Republican Vice President Dr. Guy Scott has dismissed reports that President Michael Sata is dead.

Dr Scott said this in Parliament this morning in response to a question by Monze central Member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu who wanted to know the President’s health status following US media reports that he was attended to by Doctors in his hotel room.

Dr Scott said the health of President Sata has been entirely normal in New York this morning.

He said following the media reports he was very quick to ascertain the actual situation which revealed that it was not true that the President had died.

“This morning I woke up I received a number of phone calls asking about the President’s health, initially, the first call I receive must have been from the Guardian who probably told Newsweek who told Associated Press who probably picked it from the Zambia Watchdog that the President has passed on. This Mr Speaker is not true and the President is in perfect health,” Dr Scott said.

Dr Scott also told Parliament during the Vice President’s question time that further investigations have also revealed that the President has not even received specialized or emergency medical treatment in New York.

And Dr Scott says a Head of State can be in attendance at the UN General Assembly without necessarily having to speak unless one has something particular that they want to add to the world discourse.

President Sata is in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, where he was scheduled to speak on Wednesday.

The speculations started swirling Wednesday night, when President Sata failed to show up for his scheduled address at the General Assembly, which this week conducts its annual debate, an opportunity for the U.N.’s 193 members to showcase their policies to the world. President Sata was slated to follow Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, Wednesday night.The U.N. moderator then received a notice, and after a short hesitation announced, instead, that the next speaker, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, would address the council. No alternative time for President Sata’s address was announced.

Earlier this morning Chief Government Spokesperson Joseph Katema told QFM in an interview that Government has not received any information that President Michael Sata has been admitted to a New York hospital as has been reported by US media.

US media organizations that reported President Sata’s hospitalization include VOA, New York Times, Newsweek and Associated Press.

Associated Press has reported that Police in New York have said that President Michael Sata was treated in his New York hotel room by doctors but has not been hospitalized.

President Michael Sata had flown to New York from Lusaka to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. He did not deliver a scheduled address to the 193-member world body on Wednesday.

President Michael Sata was scheduled to speak before the United Nations General Assembly but failed to appear for his slotted speech.

At approximately 20:50 hours local New York time on Wednesday night, shortly following the speech by President of Venezuela Nicholas Maduro, the UN moderators had an awkward period of silence as they appeared to be receiving the information, and then proceeded to simply announce the next speaker at the general debate, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron.

Sata was treated on Thursday. He is about 77. He became Zambia’s fifth president in 2011 after three failed attempts. He is known as a staunch advocate for the poor and an opponent of Chinese investment in Zambia’s mines.

Sata went to Israel for medical treatment in June.

Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc has refuted claims by Konkola Copper Mines Plc that CEC has effected further power restrictions to their operations.

In a statement, CEC Spokesman Chama Nsabika said KCM has been receiving in the order of 90% of their power requirements since Saturday, 20th September 2014 when CEC restricted part of their supply on account of their failure to pay for electricity consumed since April 2014.
The restriction was done in accordance with provisions of the Power Supply Agreement of 2000 and pursuant to a Restriction Notice issued to KCM in April 2014, and following the ruling of the High Court on 16th September 2014, setting aside the Injunction it had earlier granted to KCM, ex parte, restraining CEC from restricting, suspending, disconnecting or otherwise interrupting supplies of electricity.

The current restriction of KCM’s power requirements was agreed upon with KCM per PSA provisions and no further reduction has been effected since.

Mrs Nsabika said it seems KCM had attempted to bypass the power restriction to the Concentrator that CEC had effected on 20th September, leading to a load ramp up which caused trip outs on the system.

“On Tuesday, 23rd and Wednesday, 24th September 2014 at 23:48 hours and 01:53 hours respectively, CEC’s Incomer Transformers No.s 1A, 3A and 7A, which supply part of KCM’s Nchanga Mine, tripped out on an overload condition due to KCM’s ramping up of load on the previously restricted transformer capacity,” Mrs Nsabika.

She added, “This tripping, caused by excessive load uptake, resulted in interruption of power supply to the 11kV Front Bus Bars for 65 and 20 minutes respectively. Prior to the incident in question, KCM had been warned about their excessive power uptake as this could lead to tripping, as it indeed did.”

Mrs Nsabika said CEC deplores KCM’s continued attempts to vilify CEC in the public eye and play the victim while they persistently default on their payment obligations and renege on efforts to find a lasting settlement to the current challenges.

“While CEC continues to supply KCM, currently providing about 90% of all of KCM power requirements, KCM continues to refuse to settle invoices; in breach of our PSA and the Order of the High Court that dictates that the Parties continue to meet their PSA obligations.”

Meanwhile, Government has directed Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) to resolve their standoff over the outstanding $44 million electricity bill the mining company owes before the end of today.

Speaking during a joint media briefing in Lusaka this afternoon with Mines Minister Christopher Yaluma, Chief Government Spokesperson Joseph Katema said that the standoff between the two companies has become a source of concern to government.

Dr Katema said that Government will not accept any further delay or inaction by the two companies to resolve this matter as it can have far reaching humanitarian and economic consequences.

Dr. Katema said that both companies were given enough time to resolve the matter, but that it is disappointing that the stand-off has continued and is now seriously threatening the safety of the workers at KCM.

He noted that the situation could have been avoided had the two companies exercised their responsibility by fulfilling their obligations to each other.

And Mines, Energy and Water Development Minister Christopher Yaluma feels both companies have not done what was expected of them which he says is unacceptable.

The Press Association of Zambia has condemned ZRA for harassing media houses over monies owed without consideration for the unfriendly economic atmosphere in which they operate.

PAZA has called upon Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda to should consider waiving all the money owed to ZRA by both public and private media houses in the country because taxation is killing the media.

Police and Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) officers on tuesday morning conducted a raid on the office headquarters of the Post Newspaper in Rhodespark, Bwinjimfumu road in Lusaka in connection with the K27 million owed in unpaid taxes.

However a press statement released by ZRA yesterday stated that the Minister of Finance does not instruct the Zambia Revenue Authority to undertake enforcement action against taxpayers.ZRA said it has a statutory duty to collect revenue on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

Below is the Full press statement

The Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) wishes to disagree strongly with the position taken by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to harass print media houses to recover their dues without consideration for the unfriendly economic atmosphere in which they operate.

PAZA wishes to remind the government of a position paper originated by media houses on the bad taxation system relative to the poor environment in which they operate.

That position paper has not been attended to by the government. PAZA believes that the government must waive the unfriendly taxes which are killing the media and allow them to start afresh.

A recent study by PAZA on the effects of taxation on the Zambian media shows that the most affected are the print media houses. This has made it hard for them to continuously remain alive and most of them have folded. For the electronic media, the taxation system has made the operational costs unbearable especially that Zambia does not manufacture electronic media materials.

We therefore wish to appeal to the Minister of Finance, Mr Alexander Chikwanda to revisit the taxation system and allow the media to grow. We further question the criteria used to select ZRA’s harassment of the Post and the Daily Nation when almost all the media houses in the country owe ZRA money.

The Minister should consider waiving all the money owed to ZRA by both public and private media houses in the country because taxation is killing the media.

We propose that the money to be saved by the media should be used to offer salary increments for our members some of whom are unpaid for several months while the rest have the lowest salaries compared to other sectors.

It must be appreciated that media houses employ thousands of the media personnel across the country which must prompt the Government to act with caution when dealing with tax matters.

Patson Phiri
Executive Secretary and Secretary General (Southern African Editors Forum Zambia Chapter)