UPND RESPONSE TO THE SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY MR. MICHAEL CHILUFYA SATA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA ON THE OCCASION OF THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE THIRD SESSION OF THE ELEVENTH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ON FRIDAY, 20TH SEPTEMBER, 2013. INVESTMENT AND STATE OWNED ENTERPRISES Our expectations Foreign Direct Investment of USD3.56 billion is just opening one mine. We expected the President to at least tell us where this 3.56 billion dollars is sitting. What we however wanted to hear was the strategies for local investors. What we expected the President was the strategies they are developing to ensure that slowly business is controlled by Zambians. Instead of investing time in Statutory Instruments that do not improve the lives of the Zambian, it is better to have SIs that actually make the investment environment better for the locals. For example we expected the President to say we are developing a policy that will promote Zambian businesses through such and such strategies like contract discrimination as we mentioned above. Government should let go of parastatals in an orderly manner. The idea of thinking that NCZ will one day produce fertilizer cheaply is nothing but a fallacy. NCZ can never be state of the art if we do not completely raze it down and build a new plant if we are serious about fertilizer production. We them must have new strategies for the people of Kafue whose local economy is not more agri based since they have come to accept that NCZ will not employ them anymore. Kafue has a river, why not invest in water sports, these are the strategies which will employ more people in Kafue. This is what we expected, not NCZ again. TOURISM AND ARTS Our expectations Tourism is the major driver of the service or tertiary industry. Instead of having traditional tourism as a means to boost tourism, we expected the President to tell us what the other strategies are for developing tourism on the backdrop of the WTO summit. Saying Zambia is on the map after the WTO is same as saying tourists will come to see the Victoria Falls every year, but is that accurate. We expected him to tell us that a special initiative will be launched to create packages for the tourism industry, which includes urban tourism. For example why can’t people go and tour the Nchanga open pit mine. Why not encourage people to create cultural villages, places where people can enjoy the local cuisine, all those are types of tourism. Let us combine that with strategies for specifically addressing our tourism to local tourists who could want to do visit our local attractions. Most Zambians do not have an idea what their own country can offer, we can even ask how many of us know where Chinyingi is? We also expected the President to mention the role of embassies in the marketing of Zambia as a tourist destination and the cost of visiting the country. MINING Our expectation Two things, tax reform of the mines, we need to get tax from the mines no matter what it takes, it is illegal that mines that cause so much damage to the country can literally walk away from Zambia without paying any tax. The revenue potential for the mines in 2013 is USD7 billion, so why can’t 50% of that revenue remain in the country? What about the locals to participate in mining should we always look for foreign investment, what about syndicating loans guaranteed by the Government or ZCCM-IH. We are losing revenue from the mines that we are not taxing at all. Secondly we need the locals to participate in mining, exploring and actual digging of these minerals. The sector is crowded by foreign investors. If there is a place we need to get a bond and invest, it is in mining. If Zambia can have USD750 million just like that, why not USD5 billion on flexible terms to provide capital to Zambians to mine, these are the things we expected to hear. The PF manifesto is clear on the vision but very little is being said on the actual implementation. INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT Our expectations On roads we have made out point, it is good to open up the country, but not at the expense of other social services. This is an old development model which said open up roads and development will follow. If that was the case, Chalala would still have been a bush by now. We need to encourage private sector to come to the table if we really want to open up fiscal space. We might sound like a broken record but Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) has been used effectively by all countries that are now developed. We cannot be taking these half measures towards our infrastructure, Zambia’s position in Central and Southern Africa can be used to make it a hub for southern Africa. If they approached development this way, possibly by now they would have been dogged by elementary diseases such as Typhoid and other debilitating diseases because they would have effectively neglected other investments. The completion of fuel storage facilities is welcome news. Zambia Railways needs to prepare a business plan of survival, the story of Zambia Railways is not different from other Railways in Africa, the ZR is sinking capital, the problem with ZR is not the rolling stock, but the railway line itself, why not address that issue aggressively and not these half-hearted measures. So we expected the Government to talk about a business plan and not start telling us about the Eurobond which has not been deployed.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 06:35:36 +0000
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