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The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested more than 50 people countrywide in the last five days for trafficking in various quantities of cannabis.
Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) Public Relations Officer Theresa Katongo said in Muchinga province, the commission arrested two people of Ntindi village for trafficking in more than 200 bundles of Miraa.
Ms. Katongo said those arrested include Martha Nakawala 38, a peasant farmer for trafficking in 92 bundles of Miraa weighing 32.6 kilogrammes (kg) concealed in a polythene bag and suitcase, and Jack Mwandila 22, for trafficking in 142 bundles of Miraa weighing 38.5 kilogrammes which was concealed in three bags containing second hand clothes.
She said this in a press statement made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today.
Others arrested include Exildah Chisenga 32, a business lady of John Laing compound in Lusaka for trafficking 145.3 kilogrammes of cannabis and Gift Mweemba 50, a peasant farmer of Mwanachingwala chiefdom for trafficking in 109.3kg of cannabis.
Ms. Katongo said all those arrested by the commission will appear in the courts of law soon.
Meanwhile, the Mpika Magistrate Court has convicted Humphrey Kaluba 33, of Lunga village in chief Mpumba’s area and sentenced him to 36 months imprisonment with hard labour.
Humphrey was arrested by the commission on 23rd January 2013 for trafficking in 534 kilogrammes of cannabis.
The Patriotic Front (PF) government plans to build an education collage for mathematics and science in Kabompo district in the North-western province.
Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education Minister,John Phiri said this when he called on District Commissioner, Denis Kanyakula at his office in Kabompo.
Dr Phiri said the PF government has a Kuwait facility fund to build three education collages for mathematics and science in Zambia to be constructed in Katete in Eastern province, Senenga in Western province and Kabompo in North-western province.
The minister was reacting to Mr Kanyakula’s appeal to the government to commence the construction of an education collage for mathematics and science in Kabompo this year.
Mr Kanyakula said the Kabompo District Council has already approved three potential sites for the construction of the college but the Ministry of Education was delaying in sending technocrats to choose one of the sites and commence the construction works.
About four years ago I wrote an article entitled, “Should Zambians in Diaspora Come Back Home?” This article was published on Lusakatimes.com. In the aforementioned article, I highlighted the challenges that Zambians go through as they resettle in their homeland. I particularly shared my own experience of trying to assimilate back in Zambia after going to school, living and working in the United States for nine years.
My experience in Zambia
I lived in Zambia for six straight years. In those six years I struggled to make ends meet despite the fact that I graduated with very good grades in very good universities in the United States. I also I gained very good experience working for some of the most reputable companies in the world. Looking for employment in Zambia is a nightmare. You go through useless interviews only to see them employ a mediocre candidate. You see in Zambia, it’s not the best that counts. Zambians love mediocrity. Corporations, public institutions, government and politicians are pretty much a mediocre bunch. Look at our president and his colleagues. Is that the best we could produce as a nation?
Doing Business in Zambia
Although I was actively looking for employment, I tried business. Well, I know some of you will say do not look for employment but be an employer. That is bullshit. Doing business in Zambia is the same as looking for employment. I came up with many business ideas some of which have been copied today by major companies. I did business proposals which were ultimately ignored by management at some companies and a year or so later my idea was being implemented sometimes without any modifications. I found that many of these managers and directors running banks, mobile companies, and state companies lack initiative. Honestly, they are not the best we have. The best, if hired, continue to be frustrated, hated and witch-hunted. Needless to say, they leave and look elsewhere where they will be more appreciated, useful and respected.
[pullquote]
Zambians love mediocrity
[/pullquote]Despite that some of the business plans I developed were practical, cutting-edge and could potentially create many jobs for my fellow Zambians, the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) would not give me a loan. Meanwhile, Members of Parliament such as Moses Muteteka was given a loan to buy hummer mills for his cousins in Chisamba, Mable Mung’omba and other CEEC officials were able to “form companies” and loan themselves money. Even worse, foreigners such as Chinese nationals were able to access these funds.
Doing business in Zambia is very challenging. No man is an island. I tried to partner with other Zambians so that we could achieve more. But the results were disastrous. Business partners ran with my money. Business partners stopped working once they got their first big cheque. Business partners sold company property. Business partners hired their relatives and girlfriends to do work they were supposed to do. I am still owed thousands of dollars as a result of trying to do business with Zambians. My advice to those intending on doing business in Zambia is that be very careful when doing business with a Zambian. Never entrust them with money or property.
Bribing your way through
Business in Zambia requires that you sell your soul out. You HAVE to bribe to get business tenders and contracts especially in government. If you are not willing to get dirty then keep dreaming. This is where I completely failed. I was willing to struggle than get my hands dirty. Those of you planning to supply whatever to government and other organizations must be willing to bribe first the security guard at the gate to let you in, then the receptionist, followed by the manager who will pretend like he is the decision-maker. Unfortunately, there will be senior managers, directors and permanent secretaries to bribe as well. Therefore, your mark-up price will take all this into consideration making it increase by 100%, 200% and more. No wonder those hearses valued at $6,000 cost us $29,000 as a nation. It is the people in government and politicians that are especially creating poverty in the nation.
Zambian environment encourages the Brain Drain
I left Zambia a few weeks ago. As I sit here, 10 thousand miles away, in my new adopted country and reflect on my time in Zambia, I shed tears. This was perhaps the most difficult decision I have ever made. I think of the many years I wasted at home doing nothing. I had dreams for my community, church, and country. Yet the country never appreciated me. Here, I am treated like a person. Here, my skills are appreciated. Here, I am treated like a human being. Here, I will thrive. Here, they don’t care about my tribe. They don’t even care about my skin colour. All they care about are my skills and the value addition I bring in this country.
I cannot help it but to think of many other Zambians who have been in my shoes–Zambians who have left the country and offered their skills to countries all over the globe. Zambia will continue losing its best to other countries. As a nation, there is need to come up with a very deliberate plan of enticing Zambians abroad to go back home and invest in the form of skill especially.
As for me, I will make this my own home. I am never going back to that corrupt, poor, tribal and dying country. Yes, you heard me right. I am happy where I am now. May Zambians eat their own vomit in the form of leaders they elect. I am shocked to learn that PF is even winning parliamentary seats. Zambians, what is wrong with us after what we have been through as a nation?
Well, for the sake of my friends and family I hope one day things will go well. I hope that industries will be created all over the country. I hope that agriculture will become key in Zambia to enable the country export food in the region. I hope that Zambians will one day benefit from mining industry. Finally, I hope that Zambians will stop being tribal and respect every citizen as being equal. I WISH YOU WELL.
A woman in Kasama has taken her life after reading her partner’s updated Facebook status on his impending marriage to another woman.
The woman who was employed as a civil servant at the time of her death is said to have read from her partners wall on Facebook that he intended to marry another woman despite having promised to marry her.
Friends of the dead woman who was in her 20s said the news took her by surprise as she had been planning her wedding with her partner. Shortly after reading the status she took unknown substances that eventually killed her.
Northern Province deputy police chief Lackson Sakala confirmed the suicide but withheld the victim’s name and declined to state what poison she took till the release of the post-mortem report.
Close associates of the deceased woman said she had been found lying in pool of blood before being rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Dr.Lambart presents a NASG to First lady Dr.Kaseba as Dr Joseph Katema and Dr.Elywn Chomba look on.
First Lady Christine Kaseba has said the use of Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) in health institutions will greatly assist in reducing obstetric haemorrhage(loss of blood) among women after giving birth.
The non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG) is a low-technology first-aid device used to treat hypovolemic shock (shock due to excess loss of blood). Its efficacy for reducing maternal deaths due to obstetrical hemorrhage is currently being researched. Many women in resource-poor settings deliver far from health-care facilities. Once hemorrhage has been identified, many women die before reaching or receiving adequate treatment. The NASG can be used to keep women alive until they can get the treatment they need.
Dr Kaseba said the use of NASG should therefore be rolled out to all rural areas in order to save women from dying after giving birth.She bemoaned the high rate of women who die when giving birth adding that more interventions should be put in place to salvage the high maternal deaths in the country.
Veteran midwife Rhoda Amafumba wraps a NASG around a patient
Dr. Kaseba said this during the official opening of the dissemination meeting of the NASG held at Mulungishi International Conference yesterday.She congratulated the researchers comprising of the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and other district clinics for collaborating with international hospitals in conducting a research on the usage of the NASG in preventing death caused by hemorrhage during child birth.
She said efforts aimed at serving women at birth should be supported be everyone because they will help save the lives of mothers thereby enhancing chances of Zambia attaining Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on women health.
She has since appealed to government to solicit for funds to pump in research and come up with other technologies aimed at serving women after delivery.
Dr. Kaseba also called for more health personal to be trained in the handling of the NASG if it is to achieve its intended purpose of saving life.
And University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Principal Investigator Gricelia Mkumba said research has shown that the NASG can save the life of the mother.
Dr. Mkumba explained that from the cluster randomized trial carried in Zambia and Zimbabwe, results showed that NASG is effective when rightly used.
Meanwhile, Minister of Community Development, Mother and Child Development Joseph Katema emphasised that no mother should die during and after delivering.
Dr. Katema said the ministry was happy to associate itself with technologies that are aimed at saving the lives of women.
He however called for rolling out the technology to rural areas in an effort to save more lives of women at community level.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director General Roswin Wandi has asked Zambians to maintain faith in the commission’s credibility to operate autonomously.
Ms Wandi said fears that the ACC was operating under the influence of President Michael Sata was just wishful thinking, which should not be allowed to detract people’s faith in the commission.
She said this yesterday during a Copperbelt stakeholders’ meeting involving heads of Government departments and the civil organizations held at Moba Hotel in Kitwe.
“I want to assure you that the Anti-Corruption Commission is carrying out its mandate in accordance with the law and that there is no interference in the operations of the commission,” she said.
Ms Wandi who was responding to concerns during the question and answer over President Sata’s request that the ACC should inform the Head of State when investigating senior officials of his Cabinet said that should in no way suggest there was interference in the operation of the commission.
Ms Wandi’s assurance was echoed by ACC director community education, Festus Chipungu who said President Sata’s statement was only emphasizing on courtesy, which was normal in the conducting of investigations.
“The President Sata did not mean that we should be accountable to him. He just said as courtesy we should inform him because that is the normal way to conduct investigation as we do it even when we are investigating an office orderly, we have to inform the employer,” Mr Chipungu said.
Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Minister Christopher Yaluma has said that Government did follow the right procedure when appointing suspended Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL)
chief executive officer Clive Chirwa and the Board of Directors before handing them the responsibility to handle ZRL.
Speaking in an interview yesterday Mr Yaluma said that the layed down procedure was followed.
“When appointing a CEO, we look at proficient and experienced people, they are interviewed using the laid down procedure after a body they are affiliated to recommends that they possesses the qualities required. Appointing the board of Directors is also guarded by a statutory instrument,” he said.
And Mr Yaluma has said that the suspension of Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) chief executive officer Clive Chirwa and dissolution of the Board of Directors will not in any way undermine strategic plans to revamp the national railway or in any way hinge on the Governments long-term planned strategies to improve the operations of ZRL.
“We have long-term plans and strategies put in place to enhance the operations of ZRL. These contingencies are there not to derail operations but to put in more efforts meant to sustain the national railway,” he said.
Mr Yaluma said Government’s decision to suspend Prof Chirwa and dissolve ZRL board is proof that the State is committed and would endeavor to see that Parastatal companies are run smoothly to benefit the people of Zambia.
“When we see that something has gone wrong in any Parastatal, such kind of investigations should be instituted to probe what’s going on. If things are not moving smoothly, we will endeavor to see anyone involved is probed, he said.
Mr Yaluma said employees at ZRL should remain calm and committed to the course of duty as law enforcers undertake the probe into the company’s operations.
Two Illegal miners have died after a tunnel they were attempting to quarry copper ore from at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) collapsed due to heavy rains.
Meanwhile police in Chingola have recovered a heap of twenty eight 25 kilogram sacks of copper weighing 1.4 tonnes each.
Given Illunga, 15 and Alick Luapula 18, both of House number 4, Chibwa crescent, Chiwempala in Chingola entered the KCM moolmans pit at 19:00 hours on Tuesday after eluding police officers manning the premises.
The rains which started a few minutes later caused the tunnel to flood and by press time, only Illunga’s body had been recovered
“During the course of their work, it started raining. Unfortunately water entered the tunnel in which the two illegal miners were and the soil got wet and collapsed them,” Copperbelt Police commissioner Mary Tembo said.
Ms Tembo said police rushed to the scene at around 07: 00 found that other illegal miners attempting to retrieve the body of Luapula but were stopped from continuing with the exercise for safety reasons.
Ms Tembo said police suspect illegal miners could have hidden the twenty eight sacks of copper with the intention to smuggle them to an unknown destination.
She said the owners of the contraband abandoned the sacks after noticing the presence of police conducting their usual patrols in the KCM premises.
Kitwe United coach Knight Mpundu is impressed with Chingalika’s start to the 2013 FAZ Division One North campaign.
The Buchi Boys are second on the table with 11 points in five matches and are just two points behind leaders National Assembly.
In an interview at Garden Park in Kitwe on Wednesday, Mpundu said his side has been improving since settling for a 1-1 draw with Nkwiza in their Week One match.
“The boys are improving in each and every game. So far we have played five games, we have drawn two, we have won three,” he said.
Mpundu said Kitwe were now focusing on their next match against Kansanshi Dynamos after beating visiting Grinaker 2-0 on Sunday.
“That victory has gone, we are now looking at upcoming fixtures. We want to ensure that we don’t lose that side,” he added.
This will be Kitwe’s second trip to North-western Province in two weeks having played against FQM Operations on 14 April in Solwezi.
The Zambia medical bench has asked Power Dynamos to be cautious with their star midfielder Mukuka Mulenga’s fitness.
Zambia team physician Dr Joseph Kabungo said Mukuka arrived in camp in Lusaka on Tuesday with a calf muscle injury.
Mukuka has been excused from training by Herve Renard and benched to rest his injury that Dr Kabungo said needed at least three days to rest.
“I have to liaise with the guys at Power because they have to be considerate in the manner they handle players affairs,” Dr Kabungo said at end of Wednesdays training at Barclays Sports Complex in Lusaka.
“It is not fair that the player is half fit then you still want to use him.
“Because that in itself you are not doing the player any service neither are you doing the team any service.
“Because at the end of the day instead of a player resting for a week you end up with a player who is out for a month because of a muscle strain that was minor, it goes all the way into being a major one.
“That in itself has got its own medical implications.”
The news could see Mukuka miss either Power’s league commitments or Zambia’s friendly against Zimbabwe on Sunday at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka.
“The coaches must understand Mukuka is their key player but when he is injured he is injured you cannot force matters,” Dr Kabungo added.
Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has declared opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) candidate Misheck Mutelo as the winner of the Lukulu West parliamentary seat.
Mr Mutelo polled 3 894 beating PF’s Eileen Imbwae who had 1 896 votes.
United Liberal Party (ULP) candidate Mubita Sikwa polled a paltry 61 votes.
Of the 11,889 registered voters in the constituency, only 5 922 cast their vote.
Lukulu West Returning Officer Christine Kasemuka declared Mr Mutelo as winner few minutes after 18:00 hours.
Mr Mutelo said he would work hard to develop the area and urged the Government to support various developmental projects in the area.
The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has scooped the Kapiri Mposhi constituency seat following a parliamentary by-election that were held yesterday.
PF candidate Eddie Musonda polled 6, 614 votes against his closest rival of the opposition UPND, Lawrence Zimba who got 5,470 votes while UNIP’s Francis Mwape managed a paltry 443 votes.
ZANIS reports that Kapiri Mposhi Constituency Returning Officer, Jimmy Musweu declared Mr. Musonda as winner of the by-election at exactly 14:45 hours at Kapiri Mposhi District Council which was used as a totaling center.
Mr. Musweu announced that a total of 12,709 ballots were cast against 84, 386 registered voters in the vast Kapiri Mposhi Constituency.
He said 182 votes were rejected as invalid in the by-election marred by high voter apathy.
The Kapiri Mposhi and Lukulu West seats became vacant after the Supreme Court nullified the seats following election petitions citing electoral malpractices during the 2011 General elections.
Following Tuesday’s by-elections, the PF now has 66 MPs, UPND 30 while MMD remains 50, with FDD and ADD with one each and two Independents.
President Micheal Sata pose with some of the 27 chiefs from Southern Province at Chief Chikanta Palace in Kalomo on wednesday 24th April 2013.picture by Eddie Mwanaleza/Statehouse.
Republican President Micheal Sata has urged the electorate of Southern Province to give him Members of Parliament who belong to his party if the province was to develop.
And Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe told a huge gathering that attended the meeting that if President Sata was a tribalist, he wouldn’t have appointed the ten Ministers from Southern Province who are currently serving in his government.
And Chief Chikanta thanked President Micheal Sata for appointing Mr. Munkombwe as Southern Province Minister.
Mr Sata cited Livingstone, which recently gave the ruling party the only PF Member of Parliament in Southern Province, as one of the areas that was receiving development as a result of having voted for a PF MP.
ZANIS reports from Kalomo that the President was speaking at Chungu palace in Chief Chikanta’s area in Kalomo district today. This was during the welcoming and appreciation ceremony for Provincial Minister Daniel Munkombwe.
He said Southern Province was capable of feeding the entire Africa and beyond.
The President has further said that opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has continued to mislead the people in the province by alleging that the Patriotic Front government was a Bemba government when ten of his ministers hail from Southern Province.
He cited Commerce Minister Emmanuel Chenda, Lands Minister Wylbur Simusaa and Western Province Member of Parliament Obvious Mwaliteta as being some of the Ministers as some of the ten Tonga Ministers currently saving in his government.
President Sata observed that government will only deliver in those areas where he has PF Members of Parliament.
President Sata being Introduced To Lovemore Sieva of Zambia Sugar
And Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe told a huge gathering that attended the meeting that if President Sata was a tribalist, he wouldn’t have appointed the ten Ministers from Southern Province who are currently serving in his government.
Mr Munkombwe said President Sata had included Tongas in his government even if they did not vote for him.
And speaking earlier, Chief Chikanta thanked President Micheal Sata for appointing Mr. Munkombwe as Southern Province Minister.
He said Mr Munkombwe will uplift the living standards of the people of Southern Province adding that all the chiefs in the province were in support of the appointment of Mr Munkombwe.
Chief Chikanta said more than 27 chiefs attended the ceremony. He also observed that the province was begging for development in terms of road infrastructure, clinics and to improve the phone network.
And Chieftainess Mwenda of Chikankata district said she was positive Mr Munkombwe would work hand in hand with the President in developing the province.
She said Southern Province was one province that had a lot of problems because people were not united. She called upon her fellow Chiefs to help unite the province.
”We are facing a lot of problems in this area because we are a province that is not united. Chiefs lets unite. This government is planning to bring development, so its up to us to sit together and unite for the sake of development,” she said.
Chieftainess Mwenda noted that government had the problems of the people in the province at heart as it was already considering building palaces for the chiefs.
Earlier, President Sata met more than 27 Chiefs who had come to welcome him at the palace.
Senior Chief Monze in his welcoming remarks noted that there was no ruler on earth who put himself in power unless by the grace of God. He called upon his fellow chiefs to work with the President who was in power and who was ruling.
”We have great respect for the ruler whom God has given us this time. We can talk about the hunger that is looming in this country but only our ruler can do something about it,” he said.
He observed that Mr. Munkombwe was a local person who was well vested with the challenges that the people in the province were going through.
The President who arrived at Chief Chikanta’s palace aboard a Presidential chopper has since returned to Lusaka.
Chongwe District Council has distance itself from assertions that it allocated 31 plots in Silverest Area to Patriotic Front Acting Provincial Chairman Geoffrey Chuumbwe to distribute to provincial and district leaders in Lusaka.
Council Public Relations officer Namasiku Njovu in a statement released to QFM News says at no time did the council allocate any plots in Silverest Area to Mr. Chuumbwe to distribute to party leaders in the province.
Ms Njovu says the allegations are false because the Council has never allocated the said plots of land to Mr. Chuumbwe.
She adds that Chongwe District Council will always endeavor to ensure that its operations are transparent and beneficial to the intended community.
FILE: Former PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda confers with Dr,Austin Sichinga during the occasion of the dissolution of the National Assembly at State House
Former Chief of Staff for former president Rupiah Banda has today testified in court that he edited a letter which was a request for 45 thousand barrels of crude oil and purchase of solid minerals to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Umaru Musa Yaradua.
This is in the continued trial of former president Banda in the case in which he is charged with abuse of authority of office involving a Nigerian oil procurement deal.
Mr. Austin Sichinga 59 of house number 6 Ingwe road in woodlands Lusaka, has testified that during the time he was chief of staff at state house, he dealt with many letters that came from correspondence and some had to pass through his hands because the president could have been busy.
Mr. Sichinga told the court that it was during the same time that one day he was asked to see the president who he found with two people in his office.
He testified that it was at this stage that president Banda asked him to look at the draft of a letter and see if it was of state house standard and have it edited.
Mr. Sichinga told the court that the letter was addressed to the then president of Nigeria Umaru Musa Yaradua, requesting for a possible concession to supply crude oil to Zambia, while offering Nigeria option of buying some mineral from Zambia.
But when shown a copy of the purported letter by Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito for identification, Mr Sichinga told the court that the document he was shown was just similar to the one that he had edited.
Mr. Sichinga explained to the court that the document shown to him was not original and not on standard state house special paper adding that the one he had edited was not signed by the former president Rupiah Banda.
He further testified that the letter in question had a state house date stamp and was on a special paper which was yellow in colour.
He also testified that letter that he was shown by the investigations officer was the one which had a signature of the former president Rupiah Banda.
And when asked by DPP if he had ever heard of the Osigue brothers, he answered in the affirmative and told the court that he meet them when president Banda has gone to address the United Nations meeting.
He told the court that President Banda introduced them as Nigerian businessmen who had interest to invest in Zambia.
Trial in the matter has been adjourned to tomorrow for continued trial.
The current drop in copper prices below US$7,000 per tonne is likely to have an effect on the availability of foreign exchange on the Zambian market thereby adding more pressure on the Kwacha.
The Copper shipments out of Zambia, which have resumed after a two-week export halt because of a railroad accident on Tazara on the 9th April, will bring about additional supplies of copper which will arrive in a market in which stockpiles of extra copper are already on the rise. The amount of the metal held in warehouses overseen by the London Metal Exchange rose 2,000 tons, to 614,350 tons, on Thursday, up 92% this year.
Copper prices have been in decline for much of this year as investors wagered that supplies from new and expanded copper mines would overwhelm demand from manufacturers.These fears escalated at the start of the week, after China reported slower-than-expected economic growth for the first quarter.China is the world’s top copper consumer, accounting for about 40% of global demand. Its gross domestic product expanded 7.7% in the first quarter, a slowdown from 7.9% in the final quarter of 2012.
Copper lost 5.9% on the week, its biggest weekly percentage decline in 16 months, and is down 13% this year. The metal is a component in many products, ranging from bathroom pipes to iPhones.
“Copper is telling us right now that all is not well with the global economy,” said Matt Zeman, head of trading with Chicago brokerage Kingsview Financial. “If people still look at copper as a barometer of economic activity, we’re in for some rough times ahead.”
Analysts said weak demand and robust supplies could continue to put pressure on copper prices.
Zambian economist Professor Oliver Saasa has described the development as bad news for the country and said it is likely to have an effect on the government treasury.
