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LUAPULA Province Minister Benson Kapaya about to set ablaze fishing nets confiscated during the patrols to control fish ban by the Village Management Committe spearheaded by Senior Chief Puta of the Bwile people in Chienge District
The national fishing ban, which runs from 1st December to 1st March every, has this time around been received with mixed feelings by fishermen in Mongu district of Western Province.
Siyoto Likezo, a fisherman, claimed that the Patriotic Front (PF) promised during its 2011 pre-election campaigns not to enforce the fish ban in the province once elected into power.
Mr. Likezo said now that the PF in power has not scrapped off the fishing ban, it should consider reducing the period from three months to two months.
He said many people in the province depend on fishing and selling fish for their survival.
Mr. Likezo told ZANIS in an interview that he was a bread winner for his family and he suffers a lot when the fishing ban is in effect.
He noted that he makes more money in fishing than in growing crops.
He said fishing should be an ongoing activity saying that breeding of fish could even take a month or two.
Every year, government enforces a fishing ban from 1st December to 1st March the following year to allow fish to breed.
According to the Fisheries Act of 2011 of the laws of Zambia, it is an offence to carryout fishing activities or to be in possession of fish during the fishing ban.
Government prosecutes all offenders and if convicted they are liable to a fine or imprisonment.
And Luapula Province Minister Benson Kapaya has called for concerted efforts in the enforcement of the fish ban in the province.
Brigadier General Kapaya made the call when Community Development, Mother and Child health Minister Joseph Katema paid a courtesy call on him at his office.
He said he had witnessed fishermen in over 30 canoes at Kasenga when he was coming from his tour of the northern part of the province who were busy fishing regardless of the period being that of the fish ban.
He said it was important for everyone to observe the fish ban in order to let the fish to breed and replenish its numbers during the breeding season.
General Kapaya said he had also seen a young man selling fresh fish by the road side when he was coming from Chienge district who only took off quickly when he saw the flag on his vehicle.
He said if some fishermen have the courage to display and sell fish by the road side, it shows that there should be a lot of fish than was being sold away elsewhere.
And Dr Katema said he was in the province to explain to the health staff and community development and social welfare workers the policy shift and direction under the PF government that they will now be under one ministry except the hospitals which will remain with Ministry of Health.
He said all the clinics, health centres and all the health staff who provide primary health care including the district medical offices and staff will be under his ministry.
He said the ministry of health will only be tackling complex secondary and tertiary health care cases referred to the hospitals and that will give them enough time to attend to serious cases and reduce on referrals abroad for specialised treatment.
FILE: Some of the Tujilijili consignment that was surrendered at Kitwe Civic center by a named distributor in Kitwe
Muchinga Deputy Permanent Secretary Jewis Chabi has directed the police and local authority to immediately combat smuggling of the banned potent alcohol known as Tujilijili into Mpika district.
Mr Chabi said in an interview yesterday the illegal importation of the banned alcohol by some traders was regrettable was would not be allowed.
“As a Government, any form of beer matching Tujilijili is not allowed as long as they are packaged in same sachets. We are engaging the police and council immediately to search traders stocking and selling the banned product. We will ensure they are brought to book,” he said.
Mr Chabi said the dealers trading in the potent alcohol did not have valid documents to import the product into the country and that Government was losing revenue because the commodity was being smuggled into the district.
In Mpika, the 35 alcoholic volume per cent potent alcohol branded Konyagi, a 100 mls sachet which is a product of Tanzania Distilleries Limited, was being sold at KR5 (K5000) at Crystal Palace.
Mr Chabi said the dealers trading in the banned beer did not have importation documents to show that they were engaged in genuine business and that Government would do every thing to ensure that the health of the people was protected from the destructive nature of the beer.
[pullquote]“As a Government, any form of beer matching Tujilijili is not allowed as long as they are packaged in same sachets. We are engaging the police and council immediately to search traders stocking and selling the banned product. We will ensure they are brought to book,” he said.[/pullquote]
“When I finish talking to you I will call the Town Clerk and police to ensure that a check is conducted immediately. Now that you have brought that issue to my attention we will ensure that the culprits face the law. Even if the beer was allowed, Government was losing revenue and away from revenue, the issue is illegal,” he said.
He said a similar product was spotted in Nakonde after been imported from Malawi after alert public officers swiftly moved in to curb the smuggling of the banned product into the country.
“These products are also sold on the streets by some vendors and they are coming from Nakonde after being smuggled into the country some people and mostly truck drivers,” said a marketer who wished not be identified.
In Kapiri Mposhi, the banned alcohol Kallu Mama with 37.5 alcoholic Volume per cent packaged in 60 mls sachets was being sold at the main trading market by most youths to people known to them at KR3 (K3000)
The potent alcohol is brewed by Gold Spirits Zambia Limited of Kabwe.
“They can not sell you the beer especially that you appear strange. They only sell to people they are familiar with. The youths exchange money with the beer undercover like the way they sell drugs for fear of prosecution,” said a bus operator.
Government banned the beer last year amid massive public outcry.
NORTHERN Provincial Minister Col. Gerry Chanda second (right) shaking hands with National Technical Committee team leader to Northern Provincial Constitution Conference Dr. Rodger Chonwe outside the conference hall at Nellas Lodge in Kasama after the official opening
The second round of the provincial convention on drafting the constitution has opened in Muchinga Province and Western Province with a call on delegates to avoid taking rigid positions if the country is to come up with a good constitution that will stand the test of time.
In Muchinga, Muchinga Province Minister Charles Banda said the Patriotic Front (PF) government decided to employ the bottom up approach in the constitution making process in order to incorporate the aspirations of Zambians.
Mr. Banda was speaking when he officially opened the Muchinga Province constitution making convention in Mpika today.
He implored delegates to apply themselves fully and put aside personal and partisan interests if the process is to retain legitimacy.
Mr. Banda further urged delegates to put forward the views of the ordinary people which they submitted in the first draft constitution.
Earlier, Muchinga Province Technical Committee Leader Reuben Lifuka said the committee has scored a number of milestones since it was appointed by President Michael Sata in 2011.
[pullquote]It is of absolute necessity that you, therefore, put aside your personal interests and work for the common good of our people as you deliberate. [/pullquote]
Mr. Lifuka has however acknowledged that a lot of work still needs to done before a final draft is produced.
He said the technical committee has so far adhered to the terms of reference as provided by government in line with the submissions of Zambians in the previous constitution review commissions and similar processes.
The second rounds of provincial conventions are taking place simultaneously in Muchinga, Western, Northern and Luapula Provinces respectively.
This follows the successful holding of similar exercises in Central, North-Western and Copperbelt provinces late last year.
NORTHERN Provincial Constitution Conference Nation Technical Constitution Committee team leaders Dr. Rodger Chongwe (right) delivering his official opening remarks to Northern Provincial Constitution delegates at Nellas Lodge in Kasama today with Northern Provincial Minister Col. Gerry Chanda (left)
And in Mongu scores of people from a cross section of society today turned up for the official opening of the Western Province Constitution Convention, with area Permanent Secretary Bert Mushala urging delegates to put personal interests aside in their deliberations.
Speaking at Mongu College of Education yesterday, Mr Mushala advised the participants to instead put the people’s common good before theirs as they deliberated.
Mr Mushala said for the Constitution-making process to maintain its legitimacy and to produce a document which would stand the test of time, there was need to ensure that the province played its part in recommending changes to the First Draft Constitution which they deemed necessary.
“It is of absolute necessity that you, therefore, put aside your personal interests and work for the common good of our people as you deliberate. Your major responsibility as delegates is to represent even the views of members of our communities who could not be accorded an opportunity to attend this convention,” he said.
Mr Mushala added that it was imperative that the delegates approached the convention with the seriousness and open mindedness it deserved by fully applying themselves and ensuring that District resolutions as well as vernacular comments received were carefully considered.
[pullquote]“With all what has been done so far, the content of the Final Draft Constitution is entirely in the hands of all of us Zambians. It is, therefore, important that this convention and similar consultations clearly indicate the people’s aspirations.[/pullquote]
He observed that it was the first time in the history of the country’s Constitution-making process that Government took a bottom-up approach in the Constitution-making process.
Speaking earlier, Technical Committee on Drafting the Zambian Constitution chairperson Annel Silungwe said the overwhelming turnout was a demonstration that all stakeholders considered the Constitution-making process important and one deserving everyone’s support.
“It is gratifying to observe the overwhelming interest shown by most Zambians in the Constitution-making process. This is as it should be, after all Constitution-making is a process which should bring all key stakeholders together in order to chart the future of the nation.
“The turn out at this convention is a clear testimony that all stakeholders consider the Constitution-making process important and one that deserves the support of all well-meaning people,” he said.
Justice Silungwe reiterated that the Technical Committee had recorded several milestones since it started its work on December 1, 2013, but that a lot more still remained to be done before the final Draft Constitution was produced.
“With all what has been done so far, the content of the Final Draft Constitution is entirely in the hands of all of us Zambians. It is, therefore, important that this convention and similar consultations clearly indicate the people’s aspirations.
“It is important for all delegates to realize that the task you are playing in this convention is historical. You are here to represent the millions of Zambians and we are confident as a Technical Committee that you will take this honour seriously.
Justice Silungwe repeated his assurance that the Technical Committee would strictly adhere to the people’s aspirations and wishes of the citizenry in coming up with the Final Draft Constitution.
“Our collective hope is that this time around, Zambians will be given the Constitution that truly will stand the test of time,” Justice Silungwe said.
In Luapula, Luapula Province Minister Benson Kapaya has urged delegates to the Luapula province convention on enacting the Zambian constitution to put aside their personal interests when deliberating in the convention.
ZANIS reports that Brigadier General Kapaya said detaching personal interests from deliberations will allow delegates to represent the Zambian people in the constitution making process diligently.
He said this in Mansa today when he officially opened the Luapula province convention on enacting the Zambian constitution today.
He said delegates should participate fully in deliberations because the quality of the constitution will depend on how they discuss the input of the people of Zambia.
[pullquote]“It is important for all delegates to realize that the task you are playing in this convention is historical. You are here to represent the millions of Zambians and we are confident as a Technical Committee that you will take this honour seriously.[/pullquote]
Brig. Gen. Kapaya has also disclosed that the convention will also consider the vernacular comments from the public in all parts of the province.
He said the comments have since been translated into English and analysed by the provincial facilitation team.
Speaking earlier, Vice Chairperson of the Technical Committee on Drafting the Zambian Constitution Julius Sakala said the committee was overwhelmed by the response from the people towards the constitution making process.
Dr. Sakala said the committee will strictly adhere to wishes and aspirations of Zambian people in coming up with the final draft constitution.
He was hopeful that Zambians will this time around be have the constitution that will truly stand the test of time.
And Dr. Sakala said it was important for all delegates to realise that the role they were playing in the convention was historical.
He said the technical committee was confident that the delegates will take the convention seriously and apply themselves fully to the task at hand.
Zambia’s envoys in the CAF Confederation Cup Power Dynamos are in to Western Province for a week long training camp.
Club coach Beston Chambeshi said Power travelled to Mongu on Saturday.
Before the Mongu trip the 2012 Faz Super Division runners-up had been holding pre-season at Ravens Country Club in Kitwe.
Power will face Angola’s Recreativo da Caala in the Confederation Cup preliminary round next month.
The first leg tie is scheduled for 15 February at Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe.
Stopilla Sunzu has headed to England to attend a medical and agree terms with Reading.
TP Mazembe confirmed on their official website that Sunzu will be away for at least four days.
“Indeed, Sunzu is in Reading for tests after an agreement between TP Mazembe and the Zambia Federation,” Mazembe president Moses Katumbi said.
Sunzu did not travel with the team to Nelspruit on Sunday from Ndola and went straight to England after Zambia’s 0-0 friendly game against Norway on December 12 at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
The defender is due to rejoin the Zambia team in Nelspruit on January 19, just two days before th African champions opening Group C match against Ethiopia at Mbombela Stadium.
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) secretary-general Wynter Kabimba says the PF government will overhaul the education system by making local languages more prominent in the curriculum and doing away with the colonial style of education.
Mr Kabimba said the current education system is still steeped in colonialism and Government would put an end to that.
“Our education system has a colonial hang-up…we want to change that,” he said.
Mr Kabimba said this during a meeting with school managers from over 20 government schools in Mazabuka on Saturday.
He said the current education system does not meet the challenges of a third-world country.
“Our education system does not meet the demands of a third-world country. We are producing students who are not relevant to the needs of our country,” Mr Kabimba said.
He wondered why Zambians should insist on using English as the medium of communication when the country is rich with many languages.
“It is the policy of the PF to revive vernacular languages because a language gives us identity,” Mr Kabimba said.
He said the PF wants pupils aged 10 and above to focus on what they are good at, instead of studying subjects which are irrelevant to their skills.
“We need artisans to develop this country. We cannot all be lawyers or doctors. That is why the PF wants to tap into human potential at a young age,” Mr Kabimba said.
[pullquote]“Our education system does not meet the demands of a third-world country. We are producing students who are not relevant to the needs of our country,” Mr Kabimba said.[/pullquote]
Mr Kabimba said there is a deliberate effort by colonial masters to kill native languages.
“A language gives personal and cultural identity. Teachers have a duty to teach children vernacular languages.
“It is the policy of the PF to revive vernacular languages because our languages give us a sense of identity,” Mr Kabimba said.
Mr Kabimba said he is not proud to use English as a medium of communication.
“I use Sala when talking to my children in my house, because English is a foreign language,” Mr Kabimba said.
Mr Kabimba said he is proud that when he started school in Livingstone, he was taught Tonga and later on he learnt Lozi.
“I speak these local languages fluently because I was taught to speak them while I was young,” he said.
[pullquote]“We need artisans to develop this country. We cannot all be lawyers or doctors. That is why the PF wants to tap into human potential at a young age,” Mr Kabimba said.[/pullquote]
Mr Kabimba said he finds it strange that some people even brag that they speak English better than indigenous languages.
Meanwhile, Mr Kabimba says there’s no compromise of discipline in the party. Mr Kabimba says discipline in PF is paramount because no one is bigger than the party.
Mr Kabimba, who is also Minister of Justice, was speaking on Saturday in Mazabuka during a radio programme called Live Wire on Mazabuka Radio.
And Mr Kabimba says most Zambians are concentrating on discussing individuals at the expense of development.
“Let’s learn to debate Development Issues, not personalities because there are many people who are suffering out there,” Mr Kabimba said.
Some callers wanted to drag Mr Kabimba into discussing the fate of Minister of Foreign Affair Given Lubinda.
“Our primary duty and priority is to tackle the poverty which Zambian people are facing, not to discuss personalities,” Mr Kabimba said.
He urged people to rally behind the PF government so that it can deliver development.
“Support the PF with or without Wynter Kabimba. The PF wants this country to be better and if Zambia does not develop under Michael Sata, we can forget about development,” Mr Kabimba said.
THE Central Committee of the Patriotic Front (PF) is this weekend expected to deliver judgment on the disciplinary case against Kabwata member of Parliament Given Lubinda among other party members.
A full central committee meeting is scheduled to sit on Sunday, January 20, to act on the report of the disciplinary committee which determined cases against Mr Lubinda, who is also Foreign Affairs minister, and others.
PF central committee member Edgar Lungu said this in an interview yesterday.
Mr Lungu, who is also chairperson of the disciplinary committee, said according to a notice, a meeting of chairpersons will be held on Friday January 18, 2013 while the full central committee meeting is scheduled for Sunday.
The disciplinary committee which heard cases against Mr Lubinda and suspended Eastern Province chairman Lucas Phiri, among others, sat from January 4 to 6, 2013.
The committee then forwarded its recommendations to the PF central committee for action.
Mr Lubinda, Mr Phiri and other accused party members appeared before the committee.
Pressure has been mounting with party members calling for the expulsion of Mr Lubinda from the party, accusing him of working with opposition parties.
PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba gave Mr Lubinda a seven-day ultimatum to exculpate himself from allegations that he was leaking confidential information to the media and opposition parties.
And Mr Phiri was suspended from the party with five other officials for allegedly sowing seeds of division in PF.
Mr Phiri and other suspended officials were also accused of working with former Chipata Central MP Lameck Mangani to propagate division in the district.
Some mushrooming buildings in Lusaka’s Kanyama township where many Zambians are building houses
By C.Maka
My House Number is: PLOT 1978654399745 Lusaka, Nyumba Yanga.
Find me if you can!
I have a dream that one day Zambia will assign meaningful house numbers and stop using plot numbers.I have a dream that Zambian Houses will one day have proper addresses well enough for our brains to remember.
Maka pleads with the Power that be.I am appealing to the Government and all Councils in Zambia to consider giving Brain-Friendly House numbers in every street and should start at House No 01.
Plot numbers are council reference numbers not good for a man in the street. Imagine my address PLOT No 1978654399745, how can you know if you have gone past the house you are looking for?
All even numbers would be on one side and that gives us an idea where the house we are looking for is. Even industries in the same street should start from No 01. I doubt if you can find a house in London or New York if they used PLOT numbers.
Check our adverts “ You can find us at plot No 1976543 Chilimbulu Road Industrial area”. What an address!
I entered it in Google maps and it got lost.I appeal to all Zambians to support this and raise concern for the absurd addressing l have seen in our cities.
Welcome to our first LT update post for 2013. Undoubtedly, New Year’s day, the day we decided to change our servers and the web site looks, turned out to be a disaster for us. We have never had our inbox fried with emails full of unprintable adjectives, which we usually just ***** .
After 14 days of working hard to stabilise things, we feel it is time to explain what we are trying to do to move the web site forward.
First of all , while people got used to the old designs and totally fell in love with the old site, the truth is that the old site was very slow and had a lot of things that were broken and just impossible to fix. There was so much clutter in terms of content, the facebook connection kept breaking down, the archives were useless and totally unusable, smilies never worked from day one and many other things.
So, we had to focus on the basics this time, such as site load speed, user experience, comments system and working archives. Once we have these things in place, we can easily build on top of them.
Site Load Speed
The current site speed is faster than the previous site. The previous site used to take 15 to 20 seconds to load on average. The current site is able to load at an average speed of 3 to 6 seconds. This is definitely not impressive and we continue to work to make it load at under 2 seconds, which is a standard.
User Experience
This is an old debate-reading on paper or computer screen. Various research reports have shown that reading from the screen is slower than reading from paper because readers perceive the text on the screen less accurately than paper. Further, research has demonstrated that readers on the screen have reported high fatigue caused by eye strain .
While research in screen technology continue to evolve to address this issue, we have realized that we can do something about our designs of the web site to help with this issue.
In this new site you will notice that we have put in a lot of effort into finding the right combination of the fonts and line spacing that don’t cause a lot of strain to the eyes.
We have worked on cleanliness and clarity of the fonts that make up the words so that sentences are readable without causing too much eye strain. We have also made sure that there’s enough white space between the items on our website.
We leave you to test this by reading the same story on other sites and judge for yourself.
Comments system
The comments system has been with us from the days we started running Information Dispatch back in 1999. That is 14 years! Even if we belong to a country that does not endorse dual-nationality, shouldn’t we give the comments system first class citizenship on our site?
Well, we have. More efforts and resources have been poured into the comments system to enhance our users’ experience. Comments have even a much better font clarity and line spacing than the rest of the site.
We have also made sure that when posting comments, the entire page does not reload. This will be particularly handy with the upcoming AFCON tournament. You will be able to watch a live match and comment at the same time without disturbing or reloading your live stream of the match.
We continue working on the comments system and expect more features that will enhance your comments experience on Lusakatimes.com
Site Archives
The real value of this site will come into play 20 to 30 years from now. We forsee a situation where people will come to this site and go back in time to just see what were the issues at the time. And for us to be ready for that, we thought getting the archives right is P1 (priority number 1).
We have fixed the archives and it works beautifully. You can navigate to any year, month and see all the stories we ever published. Our job now is to keep adding servers to our system to keep this data safe and responsive.
Going forward
We are not done yet with the changes on the site. There are still a number of things we need to bring to the site. Our mobile site is still a disaster (We have to cater for the blackberry people, they are in the majority camp in Zambia). Since this is a moving train, we shall be silently introducing most of the features.
Lastly, thank you so much for your support to lusakatimes.com in 2012 and we are inspired to work even harder this year to serve you better.
More than 2,000 Zambians are expected to be directly employed at the First Quantum Mine (FQM)’s Sentinel Mine at the Trident Project in North-Western province when in full operational.
An additional of 600 more people will also be employed at FQM’s planned US$ 400 million (KR 200 billion) smelter to be built in Solwezi.
FQM has since advanced plans to develop the second of the three potential mines at its large-scale mining project at a cost of US $275 million (about K1.3 trillion or KR 1.3 billion)
Trident Resources Optimisation manager John Gladston said in a statement yesterday that the potential maximum copper output in tonnes per year from the proposed Sentinel Mine at Trident was 300,000.
“The significance at the single largest investment in Zambia by FQM is best captured in the potential to create wealth and job creation through encouraging private sector growth,” Mr Gladston said.
He said the enterprise nickel project was being designed to produce an average of 38,000 tonnes of nickel in concentrate per annum with the scope to increase to 60,000 tonnes if the nickel market conditions would allow.
Mr Gladston said the enterprise development required a capital investment of US$275 million which lifted the total approved capital estimate for Trident Project to US$2.0 billion (about KR 10 billion).
“Enterprise is part of the Trident projects which includes the sentinel copper deposit that is currently under development.
“As enterprise is located just 12 kilometres north of Sentinel, it is expected that its development cost will benefit by sharing infrastructure a unique and significant synergy that will make it a low cost operation,” he said
The enterprise main zone is a series of relatively shallow dipping mineralised bodies covering an area of 1000 metres by 500 metres and ranging in thickness from a few metres to over 80 metres.
Mr Gladston said that an intensive resource definition drill programme was completed during 2012.
In April 2011, Government granted FQM large-scale mining licences for the development of the Trident Project that had three potential mines which include Sentinel which was currently under development, enterprise and intrepid.
The Licence gave FQM the exclusive rights to carry out mining operations on the full area of interests at Trident, situated 150 kilometres (Kms) west of Solwezi for a period of 25 years.
“The enterprise nickel project is being designed with the capacity to treat ore at a rate of 4.0 Mtpa at a processing facility that will be constructed as an integral part of the Sentinel copper mine,” Mr Galdston said
He said the recent drilling had been focused on a nearby sateliite zone known as Enterprise Southwest while some 359 diamond core holes for over 116,000 metres had been drilled as part of the programme.
Kagem Mining Limited board director Timothy Walamba has warned management against over employing foreigners at the expense of Zambians.
Mr Walamba said he was not happy that three quarters of the workers at the Kagem mining were foreigners of Asian origin who have taken up most of the jobs that are supposed to be done by Zambians.
He said when he toured the mine at the weekend that it was unfortunate that management had engaged foreigners to take up jobs such as security personnel which they were not even qualified for.
Mr Walamba who is also Patriotic Front (PF) Senior Member of the Central Committee was disappointed that some of the foreigners working at the mine did not have work permits.
“I am warning all the foreigners at this company who have fake work permits to resign and go back to their countries before I engage the Immigrations department.
“Why are we going to have security guards, accountants from other countries when we have our own graduates in Zambia,” he said.
Mr Walamba warned investors in the country that Government would not allow foreigners to takeover jobs that could be done by Zambians.
Mr Walamba said the people of Lufwanyama were not benefiting from Kagem mines as they could not be employed by the company which had over employed foreigners.
He also reminded management on President Michael Sata’s directive that precious stones should be auctioned in Zambia.
“Let me warn you that we have got the information that you hide first class stones, but I am asking you to reveal where you have been hiding the stones because these stones are for Zambians who are the beneficiaries,” he said.
And Fairchild Fundanga complained that workers at Kagem mine were not being paid well.
Mr Fundanga said some workers were getting low salaries as little as KR 420 (K420, 000).
FILE: GRADUATING Copperbelt University students shake hands with university chancellor Muyunda Mwanalushi, looking on is vice chancellor Mike Mutale Musonda and Education Permanent Secretary Andrew Phiri1
THE Kitwe High Court has dismissed an application for an injunction by the three Copperbelt University (CBU) workers Unions to restrain the Vice Chancellor from performing his duties.
High Court Judge Isaac Chali dismissed an application for an interlocutory injunction by the workers unions to restrain Professor Naison Ngoma from performing the functions of the Vice chancellor of CBU.
This is in a case in which the Copperbelt University Academics Union (CBUAW) and the Copperbelt University and Allied Workers Union (CBUAWU) as plaintiffs had sued the Copperbelt University Council and Professor Ngoma as defendants over the position of Vice chancellor.
Others are the Copperbelt University Senior Administrative and Technical Staff Union(COSATSU).
The workers unions had applied for an injunction restraining Professor Ngoma from performing the functions of the Vice Chancellor and an order to reconvene the University Council meeting to receive and deliberate over the report from the search committee.
They were also seeing a declaration that the recommendations made by the council to the Minister of Education was in contravention of the University Act and a declaration that the segmentation of five council members from the said meeting by the council chairman was irregular, unfair and unlawful.
The unions further sought a declaration that the University council meeting held on November 7 last year which received, deliberated and ratified the report from the search committee was null and void.
But in defence, council chairman Felix Mfula stated that the prerogative to appoint the Vice Chancellor was vested in the Minister of Education following the resolution of the special committee that professor Ngoma was suitable for appointment as Vice chancellor of CBU.
Mr Mfula contended that a recommendation was made to the Minister who effected the appointment thereby completing, validating and legalizing the process and that the industrial strike alluded by the unions was perpetrated by the plaintiffs because their preferred candidate did not get the appointment.
He claimed that the University campus was calm, peaceful and business going on smoothly.
And in his ruling, Mr Justice Chali stated that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate what injury, if any, would they suffer should professor Ngoma continue performing the functions of the Vice chancellor pending determination of the case.
“There would be greater injustice if an interlocutory injunction were to be granted. Iam satisfied that the plaintiff’s grievance can be adequately remedied at the trial of the action if they are successful and it follows from the foregoing that an interlocutory injunction cannot be granted in this case and the application is accordingly dismissed,” said the Judge.
He noted that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate as they were required to do, that they would suffer greater inconvenience if the injunction was not granted and that the defendants would have suffered greater inconvenience in the process.
A family of Kasama’s Chikumanino Township has been left homeless after fire swept through their house destroying goods worth millions of kwacha.
The incident happened on saturday afternoon when many people were watching the Zambia versus Norway International friendly match on their television sets.
Some eye-witnesses told ZANIS that the fire was caused by high voltage from a ZESCO power-line after electricity was restored in the area.
Alice Banda, the owner of the house that was gutted cried uncontrollably as she and her family members watch helplessly as their house was in flames.
Efforts by some neighbours to call for help from the fire brigade proved futile as the fire tender at Kasama Municipal Council was mal-functional.
And Kasama District Commission Kalanga Bwalya regretted the gutting of a house in Chikumanino Township and appealed to government to urgently procure modern fire tenders for the district to adequately fight fire outbreaks.
Mr Bwalya observed that the impact of the inferno that destroyed valuable household goods in Chikumanino Township would have been minimized if the district had a reliable fire tender.
He however said government will provide temporal accommodation to the affected family.
MINES, Energy and Water Development Minister Yamfwa Mukanga expressed concern at the delayed issuance of the mining rights license to China Copper Mines (CCM) of Chingola.
Mr Mukanga said in an interview after his fact-finding mission at CCM and two other mining outfits that he was impressed with the investment of the Chinese business group in the mining industry.
He pledged Government support for dedicated mining companies and would work closely with them to create employment opportunities for Zambians.
CCM Manager Yinghua Xiao said the firm has invested $50 million in developing its plant which has the capacity to produce 5000 tonnes of finished copper per annum.
CCM, which is co-owned by Yu Wangping and Zhang Meng Tao, would employ more than 500 people in its first stage of production line which was slated to commence immediately after the issuance of the mining permit.
Mr Xiao said during the second phase more than $50 m would be invested to further develop the mine.
He complained that two local companies had illegally occupied two dump sites belonging to CCM and this was frustrating business activities of the company.
The project to set up CCM, which is the first Chinese owned mining firm in Chingola, started in 2010 and the second stage to further develop it would generate over 1200 jobs for locals.
Mr Xiao expressed concern that all necessary mechanism were in place to start production despite the delay to issue the Mining Rights Licence.
“Currently, we have employed ten Chinese technicians and 50 locals during the first construction phase of the mine. We are ready to start production as everything has been set.
“We are ready to start production once the Mining Rights issue is resolved and this will translate into more job creation,” he said.
Mr Xiao said CCM had started an upscaling and skills transfer programme aimed at ensuring the locals acquire technical skills to manage copper processing at the firm.
MMD youths in Lusaka central constituency are in support of their national chairperson for women affairs Catherine Namugala’s call for Nevers Mumba to leave the party to pave way for a national convention.
The youths have also urged Ms Namugala not to relent in the fight for a better MMD saying youths in all provinces were behind her in her quest to correct the wrongs in the party.
Over 100 MMD youths met at town centre market at the weekend and resolved that Dr Mumba should leave the party in a bid to reorganize it.
The youths further resolved that if Dr Mumba resigned, it could help to reduce the on-going party internal squabbles and bickering.
Lusaka Central Constituency Youth Chairperson Jacob Mtonga said in a statement yesterday that the youths were representations of seven constituencies in Lusaka province.
Mr Mtonga urged Ms Namugala to continue putting up a spirited fight to bring sanity in the former ruling party.
He said the youths have since started to mobilize themselves for a massive demonstrations to kick out the people who were destroying the party.
“To our able chairperson Hon Namugala, don’t relent all the youths in all the provinces are behind you as you fight to correct what has gone wrong in the party. Please keep the spirit.
“We the grassroots have started mobilizing ourselves for a massive demonstrations to kick out these people who want to destroy our MMD we enjoyed over the years” Mr Mtonga said.
Mr Mtonga said Dr Mumba should not wait to be hounded out of office because his political history would be added with another dent.
Mr Mtonga said Dr Mumba was upto date not a registered president of MMD.
He said the MMD youths in Lusaka were calling for a convention so that they could elect a duly registered president to stand in the 2016 elections.
“We want to thank the two vice presidents of our party MMD for realizing the fact that we have no president in MMD and former Republican president Mr Rupiah Banda and is still the president for the party which has caused a very dangerous standing of the most strongest party in the land” he said.
He said the youths had previously called on their National Executive Committee (NEC) to hold an emergency meeting to iron out the notable problems but the highest organ in the party had not done so.
“Previously we have called on the NEC of our party to hold an emergency meeting to iron out the notable problems but to no avail, hence our reaffirmation of honorable Namugala statement for Nevers Mumba to leave MMD to those who are interested to correct the prevailing situation in the MMD”. he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Mtonga has advised Die Hard National Coordinator Bowman Lusambo to desist from accusing Ms Namugala of purported plotting to harm him.
Mr Mtonga said that the accusations were petty because Ms Namugala was one of the party’s able hard working founder members of the MMD.
