By SYLVESTER  MWALE –
THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have agreed to develop a mineral value chain monitoring framework to enhance revenue collection from the mining sector.
The Mineral Value Chain Monitoring Framework (MVCDF) marks the second stage in the implementation of the project the ZRA has embarked on after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government implementing agencies.

. Yamba

Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba said during the signing ceremony between ZRA and UNCTAD at the weekend that the implementation of the project would enhance revenue contribution from the mining sector to the Treasury.
“I wish to state that the Government will continue to implement appropriate measures aimed at ensuring that the Zambian people receive a fair and sustainable share of the proceeds from their God-endowed natural resources.
“It is also the Government’s continued commitment to undertake this aspiration in a win-win sustainable, transparent and accountable manner for the benefit of all stakeholders,” he said.
ZRA commissioner general Berlin Msiska urged all stakeholders to take the new web system as their own product and recognise that it would only be as good as the input they collectively provided towards its attainment of the set objectives.
Norwegian Ambassador to Zambia Arve Ofstad said there had been continued mistrust in the country’s mining sector among the mining companies, the Government, various political actors, the media, civil society organisations as well as academicians.
“Today I also wish to express my disappointment by many statements and comments to the media by poorly informed and poorly updated commentators, be they journalists, politicians, academicians or civil society activists.
“Figures and arguments based on old studies and data, totally unrealistic expectations regarding production and values flourish, and are not being corrected, not by the mining sector, and neither by relevant Government institutions,” he said.
The UN resident coordinator Janet Rogan, who spoke on behalf of UNCTAD, said the MVCMP was expected to enhance capacity to appreciate and explain significant growth in mining activity.
This would consequently spark increase in mineral royalty revenue collection and would improve the Government’s capacity to identify challenges along the mineral value chain, resulting in inefficiencies in the monitoring of mining activities.
Ms Rogan expressed sadness that the mining sector, being the mainstay of the country’s economy, was generating only around two per cent of employment.
Apart from ZRA, the project would be implemented by the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development, the Zambia Bureau of Standards, Patents and Company Registration Agency, Road Development Agency and Central Statistical Office.