DAILY PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES FOR THE FIRST SESSION OF THE NINTH ASSEMBLY

Wednesday, 6th March, 2002

The House met at 1430 hours

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

NATIONAL ANTHEM

PRAYER

________

ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR SPEAKER

TABLING CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

Mr Speaker: I have an announcement to share with the House and I request hon. Members to listen attentively as the announcement contains information which may not have been adequately covered in the seminars that we recently held.

The House will recall that on Tuesday, 5th March, 2002, when the House was considering the Motion of Supply tabled by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, the hon. Member of Parliament for Lusaka Central, Mr Dipak Patel, MP, after his contribution to the Motion of Supply, attempted to lay on the Table of the House certain documents of a confidential nature. I ruled that he could not lay the documents on the Table of the House as they had not been properly obtained.

As I stated at that time, by Commonwealth practice and procedure, no Presiding Officer is allowed to accept confidential or secret information on Government itself. A legislature is not there to undermine Government operations, especially when they relate to the security of the State.

As a follow-up to my ruling, I have directed that all remarks made by the hon. Member of Parliament for Lusaka Central, Mr Dipak Patel, MP, in relation to the financial statements of the Zambia State Intelligence Service be excised or expunged from the record of the day’s Parliamentary Debates.

I take this opportunity to seriously caution all hon. Members of the House that while they are protected from civil and criminal proceedings for their actions while in the House, they should not abuse these rights. Equally, hon. Members are not protected if they repeat such actions outside the precincts of Parliament.

Parliament must never, I emphasise, never be used as a platform to score cheap political games at the risk of endangering the security of the State.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: Parliament also has powers to punish offenders who abuse the powers, privileges and immunities provided in the Constitution and relevant Act of Parliament.

Thank you.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

________

MOTION

BUDGET 2002

(Debate resumed)

Mr Pwele (Roan): I would like to thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me to continue with my maiden speech.

Mr Speaker, I would like to mention here that it was not easy to win elections with the background of trade unionism because Dr F. J. T. Chiluba’s mismanagement of the economy has made people believe that all trade unionists are not only corrupt, but also irresponsible and agents of imperialism.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Pwele: Therefore, former trade unionist in politics today must prove to the electorate that they are not political dribblers like Chiluba.

Mr Speaker, since the President’s Speech was a summary of the Budget Address, I would like to go straight into congratulating Hon. Emmanuel G. Kasonde, MP, and Minister of Finance and National Planning on his presentation of the Budget on 1st March, 2002. This year’s Budget has failed to address a lot of issues ranging from high unemployment, non-payment of terminal and retrenchment benefits to how the parastatals and private companies are going to be revamped. It is sad that the Government, in its Budget, is only talking of revamping the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia.

Mr Speaker, Ndola, a city that used to be industrious in the UNIP Government, has economically collapsed. Most parastatal and private companies in this country have shut down and workers have been thrown onto the streets without being paid their terminal and retrenchment benefits. Worst of all to mention here is that, the Government privatised companies and consumed money realised from the privatisation exercise without even first paying employees their accrued benefits from their previous employers. Talk of Kapiri Glass, Kabwe Mine, Serioes, Maamba Collieries, Kawambwa Tea Company and so on. It is very unfair that problems at KCM have overshadowed problems faced by other mining companies such as Maamba Collieries, Kabwe Mine, Ramcoz, and Kansanshi just to mention a few which are already under receivership. Workers in these companies have not been paid their terminal benefits.

Mr Speaker, the people of Luanshya are victims of irresponsible and corrupt privatisation. In 1997, the Government decided to privatise Luanshya Mines without paying workers their accrued terminal pensions with ZCCM. The ZPA team, under the chairmanship of Mr Valentine Chitalu, made recomendations that mines be sold to First Quantum, a Canadian firm now running Bwana Mkubwa. When Mr F. T. J. Chiluba got wind of it, he removed the ZPA team and appointed his own team headed by Mr Francis Kaunda without approval of Parliament. Mr Francis Kaunda-headed team corruptly offered Luanshya Mines to Binan Group of Companies that had no money, experience and feasibility study.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Pwele: In October, 1997, Luanshya Division of ZCCM became Roan Antelope Mining Corporation of Zambia, Ramcoz. After six months, problems started appearing because of lack of re-investment monies. Moneys realised from the sale of copper remained abroad. What followed was that suppliers could not be paid, voluntary and statutory deductions from workers’ salaries could not be remitted to respective institutions, spare parts could not be bought, bailiffs grabbed company vehicles and widows, retrenchees and retirees could not be paid their terminal benefits. 

Mr Speaker, the union branch executive under my chairmanship had a meeting with the former President, Dr. F. T. J. Chiluba, at the Ramcoz Director’s Lodge on 29th December, 1998, just a day before Local Government Elections. As usual, he made false promises that he would come for another meeting at the end of February, 1999, so that all problems could be solved. The Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Commerce headed by Hon. Levison Mumba, got detailed information of problems at Ramcoz. Our then Member of Parliament, Hon. V. J. Mwaanga, had also detailed information of the problems at Ramcoz. 

Laughter.

Mr Pwele: Mr Speaker, I still keep a copy of a letter, which Hon. V. J. Mwaanga wrote to the then Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Dr. Syamukayumbu Syamujaye, but the Government could not listen to our complaints. As I increased my cause to the Government to repossess the mines, I faced more resistance and hatred from the national leadership of the Mineworkers Union of Zambia, Government and Ramcoz management. I was fired from employment three times and it was the third time that triggered an eight days strike until I was reinstated.

Laughter.

Mr Pwele: They could not stop fighting against me. On 23rd December, 1999, I was expelled from the Mineworkers Union of Zambia by the MUZ President, Mr Andrew Mwanza. I was accused of working against the MMD Government. After a week, I was retrenched from employment. After I had been retrenched, two of my colleagues in the union were also retrenched and three of them got fired from work. We were fighting for the rights of the people of Zambia 

Mr Speaker, after my departure from Ramcoz, the company went into receivership, got flooded and today workers are unable to get their salaries and terminal benefits. All this has happened because the MMD Government under Chiluba was not interested in listening, but only in plundering and corruption.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Pwele: Mr Speaker, the way forward …

Mr Speaker: Order! May the hon. Member, please, withdraw the word ‘corruption’ that he has just used now. It is unparliamentary. Can he withdraw it and after that, he may continue.

Will he continue, please.

Mr Pwele: Mr Speaker, I withdraw that. 

Laughter.

Mr Pwele: Firstly, Mr Speaker, the way forward for Luanshya mines, that is, Ramcoz, is that the Government should pay workers their ZCCM accrued terminal benefits, regardless of the mode of exit as indicated in the collective agreement of 1997. The non-payment of salaries and terminal benefits has created a lot of suffering for the people of Luanshya. Secondly, the Government should take keen interest in the privatisation of Ramcoz. The receiver who is at the moment busy stripping the mines should not be allowed to negotiate for the sale of the mines because we might end up having another Ramcoz or another Binani. The receiver is only interested in the debt recovery and not in the job security of workers. 

Hon. Opposition Member: Be fast.

Mr Pwele: I am very fast. My speech is very short.

Mr Speaker, poverty is a product of poor governance. People should understand that. Where there is poverty, there is poor governance. Therefore, culprits of economic mismanagement must be brought to book so that it becomes a lesson to others. 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Pwele: Mr Speaker, people like Mr Francis Kaunda and all those involved in privatisation of companies should explain to Parliament, why companies which had been privatised have collapsed and where moneys from the privatisation has money gone to.

Mr Speaker, one has to ask the following questions: what has happened to Kwachamania? Where are our workers’ terminal benefits? Where is the Presidential jet? Where is the US$90 million? Why confusion in the sale of houses on the Copperbelt? Why should someone enjoy pension benefits when he has not retired from active politics? 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Pwele: Why have all the companies collapsed in this country? 

Mr Speaker, may God bless this august House.

Thank you, Sir.{mospagebreak}

Miss Kakoma (Kalabo): Mr Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and congratulate you and the Deputy Speaker of this House on your re-election to these two national positions. I wish both of you good health.

Mr Speaker, I wish to congratulate His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa on his quality speech to move Zambia kulutwe, meaning forward. 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Miss Kakoma: Mr Speaker, this shows that the President has Zambia at heart. I would like, as well, to thank the people of Kalabo Central for electing me during the just ended tripartite elections, as I am the first woman Member of Parliament elected in Kalabo Central Constituency.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Miss Kakoma: I wish them well and God’s blessings.

Mr Speaker, the speech of the President has clearly stated new policies in the New Deal that  seriously must be implemented and funded to eradicate hunger. In my constituency, people cannot believe that they are part and parcel of Zambia, they still do not believe it because although Kalabo has always been the hub of rice, wheat and cattle production in Zambia , all these efforts have yielded nothing in the past ten years. People these days try to make ends meet. As the President said, it will be good to bring back co-operatives, which will have the best planners and qualified manpower.

Mr. Speaker, in Kalabo the shortage of food has forced the people to eating mangoes, which are now out of  season and are finished. People have now turned to eating wild fruits. In Kalabo hunger is so high that the people cannot even understand why the Government is still maintaining the ban on catching fish, which would alleviate the problem of starvation in the district.

Sir, to be a citizen of Zambia means to be a responsible person who is expected to contribute positively to the development of the economy of your country, but in Kalabo, this is not the case because of the economic mismanagement of the country’s economy and of the national cake, which is approved here in the House.  What the people of Kalabo get is the sweet smell only.

As regards Government assurances, Mr Speaker, the peoole of Kalabo are still waiting for this Government to begin construction of the Mongu/Kalabo Road, which was funded and never took off. They want to know how much money was funded in the past years and what the results of the feasibility studies have been. The people of Kalabo would like to have boreholes as the water they drink from the river is not safe. I also wish to call upon the Ministry of Energy and Water Development to complete the electrification project of Lukona Secondary School where poles were put and up to now the school has no electric power.

Mr Speaker, the intention of the present Government to provide free education from Grades 1 to 7 has been done in bad faith. This is because since 1964, the school dropout figures at Grade 7, 9 and 12 have been very high. The Government should reconsider this position by providing free education from Grade 8 to university so that the country gets qualified manpower to work in our industries, instead of depending on expatriate manpower.

In Kalabo Constituency and many districts of the Western Province, Grade 7 dropouts are so many that they end up drinking illicit beer and girls marry early and as a result of this, they  are rapidly increasing the population of the district. Let us equip our youths with useful skills and expert knowledge acquired from the courses that they take at both colleges and university levels and then, this useful human resource will become the engine for development of the country. The Government should attract better working conditions and better salaries for the Zambian people rather than pay huge salaries to expatriates, some of whom do not even know their jobs well.

As regards health, Mr. Speaker, people at the moment cannot afford three meals a day.   So, how can they afford medical bills?  Medical user-fees should be abolished. As of now, people are going through hardships. People walk long distances to the hospital, but unfortunately there are no medicines in hospitals. May the Government check on the administration of hospitals. Hospitals have become white elephant. At the moment the Government should give free medical services to the people in rural areas who are most affected.

Mr. Speaker, let me say something on the environment. The Government should take serious measures to avoid the environmental destruction through the disposal of chemicals, which are dangerous to the health of our people and animals. This includes  the indiscriminate use of fertiliser, which if not properly utilised can destroy our soil. Our land should not  be turned into a desert.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to urge the New Deal Government to effectively fund the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, which deals with the environmental issues. Our forests have been targeted by cutting all the trees and I wonder who makes the profit out of this because even our people who cut these trees, I have never seen any of them buy cars or better shelter. The people who benefit are foreigners who come with industrial machines into our forests and cut our precious resource. Are these people licensed? Why do they operate at night?

Mr Speaker, as regards security in Kalabo, insecurity is rampant because of the civil wars which has been going on in Angola, and Kalabo being a transit has a lot of refugees. The situation is so serious that Kalabo is now a market for guns, pistols and AK 47 rifles. These guns are easily exchanged with cassava roots or maize meal. At all times the border is very busy.  People now evade security check-points along the buffer zone because it is quite a very long stretch which need increased manpower day and night. As of now, some young men have taken the law into their own hands where witchcraft  suspects are gunned down by makaravina.

Therefore, I ask the New Deal Government to reinforce the border and buffer zone and educate our people about security. These makaravinas can gun down anybody as long as he/she has gray hair, because according to them anybody with gray hair is a witch. At the moment people have lost their loved ones through this and most criminals have gone scot-free. Mr Speaker, may the Government urgently look into this problem and may the police be equipped with transport and fuel in Kalobo border to enable them effectively combat this crime.

Mr Speaker, may the Almighty God guide us on what we say in this House .May we put Zambia at heart for it to be a better place to live.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Nzowa (Kabushi): Mr Speaker, I also wish to add my congratulations on your successful and transparent elections. I also wish to take this opportunity to join my colleagues, the House and the nation at large,  in congratulating the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa , on delivering such a powerful speech on the official opening of Parliament.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: It was a very good piece of work that has been accepted.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: For some of us it is the best President’s Speech in the last ten years. We seem to be graduating from the sweet talk to real talk. I hope and pray that all the issues raised will be implemented for the benefit of the suffering masses and this has to be done as soon as possible before the New Deal gets old .

Mr Speaker, I now wish to thank the people of Kabushi for having chosen me to represent them as their Members of Parliament. I was one of the thirteen candidates who stood. The political platform has become very competitive. I promise not to betray them or fail them. I have now dedicated myself to them and stand very ready to work with them. The people of Kabushi have never had a Member of Parliament for the past ten years.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: Now, they have risen up to the occasion and have elected their own son who knows the constituency and its problems very well.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: Mr Speaker, Kabushi Constituency has had numerous problems ever since the colonial era. Kabushi, which is one of the oldest townships in Zambia, has never seen any development. People are still using pit latrines and yet it is in town. There is now no space to construct some more pit latrines. These pit latrines were left by the colonial Government, the houses are almost collapsing and the place has been completely abandoned. The road network in the township no longer exist, water system leaves much to be desired. There is total collapse of basic social infrastructure and yet, that used to be the best middle class area. The people would like the New Deal Government to put Kabushi on the priority list for electrification. Their counterparts in Chifubu Constituency have benefited and yet, Kabushi, which is a big constituency has been ignored.

I hope President Mwanawasa’s commitment to development will be for all constituencies. In the past, what we were told by the former President is that those constituencies that will elect opposition Member of Parliament will never ever see development, …

Interruptions.

Mr Nzowa: … but now, we are appealing to the New Deal Government, which seems to take a different path to respect the decision of the people. If the people choose an opposition Member, it means that is their choice and in democracy, they should respect the choice and not punishing the people by denying them development.

Mr Situmbeko: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: Mr Speaker, Ndola is now a sorry sight. The industries that you used to see have been destroyed and the smoke is no longer there. Thousands of men and women have lost their jobs through company closures and most of the people have not been paid their terminal benefits up to now and some of them have died due to depression. Most of the families cannot even afford a meal a day. There are so many companies that have phased out: Copper Refinery, Dunlop, Liver Brothers, Funcoz, Lions Brooke Bond, Indeco Milling, Rover Zambia, Reckit and Colman, Johnson and Johnson, you can mention a lot of them. Ndola is now a ghost town.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Nzowa: I have heard in the House that 80 per cent of the Zambians are wallowing in poverty. However, I wish to correct that these are old statistics. Now, we have about 98 per cent who are wallowing in poverty.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Nzowa: Mr Speaker, though I wish also to say this, it has already been made by my colleague, but I wish to add, with your permission, that I am also calling for a constitutional review and this should be done soonest. The people want a Constitution that will make the leadership accountable to them and not the other way round.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: They want a Constitution that will make it possible to prosecute leaders whilst in office, any leader that has stolen public funds or abused office, unlike the situation is now, where you have to wait until they leave office. We want a Constitution that will allow those that have stolen and found guilty not to stand for public office …

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: … because with this present Constitution, you can steal, abuse office and still bounce back.

Miss Kakoma: Imagine!

Mr Nzowa: We want a Constitution that will subject all Presidential appointments to Parliament for ratification.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: This should include the Inspector-Generals of Police who usually turn themselves into party cadres.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: Only the positions of Army Commander should be excluded. The Presidential clause to only serve for two terms should be extended to Members of Parliament …

Laughter.

Mr Nzowa: … because some of the people I have seen here, I used to read their names in Social Studies at primary school and they are still around.

Laughter.

Mr Nzowa: Give room to the young ones …

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: Use your experience to go and lecture.

Laughter.

Mr Nzowa: What are you doing here?

Laughter.

Mr Situmbeko: Ba Kasonde!

Mr Nzowa: Mr Speaker, I wish to talk about the main adverse reports that we have been reading in newspapers. We have been reading scandals day in and day out and this is not good to a democratic nation like ours. It is for this reason that we need to clear the masses. They have been affected by these numerous bad reports and it seems no one is taking action. We need a truth commission and people need to know the truth; is the money stolen or it is a lie and if it is a lie, those who are involved will be cleared, but if they are found guilty, those who are involved should be dealt with.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: We cannot allow a climate of scandals.

Interruptions.

Mr Nzowa: If you want to know how to deal with this, come to Heritage Party, Brigadier-General Miyanda will show you how to do it.

Laughter.

Mr Nzowa: Mr Speaker, now let me talk about the Budget. In the Budget, we have been told by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning that the economic playing field will be leveled and I think this is a welcome idea and a lot of other things were mentioned. But most of all, I was literally touched with the national planning. It is only Dr  Kaunda who had those developmental or national planning.

Hon. UNIP Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: Now, I think we have realised that we need to have a period of national planning. The people of Zambia need to know how many schools and hospitals you are going to build in a specific time and by so doing, they will never query you if you put it clearly in your development plan.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: But of late, we have only had these annual Budgets, which are very inconsistent and we only hope that these national development plans will be implemented. We need to know the programmes that you are going to sell to the people.

I would not like to join those who praised the Budget Speech, I will wait until I scrutinise the Yellow Book and other documents, then I will praise you for that nice sugar coated Budget Speech.

Laughter.

Mr Nzowa: As at now, it remains a promissory note.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: Mr Speaker, lastly, we were told in 1991 that the Government inherited empty coffers; that was a song. Now, we want to know what the New Deal has inherited from the new culture.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Nzowa: If you inherited empty coffers, tell us.

Mr Situmbeko: You inherited corruption!

Mr Nzowa: Mr Speaker, thank you.

Mr Chiti M. Sampa (Mporokoso): Mr Speaker, thank you very much for giving me this chance to contribute to this very important speech by the President, His Excellency Mr Levy P. Mwanawasa, State Counsel. I would like also to thank, on behalf of the people of Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt and part of Central Province who voted for the Republican President.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kazala-Laski: Bauze, that is tribalism!

Mr Chiti M. Sampa: Mr Speaker, my noble advice to any Zambian who wants to rule this country as  Republican President, he or she must align with the voters in these provinces. If not, they will remain presidents of their political parties.

Laughter.

Mr Chiti M. Sampa: Secondly, may I also congratulate you, Sir, and the Deputy Speaker on your re-elections as Speaker and Deputy Speaker. I trust that with you in the Chair, the business of this House will be conducted successfully.

It is also very important for me to have been elected Member of Parliament for Mporokoso Constituency. I would like to extend my appreciation to the voters in my constituency who voted for me, and the Republican President, His Excellency Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC.

Mr Speaker, it is quite important for me to congratulate the former President, Dr Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba, for leading this nation from total collapse to this time of hope.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Chiti M. Sampa: On agriculture, Mr Speaker, for a long time now, Mporokoso has been a forgotten and neglected district. The district is favoured by normal rainfall, but agricultural development has not taken place. That is why the people in my constituency have gone back to the chitemene system.

Mr Speaker, I should not ignore the important project, which has taken place in the district, and that is the construction of a bridge at Kalungwishi River. For this, I must pay tribute, on behalf of the people in my constituency, to Dr Chiluba and, indeed, the former Member of Parliament for Mporokoso Constituency, Mr Ackim Nkole.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Chiti M. Sampa: Mr Speaker, I am appealing to our New Deal Government, on behalf of the people of Mporokoso Constituency, to construct a tarmac road form Kasama via Mporokoso to Kawambwa. As I contribute to the debate on this very important speech by the Republican President and that of the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon. Emmanuel Kasonde, Mporokoso District is completely cut off from the rest of the country due to the bad state of the road. Right now, the road has turned into Mporokoso/Kasama swamp. People in Mporokoso Constituency, Lunte Constituency and part of Kasama Central Constituency are appealing and pleading for the construction of a new road. Only then will development be boosted.

Mr Speaker, tourism development in Zambia has traditionally been concentrated in only a few places like the tourist capital, Livingstone, South Luangwa National Park, Lusaka and Lower Zambezi National Parks. Other parts of the country, like the Northern Province, that have tremendous tourist resources, have been left untapped. For example, Northern Luangwa National Park in Mpika, which is completely undeveloped, apart from a few bush camps that specialise in walking safaris; national parks of Nsumbu which is extremely attractive and unspoiled and includes part of Lake Tanganyika, the Chishimba Falls in Kasama, Mwela Rock Arts at Kasama, believed to be over 1,500 years, the Kalambo Falls in Mbala, which is the second highest falls in Africa, and the twelfth highest in the world. In my constituency, there is Lumangwe, Kabwelume, Mimbuluma and Kapumo Falls, which are all not tapped.

The potential for tourism development in my constituency is unquestionable. However, there are a number of constraints that cause some of these problems. These include the following: general poor road infrastructure in my constituency; very poor tourist access roads; and lack of adequate promotional materials. There is very limited information on the tourism resources available in my constituency.

Lastly, Mr Speaker, I am very much saddened when I hear Members of this House talking ill of the Chiluba administration, more especially the Opposition. These are the people who have benefited more from the Chiluba administration.

Interruptions.

Mr Chiti M. Sampa: My question, Mr Speaker, is: why do we Zambians forget so easily? I am so happy today to see my tribal cousins from the so-called Eastern power dressed in very nice suits, which were not there during the UNIP days. 

Laughter.

Mr Chiti M. Sampa: Only safari suits were there and they looked like office orderlies. 

Laughter.

Mr Chiti M. Sampa: Their women used to walk bare footed or they used to put on sofiya shoes, which they smuggled from Malawi. With the new culture in place, both men and women started looking smart. I think, Mr Speaker, they will continue looking smart in the former new culture fashion. We Bemba-speaking people, it is muyayaya to look smart because it has become our culture.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker: With time, the hon. Member for Mporokoso will learn that likening hon. Members of Parliament to office orderlies may not be a good idea and that the word ‘smuggling’ is unparliamentary.

Mr J. S. Chilufya (Mansa): Mr Speaker, I wish to, first of all, thank you for giving me this rare opportunity to present my maiden speech in this august House.

Secondly, I would like to salute you and the Deputy Speaker for having been re-elected to your important posts. Mr Speaker, I would like to believe that both the Opposition and the ruling party Members of Parliament will, undoubtedly, benefit from your rich, wide and long experience that you have gained over a long period of time.

Mr Speaker, I wish to recognise the fact that a good number of hon. Members of Parliament who were here last year are not here. I, therefore, wish to take this opportunity to congratulate Hon. Hachipuka, Hon. Sibetta, Hon. Chulumanda, Hon. Mushala and Hon. L. L. Phiri, on making it where others miserably failed.

My humble request, Mr Speaker, to these veteran and quality politicians is that they should stand up and provide the novices with quality guidance and counselling by being fine and spectacular examples.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to salute myself, along with other new hon. Members of this House, for making it to Manda Hill, most of us, at the first attempt. These new Members of Parliament should be receptive to the advice coming from the old guards and should be prepared to learn how to go about their duties as people’s representatives from their respective constituencies.

Mr Speaker, it is important for all of us to realise that in order to perform effectively, efficiently and with confidence, individual Members of Parliament will need constant help from each other and, indeed, from your good office. 

Mr Speaker, I, now, wish to salute the Republican President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC., for his inspiring speech that he delivered during the Official Opening of the Ninth National Assembly. It is a fact that the speech was a masterpiece, comprehensive and, more importantly, above partisan politics. This was evidenced by the constant applause from both the Opposition and ruling hon. Members of Parliament that characterised the speech and the standing ovation at the end of the speech. 

Mr Speaker, it must be mentioned, here, that even hon. Members of Parliament who had stiff and painful necks could not resist the urge to node their heads vigorously to show agreement and …

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr J. S. Chilufya: … acceptance of the inspiring contents of the moving and wonderful speech. 

Mr Speaker, our Republican President has, indeed, ably outlined the vision and rekindled the dream for our mother Zambia. It is, now, up to us to, first of all, share the vision with our beloved Republican President and, thereafter, assist him in realising the dream of the Zambian people.

Mr Speaker, it was heartening and pleasing to note that the President and the Minister of Finance and National Planning later on put more emphasis on the means and ways of revamping agricultural activities in our country. 

Admittedly, the agricultural policies have been lopsided and unyielding for sometime now. I have no doubt, Mr Speaker, that the measures that have been outlined and put in place by the Republican President will bear fruit for the Zambian farmers in particular and for the nation in general. Indeed, the bottomline and the key to successful agricultural policies lies in prudent and timely planning. This should ensure early and continuous delivery of inputs as envisaged in the President’s Speech and echoed by the Minister of Finance and National Planning.

Mr Speaker, the introduction of the Crop Marketing Authority (CMA) should not be allowed to falter in its delivery of services to both small-scale and commercial farmers. The new method of implementing agricultural programmes have received support from all hon. Members of Parliament with almost all the parties claiming to be originators and authors of these policies.

I am convinced, Mr Speaker, beyond doubt, that with such support and faith, for a change, our policies on agriculture will, now, produce the desirable results and bring economic empowerment to the rural dwellers whose main industry is agriculture and agriculture only.

Mr Speaker, the cry by some opposition Members for free education is welcome. However, I wish to admit that there is more to be done or given so as to ensure that all school going children are afforded a chance or opportunity to develop themselves into useful citizens. This will, in the end, contribute to their future well being and that of the country as a whole. Those calling for free education to be given up to secondary school level and beyond can be forgiven for forgetting or refusing to realise that the economic down-turn in our country cannot possibly allow us to take such a giant and radical step at a goal.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr J. S. Chilufya: Mr Speaker, when the national economy improves, I have not doubt that free education can be extended to the level higher than Grade 7. 

It is, however, pleasing, Mr Speaker, to note that the Government has put in place a bursary scheme that can take care of the vulnerable or poor people. The GRZ bursary scheme should not only serve the pupils doing their junior secondary education, but all the poor pupils should be identified and supported generally by the Government. Failure to do so will result in forcing such people into abject poverty through no fault of theirs. 

Mr Speaker, as regards poverty, under Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, Zambia has been given an opportunity to reduce poverty levels both in urban and rural areas. It is important that ministries charged with responsibilities of supervising and implementing these HIPC programmes realise their fundamental obligation, which is to transparently disburse these funds and ensure that there is equal distribution of the money so that all the constituencies benefit from such programmes.

Mr Speaker, apart from the HIPC initiative, there are also a number of other good Government programmes and projects which must be used as tools to reduce the prevailing poverty levels in the country. These include Rural Investment Fund (RIF), Micro-Projects Unit (MPU), ZAMSIF, just to mention but a few.

In order for Zambians to appreciate Governments efforts to bring development to their areas, the line ministries should expeditiously supervise and hasten to disburse these funds. Mr Speaker, this is because development delayed by unnecessary delays is development denied to the people.

Mr Speaker, I am glad to note that the President has recognised the importance of good roads. In this regard, I wish to ask the Government to quickly attend to the Mokambo/Chembe or Pedicle Road that usually becomes almost impassable year in and out. The current arrangement of partial and yearly repair is wasteful. The Government must, now, spend more money tarring the 60 kilometre road which is the shortcut from the line of rail to Luapula and Northern provinces. 

Indeed, the Pedicle Road is not only a short cut, but more importantly, economical to use than the Tuta Road. The tarring of this road will greatly enhance the economic and social life of the people of Luapula who depend on this road to take their goods and crops to the Copperbelt towns for sale.

Mr Speaker, I would like to comment on health. Mansa, being a provincial headquarters, requires a big hospital to accommodate and attend to referral cases from small district hospitals. Unfortunately, Mansa General Hospital has remained incomplete. Many people in this august House have been referring to the past ten years, but in my case, I would like to state that for more than twenty years, Mansa General Hospital has remained incomplete. I would like to believe that our New Deal Administration would rise to the occasion and provide adequate funding to complete part of the hospital wing, which has remained a white elephant since 1983.

Additionally, I wish to state, Mr Speaker, that the Government policy on provision of rural health centres is very clear and ambitious as opposed to having rural health centres every 6 kilometres. People in Mansa Central are still subjected to covering long distances in order to get medical attention, which are at times not available. The Mansa Central Constituency is genuinely crying for easily accessible medical services.

Mr Speaker, I wish to state that the residents of Mansa town have suffered a lot of inadequacies as far as provision of safe drinking water is concerned. The ancient water plant and pipeline is constantly breaking down and bursting. The local municipal council has no capacity to undertake the overall rehabilitation that the water system requires. The Ministry of Local Government and Housing must bail out the Mansa Municipal Council.

Mr Speaker, I wish to encourage the Ministry of Education to continue with its programme of rehabilitating dilapidated school buildings. Educational officials have not inspected some of these schools because of impassible roads and hence they are on the blink of collapsing.

Mr Speaker, my constituency shares the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country that has never enjoyed peace for a long time. Arising from this state of insecurity, I would like to ask the Ministry of Home Affairs to seriously and quickly establish police stations at Chembe and Matanda Border Posts.

Mr Speaker, I wish to take this opportunity to request the Ministry of Local Government and Housing also to seriously look into the need to build decent homes for local Chiefs and also, to build modern markets in Mansa Central where people could go and sell their crops with dignity.

Sir, allow me to remind all of us hon. Members of Parliaments to realise that the time for selling our party manifestos from ant-hills is over. The electorate are very impatient and anxious to see that the promises and commitments we made are realised and realised fast. In order to achieve this, it is cardinal that we realise and respect the fact that each one of us here has something valuable to offer in one way or the other.

Admittedly, Mr Speaker, we have come from different backgrounds, different provinces and different political parties. This, however, does not mean that Parliament should be in disorder or in disarray, because even in diversity there is orderliness and unity of purpose.

With the tone set by the Republican President, I have no doubt, Mr Speaker, that in spite of some unpleasant failures we have suffered in the past, this time, we should all collectively hope and pray to succeed.

Mr Speaker, I would like to conclude my maiden speech with this thought: “A revolution does not necessarily have to be bloody, it is just a turn around of doing things. With collective determination, commitment, hard work, team spirit and relentless faith in the economic programmes, we shall be able to wage a successful bloodless revolution.”

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and my God bless us all.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Hon. Opposition Members: Gender!

Miss Sialumba (Mapatizya): I would like to thank you, Mr Speaker, for affording me this opportunity to make my maiden speech to this august House. I would like to thank my party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), for having adopted me as their candidate for Mapatizya Parliamentary Constituency. I also want to thank the people of Mapatizya for electing me as their Member of Parliament. It will go down in history that I am the first woman to be elected as Member of Parliament for that constituency.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Miss Sialumba: In electing me, the people of Mapatizya Constituency have expressed the need to urgently look and resolve the problems they face. The poverty levels in this area are so high that we have seen children that go about or walk naked. Their parents cannot afford to get them descent dressing. As for the hunger situation, Mr Speaker, this is just unbearable. Two days prior to the last general elections, the constituency experienced two deaths due to hunger. Currently, the situation has worsened to the extent that people cannot even survive on wild roots and fruits because the rains are not there for these to grow naturally. If you recall, it has only been one week that I got back to the constituency with a tuber, which is a danger to the people.

As you may know, Mr Speaker, the rains in the past recent years have been too low to sustain meaningful farming by our farmers. Added to this, is the fact that farming inputs came rather late. To make the situation worse, the prices of fertiliser and seed are too high for the ninety five per cent of our farmers who are just peasant farmers to afford.

Mr Speaker, the area is renown for rearing cattle, but because of the foot and mouth disease that was prevalent in the recent past, many if not all households have lost most of their cattle. Two years ago, the Chiluba Government had promised the farmers K2 billion for their animals, but this has been very difficult to access because of the conditions tied to it.

Sir, one of the conditions is for a farmer to pay K100,000 per animal. But where on earth can a poor peasant farmer who has no money and no crops to sell get that kind of money? I believe within myself that this is unfair to the detriment of the people and Southern Province as a whole. For those that have been able to grow anything, marketing the produce has been very difficult due to none availability.

On the question of roads, Sir, Mapatizya as a constituency has one main road, which starts some ten kilometres before Kalomo town. It has also a road that gets to Zimba but this does not service the people of this area. Its main feeder roads are also bad and more must be done to make them accessible to our people. The Kabanga/Mapatizya Road is an eyesore. Even with the erratic rains, the road has already become impassible. The Government of the day should do something about it. The roads actually need a face-lift and more roads should be graded especially the feeder roads. These roads were worked on some time ago, but I believe that they were not given the attention in terms of quality work needed for the major roads. The bridges are also broken, most of them need to be repaired. I just thank God that we just have manageable rains.

On education, Mr Speaker, I wish to say that Mapatizya has two secondary schools and some basic schools with many primary schools, but are all in a deplorable state. Most of these schools were built of mud and grass. You would think that you are still in the olden days or pre-independence times when you see them. Teachers have no houses, children cannot read in the night because of not having electricity in all the schools except at Kabanga Secondary School which is being run by the mission which has a solar system. There are no books to learn and read from. The teachers have no incentives and as a result of this, teachers have lost interest to teach and this can be shown by the numbers at Grade 7, 9 and 12  that qualified from last year’s results. There are no enough desks, pupils are meant to sit on the ground. In view of this, the Government should look at the educational sector in Mapatizya with the view of solving these and related problems as a matter outmost urgency.

Mr Speaker, I wish to speak a little bit on health. Mapatizya Constituency has had a problem where medical care is concerned. As you are aware, this is a remote area with a large population, but with very few health facilities, which has resulted in the general population to opt to die from their homes. There are two clinics in the area and one hospital. Transport as earlier stated is a problem. The clinic that is being run by the mission cannot cope with the situation as it is now, as it also caters for all the people from the surrounding areas as a referral centre. The implication of this on the capacity and quality of care is quite obvious. I am sure you know what this means. 

There is, therefore, urgent need for the Government to reinforce medical care, including the provision of an ambulance. Mothers have in the area given birth on their way to the clinic because they are meant to ride on an ox -drawn cart, which is very uncomfortable. 

I would wish to thank the Minister of Health who, at least, sent some medicine to the area. The health institutions above all, need to be run by professionally and experienced health personnel. These clinics also need to have labour wards to ease the pressure from expectant mothers and their families. Clinics also need electricity, as there are cases that need care or attention throughout the day, nights inclusive and to ease operational problems.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk a bit on mining. My constituency is rich in amethyst. If the Government has to put in a bit of effort, we would be able to collect a bit of revenue from this mine. I just want to shade a bit of light on this matter. I am talking of a mine called Kariba Minerals, which was in partnership with the Government and Lonro.

Mr. Speaker, this mine has a workforce of 300 people and they are producing at full capacity. But to my surprise, the Government wants to pull out of this mine. Lonro would also like to get its money. They advertised through the Zambia Privatisation Agency where bidders came forward and showed interest in purchasing this mine. At the time the first bid was done, a company that showed interest put up an upfront bid of US$1,300, but to our surprise this company now wishes to buy this mine at US$330,000 and in my view, this is a big loss.

Mr. Speaker, this Kariba Mine is able to produce a lot of rich minerals. Since we do not have enough resources as a nation, I think that if the Government can just come in, we would be able to get a lot of revenue.

Mr. Speaker, I have already said that this is a rural set-up and I would like to add that this mine has been a source of income to the locals. I would like to urge the Government to come in now to stop the sale to the company which wants to get rid of the workforce there. In this company, women are being discriminated against. If the Government does not come in, I do not know what is going to happen because this mine creates a lot of employment for the local people, especially the women and the youths.

Mr. Speaker, I now turn to security. As I have already stated, when an area is rich in minerals, there are so many people who would like to get to it. Mapatizya as you have already heard has a lot of illegal miners staying there because of the good stones that are coming from there, there are a lot of thefts.

Mr. Speaker, Mapatizya as you are aware borders with Zimbabwe and as you are also aware our colleagues will be going for elections next weekend and as such so many people have started crossing over. And so I am appealing through you  to the Minister of Home Affairs to make sure that there is a police post that will help curb crime which will be committed by the people who will be crossing over.

Mr. Speaker, you know what has been happening on the Copperbelt after the wars in Congo DR, so many arms were left and I am afraid that if no police or security is taken to this area as soon as possible, we will have a lot of arms left loose.

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

Mr. Simenda (Mongu): Mr. Speaker, allow me to join other hon. Members of this august House who have spoken in congratulating you and your Deputy on your re-election as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of this House.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for allowing me to deliver my maiden speech to this august House. I thank the leadership of my party, UPND and my President for having nominated me to stand as their candidate in the just ended elections. I also wish to thank the electorate in my constituency who have shown confidence in both my party and myself in the last tough elections. All together we were ten candidates and I came out victorious.

Mr. Speaker, I will be failing in my duties not to convey to you and your Deputy and hon. Members present, felicitous greetings from the people of my constituency who would like to congratulate all the Members of Parliament, particularly those who have come to the House for the first time.

Mr. Speaker, the people of Mongu would like a fair share of the national cake and proper distribution of wealth. They say that if there is no equitable distribution of wealth, then the original name of the province, Barotseland should be reinstated.

Interruptions.

Mr Simenda: Mr. Speaker, my constituency and the province in general are sick and tired of being the last in the queue to receive their share of national development. It is common knowledge that the province has been nicknamed a Cinderella province, meaning that the province has been considered as an underdog in development by the previous New Culture Administration. My constituency would like the national development programmes to start from there.

Mr. Speaker, Government and NGO reports show that Western Province is the poorest and most backward in Zambia. My constituents wonder then why more resources for development in all fairness cannot be allocated to the less privileged people this time.

Mr. Speaker, I emphasise that we should find a fair manner of distributing the national cake equally to all provinces, especially the under-developed ones. My constituency has instructed me to inform this House that they do not want to hear anything about the Presidential slush fund in this year’s Budget because this fund has been discriminatory and unfairly used against them.

Hon. Members: Shame!{mospagebreak}

Mr. Simenda: Mr. Speaker, on security, the issue of security is very critical in my constituency. People live in fear because there is a high influx of guns and ammunition in the area. People do not know what to do. They are held at ransom like refugees in their own areas, which calls for our security systems to immediately take action now. Reports indicate that these people with guns have robbed people of their cattle, mechandise and crops.

Mr. Speaker, I call upon the Minister of Home Affairs and all the security agents to quickly do something about this. I recommend that we carry out a clean up campaign in the townships and in the surrounding villages. It is a very serious problem and we should deal with it now. On the economy, I would like to say that people do not do good business on bad roads.

In my constituency, such things like roads are not known, let alone good surface roads in the township and feeder roads in Mongu urban areas. People there only know of the old Queen Mother road, which was tarred during the Kuomboka Ceremony some years back. The tarmac road stretching from Limulunga, where the palace of our king is, to Senanga, through Mongu township is in a state of disrepair. The Kalabo/Mongu road is utopia. It is a non-starter. It was used by the previous Member of Parliament to try and win elections there. Unfortunately, his gimmick failed as my dear sister was elected instead.

Mr Speaker, I appeal to the New Deal administration to immediately find money to resurface the Lusaka/Mongu Road and Kalabo/Mongu Road. We need good roads and good telephone infrastructure to be able to attract investors to exploit our natural resources and create wealth for the benefit of our people.

Sir, I would be failing in my duties if I do not emphasise that the people of my constituency have been impoverished and subjected to all types of suffering when they live in plentiful natural resources. The situation was aggravated by the New Culture administration’s negative attitude towards development in the province, during the last ten years. It is because of this that I believe the MMD lost the elections in Western Province.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simenda: Mr Speaker, the people of Mongu do not know street lights. It is the only municipality in the country that has not a single street light. It has been in the dark in the townships since independence. There are no public toilets, good markets, no social amenities. People feel forsaken and totally forgotten by the MMD Government. They want some urgent relief now.

Sir, on health, I wish to add that people of my constituency are over-burdened by numerous problems. The only major provincial referral hospital, Lewanika General Hospital is too congested and lacks staff and medicine. The hospital boasts of only one small mortuary that is usually non-functional. The extension works that are at wall plate level have been at standstill for the past twenty years. Surely, this kind of neglect cannot be tolerated any longer. Some few clinics dotted around the peri-urban areas face similar problems. The sick no longer go there because they cannot afford the user fees. We would prefer that the vulnerable people are not just the under five and old people, above  the age of sixty-five years to be exempted from paying user fees. The hospital has no ambulance and one wonders, when one hears from Members of Parliament here complaining that they do not have ambulances because they have two, when we do not even have one. So, how can we say we are sharing our wealth evenly?

Mr Speaker, HIV is widespread in Mongu District. People have no medicine and no counselling facilities or system. They have very little access to nutrition food, which although available, is unaffordable. Just imagine, a bag of a 25 kg mealie meal in Mongu is now costing more than K50,000. Where will the people find this kind of money to buy meali -meal?

Mr Speaker, when one talks about education, teachers sleep in classrooms, students have neither desks nor books. They have literally nothing. How can we develop a country if we do not pay attention to our education? Therefore, I join all those who are calling for the New Deal administration to give free education from Grade One to Grade Twelve.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simenda: We cannot develop if we do not develop our manpower. That is our greatest asset. There are no other ways of doing it if we want to achieve development.

Mr Speaker, on farming, I would like to say that livestock and fisheries is the main economic activity of our people in the constituency. Therefore, we shall support all measures taken by Government for breeding animals and for disease control. 

Sir, a major issue of my constituency is the control of animal diseases like CBPP. I suggest that a specific fund that is decentralised, be placed so that the Provincial Veterinary Officers and the District Veterinary Officers can have access to the funds to treat outbreaks of diseases because livestock is our major source of living in my constituency. I also suggest that support be given under the Rural Investment Fund to construct dip tanks and a communal diping facilities for small-scale livestock farmers.

Canals and rivers can also be effectively used to improve food security through development of fish ponds that can help locals access to a cheap and regular source of protein. Mr Speaker, for us, canals are very vital. We use them for agricultural purposes and we can use them as a means of transport. So, when you give money for the rehabilitation of roads in certain areas, in Mongu, we would like you to give us money so that we widen our canals to be able to use them for transport.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simenda: Mr Speaker, people do not want negotiations on these matters I am raising. They want this to be dealt with immediately.

The other problem that we are facing is that of a company called ZAMBEEF. We have allowed a monopoly where one company is the only sole buyer of cattle in Western Province. They have made a syndicate with some provincial and district officers not to allow cattle to be transported from Mongu to the line of rail.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear! Tell them!

Mr Simenda: I am asking this House, particularly, my brother, the Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives  to lift this ban immediately.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simenda: The reason is that this company is buying meat at K2,200 per kg and sell it here at more than K10,000 per kg. This to us is a serious exploitation of our people and I think they are sick and tired. We do not want to push them to the wall whereby you will hear that they have committed offences or crimes. They are really very sick and we should do something about that.

Mr Speaker, on direct taxes, I wish to say that the proposed changes with regard to tax regime are most welcome. However, the increase of the tax-free income threshold for individuals to K1,800 per annum need to be seriously debated in this august House. At the moment, a family of six requires a minimum of K400,000 per month to purchase basic foods.

With inflation, of 20 or 30 per cent, I propose that the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning revises the threshold upwards to at least K4,800,000. The Government will ask where the money will come from. You should scrap the position of District Administrators and make those savings to benefit the workers of Zambia.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simenda: Given my background, I also propose that we resuscitate our small, medium and large scale industry base by providing further incentives to the manufacturing sector such as reduction of duty on imported raw materials. I welcome the reduction on fuel and electricity. But, this is not enough. I think we need to do more if we have to rejuvenate our small-scale and medium entriprises. Of course, those are the only ones that would be able to generate wealth in the medium and long-term.

Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from the hon. Minister of Local Government and Housing what he intends to do in trying to harmonise relationships between councillors in councils that are dominated by the Opposition. Reports reaching us indicate that officials are being intimidated not to co-operate with councillors that belong to the Opposition. I think we should realise that the people have spoken, chosen us and the officers must oblige and work with us so that we can bring development.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Simenda: Mr Speaker, on corruption and thefts, I submit that we have a traditional and cultural programme, which we must tackle. In certain areas of our country, stealing is rewarded by praise instead of punishment.

Laughter.

Mr Simenda: I think it is high time that we carried out some educational campaigns in such areas so that people can fear public assets.

Finally, Mr Speaker, I am appealing to my colleagues in the Government not to think that they know it all over night after their appointments as Ministers. You should listen to advice and you shall succeed.

Hon. Opposition Members: Tell them!

Mr Simenda: You have a lot of well and experienced hon. Members of Parliament from this side. If you speak to them well, they will give you advice that you will use for the benefit of our people. The Bible says, ‘Let those who have ears, hear and let those who have eyes, see’. In my language we say, ‘Kelezo ki mulyani, ainyefulwi’.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Speaker: Before the Member takes his seat, may he interpret the last phrase he just said.

Mr Simenda: Sorry, Mr Speaker. I was just saying a phrase in Lozi that, ‘Kelezo ki mulyani, ainyefulwi’. Meaning that, free advice is like medicine given to a sick person.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Ng’uni (Chama South): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you for permitting me to deliver my maiden speech and comment on the speeches made by His Excellency, the President of this country, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa and the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning, Mr E. G. Kasonde.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your re-election to your position as Speaker of this House and your Deputy Speaker.

The elections for your position and your Deputy demonstrated clearly that when people insist on certain things, it is not as though they hate those that are affected by things they want, but I think it emanates from the principle of right is right, wrong is wrong.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ng’uni: Hon. Members of the Opposition seem not to like you, which is not true. But we were protesting on the procedure that existed in this House for a long time.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Hon. Government Members: You are a traitor.

Mr Ng’uni: Sir, you have the opportunity and the will power to make history in this country because you have been given an opportunity to moderate a heterogeneous House like this one. Your friends in the past may not have had this opportunity, but prove the critics wrong that you deserve the Chair you have and I think you can do a lot to develop the democracy in this country.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ng’uni: Mr Speaker, I would like to request you, to look at this House as your own. I would like you to look at this House as your family such that you have ten children. The second born is for example coming number one in class. The first born is coming number zero in class, but at the end of the day, they are your children. They never applied to belong or to be born by you. I would like you to look at this House that way. You treat all of them equally – right is right and wrong is wrong. If a Member of Parliament on the Opposition has violated certain rules, I would like you to come hard on that person and the same should apply on the right hand side of the House. If you are seen to want to be very punitive on the Opposition only, then we will cry out to you and say, ‘Dad, why did you have to produce me, after all I did not apply?

Laughter.

Mr Ng’uni: Mr Speaker, I would like to request you, and you can guide me if I am wrong that I take you and your Deputy Speaker as Members of Parliament and I would request you to participate in the reforms of this Parliament. For a very long time, we have lagged behind, we have associated ourselves with other Parliamentarians like the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. But we have not chosen to learn or to pick one or two things that our friends do. 

For example, information technology is very important. I know our Government may not have as much money as we may want to have at a particular time. But through your office and administration, you could approach donor community to provide facilities to your Members of Parliament so that you can reach them at any time through lap tops, satellite phones and utility vehicles.

I would like also to request your Chair that the provision of offices for Members of Parliament that the President gave out to us should be complemented with other logistical support. For example, provide utility vehicles to Members of Parliament so that they do not buckle out at the end of the day.

Mr Speaker, permit me to thank the people of Chama South. I would like to thank them and the Chiefs for electing me as their representative in the National Assembly of Zambia. It was not easy to make the choice they made because there were a lot of other candidates who were offering all sorts of things to blind fold and entice them, which I did not.

Laughter.

Mr Ng’uni: To you the people of Chama South, I would like to assure you that the choice you made is the best. I promise to deliver in noble service so that for once, Chama South will access as much of the national cake as any other constituency in the country.

I would also like to thank my family, friends and my mother who is eighty years old for sacrificing so much for me during my three years political journey.

Laughter.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ng’uni: For you, my family, my friends, my mother, I promise as KK used to do not to let you down in the eyes of the voters who gave me the mandate to rule them. I also wish to thank the people of Zambia for accepting us to rule them in this august House. I can promise that we will do the best to ensure that right is right, wrong is wrong. And we will make sure that we pass good laws to protect the freedom and ensure that this country is not run by wise men, but by legal institutional framework that will regulate even bad leaders in case one of them sneaked into State House. We will ensure that the resources that our country is endowed with are nurtured, recycled and shared equally to all the constituencies in this country under the motto of UNIP, One Zambia One Nation.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ng’uni: Mr Speaker, for me, this House is Zambia. This noble or sacred House here is Zambia and as such, there should be no existence of tribes like my tribe Senga from Chama, Tumbuka or Bemba that belongs to Chulumanda and others, Tonga, Lozi or any other tribe. National Assembly is a sacred House where no abuse of authority bestowed on us by the unsuspecting voters should be permitted. I want to remind fellow hon. Members in this House that we should never imagine that people who elected us to this House have lost control over us. Forget it. 

We are cheating ourselves because we feel they are not physically with us here. The moment we think that we can abuse the authority bestowed on us to rule people in this country, just know that around the corner there is a protection called natural justice which will come from the creator who is the absolute chooser of all of us to be in this House. And, therefore, we should never take people for granted.

Mr Speaker, I would like to inform this House what responsibility I have for my constituency, Chama South. Chama South desperately requires the following: it requires food immediately. I appealed and reported twenty days ago that ten people literally died in Pondo. For those of you who do not know Chama South, it is like an island. It is an island because when it rains, just the first rains, all areas are isolated. Now, there are certain areas where you cannot go to during the rainy season. I do not understand why the Government’s priority is upside down. During the elections, we were chartering choppers to go and campaign but now to take food by helicopters to people who are dying and who have given us the mandate to be ruled, we cannot spend a little money. 

You start wondering whether we care for the souls of the people who are living. And I would like to appeal to the Government that I have just mentioned here that there is natural justice, the things we see, the punishments that are inflicted on us, the humiliations that is inflicted on our leaders, at the end of the day emanate from abuse of office. And I would like to appeal to people to stop abusing people. People in Chama South are dying from hunger. And as a matter of urgency, we need to send food there immediately.

Mr Speaker, a secondary school is desperately needed in Chama South. A secondary school is needed to preclude problems associated with the expensive transport for children to go to distant schools like Lundazi, Chipata and even Chama. This is an immediate thing. Through you, I would like to request the hon. Minister of Education to set aside resources if he has not got already to build this school …

Mr Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1615 hours until 1630 hours.

Mr Ng’uni: When business was suspended, my last request for the people of Chama South  was a secondary school. I was just about to start explaining that a school is very important. A long time ago, because of the easy of transportation to distant secondary schools like Chizongwe, Lundazi and Chassa, pupils were encouraged to go to such schools. But now that roads are in terrible state, it has become practically impossible for children to go to school. Therefore, Chama South has been robbed of the increasing number of educated people to go to universities and other colleges. So, Chama South people are requesting for a secondary school. There are existing schools which could be picked and upgraded so that a secondary school is provided for people in this area and enhance education so that we continue offloading educated people in the industry like doctors, lecturers and so on. We have a couple of lecturers at the University of Zambia and medical doctors. 

Chama South is cut off from other areas during the rainy season and as such, each of the three Chiefs requires an ambulance at each of the rural health centres for emergency cases to preclude unnecessary loss of lives during health complications like pregnancies and the like. Like I said in Chama South when it first rains, the entire area is isolated. There are no canoes or boats. There is nothing. So, you literally just survive by the grace of God. So, each time it rains, there is no communication between a particular Chief and the next Boma where advanced medical facilities will be found. So, to preclude such kind of death emanating from complications, I suggest that the hon. Minister of Health should remember Chama South in terms of ambulances and medical kits in form of medicines.
 
In Chama South, we desperately need an all-weather road that should link  all the three Chiefs, Chikwa, Tembwe and Chifunda, and eventually link them up to the three districts vis-a-vis Lundazi, Chama and Chinsali. This way, we will open up the constituency to potential investors in rice growing that does not require any fertiliser at all. 

I want to mention that Chama is endowed with fertile land, which facilitates the growth of rice without using fertilisers at all. And if inputs in form of fertilisers have been a problem, Chama South is providing non-organic rice, which rich people in industrialised countries have resorted to eating. They do not want to eat polluted foods with chemical fertilisers. So, I throw this challenge to the Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives to enhance rice growing in Chama. We can actually feed the whole country.

Mr Speaker, wildlife and tourism activities will also be enhanced through this road if we open up to the north because Chama South is again endowed with wildlife, which is just wallowing without anybody to tap it and covert it into moneys when we are desperately looking for hard money in terms of dollars.

Mr Speaker, hard wood processing would also be possible, soya beans and groundnuts growing, mining activities like oil, graphite and other precious and semi-precious minerals will be facilitated if we provided an all-weather road. I have just been saying here that when it rains, you will find the entire area isolated and, therefore, it becomes practically impossible to link up activities that might be taking place in certain quarters.

M. Speaker, there is literally no way Chama South can open up to outside people interested in investing there, if the road network is non existent because they are scared of damaging their vehicles whose spare parts are very expensive to replace. It is sad to note that in this day and age, a Government can deliberately forget about an area that forms an integral part of the country. I call upon this House to help me start the process of developing this area that has never developed and yet it has produced renowned people who have driven this country to prosperity. Examples could be given, but it is all out there in the streets to prove.

Mr Speaker, a post office is needed in Chama south to enable people receive monies, letters and parcels within walking distances. The people of Chama South feel that they are deliberately subjected to punishment by the Government. You can imagine in this era, people must still walk 200 kilometres to go and receive a letter because a post office cannot be put there. I would not like to talk much about previous representatives of that area but it is shameful that people have to cut long stretches to go and receive K50, 000. 

Mr Speaker, I would like to remind you that the people of Chama South are like any other people in this country and they deserve to share the national cake, which normally is not shared equally. I was just saying that if it is one family, it does not matter whether one child of yours is ugly or beautiful, handsome, dull or intelligent or disabled, they are your children and an impartial distribution of the national cake is what Chama South people are asking for. They are not asking for seditious things, they are just entitled to the national cake and I think they deserve to be given for once.

Mr Speaker, people in Chama South would like to be permitted to access and eat the wild animals like buffalo or elephant per each village each year because they are the owners of the animals in the area.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Ng’uni: Mr Speaker, this is not mirth, people own cattle, chicken and all sorts of tamed creatures and at the end of the day as a token of appreciation, they kill one chicken. But killing one chicken does not mean you will finish all the chickens that are there.

Mr. Speaker, Chama South requires a mini hospital to facilitate the provision of decent medicine. Decent accommodation for the teachers is also needed because the structures that are there were for Grades 1 to 2, meanwhile the number of teachers has increased.

Conclusive exploration of oil in Chama is urgently required because people in Chama South and Chama in general feel cheated by the Government’s inability to say the truth about the availability of oil in Chama. People feel they are robbed of an opportunity of turning Chama into a mini Saudi Arabia where people owning oil mines can have titles such as Sheikh Ng’uni if I had an oil mine.

Mr. Speaker, the people of Chama are crying for reintroduction of the Eastern Co-operative Union to facilitate the provision of inputs and purchase of agricultural produce. Chama South borders with the Luangwa National Park, but we are not benefiting from the tourism that is in Mfuwe and so, we would like to be sharing the money that is being generated in Mfuwe area.

Mr. Speaker, I also have a message from the Eastern Province. The people in Eastern Province generally feel abandoned. They feel that they are not part of this place. The Great East Road has been left unattended to. The road is not only up to Nyimba, it goes up to Malawi and Lundazi. But the tarred road is only up to Luangwa. They also need a railway line between Tete and Katete. The people of Eastern Province who used to work for  ECU lost their jobs. ECU was providing jobs to 9,000 people and those people have not yet received their terminal benefits. 

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

Mr Muleya (Choma): Mr. Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to make my maiden speech to this august House.

Mr Speaker, I wish to congratulate you and your Deputy Speaker on your re-election to your respective offices. Secondly, I would like to thank the UPND President and the National Management Committee of UPND and the people of Choma Constituency for electing me as their Member of Parliament, …

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Muleya: … and for giving me this opportunity and honour to represent them. I thank them all. My promise to them is to faithfully serve them and to promote their aspirations for a better future.

Thirdly I congratulate all hon. Members of Parliament on being elected to this august House. Mr. Speaker, on the 22nd February 2002, President Mwanawasa delivered to this House an eloquent speech, well-balanced and quite clearly a fluent advocacy. The speech has President Mwanawasa’s Government vision calling it the New Deal. I congratulate the UPND on the influence it has played on the New Deal Government of President Mwanawasa.

Hon. UPND Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Muleya: Mr. Speaker, a number of policies in the UPND manifesto has been incorporated in the New Deal programme. I take delight in the knowledge that the UPND policies are the most suitable to create a better tomorrow, to bring about relief to the poor who form 80 per cent of the Zambians. It is for this reason, hope for a better future, hope for relief from poverty, hope for a just reward from one’s toil that over 70 per cent voted against the new culture.

Mr. Speaker, time will judge whether the eloquence and the learned advocacy will indeed, put on the table the assurance of at least the illusive one meal a day for the poor Zambians.

Mr. Speaker, I am the bearer of a message from the people of Choma Constituency who elected me to the august House. Everywhere in my constituency they have run out of food supply. They search in vain for wild fruits and tubers, dying exhausted in the search for food, or from malnutrition and disease. It is a disasterous situation. I call upon the Government to declare the hunger situation in Choma and the whole province and the rest of Zambia a disaster.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Muleya: This it is hoped will help Government better mobilise friends of Zambia and sympathisers to help in the supply of relief food. In Choma we have Choma Milling Company, which has been receiving maize for milling. However, the people of Choma queue up for mealie meal because trucks load at night for destinations outside Choma and Southern Province. Choma Milling management encouraged by the District  Administrator is discriminating in the sale of mealie meal in favour of MMD cadres in Lusaka …

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Muleya: … who buy the mealie meal at K25,000 per bag and sell it in Lusaka at K40,000 per bag. Evidence for this practice is available, Sir.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Muleya: The relief …

Interruptions.

Mr Muleya: The DA is there, he is the leading cadre. 

The food relief supplied by Government is either unfairly distributed or it is too little to have any meaningful impact on the targeted people or groups. The District Administrator is on record through a Press release on ZNBC that there is no serious hunger situation in Choma and that it is politicians using the hunger situation for politicking. This is the DA’s portrayal of the New Deal Government attitude…

The Vice-President: I was there in Choma!

Mr Muleya: Thank you for that.

Mr Sibetta: He was not there!

Mr Muleya:  I hope you disciplined him. 

Mr Sibetta: He was in Livingstone.

Mr Muleya: Senior Headman and Deputy Chief Singani in mid February, 2002 urged the Government to temporarily close schools in his area until food relief reached his area. This is because children are too weak to walk long distances to school on empty stomachs. Mr Speaker, the bottom line is that hunger is real, there is a serious shortage of food.

Mr Speaker, in my constituency, there is one major road running from Masuku terminal at Maamba Coal rope way to Choma. This road is used by heavy tracks carrying coal to the urban centres and the road is only 81 kilometres long, but it has not been graded for more than five years, except for the ten kilometre stretch which was graded by the Zambia National Service (ZNS) during November, 2001, in order to facilitate elections.

This road has been allowed to deteriorate into serious disrepair in spite of its economic significance to the nation. As for feeder roads, the majority of them have disappeared. For instance, Chief Singani cannot reach half of his area without going via Pemba Constituency because of the washed away bridge.  During the rainy season, he makes an 80 kilometre trip to go as near as 2 kilometres away. Therefore, my constituency is calling upon the Government to seriously take positive steps to re-open the road network neglected over the last ten years to open up communication.

Mr Speaker, similarly, infrastructure and education has fallen apart. For instance, at Namuswa Primary School, two classrooms have had their roofs ripped off, whilst the school is being run by only one teacher from Grades 1 to 7. At Nakeemba Primary School, two classrooms have no roofs at all and at Mutanda Alike and Siankope, classrooms are in total disrepair and the schools are short of teachers.

In the health sector, similar disrepair exists and I wish to add here that Choma Hospital is still operating from a tobacco bar. A number of clinics have closed down because there is no medicine while others have closed because there are no nurses to run them. The poor villagers cannot support a fee paying private clinic or hospital. As it is, they find it difficult to pay to a Government hospital the user fees.

Mr Speaker, Choma Central Constituency is partly rural and partly urban. It is predominantly in an agricultural economic setting. Agricultural production has declined. We have reached a stage in our constituency where there is not enough harvest to put in a bin for storage. Seed inputs have become very expensive and fertiliser is generally too expensive and too little, it is invariably delivered in January or February when it is too late to have the desired effect. On the institutionalised markets, Southern Province Co-operative Marketing Union (SPCMU) sheds have not been functioning since 1994/5 season, when the economic policies of the New Culture took effect and their toll. The marketing of maize has been left to speculators who have exploited the peasants paying low prices for the crops leaving the farmer in a debt trap. The peasant incomes have been on the decline as a result. The Food Reserve Agency  (FRA) has not been able to support maize marketing.

My constituents, Sir, are hard working people who have worked very hard in their fields without oxen. As such, they need inputs to be delivered on time and they are ready to reactivate the primary co-operatives within the SPCMU umbrella to carry out the distribution of inputs and market the agricultural produce from the existing sheds. To do this, they need empowerment.

My constituents are prepared to play their part if the issues I have raised can be addressed by the Government. I shall come to this a little later.

Mr Speaker, President Mwanawasa, as I have earlier on stated, has made some pronouncements, which we agree with in our manifesto as UPND. However, I am restrained here to show any form of excitement over this pronouncement for the reasons I will outline later.

President Mwanawasa's New Deal takes over from a New Culture administration, which we all know based its economic policies on market-driven initiatives. The New Culture prescribed structural change, departing from a mixed economy to a capitalist-free enterprise economy, an economy where Government supervision and intervention is removed or minimised. These policies were accompanied or re-enforced by liberalisation and privatisation. The Government philosophy meant and to this day means Government has legitimately stood apart from its electors. Provision of inputs, feeder roads, repair, medical care and so on, are all left to be determined by profitability before service is provided. It is the prospect of continuing with this scenario, which is unacceptable.

Mr Speaker, President Mwanawasa stated in his address of the 22nd of February, 2002, to this august assembly, and, I quote:

‘On the economic front Government will continue with liberal economic policies.’

President Mwanawasa further stated and I quote:

‘The thrust of our economic policies is to achieve a sustained and high economic growth through private sector-led, rational and market-oriented policies.’

I ask myself the question: does the inclusion of the UPND, my party’s manifesto, and President Mwanawasa’s Address guarantee and assure me that the devastating influence of the market-oriented policies of the New Culture will not dwarf or stifle the intentions of the New Deal? For very obvious reasons, the answer is not readily available. I have to wait. So, do we all have to wait until we can see the benefits to the people of Zambia?

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Muleya: Mr Speaker, education is the gateway to development. It is the major foundation, which the human resource springs from in driving the economy through various stages of development. If Government intervention is limited to providing free education only up to Grade 7, the Government is only paying lip-service to the prime importance of education to the economy. Lack of education or poor levels of education retards economic growth, blocks vision and stifles individuals enterprise. Poor peasants do not make sufficient savings to pay for school fees. Besides, at Grades 1 to 7, there is only PTA fund to be paid. Is this the relief that Government is proposing? Free education becomes a necessity for secondary, tertiary and higher education. The New Deal is no deal at all for education.

Mr Speaker, on health, the privatisation policies of the New Culture have created new problems in my constituency. For example, the Government created Southern Water and Sewerage Company to be responsible for the distribution of water and sewerage disposal. Each municipality subscribed to the shares of this company by surrendering its assets to the company. Now, Choma Municipal Council pays for water to the Southern Water and Sewerage Company. In the meantime, Choma Municipal Council has not received any dividends from the company at all. Worse still, sewers are blocked, the quality of water supply is poor. 

The residents of Choma demand from the council efficient services for water and sewerage which the council cannot afford to provide because this company is not paying them any money. We call upon the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to revisit this arrangement since it has not served the purpose for which it was intended.

Mr Speaker, forty years after independence, Zambia has gone back to being a typical dual economy. The rural economy has gone back to barter because it has nothing to trade with the urban sector. The introduction of liberalised free economy has centred economic activity in urban areas where there still exist infrastructure conducive to economic activity, especially trade, since manufacturing has declined or is non-existent. 

To aggravate an already untenable situation, we have accepted prescriptions from the donor community, which require Zambia to implement the same economic principles which apply in developed economies. We are asked to vary interest rates, exchange rates and other fiscal and monetary policies in order to influence the direction of development. These policy instruments have been responsible for recreating the dual economy: an urban sector where trading is active and a rural economy, which cannot play the money game. As long as the New Deal Government continues with the same market-oriented, private sector-led initiatives, nobody will risk his investment in an economic activity, which has a long gestation period; in other words, late maturing for the investor to receive a return on his investment.

On the Budget, Mr Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning on his usual competent manner of presentation. However, like President Mwanawasa’s Speech, the Budget Address borrows heavily from the principles of the UPND manifesto. It misses the opportunity for a complete economic turn-about in the following manner.

On agriculture, the budget finances, for instance, Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia, but does not support Maamba Mine, which is the source of coal. Coal is the major raw material in the manufacture of ammonium nitrate fertiliser. The road to Maamba from Batoka and the one from Masuku terminal to Choma are not funded and yet they are the corridors through which coal moves.

The feeder roads are destroyed through non-repair, but these are not funded. Existing marketing institutions are ignored in preference for new ones to be created. The irrigation programme does not seem to include the existing farmers in preference to recruiting new farmers. Existing farmers should be empowered to make them more efficient. The Budget, Mr Speaker, does not go far enough to address the marketing needs of the peasant farmer. The C.M.A. will, by its nature, as a buyer of last resort, ignore the high cost rural areas. As a measure of development, it misses the point. In the Southern, Central and Eastern provinces, effective primary co-operatives under the SPCMU, CPMU and EPCMU exist and these can correctly superintend agricultural activities for peasant farmers.

The input packs will not achieve the desired goal unless an institutionalised and transparent system of distribution is utilised to achieve equitable distribution and only then will food security be assured. Mr Speaker, the Government could have easily achieved higher levels of agricultural production with a combination of reduced prices on inputs, farmer credit and transparent marketing system. Mr Speaker, because the Budget framework is founded on market-oriented private sector-led principles of the new culture, the New Deal programmes will not achieve the desired goal and food security will continue to elude this nation.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Muleya: Mr Speaker, any successful economic activity eventually becomes a matter of culture. Livestock disease control and development can only succeed if it is done in conjunction with crop farming. In my constituency, as I am certain is the case in the rest of the Southern Province, farmers cannot manage to raise funds to purchase caricides for dipping their animals unless they have a source of income. Successful crop farming would provide the income to enable them to buy their own caricides to dip their animals and, therefore, succeed in disease control. For the time being, it is necessary for the Government intervention to provide dipping facilities for all and police them in order to control the disease. Mr Speaker, the Budget measures outlined by the New Deal administration will not adequately reverse the economic decline. 

Finally, I turn to governance and the accompanying morality. The people of Zambia look to Government to superintend their aspirations. The over 70 per cent who voted against the less than 30 per cent are anxious to know how responsive the Government is to their plight. While I appreciate the declared shift from the dogmatic capitalist-orientation of the New Culture administration, the New Deal has ignored seriousness of the demands of the people to treat the hunger situation prevailing in the country as a disaster. Is it morally right to tip toe-relief to SOS called by the citizens, I ask?

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

Mr K. E. Chungu (Bahati): Mr Speaker, I rise to join in congratulating His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC, on the epoch-making Address to this august House on 22nd February, 2002. That speech, Mr Speaker, laid out the framework under which the nation can move forward united in our common endeavour of national development within the context of our national priorities.

In a similar vein, Mr Speaker, I wish to congratulate you, Sir, and the Deputy Speaker, on your deserved re-election as Speaker of this august House in its new and dynamic profile, reflecting a rich mixture of ruling party and Opposition party members like Lucas Phiri.

Laughter.

Mr K. E. Chungu: The challenges posed are, undoubtedly, daunting, but, no doubt, befitting the tested shoulders of our Speaker. Mr Speaker, even as a new Member, I have every confidence that under your leadership, this House will respond to the cries of our electorate for equitable and timely legislation from this Chamber to improve their quality of life and enhance development. They are our ultimate masters.

Mr Speaker, you may have noticed that I have not thanked the people of Bahati for having elected me for one reason. They warned me and said, ‘We are not going to eat your thanking, but we want you to deliver’. So, I will only thank them in this House when I deliver.

I recognise, Mr Speaker, that though each Member represents a particular constituency, the problems our people face everywhere are quite similar and cut across party and tribal lines. That is why unity of purpose is crucial if tangible progress is to be made in addressing the real issues affecting our people. For example, Mr Speaker, my constituency faces a serious problem of poor road infrastructure, especially with regard to feeder roads that connect the major transit routes to the rural communities where the majority of the electorate in my constituency reside. Without a reliable road network, it is very difficult for our people to move their produce to the markets and for support services to be provided as need arises.

I was pleased, Mr Speaker, to hear His Excellency the President refer to the issue of Mansa Batteries Limited in my constituency. Mr Speaker, the revival of this industrial concern will go a long way in, not only providing employment to the people in my constituency and beyond, but it will also facilitate exploitation of the rich manganese resources in the area for the benefit of the nation. I know that this enterprise can be extremely viable if appropriate measures are put in place to prevent inequitable competition from foreign manufacturers of batteries. 
As with any other industry and sectors of the economy, when it becomes essential for state intervention to preserve viable economic activity in the nation, this must be done until the private sector is ready to take over.

That, Mr Speaker, brings me to the issue of promoting domestic industries and businesses in the context of the debate on poverty alleviation, which is rightly priority number one for our country at the present time.

Mr Speaker, to me, nothing is more important in the battle for poverty reduction or is it eradication, in our country than wealth creation by our people and our own businessmen. The culture of pulling down our people as if we are agents of imperialist forces must stop.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr E. K. Chungu: Mr Speaker, instead, I long for debate and legislation in this august House that empowers Zambian citizens to create wealth and manage successful businesses. 

This is a much more positive approach to poverty eradication than undue reliance on donor handouts or Government subsidies which we cannot afford. Mr Speaker, Zambian businessmen will employ Zambian workers and profits made will be re-deployed in our land. The economy will then expand and poverty will be reduced with increased employment opportunities.

The question we should be asking ourselves is: what is the purpose of private sector development, if is not by and for our people? There has been much lip-service paid to private sector development about creating an economy driven by private enterprise that benefits local people. We must now deliberately, I may borrow the repetition of some people from the Eastern Province, deliberately empower citizens to take up their rightful role and place in this private sector led economy.

Mr L. L. Phiri: Be careful, he is a soldier!

Mr E. K. Chungu: These can be achieved by direct and real intervention on behalf of our local entrepreneurs through capacity building and resource mobilisation. Local people already have the skills and know to play the global business game. They need tangible Government support to succeed as every Government in the world does. Let us not allow a re-colonisation of the economy because this is not sustainable and can be a recipe for disaster.

In conclusion, Mr Speaker, allow me to appeal to all hon. Members of this Assembly to focus on uniting the nation and not dividing it. 

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr E. K. Chungu: Most of us, Mr Speaker, have only this land to call home. And, it is this home that we have been elected to guard jealously, protect and develop.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!{mospagebreak}

Princess Nakatindi Wina (Sesheke): Mr Speaker, I stand to add my voice to the many in this House and the country at large in congratulating the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Mr Emmanuel Kasonde, MP, on this year’s Budget under the theme: Food Security Through Production and Job Creation.

Sir, this Budget addresses two of the most distressing aspects of our national lives under the previous administration – food and jobs.
Sir, because of neglecting the agricultural sector during the past ten years in preference to an ill-conceived policy of trade and commerce, Zambia has been hit by food insecurity. This led to more and more mounting problems of failure to produce adequate food for our consumption which has left us totally dependant on imports of the nation’s staple food.

It was a policy which also killed our livestock and cattle industry because the minds of many of our lawmakers, the rearing of cattle is synonymous with the much-despised concept of 'ukukonka ing’ombe pa musula akasuba konse.' 

Laughter.

Princess Nakatindi Wina: A cow only becomes important and meaningful when it is hanging from a hook in the butchery as munani.

On job creation, Sir, as a result of our total neglect of agriculture, we preferred trade based on imports, which turned Zambia into a supermarket economy and the biggest dumping ground for foreign goods mostly from the south.

We became a country whose World Bank, IMF driven economic policies, especially in the area of privatisation, has led to the closure of hundreds of companies, thus putting on the streets thousands of ablebodied men and women alike. These were joined each year by hordes of school drop-outs victims of our inadequate education policy. 

The tragedy of privatisation, Mr Speaker, turned into comedy when one of the kin pins of the Oppenheimer mining empire, Anglo American Corporation recently requested the Zambian Government to subsidise its operations at Konkola Deep. Really in all fairness, do you mean to tell me that Anglo American has not got that amount, hon. Minsiter of Finance and National Planning?

It is against this backdrop, Mr Speaker, that I welcome the challenge of this Budget and the spirit in which it is designed which can be summed up in words of the Minister of Finance and National Planning himself when he said, and I quote

“The resolution of these challenges demands of us, cool heads and resolute hearts, a willingness to work together, and an unwavering commitment to act in the best interest of all the people of Zambia. It is imperative that we act judiciously and that we quickly .”

Sir, this Budget included many provisions, which are of special interest to those of us who are representatives of rural constituencies, especially in the field of agriculture, health and education. And under the poverty reduction programmes, items such as feeder roads, canals, rural electrification, the development of such economic infrastructure as trunk roads, bridges, pontoons and road maintenance through the fuel levy.

Sir, it is important also for us to observe disturbing factors in the national programme. One of the biggest programmes we have been faced with regarding the Budget since I came to this House, ten years ago, has not been so much the Ministers, but the weaknesses in the Civil Service level leading to many instances of misapplication and misappropriation of funds.

Dr Sondashi: She is right!

Princess Nakatindi Wina: Numerous spotchecks by the Auditor-General have revealed goods and services paid for in advance which have not been received or rendered, poor maintenance of accounting records, incidents of flouting the provisions of the Financial and Stores Regulations and disregard of tender procedures as well as general accounting guidelines. 

That is why, Mr Speaker, I welcome the decision by the hon. Minister to put in place a new Disciplinary Code of Conduct for civil servants. 

Then, there is the looming problem of brain drain, which does not seem to receive the attention in this Budget. Sir, according to this latest report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) hundreds of Zambian intellectuals leave the country every year to seek better paying jobs abroad. One aspect of this is that only 400 doctors are currently practicing medicine in the country as compared to 1,800 medical doctors more than three years ago. 

Several countries on the continent have put in place packages for attracting such people back home, yet despite a change in administration, there does not seem to be a programme to try and bring these people home. This matter is a concern to us all because the shortage of a highly qualified middle class, in the country, encourages poor governance, human rights abuses, corruption and undemocratic systems.

Before I turn to the Budget as it affects my constituency, Mr Speaker, I want to give a notice that I shall raise the question of the regulation, which requires Zambians to obtain visas when travelling to the UK.

Sir, this country has been good to Britain, unlike some of our neighbours who are kicking the former mother country in the teeth. Zambia has created a sound atmosphere for British investments and personnel. Yet, to go through the experience of trying to apply for a visa to go to Britain at the British High Commission is like you are seeking a passage to heaven!

Laughter.

Mr Sichinga: Good point!

Princess Nakatindi Wina: And yet Zambians, unlike certain West African countries have never been known to be immigrants. We love our country and this soil, so when we want to visit Britain, it is for a specific reason and purpose.

Mr Speaker, I now come to the problem of Sesheke and welcome the provision of allocation for the construction of houses for teachers and health personnel in order to attract them to the rural areas. I have too many one-teacher schools in my constituency due to the reluctance of young people to go there partly due to poor accommodation in addition, of course, to the poor conditions of service.

We welcome the establishment of the Grain Marketing Authority as most of the village farmers in the rural area are stuck with three year old harvests of maize in their mashete which have gone to waste and are being burned to create room for the fresh harvest due to lack of markets and the poor conditions of feeder roads leading to the market centres. This year we do not have maize. 

Sir, I would like to emphasise that Sesheke is a cattle-producing area more than grain harvesting and they call the cattle affectionately as their banks on four legs. It is a source of livelihood and investment. Yet, there are no markets for their cattle except for a stray buyer once in a while whose price is below normal.

We live next to Botswana where the Botswana Meat Corporation is the second to that country’s diamond industry in terms of foreign exchange earnings. The cattle industry in Botswana is extremely well-organised, despite the country’s semi-desert conditions and they export beef  to the European Union.

Mr Speaker, I implore the new Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives, who has come to his job with the zeal, vigour and vision of a newborn Pentecostal to consider doing for cattle …

Laughter.

Princess Nakatindi Wina: … what he has done in the field of maize marketing. I do not presume to speak for other constituencies in the Western Province, but it is a fact that for too long, the cattle industry in that province has been monopolised by few foreign companies, who are paying peanuts for the animals, while fictitious bans of cattle movement are imposed by the Veterinary Department almost on a permanent basis. Sir, we cannot just have one company, namely, Zambeef, monopolising the buying of cattle in Barotseland vis-a-vis Western Province.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Interjections.

Princess Nakatindi Wina: We cannot. Whether you like it or not, it is Barotseland.

Laughter.

Princess Nakatindi Wina: Mr Speaker, this ungodly alliance has reduced the once proud Barotse people today, to be among the poorest in this country.

Let me end, Mr Speaker, by warning the Minister of Finance and National Planning that his task, if he means to go all the way on the road to strict fiscal reform, is not going to be easy. Even among some of his Cabinet colleagues, there is already some unrest. He will learn that in his job even friends become enemies, while enemies remain enemies. But, he can count on some of us on this side of the House to give him all the support he requires …

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Princess Nakatindi Wina: … in carrying out the difficult task of national reconstruction.

I thank you, Mr Speaker, and well-done Minister of Finance and National Planning.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kakoma (Zambezi West): Mr Speaker, I wish to thank you for allowing me to give my maiden speech and contribute to the motion on the Budget. First of all, I wish to congratulate you on your election as Speaker. I know you will ably chair this Ninth Parliament. I know your abilities because I worked under you when you were Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services and I was Managing Editor at the Zambia Daily Mail. And I found you to be hard working and fair to everyone.

In contributing to the Budget Speech, I want to look at the issues of parliamentary reforms, poverty, infrastructure, agriculture, defense, education, health and local government.

Mr Speaker, on parliamentary reforms, I wish to say that K500 million has been allocated in the Budget for parliamentary reforms this year. In opening up to the public and the Press, we should go further to allow pressmen to take pictures and film proceedings in the House. Currently, pressmen are only allowed to take notes but not pictures or films, except during the official opening ceremony by the President and the Budget Speech. Parliament has now allowed its proceedings to be on radio. I think we should go further to allow live television of debates from Parliament as the case in South Africa.

These archaic laws putting restrictions on Press coverage of Parliament also apply to our courts. Pressmen are not allowed to take pictures or film proceedings in court. This should change. In America, we witnessed a trial of O. J. Simpson live on television.

Mr Speaker, Parliament has an obligation to contribute to the development of democratic values. We cannot talk about democracy without Press freedom. It is shameful that the Government has in the past refused to allow Press freedom by enshrining it in the Constitution. This Parliament must amend the Constitution to specifically provide for freedom of the Press and make it illegal for Parliament in future to pass laws that infringe on Press freedom.

Mr Speaker, the Government must this year bring to this House the Freedom of Information Bill, which it has been sitting on for years. If not, I intend to bring the Freedom of Information Bill to this House as a private Member’s Bill.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kakoma: The Press in Zambia must be free from Government ownership and control. There is a lot of abuse of the public media by senior Government officials.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kakoma: I worked as a media head and I know what I am talking about.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Miss Nawakwi: Experience!

Mr Kakoma: The Zambia Daily Mail and the Times of Zambia should be privatised through public flotation of shares on the Lusaka Stock Exchange. All Zambians must be given an opportunity to own the public media. This will also make it difficult to have biased reporting dictated by ownership by a single individual. We must devise a law to make it illegal for Government to own the print media.

For ZNBC, Mr Speaker, I propose that the ZNBC Act be amended to make it a public broadcaster independent from Government control and answerable only to a Committee of Parliament and not the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Kakoma: It is also possible, Sir, to privatise the television section of ZNBC because it is commercially viable.

Mr Speaker, Parliament must defend and protect its integrity. The Government should not use us as a rubberstamp. For example, Parliament must not allow the Executive to be bringing supplementary expenditures for approval after they have already spent the money without authority from Parliament.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. C. W. Kakoma: Mr. Speaker, we must amend the Constitution to compel the Minister of Finance and National Planning to seek Parliament’s approval of the supplementary budget before spending tax-payers money.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to talk about the integrity and role of Members of Parliament. It is a fact that many people go to stand as MPs in order to become Ministers. This is wrong but you cannot blame such people because it is financially more rewarding to be a Minister than an ordinary Member of Parliament. To stop that practice and enhance the integrity of Members, I would like to propose that the salaries and conditions of service for people in the Executive like Ministers should be the same as Members of Parliament.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. C. W. Kakoma: After all, the Executive and Legislature are equal in status and Constitutional powers. I also wish to propose that those who choose to come to Parliament as Members should not dream of becoming Ministers but remain as Members to do the job for which they were elected. In the USA, once you decide to become a Senator, that is it. You cannot again hope to be Secretary of State.

Mr. Speaker, the role of a Member of Parliament in Zambia has changed from the traditional form of law maker. The people who elected us sent us here so that we take development to their areas. They did not send us to Parliament just to make laws. Therefore, a Member of Parliament has become an agent of development. The new role of a Member of Parliament in Zambia is to develop his or her constituency. Certainly, you cannot develop a constituency with the current Constituency Development Fund (CDF) of K30 million per annum. This amount cannot even build one teacher’s house. The CDF should be increased to K300 million per annum or more.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. C. W. Kakoma: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance and National Planning has already presented the national Budget to this House without input from Members of Parliament. How does he know what development projects are needed in our constituencies. That is the more reason why we need the CDF to be increased because we the representatives know the projects and the problems. I have not seen a specific figure for CDF in this year’s Budget. Probably the Minister will enlighten us more.

Mr. Speaker, poverty manifests itself in form of low incomes, hunger, lack of access to health and education, poor roads and other economic and social indicators. In discussing these issues, I would draw examples from my constituency, Zambezi West that I know better. In this year’s Budget, nothing specific has been provided for Zambezi. I have gone through the Yellow Book and I have not seen any.

Mr. Speaker, Zambezi West Constituency is probably the most undeveloped constituency in the country. It has not benefited from the independence cake. It is like every successful Government in Zambia has forgotten that there is a part of Zambia called Zambezi West which in terms of area is bigger than Lusaka Province. Zambezi West Constituency is the only Constituency in Zambia, which has no gravel road or feeder road. All the roads in the area are paths made by ox-carts. Without oxen, the area would be one neglected bush inaccessible by motor vehicles.

Mr. Speaker, the whole constituency does not have a single concrete bridge. The bridges that you may find there are made of wood. These have since been either washed away by rain or burnt by bush fires. Vehicles have to go through various rivers and streams with their bodies half-submerged. Indeed, there is no bridge on the mighty Zambezi River linking Zambezi West to the rest of Zambia. The most reliable form of crossing the Zambezi River is by canoe for people and a  40 years old dilapidated pontoon for motor vehicles.

Mr. Speaker, in this modern age and era, we cannot be relying on canoes for crossing major rivers like the Zambezi River. It is risky and outdated. Besides, the absence of a bridge on the Zambezi River has made it difficult to open up the area for economic development. Good infrastructure like roads and bridges is essential for economic development to take place. It is a responsibility of Government to build roads and bridges. It is not the responsibility of oxen to do so. Government has left it to the villagers to build their own roads. It is not the responsibility of ordinary citizens to build public roads.

Mr. Speaker, we also need a bridge across the Zambezi River for strategic reasons. With the bad security situation on the Zambia/Angola border, there is need for a bridge to facilitate military mobility and easy evacuation of civilians. We cannot maintain security in the area without bridges and roads.

Mr. Speaker, the Mutanda/Chavuma Road has not been tarred for the past 37 years. This road covers four districts of Mufumbwe, Kabompo, Zambezi and Chavuma. I had eight tyre punctures when I used it recently. I am glad that the constituencies of the Deputy Minister for North-Western Province and that of His Honour the Vice-President are covered by this road. If they do nothing about it, we shall see them in 2006.

Laughter.

Mr. C. W. Kakoma: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance and National Planning increased funding for security and defence in this year’s Budget. The Government is under a constitutional obligation to defend and protect the territorial integrity of mother Zambia. It should not allow foreign forces to enter Zambian territory to terrorise her citizens and loot their property as the case is in Zambezi West. For the past three years, people in Zambezi West have been constantly attacked by Angolan Government soldiers and UNITA rebels. Many women have been raped, people’s cattle stolen and property destroyed.

Mr. Speaker, these innocent people who have lost their animals and property need to be compensated by the Government of Zambia and Angola. In events of war, even Governments claim reparations from aggressors. Mr. Speaker, the lasting solution to the preservation of peace and security in border areas like Zambezi is to establish a military barrack there. I will support the budget if it allocates funds for a barrack in Zambezi. It is extremely difficult and costly to fight a war from a distance. Although Government has been sending troops to the area from time to time to maintain security, these efforts have been ineffective because as soon as the Zambian soldiers on patrol return to their barracks in town, the enemies strike again. There is need for a permanent presence of Zambian soldiers in the area by establishing a military barrack there. It is pointless to maintain a lot of army barracks in Lusaka where there is no war and leave nothing in the border areas.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. C. W. Kakoma: There should be a deliberate policy to establish new military barracks near border areas threatened by armed conflicts. Sir, the insecurity in Zambezi West has contributed to a serious hunger situation in the area. For the past three years, people have been on the run. They have had no time to settle down and engage in meaningful agricultural activities because Angolan soldiers and UNITA rebels were always attacking them. This has resulted in hunger.

Mr Speaker, the hunger situation has been compounded by Government’s neglect of the agricultural sector in the area. All the offices and schemes for the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives have long been closed. They are now overgrown with grass and full of cobwebs.

Government’s policy of liberalisation has completely killed the agricultural sector. Zambezi West used to produce a lot of rice, cassava, millet, sorghum, maize, cattle and fish before Dr. Chiluba came to power. Today, all these agricultural products have vanished. Government has reduced people from agricultural producers to beggars of relief food. The Government now needs to send at least 18,000 by 90 kg bags of relief maize to Zambezi if people are to survive the hunger there. The Government has no option but to give them relief food because it is not their fault that they are hungry. A 25 kg bag of mealie meal now is costing K90,000, which villagers and poor workers cannot afford. It is surprising that the Government has only opted to subsidise consumers in urban areas like Lusaka and forgotten the rural areas.

As a lasting solution to the hunger situation in the area, the Government has to step in and provide the people with ploughs, seeds, fertilisers and other inputs to enable them grow their own food. It is only through sustainable agricultural policies like empowering the people to grow their own food rather than wait for handouts of relief food from the Government that this nation can develop and end hunger.

Mr Speaker, this Government should stop practicing false agricultural economics. On one hand, the Government is refusing to give soft loans and free inputs to peasant farmers because it would be uneconomical. On the hand, the Government is ready and willing to spend ten times more on buying relief maize to distribute to the same peasant farmers. Really, that is false economics.

Mr Speaker, expenditure on education has gone up in the Budget but the children of poor people will fail to go to school because of school fees. Perhaps the worst form of neglect to the people of Zambezi West by the Government is in the areas of education and health. Thousands of children are not going to school because the Government has not built schools in many parts of Zambezi West Constituency. Indeed, the whole constituency has got no secondary school. We still have some make shift schools made of grass in this modern era. For the ten years of MMD rule, not a single school had been built by the Government. The few schools that are there were left by the Kaunda Government.

Sir, it is a social tragedy that people should be condemned to perpetual poverty and ignorance by the Government because they were born in Cinderella area. Mr Speaker, education is an investment in human capital without which a nation cannot achieve economic and social development. Expenditure on education is not a waste of Government resources. It is a best investment that a country can ever make.

Mr Speaker, both the IMF and the World Bank now believe that the East Asian Economic miracles are a result of these country’s deliberate efforts to provide education to their people. Without education, a nation cannot have a pool of skilled and trained manpower to ran the economy. Economic productivity can only come from skilled labour. It is, therefore, false economics for a country to try to save money by not spending it on education. The few professionals and skilled manpower in our country today, are mostly a product of free education. We cannot, therefore, cut the ladder of success after we ourselves, have used that ladder of free education to get to the top.

Mr Speaker, allow me to speak on Local Government. The district council is dead and was skilled by the Central Government the moment it removed funding from it. This has affected the principle of providing civil services to the people. The MMD Government has a tendency to dig its own grave. The Central Government thinks that by distancing itself from the problems of Local Government, people would blame local councils instead of the Central Government for failure to provide basic services to the people but this has not been so. People are still blaming the Central Government for failing to deliver the goods. Government is Government whether local or central.

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

As hon. Members know, the Chair does not debate but facilitates the debate. I would like to take advantage of one point made by the hon. Member for Lukulu West, at the beginning of debate that of the need to allow live or recorded debates of this House just for records. Two years ago, an invitation to the ZNBC radio, in particular, Television to feel free to come here and broadcast your debates live or recorded. That invitation still stands.Hon. Members are aware that we are live on radio. We have our own transmitter here and an invitation has been extended to any commercial or any broadcasters to hook in and re-transmit or re-broadcast these debates live. It is up to them to pick up the challenge and spread the word by way of informing your voters what it is you are talking about. I thought that would be for record only.

Any further debate?

Mr Y. H. Banda (Chasefu): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you for according me time to deliver my maiden speech. Firstly, I would like to congratulate you and the Deputy Speaker on your election victory. At the same time, I would like to thank the people of Chasefu for electing me as their Member of Parliament.

Mr Speaker, indeed the President’s Speech was quite good and sweet to the ear. All of us are just waiting for it to bear fruit. There are a number of areas that I would like to discuss as regards my constituency.

Sir, on agriculture, Chasefu is dominantly an agricultural area. The people of Chasefu are good farmers and they are hard workers but alas, the past ten years has not been favourable to them. With the late deliveries of inputs, where some inputs are brought wrongly, for example, the delivery of top dressing fertilisers instead of basal, this coupled with partisan way of delivering fertilisers, high interest rates and no availability of markets, etc. All of these have brought disaster in Chasefu causing untold levels of poverty since agriculture was the main economic activity of the area.

Sir, with those who have managed to grow a few crops, they however, find difficulty in marketing their produce. This has led many Zambians walk long distances to sell the crops in neighbouring Malawi.

Mr Speaker, my constituency stretches about 150 km bordering Malawi. Nearly, all the people flock into Malawi to sell their produce. Indeed, this is robbing Zambia of viable produce.

Due to the prevailing starvation that has affected this country, Chasefu is no exception. Indeed, a number of people as I confirmed with the Senior Chief Magodi, five people have died because of hunger. I have personally seen people suffering from malnutrition because of lack of food.

The hunger problem has become so severe in Chief Magodi’s area that you can actually see Malawian vehicles and tractors coming into Zambia without using legal entry points, collecting Zambians who are made to work on Malawian farms called ‘Estate.’ They are paid 7 kg of maize per day. For them to make a 50 kg bag of maize, they have to spend a week in Malawi. Because of these movements, a number of Zambian women have gone for good in Malawi and some are even married there.

Laughter.

Hon. Members: Shame!

Mr Y. H. Banda: Some of those who come  back, have not been spared by the deadly HIV/AIDS as you know a hungry person has no choice.

Most feeder roads are no longer in use. There are some feeder roads where one cannot even ride a bicycle. The Lundazi/Chama Road was actually worked on by the Sable Construction. But just after a year, the road has become even worse than the way it was.

There are a number of health centres in Chasefu. I was quite surprised to learn that some health centres in Zambia have radio facilities. Chasefu has none. A number of these health centres do not have enough drugs and the biggest health centre is Kanyanga Health Centre has a problem of staff. Instead of twelve nurses, it has only five nurses. I am appealing  to the hon. Minister of Health to urgently look into this matter.

With regards to education, I have two new secondary schools in my constituency  which were opened two years ago. Being newly opened schools, a number of facilities in these newly opened schools are missing, such as books, laboratory facilities and teaching stuff. In addition, a number of primary schools need renovations.

Mr Speaker, I am appealing to the hon. Minister of Education to make arrangements to renovate these rural schools, otherwise, education in rural areas will die.

Mr Speaker, my constituency has five big dams which were built by the colonial Government. One was rebuilt last year and the other two need attention as they have very big cracks. I am appealing to Government to help in rebuilding of these dams since they may help in future irrigation schemes.

Mr Speaker, apart from agriculture, gemstone mining is an activity I believe if well organised, might help uplift standards of living for the people of Chasefu. Unfortunately, because of poverty, foreigners who normally do not have proper valid documents, mostly of West African origin have dominated in this trade. This trade has brought about its own problems, such as temporary marriages and spread of HIV/AIDS.

Mr Speaker, I am appealing to the Ministry of Home Affairs to address this problem of these illegal foreign miners who have made some parts of Chasefu as their home.

Thank you, Sir.

Mr Samukonga (Chawama): Thank you for according me this opportunity to deliver my maiden speech to this august House, Mr Speaker.

Since I did not have a chance to speak earlier, I will, in my speech address issues arising from both by the speech of His Excellency, the President Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawana, State Counsel, as well as from the Budget presentation by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning (Mr E. G. Kasonde).

Before I proceed with my speech, I wish to congratulate you, Sir, and you Deputy for having been elected to your positions and wish you God’s blessings as you continue guiding this august House as we deliberate and execute our daily business.

Now, is the time to minimise on politicking, Sir, and concentrate on national development issues so that we may fulfil our electorates’ aspirations.

Firstly, Sir, allow me to thank the people of Chawama for the great honour and confidence they have in me having voted for me twice in five months’ time. Firstly, through a by-election on 17th July, 2001 which saw me become the first Member of Parliament of our party, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD).

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Samukonga: …and barely 17 days after the party’s formation. Thereafter, on 27th December, 2001 during the tripartite elections I re-contested and won back my seat overwhelmingly after defeating ten other contestants.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Samukonga: Once again, I say, thank you, to the people of Chawama and I shall forever remain  indebted to them.

May I also wish to take this opportunity, Sir, to thank my colleagues in FDD, especially our party President, General Christon Tembo for encouragement he gave me to stand in Chawama.

I also wish to thank the men and women of great principle, especially my colleagues in FDD who joined ranks with us and fought to uphold our Constitution and stop any temptations by the former Head of State to go for the Third Term.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Samukonga: Some of these colleagues sacrificed their parliamentary and ministerial positions for this purpose fighting to uphold the rule of law of our country.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Samukonga: This is why we have President Mwanawasa around today. This is how we have Hon. Dr Sondashi, Hon. Sikatana and so many other hon. Members of Parliament.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Hon. Opposition Member: You owe it to us.

Mr Samukonga: You owe it to our fight.

Laughter.

Mr Samukonga: Mr Speaker, I am also particularly glad that the Opposition Members put together are controlling 6 provinces out of the nine in Zambia and command a reasonable majority in this House to keep the checks and balances which we so much needed to curb Government excesses and ensure accountability.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Samukonga: So, it is not true that the Opposition is only controlling Lusaka alone as I heard the former Head of State state the other day.

Mr Speaker, allow me now to inform this august House about the numerous problems confronting the people of Chawama and seek Government indulgence in resolving them.

As you well know, Sir, Chawama is a peri-urban constituency, a stone throw away from the heart of the capital city of Lusaka. Yet, the people of Chawama live in deplorable conditions and in most instances not befitting human habitation.

Mr Speaker, the sanitation situation in Chawama is extremely bad and many times we have had cholera outbreaks, especially during the rainy season. However, cholera has not broken out this rainy season because of the ambitious garbage collection exercise which I embarked on prior to the commencement of the rains.

Hon. Opposition Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Samukonga: The road network in Chawama is so bad that during the rainy season, roads turn into streams and wash away human waste, posing a big health hazard to the people. You may wish to know, Mr Speaker, that I attend   about 5 to 6 funerals every day in Chawama.

Mr Speaker, most residents of Chawama are either retirees or retrenchees and most of the retrenchees have not received their dues up to now. Others have actually died waiting for their retrenchment packages. Sir, these innocent people have, through myself, made earnest appeal to Government to look into their plight. I am at least consoled that the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning addressed this issue in his Budget Speech.

Chawama, Sir, has the population of close to a hundred thousand people, most whom are children and yet there is no secondary school in the area. I would like to appeal to Government to provide a secondary school there.

Mr Speaker, in Chawama the mini hospital lacks drugs at all times and there is no qualified doctor. Most patients are just given prescriptions upon admission and because most of them are unemployed, they actually cannot afford to buy those medicines.

Mr Speaker, I appeal to the hon. Minister of Health to address this issue seriously as so many lives are being lost everyday. I have managed to donate a vehicle to assist bury the dead because at times, dead bodies remain in their homes for three to four days due to lack of transport to take bodies to the mortuary.

As a result of their unemployment situation among the majority of the constituents, crime is rife in Chawama and has reached alarming levels, but the police are not well equipped and they lack transport facilities.

I wish to bring it to your attention, Mr Speaker, that Misisi Compound up to now is classified as an illegal settlement. Therefore, my efforts to try to tap assistance, say, from the donors, has hitches because it is an illegal resettlement. So I appeal to the hon. Minister of Local Government and Housing to look into this issue seriously. It is too late now to remove the people of Misisi from where they are. What I would like to suggest is that probably the area must be upgraded and legalised so that donor and Government assistance can continue flowing there. 

The other problem is water reticulation system, Mr Speaker. People there sell water for as much as K3000 per 200 litre drum. My electorates cannot afford. As a result, the people of Chawama have resorted to drawing water from those dams in which dead bodies are also damped. There is need to resolve this water problem urgently.

Lastly, the worse nightmare in Chawama is hunger. I would like to appeal to the Vice-President whom I know is an action-oriented man, not only to distribute …

The Vice-President: Cross over.

Laughter.

Mr Samukonga: …relief food in rural areas but also look at peri-urban areas. In fact, there is no land in Chawama for people to produce their own maize. 

Mr Speaker, may I now revert to the President and the hon. Minster of Finance and National Planning speeches and say how good they sounded when they delivered them to this august House. However, it is not the first time that we have heard of good speeches. I just hope that President Mwanawasa will try hard to resist all temptations to go back on his word and those that surround him should not, please, mislead him by giving him false advice. We all start very well but when power gets to our heads, we divert from what we stood for.

Mr Speaker, at the advent of multi-party politics in 1990, we all rose together as one to fight the one-party system and in 1991 managed to usher in the MMD Government. At that time, we all thought that was the dawn of an error of hope, pride, self-determination, independence of the media and prosperity for all Zambians. Today, the majority of the Zambians stand very disappointed disillusioned, desperate, hopeless and they have lost confidence in their Government because of the last administration’s failure to deliver that which they promised.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Samukonga: Mr Speaker, we all know that more than 80 of the Zambian people today live in abject poverty. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow with about 5 per cent of the population of Zambia controlling 90 per cent of the national wealth and the rest, that is, 90 per cent of the population sharing a paltry 10 per cent.

In 1990 when the population of Zambia was about nine million, 500,000 people were in formal salary employment. Today, they are less than if not slightly over 200,000 people in formal salary employment. So, figures in formal employment actually are dwindling instead of rising with the population.

Mr Speaker, at independence, Zambia had the highest capital income in sub-Saharan Africa surpassing that of South Africa. Today, we have even qualified for HIPC, an indication of gross mismanagement of national resources over the years.

Mr Speaker, children dropping out of schools in large numbers and those being phased out for luck of payment of school fees is the order of the day and most of these find themselves on the streets creating a serious time bomb. I do not want to give examples of other nations who have decided to actually crop street kids. I am sure you have heard of South America where the street kids became such a problem that they started pursuing their leaders. As you drive those vehicles here, they are watching you and they think that you are the ones eating the entire national cake. So, eventually when they grow up, they will pursue you in order to share that cake with you. That means we are actually risking our lives ourselves. In South America, the Government ordered – I do not want to name this country for diplomatic purposes – all  the street kids to be shot at night and damped them in mass graves. We do not want to reach that level.

The mealie meal queues we condemned in 1990 have become a common feature among our people today. 

Hon. Opposition Member: Hear, hear!

Mr Samukonga: In Chawama, women wake up as early as 0400 hours in the morning to go and queue up for mealie meal. A new culture of nichekeleko, nichekeleko wherever you go is the order of the day. I had never heard about that word until recently. Because of the new culture of political manipulation has emerged to compromise the electorate and very few people these days are voting with a free conscious.

Mr Speaker, industry and agriculture have totally collapsed to the extent that industrial areas of Copperbelt have become ghost places. The list of poor economic performance indicators is endless, yet we are being told by the ruling party that the GDP of our country has grown during the past decade by about 5.4 per cent. I find it very difficult to reconcile these, especially considering that western industrialised countries like America, Canada, the EU countries and Japan have actually recorded slackening growth during the past years. Zambia has just qualified to HIPC and yet we are being told that Zambia has recorded growth.

On privatisation, Mr Speaker, we heard talk on how the mines could not be sold for a song in an apparent reference to the Kafue Consortium which made timely good offer which was rejected by a questionable ZCCM privatisation team. The mines could not sale thereafter for about three years and we actually had to pay to sell those mines to Anglo-American Corporation who are today pulling out at great economic risk to the Zambian people. 

Mr Speaker, we are being told that Zambia has run the most successful privatisation programmes in the world. But I doubt it so much because the real benefits have not accrued to the Zambian people. There are no real benefits from this privatisation to benefit the Zambian people. We do not even know where the proceeds of the sale of the state companies have gone. Some state farms, in fact, have not even been paid for by the leaders that bought them. I am aware of some.

Mr Speaker, my observation is that and I think most Zambians think the same as myself that in real terms our economy growth has declined substantially, contrary to what politicians in the ruling party are telling us. We do not need professors to verify this fact. There is simply no food on the table for the majority of our Zambian people. The macro-economic variables achievements should directly translate into enhanced living standards of our people. We are not going to eat their decrease in inflation, for instance. What we need for our people is food on the table.

Mr Speaker, real investment in Zambia during the past decade has not taken place and we have witnessed declining activities in the financial manufacturing, agriculture and generally the overall economy. Rather disinvestment has been rampant in the past decade as can be evidenced by the withdraw and relocation to neighbouring countries of blue chip multi-national corporations such as Uniliver, Dunlop, Colgate Palmolive, Johnson and Johnson to name a few. 

All these companies have been citing unfavourable investment climate characterised by high interest rates, high import duties on imported raw materials that have made products too expensive to compete favourably with other products in the region. For instance, an imported bag of cement from Zimbabwe and South Africa is cheaper than that of obtained from Chilanga Cement. Most finished products from South Africa are cheaper than locally produced goods.

Mr Speaker, even Amanita Zambiana, if you remember this company which bought refined oil products, at one time insinuated and threatened to pull out of Zambia. They actually wanted to strip the plant and relocate it elsewhere in a neighbouring country. I am aware that there are so many other companies that are contemplating disinvesting from Zambia. For instance, some companies producing pharmaceutical products would rather import the finished products because they are landed here at cheaper cost.

To produce a capsule, for instance, Sir, you need plastic those casings and other raw materials on these companies pay 25%. But to import the same capsule say from India, there are no duties applicable. So, one would rather import the finished product than manufacture the capsule here locally.

Mr Speaker, total excise duty landed on petroleum products, such as petrol, air gas, lubricants and so on which are vital ingredients in industrial production are in fact 82.5% instead of the 45% as indicated in the ministerial budget speech. In Botswana, it is only 30%. Duty slapped at 3 levels thus, at importer level, wholesaler and at retailer so when you actually buy for instance, a litter of petrol for K3000, you actually pay K2,475 on duties alone and the actual commodity K525 only.

Mr Speaker, we need to make raw materials and other inputs cheaper to acquire so that we can rejuvenate local industry and when many industries are in production Government will the benefit from the taxes that they pay. In short, I am advocating actually, I am saying that Government should not cripple production, if anything, we should try and find suitable ways of subsidising production. Mr Speaker, these and so many other hidden anomalies are the issues that we should seriously address if we have to revamp our ailing economy.

Sir, the other quandary we find ourselves is the lack of negotiation skills when we enter into these trade and bilateral agreements with other countries especially in the SADC region. Mr Speaker, we left ourselves very vulnerable as an economy whereby we remove all protectionist measures meant to shield and sustain the local industry and farmers by allowing imports, say potatoes and bananas from Zimbabwe, pineapples from South Africa when in my mother’s native district of Mwinilunga, pineapples rot for lack of market. 

Mr Speaker, our friends in Tanzania have refused to enter the SADC customs union hestely because they realised they had no comparative advantage in production to complete favourably with industrilising countries in SADC or indeed COMESA such as South Africa and Egypt. What is lacking, Sir, is long time planning.

Mr Speaker: Order

The hon. Members time is has expired.

Mr P.M.Zulu(Chadiza): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving this chance to present my very first maiden speech I almost felt I was not going to speak because I had started earlier on indicating, thank you very much.

May I indeed begin by congratulating you, Mr Speaker, and your deputy for being elected to your esteemed positions which were indeed highly competitive. May I also congratulate His Excellency the President, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa State Counsel  for making it to plot one. 

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Speaker, allow me to comment on some of the issues raised in both the Presidential and budget address. 

Sir, the introduction of agriculture crop marketing authority and the intention to construct dams especially in drought prone provinces for irrigation, the intention to contract large-scale farmers to produce maize under irrigation and to develop appropriate technologies for small scale farmers to access affordable draught power equipment, deserves utmost appreciation.

The previous MMD Government was too fast in leaving the farming sector to stand on its own immediately liberal market was introduced. When one is aiding a child to walk, you continue to hold on to the child’s hands as the child walks until when you are convinced the child is now strong enough to walk on its own. If you let off the child just after making a step, the child will fall face ward and bruise its face. This is what happened to the farming sector. The farming sector has bruises on its face.

Since 1991 we have seen the emergency of numerous co-operatives. Most of these co-operatives, if not all, are partisan. These co-operatives have received and distributed agricultural inputs on partisan lines too. These systems of politics are expired and not beneficial even to those that practice them. These systems retard development. May I appeal to the new deal Government to be real new by not tolerating these segregative practices. People should always remember that it is the various tunes in a song that make it nice and sweet to listen to.

These are also various storages in strategic locations in our constituencies that have become white elephants. It is my hope, that the Crop Marketing Authority will make maximum use of these so as to enable farmers have access to agricultural inputs within reach. The delivery of agricultural inputs, especially fertilisers should indeed, be in good time. This will in turn help farmers to adequately plan for that season. Late distribution of inputs should be an issue of the past.

Mr Speaker, let me clearly state here that the hunger situation currently prevailing in the country is largely a result of our previous MMD Government’s poor vision on agriculture. 

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr P. M. Zulu: Please, let us not keep on crossing the same rivers and be eaten by the same crocodiles.

Laughter.

Mr P. M. Zulu:  Mr Speaker, as regards education, experience at both a primary and secondary school teacher has it that, the impact of school fees is felt more from Grade 8 upwards. In some places, in the rural areas, pupils go up to Grade 7 without paying any fees and or wearing uniform. I should have, therefore, in view of this, loved if the President extended this free education to, at least, Grade 12.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr P. M. Zulu: Mr Speaker, Sir, what is obtaining today is that the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is a right to MMD Members of Parliament only and not the opposition.

Interruptions.

Mr P. M. Zulu:  In some constituencies, Mr Speaker, like my constituency, Chadiza people do not know what CDF is. My predecessors took it on personal-to-holder basis. This is uncalled for. It will only lead us to the destruction of the nation at large and in the end to the destruction of ourselves and that is why I think people chose to bring me in stead of those that were there.

Laughter.

Mr P. M. Zulu: Mr Speaker, what I understand about CDF is that it is meant for the development of the Constituency, irrespective of the political party that is at the steering wheel in the Constituency.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr P. M. Zulu: Mr Speaker, all these done …

The Deputy Speaker: Order!

Business was suspended from 1815 hours until 1830 hours.

Mr P M Zulu: Mr Speaker, at this point, let me thank the President for introducing offices for area Members of Parliament in their various councils. This will help the Members of Parliament to plan adequately for their constituencies. Other than that, it will help to have the Members at your finger tips as regards communication. 

Let me say a word or so concerning the DAs. There is an idiom in Nyanja which says ‘Mkhola limodzi simukulira nkhunzi ziwiri.’ The literal meaning of this, Mr Speaker, is that you cannot rear two bulls in one kraal. They will destroy the kraal as they fight for supremacy. This is the message that I have about the District Administrators and it is up to the MMD Government to either save the kraal or let it be destroyed.

Mr Speaker, my speech will be incomplete if I do not pay tribute to the people of Chadiza for electing me as their area Member of Parliament. For UNIP in Chadiza, it was merely getting back what was, is and will be for UNIP. 

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

Mr P M Zulu: I, therefore, also sincerely thank my party UNIP for adopting me as its candidate.

The message I bring to you, Sir, from the people of Chadiza Constituency is that of despair. Can you believe that of all the districts in Zambia, it is only Chadiza District that has no hospital.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr P M Zulu: What happens to the more than 30 thousand people? The nearest hospitals are Katete, Chipata and Mwami Mission Hospital. All these are not less than 60 kilometres away and as a result, many patients have died on their way to one of the hospitals. To add salt to injury, the Chipata/Chadiza Road is in a deplorable state. It has a lot of potholes and, I should emphasise, Sir, and unnecessary meanders on it.

Laughter.

Mr P. M.  Zulu: This makes the road, Sir, unnecessarily long. It is 78 kilometres to Chipata from Chadiza via this road when, in fact, that could be reduced to 40 kilometres or less if the meanders on it are removed. I am, to this effect, appealing, earnestly, to the Minister of Works and Supply to immediately send a team of surveyors to go and examine the Chipata/Chadiza Road. I strongly appeal to the Government to tar this road.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr P. M.  Zulu: Reduced to 40 kilometres or less, the road will be easier and relatively cheaper to tar.

Mr Speaker, may I also draw the attention of the Government to a number of broken down bridges on our tributary roads in the constituency such as Taferansoni Bridge and…

Laughter.

Mr P. M.  Zulu: … the Nsadzu Bridge below the Nsadzu Dam which is our source of water supply in the district and indeed, many others. These bridges, Sir, are key links to the Boma and need urgent attention.

Let me conclude now. You see, as a teacher, I summarise.

Laughter.

Mr P. M.  Zulu: Mr Speaker, let me conclude by saying that both the Presidential and Budget addresses, constructive as they may be, will still remain meaningless until they are implemented and in total.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr P. M.  Zulu: Without implementation, they will be like a nice piece of suit in a catalogue that has not yet been bought.

Laughter.

Mr P. M.  Zulu: Mr Speaker, I beg to sit.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shemena (Solwezi West): Mr Speaker, I would like to congratulate you and the Speaker on your being re-elected to your positions as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively. It was not easy.

Mr Speaker, I am not gifted to give praise to speeches. The speeches made by the President and the hon. Minster of Finance and National Planning still remain frozen information until translated into action.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, at this moment in time, I would like to congratulate the people of Zambia for their efforts made during the presidential and general elections. This vibrant and democratic Parliament is what it is today, the first of its kind in Zambia, because the people of Zambia made informed choices. It is crystal clear that Zambians must not be taken for granted and that the Executive, now, must learn to deliver to the expectations of its citizens and not to appease cadres year in, year out.

Mr Speaker, let me congratulate the church, the Law Association of Zambia and the tough tested mothers of Zambia for their noble duty to dispel Chiluba’s bid for the Third Term …

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shemena: The selfless and committed team saved Zambia from being ruled unconstitutionally by the self-acclaimed political engineer and comedian , FTJ Chiluba.

Laughter.

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, I, now, take this opportunity to thank  the people of Solwezi West for giving me the mandate to represent them in this House and for making my curriculum vitae richer. It is my sincere hope that this Parliament will not be subjected to situations where it is put on recess indefinitely so as to rob the electorate with the opportunity to be represented. It is the people’s democratic right to be represented by their genuine and democratically elected Members of Parliament.

On agriculture, I do agree with President Mwanawasa that the current agricultural crises were man made. Since the disease is known, we must collectively find the cure by using the UPND manifesto. We all agree with President Mwanawasa because it is our collective responsibility, as national leaders, to give praise and support where it is due. We, in the Opposition, will not oppose views that support our manifestos and the Opposition did not mean that Mwanawasa was a fool, as Chiluba put it. Chiluba must understand that his mandate is over and must put his fingers out of this Parliament and concentrate on training party cadres on how to perform traditional dances for Mwanawasa each time he is at the airport.

Laughter.

Mr Shemena: He did enjoy it because others were doing so. 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hammer!

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, the people of Zambia, until 1991, did not know the term ‘relief food’. The term is alien to Zambia. In the presence of good agricultural policies, the people of Zambia can feed themselves in the same way they fed themselves during the First and Second Republics. 

Mr Speaker, the gesture by the Government to assume the responsibility of food distribution to its citizens during the last ten years was not only retrogressive, but trained the Zambians to be professional beggars.

Mr Speaker, my constituency is blessed with the availability of the Agriculture Research Station which was established in the 1980s by the first President of Zambia. I have, deliberately, used the term first President in order to avoid ambiguity and mistaken identity.

Laughter.

Mr Shemena: At this research station, the summaries of annual weather reports for the last ten years do not indicate any drought situation or excessive rainfall, but the choir of Ministers in the Third Republic sang songs that depicted that a drought situation and excessive rainfall justify the hunger situation in this country. 

The New Deal should know that the agriculture activity level is below any reasonable understanding and that the onus is on the incumbent Government to restore the situation and must be assured of our support. It is imperative for this reason that the New Deal should note that they have inherited the mess from Chiluba’s Government. That is why his F.T.J. institute must not be given the priority because it is not on the national priority list. The hon. Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives must be supported financially by the hon. Minister of Finance and National Planning and we are looking forward to seeing the money realised from the Millennium Village proceeds to go to agricultural investment.

Mr Speaker, my constituency is a producer of pineapples in Zambia. It is part of Mwinilunga and, therefore, the destruction of that company called Pineapple Cannery has put the farmers in a mess. I am appealing to the Government that since we have now seen the pineapple fanta on the market, there must be a political directive that the Coca-Cola Company starts buying pineapples from Mwinilunga and my constituency.

Mr Speaker, since the education system has deteriorated so much, coupled with the HIV/AIDS situation, acting as a combine harvester on our educated youthful Zambians, there is need for the New Deal to add value to our society by introducing free education up to Grade 12. You do not need to be a genius to know that free education up to Grade 7 has no value. If it means retrieving the values of our challenger Roan Air jet, let us do so in order to build Zambia.

Mr Speaker, my constituency has only one secondary school which is based in a refugee camp and is meant for refugees. It is shameful to see Zambians going to a school that is meant for refugees. In my constituency, Mr Speaker, the schools have no teachers’ houses and all those that graduate from teacher training colleges prefer to teach refugees because there are better houses in the refugee camp.

Mr Speaker, in my constituency people walk between fifteen to thirty kilometres in search of medical attention. This is an indication that more health centres must be established. The New Deal is pretty aware that in the last ten years people were paying medical fees for no medicine. What the new deal should consider is that people have paid for the services which they did not receive, hence, they should suspend the medical fees.

Mr Speaker, I made research on whether it is important for people to pay user fees in clinics or not. The situation obtaining in my constituency is that the Government is paying a lot of money on transport and allowances to officers who go to collect very little money in the constituency. A clinic would only manage to collect K15,000 to K30,000, but the Government would spend more than K600,000 on fuel and allowances to officers in order to collect K30,000. So, it just makes more sense to suspend the medical fees because the Government can save that K600,000.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shemena: As long as people remain poor, they will continue dying in their houses. As a result, the purpose of having medical fees as a measure to share costs shall remain in the pipeline forever.

To paraphrase the above sentiments, it shall be fair to the New Deal to scrap off education fees and introduce free education to Grade 12 and scrap the medical fees because currently, the people in the rural areas are contributing a lot to the construction of the clinics and schools because all these projects demand community contribution and that is contribution enough. No one is ready to be sick when he or she has the money. In the same way, no illness will wait until somebody has the money. The people of Zambia need to be served.

Mr Speaker, the people of the North-Western Province feel they are not part of Zambia because the road between Chingola and Solwezi is very bad and that is the former constituency of the Vice-President. I hope that he is going to do something about that. That province has now produced a Vice-President and we need that road to be maintained. So, we hope that the Vice-President is going to correct the mess that he left behind.

Even the quality of the tarmac on the Mutanda/Chavuma Road, really, needs to be improved. It is more or less like sand paper conveyor belt. That is not the quality of roads we see when we go to other provinces like Luapula and others that matter to the MMD.

Interruptions. 

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, on this sand paper like conveyor belt road, you just need to drive there for two weeks before you buy new tyres. No one in the province has the money to do so, not even Government departments.

Mr Speaker, I would like to inform this august House about the situation in my constituency and Solwezi District. The levels of agricultural activities have tremendously gone down because IFAD pulled out of the province. This was due to MMD Government’s failure to meet its financial obligations as a bench-mark to access funds. It was not until the run up to elections, that the MMD Government disclosed this through the then President Chiluba who withdrew the support because the people of North-Western Province held opposing views as demonstrated by voting for Opposition leaders and that was wrong. 

Mr Speaker, the same Chiluba Government boasted to be champions of democracy. It is my sincere hope that the New Deal should demonstrate maturity in maintaining the democracy that we have suffered for. I wish to commend the sentiments and efforts made by Hon. Sondashi, Hon. Sikatana, Hon. Chituwo and Hon. Kalifungwa in wanting to get things go in the right direction. 

Mr Sichilima: Quality.

Mr Shemena: I hope that our principled Minister of Finance and National Planning is going to work. The assets and liability that we have put in the hands of our principled Minister of Finance and National Planning will be handled with care and managed well.

Mr Speaker, we must not only see integrity in Mwanawasa’s appointees. Even those that were adopted by Mr Chiluba must support Mr Mwanawasa’s policies.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Shemena: What we see is that those appointed by President Mwanawasa are really trying to help the people of Zambia. But those that were appointed by Mr Chiluba are fighting against Mr Mwanawasa.

Laughter.

Mr Shemena: We do not want this. People want goods to be delivered.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear, tell them!

Mr Ntundu: Benangu sibanali kubelenga nakubelenga.

Interruptions.

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, I have a problem of refugees in my constituency. The refugees are in big numbers and will soon exceed the population of the Zambians in the constituency. Today, the refugee’s population is more than 70,000 and these 70,000 are well supported and look health. But, the Zambians are becoming thinner and thinner.

Laughter.

Mr Shemena: It is difficult to identify who is a Zambian and you can make a mistaken identity by pointing at a refugee as a Zambian. It is, therefore, imperative for the Government to increase allocation, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, I would like to mention that the medical facilities that are at Solwezi General Hospital are being enjoyed …

The Deputy Speaker: Order!

It is amazing to see hon. Ministers who are supposed to listen carefully and take note of what is being said, are the ones engaged in some discussions.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

The Deputy Speaker: Tomorrow, you will all be required to reply to whatever has been said on the Floor.

Will you please, continue.

Mr Shemena: This is confirming why the only independent Member of Parliament we have was not adopted by the MMD. It was because his accent sounded more of West African

Laughter.

Mr Shemena: And, I feel that he must be sent in the foreign mission in one of the West African countries because he will be understood better there. 

Laughter.

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, it is imperative for the Government to increase allocation of medical facilities to Solwezi General Hospital. The organisations that are concerned with the welfare of refugees should also contribute in equipping this hospital with all the necessary requirements because the facilities extend to the refugees as well.

We, as Zambians, have assisted the refugees to benefit from our own resources and facilities. It must be possible for refugees’ support to be extended to Zambian institutions such as hospitals where refugees are beneficiaries as well.

Mr Speaker, all over the world people forget where they came from. There are ministers here who were teachers before, once they are appointed ministers they forget about the sufferings that they underwent. You must always remember to support the teachers.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Ntundu: Kaili ba peza sweet.

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, I would like to appeal to the hon. Minisiter of Home Affairs to take keen interest in my last few remarks that I am going to give about the police service.

We need the Police Service to be well managed. It is perturbing to see four policemen looking in a four-inch speed trap computer looking at one small screen. Then, the other two are standing by the roadside. Imagine, all the six police officers inspecting one vehicle. It is becoming very expensive since these people are not well paid to be fed by us.

Mr Lubinda: Mwamvela ba Mapushi?

Mr Shemena: Mr Speaker, I would like to mention that whilst the Government is struggling to recapitalise Konkola Mine, I would like to mention here that my constituency has a very big economic giant mine called Mwembezhi Mine. The minerals are almost on the surface. Why does the Government continue funding the RAMCOZ that was sold to scrap metal dealers and not to invest in starting up this productive mine.

Mr Speaker, Mwembezhi has got a lot of infrastructure that would qualify it to have the district status. I am appealing to the Minister of Local Government and Housing to grant the status of district to Mwembezhi which is a mining town in waiting because it has enough infrastructure that would qualify it to have the district status.

With these few remarks, I thank you, Sir.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr S. K. Mukuka (Malole): I thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me to contribute to this motion on the Floor. Please, accept my congratulations on your re-election to the post of Speaker together with your deputy.

I would like to commend the President of the Republic of Zambia for the inspiring address to this House. Mr Speaker, all the contributors to this motion have touched on agriculture and I would like to add my voice.

Agriculture policy in this country is good, but implementation is the major problem. I tend to agree with the President’s assertion that professionals have let us down. Following restructuring of the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, it was hoped that the service delivery to farmers would improve, but this is not the case. We still experience late delivery of inputs sometimes as late as February.

Mr Speaker, in Malole Constituency all the fertilisers brought in, is for sale to farmers on credit only and no fertilisers are available for cash sales to farmers. This practice is retrogressive and must be discontinued. 

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr S. K. Mukuka: The requirement for farmers to make down payment of K25,000 per pack of input also needs re-visiting as most farmers are unable to raise this amount. 
Mr Speaker, it is a known fact that there will be a shortfall in maize production this season due to poor rains especially in the Southern Province. 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mukuka: The country has no national food reserves at the moment and all the silos countrywide are empty. It is, therefore, imperative that the food reserve agency or the CMA as the case may be, should be made “buyer of the first resort” to restore food security.

Let me say something about the Presidential Housing Initiative, Sir. I wish to commend the President for transforming the PHI to the National Housing Authority and beg that the facility be extended to new rural districts like Mungwi, Mpulungu, Nakonde, Kazungula and others to ease housing problems there.

On the question of the Public Service Pensions Board, I wish to say that public service retirees across the country have been reduced to beggars because of the long delay in paying their terminal benefits. This institution must be given priority in the decentralisation programme to be undertaken by the New Deal administration to lessen the suffering of the retirees. I wish also to propose that retirees be placed on monthly salaries until they are paid off.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear! Ubwele!

Mr Mukuka: Mr Speaker, on the issue of the Zambia National Service equipment, I wish to say that acquisition of road construction equipment from China by the state brought to the country hope that the poor roads will be a thing of the past. It is disappointing to note that most of the equipment is lying idle because of unfavourable hiring conditions attached. 

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr Mukuka: I would like the state to revisit these conditions.

Laughter.

Mr Mukuka: Mr Speaker, Malole Constituency is one of the largest in the Northern Province. It covers ten thousand square kilometres with a population of 142,000. The people of Malole feel the area is too wide to have one constituency. They are, therefore, appealing to the Government to create another constituency so that Mungwi District can have two constituencies.

Malole Constituency has thirteen rural health centres; therefore, there is an urgent need for an ambulance to handle referral cases to Kasama General Hospital.

The drug situation is average in Malole.

Mungwi District needs a district hospital and a mortuary. At the moment, all referral cases are referred to Kasama General Hospital.

The road network in Malole has turned into footpaths. The area has not seen a grader for the past fifteen years.

Hon. Opposition Members: Shame!

Mr Mukuka: This means that even during the Kaunda era graders never went to Mungwi.

Laughter.

Mr Chisala: Checkmate!
Mr Mukuka: The people of Malole need the following to be done. The road from Nseluka to Kayambi needs grading and reconstruction of culverts. In fact they have told me that if you do not fight for this do not come back after five years.

Laughter.

Mr Mukuka: And also, the D18 road from Kasama through Mbesuma to Isoka has never been graded also in more than fifteen years.

The construction of a bridge at Chambeshi River on D18, I have seen this has been provided for in the budget for this year, I only hope funds will be released to the contractor soon. That money will be released soon so that work can start. The contract had been awarded to Miller Construction in the year 2000 but nothing has been done todate.

Mr. Speaker, lastly, I would like to thank the people of Malole for electing me to this august House and assure them of effective representation. 

I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

The Deputy Minister for Eastern Province (Mr. Sambwa): Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the President of Zambia, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, State Counsel on his wonderful speech and vision for a better Zambia beyond 2002.

Mr. Speaker, I also congratulate you and the Speaker on your re-election in your positions. I extend my thanks to the people of Mfuwe Constituency in Mpika for campaigning day and night and for securing me a seat in this august House. I say, thank you very much, I am not going to let you down over there.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa: Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend Opposition hon. Members of Parliament for their political maturity demonstrated…

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa:…during the Presidential Address to the House. Keep it up.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa: Mr. Speaker, since the atmosphere is now conducive and we are interacting freely among ourselves, I am now appealing to all hon. Members of Parliament, especially my tribe cousins from Eastern Power, like Hon. Lucas Phiri to forget about political differences. Political confrontation is out  now, we should just work together and plan how best we can deliver goods and services to the suffering masses.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa: Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure hon. Members of Parliament, especially those from the Eastern Province that my office will remain open day and night for problem solving.

Laughter.

Mr. Sambwa: So, the ball is in your court now.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the hon. Minister of Finance and Planning (Mr. Kasonde) on a number of developmental issues he touched in his Budget Speech which will see Zambia excelling in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker, lastly, I would like to thank the people of Northern and Luapula provinces for giving Levy Patrick Mwanawasa massive winning votes during the tripartite elections.

Hon. Government Members: hear, hear!

Interruptions.

Mr. Sambwa: They demonstrated to all peace-loving Zambians that people from Northern Province are not tribalists…

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa: … as some people have been preaching. The people of Northern Province voted for a leader of integrity who is going to lead Zambia for a better tomorrow.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa: People of Northern Province are always loyal to the Government of the day.

Hon. Government Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa: Mr. Speaker, I am now appealing to those including myself who are in positions of decision making to serve Zambians equally and kindly, regardless of whether they voted for MMD or not.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Sambwa: Mr. Speaker, I thank you.

Hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr C. R. Banda (Kapoche): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you, most sincerely, for according me this opportunity to speak for the first time, in this august House. I am very proud, indeed, to be here, representing the people of Kapoche, which is 490 km from Lusaka, in Petauke District.

Sir, allow me, first of all, to offer you my heartfelt condolences for being re-elected …

Laughter.

Mr C. R. Banda: Do not worry. All of you are saying ‘congratulations’, but I am saying ‘condolences’ because he has a very difficult task.

I offer you condolences together with Mr Deputy Speaker. What you have is a very big task indeed. It is not a job that one would really want to admire because you will be hit left, right and centre. That is why I am not congratulating you but offering you my sincere condolences.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Laughter.

Mr C. R. Banda: Mr Speaker, allow me to, right now, congratulate my fellow Members of Parliament, those that were elected to come to Parliament. May I also welcome to Parliament those who were nominated.

Mr Speaker, I stand here, as I have already said, representing the people of Kapoche which covers areas of Chiefs Nyanje and Mwanjabantu in Petauke District in the Eastern Province. This is irrespective of their party affiliations. I am their Member of Parliament whether MMD, UNIP, Heritage, and so on.

I want to thank them very much for electing me to come to Parliament at this very critical time of the 21st Century when people’s lives are in complete danger because of hunger, disease, poverty, illiteracy and, indeed, exploitation.

Mr Speaker, poverty in Zambia is very high. The overall poverty which had declined between 1993 and 1996, from 73 per cent to 69.2 per cent increased in 1998 to 72.9 per cent. Statistics show that about 80 per cent of Zambians live in abject poverty and suffer from other deprivations such as little or no access to social services and poor quality of services.

Mr Speaker, rural poverty is more prevalent, deeper and more severe than urban poverty. My constituency, Kapoche, has not been spared this calamity.

Sir, according to studies so far carried out, poverty in rural and urban areas is 83 per cent and 56 per cent respectively. It makes me feel even more scared to know that the most affected areas are the Eastern Province, Luapula and Western provinces. Eastern Province is where my constituency is and you should see why I am scared.

Mr Speaker, allow me to quote from two ancient Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Plato, who held that the life virtue is rewarding for the virtuous as well as beneficial for the community. Our task as elected Members of Parliament is, by and large, one such virtue from which not only ourselves must be rewarded but also the community must benefit.

Mr Speaker, this is where I wish to begin praising, wholeheartedly, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, for …

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order!

MOTION

ADJOURNMENT

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

Mr Deputy Speaker: On Wednesday, we are supposed to receive a notice of motion for debate on adjournment. This is a chance given to Members of Parliament to bring up something to draw the attention of the Executive for action. But as far as we are concerned, we have received nothing and I, therefore, I will proceed to put the question.

Question put and agreed to.

__________

The House adjourned at 1916 hours until 1430 hours on Thursday, 7th March, 2002.