DAILY PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES FOR THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TENTH ASSEMBLY

Tuesday, 7th November, 2006

The House met at 1430 hours

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

NATIONAL ANTHEM

PRAYER

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ANNOUNCMENTS BY MR SPEAKER

APPOINTMENT OF THE WHIP FOR THE UNITED DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE

Mr Speaker: I wish to inform the House that I have received notification from the President of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), that the Alliance has appointed Mr Edward Kasoko, MP, as the Whip for the UPND, FDD and UNIP, which, together, form the United Democratic Alliance.

SESSIONAL COMMITTEES – MEMBERSHIP

I have to inform the House that in accordance with the provisions of Standing Order No. 150, I have appointed the following Members to constitute the Standing Orders Committee of the House:

Standing Orders Committee (8)

The Hon. Mr Speaker (Chairperson)

The Hon. R. B. Banda, MP, His Honour the Vice-President

The Hon. P. N. Magande, MP, Minister of Finance and National Planning

The Hon. V. J. Mwaanga, MP, Minister of Information and Broadcasting (Chief Whip)

Mr D. Matongo, MP

Ms E. Imbwae, MP

Mr A. Banda, MP

Mrs F. B. Sinyangwe, MP

Furthermore, in accordance with the provisions of Standing Order No. 151, I have appointed the following Members to constitute the Committee on Privileges, Absences and Support Services:

Committee on Privileges, Absences and Support Services (8)

The Hon. Madam Deputy Speaker (Chairperson)

The Hon. G. Kunda, MP, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General

The Hon. V. J. Mwaanga, MP, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services (Chief Whip)

Mr S. T. Chilembo, MP

Ms E. K. Chitika, MP

Mr E. C. Mwansa, MP

Mr S. Sikota, MP

Mr E. Kasoko, MP

The appointment of members to constitute the other Committees of the House will be announced at a later date.

I thank you.

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MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

AUDITS CARRIED OUT AT THE INDENI PETROLEUM REFINERY COMPANY LIMITED

The Minister of Energy and Water Development (Mr Mutati): Mr Speaker, early this year, the Government instituted audits at INDENI Refinery to carry out the status of the refinery operations and its financial condition as well as chart the way forward so as to forestall future fuel supply disruptions. These audits were carried out by the following institutions:

(a) Mot Macdonald of the United Kingdom carried out the Technical Audit;

(b) Arntezen de Besche of Norway carried out the Legal Audit; and

(c) Grant Thornton of the United Kingdom conducted the Financial Audit.

Key Findings of the Technical Audits

(a) The refinery is operating at 40 per cent of its design capacity, i.e. the refinery is currently processing about 500,000 metric tonnes of feedstock per annum instead of its designed capacity of 1,100,000 metric tonnes of feedstock per year;

(b) the refinery processes crude which is heavily mixed with lighter petroleum products (i.e. lighter fractions added) due to the fact that the Zambian market cannot absorb the heavy products that result from pure crude oil. As a result, some equipment is operating near its design limit, a situation which increases wear and tear;

(c) the rotating mechanical equipment is outdated and it is difficult to obtain spare parts, a situation that has compromised the reliability of the refinery;

(d) the refinery’s reliability has been low due to the fact that it was originally built to an inadequate standard which was meant to serve the needs of the country in the 1970s, with insufficient operational margins. In addition, the refinery has had very little new investment and inadequate maintenance; and

(e) the investment requirement will cost US$65 million at today’s prices. The auditor further concluded that management at INDENI had done a commendable job to keep the refinery operational given its current status.

Findings of the Legal Audit

The objective of the legal audit was to provide legal advice to the Government, as a 50 per cent shareholder in the INDENI Refinery regarding the refinery’s legal position, including rights and obligations. In this regard, the key findings of the audit were as follows:

(a) Pre-emption of INDENI shares. The INDENI shareholders (Government and Total) have equal rights of first refusal (pre-emption) in case of disposal of the other party’s shares. These rights give the Government the opportunity to gain a majority interest in INDENI in case Total were inclined to sell, as well as offer some protection against the entrance of an unsuitable refinery partner. At the same time, these rights limit the Government’s freedom of share disposal.

(b)  Casting Vote. The Articles of Association is silent on this point. The Companies Act requires such casting of vote, unless explicitly denied in the Companies Act articles. Thus the Chairman of the Board in the case of an equality of votes, has a casting vote at a Board meetings, but not at the general meetings.

(c) Indemnity of Directors. The indemnification of Board Directors is fairly extensive when compared to international standards, according to which Board Members may become liable for losses caused by their negligence. However, it is questionable whether this indemnification is consistent with Section 233 of the Company’s Act.

(d) The competence requirements for INDENI Board of Directors. Particular qualifying competence requirements for Board of Directors were not found in the Articles of Association. In order to abide by the recommendation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Principles of Corporate Governance, the auditor recommended the introduction into the Articles of Association of rules that ensure that only persons with the necessary expertise and competence are nominated and chosen as directors.

(e)  Fuel and Feedstock Supply Agreements. The fuel and feedstock supply agreements appear to conform to standard industry practice and in respect of non- price items of these agreements, the auditor found no clauses in these contracts that are not consistent with the Zambian commercial law or with the principles of good and fair business practices. Due to the difficult financial situation of INDENI, the Refinery would have had to stop trading if not for the Total supply agreements and the credit granted in this connection.

(f) INDENI Exclusivity. Exclusivity for INDENI was effectively secured in the Shareholders Agreement which was a ‘one refinery-strategy’ and this may set limits to the Government’s options with respect to alternatives.

(g)  Governance and Transparency. Public record keeping and archiving on issues of INDENI seem not to be satisfactory. The auditor recommended that such record keeping and archiving be reviewed to ensure that all relevant documents are available and readily accessible. Transparency of information should be addressed as a general issue.

Mr Speaker, with regard to the findings of the financial audit, the objective of the financial review was to determine the financial position of the refinery and determine whether there has been financial mismanagement. The findings of the audit are as follows:

(a) Financial Position. INDENI’s management accounts as at 31st December, 2005 show that INDENI’s solvency remains in question and is reliant on the support of its shareholders for its continued operation. Based on the management accounts made available to the auditor during the review, it appeared that INDENI has continued to suffer trading losses in the year ended 31st December, 2005. In the absence of available external finance and funding from the Government, INDENI has effectively used its supplier account with Total as a working capital loan. Total did not charge interest on this balance other than in respect of feedstock purchases which incur interest for a specific period. As such, INDENI had benefited considerably from this arrangement, as interest charged did not reflect the credit taken by INDENI and is significantly lower than what would have been charged by an external financier in the same situation. The Auditor verified the purchases to supporting documents and has noted no material exceptions. The auditors have been able to verify substantially all the transactions and are satisfied that these transactions relate to the business of INDENI and are genuine transactions.

(b) Procurement of Feedstock. The auditor observed that a thorough review be conducted into the procurement planning process at INDENI to ensure that feedstock ordered is of the correct type and quantity and that the amounts  invoiced by Total represent market-related prices and correspond with the orders that have been placed.

(c) The IPP Model. As part of the detailed scope of work, the auditor was asked to review and comment on the Import Pricing Parity (IPP) model prepared by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) in the context of the profitability of INDENI. Based on the auditor’s calculations and assumptions, it would appear that, had the current ERB/IPP model been in place during 2005, INDENI would have posted a trading profit as opposed to the losses reported. It was however, noted that addressing the technical inefficiencies reported by the technical consultant would have a more lasting effect on the long-term operation of the refinery than finding a pricing model which creates a profit under the current operational and economic conditions.

Way Forward for INDENI

Following these findings, the Government has taken the following steps.

(a) Instituted a revision of the Shareholders’ Agreement and Articles of Association for INDENI. With this revision the Government and Total will each reduce their shares from 50 percent to 35 percent. An additional strategic partner with 30 percent will be sought. This revision will take into account considerations of all legal issues identified during the audits.

(b) Approved the INDENI capital re-investment programme estimated at US$65 million over a five-year period. The recapitalisation programme has commenced with the October 2006 INDENI shutdown. This will address the shortcomings identified by the technical audit.

(c) Developing a ten-year Integrated Energy Strategy for Zambia to help prioritise and plan investment and development decisions in the short to medium terms. Within this strategy the Government will develop a strategy to particularly address the climate of suspicion that surrounds the operations of the refinery between the Government, INDENI and Total so as to ensure a better understanding of Total’s operating practices. Through a process of constructive dialogue with Total, this process would result in improved transparency in Total’s interface with the Government, INDENI and the Energy Regulation Board (ERB).

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Hon. Members may now ask questions on points of clarification on the statement given by the hon. Minister of Energy and Water Development.

Mr Matongo (Pemba): Mr Speaker, the summary by the hon. Minister on INDENI prompts me to ask a question. Within what time scale will the steps he has mentioned be taken? I appreciate the third step because it is long to medium term. Could the hon. Minister give us a time scale, in as far as the operations of INDENI are concerned, the profitability and the ability to pay interest charges and not be subsidised by the supplier, which I find unacceptable.

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, the situation at INDENI was two prone. We had technical and on the other hand viability difficulties. The technical difficulties are being addressed via a capital re-investment programme of US$65 million over five years. In the first year, the re-investment is US$20.7 million. In terms of enhancing the viability of INDENI so that the shareholders do not continue to pump in money, we are doing two things.

The first one is that through the revision of the import parity pricing, we will be able to secure a pricing regime that will assure the viability of INDENI. The second one is that we are going to dispose of 30 percent of the shares in INDENI to a third party who is going to bring in the necessary capital to strengthen the financial condition of INDENI.

The final point, Sir, is that the integrated strategy will look at other options of supply security in Zambia.

I thank you, Sir. 

Dr Machungwa (Luapula): Mr Speaker, during the fuel crisis in December and earlier last year, the Government, through the hon. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, was very confrontational and accusatory of his partner at INDENI Refinery, implying that they were responsible for some of the problems the refinery was experiencing? From what the hon. Minister is reporting, it seems that, in fact, his partners were doing much more than they were supposed to by providing funding without any interest at all. Is the Government now in a position to take steps to show that they were, in fact, wrong by accusing their partner in the manner in which your colleague hon. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry did during the crisis?

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, events leading to the audits created an atmosphere of finger pointing between the shareholders. Indeed, even Total Zambia accused the Government of not meeting its quarter of obligations in INDENI and the hon. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry was right also to point fingers, but the audit has now determined the true condition of INDENI that constructive dialogue and understanding the interaction with other shareholders is more important for the viability and sustainability of the refinery.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Hachipuka (Mbabala): Mr Speaker, this is a professionally worked-out programme which shows what the hon. Minister intends to do in one year. Can you please give us more commitment beyond one year, because I cannot see who will keep the finger on the pulse to see to it that this programme succeeds?

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, we have articulated the steps that we are taking in year one to assure technical and financial viability and this has been done. We are going to provide, in the 2007 Budget, seven interventions that the Government must make to keep the momentum. At the same time, we have also set up some sub-committees of the Board to look at issues of procurement so that these issues are handled properly and in accordance with the rules of transparency and governance.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Nsanda (Chimwemwe): Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. Minister what he is doing about reducing the price of fuel because it costs about K80,000,000 to bring fuel into the country and with the addition of all the taxes it comes to K195,000,000 which is more than double the amount. So, what is he going to do to reduce the taxes on fuel?

Mr Speaker: The hon. Minister may not have included that matter in his Ministerial Statement, but he is free to give an answer.

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, there are a number of factors that influence the pump price of fuel, among which are taxes, the location of Zambia, transport costs and also the international pricing of crude oil. Some of these factors such as the international price which is the biggest factor, in any pricing mechanism are technically outside the competence of this Government. With regard to transport costs, the location does dictate that it is more costly to transport fuel into Zambia compared to countries that are near the coastline. In terms of taxation, the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning did indicate that there was an overall review of taxes. As to what extent this will be done, Mr Speaker, the hon. Members of Parliament will just have to wait.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Muyanda (Sinazongwe): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister of Energy and Water Development has stated clearly that the solvency of Indeni is in question. This being the case, I would like to know the measures the Government will put in place that will attract the prospective buyers of the 30 plus shares he has mentioned. Furthermore, I would like to know what measures the Government has put in place to ensure that there will be no shortage of fuel during this process to prevent a similar disaster like the one this country experienced some few months back.

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, indeed, it is true that as at December 31st 2005, the solvency of Indeni remained in question. I have already explained the reasons it was like that because of the state of the plant that had not received investment, neither had it received regular maintenance. Therefore, the steps the Government has taken, may I repeat, are as follows:

(a) At a technical level, the rehabilitation done should be able to address the efficiency at Indeni in terms of operation, lifting it from the current 40 per cent to a targeted figure of 80 per cent over the five-year period;

(b) also at a technical level, the wastage which currently is about eleven per cent should be brought down to the designed capacity of seven per cent over the five years. So, that will have the benefit of aiding the solvency of Indeni; and

(c) the new import tariffs formula will also contribute to the viability of Indeni. So, the strategy, Mr Speaker, is that, we will be able to chart the way forward which will demonstrate that a new equity partner, if he does invest, will get his money back.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Milupi (Luena): Mr Speaker, the picture painted by the hon. Minister in his Ministerial Statement is worrisome because Indeni is a critical industry and the hon. Minister has stated that the capacity at the moment is about 40 per cent with poor maintenance and so on. Has the Government worked out the cost to the economy as a result of having sporadic shortages of fuel and secondly, of having a poor product as is exhibited at filling stations by fuel that has low C-10 index, high moisture content and low specific gravity.

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, we have already stated that the issues of capacity efficiency at 40 per cent are being addressed and that is the reason we have agreed to a US$65 million capital reinvestment over a period of five years, with year one enjoying US$20.7 million. This will address the issue of capacity efficiency and the quality of the product coming from Indeni. As for the cost of disruptions, we indicated, the last time when we had a disruption, that this is significant to the economy of Zambia and the actions that we are taking are such that we do not want to have another disruption. Even when we were rehabilitating, Mr Speaker, we had a parallel system which assured the supply of fuel even when Indeni was shut. Therefore, that system will continue.

I thank you, Sir.

Mr Muntanga (Kalomo): Mr Speaker, the hon. Minister mentioned that the audit would need further scrutiny on the importation of feedstock. I would like to know whether they were satisfied with the price of the feedstock, because it was of major concern and was not known, as Total may have kept it a secret. We would like to know whether this has been solved so that we do not think that it is the cause of the high prices of fuel in Zambia.

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, on the issue of procurement of feedstock, we are doing two things. Firstly, we have set up a committee to look at opening the procurement to public tender. We are addressing issues of logistics, financing, quality, etc. We need to be ready for such a process. We do not want to plunge into these issues and make a mistake. Therefore, we are doing it very carefully.

Secondly, in my report the auditors said that the prices that Total charge for crude oil were not significantly outside international prices. There were no material differences. That was the finding.

I thank you, Sir.

Dr Scott (Lusaka Central): Mr Speaker, could the hon. Minister tells us what his Government intends to do should the fairy godmother; the strategic partner not materialise. After all, a State-owned monopoly with a record of zero maintenance and little investment is not the most attractive option for many investors. What will he do should the partner not materialise?

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, in the event that a single strategic partner is not secured, the option that the Government can pursue is to lease these shares on the stock exchange.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Kalumba (Chienge): Mr Speaker, could the hard working hon. Minister help us understand whether the Government has taken or is taking serious recommendations made by the French Ambassador, that in considering the equity partner, Zambians should be given preference.

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, of the 30 per cent that will be available for disposal, 15 per cent belongs to Total. Total are keen to dispose of these shares. We are also keen to ensure that the Empowerment Act that we passed begins to bear fruit. That is the serious option we are considering.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kambwili (Roan): Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from the hon. Minister whether the Government is committed to the phasing out of premium petrol in preference to unleaded petrol in view of the global warming and that unleaded fuel is more environmentally friendly.

Mr Mutati: Mr Speaker, we are committed to moving to unleaded fuel. As a demonstration of that commitment, we equalised the prices of petrol so as to encourage the Oil Marketing Companies, who were reluctant to deal in unleaded petrol. We have a timetable to phase out leaded fuel.

I thank you, Sir.

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MOTIONS

MOTION OF THANKS

(Debate resumed)

Mrs Sinyangwe (Matero): Mr Speaker, may I join earlier speakers in congratulating you on your re-election as Speaker of the House. I would like to extend my congratulations to my sister, Hon. Nalumango, for coming in for the first time as a female Deputy Speaker. I would like to say that her success will mean the success of all the women and her failure, the failure of the womenfolk. We will be there to support her and we expect the best from her. I would like to congratulate the Deputy Chairman of Committees for a deserving election. I would like to thank the people of Matero for electing me to this House. The people of Matero spoke very loudly. It was not easy to defeat the financial giants, but I did, convincingly.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Sinyangwe: I would like to thank my party, the Patriotic Front for adopting me and also the President, Mr Michael Sata for giving me the opportunity to come and serve the people of Zambia in the House.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Sinyangwe: The people of Matero have a lot of problems.

Sir, I would also like to thank all the hon. Members of the House whom I will be working with and …

Hon. Government Member: Your husband!

Laughter

Mr Sinyangwe: That is a good one.

I would like to thank my husband for the support that he gave me and which he has continued to give me.

Mr Speaker, constituencies face similar problems. It is like we are singing the same song. Whoever stands up to speak is singing that same song. Therefore, I would not like to sing it. We know the problems of infrastructure and water. I do not see how we can continue singing about water when we know that water is life.

Sir, in a country where there is an increase in crime, the Government should be seen to be working in improving the security of the nation. I am sure we have so many youths who would like to be recruited to work as police reserves. I do not know whether we have stopped engaging police reserves.

Sir, our clinics in Matero Constituency are not only poorly equipped, but also have no doctors to man them. The medical assistants and nurses, personnel who are doing a commendable job given the trying circumstances, are however, overwhelmed by the sheer number of people they have to contain with. What is more frustrating in Matero is that there are not enough clinics to talk about.

Mr Speaker, I stand before you carrying a serious message for my constituency, my party, Patriotic Front and the rest of the country concerning the state of education in the country. I am glad that the hon. Minister of Education, Professor Lungwangwa, is a long standing colleague. I have been mingling with him in the Ministry of Education and he has a lot of challenges. We want to see him rise to those challenges.

Sir, on the nature and status of our education system, all of us here, at one time or another, if not all the time, lamented the dilapidation in the system, especially in so far as infrastructure, access, equity and quality of education are concerned. We all know what should have been done to turn this system around, and yet nothing has happened to make education the pride of his nation.

Mr Speaker, the main problem I see with our nation is that ordinary citizens complain about the state of the education system. Those entrusted with the delivery of the service also join in instead of focusing on correcting the situation. As a result, much of the time is spent praising the quality and high standard of education as it used to be in the past instead of reforming the system for a better future. I would like, in this regard, to highlight some aspects that require urgent attention at all levels as a way of offering an olive branch to our colleagues who happen to be in Government today.

Mr Speaker, at this time and age, we are forty-two years into running an independent education system. This is one that should be responsible for empowering citizens from an early age. As we all know, early childhood or nursery education as it is popularly referred to in Zambia is the best foundation of all later learning in one’s life, and yet the Government abolished this level of education and has not paid attention thereto since the 1960s. Most affected by this measure are the rural children. Only a small number of their urban counterparts are catered for, but at very high costs by private providers of this level of education as the Government is not providing it.

Interruptions

Mrs Sinyangwe: Mr Speaker, growth and development of the human being proceeds through well-known stages and all levels of learning, that is, from childhood to adulthood through adolescence. Zambia cannot afford to survive on false hope that any learning stage missed is compensated for in later years.

Mr Speaker, even the much criticised colonial education ensured that the young learners were introduced to primary education through Subs A and B. In order, also, to achieve proper cognitive and emotional development of the children before they entered Grade 1 at the age of seven, all instructions were given in the local language or mother tongue. Direct entry to Grade 1 and use of English as a medium of communication since the 1970s for the lower level of education, therefore, did much, but unseen harm to our children as research has also shown internationally.

Mr Speaker, in view of the foregoing, there is an urgent need to link nursery learning to the main stream education and provide necessary infrastructure for play, develop their appropriate learning materials to enable community schools deliver this level of education as well as facilitate preparation of teachers and child care givers.

Mr Speaker, the next stage of early learning is from Grades 1 to 7. This must be recognised as it has received a lot of support both locally and among our co-operating partners. This is especially so in terms of infrastructure development. It is sad to note, however, that due to mainly poor incentives for teachers, few of them are willing to teach in remote areas …

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Sinyangwe: …hence the unacceptable teacher-pupil ratio of anything between one teacher to sixty or 100 pupils. Besides, there are still some untrained teachers whose services are being utilised. While it is true that most of the teachers are appropriately trained, a good number of them still offer their services at higher or lower grade levels than is permissible according to their standard of training, thereby depriving children of their right to quality education. This is a common practice at Grades 8, 9, 10 and 12, and yet anything between 5,000 to 10,000 teachers trained since 2003 are still roaming paths and streets.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs Sinyangwe: Mr Speaker, the extensions of Grades 1 to 7 to include Grades 8 and 9 is quite obviously, a very welcome move, especially when one considers the tender age at which a Grade 7 school leaver will be required to fend for him or herself. There are, however, two main problems facing the Grade 9 school leaver. Firstly, he or she is still not able to do anything meaningful to earn his or her livelihood after school largely due to poor employment prospects in the country. Secondly, he or she would have pursued learning in an environment that is devoid of laboratories, properly equipped workshops and other specialised rooms that are a normal feature of junior secondary school education. There is, therefore, an urgent need to review the curriculum and align it with the current socio-economic conditions and opportunities for young people on one hand and add specialised rooms, such as, labs and workshops to the basic school infrastructure to make learning more practical as well as more meaningful on the other. It must take place in an environment that has appropriate retrained teachers, teaching/learning materials, methodologies and infrastructure that is suited to the needs and ability of the learners and above all to their present and future career opportunities and aspirations. In this regard, our business in education should make people really learn and not pretend they are learning.

Mr Speaker, the next education level of concern to many of us is that of high school or senior secondary. As earlier mentioned, basic schools are continually being turned into high schools by the MMD Government, but without adding the appropriate facilities for such practical subjects as sport, science, industrial arts, home economics and so on.

Interruptions

Mrs Sinyangwe: As if this situation is not bad enough, the high school curriculum has to date, not been diversified or made more flexible, just as the basic level education curriculum has not yet been localised contrary to the Ministry of Education Policy position expressed in ‘Educating Our Future, 1996. In this regard, our colleagues in the MMD Government must be reminded that it is of no use to reform or restructure an education system if and when what is learnt and how it is learnt and taught remain the same as before, that is, learning academically or for the purpose of encouraging learners to pass memorised examination questions and answers.

Mr Speaker, the MMD Government erected a fence and they owe the people of Zambia an explanation with regard to the non-development of higher education. Is it conceivable for a nation that boasts of forty-two years of independence and a population count close to eleven million education-hungry citizens to have only two universities for such a long time? Why?

Hon. PF Members: Hammer.

Mrs Sinyangwe: How and for what reason should Zambia allow itself to be an exporter of Zambian school leavers and their hard earned kwacha-dollars to Australian, British, American, South African and Namibian universities?

Hon. PF Members: Tell them.

Mrs Sinyangwe: Mr Speaker, a number of countries, including those within this region are reported to have close to eighteen universities. Zimbabwe and Kenya are good examples. What is important to note and understand is that not all universities have been built from the scratch or owned and managed by the State. In other countries, one finds national institutions, the public/private partnerships, that is, owned by government and non-governmental organisations, a faith or community based organisations and private universities. This means that a student who can afford the fees charged in a private university guarantees a place for a less fortunate colleague in a much cheaper national university. In the same vein, a teacher’s agricultural or college of health built, say in the 1970s, which is allowed to graduate into a university college today, opens the way for younger colleges to be built. How is it possible that in our country, a teacher’s college like the Kitwe Teachers Training College can be born in the 1970s and believe it or not, remains that same baby some thirty years later?

Hon. PF Members: Shame.

Mrs Sinyangwe: Besides the Government’s failure to provide adequate university places, it has also failed to promote distant education, notwithstanding the efforts of the recent private initiative of the Zambia Open University. The Government indeed should support, in full, such initiatives. Neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Tanzania have very good open universities, thereby availing citizens opportunities to learn without leaving their workplaces.

The Government should have a deliberate policy in place to improve distant education in the country. It should set up an Open University College, as people are hungry for education. We have seen universities that come here and people pay so much. I am sure we can save our people a lot of money.

Mr Speaker, the current situation actually begs for the establishment of nine universities, one per province in not more than ninety days.

Hon. Government Members: Aah!

Mrs Sinyangwe: Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Education is aware of this fact, as well as of the fact that there is more qualified personnel on the ground than the country needs.

Mr Speaker, there is yet one critical area of concern in the curriculum policy that needs to be attended to by the current Government as a matter of priority. Given the high levels of unemployment, the opportunities provided by information and communication technology and the need for a culture of productivity and production, better and more meaningful linkages need to be established.

Mr Speaker, I would like to state, in concluding my submission, that education is a human right. As such, the Government has a responsibility to promote and facilitate learning for all categories of its citizens. Zambia is a signatory to the United Nations Conversion to provide education to all, but we are failing. This refers to the children, the youth and the adults, and in terms of vulnerability, the special education needs learners, the non-reading adults, especially women and girls and other disadvantaged groups. Each of these has their own needs which must be exclusively met as such. In the same vein, teacher training, teacher award systems and conditions of service will require rationalising so that teachers are sufficiently motivated to deliver according to the expectations of the people.

Lastly, the Government should not pride itself in employing teachers in a piecemeal manner. Nobody is impressed by announcing figures. The Government should realise that it has an obligation to find teachers for its pupils rather than find employment for teachers. We have a lot of children and I was privileged in the Ministry of Education to touch every corner …

Mr Sichilima: But you failed!

Mrs Sinyangwe: … of Zambia and I know what I am talking about. I am talking from reality, I am not talking from the research papers that we see, maybe, those that come from people who do not understand Zambia. Our teachers do not need to be in the compounds, and yet we say, tomorrow, we will recruit 1,000 or 2,000. We need these teachers to be in the right place and the right place is the classroom.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. Banda (Lumezi): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me a chance to talk on behalf of the people of Lumezi. I would also like to thank you for giving me an opportunity to make my maiden speech to this august House and congratulate Madam Speaker and the Deputy Chairman of Committees on scooping their positions in this House unopposed.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. Banda: That shows the great trust that this House has in you. May the Lord God bless you as you lead this House for the next five years.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. Banda: I would also like to thank my fellow MMD Members of Parliament for championing the just ended heavily contested General Elections.

Interruptions

Mr I. Banda: I would also like to congratulate all the appointed Members of Parliament and Ministers in our beloved and well focused New Deal Government.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. Banda: Last, but not least, I would also like to congratulate all Opposition Party Presidents in our country and their Members of Parliament on having participated in the elections. Without their participation, we would have had an assassination of the democracy that the New Deal Government aspires for.

Laughter

Mr I. Banda: Mr Speaker, allow me also to thank my party, the Movement for Multi Party Democracy for adopting me as the candidate for Lumezi Constituency and the only seat which was won by the MMD in Lundazi District. May God bless the people of Lumezi for giving me their vote to be their Member of Parliament. By electing me, the people of Lumezi have expressed their need to urgently look into their problems.

Mr Speaker, Lumezi is situated in the Northern part of the Eastern Province in Lundazi District. the constituency is divided into two physical features, the valley and the plateau. There are three chiefdoms in the valley and three on the plateau. Due to these different features of the environment, the living styles of the people also differ.

The plateau climate favours the growing of maize and this is the main food crop. The soils are fertile, but they need additional fertility from fertilisers. Mainly, the people on the plateau are peasant farmers and use traditional methods of farming and this makes them very poor and cannot find money to buy fertilisers for commercial use.

Mr Speaker, through you, I would like to thank the New Deal Government for giving us the Fertiliser Support Programme that has necessitated our people to have surplus food. This can be seen from the outcry of good markets of the crop in the area. Plenty of maize has been sold to the Food Reserve Agency, but many people have not been given their dues to date.

Mr Speaker, in his opening address to Parliament, our President committed himself to taking care of the welfare of the poor people in rural areas by increasing the Fertiliser Support Programme from 50 per cent to 60 per cent subsidy. I, on behalf of the people of my constituency, thank him very much.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. Banda: The agency that requires much attention is the FRA. In my area, people have to travel long distances of more than twenty kilometres in search of markets. If ever a market could be found, the money meant for the produce could not be paid there and then. The poor peasant farmers are made to wait for their money and at the moment, there are long queues of farmers at the National Commercial Bank branch which failed to honour the payments to our farmers.

Hon. PF Members: Tell them!

Mr I. Banda: The whole Lundazi District has had this problem from the time FRA started buying maize from farmers. How then do we realise the 60 per cent that our caring President has given to the poor peasant farmers? The peasant farmers’ money owed by the FRA is the same money that the poor people need to pay the 40 per cent that the Government wants for fertilisers. Can we, as a country, have another bumper harvest next year if the farmers’ money is still with FRA?

Hon. PF Members: No!

Mr I. Banda: I would humbly ask the hon. Minister responsible to check on the work of our District Agricultural Co-ordinating Officer (DACO) in Lundazi and find out what is causing the delays in paying the farmers. Our people have problems; they need money for their upkeep, send children to school and buy medical drugs that are not available in clinics.

Mr Speaker, taxation on farm produce will bring down production especially of tobacco and cotton which the people of my constituency dependent on for their economic livelihood. Already, this year, the situation in my area has changed because most peasant farmers who grew tobacco have not planted their nurseries. Usually, by November, nurseries should have been ready for transplanting, but because of the same tax that was levied, most of the farmers got nothing from their produce.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives should also look at what the Tobacco Board of Zambia (TBZ) is doing.

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! The hon. Member for Lumezi has not invited the House to loudly participate in his debate, but to listen.

May he continue.

Mr I. Banda: In my area, the Tobacco Association of Zambia commonly known as TAZ are regarded as thieves bent on eating the sweat of farmers …

Laughter

Mr I. Banda: … on the pretext of negotiating on behalf of farmers for better prices of their produce. When the promised Tax Policy for the 2007 Budget is announced, we hope that there will be no third parties in the sale of these commodities between farmers and buyers, such as the TBZ and TAZ. The Government has good intensions for farmers, but such bodies make people react against the Government. I was pleased with the President’s Address on taxation in the last paragraph and the last two phrases where he said, and I quote, “In addition, the Minister will also announce tax incentives for investment in rural areas, with special buyers for agriculture and processing of agro-produce. Enterprises employing more women and the youth should also receive special tax treatment”.

Mr Speaker, if we mean to deliver what our people want, we should work to realise this noble tax goal as Members of Parliament, together with the Government

Mr Speaker, I would like to urge the Food Reserve Agency to revisit their system of crop marketing and prepare for the next year’s marketing season. They should put up permanent marketing points, especially in my area, at all the three permanent sheds that are now not being used. These sheds were built to store maize and other crops as a reserve points for food for any emergencies of hunger in these areas. Today, they are empty and the FRA conduct markets under trees or rented buildings such as what is happening at Lumezi Centre Selling point.

Mr Speaker, the FRA should also be given money to buy multi-crops such as groundnuts and soya beans from farmers.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. Banda: In my area, people do not find a ready market for groundnuts and soya beans. They end up selling more crops to briefcase businessmen at exploitative prices or they just take them to a common market called Kabwandila across the border in Malawi.

Interruptions

Mr I. Banda: Why should we lose our agricultural produce to other countries at no profit? There is an urgent need to correct this situation. Most of the farm produce in my area and Lundazi as a whole is sold to Malawi which seems to be replacing our markets in the district. If, as a country, we want to empower our citizens economically and make them produce a bumper harvest of maize or groundnuts continuously, we, as a Government, need to put up ready markets and favourable prices to attract farmers to grow more and use already existing sheds for storage.

Mr Speaker, if our people have enough money and produce as a payment for their twelve-month labour in the field, that would be campaign enough for all of us to sit in this House, overcoming evacuation from any general election  that would ever come.

Laughter

Mr I. Banda: Mr Speaker, Mwasemphangwe Farming Scheme was introduced by the previous Government as a pivot in rural development in providing employment to the local community and as an industry for food production. Today, Mwasemphangwe Farming Scheme has been turned into a settlement for retirees from urban areas and elsewhere. It has been turned into villages with title deeds. There are many factors leading to this.

Sir, the start was that the area was demarcated into positions of about twenty-five hectares or more each. With good service of roads around, all the more than two hundred farmers have title deeds by now. For more than fifteen years now, the roads have not been graded and there are no bridges, rendering it difficult for a farmer to transport his or her farm produce to the market which is about one hundred kilometres away from Lundazi Boma.

Mr Speaker, on behalf of my employers, the electorates, I humbly ask the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives to consider building a permanent shed for FRA so that farmers can access fertiliser all year round. We also need a house for the Agriculture Extension Officer to help this big number of farmers. The ministry should also help the farmers by giving them small loans for water pumps for gardens. Further, why should we not be part and parcel of the much talked about Cattle Restocking Exercise in the Southern Province? That exercise can also be extended to this farming block after scientific research by veterinary experts.

Mr Speaker, the President in his address to this House, under Agriculture, on Paragraph 3, said and I quote, “the strategy will involve the development of rural markets, provision of infrastructure, agriculture and financial services. In this regard, small-scale farmers will continue receiving support under the Fertiliser Support Programme.”

Mr Speaker, I would humbly appeal to our beloved Government to give this farming block some financial help through the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives to build dams to encourage gardening and fish farming and also as a source of drinking water for domestic animals. In this area, we also need many boreholes as more than a hundred of the farmers drink water from shallow wells and streams that dry up very quickly. This poses a big health hazard to many farmers in this area.

Mr Speaker, I would also be failing in my duty if I do not talk about farming in the valley which comprises three chiefdoms as I have said already. The soil in the valley is very poor except on the river banks where most of the people plant their crops. As a result of using river banks for farming, the crops are swept away by floods every year and people are left without food. Last rainy season, in February and March, all the crop was swept away by the floods and the moment, people have no food. In areas furthest from the Boma such as Mkhasanga in Chief Mwanya which is more than one hundred and eighty kilometres away …

Laughter

Mr I. Banda: … people live on boiled mangoes. I am urgently asking the Government to come in quickly and send relief food to all the areas of the three chiefdoms namely, Kazembe, Chitungulu, and Mwanya before the onset of rains.

Laughter

Mr I. Banda: Mr Speaker, this is a serious matter which needs an urgent solution.

Mr Speaker, the main crop of these people is rice which is for consumption as well as sell. Sorghum and maize is also grown in small quantities because of lack of fertiliser. Like their counterparts on the plateau, they also lack markets for their produce. As a result of having no money, rice becomes a means of exchange for other valuables.

Mr Speaker, in the field of education, we have a lot of problems. Many young men and women do not know how to read and write because either there is no school in their area or the parents have no money to send them to school. We appreciate the efforts made by our Government to introduce free education from Grades 1 to 7. Those who may be enjoying this right to education up to Grade 7 may be those that have a Government built and registered school. However, at such schools, you will find that the PTA may need money to construct either latrines and the like, and each pupil may need to contribute so much money each year for such amenities. This, in one-way or the other, forces pupils to stop school because many parents have no money to contribute. This, in a way, automatically replaces school fees. In community middle basic schools, it is the local communities that look into the welfare of running such schools, meaning each pupil or parent has to contribute to this.

Mr Speaker, the education problem has a large economic bearing on the illiteracy that we want to eradicate in our society. In my constituency, three quarters of the Middle Basic Schools are community schools constructed with pole and mud, with untrained volunteer teachers with no houses to live on and salaries. For this reason, I am requesting the Government through you, Mr Speaker, to construct and register the following schools in my constituency:

(a) Mpheluke;

(b) Kachunga,

(c) Viyombo;

(d) Chanyalubwe;

(e) Vyasoyo;

(f) Kapaipi;

(g) Chipumulo;

(h) Kamo;

(i) Kangowe;

(j) Kamphanda;

(k) Kamnkhongono;

(l) Kamtola;

(m) Ndundundu;

(n) Kachama;

(o) Kavukula;

(p) Chamkoma;

(q) Lupampha;

(r) Mbuluzi;

(s) Kalindi;

(t) Chafisi;

(u) Kasasa;

(v) Mtimbasonjo; and

(w) Njoka to mention but a few in all the six chiefdoms of my big constituency.

Mr Speaker, we want Mpingozi Basic School to be upgraded to a high school. I would like to remind the Ministry of Education that a classroom block under construction at this school was abandoned and I am told that the contractor was paid, but has ran away. According to information, the owner of that company is now one of the hon. Members of Parliament in this House.

Therefore, the hon. Minister of Education should follow up this issue and put the culprit to task because the people of Lumezi want the classroom block to be completed soon. Other basic schools that need to be upgraded to high school are Chikomeni, Katengwa, Chaomba, Kazembe, Chitungulu, Mwanya and Chasela. Lumimba Day High School should be turned into a boarding school to cater for three Chiefdoms in the valley.

Sir, the problem of lack of teachers was answered by His Excellency the President when he said that more teachers will be recruited. To that effect, we are very thankful in advance. During the past five years, there have been a good number of achievements made by the New Deal Government in the area of Education.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. C. Banda: Mr Speaker, a good modern boarding high school was constructed by the Chinese at Lumezi Centre and seven staff houses were built at Lumimba Day High School in Chief Chitungulu’s area. Two staff houses were also built at Diwa Middle Basic School and some renovations were made to some classroom blocks and some staff houses.

Mr Silavwe: Hear, hear!

Mr I. C. Banda: We would therefore, like to thank the New Deal Government for that commendable job.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. C. Banda: Mr Speaker, again, let me comment on the New Deal Government for scraping medical user fees in rural areas.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr I. C. Banda. Issues that need to be addressed are:

(a) The much needed skilled labour to rural clinics; and

(b) making drugs available in these clinics – it is not true to say that we have free medical services when a clinic is just serving patients with prescriptions to buy drugs …

Laughter

Mr I. C. Banda: … even the cheapest panadol.

Laughter

Mr I. C. Banda: Mr Speaker, I would like to comment on the uncaring attitude by these unskilled and skilled workers in clinics and some of the hospitals in my constituency. Since the introduction of free medical services in rural areas, long queues have been noticed. Patients wait for more that three hours unattended to. I know that it could be as a result of the free medical scheme that has attracted many patients, but that should not be taken as a reason to punish patients. Therefore, I would like to call on the new hon. Minister of Health to remind the people in-charge of hospitals and clinics especially in my district, Lundazi and the urban clinic in particular which is also a filter clinic for every admission to our district hospital to attend to patients as quickly as possible.

Mr Speaker, as I have already said many times in my speech, Lumezi Constituency is very big and has six chiefdoms. Due to this vastness in size and a growing population, health services are thinly distributed. We have very few Government clinics supplemented by mission clinics and NGOs, health posts, especially in the valley area. Our call is that the Government should at least build a hospital at Chitungulu which is a central place in the valley to accommodate patients in the three chiefdoms. This area is very far from the district hospital. Other distant areas are more than 180 Kilometres away. Therefore, carrying a patient all the way to the clinic on ungraded roads is not healthy.

Sir, before this move is taken, the immediate thing that the Government needs to do is provide us with an ambulance at Chitungulu to transfer patients from any area of the valley to the district hospital. We also need the Government to build clinics for us in Chafisi, Katube, Chanyalubwe, Vyasoyo, Chatemwa, Mtimbasonjo, Zokwe, Mbuzi, Yakhobe, Casela and Mkasanga.

Mr Speaker, these places are so far from existing health posts that antenatal mothers and under-five children are denied the most needed health services.

Mr Speaker, with regard to the area of health, the New Deal Administration has also made a number of achievements in my constituency and the people of Lundazi are humbled by this.

Mr Speaker: Order! The hon. Member’s time has expired.

Laughter

Mr Kanyanyamina (Kanchibiya): Mr Speaker, to begin with, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the Speaker of the House on his unopposed election to the Chair of the House.

Sir, my special tribute goes to the Deputy Speaker of this House, Hon. Mutale Nalumango who comes from the north and represents gender balance in the House.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the Chairman of Committees on his election to this House. We, as opposition parties have confidence in your performance in this House. History shows that you have worked successfully under different presidents of the country and you have vast experience. To you, Sir, I say congratulations as we well as to the other elected hon. Members of this august House.

Sir, I also want to pay tribute to the Patriotic Front President, Mr Michael Chilufya Sata and his hard working secretariat for having adopted me as their candidate who successfully won the seat.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Special thanks also go to the people of Kanchibiya Constituency for electing me as their representative in this House. I shall always attempt to be their voice for their hope and vision, problems and tribulations.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Mr Speaker, I would like to pick one issue as my starting point. This comes from the Speech of His Excellency, the President concerning reconciliation.

Sir, the President’s Speech emphasised the point not to practise partisan politics as the elections are now over. Partisan practices would only be retrogressive to Zambia.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Mr Speaker, His Excellency encouraged the House to discuss matters of national development and unity. In my view, this sounds encouraging for our nation’s democracy and its economic growth.

Mr Speaker, I salute the President for having welcomed all Opposition Hon. Members of Parliament, as it is important to do so especially when it comes to the fight against corruption.

As Opposition, however, we will only feel the so much talked about reconciliation once we experience the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood in reality. The hon. Ministers and their Deputies should set a good example of interacting freely with the Opposition Members of Parliament, especially when they start recognising and appreciating Members of Parliament of the area during their routine trips to the districts. By this, I mean that they should not only end up at the civic centre or the District Commissioner’s Office. The electorates out there want to see their leaders.

The President should also set an example of freely talking to all hon. Members regardless of their political affiliation. So far, he has only talked to hon. Members of Parliament of the MMD at State House. This is the reason I am saying reconciliation has to be in deed and not nice words only.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Mr Speaker, another important matter is the practice of awarding contracts to contractors. The Local Government is not yet involved in the process of awarding contracts, but these contractors are supposed to bring development to our districts. The grassroots and beneficiaries of the developmental activities are not involved in the process, but only the provincial team is involved. We have no say in the process. How viable is this? How can we fight corruption in the real sense if the local community is not even involved in choosing contractors through their elected representatives? I would like to give you an example. When Polio or other immunisation campaigns are launched, we usually get transporters from as far as Lusaka, yet the local transporters could have done the job easily and the money would stay in the district, thus contributing to the development of the area.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

 Mr Kanyanyamina: To choose local transporters can also help in the fight against AIDS because these drivers return to their families in the evening, unlike the drivers from afar who tend to look for temporary wives.

Mr Speaker, I challenge the hon. Minister of Works and Supply to quickly sort out the issue of corruption in the tender boards if we really want to have quality work done in time for different projects. For example, the road leading to Chief Chiundaponde’s area in my constituency has not been worked on for years now although money has been allocated. In Chikuni, in the Bangweulu Swamps, there is the famous Black Lechwe and the Shoebill Stork. Tourists would like to see the animals, but they have to travel for five gruelling hours from Mpika to Chiundaponde although the distance is only 187 kilometres from Mpika town, out which 70 kilometres is tarmac on the Great North Road. Out of the 117 of dirt road, only 20 kilometres have been worked on from the main road. Reliable information reveals that this time, there is a new contractor by the name of F and G Sykes based in Ndola who has been given the contract for grading the road. They are supposed to be on site at the moment, but they have not been seen yet. Could the hon. Minister kindly come to our aid as quickly as possible. It is every Zambian’s right to have a good road especially if the achievement of the HIPIC Completion Point has to bear fruit. Otherwise, we, again, disappoint the already desperate Zambians on issues of development.

Mr Kambwili: Tell them!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Mr Speaker, contracts such as those for slashing grass along the side of the roads do not need people from the province to do them, as local councils can handle them very easily. This ensures that more money remains in the district. Are Mpika residents unable to cut grass? Are the people of Kasama better slashers? Could the Hon. Minister concerned sort out this issue?

Sir, Kanchibiya Constituency has a large population that needs good medical attention from the Government. Rural health centres are usually manned by clinical officers, but do not have the equipment and reasonable stocks of drugs. After the scraping of user fees, no alternative source of funds has been put in place so far, hence these medical institutions face the following problems:

(a) An increase in the number of patients on an already stretched workforce;

(b) increased stock-outs of drugs and medical supplies;

(c) increased indirect costs for patients who are now told to bring with them gloves for delivery, or sent away with a prescription to buy drugs hence facing increased transport costs, which can be sorted out easily;

(d) not improved standard of health care delivery and health status of communities;

(e) hospitals such as Chilonga, recently received a medical fees reimbursement schedule via the district, instead of directly to the hospital. It would have been more helpful if the scraping of user fees was anticipated before the implementation of free health services; and

(f) shortage of water and old infrastructure, leading to poor hygiene and compromising infection prevention measures.

Expectant mothers are carried on improvised stretchers called 'amachila' for distances of over forty kilometres to health centres for treatment. It is unacceptable to see a woman in labour crying of pain being carried in such a manner. This should not happen in this century when technology has improved greatly.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Mr Speaker, with regard to the issue of self-sustainability, Mpepo Rural Health Centre Committee has raised K8 million towards the purchase of an ambulance to be used for complicated cases that require a doctors’ attention who, in this case, are found at the two hospitals of the district, Mpika and Chilonga. I am reliably informed that the Republican President was informed during his last tour of Mpika about Mpepo’s need for an ambulance. I am humbly asking the concerned minister, Hon. Angela Cifire …

Mr Kambwili: Hon. Angela!

Laughter

Mr Kanyanyamina: Sorry, Hon. Angela Cifire to speak on behalf of the people of Mpika.

Hon. PF Members: Hammer!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Sir, Chambeshi Village, a place barely ten kilometres from the north of Mpepo, was given a brand new heavy duty transformer from Group Five Roads Africa during their road works between Mpika and Kasama as a gift. However, it needs the expertise of the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) to be connected.

Studies that have been conducted have proved that the community has enough customers. Let the people of Chambeshi benefit from the Rural Electrification Programme for 2007, since they already have a transformer. National development must be for a common good and not for a few blessed individuals of this country.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Mr Speaker, the Government must appreciate the work and services rendered by the Church and the NGOs to Kanchibiya in trying to alleviate poverty, disease and hunger. Otherwise, without them, we wonder what could have happened. We need to encourage them at all costs, but often they receive only intimidation and suspicion from the Government, which is unfair. These agencies of development need to be supported for doing a commendable job of spearheading development in the rural population.

Sir, let me remind this dignified House on the President’s Address on the land issue. He said land in Zambia was customary, meaning he could only intervene when the land given to investors was above 250 hectares. In my view, this will bring about land disputes since the local communities are not always fully aware of what is going on. They often do not see the full implications of the transaction. A point in case is the incident that happened in Chief Kopa and Luchembe’s area. The land in question was 50,000 hectares, but it became a national issue because that was a piece of land where people’s livelihood depended on. I wish to inform the minister involved not to listen to the Chiefs only on this land matter if corruption has to come to an end in the sector.

All stakeholders, that is people who need gardens and fields must have a say in the sale of land to investors. The whole process has to be much more transparent for all to see what is really involved in the issue. The best solution to the issue of Kopa would be an out-growers scheme where people can have their own land, but are assured of markets for their produce.

Mr Speaker, Mpika as a district has a lot of potential for both local and foreign investors. One of its largest potentials is in the tourism industry. The North Luangwa National Park proves to be the most natural park in the whole of Africa. In this park, tourists are able to view the Black Rhino which was restocked by well-wishers. More investment into the tourist industry should be encouraged.

Sir, Mpika District is rich in mineral reserves, mostly precious stones. The Government can use the already trained young men and women from our two universities to explore further and open up mines as one way of creating employment for the rural communities. It can solve problem of  unemployment among the youth and bring money to the district.

On agriculture, the Government has been praised so much this year. However, this is due to favourable rainfall, ...

Laughter

Mr Kanyanyamina: … especially when they talk of production of maize. What is not helping matters with regard to the marketing policy is that some farmers have not yet been paid after supplying their produce to the Food Reserve Agency.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: How do you expect a rural farmer to procure farm inputs such as fertiliser and seed when he or she has not been paid for their produce? It is unacceptable.

Mr Speaker, in November, every rural farmer is supposed to be preparing the land. We are talking of rural farmers whose livelihood depends on farming and there are no jobs at all. Sustainable development has to be encouraged. Growing crops such as Soya beans, groundnuts, cassava and others should be encouraged. FRA should come up with favourable marketing policies to avoid unscrupulous people who usually take advantage of the situation by cheating the villagers out of their profits. The villagers need money for schools fees and medical services.

Sir, Kopa area has for a long time been promised a high school, looking at the population and distance pupils have to cover to reach the few existing high schools in the district. I would like to follow up the issue of a high school for this area, and I will make it!  People need to know how far preparations have reached. They are already desperate to have the local school in Kopa upgraded, but they do not have basic facilities such as electricity and safe drinking water.

Mr Speaker, talking about schools in the district, Mpika Boys High School with a total enrolment of 764 boarders has no adequate water supply despite the school having bought its own submersible pump, which is non functional at the moment, as a solution to their water problems. However, they do not have the money to drill a bore hole. I would like to request the hon. Minister involved to urgently request the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) which is presently in Mpika drilling boreholes, to drill a bore hole for Mpika Boys High School.

Chalabesa Rural Health Centre which has been hit by a water shortage is failing to run the centre efficiently. Diseases such as dysentery and scabies have to be prevented at all cost. Boreholes must be sunk now when drilling operators are in the area. The communities cannot wait for another programme to start because they need the water now. Access to clean drinking water is a basic right and need for every normal human being unless there are some abnormalities.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kanyanyamina: Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I would like to point out very briefly that it is my firm belief that the electoral process still requires major amendments, if democracy is to thrive in our country. I am therefore, requesting the Republican President to give Zambia a new republican constitution during his last term, if possible by next year. There cannot be good development without good governance. There can be no good governance without a good constitution. We will only get a good constitution with a pledge from the Republican President to respond to the peoples’ request and desire.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sinyinda (Senanga): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to make my maiden speech.

Mr Speaker, may I take this opportunity to congratulate Madam Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairperson of the Committees of the whole House on their well-deserved election. May I also congratulate all hon. Members of this august House on being elected or re-elected to the House.

Mr Speaker, I also thank the gallant people of Senanga Constituency for electing me overwhelmingly as their Member of Parliament.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, I promise to work very had in order to meet their high expectations of development. I would be failing in my duties if I do not thank the President of my mighty party, MMD and his National Executive for adopting me as the Parliamentary candidate. I pledge total allegiance to my party and I promise to work extra hard to maintain the good name of the party.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, I would like to support the President’s Speech especially on the following items:

Firstly, I would like to comment on agriculture. Mr Speaker, may I join the President in congratulating the Zambian farmers on producing a bumper harvest. Sir, this is a manifestation of the good agricultural policies my Government has put in place.

Mr Speaker, may I take this opportunity, again, to ask the Government to send extension officers to my constituency, as some areas have no technical staff to impart knowledge and skills on the peasant farmers. People in my constituency used to grow a lot of rice, but they have been discouraged by the lack of a market. I, therefore, urge the Food Reserve Agency to start buying rice next year in order to encourage farmers to grow more rice.

Mr Speaker, my constituency has been affected by animal diseases such as Contagious Bovine Pleural Pneumonia (CBPP). Therefore, the cattle population has reduced tremendously. I am, therefore, appealing to the hon. Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives to extend the Cattle Restocking Programme to the Western Province in general and Senanga in particular.

Mr Speaker, in the past five years, the New Deal Government has done a lot in terms of health delivery in my constituency where four more rural health centres have been constructed. Many people have been accessing ARVs and the same people have also been getting free food to sustain their lives.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sinyinda: However, Sir, I still appeal to the hon. Minister of Health to construct more rural health centres, as the distance between some health centres is still very big.

 Sir, my constituency has also benefited from the road rehabilitation programme in the Western Province. As you may know, the road between Mongu and Lusaka is being rehabilitated the moment, thereby enabling people in my constituency to have business transactions between Lusaka and Senanga. The road between Livingstone and Sesheke has also been rehabilitated and a bridge has been constructed on the Zambezi River at Katimamulilo.

Mr Speaker, as a result of the good works that have been done on the roads mentioned above, I ask the Government to extend this to the Senanga/Mongu Road that has been rehabilitated half way. I also ask the Government to construct a road between Senanga and Sesheke and a road between Senanga via Kalongola to Kalabo and Sikongo. Another road should be constructed between Senanga and Lumbe and a bridge at Lui River.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, on education, the New Deal Government has done a lot in my constituency. Before the New Deal Government came into power, there was only one teacher per school, but now we have, at least, a minimum of four teachers per school and congratulations to the New Deal Government for this.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sinyinda: Mr Speaker, on tourism, I would like to say that Senanga Town, which is in Senanga Constituency, is a tourist attraction. It has the famous Senanga Safaris and as you may know, it is situated on the bank of the mighty Zambezi River. On the Zambezi River, we have the beautiful Sioma Falls. As you may know again, Senanga is in the Western Province where the beautiful Kuomboka Ceremony takes place in March or April every year. Sir, it is in the same vein that I extend my invitation to the hon. Members of this august House to visit Senanga whenever they think of holiday making.

Mr Speaker, on disaster management and mitigation, I commend the New Deal Government for coming to the aid of the people of Senanga Constituency during the famine that befell the constituency. The Government delivered food stuff such as maize, mealie meal, cooking oil and many others promptly. However, while the rest of the country had a bumper harvest, my constituency had very little yield due to heavy rains which washed away the crop. I am, therefore, asking the office of His Honour the Vice- President to urgently come to the aid of the constituency by providing relief food and seed.

Mr Speaker, on water and energy, I would like to thank the New Deal Government for sinking a good number of boreholes in my constituency and for supplying a new water pump to Senanga Town. In fact, the town has water for twenty-four hours, unless the pump is broken down. However, I still urge the Government to put up more boreholes so that our people can have safe and clean water. I am also asking the Government to construct a hydro electric power station at Sioma Falls so as to supply power to the whole of Western Province and at the same time export to neighbouring Angola.

Mr Speaker, on mining, I would like to pay tribute to the New Deal Government for doing so well in the mining industry, especially by opening new mines in the North- Western Province. I also would like to thank the Government for its tireless efforts to prospect for new sources of minerals in the various parts of the country. In the same vein, may I appeal to the Government to extend prospecting of minerals to the Western Province.

Mr Speaker, on Defence and Security, may I pay special tribute to the New Deal Government for making our borders more secure and safe by promoting dialogue with our neighbours. I want to recognise the fact that the border between Zambia and Angola is more secure and safer now than ever before because of the New Deal Government’s policies.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Sinyinda: May I also pay special tribute to our gallant men and women in uniform for their hard work. However, Sir, I would like the Government to ensure that all those refugees who may have run away from their camps when others were being repatriated, to be rounded up and be repatriated to their countries of origin as they can cause a security risk to the country.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simama (Kalulushi): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to present my maiden speech in this august House.

Mr Speaker, to begin with, I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the people who, in one way or the other, contributed to my being elected Member of Parliament for Kalulushi Constituency.

In this regard, Mr Speaker, I wish to pay special thanks to the President of the Patriotic Front (PF), Mr Michael Sata, for adopting and supporting me both in the by-election and the general election. I would like to thank my party at all levels of the province, district, constituency and the lower organs for their support during the elections and this time.

I wish to give special thanks to hon. Dr Guy Scot for the encouragement he gave me, hon. Davies Mwila and Mr Soko among others who spearheaded my campaign and eventual victory.

I also want to thank the people of Kalulushi, Chambishi, Chibuluma, in short, people of Kalulushi Constituency for casting their votes in my favour.

Mr Speaker, allow me to congratulate the people of Zambia on having conducted the elections in a very peaceful manner. May God give more integrity to the people of Zambia.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simama: Mr Speaker, education is a key to development. Without a proper educational foundation it is not possible to develop our country. Kalulushi Constituency has no high school. Therefore, I wish to appeal to the Ministry of Education to consider building three high schools.

Mr Speaker, 30 per cent of people in Kalulushi live in peri-urban areas. Most of these children walk a long way to school and the schools are community schools. It is the responsibility of the Government to educate citizens. So I am appealing to the Government to budget for peri-urban schools.

Mr Speaker, there is a need, also, to give incentives such as rural hardship allowance to teachers to attract them to peri-urban schools.

Health

Mr Speaker, the majority of Zambians are not able to benefit from the scraped off medical user fees in rural areas because of the following:

(a) First and foremost, there are no clinics; and

(b) where there are clinics, drugs are not readily available, people are referred to drug stores to buy prescribed medicine which poor people cannot afford.

Hon. Opposition Member: Shame!

Mr Simama: Mr Speaker, we need more medical personnel in Kalulushi, that is doctors, nurses and para-medics. At the moment, Kalulushi has only one doctor and no ambulance.

Mr Speaker, Chambishi Metals Mine refer patients to Luanshya Mine Hospital, a distance of more than forty kilometres, making it difficult for families to visit patients and also risk patients, including victims of mine accidents travelling long distance to seek medical attention. These include mine accidents. I ask the Ministry of Health to look into this matter.

Road Infrastructure

Mr Speaker, the road infrastructure in the district is very bad, especially, the road from Kitwe to Kalulushi. It has been eaten up on the sides, hence it has become narrow and has very big potholes. There is a need to rehabilitate the whole road.

Mr Speaker, there is also a need to work on the Kitwe/Chingola Road. The road has become very busy after opening the mines in Chingola, Chililabombwe, Solwezi and Mwinilunga. In Chambishi town there are many deaths usually caused by road accidents because the road is a single lane. There is a need to have a dual carriageway constructed. In this case, I would like to urge the Ministry of Works and Supply to take note of this serious cry from the people of Chambishi.

Mr Speaker, the other road which needs attention is the Kitwe via Chibuluma Township to Kasempa turn-off. This road is very cardinal in the sense that it is the key road to Lufwanyama District. It is through this road that all the farm produce is transported to the Kitwe and Lusaka markets. All feeder roads and streets within the constituency are not tarred.

Land

Mr Speaker, there are disputes in my area relating to land and these are as follows:

(a) Land to the west of Hybrid Farms along Mufulira Road was sold to Hybrid whilst there are people living on this land;

(b) land leading to the South-Downs Airport was sold to Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation;

(c) land near Olympic called Kwamwenye was sold to Olympic Milling Company;

(d) in Misenge area a new mine is coming up; and

(e) on new Hybrid land, NFC Mine is putting up a leaching plant.

Looking at these areas I have mentioned, it means almost 2000 people will be displaced.

Hon. Government Member interjected.

Laughter

Mr Simama: Hon. Minister of Lands, what guarantee do we have that these people will be given money to help them start new farms?

Agriculture

Mr Speaker, people of Kalulushi always complain about the late delivery of fertiliser and when it gets there, it is not well distributed, leaving non-partisan farms with potential without fertiliser.

Business was suspended from 1610 hours until 1630 hours.

Mr Simama: Mr Speaker, before business was suspended, I was about to talk about the bumper harvest. Let me observe the presence of Reverends Nyirongo and Shikapwasha. When the President came to give his speech, we were all expecting him to announce a one-day national prayer to pray for the rains that God gave us in 2005, …

Hon. Opposition Members: Yes.

Mr Simama: …but we were disappointed that it was not the case …

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simama: … and we were disappointed that most of the people are saying there is a bumper harvest, when it was God given.

Interruptions

Mr Simama: Mr Speaker, Kalulushi Constituency is surrounded by three big mine spaces, Hybrid Company and the ZAFICO plantation, leaving very little area for farming. Most of the farmers have not been given title deeds and are referred to as squatters. There is a need to demarcate these areas so that people can live on their farms freely, develop them and produce more food.

Water

Mr Speaker, water is a big issue in Kalulushi. In big townships such as Chibuluma, there is no single pipe for water. In Chambishi Mine area water trickles from the pipes. There is a need to connect them to the mine plant which receives plenty of water from the Kafue Pump Station.

Mr Speaker, Kalululshi receives water from Kitwe and it is rationed at times. As a result, there is no water in Kalulushi Town when we could very easily get water from Mwambashi Pump Station.

Mr Kakoma passed near the debater.

Hon. Members: Order!

Mr Simama: I am asking the Government to consider people in the peri-urban areas by giving them hand pumps. We all know that water is life.

Mining

Mr Speaker, in my area, we have Chibuluma Mine although it is in Lufwanyama, but all the workers live in Kalulushi. We have Chambishi Metals and NFC Mines, but the biggest problem we have with some of these mines are the poor conditions of service. The Zambian workers complain a lot, as they have not been given the money they worked for in ZCCM. Casualisation has been discussed at various meetings to put it to an end, but there is no one to implement this.

Mr Speaker the his Excellency the President, Mr Patrick Levy Mwanawasa, SC, promised that he would sell the mine to new buyers within two weeks after his address. The mine was closed and filled with water while although it still had some copper deposits.

Hon. Opposition Member: Shame!

Mr Simama: Mr Speaker, I would like to inform the hon. Minister of Mines and Minerals Development that the people of Kalulushi and Zambians at large want a report on this issue.

Sir, in some instances Zambians are more qualified than e expatriates. However, it is surprising that these Zambians are paid less than their expatriate counterparts.

Mr Speaker, there was a company in my constituency called Bigrim which was owned by some Chinese investors. It used to make explosives. It was at this company where an accident occurred and we lost forty-six Zambian employees.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Simama: To date, there has been no report on this issue. However, a new factory is under construction for Bigrim. I would like to know what measures have been put in place to ensure such accidents do not occur, because this Government seems to be in support of the Chinese.

Mr Speaker, at NFC Mine, workers went on strike at one time. They were demanding for better conditions of service. The Chinese shot and injured some of the workers, and yet we have not seen any action by the Government. These people have not been compensated. Is this the way we are going to live in our own country where when we cry for our rights, we are shot at? Where is the Government to protect us?

Interruptions

Mr Simama: Mr Speaker, Kalulushi has many mines, but people of Kalulushi do not benefit from these mines. There is a need to revisit the conditions put in the agreements when these mines were sold. Some royalties should go to the local Government for the development of the constituency. There is a need for these mine owners to put up a scheme for building houses for workers. They are using the infrastructure which was built by ZCCM. When they complete the mining of copper, they leave the country without any development.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simama: Sir, copper is not replaceable, hence the need to have reserves of copper for future use. If we mine all of it now, what will our grandchildren and the Government which will come five years from now, find?

Mr Speaker, with regard to rural electrification in my constituency, areas such as Chibuluma, Chambeshi, Zambia Compound, etc, have no electricity lines. If people who live in low cost areas within the urban areas and former mine areas cannot afford to pay their bills because of lack of employment and high ZESCO tariffs, how will the rural people manage to pay for electricity with these high tariffs?

Sir, in my area, the Forestry Department and ZAFFICO used to be the second biggest employer after the mines. However, they have since gone down. Twenty years ago, we used to have 50,000 hectares of pine trees and 10,000 hectares of eucalyptus trees. It is very sad that the only activity going on now is harvesting and protection and sivilculture are no longer in existence. This has contributed to the lack of employment in my area.

Mr Speaker, there is a need to promote sustainable forestry management in Zambia. This need has been recognised in the Fifth National Development Plan in the chapter on Natural Resources. This was also expressed in the Ninth Parliament. This can be supported as follows:

(a) Deforestation – There is a need to equip the Forestry Department with tools to monitor and conduct forestry inventories in the forest reserves. The creation of a Forestry Management Branch or unit that was abolished in 1997, is one good idea;

(b) there is a need to activate the 1999 Forestry Act which calls for the establishment of the Zambia Forestry Commission (ZAFCOM) and the implementation of Joint Forestry Management (JFM) at national level. Since the Act of 1999 was not enacted, it has not been implemented. This means that the Forestry Act of 1973 is till in force in view of its top-down approach where foresters are looked upon as policemen. However, a Statutory Instrument was passed to pilot Joint Forestry Management in selected areas of the country;

(c) there is a need to revisit the concessions of our forestry reserves/products, in accordance with the Citizen Empowerment Act which allows Zambians to own licences and foreign nationals to be shareholders. Currently, there are many foreigners owning concession licences at the expense of Zambians.

(d) with regard to the ban on the export of raw timber, the Government should promote export of processed timber products or value added products in order to increase the contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Currently, our timber is value added in the Republic of South Africa. It is then exported to Europe and other countries, including Zambia at a higher price, exploiting Zambians;

(e) Zambia ratified the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change on 5th October, 2006, as efforts should be made to move towards carbon trading in forest reserves that are not sustainably managed.

(f) as regards strengthening of forestry research, including forestry products, currently, research on forestry is a dead issue. The Government needs to inject more funds to develop better sivilculture and technology in timber growing and production of charcoal;

(g) there is also a need for the implementation of international conventions. Zambia is a signatory to more than twenty-five environmental conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversion (CBD), Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCFCCC). In order to adequately implement these conventions, Zambia needs representation at the United Nations Missions in Nairobi, Geneva and New York.

Mr Speaker, opening up an environmental desk in these missions to play an advisory role to our foreign missions who have no experts in environmental issues is a wonderful idea. Other countries which have exploited these options are performing very well on the international arena. They have attracted a lot of recognition and support from donors because of the importance their governments have attached to environmental issues.

Finally, Sir, allow me, once again, to thank you for allowing me to present my maiden speech. May the Almighty God bless us all as we actively contribute towards the development of our country, Zambia.

I thank you, Sir.

The Deputy Minister for Lusaka Province (Mr Shawa): Mr Speaker, I rise to debate the Motion of Thanks on the Presidential Speech of the Official Opening of the First Session of the Tenth National Assembly on 27th October, 2006, in this august House. I will start by thanking you for giving me this opportunity to give my maiden speech.

Sir, I wish to commend the mover of this Motion, Hon. Tembo, MP for Nyimba Constituency and the seconder of the Motion, Hon. Musokotwane, MP for Katombola Constituency.

Mr Speaker, at this juncture, I wish to join the many previous speakers and all well- meaning Zambians in congratulating you on your unopposed re-election as Speaker of this House. This is a clear manifestation of the confidence and trust all the Members of Parliament have in you.

Sir, I would like to congratulate the hon. Madam Deputy Speaker on making an indelible mark in the history of this House by being the first female Deputy Speaker who also went through unopposed. There could have been no better choice than you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shawa: I know her very well as a fellow educationist. You have done all the women of this country immeasurable pride. You are simply great and I salute you.

Mr Speaker, I would like to congratulate Hon. Mkondo Lungu, Member of Parliament for Lundazi on being re-elected Deputy Chairman of Committees for the Whole House. He is a man of immense experience in this area and some of us shall, indeed, benefit a lot from his invaluable knowledge, wisdom and guidance.

Sir, may I pay special tribute to the people of Luangwa for electing me as their Member of Parliament. We won the elections convincingly. I also wish to thank His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zambia, for appointing me as Provincial Minister for Lusaka Province.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shawa: I would like to take this opportunity to assure the people of Lusaka Province that I will endeavour to implement Government policies in a transparent and accountable manner.

Mr Speaker, with regard to agriculture, may I, at the outset, commend the President for increasing the subsidy on the National Fertiliser Support Programme from 50 to 60 per cent of fertiliser and seed. In Lusaka Province, 8,000 x 50kg bags of fertiliser and 20,000 x 10kg bags of seed have been allocated in the current season compared to 70,000 bags of fertiliser last season. This will benefit 10,000 farmers in my province, compared to 8,250 last year.

Mr Speaker, may I join His Excellency the President in thanking the farmers who worked hard to produce so much food in the province. The Food Reserve Agency has already purchased 300,355 x 50kg bags as at 2nd November against last season when they produced 5,004 bags. The province produced 1,223,600 x 50kg bags in the just ended season.

Mr Speaker, the emphasis on the creation of wealth in rural areas made by the President is clearly seen in my province by revamping agricultural extension training. A farmer’s training centre has been built in Luangwa. We salute the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) for providing a grant of K663,822,000 for this project. This money has already been released and the Government stands ready to make its contribution for the farmers training centre to be completed. When completed, this centre will cater for over 3,600 farmers from all the districts in the province. This is a sure way of creating wealth in the rural areas.

Mr Speaker, in order to encourage the participation of the private sector in agriculture, the province is encouraging several out-grower schemes. This includes freshly-cut flowers, fresh vegetables, bananas, fish farming, cotton, tobacco and sugar. For example, the Kafue Sugar Estate has about 200 farmers growing sugar. We also need to work very closely with the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to see how we can address the human-animal conflict in some parts of Kafue and Luangwa. Lives have been lost and food security put at risk. Our peasant farmers need to be protected.

Education, Mr Speaker, is the genesis of development. In line with the statement on expansion of infrastructure to increase access to education, I am pleased to inform the House that construction of sixteen basic schools has been undertaken in the last two years in the province. Twelve of these are already in use while four are still under construction. At high school level, three schools in Chongwe, Luangwa and Kafue Districts are under construction and eight basic schools have been upgraded to high school level in Lusaka District for purposes of increasing the progression rate to Grade 10.

Mr Sichilima: Bwekeshapo.

Mr Shawa: Mr Speaker, on education, the President made a commitment on teacher recruitment. I am pleased to report that Lusaka Province recruited a total of 593 teachers this year, with more to be recruited by the end of the year. As a way of motivating teachers, the province has intensified the teacher continuing development programmes conducted, especially during school holidays at teacher resource centres. The province is seriously implementing the gender policy in the schools by emphasising that at Grade 1, the enrolment ratio is 1 to 1. In terms of providing bursaries for vulnerable children, positive discrimination in favour of girls is practiced, where 60 per cent is allotted to girls while 40 per cent goes to boys. This is done in order to encourage the girl to progress to higher grades.

Sir, due to Government interventions in HIV/AIDS through the provision of retroviral therapy, a number of teachers are healthier, resulting in pupils benefiting from the teaching and learning process.

Mr Speaker, the province, as one of way of reducing poverty levels, has, through the Department of Community Development, continued to promote the elimination of illiteracy among youths and adults through increased training for literacy instructors. The Government has trained a total of sixty-five literacy instructors in Lusaka Province who were to open, at least, two literacy classes each in their respective communities.

Mr Speaker, in its quest to empower rural women, the Lusaka Province has continued to promote and support the formation of women development groups. Through these groups, women are empowered with skills in entrepreneurship and income-generating activities. During this period, a total of 765 women were trained in entrepreneurship skills. This has resulted in most groups embarking on viable developmental programmes.

Sir, the President, in his speech, clearly urged all stakeholders to ensure that persons with disabilities ought to have equal rights, choices and needs as persons without disabilities. In this regard, the province has, through the Department of Community Development, supported some initiatives in training of sign language interpreters. This is in the hope of keeping persons with disabilities well informed on issues of development and thus ensure their participation.

With regard to water affairs, the President has continued to emphasise the provision of adequate clean and safe water to our people, especially those in rural areas.

Mr Sichilima: Quality.

Mr Shawa: I am glad to report to this august House that the Lusaka Province has drilled forty-seven new boreholes. There are thirteen in Luangwa District, ten in Chongwe, twelve in Kafue and twelve in Lusaka District. Further, fifteen boreholes were rehabilitated in Luangwa District, fifteen in Chongwe, thirteen in Kafue and five in Lusaka District. A total of thirteen earth dams were rehabilitated. The eleven dams in Chongwe District involved vegetation control which is critical to the maintenance of the structural integrity of these dams as well as silt removal from Mabonzo Dam in Luangwa District and the decommissioning of Kalikiliki Dam in Lusaka District. This shows that we are in line with the President’s directives. We hope, with funds permitting, we will be able to construct more dams and sink boreholes in each district for irrigation, animals and domestic use.

Mr Sichilima: And Lusaka Central.

Mr Shawa: Mr Speaker, on energy, the on of the Government’s priorities is to connect Luangwa District to the main grid to provide sustainable electricity. Due to the fact that the generators for the Zambia Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO) have been run down in Luangwa, the social and economic life of our people has been affected. Very soon, generators of a higher capacity will be installed as we await the commencement of the project to connect Luangwa District to the main grid.

Sir, on health, Lusaka Province in its quest to provide quality health to the public, has five hospitals and seventy-eight health centres. There are over 35,000 patients that are currently receiving ARVs from these centres. I must mention the Government’s commitment to improving the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. The Government has procured CD 4 Count machines in all the districts of Lusaka Province.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shawa: Sir, the President was concerned with the country’s infrastructure, posing a great challenge to national development. Lusaka Province, through the Buildings Department, has managed to carry out a number of projects in all the districts. In Luangwa District, the department rehabilitated the clinic and constructed a mortuary at Luangwa Boma. The construction of a new clinic at Mpuka is about to be completed, including the rehabilitation of two staff houses. Chief Mpuka’s Palace was also rehabilitated.

Mr Speaker, in Chongwe District, the department rehabilitated four local courts and is currently rehabilitating the Mother/Child Health Block and a pharmacy. Construction of the District Commissioner’s residence has commenced. Plans are underway to resume construction works of the district hospital and feasibility studies for the construction of the provincial hospital have commenced.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shawa: Sir, in Kafue District, the department has rehabilitated one local court in Chipapa while one is under construction in Chiawa. The construction of Phase 1 of the District Administration Office Block is complete. The construction of a surgical ward at Kafue District Hospital is about to commence, while the maternity ward at Chilanga has just been completed.

Hon. MMD Members: Hear, hear!

In Lusaka District, the department has rehabilitated two local courts. It is constructing an out-patient block at Kalingalinga Clinic and is currently preparing tender documents to commerce the construction of a clinic in Chaisa.

Mr Speaker, in my province, the Department of Social Welfare has the main function of assisting all disadvantaged persons and in difficult circumstances through a programme known as Public Welfare Assistance Scheme. The disadvantaged include the aged, incapacitated, orphans, street children, widowed, female-headed households, disabled, stranded and all persons disadvantaged in any other way.

Mr Speaker, in line with the Government policy on resettling and empowering the disadvantaged in the province, the Department of Social Welfare has so far repatriated and settled about 230 stranded clients in the last quarter, ending September, 2006 while 311 clients have been supported with food rations. Seventy-five street children have so far been re-integrated into various projects or homes and this programme is still ongoing. Meanwhile, in the long-term public welfare assistance scheme, the department has assisted 4,370 and these include orphans, aged, female-headed households etc. The assistance given is in the form of food rations, school fees and medical fees.

As a Government, we shall do our best to look into the plight of disadvantaged persons to enable them live a meaningful life in my province.

Mr Speaker, I want to urge the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services to request organisers of traditional ceremonies to include displays of curios and artifacts during traditional ceremonies. The province is currently developing a handcraft industry in Luangwa, Kafue and Lusaka as a way of encouraging tourism activities in the province. The efforts of the Government are being complemented by the French Embassy that has been supporting the Kabwata Cultural Village.

Mr Speaker, roads are key elements in the development of any country. Lusaka Province has the authority to look after more than 1,400 kilometres of paved and unpaved roads.

Mr Speaker, in line with the President’s Speech on putting road maintenance and rehabilitation high on the agenda of the Government, several roads have been rehabilitated in the province such as the Chirundu Escarpment Road project with a contract sum of K95.5 billion. The works are going on although at a very slow pace. Therefore, I am appealing to the contractor to speed up the works.

Mr Speaker, opening up of the Mikango-Chiawa Road (D481) by the Government is very important. This is a shorter route from Chiawa to Lusaka; sixty kilometres, than the route which we are using to pass through Chirundu via Kafue.

Mr Speaker, the Luangwa Road is one of the most important roads in Lusaka Province because it connects to Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Luangwa District has a lot of tourism potential, but this is hampered by the poor state of the road. However, spot re-graveling and heavy-grading works are currently going on at a contract sum of K4.5 billion by Sable Construction Company Limited. Our long-term goal however, is to upgrade this road to an all weather bituminous road.

Mr Speaker, the Government has funded the rehabilitation of feeder roads in Kafue and Luangwa Districts using labour-based methods of maintenance. About nine community roads have been worked on in Kafue District and 180 workers were employed in this exercise. This is a way of creating jobs, empowering the local communities and reducing poverty.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shawa: Mr Speaker, all these works are in accordance with the President’s Speech on improving the country’s infrastructure.

Mr Speaker, with regard to the HIV/AIDS situation in Lusaka Province, among the top ten districts ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, two of them are from Lusaka Province. Prevalence rates are way above the national rates of 16 per cent with Lusaka at 22.5 per cent.

Mr Speaker, in order to reduce the prevalence rate, we have intensified our sensitisation efforts by printing and distributing various information and educational and communication materials such as posters and brochures in English and some local languages and placed them in public places such as schools, bars, taverns and restaurants with the help of our supportive co-operating partners.

Mr Speaker, we wish to commend the efforts of the National Aids Council for creating a very workable structure that is helping our people to take an active part in the multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS through the District and Provincial Aids Task Forces and the employment of the very well-qualified and committed technical staff as District and Provincial AIDS advisors.

Mr Speaker, as a Government, we should also be seen to support the very good efforts of the National Aids Council and its co-operating partners as well as those working so hard to make HIV/AIDS mitigation care and support programme a success by increasing the budgeting thresholds to the very structures at district and provincial levels for capacity building, monitoring and evaluation process.

Mr Speaker, we shall work closely with all the Lusaka-based Members of Parliament in ensuring that the challenges of HIV/AIDS which is ravaging our people in the province are ably embraced in mitigating care and support. We are prepared to go even a step further to collectively, as Lusaka based Members of Parliament, go and learn from other Members of Parliament in other districts and provinces that are making better strives in the fight against the pandemic.

Mr Speaker, while we thank the many co-operating partners who already are making great efforts in addressing the issue of the pandemic, we take this opportunity to invite more major Non-Governmental Organisations such the World Vision Zambia, Rapids and Plan International Zambia to make new roads in the district.

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate what his Excellency the President said on the Government, that Zambia be demanded for transparency and accountability in the management of public affairs. The President has shown great commitment to the SADC protocol of 30 per cent females in decision-making positions by 2015. I am happy Sir, …

Mr Speaker: Order! The hon. Member’s time has expired!

Mr Mtonga (Kanyama): Mr Speaker, I rise to support his Excellency President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa’s Speech for the official opening of the First Session of the Tenth National Assembly. In doing so, I wish to associate myself with many views and comments offered by other hon. Members of Parliament.

It is, indeed, fitting and proper to offer you as well as the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairman of Committees, facilitations on your well-deserved election to those important leadership positions. This House and Zambia as a whole, stand to gain from such unanimous elections, as you truly have vast experience, nationally, regionally and internationally.

Many important views have been expressed by hon. colleagues from both sides of the House. Allow me, therefore to add only a few points of my own. I would like to use this Floor of the House to record my heart-felt thanks to the good, humble, long-suffering people of Kanyama for re-electing me as their representative in the last tripartite elections which were held on 28th September, 2006. I also thank them for giving President Michael Chilufya Sata a landslide vote.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mtonga: I hope and pray God almighty will help me justify their confidence. Kanyama Constituency has thousands of young, middle aged, widows and widowers and old people who face unemployment, squalor, disease and hunger everyday. It is such suffering people that voted for me to represent them in the National Assembly and Michael Chilufya Sata for President. I hope everyone will see the need to respect their vote, even as President Mwanawasa has declared in his own statement and I quote: “Zambians spoke clearly and loudly and Government will reflect seriously on their concerns”.

The President’s Speech serves as a broad agenda for our work in this House for the next one year at least. Around this broad agenda, I expect, and I believe others expect to see the next Budget drawn for actualising these promises. When I search the President’s Speech for the things that would give hope to the many poor people in Kanyama Constituency, I actually find a few promises which I expect to be translated into some beneficial budget activities in 2007.

Mr Speaker, President Mwanawasa has called for unity and reconciliation. No doubt, we all know that such a claim cannot be self-fulfilling. It is a process and it must be worked on in truth. The President and his ministers need to be authentic and give the nation of Zambia solutions, particularly to the long-flashing dangers on unity and reconciliation, such as failure to give a clear time-table for setting up a constituent assembly and the subsequent enactment of a new constitution within the next 100 days.

Mr Speaker, on governance and constitutionalism, the President should be aware that it will not help to give Zambians general and vague directions and worn-out phrases such as “zero-tolerance to corruption”. It is of importance in my view, to address core issues over which Zambians have lamented for a long time.

Zambia’s index on corruption perception still remains at 2.6, placing it among the worst countries in corruption here on earth. Something has gone wrong, as too many Government leaders pay lip service to the zero-tolerance policy to corruption.

Sir, I submit that it is pointless for the Government’s spokesperson to dispute the findings of Transparency International because no person, not even Hon. V.J. Mwaanga, can be allowed to write his own testimonial. It will always be other people who can objectively describe your character.

Interruptions

Mr Mtonga: It is important to remind Government Leaders in general and the Government in particular that the international community has since facilitated the introduction of what is known as the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, a mechanism for encouraging serving African Presidents to embrace clean and selfless principles of governing their people. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation will manage an open and objective index on governance, perhaps similarly to Transparency International. There is also an index on governance issues in African States. This will be in addition to the AU and Peer Group Instruments which are designed to encourage leaders to be good and effective. We have been informed there will be an annual price of US$5 million. Given the record of corruption in Zambia and the consequential poor report on governance which has recently placed Zambia together with war-torn countries such as Eritrea and Ethiopia, there is an urgent need for the President to double his efforts or else we can forget it.

The President’s declaration of stopping plunder and chaos in Zambia’s markets is to be commended. However, I have had the opportunity of working with a few Hon. Ministers in the Ministry of Local Government and Housing. None of the Hon. Ministers had the courage and determination to stop the plunder and confusion which is in the markets. In 2003, some party cadres of the MMD came to visit my Parliamentary Office in Kanyama and gave me a full report on what kind of greed, mayhem and plunder takes place in the markets such as Soweto and City Markets. Poor marketeers suffer so much at the hands of the so called MMD cardres.

Mr Speaker, realising how huge the problem was, I wrote to the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, and sent copies to the relevant line ministries, including the Ministries of Home Affairs and Justice. The report which I submitted revealed that millions if not billions of Kwacha are levied from marketeers, but never accounted for.

Hon. Silvia Masebo met with violent resistance when she tried to stop the rots when she was made Minister of Local Government the first time. This time around, even before Hon. Silvia Masebo dissolved the so-called market boards last month, my investigations had established that although her ministry had taken over the running of some major markets, no Government general revenue receipts were issued and money levied by her officials never went into the general revenues of the Government nor did the money go to the Lusaka City Treasury. Therefore, where has this money been going all these years?

Interruptions

Mr Mtonga: It has sometimes been suggested that markets had become a means of fund raising for the MMD.

Interruptions

Mr Mtonga: I am sure time will come when Zambians will demand the accounting. I sometimes even wonder why good donors such as the European Union (EU), who are sponsoring the reconstruction of the market sites, watch such plunder, and yet their representatives sit in the Ministry of Local Government and Housing. In the meantime, cholera and other diseases abound at Soweto and City Markets in particular with so much waste piled all over the area. The situation is hopeless. It is like there is no local Government.

Interruptions

Mr Mtonga: Sir, the President has promised to address some issues, which definitely and directly affect our people in Kanyama Constituency. At Page 13, President Mwanawasa has promised to uplift the standard of living of the majority of Zambians. What would be the real basis and the time frame for our people to expect this help? On the same page, the President has promised to refocus public resources and efforts towards the implementation of programmes that will quickly and profoundly impact the lives of the majority of Zambians. What are these programmes so that our people can know? We have been informed that there will be skills training and youth employment programmes. I now expect the relevant line ministries to clearly tell this House how and when these promises will be fulfilled. Hon. Ministers, especially Hon. General Shikapwasha, should not render such undertakings hollow and empty through ineptitude or sheer indifference.

Mr Speaker, finally, I would like to appeal to the Government to give back to the men and women in the defence and security services, their professional pride and dignity by granting them better salaries and conditions of service in the next Budget.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mtonga: Even the practice of having allowances for those engaged in peace-keeping duties suffering deductions should be done away with. Let all uniformed men and women retire with honour and dignity. Give them all their money so that they can settle done on the land with their families.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker, for the office of the Zambia Security Intelligence Services (ZSIS), commonly known as Office of the President Special Division (OPSD) I want to appeal to this Government to  give it a break. The Government should not politicise it, but instead help it overcome the bad legacy, particularly of the past fifteen years. The good governance which the President spoke about would require that they too be given a new legal framework, enabling them to have an appropriate service commission and discreet Parliamentary oversight.

Mr Speaker, I submit that it will not help Zambia to overthrow one-partism, but continue with an entrenched refusal to account for the exercise of power. The Zambia Security Intelligence Services must be helped to shed away the perception that its members are there simply to rig elections and to further political fortunes of the party in power.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

The Deputy Minister for Central Province (Mr Chisanga): Mr Speaker, in the first instance, allow me to thank my beloved MMD for adopting me to stand as a Member of Parliament for Mkushi South.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! 

Mr Chisanga: May I also thank the people of my constituency for overwhelmingly electing me to represent them in Parliament. I wish to assure them that I will not let them down in their mission for development.

Mr Speaker, I wish to particularly express my heartfelt appreciation to the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, for appointing me to serve as Provincial Minister for the Central Province. I am confident that I will ably champion the development agenda not only for my constituency, but also the rest of the province.

Mr Speaker, having expressed my appreciation to all the relevant groups and individuals, allow me to enlighten this House on some of the development achievements and challenges existing in my province.

Mr Speaker, one of the critical areas in the development of the province is agriculture. Allow me to commend the MMD for the positive Agricultural Policy through the Fertiliser Support Programme and the Food Security Pack.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chisanga: A trend of high production levels in terms of maize crop has been established since inception.

Mr Speaker, during the 2002/03 season, Central province had the highest maize output of 343,000 metric tonnes, representing 30 per cent of the national total production. This past season, 2005/06, has similarly recorded 417,000 metric tonnes. These achievements imply that people are responding well to the policies of the Government in this sector.

In addition, Mr Speaker, the Government has made sure that the funds released for developmental programmes actually filter down to the constituencies. In this regard, I am referring to the feeder roads rehabilitated in my constituency. I can confidently declare to the House that the roads are now better than they were ten years ago.
Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chisanga: Sir, with the above record, I have no doubt that the Government will continue to deliver on its promises in order to improve the standard of living of our people and reduce poverty levels in the country.

Mr Speaker, I wish to request that a bridge be constructed on the Lunsemfwa River to replace the pontoon and ease transportation for our small-scale farmers. I also wish to appeal to the Government to establish a constituency office in my constituency in order to promote positive interaction with the people.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chota (Lubansenshi): Mr Speaker, like the other hon. Members who have spoken before me, I would like to congratulate you on having been re-elected to your position. I also wish to congratulate the first ever female Deputy Speaker.

I wish you two good health.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to thank Mr Michael Chilufya Sata …

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chota: … the President of PF, Members of the Central Committee of PF and the people of Lubansenshi Constituency for electing me as their hon. Member of Parliament.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chota: I also want to congratulate all my fellow hon. Members who have been elected to Parliament. As for the people of Lubansenshi, I would like to assure them that for the first time in the past fifteen years, they have a Member of Parliament now.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chota: Sir, I would also like to congratulate the appointment of Mr Shakafuswa and a young man, Mr Emanuel Ngulube as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and National Development.

Mr Speaker, this young man comes from the East …

Mr Speaker: Order! Order! It is not customary. In fact, it is not allowed in this House to refer to persons who are not members of this House. Therefore, reference to the Permanent Secretary is not allowed. Even reference to individual hon. Members of the Front Bench is rarely done. Here, they are referred to collectively.

May the hon. Member, continue.

Mr Chota: Mr Speaker, I have withdrawn.

Mr Speaker, let me now talk about my constituency, Lubansenshi which encompasses Luwingu Constituency. This district has been completely neglected to the extent that the colonial buildings and houses which were built in the 1930s are collapsing.

Mr Chota: a good example is the Luwingu Prison which has been neglected and now has been closed. The Boma itself has never had any road constructed. If you want to pass through this area, you need a 4 X 4 vehicle because there is an outcrop of rocks everywhere and it is quite impossible to pass through this town. There has been complete collapse of the little basic infrastructure left by the colonial Government.

Mr Speaker, a survey published by the Post Newspaper of 7th July had this and I quote:

‘Luwingu District has recorded the highest poverty levels in the Northern Province with a prevalence rate of 88 per cent. According to The Post’s Living Conditions and Monitoring Survey, the proportion of poor persons in Luwingu remains high compared to other districts in the province.’

Hon. PF Members: Hammer!

Mr Chota: Mr Speaker, on health, I wish to say that Luwingu has a district hospital which has a skeleton staff and the so-called health centres or clinics have no qualified staff. In fact, these institutions are being run by cleaners and security guards.

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Mr Chota: Let me refer to the establishment. The establishment for doctors is six, but at the moment, we have none.

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Mr Chota: The establishment for registered nurses is fifteen, but at the moment we have three.

Hon. PF Members: Aah!

Mr Chota: The establishment for Zambian Enrolled Midwifery is fifty-two, but we have seven.

Hon. PF Members: Aah!

Mr Chota: It is interesting to learn that health centres such as Ndopi, Shimumbi, Lwena, Ipusukilo and Namukolo are run by cleaners.

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Mr Chota: There is a huge distance between these health centres. Between Luwingu and Munungwa, there is a distance of over 300 kilometres. From Luwingu to Kataba, the distance is about 288 kilometres. From Luwingu to Senior Chief Shimumbi’s area there is a distance of nearly 200 kilometres. Along the way, there is a number of rivers and marshlands to be crossed. These rivers flow the whole year.

For example, if someone is sick at Munungwa, he or she has to travel to Ndoki through a marshland of 600 metres which is impassible. People have put logs and branches there for safe crossing. However, if one misses a step and drops into the mud, it is very difficult to extract them.

Sir, can you imagine that this is what takes place when taking ill people to the nearest clinics that are being run by security guards.

Laughter

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Mr Chota: Mr Speaker, management of the health sector by the Ministry of Health is very cardinal.  If management is in a crisis then everything that goes with it will fail. At the moment, there is a critical shortage of drugs.

Sir, on page 42 of the President’s Speech, the President had this to say:

‘In order to facilitate bulk procurement of drugs and medical supplies, the Government has established a Drugs Supply Fund through pooling of resources from Government and Co-operating Partners.’

However, medical supplies such as cannulae, catheters and disposable syringes are sourced from a number of pharmacies in town. When these supplies are collected, they are not paid for. This is what is going on in the health sector, including the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

Mr Speaker, we have been seeing adverts appearing in the newspaper on the allocation of money to institutions which is done either quarterly or monthly. These are called user fees replacement disbursements. Grants are also given quarterly. In the case of Luwingu, K533 million was released in the first quarter. In the second quarter, K246 million, third quarter K313 million and in the fourth quarter K1 billion was released because this was during the elections.

Laughter

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Interruptions

Mr Chota: Sir, during the elections, we saw some clinics running although they have unqualified staff to dispense drugs. For example, we visited a clinic in Chief Chungu’s Village where we found a girl who had been beaten by a poisonous snake and later died. We were told that the snake that bit her was quite poisonous.

Hon. Government Members: King cobra!

Laughter

Mr Chota: I have seen people who have been bitten by poisonous snakes live for hours.  However, this poor girl could not be attended to and she died. We were told that the snake was so poisonous that if it breathed on you, you could die.

Hon. Government Members: King cobra!

Laughter

Mr Chota: At Ipusukilo clinic we found a girl who was very sick and was looking frail. Cleaners were the ones providing food to this girl because there was no food in the clinic.

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Mr Kambwili: Hon. Cifire!

Mr Chota: Sir, due to the poor road network that leads to the clinics in my constituency, people find it difficult to travel to seek medical attention. On page 18 of the Presidential Speech, His Excellency the President said:

‘A number of roads are undergoing rehabilitation and periodic maintenance. Among these are: Kasama/Luwingu Road’

Sir, I wish to submit here that the Kasama/Luwingu Road is not undergoing rehabilitation or construction. What happened is that six years ago, the contractors dumped dirt on the road and because of the rains, grass and shrubs have grown on it. This road is not undergoing any rehabilitation.

The hon. Member for Lunte, Mr Mutati, Member for Lukashya, Ms Mwamba, Member for Lupososhi, Mr Mulonga and myself from Lubanseshi should do something because since the names of our constituencies start with the letter ‘L’, the letter ‘L’, will visit us in the 2011 elections. We will lose the elections if we do not do something now.

Laughter

Mr Chota: Mr Speaker, coming to the area of agriculture, Luwingu in Lubansenshi Constituency has never accessed fertiliser. Maybe a lot of people there do not even know the colour of fertiliser. Even when they grow their organic food, it is difficult for them to access the market. During the elections in Lupososhi, we saw caterpillars and bulldozers coming to the area to grade the roads and immediately after the elections, they pulled out. Now that the rains have started, people are complaining that the roads are impassable because these caterpillars and bulldozers left dirt along the roads and the roads are muddy as a result. At the moment, some farmers have camped in Luwingu trying to get their money from the Food Reserve Agency, but the money is not being paid.

In conclusion, I would like to turn to the issue of mining. Sir, I remember at one time when I was with the Metal Marketing Corporation of Zambia (MEMACO) and at that time you were operating from there. You called me over and asked me how MEMACO was operating even though it was on the list of privatisation. If I remember well, you called me on two or three occasions to explain what was happening at MEMACO. At the moment, there is no MEMACO because it was taken on by ZCCM.

Mr Speaker, the President talked about three or four MMD issues which will be followed in the next five years, but since we started mining copper in Zambia, we have never seen the creation of any value-added manufacturing industry to process the copper, cobalt and other minerals which are produced in Zambia. I would request that such manufacturing industries such as Zambia Metal Fabrication (ZAMEFA) are built.

Mr Speaker, on the marketing of copper and cobalt, countries that produce copper, Chile being the largest, have a department called CODECO where all the metal produced is assessed. At the moment, we are losing copper and it is taking two to three years for the police to trace that copper. When we had MEMACO, the situation was different because immediately the copper was stolen, we would know how and where to find it. This was done within eight hours. At the moment, if copper or cobalt is stolen and it is taking three months or four months to trace, the producers of the cobalt or copper hide the tonnage they have produced from you.

Mr Speaker, another issue is that these people are not bringing back the money to Zambia because they bank it abroad. The money that is coming back to this country is that meant to support their operations, but their bank accounts are abroad.

Hon. Patriotic Front Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chota: That is why people who do not know how these things operate are asking about the Kabundi cathode that they found in Hong Kong. Sir, we sell copper, but we do not add value to it. Kabundi cathode is produced in Nchanga, but we sell it unprocessed and it is found in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world.

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I would like to talk about the Ministry of Health. I would like to mention that one cannot carry out two very important functions at the same time like the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry is doing. The Permanent Secretary is a personal physician of the President and at the same time he is running a critical institution …

Mr Speaker: Order! The hon. Member has already been guided on this subject. Do not debate persons who are not in this House. You may continue.

Mr Chota: Mr Speaker, it is a critical institution and so the people who are running this institution should be forecast so that they plan for health matters well.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Patriotic Front Members: Hear, hear!

The Deputy Minister of Finance and National Planning (Mr Shakafuswa): Mr Speaker, …

Hon. Members: Hear, hear! Boma!

Mr Shakafuswa: … I would like to thank the House for the confidence they have displayed in the hon. Mr Speaker and the Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole House by re-electing them to the House and for electing the Deputy Speaker.

Mr Speaker, I want to thank God and the people of Zambia for ensuring that the just-ended elections were peaceful and fair.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shakafuswa: Mr Speaker, I would like to thank all hon. Members of Parliament who stood before you in this House to talk about the welfare of the people in their constituencies, in particular those who spoke about the welfare of the people in Zambia as a whole rather than their parties. I would like to say that as a Government, we are here to listen and, of course, offer solutions to the problems that the people of Zambia are faced with. This is why the people of Zambia have given us the mandate to rule for the next five years.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shakafuswa: Mr Speaker, I have enjoyed the manner in which hon. Members are passionately bringing up issues in this House which affect the people of Zambia and I feel we shall see that vigor go back to the people because when we talk about governance, people only look at the Government side. This should not be the case because Government includes the Opposition side also. Therefore, we expect responsibility from this side and equally from the other side.

Mr Speaker, I am saying this because people think there can only be demands on the Government, but I am saying the Opposition should help the Government provide the supply side as well.

As for those who want to be elected all the time, I will tell them that the Government on a micro-level is like a family. A family in the sense that even rich people such as hon. Guy Scot, might have demands on them …

Laughter

Mr Shakafuswa: … for this and that, but at one time, they might not be able to afford to attend to all the demands because of limited resources. On a micro-level, it is the same with the Government. The Government has limited sources where it gets its revenue from. The problem with us Zambians is that we want to get things on a socialist platform, free of charge. There must be someone to pay for medical services for the nurse to be paid. There must be someone to pay, for a road to be worked on. Now, if we come and say there should be no one responsible for paying for services, which we want the people of Zambia through their Government to have, we will not have all these things we are crying for.

Hon. Opposition Member interjected.

Mr Shakafuswa: No, that is why the people of Zambia gave us the mandate to govern on their behalf and that is why we won the elections. It is because the people of Zambia have the confidence that we can actually run their affairs effectively.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Hon. Opposition Member interjected.

Mr Shakafuswa: Do not divert me. There have been demands and right now people are talking about reduced taxation, reduced responsibility by the people of Zambia. This is a genuine cause, but we should also know that the tax the Zambian is paying, is the one which is giving the farmer fertiliser support, helping produce so much maize, resulting in reduced prices of maize. Now, people are saying …

Interruptions

Mr Shakafuswa: Guy Scot shut up!

Interruptions

Mr Speaker: Order! That clearly is unparliamentary and also personal. This is exactly why we, the presiding officers, have never failed to advise the front bench to come here with prepared texts so that your attention or thoughts are not diverted by way …

Hon. Chazangwe’s mobile phone rung.

Mr Speaker: Order! Is there a telephone ringing in this Chamber?

Mr Chazangwe stood and wanted to go out.

Hon. Members: Lay it down!

Mr Speaker: The Chair accordingly calls on the hon. Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning not only to withdraw that remark, but apologies to the hon. Member for Lusaka Central.

Mr Kambwili: Thank you.

Mr Speaker: May the hon. Member proceed.

Mr Shakafuswa: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I reservedly apologies to the hon. Member of Parliament for Lusaka Central and withdraw my comment.

Mr Speaker, what I was trying to point out is that we should appreciate and thank the people of Zambia for the bumper harvest we had this year because they are the ones who have actually paid for it through their taxation. We were able to give so much support to the farmers and through God’s grace, we had enough rainfall and we were able to harvest a good crop. Actually, our harvest is record breaking,  …

Hon. Government Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Shakafuswa: … and yet people say they are not seeing their efforts, when they are buying mealie-meal at less than K20,000 from K40,000. So, it is their tax system which has helped bring about relief to the people of Zambia.

Hon. Government Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Shakafuswa: Mr Speaker, it will also help if Zambians appreciate that we should have social responsibilities because if we are going to stand here and think that social responsibility for the Government only, Mr Speaker, we should go back to the days when we would advise young people not to get married. Today, people are producing children and not looking for who is going to look after these children.

Hon. Opposition Member interjected.

Mr Shakafuswa: The Government has an obligation to provide a good environment for people to live in, but you see, we have a situation where people are producing and no one is concerned about this. So, we should also have the social responsibility of taking care of our own instead of just thinking the Government will take care of the rest. That is why we have street kids. So, we go back …

Hon. Opposition Member interjected.

Mr Shakafuswa: … no. Oh! Let me not be destructed.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Laughter

Mr Shakafuswa: So, the most important thing which I would urge this House to do, is take the ownership of this country called Zambia. Let us feel this Zambia belongs to us. Let us not divide this Zambia because we are this colour or that colour. Only last sitting of this Parliament, I was on the other side of the House, but at the end of the day, I do not feel I have enemies there. I just have people who are coming here to foster the development of Zambian and the good will of the people of Zambia. People think it is the politician who is mismanaging this country. This country is being mismanaged by all of us because we are not taking ownership of what belongs to us.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shakafuswa: Mr Speaker, we in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning are now targeting focused implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Government programmes and resources. When people think something belongs to the Government, they do not care how it is used. That is why I want to ask for partnership with Members of Parliament. We are going to advertise where your resources are going to be applied because the biggest thing we have noticed is that we are not communicating to each other and as such, we are being suspicious of each other. Therefore, we are going to communicate and we will publish where your resources are put. Therefore, you as a Member of Parliament, like we have already been told, if there is a hospital to be built in Chaisa Compound, should take it upon yourself to know that instead of the resources being wasted or someone over invoicing, to ensure that if a bag of cement costs K40,000for example, it reaches your  people at K40,000. That way you will find that Government resources will work and you will appreciate and feel that you are part and parcel of the Government because usually, the blame comes to us politicians. It is not politicians who run the system. Politicians will just give a policy framework based on our manifestos. We have all the technicians who come and fit in the meat. If all the time the people are looking up to us, as politicians we should not just blame the Government, you are part of Government. Let us ensure that the money reaches the people in Hon. Kambwili’s constituency and of Lusaka Central. By doing so we will ensure that the system is working.

Mr Speaker, people have talked about the favourable micro-economics environment which we are enjoying. People have talked about the fiscal discipline which we are seeing through reduced inflation rates, reduced debt burden and interest rates which have come down. People are saying the people are not feeling them. Those who understand economics know that there will always be a period of lack. There is a period in which these things happen and a period in which people start feeling them, but we should also appreciate where we have come from. Zambia’s economy is just being mended and I want to commend the efforts of His Excellency the President, Patrick Levy Mwanawasa and the team he has worked with for the past five or so years ...

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shakafuswa: … for having introduced fiscal discipline in the public which has engendered a favourable economic atmosphere. People will complain today, but they forget that only yesterday, some of us were promoting fiscal indiscipline. I do not want to personalise issues, but we cannot champion a system which we were part and parcel of in destroying.

People want Zambia to be managed by printing more money because there is this demand based on populist ideas. You cannot run a Government based on populist ideas. Now, the Government of His Excellency, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa brought in a system which has brought sanity to the public. Other people want to find fault in that. I know that all of us want to be in Government, but let us come into Government on the basis of strong principles and solid policies which we know are going to help the people of Zambia. That is the reason some political parties managed to rig elections in Lusaka, Copperbelt and some parts of the Northern Province.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shakafuswa: Others managed to rig elections in the Southern Province, but the people of Zambia chose the right thing.

Interruptions

Mr Shakafuswa: However, since the reduction in the debt stock, the savings from the debt stock now will reach the people of Monze. This is because we are now going to spend that money on a pro-poor programme.

Sir, the Hon. Member for Kanyama, Mr, was asking whether the people were going to know about that. The president said that we were going to encourage growth through pro-poor spending and we are going to put money into that. For example, if you have farmers in Kanyama, we will make sure that we support them financially. Most of our people in Zambia are peasants who are engaged in farming, we are going to support them by putting the money there so that we improve the agriculture potential. We would like them to be self-sustainable in small-scale farming before they can graduate to commercial farming.

Mr Speaker, we are going to look at viable entrepreneurs because Zambia has a bad history. When Zambians are given a credit facility, they buy planes or Mercedes Benz instead of concentrating on production. Now, how can someone who is giving you money have confidence in you? When you look at reports of assistance to the private sector which to us, is actually the life-boat of Zambia, the private sector has to be encouraged to have discipline in the application of funds.

Sir, we must discipline ourselves so that when the Government gives us resources, we use them productively. This way, we will create another base of middle-income groups which are going to provide employment to the Zambians. There are resources which are available, but have to be used by people who really want to contribute to the well- being and welfare of Zambia.

If we think that what belongs to the Government does not belong to us, we will be stuck where we are. We all have to embrace each other and work together with the Government so that the people Zambia are able to feel what it means to be Zambians. We have denied the people of Zambia a good life for a very long time not because they do not want it, but because of bad leadership and bad eggs which come into leadership, cheating the people of Zambia about what is going to be done for them. However, when we get into power, we do something else.

Hon. Opposition Members: Ninety days! Say it again!

Mr Shakafuswa: Mr Speaker, I would like to mention that as a Government, we have set aside K1.4 billion in our Fifth National Development Plan. For those people talking about water resources …

Interruptions

Mr Shakafuswa: We have budgeted for K1.4 billion which is going to be spread over a period of five years in line with the Fifth National Development Plan to improve water and sanitation for all the people.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Interruptions

Mr Shakafuswa: It might be much to you, but this is what we are able to raise for the people of Zambia.

Hon. Opposition Members: Aah!

Mr Shakafuswa: Yes, it is a step in the right direction. Definitely, other co-operating partners will come in and help us in this fight.

Interruptions

Mr Shakafuswa: We are trying to respond to the requests of our people because we are a responsible Government. We want to make sure that we provide adequate safe water which is cost effective and for the benefit of the people of Zambia. It is very funny when, for example, an hon. Member asks for water in his constituency and, as a Government, we respond positively, they say things like “question!” This means that you do not belong to this House. If you do not want to work with the Government, you will go back to your constituency empty handed. The people in your constituency will chuck you out and you will go back to selling scrap metal.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear! Kambwili!

Mr Shakafuswa: Mr Speaker, we had a technical committee from the International Monetary Fund which has given us a report on tax review and we are looking at it. Tax is going to be reviewed so that it is rational and also to expand the tax base. However, as I said, it is going to be matched with the demands of the people of Zambia, because taxation is the only way to raise revenue for us to render services to the people of Zambia. Therefore, we are going to have a tax review which will match the aspirations of the people of Zambia.

Mr Speaker, people have been talking about the contribution of the mining sector. We are also looking at ways of getting something from the boom in prices of copper. In that sense, we are looking at ways of reviewing the Royalty Tax. For your information, the mines are taxed. A lot of people think that they are not, but they are taxed at a 25 per cent income rate. However, we are reviewing that rate. You will be happy to know that with regard to the concessions that we gave in development contracts to the mines, most of them have, to date, as a result of the high copper prices, recovered their costs and have started paying tax now.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hmm!

Mr Shakafuswa: We have even received some monies from the Copperbelt. You cannot believe this because you do not want programmes that are progressive for the people of Zambia. You always want programmes that will not help the people of Zambia, but we tell you that we mean well.

I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Order! The word ‘cheating’ which is a synonym of the word ‘lying’, is not for this House.

Mr Chanda (Kankoyo): Mr Speaker, may I take this opportunity to thank the people of Kankoyo Constituency for electing me as their area Member of Parliament. Let me also thank the President of the Patriotic Front and the party for adopting me as its candidate. May I also congratulate you, Mr Speaker, Mr Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairman of Committees on having gone through the elections unopposed. This is a clear testimony the confidence this august House has in the three of you. I believe this is the beginning of our good working relationship.

Mr Speaker, Kankoyo Constituency faces similar problems as those highlighted by fellow hon. Members of this House. The only sad part is that most of these problems in my constituency are self-inflicted. After the sale of the mines, life in the former mine township became a nightmare. Social clubs for miners, centres for women and youths, including clinics were turned into taverns. This is so because our mines were sold like a loaf of bread along Cairo Road.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, the new mine owners do not have the welfare of the people of Zambia at heart. Their interest is to mine and sell copper. In our village set up, if you borrow a big pot from your neighbour to cook a big chicken for visitors, there is no way you will return that pot to the owner without any soup. All the new mine owners can leave for the people of Kankoyo is dust and emissions of sulphur dioxide commonly known as Senta.

Mr Speaker, unemployment is a national issue, but for the people of Kankoyo, this is a form of torture. Kankoyo and Butondo townships share the fence with the mine works area. Recently, the new mine owners were building the ISA smelter, acid and oxygen plants. The most unfortunate part is that the people who were working on these projects were men and women from outside this country and not people of Kankoyo and Mufulira.

Hon. PF Members: Shame.

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, the new smelter was recently commissioned by our Republican President, but I wonder if this is part of what we call the ‘Buy Zambian Campaign’.

Mr Speaker, allow me to dwell on a few of the main issues contained in the President’s Speech.

On taxation, it is very gratifying to note that the Executive has acknowledged that a Zambian worker or indeed, a miner is currently paying too much tax. The effect of paying too much tax is that it erodes the take home pay. As a former unionist, I feel we have been mocked often enough by the foreign employers who promise to pay good salaries, but the money is taken away by the Government through Pay as You Earn. Since the hon. Minister of Finance and National Panning will be presenting the budget next year, I can only caution him not to annoy the Zambian worker further, in particular, the miner by reducing a single digit.

Mr Mtonga: Nizowona.

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, on poor occupational health and safety, this is a big challenge that this country is facing today. The President, in his speech, called on the House to support the formation of a mandatory policy on occupational health and safety programmes at places of work. I doubt if this piece of legislature, once enacted, will help matters in our industries. I say so because day in and day out we hear of miners dying underground. In our own wisdom as a nation, we no longer care for those losing limbs, sight, hearing and, indeed, those contracting pulmonary tuberculosis. The compensation is a mockery to the worker under the MMD Government.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, my reason for doubting the usefulness of this piece of legislature is that the mine currently has the most comprehensive law governing the operations of the mines through the Mining Regulation and Explosives Act. This law is adequate to make those working for the mines very safe persons in terms of safety and occupational health. The only problem is that the Mines Safety Department under the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development has lamentably failed to enforce this law.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, it is important to refresh the minds of the hon. Members of this august House. In May, 2005, we lost eight people in a cage accident in Mufulira. Two weeks before this accident happened, the two unions met the former Vice-President and it was in this same meeting I sounded a warning that if nothing was done to check the appetite of the new mine owners for high production, in a week or two, there will be a disaster on the mines. In the same meeting, we made it very clear that the Mine Safety Department was a toothless body serving no purpose as its officers were compromised. This was last year and to date nothing has been done to change the work culture of mining inspectors. Officers are still compromised and being dragged to work. Now, my concern is that if the Mine Safety Department has lamentably failed to enforce the Mining Regulation and Explosives Act, what guarantee will there be that the labour inspectors would not be compromised by the rich factory owners?

Mr Speaker, as a result of this attitude by the Mine Safety Department, the new mine owners, day in and day out are introducing what is known as cardinal rules. These are not aimed at protecting the miner, but to frustrate and punish them. Let us not have too many laws on paper that we cannot enforce properly.

Mr Speaker, the President in his speech alluded to the principle of equal pay for equal job. Let me start by …

Mr Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1815 hours until 1830 hours.

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, before business was suspended, I was referring to his Excellency’s Speech on Equal Pay for Equal Job. This principle brought industrial unrest in the early 1980s which was spearheaded by the Zambian graduates, technologists, technicians, artisans, nurses and paramedical staff.

Later in the early 1990s, the Professional Miners Union of Zambia was formed under my leadership to try and bridge the gap between the expatriate labour force and the locals. Unfortunately, this union was shot down by the MMD Government.

Hon. PF Members: Shame!

Mr Chanda: Mr Speaker, today, I stand before you in Parliament, debating the same issue. With all these years behind me, I strongly submit that if this Government is to achieve the Equal Pay for Equal Job Policy, it must immediately do away with the dual pay system.

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chanda: As long as we have one pay structure for expatriates and another for Zambians, we should forget about equal pay for equal job.

Mr Speaker, the dual pay system is what has brought about the slave wages for the Zambians when expatriates earn a fortune, some of them very ill qualified.

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

Hon. PF Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ndalamei (Sikongo): I am an adopted son of Hon. Muntanga.

Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you affording me the opportunity to deliver my maiden speech. Allow me to join the hon. Members of Parliament in congratulating you, Madam Deputy Speaker, the Deputy Chairman of Committee of the Whole House on your election to your respective positions.

Mr Speaker, the proposal of Madam Deputy Speaker, by the MMD party confirmed the importance of gender in development and the trust our party has in the women of Zambia.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ndalamei: Mr Speaker, allow me also to congratulate all the elected and nominated Members of Parliament in this august House. I would like to give special thanks to the people of Zambia for voting wisely. The people of Zambia spoke and retained His Excellency the President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC so that he can continue to implement his sound and effective economic programmes …

Hon. PF Members: Which ones?

Mr Ndalamei: … I will tell you.

Mr Speaker, allow me to thank the MMD Government for implementing sound economic policies that enabled the country reach the completion point for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

Mr Speaker, after HIPC, the people of Zambia are expecting a better social service delivery. I also appreciate the President’s intention to implement most of the issues raised by the people during the campaigns that I am sure will be done through the hard working team of ministers he has appointed to the cabinet. My appeal to the Government is to give priority to rural areas for various reasons, among them:

(a) A large number of people live in rural areas;

(b) this is where the MMD has most support; and

(c) by developing rural areas, we would decongest urban areas.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ndalamei: Mr Speaker, all Zambians acknowledge the New Deal Government policies in agriculture and its success in the past five years. To facilitate this achievement, more funds should be given to the Food Reserve Agency so that inputs are delivered in time and farmers are paid in time to enable them prepare well for the next farming season.

Mr Speaker, most peasant farmers in Sikongo Constituency depend on livestock for their livelihood. However, they have lost their source of income through Contagious Bovine Plural Pneumonia which wiped out the cattle in the Western Province.

Mr Speaker, allow me to thank the Government for the free animal vaccination programme which has helped to sustain the few remaining animals. The Government also deserves to be commended for providing funds for FRA this year to purchase rice from small-scale farmers in Sikongo Constituency for the first time in fifteen years.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ndalamei: I, therefore, appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives to extend the Cattle Restocking Programme to the Western Province in general and Sikongo in particular.

Mr Speaker, let me also appeal to the same ministry to extend the Small-scale Irrigation Programme to Sikongo Constituency. This will boost food production, employment for the youth, generate income for the poor men and women and considerably reduce the high poverty levels in the area.

Mr Speaker, a good road network is essential for the delivery of agricultural inputs to farmers and transportation of farm produce to the markets. Good road infrastructure is critical for any meaningful development to take place.

Mr Speaker, allow me to thank the New Deal Government for starting work on the long- awaited Mongu-Kalabo Road. The people of Kalabo District have been waiting for the road since independence. The people are now anxious to have the road completed as soon as possible.

I kindly request the Ministry of Works and Supply to start construction of the Kalabo-Sikongo Road up to the border with Angola to facilitate trade with that oil and mineral- rich country.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ndalamei: Mr Speaker, there are two feeder roads which the people of Sikongo need to facilitate development in the area. These are the Sikongo Road and Sikongo-Kaluwe Road. The people expect these feeder roads to be reflected in the Fifth National Development Plan.

Mr Speaker, allow me to thank the New Deal Government for implementing the Rural Electrification Programme.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ndalamei: This programme has benefited a lot of Zambians, including chiefs. Mr Speaker, allow me to convey the request of the people of Sikongo to the Ministry of Energy and Water Development to start the programme of electrifying Sikongo Sub-Boma. In addition, chiefs in the constituency also need to benefit from the solar panels which are distributed to chiefs throughout the country.

Sir, let me thank the New Deal Government for drilling four boreholes through the Vice-President’s Office in Sikongo Constituency last year. More boreholes are needed to provide clean drinking water to the people. The constituency needs sixty boreholes to carter for Government institutions and densely populated areas.

Mr Speaker, education is cardinal to the development of our country. We need a high school in Sikongo Constituency to cater for pupils coming out of the many basic schools we have in the area. The nearest high school is sixty kilometres from Sikongo. I would like to commend the steps taken by the New Deal Government to address the issues of lack of teachers in schools, especially in the rural areas of Zambia.

My appeal to the Government is to consider rural areas first when posting teachers. This is because there is a serious shortage of teachers in rural areas. This problem is compounded by most the young men and women who refuse to work in rural areas. The Ministry of Education needs more funding in the next Budget to enable it improve the conditions of service for rural teachers.  This will also enable them renovate schools in rural areas. There is also a need for more funding to education to construct new high schools countrywide, especially in the rural areas.

Mr Speaker, us, from the rural areas have benefited from the Health Reforms in the last five years. The lack of drugs in the clinics does not mean that the Government cannot supply drugs, but this is due to poor management by the people running the centres.

Mr Ndalamei: Mr Speaker, allow me to state that in Sikongo Constituency, we still need about four health posts because patients walk long distances to seek medical services. Furthermore, the constituency needs an ambulance.

Mr Ndalamei: This will enable us refer patients to the nearest hospital which is sixty kilometres away from the constituency.

Mr Speaker, my constituency shares the boarder with a neighbouring country where there was civil war for a long time. As a result, some bad elements within our community acquired military weapons which are now used to kill residents. The so called Karavinas are hired to murder opponents. They also use their guns to rob the people of their cattle. Therefore, the Government should provide protection for the people of Sikongo. These criminals do not only kill them, but also rob them of their cattle. The Ministry of Home Affairs needs to establish three police posts in the constituency and to beef up the number of police officers at Sikongo Sub-Boma from the current five. They should also provide transport for them to be mobile.

Mr Speaker, allow me to convey the request to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to declare Sikongo a district since it has the same structures as Shangombo. Last year, Sikongo was accorded a district code through the National Registration Department. Therefore, we urge the New Deal Government to help us upgrade Sikongo to full-Boma status in order to develop the area.

May God almighty help the New Deal Government to implement it’s manifesto and improve the living standards of the people of Zambia, especially in rural areas.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

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ADJOURNMENT

The Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services (Mr Mwaanga): Mr Speaker, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

Question put and agreed to.

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The House adjourned at 1846 hours until 1430 hours on Wednesday, 8th November, 2006.