DAILY PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES FOR THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TENTH ASSEMBLY

Wednesday, 22nd November, 2006

The House met at 1430 hours

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

NATIONAL ANTHEM

PRAYER

__________

ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR SPEAKER

SADC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM AND PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT – MEMBERSHIP

Mr Speaker: Hon. Members, I wish to inform the House that, after consultation with Whips of the parties represented in the House, I have appointed the following Hon. Members to represent the Parliament of Zambia on 2 Parliamentary organisations, namely, the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) and the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF).

1. Pan-African Parliament (PAP)
Mr M.M. Mabenga, MP;
Mr T.S. Chilembo, MP;
Mr A Banda, MP;
Ms E.K. Chitika, MP; and
Mrs J.M. Limata, MP.

2. SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF)
The Hon. Mr Speaker;
Mr H. Mwanza, MP;
Ms M.M. Masiye, MP;
Mrs R.M. Musokotwane, MP; and
Mr D. Matongo, MP.

Hon. Members, as you may already be aware, the Parliament of Zambia is a member of the two Parliamentary organisations. The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is one of the organs of the African Union (AU).

Similarly, the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) is an organ established under the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Like all other Member Parliaments, the Zambian Parliament is required to appoint members to the 2 Parliamentary organisations to serve for a 5-year period.

More details on the 2 Parliamentary organisations may be obtained from the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly. There are Desk Officers in the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly who deal with matters relating to the 2 organisations.

Thank you

_____________

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

ROADS STRUCTURE IN THE COUNTRY

The Minister of Works and Supply (Mr Simbao): Mr Speaker, due to the concern shown by most hon. Members as regards to the roads structure in the country, it became important that I make a Ministerial Statement concerning the same.

Mr Speaker, Zambia has a gazetted road network of approximately 37,000 kilometers of which 6,476 kilometers is tarred. Gravel and earth roads account for 8,478 kilometers and 21,967 kilometers respectively. In addition, there are about 30,000 kilometers of ungazetted community roads comprising tracks, trails and footpaths. A large part of the main road network was constructed between 1965 and 1975. Mr Speaker, you may need to know that in 1964, there was only 1,500 kilometers of roads which were tarred.

Over the years, the country’s investment in road infrastructure has been eroded through lack of proper maintenance. The main problems were institutional and financial. The problems of lack of an adequate institutional framework as well as a lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities were manifested in the fragmentation of responsibilities in various Government institutions, and these are:

(i) The Ministry of Communication and Transport responsible for policy in the transport sector;

(ii) The Roads Department in the Ministry of Works and Supply responsible for trunk, main and district roads;

(iii) The Department of Infrastructure and Support Services under the Ministry of Local Government Housing and the councils responsible for urban and feeder roads;

(iv) Zambia Wildlife Authority under the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources responsible for park roads;

(v) The Ministry of Agriculture responsible for feeder roads leading to agricultural areas and;

(vi) The Ministry of Finance and National Planning responsible for community roads under the Social Recovery Project (ZAMSIF).

This fragmentation resulted in poor coordination in the development of the road network in the country and hence poor performance of the sector.

In May 2002, the government of the Republic of Zambia approved a transport policy which proposed the creation of 3 agencies in the road sector and subsequently Parliament passed three Acts of Parliament in the same year as follows:-

(i) The road Traffic Act No. 11 of 2002 which created the road Transport and Safety Agency to be responsible for the regulation and safety aspects of the road network;

(ii) The Public Road Act No. 12 of 2002 which created the road Development Agency to be responsible for all public roads in the country; and

(iii) The National Road Fund Act which created the National Road Fund to be responsible for mobilization of funds for the road sector.

The Road Development Agency

The Road Development Agency Board was appointed in April 2004 and operated with seconded staff from the Road Department until January 2006, when they had their own budget to recruit their own staff.  So far, all the key management staff has been recruited. In the provinces, regional engineers and senior engineers responsible for road authorities have been recruited and taken up their positions in the last two months. The rest of the support staff will be recruited by the end of December 2006. It is expected that the Road Development Agency will be fully operational with all the staff in place in 2007.

Appointment of Authorities for Urban and Rural Roads

The Public Roads Act No. 12 of 2002 has placed the management of all public roads in Zambia under the Road Development Agency. The rationale for this, is to increase the effectiveness of management of all roads, particularly, the urban and rural roads which previously were not well managed, and consequently deteriorated to the extremely poor conditions that they are in now.

To avoid an apparent conflict with the decentralisation policy at the time, it was recognised that there should be provision for appointment of road authorities in respect of these urban and rural roads.

Road 20 of the Public Roads Act provides that on the recommendation of the Road Development Agency, the Minister of Works and supply will appoint Road Authorities. These road authorities could be councils which have capacity or any persons for that matter provided the roads are well managed and local stakeholders in the local authority area are involved in the planning process and development of plans for the improvement and maintenance of roads.

These road authorities will be supervised by the Road Development Agency through the position of the senior engineer in the road authorities in each province.

The Senior Engineer – Road Authorities

The organisation structure of the RDA at regional level provides for senior engineers, whose job purpose is to coordinate the work of road authorities and providing them with the required technical and financial guidance. Specifically, the senior engineer – road authorities recommend the appointment of road authorities, as well as the termination of the appointments, reviews the performance of the road authorities, coordinates the programming of annual work plans for the road authorities along with the implantation of periodic and routine maintenance projects by the road authorities.

All the senior engineers – roads authorities have been appointed and have taken up their assignments in the various provinces since October 2006.

The Draft Model Agreement and Terms of reference for the Road Authorities

The Road Development Agency has developed some terms of references to guide the operations of the road authorities along with a model agreement. The terms of references spell out the functions, powers, and duties of the road authorities. The terms of references and agreement were considered by the Technical Committee of the RDA Board of Directors on 10th November 2006 and approved for submission to the full board.

The model agreement and the terms of references have been issued to senior engineers for their individual discussions with the councils. The Road Development agency will convene a meeting before the end of the year with various stakeholders to discuss and ensure full acceptance of the terms of references and the model agreement prior to implementation by the end of the first quarter of 2007.

The Road Development Agency Annual Work Plan for 2007 has made a provision of funds amounting to K150,000,000.00 per road authorities for road management of their network. A provision for a further five per cent of the works budget will be made available to the road authorities for supervision of works.

The following are the on-going jobs.

Mongu-Kalabo Road

This project is co-financed by the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development, the Arab Bank for Economic Development (BADEA) and the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC). It was awarded to the Consolidated Contracting Company (CCC) of Kuwait in August 2002.

The completion of the road has been delayed due to the redesign of the drainage structures on the 34Km section of the road lying in the flood plain. The contractor has so far completed 45Km between Kalabo and Tapo representing 61 per cent of total project.

A co-financiers meeting has been arranged to discuss the additional finances required to complete the project. This meeting will be held in Lusaka in December 2006. The project is expected to be complete by 2008.

The Government intends to extend the road from Kalabo to the Angolan Border in order to open a new corridor to the port of Luanda in Angola. To this effect a consultant has been commissioned to carry out a feasibility study and designs of the new extension to be fund by the co-financiers.

Kasama-Luwingu Road

The project is funded totally by the Government of the Republic of Zambia. It was awarded to Sable transport in November 2001 at a total cost of $28 million and revised to $30.2 million. It is expected to be complete in two years time. The total length of the project is 153Km, but only 56.7Km has been tarred to date.

The Project is behind schedule due to a lot of financial problems caused by the inadequate and erratic funding. The contractor has however continued working using his own resources and the completed section is of acceptable standard.

It is the intention of the ministry to allocate adequate funding in 2007 in order to achieve meaningful progress and avoid penalties due to interest on delayed payments. The contractor is currently owed K7 billion in certified works.

Mutanda-Chavuma Road

This project was awarded to Belga Construction in 2001 at a cost of US$46 million with a completion period of four years. The total length of the project is 220Km between Kasempa turn off and Kabompo.

The project is behind schedule due to inadequate and erratic funding. The contractor however continued working and has so far completed 25Km to Kasempa town and has tarred 17Km towards Kabompo.

Due to the importance of the road, a four-year contract funded by the European Union was signed at a cost of K43.8 to rehabilitate and maintain the gravel road from where Belga has reached to Chavuma. This contract will also include the link road between Manyinga and Mwinilunga.

The ministry intends to make a provision of K60 billion in the 2007 Annual Work Plan to enable the contractor achieve meaningful progress.

Choma-Chitongo Road

This contract was awarded to Basil Read Construction Company in 2001 at a contract sum of $20.4 million with a completion period of two years. Due to a huge debt of K21 billion which was owed to the contractor on the completed section between Chitongo and Namwala, the contractor has been unable to mobilise for the project until the Government settles the debt. The Government has, so far, settled most of this bill and now remains with a debt of K6 billion. The contractor has now agreed to mobilise starting with a survey team, as the Government endeavours to settle the outstanding debt.

It is the intention of Government to finance the project in full next year. To this effect, an amount of K40 billion has been allocated in the 2007 Annual Work Plan.

Kashikishi/Lunchinda

Sir, the construction of this road was awarded to Phoenix and J J Lowe which was a joint venture in June 2001, at the cost of US$33 million with a completion period of two years. However, due to erratic funding, Phoenix Contractors, being the lead contractor decided to terminate the contract. It was, however, agreed in 2003 that instead of terminating the contract, it should be reassigned to J J Lowe. The contract continued to suffer from inadequate funding and was suspended in 2005 until such a time that funds would be made available.

Mr Speaker, in April 2006, a sum of K8.2 billion was released by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning and the contractor was requested to resume work. The contractor has made some progress and submitted two certificates valued at K7 billion. These certificates are yet to be paid. The contractor has, however, continued to work with the hope of being paid in the near future. A provision of K40 billion has been made in the 2007 Budget to continue with the works.

Katete/Chipata Road

Sir, the periodic maintenance of Katete/Chipata Road up to Mwami was awarded to Sable Transport Limited at a contract price of K18 billion in November, 2005. This was scheduled to be completed in January 2007. The works will cover a distance of 60 kilometres. The remaining 40 kilometres to reach Mwami Border will be done in 2007, under a new contract.

Chipata/Lundazi

Mr Speaker, the maintenance of Chipata/Lundazi was awarded to Stefanautti and Bressan Limited in 2003 at a contract sum of K14 billion for the first 100 kilometres. The contract was increased to cover the additional 79 kilometre to reach Lundazi. The revised price was K25 billion, which included pothole patching and reconstruction of the worst sections.

Sir, the Government intends to fully rehabilitate the roads with funds from BADEA who are currently supporting the feasibility study and the design of the road.

Mr Speaker, before I conclude, I must say that I have come with two other pieces of information here. They are basically carrying the same information. These four sheets have all the roads that are being done in Zambia with the all the information that the hon. Members of Parliament would like to know, including the contractor it has been contracted to. I will lay these on the Table so that hon. Members of Parliament can find time to look at them. Equally, I have got a map that shows all the roads that are being done in Zambia, and under whose funding they are being done. I will also lay the map on the Table.

Sir, in conclusion, it is important to note that all the above major projects funded by Government have suffered from inadequate funding, hence, their prolonged construction periods which have resulted in huge costs to Government due to interest charges on unpaid certificates. This trend has to be stopped.

Mr Speaker, the Government will, therefore, focus its attention on completing the projects that are ongoing before embarking on any new works. It is for this reason that the Road Development Agency has been directed to make realistic budgetary provisions for ongoing projects in order to register meaningful progress in 2007 and beyond.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao laid the documents and the map on the Table.

Mr Speaker: The hon. Members may now ask questions on points of clarification on the Ministerial Statement which has been given by the hon. Minister of Works and Supply. I noted the hon. Minister’s reluctance to part with his documents, but if there will be any occasion when he needs to look at these charts, he would be free to approach, through the normal channels, the Clerks at the Table.

Mr Scott (Lusaka Central): Mr Speaker, one of the most commonly cited justifications for a debt forgiveness programme such as HIPC and associated ways of improving the country’s economic of financial standing is that it allows for a great increase in infrastructural rehabilitation maintenance and development. Can the hon. Minister tell us, taking all those numbers together without showing us the different roles, to what extent has the amount of funding available for road maintenance rehabilitation and development increased from, lets say, two years ago when the going looked very grim to now, when we are boasting about HIPC. As he is seating next to the hon. Mr HIPC (Mr Magande), may be he can get some help there.

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the funding has increased from about K400 billion to K900 billion, this year.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Bonshe (Mufumbwe): Mr Speaker …

Dr. Machungwa: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.

Dr Machungwa: Mr Speaker, I rise on a very serious point of order which borders on the life of an individual. Is the Government of Zambia in order to be quiet and to keep playing hide and seek with the life of the former President, Dr Chiluba?

Sir it is a well known fact that Dr Chiluba has a serious heart condition that requires immediate attention and therefore, immediate evacuation as recommended by a team of Government appointed doctors who examined the former President. In addition, the court ordered that Dr Chiluba be allowed to go for treatment in South Africa but what we see now is that the Government keeps flip-flopping over the matter.

Mr Speaker, on Sunday, 12th November, 2006, the Government spokesman Hon. V J Mwaanga announced that President Chiluba will travel to South Africa in accordance with the recommendations of the adhoc team of doctors that examined him. The following day, the same Government spokesman, Hon. V J Mwaanga recanted his statement, instead, saying that the former President would have to go to court. The court duly ordered that the former President travel to South Africa for treatment. Now, the Government has cancelled his trip and the former President, with a very serious heart condition, must continue to wait while he deteriorates for reasons only known to Government, perhaps to be sent when it is too late so that perhaps he returns in a box.

Sir, is the Government really in order to be playing hide and seek with a life of a former Head of State without telling the nation why they do not want the former President to get treatment?

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member for Luapula has raised that point of order on the Government regarding efforts to evacuate the Second Republican President to South Africa for medical treatment. This kind of point of order should be addressed by either His Honour the Vice-President or the Minister of Health or even the hon. and learned Minister of Justice. Even though I do not see him in the House, I still rule that there is need for the Executive to shed light on this matter of keen public interest.

I am aware of the fact that subject to the motion before the House, we are likely to rise sine die at the end of business today. One wishes, therefore, that the Executive is now ready with information on their finger tips to supply. Can they do so?

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Order! Do not say yes as if you are the Executive. The Executive is on my right.

Laughter

Mr Tetamashimba: You are other groups.

Hon. PF Members: Ah.

Mr Speaker: Order! I shall consult during the course of this afternoon to establish whether the Executive can, during the course of business today, deliver or provide information on this matter. I shall, therefore, at a later time today update the House on this matter. However, my wish is to let a Cabinet Minister begin to knock out a statement for the House for delivery in the course of today.

Mr Bonshe (Mufumbwe): Mr Speaker, my question is on the M8 Road or the Mutanda/Chavuma Road. The hon. Minister said the project is behind schedule. Could we now know when this project is going to be completed and whether the K60 billion allocated for this project is going to complete the remaining stretch? Secondly, the road was said to be unviable, but now with the discovery of oil in Kabompo, can we still continue to say this is unviable road?

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the works on the M8 Road has nothing to do with the economic situation of the province. It is the duty of the Government to work on the road. It has nothing to do with what has now been found. This road is scheduled to be complete in November, 2007.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Milupi (Luena): Mr Speaker, my question relates to the Mongu/Kalabo Road which is a vital link between Mongu and Kalabo. Construction began in 2002 and vast amounts of money have been spent and yet we still do not have the Mongu/Kalabo Road. Could the hon. Minister, please, tell this House how much money has already been expended on the 34 kilometre road between Mongu and Tabo? Who was responsible for the original wrong designs? What action has been taken against the oversight officers including former ministers who allowed the contractor to proceed with the wrong designs? Finally, is the Government going to establish a commission of inquiry to determine exactly what went wrong on this road?

Mr Speaker: Before the hon. Minister comes in, let me inform the House that there is what is known as a one question rule in terms of follow up questions. However, I will allow the hon. Minister to answer all the questions if he has answers.

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the money that has been paid to the contractor was used on constructing the initial road which failed. That particular part is not going to be paid to the contractor again. What Government is going to pay for is just the additional part of the redesign of the road.

Mr Speaker, what happened is that they initially put in eleven culverts in the whole section which was not enough. They are now redesigning twenty-seven culverts on the road. The contractor will still use the same money. He is, in fact, on site. However, we have to pay for the extra designs that he is working on.

I thank you, Sir.

Mrs Musokotwane (Katombola): Mr Speaker, the T1 Road is very important to Zambia. It is quite viable. The road has not been complete for some time. I thought the hon. Minister would mention something in his ministerial statement, but nothing has been mentioned. What is going on with the T1 Road between Zimba and Livingstone? The people are waiting to hear from the hon. Minister. Other roads have been mentioned except the T1 Road.

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the Zimba/Livingstone Road is very important. I talked about major roads in terms of the length. The distance between Zimba and Livingstone is short. That is why I did not mention it, not that it is not important. It is a very important road to this Government. For that matter, at one time I did explain to the hon. Member that the Government had negotiated to get the remainder of the money that was given to the Kabwe/Kapiri Mposhi Road upon completion that this money is given to the section between Zimba and Livingstone. This money has been given to that section of the road in the amount of US$8 million. This section of the road will be done.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr C. Banda (Chasefu): Mr Speaker, is the hon. Minister aware that the spot patching that has been done on the Lundazi-Chipata Road has already been washed away due to poor workmanship? What does the hon. Minister intend to do in order to commence a re-patching exercise on this road?

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, about two or three weeks ago, the Deputy Minister of Works and Supply was in Eastern Province. He particularly went to this road and it is being redesigned for reconstruction.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Kalumba (Chienge): Mr Speaker, sometimes your Member becomes invisible.

Laughter

Dr Kalumba: Following his very clear statement that he wants to do the right thing for the Kashikishi-Lunchinda Road, as the wait has been long, is he going to committ himself to do the right thing given the fact that he has all the information available regarding the performance of the contractor on this road?

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I would like to assure this House and the nation that there are times when things have to start anew. I hope this is the time that this particular part or session of the country will start anew.

What I read in the statement is that we are going to focus on the on-going roads with the intention to complete them all. It might not happen in 2007 for all of them. However, we do not intend to slow down on any of these roads that we have already started. This means that we might delay on starting new sections of the roads that are not on going until we finish most of these roads because they keep on adding. We are not finishing any at all. Therefore, we want to finish some of the roads that have been on the programme as far back as 1979 to1999. Then we can bring on board new roads.

So, I want to assure the hon. Member of Parliament for Chienge that the Kashikishi-Lunchinda Road is a very important road to this Government and we will see to it that we complete it this year or next year.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Misapa (Mporokoso): Mr Speaker, I would like to inform the House that the Mporokoso-Kasama Road connects two very important places. These are Kasama, the provincial headquarters and Mporokoso, a district. This road is very short, only 128 kilometres. When is the hon. Minister likely to consider tarring it. Originally, it was known that the road would be funded by the European Union, but from the look of things, the road is not even considered.

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the road from Kasama to Mporokoso is a very important road. Mporokoso is home to two very beautiful natural resources namely Lumangwe and Kalamabwe Falls.

However, if the hon. Member of Parliament was listening to me, I said that we have many roads that are not yet complete at the moment. What I said in this House is that we are, first of all, going to see that we complete these roads. Then we will start new roads. When this comes to fruition, I can assure the hon. Member of Parliament that we shall include the Mporokoso-Kasama Road.

I thank you, Sir.

Ms Mumbi (Munali): Mr Speaker, I am glad that the hon. Minister of Works and Supply has acknowledged. He should have agreed that the Luwingu-Kasama Road is a scandal. Therefore, is it in order that the other roads should suffer because of the other roads that have not been done, for example, the Luwingu-Kasama Road? The works on this road started in 2001. To date it has not finished? Should the other roads suffer because of those roads that have not been finished on time?

Mr Speaker: The hon. Minister of Works and Supply will take that as a follow up question.

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I am glad that she has asked this question. Let me make one point clear. It is this kind of thinking that has led to this problem. As a result of not appreciating what is happening in somebody else’s constituency, you want it to happen in your constituency.

Ms Mumbi: I am in Munali!

Mr Simbao: Kasama-Luwingu Road is not a scandal. It has not finished because of erratic funding and not because somebody was given money and he stole it. We, hon. Members failed to fund it in that we do not want to work. Let us all agree that we finish Kasama-Luwingu Road before we go to Chipata-Katete Road. Let us all agree and do these things as Zambia. In that way, we are going to make progress. However, if every one of us wants to split these things, it will not happen.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simama (Kalulushi): Mr Speaker, it seems the hon. Minister is saying that they are going to be doing road by road. However, looking at the roads that we have in Zambia, there are just too many. Therefore, I would have loved him to say that they will be doing, maybe ten or twenty roads at a time rather than the way he is putting it that they will be waiting for one road to finish before they go to the next one. This will mean that three years from now, only one road would have been worked on.

Mr Speaker: Well, we are still learning how to ask maiden questions. So, we should be patient on these matters. We will get to know how these things are done later.

Mr Mwangala (Nalolo): Mr Speaker, could I find out from the hon. Minister of Works and Supply when the abandoned operations on the Limulunga/Mongu/Senanga Road would resume?

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I would like to inform the hon. Member that all roads that have been touched and not finished are being worked on. These roads are all on this schedule and I cannot locate what he is looking for right now. He can therefore, find time to have a look at this schedule.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Sikota (Livingstone): Mr Speaker, arising from the hon. Minister’s answer to the question on the Kalabo/Mongu Road, he did admit that there was a fault in the design and there would be a redesign made. Due to the fact that there were shoddy works done as a result of wrong design, there was no extra payment that was going to be made. I would like to find out why the Government has found it fit to pay for that shoddy original design and have Zambia lose that money. Why have they not insisted that they do not pay for that wrong design or get a refund for that wrong design if it is being re-designed by somebody else?

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, I talked of inadequacy of culverts. There were only eleven culverts and they needed about twenty-seven culverts. The part that they designed initially still remains the same. They are not changing the design. They are just making an addition to what is already there, except that they are going to sample the soil as they include more of these culverts. That is why it is a redesign and that is what we are going to pay for.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members indicating

Mr Speaker: Order! Hon. Members, may you take your seats. This matter of the roads in our country is extremely important. Because of that, we could be here raising supplementary questions on the hon. Minister’s statement up to tomorrow. Let me guide the hon. Minister as follows:

One or two of your predecessors found a way to deal with this subject in much greater detail. What he did was to find time for a workshop at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre and summoned the entire House to go there for a detailed discussion. As I recall, those who went there asked many more questions and got more answers than you can actually get during the course of this afternoon.

I would like to guide the hon. Minister of Works and Supply to consider this possibility, especially, when we come back early in the New Year to deal with this subject. He will reach out much more than he is trying to do now. I am guiding the House and I am hoping that this guidance will be followed up. If that be case, then I appeal to the rest of the twenty or more hon. Members who still want to ask follow up questions to await developments on my guidance on this subject. I hear no objection.

_____

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER

UPGRADING OF COMMUNITY SCHOOLS IN LUAMPA PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCY

28. Ms Limata (Luampa) asked the Minister of Education whether the Government had any plans to upgrade some of the community schools in the Luampa Parliamentary Constituency into Government schools and, if so, when.

The Deputy Minister of Education (Ms Changwe): Mr Speaker, currently, the ministry does not have any plans of upgrading any of the community schools in Luampa Parliamentary Constituency.

I thank you, Sir.

Ms Limata: Mr Speaker, I would like to find out why because I am not satisfied with that answer.

The Minister of Education (Professor Lungwangwa): Mr Speaker, the subject of community schools is a matter of great concern to the ministry and the Government. First of all, we are looking at that particular problem from a much broader understanding. These schools have arisen because of a number of problems. One of the problems has to do with the cost of education in schools during those days, in form of levies and other direct costs. Secondly, they arose because of distances to the neighbouring schools and the capacity in some of the schools. Those were the causes to a large extent. What we are doing now in addressing those causes will eventually lead to the dissolution of community schools.

Sir, the first one is that we are narrowing the distances between the school and the home of the child. In the Fifth National Development Plan, we are saying that we are moving towards providing education within a five-kilometer radius over time in the rural areas. We are also moving towards decongesting schools by eliminating or reducing double and triple sessions in the urban areas. We have already taken steps to provide free basis education. We have also taken steps not to require uniforms in the schools. All these steps will eventually address the effect namely community schools. Therefore, the Government is taking steps to address the problem of community schools in a more fundamental and better way. Once these measures are in place, what you see as community schools will no longer be a problem.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Dr Machungwa (Luapula): Mr Speaker, setting up of community schools represents a failure by the Government to provide regular schools. Parents come in and build these structures and the level of quality education is sub-standard. Is the Government not considering moving and eliminating these, which is in fact, what the hon. Member of Parliament is saying. This applies to a lot of rural constituencies like mine. Is the hon. Minister not prepared to come and give us a time frame when these are going to be eliminated so that our children can be going to regular schools through out the country?

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Speaker, I am sure the hon. Member for Luapula did pay serious attention to the answer I gave. The answer I gave did exactly answer what he is asking.

Sir, if it is the question of a time frame, the answer is that we are gradually moving towards addressing the problems of community schools.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: If the hon. Member cares to read the available Government documents like the Fifth National Development Plan, he will be able to make very clear sense of where we are going in addressing his concerns.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Ms Masiye (Mufulira): Mr Speaker, they say, ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the forest’. How does the Government intend to reduce the radius to 5 km when they can not make use of the already existing structures in the name of community schools with so many unemployed trained teachers available?

Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Speaker, I am not quite sure of what the hon. Member is asking. If it is a question of making use of the current infrastructure and if the current infrastructure is not adequate enough to cater for the increasing numbers of children, the answer is yes. We have a schools rehabilitation and construction programme. The rehabilitation programme is intended towards improving the existing infrastructure in order to absorb the numbers of children. In addition, we have the school construction programme which is intended toward creating more space so that again, the increasing numbers of children can be accommodated. Therefore, we have a programme in place for improving the teaching and learning environments. Once that is done, the current problems of community schools will be addressed adequately.

Sir, this problem, to a large extent, had to do with some of the problems identified in normal schools. In some cases, they arose because there was a response to the available funding and a number of providers came forward to establish community schools as a response to available opportunities for funding. We know that this was one of the major factors contributing to the mushrooming of community schools in our country. Therefore, we are indeed, addressing the concern of what we are doing about the available infrastructure or facilities in our school system.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Kakoma (Zambezi-West): Mr Speaker, may I get a clear policy direction by the Ministry of Education on community schools? I have observed with other ministries such as Ministry of Home Affairs, where the community has come up with community police posts that the ministry has provided them with personnel. The Ministry of Health has also come up with community health posts and has provided them with personnel. What is stopping the Ministry of Education from providing teachers to community schools?

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Speaker, indeed, that is a policy question which is a totally new question all together.

Mr Speaker, what we are doing as a ministry is to provide a guiding framework in the way that community schools should operate. For example, we have guiding frameworks on the curriculum, what is to be taught in the schools in line with the existing curriculum, guiding frame-work in terms of teachers and qualifications of the teachers in community schools so that as a ministry, we can assist those schools to train their teachers if those teachers are at the level of qualifications that make them trainable at a distance or through other means and we are already doing that in some areas. Guiding frame work in terms of structures and what structure are appropriate for the schools environment plus various other areas which go toward having a conducive teaching learning environment. Therefore, those are the current guiding policy frame works that we are putting in place as a ministry in order to ensure that children who are learning in community schools are learning in acceptable teaching and learning environments.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Chambaka (Bahati): Mr Speaker, I understood that one of the reasons why community schools have mushroomed is because of inadequate or unavailability of school going children. The other one is the inadequate schools places. Yet, the hon. Minister is saying the ministry is trying to cut down triple and double streams. How is the Government going to address the issue of those that is going to be gunned down knowing that by 2015, we must realise education for all. How is he going to harmonise that?

Professor Lungwangwa: Mr Speaker, I am not quite sure what the hon. Member means when he says ‘gun down’.

Sir, as a ministry, we are not chasing children away from school when we say that we are going to address the problem of double and triple sessions. What we are saying is that we want to see a reduction in double and triple sessions. The reduction will come about by expanding classrooms so that we have enough classrooms. That does not mean chasing away children from school. It means accommodating them in the available school places so that every child learns in a conducive space. Therefore, it is not chasing away children if that is what he meant.

I thank you, Mr Speaker

SINKING OF ADDITIONAL BOREHOLES IN THE LUAMPA PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCY

29. Ms Limata asked the Minister of Local Government and Housing when the Government would sink additional boreholes in the Luampa Parliamentary Constituency.

The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing (Mr Kazonga): Mr Speaker, I wish to inform this august House that the Government, with the assistance of the Danish Government, will sink forty-four boreholes and rehabilitate 100 boreholes in Kaoma District at a total cost of K727,000,000. Sir, this programme is as per Kaoma District Rural Water and Sanitation Plan, submitted to the ministry and will cover Luampa Constituency where thirteen boreholes will be rehabilitated and five new ones will be sunk during the year 2007.

Mr Speaker, the boreholes to be sunk and rehabilitated in Luampa Constituency of Kaoma District are part of the Government’s National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme being implemented in all the provinces with the support from our cooperating partners.

In this regard, the boreholes to be drilled and rehabilitated in Luampa Constituency are supported by the Danish Government’s Water Supply and Sanitation Programme which will cover all the districts in Western Province, namely; Mongu, Lukulu, Kalabo, Kaoma, Sesheke, Senanga and Shang’ombo. Kalomo, Itezhi tezhi and Namwala in Southern Province and Kafue and Chongwe in Lusaka Province will also be covered. The total cost for this Danish Government supported Water Supply and Sanitation Programme is K97 billion. The programme is scheduled to be complete within five years starting from this year, 2006.

I thank you, Sir.

TEACHERS POSTED TO LUKULU DISTRICT

30. Mr Imenda (Lukulu East) asked the Minister of Education:

(a) how many secondary school teachers were posted to schools in Lukulu District from 2004 to 2006, year by year; and

(b) how many secondary school teachers the Government will allocate to schools in Lukulu District in 2007.

The Deputy Minister of Education (Ms Changwe): Mr Speaker, in 2004, no secondary school teachers were posted to Lukulu District. In 2005, twelve secondary school teachers were posted to this district, of which ten were male and two female.

The two secondary schools in Lukulu District require forty-two teachers. At the moment, there are thirty-seven teachers, leaving a shortfall of five. These five shall be deployed in the coming year.

I thank you, Sir.

CONSTRUCTION OF A TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES IN LUKULU DISTRICT

31. Mr Imenda asked the Minister of Health whether the Government has any plans to construct a training school for nurses in Lukulu District and, if so, when.

The Deputy Minister of Health (Dr Puma): Mr Speaker, the current policy for the Ministry of Health is to have training schools at second level hospitals (provincial hospitals), due to the nature of services provided at this level.

The scope of services provided at district health level is not adequate for the establishment of a training school and facilitating this pre-service training programme.

Therefore, in line with the current Ministry of Health Strategy on Infrastructure Development, a district such as Lukulu does not qualify for a training school.

Nevertheless, for such a district that falls under Western Province, such a facility for a training school is available at Lewanika General Hospital. Again, the reasons are due to the level of care provided at Lewanika General Hospital that allows for a comprehensive training course of students during practicals.

Mr Imenda: Mr Speaker, is the Hon. Minister aware that Western Province is the only province that has only one training school, and that Lewanika General Hospital has no state registered nurses course?

Dr Puma: Mr Speaker, as I have already mentioned, the policy of the Government is that the training of nurses should take place at certain level hospitals. Western Province has Lewanika General Hospital where the training takes place. If there were another certain level hospital, then, I would answer this question differently.

I thank you, Sir.

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE FOR RURAL DOCTORS

32. Mr Imenda asked the Minister of Health:

(a) what measures the Government had taken to ensure that conditions of service for medical doctors posted to rural areas were attractive; and

(b) whether the medical doctors posted to rural areas qualified for car loans and scholarships.

Dr Puma: Mr Speaker, under the Rural Retention Schemes, doctors working in rural areas receive salary supplementation and other measures including:

(i) Hardship Allowance in the range of K1.1 million to K1.2 million depending on the salary scale;

(ii) All doctors in rural areas receive an Education Allowance of up to K2,500,000.00 per child per term up to four children; and

(iii) On call allowances to all doctors serving in health institutions have been revised upwards from K1.3 million to K2.6 million for junior doctors and K1.5 million to K3 million for senior doctors.

All medical doctors qualify for car loans which are given as cash or in form of physical car. By virtue of serving in rural areas doctors are given priority in cases of scholarships.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Imenda: Mr Speaker, does the Hon. Minister consider the conditions of service provided at the moment to be enough in order to stop these doctors going to neighbouring countries?

The Minister of Health (Ms Cifire): Mr Speaker, we are doing what we can in order to stop people from going away. This is the best we can do at the moment.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Sikota: Mr Speaker, has the ministry considered making it a requirement that before somebody is sent out for further training, first of all, they must exhaust those who wish to go for further training from the rural areas in order to encourage more people wanting to go and serve in the rural areas?

Ms Cifire: Mr Speaker, what we are looking at is the issue of bonding which will keep people within before they can actually go out again.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Nsanda (Chimwemwe): Mr Speaker, when is the hon. Minister going to send doctors to Chimwemwe Constituency, especially at the Rescores Mini Hospital?

Ms Cifire: That is a new question, Mr Speaker. I do not believe that Chimwemwe Constituency has one doctor, I am sure that there are other doctors within.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

CATTLE RESTOCKING EXERCISE

33. Mr Imenda asked the Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives why Lukulu District did not benefit from the cattle restocking exercise.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives (Mr Kalenga): Mr Speaker, the Cattle Restocking Programme intends to cover all provinces of Zambia which suffered losses due to diseases. Due to limited resources, the programme is being implemented in phases and the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives has included this facility or component in the National Budget of 2007. Therefore, Lukulu district may benefit from the restocking programme then. However, the choice of areas to benefit from the restocking programme depends on the assessment reports from the field staff in the districts.

I thank you.

Mr Imenda: Mr Speaker, is the Minister aware that the whole Western Province did not benefit from the programme?

The Minister of Local Government and Housing (Mrs Masebo): Mr Speaker, we are aware that Western Province did not get any stocks on account that the disease burden has not been stabilised there and so there was no need for us to restock just to have the stock die.

I thank you.

Dr Scott: Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from the new Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives …

Laughter

Dr Scott: … whether she can assure us that the disease burden has indeed, been stabilised in the provinces where cattle restocking is going on. Is the Denkete finished?

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, it is only in Southern Province where the Government has done the programme of restocking and, indeed, it is correct to say that the disease there has not been wiped out, but I can say that it has stabilised and that is why the restocking exercise began in Southern Province.

For Western Province, Mr Speaker, I said that the disease has not been stabilised, but I would like to state that in the second phase, it is the intention of the Government to extend restocking once the situation has been stabilised. Suffice to say that in this year’s budget, the Government is going to construct the cordon line as a measure and obviously the vaccination programme is on-going.

I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

___________

MOTIONS

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS 20 AND 21(1) AND 101

The Vice President (Mr R. B. Banda): Mr Speaker, I beg to move that Standing Orders 20 and 21(1), if necessary, and Standing Order 101 be suspended to enable the House to complete all Business on the Order Paper and all matters arising there from and that, on such completion, the House do adjourn sine die.

Mr Speaker, I wish to start by thanking all hon. Members of Parliament for the support they have accorded to me following my appointment as Vice-President. I was very touched by the standing ovation I received when I entered the House on 20th October, 2006. I look forward to working with all hon. Members and I hope they will work with me harmoniously.

Mr Speaker, from the onset, I wish to take this opportunity to invite hon. Members to get in touch with me should they have something for my attention. I will leave the door open for them to have access to me and they should not hesitate to seize the opportunity when need arises to consult me on any national issues.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice President: Mr Speaker, allow me to state how indebted I am to my predecessor for the good job that he did in spearheading Government Business in the House and for accommodating views from both the Government side and the Opposition. This is the spirit I would like to emulate and consolidate.

Mr Speaker, as of today’s sitting, the House will have been sitting for a total of 16 days. Quite impressively, many issues of national importance have been tackled and accomplished in such a short time through the maiden speeches that hon. Members have made during their contributions to the debate on the Vote of Thanks to His Excellency the President’s Address to the House which he delivered on 27th October, 2006. As leader of Government Business in the House, I can confidently say that the meeting of the House which comes to an end today was, indeed a success.

Mr Speaker, as can be seen from today’s Order Paper, a total of 33 questions were considered by the House during the current meeting. The House also dealt with one report of the Parliamentary Select Committee to scrutinise the appointment of Mr Mumba Malila to serve as Attorney-General. Today, the House will debate a Private Members’ Motion to be moved by the hon. Member for Matero (Mrs Sinyangwe).

In addition, five Ministerial Statements were made and, quite impressively, thirteen Annual Reports from Government ministries and Quasi-Government institutions were received and laid on the Table of the House.

Mr Speaker, the amount of Business accomplished by the House in such a short time is no mean achievement. This commitment on the part of hon. Members of this august House is a clear demonstration of the seriousness with which hon. Members take the deliberations in the House. I am confident that the decisions the House has made will assist in accelerating development in the country and improve the living standards of the people of Zambia. Let me therefore, take this opportunity to thank all hon. Members of this House for a job well done.

Mr Speaker, this meeting does not mark the end of the First Session of the Tenth National Assembly. As hon. Members are already aware, the First Session of the Tenth Assembly will end in December, 2007. The period between now and January next year will enable hon. Members to attend to other equally important national assignments outside this House. Hon. Members are aware of their representative role which involves explaining to our people the significance of the important socio-economic pronouncements that the Government has made. I expect hon. members to go out and discharge this responsibility.

Mr Speaker, the tripartite elections which were held in September this year should be seen as a litmus test for us leaders. More than ever before, the people of Zambia want accelerated economic development and the pressure is on the current leadership represented in this House to deliver and shape the country’s socio-economic landscape. I, therefore, urge hon. Members to use the recess to supplement Government efforts by mobilising people in constituencies to embrace the good policies the New Deal Administration has embarked upon. Sir, the various development projects which are on-going in the various parts of the country, require efforts and guidance of all hon. Members of this august House.

Furthermore, the rainy season has just commenced and I am, therefore, requesting hon. Members to use the recess to mobilise our people so that they plant their crops early. Hon. Members should also lead by example by fully participating in the agricultural activities.

Mr Speaker, from the preparations that are going on at various shopping centres in Lusaka, the nation is already in a festive mood. I am sure, hon. Members would like to use the break to prepare for Christmas and be with their families during the festive season.

As I conclude, Sir, I wish to thank you, Mr Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairperson of Committees, most sincerely for the efficient and impartial manner in which you handled the Business of the House. I also wish to commend the Clerk of the National Assembly and her staff for the excellent service they have continued to render to the House.

Let me equally take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the hon. Ministers and Deputy Ministers for the support and assistance rendered to me since I took office two months ago. I also wish to thank the staff in my office and in other Government ministries and departments for the efficient manner in which they assisted me coordinate Government business in this august House.

Finally, allow me to express my seasonal greetings to you, Sir, and I wish all hon. Members a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Mr Speaker, I beg to move.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lubinda (Kabwata): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for allowing me to add my voice to the adjournment motion, and I want to say from the onset that I support the motion. It is indeed, time for us to go back to our electorates, first, to go and thank them for electing us. It is my hope …

Hon. Government Member: We have done that already.

Mr Lubinda: … that those who have the power to allow us to thank our people shall allow us to do so because our people ought to hear from us, particularly, now, that we have been in this House for the last few months. I hope that the Minister of Home Affairs will prevail over his police authority so that they do not make it impossible for us to have contact with our electorates.

I should have been very happy, Sir, as we rise today, had we completed some of the things that we started on particularly in the previous Parliament. I have in mind the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission. It might be recalled that early this year, the President assented to the Citizens Economic Empowerment Act. That is an Act that was debated ferociously by the previous Parliament. Most of the arguments presented were that the Zambian people required some formal protection and some kind of support for them to be able to harness the natural resources that their Lord bequeathed upon their country, and yet, to-date, nothing to that effect has been done. The establishment of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Fund is another matter that we should have concluded by now. We shall be coming back here wondering whether the laws that we pass in this House are anything that are respected by our colleagues who had the duty of enforcing them and implementing them.

Mr Speaker, it would have been very good had we been rising today after having resolved the running saga on the Baobab Land in Lusaka. When we go back to our electorates, those of us in Lusaka shall be asked why the hon. Minister has not made any statement, whatsoever, on the Baobab Land. They will ask why the hon. Minister has not explained what powers she has without even going to Cabinet to withdraw the Agency from the local authority. These are the questions that, Your Honour the Vice-President, we are going to face when we go back there. So, you are sending us back without providing answers to the many questions that the people have on the management and mismanagement of land.

Sir, it would have been very good also, had the hon. Minister of Home Affairs been magnanimous enough to come to this House and tell us what he is telling the police with regard to arresting those illegal land allocators in Lusaka, rather than sitting here and saying sorry to me. To say sorry to me, is to say sorry to the people of Kabwata Constituency, and the people of Kabwata Constituency uncle, are not interested in apologies, they want action.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lubinda: Mr Speaker, on the issue of illegal allocation of land, we have, many times, blamed political parties. I think time for that is over. There are some people who have openly declared that they have power to abuse land. Some of them, not too long ago, were intimidating two hon. Members of Parliament, …

Hon. Opposition Member: Iron ladies.

Mr Lubinda: … two iron ladies …

Hon. Opposition Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Lubinda: … namely, the hon. Minister of Lands, Gladys Nyirongo and hon. Minister of Local Government and Housing, hon. Sylvia Masebo.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lubinda: These people were quoted in the press saying these things in the presence of ministers such as the hon. Minister of Home Affairs, hon. Ronald Shikapwasha. How come they have not been arrested up to now? Not too long ago, Sir, there were MMD cadres on radio saying as far as they were concerned, the Minister of Land when she allocates land she allocates to foreigners, and therefore, they, as cadres are the ones who know the people, the locals and that is why they are allocating land. Surely, should we keep beating about the bush wondering who is allocating land illegally or is it just a lack of political will and lack of stamina to face the cadres?

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lubinda: I think the second is what applies. We do not seem to have the power to face our own cadres. What kind of a Government shall it be, if we are going to be ruled by cadres?

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Lubinda: Should we go and look around amongst the cadres and say, ‘President’. I do not think that is what the Constitution provides for. We had a president provided for by the Constitution of the land and cadres, irrespective of their political parties must be brought to book when they go wrong in accordance with the law.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mtonga: Katele.

Mr Lubinda: Sir, when the Minister of Works and Supply was delivering his ministerial statement, I was hoping that he would tell us and the people of Lusaka one thing. We have talked about all the roads, Shang’ombo, Chavuma, Kasama and the Bottom Road. All those roads, in effect, lead to one place, Lusaka. That is where all those roads come. If the roads in Lusaka are not properly maintained and managed, surely, it will be a waste.

Hon. Government Members: Iwe!

Mr Lubinda: I want to say to you, Sir, that today, when people come from Kasama …

Hon. Opposition Member: Hammer!

Mr Lubinda: … with their crops and they want to bring them to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), if the roads to the FRA depot are impassable they will have problems.

Interruptions

Mr Lubinda: If you go in Lusaka now, you will see that you will spend one hour on a road which you should spend 20 minutes. The reason for that is because the Ministry of Works and Supply does not seem to give respect to the need for ring roads in Lusaka.

The last Parliament, Sir, when it was approving the budget, allocated K5 billion and hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon. Magande, I am sure he is aware of this. This House allocated K5 billion for the construction of ring roads leading from Lilayi Police Station right through the new area up to Chilumbulu Road. There is also another K450 million in the budget, the Yellow Book of 2006 and the Appropriation Bill of 2006 Act to create another ring road linking Kamwala Trading area and Kafue Road. The hon. Minister should have at least mentioned to the people of Lusaka when he intends to release that money, suppose ring roads are established. Alas, he does not seem to think that those are important roads. I agree with you, Sir, that very soon and I hope it will be in the first three weeks of the next Session, he will heed your advice and explain why we keep budgeting for these projects and yet at the end of the year, he comes with excuses. I think the Zambian people are sick and tired of undelivered promises.

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Mr Lubinda: I would like to appeal to my colleague, who is my age mate, the Minister of Works and Supply, Mr Simbao, to use his useful vigor to ensure that when money is allocated by this House, he pushes the doors of Hon. Magande so that the money is released and that he pushes the RDF.

Mr Magande: On a point of order, Sir.

Mr Speaker: The point of order is raised.

Mr Magande: Mr Speaker, I rise on a very serious point of order. As His Honour the Vice-President was moving the motion, he appreciated the guidance that you and the other presiding officers give to us in our debates. Just a few minutes ago, you guided us that the matter of roads is so important that the Minister of Works and Supply should call for a seminar where each one of us can talk in detail about these roads. Is the hon. Member for Kabwata in order to take us back to discussing roads, even after your good guidance?

Laughter

Mr Speaker: Order! The point of order by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning clearly indicates that there will be a workshop on the roads. That is the first sign I am hearing that the suggestion is going to work out.

Could the hon. Member for Kabwata move on to the next topic, if there is any.

Mr Lubinda: Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for your guidance. I am delighted that by raising this, you have now gotten acknowledgement that your advice has been heeded.

Laughter

Mr Lubinda: Sir, another matter of great concern to the people of Zambia is the one that was raised, although a public rally, in March, 2005. This is to do with the management of the most important trading areas, markets.

Mr Speaker, it might be recalled that the President of the Republic, sometime in March, 2005, stated that he was not happy with the way markets where being run and that he was calling upon the Minister of Local Government and Housing to bring a necessary bill to this House to establish market boards. What has happened ever since then is that our political cadres again think that there is now a vacuum in the management of those markets. Now, they are harassing our people. I would have been very happy if, at our rising today, we had passed the Market Board Act to ensure that we provide the legal framework within which we shall manage our trading areas.

Sir, I am aware of the fact that my princess, Hon. Minister of Local Government and Housing, Mrs Masebo, has a big task before her. Firstly, she is looking for a wife for me as she said.

Laughter

Mr Lubinda: Secondly, on a more serious note, I hear that the hon. Minister, during the recess, will be working hard to ensure that when we come back in January, she will have ready, the Markets Board Bill, which I hope all of us in this House will support.

Mr Speaker, as we go on recess, I would like to appeal to my colleagues in this House to reflect upon a number of matters one of them being the recently held tripartite elections and the results therefrom. I think it will be necessary now that we are going away from this very busy House, to reflect upon what was not right. What was it that we did right for us to be here? What went wrong? Why are some of our colleagues not here? We should also ask ourselves what went wrong in the management of the elections and results, which has led to so much acrimony that the President is literally pleading that we should reconcile. A person does not call for reconciliation unless they know that there is something wrong.

Hon. Government Members: Ah!

Interruptions

Mr Lubinda: Mr Speaker, I want to ensure that as we go home, we reflect upon the fact that the only reason why there is a calling for reconciliation is because …

Mr Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1615 hours until 1630 hours.

Mr Lubinda: Mr Speaker, before you suspended business, I was saying that two people do not call for reconciliation unless there is a conflict between them. Because the President has called for reconciliation, it is important and incumbent upon all of us hon. Members of Parliament, as we go back, to reflect upon what it is that led the President to call for reconciliation. What is it that we did wrong for a Head of State to ask us to reconcile? Further, we ought to be asking ourselves why we have such an unprecedented number of election petitions.

Sir, it might be recalled, and had the hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, been here, I am sure he would have borne testimony, ever since the independence of this country and ever since we knew anything about elections, we have never had as many as one third of all seats petitioned in court, except for 1969. Now, there are more than fifty petitions pending in court. Those petitions do not only emanate from the Opposition. They also emanate from the Ruling Party. We all ought to go back home and reflect upon what has led to this.

Naturally, if there are so many petitions, it points to something wrong in the electoral process and there is no other person or institution, save for this Parliament to identify those problems and resolve them. When I say this, it is not because I want to be provocative. I just want to appeal to the hearts of all of us in this House to realise that this is a country on a journey and we should not stop it. We ought to go and spend our festive season, reflecting upon these very important matters that affect the bread and butter issues of our people.

Sir, what I would like us to also go and reflect upon is the calling of people for a Constituent Assembly and a Constitution. To tell the people that they will be lucky if they will get the Constitution before 2009, is not giving them hope at all. That is a seed of acrimony and disenchantment. I do not think anyone of us would be proud as a Member of Parliament of a constituency of people who are disenchanted. I think each one of us wants to come in this House proud of the fact that the people are following exactly what the Government’s programme is on matters that affect them.

Mr Speaker, not too long ago, I said that the President of the country drew the relationship between a good Constitution and matters of bread and butter, and clean safe drinking water. If your Constitution is not inspiring the people and if it does not protect them, you will end up with problems like we are having now on the Copperbelt about the KCM. This is because your Constitution does not provide for ways and means of arresting such calamities. I think we will be doing the Zambian people well if, as we go out now for our Christmas and New Year festivities, we do not spend all the time planning on how we are going to celebrate, but to spend some time to also reflect upon these issues. Since we shall be gathered here again next year, we are determined to give the Zambian people their birth right which is the constitution that they want to write. The Zambian people have been demanding for months that they must take part in coming up with the law of the land. If we deny them that, then we will be denying them their citizenship. When I ask for this, it is because I have the confidence that not only hon. Members of the Back-bench, but also hon. Members of the Executive agree with the fact that the Zambian people deserve their birth right to decide their own destiny.

Sir, it would be unfair for me to end my support of His Honour the Vice-President’s motion if I do not commend the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning for showing a high level of magnanimity by agreeing with the House that he is not by law supposed to sit on the Public Accounts Committee. I hope that the other hon. Ministers and hon. Deputy Ministers, as they go out for Christmas and New Year, will bear that in mind so that we have an increased level of understanding next year between the Front- and Back-bench. However, I would have been happier had the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning mentioned to us that some colossal amounts of money was used to liquidate Government debt utilities and that those utilities did not include the water utilities. Lusaka, as a city, is now in problems. Lusaka City Council can not expand its water network because the Government owes Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company a colossal amount of more than K20 billion. There are many of our people whose taps are dry and pipes have been disconnected because they have not paid Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company as small an amount as K300,000 and yet this Government owes them more K20 billion.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame.

Mr Lubinda: I want to state, Mr Speaker, that we are not going to achieve the millennium development goals for the provision of safe clean drinking water to the people if you, yourselves, are the culprits in providing water. However, they can do that if they make sure that they put their money where their mouths are. As things are now, I wonder which utility companies were paid more than K40 billion. Which utility company did the Government pay if it is not the water utility? Is it the Zambia Electricity Supply Company or did you use some channel to send money around for elections? You open yourselves for such suspicions if such information is not provided. I would like to appeal to the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee to make sure that my plea is heeded. When the Committee sits next year, they should call for the Supplementary Budget that was presented so that they can study that and come back to this House and present a full report as it is provided for in the Standing Orders. If this will be done, then this House and the Public Accounts Committee will assist the hon. Minister to ensure that he does things in accordance with the law.

Sir, I support the motion and I would like to thank His Honour the Vice-President for bringing it today when we have seen hope of rain. I know that my colleagues from farming constituencies would like to go back and check that indeed the statements that have been made here about inputs being delivered are true. By sitting here and just receiving statements from this Government, hon. Members will not know whether constituents have received their inputs. Now they are being given a chance to go and verify. I am sure they will still have access to the hon. Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives in case what they find on the ground is not what has been pronounced on the Floor of this House.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Dr. Kalumba (Chiengi): Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, I rise to support the motion of His Honour the Vice-President. In doing so, I want to express my particular gratitude to the Vice-President for the leadership he has demonstrated in the period that he has led us in the House. I never had the opportunity to do so because I think he was not in the House. He is a veteran politician. I want to pay tribute and encourage him that we will stand by and support him. As an easterner, I am sure that we will go the same direction, that is, to Chipata once in a while. I hope he will not forget his land, Sir.

Mr Speaker, I have listened to my colleagues. We are all very talented in our expressions. We have spoken. We have also been quoted in the press and in our maiden speeches and our constituencies have heard us speak. We have been urged, sometimes by our friends, to hammer. I remember the Chairman of the Committee asking what this hammer was. We are quite proud to express ourselves, but the time has come to realise that we are in Parliament assembled to be good law makers and good supervisors on the acts of state, in particular, the state Executive. We should not shun away whether we are MMD or Opposition Back-benchers. We have the obligation to help the Government perform. I am addressing myself to my colleagues in the MMD Back-bench. There is nothing wrong whatsoever in standing up and speaking on public policy issues. That is why we are here as Back-benchers to help our colleagues in the Front-bench do their work properly. It is not only the Opposition hon. Members who have the obligation, but we have a similar obligation to support our colleagues in the Front-bench to superintend on matters of public policy properly.

As I speak, Sir, Chiengi is faced with the cholera epidemic. About five people have died and eighty-six people have passed through treatment centres. I am surprised to note that the hon. Minister of Health has pleasantly volunteered to go to Chiengi. I will be more than happy to host her there. I hope she will not come back with cholera.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr. Kalumba: It is important, Mr Speaker, that we all speak with passionate about the things we believe in and things that touch the lives of our people. I want to spend the rest of my career here in Parliament as an advocate and a crusader of truth. Politics is not about deception, but about the challenge of leadership. If we speak the truth, stand up for the truth, face facts and scorn in the face, we will be respected leaders. I think that was the theme of my statement when I first made my maiden speech.

One of the challenges of truth we are facing now is unity in the country. We either support the forces of social-pugilism or those of social-fatalism. Whether we are in the Opposition or in the Ruling Party, we have an obligation to set an example to heal the wounds of the electoral disputes and we hope the country will come together and unite and forge ahead for the benefit of Zambia. If we continue building tension in the country, I am afraid, Zambia will be dragged backwards.

I am concerned at the level of utterances sometimes shown by some of our political leaders. They appear not to accept the fact that the election campaigns of 2006 are over. We continue behaving as if we are in combat. It is about time that Zambians had a break from combative politics of 2006 tripartite elections. Let us work towards unity. Let us build together. Let us join hands as we have been doing in Parliament. We speak to one another. We share ideas. We are not fist-fighting or serious boxing, but we are honestly expressing our opinions about public policy matters in a manner that is constructive that builds Zambia.

Social feudalism is a tendency to divide people. The opposite of it, as I said, is social totalism, the tendency to unite people. I think the elections of 2006, were, to some extent, very divisive. They were to a large extent ethnocentric in their toil. I hope and pray that leaders today, after the September, 28, we work towards building the country, unite, work together and leave behind or heal the wounds of the2006 elections.

Mr Speaker, personally, I am very concerned about this mater because I have seen troubling anxieties in the country, tension that would not even allow people to celebrate their victory. It is important that we work together to remove these tensions.

Mr Speaker, I want to stand up and be a Member of Parliament, not one that is looking for a job in the Front bench, but one who speaks for justice, human rights, poverty and gender so that they become mainstream issues in public policy.

I want to join my colleagues who are concerned with the ethical imperative of governance. Even if it means being subjected to it in the courts of law, I will stand up for transparency in public expenditure in the Government.

Mr Speaker, we must speak with passion on things we believe in strongly, but also learn to listen to the voices of the weak, truth, compassion and service. Speak, but also listen to them because when do so, the wisdom of our people come knocking on these doors of Parliament to bring fundamental understandings of their concern almost effortlessly.

Mr Speaker, I recall one of your hon. Members here who was not very highly schooled in terms of dissertations, but each time he stood up to speak he spoke fundamental truth. Hon. Kangwa always educated all of us. I hope and pray that there will be more Kangwas who can speak not from conviction, but speak the truth.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Mr Hachipuka (Mbabala): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to support the Vice-President’s adjournment motion.

Mr Speaker, I want to take this opportunity, once again, to thank the President of the Republic of Zambia for enabling our people to vote and hold elections during the dry season.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Hachipuka: This is one of the reasons why the turnout was as high as in excess of 70 per cent in most places. We had difficulties before that when elections were held during the rainy season.

Mr Speaker, I have been encouraged in the last few days, since the 28th of September, when the swearing in ceremony of the President went, the elections of Parliament office bearers and indeed, our opening, the setting up of committees in Parliament have gone on very well. We have had sufficient time to debate the President’s speech and met and got to know each other.

Mr Speaker, if this pattern continues, when we close today, I would go back to Mbabala and assure my people that, perhaps, all is well and could continue to be well.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Hachipuka: Mr Speaker, I worry a great deal because where do we go from here in the next five years? For me, as a Member of Parliament, there are a number of things that I want to achieve in this House and indeed, in my own constituency. Here, I want to be part of your team to exercise my oversight role. In my constituency, I want to work with my people to assist in whatever resources this Government is able to provide to them.

Mr Speaker, a number of issues often worries me. What are the responsibilities of the people in the Executive, I ask myself. When a Government comes into office and remains there for the next five years, what the yard-sticks are. What ministers and the Civil Service would be doing in the next five years Will they be signing papers that come through their in-trays? Will they be attending seminars, travelling abroad or are they going to be producing statutory instruments under delegated legislation for easy governance of their ministries? Are they going to be fulfilling their mission statements for their ministries or supervising their Permanent Secretaries to produce draft bills for submission to the Ministry of Justice and Cabinet? Are they going to be attending to their daily work demands, and indeed their constituencies?

Mr Speaker, the problem we have in this country is that most of us get into office, not fully appreciating what it is that we are supposed to do to deliver service to our people. If you get a manager or a minister who goes into the office and simply deals with that which comes in the in-tray, then you cannot lift the country.

You need a Government of both politicians like we sit in here together with the civil service to propel the country forward. When we break today, it is not the end of the story. For some of us, it is important that we go back to our constituencies to thank our electorates, prepare plans for what we can do together with them over the next five years.

For most ministers and deputies here, they have to go back into their offices. I am glad that the Fifth National Development Plan is on board and is being prepared. However, our colleagues do not seem to see the importance of concluding that document and implement it soonest. It is not something that we can continue postponing because it is the road map that we must use to determine where the country must go.

Mr Speaker, in supporting this motion, I want to remind my colleagues that really from the day President Mwanawasa appointed you into your job, whether you are a Permanent Secretary or at the ministry level, count your blessings and ask yourself: What is it that you have done in that office to make any difference to any living human being of this country? If you a Cabinet Minister and you may be in that office for the next five years or less, how many bills have you brought here into this Parliament to better this country? Those are the basic issues you should ask yourself.

Mr Mtonga: Zoona!

Mr Hachipuka: As a part time farmer, the season is around the corner. Last year I harvested over 2000 X 50 kilogram bags. I want to do better this year because that is my yard-stick or measurement on how successful a farmer is. Three days ago, I went to my farm and produced twenty-eight cows in my Kraal. That is a yardstick of how successful a farmer I am. What is your yard-stick as a hon. Minister?

Hon. Opposition Member: Tetamashimba!

Mr Hachipuka: What is your yard-stick as a civil servant? What are you doing in bettering your office? These are the basic issues I am talking about. We are going back to our constituencies and I want to urge my colleagues who are in positions of trust and responsibility who should make a difference in this country. That is what I am urging them to do. Let us go back to our offices and homes. This country cannot be better if none of us has a yard-stick, plan and intention to improve his job and his country.

Sir, I also want to welcome the Vice-President. He has come in humble style. He is not a man who pushes people around. Therefore, hon. Members of Parliament should not take advantage of his humility. Also, I want to warn all of us, including most of those in Government not to take leave if the President is not available. One of the problems of this country is that we have bottlenecks and these lie in the following areas. If the President is indisposed or busy, everybody waits. You will find there are issues that wait until the President attends to them, even when they are within the mandate of that particular ministry.

Sir, the other bottleneck we have is the Ministry of Finance and National Planning itself. When this ministry does not have sufficient resources and when money is being collected and is not being disbursed, that becomes another bottleneck. Many projects wait because the priorities in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning may be right or wrong. The delay in releasing funds for projects is another bottleneck. For us in this House, the biggest bottleneck we have is the Ministry of Justice. Many ministries have bills that are pending which should be dealt with by this House. I am glad that at this time, the hon. Minister of Legal Affairs has been given a Deputy Minister and an Attorney General.

Mr Speaker, there are many pending issues that we could legislate in this House, but because they are held up and the ministries are still sending their draft bills to the Ministry of Justice, hence, these are not dealt with. That is another bottleneck. The Cabinet is also another bottleneck. There are many issues that are pending because cabinet has not sat. Zambians cannot continue waiting for that.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Scott (Lusaka Central): Mr Speaker, I do not have much to add to what hon. Lubinda has said. He is a very thorough speaker for our party. The only thing that worries me is that, four and a half years ago, I was flown down to Johannesburg to have a heart operation, which saved my life. I was nursed, of course, by Zambian nurses who were part of the brain drain in that part. When time comes for Hon. Lubinda’s heart operation, I just hope that he will be able to go to Johannesburg, but looking at how short he is, I am a little bit worried because he might be blocked.

Laughter

Dr Scott: Mr Speaker, there are many pending or gestating matters that need to be looked into. I hope the executive would have done its homework and attend to these matters when we next meet in this House. One of the scandals which is just beginning to erupt concerns the global funds, that is money for HIV/Aids in Zambia of which it appears that tens of millions of dollars worth of money have not been spent or properly accounted for. Tens of millions have also been lost as a consequence…

Mr Sikota: Shame!

Dr Scott: … because when we applied for our extension, they said, we had not done well enough with what we had already received. I hope the beautiful irone lady, the Hon. Minister of Health, will be spending her Christmas like me, looking into this matter so that when we come back in January, we will know where we are, dialogue and hear the truth. In passing Sir, one or two things worth noting in this House is that it is actually the beneficiaries or the potential beneficiaries of this money, who have brought it to your attention and gone to the press pushing for this matter to be attended to. This is true civil society. It is not civil society funded and got together in workshops. This is people looking after their own interests and I think it marks a step forward for Zambia.

Mr Speaker, by January, we should know whether this delayed onset of the rains has actually matured into the drought, which many experts are predicting. If so or not so, either way, we will be able to re-examine this wonderful Agricultural Marketing Policy and the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) whether it works. As far as I could understand the hon. Minister the other day, apparently the FRA is buying maize extensively for strategic reserves, funding it on short term commercial credit and then exporting it again in order to repay the short term commercial credit. If that is so, then we have very low strategic reserves. If there comes a need for maize to be released from these reserves, it may transpire that there is none and we may be forced to conclude that it was just a political or election gimmick in an election year.

Mr Mtonga: Zoona!

Dr Scott: Mr Speaker, there are many issues that have been touched on concerning the illegal allocations and the grabbing of land. I will just point out that in addition to what hon. Lubinda referred to, there is the issue of more classy land grabbing going on. There are ‘apa mwambas’ grabbing land, one way and another by sophisticated means and not just cadres. There are forest reserves, parks, school playing grounds and even National Game Parks changing hands in a manner which is bound to raise eye brows and question marks. I think I would very much hope that the hon. Minister of Lands comes back to us in January with the beginnings of a comprehensive transparent and honest Lands Policy.

Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources assured us the other day when I asked him about monitoring the Kafue River. Personally, I do not think he is monitoring with a test tube up and down the Kafue River. I think he has assistants who by now should have monitored the full length of the Kafue River and monitoring it continually. The word on the streets is that the effects of the KCM pollution have reached as far as Lusaka, having been pumped up from Kafue. It has also been said that they are certainly affecting the fish stocks in Itezhi-tezhi.

Sir, I think one of the jobs of the Government is to stop this kind of kachepa if that is what it is by giving us the truth and not having to be prompted all the time and challenged. This also creates the worry that apart from possible health risks on Copperbelt towns, there are also mysterious and fathomable aspects to this whole affair as to why KCM is being treated with kid gloves. Why is it treated as if it were a foreign power or state with diplomatic immunity to poison our rivers? The Cabinet should be ready for these things because we are not spending a lazy Christmas. Rallies or no rallies, we will be meeting with our people in doing our homework.

Mr Speaker, there has been a chorus during this sitting of Parliament from the other side, especially, from some Deputy Ministers. Let us bury our differences and work together. Let us be non-partisan. Mr Speaker, we know that democracy thrives on differences. If there were no differences, there would be no opposition and there would be no Government. In fact, there would be no human beings. There would just be some kind of clowns matching around and singing the same song as in some science fiction books and movies. We can be, more or less, civil with our differences but if the political river in which we are swimming is polluted with the abuse of the Public Order Act, letting cadres loose, raising suspicions and perceiving certain levels of threat, then, it becomes less civil. I think it is really up to the Government or the Executive to show that it is serious about a democracy similar to other Commonwealth democracies and not to the democracy of the late 1960s when it was said it paid to belong to UNIP. Meaning that if you worked for the council and you did not belong to UNIP, you would get fired. If you worked and did not belong to UNIP, you got arrested on some trumped up charges. Therefore, it is up to the MMD to show that it is not the old democracy of the pre-One Party era, but a decently pluralist democracy so that we may be developing in this House.

Mr Speaker, lastly, one of the refrains we have had from the other side of the House has been referred to us on this side of the House is if we are somehow a resurgence of the Chiluba Regime or a remnant of the Chiluba Regime.

Laughter

Dr Scott: Mr Speaker, there are more remnants of the Chiluba Regime on that side of the House and most significantly remnants. The architect of the MMD is sitting on that of the House. The Man who more than anybody can say he created MMD is sitting on that side of the House. The remnant former Cabinet Ministers who have been Ministers of Health, Tourism, Home Affairs, Finance and certain places in Kamwala are also sitting on that side.

Mr Speaker, on this side of the House, there are only two former ministers and they were both very junior at the time.

Sir, I got some research done because I kept hearing about what a young crowd they are on the governing side of the House. The difference in the average age between that side and this side is only two years.

Laughter

Dr Scott: On the other side the average age is forty-seven. On this side, I am only talking for PF because I am not quite sure whose side is anybody else is on, be it independent and so forth. The PF average is forty-nine and the two years difference is simply wisdom.

Laughter

Dr Scott: It is not lack of energy.

Sir, in conclusion, all I am saying is that if the new comers to this House such the hon. and beautiful Minister of Health wish to know for example, how it was that health or user fees came to be imposed, she has many people on her side who can tell her without coming to ask my President on this side.

Sir, with those few words, I thank you, very much.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Perhaps we can have a good point otherwise, I will ask His Honour the Vice-President to wind up the motion. I can see about four. Any more new points? Let me try the hon. Member for Livingstone. Do you have anything new?

Mr Sikota: Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you for allowing me to contribute to this debate.

Sir, I rise to support the debate that has been introduced by the right hon. Vice-President. I also wish to seize this opportunity to thank the right hon. Vice-President for the tone that he has set in this House. Having been in this House before, I have been through the hands of four different Leaders of the House. I must say that the short time when the current Leader of Government Business has been available, he has been quite pleasant as compared to some of his predecessors.

Mr Speaker, I also wish to state that I now seem to understand why the appointing authority actually appointed the right hon. Vice-President to the position. I have noted that he has skillfully, during this current sitting, avoided all the Vice-President’s Question Time.

Laughter

Mr Sikota: That, without doubt is a mark of a very skillful politician.

Laughter

Mr Sikota: Mr Speaker, I hope the people on your right especially, the Front and Middle Benches will use this recess to find out from the people of Zambia what exactly they want, analyse what the results of the elections mean and find out why certain sections of the society did not vote for them. They should do that in order to try and take along the rest of Zambia to go along their vision.

Mr Speaker, I probably, together with the rest f my colleagues on your left, can give them a few pointers as to what the people of Zambia actually want.

Sir, one of the things that the people of Zambia have been clamoring for is the excessive casualisation of labour that has been going on in this country. Unfortunately, the MMD Government has been turning a blind eye to the plight of the Zambian workers and it is about time that the Executive came back with legislation to protect the Zambian people so that they are not at the mercy of employers.

Sir, talking about conditions, this is another thing that the Zambian people are demanding and which, this Government should now take seriously. Legislate for a minimum wage. This is something that is required so that there is a guideline for everybody including the Government itself to pay the worker a living wage.

Connected to this, is the issue of the tax regime that we have in Zambia currently. I hope that, as the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning comes to present his Budget and as he goes on this recess, he can wok out mechanisms and reduce the tax burden on the people of Zambia. I hope that in his consultations with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he has not missed the point.

Mr Speaker, there is also the issue of the constitution. The Zambian people have spoken very loudly that they need the constitution to be enacted through a Constituent Assembly and they are not willing to wait until 2015. Everything is in place and this can be done if there is willingness on the part of the Executive. We would like to call upon them to go to the drawing board and when they come back, they should come back with a Constituent Assembly Bill because this is what the people want.

Mr Speaker, there is also the question of mineral royalties. I was pleased to hear from the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning stating that he is going to look into raising the mineral royalty tax so that we get much more from our copper. However, there has been a reaction from the mining companies who have stated that they are prepared to go to court to resist the raising of the mineral royalties taxes because that was in the agreement they entered into.

Mr Speaker, that task is not only for the Minister of Finance, but also for the Minister of Justice. They should find a way out of this because certainly, the rate at which we are having the mineral royalties at the moment is taking away the wealth of the Zambians. Therefore, there is need to reverse that. From the reaction they have received, they know that they do have a fight on their hands. It is up to them to rectify the fault they made because it is the MMD Government which went out and bound us to this law rates. Therefore, it is up to them to find the solution.

Sir, I think that they should also take it as a lesson that when they go out to negotiate important contracts and agreements, they should bring them here so that we give them some wisdom, and that there is a two year difference that the hon. Member for Lusaka Central (Mr Scott) talked about, wisdom to go into those negotiations before they sign.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Scott: Hear, hear! That is a point!

Mr Sikota: Mr Speaker, the issue of the Public Order Act has been touched upon and I would like to simply state that I concur with what the hon. Member for Lusaka Central (Mr Scott), has stated. I will not go into it much further.

There is also the issue of the Electoral Act. The large number of petitions, as stated by the hon. Member for Kabwata (Mr Lubinda), shows that there is something wrong with our act. Otherwise, we have noted the multiplicity of electoral petitions as we have seen

Mr Speaker, the last time we debated the Electoral Act, we said that there were many areas that needed to be changed, but we were told that this would not be done until the actual amendment of the constitution was done. That delay is costly. Our courts are now going to be clogged up with about fifty election petitions and this is going to slow down the wheels of justice.

There is also the Freedom of Information Bill. Four years ago, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services withdrew the Bill from the Floor of this House and promised that the Government was going to do a short consultation on certain aspects of that Bill. It has now been four years. Four years is not a short time. It is time this Government introduced that legislation. More especially, that this Government claims that it wants to fight corruption. The Freedom of Information Act is one of the major tools with which to fight corruption. If indeed they are earnest about it, they will bring to the Floor of this House the Freedom of Information Bill.

Mr Speaker, whilst talking about bills, it is important that the Executive gives us sufficient advance notice of the bills they are going to present. Quite often, we find that we have only a few days notice. Although they are entitled to do so, good governance entails that they give sufficient time so that we can research adequately into those bills being presented. Bringing bills and expressing them through the House, makes the Zambian people lose out on the benefit of informed debate on those particular bills. So, my prayer is that they use this recess to line up all the various bills they want to present during the course of the coming year and give them to us in good time.

Sir, there is the issue of the pollution that we discussed during the course of this sitting, and it is something which needs to be looked at very urgently. Once you get your natural resources and environment polluted, it is very difficult to have them cleaned up. We have the case of Kabwe, where there are very high levels of lead poisoning. Currently, there is a report that Kabwe is amongst the ten dirtiest places in the world. I do not think that is a complimentary statistic for Zambia to be amongst the ten dirtiest places in the world.

Hon. Government Members: Aah!

Mr Sikota: This lead poisoning was reported three weeks ago. Now, we have an added problem with KCM. We might find that this problem will be larger than Kabwe and so, we will become the dirtiest county in the world, unless this Government pays a lot of attention to the issue of pollution.

Mr Speaker, we would also like the President’s team, the Executive to come and let us know which way the Task Force is going. The President did state that he was considering disbanding it, up to now there has been no follow up. I think that an important issue like that should not be left hanging. It is incumbent upon the Executive to tell us clearly which way we are to go on that.

Sir, I would also appeal to the Executive to ensure that they give us yearly updates on the Millennium Development Goals. How far we have gone in the attainment, what plans the Government has towards the attainment of those goals in the coming year and what the impediments are. It is important that we keep our eyes on these goals if we are to make any progress towards their attainment.

Mr Speaker, as I wind up, I would like to call upon all the people going on recess to go back to their electorates to thank them and find out what they would like to be represented in Parliament on their behalf. However, for the Executive, I would like to call upon them to go to their offices and learn what the policies in those particular offices are supposed to be, and not to dash to Liuwa for the by-election. We have seen that ministers have a habit of dashing to by-elections …

Mr Mtonga: Fuel and subsistence allowances!

Interruptions

Mr Sikota: … for subsistence allowances. We want to see them in their offices and not in Liuwa. The people have given them those offices so that they work in them and not to go to by-election areas using per diem, government vehicles and so forth.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Interruptions

Mr Sikota: Lastly, Mr Speaker, the other reason I am asking ministers not to dash to Liuwa, is that most of them do not know each other well. This would be an opportune time to know each other so as to co-ordinate better …

Laughter

Mr Sikota: … so that if, for example, they go to inspect bridges, they must speak as one and not contradict each other.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sikota: I think that if they take this opportunity to co-ordinate better it would all be better for the people of Zambia.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice-President: Mr Speaker, I wish to thank all the hon. Members of this august House for the wonderful support.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Question put and agreed to.

RESUSCITATION OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE MULUNGUSHI COMMUTER SYSTEM

Mrs Sinyangwe (Matero): Mr Speaker, I beg to move a motion on the resuscitation of the operations of Mulungushi Commuter System

Mr Speaker: Order! The hon. Member for Matero has not moved her motion, may she do it again.

Mrs Sinyangwe: Mr Speaker, I beg to move that as a way of alleviating road traffic congestion and reducing transport costs for the people of Lusaka, this House urges the Government to facilitate the expeditious resuscitation of the operations of the Mulungushi Commuter system.

Mr Speaker: Is the Motion seconded?

Mr Lubinda: I second the Motion, Sir.

Mr Speaker: The question is that as a way of alleviating …

Mr Mwanza stood to leave the Chamber as the hon. Mr Speaker was on the Floor.

Hon. Members: Order, Order!

Laughter

Mrs Sinyangwe: Mr Speaker, as I move my motion, I would like to say that transport blues in Zambia have been part of life for the bigger percentage of the population for a very long time. In fact, going back to the time of Zambia’s Independence in 1964, the Njanji Commuter Train which was established in 1990 was designed to reduce the heavy congestion of traffic in Lusaka and provide a cheaper mode of transport for the majority of the people, especially the women.

It was meant to cater for the people living between Chilenje Township and George Compound. Mr Speaker, the Njanji Commuter Train was officially commissioned on 8th July 1991 at a cost of K350 million as the Mulungushi Commuter Train under the Mulungushi Investment, a subsidiary of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines then ZCCM. This was later taken up by Zambia Railways.

Mr Speaker, the increase in the population with Lusaka having more than 1.2 million people over the last few years has made the transport problem even more complex. While one can argue that there are a lot of mini buses plying our roads, they are not enough to cater for the big population and worse still, most of our people cannot afford the transport costs. People walk to and from town.

Mr Speaker, this is why the Government must seriously consider the revival of the Njanji Commuter Train which will be able to cater for between 25,000 and 30,000 people everyday. Other than providing a cheaper mode of transport, this will also decongest the town center. Currently, Chilenje commuters disembark at Kulima Tower then walk to Lumumba Road where they board a bus going to Matero as there are no buses at Kulima Tower to take them to Matero and vise versa for those going to Chilenje.

Mr Speaker, apart from the Njanji Commuter Train providing reliable and affordable transport, this will also create employment and establish proper safety standards in the country. A feasibility study was undertaken by the World Bank by a company called Sterling Merchant Finance Limited and the report showed that the commuter train is a viable venture.

Mr Speaker, it is common knowledge that because transport is critical and essential, governments all over the world subsidise transport. This is the case even in the UK where you have transport parastatals like the British Railways. Mr Speaker, this can only happen if the Government has a political will to alleviate the suffering of its people. If this is implemented the better so that people can begin to benefit, and they will appreciate the efforts being made by Government to better their lives.

Mr Speaker, any delay in resuscitating the Njanji Commuter Train will result in more vandalism being perpetrated on the existing equipment. Already some rails have been ripped off the lines in George Compound leaving the infrastructure incomplete for immediate operations.

May I end by calling on the Government of the day to speed up its delivery of the many promises that have been made to our people and pay them for their understanding and patience. Mr Speaker, private investors both local and foreigners have expressed interest in running the Njanji Commuter Train and some have carried out feasibility studies that indicate that it is a viable venture which will not only provide a service for commuters but will also create employment for Zambians and contribute to the boosting of the economy.

Mr Speaker, talking about investment also brings on the issue of partnership. Local authorities like the Lusaka District Council can partner with a private enterprise to run the Njanji Commuter Train. While it is appreciated that it is private enterprise that is being encouraged other than Government run institutions, there is also need to maintain some hold on strategic institutions like transport by the Government as a form of security on behalf of the Zambian people. One way of doing this is to allow the partnership of the kind alluded to above where the Government through local councils can work with private enterprises. In addition, the beauty about local people owning the commuters is that they will feel obliged to protect their interest because they know that it is their very own.

Mr speaker, it is important at this stage to remind the House that the Government has spent huge sums of money on the Njanji Commuters Project and it would be a grave injustice to let this go to waste. This is money that was contributed at great cost by the taxpayer of this country and it is only fair that they get the benefit at the end of the day and now would be the best time considering how long they have persevered with the terrible transport congestion in the city.

Mr Speaker, a better transport system is not only an economic benefit, but also a stabilising factor because our people will be able to conduct their business on time and much more conveniently because they will be able to plan their programmes accordingly to suit the scheduling of the Njanji Commuter Train.

Lastly, Sir, I would like to bring to your attention the suffering of the women who have to go to hospital to see the sick everyday and cannot afford to pay the bus fares because they have to pay twice. The Njanji Commuter Train would alleviate their problems because they can get in Matero once and get out at Chilenje and get to the hospital.

I thank you.

Hon. Patriotic Front Members: Hear, hear!

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

Mr Lubinda: Later, Sir.

Mr Speaker: Any further debate? There is no seconder the motion dies now.

Laughter

Mr Speaker: Have you changed your mind Hon. Member for Kabwata?

Mr Lubinda: I will speak now, Sir.

Laughter

Mr Lubinda: Mr Speaker, it is quite clear that this motion ably moved by the hon. Member for Matero Constituency is totally non-controversial and it seems to have received the support of the whole House, going by the fact that when you asked for any one to debate, no one rose.

Mr Mtonga: Zoona.

Mr Lubinda: For that reason, I will not belabour the issue because I believe that the hon. Member for Matero Constituency covered all the important issues to convince this House. Let me just add a few words to what she said.

Mr Speaker, the mover of the motion made reference to the fact that the Njanji Commuter was constructed at a cost of K350 million in 1991. Going by the exchange rate of the Kwacha to the dollar as at 9th July, one day after the commissioning of that railway line, the cost in US dollars was a colossal sum of US$5,147,058.00 at the exchange rate of K68 to the dollar. That, at today’s exchange rate, as Hon. Magande will agree, translates to K20.6 billion. When the hon. Member for Matero Constituency spoke about the dire need for this country to protect that investment, I thought if I mention the US dollar exchange rate in 1991 and convert it to today it will make even better sense. We are not talking about K350 million as at today, we are actually talking about a net present value of K20 billion.

Sir, I would like to also just add to the reasons why the commuter train was set up. Soon after the commuter stopped operating, many people suspected that the Government was not willing to resuscitate it because it was linking to the Government of the day at the time it was constructed. There were basically two objectives behind the construction of that commuter namely; the one that my hon. colleague mentioned, to provide affordable transport. For those who might not be aware, that rail line trapezes through Lusaka’s most densely populated areas such as the corridor between Chilenje/Matero, covering Libala, Kabwata, Kamwala, Town Centre, Thorn Park, Emmasdale and George Compound ending up in Matero.

At the same time Sir, Zambia Railways Limited allowed the Njanji Commuter to operate a township commuter train running between Ngwerere and Chilanga. That too passes through highly populated areas, namely; Mandevu, Chaisa, Misisi, Jack, Chawama and John Howard compounds. It therefore, goes without saying that the commuter was serving the greater majority of the residents of the city of Lusaka.

Sir, the other object of that commuter was to decongest traffic on all roads along the corridor of the rail line and the central business district. It should be known by all of us that today’s Lusaka central business district is highly congested. Every person who wishes to get into Lusaka has to find some kind of road transport, and yet, with that commuter a lot of our people would have opted to go by rail because it is cheaper.

Sir, in case some people wonder about the economics of the rail line, my colleague did mention a report that was written by Sterling Merchant Finance Limited of the United States of America. In mentioning this, I want to remind the House that between 2002 and 2003, the then representative of the people of Kabwata Constituency, who fortunately continues to represent them, did urge this Government to resuscitate that rail line. It will be recalled that in the in the Yellow Book of 2005, a total amount of K500 million was allocated to resuscitate the operations of the Njanji Commuter Train. In the year 2006, in debating the budget, the Member of Parliament for Kabwata Constituency asked the Government why the K500 million had not been utilised. The answer that was given on the Floor of this House was that the Government’s hands were stuck on the table they could not move because they were waiting for World Bank’s no objection.

Sir, as at July 2005, the no objection by the World Bank was through a feasibility study that was paid for by the World Bank at a cost of US$200,000. That report does not say anything about the Njanji Commuter being a feasible investment. It makes projection which I would like to quote:

‘Based on the passenger figures of 1994, which were 185,000 in October 2004 and almost 200,000 in the month of October 1995 and with an anticipated population growth rate of 2.9 per cent per year in Lusaka, they made a projection that by this year they would have been as many as 455,000 passengers per month.

Sir, in 1995 the 200,000 passengers paid a total of K27 million to the Njanji Commuter, and at that stage the tickets were only about K100. At today’s rate, if we were to go by the taxi and mini-bus fares and we said the train was to charge only K1000, the Commuter Rail line would make a colossal sum of K455 million a month. That is by no means a small amount of money, and that is the kind of money that the private sector will be attracted by.

Sir, my colleague did mention that there are a lot of mini-buses in Lusaka. In case some people would like statistics, I want to say that there are records available to indicate that Lusaka Central business district alone provides for more than 1,200 mini-buses and each one of them making five trips a day. Can you just contemplate the amount of congestion created by 6000 bus entries and exits from a small little central business district such as the one that we have.

Sir, those figures also go to prove, that indeed, the assessment and projections by Sterling Merchant Finance Limited in their report of September, 2005, for which the World Bank paid US$200,000 are correct.

Sir, I would like to also state that there are many other benefits that my colleague did not talk about, which would arise from investing in the Njanji Commuter, or at least, by this Government facilitating that Njanji Commuter is resuscitated. These benefits include, a reduction in the recklessness by which our mini-bus drivers drive along the roads. They are always in a hurry because they know that there are many people waiting at bus stations and along the routes and therefore, they drive recklessly to try and catch up with time. With the Commuter Railway there will be competition and there will be reduced passengers going for mini-buses, therefore, discouraging our mini-buses from driving recklessly.

This is a matter that should attract the Minister of Finance and National Planning and the Minister of Energy and Water Development.

Sir, with the introduction of the Commuter Railway Line, there would be a reduction in fuel consumption in Lusaka. In addition, a benefit to the people would be the resultant reduction in bus and taxi fares. Would that, in effect not increase the productivity of the people of Lusaka? It would also, like my colleague said, create employment on the rail and it will certainly increase tourism ventures in Lusaka because tourist would just be too happy to jump on our commuter railway line and visit our compounds and see them through windows of the commuter railway line.

Mr Speaker, let me end by urging the Government to take another step beyond what it took early this year. Early this year, the Government through Zambia Privatisation Agency (ZPA) posted a call for expression of interest on their website. Like my colleague mentioned, we are aware of the number of both local and foreign private companies that expressed interest. What is awaited now is for ZPA to call for bids. What is it that is holding Government back? We are not proposing that tax payers’ money should go into resuscitating the railway line. However, we are encouraging the Government to do that which it has the power of doing. That is to call for bids so that those companies that express interest could go forward and bid so that this Government releases itself of the responsibility of providing transport to the people of Lusaka. That way, we shall not only be saving K350 million. In effect, we will be saving US$5 million.

Sir, I want to conclude by saying that the people who did the feasibility study valued all the assets of the Njanji Commuter. They did not see the locomotives but at least, for the railway line that they saw, they mentioned in the report that there is a lot of value that is being allowed to go to waste. A poor country such as ours which has been pleading to reach the HIPC Completion Point should not have the luxury of wasting such huge investments.

Mr Speaker, I would like to end by thanking the mover of the motion and the House for listening.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Chimbaka (Bahati): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for affording me this opportunity to contribute to the motion on the Floor. I am happy that a lot of reasons for the feasibility of Njanji Commuter have been highlighted by Hon. Lubinda. I also want to add a few.

Sir, those of us who have lived in Matero for a long time would appreciate the feasibility of the Njanji Commuter, then called Railway Car. When the project was in full utility, it serviced the people of Lilanda, Matero, Baralstone Park and Chilenje. Infact, these are the people who are Classified Daily Employees that Government officers depend on to prepare for everyday work. During those days, it was easier for these people to arrive at offices as early as 0700 hours and sweep the offices in readiness for officers to begin work at 0800 hours. That is not the case today.

Mr Speaker, because of constraints in finding money to board minibuses everyday with their meagre salaries, the culture now is that they arrive at the offices at 0830 hours and officers begin work at 0900 hours. This is counterproductive. So, there is need that consideration be given to this to avail our people a chance to work within the realms of eight hours so that our country may go to higher heights.

Sir, infact, it is time we developed a culture to sustain what was well thought of by the founders of this country. In other countries, Njanji Commuter would have been improved to a level where it would have been the envy of everybody. Even Members of Parliament should take pride in commuting with the people out there. Then we would be talking of development.

Mr Speaker, the question of erasing the Njanji Commuter does not resolve any problem at all. If anything, it worsens the situation of what a socialist would call the proletariat. I, therefore, vividly support this culture to be reversed. If we are really focused with the President’s resolve to see Zambia go to higher heights and leave landmarks which people shall point to, there is need for all of us to support the resuscitation, revitalisation and operationalisation of the Njanji Commuter for the benefit of Zambia. After all, that is what we are here for. We are here to discuss development for a better Zambia.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Scott (Lusaka Central): Mr Speaker, the extra two years that I have on everybody across on the other side, enables me to remember, perhaps, more accurately than my friend, the hon. Member for Kabwata, what happened with the original Njanji experiment. It was put together in a hurry because there was an election coming up. It was a gimmick and proved to be unsafe because it was not properly designed. There was an accident. The then Minister of Communications and Transport, Mr Andrew Kashita, who is an engineer, himself, appointed a group to look into it. The travel speed was slowed down to try and stop the dangers of derailment and overturning and. eventually, it was closed down for reasons of safety.

I do not think that it is correct that it was closed down as a sort of insult to UNIP for having put it up. However, it does give us a lesson that if we are going to reinstate this service, it must be done with good foresight, feasibility and planning and with a particular eye on safety so that it becomes a permanent feature of Lusaka’s landscape and not something that miraculously comes into being in 2011, and after killing some people, it is taken out of service in 2012.

I would, therefore, plead with whoever we are talking to on the Government side, which I will come to in a minute, to take this thing in a professional and rational way and not to try and get mileage out it.

Sir, in keeping with the policy of decentralisation and this new spirit of setting our differences aside, I think it will be very appropriate for the Lusaka City Council to be the lead actor in this venture just as, for example, London Council is responsible for the running of the Metropolitan Tube System, the underground railway system. So, we would expect Lusaka City Council to be the lead actor in this but, of course, with assistance from the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and the Ministry Communications and Transport. I am quite sure that my former campaign manager in Chipangali, in 2000, would not object to that at all. For your information, we are here, on this side of the House, mostly from the former executive of the Zambia Alliance for Progress. So, we know each other very well.

Laughter

Dr Scott: On that note, I wish the line would also be extended a little bit more into Lusaka Central, perhaps, running as far as Bauleni. However, I am sure that we can negotiate that when the time comes.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Sinyangwe: Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the House for supporting the motion. It shows that the leaders here have feelings for the people. I am glad that we are beginning to practice the spirit of reconciliation and working together.

Sir, at this stage, I am encouraged to refer to the statement attributed to the Republican President, His Excellency, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, in the Times of Zambia of 1st September, 2006, and I quote:

‘President Mwanawasa has announced that he intends to upgrade all townships in the country, improve the road network and revive the Njanji Commuter Train now that his administration has managed to improve the economy’.

So, we have supported what the President has said. I am grateful, Mr Speaker.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Question put and agreed to.

MOTION OF THANKS

(Debate resumed)

The Minister of Mines and Minerals Development (Mr Mangani): Mr Speaker, the people of Chipata Central are equally grateful to His Excellency the President for appointing me Deputy Minister of Mines and Minerals Development.

Sir, commenting on my appointment and that of other Ministers from Eastern Province, Paramount Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people and the great warrior who defeated the clever tribes of the north had this to say, Mwanawasa niwa bwino, wakupasani monse mipando. Lomba kwasalila imwe kuonapo pamiseu ndi pa njanji, meaning Mwanawasa is good. He has given all of you positions. Now it is up to you to look at the roads and rail line.

Mr Speaker, the presidential directive that the Great East Road should be well done, particularly from Nyimba to Sinda and from Mtenguleni to Mwami Border is very good new to all of us from Eastern Province. The spot patching of this road that has not been attended to for a long time is not helping much. Secondly, the desire of the people is to see that all roads connecting to our major towns in the province are also attended to. People are happy with the plans of resurfacing the Chipata/Lundazi Road instead of spot patching and the plans of tarring the Chipata/Mfuwe Road which is currently being worked on by the Chinese Company have been received with a lot of joy.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mangani: The Chipata/Chadiza Road also require special attention.

As regards feeder roads, a lot needs to be done. Most of these feeder roads are in bad state. Nevertheless, we as we attend to these roads, we need to review the labour based programme under the UNDP initiative because most of our contractors have not performed very well under this programme. Most of them have been paid a lot of money, but very poor work has been done on these roads. It is regrettable that some of the directors of these companies are hon. Members of this House.

Interruptions

Mr Mangani: I request the Task Force on corruption to investigate some of these companies who have been paid a lot of money on extremely poor work done. In addition, companies who were awarded contracts to build schools have abandoned the projects after being paid a lot of money should equally be investigated.

Mr Speaker, the issue of Mchinji/Chipata Rail Line is another area of great concern in the province. People are happy with the current work being done on this railway line, but the whole exercise is taking too because of inadequate funding. It is the desire of the people that President Mwanawasa should commission this railway line by 2008 or even earlier. This will be one of the best souvenirs the President can leave for the people of Eastern Province because the previous Presidents failed to complete the 12 kilometre stretch during their terms of office. The people are confident that this will be done because President Mwanawasa has taken some personal interest in ensuring that the project is completed.

Mr Speaker, my maiden speech would be incomplete if I do not talk about one of the best organised councils in this country. This is the Chipata Municipal Council. I know that most of the hon. Members are struggling to run their local authorities. They should come to Chipata and we will teach them the technique of running these councils. Right now, the Chipata Municipal Council is in a hurry to acquire a city status. Nevertheless, our town is surrounded by hills and as a result, the effect of soil erosion on our roads is very big. The plans to tar the township roads should be done sooner than later.

On agriculture, Mr Speaker, the people of Eastern Province are mostly small-scale farmers and they greatly appreciate the 60 per cent support on fertiliser. I want to commend Government in this regard for approving 3,000 packs of farmers in my constituency, but an additional 2,000 packs will be of great help to our farmers. Apart from that, our farmers are demanding the usual stories of improved marketing season for their crops for both maize and some other cash crops.

In conclusion Mr Speaker, as a Deputy Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, I will try to apply myself fully to the improvement of my ministry. As a team in the ministry, we have taken note of most of the concerns raised in this House and we will do our best to address most of them.

May I end by appealing to the Ministry of Finance and National Planning that mining can change the entire economy of this country as evidenced by what is happening in the North-Western Province and other parts of the country where mining activities are taking place. Nevertheless, the ministry requires adequate funding in order to meet most of the challenges we are facing as a result of increased activities.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

The Minister of Home Affairs (Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the debate on the motion of the President’s Speech.

Mr Speaker, I want to congratulate the mover and seconder of the motion. I want to thank God for his mercy upon Zambians. Let me, from the onset, congratulate you on your election as Speaker of this august House. I am confident that with your visionary leadership, you will continue to be a source of strength for the growing democracy in this wonderful nation. In the same vein, I want to congratulate Madam Deputy Speaker. Yours, my sister, is a testimony of God’s glorious miracle. God is faithful. Allow me, also, to congratulate my long time friend and brother, the Deputy Chairman of Committees who has come a long way as a servant of the people of Zambia.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, I want to thank the people of Keembe for the landslide victory that they gave to President Mwanawasa and to me and all the councillors.

I am indebted to the people of Keembe and I shall forever spare no sweat to ensure uplifting their livelihood as their servant.

Mr Speaker, I also wish to commend the people of Zambia for their tireless effort in safeguarding our hard won independence and the support they have rendered to my ministry over the years. I must state that as we match towards the 43rd anniversary of our independence, we can look back with pride at the many challenges we have overcome to maintain peace and unity in the country, challenges that have been both political and economical. Some seemingly insurmountable, yet we have overcome due to our unity of purpose as a nation.

Mr Speaker, although Zambia has been a haven of peace in Africa, this has not been by accident, but as a result of several factors including our progressing local as well as foreign policies.

Mr Speaker, let me, at this juncture, congratulate His Excellency, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, for soundly defeating his four other formidable opponents.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: I want to pay tribute to him for his tenacity, courage, intellect and God fearing humbleness. He is a President who listens to all, he is compassionate and forgiving, never a dictator unlike those leaders who have been elected neither held a convention in their party but, again, dictating as dictators.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, President Mwanawasa has craving for perfection and integrity. He speaks the truth, shows the truth and does the truth. He is a transparent President.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, I have every reason to fell proud of this President and be inspired by his speech, the President’s speech tallies so well with his actions on the ground, for example. I want to quote an international observer who observed the President and I quote:

“Judge purely on his record, Mwanawasa has done a good job and deserves re-election. Zambia was in a parlour state with no growth and ruled with corruption when he took over from Frederick Chiluba in 2001. Today, it is running at a health 6.5 growth rate and inflation is down from 24 per cent to 8 per cent”.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, Zambia was in heavy indebtedness and the previous administration that failed to remove this indebtedness today talk about President Mwanawasa having removed the entire indebtedness except for less than $500 million.

Mr Speaker, this is good work, from $7 billion to only $500,000 and Zambia is one of the countries in the world today that is very viable for investment because of the wonderful work that this President has put in and also the wonderful fiscal discipline that he has put in.

Mr Speaker, we, on your right, will continue to strive for improvement in our performance even as we are in Government today.

Mr Speaker we cannot forget, when, for example, the economy was severely plundered. Many of the people that were in Government then, such as the then Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives cried about swine fever at his farm not only because he could not find market for his swine, he also found a lacuna in the law to reward himself with compensation for the expeditious slaughter of his swine. There was no swine fever. Of course, it was a hoax coated with corruption.

Mr Speaker, the hon. Member of Parliament for Roan debated compassionately about how the mines were closed and how they were sold for nothing. I agreed with him. However, he forgot to tell this august House the simple fact that he was on the ground. Who sold and plundered the mines?

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, those that did that are leaders in the Patriotic Front Party.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, the people of Zambia must be told the truth. Let us not go half way and end. We must tell the truth all the time. What more with the copper castles that were stolen and members that stole running away from the country fearing to be arrested and coming back. This is not for this Government, as this Government is transparent.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, hon. Member of Parliament for Kabwata debated passionately and I salute him for that. This passion is in the family. He argued that President Mwanawasa said that the new constitution cannot bring mealie meal on the table, but the constitution can. The truth on the ground is, for example, in the United Kingdom, they do not have a constitution, yet they bring much bread to the table and give aid to Zambians who are crying for a new constitution. The President is right that it is not the constitution that shall put bread on the table. The leaders are the ones that are going to bring bread to the table. Zambia needs leaders of integrity that are going to tell the truth to the people of Zambia.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Leaders that are going to tell the people that this is the right way to go and that is why the United Kingdome does not need a constitution because its leaders go to a convention and are elected at the convention.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, I was quite impressed with the hon. Member of Parliament for Bangweulu from the Patriotic Front who debated so well. He said that China was a super economic power and how Zambia could benefit by doing businesses with China and being associated with China. I take my hat off to him. I must support him and Zambia must continue to search for partners in development and China is a partner in development for everybody in the world. Why should Zambia be the only one left out?

Mr Speaker, however, I want to correct what the PF has put across that there are 80,000 Chinese in Zambia. What is on record in the Ministry of Home Affairs is that there are less than 08,000 Chinese in Zambia. So, it is necessary for us to correct that.

Mr Speaker, let me also talk about corruption. President Mwanawasa means well for the people of Zambia. A number of people have spoken in many ways about the fight against corruption that President Mwanawasa has weakened the fight against corruption. Sir, this is far from the truth. President Mwanawasa ensures that those in his party involved in corruption are dealt with and are not even adopted to stand for election to public offices. Yet, we see that other political leaders have adopted and allowed people who are involved in corrupt activities such as owing companies, which obtain contracts from the Government and corruptly failing to complete the projects.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, the country is littered with unfinished and abandoned projects. Companies such as Nanshinga and Tomorrow Investment Limited have abandoned projects and many others owned by Members of Parliament from the Patriotic Front.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, this is deep corruption and we must speak about here in this august House. We should not hide. This is the corruption that President Mwanawasa is fighting.

Mr Speaker, the poor people have been denied roads, if my colleagues on your left could care to listen, then we will be able to fight corruption together.

Mr Speaker, the poor people who have worked in these companies, Nanshinga and Nashila have been left without being paid their wages. Today, all over Zambia, there are workers that have worked hard for these companies. Yet, they have not been paid a single penny.

Mr Speaker, these wages by the way, are slave wages. For example, Tomorrow Investment at the Mukubwe Bridge cite April, 2006, the slave wages are as low for one called Maybin Chipili as K36,875. This is a general worker in this company. Workers in companies such as Patson Mwenya site guard who is guarding the site K20,000 wage. Levy Mulenga gets K11,250.

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1815 hours until 1830 hours

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, before we broke for tea, I was saying that if these slave wages are within the companies that are owned by hon. Members of Parliament for PF, why then must PF go to Lamise Investments and start crying crocodile or cobra tears for workers there? Why are they not solving the problems within themselves rather than going to do things outside?

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, Zambia is not an island. What we do and say reflects the broader image of Zambia. For example, I would like to quote again from the international observer,

“What is even more worrying is a fear that under Sata, Zambia would slip back into the endemic corruption that nearly ruined it under the Chiluba Administration, of which Sata was himself a member for ten years and had his own record of shady deals”

Interruptions

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, this is the way the international community sees Zambia and what we do.

Casualisation

Sir, the people on your right have been blamed for introducing the casualisation of labour. The New Deal Government did not bring in casualisation. Casualisation started long before independence through the first, second and third republics. In 1997, the Minister of Labour came to this august House to chair in labour laws in Zambia. He also introduced casualisation and increased the few days of casual labour to six months. The hon. Member of Parliament for Luapula who made this possible is in this House. Why then, are Government Members being blamed?

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: I would like to quote…

Dr Machungwa: On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker: A point of order is raised.

Dr Machungwa: Mr Speaker, this is extremely serious. The hon. Member of Parliament is debating falsehoods. I was hon. Minister of Labour in this House and in the time I was here, there was no Bill that was brought here to introduce casualisation. Is he in order to debate like that?

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! I allowed that point of order on a maiden speech because there are rules that even during debating as a maiden speaker what you say should be such that they do not contain contentious issues. The rules of debate say or point to the need. When an hon. Member of Parliament mentioned in debate and that Member of Parliament raises a point of order, that Member of Parliament raising a point of order should be heard. The hon. Member of Parliament for Luapula who thinks he is the one being referred to by the hon. Minister of Home Affairs, has raised a point of order in which he is denying involvement in introducing a Bill that has brought about casualisation of labour in Zambia.

Now, no names were mentioned, but the reference was there. If the hon. Minister of Home Affairs has evidence to read from the verbatim reports here that indeed, the hon. Member of Parliament for Luapula was the one who brought about the Bill in the House on casualisation of labour, I shall allow him to tender that evidence. If not, I would guide him, as a maiden speaker, to move on to other points that are less inaccuracy.

Hon. Government Members: Hammar!

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, I thank you for your guidance. Our passion to defend Zambia continues even this time, forty years on. I want to assure the nation, through you, that there is a Government in place and that the nation must know that there is no parallel Government whatsoever.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, when I was Commander of the Zambia Air Force, I supported without fear the Government of the day. This is the way it should be. Therefore, it is perfect that politicians stay away from the Army, Air Force, National Service, Police and the Intelligence system in the country. If we go and spoil these institutions of peace, this nation is going to go into difficulties and trouble. These institutions must support the Government that is in place as I did when I was Commander of the Air Force for six years.

Mr Kambwili: Why were you fired!

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, therefore, I would like to ask the hon. Members of Parliament in this case, both from your right and left that we should keep politics away from our members, our brothers and sisters in uniform. Let us allow them to operate professionally in order to give us the necessary peace that we need in this country for democracy to evolve and grow.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, in winding up my debate, I would like to talk a little about one or two issues that are I thought I would be able to cover. Rwanda is an example where institutions such as military and security were spoiled by politicians. There was severe genocide in Rwanda where over a million people died. You need to go to Kigali to see the evidence that is available. Zambia should not have a situation like that. We should allow ourselves to move forward. We cannot destroy the nation just because man lost the elections.

Interruptions

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: No! There are many more leaders that are going come in future, that we able to put across. Many at times, these people in uniform have got regulations. They should not dance when President Mwanawasa is leading in the election results. They should not dance even when Mr Sata is leading in the election results neither should they dance when Mr Hakainde is overtaking Mr Sata in the election results. They are meant to be pillars of peace to hold this nation together. As we go on recess, we must ensure that we bring each and every one of those in uniform to understand that this House is there to build democracy in this country.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha: Mr Speaker, at this stage, I want to deal a lot with the issues that led to genocide in Rwanda. The people who went to radio stations, newspapers, rallies and spoke falsehoods started the genocide in Rwanda. They lied to the people. This country needs leaders of integrity. This country needs leaders that are going to show and tell people the truth. We can only develop to go forward when we embrace the truth.

Mr Speaker, finally, let me turn to the issue of the church. Before elections, the church lost the spirit of God. I want to tell you that before genocide in Rwanda, a similar scenario existed where one writer Pruner, from France writes and I quote,

“The church in Rwanda was doing well to Christianise the people, but they did not have the spirit of God in the Church.”

Mr Speaker, they did not have the spirit of God in Uganda. The same year, many leaders of churches lost the spirit and a lot of people are astray. My appeal to churches is

that they should listen to the voice of God to lead their people in order for them to adjust and be able to move out of chaos.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Order! The hon. house will recall that earlier this afternoon a point of order was raised by the hon. Member for Luapula, Dr Machungwa, with regard to whether it was in order for the Government to cancel, until further notice, the trip by Second Republican President to South Africa for medical attention. I said that I was consulting during the course of the sitting of this House to ascertain whether the Executive would be able to shed light on this matter. I now give permission to the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services to shed light on this matter.

The Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services (Mr Mwaanga): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to briefly explain the position of the Government on the matter which was raised on a point of order by hon. Peter David Machungwa, MP for Luapula Parliamentary Constituency.

Mr Speaker, let me begin by saying that I want to register the fact that it is no coincidence that as the point of order was being made, Dr. Chiluba was holding a press conference at his residence at the same time. I wish to place that fact on record because it is not a coincidence.

Mr Speaker, the Government deeply cares about Dr Chiluba’s health and that is why it has consistently paid special attention to his health needs. I want to make it clear that there was no court order to compel the Government to send Dr Chiluba to South Africa, contrary to statements which have been made in the press. Such an order would be against the State Proceedings Act of the Republic of Zambia. The Government’s role which has been facilitating this process has not been made easy by misleading statements which are being made on a regular basis by some of Dr Chiluba’s personal staff.

Mr Speaker, Government is in possession of medical reports dated 3rd, 5th and 21st November, 2006, which were prepared by the University of Zambia Teaching Hospital Ad-hoc Committee No. 238 on treatment abroad which was ordered to examine Dr Chiluba and report back to the court on 17th November, 2006. We are also privileged to have received medical reports from the team of doctors of his choice in the Republic of South Africa which has been attending to Dr Chiluba’s health needs dated 11th September and 17th November, 2006.

Mr Speaker, as a result of these up-dated reports, it has become necessary to take this matter back to court. In view of this development, I regret that the Government cannot give any further details at this point as doing so would be sub-judice.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: We also want to respect and protect Dr. Chiluba’s medical records. The Government will make a further statement and release more information as and when the situation demands. The current situation demands that we do that, but we will do that at an appropriate time.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Order! I chose my words very carefully. I did not say that was a Ministerial Statement. I said that there was need to shed light on a point of order that was raised by the hon. Member for Luapula. As the House has heard, the matter is in court and indeed, it would be sub-judice for this House to discuss this matter any further.

The Minister of Labour and Social Security (Mr Mukuma): Mr Speaker, I wish to thank you for affording me an opportunity to deliver my maiden speech and contribute to the motion on the Floor.

Firstly, I wish to congratulate His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC. on his re-election as President during the last tripartite elections.

Mr Speaker, the President deserved a second term because he provided high quality leadership with clear vision as to where this country is going.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mukuma: Mr Speaker, I also wish to thank my party, the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy for scooping the majority of Parliamentary seats and forming Government.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mukuma: Mr Speaker, I would also like to congratulate His Honour the Vice-President, Mr Rupiah Banda for his appointment as Vice-President and also Leader of Government Business of this House.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mukuma: My congratulations also go to you, Mr Speaker, for your re-election and the election of the Deputy Speaker unopposed. It is a well-deserved election and appointment and I have no doubt that you and your Deputy will perform to the expectations of all hon. Members of this august House.

Mr Speaker, let me congratulate Hon. V. J. Mwaanga, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services for bouncing back as Chief Whip and also Hon. Lungu and Deputy Chairman of Committees.

Sir, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the people Kabompo East Constituency for electing me as their representative to this House. I therefore, want to assure them that I will ably represent their concerns in this House.

Mr Speaker, Kabompo East Constituency was under the Opposition and there is a lot to clean up in the constituency for little has been done in this constituency.

Mr Kambwili: Stick to your ministry!

Mr Mukuma: People know that government programmes and indeed quite many MMD projects were not implemented. As a result, the people of Kabompo East Constituency are still faced with poor social economic infrastructures, poor deliver system …

Interruptions

Hon. PF Members: But you are the Government!

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! The Hon. Minister should skip all that and go to matters of national interest.

You may continue.

Interruptions

Mr Mukuma: Thank you, Sir.

Interruptions

Hon. Members: Hammer!

Mr Mukuma: Mr Speaker, the people of my constituency …

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! Order! The Hon. Minister, if he so wishes will be given another opportunity later …

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: … to speak in the manner that he ought to. I have noticed that …

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! … he is not touching on the matters of national interest I referred to.

Laughter

Interruptions

The Minister of Health (Ms Cifire): Mr Speaker, I join the rest of the House to echo the congratulatory message to you on your re-election.

I wish to congratulate the Deputy Speaker on her election, Madam you have done us proud.

I also wish to congratulate the Chairperson of Committees of the Whole House for being elected to the position.

Sir, as the saying goes that, ‘Wisdom comes from the east’, the people of Eastern Province, in particular, Luangeni Constituency with the wisdom of the Ngoni chiefs, Paramount Chief Mpezeni, Senior Chief Nzamane, Chief Chinyaku, Chiefs Saili and Maguya, as usual exercised their democratic right and took leadership role to guide on matters relating by voting wisely for progress, prosperity and development. This was done in recognition of the good policies of Government and the leadership of His Excellency the President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC and the New Deal Government that has allowed them to ensure food security.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Ms Cifire: Mr Speaker, I am happy that you are in good health. I am also happy to see the rest of the House in good health.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Ms Cifire: Sir, our aim as Government is to ensure that you continue to be and the rest of he House so that we can guide the nation to prosperity.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Ms Cifire: Mr Speaker, allow me to commend His Excellency Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa SC, the President of the Republic of Zambia, for a speech very well pronounced. In my view, the speech touched on all aspects of socio-economic development in our country. I hold this sublime opportunity to also hail achievements recorded in the many sectors of our economy, namely; agriculture, tourism, mining, energy, just to mention a few.

Sir, I will not pass under silence the other various achievements highlighted in His Excellency the President’s speech on the financial and social sectors.

Mr Speaker, I have heard the concerns of the various Members of this House on the health issues affecting their constituencies, and I wish to assure them that Government is there to address those concerns even as they sit across because it is our business to do so.

Sir, our mission statement is, ‘To provide cost effective, quality health services as close to the family as possible in order to ensure equity of access in health service delivery and contribute to the human and socio-economic development of the nation.’

Mr Speaker, you may have heard that the cholera outbreak has started and four districts have so far recorded some cases. In Chiengi District, cases are still being reported and as of 19th November, 2006. 105 cases and five deaths were recorded in this district of Luapula Province.

Sir, you may wish to know that from August 2005 to April 2006, a total of 7,699 cases of cholera were recorded in thirty of the seventy-two districts of Zambia and in seven of the nine provinces of Zambia. Northern and Western Provinces were not affected.

The outbreak was successfully managed by Ministry of Health with assistance from other stakeholders i.e. WHO, UNICEF, Doctors without Boarders (Medical Sun Frontiers) Red Cross, Ministry of Local Government and Housing, to mention but a few. Ministry of Health had also constituted task forces in all provinces to ensure that we build capacity to prevent the reoccurrence of outbreaks in all districts.

Mr Speaker, regarding drug situation in the country, you will recall that in its budget of 2006, Ministry of Health was allocated K18 billion towards purchase of drugs and medical supplies. I am pleased to report that a further K12 billion was allocated to drug purchase from DFID as part of support towards implementing the policy to remove user fees in rural districts, thus translating the total allocation for drug purchase to K30 billion. This excludes money required for coartem and ARVs. You may wish to know that the budgetary requirement for drugs is far above K30 billion.

Sir, I wish to inform you that the Ministry of Health has put measures in place to alleviate drug shortages. In April this year, the ministry undertook a bulk procurement of drugs worth K3.1 billion and deliveries will commence towards the end of November 2006. As a stop gap measure, the Ministry of Health further undertook an emergency procurement of drugs in September 2006, amounting to K3 billion. In addition, in order to avoid a complete stock-out of rural health centres kits, the Ministry of Health undertook an emergency procurement of four months supply of rural health centre kits at a cost of K6 billion and delivery of these kits will commence towards the end of December 2006.

Mr Muntanga: Government assurance!

Ms Cifire: Mr Speaker, I wish to specifically single out supply of Anti-malarial and Anti-Retroviral drugs and wish to inform this august House, that in view of the fact that malaria contributes to more than 45 per cent of all hospitalisations and outpatient attendances, we have ordered enough stocks of coartem whose delivery will commence at the end of November 2006. We have also procured some antibiotics to last us two years and we are confident that with this procurement we will be able to deal adequately with 45 per cent of the cases that will present to our health facilities during the next twelve months.

In addition, based on consumption data, ARVs were procured and the current stock of ARVs is expected to last until the first quarter of 2007. Advance procurement contracts for ARVs worth K40 billion have been signed with two suppliers of ARVs through a flexible arrangement where orders will be placed based on need. Deliveries will be made throughout the year 2007 based on stock levels and consumption data in order to ensure a steady replenishment of these vital drugs.

Mr Speaker, the Government of the Republic of Zambia, through the Ministry of Health is committed to deliver quality health care to the Zambia people, in line with the dictates of the constitution.

In doing so, the ministry recognises the importance of having qualified and dedicated health personnel who will be available to the patient at all times.

In light of the above, the Ministry of Health has embarked on an accelerated recruitment drive of doctors and other health personnel aimed at bridging the gap that the country has been experiencing for some time now.

In this regard, Government has introduced incentives, not only to attract medical personnel that left the country but also retain those that have stayed on and have been working under difficult conditions.

The Government of the Republic of Zambia has introduced car loans for medical doctors, which facility should be extended to other health personnel as soon as logistics are put in place.

Further, the Government has enhanced and increased the on-call allowances. Under the Zambia health workers retention scheme, top up hardship allowance in the range of K1.1 million to K1.2 million to all doctors working in rural districts has been introduced. In addition, all doctors in rural areas will continue to receive an education allowance of up to K2,500,000 per child per term up to four children.

Mr Speaker, allow me to inform this august House that after the dissolution of Central Board of Health (CBOH), the Ministry of Health has been working on modalities of expanding the current structure. Currently, there are about 23,000 health personnel across the country. Government has approved the new structure which should see an increase in the number of personnel from about 23,000 to 51,414. However, to meet this target, it is only logical that recruitment is done in phases so as to be within the budget.

I also wish to inform this august House that by the end of December 2006, my Ministry will recruit a total of seven hundred and forty-five health personnel including doctors, paramedics and nurses who graduated in the year 2005. In addition, Ministry of Health is vigorously pursuing possibilities of recruiting more health personnel this year. Mr Speaker, a further 1,900 employees are expected to be employed next year.

Mr Speaker, you may also wish to know that currently the Government of the Republic of Zambia has 5 third level, 18 second level and 74 first level health facilities. In addition, there are nine hundred and seventy three rural health centers, two hundred and thirty seven urban health centers and 21 health posts. Mr Speaker, you may wish to note that the Ministry of health is in the process of constructing 6 district hospitals and 32 health posts. The Ministry also intends to construct 5 additional district hospitals, expand maternity wings at health center level as well as construct a further 40 health posts.

It is hoped that the construction of new facilities, combined with rehabilitation of dilapidated facilities and provision of medical equipment will enhance Government efforts to provide equity of access to quality cost-effective care as close to the family as possible.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Ms Cifire: In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I wish to thank hon. Members of the House and assure them that ours is a listening Government and we are ready to attend to all the concerns raised on the Floor.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear! Quality!

Mr Mwapela (Kalabo): Mr Speaker, it is with great honour and privilege that I stand before you today to deliver my maiden speech to this august House.

Firstly, Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the almighty God for a smooth tripartite election. In this regard, I wish to congratulate His Excellency the President, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC on his re-election to his second term of office. This is a clear indication of the confidence placed in him by the people of Zambia. Let me also congratulate the hon. Mr Speaker, Madam Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairperson of Committees of the whole House on their election. Mr Speaker, I also want to congratulate all the elected and nominated hon. members of Parliament.

Mr Speaker, my sincere gratitude goes to the MMD and, indeed the people of Kalabo for the confidence they exhibited in electing me from among the numerous candidates in the just ended tripartite elections. I polled 8,256 votes against the closest who only managed to get 2,905 votes. This is the confidence exhibited by the people of Kalabo constituency.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwapela: Mr Speaker, at this point, Mr Speaker, I wish to give special thanks to His Excellency the President, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC for having presented a very important speech that gave a clear guideline to the nation.

Mr Speaker, being a messenger of the people of Kalabo Constituency, allow me to present some of the problems faced by the people of Kalabo to this august House.

On roads, allow me, Sir, to thank the New Deal Government for placing rehabilitation and maintenance of roads countrywide high on the agenda. In line with this, I am requesting Government to expedite every effort necessary to complete the construction of the Mongu/Kalabo Road which if delayed, would result in delinkage of the district with the onset of the rainy season. In addition, equal attention should be accorded to the maintenance of the Kalabo/Sikongo Road which is cardinal to the trade between Zambia and Angola. Feeder roads like Kalabo/Sihole, Lukona/N’guma, Kalabo/Lukona and township roads need gravelling.

It is also important that the Katima/Mulilo/Kalongola/Kalabo Road is up-graded to Grade A gravel. This will open up trade between Zambia and its neighbours Namibia and Angola, thus creating employment.

Mr Speaker, on education, I would like to thank the MMD Government for the introduction of free education from Grade 1 to Grade 7. This, however, can only be truly appreciated with the rehabilitation of existing dilapidated schools and the construction of more schools. Mr Speaker, I am pleased to hear from the President’s speech, that Government will recruit 8,000 teachers by the end of the year. However, Mr Speaker, in my constituency, there is a critical shortage of teachers, due to non-availability of staff houses. Currently some schools only have 2 teachers manning them due to lack of accommodation. I appeal to Government to address this issue as soon as possible to facilitate the recruitment of the extra staff.

Mr Speaker, when it comes to the issue of salaries, the plight of teachers in my constituency does not fare any better. Teachers in the rural areas travel long distances spending many days on the road in their bid to get to the district centers where they can get transport to travel to the provincial capital Mongu to get their salaries. This tedious journey results in long absences from the schools that are already short staffed, thereby negatively affecting the pupils’ performance and hence low passing rates. I, therefore, appeal to my Government to devise a system in which teachers get the salaries with minimum interruption to the time they have to educate our future leaders.

The people of Kalabo are requesting our listening Government through ZANACO to open a branch in Kalabo District to cater for both businessmen and civil servants as a means of easing their suffering in terms of banking activities. On the same issue of education, I would like to urge Government to take rural based constituencies, such as Kalabo considerably, in their plan to embark on the expansion of infrastructure to increase access to education to all school age children. Currently, some pupils are learning in dilapidated buildings a situation which leaves much to be desired.

Mr Speaker, on health, allow me to thank His Excellency the President, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC and his good Government for the introduction of free medical care in rural areas and the support they are giving our hospitals and clinics in my constituency.

Mr Speaker, Kalabo District Hospital, Yuka Mission Hospital, N’guma Rural Health Center and Lukona Rural Health Center including many of our clinics with wards often run out of bed spaces and patients are made to sleep on the floor. Not only do they sleep on the floor but the health institutions also run out of medicine and linen. The Ministry of Health should quickly do something to rectify this situation.

Mr Speaker, Lukona Rural Health center needs an ambulance for the transportation of referral patients. The health center also needs an X-ray machine and laboratory services. The patients attending the clinic cannot afford to walk long distances to Kalabo District Hospital for X-ray and laboratory facilities. Kalabo constituency anxiously awaits Government’s implementation of the human resource

Further, the Government has enhanced and increased the on-call allowances. Under the Zambia health workers retention scheme, top up hardship allowance in the range of K1.1 million to K1.2 million to all doctors working in rural districts has been introduced. In addition, all doctors in rural areas will continue to receive an education allowance of up to K2,500,000 per child per term up to four children.

Mr Speaker, allow me to inform this august House that after the dissolution of Central Board of Health (CBOH), the Ministry of Health has been working on modalities of expanding the current structure. Currently, there are about 23,000 health personnel across the country. Government has approved the new structure which should see an increase in the number of personnel from about 23,000 to 51,414. However, to meet this target, it is only logical that recruitment is done in phases so as to be within the budget.

I also wish to inform this august House that by the end of December 2006, my Ministry will recruit a total of seven hundred and forty-five health personnel including doctors, paramedics and nurses who graduated in the year 2005. In addition, Ministry of Health is vigorously pursuing possibilities of recruiting more health personnel this year. Mr Speaker, a further 1,900 employees are expected to be employed next year.

Mr Speaker, you may also wish to know that currently the Government of the Republic of Zambia has 5 third level, 18 second level and 74 first level health facilities. In addition, there are nine hundred and seventy three rural health centers, two hundred and thirty seven urban health centers and 21 health posts. Mr Speaker, you may wish to note that the Ministry of health is in the process of constructing 6 district hospitals and 32 health posts. The Ministry also intends to construct 5 additional district hospitals, expand maternity wings at health center level as well as construct a further 40 health posts.

It is hoped that the construction of new facilities, combined with rehabilitation of dilapidated facilities and provision of medical equipment will enhance Government efforts to provide equity of access to quality cost-effective care as close to the family as possible.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Ms Cifire: In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I wish to thank hon. Members of the House and assure them that ours is a listening Government and we are ready to attend to all the concerns raised on the Floor.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear! Quality!

Mr Mwapela (Kalabo): Mr Speaker, it is with great honour and privilege that I stand before you today to deliver my maiden speech to this august House.

Firstly, Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the almighty God for a smooth tripartite election. In this regard, I wish to congratulate His Excellency the President, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC on his re-election to his second term of office. This is a clear indication of the confidence placed in him by the people of Zambia. Let me also congratulate the hon. Mr Speaker, Madam Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairperson of Committees of the whole House on their election. Mr Speaker, I also want to congratulate all the elected and nominated hon. members of Parliament.

Mr Speaker, my sincere gratitude goes to the MMD and, indeed the people of Kalabo for the confidence they exhibited in electing me from among the numerous candidates in the just ended tripartite elections. I polled 8,256 votes against the closest who only managed to get 2,905 votes. This is the confidence exhibited by the people of Kalabo constituency.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwapela: Mr Speaker, at this point, Mr Speaker, I wish to give special thanks to His Excellency the President, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC for having presented a very important speech that gave a clear guideline to the nation.

Mr Speaker, being a messenger of the people of Kalabo Constituency, allow me to present some of the problems faced by the people of Kalabo to this august House.

On roads, allow me, Sir, to thank the New Deal Government for placing rehabilitation and maintenance of roads countrywide high on the agenda. In line with this, I am requesting Government to expedite every effort necessary to complete the construction of the Mongu/Kalabo Road which if delayed, would result in delinkage of the district with the onset of the rainy season. In addition, equal attention should be accorded to the maintenance of the Kalabo/Sikongo Road which is cardinal to the trade between Zambia and Angola. Feeder roads like Kalabo/Sihole, Lukona/N’guma, Kalabo/Lukona and township roads need gravelling.

It is also important that the Katima/Mulilo/Kalongola/Kalabo Road is up-graded to Grade A gravel. This will open up trade between Zambia and its neighbours Namibia and Angola, thus creating employment.

Mr Speaker, on education, I would like to thank the MMD Government for the introduction of free education from Grade 1 to Grade 7. This, however, can only be truly appreciated with the rehabilitation of existing dilapidated schools and the construction of more schools. Mr Speaker, I am pleased to hear from the President’s speech, that Government will recruit 8,000 teachers by the end of the year. However, Mr Speaker, in my constituency, there is a critical shortage of teachers, due to non-availability of staff houses. Currently some schools only have 2 teachers manning them due to lack of accommodation. I appeal to Government to address this issue as soon as possible to facilitate the recruitment of the extra staff.

Mr Speaker, when it comes to the issue of salaries, the plight of teachers in my constituency does not fare any better. Teachers in the rural areas travel long distances spending many days on the road in their bid to get to the district centers where they can get transport to travel to the provincial capital Mongu to get their salaries. This tedious journey results in long absences from the schools that are already short staffed, thereby negatively affecting the pupils’ performance and hence low passing rates. I, therefore, appeal to my Government to devise a system in which teachers get the salaries with minimum interruption to the time they have to educate our future leaders.

The people of Kalabo are requesting our listening Government through ZANACO to open a branch in Kalabo District to cater for both businessmen and civil servants as a means of easing their suffering in terms of banking activities. On the same issue of education, I would like to urge Government to take rural based constituencies, such as Kalabo considerably, in their plan to embark on the expansion of infrastructure to increase access to education to all school age children. Currently, some pupils are learning in dilapidated buildings a situation which leaves much to be desired.

Mr Speaker, on health, allow me to thank His Excellency the President, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC and his good Government for the introduction of free medical care in rural areas and the support they are giving our hospitals and clinics in my constituency.

Mr Speaker, Kalabo District Hospital, Yuka Mission Hospital, N’guma Rural Health Center and Lukona Rural Health Center including many of our clinics with wards often run out of bed spaces and patients are made to sleep on the floor. Not only do they sleep on the floor but the health institutions also run out of medicine and linen. The Ministry of Health should quickly do something to rectify this situation.

Mr Speaker, Lukona Rural Health center needs an ambulance for the transportation of referral patients. The health center also needs an X-ray machine and laboratory services. The patients attending the clinic cannot afford to walk long distances to Kalabo District Hospital for X-ray and laboratory facilities. Kalabo constituency anxiously awaits Government’s implementation of the human resource intended to curtail further exodus of medical personnel as the manpower levels in both hospitals and clinics are quite low.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwapela: Rural Electrification

Mr Speaker, in the President’s speech, His Excellence Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, talked about rural electrification. I would like to mention that some places in Kalabo need to be joined to the national grid for them to access power easily. Examples of which are Shihole Mission Hospital and Kalabo Basic School which is one of the oldest schools and indeed the biggest in Kalabo District. It has a capacity of 36 classes including the special education unit with 32 members of staff. Despite the rural electrification scheme which has benefited a number of districts and individual schools, this school has not benefited, though ZESCO power hovers. Most schools, rural health centres and Chief’s palaces need to be electrified.

Hon. Opposition Member: Yes.

Mr Mwapela: Water

Mr Speaker, as you are aware that water is life and Kalabo Constituency needs life. My constituency predominantly draws water from shallow wells and hardly has access to clean water. On behalf of Kalabo people, I hereby urge the Government to ensure that boreholes are drilled in the constituency to provide much need clean water.

Agriculture

Mr Speaker, allow me to thank the Government for the support it has continued to give to our farmers in the country. Please, let this support extend to the rural areas, such as Kalabo District. I am proud to tell this august House that Kalabo is one of the major producers of rice in Western province. We, therefore, need the Government’s support to open up cooperatives and set up satellite depots like they have done in other areas through Food Reserve Agency.

Despite being a producer of rice, I am saddened to say that starvation is also a reality in Kalabo. I, therefore, request the office of the Vice-President to send relief maize to areas such as Ng’uma and Lukona. The situation needs urgent attention.

Mr Speaker, the livestock industry is at the centre stage of Kalabo’s commerce. To this end, I am appealing to the Government through the Ministry of Agriculture to quickly contain the livestock disease by erecting a cordon wire between Zambia and Angola, and eventually consider opening the movement of livestock from Western Province to urban areas for sale. The opening of livestock movement will help to reduce poverty levels in our province.

Home Affairs

Our local police are faced with challenges of having to deal with cases of Karavinas as well as livestock theft occurring over vast distances without adequate transport. I, therefore, urge the Ministry of Home Affairs through the office of the Inspector General of Police to send a vehicle to Kalabo Police Station to assist the officers in controlling crime.

Mr Speaker, now that the Government has reached the HIPC Completion Point under the good governance of President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, I believe that the problems faced in a my constituency will be attended to timely and effectively.

Finally, I wish to join my fellow Members of Parliament in congratulating the Republican President, His Excellency Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, for his inspiring speech delivered on the opening of the first session of the 10th National Assembly.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwapela: I thank you, Sir.

The Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services and Chief Whip (Mr Mwaanga): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to participate in this important debate. I would like to congratulate the mover of the motion, Hon. Forri Tembo, the Member of Parliament for Nyimba Constituency and a very able seconder of the motion, Hon. Regina Musokotwane, the Member of Parliament for Katombola Constituency.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: I would like to add my own congratulations to you, Mr Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairperson of the Committees of the whole House on your unanimous election to your respective positions. The growing tribute which has been paid to you by hon. Members is a testimony of the fact that you have brought dignity to this House, maturity, stability and you also represent continuity. In taking this decision, the House also was making history in the sense that hon. Nalumango having been the first woman Deputy Speaker of this House, has made history and I am glad that all of us have been here to witness that history.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: I want to congratulate hon. Members who have been elected to come back to this House and I also note the statistical data which is available, which shows that 37 per cent of the old members came back, where 63 per cent did not come back. I congratulate the 63 per cent who made it to the House for the first time and I wish them well.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: It is a matter of record that this is one of the highest casualty rates this House has experienced since 1991, when we had a carnage …

Hon. Opposition Member: Ah ah!

Mr Mwaanga: … because at that time just over 83 per cent of serving Members were new, the remainder are what survived from the old order. The normal average rate of casualties in this House has been between 35 and 40 per cent.

Mr Speaker, let me take this opportunity also to congratulate my erstwhile friend and colleague, His Honour the Vice-President, Mr Rupiah Bwezani Banda on his appointment as Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia, and consequently, as leader of Government business in the House.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: He has been my personal friend for a long time, in that we joined the Foreign Service on the same day before Zambia’s independence in 1964.

Hon. Opposition Member: How old were you?

Hon. Opposition Member: Like you are now.

Laughter

Mr Mwaanga: He brings with him, Mr Speaker, a wealth of experience as a senior diplomat, Government Official and Minister from which the House will be able to benefiting.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Mr Speaker, I would like to congratulate His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, on his re-election as President of Republic of Zambia for his second and last term of office. I would like to mention the fact that in 2001, he was elected by a margin of 33,000 votes or 29 per cent of the total number of votes cast compared to the late Anderson Mazoka who scored 27 per cent of the vote. This time round, he has been elected by 43 per cent of the total votes cast, beating his nearest rival, the President of the Patriotic Front (PF), Mr Michael Chilufya Sata, by well over 373,000 votes …

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: … eleven times more than was the case in 2001.

Hon. Government Members: 2-0, 10-0. White-wash.

Mr Mwaanga: I want to commend the people of Zambia for voting very wisely …

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: … to avoid what could have been a political catastrophe.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Mr Speaker, I also want to thank my party the MMD for confidence they displayed in me by making me Chairman of the National Campaign Committee of the MMD for the fourth time.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice-President: And winning all.

Mr Mwaanga: I am happy to note and record that all four times I have been in-charge of elections, the A Team has emerged as the winners.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! Quality.

Mr Mwaanga: Mr Speaker, let me state categorically, particularly, for the an initiated that a Presidential Opening Speech is not suppose to contain such details as boreholes, health centres, schools and clinics. It is supposed to be a general direction of the vision that the Government is going to follow for a particular year.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: The details will be carried out by ministers, officials and other institutions of Government through their programmes which they are going to carry out during the year. This is the trend that ceremonials speeches take all over the world.

Mr Speaker, I welcome the election of so many young people to this House from all Political Parties.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: It gives me hope and confidence in terms of the future of our country. We cannot continue to tell young people that they are the future leaders without giving the future or leadership. President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa has shown the way forward by appointing young men and women to important Government positions. Some of the best Maiden Speeches I have listened to as I have sat in this House have been made by young hon. Members of this House from all Political Parties. I pay glowing tribute to them all.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Mr Speaker, I do so for a very special reason because when I first entered this House, I was only 29 years old and I was Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Sir, the people of Zambia in electing President Mwanawasa have spoken very loudly. He may not be the President other Parties wanted to see but he is the President the people of Zambia have chosen.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Mr Speaker, the MMD may not be the Party which other Political Parties wanted to see in power but that is the Party which the people of Zambia have chosen.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: We are going to be here for the next five years.

Interruptions

Mr Mwaanga: Mr Speaker, the Government is committed to expanding radio and television outreach to rural areas under the Rural Television Programme which is under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services, which is being headed by the Zambia National Broadcasting Co-operation (ZNBC).

Sir, this programme which started two years ago will continue in the year 2007 and beyond. Where poor reception or technical problems are being experienced, they will be addressed provided that they are brought to the attention of my ministry.

Mr Speaker, the Government has issued twenty six commercial and radio licences to all provinces in Zambia. These largely serve communities where they are located. The Government will continue processing radio and television licences on the strict understanding that they would adhere to the terms and conditions of their licences. As minister responsible, let me serve notice that I will not hesitate to withdraw or cancel licences of radio and television operators who do not adhere to the Law and to the terms and conditions of their licences which they are given when the Technical Committee voluntarily pass these conditions on to them. I will not tolerate lawlessness in the broadcasting industry.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Mr Speaker, a lot has been said by hon. Members about the Freedom of Information Laws. I have greatly benefited from the comments and suggestions made by hon. Members on this important subject and to the maximum extent possible, I will take these views and suggestions into account, during this ongoing consultative phase.

Sir, out of 191 Members of the United Nations, only forty countries have enacted the Freedom of Information Laws. A great majority of them have not introduced any laws relating to Freedom of Information because of the attendant problems which go with them. Countries such as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Islands enacted Freedom of Information Laws only last year, 2005. Already, they are in the process of reviewing these Laws because of implementation problems which have arisen and the purpose for which information obtained is used.

Mr Speaker, in this era of international terrorism, Government has become circumspect in handling matters of this nature. This Government is alive to all these issues.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Sir, issues concerning the ZNBC Amendment Act and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) were raised by some hon. Members during their debate but I cannot comment on these two pieces of legislation because both of them are before the Supreme Court of Zambia.

Mr Speaker, I would like to make reference to comments which have been made by hon. Members regarding the process of constitution making. President Mwanawasa appointed the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) without urging from anybody. It was a decision which was made by hon. Members on the Government side of the House because there were deficiencies in the Constitution which needed to be attended to. That is why a CRC was put in place to look at the Constitution and listen to what the people had to say by Government. The people have spoken and they have expressed the mode of adoption which they would like this Constitution to go through.

Sir, the President, in response to this, appointed a Technical Committee of officials to draw up a road map for the implementation of this Constitution making process. We have not had an opportunity in this country to enact on a new Constitution using a Constituent Assembly. We, therefore, had to learn from the experience of other countries. This experience has been a very telling one in that committee has completed its work. The President has already announced to the nation that he will submit these recommendations to Cabinet so that after Cabinet has gone through these recommendations, they can be given without being edited to the country to see how we should proceed in terms of the way forward. It is an expensive process. We have never used it before. The people of Zambia will have to forego development in order to finance their chosen form of adopting the Constitution.

Mr Speaker, I want to assure hon. Members that we shall be a Government of all the people, those who voted for us, those who did not vote for us and those who did not vote at all.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: I would like to appeal to hon. Members, particularly, hon. Members on the Opposition to feel free to approach ministers, deputy ministers and permanent secretaries to discuss development issues in their constituencies.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: I have a very special message for those who did not vote for us. We are not deaf. We heard the message they expressed through their votes and during the election campaigns. We shall work hard to win their confidence and trust. We shall make their dreams ours, their concerns ours, their apprehensions ours, our hopes theirs, our vision theirs, and we shall work with them to make Zambia a better country than we found it.

The elections campaigns are over, the people have spoken and we have a historic duty to work together for the benefit of the people of Zambia.

Anything short of that will be tantamount to betrayal of the people of confidence and trust.

Mr Speaker, we shall work with all hon. Members who are willing to work with us. We know what works and we know what does not work. We know, for example, that false promises do not work. We know that confrontation and abuse do not work.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mwaanga: Promising that we shall solve the people’s problems within 90 days does not work. What works is to get our economic fundamentals in place by reducing inflation to 7.9 per cent which is what it was in October, 2006, by stabilizing the exchange rate, by raising economic growth, by creating employment, improving roads, health and education standards, providing clean water and sanitation, ending casualisation and raising our people’s living standards. No country no matter how wealthy has been able to meet all its needs. There is nowhere in the world where you find a country which has met all its needs. We shall set realistic and achievable targets. We shall not pursue populist policies, but pursue policies which are realistic and which contain realistic and achievable targets. We shall not do what is popular. We shall do what is right for the country and for the people of Zambia.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

The Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services (Mr D. B. Phiri): Mr Speaker, allow me to thank you for affording me this honour and privilege to deliver my maiden speech in this august House.

Mr Speaker, in contributing to the motion of thanks to the President’s Address, I wish to applaud you on your successful re-election to the House. The confidence of the citizenry and that of the hon. Members has been upheld. May I also congratulate the Deputy Speaker for her election to the office which is also a demonstration of how Zambia values the contribution of our women to the country’s development. We all look forward to your motherly guidance and share your experiences. I also wish to congratulate the Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole House for his re-election to the office. His re-election is also due to the confidence that hon. Members of this House have in him.

Allow me, Mr Speaker, to also thank the people of Mkaika Constituency in the Katete District for electing me to this House as their representative with a remarkable win. My victory was remarkable in the sense that the other two constituencies in the district went to the opposition. The people of Mkaika and indeed the people of Eastern Province in general deserve a pat on the back for having unanimously voted for President Levy Mwanawasa, SC, thereby giving him a fresh mandate to steer this country to higher levels of development.

Mr Speaker, what the people of Eastern Province did is a reflection of their appreciation for the programmes of the MMD New Deal Government and was also a show of the desire to see development of this country continue without disruption. Indeed, our people especially in the remotest parts of this country have undoubtedly shown the path to Zambia’s political economic and social development by voting for the MMD, the party that listens. Zambia, under the able and transparent leadership of His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, shall continue to score great successes. No political party other than the MMD under His Excellency the President has ever brought the inflation rate to a single digit level, won the confidence of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and co-operating partners so that Zambia receives debt forgiveness and cared to feed its people in times of hunger.

Mr Speaker, in my preparation to debate the President’s Speech delivered on 31st October, 2006, I had time to reflect on the speech itself. What the President said in the address requires the support of everyone. This House will agree with me that the President was exceptionally comprehensive in that a number of important issues were tackled.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr D. P. Phiri: Allow me to say that for us to achieve what the President said in his address, first and foremost, we will need to look at ourselves.

Mr Speaker, as one hon. Member once said in this House, Zambia is a developing country which is eager to meet a number of quests. It has the quest for consolidating the gains of its independence from colonialism, the quest for consolidating its political institutions, the quest for economic development, economic independence, self reliance, the quest for parliamentary reforms and lately the quest for constitutional reforms. To achieve these aspirations, it is absolutely necessary that this country continues to enjoy peace, unity and harmony.

Mr Speaker, I listened to some pronouncements made from some hon. Members of this House and some stakeholders in our society, I sometimes get the impression that some people are too often taking the peace and political harmony for granted this country has enjoyed in the past 42 years. It is the duty of every Zambian, including political parties, Non-Governmental Organisations, the church, the civil society and all to maintain peace and stability in this country and for all of us to remain charged with great optimism for a better Zambia. We are all here to serve the people and we have the same purpose. We should be partners in development of our country because our constituents who are the people of Zambia are the same. In acknowledging and endorsing the President’s Speech, we should not waste a lot of time in political arguments. These arguments only encourage poverty and time for politicking is over. Let us promote unity, productivity and national development as Parliament.

It is important, Mr Speaker, that as we debate, we do not close our eyes to the successes that the New Deal Government has scored. I wish to remind most of our colleagues on your left that it does not help anybody to pretend that the New Deal Government has not done anything positive.

Mr Speaker, as Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, I believe that improvement of access to information to promote citizenry participation in national economic development activities should be a pre-occupation of every well meaning Zambian, especially the hon. Members of this House. No one should point a finger at Government and say that it has let them down. The question is, what is Government? I think the biggest problem we have is that we always want to run away from the wrongs that we do and blame them on Government. Everyone assembled here is part and parcel of the Zambian Government.

Mr Speaker, it is important that hon. Members realise that information is a resource that plays a critical role in the development process. It is a resource that cuts across all sectors of national life and it is only those nations which have effectively used information to their advantage that have made tremendous strides in every aspect of their national life. The technological advancements witnessed during this century have largely been due to correct use of information and so is the mass production of food in most developed countries. This is the reason why the New Deal Government has worked hard to ensure that citizens have access to information by equipping the public media with modern equipment. This year alone, the Government has bough the following:

(i)  eighty-nine motor vehicles for ZANIS;

- 16 motor vehicles for ZNBC Rural TV programme
- 10 motor vehicles for Times of Zambia;
- 10 motor vehicles for Zambia Daily Mail;
- 116 computers and Printers for ZANIS;
- 10 video cameras;
- 49 sets of Public Address Systems and 38 Generator sets for ZANIS;
- 30 motor cycles; and
- 40 digital cameras for District Information Officers.

Mr Speaker, Members of the House will be interested to know that 73 of the 116 computers and printers are meant for district offices.

Mr Speaker, the efforts being undertaken by the New Deal Government to diversify Zambia’s economic activities such as promoting the tourism sector as a second priority to agriculture can only bear fruits if the citizenry is well informed about how they can either contribute or benefit from whatever schemes or programmes that have been established. Facilities that have been put in place to boost investment in this sector such as the Tourism Credit Facility, road network and marketing, should be exhaustively publicised by all of us.

Mr Speaker, it is satisfying to note that the New Deal Government has established the multi-facility economic zone which will carter for both domestic and export oriented industries. These zones will have all the necessary facilities and investment incentives.

Mr Speaker, all the mentioned efforts are meant to boost employment levels in this country. However, if the hon. Members in this House choose not to support Government efforts to develop the information sector, all these initiatives will be in vain.

Mr Speaker, within this overwhelming economic boom, there is also need for stringent regulatory measures for investors in all sectors to conduct their business within the Government legal investment framework so that citizens get the optimum benefits.

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, may I, once again, congratulate His Excellency, the President for setting the tone for reconciliation and unity after this year’s elections. We should all be seen to be contributing to the creation and upholding of peace in this country and demonstrate the spirit of oneness for the sake of national development. We should all strive together to lift Zambia from the least developed countries category to a wealth country and to the granary of Africa.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

The Minister of Local Government and Housing (Mrs Masebo): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to join my colleagues in debating the motion on the Floor which is a vote of thanks to His Excellency’s speech.

Mr Speaker, I wish to congratulate you on your re-election and my sister Mrs Nalumango for her election.

Mr Speaker, in congratulating you, I want to say that we are very proud as a country that we have a Speaker who can be elected by both the ruling and the Opposition parties. This underscores that there is so much confidence that this House places on you.

Mr Speaker, you have always been very fair and fame, and I think that is one thing that has made this House and the country to be proud of you. I pray that God continues to guide you as you do this very difficult job.

In congratulating my sister Nalumango, I want to say that, as women, we are very proud that for the first time, we have one of our own Deputy Speaker. It is not a mean achievement. It gives all of us hope that the women of Zambia can be anything.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: They can take any position. I want to state that, so far, we are all impressed, including men on her performance.

My dear brother, the Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole House, there is no doubt that even as he is from the Opposition, he has the support of all of us because of the way he performed during the last Parliament. I want to say that we wish all of you God blessings as you do this very difficult job.

Mr Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues who are in this House for working very hard to be in this House. It was not an easy election. Indeed, the people who are here, both on your right and left, can proudly say they won these elections without saying that they were rigged.

Mr Speaker, I want to say that as Africans, for a change, we must learn to accept loss. What has been happening is that those that win would say everything was fine, but when you lose, you start talking about rigging and all sorts of things. This reflects very badly on us, as Africans. That is what has happened even in our neighbouring country – Democratic Republic of Congo. Everybody said we should stand by the results, but when the result came out, everything changed.

Some of our colleagues in the last election, when the results were showing that they were leading, they were praising the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia, but the moment they heard that they have lost, they started insulting and almost beating her up.

Mr Kambwili: Kuti natasha Mambilima ine?

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, this is a bad culture. I really hope and wish that one day Africans could learn to rejoice the victory and also to accept a defeat with honour and dignity.

Mr Speaker, I will be failing if I do not thank the people of Chongwe for giving me a big vote – 16,000 while my nearest contender had 4,000 plus.

Hon. Government Member: It was a harmer!

Mrs Masebo: Indeed, it was a big harmer. I also want to thank the people of Chongwe for giving President Mwanawasa a big victory in Chongwe. People of Chongwe appreciated the New Deal Administration, especially the policies in agriculture and also in that he is a man of integrity.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Masebo: We did not want to make any experiment in Chongwe, first of all, with people that we were not sure of. Worse more, those that we even know their history. So, we did not want to put this country on a try basis.

Mr Kambwili: That is the problem when you have Ministers who are cadres. You are a cadre.

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, I just want to say that the people of Chongwe did us good as a Government and a party. Now that we are back, I hope that my colleagues in Government will really say thank you by delivering in areas that give us this mandate.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, as a Government we are expected to serve everybody, but even in a home, a child that does well in an exam, you buy him a gift even as everybody is eating three meals a day. It is important therefore, that the Executive, in delivering the goods, must make sure that in those areas where they gave us the mandate are served first.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: We cannot be ashamed about it.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: We are not saying that other areas should not be served. All the areas of Zambia shall be served, but obviously, you have to begin by ensuring that those people who voted for you are considered first.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: You cannot begin by serving a person who said that your policies are wrong.

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, the history of this party is very clear. In the last administration, we did serve, for example, Southern Province very diligently. We did not sideline it even if it was an Opposition. All that I am saying is that we must not forget the people that put us here.

Mr Speaker, in short, I want to say that the people of Zambia have spoken and President Mwanawasa shall be there until 2011. I would like to urge my colleagues on your left that it will be important that we support the President and the Government of the day for development.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Masebo: I think that 2011 is very far and when time comes for politicking, we can continue with our politics. As for now, let us serve the people of Zambia.

Mr Speaker, the President talked about unity and also told us that we should not be patisan in the manner in which we perform our duties. He has set the tone and I want to assure my colleagues on your left that we shall do just that. Otherwise, doing anything to the contrary will mean being insubordinate.

Mr Speaker, we shall work and ensure that the country is served. Each one of us comes from a Constituency and we must serve the people in our Constituencies. As for me, without Chongwe, I would not be in this House. It would be naïve for anyone to think that in doing my national duties, I will ignore Chongwe Constituency. I will not do that and I will not pretend.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, when we talk about unity and try to follow what the President says does not mean that we are weak. Somebody was saying that we are pleading for unity. I think such a statement is not correct because as the Government and as people that have been mandated by the people of Zambia to govern this country, we have no complex about the fact that we are in Government. Therefore, it is our duty as the leaders to ensure that we embrace those that are still crying about not having gotten to State House.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: Therefore, we are not pleading for unity as earlier stated. We want to urge the losers that by the end of the day, there is no winner and no loser. We just want to be united.

Mr Speaker, the President made a directive to the hon. Minister of Local Government and Housing that we should work very closely with Parliament to ensure that Parliamentary Offices in the Constituencies are opened. I want to assure this august House that my ministry will do everything possible to ensure that the number of Parliamentary Offices opened this year can be increased according to the number of hon. Members of Parliament. The problem has been that our local authorities have made it very difficult for Parliament by setting high rentals. Therefore, as a Minister responsible, I will be liaising with the local authorities to ensure that we co-operate with Parliament.

Mr Speaker, some of us have been privileged to have these offices in our Constituencies. I want to say that it is very important for all the hon. Members of Parliament to have these offices in their Constituencies and that we quickly assist in getting them opened, especially, most of our colleagues who have Constituencies and are living in Lusaka. It is impossible to be effective when you stay in Lusaka and have no offices in your Constituency.

Mr Speaker, I would like to say something on the constitution making process. The President did allude to the fact that Government had received the report and that very shortly, he would be making an announcement of what the decision of cabinet would be. He also stated that all stakeholders would be taken on board. It is therefore, sad to note that people have continued making statements that are really confronting over this matter, which I think is not necessary.

Mr Speaker, nobody is against having a good constitution. As the Government, we have to look at both sides of the coin and see what is best for the country in all matters. Obviously, the issue of the constitution is important but we cannot be told that we must have a constitution now without considering the time.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: That is impossible. In fact, for those of my colleagues on your left who are even saying ‘now’, during their campaigns, they did not even talk much about the constitution. I know that they are not really committed to the constitution, instead, they only talked about other things. As far as I am concerned, it is only UDA which put the issue of constitution on the agenda. As for the rest, they just wanted to use it to antagonise and create problems.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: They do not even mean and understand what they are talking about. They just want to use it so that they can create confusion in the country. I think there is no need for that. We are all agreeable and I think it is important that we respect each other. For now, as the Government, we have already said that we will attach great importance to the constitution making process. Those who did not win elections and do not even respect their own constitutions cannot be the ones to tell us about constitution making process.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, I am told that these people do not even have constitutions. I was pleased to hear the President emphasise the issue of corruption and that his administration will continue fight it. He further stated that, in fact, they are going to review the policy to strengthen it. This means that indeed, the fight against corruption will even be much more than before. I am aware that some of our colleagues here had even made a political statement to the effect that, if they won, they were going to forgive those involved in corruption. I think they may not be conversant enough to comment on such issues.

Mr Speaker, it is important that the fight against corruption is supported by hon. Members of Parliament. If corruption continues, there will be no development. We all know what corruption can do to a country. If corruption is condoned, the country will even be worse than before.

Mr Speaker, I want to appeal to the hon. Members of Parliament that even if there was a chapter on corruption that was established in Parliament, we should join everyone in the fight against corruption so that we lead by example and support the Government. 

Let me just appeal to some of the hon. Members of Parliament in this House not to politicise the issue of corruption. You will find that even when they know that indeed, this is not good, they will want to politicise it. Even when some of them know that, that particular person was corrupt and they even used to call him ‘corrupt’, they will want to change just because it suits them politically. We should be leaders for a change. A good leader is one who is consistent. It does not matter where you belong. Whether you are on the right or left side of the Speaker, corruption is real and we should all fight it.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Masebo: Let me go to Local Government issues and I will run quickly over them. First of all, I want to assure the House that the policy on decentralisation will be implemented. I was happy as a hon. Minister that the President emphasised that the implementation of decentralisation will receive attention. I want to state that even in this year’s Budget, there will be an allocation on the implementation of decentralisation. This will mean that more power than resources will come to the districts. I just want to appeal to the hon. Members of Parliament to participate in Council work because that is where the work is. The work is at the districts. Therefore, you should concentrate on your Councils if you want to see development. Do not waste time in rallies, which will not give you anything.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, on the issue of market and bus stations, I want to say that a Bill is coming on issues such as of management, control and construction. These issues will be articulated in that Bill and I hope the hon. Members of Parliament will support us so that this politicisation of markets and bus stations can be reduced.

Mr Speaker, on the issue of housing, I also want to say that Government puts great importance on such issues. In this year’s programme, as you heard the President articulate, we are going to begin the implementation of Municipal Bonds so that we can have the construction of houses through the private sector working with the public sector. We shall also, open up new areas for construction through the Land Development Funds.

Councils should to open up new areas and we shall ensure that the unplanned settlements are upgraded. We have strategy for that. Therefore, you will begin to see some improvements in different compounds not of Lusaka only, but all over the country. Some resources are going to be provided for that this year. Therefore, when we start upgrading some of the unplanned settlement, I want to the hon. Members to help us in that because what that entails is that new roads will be opened and so on.

Water Supply and Sanitation

Mr Speaker, this is an important issue. I am happy to announce to this august House that my ministry has developed the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme. This will see Government sinking more boreholes and coming up with more pit latrine so that our people especially, in the rural areas can have access good water supply and sanitation.

In urban and peri-urban areas, we will also have a strategy. Again, you will that time around, Government will put more resources towards water supply and sanitation so that we are not looking the end calls Cholera, but do prevention. I hope that this House can support us.

Mr Speaker, I would like to remind the House that during the last sitting, the Government came up with the programme called ‘Make Zambia Clean’. We shall be implementing that. It is the multi-sectorial approach of all sector ministries so that this issue of cleanness can become institutionalised in our minds because we have become careless and allowing litter all over and every time we say that it is the local authority’s responsibility. I therefore, want to put it to the House that this is the responsibility of all Zambians irrespective of where they come from or to which party they belong.

Mr Speaker, lastly, I want to say something on the House of Chiefs. We shall be reviewing the policy on Chiefs Affairs so that we take into account issues on the Chiefs welfare. I also want to ask hon. Members of Parliament to assist Government by not politicising issues of Chiefs Affairs. A number of hon. Members of Parliament even some Government workers get  too much involved and embroiled in succession disputes and boundaries. This is not your work. Let traditional matters be dealt by traditional authorities. Hence, the reason the House of Chiefs was created. I think by doing that, we will be helping Government.

Sir, on the issue of CDF Funds, I want to assure the august House that the Minister of Finance and National Development has assured us that before the end of year some CDF Funds shall be released.

Interruptions

Mrs Masebo: Mr Speaker, on the operations of local authorities, I also want o tell the august House that Government is considering the re-introduction of the Local Government Service Commission.

Hon. Member’s time expired.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

The Minister of Works and Supply (Mr Simbao): Mr Speaker, I am grateful to you for according me this opportunity to address this hon. House.

Mr Speaker, there was nothing more gratifying than voting you back into that Chair.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao:  I must say that those who had doubts about you if there were any, will now have the opportunity to be presided upon by one of the most seasoned Speaker on the continent…

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao:…and will say to themselves what an opportunity they would have missed if we had made another choice. I think this realisation came to light in the Ninth National Assembly when that Chair was contested and was put to a vote. To those of my friends who do not know, I want to tell them that the quality of this Parliament is second to none on the continent.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, we are a marvel to many a Parliament.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker, I would also like to hail the election Hon. Mutale Nalumango to the Chair of Deputy Speaker. She deserves it and was to her given to her because she is a woman, no! She beat every imaginable contestant to the job, period!

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: The beauty of it all of course, is that she is a woman and the first one at that.

Sir, I would also like to congratulate Hon. Mukondo Lungu to the post of Deputy Chairman of Committees. This is a job he is very well versed in and will definitely produce the best this second time around too.

Mr Speaker, I will not address the issue of roads. I dealt with it slightly today and I have been requested to hold a workshop. Therefore, we shall follow your instructions and in next sitting, we will hold a workshop. I have therefore, decided to raise my concern thorough my presentation which are called ‘Politics in History’ and this will bring my concern when I finish my speech.

Mr Speaker, the world over has never stopped surprising itself. How, for example, mad men have assumed power. People regarded eccentric like Hitler, Mussolini, Bokasa, Idi Amin, Rasputin, the list is endless have all assumed power at one time or the other in history. This I must say with conviction is a result of fantasy and excitement. People for no reason at all decide to willingly and blatantly choose death and destruction. It is as if the whole generation has been poisoned.

Laughter

Mr Simbao: The people with sense get few and out of influence as they are confined to history where they become totally obscured and almost obsolete though only for a while, while the madness rules the land.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao:  It is at this time that the best are killed.

Mr Speaker, I got a book written by Arberlt Haushlfer entitled ‘In the Flight of Hess’ where he says and I quote:

 ‘It is when madness rules that land that the best are killed.’ End of quote.

Therefore, until the inevitable happens, total destruction and death to the leader and almost all his followers that is when sanity returns to the land. The few people who remained with sense resurface to take the reigns of a destroyed nation. When an analysis is carried out as to how a lunatic was allowed to take hold of the reigns of power…

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! Bwekeshapo, Minister!

Mr Simbao: …it is found that people just became possessed, greedy, selfishness, superiority complex, hatred and envy had invaded their hearts all because of cynical leaders who knew what they were doing, but not their followers.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: These leaders will go to the extent of pleasing their followers in whatever way possible, buyouts, even to the point o drawing blood if that is what will satisfy their followers. They promise relief even when they themselves know that it is impossible, but they say it convincingly and because they have proved to be action oriented on minor obvious issues, their rhetoric is not questioned by anyone.

Laughter

Mr Simbao: It is just swallowed, bait and hook and liner. Another surprising thing is that these leaders draw support from the most affluent of society and also from the ordinary person. For example, professors, doctors Masters Degree holders and so on and so forth. However, Most of the affluent have dual allegiance and when things get sour or to extremes, they quickly identify with the winner or just skip the country.

When the mad leader starts talking about revenge on the minorities, running them out of the country, or about supremacy of his race or expansion of the country’s boundary …

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: … then the learned fully awakened and realise that the thing has gone too far, …

Hon. Government Members: Hammer!

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: … but too late. The leader would have by then corrupted everyone of influence in the country, the army, the police, the judiciary etc. The legislature would be a real rubber stamp if it is allowed to exist. In case some people do not know, I said that I was going to talk about history in politics and I will give examples. That is what I said.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! Continue! Hammer!

Mr Simbao: Hitler …

Interruptions

Mr Magande: This is history, why are you worried?

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: Hitler’s background is pathetic. He was a third grade artist who failed to sell his paintings on the streets of Austria.

Laughter

Mr Simbao: He led a poor life and lived dirty.

Mr Kambwili: That is irrelevant to us!

Mr Simbao: Hitler was a First World War graduate. He loved action and was wounded while fighting at the war front. Unfortunately, Germany surrendered while he was still in hospital.

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: Most of the Germans did not agree and believe that Germany had lost, and they were as bitter as Hitler. When Hitler left hospital, he formed a small party called the NAZI Party. This party could not grow and so, they attempted a coup which failed …

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: There are rules of debate and they do not deal with what you are talking about. You do not lecture in this Chamber.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Lecturing is not allowed in this Chamber.

Laughter

Mr Speaker: If the Hon. Minister has nothing more to say, we can deal with the motion. Do you have something to say on your portfolio?

Mr Simbao: Yes, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker: The Hon. Minister may continue.

Hon. Government Members: Hammer! Hammer!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, as a leader, I am concerned with the issue of peace and governance. I am trying to talk about how we, as Zambians have tried to mislead the people of Zambia. We have tried to use the very things that we think the people of Zambia are looking for to get us into power.

Mr Magande: Fantasy!

Mr Simbao: Fantasy, which does not work, which other leaders used and have ended up misleading the country into war. All the people including the leadership perished.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: That is why I was talking about how Hitler got his power by using the disgruntled Germans.

In this country today, I am worried about the fact that we are coming up with issues that everyone knows the truth about. However, they are twisting this truth to gain power.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: They know that this Government is doing its best for the people. For example on the tax system, everyone knows that the initial target for this Government was to come out of the HIPC situation which demanded sacrifice for country. And we told the people that once we go through the HIPC completion point, then we will look at most of the issues people are talking about.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: For example, tax relief was not an Opposition issue, …

Hon. Government Members: No!

Mr Simbao: … but it was a Government issue.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: We could not address it at that time because we could not have achieved the HIPC completion point.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: The reason why other governments failed is because they were too lenient to what was happening. They did not know what the best thing for the people was. At times good things are painful. That is why we took this painful route.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Most of the people have realised that we have achieved two things; by reaching the HIPC completion point which is very important for this country, and

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Interruptions

Mr Simbao: … our debt burden is from US$7 billion to US$500 …

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! Order!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the achievement of the HIPC completion point has meant that now we have got extra funds to spend. We can now attach the tax relief issue, we can now apportion more money to the roads, …

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: … we can now apportion to other infrastructure, but first, we had to do what we have done now.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: Mr Speaker, the point I was emphasising is that, whilst this fact is well known, some people have decided to twist it and tell the Zambian people that it is not true. We have always discussed tax relief. We have always discussed improving the roads and other infrastructures.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simbao: And the Zambian people now are going to see the difference.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Interruptions

Mr Speaker:  Order! The hon. Member for Nyimba may wind up his motion.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Tembo: Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this rare opportunity …

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! Does His Honour the Vice-President wish to debate?

The Vice-President (Mr R. Banda): Yes, Sir.

Mr Speaker: You may go ahead.

The Vice-President: Mr Speaker, I thank you for allowing me to add my voice to other hon. Members who have spoken before me. Judging by the number of Members who have contributed to the motion and the substance of their contributions, I am sure that Members will agree with me that His Excellency, the President’s speech indeed provided a great deal of food for thought in the face of the challenges we presently face as a nation.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice-President: Sir, before I dwell a little more on the speech, let me hasten to register my appreciation to you and your Clerk for allowing ample time to the Members for considering this motion. Sir, we needed this time to do justice to this most important state of the nation address by His Excellency, the President.

I also wish to register my gratitude to all the hon. Members who contributed to this motion, both from your left and right side of the House. Listening to the debates from both sides of the House, I noted that generally a great deal of support has been rendered to the speech …

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice-President: … where there was criticism it was mostly constructive criticism, which Government will value in the course of implementing the various development programmes.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice-President: I also wish to thank the Front and Middle Benches of your right side of the House for providing responses and points of clarification on the issues raised by the back benches. Hon. Ministers and their Deputies will do well to continue providing timely responses to issues raised from the constituencies through the hon. Members here assembled.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice President: Furthermore hon. Colleagues who have issued Ministerial Statements on current topical issues have indeed complimented this process and provided valuable information to the rest of the hon. Members and the nation at large. This is praise worthy and must be encouraged as a mark of transparency, accountability and good governance.

Mr Speaker, allow me now to focus on one cardinal point of advice which His Excellency the President gave to this House, namely, the need for all of us to uphold national unity and reconciliation. In his speech, His Excellency urged us to use this august House to deliver development to our people and not to use it as battleground to settle whatever political scores we may perceive against each other. This advice, I find most relevant.

As leader of Government Business in the House, it is my duty to carry all of you on board in the various deliberations of this House and from this perspective it will remain my cherished responsibility to ensure that we maintain national unity even as we may, from time to time, hold divergent views on the various issues that will come before us.

In some of the maiden speeches delivered to this House, I observed divisive and acrimonious debates bordering on strong partisan lines contrary to the advice, His Excellency gave. Let me remind hon. Members that as a country we have committed ourselves to taking measures now to ensure that by 2030 we transform our economy and society into a middle income country where prosperity, social cohesion and unity will prevail.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

The Vice President: Mr Speaker, to achieve this vision, in the greater interest of our people, we all must embrace the measures that we have set for ourselves to realise this vision. It is important for us to support the programmes contained in the Fifth National Development Plan, which are aimed at achieving this vision. We can only do this if we remain united.

The demands which our people have tasked us with from the various constituencies that hon. Members relayed to Government through their maiden speeches such as improved infrastructure development such as roads, schools, health centers, water supply and availability of jobs and security of tenure of employment will certainly not be realised if we are divided in our resolve to defeat poverty and create wealth and prosperity for our people.

Let us take advantage of the stabilized economic fundamentals to build on and create more jobs in industry, agriculture, tourism, mining and so on. Let us mobilise our people to work hard to improve their welfare and not to be tempted to encourage them to remain aloof from the various Government programmes.

Mr Speaker, I am most grateful to all hon. Members who have demonstrated that they are nationalistic in their debate and to those whose debate was on partisan lines, I can only encourage them to be nationalistic and to heed His Excellency the President’s advice because this House cannot afford to divide itself along partisan lines as we are all here for one purpose and that purpose is to serve mother Zambia to the best of our abilities.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Hon. Government Members: Quality Boma!

Mr Tembo (Nyimba): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this rare opportunity to wind up the debate on the Motion of Thanks to His Excellency the President’s Speech.

Mr Speaker, during the debate, a lot of important issues were raised such as on roads, water and sanitation, agriculture, clinics and hospitals, schools and many more.

Mr Speaker, I believe the Government has heard all the contentious issues that have been raised in the maiden speeches made by the hon. Members of this august House. Mr Speaker, I wish to assure the House that Government will take serious consideration of the important issues raised in this House.

Mr Speaker, allow me now to thank the hon. Members of the House for debating very well, especially those who contributed to the debate on the motion effectively. But to those who did not contribute to the debate on the motion, I would like to thank them for listening attentively.

Laughter

Mr Tembo: Mr Speaker, I will be failing in my duties if I do not thank all the hon. Members of this House and to wish them a merry Christmas and prosperous New Year and to ask God to give us traveling mercies as we go back to our constituencies.

I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Question put and agreed to.

ADJOURNMENT SINE DIE

The Vice President (Mr R.B. Banda): Mr Speaker, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn sine die.

Question put and agreed to.

__________

The House adjourned accordingly at 2027 hours on Wednesday, 22nd November, 2006, sine die.