The North-Western Province Development Council of Elders has bemoaned the alleged rampant theft of public funds at Solwezi Municipal Council.

It has been purported that over K100 million in locally generated resources was allegedly embezzled between January 2022 and June 2023 at the Solwezi Municipal Council.

 North-Western Province Council of Elders Chairperson Kenneth Kapata has recommended all council workers at Solwezi Municipal Council be transferred saying the officers involved in the misappropriation of funds must be fired.

Mr. Kapata said the region was struggling with service delivery and noted that the pilfered public funds would have helped to develop Solwezi District.

He, however, wondered where Solwezi management was when the over K100 millions of public funds was being embezzled.

It is alleged that authorities at the municipal council refuted allegations labeled against the municipality that it had misappropriated funds in 2023.

And the North-Western Province Council of Elders Chairperson has since advised all the twelve ward councilors to be vigilant, affirming that the monies were pilfered under their watch.

“We have no confidence in the current workers at Solwezi municipal council, they must all go, we need new people to work, not the current crop, they are a bad seed” said Mr. kapata.

Meanwhile, North-Western Investments and Development Foundation (NWIDEF) President, Gilly Kakunta urged the Auditor General’s Office to randomly conduct audits of all councils in North-Western Province.

He said it was disappointing that Solwezi Municipal Council which was supposed to be spearheading development in the district was engaged in fraudulent activities

“All councils in the province must be audited to ascertain if they have all stolen public funds” said Mr. Kakunta.

Village Headman Dyuuka of Chief Sipatunyana’s area in Zimba district has expressed concern over the high number of early marriages and teenager pregnancies in his area.

Headman Dyuuka said incidence rates of teen pregnancies and early marriages are allegedly very high and denying girls their fundamental basic human rights.

Speaking in an interview in Zimba , the traditional leader said unless efforts to end the scourge of child early and forced marriages are accelerated, girls are at risk of being married off before they attain their 18th birthday.

He is, however, optimistic that Zambia would end the practice of child forced marriages by the year 2030 owing to the positive strides the country has made so far in order to achieve the target set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Early marriages and teen pregnancies denies the girl child basic fundamental rights such as a chance to be a child, live a life free of violence and sexual abuse.

The scourge also robs girls their opportunity for career, vocational advancement and ultimately denies them the chance to make meaningful contributions to the economic development of their communities,” he said.

Headman Dyuuka acknowledges that early marriages and teenage pregnancies are driven by social and economic factors which include negative social norms, lack of access to information, education and poverty.

The traditional leader appealed to Government and experts dealing in child protection to explore possibilities of criminalising child early and forced marriages so that the vice can be eradicated.

He urged members of the general public to report perpetrators of child sexual abuses to traditional leaders, law enforcement agencies, local authority and or government officials

Police in Lusangazi District of Eastern Province have recovered the remains of a three year old boy, Borniface Lungu who was murdered for rituals in May this year.

Zambia Police Spokesperson, Rae Hamoonga, confirmed that a broken skull, three ribs and a pair of brown trousers were recovered yesterday and have been secured as exhibits.

Mr Hamoonga said a team of police officers were yesterday, around 16:45 hours led to the scene of the crime by the two Murder suspects, Rabson Sakala and Benson Sakala.

He said the scene of the crime was at the edge of Kasangazi Stream in Lusangazi District near Rabson Sakala’s farm, who is also one of the suspects.

The police Spokesperson said that was where the body of the deceased was dumped.

“The team of Police officers yesterday managed to recover a broken skull, three ribs and a pair of brown trousers which have since been secured as exhibits,” he said.

Mr Hamoonga said the remains of the boy would be taken to Lusaka for pathological examination at the University Teaching Hospital UTH).

Boniface Lungu aged three, went missing on May 21, 2023 in Lusangazi District, a situation which led to the arrest of two suspects, Rabson Sakala and Benson Sakala last week.

The suspects later confessed to having murdered the boy for rituals by cutting off his private parts but the sacrifice was rejected by a witch doctor named Samson, who told them that they needed to kill and present to him private parts of either of their Biological sons for the ritual to work since they wanted to get rich.

Meanwhile, scores of visibly angry Lusangazi residents yesterday rushed to Village 87 to witness the search for the murdered boy’s remains when they saw a police vehicle with two handcuffed suspects heading into the hills near Kasangazi stream.

Police officers however, managed to calm the situation by not allowing other people to escort them up to the  scene of the crime, which they obliged and only a group of police officers went ahead in search for the boys remains, with the  exercise lasting close to four hours , as the search begun from around 13:00 hours to 16:45 hours.

The Minister of Transport and Logistics, Frank Tayali, has been dragged to court for his alleged involvement in the destruction of a newly built house situated on a disputed plot in Ndola’s Dola Hill area. The complainant, identified as George Kampamba, is embroiled in a legal battle with Mr. Tayali over the ownership of the plot in Ndola, Central Province.

Mr. Kampamba has accused Minister Tayali of orchestrating the demolition of his house on the evening of 28th July 2023. He claims that individuals acting on Mr. Tayali’s behalf were responsible for the destruction of his property.

Speaking to journalists during a visit to the damaged house, Ndola Mayor Jones Kalyati and Ndola District Commissioner Joseph Phiri were petitioned by Mr. Kampamba, who expressed his grievances against the Minister of Transport. According to Mr. Kampamba, Minister Tayali has been bullying him and disregarding proper legal procedures in the dispute over the plot.

“Mr. Tayali should have followed the right procedure over the disputed plot instead of taking the law into his own hands,” said Mr. Kampamba, who also appealed to President Hakainde Hichilema to remove Mr. Tayali from his ministerial position so that he can face court proceedings as an ordinary citizen.

The complainant presented documentation to support his claim of ownership, including a survey diagram, site plan, offer letter from the Ministry of Lands, title deed, and building permit from the council. Mr. Kampamba emphasized that the damaging of his house was a distressing event, but he refrained from commenting further on the ongoing court case, expressing his hope that justice would prevail.

“This is thuggery behavior by the Honourable Minister. President Hichilema, look at the behavior of Mr. Tayali. This is uncalled for. Mr. Tayali is a bully here in Ndola, and it is as if he is untouchable,” added Mr. Kampamba.

As of now, Minister Frank Tayali has not issued any public statement regarding the allegations and the legal proceedings.

Commuters Rights Association of Zambia (CRAZ) is in support of the Government’s plans to legalize motorcycles for public transportation.

In an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today, CRAZ Chairperson Aaron Kamuti observes that there are a lot of unanswered questions emerging about legalizing motorcycles such as the safety of the passengers.

Mr Kamuti however, advised there need to consider doing research on the safety of passengers before legalizing the use of motorcycles as a mode of transportation.

He explained in some cases there is a lot of conflict of interest where riders would want to beat traffic and use the side of the road which endangers the lives of the passengers on the motorcycles.

“We do not anticipate these motorcycles to be used on the Central Business District (CBD) and we have a population of vehicles that is passing the number of motorcycles,we have minimal roads, this is a danger to the passengers unless we put all measures in place in terms of the safety of the passengers that will be using the motorcycles,”he added.

Mr Kamuti emphasized the need to acknowledge the competence of the riders and to ensure that the riders are credible.

He further suggested that the motorcycles should be used in remote areas or in provinces where there is less traffic, adding that they should not be used in the CBD areas like Lusaka and Copperbelt where it is busy as it can pose a danger to passengers.

ZANIS/ENDS/EA/MML…………..……………DRY