Jean Kapata
Zambian politician
Jean Kapata (born 25 December 1960) is a Zambian politician and formerMinister of Lands and Natural Resources.
Quotes
edit- Even (Michael Chiluf Sata) came from the MMD before forming his own party. If people hadn’t left the MMD and other parties like UNIP to join him, he wouldn’t have won the 2011 elections, because winning is about numbers.
- The claim that MMD has taken over PF is not true. Even within UPND today, there are more people from PF. GBM was in both PF and MMD, and Guy Scott was also in PF and MMD.
- The claim that the party was infiltrated by MMD is unfounded, as those individuals had already renounced MMD.
- Newcomers should feel at ease, as they are welcome. They have already renounced their previous party. It is only those who haven't renounced their former parties that need to be treated with caution.
- The decision is final, and no amount of pressure from anyone will compel the PF government to alter its position on the matter.
- Zambia is a sovereign nation, and while our neighboring countries have been engaged in cat hunting, they are not being criticized. As Minister of Tourism, I am aware that those speaking out the most are the ones who lost the bid for hunting blocks and are now lobbying NGOs to halt hunting. I will not entertain such efforts.
- This comes after President Edgar Lungu directed the Ministries of Tourism and Local Government to review existing town plans and designate areas for game reserves.
- Africa seems to be attracting more and more investment. Within this context, Zambia seems to be doing quite well with a very fast growing economy. Tourism seems to be one of the promising sector of the country. As a country, in 2012 we had about 800 059 tourists arrivals and in 2014, the number went up to 900 014, there was an increase in the arrivals of tourists in Zambia.
- As a Ministry we would like to tap into the Chinese market in terms of tourists. They have a large number of tourists. We are also working on partnering with Seychelles since they have an expanse of water but they do not have game parks. In Zambia we have about 20 game parks and therefore, when people visit the vast waters on the beaches of Seychelles, they could fly directly to Zambia and enjoy wildlife viewing. Zambia is in the process of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Seychelles to implement this.
- The challenges are quite many in this sector and one of them is the airline connectivity. We do not have direct flights into Zambia, and if we did, this would work out to be cheaper for the tourists and it will also save on time. And for that reason, what we need is proper connectivity to the world by having airlines that would fly directly into Zambia. In the recent past we have had some of the airlines pulling out of the country, these include KLM, British Airways. However we have great news- the Turkish Airline is soon coming here. Government is also working towards having a national airline for the country, which will go a long way in promoting tourism.
