Zambia start 4-Nations countdown
Zambia on Monday began their final preparations for Wednesday’s opening semifinal of the Four-Nations Cup that they will host from March 21-24 at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
The team is camped in Kitwe and training from Arthur Davies Stadium where coach Wedson Nyirenda had 11 out of his 30 players for first session on Monday morning as most of the players were still in transit following Sunday’s league obligations.
“I have always said football doesn’t wait because if you wait you will lose everything. And as much as we didn’t have a full house, we had 11 players and we just had to do with what we had and looking at the way the boys trained it was excellent,”Nyirenda said.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe was the first invited team to arrive on Monday while Angola was due in this evening.
Bafana Bafana arrives on Tuesday.
Zambia will face Zimbabwe on March 21 at 13h00 while Bafana face Angola at 15h00 in a semi-final doubleheader.
The winners will meet in the final on March 24 while the semi-final losers meet in the playoff.
GBFC toast bright start to 2018 season
Green Buffaloes coach Bilton Musonda has hailed his side’s perfect start to the 2018 FAZ Super Division season.
Buffaloes on Sunday thumped Kitwe United 2-0 in their league opener away at Garden Park Stadium in Kitwe.
Musonda believes winning the Week One match will raise his player’s confidence as the league advances.
“It’s good to start with a win so that you have confidence going into the games to follow,” he said.
“We will keep on fighting as Green Buffaloes,” Musonda said.
Kitwe coach Steven Mwansa is positive the Buchi Boys will rise after the loss to Buffaloes.
“In the first half we played well but in the second half we allowed Buffaloes to come on us and allowed two silly goals. Otherwise the team is good,” Mwansa said.
“This is just the first game of the season. Our supporters should just rally behind us. Losing today is not the end,” he said.
Chingalika have just been promoted to the top league after an 11-year hiatus.
FAZ and MTN sign improved deal
FAZ and MTN have signed an improved US$4.5 million deal for the sponsorship of the FAZ Super Division.
The two parties extended their relationship on March 19 in Lusaka that saw the new three-year deal increased from the previous US$3 million package.
FAZ president Andrew Kamanga said the league champions will now received K500, 000 from the K250, 000 they previously won.
Kamanga added that all 20 clubs will each receive a K200,000 annual package from the K7,000 they were paid out in the last contract.
“The Association is particularly excited with MTN’s decision to increase its sponsorship package to US1.5 million per year with US$300,000 being in kind,” Kamanga said.
ZICTA awards a fourth mobile license to UZI Mobile Zambia
ZICTA has awarded a fourth mobile license to UZI Mobile Zambia.
The company has once made a US$350 million investment pledge into its business in Zambia.
The company hopes to create 450 direct jobs.
UZI Mobile Zambia is majority owned by Unitel International Holdings B.V which is registered in the Netherlands with a ten year presence in Anglola, São Tomé, Cape Verde and Portugal.
The firm promises to deploy 4.5 G and 5 G technologies countrywide and will deploy 100 sites in undeserved and unserved areas of the country.
The country already has MTN, Airtel and Zamtel as the three mobile service providers.
President Lungu orders prompt inquiry into the power supply failure at UTH
President Edgar Lungu has ordered a prompt inquiry into the power supply failure at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) which occurred yesterday.
President Lungu has directed the Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya together with the Minister of Energy Mathew Nkhuwa to promptly carry out investigations into the circumstances that led to the incident.
The Head of State further requires the two ministers to render a report by the end of today.
This is contained in a press statement issued to ZANIS in Lusaka this afternoon by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda.
Minister of Home Affairs has powers to deport anyone –Chanda
Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda says the Minister of Home Affairs has executive powers to deport any person deemed to offend the values and morals of the country.
Mr. Chanda said the minister can deport any person without consulting anyone or the victim in question.
The Presidential Aid revealed that the Minister only issues a deportation warrant based on the information availed to him by the security wings.
Mr. Chanda was speaking when He featured on ZNBC popular weekly programme Sunday interview yesterday.
He cited the deportation of South African controversial dancer Zodwa Wabantu and the Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane as instances where the Minister of Home Affairs acted within the confines of the law.
Mr. Chanda said the Home Affairs minister has a duty and obligation to protect the values and morals that govern the conduct of the citizens.
He emphasized during the interview that foreign nationals are only deported when it is necessary or threaten the peace of the country
Mr. Chanda clarified that the Minister does not issue deportation warrants based on impulse but that He is guided by tangible information.
The Presidential Aid insisted that all deportation made by government are done in the interest of the nation.
Mr. Chanda said entry into the country is at the discretion of the Zambian state.
Tourism Minister commends Liuwa conservation efforts
MINISTER of Tourism and Arts Hon. Charles Banda has said wildlife conservation efforts need to be stepped up for posterity.
Speaking when he and Works and Supply Minister Hon. Felix Mutati visited the Liuwa National Park at the weekend, the Minister commended the work being done by African Parks (AP) that has led to the recovery of wildlife numbers in the park.
He said the there is still need to do a little more conservation, coupled with aggressive marketing to achieve the tourism dream of government.
Hon. Banda said Government couldn’t achieve everything on itself, hence the need for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) that brings on board the private sector and local communities in tourism.
He echoed the President Edgar Lungu’s call to restock depleted national parks by partnering with people with competences and capacity to do so.
And Hon. Mutati said the PPP in the Liuwa is working, providing the practical solution that there can never be sustainable conservation without the partnership of the Government, private sector and local communities.
Meanwhile, AP Chief Executive Officer Peter Fearnhead the visit of the two Ministers to the park shows the government’s commitment to what his organization is doing in the Liuwa.
He said there is need for the Government to look after its national parks if they are to last for decades.
Fearnhead said AP helps government manage national parks in nine different countries in Africa.
NGO’s call on Zambians to revolt against the government’s reckless abuse of public funds
Some Civil Society Organisations in Zambians have appealed to citizens to revolt against the government’s reckless abuse of public funds.
The NGOs who held a press briefing at Kapingila House in Lusaka charged that Zambians needs to rise up and demand proper accountability of public funds.
Speaking on behalf of the other civil society leaders, Bishop John Mambo said Zambians should be bold enough and rise up against government.
“The problem with us Zambians is that we are cowards, we fear man instead of fearing God. We should rise up and revolt and we are not saying we should remove this Government, what we are saying is that we should demand that Government improves the way it utilizes public funds,” Bishop Mambo said.
He added, ” let us go out and burn tyres, let us go on the streets and say enough is enough.”
The NGOs stated that Zambia is in a state of financial emergency.
“It is no secret that Zambia is facing a critical budget deficit and debt burden that determines that there are very limited resources available for critical services such as health, education and water. The Civil society is very worried that limited resources available for service delivery are not reaching the poor,” the CSO said.
“In short, the basic needs of the poor are not being prioritized in the use of available resources and therefore are not translating into very achievable improved lives and quality of services for all Zambians. An example of this is the very preventable recent outbreak of cholera which shone the spot light on a dysfunctional local government system,” the said.
“We encourage citizens to be protective of government money because it is our money and it determines the quality of services that citizens, especially the very poor, can access. We call on citizens to not accept the current situation in which scandal after scandal is met by silence from the President and government because they know that storms never last in Zambia,” they demanded.
“We, the civil society organisations gathered here, call on all Zambians to rise and ensure that your money improves your lives,” they said.
Press Statement Released Monday, 19th March 2018
JOINT CIVIL SOCIETY PRESS CONFERENCE ON ACCOUNTABILITY CRISIS IN ZAMBIA
CCZ OFFICES – BISHOP ROAD, KABULONGA
On Wednesday 14 March 2018, News Diggers Newspaper published a story which suggested that there is rampant abuse of public resources during presidential international trips. The claims in the story were very concerning.
They are the reason the Civil Society Organisations represented here today, have come together to express our joint sense of concern at what is coming across as a critical abuse of public resources by the current administration.
The News Diggers dossier which included expenditure paid for from a government account for luxury items such as a boat cruise and shopping expeditions, as well as a highly bloated delegation list that included individuals with no identifiable government business on the trips, joins a long list of matters in the public sphere that require urgent explanation by government.
These matters suggest that there is at best, very poor prioritization in the use of public resources by government, and at worst, runaway corruption that treats public money with extreme recklessness.
In this regard, we refer to the following issues:
- The purchase of 42 fire trucks for 42 million US dollars by the Ministry of Local Government
- The purchase of 50 ambulances by the Ministry of Health at the cost of 288,000 US dollars each
- The intention to sell NRDC to AVIC international without consultation and against public opinion
- The inflated costing of infrastructure projects such as the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway and the new Kenneth Kaunda International Airport terminal, in Lusaka
- The astronomical size of, as well as the inclusion in, presidential delegations of individuals with no identifiable duties on international trips
- The revelation by the Financial Intelligence Centre of astronomical amounts in illicit financial transactions in a nine-month period of 2017
- The poor quality of projects carried out at great cost, such as the roads in Lusaka that have developed major potholes within a short period of their rehabilitation
- The digital migration process that has been reported to be many times more expensive than any other on the continent
- The non-payment of money accrued by the 96 ministers when they stayed in office illegally as ruled by the Constitutional court.
- The Topstar deal
- The general and routine overpricing of goods procured by government as shown in the Auditor General’s report
- Repeated use of service providers named in Auditor General’s reports as having mismanaged public resources
- The weak internal control systems in government that result in shocking amounts lost as again reported in the Auditor General’s report.
The Civil society is of the view that the constant drip of scandals cannot be ignored as it suggests systemic accountability failure in government.
It requires in-depth investigation of specific issues but more importantly an overhaul of public resource management systems.
We therefore demand that each of the matters listed above, be investigated and the public provided with in-depth explanations of the extent to which claims in the public sphere are true.
We would like to emphasize here that it is not the duty of the public to provide evidence to the state when matters of accountability are raised. Rather, it is the duty of duty-bearers to provide full information on questions raised, and to institute disciplinary and criminal procedures when required.
On behalf of the Zambian people, we the organisations gathered here therefore demand that:
- Full information on the extent to which the News Diggers dossier is true is shared with the public
- All people that flouted financial regulations in any of the cases above be disciplined and resources recovered
- Going forward, clear guidelines of who can be included on a presidential delegation at tax-payer cost are set out
- The stage at which the investigation into the 42For42 scandal by the Anti-Corruption Commission is made public
- All processes towards the sale of NRDC be halted until full information on the transaction is shared with the public. On this it is the view of the civil society that the NRDC should NOT be sold.
- A report on investigation and prosecution of individuals named in the Auditor General’s reports be published
- The “blacklisting” of any service providers named in the auditor General’s report to prevent them accessing any more contracts
The CSOs gathered here specially alert the public to the fact that the country is in a state of financial emergency.
It is no secret that Zambia is facing a critical budget deficit and debt burden that determines that there are very limited resources available for critical services such as health, education and water.
The Civil society is very worried that limited resources available for service delivery are not reaching the poor.
In short, the basic needs of the poor are not being prioritized in the use of available resources and therefore are not translating into very achievable improved lives and quality of services for all Zambians.
An example of this is the very preventable recent outbreak of cholera which shone the spot light on a dysfunctional local government system.
The cholera outbreak also revealed the routine loss of public resources at markets to ruling party cadres. With millions of Kwacha spent on the outbreak, and lives of vendors disrupted, the disease has not been contained.
Recent figures show that there are upwards of 20 new cases being admitted per day. Further, market places for the thousands of households that depend on vending have not been created as promised thus creating a major crisis of hunger and crime.
At a time such as this, it is unacceptable that even a ngwee of public money would be misused. We therefore call on Zambians to rise and demand accountability, starting from the local level and going up to the highest office in the land.
We encourage citizens to be protective of government money because it is our money and it determines the quality of services that citizens, especially the very poor, can access.
We call on citizens to not accept the current situation in which scandal after scandal is met by silence from the President and government because they know that storms never last in Zambia.
We urge citizens to understand government’s constitutional responsibility to act on all matters of accountability that are raised by the public.
To summarise our reason for being here:
We, the civil society organisations gathered here, call on all Zambians to rise and ensure that your money improves your lives!
Thank you.
Signed
Action Aid
Alliance for Community Action (ACA)
Civil Society Initiative for Constitutional Agenda (CiSCA)
Oasis Forum
PAN
Women for Change
ZCSD
Caritas Zambia
We better deregister universities not engaged in research
Government has threatened to deregister universities that do not engage in research work.
High Education Minister Nkandu Luo says both public and private universities must prioritize more in research activities as they are a cornerstone of any academia.
Pro Luo laments that she is disappointed with the low number of higher learning institutions engaged in research.
ZANIS reports that Pro Luo, complained that the impact of 61 universities that the country has could not be felt in the absence of research.
“The impact of 61 Universities cannot be felt if higher learning institutions are not fully involved in research work,” she complained.
“We cannot feel the impact of the 61 universities, because they don’t do any research. How can a university operate without engaging in research work” She asked.
The Minister threatened to deregister universities not doing research work to college level.
Prof. Luo was speaking when she officiated at the capacity workshop on using high impact data to improve research output in Zambia.
The Minister said the desire of government is to make decisions based on evidence collected through research.
She complained that the current research work being done by higher learning institutions is not impacting the lives of the Zambian people.
Prof. Luo appealed to institutions mandated to carry out research work to repositions themselves and venture into serious research.
She noted that if government is availed with evidence obtained from research, then government can make informed decisions based on the data available.
“We need our own evidence to help us make our own decisions as government. Time is long gone when we looked for evidence elsewhere.” She stated.
She explained that Countries around the world are growing their economies through using knowledge obtained through research.
The Minister said Zambia should emulate and create its own evidence gathered through research work.
Prof Luo said government was failing to make decisions on many matters as there is little or evidence to enable government make a decision.
She indicated that the country will lag behind if institutions don’t priorities research work top on the agenda.
Bank of Zambia launch financial literacy week
The Bank of Zambia has today launched the Financial Literacy Week with a call to improve on the culture of saving.
Bank of Zambia Governor Denny Kalyalya said there is need to develop values of saving at a tender age even when one has low income levels.
ZANIS reports that Mr. Kalyalya said this in Lusaka today during the Launch of the Financial Literacy Week under the theme “Save, Invest, Insure; for a better life!
Mr. Kalyalya said the event which is being commemorated in all the provinces is meant to increase awareness on increased saving.
He said the event also aims at making sure that the general citizenry is made part of the campaign and increase the knowledge base.
Mr. Kalyalya said when majority of people saves there is likely to be sustainable contribution to those saving as they will invest the money saved.
He has since applauded the banking sectors and other financial lending institutions for taking a leading role in insuring that clients have different options of saving.
Mr. Kalyalya said saving will not only help one to invest in their lives but will also give one a better future where they can lean on in times of financial strain.
He said the financial services sector remained an important sector to the Zambian economy with annual contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about 3 percent over the last three years.
Mr. Kalyalya said with concerted efforts on financial inclusion and financial literacy awareness programmes, the financial sector is bound to grow and increase its contribution to GDP even further.
He said the situation is further made easy if one also makes sure that they insure all their assets and the money that they have worked for.
Speaking earlier Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) Deputy Chairperson James Koni stated that the awareness week is meant to teach people the know how in the art of saving.
Mr. Koni said wealth creation is a life time process which calls for patience, coupled with a lot of financial literacy.
State of the Nation address at Parliament in pictures
HH’s bodyguard Spearman Mumbuluma found dead at his house
Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema’s personal bodyguard Spearman Mumbuluma has been found dead at his house.
The late Mumbuluma was found dead in unclear circumstances.
Mr Hichilema has since described Mr Mumbuluma as a trusted friend.
“This is a very difficult time for me personally as I have lost one of my very close and personal friends in Mumbuluma,” Mr Hichilema said.
“To his family, all I can say is heartfelt condolences from Mutinta and myself and the wider UPND family. Let us hold hands and pray for the family of Mumbuluma and lets reach out to them in this difficult time. Rest in peace my brother and protector.”
And UPND Vice President Geoffrey Mwamba also expressed sadness at the death of Mr Mumbuluma.
“With deepest sympathy my wife, family and I send my condolences to President HH, the UPND and indeed the Mumbuluma family on the passing of Mr Mumbuluma, our President’s security man,” Mr Mwamba said.
“Mr Mumbuluma was indeed a wonderful and alert part of the security detail, quiet and composed at all times and only last week we had a wonderful time together in Kasama.”
He added, “We will continue the struggle but it would have been fitting if the departed was part of our imminent success. We will always have fond memories and this loss is quite devastating.”
MTN, FAZ seal deal
MTN Zambia has unveiled a US$4.5-million three-year sponsorship deal to the Zambian Super League and the National Team.
The sponsorship deal, signed in Lusaka with the Football Association of Zambia -FAZ-, is an increase from the previous US$1million dollars to over US$1.5million dollars a year.
The Zambia National Team will benefit US$750 000 dollars in sponsorship.
And FAZ President, Andrew Kamanga says the deal will see the winners of the league walk away with K500 000, while each team in the league will be given K200 000
Meanwhile, MTN Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Charles Mulapisi said his company is proud to be associated with the growth of Zambian football.Mulapisi has since pledged MTN Zambia’s continued support to Zambian football.The two were speaking after the signing ceremony.
Nkandu Luo’s case stalled due to missing video evidence
Lusaka High Court Judge Edward Musona on Monday failed to watch the controversial video in a case where Munali Member of Parliament Nkandu Luo has challenged the high court’s decision to nullify her seat.This is because the video was not available in court.
This prompted judge Musona to ask the parties involved as to the whereabout of the video.Lawyers representing the PF and UPND informed the court that the video is in the custody of the court master.It was at this point that Judge Musona ordered the registrar of the constitutional court, who is also director of court operations, to investigate the whereabout of the video.
In his ruling, Judge Musona said if the video failed to be produced in court because of some officers at the judiciary, action should be taken against them.Justice Musona said he does not want matters to delay in his court, before adjourning the matter to tomorrow.
In this matter, Judge Musona was ordered by the Constitutional Court in February 2018 to watch the disputed video and ascertain its authenticity.This is a case in which professor Luo challenged in the Constitutional Court the high court’s decision to nullify her seat.
Judge Musona had ruled in favour of UPND Munali losing candidate Doreen Mwamba, citing electoral malpractice and violence as the reason for his decision.