Plunderers Are The Same As Armed Robbers

In 1991, the Second Republic ushered in multi-party politics but little did the Zambia public realize that the new political dispensation also brought unfathomable high levels of corruption. Almost 20 years after the advent of plural politics, corruption has grown unfettered in leaps and bounds. Civil servants, commissioned officers and politicians are all actively and rampantly involved in misappropriating public funds in one form or another. At the present moment instances of financial misconduct are so seriously alarming to the extent that the problem has degenerated into a scourge. Those who plunder public funds are not different from armed robbers who rob Banks, businesses and homes. Likewise, these plunderers should be referred to as robbers and also be given the same treatment and punishment as that meted out to armed robbers.

The Government has put in checks and balances in all government institutions to prevent civil servants and controlling officers from misappropriating funds. But how do they circumvent the system? There must be a lot of connivance in the system that now urgently requires complete overhaul to make the system secure and foolproof. It is been a yearly ritual for the Auditor General's Office to present reports of financial irregularities to the public. These reports have not amounted to anything let alone translate into prosecution of the people involved. The Auditor General's report must act as the point of departure for the government to institute legal proceedings against all the involved officials. 

The former Zambia Congress of Trade Union president, Fackson Shamenda, is right to demand that the truth about Mobile Hospitals be publicised as a matter of transparency. His request is in line with President Rupiah Banda's promise to the electorate that he would not abandon the fight against corruption. To this end, the Zambian public is eagerly awaiting for the President to come out in the open to explain what he knows about the plan to import Mobile Hospitals rural areas. For purposes of transparency and credibility building, the President must seize this opportunity to tell the nation with a high degree honesty about the plan to import Mobile Hospitals . The rate at which corruption is raging will require the President to demand the strengthening of the law to effectively deal with corruption. In addition, there is need to urgently change the law so that those accused of corruption will have the burden to prove their innocence. Also, prison sentences handed out to convicts are merely a slap on the wrist and therefore cannot deter them from stealing. Having said that, it will be critical to legislate stiffer laws and longer sentences that would eventually act as deterrent against perpetual thieves that misappropriate public funds with impunity.

Zambian Govt Working to Save Mines: Be Cautious

The global financial crisis has not spared Zambia. The effects of the crisis have had ripple effects and particularly crippling to the mining sector. As a consequent, many jobs have been lost due to closures and scale-down of operations.  In the midst of the crisis, the government has stepped to the plate to find ways and means of preventing all the mines from closing and to have some of the closed ones to re-open. It can be a helpless situation but it is gratifying to see government make every effort to ensure businesses remain afloat in spite of the crisis. Therefore, the Zambian government deserves commendation for its efforts to keep the economy running.

It's no mean achievement for the government to get new Chinese investors for the closed mines in short order.  However, the government must be caution in putting all its eggs in the Chinese investor's basket. The reason is that Chinese investors are well known for their disregard of Zambia's labour laws and relations. Recently, Zambians have had some rude awakenings regarding the mistreatment they have been receiving from their Chinese employers. Therefore, in Zambia, Chinese investments will be meaningless if these investors continue to treated Zambians working for them with disdain and pay them slave wages. These investors must learn to respect Zambia's labour laws and desist from being overly arrogant. Although they are helping in creating cheap jobs, they need to appreciate that they are not above the law. If the current law is weak, there is need to give it more teeth to deal effectively with errant investors like the Chinese and any other investors.

George Mpombo Counter-Attacks HH over scandalous Mobile Hospitals-Gate

Mpombo swings his bat at HH

The Zambian Defence Minister, Hon. George Mpombo, has come out "smoking and swinging his bat" at UPND president's remarks that someone was out to profit from the scandalous plan to import Mobile Hospitals for rural areas. The Minister has asserted that president HH's remarks were an assault on the president's integrity and bordered on character defamation. He went on to say that the words were offensive, malicious and irresponsible. What Hon. Mpombo needs to realize, rather fast, is that Zambia is a democracy and also a country that is riddled by corruption. History and experience has made Zambians wary about the scourge. Zambians do not expect the MMD leadership and its masquerading stalwarts to whistle-blow their own shortcomings. Therefore, someone else has to do it! And that's where HH and other opposition parties come in. Having said that, the Hon. Mpombo must realize that the opposition which act like they have the interest of the poor, are not going to let Zambia slip into a free-for-all type of situation when it comes to procurement and other matters of significance and national interest. Whether the president should get involved in making procurement decisions is another matter. The best the President can do is avoid getting bogged down by procurement issues and let the officials and institutions responsible do their job.

Taking Issue personal

It's amazing how MMD condones the situation where anyone who is anybody in their ranks can wake up and open their mouths and go to bat in defense of the president over an issue that is surely brewing into a Mobile Hospitals-Gate. Their is no human-being that is capable of thinking for another, let alone read minds and thoughts. However, Hon. Mpombo is on record that the president had the rural masses in mind when he made a statement to the effect that Mobile Hospitals for rural areas would be procured from "friendly" China. Maybe Hon. Mpombo is blessed with the gift of a mind reader. Let him spare the people of such a gift. The Hon. Mpombo should stop acting as if hes is a Minister of Denials and Misinformation. 

The Attack on HH

It's clear that remarks by HH have extremely insensed Hon. Mpombo to the extent where he feels that, for a good measure, he must give some back to HH. Hon. Mpombo has lunged at HH by stating that HH has a injured conscience and one who made his entry into politics through the the back door by a mere annointment. He has called HH an "unexperienced" politician. But who has experience in Zambian politics and has the experience translated into anything?

Some of Hon. Mpombo's veiled comments against HH give an impression that he knows alot about HH's past. He has insinuated that HH has cobwebs in his closet that tie him back to the time of privatization. That's interesting and I'm sure Zambians would like to know what it is that he is point to. Therefore, it goes without saying that, if Hon. Mpombo has reliable and bankable information about HH's illegal activities during privatization, he must expose it now so that the due process of the law can take it 's course.

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Mobile Hospitals: Ministry of Health Out of It's Mind

The Idea

Just when you sit back in your rocking chair thinking and hoping against hope that sanity may come to government, something else out of whack crops up. This time around we are talking about the new US$53 million proposal for Mobile Hospitals. The Post are quick to point out that the idea of Mobile Hospitals in Zambia for rural areas was mooted by the "venerable" President Rupiah Banda as a way to complement the construction of 15 hospitals in 19 districts. An idea like this one is more amazing than surprising. The idea is extremely myopic and absurd in the least. These Mobile Homes are not sustainable. It's not even surprising that the intended source of the Mobile Hospitals is China. It's not even a question of the availability of in house capacity in the Ministry of Health to maintain these Mobile Hospitals when they finally procured, sadly, it's about the government moving forward to construct solid long-term civil masonry structures that will stand the vagaries of time.

Rural Health Infrastructure

Travelling to Zambia's countryside and rural areas to see the the available facilities is an extremely heart-wrenching and embarrassing experience when one sees first hand the deplorable state of health infrastructure. It makes one's heart sink at the sight of the dismal quality of buildings and facilities at many rural health centers and a total sense of rural abandonment.

In Zambia, only urban roads and main intercity or inter-town roads can be called roads, once you exit these main streets, it's dust, craters and name it all. Some places are not reachable even by all-wheel drive vehicles. When one looks at the poor quality of unpaved roads in the rural areas, it's a wonder how educated people can come up with the idea of Mobile Hospitals in a country that has no rural infrastructure, let alone waste tax payers money to sit down and debate the issue. With an absent infrastructure, how does the Ministry of Health's Mobile Hospitals Outreach expected to reach the rural people? It's such a shame that the Information Minister, Ronnie Shikapwasha, even has the audacity to say roads will be graded to ensure that Mobile Hospitals reach the people. One cannot help but think that Government has no plans to pave rural roads and construct more and sustainable hospital infrastructure. It's not a question of sensationalizing the issue but tax payers demand to understand the relevance of Mobile Hospitals at the time when solid and sustainable infrastructure must be provided to improve the standard of health facilities for the rural masses.

Donor Frustration

One cannot but imagine Donor frustration and their desire to withdraw funding to the Ministry of Health. Any rational being in donors shoes would obviously take similar action because the idea of Mobile Hospitals has not been carefully thought out and totally misplaced. The obvious assumption is that the rural masses would not notice anything wrong with Mobile homes because they have never seen anything better in their rural settings. But the rural masses in Zambia also deserve quality Health infrastructure and facilities obtaining in urban areas.

Stop the Wastage of Tax Payers Money

The idea for Mobile Hospitals is ill-conceived and will lead to wastage of tax payers money. As a matter of fact, the idea has all the hallmarks of someone intending to profit from whichever deal will come out of the eventual procurement of Mobile Hospitals. History has shown that rarely have Zambian politicians made decisions with the poor as the intended genuine beneficiaries. But who stands to make personal gain from the proposal? Fifty three million dollars is such a huge amount of money, for Zambian standards, that Zambians must not allow the Government to waste on cheap and transitory Mobile Hospital structures. The idea must be rescinded and all the discussions on the proposed plan to import Mobile Hospitals from China must stop with immediate effect. It is important for the leadership to start planning and constructing infrastructure that will stand the test of time.