DAILY PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES FOR THE FOURTH SESSION OF THE TENTH ASSEMBLY

Thursday, 25th March, 2010

The House met at 1430

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

NATIONAL ANTHEM

PRAYER

________

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

VISIT BY THE IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR, DR DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN

The Minister of Finance and National Planning (Dr Musokotwane): Mr Speaker, I am making a Ministerial Statement on the visit by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Managing Director, Dr Dominique Strauss-Kahn from 10th to 11th of March, 2010. 

Mr Speaker, Dr Strauss-Kahn visited Zambia between 10th and 11th March, 2010 as part of his tour of three African countries. Prior to coming to Zambia, the Managing Director visited Kenya and South Africa.

Mr Speaker, Zambia has enjoyed a cordial relationship with the IMF for many years. The visit by the IMF Managing Director was therefore, aimed at cementing this relationship. Further, the deliberate choice by the Managing Director to visit Zambia was in recognition not only of the efforts that the country has made in implementing sound economic policies over the past few years, but also of her strong economic performance in 2009 when the global economic crisis was slowing economic performance in most countries of the world. 

Sir, during the visit, the Managing Director met with His Excellency the President, Mr Rupiah Bwezani Banda and officials at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning as well as the Bank of Zambia (BOZ). At the latter meeting, the Managing Director met the economic team led by myself, the Deputy Minister, Secretary to the Treasury, Bank Governor and other senior staff. Later, he also met with the business community, civil society and university students. 

Sir, during the meeting with the Government officials, a wide range of issues were discussed. The IMF commended the Zambian Government led by President Banda, for putting in place appropriate fiscal and monetary policy measures to mitigate the effects of the global economic crisis.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, these measures enabled the country to record positive economic growth of 6.3 per cent in 2009 even in the wake of the global economic crisis. The IMF chief did pledge continued support to our country. 

Sir, other issues that were discussed between the Government and the fund were as follows:

(i)    the importance of continuing reforms within the IMF to improve the voice and shareholding or quarter as it is usually referred to, of developing and emerging economies; 

(ii)    the need to enhance flexibility in the use of the IMF financing to include development financing;

(iii)    the importance of Zambia accelerating economic diversification and therefore, the need for her to access increased resources for infrastructure development;

(iv)    the importance of infrastructure development to foster African economic integration;

(v)    the importance of adhering to the debts sustainability principle when contracting debt;

(vi)    the need for Zambia to enhance revenue collection, generally and from the mining sector, in particular; and 

(vii)    the important role the IMF played in helping countries such as ours to address the effects of the global economic crisis, such as the augmentation of Zambia’s international reserves.

Sir, as indicated, the Managing Director also met and had an open discussion with more than 200 people coming from the business community, civil society and students. During the meeting, he outlined the role of the IMF in ensuring the stability of the international monetary system. Additionally, the need for the Zambian Government to boost its revenue collection efforts, enhance diversification and the need for African economic integration were discussed at the forum. 

Measures taken by the Government to Mitigate the Effects of the Global Economic Crisis

Mr Speaker, in the light of the importance attached by the Managing Director to success by the Zambian Government to contain the negative effects of the global economic crisis, let me briefly remind the House of the measurers that were put in place.

(i)    Fiscal Measures

Sir, in relation to the Budget, the fiscal measures paid particular attention to mining, which was the sector most vulnerable to the effects of the global economic crisis and yet had the biggest potential to drag the rest of the economy down with it if it collapsed. In order to reduce the chances of the mining sector collapsing, the Government reduced customs duties on heavy fuel oil, deferred import VAT on copper concentrates to encourage the usage of the local smelting capacity and removed mining windfall taxes. In addition, capital allowance was increased to 100 per cent to encourage investment in the sector.

Sir, in manufacturing, the Government announced a number of incentives for developers of muti-facility economic zones (MFEZ) and industrial parks. The main benefits were to be through customs duty waivers for imports of construction equipment, which was also expected to improve the capacity of contractors in the country.

Mr Speaker, the fiscal deficit in 2009 was widened compared to the usual range seen in recent years. In the midst of declining demand from consumers in the country due to the effects of the crisis, increased spending by the Government was necessary to minimise job loses. Most of this expenditure was on infrastructure like schools, hospitals and roads.

Sir, in the light of these measures, Zambia’s mining sector experienced minimum disruption in 2009 and in fact, ended up being one of the strongest drivers of the strong Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) growth. The only copper mine that closed at Luanshya was quickly sold to other investors and it has since reopened and it now employs more labour than before its closure. The other mine that closed, Munali Nickel has equally been sold to stronger investors and it is about to open. In fact, it is opening tomorrow. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, the fear that the mining sector could drag the rest of the economy down did not materialise. 

(ii)     Monetary and Financial Sector Conditions

Sir, equally important for containing the crisis is the maintenance of a flexible exchange rate policy in Zambia which has proved to be an excellent tool for preventing a foreign exchange crisis arising from the global economic crisis. As external earnings declined with lower copper prices, the availability of foreign exchange declined. Even though Bank of Zambia intervened, selling more than US$500 million in the process, no attempt was made to prevent the exchange rate from depreciating. With foreign exchange getting more expensive in the process, the demand for dollars fell and this prevented foreign reserves from falling to dangerous levels. 

Finally, hon. Members will recall that the global economic crisis which started in the United States of America (USA) was ignited by failures in the banking sector. As banks failed, lending drastically reduced and businesses failed to sell their merchandise due to lack of customers. Hence, the crisis moved from banks to farms, to factories and to shops as well. 

The overall financial condition of the Zambian banking system in 2009 was satisfactory despite the adverse effects of the global financial crisis. On aggregate, the banking system was adequately capitalised and the liquidity position remained satisfactory. Consequently, no banking crisis emerged in Zambia. Therefore, unlike in the USA, there was no crisis arising in productive areas caused by the banking crisis. 

Mr Speaker, let me conclude this statement by making a number of points. Firstly, I wish, on behalf of the Government and the people of Zambia to thank the Managing Director of the IMF for honouring our country with his visit. The IMF has 186 member countries, and therefore, his decision to visit Zambia now is an honour to all of us. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Secondly, I thank the Managing Director once more for the pro-active role that the IMF took to assist poor countries like Zambia to meet the challenges arising from the global economic crisis. In Zambia’s case, the assistance came through increased resource allocation which partly enabled the Zambian Government to avoid expenditure cuts in social areas and infrastructure which is what tended to happen in previous crises.

Thirdly and lastly, I wish to thank the President, Cabinet and indeed this House for having played their respective roles in instituting measures to protect our economy from the worst effects of the global economic crisis. The act by the Managing Director of the IMF to travel here and recognise this achievement is an honour to all of us. Zambia had faced a similar crisis before such as the one that happened in 1975. The country took decades to come out of that crisis as evidenced then by the near collapse of our mining sector, the chronic shortage of foreign exchange and commodities alike, as well as reduced employment. The fact that we have managed to skip a deep and prolonged crisis this time shows that, as a people, we are capable of learning from our past mistakes and therefore, we are ready to forge ahead to even greater achievements. 

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mpombo (Kafulafuta): Mr Speaker, as a matter of simple curiosity, …

Laughter 

Mr Mpombo: …can the hon. Minister share with this House the position taken by the Managing Director of the IMF regarding the doing away with of the windfall tax. This was done in full conjunction with international organisations within the country. I remember that there were certain trips that were sponsored in order to learn new formulas that are used in countries like Chile. Further, the IMF had indicated that they were helping countries like Zambia to come out of the economical imbroglio …

Laughter 

Mr Mpombo: … because of the negative effects of the world economic downturn. What promise did the IMF give Zambia with regards to the operations of Luanshya Copper Mine which is operating on a shoestring budget and with its employees still on contract basis? 

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, I wish to thank the hon. Member for his commendable skills in vocabulary.

Laughter

Dr Musokotwane: I do, however, regret to say that a number of issues that were raised in the question are not factual. If I recall, he raised issues about the IMF’s position on windfall tax and its position on Luanshya Copper Mine. 

Mr Speaker, regarding the IMF’s position on windfall tax, I wish to state that the IMF has never recommended to this country to put in place this tax. However, if anyone has information to the contrary, I request them to research and come and lay the document on the Table. I am also willing to assist them to write to the IMF to ask for such documents if they do exist because there was never such a recommendation. 

Mr Speaker, on the issue of Luanshya Copper Mine, I think that we should not take the negative attitude and talk about shoestring budgets. I doubt that this is the case because from what I understand the labour situation in Luanshya is certainly very calm. They may not have all the solutions, but people are calm meaning that they are reasonably satisfied that what is happening in Luanshya is acceptable. Therefore, rather than us focusing on the negative, let us focus on the positive side.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: A lot of country men and women had lost their jobs and were in desperate situations. Surely, if these jobs were re-established, I believe that it is just right that we show gratitude for this, especially when more jobs are being promised in the same town. I would advise that we take the positive rather than the negative attitude. 

I thank you, Sir. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr C. K. B. Banda, SC. (Chasefu): Mr Speaker, granted that the Government was advised to enhance revenue collection measures, particularly from the mines, may I know what measures the hon. Minister intends to put in place in order to do so? 

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, the issue is about ensuring that existing tax laws are complied with as much as possible. In this respect, with the help of the Norwegian Government, we have had specialised auditors, not just financial auditors, but also those who understand the metallurgical processes, from the time ore is brought from underground, taken to all those processes that engineers know and determine whether in fact, the value and price that is declared is correct and that the costs indicated by various companies are the correct ones and not exaggerated. We are focusing on ensuring that   the existing tax laws are complied with as strictly as possible. This is the effort that we are focusing on. 

Mr Speaker, I thank you.     

Mr Simuusa (Nchanga): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister has indicated that we are failing to collect all the revenue, especially that relating to mining. Could he confirm that the mechanisms we have in place to capture this revenue from our mining ores are inadequate. That being the case, what is the Government doing to correct the situation?

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, what I said a few moments ago applies similarly to the question that has just been asked.

 I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mrs Musokotwane (Katombola): Mr Speaker, I would like to agree with the hon. Minister that Zambia is honoured to receive such a distinguished official from the IMF. I would like to find out from him why a distinguished group of people like hon. Members of Parliament were not availed an opportunity to meet this distinguished man when he even went to the extent of meeting students and civil society.

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, the choice of people to engage with the managing director was made by the IMF.  Indeed, I would have expected hon. Members to be included among those to be met the Managing Director of the IMF but the choice of those to meet him was made by the IMF and not us.

 I thank you, Sir.

Mr Kambwili (Roan): Mr Speaker, it is common knowledge that Chinese Investors in Zambia are paying Zambian workers very low salaries. I would like to know if this issue was discussed with the IMF Managing Director and what was his advice?

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, perhaps, one of these days we should ask Hon. Kambwili to bring figures here and demonstrate the point that he has always been referring to that the miners in Luanshya are the least paid because this is something that he has said many times. 

Coming back to his question, we did not ask that the same way we did not ask him to talk about how much Zambian employers are paying their workers, MPs are paying their workers and those from America or Japan. Therefore, I am quite curious to find out why he is always focusing on Chinese investors without making a comparative analysis of this particular type of investors and others, including ourselves.

 I thank you Mr Speaker.

Mrs Masebo (Chongwe): Mr Speaker, In his statement, the hon. Minister alluded to the fact that the IMF assisted us during the crisis here. If my understating is correct, how much help or additional resources did the IMF give to Zambia during the crisis and what did we use this money for?

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, the assistance was in the form of enhanced Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocations in the exchange of 400 million SDR. We did not really spend the money. It is still there, hence the reason our reserves have increased to the level of nearly US$2 billion.

 I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Msichili (Kabushi):  Mr Speaker, during the visitation of the IMF Managing Director, he cautioned Zambia to be careful, especially when dealing with the Chinese Government. I would like to find out what measures the Government intends to put in place so that grants are not turned into loans like the case was with the Ndola Stadium.

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, the IMF MD did not say that Zambia should be careful when dealing with the Chinese Government. He said that as Zambia obtains either grants, but especially loans, from anywhere, including China, we must make sure that the financial conditions of that assistance are within an acceptable range. We have no quarrel with that because that is something that we always do whether the assistance is from China, Russia or a neighbouring country.

 I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr D. Mwila (Chipili): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister has indicated that Zambia is a poor country and this tag has been on us for a very long time. Would the hon. Minister indicate when this tag will be removed because we have resources such as Copper and Cobalt?

Dr Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, for many years, Zambia has been categorised as one of the poor countries in the world. The good news is that there has been a lot of progress made. In 2000 the per capita income in Zambia was just about US$ 300. This year, it is just over about US$1,000. Next year, we expect it to rise to about US$1,400. Therefore, there has been progress. 

Is there poverty? Yes, there is poverty. We can liken this situation to an individual who, for many years, was not working or working, but receiving no income and then he starts receiving income. Clearly, he will start improving. The question is, can you suddenly expect that when you get into a job then, at that moment, you will be able to buy all those things that you aspire for in life such as wearing nice chitenge or having a fridge or owning a car at one go? Clearly, the answer is no. Surely, by any measure, for the per capita income of the country to have increased from US$300 to more than US$1,000, which is three times, is good progress.

 Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: This s the progress that we need to build upon and this is why we always wonder when some of our colleagues talk about putting money into the pockets of individuals.

Mr D. Mwila: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: We do so without knowing how to do it ….

Laughter

Dr Musokotwane: … because we want to chase away investors like those based in Luanshya. How do you put money into pockets of individuals if you chase those who put money in their pockets?

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kapeya (Mpika Central): Mr Speaker, towards the close of last year, His Excellency the President directed the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to source funds to work on the Mongu /Kalabo Road. Did he bring up that issue and so far, how much has been raised for the same project?

Dr Musokotwane: In view of the improving economic conditions in Zambia, which we expect to continue improving because we know that investment is taking place, the IMF is very sympathetic to the possibility of Zambia looking for addition resources to invest in infrastructure such as the Mongu/Kalabo Road. For many other pieces of infrastructure, including roads, power stations and so on and so forth, is something we discussed and agreed upon.

 I thank you, Mr Speaker. {mospagebreak} 

THE STATUS OF MAAMBA COLLIERIES LIMITED

The Minister of Mines and Minerals Development (Mr M. B. Mwale): Mr Speaker, I wish to thank you for giving me this opportunity to update this august House on the current status of Maamba Collieries Limited (MCL). My address will highlight progress made towards the development of profitable MCL operations.

Mr Speaker, the House may recall that in September, 2009, I gave an update on the status of the operations of the Maamba Coal Mine following a point of order raised by Hon. Muyanda, Member for Sinazongwe. In that statement, I informed the House that in 2007, the Government decided to transfer its shares to ZCCM Investment Holdings in a bid to resuscitate operations at the Maamba Coal Mine.

To resume sustainable and profitable mining operations at Maamba, ZCCM Investment Holdings and Maamba Collieries Limited engaged a contract miner to bring in the required mining equipment and resume operations as an interim measure before finding an equity partner. In the initial bid for contract mining, Keren Mining Limited was engaged, but because they failed to mobilise the required mining equipment and resume mining as per contractual agreement, the contract was terminated. Keren Mining Limited was replaced by Scirocco Enterprises Limited.

With the coming on board of Scirocco Enterprises Limited, mining resumed in April, 2009. A total of 89,000 metric tonnes run of mine coal was produced. At that time, 40,000 tonnes of washed coal valued at K16 billion and 8,000 tonnes of raw coal valued at K2 billion was in stock. It should, however, be recalled that at that time, the mine experienced difficulties in marketing the coal produced, thereby giving rise to financial constraints and the consequent failure to meet staff salaries and payment to the contractor.

ZCCM Investment Holdings was looking for a strategic partner for the development of Maamba Mine and a thermal power plant to provide a ready market for the coal produced at the mine. Negotiations with the preferred bidders to partner with ZCCM Investment Holdings had reached an advanced stage.

Mr Speaker, the current status is that ZCCM Investment Holdings concluded negotiations with the preferred strategic partner on 18th December, 2009 when ZCCM Investment Holdings and Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pty Limited (NBS) signed a share sale and purchase agreement (SPA). Nava Bharat acquired 65 per cent equity stake in Maamba Collieries Limited. Following the signing of the agreement, a completion committee was appointed to finalise all conditions precedent to execution of the SPA agreed by all parties. The conditions include:
        
(i)    Ministry of Finance and National Planning being the majority shareholder in ZCCM Investment Holdings formally consent to the sale of shares;

(ii)    ZCCM Investment Holdings, Nava Bharat, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), the Government of the Republic of Zambia and Maamba Collieries Limited execute the investment promotion and protection agreement (IPPA);

(iii)    MCL executes a bankable power purchase agreement (PPA) and connection agreement with the Zambia Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO);

(iv)    Maamba Collieries Limited obtains all water rights and permits as necessary for the company business; and

(v)    Nava Bharat produces an action plan in respect of its plan to procure debt finance for the Maamba Coal Mine and Thermal Power Project. The plan requires the fulfilment of power purchase agreement and the assurance that the mining and surface rights are in the ownership of Maamba Collieries Limited.

Mr Speaker, the conditions precedent are expected to be finalised and enable the transaction to be executed by 1st April, 2010. 

In the meantime, ZCCM Investment Holdings and Nava Bharat are expediting the commencement of operations, particularly with respect to mining. In this regard, three senior positions of general manager (mining operations), human resources manager and finance manager were advertised in the local press in February, 2010. The task of the senior management will be to undertake a skills audit of the existing labour force and come up with an appropriate structure in respect of the technology to be adopted for the mining operations.

Mr Speaker, this is an indication that the change of management control will not result in arbitrary redundancies. The company has no intention of laying off workers but, rather increase their productivity by putting in place an efficient structure. Currently, Maamba Collieries has a work force of 608 employees. 

Nava Bharat has also begun to engage suppliers of mining equipment to enable commencement of operations as soon as possible. It is envisaged that mining operations will be resuscitated by the new management as soon as the transactions are concluded.

The company intends to invest US$108 million in the recapitalisation of the mine and installation of the new coal handling and washing plant. 

The new investor will develop a coal fired power plant of a minimum generating capacity of 270 megawatts, using the low grade coal of Maamba Collieries Limited. Previously, this coal was regarded as unsellable material. The power plant is expected to cost US$500 million. It is envisaged that the project will create about 150 additional jobs.

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I wish to remind the House that the initial development of the coal mines in Zambia was primarily targeted at providing coal for copper smelting purposes on the Copperbelt. However, the modernisation of the smelters by adopting new technologies has seen a significant drop in the demand for coal. It follows, therefore, that new markets for coal such as power plants and export be found. It is hoped that the new owners of Maamba Collieries Limited will be diligent in the development of the thermal power plant in Sinazongwe and give Zambia the much needed relief from power outages.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Speaker: Hon. Members are now free to ask questions on points of clarification on the ministerial statement given by the hon. Minister.

Mr Mukanga (Kantanshi): Mr Speaker, I would like to find out what the lifespan for the Maamba Collieries Mine is at the current levels of investment and production.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, the current known reserves for Maamba are 18,000,000 tonnes at a maximum production capacity of 80,000 tonnes per month and there is a life span of not less than fifty years.

I thank you, Sir.

Mrs Masebo (Chongwe): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister said that the investment is US$107 million and that 65 per cent shares have been bought. I would like to know the cost of the 65 per cent shares.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, I would like to state that recapitalisation of the mining operations is estimated at US$108 million. With that, there is US$500 million which is going to the thermal power plant. As regards the 65 per cent shares, the amount is about to be concluded in the sense that there are a lot of liabilities that Maamba Collieries had and Nava Bharat has to meet them.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Simuusa: Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister said that the coal worth almost K18 billion failed to be sold because of lack of market, and yet, right now, all the coal is being imported from outside the country. I wish to find out from the hon. Minister what has changed that Nava Bharat will have the market to sell the coal which will be produced from Maamba Collieries.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, I would like to make a special appeal to the hon. Member to pay attention to the queen’s language. 

Laughter 

Mr M. B. Mwale: In my statement, Mr Speaker, I said, at that time and as I am talking now, that coal was sold in a sense that the traditional market for our coal they had contractual obligations from Wankie Coal Mines and were able to supply to, for example, Larfage.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr D. Mwila: Mr Speaker, employees at Maamba Collieries have not been paid for five months now and the company has been sold to Nava Bharat of Singapore. What is the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) doing to clear the outstanding arrears and salaries?

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, I would like to inform this House and, through it, the nation that once a new board is put in place, it will be of priority that the salary arrears of the employees be paid and that should be on record.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Kambwili: Mr Speaker, one of the problems Maamba Mine had during the time of the ZCCM was that every time there was news that there was money realised from the sell of coal, a lot of employees who had not been paid terminal benefits in terms of the deceased and retrenched were garnishing the account making it impossible for Maamba Mine to run. May I know whether these ex-employees will be paid before the mine starts operating to avoid the garnishing of the account in future?

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, may it be understood that all the liabilities that Maamba Mine has will be met and particularly that some amount has already been offered by Nava Bharat that will go towards the liquidation of those liabilities, including the ones that the hon. Member has talked about.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Muyanda (Sinazongwe): Mr Speaker, arising from the press statement given by the hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, may I know the precise date when Nava Bharat will move in Maamba as new owners of the mine because this is the second time the that Government has issued such a statement.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, the hon. Member of Parliament for Sinazongwe where this mine is, will agree that, in actual fact, the management of Nava Bharat has been on site and it is already carrying out some management responsibilities. However, in my statement, I said that we hope and pray that all the conditions precedent will be finalised by 1st April, 2010. At this time it is hoped that we should have an official opening just like there will be one tomorrow at Munali Nickel.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chanda (Kankoyo): Mr Speaker, in the recent past, the mine industry has shifted from the use of coal. May I find out what the local market is like, excluding the mining industry?

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, may I apologise that I may not have the statistics in terms of the volumes that are consumed by the other sectors because we have companies like Larfage, Zambia Sugar Company and a number of companies which are using the coal that is produced by Maamba.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Hachipuka (Mbabala): Mr Speaker, could the hon. Minister confirm if Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) was amongst the bidders in this race because of its vast experience and financial potential.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, I confirm that KCM was one of the bidders for Maamba Collieries.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chisala (Chilubi): Mr Speaker, the lack of employment is one of the serious problems Zambia is facing. In that light, could the hon. Minister indicate the total number of employees at Maamba Collieries currently?

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member was not attentive, will the hon. Minister assist.

Hon. Government Member: Muzimvera.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, for the benefit of the hon. Member, I would like to state that the actual figure that I gave in terms of current levels of employment was 608 employees and with the putting up of a thermal power plant, there are an expected additional jobs of 150.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Machungwa (Luapula): Mr Speaker, if I heard the hon. Minister correctly, he said that Nava Bharat, once it set up its thermal plant, will be producing 270 mega watts of power which I consider to be very commendable. Now, how long is the coal at Maamba Collieries anticipated to last before we run out and lose 270 mega watts of power?

Laughter

Mr Speaker: Again, the hon. Member for Luapula did not pay attention. May the hon. Minister, please, assist.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, for the benefit of my elder brother, there is mine life of about fifty years at the current mining rate.

I thank you, Sir.

__________

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

PROVISION OF LABORATORY APPARATUS AT NKAMBU HIGH SCHOOL IN MWINILUNGA

419. Mr Katuka (Mwinilunga East) asked the Minister of Education when the Government would provide laboratory apparatus to Ntambu High School in Mwinilunga to enable pupils take practical science subjects.

The Deputy Minister of Education (Mr Sinyinda): Mr Speaker, Ntambu High School, like any other high school in the country, receives a grant from which the school is supposed to procure basic laboratory apparatus in order to improve the teaching of practical science subjects.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Katuka: Mr Speaker, I have asked this question before and the hon. Minister, in his response, said that the school had been budgeted for in the 2008 Budget. May I know what has happened to the money?

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, I would like to inform hon. Member that the Ministry of Education has decentralised its operations and, each and every month, it sends money for buying of school requisites through the District Education Boards Secretaries (DEBS) and to the head teachers of high schools.

I thank you, Sir.

Ms Kapata (Mandevu): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister has stated that the ministry sends grants to schools. I would like to find out from him how much laboratory apparatus costs and the amount of the grants sent to each school.

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. Member, who is my former student, for that question. The money we send to schools varies from one school to another. As you may know, our high schools are graded into grades one, two and three and, therefore, the grants are given according to the grade of each school.

Mr Speaker, it is the responsibility of high school head teachers to go and see how much the apparatus costs. 

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr L. J. Mulenga (Kwacha): Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from the hon. Minister of Education whether he has proved that the grants are actually received by the high schools.

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, I can confirm that the grants actually reach the high schools we send them to. This year, we sent the first grants for January last month and we are in the process of sending money for February this week or next week.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Kambwili (Roan): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister of Education is on record of having stated in this House that laboratory equipment is bought centrally and that, at the moment, the Government is buying laboratory kits. May we know the policy of the Government now that the hon. Deputy Minister has said it is the responsibility of the schools to buy this equipment using the grants. Between the two statements of the hon. Minister and his deputy, which is actually the Government’s the policy? 
Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, I would like to inform this House that when we build new schools or rehabilitate old ones, we buy new equipment, laboratory apparatus inclusive. At the same time I would to inform this House that, as a ministry, we also send money to the District Education Board Secretary’s (DEBS) offices and head teachers of high schools for them to buy any equipment that might be required by the schools.  

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Shakafuswa: Quality!

Mr Mushili (Ndola Central): Mr Speaker, how effective is the ministry in evaluating the requirements of each school because it seems to me that the ministry has relied so much on the board …

Mr Speaker: Order! Hon. Minister of Education, how reliable are you in assessing the needs of schools?

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, the ministry is very reliable because, as you may know, we are decentralised. We have standard officers in the districts who actually, from time to time, go into schools for inspections. Of course, we realise that we still have a long way to go in order to satisfy the demand of all requisites in our schools. However, we are doing everything possible to ensure that a conducive environment is created in our schools.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mrs Musokotwane (Katombola): Mr Speaker, how does the ministry ensure that the grants that are sent to schools reach the offices of the headmasters and DEBS and that the required equipment is bought? We do not want to keep on asking these questions after finding that this apparatus is not there when we visit the schools. Whenever we ask these questions in this House, we are only told that money has been sent. 

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, as you may know, the Ministry of Education is just like any other Government ministry which is subject to auditing by the Auditor-General’s office. Nonetheless, I must assure this august House that the money that we send actually reaches the schools and DEBS offices. 

That notwithstanding, as hon. Members of Parliament, we have the mandate to monitor the use of whatever resources the Government sends to the schools in our areas. Therefore, I ask hon. Members to assist in monitoring and making sure that the people tasked to buy equipment for schools actually do so.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

NUMBER OF MAGISTRATES ACCOMMODATED IN GOVERNMENT HOUSES

420. Mr D. Mwila (Chipili) asked the Vice-President and Minister of Justice how many magistrates were accommodated in Government houses as of December, 2009.

The Deputy Minister of Justice (Mr Chilembo): Mr Speaker, two magistrates were accommodated in Government houses as of December, 2009. The magistrates are based in Chinsali and Isoka. The rest of the magistrates live in houses rented by the Judiciary.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr D. Mwila: Mr Speaker, will the Vice-President indicate to this House when the Government will start constructing houses for magistrates.

Mr Chilembo: Mr Speaker, the current policy is that the Government rents houses for magistrates. As you know, there used to be Government houses, but they have now been sold. So, at the moment, the Government will continue with this policy. Of course, in cases where magistrates have their own houses, they are paid housing allowance. So, that is the current position.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Beene (Itezhi-tezhi): Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from His Honour the Vice-President what the Government is doing about the problem being faced by magistrates who have to cross from one district to another to adjudicate cases when they have difficulties in terms of transport. 

Mr Chilembo: Mr Speaker, that question is different from the one we are considering. However, in giving a bonus answer, I would mention that we have administrative arrangements to facilitate the movement of such magistrates.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr L. J. Mulenga: Mr Speaker, I would like to find out whether the Government has assessed the cost of paying rentals against building houses for magistrates.

Mr Chilembo: Mr Speaker, at the moment, renting of houses for magistrates is our best option.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Kambwili: Mr Speaker, when approving the 2010 National Budget, there was a very big figure provided for housing allowance for magistrates. The hon. Deputy Minister has told this House that the Judiciary is renting houses that magistrates are occupying. I would like to know why they provided for housing allowance in the budget when they are renting houses for the Judiciary.

Mr Chilembo: Mr Speaker, I am not quite sure whether the context is the same, but I believe that the money is for the owner-occupier allowance.

I thank you, Sir.

MABLE SHAW HIGH SCHOOL

421. Mr Chitonge (Mwansabombwe) asked the Minister of Education:

(a)    what the total population of pupils at Mable Shaw High School currently was;

(b)    when the installation of a water reticulation system at the school would be completed; and

(c)    what disciplinary action was taken against those who mismanaged the funds released by the Government earlier for the project at (b).

The Deputy Minister of Education (Mr Sinyinda): Mr Speaker, currently the total population of pupils at Mable Shaw High School is 650. 

The water reticulation system installation was completed in March, 2009 and the school is using the facility. Further, there was no mismanagement of funds for the project as the contractor was being paid in stages for supplied materials and labour as per project contract.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chisala: Mr Speaker, would the hon. Minister indicate how much money was spent on the project in question.

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, I do not want to mislead this House, I must consult how much we spent on that.

I thank you, Sir.

_______________

MOTION

DEATH OF MR MISHECK N’ENECHI BONSHE, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR MUFUMBWE PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCY

The Vice-President and Minister of Justice (Mr Kunda, SC.): Mr Speaker, I beg to move that this House do place on record its deepest regret at the untimely death of Hon. Misheck N’enechi Bonshe, Member of Parliament for Mufumbwe Parliamentary Constituency and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, together with its appropriation of his distinguished and patriotic service to this country and to the people of Zambia; and that the deepest sympathies and condolences of the National Assembly be conveyed to his family.

Mr Speaker, in moving this Motion, I wish to place on record our regret and anguish over the death of Hon. Misheck N’enechi Bonshe, Member of Parliament for Mufumbwe Parliamentary Constituency and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, who passed away in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday, 28th February, 2010.

Mr Speaker, allow me to use this very sad moment to say a few words about our late beloved colleague whose demise is a great loss to the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), the Government and the entire nation of the Republic of Zambia.

The late Hon. Misheck N’enechi Bonshe, Member of Parliament for Mufumbwe Parliamentary Constituency and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs was born on 4th February, 1945 at Musompo Village in Mufumbwe District in the North-Western Province. He did his Sub A to Standard II at Chizela School from 1955 to 1959 before moving to Mukinge Hills School where he did his Forms 1 to 3. Thereafter, from 1976 to 1978, he obtained a General Certificate Examinations (GCE) ordinary level certificate under Rapids Results College. With regard to his work carrier, the late Hon. Bonshe, MP, joined the Zambia Police Force and obtained a certificate in police duties from Lilayi Police College in 1965.

From 1968 to 1969, the late Hon. Bonshe, MP, undertook a Criminal Law Course and passed the Civil Law Examinations. In 1970, he went back to Lilayi Police College and obtained an advanced Police Certificate in 1971.

Mr Speaker, the late Hon. Misheck N’enechi Bonshe, MP did not relent on his training programmes as he further proceeded to the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police Academy from 1980 to 1981 and obtained a Diploma in Criminal Investigations. In 1992, he obtained a Security Practice Management Certificate from the International Training Centre Group 4 Security in the United Kingdome. Further, the late Hon. Bonshe, MP obtained a Diploma in Principles of Modern Management from the College of Professional Management House, Leoville College, in the United Kingdom.

Mr Speaker, in relation to employment history, the late Hon. Bonshe, MP joined the Zambia Police Force as a Detective Inspector in 1964 and served the Zambia Police Force until 1985 when he joined the Bank of Zambia as Deputy Chief Security Commandant until the year 2000. It is clear that our departed colleague served this country diligently. 

As regards his political and parliamentary career, the late hon. Member of Parliament for Mufumbwe Parliamentary Constituency and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs joined the MMD in 1990. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for Mufumbwe Parliamentary Constituency in 2006 during the tripartite elections on the MMD ticket.

As a Parliamentarian, he served on the Committee on Communications, Transport, Works and Supply before being appointed Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs, in October, 2007, the position he held until his death on Sunday, 28th February, 2010 in Lagos, Nigeria.

During his brief, but distinguished political career, Hon. Misheck N’enechi Bonshe, MP contributed immensely to the development of parliamentary democracy by his contributions during debates in the House and on the Committee where he served. He accepted criticism as one of the cornerstones of democracy. He was humble, simple, reserved, yet approachable. He dedicated his life to the service of the people of Zambia. His loss is not only to his family, relatives; and friends, but also to the nation. The late hon. Member and Deputy Minister is survived by a wife and eight children.
RRR
Mr Speaker, as hon. Members are aware, the body of the late hon. Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister arrived in the country on 3rd March, 2010 and was put to rest on 5th March, 2010 in Mufumbwe. As per established parliamentary practice, the House was represented at his burial by eight hon. Members of Parliament and two members of staff. May His Soul Rest In Peace.

Mr Speaker, I beg to move.

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

Mrs Phiri (Munali):  Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to start by thanking you for giving me this opportunity to debate on the Motion which is on the Floor of this House.

Mr Speaker, I would like to convey my heartfelt condolences to MMD, as a party, and the people of Mufumbwe for the loss of the late hon. Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister, Mr Misheck N’enechi Bonshe. Hon. Bonshe was a good man. I was one of those people who went to attend his funeral service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. It is disheartening to see what happens when we go to pay our last respects to our departed colleagues. I would like to take this opportunity to tell the nation and, especially our cadres that they should not interfere when we go to pay our last respects because they have no idea how we communicate in this House. I believe when we are in this House, we are one family. I say so because it was very saddening to see that the Copperbelt Province Permanent Province was displeased to see Hon. Kapata and I at the funeral of the late Hon. Bonshe. He did not hide his feelings, but little did he know that when Hon. Kapata and I were arrested and later admitted in the Intensive Care Unit at the University Teaching Hospital, the first person who came to see us, even before our families, was Hon. Bonshe, who was also admitted later in the same hospital. I was very touched. I personally, as I said, regarded him as a brother in this House and so it is disappointing for anybody to doubt or stop me from attending my colleague’s funeral. Let us put our political affiliations aside when such things happen because we are not going to gain anything whether we fight or insult each other at such occasions. It is really sad. For instance, I would not allow it, if I passed on, for my child to stop anybody whether from MMD or any other party from attending my funeral because I am dead and I would not know how each individual feels. I plead through you, Mr Speaker, that the Government should not let this happen again. 

Mr Speaker, the pastor who preached at the church service reminded us that, many are the times, in this country, we see people who have contributed to the welfare of this country pass on who and we leave their children to suffer. There are so many examples I can give of such people we have worked with who are now late. Their children have become destitute. Let us have a human heart and, in any way, try to help them.

Lastly, Mr Speaker, through you, I would also like to call upon this House to contribute to our two departed colleagues which we did not do when it happened so that we help the families in a small way.

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

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Musokotwane (Katombola): Mr Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity you have given me ...

Mr Speaker: Order!

Mrs Musokotwane: ... to say goodbye to my friend who was a Member of this House. I want to agree with the Vice-President and Minister of Justice that Mr Bonshe was humble and simple and not because he was poor, but simple because he respected all of us in here. He was one hon. Deputy Minister you could approach and would give an answer accordingly. For us who come from the Opposition, we have lost a gentleman.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Musokotwane: Mr Speaker, if you recall, when he was given the responsibility of answering questions affecting his ministry, he never said anything bad to anybody.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs J. M. Musokotwane: His answers were cool and if he was not sure, he would go back to consult.  

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs J. M. Musokotwane: He was not arrogant or sarcastic. All of us from this House will miss him.

Mr Speaker, a delegation was appointed to attend the funeral in Mufumbwe which was not well treated. We booked rooms, but the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) officers grabbed keys from the National Assembly staff and slept in our rooms. The team leader tried his best to knock on their doors, but they did not open the doors. When we arrived, the lights were on, immediately the team leader started talking to them, they switched off their lights.

Interruptions

Mrs Musokotwane: I want the hon. Minister of Defence to investigate this matter. If he wants a written report from the delegation about these officers, it can be done. I want an explanation why the ZAF officers asked our officer, “Who do you think Members of Parliament are?” 

Hon. Members: Ah!

Mrs Musokotwane: They should know who we are. We want this issue to be looked into.

Mr Speaker, we arrived quite late and slept in a bar because we could not find accommodation.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Musokotwane: The following morning, because we wanted to mourn our friend, we did not mind. Mr Bonshe was a good person. When we went to the funeral house the following day, we were not given seats. When we went for the church service, the National Assembly staff secured chairs for us, but when the body came from the house to the council chamber for the service, our chairs were sat on by MMD cadres and we had nowhere to sit. Fortunately, our team leader ran around and secured some seats for us with the help of the hon. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Mr D. B. Phiri. At the graveyard, again, we found ourselves standing because we had nowhere to sit, yet we were representing the Hon. Mr Speaker. 

Sir, Mr Bonshe was a Member of Parliament. Why should Mr Speaker’s delegation be treated like this? Some of us have attended more than one funeral for Members of Parliament, but I have not seen what I saw at Hon. Bonshe’s funeral. Somebody was responsible, but I do not know who. However, the next time you send a delegation, the people must respect it. Even in the salutation, your delegation was not even recognised. When the time for laying wreaths came, we did so almost at the end because they had to be reminded that there were hon. Members of Parliament. That is when they said something about us. That is not acceptable. We went there because Mr Bonshe was a Member of Parliament; otherwise we were not going to go there.

Mr Speaker, my colleagues and I from the Opposition would like to say that we are going to miss the late hon. Deputy Minister, Mr Bonshe, because he was humble and simple. However, before I end my debate, I have questions that I want the Vice-President to answer when he stands up to wind-up the motion, “Why did Hon. Bonshe die alone in Nigeria?” The late Hon. Bonshe was in UTH for about three months, “Why was he not evacuated to South Africa?” I will be very happy if these two questions are answered.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Nkombo (Mazabuka Central): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to add a few words in honour of the departed hon. Member of Parliament for Mufumbwe, Hon. Mishek N’nenechi Bonshe and to also join the Vice-President in passing the necessary condolences to everybody who is aggrieved.

Sir, my remembrance of late Hon. Bonshe is that he was a unifying factor. Hon. Bonshe and I met before we both become hon. Members of Parliament at a fundraising event for the Bansaka Yaba Kaonde at Inter Continental Hotel. It is at this meeting where he declared his intentions to stand as an hon. Member of Parliament because that was just about three months before elections. 

Mr Speaker, my experience with the late Hon. Bonshe like everybody who has spoken before me, in this House, is that he was a cool, calm and collected human being. He was approachable like the Vice-President has said. He was a very truthful human and practiced politics of issues and not politics of innuendos as many of us are victims of.

Sir, I would like to say that nobody can stop the process of death. When somebody is destined to die, they will surely die. No matter how much you put in, everybody has got their appointed day and I think the late Hon. Bonshe met his appointed day. 

Mr Speaker, for those of us who are still alive, I would like to say that we will be going to Mufumbwe to solicit for votes. Therefore, I am requesting this House which has the main players in that election campaign in …

Mr Speaker: Order! What you are saying is not the purpose of the Motion. It not easy for me to guide or intervene on a Motion like this one because it is emotional. Therefore, I expect hon. Members to remember, as I have already heard, the good things that the late hon. Member is truly remembered for. This is not a time for complaints and campaigns. You are giving me a very difficult time to rule in this fashion. Please, remember that this is a Motion meant for you to pay your last respects to the departed. May you, continue, please.

Mr Nkombo: Mr Speaker, I thank you for your guidance.

Mr Speaker, as we are in the process of, obviously, getting a new representative from Mufumbwe, I would like us to do this process with due respect and honour to the late Hon. Bonshe. Let the process be that which will reflect what we think about him.

Sir, the late Hon. Bonshe was a truthful and calm person. He was not in the habit of innuendos and character assassination. I would like to see that this process gives the honour to Hon. Bonshe so that his soul can rest in peace. We can use the bereavement of the late Hon. Bonshe to remind ourselves that this country requires healing because it is divided.

Mr Speaker, I would like to go further by saying that I saw Mr Bonshe in the UTH at the same time when my late brother, friend, bukwe and brother-in-law, Hon. Tetamashimba was unwell and in hospital. Mr Bonshe told Hon. Syakalima and I, who went to see him, that he was so grateful that we had gone to see him. He told us that, “Please tell all the hon. Members that I would be very happy to be visited at the hospital because I am lonely.” 

Mr Speaker, that was a translation of the fact that sometimes we forget to do the useful things in life. We only remember that somebody was important after they are dead. Mr Bonshe indicated his zeal for life as he stated that he would be back to this House and at the NCC which he did although frail and a little bit tired. From this, we can see that he had the zeal to continue living and for that, I would like this whole House to honour him. My message, to this august House and the nation at large, is that as we go into the process of replacing Mr Bonshe, let us go there a united people with issue based politics.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Speaker: The Hon. Members for Gwembe and Siavonga would like to debate this motion. Where are they?

Hon. Opposition Members: Siavonga is here!

Mr Speaker: The Hon. Member for Siavonga can take the Floor.

Mr Syakalima (Siavonga): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion of condolences.

Sir, indeed, Hon. Bonshe was a very humble man who showed humility at all times. Since His Honour the Vice-President indicated that Hon. Bonshe was in the Committee on Communications, Transport, Works and Supply, where I happened to be his chairperson, I can evidently explain how humble he was. At a time when he was appointed Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, he came to the Committee and we thought that maybe he did not know that his membership to your Committee ceased the moment he was appointed Deputy Minister. When he was reminded, his answer was that, “I came to bide farewell and just to say thank you, I worked well with you people and that I had a good time on this Committee.”

Mr Speaker, there are very few people who would easily do that. Many times when somebody has been appointed to the Front Bench, they never to look back, but Hon Bonshe continued calling me Mr Chairperson, even when he was an hon. Deputy Minister. What humility would you expect from a man like that!

Sir, at one time, we traveled with the late Hon. Bonshe to Mpulungu under my chairmanship and, at some point, I got upset with the members of your Committee. He came and apologised on behalf of everybody even when it was not him who had made a mistake. What humbleness would we expect from a person who would show contrition on behalf of another person who has made a mistake! 

Mr Speaker, how many of us, even when we have wronged other people can show contrition? Are we not being reminded today that it is up to us? We can say all the good words about Hon. Bonshe, but he is not there. I want us to ask ourselves that on the day that we will not be there, “How many people will say the same words about us plainly or not plainly?” 

Mr Speaker, I would like all of us to remember that meekness, humbleness, selflessness and humility can never be legislated. They are human virtues that we develop as we grow up. 

    Stubbornness, arrogance and sarcasm develop with human nature. At a point where you are supposed to show humbleness or humanity, you should do so. The ball is in our coat. Our friend is gone. Each time one person dies, many people rise up and die with him. This reminds me about the death of our late President and our colleague Hon. Tetamashimba. People may not have liked Hon. Tetamashimba because he would tell you exactly how he felt on particular issues. He never hid his feelings about what he wanted to do. The same goes for our late President.

Sir, there are certain virtues that we can learn from people such as the late Hon. Bonshe. When I heard that Hon. Bonshe had died, after seeing him in the hospital, it reminded me of the good things that our President actually did. Unfortunately enough, after somebody dies, the vocabulary as to how much we should have praised that person when he was still alive gets out of our mouths. Today, so many people do not want to use the name, ‘Levy Mwanawasa’ in their mouths. It is like it has become bitter. I feel so sad about that. Those of us who were together with the late President must always remember him in the same way we can remember Hon. Bonshe, today. 

Mr Speaker, with these few words, I ask for humility if we have to mourn Hon. Bonshe. We ask for forgiveness to all those that we have wounded. I am very sure that all the Reverends here and the outside,…

Laughter

Mr Syakalima:… will be able to agree with me.

I thank you, Sir. 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

The Chief Whip (Mr Mwaanga): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to support the solemn Motion which has been ably moved by His Honour the Vice-President in remembrance of Hon. Bonshe, the former Member of Parliament for Mufumbwe Parliament Constituency and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. 

Mr Speaker, it is my conviction that Hon. Bonshe totally deserves this Motion because of his outstanding contribution to the people of Mufumbwe Constituency and indeed, to the people of Zambia as a whole. His Honour the Vice-President has been able to outline most of the attributes of the late Hon. Bonshe, but let me hasten to add and underline that Hon. Bonshe was a decent politician who deeply cared for his people and always sought ways and means of serving them better at all times. He did not believe in the personalisation of politics. He believed that politics was about the broad issues which affected the people of Zambia as a whole. He did not believe in the politics of insults or confrontations. He conducted himself in a very exemplary manner.

Mr Speaker, as has already been stated, Hon. Bonshe was tolerant and patient even with a person with whom he disagreed with and always sought to look for common ground, understanding and consensus. He despised and poured scorn on tribalism and always pointed out that it was a serious threat to the national unity. It is impossible to forget the dignified manner in which he handled questions for oral answer in this House and the ever present smile on his face, which became a permanent feature of his personal demeanor. Even when he appeared to be in pain during his struggle for good health, he never lost hope. During the last meetings of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC), I spent a lot of time talking to him and encouraging him to keep up the good fight. He was indeed an incurable optimist.

Sir, he was also a disciplined and obedient member of our parliamentary party and Middle Bench whose performance always brought joy to all of us. He was truly an officer and a gentleman we had faith in his God and always looked to him for strength and guidance. He fitted perfectly in the old adage that “There is a drop of greatness in every man.” We shall deeply miss him and trust that the good Lord has received him mercifully and forgiven all his trespasses and that he has given him more peace than ever enjoyed on earth. I am reminded that life does not end but it merely passes on.

I thank you, Sir.

The Minister of Home Affairs (Mr Mangani): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute on this very solemn Motion on Hon. Misheck Bonshe who was our Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

Mr Speaker, when I was appointed hon. Minister of Home Affairs, unfortunately, that was the time that Hon. Bonshe was unwell. Each time I went to the hospital to see him, he indicated that he felt very bad that at a time I was being appointed, he was not ready to assist me in the affairs of the ministry, knowing too well that he had been there much longer than myself. I kept on encouraging him and hoped he would recover very quickly so that he joined all of us. 

Sir, as the Vice-President has indicated, because of his experience in security matters, he was involved in a number of departments that related to his experience. He was working very closely with the Zambia Police Service, the Drug Enforcement Commission, the National Registration Office, Passport and Citizenship Office, Police Public Complaints Authority and the Registrar of Societies. All the members of staff found him to be a very good man to work with. He was indeed patient and understood the problems of the ministry particularly, relating to the welfare of our staff. 

Mr Speaker, I want to react to one important observation made by the hon. Member of Parliament for Katombola as to why Hon. Bonshe died in Lagos and what really happened. I also want to take this opportunity to say that “Yes, indeed, it is our desire that each time we are sick, we should be taken to specialist hospitals.” Unfortunately, the arrangement we have in our country is not supported by every politician. You have to be recommended by competent doctors for you to be evacuated.  At the time we were evacuating Hon. Tetamashimba, I had the privilege of meeting Hon. Bonshe because I wanted to tell him that we had consultations with his doctors on the possibility of him being evacuated. The doctors had advised that with his condition, it was not possible to evacuate him. I wanted to find out what his reaction was and whether he felt he should be evacuated. 

     I told him that the doctors had advised that there was no need to evacuate him for his condition. The doctors also explained the situation to him. I asked him what he thought about the whole issue and if he thought that he should actually be evacuated. In his humility, he said that we could not go against the advice of the doctors. He said the fact that the doctors had spoken to him as a patient, they knew what they were doing. 

There was some hope as he recovered a little. He even struggled to come to the House. We asked him what else we could do for him and he responded that the doctors kept telling him that no matter which hospital he went to, he would receive the same treatment he was getting here at home. He begged to go and see a prophet in Nigeria because he wanted to seek an alternative view.   

Mr Speaker, I realised the pain he was going through which prompted me to communicate with the President about his desire to look for alternative treatment and what he had suggested, knowing too well what the doctors had said about his illness and how they were managing it. Due to the fact that it was his desire to go and find an alternative arrangement, we allowed him to go. 

Mr Speaker, he travelled to Nigeria. When he reached Nigeria, he phoned and informed us that he could not see the prophet because there were a lot of people. I asked him what else we could do for him and he asked for some more money, as he was in a foreign land. We made arrangements and sent the money. He confirmed that he had received it but had still not seen the prophet. 

From this, I wish to emphasise the fact that it is not our desire to deny anyone treatment abroad or anywhere else when we feel it is important, and as long as the doctors recommend it.  

Mr Speaker, I have an example of the most prominent Zambians, Mr Azwell Mwale, who served for a very long time in the Ministry of Works and Supply. The doctors have told us that they cannot evacuate him at the moment due to his condition and we cannot force this matter. Once the doctors have said that they are managing the illness because they understand the situation, no one can force them to. 

Mr Speaker, I wish to stress that it is unfortunate that we have lost a hardworking hon. Deputy Minister who applied himself very well to the performance of his duties. 

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
  
Mr Mangani: More importantly, I wish to convey my deepest condolences to the family and wish to let them know that we are with them in this very difficult time. I hope that the family will understand the situation. May his soul rest in eternal peace. 

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: I notice that we are approaching the usual break. However, this is not the kind of Motion that should be interrupted. I suggest that we conclude it and the time keeper will give us the full fifteen minutes after that. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Pande): Mr Speaker, I thank you for allowing me to contribute to the debate on this Motion. I join others who have conveyed condolences to the family of the late Hon. Misheck N’enechi Bonshe. 

Mr Speaker, as mentioned by many, Misheck was a leader. I will come to explain later why I say so. He has left a big vacuum in the political leadership in the North-Western Province. The people of North-Western Province have been robbed yet of another political leader a few months after losing Mr Benny Tetamashimba. Indeed, his demise is a loss not only to his family but also the people of Mufumbwe, North-Western Province, as well as the people of Zambia. 
Misheck stood for unity in the nation. Each time we met as North-Western Province Members of Parliament, including colleagues from the Opposition, he always spoke about unity in the province, knowing that if there is unity in the province, it will spill over to the country. 

Mr Speaker, Misheck contributed to this nation as indicated by His Honour the Vice-President. He worked for the Zambia Police and the Bank of Zambia. He is one man who never changed. He was always the same. I must admit that for the entire period I knew Misheck Bonshe, I never saw him annoyed. He knew how to react to situations even when he was annoyed. It was not easy to notice when he was annoyed.  

I indicated earlier that Misheck was a leader. This is because he had attributes of a leader. He had humility as already mentioned and reasonableness. He always wanted to listen. He had time for everybody. 

Mr Speaker, Misheck will, indeed, be missed. I kept in touch with him. Each time I went to see him in hospital, he always assured me that he would be alright and each time I was out of the country, I used to phone him to find out how he was doing. The night before he left for Nigeria, I phoned him and he apologised that he had forgotten to mention that he would be leaving for Nigeria the next day. When he got to the airport, he phoned to inform me that he was leaving. 

I am glad that the hon. Minister of Home Affairs has clarified this issue. For some of us who were very close to Misheck and to whom we disclosed a number of issues, what the hon. Minister has explained is truly what transpired. Of course, other issues cannot be divulged because the man is no more. 

Mr Speaker, a number of words such as ‘humility’ and ‘let us avoid arrogance’ have been used here today. As we moan him, my appeal is that we believe in what we are saying. Let us not just use these words because we are still mourning. Let us use them genuinely and move forward. They should not be words merely used for the record. If I say that I do not want anybody to be arrogant, I must take the lead myself and not be arrogant. If I am going to appeal to somebody to be humble, I must be the first one to show it. Only then will we be genuine. 

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

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Hon. Members, a Motion such as this one is never wound up. Therefore, I will not call on His Honour the Vice-President to wind up the Motion. A Motion like this one is never put either, so I will not put the question to the House. The Motion is carried nemine contradicente, which is Latin for “without dissent”. 

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1620 hours until 1635 hours.
    
                                          
[MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair]

Mr Mwenya (Nkana): Madam Speaker, I beg to move that this House urges the Government to implement Section 136 of the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2008, concerning the sharing of mineral royalty revenue between the Central Government, local authorities and the local mining communities by 30th June, 2010, as a way of providing for services in the mining areas.

Madam Deputy Speaker: Is the Motion seconded?

Mr Habeenzu (Chikankata): Yes, Madam Speaker.

Mrs Sinyangwe walked into the Chamber.

Interruptions

 Madam Deputy Speaker: Order, order! 

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, I would like to thank you for allowing me, this afternoon, to move this Motion that this House urges the Government to implement Section 136 of the Mines and Minerals Act of 2008 concerning the sharing of mineral royalty revenue between the Central Government, local authorities and local mining communities by 30th June, 2010 as a way of providing services to mining areas.

Madam Speaker, as hon. Members will recall, in March, 2008, the Government, through the then hon. the Minster of Mines and Minerals Development, Hon. Dr. Kalombo Mwansa, moved a Motion to pass the Mines and Minerals Development Bill, 2008. This House collectively supported the Motion regardless of the side of the political divide. This House overwhelmingly supported the Motion because it was in national interest. 

Madam Speaker, Section 136 of the Mines and Minerals Development Bill became law. Establishing a sharing mechanism for mineral royalty is not a voluntary but mandatory requirement. For avoidance of doubt, Section 136 reads as follows, and I quote:

“The Minister responsible for finance shall, in conjunction with the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, establish a mineral royalty sharing mechanism for distributing royalty revenues.”

Madam Speaker, the key word in Section 136 is ‘shall.’ The word ‘shall’ means it is a must to do and must be done. 

However, I note that the Government may have taken advantage of the fact that Section 136 does not indicate the timeframe in which to establish the sharing mechanism, hence has defaulted by failing to do so in the last two years. This is not supposed to be the case. The Government should show political will by hastily implementing laws enacted by this House. After all, these laws are moved by the Executive after extensive research.

Madam Speaker, in view of the lacuna that has been noted in the timeframe to implement Section 136 and in the interest of fair play and justice to mining communities, it is imperative that this House cures the lacuna by urging the Government to implement Section 136 within a specified timeframe. For this reason, I propose that this House urges the Government to implement Section 136 within three months, hence my indication of 30th June, 2010 in my Motion as circulated.

Madam Speaker, the bone of contention is that two years have elapsed since Section 136 became law. What is distressing, especially to mining communities, is that the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning and his counterpart at the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, have failed to establish a mineral royalty sharing mechanism for distributing royalty revenues despite collecting this revenue. According to the hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, when he informed this House on 26the February, 2010, the Government has so far collected in excess of K424 billion as mineral royalty revenue. As a consequence of non-implementation of Section 136, this revenue has not been shared with host communities.

Madam Speaker, just as a background to Section 136, this House will recall that when Hon. Ng’andu Magande was Minister of Finance and National Planning, he informed this House on 27th February, 2007 that the President had sent four chiefs from the Copperbelt to Ghana and South Africa to consult on how mineral royalty revenue was administered in those countries to enhance local development. The Royal Highnesses the late President sent were Chiefs Nkana, Chief Lumpuma, Chieftainess Malembeka and the late Senior Chief Chiwala. 

When the Royal Highnesses came back, they made several recommendations to the Government through Hon. Magande and Hon. Dr Kalombo Mwansa, the then Minister of Mines and Minerals Development.  Among the recommendations was the sharing of mineral royalty revenue between the Central Government, local authorities and local mining communities. The sharing ratio recommended was 60 per cent of revenue to go to Central Government and the remaining 40 per cent to be shared equally between the local authorities and local mining communities. Hon. Magande and Hon. Dr. Mwansa will attest to this. Even His Honour the Vice-President, Mr Kunda, SC., will also attest to this because at the time, he was hon. Minister of Justice and in charge of grafting of the Mines and Minerals Development Bill, 2008. However, what is comforting to me is that His Honour the Vice-President and Minister of Justice is aware of this background and the spirit of Section 136.

Madam Speaker, like I indicated earlier, this House omitted to provide a timeframe for the implementation of Section 136.

However, because it was within the exclusive legislative powers of this House to pass such a law, it must, therefore, be within the realm of this Parliament to provide leadership on the implementation of the law by indicating a timeframe for its implementation. By urging the Government to implement Section 136 around June 30, 2010, it is my strong conviction that this House will give a continuation to the legacy of the late President of this Republic. Around this date, it will be almost two years since the late President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC. (MHSRIP), suffered that fatal stroke. So let us all honour him by supporting this Motion.

Madam Speaker, section 136 is of national interest. Like I indicated earlier, this is one of the most prominent legacies in the mining sector left by the late President. Other legacies such as the windfall tax have since been thrown out of the window by this Government and I hope Section 136 will not suffer a similar fate.

Madam Speaker, your Committee on Energy, Environment and Tourism, in its report of August 2007, chaired by Hon. Sakwiba Sikota, SC., reported to this House that laws passed to control pollution and land degradation in the mining sector have not been a deterrent to mining and mineral processing operations countrywide. Your Committee noted that communities hosting these operations suffer unthinkable miseries from negative impacts of these operations.

Madam Speaker, life in areas such as Wusakili, Chamboli, Nkana West, St. Anthony, Cha Cha Cha, Kandabwe and Mindolo is agonising due to the negative impact of mining. As I speak here today, more than 360 houses in Chamboli Township; 300 in Cha Cha Cha township in Kitwe; over 500 house in Chiwempala Township in Chingola, and over 300 houses in Mufulira have been severely damaged due to mining activities. The hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development is aware of these problems because they have been on his table since 2004. Should we experience an earthquake or tremor in these areas or, indeed, should the rains persist, we risk losing thousands of lives and property worth billions of kwacha. It will be extremely embarrassing and irresponsible of the Government if such a scenario was to happen.
Madam Speaker, in addition to mining related hazards, service delivery and infrastructure in mining areas are pathetic, to say the least. In Wusakili and Mindolo, for example, it is shameful and unthinkable that after forty-six years of independence, people still use plastic bags and buckets to answer to the call of nature. The state of road infrastructure in townships in my constituency and other Copperbelt towns is equally pathetic. Even important trunk roads such as the one from Sabina to Mufulira and Chibuluma Central Street are in a terrible state, and yet these are roads contributing to the National Treasury in a very big manner.

Madam Speaker, perhaps the question that begs an answer here is, “What is the connection between section 136 and cracking of houses, poor service delivery and pathetic infrastructure in mining areas, including my constituency, Nkana?” The answer is that if this revenue is shared as per requirement of Section 136, then the portion that is appropriated to the mining communities would go towards addressing these mining related socio-economic issues in mining areas.

Madam Speaker, it is important to note that when the Government privatised the mines in 2000, it signed development agreements with the investors. These development agreements imposed limited liability on the part of the investors in terms of provision of social services as well as addressing historical environmental liabilities. As a consequence of these development agreements, legally, there is limited contribution of mining companies to the improvement of medical, education, sport, road network and other social services in our mining areas. Further, in the event of environmental and social liabilities such as cracking of houses, the mining investors are not liable for this.

Madam Speaker, all historical liabilities are a responsibility of the Government. It is for this reason that the Government borrowed US$50 million from the World Bank and the Nordic Development Fund to address the historical liabilities in the former ZCCM mining areas but, as you may be aware, almost all these funds borrowed from the World Bank have since been committed through activities of the Copperbelt Environment Project which is under the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, hence no additional projects can be taken on board through this project. In fact, the project was supposed to come to an end on 31st March, 2010, but has been extended to 31st March, 2011 just for the purpose of winding up unfinished projects.

Furthermore, Madam Speaker, it will be financially imprudent for this Government to go back to the donors such as the World Bank to seek further loans to address historical liabilities in the mining sector when the sector can support itself to deal with historical and current liabilities by way of revenue sharing as proposed in Section 136. In addition, it will be insensitive to the mining investors such as Mopani Copper Mines and Konkola Copper Mines Plc if the Government fails to address historical liabilities in mining areas for the mining companies. As far as communities in these areas are concerned, there is nothing like historical liabilities. The residents are not privy to the intricacies of the development agreements.

Madam Speaker, as I conclude my Motion which is non controversial, allow me to remind the Front Bench that this Motion is a constitutional means by which those of us on the Back Bench can demand accountability from the Government. This is normal in any democracy in the world and, therefore, the Front Bench, including all our brothers regardless of the side of the political divide, should support this Motion. It is an attempt to restore confidence in this Government and the dignity of Parliament in enacting laws. The Motion also seeks to strengthen our peoples’ confidence in the laws of Zambia and, most importantly, to uphold the legacy of the late President.

I thank you, Madam.{mospagebreak}

Madam Deputy Speaker: Does the seconder wish to speak now or later?

Mr Habeenzu (Chikankata): Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to second the Motion.

As you have heard from the mover, the Motion is non controversial and non partisan and I urge all well-meaning hon. Members of this House to support it. 

As hon. Members will recall, twelve years ago in 1998, the Government enacted the Zambia Wildlife Act No. 12. One of the requirements of this Act is the sharing of revenue of wildlife and tourism with the communities that host the natural resources. In accordance with this Act, seventy-two community resource boards have since been registered under the Wildlife Act and approximately K5 billion per year is disbursed to these community resource boards as 45 per cent of their share of hunting and tourism revenue.

Madam Speaker, I have used this example of the Wildlife Act to demonstrate that the law on sharing of revenue from natural resources is not new to this country. It has been with us since 1998. Therefore, there is nothing sinister about the Motion that has been moved to urge the Government to implement Section 136 of the Mines and Minerals Act of 2008 which requires sharing mineral royalty tax.

Madam Speaker, in addition to the Wildlife Act, the Government adopted the National Policy on Environment in 2007. This policy was launched by His Excellency the President Mr Rupiah Bwezani Banda in June last year. As Hon. Catherine Namugala, Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, who is the custodian of the policy will recall, one of the guiding principles of this policy is to catalyse the implementation of sustainable environmental, social and economic development tenets through bringing together in a holistic strategy all aspects of preventive, precautionary actions and equitable benefit sharing.

 Madam Speaker, the foregoing is very clear that Section 136 conforms to Government policy on benefit sharing in the natural resources sector and, therefore, it should be implemented accordingly as provided by the hon. Member.

Madam Speaker, the issue of mining and mineral resource extraction has had a very negative impact in all the countries where mining has been taking place. For example, in the Southern Province, hon. Members will recall that Maamba Collieries has been very instrumental in sustaining mining activities on the Copperbelt and, in addition, it has also been very instrumental in providing the much needed energy to run industries and domestic use countrywide. However, when one looks at the infrastructure in Maamba, including the road leading to this very important area, it is not a thing to talk about. One of the examples is the bridge that collapsed recently. As I speak, today, it is worth to mention that a lot of revenue and loss of business has been caused by this. The social facilities in this area are in a deplorable state. We have environmental hazards of fires ignited on their own due to poor environmental management.

Madam Speaker, the other example I may give is Mapatizya in Kalomo. This area has produced a lot of wealth for this country, but one would discover that the infrastructure and social services which is there very poor.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Habeenzu: Madam Speaker, if you went to Mapatizya, today, you cannot believe the infrastructure which is around the place because the roads that are leading to this area, which has actually created wealth for this country, are terrible and impassable, and yet some people have become richer and mining is taking place there and taxes are collected from this area. Therefore, I would like to urge this Government to re-look at this by implementing Section 136 so that areas like Mapatizya can benefit.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Habeenzu: Madam Speaker, as I conclude, it will not be fair to the people of Mazabuka if I do not mention their plight following the collapse of Albidon Nickel Mine. 

Hon. Opposition Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Habeenzu: As we may all recall, some people were relocated to pave way for mining activities and before the resettlement exercise was completed, the mine went under due to the global financial crisis. However, up to-date, these people have remained in distress and are hopeless. It is just fair that when their mine is revived in June or tomorrow, as it has been stated by the Minister of Finance and National Planning, the services or rather the mine should take care of the corporate social responsibility so that these people around this area can benefit. Right now, from the time the mine closed, these people have been living in distress. There is no hospital, there are no schools and land has been taken away. So, I just want to plead with the Hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning to remind the new owners of the mine, when he goes there, to include in their plan the corporate social responsibility so that these people in this area can benefit.

I thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mr Lumba (Solwezi Central): Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me an opportunity to debate this important Motion. As I debate, I am mindful of the category I fall in following Mr Speaker’s statistics, last week, on the hon. Members in this House ...

Laughter

Mr Lumba: … and I am the least in that.

Madam Deputy Speaker: That category is good. You have been upgraded come Monday.

Laughter

Mr Lumba: Madam Speaker, as I debate this Motion, I am comforted by the fact that this Government, which we are trying to persuade to implement this law, told us, in 2001, that it was a Government of laws …

Hon. Opposition Member: Not of men.

Mr Lumba: … and not of men. Thank you.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lumba: Madam Speaker, in stating that fact, we have seen post 2001 that good laws have come out of this august House and we are very grateful for that. As I was outside this House, I used to read about and hear what was going on in this House and that gives me comfort to add my voice to this debate. Since this is a Government of laws, the Executive is aware that it is not just making good laws, but also enacting them. 

Mr Muntanga: Hear, hear!

Mr Lumba: Madam Speaker, our learned colleagues say, ‘That justice delayed, is justice denied.”

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lumba: In this regard, if you delay the enactment of those laws, you are denying the people of Zambia or the people who can benefit from this law. So, that also gives me comfort that we are talking to a Government which listens and I do not see any problem here. 

Madam Speaker, as you know, I am coming from a constituency which has one of the biggest mines, Kansanshi Mine. During this session, in one of the debates, we have heard how much mineral royalty tax it has paid in the last two years. If my memory serves me right, in 2008, K70 billion plus was paid in terms of mineral royalty tax and in 2009, K38 billion. That means that Kansanshi alone has contributed about K108 billion in mineral royalty tax in the last two years. 

If the Executive would be kind enough to give us even 10 per cent of that money, Solwezi we would have K10 billion for maintenance of its infrastructure. Hon. Members who will be heading to Mufumbwe in the next few weeks will see that the Solwezi/Chingola Road is in a very bad state. The other day, I heard the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning say that this road would be rehabilitated under the Triple Three programme, but it is not known when that will be done. If Solwezi was given a share from the mineral royalty tax, the council could patch up some of the potholes on the road which hon. Members will be seeing as they drive into Mufumbwe.
    
Madam Speaker, it is because of such issues that we are saying that if this law is implemented, communities will greatly benefit not only in Solwezi, but in the whole country. As I debate, I am comforted by the fact that this is a Government of laws and, therefore, the money collected from mineral royalty tax is somewhere in a bank and has not been misused or misappropriated.

Mr Muntanga: Hear, hear!

Mr Lumba: It is comforting to note that we are appealing to a Government that has kept this money aside because it also needs to use it. So, once we share that money, I am sure the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning will be very happy to apply it somewhere rather than just keep it in the bank. We do not even know if this money is earning interest or just suffering bank charges.

Madam Speaker, despite Solwezi having a mine, at the moment, one cannot compare it to mining towns on the Copperbelt. It is only in Solwezi where miners do not own accommodation and are renting small houses. It is only in Solwezi where miners, after a long day’s work, go back home and get yellow containers to look for water because such services are not provided. The mining companies have made it very clear that they will concentrate on their core business, which is extracting minerals, and not providing medical services, good roads and so on, as is the case in Kitwe’s Nkana East and West townships and other townships which developed because of mining. In Solwezi, mining companies are not developing any social infrastructure. 

Madam Speaker, as the hon. Members will see as they go into Mufumbwe – I am sorry to use this example again – that there is only one tarred road in Solwezi, which is right in the middle of town. Therefore, there is nothing to show that just 8 kilometres from the town centre, there is a big mine which is contributing to the Treasury of this country. We are, therefore, appealing to this Government of laws to put into practice a law which was enacted by this House so that we see change. By the way, we know that there are many people who are going to benefit from this, including chiefs in the area.

Madam Speaker, allow me to just say one small thing about my history. My father was born right where the Kansanshi Mine is and my grandmother died there and her grave is there in the mine. However, today, I am not allowed to go and see my grandmother’s grave because the miners will not allow me. Despite being subjected to such a situation, I have not benefited from mining activities in this place. I cannot, therefore, excitedly say that there is a mine in my village because there is nothing to show for it.

Madam Speaker, I am pleading with hon. Members in this House to consider this Motion not from a political point of view, but of the benefits that implementing this law will bring to mining communities.  

Madam Speaker, allow me to move away from Solwezi Central and talk about Solwezi West.

Mr Muntanga: Hear, hear!

Mr Lumba: The Lumwana Mine is located in Solwezi West. What I have heard, in the recent past, is that the existence of the Lumwana River, which the community uses for washing their clothes and catching fish, is threatened because the mines have been disposing of some of their waste into the river and we know that the copper from Lumwana Mine contains uranium. There is nothing that will remain of the Lumwana River.

Madam Speaker, if this law is put into practice, communities are going to benefit from mining activities in their areas. As we sit in this august House, many more mines will come up in the North-Western Province. Some mines will soon come up in Mwinilunga. We are, therefore, saying that before more mines emerge, we should implement this law for the benefit of already existing mining communities. This will be a plus for the Government because people will start to see that we are serving them as leaders.

Madam Speaker, since I came to this House, I have heard, on two occasions, this matter being raised. The Government says that the mechanism on which it can base the sharing of mining resources has not yet been devised. How long can it take to do that? I see on the other side technocrats and people in my profession like Hon. Mutati who can just sit down and within two hours come up with a sharing ratio. We plead with them to show political will and support this Motion.

I thank you, Madam Speaker.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kambwili (Roan): Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate the Motion on the Floor. It is, indeed, important that every hon. Member of this House supports it. Those of us who have grown up in mining townships will remember that during the time that we were young, we would hardly see a pothole in the mining townships. Every time our parents found a pothole on their way to work, they reported it and before lunch time, the pothole would be mended by the mining company in the area. 

We sold the mining companies to investors, but did not include the issue of looking after the infrastructure such as roads and many other social amenities. Today, the new owners of the mining companies are not concerned about looking after infrastructure and providing social and sporting amenities to the mining townships. It is, therefore, imperative that the Government enforces the provisions of Section 136 of the Mines and Minerals Development Act so that mining communities can get some money to do some of the things that mining companies were taking care of in the past.

Madam Speaker, the main road in Luanshya from 14th street to East drive onto D avenue going down to Independence avenue and up to Baluba Mine, was maintained by the mining companies because that is the route which the mine bus uses. This road deteriorates within a short period of time because of the traffic of buses. Let me state that the previous owners of the Luanshya Copper Mines, who have just out pulled, agreed to be maintaining this road. However, the new owners, who are Chinese, have said they have nothing to do with this road even if their buses use it. They claim that their responsibility is to pay tax and the council has to repair the road. This road is in such a deplorable state that it is unbearable to look at. Therefore, if mineral royalty tax is shared between the local authority and mining communities, money can be apportioned towards the rehabilitation of this road.

The other road in the mining township that needs to be repaired, if we were to be given a portion of this money, is the one that I have made a lot of noise about, the Roan/Mpatamatu Road. 

Today, the Chinese are using this road to ferry crushed stones from Mpatamatu to Ndola where they are building a stadium. This road is badly damaged because the local authority has no money to repair it. This is the reason we are saying that if chiefs on the Copperbelt were given part of the money raised from the mineral royalty, they were going to look after themselves and we could have been able to work on this road. In other words, there was going to be no need for the Government to spend money buying vehicles for the chiefs because they were going to raise money from the mineral royalties. 

Madam Speaker, if you visited chiefs’ palaces on the Copperbelt, you would certainly cry because some of them are not even worth being called palaces. Yet those traditional rulers, according to this Act, are entitled to a share from this mineral royalty. I, therefore, urge this Government to seriously consider and support this Motion so that we get the money on behalf of their Royal Highness and the people who live in these mining townships on the Copperbelt.

With these few words, I beg to support the Motion.

Mr Mukanga (Kantanshi): Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to also, add my voice on this important Motion that has been ably moved by the hon. Member of Parliament for Nkana and seconded by the hon. Member of Parliament for Chikankata.

Madam Speaker, every good and wise parent leaves inheritance for his children and children’s children. These minerals we have in this country, our wealth, is our inheritance from the Lord, it is our portion and no one can change that. When people come from various places to invest in Zambia, they are doing that on our behalf. Therefore, we need to get the benefits as our entitlements and people should see the wealth of this country. 

It is for this reason that when this Mines and Minerals Act of 2008 was enacted, which was supposed to be operationalised by 1st April, 2008, everybody was excited because we were looking at a situation where things were going to turn around. Again, we are looking at a situation where we are going to have a proper sharing mechanism because part 12 of this Act allows us to have a portion in the wealth that comes from the mines. However, like most of the Acts that are enacted, this one is also not fully operationalised and I do not know the reasons, but I think the Executive knows better.

Madam Speaker, in order to push this Act, one cardinal point is to look at direct investment. If you are living in a place like Mufulira, where I come from, and if we were given some money, we would have a direct investment that people would be able to see. We need to translate what is happening underground in the open pit mines into something on the surface which people can point out and say, this is coming from the copper that we have. For instance, we should be able to say this nickel is coming from Mazabuka and these diamonds are from this place. 

Madam Speaker, of late, we have had investors coming in and leaving and I can give Chief Nkana’s area as an example. Many people had gone into that area, for instance, the Senegalese to go and mine emeralds. After mining these emeralds, they went back to Senegal and put proper structures there, leaving Nkana poor and with a lot of depressions which are not environmentally friendly. 

Now, with this Act in place, issues of roads, street lighting, health and social amenities will be directly handled by the local authorities in those areas. The Central Government will not have that big responsibility of trying to work on issues like roads.

If you went to Mufulira, you will notice that we have really contributed in terms of mining in this country. However, if you went to Mufulira, you would find that streets have serious potholes, which not even a 4 X 4 vehicle, like mine, can manage to pass through. We are, therefore, appealing to this Executive to look at this issue from a more serious angle. The Central Government should not blame the local authorities every time for not working when councils have always stated that they cannot provide such services because they do not have enough resources. If we were given these resources, if we were given part of the mineral royalty, which we, as local authorities, are entitled to, we would handle the situations that we have in various districts.

It is important for the Central Government to give these councils their entitlement so that at the end of it all, the Government can have the power to say we gave you your entitlement, but you are failing to produce results. At the moment, the Central Government has no power to talk to councils for not producing results because they have failed to fully operationalise this Act, which would have allowed the local government to provide services to the people.

Madam Speaker, Parliament was told sometime back in 2008 that we raised about US$44 million from mineral royalty. In 2009, we raised about US$50 million and we made a projection of US$50 million for 2010. That is, without Lumwana, but if you look at all these monies and if you calculate using a 2:3 ratio, you would find that there is 40 or 60 per cent, which is equivalent to US$57 million. If you divide by the seven councils where these mining companies are housed, we are talking about approximately US$10 million per council. If you gave Mufulira Council US$10 million, you would see a lot of development on the ground. However, if this is not done, we will continue having roads that are in a state of disrepair, poor health infrastructure, Government buildings and continue talking, but nothing will be happening on the ground.

As regards the timeframe, I would like to differ a bit with the mover of this Motion who stated that by 30th June, 2010, the law should be enacted. The day a law is enacted and operationalised, everything comes into effect. Therefore, this Government has defaulted because this mechanism was supposed to be operationalised by 1st April, 2008 and today, no one should come and say we have not worked out a formula. If you intend to enact a law, you are supposed to look at the various aspects and mechanisms of how monies will be shared. For now, that is not an excuse we can take. It is important that this Government swallows its pride and accepts the mistakes that it made and moves forward. If they want, they can say since we have not done well in this aspect, we are going to look at the new budget and ensure that things start happening. It is important that we work together and this is not a partisan issue, it affects all the people of Zambia, and us directly. It might not affect you, but your relatives, your children and their children will be affected. It is for this reason that I urge the Executive to reconsider this situation and ensure that we move together and support this Motion.

Madam Speaker, I thank you.

Mr Simuusa (Nchanga): Madam Speaker, I thank you for catching your eye and for allowing me to also contribute on this very important Motion which was ably raised by my colleague, Hon. Musenge Mwenya, Member for Nkana, and seconded by Hon. Habeenzu.

Madam Speaker, I wish to start by saying that, as my colleagues have said, this is a non-political Motion and I wish to appeal to our colleagues on your right that, in debating such Motions and looking at issues like this one, we should not be defensive. 

Madam Speaker, sometimes, I get disturbed at seeing how my colleagues on your right react when it comes to issues that relate to benefits Zambians are entitled to. This issue, in particular, is an issue where we have said, time and again, that in Zambia, it is an established fact that we are not benefiting from the minerals that God gave us.

     When you talk about issues of this nature, it is very important not to be defensive. Sometimes I am very disturbed at how defensive our colleagues on your right become when it comes to deliberating issues that affect Zambians. I have said this time and time again that in Zambia, we are not benefiting from the exploitation of the minerals that God has given us, and yet our colleagues go out and paint a picture that we are benefiting therefrom. I will illustrate my argument, that is, we are not benefiting as much as we should, with figures. 

Madam Speaker, this Motion is particularly dealing with two issues. The first issue is equitable distribution of resources. We have bemoaned the issue of the national cake in Zambia not being distributed equitably. As I stand here, I want to remind the House of what I have said, repeatedly, that I am the richest Member of Parliament in Zambia. Why? This is because the constituency single handedly contributes to this economy more than any other in terms of mining, and yet if you come to that constituency, like my colleagues have said, it is like a ghost town. There are no proper roads and all the structures are dilapidated, and yet it contributes over 50 to 60 per cent to this economy. Why do I say this? If I go to the Central Government and ask for money to repair a road, I will be told that there is no money. They will advise me to use the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), but other areas do not use CDF. They use money from the Central Government. Therefore, in order to reverse this inequitable distribution of resources, a motion or an enactment of such a law will, indeed, solve the problem. Once this is done, we will not come here and accuse our colleagues on your right of not distributing resources equitably because their distribution will self-regulate. That is why this Motion is important. They will rest and govern in peace because the mechanism will make sure that the roads, drainages and other things are done. However, at the moment, we maintain that we do not get our share of the national cake. Therefore, let this Motion be brought into effect.

Madam Speaker, the other issue is that the operationalisation of this law has been delayed. Where is the problem? When a law is to the Zambians’ benefit, it is delayed, but if it benefits a foreigner, it is expedited. I will give you an example of the windfall tax. Immediately it was brought here and reversed, it was operationalised. The projection of the windfall tax in 2010 altogether is US$1.2 billion. That is how much we are losing from the windfall tax.

Now, Madam Speaker, when that law was put in place, it was processed and applied very quickly and the reason was to help the mining companies to reduce the operating costs. We reduced even the taxes on such commodities as heavy fuel at supersonic speed so that the mining companies would have lower operating costs that would benefit them. 

Madam Speaker, as I am speaking, on average, the operating costs for these mining companies in Zambia is about US$1.50 per pound. The copper prices, on average, is US$3.50. This means there is US$1.50 per pound going into the pockets of the mining companies. That is a lot of money made through the supersonic speed effort of our Government.

Madam Speaker, in 2009, how much was realised in export sales from Zambia? It was US$3 billion. Out of this, how much did we return as a nation? It was US$77 million which is only 2.5 per cent of what is made from the minerals. The bulk of it goes to the mineral companies. Thanks to the efficient Government that moved swiftly to make sure that the laws enacted in terms of taxes were enforced quickly. 

Now, why are we slow in implementing laws when it comes to laws that are meant to help the Zambians? This law was supposed to be enacted in 1st April, 2008 and to date, it is still begging a mechanism. Where is the problem? Why are you not being patriotic? Zambians, in terms of mineral resources, as my colleagues stated, are blessed. This is a very rich nation and I have said this before. You cannot compare Zambia with other nations in terms of the copper, cobalt, coal and emeralds that we have in this country, and yet we throw away 1 per cent of our copper as a cut-off point. In other countries, it is 0.27 per cent. We are rich. You cannot find the emeralds that we have in Zambia anywhere in the world. That is why people pay US$300 per piece of this size (illustrating with his hand). We are not poor, yet the hon. Minister said in his statement that we are ranked amongst the poorest in the world. Why? 

Madam, I talked to one of the foreigners because we debate when these issues come up. He said that Zambia is not poor and that was why they come here. They can make as much as US$3 billion from a so-called poor country, and yet the country is poor and the poverty levels are rising. In fact, it was very interesting to hear the hon. Minister say that the per capita income had increased from US$300 to US$2,000. Let him explain that these same statistics show that the poverty levels are on the increase in Zambia. What does that mean? It means that there are a few rich people who are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. 

Madam, those foreigners I talked to said Zambia was not poor, but was poorly managed. I was shocked, but when I thought about it, I said it was true. We should not be defensive because instead of talking about 2.5 per cent gain, we should be talking in the range of 30 to 50 per cent. Where is the other problem? I always attribute the problem to us as Zambians. We, as Zambians, do not have faith and confidence in ourselves and, for some reason, we do not want Zambians to benefit, but foreigners. 

When I was working, at that time, but qualified and experienced as I was, when I worked with a foreigner who was not qualified and had to be taught the job, he would be my boss and would be paid twenty times more than I only because he was a non-Zambian. We, as Zambians, are perpetuating such practices. When you have two products, you would rather go for a foreign-made one and leave the Zambian product. When you have an investor, you go to the foreign investor and leave the Zambian investor. We do not have confidence in ourselves and it shows even in the way we approach these laws.

Madam Speaker, when there is a law which will benefit the foreigner, the Government will be swift and move at a supersonic speed to implement it, but when it comes to those that will benefit Zambians, it will be dilly-dallying. For a law, for example, that was supposed to have been effected in April, 2008, motions will be brought in 2010, to debate and convince our colleagues on your right to move a motion to operationalise it. What is wrong with us? Should we even try to convince our colleagues on your right to move this Motion? What is wrong with us? Should we convince them to operationalise this law and yet it is for the benefit of the Zambians? Why should we even debate it? In debating this, I would like to, again, appeal to our colleagues on your right to quickly put this law into action. 

  In winding up my debate, I would like to quote what the same foreigners that we are so swift in helping at the expense of the Zambians are saying. 

Madam, as the hon. Minister has said, one of the issues discussed with the Managing Director of the IMF is that Zambia is not collecting enough taxes, especially as regards the mines. This means that the 2.5 per cent tax or K77 million is much lower than what we should be collecting. Yet, we sit here and allow a situation where we do not collect even the little we are supposed to be collecting. What is wrong with us? 

The IMF staff mission, led by George Tusoboris, visited Zambia between February and March. One of the things Mr Tusoboris said was that Zambians needed to increase mine taxes to fund roads and hospitals. That is one of the things that this man from the IMF said in an earlier mission. 

Madam Speaker, what does this means? It means that these people are telling us to our face that we are getting a raw deal as far as the mines are concerned. My question is: What are we doing as Zambians and as a nation? The people running the mining houses that we have sold the country to, the people that we hold in high esteem, the managing director of the IMF and a staff mission from the IMF, are telling us that we have a raw deal as far as the mines are concerned. They are telling us to our face that we are not collecting enough taxes to fund our roads and hospitals. What is wrong with us? Yet, we sit down, and claim that the Government is doing fine. What is wrong with us?

I thank you, Madam.

Dr Machungwa (Luapula): Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute on this debate and I promise to be brief.

Madam, Zambia has about 12 million people and it is endowed with natural resources. 

Mr Mukanga: It is 13 million people.

Dr Machungwa: It can have 13 million people based upon whatever you are quoting from, but we are somewhere around there. It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that the entire country shares in the cake whatever of it that we get.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Machungwa: It is also a fact that there are huge disparities between the rural and urban areas. The seminar we had on Monday explained very clearly that a large portion of the country is way behind and certain parts of our country are relatively more developed comparatively such that if you are walking in Lusaka, Kaputa, on an island in my constituency, or in Shang’ombo, you will find a huge difference. Therefore, it is a responsibility of the Government to share the resources in such a way that all our people get something.

Now, the law that we are talking about is one which was passed by this House which says that certain amounts of money should go to the local authorities and local communities to help them. Yes, that is what we agreed, but in doing that, the Government must be cognisant of the fact that we must share whatever resources we have in an equitable manner throughout the country.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Machungwa: By the way areas that are endowed with minerals will be relatively more developed because of the companies and businesses that are coming up there. The facilities and infrastructure that is there is going to be relatively more advanced than in rural areas. Therefore, when we come to share resources, we must ensure that those resources are shared in such a way that areas like …

Mr Mukanga: Luapula.

Dr Machungwa: … my constituency and other rural areas where there is greater poverty are taken into account. When we passed a law like this one, we wanted to ensure that when there is enough money, the Government allocated it to those areas which were bringing development, but this did not mean that we should forget about other areas. 

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Machungwa: Therefore, when a Motion like this comes and states that by June 2010, we must begin sharing this amount in the way the Bill states, we run the risk of the rural areas receiving nothing. I do not know if a statutory instrument has already been worked out to show how this would be done. I am not sure if that has already been done, but if we come in the middle of the Budget and say that we must begin doing that, then we run a risk of rural areas that have been receiving less money compared to urban areas getting nothing.

Hon. Government Members: hear, hear!

Dr Machungwa: We have to ensure that we collect more money. I have stood up on the Floor of this House in the past and made it clear that I support laws that are passed by this House that will enable the country to collect more taxes from all companies including those involved in mining. For this reason I supported the windfall tax because it would have brought more cake to the Government and then it could have been shared with all the parts of Zambia. However, what we seem to be saying is that from the little that we are collecting, those who have more should get more and those areas of Zambia which do not have minerals should get even less. I cannot agree with this kind of thinking.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Machungwa: My view is that, whereas this Motion is well intentioned by saying that the Government should implement laws passed by this House, what I am asking is that let things be done after this has well been thought out. A proper statutory instrument and sharing mechanism that will take into consideration the poverty that is greater in the rural areas should be drawn up. It is not just the question that because we are here, or you live where it is happening, you must get everything. All the people of Zambia deserve to get something.

I thank you, Madam.

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

Chief Whip (Mr Mwaanga): Madam Speaker, I thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to participate in this debate on the Motion that has been moved by Hon. Mwenya. 

Madam, if this Motion had been well intended and well thought out, it should have been discussed with us so that we could agree on its formulation which could be more embracing of the issues which were contained in the Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Act. Unfortunately, this was not done. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that it was not intended that we should support it because if it was intended that we should support it, we should have been engaged in the discussion to agree on how best to bring the issues which are contained in the Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Act.

The Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Act was brought to this House by this Government. Section 136 is one of those sections which was included by this Government because we wanted to see an equitable sharing of resources derived from the mining industry. This is because we wanted to see this equitable distribution done in a fair way which would be carefully thought out so that it does not create any disconnects and disadvantage certain sections of the Zambian community as Hon. Machungwa has already pointed out.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Madam Speaker, the very fact that we have been able to come up with these measures means that we care for the people of Zambia. No one should pretend that there are more people caring for Zambia than we are. We are a caring Government.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Madam Speaker, that is the reason why the people of Zambia have continued re-electing us…

Interruptions

Mr Mwaanga:…so that we can implement our plans to protect their future. 

Interruptions

Mr Mwaanga: Madam Speaker, it should not become customary for hon. Members to bring Motions to this House which we have discussed. The passing of an Act of Parliament, a Bill which later becomes an Act does not mean that we have to implement everything in that Bill immediately. Implementation of Acts of Parliament is not an event. It is a process and you have to follow that process in a logical way to make sure that the country as a whole, benefits. I fear the tendency to bring Articles and Bills which are not well meaning and not carefully though of. The issues which have been mentioned in the Motion are not the only issues which concern the Mines and Minerals Amendment Act or section 136. There are many other issues. 

Madam Speaker, Government has to think through all these issues. It has to consult people who are involved and see how best we can share the national cake. We believe that the national cake must be shared and shared in a very equitable manner. Unless this is done, we will be doing the people of Zambia an injustice. We were not elected to do that.

Interruptions

Mr Mwaanga: We are not being defensive as been alleged by my dear nephew over there. We are here to explain the position that this is our law. We introduced it for a purpose. We know that I will achieve the purpose for which it was introduced but please, do bear in mind that the implementation of laws is not an event. It is process which takes sometime and which has to ensure that all the fundamentals are in place, which will enable Government, once implemented to take a more holistic approach to the issue of implementation. For this reason, it is our position that we will not be in a position to support this Motion because our view is that it should have been discussed with us. We would have introduced amendments to improve the Motion so that it becomes more holistic. No effort was made to engage us to do that. Therefore, it was not intended that we should support it and because of that, we shall treat it in the same manner as we have treated all other frivolous Motions which have been brought to the House.

Madam Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr M. B. Mwale: Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing me an opportunity to add my voice to this Motion. 

Madam Speaker, apparently, on the other side of this House, this Motion is well meaning. I would like to state that this Motion is misplaced. Why do I say so? The hon. Members who debated even acknowledged that it is a Government programme. It is the Government which brought a Bill before this House and this House enacted it into a law. Therefore, this Government has repeatedly said that we are working out mechanisms through which we can operationalise Section 136 of the Mines and Minerals Development Act. 

Madam Speaker, before I continue, I would like to put it on record that I adopt the debate of Hon. Machungwa and Hon. Mwaanga as my own…

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr M. B. Mwale: …because they have stated a number of issues that I wanted to state. However, I am at a lose listening to the hon. Member of Nchanga who seem to debate at such a supersonic speed. 

Madam Speaker, as of now, who is benefiting from the mineral royalty? Mineral royalty is collected at 3 per cent gross value. Now, where is it utilised? I would like to correct the wrong impression created by the hon. Member of Nchanga that this money is used in our schools. This money is used to work on our roads and to provide the health facilities in this country. Basically, this means that the same mineral royalty is benefiting the Zambians…

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr M. B. Mwale:…including the people of Nchanga and Nkana. I tend to think that one should excuse others because when you are on the other side (left) of the House, you may not look at issues from a bigger picture as we do.  

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr M. B. Mwale: We are looking at issues from a national point of view.  The hon. Member who moved this Motion has never cared to ponder on the utilisation of resources by even his own local authority. For example, the provincial Budget for Copperbelt is K39.2 billion. The Budget for Ndola City Council is about K45 billion, over the provincial administration. The Budget for Kitwe City Council, where the mover comes from is K50 billion.

Interruptions

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order!

Mr M. B. Mwale: Madam Speaker, have we not heard that whenever rates are collected from the mines, the first thing that the Councilors and a miner who is also a Councilor do is to pay oneself allowances?

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr M. B. Mwale: Have we not heard that whenever rates are collected, the first things you hear about are fights amongst some Councilors on who gets what contract without thinking of service provision to the communities that these Councils are?

Interruptions

Dr Katema: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

Mr M. B. Mwale: Madam Speaker, it is nice…

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order! I think you have seen the way we moved. We moved this way and came this side. When you raise a point of order on the hon. Minister it is not on anything else unless you are going to state that the fact given or seemingly a fact is not true and you must know everything in totality not just yourself but the entire nation.

Madam Deputy Speaker: The point of order is raised.

Dr Katema: Madam Speaker, thank you for allowing me to raise a very serous point of order. Is the hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development in order to mislead this House and the entire nation that monies collected by the Councils in form of ground rates is shared by Councilors in form of allowances when in fact, it is not true. I need your very serious ruling Madam Speaker. 

Madam Deputy Speaker: The hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development may have to put that into consideration as he debates. 

Mr M. B. Mwale: Madam Speaker, I would like to repeat my question. Have we not heard that whenever rates are collected by the local authorities, councillors pay themselves allowances  first... 

Hon. Opposition Members: Aah!

Mr M. B. Mwale: … before service provision? 

Mr Kambwili: Question!

Mr M. B. Mwale: Madam Speaker, I listened to the hon. Member of Parliament for Chikankata …

Interruptions

Mr Kambwili: On a point of order, Madam. 

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order! 

The hon. Minister is talking about councils and councillors. He is a councillor too. 

Interruptions

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order! 

He is talking from a point of view of a councillor and I believe that he is mindful of what he is saying. Therefore, let us listen to his debate. 

The hon. Minister may continue. 

Mr M. B. Mwale: Madam Speaker, I thank you for your guidance. I love to listen to the hon. Member for Chikankata debate. 

Madam Speaker, Kabwe Town developed because of mining. Kitwe Town, where the mover comes from, developed because of mining. Ndola and Chingola towns both developed because of mining activities. The benefits are there for all of us to see. The development that we are seeing in the country, even in the remotest of places, is attributable to mining activities. All provincial centres are linked to the capital city by roads which have been built by revenue accrued from mining activities. 

Madam Speaker, development has come into this country. We need to guard this development, as Hon. Machungwa put it, for all of the Zambians because this is one Zambia one nation. 

Madam Speaker, it is interesting to listen to hon. Members of this House debate and conveniently use the name of our late dear President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC. When our dear President was alive, they did not give him any peace. The only was dreamt about insulting him. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr M. B. Mwale: When he carried out a very responsible act of evacuating one leader for medical treatment …

Interruptions

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order! 

Let the hon. Minister stick to the issue of mines and what has been debated. 

You may continue. 

Mr M. B. Mwale: Madam Speaker, I thank you for your guidance. 

In conclusion, we have to bear in mind that the revenue that accrue from mining activities are used in various ways. It takes a very responsible government to ensure that there is equity in the distribution of these resources. 

May I put it on record that even as we enact laws, they are not cast in concrete and can be reviewed. 

Madam Speaker, I thank you. 

The Minister of Finance and National Planning (Dr Musokotwane): Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to the Motion that has been put on the Floor. 

From the outset, I wish to state that following the debates of my predecessors, Hon. Dr Machungwa and the others, I stand to reject this frivolous Motion. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Madam Speaker, I can liken this Motion to stories we were told by our grandmothers about people they found in this region who were very short in stature. These people were extremely conscious of their stature and if you came across one of them, they would always ask “From where did you see me?”

Laughter

Dr Musokotwane: If you replied, “Just here”, you were in trouble. The correct reply was, “From afar”. This is what I liken this Motion to. These were people who were preoccupied with themselves and always wanted other people to acknowledge their presence. Likewise, I consider this Motion as one of wanting the House to know of one’s presence. 

Laughter    

Dr Musokotwane: Madam Speaker, in view of this, the tendency which we saw yesterday and today, of presenting frivolous Motions to show ones presence, is an indication that this Government has been working very hard to address all pertinent issues. What remains now is for people is to keep presenting frivolous Motions. 

Madam Speaker, I would now like to get into details to prove that this Motion is frivolous. Firstly, as my predecessors indicated, this Act was presented to this House by this Government. The Government, therefore, knows very well about its responsibilities under this Act and is committed to implementing what is indicated therein. Surely, the hon. Member should have known this. He should have known that we presented the Act and we are committed to implementing it. What did the hon. Member do? He rushed here and said we should implement it and even gave a deadline of 10th June. We do not run the Government like this. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Madam Speaker, while we are committed to the noble ideas behind the section that is being quoted, there are a number of issues relating to implementation that need to be dealt with and are not as simple as some people here have indicated. There are a number of issues that we need to look at. For instance, if we are going to share this mineral royalty tax, who are going to be participants in the sharing process? Is it the councils, the provinces, the chiefdoms or, indeed, as many other people have indicated, the rest of the country?

Madam Speaker, when we talk about mineral royalty tax, we are talking about a tax on natural resources. Natural resources are a gift to this country from God and we should share the tax. Copper is just one of our natural resources. 

  There are many other natural resources that we must consider. For example, there is the issue of water. Certain people in this country were removed from their areas because a big dam had to be constructed that benefits all of us. Therefore, if we just say implement the mineral royalty tax, we must also ask the question on how to deal with other natural resources such as water and the dam? It is extremely selfish for some of us to just focus on the minerals and say give us the money. What about those who had to move from their areas to pave way for the dam? What about those who moved from their land like here in Lusaka so that we have this place where we are.

Madam Speaker, there is also the issue that Hon. Dr. Machungwa ably outlined. When you focus on particular mining areas and give them this money, what is inevitably going to happen is that certain areas are going to be made more prosperous compared to others? Definitely, issues of inequity will arise. To deal with this issue, how do we, in a wider context, talk about instituting equalisation measures across the country because certainly, we cannot afford to have a situation whereby certain parts of the country are seen to be extremely far ahead in terms of development compared to others. 

Madam Speaker, I am saying that as long as we are committed to this, there are a number of implementing issues that we should think through so that as we implement it, it does not cause problems.

 Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Let me raise the following points by way of concluding. As I have indicated, the first point is that it is the Government that came up with this law and we are very committed to enacting it. However, there are a number of implementation issues that need to be dealt with and we are dealing with them unlike the hon. Member who just wanted to rush for the purpose of showing his presence. On our side, we are thinking about issues very carefully so that when we implement this, it does not cause problems.

Madam Speaker, my advice is that the correct approach that the hon. Member must have taken rather than bringing a Motion here is to raise a question on the Floor to ask the Government why it has not implemented this. Then we would have explained very carefully that we are committed and these are the steps that we must go through. He deviated from this and this is the mistake he made. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Madam Speaker, I also want to say that by focusing on the Central Government, the hon. Member has completely ignored the roles that councils play. You know that councils collect rates and ground rents. The information that we have from the mining unions on the Copperbelt is that they are complaining bitterly that when the councils that you control receive money, as Hon. M. B. Mwale has indicated, the first thing they think about is themselves, not services.

 Interruptions

Dr Musokotwane: The hon. Member has completely and conveniently ignored all that.

Madam Speaker, even as we try to get this implemented when we are ready, I am happy to indicate that we have taken a number of steps to improve the conditions of lives on the Copperbelt. When we announced the Budget this year, we indicated that there was money in the Budget for urban roads. I believe, as we speak at the moment, contractors are on site. Therefore, on our side as Central Government, we are moving ahead to deal with the problems that the communities on the Copperbelt are facing.

 Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Madam Speaker, finally, one of the hon. Members went to the extent of talking about windfall tax which we have talked about so many times in this House. What amazes me at this stage is that the last time we spoke about this issue, the hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Hon. M. B. Mwale, presented on the Table of the House a letter from the President of the PF in which he was condemning the introduction of the windfall tax.

Interruptions

Dr Musokotwane: We are talking about it because he talked about it here.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: Madam Speaker, that letter was presented here. Now, him and some of his people are busy saying to the contrary. What I find amazing is the inconsistency in some of our colleagues here.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Musokotwane: I would advise some of you, hon. Colleagues, to be extremely careful when you talk about alliances and pacts and so on and so forth. If I were you …

Interruptions

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order!

 Dr Musokotwane: I thank you, Madam Speaker. 

Laughter

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order! 

Hon. Members must desist from pointing at others because when you do that, surely, they have the right to raise a point of order.

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to the debate on this Motion.

As I indicated when I moved this Motion, I made it very clear that this was a non-controversial Motion and I meant well by moving it. As mentioned by one of the contributors, I believe that the Government meant well to come up with this Act which we all supported. I, therefore, believe that they still have to change their position and support it fully.

Madam Speaker, I want to mention that I had the privilege to attend one of the seminars at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel where the then hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Hon. Dr. Kolombo Mwansa, officially graced that seminar. It was at that seminar where all the sharing mechanisms were agreed upon. If we are going to say that it has to take over two years to make a decision, then it is very unfortunate.

Madam, I would like to thank Hon. Members such as Messrs Lumba, Kambwili, Mukanga and Simuusa for their contributions. I should not forget to thank Hon. Dr. Machungwa who also contributed to the debate on this Motion.  What is required is to understand what the law really intends to achieve.

Madam Speaker, already, we are saying that 60 per cent of this is supposed to go to Control 99 …

Business was suspended from 1815 hours until 1830 hours.

[MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair]

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, before business was suspended, I was thanking Hon. Dr Machungwa for his contribution to the debate on the Motion. I was saying that his contribution to the debate was defective, especially on the fact that we want 60 per cent to go to central Government and we only need 40 per cent to be retained in the mining communities.

Mrs Masebo: On a point of order, Madam.

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, does it require two years to develop the mechanism required for this law to be implemented? We know what the Zambia Wild Life Authority (ZAWA) Act provides. Our colleagues in the game management areas (GMA’s) are benefiting from the same and so what is the problem with these mining communities to start benefiting as well?

Madam Speaker, even a dairy cow which produces milk should also be well looked after for it to continue producing the milk. I would like to thank Hon. V.J. Mwaanga, the Chief Whip, for his contribution to the debate on the Motion, but I would like to mention that I have personally made efforts to consult the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Hon. M.B Mwale, and he can attest to that. I have on several occasions raised questions here and I do remember posing a question to His Honour the Vice President over the same section 136 because I have been passionate over it.

Madam Speaker, I was prompted to move this Motion because I felt that the Government needed to be reminded of this section in the Act that has not been implemented.

Interruptions

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, this Motion is neither controversial nor political, but in good faith.

The hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning (Dr Musokotwane) gave a story which referred to the Deputy Minister of Sport, Youth and Child Development (Mr Misapa) because he is the shortest man we have in this House.

Laughter

Mr Mwenya: However, I would like to mention here that …

Interruptions

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order!

Mr Mwenya: It is unfortunate that …

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order! Hon. Member, do not pick on an innocent hon. Member like that. Continue, but do not pick on him.

Laughter

Mr Misapa: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

Laughter

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, Hon. Misapa is my uncle. I would like to mention here that if the Government decides to throw out this section, we should realise that we are now throwing out the last piece in the legacy of the late President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC. and the people out there are listening. 

Interruptions

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, the late President walked in this House and put his foot down and said what he wanted from the mining industry. We got rid of the windfall tax and we are now saying that even section 136 should be removed. However, I would like to agree with the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning that two years is actually a short time and that the Government needs to be given time of even ten years to draw up a mechanism system. We understand that your Government believes in moving at a snail’s pace to deliver against the will of the Zambian people who are in a hurry …

Interruptions

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order! Can the hon. Member wind up debate. You should not go through every contribution to the debate on the Motion. Wind up, please.

Mr Mwenya: Madam Speaker, in winding up I would like to say that we on this side …

Hon. Member: Where?

Mr Mwenya: … still remain committed and our position still remains the same that we shall go for a division if need arises.

I thank you.

Interruptions

Question that this House urges the Government to implement Section 136 of the Mines and Minerals Development Act, 2008, concerning the sharing of mineral royalty revenue between the Central Government, local authorities and the local mining communities, by 30th June, 2010, as a way of providing for services in the mining areas put and the House voted.

Ayes – (37)

Mrs E. M. Banda
Colonel Chanda
Mr Chazanga
Mr Chisala
Mr Chitonge
Mr Chota
Mr Habeenzu
Mr Hachipuka
Mr Hamududu
Mr Hamusonde
Ms Imbwae
Mr Kakoma
Mr Kambwili
Mr Kapeya
Mr Kasoko
Dr Katema
Ms Limata
Mr Lumba
Mr Malama
Ms Masiye
Mr Mooya
Mr Mpombo
Mr Msichili
Mr Mukanga
Mr Muntanga
Mrs Musokotwane
Mrs Mwamba
Mr Mwamba
Mr Mwango
Mr Mweemba
Mr Mwenya
Mr D. Mwila
Mr Nkombo
Mr Nsanda
Mr Sejani
Mr Simuusa
Mr Syakalima

Noes – (70)

Mr Akakandelwa
Mr A. Banda
Mr I. Banda
Mr Chella
Major Chibamba
Mr Chilembo
Mr Chimbaka
Mr Chinyanta
Mr Chipungu
Mr Chisanga
Dr Chishya
Mrs Chitika-Molobeka
Dr Chituwo
Ms Cifire
Mr Imasiku
Mr Kachimba
Mr Kaingu
Mr Kakusa
Mr Kalenga
Dr Kalila
Dr Kawimbe
Dr Kazonga
Mr Konga
Mr Kunda, SC.
Mr Liato
Professor Lungwangwa
Mr Machila
Dr Machungwa
Mr Malwa
Mr Mangani
Mrs Masebo
Mr Mbulakulima
Mr Misapa
Mr Mubika
Mr Mufalali
Mr Mukuma
Mr Mulonga
Mr Mulongoti
Mr Mulyata
Mr Munaile
Mr Munkombwe
Mrs Musokotwane
Dr Musonda
Mr Musosha
Mr Mutati
Mr Muteteka
Mwaanga
Mr V. Mwale
Mr M. B. Mwale
Mr Mwangala
Dr Mwansa
Mr Mwanza
Mr Mwapela
Mr Ndalamei
Mr Nkhata
Mr Nyirenda
Mr Pande
Professor Phiri
Mr Shawa
Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha
Mr Sichamba
Mr Sichilima
Mr Sikazwe
Mr Sikota, SC.
Mr Simama
Mr Simbao
Mrs Sinyangwe
Mr Sinyinda
Mr Tembo
Mr Zulu

Abstentions – (1)

Mr Magande

Question accordingly negatived.

_______{mospagebreak}

BILLS

HOUSE IN COMMITTEE

[THE DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES in the 
Chair]

THE PATENTS AND COMPANIES REGISTRATION AGENCY BILL

Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 8 – (Proceedings of Board)

The Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry (Mr Mutati): Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 8, on page 9, in line 15, by the deletion of the word “three” and the substitution therefor of the word “four”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 8, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 14 – (Registrar)

Mr Mutati: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 14, on page 11,
 

(a)    in line 7,

by the deletion of the word “Agency” and the substitution therefor of the word “Board”; and 

(a)    in line 8, 

by the insertion after the word “may” of a comma and the words “with the approval of the Minster,”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 14, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 15 ― (Assistant Registrars and other staff)

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 15, on page 11,

(a)    in line 18, 

by the deletion of the word “Agency” and the substitution therefor of the word “Board”; and

(b)    in line 19, 

by the insertion after the word “may” of a comma and the words “with the approval of the Minister,”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause 15 amended accordingly.

Clause 15, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Schedule, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE COMPANIES (Amendment) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE PATENTS (Amendment) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE TRADEMARKS (Amendments) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE REGISTRATION OF BUSINESS NAMES (Amendment) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE REGISTERED DESIGNS (Amendment) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE COMPANY (CERTIFICATION VALIDATION) (Amendment) BILL, 2010

Title agreed to.

THE PLEA NEGOTIATIONS AND AGREEMENTS BILL, 2010

Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill. 

CLAUSE 2 − (Interpretation)

The Vice-President and Minister of Justice: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 2, on page 5 in line 17 by the insertion after the words “offence charged” of the words “or to one of multiple charges”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 2, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 4 − (Plea negotiation)

The Vice-President and Minister of Justice: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 4, on page 6 in line 24 by the deletion of the word “enter” and the substitution therefor of the word “make”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 4, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Schedule agreed to.

Title agreed to. 

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT BILL, 2010

Clause 1 and 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 3 − (Interpretation)

Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 3,

(a)    on page 6,

(i)    in line 28 by the deletion of the words “mainly from” and the substitution therefor of the words “with at least ten per cent of”; and

(b)    in lines 38 and 39 by the deletion of the words “or other milk animals”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 3, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 4 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 5 − (Composition of Board)

Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 5,

(a)    on page 8,

    (i)    in line 30 by the deletion of the words “Ministry responsible for local government” and the substitution therefor of the words “dairy processors’; and

(ii)    in line 31 by the deletion of the word “and after the semi colon; and 

(b) in lines 34 and 35 by the deletion of the words Association of Financial Institutions” and the substitution therefor of the words “Bankers Association of Zambia”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 5, as amended, is ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 7 − (Feeds and feeding)

 Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 7,

(a)    on page 10,

(i)    in line 40 by the deletion of the word “forage” and the substitution therefor of the word “feed”; and

(ii)    in lines 41 to 43 by the deletion of the paragraph (f); and

(c)    on page 11,

(i)    lines 1 to 3 by renumbering of paragraphs (g) and (h) as paragraphs (f) and (g), respectively.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 7, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 8 – (Animal Breeding Services)

Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 8, on page 11,
 
(a)    in line 11 by the deletion of the word “bulls” and the substitution therefor of the word “sires”;

(b)    in lines 17 to 29, by the deletion of paragraphs (e), (f), (g) and (h); and

(c)    in line 31, by the re-numbering of paragraph (i) as (e).

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 8, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 9 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 10 – (Powers of Board)

Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 10, 

(a)    on page 11,

(i)    in line 37, by the insertion of “(1)” immediately before the words 
“The Board”; and

(b)    on page 12,

(i)    in lines 2 to 4, by the deletion of paragraphs (d) and (e);

(ii)    in lines 5 to 12, by the re-numbering of paragraphs (f), (g), (h) as

paragraphs (d), (e) and (f), respectively.

(iii)    after line 12, by the insertion of the following new subsection:

(2)    The Minister may, by statutory 
instrument, designate milk products, and
animals as dairy animals, for the purposes
of this Act.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 10, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSES 16 – (Refusal to Register)

Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 16, on page 13, in line 33, by the deletion of the word “seven” and the substitution therefor of the word “fourteen”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 16, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 17 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 18 – (Validity of Certificate of Registration)

Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 18, on page 14, in line 9, by the deletion of the words “a further period” and the substitution therefor of the words “further periods”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 18, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 31 – (General Penalty)

Mr Muntanga (Kalomo Central): Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 31, on page 18, in line 19, by the deletion of the words “any dairy animal”.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 31, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 32 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

CLAUSE 33 – (Regulations)

Mr Machila: Mr Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 33, by the deletion of paragraph (z) and the substitution therefor of the following new paragraph:

(z)    prescribing any levies, fees or charges required to be
paid under this Act;.

Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.

Clause 33, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 34 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Schedule ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE DAIRY PRODUCE BOARD (Establishment) (Repeal) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1 and 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE DAIRY PRODUCE MARKETING (Establishment) (Repeal) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1 and 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

THE SUPLEMENTARY APPROPRIATION (2008) BILL, 2010

Clauses 1 and 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Schedules ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Title agreed to.

______

HOUSE RESUMED

[MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair]

The following Bills were reported to the House as having passed through Committee with amendments.

The Patents and Companies Registration Agency Bill, 2010

The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2010

The plea Negotiation and Agreements Bill, 2010

The Dairy Industry Development Bill, 2010

Report stages on Friday, 26th March, 2010.

The following Bills were reported to the House as having passed through Committee without amendments.

The Patents (Amendment) Bill, 2010

The Trademarks (Amendment) Bill, 2010

The Registration of Business Names (Amendment) Bill, 2010

The Companies (Certificates Validation) (Amendment) Bill, 2010

The Dairy Produce Board (Establishment) (Repeal) Bill, 2010

The Dairy Produce Marketing and Levy (Repeal) Bill, 2010

The Supplementary Appropriation (2008), Bill, 2010 

Third Reading on Friday, 26th March, 2010.

REPORT STAGE

The National Constitutional Conference (Amendment) Bill, 2010

Report adopted.

Third Reading on Friday, 26th March, 2010.

THIRD READING

The following Bills were read the third time and passed:

The Zambia Development Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2010

The Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Whistleblowers) Bill, 2010

________

MOTION

ADJOURNMENT

The Vice-President and Minister of Justice (Mr Kunda, SC): Madam Speaker, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

Question put and agreed to.

________

The House adjourned at 1932 hours until 0900 hours on Friday, 26th March, 2010.