President Lungu has called on all Zambians to get tested for HIV and know their status so that in the event they are found positive, they can immediately start Anti retro viral treatment ART in order for them to lead normal, healthy and happy lives.

The President stated that though Zambia has recorded a reduction in New HIV infections by 41 percent translating from 77,500 in 2010 to 46,000 in 2016, more needs to be done as an estimated 300,000 People Living with HIV still needed to be on ART.

He stated that so far, 915,000 people where on ART which is a huge leap from the 3500 that was recorded in 2003.

The President said that this was due to the various initiatives implemented by government and its various partners such as the Universal Routine HIV testing concealing and treatment and the Surge campaign which he had flagged off last year. He also sited community interventions such as door to door testing as well as self testing which had proved to be effective.

And President Lungu said that the theme “Run the last mile, leaving no one behind” is very appropriate and that to run the last mile, there is need to employ pioneer ways of doing things as well as scaling up of innovative interventions that have a proven track record of having worked.

“To run the last mile, we need to enforce and sustain coordination mechanisms to ensure an effective functioning of multi sect oral, harmonized access and scaled up quality prevention services to the targeted populations such as adolescents and young women. My government values community engagement in the achievement of results which answers to the theme for this world AIDS day and the vision of Zambia of leaving no one behind, “he said.

” I call upon every Zambian to know their status and especially men who are among groups with low HIV testing and treatment coverage. In order for Zambia to seize the opportunity of this unprecedented moment, each person should make the decision to know their status and start treatment immediately. Ignoring your status will not change your status. It will only make you and your loved ones vulnerable to the virus, he said.

And the President spoke strongly against discrimination of people living with HIV stating that it would not safeguard the community against the disease but would only work to make people hide in the shadows and shan accessing services that would benefit the overall health of the community.

He urged the Ministry of Health to establish more youth friendly health services in all corners of the country to address HIV among the youth.

He called upon all line Ministries, the private sector, the civil society leadership at all levels and the Media as well as the public, to ensure that every single citizen and migrant was able to access HIV services.

The President took time to thank the cooperating partners and stakeholders for their generous material, technical and financial support towards the HIV response in Zambia.

“Together, we can end AIDS by 2030 by running the last mile, leaving no one behind, “he said.

The President said this in a speech read on his behalf by Dr. Chitalu Chilufya, the Minister of Health at the commemoration of World AIDS day in Livingstone this morning.

Today’s Scripture

“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
(James 1:3-4, NKJV)

Lacking Nothing

God wants you to be perfect and complete, living in His abundance and lacking nothing on this earth. That may seem like a stretch from where you are today. It may seem far off; but in an instant, things can turn around. God has set up a system of blessing for you, and it starts with His Word. The Bible says that God has given each of us a measure of faith. We all have faith, and it’s up to us to develop it. Romans 10:17 says that faith grows as we read and study His Word. Faith, in turn, produces patience, and when we allow patience to have its perfect work in us, we will lack no good thing.

Today, no matter where you are in the process, the key is to keep moving forward by reading and hearing His Word. His Word is alive. His Word will heal your heart and restore your soul. His Word will produce patience in your life so that you can move forward, being complete and lacking nothing all the days of your life!

A Prayer for Today

“Father God, thank You for Your Word which lights my path and directs my way. I choose to put You first place. I choose to meditate on Your Word, knowing that You are leading me in Your paths of life in Jesus’ name. Amen!”

A leading Chinese Broadcasting firm has announced plans to forge working ties with ZNBC and other Zambian media through enhanced technical capacity building and content exchange.

Chongqing Broadcasting Group which has one billion viewership, says it will also help the Zambian media to establish Media Convergence Centres were traditional media will be integrated with New Media platforms as a survival strategy in the digital era where social media is pausing serious competition and challenges.

Chongqing Broadcasting Group Deputy Director General Xia Tao says under the scope of cooperation, ZNBC and other electronic media will have a chance to send staff for specialised training courses in China while collaborating in content exchange and infrastracture development.

ZNBC Staffer Kennedy Bwalya reports from China Mr. Xia however says the various scope of cooperation whose proposed planned take off is 2019, is subject to state approval under the existing bilateral channels between the two countries.

He said this when a delegation of Zambian journalists toured Chongqing Broadcasting Group headquarters in Chongqing.

And Chongqing Broadcasting Group Assistant Director Henry Chin said his company seeks friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation with ZNBC and other Zambian media outlets, adding that the interface will spur economic, social and cultural ties.

Chongqing Broadcasting Group which runs 13 TV channels and 6 Radio channels, has working ties with over 40 TV stations worldwide.

Opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema says the party has continued moving forward.

In his speech during the 20th anniversary dinner held at Intercontinental Hotel Lusaka, Mr Hichilema thanked the UPND supporters for the support.

He said he is grateful for the continued support to the UPND since its establishment.

Mr Hichilema said since its establishment 20 years ago, the UPND has withstood various storms among them possible extinction.

The UPND leader has also thanked the Church in Zambia for their continued support for a better Zambia.

The dinner was attended by Former Lusaka Diocese Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu, opposition leaders Mike Mulongoti, Elias Chipimo, Sean Tembo and Fresher Siwale.

“To his Grace, Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu, we say thank you for your counsel on various issues you gave us during our party’s 20th anniversary fundraising dinner yesterday. To the UPND members, supporters and sympathisers we say thank you for your continued support,” Mr Hichilema said.

“Since its establishment 20 years ago, UPND has withstood various storms among them possible extinction. However, due to the nation’s faith in us, the party continues to thrive and this we owe to you, our people and the nation at large. We have gone from a party getting 29 votes in Kaputa of Northern province to now getting over 30, 000 votes and having 4 councillors in the same constituency is not a mean achievement,” he said.

“From getting about 20% of total presidential votes to now 48% at the same level even amidst fraud and electoral malfeasance. This goes to show that our party, your party UPND is going forward and this is due to your hard work. The vision and mission of this party is to never look backward but always move forward in unity and development.”

He said over the years, the party has continued to grow from strength to strength and together with the nation fighting divisive elements.

“This is why we insist there is more that unites than what divides us as people of this great nation. Like we said when we were elected for the first time to the presidency of this party, we do not seek public office to plunder government resources but to offer service to the nation and this is why we say Zambia and Zambians first.”

He added, “This was the desire of our party’s founding father, late Anderson Kambela Mazoka, whom we always thank for creating this platform for the people of Zambia as a unitary base for national development.”

“Thank you Andy, how happy you must be to see this party grow from strength to strength and unite the people while placing development for all as a priority.”

He said,”Ladies and gentlemen, we wish to remind you that we have a great country that we must protect from any divisive elements. This is the only place we all call home, we have no other place to call home as Zambians. Therefore, let’s work together, unite under the umbrella of the UPND and move our country forward.”

“And thank you for your continued support for this party which does not belong to us but belongs to the nation as a unifying platform for national development. To our late party founding President Anderson Kambela Mazoka and other leaders now passed away, we say may you continue to rest in peace and ours is to take over the baton and continue where you left.”

NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili has assured Zambians that he will not stop speaking about the difficulties they are all enduring everyday.

And Dr Kambwili has appealed to the Chinese government to check what he called corrupt activities of AVIC in Zambia.

Writing after he was released on bail after appearing in the Lusaka Magistrate Court on Friday for unlawful assembly, Dr Kambwili vowed that he will continue to hold this government accountable for all its ills of extravagance, thefts, the sale of national assets, undemocratic tendancies, negative foreign influence peddling and the wanton destruction and looting of our national treasury by President Lungu and his friends.

Dr Kambwili also advised the Chinese government not be caught up into another diplomatic embarrassment like it happened when late President Michael Sata formed government.

“Yes, you’re not supposed to interfere in our country’s politics but surely for the sake of our future bilateral relations as long time global allies, check the corrupt activities and unpatriotic manoeuvres of Chinese corporations like AVIC before it’s too late because this regime is gone, the Zambia people have already made up their minds,” he said.

Below is Dr Kambwili’s statement posted on his Facebook page

To my colleagues and fellow dedicated comrades of the struggle and Zambians in general

By the grace of the Almighty God we finally arrived in my home town – Luanshya yesterday – for interrogations at the behest of the Police. I was subsequently arrested and charged with unlawful assembly as well as denied Police bond. By God’s grace, I have been granted bail and I have fullfilled all the obligations. I however remain sad that some of my fellow co-accused could not secure surities in time partly due the Police’s conduct of not allowing access to accuseds’ relatives.

Interestingly, as I was being driven to Luanshya, my thoughts were not of fear or desperation but of the love I have for my country and its people. Nonetheless, I have great sadness and pain at how far we have degenerated as a country under President Edgar Lungu’s leadership or simply put misrule. This is an administration I will forever regret having helped usher into office and one I will dedicate each day of my political career to rid Zambians of.

Throughout my over 25 years in politics, I have consistently strived to speak for our people who cannot speak for themselves and remain downtrodden. And in my quest to do so, I may have unknowingly offended some of my fellow citizens and for that I will always apologise and seek redemption.

But what I will never ever apologise for in good concious is speaking for the people especially when it is the right thing to do. I faced arrest for speaking against AVIC International’s poor labour track record and for performing my civic duty as a member of parliament for the people of Roan Constituency who I have served to the best of my ability over the past 12 years.

Never in my life did I ever think our country’s leadership would be so obedient to foreign corporations’ interests and influence such as that of the ‘Mighty’ AVIC International, which has literally become a subtle ‘Buildings Department’ or wing of this government.

However, I am neither afraid nor intimidated by these machinations for evil has never been known to prevail over good, it’s just a matter of time.

And to our heavily compromised Police leadership, I say “please continue to do your worst”. I am convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that the discomfort of prison that I know I will continue to experience under President Lungu cannot be compared to the pain and humiliation Zambians go through each day under this vividly corrupt and despotic regime of President Lungu.

To my brother Hon. Steven Kampyongo, I say “thank you for achieving your desired goal of teaching me a lesson for speaking against AVIC and YOUR projects”. I hope when the bells come tolling on AVIC you would have already assumed your Chinese nationality because no Zambian leader in our history has ever sided with the interests of abusive foreign corporations and succeeded. On a personal level and being an obedient Catholic that I am, I forgive you and will let God deal with you and those that instruct you.

To the police command and in particular the two Deputy Inspector Generals of Police whom I had the misfortune of interfacing yesterday, namely Mr. Eugene Sibote and Mr. Bonny Kapeso not forgetting the Commissioner of Police for Copperbelt Province Mrs. Charity Katanga, be warned that each day that goes by leading to 2021 is a day less that you continue to occupy those offices that you now abuse with impunity.

Your actions like those of the executive will not go unchecked for much longer. I’m old enough to have witnessed two power transfers in this country’s history with the most recent being in 2011 where I witnessed how those who once held political power abandoned their surrogates at the eleventh hour when they needed them the most. Your reign as Police command won’t be any different from the hotheads that held those positions before the success of the people’s revolution. You too will surely be replaced by honest, decent and diligent citizens such as Commissioner Fanwell Siandenge, an innocent patriot who remains a fugutive in the country he served and sacrificed his entire teenage and adult life till men and women of your kind frustrated his illustrious career in the police service. Just as the sun rises from the east and sets to the west, your day of reckoning is coming- be warned.

To the people of Zambia, I give you my solemn vow that I will not stop speaking about the difficulties we all endure everyday. I will continue to hold this government accountable for all its ills of extravagance, thefts, the sale of national assets, undemocratic tendancies, negative foreign influence peddling and the wanton destruction and looting of our national treasury by President Lungu and his friends.

To the Chinese government, I say “Do not be caught up into another diplomatic embarrassment like it happened when His Excellency Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata (MHSRIP) formed government. Yes, you’re not supposed to interfere in our country’s politics but surely for the sake of our future bilateral relations as long time global allies, check the corrupt activities and unpatriotic manoeuvres of Chinese corporations like AVIC before it’s too late because this regime is gone, the Zambia people have already made up their minds.”

Lastly, I sincerely thank my family who did not choose this life for understanding that ours is a life of sacrifice and defending Zambians especially the poor. I sincerely thank all of you for your prayers and messages of good will. Lesa eko aba!

God bless you all,

Chishimba Kambwili MP