15th February 2022
| Order Paper 74, Chasefu MP asked Minister of Agriculture question 116 which was (a) whether the community Agriculture Committees are effective in identifying beneficiaries of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) and (b) when the farmers who have been on FISP since 2017 in Chasefu District will be removed to pave way for new beneficiaries. *The question elapsed because Chasefu MP was absent. |
16th February 2022
| There was a matter of urgent importance concerning the apology that ZAMSA issued concerning the dispatching of medicine that is expired and not fit for consumption in Kabwe and Kasama General hospitals respectively, but stakeholders have also indicated that these drugs have been reportedly delivered in North-Western Province. Mufurila MP wanted to know if the drugs are now fit for human consumption and if not how did they find themselves released and distributed to the Zambian people. *To which the Speaker directed that the Minister of Health come back to the House on Tuesday 22nd February to explain to the Nation through the House the circumstances in which this occurred. |
17th February 2022
| Mwinilunga MP asked Minister of Finance and National Planning question 157 which was (a) whether the government has any plans to introduce a consumer price index in order to curb overpricing of goods and services in public procurement (b) if so when the plans will be implemented and (c) what other measures the government is taking to reduce corruption in public procurement. *The question elapsed because the MP for Mwinilunga was absent. |
18th February 2022
| Mulobezi MP asked the Minister of Technology and Science question 168 which was (a) whether the government has any plans to prohibit internet service providers from prescribing expiry dates for internet bundles purchased by customers? (b) if so when the plans will be implemented (c) whether the prohibition will be extended to airtime minutes and (d) if there are no such plans why. *To which the Minister responded to (a) saying they resolved by introducing additional bundle options with no expiry date alongside the existing options to offer a wide variety of options to customers to suit their unique usage patterns and affordability. All the three network service providers provide have these options. Bundles with longer validity would be more costly than those that have shorter validity. (b) February 2020 all mobile service providers had implemented no expiry bundles alongside existing options complemented by longer validity options of three (3) months and six (6) months. (c) there are currently three (3) options namely daily, weekly, and monthly offers for airtime as well as an option of pay as you go where the customer can opt to use the funds in their main account. (d) investigation by ZICTA reveals that consumption of bundles with longer validity periods beyond 30 days was extremely low and it was more expensive given the need to allocate resources like bandwidth on a monthly basis for prolonged periods of time. Due to this, it was noted that prohibiting the expiry date would be more costly on the customer therefore there is no immediate plan to prohibit the expiry date as the current offers have flexibility in the utilization of communication services. Supplementary question. Chiengi MP asked the minister why he said that the mobile service providers were flexible when they were plunderers of the people of Zambia, when calls drop people are charged, the internet fails you are still charged? *To which the Minister responded the question focused on the expiry date of the bundles and the flexibility referred to the number of options that were given to purchases that want to enjoy extended periods. Penalties have been introduced to service providers that cause inconvenience and discomfort to customers and we will do more. Moomba MP asked, in the past when bundles are almost running out the service providers would send messages two days before and if you bought more bundles they were carried over, why did they stop sending the message and started eating into the main account. The Minister responded saying the question borders on the quality of services so the Ministry will investigate the matter. Bangweulu mp asked why the government went into negotiation with mobile service providers when parliamentarians resolved to have them completely ban bundles that have expiry dates. We opted to offer a wide range of options to the customer so there were introductions of three options of bundles that do not expire alongside the already existing options so it remained the option of the customer. Chifubu MP asked what is your ministry doing in accordance with the law to protect the Zambia people against exploitation not to explain options. The Minister responded By introducing additional options. Nalolo MP asked when bundles expire today for example you can not use them the question was how often does ZICTA review the legitimacy of the bundles making sure it is not a rip-off? because there were situations where weekly bundles are bought every day. ZICTA reviews the number of issues including the expiry of bundles on a continuous basis, what we need to ascertain is if it is done effectively to create customer convenience. Pambashe MP asked with the advent of COVID19 business is done online and with the options being given the bundles expire after the time allocated elapses, regardless of whether the bundles are still there or not. Parliament urged the government to engage service providers to stop the expiry of bundles and the government accepted that difficulties were there for the ministry to go against the resolution of Parliament. The ministry will take responsibility to try and review for the sake of the customers and reengage the mobile providers. The challenge being experienced was that when the allocation that is not used, is a cost on the service provider. |