Business was temporarily suspended in parliament today because of a technical fault in the public address system in the chamber.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Amusaa Mwanamwambwa suspended business at 15:15 hours, saying he had been informed that the proceedings in the House were not being recorded and were not been transmitted by parliament radio.
Mr. Mwanamwambwa said it was a requirement that what was discussed in the House was recorded and transmitted live on parliament radio.
He said the hired public address system parliament was currently using was not
working well, adding that he would inform the House on how far the National Assembly
had gone in acquiring its own equipment.
Business only resumed at 16:07 hours after the problem was rectified.ÂÂ
During the questions for oral answers session, Agriculture and Cooperatives Deputy
Minister, Albert Mulonga informed the House that the Zambia Colleges of Agriculture
(ZCA) in Monze and Mpika would in September this year start offering diploma
courses.
Previously, the two colleges have only been offering qualifications at certificate
level.
Mr. Mulonga was responding to Chadiza Member of Parliament (MMD), Allan Mbewe, who wanted to know when government would turn the Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) into a university and when the two ZCA colleges would start offering diploma courses.
Mr. Mulonga said government had no immediate plans to upgrade NRDC into a university because of insufficient infrastructure at the institution.
He however said the college was offering diploma courses that were underwritten by
the University of Zambia (UNZA).
On the issue of encroachment into the NRDC land, the deputy minister said government
would repossess the land from encroachers after they procedures have been finalised.
