Florence Muleya

"The COVID-19 outbreak presents an opportunity for manufacturing firms to leverage local and regional value chains."

"Secondly, the optimal balance between industrial, trade, and tax policies has yet to be achieved, creating uncertainty in the domestic economy, particularly in the manufacturing sector."

"Looking ahead, the sector requires a new strategy and a fresh approach to navigate the current turbulent economic waters."

"Firstly, despite its abundant raw materials, the country lacks the capital equipment and other inputs needed to process and add value to these resources."

"The decision by ZESCO management to engage only foreign firms for the supply of wooden poles, claiming that Zambian companies lack the capacity to meet procurement demands, is not supported by the facts."

"After extensive consultation with its members, ZAM has observed that the decision indeed disregarded local suppliers of wooden poles. Notably, the opportunity was not advertised locally before being offered to foreign companies, which would have verified the availability of local capacity."

"In 2022, the company planned to produce a total of 30,000 wooden poles, highlighting the capacity of local manufacturers who were unfortunately excluded from the bidding process."

"This decision disadvantaged local companies capable of meeting procurement demands. "In fact, one of our members, a long-time supplier of treated wooden electrical poles to ZESCO, has an installed plant capacity of 60,000 poles."

"ZAM has urged all key stakeholders and consumers of goods and services to prioritize local options first. The Association has reiterated its commitment to supporting and promoting the production and consumption of Zambian products and services to revitalize the Zambian economy."

"We hope ZESCO will reconsider and engage our local manufacturers in the sealed bids," stated the ZAM CEO."