The Patriotic Front has advised UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema to stop using Financial Intelligence Centre -FIC- Chief Executive Officer Mary Tshuma in his political battles.

PF Media Director Sunday Chanda says the opposition leader should not compromise Ms. Tshuma’s professional standing unless he’s telling the people something they do not know about.

He says the FIC operates without instructions from anyone.

Mr. Chanda says the FIC is an independent and autonomous government institution under the Ministry of Finance whose core function is to receive and analyze financial transactions and reports bordering on suspected money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation.

He says the FIC is 100 percent funded by the Ministry of Finance and has no external funds that come to the Centre which underscores the PF Government’s resolve to strengthen the center as part of the process to ensure its integrity.

Below is the Full statement

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MR. HICHILEMA, DONT DRAG MS. MARY CHIRWA TSHUMA IN YOUR POLITICAL BATTLES

Lusaka, 10th September 2019 – In a statement availed to the Press, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema appears to believe the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) exists in a vacuum. He goes further to ask President Edgar Lungu to keep his hands off FIC because clearly he has no idea how the board is constituted as well as basics of corporate governance in an organization.

We wish to draw Mr. Hichilema’s attention to the following:

1. The John Kasanga Board’s tenure came to an end eight (08) months ago in January 2019.

2. The Financial Intelligence Centre is a statutory body established under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act no. 46 of 2016

3. FIC is an independent and autonomous Government institution under the Ministry of Finance.

4. The core function of the FIC is to receive and analyze financial transactions reports bordering on suspected money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation submitted to it by accountable institutions

5. The FIC is 100% funded by the Ministry of Finance. There are no external funds that come to the Centre, underscoring the PF Government’s resolve to strengthen the center as part of the process to ensure its integrity.

What does Mr Hichilema recommend should have happened to a Board whose mandate expired eight (08) months ago?

We are also worried at attempts by Mr. Hichilema to use FIC Chief Executive Officer Mary Tshuma’s name to qualify his politically charged but factually flawed statement on this matter. We do not understand why he would choose to use Ms. Tshuma’s name in his political battles?

May we advise Mr. Hichilema not to compromise Ms. Tshuma’s professional standing unless he’s telling us something we do not know about. It’s a fact that FIC operates without instructions from anyone least of all, Mr. Hichilema.

Lastly, we are not sure if it is Mr. Hichilema’s considered view that Ms. Tshuma is the Alpha and Omega of FIC. We do not believe Ms. Tshuma thinks of herself as the “Life CEO” for FIC in the manner that Mr. Hichilema is “Life President” of UPND.

Please Mr. Hichilema, keep your hands off FIC. Let professionalism reign!

Issued by:

Sunday Chanda
Media Director – PF
Party Headquarters

State House says law enforcement agencies will investigate drug trafficking allegations with all appropriate authorities.

Commenting on allegations by NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili that Lusaka businessman Valden Findlay could be pushing drugs using the presidential jet, State House says the matter will be fully investigated.

In a brief statement, Special Assistant to the President Isaac Chipampe said State House takes very seriously any allegation related to drug trafficking.

“Therefore, Zambian law enforcement agencies will take appropriate steps to investigate the allegations in connection with drug trafficking in coordination will all appropriate authorities,” Mr Chipampe said.

A joint study by researchers from the International Institute of Applied Systems and Analysis, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Zambia has shown that HIV remains the leading cause of death in Zambia.

This is despite the fact that people in sub-Saharan Africa are now living longer than they did two decades ago.

The study also shows that average life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa remains below that of the rest of the world population.

The study results show that HIV/AIDS is still the leading cause of death among Zambian adults in the age group 15 to 59 years, with higher proportions among women than men.

In their study published in the journal Tropical Medicine and International Health, the researchers analyzed the World Health Organization’s Zambia Sample Vital Registration with Verbal Autopsy (SAVVY) survey data to determine the main causes of death among adults in the country.

The study further explored the data to determine whether there were any age-sex cause-specific mortality patterns for the five major causes of death identified within the adult age group and if there was any kind of socio-economic or regional disparity in the causes of death among the adult population.

“There is a great demand for analyzing SAVVY data in order to understand the cause of death patterns specific to Zambia. An empirical investigation based on real data gives crucial input to prioritize health investments that could help to minimize premature deaths, which could, in turn, have immense implications on the economic and physiological wellbeing of the country,” explains Nandita Saikia, a former postdoctoral researcher at IIASA and one of the authors of the study.

The study shows that for men, injuries and accidental deaths was the second leading cause of death, while for women it was tuberculosis.

The researchers, however, point out that some HIV/AIDS deaths might have been misclassified as tuberculosis deaths as the two are closely associated.

Malaria and non-communicable diseases of the circulatory system each also accounted for a significant portion of deaths, although the ranking of these diseases varied by gender.

The study indicates that a notable number of additional years of life expectancy would be gained across the population by eliminating especially HIV/AIDS in the adult age group.

For the male population, the number of years gained would be 5.77 years, while for the female population it would be 6.40 years in the 15 to 59 age group.

Eliminating tuberculosis and malaria in the country could also increase adult life expectancy by between 1.09 and 1.71 years.

In addition to the above, the analysis shows a correlation between level of education and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, along with a strong regional variation in cause of death patterns, especially in terms of HIV/AIDS deaths, which varied between 25.5% in the northern province to 45.1% in the western province of Zambia.

“Our findings reiterate the importance of continuous health investment towards eradicating diseases like HIV/AIDS in terms of treatment, awareness, education, and prevention. At the same time, interventions should take into account age-sex or socioeconomic characteristics. For instance, while men might need more interventions to reduce injury-related deaths, women might need access to more treatment for diseases like HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis,” concludes study lead author Vesper Chisumpa, a PhD student at the University of the Witwatersrand and a lecturer at the University of Zambia.

MMD president Nevers Mumba has urged the PF-led government to suspend all “romantic” programmes and focus on resolving the crippling and chaotic energy crisis in the country.

Zambia is undergoing an economic debilitating energy crisis blamed on drastically reduced water levels in the Kariba Dam that has affected electricity generation.
Zesco initially started with a 4-hour load management which it doubled to 8 hours and even more.

The government is considering importing electricity from South Africa to cushion the deficit, which has taken a toll on micro, small-scale businesses for citizens.

Commenting on the energy crisis, Mumba said the country could not afford another week of “these eight-hour load-shedding experiments”.

He said the projection of the crisis threatens everything that makes a nation to survive.
He said leadership was the ability to anticipate disasters and to mitigate such disasters well before they happen.

“America is anticipating Hurricane Dorian in Florida. President Trump has cancelled his trip to Poland so that he can concentrate on mitigating the impact of the threatening hurricane. This is how you govern and this is why people vote for leadership, to avert national catastrophes,” he said.

“Zambia is facing the biggest energy crisis since independence. The projection of this crisis threatens everything that makes a nation to survive. PF government’s justification of our current crisis includes reasonable causes like low water levels at Kariba Dam and global climate change.

Unfortunately, none of these will shield the government from an imminent revolt by citizens if a solution is not found soon. The greatest fear is that we are still months away from the next rainy season. This means that load-shedding could extend from eight hours to twelve hours per day. The economic implication of such a development are too ghastly to contemplate.”

Mumba said productivity in all sectors shall be curtailed and the end result was a stagnant economy which has the potential to bring about political instability.

He said it was for that reason that MMD was calling upon the PF-led government to suspend all “romantic” programmes and focus on resolving the energy crisis.

Mumba said all efforts of the government must be targeted at solving the energy problem, not in months but in days.

He said during the president Levy Mwanawasa days, Zambia was faced with a huge debt crisis which had immobilised growth in the social sector.
Mumba, one of the Republican vice-presidents at the time, said Mwanawasa decided to focus his attention on resolving that threatening situation.

He said Mwanawasa cancelled most of his international trips, restricted the travel of ministers and permanent secretaries and allowed ambassadors and high commissioners to handle all international engagements.

“He further negotiated with the Public Service Unions to freeze salaries for civil servants. He also cut fuel and telephone benefits from senior government officials, including ministers. This was in addition to several other cutbacks made. The end result was that Zambia attained a debt free status since independence.

President Mwanawasa applied political will to achieve this great milestone on behalf of the Zambian people. Alongside these austerity measures, president Mwanawasa publicly and viciously tried to fight the scourge of corruption,” said Mumba.

“Zambia cannot afford another week of these eight-hour load-shedding experiments. It is unsustainable. Government must act now.”