Michael Chilufya Sata’s election as Zambia’s Republican President celebrated with euphoria

The day started with a very somber mood. Around lunch time most offices in Lusaka city had closed. All retail shops in the central business district, Kamwala second class trading area, sub-urban areas and local markets were also closed. Early in the day there were rumours of riots on the Copperbelt because of delayed announcement of the results of the Presidential elections that were held on 20^th September, 2010. Students at the University of Zambia gave an ultimatum to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to declare the results or else they were going to start rioting.

36 hours after the polls the mood in Lusaka, the centre of government was that of uncertainty and anxiety. Most residents stayed at home glued to television and radio waiting for more announcements of election results. Around 13:00 hrs Chairperson of the ECZ Justice Ireen Mambilima announced that Michael Chilufya Sata, opposition Patriotic Front (PF) presidential candidate was leading, followed by the incumbent President Rupiah Bwezani Banda according to results obtained from 116 out of 150 constituencies. She advised the members of the public to be patient and allow ECZ to do its work properly as all political parties had agreed that ECZ should complete publication of election results within 48 hours from the polling date.

In the evening most residents stayed in-door while they waited for further announcements. One could not help but remember the trends in the previous presidential elections results and thinking that history may repeat itself or a déjà vu would happen. Michael C Sata had been leading the incumbent Levy Patrick Mwanawasa in 2006 before being overtaken shortly before all results from constituencies were announced. In 2008, Rupiah B Banda had also come from behind to win the presidential poll. A lot of Zambians feared that the same would be the case this time around. Further results were scheduled to be announced at 22 hours on 23^rd September, 2011. However, after keeping vigil up to this time television stations announced that there was going to be a delay in the scheduled announcement.

Some minutes after mid-night Justice Mambilima accompanied by the Chief Justice Ernest L Sakala, the returning officer for presidential election results, addressed members of the press and political parties that were at the national elections totaling centre at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka. Justice Mambilima explained that election results from 143 constituencies had been verified by ECZ . She explained that the leading candidate was ahead by a large margin that would not be affected by results in the remaining 7 constituencies not yet been obtained. The Chief Justice thereafter declared Michael Chilufya Sata as Zambia fifth Republican President as provided for in the 2006 Electoral Act based on 95% of all election results for 2011 polls.

The announcement was immediately followed by spontaneous shouts of joy. In Chelston, residents trekked to the streets especially Palm drive where they sung PF songs. Drivers were honking and speeding down the street. The celebrations were punctuated by blowing of vuvuzelas and symbolic peddling. There was a spirit in the air that was reminiscent of emotions felt and expressed by Zambians when Frederick Chiluba won the first multi-party elections in 1991, beating the incumbent President Kenneth David Kaunda who ruled for 27 years. The celebrations expressed a sense of freedom and independence.  The celebrations have continued. The President elect will be sworn in today, 24^th September, 2011 taking over from the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government that have ruled for 20 years.

Another maize bumper harvest, what next?

Zambia has recorded yet another bumper maize harvest. Travelling around Zambian towns and villages one observes stacks and stacks of bags of maize grain. The main storage depots are over-flowing with the maize. Satellite depots situated in the villages are also filled up with maize. Farmers are very happy that the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) is buying their produce and in many cases paying them on time.

This bumper harvest is however not in all areas of Zambia. Pockets of the country, for example, parts of Siavonga district did not record good maize harvests. Most of the rural households have already run out of food and are either purchasing maize or depending on relief. This is because parts of Siavonga district, if not all parts, experience the lowest amounts of rainfall in Zambia. Despite the fact that communities in these parts of Zambia should be growing cereals that do not require a large amount of water such as cassava, millet or sorghum the people in this area have a high preference for maize. Some early maturing maize varieties produce good yields but regardless of this most rural households are still growing late maturing local maize varieties putting their food security at risk.

This year and in the past few years the weather has been very favourable in most parts of Zambia resulting in very high maize production. This scenario can also be attributed to high numbers of farmers practicing conservation agriculture particularly in Chipata district. Most farmers are using conservation farming techniques that improve soil fertility. There was also distribution of large quantities of chemical fertilisers to farmers in 2010/11 farming season under the government run Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). These factors have now made Zambia a food surplus nation.

As already pointed out there are still pockets of very food insecure areas in the country particularly in the valley areas such as Siavonga where people had run out of maize stocks by as early as August this year. There is therefore need for the food distribution system to be improved in the country to ensure that food surplus areas help to feed food deficient areas. For this to happen there is need to put in place better food distribution policies. Currently, FRA is a major player in maize marketing and in storing food in the national reserves. The private sector also plays a critical role in purchasing maize from farmers. However, there are also high levels of exploitation of farmers by some private buyers who sometimes offer very uneconomical prices to farmers for their maize.

Given the fact that the climate has now become very unpredictable it is important that this bumper harvest is stored appropriately. Last year a lot of maize went to waste because of poor storage or late movement of maize from satellite depots to the main depots. This resulted in damage to most of the maize that was bought by FRA because of getting soaked from the rain. This year FRA should therefore make adequate preparation to avoid similar losses. It is not certain that there will be other bumper harvests in the future given the constant changes in climate and other maize production factors. East Africa has been adversely affected by drought in recent years and therefore we can not take the favourable weather that we have experienced in the past few years for granted. We need to become better at post-harvest handling of our bumper harvests. We also need to be better because government has spent billions of kwacha to buy this maize from farmers and therefore these financial resources will be wasted if we neglect to handle the maize appropriately. We also need to be better at putting in place distribution mechanisms that ensure that people living in maize deficient areas are given the ability to grow alternative crops and have enough purchasing power to be able to buy maize from surplus areas.