hon. Opposition Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Mbulakulima: Further, the failure to re-introduce the windfall tax is yet another setback for this country. The Copperbelt Province, for example, is where all the Zambians converge because it has enough resources. However, this Government has fallen short of harnessing these resources, hence we do not see our economy growing.

Mr Speaker, the fourth point on the Human Development Index has to do with political freedom and human rights. These are other yardsticks that are used to measure human development. For as long as we do not attend to this, we will not improve on the international scene. Yes, there is multipartism in this country, but the current political harassment of political rivals and NGOs will make Zambia stagnate.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mbulakulima: Mr Speaker, the next point on the HDI is the development of women and men. For example, how are the appointments in Cabinet? At the moment, there are only two female hon. Cabinet Ministers and three female hon. Deputy Ministers. We are not going to make any progress as long as this is the status quo.

Mr Speaker, the other issue under the HDI is environmental sustainability. What is the allocation to environmental protection? While the current Budget allocated K131 billion, the proposed 2012 Budget has reduced the figure to K31 billion. We are not making any progress in this direction. As a result, Zambia risks being relegated on the HDI.

The other one is with regard to citizens’ participation and opportunities to attract political decisions. Unless we stop gagging the media and political harassment, again, we risk dropping further on the HDI.

Mr Speaker, let me now talk about the Constitution. The Constitution is the fundamental law which brings democracy and growth. The people of Zambia were hopeful that the Constitution would be in place just like His Excellency the President said when he addressed Parliament. On page 39 of the speech, he said:

 “The PF Government attaches great importance to good governance and we are  committed to delivering a new people-driven Constitution within ninety days”

However, yesterday we saw a complete shift from this stance. We are now told it will take twelve months to come up with a new Constitution. In Africa, when you are told that it will take twelve months, rest be assured it will take twenty-four months. We will not improve in that regard.

Mr Speaker, the other point, which is not based on the index, is the much-talked about “more money in people’s pockets”. To start with, I am disappointed about the issue of the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE). There is no need for our colleagues to celebrate this. What is money in the pocket? We have been told that only 80,000 workers will be directly affected out of a population of 13 million and a workforce of about 700,000. What is there to celebrate?  Even if we used constituencies as the yardstick, 80,000 workers is equivalent to a workforce in only one constituency such as Matero, Munali or Mandevu. Thus, out of 150 constituencies, only one constituency will have been made better. What is there to celebrate? There is no growth, hon. Members.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mbulakulima: Mr Speaker, as regards agriculture, we all know that about 70 per cent of the population in developing countries, Zambia inclusive, depends on agriculture. Agriculture has a multiplier effect. Again, the allocation to this sector falls short of the people’s expectation. I know that my colleagues have talked about the Maputo Declaration which demands an allocation of 10 per cent of the National Budget to the agriculture sector. However, this Budget has only allocated about 5.9 per cent. We are not growing and, therefore, are not going to improve.

Mr Speaker, I would like to support what my colleagues have said that although there is K1.7 trillion allocated to the sector, there is K500 billion for the FISP. There is also 300 billion for crop purchasing. The idea, hon. Members, is not just to peruse or discuss the Budget, but to also analyse it. If there is a need for us to adjust, we can do so.

If we take out K500 billion for the FISP and K300 billion for crop purchasing from the K1.7 trillion to the agriculture sector, how much will remain for the core business of agriculture? We also know that maize purchase will not cost us K300 billion, but above K1 trillion. Is this the way we should go? Can we not adjust the Budget?

Mr Speaker, sport is conspicuously missing from the speech. If there is a unifying factor in the world, it is sport. It also creates employment. This is not appearing anywhere. There is no mention of the creation of new infrastructure. We thought after developing sports infrastructure in Lusaka and Ndola, Livingstone would be next, but there is no mention of that.

Mr Speaker, next year, there will be the Africa Cup of Nations Cup Tournament, but we have allocated K200 million to the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ). This amount is not even enough for the boys’ allowances. Where is the poverty reduction? Are you telling me that those boys are rich and not poor? For me, even the grants given to institutions and the allocations to infrastructure development are not up to people’s expectation.

Mr Speaker, finally, I would like to wind up by discussing the plight of the Luapula Province. Where is the money for Luapula? I have actually observed that there is completely nothing. One of the biggest problems that we have in Luapula is electricity. There is load shedding not less than four times a day and I see no hope in this Budget that this will be redressed. What is there for the people of Luapula Province? There is nothing.

Mr Speaker, the other issue is fish restocking. We know what the people of Luapula need. For centuries, our forefathers have preserved fish. We need help in this area, but it is not forthcoming. How shall the people of Luapula survive?

Mr Speaker, I also see that Luapula is a cattle-rearing area, but there is no cattle restocking exercise in the province.

Hon. Government Member: There is no cattle restocking exercise in Luapula!

Mr Mbulakulima: If there is no restocking exercise, why do we not start it?

Hon. Government Member: Why did you not do it?

Mr Mbulakulima: Mr Speaker, I will explain why it was not done.

Mr Speaker, as regards tourism, we have been told about the Northern Circuit, but what is there for Luapula? There is nothing, whatsoever. Look at the beautiful beaches of Samfya and Bangweulu, but no allocation has been given to tourism in Luapula.

Mr Speaker, there is no allocation for feasibility studies for Mansa Batteries. In other areas, I have seen allocations for feasibility studies. We thought there was hope, but there is nothing. However, coming to the explanation I said I was going to give, we, in the former regime, were told that there were only four constituencies under the MMD out of the fourteen constituencies in Luapula and, therefore, fell below the requirement. Further, we were told that we did not vote properly. This time around, I do not know if we voted properly or not but, at least, thirteen out of fourteen constituencies voted for the PF party and for that reason, the people of Luapula deserve a better deal.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mbulakulima: I would like to believe that one of the reasons this is not happening is that we do not have representation in the Cabinet. Now that the people of Luapula voted for the PF as they did, with the exception of one special Member of Parliament, who is me, they deserve a better life.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mbulakulima: I know that we have only one, but umunwe umo tausala inda. This means one man cannot fight a dozen. We need more representation in Cabinet. It is in the Cabinet where decisions are made. We cannot fight with only one finger.

Mr Speaker, the people of Luapula are waiting for development because there is none. For how long will the people of Luapula continue walking in the valley of poverty?

Interruptions

Mr Mbulakulima: When will their prayers be answered? This time, they voted for the PF in big numbers.

Interruptions

Mr Mbulakulima: Should they wait for Mbulakulima to become President in 2016?

Laughter

Mr Mbulakulima: I know that the time is coming but, for the time being, I implore this Government to care for the of people Luapula Province.

Mr Speaker, I am extremely annoyed and feel like crying except that I am not permitted to cry in this House.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Interruptions

Mr Mbulakulima: Sir, we need a better deal.

Hon. MMD Members: Tell them!

Mr Mbulakulima: I cannot continue.

Mr Speaker, with these few remarks, I end here because I am very annoyed.

Laughter

Mr Mbulakulima: Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao (Senga Hill): Mr Speaker, from the outset, I would like to request your permission to allow me to slightly combine my debate on the Budget Speech with the President’s Speech because basically, the two speeches talk about the economy. The speeches complement each other in one way or the other.

Last time, I skipped salutations but, because I have a little more time today, I would like to take this opportunity to salute you, Mr Speaker, for being in that Chair. Personally, I am confident that God allowed you to be there. Congratulations, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Why did you not vote for him?

Mr Simbao: That was God’s will.

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the hon. Deputy Speaker who ascended to that position unopposed. He was the Deputy Chairperson of Committees of the Whole House and everyone knows who he is and so no one wanted to challenge him.

Sir, I would also like to congratulate the Deputy Chairperson of Committees of the Whole House, Mr Chifumu K. Banda, SC., When he was on the Opposition side, he was a booming voice. There was wisdom in all his debates. I am sure he will use that wisdom in that position. Certainly, we shall all benefit from him in this House.

Mr Speaker, I would like to start by thanking the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning. He is a man of many lives. He has been in this House many times before. I think we all know who he is. I believe it was a good appointment by His Excellency the President. The humility with which he presented the Budget Speech shows that he is wise and mature.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Some of us who have been there understand that whether one likes it or not, one has to have humility when in Government. If one is not humble, eventually, people will judge him/her.

Sir, you must know that what we say in this House is heard by the people. Therefore, as Hon. Mbulakulima has spoken, many people in Luapula Province have heard him. They will not hear anyone on the Government side better than Hon. Mbulakulima, and …

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: … you must understand that.

Therefore, it is important to speak with humility when you are on the Government side.

Sir, if Hon. Chikwanda were a Briton, he would have been a Knight by now. He would be a Sir. I hope somebody else will not jump on that because someone in this House said Prime Minister Cameron ran after him. I thought, the entire Prime Minister of Britain? That was good for us. I also thought that Britain now knows who we are. However, knighthood belongs to Hon. Chikwanda.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I believe that this humility must be espoused by many others, and I mean this.

Sir, firstly, I commend our friends on the Government Backbench. It is a very difficult position to be in, but they have done what they are supposed to do. That is, to support the Frontbench, which is good. However, I would like to advise them that in the time of plenty, things look easy. Nevertheless, the lean times are coming.

Laughter

Mr Simbao: When those lean times come, you will find that a whole Cabinet Minister resigns. The Backbenchers would physically be on the Government side, but spiritually on the Opposition side. We have seen the lean times and know that they are coming.

Mr Speaker, I commend the hon. Members on the Government Backbench for supporting the Frontbench. I hope they will continue doing that till the last day of the five years of this Parliament.

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: However, they should be aware of the lean times that are coming. The Backbench used to be called the gonakuzingwa Bench because, eventually, everyone starts ignoring you and frustration settles in. You then wish you were on the Opposition side because you can say what you want like I am doing now.

Mr Speaker, I would like to take the debate by Hon. Dr Kalila, the hon. Member for Lukulu East Constituency, as my own.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: I have heard so many technical speeches given by the hon. Members on the Opposition side of the House. I hope when the hon. Members on the Government side start responding, they will be as technical as the hon. Opposition Members have been. This is because the people have heard and are waiting to hear from the Executive. Therefore, the Executive has to match that …

Hon. MMD Member: Quality!

Mr Simbao: … quality.

Laughter

Mr Simbao: Sir, Hon. Mooya has just proved why we need a CDF of K5 billion.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Even if you give him K5 billion, it will take him eleven years to take his constituency where it should be. However, he does not want to remain in this House for that long.

Mr Speaker, some people have thought through the K800 million CDF and seen that it is not enough.

Sir, there is a difference between rural and urban constituencies. The biggest difference is that most of us from the rural constituencies are in the Opposition. We will fight this one and if there is one fight we shall take up in this Budget, it is on the CDF.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Sir, I am saying so for you to be ready because, like Hon. Mooya said, he will be ready for you. There is one point that you must understand and, it is that we, on the Opposition side, do not lose. We are only defeated. When we, on this side, lose, we accept it and this is a lesson we have taught you. However, in your case, you want to dissolve Parliament because of a loss by one vote. I, therefore, advise you to understand the difference.

So, we will be ready to lose on this particular matter because we will go back to the electorate and tell them that the reason we cannot perform is that the Government they voted for has turned against them.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwamba interjected.

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: My brother, Hon. Mwamba, do not be too excited.

We will tell them that the Government they voted for has refused to listen to them.

Therefore, on this one, will be a fight.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: So, you should prepare and bring in all your numbers.

Mr Speaker, having said so, I want to look at the speech …

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order!

Mr Simbao: … as presented by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning. He was very open in acknowledging the successes that the MMD Government scored. That is what is important. Normally, when you take over from others, you look at the good things that they did and see how you can progress from there. People always notice both the good and the bad things that others do. If you do not perform well, people will come back and say that the other people did better. I think the starting point of recognising the successes will help the hon. Minister perform well during his tenure of office. I really want to praise him for being magnanimous.

Mr Speaker, I wish to look at the exempt threshold for PAYE. If you look at it seriously, you will find that the PF Government has fulfilled its promise for 80,000 people and that is a very good move. They have managed to put K250,000 more in the people’s pockets, but it is only for 80,000 people. According to the speech, these 80,000 people, …

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: Sir, I am referring to the speech. I am an engineer like my brother seated there. Therefore, mathematics is not a problem. If you multiply 80,000 by five, it comes to 400,000. This falls far short of the population of this country. If the 400,000 people are the only ones who will be happy, then I can assure you that come 2016, the PF Government will be out of office.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I am speaking on behalf of the remaining more than 420,000 people who have not been given the extra K250,000. Why has there been this selectiveness in this particular area?

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Let us have Order!

The hon. Member needs to be heard. You will have an opportunity to respond. Let him construct his argument and, if you need to demolish it, I will give you an opportunity to do so.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, why are they being selective? What have the other 420,000 people done to deserve this kind of treatment, as if this is not a Government? How can a Government be the one to discriminate against people?

Mr Sing’ombe: Masholi!

Mr Simbao: I feel sorry for those who earn below K1 million because they have not gained anything from this.

Hon. Opposition Members: Nothing!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, why can this Government not make K2 million the minimum pay so that when we exempt K2 million, every Government worker can benefit? Why did they not do that? They know very well that many of the classified daily employees (CDEs) earn about K1 million or less. Therefore, why did the hon. Minister go ahead to exempt K2 million and leave out a large number of people earning K1 million and below? I am just wondering what is going on. We are here to speak on behalf of the people. I started by congratulating the hon. Minister.

Interruptions

Hon. Opposition Members: Hammer!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, K250,000 is a lot of money and, on a daily basis, you can only get K8,000. A family can buy a loaf of bread and, maybe, some buns but, will that really help anyone come out of poverty?

Hon. Opposition Members: No!

Mr Simbao: No. Not even taking K2 million home will pull anyone out of poverty. They know it very well. While we appreciate what the hon. Minister has done, I would like to suggest that he performs another miracle next year. He should double the exempt threshold to K4 million and raise the minimum pay for Government workers to K4 million so that they can start seeing the beauty of voting for the PF.

Laughter

Mr Simbao: Currently, only 80,000 people have seen the benefits of voting for the PF.

Mr Speaker, I also want to touch on the issue of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which is equally important. Hon. Chikwanda is a very experienced person and all of us approved his appointment. He has seen that there is a need to strengthen SMEs, but he must understand that SMEs thrive only where there are big companies where they can sell their products, not open markets. They do not work like that. Therefore, while I really thank the hon. Minister for this, I must also challenge him to quickly look for big companies where these SMEs can sell their products. That is the only way the SMEs can thrive.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to talk about agriculture. The manner in which the agriculture sector has been handled is very welcome except that it falls short of what we expected. The money that has been allocated to it is insufficient. I also want to say that, when people talk about diversification, they should not think of tampering with the growing of maize. If they want to take it away from our people and give it to commercial farmers, we will not accept that. Our people grow enough maize to feed this country and we must continue like that.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Sir, there is no staple food in this country other than maize. When we ran out of food in 1991 and 1992, the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives then did not order pumpkins or rice. They could not find white maize and they ordered yellow maize. Therefore, no one should play around with maize, especially when it is grown by our own people. That is the best way that our own farmers will live in this country.

Mr Speaker, we can diversify, but maize must not be touched. We have seen that the Government has put K500 billion aside for input support, but the K300 billion for purchasing crops is insufficient. I am sure this Government will soon learn that, actually, they should have allocated K1.5 trillion for maize buying. This K300 billion is nothing. You must understand what we are telling you because, if you do not do things right, this will come back and hit you in the face.

Mr Speaker, I really appreciate the speech by the hon. Minister except that it lacks the technology that was introduced by the former hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning. The former hon. Minister took us up but, now, we have gone down.

Mr Speaker, I would like to give the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning some advice. He has fitted into very big shoes. I do not have a problem with this. However, I hope that he will be able to walk well in them.

Laughter

Mr Simbao: I say so because I am well-acquainted with the former hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning. He had wisdom. We discussed science, mathematics and economics. That is why he became open to ideas. You have seen where he has taken this country because of being open. His successor has accepted the fact that he has left him in a strong position.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: He has, therefore, started well and we hope that he makes progress.

Hon. Opposition Members: Yes!{mospagebreak}

Mr Simbao: He must, however, be open to ideas. If he is not open to ideas, he will hoax himself into thinking that he is the biggest hon. Minister and that will be the end of this country. He has taken over from a man who was very open to ideas. He opened up in all areas and in all areas we have seen economic progress.

The Vice-President interjected.

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning – I would not like to answer the Vice-President, even though I hear him heckling.

I thank you, Sir.

Laughter

Mr Mulusa (Solwezi Central): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate the Budget. I would like to congratulate ‘Sir’ Alexander Chikwanda, …

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: … for a very well-presented Budget.

Mr Speaker, while I debate this Motion, I would like to urge the hon. Members on your right not to heckle, but listen. It is said that ears that do not listen follow the head when it is chopped off.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: Therefore, if you do not listen and your Government is chopped off, you will go with it.

Mr Speaker, in debating this Budget, one needs to examine the extent to which it strikes that delicate balance between being pro-poor and being resilient in terms of the investments that are thrown back into recreating the productive capacity of the economy to sustain the pro-poor expenditure. In this line, one needs to ensure that the economy remains resilient since it is part of the global economy and that it creates business enterprises to underwrite job creation. Talking about job creation, in itself, is wrong. We need to start targeting creation of enterprises because they are the ones that will then create the jobs.

Hon. Opposition members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, the economy also needs to keep inflation in check and maintain a favourable business environment. There must also be fiscal discipline so that the country remains a favourable destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). Let us bear in mind that now we have been graded as a lower middle-income country, meaning that we are entering the emerging economy status. This further means that in terms of investors, we will be grouped together with countries like South Africa and Brazil. I am afraid that when these people try to split their investment destinations, they will come to Zambia and go to South Africa and, obviously, because of the state of our economy and infrastructure, they will choose to take their investment to South Africa. When we make the Budget, therefore, we must ensure that we grow the productive capacity of our economy to make it competitive.

Hon. Opposition Members: Yes!

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, we also need to maintain a reasonably stable exchange rate. I am pleading with the new Government to maintain this. Over the years, the MMD Government managed to sustain the exchange rate.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: It does not matter what level it is at. At least, it has stayed at that level for a long time, meaning that the exporters can predict their income when they bring it back into the economy.

Mr Speaker, the Budget must maintain a stable balance of trade and achieve shared economic development. I know that we have been recording spectacular economic growth trajectories, but this is the time when we need to ensure that the growth is reflected by shared development.

Mr Speaker, with everything I have said so far, my biggest problem is that, where the country has reached, you cannot manage an economy such as this one without a well-defined broad development strategy.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: The PF was in opposition for ten years. During those ten years, some of us observed that it rode on the back of the mistakes of the MMD to become popular and enter Government. They never took time to prepare themselves to be in Government.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: Right now, they do not have a strategy and that is scary.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: It is very scary.

Mr Speaker, when you look at these three things, …

Mr Mwamba interjected.

Mr Mulusa: I issued a warning earlier that ears that do not listen follow the head when it is chopped off.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: Hon. Mwamba just stopped heckling.

Mr Speaker, the Budget Speech, the President’s Speech and the manifesto are all supposed to be premised on a particular development strategy. I would like to urge my colleagues to sit back and, perhaps, use the planning department at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning to craft a development strategy or actually recognise the Sixth National Development Plan or Vision 2030. Without doing so, the Budget Speech is just hanging in the air. It is not a building block for anything discernible that they have been able to pronounce to us. Please, work on this.

Mr Speaker, the MMD Government moved this nation from a socialist orientation to a neo-liberal thinking towards the end of our stay in power, before we were rudely disturbed by this “donchi kubeba” phenomenon.

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: Since you say, in your prayer, that we are appointed by God as makers of laws, we might as well just enact a law to ban this “donchi kubeba” thing because it really brings the kind of problems that we have.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: Towards the end of our last three years in power, we moved the State from a neo-liberal to what we call an overlapping social cosmopolitan political disposition …

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: … which gives us the route to a developmental state and that is where we should be.

Sir, what I am happy about concerning this Budget is that, in terms of being pro-poor, it does make those achievements, meaning that we need to engage our friends not to depart too far from that route. Stay on the pro-poor side, but just make it more pro-investment as well so that you balance the two.

Mr Speaker, it is against this background that I will support the positives in this Budget and continue making suggestions to ensure that it is more pro-investment for us to achieve the delicate balance required for the nation to move forward. The MMD does not want to find a mess when it comes back to power. We hope to pick up from where we left.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Please, note that the word ‘mess’ is unparliamentary.

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: I beg your pardon, Mr Speaker. We hope that we will not find confusion. I am sure they have heard.

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: Sir, there are a few points that I wish to observe in this Budget. This Budget lacks the capacity to provide adequate public-sector-driven gross fixed capital formation. It is such mechanisms which can help the Government to positively and practically participate in the job creation initiatives in the country. This is because public-sector-driven gross fixed capital formation tends to target labour intensive sectors. When it does that, employment is actually created.

Mr Speaker, I believe that the interest rates are being brought down for political expedience.

Hon. Government Members: Aah! Question!

Mr Mulusa: They are not being brought down as a result of market forces.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: If they are being brought down as a result of market forces, then the President needs to appoint a commission of inquiry to find out how the banks are going to survive even after lowering their interest rates by 5 per cent overnight. We need to ask questions. What influences their cost of funding? What are the sources of their funding?

Mr Mwila: Iwe, they are doing fine!

Mr Mulusa: Ba Mwila, I hope muleumfwa!

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: We shall only be able to tell if the downward movement of the interest rates is genuine when all these questions are answered. However, as things stand, Mr Speaker, I think the movement is not genuine.

Mr Livune: Hanjika!

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, there are obstacles to structural transformation which the Budget did not adequately deal with. In order to deal with them, the hon. Minister needed to allocate more funding to binding constraints. I could not pick this in this Budget.

Sir, we cannot achieve positive developments in the financial sector by simply ensuring that there is access to banking facilities in districts where there are no banking facilities. We need to realise that our economy is now being rated. When the economy is being rated, there must be deliberate efforts taken to ensure that the financial sector matures in a specific direction.

Mr Speaker, at the moment, we are being told that there will be a US$500 million issuance on a ten-year bond. You do not fold your arms and just sit down after making such pronouncements. What the Ministry of Finance and National Planning needs to do is to undertake what are known as non deal road shows. Through such shows, the people from the targeted markets provide feedback after they are sensitised on what is going to be done. When you factor such points in your planning, the investors will appreciate the fact that you have taken their concerns on board as you plan.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: Now, what is going to happen is that when they go to issue this US$500 million worth bond, the markets will hit them badly. The pricing will be terrible. Surprisingly, we have been told that the issuance of the bond in question will provide the benchmark pricing for future issuances by both the public and private sector. It means that the cost of borrowing will be quite high in our country because the funding will be from expensive sources. For this reason, I would like to urge the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to look into this issue. This is why I insisted earlier on that the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning needed to be here because I do not believe that anyone else will capture well the main points of my debate on his behalf.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Livune: Hanjika!

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, before talking about the other points which were not adequately covered in the Budget Speech, let me caution the Government to desist from making careless statements. Running a government is a very serious business. Thus, the Government should ensure that it backs whatever statement it makes with proper strategies. You cannot simply state that there will be youth empowerment programmes in 2012 without backing the pronouncements with proper strategies. You need to clearly breakdown your pronouncements, bearing in mind that in this country some people doubt the economic parameters. We are told that the life expectancy in Zambia is fifty-two.

Interruptions

Hon. Government Members: Forty!

Mr Mulusa: Yes, forty years. When you go to the Central Statistical Office (CSO), you are going to discover that, actually, 92 per cent of our population is aged below fifty. Out of that, 44 per cent is aged between twenty-five and thirty-nine and these are our youth. What strategies does the Government have to ensure that the youths are empowered? I cannot see them in this Budget Speech.

Sir, I would have loved to hear the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning say that he was introducing tax rebates for industries which would take on students who are on holiday for internships, among many other strategies aimed at empowering our youths.

Hon. MMD Members: Yes!

Mr Mulusa: This will enable the students to have vital skills even before they graduate. These skills will be useful to them when they enter the job market.

Mr Mwiimbu: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: I will give myself as an example. When I graduated from university, I already had three years working experience out of five years of learning.

Mr Mwango: In Durban!

Mr Mulusa: Within two years of joining the labour market, I became a general manager. I cannot see the youth of today having such opportunities.

Hon. Opposition Members: No!

Mr Mwango: Walebomba ku South Africa!

Laughter

Mr Livune: Hanjika, Mulusa!

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, for the purpose of imparting leadership skills to the youths, the Government can, for example, set aside K10 billion to be given to companies which would employ fresh graduates. This money would be used to pay the salaries of these graduates so that the companies which engage them do not incur extra operational costs. If we want to have a learned workforce, we need to use public funds to create it. These are some of the strategies we wanted to see in the Budget Speech.

Mr Hamududu: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Quality!

Mr Mulusa: The other hindrance to the development of this country is the lack of an industrial policy.

Hon. Government Member Interjected.

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: If we had an industrial policy in this country, the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning would simply have gone on to say that all the loans of those who are entering the manufacturing sector would be underwritten to the extent of 50 per cent. The banking sector would then respond accordingly and provide money for industrial development. This is not happening at the moment.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Quality!

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, some of the roads that were announced as being part of the list of roads to be worked on by the Government do not have an economic value. They should not be on the priority list of the roads to be worked on.  

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, we have roads such as the Chingola/Solwezi Road which need urgent attention. The goods which are transported on that road contribute about K7.5 billion everyday to our national fiscus which translates into over K2 trillion per month. This road was not even mentioned in the President’s Speech.

Sir, let me now connect what I am talking about to the CDF. The hon. Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication told us that the reason the Government did not rehabilitate Solwezi Airport is that  First Quantum Minerals had indicated to it that it was going to work on it. When we see companies such as First Quantum Minerals building a clinic where we were supposed to build one, we can use the money we had for that purpose to build a school.

Mr Speaker, one day, I am going to lay on the Table of this House the picture of a school that is 10 km away from the mine that contributes over K2 trillion to the national fiscus.

Mr Sichone: Why did you not do it?

Mr Mulusa: Let us not create problems unnecessarily. If you found that the MMD had left a problem, please, sort it out. Time to ride on the problems of the MMD is gone.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Interruptions

Mr Mulusa: You need to come up with strategies to sort out the problems.

     Mr Speaker, I wanted to talk about regional economic and political integration because apart from relating to our trade policy, it is also linked to our foreign policy. I will not talk about it because even though Hon. Bob Sichinga who is in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry is in the House, the hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs is not here.

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member will ignore that and address the Chair. He shall not engage in cross-country debate.

Mr Mulusa: Sir, some of the things I am thinking of are so bad that I do not want them to be said through the Chair.

Laughter

Mr Speaker: Then they should not be said.

Laughter

Mr Mulusa: Mr Speaker, I see that my time has run out and, therefore, I will reserve more of my debate for the time when hon. Ministers make their policy statements.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kapyongo (Shiwang’andu): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to join my fellow hon. Members who have debated the Motion before me. First of all, I would like to agree with other hon. Members who have decided to knight our hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning so that he is called ‘Sir’ Alex Bwalya Chikwanda. I must say that he has done a commendable job in the short time he had to make our National Budget.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kapyongo: It has been debated in this House that there is no finish line in development. Indeed, the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning listened. That is the reason he acknowledged the foundation that was laid by his predecessor.

However, I would like to, first of all, refer to this year’s Budget because it is on it that the hon. Minister of Finance built next year’s Budget. I would like to quote from the Budget Speech of the former hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning which he delivered on 8th October, 2010. In his Budget Address, which was dubbed “A People’s Budget, from a People’s Government”, the former hon. Minister said:

“Mr Speaker, our people have made great sacrifices over the last twenty years. We are where we are today because of these sacrifices. The tangible benefits of our economic successes have started to be felt by all our people. But this is also not enough. We must accelerate the process. Mr Speaker, we are not a complacent government. We will not rest on our laurels, but strive to accelerate this process of delivering benefits to our people. This is why the 2011 Budget is ‘A People’s Budget, from a People’s Government’.”

Mr Speaker, everyone here agrees that this was just a myth. Today, our people are still wallowing in poverty. The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) was allocated K150 billion in this year’s Budget, but the new hon. Minister of Agriculture and Livestock has told us that the agency is now going to be given more than K1 trillion. It saddens me to hear people debate the Budget in a business-as-usual manner and choose to ignore such important pronouncements.

The hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning presents a Budget with two sides. There is the revenue side as well as the expenditure side of the Budget. However, more often than not, in this House, hon. Members concentrate on discussing the expenditure side. Very little time is spent on the revenue aspect of the Budget. I would like to refer to what my colleague, the hon. Member for Kawambwa, said.

Interruptions

Mr Kapyongo: Shut up, we are telling you.

Laughter

Mr Kapyongo: In Bemba, we say, “Ubunga kulinganya na amenshi”. This means that when you want to cook nshima, you must make sure that the mealie-meal is enough for the water that you have put in the pot so that you can cook the right amount of nshima.

Hon. Government Members: Yes!

Mr Kapyongo: It would be unwise for you to insist on having the biggest nshima, and yet the mealie-meal is very little. If you put a lot of water in a pot, you will end up with porridge.

Hon. Government Members: No munkoyo.

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, people should learn to be realistic. Those that are saying that we should further increase the CDF should not, for heaven’s sake, think that they are being heroes just because the people are listening to their debates back in our constituencies. Surprisingly, those who are calling for the increase are not going  further to show the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning where to source funds which can make it possible for the CDF to be increased to K5 billion.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, Hear! Quality!

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, it saddens me …

Mr Mweetwa: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.

Mr Mweetwa: Mr Speaker, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to raise a very important point of order. According to what I understand about the rules of this House, hon. Members are supposed to debate based on facts and not speculations, oscillating around statements that are not factual and thereby creating an impression which is not correct to the listeners out there who are the electorate.

Hon. Government Members: What is your point of order?

Mr Mweetwa: Mr Speaker, hecklers should give me time to raise my point of order.

Interruptions

Mr Mweetwa: Mr Speaker, is the hon. Member on the Floor of the House in order to state that we, on your left, are concentrating on the expenditure and not the revenue side of the Budget when hon. Members this side have been espousing the need to have introduced windfall tax, which is part of the revenue side of the Budget? In our debate here, we said, for instance, that the allocation on agriculture was leaning more on the expenditure than the investment side which, in turn, would create revenue. I need your serious ruling on the veracity of the statements made by the hon. Member because we should not just be politicking here as people are listening.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: First and foremost, I would like to state that where allegations are made, they must be factually premised. Nonetheless, that does not limit hon. Members from expressing opinions. The expression of opinion is part of the freedom of expression. The complaint from the hon. Member for Choma Central may appear substantive to most of you because it appears to be a response to what the hon. Member on the Floor is saying.

I think the response is premature and that the hon. Member should be allowed to express his view freely. That is the whole essence of being a representative of the people out there. Hon. Members should be given the opportunity to postulate their views without hindrance. I think this is what the hon. Member was trying to do. The complaint merely limits the expression of the hon. Member and that will not be allowed.

May the hon. Member continue.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, thank you so much for that guidance and protection.

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha left the Chamber.

Interruptions

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, I was going to tackle that issue my colleague has raised but, for the sake of clarification, I did not refer to any side of the House when I was talking about debating the Budget. Now, what I was trying to say is that there is this talk of windfall tax, yes, but everyone knows that windfall tax is not guaranteed revenue. It is revenue that you collect at a specific time when there is that boom of prices. Therefore, it is very difficult to base your projection of expenditure on such revenue.

Hon. Opposition Members: Aah!

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, as the PF Government, we have not refused to reintroduce the windfall tax, but it will be done cautiously because we need to study it.

Interruptions

Mr Kapyongo: Already, our hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning has told you that we have inaccurate data regarding the production of our minerals and their export. That is why he has to study the tax so that when it is imposed, it should be acceptable by everyone.

Mr Mwila: Yes.

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, the investors and us need each other. So, my hon. Colleagues, the PF Government understands the need for the windfall tax, but it will be tackled later.

Interruptions {mospagebreak}

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, in the meantime, you have seen, in response to the need to increase the revenue basket, the increase of the mineral royalty tax, which is guaranteed, because when our minerals are dug out, we will tax them. Therefore, it is prudent to base your expenditure projection on guaranteed revenue.

Hon. Government Member: But the gold is stolen.

Laughter

Mr Kapyongo: It is not speculative.

Mr Speaker, I will run away from that.

 First of all, I want to appreciate the efforts made by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning by waiving medical user fees. Indeed, some of us who come from rural constituencies, like the former hon. Minister of Health, who should have been able to understand the requirements in the rural constituencies, …

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kapyongo: I am even shocked that he can come to this House and, instead of being remorseful …

Dr Chituwo: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Mwila: Ba Chituwo, ikalenifye naimwe.

Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.

Dr Chituwo: Mr Speaker, thank you very much for allowing me to raise this point of order. Is the hon. Member of Parliament debating in order, simply because he did not even read the speech of the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, to state that the abolition of user fees in rural areas is a new phenomenon?

Hon. MMD Members: Yes.

Dr Chituwo: Mr Speaker, I need your ruling because the abolition of user fees has now just been extended to the urban setting as it was already abolished in the rural areas. Is he in order?

Hon. Government Members: Question!

Mr Speaker: The point of order, unfortunately, is misplaced.

Hon. Government Members: Yes!

Mr Speaker: Even assuming that the hon. Member for Mumbwa, who has raised the point of order, is right in the interpretation of the concept in issue, the hon. Member debating has not violated any rule or law relating to the debate. The argument may be factually incorrect, but it is not a basis of raising a point of order. If you would like to correct the hon. Member, the best opportunity is through a response.

There are many statements that have been made in the House, many of which may not be factually correct, but they do not constitute a violation of the rules of procedure. To sway each other to the correct views is the very sense of a debate. If we want to only permit correct views to be debated, it will be impossible. You would have to be omnipotent to determine which views are absolutely correct. We are not involved in a scientific exercise here, but in the expression of opinions and ideas, whether right or wrong.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! 4-0.

Mr Speaker: May the hon. Member continue.

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, thank you very much, once again, for your protection and for guiding the House. Although I do not appreciate the insinuation of the senior hon. Member of the House that I have not read the speech, I will continue.

Mr Speaker, what I was trying to say is that hon. Members of Parliament, who represent people in rural constituencies, know what people there need. So, it is very annoying, to say the least, to see them, like the former hon. Minister of Health who, at his home, …

Hon. MMD Members: Aah!

Mr Speaker: Order!

The hon. Member is certainly out of order. Please, do not personalise the debate.

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, sorry. All I was trying to say is that it is unfortunate …

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Hon. Member, please, debate impersonally.

Mr Kapyongo: I will go straight into the …

Mr Speaker: Hon. Member, if I can remind you, the Motion at hand is the Budget Speech.

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, thank very much.

Mr Speaker: It is well-formulated and well-crafted, as hon. Members have acknowledged and that should be the basis of our discussion and debate. Let us not personalise the debate.

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, thank you for your guidance. I was talking about the health sector. Indeed, we appreciate the allocation that has been given to it and people back in the rural constituencies will appreciate this.

Mr Speaker, let me now talk about local government. We had a Motion brought to this House, not too long ago, which talked about capacity building in our local government. It seems the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning listened to the concerns and, indeed, has responded positively by allocating a reasonable amount of money, for a start, to the capacity building of our local councils. That is the reason it is justifiable for the little adjustment made to the CDF. Although it is not as much as we would have loved it but, given the circumstances and the revenue basket going hand-in-hand with the allocation that has been given to the local government, it is a positive move.

Mr Speaker, let me talk about education. I take note that education, science and technology have now been combined. Indeed, this is a positive move because education goes with science and technology. Therefore, the formulation of policies will be much easier now that they will be under one ministry. The allocation to the education sector is also positive.

Mr Speaker, as regards agriculture, it is the largest employer and we all acknowledge that it is very important to our nation. However, I would like to urge the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to ensure that we change the mode of doing things in this sector.

Sir, the FRA needs revamping and cleaning up because we cannot be made to believe that all the monies that are allocated to it are used on the target group. At the moment, the FRA should have been a business entity which should have stopped depending entirely on Government handouts. It should have strategised itself. There is no need for the FRA to get stuck with maize when it is needed by our neighbouring country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). There is no need for it to leave maize uncollected for years when it is needed in other parts of the region. So, I urge you, hon. Minister, working in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, to review the FRA because we cannot continue in the manner we are doing things.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kapyongo: Mr Speaker, collection of non tax revenue in this country has been a problem. The ministries and departments from which this tax is supposed to be collected need to be cleaned up. I, therefore, urge the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, working in collaboration with hon. Ministers in line ministries, for example, the ministries of Lands, Energy and Water Development, Transport, Works, Supply and Communication and Home Affairs, to clean up these places.

Mr Speaker, at the moment, the system used at the Ministry of Lands to collect rates and other land fees is not up to date. If you carried out a snap survey on some of these civil servants, believe you me, you would realise that the corruption that we talk about among politicians is nothing. When you look at the lives of some of these civil servants, you will attest to the fact that most of our revenue is going into wrong pockets.

Mr Speaker, when you go to the Road Traffic and Safety Agency (RTSA), under the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication, it is the same thing. You just need to go to this place to see how many people are hanging around there to know what is going on.

Mr Speaker, it is important that we stop the business as usual approach to these matters. We need to take pragmatic steps and I urge the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, working together with other ministries, to sort out that confusion.

Mr Speaker, before I conclude, I would like to quote what the hon. Minister said in his speech. The previous Government tried what it could, but there was just one thing that kept pulling it back.

Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister acknowledged, in his speech, on page 6, paragraph 46, that:

“Mr Speaker, the Government’s ability to effectively promote pro-poor growth through the Budget is dependent upon the efficacy of its public financial management (PFM) practices. Consultation, transparency and accountability are cardinal principles upon which this administration will manage public finances. Adherence to these principles will reduce the space in which misuse and abuse of public resources can thrive, thereby enhancing development orientation and service delivery of public expenditure.”

Mr Speaker, this is just exactly what this nation needs. Most of our resources are plundered by people who are supposed to safeguard them. For example, the contracts that are entered into between the Government and contractors on these capital projects are well-crafted and well-designed to protect the Government’s resources. There are provisions in those contracts which ensure that, at no point, is the Government’s money put at risk.

Mr Speaker, it is so surprising to hear about contractors who have gone away with advance payments when they would have furnished the client with what we call advance payment guarantees.

Sir, we also hear of shoddy works when contractors are supposed to furnish their clients with performance bonds, which the Government is supposed to fall back on in the event that a contractor fails to perform. However, if we ask ourselves: At what point are these contracts not being adhered to? The answer is very simple.

Mr Speaker, through you, I would like to urge the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to harmonise the working relationships between institutions that are handling these huge sums of money, for example, the Road Development Agency (RDA) and National Roads Fund Agency (NRFA). The NRFA disburses the funds while the RDA designs and administers contracts. In between the two agencies, there are loopholes through which money finds itself in thin air. Therefore, I would like to urge the hon. Minister to review the working relationship between some of these institutions.

Sir, we would also like to see the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning coming up with punitive measures when people are cited in the Auditor-General’s Report so that they can start respecting public resources. Citation of people in the Auditor-General’s Report have been happening for a long time and it is time to cut the wings of these corrupt ailments. We cannot continue with people plundering our resources when people back in our constituencies are wallowing in poverty.

Mr Speaker, with these few words, I thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa (Nalikwanda): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to make my observations on this very important topic to the House.

Mr Speaker, let me join my colleagues in thanking the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon. Alexander Chikwanda, for what he has done in recognising the efforts of his colleague, Hon. Dr Musokotwane, and also the Government, as a whole, that provided leadership to this country.

Sir, through you, it is your style, indeed, hon. Minister, to recognise what others do in pursuit of public service. Thirty-seven years ago, in 1974, when you were in this House as Minister of Finance, in the first Budget that you presented, you had the following to say about your colleague:

“Mr Speaker, I wish, first of all, to pay tribute to my predecessor, now the hon. and Learned Member for Mpulungu, who successfully and with dedication, handled the financial affairs of this country over three years of the most difficult years since independence. The economic difficulties arising from the tragic Mufulira Mine Disaster of 1970, the low copper prices by disturbances in the exchange rates and the border closure at the beginning of last year all provided challenges with which my hon. and Learned Colleague had to grapple. I would like to, therefore, on behalf of the nation, thank him publicly in this House.”

Hon. Minister, that is your style for which we are most grateful. It indicates a sense of humility in public service and recognition of the virtue of public service as a dedication in doing that which is good for the public. The pursuit of public good is not easy and those of us who were there do understand that when you are in the service of the public, humility is extremely important and never demonise those who are in the Public Service or have rendered public service.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: To this, therefore, I hope your colleagues on the same Front Bench will be able to learn from you, hon. Minister. Your wisdom is what this nation requires. As we develop Zambia, the nation will judge you fairly.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa:  Mr Speaker, let me now dwell a little on the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning’s acknowledgement of the foundation that you are building on. He referred to the foundation as a strong one and that you are building on that. Indeed, it is.

When the MMD came into power in 1991, the inflation rate was 118 per cent. The efforts of the MMD to address inflation have seen inflation dropping from 118 per cent to 7.9 per cent as acknowledged in the speech. Indeed, that has not been easy. For example, in 2004, the inflation rate dropped to 18.7 per cent, in 2006, it dropped to 17.5 per cent, in 2007, it dropped to 15.9 per cent, in 2009, it dropped to 8.2 per cent and then, as indicated, to 7.9 per cent. That is the effort the MMD put in the management of the economy of this country.

At the same time, we saw economic growth at the beginning of this century. For example, in 2004, we had 4.6 per cent economic growth, 5.2 per cent economic growth  in 2005, 5.8 per cent in 2006, 6.7 per cent in 2007, 6.4 per cent in 2009 and 6.6 per cent in 2010. That achievement could never have come without commitment and hard work on the part of your colleagues who led this country. There is a solid foundation and you can build on it. That is why, in your Budget, you have indicated to us that you would like to see a 7 per cent economic growth by next year.

Indeed, if we look at external debt in this country, when the MMD came into power, the external debt was at US$7.2 billion. This dropped to US$6.8 billion in 2004, US$4.5 billion in 2005 and US$635 million in 2006 and Zambia was declared a country that was not highly indebted. Of course, as a result of the adherence to the heavily indebted poor country (HIPC) conditions, there has been a small rise in terms of external debt to US$1 billion in 2007 and, as you have indicated in the Budget, to US$1.4 billion last year. As you indicated in your Budget, what happened last year is only 8.2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) which is well within sustainable levels. The foundation is there and all that the PF Government should do now is to build on it. That is what the Zambian people would like to see.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: As leaders, we must acknowledge what we are doing as a nation and the contribution made by other leaders before. This is extremely important, especially for the young Parliamentarians who are joining the House for the first time. They should listen and learn from others. That is how leadership is cultivated.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: Coming to some of the specifics of the Budget, it has been defined as a pro-poor Budget. However, a pro-poor budget means addressing those salient issues that affect the lives of our people, especially the poor rural and urban households. That is extremely important. Indeed, if these elements are not given due attention, then we are not going to address the pertinent problem of the poor in our country. One of the aspects is the FISP.

Last year, as the MMD Government, we put in about K485 billion. This year, the PF Government has put in an extra K15 billion, totaling K500 billion. Clearly, that is not enough, especially when we go by the promises that were made. Again, K300 billion to buy agricultural produce is far short of what is required. Our people have been motivated to produce more. As the hon. Minister of Agriculture and Livestock indicated to us just this morning, they have so far spent K1.8 trillion to buy crops from our farmers. Now, what will K300 billion do? It is not enough.

If you look at the figures, last year, in the Southern Province alone, and I have said this before, K288 billion was spent to buy maize from the farmers. Where will K300 billion take us? Clearly, people out there who are listening may conclude, and probably rightly so, that the Government is not interested in buying their crop. This is something that the hon. Minister will have to address seriously.

Sir, in order to address the problems of poverty, we need things like clearing and deepening of canals in the rural areas. We need bridges on tributaries and small rivers. We need to address the problem of supply of clean water for our people and sink boreholes. We need child survival and health. We have to roll back malaria. We have to restock the livestock for our peasant farmers. We have to address the problem of fisheries. These are the basics that our people in the rural areas need and, clearly, ...

Mr Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1815 hours until 1830 hours.

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Speaker, when business was suspended, I was about to move on to the issue of Education in relation to the Budget.

Hon. Minister, on education, 2,000 classrooms per year falls far short of the ambitious education development that you would like to see this nation undertake. Let me give you just a little bit of history. After the 2006 Elections, we recruited about 7,000 teachers, about 10, 000 in 2007 and, thereafter, we had an average of 5,000 teachers being recruited. Therefore, the 5,000 teachers you are projecting to recruit in the midst of a compulsory education policy will fall far short of the requirements of the education sector. I think that more needs to be done in order to address that very ambitious education development programme which you would like to see for this nation.

It is also extremely disheartening to see a drop in the percentage allocation to education. This year, you are proposing K4.8 trillion going to education which is 17.5 per cent of the total Budget. Last year, we had K3.8 trillion which was 18.6 per cent …

Mr Chikwanda: Of a smaller Budget.

Professor Lungwangwa: Well, small as it might have been, the hecklers should shut up.

Laughter

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member is out of order.

Hon. Members: Apologise!

Professor Lungwangwa: I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Sir, with the big ministry, which has combined vocational training, science and technology and general education, we expect the Budget to have been raised to a much higher level in order to address the issues of infrastructure development, teacher recruitment, research, especially in the universities and, of course, improvement in the conditions of service across all the levels of the education sector. What has been done by way of allocation to the education sector falls far short of expectation.

Mr Chisanga: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.

Mr Chisanga: Mr Speaker, I apologise for disrupting the hon. Member who is debating so well. However, is it in order for hon. Ministers to be outside instead of listening to the debate so that they can respond to the issues being raised? The whole of the Front Bench is unoccupied. I need your serious ruling.

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order!

I made a ruling earlier and do not wish to repeat myself. I am sure the Leader of Government Business in the House has taken note of the ruling. I will not carry this point further than this.

You may proceed.

Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Speaker, clearly, the budget for education falls far short of the requirements of the education sector. It is true, indeed, that the development of our country requires attention in human capital development. The creativity, imagination and entrepreneurship of our people have to be enhanced and that requires heavy investment in the education sector. However, this Budget does not give us the hope that it will be done.

Mr Speaker, turning to poverty issues, the poverty concerns in the rural areas are issues that we have to address collectively. If our people are to come out of poverty, we need to address the basics which I have outlined such as the restocking, development of feeder roads and many others. These cannot be adequately addressed by the Central Government. They can only best be addressed by the local communities working hand in hand with the hon. Members of Parliament.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: This is why we would like to impress upon the Leader of Government Business in the House, who is heckling, that the efforts we are putting in our respective constituencies to build schools, classrooms, clinics, bridges etc, must be recognised. It is those small things which make a difference in the quality of life of our people. That is why we are saying that the CDF must be increased.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: That is the only way the benefits of economic development and prosperity will trickle down to the people. There is no better way of addressing equity in our nation than that of paying attention to the CDF. We are going to analyse this Budget line for line and identify resources which will enable this House to raise CDF to a reasonable level …

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: … and we expect the Executive to listen and accept the recommendations from the left side of the hon. Mr Speaker because we are very serious and committed to the development of our people. We are also committed to improving the quality of life of our people so that we can achieve prosperity in this country. That can only best be done by raising the CDF. Even those hon. Members from the right of the House know that it is only through CDF that they will be able to come back to this House.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: If you do not support that move, do not hope to come back to this House in 2016. We know because we have been there. We work with our people in the rural areas and know what it takes for development to be appreciated and for people to give you commendation as their good representative.

Hon. Member: Mwabomfya gold?

Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Speaker, with these few words, I thank you.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Order!

ADJOURNMENT

The Vice-President (Dr Scott): Mr Speaker, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

Question put and agreed to.

________

The House adjourned at 1840 hours until 0900 hours on Friday, 18th November, 2011.

________