ARE YOUTHS A MENACE?

SOME 10 years ago, in the wake of the tragic death of former Finance Minister, Ronald Penza, this writer penned an obituary in this same newspaper and the focus was on Penza’s days as a student activist at the University of Zambia (UNZA) in the early 1970s.
The spirit of the obituary was to eulogise the heroic role, which UNZA students historically played in fighting political oppression and bureaucratic intransigence. It meant to provide a voice for a voiceless citizenry that was prevailed upon by an-all-mighty State machinery prone to the arbitrary control of a clique of self-interested individuals.
During that period, Penza was secretary general of the University of Zambia Students’ Union (UNZASU), in which capacity he organised a march to the French Embassy in Lusaka, to protest against the French government’s decision to supply sophisticated military weapons, including Mirage fighter jets, to the apartheid regime of South Africa.
The students reckoned, and rightly so, that this high-handed move by the French would seriously set back the struggle for the liberation of southern Africa and spawn general political instability in the region. The then UNIP government, although principally in agreement with the students’ position, was understandably apprehensive about the political ramifications of this unbridled diplomatic assault on a major European power like France.
Therefore, even though UNIP and its government were then positioning themselves as the citadel of the regional liberation struggle, they forcibly blocked the student procession, with riot police being deployed for the purpose. Students, on their part, refused to budge, and what ensued was teargas, gunfire and mayhem, during which one student climbed the mast at the French Embassy and tore down that nation’s flag.
Whatever the political fall-out followed this violent confrontation, history has honoured those students as having, in their own rambunctious way, contributed to the long, tortuous process of dismantling the apartheid regime and liberating southern Africa.
In reflecting on the recent disturbances at UNZA, during which two students sustained police gunshot wounds while agitating for increased allowances, this writer could not help but marvel at how drastically the constitution of student militancy has evolved over the years.
The long and short lessons of the Penza obituary are that it can never be written for contemporary student activists. For Penza was a person whose reputation for student militancy was buttressed by a lofty pursuit of political and ideological ideals for the betterment of greater society!
The debate on the adequacy or inadequacy of student allowances without venturing into the highly-charged debate on the adequacy or inadequacy of student allowances is always fraught with undue emotions, intrigue and bureaucratic rigidity, in addition to being highly-charged.
In contemporary times, hardly a year goes by without news of student unrest at one or both of the country’s public universities (that’s discounting the new, yet to be baptised Mulungushi University).
Indeed, this perennial tale of woes has assumed such permanency that the problems at UNZA, and by extension the Copperbelt University (CBU), begin to look intractable and gain acceptance as some sort of inevitable nuisance to be lived with. This is not only an unfortunate but dangerous eventuality! The problem of student unrest, and other associated maladies, is a soluble one, if only all stakeholders could openly and honestly put their minds and energies to it!
Perhaps it would be worthwhile to examine the nature and background of student unrest in Zambia. Just how and why do ordinary, law-abiding boys and girls straight from grade 12 suddenly transform into rampaging, stone-throwing rioters?
During this author’s time as a student leader, he became fascinated by this question and embarked on a background research, which gleaned him interesting historical insights into student militancy at UNZA.
Planting the seed
In the fashion of most post-independence African states, generally characterised by a gravitation towards totalitarian modes of governance, the head-of-state also assumed direct headship or control of key state or parastatal institutions. Thus, in Zambia, the Republican president also became Chancellor of the University of Zambia. This arrangement was to spawn two unfortunate traditions, which persist to this day, and which in large part, account for the institution’s endless troubles in dispute resolution.
Firstly, all disputes at the institution - disputes which could be routinely resolved through ordinary bargaining and negotiation mechanisms within any organisation - found their way to the office of the Head-of-State, or the Chancellor, as the disputants always referred to him. Thus, emphasising his chosen role as the institution’s ultimate buck-stopper!
Therefore, State House became an extension of the university management, something akin to the board chairman of a company assuming the responsibility of signing salary cheques. The seat of republican authority thus, became a clearing house for the problems associated with the running of the university, be they about students, support staff, lecturers or management itself; and all these stakeholders naturally felt free to “seek an audience with the chancellor any time”.
This development had the unfortunate effect of rendering redundant, the established structures, systems and boundaries of managing the affairs of the university, both at institutional and ministerial levels.
Well thought-out long-term strategies as well as professionally crafted operational plans at these two levels could easily be dismissed with a presidential wave of the hand if political expediency beckoned.
Management of the university thus became something of an adhoc affair, dangling on the string of political largesse. To this day, it has to take the Republican president to step in and promise to “look for money” to bridge budgetary shortfalls for UNZA and CBU, as happened recently. It is also possible for the UNZASU president to demand an audience with the Head-of State, in order to discuss student allowances and police brutality.
The second aspect of the State-university arrangement was that the university, like all other key institutions, was seen by the political authority not as an independent entity with an autonomous mandate, namely the free and un-tethered pursuit of knowledge, but as an instrument for furthering the agenda of the politico-bureaucratic regime. In other words, the university was not supposed to generate or propagate any ideas or innovations outside of, inimical to, or contemptuous of, the political leadership’s ideological orientation.
But inevitably, mutual suspicion and often-outright hostility, developed between the State and the university. During that period of anti-imperialist hyper consciousness (which often-times approached stark paranoia), the UNIP government sought to have absolute control over anything that had potential to condition the thinking of citizens.
In the growing militancy and anti-establishment tendencies of UNZA students, therefore, government soon perceived a threat, which it ‘traced’ to Marxist propaganda purveyed by expatriate lecturers at the institution.
On its part, the university establishment strongly detested the overly patronising attitude of UNIP and government towards the university, which it saw as constraining its universally acknowledged mandate of providing an environment for free learning and objective generenable production at the plant to finally take off.

Times of Mgt; does it take youths interests on board?

History of the Times of Zambia

The Times of Zambia started as a newspaper called the Northern News which was established in 1943 and was owned by the Argus Company. The establishment of the Northern News was aimed at rationalizing the company’s activities in the country by making the newspaper play its full role as the country’s national daily newspaper. The Argus Company however, did not continue running the Northern Newspaper because in 1964 they sold it to the London Rhodesian Mining and Land Company (LONRHO). After the Kitwe Branch of Northern News was closed by its new owners, the Ndola Branch was not closed and all production continued from here.

LONRHO under its managing director, Roland Rowland renamed the Northern News to the Times of Zambia. The Times of Zambia first appeared on 30th June 1965. Apparently as part of the strategy to revamp the poor public image of the former Northern News, LONRHO also appointed as editor in chief Richard Hall, founder of the Pro-African and Pro-UNIP Central African Mail. Hall, whose appointment was welcomed by then President Kaunda, immediately set out to improve the newspaper’s public image by “Zambianising” it both in staff and content. He hired some black Zambian reporters and only recruited sub-editors with politically progressive views. The main thrust of the Times of Zambia under Hall was to vehemently oppose Ian Smith’s UDI in Southern Rhodesia, repeatedly calling on Harold Wilson’s Labour Government in Britain to bring it down by force.

At this time almost every other editorial in the newspaper was a diatribe against either Smith or Wilson or both. The stand of the Times of Zambia was sometimes the same as that of the Zambian government. For example President Kaunda once complimented the newspaper for its reporting of the Rhodesian UDI crisis. He told a rally he had publicly castigated the newspaper in the past, but on the Rhodesian situation it had done wonderfully well. Even though the government and the Times of Zambia seemed to be in good books, this was not entirely so because in 1965, the newspaper had declared that the government was acting foolishly to repeal the law that forbade demand of party cards. And when the law was repealed, the newspaper constantly opposed UNIP’s card checking campaigns in which people were asked to produce their UNIP cards before using public facilities like buses and markets.

In still another instance, the newspaper disagreed with UNIP national council that the big fire in Kitwe in 1966, in which fuel storage tanks were gutted, was caused by sabotage. By this year Hall had become so alienated to some members of the government that public attacks on the newspaper by the officials were becoming routine. To make matters worse, the newspaper generally published more editorials critical of the government of the ruling UNIP than it did in support of it. Finally the fact that the newspaper was foreign owned tended to magnify its criticisms of the government and UNIP. Thus the overall impression created was that the Times of Zambia was an anti government newspaper. Therefore, the government resented the Times of Zambia, especially its editor Hall and fearing that the newspaper might be banned, Hall resigned saying he was going on six months leave to write a book.

Dustan Kamana, the black Zambian who succeeded Hall proved even more outspoken. In the first six months of 1968, Kamana wrote far more editorials critical of the government than in support of it. Kamana was, indeed a ruthless and often sarcastic editorial writer. He regarded his role as that of an opposition to the government, since the African National Congress (ANC) was now so weak that it had even ceased to be the official opposition in parliament. Throughout 1969 the outspoken Kamana was, however, more favourable of the government than he was to UNIP as a party, in line with LONRHO policy for the newspaper to be in good books with the government. The following year he drastically reduced his criticism of the ruling party as well.

In early 1968, President Kaunda had nationalised several of the nation’s key industries in line with his philosophy of Humanism. In his Mulungushi Economic Reforms, President Kaunda announced that the state was going to purchase 51 percent controlling shares in the companies. He also invited LONRHO through Zambia Newspapers to sell 51 percent shares to the government. President Kaunda gave the following reason for wanting to buy the Times Zambia from LONRHO, he claimed that it was not right that the major means of informing the public should be under foreign control. He stated that he would be happier if at least 51 percent of Zambia Newspapers Ltd were in state ownership. President Kaunda, however, said that he did not intend that newspapers should be operated by Information Departments nor did he wish them to be run by state company. The president revealed that he was anxious under democracy and humanism to create some national body of truly Zambian organization which would operate these newspapers.

But LONRHO did not respond to his request until eight years later, in June 1975. In the meantime, the Times of Zambia and its weekend version the Sunday Times of Zambia continued to be outspoken independent newspapers under the editorship of Kamana. In 1971, after consultations with LONRHO, President Kaunda removed Kamana from the editorship of the Times of Zambia and replaced him with Vernon Mwaanga. Mwaanga was a career diplomat who had been Zambia’s permanent representative to the United Nations. Kamana later succeeded Mwaanga at the UN.

Since the buying of the 51 percent shares by the government, the Times of Zambia has been state owned and that is why it is called a parastatal company. The other 49 percent of shares are owned by the Times of Zambia itself through shareholding. This means that apart from the company itself, there are other members of the public who have bought and own some shares in the Times of Zambia.

The fact that the newspaper is government owned puts it in a tight corner when it comes to reporting politics, especially those that have to do with government interests. Whatever situation the newspaper finds itself in, it must ensure that its allegiance is always to the ruling party of the government or country at any given time. All this allegiance is as a result of the majority shareholding of the government.

Despite being a government owned newspaper, the Times of Zambia is not exempted from paying any tax as it has to make sure that it meets all the deadlines for paying taxes to avoid any unliked consequences.

Objectives and readership
The following are the objectives set by the Times of Zambia:


· To inform, entertain, and educate the public.
This is achieved by striving to report factual articles of the happenings in and outside the country
· To deliver news by attempting to reach as many parts of the country as possible
· Reach all the remotest parts of the country by trying to send the newspaper in the shortest possible time
· Make the newspaper simpler to read so that even people not very educated can manage to read and be informed

Even if the newspaper has put these objectives in place to ensure that operations continue going up, the sales have however shown that things are not as they would loved to be. The sales have drastically dropped from over 85 000 copies per day to just over 25, 000 copies per day. This has been attributed mainly to the hard economic times that many of the Zambians are going through.

This drop in sales has been recorded in the last ten years. Another reason said to cause this has been the proliferation of newspapers on the market. There are a good number of newspapers on the market nowadays unlike in the past when there were just a few papers competing for readership. The increased number of these newspapers has resulted in the people having a wide choice on which newspapers to buy.

Ownership

As already alluded to in the history of the Times of Zambia, it is a government owned newspaper. This is because of the 51 percent ownership of the shares that the government has in the newspaper.

Unlike its two counter part dailies, the Daily Mail and the Post newspapers which are printed in Lusaka, the Times of Zambia is printed in Ndola where it printing department has not been moved since its early days. But even though it is like this, the newspaper’s bigger market is in Lusaka where the larger part of the Zambian population is.

Format, Mood and Motto

The Times of Zambia is a broadsheet newspaper whose motto is “Forward With the Nation”.

The Times of Zambia like many other company’s that are interested in promoting the welfare of their employees has put in place a number of policies that dictate how certain things should be done at the work place. These policies are discussed below:




· Editorial Policy

The newspaper’s editorial policy is one that encourages that information, entertainment and education of its readers. In trying to uphold this policy the newspaper makes a must that it should carry articles that are always factual and well balanced.

Management at the Times of Zambia has also made it a policy to try and dispel the misconception among a lot of Zambians that they get instructions from the government about which stories to carry for each particular day. This is despite the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) being appointed by the republican president. This therefore means that the editorial team is a bit free of government control but there is practicing of self censorship because they are trying to protect their jobs.

The newspaper has however not been completely free of government control because according to the Sunday Times Editor, during the rule of former republican president, Dr. Frederick Chiluba, Richard Sakala who was then the presidential aid used to call once in a while to ask about certain stories that were supposed to be included in the following day’s edition.

· HIV and AIDS Policy

Apart from the editorial policy, the Times of Zambia has also put in place the HIV and AIDS policy. This policy aims sensitizing employees on the dangers of HIV and AIDS and also coordinate issues relating to the pandemic. One other thong worthy noting is that the newspaper is the second company in Zambia to have introduced this policy. The policy was made some three years ago but only got to be used on a regular in the year 2007. the Times of Zambia has employed full time coordinators who organize and arrange outreach programmes to assist employees who are both infected or affected in one way or the other by HIV and AIDS.

· Gender Policy

The Times of Zambia has also put in place a gender policy and this was introduced in 1997. There is one employee based in Ndola who is a gender activist but monitors the company’s activities in connection with these issues. The Times of Zambia applies this policy in the way it employees people to adhere to the Southern African Development community (SADC) recommendations to have at least 30 percent women in decision making positions in companies.

The newspaper has used this policy in the following manner: the chief sub-editor, the deputy chief editor, the assistant circulations manager and the deputy human resource manager are all women. These women are all in second positions with the hope that they will some time in the future take over these various positions after their men superiors are no longer in the positions.

It should however be noted that following the recommendations of the policy on the recruitment of more women in decision making positions does not however end her because there are plans to increase the number of women in the near future.

· Other Policies

It was however not discovered whether the Times of Zambia has other policies in place apart from those mentioned above.





























Structure


Managing Editor
Clerks
Deputy Managing Editor
Accounts Clerks
News Editors on all the desks
Financial Manager
Legal Counsel
Chief Reporter
Senior Reporter
Deputy Editor
Chief Reporter
Senior Reporter
Deputy Editor
Sunday Times
Secretary
Reporters
Support Staff
Human Resource Manager
Training Manager
Reporters

















Ratings
















The functions of each of the above departments are as follows:

· Managing Editor
The managing Editor is the overall boss at the Times of Zambia. His duty is to ensure that the editors on the respective desks are coordinating their teams so that they produce the paper on time, and also to ensure stories are not containing anything that would spell trouble for the media house. He also attends to other important matters outside the office that concern the newspaper’s well being. The managing also ensures that everything is order for the newspaper to run successfully on a day to day basis.

· Deputy Managing Editor
The deputy managing editor is the second in command at the newspaper and assists the managing editor. He also acts as the boss the managing director is not around. This one also works on things that ensures smooth running of the paper and does things delegated to him. The deputy managing editor is also the one who reads through the stories usually to make sure only those that are good for the newspaper are used and is consulted on regular basis by the editors on all the respective desks of the Times of Zambia.

· News Editors
News editors receive the stories from the reporters and go through them to edit them for any grammatical errors and ethical issues. They also ensure that the articles are handed in before the deadline so that they following day’s edition is ready in good time so that sub-editors have enough time to lay out the pages that will be handed in to the printing department. The editors also make sure they assign responsibilities to the reporters according to their abilities and experience.

· Deputy Editors

Deputy Editors assist the editors on the different desks of the Times of Zambia. These people also coordinate the reporters on behalf of their editors. The deputy editors are the ones who go through the news stories brought in by the reporters for that day so that they lessen the work of the editors.

· Chief Reporters
The chief reporters are the one who presides over the diary meetings for the different desks at the Times of Zambia. These ones also assist the Deputy Editors give assignments to the reporters according to their ability and experience.

· Senior Reporters
The senior reporters help coordinate the other reporters, especially news ones who still do not understand the way the news room is run. They also assist the new reporter with how to write god articles that are of the required standard.

· Reporters

Reporters have the duty of presenting workable news ideas and going out into the field to get stories that are needed for the following day’s edition of the newspaper. They are also required to do stories that will be able to attract readers and be better than those carried by their competitors.

· Human Resource Manager

The Human Resource’s main task is to look a issues of recruiting staff and work ways of improving staff development. They receive reports about which departments are understaffed so that they can work out the modalities of recruiting new personnel. And when need be they also consider issues of dismissing workers for different reasons according to the newspaper’s work guidelines.

· Support Staffs

Support staffs are people like the office orderlies, sweepers and other general workers. Their main duty is to ensure that the surrounding and the inside of the Times of Zambia are conducive and appealing.

· Financial Manager

The financial manager deals with the funds that are at the Times of Zambia. Their main deputy is to ensure that all funds are used appropriately where they are needed and people’s salaries and their monies are available whenever they are needed.




· Clerks

The clerks assist the financial manager in organising the accounts books and giving out the money. They also make sure that whoever gets money from the accounts department has signed for it so that there are no irregularities when the time for auditing the newspaper accounts arrives.

· Legal Counsel

The job of the legal counsel is to ensure that all the legal maters of the newspaper are taken care of and all the workers are educated on the need of observing legally implicating issues. This is particularly important for the reporters to make sure that they do not write stories that would result in legal cases against the Times of Zambia.
· Secretaries

The secretaries in the different departments serve as the link between the officials and members of the public. These also sit in during important meetings to take down meetings and document them for future reference. The secretaries also work as personal assistants to some of the officials.

· Sunday Times Editor

The Sunday Times Editor receives stories from the reporters on his desk and goes through them to edit them for any grammatical errors and ethical issues. He also ensures that the articles are handed in before the deadline so that the following Sunday’s edition is ready in good time so that sub-editors have enough time to lay out the pages that will be handed in to the printing department. The editors also make sure they assign responsibilities to the reporters according to their abilities and experience.
Ratings
The ratings for the Times of Zambia in terms of sales have in the recent past been declining from selling over 85, 000 copies of the newspaper per day to selling just over 25, 000 copies per day. This figure was reached at not through guess work but through actual research conducted by the parastatal. Every five years, the Times of Zambia carries out a market survey to determine its sales are increasing, remaining static or decreasing, and this was what was done to discover that newspaper sales were reducing and what was causing it.

This same survey, which is carried out by the Marketing Department at the newspaper also shows many copies have been sold from the print order for each particular day. These figures are based on demand from people who sell the newspaper who also depend on the demand for the newspaper made by the readers. What the surveys have also revealed is that the Times of Zambia also has a bigger share of the advertisers because of the reputation it has developed for itself over the years as a newspaper that reports news that is of interest and also that it reaches nearly the whole of the country.

Main Advertiser

The Times of Zambia has a number of advertisers and some of the main advertisers are cellular network providers, Cell Z, MTN and Celtel. Others are satellite TV providers like GTV and DSTV, while commercial banks also have their own share of advertising space in the newspaper. These big companies advertise in the Times of Zambia almost on a daily basis, with some of them even paying for full page adverts. An interesting thing about the newspaper is that even if it is government owned, the government advertises in it on a regular basis, but not for free because all the government’s adverts are paid for. The government does this in a bid to encourage the Times of Zambia to raise its own finances and not to depend on the government for donations.

· Which Audience

All these adverts that are carried in the Times of Zambia are intended for different audiences. It can not be said that they are meant for specific audiences because for example, the satellite TV providers are targeting an audience that is not similar to that being targeted by commercial banks, even if they might be found in the same communities. The adverts are also sometimes aimed at members of the readership of different ages. What also determines which day some of these adverts are carried greatly depends on the projected class of readers for that particular day. For example, adverts that have matters concerning family life would most likely be carried on weekends because this is the time when it is projected that the whole family is at home at the same time and they might get the chance to read the paper together.

· Breaking Through or Drowning

The fact that the Times of Zambia is state owned does not mean that it depends on handouts from the government. On the contrary, no amount of money is allocated to it in the national budget. This is unlike during the years when Dr. Kaunda was still the president. During these years the Times of Zambia was entitled to an amount of money from the government to assist in its operations. This is however no longer the case because, the government has withdrawn this funding and the newspaper now has to survive on its own. The withdrawal of this funding is due to the profit the newspaper makes from sales and advertising.

The Times of Zambia is a newspaper that is managing to break even, and this means that it is surviving and not drowning in any way. The newspaper manages to raise about K3 billion from advertising alone without including that funds raised from subscriptions.

Kind of Technology

The technology being used at the Times of Zambia is computerized. With the use of this computerized technology, the Ndola and Lusaka branches with all the bureau offices across the country are connected on a direct network. This therefore makes it easy to send news articles from one office to the other immediately instead of relying on the slowness of email services.

This fully fledged computerized system did however appear as a feature of the way the newspaper is run only in the recent past. The newspaper was until some time in 1999 still using type writers and some other old equipment. The only people at this time who were using computers were the sub-editors because of the need to have the newspaper pages layed out on computer using the necessary computer software. The machinery in the printing department in Ndola is however very old and semi computerized and this makers printing quite difficult to do especially colour printing.

A good thing however is that by the time the information for this paper was being collected, the Managing Editor at the Times of Zambia was in China making consultations on the type of printing press that is of good quality for a big newspaper like this one. The machinery being sought in China was supposed to be fully computerized so that the newspaper could also start printing in colour like its two counterpart dailies, the Daily Mail and the Post. The Times of Zambia has managed to raise part of the cost for the printing press and with the assistance of the government the machinery could be acquired by March this year.

Expansion

The newspaper has plans of expanding its services across the country. For example, once this colour printing press is brought into the country, the newspaper plans on increasing its circulation and also on the number of advertisements it carries in each edition. The newspaper also intends on enlarging its courier services so that many people can be sending different things from one part of the country to the next in the shortest period of time.

Other Special Features

Other special features found at the Times of Zambia were the clean environment in which operations are done at their Lusaka offices. The outside of the Times of Zambia building on Freedom Way is some kind of eye sore but the picture is a different one once one enters the premises. The newspaper has some of the latest office equipment being used with a floor that is nicely carpeted. Even the air conditioners at the newspaper are the latest with all the old and ugly heavy ones having been removed some time back.

Recommendations

For the Times of Zambia to achieve more from its set objectives there is need to for more effort to be invested in the application of the already existing objectives and goals on the one hand while on the other hand, there is need for adjustments to be made and if possible new ones all together.

The following suggestions if followed and adhered to can obviously bring about more to the results and success that the newspaper is already enjoying. This concept of a business plan could be pursued as the Times of Zambia tries to acquire the largest share of the readers in the country as compared to its two daily competitors, the Zambia Daily Mail and The Post newspapers.

Business concept

The management at the Times of Zambia should explicitly re-examine what the purpose of the newspaper is on the local information communication and entertainment scene. This purpose should be clearly identified to make it easier for would be clients. The newspaper’s mission statement and values are also an integral determinant of its success or failure and these should also be identified with ease without having to labour. This is important because in the world of today, customers will not be willing to waste time looking for obvious things which they can not easily see instead of going to a competitor whose mission and values are clear from the first impression they create.

The product that is produced by the Times of Zambia and the customer should be compatible. There is no need of the Times of Zambia coming up with products that do not even fall in any category of its audience classification. This therefore, means that the newspaper should design conditions for opportunities that would be readily received by its target audience and accepted as the norm of doing business with the Times of Zambia and thereby creating a unique identity for it.

Management team

All those who are vying to be given responsibilities at the managerial level should be people who are adequately qualified to do the job and ensure that the results are seen and consequently effecting change for the newspaper. Another cardinal fact that has to be remembered is that members of the management team as individuals have their strengths and weaknesses. This could be used to the newspaper’s advantage through the combining of all the strengths to come up with a strong leading pack. This point should however ensure that the weaknesses are not ignored because they might come up in one way or another, so the important thing is to lay them out on the table so that needed remedial action can be taken to assist individuals.

Members of the management team should also be clearly told about their tasks, duties and responsibilities so that they avoid encroaching in other people’s fields or operation to prevent unnecessary confrontations and thereby impeding any progress made on the achievement of the objectives of the Times of zambia. Another topic that is usually of interest and concern to any member of an organization is the salary and compensation structure. People should be informed about the amount of money that is due to them before they commence their tasks to avoid any disputes in the future. A good salary and compensation structure will result in a very highly motivated workforce that will be looking forward to the next day of doing business for the newspaper.

Market Research and Analysis

The Times off Zambia’s market size needs to be measured again to determine whether it is growing, reducing or remaining static. Market conditions and characteristics should be carefully examined so that the right time of undertaking an activity or putting a new product on the market can be established so that misfiring is avoided. This should also take into account the market trends and changes, target specific so specific products and services and expected market. Demand for goods or services being provided by the Times of zambia should be accurately measured so that the right amount can be sent out at the right time, keeping in mind to avoid too little to keep the audience frustrated and not too much to keep them bored with the same things all the time.

Industry Research and Analysis

The industry life cycle stage should be critically analysed so that the management and other departments and sections operating at the Times of Zambia can spearhead progress and achieve their desired goals and objectives. Key industry characteristics have to be studied and also keep a keen eye on other competing businesses operating within the industry and their key success factors. After looking at their key success factors, which are usually kept away from their competitors, the Times of Zambia management should the try to adopt some of them and modify them to produce more and better results.

Forces, trends and changes shaping the industry, competitive forces shaping the industry and competition shaping the industry are all elements that require critical scrutiny and analysis to make a bigger and better plan to counter act these for positive results to be seen and achieved.

Products or Service

Competitive advantage is a must for any organization to successfully fend off any existing competitors and remain the number one priority of the audience and this is a fact that the Times of Zambia needs to acknowledge and exploit to the maximum. Customer benefits and value should be made known to all the customers so that it is easy for them to invest their in reading the paper and resources knowing that their efforts are not going to waste.

This requires that product or life cycle stage is explained after research and development activities have been successfully done and completed. All this should however take into consideration the legal issues behind any activity and likely consequences and long court cases that follow thereafter.

Operation and Production Plan

The operation plan should include the following elements, technical description of the product or service that the newspaper is offering to its audience and readership, development stage and costs, distribution and logistics, product requirements and quality control measures.

Marketing Plan

The marketing department should ensure that they adhere strictly to the ethics of marketing to see their labour produce fruits, and the goals and objectives aimed. They should come up with a proper and concrete pricing strategy, promotion strategy, distribution networks which will enable them distribute all the needed information about the Times of Zambia and why they need to be regular readers of the newspaper and also why they need to invest their hard earned K3, 000 in buying the paper. That is why they to employ a very good and strategic marketing stance. Finally, the sales and marketing team should be adequately and appropriately trained to know what their job description is so that they bring the business that will raise revenue needed to run the newspaper. In this area, like many other specialised areas, there is simply no room for trail and error.

Organisational Structure

Organisational structure should also follow the philosophy of upper management, which requires management to observe key positions while at the same time delegating individual and group responsibilities. In this structure strategy there should also concern taken to remember that upholding the compensation plan and incentives to keep all players at all levels of the organistaion structure are content with their tasks and looking forward to the following day when they would have to report for work to engage in their tasks once more.

Another cardinal point not to be brushed aside is the reporting methods and interpersonal communication at the different levels in the organizational structure. All the employees should clearly know who their respective superiors are and whom they report to. Those at the top of the rank should keep in mind that they need to keep the doors of communication with their juniors open at all times and also be willing to receive correction when it is due and suggestions where appropriate.

Growth Plan

Management at the Times of Zambia and all stakeholders should take a keen interest in seeing whether the newspaper is growing, remaining static or diminishing in its influence and popularity. An internal analysis of its strengths and weaknesses must be done and the likely results critically analysed and better recommendations made, which should be willingly accepted by those in positions of responsibility and implementation.

External analysis should also be done. This one will look at opportunities that are already available and new ones that can be explored to expand the Times of Zambia. Threat from other competing newspapers should also be taken seriously with new ideas being forwarded to counter these competitors’ moves. Contingency plan(s) should also be formulated to prevent unnecessary stoppages of work or poor product and service delivery.

Management has to ensure that these contingency plans are on stand by all times to avoid things like claiming that they do not have the latest printing machinery that have not been producing a newspaper that is of good quality. If they have effective contingency plans, they can easily do everything that the public wants to prevent them from appearing like they are a government mouthpiece which just favours those in the ruling party. The Times of Zambia management should also look for more keen stakeholders aside from those that are already present to invest in the newspaper to see some of their goals and objectives a reality.

For better selling of the newspaper, the Times of Zambia should consider re-introducing the door to door delivery system that was proposed in the 1980s. This system involved readers of the newspaper subscribing to the newspaper and having editions delivered to their door steps for free by a Times of Zambia vehicle. This system will allow more people to subscribe because they would not have to go to the streets where vendors are found.

who is who among youths

STAR GOSSIPS

Did you get the rumour around about guys and gals? Hold your breath, there is too much around on almost anything, any personality.

It could be ear itching even annoying for the sensitive, but what can one say, thinking is free. People have the freedom to think the way they please and gossip as per wish. This could be not good reading for the sensitive.

The Star asked gals and guys about their perceptions of what goes around in the world of men. Watch out for perceptions on women in the next issue.

Get to the download, and sieve what is true from blatant absurd from the responses to each fable different guys and gals gave based on their take on them.

There is no free lunch, when a man gives you a present he’ll ask for sex.
“Not always” refutes Stanzo 24. “Men only help. As men we always want to please women. We strive to show a good picture to women. We want to be seen as caring and concerned with women’s welfare. We don’t want to see them struggle. They are our flowers that beautify the world and they should be well looking after like eggs. It’s just that we sometimes get too attached to the other that we end up resolving for sex. We are just generous beings.”
Never trust a man, they are all players.
“Eesh, don’t bite! Men are better!” states Chuma 22. “Women are worse; they can get what they want to suit them always. When a man plays, it shows within a short time, either into a pregnancy form or STI. But women can do it, yet tell the man who suits their fantasies as responsible. STIs equally take long to them for biological reasons. It’s klutz!” But Steve says no. “Men can play a lady when they see that she loose. We take ladies as they are. Some deserve to be played for them to learn something.”

All men think when they see a beauty is sex.
“Whaoo…men and sex are inseparable” exclaims Muzo. “That’s why they are initiators, what can we say. Imagine both had dormant feelings, what will be wild, huh? But there a ladies who can end a dry relationship, full of abstinence. Ha ha…it’s who gets there first sometimes. But men are for sex than women in most cases.” And Kenny contends that some extent yes. “It’s an incentive for love. It starts from there before developing into something big.”

Men never grow up
“Yes, men are always big babies, never get serious with life,” fans Memo. “Hell no” protests Mule on the contrary. “Men just know how to make like fun. But Young contends, “Men really never grow. A man can ditch a lady today claiming he has lost feelings for the lady, and comes back the following day saying he was confused…seeking forgiveness. Some married men equally desert their families when things are rough leaving responsibilities to women. Big babies indeed!”

Too Christian guys are boring
“Whoops, don’t dare it if you don’t to die of boredom,” contends Momo. “A relationship makes sense when spiced with fun, but some Christian guys are too much into the bible. There vocabulary is irrelevantly full of biblical words…the bible says…is all you get. I can’t take it, it’s a boo. It’s not trying.”
“No,” objects Wez. “There are times we talk about the bible. We know the things women want and want to hear and these are things we talk about. We also take them out, what is differ are places where the date takes place. We are good lovers.”

reading among children

It is said that when one wants to hide information from an African the best way is to put it in writing and for a nation to be more developed it needs to have a rich reading culture. A society which reads is also usually socially stable. It is unfortunate that Zambia today is recorded to have a poor reading culture in spite of being recorded to have a higher level of the most intelligent people in Africa.

It is sad to note that the reading culture is declining and it is evident enough that there is a gap in the reading culture in Zambia. A research conducted by the Ministry of Education showed that the country’s Education system faces an incredible burden. Although literacy rates for youths have slightly improved in the last 20 years, about 60% women, 76% men 19% primary and 70% for secondary school age children do not attend school.

The percentages are alarming because they only include those who do not go to school and definitely reading is not for them. This can be an indication as to how low the reading culture is in Zambia.

Most of the young people do not like reading for one reason or the other. For one to be found reading especially if that person is a student then it has to be for examination purposes. It is only one out of ten that you can find a person reading other books for educational grounds.

The most lazy people are the young generation especially school going children who tend not to enjoy reading as they prefer to download the school work from the internet. They have become the most culprits.

The coming of technology to Zambia has led to the decline in the reading culture in Zambia. Exposure to internets and television revolution has contributed to the progress of the reading culture in Zambia. People will only read if there is need to do so for example if one is writing an examination or going for interviews.

Nowadays it is rare to find children playing around with books or discussing what they have learnt at school. All they ever do is to play around with video games and engage themselves in viewing movies and listening to music.

Many Zambian adults would today tell you how they enjoyed reading books from libraries and the free books they used to get at school. Books will activate readers mind and make a person more intelligent. Reading literature more often helps one’s mind to be sharp every time as it is said an empty mind is the devil’s workshop. The mind needs to be fed with information every time and this can only be done through reading a variety of books.

It is indeed embarrassing to see that most people fail to follow simple instructions given on a medical prescription not because they do not know how to read but just because they feel lazy to do so. It is the attitude that most people have towards reading that has also contributed to the decline in the reading culture in Zambia. So if the reading culture has to be improved in Zambia then the attitude towards reading has to be dealt with.

People must learn to take keen interest in reading literature such as magazines, newspapers, education books so that they can expand on their knowledge. It is said that knowledge is power and a tool to success; this can only be achieved through reading widely.

It is high time that parents will take full responsibility in ensuring that their children will spend most of their time reading books and make sure that they see which kinds of books are being read by their children.

There are several other reasons that have led to the decline in the reading culture in Zambia apart from a few that has so far been alluded to. But a major concern has also been raised from the members of the public.

There are a number of people that would love to read but with the economic hardships cannot afford to buy the books. In most learning schools you find that the school libraries have no books and to some extent libraries have been turned into classrooms. Only some schools have libraries and even so cannot accommodate all students. Higher learning institution such as the University of Zambia have libraries but with outdated books.

One institution that has contributed to the decline of reading culture in Zambia is the City Councils. Their mission statement is to improve the reading culture in the nation. City Councils are known to be a service to the public. And one of the services is to offer a reading culture in Zambia through the provision of library facilities to the communities. But do these libraries still function or exist?

In the early 60s and late 70s, most of the townships in the country used to have libraries and books where people used to go. Lusaka City Council libraries were conducive for reading up to the late 80s. But before then, one could go into the library for reading, studying and even doing some research.

When we talk of the buildings’, used to have very clean, nice tables, books were properly arranged on good book shelves. Most books were found in them be it for educational, classic, traditional etc.

From what is seen it is right to say that the council have failed to meet the demand of the reading culture in the city and the country at large. The council libraries have very poor infrastructure with poor sanitation as if that is not enough the libraries have no proper books that are needed to meet the demand, hence they have become waiting rooms or rather time wasting place.

One such council libraries is the Matero council library, were the library’s building is very dilapidated left in a situation were you cannot even recognize it as a library unless you are told. There has been little maintenance and care. Also when you enter inside, it has no proper books to be used by different types of students at different levels. This is an indication to the fact that Lusaka on its own has a poor reading culture and mentality.

School going children have got nowhere to study from because even if they go to the library they wont find suitable material for themselves apart from what they already have but then that is not research.

Also the other said thing is that the council’s planning was very poor in the sense that the libraries they used to build was to cater for a small community but now then 3% population increase per year has defeated their plans because the already existing infrastructure for libraries are very small to accommodate the reading community in any given area.

The Matero council library cannot accommodate more than 40 people studying at once, it will be congested and therefore it will be uncomfortable to study in such a place and researching will be difficult as you can not move about any how. The same applies to the big one popularly known as the Lusaka City Library.

It is therefore an appeal to the government and the city council in particular to plan for such facilities because they are of big value to the society and our own citizens. The council should now build more libraries which will accommodate as many people as possible and also improve on the already existing libraries.

The government through the ministry of education can provide the libraries with meaningful materials because a library could be there but without books then it becomes mean less.

A lot have been said but a few has been done, measures have been put in place but nothing positive has come out in order to improve the reading culture. Is the problem with the government or the public, who should improve the reading culture? A question that should be asked to each one of us.

Libraries were there and some still exist but do we have hope that those that have been closed down will be reopened some time in future? According to the LCC, it has no intention of reopening the libraries because they do not have resources to do so.

“It is our mission statement to give services to the public and such services include offering a good reading culture to the entire nation but it is also the responsibility of the public to guard these facilities jealously”.

Indeed most libraries used to have books and the buildings used to look clean, but one will wonder were the books are and who knows what happened to those libraries that existed 40 years ago?. The public must also have the part to answer to such questions.


It has been observed that once people get to the library, they will borrow books and later do not return the books to the library. There are the same people who are to blame for the loss of books in libraries and vandalism as well.

“As the council we can not afford to replace books every time neither can we manage to repair the infrastructure every time it is being vandalized by the members of the public because we have limited resources”.

This is a major set back on the part of the government because it will have the burden of sourcing funds to purchase literature for libraries which might hinder the development of the country


For the libraries that are still operating the council appeals to the donor community to donate some books so that libraries may continue to function and for the members of the public to take care of books and libraries.


The government under the ministry of education some time back had put in place a draft policy that addressed all concerns of revamping the reading culture. The policy had tackled among other issues how the ministry would incorporate reading in the school curricular.

“A lot of activities have been put in place such as Essay writing competitions in schools are conducted countrywide by the Zambia Women Writers Association in conjunction with the American Embassy”.

They have been other interventions put in place by government to boost the reading culture such as the read on course program which runs from grade 3 and to establish more resource centers to promote reading.

Complaints have been aired by the public and efforts have been made by authorities to address such issues. But what is there left to be done if Zambia is to have a reach reading culture?

In as far as we may critise each other, as long as we are not taking any action or taking full responsibility, Zambia will remain having problems with the reading culture and most of all the young will be the most affected because at the end of it all they will be no literature to read.

Indeed the reading culture in Zambia has to be revamped and this can only be done if people change the attitude towards reading and if only libraries can be worked upon because they are really an eyesore!

calamities: whose affected more?

Over the centuries, children have borne the brunt of suffering. Helpless and dependant, they often have been caught in the cross fires of wars, conflict, public riots and family feuds.
It was mostly children who bore the impact of the recent Burmese cyclone that marshaled millions of the country’s population into horrible destitution in seconds.
It was infants again who were decimated in the 1990s when the concept of streetism came into the Zambian vocabulary.

To that end, UNDP national economist, Elda Chirwa in an interview, said escalating global food crisis, energy shortages and erratic fuel price adjustments will soon paralyze the effectiveness of most households, a situation that would distract human efforts aimed at improving standards of living.

Ms Chirwa said those cross cutting economic upheavals would usher children into insurmountable sufferings if not handled with the seriousness they deserve as some households tended to leave children to fend for themselves when things were hard-hitting.

She argued that even the achievements Zambia had recorded in health, nutrition and the provision of antiretroviral drugs to HIV and AIDS clients would be paralysed as the current crises of food, energy and fuel, affected most strategic sectors that anchor the viability of society’s production capacity.

Ms Chirwa said the provision of Anti Retrial Viral (ARVs) to clients that do not have access to food to supplement the life boosting drugs would lead to serious side effects even unprecedented deaths.

In the 1970s, the double dosage of oil shocks and the reduction in copper prices introduced most Zambians to the untold misery that they have continued to experience to date in different facets.

Yet with the current food challenge, they are expected to get ready for more afflictions in addition to their current lack of access to a decent meal.

Ms Chirwa added that what was more disheartening in situations of prolonged inadequate food availability at the household level was that such situations tended to eventually seen as a norm, a way of living.

“Worse still, for most of Africa, inadequate food availability, disease, ignorance, and the like, were occurrences that have not received the necessary urgency in reactions, which can be stressed in the slow pace of dedication to some global commitments such as the Millennium Goals (MDGs),” she said.

The UNDP economic chief added that it was time for the country to consider irrigation serious for households to access basic food staffs that could hasten the health of children who are window of the country’s future.

She said more children would be vulnerable and their future would be blurred if right measures were not put in place to address the food crisis, energy shortages and annoying fuel price increases, all of which drain savable resources by households.

Ms Chirwa said without food, the future of the country was at risk as a starving generation’s growth rate would be stunted and its performance in school goes down.

Scientifically, it has been proved that lack of adequate food to a child dwindles its growth and ability to conceptualise things in class.

Coupled with energy shortage and high fuel prices challenges which are almost becoming a disaster, Zambia’s future would be un-pleasing.

Poverty levels would increase following lack of access to food by households both in rural and urban setup.

Inflation rate could shoot up, and the cost of living would become more expensive than what most households could afford.

The value of the Kwacha or its buying power would be eroded further that chaos (like strikes) would be attained as society often becomes violent when food insecurity worsens.

The country thus needed to re-strategise its food security measures to ensure that the children have a bright future.

Food insecurity could lead to high levels of school drop outs, a situation that would worsen illiteracy levels in the country.

High levels of illiteracy would put the future of the country at challenge as ignorant generation has little to contribute to the economy because of their limited ability to use their genie to create national income.

The low level of income generation would worsen the economic status of Zambia, and supporting its developmental programmes would be unattainable.

The number of street children would swore when households run out of food as children are often used as food seekers in most quarters of society.

Some parents would leave children to beg for food and other alms of the street for survival, a state of affairs that would frustrate the current efforts of training former street children surviving skills.

Bembas say imiti iikula empanga (today’s shrubs are tomorrow’s future), shape that future; make policies that would provide children a haven of prosperity.

Their future is in your hands!

ECSRs and youths

Just how much human life costs may send trains of concerns in many people’s minds since there is no standardised price for it. But from the chemical point of view, it is worth quite a bit. According to chemists’ estimates, the value of the proteins, DNA, amino acids and bio-chemicals within the human body makes a person worth billion pounds. Perhaps that is why Christianity claims that the value of human life could be ‘understood’ by the death of Jesus Christ to pay the price. It is said to be infinite.
Satirically, with the high levels of poverty in most social set ups, human life has lost its decency. Intricacies of poverty and misery have circumvented the serenity of the real value of mankind. In Zambia for example, government has paid little attention in respecting the rights of mankind with the divinity they deserve.
At the high of such pandemonium, advocates of human welfare have proposed the inclusion of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) in the Zambian Constitution’s Bill of Rights lexicon, to enable citizens at different levels taste good life.
The demand to incorporate Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is rooted on the respect for the dignity of the human being.
As the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) director, Peter Henriot argues it, respecting the dignity of the human being economically, culturally and socially signifies the worth of being human, which is not constituted by any human declaration or institution, but rather given by God, and is a universally shared reality.
What are ESCR anyway? These are rights which mandate that social conditions are adequate for meeting physical, moral and biological requirements for every category of people.
They aim at ensuring that everyone has access to resources, opportunities and essentials for an adequate standard of living; such as education, health, food, safe water and sanitation, housing, employment, and clean environment.
This entails providing citizens an opportunity to fully develop in an environment that legally recognises, respects, protects and assures a standard of living worthy of human dignity.
Bright reasoning, isn’t it? But where does the controversy arise? Shouldn’t human beings get the self-esteem they merit?
Often, those in public office are suspicious of any maneuvre that champions their operations-a watchdog of any kind is a prowl to them.
Most of the public officials argue that with such rights in place, unnecessary demands would arise from anyone with little knowledge about the law to the dismal of national development.
In the eye of ESCR opponents, fundamental human rights and freedom of an individual, which are currently recognised in the constitution, are enough for an ordinary citizen.
The current Directive State Policy of Article 112 (Part IX), which contains fundamental human rights states that government, shall provide, at will, clean and safe water, equitable educational opportunities at all levels, adequate health facilities, decent shelter for all persons and development of a person’s culture and custom.
However, Article 111 states that these shall not be justifiable or be legally enforceable in any tribunal, court or administrative institution or entity.
This means government can not be forced to provide these for rights (citing a shortage of funds) or because they are not part of the priorities.
But, Fr Henriot charges that there could be no development without a provision of economic, social and cultural rights as ignorance of rights would limit the effectiveness of other players of the economy.
And Freedom House director of programmes, Robert Harman adds that citizen empowerment could not be fully attained when the economic, social and cultural rights of citizens are denied.
Dr Harman said lack of such rights put most citizens at a disadvantage especially where accessing information for such empowerment programmes was embedded into complicated legalities.
He added that civil rights go hand and glove with ESCR as they supplemented each other in bridging developmental gaps in every economy.
“Citizens can not fully enjoy the right to vote when they are not enlightened on the key issues that affect their well being vis-à-vis the issues each candidate articulates on in the campaign message. They are likely to vote on the basis of how a particular candidate appeals to their emotions, rather than merit,” he said.
He added that education was cardinal in such instances, if citizens were to fully enjoyment of the right to vote.
Mr Harman however, said ESCR could not be enjoyed over night because of lack of resources, but government should ensure that there was universal access to basic rights like health care, education or water and sanitation among other key ones.
He argued that governments were obliged to endure that people’s rights are adhered to, but where the most of the citizens were not aware of such rights, the enlightened few take advantage and abuse others.
On the parallel, Mr Harman said fulfilling ESCR could be very challenging without an independent judiciary as political ambitions often interfered with human rights fulfillment.
“Judges are part of the economic system, and they should interpret laws rightly to ensure that universal access to health care and education are attained, as they are cardinal in the attainment of most human rights,” he said.
Proponents of ESCR are not bargaining for a legislation that would put leaders in tight corners, but are seeking parliamentary approval on the enactment of legislation which provides measures that are reasonable in order to achieve the progressive realisation of these rights.
Fr Henriot charges that there was need for a legal guarantee for example by parliament to ensure that every person have the right to basic education by ensuring that government progressively make available post-secondary, technical and vocational education.
He said programmes like citizen empowerment could be more meaningful when the majority of the citizens were enlightened on how to integrate the funds provided by the government in their daily lives.
As the old maxim says, “the one who holds information rules,” without the right to education, which the ESCR seek to address, most Zambians would not benefit from such well meant programmes as the paper work involved in accessing the funds that are meant to improve their well being would hinder them pursue the funds to the end.
Only the knowledgeable few would benefit from such national programmes while the masses would everlastingly be in indispensable poverty and ignorance.
Fr Henriot added that parliament was the major player in ensuring that the ESCR were fulfilled because of the power vested in it.
He said parliament could be used as a watchdog in utilisation of national resources that were meant to empower the citizenry in collaboration with the courts of law where the aggrieved should seek redress when they felt their ESCR were perpetually abused.
“This calls for an independent judiciary, a judicial system that stands for what is right, not serving the power that appoints,” he said.
The ESCR seek the inclusion of major rights that enabled people to claim other rights to fulfill the value of humanity they human kingdom deserves, the right to be recognised and to demand for the fulfillment for those rights.
Indeed, intricacies of poverty and misery would continue circumventing the celestial value of mankind if the people are not empowered to claim what belong to them after equipping them the quality of education that enlightens them as they live.

PROJECT APPRAISAL AMONG YOUTHS

INTRODUCTION
Zambia was one of the African countries that had a fairly prosperous colonial economy with a well established private sector in an open-market-oriented economy dominated mainly by expatriate business interests, multinational corporations and commercial farmers. The copper industry which was the mainstay of the economy was under the control of two mining groups-Anglo American Corporation and Roan Selection Trust (RST). State participation in the economy at the time was limited to very few activities such as railways, electricity and water.

Soon after independence, the concept of nationalisation was embodied in the economy as a transitional phase aimed at consolidating political sovereignty and economic empowerment of Zambians. This spurred the nationalisation of Anglo-American and RST. By end of 1969, the nationalisation project had covered all aspects of business, including mining, agriculture, vehicle assembly, hotels and tourism, milling, brewing, electricity and water, timber and wood products and bakeries. Even some new ventures established by parastatals sought state protection of the market.

However, state owned enterprises were typically inefficient, a scenario that affected their financial viability, in turn requiring the government to subsidise their operations. The government therefore considered it prudent to reverse the status quo by promoting strong private sector participation in the economy supported by economic liberalisation and democratic principles. As part of its economic reform, soon after the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came in power in 1992, government embarked on a major privatisation project. Although the progress of the project was initially slow due to the inertia associated with the start-up activities and general opposition from interested parties, the programme gained impetus in 1995, culminating in rapid divestiture of public enterprises. The Zambia Privatisation Agency (ZPA) was established to manage the privatisation project.

It is against this socio-economic and political background that the core thesis of this essay is based. The essay sets to critically analysing the assertion that “privatisation as a government project involves balancing economic and political goals. What is possible also is shaped by the specifics of the business involved and other country economic circumstances.” Practical examples will be draw from different sectors to support the paper.

DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS
Privatisation according to Weiner (1964: 861) refers to the selling of state-owned assets to the private sector so that the public benefits from the improved efficiency of the enterprise concerned and from the more appropriate use by government of the resources which have been realised. On the other hand, a project is a unique set of coordinated activities with a definite start and finishing point undertaken by an individual or organisation to meet specific objectives within defined schedules, costs and performance parameters. Further, business is a commercial organisation such as a company, shop or factory, (ibid).

ANALYTICAL FRAME WORK
Privatisation was the critical reform and adjustment policy which the country expected to transfer the dominant state sector into private ownership with the expectation that such transfer of enterprises and assets would bring about injections of the much needed capital and better management systems into the operations of the enterprises. In due course, privatisation was expected to yield increased economic activities as well as attracting fresh investments into the economy with beneficial impact to employment and supply of goods and services. According to Matale at el (1999: 34), “in the view of privatisation, the MMD came into government with political and economic platforms of pluralism and open market economy which spiced privatisation with trade liberalisation (at macro-economic level) and exchange rate stabilisation (at micro-economic level) through the abolition of exchange control and lowering of inflation by removal of excess liquidity and subsidies.” The objectives of such measures were to enhance efficiency in the market place as all players will highly utilise and collect resources into and from productive sectors of the economy. It also entails that privatised industries would not experience political constraints objectives as they lose the state monopoly privilege. Thus, for them to stay in business, they must be efficient enough to compete with others on the free market system.

However, privatisation did not take place uniformly. The framework and approach under which it was conducted combined the structure of the industry privatised, particular divestiture, and steps needed to be taken in preparation for the sale and how to manage the sale negotiations. Government had to retain control of strategic sectors like utility providers such as water and sanitation, energy or road network system, which could not be supplied by the private sector as their accessibility would be impossible to a common man because they would be too expensive. Therefore, managing the privatisation process involved balancing the nature of a particular business and the need for political transparency. The sale process considered the complexity of the business (and its attractiveness to potential buyers) and government’s desire to be seen as being fair.
According to Matale (1996: 03), “in early history of Zambia, the mining industry occupied a unique position in the political economy of the country as the largest single enterprise upon which the entire economy was anchored.” Because the sector was the anchor of the Zambian economy, there was agitation to the sale of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) with due haste. ZCCM was a sensitive and critical enterprise in the Zambian economy that its sale would either be instant or only when due. As a result, the two contending views arose on the modalities of privatizing ZCCM, either by unbundling it or sale it as unitary state. The main argument for the unbundling of ZCCM was that it has large influence on the national economy, and if the state surrenders such economic power to one investor, the entire economy would crumble if the investor for example decided to shut down the mines because the realisable returns on the investment is lower than expected. Additionally, it was argued that the value realisable from the sale of the company would be lower than if the components were disposed individually.

On the other hand, the arguments for privatising the company as a whole were based on the grounds of the technicality and economic significance of the merger of Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (NCCM) and Roan Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (RCM) in 1981, (ibid). The reasoning behind this argument was that the Copperbelt ore body was one; hence ore from one mine blended with that from another mine would lead to efficiency and optimum benefits and recovery of by products. Furthermore, it was argued that economies and savings were realisable from utilisation of common facilities for smelting, refining, marketing, procurement and engineering.

However, in whatever manner privatisation took place, its rationale mainly falls along two principal dimensions of macro (broad social) and micro economic goals (industry specific). At macro economic level, privatisation aims at extricating government’s objectives from financial commitments of running industries, and focus scarce resources on education, infrastructure, and social welfare. It also aimed at promoting the development of the private sector by leveling the playing field for better competition on the market. Additionally, it meant to broaden share ownership so that the public has mechanisms for saving money and participating in the economies of their countries. This increases the quantum of capital in the economy. This capital increases levels of productivity, which reciprocates in more employment opportunities, savings and the general economic growth. The availability of savings in the economy provides a pool of loanable funds for more investment in other sectors. The savings can be realised from household savings, corporate taxes or government savings from different types of taxations. Barro (1990: 56) claims that if local investment is encouraged, it can systematically spread investments through-out the country and further can extend intersectionally for the ultimate benefit of the whole economy. This entails that increased investment has a multiplier effect.

In Zambia for example, there is an influx of intersection businesses like financial service provision to offer banking and money transfer services for ease handling of the funds the economy generate. Some of such services are electronic money transfers for quick business transactions, booming in the transport sector for speedy delivery of goods and services, improvement in the communication system by allowing other players like Celtel and Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) beside state controlled Zambia Telecommunication (Zamtel) for improved delivery in the industry to be realised.

Additionally, competition which is distinctly different from ownership greatly improves productive efficiency as it facilitates the achievement of profit maximisation objectives that lead to higher performance among all players. Todaro (1992: 163) argues that monopoly is a great enemy to good management which results from free competition that forces everybody to have recourse of it for the sake of self-defense. For example, as a result of competition brought into being by the splitting of Zambia Breweries PLC and Northern Breweries PLC, Zambia Breweries has improved the quality of existing brands of beer and introduced several competitive brands on the market for it to remain relevant in the business.

Competition also attracts foreign direct investment (FDIs) which brings in creativity and innovation in the market. An economy that offers fair competition woos FDIs that in turn generates more income in the system. FDIs are very instrumental in injecting additional capital in the domestic economies’ development programmes. According to Chanda and Sakala (1999: 31), “the promotion and attraction of private sector investment is essential in achieving economic objectives of creating productive jobs, poverty alleviation and enhanced economic growth goals.” This shows that the sale of state enterprises and the accompanying inflow of fresh capital and technology have important offshoot benefits through the general upgrading of product quality and services. For example, ICI explosives, a firm that purchased Kafironda Limited demolished the obsolete nitroglycerine plant and replaced it with a new plant based on the emulsion technology that enable the company make better products. The new technology means more investment in Research and Development (R&D), whose technical know-how can be of paramount benefit to locals or can be integrated into other industries for more productivity.

For example, Zambia Sugar Company (Tate & Lyle) has a programme of attaching Zambian managers to their world wide operations where they are trained how to use certain technology that could not be presently available in the country. The transfer of knowledge and technology are crucial instruments for economic growth as they create a knowledge-based economy characterised by high levels of innovation and creativity on management and manipulation of resources for the betterment of society, (Nowergian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Report No 35 2003/04: 71). This means the interplay of mass applications of new technological innovations lead to increased stock of scientific knowledge whose results are often more wealth in the domestic economy. According to www.oneworld.net, “investment coupled with well integrated technological packages can ignite massive improvements in existing physical and human resources especially when national policies are tailored to provide a basis or preconditions for continuous economic actors to aim higher in relation to existing natural resources.” Precisely, this means higher output can be achieved with the same quantity of labour (or capital) inputs with technological progress of either labour or capital saving in nature. This kind of technology involves the use of computers, automatic textiles looms, higher speed electric drills, tractors and mechanical ploughs and other state of the art mining equipment.

Afil Engineering Limited is another example of a company with the policy of training its employees and other personnel from other engineering companies in order to provide apprenticeship, aimed at upgrading skills for the engineering workforce. The company’s mechanical and engineering divisions expanded its capacity and facilities after acquiring the former Lusaka Engineering Company (LENCO) in 2004, (Mumba, 2008: 10). The skills employees acquire are cardinal in the addition of value to local products, which fetch higher price than unprocessed goods. This generates more returns to the domestic economy through the revenue government collect. LENCO was a lose-making parastatal before it was privatised, but the new company contributes US$1.3 million for rates to the local council, $1-2.3 million road levy, $8,000-1.2 million corporate tax, and $1.7-2.2 million customs duty to government revenue, (ibid).

The privatisation project promoted multi-sectoral economic growth by creating investment friendly business climates even in parts that investment had not reached. The recent phenomenon that encouraged the evenly spread of investment is the declaring of certain areas as free economic zones like Kabwe. Investing in such areas attracted no tax. The country benefits from such investment through the provision of employment to locals. This improves people’s purchasing power and by that they indirectly contribute to the national economy through value added tax when they purchase good and services.

Privatisation furthermore promoted the growth of capital market in the country. The establishment of the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) 13 years ago is a clear example of efforts to promote capital markets, which allows companies to trade on this market. Its establishment was as a result of a capital market project with initial capital support from the international financial institution\World Bank, the united national development programme and the government of Zambia. As a mutual organisation owned by stock brokers, the LuSE facilitates the raising of cost-effective long term capital by companies. According to Tembo (2008: 12), “LuSE serves as a vehicle for creating new wealth and empowering Zambians economically through the buying of shares from government holdings in parastatals.” It is a shop window for local and foreign investors for buying shares and a barometer for gauging capital growth and enhancing good corporate governance.

The rationale of establishing the LuSE comes against the backdrop that the country’s financial system excluded the capital market in the first 30 years of independence. It was observed that this omission was responsible for many business failures due to the mismatch of short-term borrowing to finance long-term projects. Since lending rates by commercial banks were/are on the high side, borrowing for long-term projects are unsustainable. Shareholding can translate into interest-free capital for expansion, rehabilitation or purchase of new equipment to improve productivity.

But since privatisation does not take place in a vacuum, the project impacted negatively on the privatised firms’ employment levels mostly in the short-term. It is argued that the decreases in employment levels for privatised firms, (particularly in the manufacturing and mining sectors) has been because of higher levels of investments in new technology in the two sectors resulting from the higher capital investments made. Additionally, most companies carried excessive staff levels prior to privatisation and were therefore affected by the rationalisations embarked on by the new owners. That is, most parastatals over employed especially that some personnel were appointed on political grounds rather than qualification and efficiency. Consequently, as the private firms restructured the workforce, there were massive short-term job loses. Because of these unintentional shocks, government came up with social mitigation measures to cushion the negative impacts of privatisation.

According to Kaitisha (2008: 15), “… the pace at which the privatisation process was implemented was so quick that new firms had to hire labour…and this had repercussions of souring unemployment and destitution forcing government to form the Zambia Privatisation Trust Fund to facilitate share buying.” Additionally, through the establishment of Employee Share Ownership Plans by companies like Bonnita, Chilanga cement, Zambia Sugar and others that sold shares to management and employee buy-out teams, Zambian workers became shareholders in a number of profitable and growing privatised enterprises, (ibid). Furthermore, LuSE created a platform tailored to the needs of smaller growth companies and shareholders called LuSE Alternative Investment Market to encourage local and foreign investment in shares. This initiative is meant to increase the availability of loanable funds to another business ventures in the country, which reciprocates into more job opportunities. It is assumed that this would have a multiplier effect of increasing investment levels in the country equitably as investment was spurred by the availability of loanable funds.

These mitigations dealt with social concerns such as reshaping social services and social safety nets to ease the pain of transition through addressing extreme poverty, promoting health and education and helping workers to adapt to the needs of the market system, and other challenges such as growing globalisation and competition. There is no transition economy in history that has succeeded in its transformation efforts without adhering to the reforms of freeing prices and entry to markets from state control and intervention while stabilising the economy. This means liberalisation, decentralisation and macroeconomic stabilisation. Many examples demonstrate that the main reasons for difficulty or failure lie in ignorance of this set of reforms as a balanced and integrated process.

In the final analysis, it is a truism that every change has repercussions that has to be handled cautiously. It is because of these unforeseen consequences that the privatisation project has been overtly blamed for the untold miseries Zambians are facing in many quarters. Retrenchments as consequences of privatisation for example cannot be blamed for unemployment per se, but for government failure to foresee the consequences of retrenchments and plan for them well by establishing safety nets that would meaningfully mitigate the impact, (ibid). Comparatively, privatised firms conformed to the salient need to operate efficiently, quickly increasing their sales turnover, profits and productivity. They mobilised more working capital to undertake new capital investments. This increases on capital in terms of both working capital and new investments hence downsizing of labour uptake. Principally, in economics, labour and capital substitute for each other, as firms aim to achieve profitability through changing the mix of their inputs. That is, by using more capital and less labour for them to maintain output at reduced cost (or become technically more efficient). This means higher returns and reinvestment.

Additionally, the quality of services being provided in about 70 percent of companies privatised has improved because of presence of better-qualified and skilled labour, greater motivation (such as ownership of shares), better machinery and heavy capital investments, (Chiwele 2004: 134). The improved productivity has increased turnover and profitability in real terms, thus paying more revenue to the central treasury. A number of privatised companies are pursuing aggressive export strategies-for example Bonnita which exports milk to South African plants at a low cost, thus earning Zambia more foreign exchange.

Privatisation also created a favourable environment for more investment in the country as the market forces controlled the operation of the market, reducing the distortions that were caused state control. For example, following the privatisation of ZCCM, government identified Vedanta Resources Plc of India as the Strategic Equity Partner in Konkola Copper Mines Plc (KCM). KCM embarked on key projects that have increased the life span of its mining activities to more than 30 years after privatisation. The main projects KCM is developing are the Konkola Deep Mining Project (KDMP), the construction of the ultra modern Nchanga Smelter, Konkola Concentrator and the green field project, which is a new open pit mine called Fitwaola, (Ndumingu, 2008:03). These expansion projects involve an investment capital of over US$1 billion. KCM is rated as one of the major contributors to Zambia’s tax base with an estimated tax of US$75-80 million per annum, (2007, Parliament Estimates).

The conducive investment conditions in the country after privatisation spurred more investments in the mining sector, such as Albidon Mines in Mazabuka and Lumwana Mines in North Western Provinces. The projected annul revenue from the sector through mineral royalty is more than US$420 million, (The Post, Thursday May 15 2008: 12). The revenue rebates some of the economic shocks and failures of privatisation that resulted from unforeseen externalities.

The provision of financial services has equally tremendously improved. New financial institutions have been spurred in the country to utilise the favourable prevailing economic conditions. Financial Services Limited of Nigeria is one of the examples, (ibid). Such investments provide other investors with a pool of loanable funds for more investment in different sectors of the economy. Employment opportunities are also created as new investors need huge labour force at different levels to increase productivity.

The privatisation project also empowered Zambians and allowed them to take part in their economy. Most Zambian workers are shareholders in many profitable enterprises through several mechanisms that have established capital market initiatives. Furthermore, through the flotation of shares of many companies like Chilanga Cement, Rothmans of Pall Mall, Zambia Sugar Company, Zambia Breweries, recently Celtel Zambia, which floated about 2,500 billion shares on the Lusaka Stock Exchange among others, many citizens are able to take part in making economic decisions as shareholders in these companies. In this line, privatisation has significantly contributed to the development of the capital markets that are for companies to raise long-term investment capital. Several other companies are scheduled to be floated onto the Lusaka Stock Exchange after finalising all logistical works.

In the agriculture sector, privatised agro-based companies are expanding Zambian smaller holder agricultural schemes as in the cases of Zambia Sugar, with several hundred sugar-out growers; Clark Cotton and Lonrho Cotton jointly with over 100,000 small holders, Food Corp, Bonnita Zambia with dairy farmers in Southern, Copperbelt and Lusaka provinces, (op.cit.). Thousands of spin-jobs have also been created, for example Zambia Sugar Company whose capital expenditure programme has increased the number of sugar out-growers, thereby creating additional jobs for farm workers, working on the sugar estate, and the service industry and maintenance sectors.

However, suffice to note that when firms became private entities, the extent of their social consideration decline. These entities begin to make purely commercial business decisions, to the extent that if they need to lay off workers to become more commercially viable, they do it (usually) irrespective of the social and political consequences. This is because these business firms are motivated by profit or sales maximisation objectives, not social or political motives. In that regard, it is the responsibility of other aspects such as liberalisation and investment policies and programmes to foster the filling of the unemployment situation created by privatisation.

In conclusion, although privatisation can be shaped by specifics of a particular business, it involves balancing economic and political goals for development and economic growth to be effectively felt in the economy. The project brings efficiency in resource use and promotes economic growth and development, which can spread evenly across sectors and the country if well planned and integrated into the system. Privatisation allows the ‘invisible’ hand of the market forces of demand and supply to take charge of the economy. These forces pressure industries to be efficient enough to generate profits to stay in business.

The spiral effects of efficiency and productivity are more returns and availability of savings through which loanable funds can be accessed. The availability of loanable funds spurs more investment and re-investment in different sectors of the economy that spell profitability. The net effects of these economic activities are more job opportunities and revenue to the economy. Other citizens benefit from such propelling economic gains in different ways like provision of services like road networks, education and health care among others. Some of these benefits have been realised in Zambia with the implementation of the privatisation project in various facets.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barro R. 1990, Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries. Cambridge: MA.
Chanda D. and Sakala R. 1999, Poverty Eradication: The Zambian Experiment. Lusaka: Sentor Publishers.
Kaitisha F. 2008, Conclusion of Bilateral Trade Agreement between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo: key to Unexploited Market Potential. Lusaka: ZDA Vol. 1. No. 3
Matale J 1996, Privatisation of ZCCM is a Zero Sum Game. Lusaka: NCCM, RCM and ZCCM Annual Reports 1997-1995.
Matale J at el 1999, An Investigation of Linkages between the Zambian Economy and the Privatisation of the Mining Industry. Lusaka: Report Represented to Afronet.
Mumba D. 2008, Countries seek Greater Development Gains from Foreign Investment in Extractive Industries: An Engineering Skills Programme in the Offing. Lusaka: ZDA.
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Report No. 35, 2004; Fighting Poverty Together: A Coherent Policy for Development. Oslo: Royal Norwegian MoFA.
Ndumingu N. 2008, From Paper to People, Post Privatisation of ZCCM: The Case of KCM Expansion Projects. Lusaka: ZDA Vol 2. No.3.
Todaro P. 1992, Economics for a Developing World: An Introduction to Principles, Problems, and Policies for Development (3rd Ed.). Essex: Pearson Education.
Weiner S.C. 1964, The Long Man Encyclopedia (2nd Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The Post News Paper: Thursday, May 15 2008.
www.zambianparley.co.zm/mining-estimates-govt.htm
www.oneworld.net

Youths and national development

UNDP overview: Enhancing household capacity to respond to HIV/AIDS
As the old adage goes; “if you want something to be done well, do it yourself.”

With the current pervasive HIV and AIDS pandemic that has ravaged most of the human population, scientific researchers, governments and their variants have proposed several counteractive measures to reverse the situation but with less success.

But since the multifaceted challenges of the pandemic mostly affects women and youths, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) came up with a discussion forum on the Youth Friendly Version of the Zambia Human Development Report that addressed the theme “Enhancing Household Capacity to Respond to HIV and AIDS.”

The discussion forum, which started in Ndola on April, was a new initiative that was introduced by the UNDP in December 2007 to work with the most affected groups by HIV and AIDS, who are the youths and women in all provinces in the country.

Taking advantage of social and economic ills, the impact of the pandemic is more pronounced among the young people and women.

These groups are mostly crippled by the quandary of unemployment and pangs of poverty, which have currently been worsened by HIV and AIDS and other opportunistic defies.


Against this backdrop, UNDP National Economist, Elda Chirwa argues that the Zambia Human Development Report (ZHDR) identified households and youths as the centre and most effective response to HIV and AIDS in Zambia because they were the primary units for coping with HIV and AIDS consequences.

Ms Chirwa added that analyzing the way HIV and AIDS affected households and the young generation would help to overcome some of the challenges the pandemic posed in the world over as it drew possible solutions from the people who were directly affected by the impacts of the pandemic.

Following the UNDP’s overview, encompassed in the concept of enhanced household capacity to respond to HI/AIDS, Zambia had made great strides to respond to epidemic, although the efforts never matched the results.

Ms Chirwa said this suggested that the programmes could not have been efficient enough on focusing the efforts where it matters most.

Precisely, a household is an individual or group of people living together, sharing a quarter or food daily or occasionally.

To this end, the UNDP argued that placing households at the centre would make the response more effective since the impacts of HIV and AIDS were felt more at the household level.

Ms Chirwa said those impacts were remitted by various transmission mechanisms and then by aggregation adversely affected several sectors at the macro levels.

“Households are the primary units for coping with HIV and AIDS and its consequences because they carry the greatest burden of the disease and need to be empowered to take action against it,” she said.

She added that focusing on the smallest social unit in society-the household, gives us the better opportunity to understand many facets of HIV and AIDS.

With such a background, she said, different players from national level to grassroot would be helped to identify their specific strengthens in responding to the pandemic.

“This will also give insights to how diverse efforts can be coordinated for maximum impact. Further, analyzing the way HIV and AIDS affects the household can also help overcome the challenges the pandemic poses for institutions, such as sector ministries and non-governmental organisations as they work to achieve their mandates,” she said.

Ms Chirwa said focusing on the household helped to isolate the impacts of various initiatives and measure them.

This entails a model shift from trying to seek for solutions to the intricate of HIV and AIDS in offices of planning departments of the state and NGOs, leaving out the directly affected individuals.

It means engaging individuals, families, and other small units to say out the effects of HIV and AIDS to their income, workforce, and other burdens that come as a result of ravaging HIV and AIDS.

Ms Chirwa argued that UNDP sought possible solutions to the net effects of the pandemic, which had a prevalence rate that reflected deeper rooted disproportionate problems.

The UNDP Economic chief added that HIV and AIDS undermined the future prosperity of the nation as it paralysed the most productive age groups and worsened the gender divide.

She said that signaled the unequal power relations between men and women that were embedded in socialization, cultural beliefs and lack of economic empowerment of women, which greatly fueled the spread of HIV.

Further, Ms Chirwa said the instincts of youths were complicated, and required an approach that met the young people’s needs at ground level, hence the UN system in the country engaging youths in coming up with a document that reflected their views vis-à-vis HIV and AIDS.

She said with HIV\AIDS and poverty reinforcing each other, issues arising from the duo had to be viewed with great apprehension since the fragile parts of the Zambian society (youths and women) was already staggering under the immense weight of poverty, lack of jobs, lack of quality education, and other challenges.

The UNDP stressed that for households to be involved in taking action against HIV and AIDS, a supportive environment should be created in five main areas.

The first looked at reforming the development process to make it more supportive to HIV-affected households.

Ms Chirwa said the UNDP sought youths and women’s views on how the development process could be made more inclusive so that the weak in society could participate in it.

“The aim of UNDP is to consult the most affected groups on how HIV and AIDS should focus our thinking on removing the fault lines in our tools of development which often excluded the majority of the country’s population especially youths and women. Decisions were made in higher offices there,” she said.

She added that polices and laws should promote and protect the livelihood security of HIV-affected households and create an environment in which a future is assured for such households.

The second aspect looked at how to strengthen macro and medium level institutions to ensure that HIV and AIDS did not unravel their capacity to deliver on their mandates.

To this end, Ms Chirwa argued that although organisations responded to both external and internal risks posed by the pandemic, more needed to be done to help those organisations to refine their instruments to ensure that they were more supportive to households faced with HIV and AIDS.

Promoting an environment that allowed flourishing adaptive structures was another area that the UNPD discussion forum sought in its future Youth Friendly Version of the Zambia Human Development Report.

As Ms Chirwa put it, district and sub-district level structures which were closer to households and communities than macro and medium (meso) level organisations should be in the frontline in enhancing household capacities to respond to HIV and AIDS.

Ms Chirwa argued that at the core of that was the need to make Government officials accountable to the people, expand opportunities, for people’s participation and increase the chances of decisions taken to match as much as possible the aspirations of the people themselves.

Along side that, the UNDP called for measures that strengthened local authorities that had undergone serious dilapidation over the years.

Ms Chirwa added that the fourth area involved revitalizing structures and processes in social, institutional and organisational environments at community level to make them more supportive to HIV-affected households especially after getting their views on how they think their challenges should be addressed.

“This implies identifying, strengthening and promoting the positive elements within communities that could help HIV-affected households to make successful adjustments to the situation,” she added.

She said UNDP sought ways on how cultural norms and traditional structures based on social solidarity could be made to thrive once again.

Ms Chirwa said the fifth area looked at how HIV-affected households could be helped to rebuild their asset bases.

She added that livelihood assets such as human capital, financial capital, physical capital, social and natural capital were key for households response to HIV and AIDS.

Ms Chirwa further said a household would be said to have the capacity to respond to HIV and AIDS when it was able to effectively apply its resources (money, food, labour and the like) in order to access information on HIV\AIDS and take measures to prevent themselves and others against HIV infections.

And a youth, Clara Kalaba said HIV and AIDS prevalence was higher among young people and women because they were not empowered economically and socially.

Kalaba said most youths and women lacked meaningful sources of income to enable them with stand the challenges of poverty, which reciprocated into HIV\AIDS in many instances as those groups engaged themselves in risky behaviour for survival.

She called on youths and women to take interest in programmes that sought to improve their livelihood if real result were to be felt at household level.

She said programmes that engaged affected groups were rare, and youths should freely express themselves on how they would like to see those issues addressed both in the short and long run.

In Zambia, a number of initiatives were practiced in most parts of the country pertaining to the pandemic such as; home-based care, tackling psychological impacts of HIV and AIDS and the public declaration of people living with HIV\AIDS to fight stigma, but all these faced irresistible stamina of epidemic.

The new approach is worthy trying, it could be the way to reduce the prevalence rate in the country.