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A faith based NGO, Christians Against Poverty has charged that some individuals within the PF government are determined to see President Michael Sata rejected in 2016 elections.
Christians Against Poverty President Gregory Chileshe has wondered why it had to take the president to check on the water crisis at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) when the country has three ministers in the ministry of health.
Evangelist Chileshe in an interview with QFM has also wondered why the Copperbelt has for the first time in 20 years experienced such a critical mealie-meal shortage despite the country having produced enough maize.
He says from the hiccups that are being faced in the country’s governance system, it is evident that some elements within the PF are trying to strip President Sata of his popularity ahead on the next elections.
Evangelist Chileshe adds that it is obvious that some people in the country would want to replace president Sata by doing everything possible to discredit his leadership.
Government says it will next year introduce a new programme called e-voucher to replace the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) to eliminate corruption and help farmers diversify from maize production.
Agriculture and Livestock Minister Emmanuel Chenda said government has had some serious challenges with FISP and that’s why it was introducing the e-voucher system to deal with individual farmers.
Mr Chenda said the change in the provision of the service is meant to eliminate corruption because some cooperativeness had been hijacked by some people from the same family and government wanted to stop that.
This came to light when the Agriculture and livestock Minister came to inform farmers in the area that government has released K100 billion to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to pay farmers on the Copperbelt.
Mr Chenda said government had realized that there was too much corruption during the process because very few people managed to get the inputs when the program was for the poor farmers.
He said the biggest challenge that government was facing was the distribution of FISP in the districts when it was for the resource poor citizens so that they could grow food to alleviate poverty.
Mr Chenda said government thought of introducing the e-voucher system because most people that benefited from FISP through the cooperatives were mainly farmers from the same cooperatives instead of the resource poor citizens.
He said there would be no corruption in the e-voucher process because farmers would be registered one by one and that communication would only be between the agriculture ministry and the farmer himself and not through the cooperatives.
He said the system would be easy because the farmer would have to cash the e-vulture system with ago-dealers and thus promote employment to the youths.
Mr Chenda further said that more people in the country were going into farming, but very few benefited from FISP.
Zambia has secured two more friendly games ahead of their defence of the 2013 Africa Cup in South Africa.
Zambia have added dates against Tanzania and Morocco to their friendly match programme before heading t Nelspruit to start their title defence on January 21.
The 2012 African champions will first travel to Dar-es-Salaam on December 22 to face the Taifa Stars.
Zambia will follow this up in the New Year with a date against Morocco at Rand Stadium in Johannesburg on January 8.
The two games bring to three friendly’s including their final warm-up fixtures at home on January 12 when they host Norway at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
And negotiations are currently on going to face Namibia at a date and venue to be announced.
Meanwhile, a 23-member home-based Zambia team goes into camp on Monday to prepare for a planned friendly away to Saudi Arabia.
Mopani Copper Mines CEO Dan Callow has told Nkana to finish in the top three next season for them to get an improved sponsorship package.
Callow however said Mufulira Wanderers needed to work harder next season to also get better incentives.
“We have laid down the challenge to Nkana,” Callow said.
“We have said to them we will maintain the sponsorship as it is now, they have to prove to us that they have the mantle and the commitment to go away now and come away in the top three in the league next year.”
Callow said rehabilitation works at Nkana Stadium are at an advanced stage where two training pitches are being laid and that it was a sign of bigger things to come at Nkana.
“They are very motivated they are ready for it and as we go through the season if they doing well we will review that again,” he said.
Nkana bounced back after a poor start to the season to finish 10th season.
“Wanderers we have given them a challenge as well,” Callow said.
Wanderers finished seventh on 59 points on the Faz Division One North table this just ended season.
“We gave them a lot of sponsorship this year. They haven’t been neglected,” Callow said.
“They have a new kit, they had a lot of training materials they have a monthly allowance.
“And really with Mufulira Wanderers my comment to them is guys you had a reasonable start to the season you dropped off a little a bit at the end but prove to us next season you are in winning ways and we will review all those things again.”
The Council of Southern African Football Associations has cancelled this year’s COSAFA Under-20 Championship.
Zambia defended the region under-20 tournament in Botswana beating Angola 2-1 in the final.
In a statement, COSAFA President Suketu Patel said his association will instead organise the under-17 football tournament at the forthcoming Zone Six under 20 Games to be staged in Lusaka.
Patel said COSAFA was looking forward to an excellent Zone Six Games and hoped that the football competitions in Zambia will be of high standard.
“The Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) remains committed to the development of football in the region, despite the fact that the COSAFA Under-20 Championships will not be staged this year,” Patel said.
“But COSAFA will instead be organising the men’s Under-17 football tournament at the 2012 Zone VI U20 Games to be staged in Lusaka.”
Zambia from December 7-16 December 2012. COSAFA will also manage the women’s Under-20 tournament at the Games,” the statement read.
Meanwhile FIFA, together with COSAFA, will conduct a Youth Coaching course for coaches during the Zone Six Games in Lusaka.
The Zone Six Games will be held in Lusaka from December 4-16.
Chipolopolo captain Christopher Katongo has failed to make the five man short list for the 2012 CAF African Footballer of the Year.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Friday unveiled the shortlists at a ceremony in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
Dede Ayew, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba, Alex Song and Yaya Toure are the final five nominees for the Confederation of African Football’s Player of the Year award.
Caf initially named 34 players who they were considering for the award before cutting that down to 10 names.
The final nominees were decided by votes from the head coaches and technical directors of the football associations affiliated to Caf.
Meanwhile Chipolopolo midfielder Rainford Kalaba and defender Stoppila Sunzu have made the top three short list for the 2012 CAF Player of the Year (Based in Africa).
The 2012 Caf African Footballer of the Year will be crowned at an awards ceremony in the Ghana capital, Accra, on 20 December.
1. Alexander song (Cameroon and Barcelona),
2. Andre Ayew (Ghana and Olympique Marseille)
3. Demba Ba (Senegal and Newcastle United)
4. Didier Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire and Shanghai Shenhua)
5. Yaya Toure (Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City)
For the 2012 CAF Player of the Year (Based in Africa), the shortlists
are (in alphabetical order);
1. Mohamed Aboutreika (Egypt and Al-Ahly)
2. Rainford Kalaba (Zambia and TP Mazembe)
3. Stoppila Sunzu (Zambia and TP Mazembe
Acting Secretary to the Cabinet Rowland Msiska says the country needs efficient and cost effective Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) solutions.
Dr Msiska said the private sector should raise to the challenge especially in this era where fast evolving ICT market takes centre stage.
Dr Msiska was speaking in Lusaka yesterday when he officiated at the GRZ-ZAMTEL Expo, a facility that has created a forum by bringing all government line ministries and departments together so that they could explore internet services and e-governance programmes.
He commended Zambia Tele-communication Company (ZAMTEL) for offering the practical realization of Government’s ICT operations.
“I commend ZAMTEL for this innovation and approach and I urge you to continue with the same spirit in this fast evolving ICT market,” Dr Msiska said.
He said the GRZ-ZAMTEL Expo innovation would improve government’s service delivery and interface with the Zambian people.
Dr Msiska also said government needed a reliable partner with the right mix of technology and capacity to steer the e-governance project to a higher level.
The Acting Secretary to Cabinet challenged other parastatal companies to emulate ZAMTEL in business drives and quicken the pace of ICT services across government department country-wide because government alone cannot manage.
And ZAMTEL Chief Executive Officer Mupanga Mwanakatwe reiterated his organization’s commitment to invest and facilitate the provision of cost effective communication solution aimed at improving access to information.
Dr Mwanakatwe said a robust, efficient state of the art is required to service the Zambian people.
An unidentified man transports a bag of mealie meal on a bicycle
Kitwe District Commissioner Elias Kamanga has described the on-going mealie–meal shortage in Kitwe as artificial and a ploy by some unscrupulous people and some millers to frustrate government efforts of developing the country.
Mr Kamanga said there is no way millers would claim to have no maize when the maize buying exercise in which they participated has just closed.
He said some millers were withholding maize thereby reducing their production which has resulted in the unavailability of the commodity on the market.
The District Commissioner charged that the act by the millers amounts to economic sabotage as it was likely to cause inflation.
He vowed that government will not rest until the situation is normalized and the people are able to by mealie-meal at an affordable price.
Mr Kamanga was speaking in Kitwe today after conducting an on the spot check on millers in Kitwe district.
The District Commissioner toured Mpongwe milling where he was assured that the production has now normalized after a break down on the plant which had stopped working in the past few days.
The Mpongwe Milling General Manager Riaan Rautenbach assured the District Commissioner that the milling company will increase its production as well as extend the production hours this weekend to avert the short.
Mr Rautenbach added that the milling company will also temporarily stop supplying mealie- meal out of the town until it meets the high demand in Kitwe.
And a check by ZANIS found that the company had huge stocks of mealie-meal and maize and the milling plant was working at full capacity.
Earlier, a check at Jamas Milling Company showed that the plant was working but the Executive Director John Cutois said the company did not have enough maize stocks for it to produce and supply enough mealie-meal on the market.
Mr Cutois claimed that the maize stock the milling company bought from the Food Reserve Agency finished in April and was currently buying from farmers outside the province who were selling at a higher price.
And at Olympic Milling Company, the company had very little stock of mealie-meal while a huge number of people were queuing up for the commodity.
However the depot Sales Manager Guido Basili said the company was operating at its usual capacity but it could not satisfy the local demand as it also had to supply to Ndola and Mufulira.
And at Antelope Milling outlet in Chimwemwe, there was no mealie-meal at all.
Kitwe has over the past one week been hit by a serious mealie-meal shortage, forcing the prices of the commodity to rise as high as K80,000 a 25kg bag in some retail shops.
There are also allegations that millers are supplying the commodity to the Democratic Republic of Congo where it is fetching higher.
MMD Copperbelt Province Information and Publicity Secretary Yotham Mutayachalo has claimed that the MMD eradicated long queues for people buying meali-meal when it was in power.
Mr Mutayachalo said long queues were common in the UNIP government where people were made to struggle in few leading shops to fetch for essential commodities of life.
Mr Mutayachalo also boasted that the MMD produced bumper harvests in its 20 -year rule.
The MMD Copperbelt Publicity Secretary also paid special tribute to former president Rupiah Banda who he said managed to produce two bumper harvests that saw no meali-meal shortages.
Mr Mutayachalo told Journalists at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday that the ruling Patriotic Front should not blame the millers but solve the problem of the meali-meal shortages that has hit some towns on the Copperbelt province and Kasama in the Northern province.
Mr Mutayachalo who is MMD losing Chama North parliamentary candidate, has advised republican President Michael Sata to give direction to the country and desist from concentrating on ‘poaching’ MMD Members of Parliament currently serving as Deputy Ministers in his government.
And Mr Mutayachalo has dismissed media reports that the MMD is cracking saying it is normal for any political party to experience problems but was quick to say the wrangles in his party (MMD) are a minor set-back.
“MMD is not cracking, it’s a minor set-back because there are difficulties in any political party,” he said.
Mr Mutayachalo further said the UPND should not deceive itself that it can work alone, adding that political parties have one objective of serving the Zambian people.
He said in a democratic dispensation like Zambia, opposition political parties needed to work together to give government checks and balances.
Alliance for Democracy and Development nominated candidate for Luena Charles Milupi and his wife waiting to file his nomination at Ushaar Basic Schoo
Opposition Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) says it wants to see clean and mature politics in 2013.
ADD Secretary General Stafford Lizu observed that 2012 has been characterised with in-fighting among political parties and mudslinging at the expense of development.
Mr Lizu says people want development at their door steps next year where the opposition would work with the government of the day on issues of common good.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Lizu described 2012 as average because both the ruling Patriotic Front government and the opposition have allegedly failed to harmonise and accept each other politically.
“There has been a lot of antagonistic and politicking among politicians this year (2012) at the expense of development. We need more development and less politicking next year,” Mr Lizu said.
Mr Lizu who is also ADD Kabompo East losing parliamentary candidate said parties should strive to dialogue and change by exhibiting political maturity in 2013.
He however, expressed happiness that the PF government under the leadership of President Michael Sata will deliver to its promises as seen from the developmental programmes being undertaken country wide both the PF initiated ones and those that were left by the previous regime.
UPND Secretary General Winston Chibwe accused the MMD of fighting the ruling PF through-out the year instead of accepting defeat.
Mr Chibwe said MMD should accept and believe that it is no longer in power and therefore, it should give the PF government chance to govern the people of Zambia to economic prosperity.
United Party for National Development (UPND) Lusaka province Chairman Adrian Bauleni who was six days ago charged with the murder of Patriotic front (PF) member Crispin Menyani Zulu, has walked to freedom.
Ambassador Bauleni 66 of Lusaka’s Ibex Hill Township was unconditionally released by from police custody on Thursday evening.
He was on Friday last week charged together with four others for the murder of Mr Zulu who died in Rufusa.
But Ambassador Bauleni has since been unconditionally released giving an indication that he had no case to answer.
UPND Secretary General Winstone Chibwe confirmed the release of Ambassador Bauleni on Thursday.
Mr Chibwe said that they were no conditions which were attached to the release of Ambassador Bauleni but said it was an indication that the UPND member had no case to answer.
“Yes Ambassador Bauleni was released yesterday evening and we were not given reasons for his release but one thing you should know is that police can charge a person but it does not meant that is the final position, anything could happen before he is taken to court”, Mr Chibwe said.
And UPND lawyer Martha Mushipe said in a separate that she was not present at the time when Ambassador Mr Bauleni was being released but only got information that her client had been set free.
Ms Mushipe said she did not know the circumstances that led to release of former Ambassador because she was not present and was not communicated to by the people who set him to freedom.
“As a lawyer to Mr Bauleni, I don’t even know what transpired to the release of my client because there has been no communication with me. At the time police apprehended Mr Bauleni, if they knew there was nothing, why did they act that way because my client is now traumatized,’ she said
Ms Mushipe said it was not right for police to have charged Ambassador Bauleni with murder and release him before the case could go anywhere without proper explanations and communication.
But when contacted for a comment, Ms Kasosa referred all queries to Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Mutembo Nchito.
Ms Kasosa said the role of the police was to investigate and charge of the suspects and therefore hand over to the DPP who was supposed to prosecute the case.
Patriciotic Front (PF) leadership in Northern Provincial has appealed to President Michael Sata to intervene in the mealie-meal shortage in the country.
Northern Provincial PF Secretary Evarist Chella who stormed ZANIS office in Kasama today and was flanked by Women Provincial Vice Chairperson Rosemary Chilufya and other party officials said the party in the Province is worried because the mealie-meal shortage which he said is the lives of ordinary people in the nation.
Mr. Chella requested President Sata to instruct the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to off-load maize to millers to address the shortage.
He noted that mealie-meal shortage in Northern Province needs urgent attention by the national leadership.
Mr. Chella observed that a 25 kg of breakfast mealie-meal has shot up from K50, 000 to as high as K80, 000 which is too costly for people.
He also said that there is no reason for people to encounter problems when accessing mealie-meal in the nation because the nation experienced a bumper harvest in the last farming season.
Mr. Chella blamed the shortage on FRA as the millers are failing to buy maize from the institution.
And a survey carried out today by ZANIS in Kasama reveal that all out lets have run out of mealie meal.
MMD National Youth Secretary Tobias Kafumukache addresses journalists at the party secretariat in Lusaka
MMD Spokesperson Dora Siliya has been challenged by her party to explain what her visit to State house was all about in what appears to be a deepening rift in the former ruling party.
MMD National Youth Secretary Tobias Kafumukache says the party has information that Ms. Siliya visited State house the same day National Secretary Major Richard Kachingwe and party Chairperson for women affairs Catherine Namugala visited plot one.
Kafumukache says it is surprising why the visit of the two national executive committee members Major Kachingwe and Ms Namugala is being blown out of proportion when it was the National Executive Committee of the party that assigned them to converse with the head of State over the appointment of MMD members of parliament to government positions.
He says if some members think that the visit by the two officials was wrong, it would be better that the entire national executive committee of the party is hounded out for mandating the two officials to have a meeting with the head of State.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka this morning, Kafumukache says Ms. Siliya’s visit to State house should be explained to avoid speculations of her working with the Patriotic Front Government.
And Kafumukache has accused some party officials of sponsoring some party youths to cause confusion within the party.
He has also accused former party Lusaka province chairperson William Banda of organizing UPND youths to masquerade as MMD youths in an effort to destabilize the party.
Kafumukache says the party cannot afford to be ridiculed over simple issues instead of focusing on very important developmental issues that will benefit the people of Zambia.
Foreign Affairs Minister Given Lubinda said Government would not take responsibility of Sikwebela Malitela, a Zambian resident in the Czech Republic who was found dead because the deceased was in that country on his own as he went through an acquired scholarship but was earmarked for deportations back to Zambia.
Today, heard that Sikwebela Malitela a Zambian resident in the Czech Republic who was found dead and his body floating in a river was facing deportation from that country.
Foreign Affairs Minister Given Lubinda told the house that Malitela whose body was discovered with a bag of stones strapped around it in what is suspected to be suicide was in the Czech Republic on his own accord.
Mr Lubinda said that government had made it clear to the family that it will not take responsibility to transport his remains back.
He explained that Malitela went to the Czech republican in 2005 on a scholarship which was later withdrawn.
Mr Lubinda told the house that the Zambian mission in Berlin was asked to go and identify Malitela for deportation which they did.
