At the Chamber, the third quarter of 2022 was marked with exciting achievements and occasions The Chamber was presented with an invitation by the Public Private Dialogue Forum (PPDF) to make submissions on various economic and legislative issues which were affecting its members. This was followed by an invitation to attend its first PPDF Technical working group meeting. . The Chamber also had an opportunity to write a white Paper to the Ministry of Technology and Science on the Localization of Data Centres in Zambia
The third quarter saw Zambia hosting the 41st ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union. This meeting was under the theme, "Building Resilience in Nutrition on the African Continent: Accelerate the Human Capital , Social and Economic Development " This meeting is marked as an important occasion as it promotes intra African trade and collaboration for beneficial economic and development of the country and the continent at large. The Chamber would therefore wish to encourage the membership to leverage positive prospects from these regional interactions to strengthen partnerships with the public sector in the quest to grow the economy.
We sincerely hope this policy review will be of importance to you, our members. Thank you once again for your continued support, we hope to achieve great success with you this year.
Chansa Mwila Chief Executive Officer
American Chamber of Commerce
The Zambian Constitution under Article 17 provides for the right to privacy including the right not to be searched (person, home or property); not to have possessions seized; not to have information relating to family, health status and private affairs unlawfully required or revealed; and not to have communications infringed. Due to the evolving nature of information and communication technology, there is need to protect privacy of the individual.
On 23rd March 2021, the Zambian parliament enacted the Data protection Act number 3 of 2021(the “DPA”). This was done so as to regulate the collection and storage of personal data. This includes data that can be used to identify an individual in Zambia being their name or identification number The Act also establishes the office of the Data Protection Commissioner and spells out its functions, provides for regulation of data collectors, processors, and controllers and provides for the rights of data subjects.
The main legislations that guided these changes were based on: the Constitution of Zambia, the Banking and Financial Services Act No. 7 of 2017, the ECT Act and the Data Protection Act.
On 1st April 2021, the Data Protection Act (Commencement) Order Statutory Instrument No. 22 of 2021 ('the Commencement Order'), was published in the Government Gazette as appointed by the Minister, which caused the Data Protection Act to enter into effect at that date that the Commencement Order was published in line with Section 1 of the Data Protection Act.
However, the enactment of the DPA came with it a compulsion for the Localisation of data Centre’s of all businesses that are operating in Zambia. Part X of the Act states that;
1 A Data controller shall process and store personal data on server or Data Centre located in the republic.
2. Despite subsection (1), the Minister may prescribe categories of personal data that may be stored outside the republic
3 Despite subsection (2), sensitive personal data shall be processed and stored in a server or Data Centre located in the republic.
This resulted in discontentment amongst various businesses in Zambia and this led to Cabinet holding its 16th Cabinet meeting on August 11, 2022 to approve the amendment of the Act.
Some of the benefits of revising this act include; there will be a reduction on the cost that the localisation of data centers comes with as the creation of local data Centre’s is not just expensive but also complicated. This is because it requires significant changes in technical architecture as most companies keep multiple copies of user data across multiple data centre’s allowing for load balancing and the most efficient delivery of content.
Another additional advantage is that the revision of the Act will not restrict companies with data centers located outside Zambia from utilizing the most practical and cost effective data storage alternatives accessible to them, such as selecting the most advantageous location or switching between service providers.
Furthermore, revising the Data Protection Act will reduce the negative effect of the likelihood that the localisation of data centres has on deterring foreign investment and forcing companies whose data centre’s are outside the country to change their business models.
This revision will also reduce on making company operations incredibly difficult and expensive as well as reduce the likelihood of companies suspending their services or fully shutting down due to the high charges the government imposed on them to access data
Additionally, Revising the Data Protection Act will also reduce the risk of losing local unmirrored data
for in an event that a natural disaster occurs.
It is also important to note that, a decrease in the governments control over its resident’s online activities, which reduces the possibility of abuse and putting at risk citizens right to privacy and freedom of expression.
Lastly, the revision of the Act will mean that service providers would not need to reveal sensitive information on a local server. The right to privacy, freedom of expression, and many more rights will not be at risk
Growth and development in Zambia’s agricultural sector can be achieved if smallholder farmers have timely access to inputs to increase their resource utilization efficiency. Agriculture plays an important role in the lives of many Zambians. The sector provides employment for approximately 70% of the labor force in Zambia.
Importantly, the general make up of Zambia’s agriculture sector is that, majority of the farmers are smallholders who cultivate less than five hectares of land. It is estimated that approximately 60 percent of households engage in some form of agricultural activity, much of it for their own consumption. Investment in rural agriculture, combined with better policies has the potential to increase agricultural productivity and help improve the technical efficiency of farmers.
Despite its level of importance, what has been seen over the years has been the decline in the contribution of agricultural production to Zambia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 24 per cent in the year 2000, to 2.96 percent in 2021. Most of the people, especially those in rural areas remain food insecure, with approximately 18 percent of the rural population demanding urgent action to protect their livelihoods. A further 15 percent are only marginally able to meet their food needs, while three percent of the country’s population are already facing considerable food gaps. Overall, 76.6 percent of the rural population are living in poverty. Extreme poverty is also higher in the rural areas at 60.8 percent. The Eighth National Development Plan (2022 2026) attributes these high poverty levels in rural areas to inadequate nutrition, households’ in
ability to afford agricultural inputs, low wages or salaries and lack of capital to start or expand businesses.
Against this background, the move by the new dawn government to introduce a more robust and comprehensive agriculture support programme (as reflected in the 2022 National Budget and in the Eighth National Development Plan) is highly welcome. The government through the Ministry of Agriculture has scheduled that they will be able to implement the programme beginning 2022/2023 farming season. When implemented and well targeted, the programme has the potential to improve the living conditions of the people, especially those in rural areas
The proposed agricultural support programme will be accompanied by extension services in which the government needs to revitalize its provision throughout the provinces To be effective, the agricultural support programme should provide adequate support towards agricultural development and streamline the provision of extension services. This will address the problem of lack of access to farmer support services This will also improve and facilitate agricultural development, particularly, for smallholder farmers.
The programme will go beyond individual level to group level so as to benefit both women and men It will include access to finance , Support to Value addition, storage and Logistics as well as provision of inputs through the electronic agro input system.
However, digital transformation is not only about big data and digital platforms but also how advanced technologies can be utilized to maximize opportunities for innovation, new business models and processes, and smart products and services. Further, actualizing the potential of a digital economy will allow local businesses to move to regional markets and regional businesses to move into the global market.
The digital economy refers to a broad range of economic activities and knowledge as internet, cloud com other new digital te store, analyze, and transform social in the economy creat digital technologies opportunities and economy also pe influencing the wa about broad sociolo
There is need for actualize the pote COVID 19 has iden shape the future ec given policy direct like Zambia should sustainable future and entrepreneurs drivers in the government needs to ensure that the Zambian people are fully skilled to allow a level playing field Some of the key skills include e commerce, digital financial services, product development, innovations, research, and development skills, as well as 21st century competencies and structural education reforms to respond to technology advancements among many others Understanding the digital economy remains a challenge because of its complexity.
The digital economy has the potential to radically change Zambia’s social environment and its economic activities What Zambia needs is to fully realize the potential of harnessing digital technology ent , to scale up mmitment through the Science, Ministry of stry, and Ministry of This will help in cture, inadequate skills mic barriers that seem ia’s population from my using on digitalization evelopment, Zambian with skills to adapt to onomy. This will allow and employment, as vation to generate wth. technologies, effective ms are powerful tools sector productivity, enhance public sector efficiency and effectiveness as well as improve the accountability of both the public and private sectors.
Government needs to collaborate with other technological advanced countries such as China, United States of America, France , United Kingdom, Russia and leading institutions dealing with
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technology. This should be done through an increase in the national budget allocation towards digitalization of the economy. Once all this is actioned, there will be a reduction in corruption which results from physical interactions in institutions. This reduction will then lead to an increase in the governments revenue.
Asian Development Bank; Understanding the Digital Economy
CTPD; Government to enhance Investments towards actualizing the potential of the Digital Economy
The American Chamber of Commerce in July 2022 was given an opportunity to be part of the Public Private Dialogue Forum (PPDF) which provides a structured, participatory and inclusive platform for public private sector engagement on policy matters with a focus on leveraging partnerships and synergies to accelerate socio economic development in Zambia. The PPDF was launched on the 27th April, 2022 by His Excellency, President Hakahinde Hichilema It aims to harness trade and investment opportunities for the private sector on the local, i l ti t l d i t ti l markets, w addition f create job
The Cham concerns
The 20% w foreign rein market. Thi outside of other large cost of bu alternative. Zambia isolating itself in this manner, has the possibility of making it lose out on the technical support that is obtained from foreign reinsurance companies. Most of organisations do not currently exist in Zambia due to shortage of skilled professionals like Actuaries and others. This tax also increases the cost of spreading the risks in Zambia to other
assist the PPDF executive align which technical working groups the Chamber should belong to. Some of the submissions from the Membership which were presented to the PPDF executive include
The 30% local shareholding requirement as per the 2021 Insurance Act number 38
The requirement of existing 100% foreign owned insurance companies to comply by selling off 30% to Zambians needs to be given a long enough t iti i d f t 10 t avoid it from gic directions nies. Finding me strategic erwise short g conflicts to as how soon
s to maintain might affect herefore, the olding tax of nies (residing
There needs to be reforms to the Employment Code Act as it is limiting growth and creation of new jobs. Firstly, the new Act has discriminated against women. It has tried to recognize the difficulties women face of being working mothers. However, it has created a situation where it is very difficult to employ women due to the excessive
benefits they are entitled to A male is not entitled to the same benefit and thus companies are hiring more males than females. This is deemed unfair and may only be resolved when the economic cost of the two genders is equalized.
Furthermore, the employers are being severely punished by the excessive costs this act brings, compared to the previous one.There was very little stakeholder engagement with the ECA and the disconnection is big between what companies can afford and what the Act calls for.
Further, companies are being asked to pay for services which government has failed to provide such as skills development levy, mandatory health insurance, workers compensation, etc. These have come as a result of poor government policies and failed implementation of those policies
These among many other submissions were made.