Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo says the Patriotic Front Government will remain submissive to the church in Zambia when it comes to matters of dialogue as they are an integral part of the national governance system.

Speaking in an interview on the Copperbelt, Mr. Kampyongo said contrary to insinuations being peddled there is no acrimony between the Church and the PF government

Mr. Kampyongo said it is unfortunate that some ill meaning people are creating an impression that there is an impulse between government and the Church even when the two understand that they are stakeholders in national development.

Meanwhile Mr Kampyongo says the national dialogue bill that was recently passed into law in parliament is an important trend setting law that will provide a legal framework on how all the stakeholders peace building are going to validate the submissions made to the process.

He said the bill is a national framework which is meant to steer the whole country forward with regards to running a healthy democracy and not made for individuals who have personal political differences.

Mr. Kampyongo said the just passed national dialogue bill is all-inclusive law whose crafting went through very careful consultation with all stakeholders including the church and law enforcement agencies.

He said it is very unfortunate that the opposition members of parliament think being in opposition means they should oppose every bill brought to the house by the PF government even if such a bill is progressive.

And Mr Kampyongo says the opposition United Party for National Development should not mislead the Zambian people into thinking that the arrest of their leader Hakainde Hichilema is the genesis of the national dialogue bill

He said both UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema and President Edgar Lungu are just individuals who will run their time and move on for others take over.

The Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit has released 200 metric tons of relief maize to Luanshya district in response to the hunger situation in the district.

This came to light when Minister in the Office of the Vice President, Sylvia Chalikosa flagged off the relief distribution exercise today.

Ms. Chalikosa said government is aware of the hunger situation in the country as a result of the dry spells which are experienced in most parts of the country, and will ensure relief is distributed to all the affected areas.

She added that President Edgar Lungu does not want to see anyone dying of hunger and hence directed the DMMU to ensure that no one is left behind regardless of their political affiliation.

Ms. Chalikosa said the DMMU has since continued the distribution of additional relief to the areas that experienced dry spells in all parts of the country.

Meanwhile, acting Luanshya District Commissioner, Deoden Lupasha has thanked the government for quickly coming to the aid of the people.

Mr. Lupasha added that the relief has come at the right time.

Ms. Chalikosa however appealed to the community of Luanshya to ensure they complement government effort by ensuring that all drainages are unblocked, instead of waiting for DMMU to respond to such.

She added that everyone should participate in keeping Zambia clean and healthy, as demonstrated by President Lungu.

Ms. Chalikosa, in the company of DMMU National Coordinator Chanda Kabwe, are on the Copperbelt to check on the hunger situation and inspect various infrastructure damaged in Ndola, Kitwe, Luanshya and Lufwanyama districts.

The South Africa Government has formed a taskforce following the re-occurrence of xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals and related matters in that country.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu says the taskforce committee will comprise the South African Police, the Department of International Relations as well as the Diplomatic Community.

She said the committee has been formed to deal with the prevailing incidents related to attacks on foreign nationals.

Ms. Sisulu who was flanked by Minister of Police Bheki Cele and Home affairs Minister Dr Syabonga Cyprian Cwele says the committee will be committed to finding lasting solutions of the re-emerging attacks on foreign nationals.

She said most of the attacks were criminal and were not xenophobic.

Ms. Sisulu said this during the second consultative meeting with members of the diplomatic corp at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria.

She further advised her Ministers to inform the locals during public political rallies that her government was committed to making South Africa safe for all who live in it including all foreign nationals.

And Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa Emmanuel Mwamba disclosed that the Meeting was successful.

Mr. Mwamba said the introduction of the Taskforce Committee will help address and resolve many issues affecting foreign nationals in South Africa.

He said the issue, no matter how hard or uncomfortable should be confronted to help find a durable and lasting solution.

This is contained in a statement issued to the Media by First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the Zambian High Commission in South Africa Naomi Nyawali.

The Bus and Taxi Driver’s association of Zambia says the decision to foreclose Capital Bus Services as reported in the daily nation newspaper of 3^rd April 2019 makes very sad reading for the 500 direct and indirect employees that will have their livelihoods taken away from them and the commuters that have over the years used the service.

Association national secretary Sydney Mbewe says the impact of this decision does not end with the employees of capital buses but will equally affect the ten households per bus that depend on capital bus operations and services which means that 243 drivers will be laid off with an equal number of conductors following.

Mr. Mbewe said Capital Buses operations indirectly provide support to breadwinners that clean the buses, young boys, young girls, old women selling fruits to feed and educate their orphaned grandchildren, youths that clean around the station to provide for their siblings and pay rentals and entrepreneur youths that make their ends meet by ensuring that capital buses replace a damaged ribbon.

He said the sad and heart-breaking part is that the decision is not based on lack of business due to competition, but on the fact that capital buses has failed to find protection through the government which has failed to put the ministry of home affairs to task as to why the police have become spectators to the daily commissioning of breach of the law.

Mr. Mbewe said the pending decision by capital buses proprietor Ishmael Kankara which they pray will not be effected is just an iceberg of the many subsistence operators who have pulled out of the transport business leaving many drivers jobless with no opportunity to get another one.

He said the streets have now been taken over by individuals executing the mandate of the council reaping thousands upon thousands of kwachas of council revenue while the same council threatens workers that dare to question why they are not being paid on time that’s if they get paid at all.

Mr. Mbewe has since appealed to President Edgar Lungu to intervene before all those that have invested in the sector are pushed out and replaced with non- compliant and non-tax paying non state actors to run the transport sector.

He said President Lungu must also issue orders to the Police as was executed to contain cholera so that the Zambia Police Service, the road transport and safety agency and slumberous Lusaka City council may perform their duties for which they are employed to do.

The Ministry of General Education will soon introduce mobile teaching services, to provide education services to children in remote areas lacking teachers and education facilities.

Ministry of General Education Permanent Secretary Jobbicks Kalumba said the mobile education services which will require teachers to set camp in particular areas lacking education services, in order to broaden access to education in the country.

Mr Kalumba disclosed this when he addressed teachers in Kapiri Mposhi District during his interaction in the area.

He said his ministry has already initiated discussions with cooperating partners that include UNICEF, in order to actualize the initiative.

“This initiative is one way of making children especially those that are in areas where we do not have presence and where there are inadequate numbers of teachers to equally access quality education”, Mr. Kalumba said.

He said the ministry will engage teachers who will be specifically employed to carry out mobile teaching services in various schools countrywide.

And Mr Kalumba says his ministry will next year introduce subject specialization among primary school teachers, to limit the number of subjects that each teacher will have to teach.

The PS noted that the ministry is trying to get away from a situation were primary school teachers are compelled to teach over nine different subjects, from grade one to seven, which is creating an overload, thereby making them ineffective and inefficient.

He stressed that the Primary School Teacher Specialization Policy will afford teachers enough time to prepare lessons, assess pupils and institute remedial measures to help learners having problems in a particular subject.

“It is not practical that a teacher should prepare lesson plans in nine subjects and because of this teachers at primary level are presenting work plans which are not genuine because they have to do that in nine subjects…. this is just compromising the delivery of education in the country and we should reform the system,” Mr. Kalumba said.

Mr Kalumba stated that the policy will not require any resources to be rolled-out adding that affected teachers will be written to be assigned specific subjects they will be teaching.

Government has urged the private sector to take a leading role in making Zambia a top five tourism destination by 2030.

Acting Secretary to the Cabinet Patrick Kangwa says time has come for the private sector to develop and diversify the tourism sector by tapping into the emerging business concept of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) as a core part of the tourism business.

Mr Kangwa said MICE is an important sub sector of tourism development that has potential to stimulate economic development.

Mr Kangwa said this in a speech read for him by Ministry of Tourism Permanent Secretary Howard Sikwela during a MICE stakeholder consultative meeting, organised by the Conference and Exhibitors Organisers Forum (CONFEX) last evening.

Mr Kangwa said government is implementing an enabling environment for the tourism sector to stimulate growth in the economy.

He added that MICE is a multibillion dollar industry that Zambia can tap into, in order to increase tourism arrivals that can significantly contribute to national development, through job and wealth creation and poverty reduction.

The Acting Secretary to the Cabinet noted that Cabinet recently approved the country’s tourism master plan 2018 – 2038, in order to increase the sector’s contribution to national development as provided in the 7NDP.

Mr Kangwa said government will continue to upgrade tourism and conferencing facilities around the country especially in the capital city in order to strengthen the MICE sector and make Lusaka a conference hub.

He urged the hospitality industry to improve attitudes and service delivery as they are to compete with other players in the region and world at large.

During the same function, Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI) President Michael Nyirenda called for the promotion of business linkages in order to grow the MICE sector in the country, for benefits to trickle down to Zambians.

Meanwhile, Zambia Tourism Agency (ZTA) Marketing Director Mwabashike Nkulukusa said MICE can be used to jumpstart and increase tourism arrivals as demonstrated by its contribution of 560,000 arrivals to the nearly 1 million arrivals Zambia recorded in 2018.

He stressed that lack of connectivity and infrastructure capacity is hampering Zambia’s ambitious plan of being the next big tourism destination in the world.

Mr Nkulukusa however said Zambia is making strides in wooing international attention and support to host high profile conferences.

He disclosed that Zambia will host the Commonwealth meet for lawyers this year and the Pediatrics and Maternal Health symposium in 2020 in addition to the 2022 African Union summit.

Mr Nkulukusa further added that the ZTA will soon engage tourism training institutions and service industry to improve service delivery.

And CONFEX Organiser Mulemwa Moongwa appealed to government to help certify and build the capacity of event managers in the country, in order to avoid being disadvantaged by foreign competitors.

Ms Moongwa noted that it was sad that events being hosted in the country, are not managed by Zambians, due to lack of certification.

Vice President Inonge Wina says government will continue facilitating the active involvement of Zambians living in the diaspora in all areas of the country’s socio-economic development.

Mrs Wina has noted that it is government’s desire to see to it that all Zambians living abroad participate in national development.

The Vice President said this in Lusaka yesterday at the launch of the National Diaspora Policy.

Mrs Wina stated that government’s inspiration to formulate the diaspora policy, was as a result of regional and continental efforts which culminated in the first ever African Union global diaspora summit held in South Africa, in 2012.

The Vice President explained that the summit mandated all African Union member states to take necessary measures to formulate the respective diaspora policies with overall objectives of harnessing skills and energies within the continent and abroad.

Mrs Wina noted that in formulating the policy, government was mindful of the various challenges impeding the participation of the diaspora in the Country’s development agenda.

She said the challenges among others, include insufficient information on trade and investment opportunities, limited access to financing, the need for dual citizenship and high cost of remittances.

The Vice President however stated that the policy that has been launched yesterday will address the challenges, adding that the online information portal which will facilitate the easy flow of information between government and citizens living abroad will also be established by the end of the year.

And Vice President Inonge Wina has called on Zambians living abroad to project an image that reflects the truth about the country at all times.

Mrs Wina said due to globalisation and the growth of technology, fake news has sprung hence the need for people living abroad to project a positive image of the country.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji has noted that government is committed to engaging the diaspora in national development.

Mr Malanji stated that the relationship between government and the diaspora has improved over the years, hence the need to harness the people and making them part of national development.

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission, Marianne Lane said her organisation remains committed to supporting government in the implementation of the National Diaspora Policy.