Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba says Zambia has strengthened its bilateral relation with Madagascar following the visit to Zambia by that country’s President Rakotoarimanana Rajaonarimampianina..

Mr. Kalaba said Zambia will take every opportunity to seek for good bilateral relation and regional integration.

ZANIS reports that Mr. Kalaba said this after President Lungu saw off President Rajaonarimampianina at Lusaka international airport yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Kalaba, who is also Bahati Member of Parliament disclosed that President Lungu has received an invitation to attend the Nile Basin Initiative in Uganda as a special guest for the important role that Zambia plays in issues of migration.

Zambia has in recent months received high profile delegates from Africa and beyond due to its important role it’s plying in maintaining peace and stability not only in Zambia but the region as a whole.

The classroom block was constructed by KCM to alleviate problems with learning space at the primary school and to enhance the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to provide education to all. The gesture also fits into KCM’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes underpinned on four pillars – education, health, sustainable livelihoods and sport.

Nchanga Member of Parliament Chali Chilombo commended KCM for its work in complementing the government’s efforts to expand schools and broaden access to education.

“I applaud KCM for this wonderful gesture as Nchanga Member of Parliament, and indeed on behalf of the Government. This type of project gels with our plans as government to expand schools and provide access to education to as many children as we can,” he said.

Konkola Copper Mines Manager – Community Relations Brian Siatubi said that the company spent four hundred and eighteen thousand kwacha (K418,000) to construct the classroom block as part of its plans to uplift the living standards of people.

“KCM will continue to work closely with the Nchanga Member of Parliament and the entire government system in Chingola to make sure that we complement each other’s efforts of bringing development to our communities,” he said.

Soweto Primary School is located in Chingola’s Bupalo Ward and it currently caters for over 700 students in the area. KCM has a long-standing partnership with Soweto Primary School and has contributed water and sanitation facilities to the school in recent times.

Republican President Edgar Lungu has met the African Union (AU)Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira El Fadil who briefed him on progress made by African Union member states regarding the campaign to end Child Marriage on the African continent.

Ms Amira El Fadil paid the courtesy call on the President his capacity as the Continental Champion against this scourge, and the briefing was intended to prepare the President for his report to the forthcoming African Union Summit scheduled for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 3rd to 4th July, 2017.

Welcoming the AU Commissioner today at State House, the President bemoaned the negative impact of child marriage on children whose qualitative lives are curtailed before they acquire an education which would have gone a long way in realizing their full potential.

Mr Lungu acknowledged that Zambia like other African countries is adversely affected by the negative repercussions of child marriage and that if implications of this challenge are not addressed, this would undermine the development of Zambia and the entire African continent in sectors such as health, education, gender equality and economic empowerment.

“In view of this realization, Zambia decided to launch its campaign against child marriage. Zambia has embarked upon a multi-sectoral approach where line ministries have formed a consortium to draw synergies and linkages to ensure that all aspects of the development of the girl-child and also the vulnerable boys are addressed in a comprehensive manner. The Civil Society has also come on board, by forming a network to campaign against child marriages,” the President said.

The President revealed during the meeting that Zambia has recorded a reduction in early child marriage cases from 60 percent in 2013 to 45 percent in 2017 and attributed this to the multi- sectoral approach by Government to fight the practice, including political will from the Presidency and the First Lady’s Office.

During the meeting the President also presented the National Strategy, the National Plan of Action and other documents that the country has been using in the campaign on ending child marriage in Zambia.

The meeting at State House was also attended by Zambia’s Gender Minister Victoria Kalima and the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Edwidge Mutale.

During the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January this year, the President championed a high level platform to assess the state of the implementation of the Common African Position on Ending Child Marriage, particularly in countries where the AU campaign had been launched nationally.

The meeting also identified concrete steps towards the establishment of a High Level Monitoring and Follow up Panel/Forum for the Implementation of the Common African Position.

The African Common Position on Ending Child Marriage was adopted by Heads of State and Government who included the President at the mid-year Assembly in June 2015. This adoption followed the continental AU campaign to End Child Marriage which was launched by the Commission of the African Union in May 2014.

Arising from this Assembly, the Commission was requested to develop a comprehensive Action Plan for monitoring the Implementation of the African Common Position and report to the Assembly on progress made towards ending child marriage in Africa, biennially.

This is contained in a statement by President Lungu’s Special Assistant For Press and Public Relations, Amos Chanda, this evening.

Police in Zimbabwe say a bus traveling to Zambia has crashed, killing 45 people.

Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said Thursday that the bus crashed on Wednesday night about 156 kilometers north of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

Ms. Charamba says the bus driver failed to negotiate a curve, though a formal investigation of the crash is underway.

Ms. Charamba says 43 people died at the scene and another two died of their injuries on Thursday.

Many Zimbabweans travel to Zambia by bus daily to trade in foodstuffs and clothes.

Former United Party for National Development (UPND) Vice President Canisius Banda has refuted the story circulating on social media suggesting that he stated that he was blinded to support Hakainde Hichilema.

Banda said the news is false and thoughtless because he cannot say such inane and imprudent things.

“No, It is NOT from me. It is NOT true. And it is fake news. …Idiotic. Very silly stuff this. Evil. How can the Dr Canisius BANDA I know, the Pilgrim I am, say such inane and stupid things?”

“Impossible. But thanks for their compliment anyway… Brood of vipers are behind this. Sons of sluts!” Dr. Banda said

Below is the story is the story circulating on social media:

I WAS BLINDED TO SUPPORT HH, SAID CANISIUS BANDA AS HE OFFICIALLY JOINS PF

“Arrest all UPND members, they are like Bokp Haram in my eyes…..”, he said.

Former UPND vice-president for politics,Dr.Banda has today joined the ruling PF calling his former party and its leader Hakainde Hichilema and UPND as politically dead.

Dr Banda says,he wants to work with president Edgar Lungu and the PF to develop Zambia. And when asked to state some reasons why he has joined the PF when HH was incarceration?

He responded by saying,’How do you feed a cow when its dead?’ “The man is dead in prison and I have been told he wont be released soon. So why should I support a dead man politically?”.

I praise president Lungu for his incarceration because he could have caused civil war if he was not caged. Now that he is inside, the country is calm and we like it”, said Banda.

He added that President Lungu has a vision for Zambia and means well to the Zambia people.

He is loved by everyone adding that one of his many visions was to lock stubborn people like HH. :Yes, HH helped me a lot financially, but that cant make me to worship him because he acquired that wealth through privatization”,he said.

“So he was paying back!”. Dr Banda claimed to have been blind the time he was with the UPND. “I followed Hichilema,a visionless man,blindly.

I thank God that Am not part of treason….” “But Zambians should not mistake my joining of PF led by my brother Edgar Lungu to tribalism”, he said. ” He also said he has technically been a PF member since President Sata died.

“I have been a PF member since 2014, so my official joining of PF should not surprise anyone”, he said. Dr Banda,popularly known as the Pilgrim on Facebook,has since likened his former party (UPND),to Boko Haram.

“Let all of them be arrested including GBM, I have no pity for them as they are like Boko Haram in my sight”.

National Restoration Party (NAREP) National Youth Chairperson Medson Mugala has called on the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to arrest Chingola Member of Parliament Matthew Nkhuwa for political corruption.

Mugala said the Chingola Member of Parliament Matthew Nkhuwa had lobbied for donation for construction of a police post in Riverside but he later on bulldozed everyone so that the police post is built next to his biological sister Mrs Nyoni’s shop.

The NAREP Youth chairperson who revealed that there was once a break in  at the same shop and has since accused Mr Nkhuwa that he wants to turn police officers into his personal security guards instead of employing security guards to man the shop.

Mugala noted that Mr. Nkhuwa has  shown  that he has no regards for anyone and he has even started building without a building permit from the Council.

The NAREP Youth chairperson wondered what type of a leader Mr. Nkhuwa was to  want to abrogate the Law with impunity, a  few months after being elected  and noted that  ACC does not even need to investigate this matter because Mr Nkhuwa has already started building without a permit and the building is on the plot of his late sister Mrs Nyoni.

“PF leaders must learn to serve the electorate not only their personal interests. In more cases than one, the electorate’s plea is shelved in preference to conditions at their expense”

“He has refused to heed advice from the community and council directive to set up a police post at an identified central place that would serve the interest of a larger population as opposed to the area he has chosen which is only serving his personal interests”

“Chingola ward has had a lifetime drought of a police station in Riverside. After 2016 general elections, many of us who aspired for elective office had ambitions of putting up a police station and a clinic at Council approved central places to conveniently service a population of over 10,000 of Riverside, Chingola central and Soweto”

“In a bid to fulfill his campaign promises, Mr Nkhuwa has forced his way by constructing a tiny police post at a site close to his sister’s shop, Mrs. Nyoni, which he built and stocked for her, may her soul rest in peace. This is a site that has no approvals from council and has no council seating minutes”

“This is an abrogation of local laws yet the law maker has chosen to go ahead with his construction while hiding in the guise of claiming it’s a community initiative by asking a few loyalists to make public contributions towards the construction, yet it’s intended to protect his property and home,  which is so close to the site”

“As a concerned resident of Chingola, I strongly ask Mr Nkhuwa to show leadership by adhering to the people’s demands by putting up a police post that will centrally serve both the rich and poor”

“We need a police post that will be big enough to carter for large catchment area and not a structure that is just meant to serve individual interests and gallery of Sontapo. Leadership is about serving the people in need not fulfilling personal ambitions. ACC please come and arrest Mr Nkhuwa” Mugala said