Movement for Multi-party Democracy Faction Leader Felix Mutati has urged Africans to stop being captives when negotiating with investors if the continent is to reap benefits of its resources.

Speaking when he addressed the Uganda national ACCA convention where he was guest of honor and gave a key note speech, Mr. Mutati who is also ACCA Global Ambassador and global advocacy award winner for the year 2017/2018 said the continent has continued to lag behind in development because the people negotiating for the continent became captives during negotiations.

He wondered why the conversations about Africa’s resources remain at “there’s potential” adding that governments should address their inadequacies for the continent to start striking better deals.

“If you take for example crude oil, there some African countries that produce a lot more than our colleagues in the middle East and if you take the difference between the two its huge where is the problem is it because we are Africans? You go to Dubai, you go to all these little places you see the difference then you go to another country near us producing more ballerals a day and when you see the development it’s just a rumor and they live in Africa. Are we born with a deficit?”, he questioned.

And on the growing presence of the Chinese Mutati said it is not the Chinese that are to blame, Chinese are useful partners because they represent a win win situation.

“China is a useful partner and don’t get me wrong. China advocates a win win situation and all of us know but the thing that we are failing as Africans is the same issue of shifting the blame. When you are at a table with China its said that it’s a win win situation but sitting on the opposite end of the table you all can’t win, the other must lose because it’s a negotiation isn’t it? So we shouldn’t blame China for our own inadequacies. We are passing our own inadequacies to China that China is wrong, we are at the table negotiating and when they defeat us we say China is to blame.

“Let us have our own win win situation. Some times let’s also learn to say no to the loans”, He added.

The Italian government has cautioned Zambia against accruing more debt from the international market to levels where they can struggle to repay it.

Italian Ambassador to Zambia Filippo Scammacca said it is important for Zambia to avoid the over expansion of debt because it can create more problems for the country.

Ambassador Scammaca said told Hot FM News in an interview that Italy is one of the heavily indebted countries in the world and Zambia should not follow suit.

He said Zambia must not borrow too much and follow Italy’s bad experience but strive to keep the debt within manageable levels.

Zambia’s external debt stock currently stands at 9.51 Billion US dollars.

The Lusaka City Council (LCC) says it will this Saturday, November 24, randomly give out awards to households who will be found with clean surroundings.

And the Council has also declared this Saturday as “NO PLASTIC DAY’ in line with President Edgar Lungu’s re-launch of the Keep Zambia Clean, Green and Healthy campaign by on 28th April, 2018.

Council Assistant Public Relations Manager Brenda Katongola says the exercise will be held in collaboration with key stakeholders such as Shoprite, Food lovers and Spur chain stores, among others in an effort to come up with strategies of making the city clean, green and healthy.

“Lusaka City Council starting this Saturday, November on 24th in collaboration with partners give out awards as one way of encouraging residents to keep their surroundings clean,” Ms. Katongola says in a statement, this evening

She discloses that the local authority has been participating in different activities and also creating awareness in motivating the members of the public to own the clean-up campaign.

She however observes that that many people especially at household level do not fully own the keep clean campaign.

“It has been noticed that many people especially at household level have not fully owned the campaign. Our Council has been engaging different stakeholders to ensure that the objective of keeping Zambia Clean, Green and Healthy is achieved,” she said.

On the No plastic campaign, Ms. Katongola says her local authority is working with the supermarkets in the city to help reduce the plastics given to customers when they buy merchandises.

“Reducing the amount of plastics or carrier bags in the environment given to customers if awareness is raised will gradually culminate into no plastic day not only this month but beyond, “ she states in the same statement.

The Council Assistant Public Relations Manager has thanked residents, companies, business houses, government institutions, schools and churches who have been participating in the keep Zambia Clean, Green and Healthy Campaign.

“The Council is encouraging all residents and business entities in the city of Lusaka to continue subscribing to solid waste and avoid illegal dumping of waste,” Ms. Katongola said.

Ms. Katongola urged the people not to relent in their efforts of achieving a clean green and healthy Zambia by working together.

Government has called on Teacher unions in the country to opt for empowerment based negotiations instead of salary based negotiations for improved conditions of service for their members.

Labour and Social Security Minister Joyce Nonde Simukoko says this is because salary based negotiations always trigger an increase in prices of essential commodities, thereby disadvantaged the Union members from enjoying their salary increments.

Teacher unions should consider negotiating for mortgages and venture into viable ventures to empower their members so they could retire having acquired houses, farms and other properties that would enable them sustain their families, she said.

“Empowerment should be at the core of your negotiations. I have seen people die shortly after retirement not because they are old but because they are not able to look after themselves, so change your attitudes towards life and work,” said the minister.

Mrs. Simukoko said this in Livingstone on Thursday when she officially opened the Zambia National Teachers Union (ZNUT) 11th Quadrennial Conference at Fairmount Hotel.

The minister further said government took great exception to teachers involved in examination malpractices as the vice was detrimental to the country’s development.

Mrs. Simukoko cautioned teachers against leaking examination papers as the long and short-term effects of such actions had a negative impact on the country’s economy and image.

And the Labour Minister warned teacher union leaders to desist from lamenting about issues affecting them without proposing solutions.

“ I hate lamenters. We have been lamenting since 1964 and little has changed. If you are to complain, then offer possible solutions as well since doing so adds value,” she said.

Earlier, Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) President Beard Mwanza appealed to government to speedily conclude salary negotiations with the union saying his members were highly indebted due to low incomes.

Mr. Mwanza also called on government to address the numerous challenges teachers faced in accessing housing and rural hardship allowances.

“ Some of our members are living in mud and pole houses while others are in remote areas sharing water sources with wild animals but they are denied their respective allowances. Government should give them what is rightly theirs,” he said.

Meanwhile, Teaching Service Commission Chairman Stanely Mhango said the Commission managed to reactivate 1835 positions which saw teachers being promoted to various administrative positions.

Mr. Mhango said over 13,000 human resource cases had been processed since the Commission became operational over a year ago with 7,000 of those cases having been addressed in 2018.

The ZNUT 11Th Quadrennial Conference is being celebrated under the theme: Promoting quality education through social dialogue.