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Coach Ronald Mukosha has left FAZ Division One North side Lumwana Radiants to join Lime Hotspurs as an assistant.
Mukosha will assist recently appointed Lime coach Linos Makwaza who signed a two-year contract last Thursday.
The ex-Zambia and Power Dynamos defender has previously coached Kalulushi Modern Stars and Geokas Curve.
“Yes, I will be working with Coach Ronald Mukosha from Lumwana,” Makwaza revealed on Tuesday.
Mukosha has left Lumwana sixth on the 18-team table with 17 points from 12 matches.
Meanwhile, Makwaza begun his resign as Lime coach with a 2-1 defeat away at Premium Sport in Kabwe on Sunday.
However, Makwaza is upbeat that his bottom placed side can turn tables and win promotion back to the Super League.
“The league is wide open, even the team at the bottom can rise and take over leadership. It is a matter of commitment and hard-work from
players,” the ex-Nkana and Forest Rangers trainer said.
Lime have eight points from the opening 12 games after managing only one win so far in Division One North season.
File picture:President Sata with First lady Dr Christine Kaseba Sata Tours ZESCO Kariba North bank Extension Power Project in Siavonga
On Sunday, the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) approved Zesco’s application to adjust the electricity tariffs by 24 percent for domestic customers and 15 percent for commercial users, with effect from July 1, this year.
This was done to enable the electricity company meet the cost of generation and distribution of electricity to its customers.Many stakeholders have expressed deep regret at this action.
Forum for Democratic Alternatives president Ludwig Sondashi said his party received the news that the PF government had given a go ahead to the Energy Regulatory Board (ERB) to revise electricity tariffs upwards with deep regret. He said what is even serious is that the ordinary citizen would pay more while mining conglomerates would pay less.
Dr.Sondashi said such actions by the PF government can only be described as dishonest because the PF were voted for on the platform of the pro-poor policies and more money in people’s pockets. He said the PF government can simply be said to have taken the Zambian people for a ride warranting the need for Zambians to vote for a political party that is serious with governance matters.
Dr.Sondashi added that the sharp increase in the cost of living that the nation has continued to witness since the PF’s assumption of power coupled with nose-diving of the Kwacha against other currencies is testimony of poor governance by the PF administration.
He said it is for this reason that as the Forum for Democratic Alternatives party, continue to state that our current constitution gives excessive power to the president, affording the president an opportunity to run the country as he wishes.
Reacting to the revised electricity tariffs,Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) president Bright Chunga said locally produced products will become increasingly uncompetitive once the new electricity tariffs are effected next month. Dr Chunga said the
depreciation of the Kwacha against the Dollar and the recent approval to adjust the electricity tariffs upwards were some of the issues that were making local products uncompetitive.
[pullquote]such actions by the PF government can only be described as dishonest because the PF were voted for on the platform of the pro-poor policies and more money in people’s pockets[/pullquote]
“We call upon Government to help bring stability to the economy. We the manufacturers are doing the best that we can,” he said.
He said players in the manufacturing sector were doing everything possible to grow the economy but that their efforts were being hampered.
Meanwhile the Chamber of Mines in Zambia (CMZ) says it is not happy with the approved upward adjustment in Zesco electricity tariff and has since engaged the ERB over the increase.
CMZ chief executive officer Maureen Dlamini in said the chamber was concerned with electricity tariffs upward adjustment because it was too high and would further increase the cost of operations for the mines.
Ms Dlamini who was reacting to the announced increase in electricity tariff by 24 per cent for domestic customers and 15 per cent for
commercial users said this hike was bound to have an adverse effect on the mines.
“We are concerned with the increase because it is going to further push the cost of operations for the mines and right now are in
discussion with ERB over the matter,” Ms Dlamini said.
She, however, said the chamber was not in position to comment further until after exhausting the current discussion with ERB
The Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) on the Copperbelt has said the tariff increase would raise the cost of doing
business in Zambia and may result in job losses.
FDD Copperbelt chairperson Yotam Mtayachalo said that some companies may fail to cope with the tariff hike and would cut on jobs as a way to sustain operations.
Mr Mtayachalo said while the FDD agreed that Zesco needed to generate income, increasing tariffs for the clients were not a solution
especially that fuel prices had just been increased and the Kwacha had depreciated against the Dollar.
Mr Mtayachalo called on Government to intervene on behalf of Zambians because the Patriotic Front has always said it was a pro-poor
Government.
PRESIDENT Michael Sata addressing Cabinet and journalists at State House in Lusaka yesterday
The Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) has advised Zambians to desist from speaking mockingly about Republican President Michael Sata’s health.
EFZ Executive Director Pukuta Mwanza told Qfm News that Zambians should show maturity instead of making fun of the health of the President.
Rev. Mwanza said whether the President is sick or not, it is wrong for Zambians to continue talking about his health in a mocking manner.
He said those that think the President is not in good health should instead commit him in prayers.
Rev. Mwanza added that the President is a human being like any other person and can fall sick at any time.
He said that those aspiring for the high office of President should be the last ones to laugh at the president when he falls sick.
Rev. Mwanza further stated that it is the President who is in a better position to say whether he is well or not instead speculating on his health.
Rev. Mwanza further stressed that President Sata is the leader for all Zambians and no one should wish him ill health, but that people should pray for his strength so that he continues leading the country and completes his term.
KUMWESU, meaning OUR PLACE, is a half-hour lifestyle and entertainment magazine program that showcases the African lifestyle from across the continent.
The aim of KUMWESU is to inform, entertain and update viewers on the new young emerging Africa, a continent driven by our ever growing entertainment, tourism and business industries.
They cover major events such as music concerts and award shows.
Go behind the scenes of Productions from films, television drama series and music videos.
Get up close and personal with some of the leading personalities in the entertainment business.
Encourage entrepreneurship through interviews with some of Africa’s leading young businessmen and women.
Zambian TV Presenter Mutale Mwanza, hosts the show from different holiday destinations and locations (hotels, lodges) across the African continent.
The field reporters bring us the diversity of our continent from different exciting tourist attractions across Africa accompanied by popular media personalities.
KUMWESU Season 2 hits TV screens this week DSTV Africa Magic Channel
Vice President, Guy Scott, has assured the nation that government has not abandoned the constitution making process as being espoused by opposition political parties and civil society.
Dr Scott says the delay in enacting a new constitution has been necessitated by government’s resolve to come up with a constitution that suits and meets the dynamism of the country in meeting the aspirations of the people.
He said this yesterday in Livingstone when he addressed a Patriotic Front (PF) party meeting at the Civic Centre.
He said the Technical Committee Drafting the Constitution has failed to justify proposed wholesale changes to the current constitution as reflected in the draft copy.
[pullquote]“The British system has worked for over 500 years. It has got its own weaknesses and the owners have not complained, and it has been working here,” he said.[/pullquote]
The Vice President said there has been no strong reason advanced for demands to change the British style of governance that has nominated and elected members of parliament forming Cabinet and to the American style of Cabinet where cabinet composition is drawn from outside the circles of parliament.
“The British system has worked for over 500 years. It has got its own weaknesses and the owners have not complained, and it has been working here,” he said.
Dr Scott said government is strongly opposed to enacting ideological fantasies from the draft constitution such as the right to food because they are unrealistic and inapplicable.
The Vice President also urged party members to bury their differences and focus on reorganising and strengthening the party in Southern Province in order to gain political foothold.
He noted that Southern Province is a difficult province but advised PF members to point out the developmental projects being undertaken by the government in order to woo members.
[pullquote]Dr Scott said government is strongly opposed to enacting ideological fantasies from the draft constitution such as the right to food because they are unrealistic and inapplicable.[/pullquote]
Dr Scott reminded the party that there are four by-elections in Petauke Central, Malambo, Kasenengwa and Vubwi Constituencies in Eastern province that need to be won.
And speaking earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister, Harry Kalaba, dispelled conceptions that President Sata has deliberately made Southern Province lag behind in development.
Mr Kalaba said President Sata moved the provincial capital from Livingstone to Choma in order to accelerate development in Choma and the rest of Southern province.
He said the province has received the highest budgetary allocation in the 2014 national budget to spur development in the region.
Also speaking at the same meeting, Southern Province Minister, who is also PF Provincial Chairman, Daniel Munkombwe, implored the Vice President to compel Ministers and Members of Parliament to visit PF structures than wait for 2016.
SEVERAL Luanshya residents waiting their turn to get medicine from a pharmacist dispensing medication from a mobile pharmacy at Ndelela Basic School in Mikomfwa Township where the Ministry of Health conducted mobile hospital services
A traditional leader has praised government for sending the mobile hospital to his area to offer quality specialized services.
Senior Chief Kanongesha of the Lunda speaking people of Mwinilunga district in North-Western Province says over 1,000 people in Kampemba, Luawu, Lwakela, Nsanakudya and Nyakaseya areas benefited over the weekend from the government’s policy under the Ministry of Health.
Senior Chief Kanongesha says some men and women were tested for cervical cancer and prostate cancer while some shunned because of what he termed traditional myths.
He was speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday.
The Senior Chief, who presides over Mwinilunga and the newly created Ikelenge districts, said this is the very first time the mobile hospital had reached remote areas like his since the mobile hospital was launched in 2010.
“I commend government for dispatching the mobile hospital to service my area. Most of the people were treated and benefited from the services while a few shunned for reasons known to themselves,” he said.
On shunning, Senior Chief Kanongesha said he would engage district health management boards in the two districts to conduct vigorous sensitisation programmes to educate the villagers on the importance of screening.
The traditional leader appealed to the men and women in his chiefdom against shunning government programmes as they frustrate government efforts of attaining the Millennium Development Goal on health.
The United Nations (UN)has honored Major Alfred Banda and Chief Inspector Ebert Sianyona with the Dag Hammarskjold medal for their gallantly.
This is contained in a statement to ZANIS in Lusaka today by First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the Permanent Mission of Zambia to the UN Chibaula Silwamba.
Mr Silwamba said the two died last year while serving with the UN-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).
He said Zambia currently contributes 142 military and police personnel to six UN peacekeeping operations, with the largest number serving in Darfur.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, in a message marking the international day of UN peacekeepers, said 106 peacekeepers died in 2013 while serving in UN operation worldwide.
“We mourn the passing of every one of these courageous individuals. We grieve with their friends and families and we recommit ourselves to ensure that their contributions to the cause of peace will never be forgotten,” the UNJ Chief said.
Mr. Silwamba said Mr. Ban officiated at the wreath-laying ceremony in honour of the fallen peacekeepers and Zambia UN Mission Military advisor, Brigadier General Erick Mwewa, attended the solemn ceremony.
Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) leader Edith Nawakwi has joined calls by various stakeholders for Bank of Zambia Governor Mike Gondwe to resign.
Ms. Nawakwi said that Dr. Gondwe has lamentably mismanaged the country’s economy as evidenced by the Kwacha’s poor performance against major currencies.
Speaking during a Media briefing, Ms. Nawakwi who is former Finance Minister said it is plain truth that Governor Gondwe lacks the basic understanding of the economic matrix and how the financial market operates.
And Ms. Nawakwi has predicted that the decision by the Energy Regulation Board to give ZESCO a go ahead to increase electricity tariffs by 24% will result in hikes of prices of fuel and eventually worsen the poverty situation many households are living in.
The FDD President has also called on the PF government to reverse the Wage Freeze which it imposed on public service workers that has resulted in 10 public service workers’ unions to declaring a dispute with the government.
And Ms. Nawakwi says the government through President Michael Sata and the Zambia Revenue Authority to back date the debt that KCM owes Zambia as revealed by its major Shareholder Anil Agarwal that it makes huge profits from the mine which it got at a low price.
Below is the full statement…
2nd June, 2014 PRESS STATEMENT
Members of the press, fellow citizens, I wish to welcome you all to this press briefing. I have been compelled to address the nation today due to the grave economic situation obtaining in our country which is actually a threat to our political stability.
THE CONTINUED DEPRECIATION OF THE KWACHA
The continued depreciation of the kwacha against the major convertible currencies is adversely impacting on the lives of the majority of our people as the prices of essential goods and services such as mealie meal, water, electricity, transport and housing have kept on rising beyond the reach of the majority of our people. Just yesterday, the Energy Regulation Board gave ZESCO the go ahead to increase electricity tariffs by 24%. At the rate we are moving, we expect the prices of fuel to go up soon. And that will worsen the poverty situation many households are living in.
Last week, The Bank of Zambia told the nation that the kwacha is depreciating because of speculative behavior among players. The Central Bank said people should desist from speculating with the Kwacha to halt the current free fall of the local currency. This is the latest of the many cheap excuses this government has been giving us since the kwacha started its downward spiral. First they told us that the Kwacha was losing value due to the falling copper prices, and then they changed the story and said the Kwacha was depreciating due to their ill-timed Statutory Instruments No. 33 and No. 55.
Then the story changed yet again that the Kwacha was losing its value due to the so called capital projects which the government was undertaking. As if that was not enough the government invented another excuse saying the Kwacha was depreciating because of some imaginary cartel. And now the story has changed yet again. Today the Governor is blaming the so called speculators for the depreciation of the Kwacha.
Surely, it is clear to all of us that the Kwacha has continued to lose its value due to the lack of sound fiscal and monetary policy by the PF Government coupled with the ill prepared individuals who are managing our economy. Dr Michael Gondwe, our Central Bank Governor is a lawyer by profession and is therefore the wrong person to have as Governor of the Central Bank.
Can the Governor tell us why the opening rate of the Kwacha each morning is higher than the closing rate of the previous evening? Does he know that the money market does not sleep? Does he know that his commercial banks are taking foreign positions using the few dollars that he has been pumping in the financial market? Does he even know how much foreign currency, trading outposts such as Shoprite, Game Stores, the mines and such foreign firms are taking outside the local money market?
It is plain to all of us that our Governor lacks the basic understanding of the economic matrix, let alone how the financial market operates. It is for this reason that we are hereby requesting Dr. Michael Gondwe to immediately step down as Governor of the Central Bank of Zambia because we as a people no longer require his poor services.
If the depreciation of the Kwacha is not quickly arrested, we will find ourselves in the Zimbabwe or Greek situation because the purchasing power of our currency is evaporating with each day that passes. This is putting pressure on business houses especially small businesses such as car dealers, hardware dealers, fruit traders, cross border traders ( the Tamanga dot com friends) and the like who heavily rely on imported goods. This increased cost of doing business is beyond the reach of many small businesses. Many such businesses are failing to pay their workers or to operate normally hence many are closing or folding up.
LABOUR DISPUTES
For the first time in the history of this great nation, all ten public service workers’ unions have declared a dispute with the government for unilaterally imposing a wage freeze and refusing to improve the salaries and conditions of our workers.
If this labour dispute is not quickly resolved it may result into countrywide strikes. The consequences of such industrial unrest are too ghastly to contemplate. The escalating prices of essential goods and services that have been triggered by the depreciation of the Kwacha are eroding the value of the salaries of our workers due to the diminishing purchasing power of the Kwacha.
It is for these reasons that we are calling upon the government to immediately lift the wage freeze and honour the 2013 Collective Agreement. We equally urge the government to learn to consult all relevant stockholders and embrace the spirit of give and take before making major policy pronouncements to avoid backlashes. This government has to learn that we are in a democracy and not an autocracy. The government has to learn to deal with our workers in an open and honest manner.We urge the government to deal with these labour challenges with a sober and level headed approach and not the heavy handed approach. We do not want to see what happened with the nurses to repeat itself because the ultimate losers are the poor Zambians who have continued to lack the services of the fired nurses.
As a Party, we fully appreciate the numerous challenges our workers are enduring. The bulk of our public service workers are what may be termed as the working poor. Low wages and poor conditions of service have become the norm for most of our public service workers. Paying for basic needs such as food, shelter and transport is a real struggle for them. Low wages are forcing most of our workers to resort to kaloba and all sorts of loans just to make ends meet.
It is Important to stress that our workers are the engine and backbone of the economy. It is therefore extremely important that the workers are `properly motivated and properly taken care of in order to increase their productivity. However, we want to caution that even if we increase the salaries of the public service workers it will not positively impact on their lives if we do not deal with the falling Kwacha and the general economic mismanagement currently obtaining in our country because the purchasing power of the Kwacha is diminishing daily. We need to seriously work on the fundamentals of our economy which are currently very weak due to lack of sound economic policies and sheer incompetency on the part of some individuals who have been charged with the responsibility of managing our economy.
Thank you. Prepared and issued by: Edith Z Nawakwi FDD President
President Sata with Mr George Chellah at AU Summit
Plans to arrest popular Hot FM breakfast show hosts Hope & Chi and close down one of Lusaka’s popular commercial radio stations have been exposed.
Sources from Lusaka Central Police Station and State House have revealed that President Sata’s Press Aide George Chellah is behind the scheme to shut down Hot FM.
The sources disclosed that Chellah has since instructed two officers from the Criminal Investigations Unit at Central Police to investigate Hot FM and the two popular presenters in an effort to find something incriminating about them.
The planned arrest of the popular duo has to do with a story regarding President Sata’s reported evacuation on which Chellah was quoted refuting the story.
In the story aired on Tuesday, May 27 2014 on its breakfast news, Hot FM reported that State House had refuted that President Sata had been evacuated on Sunday after he fell ill.
In the clip to the story, Chellah could be heard saying the evacuation story was not true and that President Sata was well.
Hot FM went ahead and ran the story and aired Chellah voice refuting the story.
But since Tuesday, plain clothed police officers have frequented Hot FM a number of occasions and summoned Hot FM Chief Executive Officer Zach Chavula regarding the story.
The officers have also obtained statements from Hope, the Programmes Manager and a Reporter who authored the story.
But sources from the Police Service and State House say the scheme to arrest Hope & Chi is part to Chellah grand scheme to close down Hot FM.
They said Hope & Chi including the Programmes Manager and a Reporter were supposed to be arrested last Friday and lock them up the entire weekend.
“As you might be aware, they were looking for Hope & Chi from Friday and they could not just locate them. This Monday morning, the officers camped at Hot FM as Hope & Chi were doing their Red Hot Breakfast Show and again interrogated the duo,” the source said.
“Chellah has vowed to shut down Hot FM before he leaves State House. He feels the station has failed to play by his rules and the best thing to do is eliminate it completely from the scene,” the source added.
And Hot FM Chief Operations Officer Oscar Chavula confirmed that police officers have been frequenting the radio station from last week and getting different statements from employees.
“Clearly, this borders on intimidation, they are set on harassing us with the hope that we will cow down and start singing their praises but they are mistaken. The President himself has said people are free to debate his health and the story we ran had no ethical issues,” Mr Chavula said.
“Even this morning, the breakfast show crew was literally broadcasting under lock them, the officers were waiting to interrogate them just as they finish their shows. This is unacceptable and goes against the tenets of free press.”
And a letter signed by Acting Independent Broadcasting Authority Acting Director General Eustace Nkandu dated May 29 2014 directed Hot FM management to apologise during the same breakfast show and all prime time programmes for the next one week.
“From our findings we deemed the contents of the show unethical and inappropriate. Discussions of health status ate personal issues and should not be discussed in the public domain regardless of the social standing of the individual,” the letter read.
“The letter of apology to State House is required to enable the complainant know that the compliant has been dealt with as pursuant to Section 36 (3) which provides that the Authority shall notify the complainant of the results of such an investigation.”
But Hot FM management wrote to IBA seeking clarity on the nature of the complaint and the complainant in particular.
In a letter written by Hot FM Station Manager Rodgers Twala, Hot FM requested asked the IBA to state the exact words which were deemed offensive and requiring retraction.
“The complainant (State House) is too general and is not a legal person, further, as a Station, we are concerned that we have not been given an opportunity to be heard and yet clearly we have already been sanctioned by the Independent Broadcasting Authority which we find very unusual,” the letter read.
Livingstone Chamber of Commerce President Miles Daka says the challenges facing business houses in the tourist capital are not getting the attention they deserve from government.
Mr. Daka noted that key infrastructure facilities that government pledged to commission ahead of the hosting of the 20th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly last year, have not yet been completed.
“Before the UNWTO-General Assembly the local business community cooperated and worked tirelessly to make the hosting of the event a success, but did not get back their investment returns, partly because key infrastructure remains uncompleted,” he said.
Mr. Daka said this in a statement made available to ZANIS in Livingstone today.
He also expressed concern on the decision by the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), to introduce a toll gate at the entrance to the Zambezi water front for the purpose of charging the community, local and foreign tourists.
“Government needs to immediately scrap off these charges failure to which there will be serious consequences the charges introduced at the ZAWA gate will distort the spending patterns of local tourists and operations of tour operators,” he said.
He said despite these challenges, the local Chamber of Commerce would continue working with government and all stakeholders in finding solutions to challenges the business community was facing.
The Livingstone Chamber of Commerce and Industry successfully held its Annual General meeting over the weekend at Limbo lodge.
The meeting which was witnessed by the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry Development advisor Mr. Sven Buchholz saw Miles Daka retain his position as President.
The new Vice President is Mrs. Ruth Henson, while the position of Treasurer was retained by Mr. Steven Mwiinga; the positions of secretary and research/development officer went unopposed with Kunda Mwendapole and Shangwa Chime retaining their positions.
The newly elected members pledged to work extra hard to make the organization more vibrant to mitigate the challenges the business community was facing and reinforce their lobbying and advocacy roles.
FILE: Defence Minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba greeting Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) President Dr. Nevers Mumba during the start of the process of the burial of late Paramount Chief Chitimukulu at the palace in Mungwi district
The Movement for Multi-party Democracy in Eastern Province has supported their counterparts in Northern Province who have called on former Defence Minister Geoffrey Mwamba to ditch the ruling Patriotic Front and rejoin MMD.
Eastern Province MMD Provincial chairperson Alexander Miti says Mr. Mwamba should reconsider rejoining the former ruling party as the PF does not value his membership and contributions to the party.
Mr. Miti said Mr. Mwamba should not continue going through unnecessary harassment from the PF when there is a party that is ready to welcome him back as one of its own.
He said the MMD in Eastern Province respects the decision and cause under which the former defence minister renounced his ministerial position as there is nothing wrong for one to respect traditional authority and his tribes men.
Mr. Miti adds that Mr. Mwamba should not suffer the humiliation he is going through as the decision he made to leave his position was correct.
Mr. Miti was commenting on calls from the MMD in Kasama who have called the Parliamentarian to consider ditching the PF as he is not being appreciated by the ruling party.
The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested and jointly charged an accountant and a Lusaka businessman for money laundering activities involving over K420.000.
DEC Assistant Public Relations Officer Chibu Tembo said Milimo Chilala, 26, of Lusaka’s Libala Township has been arrested and jointly charged with Brain Kawala, 31, a Businessman of the same abode for Theft and Money Laundering contrary to Cap 87 and Act No. 14 of 2001 as amended with Act 44 of 2010 of the laws of Zambia
Particulars of the offence are that Milimo Chilala on dates unknown but between 1st January, 2013 and 30
th April, 2014, jointly and whilst acting together with Brian Kawala and other persons unknown in his capacity as Assistant Accountant of Dolomite Aggregates Limited did steal K428, 519.00 by fraudulently transferring funds belonging to the said company into various ghost workers accounts held at a named Commercial bank purporting that the money was meant for salaries when in fact not.
And Ms. Tembo has revealed that the Commission in Western Province has arrested two Peasant farmers for trafficking in cannabis.
She said Gift Maliti, 21, a Peasant farmer of Kanyuka area in Western Province has been arrested for trafficking in 28.8kg of loose cannabis and Morris Mutumba, 30, of Mangamu area in Western Province for trafficking in loose cannabis weighing 6.1kg.
Meanwhile, the DEC Assistant Public Relations Officer said the Commission on the copperbelt the Commission has arrested Credence Chiluba of House No. 219 Section E Kankoyo Township in Mufulira for trafficking in loose cannabis weighing 10kg.
Government has given 30 days for non-governmental organisations that have not registered under the NGO No 16 of 2009 or face de-registration.
And Foundation for Democratic Process FODEP executive director McDonald Chipenzi has accused government of trying to divert the attention of the public away from the demands of a people driven constitution something he says is a waste of time on the part of government as NGOs will continue to demand for a new constitution.
In letter sent to FODEP, TIZ and Action Aid among other NGOs government through the ministry of community development is demanding for an explanation as to why the NGOs should not be de-registered within 30 days as they have been given ample time to register under the NGO act which they have snubbed.
“We note that despite the extension being made available, your organisation has knowingly failed or neglected to register or commence the registration process with the department of registrar of NGOs.
The NGO act further prohibits persons from operating organisations that are not register in accordance with the act (section 10). You are therefore given 30 days to show cause as to why your organisation should not be de-registered,” reads part of the later.
But FODEP executive director McDonald Chipenzi says his organisation will not be forced to register under the act and is ready to face any consequences in its fight for civil and political liberties in the country.
And Mr. Chipenzi said if the ploy is to divert the attention away from the demands of a new people driven constitution then government is mistaken as NGOs will continue to demand for the document.
“FODEP is not interested in registering under the draconian Act and therefore ready to face the consequences in its fight for civil and political liberties in this country.
We wish the ministry all the best of luck in its effort to decimate the NGOs from the earth of Zambia.
Others received these letters include TIZ and Action Aid Zambia. We here more yet to receive. if the motive is to divert us from demanding for a people driven constitution, then, they are in for a rude shock. The demand will continue whether registered or not but as Zambian citizens. We want a new constitution now,” said Mr. Chipenzi.
Government had extended the registration NGOs to 5th May 2014 for organisations to have their NGOs registered but they remain adamant in their resolve not to register under the act which they say is meant to control them.
Mighty Mufulira Wanderers moved up into second spot on the FAZ Division One table after beating visiting Nkwiza 1-0 in a Week 12 match at Shinde Stadium on Sunday.
Taonga Bwembya scored a first half solitary goal via a free kick as Wanderers increased their tally to 22 points from 12 matches.
Manfred Chabinga’s side is now one point behind leaders Kalulushi Modern Stars who thumped FQM Operations 3-1 at home to reclaim the top spot.
Chinjoka Nyirenda’s brace and a goal from Joseph Bwalya were enough to enable Kalulushi collect three points at Independence Stadium.
Mighty and Kalulushi took advantage of Forest Rangers’ 2-1 defeat at Lumwana Radiants to move up the 18-team table.
Forest who went into Week 12 games as leaders drops into third place, two points behind Kalulushi.
And Mining Rangers thumped Zesco Mansa 4-0 at Garden Park Stadium in Kitwe with goals from Berrington Musonda, Harrison Musonda, Wilfred Sikanyika and Potipher Nyirenda.
