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THE Kabwe High Court has sentenced a 21-year-old man of Serenje to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling his 16-year-old girlfriend.
John Mutewa, who defiled his girlfriend between November 26 and December 10, 2014, in Serenje, pleaded for leniency, saying he committed the offence while having a love affair with the minor.
Mutewa was, however, handed a 15-year jail sentence by Kabwe High Court judge-in-charge Dominic Sichinga
“In exercising leniency, I will sentence you to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour from the date of your arrest, February 2, last year,” Mr Justice Sichinga said.
The judge informed Mutewa that the offence he had committed had a minimum jail sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life imprisonment.
During trial, the girl testified that Mutewa proposed to her in a love letter but she initially turned him down.
She said she later accepted Mutewa’s love proposal after he sent his younger sister to persuade her.
She told the court that a few days later, she went to his place where he used force to defile her.
The girl said after he defiled her, he told her that the relationship was over.
Meanwhile, a-56-year-old deputy head teacher at Chiwempala Primary School, who allegedly defiled a grade five pupil aged 10, has pleaded not guilty, CHINOYI CHIPULU reports from Chingola.
Benson Phiri of Kabundi East Extension popularly known as “Dindadinda” was arrested last week after the victim revealed the ordeal to her mother.
Phiri appeared for plea on Monday before senior resident magistrate Davies Chibwili.
The court room was fully packed by teachers from different schools and residents who went to witness the court proceedings.
“Your honour, I understand, but I deny the charge, I did not do anything,” Phiri said in his plea.
Mr Chibwili adjourned the matter to March 2 for commencement of trial.
Particulars of the offence are that on unknown dates, but between January 1, 2016 and February 1, 2016, Phiri had unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl below the age of 16.
Zesco United’s match against Al Ghazala of South Sudan at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola will be delayed for 24 hours.
The 2016 CAF Champions League preliminary stage, first leg match was due to be played on Saturday February 13 but will now be played on Sunday at the same venue.
“Zesco United regrets to announce that the preliminary round match between the club and Al Ghazlla Wau FC of South Sudan has been postponed to Sunday, 14 February, 2016,” Zesco United spokesperson Katebe Chengo said.
“The postponement has been made at the request of the Sudanese club who missed their flight.
“Al Ghazalla are now expected to arrive in Ndola tomorrow, Saturday, 13 February, 2016 via Ethiopian Airlines at a time to be announced.”
Sunday’s game will also be Zesco’s first competitive game of the 2016 season.
Meanwhile, Al Ghazala will host Zesco in the final leg on February 26 in Juba.
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri says meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican would strengthen her Catholic faith and would be a memory to hold on to for the rest of her life.
Mrs Mumbi, who was part of the delegation that accompanied President Edgar Lungu to Italy and France, said it was a privilege for her to meet the Pope as an ordinary citizen.
“As a Catholic it has given me honour and I know I am truly favoured by God, ” she said.
She was thrilled by the treatment the Zambian delegation received at the Vatican.
She added that unlike the normal custom and treatment given to people accompanying any head of state that visited the Vatican, President Lungu’s entourage was allowed to meet the Pope inside the Vatican.
“Usually what happens is that the people that accompany the president or any important person to see the Pope are not allowed to go inside; he comes out to meet them from the library but for us we were allowed to go in and see him.
“For me this was an experience I can’t even explain because I was given such a warm reception when I went there just as an ordinary member of the country, ” Mrs Mumbi said.
She added that President Lungu was favoured as he was the first Zambian leader invited to meet the Pope.
The PF deputy secretary said the visit was unique as the cardinals who received them revealed to them that the time Pope Francis took to meet President Lungu was unusually long as most visitors were given less time.
“When we arrived at the Vatican it was unique, even the cardinals who received us told us that even the time the Pope spoke with our President, the 20 minutes or so, was too much,” she explained.
She thanked the President for according her an opportunity
Street vendors conducting their business in Kitwe
Kitwe city council has introduced penalty levies for street vendors effective yesterday, February, 2016.
Kitwe City Council Public Relation Officer, Donna Mbalwe, said the decision by the council to introduce penalty levies for street vendors is to assist council generate funds.
Ms Mbalwe said vendors have been selling for years without having to pay anything to the council and it is high time they start paying something.
Dyness Namwila, a vendor at Shoprite, said the move by council was a good one as long as the local authority is able to clean the streets themselves.
Ms Namwila said vendors have been cleaning the streets since the time they started selling in the streets and if they have to be paying then council workers should take up the responsibility of sweeping the streets.
Henry Kambole, another street vendor at after Ten Restaurant, said vendors will only pay the levy if council produces receipts.
He said vendors paying to the council will make their business legal and they expect to be treated like any other trader without fear of being stopped by anyone.
Violet Mwenya said the late President, Michael Sata, allowed them to trade freely in the streets and wondered why that should change now.
Ms Mwenya said vendors do not earn enough for them to be paying to the council but if they have to then they will should not be expected to clean the streets.
HH at at the Graduate Business School of the University of Cape Town
United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has said Zambia needs a strong and stable banking system that could offer finance at affordable interest rates, especially for start up businesses in various sectors.
In a statement released to the media, Mr Hichilema said that the banking must provide start-up to small scale mining, tourism, agriculture and alternative energy sources such as solar panels.
Below is the full statement
OFFICIAL STATEMENT
HH Meetings in South Africa
In our other investment promotional side closed-door meetings we have been mindful of the many challenges our small and medium sized businesses are facing, such as increased interest rates that makes it difficult for them to access cheaper financing and erratic power supply. Ensuring these businesses can participate in the mining sector is essential in making sure we benefit fully from further investment in the sector.
Zambia needs a strong and stable banking system that can offer finance at affordable interest rates, especially for startup businesses in various sectors such as small scale mining, tourism, agriculture, and even alternative energy sources such as solar panels.
We have also advocated for action to redress the trade imbalances between bigger nations and ours that are still developing, and the need for fair export and import arrangements.
The interest amongst financing institutions was encouraging and we hope that they can be persuaded to move in and offer cheaper loans for our small businesses, especially youths and women. But for this to happen we need to create a stable, predictable, and consistent economic policy environment, and build confidence in government’s ability to manage the economy. This is the only way we can have a strong middle class of women and men running their own businesses in various sectors and employing our people directly and indirectly through value addition industries.
Elias Chipimo, Miles Sampa and Erick Chanda
The Orange Alliance says it does not need to be in opposition for 18 years to form government because it has what it takes to form government within 8 months.
Orange Alliance Spokesperson Erick Chanda said just like in 1991 Zambians are itching for change and tired of the same politicians hence they are looking to the Orange Alliance as the best option because of the new breed of politicians in it.
Mr Chanda said Zambians have told them that the are the only people who can bring a revolutionary change to the country adding that the Alliance was the biggest political force on the political scene in the country.
“I want to tell you that the Orange Alliance is the biggest political force on the political scene right now. Its coming with full force and if we’re not a political force that people are looking upto one Minister would not have deregistered one of our members the DF, why did they deregister? Because they saw that we coming with full force.
“Orange Alliance will make it on 11 August 2016. One simple reason, you don’t need to be in opposition for 18 years to win an election, not at all if you look at 1991 MMD was in opposition for only months. With the challenges that we are facing Zambians are tired of these same politicians they want change, they have honestly told us that you are the only force, the only change that we need. This is a revolutionary change that we are offering you the Zambian people. It happened in 1990/91 it can happen now, you don’t need to be in opposition for 18years, 30years for you to win an election,” he said.
Mr Chanda further called original members of the PF to join the Orange Alliance as they won’t be neglected.
He said the current membership of PF was being enjoyed by the people they worked hard to remove from office questioning how Dora Siliya could be the one enjoying trips with the President when she was one of the people fighting the PF before Sata died.
He also condemned the closure of the two universities by Minister of higher education Dr Micheal Kaingu.
He said closing the universities was detrimental to the developmental aspirations of the country as universities will have a backlog of students because those who would have completed will still be in the universities.
He said Dr Kaingu was where he was because he attained free Education which he can use to send his children to universities abroad. He called on students to show the PF exist door because they don’t have their plight at heart.
Ambassador Schultz and Zambian military officials greet U.S. military visitors.
A contingent of senior United States military personnel arrived in Zambia on February 12 for a four-day visit to learn more about U.S.-Zambia military cooperation and to renew U.S. commitment to military cooperation with Zambia.
Admiral Gregory G. Johnson, United States Navy (Retired), leads the delegation as Director of a U.S. National Defense University program that focuses on joint military operations. He led 19 U.S. military leaders on their visit to Zambia during which they learned about U.S. Africa Command’s work with the Zambian military on joint training exercises such as Southern Accord held in August 2015 and in U.S.-provided training for the Zambian Battalions heading to Central African Republic for the UN Peacekeeping Mission.
The visiting U.S. Officers, at the ranks of Brigadier General and Rear Admiral representing the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, were greeted at the airport by U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz and members of the Zambian military. Ambassador Schultz praised the warm relations and positive exchanges, including military-to-military, the U.S. and Zambia have shared.
Ambassador Schultz and Zambian military officials greet U.S. military visitors.
Agritech Expo expected to gather 15000+ in Chisamba this year
“It is an over-worn cliché to say that Zambia will one day become the ‘bread basket’ of the region but there is no doubt that, despite of current challenges, the future of Zambia’s farmers, both small and large scale, as suppliers of food products to the region and as drivers of Zambian economic growth is very positive.”
This is according to Rob Munro, Director of Strategy at Musika, a Zambian non-profit company that works to stimulate private sector investment in the smallholder market. Musika is a key partner again in the upcoming Agritech Expo, which is expected to welcome some 15 000 farming professionals, from emerging, to small holder to commercial farmers, and agri experts, at the GART Research Centre in Chisamba from 14-16 April.
Agritech Expo is owned by the ZNFU (Zambia National Farmers Union) and last year’s second edition drew more than 11 700 visitors, over 100 exhibitors and 150 members of the press. VIP visitors included the country’s President Edgar Lungu, the Vice President, Mrs Inonge Wina, the Zambian and German Agri Ministers and many other dignitaries and agri experts.
Good news for Zambia
Musika’s Rob Munro states: “Zambia is struggling with a number of difficult macroeconomic challenges at the moment, a power shortage and a drought, all of which affect the farming economy as much as, if not more than, the rest of the business sector. But while the short term picture is quite tough for Zambian agriculture, there is certainly good news at the ‘big picture’ level – Zambia still has plenty of land and water, a stable political environment and a highly resilient, resourceful and diverse farming community. In an age where food is in ever increasing demand locally, regionally and globally, Zambia is in a good position to take full advantage of its agricultural assets in the future.”
Immediate challenge is the drought
He continues: “the most obvious and immediate challenge is the drought that is affecting many parts of the country which will undoubtedly affect yields and agricultural income, which in turn limits the ability of farmers and agribusiness to invest in the growth of the sector.” Last year, Rob was quoted as saying that unpredictable agricultural policies, particularly on grain marketing, also constrain the growth of the sector and affect investor confidence. However, at the start of the New Year, he feels that “while the challenges remain, the direction of travel on this I think is certainly positive.”
With regards to the current drought conditions, Rob adds that “there has been strong collaboration between public and private sectors on making farmers – particularly smallholder farmers – aware of the impending drought and advising on risk mitigation practices such as planting short season or drought tolerant crop varieties. A particularly good example is the Ministry of Agriculture facilitating the integration of commercially available weather insurance into its innovative ‘e-voucher’ scheme for the delivery of its Farm Input Support Programme through private sector input supply channels.”
Rob says Musika’s “support to the Ministry of Agriculture’s ‘e-voucher’ programme has not only extended subsidised access by smallholder farmers to a wide range of agricultural inputs but has also accelerated the growth of the agricultural inputs market significantly in the districts in which it was piloted.”
Another highlight of Musika’s activities last year was its “intensified support to the growth of the agricultural markets in the more isolated regions of Northern Zambia. Over the last year, these regions have seen a substantial increase in the number of agribusinesses offering inputs, technology, information and market access to the farmers of the region. This is of particular relevance in a year such as this where the ‘traditional’ Southern and Central agricultural heartlands of Zambia are experiencing drought; in an era in which such climatic challenges will only increase, the growth of the agricultural industry in the high rainfall North can only be a good thing for the country.”
Limitless opportunities
Various local suppliers to the agri sector agree with Rob’s optimistic outlook for Zambia. “The agricultural sector in Zambia is a dynamic sector,” says Pierre Lombard, CEO of NWK Agri-Services in Zambia, “it has its ups and downs. However it remains one of the main contributing sectors to Zambia’s GDP. What makes it exciting is the interest people and companies have in the country and the opportunities to expand and improve on current activities.”
He adds: “there are thousands of small scale and emergent farmers contributing to the majority of the agricultural output. With help and guidance, they have the potential to grow and increase their contribution and therefore contribute to the development of the agricultural sector as a whole. In short, agricultural opportunities in Zambia are limitless.”
With regards to the drought that Zambia is currently facing NWK’s Pierre Lombard says: “if the country allows for free trade in imports and exports and stability as well as free floating in the Zambian currency it will mitigate any yield loss by a possible increase in price.”
“Zambia is endowed with a large land resource base of over 40 million hectares of arable land” says Michael Bentley, Dealer Principal, Action Auto in Zambia “and the country is abundant with water resources having 40 per cent of the water in Central and Southern Africa. This means Zambia has unimaginable opportunities for food production to feed the entire sub-Saharan region!”
Susan Mennell, Managing Director at CFAO Zambia Limited, says “with the poor copper prices and mine closures Zambia is going to look to the agricultural sector for more exports. Zambia is able to produce excellent crops and excesses can be exported.”
Exposing the agri community to technology
Musika’s Rob Munro says “before Agritech Expo, Zambia never had a means by which the whole agricultural community, from smallholder farmer to corporate agribusiness, was able to come together to see, understand and invest in new technology. In my opinion, Agritech Expo has been hugely influential in exposing the community to this technology and driving forwards the advancement of modern farming in Zambia.”
Already Zanaco (Zambia National Commercial Bank) has confirmed that it is returning as the exclusive diamond sponsor of the event. Other big names in the farming sector that will be there are AFGRI, who are platinum sponsors, and Action Auto, JCB, John Deere, SARO and Zamseed who are all gold sponsors.
Agritech Expo is organised by Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and the African office of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK.
Agritech Expo dates and location:
14-16 April 2016 Gart Research Centre, Chisamba, Zambia Website: www.agritech-expo.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgriBusinessEA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agritechexpozambia/ LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7477169
Patriotic Front (PF) deputy spokesperson Frank Bwalya
“SOME UPND members wanted to pay me to continue issuing statements putting pressure on Vice President for Administration Mr Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba to produce his grade twelve school certificate,” Patriotic Front (PF) deputy spokesperson Frank Bwalya has revealed.
Mr Bwalya narrated that sometime in January 2016 he got a call from a known UPND member who asked him to meet some members of the opposition political party that allegedly wanted to defect to PF.
He said when he met the contact person before meeting the people who wanted to defect he was upset to learn that the story was something else.
“When I met the UPND member who initially called me about the defectors in the company of other people I didn’t know I was upset to learn that they wanted to give me money as payment for me to continue issue statements putting pressure on GBM (Mr Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba) to produce his grade twelve school certificate”, said Mr Bwalya.
Mr Bwalya said he got upset because offering him money to issue statements was tantamount to insulting his intelligence.
“I issue statements out of conviction and in performing my duty as a member of PF. Trying to use me to issue statements to help other people fight their battles is a serious insult to my intelligence. So I told them off and left”, said Mr Bwalya.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bwalya said Mr. Hichilema’s presence at this year’s mining expo in South Africa was of no value or benefit to Zambia but himself as he had gone there to consolidate his friendship with his paymasters and to renew his commitment to bring back the company which ditched the country in 2001.
He said if Mr. Hichilema had a heart for Zambians as he claimed, he would have used his connections in such international events to woo investors into the country rather than blaming Government over alleged policy inconsistencies in the mining sector, thereby scaring potential investors.
He challenged the UPND leader to outline what he meant by inconsistent policies on the mining sector and list the companies which pulled out as a result of his claims if he was sincere with his allegations against Government.
He said it was unfortunate that an individual who wanted to lead the country had taken an antagonistic approach to the government of the day without realizing that whatever he said had a huge impact on the people he aspired to lead.
He said it was illogical for anyone to think that Anglo-American could solve the problems that Zambians were going through when it was the same company that left hundreds of Zambians jobless when it pulled out of the country due to its political preference soon after UPND lost the 2001 polls.
I know by the name of this dish that people might be a bit put off. Some of you might be wondering what Guinea Fowl is; how it looks and if it is even edible? Well don’t worry I thought the exact same thing before I tasted it. Admittedly I didn’t even know if guinea fowl was some type of bird or not, but yet the dish peaked my interest. Something in me was intrigued enough to try it….so let me tell you the story from the beginning….
….As you all know I am in Zambia at the moment, so the other day my dad, aunts and uncle all decided that we should go out and eat some “soul food” from a local Zambian restaurant. Now I’ll admit I didn’t really know what it would be like, honestly I was a bit skeptical, but I went along anyway. When we got there I was relatively impressed by the setup so I was a little bit more optimistic about the food. I chose to eat the Guinea Fowl, because I wanted to try something different; looking at it I realized that it was a bird and I told myself that it must be like village chicken. And much to my surprise or maybe not so much of a surprise, indeed it was similar to village chicken but different at the same time. It was tasty and cooked well, with lots of flavour. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and was very impressed with it. So here you have Guinea Fowl casserole.
Preparation & Cooking: 2 hours
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil/ sunflower oil
15g butter
2 guinea fowl, cut at the joints
Salt and pepper to taste
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
250g small onions, peeled and cut in quarters
200g mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
3 chicken stock cubes
750ml water
Method
Preheat the oven to 170 ? C / Gas 3.
Prepare your guinea fowl, cut it at the joints and rinse under warm water, then set aside.
Add oil and butter to a large casserole dish, place on the stove and melt over medium/high heat; then add all the guinea fowl a piece at a time, season with salt and pepper, and brown on all sides. Add the carrots, onions, whole mushrooms and garlic around the guinea fowl.
Dissolve the stock cubes into the 750mls of boiling water and pour over the whole bird and vegetables. Cover and bake in the oven for 90 minutes. Check the guinea fowl occasionally. Remove the lid 15 minutes before the end of cooking.
Serving
Guinea fowl is great because it can be served with near enough anything. I enjoyed this with Nshima made with Cassava and some traditional Zambian veggies. You can also enjoy this with rice, couscous or potatoes. Either way enjoy!!
Kanta Temba is a cake maker and decorator. She is also the owner and founder of Kanta Kakes – cake shop.
You can find her work onwww.kantakakes.com. Follow her on twitter @KantaKakes and Instagram @KantaTemba.
Damaged Vehicles in the MMD cadres fracas By David Kapoma
I note with concern the behavior by the MMD members that are fighting to remove the party president Dr. Nevers Mumba from his office ‘by hook or by crook.’ Yesterday, a group of ‘rough cadres’ calling themselves an ‘MMD rival group’ clashed physically with the police at the party secretariat in Lusaka’s Kabulonga and left a frightening trail of destruction.
Such behavior by the hired youths should be condemned by every well meaning Zambian in the strongest possible terms.
Political leaders should be in the forefront of preserving peace and order. I urge those who have been funding these unemployed youths to cause confusion in the MMD to desist from such acts and find better ways of expressing their political ambitions. The MMD is one of the most organized political parties in Zambia which has clear procedures on how to resolve such grievances.
It is criminal and a sign of selfishness and desperation to destroy property in the manner the “MMD faction” damaged property at the Party Secretariat. I call on the law enforcement agents to do a very thorough investigation with the help of the four (4) youths that were arrested and get to the bottom of who is actually funding such immoral acts and the real motive behind.
The police should bring such behaviour to an end otherwise this country will be taken over by these cadres as happened in the era before the multi-party dispensation where ‘vigilantes’ started running the affairs of this country.
I urge the people of Zambia to reject desperate leaders that are known to cause confusion as they do not mean well for the country. Their main interest is to serve their individual, selfish interests and do not have plans to move the country forward. I also warn other political parties to reject MMD members who are causing confusion in their party as they have the potential of taking the same behavior to other political parties.
I finally want to urge all politicians to always use the right channels when it comes to expressing concerns and avoid causing violence and threatening the peace our country has enjoyed for a long time.
THE Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) in Livingstone has urged Law makers to quickly table the Access to Information Bill which has been in the pipeline for many years to enhance access to public information.
JCTR Livingstone outreach Regional officer George Makaha said there was need enact the legislation as accessing information by citizens was not easy because most of it was considered to be classified.
Speaking in an interview in Livingstone yesterday, Mr Makaha said such a situation had deprived citizens of their right to access information on matters which might have of interest to them.
He said his organisation and other partners such as Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) had come together and started advocating for the bill through community sensitisation.
“We are going out in communities educating people on this very important bill.
“Even if it will not be tabled in this last sitting of the year session, we are not going to stop mobilising for it until the current parliamentary sitting tables it,” he said.
Mr Makaha said the advocacy was not about information which boarded national security but that which had to do with how development was delivered to the people of Zambia.
“All we want is to protect our citizens from been misled by leaders on how the country is been run.
“We want a situation where when the Connstituency Development Fund (CDF) is released for example, people must be informed adequately on how the money will be spent and so on,” Mr Makaha said.
MMD President Nevers Sekwila Mumba
Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Nevers Mumba has said that the the alliance with the PF will be based on mutual understanding and not on the issue of the running mate.
Dr Mumba also said there is no time for the MMD to hold a national convention before the August 11 general elections.
Responding to questions from journalists here yesterday, Dr Mumba said he will meet President Lungu to discuss various issues before finally entering into an alliance with the PF.
He, however, said it would be premature to discuss the details of what the MMD will put on the table before meeting President Lungu.
Dr Mumba assured members that national executive committee (NEC) members resolved to work with PF ahead of the general elections.
“It is important to inform you that all the 53 NEC members are united and no-one will move us from our focused position,” Dr Mumba said.
He contends that no single political party can win the general elections with a majoritarian vote without seeking alliances
Dr Mumba said he has decided to take tours across the country to mobilise and consult party members on the way forward before the 2016 elections.
He also explained that once he meets President Lungu and the two agree on the alliance, he will then meet the NEC members and explain to them what is on the table and thereafter two committees will be formed to harmonise how the parties will work together.
Addressing his supporters on arrival at Kasama Airport, Dr Mumba said those who are calling for a national convention are bent on dividing the MMD before the general elections.
He said he is not afraid of the national convention but only feared that the party will be divided before the August 11 elections.
“How can we go to the convention with only a few months before the general elections? It means that the party will go into an election divided and those calling for that do not mean well for the party,” Dr Mumba said
He has also dismissed assertions by Lunte member of Parliament Felix Mutati that he had agreed to work with the United Party for National Development before last year’s presidential election.
Zesco United’s opponents in the preliminary round of the 2016 African Champions League Al Ghazala Wau of South Sudan are scheduled to arrive in the country on Friday afternoon.
Zesco and Al Ghazala clash on Saturday in the first leg tie of the preliminary round at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
“Our opponents from South Sudan, Al Ghazala Wau Football Club are expected to arrive in the country tomorrow at 14h20,” Zesco media officer Katebe Chengo said on Thursday.
Al Ghazal were reported to have kept Zesco guessing on their arrival for this Saturday’s encounter.
“Finally, we communicated to them through the South Sudan Football Association,” Chengo added.
Al Ghazala, who finished second in the league, were a last minute replacement of Atlabar after the South Sudan champions opted to play in the Confederation Cup.
