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“You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
(1 Corinthians 6:20, NIV)
TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria
Scripture says that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are to honor the Lord with our bodies. How do you do that? You take care of it. You respect it. You treat it as valuable. You use your body to bring Him glory. When you stand strong against temptation, you are honoring the Lord with your body. When you take care of yourself by eating properly and getting enough sleep, you are honoring the Lord with your body. You are saying, “Lord, thank You for this gift of life. I am choosing to take care of myself so that I can serve You with my whole heart, mind and strength.”
As we enter into the new year, many people make new goals about their health. Let this be an encouragement to you to stay on track with good habits. As you honor the Lord with your body, you will be strengthened and empowered by His peace. You’ll be able to stand against temptation and embrace the good things He has in store for you!
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Father, today I commit to honor You with my body. Thank You for the gift of life. Thank You for empowering me against temptation. Show me the plan You have for me today so that I can honor You in everything I do in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Herve Renard insists goals will come for Zambia at the 2013 Africa Cup when the tournament kicks off on January 19 after witnessing his side yet again fire blanks against Norway.
Norway and Zambia drew 0-0 at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola in Renard’s sides’ final warm-up game before heading to the 2013 Africa Cup on Sunday.
“We played a very organized nation of Norway with a lot of discipline on the pitch and every time we tried to score they gave us a problem,” Renard said.
“It is not easy when you change about six players to give the players a chance to play the necessarily time they need.
“I anticipate that is why are we not scoring and I am saying we are keeping the goals for the pitch (Africa Cup).”
Meanwhile, the only major highlights in the game came with the introduction of Collins Mbesuma and Mukuka Mulenga in the 46th and 67th minutes respectively.
Mbesuma replaced a poor Emmanuel Mayuka who failed to show any form of being the 2012 Africa Cup golden boot winner on three goals.
Mukuka on the other hand dazzled with another fantastic display to compliment Chisamba Lungu who had carried the burden of the team in the opening 45 minutes.
Mukuka almost capped his brilliant show with goal in the 85th minute but fluffed his effort inside the box after benefitting from some good work from Mbesuma and Kalaba.
Zambia have now not scored a single goal in their last four games since Evans Kangwa scored a consolation goal in Chipolopolo’s 2-1 away loss to Saudi Arabia on December 5.
Former President Rupiah Bwezani Banda will tomorrow leave for Kenya where he has been invited to deliver the keynote speech at an international conference in preparation for Kenya’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections due in two months’ time.
The two-day conference has been organised by the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa in partnership with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, and the Kenyatta University School of Law.
Titled ‘Elections March 2013: Imminent debates in the event of a Presidential run-off’, the conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi beginning on 14th January, 2013 and will feature several prominent speakers including the Speaker of the Kenyan National Assembly.
This is the second time the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa is working with President Banda, having first appointed him leader of the election observer mission to the National Assembly elections in Lesotho last year.
The former Zambia had of State will e accompanied to Nairobi by his deputy administrative assistant Kennedy Limwanya and economist Dr Richard Chembe.
Hundreds of passengers and soccer fans were this morning stranded for over an hour at landless corner in Chisamba district of Central province when buses were impounded for various traffic offences.
A joint operation conducted by the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA), Government Transport Control Unit and the Zambia Police traffic department impounded vehicles mostly buses carrying school going children and soccer fans who were rushing to Ndola to watch Zambia Vs Norway game.
Deputy Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Panji Kaunda and his counterpart Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Steven Kampyongo were among the team of officers who conducted an inspection and impounded and charged drivers with unfit vehicles.
The stranded soccer fans and passengers complained after they were delayed for over an hour as some buses were not only charged but also compelled to change tyres and repair their vehicles before they were released.
Offices from the joint team also tested drivers most of whom were found drunk.
The operation started at Kabangwe and later moved to landless corner were a driver of a Rosa bus travelling from Kabwe to Lusaka tempted to corrupt Home Affairs Deputy Minister Steven Kampyongo.
The driver of the bus was impounded for not having a first aid kit and in the process he asked the minister whom he mistook for a traffic officer to agree to a deal so that he would be released without the knowledge of others, but the minister instead called other traffic officers to charge him for trying to bribe a government officer.
He was charged KR180 for the traffic offence and strongly warned against engaging in any form of corruption.
The joint operation has since processed to Kabwe to Manyumbe area in Kapiri Mposhi district.
The operation is meant to eliminate unfit vehicles and drivers from the road in order to avoid road traffic accidents especially during weekends and holidays.
The ruling Patriotic Front in Livingstone has said it is intact and ready for the forth-coming Livingstone Parliamentary by-Elections slated for February 28, 2013.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Livingstone yesterday, Kafue Member of Parliament Obvious Mwaliteta said all the party structures were in place and that whoever will be adopted to contest the seat on the PF ticket will be fully supported.
Mr Mwaliteta who is also PF Livingstone Campaign Manager said Livingstone residents have once again been blessed with an opportunity to choose a credible leader who will work with the government of the day.
“Livingstone residents’ prayers have been answered through the forth-coming by-election. They have been given an opportunity to choose a candidate who will bring them the much needed development,” said Mr Mwaliteta.
Mr Mwaliteta has since warned PF party members against forming parallel structures that might derail the party’s campaign efforts.
And Mr Mwaliteta has challenged civil servants in Southern province who are allegedly frustrating governments’ efforts to resign from the civil service.
Mr Mwaliteta said government was facing challenges in spearheading development because of a clique of disgruntled civil servants who want to make government fail to implement various developmental projects.
“There have been reports of some civil servants in Southern province trying to frustrate government’s efforts and I want to challenge those that intend to join politics to resign from the civil service before they are flashed out,” Mr Mwaliteta said.
Mr Mwaliteta said reports of two teachers having intentions of standing on the opposition ticket are disturbing as it indicated that some civil servants were against the government of the day.
And PF District Chairperson Fred Chibuye said the party was overwhelmed by the number of applicants wishing to stand on the PF ticket.
He said no adoption has been done yet.
Meanwhile, Mr Mwaliteta has lashed out at opposition UPND for being ‘hypocritical’ and hostile towards government despite the many developmental programmes that the PF government has implemented so far.
“The UPND is well known for being hostile and hypocritical and that is why its members are defecting to the PF,” said Mr Mwaliteta.
The Livingstone parliamentary seat fell vacant after the resignation of former United Party for National Development (UPND) Member of Parliament Howard Sikwela.
Youth clad in colourful yellow NAREP branded T-shirts during the clean-up of freedom way in Lusaka
NAREP has issued a press statement in response to State House Assistance for Press and Public relations to the President George Chellah.
Below is the full response
GEORGE’S PARALLEL UNIVERSE
NAREP’S RESPONSE TO THE STATEMENT ISSUED ON BEHALF OF STATE HOUSE
Mr. George Chellah has issued a response to the press statement issued by the NAREP President, Elias Chipimo Jnr. on Thursday 10 January 2013. Mr. Chellah’s statement continues the trend of nearly all his previous statements. It appears to have been written in angry haste.
He has asked President Chipimo to “pinpoint where the PF Government has failed, and provide alternative grounded options rather than spend time in a day-dreaming or theoretical session about what he wishes to happen”.
Here is what we asked for in our press statement:
Opportunity for our youth to flourish in decent work and enterprise
Our women to be protected from violence and discrimination
Government to work with traditional leaders to empower rural communities
Government to apply public order laws in a non-discriminatory manner
Running water in homes
Homes connected to a stable supply of electricity
Our ministers not to fly abroad for treatment when they have neglected the health institutions at home
The PF to concentrate more on promoting development than seeking political domination
Mr. Chellah’s statement sheds an enormous amount of light on why we are not seeing development for our people under the PF. He believes that these requests are “day-dreaming and theoretical”!
Had Mr. Chellah read the NAREP press statement more carefully, he would have noted that we have not said the PF has failed. We in fact point out that it is not our desire to see the PF fail because if they do, it is the people who will suffer. Our statement accuses the PF of placing priority on triggering by-elections and harassing its political opponents at the expense of prioritising development. We stand by this statement.
While we believe that it is important to prosecute those that have committed crimes involving abuse of office, we are in no doubt that the attempted prosecutions against the certain members of the Opposition has not been consistent with a genuine fight against corruption.
We have evidence that the type of things Dr. Nevers Mumba is being accused of having done are flourishing under the PF administration and it is for this reason that we see the recent arrest of Dr. Mumba as being politically motivated. We shall make this information available to the public at the appropriate time.
We pointed out in our statement that the country is in a crisis due to: high mealie-meal prices, continued and preventable daily deaths at clinics and health institutions around the country, continued load-shedding, lack of access to clean water and sanitation, massive formal unemployment, laying off of workers because of the hasty introduction of laws and regulations without adequate consultation, defilement and sexual exploitation of our young women.
However, since Mr. Chellah has asked us to identify the PF failures (and he would do well to remember the saying: be careful what you wish for), we present a summary of some (not all) of the promises that were made by the PF:
Demolition of shanty towns and the building of better planned houses in 90 days
When PF comes into power there will be no load-shedding
There will be no abuse of the public media
PF will do away with the Public Order Act (because it’s a colonial law)
PF will create employment for the youths
There will be better sanitation for everyone (46 years of independence Zambians cannot be using pit latrines)
Cholera will be a thing of the past
PF will reduce the size of Cabinet
PF will increase bags of fertilizer for our farmers
PF will deliver a people-driven constitution within 90 days
Enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill
Imposition of windfall tax on mining companies
We think that if Mr. Chellah sincerely wishes to talk about lies and deceit, we can start with the list above and engage in a sensible dialogue about how we can constructively move forward on each of these matters.
We intend over the next ten weeks, to highlight each of these promises and other areas of poor governance (one a week) and to provide details of the PF’s failures in the specific sectors related to these promises and to other areas of political, economic and social development.
We shall commence with the mealie-meal crisis. We will also set out NAREP’s proposals on the way forward once we have demonstrated the failures.
To be fair and balanced, we will also point out the things PF is doing well and where it has succeeded. Perhaps after more public discussion on these issues it may become a little clearer as to which of us is living in a parallel universe.
FDD President Edith Nawakwi and her husband Geofrey Hambulo paying their last respect to their daughter Hatamba after a church service at Miracle life church in Lusaka
THE family of murdered 26-year-old Hatambu Hambulo, the daughter of Forum of Democracy and Development (FDD) leader, Edith Nawakwi, says it has forgiven the murderers, but that the law should take its course.
The deceased’s uncle, Chris Hambote, said this when scores of people turned up at Miracle Life Family Church to pay their last respects to Hatambu in Lusaka yesterday.
The requiem mass, which was initially supposed to start at 10:00 hours only started at around 13:00 hours owing to a postmortem on the body.
Before giving his late niece’s life history, Mr Hambote apologised for the delay, attributing it to the postmortem, which he said he “painfully” witnessed for about two hours, with several others.
He said the sheer brutality employed in the murder of the 26-year-old was shocking to the family and raised more questions than answers.
Mr Hambote, however, said despite the killing of Hambote, heroines were produced in the process in the police, particularly two female traffic officers, by apprehending some suspects, even before the family got wind of the news.
“Despite the evilness of the killing of Tambu, heroines were produced that very day. Our heroines were the police, particularly two alert (female) police officers that were completely on a different mission, but were divinely directed to do the job,” he said.
He said because the family was a prayerful one, it had resolved to forgive the killers, but that it would let the law take its course.
Hatambu, who was described by family, friends and workmates as, among others, hardworking, cheerful, responsible, God-fearing, action-oriented and inquisitive, was later put to rest at Memorial Park.
Hatambu was found dead and dumped in a manhole in Ibex Hill on Tuesday with her legs and arms tied and police have so far apprehended four people in connection with the murder.
At the time of her death, she was working as a marketing assistant at Food Reserve Agency (FRA), a holder of Bachelor Degree in Agriculture she acquired from the University of Zambia and was intending to pursue a Master’s Degree programme.
Prominent among those who were present at church were Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda, Lusaka Province Minister Freedom Sikazwe, Justice Deputy minister Ngosa Simbyakula, former First Lady Vera Tembo and former Second Republican President, Fredrick Chiluba’s widow, Regina.
Others were former Works and Supply Minister Mike Mulongoti, former Ambassador to Libya Mbita Chitala, former Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Angela Chifire and former Community Development Permanent Secretary Sherry Thole.
Councilors at the UPND run Choma Municipal Council have unanimously voted to use the entire K3billion(KR3,000,000) Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from the 2012 funding on procurement of road equipment.
The councilors have also resolved to constitute a committee comprising council management officials and Councilors to travel abroad and source the equipment.
Chairing a full council meeting in Choma yesterday, Mayor Jackson Makwamba however cautioned the councilors to be careful and transparent to avoid running into trouble with the Patriotic Front (PF) government over the administration of the CDF funds.
He said as the councilors and chief officers travel abroad to procure the road equipment, there is need for them to be careful in handling the procurement process because CDF was highly sensitive.
Mayor Makwamba said the need to procure road equipment has become imperative in addressing the challenge of poor rural road network.
The three constituencies, Choma Central, Pemba and Mbabala intend to purchase graders, tippers, rollers and water bouzers.
But Mbabala UPND Member of Parliament Ephraim Belemu cautioned councilors to handle the matter of public procurement carefully because the amount of money involved was colossal.
Mr. Belemu said the council should instead consult the Ministry of Local Government on how to go about the procurement process.
He said there was also need to involve the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) in the procurement process.
Mr. Belemu said the issue of councilors and chief officers travelling abroad for window shopping should be revisited as it may not be allowed by the Ministry of Local Government.
Lusaka bound bus from Lundazi that was involved in an accident at Mnoro area about 10 kilometers to Chipata on the Chipata-Lundazi road
Government has pledged commitment to addressing challenges faced by road traffic victims in the country through establishing a road accident fund.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Muyenga Atanga said road traffic victims face a lot of challenges including disability and loss of employment.
Dr. Atanga said government and various stakeholders were working tirelessly to address these challenges.
He was speaking at the road accident fund consultative meeting held in Lusaka today.
He said the current third party motor vehicle insurance scheme did not effectively address the post-crash needs that arose from road accidents as most motorists saw it as a form of tax that they would avoid rather than a protection for their lives.
The Permanent Secretary said government was keen on having a scheme that would promote compensation, financial and medical requirements.
He called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders in meeting the challenge of taking care of victims by compensating them and providing medical costs.
Dr. Atanga added that there was a critical need for wide consultation before any major change in policy was undertaken by the affected parties both directly and indirectly.
He commended insurance companies that have provided compensation to road accident victims saying the move was unimaginable within the current legal framework.
And Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) Chief Executive Officer Zindaba Soko have said more than 1,200 people die from road accidents in Zambia every year.
Mr. Soko said this has made road traffic accidents the third highest cause of death in the country after HIV/AIDS and malaria.
RTSA said Zambia spends about one million Kwacha rebased on mitigating the impact of road accidents, an amount which could be avoided and ultimately used on other areas.
Mr. Soko said it was for this reason that RTSA sought to engage various stakeholders among them the Zambia Police, Ministry of Health and motorists to come up with recommendations on how best to establish the road accident fund.
Over two hundred farmers in Mbala have not yet received their fertilizer for this year’s farming season.
The farmers who stormed ZANIS office this morning complained that their crops which have reached the stage of applying top dressing fertilizer will go to waste.
The visibly annoyed farmers said they had wasted a lot of money on transport coming to the boma with the view of collecting the fertilizer from Nyiombo Investment depots.
The farmers lamented that promises by Nyiombo Investment officials to give them the farming inputs have yielded no results.
They also said some farmers have only received urea without D. Compound fertilizer.
The Farmers are now appealing to government to intervene in the matter to avert wastage of crops and resources they spent on cultivation.
Efforts to get the comment from the District agriculture Co-coordinator failed by press time.
Concerned residents in Kabwe have complained against Shoprite and Hungry Lion for not giving them their full change every time they purchase goods from the two shops.
The irate residents told ZANIS in a survey interview carried out this morning that since the kwacha was rebased early last week, the shops have not been giving them their change accordingly.
One of the concerned customers, Alidah Mwanza complained that according to the rebased kwacha, the shops are supposed to give them their actual change in accordance with their prices but that this is not the case at the two renowned shops.
Ms Mwanza alleged that from the time the government rebased the kwacha, she has not been receiving correct change even when it amounted to smaller denominations where coins could be used.
She said according to the pricing of goods and food stuffs in the two shops, part of the change is supposed to be in Ngwees but that she has not seen any Shop Assistant giving her the exact amount after making her purchases.
Ms Mwanza said she suspects that some Shop Assistants were obviously stealing from the customers in pretence that they did not have the coins.
She said it should not be a struggle for people to get their actual balances after making their purchase and appealed to the two shops to stop stealing from the customers, especially those who could not tell the difference.
And Mwitwa Chuma who also echoed the same sentiments complained that the behaviour by the two shops was not strange because they had been doing that even in the old system.
Mr Chuma said he did not understand why it has taken so long for the two shops to find coins to give to the customers, eleven days after the kwacha was rebased.
He explained that he once confronted a cashier at Shoprite who told him that the coins were scarce as not many customers used them to purchase the goods.
He described this as a lame excuse saying it is not the duty of the customers to come up with coins for the supermarket to have change but that the shop can go to the bank and collect the much needed coins to avoid unnecessary speculations.
And Mutinta Sichilima said she is disappointed with Hungry Lion because each time she purchases food stuffs from the restaurant she is told that they cannot give her change because there are no coins.
Ms Sichilima said this is unreasonable because there is no way the restaurant can be giving a fake excuse to customers when everyone in the country knows that the coins are available in all banking institutions.
She said small as the amounts may seem, they are essential to the Zambians and everyone should be given change according to their purchase.
She said she has had a similar experience with Shoprite where the Shop Assistants always claim not to have coins in their tills.
Ms Sichilima therefore, suggested that the shops rounds off their prices if they are not competent enough with the new system, rather than stealing money from the customers.
But Shoprite and Hungry Lion Management have denied the allegations saying they have been giving customers their change accordingly.
Shoprite Kabwe Branch Manager, who declined to give his identity, dismissed reports by customers saying his shop had adequate change to cater for all shoppers.
He said it is only when the shop ran out of change that they did not give the customers, otherwise, in most cases customers were being reminded to wait for change.
“No! Those are false reports because as far as I know, we have been giving customers their actual change but it is just in few instances when we do not have the change or cannot access it from the bank,” he said.
And his counterpart at Hungry Lion, who also declined to give her identity, equally refuted the allegations saying there was enough change for everyone.
She said nothing much has changed at the restaurant apart from the rebased currency which has seen the introduction of coins.
She added that the coins are ever available at the restaurant and it is saddening to learn that some people are already making up stories because every customer got what was due to them.
The two managers also took some time to check through the tills with ZANIS officers who equally proved that there were enough coins in the service tills during the verification.
File: Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba and Kabwata MP Given Lubinda makes a point during a press briefing in Lusaka
Defence Minister Geofrey Mwamba has dismissed allegations that he will be banished from the Partriotic Front and government.
ZANIS Kalulushi reports that Mr Mwamba said it was not true that him and Kabwata Member of Parliament Given Lubinda would be suspended from the party and the government.
Mr Mwamba who’s also Kasama Member of Parliament told ZANIS Kalulushi in an interview yesterday upon arrival at South downs Airport on his way to Kitwe where he’ is scheduled to meet the youths.
He said if he had committed any offence which was acceptable by the President he saw no reason why the president could fail to suspend him.
Mr Mwamba said stories about him running on Zambian Watch dog that he had been banned by the president from visiting his constituency were not true.
Mr Mwamba explained that operations in government are that when you accept government portfolios you should also accept assignments by his excellence the President.
Central Province Permanent Secretary Annie Sinyangwe yesterday took time to visit Kapiri Mposhi accident victim currently nursing head injuries at Kabwe General Hospital
Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zindaba Soko has expressed sadness at the death of nine people who perished on the spot in Kapiri Mposhi in a road accident yesterday.
The accident occurred after a Marcopolo bus collided with a Toyota Hiace minibus killing nine and leaving seven people with injuries.
Mr. Soko said it was sad that many people die just because of a single individual not taking proper consideration of rules and practices on the road
He was speaking in Lusaka today.
He stated that RTSA had embraced a zero tolerance stance to road unworthiness and would not relent to enforce adherence to proper driving rules.
He appealed to motorists, bus operators and the general public to be cautious as they travel to protect their lives.
Police Spokesperson Elizabeth Kanjela yesterday confirmed the accident which happened around 15:00 when the driver of the Hiace minibus tried to overtake a Rosa Mini-bus but encountered a head-on collision with the oncoming Marcopolo bus.
Ms. Kanjela revealed that Police and Kapiri Mposhi Hospital personnel rushed to the scene to attend to the injured and took them to the hospital together with the dead.
The seven that were injured have been admitted to Kapiri Mposhi district hospital for treatment.
The minibus, whose registration number is ACM 2334, was travelling from Kapiri Mposhi to Ndola while the Marcopolo Scania bus, registration number ABG 7403 was heading to Kapiri Mposhi from Ndola.
The Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) Ndola District Secretariat says it fully supports party President Nevers Mumba because he was duly elected.
Speaking at the party headquarters in Ndola today, District Chairman Bruno Mukare said MMD Ndola district members will not allow anyone to destroy the party.
Mr Mukare said those members that want to bring confusion in the party should leave.
He added that Ndola district was not in support of party members that are passing a vote of no confidence in Dr Mumba.
“We as Ndola district secretariat are ready to fight those that want to bring confusion in the party,” he said.
Meanwhile, MMD Women’s representative in Ndola Nelly Mumba has appealed to Catherine Namugala to leave the party peacefully.
She said Ms Namugala should not destroy the party and that she should give respect to party officials in the National Executive Committee (NEC).
Mrs Mumba has appealed to the party NEC to expel Catherine Namugala from the party before she destroys it.
