Saturday, May 26, 2007

UNIP has crumbled - Banda

UNIP has crumbled - Banda
By Chibaula Silwamba
Saturday May 26, 2007 [03:01]

UNIP has crumbled, Vice-President Rupiah Banda has said. And Vice-President Banda said the London High Court judgment on former president Frederick Chiluba had vindicated President Levy Mwanawasa that he was not being personal on Chiluba. Meanwhile, Vice-President Banda described The Post as a freedom fighter. In an interview at his Government House residence, Vice-President Banda observed that UNIP would have had no parliamentarians if its candidates had not stood on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket last year.

"I think UNIP has crumbled already, they have only two seats from the last general election," said Vice-President Banda, who once served as minister in the UNIP government. "If they had stood on their own they would have nobody there. So from 150 elected members to two members, I don't know what the word crumbling means. UNIP has crumbled. It's very sad."

He also justified his castigation of FDD's Kapoche parliamentary candidate, Charles Banda, last week. "He is the real issue because he did not accept the results of the last election, so we will not be sufficiently political if we didn't go for the target," he said. "We are politicians; we had to capitalise on the confusion in their organisation, the UDA. If UDA was still a force that it was when we had the general election, why is it that there was a UNIP candidate separate and FDD candidate separate? We think that these are real good issues on which to campaign."

Vice-President Banda said although Charles Banda was charismatic, he would be incapable, if elected, to mobilise resources required for Kapoche because there would be only two FDD parliamentarians. He said from the high number of people that attended his rallies in Kapoche, he was optimistic that MMD's Professor Fashion Phiri would win the Kapoche seat.

On people's complaints about parliamentarians' failure to visit their constituencies, Vice-President Banda said parliamentarians were considered to be mature enough to balance their time. However, Vice-President Banda said it was easy for ordinary parliamentarians to visit their constituencies unlike ministers because they had other national duties apart from the constituency.

"In the case of honourable Cifire, she was given one of the biggest ministries in this country," he said.

He said constituents should not expect to always see their parliamentarians, who were ministers. "It's not the physical visit, it's the physical assets like money, road making equipment and all those things, that is what you expect of your parliamentarian," he said.

Vice-President Banda also said there was no need to compare the corruption levels in the UNIP and current government because they were different periods.

On Chiluba, Vice-President Banda said he was happy about the judgment like other Zambians.

"I welcomed the London judgement like The Post journalist and its editor-in-chief, myself as one of the admirers of your newspaper I'm happy about the judgment because it vindicated our President that he was not being personal," he said. "I want to thank The Post for the tenacity to fight side-by-side with the government against social and economic vices that affect our people. You have to continue because you are also freedom fighters."

He also said rehabilitation works on roads and bridges that were washed away by floods would start soon. Vice-President Banda said assessments were going on to determine the number of people that needed relief food up to the next harvest period.

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Chipata council nabs 17 vendors

Chipata council nabs 17 vendors
By Christopher Miti in Petauke
Saturday May 26, 2007 [03:00]

OVER 17 street vendors were last Thursday arrested in a joint operation by the Chipata Municipal Council and the Zambia police. Council public relations officer Levi Ngoma confirmed the development in an interview.

"We have arrested over 17 street vendors from Kapata, Down shops and town centre areas. These people are expected to appear in court soon," Ngoma said.
He said the goods that were confiscated from the vendors would be forfeited to the state.

"We informed them about the new development but they don't want to abide, so the council will not relax in this exercise of trying to end street vending," he said.

Ngoma challenged the vendors to change their mindset. Last Tuesday, the council announced that it would start arresting and prosecuting street vendors in a bid to control vending in the district. In a statement, Ngoma said that the local authority observed that street vending had reached alarming levels.

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We wish Chiluba a quick recovery

We wish Chiluba a quick recovery
By Editor
Saturday May 26, 2007 [03:00]

Although we want Frederick Chiluba to be made to account and be punished for his thefts of public funds and other abuses, news of his collapsing does not yield us any pleasure. Poor health is not something we wish any fellow citizen or indeed any human being to suffer. And this is why we are opposed to the theft and abuse of public funds that could be used to improve our health facilities for the benefit of all our people.

If Chiluba and his friends did not steal and abuse public resources, our University Teaching Hospital today would be in a far better state than it is and Chiluba wouldn’t need to go to Johannesburg for treatment. We have not forgotten what Chiluba did to our medical doctors who had gone on strike demanding better conditions for their patients - he sacked all of them. And some of these doctors today are working outside the country.

More than ever before, we today need to use the very limited financial resources of our country prudently. And we should never allow anybody to steal or misuse public funds. We now have to administer the affairs of the nation in which the extraordinary growth of population has been outstripped by the growth of wealth and the growth in complex interests.

The material problems that face us today are not such as they were in the early years of our independence, but the underlying facts of human nature are the same as they were then. Under altered external form, we war with the same tendencies towards evil that were evident in those years, and are helped by the same tendencies for good.

What Chiluba’s thefts and abuses have shown us is that there are, in the body politic, economic and social, many grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man whether politician or businessman or otherwise, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life or otherwise.

We hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in a book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he, in his turn, remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful. The liar is no whit better than the thief, and his mendacity takes the form of slander, he may be worse than most thieves. It puts a premium upon knavery to untruthfully attack an honest man, or even with hysterical exaggeration to assail a bad man with untruth. We should always be aware that an epidemic of indiscriminate assault upon character does not good, but very great harm. The soul of every scoundrel is gladdened whenever an honest man is assailed, or even when a scoundrel is untruthfully assailed.

Our plea is not for immunity to, but for the most unsparing exposure of the politician who betrays his trust, of the big businessman who makes his fortune in illegitimate or corrupt ways. There should be a resolute effort to hunt every such man out of the position he has disgraced. Let’s expose the crime, and hunt down the criminal; but we should always remember that even in the case of crime, if it is attacked in a lurid and untruthful fashion, the attack may do more damage to the public mind than the crime itself.

It is because we feel that there should be no rest in the endless war against the forces of evil wherever they may hide - whether in hospitals or in self-exile - that we ask that the war against the thefts and abuses of Chiluba be conducted with sanity as well as with resolution.

It is said that at many stages in the advance of humanity, conflict between men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possessed is the central condition of progress.

The Zambian people are right in demanding honesty and integrity in public life because without that, we cannot hope to deal efficiently and effectively with the problems our country faces today. There’s need to put the national need before personal advantage. And it is right for us to regard those in power as having a stewardship responsibility of the public welfare. We say this because the object of government is the welfare of the people and not the amassment of wealth by the leaders.

The material progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so far as they lead to the moral and material welfare of all citizens. Just in proportion as the average man or woman are honest, capable of sound judgment and higher ideals, active in public affairs - but, first of all, sound in their home life, and the father and mother of healthy children whom they bring up well - just so far, and no further, we may count what we are doing a success. We must have a genuine and permanent moral awakening, without which no wisdom of legislation or administration really means anything; and, on the other hand we must safeguard the limited resources we have from being stolen, squandered or abused by scoundrels and senseless people.

This is the way we look at things. And it is on this basis that we have been merciless in exposing and attacking Chiluba’s crimes against our people, especially the poor. It is also on this basis that we wish him a quick recovery so that he can come back and start to attend the criminal court sessions so that he is nailed to the cross for his thefts. As we have said before, we have never had any doubt that Chiluba has stolen public funds; that Chiluba is a shameless thief who should as quickly as possible be put behind bars.

And we have no doubt that there is no independent tribunal that will ever find Chiluba not to have stolen from the Zambian people. There is however, something that appears to be a trend. Whenever Chiluba is about to appear before medical doctors to ascertain his fitness for trial, all of a sudden the vocal man crumbles. A medical friend of ours suggested that probably this man stops taking his medication and eating a few days before facing the doctors and comes to them in a very weak state. We can’t pass this before Chiluba because the man is a crook who can do anything to escape being made to account for his crimes.

Chiluba didn’t want to appear before the London High Court and ran away from it after realising that the truth had been fully dug out. There is no doubt that Chiluba doesn’t want to attend the criminal trial against him in our magistrate courts and would do anything to avoid going to court. He would even stop eating and taking medication if that can temporarily stop him from attending court.

But this is not to say Chiluba is well. We know very well that he is not well; he is a victim of the life he lived. And we can only hope that he will not blame his illness on us for our attacks on him or anybody else who has tried to make him account for his thefts. We never sent him to steal. In fact, if one reads the many editorial comments we wrote in the past, we were always advising him against corruption; we were repeatedly reminding him that he would not be able to get away with his criminal conduct after leaving office. We were not misfortune tellers; we were merely interpreting the consequences of what we saw.

Anyway, there’s nothing that is going to save Chiluba from prosecution - only death can halt this process. As long as he lives jail is waiting, he may even be taken on a stretcher to jail. After all, there are so many of our fellow poor citizens who have been sent to jail while they are ill. And the courts have always said ‘why did you commit a crime if you knew you were not well?’

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Chiluba collapsed due to stress - aide

Chiluba collapsed due to stress - aide
By Noel Sichalwe and Brighton Phiri
Saturday May 26, 2007 [04:00]

CHILUBA collapsed due to stress, his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba disclosed yesterday. In an interview with Lusaka's Q-FM Radio, Mwamba said this has been a difficult month for former president Frederick Chiluba.

"We tried to shield him from these things but it is not possible, he is the one that has to make decisions. For example on the matters in London he has to be fully informed about them, the outcome and he has to take personal decisions,"he said.

Mwamba said he thought the stress was associated with Chiluba's cardiac problem.

"Dr Chiluba is a cardiac patient for which he has been going through heart treatment for the past one year. I think the collapse is associated with his cardiac condition and the cardiac condition was diagnosed as related to stress," Mwamba said. "That is what was attributed to as having caused the heart problem."

And speaking after visiting him at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) VIP fast track section, opposition Patriotic Front president Michael Sata said he talked to Chiluba and that he was looking bright.

However, Chiluba refused to be visited by journalists and referred all queries to the sister-in-charge who in turn refused to speak, saying only UTH public relations manager Pauline Mbangweta could comment.

Mbangweta said Chiluba's condition was stable. "But I can't discuss the health of our patient," Mbangweta said."If you want more information talk to his spokesperson."
According to Mwamba, Chiluba was taken to UTH after he collapsed in his bedroom on Thursday morning. UTH acting managing director Dr. Peter Mwaba said doctors were still evaluating Chiluba's condition.

And home affairs minister Lt Gen Ronnie Shikapwasha yesterday urged Zambians to pray for Chiluba's quick recovery. "I think that Zambians should pray for him to recover so that he is normal like any one of us, so that he can enjoy life," he said. "We pray that he has good health and that in more than many ways he should have peace in his own heart. Now this thing has befallen him, we lift our hearts to God that He touches him and keeps him in good health."

And Nchelenge member of parliament Ben Mwila said he would find time to visit Chiluba in hospital. "I pray for Dr. Chiluba to be in good health,"said Mwila. Chiluba was due to appear before the UTH adhoc committee on Monday for the doctors to determine whether or not he was fit to stand trial in the magistrates court for theft of public funds, among other charges.

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Friday, May 25, 2007

I'm lucky to be alive - Nawakwi

I'm lucky to be alive - Nawakwi
By Chibaula Silwamba
Friday May 25, 2007 [04:00]

I was almost burnt for saying Chiluba is a thief, opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi has revealed. Commenting on the London High Court judgment on former president Frederick Chiluba, Nawakwi said when she alleged that Chiluba was a thief during a rally in Chawama, the government put up a manhunt for her.

“I was almost burnt alive in Kabwe in 2001. I would have been dead by now, I’m lucky that I’m still alive,” Nawakwi said. “I was charged with defamation of the president together with Dipak Patel, Bivan Saluseki (Post journalist) and your editor Mr Fred M’membe and we were taken to court but the government later withdrew the case.”

Asked if the London High Court judgment had vindicated her, Nawakwi responded, “Vindictiveness is not the answer. It’s not about Nawakwi being happy…it’s not personal; we are now talking about strengthening institutions to provide checks and balances on the presidency.

“I can’t comment on a story I was accused of defaming the president. The judge and the public have commented so now it’s a public issue.”

Nawakwi said there were so much powers vested in the presidency.
She said the saddening thing was that even President Levy Mwanawasa had admitted that there were still high levels of corruption.

“We have to find ways of how we will resolve this problem in future,” she said. “We need the Office of the Auditor General to work independently and to be given powers to prosecute and the ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) should also work independently. There is a lot of work to be done.”

She said it was not a matter of one person monitoring the abuse of public resources but putting in place institutional mechanisms to curb the abuses.

Nawakwi said there was no guarantee that if the president was good he or she would ensure that public resources were not abused.

“It’s not a matter of one person but creating institutions that will ensure checks and balances,” Nawakwi said.

And Nawakwi said each political party was free to contest the Kapoche by-election because Zambia was a democracy.

Nawakwi said she was grateful to the UPND and some UNIP members for supporting FDD candidate, Charles Banda.

Commenting on UNIP’s decision to field its own candidate contrary to the UDA agreement that they field a single candidate, Nawakwi said Zambia was a democratic state and political parties were free to contest elections.

“We are in a democracy, Zambia has been democratic since 1991 and each political party can go into elections to get a share of votes. As I said in the past, UDA was for the purpose of the 2006 elections. I have no other comments, if you want further comments contact the UNIP president Tilyenji Kaunda who is former chairman of the UDA,” Nawakwi said. “We are grateful to UPND and some UNIP members that they have found it fit to support our candidate.”

Nawakwi, who is scheduled to travel to Kapoche to campaign for Charles Banda, said Kapoche was a traditional seat for Banda.

“We hope people of Kapoche will favour us with votes in Kapoche,” Nawakwi said.
Nawakwi also said the FDD’s deputy national treasurer Colonel Yotam Ngulube passed away and would be buried today in Chipata.

“We have lost a very dedicated member of the party,” said Nawakwi.

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Levy has been insincere about the Constituent Assembly

Levy has been insincere about the Constituent Assembly
By Editor
Friday May 25, 2007 [04:00]

Today, as we always do on this day - May 25, we commemorate the long struggle to free Africa from colonial domination, subjugation, exploitation and abuse; the long struggle for the uplift of our people. But our people's freedom struggle will be nothing unless it means the triumph of real democracy, the triumph of popular government, and, in the long term, of an economic system under which each individual shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him or her.

It should never be forgotten that central to good governance in this country is a good constitution; one that is really owned by the people and contains all the rights of the people. We say this because the Constitution is at the heart of the nation-building process. People shall be truly free when their constitution is people-driven.

And the constitution should reflect the wishes and aspirations of the people and not those of the government, individual leaders or governors. The constitution must be a medium that regulates our behaviour in necessary matters concerning the common good. But unless the process for making or reviewing the constitution is correct, a constitution that is truly owned by the people will continue to be elusive.

The progress of the constitution review process makes one profoundly conscious of the shortcomings of the present government and its leader, Levy Mwanawasa.

From this week's pronouncements, it's very clear that Levy has not been honest over the constitution review process. Early this week, Levy told the nation that he would vote against the Constituent Assembly. This is in contradiction with the position he had taken when the debate of a Constituent Assembly started. At that time, Levy's position was that he was not opposed to the idea of a Constituent Assembly - he supported it. But he was only opposed to the method being advocated for arriving at a Constituent Assembly.

But for all practical purposes, Levy clearly showed that he was opposed not only to the method of arriving at a Constituent Assembly but also to the idea of the Constituent Assembly itself. However, this week he made it very clear that he was not for the idea of a Constituent Assembly and would vote against it. The secret is finally out.

Levy has made it very clear that he does not believe in the idea of a Constituent Assembly. It would be funny if it were not so tragic. We do not have a new constitution because Levy does not believe in the process we have chosen to use in giving ourselves a new constitution. Levy believes that the Zambian people elected him so that his personal will should hold captive that of the 11 million Zambians.

When will Levy learn that the people are the masters and if he does not agree with what they want, he should resign and not find strange legal arguments trying to justify why things can't be done. What the Zambian people are seeking is genuine democracy in which the political leaders are servants, and not masters, of the electorate.

By the way, where is Levy going to vote against the Constituent Assembly? We thought Levy said he would implement the will of the people; so where will this vote be?

But we know that he has in fact voted and that is why today we do not have a new or reviewed constitution. This confirms the reluctance of some of our people at the beginning to go through the means of the inquiries Act as a process of reviewing the Constitution where the President, who is an individual, has the final say - that cannot be democracy. This is a strange democracy where the wishes of one person override those of millions of his fellow citizens.

One can ask, why have we spent the billions of kwacha and man-hours of the constitution review process if, as has happened, at the end of it the results coincided with Levy's view?

Levy single-handedly handpicked the members of the Constitution Review Commission but today he seems to have difficulties accepting the findings of his own commission. Can such a person really be expected to accept the recommendations of an independent body? It is clear why Levy stands opposed to the idea of a Constituent Assembly in favour of an ill-defined indaba - whatever that indaba means. The simple reason for this is that it is only his approach, only his view that should carry the day.

This is the man who said at the beginning we should trust him. Now it is clear to all why we were sceptical in the beginning. The man cannot be trusted on this matter. Moreover, no matter how honest and decent we are, if we do not have the right kind of constitution, we cannot go forward as a nation. That is the imperative; but it must be an addition to, and not a substitution for, the qualities that make up good citizens and leaders.
Governance cannot be and should not be dependent on benevolence of a leader but rather on a good constitution which should constrain all leaders.

And this is more so in a country whose prime problem is to get the right type of good citizenship, and to get it, we must have progress, and our public men must be genuinely progressive. This is what Levy has to understand; and this is what we all must understand. If we look at things this way, we will have no difficulty trying to understanding why this constitution review process cannot be left to the whims of Levy.

The people who are the rightful owners of the constitution must take charge of the process. And what is disturbing about this whole thing is that Levy has been telling lies to the nation; trying to buy time with lies relying on pious legal arguments that don't make sense. And where these don't hold much water, he has not hesitated to invoke budgetary constraints.

It's time Zambians woke up to the fact that the issue of the constitution left to Levy, he will only do that which he himself wants to do and will give Zambians a constitution tailored by and to him; before Zambians wake up their hopes for a new uhuru will be again dashed, spanning one tyranny after another. The Zambian people should not continue to allow themselves to be abused in this manner. This is the same thing Chiluba did to them in 1996 and he got away with it. We can't continue to be fooled, to be conned and cheated by politicians over the same thing time and again. There is need to put an end to this.

Levy says he has no interest to serve by tailoring a constitution that suits him because his term of office is over. Yes, there may be some truth in this - but just some little truth. At least, in some way, he is admitting that he delayed the whole process because it suited him, he had an interest in not having a new constitution before the last elections. But things don't end here. Levy still has an interest in the constitution, which goes beyond his term of office. He will still be parasitic on the state even after he leaves office. So he can't say he has no interest in the constitution.

And if he didn't have an interest in the constitution review process, then he would be a very irresponsible citizen because everyone of us, regardless of our positions, should have an interest in the constitution because herein lies the future of our country. For Levy it seems the future of Zambia owes him nothing, it is only the present that he has an interest in. Since he will not be president in the future, then tomorrow's Zambia is of no interest to him.

What type of president is this? What type of leader is this? Where is he leading the nation to? This is worrying because the future of any nation is built on the threshold of today's decisions. It is the current leadership that is building the future, the Zambia of tomorrow. The Zambia of the future, the Zambia of tomorrow will not be built in the future or tomorrow, it is being built now. And this is what Levy has no interest in!

However, it is clear that from his utterances and actions he has an interest, only that it is not the interest of Zambia. It is the interest of Levy and that is why he is opposed to a Constituent Assembly. It is that having failed to impose his will on a handpicked Constitution Review Commission, an independent Constituent Assembly gives him nightmares. But this is what we must have and we shall have with or without Levy.

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Chiluba collapses

Chiluba collapses
By Staff reporter
Friday May 25, 2007 [04:00]

FORMER president Frederick Chiluba’s spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba disclosed in a statement that his boss had collapsed in his bedroom yesterday morning. University Teaching Hospital acting managing director Dr Peter Mwaba has confirmed admitting Chiluba around 16:30 yesterday.

Dr Mwaba said doctors were still evaluating Chiluba but that he could not discuss Chiluba’s health problem at the moment.

Mwamba stated that Chiluba’s wife Regina immediately called his personal physician Dr Justine Kangwa. "Dr Kangwa observed Dr Chiluba and immediately recommended that Dr Chiluba should be observed in a hospital environment to help ascertain the cause of this serious medical condition," Mwamba stated. "Dr Chiluba has since been admitted to the University Teaching Hospital for observation and treatment."

Mwamba further stated that Chiluba was due to appear before the UTH adhoc committee on Monday to comply with the court order.

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Zambia needs domestic policy initiatives, says Chilipamushi

Zambia needs domestic policy initiatives, says Chilipamushi
By Joan Chirwa
Friday May 25, 2007 [04:00]

DEVELOPING countries have been urged to shield themselves from trade arrangements that would impact on effective governance of their emerging economies, as negotiations for the ACP/EU Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) almost wind up.

And commerce, trade and industry permanent secretary Davidson Chilipamushi said Zambia needs domestic policy initiatives that would ensure that trade is used as a tool for promoting development in the country.

During a civil society conference on Trade Policy and Development in Lusaka on Wednesday, Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) secretary general Father Joe Komakoma said no single change could make a greater contribution to eliminating poverty than fully opening up the markets of prosperous countries to goods produced by poor nations.

The Trade Policy and Development conference discussed key issues of the EPAs between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU).
Phase two of the EPA negotiations is in full swing, with only six months before the trade agreements are signed on December 31, 2007.

However, countries in the Eastern and Southern African (ESA) region - Zambia inclusive - have expressed concern that many issues have not been tackled for the agreements to be effected by 2008.

“The liberalisation rules in Free Trade Areas (FTAs) that threaten to drive local firms out of business and will reduce competition as well as extend the monopoly power of large companies must be opposed,” Fr Komakoma said.

He further said domestic policies that foster economic growth were of prime importance.
“Developing countries, individually, must be allowed to protect key food and livelihood security products in line with the special products proposal for agriculture tabled in the July 2004 framework agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO),” said Fr Komakoma.

And Chilipamushi, who earlier this year indicated that Zambia would not open up any of its sectors to the EU countries until the development agenda of the EPAs is addressed, said trade must be seen as a basis on which developing countries could begin to grow.
“It is important that when you use trade as a tool for development, this must lead to job creation and alleviation of poverty,” said Chilipamushi.

With the advent of the EPAs, developing countries fear that poverty would increase if supply side constraints of the negotiations are not addressed.

Once EPAs are implemented, African countries and the EU are expected to open up their markets, a situation that will see goods from both sides being traded without restrictions.

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China's lesson for the World Bank

China's lesson for the World Bank
By Jeffrey Sachs
Friday May 25, 2007 [04:00]

The China Daily recently ran a front-page story recounting how Paul Wolfowitz used threats and vulgarities to pressure senior World Bank staff. The newspaper noted that Wolfowitz sounded like a character out of the mafia television show The Sopranos.

At the same time, while the Wolfowitz scandal unfolded, China was playing host to the Africa Development Bank (ADB), which held its Board meeting in Shanghai. This is a vivid metaphor for today’s world: while the World Bank is caught up in corruption and controversy, China skillfully raises its geopolitical profile in the developing world. China’s rising power is, of course, based heavily on its remarkable economic success.

The ADB meeting took place in the Pudong District, Shanghai’s most remarkable development site. From largely unused land a generation ago, Pudong has become a booming center of skyscrapers, luxury hotels, parks, industry, and vast stretches of apartment buildings. Shanghai’s overall economy is currently growing at around 13 per cent per year, thus doubling in size every five or six years. Everywhere there are startups, innovations, and young entrepreneurs hungry for profits.

I had the chance to participate in high-level meetings between Chinese and African officials at the ADB meetings. The advice that the African leaders received from their Chinese counterparts was sound, and much more practical than they typically get from the World Bank.

Chinese officials stressed the crucial role of public investments, especially in agriculture and infrastructure, to lay the basis for private-sector-led growth. In a hungry and poor rural economy, as China was in the 1970’s and as most of Africa is today, a key starting point is to raise farm productivity. Peasant farmers need the benefits of fertiliser, irrigation, and high-yield seeds, all of which were a core part of China’s economic takeoff.

Two other critical investments are also needed: roads and electricity, without which there cannot be a modern economy. Farmers might be able to increase their output, but it won’t be able to reach the cities, and the cities won’t be able to provide the countryside with inputs. The officials stressed how the government has taken pains to ensure that the power grid and transportation network reaches every village in China.

Of course, the African leaders were most appreciative of the next message: China is prepared to help Africa in substantial ways in agriculture, roads, power, health, and education. And the African leaders already know that this is not an empty boast. All over Africa, China is financing and constructing basic infrastructure. During the meeting, the Chinese leaders emphasised their readiness to support agricultural research as well. They described new high-yield rice varieties, which they are prepared to share with their African counterparts.

All of this illustrates what is wrong with the World Bank, even aside from Wolfowitz’s failed leadership. Unlike the Chinese, the Bank has too often forgotten the most basic lessons of development, preferring to lecture the poor and force them to privatise basic infrastructure, rather than to help the poor to invest in infrastructure and other crucial sectors.

The Bank’s failures began in the early 1980’s, when, under the ideological sway of President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, it tried to get Africa and other poor regions to cut back or close down government investments and services.

For 25 years, the Bank tried to get governments out of agriculture, leaving impoverished peasants to fend for themselves. The result has been a disaster in Africa, with farm productivity stagnant for decades. The Bank also pushed for privatisation of national health systems, water utilities, and road and power networks, and grossly underfinanced these critical sectors.

This extreme free-market ideology, also called “structural adjustment,” went against the practical lessons of development successes in China and the rest of Asia. Practical development strategy recognises that public investments – in agriculture, health, education, and infrastructure – are necessary complements to private investments. The World Bank has instead wrongly seen such vital public investments as an enemy of private-sector development.

Whenever the Bank’s extreme free-market ideology failed, it has blamed the poor for corruption, mismanagement, or lack of initiative. This was Wolfowitz’s approach, too. Instead of focusing the Bank’s attention on helping the poorest countries to improve their infrastructure, he launched a crusade against corruption. Ironically, of course, his stance became untenable when his own misdeeds came to light.

The Bank can regain its relevance only if it becomes practical once again, by returning its focus to financing public investments in priority sectors, just as the Chinese leadership is prepared to do.

The good news is that African governments are getting the message on how to spur economic growth, and are also getting crucial help from China and other partners that are less wedded to extreme free-market ideology than the World Bank.

Many African governments at the Shanghai meeting declared their intention to act boldly, by investing in infrastructure, agricultural modernization, public health, and education. The Wolfowitz debacle should be a wake-up call to the World Bank: it must no longer be controlled by ideology. If that happens, the Bank can still do justice to the bold vision of a world of shared prosperity that prompted its creation after World War II.
www.project-syndicate.org

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Life And Debt - The neoliberal impact on the Jamaican economy

Check out this excellent documentary online. There are lots of similarities with Zambia's experience with 'globalisation', including an entire Jamaican factory staffed by Chinese migrants. :)

From the lovely Stephanie Black. Just in case anyone still thinks that the IMF means well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsUXQhxb2to

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001

S. 494 [107th]: Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001

S.494

One Hundred Seventh Congress
of the
United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and one

An Act
To provide for a transition to democracy and to promote economic recovery in Zimbabwe.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

It is the policy of the United States to support the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve broad-based and equitable economic growth, and restore the rule of law.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS- The term `international financial institutions' means the multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund.

(2) MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS- The term `multilateral development banks' means the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency.

SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

(a) FINDINGS- Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Through economic mismanagement, undemocratic practices, and the costly deployment of troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Government of Zimbabwe has rendered itself ineligible to participate in International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Monetary Fund programs, which would otherwise be providing substantial resources to assist in the recovery and modernization of Zimbabwe's economy. The people of Zimbabwe have thus been denied the economic and democratic benefits envisioned by the donors to such programs, including the United States.

(2) In September 1999 the IMF suspended its support under a `Stand By Arrangement', approved the previous month, for economic adjustment and reform in Zimbabwe.

(3) In October 1999, the International Development Association (in this section referred to as the `IDA') suspended all structural adjustment loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.

(4) In May 2000, the IDA suspended all other new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe.

(5) In September 2000, the IDA suspended disbursement of funds for ongoing projects under previously-approved loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.


(b) SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY-

(1) BILATERAL DEBT RELIEF- Upon receipt by the appropriate congressional committees of a certification described in subsection (d), the Secretary of the Treasury shall undertake a review of the feasibility of restructuring, rescheduling, or eliminating the sovereign debt of Zimbabwe held by any agency of the United States Government.

(2) MULTILATERAL DEBT RELIEF AND OTHER FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE- It is the sense of Congress that, upon receipt by the appropriate congressional committees of a certification described in subsection (d), the Secretary of the Treasury should--

(A) direct the United States executive director of each multilateral development bank to propose that the bank should undertake a review of the feasibility of restructuring, rescheduling, or eliminating the sovereign debt of Zimbabwe held by that bank; and

(B) direct the United States executive director of each international financial institution to which the United States is a member to propose to undertake financial and technical support for Zimbabwe, especially support that is intended to promote Zimbabwe's economic recovery and development, the stabilization of the Zimbabwean dollar, and the viability of Zimbabwe's democratic institutions.

(c) MULTILATERAL FINANCING RESTRICTION- Until the President makes the certification described in subsection (d), and except as may be required to meet basic human needs or for good governance, the Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against--

(1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or

(2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.


(d) PRESIDENTIAL CERTIFICATION THAT CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARE SATISFIED- A certification under this subsection is a certification transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees of a determination made by the President that the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) RESTORATION OF THE RULE OF LAW- The rule of law has been restored in Zimbabwe, including respect for ownership and title to property, freedom of speech and association, and an end to the lawlessness, violence, and intimidation sponsored, condoned, or tolerated by the Government of Zimbabwe, the ruling party, and their supporters or entities.

(2) ELECTION OR PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS- Either of the following two conditions is satisfied:

(A) PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION- Zimbabwe has held a presidential election that is widely accepted as free and fair by independent international monitors, and the president-elect is free to assume the duties of the office.

(B) PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS- In the event the certification is made before the presidential election takes place, the Government of Zimbabwe has sufficiently improved the pre-election environment to a degree consistent with accepted international standards for security and freedom of movement and association.

(3) COMMITMENT TO EQUITABLE, LEGAL, AND TRANSPARENT LAND REFORM- The Government of Zimbabwe has demonstrated a commitment to an equitable, legal, and transparent land reform program consistent with agreements reached at the International Donors' Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1998.

(4) FULFILLMENT OF AGREEMENT ENDING WAR IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO- The Government of Zimbabwe is making a good faith effort to fulfill the terms of the Lusaka, Zambia, agreement on ending the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(5) MILITARY AND NATIONAL POLICE SUBORDINATE TO CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT- The Zimbabwean Armed Forces, the National Police of Zimbabwe, and other state security forces are responsible to and serve the elected civilian government.

(e) WAIVER- The President may waive the provisions of subsection (b)(1) or subsection (c), if the President determines that it is in the national interest of the United States to do so.

SEC. 5. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS, THE FREE PRESS AND INDEPENDENT MEDIA, AND THE RULE OF LAW.

(a) IN GENERAL- The President is authorized to provide assistance under part I and chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to--

(1) support an independent and free press and electronic media in Zimbabwe;

(2) support equitable, legal, and transparent mechanisms of land reform in Zimbabwe, including the payment of costs related to the acquisition of land and the resettlement of individuals, consistent with the International Donors' Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1998, or any subsequent agreement relating thereto; and

(3) provide for democracy and governance programs in Zimbabwe.

(b) FUNDING- Of the funds authorized to be appropriated to carry out part I and chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for fiscal year 2002--

(1) $20,000,000 is authorized to be available to provide the assistance described in subsection (a)(2); and

(2) $6,000,000 is authorized to be available to provide the assistance described in subsection (a)(3).

(c) SUPERSEDES OTHER LAWS- The authority in this section supersedes any other provision of law.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN AGAINST INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE FOR VIOLENCE AND THE BREAKDOWN OF THE RULE OF LAW IN ZIMBABWE.

It is the sense of Congress that the President should begin immediate consultation with the governments of European Union member states, Canada, and other appropriate foreign countries on ways in which to--

(1) identify and share information regarding individuals responsible for the deliberate breakdown of the rule of law, politically motivated violence, and intimidation in Zimbabwe;

(2) identify assets of those individuals held outside Zimbabwe;

(3) implement travel and economic sanctions against those individuals and their associates and families; and

(4) provide for the eventual removal or amendment of those sanctions.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.

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VENEZUELA: US destabilisation and Nationalisation Benefits

Venezuelan Authorities Warn of Destabilization Plans
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Print format
By: Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, May 23, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— In recent days, Venezuelan government officials have increasingly warned of plans to destabilize the country in the lead up to the May 27th protests in support of the private TV station RCTV. Authorities have warned of a U.S.-organized plan to infiltrate the country with Colombian paramilitaries, among other rumored plots. But President Chavez assured yesterday that the government would not allow them to achieve their goals.

Speaking in Caracas yesterday, Chavez made reference to rumors of destabilization plans that have circulated in recent days. Talk of plots against the government by opposition groups has increased as the date of the May 27th opposition protest approaches.

"There are groups that keep thinking that with riots, with Colombian paramilitaries, with rumors and media campaigns against the National Armed Forces that they will destabilize the country, but they won't do it, we won't allow it," assured Chavez during his speech yesterday.

Among the rumored plots is one revealed by Ex-vice president Jose Vicente Rangel last Sunday. Talking on his television show Jose Vicente Today, the ex-official reported that a joint U.S.-Colombian operation has been detected to infiltrate Colombian paramilitaries, including some expert snipers, into Venezuela. According to Rangel, the plot has the intention of assassinating government leaders and leaders of the opposition to create general instability in the country in what he called "a new phase in the dirty war against Venezuela."

Rangel also spoke of a second plan to infiltrate into Venezuela a Colombian drug lord to later be captured by Colombian authorities in order to accuse the Venezuelan government of providing him protection and to create "an international scandal." A similar plan to this one was carried out two years ago when a high official of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC was captured in Venezuela with the intention of accusing the Chavez government of providing aid to the FARC. In the ensuing crisis, Chavez temporarily broke off relations with the neighboring country.

Those behind the plans are Colombian drug-traffickers along with the "warlike elements of the North American government, headed by John Negroponte, the second-highest in the U.S. State Department, who recently visited Colombia," explained Rangel. Also involved in the plots is Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos who recently provoked a crisis between the two countries when he made declarations in Spain criticizing Venezuelan counter drug trafficking.

The Colombian government has denied the claims, assuring that the Colombian government is a friend of Venezuela and desires good relations with the neighboring country. Minister Foreign Affairs Fernando Araujo, speaking to the press on Monday, defended Santos, explaining that he "is totally respectful of Venezuelan institutions and the internal affairs of Venezuela."

Nevertheless, Venezuelan state intelligence has been on the lookout in order to diffuse any plans before they take place. On Monday, intelligence groups found various firearms and weapons that they say are connected to a destabilization plan motivated by the RCTV case.

Venezuelan Minister of the Interior Pedro Carreño announced at a press conference on Monday the arrest of two individuals in the possession of various weapons. Among the weapons were several sub-machine guns, three shotguns, and parts to a 762 caliber machine gun.

In addition, Carreño said that in a raid in the Caracas sector of Altamira another individual was detained under charges of "plotting against the security and defense of the nation."

Authorities found four rifles, three shotguns, six pistols, two revolvers, a rifle scope, four bombs, bullet-proof vests, among other related items. In the house of the subject authorities also found more rifles and shotguns, a crossbow, and a laptop computer with information of other weapons.
Carreño assured that the intelligence agencies are on alert and are prepared to diffuse "any situation that could hurt the political stability of the country, the security of the citizens, the stability of the institutions and, therefore, the internal peace of the Republic."



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Ongoing News, Views and Analysis from Venezuela









http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2305

Venezuela to Lower Phone Rates 20% Following Nationalization
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Print format
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By: Venezuelanalysis.com

President Chavez (center) with his minister of telecommunications and minister of planning and development, and the three main new directors of CANTV.
President Chavez (center) with his minister of telecommunications and minister of planning and development, and the three main new directors of CANTV.
Credit: Prensa Presidencial

Caracas, May 23, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— With the swearing in of the new board of directors for Venezuela’s main telecommunications company CANTV, which was recently nationalized, President Hugo Chavez declared that phone rates would be lowered by as much as 20%, among a number of other changes.

“We have nationalized [CANTV] after so many years [after privatization], but it will not become what it was prior to privatization, when it was a company of a capitalist state. Now we have to make a leap from a private capitalist company to a socialist state-owned company, which is not seeking profit, even when with a good management there will not be economic losses,” declared Chavez during yesterday’s ceremony, which was broadcast on all TV channels.

“More important than economic gain is the social gain – social service for the integral development of all inhabitants of Venezuela,” added Chavez.

The lowering of the phone rates will affect the company’s cell phone network, whose rates will be lowered in two phases, by 10% as of June 15 and another 10% as of August 15. Also, phone rates from land lines to cell phones will be lowered by 20% and rates between CANTV’s cell phones and the cell phone networks of other company’s will be lowered by 30%.

Chavez explained that this means that the current rates of $0.16 per minute for calls from land lines to cell phones would thus be lowered to $0.13 per minute. Local and long distance phone rates of land lines will also be lowered by 10% and 15% respectively.

According to Andreas Faust, an analyst with Banco Mercantil in Caracas, “In a way, the government, instead of paying a dividend to shareholders, will pay a dividend to customers,'' Faust said, according to Bloomberg. “It's a very populist move and will likely slow inflation a bit.”

As of January 2008 the newly nationalized company will expand its service into currently underserved and low-income areas with lower “solidarity” pricing for these areas. Currently Venezuela’s land line network reaches only 45% of the country’s households, whereby there is a large class divide, so that 80% of upper and middle class households (so-called sectors A,B, and C) have phone service and only 20% of working class and poor households (sectors D and E).

“Rest assured that since this government is socialist, we will include the maximum number of families possible [in the phone network],” said Chavez. Households with land line phone service are thus to be increased by 50%, from currently 2.7 million households to 4 million in the next year and a half. In the next few years 93% of Venezuelans would have access to land line phone service.

“CANTV will be present in all population centers with more than 500 inhabitants,” said Chavez. This expansion will be related to the rail system that Venezuela is constructing throughout the country, he added.

Cell phone service, though, will also continue to expand, so that in the next 18 months another two million cell phone customers will be added, for a total of 10.5 million by the end of 2008.

Chavez explained that under privatization CANTV focused mainly on expanding its cell phone system, at the expense of its land lines, which Chavez blamed on capitalist profit-seeking, at the expense of any social considerations. “The path of capitalism is the destruction of society, of division, of violence and beyond, the path of the destruction of the human species,” he stated.

Also included in the new business plan for CANTV is the supply of internet connections to all Venezuelan schools, so that by the end of 2007 5,200 Bolivarian schools will have internet access with a minimum of three computers each. By the end of 2008 all school will have access.

Finally, Chavez announced that as of early 2008 coin operated public telephones will be reintroduced in all of Venezuela. Over the past ten years CANTV had completely eliminated coin operated public phones, in favor of pre-paid card phones. The new coin phones will come with the monetary conversion that is planned for January 2008, whereby three zeros will be eliminated from Venezuela’s currency.

The three main new directors of CANTV are women, with Socorro Hernandez as president, Jacqueline Faria, the former Minister of the Environment, heading up the cell phone division Movilnet, and Annie Monage heading up the phone directory system Caveguias.

Communal Telecommunications Committees

Chavez also explained that in order to achieve the expansion plans he outlined, CANTV will need the help of the communal councils, which should form technical telecommunications committees. “Only with community participation will we achieve that these companies will be truly socialist,” said Chavez.

Tens of thousands of communal councils, which represent neighborhoods of 200 to 400 families, have been created in the past year and a half throughout Venezuela. Each communal council has a variety of committees that work on improving the neighborhood’s public services, such as water supply, health care, and community education programs. These work in conjunction with various state institutions, such as the water company, the community health mission Barrio Adentro, or the educational missions, such as Missions Ribas and Robinson.

In connection with this Chavez also mentioned that the new law on a national police, which will be passed soon, will not only create a national police force, but communal police as well, which would work in conjunction with the communal councils.

See also: Venezuela Buys Controlling Stake in Main Telecomm Co.

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LETTERS - Local investment

Local investment
By Lawrence Mindela
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

I can't believe that President Mwanawasa and his clique of politicians can barely learn from Zambia's past experience. As much as I appreciate Chinese investment, I also want to point out that Zambia is behaving like man can only live on bread alone. We know that we have no back-up to our our economy; We do not have manufacturing industries to hold any significant economic gain. Then what good does it do Zambia to throw economic development in the hands of foreigners?

We have seen enough of this. Mwanawasa must learn his lesson. Where is Mansa Batteries? Aren't these lessons enough that Zambia needs to empower Zambians so they can compete favourably with the so-called foreign investors?

How can we honestly offer better incentives to people who will leave the country at anytime and yet you deny people who will stick with you even in hard times? I find this really ridiculous.

I am not an expert but I think this government is behaving like commercial sex workers who only live for today because tomorrow will sort itself out.

We need to start planning for the future of our country but I don't see that happening with the current crop of politicians because they can't see beyond the one metre range.


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=26924

Abolition of visas
By Mangala Fwati, Mufulira
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

Having travelled extensively among some African countries on business trips, I found your article which appeared in the Sunday Post of May 20, 2007 on page 5 entitled “35 International NGOs call for abolition of visas among African nations” interesting to read.

I witnessed how a certain woman of West African origin was troubled as she was travelling through Zambia, Zimbabwe and eventually South Africa. The woman was travelling by road in the company of three children aged between 3 and 6 years.

My heart bled as I witnessed how this woman was interrogated from one border post to the next. Due to these same restrictions, the woman lost one of her child’s cardigans and the weather was quite harsh.

She was made to stand for minutes on end for the officers to let her go.
What compounded the situation was her inability to communicate effectively in English. Africans seem to be suspicious of fellow Africans.

I also look at how our brothers in Zimbabwe waste so much stationary taking irrelevant statistics on people entering Zimbabwe.
They collect such details as how many days you’ll spend in that country, how much you intend to spend, mode of transport, when we all know that such pieces of paper are discarded the moment the passenger leaves the immigration offices.

Cutting down on some of these procedures will not only save colossal amounts of money for our governments but will also ease movement among African states and further consolidate unity in Africa.

Of course, I wouldn’t want to promote lawlessness, but certainly we can do something to ease the agony caused by red tape among our borders.

I strongly support the views held in your article. I hope that that call will be heeded.



http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=26923

Leaders and wisdom
By M.Musonda
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

The development of Zambia in all respects, lies in a leadership which is free from hatred, bitterness and vengeance, and above all leadership with integrity and morality.

Most of the current political leadership fall short of these qualities. Recently The Post has been quoting the Holy Bible for some of the qualities that are neccessary in the leadership that can propel this nation forward.

I agree with that, and the Bible indeed gives some guidelines of how to choose/elect a leader. Such scriptures include: Acts 1:24; Acts 6:3; Exodus 18:21-23; 2 Samuel 7:8 and Psalm 14:34. The standards used in Zambia for choosing leadership are very wrong and worrisome.

In view of the above, as a nation let us look seriously and very closely at Dr Nevers Mumba; he may be the man Zambia needs at the moment and the near future to break this cycle of hatred, bitterness and vengeance in the leadership. I join the many voices that are calling on Dr Mumba to consider re-joining the MMD.

I believe the MMD will welcome such a move. Let God help us, as a nation, to put the right people in leadership for Zambia to move forward in love, forgiveness and prosperity.





http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=26931

Chiluba's attack on The Post
By Reuben Musonda Mwango, Oregon USA
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

I wish to add my voice to the calls to have former president Chiluba return the money that he stole from the Zambian people.

First of all, I wish to condemn the diversion of attention from the issue at hand that Chiluba through his assistant Emmanuel Mwamba is trying to engineer.

I read your May 22, 2007 article entitled and I qoute "Chiluba accuses The Post of hatred' with utter disgust. In actual fact The Post has supported Chiluba on occasions when it was necessary and he knows it.

Only an ungrateful person would now say that The Post has an agenda against him. Honestly, what possible agenda can anyone have against a thief if it is not to make sure he faces justice?
Chiluba, I wish to remind you that if it was not for your social standing, you know what Zambians do to thieves. Not that Zambians are barbarians but because we work so hard for what we have, but to have someone steal from us.

A piece of advice to you: As the Bemba saying goes, 'Amano yafuma mwifwesa, yaya muculu', please just return the funds because believe me, some of us might be too young to actually do anything right now but when the time comes, that money will be sought and returned or the long arm of the law shall visit you because we are tomorrow’s leaders.
So please make your retirement an actual retirement and not a jail sentence.

You really thought you would bribe us with the old, dilapidated houses you were giving away? Be reminded that Zambians are not foolish and one of these days, you might just find yourself at the market place without the police.



http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=26933

Electoral malpractices
By Dr Andrew Phiri, UNZA
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

Your editorial of 22nd May, 2007 titled “Costly by-elections” was elaborate and looked at attitudes of voters and those seeking political office as well as concerns about law enforcement agencies and the Electoral Commission.

The by-elections are indeed as costly much as they are unnecessary. Perhaps your editorial should also have tackled the opportunity cost for the presidential vote.
What is the contribution of the reported electoral malpractices to the election of the President? These malpractices didn’t only affect the Parliament vote, did they?

Noteworthy are the effects such practices have on the constitution of Parliament, various appointments and policy issues.
The costs involved in any election and post-election period are more than meets the eye and when looked at critically, spiral and snowball out of control when you add by-elections.

Every aspect of our livelihood is affected by those persons who are elected dubiously and oversee government operations.
Clement Stone stated that “There is little difference in people but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative”.




http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=26930

Unrealistic lending rates
By Concerned Student
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

It's amazing how banks these days are ripping off Zambian citizens in the rates they charge on lending. On average the lending rates are between 23-30 per cent, that is, base rate plus margin! The sad thing is that credit interest on accounts is on average less than 3 per cent per anum.

Imagine you give customers 3 per cent credit interest versus 30 per cent charges on lending. When asked why this is so, they justify it by claiming a lot is taken into account when calculating the lending rates. They even go as far as claiming parameters like tax, inflation and other fringe costs compose the price of lending.

I stand to question this computation in the context of why they do not take the inflation rate effect on the computation of the credit interest rate on savings and other bank accounts. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to calculate the profit percentage they are making. 30 per cent vs. 3 per cent is 27 per cent profit!

No wonder they say banks always win no matter what state of the business cycle the economy is in. This is why the average layman can’t even keep money in a bank because aside the meager credit interest the service charges are high, in fact even higher (when expressed as a percentage) than credit interest itself.

On behalf of the struggling Zambians, I would like to urge management of these commercial banks to be realistic in the rates they lend!




http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=26901

Road infrastructure
By Gilbert Wandi
Wednesday May 23, 2007 [04:00]

Recently I was on a trip to Southern Province from the 7th to 11th May and visited Chikankata, Namwala and Siavonga areas.

I am disappointed with the road infrastructure I found in these areas. I can’t understand why after 43 years of independence we still can’t have all-weather roads in the country. When is the government going to finish tarring the Chikankata and the Namwala/Choma roads?

These two roads are important in these areas because farmers and the travelling public depend on them.

I even wonder why we are still have bad roads in rural areas when we have that machinery which came from China. What are those graders, compactors and tippers being used for if we can’t use them to repair bad gravel roads in the rural areas?

It is sad that while we can’t manage to tar new roads, we can’t at the same time even manage to maintain the existing ones.

I am appealing to the Southern Province Permanent Secretary to have a drive on the Batoka/Gwembe road and see for himself how bad the road has become.

There is one spot on this road where there is a big crater which has eaten half of the road and this place has become very dangerous and if nothing is done very soon we will hear that people have died at this same spot and we should not wait for that to happen.

Rains have stopped now and this is the time the government is supposed to be in full swing repairing feeder roads in rural areas to assist farmers transport their harvests to markets without much problems. Why are we not proactive to problems?

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Chiluba's extravagance is terrifying

Chiluba's extravagance is terrifying
By Editor
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

IT is very annoying that Frederick Chiluba doesn’t see anything wrong with him spending over a million dollars of taxpayers’ money on designer suits, shirts and shoes. Even if this were his personal money, as he wants to claim, this would still be wrong. As Dr Kenneth Kaunda has correctly observed, Chiluba’s extravagance is terrifying. Even Emelda Marcos didn’t accumulate so many shoes. And one can excuse Emelda because she was not president, she was not in charge of the government of the Philippines - it was her husband, Ferdinand, who was president. This is not to say Emelda’s extravagance is excusable and should be followed by first ladies.

Chiluba’s extravagance and abuse of public funds is a clear testimony that the man didn’t care much about this country and its people; he didn’t care about the plight of the poor. But as Dr Kaunda has said, a lesson should be learnt and never again should the people of this country put into power such an idiot, such a lunatic, such a senseless and insensitive person.

And anyone who doesn’t see anything wrong in what Chiluba did is not fit to be a politician in this country and should never be voted for.

The Zambian people should be ready to openly campaign against any politician who is prepared to defend Chiluba’s abuses, thefts and general banditry. Sometimes one would wish this foolish man were never born, or if born, not in this country. But since we don’t wish any humanity anywhere in the world to have such a reckless person for a leader, we would wish Chiluba were not born at all. And since he is already with us, and he has already done so much harm to our country, we can only wish and hope that never again should our country and our people be subjected to such mediocrity and senselessness.

What we need is a political leadership that cares all the time. We need a leadership that doesn’t think this is the soft sentiment, that doesn’t think it’s ‘wet’. We need a leadership that realises and accepts the fact that caring is the essence of strength. It is time our politicians started to realise that strength without care is savage and brutal and selfish. And because Chiluba did not see things this way, his whole reign was savage, brutal and selfish. Only a savage can do what Chiluba did; only a selfish person can abuse public funds in the manner Chiluba did.

There is need for our politicians and all other leaders to realise that strength with care is compassion - the practical action that is needed to help people lift themselves to their full stature. That’s real care - it is not soft or weak. It is tough and strong. But where do we get that strength to provide that care? Do we wait for some stroke of good fortune, some benign giant, some socially conscious Samson to come along and pick up the wretched of the earth? Of course we don’t.

What we need to do is cooperate with each other, to collect together, to coordinate our efforts so that everyone can contribute to the building of a more fair, just and humane Zambia under which everyone can benefit, everyone has responsibilities, everyone has rights. That way, we will be able to make the weak strong; that way, we will be able to lift the needy, make the sick whole, give talent the chance to flourish and end unemployment. We have to do it together. And when we do it together, it is called collective strength, collective care. And its whole purpose should be individual freedom and dignity.

We know it is hard for most Zambians to understand what Chiluba did, but sometimes painful things like this happen. But we have to bravely face them and take corrective action. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.

What Chiluba did is totally unacceptable and no sensible or decent person can defend it. And no matter how entertaining, how fulfilling to short-term egos, can one play games with people’s lives? Our people will not, cannot, tolerate posturing. We all see the casualties, even the blind can see them. They are not to be found amongst the leaders of the Chiluba type; they are to be found amongst the people whose lives are crushed, whose living standards are pushed down to deeper depths of insecurity and misery.

There are some who will say that power and principle are somehow in conflict. Those people who think that power and principle are in conflict only demonstrate the superficiality, the shallowness of their political convictions.

And although it can correctly be said that no section of society has all the virtues, neither does any have all the vices, what Chiluba did will not be approved by any part of our society. This may explain why very very few people can today stand up to openly defend Chiluba’s abuses. We are quite sure that most of our people try to do their jobs as best as they can, even if the result is not always entirely successful. It is said that he who has never failed to reach perfection has a right to be the harshest critic. There can be no doubt, of course, that criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life.

No institution should be expected to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don’t. But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society and that scrutiny, by one party of another, can be just as effective if it is made with a touch of understanding and sincerity. This sort of questioning can also act, and it should do so, as an effective engine for change of behaviour or conduct. It is this approach that enabled us to bring Chiluba to account for his abuses of public resources and indeed power.

And this is not for the sake of humiliating anyone but it is for the purpose of redeeming society and enabling it to make the necessary changes. We cannot continue to have the leaders of the Chiluba type in our country and hope to prosper.

Everything possible must be done to ensure that never again should this country be governed by such a shameless thief and petty-minded person who can empty a huge portion of the nation’s treasury into a boutique and come out with tonnes of suits, shirts and shoes - not to distribute to the nation’s naked - but for his own personal use. When one looks at things this way, it becomes easy to understand why many of our people find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to tolerate Chiluba’s thefts and abuses. This is not hatred for Chiluba as a human being, but for his stupidity, idiocy and shameful conduct. Truly, Chiluba’s extravagance is terrifying.

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Chiluba's extravagance is terrifying, says KK

Chiluba's extravagance is terrifying, says KK
By Brighton Phiri
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

CHILUBA’s extravagance is terrifying, Dr Kenneth Kaunda has said.
In an interview, Dr Kaunda said revelations by the London High Court judgment that former president Frederick Chiluba spent more than US $1 million public funds on suits, shirts and shoes made sad reading.

"Young man, it is extremely sad that any leader anywhere could do a thing like this. It is extremely terrifying that someone leading a country which is poverty stricken, requiring construction of schools, hospitals, health centres and other strategic infrastructure, could spend over US $1 million on personal clothes," Dr Kaunda said. "Is it surprising that we have now received this London High Court judgment? It is not surprising at all!"

Dr Kaunda said it was not possible for any leader under his administration to spend public funds wastefully because they had a leadership code that guided them on how to deal with public funds.

"Young man, we had a leadership code which those many leaders had strictly followed. I was personally as leader, very proud of them," he said.

Dr Kaunda said Zambians could only blame themselves for electing Chiluba as Republican president. He asked Zambians to take elections seriously because they gave them a chance to choose leaders of their choice and those who could serve them.

"Well, we can only blame ourselves as Zambians for electing a leader who can do this. We must take elections seriously and never again elect for ourselves this type of leadership," Dr Kaunda said. He expressed hope that none of those who aspired to be leaders of Zambia ever behaved like Chiluba.

Recently London High Court Judge Peter Smith Judge established that Chiluba paid US $1,029,400 of government money to Boutique Basile for his wardrobe.

Judge Smith stated that Chiluba's personal effects seized by the Task Force were considerable. "First there were 349 shirts. A large number of these bore the FJT monogram on them and they were from virtually every designer outlet. Second, there were 206 jackets and suits. A large number of these were from Basile bearing the FJT monogram.

Third, there were 72 pairs of shoes. A large number of these were handmade by Basile with the FJT logo. All were for FJT's unique personal specification (high heels)," said judge Smith. "Many of them were in their original shoe covers and had not been used. There were a large number of other items."

And on Africa Freedom Day, Dr Kaunda said all Africans needed to reflect on their responsibilities to mother Africa.
He reminded African leaders to review their strategies of running the continent because it had all the natural resources to foster economic development.

"It is a question of how do we add value to our natural resources, are we enjoying ownership of these natural resources?" he asked.
Dr Kaunda asked African leaders to be honest to the people they were serving.

"It can't take long before we can build schools, roads and hospitals," he said. "Where leaders have genuine love for their people, they will avoid doing things that make them feel to be pampered by other foreign leaders so as to feel they were in power."

He urged African leaders to avoid bowing before foreign leaders whose interest was not that of serving the continent.

"When we become subservient to other leaders of other countries and ignore defending our position against anything from outside, then we are committing a sin against God," he said.

Dr Kaunda asked Zambians to use Africa Freedom Day to reflect on how they treated the freedom fighters when the MMD took over power in 1991.

He said it was sad that the Chiluba regime failed to recognise the freedom fighters' contribution by denying them their retirement packages.

"We left government in 1991, having prepared for all those who had served this nation to the best of their ability. We made arrangements for their retirement, for those who served God the creator and his children," he said.

"Therefore, obediently, appreciating what they did in their service for this country, we prepared their retirement benefits at different levels, from lowest to my position as president of the nation. All this was written and published. It was truthful and constitutional, but when the Chiluba government took over, they abolished all that. That was the beginning of the suffering of the freedom fighters."

Dr Kaunda said Chiluba's regime went as far as claiming back from the freedom fighters what was due to them.

"That included myself as president. As I have said publicly, I had no house in Lusaka, therefore, I ended up staying at Luanshya mine guest house, but as that was not enough, as the Chiluba government had done to the rest of my colleagues, I was chucked out.

It was very sad to see my comrades at a low point of leadership in the UNIP government being made to pay back to government what the outgoing Parliament prepared for them. It can be seen from this that our retirement was not a happy one, especially when one looks at what we had done for the country."

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Integrity committee will ensure accountability - ACC

Integrity committee will ensure accountability - ACC
By Nomusa Michelo
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

ANTI-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairperson Justice Valentine Chileshe has called on members of the public to lodge complaints of inefficiency and administrative malpractice to the newly established Integrity Committee.

Flagging off the dissemination of the ACC Integrity Committee & Code of Ethics at ACC offices yesterday, Justice Chileshe said this was crucial to ensure that the ACC was accountable to the public.
"I further call upon the ACC staff and the general public to make the integrity committee accountable to them by lodging complaints of inefficiency, and related administrative malpractices to it," he said.

"The media should be interested in the ACC integrity committee's, activities and in the activities of the other integrity committee's namely Zambia Police, Immigration Department, Ministry of Lands, Zambia Revenue Authority, Ndola City Council, Lusaka City Council and Public Service Pensions Fund because this is one sure way of ensuring that the integrity committee’s are accountable and the initiative works."

Justice Chileshe said the government through the ACC was in the process of developing a National Anti-Corruption Policy and Strategy.
He said a key element of the strategy was the need to prevent corruption and other malpractices in organisations by having individual organisations introducing Corruption Prevention Mechanisms therein.

He said extensive research by the ACC had shown that the use of Integrity Committees was an effective strategy of institutionalizing the prevention of corruption and other malpractices.
"The Concept of Integrity Committees is a revolutionary opportunity approved by the government to assist ourselves as Zambians improve governance and therefore, service delivery in our Public Institutions," he said.

Justice Chileshe explained that the need to institutionalise the prevention of corruption had come from the Zambian people.

He said on October 26, 2004, President Levy Mwanawasa launched the National Governance Baseline Survey (NGBS) report, which contained the findings of the views of the Zambians on corruption in the country.

"The results of this survey show that corruption is a serious problem in Zambia, especially at points where public officials interact with members of the public to provide public services to them," he said. "About 80 per cent of families and public officials in Zambia rated corruption in the public sector as a very serious problem, while 67 per cent of the managers rated it as the biggest problem in doing business in Zambia."

Justice Chileshe also thanked the Department For International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, the Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for their financial and technical support in the implementation of the just launched initiatives.

And ACC director general Nixon Banda said the Code of Ethics required members of staff of the ACC to put public interest before their own private interests.

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Formulate policy to improve investment, EAZ urges govt

Formulate policy to improve investment, EAZ urges govt
By Staffer
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:01]

THE Economics Association of Zambia (EAZ) has urged government to come up with a policy that will help improve investment in Zambia. On Tuesday, the Zambia Business Forum (ZBF) revealed that the country only received one per cent of foreign direct investment compared to the other countries found in the Eastern and Southern African Region.

EAZ chairperson Dr Mwilola Imakando said, Zambia was still a less attractive destination than Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia despite the record high mining prices.

“Indications from Zambia Business Forum (ZBF) presentation show that there are no grounds for complacency about investment in Zambia,” Dr Imakando said.

He said foreign direct investment was still predominantly in mining and investment was still not enough to produce the growth Zambia needed.

“The main task of the investment policy is to change this scenario and fast,” Dr Imakando noted.

He explained that it was important for government to realise that encouraging investment did not mean letting investors have huge profits, pay poor wages to workers and damage the environment.

“Investment means assuring a decent return on investment, a reasonably stable and predictable regulatory environment, minimal corruption, sensible sectoral policies and a government reasonably friendly to business,” Dr Imakando said.

He added that government should help to de-politicise investment and business policy by concentrating on the big picture.

“Let the system deal with the crooks and loonies, policy makers should concentrate on making sure the basic system is operating well,” Dr Imakando said.

He said the government should discourage negotiating incentives with individual companies every time a pledge was made.

“What is needed are incentives that can be accessed by any one company that meets the criteria and performance benchmarks,” said Imakando.

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Mataka's appointment is a testimony of women in development process

Mataka's appointment is a testimony of women in development process -
By Sandra Lombe
Thursday May 24, 2007 [04:00]

WOMEN for Change (WfC) executive director Emily Sikazwe has said the appointment of Elizabeth Mataka as United Nations HIV/AIDS Special Envoy for Africa is a testimony of women in the development process.

And the Non-Governmental Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has said it is optimistic that Mataka's appointment will lead to increased and effective service for Africa and Zambia.

Sikazwe yesterday said Mataka had made Zambians proud.
"She has been at the heart of the fight against HIV/AIDS. She has made us proud Zambian women to represent us," Sikazwe said.
And NGOCC chairperson Marian Munyinda said Mataka's appointment was a clear indication of her capacity and worth in the fight against the pandemic.

"The women's movement is therefore hopeful that Mrs Mataka's appointment will lead to increased and effective service for Africa and Zambia as a whole," she said.

"Recently Mrs Mataka was elected vice- chairperson of the Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, the series of her appointments demonstrates the fact that there is a lot of potential in women if only they are given the opportunity."

Munyinda said Mataka's appointment was a plus for people living with HIV/AIDS especially women and children.
She said the NGOCC was delighted that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was committed to affirmative action for women.

She maintained that no meaningful development would take place without full participation of women in decision-making and developmental processes.

"In this view, we call upon our Republican President Levy Mwanawasa to emulate this effort and commitment by appointing more women to decision-making positions so that the visibility of women is maintained," said Munyinda.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001

S. 494 [107th]: Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001

S.494

One Hundred Seventh Congress
of the
United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and one

An Act
To provide for a transition to democracy and to promote economic recovery in Zimbabwe.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

It is the policy of the United States to support the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve broad-based and equitable economic growth, and restore the rule of law.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS- The term `international financial institutions' means the multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund.

(2) MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS- The term `multilateral development banks' means the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency.

SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

(a) FINDINGS- Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Through economic mismanagement, undemocratic practices, and the costly deployment of troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Government of Zimbabwe has rendered itself ineligible to participate in International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Monetary Fund programs, which would otherwise be providing substantial resources to assist in the recovery and modernization of Zimbabwe's economy. The people of Zimbabwe have thus been denied the economic and democratic benefits envisioned by the donors to such programs, including the United States.

(2) In September 1999 the IMF suspended its support under a `Stand By Arrangement', approved the previous month, for economic adjustment and reform in Zimbabwe.

(3) In October 1999, the International Development Association (in this section referred to as the `IDA') suspended all structural adjustment loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.

(4) In May 2000, the IDA suspended all other new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe.

(5) In September 2000, the IDA suspended disbursement of funds for ongoing projects under previously-approved loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.


(b) SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY-

(1) BILATERAL DEBT RELIEF- Upon receipt by the appropriate congressional committees of a certification described in subsection (d), the Secretary of the Treasury shall undertake a review of the feasibility of restructuring, rescheduling, or eliminating the sovereign debt of Zimbabwe held by any agency of the United States Government.

(2) MULTILATERAL DEBT RELIEF AND OTHER FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE- It is the sense of Congress that, upon receipt by the appropriate congressional committees of a certification described in subsection (d), the Secretary of the Treasury should--

(A) direct the United States executive director of each multilateral development bank to propose that the bank should undertake a review of the feasibility of restructuring, rescheduling, or eliminating the sovereign debt of Zimbabwe held by that bank; and

(B) direct the United States executive director of each international financial institution to which the United States is a member to propose to undertake financial and technical support for Zimbabwe, especially support that is intended to promote Zimbabwe's economic recovery and development, the stabilization of the Zimbabwean dollar, and the viability of Zimbabwe's democratic institutions.

(c) MULTILATERAL FINANCING RESTRICTION- Until the President makes the certification described in subsection (d), and except as may be required to meet basic human needs or for good governance, the Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against--

(1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or

(2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.


(d) PRESIDENTIAL CERTIFICATION THAT CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARE SATISFIED- A certification under this subsection is a certification transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees of a determination made by the President that the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) RESTORATION OF THE RULE OF LAW- The rule of law has been restored in Zimbabwe, including respect for ownership and title to property, freedom of speech and association, and an end to the lawlessness, violence, and intimidation sponsored, condoned, or tolerated by the Government of Zimbabwe, the ruling party, and their supporters or entities.

(2) ELECTION OR PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS- Either of the following two conditions is satisfied:

(A) PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION- Zimbabwe has held a presidential election that is widely accepted as free and fair by independent international monitors, and the president-elect is free to assume the duties of the office.

(B) PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS- In the event the certification is made before the presidential election takes place, the Government of Zimbabwe has sufficiently improved the pre-election environment to a degree consistent with accepted international standards for security and freedom of movement and association.

(3) COMMITMENT TO EQUITABLE, LEGAL, AND TRANSPARENT LAND REFORM- The Government of Zimbabwe has demonstrated a commitment to an equitable, legal, and transparent land reform program consistent with agreements reached at the International Donors' Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1998.

(4) FULFILLMENT OF AGREEMENT ENDING WAR IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO- The Government of Zimbabwe is making a good faith effort to fulfill the terms of the Lusaka, Zambia, agreement on ending the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(5) MILITARY AND NATIONAL POLICE SUBORDINATE TO CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT- The Zimbabwean Armed Forces, the National Police of Zimbabwe, and other state security forces are responsible to and serve the elected civilian government.

(e) WAIVER- The President may waive the provisions of subsection (b)(1) or subsection (c), if the President determines that it is in the national interest of the United States to do so.

SEC. 5. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS, THE FREE PRESS AND INDEPENDENT MEDIA, AND THE RULE OF LAW.

(a) IN GENERAL- The President is authorized to provide assistance under part I and chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to--

(1) support an independent and free press and electronic media in Zimbabwe;

(2) support equitable, legal, and transparent mechanisms of land reform in Zimbabwe, including the payment of costs related to the acquisition of land and the resettlement of individuals, consistent with the International Donors' Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1998, or any subsequent agreement relating thereto; and

(3) provide for democracy and governance programs in Zimbabwe.

(b) FUNDING- Of the funds authorized to be appropriated to carry out part I and chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for fiscal year 2002--

(1) $20,000,000 is authorized to be available to provide the assistance described in subsection (a)(2); and

(2) $6,000,000 is authorized to be available to provide the assistance described in subsection (a)(3).

(c) SUPERSEDES OTHER LAWS- The authority in this section supersedes any other provision of law.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN AGAINST INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE FOR VIOLENCE AND THE BREAKDOWN OF THE RULE OF LAW IN ZIMBABWE.

It is the sense of Congress that the President should begin immediate consultation with the governments of European Union member states, Canada, and other appropriate foreign countries on ways in which to--

(1) identify and share information regarding individuals responsible for the deliberate breakdown of the rule of law, politically motivated violence, and intimidation in Zimbabwe;

(2) identify assets of those individuals held outside Zimbabwe;

(3) implement travel and economic sanctions against those individuals and their associates and families; and

(4) provide for the eventual removal or amendment of those sanctions.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.

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