President Edgar Lungu says government will this year construct the First Level Hospital in Chifubu Constituency in Ndola.

The President said he will soon meet with the Minister of Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya to discuss modalities of constructing the first level hospital in Chifubu Township to meet the increasing population.

ZANIS Ndola reports that President Lungu said this during a public meeting held at Chifubu Market this afternoon.

“As soon as I go back to Lusaka I will sit with Minister of Health to look at how we can build you a hospital, when we were campaigning in 2016, we said we will improve your living standards and giving you a hospital is fulfilling that promise,” he said.

The President said he is in Chifubu to thank the people for overwhelmingly voting for him during the 2016 General Elections.

President Lungu further said government will also consider constructing a modern market in the area that will improve the trading environment for the marketeers.

The President said this in response to an appeal made by Area Member of Parliament Frank Ngambi for a market shelter at the market.

Mr. Ngambi said most of the people in his constituency depend on trading and that the current status of the market is not conducive for business.

Meanwhile, President Lungu has retaliated that he will not be derailed by people that are insulting him as he has been mandated to deliver development to all corners of the country.

The President further advised people to be cautious of unfounded utterances by some politicians he said are reacting out of hatred after being dismissed from government.

And speaking earlier, Copperbelt Minister Japhen Mwakalombe observed that President Lungu is a humble leader who walks the talk.

Mr. Mwakalombe said it is unfortunate that some opposition politicians have resorted to discrediting government whenever they go out of the country, contrary to what is on the ground.

Meanwhile, Ndola Mayor Amon Chisenga appealed to the President to consider reverting the revocation of the Land Agency back to the Ndola City Council.

He explained that the council is failing to deliver its services to the public effectively because 50% of its revenue is raised through collection of land rates.

“Mr President if there is anything we did wrong as a Land Agency please forgive us and give us back that role because 50% of the council’s revenue is from Land rates,” he said.

President Edgar Lungu says his government is determined to continue promoting diversification and value addition of raw materials produced in the country.

President Lungu says value addition to crops such as soya beans, sorghum and millet provides an opportunity for more investment in the agriculture sector.

He said he is confident that industrialization and value addition will provide employment for the Zambians especially women and the youth who are the majority.

President Lungu was speaking today in Ndola when he commissioned the 120 million dollars soya beans crushing plant by Global Industries Limited.

The Head of State said the plant brings to reality his continued call for value addition and diversification, which is within government’s broader mission of accelerated diversification under the 7th National Development Plan (7NDP).

President Lungu reiterated that government will continue to provide a conducive environment for investment in the country.

Speaking earlier, Global Industries Limited Chief Executive Officer, Malolan Sampath, said the 120 million dollars crushing plant is the most sophisticated in the whole of Africa.

Mr. Sampath said the crushing plant has increased production of soya cake from 500 metric tons per day to 1,000 metric tons adding that the company has targeted to produce 315 thousand metric tons per year.

He said the soya cake produced by Global Industries Limited is the best in Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Common Marker for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) regions, with 8,000 metric tons now exported to South Africa alone and 15,000 metric tons exported to the rest of the region every month.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister, Michael Katambo said there is need for more companies setting base in the country to embrace backward and forward linkages as a way of creating more jobs.

Mr. Katambo urged Global Industries Limited to also take keen interest in buying soya beans from farmers at bulk centres being established in all parts of country.

And Copperbelt Province Minister, Japhen Mwakalombe, said the region is diversifying from mining to agriculture and is happy that the company is working in line with the 7th National Development Plan, which has value addition and diversification as one of its pillars.

Mr. Mwakalombe added that Global Industries Limited is also helping realize government’s vision of providing employment opportunities to the citizenry.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Zambia’s opposition leader Hakainde Hichelema accused President Edgar Lungu’s government on Thursday of political killings, rights abuses and rampant corruption, calling on South Africa to intervene to restore calm.

Hichilema, who spent four months in jail last year on a treason charge, said regional allies needed to apply pressure on Lungu or risk Zambia descending into the economic disarray seen in neighboring Zimbabwe under former President Robert Mugabe.

Zambia, Africa’s second largest copper producer, has been criticized by rights groups for an increase in political arrests under Lungu and concerns about corruption following reports of billions of dollars in undisclosed borrowing.

Lungu denies there is a government corruption problem or that police are used to stifle dissent.

“I am asking the region to open its eyes to a brutal regime and to do all it can to restore the rule of law, or the world will be looking at the next Zimbabwe,” Hichilema said in an interview in Johannesburg.

“It is in South Africa’s interest as the regional powerhouse to act now or it will suffer from economic collapse of its neighbor and mass migration over its border.”

South Africa is the commercial gateway to the region and has powerful influence over its neighbors.

Pretoria intervened to bring together a unity government in Zimbabwe after scores were killed in post-election violence in 2008 and swiftly brought an end to an attempted coup in Lesotho in 2014.

Zambia is due to hold elections in 2021 but Hichilema said it was impossible to hold a free and fair vote in the current environment because Lungu controlled the electoral commission.

Rights groups and diplomats have not reported a crackdown on dissent on the scale described by Hichilema.

“It is much, much worse than the world thinks,” he said.

Hichilema, an economist and businessman widely known as HH, was arrested in April last year and charged with treason after his convoy failed to make way for Lungu’s motorcade.

He was released in August after state prosecutors dropped the charges.

Former South African President Jacob Zuma did not publicly call for Hichilema’s release, drawing criticism from South African opposition parties who said Zuma was failing to uphold regional democracy.

Hichilema said he had more faith in new South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a successful businessman who came to power in February after Zuma was forced out by his own party.

“We’ve been greatly encouraged by what we’ve seen in South Africa and we now want it to have a positive impact regionally.”

Source:Reuters

PRESIDENT Edgar Chagwa Lungu has said that he will not waste time with individuals or organisations that want to shun the dialogue process. President Lungu said he has opened his doors for dialogue and he will not waste time in trying to force people to the table.

He observed that a good leader is one who listens to others noting that no one has monopoly of wisdom.

“If you think you know it all, uli Chiwelwele…,” President Lungu said adding that sometimes, even those who make utter nonsense, he sieves their nonsense to pick out minute possible good contributions.

President Lungu said this when he arrived in Ndola as he proceeded to commission the most sophisticated soya bean crushing plant in Africa with a daily production of 1000 MT.

And President Edgar Lungu has commended the Patriotic Front (PF) on the Copperbelt Province for maintaining peace ahead of the Kansuswa and Kalulushi ward by elections, respectively, emphasizing on the need for PF members to remain calm and level headed no matter the extent of provocation.

President Lungu said Copperbelt Province is and remained the stronghold of the PF. He said he was also happy that the party in the province had strongly embraced the tenancy of democracy as Zambia was a democratic nation.

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He added that as party President he would encourage all members to embrace democracy because when his tenure of office ends as the PF leader, he will not endorse anyone but rather let the party choose who to succeed him.

The President who is in the province for a two-day working programme is accompanied by PF Secretary General Davies Mwila.

The President was received at the airport by several ministers among them Labour Minister Joyce Nonde, Presidential Affairs Minister Freedom Sikazwe and their Copperbelt province counterpart Japhen Mwakalombe.

And speaking earlier Mr. Mwakalombe thanked the President for awarding ten percent of the Black mountain to Copperbelt youths popularly known as Jerabos.

The Minister said the gesture was a job creation venture for youths who were unemployed.

And Copperbelt province PF Chairman Steven Kainga informed the president that the party was intact in the province.

He said the strength and popularity of the party would be seen in the fourth coming by election when they manage to scoop all the seats.

Mr. Kainga further added that the party in the province had embraced the announcement of party elections as it was an indication that PF was a democratic party.