Waste management does not have a linear solution

Waste management is mainly a people problem. We generate the waste, dump it carelessly and wait for someone to take away from drainages. When drainages get clogged by the waste and rainy water come into our homes, we have someone to blame. We hardly problematise waste management as our issue. Our accusing fingers point at someone else.

People problems require people oriented solutions. Behaviour change matters in winning the waste management problem. Scholarly reasoning will tell you to invest in attitude-behaviour-approach to realis
e good waste management practices. I don’t want to get into theoretical abstracts. I will be as simple as possible because environmental problems are complex and solutions lost in jargon in most cases. I do not want to be caught into the technical jargon.

Our waste management approach should be towards changing lifestyles at household, community and national level. Who will pick the waste in homes where the Vice President does not come to clean up on a good day of the month? What happens to the waste in compounds where such national events do not include? A systematic approach is required when dealing with complex environmental issues.

We can ask ourselves, does publicity alone result into sustainable waste management in townships? What barriers affect waste management? How do we build support for those barriers? Is it the municipality alone to manage waste? Do we have appropriate facilities for waste management? Where are the gaps in sustainable waste management? How do we fill in those gaps?

Out of disappointment when I drove through Mtendere one morning in 2012 and found heaps of waste bags blocking the road, I went there to understand people’s reasoning. I did a research focused on “problematisation of waste management in townships” – Mtendere Township was my research area.

I learnt a lot from CBEs (community based enterprises), households and Lusaka City Council (LCC). Each other raised very critical issues that made waste management problematic.  For example:

1) households were against the CBEs collecting waste at a fee. They expected the council (LCC) to do so as the cost was covered under land rates. They argued that they paid land rates and a fee was waste collection was embedded in there in the past. When it was removed and packaged as Polluter's Pay Principle (PPP) was not known to them. They were very upset with the LCC.

2) Prioritisation of food versus paying for waste. With hardships, a K50 - 70 payment for waste could be used for a meal. Some households saw a small mealie meal packet,  kapenta, tomato, cooking oil (small packet), vegetable, salt, etc. that amount. The amount could see their children eat. Poverty is having a huge toil on Polluter's Pay Principle (PPP) i.e. survival versus paying for garbage.

3) Mindset of households is another problem as some people do not think it is their role to pay for waste. People went at length ranting how the LCC was allowing waste to be littered all over their townships. In some cases, they mocked LCC staff when they go to pick waste bins in these compounds. Most of them have no sense of responsibility in waste collection. Their role is to generate the waste and let the LCC collect. Mindset change in waste management create ownership in managing waste is very critical. This cannot be done by monthly waste cleaning and informational campaigns. A comprehensive behavioural change programme is required.

4) Lack of knowledge about changes in law from paying for waste under land/property rates to Polluter's Pay Principle. Most households think it is a duplication of payment because they believe the amount included for waste collection to the land/property rates is still there to those rates. Lack of knowledge also has to do with some people not connecting their bad waste managementt and climate change/environmental damage. They mainly realise when cholera/diarrhea disease breaks. But they have a vague idea how waste/garbage contributes to diarrheal disease outbreaks.

A total change in approach is needed. Some solutions could include:

1) Investing in waste facilities in compounds. Some places have no place to put waste bins as there are structures everywhere. The waste facilities should provide for separation of waste in terms of paper, plastic, etc.

The waste facilities should be positioned in CBDs (Central Business Districts) for people to put waste in right places. Without appropriate facilities, where do we expect the people to drop their waste? Those that deliberately throw waste anyhow should be made pick it and put it where it should be by anyone of us and the municipality staff who work in these CBDs either collecting levies and other duties. We all have a responsibility to safeguarg the environment.  

2) Inculcate mindset of paying for our waste and mindset to put waste in designated facilities. We need to create nexus in our communication of how bad waste practice leads to different environmental impacts. People should be helped visualise and know how their actions can minimise their footprint on their environment by practicing sustainable lifestyles such as taking smart actions in waste management like eat, dispose in the bin, pay for collection, reduce waste generation, and others.

3) Incentivise waste management. This could be, for instance, recycling companies paying households that appropriately separate waste to reuse/recycling. That waste becomes resource in the production value chain of recycling companies. Some people may adopt pro-environmental waste management practices to earn income out of their practice. Whereas some people will do it for monetary gain, a sustainable lifestyle maybe built in children who will see the practice as a good way of living sustainably.

4) Creating smart/green centres in townships where people can separate and deposit their waste for recycling companies' use. People can be employed to weigh and record depositors of well separated waste per week/month for possible monetary rewarding by recycling companies for the resource they are providing for their production systems.

5) Councils establishing waste smart/green centres on public private partnership basis with recycling companies who will use the appropriately separated waste in their value chain. Can CDF be invested in creating smart centres for waste management? How will the ideal smart/green centres look like? We have planners who should do their job for the beauty of our cities and the environment.

 6) Introducing green skills in school systems for learner's to acquire relevant sustainable skills. For example, for waste segregation and recycling at micro, small and medium scales to feed into large scale recycling processes. What kind of green skills are required in the waste recycling value chain? We can start imparting green skills and knowledge in children for the betterment of our environment.

7) Providing incentives to recycling companies. These could include tax exemptions, rebates and others to attract more companies on recycling or implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) of their packaging materials after use by customers. The companies under the EPR can build deposit centres of their packages by customers for reuse/recycling.

These companies have financial muscles to buy houses in compounds compared to CBEs to ensure waste is separated and placed in appropriate bins/waste deposit facilities. Imagine people indiscriminately throwing waste finding appropriate waste facilities on open spaces where they do it.....the facilities could be mobile of permanent.

I am suggesting that we become more systematic in our waste management approaches. Our approaches  could speaks to 1) building waste management facilities for sorting/separating waste 2) mindset change on waste management to create a sense of ownership of waste management by every household, 3) investing in recycling skills and infrastructure 4) EPR enhancement and monitoring, among others.

Municipalities need fully functioning waste management units with reliable waste trucks to collect waste from designated waste depository facilities. Each market has council staff collecting levies, they should also deal with waste mgt. Blaming vendors and periodic cleanups are not sustainable. What the Vice President or the President does going to clean on certain days is good for publicity but NOT for sustainable waste management. We need a comprehensive approach that brings many actors into play thru a collective responsibility mechanism. People should be mentored into taking it upon themselves.

CHARCOAL consumption, climate change and investment in our energy mix

As the country plans to ban charcoal by 2026 as part climate change mitigation actions, WWF estimates show that our charcoal consumption is at an alarming 4 million tonnes annually. Lusaka accounts for 1.6 million (40%) tonnes of that consumption. Urbanites are the major users of charcoal as truckloads of the commodity head to these towns everyday. 

Zambia Statistical Agency (ZamStat) highlights that 54.3% households in the country use firewood, 28.7% use charcoal and only 16.8% use electricity for cooking. In terms of rurality usage, 81% of households use firewood for their cooking. This shows the amount of pressure on forests for our energy sustainance. Trees are either cut for firewood or turned into charcoal at a larger scale to meet our energy needs. 

Our demand for charcoal results into 250-300, 000 hectares of forest loss yearly. Power outages exacerbate the cutting of trees for charcoal. The charcoal economy revolves around charcoal banners, transporters, charcoal sellers and consumers/users. Each of these clusters contribute to the destruction of our biodiversity, which accelerates climate change. 

Inadequate alternative sources of energy push the demand for charcoal higher. Our energy mix requires massive investment and adoption for our forests to be safeguarded. We risk creating massive desserts due to endless large cutting of trees for charcoal burning to meet the demand for the product. 

The cost of alternative sources of energy is not helping in adopting alternative sources of energy. Removal of duty and tax on solar products did not helped in making these energy sources more affordable by the majority. Solar energy has thus remained the preserve of the wellup in society. 

A simple solar system for lighting costs a fortune for majority citizens. For example, a solar panel for 300w is around K2, 500 whilst the batteries are around K5, 500 each. An inverter around K2, 500. This is a huge budget for most households.

Whatever efforts have been put into making solar energy systems affordable by removing duty/VAT have not helped. More should be done to reduce the cost for most citizens to afford solar energy for their usage. Mindset change activities are also required to increase adoption of sustainable energy solutions. Some households treasure charcoal so much they want to stick to it for cooking beans, offals, animal hooves and boiling dry fish. There are arguments that dry fish/beans tastes better when prepared on charcoal. The ennvironmental implications of getting the charcoal are often not factored into the thinking metrics.

Environmental issues are often distant from many people's minds. Some think climate change is an alien issue coined by others to champion something they do not understand what it is really. Yet we have seen our rainfall pattern reducing from about 6 months to half (3 months) or less. We are falling on each other to plant early maturing seedings for example maize to fit into the new rainfall pattern. We have seen increasing in heatwaves and extremely cold weather patterns depending on where we live, which signify changes in the climate.

 However much we distance ourselves from realities of climate change, the loss o trees speaks volumes about depleting natural foods like mopani words, mushrooms, honey and others. When it comes to energy, we need adequate investment into our energy mix to ensure we have adequate clean energy and win off majority citizens from charcoal. Rural electrification should be enhanced and connection fees made affordable as a strategic step to shade off charcoal users. Mitigating climate change calls for collective, deliberate and pragmatic actions to actualize eco-friendly behaviours and lifestyles. 

Investment in solar farms, wind energy and additional hydropower stations in the northern region where rains are mor intense would help increase our energy capacity to supply every household and industries. Independent power producers require favourable conditions to attract them into the energy sector. 

What happens to those who survive on the charcoal economy? Do we throw them under the bridge? Deliberate strategies are needed to integrate them into the green energy mix. For example, smart energy solutions wisdom recommends creating value chains where charcoal banners, transporters and sellers can be fitted for sustainable weaning them off charcoal.

In areas where cooking pellets are used as an alternative source of energy, charcoal banners can be suppliers of raw materials in pellets making such as groundnut shells, maize stock shells, shrub growing (silviculture) for pellet making or grass supplier to makers of pellets. Transporters and sellers of charcoal can become part of the value chain and earn a living. 

Biodigester making can bring into the economy a number of players. These would include dry cow dung suppliers, transporters and sellers to household biodigester users for energy. The alternative energy system can create an entry point for everyone to earn a living without being left behind. We cannot bury our heads in the sand anymore whilst forests are lost to the charcoal economy. One day we will wake up being a desert. Rains will be hard to see as trappers of clouds will be gone as charcoal for our cooking needs.

Our ecosystem is a living being that requires protection for it to sustain our lives. What we give our environment determines what it is able to give us in return. When we distablize our environment, it fails to meet our needs for us to live a good life. It will nolonger supply us with fresh air, natural herbs and foods, underground water, rains and other life supporting requirements. We cannot do without environmental protection. We must act now before it is completely too late. 

Our dam (Kariba) is already failing to supply us with enough water to generate power throughout the year due to poor rains recorded some rainy seasons. Climate change has contributed to low rainfall recorded over the years in the country. Loss forests are contributors to poor rainfall. More loss of the forests entails more rainfall challenges ahead.  

Human actions largely contribute to climate change in many ways such as loss of water recharge points as we cut or change use of forests, loss of water catchment areas for our sources of water or loss of trees for rains. By simple explanation, when trees transpire, they add moisture to the air, which makes the air saturated faster to bring rains. Without trees, rainfall stability is not assured. Caterpillars and honey will be equally lost without trees. Nature and humans require stable co-existence for our good. 

#ClimateChange #HumanActions #ClimateChangeMitigation

HOW civil servants destroy governments

INTERNATIONAL JOBS: Why your job applications aren't taken seriously?

ON the Twitter Space, a group of passionate Zambians share real issues that make your job applications thrown away without you getting regret letter.  In summary "stop pissing off employers!!"

Don't accuse an old man in the village for blocking your breakthrough when you are messing up things yourself. It is about how you position yourself. No job falls on your laps by mistake. Felix Mwenge & team try hard to help us sharpen our CVs & get those dream jobs internationally and locally.

I have summarized issues for you. Who knows, you may earn yourself a dream job by following whatever you think is valuable from many tips they shared on the Twitter Space last night. They shared great insights.

1) Competitiveness: Put in mind that you're competing with the BEST! "How do I stand out? Ensure your CV is water tight. Your CV & cover letters matter most. But remeber,there will be more rejects than you can count, it's not the devil, but it is what it is. Don't relent. Although there's no single template for a good CV, here are the 5 points to pay attention to: 

a) Presentation: be structured, clear & concise. Don't add your picture, name of village/chief, cover page for the CV, career objectives, etc. In short, "No waffling".

b) Less is more: You don't need more than 2 pages (even if you have 15-20 years of experience). Make an impression above the fold i.e. put the most selling points on top of the CV/cover letter. What do you bring to the job, what skills do you? This should be made priority.

c) Biodata last: Date of birth, religion, tribe, marital status, etc are all worthless. You are wasting time to market yourself. Biodata shouldn't be the first thing on the CV. Employers throw applications once they don't see important skills you are bringing to the job.

d) Understand the job description: Understand what the employer is looking for & tailor your CV to the job description. Have as many CVs are possible. Don't submit a general CV you send everywhere. Spend your time on your CV. Refine it to speak to what the employer needs.

e) Examples of CVs that set you apart: On your CV, put your results & responsibilities. Here are 2 candidates with same expertise, work experience & skills for a front office job. 

Candidate A "I am responsible for the operations of the receptions and front office." Candidate B "I manage the efficient running of the front office to enhance positively the organisation brand." 

Candidate A “I handle petty cash for buying stationary and fuel for company cars and other supplies.” Both are selling their skills/experience mind you. Candidate B “I control the office budget ensuring that all supplies are sufficiently stocked while expenditure remains within the allocated budget.” 

Candidate A “I am responsible for filing company correspondence and key documents”. Can you see how one is setting self apart? Candidate B “I manage company data storage and retrieval systems for effective decision making”

Candidate A “I manage the supervisors diary for meetings and appointments". Candidate B “ I oversee the principal’s timely engagements with internal and external stakeholders.” On initiative, candidate B adds to the CV/current job. “I put in place systems and interrogative data management protocols to ensure that all correspondence with stakeholders is addressed within 24 hours, a first for my company.” 

Candidate A is silent. Knock out punch number 1

Candidate B goes on to say“I reduced turnover for processing quotations from 72 hours to less 24 hours thereby increasing the volume of sales per week by more than 45%.” Nangu (even if) you don't want to shortlist Candidate B, you will do it.  The candidate has spoken via CV.

POINT: Use ACTIVE language to sell yourself. Instead of saying… “I was responsible” say “I managed, I controlled)!! The use of language matters. How to say it matters. You can be saying the same thing, but the other candidate beats you at your game by using the right language.

2) Ejection will happen: You can be rejected 50 times, but let your fire continue burning. Fall & rise again until you get where you want to be. Don't let temporary defeat throw you off balance. Rejection of your job application prepares you to sharpen your job applicant.

3)Aim to be shortlisted - Leave out worthless things e.g. objective like "to be a reliable stuff". This is throwing the job under the bridge. Don't include your religion,  your marital status, etc. Put out important issues & leave out valueless stuff.

What a CV is NOT: 

a) an opportunity to tell the employer everything about yourself. The employer wants your suitability for the job. Ensure your CV answers the question in the ad. If the CV wants someone who is practical, talk about your practical competencies.

b) Don't flatter the employer- eg I want to be employed in your wonderful organization. No one wants to hear that, show your suitability, share your skills. Flattery words can end up pissing off the employer. Avoid those tired phrases. Go for what matters most -your suitability

4) Overdressing- This can be a turn off to the employer. Be moderate. Don't dress like they are going for a fashion show or a music audit.  Combine your colours appropriately. Don't wear screaming colours & eye hurting stuff e.g. make up, colour combination, etc.

5) Brief about the organization: read about the employer. The question about the organisation will often come. Don't over talk about the organisation more than the owners of the company thinking you are proving a point when you are shooting yourself in the head.

6) Politeness: Some of you are so rude when called for either a jon interview or offer. You even claim you don't pick calls from unknown numbers. Why then applying for jobs? Be polite when called over a job. Don't be too lazy and rude, sound lazy and less focused.

7) Picking calls: The company will call you 5 times, you don't pick for reasons best known by you. You don't want a job. Busy complaining "who is this now?"  How will you get employed when you don't pick calls? Be serious, learn to pick calls.

8) Answer questions professionally and not arrogantly:  Arrogance is about putting your ego than suitability out there. You can be confident, but professional in the manner you answer questions. Don't belittle that seeming annoying panellist. S/he could the decision maker.

9) When you don't know, say it- Waffling negates your suitability. If you don't know, put it out that you don't know. No one knows everything, you won't be the first one to acknoledge it that you don't know. It earns you respect than going on waffling.

10) Build your career on social media: Put what you claim your expertise is on social media. Don't always argue with people, fighting others. Employers check you out on social media. Some of you ONLY post chilling moments, no time to engage into intellectual issues. You can engage in intellectual issues in line with your expertise, you can share your beliefs about certain issues eg about climate change. You can't claim to be an expert in enviromental issues & have a social media profile littered with bola bet ONLY.

11) Anticipate why a question is being asked- Every question asked is for a purpose. No interviewer asks a question for the ride of it. They are assessing something. Be sharp when asked a question & respond appropriately. It pays to think fast & speak with the righ tone

12) Culture & ethos: international jobs mainly about personal goals i.e. being in for the ethos of the company but ONLY money. Once the employer realizes that you are not connected to the ethos of the company, you will lose the job opportunity. Be balanced.

13) Work experience - Apprenticeships, volunteering & part time jobs build your line of work &  gain you valuable experience to refer to when applying for the job. Your good grades in school matters less, the employers want outputs (suitability, experience & skills). The world of work is not about grades you got in university. It is about output. How suitable are you to the company output? You can be an A+ student academically, but if you can't show anything for it at when it comes to KPIs, you get thrown out.

For international jobs & any other job (maybe except Government jobs), they're results oriented, skills matters, experience is golden & your linkages open doors. Your brand and people you affiliate with differentiate you from others.

All the BEST!!

INTERNSHIPS in Zambia: Entitlement graduates or exploitative employers?

In our effort to share information & help others be competitive in the world of work, we often have a Space on Twitter to learn from each other. The idea was initiated by Felix Mwenge, a committed son of the soil. One of the topics was on internship in Zambia. The critical qualification was: "Internship in Zambia: entitlement graduates or exploitative employers?"

The topic brought out very serious issues that immediately needed attention to enhance employability of youths & open up opportunities for them in the job market. We must act now. Employers had their voices, youths who went thru internships shared their experiences (good/bad) & experts threw their weight too on internships. Thanks to Felix Mwenge & team for the great insight. You're building a different generation of youths. Summary of points shared:

1) Legal lacunas - The labour law is not clear on paying interns. An employer does it as s/he wishes. Further, an employer can't tell where they're within or outside the law. The Apprenticeship Act of 1964 is archaic & difficult to effectively implement an internship programme. Internship is not adequately provided for in the legal provision under the Apprenticeship Act of 1965. It provides for apprenticeship. It focuses on learning & not employment. Apprenticeship legislation was meant to balance skills gaps from graduates from universities.

2) Interns in NGOs- The interns learn the Civil Society Organization (CSO) works. The NGO system provides for learning & getting employed once the youths are acquainted with the CSO world. The duration is only 6 months to avoid labour law issues. Some perform well & get employed. Some CSOs have well structured internship programmes with thought out learning framework for interns. Stipends are paid to help interns meet logistics & never lose morale to do their best at their job. The space is a mentorship ground for the youths without work experience.

3) Attitude matters- Many youths need opportunities in the job market. It builds youths into job ready persons for the world of work. But their attitude is critical in grooming them into valuable assets for the job market. Bad attitude jeopardises their opportunities. It is very critical to have the right attitude towards work, time mgt, ethos & productivity virtues development, etc. Some youths are not ready to get 'dirty' when going thru the milling process for employability. They feel they're too elite to do certain tasks.

4) Employers & identifying essential skills - Hard & soft skills are highly sought by employers.  However, most employers focus on hard skills & neglect soft skills e.g. attributes, attitude & values. Hard skills are typified with many skills gaps from their education.

Most graduates leave the education system without being grounded on hard skills (skills gaps, which negate their employability). learning institutions have left employers to retrain graduates as they're poorly prepared for the job market. This needs to change.

5) Interns & valuing opportunities- Our education system disadvantages youths. Thus, they should be ready to learn. What could have been done by universities is passed on to employers. Youths must utilize these opportunities. Entitlements cost career growth. There are youths who think the world owes them space for internship, the world is competitive. It has no time for babysitting anyone. The world of work needs skills, right attributes, attitudes & dedication. Employability is premium. 

6) Informal internship- This happens a lot especially in the art industry. Many youths find spaces for internships in the industry. But due to systematic internship programmes in the sector, youths are abused sexually/emotionally, financially & go thru other bad experiences. Most youths are taken advantage of in the art/music industry as they try to enhance their employability. The industry is loosily monitored & players take advantage of the situation. 

7) Work Based Learning (WBL) -Was developed to address lacunas in the Apprenticeship Act. It provides for informal & formal internships, industrial attachments & apprenticeships. This is a long term capacity building platform to enhance employability of youths across sectors. WBL provides for people to learn at work for their employability sharpening. It is a way out of legal lapses in the Apprenticeship Act of 1964. It is broader & provides for financing Internships by a sustained financing mechanism. 

8) Rebate for internship- the WBL provides for rebates to attract organizations to take on interns. Stipends are needed for youths to get by as they intern. Without paying them, it remains a preserve of the well to do. We need to broaden it to cover any youth across the country.

There are thoughts to use part of CDF to finance i) internships ii) industrial attachments & Apprenticeships; won't it help enhance graduates' employability & smoothen their transition into the job market. We already have skills bursary under CDF, can we extend it to internship?

The thoughts are that if a youth has an internship opportunity at Zambia Sugar, proceeds of CDF can meet my internship stipend for my movement to & Zambia Sugar & upkeep for the period of internship. That will give me some pride & decent as I find my footing in the job market. Trade Kings Group of companies can take several youths, have a system to document practical knowledge & competencies they're gain & competency certificates can be given afterwards for all those who complete the program. The knowledge/competencies will become practial experience

Companies in agriculture, manufacturing, construction, etc who take up interns can get REBATES or upfront payment for being part of the human capital development program under Internship, Apprenticeship & Industrial Attachments. We've to find a way of making it work. The Skills Development Fund (SDF) may take care of costs when it comes to those in technical & vocational training whilst CDF takes care of costs for those outside technical & vocational training or something like that. We can refine the thoughts we we learn lessons from experiences.

In Zimbabwe under the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF), two types of Apprenticeships apply: i) recruited by GRZ thru Industrial Training & Trade Testing Department & ii) direct recruited by employers. ZIMDEF meets costs for apprenticees across companies. In Kenya, taking up internships/apprenticees is part of PKIs for both GRZ agencies & GRZ departments. Interns are NOT mere erand boys/girls. A training plan is done & log books are used to document competencies acquired in the process e.g. using E-GP System, filing taxes, etc

What this has done is creating a collective responsibility to provide "work experience" to graduates. It has become a national responsibility whether in private or public sector. Each sector plays their role & the country wins in enhancing employability of youths.

9) UN internships- It is not paid up. You have to meet your own logistics & any other costs to go by with the internships. Your internship at the UN is for personal growth. Payment won't come your way. You should have the means to sustain your needs during internship. This is an elitist system that has no space for those who can't meet their upkeep & other costs involved during the internship. The UN needs to rethink its model to create inclusive internship opportunities.

10) What interns are NOT- They are not an extension of your house keepers. Never limit them to doing errands & never learn anything from it. You're wasting time for the youths by making the errand runners. Develop a training plan for them & mentor them to improve employability. Some organisations have no learning frameworks for the interns, they end up during errands for anyone who is too busy with real work stuff. The interns don't learn anything the end of their internship. Their time is wasted.

11) Talent building - Interns are talented & great minds to drive organization goals. With good mentorship programmes, we can build vibrant talents & national human resources capital for wealth & job creation. We must harness them & their potential. A well thought learning framework is needed for the interns to benefit from any internship opportunity. 

12) Don't settle for abuse - You won't learn anything in any abusive space. You're being abused only. Whenever you get an internship, there should be a structured learning framework to show the kind of mentorship you will go through to build skills to improve your employability.

13) Paid or unpaid internship- Any unpaid internship should come with a learning framework. You should get value from it. You're spending money to get to the organization for your internship, get value for it. Without value from the intership, you're better off being home & focusing on other things. You will be comfortable in an internship program that add no value to your life.

14) Deliver value - Get an internship with good attributes & values that help organizations see the importance of Keeping you. When you add value, no employer will let you go. Unless the organization is bad at identifying talent, nurture it & utilize it.

Way forward

15) Database - We need a database for skilled youths across sectors for organizations to pick talent to take up as interns. 

16) National Internship Programme - A stipend should be provided for the smooth transition of youths into the world of work.

HOW Civil Servants Destroy Businesses

1) Procurement: GRZ is among the biggest buyers of goods & services. Civil servants control procurement. You've to dance to their music or never get the contract. You've to butter them to get contracts. If you play smart, you're the loser. If you've done any business with GRZ, you've an idea the procurement blues existing to get a tender. Some civil servants are experts is 'selling tenders'. They sell to the highest bidder. They can even help you win the tender. They are movers & shakers. 

2) Payment: You can win the tender, supply the goods or render the service. But another gatekeeper civil servant comes in here: accountants. These pay masters can make your life hell if you don't dance their Michael Jackson music of oiling them to quicken payment. Those who know the Jackson steps get their payment in no time. But poor dancers go for months without seeing their pay. By the time they get it, the monetary value of the contract would have been eroded. Most businesses are caught up in this systematic corruption & bend. 

3) Time wasting: If you know time wasters on earth, civil servants can top the list. "Come tomorrow" takes forever. Kaya which part of tomorrow is in their vocabulary. You will know Jesus when dealing with these people. They look for opportunities in these delaying tactics. Businesses don't have time for these merry-go-round gimmicks of civil servants. They end up learning the dancing steps for the civil service. Whereas "time is money" in the business world, to the civil service, that's your business. They do it at their pace. 

4) Cuts: The civil service is littered with "cuts" [ncekelako] almost everywhere you pass to do business with GRZ. Even security guard will want a cut to open the gate. These people are powerful. They can determine the sustaibility & death of your business. We need sanity. Sanity in civil service business conduct can largely reduce cost of doing business & growth of many businesses. Fair play rules & efficiency in doing business needs to be core in the civil service for entrepreneurs to get a return on investment (RoI). 

WHAT happens when caught up in this civil service net?

5) Inflate price: Businesses end up pushing the price upwards to meet these civil servants "cuttings" littered in the whole value chain. You factor-in amounts to oil everyone in the value chain. This comes at additional cost to GRZ. A tractor costing K200, 000 can be pushed to K400, 000 to meet the oiling needs of supply value chain beneficiaries. When ACC says it will sit in every procurement committee, this is what it seeks to address. 

6) Compromise quality: some businesses go for the most substandard materials to meet the cost of supplying GRZ so that they also meet the oiling needs of the system. No business owner would deliberately supply low standards goods/service. It is system blues pushing them to do so. The useless bridges, equipment, infrastructure & others we see GRZ paying for comes from complex GRZ systems that need oiling to get thinking moving. "wacenjeza ng'anga ukalibe kupole" (you've alerted the healer b4 getting healed) follows you when you refuce to oil the system. 

7) Stick to principles & be the loser: Your business can fold easily when you dare the civil servants. You can get:

i) arrested for corrupt practices with them, ii) banned from public supply by ZPPA for poor service service/ horrible goods or iii) smoked out of business. Being among the biggest buyers & sellers, GRZ needs to sanitize its systems for every entrepreneur to effectively do business with diff GRZ agents/departments. Arm twisting, blackmailing (never to get another GRZ contract], ect tricks by civil servants is ruining many businesses. 

WHATEVER magic GRZ needs to apply, it has to bring sanity to its systems. It needs to attitude change among its system. The business world is failing to create jobs to meet the oiling needs of those entrusted with public office. Business is hard, it needs support systems. Every coin counts in the business world. When the support system is siphoning money meant for business growth/expansion, jobs & wealth vanish in the process. No matter how good GRZ policies to support businesses can be, without a good support system; it will be all in VAIN.

BULLYING in schools: my experience

Clive Mutame Siachiyako

Bullying happens in many sections of society. Some people are bullied at work, school, social club or home. Bullying can be tormenting. Some bullied persons become suicidal or abusers of others in future. The imprint of bullying leaves huge scars in their lives that they fail to erase. It disorients them and robs them of their good life.

Bullying is defined in many ways. Some people call it a deliberate misuse of power through repeated verbal or physical behaviour that causes physical, social or psychological harm. It can be done by an individual or a group misusing their power (e.g. political cadres, prefects in school, police officers, etc.). In the digital era, bullying happens online as well. It can be overtly or covertly (in a subtle way) done to anyone the bully intends to get it.

In boarding school, bullying is like a ritual to welcome others into school. St. Mark's Secondary School was well known for bullying years back. I went there in 1998. We found Obby (pseudonym). He was huge, rude and tall. He was chief bully. No one could stand him. He was feared. He was merciless.

The first week I arrived at school, he rounded us (Grade 8s) and told us to give him whatever we had to our name. He got from us money, biscuits, sweets, roasted chickens, anything. He came to every dormitory and commanded G8s to line up and open their lockers so that he could get whatever he wanted. It was non-negotiable. We had to oblige or risk getting the worst beating in our lives. Just by looking at him, no one could dare refusing. I was tiny and new, I didn’t know how to get around such challenges. I obliged just like any other “Kwiyo” as G8s were called.

Our nightmare had just started. The same week, we were taken to the river next to the school. St. Mark’s is near a beautiful Kawiya river, which could have attracted the missionaries to construct the school in that bush. The river is perforated by umbrella like trees that provide good shed for insects and any other living because. Its vegetation provided good hideouts for weed smoking pupils. It was our turn to taste the marijuana of the area. We queued up and made to smoke the weed. We were not allowed to puff the smoke out. We were not to tell anyone or face the wrath of Obby. That day we bathed with clothes, ate nshima with salt, laughed endlessly, walked to classes for evening studies barefooted, etc. misdeeds due to the weed effects. 

It didn’t end at Obby. A teacher joined in the bullying, he lied that he was the only teacher of English (it is the correct way of saying it, right?). We had to pay him to be learning English or never to learn the subject in our lives. There was no specific amount to pay him. Each one paid him according to how much he had. We paid him even for useless books that were not even in the syllabus. He laughed at us for anything he wanted to mock us on e.g. hairstyle, shoes, size of eyes, height, complexion, etc.

Then we had to wash pigs to remove the urbanite/town mentality in us and to welcome us to real life. Being a Grade 8 was tough. Some of the Grade 8s were taken to wash pigs for not giving Obby anything. The pigs were huge and scary. We were made to wash them to sparkling clean. Workers at the production unit had Christmas as we did their work.

The Cadet Force engineered bullying was another nightmare. Cadet Force members woke us up in the mid of nights for the joy ride of it. Whether one liked it or not, we went for running (chilailai). We were told we were prepared to be solders (kaya where that came from). Some Cadet Force members were often clad in military uniform to satisfy their ego. They really made the military dream so real.  

Most of the members never got closer to any military camp nor anything in life. They spent their time smoking marijuana and failed Grade 12. Without good school certificate results, it became hard for them to find footing in society.

The systems in the school failed to end bullying. Somehow, bullying that time seemed permissible. We had nowhere to get help. Some pupils (they called weak soldiers) left St. Mark's within a single term. Some of our friends who had money paid their way to get away with it (paying bully leaders. It was survival of the fittest. Each one had to find a way of fitting into the system.

 School Prefects were uninterested in helping the poor Grade Eights. They were doing nothing to make life bearable for Grade 8s. Those who had money/good food to give them got the protection. Some loaded boys could even shift to be staying with the school prefects. It was a corrupt system indeed.

Survival of the fittest was the rule of the game. We had to apply many strategies to survive. These included be-friending bullies. However, be-friending any of the bullies came at cost. We had to sustain their lives. We had to give them money, buy them favorable fritters (known as Jogintos) and other goodies for safety. Whenever we ran out of money we called home begging for more money. It was such a complicated stay.

Joining them was another strategy to survive. This could mean being a spy for bullies, joining the karate club or sports. Alternatively, joining the Cadet Force or the notorious groups in the school such weed smokers become a safety vault. We just had to do something or get chocked by bullies. Some Grade 8s tried faking sickness, it never worked. Some bullies bruised them before they could explain their situation. Weakling had no room at St. Mark’s.  

Our all-powerful head teacher did nothing much. He was a nonsense man. But he did little to help the situation. Kaya maybe it was believed that without bullying we remained 'babies' and weak soldiers even when we were not a military barrack. It was hard to get by. But all of us had to find a surviving strategy no matter how temporary or useless it was.

Side effects of our lived-experience of bullying were many. Some boys became ruffians. They looked forward to revenge when new Grade 8s came. They became rebellious and trouble makers. Other bullied boys lost self-esteem and became disoriented. Substance abuse (weed) was rife as a coping measure. The weed influence gave us “dark courage” to cope with the situation. What a life it was!!