Zambia’s lost copper wealth – action trick

It’s been a while, but here is another action trick…

Having lived in the Copperbelt in Zambia we know that one of the central questions about Zambia is always: why is this once middle-income country so poor, when it is so rich – £2bn worth extracted from its mines last year – in copper?

As things are the lucrative trade in copper is not helping address Zambia’s poverty. SCIAF, Christian Aid and Action for Southern Africa, with the support of Zambian civil society, have just published a major report – Undermining Development? – on why Zambia fails to derive the benefits that it should from its enormous copper reserves.

Read the background in the Observer – Zambia’s new bid to cash in on copper.

Read the report – Undermining Development? – or the Executive Summary

Christian Aid and SCIAF are calling for the companies involved not to undermine Zambia’s efforts to tackle poverty and renegotiate their contracts – find out more and take action.

stop vulture funds – action trick 4

Yesterday the vulture fund, Donegal International, that has been targeting Zambia for $55 million (we have talked about it before) was told it will only get $15.4 million. The fact Zambia has to pay anything to this company is still too much, but it is progress! The judge back in February found Donegal’s full claim to $55 million was not justifiable, but that it was entitled to something – and that award is now settled as being $15.4 million.

Apparently Donegal immediately claimed it had won the case and that Zambia should pay most of its legal costs, but the judge is restricting the proportion of the costs that Zambia has to pay, on the grounds that Donegal’s key witnesses were dishonest in their evidence before the court. You can read more at the Jubilee Debt Campaign website and BBC news website.

The UK and other donor countries funded Zambia’s legal fees, which enabled them to fight the case in the High Court – and get their losses reduced. But changes are needed to prevent such cases in future. Jubilee Debt Campaign and others are calling on the G8 to do what they can to prevent these companies targeting poor countries – through supporting the establishment of a fair, comprehensive framework for dealing with poor country debt, and funding legal assistance for countries targeted in this way.

Take action to tell the G8 to act against the vultures.

vulture funds: action trick 2

Last week a high court judge in London ruled whether a so-called ‘vulture fund’, Donegal International, could extract more than $40m from Zambia for a debt which it bought for less than $4m.

In 1979 the Romanian government lent Zambia money to buy Romanian tractors. Zambia was unable to keep up the payments and in 1999 Romania and Zambia negotiated to liquidate the debt for $3m. But before the deal could be finalised a ‘vulture fund’ stepped in and bought the debt from Romania for less than $4m. They are now suing the Zambian government for the original debt plus interest which they calculate at over $40m.

Last week the judge did not accept all the ‘vulture funds’ arguments – and said that their witnesses had at times been “dishonest” – but ruled that legally they are entitled to something from Zambia. The exact total of what Donegal is ‘entitled’ is to be determined, but may be around $20 million. This would be half of the amount that Zambia is due to save from debt relief this year.

BBC Newsnight last week ran the story and attempted to interview the ‘vulture fund’ owner – there is a good report of the story on their website.

Whilst legally the ‘vulture fund’ may be entitled to money from Zambia morally surely the case is clear. The company brought the debt at a highly reduced price in 1999, at a time when it would have known that Zambia was considered poor and indebted enough to qualify for debt relief. One month before Zambia was finally granted debt cancellation in April 2005 – debt relief intended to improve its economy and provide the necessary resources to meet its peoples’ needs – Donegal launched its lawsuit to cash in on Zambia.

Jubilee Debt Campaign, together with Oxfam, is calling on Donegal International not to claim this money. Add your voice to the campaign – email Donegal not to claim money from Zambia

Five years ago Gordon Brown told the United Nations that the vulture funds were perverse and immoral. Jubilee Debt Campaign are also campaigning to outlaw the vulture fund practice. Add your voice to the campaign – email Gordon Brown to outlaw the vulture fund practice.

World AIDS day

It won’t have escaped you that today is World AIDS day. Today we mark the fact that across the world more than 40 million people are living with HIV – 25 million of which live in sub-Saharan Africa. Every single day 15,000 people are infected with HIV.

For the community I work in HIV/AIDS dominates the whole of life. The estimated national rate of HIV/AIDS in Zambia is 16%, in the town we are in it is at 26%, and in the compounds of that town it is estimated to be even higher. People are scared to go and get tested and only do so when it’s too late. ARV drugs are free, but the blood count tests and transport to hospitals creates too much of a barrier to going to hospital to get them. If people do get onto the drugs then they need a balanced diet to be able to withstand the strength of the drugs – this is next to impossible in a community where people only expect to have a meal every other day. You see couple after couple nurse a partner until they pass away, knowing they will follow but wondering where they will get the care from.

But even these are the lucky ones. Partners will often run away when they find out that their spouse is sick, even though they themselves will be sick. One woman I met, called Beauty, was infected by her husband. She found out she was HIV+ as she was pregnant and was encouraged to go for testing. When the husband found out the news he ran away leaving her with their two children and one unborn child. She was desperate so ‘married’ someone quickly to get a roof over their heads – so she ended up being married to a man who now beats her and the children, but she has no where else to go. She gave birth to her child who only lived for one year. HIV is trapping people into poverty more than ever and making a mockery of any other development work.

On the other hand I have met people who have been brought back from the brink of death by the ARV drugs and are so inspired by this experience that they spend time helping others in home based care programmes, counselling or prevention programmes. They are the best people to get alongside those who are struggling as they offer inspiration, hope and understanding that no one else can quite match.

Lets not give up hope in the face of this pandemic. Let’s stand with those who are suffering, support them in life and be with them as they approach death. Let’s listen to those who are suffering and give them a platform to talk to the world. Let’s get all these big Bill Gates/ Bill Clinton projects right to the grassroots by empowering local communities to be a bridge. Let’s not forget that this is a pandemic that could be wiped out and lets not forget that those living with HIV/AIDS are still living and are created in the image of God.

Last year world leaders made a promise – that by 2010, AIDS treatment would be available to all who need it. That was in 2005, at the G8 summit in Edinburgh. The is calling on the UK government to keep this promise. Take action online with Tearfund or Oxfam.

Fancy doing more? Giant drug company Novartis is currently challenging Indian Patent Law in the courts after being denied a patent for a cancer drug. If they win, this will limit India’s ability to produce and export cheaper generic drugs to other developing countries, including HIV medicines currently benefiting millions of poor people. You can lobby Novartis through this Oxfam action page.

Election results

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa was today sworn in following the disputed elections of last week. The elections themselves went peacefully – but the count led to some violence on the streets of Lusaka on Sunday after Mwanawasa’s nearest rival, Michael Sata, found himself in third place. At the final count Mr Mwanawasa got 43% of the vote, while Mr Sata finally came in second with 29%, and the other main candidate, Haikande Hichilima, won 25% to come third.

As he was sworn in President Mwanawasa said: “This is not the time to settle scores. Let us all be united to build Zambia,” whilst Michael Sata has claimed that there was election fraud and he will make life difficult for Mr Mwanawasa both “inside parliament and outside parliament”. The BBC News website has more.

Elections

This Thursday will see Zambians going to the polls to elect a President, MPs and Councillors. There are five candidates running for President, including Mwanawasa the current President. Zambia has a good track record in peaceful elections and this one looks set to be no different.

All the candidates for MP in Mapalo have now signed up to the community’s memorandum of understanding, so no matter who gets elected on Thursday the new MP has already agreed to helping the community to meet their agreed needs within three years – which is a great start for the community of Mapalo as they look to the future.

Candidates sign memorandum of understanding

Those of you that read our recent newsletter will know that one of the communities Jubilee Centre works with in Ndola, called Mapalo, has been drawing up a memorandum of understanding in preparation for Zambia’s elections later this month. This memorandum basically identifies the needs of the community – and the idea is that each candidate standing for Councillor and MP is asked to sign up to supporting these needs if successfully elected.

Last weekend the community held a meeting for the candidates to publicly sign-up to the community’s stated needs – and 1,000 people from the community attended the meeting, and all of the candidates for counsellor and four candidates for MP (covering all the main parties) signed it! Photos were taken of each of the candidates while they were signing in solidarity with the community, and a national radio station also picked up the story on the day.

This is a great step forward for the community – helping to give it a long-term voice for change.

A useful and relevant gift

I’m aware that we’ve blogged about ‘acne cream and pre-shave scrub’ and seem to have lots of examples displaying paternalistic attitudes towards Africa, like sending inappropriate gifts – that seem to be ‘exporting the empire’ – in ways that don’t empower the recipient communities. Yet I know that lots of people want to help appropriately and effectively, and so far our blog posts may have only added to the confusion, leading to more cries of ‘but what can we do’? I know that talk of lifestyle changes and campaigning for changes to the structures and relationships between Africa and ‘the West’ often only partly satisfy those wanting to compassionately respond – and so I wanted to mention something that you might have that can be a useful gift…. a mobile phone….

In Zambia, as elsewhere in Africa, the mobile revolution has taken place. With access to cheap mobile phone networks the landline hurdle has been jumped, and the masses are reaping the ‘benefits’ of instant communication. The mobile phone can offer many benefits: setting up a ‘public mobile phone’ in a community can generate an income; emergency medical advice can be given to rural hospitals; money can even be transferred to family members in remote places. So if you have a mobile phone (that has a removable sim card) doing nothing, it might just be a relevant and useful gift to someone here (contact us for the best way to send it).

Mosi-oa-Tunya

Just back from a visit to Livingtsone in the south of Zambia to see the awesome Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders), otherwise known as Victoria Falls. A breathtaking sight – there is a set of photos’s from the trip our photo site.

Debt relief for Zambia

In April the government of Zambia announced it is to introduce free health care for people living in rural areas, scrapping fees which for years has made health care inaccessible for many people. The move was made possible using money from debt cancellation and aid increases agreed at the G8 in Gleneagles last July, when Zambia received $4 billion of debt relief; money that it can now invest in health and education.

This is an example of debt relief making a real difference to peoples’ lives – and an example of how campaigns like Make Poverty History and Jubilee Debt Campaign, and advocacy work in general, can help bring about change.

User fees for health care were introduced in Zambia under IMF and World Bank pressure in the early 1990s – and the removal of such fees will cause a surge in patients accessing health clinics across the country. This will add increased pressure on the already chronic shortage of health workers in Zambia – with currently only one doctor per 14,000 people (compared to one doctor per 600 in the UK) – and there is also the problem that most people in Zambia live in the urban areas (where the fees have not been scrapped!), but none the less it is a positive step for the people of Zambia.