PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has directed local authorities to reduce property rates. Almost immediately, Local Government and Rural Development Minister Gift Sialubalo has followed through by ordering councils to urgently review and adjust those charges. This is a progressive intervention. For a long time, businesses have complained that property rates in some towns have become unreasonable and detached from economic reality. In most cases, councils have been charging rates that do not correspond with the level of service they provide, and the result has been frustration and widespread non-compliance. On this issue, the President deserves commendation for recognising a problem that has been choking small businesses and property owners for years. He was right to observe that one reason people are...