People’s Party President Mike Mulongoti says President Edgar Lungu has shown signs of lacking priorities by spending time on irrelevant activities and travelling unnecessarily.

Mr Mulongoti said the recent travels within and outside the country that President Lungu has undertaken leave much to be desired.

He cited the recent opening of the Mukuba Mall by President Lungu in Kitwe is another confirm that he does not know his priorities.

“Surely does it have it take the entire Head of State to go and commission a private shopping mall? Do we know how much it costs to have the President with his entourage leave office and move about like that? President Lungu needs to be serious with governing the nation,” Mr Mulongoti said.

He added, ‘Just the other day, he was away in Mpika commissioning a third level hospital, these are activities that could be done by Ministers or their Deputies or indeed District Commissioners.”
Mr Mulongoti said President Lungu needs to start spending more time in his office to respond to the many development concerns from Zambians.

“He is becoming very casual with the office he occupied and in the end he is not inspiring confidence especially in the business community because he does not seem to know what he is doing,” he said.
Mr Mulongoti said the 90 days of President Lungu have been characterized by lack of consistency on most key areas of national development.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Deputy Minister Maxus Ng’onga has warned players in the fertilizer distribution process at district level to desist from politicizing the Farmer Input Support Programme( FISP) .

Mr Ng’ona has also warned that action would be taken against those who will be found wanting.

Mr. Ng’onga sounded the warning after he received a briefing on the FISP exercise from Mpika district Commissioner, Catherine Chileshe when he paid a courtesy call on her yesterday.
The District Commissioner appealed to the Minister to dissolve the Mpika District Cooperative Union executive which she alleged had politicized the fertilizer distribution exercise during the 2014/2015 farming season.

Ms. Chileshe explained that the MDCU and some subordinate staff from the Department of Agriculture were using politics to discriminate farmers from getting the inputs adding that the situation had resulted in the district recording a low crop yield.

The District Commissioner said if the executive will not be dissolved, they risk being surrendered to the law enforcers.

And responding to the request, Mr Ng’ona who is on tour of duty in the province instructed the Provincial Agricultural Coordinator Victor Mulopa to take action and ensure that the 2015/2016 inputs go to the right beneficiaries.

Mr. Ng’onga said he was in Muchinga Province to investigate audit reports of misappropriation of the 2014-2015 farming inputs and understand why some farmers who deposited money did not get the inputs as well as what made the delay in the distribution of the farming inputs.

He said government wants to ensure that this year’s farming inputs are distributed by September.

The Deputy Minister explained that the Ministry flagged off the fertilizer distribution of D. Compound two weeks ago and some districts had started receiving the consignments.

He called on marketing officers in the department of Agriculture to ensure that all the necessary documentation is done and secured now adding that he will not condone the situation of pilling up the inputs in the sheds saying the trend contributes to corruption and malpractices.

Mr Ng’ona also warned all the District Agricultural Coordinators (DACOs) and Marketing Officers to stay away from manipulating the FISP and ensure that no politics are involved in the distribution of the farming inputs this year.

He called on officers in his department not to involve themselves in politics saying those who want to become politicians should resign immediately before the distribution of farming inputs starts at the district level.

He expressed displeasure that his Ministry received disturbing reports on how the 2014/2015 inputs were inclined into political campaigns when the programme had its own guidelines adding that President Lungu has issued strong warning against those tampering with food security.

Mr Ng’ona added that when the farmers complained, the entire government was affected as it hinges on people’s livelihood.

PRESIDENT Lungu and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, yesterday held a high-level closed-door meeting at State House, which lasted for two hours.

Mr Lungu was accompanied by First Lady Esther, Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Margaret Mwanakatwe, Lusaka Province Minister Obvious Mwaliteta and Zambia’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ndiyoi Mutiti.

Other officials in President Lungu’s delegation were his special assistant for press and public relations Amos Chanda, special assistant for political affairs Kaizer Zulu and technocrats from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Commerce, Trade and Industry.

Mr Mugabe and his wife, Grace, received Mr Lungu and his delegation and immediately proceeded to the meeting.

And the President told journalists shortly after the meeting that he was happy to be in Zimbabwe and to confer with President Mugabe, whom he described as a statesman.
President Lungu said he is ready to learn and acquire knowledge from President Mugabe.

“I am here for the first time officially as head of State and I am getting used to the hospitality of President Mugabe and I can say he is an elder statesman in the region and he knows all the corners in the region and so I am learning from him,” Mr Lungu said.

And Mr Chanda said in an interview that the two leaders held talks on a number of issues affecting the region, including the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

“President Lungu has held a one-on-one conversation with President Mugabe. They reflected on a number of issues, including the unfortunate developments in South Africa.

“They are trying to agree on the interventions that can help bring to an end the xenophobic attacks that have broken out in some parts of South Africa,” Mr Chanda said.

Meanwhile, President Lungu is today scheduled to address the Southern African Development Community (SADC) extraordinary summit of heads of State and government, whose focus is on industrialisation.
Mr Chanda said Mr Lungu’s address to the summit will focus on the finalisation of the industrialisation strategy and roadmap within the time-frame the SADC leaders agreed.

“The President will specifically address SADC and argue that countries like Zambia will need to increase value addition methods so that they can get the necessary benefits from the raw materials that they export,” Mr Chanda said.

He said President Lungu will further make an intervention and argue for close collaboration among SADC countries.

Mr Chanda said the President will emphasise on the need for increased trade among SADC member states so that growth can circulate in the region.

“The President will also argue the case for enhanced productivity and competitiveness and also address the issue of the tripartite free trade area.

“Particularly for Zambia, his main point will be to argue that structural and economic transformation in the region will only come about through increased private sector participation,” Mr Chanda said.
He said Mr Lungu will tomorrow travel for a State visit to Bulawayo, where he will officiate at the 56th Zimbabwe Trade Fair.

Mr. Kambwili who is also Chief Government Spokesperson says media houses particularly Zambia National Broadcasting Cooperation (ZNBC),Times Printpak and the Zambia Daily Mail were among the media houses needing support as they are facing numerous operational challenges.

He cited lack of equipment and motor vehicles as some of the major challenges the three institutions are facing in the discharge of their duties.

Mr. Kambwili further said due to limited resources, which have to be shared among many other needy areas, the three public media institutions have continued to face challenges in their operations.

The Minister said this when he met Turkish Ambassador to Zambia Ahmet ARDA at his office today to discuss among others, the state of the public media institutions in the country.

The meeting was also attended by Information Deputy Minister Forrie Tembo, Permanent Secretary Godfrey Malama and other senior officials from the Ministry.

“Talking about ZNBC, our national broadcaster established by an act of Parliament, we have a number of challenges ranging from obsolete equipment to mobility. We hope the donor communities like you can come in and help us address some of these challenges,” said Kambwili.

Mr. Kambwili stated that the public media wants to cover the whole country but are unable to do so because of inadequacy of equipment.

He since appealed to the Turkish Ambassador to explore ways through which his country can help build capacity in the Zambian journalists through training by awarding of scholarships.

And the ambassador assured the Minister that his Embassy is ready to work with the Ministry of Information to improve the operations of the three public media institutions.

Mr. ARDA said the Turkish Embassy in Zambia will work hard to link the public media to other media institutions in Turkey with the view of further exploring other areas of media cooperation.

He also assured the Minister that his government will also consider his request for capacity building in the community radio stations across the country.

FORMER President Kenneth Kaunda yesterday celebrated his 91st birthday with his family and Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming.

And Chinese President Xi Jinping has described Dr Kaunda as a pillar of the Zambia-China friendship, which spans over 50 years.

Dr Kaunda, who repeatedly joked about his age, was presented with a cake from his family which he shared with his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, in-laws and journalists after he was assisted to cut it by his grandchild.

“I am very grateful and humbled. Thank you, thank you very much,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of his family, Dr Kaunda’s son, Kaweche, said the family is grateful to God for giving them the former President, who has led an exemplary life.

Mr Kaunda said being members of Dr Kaunda’s family is a challenge because it is not easy to follow in the foot-steps of such a great man.

“God willing, we hope we can also live exemplary lives and equally as long as he [Dr Kaunda] has lived,” he said.

And President Xi, in a letter read by chief of political section at the Chinese Embassy Wan Nan Lin, said Dr Kaunda spearheaded the China-Zambia friendship that is still ongoing more than 50 years later.

He said Dr Kaunda promoted the friendship for the benefit of people.

“The Chinese people have utmost respect for Dr Kaunda and they are wishing him a heart-felt birthday and good health,” Mr Xi said.

Earlier, Mr Yang presented Dr Kaunda with a present, a recording of his party that the Chinese Embassy recently hosted in his honour.

“I hope the video reminds you of the good memories which you have of China,” he said.

Others who visited Dr Kaunda at his residence are United States (US) ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz, Minister of Finance Alexander Chikwanda, USAID Zambia director Susan Brems, Higer Bus Company general manager Wu Ming and staff, Dr Roger Chongwe and Dr Simon Zukas.

Former Minister of Justice Wynter Kabimba and The Post owner Fred M’membe have maintained that their contempt of court and libel case be sent to the High Court for determination of constitutional issues.

Defence lawyer Nchima Nchito said when the matter came up for hearing yesterday that the case should be referred to the High Court because the conditions on which the application was made are very clear and infringe on the constitutional rights of Kabimba and M’membe.

This is a case in which Kabimba, M’membe and The Post have been charged with contempt of court and libel.

Former president Rupiah Banda has asked the Lusaka Magistrate Court to cite Kabimba, M’membe and The Post for contempt of court for commenting on matters that are before the courts of law.
“The question this court should determine is whether this application is frivolous and vexatious,” Mr Nchito said.

He said the court’s decision to refuse the application for an adjournment on Monday has denied the accused persons time to prepare adequately.

On Monday, Mr Nchito applied for an adjournment to allow the defence to secure documents from other courts on which they can base their cross-examination of prosecution witness Newton N’guni.

He said the defence wanted to secure documents in cases in which suspended Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mutembo Nchito appeared before three different courts over his alleged abuse of authority of office.

But Mr Banda’s lawyer, Sakwiba Sikota, said no-one is stopping the defence from accessing the documents.

Mr Sikota said the adjournment of the case should give the defence enough time to secure the documents and prepare adequately for the matter.

Principal resident magistrate Kenneth Mulife adjourned the matter to May 5, 2015 for continued hearing.