Join our community of SUBSCRIBERS and be part of the conversation.
To subscribe, simply enter your email address on our website or click the subscribe button below. Don't worry, we respect your privacy and won't spam your inbox. Your information is safe with us.
Long-time serving Executive Director of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International Zambia Goodwell Lungu has finally decided to leave his post he has held for 12 years.
In a letter to partners and citizens, Mr Lungu said he will be retiring at the end of his contract which comes to an end on 31st December 2016.
“I wish to express my gratitude to the current Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) Board whom I provided 5 months’ notice on 5th of August 2016 for accepting my personal decision to retire from the position of Executive Director for TIZ which position I have held for 12 years from 2004,” he said.
“My gratitude goes to all TIZ members in particular the late Professor Alfred Chanda the first Chapter President, Mr. Rueben Lifuka, the second Chapter President and Mr. Lee Habasonda the current outgoing Chapter President for the tremendous support they accorded my office. I further wish to extend my sincere thanks to all my members of staff, civil society organisations, partners, friends and family members for the unwavering support they rendered to me during my tenure as I was performing the tough job of TIZ Executive Director.”
He added, “I will be failing in my duties not to thank the gallant Zambian media for their dedicated good coverage on the anti-corruption crusade that I contributed to whilst serving as TIZ Executive Director.”
He said, “My retiring from TIZ is under my strong belief that as a Governance institution, TIZ needs change of guard at strategic intervals to bring in fresh leadership to take the fight against corruption to greater heights. I want to also thank all our cooperating partners and citizens and residents of Zambia for the excellent support they offered towards my leadership. I will continue to be a committed anti-corruption fighter in Zambia. I will be leaving TIZ as a very proud Executive Director for the contribution I have made to the fight against corruption in Zambia. I wish TIZ and the fight against corruption in Zambia every success.
Wedson Nyirenda says Saturday’s draw has put Zambia’s 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying race back on track.
Zambia snatched a valuable 1-1 away draw against Cameroon in Limbe on November 12 to collect their first point in Group B after losing 2-1 in their opening game at home to Nigeria on October 9.
“We are still in contention for the World Cup, we have two games at home and we need to get maximum points,” Nyirenda said.
Zambia will play Algeria in a doubleheader next year on August 28 at home and September 2 away before hosting Cameroon on November 6 in their penultimate Group B match.
Chipolopolo are now third from bottom in Group B on 1 point, tied with Algeria who drop to 4th after losing 3-1 away to leaders Nigeria who have maximum 6 points.
UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) official Michael Chuzu
has appeared in Chipata Magistrate Court where he is charged
with the offence of seditious practices.
Mr Chuzu 59, who is National Deputy Chairperson for Youth and Sports
Development, is alleged to have issued a statement on September 26th
2016 on Chipata Television stating that UPND met to resolve that the
party does not recognise Edgar Lungu as a President of the Republic of
Zambia since the court did not declare his elections.
The UPND official who is jointly charged with CTV editor Iris Mwale,
however, appeared before magistrate Philip Mpundu for explanation of
the offence.
Magistrate Mpundu since granted bail of K5000 each with three works sureties.
The two are expected to appear for further explanation of the offence
on November 28th this year.
Kampamba Mulenga Minister of Information and Broadcasting servisesMr Richard Mweene Commissioner of Police Northern ProvincePresident Edgar Lungu Swearing in Hon Kampamba Mulenga Minister of Information and Broadcating ServicePresident Edgar Lungu Swearing in Hon Kampamba Mulenga Minister of Information and Broadcating ServicePresident Edgar Lungu Swearing in Mr Richard Mweene Commissioner of Police Northern ProvincePresident Edgar Lungu Swearing in Mr Richard Mweene Commissioner of Police Northern ProvincePresident Edgar Lungu with hon Kampamba Mulenga Minister of Information and Broadcasting servicesPresident Edgar Lungu with hon Kampamba Mulenga Minister of Information and Broadcasting servises and Mr Richard Mweene Commissioner of Police Northern ProvincePresident Edgar Lungu with Mr Richard Mweene Commissioner of Police Northern ProvincePresident Edgar Lungu with Mr Richard Mweene Commissioner of Police Northern ProvinceMr Richard Mweene Commissioner of Police Northern ProvincePresident Edgar Lungu receive latter of Oath from Newly appointed Minister of Information Kampamba Mulenga at State HousePresident Edgar Lungu receive latter of Oath from Newly appointed Northern Province Police Commissioner Richard Mweene at State HousePresident Edgar Lungu congratulates Newly appointed Northern Province Police Commissioner Richard Mweene at State HousePresident Edgar Lungu congratulates Newly appointed Minister of Information Kampamba Mulenga whilst Newly appointed Northern Province Police Commissioner Richard Mweene looks on at State Houseesident Edgar Lungu and Vice President Inonge Wina pose for photo with congratulates Newly appointed Minister of Information Kampamba Mulenga at State HousePresident Edgar Lungu and Vice President Inonge Wina pose for photo with congratulates Newly appointed Minister of Information Kampamba Mulenga (r) Northern Province Police Commissioner Richard Mweene (l) at State House
FOUR people who include Catholic nuns have died on the spot along the
Chipata-Lundazi road in Lundazi District.
Eastern Province Police Commissioner Alex Chilufya confirmed yesterday
the accident which happened at Kampondo area around 11:00 hours on
Sunday.
Mr Chilufya said the accident happened when a driver Isaac Phiri 27,
whilst carrying four people on board driving Toyota Ipsum registration
number ALC 7695 lost control after hitting into a cyclist.
“The fatal road traffic accident (RTA) occurred around 11:
00hrs at Kampondo area along Lundazi- Chipata road. Involved was a
Toyota Ipsum reg.No.ALC 7695 driven by Isaac Phiri aged 27yrs whilst
carrying five passengers. He hit into a cyclist and in the process the
vehicle lost control and overturned,” he said.
Mr Chilufya identified the decease as Sister Martha Mwale of Teresian
Sisters and Sister Margret Botha of Sisters of John the Baptist all of
Lundazi Parish.
Janet Phiri, a teacher at Lundazi Day SecondarySchool and
Enestiner Jere who are both Catholic also died on the spot.
He said the cyclist survived but with bodily injuries and was
currently admitted to Lumezi Hospital.
And Chipata Catholic Diocese Pastoral Coordinator Fr Gabriel Nyoni has
expressed shock at the sudden death of the two sisters and two other
female Christians.
He has further revealed that the late Sr Martha will be buried
Today at Chassa Parish in Sinda while the body of Sr Margret will be
taken to Kitwe for burial after requiem mass at St Annes Cathedral
Parish.
GOVERNMENT’s intentions of transform Livingstone into a premier
conferencing centre in Southern Africa next year is a step in the
right direction in terms of increasing tourist arrivals to Zambia’s
Tourist Capital, Zambia Tourism Agency (ZTA) managing director Felix
Chaila has said.
In his address to National Assembly on Friday during the presentation
of the 2017 Budget, Finance Minister Felix Mutati said the Government
would next year transform Livingstone into a premier conferencing
centre in Southern Africa to leverage on the infrastructure
developments that had been undertaken.
Speaking in an interview Mr Chaila said Livingstone was an
attractive destination but it lacked adequate conference facilities
and hence the move by the Government would increase tourist arrivals.
“This is a welcome move because Livingstone is already an attractive
destination and conferences will be an added incentive.
“Tourists are looking for destinations that have a diverse product
range including conferences,” Mr Chaila said.
He said the move was also in line with the growing global trend of
promoting the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE)
industry.
The MICE industry is currently one of the fastest growing segments of
the tourism base world over as it mainly attracted local tourists.
Globally, the MICE segment carters for about 400, 000 events annually
across the globe with a total of about US$ 280 billion out of which
about 14, 000 are meetings, conferences, conventions and congresses
involving professional associations, corporate bodies, religious
groups and inter-governmental bodies.
Most tourism enterprises are now investing in conference rooms to
capture this business segment which assures high room occupancy rates
and increased consumption of food and beverages among others.
Mr Chaila said there was need to ensure that people who travel to
Livingstone to view the Victoria Falls also had an opportunity to
enjoy other facilities such as resorts and conferences.
He SAID the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) region, which include five Southern African Countries including
Zambia, had also identified MICE as one of the industries which could
grow the tourism sector.
“During the 20th session of the United Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly, Zambia had to partner with
Zimbabwe to host the event because we did not have inadequate
conference facilities in Livingstone and Victoria Falls Town.
“We also have been struggling to host large groups of tourists because
of the same challenge and so the move by the Government will boost the
sector,” Mr Chaila said.
Last week, a high powered delegation comprising of five Cabinet
Ministers met China Africa Cotton which is planning to invest US$ 50
million to construct a world-class hotel and a sky wheel with a 5, 000
capacity conference facility in the Victoria Falls area of
Livingstone.
In his 2017 Budget Address to Parliament, Minister of Finance Honourable Felix Mutati stated that with effect from 1st march, 2017 government will disengage from the procurement process of refined petroleum products and allow the private sector to import fuel for themselves. Government will remain with regulation which include control of pump price. He cited the need for efficiency as part of the reasons for disengagement.
While the Forum commends government for taking bold steps to migrate electricity tariffs to cost reflective figure by end of 2017 and for attaching visible political will to diversifying the energy mix, the Forum wishes to oppose government disengagement from fuel procurement for the following reasons:
Impact on small and medium oil companies
Women, youth and citizen empowerment which was being achieved or which could be achieved by encouraging Transnational OMCs to partner with citizen owned OMCs for the purpose of participating in the national procurement process which government wants to disengage from will be lost. Fuel procurement is not only a multi-billion dollar business but also presents the easiest vector for local empowerment. This is the vector that should be creating billionaires for Zambia. By disengaging without adequate measures in place, government is transferring a multi-billion dollar business into the laps of Transnational OMCs which dominate the local market.
Multinational oil companies will be able to leverage economies of scale and land fuel with better margins. This arbitrage will significantly impact other OMCs and ultimately kill them. In addition, TAZAMA will lose significant revenue since part of its income comes from handling at least 500 million litres of refined fuel imports per year.
Logistics and storage capacity
Zambia is yet to build adequate strategic fuel tanks to hold sufficient national strategic reserves to last a minimum of 90 days which is in tandem with good global practice. More often than not, the country has fuel reserves covering less than a month. In addition, the combined storage capacity held by the private sector is not enough to be entrusted with this national responsibility at a time when fuel consumption has significantly increased. What would happen if OMCs refuse to import fuel on account of government failure to increase the pump price? The power of Transnational OMCs must never be underestimated. Further, from a financial perspective, a number of OMCs have actually been struggling to comply even with the most basic license requirement of keeping a minimum of 15 days of stock in their tanks at any given time.
Impact on Biofuels roll out
Government has promulgated biofuel standards and to this end, significant investment is currently under development. Growing Biofuel crops has great potential for job creation and will reduce the amount of forex required to import fuel by at least $100m per year. To successfully roll out this exercise, there is need to establish focal points for biofuel blending. When all private players start to import fuel, it will be a challenge to manage quality and biofuel blending.
Currency fluctuation and weak economy
African economies including the Zambian economy are in a fragile state for government to disengage from managing the fuel procurement process without adequate safety measures. Our judgement is that the Zambian Kwacha will remain vulnerable and susceptible to fluctuations for some time. This will mean the OMCs will be calling for frequent fuel price increase failure to which they may be unable to import fuel. In addition, financing imports will have a more adverse effect on small and medium companies especially that OMC margins still remain low.
Product Quality Management
When everyone starts to import from different sources, product quality control will become a major issue especially that some importers will have to share storage facilities since there is inadequate storage facilities in the country, and a number of OMCs do not have their own storage facilities.
Way forward
Energy Forum Zambia wishes to advise government to handle the proposed policy cautiously. It may seem easier especially that it was implemented at one time; but that was some decades ago when fuel demand was not this high and the global economy was not fragile. In our view, whatever has caused government involvement to become unsustainable and inefficient may also affect private players given that government will remain with price control. The following is proposed:
Put on hold the disengagement from fuel procurement until government has built enough strategic fuel reserves to last a minimum of 90 days. This will mean building more storage facilities.
Government to Government fuel procurement still remain a better option and has the potential to lower pump prices even without subsidies.
Research how other countries such as Namibia, Mozambique, Kenya and Ghana have been going about fuel procurement without government involvement but in a way which does not side line and potentially kill other oil companies especially small and medium companies.
In some of these countries, there is an independent body which administers a tender system for the private petroleum sector to ensure that one or two oil companies are selected every six months to import fuel into the country while the rest of the OMCs buy from them at a regulated price. This implies that all registered OMCs singularly or through alliances are given an opportunity to import on behalf of the rest. This is one way of empowering citizen owned OMCs.
The Forum appreciates the significant challenges government is facing and remain hopeful that government will placate the nation without exposing it to significant risks through rushed decision implementation which is not anchored on adequate safety measures. The Forum wishes to assure government of its support in pursuing progressive policies.
By Johnstone Chikwanda (PhD Cand.)
Energy Forum Chairperson
The Anti-Corruption Commission has confirmed placing former Information Minister Chishimba Kambwili under investigations.
Last week, Lusaka Times exclusively revealed that a highly source within the ACC had confirmed that the Commission has now started probing Dr Kambwili’s accumulation of vast wealth since he started serving in government.
This came a few days after President Edgar Lungu warned that he will fire all Ministers engaged in corruption.
In a statement today, ACC Spokesman Timothy Moono said, “Following recent media queries on whether the Anti-Corruption Commission is conducting investigations on alleged corrupt practices against Hon. Chishimba Kambwili, former Information and Broadcasting Minister, I wish to inform you that there has been an inquiry against Hon. Kambwili on allegations of corrupt practices.”
Mr. Moono said, “These investigations are on-going and the Commission would therefore not wish to comment further as this may jeopardize the investigations.”
The source revealed that the subject of the inquiry against Dr Kambwili is the plush villas that the Roan MP has constructed on land belonging to Luanshya Golf Club which he has christened Kambwili Estate.
The ACC is also investigating the construction of around 200 luxury flats near Mitengo area on the Ndola-Luanshya road belonging to Dr Kambwili.
The Commission is also examining how his firm, Mwamona Investments has managed to get several contracts from the Road Development Agency, the mining companies and some Councils.
But Dr Kambwili told his supporters last week Friday outside the Ndola High Court shortly after winning his election petition in Court that he is clean and that the ACC will not find anything incriminating after the investigations.
“I am clean as Dr Kaunda’s white handkerchief,” Dr Kambwili said.
Chibila Dam a major water source providing about 50% of drinking water for Mumbwa District has dried up, plunging the district into a drastic water crisis.
The drying up of Chibila Dam has been alluded to the effects of climate change as it has not been spared by the drought experienced in the 2015/2016 rain season. This has resulted into a scramble of water by farmers cultivating along the banks of the Chibila stream affecting the flow of water into the Dam.
Speaking in an interview, Mumbwa District Council Chairman Gracious Hamatala declared the water crisis as an emergency which needed immediate interventions by government and all stakeholders as lack of water was posing a threat to the health of the district.
“The main water supply run by Lukanga Water and Sewerage Company Limited (LgWSC) has run out of water and the storage holding capacity of the Dam has been affected over the years. One reason is because of the cultivation that has been taking place along the river banks. This has resulted into siltation of the dam reducing the Dam capacity,” Mr. Hamatala said.
The Council Chairman has also revealed that diarrhea cases had increased especially among children and if the situation was not curbed, the district could be on the verge of cholera outbreak as reported in some parts of Central Province.
LgWSC Managing Director Mushany Ngafise Kapusana was saddened to note that Chibila Dam which provides 50% of water to Mumbwa has dried up and that the water utility company is not able to pump and provide water to the community. He said the water Utility Company was working with the stakeholders to come up with immediate measures that could be implemented and lessen the situation.
Chibila dam
“We are working with our Shareholders in Mumbwa who are the Mumbwa District Council and other stakeholders to come up with solutions that can be done in the immediate term. For starters, we have immediate measures in place. Firstly, we are immediately commencing the supply of water using the Water Bowser to affected residents. Besides that, we are also frantically engaging all stakeholders upstream with the view of restricting abstraction to allow water to build up in Chibila dam” Mr. Kapusana said.
He further explained that the company also has medium term measures in place which includes the aggressive mobilization of resources through government to drill and equip two new boreholes in order to improve water supply to affected residents.
LgWSC Managing Director also took time to highlight the long term measures. “The long term measure to have a long-lasting solution to this crisis is to rehabilitate and upgrade Chibila Dam and the surface water treatment plant in order to improve the holding capacity and water production under the National Water Supply Urban Basket” Mr. Kapusana said.
Mumbwa District currently has 3 boreholes which are operational. Lukanga Water and Sewerage Company (LgWSC) still has had a tough time abstracting enough water from the boreholes to supply and effectively mitigate the crisis due to rampant load shedding in Mumbwa.
“The water from the boreholes which are the alternative water sources, is taking longer time to fill up the water reservoirs as in the process, we are being loadshedded. This implies that we cannot pump and distribute water because our pumps are largely dependent on electricity,” The Managing Director said.
We have appealed to our counterparts ZESCO to reduce the numbers of hours that they are loadshedding the District so that we can have a bit more time to fill the reservoirs and supply water to the people,” he added.
The Managing Director said that other immediate interventions that the Company was looking at were engaging prisoners to clear the silted stream and improve the inflow so that water would be allowed to build up. Coupled with that, the village headmen had agreed to engage farmers cultivating along the banks of the stream to desist abstracting water from the Dam for an agreed upon period while the water levels could build up in the Dam.
Mr. Kapusana said the rehabilitation and expansion of the Dam would cost about K1.400, 000 which would include removal of silt from the dam, removing vegetation and rebuilding the embankment of the dam among other refurbishment of the Water Treatment Plant.
The Water Utility Company also seeks to sink additional boreholes as some of the 25 metered deep boreholes had no yields as the water table levels had reduced hence the need to drill at least two more boreholes with a depth of at least 80 metres to curb the situation.
First Lady Esther Lungu pose for a photograph with Kabwe City Council councillors when they visited her at Presidential Guest house on her arrival in Kabwe for the outreach Programme for People with special needs on Wednesday, September 9,2015 -Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
The Local Government Association of Zambia has charged that elected Councillors, like other public officers like judges should be paid a salary and not an allowance.LGAZ President Christopher Kang’ombe said the Association is hopeful that an appropriate amount will be agreed upon as a Councillors’ salary and not the current monthly allowance of K 700 which does not motivate the ward leaders.
Mr Kang’ombe has however condemned the threats by some Councillors to shun the ongoing orientation meetings because of grievances over conditions of service.
“We wish to put on record that there is no need for our hardworking Councillors to threaten or actually shun the recently rolled out orientation programme by the Ministry of Local government in conjunction with LGAZ. As an association we have done the following to present Councillors genuine concerns to the higher authorities,” he said.
Mr Kang’ombe said LGAZ held an informal meeting with President Edgar Lungu and a Consultative meeting with the Local Government Service Commission and another consultative meeting with the Local Government Minister Vincent Mwale, MP and informal another meeting with Vice President Inonge Wina in Ndola to discuss plight of Councillors.
“We are certain that from the above steps taken and the pending meetings, Councillors conditions of service will be improved soon,” he said.
And on the issue of whether Councillors are part time workers, Mr Kang’ombe stated that according to Article 155 of the Constitution, it refers to a Councillors as the frontline leader and it is in him/her that the local people see government making a councillor to be in a state of perpetual political duty as he/she has to attend to all aspects of political and civic governance in the ward which makes it difficult for a Councillor to be part-time.
“A Councillor is also a mediator in that he/she works with residents in the ward to identify and examine problems and determine strategies to meet them and make appropriate recommendations to the council. As a community leader, a Councillor motivates and inspires the community by fostering collective effort aimed at making local people become self-sustaining. Again, this can’t be a part time responsibility,” he said.
Mr Kang’ombe said under the devolved system of governance, a Councillor has assumed added responsibilities and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Ward Development Committee (WDC) adding that this cannot be on a part time.
“A Councillor, a Mayor/ Council chairperson and Member of Parliament are all elected on the same day and given a same five-year mandate. In the United Kingdom, from whom Zambia has inherited the local government system, a councillor is no longer regarded as a voluntary worker but as a salaried political/civic official. This situation obtains in South Africa, Botswana and Kenya.”
Stanbic Bank Zambia’s Personal and Business Banking team share their day with the Bauleni Special Needs Project and make a donation of K60,000 of much-needed items for its school.
Stanbic Bank Zambia’s Personal and Business Banking team has reached out to the Bauleni Special Needs Project with a donation of K60,000 of much-needed items for its school.
“We strongly believe in giving back to the people and communities that support us. And this is not just the bank giving back but the staff as well because they helped raise half the amount which the bank went ahead to match,” said Stanbic Head of Sales and Services Mwamba Musambo.
Among the donated material was a shower wheelchair and curtains. The wheelchair is a welcome development as it is a necessity for students with mobility challenges.
“For some the idea of taking one’s time in the shower is soothing but for a person with mobility issues who is unable to stand for long periods it can be excruciating. This wheelchair will do much to ensure the comfort as well as safety of the user in the shower,” said Ms Musambo.
Project Director Sister Lynn Walker pointed to the fact that there were no showers accessible to children in wheelchairs in the hostels and despite having tried to make a wet room as best they could, staff still had to work extra hard to cater to the children.
She expressed her delight and gratitude on the donation of the chair and the rest of the items saying: “The fact as well that so much of this has come from the donations of Stanbic staff and not just from the business side but from the staff themselves, to me that just adds value, it adds huge value. You need this kind of chair to be able to go into the shower. With this I am absolutely delighted.”
Furthermore the school’s 22 classroom interiors are to receive a fresh coat of paint, with the bank having donated tins of paint as well as provided for a professional painter to carry out the work.
“When the children come into their classes they’re going to come into smart classrooms, which is just wonderful; and we try to encourage the children to respect their environment and to respect one another because we are an inclusive school; we have mainstream, or able-bodied, children and children with special needs. For me, if the only thing we do is to help a generation of students grow up with a different attitude to special needs then I think we’ve succeeded,” added Sister Walker.
The team was educated on the challenges that special needs children face, particularly those who are deaf as well as blind. The Bauleni Special Needs Project seeks to create an enabling environment for the most marginalised and vulnerable young people through the provision of education and life-skill training. The project also runs an integrated Special Needs School that caters to physically challenged children as well as able bodied children.
“For us it’s not just about the institution giving back but also about the people: staff, supporting people and our communities, and we are proud as Stanbic to be a part of this and also enable those who are making a difference in our communities to continue doing so,” said Musambo.
Provincial Ministers on board Emirates flight to attend a series of workshops on development
I note with sadness and concern the continued extravagant lifestyles our government officials continue living. The government used tax payers’ money to fly the ministers who left for the Beijing workshop yesterday 13th November 2016 in first class.
It is regrettable that the same government that has openly told the nation that we have no money can be abusing the national treasury in such careless fashion. Both the president and the minister of finance announced that the government was going to come up with measures aimed at reducing the cost of running government, but what we are seeing instead is the exact opposite. The government is showing lack of seriousness in running a cost effective government. A single first class ticket to Beijing costs a minimum of 10,000 USD (ZMK 100,000). This figure multiply by ten (10) ministers mounts to ZMK 1,000,000 less other allowances, accommodation etc. It is therefore, unthinkable that an economy that is surviving on debt can be such wasteful in spending. Unless the minister of finance can tell us that they lie when they say the country has no money, such behaviour is hypocritical to say the least.
It shows selfishness on the part of government to continue living extravagantly when the citizens are being advised to tighten our belts. The government must not continue squeezing the citizens through taxes when they are enjoying. This is a cruel way of dealing with human life.
To lead us with dignity they must lead by example. The government must show seriousness in dealing with the challenges our country is faced with. It must not be business as usual.
Our leaders must ask themselves questions, do they love us enough in order to serve us better? Are they humble and do they listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path in running government?’ If they don’t ask themselves these questions we will continue seeing the same mediocrity.
With proper governance, life will improve for all.
The Huawei Y5 II is an entry level smartphone that was released on the market in June 2016.
Upon purchase, the phone comes with general accessories; Charger, data cable, headphones and a user guide.
The Huawei Y5 II fits nicely in your palm and pocket with it dimensions 143.8mm x 72mm x 8.9mm (height x width x thickness). It has a decent touch screen size of 5 inches with 720 X 1280pixels resolution. The smartphone is also pretty light at only 137g. It comes with a 2mp front camera and 8mp rear camera.
The Huawei Y5 II has a slim, sleek design. The charging port and speaker grill are at the bottom, while the headphone jack is on the top. The volume and Power buttons are on the right side. On the left side it has an additional button which is left function-less and gives the user the option to assign it a function of their choice. I found this button to be unnecessary as I had no use for it.
I had the opportunity to use this device for a week. Below are the highs and lows of my experience;
Pros
The 8 mega pixel rear camera is very good for taking high quality pictures and videos. The camera has Beauty ,Photo , video , and Timelapse otions .It also allows you to add a fliter before taking a photo or video. Below are some pictures taken with the rear camera.
testing 8mp rear cameraTesting the 8mp rear camera (with filter)
testing 8mp rear camera
It has a user friendly Android Operating System , version 5.1. All the phones functions and features are easy to locate and use even if you are not familiar with the Android OS.
Huawei Y5 II user interface
The device has a great in-built phone manager app that gives you the options to ; Optimize the phones performance , track and manage your data usage , filter messages and calls , select power saving options , customise your notifications.
Huawei Y5 II phone manager app
The Huawei Y5 II is a dual-SIM smartphone .Perfect for those with separate Home and Work numbers.
Cons
If you are someone who loves to take selfies, you will be disappointed with the quality of the front camera. 2mp is too low even for an entry level smartphone.
The music app is good , but it has No option for sharing music . If you want to share a particular song on social media or via bluetooth you have to search though your audio files manually as there is no search function. For someone having a huge collection of music this oversight is unacceptable .
Huawei Y5 II music app
Limited storage space . The available storage space is 4gb which is quite low especially if you intend to have a lot of multimedia content.
The smartphone is powered by a 2200mAh removeable battery , which is decent for an entry-level smartphone. Fully charged it can last for a normal working day ( 8hrs) with basic usage ie moderate calls , texts , social media . If you are a heavy phone user ,like myself , you will find yourself having to charge it quite often.
Surprisingly it has no notifications LED light.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a low cost but high quality smartphone then the Huawei Y5 II is the phone for you. It is perfect for everyday tasks such as accessing social media sites and chat apps , taking pictures and calling.
President Edgar Lungu must openly admonish his Patriotic Front (PF) members and strongly counsel his Members of Parliament (MPs) to desist from going against the wishes and aspirations of Zambians through using the egotism of numbers in parliament to maim the people’s constitution, says Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP).
FODEP Executive Director Chimfwembe Mweenge said in a press statement that the arbitrary amendment to the constitution to re-introduce the positions of Deputy Minister’s defeats the PF government’s call for serious fiscal discipline and sacrifice to re-kindle the fortunes of the dwindling economy.
“If we are to realize the K42 million plus locally to partly meet our budgetary requirements, we ought not to channel our skimpy resources to finance the salaries of Deputy Ministers whose roles are not well defined and quiet inconsequential,” Mr Mweenge said.
He urged President Lungu not to fall prey to ill-timed and misconceived political machinations by his MPs to manipulate the constitution.
Mr Mweenge noted that the political schemes are not only an affront on the people’s will, but may also be dangerous to President Lungu’s constitutional legacy.
He reaffirmed that he current constitutional discourse in the country seems to replicate President Chiluba’s failed third term bid and Lungu must avoid the temptation by his MPs and PF members who are walking Chiluba’s path which partly scratched his legacy and democratic credentials.
“FODEP was thrilled to learn that The President was advocating for respect for constitutionalism and rule of law at continental level when he addressed a delegation of diplomats accredited to the African Union on the 8Th November, 2016, at State House,” He said
However, FODEP Executive Director wants Mr Lungu to guide his MPs with the same vigor he showed when addressing the Africa Union delegation adding that it would be contradictory for the President to advocate for constitutionalism and respect for the rule of law at continental level when the opposite is happening in his own country.
Mr Mweenge said FODEP is surprised that Parliament used the PF numerical superiority to pass the motion with 91 to 52 votes which Mwansabombwe constituency MP Rodgers Mwewa, moved to urge the PF Government led by Mr. Lungu to amend the constitution of Zambia.
“FODEP calls on President Lungu to sacrifice his popularity among his peers not only at continental but even at national and party levels by protecting and upholding the constitution which he himself appended on and swore to protect bearing in mind it is a product of wider consultations among the people through various popular for a,” Mr Mweenge noted.
However after voting for the motion to amendment the constitution the ruling PF has distanced itself from private member motion to re-introduce the position of a Deputy Minister.
PF Parliamentary Chief Whip Richard Musukwa said that the re-introduction of the position of Deputy Dinister in government is not on the party’s agenda.
Mr Musukwa said the motion to re-introduce the position of Deputy Minister came from the floor of the house and it was moved by an Independent Member of Parliament.
Mr Musukwa said Government wants to run a lean structure of Ministers and it would not go against the wishes of the people.
And PF Mwansabombwe Member of Parliament Rodgers Mwewa has said a Private Motion that he moved on Wednesday to amend the Constitution did not include the re-introduction of Deputy Ministers.
