Zambia’s Vice-President, Mrs Inonge Mutukwa Wina is tomorrow expected in New York for the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Lazarous Kapambwe has announced that Vice President Wina will lead the Zambian delegation to the annual high level meeting that will from Monday be discussing issues of gender and trhe empowerment of women in the globe development agenda.

Amb Kapambwe said Vice President Wina’s delegation to the 10 day meeting will share best practices on the international policy framework for the promotion of the welfare of women and the girl child.

The Zambian envoy to the United Nations said Mrs Wina will also hold various high level bilateral meetings including engagements with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, World Bank President and the UN under secretary as well as Executive Secretary for the UN women.

Amb Kapambwe said that according to latest UN statistics, 70 per cent of women are plying their skills in the agriculture sector and yet only 15 per cent are having access to financial services.

This year’s CSW theme is “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”

Amb Kapambwe has expressed satisfaction at the preparations for the Vice-President’s scheduled participation at the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women from the 10th of march to the 18th of march 2018 in new york.

Amb Kapambwe said the CSW is significant because it is the principle platform for countries around the globe to share best practices regarding issues surrounding women.

He stated that the CSW he is provided the biggest interface where international norms and policy meant to improve the welfare of women and girls are set.

Amb Kapambwe explained that the zambian delegation will take the opportunity to indicate to the world the achievement Zambia has so far scored while at the same time sharing with other Member States the challenges the country is facing.

He stated that Zambia is going to highlight the achievements made in the fight against early marriages, campaign against gender discrimination and other vices affecting young girls.

“Zambia will co-sponsor some of the side meetings, one of which will focus on early marriages, where Her Honour the Vice President is expected to make interventions, highlighting the efforts being made to end the vice. Once a girl child is forced into early marriage, their future is curtailed,” Amb Kapambwe said.

Some of the jhigh level meeting Her Honour the Vice President is expected to attend include one themed ‘the voice of rural women for sustainable and healthy future”, which will be co-hosted by the permanent missions of zambia and Italy as well as attend a meeting that will focus on increasing women’s access to financial products.

A meeting on accelerating efforts to end child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) will be held and will be co-hosted by Zambia and Burkina Faso, in partnership with UNICEF, UNFPA, and UN Women.

Pick n Pay Group Enterprises Director DALLAS LANGMAN has assured Zambian government that the retail chain store will cooperative with government’s directive to remove products from its stores that have been listed as posing potential danger to the spread of the current outbreak of Listeriosis disease that affected South Africa.

In an assurance letter sent to the Zambian High Commissioner to South Africa, His Excellency Mr. EMMANUEL MWAMBA, LANGMAN said the removing the listed products from the store’s shelves was the right thing to do.

He said his chain store proactively began to remove ready-to-eat meat products the moment they were identified as being the source of the disease, adding that the company will continue exercising sense of responsibility until the end of the disease.

Mr. Langman, however, appealed to government authorities to issue coordinated information to both the retailers and Health Inspectors to ensure that the process was complete and detailed.

He observed that there was need to formulate strict mechanism to ensure that there was uniformity of information disseminated to stakeholders in order to avoid issuing conflicting messages which were adding to what he describe as an “already complex situation”.

Mr. Langman said lack of clarity on the list of potential products to be removed from the store’s shelves was causing public confusion and increasing workload of all stakeholders without benefits to public health.

He has since appealed to the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria to help facilitate the communication right information between the chain store and relevant government institutions to enable the company continue fully cooperating as it was already doing.

This comes in the wake of government banning the import of ready-to-eat meat and other products from South Africa following the outbreak of Listeriosis in that country that has so far claimed lives of 180 people.

Prior to banning the import of ready to eat meat products, Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, His Excellency Mr. EMMANUEL MWAMBA called on South African retail chain stores operating in Zambia to recall ready-to-eat meat products imported from that country following expert confirmation that the products were a source of Listeria bacteria.

The Mission had earlier requested the South African government through the Department of International Relations and Corporation (DIRCO), to put precautionary health measures in place to ensure that all its food exports to Zambia were free of a food borne disease.

Community Development and Social Services Minister Emerine Kabanshi has pledged government’s resolve to double the number of beneficiaries of the Food Security Pack (FSP) given to vulnerable members of society next year to ensure food security at household level.

Speaking when she graced the International Women’s Day celebrations in Chililabombwe, Ms. Kabanshi said the food security pack programme has more women beneficiaries than their male counterparts as an effort to reduce poverty and vulnerability among women in the country.

ZANIS reports that Ms. Kabanshi said government is committed to ensuring that girls attained education unlike early marriages which hampers development and is being perpetuated by their vulnerability as a result of poverty.

She said government recognized the fact that gender equity and mainstreaming enhances social economic development hence, the need to nurture women as their participation in national programmes is critical.

The Minister stressed the need to embrace both rural and urban women in empowerment programmes such as the social cash transfer and the food security packs being administered under her Ministry.

Ms. Kabanshi said about 400 000 people that are currently benefitting from the social cash transfer programme are women out of the 590 000 total beneficiaries, an indication of the importance placed on the women folk.

And Chililabombwe Mayor Christabel Mulala called on government to empower more women with farming inputs to ensure they become self-sustaining and food secure.

Ms. Mulala also called for an end of intimidation of women in work places as it negatively affected their contribution to national development.

PF Media Director Sunday Chanda said it is surprising that the Opposition party should embark on that when the party (UPND) does not recognize President Lungu as the Head of State.

Speaking through a press statement made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today, Mr. Chanda stated that whenever the UPND talks about their imaginary petition, they insist on not recognizing that Zambia has a legitimate President in Office.

He said the UPND has since its inception possessed the insatiable desire to overthrow all governments that have existed in its time.

Mr. Chanda added that the party is desperate to take the reins of power using the back door since its formation and cannot be assumed that the drive is motivated by the desire to serve the people but to own up to their creditors and their funders.

He noted that the recurrent call to unseat governments by the UPND whose establishment and operations has heavily benefitted from some mining conglomerate leaves have more questions than answers.

Mr. Chanda explained that the mining giants which once controlled mining operations in the country and later lost their hold when the Zambian government nationalized mining operations in 1973.

He said the conglomerates have never rested since in their quest to regain control of the mineral rights and is their agenda to advance through their allies and stooges on the African continent such as the UPND.

Mr. Chanda said the UPND financiers lost patience a long time ago which explains the party’s insatiable desire to take over power at every chance they imagine.

He further added that from the way they talk it is clear that the party is bankrolled in full and is failing to deliver as promised.

Mr. Chanda said the move to impeach a legitimately elected president is misplaced, ill-conceived and aimed at enriching a few people that have direct contacts to the world of the rich who have an interest in the country’s natural resources especially mineral wealth.

The Media Director has since appealed to Members of Parliament to pick a leaf from the electorate that understands the UPND’S ill intention as they have reportedly rejected its agenda to mortgage the country to a monopoly capital.

Spokesperson Spuki Mulemwa says as the biggest opposition political party, the UPND should have allowed their women to take part in the event.

Speaking with ZNBC News, Mr Mulemwa said women’s day is a global event which celebrates the contributions that women have made to the advancement of humanity.

He said there is need for the opposition to look at such events from a broader perspective and not from a political view point.

But UPND Secretary General Steven Katuka said his party stayed away from the event because it did Not receive security guarantees.

However, Minister of Home Affairs Steven Kampyongo has labelled the UPND justification for their absence at the Women’s Day celebrations as baseless.

Mr Kampyongo said other political parties took part in the celebrations and were Not harassed by anyone.

He challenged women in the UPND to do self-introspection and value national days which are above partisan politics.

Mr Kampyongo said security was high at all events to mark women’s day and there was no way that UPND members could have been harassed.