Dry Ports

The MOFED Tanzania wholly Zambian Government owned cargo clearing
company based at Dar-es-Salaam port, plan to open Dry Ports at the
Nakonde and Chirundu border posts to increase the handling of cargo.
This is a positive innovation that should have developed years ago by
both Government and the private sector.

Clearly Nakone and Chirundu are Zambia’s busiest border posts for both
imports and exports. However, as Zambia looks to set herself up as the
region’s natural trading hub, several other opportunities for dry
ports are available at Kasumbalesa, Kasangula, Katima Mulilo, and
Mchinji.

These border posts are already fairly active ad can be stimulated for
trading activity by the introduction of dry ports to facilitate cargo
handling and settling.

Evidence on the ground already informs us that the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC) is a lucrative market for Zambian food exports and for
South African finished products. Many trucks pass through our borders
every day with cargo destined for the DRC without leaving much income
to Zambian companies with the exception of fuel.

Dry ports aimed at servicing the DRC will house cargo sourced from the
south, and stimulate some value addition services such as re-packaging
and final processing where necessary, before being re-exported to the
DRC. The basic warehousing of cargo makes the products readily
available to the customers across the border such that delivery times
are kept to a minimum and reliability of access to goods is
established within Zambia.

These are the attributes of a good trading partner.

Since Mofed handles cargo at Walvis Bay in Namibia and Beira in
Mozambique, a compelling motivation exists for the development of dry
ports at Katima Mulilo and Chanida near Katete on the Mozambican
border with Zambia.

Private investment in dry ports is not new to Zambia as evidence is
seen at the former Lido Drive In Cinema dry port installation on the
Kafue road. The dry port ran for a few years and was later dismantled
for unknown reasons.

Opportunities exist for dry ports to be established at Kapiri Mposhi
where Tazara and Railway Systems of Zambia link up. This is also a mid
way point between Lusaka and the Copperbelt thereby providing access
to at least one third of the population.

Dry ports promote enhanced trade as goods can be kept in bond in close
proximity to the targeted markets. Money is therefore primarily
invested in stocks, while taxes are only paid once the goods are sold
and removed from bond.

The dry port concept will fast develop Zambia into a trading hub for
our neighbours namely; DRC, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe,
Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Burundi and Rwanda across Lake
Tanganyika.

This ten country market should be the focus for Zambia in respect to
easier regional trade.

Mofed may be the flagship for market penetration within the region
for Zambia, but the choice and character of the private sector
partners in this program will go a long way towards establishing a
competitive atmosphere in the sector such that other players from the
private sector can be encouraged to invest and rapidly build the
trade network across the country which will no doubt contribute to a
higher GDP for Zambia.

Options for dry ports at the four international airports are also
possible. Many high value but small products are usually marketed
through airfreight corridors. These products include ICT items,
jewelry, cosmetics, and electronics. In many countries of the world
airports are natural targets for dry port initiatives. Transportation
to different destinations across the country is made much easier from
one airport to another.

The threat however, is that efforts to monopolize this sector will be
made by pioneer investors with the goal of cornering the market and
making as much money as possible at the cost of trade expansion for
the greater majority.

Government and the relevant line Ministries will do well to keep an
eye on the development of this dry port program and put in place
measures to attract more players and open up the opportunities to as
many investors as possible to encourage competition for the benefit of
both the country and the consumers.

Increased trade is usually the basis for other economic activity to
take off. Trade is the activity that tests the business waters before
serious long term investments are considered. Trade is a confidence
builder in the economy which is then followed by industry and real
estate that are medium and long term investments.

Mofed may lead the way now, but the future economy must be based
private sector investment for sustainability, competitiveness, and
re-investment. We must not ignore this basic goal.

Published 11 August 2009

National Assets

amtel is in focus again and alongside it are Nitrogen Chemicals, the
railway systems, and Maamba Collieries in the Southern Province.

The political arena is packed with concerns, recommendations and new
ideas for some of Zambia’s few remaining national assets.

The decision to sell 75 percent of Zamtel while is welcome to attract
new investment into the company, should not be thought of as the
proverbial automatic magic bullet that will pull the company out of
its economic doldrums.

Zambia and several other developing countries have experienced
supposedly good investors taking up equity in state enterprises with
the promise to resurrect the institution and provide the goods or
services that the company was initially set up to do. The reality is
that many such expectations were never realized as companies folded
and the assets were sold off to other countries or sent to the scrap
heap to release the land and buildings for real estate purposes.

As others have commented, Zamtel needs more than just money. It needs
a focused development plan, it needs a committed management team, it
needs a total restructuring of its services to become efficient and
relevant to the economy.

There are no guarantees that an outside investor will turn Zamtel
around for the better without a strong partnership with the people of
Zambia who must have a say in the way forward.

Zamtel has been a good catalyst for consumer protection in the mobile
telephone industry as all private service providers have had to
compete with Cell-Z and bring their local call rates down from around
60US cents per minute to the current average of 25US cents per minute.

It will be prudent for Government to put together a team of sincere
and patriotic experts to consider the partnership options for Zamtel
to avoid repetitions of experiences of the Indeni Petroleum Product
sale, the Zambia Bottlers sale, the Mansa Batteries sale, the Zamcargo
Limited sale, and many other state enterprises that punctuate the
country as sore reminders of what once was, and now is no more.

In this cut throat global economy, multinational giants eat up small
countries by buying state enterprises and closing them down so that
the entire country descends into dependency on imported goods and
services. One need only consider the expansion of South African
supermarkets on the African continent to get a glimpse of the
multinational phenomenon. These companies do not take prisoners. All
non-performing or under performing investments are soon wiped out
irrespective of the impact on the welfare of the host nation and its
people. That is just how modern business runs today; the profit margin
line dictates everything.

What options are there for Zamtel? Yes, privatize and take the risk of
previous privatization efforts is one way to go. Split the company up
into individual entities and look for strategic equity partners both
in the local economy and outside is another option. ZSIC has done this
quite successfully so far. Look for a Government to Government
financing and management agreement with a committed country is yet
another option.

Which ever option we decide to take, one thing is obvious, Zamtel will
only really turn around if there is political will, investment, and
oversight within Government to ensure that the end result is for the
benefit of the country as a whole.

There is room for a timely warning about the ongoing discussions and
negotiations with the German investors considering Njanji Commuter
Services, African Explosives looking to invest in Nitrogen Chemicals,
and the prospective investors targeting Maamba Collieries. If the
Zambian team does their work diligently and professionally then the
country will have been well served. Anything short of this will be a
recipe for another privatization disaster.

Njanji Commuter Services has the potential alleviate traffic
congestion in Lusaka and offer low cost transport to and from the city
out of the various residential suburbs. We have all seen it happen
before. NCZ offers many options for manufacturing agriculture inputs
and mining processing chemicals as has been done in past decades.
Maamba Collieries has over 100 years of coal reserves to be used as
fuel for the furnaces in the mining industry and he new steel
processing investments cropping up. All these attributes can be
realized with careful planning and management of the investment
profiles going into the various entities.

Zambia needs to attract and negotiate with investors from both in the
domestic economy and abroad with the goal of breathing new life into
our national assets that have potential to serve the economic
development needs of the country.

Special emphasis must be made about the need to sustain and grow the
national assets so that both the investors and the Zambian people can
reap the benefits of privatization.

At the end of the day the buck stops with the person with the power to
sign on the dotted line on behalf of the nation. The quality and
impact of this signature will reverberate through Zambia’s history
books and either praise a peoples hero, or as is so common, tell our
grandchildren the story of yet another plunderer in the family.

Published 4 August 2009

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

Press Conference

Last week’s State House press conference brought to centre stage a refocus on the economic state of the nation, and the challenges that confront us in 2009.

Key areas reported on, were the nation’s anti-corruption initiatives, the four pillars of the Fifth National Development Plan, and the plight of selected State Enterprises that have traditionally been major players in the economy.

One interesting element of the press conference was the Government’s intention to have two new bills passed in the next session of Parliament, where one of them would entrench the Public–Private-Partnership (PPP) program in the Government service delivery machinery, through the Public Private Partnership Bill.

This initiative opens the door to new opportunities for sincere collaborative efforts between the public sector and the private sector, to build the economy much more rapidly at both infrastructure level and production level. Zambia finds it difficult to exploit the many opportunities that the vast natural resources offer, either due to insufficient infrastructure, or to limited private sector capacity.

The PPP is one mechanism that seeks to address this weakness. Not only can this PPP initiative offer options to develop the nation, but it also goes a long way towards building a national development team, that encompasses the key stake holders who are directly affected by the impact of national decisions.

Another instrument that will be set before Parliament will be the Information and Electronic Technology Bill which hopes to address the ICT challenges and needs that will work in favour of Zambia socio-economic development goals. To this end, the international norms and best practices that are adopted in developed countries may not be appropriate for a developing country such as Zambia. Hopefully, Zambia’s special and developmental ICT needs that will support both social and economic development, will be addressed in an appropriate way so as to enhance the pace and rate of domestic growth with special emphasis on businesses and education.

Typical hurdles faced by Zambia due to international norms, are the frequency allocation bands for various technologies. Zambia does not need to follow a blueprint of a developed economy that has exhausted its frequency allocations on account of thousands of licenses having been issued. Zambia currently offers only a handful of both radio and television stations across the entire country. In addition, many ICT technologies are converging such that television, radio, data, and communications use the same technologies and frequencies unlike in the past where they were distinctly identified and catered for in the frequency allocation matrix.

The expansion of the Lands Tribunal Act through an amendment will be useful for addressing the many issues that come up due to conflicts in land allocation and more recently, due to unauthorized land allocation that has characterized many local councils. The current fights over land deny the country economic and social development, and in many cases, lock land away unused for many years until the disputes are resolved.

The new strategic direction highlighted to by the President placed much emphasis on dialogue with the social sector Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and the many Faith Based Organizations (FBO’s). Although the government has engaged the Private Sector through the PPP initiative and other programs, continued emphasis must be made to place the private sector at the forefront of development initiatives so that much of the deliberations and resolutions can be taken from the conference rooms and put into practical implementation programs. Zambia has always been labeled as a country where good ideas are conceived and developed, but they are seldom implemented in any meaningful way.

A major element of the press conference was the waving of the yellow card by the President. This exercise was directed to the civil service with particular focus to Permanent Secretaries (PS’s) in the various Ministries. There is a clear link between the commitment of a civil servant to serving the public, and the performance of the particular Ministry in delivering the goods to the public.

Businesses are compelled to interact with various Government Ministries to secure licenses, permits and other resources that enable the businesses to become productive and create both wealth and jobs. A functioning and efficient Civil Service plays a significant role in promoting, supporting and facilitating business activity in any country, and Zambia is no exception.

The challenge to PS’s to either shape up, or ship out, is a fair request. Some restructuring may have to be done to repair the damage to the Civil Service that previous Governments may have done, through the removal of operational rules and regulations that promote a responsive civil service that operates professionally, and outside the political arena.

Zambia will soon be part of the COMESA Customs Union and the quality of our Civil Service, investment environment, and our capacity to engage with our regional neighbours, will be a major factor in profiling ourselves as either a country that will use the Customs Union as a development tool, or become a country that is used in the Customs Union to develop our neighbours.

Part of the acid test now, is to see how much of the press conference information and decisions will be converted into action and results. Every Zambian is a stakeholder, and as such, is responsible for taking some equity in the nation building exercise that is ongoing.

Published 30 June 2009

Due Process

Lately, the media has printed many pages of story lines on the subject
of corruption, mis-management, abuse, and theft in the public sector.

Tribunals, court cases and trials in the media have flavoured the
first half of this year. The country has seen debates and discussions
in the urban areas, on which Government officer stole what, and which
Government Minister made some illicit deals.

The net result is that the public have been subjected to
mis-information, polarized views, and continued use of tax payer’s
money on issues that have not solidly taken the country forward. This
is evident by the ongoing grumblings and mumblings on the streets
about corruption, abuse of office, and theft within the Government
machinery even after tribunal findings have been publicized and some
Court rulings have been made.

The fact is that the public at large sit in a position of
dissatisfaction with the final outcomes of investigations, hearings,
and findings in respect to public sector indiscretions. There is an
empty and unfulfilled feeling at the end of each episode, possibly
because the final outcomes fail to take the country forward in any
conclusive manner.

The public dissatisfaction is a good point to start analyzing where
the underlying cause may come from. Irrespective of whether due
process was followed in tackling the various accusations made against
public workers and Government Ministers, the reality on the ground is
that the public exhibit a sense of non-closure to the issues that have
caught the media front pages over the last six months.

One possible reason for this non-closure may be that much of the
debates and shuffling was focused on only one goal: to prove a wrong
doing performed by a public worker or a Government Minister which
should be rewarded by some form of punishment. When at the end of it
all there is insufficient evidence to conclusively prove a wrong
doing, no punishment is meted out and the whole affair appears to sit
in limbo unresolved because insufficient evidence may fail to secure a
conviction, but does not amount to absolute innocence.

The trend in Zambia is to focus only on evidence and not to consider
other aspects such as integrity, sincerity, and judgment.

In many other countries when public workers are seen to act without
integrity, or insincerely, and exhibit poor judgment, they are forced
to resign or are sacked by the appointing authority. This is evident
in the USA when the former World Bank president was seen to influence
the remuneration package of a female friend. In the UK several senior
Government officers and public officials resigned their positions in
the wake of accusations of expense claims that were not considered
normal. Italy has seen Presidents resigning their official offices
because of having extra marital affairs that are not criminal offences
but are considered distasteful in the eyes of the public. The
rationale is that if a President can cheat on his wife then he can
also cheat on his country as Head of State.

Much as Zambia puts much effort on following due process when
analyzing the conduct of public officers and Government Ministers, it
is equally important to use the issues on the table to develop more
robust processes that protect the public interest, protect the public
workers, and protect the Government Ministers.

The flip side of the due process paradigm that either convicts or
clears a public figure, is to ensure that in the future an equally
robust due process is followed in performing public duties on behalf
of the people of Zambia.

What lessons did we learn from the Ministry of Communications MOU
saga? What new measures have we put in place to ensure that a similar
situation does not arise in the future? What options are there for
Cabinet Office to compel the various Government Ministries to follow
approved procedures for handling MOU’s, Agreements, and Contracts? How
can we use the expensive lessons learned from the losses at the
Ministry of Health to tighten up processes and procedures in managing
public funds to prevent similar occurrences in the future? Is there a
compelling case for the office of the Accountant General to be more
pro-active in monitoring, evaluating and making corrections to
Government accounting systems to curb the opportunities for losses in
the future? What options are there to strengthen the linkages between
the Attorney General’s Office and the various Government Ministries
and Statutory bodies such that legal advice is easily and mandatory
given where required in an effort to protect the interests of the
country?

These questions may appear to be unanswered as several of the on going
cases are concluded, and therefore, become the root for
dissatisfaction and non-closure in the eyes of the public.

The private sector is also affected by this perception as it ingrains
a sense of insecurity and lack of confidence in the public sector. The
end result is fueled corruption and a higher cost of doing business
within the country.

It is time that Zambia matured to a level where some of our goals
should be to follow due process of the law, to ensure integrity,
sincerity and good judgment in the public sector, and to evolve our
due processes and procedures in Government.

Currently our focus is so narrow that we miss the opportunity to
improve our performance and conduct, such that we fail to understand
why more impoverished countries in our region continue to attract
higher rates of investment than ourselves.

Published 23 June 2009