Zambia – Annual Report 2023

Strategic Framework

Zambia continues to be considered largely stable in the region. The social-liberal ruling party under President Hakainde Hichilema has been in office since August 2021. In November 2023, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was the first German Federal President to travel to Zambia with a business delegation. The focus of the trip was on strengthening economic cooperation and the topics of nature conservation and climate protection. Zambia is characterized by extremely high inflation and debt.

The country also faces enormous development challenges, such as social inequality, widespread poverty, malnutrition and corruption. The COVID-19 pandemic has further worsened the country’s economic situation.

Accordingly, Hichilema announced democratic reforms, an investor-friendly economic policy, better debt management and a decisive approach to corruption in his inaugural speech. In the fall of 2023, Zambia succeeded in restructuring the repayment of public debt with international creditors in order to ease the burden on the national budget and enable economic growth.

Overall Concept

President Hichilema and Justice Minister Mulambo Haimbe are prioritizing economic law reforms to promote investments. Accordingly, IRZ’s activities in Zambia focus on this area, especially on strengthening alternative dispute resolution as an important incentive to promote foreign investment.

There is also a great need to strengthen the efficiency and independence of the judiciary and to combat corruption within the judiciary. These developments are also being strengthened in bilateral cooperation and through support from the European Union with the involvement of IRZ.

Focus of Activity in 2023

Civil and Commercial Law

  • Study trip by the Zambian Ministry of Justice to Berlin on the topic of “Strengthening the legal framework to promote investment” with the participation of the German Federal Bar and the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Criminal and Penitentiary Law

  • Online training series on “Handling of forensic medical reports in criminal proceedings from a lawyer’s perspective” with the Legal Aid Board

Basic and Further Training

  • Training on “Optimising the duration of proceedings” with the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) in Lusaka

Project funded by the European Union

EU Twinning project “Peer-to-peer institutional support to the Anti-Corruption Commission in Zambia”

Together with the lead partner HAUS (Finnish Institute of Public Management), IRZ has been implementing a project for the benefit of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Zambia since August 2021. The project has a total duration of 36 months and the project volume amounts to 2 million euros.

The primary objective of this project is to build the capacity of the ACC and thereby improve accountability, transparency and effectiveness in the management of public resources. The project also aims to strengthen the management and technical capacities of the ACC and to optimize cooperation with other institutions involved in the fight against corruption.

While the project activities in the first two years of implementation were still dominated by SWOT and needs analyses and recording the status quo of the fight against corruption in Zambia, the assignments in 2023 were aimed at making concrete recommendations for future actions and tasks.

The introduction of a whistleblower website, which was recommended by the short-term experts, is of particular interest to the ACC.

The IRZ experts also focused on the preparation and implementation of the first training units in component 2, which aims to improve the detection, investigation and prosecution of cases of corruption. The ACC has a keen interest in best practices in the area of financial investigations.

The basic seminar, which has already been successfully completed, will be followed by further workshops on the topics of “money laundering”, “cryptocurrencies” and “international legal assistance”.

At the end of September 2023, IRZ hosted a five-person delegation, including Director General Thom Trevor Shamakamba and other high-ranking representatives of the ACC. During the three-day stay in Düsseldorf and Essen, the group visited the Ministry of Justice of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Criminal Matters, the Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the State Criminal Police Office. Particular interest was shown in anti-money laundering investigations. The trip ended with a visit to Essen Police Headquarters, where Police Commissioner Andreas Stüve (Junior project Leader) welcomed the group. As the Zambian anti-corruption authority has its own investigation department, there were valuable insights into the work of the German police, particularly with regard to press work and experience with drone missions.

Outlook

IRZ intends to continue its constructive cooperation in 2024 as far as possible. The focus will continue to be on the topics of “investment promotion and protection”, taking into account alternative dispute resolution instruments and strengthening the efficiency and independence of the judiciary.