The EU delegation in Zambia says it is deeply concerned with the recent incidents of politically motivated violence in the country.

The delegation said in a statement that the absence of violence in the country is key to having a free, fair and peaceful elections.

The delegation further notes that preventing incidents of violence will strengthen the country’s reputation as a peaceful, stable and tolerant nation as well as a its stance as the destination of choice for foreign investment and tourism.

Below is the full statement issued to the media by the EU.

The European Union Delegation issues the following statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in Zambia.

The EU Delegation and the Heads of Mission of EU Member States are deeply concerned by the recent incidents of politically motivated violence in Zambia. The absence of violence is required to guarantee the Zambian people their democratic rights to free, fair and peaceful elections.

Moreover, preventing such incidents will strengthen Zambia’s international reputation as a peaceful, stable and tolerant country and its stance as a destination of choice for foreign investments and tourism.

The EU Delegation and the Heads of Mission of EU Member States appeal to the leaders of all political parties to come together to make a firm and public commitment to reject violence, thus fulfilling the expectations of the peace-loving Zambian people who reject violence in all its forms.

The EU Delegation and the Heads of Mission of EU Member States call upon the Authorities to adopt a policy of zero tolerance towards all attempts by so-called party cadres to solve political differences by resorting to violence, to thoroughly investigate each case of political violence, and to bring to justice all perpetrators, regardless of their political affiliation.

The Ministry of Higher Education has said that the termination of meal allowances to students does not apply to University of Zambia- School of Medicine (Ridgeway campus) and the Copperbelt University (Ndola campus).

In a statement released to the media by the ministry’s public relations officer Chiselwa Kawanda, the ministry said that Government will continue to pay the meal allowances to these students as they were not part of the violent protests that led to the closure of the two universities on 3rd February 2016.

Below is the full statement

CLARIFICATION ON SCHOOLS EXEMPTED FROM THE CANCELLATION OF THE STUDENTS MEAL ALLOWANCES AT UNZA AND CBU

On 9th March 2016, the Minister of Higher Education, Honourable Dr. Michael L. Kaingu, MP presented a Ministerial Statement to the National Assembly in which he announced plans for the reopening of the Copper belt University and the University of Zambia.

Among other issues highlighted in the Statement was the decision to discontinue the payment of meal allowances to the students at the two universities. The Hon Minister announced that until the Loans and Scholarship Board is in place (i.e. in January 2017), Government would continue to pay for tuition, accommodation, book and project allowances to the students at UNZA and CBU. However, Government had decided to discontinue payment of the meal allowance with immediate effect.

The Ministry of Higher Education would like to clarify that the University of Zambia- School of Medicine (Ridgeway campus) and the Copperbelt University (Ndola campus) students on Bursary were not affected by the scrapping of the meal allowance.

Government will continue to pay the meal allowances to these students as they were not part of the violent protests that led to the closure of the two universities on 3rd February 2016.

The Bursaries Committee disburses these funds as and when the funds have been made available by the Ministry of Finance.

ISSUED BY Chiselwa Kawanda
Public Relations Officer

The UPND Vice President Canisius Banda says Zambians are going through the worst times of their lives because of the bad governance of the PF.

Dr Banda charged that life is now so expensive that people are being forced to eat tomato sauce as relish adding that even the same tomato has become unaffordable to some people in the country.

He said the living standards for people in the country has deteriorated under the PF government hence the need to kick them out of power in the next elections.

Dr Banda said people are struggling to survive because of the continued hike in food prices and that the hikes in mealie-meal and other commodities is due to the bad governance of the current administration who don’t seem to know what they are doing.

“People are failing to buy even tomato so that they can make “joncho” tomato sauce for their meals because it has become so expensive, as UPND went people eat nshima with their choice of relish not with tomato sauce. We are now buying 1 small tomato at K2 when we were buying 6 big tomatoes from the same amount.

“People are dying from preventable diseases such as the recent cases of cholera because of lack of clean drinking water and other sanitary conditions, as UPND we want to stop all these challenges. We want people to have three meals in a day, we want people to have proper toilets, we want a better life for Zambians,” he said

And Dr Banda said the salary increments for civil servants is an insult to government workers and that God will punish President Lungu for mocking government workers.

“You can’t give a person K200 as salary increment that is an insult to your workers. Mr Lungu you should not be doing such things God will punish you for mocking civil servants with a mockery of a salary increment,” he said.

Dr Banda said this when he featured on the Platform radio program on Comet radio.

MMD National Secretary Mwansa Mbulakulima says it is hypocrisy for his Party President Nevers Mumba to rush to UTH to check on youths who were injured when PF and UPND youths crushed on Youth Day when he did not visit his own National Youth Chairperson Howard Kunda who was hospitalised for three days.

Mr Mbulakulima said the move by his President can only be described as hypocrisy and that his visit was not out compassion but for political expedience because one can not ignore the sickness of his child and be the first to visit the neighbour’s child.

He said Dr Mumba should stop personalizing issues of the Party which he said are national as one can only conclude that he did not visit his MP for Muchinga because he is one of the members calling for a Party Convention.

“When UPND and PF crushed on Saturday and some youths ended up at UTH Dr Mumba promptly rushed to the UTH to check on the state of those who were injured, prior to this incident his National Youth Chairman who is also Muchinga MP Hon Howard Kunda was in hospital for three days and three nights and he never stepped foot in his ward.

“How do you check on your neighbours children at the expense of your own children? What kind of a parent is this? What kind of political expedience is this?,” Mr Mbulakulima wondered.

He added ” he has taken it personal all because you have a different opinion on national matters such as the issue of the national convention for him he declares you as an enemy so what kind of hypocrisy is this that you can visit your neighbour’s children when you can’t visit your own children that is the question that we are asking.”

Forty Nine passengers have sustained serious injuries when the bus they were travelling in overturned in Mufulira on the Copperbelt.

The accident happened after the Lusaka bound bus belonging to Straight liners over turned at Kawama area in Mufulira on Tuesday.

Copperbelt Minister Mwenya Musenge said the Marcopolo bus went off the road after the driver tried to avoid hitting a traffic police officer who jumped in the middle of the road to stop the speeding bus.

Mr Musenge said four of the accident victims were in a critical condition and had been transferred to Ndola Central hospital.

And Copperbelt Commissioner of Police Charity Katanga confirmed the incident saying there was no one who died.

But Ms Katanga said the accident victims were in critical condition.

The First Lady of Zambia Mrs. Esther Lungu arrived in New York on Tuesday to participate in the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60).
The CSW60 opened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday 14 March 2016 with a priority theme focusing on women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development.

According to the statement released to the media by Zambia’s First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the United Nations, Mr Chibaula D. Silwamba, the CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr Mwaba Kasese-Bota, diplomatic staff and Zambian delegates to the CSW60, welcomed the First Lady in New York.

Mrs. Lungu has won local and international recognition for her role in championing empowerment of women, girls and differently abled persons.

At the CSW60, Mrs. Lungu will attend high-level meetings and hold talks with different personage.

The First Lady will participate in a meeting on realizing women’s economic empowerment in rural areas through cooperatives and micro-enterprises experiences from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and middle Income countries organized by the Governments of Italy, Fiji, Mongolia and Solomon Islands.

Mrs Lungu will participate in an event on Africa’s year of human rights with particular focus on the rights of women: opportunities and challenges, which is being organized by the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) and another event focusing on how gender leads – innovation, perspective and leadership organized by UN Women, UNDP and UNFPA as well as at the meeting on Operationalising the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development for women and girls with disabilities organized by UN DESA, UN Women and the UK. The Zambian First Lady will also participate at a meeting on investing in women’s nutrition for sustainable societies organized by the WHO, UNICEF and FAO and the pastoral care of women and girls on the street in response to the phenomenon of children, women earning a living or living on the streets and their families organized by the Holy See.

Mrs. Lungu will hold talks with senior officials of Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Gender Minister Prof. Nkandu Luo is leading the Zambian delegation to the annual meeting. Tourism and Arts Minister Jean Kapata, Gender Permanent Secretary Edwidge Mutale, His Royal Highness Chief Nyamphande of the Nsenga people, some senior civil servants, the women’s movement representatives and other civil society members are in the Zambian delegation.

Zambia has hosted several side-events at CSW60, showcasing the country’s best practices, successes and challenges in fighting Gender-Based-Violence (GBV) and initiatives being implemented to empower women and girls. The side-events also highlight the involvement of traditional leaders and men in combating GBV.

ENERGY and Water Development Minister Dora Siliya has directed consumer protection bodies in Zambia to ensure that service providers that engage in unfair trading practices are brought to book.

Ms Siliya directed the Energy Regulation Board (ERB), National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO), Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and other stakeholders to ensure that service providers that engage in unfair trading practices were prosecuted.

She said consumers should know that the Patriotic Front (PF) Government puts a premium on consumer protection and hence it would not relent in pursuing measures that were aimed at protecting consumers against unfair trading practices.

Ms Siliya said this in Livingstone yesterday in a speech read for her by her deputy Charles Zulu during the celebrations for the World Consumer Rights Day held under theme ‘Using Water and Energy for Sustainable Development’.

“It is my appeal to all service providers that they should endeavour at all times to provide consumers with access to affordable and reliable service as well as adequate information regarding the availability of the service.

“The consumers should know that they have the right to redress and that the Government has enacted statues and established institutions which are mandated to uphold consumer rights and protect the interests of the consumers,” Ms Siliya said.

She said the Government was committed to ensuring that access to water and energy for all was guaranteed realising that water and energy were fundamental to the achievement of most of the sustainable development goals.

“Access to water and energy has been a priority for the Government over the years. We are cognisant of the fact that the rural parts of the country still face challenges in accessing clean water and sufficient energy.

“It is in view of this that Government has been working on integrated implementation of energy and water strategies without isolating one from the other,” she said.

Ms Siliya said investing in water and energy services essentially leads to increased levels of human health, reduced levels of poverty and indigence, and increased opportunities for education and employment thereby resulting in overall national economic development.

Speaking at the same meeting, ERB Executive Director Langiwe Lungu said the celebrations were key as they were touching on two critical drivers of the economy namely water and energy.

In a speech read for her by ERB senior manager for consumer and public affairs Fred Hangandu, Ms Lungu said the link between water and energy was clearly visible following the unprecedented load shedding being experienced countrywide.

“The water utilities on the other hand, which rely on power supplied by ZESCO, have also had to ration water supply to their consumers which has also had an adverse impact.

“The problem requires concerted efforts from all consumers whether large or small,” Ms Lungu said.

She also urged consumers to conserve energy and water by switching off lights in unoccupied rooms and ensuring that there were no leaking taps around homes among other measures.

Meanwhile, Mr Zulu has cautioned youths against engaging in violence ahead of the August 11 general elections.

Mr Zulu, who donated K1, 000 to Livingstone based acrobats to buy uniforms, said there was need to ensure that violence came to an end in Zambia.
He also said Ms Siliya was expected to issue a comprehensive statement on the fuel shortage which has persisted in Livingstone and other parts of the country.

UNIP president Tilyenji Kaunda will contest the August 11 general elections without any electoral pact and the party has announced that Njekwa Anamela will be the running mate.

Mr Kaunda announced the party’s decision at a press briefing at Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda House yesterday.

“As UNIP, we have resolved to contest the coming August 11 elections at all levels with our party president Tilyenji Kaunda as presidential candidate and further endorse Njekwa Anamela as his running mate,” UNIP Northern Province chairperson Komichili Kafunda said.

Mr Kaunda said UNIP will contest the elections without forming an alliance with another political party.

“UNIP is a party that has gone into alliances with other political parties, but we don’t think that they are necessary all the time. We are not looking forward to forming an alliance with any political party,” he said.

And Mr Kaunda has condemned pockets of political violence ahead of the August elections.

“We in UNIP have observed with great concern the inter-party violence that is taking place. We condemn unreservedly this trend that is contradicting our motto of One Zambia, One Nation,” he said

Meanwhile, Mr Anamela has commended the restoration of former President Rupiah Banda’s immunity by the High Court.

“It’s a good thing when we do not harass former heads of State deliberately. We think that no-one should be prosecuted for political reasons, so the restoration of Rupiah Banda’s immunity is okay,” he said.
Mr Anamela said the lifting of Mr Banda’s immunity was irregular.