Mr Masendeka said the current mathematics performance in the country has not been very good, a situation he said needed urgent attention from all mathematics teachers.

Speaking in Livingstone yesterday during the ZAME national conference which attracted over 350 mathematics teachers from all the ten provinces, Mr Masendeka attributed the declining levels in performance in the subject to among other things change of the curriculum.

“The performance of mathematics across the country on comparative basis to other subjects has gone down. This can be attributed to the change of the curriculum and so as teachers we feel there is need to meet like this and address some of the challenges that the teachers might be facing as a result of this change,” Mr Masendeka said.

He said there was also need for the gap between primary and secondary schools including colleges to be bridged in order to enhance performance.

Mr Masendeka said the gaps among these institutions had given room for the blame game of who was not doing their part properly at different levels of education.

He further said there was need for mathematics teachers at all levels of educating to move at the same pace as mathematics and science were key drivers of the economy as projected in the country’s vision 2030.

And Southern Province Senior Education Standards Officer (SESO) Mathematics Christopher Shatewa said the onus was upon teachers to change the perception that mathematics was a difficult subject.

Mr Shatewa said interventions had since been put in place to change the performance of the subject.

He said as Southern Province, they were trying to re-position themselves as mathematics teachers in order to improve the performance.

“ So the onus is on us as mathematics teachers to change the perception that this subject is difficult. As Southern province, we are trying to re-position ourselves so that the performance can improve,” Mr Shatewa said.

Livingstone institute of Business and Engineering Studies ( LIBES) Principal Thomas Kalatiya said people must stop having the perception that mathematics was difficult because it is the only subject that has never changed from time in memorial.

Mr Kalatiya said mathematics was the same during the ancient times and would still remain the same in many years to come.

Mr Evans said it was painful that the problem of sewerage and running water was still existing in the area 50 years after independence.

Speaking during the Livingstone press club 2015 world press freedom day after math party at Maramba cultural village on Monday night, Mr Evans said as area MP, he was working very hard to ensure that the compound was connected to the sewer system.

He said the issue of running water and sewerage in Zambezi Sawmills compound was of great concern not only to him and the residents, but that government was committed to seeing that the problem was sorted out once and for all.

Mr Evans said the visit to the compound recently by vice president Inonge Wina was a clear sign of government’s commitment to ensure that the problem was solved.

“The vice president Inonge Wina recently visited the area and I can assure you that the situation will be corrected very soon because government is concerned about this issue,” Mr Evans said.

Livingstone press club secretary Edwin Mbulo speaking earlier at the same function said Zambezi Sawmills was the only compound in the tourist capital that has had no sewer system after 50 years of the country’s independence.

Mr Mbulo said despite the media highlighting on the issue, it was un-acceptable that the situation had not changed.

He said the people in the area historically were using buckets for toilets, which were later collected by the local authority in the mornings; a thing he said was not acceptable in this time and era.

Mr Mbulo said the media’s role was to highlight on some of these issues if people responsible for service delivery like the PS, Mayor and MPs were to discharge their duties effectively.

“When you get information from the media as people charged with the resistibility of delivering services, you are able to follow it up and some positives can be recorded,” Mr Mbulo said.

Meanwhile Southern Province PS Sipanze Simuchoba said government was committed to delivering in all provinces of the country including southern.

Mr Simuchoba said government’s position was that it would continue supporting the media as equal partners in development.

He said despite him being new in the job, he was confident that he would work well with the media and implored on journalists to publicize the work that government was doing.

“ Government is committed to delivering and whatever is happening elsewhere in the must also be happening here in Southern Province,” Mr Simuchoba said.

A 30 year old police officer of Kabwe District has been acquitted of defilement after the prosecution failed to find enough evidence linking him to the crime.

Kabwe Magistrate Chimuka Mutafela yesterday acquitted Josphat Mukuwa of defilement following the lack of evidence against him by the state.

This is in a case were Josphat Mukuwa a police officer of Kabwe is accused of defiling a 14 year old girl.

Particulars of the offence are that Mukuwa between February 14 and 16, 2015 did have unlawful carnal knowledge of a minor.

During trial the prosecutor Aaron Kuyela applied to the court to consider the minor a hostile witness as she kept saying things that were not in the statement that she gave at the police station.

The Magistrate considered the application by the state prosecutor and granted that the witness be considered hostile and allowed the prosecutor to cross examine her.

Before cross examination she told court that she did not have sex with Mukuwa and never spent the night at his house.

During cross examination by the state prosecutor, when asked whether the accused had carnal knowledge of her she refused but after she was made to read the statement that was taken from her at the police station she admitted that the accused had sex with her.

The father to the minor told court that on February 14 his daughter went missing and only came back home two days later.

Mr Chitafu told court that his daughter left home for Kabwe High School grounds and did not come back home until after two days which prompted him to report the matter to the police station.

He told court that when his daughter came back home he took her to the police station as he had already reported the matter, where she gave a statement voluntary that she was with Mr Mukuwa and had been defiled.
Another witness a friend to the girl told court that after her friend spent a night at Mukuwa’s house and her at Mukuwa’s friends house the two were scared to go home and decided to spend another night out at her boyfriends house Brian.
She told court that at Brian’s house they found another man and that she spent the night with Brian in his room whilst her friend was with the other man.

Rainbow Party President, Wynter Kabimba and Post Newspapers Proprietor Fred M’membe have suffered a legal set-back, after the Magistrate court refused to refer their case to the High court.

This is in a matter where former President Rupiah Banda dragged Mr. M’membe and Mr. Kabimba to court for contempt of court.

It is alleged that the accused published a story suggesting that President Edgar Lungu and Former President Rupiah Banda were framing suspended DPP Mutembo Nchito in order to fix him.

The accused had asked the Subordinate Court to refer their case to the high court after they were denied an adjournment to prepare their defence.

Defence lawyer Nchima Nchito argued that failure to allow the defence time to prepare their case amounted to a breach of the constitution hence the need to go to the High court for redress.

The state objected to this position accusing the defence of coming up with methods to delay the case.

In delivering ruling, Lusaka Magistrate Kenneth Mulife dismissed the application and ordered that trial should continue.

Magistrate Mulife said had the defence told the court that they needed time to look through the court records, he would have allowed them but this was not done.

He said it was unfair to expect the court to grant an application to the defence based on reasons that they did not make when making such an application.

And after the ruling former Deputy Minister of Finance Newton Ng’uni took the witness’s stand and accused suspended Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito of having abused his office.

And in cross examination, the accused alleged that Mr. Nchito connived with a Public analyst on Drugs, to accuse Mr. Brebner Changala of having possessed prohibited drugs when in fact not.

Meanwhile a Rainbow Party cadre on Tuesday threatened to break a ZNBC’s TV 2 Camera that was filming proceedings at court.

The cadre later approached this reporter and apologized for his earlier actions.

Mandevu Member of Parliament (MP) Jean Kapata says government is in the process of legalising Mazyopa Community of Lusaka as a recognised settlement.

Ms. Kapata said government is discussing with the concerned parties and stakeholders in order to see to it that all the people who will be affected in the process are compensated.

She said legalising Mazyopa has been a thorny issue for a long time now but pointed out that she will see to it that the people of Mazyopa are happy with the outcome.

ZANIS reports that Ms Kapata said legalising Mazyopa Community will improve the road network, water and housing system in the area.

Ms. Kapata who is also Tourism and Arts Minister said this in Lusaka today when she donated over 100 bags of 25 Kilogrammes of mealie meal and Chitenge materials to over 100 elderly people in the area.

Ms. Kapata says the donation was a way of giving back to the community by assisting the vulnerable people.

She noted that it was important to work for the people even if it is not a campaign period because her electorates gave her the mandate to work for them.

Ms. Kapata has since called on other Members of Parliament to visit their constituencies frequently and not to rely on campaign periods.

Meanwhile, the Mandevu law maker has also assured residents that government through the United States government will construct a total of 32 bridges on the Ngwerere stream.

Ms. Kapata said so far 12 bridges have already been constructed and 20 more are expected to be built before the onset of the rains.

She said Millennium Compact Project is spearheading the construction works of the bridges which will in turn ease the movement of the people in her constituency.

Zambia will this week hosting the summit of Heads of State and Foreign Ministers of the committee on the United Nations Security Council reforms.

Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba says President Edgar Lungu will receive Heads of States and their delegation to attend the one day meeting.Mr. Kalaba said the summit that will take place in Livingstone from May 7 to 9, will look at calls for the United Nation’s Security Council to under go both process and expansion reforms.

He said Africa’s call for inclusion on the Security Council will be tackled as it is the only continent excluded from the permanent category of the Security Council.

Mr. Kalaba announced this at a media briefing in Lusaka.

The countries that will attend the summit are Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Algeria , Libya, Senegal, Siera Leon, Equatorial Guinea , Congo and host Zambia.

Gender and Child Development Minister Nkandu Luo says her ministry will soon seek President Edgar Lungu’s permission to repossess all idle play parks in the country.

Professor Luo says move has been necessitated by lack of recreational facilities.

The Minister notes that most children have taken to beer drinking and prostitution due to lack of recreational facilities in their areas.

Professor Luo says official statistics indicate that a number of girls have been indulging in vices that are leading to early pregnancies due to lack of recreational facilities especially in schools.

She was speaking during a workshop for Teenage girls at Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka.

And World Bank Country Representative, Kundavi Kadiresan said reducing child marriages requires involvement of all stakeholders and not the government alone.

She regrets that most girls drop out of school at the age of twelve due to pregnancies and early marriages.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia -ECZ- has set June 30,2015 as the date for the parliamentary by-election in Malambo, Petauke Central and Mulobezi.

ECZ Public Relations Manager, Chris Akufuna says on the same day two Local Government by-elections will be held in Mwense and Mpulungu Districts.

Mr. Akufuna has told ZNCB News in an interview that the Nominations for the three Parliamentary by-elections will be held on May 28,2015.

He has appealed to media organisations and civil societies intending to cover and monitor the elections to accredit with the ECZ starting on May 25,2015.

In April 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that former Petauke Central MP, Dora Siliya ,former MMD Malambo MP, Maxwell Mwale and former Mulobezi Mp, Hastings Sililo should be allowed to re-contest their parliamentary seats.

The three seats were nullified by the courts for alleged corrupt practices in the 2011 general elections.