Information Minister Chishimba Kambwili has charged that the UPND Members of Parliament should not even attempt to enter the chambers of Parliament and be part of the business of the House after boycotting the official opening of the National Assembly by President Edgar Lungu.

And Mr Kambwili said Speaker of the National Assembly should consider taking disciplinary action against all the UPND MPs for boycotting the official opening of the National Assembly by President Edgar Lungu on Friday.

But the UPND MPs have vowed that they would be in Parliament today as the House resumes its sitting and debate the Presidential speech despite having boycotted its official opening to receive the presidential speech.

Mr Kambwili said it was illogical for the UPND legislators to start attending sessions in Parliament when they refused to recognise President Lungu who had convened the House.

Mr Kambwili, who is Patriotic Front (PF) Roan Member of Parliament, said it did not make sense for the UPND lawmakers to return to Parliament and contribute to the business of the House after declaring that they did not recognise President Lungu.

He said the UPND MPs and their entire leadership had declared that they would not recognise President Lungu and could, therefore, not return to the House which was officially opened by the President they did not recognise.

He wondered why the MPs were eager to debate President Lungu’s speech during his state of the nation address when they did not recognise the Head of State as having been legitimately elected.

Mr Kambwili said if the UPND did not recognise President Lungu, then the opposition party should have nothing to do with his speech and should, therefore, permanently stay away from the current session of Parliament.

Vehicles, the main computer Saver and various pieces of office equipment that were recently seized from Stanbic Bank Zambia Head Office by bailiffs from the Sheriffs of Zambia office will tomorrow be auctioned.

Four Toyota Hilux vehicles, a Hino Truck, a Nissan Van and a computer server are all part of the assets belonging to Stanbic that will be auctioned on Wednesday.

Other pieces of office equipment include Lounge suites, photocopiers, office chairs, carpets, refrigerators, fillings and microwaves and others to many to mention.

This follows a High Court ruling which granted Savenda Management Services damages amounting to K192.5m against Stanbic Bank Zambia for loss of business resulting from its negative credit agency listing.

Justice Justin Chashi awarded damages to Savenda for losing significant contracts after being reported by Stanbic bank to the Credit Reference Bureau for defaulting on instalments.

Justice Chashi found the non-payments were the bank’s fault and made other findings that will affect relations between other businesses and their bankers.

The auction will commence in the afternoon at the Sheriff’s office at Kambala road in the Light Industrial area while a similar auction of the saver and other bank equipment will take place at the Bank’s Headquarters on the same the afternoon.

CHILDREN In The Wilderness (CITW) has urged the Government to invest more in Early Childhood Education if the nation is to have well educated and responsible citizens.

CITW is a non?profit organisation supported by ecotourism company Wilderness Safaris that aims to facilitate sustainable conservation through leadership development and education of rural children in Africa.

CITW programmes manager James Mwanza said the backbone of any country’s quality education lies in children who are supposed to have quality Early Childhood Education.

Mr Mwanza said this during the opening of a five days literacy training workshop for 25 Zambian and Zimbabwean teachers based in Livingstone, Kazungula, Victoria Falls town and Hwange at Richland Lodge in Livingstone yesterday.

The teachers are drawn from Nalituwe, Holy Cross, Simoonga and Twabuka primary schools in Livingstone and Jabulani,Nfundweni and Musiotunya primary schools in Victoria Falls and Hwange respectively.

The training workshop is being held in partnership Wordworks a non-profit organisation established in 2005 to support and improve the literacy and language development of children from disadvantaged communities in South Africa.

He said his organisation had learnt that children needed to have opportunities to build their competence and understanding in the areas of language skills such as vocabulary and comprehension and code related skills such as sound knowledge.

Mr Mwanza said the objective of the training was to equip teachers with new methods on how they could provide lessons to their pupils in a more effective and productive manner.

“We are targeting teachers who are handling Pre-school, grade one and two classes because we want them to develop the knowledge and skills they need to teach children in Early Childhood Education effectively.

“We decided to focus on early childhood education because evidence shows how important language and literacy foundations are for all school learning.

“Children who have developed language and literacy capabilities when they start grade one go on to become better readers and writers,”Mr Mwanza said.

He further disclosed that Early Childhood Education was important in ensuring that children had the necessary foundations to learn to read and write successfully.

Non-Governmental Organizations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) Executive Director Engwase Mwale is elated with the response the people of Luapula and Northern Provinces have given after the campaign to end Child Marriages was launched 18th may, 2016, reports Pan African Radio Journalist Hermit Hachilonde.

In the wake of escalating levels of early marriages in Zambia, the NGOCC embarked on a community project dubbed ending child marriages in Luapula and Northern provinces to arrest the vice.

Speaking with the committee members alongside the IM Swedish Development Partner Regional Director Southern Africa Maria Kempe who is one of the funders for the project after paying a courtesy call on Sub-Chief Mulala of Northern Province on Saturday the 1st October, 2016, Engwase Mwale Mr. Mwale assured the villagers that NGOCC will remain committed to end Child Marriages in Zambia.

“Am happy with your response towards this project and am assuring you that as NGOCC we will remain committed to end child marriages in Zambia” Ms. Mwale said

During the discussion the committee members disclosed that at least six-nine girls have gone back to school in Chief mulala’s area due to the NGOCC’s door to door campaign to curb early marriage in the province.

The Committee Members added that even boys are now are going back to school, affirming that so far twenty-five boys have gone back to school due to the same NGOCC project.

Meanwhile, in Chieftainess Mwenda of Northern province it was revealed that parents have retrieved eighteen who were married off at tender age after the sensitization, confirming that the girls are now ready to continue with school.

Towards the end of the year 2015, the NGOCC carried a research on early Marriages in Zambia and found that the number of girls married off at a tender age was very high in mulala, katuta and Chibaye Chiefdoms and on that account the NGOCC was prompted to initiate the program in Northern and Luapula.

It was also discovered that teenage pregnancies rate in the named three chiefdoms was about 87 percent which was alarmingly high a trend which the NGOCC described as a source of grave concern.

Meanwhile, the IM Swedish Development Partner Regional Director Southern Africa Maria Kempe equally expressed happiness with NGOCC’s engagement with villagers regarding early marriages in Zambia and the response from the villagers.

“Am impressed with you people with response to the NGOCC project” Ms. Maria Kempe said

Government says it has adopted deliberate policies that will address gender inequality in the country in line with the United Nations(UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).

Gender Permanent Secretary  Edwidge Mutale  stated that government’s wish is to ensure that all women and girls in Zambia attain the same level with men by ensuring that women and girls are educated.

ZANIS reports that Ms Mutale said this when she lectured pupils at Kabulonga Girls Secondary school in Lusaka today on gender equality dubbed the World’s largest lesson.
She observed that days are gone when women were not economically viable and considered to make decisions affecting the country’s economic, social, and political landscape.

The permanent secretary bemoaned that few women were elected to political positions during the just ended general elections owing  to lack of grade 12 qualification.

Meanwhile, United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Zambia Deputy Representative  Shadrick Omol said the UN agency will continue to work with the government, Civil Society and Communities to encourage Women and  Girls to have equal opportunities to be heard and access to opportunities in life.
Mr Imol stressed that despite the achievements in education enrollment rates the country has achieved, retention and completion remain a challenge especially for girls.

The UN official noted that more boys than girls complete school in Zambia and that only 65 percent of girls complete primary education.
The World’s largest lesson is a UNICEF initiative under the Global Goals Campaign to teach Children in over 100 countries about the new SDG’S that were adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September 2015.

President Edgar Lungu has directed provincial ministers to write quarterly reports and submit to him on the performance of government operations and projects .

The Head of State said periodic reports would help him and government to address the challenges facing provincial administrations and government departments in executing government programmes.

ZANIS reports that President Lungu said this during a cabinet meeting held at State House in Lusaka today.

“I want periodical reports say quarterly from you provincial ministers because this will assist us to know what challenges you’re facing and how we can address them,” Mr. Lungu said.

And President Lungu said he expects new ideas from the newly appointed ministers to help government deliver services to people.

The president challenged the ministers to interpret government policies and ensure that programmes and projects are executed to benefit the people of Zambia.

Vice President Inonge Wina, Secretary to Cabinet Roland Msiska, Attorney General Likando Kalaluka, Zambia Revenue Authority Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda, Bank of Zambia Deputy Governor Bwalya Ngandu were among those that attended the cabinet meeting at State House.

Gender Minister Victoria Kalima did not attend the cabinet meeting as she is yet to be sworn in.