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A special Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances court in India has convicted a Zambian national and handed her down 30 years with hard labour for attempting to smuggle drugs from Mumbai to South Africa.
Naney Tembo, 28, was apprehended on December 22, 2008, by the detectives of the Mumbai Airport Intelligence Unit (AIU) on a tip off that she was carrying drugs when she was about to board a South Africa-bound flight.
The AIU officers recovered 77 tablets of heroin, weighing 840 gms, stashed in four socks hid by Tembo under her dress.
Tembo initially tried to misguide the interrogators saying that she was not aware that the consignment was a contraband and she did the “job” to support her family in Zambia. During the trial special public prosecutor Arun Gupte examined 13 witnesses.
Tembo was convicted on counts of attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country and contravention in relation to manufactured drugs and preparations under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakhs on Tembo. She will have to undergo the sentence for 30 years with each term extending up to fifteen years.
wer Dynamos coach Beston Chambeshi has refused to target revenge when the Faz Super Division defending champions face Nchanga Rangers in Kitwe this Saturday.
Rangers ended Power’s league unbeaten run on 2nd May after beating the Kitwe side 1-nil at Chingola’s Nchanga Stadium thanks to a 55th minute goal from striker Bonwell Mwape.
In an interview, Chambeshi said when the two teams meet at Arthur Davies Stadium in Saturday’s week 18 encounter, Power will not focus on revenge.
“No, we are not making any plans for revenge but we training hard for that game. We will just take that game seriously,” he said.
Chambeshi added:” I am happy the team is intact, we have no injuries and Mukuka Mulenga plus Joseph Sitali have recovered.”
He stated that Power’s third position on the league table is not putting the Kitwe side under pressure.
“We are not under pressure, all what we need is to focus on the remaining games. We need to take our games seriously so that we don’t drop any points.”
Konkola Blades have suspended head coach Manfred Chabinga for one month.
Blades Chairperson Benard Mwanza confirmed on Wednesday.
The resolution to suspend Chabinga followed an executive committee meeting held on Tuesday to review the performance of the team so far in the season.
Mwanza said Chabinga’s fate will be known when his suspension ends.
” We have just suspended him. We had a meeting yesterday to look at our performance,” he said
Mwanza revealed that Enos Silwimba has since taken over as Blades caretaker coach.
The ex-Zambia international rose to the position of head coach earlier this year following the departure of Keagan Mumba who joined Zanaco.
Blades is 6th on the Faz Super Division table with 25 points in 18 matches and last Saturday lost 2-1 away at Roan United.
Earlier on Wednesday, sources at Blades told LT Sports that Chabinga had been fired together with his assistant Chewe Mulenga.
The signing of a Statutory Instrument by Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda to have salaries for Ministers, Members of Parliament and other constitutional office holders increased by 100 percent has continued to receive public condemnation.
Qfm News caught up with Prominent Lusaka lawyer and leader of the opposition United Liberal Party (ULP) Sakwiba Sikota who described the move as unfair to the civil Servants.
Mr. Sikota says government should lead by example by ensuring that the welfare of Civil servants comes first before increasing emoluments for Constitution office holders.
He says it is unfortunate that tax payers have been subjected to inhumane conditions of service with government leaders prioritizing their conditions.
Mr. Sikota further explains that the 100 percent increase salaries and allowances is an insult in the face of Civil Servants who had difficulties in securing a 14 percent salary increase after facing intense resistance from government which wanted a proposed 4 percent.
He has since appealed to government to exercise fairness in its efforts to improve people’s lives in order to reduce the wide gap between the rich and the poor in the country.
Andrew Banda and Sakwiba Sikota leave Woodlands police station after signing a police bond
Former Republican President Rupiah Banda’s son Andrew and Italian businessman Antonello Locci have pleaded not guilty to charges of corrupt practices involving over 171 million Kwacha.
This is in a matter in which Mr. Locci, a director of Fratelli Locci SRI Limited, a road construction company currently working on some roads in Mufulira and Ndola under the formula one programme is charged for the offence of offering Gratification Contrary to Section 28 Subsection (2) (a) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act No. 38 of 2010.
And Andrew 52, now a farmer of Chasimpa farm in Chipata is charged with one count of soliciting 2 per cent gratification amounting to K171 million on all payments made by RDA on current and future road construction projects contrary to Section 28(1) paragraph A (i) of the Anti-Corruption Act No.38 of 2010.
The solicitation is alleged to have been done through a written agreement dated June 22, 2011 signed by Andrew and Mr. Locci and witnessed by Mr. Banda’s daughter, Ketiwe.
Appearing for plea before Principal Magistrate Joshua Banda in Lusaka today, the two accused denied the charges.
Meanwhile, Magistrate Banda has set aside the bail application for Mr. Locci and has since placed the Italian Businessman under house arrest on condition that the accused lives at 6 Mpulungu Road Olympia Park and surrenders his passport.
Magistrate Banda further directed that Mr. Locci be guarded by the police 24 hours and that should there be any need of essentials; it must be communicated to the police to facilitate such a move.
The matter comes up on Friday 3rd August for commencement of trial.
ZAMBIA Congress of Trade Unions secretary general Roy Mwaba
The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) held a consultative meeting on 28 and 29 june 2012 at Cosmic lodge in Lusaka. The meeting discussed and consolidated concerns of the Labour movement regarding the 2013 budget and addressed a number of issues like 100 % raise for constitutional office bearers, Minimum wage, Taxes and 2013 budget .
Below is the full Press release made available to the media and signed by Secretary General Roy Mwaba
The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) held a consultative meeting on 28 and 29 June 2012 at cosmic lodge in Lusaka. The meeting discussed and consolidated concerns of the labour movement regarding the 2013 budget. We may all be aware that government is expected to present the 2013 national budget in October and thus provides us the opportunity to submit expectations of the trade union movement in next year’s budget. The 2013 budget provides a unique dimension of expectations to workers for being the first budget that will have been absolutely planned under the Patriotic Front administration. Our main expectation is that the 2013 budget will provide government the opportunity to outline major economic policies that will ensure sustained broad based growth and particularly specify possible interventions for employment creation and attainment of decent working conditions for workers in Zambia. Therefore, ZCTU makes the following few proposals.
INCOME TAX
ZCTU is concerned that for a long time a few formal sector workers have been contributing a large share to the national budget through PAYE. In this regard, we emphasize that the 2013 budget must provide adequate tax relief to the few formal sector workers. We note that about 500,000 formal sector workers currently contribute 20% of total domestic revenue while the remaining five million workers in the informal sector do not contribute through PAYE. For this reason the 2013 budget should ensure putting in place provisions for extending the tax base and improving efficiency in tax collection to enhance domestic revenue collections and provide the needed tax relief to the few workers in the formal sector.
In this light, the basic needs basket, which is a fair measure of the cost of basic food items and essential non-food items for a family of six, must be the yardstick and criteria for determining the non taxable PAYE monthly income threshold. Appreciating efforts made in last year’s budget to increase the non-tax threshold from K800,000 to K2,000,000, there should be considerations for further tax relief by revising the tax rates. Thus, ZCTU is proposing to maintain the current tax bands and propose revision of tax rates as follows.
Current Income bands
Current Tax Rates
Proposed Tax Rates
K2,000,000 and below per month
0%
0%
K2,000,001 to K2,800,000 per month
25%
15%
K2,800,0001 to K5,700,000 per month
30%
20%
Above k5,700,000 per month
35%
25%
ACCESS TO FINANCIAL CREDIT
ZCTU acknowledges the difficulty workers have in accessing credit from financial institutions. This is largely because of high interest rates and restrictive requirements. Despite incentives put in place in the 2012 budget such as reduction of corporate tax paid by commercial banks and reduction of the reserve ratio by the central bank, bank lending rates have remained high.
Therefore, the 2013 budget must provide for the establishment of a credit union to enhance access to affordable finance credit especially to public service workers. The budget must also provide for incentives through other through other interventions such as the citizens economic empowerment fund to ensure that targeted people, especially from the informal sector, have access to finance. This will help in increasing small scale indigenous investment which will be sustainable in employment creation.
EMPLOYMENT CREATION
The challenge of unemployment in Zambia is largely attributed to lack of skills. To enhance skills development, the 2013 budget must provide for increased funding towards education and particularly curriculum development to align the tevet policy with skills needs of the labour market. To ensure sustainable human development, the 2013 budget must also ensure increased funding to health; introduce a health insurance scheme, and extend social protection coverage to the informal sector where the majority of workers are confined.
To enhance diversification and ensure broad based growth and employment creation, investment policies should provide incentives for ensuring value addition and local participation. Such investments must target all growth sectors including agriculture, tourism, mining, and construction.
In addition to increased investment in growth sectors, ZCTU proposes that the 2013 budget should introduce an apprenticeship policy to absorb and expose prospective graduates from colleges and universities into the industry in order to enhance skills development. To promote this policy, the 2013 budget should equally give tax concessions to companies offering apprenticeship and internship programmes.
ZCTU further proposes that government should ensure that investment policies provide incentives for employment creation in all sectors and be coordinated by an institutional framework that will ensure easy tracking and monitoring of performance in each sector.
REVISION OF THE MINIMUM WAGE
ZCTU is concerned with a number of issues that have come as offshoots to the recently revised minimum wage. We want to restate that ZCTU supports the revision of the minimum wage because it is one of the tools that government can use to ensure shared prosperity. We have the mandate to fight for living wages and it can be acknowledged that even the revised rates will not help any of the protected employees to meet basic needs if paid at minimum. However, we admit that there are challenges arising from the implementation. For this reason, dialogue would be the best approach to resolve this matter without any employee losing employment. Any well meaning Zambian or employer cannot go ahead to fire an employee before engaging in dialogue. Firing in this case is expected to be the last resort when all other avenues for dialogue have not worked.
100% PAY RAISE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICE BEARERS
We note that government recently increased salaries and allowances for constitutional office bearers by about 100%. This comes in the wake of public service workers receiving a 15% salary award. As a labour movement organisation, our principle will always remain to fight for good working conditions and decent incomes. Out of this principle, ZCTU is not against the pay rise but rather the principle and economic circumstances under which such a pay rise was awarded.
We note that from the recent public service negotiations, the underlying objective was to rationalize the public service pay structure in order to allocate more resources to the lowly paid public service workers and less resources to the highly paid and privileged public service workers. The long term intention is to reduce income inequalities among public service workers because they draw their wages from the same treasury. We are coming from the background of pay reforms with the understanding that the current public service wage bill is not sustainable using domestic resources and therefore needs careful control.
In contrast, government has demonstrated capacity to award such pay awards to constitutional office bearers at the time when public service workers were informed that government does not have enough resources to award such pay rises. Our concern is that despite the public service wage bill being unsustainably high, incomes for most public service workers have remained low. Therefore, the move by government will maintain the current challenge of a high public service wage bill and low incomes for unionized workers because high income inequalities in the public service will be perpetuated.
WAGE DEMANDS FOR PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS
In view that the national budget will be presented in the next two months, we have always advocated that the allocation for improving personal emoluments in the budget must reflect the needs of the workers. For this reason, we urge all affiliate public service unions to prepare and submit their demands to government for the 2013 wage awards before the budget is announced. This will help government to plan for appropriate allocations towards pay wards next year. In future, we expect that public service negotiations will be synchronized with the budget cycle so that negotiations for pay awards are concluded before the budget is presented.
CONCLUSION
ZCTU is aware of a number of priority areas which have not have been mentioned. Our interest, however, is to take into account the aspirations of the workers in Zambia. We emphasise on a budget that will ensure employment creation, sustainable livelihood through decent incomes, enhance skills development, ensure re-distributive policies and broad based growth.
Chief Registrar of Societies Clement Andeleki has de-registered the Mount Zion Spiritual Church in Zambia, a church whose Bishop was arrested in connection with the brutal killing of a NIPA student Ruth Mbandu, and the House of Joy international Church.
Mr. Andeleki has also de-registered the Zambia National Marketeers Association (ZANAMA) and the Zambia Traders and Marketers Association (ZATMA).
Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka this morning, Mr. Andeleki said the move to de-register the Mount Zion church is as a result of the controversy surrounding the church in the ongoing investigations of the murder of Ruth.
He said this is an opportunity for the church to prove its innocence in the matter.
And Mr. Andeleki said the two marketeers associations have failed to fulfill their statutory obligation of remitting annual returns and have also failed to serve the purpose for which they were formed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Andeleki has announced the birth of a new political party to be called the New Labour party.
Patriotic Front (PF) youths in Chipata on Tuesday locked the District Commissioner (DC), Sekelani Banda’s office whom they accused of being an MMD sympathiser.
PF youths led by District Youth Secretary, William Phiri locked the DC’s office around 11.00 hours and prevented other staff from operating in the same office.
The youths used two different locks to the DC’s office and later went to meet the Provincial Minister, Charles Banda.
They alleged that the DC was de-campaigning the PF Government by telling people that the ruling party had failed to buy cotton from farmers.
They told the Minister that Mr Banda was telling people in villages that the PF Government came to ‘kill’ farmers by failing to negotiate for better prices for farm products.
The youths claimed that the DC participated in the funding of MMD youths in the just ended Msandile and Sisinje local Government by-elections where the ruling PF lost.
And Provincial Minister Charles Banda said PF youth had the right to lock up the DC’s office if it was true that the DC was de-campaigning PF policies.
Mr Banda, however, challenged the youths to verify their allegations that the DC was de-campaigning PF Government policies.
The Minister later instructed the youths to surrender the keys for the DC’s office to the police for safe keeping.
Meanwhile, some PF provincial leaders have condemned the move by cadres to lock the DC’s office.
PF Provincial Vice-Youth Chairperson, Andrew Lubusha said youths should have consulted with the provincial leadership before locking up the DC office.
Mr Lubusha said the youths were not supposed to take the law in their own hands by locking up the DC’s office.
And when contacted for a comment, the DC referred to the allegations as baseless.
Tourism and Arts Minister Sylvia Masebo says President Michael Sata has continued to protect street vendors because they gave him a mandate alongside other Zambians to
lead the country.
Ms Masebo however, called on street vendors to make President Sata’s job easier by working with government and embracing measures aimed at restoring sanity on the streets.
She said government was not the best employer but was there to create an enabling environment for small and medium businesses to thrive through various empowerment programs.
Ms Masebo said this in Livingstone today when she addressed street vendors at the Museum Hall.
“It is not difficult for you people to get loans. That is why we have the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission Program which is meant to benefit you but as Patriotic Front we suspended it because the MMD was using it to empower rich and politically connected people,” she said.
Ms Masebo challenged the vendors to aim high and dream big if they expected to graduate from their current trade to managing small and medium businesses.
And the United Street Vendors Foundation in Livingstone commended government for engaging them in finding a lasting solution to street vending through empowerment programs and employment opportunities.
Foundation Secretary, Patrick Mubanga said vendors wanted to partner with government as this would enable them graduate to the level of being small and medium entrepreneurs in tourism and commerce.
“As vendors we want to stop what we are doing now and graduate to the level of being small and medium entrepreneurs in tourism and commerce,” said Mr Mubanga.
Mr Mubanga told the minister that his 200 members wanted to be actively involved in cultural activities and business ventures within the tourism industry.
He said most industries had died in Livingstone resulting in high unemployment and poverty levels which in turn increased street vending in the tourist capital.
Mr Mubanga however, said his Foundation would work hard and ensure it helped the country successfully host the 20th Session of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly next year.
“We are going to work hard and assist you to host a very successful and crime free 20th Session of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly next year,” he said.
The Tourism Minister, her Deputy David Phiri, Permanent Secretary Charity Mwansa, Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) Executive Director Felix Chaila and other senior officials in the tourism industry were in Livingstone for four days to inspect tourism sites.
An organisation working with small scale farmers in rural Zambia has charged that the proposal from the International Monetary Fund that the Zambian should abandon its agricultural subsidy programme is ill timed.
Farmer Organisation Support Programme Executive Director Michael Muleba said in an interview that the advice from the IMF should be ignored by the Zambian government.
Mr. Muleba said abandoning agricultural subsidies for small scale farmers would be catastrophic for the country’s food security situation.
He said the bulk of Zambia’s food is produced by small scale farmers who are the greatest beneficiaries of government’s subsidy programmes such as the Farmer Input Support Programme.
Mr. Muleba said the proposals from multilateral institutions such as the IMF should be dismissed if such proposals do not have the best interests of the nation.
“70 percent of our food is grown by the poor farmers and they are the ones that these same subsidies target, the IMF and all these donor institutions such understand that agricultural in Zambia is mainly rural based and done by small peasants and they surely need government support,” Mr. Muleba said.
He said every nation in the world subsidies agricultural production to a certain extent adding that Zambia infact needs to increase the amount of support it gives to local farmers.
“Instead of abandoning the subsidy programme, what we need to start focusing on is fine tuning the FISP programme so that we target the real farmers as beneficiaries.”
Mr. Muleba was commenting in the wake of an IMF statement urging the Zambian government to abandon its agricultural subsidy programme saying it was too costly to the treasury.
Trade and consumer focused NGO, Consumer Unit Trust Society has observed that the intermittent power supply will have adverse impact on the country’s economic performance.
CUTS International Board Chairman Ambassador Love Mtesa noted that economic performance has greatly been hampered by load shedding by state power utility, ZESCO.
Ambassador Mtesa said his organisation has continued receiving numerous reports of plant and factory shut downs because of intermittent power load shedding.
He said the cost of running stand by generator sets will further add to the already high cost of doing business in Zambia.
“What we are going to see is a situation where manufacturers of various goods and services will increase their prices and thereby passing on that extra cost to the consumer,” Ambassador Mtesa said.
Ambassador Mtesa said even at the household level, many families have resorted to the use of charcoal for home use thereby increasing deforestation.
He has since urged ZESCO to work on a predictable and well calculated load shedding schedule that will respect the interests of consumers.
Ambassador Mtesa regretted that random and rampant load shedding by ZESCO is negatively affecting national productivity and economic performance.
“As a responsible utility, ZESCO should have a basic set of minimum service level standards which they should always strive to meet but the manner in which they are load shedding seems to suggest otherwise,” Ambassador Mtesa said.
He said ZESCO should also ramp up work on its infrastructure development programmes in order to increase generation capacity as a long term measure to end load shedding.
Farmers in Mansa District have vowed never to sale their maize to the Food Reserved Agency (FRA) in this year’s crop marketing season until their grievances are met.
This is in protest against the move by the F RA to reduce on the number of satellite deports to five out of the seventeen they were allocated in the district last year.
Mansa District Agriculture Committee Chairman Abraham Lwando who spoke to ZANIS in an interview says after a meeting held yesterday, the farmers have resolved not to sale their maize until the 17 deports that were allocated to them last year are brought back.
Mr Lwando wandered how the FRA can reduce on the number of satellite deports in the district when the number farmers has continued to rise.
Mr Lwando has since appealed to government to look into the matter saying the move to reduce on the number of satellite deports will bring congestion in the few deports and open the farmers to sale their maize to briefcase business men.
He said Mansa district currently has 38 thousand farmers who if they were to sale their crops to the five deports could result in a congestion.
The Zambia Police has pledged to provide adequate security for both exhibitors and show goers during this year’s 86th Agriculture and Commercial show.
Lusaka Province Commissioner of Police Solomon Jere said the police has put in place various measures that are aimed at providing maximum security at the show.
Dr. Jere told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the police was aware of the increase in the number of exhibitors showcasing at this year’s show.
He said for this reason, more police officers have been deployed to man the show grounds and make sure that there is enough security for individual persons, property, dignitaries and the exhibitors.
He also warned people that will go against the law that the police will be on high alert to deal with them.
Dr. Jere cited people that are planning to engage in illicit activities that would later disturb the peace of other show goers as among those that would be dealt with.
He said police officers will be put in strategic places so that law and order prevails.
The Lusaka Province Police Commissioner has also advised show goers to be security conscious and ensure that their personal items such as handbags and cell phones are adequately protected.
Dr. Jere said there was also need for the members of the public to take note of their cell phone serial numbers so that if they lose them, it will be easier for the police to trace them.
He also noted that members of the public should avoid mingling with strangers, moving at late hours and always use registered taxis for their own safety.
He said with the increase in the number of murder cases, there was need for people in the country to be security alert at all time.
He further cautioned parents to take care of their children to avoid incidents of missing children.
This year’s Agriculture and Commercial show will be celebrated under the theme “building on today’s prosperity” and is scheduled to run from the 2nd to the 6th of August 2012.
The show that will be officially opened by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has attracted over 1,000 local and foreign exhibitors.
Recently, Agriculture and Commercial show Society of Zambia (ACSZ) president Joseph Mwale disclosed that 80 foreign companies are expected to take part in the show.
Mr. Mwale said exhibitors from 18 countries namely, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Angola, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya are participating in the show.
Others that have so far confirmed participation include India, Indonesia, Malawi, China, Iran, Pakistan, Mozambique and Germany among other countries.
Pupils at Jembo High School in Pemba district of Southern province on Monday ran amok destroying school property worth K20 million over poor diet and erratic power supply at the institution.
Confirming the riot to Choma District Commissioner Golden Nyambe who visited the school to have firsthand information, School Manager Brian Mubemba said the pupils damaged windows mostly at the administration block and Science lab.
Mr Mubemba also said the pupils also damaged 3 computers during the riot leaving the school with a shortage of computers for the institution to use in various activities.
He explained that pupils felt that management has not done enough to address the main challenges facing the school hence resorting to destroying property at the institution.
The pupils who pay k768,000 each as boarding fee per term demanded among other things improved sanitation and constant water supply stating that the situation currently is unbearable for them as they mostly queue to fetch water.
However management at the school appealed to pupils to understand the difficulties the institution is going through as it will address them according to the available resources.
The head teacher said the institution has a number of challenges such as accommodation, classes as well as erratic water supply which has been caused by the increasing number of the community surrounding the school.
“The community depends on the same pump which is very small to cushion the supply of water here,” he said.
Mr Mubemba revealed that about 106 pupils have since left the school without permission from management while 11 have been identified as ring leaders in the riotous behaviour.
He however pointed out that school management has not yet decided on what to do to the master minders as the issue is in the hands of the high authorities at the district.
And pupils talked to who sought anonymity for fear of victimization told ZANIS that they were frustrated with the pace management was addressing the various challenges facing the school despite them having paid full boarding fees.
The pupils said the situation at the school is not conducive to live in especially on sanitation part.
“We only have one shower at boys’ dormitory, “they said.
Jembo high school has 425 pupils currently in boarding.
Gilbert Choomba failed to live up to his pre-fight hype in London after exiting in his Olympic Games light welterweight contest on Tuesday night.
Choombe was outclassed 19-5 by Jeffrey Horn of Australia in their round of 32 bout.
The Maamba boxer failed to deal with the fast footwork of Horn and was out-boxed by the Australian and Oceania champion.
Choombe was riveted with very poor balance, showed little defensive skill or jab quality despite his good reach in what was the most-one sided contest of the light welterweight class on the evening.
The Zambian trailed 6-1, 4-2 and 9-2 in round 1, round 2 and round 3 respectively.
Choombe exit leaves four athletes left in the hunt.
Judoka Boas Munyonga and swimmer Zane Jordan have both exited from the Olympics at the preliminary stage.
