President Edgar Lungu's pronouncements made during the swearing in of the ACC Commissioners cannot go without comment and as Transparency International Zambia, we wish to make a couple of responses to what was said: While we agree with President Lungu that corruption, whenever it rears its ugly head, should be nipped in the bud, we...

I wish to start by congratulating Prof. Nkandu Luo for the appointment as Minister of Fisheries and Livestock. Congratulations madam! You have a big task ahead of you, but I believe you are equal to the task given your academic accolades and experience, which are useful for the transformation of the livestock sector. The Ministry...

Human capital enables countries to harness skills, knowledge, and innovation to grow their economies and improve the well-being of their citizens. The significance of education and knowledge to a country cannot be over emphasized. In many countries education is viewed as a fundamental human right. It is one of the fundamental criteria to quantify the...

Earlier this month, the Government through the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) announced that preparations for the FISP for the 2019/2020 farming season were underway putting in place measures that will ensure that farming inputs are distributed to all districts and issued to farmers before the onset of the rains. These measures include: closing of all...

Currently, there is inexplicable hype for village chicken rearing in Lusaka and other urban areas. What are the drivers behind this hype? Is it because everyone is doing it or the profits involved? Are village chicken farmers conversant with the market survey? What is the cost of production? Is village chicken rearing a missed investment...

The recent cyclone Idai which affected Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi left almost 2 million people needing emergency help, killed over a thousand people and left damage worth billions of dollars. These occurrences should make the naysayers start believing in the reality of climate change or global warming. Global warming is average rise in the temperature...

We use big words in business but the bottom-line remains that a business exists to make money. A plane is a plane. We have single engine planes that fly and we also have the Airbus A380 aircraft. They more or less have the same functions but only differ in terms of capacity, efficiency and impact....

I had met him a few times before when he came to officially open training programmes in which my company, Bridges Limited, was involved. However, last week gave me an incredible long encounter with Henk Mulder, Zanaco Managing Director. At personal level, Mulder is extremely easy to engage; I doubt he has strangers on his...

In 2018, CUTS found that 58% of e-voucher users prefer the e-voucher to the traditional FISP; last week we met with farmers who confirmed that they believe the e-voucher to be the future. Over the next four months, CUTS will explain the benefits of the e-voucher giving a case for the 100% roll out of...

In 2018, CUTS found that 58% of e-voucher users prefer the e-voucher to the traditional FISP; last week we met with farmers who confirmed that they believe the e-voucher to be the future. Over the next four months, CUTS will explain the benefits of the e-voucher giving a case for the 100% roll out of...

In 2017, a couple of months after my arrival from my assignment at the International Monetary Fund, Steven Din, the Chief Executive Officer of Konkola Copper Mines at the time, invited me for a meeting at the company’s Lusaka office. He had wanted me to be on the advisory team for his office, helping him...

The Public Order Act must go. Offensive sections to the freedom of assembly, association and speech had been struck down by the Supreme Court of Zambia in 1996 for they were more a hindrance to constitutional freedoms than they were regulatory. The Legislature tried to travel a compromising road by requiring notification to the police...

The recent statement by the British High Commissioner- Fergus Cochrane- Dyet that all direct funding from the UK government to Zambia, remains suspended following the allegations of misuse of funds for social cash transfer, is a matter of grave concern. Following the ZAMPOST Social Cash Transfer scandal of 2018, we expected and rightly so, that...

According to my own understanding, there are four types of entrepreneurs. The FIRST category involves natural entrepreneurs. They possess a certain enterprising gene. They are pro-active people and use a lot of initiative. From the moment they are born, they are selling literally anything of value such as meat, fish, vegetables, pop-corns, merchandise and bread....

The first building that one comes across when entering the University of Zambia, which sits on the terraces of a busy motorway to and from the country’s main international airport, is an imposing and massive structure known as the Confucius Institute. That the institute, named after a major icon of Chinese culture, has been erected...

A business culture attaches great importance on value for money, which is the ability to identify an opportunity, snap it and make money out of it. In every country, there are those simple-looking individuals who are prospering. They are very down-to-earth, behaving rather well with very simple business strategies. They do not actually struggle like...

27th of April was World Veterinary day, a day only known by very few Zambians. You may ask what the day is all about? Well, it is a day when the world celebrates the contributions of veterinarians to the health of animals and society. The World Veterinary Day falls on the last Saturday of April....

The thuggery of ruling Patriotic Front (PF) cadres never seems to cease and appears to grow more frequent as time passes. Media reports on their latest antics can be read or heard almost every week and produce much tutting and shaking of heads around dinner tables in Kabulonga, Ibex, Woodlands, Rhodes Park, Kalundu, Sunningdale, Longacres,...

INTRODUCTION Criminal defamation has continued to be a thorny issue in most countries around the globe. This is despite the fact that Freedom of expression is an indispensable avenue which empowers members of particular societies to demand better service delivery from, and expose any maladministration and corruption among those entrusted with political power by the...

On 28th March, News Diggers published my article titled, “Foot and Mouth Disease, drought and a harsh economy: a triple tragedy for the livestock markets and trade in Zambia”. In this article, I elucidated how these factors have disrupted livestock markets and trade. Those who wish to follow the story and participate in the discourse...

The first quarter of 2019 has not been friendly to the livestock industry in Zambia. This is due to among other things: drought in some areas of Southern, Western, Central, and Lusaka provinces. As if this was not enough, came an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Mbala, then Chisamba and finally Monze...

For a long time now, many of us have complained, sometimes with very persuasive arguments, that Zambia is where it is today because of bad leadership at the national level. We explain our country’s deepening crisis, illustrated by extreme cultural and material impoverishment, sustained institutional deterioration, heightened political divisions and economic decline made worse by...

On 19 March 2019, the heart of Brenda Muntemba, 49, ceased to beat, cutting short a soaring career in public service that was so distinguished that few would match it even if they were given a chance to start theirs all over again. Is this how fleeting life is? Yes, l had heard that she...