Mr Banda said some politicians were fond of making false statements because they did not have the power of information on their fingertips.

He was reacting to a statement allegedly made by United Party for National Development (UPND) President, Hakainde Hichilema, recently in Pateuke.

Mr Hichilema is alleged to have attacked the ruling party where he said it had failed to perform because it did not care for farmers in the province.

But Mr Banda said the UPND leader was speaking from the blues as he did not have information in his hands.

He said such leaders should not be listened to because what they were doing was cheap politicking.

“People should not listen to such leaders because they are just alarming the nation, “ Mr Banda said.

He said recently, government through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) sent K 180 billion to the province to pay farmers that sold maize to the agency.

Mr Banda noted that there was only a balance of K 55, 928, 000,000-00 which he said would be sent to the province this week.

“So far we have remained with only K 55. 928 billion and we are saying that this money will be sent to the banks this week, after that, FAR will not owe any farmer,” he said.

He urged satellite depots to speed up documentation because money was available, adding that FRA will not break until all the money is paid.

The FRA in Eastern Province bought over 3.5 million by 50 kilogram bags of white maize from farmers at a total cost of K 236 billion.

Meanwhile, Banda, says he is not going to allow national party leaders from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) to come to the region and start campaigning for presidency.

Mr Banda said the position of presidency in the country was not vacant that people should start going round to campaign.

He was speaking at his office in Chipata today during a briefing.

Mr Banda observed that President Michael Sata still had four years remaining as head of state and people should not go round and campaign for the position as if there was a vacancy.

‘’ As a province and as Minister in-charge, I want to make it clear that I am not going to allow for anybody to come and start campaigning for presidency. This is because the position is still filled and Mr Sata is the republican president,’’ he said.

He said even after 2016, the province still wanted Mr Sata to go on because the members wanted to make a strong base for the party.

‘’ We are going to campaign for him for the purpose of making the party strong. You can only have strong leadership when you have a strong base and as at now, it is Mr Sata we have at the helm,’’ Mr Banda said.

He called on party members should avoid forming parallel structures which he said destabilised the party

Mr Banda has since warned that those that would be found wanting, would be reported to the Secretary General for action to be taken against them.

ZANIS

ZANIS

President Michael Sata is not happy with the pace at which road works on the newly launched Link Zambia 8000 project are progressing.President Sata who toured the project in Lusaka this morning to check on the progress that has been made so far since he launched the project last month, was disappointed at the rate the contractor is moving.Mr. Sata took to task Zulu Burrow Development Consultants Chief Executive Officer Levi Zulu over the slow pace of the works and demanded that works be expedited or another contractor would be brought in.The President stressed that if the Chinese Contractor, China Geo was not capable of doing the works, Government was ready to engage another contractor.President Sata said he does not want to see the project take years to be completed because it was of immense economic importance to the country

“Do you want us to wait for four years before this project is completed? If the Chinese are not capable of doing the works we will bring other people who will do the project,” the President said.

The President warned that the next time he inspects the road works and things are not moving, the contract that was awarded to the Chinese contractor would be terminated.President Sata who arrived at the construction site at exactly 11:25 hours was accompanied by his Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations George Chellah and other senior State House officials.[pullquote]Do you want us to wait for four years before this project is completed? If the Chinese are not capable of doing the works we will bring other people who will do the project[/pullquote]

And Zulu Burrow Development Consultants Chief Executive Officer Levi Zulu explained to journalists soon after the President’s tour of the road construction that the contractor was on course with the construction of the project.He stated that there were a lot of preparations that has to be done before a road is constructed and that these are the ones that have slowed down the pace of the works.He said the contractor had to make diversions and also prepare a place where to get crashed stones among other things before the actual construction of the project would get underway.

But when asked why the President was upset with the pace at which the contractor was moving, Mr Zulu said President Sata was a good President who had a lot of information and therefore knew what to expect from contractors.He however assured the President that everything was under control and that once all the ‘nitty gritties’ where put in place, the construction process was going to move smoothly.

And on the purported resistance of the project by the community in the area, Mr Zulu said Chieftainess Nkomesha Mukamambo the second and her subjects have been fully cooperative and supportive of the project.He said the project has met no resistance as has been speculated, saying he earlier had a meeting with about 17 farmers and other people that have been affected with the project who have agreed to be accommodated somewhere else.

ZANIS

VICE President Guy Scott has said Government will construct 12 new health centers in Mufumbwe District.

Speaking when he attended a church service at Chizela New Apostolic church yesterday, Dr Scott said Government noted with concern that despite Mufumbwe being a district for the past 20 years, development still remained scanty.

“We are here for you and we want you to be here for us, we note that Mufumbwe has been a district for 20 years but nothing much has been done, we have already designated to build 12 new health centers here,” he said.

Dr scott said President Michael Sata was also scheduled to arrive in the district on Saturday an indication that the Patriotic Front (PF) government wanted to see how districts were developed and ensure that national wealth was shared equally.

And Dr Scott sent the congregation to laughter when he said the first thing the PF would do when their candidate Steven Masumba won was to advise him to stop dancing to Congolese rhumba but to concentrate on how best Mufumbwe should be developed.

“We want North Western to be in the house also so that together we can start building the district, we shall always be there for you and you should be there for us also, that is how development works,” he said.

And earlier, Apostle Patrick Phoho asked the church and Mufumbwe residents to ensure that they maintained peace and order in the district.

He said the church played a cardinal role in ensuring that peace prevailed in the country hence the need for Christians to be examples of being in the forefront of championing peace where ever they may be.

“Without peace we wouldn’t have been here, so am urging you church members to be examples of peace to the outsiders, once you do that the rest will follow,” said the apostle.

The Vice President who arrived in Mufumbwe yesterday morning was accompanied by Tourism Minister Sylvia Masebo and her Agriculture counterpart Emmanuel Chenda and was welcomed by PF candidate Mr Masumba, Provincial Minister Josephine Limataa, Provincial Permanent Secretary Augustine Seyuba and PF campaign manager Jean Kapata.

NAREP leader Elias Chipimo today launched an ambitious programme aimed at creating job opportunities for the millions of unemployed young people in Zambia.

Under the plan, Mr. Chipimo is proposing that government sets aside 10 percent of its supply contracts to the public sector for enterprises run by young people and women as a way of empowering them.

Mr. Chipimo stated that the PF came to power on a promise of jobs and more money in the pockets of the people but noted that after a full year in power, it has become increasingly clear that this was a false hope.

He was speaking in Lusaka this afternoon during a media briefing to launch the NAREP employment and empowerment Initiative.

Mr. Chipimo said NAREP has developed the NAREP empowerment and employment Initiative that would create immediate jobs and help to draw many current and future vendors off the streets by promoting sustainable livelihoods.

“The initiative involves the adoption of a policy by government to allocate 10 percent of all its procurement of goods and services to youth and women enterprises that would also specifically target street vendors. This would in time be extended to the private sector,” he said.

He said Government spends over 10 trillion Kwacha per year on procurement of local goods and services adding that it is estimated that this move alone would deliver up to 1,000 billion (or one trillion) Kwacha worth of orders to youth and women’s enterprises each year.

“In order to benefit, these enterprises should be made up of between 5 and 10 people and be registered with PACRA, Workers Compensation, ZRA, NAPSA and other such entities through an established youth or women’s NGO,” said Mr. Chipimo.

“There will be a fast-track system for registering the youth and women’s enterprises with PACRA, NAPSA, Workers Compensation, ZRA etc.) and vendors would only be required to pay for these charges once they had executed their first orders and been paid.”

The NAREP leader said members of these youth and women’s enterprises will be trained to enable them to deliver on these orders through established NGO’s that are registered.

“In order to deal with political interference and partisan selection for contracts, the system would be administered through 4 banks and financial institutions that would be invited to bid to administer the funds for procurement,” he explained.

He said once adopted by government, the NAREP empowerment and employment Initiative will go a long way towards reducing unemployment and its negative effects on society.

“We have set ourselves the task of collecting one million signatures to support the implementation of the NAREP Empowerment and Employment Initiative by 2 March 2013 a date which will coincide with the 3rd anniversary of the launch of our Party.”

“If the government fails to implement this plan, they would have said no to the wishes of over 1 million people and come election time, you know where those 1 million people would be voting,” he warned.

Ruff Kid won an awrard at last nights BEFFTA awards ,he won Best International Act beating out other African music heavy weights such as  Zahara, Camp Mulla, Cover Driver, D’banji and Grace Galazy .

This is great news for Zambian music as a whole .

CONGRATULATIONS RUFF KID

By Kapa187