Monday, August 31, 2009

The Law, Authority & Public Interest...Who Prevails..Youths or the Powerful?

Mchenga fails to see damn good grounds of appeal
Written by Editor (Post Newspaper)

There is need for the nation to continue to reflect and meditate over Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal by magistrate Jones Chinyama. There is also need to deeply reflect over the manner in which the government of Rupiah Banda has handled the Chiluba case. And here, it is important to analyse the reasons they have given for refusing the matter to be appealed and decided upon by the High Court. This should be looked at in light of how they were quick to accept and celebrate Chiluba’s acquittal even before the reading of the judgment was completed. Last week, Chalwe Mchenga, the so-called Director of Public Prosecutions, out of desperation, gave some reasons why he collaborated in the decision to ensure that Chiluba goes scot-free.
Mchenga said there was no good case for appeal because the grounds were not sustainable, were weak. He went further to say the money that Chiluba is purported to have stolen was his own money that he had deposited in the government’s Zamtrop account. This is what Mchenga said in trying to justify his criminal decision not to appeal. But let’s closely look at his claims. Can Mchenga really claim that there was no ground strong enough to sustain an appeal? Our answer is a categorical no. The grounds that the Task Force had put in that appeal are not frivolous; they are very solid. And moreover, Mchenga is not a judge to decide matters in his chambers.
If this was his approach, which we don’t think is, there would be very few cases that would be going to court today because his own chambers is losing so many cases in our courts; their success rate cannot be said to be anywhere near 100 per cent. And we have matters in court right now that Mchenga has sanctioned which even a layman can see that there is no case here; but nevertheless, Mchenga has sanctioned the prosecution of such hopeless cases. And examples of these are many. The truth is Mchenga is not being truthful over his decision to withdraw the appeal against Chiluba. And Mchenga’s decision to withdraw that appeal has nothing to do with law, with the merits or demerits of the case. It has everything to do with the wishes of his political masters who tell him what to do. And we are not being malicious in saying so because this is the way Mchenga operates. He operated in this way with Chiluba over the Mactribuoy issue. And he prostituted himself in the same way with Levy Mwanawasa and George Kunda over the Kashiwa Bulaya case.

Today, Mchenga is doing the same thing over the Chiluba case with Rupiah and George. Clearly, this is not a matter of law; it is a matter of criminal dishonesty on the part of Mchenga who has surrendered constitutional responsibilities of the Director of Public Prosecutions to Rupiah and George. Today, these powers are being used to allow criminals who are their friends to go scot-free, to escape justice. We are being brutally frank with Mchenga because he has pushed his luck too far. We did not go for him in this manner over the Bulaya case but now we feel the truth has to be known by all our people because Mchenga’s abuses are threatening everything this country has achieved over the last 44 years. For Mchenga, pleasing George and, through George, Rupiah is more important than fighting corruption. Mchenga has never refused to do anything no matter how wrong it is for George. Unlike Caroline Sokoni who sacrificed her job by refusing George’s evil and corrupt manipulations, Mchenga went on to sign a nolle prosequi for Bulaya – a thing Caroline had refused to do and as a result lost the opportunity to be confirmed as Director of Public Prosecutions. Mchenga would rather betray the Zambian people than tell George that he is wrong. This is the person who is managing our public prosecutions.

Mchenga is a pathetic person, a danger to our national security.We shouldn’t forget the abuses that the office of Director of Public Prosecutions has been exposed to over the years. It is the likes of Mchenga who have been used to persecute innocent people whilst turning a blind eye to real crimes and criminals. Mchenga and his type have had the courage to stand in court and prosecute or persecute Chiluba’s political enemies just ‘to teach them a lesson’. We have already talked about Mactribuoy. That unfortunate fellow who is now deceased was prosecuted for all sorts of things just to teach him a lesson that you don’t flirt with Chiluba’s wife and get away with it. Chiluba even changed the law and made theft of motor vehicle a non-bailable offence so that Mactribuoy could be kept in jail, all this because Chiluba suspected that Mactribuoy was having an affair with his then wife. Whilst Chiluba was doing this to Mactribouy, he had taken over Regina, who was Mwanza’s wife at the time.

There are many innocent people Mchenga and his type prosecuted on behalf of Chiluba. Princess Nakatindi Wina, the late Dean Mung’omba, Rajan Mahtani and indeed Dr Kenneth Kaunda suffered detention, humiliation and physical and psychological torture because Mchenga and his friends could not tell Chiluba that there was no case against these people. And yet today Mchenga is telling us that he stopped the appeal of the Chiluba case because it was weak. When did Mchenga become this professional in his dealings? If we had not looked at the appeal ourselves and did not have the opportunity to follow the evidence the way we have, maybe Mchenga could have cheated us. Even with the rudimental law that we have learnt from the law school and through ZIALE, Mchenga is not making sense; Mchenga is simply trying to cheat using the law. As it is said, you can fool some people sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. We have taken time to look at the grounds of appeal.

It is not possible for any honest lawyer to say they lack merit. What lacks merit is Mchenga’s decision to withdraw that appeal. We know that for Mchenga and his political masters, the appeal lacked political merit because it was going to undo what they have obtained by the dint of deceit. If they were very clear that there is no case for appeal, they would have been the first ones to push for an appeal so that the case is permanently rested and their names are cleared of collusion in Chiluba’s acquittal. But they know very well that given an honest judge, the High Court would reverse Chiluba’s acquittal. And this is something they can’t take a risk on. That is the only reason that they stopped the appeal. We say this because that appeal wasn’t going to take long in court – it was going to be cleared in one or two sittings. Let’s now turn our attention to the seven grounds of appeal that were put up by the Task Force.

In the first ground, the Task Force argued that it was wrong in law for Chinyama to fail to convict Chiluba having found as a matter of fact that money from the Ministry of Finance was used for Chiluba’s personal and unlawful benefit. After having found this as a matter of fact, Chinyama clearly failed to apply the law and accordingly convict Chiluba. What is weak about this ground?In the second ground, the Task Force argued that even if Chinyama’s argument that there was some other money in the Zamtrop account which could have been Chiluba’s money, according to him, were accepted, where did this other money come from? Did Chiluba explain the sources of this money? Was Chinyama satisfied that this money was not a product of crime? Chiluba never testified under oath to be cross-examined. But how then did Chinyama resolve this issue? In the case of Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu, he convicted them for failing to explain the sources of monies they were playing with. Why was Chiluba different? Chiluba, like Faustin and Aaron, having failed to explain the sources of the monies he was using, should have been convicted under Section 188 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This is the law we learnt from law school and ZIALE, not the law Chinyama is applying.

Having failed to apply and contradicted himself within the same judgment, the state has a good basis for appealing Chiluba’s acquittal. Even on this ground alone, an appeal could be sustained. On the third ground, the Task Force argued something that makes a lot of sense even in simple logic. They were saying that Chinyama was wrong in law when he claimed that he was not convinced that Chiluba did not have private monies in a government account. How can a court of law say that a person can have private monies in a government account when Section 7 of the then applicable law the finance, control and management Act, clearly stipulates that monies deposited in a government account are government monies? If Chiluba had kept his private monies in such an account, he would be required to account for it, to show receipts, which he did not; or even proof of any previous attempt to claim that money from the state. For seven months after leaving State House, Chiluba never claimed any money from the Zamtrop account as personal money. How then can Chinyama say that he was not convinced Chiluba did not have private monies in a government account whilst convicting his accomplices? Such duplicity demonstrates serious defects in Chinyama’s acquittal of Chiluba, opening solid basis for an appeal. This same Chinyama, according to the grounds of appeal, had demanded that there was need for clearer evidence of the sources of the alleged private monies when he found Chiluba with a case to answer. Suddenly, he doesn’t need clearer evidence for Chiluba. All it took was an unsworn claim by Chiluba who refused to be cross-examined.

In the fourth ground of appeal, the Task Force argued that it was wrong for Chinyama to suggest that reimbursement of stolen monies is a defence to a charge of theft. The law we learnt tells us that Chinyama was wrong when he decided in that way. Claiming that after someone took government money, depositing private funds is a defence is simply wrong in law. Again, this is a good ground of appeal for an honest lawyer. It’s only dishonest lawyers like Mchenga who can’t see the merits of this ground. In ground five, the Task Force aptly argued that Chinyama was wrong in law when he decided that an unsworn statement can be relied upon where there is no evidence contradicting it when the law on unsworn statements is that such a statement is not evidence and cannot by itself prove any fact. This is such a legally significant ground of appeal that it is difficult to imagine that an honest lawyer, one occupying such a high office like the Director of Public Prosecutions can ignore.

Anyway, it is understandable that corruption and dishonesty make even wise men blind to the truth and prevent them from being honest in their dealings. Chiluba, knowing that he had a lot to explain, chose to give an unsworn statement which he used to make political pronouncements. He did not address the charges against him and yet Chinyama chose to accept his claims that he had private money in a government account. The law we know and the procedure we learnt from ZIALE tells us that Chinyama had no basis in law for accepting Chiluba’s evidence in the way he did. Even if he could have accepted that nonsense, Chiluba was required to explain the source of that money in terms of Section 188 of the Criminal Procedure Code. He did not. Chinyama should have convicted him and yet he acquitted him. And now we have Mchenga saying there are no good grounds of appeal.

What nonsense! What dishonesty is this? What lie is this? Ground six is so easy to understand that as we have said before, it is only dishonesty that keeps Mchenga from accepting it as a good ground. In this ground, the Task Force argued that Chinyama was wrong in law when he failed to find as a fact that private money can never be kept in a government account and where this purportedly happens, such money becomes government money anyway. This is what Section 7 of the finance, control and management Act provided at that time. Why did Chinyama have a problem with this clear provision of law? Why is he being joined by Mchenga in this blindness, or is it blindness? Even a person on the street will tell you that no honest person will go and keep their money in a government account. But when Chinyama and Mchenga accept such nonsense, then we know there is something seriously wrong somewhere.In ground seven, the Task Force argued that Chinyama is not entitled to interpret the Constitution. When he did that and found that Chiluba was not a public servant, he clearly exceeded his jurisdiction as a magistrate because this is a matter for the High Court and the Supreme Court to decide. Is it possible that Mchenga does not know this? The answer is very simple: he knows but he has chosen to become Chiluba’s defence counsel in aid of his political benefactors. These are damn good grounds of appeal which no honest Director of Public Prosecutions can dismiss the way Mchenga has done. Only a hired mercenary Director of Public Prosecutions can say the nonsense Mchenga is saying about these grounds of appeal. Again, we say Chiluba has not been cleared by the law, he has been acquitted and protected from going to jail by a collusion of Rupiah and the likes of Mchenga. Anyway, they can have their day but another time will come when they will have to account for all these criminal acts of theirs.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Business Linkages...Can Youths Fit in the Equation?

By Clive Siachiyako (ZDA Fellow)

The Prince of Wales once said “no business can survive for long as an island of wealth, in a sea of poverty.” According to the Prince of Wales, this phrase stresses the importance of business linkages for any enterprise to survive the business tornados. It is about the strength gained by businesses when they forge stronger ties into the domestic economy. It is about how much business linkages can contribute to the growth of the domestic economy and induce additional Domestic Direct Investment, which is a vital component of national development.
The micro and small enterprise sector’s significance to poverty reduction and wealth and job creation is current gaining momentum cross-cuttingly. As the champion of the sector’s growth, Zambia Development Agency with cooperating partners is brokering business linkages for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) with trans-national corporations (TNCs) to enhance MSEs’ contribution to the economy. The United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) play a crucial role in the formulation of such business linkages. This initiative in one way of increasing market access for MSEs via forward and backward linkages – being suppliers and buyers of services and products induced by the linkages from TNCs.
And recognising the central role of a dynamic SME sector in local economic development, many companies are taking SME development and linkage programmes beyond their own value chains in the country. TATA, Zambia Sugar, Zambia Breweries and Zain are some of the companies that are joining forces with government to present supplier opportunities to MSEs.
The business linkages initiative may seem unattainable to some MSEs. But Zam-Vizwear (Z) Limited recently attested to its viability when it clinched a multi-dollar project with Lumwana and Marli Investments (Z) Limited to undertake Jatropha Curcas Linn seedling farming and supply the Linn-seedlings to Lumwana Mines.
In the agreement, Zam-Vizwear (Z) Limited is undertaking the project under the out grower scheme initiative with Marli Investment Zambia. This has broadened the Zam-Vizwear’s market base. Primarily, Zam-Vizwear’s core business has been the supply of industrial safety requirements, protective clothing and reflective materials to the mines on the Copperbelt and North Western provinces. The new deal with Lumwana Mines and Marli Investments thus means new business avenues for the Zam-Vizwear.
Apparently, Zam-Vizwear has been experiencing poor cash flow due to poor performance of the mining sector amid global economic uncertainties. To that effect, the company opted to venture into agro-related project such as Jatropha seedling farming and selling. The project is located in Kapiri Mposhi in central province. In that vain, Zam-Vizwear acquired a 10 hectares land for the project at an estimated total investment of US$38,000. The US$38,000 covered expenses for land acquisition and preparation, creation of a water reservoiur, designing and laying-out the irrigation system, purchase of Jatropha seeds, water pumps and two horse power engines for irrigation.

To kick-start the project, Zam-Vizwear purchased 10×25kg bags of Jatropha Curcas Linn seeds from Marli Investments (Z) Limited with each bag containing 40,000 seeds at a total cost of US$5,454. Further, the company acquired some more 10×25 bags of seed, bringing the total seeds to 800, 000 which require 800 hectares of land for planting after the nursery period. And upon satisfactory production of the seedlings in accordance with the terms of reference and specifications, Marli Investment (Z) Limited bought the entire Jatropha seedlings off the nursery on behalf of Lumwana Mines at US$290,909.09.
However, the market value for the seedling is projected to change by up to 20 percent as most farmers are closely following up the bio-fuels in the agro-sector. This follows the country’s projected land use of 2,000,000 hectares. This requires a substantial number of farmers for the country to meet its bio-fuel targets. Therefore, as a contingency plan, Zam-Vizwear is currently doing a comprehensive documentary on the nursery to ensure the wider farming community is not only well informed but also strategically market themselves to the potential prospective clients in the area of out grower schemes.
The Jatropha project is Zam-Vizwear’s diversification strategy from its initial business of supplying industrial safety requirements, protective clothing and reflective materials to the Zambian business community and the surrounding Sub-Saharan African countries. With such a business boost, Zam-Vizwear aims to establish a reliable bio-fuel business that will provide a wide range of bio-fuel services to the Zambian community and to the sub-region.
Taking advantage of supportive agro-schemes and services industry in the country, the company’s strategic business plan will strengthen its financial base. The company considers both Zambian and regional agro-schemes and services industries’ support for bio-fuel was on the exponential increase. And since the new business initiative with Lumwana Mines and Marli Investment will be implemented with great ties and re-financing, the potential market reputation for the regional area is expected to definitely undergo exponential growth.
This entails reinforced business resilience and more wealth and job opportunities for Zambians. Procurement, distribution, and sales benefits also accrue. These linkages thus allow MSEs and TNCs to reduce input costs while increasing specialisation and flexibility. They also increase domestic business integration and stimulate positive social and economic impacts in the wider community. Diversification becomes more viable with such linkages in effect, let alone economic gains.
Many large firms are, in principle, interested in developing relationships with local SMEs. However, such relationships can also be costly to form and maintain, and as a result, they rarely develop easily or smoothly. A large firm’s tendency to form linkages is a function of firm- and industry-specific risks, costs and benefits; firm-level perceptions and strategies, such as domestic or export market orientation; government incentives and requirements; and the availability of qualified SMEs. According to UNCTAD, the latter is often a key obstacle.8 SMEs may have limited access to market information and financing, lack management skills or production expertise, or be unable to match product quality requirements or to scale up quickly. Nevertheless, some companies have moved ahead despite these challenges, working either on their own, collectively with other companies, or collaboratively with a variety of other stakeholders.
A joint research project by UNIDO and Harvard University has identified six main types of mechanism through which large companies are partnering with each other or with other stakeholders to support business linkages and SME development, often with the explicit goal of overcoming some of the obstacles listed above. These mechanisms include: partnerships along individual company value chains; groups of companies in the same industry sector or location working collectively together; traditional trade and industry associations enhancing their capacity to better serve SMEs; joint public-private financing mechanisms; dedicated small enterprise support centers; and multistakeholder public policy structures.
These companies’ business linkage efforts have varied not only in the “how,” butalso in the “what.” For instance:• Many companies have forged SME linkages within their own value chains, usually complemented by supplier and/or channel development measures of various kinds.• Some companies have, either in addition or instead, focused on SME development and linkages beyond their own value chains.• And finally, some companies have taken action to strengthen the enabling environment for SME development and linkages.

Large firms operating in developing countries can forge linkages with local SMEs in many different areas of their own value chains. As the UNIDO-Harvard research outlines, these opportunities may include procurement, agricultural outgrowers schemes, manufacturing subcontracting, outsourcing non-core functions and services, distribution and retail, franchising and leasing, and sales offinancial services, information and communications technologies, and other productive inputs and tools.10 Key to these programs is developing the capacity of SMEs to meet the needs of the large firm. Recognizing the central role of a dynamic SME sector in local economic development, many companies are taking SME development and linkage programs beyond their own value chains. Often they do this for public relations or corporate social responsibility reasons, such as demonstrating their commitment to the community and thereby strengthening their license to operate, or mitigating social risks from the viewpoint of investors. Companies engaged in large infrastructure projects or mining activities may support “beyond the value chain” SME development and linkages in order to reduce dependence in the local economy and soften the blow when they leave. A company restructuring or privatizing maysupport such activities to compensate for massive job cuts inside the company. Companies can also choose to support such activities for the enhanced stability and opportunity a vibrant local economy offers over the longer term.

In addition to undertaking SME development and linkage programs, or prior to doing so, some companies are taking steps to increase the effectiveness of those programs by influencing some of the environmental factors that facilitate or hinder their work. It is quite common, for example, for companies to make social investments – of money, employee volunteer time, or both – in education and training in order to build a qualified local workforce.
Another common strategy is to promote the growth and development of organizations that help build the social and economic assets and infrastructure on which SMEs depend. These include schools and vocational training institutes, local non-profit or for-profit business service providers, credit bureaus, entrepreneurship organizations, small business associations and chambers of commerce, linkage“brokers,” and government agencies. Government capacity-building is gaining particular attention, as agencies’ efficiency in matters like business licensing, taxation, and regulatory enforcement can be critical to small business success. Linked to this, a third strategy for strengthening the enabling environment for linkages is to engage in public policy processes. Large firms are starting to explorechannels for dialogue on the kinds of policies, programs, and regulations that affect SMEs’ ability to incorporate, grow, and form linkages with larger firms.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Governance...and Youth Development

Compiled by Clive Siachiyako

During the ‘cold war,’ it was considered unquestionable that the civil conflicts and the domestic violence of the underdeveloped countries were stimulated and even created by the imperialist policies of the two rival super powers. Any domestic disorder was thus suspected of ideological impregnation. The regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America were seen as game-boards where the struggle for world power between capitalists and communism was being played out.
Today, the cold war has stopped but the armed battles and acts of terrorism in the underdeveloped world has not only continued but have multiplied. A wave of armed conflicts has spread all over the continents. Since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, some twenty-three years ago; international conflicts have emerged and re-emerged involving over 50-armed groups. Such violent factions are active in Algeria, Senegal, Angola, Burundi, Congo Brazzaville, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and East Timor, Bougainvillea, the former Yugoslavia, the Caucasus, Pakistan and many other countries.
However, none of these countriesۥ domestic armed conflicts is related to any world ideological struggle. Many of the new barbarian warriors of the underdeveloped world are predatory creatures set off by the demographic exploitation and by unemployment, plagued with social ethnic religions and cultural resentments. All of the above have been exacerbated by the worsening non-viability of their countries’ economics in the face of new global economy. Social exclusion brings out these social ethnic, religious or cultural resentments, causing battles to erupt that destroy what little there was of the state or nation.

This violence has produced 100,000 refugees in Latin America, 7.5 million in Africa, 6 million in Asia and about 4 million in Europe. By the end of the 20th century, more than 17 million men, women and children had been victims of the outbreak of the world wide predatory plague. By contrast, in the developed nations-states such as Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom or the United States cultural ethnic and religious differences do not tear society apart, because material gratification helps to maintain these states’ cohesion.
The domestic armed conflicts in the quasi nation-states are veritable conflicts of national self-depredation wherein all respect, the most elementary principles of humanity is lost. This civil war is combined with massive criminality. Such predatory struggles neither liberate nor dignify any people. They only cause massive physical suffering, emotional damage and genocide. Some countries that have suffered conflicts of national self-predatory have needed humanitarian interventions from the United Nations or from regional organisations in order to reconstruct civilized life or to relieve human disasters that created thousands of refugees and displaced persons. Such were the cases for example, of Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Afghanistan, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Congo, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and East Timor.
Other countries that have suffered or still suffering armed conflicts and terrorism, for example, are Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tajikistan have managed to control the situation without international intervention. However, there is no guarantee that their national self-predation will totally disappear. In many of these countries, violence has become a characteristic national life in which the growing criminality, drug trafficking and terrorist armed violence combine into a sinister of reality.
In countries where violence has erupted, such as Angola, Algeria, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Liberia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sri Lanka, the symptoms of economic non-viability worsened during the 1970 and 1980s. In their economies, based on slightly increased, unprofitably priced primary exports, the populations grew at explosive rate. Food production and the peri-capital consumption of energy and water lagged far behind population growth. In this manner, the imbalance between population and physical resources that are vital for social cohesion grew apace. Food insecurity increased. These countries increased their food imports and became dependent on food aid.

At the same time, the lack of energy security became critical. Some countries lost their self-sufficiency in petroleum, while others raised their imports of that strategic fuel. All this coincides with considerable reductions in the prices of their primary exports making real income growth per capita of these countries equal to zero as occurred in the 1960s. The incomes of a high percentage of their populations dropped and another large segment continue to be born into poverty.
All these viruses of non-viability caused prolonged periods of impoverishment which preceded the violence. For example, during the twenty-five years period to its civil war, El Salvador registered on average zero growth of per capita income, while the population increased at 2.5 per cent per year. Haiti and Somalia for thirty years, both registered an average decrease of 1 percent in per capita income with an annual population growth of 2 percent and 3 percent respectively. In the course of the twenty-four years preceding the great increase in the terrorist violence of Shinning Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), Peru had an average yearly income per capita growth rate of 0.1 percent with a yearly population of more than 2.3 percent. Nicaragua registered an average yearly decrease of 1.3 percent in per capita income during the twenty years prior to the outbreak of civil war, while the annual population growth rate was 3 percent. In all the countries that suffer today some degree of armed violence, the average per capita income for the thirty-five years from 1960 to 1995 grew by less than 3 percent, which is the minimum growth needed in order to escape from poverty. In Algeria, over three decades the average growth rate of per capita income was 0.5 percent, in Angola 0.2 percent, in Sierra Leone 1 percent, in Sudan 0.1 percent, in Mexico 1.8 percent, in Colombia 2 percent and in Peru 0.2 percent. The same tiny income growth rates happened in Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and many other countries. The violence was due not only to that low income per capita growth rates but to the combination of these with an explosive population growth which exceeded 2.5 percent per year and with a deficient distribution of the income.

The armed struggles caused by national self-depredation can settle into situations of intermediate violence, with repeated armed truces followed by new outbreaks of fighting in which the warlords divide up or share monopoly of violence that was formerly the exclusive province of the state which this occurs, the country has become an ungovernable chaotic entity (UCE). The UCE is characterized by a collapse of state control over the territory and the population. It is a violent entity where public order no longer prevails either in the cities or in the rural areas. The entire country rebels against central power. Regions, provinces, cities, all lack a representative government and are controlled alternatively by military chiefs, warlords, drug traffickers, even thieves or by an assortment of these. The political process evapourates, legality disappears, representative institutions are replaced by armed forces or armed rebel groups or drug trafficking mafias. The civilian population becomes citizens of international Red Cross, Caritas Mèdecines Sans frontières (MSF) hundreds of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and the intensive humanitarian care of the United Nations.

At this moment the ranks of the UCEs include Afghanistan, Albania, Boston, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Congo DR, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Pakistan. The proliferations of UCEs since the 1990’s global reality’s most definitive answer to the myth of development. At this moment in history, countries do not only newly industrialized, but disintegrated instead. If the current situation in much of Africa, Latin America and Asia remain unchanged and if the urban population explosive continues, the moment will come in many more states when the inability to satisfy the vital necessities will shred even more than their fragile social fabric and erode the relations between the society and the public authority. This will result in greater social ethnic and religious tension and will foster the outbreak of new forms of national self-depredation or its resurgence and the appearance of more UCEs.
The author is a professor ofDevelopment studies at theUniversity of Zambia

The Media, Youths and Development

By Clive Siachiyako
In today’s world, not only does every country have a medium, but all countries give constitutional recognition to mass media due to the presumed important role it can play in empowering the citizenry with cardinal information to their well being. Scholars in many current academic discourses and developmental debates therefore argue that the media are the answer to high levels of ignorance that hinder people to grasp several possibilities of success in their way. To this effect, a set of functions related to development that the media must address in helping people meet their needs on the basis of their economic map for them to form their own image of prosperity in relation to the opportunities that the environment they live in offers them has been proposed.This essay therefore seeks to explore how the media can enhance development in the country. In particular, the essay will seek to outline conditions under which the media contribute to the successful adoption of policies aimed at economic progress. The essay will comprise three sections. The first section will consisting of definitions of the terms development and media. The main body will be in the second section, while the third and last section will be the conclusion.According to Lipalile (2003: 10), “development implies the growth and expansion of both the production base and basic service provision, with much attention focused specifically on efficiency and equity considerations.” Although the concept is multi-dimensional, it involves the quantitative increase in wealth and qualitative changes in the economy through technology, better utilisation of natural resources and better social division of labour and capital. Media according to Eyiah (2004: 03) “is a combination of the technological means of sending information, ideas and opinions from a mass communicator to complex audiences, comprising institutions and techniques broadcasters, film producers and publishers employ to disseminate symbolic content to publics.”
Proponents of communication development argue that the core thesis of the media must be towards successful economic development that requires the coordination of efforts by policy makers and implementers with the interests of the populace on policies that bring about economic growth. Economic growth refers to the steady process by which the productive capacity of the economy is increased overtime to bring about rising levels of national income (Todaro; 1992: 45). It is only a truism in communication development that the media are not a mere luxury for the journalist to square their ‘enemies’, but a cornerstone of equitable development and a watchdog of both government and the corporate sector in terms of how resources are utilised and propagates for the channeling of taxes into developmental arenas. The media watch how the corporate world pay tax (are they invading or constantly pay) and how the government channel the taxes when in its coffers. In this sense, the media have the power to influence government expenditure and are useful in transmitting new information. They act as a merger-phone for the poor and disenfranchised in society. The media must therefore be openly at the forefront of development strategies in every country or social set up. That is to say, the media must give the public information that translates transparency and government accountability, less corruption, citizenry participation in decision making (by engaging them into media talks or providing them with editorial columns where they could air their views on issues that affect them on a daily basis.) That encourages individual and civil society participation in legislation and\ or policy design and formulation for the attainment of economic emancipation of all time high nature.The media’s major role in development can therefore be to provide checks and balances on public policy and public fund expenditure, by throwing spotlights on government expenditure actions and allow people to voice diverse opinions on governance and reform.
By so doing, the media help in building public consensus in bringing change in people’s lives especially the most disadvantaged members of the public. According to Nwosu at el (1993: 01), “communication development can score meaningful success towards the provision of good life to the most poor in society if there is an attention on integrative model of communication that recognises the importance of the recipient participation in the planning, dissemination and diffusion of development programmes.” This is what some scholars have called ‘visioning’, and through visioning, a country can identify and design a communication and information policy that defines developmental challenges in society that the media can help to solve. Such a policy should be tailored specifically to enhance development in the country in relation to the natural resource endowment at hand and in line with the developmental goals and programmes that seek to improve living standards of the whole population. To this effect, communication for development can be defined as organized efforts to use communication methods of different forms to bring social and economic improvements in the world especially in developing countries, (http://hdr.undp.org/).
In the globalised liberal economic system, where the free market economy (laissez faire) is the controller of economic progress, the media help markets to competitively work better, and they (media) also facilitate trade (through the international advertiser), transmit ideas and innovations across the borders. Learner sees communication as the great multiplier of ideas and information for national development; Rao sees it as the great smoother transition, which encourages specialisation and division of labour, both of which speeds economic progress, (Schram; 1994: 51). For instance, when new industrial roles are created for which there is no available knowledge about its additional value to societal growth norms; the media fill the gap with new norms and new ideas. As a result, information would slowly broaden people’s horizons in attaining standards of living that are considered to offer good life. This entails that empathy and mobile personality are key psychological variables in bringing about change, and information is a bigger contributor and stimulator of economic growth and attitude change towards success.According to Oshima (1992: 78), “the media have a multiplier property to produce development quickly in an environment where most societies are in a hurry to progress and want to catch-up with other countries.” In development terms, this entails that poor societies want to reach acceptable levels of economic progress that are similar to those prevailing in developed countries or at least set. To achieve this, countries need an economic theory that makes it possible for them to achieve this goal. Economic theory here means studying how those countries they are trying to catch-up with did it, in relation to available resources and how they should be utilised, (ibid: 89). Additionally, to achieve this, people need a media system which shows clearly the primary resources of developing societies in a hurry to develop on the belief that communication facilities reach most people fastest and cheaply with messages that would make people move together as a society.Schram (1994: 40) puts some of the functions of the media in enhancing development into two specific functions. He says that the first was the informing function. It is presumed that in the process of informing people about development, their horizon is widened for they are able to be where they have never been, and know developed places they have never physically seen.
The media should in this sense focus their attention on the need for change and economic opportunities inviting change and even the methods of the means of change. All social scientists have therefore agreed on the fact that the media can raise people’s aspirations and stimulate them to strive for better life and national development. This wholesome agreement is based on the account of the presumed powerful effects of the media on audiences (the Magic Bullet Theory assertions). The Magic Bullet theory argues that any powerful stimulus like a mass media message can provoke a uniform desired response from a given organisation like an audience. An appropriate development message can thus trigger a desired response for change towards the living style of the developed world. In this sense, great scores of economic success can be realised where media messages stimulate people to innovatively work harder to improve their welfare in the communities they live in. The informing function also helps in explaining economic and developmental jargon or sophisticated concepts that hinder people to contribute effectively to both national and personal development. For instance, when proclamations on the inflation rate are made, the media should explain to the least informed members of the public on the impact of the changes. If it is a reduction in inflation, people need to know the obvious benefits, which they must demand in case they do not come forth.
And when it is an increase, media professionals should equally advise people on best adjustments to sustain their well being during the period of the inflation upswing. If it is some donor aid qualification or debt relief, like the highly indebted poor countries completion point (HIPIC), the media must inform the people on the ultimate benefits, so that they can claim for that from custodians of state resources in due course. The media therefore act as watch dog of people over any eventualities in all areas of human endeavour.The above function is also cardinal in human development. According to current wisdom, informing is the most useful means of development campaign as it takes a paradigm shift from abstract economic growth to informing people on basic human needs than only trying to modernise them. The informing aspect empowers the people so that they can change their attitudes towards life. Information empowers people because it enlightens them as they struggle to develop themselves. They thus become innovative and creative as they manoeuvre to improve their living standards. They are empowered to have a foresight of likely the economic environment and are equipped with right information on how to face economic ills or success as they unfold. In this sense, people acquire new mindsets, values and attitudes, which are often opportunity oriented.Additionally, in this era of arsenals of technology in their different forms, the media have the role of explaining to the people the actual importance of each innovation and its anticipated contributions to their well being. This is because people are no longer gullible to anything as before, but they now approach any new development with measured tread, so that as they identify and venture into exploiting both current and new unexploited opportunities, they do not risk causing more serious economic malaise in future. In such environments, media professions should acquire higher levels of analysis and knowledge under the auspices of development.The second function of the media propagated by Schram is decision making. Being that any decision made affects people in one way or the other; the media must have foresight of how certain decisions will disadvantage the ordinary man. The media must provide people with the opportunity to participate intelligently in the decision making process from initiation to evaluation. The dialogue must thus be broadened to include all those who want to see change so that leaders can have the opportunity to lead and at the same time people must have the opportunity to be heard. This is a two-way dialogue where issues of change must be made clear and information must flow from up to bottom and vice versa. In this way, ever body feels to be part of developmental programmes that the country is carrying-out.In the final analysis, it is clear that the media enhance and bring social and economic or political changes in society. The media can foster and strengthen development at local or international levels especially if well integrated into national development thinking and practice. They play an important role in both development and governance. In development the media, particularly radio and television carry information that encourages commerce in geographical isolated communities, and globally moves international trade to higher heights. And at governmental level, the media serve as a watchdog of government; exposing corrupt and unethical practices by leaders and giving people a platform to voice diverse opinions on governance and possibly reform. Operating on double standard basis, the media provide checks and balances to service providers to increase accountability, while on the other hand engage citizens at the bottom of the service chain by providing them with easy access to information on the workings of public programmes meant to benefit them. This way, the media are a social watchdog and can broaden people’s horizons, raise aspirations and create climates for development.

Development for the New Generations...How to Do it?

By Clive Siachiyako

It is believed that over two-thirds of the world’s poorest people are located in rural areas and engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture. Their basic concern is survival. Zambia is not an exception to this situation. Many people in rural parts of Zambia have been bypassed by whatever economic progress has been attained. Many people in these areas do not have enough food and other basic necessities as well as essential services such as health, transport and basic education. If development is to take place and be self-sustaining in every nation, it will have to include the rural areas in general and the agriculture sector in particular. It is for this reason that this paper is paying special attention to rural development. This will be done by first defining key concepts and looking at some of the factors which have led to the development trends in rural areas before finally looking at what can be done to improve and uplift the standards of the people living in rural areas.

Development in this case can be defined as the process of growing; changing and progressing, while rural describes places in the country side or things related to such places. Ellis (2000: 25) gives an explanation that the term rural development came into widespread usage in the mid 1970s, and is primarily associated with the empirical observation that the vast majority of the poor in developing countries were located in rural areas. Rural development is therefore not a theory of economic or social changes as such, nor even an explanation of how spatial patterns of poverty arise, rather, it is an acknowledgement that the majority of developing-country citizens that have incomes below the stated poverty line are resident in rural rather than urban areas, and it is also a call to action to this incidence of poverty. Rural development can therefore be defined as an organizing principle for anti-poverty policies in rural areas of low income countries.
Before analyzing the system of agriculture and rural development, we need to understand how the agricultural system of a developing nation is structured and look at some of the factors that have made development in rural areas lag behind that of the urban areas.

On a classic peasant subsistence farm, most output is produced for family consumption (sometimes the surplus may be traded in local markets) and few staple foods such as maize, and vegetables (in the Zambian case) are the chief sources of food intake. Output and productivity are low, and only the simplest traditional methods and tools are used. Capital investment is minimal as land and labor are the principal factors of production. The peasant usually cultivates only as much land as his family can manage to without the need for hired labor. Peasant farmers experience a lot of uncertainties such as droughts, and only meet survival levels of output. They also tend to have rigid social institutions in which they are locked as they do not easily accept any form of change. The rural sector is characterized by high levels of poverty. Despite having most of the low-cost sources of potential advance such as abundant labor and vast land, these have been under utilized. On the other hand, the urban sector has most of the influence, organization and power. This means that the urban classes have been able to ‘win’ most of the rounds of the struggle with the rural areas; but in so doing they have made the development process needlessly slow and unfair. Most of Zambia’s budgetary allocation addresses urban areas’ needs and other related issues. This has largely affected the people in rural areas who largely depend on subsistence farming. 1n addition the proportion of skilled people who support the development process such as doctors, engineers and other graduates from higher learning institutions are not attracted to work in rural areas.
The other reason rural areas have been lagging in development is because of rural- urban drift. Due to the opening of mines especially on the Copperbelt during the colonial days many able bodied men shifted to urban areas leaving behind women, children and old people, thereby leaving rural areas without any people who could add value to any developmental prospects in their areas. This trend has continued even today as young men continue to leave rural areas in search of better living conditions in urban areas.
It has also been observed that people in urban areas take advantage of people in rural areas. For example an assessment of the way markets operate in rural Zambia suggests that commercial interests generally view accustomed rural people to be living off the land without much need for money, making their exploitation somehow justified. Take for instance the response given by a large –scale commodities trader in Zambia when asked the best way to buy soyabeans from small scale farmers, “I always buy early in the season when farmers are poorest and most willing to sell at the lowest price”. Such a strategy makes sense for the urban trader but does little to advance annual rural income which is below $ 200 in many parts of the nation (www.nswild.org/model-for-rural-development-in-zambia-28/c)
All the mentioned factors and other similar circumstances which have not been mentioned above have contributed greatly to the poor state of rural areas in Zambia and other parts of the world today. There is need to address these issues to help lift people in these areas from extreme poverty.
First and foremost, there is need to change the attitude of people in rural areas. There is need to sensitize them to diversify. People in rural parts of Zambia are known to depend only on one type of crop. For example those in Eastern province are well known to concentrate on groundnuts; Southern part is well known for cattle rearing while people in Luapula province are known to only be good in fishing. Diversification can help peasant farmers to remain busy throughout the year because some crops are only grown in particular seasons of the year. The other advantage of this process is that it encourages crop rotation thereby enriching the soil and increasing its productivity. Diversification should not only be limited to agriculture alone. They should engage in multiple activities and expand their income portfolios.

Secondly, there is need for government and other interest groups to consult people in rural areas and find out what they really need. This is because rural people are capable, creative and committed actors of change. Rural people must be involved in policy making processes, in market change and trade designing. In addition, the local communities’ focus and empowerment are imperative in the execution of rural development and poverty reduction programmes. It is the people themselves who have to decide what they want to do, to change and improve their lives. They have to take full responsibility of there lives, design the means with which they can improve their living conditions and develop a vision of how their lives can change. That is; do what they can do, with what they have, where they are.

Quite often women in rural areas are excluded from extension and credit deliveries. But development planners and donor agency personnel can benefit from obtaining more information from both women and men in the rural areas before making judgments as to the kinds of development which are most desired. Since women in Zambia are the major food producers, development efforts must not exclude them from new technologies. On women participation Bardouille (1992:121) explains that a research was conducted to find out how rural women perceived development and whether they had benefited from development efforts they had helped in planning. The sample was drawn from rural women in selected provinces of Zambia. The rural women defined or perceived development in terms of improvements in farming, availability of educational and health facilities, transportation, etc. The women believed that development had taken place, although there was room for more improvement in the area.
Rural development can further be addressed through community based initiatives. This form of developmental approach is very important because it insures local participation. A good example of such an initiative is by a Japanese organization called JICA. JICA’s targets towards the reduction of poverty among small scale farmers in isolated regions includes the training of advisors to lead participatory development initiatives, the establishment of small-scale “micro-projects” for the community, and the introduction of sustainable farming technology. The aim is to help rural communities to achieve self-sufficiency. The development method used in these projects is designed to involve residents and communities (villages). Local people carry out all aspects of these projects, from planning to implementation, and also take responsibility for ongoing agricultural development. An example of a village located in an isolated region is Kapuka, which consists of 196 households. The only industry is farming, which yields annual incomes averaging only about $260 per household. In addition to food shortages, the community also faces shortages of drinking water in the dry season. With the assistance of advisors, JICA held a workshop at which all village residents discussed the steps that they needed to take to achieve sustainable development. External funding at the rate $100 per household has been provided for projects such has the establishment of a broiler poultry, construction of multipurpose facility for use as a meeting hall, elementary school and crop rotation and the establishment of communal scheme to grow maize in the dry season. The other things which have been done in the area include the introduction of oxen and ox-drawn plows, the construction of wells to provide drinking water, the purchase of sewing machines and finally the provision of training required for the various projects , (http://www.ruraldevelopment.org.zm/). This idea must be emulated by government and other organizations and should be spread to other rural parts of the country.
One thing to be taken into consideration is that peasant farmers in rural areas do act rationally and are responsive to economic incentives and opportunities. Where innovation and change fail to occur, we should not assume that rural people are stupid, irrational, or conservative; instead, we should examine carefully the environment in which the small farmer operates to search for the particular institutional or commercial obstacles that may be blocking or frustrating constructive change. Todaro (2003:478) illustrates that if peasants sometimes appear to be unresponsive or hostile to proposed technical changes, it is probably because the risks are high, returns to the cultivator are low-for example, because of local custom or land tenure conditions, or because credit facilities and marketing outlets are inadequate and the necessary inputs – including knowledge –are missing. Technological innovation is also cardinal in every developmental process in that it can increase farm yields. This involves the introduction of mechanized agriculture to replace human labor. This can be in form of tractors and combine harvesters. The only problem is that this type of innovation is not suitable to the physical environment. Another problem is that a peasant rural farmer cannot afford to obtain a loan or use other sources to acquire these things because he does not know how to go about obtaining a loan and cannot easily attract funds from other sources. Furthermore potential lenders of such resources know that he has no capacity to pay back. Hence this innovation can be approached in a different way where government and other support groups are able to supply rural areas with hybrid seeds and chemical innovations such as pesticides fertilizers and insecticides. Advanced techniques of irrigation should be introduced together with crop rotation. The other technological innovations where government should invest in and do not necessarily require large capital inputs and mechanized equipment is the new developments in medicine and animal nutrition through major scientific advances in modern agriculture. If these innovations are introduced in rural areas, livestock productions can greatly increase and change the lives of people in rural areas.

One other major hindering factor of rural development is that rural areas especially here in Zambia are completely cut off from the rest of the country. This is because roads to these remote places are completely impassable. This situation tends to be worse in the rainy season such that it is difficult for vehicles to go as far as Shan’gombo and Kaputa. The government should therefore come up with deliberate policies to connect these areas to the national grid. It should invest a lot in the rehabilitation of feeder roads. When there is proper road and communication network there would be a good flow of agriculture products and other commodities in and out of these areas. This would create markets for these small scale farmers as their products would find there way in urban areas. This would create income and a boom of activities such that in the long run it would have a spillover effect were other supporting industries would come up and these areas would now be in a position to attract skilled workers such as doctors, engineers and other graduates from higher learning institutions. When these skilled people have an incentive to work in these areas, they would use their expertise and contribute greatly to the development of rural areas. As earlier stated, it is very difficult for people in rural areas to access funds; therefore one affordable way to help these people in accessing these funds is through the provision of micro-credit facilities. This facility should specifically be targeted on women. This is because in most parts of the world including Zambia, poverty has a woman face. Women experience poverty more than men. When money is given to men, it seldom trickles down to the family. But women take far more seriously the responsibility of bringing up there children, and they bear the burden of this undertaking. It is believed that when a woman is empowered, a family is empowered. Thus the entrepreneurial skills of poor rural women must not be underestimated just because they are poor. The idea of this micro- financing should be to help the women to help themselves and provide the necessary guidance, leadership, capital and let the women themselves get on with their own work to pull themselves out of poverty. This idea is seen to be working in Bangladesh. Tharoor (2007) assets that Grameen Bank of Dr Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize started this programme and has seen women wisely invest their money for economically viable and environmentally sustainable income generating activities. These women have managed to repay their loans with almost 100 per cent repayment rate, and have become masters of there own destiny without the interference of their men.

In addition, there is need to address the problem of urban bias in terms of fairness in budgetary allocation by the government. Though the UNIP government tried to address this issue through the First National Development Plan and the Second National Development Plan which sought to reduce rural urban – bias gap by the extension of the social and economic infrastructure to the rural areas, there were no other supporting structures which would attract investment and help in complementing and sustaining the existing structures. This problem can be addressed by government embarking on electrification of rural areas. This will attract skilled people to settle in rural areas and will reduce migration of people to urban areas. Rural electrification will also stimulate rural economies such that investment of manufacturing industries which require the use of electricity will be a reality. With the opening of industries, more employment opportunities will be available for the locals. The government should also re–introduce the idea of setting up state owned companies in strategic rural areas like it was done in past were the government had set up the bicycle plant in Chipata, Mansa batteries, Pineapple production in Mwinilun’ga and Kawambwa tea in northern province. This would provide jobs for the locals and would see the emergence of other supporting sectors. It should also be pointed out that this in a way will help the local people to diversify. This is because rural households will construct an increasingly diverse portfolio of activities and move away from over dependence on subsistence farming. Government should partner with support groups such as donor agencies and NGOs to provide safe drinking water, invest in education and provide better health facilities in these areas to reduce on urban bias. It can be argued, however that policies are already in place to address these issues. However, it is the implementation which should be monitored. There should be seriousness in the way these plans are implemented. There should be a sense of priority. Strict institutional frameworks should be put in place to ensure that officials who are charged with the responsibility of implementing these plans do not engage in corrupt practices which would hinder developmental progress in these areas.

Lastly in the peasant system, land ownership is more or less equally distributed, and there is a communal tenure system, in which the land is communally owned. Despite this ownership, rural people are not completely free because land can easily be taken away from them in the name of investment. Albidon mine recently acquired land in southern province for mining purposes. This disadvantaged the local people living in the same area because they were driven away from an area they had been occupying for a long time. Government did not even protect them because to them the move was in line with the policy of attracting investment in Zambia. This should be avoided in future because it retards the improvements in people’s livelihood. Government should come up with land reforms which should aim at protecting the indignant people occupying such areas.
In conclusion, for development to be seen in a country there has to be uniformity in growth between the rural and urban sectors. Though government should play a major role in alleviating poverty, their efforts should be complemented by other interest groups and the rural people themselves. If all the mentioned factors are considered carefully, rural areas will be major contributors to the growth of national product of Zambia and other developing nations with similar developmental patterns.

Female Genital Mutilation: A vice or Virtue to Ladies?

By Clive Siachiyako
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice that started in Africa about 2000 years ago. It is primarily a cultural practice, not a religious custom. But some religions include it as part of their practice. FGM is so deep-rooted into these cultural practices that it defines members of such cultures. And people in such cultures believe that a girl would never become a woman without undergoing such a procedure.

Female genital mutilation is also known as female circumcision (FC) or female genital cutting (FGC). But whatever name it may be called, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines it as all procedures of partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. Increasingly however, the practice is being performed by medically trained personnel.

Female genital mutilation has been practiced for centuries. Egyptian mummies, for instance were found to have been circumcised as far back as 200 BC (before Christ). In the 19th Century, FGM was practiced in Europe and North America as a remedy for ailments like epilepsy, hysteria, and masturbation. The practice is most prevalent in African countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana and some area of the Middle East. It is however not restricted to any ethnic, religious or socioeconomic class of society. On the religiosity side, followers of different religions that practice female genital mutilation include Muslims, Christians (Catholics, Protestants and Copts) and Animists.

Although FGM is mostly associated with Africans, it is also practiced in some Middle East countries. For example, it is practiced in Egypt, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Israel. It is also carried out by Muslim groups in Indonesia where the most common form is a symbolic pricking, scraping or touching of the clitoris. In Malaysia, FGM is performed by a very small number of Malay Muslims in rural areas where it resembles a symbolic prick, a tiny ritual cut to the clitoris or where the blade is simply brought close to the clitoris. To a very small extent, Bohra Muslims in Pakistan also practice female genital mutilation.

The World Health Organisation states that FGM is classified into four major types. The first type is known as clitoridectomy, which is the partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and rarely, the removal of prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris) as well. The second type is called excision. This involves partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia are "the lips" that surround the vagina).Infibulation is the third type of FGM. This involves the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner and sometimes outer labia, with or without removal of the clitoris. The fourth and last type is unclassified. This type includes procedures like pricking, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or labia. It also involves stretching the clitoris and/or labia and cauterization by burning of the clitoris and surrounding tissues. In some cases, it involves scraping of the vaginal ‘lips.’ In addition, it involves the introduction of corrosive substances into the vagina to cause bleeding, or introduction of herbs into the vagina to tighten or narrow the vagina.

The practice is generally performed on girls between the ages of four and twelve, although in some cultures it is practiced a few days after the baby is born or prior to marriage, during pregnancy or after the first birth. There is a progressive decrease in the age at which girls are undergoing the practice. However, depending on who is practicing it, FGM is not limited to a specific age group. For example, clitoridectomy (first type of FGM) was promoted among teen girls in the United States and Britain during the 19th and early 20th centuries as a cure for lesbian practices or suspected masturbation, hysteria, epilepsy, and nervousness. It is estimated that more than one hundred and thirty million females have been exposed to FGM worldwide and about two million girls are circumcised every year. Accurate figures on the number of women and girls who have undergone this procedure are however not available, largely because the cultural role of women inhibits public discussion or opposition to the practice. The practice and its records have remained in the secretive archives of women, (mostly old women who claim that it is a taboo to talk about the practice in public or make publications about it).

There are many reasons for the perpetuation of this practice; the most common ones being cultural and religious beliefs. Although it is often associated with Islam, it is also practiced by other religious groups, including Christians. Even if there is no mention of FGM in the Koran, an overwhelming factor for its justification is the cultural influence and traditions, social acceptance within the community, and ensuring chastity and fidelity by attenuating sexual desire. A study in Nigeria by the World Health Organisation on the Igbos tribe found that women believe that FGM makes them more feminine and thus more attractive to men. The organisation’s (WHO) social study in other African communities established that the practice is believed to raise the social status of families and generates income when the daughters get married and the dowry is paid. Societies that practice FGM attach a number of economic factors to the practice. One of these factors is the ritual that surrounds the practice. Often this ritual involves gifts given to the girls in a ceremony and honours their families receive. More importantly, is the fact that it is much easier for the parents of a circumcised daughter to find a mate for their child, than it is for the parents of an uncircumcised daughter. Being able to "marry off" daughters is an important economic consideration in some of the poorer countries that practice FGM.

There are other complex perceived benefits of FGM. In some cultures, the practice is believed to enhance love as girls are taught how to satisfy a man sexually (improves a woman’s sexuality) and other matrimonial rituals that ‘cement’ a marriage. It is also a way a woman can achieve recognition and economic security through marriage and childbearing, and FGM is often a prerequisite for qualifying for wifehood. The practice therefore accords a woman economic and social protection. Female genital mutilation is also believed to improve on a woman’s sexuality as it brings about “dry sex,” which provides more pleasurable sex to men. This dryness is achieved by using certain herbs and ingredients that reduce vaginal fluids and increase friction during intercourse, which is attained by using the fourth type (unclassified) of FGM. Men are understood to love dry sex and if a woman is wet, they think it is not normal.

The other rationale for FGM is based on purifying, aesthetic and hygienic benefits. It is argued that the clitoris is an unhealthy, unattractive and/or lethal organ that has to be chipped off. This argument gained popularity with the coming of the concept of cunnilingus (kissing the vagina) in the equation of sex. Proponents of FGM claim that men prefer to practice cunnilingus on circumcised women than the uncircumcised because the vagina of the former is considered more hygienic. Some communities also believe that removing the external genitalia is necessary to make a girl spiritually clean and is therefore required by religion. Contrary to the highly glorified advantages of FGM, the practice can have devastating and harmful consequences throughout a woman’s life. The health problems a woman can experience mainly depends on the severity of the procedure, the sanitary conditions in which it was performed, the competence of the person who performed it and the strength of the girl’s resistance. Old women and barbers who perform FGM are medically unqualified and can do extreme damage to a woman or a girl, sometimes resulting in death. In cases where the procedure is carried out in unsanitary conditions, dangers of infection are great.

The practice may cause numerous physical complications, including hemorrhage and severe pain, which can cause shock, even death. A woman may go into immediate shock after FGM as a result of the sudden loss of blood (haemorrhagic shock) and experience severe pain and trauma (neurogenic shock), which can be fatal. This is mainly caused by the way the procedure is carried out such as the use of knives, scissors, razors, or pieces of glass. Sharp stones and finger nails are also sometimes used to pluck out the clitoris of babies in some parts of the world like Sudan and the Gambia. These instruments may be re-used without being cleaned, putting women at higher risk of HIV infection. Other than HIV infection, other infections are very common during and after FGM because of unhygienic conditions, use of unsterilized instruments and the application of substances such as herbs or ashes to the wound. These conditions provide an excellent growth medium for bacteria. Fungal bacteria accumulate around the wound, resulting into urinary tract infection, pelvic infection or tetanus. Sometimes holes (fistulae) between the bladder and the vagina or between the rectum and vagina can develop as a result of injury to the soft tissues during mutilation, opening up infibulation or re-suturing an infibulation, sexual intercourse or obstructed labour.

In addition to the above short term FGM consequences, long-term complications resulting from scarring and interference with the drainage of urine and menstrual blood, such as chronic pelvic infections, may cause pelvic and back pain, infertility, chronic urinary tract infections or kidney damage. Kidney damage is caused by recurrent urinary tract infection, which causes bladder and ureters infections. Such infections can spread to the pelvic girdle, causing chronic uterus, fallopian tube and ovary infections. The uterus, fallopian tube and ovary infections may cause irreparable damage of reproductive organs, leading to sterility. FGM also increases problems associated with childbirth. Severe forms of mutilation cause partial or total occlusion of the vaginal opening, which makes it difficult to monitor the stage of labour and foetal position and appearance. As a result, labour may be prolonged or obstructed. Prolonged or obstructed labour can lead to tearing of the walls of the womb and uterine inertia which can cause lead to stillbirth and maternal death.Considering the horrific nature of FGM and the trail of anguish it leaves in the lives of victims, the practice should not be encouraged in the Zambia. The country is currently wrestling with many health challenges that are overpowering the efficiency and effectiveness of the health system. And adding some more grievous effects to the already existing health hurdles in the name of sexual appeasement to men and cultural loyalty would worsen the already inferior health services in the country.

The already strained health personnel would have to attend to numerous complications that result from FGM operations, a thing that may worsen health service delivery in the country.
In a country where most households are struggling to access a simplest meal, death from FGM complications may be graver than can be envisioned. Worse still, women are the most poor in Zambia, least educated and most unemployed, hence most unlikely to seek medical attention when FGM complications arise. This can increase the number of orphans in the country. Furthermore, women are already the most affected by the challenges facing the health system such as maternal death and the HIV and AIDS infection in Zambia, hence encouraging FGM practices like infibulation would add more misery to their well-being. Zambia has currently recorded reductions in the HIV and AIDS infection rate, but encouraging FGM may reverse and worsen the status quo. What Zambia needs are approaches that can better women’s welfare, not worsening it. The country has a mammoth task of finding means of empowering women in all areas of human endeavour other than plunging them into retrogressive cultural and religious chaos.

There are so many ways of appeasing and satisfying a man during sex, without undergoing genital mutilation. The illusions that a man can appreciate sex more when the genitalia are mutilated are not justifiable as God who created a woman knows what can satisfy man sexually. The false impression about the genitalia in relation to sex should not be given room to ruin women’s lives in Zambia. Women should be happy with the genitalia they are born with and never yield to misleading beliefs.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Constitutional Matters...Do Youths Play a Role?

By Clive Siachiyako
The constitution making process in Zambia has become rather messy and characterised by acrimony. Not that acrimony per se is bad, but it may be a healthy sign if it is both an affirmation and expression of a mature society that accommodates divergence and diversity of views.Unfortunately, in today’s Zambia with exceedingly low levels of tolerance and accommodation, continued acrimony characterized by high handed attitudes, precipitate and confrontational behavior, incessant bickering over issues of such profound concern of our country could lead to polarization, which may be the best prescription for social disorder and wasteful mechanisms that have led to the condemnation of many African countries as agents of perpetual regression and consequential poverty.The constitution of a country is per force the fundamental law of a country. It cannot be neutral on forms of governance and other issues auxiliary and incidental there to including the direction of socio-economic development and social equity.

All citizens are stakeholders in any desired constitutional process and a meaningful and sustainable constitution at the end of the day is only accomplished if it is a product of consensus by an unquestionably broad spectrum of society.In tracing the process of writing a constitution and the consequent noise in the under taking, it is important to give a brief background of the much controversial constitutional process.According to the interim report of the constitution review commission dated 20th June 2007, the Republican President Dr. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa appointed the Constitutional Review Commission on 17th April 2003. This was two years after the coming into office of President Mwanawasa¢s regime and eight years after the enactment under controversial circumstances of the 1996 Mwanakatwe constitution. Many people however, had expected the president to push through the constitution much earlier in his term instead of waiting for two years to do so, because constitutional review was the most prioritized issue the public expected, given the controversy surrounding the Chiluba exercise on the same, as Alexander Chikwanda puts it ‘before the 2006 parliamentary and Presidential elections, there was an outcry for expedition in ordaining a new constitution So that the presidential election results would have reflected a 50 percent plus one to ensure the president was given an indisputable electoral mandate’.By statutory instrument number 40 of 2003 cap 41, the President appointed the commission headed by Mr. Willa. D. Mungomba. It will be recalled that this was the fourth commission to have been appointed to review the country’s constitution since independence in 1964 which alone suggests that previous exercises had simply not been successful according to Professor Michelo Hansungule.'Government granted the commission a whooping 31 terms of reference literary asking it to look at every aspect that previously deferred solution in effective constitution making.’ Among the important terms of reference stated by government include: a recommendation of a system of government that will promote democratic governance and against the emergence of a dictatorial form of government and to suitable methods of amending and adopting the constitution.The commission duly discharged its functions, which it was instituted to carry out. It must be noted that petitioners where called upon to address themselves on the mode adoption were some recommendations suggested that the process be adopted by the president, house of chiefs, and by the commission itself. However the two most preferred modes were adoption by the constituent assembly and by the national assembly. The latter however, is the current mode the country has used since independence.Of the two most preferred methods, the commission after a marathon review of previous Mvunga and Mwanakatwe review processes in which petitioners similarly recommended adoption by the constituent assembly decided to settle for the latter against adoption by the national assembly. Convincing reasons however were advanced by this decision including previous mistrust over the use of the current mode of adoption in which the government abused its inherent power to prejudge the outcome of the review process and reject some of the recommendations made substituting them for its own.However, despite the CRC having recommended that a constituent assembly, or any popular body that would represent the views of the people adopt the new constitution, government however went ahead to settle for the mode of adoption by the NCC. This came to light through the Chief government spokesperson, Mike Mulongoti who announced on July the 15, 2007 that government was departing from what the majority of people agreed to on the constitution making process and apparently the noise was initiated.The noise in the process of writing the constitution as stated by the Times of Zambia News Paper dated 27th July, 2007, could further be stated that it started when president Levy Mwanawasa gave his assert to the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Act early in September 2007. A number of stakeholders have however, rejected the NCC act, saying it cannot deliver a people driven constitution that could stand the test of time.The Catholic Church is among the stakeholders that have rejected the NCC act. According to the President of Zambia Episcopal conference Fr. Telephore Mpundu, the church would only sit in the NCC if the Act were revised.The church also rejected calls by Government that those who are aggrieved should take their grievances to the conference, however, fears are that when the sittings begin the NCC act will not be on the menu at the conference, alleging that by the time the deliberations start the members of the NCC will have made a solemn oath to abide by the act. It is however, not logical to consider the act later but the time to re-look at the act is now rather than later Mpundu said.However, the bishops have raised five objections to the act, first they alledged that the law departs from the clear recommendation by the people that a new constitution be written. It suggests that it will be up to the conference to determine the need for a new constitution.Secondly, there is Noise as the bishops argue that the expected 502 delegates, of the conference 337 are politicians and government related participants. It is also argued that many other stakeholders will be shut from the deliberations and the mere fact that the law provides for wide classes of participants without specifying how they will be chosen is an issue to consider in the transparency of the process.The third objection the bishops have put forth is that the act gives sweeping powers to the conference that, in the light of the same skewed composition, the delegates can undo the demands and wishes of the people for over 20 years of a need for a totally new constitution.The fourth decision the bishops have put fourth in their reject of the act is that the church has expressed fears that the role of parliament as provided for in the NCC act, could lead to mere amendment to the current constitution, instead of writing a new one. It is argued that the NCC brings back parliament to play a role even before the referendum. The question raised is that ‘will parliament deliver this, given the number of times it has failed the people’?
Finally, the church argues that the act gives the president a blank cheque to dissolve the conference if he/she deems it necessary, or extend its life span for as long as he/she wishes.The church however, express a concern that if these issues are thoroughly dealt with, they shall be willing to attend and participate fully in the conference. If however, this fails then the church reserves the right to stay away from the conference, as they do not want to give legitimacy to a process that lacks proper consensus. The church is not the only institution that has contested to the Act; various political parties and other associations have alleged that the act cannot represent the views of the people.It is clear that the CRC recommended that a constituent assembly or any popular body that would represent the views of the people adopt the new constitution. It can be assumed in this matter that the people of Zambia through the CRC want a totally new constitution and not amendments to the current constitution and this should be through a body which would represent their views or at least be seen to be representing the people’s views.Patriotic front (PF) secretary General, Edward K. Mumbi has said that the position of the PF is that the NCC in its current form and composition cannot and will not represent the views of the people. The party alleges that the act has not taken on board the key recommendations of the stake holders through the parliamentary committee on legal affairs, governance, human rights and gender on the national constitutional conference bill (No 26 of 2007). For instance, where as the committee recommended that there should be proportional representation of the conference by having the number of members representing political parties equal to the number of representatives from church mother bodies, the act provides for only three (3) from each church mother body and provides for six (6) from each political party. This brings nominees of political parties in the act to a total of (48) while the church mother bodies have only a paltry twelve (12).The committee also recommended a reduction of representatives from each security wing from three (3) to one but the amended Act came up with only two (2).The other contentious issue raised by stakeholders is that despite the committee having recommended a reduction in the number of civil servants to four the number of those civil servants participating has been maintained hence adding flesh to the fears held by a number of stake holders.The committee went further to suggest that for any church mother body to be qualified to send three (3) representatives pursuant to section 4 (1)(C) it should have been in existence for at least ten (10 years) at the appointment, surprisingly, the Act ignored all this and is now providing for five years of existence only.Section (7) of the act is clear in that, whoever has numerical superiority in the NCC will carry the day. All decisions of the NCC will be by consensus, adding that all issues will be resolved by secret ballot.However, as if the above inadequacies are not enough in the act, there is a situation where nominations have been given to non-existing institutions and unnamed organizations. For instance, section 4 (1) (5) stipulate that:The NCC must comprise one eminent Zambian, from each province who has distinguished oneself in any business field or profession.Section 4 (1) (j) also provides:That the NCC must comprise of three (3) representations of women’s organizations that are not members of the non-governmental organizations coordinating council (NGOCC).
Section 4 (1) (z) provides:Ten (10) representatives of non-governmental organizations registered under the societies act or any other written law.It is however interesting to note subsections 2 of section 4 provides that: their representative institutions shall nominate the representatives referred to in section 4(1). The question at this point is, which institution will nominate members to the NCC under the above sub section in section 4 considering that there are no known institution in existence at the moment which cater for section 4 (1) (5), (V) and (z) categories nor is there a description of the process by which those at section 4 (1) (5), (V) and (z) shall be identified and nominated.Patriotic front (PF) president Michael Sata further alleges that the other contentious issue however, is that the powers given to the president under the act in a well analyzed view can be a danger to the process itself as the incumbent can use these powers arbitrary to abort the process if in his sole judgment he believes the process is not going the way he wants.Government on the other hand, despite the above allegations alleges that the NCC is significant in that it is the first of its kind since independence was attained. This view though can be supported due to the fact that three constitutions have been passed by parliament before but a popular body of the people’s representatives adopted none of those. It is stated that passed constitution recommendations were submitted to the government of the day that decided what to implement and what to leave out. For the first time in Zambia’s history the recommendations of a review commission will be debated and adopted by a body comprising politicians’, traditional leaders, leaders of professional bodies and trade unions, women and youths.It is interesting to note that not all the civil society organizations have shunned participation in the NCC, one such body is to ZCTU which has confirmed its participation and pledged to advocate for workers rights at the conference, but one may be interested to know which rights will be advocated for, are they the same rights of the civil servants that were rejected in the act or is the ZCTU just going to represent its self interest?.Lawyers have not be left out in his whole controversy, a pronounced constitutional lawyers is for the view that the NCC is a Golden opportunity for the country to put in a constitution that is legitimate and popular. Mr. John sangwa has however, urged all citizens to participate in order to ensure that a popular and legitimate constitution is put in place that will stand the taste of time.However, it is important to note that some people who speak for the government quite often more with unconstrained zeal than sense have entertained the country to monologues. These individuals, some, palpably intelligent have their credibility seriously dented by addressing obvious galleries and by giving the impression that they hold the public offices because of their sycophantic propensities and not their cerebral functions and performance.However, if government intentions are good and its acts appropriately, the national constitutional conference can offer a solution provided government brings on board those political parties and organizations (especially the church) that have expressed genuine reservations not necessarily about the NCC but the way everybody would have be encouraged into submission. The constitution as stated earlier is something in which everyone has a vested interest. Therefore it is important in this instance that all Zambians feel they own the process for this is the only way to pre-empt possible future strife and spare the country the agony and anguish of conflict and civil strife.Consequently, consensus will be essential in arising at an agreement on the final draft constitution. As a result the only way to give our beloved motherland a constitution to stand the test of time is by entrenching consensus and not circumventing it by some verbal acrobatics and semantic kites. Of course, it is possible that a constitution can be put together by the mode of adoption suggested by the CRC.As Michael Sata puts it ‘a constitution shrouded in acrimony and bitterness by any sections of our community will be a poisoned chalice and a gross disservice to posterity.’ Therefore in order to bring about oneness in the process, the president’s constituency goes for beyond the zealous MMD cadres, he must embrace all the Zambians and everyone has an inescapable moral responsibility and civic duty not only to support him but also to admonish him with unfilled condor to ensure progress.Finally in order to ensure transparency and consequently progress in the constitutional making process government must bend back wards if there should be a compelling need to do so to accommodate the church and other stakeholders. It is inappropriate and in expedient for the government to trade obscenities with the church, as chikwanda puts it the church has always been the country’s staunchest and remorseless ally in development endeavours.The government must recognize that the bishops do not have a private agenda nor are they partisan. It must be noted that when the church speaks on an issues, it is because in their daily interaction within society they see the devastating poverty of the people and widening gap between the few privileged and the majority that are lacking.It is hoped that every stakeholder in the acrimony over the constitution making process can spare a consideration for the less privileged in society as all their dreams of a prosperous and peaceful Zambia are in their hands. Zambia, as the President (Dr. Mwanawasa) has hinted is bigger than all our individual and collective egos. The overriding interests of posterity should always enjoy unquestioned and unmitigated significance over our petty interests.