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Debates- Wednesday, 4th April, 2007
DAILY PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES FOR THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TENTH ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, 4th April, 2007
The House met at 1430 hours
[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]
NATIONAL ANTHEM
PRAYER
_______
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR SPEAKER
HOSTING OF A ROUND TABLE MEETING BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF ZAMBIA
Mr Speaker: I wish to inform the House that the National Assembly of Zambia has accepted the invitation from the SADC Parliamentary Forum to host a round table meeting on the Role of Parliaments in Domesticating Regional and International Instruments on Gender Equality.
The round table will be held at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka from 23rd to 25th April, 2007, and about thirty-six to fifty delegates are expected to attend. Participants will comprise Members of Parliament from the SADC member parliaments on the committee responsible for gender equality, women’s parliamentary caucuses and SADC Parliamentary Forum Standing Committee on democratisation, governance and gender equality.
The National Assembly of Zambia will be represented at the round table by the following hon. Members of Parliament:
1. Mrs R. M. Musokotwane, MP, Leader of the Delegation;
2. Mr T. S. Chilembo, MP;
3. Ms E. K. Chitika, MP;
4. Ms E. M. Imbwae, MP;
5. Mrs J. M. Limata, MP;
6. Ms M. M. Masiye, MP;
7. Mr E. M. Munaile, MP;
8. Ms A. C. K. Mwamba, MP;
9. Mr H. Mwanza, MP;
10. Mr J. J. Mwiimbu, MP;
11. Reverend G. Z. Nyirongo, MP; and
12. Mrs F. B. Sinyangwe, MP.
Thank you.
______
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
SHUTTING DOWN OF THE KARIBA COMPLEX
Mr Speaker: I have permitted the hon. Minister of Energy and Water Development to make a brief informative ministerial statement.
The Minister of Energy and Water Development (Mr Mutati): Mr Speaker, as the hon. Members may be aware, Zambia has three major power stations with a total installed capacity of 1600 mega watts which, after the US$300 million Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP) ends in 2008, will increase to 2100 mega watts comprising of:
(i) Kafue Gorge;
(ii) Kariba North Bank; and
(iii) Victoria Falls.
These stations were built over thirty years ago and have continued to supply power to the nation.
The Kariba Complex consists of the Kariba North Bank on the Zambian side owned by ZESCO Limited and the Kariba South Bank on the Zimbabwean side, owned by ZESA Holdings.
The Kariba Dam was built in 1959 and undergoes routine inspections conducted every five years by the Zambezi River Authority.
The Kariba Dam Wall was designed with a concrete mattress ‘Apron’ located immediately downstream of the dam and covering the riverbed and the valley bottom. This concrete mattress, founded onto the sound rock, is intended to protect the valley floor from erosion that results from:
(a) water falling from the floodgate;
(b) water currents which may result gate openings; and
(c) surface abrasion due to water currents carrying rock boulders over the apron.
The state of the concrete apron is monitored periodically through inspections that are normally carried out by divers under water.
For now, a more detailed inspection is required. However, this is only possible when the apron is allowed to dry by shutting down the two power stations so as to expose the inspection area.
It is for this reason that the Zambezi River Authority has requested the two electricity utilities to shut down the two power stations on Sunday, 8th April, 2007 to allow a significant reduction in the water level and, hence, dry out the concrete apron.
The two power stations will be shut down for about six hours starting at about 0800 hours to about 1400 hours on Sunday, 8th April, 2007. The additional two hours are required to ensure that the power stations are switched on and off in a systematic way without causing any damage to the sensitive machinery.
Mr Speaker, during this time, the generation in Zambia will be mainly from Kafue Gorge (750 mega watts), Victoria Falls (91 mega watts) and Lunsemfwa-Mulungushi (30 mega watts) giving an estimated total available capacity of 871 mega watts. The expected peak demand in Zambia during that period is about 1190 mega watts. The shortfall is expected to be about 319 mega watts.
Sir, while this process will necessitate load shedding, ZESCO will give priority to essential institutions such as hospitals, security installations and water pumping.
During the shut down period, ZESCO has requested all its customers to minimise the consumption of power to help stabilise the Zambian power system.
I thank you, Sir.
Mr Speaker: Order!
Is there any hon. Member who wishes the hon. Minister of Energy and Water Development to clarify any point he made in his statement?
Mr Milupi (Luena): Mr Speaker, could the hon. Minister clarify whether the 319 mega watts will be made up entirely from load shedding or there will be some export from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, ZESCO is making efforts to import some power in order to reduce the shortfall of 319 mega watts to a lesser number. Therefore, those arrangements are being made.
I thank you, Sir.
Mr Mooya (Moomba): Mr Speaker, these …
Dr Machungwa: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.
Dr Machungwa: Mr Speaker, I rise on a very serious point of order on the Government of Zambia. Is the Government of Zambia in order to confuse this House, the people of Zambia, the people in the neighbouring countries and the international community on its true position on the fight against corruption through the issuance of contradictory statements?
Sir, I wish to quote from today’s Post Newspaper whose leading story is as follows:
‘It’s Zambia which owes Katumbi US$7 million – Mwaanga’
The quotation is as follows:
‘Information and Broadcasting Minister, Vernon Mwaanga has said that it is in fact Zambia which owes DRC’s Katanga Province Governor, Moses Katumbi, US$7 million for the maize he had supplied to the Government. According to Le Potentiel Newspaper of the Democratic Republic of Congo of April, 2, 2007, Mwaanga was in that country last weekend and met with President Joseph Kabila over recent security concerns. On alleged corruption charges against Katumbi in Zambia, Mwaanga said it was in fact the Zambian Government that owed Katumbi US$7 million for the maize that he had supplied.’
Mr Speaker, the Post Newspaper further states:
‘Earlier in the year, the Vice-President Rupiah Banda told Parliament that Katumbi would face the law if he entered Zambia because the Task Force on Corruption was still pursuing him.
Vice-President Banda said the explanation that he had given in Parliament over Katumbi in January was Government’s position and that the status quo for the Katanga Governor once in Zambia still remained unchanged.
Mr Speaker, the Post Newspaper further states that the Vice-President also said that:
“If Mr Katumbi was to come here, yes, the law would visit him. This was my honest answer and I did not want to deceive my brother by saying no, he is not wanted for questioning by the Task Force.”
Mr Speaker, this is extremely confusing and lends credit to those who are saying that the fight against corruption by the Task Force is both political and selective. Is the Government in order not to come this House, perhaps, by the end of the day or latest tomorrow, to give an explanation on the true position of the Government on this matter because we are now all confused. We do not know what is happening. I seek your very serious ruling.
Dr Machungwa laid the paper on the Table.
Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Speaker: Order!
The hon. Member for Luapula has raised a point of order on a story that appeared in one of our dailies today. There are two aspects to the point of order.
Firstly, as I have said before, hon. Members of this House should be very careful about the way they take what is written in some newspapers as the truth and only truth. Furthermore, according to the hon. Member for Luapula, our daily newspaper, itself, claims its source of information is another newspaper in the DRC. That newspaper does not circulate, to the best of my knowledge, in Zambia. Therefore, we could run into difficulties over that particular issue with regard to the truth of the matter.
The other aspect is that this matter was referred to by His Honour the Vice-President during one of his thirty minute question time sessions in which the official position he said was made. What, therefore, is required, assuming there is some element of truth to the story in today’s Post Newspaper, is for the Executive to clarify which is now the official position of this matter bearing in mind that this matter, itself, is under investigation.
Since it may not necessarily be sub judice and taking into account the fact, which is already well known, that we are likely to adjourn the House Sine Die tomorrow, and since this story has spread all over the world, it may be advisable for His Honour the Vice-President to issue a brief clarification on this matter tomorrow. I warn that that kind of story may be suspect until confirmed to be the truth. Therefore, only His Honour the Vice-President, on behalf of the Executive, can confirm the truth or untruth of the story to which the hon. Member for Luapula has referred.
The hon. Member for Moomba may continue.
Mr Mooya: Mr Speaker, in case the detailed study will reveal that an apron and the wall are not structurally sound, what next?
Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, the detailed survey will come out with some conclusions and recommendations on actions that require to be taken following the inspection.
I thank you, Sir.
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QUESTIONS
NON-DISBURSEMENT OF MONEY IN TERMS OF BUDGETARY ALLOCATION
387. Mr Imenda (Lukulu East): asked the Minister of Finance and National Planning:
(a) how much money in terms of budgetary allocations, on an annual basis, was not disbursed to the following sectors from 2002 to 2006:
(i) road infrastructure;
(ii) education; and
(iii) health;
(b) what were the reasons for not releasing the funds; and
(c) which sector at (a) above suffered most and why.
The Minister of Finance and National Planning (Mr Magande): Mr Speaker, in 2002, the Government allocated K77.1 billion, K425.7 billion and K130.3 billion to the road infrastructure, education and health sectors respectively.. At the end of that financial year, none of the above mentioned sectors suffered due to non-receipt of funding from my ministry, as the disbursements were done in full.
In 2003, funding amounting to K51.6 billion, K530.3 billion and K374.7 billion were allocated to the road infrastructure sector, the education sector and the health sector, respectively. Although this indicated a decline in the allocation to road infrastructure, the education and the health sectors were significantly increased from the previous year’s allocation. Further, all the three sectors received their funding in full by the end of the financial year 2003.
Mr Speaker, in 2004, funds amounting to K140.3 billion were allocated to the road infrastructure sector and this was more than twice the previous year’s allocation. To the sectors of education and health, K790.0 billion and K352.2 billion were released in full by the end of the financial year 2004.
Mr Speaker, about K155.1 billion was allocated to road infrastructure at the beginning of the year2005. However, about 56 per cent more was spent by the end of the financial year due to the good performance on fuel levy collections in that year. The sectors of education and health, with annual budgetary allocations of K895.2 billion and K421.2 billion respectively, were also funded in full by the end of the financial year 2005.
In 2006, funds amounting to K395.2 billion were projected to be spent on road infrastructure and this was more than twice the previous years’ allocation. However, K25.2 billion of that was not released. This was due to lower than projected collections on fuel levy as a result of falling pump prices of fuel, at the time, after a sharp appreciation of the Kwacha during the first half of the year. To the sectors of education and health, budgetary allocations of K1, 314.3 billion and K560.3 billion respectively were committed and these were released in full by the end of the financial year 2006.
Mr Speaker, the question was how much was not disbursed. As indicated from what I have said, all the money that was allocated was disbursed. Therefore, I will not give any reasons for not releasing the funds because they were all released
There is no sector that suffered and, therefore, I will not give any reasons for that as well.
Hon Government Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Magande: I thank you, Sir.
Mr Imenda: Mr Speaker. Noting that one of the conditions of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was to increase allocations to the social sector, why was there no substantial increase in 2006?
Mr Magande: Mr Speaker, at the end of the HIPC initiative, and in view of the savings that will be made, we expect to scale up allocations in the Budget to the social sectors. The HIPC savings, as I have kept on saying, are going to accrue over a period of more than thirty years during which the debts which have been forgiven will not be paid. The savings did not all accrue in 2006. This is why we cannot expect to up-scale and compare the amount that we are going to increase this year to the HIPC savings
I thank you, Sir.
CONSTRUCTION OF A POLICE POST AT MUSHOTA
388. Dr Chishya (Pambashe): asked the Minister of Home Affairs when an office for use as a police post would be constructed at Mushota in the Pambashe Parliamentary Constituency.
The Deputy Minister for Home Affairs (Ms Njapau): Mr Speaker, an old building at Mushota in Pambashe Parliamentary Constituency has been rehabilitated and is now being used as a police post. Until the need arises to construct one, the rehabilitated building is adequate.
I thank you, Sir.
Dr Chishya: Mr Speaker, is the hon. Minister aware that the building he is referring to is old and dilapidated and that repairs should have been done a long time ago? It was used as a maize shelter for the co-operative and has fallen apart.
Apart from that, is the hon. Minister aware that Pambashe is a very yoked area and the population has grown more than fourfold. Therefore, without adequate offices, the police are finding it very difficult to operate. This has resulted in the number of police officers being limited.
The Minister of Home Affairs (Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha): Mr Speaker, we are aware of the need for greater improvement in larger parts of the country where police posts and police stations are. Now that the budget has been approved, we can move into the areas and be able to see the need on the ground. I shall be taking a tour of the provinces and Pambashe Constituency is one of the areas I will visit. If the hon. Member of Parliament can be there, then we can discuss these issues on the ground.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker: Order!
Before, the House moves on to other matters on the Order Paper, I wish to go back to the point of order which was raised by the hon. Member for Luapula.
In his point of order, the hon. Member prayed that if possible, his point of order should be attended to during the course of today for the reason he gave. I had suggested, for reasons I was certain about, that that would be possible only tomorrow. However, I have been informed that the Executive is ready, now, to clarify the issue that the hon. Member for Luapula referred to contained in the newspaper called the Post today. As such, I am in a position to give permission, not to His Honour the Vice-President, but the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, who is in the House right now, to clarify this matter on behalf of the people, in particular, the hon. Members of Parliament assembled here.
The Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services (Mr Mwaanga): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to clarify the position following a point of order which was raised by the hon. Member of Parliament for Luapula Constituency, Dr Peter David Machungwa.
Mr Speaker, I can confirm to this House that last week, I travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo as a special envoy of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia.
Having just come back, I have prepared a report, for him, where I have explained a number of the issues that we discussed when I was both in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. As a result of the screaming headline, which I read in the Post Newspaper, today, under the heading ‘It’s Zambia Which owes Katumbi US $7 million – Mwaanga.’
Mr Speaker, the story in the Post is a quotation from a Congolese newspaper Le Potenteil, which is a French newspaper. My press briefing was in English and Le Potentiel is a French newspaper and there was a translation from English into French. Le Potentiel published its story, which I have not seen. The Post Newspaper saw it fit to quote from Le Potentiel using an interpreter. I do not know who they used to translate the story from French into English. I suspect that is where the distortion may have occurred.
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I will share with the House the transcript of my interview with the press immediately after my meeting with President Joseph Kabila, which was held on Saturday. It was a one to one meeting. After that meeting, the hosts had arranged that I meet the press as I was going out. There were more than twenty pressmen present.
Mr Speaker, I was accompanied by five officials, including our Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr Adrian Bauleni, as well our outgoing Acting Consular-General in Lubumbashi, Mrs Rosalyn Katenga, the Deputy Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for political affairs as well as two officers from the Office of the President.{mospagebreak}
Mr Speaker, the interview went as follows:
‘Question: Hon. Minister, what did you discuss with President Kabila?
Answer: I am a special envoy of President Levy Mwanawasa, the President of Zambia, who directed me to deliver a message to his brother, President Joseph Kabila. I have just done that. Issues involving Heads of State are not for press consumption.’ That was my answer.
‘Question: Hon. Minister, have you discussed the border situation with President Kabila and Governor Katumbi?
Answer: I have discussed this matter with the hon. Minister of Interior, Minister of Mines, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Governor Katumbi and I believe that we have structured a solution which will be in the best interests of the DRC and Zambia.
Question: Hon. Minister, what is your comment about the occupation of Congolese territory by Zambian armed forces?
Answer: I can categorically tell you that no Zambian forces occupy or occupied any part of Congolese territory. There would be no reason to do so and, in any case, the Zambian Government would not permit such a development due to the cordial relationship which happily subsists between the DRC and the Zambian Government. I can, however, acknowledge the occurrence of an incident on Lake Mweru on Sunday, 18th March, 2007, where thirteen Zambian fishermen had been detained by Congolese authorities. This is now a non-issue because the fishermen have since been released after diplomatic representations were made. The reports about Zambian incursions into Congolese territory were carried by Radio OKAPI, The MONUC Radio Station (which is the UN radio station), which broadcasts from Kinshasa. I have instructed the Zambian Ambassador to DRC to make contacts with OKAPI Radio and MONUC and insist that they should carry accurate and verified reports to avoid creating unnecessary misunderstandings between our two countries.
Question: Hon. Minister, did you discuss the question of Governor Katumbi’s cases of theft while he was living in Zambia with President Kabila?
Answer: No, I did not because my President, Mr Levy Mwanawasa, has now directed that this issue of Mr Katumbi should be removed from the public domain and dealt with at the highest diplomatic level possible. Mr Katumbi is a senior member of President Kabila’s Government and I do not have a mandate to discuss his situation.
Question: There are reports that Governor Katumbi stole a lot of money in Zambia and that he is also claiming that the Zambian Government owes him money for the maize he supplied during the elections in 2001.
Answer: I have already stated that I cannot go into details of Mr Katumbi’s cases which are pending in Zambia because President Mwanawasa has directed that these should be handled in a different way. I am, however, aware that Governor Katumbi together with his business colleague Paul Steele have sued the Zambian Government for a sum of US$7 million for maize which they claim to have supplied to the Zambian Government in 2001. This matter is currently pending in the Zambian courts of law and under our justice system I am not allowed to comment on matters which are before courts of law.
Question: Is there anything else you would like to say hon. Minister?
Answer: No. Thank you very much. I can only hope that you will quote me correctly. I would like to thank the Government of DRC for the warm welcome they have accorded me and my delegation since our arrival in Kinshasa and here in Lubumbashi.’
That was the end of the press briefing. I believe that I explained the situation in a very clear way which does not contradict any position which the Zambian Government has taken before. The issue of His Honour the Vice-President’s responses here in Parliament did not even arise. No one asked a question about that. That issue was not mentioned at all.
Mr Speaker, that is the position.
I thank you, Sir.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
Interruptions
Mr Speaker: Order!
Hon. Members, there is freedom of speech in this House. As you will recall, I allowed the hon. Member for Luapula to freely raise his point of order. In consequence, I also allowed the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services to freely, as he has done, state his side of the story.
Without prejudice, this House would do well to leave these matters here with the hope that when newspapers publish stories, and they now have the opportunity of hearing the other side of the story, they will give due space to the other side of the story. That is the right of reply in the business of journalism.
There is an hon. Member at the back who wanted to raise a point of order while the hon. Member of Parliament for Pambashe was following up his well-thought-out question following a reply from the hon. Minister. I could not allow him to raise that point of order when the question on the Order Paper had preference over any other matters, including points of order, especially since I did not hear any breach of procedure either from the hon. Member of Parliament for Pambashe or the hon. Minister of Home Affairs. Unless the issue the hon. Member of Parliament for Roan wanted to raise borders on life or death, the House would rather move systematically on issues on the Order Paper.
________
BILLS
HOUSE IN COMMITTEE
[THE CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES in the Chair]
THE BIOSAFETY BILL, 2007
Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
CLAUSE 44 − (Appeals tribunal)
The Minister of Science, Technology and Vocational Training (Dr Chituwo): Madam Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in Clause 44, on page 38, in line 3, by the insertion immediately after the words ‘Subject to subsection (2)’ of the words ‘any person making an appeal under this Act shall lodge the appeal with the Minister and’
Amendment agreed to. Clause amended accordingly.
Clause 44, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clauses 45, 46 and 47 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
FIRST SCHEDULE
Dr Chituwo: Madam Chairperson, I beg to move an amendment in the First Schedule, on page 43, in lines 7 to 21 by the deletion of subparagraph (2) and the substitution therefor of the following:
(2) The members referred to in subparagraph (1) shall include the following:
(a) one representative each from the ministries responsible for –
(i) science and technology;
(ii) environment and natural resources;
(iii) agriculture;
(iv) health;
(v) commerce, trade and industry;
(vi) information; and
(vii) justice;
(b) (i) consumers;
(ii) religious;
(iii) farmers; and
(iv) traditional authorities; and
(c) two other persons.
Amendment agreed to. First Schedule amended accordingly.
First Schedule, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth schedules ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Title agreed to.
____
HOUSE RESUMED
[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]
The following Bill was reported to the House as having passed through Committee with amendment:
The Biosafety Bill, 2007
Report Stage on Thursday, 5th April, 2007
REPORT STAGE
Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2007
Mines and Mineral (Amendment) Bill, 2007
Reports adopted.
Third Readings Thursday, 5th April, 2007.
____
COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY
[THE CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES in the Chair]
RULING BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES ON THE POINT OF ORDER RAISED BY THE HON MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR KABWATA PARLIAMETARY CONSTITENCY, MR GIVEN LUBINDA,MP, ON TUESDAY, 3RD APRIL, 2007
The Chairperson: Hon Members of the Committee of Supply will recall that on Tuesday, 3rd April, 2007, when the Committee was considering Head 78, Office of the President – Zambia Security Intelligence Service, and the hon. Member for Kasama Central Parliamentary Constituency, Dr S. Chishimba, MP, was speaking, the hon. Member for Kabwata Parliamentary Constituency, Mr G. Lubinda, MP, raised the following point of order, and I quote:
‘Madam Chairperson, I wish to seek your ruling on a very serious matter; a matter of procedure, precedence and a matter affecting Standing Orders of this House. Hon. Members are well aware that the precedence with regard to the enactment of the Appropriation Act has been that it shall be done by the end of March of every year and that is the reason why Tax Acts that are passed in this session become effective on the 1st April of every year.’
On the other hand, Standing Order number 26, part (2), states very clearly that, and I quote:
“On Wednesdays, Private Members’ notices of Motions shall have precedence on the Order Paper to be followed by Private Members’ Orders of the Day, to be followed by Government Business. If there is no Private Members’ Business, the time may be utilised for the Government’s business.”
In addition, Article 115, part (2)(b) of the Constitution provides for a Presidential Warrant of Expenditure which extends up to and including the end of the fourth month of the financial year.
Given that background, I would like to find out, whether the Hon. Leader of Government Business in this House is in order, firstly, of having breached the precedence of having to pass the Appropriation Act by end of March and, secondly, without regard to the provisions of Article 115 as referred to, is rushing through the debate on the Budget to an extent that hardly one and a half hours are being allocated to debating every Vote. As though that was not enough, to an extent where this institution of Parliament is forced to breach the Standing Orders as I recited, whereby Members are not allowed to present Private Members’ Motions for debate on Wednesdays, a day which, by Standing Orders is reserved for Private Members.
Is the Hon. Vice-President in order to go against the precedence, to go against the Constitution and to go against the Standing Orders of this House? I seek your very serious ruling on this matter, Madam Chairperson.’
In my immediate remarks I stated as follows:
‘In his point of order, the hon. Member for Kabwata has raised two important issues. The Constitutional issue, as to when the Budget is supposed to be passed. In his statement, he has talked of end of March and he has also talked of the fourth month. He has also talked about Wednesday being the day for Private Members’ Business in the House. These are very important issues and in as much as the Chair is tempted to rule, I would rather that this ruling is made tomorrow. Therefore, I defer ruling on that point of order to tomorrow.’
Hon. Members, I have now studied the Point of Order raised by Mr Given Lubinda, MP, and wish to rule as follows:
1. The provisions of Article 115(2)(b) of the Constitution of Zambia, Cap. 1 of the Laws of Zambia, with regard to the authorisation of expenditure through a warrant issued by the President before the passing of the Appropriation Act has not been breached because like the hon. Member himself pointed out in his point of order, the period of four months from the commencement of the financial year has not expired.
Similarly, as a result of what I have stated, there is no breach of any precedence because the provisions of the Constitution I have referred to are clear. In this regard, I wish to inform hon. Members that in the last five years, for example, the Budget has been passed on different days as follows:
(i) in 2001 the Budget was passed on 14th March;
(ii) in 2002 the Budget was passed on 3rd April;
(iii) in 2003 the Budget was passed on 27th March;
(iv) in 2004 the Budget was passed on 2nd April; and
(v) in 2005 the Budget was passed on 6th April
2. The provisions of Standing Order 26(2) have not been breached. The Committee of Supply may wish to know that the main Business of the House during this meeting, January to April, is to pass the Budget so that the funds provided for the various Government projects and activities are released and spent without further delay. Other Business of the House during this meeting is important, but does not supersede the constitutional mandate of this House to approve the Budget.
In the light of what I have stated, I wish to rule that His Honour the Vice-President is in order.
I thank you.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
________
VOTE 51 − (Ministry of Communications and Transport − K73,498,886,263).
(Consideration resumed)
Mr Kasongo (Bangweulu): Madam Chairperson, when business was suspended yesterday, I wanted to comment on an issue relating to the funds which have always been released to clear channels or canals. You are aware that in some areas like Luapula Constituency, Western Province and some other parts of the country, people rely on channels to transport their goods from one place to another using canoes.
We have always suggested, in this House, that the method of using simple tools such as sickles, axes, hoes and so on to clear channels is not only primitive, but also does not deepen the channels enough to allow the free passage of canoes. In my view, the best alternative is for the Ministry of Communications and Transport to procure a dredging machine. Let us shift away from using primitive methods.
Clearing channels or canals using simple tools is risky in certain areas like Bangweulu where the water is full of crocodiles. The people employed to clear the channels using simple tools risk their lives. I would like to appeal to the ministry concerned to procure dredging machines for areas like Bangweulu, Western Province and other places where there are channels.
Madam, when I spoke on the Vote for the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, I emphasised that the Road Traffic Commission (RTC) had the potential of generating a lot of revenue for this country. The revenue that can be generated by that department can assist the Ministry of Finance and National Planning implement a number of programmes. Surprisingly, whoever is appointed to head that ministry begins by complaining about corruption in the Road Traffic Commission. We do not want to hear that. Zambians do not want to hear those complaints.
The hon. Minister, hon. Deputy Minister and top officials are there to ensure that if there is corruption, they should put in place measures which will stamp it out. They should not complain to us. Why complain to us? We are not going to sympathise with you for complaining about corruption in the Road Traffic Commission. We expect you to take action to stop the perceived corruption so that the funds generated by the department assist the Government implement the programmes that are always reflected in the Budget.
Hon. Minister, through the Chair, if, for example, there is, indeed, corruption in that department, you should not complain to us. We are not going to sympathise with you. Take action. That is why you have been given that mandate.
Madam Chairperson, we have been informed several times by the Government of the day, through the respective hon. Ministers and other officials, that the Zambian airline will be restored. We would like to find out the current position of the Government. Are you going to reintroduce Zambia Airways or not? There have been so many contradictions. Somebody can wake up today and say Zambia Airways will be reintroduced. Someone else will cancel the same pronouncement and so on. Can we know the truth, hon. Minister? Are you going to restore Zambia Airways or not? The beauty about restoring our airline is that a number of tourists who would like to come to Zambia will use it instead of using other airlines. That is the beauty about it. However, if the policy of the Government is not to reintroduce the national airline, can we be told the truth so that we forget about it.
Finally, Madam Chairperson, I would like to appeal to the hon. Minister, as I said yesterday, to ensure that the K1 billion which was released to the ministry in 2005 to procure boats for Bangweulu Water Transport is used to procure the boats without delay. That is our wealth. We are the boat people and cannot do without a boat.
I thank you, Madam.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
The Minister of Communications and Transport (Mr Daka): Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
Let me take this opportunity to thank all hon. Members who have debated on this Vote. Let me also take this opportunity to clarify a few issues that have been raised.
On the operations of the Railway Systems of Zambia, I wish to reiterate my earlier statement to this august House that my ministry appointed an inter-ministerial committee to discuss with the Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ) the way forward regarding improving its operations. The discussions started last November and will be concluded any time this year.
Madam Chairperson, the addendum to be signed is expected to address most of the issues that hon. Members have raised. The Office of the Government Inspector of Railways is also being strengthened by recruiting two more inspectors as soon as possible. You will note that the budget line under this has been increased by 100 per cent to cater for this process.
Madam, the operations of the Tanzania Zambia Railways Authority (TAZARA) have been hampered due to the liberalised economy. Before, TAZARA had captive cargo from the mines which the Government controlled. Today, we cannot go to the mines and ask them to ship through TAZARA when the turn around is longer or the rolling stock is not there. Very soon, the Council of Ministers will be meeting this month to discuss the way forward on TAZARA. This will include the private and public sectors’ participation in this railways system.
With regard to road transport, the issuance of driving licences was suspended to upgrade the system. Once this is done, the situation will be back to normal. My ministry, through the Road Transport Safety Agency (RTSA), is doing everything possible to reduce accidents in the country through various measures mentioned in my policy statement. The Director, under the Road Traffic Department, is mandated to issue and revoke licences to any bus operator and motorist who breaks the law.
As Minister, I do not interfere with the operations. I want to make this very clear because some quarters of society were saying that the Minister has revoked the licences. The Board of Directors of RTSA and the Chairperson handle these issues independently.
With regard to air transport, temporal works on the Kasaba Bay Aerodrome have been done and small private aircrafts are able to land. More efforts are underway to improve the aerodrome. For instance, the aerodrome has been included in the Fifth National Development Plan.
As for the Lilayi Aerodrome, I wish to state that it is available for leasing to any serious private investor in accordance with Government transport policy. In this direction, the Aviation Association of Zambia has since applied to take over that aerodrome.
Madam, with regard to water transport, the Government has recognised the potential of Nsumbu as a harbour in facilitating trade among the countries sharing Lake Tanganyika and the Great Lakes Region. To this effect, my ministry has received an expression of interest from a private entrepreneur to develop the Nsumbu Harbour.
With regard to water transport between Mpulungu and Nsumbu, a team of experts has concluded a study on the type of vessel to be used on our waters. The study is under consideration by the ministry.
Madam Chairperson, through the Department of Maritime and Inland Waterways, the ministry plans to procure more patrol boats. Plans are underway to establish a marine meteorological station in Mpulungu to provide weather information to the lake users.
During the Kuomboka Ceremony, the Maritime Department impounded several boats which were not river or canal-worthy; not canoe, for the information of my cousin, Hon. Kasongo, but canal-worthy.
Laughter{mospagebreak}
Mr Daka: Further, the ministry recognises the importance of water transport services on Lake Bangweulu and has budgeted for the vessel to be used on this lake in order to alleviate the problems. In this regard, my ministry has made arrangements with the Zambia High Commissioner in India for enquiries on the same and is still awaiting a response. At present, Bangweulu Water Transport Board is providing water transport services between Samfya and Chilubi Island. In addition, my ministry is making every effort to improve the operations of the Post Boat operated by Zampost on Lake Bangweulu.
Madam Chairperson, on telecommunications, with regard to rural telecommunications, I am glad to inform this august House that Zambia Telecommunications Company Limited (ZAMTEL), through a loan from Exim Bank of China, will soon embark on rural communication.
They have also embarked on laying the optic fibre. I must also respond to my brother, Hon. Zulu, from Bwana Mkubwa, over the assertion he made. During his time working for Tap Zambia, I never saw him transport pipes or endurites using the railway system. It is sad to note that he only appreciates that the people from Southern Province are the best people to run the railway systems of Zambia when his brother Hosea Soko and cousin Simumba were some of the best managing directors in that scenario. My brother, I wish to also state that the ministry does not interfere with the operations of these entities.
Hon. Kasongo, I do not want go into details, like using a cannon when I can use a shotgun. I appreciate your comments. As for my sister, Hon. Nyirongo, I want her to look at the history of Zambia Railways, where it was left when Spoornet went or when Zambia Railways left. When you sign an agreement, you are bound to do certain things according to the agreement. As hon. Member of Parliament in Kabwe, I urge her to take stock of the slippers that were left by other operators.
Madam Chairperson, I did not want to continue, but I appreciate the concerns that have been raised by all speakers. Hon. Nsanda, I have been receiving quite a number of notes from you and I appreciate your concerns. As I have said, the Road Traffic and Safety Agency is an independent body which has suspended a licence for an operator who has flouted the law. With these few words, I end here and beg that my Vote be supported.
I thank you, Madam.
Vote 51/01 ordered to stand part of the Estimates.
Vote 51/02 ordered to stand part of the Estimates.
Vote 51/03 ordered to stand part of the Estimates.
VOTE 51/04 ─ (Ministry of Communications and Transport – Maritime and Inland Waterways Department ─ K5,986,936,329).
Mr Lubinda (Kabwata): Madam Chairperson, on Sub-head 2, Programme 7, Activity 01 ─ Rehabilitation of Canals and Waterways ─ K700,000,000, I hope the hon. Minister is there. Hon. Members representing constituencies that require canals and waterways have year after year complained about the condition and last year K150 million was allocated. This year, K700 million has been allocated. Could the hon. Minister indicate to us which canals and waterways have been earmarked for rehabilitation so that they may assist his ministry in monitoring the work.
Mr Daka: Madam Chairperson, on Sub-head 2, Programme 7, Activity 01 ─ Rehabilitation of Canals and Waterways ─ K700,000,000, the funds are meant to cover the rehabilitation of canals in Western and Luapula provinces. We have just come back from the Kuomboka Ceremony and we noticed that the canal there is being done manually, so we want to improve all canals that have silt in these areas.
Madam Chairperson, I thank you.
Mr Lubinda: Madam Chairperson, the cover of this budget says ‘Activity Based Budget’ and in addition, it is well known that the Government has stated that these figures are as a result of specific activities. Therefore, I would expect that for the ministry to arrive at K700 million, it has a specific list of canals that they intend to work on. Could the hon. Minister be kind enough to share with us from the notes that led to this figure? Which specific canals are to be worked on? If the lists are too long, for the different provinces, could he kindly indicate how many they are per province?
Mr Daka: Madam Chairperson, there are a number of canals that have not been gauged in the past. In Mongu there is Lealui Canal, in Shang’ombo and Luapula there are canals that have to be cleared.
Madam Chairperson, I thank you.
Mr Mukanga(Kantanshi): Madam Chairperson, I seek clarification from the hon. Minister on Sub-head 2, Programme 7, Activity 02 ─ Rehabilitation of Harbours ─ K300,000,000. There is a provision of K300 million and yet there are many harbours in this country. This figure seems small. Which harbours have been earmarked for this rehabilitation, name by name?
Mr Daka: Madam Chairperson, on Sub-head 2, Programme 7, Activity 02 ─ Rehabilitation of Harbours the harbours ─ K300,000,000, there are harbours that have been budgeted for under provincial administration. Due to budgetary constraints, we cannot allocate more than we have done. So, certain figures will come through provincial administration.
I thank you, Madam.
Vote 51/04 ordered to stand part of the Estimates.
VOTE 87 – (Anti-Corruption Commission – Headquarters - K31, 838,031,145).
The Vice-President (Mr R. Banda): Madam Chairperson, I rise to present the Estimates of the Anti-Corruption Commission for the year 2007.
Madam, corruption has been and still is a serious challenge to good governance in Zambia. It has continued to dog the nation as evidenced by the glaring revelations from the Auditor General’s Report and other sources on the rampant fraud, theft and abuse of authority of office with impunity by public officials in conjunction with the private sector.
The Government has over the years lost huge sums of money meant for developmental programmes through theft, corruption, misapplication and misappropriation.
We are all aware that corruption drains resources for the much needed investment in health, education, infrastructure and other basic services. It weakens democratic institutions, perverts the rule of law, discourages investment and aid, undercuts public confidence in the Government, feeds inequality and disenfranchises large segments of the population. It is a severe obstacle to development and should be nipped in the bud with the aggressiveness it deserves.
The citizens of Zambia, Madam Chairperson, have continued to wallow in poverty not because there are no deliberate Government programmes to improve their standards of living, but because of the sheer greediness and selfishness exhibited by public officials entrusted with huge resources to serve the people of Zambia.
Madam Chairperson, this trend should not be allowed to continue any more. Corruption and all related crimes should not be tolerated. The devastating effects of corruption can no longer be ignored and the fight against corruption must be taken as a personal challenge by every Zambian.
As a Government and a nation, there is need to have a turning point where each individual makes a contribution towards fighting this scourge by moving away from mere rhetoric to tangible steps and actions that will contribute to the reduction of this vice in our country.
It requires a change of attitude and mindset if we are to make any difference for posterity’s sake.
The Chairperson: Order!
Business was suspended from 1615 hours until 1630 hours.
The Vice-President: Mr Chairperson, before business was suspended, I was saying corruption requires a change of attitude and mindset if we are to make any difference for posterity’s sake.
Mr Chairperson, despite the declaration of the policy of zero tolerance to corruption by his Excellence the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, ministers and controlling officers have not embraced and streamlined this policy into every officer in the Civil Service.
Very few hon. Members of this House have taken a personal stance against corruption. Last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission received a total 1,988 reports of which 954 were categorised as corruption complaints while 1,025 were non-corruption related complaints. From the 954 corruption complaints, 660 cases were authorised for investigation.
Meanwhile, the total number of cases closed in the year 2006, including those brought forward from previous years, is 879. The reasons for such closures ranged from lack of evidence, death of key witnesses or non-availability of witnesses to recommendations for administrative action.
It is worth noting, that the highest numbers of reports are complaints against Government or public sector officials with a total number of 1,215. Complaints against the private sector were 143 while reports against members of the public were 193 and those against civil society organisations stood at 111.
In order to improve the investigations techniques, the Commission put together an investigations manual which was launched in November last year.
Mr Chairperson, with regard to the prosecution of corruption cases, the Commission had a total of twenty-four cases carried forward into 2006 from 2005. In 2006, thirty-three prosecution cases were registered. Within the same year, ten convictions were secured while eight acquittals were recorded. Fifty-five cases have been carried forward to 2007.
These figures have not been encouraging in the last three years. I wish to assure the nation that the commission has committed itself to ensuring that the number of cases being prosecuted each year increases with the ultimate goal of achieving convictions.
However, it should be borne in mind that the commission is not the only player once the matters are in court.
In a bid to further improve the outcome of prosecution cases, the commission prepared and launched a Prosecutions Manual in November last year. It is hoped that this will further serve to improve the preparation and presentation of cases before courts of law.
While a number of people, including prominent Zambians and senior civil servants are facing charges of corruption in the courts or law, significant corruption prevention exercises and community education programmes were also conducted.
The Government, through the Anti-Corruption Commission, established Integrity Committees in eight pilot ministries, departments and agencies. These are Ministry of Lands, Zambia Police Service, Immigration Department, Lusaka City Council, Ndola City Council, Public Service Pensions Fund, Anti-Corruption Commission and the Zambia Revenue Authority.
Four officers from each of these institutions were on the 7th February, 2007, sworn in as Integrity Committee Members by the Secretary to the Cabinet. This concept of Integrity Committees in Zambia entails that each organisation, through its Integrity Committee, will be responsible for planning and executing programmes intended to curb corruption in their organisations.
The role of the Anti-Corruption Commission is to provide technical assistance and advice on the prevention of corruption and other malpractices to the organisations and to provide investigations and prosecutorial services when corrupt practices become apparent.
Major strides have also been achieved towards developing a National Anti-Corruption Policy which, at this stage, is before cabinet. The policy will enable Zambians have a focused and harmonised approach towards the prevention of corruption.
Other corruption prevention activities undertaken included the following:
(i) joint programmes conducted with Immigration and Tender Committees;
(ii) job eligibility screening processes at the Ministry of Commerce;
(iii) the participation in election monitoring throughout the country during general elections;
(iv) managerial accountability workshops were held with the following institutions:
(a) Northern Province Tender Committee;
(b) University Teaching Hospital;
(c) Southern Province Tender Committee; and
(d) Eastern Province Tender Committee; and
(vi) the Anti-Corruption Commission Code of Ethics was launched with a view to replicating the idea in other public institutions.
The commission also worked with the following various stakeholders in the areas below:
(i) Ministry of Education School Examination leakage Monitoring Programme;
(ii) Fertiliser Support Distribution Programme;
(iii) administration of the bursaries scheme at the University of Zambia;
(iv) management of parking levies with the Lusaka City Council; and
(v) management of processes and procedures in the award of tenders for claims from the Zambia State Insurance Corporation for the repair of motor vehicles damaged in car accidents.
Community education programmes included the following:
(i) six Integrity in Public Life discussion fora in Lusaka and one regional office in Kitwe, Chipata, Solwezi and Mansa on various topics;
(ii) series of radio programmes on various corruption topics both in Lusaka and regional offices were aired while several television documentaries and discussion programmes were also produced and aired;
(iii) the commission continues to participate in the Agricultural and Commercial Shows in Lusaka, Ndola and most provincial as well as regional shows;
(iv) lectures to various institutions such as Zambia Police Service, Office of the President, Immigration Department, Ministry of Lands, Zambia Revenue Authority, Zambia Wildlife Authority, University of Zambia, Anti-Voter Apathy Project, Youth Alive and high schools were conducted. Over 4,000 people were addressed in these lectures;
(v) several educational and promotional material were produced and distributed in forms of leaflets, posters, comics books, T-shirts, Christmas Cards, calendars and diaries;
(vi) the commission in conjunction with Transparency International successfully organised and participated in the commemoration of the United National Anti-Corruption Day on the 9th December, 2006, at which I was guest of honour; and
(vii) Eight sensitisation workshops for various groups in the country were conducted countrywide and included a media workshop and a workshop for Government officials.
Other efforts made in the year 2006 have resulted in major steps being undertaken early this year by the Government of the Republic Zambia as seen in the ratification of the two important international treaties on corruption. The United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the African Union Protocol on the Prevention and Combating of Corruption.
This, in itself, is a clear sign of the Government’s commitment in fighting corruption. What remains to be done now is to domesticate the relevant clauses in a bid to strengthen our anti-corruption laws.
Mr Chairperson, in order for the Anti-Corruption Commission to carry out its mandate, the Government has this fiscal year allocated a total of K31.8 billion as against K23.3 billion last year.
It is the wish of the Government to increase funding to the Commission in order to enable it perform its functions more effectively and efficiently to ensure the creation of a corruption-free environment. This is what the people of Zambia are demanding. This simply means that the commission has to double its efforts if they are to win the confidence of the Zambian people in working together to rid the nation of this vice.
Sir, I am thankful to the hon. Members of this august House who have continued to give support to the anti-corruption crusade, particularly so to the Members of the African Network Against Corruption (APNAC), Zambia Chapter.
May I also extend gratitude to all co-operating partners who assist the Government and the commission with financial technical and material support in a bid to strengthen good governance in Zambia.
I thank you, Sir.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
The Deputy Chairperson: Before we proceed on the policy debate, I would like to guide hon. Members that we have a lot on our agenda. Of course, that is what we are here for, but the guidance is that for those who are going to debate, although we have clocked ourselves to fifteen minutes, almost all of you are capable of making your points in less than fifteen minutes. That is possible.
Mr Beene (Itezhi-tezhi): Mr Chairperson, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to thank His Honour the Vice-President for his presentation and support to this very important Vote.
Mr Chairperson, I want to register that the money allocated to this Vote is inadequate to fight corruption. I am saying so because this country is one of the poorest countries in this world. The essence of fighting corruption is that most of the money which usually goes missing is tax money. These are public funds. It is rare to find that private money has gone missing. For example, if you try to steal somebody’s or a company’s money, you will definitely be pursued.
Mr Chairperson, last year, the allocation to this Vote was K26,893,608,975 and this year it is K31,838,031,145. I think there is a supplement of about K4,944,422,170. The Anti-Corruption Commission needs to be supported by both the Executive and the Opposition. I want to mention that this issue should not be underplayed by politicians. It should not be said that the Head of State, His Excellency the President, is using corruption as an issue for his political agenda. We have to do something about it as Zambians.
Sir, before I proceed, I want to thank the Government for having included the African Parliamentarian Network Against Corruption (APNAC) in this year’s Budget. I think the Government has to be commended for doing that.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Beene: Mr Chairperson, from the APNAC’s point of view, we are going to do everything possible and co-operate with everyone so that the money is well used. By so doing, we will ensure that corruption is dealt with in this country.
Mr Chairperson, there are agencies such as the police and other security wings which deal with corruption. How can these people manage to fight corruption if they are poorly paid? Their houses are completely dilapidated. These people travel on foot and cannot even afford bicycles. It is, therefore, important that these people are well looked after and remunerated.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Beene: Sir, we cannot say that corruption is only at the grassroots. Corruption occurs from the top to the bottom. I have mentioned that part of the money which is either misappropriated or unaccounted for is through the structures of Government and this includes everybody in the system and those that are not even in the Executive. We have had situations where Constituency Development Funds have gone missing. Therefore, we cannot say that the problem is only in the Government.
Sir, I also want to thank the co-operating partners who have taken a very strong stance in supporting the Government in the fight against corruption. However, that money should be well used.
Mr Chairperson, what do we need to do? If we were going to pull out and see who is going to deal with the corruption, the laws of this country have to be changed. In short, it would be important that cases of corruption should be dealt with immediately so that they do not delay. The moment you delay cases of missing moneys, you will never chase those moneys in foreign banks. That is just a fact.
Secondly, the moment you delay those who grab or steal those moneys, they are bound to buy the system which is trying to take them to justice. That is a fact. Therefore, it is very important for the Judiciary and those involved in prosecuting in the courts of law to find a way of rushing cases of corruption. This way, we will be able to deal with this problem. This will also reduce the stigma against the accused corrupt persons because sometimes these people could be innocent.
Mr Chairperson, once more, I want to thank the Government for the efforts they are making to try to fight this vice.
I thank you, Sir.{mospagebreak}
The Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Development (Mr Malwa): Mr Chairperson, I rise to fully support the expenditures and estimates for the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The fight against corruption should not be left to the Government alone. All hon. Members of this august House should be involved and join the crusade to fight corruption. This is because this vice and its effects are frustrating and retrogressive to the people of Zambia.
Sir, if corruption is not stopped, developmental projects in Zambia will suffer at the expense of a few selfish individuals who want to amass quick funds and become rich overnight. These selfish people do this at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. It is for these very important reasons that in Zambia, if we are to develop our motherland, we need to stop corruption. All true Zambians who want this country to prosper should desist from being corrupted and not receive any bribe in favour of any sort of arrangement. The law should also be enforced against culprits involved in corruption because no one is above the law.
Mr Chairperson, in conclusion, let me thank and commend the Anti-Corruption Commission officers for the job well done since the coming into power of the New Deal Administration under the able leadership of His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, who has been number one to fight corruption.
I thank you, Sir.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
The Deputy Chairperson: I wish to commend the hon. Deputy Minister for that brief speech which has all the points.
Mr Lubinda: Mr Chairperson, thank you for allowing me to add my voice to this Vote.
From the outset, let me say that I support the Vote for the Anti-Corruption Commission. I agree with His Honour the Vice-President and want to add to his words. Irrespective of what you do to develop this country, no matter how many foreign investors you bring to this country and how big we grow our GDP, for as long as we do not get rid of the scourge of corruption, our people shall continue to wallow in poverty. Unfortunately, amongst us in this world, are some people who wish to wear very expensive perfume when there is garbage everywhere around them. There are people who are so greedy that they wish to live in glass houses when their brothers and sisters are wallowing in poverty. It is only the Government that has to take the lead in the fight against corruption.
Sir, in so doing, let me recognise the noble people at the Anti-Corruption Commission. Only five commissioners and six directors are running the Anti-Corruption Commission. His Honour the Vice-President, referred to the dismal performance where 889 cases were closed for lack of evidence. This is not because of lack of will by the officers at the Anti-Corruption Commission, but because of many other problems that I hope, you will take note of.
Firstly, Sir, the Anti-Corruption Commission is marred by serious structural problems. Unless the Government is willing to address the structural problems, next year, we shall come and debate that Vote and His Honour the Vice-President will come and tell us that another 1,000 cases were closed because of lack of evidence. The structural problems include the following:
Lack of Autonomy
The fact that they have to answer to the Head of State is a big problem. We have to change that because no one person should be assumed to have God-given morality. This is a known fact by all of us. I would like to illustrate what I mean. Not too long ago, a very serious case of corruption and plunder; a case bordering on killing the Zambian people, the case of Bulaya v The People was almost thrown out of court because the investigating officers had to get authority from elsewhere. Had it not been for the vigilance of the Zambian people, today, Mr Kashiwa Bulaya would not have been convicted.
Hon Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Lubinda: Sir, the other problem that I see is…
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
Hon Lubinda, this is guidance to all of us. I know that for individuals out there, for sure if I were Bulaya, I would feel very sad. There may be some things that he would like to say. I feel that, where possible, you should use general examples because mentioning individuals may not be very good. So, please, Hon. Lubinda, can you take that into account as you debate.
You may continue.
Mr Lubinda: I thank you, Sir, for your guidance.
Lack of Prosecution Power
The next area of structural deficiency is the lack of prosecution power. The Anti-Corruption Commission requires some prosecution power. In addition, what we require, and I hope the Minister of Justice is listening, is to come up with fast-track corruption trial courts so that issues of corruption are handled by specialised courts. As the hon. Minister of Justice is aware, our court system has a lot of cases to handle. As a result, matters of corruption which are so dependent on the quick response of the investigating officers and prosecution end up being lost because of lack of evidence due to the fact that witnesses are dead or the evidence is destroyed. Therefore, we ought to come up with a system to ensure that prosecution is hastened.
All through the years until January this year, one other structural problem was our lack of access to asset recovery. We have now ratified the United Nations (UN) Pact and the Africa Union (AU) Convention Against Corruption. That gives us access to international provisions of asset recovery. What is lacking though, like His Honour the Vice-President said, is that we have not domesticated those two important international protocols. I will be coming to that in a little while.
Sir, I would like to go to the second area of the problem and that is limited staff. His Honour the Vice-President should be well-informed that we cannot expect a better performance from the few officers at ACC than what they have done so far. Allow me to illustrate.
The Anti-Corruption Commission only has ninety-eight investigation officers. That translates to one investigation officer per district or 1.3 if you wish. With rising incidents of corruption in Zambia, as has been lamented by the Head of State and echoed by His Honour the Vice-President, we cannot achieve anything with one investigation officer per district.
Secondly, if you look at the amount of corruption being reported in ministries, and borrowing His Honour the Vice-President’s words, in a country where, as he said, not all hon. Members of Parliament, hon. Ministers and Public Service workers are engaged in the fight against corruption, surely, we will not achieve much if we only have one investigation officer per district.
Sir, what about all the stories about corruption involving land, not only at the Ministry of Lands, but also in local authorities? With one investigation officer district, you are making it difficult for the Anti-Corruption Commission to achieve the purpose for which it was established. In short, what we are doing is that we are making those few officers chase after the wind. Of course, they will never catch it. They are too few to fight the scourge of corruption in the country.
There are only seven intelligence officers in the whole country. Only seven intelligence officers attached to the commission. How do you expect them to succeed? They certainly cannot. We have demonstrated rhetoric in the fight against corruption. We have spoken that we want to fight corruption, but we are not matching our words with the resources we are putting in the fight against it.
For Example, earlier today, we were told about a statement alleged to have been made by a hon. Minister of our Government. Had the Anti-Corruption Commission sufficient capacity, they would have started to investigate whether that statement was made. This is because it is their job to prevent corruption. When such statements are made, obviously they raise suspicion. The Anti-Corruption Commission must move on the basis of suspicion.
Mr Tetamashimba: On a point of order, Sir.
The Deputy Chairperson: A point of order is raised.
Mr Tetamashimba: Sir, I know that I already have a point of order outstanding on the hon. Member, but is he in order to start debating in the way he is debating, especially on an issue whose response was given by the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, who was carrying a message from His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, to his brother, President Kabila and Mr Speaker ruled on that matter and accepted the statement from the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services?
Is he in order to bring it up again in the House? I need your serious ruling, Sir. I know that there is one point of order still pending.
The Deputy Chairperson: You may continue, taking that point of order into account as you debate.
Mr Lubinda: Some issues are best left behind where they belong and that is one of them. I would like to make proposals on how to proceed in empowering the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Mr Kambwili: On a point of order, Sir.
The Deputy Chairperson: A point of order is raised.
Mr Kambwili: I rise on a very serious point of order on procedure. Is the hon. Deputy Minister who raised the point of order in order to point at you as the Chair. Is he in order?
Interruptions
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
The Chair fully understands your feelings, but I would like to seize this opportunity to say that these are the kinds of points of order that will delay our progress. I would have gone at length to address myself to the point of order raised by the hon. Deputy Minister of Works and Supply, but I am trying to be a bit fast by saying that you take that point of order into account. I was avoiding exactly what is happening. Let us make progress. I would not like to say that I will not allow anymore points of order, but if I am pushed to that extent, I will use that discretionary power.
The hon. Member may continue.
Mr Lubinda: I would also like to inform His Honour the Vice-President, in case he has missed the figures, that the Anti-Corruption Commission is charged with the responsibility of preventing crime, preventing corruption and yet to do that, they have only given them an establishment of twenty-five corruption prevention officers. Twenty- five for the whole country. You do not expect much from twenty-five officers. As though that were not enough, they only have thirteen community education officers. How do you expect such a number of people to fight corruption? Mind you, they are not angels and you expect them to perform magic. In a country where there is so much corruption how can you have only thirteen community education officers? Do you expect them to perform magic? They cannot.
Sir, my proposal is that the Anti-Corruption Commission must be empowered to increase the number of prevention and community education officers. All we have to do is, like the hon. Minister of Communications and Transport has done, engage honorary corruption prevention officers and honorary community education officers. Once those are engaged and trained, they will assist the Anti-Corruption Commission prevent corruption and educate our communities.
Sir, over and above, I would like to propose that as they go about forming the integrity committees, they must not leave the task of appointing integrity committee members to the institutions in which these committees are being formed. This is because once they do that, the corrupt are the ones who will find themselves on the integrity committees. I wish to propose to the Anti-Corruption Commission that they must take it upon themselves to conduct integrity tests before they appoint a person to sit on an integrity committee.
Sir, as Chairman of APNAC, I am aware of some integrity committees that have members that are less than ethical. Therefore, to have such people in those committees is going to kill the zeal to fight corruption. I hope that His honour the Vice-President shall assist the Anti-Corruption Commission to come up with a true tool to test the integrity of people, particularly before they are appointed to integrity committees.
The third problem is the one the Permanent Secretary raised; the problem of finance. Your Honour, the Vice-President, you will see that even if you have increased the allocation to the Anti-Corruption Commission by K12 billion, the amount of money that you have allocated for conducting investigations for the whole year is only K690 million. Sir, that, only translates into K6 million per province per month, and yet you know how expensive it is to conduct investigations. How much investigations do you think they will do with K6 million per province per month? That is far from enough.
Secondly, you know that corruption is becoming ever sophisticated. Hence, the skills of the Anti-Corruption Commission have to be enhanced if we have to win this fight against corruption.
Sir, you have increased the allocation from K1.6 billion to K3 billion, but if you scruitinise that allocation, hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, you will see that K1.2 of the K3 billion is not for actual prevention. For example, K505 million is meant for establishing a research unit, K215 million is for monitoring of examinations by the Ministry of Education and K358 million is for vehicles and maintenance of transport. What will remain is hardly a billion kwacha in corruption prevention. You cannot go far with that kind of allocation.
Sir, you have only allocated less than K10 million to the integrity committees that His Honour the Vice-President spoke about and K7.6 million is for the administration of the integrity committee. How do you expect them to function, if I may ask?
Sir, I would like to say that this Vote requires increased financing because like I said, whatever the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning does to over tax the Zambian people, that money will not translate into any meaningful development for the people for as long as the greedy and the corrupt are not caged and they can only be caged by empowering the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Sir, my Permanent Secretary commended the various donors who contributed to this. In commending them, I want to say that I am sad that out of the K31 billion allocated to the Anti-Corruption Commission, K8.7 billion is from donor finance. I would have expected it to be much less. I would have expected our own Government to invest in this to demonstrate that when they say there is zero tolerance to corruption, they mean it and they match their words with the resources they are investing in the fight against corruption. K8.7 billion is courtesy of DFID at K6.2 billion, USAID at K1.6 billion and DANIDA at K1 billion. I would like to appeal to them to realise the every kwacha they put in the fight against corruption is helping the Zambian people. Let me also appeal to them that if the Government is not willing to increase funding to the Anti-Corruption Commission next year, they should come in and assist this Government which is not willing to put its money where it is needed.
Finally, I am delighted to see that the Anti-Corruption Commission has recognised the role APNAC is playing. I would, therefore, like to appeal to hon. Members of Parliament to take heed of what His Honour the Vice-President said. We, in this House, should be seen to be the champions of the fight against corruption.
Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Lubinda: If we do not spearhead the fight, do not expect society out there to get involved. It is not only rhetoric. I would like to appeal to all hon. Members of Parliament to get engaged and fight vigorously.
For this same reason, I am very excited to see the popularity that APNAC is gaining. Very soon, working with our colleagues in the Anti-Corruption Commission, we shall start to conduct integrity tests to ensure that only those of high moral standing are admitted to APNAC. This is because even at APNAC, we are wary of the fact that one day, we might be overridden by people whose intentions are to stop the fight against corruption. We shall stand to defend all the institutions that are formed with the sole purpose of destroying the scourge that leads so many of our people to early graves; the scourge that is causing so much havoc amongst our little children and that is taking them into hospitals where they cannot find medicine. This is purely because of the greed of people.
Sir, I want to say that we ought to learn to shame. If a person is corrupt, they are corrupt. Once they are convicted, let it be publicised so that people know that it does not pay to be corrupt.
Sir, Bulaya was convicted and …
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
Any further debate?
Laughter
Dr Njobvu (Milanzi): Mr Chairperson, I stand to support the allocation to this Vote. In doing so, I would like to draw the attention of the Government to some anomalies in the process of budgeting in this Vote.
Mr Chairperson, indeed, corruption is eroding the small resources that are meant for development. If it continues, this country will continue to be poor.
Sir, not long ago we heard from one of the workshops that hon. Members of Parliament attended that corruption is increasing. We were also told that the country had lost over K600 billion in corruption cases.
Mr Chairperson, if the people in the Anti-Corruption Commission are not properly supported, then we are fighting a losing battle.
Mr Chairperson, in this budget, I have seen funds being allocated to workshops instead of areas where it is supposed to go. I suppose the people who were making the budget are not our colleagues on your right, but people in the system and our colleagues on your right were not aware. For example, workshops and seminars have been allocated over K206 million while salaries in Division II have only been allocated K17 million. This is not adequate. In addition, some moneys have been put in conducting exchange visits to organisations in the region. More than K100,000 million has been allocated. This means that important elements have not been adequately supported.
Mr Chairperson, the Anti-Corruption Commission must be serious with the fight against corruption, otherwise we are fighting a losing battle. I wish to urge the authorities to look at this and make necessary changes.
I thank you, Sir.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
The Vice-President: Mr Chairperson, thank you, once again, for giving me this opportunity to speak on the estimates for the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Sir, I would like to underline each hon. Member who has spoken because it is important to recognise the good things hon. Members of Parliament are saying besides their constituencies listening to them and knowing that they are standing in this Parliament to support what the people want and the fight against corruption.
Hon. Beene, Member of Parliament for Itezhi-tezhi, unreservedly supported the Anti-Corruption Commission’s estimates, but felt that the work is larger than the amount of money allocated to them. He also went further to ask all of us to support His Excellency the President in the fight against corruption. I would like to thank him for that.
Hon. Malwa, Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Development, also stood up to support the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Hon. Lubinda also supports the Anti-Corruption Commission, but feels that there are structural problems within this organisation and suggests that we pay attention to …
Interruptions
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
We cannot hear the answer being given by His Honour the Vice-President. Let us consult quietly.
You may continue.
The Vice-President: He said we needed to allocate more money in order to enable the Anti-Corruption Commission work effectively. I thank him for that.
Sir, I think that hon. Members must always remember that the donors do not just throw money in the air to any government, but give money to a Government that they feel is committed to the struggle against corruption. For that reason, it is a compliment that the donors have unreservedly extended their hand of support to the programme of anti-corruption and tolerating corruption to zero point.
Hon. Dr Njobvu correctly points out that the figures that are allocated do not seem to be allocated in the right places. The K206 million allocated for seminars, K17 million for salaries in Division 2 and so forth. I just want to assure my colleague, Hon. Dr Njobvu, that these allocations are made after taking into account our limited resources and also taking into account the suggestions of all the stakeholders.
Mr Chairperson, it is, therefore, at this stage, necessary for us to support what has been requested and I hope that all of us who are very sensitive and accountable to our constituencies would show their support by agreeing to the estimates that you have been requested to approve this evening.
I, therefore, believe, with confidence, that all hon. Members of this House without much contention, will support us so that we can proceed dealing with other issues that are ahead of us considering the limited time that you have referred to so many times.
I thank you, Sir.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!{mospagebreak}
Vote 87 ordered to stand part of the Estimates.
VOTE 80/01 – (Ministry of Education – Headquarters – K1,885,094,406,427).
The Minister of Education (Professor Lungwangwa): Mr Chairperson, before I present my policy statement, allow me to inform the House that in the light of yesterday’s point of order, my ministry has been running some adverts on the approved Examination Centres for the 2007 examinations. The advertisements have been appearing in the daily papers which I will lay on the Table.
Professor Lungwangwa laid the paper on the Table.
Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Chairperson and hon. Members of Parliament allow me to congratulate the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning for presenting a budget which outlines the nation’s development aspirations and priorities as identified in the Fifth National Development Plan. Indeed, this year’s economic policy instrument, the budget, is focused and demonstrates the Government’s commitment to operationalising the FNDP.
It is my honour and privilege to be availed this opportunity to present a policy statement on the 2007 budget estimates for Head 80, the Ministry of Education.
Sir, the mission statement of the Ministry of Education is:
‘Providing equitably accessible education and skills training opportunities for sustainable livelihood and development.’
This statement is aimed at assisting the country achieve the 2030 vision of ‘innovative and productive life long education and training accessible to all’ as indicated in the Fifth National Development Plan.
Mr Chairperson, the Ministry of Education continues to be the biggest institution within Government, whose staff constitutes over 50 per cent of the Civil Service and has over 3 million learners, most of whom are at basic school level.
In 2006, the ministry continued implementing activities in the sector plans, that is, the Ministry of Education sector plans and major strides were scored in a number of areas. During the Fifth National Development Plan, stakeholders in the education sector identified a number of activities at a cost of over K2 trillion for implementation in the 2006 financial year. Out of this requirement, K1.55 trillion was made available from both the national Treasury which was K1.277 trillion and external sources K278.7 billion.
Mr Chairperson, allow me to inform this august House on the milestones made by my ministry in achieving the targets which were set for 2006. In the area of access to education opportunities, the enrolment for basic schools, that is grades 1 to 9, in 2006 was 2,982,000 which meant an increase of 4.5 per cent from previous years. For high schools, Grades 10 to 12, the total enrolment was 193,000 in 2006 which was an increase of 6.1 per cent from 2005.
Mr Chairperson, allow me, at this point, to state that the net enrolment in Grades 1 to 7 stands at 97 per cent. In the area of teacher recruitment and deployment, in improving the quality of teaching and learning through recruitment and deployment of teachers, I am glad to inform this august House that as at 31st December, 2006, 7,100 teachers had been recruited and deployed across the country. Of the 7,100 teachers, 3,074 teachers were replacements for those that had left the service through retirements, resignations and deaths and 4,026 were net recruitments. Of the 4,026 net recruitments, 3,026 were for basic schools and 1,000 were posted to high schools. Most of the recruited teachers were deployed in the rural areas.
Mr Chairperson, in addition, 439 accounting staff were recruited and deployed to high schools, colleges and district education boards. This is in line with the goal of the ministry of achieving efficient and effective financial management. To improve the working conditions of teachers, especially those in rural areas, and to improve the quality of teaching through teacher motivation, the ministry put in place a special loan scheme for teachers amounting to K8 billion.
On the promotion of Zambia as a centre of excellence for higher education and vocational training, a number of activities such as identifying incentives, green fields for construction of education infrastructure, one window for potential investors in the education sector and creating an inventory of buildings and land for education infrastructure construction were undertaken in 2006.
In the area of infrastructure development, Mr Chairperson, 395 classrooms out of the 500 portal frame classrooms were constructed in Luapula, Northern, Central and Copperbelt provinces. The classrooms have been completed with the exception of 105 classrooms in Central and Northern provinces which will be completed this year. Other strides made under school infrastructure were the construction and completion of four basic schools under the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) in Lusaka District in 2006.
Mr Chairperson, the construction of six basic schools in Kabanana, Mutendere, Northmead, Marapodi, Chilenje South and Libala under JICA have been completed and are to be handed over by the end of this month, April, 2007. The construction of eight basic schools has been completed in Southern, Luapula, Northern and Eastern Provinces under the Africa Development Bank (ADB) and have since been handed over.
Mr Chairperson, in the high school sub-sector, the construction of the Ndola Girls Technical High School is nearing completion. Kafumbwe and Lumezi High Schools in the Eastern Province were completed and the students began using the schools last year. Computing equipment is being procured for Kafumbwe and Lumezi High Schools.
Mr Chairperson, the construction of Kapiri Girls Technical High School has not started due to technicalities on the tendering process raised by the Arab Bank for Reconstruction and Development, (BADEA). It is hoped that the tendering process will be completed this year. The tendering process for the construction of Itezhi-tezhi, Chitambo, Kazungula and Kapushi High Schools were successfully completed last year and construction will start this year. Out of forty zonal resource centres started in 2006, twenty seven have since been completed. These are five in Luapula, fifteen in Northern Province, two in Western Province, two on the Copperbelt, three in Lusaka and significant progress has been made at the remaining thirteen sites.
Mr Chairperson, construction of ten teachers’ houses at Kitwe Teachers’ Training College is almost complete. Construction of fifteen teachers’ houses at Mulapika in Chinsali has been completed. The construction of the School of Business at the Copperbelt University has since been completed and is only awaiting final inspection.
Mr Chairperson, the process of transforming the National College for Management Studies in Kabwe into the third public university was started in accordance with the National College for Management Development Studies Repeal Act of 2005. The Secretary to the Treasury in pursuance of Section 43 of the Public Finance Act appointed a committee to wind up the affairs of the institution before it is transformed into a university.
Mr Chairperson, in the area of education materials, the ministry spent K35.1 billion on the procurement of textbooks for Government, basic and high schools, including community schools and grant aided schools using both the decentralised and centralised text book procurement systems.
The development of the policy for early childhood care development education has reached an advanced stage. Major stakeholder consultations were carried out and a consultancy to develop the policy framework has been awarded and a roadmap drawn up.
Consultations on the development of a national qualifications framework and establishment of Zambia National Qualification Authority were made and it is expected that they will be completed during the course of this year.
A draft policy framework to give guidance on management and coordination of community schools has been developed and will be approved this year.
The process of developing the literacy policy has been put in place. A technical committee has been meeting and the policy is expected to be put in place in 2007.
Mr Chairperson, the Ministry of Education will pursue the on-going programmes based on the existing sector plan, 2003 to 2007, and policy strategies in 2007 in line with the Fifth National Development Plan and the national vision which aims at achieving an innovative and productivity life long education and training that is accessible to all by 2030.
The sector goals which the ministry intends to pursue and achieve during the Fifth National Development Plan period are as follows:
(i) to ensure that universal basic education is provided to all children;
(ii) to ensure that opportunities exist for citizens to have equitable access to early childhood care development and education (ECCDE), basic and high school and tertiary education;
(iii) to improve the quality and relevance of education and skills training;
(iv) to promote efficiency and cost effectiveness; and
(v) to enhance institutional coordination in both public and private education and training institutions;
The above objectives will be achieved through the core ministry programmes as follows:
(i) Curriculum Development and Educational Materials
To review and design a comprehensive and a diversified curriculum, that is interlinked throughout all educational levels and provide relevant education materials;
(ii) Standards and Assessment
To develop a comprehensive assessment system reflective of an outcome and demand based curriculum;
(iii) Teacher Education.
To strengthen the system for continuous professional development, management and support and strengthen the systems for initial teacher training, management and support;
(iv) Infrastructure Development
To provide appropriate and sufficient infrastructure facilities and services, including rehabilitation and maintenance in order to improve equitable access to and quality of education;
(v) Distance Education and Open Learning
To expand access and participation in the provision of basic education through alternative modes of delivery using appropriate methodologies and technologies;
(vi) Equity
To develop flexible and inclusive education programmes that provide mechanisms for increasing equitable access to quality basic education for children with special education needs and orphans and vulnerable children;
(vii) Management and Administration
To develop, revise and improve the overall framework for quality education planning, human resource, financial management and administration delivery;
(viii) Research (University Education)
To strengthen research and innovation capabilities in private and public tertiary institutions. The goal is to develop the fourth level education which will efficiently and effectively contribute to the country’s wealth creation and employment generation through research and development;
Mr Chairperson, the total 2007 budget for the Ministry of Education is K1.885 trillion, of which K1.616 trillion or 85.7 per cent is GRZ and K269 billion or 14.3 per cent is externally funded. This represents a 27 per cent increase in nominal terms from the 2006 budget of K1.555trillion. Out of the total GRZ budget, K1.10 trillion or 62.5 per cent has been allocated to personal emoluments while K605.9 billion or 37.5 per cent of the total GRZ budget has been allocated to non-personal emoluments.
Mr Chairperson, the strategic programmes in the 2007-2009 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) will be implemented through the five sub-sectors as outlined in the Fifth National Development Plan and these are: early childhood care development and education, basic school, high school, tertiary education, management and administration.
The main focus of the programmes will be to enhance quality education throughout the system. In the area of access, the major reforms in the Fifth National Development Plan will involve provision of quality education through quantitative expansion of the system in order to meet the education needs of different categories of learners who are not sufficiently catered for.
The Ministry of Education will pursue the following major programmes in 2007 in line with the Fifth National Development Plan:
Infrastructure Development
Mr Chairperson, in order to increase access and improve the teaching and learning environment, infrastructure development has been accorded a high priority. The total budgetary allocation to infrastructure development (excluding basic designated external resources) is K314.1 billion or 35.9 per cent of the K874.9 billion non-personal emoluments for 2007.
To demonstrate my ministry’s commitment to infrastructure development, I would like to highlight the following:
(i) procurement of school furniture has been allocated K11.5 billion compared to K4.1 billion in 2006;
(ii) funding for rehabilitation and maintenance of infrastructure at headquarters, province, district, college and school levels has been allocated K43.4 billion; and
(iii) allocation to the construction of teachers’ houses in the rural areas has more than doubled from K4.3 billion in 2006 to K9.5 billion in 2007.
Mr Chairperson, the ministry will spend over K40 billion on replacing pole and mud structures built before 1964 with permanent structures. A total of 25 out of 91 pole and mud schools are earmarked for reconstruction in this year’s Budget. This will create hope in those deprived areas that have for a long time been served with pole and mud structures since the colonial period. I hope Hon. Mooya is listening. The ministry will start the construction of three Girls Technical High Schools, one in each of the following provinces:
(i) Lusaka
(ii) Western
(iii) North Western
This is a national programme which will cover the whole country. As I pointed out earlier, one is being constructed in Ndola and another one in Kapiri Mposhi.
Mr Chairperson, the ministry will also start the construction of a School of Excellence for children with special education needs in Lusaka at Munali. I hope the hon. Member for Munali, Ms Mumbi, is listening. The construction of the eighteen zonal which started last year is expected to be completed this year.
To improve access in the high school sector, my ministry shall start construction of twenty five high schools. Every province will have a share of these institutions. This activity has been allocated K110.9 billion. The ministry will construct District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) offices in the following districts:
(i) Lusaka;
(ii) Kafue;
(iii) Livingstone;
(iv) Mazabuka;
(v) Kabwe;
(vi) Chibombo;
(vii) Chipata;
(viii) Chama;
(ix) Mpulungu;
(x) Kasama;
(xi) Samfya;
(xii) Mansa;
(xiii) Mufumbwe;
(xiv) Mufulira;
(xv) Lufwanyama;
(xvi) Masaiti; and
(xvii) Kitwe.
Those at Kazungula, Itezhi tezhi, Solwezi and Mazabuka will be completed.
Sir, the ministry will construct five students’ hostels at the two public universities; three at the University of Zambia Great East Road Campus and two at the Copperbelt University. A sum of K12 billion has been allocated for this activity.
It is important to point out that the last time a students’ hostel was constructed at the University of Zambia Great East Road Campus was twenty-six years ago. The third public university in Kabwe has been allocated K11.8 billion for infrastructure rehabilitation. Rehabilitation work at the University of Zambia Great East Road Campus and Copperbelt University has been allocated K1.7 billion respectively.
Mr Chairperson, with regard to teachers’ development, recruitment, deployment and retention, in line with the Government’s quest to improve the quality of education, the ministry, this year, will recruit 6,800 teachers of which 4,000 will be net recruitment while 2,800 will be replacements. The net recruitment will comprise 3,000 for basic schools and 1,000 for high schools. The Government has put aside K121.8 billion for the recruitment of new teachers.
Sir, the Government has provided K813 million for teacher deployment in this year’s Budget. This amount will cater for the training of 4,500 pre-service and 7,000 in-service teachers. In-service training will include training in special education needs. The target of my ministry is to supply trained teachers to all the schools and eventually eliminate triple and double shifts and improve the pupil teacher ratio.
In order to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in teaching and non-teaching personnel, K204 billion has been allocated to HIV/AIDS activities, including access to anti-retroviral therapy at all levels.
Mr Chairperson, in this year’s budget, the Government has allocated K14.4 billion for staff retention and payment of loans at the district through the Provincial Education office. This is about K1.63 billion for each province. At headquarters, a total of K3 billion has been provided for the procurement of second hand motor vehicles for rural head teachers and K1.1 billion for staff retention at provincial level.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
Professor Lungwangwa: Sir, as regards curriculum development and education materials, over K108.8 billion has been allocated to the procurement of teaching and learning materials, including free basic education requisites. The focus of this expenditure is at basic, high school and college levels. It is intended to improve the text book-pupil ratio and make other educational materials available in schools and colleges.
Mr Chairperson, a sum of K2 billion has been allocated to Zambia Education Publishing House (ZEPH) for capitalisation to enable it embark on the publication of books and other educational materials for schools. This will facilitate the effective realisation of the free education policy.
Sir, a sum of K834.6 million has been allocated to Kitwe and Lusaka Education Broadcasting Services in order to revive their operations. I hope Hon. Sinyangwe is listening. The Teacher Training Curriculum will be reviewed in order to improve the quality of teachers.
To increase the teacher supply or output in future, especially at high school level, my ministry plans to convert Nkrumah and Copperbelt colleges of education into degree granting institutions.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
Professor Lungwangwa: In the area of Standards and Assessment, my ministry will continue strengthening the supervision of grant aided institutions in order to make them efficient and accountable. The ministry will continue to render support to community schools in line with guidelines to be approved this year.
Mr Chairperson, with regard to equity, my ministry with the assistance of the World Food Programme, will expand the food supplement activity to cover an annual average of 210,000 pupils in 400 Government and community schools in Southern, Western and Eastern provinces. These schools were chosen from the drought stricken districts with low education indicators such as enrolments, attendance and academic performance. The Early Childhood Care Development Education Policy Framework will be in place by the end of 2007.
Sir, a sum of K5.6 billion has been allocated for bursaries to orphans and vulnerable children in Grades 8 to 12. In line with the private-public partnership, Celtel has provided an addition of K1 billion for this particular activity to support orphans and vulnerable children at the same level.
In the area of university education, Mr Chairperson, in addition to the grants for universities, the Government has set aside K38 billion, in this year’s budget, to reduce the overall indebtedness of the two public universities, the University of Zambia Great East Road Campus and the Copperbelt University. The Government has authorised the public-private partnership which will enable the University of Zambia to enter into private partnerships with other institutions in estate development at the Great East Road Campus. The Bursary’s Committee will increase the number of students on bursary and loan scheme from 7,750 in 2006 to 8,250 in 2007 at the University of Zambia and the Copperbelt University.
Mr Chairperson, to improve the financial allocations to the public universities, student welfare and projects have been budgeted for separately from tuition and accommodation fees. This will enable the universities get funding that can directly be channelled to improving teaching, research, learning and general scholarship. My ministry would like to appeal to this august House to recognise and acknowledge the efforts the Government is making towards directing resources to investment in the education sector.
Mr Chairperson, the Government is committed to:
(i) developing an integrated education system from early childhood up to the university level;
(ii) expanding access to education at all levels;
(iii) improving the quality of education at all levels;
(iv) ensuring that disadvantaged children have opportunities to education;
(v) improving the teaching and learning environment to achieve quality human resources; and
(vi) narrowing the education gap between the urban and rural areas.
Mr Chairperson, my ministry is exploring inter-ministerial collaborative relationships aimed at achieving effective education delivery in such areas as sports, early childhood development, adult literacy, water supply to educational institutions, power supply to schools, communication connectivity for rural schools, skills training, research and development.
To ensure that there is prudent management of public resources and that the desired targets in planned projects are realised, my ministry is taking measures to strengthen the policy implementation monitoring system. In addition, the procurement system will be streamlined in order to stem out inefficiency in project implementation.
Mr Chairperson, hon. Members of the House, allow me to conclude by saying that improved education delivery demanded by the people of this country will require more resources and concerted efforts by all the stakeholders, including the private sector, the civil society and the hon. Members themselves. The Government is committed to the goal of improving service delivery in the education sector to achieve the aspirations of all our people for a relevant, quality and equitable education. I, therefore, earnestly appeal to the House to support my ministry’s budget whose aim is making a difference in education delivery to our people.
I thank you, Sir.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Kambwili (Roan): Thank you, Mr Chairperson, for according me this opportunity to add my voice in support of the Vote for the Ministry of Education.
Mr Chairperson, in supporting this Vote, I would like to state as follows. If you are not a Zambian and have come to this Parliament to listen to the policy statement that has been given by the hon. Minister for the first time, you would think Zambia is heaven on earth in as far as education is concerned.
Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!{mospagebreak}
Mr Kambwili: The hon. Minister has given a very good flowery policy statement, but you will cry when you know what is on the ground in the education sector. I wish the words of the hon. Minister were the action of all the people in the education sector. Zambia would have had no problem with service delivery in as far as education is concerned. We have heard so many good statements in this House, but 12 months after these statements are given, we find the same deplorable state of education in our communities.
Mr Chairperson, you will find that in the education system, more especially in Government schools, in Zambia, today, the old curriculum is still being used. How do you expect Zambia to develop if up to now, pupils in schools are busy learning uyu ni Kalaba, Seka nimbwa. It is a shame.
Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Kambwili: It is a total shame that up to now children are being taught that this is Kalaba and Seka is a dog. What kind of curriculum is that? Are we serious about preparing our children for future education endeavours? Yet, we come to this House and give very good statements. We take one hour thirty minutes to give a statement whose implementation will be completely nothing to talk about? This Government must be serious in as far as education is concerned.
The hon. Minister of Education has informed us that the Government has provided money to build offices for district education secretaries, yet some children are learning in mud and pole classrooms. Where is the seriousness? Where is the priority in education? Those district education officers can even be accommodated at civic centres. Do we need to waste money today when there are no desks and books in schools? How can the Government provide a budget for the district education board secretaries to build offices in districts when there are no desks and books in schools? The hon. Minister and his team must rethink the decision. This is a waste of money in the education sector.
The hon. Minister should get money from the Vote for building district education board secretary offices and take it to other important projects. I also suggest that DEBS should be taken to civic centres and other existing Government buildings. The Government should not waste money building offices for the comfort of a few people, but instead buy books for our children. We want the taxpayers’ money to benefit our children in the schools and not the district education boards to be drinking tea. I have told you in this House several times that, as a matter of urgency, finish the decentralisation so that schools can be run by district councils. We do not need duplication. We have the town clerks and one or two people can be employed at the district level to run education. These district education boards are just wasting our money. Most of the time, the officers are not even in their offices. You find them doing their own private jobs, yet you have provided money to build them offices.
Mr Chairperson, on the recruitment of teachers, there are a lot of qualified teachers roaming the streets. Some of them are selling tomatoes at the markets, yet we are told that the education system is working very well. We are providing quality education. What quality education are you providing when, in some schools, the headmaster is a pupil teacher? The same pupil teacher is a senior teacher and the teacher for five classes and you come here and tell us that you are providing quality education.
Ms Mulasikwanda: On a point of order, Sir.
The Deputy Chairperson: A point of order is raised.
Ms Mulasikwanda: Mr Chairperson, I rise to make a point of order on the Hon. of Parliament for Roan Constituency. Whether I have a constituency or not, he has no right, whatsoever, to mislead this House and the nation at large that a pupil is a teacher of his or her fellow pupils. Only the day before yesterday, we were warned in this House that when we debate, we should do so with information that is correct and truthful so that we enlighten the people out there. Is he, therefore, in order to mislead this House by claiming that children are teaching their fellow children? I need your serious ruling.
The Deputy Chairperson: The serious ruling here is that he is expressing his point of view and I shall let him do that. I should alert you that from there, one of you can counter that argument. So, one of you should be ready.
Continue.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Kambwili: Mr Chairperson, I will forgive my sister because she has no constituency.
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
Hon. Member just go to your points and forget about the point of order. She is an hon. Member of Parliament so just get on to your point of view.
Mr Kambwili: Mr Chairperson, maybe, it is the English that she did not understand.
The Deputy Chairperson: Order! A point of order was raised and I have made a ruling. Do not make that the subject of your debate. Go straight to what you wanted to say.
Continue, please.
Mr Kambwili: Mr Chairperson, we are told that we are offering quality education. One of the schools in my constituency, Twashuka High School, has been turned into a high school but it has no laboratory. The pupils at this high school are supposed to write the same examinations as the pupils from Munali High School where there is a science laboratory and we come here and say we are offering quality education. That is very sad. The school in question does not even have a school hall. During the rainy season, there is no assembly. There is no interaction between the administration of the school and the pupils. We should be serious when we talk about national issues. Let us not misplace our priorities. Let us look at the priorities and take the money where it will add value to the development of this country.
Mr Chairperson, in the schools today, Physical Education (PE) is unheard of. I remember during our time, if you leave your PE attire, the teacher will write a note to your parents reminding them that next Thursday, you need to carry your PE attire. We are talking about sport in this country, yet, we are not promoting it in schools. In the past, we had inspectors of schools in-charge of Physical Education. I do not know if they exist in this era. We need to look at all these things if education has to have a meaning.
Mr Chairperson, with regard to examinations, examination fees have became an enemy of the people in communities. I wonder why this Government cannot subsidise examinations in this country. People are asked to pay K31,000 and if a child does not pay, regardless of whether the parents are able to manage or not, this Government has not even been considerate to such pupils to allow them sit for exams. A lot of pupils, year in year out, have not sat for exams because they failed to pay the fees. Surely, have mercy on these poor children. All they want is to be professors like you. However, because of your fees, you are making them not to write exams and, in the end, they become street kids. You are creating a pool of thieves and criminals if these children cannot be allowed to go on with their education because of policies like examination fees. I would suggest that this Government abolishes examinations in the whole country. They are a hindrance for pupils to go far in their education.
Mr Chairperson, earlier on, I debated on the issue of funding to basic schools. This Government has said it is offering free education in basic schools, and yet they are giving them K1.2 million per term. What can this amount do in running a basic school? Like I have said before, almost all the basic schools in my constituency have failed to pay their water and electricity bills. Yet, the hon. Minister comes here to make cosmetic statements. Hon. Minister, I hope when we come to approve the budget next year, if you will still be an hon. Minister, you will tell us what you have told us…
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
Address the Chair. You are supposed to say, ‘What he has told us.’
Mr Kambwili: I hope what he has told us will be implemented. If things are not implemented, hon. Minister, it will go down in history that a professor failed to run education in this country.
Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Kambwili: Mr Chairperson, I do not know if people think that children in peri-urban areas do not need education. The concentration of schools is in urban and not the peri-urban areas. We need to build high schools in peri-urban areas. The emphasis of this Government is now agriculture. How are you going to promote agriculture if the people that are in peri-urban areas are not provided with education? Some people fail to go back to the village to become farmers and when you ask why, they say, ‘teti ntwale abana kumushi takwaba ama sukulu,’ literally meaning, ‘I cannot take my children to a peri-urban area because there are no schools there.’ If you want agriculture to be the mainstay of this country’s economy, build high schools in peri-urban areas so that we can accord those children an opportunity to also be educated. After all, education is a right.
Mr Chairperson, I have been crying over money for Kasununu Community School. Hon. Minister for the Copperbelt, that money has been provided for in last and this year’s budgets, but it is not forthcoming. I am told, in Ndola, the money was sent to Luanshya, but the DEBS said it was not sent. Please, help us trace this money. We need it in Kasununu.
The hon. Minister, you can even come and stand with your head high when you have only provided K11 billion for desks for the whole country.
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
I think it will take time, but we have to guide each other. I saw that Hon. Kambwili was addressing the Chair by looking in this direction. When I say address the Chair, that is not what I mean. When you say, ‘You, minister, must do this,’ what you are doing is asking the hon. Minister to respond and you will not be protected. I want you to say, ‘He, the hon. Minister, should’ and so on. That is the kind of addressing the Chair I am talking about and not just looking at the Chair and saying, ‘You, hon. Minister.’
Can you continue, please.
Laughter
Mr Kambwili: Mr Chairperson, I thank you for that guidance. Boarding schools …
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
Business was suspended from 1805 hours to 1815 hours.
Mr Kambwili: Mr Chairperson, when business was suspended, I was just about to start talking about boarding schools. Our boarding schools have become worse than prisons. Children eat beans day in and day out.
Hon Member: Hammer.
Mr Kambwili: Children are now refusing to go to boarding schools for fear of beans. In fact, it is not even beans. It is just something like beans because of the way it is cooked. The beans which is being fed to the children is just boiled. The conditions at the boarding schools are causing children to run away and, in some instances, children cry when their parents wish to send them to boarding school. We need to do something about this seriously.
Mr Simbao: On a point of order, Sir.
The Deputy Chairperson: Order! A point of order is raised.
Mr Simbao: Mr Chairperson, is the hon. Member debating in order to despise beans …
Laughter
Mr Simbao: … when it is the sole produce of my province on which I grew up and went up to degree level in my education?
The Deputy Chairperson: The Chair will make a very serious ruling on this matter because just like the hon. Minister of Works and Supply, that is a delicacy for the Chair. Therefore, the hon. Member is out of order.
Laughter
The Deputy Chairperson: You can continue.
Mr Kambwili: I was not condemning beans, but was stating the reputation of eating beans in boarding schools. School children come back from school after three months so thin and malnourished to say the least. We need to improve our boarding schools.
Finally, I would like to know why we do not have a Vice-Chancellor at the University of Zambia. Three days ago, we read in the newspapers that three names were submitted, but the Government rejected them. Why?
Hon. Member: They are PF
Mr Kambwili: We need a Vice-Chancellor as soon as possible so that leadership can be provided at the university.
With these few words, I thank you, Sir.
Mr Mwanza (Solwezi West): Thank you Mr Chairperson for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this important Vote. The Ministry of Education is very close to my heart.
In the first place, I would like to thank the hon. Minister of Education for giving a very elaborate policy statement on the activities in the ministry.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear.
Mr Mwanza: I also wish to thank his Excellency the President for assembling a good team of technocrats to head the Ministry of Education in the name of Professor Lungwangwa and Ms Masiye Lucy Sichone.
Hon Members: Lucy Changwe!
Mr Mwanza: Lucy Changwe, I beg your pardon, Mr Chairperson.
Laughter
Mr Mwanza: Mr Chairperson, in this assembly, we can see clearly that the technocrats are there to bring value to the Ministry of Education. The professor has always told us here that we must be effective and must be able to deliver and his speech was on delivery and I think this is what the New Deal Government expects from the hon. Minister of Education.
Mr Chairperson, I have four points that I would like to discuss. The first one is on professionalising the teaching profession. I think what has been stated on the Floor is generally how the Ministry of Education should be developed. However, I think what is lacking in most of the issues that are being raised by hon. Members of Parliament is the fact that teaching is not a profession, but a vocation. We need to turn around this situation and make it a profession.
How are we going to make teaching a profession? I would like to submit, Mr Chair, that we should be talking about transforming the current Teaching Service Commission into a professional body which should be able to regulate the conduct of teachers countrywide and that should be able to come up with a code of conduct to control misbehaviour on the part of many teachers.
Sir, this position is very important. It is happening in New Zealand where teaching has been made a profession. When you transform the Teaching Service Commission into a professional body, it will be able to produce certificates of competence. If teachers are given certificates of competence to prove their professional status, then they will act like the lawyers do through the Law Association of Zambia and the Zambia Institute of Human Resources Management, which I have been privileged to serve as president.
If we do that, then we will make the teacher a professional. At the moment, teaching is a vocation which is just guided by the unions and not a profession. That is why you find that there are four teacher unions today.
Mr Chairperson, once this code of discipline is introduced in the teaching profession, it will be able to control the unbecoming behaviour of most teachers in our schools.
Hon. Member: Hanjika.
Mr Mwanza: Mr Chairperson, I also feel that when we introduce this body, it will be able to recruit graduating teachers as well as serving teachers so that they become part of the crop of professionals. That is what our lawyer friends and nurses do. They are transforming themselves using professional bodies. If we do this, we are going to have a teacher that is committed to the ethics of the profession.
Mr Chairperson, I also wish to allude to the fact of discipline in the school set up. Discipline is lacking in most schools. In fact, by the time a teacher is disciplined by the Teaching Service Commission, that teacher will be waving a letter of retirement. I am trying to say that it takes a long time to have a teacher’s case handled at district, provincial and even at Teaching Service Commission level.
These issues are not good we must be able to check them. We can only do so if we have a code of discipline in place.
Mr Chairperson, as I speak, in Solwezi West Constituency, many teachers from many schools are not there. At schools like Wamafwa, which is a big school way out in the north-west, the headmaster has run away and nobody knows where he is.
I think it is important that when things like that happen, the Teaching Service Commission acts immediately to ensure that appropriate action is taken against that teacher.
There have been no teachers at Mulubwa and Kalengelege primary schools in the same constituency. This is very worrying. I have a teaching background and when I see that children are not being helped by teachers because they go to Solwezi to get paid and when they go, they never come back, I get concerned. Sometimes, they even get married …
Laughter
Mr Mwanza: … in town. This is wrong! I think, as a Government, we must ensure that discipline is maintained amongst teachers.
Mr Chairperson, I would also like to state that in order to enhance the efforts of the teaching profession, we must make sure that the hon. Minister and his professional staff in the ministry visit schools. If you visit schools, you will get the information on the ground from the people that you meet.
Hon. PF Members: Quality!
Mr Mwanza: I have examples to give. When I was a school boy at Mwense Secondary School where I later became a teacher, the late former Minister of Education, Mr Wesley Nyirenda, who later become Speaker of this House, came to address us in 1969. When I listened to the Late Wesley Nyirenda, I was looking at an exemplary teacher and that is how I become a teacher. Today, the late Wesley Nyirenda, may his soul rest in peace, is my mentor.
Again, during the same period, I saw John Mwanakatwe who was also Minister of Education, but is now State Counsel, visiting schools. He would sleep on the headmaster’s bed and the following day meet the teachers and pupils separately. Once you do that, you are able to know what is happening on the ground and take appropriate action to deal with situations.
The other person I saw during that period was the late Fwanyanga Mulikita, another distinguished educationalist, who also later became Speaker of this House. He visited Mwense Secondary School and talked to students and teachers.
I do not see this now. The last time I saw this was when Brigadier-General Miyanda was going round, but, in my view, that was for political expedience.
Hon. Opposition Members: Aah!
Mr Mwanza: Because of that, he could not match what I saw when those hon. Members of Parliament, who later became Speakers of this House, did. This is what we want to see in the current education establishment.
Mr Chairperson, the education establishment had inspectors. The inspectors had a duty to visit schools and assess whether the teachers had schemes of work and lesson plans. Most teachers, today, just walk into a class and start talking which is not correct. If we had the professionals I am talking about, then the conduct of that teacher would change because the inspector would observe them. These things do not happen now. They are saying that the ministry has no transport, but that has always been their cry. I understand from Professor Lungwangwa’s statement that provisions have been made, although not sufficient, but it is something we can start with.
I forgot to mention that Hon. Dr Chituwo, my brother, also did the same.
Mr Simbao: Hear, hear!
Mr Mwanza: He toured the schools and was able to meet teachers and children. What I am saying is that as hon. Minister he must be brave enough to tour, maybe, North Western Province and go to the remotest places and hold meetings with teachers there. They will appreciate it. However, if you just talk to politicians and people at the Ministry of Education in Solwezi or whichever provincial head office, you will not be doing a service to this country. Make sure that you move like the former ministers did in the past.
Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Mwanza: Mr Chairperson, I am saddened by the recruitment process of teachers in this country. Hon. Kambwili also debated about this. What I find awkward is that when we have a lot of teachers graduating from schools, these trained teachers are made to sit at home for more than three years. Today, I received an SMS (Short Message Sent) from one of the people in my constituency saying his wife graduated in 2004 and has no job.
Hon. PF Members: Shame!
Mr Mwanza: During our time, when I graduated as a teacher, officials from the Ministry of Education came and gave us allowances on the spot and took us to schools. I received my first salary even before I started teaching at Mwense Secondary School.
Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Mwanza: What is happening now is the exact opposite. Teachers do not get on the pay roll until after a long time. I think we should change this approach …
Hon. PF Members: Hammer!
Mr Mwanza …and adopt a more effective one.
The other issue I would like to raise is about the shortage of teachers. Some of us from rural constituencies face this problem. When you visit a school, the most senior person you will find at the school is, maybe, a trainee teacher …
Laughter
Mr Mwanza: This does not augur well with our educational standards. Educational standards are falling because of this inertia. I believe that Professor Lungwangwa will have the capacity to reverse this so that teachers will be emulated like I emulated the late Wesley Nyirenda.
The other point I would like to raise is on the retirement age. You work as a teacher and you retire at fifty-five like all us do. I would like to suggest that this House change this so that the retirement age is extended to sixty years.
Mr Munaile: Hammer Mdala!
Mr Mwanza: If you do so, you will not have the problem that Hon. Major Chizhyuka was talking about regarding the Generals. You will have teachers that are elderly and committed to the teaching profession.
In this vein, Mr Chairperson, I rest my case and I thank you.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
Mr C. K. Banda, SC. (Chasefu): Mr Chairperson, my contribution will be very brief because most of the points have already been addressed by hon. Members who have spoken before me.
In supporting the Vote for this important ministry, I would like to remind the hon. Minister of Education that all of us are concerned about the examination results in Government schools in the country.
Many reasons have been advanced for this poor state of affairs. One of the reasons is the poor student-teacher ratio. I submit that if you are to improve on the standards of education, you must improve on the student-teacher ratio. We know that in private schools, teachers give more attention to individual pupils and this is done on individual basis. They do this because teachers are able to identify the weaknesses in individual pupils and work towards improving their performance. This, unfortunately, is not happening in Government institutions.
I have noted that you intend to recruit more teachers. Unfortunately, the number is still far too short of our expectations. I thought that, this time around, you could have concentrated on recruiting more teachers because the results which were announced last month were a sad story. I thought you were going to bring a change in this direction. My submission is that it is not too late for you to recruit more teachers.
Sir, the other problem I would like to highlight is the lack of teaching aids in Government schools. The amount of money allocated is unfortunately low. You will find that more money is always allocated to seminars. I think this tendency of drawing teachers from as far as Chifunabuli, Mbala and Lundazi to Livingstone for a seminar is draining our resources. If you want to hold seminars, think of holding them at provincial level. That way, you will capture more teachers.
Sir, there is also the question of improving teachers’ conditions of service. If you want teachers to be committed to their job, urgently look at improving their salaries. All of us are here because of the role teachers performed when we were at school at one time or another. The hon. Minister of Education will be the first to agree that teachers are getting a raw deal. With the professionals at the helm of this ministry, we hope this aspect will be given special attention. If teachers are not well remunerated, you may as well forget about improving the educational standards of this country.
Mr Chairperson, with regard to conditions of service, I know you have started improving teachers’ accommodation. However, in my constituency, some of the teachers are renting houses in villages. How do you run education institutions like that? A teacher has to pay rent for a hut he occupies in a village. I think the ministry must have a positive approach to this issue. We need to improve the educational standards in this country. This improvement starts with giving teachers good conditions of service.
Mr Chairperson, a short while ago, I was in my constituency. One good school had no reliable water supply because the only borehole broke down six months ago. All the people wanted was K150,000 to repair that borehole, and yet we have DEBS in all the districts. It had to take this hon. Member of Parliament to dig into his pocket for that borehole to be repaired.
Hon. Government Member: Very good MP!
Mr C. K. B. Banda: Sir, it is for this reason that I agree with the points that were alluded to by Hon. Mwanza. Once upon a time, we had inspectors of schools. I do not know what has become of these managers of schools. Teachers were excited to get a visit from an inspector of schools because these were the people who encouraged them to work hard. Now, inspectors of schools hardly tour schools. The reason is lack of transport, and yet the DEBS have transport everyday. It is gratifying that a step has been made in the right direction. I would like to give you a pat on the back for that because you need to supply teachers, especially headmasters, with transport just as you need to supply inspectors of schools with transport so that they can be mobile and ensure that teaching standards are maintained.
Mr Chairperson, I also want to refer to the issue of desks in schools. Most of the schools in my constituency do not have desks.
Mr Mwangala: It is not only in your constituency. It is countrywide!
Mr C. K. B. Banda: Mr Chairperson, how do you expect a pupil who sits on the Floor to have a good handwriting? How do you expect such a pupil to be motivated? I hope, with the allocation of resources for the purchase of desks, some money will filter down to Chasefu Constituency. I hope some money trickle to this area so that we can also start smiling and have desks in our schools.
With these few words, I wish to thank you, Mr Chairperson.
Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Dr Machungwa (Luapula): Mr Chairperson, thank you very much for enabling me to say a few words on this very important Vote. I will try to be very brief.
Mr Chairperson, the work, contribution and destiny of individuals in society is greatly affected by the type of education they have gone through both formal and informal. The destiny of Zambia is greatly affected by the education system and what it is able to provide. So, this is an extremely important ministry and I hope the hon. Minister, the hon. Deputy Minister and officials will do all they can.
Sir, I would like to talk about my constituency because it has a lot of problems. Since you are just from the Kuomboka Ceremony and you can manage to use a banana boat in my area, I want to encourage you to go and see what is happening there. In my Constituency, we do not have a high school. We have been talking and writing to your ministry, but it seems to have been falling on deaf ears. I think this time around, since you are an educationalist, something will be done.
Sir, let me come to one point which I wish your ministry to consider. The results for the Grade 12s come out sometime in March. When these results are announced, the children have to go to their schools to collect them. Some of these children may not have done very well and may wish to resit certain subjects. You must also remember that children who go to the university these days sit at home for a year before they are considered because of the problems we have had at the University of Zambia. You will find that from the time they get their Grade 12 results, these kids may want to improve on certain subjects.
Sir, what happens is that these children are unable to rewrite their examinations in December because of the deadline the Examinations Council of Zambia gives for the paying of examination fees and registration which comes almost immediately after the results are out. You will find that these children have to wait for more than a year for them to resit their subjects. What I am saying is that they get their results in March and have to wait for March the following year to register. Therefore, it takes them two years to complete. That is totally unacceptable because all these children would like to further their education.
I would like to urge the hon. Minister to seriously consider extending the deadline for registration at the Examinations Council of Zambia. When results are announced, these children need to be given time to travel to their schools and collect their results. They should be given, at least, one month so that they can improve on their grades. I think that makes sense. It is not reasonable to make these people wait for two years before they can resit. Obviously, you can say that these children can go to private schools and do something else. However, I would like the hon. Minister to consider that.
I thank you, Sir.{mospagebreak}
Reverend Nyirongo (Bwacha): Mr Chairperson, thank you for giving me an opportunity to add my voice to this Vote.
I want to begin by saying that education is the core of development. With regard to Kabwe District in particular, we have seen a lot of progress and development in education. We have benefited a lot as a town. Before 2001, Kabwe was a sorry sight on the part of education. The schools were in very bad shape, but now when you go into Kabwe, you will find that schools have been rehabilitated and have a very good face. Our children are even very proud to go to school.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
Reverend Nyirongo: Mr Chairperson, as Kabwe District, we are also proud to have a university coming up because we are hopeful that Kabwe might become a hub of education the way Oxford City in the United Kingdom is.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
Reverend Nyirongo: Sir, I stand here as a very proud hon. Member of Parliament, especially on education in my constituency. I have seen that the Ministry of Education has worked really hard and I think we need to give credit where it is due.
Hon Government Members: Hear, hear!
Reverend Nyirongo: I have the seen the Ministry of Education provide desks in schools that did not have desks. I have seen the ministry provide books in places we did not have books. Even pencils have been provided. A lot has been done in the forgotten town of Kabwe which has now been remembered under the New Deal Government. Therefore, on education, the town of Kabwe is on course.
Sir, we have also seen the building of new schools with the help of community participation. As I speak, the people of Kabwe are very happy with the additional new schools in Kabwe Town to the benefit of our children that used to walk long distances in search of education.
Even in the good schools, VIP toilets have been built, water problems have been solved and this has been very convenient for the children. This is why, when we were selling our manifesto for the September, 2006, elections, it was very easy to gain the confidence of the voters because we talked of things that were on the ground.
Sir, I will not speak for a long time, but I would like to give a very big plus to the Ministry of Education for the good work they done in our town. I would also like to commend His Excellency, the President, for having appointed able Ministers to address the issue of education in Kabwe. Bwacha has benefited greatly, especially with regard to girl-child education. Special facilities for the girl-child, especially in boarding schools, have been provided.
I would like to end by thanking the hon. Minister of Education for a job well-done as I support this Vote. Please, may you continue serving this nation without fear or favour.
I thank you, Sir.
Ms Imbwae (Lukulu West): Sir, in seconding the Vote on the Ministry of Education, I would like to acknowledge the effort that the ministry is making in trying to address the concerns that we have talking about, either through visiting the office, writing notes or discussing on the Floor of this House.
I note, for example, that, in the hon. Minister’s policy statement, he mentioned an increase in basic education enrolment by 4 per cent. There is also an increase in the net-enrolment of high schools at 97 per cent. This is a good starting point.
Sir, I would like to mention something that I am sure Hon. Professor Lungwangwa, who is my brother and a good Minister, is aware of. There was something that used to be referred to as Education for Under Development and this is in the proliferation of community schools. This does not translate very well when we relate it to the increments that we are talking about. If we go round the country, the community schools are found in places that are difficult to access. There are no roads, no teachers and no inspectors. When we begin to talk about building these higher institutions of learning along the line of rail, please, hon. Minister, bear in mind that we have a much bigger percentage that is catered for by community schools.
In addition, these community schools are mostly mud and pole. I hope that they will fit within the number that you are thinking of attending to this year. The good thing is that we are at least thinking of something.
In Western Province, Sir, we do not have a girls’ high school whereas other places can boast of, at least, one girls’ high school. In the whole constituency of Lukulu West, we do not have a single high school. I wonder how the people in Lindole and Nyangongo are going to benefit from a university that is going to be built along the line of rail when they do not even have a high school in their area.
Sir, I am impressed with the 35.9 per cent of the ministry’s budget being spent on infrastructure development. To support this, I would like to be one of those to support supplementing this budget because this is not enough. It is not even 50 per cent of our requirements as a country.
Right after independence, we competed favourably with any country in the world. Right now, I do not think that some of the people graduating, today, are able to hold their heads up high. Therefore, I would like to suggest that they include a Vote for those that are interested in providing education from whatever level and not stop at schools that operate in homes. I have a problem with that just as I have a problem with lodges that are houses.
Sir, we need to have private schools of high international standing, which are actually Zambian managed. I do not think that this is something we need to apologise for. The Government, on its own, will not be able to provide for all our needs. There should be a Vote somewhere. For example, the Tourism Credit Investment Fund was not there before, but we fought for it and got it. Therefore, it is also possible to fight for a Vote to establish learning institutions of international standard so that those that graduate from the private schools can compete with those graduating from our universities in Lusaka and on the Copperbelt.
The programmes at our universities are very good, but the time it takes to graduate is disgusting. Unless we address this major concern, we will have even an ordinary BSc or BA in Education taking as long as obtaining a degree in Education. In the meantime, we have problems with schools in our rural areas that do not have teachers. I think the hon. Minister is working on that, but I just wanted to highlight this fact.
Also, I would also like to touch briefly on the issue of improving infrastructure. You can only improve infrastructure where there is infrastructure. Most of our schools do not have anything to improve. It is important to say, as a matter of policy, that we are building one high school in each district, for example. The following year, do the same and, at least, we will know that there is some development. I do not know about the three high schools that are going to be built in the three provinces. We will have to compete and we do not know how the selection will be done. Unless there will be a question of casting the ballot, maybe, we would volunteer, as Lukulu West, to be the first ones to have one of these high schools because we do not have any.
Sir, with regard to staff retention, I am aware that rural hardship allowance is the same for everyone. However, there are some teachers from very remote places who have to walk for five days to go and get their salaries. During those five days, you will find them wearing not even canvas, but pata patas.
Laughter
Ms Imbwae: Just like the police, teaching, as a profession, was highly appreciated. They were leaders in their communities. Unfortunately, in our rural schools, teachers are actually beggars. They do not have things the means to enable them hold their heads high as community leaders. I would, therefore, appeal, through you, Sir, that something must be done while we are waiting for the many things that we are working on.
Mr Sichilima: On a point of order, Sir.
Hon. Opposition Members: Aah!
The Deputy Chairperson of Committees: A point of order is raised.
Mr Sichilima: Mr Chairperson, I rise on a very serious point of order. It was not my wish to disturb my sister who is debating so well and commending this Government on what it has done. Is she in order to mislead this House and the nation at large by insinuating that teachers are so poor that they can walk in pata patas and have been reduced to beggars when this Government pays them and is up to date. The people out there are listening. I need your serious ruling.
Hon. Opposition Members: No!
The Deputy Chairperson: To be honest, that point of order has a positive as well as negative aspect. What I mean is that, it is true that teachers are being paid, but it is also true that some of them are not as well as they should have been.
Could the hon. Member on the Floor, please, continue.
Laughter
Ms Imbwae: Mr Chairperson, I appreciate that we come from very different parts of this republic. Therefore, we can only talk from our perceptions and experiences.
Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Ms Imbwae: Those who would care to go to where I have been will find that teachers are walking in the manner that I have described. I know that the professor, who is the hon. Minister of Education, is working on that. There is no harm for us, as Zambians, to correct that which is wrong amongst ourselves rather than to wait for somebody else to come and tell us.
Mr Chairperson, the teachers in Limbole do not even have houses, and I would like to challenge the hon. Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Development to go there. We appreciate the intervention by the Government to build teachers’ houses. I only hope this will spill over to Lukulu West. As this development starts there, we would be proud to offer the best education.
Since I am running out of time, I would like to end by saying that as teachers, we were proud of our products. Unfortunately, right now, people are concentrating on past examination papers and memorising things which they regurgitate in the examinations. Therefore, when you throw them into the open world, they fail to stand. I, therefore, appeal, very seriously, as a Zambian and former teacher that we should concentrate on making the text and extent of the content of education to be more important to us than how many people are able to pass …
The Deputy Chairperson: Order!
(Debate adjourned)
_______
HOUSE RESUMED
[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]
(Progress reported)
______
MOTION
ADJOURNMENT: URGE THE GOVERNMENT TO CONTROL THE EXPORT OF ZAMBIAN PRODUCED CEMENT
Ms Kapata (Mandevu): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you for giving me time to raise this Motion to urge the Government to control the export of Zambian produced cement.
Mr Speaker, we, as Zambia, are happy that the World Cup for 2010 will be hosted on the African Continent by the Republic of South Africa. However, it is sad to note that this Government is not putting Zambia first by encouraging the export of all cement to Burundi, Congo DR and South Africa leaving Zambia with unacceptable shortages. This activity directly affects the construction industry in Zambia and it is ironic that while we are supporting our neighbours with their construction activities, we are in the process of neglecting our own industry.
Mr Speaker, may I just mention the quantity of cement that Chilanga Cement produces. This company produces 1,700 tonnes per day. Of this amount, the plant in Lusaka produces 400 tonnes whilst the plant in Ndola produces 1,300 tonnes.
Mr Speaker, during the 2007 Budget Address, the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon. Magande, stated that preliminary data indicated that the construction sector registered a growth of 9 per cent. Growth in this sector was driven by housing, road construction and other civil works. The increasing demand for cement has led to an investment of US $170 million, which will increase production to over 9,000 tonnes within the next three years. How can this growth be sustained if there is dire shortage of the commodity of cement, and if production is to increase, is this dependent on imports of construction materials. The shortage of cement has had an adverse effect on the Zambian economy in several areas and if not addressed, will affect timely progress of a number of scheduled programmes within the country.
Mr Speaker, the following are some of the issues of great concern that the Government needs to address.
The Pricing System in the Liberalised Economy
Mr Speaker, the cost of the cement is more than that of cement produced in Zimbabwe.
Mr Mtonga: Zoona!
Ms Kapata: The price range has rotated from K35,000 per 50kg pocket of cement to K55,000 to K60,000 per 50kg pocket of cement. One wonders whether there is a cartel in operation that controls the price of this much needed commodity. We know that Zambia has very high quality cement, hence, the need to preserve our own construction industry with our high quality Zambian product.
The Effect of the Cement Shortage on Employment
Cement shortages are no doubt disturbing employment levels as construction jobs are declining or unnecessarily delayed resulting in job losses. This inevitably leads to workers’ protests and social unrest in the communities. An example is the effect of cement shortage on TAP Building Products Limited. This company’s products are all cement based in the absence of which there can be no production.
Effect on Construction of Urban Markets
A total of eleven urban markets are supposed to be constructed by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing under the Urban Market Programme. What effect will the continued shortage of cement have on this programme? If this goes unchecked, the result will be a delay in the development process in this area.
Effect on Backlog of Housing Stock
Currently, there is a programme of building 220,000 houses per year for the next ten years in order to catch up with the backlog of approximately 1.2 million housing stock. Is this ambitious programme going to be achieved if there is no deliberate policy to ‘reserve’, so to speak, cement for this cause. Without intervention this programme will be completely derailed.
Effect on the Construction of Bridges
Notwithstanding the problems of the flood victims that require decent shelter, the shortage of cement is likely to affect the construction of bridges that have been washed away, leading to further displacement of the flood victims. The Government has to address this problem from all angles in order to care for the Zambians that look up to the Government for social welfare.
Effect on the Construction of New Stadium
While the move to have a new modern football stadium built, especially at the Dag Hammerskjoeld site in Ndola is welcome, unless the stock of cement is adequate and not dependent on imports, the timely completion of this project is likely to be affected.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, the hosting of the World Cup by South Africa in 2010 should be an opportunity for Zambia to not only boost its tourism potential, but also vigorously invest in infrastructure through the construction industry to build more hotels, motels, hospitals and sports infrastructure. Home ownership schemes also require the essential building commodity, cement. The lack of adequate cement as a building commodity affects the ordinary Zambian in many ways that cannot be allowed to continue.
With these remarks, I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Mwansa (Chifunabuli): Mr Speaker, in supporting this Motion, I just want to make a few comments.
First of all, our Government has been urging us to buy Zambian products. We have also been encouraged to build in Zambia, but how can the Buy Zambia Campaign succeed if even the little that we produce in our country is sent outside the country? How does our Government expect us to buy Zambian cement when all of it goes to other countries?
Mr Speaker, construction is a very good indicator of development and for construction to succeed, cement is the basic raw material. Without it, we cannot develop the construction industry, no matter how hard we try.
Mr Speaker, Zambians, today, want to build houses and they have woken up to the reality that no one will develop our country save for ourselves and development includes having a home one can call his or her own.
Mr Speaker, what surprises me is that when Zambians have produced, for example, maize, I recall the now hon., Minister of Home Affairs stepping in and saying, we need to keep our maize for food security and rightly so because when there is a danger, we may not have enough for ourselves. We cannot allow our product to go to other countries. It just does not make business sense, nationalistic sense or even patriotic sense.
Mr Speaker, what do we see in the cement industry? We see only two major cement producing companies. We have one in Ndola and the other here in Lusaka and a few small ones that are beginning to come up. The price of cement has sky rocketed as has already been indicated, from K35,000 within this year to K55,000 or K60,000 per bag. The reason is simple; it is because there is an artificial shortage of this commodity in the country in which it is produced. It is a shortage that has been created by those who are sending this commodity to the outside world.
Mr Speaker, we do realise that there has always been the statement that we are a liberalised economy and so we must let business run itself. I want to say that even in the United States of America, Great Britain and all the Western countries, when it comes to their products, they first make sure that they are sold locally and only the excess is sent out. We should be told by this Government whether the Kwacha has no value so that those who produce products in this country must send them outside the country to get some foreign exchange.
Hon. Opposition Member: Hear, hear!
Mr Mwansa: I thought that we had ensured that our Kwacha was convertible. So, why should we rush for the rand, for example, and leave our Kwacha hanging with nothing to buy. We start keeping money in our pockets for a commodity that we produce because the entire commodity has gone out of the country. Surely, we do not love ourselves. I think we must be told by our Government whether the interests of other countries override the interests of this country.
Cement is a commodity we need. I am sure the hon. Minister of Works and Supply agrees with me that the construction industry and the working and supplying will die unless we have cement. We need this commodity. Can the hon. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry step in and do something about this activity by our industries. They cannot be allowed to send our commodity out before they have satisfied the local market. It does not make business sense.
Mr Speaker, we need to meet our requirements before we allow a commodity to be sent outside. That is the rationale we use when it comes to food. It must be the rationale with which we handle things to do with industry as well. Otherwise, we will perpetually be looking for things that we produce. Little wonder there is no incentive to invest much money in local industry by local people because they can never compete in this situation. I beg the hon. Ministers to consider this problem. It is totally unacceptable and unZambian to allow a Zambian commodity to be in want in this country while other countries around us are receiving it in abundance. There is something wrong with the way you are planning our economy, hon. Ministers. The sooner you go and sit in Cabinet and change this and order that we first satisfy the local market, the better. Otherwise, what we are doing is promoting the development of other countries at the expense of our own development.
Mr Mtonga: Zoona.
Mr Mwansa: That cannot be accepted.
I thank you, Sir.
Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Ngoma (Sinda): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the mover for this Adjournment Motion.
Mr Speaker, I have very few lines. I would like to say that just like in politics, when a country is about to change Government, there are some indicators. You will see, maybe, there is political strife. If there is a rally for an Opposition leader, people go there en masse. If you are in the Government, that should show you that sooner or later you will be leaving Government.
Similarly, Mr Speaker, in economics, Truman and Truman says one of the indicators of the development of a country is what is known as leading indicators. Under these leading indicators, one component is very critical and that component is construction. So, what is happening in Zambia, right now, should not cause us to feel bad, but it should cause us to feel very proud. It shows that somehow somewhere things, at least, are moving in the right direction economic wise because there is a lot of development as far as the construction industry is concerned in this country. We need to safeguard and protect that.
Mr Speaker, we need just to learn. One zealous man in the Democratic Republic of Congo because of the patriotism he has for his country, caused unprecedented congestion at Kasumbalesa Border Post, just to safeguard that which belongs to the DRC. Similarly, our Government should not sit hands akimbo when this situation can bring a lot of suffering, if left unchecked, because, today, all the cement goes to Rwanda and Burundi. There will be massive unemployment in this country. The Government should look at this issue with the seriousness that it deserves.
Mr Speaker, not long ago, we passed a law in this House empowering the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry to protect the local industry when there are such scenarios. I, therefore, throw a serious challenge to the Government, through the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, to move in and sort out this situation.
I thank you, Sir.
Mr Kambwili (Roan): Mr Speaker, I will be very brief and to the point.
In supporting this Motion, I wish to state that we all know that the export of cement will bring more money for Chilanga Cement. In saying so, I wish to state that we should put our nation first in everything that we do. The export of cement from Zambia will adversely affect the jobs in the construction industry.
Sir, we were just debating the Vote on corruption and this is how it comes in. We are not going to have a situation where people will have to pay nchekelako to Chilanga Cement in order to procure cement. This cannot be acceptable. This is a very big scandal that we need to address.
Mr Speaker, this is not the only scandal happening in the industry. We have the issue of the suppliers at Mopani Copper Mines. Why should Zambians register with a South African Company by paying US$600 per year in order to supply to Mopani Copper Mines? This is a scandal. We have about 3,000 registered contractors and mining suppliers. If you multiply 3,000 by US$600, it will give you US$1.8 million which is going to be externalised through the registration of these suppliers.
I urge this Government to look at this issue seriously. We have been told, in this House, that mining companies that are buying companies have been told that all supplying business must be given to Zambians. Therefore, this situation of bringing Quadram of South Africa to handle the supplies and contracts on behalf of Mopani is a scandal and we need to protect our suppliers and contractors in this country.
Sir, when we make laws, let us rethink. Mopani has taken advantage of the law that we passed in this House where we said the awarding of rebates, in as far as duty is concerned, to mining companies will not be extended to contractors. In an indirect way, Mopani has started ordering things directly by putting a US$600 for the suppliers to register with a South African agent. We need to look at this with the seriousness it deserves.
I thank you, Sir.
Mr Nsanda (Chimwemwe): Mr Speaker, I support this Motion because Zambians are not getting anything from this cement. The cement licence has been given to one Indian. This is same Indian that has been given the Port at Mpulungu from where all the money is being externalised. For this Government to give you a licence, you need to have a foreigner in your company. I wanted to start exporting, but I could not get a licence until I had a foreigner in my company. Therefore, it is not benefiting Zambians at all because the money is all pouring outside the country.
I thank you, Sir.
Laughter
The Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry (Mr Konga): I rise to respond to the Motion which is urging the Government to control the export of Zambian produced cement.
In the first instance, Mr Speaker, I would like to say that the current Government economic policy is liberal and controls, either on imports or exports, are not encouraged.
I would like to inform the House that since October, 2006, this country has experienced high levels of demand for cement. Although the start of this demand coincides with the traditional peak season of cement from Chilanga Cement Plc, the level of demand experienced was higher than normal taking into account historical sales. Normally, the cement demand takes off sometime in late February or early March. However, what my ministry has observed in the market is that demand for cement has remained fairly robust, to date, as we speak.
Sir, from our records and information analysed, this demand is being driven by the following factors. The first one is the resurgence of mining activities on the Copperbelt and North-Western provinces. The House may wish to know that KCM Plc and Lumwana Mines have now reached advanced stages and the construction of infrastructure for mining activities is in progress.
The second one, which has been alluded to by most speakers, is the general economic activity in the nation involving commercial and residential construction, manufacturing as well as tourism, which has increased the demand for cement. If you recall, Zambia’s growth in the last year, in GDP terms, was almost 6 per cent. Therefore, compared to other years, there has generally been an increased demand for cement in the economy.
In order to optimise the supply of cement on the domestic market when the peak season gained in October 2006, there was need for the maintenance of a kiln at the Ndola plant. If you recall, the mover of the Motion said Ndola produces 1,200 tonnes per day. The kiln at the Ndola plant was scheduled to be taken out for maintenance at the end of 2006, but this had to be rescheduled to March, 2007 because there was a lot of demand for cement from November to December. It was believed that this would coincide with what is normally the new season for cement sales. As mentioned earlier, the demand for cement has nevertheless remained high.
Mr Speaker, it was not possible to put off the maintenance works at the Ndola plant any further without compromising the long-term operational integrity of the kiln. As a result, the kiln was stopped for maintenance works at the beginning of March this year for a planned period of five weeks. During this period, major overhaul works of the kiln are taking place and Chilanga Cement Plc is investing over US$6 million to carry out this work. Of course, customers and the general public will not see the immediate benefits of this, but there are long-term benefits accruing in terms of improved plant performance, although , the short-term impact has been the reduction of the supply of cement onto the market by over 40 per cent…
Mr Lubinda: On a point of order, Sir.
Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.
Mr Lubinda: Mr Speaker, I thank you for allowing me to raise this point of order.
The adjournment Motion raised by Hon. Jean Kapata is very clear. It says, ‘To urge the Government to Control the Export of Zambian Produced Cement.’ Is the hon. Minister, therefore, in order to filibuster in debating the Motion by addressing all issues about production, kilns and so on without addressing the issue of controlling the export of cement? Is he not supposed to, before he continues to filibuster, at least, address the Motion so that the nation is made aware of the measures the Government is taking to address the situation? I seek your ruling, Sir.
Mr Speaker: The hon. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry may continue.
Laughter
Mr Konga: Thank you, Sir.
It is in the interest of hon. Members of this House to know what is causing the shortage of cement.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Konga: This is because our perception of exports undermining the local market might not be correct. Therefore, I would like to give a background to the reason behind this apparent shortage of cement on the market. Is that clear?
Laughter
Mr Konga: Mr Speaker, before the point of order was raised, I was talking about the benefits which customers, of course, have not seen. However, due to the outage of the kilns in Ndola, there is a shortage of almost 40 per cent on the market from the normal supplies. Therefore, the shortage is not only because of exports, but because of maintenance as well.
The maintenance works in Ndola are expected to be completed during the second week of April, 2007 after which there will be an added 600 tonnes of cement per day on the market. This is going to ease the supply shortage our citizens are currently experiencing.
The resumption of the operations at the kiln in Ndola will bring the total daily cement production from Chilanga Cement Plc to its normal level as was mentioned by the mover of the Motion of 1,700 tones per day for both Chilanga and Ndola works.
Mr Speaker, the Zambian economy has been growing steadily over the recent years on average of about 5 to 6 per cent per annum.
Hon. Member: Hear, hear. Bwekeshapo.
The implication of this growth is, of course, increased demand of cement, as was alluded to, in construction, agriculture, mining, roads and other sectors of the economy. With the continued growth of the economy, investment and expansion of the cement industry was expected and is, indeed, coming.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear.
Mr Konga: Mr Speaker, as you are aware, there are expansion works at the Chilanga Cement plant in Lusaka.
Hon. Members: Hear, hear. Quality!
Mr Konga: This is expected to double the current capacity and this expansion programme will be commissioned in 2008.
There is another project by Zambezi Portland Cement, in Ndola, which is going to start production by the end of this year. For the information of hon. Members, there are works in Lusaka West which will produce …
Hon. Members: Hear, hear.
Mr Speaker: Order! As the time is 1955 hours, I interrupt proceedings and the debate lapses.
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The House adjourned at 1955 hours until 1430 hours on Thursday, 5th April, 2007.