JCTR links constitutional process and content in response to the CRC Draft; October 2005
“Responding to the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) demand for public scrutiny of the Interim Report and Draft Constitution, the JCTR emphasises that the debate around what should be contained in the final Constitution (content) and how to adopt the Constitution (process) is not only a political debate, but is very fundamentally an ethical debate  

Zambia’s Trade Situation: Implications for Debt and Poverty Reduction. September 2005
"It is not easy to trace the direct impact of trade on poverty mainly because most of the links between the two are case specific. Trade will always create gainers and losers depending on the owners of the factors of production that are employed in the export sector."

Constitutional compromise - Is it the only way forward?;August 2005
"The constant and seemingly deliberate delay to move forward the constitutional reform effectively – the most recent example being the failure to print adequate copies of the text! – is unacceptable in a democratic society.  A process pledged shortly after the 2001 elections has been sidetracked by fears, manipulations and partisan interests."

JCTR CALLS FOR SERIOUS EFFORTS AT MEETING MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN ZAMBIA _ August 2005
“At another level, the failure to reduce the number of people suffering from hunger is indicative of the inadequate attention being given to the attainment of MDGs”

Good Constitution And Good Theology: You Can’t Have One Without The Other!; July 2005
“It is disturbing to read of the negative reactions of some church people to the dropping of the “Christian Nation” clause in the Preamble of the draft of our new Constitution.  Disturbing, I feel, because it reflects both poor theology and poor constitutionalism.."

More efforts needed at addressing the challenges of employment creation; May 2005
One of the deepest crises of our time is that in addition to a general situation of unemployment -- where less than six hundred thousand people are in formal employment compared to a population of around ten million -- and poor wages, there is a corresponding incessant challenge of an unaffordable high cost of living.

More efforts needed at addressing the challenges of employment creation; May 2005
One of the deepest crises of our time is that in addition to a general situation of unemployment -- where less than six hundred thousand people are in formal employment compared to a population of around ten million -- and poor wages, there is a corresponding incessant challenge of an unaffordable high cost of living.

A Church in the modern world of Africa: The Zambian Experience; March 2005
It is very important to realize that Zambia is a very rich country, one of the richest in Africa, and that Zambians are very poor people, some of the poorest in the world.

THE 2005 NATIONAL BUDGET: CONTINUING WITH THE STATUS QUO?; February 2005
Unfortunately, the proposed 2005 budget fails to assess the current potential and struggles of the people, and consequently fails to offer a holistic strategy..

Basket reveals difficult times for households during end and start of the year: Necessary steps needed to address situation; March 2005
Instead of observing the high cost of living and inadequate food supplies at the end and beginning of each year as a norm or dismissing it as a way of life, there is need particularly on the part of government to look at both local and international factors giving birth to this situation and finding solutions to these problems.. 

Year 2004 ends with food alone costing K481,540: Needs of people should be key in policy debates in 2005; January 2005
Any claims of improvements in Zambia’s economy should be judged by no other criteria than quality of life indicators such as access to good health care and education, adequate food at household level, decline and possibly an absence of street children, adequate incomes... 

Connecting Debt & Trade from a development perspective; October 2004
Few, if any, ‘experts’ today cling to definitions of development that place primary emphasis on GNP growth figures. In recent years different voices have challenged what used to be called ‘orthodox’ development thinking.

Four Decades of Grace (1964 - 2004) Pastoral letter on 40yrs of independence; October 2004
"The Christian view of humanity is one that is based on everlasting hope. Not withstanding the many challenges that we are confronted with as a country, we should not despair. We should still discern opportunities God has endowed us with. Zambia can prosper again but only if every Zambian contributes his or her share of hard work, commitment, selflessness and honesty".

Serious Flaws in a Conference on Moral Imperative of Biotechnology; September 2004
["The surest path toward elimination of hunger and malnutrition is to eliminate poverty and the unjust social structures that underlie it.  These are the root causes of hunger, not lack of sufficient food production. It is neither equitable nor sustainable to talk of increasing food production without addressing food distribution."]

Can Kwacha appreciation be appreciated by the people? February 2006
"While appreciating the complexities of the free market, shouldn’t the Kwacha’s appreciation have bearing on the cost of essential items in all parts of Zambia, especially with significant reductions seen recently in the cost of fuel, and correspondingly, transportation?”.”

Monthly cost of food alone at K506,150: Is the gain in the value of the Kwacha helping the people?
"However, the fact that the strengthening of the Kwacha has not had any perceivable relationship to the reduction of key production ingredients such as fuel means that this phenomenon is meaningful only for itself...”  

Why have we not realised the value of education and health all the time? _
“It is in such a context that the JCTR strongly endorses the view of President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC when he mentioned during the Press Conference of 03 August 2005 that “plans for education and health be developed within sixty days with the participation of trade unions.”

INADEQUATE RESPONSES AND A COMPLEX INTERACTION OF FACTORS BEHIND INCREASES IN POVERTY; March 2005
But what is important to realise is that addressing the challenge of high cost of living and other associated problems is not a simple task that will be achieved overnight and by only looking at the local causes.

Cost of living a major problem among households and needs very serious attention"; - November 2004
["It is important to recognize that high cost of living has serious off-shoots.  It means the nutrition status at household level is negatively affected and results in, for example, inadequate food intake with the effect of malnutrition and stunted growth for children, difficulties in accessing health care and education and it also generally means the absence of the various dimensions of well being.]"

Cost of basic needs show a mixed picture in the face of "External Shocks"; - September 2004
["For countries like Zambia, it is important to acknowledge conventional wisdom that a well performing agricultural sector means a lot of things.  For example, and most importantly, it means affordability of food at household level.  It also means the easing of pressure to import food and where there is some surplus and well coordinated arrangements at buying the agricultural produce, it means exporting food to other countries, to secure the much talked about and needed foreign exchange."]

Cost of living in Luanshya is high; - July 2004
[“Unless fundamental changes occur in the way Zambia manages its social, political and economic affairs,” says Muweme “it appears the Zambian people for many years to come, and even for the whole of their life-times, will be unable to meet the most basic of human requirements such as food, decent shelter, access to quality health care and education, etc.”]

JCTR BASKET EXPANDED TO INCLUDE LIVINGSTONE, KABWE, NDOLA, LUANSHYA AND KITWE - March 2004
[“This expansion was necessitated by the Basic Needs Basket’s intrinsic value and the demand from the people”. There have been several requests for the Basket information from other towns in Zambia and the JCTR could not give the same information of Lusaka to other parts of the country because price data vary depending on many factors"]

Commitment is Central to uplifting people's lives; - June 2004
[The failure to achieve development targets that have been set incessantly in recent decades can by and large be explained by a lack of strong commitment to translate plans into real action to change the lives of the majority poor people.  Time and again meetings are held at both local and international levels to look at the plight of the poor.  But rarely do these meetings result into tangible benefits for the poor.  “For how long will the poor wait before experiencing positive change in their lives?”]

NUTRITION SHOULD BE CENTRAL TO AIDS TREATMENT DISCUSSIONS - May 2004
[To achieve effectiveness in the treatment of AIDS, government should be in the forefront of promoting healthy life styles that will involve people having access to education, nutrition, shelter and all the requirements that make up the totality of healthy living.  Without such a situation in place, Zambia will continue experiencing an overstretched health delivery system and the problem of HIV/AIDS will seem insurmountable]

2004 BUDGET WILL DISADVANTAGE SOME PEOPLE PERMANENTLY - February 2004
[This obviously means that its orientation is narrow in terms of responding to other critical needs of the country such as employment creation, adequate funding to both the health and education sectors, ensuring that people lead decent lives, particular attention to the poor, etc.]

A MIX OF A RAY OF HOPE AND SOME SETBACKS: THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE'S EXPERIENCE IN 2003 - January 2004
[The year 2003 witnessed some improvement in the agricultural sector which resulted in adequate food production for the Zambian people.  However, other sectors of the economy experienced problems, to mention in particular the education sector on which the formation of human capital, the breaking of the cycle of poverty and development are dependent on.]

The Cost of meeting the MDGs in Zambia;October 2005
"While the MDGs represent an ambitious set of targets, this paper argues that with renewed commitment, it is possible for the country to overcome the challenges and meet the MDGs. Currently, the government is in the process of formulating a National Development Plan (NDP)."

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights should be in the Constitution; December 2004
"In the current Zambian Constitution, the basic ESC rights are only mentioned in Part IX and described as “Directive Principles of State Policy.”  But these are merely advisory, lacking any juridical force.  Zambian citizens are not protected if the Government consistently fails to provide for the implementation of these rights through budgetary, administrative and judicial actions."

Situation of Pensioners, fuel prices worrying; - July 2004
["The most unfortunate thing about all this is that it is taking place in a context, first, of many hardships with high cost of living prominent among them, and second, where a large amount of money is to be given to MPs for gratuity.  This indeed appears to be unfair taking into account that pensioners have been waiting for months (years) and now are going to be further discriminated against."]