ELECTRICITY bills are high because customers are also paying for the rural electrification project, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO) Corporate Development and Administration Director Kenneth Konga has said.

He was reacting to complaints by Linah Jangulu of Rhodes Park who said ZESCO fake bills and customers are made to pay for the power they do not use.

"Fixed charges that customers have on their bills are faked and it shows ZESCO steals from the public," Jangulu said,

Konga told the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) News, all electricity customers are taxed through the excise duty (currently at 7%) to fund this programme. He said this was government’s initiative.

"In Zambia, one cannot make any social or economical developments without electricity because it is a human need. The project was government’s decision and ZESCO is just the implementing agency," Konga said.

He said this rural electrification project is an effective one because it has benefited a lot of people in communities since it is not only supplied to houses but also to schools, health centres, public institutions and commercial enterprises.

However, Konga denied ZESCO is discriminatory saying in both urban and rural areas customer rates are the same if they are in the same category.

"ZESCO tariffs are uniform throughout the country," he said.

Reacting to sentiments by people that ZESCO exports cheap power to other countries,

he said the export of power to different countries is priced at different rates to local customers due to different levels of supply.

He said the export to South Africa and Zimbabwe is done at wholesale level, which enjoys economies of large scale, and therefore lower unit prices.

"The fixed charge that appears on the bills relates to certain fixed costs that are incurred in the provision of an electricity service such as billing, metering, marketing operations and maintenance. These are incurred whether a customer is connected or not," Konga said.

He said the consumption estimated on some bills is based on the size of the dwelling and number of appliances that one uses.

However, a senior official from the energy regulation board has appealed to ZESCO to stop taxing its customers the 7%, which is meant for the rural electrification project. He said this is a programme the government has embarked on so it should be funded by the same government.

THERE has been a delay by the Ministry of Legal Affairs to act on the proposal made by Zambia Law Development Commission (ZLDC) on consolidating child protection laws, said ZLDC Public Relation Officer Dennis Ndhlovu.

Recently the ZLDC together with their stakeholders met during a workshop to discuss what can be done to the laws which have been outdated. They also held a few other workshops on the subject.

Out of these workshops, a final report and a draft bill was prepared and sent to the minister of legal affairs. He said the commission was positive the bill would be enacted but todate, nothing has been done.

In a statement to Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) News, Ndhlovu said there was need to revise the Juveniles Act and other legislation related to child protection. He said the call to reform the child protection legislation started in 1996.

Ndhlovu said the Juveniles Act was enacted in 1956 and was amended after independence.

"Most of the Statute books in Zambia on children are outdated. In 1991 there was a convention on the rights of the child which Zambia also ratified but our local laws did not change to take into account the new laws. Currently the existing laws on child protection do not seem to be effective enough. Most of the children’s rights such as the right to education and the right to protection are not fully addressed," he said.

He said like many other Commonwealth countries, Zambia still maintains some laws which she inherited from the British people.

Selling of expired goods is prohibited under the Food and Drugs Act, on the premises that such products may be of low quality, Zambia Bureau of Standards director Samuel Mwambazi has said.

Mwambazi told LRF News the Bureau does not inspect markets because the Lusaka City Council (LCC) is better placed to do that.

"The City Council issues trading licences at markets, they can punish those who cheat on customers by withholding their licences," he said.

He was reacting to queries on whether the Bureau inspects trading houses to check for expiry dates on goods and products.

According to Mwambazi, council Health inspectors are mandated under the Food and Drugs Act to inspect foodstuffs anywhere within the city boundaries.

However, the Bureau has powers under the Standard Act to recommend to the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry to establish compulsory standards to cover any product where necessary and expedient.

When a compulsory standard is established, the Bureau can, implement and deal directly with the issue raised.

LCC Public Relations Officer Daniel Mulenga told The LRF News members of the public have to help the council by reporting such practices to it. He said the sell of expired goods is an offence under the Public Heath Act.

"If information about some traders selling expired goods is brought to the Council’s attention, they would confiscate the goods and dispose them off. The council can not be at all the places all the time, members of the public should check the expiry dates on the goods before buying them," he said.

He added there were a few council police officers deployed in the streets that are checking on street vendors and if they were told about such practices, they would take the matter up.

Soweto marketeers have been accused of cheating customers by using measuring tins that are fitted with candle wax or a smaller tin inside thereby selling less quantity than expected.

Some Lusaka residents complained to the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) recently traders were using unscrupulous methods of selling their wares making customers think the Beans or Kapenta they are buying is measured using a big container when infact not. Other residents said some traders were placing good-looking Beans and Kapenta on top of rotten ones in order to trick the customers.

A trader at the market, Godfridah Daka, 37, of Kanyama compound told LRF News traders usually do that because customers do not know.

"We know that our friends do that but it is not right. Most of those who do that work for other people, they just want to make extra money. It is usually these naughty boys, you never find a woman doing that," she said.

But another trader, Geshom Ndhlovu, 17, who sells Kapenta said a lot of people know about this trick because police officers used to arrest such marketeers whenever a person reported to them some time back.

He explained some traders discovered after having ordered goods for sell they were of poor quality and as such sell them in a dubious manner in order to make profits.

Police officers at Soweto market said if such things happen, traders should report to the Lusaka City Council police.

Ministry of Commerce and Trade Assize (weights and measures) Department acting superintendent Assizer Frederick Sinyangwe said the weights and measures Act Cap 403 of the Laws of Zambia provides for the use of dry measures (containers) for selling of grain, cereals and dry foods.

He said the dry capacity measures have to be made of approved material and measurements approved by the department. He said in the past the department had designed a measuring container for cooking oil for marketeers.

He said his department can prepare measuring containers with accurate measures, which can not be tempered with, but it has no money.

" Marketeers can not afford to buy scales. Our department followed this up last year. We had discussions with the Cross-Boarder Traders Association and we hope to have more meetings. We hope to have a seminar where we can teach the traders about the requirements of the law as regards measurements, " he said.

Sinyangwe said his department has had problems with market managers because they are not cooperating.