MMD youth wing today plan to lock out National Secretary Richard Kachingwe from the party secretariat.

MMD youth wing coordinator Bowman Lusambo said the youth in the party would today march to the party secretariat to hound out Major Kachingwe from his office.

Mr Lusambo said in an interview yesterday that the youth would no longer tolerate Maj Kachingwe’s maneuvers to undo MMD president Nevers Mumba.

“Today we are going to fish him out of the Secretariat together with Chembe Nyangu. We will camp there until the National Executive Committee (NEC) calls for a meeting to discipline Maj Kachingwe and Mr Nyangu,” he said.

He said other secretariat staff and NEC members would be allowed to carry on with their duties without hindrance.

“We will not be intimidated by his military expertise, what we are saying is that he should respect our party president and the Members of Parliament,” he said.

Mr Lusambo said claims by Maj Kachingwe that he was instrumental in keeping the MMD afloat after its defeat by the Patriotic Front (PF) during the September 20, 2011 general elections were not correct.

He charged that members of the party were aware that Maj Kachingwe and President Sata were old time friends who had continued working together.

He also charged that Mafinga MP Catherine Namugala and Maj Kachingwe were delaying Dr Mumba’s party programmes.

Maj Kachingwe on Wednesday vowed that no ‘rogue elements’ would hound him out of the former ruling party.

Maj Kachingwe also disclosed at a media briefing that there was a clique in the party which was targeting to destabilise the secretariat.

Maj Kachingwe and Mr Nyangu have in the recent past come under attack from within the party that they had been compromised and were allegedly working with the PF.
But Maj Kachingwe said it was not his style of politics to insult the Republican President as promulgated by some people in the MMD.

He said some people had been accusing him of not issuing strong statements against the PF and President Michael Sata in particular.

Meanwhile, sources within the MMD yesterday revealed that MMD MPs met with Dr Mumba at his residence in the morning to chart the way forward on the impasse in the party.

And MMD chairperson for elections Gabriel Namulambe said it was important for the party to realise that it had problems which needed to be resolved internally.

Mr Namulambe said in an interview that party members should desist from running to the press to iron out their problems.

He said those with issues should come out in the open and lay on the table any problems which needed to be resolved.

“Let us accept that there is need to sit down and sort out the problems. There is need to face the problems head on instead of going to the media,” he said.

Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) management today resolved to attach a team of engineers to the the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) to ensure that the water shortage problem was resolved once and for all. LWSC has already dispatched the Engineers and they will be stationed at UTH until at a time that water supply is normalised.

Earlier, President Michael Sata today paid an impromptu visit to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka to check on the water supply which was yesterday reported to be erratic.

President Sata was not amused with what he found and without hesitation directed UTH management and the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company to ensure that normal water supply is restored at the highest health institution in the country.

“I don’t mind if there is no water in the whole Lusaka but UTH must have water. People are suffering here,” he said.

President Sata directed UTH Managing Director Lackson Kasonka and the LWSC to ensure that both the underground and overhead reservoir tanks are always filled with water so that patients and those taking care of them do not have a shortage of the commodity.

The UTH tank has a capacity of 1.08 million cubic litres of water but there was only about 40,000 litres when the President visited the institution this morning.

Director of Engineering at the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC), Wilson Shane, had a tough time to explain to President Sata why there was an erratic supply of water at the institution.

Mr. Shane however maintained that his company had supplied water to the underground reservoir tank at the institution.

He said the onus was now for UTH to pump the water from the underground tank to the overhead one which distributes the commodity to the rest of the health institution.

Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government and Housing, Emerine Kabanshi, explained to President Sata that power outages were to a greater extent responsible for intermittent water supply.

Ms. Kabanshi said when there was a power outage at the water pump in Kafue, the rest of Lusaka gets affected in terms of water supply.

But despite all these explanations, President Sata directed that all relevant authorities should find a lasting solution to the water shortage at the institution so that water supply is normalised.

Yesterday, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) reported that normal operations at the UTH theatre had been suspended because of lack of water.

ZNBC further reported that the maternity ward was also facing a serious shortage of water hence operations had been affected.

ZANIS

ZAMBEZI Portland Cement operations director Daniela Ventriglia has been deported to Italy by the immigration department for being “a danger to the peace of the country”.

Home Affairs Minister Edgar Lungu declined to give details saying: “I have heard a report through media queries but I have nothing solid to say on whether he has been deported or he has been asked to put his work permit in order. If you contact me tomorrow, I will be in a position to give you the correct story.”

Zambezi Portland Cement Operations manager Mwamba Kayula confirmed that Mr Ventriglia was flown to Italy yesterday.Mr Kayula said in Ndola yesterday that Mr Ventriglia, 34, was picked up from his office in the morning and driven to Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport.He alleged that the Ministry of Home Affairs did not give reasons for the deportation of Mr Ventriglia.Daniela Ventriglia is the son of ZPC proprietor Antonio Ventrigilia.

Mr.Kayula said the deportation had affected the daily production of cement which was at 1600 tonnes of cement, and that the company would not reach the half production capacity.He appealed to the Government to rescind the decision as Mr Ventriglia was behind the success of Zambezi Portland Cement.

“This man has been operations director for the past two years, he was born in Luanshya, and we still need to continue with his good work at the company,” he said.

Mr Kayula said that Zambezi Portland Cement has a workforce of 600 employees.Copperbelt police chief Mary Tembo said in a separate interview that police were deployed to the company in the morning when confusion erupted.When word went round that Mr Ventriglia had been picked up, workers paralysed operations until police officers moved in.

“There was confusion in the morning when the workers started making noise about the deportation but the situation has returned to normal. Workers have gone back to work and police have continued to monitor the situation to ensure that peace is not disrupted,” she said.

A bitter share dispute engulfed the cement company for a large part of 2009 until 2011 between the Ventrigilias and billionaire businessman and philanthropist Dr Rajan Mahtani who is supposed to have provided the cash for expanding the company.

The deportation of Daniela Ventriglia shocked many workers at the cement plant. His father is reportedly out of the country but his two brothers and his mother are within Zambia.

[Source:Times of Zambi/Daily Mail]

The ruling PF in Lusaka Province has accused some milling companies of creating an artificial shortage of Mealie meal as part of a scheme to bring down President Michael Sata’s government.

Lusaka Province PF Youth Chairman Kennedy Kamba claimed that the party in the province has information that some “politically charged” millers have teamed up with the opposition to create an artificial shortage of Mealie meal.

Mr. Kamba said the current shortage of the staple food is purely artificial and accused the opposition and millers of playing with people’s lives.

He warned Millers in Lusaka not to emulate their colleagues on the Copperbelt adding that PF Youths will deal sternly with millers that will be sabotaging the economy for political expedience.

“We know the opposition is involved. They want the people to turn against President Sata, as youths in Lusaka, we will not sit and watch the situation deteriorate. We are warning them to stop,” Mr. Kamba said.

Mealie meal prices in several parts of Zambia have gone up by over 40 percent with Copperbelt being the hardest hit.
In Chingola and Chililabombwe, long queues are forming outside retail outlets people jostle to buy Mealie meal with a 25 Kg bag of Breakfast meal selling between K70, 000 and K85, 000.

In Lusaka, some outlets surveyed in Kabwata, Chilenje and Matero have increased their prices by at least K5, 000.
A 25 Kg bag of Mealie meal was selling between K35, 000 and K40, 000 just before the September 20 2011 general elections.