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President Edgar Lungu swears in Lucky Mulusa as Special Assistant for Project Monitoring and Implementation at State House in Lusaka on 3 March 2015
Special Assistant to the President for Project Monitoring and Implementation Lucky Mulusa says government is committed to ensuring that the delays surrounding the construction of the K144 million new run-way at Kasama Airport are quickly resolved.
Mr Mulusa was speaking this morning when he paid an impromptu visit at the site earmarked for the construction of the new airstrip.
ZANIS reports that Mr Mulusa said there is need to ensure that the project does not suffer unnecessary delays in order for people to realize the benefits of their investment.
He said government thought it wise to have a completely new run-way at Kasama airport hence the new project which when completed would accommodate bigger planes.
Mr. Mulusa also added that government would ensure that issues surrounding the squatters that have encroached on the airport land are sorted out.
The new 3 kilo metre run-way which will be constructed to full bituminous standards will run parallel to the old one which is 1.7 kilo meters.
And the Contractor, An-Hui-Shuin Construction Group of China has already started mobilizing materials to embark on the project.
Company representative Lucie Hua said the contractor was ready to begin the works as soon as a Consultant for the project was engaged.
Northern Province Permanent Secretary Hlobotha Nkunika who accompanied Mr. Mulusa to the site also emphasized the need for the quick appointment of a Consultant so that the works could begin quickly.
He added that when completed, the new infrastructure will help to boost the tourism potential of the Northern circuit.
CHIEF Justice Ireen Mambilima has sworn in four judges to probe into the former DPP allegations of Mutembo Nchito’s case. These are (from left to right) Judges, Anel Silungwe, Mathews Ngulube, Ernest Sakala and Mathews Zulu.
Transparency International Zambia President Lee Habasonda has warned that the tribunal constituted to probe suspended DPP Mutembo Nchito risks turning into a joke due to numerous adjournments.
Mr Habasonda said the recent actions by the state of seeking to amend the charge sheet and requesting for adjournments could mean that they were unplanned to start the tribunal.
He said Zambia was setting a bad precedent by probing constitutional office holders in the manner it was handling the case against Mr Nchito.
Mr Habasonda added, ‘What we are seeing now with this tribunal is worrying, there is little progress made just on preliminary issues and the state seems very unprepared to proceed.’
‘You will recall as TIZ we welcomed the setting up of the tribunal but it now appears that the whole process was hastily arranged leading up this see saw we are seeing,’ Mr Habasonda said.
Mr Habasonda has since advised government to briefly suspend the tribunal and only reconstitute when substantial charges have been found against Mr Nchito.
‘We should not be seen to be taking a path that appears to be interested in fixing an individual but we should seek justice at all times,’ he said.
The tribunal which last sat on Friday, April 17 2015 has been adjourned to Tuesday, April 21 2015.
Rainbow Party leader Wynter Kabimba says he has no desire to rejoin the Patriotic Front.
Mr Kabimba who was the party’s strong man for several years until he was unceremoniously kicked out by late President Michael Sata said there is nothing attractive in the PF.
He said the PF is on a path to self destruction and will not last long in government.
‘I have no desire to go back to PF ever. So am sitting on mount Olympus as they say in Greek mythology and watching down as the PF is on a path to self destruction,’ Mr Kabimba said.
[pullquote]‘I wish them bad luck because if I said I wished them good luck, I will be a hypocrite.’[/pullquote]
Mr Kabimba said most of the people who worked hard to take over leadership in the PF have been disappointed as they are not anywhere close to power.
“People thought i was rendering my service to the nation because i wanted to be the next Michael Sata but they were wrong, those that were peddling stories about me and sponsoring boys against me have not even been appointed as Vice President. Edgar came from nowhere. Where is Kambwili today, where is GBM, he is just a lost sheep now,’ he said.
Mr Kabimba said he wished the PF bad luck for the remainder of its tenure in power.
‘I wish them bad luck because if I said I wished them good luck, I will be a hypocrite.’
A combined team of Zambia Police and Ministry of Health officers yesterday apprehended a 30-year- old businessman of Liumena area of Sikongo District for selling assorted drugs suspected to have been stolen from a government hospital.
Acting Sikongo District Medical Officer Kawana Mulonda confirmed the development in Kalabo today.Mr Mulonda explained that the businessman was found selling assorted drugs with GRZ labels and suspected that he might have connived with a government pharmacist to obtain the drugs.
He disclosed that a number of boxes containing drugs with GRZ tags were found in the suspect’s shop and home.Mr Mulonda was not in a position to determine the exact names, amount and quantity of the drugs.
When questioned, the suspect maintained that he bought the drugs from Lusaka’s Kamwala market.Police are still holding the suspect as they carry out investigations so that he could be formerly charged.
Mr Mulonda has since warned government Pharmacists to desist from engaging in drug pilfering as the law would not spare them.
He however said the District hospital was at the moment equipped with enough drugs.
A total of 750 bags of cement meant for the construction of Lambwe Chikwama clinic in Chienge District of Luapula Province has gone to waste.
The initial 300 bags of cement delivered to the construction site over a year ago have caked because of delays in constructing the health facility which was started close to two years ago.
The 300 bags of cement were delivered to the construction site by the Luapula Province Community Medical Office over a year ago.
This came to light during the Chienge District Development Coordinating Committee (DDCC) Meeting held in the Council Chambers last Friday.
Meanwhile, It was revealed during the same meeting that a further 450 bags of cement delivered to the construction site six months ago was also at risk of caking.
Acting Public Health Officer at the Chienge District Community Medical Office, Given Mweene who confirmed the caking of the Cement attributed the situation to poor storage facilities.
He said construction of Health facility which is still at the foundation level despite works starting close to two years ago had delayed due to erratic funding.He said the K30,000 allocated for the labour contract of the clinic was not enough.
Planner at the Chienge District Community Medical Office, Lemmy Situnyama assured the Meeting that Construction works would be sped up following the mobilization of the people in Lambwe Chikwama to provide community contribution.Commenting on the same matter, District Forestry Officer, Crispin Mtine said there was need for the Provincial Office to work closely
with the District Staff instead of imposing their wishes.
He said the Truck that carried the cement in question delivered it at night without any accompanying district staff.He said it was also possible that the cement had already caked at the time
it was delivered because there was no one to check its condition upon delivery.
While on the campaign trail in Mpulungu recently, President Edgar Lungu said that he had no problem with borrowing money to bring development to the people both in rural and urban areas of Zambia. What President Lungu has failed to understand is that if Government manages the economy properly then Zambia does not need to borrow vast sums of money and make large interest payments yearly in order to fund such projects. Furthermore, the current administration has failed to appreciate that if they continue borrowing at the current rate they risk sending the country into a state of economic turmoil.
Unlike sensible governments that prioritise domestic resource mobilisation, the PF has been on a borrowing spree since coming to power in 2011. In 3 years the PF has accumulated the same level of debt that was collected in the previous 27 years. On a recent visit to Zambia the IMF indicated their concern that the Government is unable to generate enough revenue to meet its regular development expenditure. Yet the President has clearly signaled that they will continue their trend. The recent revelations that Government wishes to issue another bond to finance the current debt is grossly worrying, particularly given the limited transparency with which such funds are then spent.
Any government that meets its expenditure by excessively relying on borrowing is guilty of economic mismanagement, and the PF is no exception.
What the PF Government has been telling us:
· Increased borrowing will raise financing for development;
· At 32 percent of GDP (US$ 7.9 billion), Zambia’s public debt remains sustainable.
What they are NOT telling us:
· Government has resorted to excessive borrowing due to fiscal indiscipline. The high level of corruption and lack of transparency in the procurement of road projects and other unplanned infrastructure projects has bloated Government’s expenditure. The failure to broaden the tax base, the under-collection of corporate income taxes, especially from the mines, and the underperformance of domestic VAT have all resulted in lower revenues. Therefore, Government continues to spend more money than it can generate, leading to a high fiscal deficit. The fiscal deficit which was just 1.8 percent of GDP in 2011 peaked at 6.7 percent of GDP by 2013, and 5.2 percent in 2014. To finance the deficit, Government has resorted to heavy borrowing.
· The high fiscal deficit, coupled with the PF’s continued insatiable appetite for borrowing, will soon make public debt unsustainable. Total public debt is currently at 32 percent of GDP. In other words Zambia owes, in real terms, US$ 7.9 billion in both external and domestic debt. It therefore goes without saying that should Zambia issue another international bond of, say, US$ 1 billion, we would have reached the unsustainable debt threshold of US$8 billion at the current GDP levels. We must remember that the level of debt the PF has built up over three years is equal to that previously accumulated over 27 years and had to be written off.
The implications of more borrowing:
Debt servicing costs are rapidly increasing and are crowding out pro-poor spending. The high interest debt burden absorbs a significant amount of government revenues. To illustrate this point, interest payments on both domestic and external debt, which were just K1 billion in 2011, now stand at K5.3 billion in 2015. This is nearly as much as the K5.6 billion Government intends to spend on road infrastructure in 2015 and more than the K4.5 billion health sector spending.
A Kwacha that is depreciating against the dollar means more Kwacha is needed to pay off external debt. The recent fluctuation of the Kwacha has made external debt service payments more expensive. For example, at the time the budget was being prepared, the dollar was trading at K6.1 to the dollar and now it is K7.1 to the dollar. A debt of US$100,000 will now need payment of K710,000 and not K610,000; this means a loss of K100,000 within 6 months diverted from development needs.
Government has been crowding out the private sector despite saying it is the engine of growth. Due to heavy borrowing on the domestic market, Government has been using up domestic private savings that would otherwise have been available for private sector lending. Most of the local firms which are SMEs have no access to international financing have been refused loans by local banks because of the PF Government’s insatiable appetite for borrowing without regard for the private sector. The smaller remaining pool of loanable funds in the market has raised the cost of capital for private borrowers (high interest rates), thereby reducing investment demand, and hence affecting growth and welfare. If you are wondering why economic growth has been on the decline since the PF came into power then this is part of the reason.
UPND Stance
· The UPND will grow the economy by addressing the bottlenecks faced by the private sector which accounts for over 90 percent of employment and is the only way to create the amount of new jobs Zambia needs. We will look at reducing the cost of doing business (including interest rates) and improving access to investment capital.
· The UPND will prioritise domestic resource mobilisation by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Zambia Revenue Authority and other revenue collection agencies, as well as curbing the high capital flight, tax evasion and tax avoidance.
· While Government continues to sing the song that the national debt is sustainable, they are not telling us how we will pay back the owed money. UPND will put in place a robust long-term debt management strategy that will ensure that new borrowings follow legal and fiscal responsibility guidelines, as opposed to the current haphazard borrowing.
· The UPND will use existing information and commission further research to estimate the cost of depreciation of existing capital stock to come up with optimal budget allocations in order to prioritise Operations and Maintenance of existing high-return infrastructure projects.
· The UPND will mitigate political expedience and corruption in infrastructure projects by, among other measures, reverting the Road Development Agency to the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications and ensuring transparency and planning of projects in accordance with Government vision.
· Lastly, there are many options for infrastructure development that can be considered and would reduce the cost to Government, for example the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) model that was used on the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) but later cancelled by the PF. The PF preferred to build the airport at the cost of over US$300 million as opposed to a BOT arrangement of US$100 million.
Together We Can
Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President
___________________________
Issued by: UPND National Campaign Centre, Lusaka
Mumba Yachi, is scheduled to launch his fourth studio album on May 1 in Lusaka.
The album titled, I am Lenshina is Mumba Yachi’s dedication to women and his show of support through music for women empowerment.
Speaking to the Weekend Mail in an interview, Mumba Yachi said: “I have given it that title because of my love for women and because Lenshina means queen. I would like to empower women through the song.”
Mumba Yachi emphasised that everything he talks about in the album relates in one way or another to women.
Women are the source of life, he highlighted. “We call the earth, Mother Earth so we are stepping on women when we walk.”
The artiste shared that while technically his fourth album is Zambian, he has tried to add some value to it by giving it a jazzy touch so as to appeal to an international audience.
Songs to feature on the 13-track album include Shame on You, which talks about people having mutual respect for each other. “In the song, I talk about how passengers must respect conductors on public buses and vice versa. I also talk about how boys must stop lying to women.”
The song Ba Mayo is Mumba Yachi’s tribute to mothers for the sacrifices they make every day, while another song called Africa describes pan-Africanism as the way for the continent to develop. “In Africa, I talk of how we need to carry the uniting spirit of political leaders such as Kenneth Kaunda and Julius Nyerere in different spheres of life,” he shared further.
Initially,the artiste considered producing two albums as he has written quite a number of songs but after further consultation, settled for 13 tracks.
Mumba Yachi is a skilled guitar and percussion player who has been professional since 2009. Last year, his album, Mokambo, was selected as the ZMA best traditional album.
Presently, Mumba Yachi has been hooked on a lot of jazz music for inspiration but cites Emmanuel Mulemena, Franco, Fela Kuti and Ismailo as artists he has huge respect for.
Mumba Yachi’s fourth album is produced by Mojo, the label he is signed to.
AN 88-YEAR-OLD patient of Kapiri Mposhi has died after the ambulance that was taking her to Kabwe General Hospital (KGH) overturned on Lukanga Road.
The accident happened on Tuesday around 17:30 hours as the ambulance belonging to Kabwe District Community Medical Office was transporting Esther Jimu from Munga Rural Health Centre to KGH.
Central Province deputy police commissioner Edwin Bwanga said the accident happened when the driver of the ambulance, identified as Adrian Manyunshi, 39, lost control of the vehicle and hit into cyclist Evans Washeni, 55, of Makululu township.
Mr Bwanga said the accident happened on Tuesday around 15:40 hours on Lukanga Road, and that Mr Manyunshi was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser ambulance registration number GRZ 580.
Mr Bwanga said Ms Njimi sustained serious injuries and died on the way to KGH.
Mr Bwanga said Lucy Chibangula, who accompanied Ms Njimi, sustained body injuries and is admitted to KGH.
Mr Bwanga also said Mr Washeni, who is also admitted to the same hospital, complained of back pains.
He said the ambulance and the bicycle were extensively damaged.
He also said Mr Manyunshi has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
A family representative, Alex Kasaila, said when Ms Njimu, who is survived by five children and 35 grandchildren, complained of chest pains, she was taken to the health centre before being referred to KGH.
“We buried her on Friday but it’s regrettable that she died in the ambulance that was sent to take her to hospital,” Mr Kasaila said.
He said post mortem results revealed that Ms Jimu died because of three broken left ribs, one broken right rib and a crashed skull.
And MUBANGA NONDO in Ndola reports that a 25-year-old security guard of Scorpion Security Services in Kasama has died after being run over by a train as he was sleeping on the rail line.
Northern Province deputy commissioner of police Alfred Nawa said the incident happened on Friday around 02:00 hours in Kasama’s Tazara area.
He named the deceased as Jacob Gondwe, 25, of Kapongolo village in Mwamba’s chiefdom.
He said Mr Gondwe was reportedly attempting to cross the railway line as he was returning home from drinking but fell asleep on the rail line.
“He was run over by a train which was travelling from Nakonde to Mpika,” Mr Nawa said.
Mr Nawa said Mr Gondwe’s left leg was amputated, his left arm crushed and had severe head injuries. He died on the spot.
His body is in the Kasama General Hospital awaiting a post mortem.
Visiting German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Christian Schmidt has inspected the new state of the art brewing plant for National Breweries financed by funds from Germany.
Mr Schmidt inspected the plant’s state –of- art factory to see how small scale farmers and Zambian companies are benefiting from German funded projects.
The new factory located along Sheki Sheki road includes brewing facilities, packing lines as well as laboratories supplied by german firms.
Its’ production capacity has been increased from 1 million hector liters of shake shake per year to 5.1 million hector liters..
Mr. Schmidt was accompanied by Zambian Breweries group Technical Director Franz Schlepping during the tour of the brewing facility.
Mr. Skipping however said the new plant still under construction will be efficient and cost effective once completed.
About 200 workers are set to be employed once construction of the new plant is complete.
First Lady Esther Lungu (c) with Sports minister Vincent Mwale (second from left) running during the Lusaka’s Lafarge Marathon on April 18,2015 -Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
First Lady Esther Lungu says lack of physical activity has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality.
Mrs Lungu observed that a negative effect of physical inactivity has also contributed to the increase in non-communicable diseases worldwide.
She noted that being physically inactive is considered as a risk factor because of several illnesses and medical conditions.
ZANIS reports that the First lady said this when she officiated at the 2015 Lafarge Lusaka Marathon yesterday.
Mrs Lungu said participating in physical activities assists in social development of the young people by promoting opportunities.
She noted that being physically active also helps young people to adopt other healthy behaviours such as the avoidance of drug and alcohol abuse.
The First Lady has however hoped to see more involvement of persons with disabilities participating in such community –based programmes.
She has since congratulated the winners of this year’s marathon as well the winners of the 10 kilo metre race.
And Sports Minister Vincent Mwale has commended the second Lafarge Lusaka Marathon event which supports efforts by the Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) towards transforming amateur athletes into professionals.
Mwale said his ministry prioritized sports development as an important catalyst for development.
He added that government‘s expectations are that Lafarge PLC grows the Lusaka marathon to gold medal standing which will attract athletes across the world.
Speaking earlier, Lafarge Zambia Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Rigaux said the Lafarge Lusaka marathon remains a major part of wellness program as their corporate social responsibility.
He further said the marathon would also help to promote endurance and discipline among employees.
On Friday, I took time attend the 2nd Agrictech Expo being held at GART in Chisamba that showcases world-class farming technologies, agribusiness innovations and business-to-business network and transactions platforms designed to inspire the future of Zambian agriculture.
The Expo, featuring about 120 exhibitors from both Commercial and Small Scale farmers, is another testimony of our arguments in the UPND that Zambia has great potential to be self-sustaining in food production.
We have always emphasized on the need to diversify our economy to activities such as farming as a more sustainable route to job and wealth creation in our country grappling with high unemployment levels especially for the youths.
Our experience in Chisamba also reveals the need for the right economic mix that supports both the production and industrial sectors as a means to reducing escalating food prices in the country while creating employment through value addition to our products.
Support to local farmers through timely provision of cheap agriculture inputs is the only way we can empower them with disposable incomes to support their families in sending their children to schools and other necessities.
We have always insisted that Zambia has the potential to creating industries in food processing such as canning various types of our crops from our farmers that can be exported and generate foreign exchange that eventually stabilizes the currency away from the shocks of the usually volatile mining sectors.
With the available technology at the moment, it is really a shame that Zambia is still importing even vegetables, canned foods and drinks, and all sorts of things, yet we can easily empower our citizens to start producing and packaging them for local and export markets and in the process creating jobs.
Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President
___________________________
Issued by: UPND National Campaign Centre, Lusaka
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Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda
ZAMBIA’s economy is improving despite facing challenges with its fiscal position, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda has said.
Mr Chikwanda said the Zambian economy was improving but the lower commodity prices have caused problems on the Balance of Payments (BoP) and the fiscal position of the country.
He said currently there was a gap between the revenue and expenditures in the budget thereby leading to deficits.
“Our fiscal position at the moment is very difficult. Yes the economy is improving but we currently have challenges in the area of the budget and we have a deficit,” the minister said.
“We all have challenges especially for oil producing commodity countries. Commodities have taken a beating plummeting the commodity prices which is causing problems in our economy in the BoP and the fiscal position.
There is a gap between revenue and expenditures leading to deficits which may be difficult to handle,” Mr Chikwanda said.
Speaking at the just ended International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World
Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, Mr Chikwanda said described the meetings as successful saying that it was a good interaction for Zambia.
“The next meetings will be held in Lima- Peru and this was preparatory meetings and it was a good interaction that Zambia participated in the spring meetings because everybody that matters from the financial sector was here so there was a lot of opportunity for interactions,” Mr Chikwanda said
He said they had several bilateral discussions with several countries, cooperating partners such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The minister said the spring meetings were a very useful get together as countries strive to work towards fostering economic growth, promote high employment and reduce poverty.
He explained that Zambia was the member of the World Bank and IMF and do take part in the policy formulation.
And Bank of Zambia (BoZ) governor Denny Kalyalya said he meet with bankers that were interested in doing business in Zambia because of the good business environment.
Dr Kalyalya said he had discussion with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) a wing of the World Bank and the IMF on issues of financial stability and programmes to be implemented in Zambia.
“We had a conversation with International Development Association (IDA) 17 which started last year in July we are going towards the mid team so we are in the process of preparing for IDA18 which is underway and the mid team review where the emphasis was placed on the voice of the borrowers and we went there to make our voices heard,” Dr Kalyalya said.
Chieftainess Chiawa of the Goba people in Kafue district has called for recognition of her people as true Zambians.
Chieftainess Chiawa wondered why Goba people are sometimes treated as foreigners from Zimbabwe simply because of the similarity of the Goba language spoken in Chiawa with that spoken in Zimbabwe.
She said her subjects have been facing difficulties in obtaining Zambian passports because they are viewed as foreigners from neighbouring Zimbabwe.
The traditional ruler was speaking when Lusaka province permanent secretary Stardy Mwale paid a courtesy call on her in Chiawa yesterday.
Chieftainess Chiawa said her people deserve to be treated as Zambians and that there is no other country other than Zambia to which they belong to.
And Lusaka Province Permanent Secretary Stardy Mwale assured Chieftainess Chiawa that Chiawa area is part of Zambia and that the people in the area are bonafide Zambians.
Mr Mwale said government is currently promoting the One Zambia One Nation motto aimed at addressing the upsurge of tribalism in the country.
The Permanent Secretary thanked the chieftainess for working closely with government in taking development to her chiefdom.
Mr. Mwale said government appreciates the traditional ruler’s wise counsel and contribution to national affairs such as promoting unity and fighting tribalism.
Zesco United goalkeeper Jacob Banda denied Nkana any prospects of a debut win over his side at Nkana Stadium in Kitwe on Sunday.
Banda made crucial saves in each half to extend Zesco’s unbeaten run against Nkana since they were promoted in 2004 to fifteen games with six draws and nine wins.
Nkana made a ferocious start from the first whistle putting Zesco on the back-foot the entire opening 45 minutes.
Banda shutout Hosea Silwimba’s shot in the 13th minute and 21 minutes later denied livewire Austin Muwowo who was Nkana’s best player on the day.
Zesco’s only chance in the opening half came in the 34th minute through Jackson Mwanza whose shot was saved by Scott Ngokane.
Nkana Stadium was left stunned in the 41st minute when Banda made a dramatic one-hand save to keep out Djunes Kanda’s header on the near-post.
Nkana striker Tony Odur failed to punish Zesco from close-range in the 64th minute when Banda spilt Claude Bwalya’s volley but the goalkeeper reacted quickly to roll the ball up field for safety.
Meanwhile, Zesco rise from 8th to 5th while Nkana while the latter move from 11th to 9th.
Newly appointed North Western province minister Dawson Kafwaya inspects the bridge
Government says it is working had to ensure that the remaining bags of rice that have not been collected by Food Reserve Agency (FRA) in Zambezi District of North Western Province are collected.
Agriculture and Livestock Deputy Minister Greyford Monde said collection of the rice grains is currently underway and is likely to be completed soon.
Mr Monde said his ministry is working round the clock to ensure that all the grains are collected and used for the intended purpose before they go to waste.
He said failing to secure crop yields is not only retrogressive to the nation but also a sign of not being grateful to God for the abundance of food production.
North Western Province Minister Dawson Kafwaya recently unveiled a scam were over nine thousand by 50 kilogram bags of rice bought by FRA from farmers in Zambezi were not collected from the area since 2011.
FRA has since commenced the collection of the commodities from Zambezi West constituency to Solwezi District for storage.
