Government has engaged into an extensive training of mathematics teachers in order to improve the performance of pupils in the subject.

Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Childhood spokesperson Hillary Chipango said government has since launched a fast track programme in conjunction with DMI St. Eugene University.

Mr. Chipango said this is in order to upgrade the qualifications of mathematics teachers countrywide.

ZANIS reports that Mr. Chipango said teachers with certificates have been accorded an opportunity to upgrade to diploma level while those with diplomas are supposed to obtain degrees.

He said currently, over 2,000 teachers are being sponsored and are undergoing extensive training at DMI St .Eugene University.

Mr. Chipango further said the Ministry of Education is also sponsoring some mathematics students at the University of Zambia in order to improve the situation.

“The Ministry of Education has put in place major mitigation factors aimed at improving the poor performance in mathematics by pupils. It is not only mathematics teachers that are being trained but science teachers as well,” he said.

Government was very concerned about the poor performance in mathematics among school going children.

The Zambia Association For Mathematics has attributed the declining levels in performance to among other things, the change in the school curriculum.

Recently, the association held a national conference in Livingstone that attracted over 350 mathematics teachers to discuss challenges that they are facing with regard to the change in the school curriculum.

GOVERNMENT has said it will not take kindly to civil servants found pilfering public resources.

And Government has warned councils in Eastern Province against an exorbitant price of service charge to any land.

Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Chishimba Kambwili said when he addressed heads of departments and other parastatal organisations in Chipata yesterday that it was saddening that some civil servants in the name of accountants are engaged in pilfering of public resources.

Mr Kambwili who is also Chief Government Spokesperson said it was sad that some accountants were engaged in pilfering the Government resources.

“It is sad that accountants are pilfering the Government resources. Civil servants must stop the culture of stealing public resources,” he said.
He said Government would purge any civil servant found stealing the public resources.

“It is sad that civil servants like accountants are engaged in pilfering of public resources. Let me warn that Government will not take kindly to anyone found stealing resources,” he said.

The minister said it was also sad that some traffic officers from Zambia Police Service are engaged in corrupt practices by mounting unnecessary roadblocks in order to earn an income.

He said police officers should work professionally by not engaging in any act of corruption.

Mr Kambwili said police officers and civil servants who are engaged in corrupt practices must not destroy the name of Government.
He said the Government was concerned with some behaviour of some civil servants towards work.

He said civil servants must not be lazy in executing the public service because doing so meant that the tax-payers money was being stolen by unfaithful public workers.

Mr Kambwili explained that civil servants must die for mother Zambia saying the country cannot be develop by foreigners without the effort of Zambians themselves.

“Zambia will only develop if civil servants become hard-work because the country cannot be develop by foreigners but Zambians,” he said.

He explained that civil servants must work hard to ensure that various developmental projects such as the issue of fertiliser were followed up to the end.

“If see no items of fertiliser follow it up with Lusaka and when you don’t get a feedback, go to ZANIS (Zambia News and Information Services), Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia to air your concerns and don’t just keep quiet,”Mr Kambwili said.

The minister has also taken a swipe on Eastern Province Local Government Officer Macleod Nyirenda for allowing councils to be charging land at exorbitant prices.

Mr Kambwili said that it too much that the fees for land being councils were charging in the province was too high while Mr Nyirenda was just watching.

He said the service charges for one to get a land should be cheaper saying the trend must come to an end because the poor people were not benefiting.
He said there was need for councils to reduce the service charge to allow the poor people to be able to get land.

“It is sad that a land in Chipata is going above K10,000 and other councils it is K12,000 this trend must come to an end,” he said.
He said councillors were to be blamed for allowing lawless to take place in the local authorities.

The Minister has also taken a swipe at some civil servants who were promoting tribalism at their work places.

He said it was unfortunate that tribalism and nepotism was taking place in some work places saying such attitude must come to an end.
Mr Kambwili also prodded civil servants to support the Government of President Edgar Lungu.

And Eastern Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Zechariah Luhanga said when he opened a Provincial development Coordinating Committee (PDCC) that the Government was working hard to ensure that various developmental projects were enhanced in various places.

Meanwhile Breeze Radio Station Managing Director Mike Daka has challenged the Government to see how the community radio stations in the country could boost developments.

Mr Daka said when Mr Kambwili visited Breeze FM in Chipata yesterday that the decision to liberalize the airwaves was an important step to promoting both development and democracy.

He said that as a result of this, there has been massive infrastructure introduced under the media sector, with a lot of radio stations being opened up in most of the districts.

He however expressed disappointment that most of it was still being underutilized, despite the potential media has to effect change in the local communities.

Mr Daka noted that meaningful content to help the locals was still missing from the majority of radio stations operating all across the country.
And Mr Kambwili has acknowledged the need for Government to begin to empower the local radio station more often so that they can air more developmental programmes that Government was carrying out.

President Edgar Lungu has advised his newly appointment Special Assistant for Legal Affairs Sukwana Lukangaba not to engage in reckless social life despite him being a young man.

President Lungu said Mr. Lukangaba should also avoid the temptation of scandalising State House.

He said this at State House today when he swore in Mr. Lukangaba as his Special Assistant for Legal Affairs.

The President further urged Mr. Lukangaba to work hard especially that he is a young man.

He noted that Mr. Lukangaba’s failure to work hard will be a betrayal to the young people.

Mr. Lungu said State House has not had any in-house lawyer for some time now adding that the task ahead of his Special Assistant for Legal Affairs was challenging.

And Mr. Lukangaba said it was an honour to be appointed as the President’s Special Assistant for Legal Affairs and promised to discharge his duties with diligence.

Mr. Lukangaba worked for the Ministry of Justice for seven years before going into private practice.

The opposition UPND has launched a scathing attack on the ruling PF describing its leadership as morally bankrupt and suffering from a special mental illness.

UPND Deputy Spokesman Kuchunga Simusamba said threats by PF leadership that they will mobilise their youths to sternly deal with UPND members that will demonstrate over the constitution are unfortunate.

PF leaders including Deputy Minister in the Vice Presidents Office Stephen Kampyongo and PF Lusaka Youth Chairman Kennedy Kamba have threatened to deal with UPND members that will demonstrate over the constitution mailing process.

But Mr Simusamba charged that the mental and moral bankruptcy that has afflicted most PF leaders is responsible for their alleged failure to understand democratic norms.

He said the special disease of the mind makes PF leaders misfits in a democracy.

He said most PF leaders sound as though they are out-patients from a greater east university behind Mtendere in apparent reference to Chainama Hills Hospital, a mental health facility.

‘W e are disappointed with the threats coming from the PF leadership but we have always understood that most PF leaders suffer from a special kind of mental and moral bankruptcy that actually makes them misfits in a democratic setting like ours,’ Mr Simusamba said.

He added, ‘If you analyse the statement, it makes them sound like out-patients from a greater east university behind Mtendere there.’

‘In a democracy, protests are a norm and when people are not happy, they must be allowed to exercise their democratic right to protest. In this particular case, the UPND are not happy with the way Edgar Lungu and his crooks have been handling the constitution making process and so we intend to show our displeasure by marching from our party Secretariat up to State House.’

Choma Central Member of Parliament Cornelius Mweetwa has praised the Patriotic Front-PF administration under the leadership of President Lungu for enhancing interaction between the opposition members of parliament and senior government officials.

Mr Mweetwa said the peaceful interaction between opposition MPs and senior government officials under President Lungu enables MPS to work closely with the government in improving the livelihoods of the people in their constituencies.

He said opposition MPs are now able to freely attend national events as well as developmental gatherings because of the change the PF administration has brought about were interaction of MPs and government officials is concerned.

Speaking when he addressed farmers at the Choma Diary association project launch in Choma yesterday, Mr Mweetwa said the PF administration deserves to be commended for enhancing interaction of the opposition MPs and senior government officials in the country.

“I wish to praise the government for bringing about change in the interaction of the opposition MPs and senior government officials which was a great challenge in the past”, he said.

Mr Mweetwa said MPs are a part of government because they belong to the three arms of governance as law makers, hence the need for them to work closely with the government of the day.

He however, urged opposition MPs in the country to respond positively to the peaceful environment the PF administration has created in order to enhance development in the country.

And speaking earlier, Chief Singani of the tonga speaking people in southern province people said it is good to hear an opposition MP praising government for promoting interaction for the sake of development.

Chief Singani said traditional leaders also feel good to see the peaceful political atmosphere the PF administration is promoting in the country.

Chief Singani added that as a traditional leader he is non- partisan and working closely with the government of the day.

SPECIAL assistant to the President for press and public relations Amos Chanda says the media must be more responsible so that politicians can accelerate legislating the Access to Information (ATI) bill.

Mr Chanda said during a panel discussion on the World Press Freedom at the American Embassy yesterday that most politicians are afraid to support the bill because some media houses have been irresponsible in the manner they report issues.

“Responsibility is a necessary pre-requisite to enacting the ATI bill into law. For your information, the ATI was almost tabled before Parliament but three days before that could happen, some irresponsible media got its hands on it and that is how it was withdrawn. It is extremely vital for journalists to be responsible,” he said.

Mr Chanda said President Lungu does not take offence with criticism, but there is need for the media to be more responsible.

“If we act responsibly, the ATI can come faster than we think. In the developed countries there are systems in place that take care of offensive posts on the internet,” he said.

Mr Chanda said there is a lot of goodwill from President Lungu’s government on media freedom and law reforms.

“It is so frustrating to see an unprofessional media. The media has failed, for example, to set an agenda to debate the draft constitution,” he said.

And acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Isaac Chipampe said: “Politicians are scared of on-line media because of defamation.”

Mr Chipampe, who was part of the panel discussion, said the terror and fear some media houses drive in the minds of decision-makers is legitimate.
He said most of the blame Government gets is because of irresponsible reporting by some media houses.

“There is no initiative on the part of most journalists. Most of them prefer to write about politics at the expense of real issues such as women walking long distances to draw water,” he said.

Mr Chipampe said the draft ATI bill is ready to go to Cabinet for approval before being taken to Parliament.

He said it is Government’s position that information must flow very quickly as this is the only way development will come.

“This Government believes that there must be free flow of information as this is the only way development will be accelerated,” Mr Chipampe said.

And American ambassador to Zambia Eric Shultz said it is important for the media to be professional as the country prepares for the 2016 elections.
Mr Shultz said the media will play a key role in the forthcoming polls.

“It is thus important that the ATI bill gets passed into law because this will open up funding from the US government resulting in the improved flow of information to citizens,” he said.

The panel discussion was attended by various journalists who included the High Commissioner-designate to South Africa Emmanuel Mwamba, former President Rupiah Banda’s special assistant for press and public relations Dickson Jere, Kellys Kaunda and Zambia Daily Mail news editor Jerry Munthali, among others.

ALL is set for the African Union (AU) Committee of 10 (C10) Summit to be held in Livingstone this week to push Africa’s agenda on the United Nations (UN) reforms particularly as regards the Security Council.

10 Heads of State are expected to attend the Summit on May 9, 2015 at David Livingstone Safari Lodge from Algeria, Libya, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia as host.

The Livingstone Summit, which would be hosted by Zambia’s Republican President Edgar Lungu, would be held under the theme ‘The Livingstone Strategy for Accelerating the UN Reforms’.

A committee of 10 countries was constituted at the Ezwilini Summit in Swaziland, comprising of two countries from each region, whose task was to lobby the Permanent members of the UN Security Council to support Africa’s position.

Zambia and Namibia are the founding members of the C10 representing the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

At the Livingstone Summit, Zambia will be presenting a joint report with Uganda on a task they were given to lobby the Permanent members of the Security Council.

Zambia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba is expected to host a reception on May 7, 2015 at Royal Livingstone while a State Banquet is expected to be hosted by the President on May 8, 2015 at the Boma arena of the Royal Livingstone.