"The outlook on these ratings is stable. The B1 ratings reflect the following key factors: 1) Expectation of continued rapid growth, which should support economic diversification and over time increase the country's low wealth levels. 2) The country's track record of political stability, which benefits its developing institutional strength. 3) Zambia's low albeit improved financial strength, following debt forgiveness from official creditors in 2006"

The question of connectivity is a central factor in the development of Zambia’s tourism sector. This can only come about where there is a viable national airline. There is consensus in both Government and industry that Zambia needs a viable national airline..

"It is an injustice for the government to only collect US$ 77.6 million from copper exports valued at US$2.9 billion. And I do not see that the mines themselves in their heart of hearts would consider it an injustice to pay extra more" 

- Andrew Sardanis (Author, A Venture in Africa)

“Why would any patriotic citizen or leader stop that windfall tax? That issue is so crucial such that the civil society and ordinary citizens will continue to argue they must impose that tax...I am also urging Parliament to reintroduce this topic and even if they get defeated, they must ask for a division and we must know which people are supporting the government over this failed and imprudent manner of taxing the mines. They should be named during the campaigns that these are the people who refused to have taxes imposed on the mines and let them go to the Copperbelt and campaign on that basis.” 

- Bob Sichinga (Economic Consultant)

“The government seems to have deliberately chosen to allow Zambians to continue wallowing in poverty. They are not showing that they are listening to the people. The copper that is being mined will run out one day. Even the investors whom they are being protective about, look at the poor types of jobs and wages that they are giving our people. If they say they won't re-introduce windfall taxes because this would scare away investors, in whose interest are these investors existing if Zambians cannot get any meaningful benefits from their investments?"

- Patrick Mucheleka (Executive Director, CSPR)

"His attitude that he doesn’t care and no more questioning of removal of windfall tax, is retrogressive. He is a President who does not care about the welfare of his people. The wealth of his country is taken away by other people"

- Fr Patrick Chibuye(Mpika Catholic Diocese)

"It has become a joke in the West that foolish Zambians will give you everything you ask for while they humiliate themselves by walking naked. This quote is from a so-called good investor in Zambia....I have heard numerous rubbish from the government that if they increase the taxes, they will deter investors coming to Zambia. This is nonsense and a sign of lack of ability as they do not grasp the world climate on the economy...."

"So the prices will keep high and going up. The newcomers will be many, perhaps we, ourselves under ZCCM-IH can join or takeover and approach the mining sector as a business this time. If somebody tells you the investors will pack up and go from Zambia, they are either making false statements or they simply do not understand the word economics especially as it relates to supply and demand of copper in the open-market.."

"Nobody will do it for us. Before, we gave everything to the British and now it is the so called "new investors". Good investors with a heart will accept tax of eight per cent on royalty and 25 per cent on windfall. I will bring in another local tax for local communities of two per cent on mineral rights that goes directly to the development of the Copperbelt and other areas. For investors, these are peanuts, but mean a lot to us Zambians. We are rich on paper but still run a kitchen economy. Why?"

- Prof Clive Chirwa (Bolton University)

"This is scandalous, to say the least, to get less than ten per cent of the total revenue from a commodity which is not replaceable. What these people who are calling for windfall tax are saying is very important. Let Honourable Musokotwane forget the name ‘windfall tax’. If they are so scared and are afraid of windfall tax because it came in Mwanawasa’s speech, because it came in Magande’s budget, let them find other names that are suitable to their ears and their tongues, as long as it earns more money out of what is being extracted and leaving holes for us.."

- Ng'andu Magande (Former Finance Minister)

"It is hard to understand why Dr Musokotwane is coming out so strongly against the re-introduction of windfall tax when that is what Zambians want. In fact, I have not heard any mining company oppose windfall tax as strongly as Musokotwane and President Rupiah Banda"

"The windfall tax should be reinstated with some modifications to accommodate the concerns expressed by mining companies but not to the detriment of Zambians...Zambia should get a fair share, 50/50 share because we are partners with these investors. Zambia’s contribution is the resources, and the investor’s contribution is the investment....f this is what he said, I am sorry to say that it was a misrepresentation of facts. To the best of my knowledge, at no time did president Mwanawasa make a decision to scrap the windfall tax. What had happened was that the mining companies did not object to the windfall tax. They had concern with the method of calculating that tax"

“The MMD under president Mwanawasa made some reforms with the introduction of the minerals taxation Act which introduced the windfall tax, but with Rupiah’s arrogance, calls for the re-introduction of the windfall tax are falling on deaf ears...”

“Granted they are in power today, they should make sure they do according to the will of the Zambian people who put them there... In fact, the Zambian people are the owners of the land and the copper. If they make a decision which is not in favour of Zambians, then this should be justification to kick them out this year when the election comes because they have failed to do the will of the electorate....It is sad that this irresponsible government of the MMD must continue to argue that we will benefit through the corporate tax and not the windfall tax....We in the PF are saying posterity will judge these people harshly and those who will not survive will be hiding in shame.”

"Can you imagine Nigeria is a far much greater economy than Zambia but they have introduced windfall tax on their oil, but here we don’t have? The people in front of us (leaders), they have eyes but they can’t see, or they can see but are not just interested...They are indifferent, because if we have more money we will put up another university in Namushakende. We will build bridges. People are living in squalor in Misisi; we will build new houses as our friends are doing in other countries. But somebody is sitting in an air conditioned office at the Ministry of Finance and says ‘we can’t collect windfall tax’, and the President is watching."

“I know it is important to safeguard investments but the large corporations should also not be allowed to milk the country instead of helping it to grow....If they the government don’t like the word windfall tax, let them replace it. It doesn’t matter if they change the name, but whatever they will come up with should translate in increasing revenue collections to improve the lives and welfare of the people.”

“We pushed for the introduction of windfall tax in 2008 because we realized that it was time for Zambia to benefit from its on mineral wealth but the government thinks otherwise and believes that we can still make enough money from variable taxes, which are not enough because miners pay a fraction.”

"This report is very damning on the part of the mines and should be seen as a wake-up call to government....And this should not be politicized. This report means the problem may not only be confined to Mopani, but it maybe symptomatic of more complex, much longer and wider problems in the mining sector. Although this report maybe preliminary, it shows the inadequacies of our tax system.

The government has not really, maybe them mines, realise that compliance to the country’s tax policy is important....When you had the former president late Mwanawasa announce the windfall tax, a number of them foreign mining firms refused to pay. Now, you are talking about the government negotiating with the mines to pay that tax obligations. Where do you hear negotiations on that policy? Now, they are even refusing to have them auditors access to valuable information.

In light of the revelations of the audit, the windfall tax is the only tax that can secure what the government can get"

"If not properly checked, multinational companies such as Mopani and many other mines will continue to under invoice and under price for purpose of tax avoidance and evasion. So it is time to come up with a tax regime that is easier to enforce and collect revenue and also to compel the mines to do more on corporate social responsibility since copper is a waste asset and soon we shall very negative environmental liabilities"

"The unpleasant thing is that we have lost money because of the adamancy by Situmbeko and Mwale who insist that the mines are not making profit. In 2008 during debates to amend the mines and minerals Bill, I proposed the establishment of a Minerals Accountability Directorate which should monitor from extraction to finished products and come up with independent figures and then advise ZRA on how much to collect as revenue since ZRA lacks capacity to genuinely tax the mines."

"This government's tax regime is not providing enough [revenue]. I am condemning the investors for failing to even pay what is due to Zambians...This high price of copper at US$10, 000 per tonne will only be there for a short time and after that the Zambians will have nothing to show what they benefited from it. We need to have something to show to our children when copper is gone that this is what we built from the copper taxes."

“People are not benefiting enough from the mining sector compared to the people who run these mines. The resources that are obtained from the mining sector are not trickling down to the poor people of Zambia. Out of the whole mining revenue we are only getting about three per cent which is totally unacceptable…Other countries like Chile are getting more than US$40 billion from the mines. That is why we are calling for the windfall tax in order to bring the benefits closer to the people. But what we are dealing with is a government that is siding with the mining companies; a stubborn government that does not want to listen to its people. It is clear that they are not on the side of the Zambian people”

"Allow me to thank God, the genuine church leaders, The Post and the people of Zambia for the success of the just-ended elections. However, there are many things in government that need overhauling promptly. The new government should as soon as possible tackle windfall tax, labour issues, investment policies and decentralisation."

Many people were demanding that the Zambian people should benefit from the country’s mineral wealth. They were expecting the PF Government to adequately tax the Mining Sector to generate financial resources in order to provide better roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. The people were calling for the re-introduction of windfall tax on copper revenue. With copper prices remaining above US$7,000 per tonne, the mines are still gaining unexpected income which is above the planned threshold of US$2,500 to US$3,000 per tonne to make profit. The PF campaigned on the platform of re-introducing the windfall tax. What has changed?

"We shall never be tired to call on the government to introduce windfall tax. We live in one of the richest countries in Africa amidst some of the poorest people in the world. This paradox of poverty is simply unacceptable"

"The Council of Churches in Zambia is one such organisation which has maintained that windfall tax was one way of ensuring that fair taxes are paid by investors in mining companies so that the proceeds could be used to develop the nation and make Zambia a better place for all but to be referred to as 'lunatics' and to dismiss the opinions of others with such strong words is unfortunate because it reduces the intelligence of others. At that time, it was our hope that they knew and they understood and fully appreciated the complexities and intricacies of the matter for them to come to that conclusion. It is unfortunate that six months down the road this campaign issue has become an issue that is only discussed by lunatics which sweeping statement may include some of the PF campaigners of windfall tax before the elections"

"It is betrayal of its people for a democratically-elected government to set conditions that support or favour the investors. The story about ensuring that the goose is not killed should be viewed also from the point that we should not let the geese become so powerful as to start dictating how many eggs it should contribute. Any investment should not disadvantage locals….A walk to the Copperbelt tells the whole story; all roads leading to all major mining towns are in deplorable state and are death traps….The government needs to start governing instead of protecting the interests of investors…..Our greatest challenge is the unclear tax system for the country. Firstly, there are so many taxes in the sector, some of which are conflicting, and are responsible for the misunderstanding that is created when companies start giving their total contribution to the treasury. We need tax policies and systems that can be understood by all; at the moment, there is a system that works for and is only understood by government and sector investors…..Zambians are justified in their speculations and cannot be blamed for concluding there is corruption and abuse of authority in the whole process”

"The PF government should consider introducing windfall taxes...The benefits of a windfall tax include proceeds being directly used by governments to bolster funding for social programmes. The profits that will come from the tax should be reinvested to promote innovation that will in turn benefit society as a whole"

“One of the things that we have not been good at is demanding answers. We have been told it is not practical to introduce the windfall tax and I think we haven’t really asked the question around what practicality they are talking about...Can somebody break it down for us in figures so that we are able to understand that what we are calling for is indeed ridiculous…can they (PF Government) demonstrate to us so that when we look at these figures we will be able to say there is something truthful in what they are telling us. We shouldn’t be content with answers like ‘you are lunatics’. Yes we are lunatics but even lunatics sometimes get to a level where they want to know"

"Mr Sata was on the Copperbelt asking people to give him more time; who told him to talk about the 90 days when he had a five-year mandate? That's corrupting people's minds. It is sad for Zambia to have leaders who keep on changing goalposts. Let them concentrate on fulfilling their promises to the people of Zambia. They should put more money in people's pockets, lower taxes, create jobs for the youths, and do something about the windfall tax and the Barotse issue."

"It is time those things which were put in place to help the mines survive the 2008 crisis are reversed so that the sector begins to benefit even the ordinary people....after analysis and reflections this year, where we tried to look at other possibilities of the government raising more revenues, we still arrive at the same position and this position is that we should have reintroduced the windfall tax years ago...We still feel windfall tax is the best option as copper prices are currently still high. We feel that the windfall tax as a matter of agency be reintroduced. This is in view of other taxes which are not performing as much as they should; and this is the variable profit tax.”

The country has lost another opportunity to get benefits from the country’s endowments. Introducing windfall tax is the only way the Government can get revenue instead of ordinary citizens subsidising the mines..

"The witnesses that appeared before [parliamentary committee on estimates] expressed concern on the low tax contributions to the budget by the mining sector despite high copper prices, yet the sector constitutes three quarters of the country’s exports...The low tax contribution by the mines in the midst of high copper prices has kept the call by people to continue advocating for windfall taxes.”

Maize subsidies are perceived as government’s indirect support to commercial millers. But it is a well-documented fact that even small millers (hammer mills) play a major role in ensuring competition in the grain milling industry in the country. Therefore, if the playing field is not levelled  their activities are hampered by selective subsidies and as a result lessening competition in the grain milling industry. The end results are high marketing margins between wholesale maize grain and breakfast meal retail prices.

The foregone analysis indicates that selective subsidies conferred to certain players in the market do not necessarily have desired consequences when the market is not fully competitive. If the market were competitive, then subsidies conferred to millers would be passed along fully to consumers, which appear not to be the case in Zambia. Subsidies to maize millers have instead proved to be a drain on the government treasury without trickling down anticipated benefits to intended beneficiaries – urban consumers in this case.

Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) spokesperson John Nyawali has said the commission cannot question or investigate the sources of campaign finances which President Rupiah Banda has been donating to various NGOs and individual citizens. Mr. Nyawali said the commission was limited in its mandate because the sitting president enjoyed absolute immunity to such investigations. He was reacting to numerous calls from the civil society organisations who were calling on the commission to extend their investigations of money laundering to the ruling party.

Our empirical investigation demonstrates that immunity provisions are strongly associated with poorer governance; stronger immunity is associated with greater corruption, bribery, and the diversion of public funds after controlling for a number of economic, political, historical, and demographic determinants and correlates of corruption. Our theoretical model illustrates how legally unaccountable politicians may attempt to enhance their chances of re-election through illegal means by supporting interest groups through lax law enforcement, non-collection of taxes, and other forms of favouritism. Interest groups return the favour through favourable propaganda, generous campaign financing, or even outright vote-buying.

The influential work of North (1990), as well as the books of Besley and Persson (2011), Acemoglu and Robinson (2012), and the therein cited research, argue that informal and formal institutions, such as the constitutional provisions that we examine here, can play a pivotal role in the social and economic prosperity of a nation. Our research uncovers serious evidence that provisions that supply politicians with immunity from criminal prosecution should be reconsidered due to their link with poor governance outcomes.

"Though multinational firms in the mining industry have been preaching elaborate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes, some of these initiatives are cosmetic and fail to satisfy the local communities. Mining firms, by any measure, make super profits and are capable of contributing more to the national Treasury as well as to the communities in which they operate.....Zambia should craft a tax regime that will be able to capture sufficient revenue from the mining firms without stifling production and profit levels. The country’s poverty levels can go down if the tax regime was worked out to seal all loop-holes that give rise to evasion...The country is richly endowed with mineral resources and holds about six per cent of the world’s known copper reserves..... But it is sad that the majority of citizens particularly those in the countryside live in abject poverty to the extent that some families are surviving on about $1 a day..."