Mpulungu Harbour: Who is benefiting from the spoils?

By Francis Lungu in Mpulungu

CONTROVERSY surrounding the running of Zambia’s only port, Mpulungu Harbour on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the Northern Province has taken a new dimension after a Presidential decree that government will not renew the contract for the current investor because of the alleged negative reports about how business is handled at the port.

The current investor, Mpulungu Harbour Management Limited and its major shareholder, Aglo-Fuel Investment took over the running of the harbour in September 2000 in a concession agreement with government that the company would manage the affairs of the harbour for 25 years, a contract subjected to five-year review.

The locals and other port users have been appealing to government to terminate the contract as the first five years of the concession agreement comes to an end on August 31, 2005.

Residents allege that Mpulungu Harbour Management Limited have monopolized the running of the harbour.

President Levy Mwanawasa was recently quoted in the media having made the pronouncement in Rwanda of not renewing the contract with Mpulungu Harbour Management Limited who took over the running of the port after government concessioned the harbour in 2000.

President Mwanawasa announced on June 5, 2005 in Rwanda that government would not renew the contract with the current investor because of numerous negative reports surrounding the running of the harbour.

The news that Mwanawasa’s government would not renew the contract with Aglo-Fuel Investment cheered Mpulungu residents who had been crying foul of current harbour management having monopolized the affairs of the port which is the main stake and source of livelihood for most of the Lungu ethnic people of Mpulungu district.

In showing solidarity to President Mwanawasa’s stance, scores of Mpulungu residents on June 23, 2005 assembled at the main ground and marched to the District Commissioner (DC), Stanley Chola’s office.

Placards and banners were displayed amidst chanting along Mpulungu district’s main street in support of Mwanawasa’s stance on the running of the harbour as business almost came to a stand-still as scores of Mpulungu residents joined in a peaceful solidarity march towards the DC’s office near the banks of Lake Tanganyika, one of Africa’s largest water expanses.

Chrispin Chifunda and Joseph Gray, main organizers of a peaceful solidarity march hailed President Mwanawasa for considering the cries of the Mpulungu residents and other port users.

“We thank the President for taking such a firm decision on the harbour. It is a well-known fact that the Mpulungu community has suffered a lot in the past five years,” Chifunda said as he addressed the people who gathered at the DC’s office during the solidarity march.

Mpulungu DC, Chola appreciated residents for marching in solidarity showing appreciation for President Mwanawasa’s decision for non-renewal of the contract with the current investor. Chola, however cautioned residents of acrimony in the district between themselves and the Mpulungu Harbour Management. “Do not intimidate the current harbour management for it did not come illegally. Let us work together until the end of the concession tenure,” Chola said amidst shouts of solidarity to Mwanawasa.

According to National Mirror investigations while in Mpulungu, at the time of tender processing in the year 2000, the government employed about 104 workers on full-time basis with 88 steve-dors (casual workers), but the new investor has reduced the number of full-time workers to less than 50 while increasing the number of steve-dors to around 200 who are paid K7000 per day. One of the steve-dors talked to, said they were subjected to carrying heavy loads of cement and sugar which are main exports from Zambia to the Great Lakes Region. “Impiya inono sana. Twalacula sana. Ubuteko uloleshepo,” said in Bemba literally meaning that the money they get per day was not enough compared to the labour and appealed to government to intervene.

But Mpulungu Harbour Management Limited operations manager, Whiteson Mubanga said he was aware of the complaints by some residents that the harbour was no longer attracting many truck operators who used to bring business to residents who invested in hospitality business.

Mubanga explained that the situation had changed because his company was more efficient in clearing cargo than was the case in the past where truck operators used to wait in a queue for seven days before being cleared. “Now it is done even within a day. The traffic is low due to efficiency.

“We have cut down the standing time of trucks in Mpulungu. Trucks used to be here for seven days and during this period drivers and their assistants used to spend a lot of money in pubs and accommodation which people called business,” Mubanga said in an interview on June 21, 2005 at Mpulungu harbour offices.

He said government concessioned the harbour to improve efficiency of business, adding that trucks bringing exports, mainly cement and sugar could now trip twice a week.

Mubanga said with 200 casuals, the company was able to off-load 20 trucks per day and at least one ship. “Indeed we would say the community would look at it from the other side, but government’s policy is about improving efficiency,” he said, adding that his company was also involved in community charity work.

On President Mwanawasa’s stance that government would not renew the contract with his company, Mubanga said the company would not comment on what Mwanawasa said.

When contacted for a comment on the status quo of the harbour, Mpulungu Harbour Corporation Port Manager, representing government, Collins Kasonde said he could not commit himself on the matter because the President had already made a statement. “I am not in a position to make any comment on the matter because the President has issued a statement on the position of government. We have to wait and see,” Kasonde said as he referred further queries to Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary, who is the board chairperson of Mpulungu Harbour Corporation.

Traditionally, Mpulungu Harbour, constructed by government over four decades ago, is considered as a natural heritage for the Lungu ethnic people settled around Lake Tanganyika.

Separating the Lungu ethnic people, whose main occupation is fishing on the waters of Lake Tanganyika and other Zambians who have settled around the shores of the lake on the Zambian side in Mpulungu is like denying them their source of breath.

Zambia’s Mpulungu Harbour on the waters of Lake Tanganyika shares geographical boundaries with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Burundi, all with traders shipping goods into and from Zambia using the harbour.

To many a Mpulungu resident, the coming of several ships with merchandise to Zambia from the three countries and influx of trucks had made Mpulungu district economically viable for the locals who opened up restaurants, guest houses, drinking places and other social resorts. With Mubanga, the reversal of the situation is attributed to efficiency by Mpulungu Harbour Management Limited but to the contrary, Time Trucking owner, a freight company, Ken Mkandawire one of the locals who used to ferry imports and exports using the port accused the Harbour Management of having monopolized the business.

“The current management is a monopoly. It is involved in transporting, exporting and running of the harbour. All the transporting business is monopolized. Other transporters have been denied business,” a seemingly distraught Mkandawire said.

Mkandawire however, accused indigenous residents of being lukewarm and prone to bribery in their approach to issues affecting the 37,000 residents in Mpulungu. However, Mkandawire who hails from the Eastern Province voiced out a resolve to continue speaking out for the voiceless in Mpulungu till sanity prevailed on the matter.

Mkandawire said he would not rest the case as most people in Mpulungu were being denied an opportunity to share in the Great Lakes business prospects and provide a better future for younger generation.

“I am a Zambian and believe that this harbour must benefit all Zambians. The only problem is that Mpulungu residents have proved to be so easily prone to bribery, because of their economic deprivation, but I will stand up in order to speak for the voiceless,” Mkandawire said. Mkandawire was one of the locals who facilitated the public peaceful demonstration after the police had granted permission to Chifunda and Gray.

According to the observations by two senior citizens, Saul Sitima and Stanley Simfukwe who own some hospitality businesses, “The harbour in the last five years has not benefited the locals. We used to have a lot of trucks parked for days when business was at its best at the harbour before the new management took over,” the two said in unison. After all is said and done, Mpulungu people have kept their fingers crossed waiting for the five-year end of the first review of the concession agreement on August 31 this year.

One of the people at the centre of controversy is Mr Robertson Nthala, a clearing agent for Kaimbi Cargo Masters, who is alleged to have been compromised by the current investor and that he receives favours of business deals. But Nthala says: “We can not take sides. Whoever takes over the port, it’s well and good. We are ready to work with anyone.”

Impotence, infertility a threat to Zambian men

By Gideon Thole

LIKE their European counterparts Zambian men are increasingly facing a decline in sperm count and new health problems such as impotence and infertility threatening the sexual and reproductive lifestyles.

The number of Zambian men experiencing a decline in sperm count is said to be on the increase mainly due to the fast or too demanding lifestyles they are leading.

According to experts cases of infertility, failure to make a woman conceive despite having regular sexual intercourse for a period of more than two years, are said to be on the increase in Zambia in the past few years.

Some men are increasingly facing the problem of impotence — failure to have a sustained erection.

Although most men are not aware of their reproductive health problems, those who are aware prefer to remain silent fearing to seek medical attention because of living in a culture set-up which promotes stigmatization and discrimination at times which eats into a man’s ego.

Most men have had their reproductive health problems unattended to over a long period of time simply following the long held belief that a man is always perfect or fertile.

According to Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ) executive director Dr Fwasa Singogo infertility and impotence is as a result of many factors which include leading a demanding, stressful lifestyle — always working hard to meet deadlines, preoccupying the mind with hard and pressing thoughts about where one’s next meal or money to settle bills would come from, leads to a situation where one’s interest in sex declines and the body starts producing hormones which negatively affect sperm production.

The sudden increase in the number of men facing psychological problems has also contributed in the fall in fertility and impotence levels among men.

Uncontrolled exposure to different kinds of harmful chemicals secrete anti-bodies that suppress or reacts to sperm production – some sperms are killed or do not mature.This is common among farm or industrial workers. Blindly following unhealthy Western life-styles such as indiscriminate eating of genetically grown food, junk food with high fat and other chemical values is harmful.

According to experts a certain level of alcohol acts as a stimuli but excess levels lead to a situation it suppresses one’s sexual intercourse performance.

Having excessive unprotected sex which results to different kinds of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) results to a situation where one’s testicles get blocked with mumps which affect the testicles which are responsible for sperm production. Inflammation of testicles — a condition where testicles are affected by a bacterial infection. Men’s sexual and reproductive health problems continue going on unnoticed due to a number of factors.

While they were youths most men grew up in an environment which was not youth friendly.

Reproductive health services were catering for women and not have always been available.

Most men experiencing reproductive health services are discouraged fearing that there is no privacy in clinics and hospitals which deal with similar cases which mostly affect women.

After discovering the seemingly alarming rate of problems threatening the male reproductive health problems, PPAZ has started putting in place measures aimed at making male reproductive issues a priority area like that of their female counterparts. The association has started introducing youth friendly clinics, male reproductive health research programme, offering male reproductive health services which should be provided at the most convenient time to enable men access the service being offered. PPAZ has plans to put in place measures which will result into a situation where men would have access to information about how impotence and infertility could be prevented or even cured at times. PPAZ has introduced the first ever Male Reproductive Health Clinic, being housed at the Rachael Lumpa Memorial Reproductive Health Centre, in Lusaka.

The fight against infertility is being implemented through PPAZ, with the support of the District Health Management Committees in Lusaka, Chongwe and Kitwe on a pilot basis using a total of US$700,000 donated by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The clinic among other things offers psycho-social counselling. Special attention to infertility related problems — doctors examine the male sexual organ functional problems; conduct semen analysis — checking if one has normal or abnormal sperms which are capable of fertilizing an egg. PPAZ, which was formed in 1972, has in the past been providing family planning services focusing more on women than men. The organization has now realized that men who play a major role in decision making influence the women’s choice of whether to access family planning services or not. Dr Singogo explained that one does not need drugs to cure impotence but psychological cure, minor operations of one’s sexual organ nerves system. He further stated that having unprotected sex, drug abuse and exposure to harmful chemicals are some of the major causes of infertility among Zambian men.

The PPAZ director has called upon men experiencing impotence and infertility problems to seek medical attention at Men Fertility Centres.

“Time has come for men to stop suffering from self-stigmatization to seek medical attention as quickly as possible to avoid complicating their condition.

Not all cases of impotence and infertility can be cured but it helps if one knows to start making informed decisions such as whether to adopt or not adopt a child,” Dr Singogo said.

He observed that couples have the right to enjoy their sexual life without having children.

“It is important for couples to realize that they can enjoy sexual life even when they do not have a child,” he said. “Marriage should not be equalled to having children.”

Dr Singogo stated that if people were marrying to get children then they could marry anybody else. mThe PPAZ executive director states that marriage was an institution based on a relationship of two individuals who have agreed to being together but facing threats from increasing levels of infertility and impotence.

Social Diary Registered poor people

POVERTY is a crime, so one of the reggae artistes sung. It is sad that in this time and age, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have even gone to the extent of registering poor countries and their people in the name of HIPC.

Indeed poverty humiliates. It would appear that money is the measure of dignity. Those who have it in abundance have the audacity of putting a tag on the poor people for the whole world to see that they are their bona fide beggars.

It is not a sin to borrow money in the time of need but it becomes one when lenders start to threaten you with the wrath of their gods and rename you as highly indebted.

It is not a problem for a country to be classified as rich. Afterall this is a measure of responsibility and hardwork on the part of the governors and the governed.

Unfortunately this spirit of measuring dignity with money is what is driving the lives of many people even in our own communities. In modern times marriages are dependent on material possession on the part of a man. Of course it is only nowadays that men also want to marry women who are working or are rich.

Very few girls would agree to marry a man who is not yet in gainful employment and some parents have made it clear to their daughters that marrying a man who has no job is as good as remaining in spinsterhood though a couple can still enjoy their conjugal rights in a state of poverty.

Many parents emphasise the need for their daughters to marry men who are in gainful employment because they believe that the status guarantees their daughters’ welfare let alone dignity of the marriage.

However, it is the same belief that many people have ended up marrying their daughters to thieves or crooks who after marrying they find themselves in jail because of trying to put up false impressions in the eyes of in-laws.

Yes, while as a country we want to be classified as a poor country, some men are putting up impressions to avoid being classified as Highly Indebted Poor Persons (HIPP) by in-laws.

Because of the competition obtaining in society as a result of the hard economic times, one of my Bemba traditional cousins has decided to become a registered poor person. He has stopped trying things in life with a sense of resignation because he thinks life is unfair.

He is usually found in the compounds living on ‘tupamela’ (small quantities of mealie meal). Sometime back he had established himself with one vendor for his ‘tupamela’, but he tells me that he has since changed ‘kantemba’ (stall) to another one because the previous one had started calling him ‘bapamela’ instead of appreciating that he was contributing to the growth of his kantemba by buying from him everyday.

“People are not good. You buy from them everyday, they start calling you names instead of appreciating,” he said one day.

“I thought we were helping each other but he is now setting me up. He should not sell tupamela if he thinks he is better off than me,” he said.

“May be he expected you to start buying bigger things as well, like 25kg bag of mealie meal at K40,000,” I said.

“Ah!, where do I get the money. I can not afford,” he exclaimed. “Why do you think I have relegated myself to Highly Indebted Poor Person?” he asked me.

“No. I do not know,” I said.

“I want the IMF and the World Bank to recognise me as such so that when I reach the completion point, I can use the money from HIPP to marry and buy Chigayo. You know here in George compound people live like in villages.

“They can not afford to buy 25kg bags of mealie meal. So my business will thrive on their poverty just like that man I used to buy tupamela from. He used my poverty effectively.

“In the end he wanted me to start buying bigger items as well,” he said.

I thought his idea was so brilliant that I encourage him to go ahead.

bjboydphiri@yahoo.com

Political insults: Is Mazoka, Mwanawasa to blame?

By Sylvester Mbewe

WHEN Kabwata Member of Parliament (MP) Given Lubinda was weeks ago asked on Radio Phoenix’s “Let the People Talk” programme to say whether or not there was a difference between incumbent Republican President Levy Mwanawasa and his predecessor Dr Frederick Chiluba, he simply used an old Nyanja adage which says: “Mwana wa njoka ni njoka” translated as: “A snake’s child is also a snake”.

Whereas what dented former President Dr Chiluba the most was the third term debate that supposedly would have paved way for his third term in office, but instead literally split the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) apart, there has surfaced a tendency of politics of insults during the reign of President Mwanawasa, which many argue are being fuelled by the ruling party.

Barely weeks ago, the political arena has been characterised by a lot of insults much to the dismay of the younger generation and the donor community. The Church has also come out in the open to condemn such political insults in the strongest terms.

The recent two by-elections won by the MMD and the UPND respectively did not come at the right time as they just buoyed the situation that was already out of hand.

During this period, at one of the political rallies, President Mwanawasa is on record having said that the United Party for National Development (UPND) was like buttocks of human beings that could not eventually found themselves in front. Basically, what the President was saying was that UPND would not in any way find itself in government, as it was always supposed to be behind. But the use of “buttocks” to describe the UPND is what brought a lot of controversy.

The statement sparked a lot of reaction led by UPND president Anderson Mazoka himself, who responded by saying that President Mwanawasa would not have been his brother even if his mother was a prostitute.

“Our members are annoyed. First of all you must be stupid to think like that even if you are a kid, a kid will not think like what Mr Mwanawasa is thinking.

“If we were brothers, I would have disowned him for what he is doing. He himself started insulting me before he was even dried of his baptism water, so he cannot propose friendship,” Mazoka said.

“President Mwanawasa has gone too far. I think he is sick in the head. He must apologise because it is unbecoming for him as a President, or indeed any elderly person, to say that,” Mazoka said, this time, after President Mwanawasa said that Mazoka’s wife Mutinta had taken over UPND since he (Mazoka) was sick.

Such a response was greeted with calls from certain groups that Mazoka ought to apologise to President Mwanawasa because it was not right to insult the President in that manner.

But Mazoka said: “When you are a Christian, it does not mean that you should agree with everything that has been said. I have the right to defend my position. Levy has been making disparaging remarks about my health and I have the right to defend my health.

“It is inhuman to expect such a person to love you and forgiveness for things done deliberately is difficult.”

In his view, Mazoka said the language that President Mwanawasa was using was not fit for a President saying that this was the reason why the UPND believes that he is not fit to lead this country.

And Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) presidential aspiring candidate at the July 13-17 convention slated for the Mulungushi Rock of Authority in Kabwe, Mwaba Mushota, has described President Mwanawasa as an emotional person who does not take lightly advice given to him by others especially when such advice is meant to correct wrong deeds.

Speaking on last Tuesday’s Radio Phoenix “Let the People Talk” Programme, Mushota said that President Mwanawasa was an inconsistent and inconsiderate man who had failed to provide good leadership. As if to add salt to an injury, the controversy recently shifted to Livingstone with President Mwanawasa going neck to neck against UPND Livingstone MP Sakwiba Sikota.

It all began with Sikota’s ambitious campaign dubbed ‘Mr Mwanawasa’s hatred for the people of Livingstone’ in which he campaigned that the President visits the city to answer ‘charges’ levelled against him in a widely circulated publication titled: “Why does Mr Mwanawasa Hate The People of Livingstone?”

Thus, when departing from Livingstone on June 10, 2005 he said that he was ready to meet Livingstone residents so that he could publicly reprimand Sikota and “dress him down”.

But Sikota responded: “I am a very satisfied Member of Parliament because I made a pledge that I would force the President to come and face the people of Livingstone and indeed I have succeeded.”

He added: “I hope after he has dressed me down, and thrown invectives at me, he will then address the many problems of Livingstone which include delinquent behaviour of street kids who constantly insult people including our visitors such as the tourists. There are problems of crime, HIV/AIDS, access to water, jobs and investment.”

It is against such a background in the political arena that Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) executive director Bishop Paul Mususu described it as a sad state of affair, where leadership changes the language to something that is unbefitting.

“It is sad to say the least, but leaders have reduced the status of leadership to that of call-boys.

“People fight because they have come to the end of their thinking capacity and ideas,” Bishop Mususu said.

Bishop Mususu advised that people seeking to be voted into office should desist from insulting, adding that it was suicidal to do so and urged politicians to change their campaign tactics.

He said it was sad to learn that leaders that are in the forefront of insulting are people that say they are Christians. He said their clergy should sit down with them and counsel them.

“People have certain expectations of language from their leaders because of the dignity attached to their roles and status in society. Not befitting of leaders, they should realize they are judged by their language, there should be no excuse about it,” said Bishop Mususu.