By CATHERINE NYIRENDA –
GOVERNMENT has abolished the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), Tourism and Arts Minister, Jean Kapata has told Parliament.
ZAWA will now be a department under the Ministry of Tourism and Arts.
Ms Kapata said the move follows a Cabinet decision of November 2014 to transform (ZAWA) into a Government department.
. Kapata
Ms Kapata told Parliament that the move was undertaken in a bid to address the many problems ZAWA was facing such as financial and operational costs.
The initial establishment of the ZAWA was premised on the basis that the stakeholders in particular the European Union (EU) pledged to inject not less than US$20 million per year to fund the Authority’s initial operations including full capitalisation for field equipment.
“However the disagreement between the contracting parties on implementation modalities resulted in the EU pulling out leaving the institution with no start up capital.”
“Despite the non fulfilment of the pledged support by the EU, Government did not move in early enough to fill the capital funding left by the EU, instead the institution continued to be provided with minimal grants which averaged K4 million per annum which funds were only adequate to pay salaries and operational cost,” Ms Kapata said.
As of July 2014, ZAWA had accumulated a debt burden of K 8 billion through non remittance of statutory obligation, trade creditors, financial institutions and other institutions.
“I am pleased to inform the House that the Wildlife Police officers specifically stand to benefit from this policy decision as their remuneration will be improved significantly from their current monthly income of K800 to at least K3,000 under the terms and conditions of employment under the civil servant,” she said.
ZAWA was created by the Zambia wildlife Act No.12 of the 1998 as part of the overall public service reforms implemented within the overall Government policy of the economic liberalisation in the 1990s that were premised on efficiency in the delivery of the public service.
Prior to its transformation in 1998, ZAWA was called the National Park and Wildlife Service, but its performance was unsatisfactory due to limited funding from the Treasury which led to the deterioration of the wildlife estates.
