Posts Tagged ‘Rupiah Banda’

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ZAMBIA SEEKS STRONG TRADE TIES WITH EGYPT

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

By ZAMBIA NEWS FEATURES CORRESPONDENT

ZAMBIA’S Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Felix Mutati in Egypt with President Rupiah Banda who is on a state visit in that country, said government was on a mission to revamp trade between the two countries with Zambia recording a trade surplus of US$320 million driven by copper exports.

Mutati, said the delegation comprising seven cabinet ministers and business people to Egypt was exploring areas of co-operation and investment in the agriculture, construction sectors and adding value to the energy sector.
The minister said the investment value of Egyptian companies in Zambia was at US$120 million in the manufacturing industry which was not enough looking at the size of Egypt with a population of over 80 million.
He said the Zambian government through the Egypt –Zambia business forum, which is running parallel to the state visit, wants to persuade Egyptian business people to invest in Zambia and disclosed that a direct flight from Cairo to Lusaka would be launched in mid-January which would help boost trade between the two countries.
Mutati also said the Zambian delegation has learnt a number of lessons on how Egypt has
utilised and developed the tourism sector which this year attracted 40 million tourists.
President Banda who this morning held private talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, was expect to witness the signing of two contracts between Egypt Electrometer Limited and the Zambia Electricity Company (ZESCO) at the business forum.

(See earlier story here)

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ZAMBIA’S RUPIAH BANDA EGYPT-BOUND

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

By ZAMBIAN NEWS FEATURES CORRESPONDENT

ZAMBIAN President Rupiah Banda is on Monday expected to travel to Egypt where he has been invited for a State visit by that country’s President Hosni Mubarak where he is due to hold high-level talks in the capital, Cairo.

In a statement by State House spokesman Dickson Jere, President Banda will later present a keynote address to the Zambia-Egypt Business Forum to be attended by a Zambian business delegation and Egyptian investors.

President Banda has said he was looking forward to the State visit to Egypt, a country where he began his career as a diplomat, serving as Ambassador during the reign of President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and Abdel Nasser of Egypt.

The two countries have maintained high-level bilateral relations and recently signed various memoranda of understanding in various fields including agriculture, land, livestock and fisheries, and science and technology.

“It is for this reason that I am inviting Egyptian and Zambian business fraternities to form a Zambia-Egypt Business Council to spearhead trade between the two countries,” President Banda said ahead of the visit.

President Banda will be accompanied to Egypt by First Lady Thandiwe Banda, Defence Minister Kalombo Mwansa, Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande, Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane, Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Felix Mutati, Energy and Water Development Minister Kenneth Konga, Presidential Affairs Minister Ronald Mukuma, Lands Minister Gladys Lundwe, and other Senior Government Officials.

President Banda and his delegation will also attend a luncheon to be hosted by President Mubarak in honour of the Zambian Head of State.

President Banda and his delegation are due to return to Zambia after completing the scheduled business in Egypt.

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ESTABLISH A TASK FORCE TO WORK ON THE CONSTITUTION

Friday, August 6th, 2010

By HENRY KYAMBALESA, Agenda for Zambia

Over the years, the people’s call for a Republican constitution that is expected to stand the test of time has been loud and clear. Unfortunately, we have wasted a good portion of our country’s meager resources on financing the Chona Constitution Commission, the Mvunga Constitution Review Commission, the Mwanakatwe Constitution Review Commission, and the Mung’omba Constitutional Review Commission without coming up with such a constitution.

We are now grappling with the draft constitution recently tendered by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC), which is apparently laden with Articles and Clauses that are partisan, short-term and discriminatory in nature. It has too many contentious issues, errors and inconsistencies, which are predictably going to elicit nationwide demonstrations and potentially culminate in losses of property and human life if the authorities attempt to push it through by hook and crook.

I, therefore, wish to urge President Rupiah Banda to appoint an ad hoc task force consisting of at most 30 citizens who do not currently hold leadership positions in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), political parties, religious institutions, the labor movement, the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, the civil service, and the House of Chiefs.

The terms of reference for the task force should be to identify and examine contentious issues, errors and inconsistencies in: (a) the 1996 Republican constitution; and (b) the draft constitutions of the Chona Constitution Commission, the Mvunga Constitution Review Commission, the Mwanakatwe Constitution Review Commission, the Mung’omba Constitutional Review Commission, and the National Constitutional Conference.

Moreover, the task force should be required to prepare a draft constitution based on its findings. It could be given 1 year to complete its work, and its output could thereafter be tabled for comments by the citizenry.

We can hold the forthcoming tripartite elections under the 1996 constitution in its current form. It would not be prudent to push through a controversial and potentially divisive constitution just because we have spent unprecedented amounts of public resources on it. I believe it is much more important for the output of the constitution-making process to be widely acceptable.

It is shameful that after nearly 46 years of political independence, we have failed to give ourselves an acceptable constitution. Is there something that is innately deficient in us? How can personal, partisan and short-term interests inhibit us from working together to craft a constitution that will stand the test of time?

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