Justice For All

he dilemma brought about by the expired contracts of some members of
the Supreme Court bench highlights the necessity to put justice at the
forefront of our development agenda.

A country without a functioning and responsive Judiciary will have
great difficulty in achieving social and economic development as
anarchy, arbitrariness and chaos take root.

A fundamental prerequisite for any positive form of development is a
reliable and predictable system of justice for all. To this end, it
cannot be over emphasized that more attention and resources must be
invested in ensuring that the judicial system works well at all
levels.

The High Courts of Zambia are challenged to offer a continually
improved service to the country through an increased population of
Judges sitting on the bench, and improved service delivery and
monitoring systems. This age of information technology offers cost
effective options for the judiciary to operate much more efficiently
than it currently does. Missing or incomplete case files are not an
unusual phenomenon, therein robbing individuals or institutions of a
chance to access fair justice. Monitoring and evaluation of cases in
the judicial system is cumbersome and at times almost impossible as a
consequence of the overwhelming workload and manual mechanisms
currently in place. Opportunities for peer review mechanisms within
the judiciary to set benchmarks and best practices are yet to be
explored as part of an internal self regulating system.

All these justice promotion initiatives have been employed in various
countries across the globe and have contributed to creating confidence
in the judicial systems, and there from, attracted investment and
support from both domestic and foreign resources.

Zambia has embraced some new programs to enhance the delivery of fair
justice in the business sector. Court Annexed Mediation and
Arbitration has become an integral part of the justice delivery
system. Many commercial contracts today include arbitration clauses in
an effort to avoid protracted litigation, and to help decongest the
courts around the country.

The Magistrate Courts adjudicate the majority of nontraditional cases
across the country. Although there has been a significant investment
in upgrading the infrastructure that delivers justice through the
Magistrate courts, there are many challenges that impact on the
quality of service delivered which need to be addressed. Similar to
the challenges in the High Courts, the Magistrate Courts can benefit
from information technology inputs that can support both more
efficient delivery of justice, and a better quality of service
delivery to the public. The majority of small business litigation
currently goes through the Magistrate Courts and any improvement in
this sector will be a welcome development.

Local Courts have continued to be the most prolific mechanism for the
delivery of justice in Zambia. Culture and tradition form the
foundation for adjudication within the frame work of principles that
govern the operations of the Magistrate Courts, the High Courts, and
the Supreme Court.

The complexity of culture and tradition demands that Local Court
adjudicators are conversant with particular traditional and cultural
values in addition to fundamental universally accepted judicial
benchmarks and processes. A Local Court is characterized by the
culture and traditions of the litigants, and the cause to be
adjudicated. The permutations are complex and issues can provide new
challenges as the country and people’s lives evolve. There is
therefore, a compelling reason for public investment in the Local
Court delivery mechanism to consistently improve the quality of
justice through improved remuneration, better infrastructure, and the
use of information technologies where possible.

The Small Claims Courts have added to the justice system with the goal
of offering inexpensive justice to the Small and Medium Business
Enterprises (SME’s) country wide. This initiative is welcome to the
business community and there are models in Africa and South America
where it has worked successfully. There are some concerns however, in
respect to the service delivery mechanism that relies on seasoned
lawyers to adjudicate cases. Lawyer fees tend to be beyond the
capacity of SME’s and therefore Government may have to meet the short
fall in the Small Claims Courts justice delivery system. Time will
tell whether this initiative will be sustainable or if a case can be
made for the need of further development along the models of Brazil or
Guinea Bissau, which are both developing economies much like Zambia.

The judiciary also plays a vital role in checking the performance of
the state in governing the country. Some key indicators include how
the judiciary interprets the national constitution to create a common
understanding amongst the people of Zambia and their Government. The
judiciary is essential in performing the duty of safe guarding the
provisions of the national constitution on behalf of the citizens. The
judiciary should be in the forefront of dispensing justice that
impacts on the performance of the state alongside the rules,
regulations, and various legislations that are enacted.

The Bill Clinton White House saga brought about questions of the
President being ‘responsible but not guilty’ or, ‘guilty but not
responsible’. These are new developments in human behavior that our
judiciary will no doubt be confronted with sooner or later.

The Electoral System is the basis for a peaceful and sustainable
change of Government in any country. In Zambia, the electoral system
has worked reasonably well and there is good opportunity to build on
this success and continue to improve the legitimacy of the electoral
system with possibly a spill over to influence the wider judicial
system.

Elections will more often than not end in controversy due to the fact
that there has to be a winner and at least one loser. A period of
wound licking and healing has to be accepted, but if the public are
largely satisfied with the electoral system then the Government of the
day can legitimately carry on the business of managing the country
until the next General Elections. That is one of the foundations of
democracy as we know it.

Justice for all takes a bird’s eye view of a country. Women and the
feminist focus is an important component of the justice system that
must not be sidelined. Businesses and wealth creation institutions are
essential to the nation building process. Children and the physically
challenged represent the future of a nation, and the largely
disqualified human resources of a country respectively. Foreign
nationals and foreign companies make a contribution to social and
economic development in any country and are therefore entitled to the
same justice as everybody else.

The judiciary is considered as the third leg of Governance alongside
the Parliamentary Legislators and the Government Executive. A
compromised or ineffective judiciary allows the country to degenerate
into a Legislator-Executive cartel driven state that seldom supports
the development of freedoms, and quite obviously, is ill equipped to
promote social and economic development that will uplift the lives of
all its citizens.

Published 28 July 2009

Investment Promotion

The price of copper is slowly edging upwards and the effects of the global crisis are pressurizing all economies of the world.

It therefore comes as a welcome lifeline when the media reports that the Chambishi Multi-facility Economic Zone on the Copperbelt has received investment commitments of over USD683 million.

The struggle that we continue to face in this endeavour is that of publicizing what is going on, and engaging with the businesses on the ground.

It takes curious Members of Parliament to ask questions about our Economic Zones so that some information can be released to the public. One would expect that investment information would be freely shared with the public in an effort to stimulate both foreign direct investment inflows as well as to promote domestic investment opportunities.

The ten companies listed for investment in the Chambishi Zone will focus on construction, copper mining, steel, mechanical components manufacturing, blistering, and acid manufacturing. Many of these sectors are currently operational around the mining industry, and no mention of value addition to copper was made. Zambia may be smarter to promote the value addition agenda so that much of the copper export earnings capacity can be realized out there on the Copperbelt. Let’s look at copper cable manufacturing as ZAMEFA is doing. Let’s consider copper sheet production. Let’s focus on copper piping production. These are but a few items that Zambia can produce out of copper and export into the region.

The issue of Zambian investors partnering with Chinese investors will not be realized by simple announcements. There is need to strategically engage Zambian businesses with Chinese companies through broader forums preferably held in Zambia, to encourage local investors to dialogue with as many possible partners from China. This task requires commitment and should target the greater majority of Zambians to establish greater domestic equity in the country’s economic development agenda.

Our past experiences have taught us that pledges are not equal to investments. Foreign investors may pledge huge amounts when the negotiations are exciting. It is only when the money is in the country that we can safely count on those pledges to work in our local economy. Partnerships between Zambian companies and any foreign investors becomes a useful mechanism to keep the negotiations ongoing, keep the project exciting, and for the local partner to keep the dialogue going to ensure that the investment pledges convert into real investments on the ground.

The Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) reports that it has invested more than USD60,000 in rail track maintenance along the 2000 kilometres of rail line. The cash invested is a good development, but is only a drop in the ocean towards addressing the operational needs of TAZARA.

Although the rehabilitation work expects to increase the cargo volume of TAZARA four fold, other logistics such as the state of the wagons and locomotives will work against better performance of the company.

TAZARA seeks to collaborate with Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ) so that cargo can be distributed across Zambia and conveyed over the Copperbelt into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This program will require RSZ to also invest in the rehabilitation and upgrading its own rail lines to cater for the demand coming from TAZARA.

It is quite evident that both TAZARA and RSZ need huge cash injections into their individual networks. Much as it is a positive development that these two companies will work together, there is an opportunity for both companies to look around for new investment.

Zambia will soon be an operational part of the COMESA Customs Union and the domestic railway network should be a strategic part of our regional integration program. Zambia can position herself to be a hub for cargo movement in the sub region and realize good revenues from this service.

The opportunity requires that both TAZARA and RSZ move much faster in becoming reliable and cost effective cargo movers. In addition, the road and telecommunication networks are expected to support sub regional cargo movement so that the transit time from source to destination is kept to a minimum.

There is definitely good opportunities for new investment in the railways sector that should be marketed around the world, and possibly more specifically, to the ongoing Chinese investment exercise targeted on the Economic Zones.

Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) appears to be the sleeping giant that has decided to come to life and support the agriculture sector once again.

NCZ is looking to produce D Compound fertilizer in August and solicit for K 5 billion to finance its rehabilitation works at the fertilizer manufacturing plant.

In essence NCZ will produce as much fertilizer as Government will finance. This suggests that technically, Government will provide the working capital to the company for any products that the Government requires.

Over the last few years NCZ has produced Basal dressing fertilizer while other importers of fertilizer have supported the agriculture sector through imports of D Compound and other requirements. The situation will hopefully change as NCZ takes on more responsibility for producing the range of requirements for the agriculture sector.

NCZ needs to develop some mid term and long term strategy for seeking investment into its fertilizer producing plant to cater for the needs of Zambian farmers and possibly to export to the sub region.

An encouraging development at NCZ is the program to rehabilitate the Ammonium Nitrate processing plant which has the potential to produce various inputs for mining processing. Some strategic partnerships have been formed between NCZ and three private investors which include African Explosives limited in an effort to pool resources and get NCZ on its feet and sustainably productive once again.

NCZ is a state enterprise and is therefore publicly owned by the people of Zambia. It will therefore be prudent to share with the public, the details of any new investors wanting to engage with NCZ and the nature of the partnerships.

Public opinion generally appears to interfere with ongoing negotiations, but it also the mechanism that ensures that the negotiators on behalf of the Government are committed to getting the best deal for the country, and in the best interests of the country.

Investment promotion is not only about advertising and publicity. Investment promotion is about strategy, long term implications, and as in the case of Zambia, investment promotion also encompasses issues of the greater public good.

Published 21 July 2009

Rural Tourism

The four day holiday that catered for the Zambia International Trade Fair also opened up options for many Zambians to go out of town to visit some of the less exotic tourism sites across the country.

The average Zambian looks to go out fishing at nearby rivers and lakes as a worthwhile outing due to the fact that apart from a good clean holiday, one can also bring home a bag of fresh fish to supplement the food basket.

There are countless spots along the shores of our many lakes and banks of our all weather rivers where fishing tourism takes place every weekend. A good case in point is in the Mala area close to Namwala in the Southern Province.

The Kafue river in this area is a beautiful site with natural vegetation and countless cattle. The river is filled with fish of all shapes and sizes that include Bream, Silver Barbel, Vundu, Black Barbel, and the not so pretty Dog Fish. Beginners go out there with just a musing interest in fishing, and after catching thirty fish or more, soon become die hard fishing enthusiasts.

The bird life along the river is vibrant with huge Fish Eagles and Storks punctuating the skyline, while smaller Gulls, wild Ducks and Doves criss-cross the river all day.

Visitors to this area go primarily for the fishing and carry with them camping tents, boats, fishing rods and lots of food and drink. The more enthusiastic tourist will carry portable shower units and toilet systems, and some of the most attractive boats to be seen.

Unfortunately after a long weekend in this rural setting, what remains after all the visitors have gone, is plenty of refuse, plastic bags and bottles, and unsightly and smelly holes in the ground.

Therein lies the opportunity for rural tourism to take off in a meaningful way for the local villages to participate actively, and to benefit strategically from the visitors that hail from our towns and cities.

By engaging the local Chief, Chiefteness or Headman in a rural tourism program, the local people can be the first tour guides to the best fishing spots on the river or lake as determined by their own everyday experiences. Furthermore, purpose built boat launching ramps can be carved out of the soil tapering into the waters so that speed boats can easily be launched.

The current camping fees charged can be expanded to include an ablution fee if the local people can build some quality toilet and shower blocks along the river banks and lake shores. A refuse collection mechanism can be established by the local residents to ensure that the sites are cleaned after the visitors have gone, and this too can attract a small fee. The local culture and traditions should be integrated into the rural tourism program by the provision of drummers, dancers, story tellers, dugout canoes, and some local hired help to make the visitors comfortable, and keep them entertained in the evenings when fishing is no longer possible.

There are many opportunities for local baskets, mats, crafts, and other traditional ornaments to find markets among the visiting tourists each weekend. Some ideas around food preparation would find new customers amongst the visitors.

It is clear that a partnership that includes the Government, the local traditional administration, the private sector, and the many visitors that want to enjoy time out in the clean air, can go a long way to towards developing rural tourism that will embrace all the parties and create a win-win situation for all.

Too often we wait for the big investor to show us opportunities that stare us in the face every day, purely because we fear to take the first step and invest in our own back yards.

Rural tourism does not demand large investments, nor does it require state of the art products. Rural tourism is designed and developed on the resources that are available, and should be interlinked with the lives, cultures, and traditions of the local people in that particular area.

Much of the Japanese and Chinese economy was built on small investors working together to eventually create the economies of scale that allowed them to become significant players in the global economy.

Hopefully, Zambians will adopt a similar strategy modelled on our own peculiarities to make rural tourism a vibrant part of the tourism sector, and eventually evolve into major developments as Zambia becomes more attractive for tourism to both local and foreign tourists.

Published 14 July 2009