ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF ZAMBIA IN LUANSHYA DEMANDS TAX CLEARANCE

Luanshya District Electoral Officer Moses Mwelwa has called on all political parties to ensure that their candidates aspiring to contest the for

thcoming elections acquire Council Tax Clearance Certificates or risk being vetoed.

Mr. Mwelwa who is also Luanshya Town Clerk reminded all political party sponsored and independent aspiring candidates for mayoral, parliamentary and local government seats to also seek clearance from the Zambia Revenue Authority respectively.

He said the two provisions were prerequisite for the filling in of nomination papers for each candidate which falls on Tuesday 2nd July 2016.

“If the candidate meets the entire requirements for filling in his or her nomination papers but has no Council Tax Clearance Certificate, he or she will not be allowed to file in before being cleared by the local council’s finance department” Mr. Mwelwa said.

Mr Mwelwa was speaking in Luanshya today during the nomination briefing attended by various political parties and the police among other electoral stakeholders.

He however expressed concern that only 30 candidates had so far obtained tax clearance certificates, and that Luanshya has a total of 28 wards and two parliamentary constituencies.

Mr. Mwelwa further disclosed that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) will next week reveal contents of the bill of rights to enable the masses make an informed decision as they vote in the referendum.

He added that the ECZ has already started sensitising the general public on the referendum through voter education facilitators, newspapers and radios among others.

Meanwhile, the ECZ has commenced accreditations for the 2016 general elections and referendum in all districts.

Accreditation for local monitors and international observers commenced on 23^rd May 2016 and will end on August 2^nd2016.

All registered non- governmental organisations and media personnel including freelance journalists wishing to monitor or observe the 2016 general elections are reminded to apply for accreditation from the district electoral officers at civic centres.

ZAMBIA SOUTH AFRICA BUSINESS COUNCIL LAUNCHED

President Edgar Lungu

President Edgar Lungu says the Zambia South Africa Business (ZSBC) council will no doubt complement government efforts in promoting trade and investment between the two countries.

Mr. Lungu has however urged South African investors to take advantage of the investment opportunities in Zambia by investing in various economic sectors which offer a favourable rate of return for their investments.

President Lungu said government remains committed to creating an enabling business environment aimed at attracting foreign direct investment and stimulating local investment through linkages with small and medium enterprises.

The Head of State said this in a speech read on his behalf by Vice President Inonge Wina at the official launch of the Zambia South Africa Business Council (ZSBC) Zambia Chapter in Lusaka last night.

The Zambia South Africa Business Council was established in October 2015 as an innovation of the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria to promote investment and trade between the two countries and to advocate quick resolution of disputes and barriers.

Mr. Lungu expressed hope that through the business council, trade volumes between the two countries will increase even more in a mutually beneficial way with the anticipated inclusion of more local entrepreneurs in various economic value chains.

He however emphasized on the need to ensure that more local entrepreneurs are given an opportunity to participate in the economic value chains in Zambia by designing appropriate capacity building interventions.

Meanwhile, Acting South Africa High Commission to Zambia Nontombi Makupula said there is need to cope with the changing global trend of strengthening bilateral relations not only politically but economically in order to improve the living conditions of the people.

Ms. Makupula praised Zambia for being an all-weather trading partner of South Africa and pledged for continued efforts aimed at fostering inclusive economic growth between the two countries.

MARA MENTOR FOUNDATION LAUNCHED

By Ben Kangwa

“Entrepreneurs are the backbone of our economy and we must support them in any way we can to ensure they become the job creators of tomorrow. I know from my own experience that starting your own business is tough.

Ashish Thakkar at the Launch of the Mara Mentor   Foundation

What our youth need is practical, real world advice to help them develop the necessary skills and knowledge-base to get their business off the ground, “said Ashish J Thakkar, Founder of Mara Group and Mara Foundation. This was at the launch of the Mara Mentor Foundation in Lusaka on 24 on the sides of the African Development Bank Annual Meeting on 24^th May, 2016.

Speaking to an 80 plus audience, Thakkar was not shy to first speak about his past, how his parents had lost everything during the dictatorial Idi Amin regime and how the family was forced to move to Britain.

The story does not end there, they had thus rebuilt their lives in the UK and after twenty years had decided to return to Africa and this time to Rwanda - unfortunately in time to witness the genocide. The family had to evacuate to Uganda via Burundi back to a helpless situation and with nothing once again.

Ashish, Ministers Lubinda, Luo and Mwale with Zambian Mara   Mentors

When he was 15 years old, he dropped out of school with a plan to buying computers from Dubai and selling them in Uganda from a $5,000 loan he got from his parents in 1996. Thakkar has never looked back since then. His net-worth is estimated at $260 million. That precise decision expanded into the Mara Group with interests in communication technology, financial services, tourism, manufacturing, information, renewable energy and real estate. The Group that he has built himself operates in over 20 countries all over the world.

It was for this reason that Thakkar would talk about his passion for business and focus on the Mara Mentor Foundation whose purpose is to enable, empower and inspire young entrepreneurs by way of mentorship, guidance and advice. The Foundation was established in 2009.

“As a serial entrepreneur, I understand the challenges that face young African entrepreneurs trying to set up a business from building a network, to gaining access to funding, to scaling up and diversifying. That is why we developed Mara Mentor, a free online app that helps aspiring young entrepreneurs build their network and seek crucial business advice from seasoned business leaders from around the world,” he would add.

For this reason, Minister of Youth, Sport and Child Development, Vincent Mwale would point out that the occasion of the Mara Mentor Foundation fell in line with President Edgar

Lungu’s views at the launch of the 2015 Youth Policy and Action Plan for Youth Empowerment and Employment. The policy was aimed at achieving a direct positive impact on poverty reduction and to ensure sustainable development and social inclusion.

Minister Vincent Mwale at the Launch

Minister Mwale would also call on the youth and women entrepreneurs to participate in the Mara Mentor programme, “We encourage our youth and women entrepreneurs to download the Mara Mentor App and benefit from a wealth of knowledge from mentors in Zambia and around the world.”

He would further call on business leaders in Zambia to give their time to mentoring the youth, adding, “This will be a worthwhile investment on your part as you will be contributing towards sustainable small businesses that will create jobs for today and future generations.”

Zambian mentors that attended the occasion included, Minister of Gender Prof. Nkandu Luo, Minister of Agriculture Given Lubinda and Minister of Sport, Youth and Child Development, Vincent Mwale. Others that were showcased were David Kombe of Blackdot, Mabel Mungomba of BelComm, Sylvia Mwansa, CEO of SBM, Board Chairperson of Focus general Insurance Beatrice Nkanza, Bank of Zambia Deputy Governor for Administration, Tukiya Kankasa Mabula, Founder of Kupu’s Young Women Network, Norena Chiteba, Soccer Star Christopher Katongo and musician Jordan Katembula.

Speaking to this writer on the role of a Zambian mentor to an upcoming entrepreneur, Mentor David Kombe said, “I would advise Zambian entrepreneurs to take advantage of Mara Mentor App. It links them with experienced business people who could give them sound advice on business. It is a good App to use at any given moment”

AFRICAN COUNTRIES URGED TO INSURE AGAINST DISASTERS

African Development Bank first vice president and chief cooperating Officer Leautier Frannie says climate disaster has negatively impacted on a number of countries in eastern and southern Africa.

Ms Frannie said Zambia has not been spared from the natural re occurrences, stating that the Kariba dam which is the main source of hydro power for the national economies for Zambia and Zimbabwe has been severely impacted with obvious results in power disruptions.

She added that the drought significantly threatens gross domestic products (GDP) growth in sub-Sahara Africa, pointing out that in Malawi the drought could have an estimated adverse effect of four percent on annual GDP.

Ms Frannie was speaking during a high level panel meeting on climate and disaster risk financing at the on-going African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meeting in Lusaka.

Ms. Frannie said such decrease in productivity destructs economic growth   adding that it also erodes development gains and breaks the resilience of the economies that have been managed in the last two decades.

“To deal with such risks it requires additional emergency aid from the international community” she said.

Ms. Frannie said the ARC protects micro economy disruptions that will be occasioned such as the one Zambia is facing due to inadequate rainfall.

She revealed that in 2014 ARC made pay outs to three African countries with Senegal getting 17 million dollars, Mauritania 6.3 million and Niger got 3.5 to finance the recovery programs.

Meanwhile Kenyan cabinet secretary for the national treasury Henry Rotich said risk management is key to African countries.

Mr. Rotich added that Kenya has to prepare for the ARC premiums in every financial year due to the country’s vulnerability to shocks such as drought.

“We decided to start buying the premiums because of the experience we had in the past with tackling risks that come about when we implement budget.” said Rotich.

Mr. Rotich said besides the ARC, the country has also passed a national drought management law which requires setting up funds for risk purposes.

And Ms Leautier Frannie, the first vice president said such risks cause major budgetary reallocation which disrupts development planning citing Namibia which reallocated about 60 million dollars for a multi prone drought relief program to assist over 600,000 people.

She said that AfDB recognises that Africa can no longer be content with emergency response as it disrupts reallocation of scarce development resources.

And Senegal minister of Economy and Finance Amadou Ba said Senegal was one of the first countries to subscribe for insurance policy from African Risk Capacity (ARC).

Mr. Ba said countries that are prone to natural occurrences such as drought should be encouraged to subscribe to ARC as it helps to deal with many shocks.

He said Senegal has bought two premiums from ARC and is scheduled to buy the third one despite failing to trigger pay-out from ARC the time it experienced a risk, adding that his country will continue to support pay-out premiums.

“Senegal joined ARC after experiencing the first drought in 2011 which negatively impacted on the economic growth of the country.

 And African Risk Capacity insurance board Lars Thunell said countries must ensure that they subscribe to the ARC policy adding that the most expensive thing is to wait for an event to occur and repair the damages.

Mr Thunell said that insurance companies are interested in preventing potential beneficiaries from using issuance payments.

He said it is important to scale up the initiative and expand the ARC to East Africa..

Chair of African Risk Capacity Agency’s governing board Ngozi Lweala said her organisation represents how African states are finding African led solutions to extreme weather conditions.

Dr. Lweala said some African countries namely Niger , Senegal , Gambia, Mali, Mauritania and Kenya have purchased insurance from ARC ltd adding the company expects 30 countries to be insured by 2020.

“African Risk Capacity (ARC) is also launching a tropical cyclone insurance product this year and a flood insurance product in 2017 as part of its effort to increase insurance coverage across Africa” she said.

African risk capacity signed a letter of intent and memorandum of understanding with African Development Bank (AfDB) and conference inter-Africaine des Marches d Assurance (CIMA) respectively after the high level panel meeting at the on-going AfDB annual meetings.

The letter of intent between ARC and AfDB marked an announcement of intentions to collaborate in the areas of planning, preparation and response to extreme weather events.

CAMPAIGN TO ELECT A WOMAN TO BE THE NEXT UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL PICKS UP STEAM

The campaign to elect a woman to lead the United Nations for the first time in its history is gathering pace with the field of official candidates for the job now evenly split between the genders. 

The UN General Assembly has been screening applicants

With the second term of Ban Ki-Moon set to expire at the end of 2016, the final decision on who should replace him will ultimately rest with the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, including Britain. London has openly supported finding a female Secretary General.

The contest of the world’s diplomat-in-chief has become at least partially transparent this time around with candidates being asked to make public pitches to the UN General Assembly.  A first round of presentations happened in April; a second batch of runners will be heard next month.

Susana Malcorra, the foreign minister of Argentina, has jumped in

Unprecedented for certain, meanwhile, is the interest being shown in potentially picking a woman.  After the Foreign Minister of Argentina, Susana Malcorra, a veteran of the UN system and a former Chief of Staff to Mr Ban, announced on 20 May her intention to seek the position, the full field of candidates became gender-balanced, with five men and five women running.

“I think there is a huge achievement in what has already happened by it being an open process and that there is parity within the nominations,” Shazia Rafi, a founding member of the Campaign to Elect a Woman Secretary General, told The Independent.  “It is five men and five men now and you have some very qualified women.”

All eight Secretaries General so far have been men.  Ensuring the ninth is not also a man is the urgent focus for Ms Rafi’s campaign, which uses the Twitter hashtag, #She4SG. 

“I think finally we are getting some recognition that the goal of the women peace and security agenda is the actual agenda of the UN and that everything that the UN deals with…comes from the women,” Ms Rafi, a former Secretary General of Parliamentarians for Global Action, offered. 

“Women represent 51 of the global population, yet they had not have had that level of global recognition before,” she added, saying that having a woman at the top could automatically change how the UN approaches conflict prevention in the world and confidence building.

The UN Security Council will have a first straw poll vote on whom among the candidates it might favour in July with the intention of revealing its final choice before the end of October. If there is no obvious consensus figure it is perfectly possible new candidates could jump in even at that last moment. One among those frequently mentioned is the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

Because of her long experience with the UN system and a generally sound reputation within it, Ms Malcorra’s entry into the race is significant. Two things could stand in her way, however: Russia’s insistence so far that the winning candidate must come from Eastern Europe and possible British reluctance to vote for an Argentinian because of the Falkland Islands.

Moscow’s geographical preference could also crimp the candidacy of Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and director of the UN Development Programme, UNDP.  She and António Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who has also run the UN’s commission for refugees, may have left the most positive impressions after the April round of presentations.

Britain, like the other permanent five members, is declining openly to back anyone, including Ms Clark, even though she is the former leader of a Commonwealth country.  The UK Government believes it deserves some the credit, however, for the new openness being brought to what hitherto has been an entirely behind-closed-doors process, with the General Assembly interviews.

“Those hearings have made a difference by highlighting the strengths of some candidates and the very clear weaknesses of others,” a UK diplomat said, adding also that London “wants to see as many women candidates as possible.  We think its a good thing.”

Certainly one of the most high profile women in the UN system at the moment, Ms Clark is also known to have made enemies at the UNDP, not least because of steps she took early on in her tenure significantly to reduce numbers at the agency’s head office in New York. 

That ruthless streak, as some describe it, could theoretically endear her to some governments who believe it’s time to have a UN leader willing to tackle some of the organisation’s bloat. On the other hand it runs up against an old adage that is applied to the murky business of choosing a UN leader: do the world powers really want a General or would they rather have a Secretary, who will be less likely to get too big for their boots?

That is a question that should also be applied to the persistent rumors about Ms Merkel.   (Rumours is all they are since she has said nothing publicly about wanting to relinquish the chancellorship to take the post.)

Ms Merkel is a woman and could almost pass as an Eastern European. (She has Polish blood and grew up in East Germany.)  But would Moscow, London, Paris and Washington really want someone of such stature running the shop in New York?

devex

CHINA TO INJECT $376 MILLION IN TAZARA

China is to inject US$ 376 million into the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) for rehabilitation of the railway infrastructure.

The funds will help Tazara rehabilitate its 1, 860 km rail line from Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Saleem to Kapiri Mposhi District in Central Zambia.

The funds are part of an aid package the government of China is arranging to help revive and secure the sustainable development of Tazara.

The resuscitation of Tazara follows a technical assessment undertaken by the Third Railway Survey and Design Institute of China on the railway’s viability.

 The financing package follows a recent weeklong technical work group meeting held in the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar es saleem to chart the future of Tazara.

Secretary to cabinet Roland Msiska led a team of technocrats comprising permanent Secretaries and officials from the ministries of commerce, development planning, Finance, Foreign Affairs and Transport to the meeting that looked at the rehabilitation and sustainable development of Tazara.

Ministry of Transport Permanent Secretary Misheck Lungu who is co-chairperson of Tazara and part of the Zambian negotiating team confirmed the development to ZANIS in Lusaka.

Mr Lungu however pointed out that the aid package is subject to consideration and approval by the tripartite ministerial meeting set for later this year.

The government of the people's republic of China together with Tanzania and Zambia are exploring ways of resuscitating the ailing jointly owned railway firm.

Tazara was founded over 40 years ago when Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, Julius

Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda, founding fathers of China, Tanzania and Zambia respectively, visioned connecting east and southern Africa to promote to sustain regional and trade, and social economic development.

However over the last two decades, Tazara has been underperforming and experienced deterioration in infrastructure due to lack of investment.