Kick Your Own

Zambia is a country that has spent the last 44 years grappling with the challenge of empowering her people to not only have political independence, but also economic independence too.

The nationalisation era and the parastatal era were all well intentioned initiatives to empower Zambians over time. In addition, Lima Bank, Namboard, Indeco, Zamhort, and so on were all part of a macro program to develop wealth and economic activity in Zambia. Some of these initiatives were successful and others did not do so well and eventually collapsed.

Many Zambians found themselves without too many options for business except to trade across the borders and offer their physical capacity as labour. Even at the consultancy level many Zambians become assistants to foreign consultants in order to get a piece of the consulting cake. The assistant did all the leg work and burned the late night oil while the principal consultant provided credibility and consumed the lion’s share of the fee. A good example of intellectual labour!

44 years down the road we have not moved too far from where we started. We may have more Zambians participating in the economy, but what equity do they hold in the scheme of things? Successful Zambian consultants are predominantly those that bow to the desires of the pay master at the expense of a professional and quality piece of work. Successful businessmen are usually those that shout loudest for the benefit of their funders. These are people that don’t want to rock the boat to enable many more Zambians to prosper, because doing so would sever their links with a foreign based financier or multinational.

There are some Zambians that have challenged the status quo and fought for local empowerment in the shadows while the rest of us run seminars on the subject and pick sitting allowances.

A case in point is Andrew Kachibe of Andrew Kurt Limited. This man of the soil Zambian has seen it all. Andrew has jumped the hoops of business in Zambia for several decades and always landed on his back because of lack of access to finance, lack of support from larger corporations, and so on.

After some in depth research Andrew decided to go into the cement business and export the commodity to Burundi as many Burundians and other investors were doing.

When he tried to register for an export quota of cement he was told that there was no provision for Zambians to be given export quotas. After much negotiations and debates with the supplier Andrew finally gave up and decided to go to Burundi and become an investor there so that he could come back home as a Burundian company wanting to purchase cement for export as other investors were doing.

After successfully launching Andrew Kurt International in Burundi, Andrew was back in Zambia knocking at the suppliers’ door with supporting documentation to be given a quota for export. Again he was denied. What started off as a business negotiation finally evolved into a quarrel that bordered on discrimination. If you are a Zambian then there are no quotas for you – period. Andrew made sure that if he could be allowed to purchase the commodity as Burundian registered company then no Burundian company should be given any quota and that is how the saga ended.

Andrew Kurt International now sources its cement form Tanzania, tranships it via Nakonde and Mpulungu in Zambia, and onward over Lake Tanganyika to Burundi.

A Zambian with his heart in Zambia is forced to do his business in Tanzania and Burundi for the benefit of these two countries, but at the expense of his mother country.

School fees, rentals, taxes, fuels, food, and so on are all paid for outside our economy because we choose not to support our own people.

There is much talk of Citizens Economic Empowerment but it must not be just in the boardroom and at the conference tables. The challenges go far beyond the basics of providing funds and reserving sectors for ‘nationals’. The CEEC must become a watch dog with sharp teeth to check on unfair practices and to advocate for supportive and facilitative initiatives to assist Zambians to prosper.

In the construction industry, many Zambians lose contracts due to difficulties in obtaining bank guarantees due to the cumbersome procedures and high costs involved. On the other hand, foreign contractors overcome this hurdle effortlessly because of the support they receive from banks originating from their home countries. How do expect our own people to become bigger players in the construction industry unless we deliberately persuade our supporting institutions to be more pro-Zambian including the Zambia National Tender Board. One need only look at the purchasing rules of some Diplomatic Missions and Donor organisations to see the impact of their initiatives to support their own nationals. Why do we shun this practice which is an international best practice of citizens’ empowerment in the developed world?

The Zambia Competition Commission has its work cut out to ensure that there is equity and fair play in the business environment such that Zambians can be facilitated and supported to invest in their own country and become the large corporations of tomorrow.

We would all like to see Mr Andrew Kachibe’s big Zambian smile in our economy.

Published 29 April 2008

Cost Of Living

Last Tuesday a colleague shared her experience with me about the realities of life in the high density urban areas around our cities.

The area in question is Ngómbe Compound, and the incident in question is Health Services at the local clinic.

My colleagues’ niece is 20 years old and had recently married a 30 year old man who is employed as a Gardener in Chamba Valley. In addition, this 30 year old man inherited his late mother’s house in the compound and his 5 siblings whose ages range from 28 to 6 years old. This head of the household is the only reliable bread winner in the family while his younger brothers peddle in various local beverages to earn some income to supplement their food requirements.

On that fateful Sunday two weeks ago, the young wife was taken to Ngómbe Clinic with all the necessary requirements to deliver her first baby. The family had struggled to buy a new surgical blade to sever the umbilical cord, a new surgical umbilical cord peg, 4 new pairs of surgical gloves, a new delivery chitenge, a bag of cotton wool, and the usual new baby requisites of receiving blanket, napkins, pins, and clothing.

The delivery went through without a hitch and the baby girl was born at 22.00 hours that Sunday 6^th April, 2008. Mother and baby were doing just fine on the Monday morning and all seemed well.

On Tuesday afternoon the mother noticed that the baby was running a fever and was very uncomfortable. Thanks to the experiences and wisdom of the elders that had come to see the new baby, both mother and baby were taken back to the Ngómbe clinic for medical attention. The medical personnel were unable to deal with the situation but noted that the umbilical cord area was infected and was the cause of the fever. The new baby was then referred to the University Teaching Hospital for specialist treatment. Both the mother and father realised that they had to act fast and resorted to asking friends and relatives to chip in and book a K30,000 taxi to speedily take the baby to the UTH instead of the usual option of a two hour mini bus ride that must pass through town centre.

At the UTH the baby was attended to after a seemingly long wait and the doctors concluded that the infection was as a result of a soiled or dirty umbilical cord peg that was used to clamp the cord during the birth of the child.

The baby and mother were immediately admitted into hospital for treatment and observation since the baby was fragile and not even 2 days old. Let’s remember that UTH does not admit a patient unnecessarily so the doctors must have been quite worried about the state of the new born baby.

The baby’s mother, father and other relatives were all perplexed that a brand new umbilical cord blade and peg that were brought to Ngómbe Clinic sealed in their wrappers could be soiled or dirty. The family had made sure that their first baby was going to get the best support and treatment that they could afford, but now they were faced with huge transport bills to UTH and back, huge food bills for the mother while at UTH, huge drugs bills for any drugs that may be prescribed by the doctors at UTH, and no doubt severe losses to the father’s wages as he takes time off from work to tend to his new born and wife in hospital.

Judging by the difference in type of umbilical peg clamped on the baby’s stomach compared what they had given the medical staff, the family feels quite confident that the staff at Ngómbe Clinic had taken all the requisites for their child’s birth and sold them to other patients for some quick cash while the intended baby was clamped with a re-used peg, had her cord cut with a re-used blade, and was handled with re-used gloves which ultimately resulted in the infection suffered by the new born. This negligent greed has brought a host of new expenses that were not bargained for and now threatens the life of this innocent child. Such is the price for being poor and being voiceless.

This episode may be seen to be full of speculation and innuendo but it resonates with many Zambians who live in the compounds around our towns and cities. Who has not experienced a similar story in respect to their children, siblings, parents, grandparents or any other relatives and friends? We all have. It is worth acknowledging that even those people that have medical rescue insurance that evacuates them to South Africa for emergency medical treatment are at the mercy of our own healthcare systems when they are involved in an accident with nobody to point out what should be done for them. A person injured in an accident, or the victim of some sudden disease, also becomes voiceless. These people will find themselves in the UTH or any other Government run hospital or clinic and they will be brought down to the level of the compound dweller in Ngómbe.

Our quality of life is greatly affected by the quality of health care that we are exposed to. The Government has made its efforts to provide healthcare throughout the nation. The time has come to hold hands among the three parties – Government, Private Sector and Civil Society, to work together in collaboration and partnership to provide acceptable healthcare to all in Zambia.

Published 22 April 2008

Tender Board

The print media recently revealed that the Road Development Agency was concerned about the capacity of the Zambia National Tender Board (ZNTB) to handle bids on time. In addition, during a parliamentary committee sitting it was also reported that the Tender Board had failed to utilise K900 billion last year which was later returned to the Government Treasury.

There is a current initiative that aims to either amend the ZNTB Act such that it better serves the purposes of Government procurement, or, to out rightly repeal the ZNTB Act to be replaced with a totally new Act that will overhaul Government procurement processes.

This initiative is an admission by the ZNTB that there are weaknesses in the Act that leaves the management helpless to perform certain functions that may be pertinent to the smooth, efficient and professional operations of the ZNTB. This ongoing program is welcome, but care must be exercised to ensure that the new ZNTB Act is not flavoured by ‘empire building’ and inter Governmental bureaucracy that will impact negatively on the performance of the ZNTB. Challenges for encompassing the vision of the Fifth National Development Plan and the new Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission must be taken on board. Additionally, Zambia is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and is compelled to factor the procurement protocols and agreements at the regional level into the domestic public procurement legislation. At the global level, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has also launched a series of trading processes and protocols that all member states are required to adhere to, which no doubt will impact on our procurement relationships with foreign companies. The challenges are monumental and must be addressed in the context of the various instruments to which Zambia is a signatory.

At the ZNTB on the ground, one cannot over look the fact that the Ministry of Finance chairs the Board. This close relationship between the ZNTB and the Ministry of Finance begs the question of why is ZNTB seen to lack capacity to manage the bids that are tendered every day? The other question one may ask is what legitimate reasons can the ZNTB forward for failing to employ K900 million during 2008? What part of the perceived inefficiency at the ZNTB can be attributed to the lack of oversight and specific mandate from the Board that is chaired by the very Ministry that vocally highlights its weaknesses? Some introspective evaluation needs to be carried out to determine what the issues are and to offer sustainable solutions. This is a challenge to the Ministry of Finance and National Planning as well as the ZNTB Board of Directors.

Too often we see that the problems emanate from the top and the management finds itself handicapped to offer solutions as no clear direction, or options for redress are articulated at the policy level.

There is need for wide consultation as we evolve our public procurement tendering processes towards systems that focus on the development of the domestic economy while navigating through the maze of requirements developed at the regional level and within the global trading system.

Some clear cut strategies need to be developed that will avoid entangling ourselves in duplication and conflict as we seek to develop the economy and empower our people. Accountability, transparency, and collaboration with the private sector are imperative if ZNTB is to be perceived as impartial and professional in the way it conducts its business. In many parts of the world private sector consultants are called upon to assist in developing specifications or evaluating bids to ensure that the technicalities of particular industries are taken into account without compromising the tendering process. ZNTB must be able to advise various Government departments on aspects of procurement and should become the chief policy advisor to Government in respect to tendering processes and implementation and evaluation strategies. A deliberate public and private sector dialogue forum must be put in place to keep a constant contact with the stakeholders. It is from this forum that ZNTB will be able to extract data, concerns, and trends that will impact on the evolution of the policies affecting the public procurement system. Lessons from the experiences of withdrawing the various development agencies in favour of the Zambia Development Agency, and the sidelining of the Development Bank of Zambia in favour of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Funds are food for thought on how we can do it better, and at a sustainable level. The challenge is to continue to positively develop our public institutions so that they serve the purposes for which they were created.

An opportunity now exists to improve on what we have been doing in the tendering process. An amended or re-enacted ZNTB Act is only part of the way forward. There is room for looking at the composition of the Board of Directors. How will the Board influence the vision of the ZNTB? What benchmarks can be put in place to ensure ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the efficiency and efficacy of the ZNTB? Should we consider thresholds for Local Bidding and Competitive International Bidding? The glass is half full and all efforts must be made to improve the operations of the ZNTB and empower its management such that at the end of the day the Government which is the largest buyer in the country can be best served. A well functioning and efficient Government will save the taxpayers’ money, and ensure that the economy is firmly on the road to success for the benefit of all Zambians.

Published 15 April 2008