POLITICAL SPACE IN ZAMBIA

A latest survey report conducted by AFROBAROMETER, an international think tank present in Zambia, has sounded an alarm for eroding democracy, saying people sense a decline in freedom of speech.

this is according to data just released which indicate that only about one-third or 36 percent of Zambians feel comfortable offering criticism of president EDGAR LUNGU.

A classic example is two days ago, president LUNGU called on Lawyers in the LAW association of ZAMBIA should to join politics when they issued a statement regarding the invocation of article 31 of the constitution.

And the report says the proportion expressing a need to “be careful what they say about politics” has risen by 10 percentage points, from 62 percent to 72 percent, between 2012 and 2017.

It further states that although citizens of have long been committed to the ideals of democracy, their satisfaction with the way democracy actually works has sunk from a majority 68 percent in 2012 to a minority 49 percent in 2017. 

                                                    

Only about one-third (36%) of Zambians feel comfortable offering criticism of PRESIDENT LUNGU, yet most Zambians favour checks on the president’s executive powers. 

More than six in 10 (64%) think the president should be monitored by Parliament, and seven in 10 (71%) say he should always obey the laws and courts.

At least eight in 10 Zambians (84%) favour a limit of two five-year terms for the presidency.

Attitudes toward emergency measures are mixed with Zambians opposing governmental violations of the right to privacy (e.g. monitoring phone communications) and the right to political association (e.g. banning organizations).

But, at least before the imposition of emergency measures in July 2017, citizens were less robust in defending freedom of the press and freedom of movement.

This is an Executive summary of a statement obtained by The Speech Analyst  from AFROBAROMETER Today.

Political space in Zambia

To defend democracy, citizens require an open political environment. At minimum, they must be
able to speak their minds about public affairs, including criticizing government if criticism is
warranted.

Yet Zambians express concern that the political space for free expression is closing.

In surveys over the years in Zambia, Afro-barometer has asked, “In this country, how free are you to say what you think?” Between 2012 and 2017, the proportion of citizens saying “completely free” or “somewhat free” has declined sharply, from 81% to 62%.

On a separate question on the same subject, more than seven out of 10 Zambians (72%) now say that they
must “always” or “often” be “careful of what they say about politics,” a proportion that has risen by 10 percentage points over the past five years from 2012-2017

Respondents were asked: Please tell me if there is more or less freedom now for each of the following things
compared to a few years ago, or are things about the same:

Your own freedom to say what you think of the about politics?

In parallel, the 2017 survey also reveals fall-offs in the perceived freedom of the press.

More Zambians think that conditions have recently worsened (41%) than improved (35%) in terms of “the media’s freedom to investigate or report on government mistakes or to criticize government’s actions or performance”.

Perceived restrictions on free expression also spill over into an erosion of associational life.

Slightly more Zambians think that the country has become worse off (39%) rather than better off (35%) in terms of “the freedom of independent groups or non-governmental organizations to speak, hold meetings, or advocate their views.”

Most importantly, the declining quality of elections and the government’s mistreatment of the country’s main opposition leader have seemingly convinced Zambians that the country now has less (46%) rather than more (35%) freedom for the opposition parties to promote alternative views and operate without hindrance.

Respondents were asked: Please tell me if there is more or less freedom now for each of the following things compared to a few years ago, or are things about the same:

- Your own freedom to join any political organization you want?

- The media’s freedom to investigate and report on government mistakes or to criticize government  actions or performance?

- The freedom of independent groups or non-governmental organizations to speak, hold meetings,
or advocate their views freely, including criticizing the government if they choose?

- The freedom of opposition parties or candidates to speak or hold rallies, state their views, or criticize
the government?

A shrinking political arena silences some people more than others. In a sign of democratic health, almost two out of three Zambians (65%) say they feel free to criticize civil servants, many of whom are non-partisan professionals.

Majorities even feel free to criticize members of
Parliament and local councillors, even if these elected officials are affiliated with the ruling party.

But ordinary Zambians hesitate to criticize any institutions associated with the coercive power of the state, such as the police (46%) and the army (39%).

Instead, to the extent that police officers do the bidding of the ruling party, they risk being regarded as partisan agents rather than neutral professionals.

The partisan cast of the remaining political space in Zambia is well illustrated by the contrast in
popular orientations to incumbent and opposition political leaders.

Most Zambians (63%) feel little hesitation in taking issue with the public statements of opposition political leaders LIKE HAKAINDE Hichilema.

But many fewer – barely one in three (36%) – say they feel comfortable offering criticism of orders issued or claims made by President LUNGU.

In other words, freedom to criticise unevenly available in contemporary Zambia, strongly favouring the top leader over his main

ROUTINE HIV TESTING COMING

The government of Zambia is formulating a LEGAL FRAMEWORK that seeks to routinely conduct HIV tests on children with or without the consent of their parents.

The project is dubbed Keep Our “Future Generation Alive through
Routine HIV Testing and Treatment for Children”.

Zambia has made great head ways in the fight against HIV/AIDS with more than 50 percent of positive person already on Anti-retro-viral treatment.

Mother to Child HIV transmission has reduced from 7 percent to 2 percent of children born positive. 

However Despite these achievements majority of children are still not being tested, research suggests that only 3 percent of children visiting a clinic are tested for HIV.

THE Centre for Infectious 
Disease Research in Zambia team developed a model to estimate the number of unidentified positive children. 

THE TEAM conducted the research in the catchment area of the 338 Government facilities in three provinces namely Western, Eastern Luapula and Southern provinces using Zambian Demographic Health survey data.

And by 2015 Zambian’s national estimates indicated that 36,000 HIV positive children were not tested. They discovered that after the age of 1 year old, children in Zambia are not routinely tested for HIV.

If HIV positive children are left untreated 75 percent will die by the age of 5 years and up to 80 percent will die by the age of 10 years.

At the moment Health Care Workers are reluctant to ask permission for testing if the accompanying adult is not the parent.


Mothers don’t allow testing, because they first want to ask permission from the husband; if the accompanying adult is a family member, friend or neighbor they don’t allow testing because they want permission from the parents.

In this regard Experts developed THREE POLICY OPTIONS that are now been looked into for further action and these are;

THE FIRST ONE is what is called REINFORCED ROUTINE HIV TESTING this option targets to Test all children regardless of age and health condition, unless explicitly refused by caregivers.

Through THIS OPTION an estimated 39 percent HIV positive from 0 to 10 years old children would be identified, preventing 52 percent child deaths.

THE SECOND OPTION is called Drives for Pre and Primary Schools;

Under THIS OPTION 80 percent of children are believed to be attending Pre-and primary school in Zambia.

This thereby estimates that 50 percent HIV positive aged 5 to 10 years old children would be identified, preventing 54 percent child deaths.

Additional Benefits to this is reduced absenteeism and improve school performance.

THE LAST AND THIRD OPTION is to screen children for HIV when enrolling for Primary School.

An estimated 35 percent HIV positive 5 year old school-starters would be identified, preventing 40 percent child deaths with additional benefits of reduced absenteeism and improve school performance.

The following are the projected benefits of each of the three outlined options;

The findings indicated that the total treatment cost for per positive children under POLICY OPTION ‘ONE’ was estimated to be around 176 United States dollars per one year.

On the SECOND AND THIRD policy options, treatment was projected to cost at 263 United States dollars per each positive child per one year.

The study also anticipates that 1,288 lives of positive children would be saved per year using option one while 336 children with HIV would be saved under option two and 64 using the third option.

If HIV positive children are left untreated, 75 percent will die by the age of 5 years and up to 80 percent will die by the age of 10 years.

Who else has done this practice in Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania this option increased testing up to 90 percent.

Debate on this matter has not started but it is highly expected that there will be some resistance from certain quarters of society.

Zambia invites more Mining Investors

Minister of Mines Christopher Yaluma says Zambia has remained one of the best investment destination in the World.

Speaking when he gave a key note speech to market Zambia's potential in the Mining and other sectors at the  Indaba mining, Mr. Yaluma said Zambia's peace and stability and a well developed Rule of Law, remained attractive features for investors.

He said government had developed a mining policy and laws that sought to increase and drive private sector investment to develop the mining sector.

He also said the stable policy environment sought to increase participation of Zambians in the mining sector as owners, suppliers and skilled managers and employees.

He said the good and stable policy environment would spur industrial growth and foster the local manufacturing sectors hat has stagnated.

He said government was seeking mining to be done in an environmentally fair manner.

Mr.  Yaluma also took time to give a  landscape tour of the mining sector on Zambia.

He said Zambia's economy would be driven by sectors such Agriculture, Tourism and Trade and government was optimistic that Zambia would achieve its Vision 2030.

He said the new mining act, was aimed at fostering a responsible management of natural resources.

He said the mining sector presented a vibrant  opportunity for Zambia to achieve the Vision 2030.

He said that Zambia would become a prosperous middle income country by 2030.

He also informed the Indaba that the Oil and Gas sector remained untapped and hoped that a breakthrough would emerge from the blocks that government had given for exploration.

He said the aerial oil and gas. survey and exploration was underway and the picture was looking good.

He said Zambia continued to enjoy a favourable investment climate  as seen by recent investments to develop new mines.

He also assured that government would resolve the energy deficit that affected recent industrial activities in the sectors such such as mining and agriculture by investing in new electricity generation projects.

Meanwhile South Africa's Minister of Finance, Pravin Godham has emphasised that Africa will produce the biggest  economic growth as China and India did in the recent years.

Godham said the new growing middle class and new jobs will come from Africa.

He urged the private sector to recognise that nationals were now more aware of the positive role that corporates and public sector should play to bring about development.

He says South Africa's local debt stood at R2trillion but was borrowed from local capital market.

He welcomed the vision of Africa Union and urged a mindshift by the private sector that Africa had changed and would not allow exploitative processes.

He said Africa was now concentrating on developing capacity in infrastructure and the  energy sector in order to drive the anticipated economic growth.

He also recognised that countries needed to attend to youth unemployment, transforming economies and drive inclusive programs that benefited nationals.

He said the upcoming years there could be uncertainity with the advent of President Donald Trump in the United States of America and his new policies.

First Zambian to edit United Methodist book of law and covenant

First Zambian joins in editing United Methodist book of law and covenant.

With the January publication of the United Methodist 2016 Book of Discipline, church leaders are celebrating the milestone that the Rev. Dr. Maidstone Mulenga, who serves in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, is one of the book’s principle editors.

Mulenga is the first United Methodist from Africa to edit the denomination’s lawbook. A native of Kitwe, Zambia, he currently serves as assistant to Bishop LaTrelle Easterling of the Washington Area and as the Conference Director of Connectional Ministries.

Rev. Mulenga’s focus on, insights into, and love for the global church have been noted to greatly enrich the denomination. As the secretary of the denomination’s Committee on Correlation and Editorial Revision, he helped shape the book that will guide the Church’s future.


Working just outside of Washington, D.C., Mulenga serves as steward of the conference vision, and provides leadership to 34 distinct ministry and mission teams. He also oversees the resourcing of the conference’s 640 churches, four campus ministries, and three camping and retreat facilities.

He holds numerous positions in the Northeastern Jurisdiction and in the General United Methodist Church, including serving on the Board of Directors of the denomination’s Publishing House.

He holds postgraduate and graduate degrees in divinity, and computer-mediated communications and journalism from universities in Zambia, Michigan and New York.

He is married to Charity and they have two young adult daughters, Lukonde and Mukuka, who attend the University of Michigan and Penn State University, respectively.

The 12 million-member United Methodist Church has 5.1 million members in Africa.

UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL RENAMED

The government has renamed the University Teaching Hospital under the re-organization agenda.

Minister of health Dr. Chitalu chilufya said that the Country’s referral hospital will be called the University Teaching Hospitals adding the letter “s” to the current name “University Teaching Hospital”.

The University Teaching hospital has approximately 1655 beds and 250 Baby cots. It serves as the Country's specialist centre receiving referrals from all over Zambia.

It provides a full range of primary, secondary, and tertiary health and medical services on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.

The re-organization agenda has seen the creation of five hospitals namely; before restructuring one Chief Executive Officer was in charge of all administrative issues of the entire Hospital.

• Children’s Hospital

• Maternity and Newborn hospital

• Adult hospital

• Eye hospital

• Cancer Diseases Hospital

The Ministry has already recruited qualified personnel to manage the five hospitals; these have been picked from among Consultants already working at the University Teaching Hospital.

Dr. Chilufya said that the old system of having One Chief Executive Officer overseeing the operations of the University Teaching Hospital was not good as it created administrative challenges.

He said that the creation of five administrative positions is meant to improve efficient and it is expected that it will lead to quick response.

And Residents’ Doctors Association of Zambia president Dr. Francis Mupeta indicated that the administration of the University Teaching Hospital needed to be decentralized.

Dr Mupeta said that the University Teaching Hospital is too big to be managed by one Chief Executive Officer and decentralizing administrative powers will be to the benefit of citizens.

Meanwhile Dr Chilufya has explained that abolished directorates at the Ministry Of Health have been re-aligned into other departments thereby offloading 35 doctors who have since been transferred to work across the nation.

Four directorates at the Ministry Of Health have been abolished in the ongoing restructuring process. 

  

The Directorates Are Technical Support Services, Diseases Surveillances Control And Research, Mother And Child Health Including Mobile And Emergency Health Services.

The Ministry now has two Permanent Secretaries catering for Administration and Technical Services.

On other developmental issues Dr. Chitalu Chilufya says plans are underway to use drones in the provision of quality and quick health care in Zambia.

A drone refers to an unpiloted aircraft that is operated by a remote control.

Rwanda and Tanzania are some of the Zambia’s neighbors using drones to deliver medical supplies to remote communities.

And Dr. Chilufya said that once Medical Stores Limited is fully equipped with high-tech equipments; drones will form part of the national operations.

THE ENERGY REGUALTION BOARD SHOULD WAIT

On 14^th October the Energy Regulation Board adjusted upward the price of fuel attributing the increment to the volatility of the Kwacha against the United States dollar since the last price in July 2015.

You needed to have between 9.8975 kwacha to 9.9442 roughly below 10 kwacha to buy one United States dollar.

A litre of Petrol was 13 kwacha 70 ngwee up from 9 kwacha 87 ngwee while a litre of Diesel will now cost 11 kwacha 40 ngwee from 8 kwacha 59 ngwee.

Yesterday the same Energy Regulation Board reduced the pump price of all petroleum products by 1 kwacha 20 ngwee for petrol and 1 kwacha 30 ngwee for diesel citing what is called fundamentals such as the exchange rate.

According to the Bank of Zambia today’s exchange rate 9.9384 buys 1 United States dollar still less than 10 kwacha like it was three Months ago when the price of fuel was increased by 35 percent.

Analysis

Motorists will benefit from this drop and not Consumers and for Oil Marketing Companies, this drop is not unlikely to make any impact due to other costs of doing business such as paying for Toll fees, salaries as was as operational costs.

Don’t expect a reduction in bus fares because the justification given by The Energy Regulation Board cannot be relied upon because the global market oil prices hit a 18-month high on the first trading day of 2017 yesterday.

This situation is likely to force the Energy Regulation Board to fail to sustain the price reduction much further as the year progresses. 

In short, there is no predictability though on part of the government it is a bond decision that has also not being explained clearly.

The same Patriotic Front administration has a policy to allow Private Oil Marketing Companies to supply finished oil products on the Local Market and The Ministry of Energy is on record saying the Energy Regulation Board will still retain the power to regulate prices.

This will be difficult to attain without strict measures in place because Private Oil Marketing Companies are in the business of making profit and they want consistency, predictability.

Issues of Compliance will be encountered where the price of Fuel across the Nation maybe different from one location to the other depending on the source.

Can the Energy Regulation Board sustain this drop as the year progresses, this is something that is impossible to predict at the moment.

It is good for others today but on the other side it is not something to throw in the towel and make drastic changes because you make wake up tomorrow finding the price is hiked by more than One Kwacha.