Special Assistant to the President for project implementation and monitoring Lucky Mulusa has commended ZESCO management for swiftly electrifying Chisamba Boarding Secondary School.

Mr. Mulusa said Chisamba Boarding Secondary School, like many other schools across the country, had struggled for many years to have electricity but to no avail.

He said government intervention has seen the problem being resolved within weeks.

Mr. Mulusa said ZESCO should respond to projects with similar efficiency even when the inquiry is coming from ordinary people who do not have influence but can follow procedure.

He explained that ZESCO management should not only respond promptly when there was an inquiry from the President’s office on a particular project.

Mr. Mulusa was speaking when he conducted an on spot check of the electrification project at Chisamba Boarding Secondary School on Wednesday night.

He has since urged the school management to aim at excellent performance with 100 per cent pass rate now that the institution has electricity.
And senior chief Chamuka VI of the Lenge people in Chisamba district said the electrification of Chisamba Boarding Secondary School will improve the pupils’ performance as they will have ample time to study.

And Parent Teachers Association (PTA) chairperson for the school, Argus Mushoke thanked government for the quick response in ensuring that the boarding school, which has been operating without electricity since inception three years ago, is electrified.

And Chisamba boarding head teacher Smart Ngalala said the school electrification project had been on paper from 2009 but since then, the institution has been using a small generator that could only operate for two hours.

Mr. Ngalala expressed gratitude to government that pupils can now study for longer periods of time.

The head teacher pledged to government that his school would now compete favourably with other schools.

He said it was good that government was monitoring project to ensure they are completed within the shortest possible time.

Mr. Ngalala disclosed that the connecting of the school to the national grid had helped to solve the challenges that the school was facing.

Some of the challenges the school was were erratic water supply and sanitation.

Chisamba Boarding Secondary School is situated about 68 kilometres North East of Chisamba boma in Central Province.

The Zambian Voice, an organization which promotes good governance, has expressed concern with a number of issues bordering on malicious propaganda being perpetuated by different groups.

Zambian Voice Executive Director Chilufya Tayali says the propaganda being perpetrated has the potential of promoting hatred in the country thereby making it difficult for elected leaders to rule.
Mr. Tayali says his organisation has realized that while Zambians voted for one president, the country is being steered in different directions by various groupings with ulterior motives.

He says these groups are fighting for political power and control of the country using malice, criticism, state machinery and intimidation.

He noted in a statement to ZANIS today that an impression that was being created was that one must belong to some groupings to enjoy life as a free citizen or risk being labelled as a rebel if the activities of that grouping are questioned.

Mr. Tayali has further expressed concern that the prevailing situation was a recipe for bad governance, corruption and inequality.

He has since urged Zambians to seriously reflect on any statements coming from various groupings to avoid being misled.

Mr. Tayali has since urged President Edgar Lungu to clearly define his identity and values of his governance style.

He has further appealed to the judiciary to be impartial as the unscrupulous people would want to use them to legitimize wrong things.

He said justice should not have a face as courts are places where people, regardless of their status in society, run to for justice.

Lusaka Province Permanent Secretary Stardy Mwale has directed the Ministry of Agriculture in Chongwe district to remove all civil servants from the list of beneficiaries of the Farmer Input Support Programme as the scheme is not meant for them.

Speaking when he addressed over 1 200 Kanakantapa Resettlement Scheme Farmers in Chongwe district, Mr. Mwale said FISP had not fully produced the desired results because the beneficiary list was full of ghost farmers and civil servants who were not eligible to get FISP packs.

Mr. Mwale has since directed the office of the District Agriculture Coordinator DACO in Chongwe to remove all ghost farmers and civil servants from the FISP beneficiary list so that only vulnerable peasant farmers were able to acquire farming inputs under FISP.

“I want to warn you the DACO and your officers that I will not allow you to steal fertilizer under FISP which is meant for the vulnerable farmers. My government is paying Civil Servants a lot of money which should enable them to buy fertilizer if they so wish to become farmers.” Mwale said

Mr. Mwale has since directed the Lusaka District Commissioners to supervise the FISP programme if the province is to achieve food security.

A 20-year- old woman of Chinsali district in Muchinga province has pleaded not guilty to charges of indecently assaulting a 4 -year -old boy.

Appearing before Chinsali Senior Resident Magistrate Francis Nsokolo yesterday was Lizzy Chilufya of Shambala farms who stood charged with one count of indecent assault contrary to the laws of Zambia.

Particulars of the matters are that on a date unknown but in the month of April, 2015, chilufya did indecently assault a 4 -year- old boy of Rural Compound thereby infecting him with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) called syphilis when the boy’s mother had gone to the market.

Both the boy’s mother Abigail Banda and grandmother to the victim told the court through their testimonies that the 4 –year- boy explained after being questioned that accused person on the material day asked him to enter into the house in the pretext that she was going to give him a coin after which she unaddressed him and herself and asked the boy to get on top of her.

The court further heard that the boy later started complaining of pain on his private part when passing urine and that when he was checked it was discovered that he had sore on his private part.

The matter was later reported to Chinsali police station on 27th April, 2015.

Magistrate Nsokolo has adjourned the matter to tomorrow and the accused person has been remanded in custody.

Illegal settlers that have encroached on airport land in Kasama district are said to have contributed to the delay in starting the construction of Kasama Airport runway in Northern Province.

Northern Province minister Freedom Sikazwe disclosed this when Vice President Inonge Wina addressed the business community at Wamulungwe lodge in Kasama last night.

Responding to questions from some members of business community who wanted to know why the construction of Kasama Airport had delayed, Mr. Sikazwe said the project was being delayed due to some residents who had encroached the area.

Mr. Sikazwe explained that government has already engaged a Chinese contractor who was already on site to begin the works.

He however said the works have failed to commence due to issues of land encroachment surrounding the area by some residents.

Mr. Sikazwe warned that government was not going to tolerate people delaying development to take place due to illegal settlements.

Meanwhile the Vice President also appealed to residents to assist government in resolving the issues so that the area can be developed as soon as possible.

And Vice President Inonge Wina is disappointed with the slow pace at which the construction works of Musa day secondary school in Kasama district of Northern Province is progressing.

Speaking when she toured the construction site in Kasama today, Mrs. Wina said she was disappointed with the local company which has taken too long to complete the project.

Mrs. Wina said government will not entertain slow contractors because they were interested in seeing that the projects are completed as quickly as possible.

She has since directed the Ministry of Education to ensure that the project is completed before the end of this year, adding that she did not understand why completion of the project that was started in 2011 had taken so long.

The Vice President said government is trying its best to ensure local contractors were also awarded contracts in the country but said it was very disappointing to note that many local contractors engaged in different government projects had been exhibiting shoddy works.

And when Mrs. Wina visited the construction site, ASESCO Company limited director was not present as he was reported to have travelled to Lusaka.

The vice president is in Northern Province to monitor the progress of government developmental projects.