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Ambassador
Martinez was a guest of honor at the PACRO Ribbon Cutting on November
9, 2006. On that day, PACRO introduced its new transaction system
and its newly-refurbished Customer Service Center, almost five months
ahead of the original schedule. Photo courtesy of USAID/Zambia
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The Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) has recognized that the prevalence of corruption and weaknesses in the business environment have negatively affected the ability of the state to rule justly and to guarantee economic freedom to its people. In 2006, the GRZ, in collaboration with the private sector implimented a Threshold Country Program (TCP) with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) program to address key reforms and demonstrate its capacity for good governance and MCC Compact eligibility. Promoting economic freedom and ruling justly are the central themes of the Millennium Challenge Account Threshold Project. USAID/Zambia helped to design the MCA Threshold Project to provide the GRZ with the technical and material assistance needed to implement the TCP and achieve its ambitious goals.
During the two years of the program, Zambia, with private sector and civil society participation, is tackling administrative barriers that stall trade and investment. Administrative corruption is at the center of this program and is being addressed by removing the opportunities for self dealing by personnel in key government institutions. This is accomplished by removing the bottlenecks in the business processes at the institutions, while at the same time communicating the processes to make them as transparent as possible.
Successful results following the implementation of these activities will demonstrate to the country the benefits of transparent, effective, and accountable governance. Such success should lead to improvement of the business climate with expected important consequences in investment and trade, but more importantly provide a roadmap for national “roll out” of the Threshold program activities government-wide. Indeed, the GRZ is committed to expanding these initial efforts as they are proven effective.
The following is a brief overview of the project’s objectives:
The Threshold Program has already borne
early fruit with the successful launch of the new Patents and Companies
Registration Office (PACRO) Customer Service Center. In just
four months, the Zambia Threshold Project (Project), the implementing
partner for the program, re-engineered the process to register a company
at PACRO, provided a new computer system, and refurbished the Customer
Service Center. The process to register a company at PACRO, which
had previously taken between 10 to 21 days to complete, has now been reduced
to just one day. Activities at the Tax Division at ZRA have reduced
the time it takes to register for a Value Added Tax Certificate, and the
ultimate goal of reducing the entire process of registering a company
from 35 days to 10 was reached within seven (7) omths of the beginning of the Threshold
Program. Other activities such as the work to assist the government establish
the Zambia Development Agency should deliver similar assistance to the
private sector and the Zambian citizens at large.
As the time to register a company is reduced, or the time to import or
export goods decreases, or the number of steps to buy or sell a piece
of property is reduced, the savings to the Zambian public in productivity,
time away from work, and the underlying cost of doing business is also
reduced. This will help make Zambia an attractive investment destination
and a leader for Sub-Saharan Africa in private sector development.
Should Zambia prove to be a good steward of the Threshold Program, it
would also be likely to qualify for MCA Compact funding, which would provide
a significant amount of resources for the government to direct towards
the country's most pressing development needs.
MCA - Threshold Country Program (TCP) Obligating Agreement[PDF 2,211KB]
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