T sean released the video for his song “Pye Pye”
B-flow released the video for his song “welu welu” that features Adora ,General Ozzy and Peterson Zagaze
By Kapa187
Deputy minister posts should go-Annel Silungwe
CONSTITUTION Technical Committee chairperson, Annel Silungwe says deputy minister positions will be abolished if the proposal in the first draft Constitution is adopted.
The draft document has recommended the re-introduction of Parliamentary Secretaries system, which if adopted, would do away with deputy ministers in the governance of the country.
Mr Justice Silungwe was speaking on Thursday evening on a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) special programme to discuss the draft Constitution.
Mr Justice Silungwe said the Parliamentary Secretaries system which Zambia had in the 1960s would be under the office of the Vice-President and would be responsible for government’s parliamentary business in the National Assembly.
The parliamentary secretaries would be over-seeing the implementation of government policies.
He said that the introduction of Parliamentary Secretaries would not mean doing away of permanent secretaries.
According to the recommendation, the President is supposed to appoint not more than 11 parliamentary secretaries from among the members of Parliament who are members of the party in government.
Mr Justice Silungwe pointed out that his team had come up with an all-embracing draft document and urged members of the public to take keen interest in the process.
He said the Technical Committee was on firm ground to come up with a document which would stand the test of time as evidenced by the rich content of the first draft.
He said the draft Constitution released to the public on Monday had captured most of the Zambian people’s submissions and expectations.
Mr Justice Silungwe said most contentious issues such as the 50 per cent plus one vote, dual citizenship, vice-president as running mate, proportional representation system (PRS) of electing members of Parliament (MPs) and the appointment of ministers outside Parliament had been included in the draft.
He said that his team had put in place a media outreach team that would carry out countrywide workshops to sensitise Zambians on the process.
Mr Justice Silungwe said the committee had prepared a popular version of the draft Constitution which would be much shorter and easy.
Mr Justice Silungwe noted that the Constitution would protect every Zambian including those in government positions from abuse by anybody.
He said the draft has also recommended for the establishment of a Constitutional court that would handle all human rights violations issues and presidential election petitions.
Mr Justice Silungwe said the constitutional court was working well in South Africa and the country was making great strides in the development of law and jurisprudence adding that the court had exclusive responsibility of dealing with human rights violations, Constitution-related cases and presidential election.
He said the Mvunga, Mwanakatwe, Mung’omba commissions, and the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) as well as the Zaloumis Technical Committee on the Electoral System were all useful.
Mr Justice Silungwe, however, said some of the challenges the committee had suffered included the missing of the first deadline as it had underestimated.
He said the committee had to also look at other countries’ constitutions such as South Africa, Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Mauritius.
[Times of Zambia]
William Banda says MMD headed for doom, refutes allegations that he wants to join PF
EMBATTLED former MMD Lusaka Province chairperson, William Banda, has scoffed at the party’s national secretary, Richard Kachingwe, accusing him of abrogating the party constitution.
Mr Banda said the opposition MMD was headed for doom if Major Kachingwe remained chief executive officer as he was allegedly trying to hound out those challenging wrong decisions.
He said at a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday that he had resigned from the position of Lusaka Province chairperson because he did not want to be part of the “failed leadership.”
Efforts to locate Maj Kachingwe failed yesterday while his mobile phone went unanswered.
MMD acting president Michael Mabenga said: “I do not discuss issues affecting my juniors in the newspaper. I am the last person who should comment on the matter”.
Mr Banda said the MMD was now in a shambles; the reason the party was witnessing the emergence of many camps.
He said Maj Kachingwe should know that he (Mr Banda) was not an easy politician to break as he had been in politics for a long time.
Mr Banda said it was unacceptable and unfair for Maj Kachingwe to have held a “night” Press briefing to announce his (Mr Banda’s) resignation from the party when he had not consulted with him.
He said it was sad that Maj Kachingwe did not ask him whether or not he had taken leave from his duties before going public on the matter.
Mr Banda complained that Maj Kachingwe went as far as writing him a letter informing him that the party had accepted his resignation.
He alleged that most party members were against Maj Kachingwe’s “poor leadership qualities” which have caused confusion in the party.
Mr Banda also accused the National Executive Committee (NEC) of being behind the party’s loss to the PF in the September 20, 2011 tripartite elections.
The NEC members, he said, lied to former president Rupiah Banda that the party still had a huge following. He has since challenged NEC officials to resign on moral grounds for failing to re-organise the party.
Mr Banda refuted allegations that he has defected to the ruling PF assuring the MMD members that he would go on full-scale to campaign for former minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane for the party presidency.
Mr Banda condemned NEC for adopting the provincial conventions as a mode of electing a new party president stating that a national convention was a better forum.
He said the mode which the party leadership had used was illegal because there was no such a provision in the party constitution.
Mr Banda accused the Maj Kachingwe of trying to manipulate the provincial elections so that his preferred candidate could be elected.
[Times of Zambia]
CEEC vows to recover all the loans
The Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) says it is trying to devise modalities that will enable it recover all the money that was accessed by business entities in form of loans.
CEEC Acting Director General Daniel Sichombo says the Commission is faced with a challenge of following up on the loans that were accessed by people in far flung areas.
Mr. Sichombo says it is for this reason that the Commission plans to identify some youths that will be engaged on commission basis to help the CEEC recover the money.
Mr. Sichombo notes that such a mechanism will also help in empowering the youths who could be unemployed.
And Mr. Sichombo has noted that the credit culture among beneficiaries has been poor.
He adds that CEEC hopes to see the K170 billion that has been released so far become an effective revolving fund to lessen the government’s burden of spending on empowerment programmes in the country.
Mr. Sichombo was speaking to QFM news in an interview.
The Current parentage Clause in the Constitution Should Stand
By Elisha K Musoma:
The current parentage clause which forbids Zambians with foreign parents to stand for president in Zambia should not be tempered with as it didn’t come from late president Dr Fredrick Chiluba, but from the majority Zambians at large which included Sata himself, and Dr Kaunda just happened to be a victim. It was a cry of many Zambians for too long that Zambia like any other sovereign state should be ruled by indigenous Zambians and that’s why when MMD came into power, they enacted the law accordingly.
They were not targeting KK as such as his sympathisers are trying to portray, as he was no longer a factor after he left office in the manna he did, very embarrassing indeed. Was it going to make sense for the country to fail to heed the cries of the people because of one person?
I believe it was going to be utter stupidity on our part, as it is going to be if we go ahead and amend this clause in order to please a few people like Mr Simon Zuka, Dipak Patel and Dr Guy Scot among others just because they are friends to the Post News Paper and Sata.
As a matter of facts even if you say that it was targeted at KK, so what? He did his part for 27 years and it was going to be foolishness on the part of us Zambian if we had allowed him to bounce back, especially where he took us as a nation. At the same time as Zambia lacked people to lead? Please let us as Zambians not be brain washed by Sata and Post News Paper to amend this clause just in order to please the few Indians and Whites.
Time to worship Indians, Chines or Whites is over and indeed time of ascribing wamuyaya to any human being instead of God is over. I am sure if we go ahead and do it even in their hearts, the same Patel and Zukas will be laughing at us as being crazy because have you seen any black person with parents from say Africa who has ever been allowed to stand for president in India, China or anywhere in Europe? Even in the US, president Obama’s mother was indigenous white American. Come on let us be serious!
I repeat Zambians should not be brain washed by those who are enjoying honey moon like Sata, Post Newspaper and them. This is the problem of assuming office through the back door, as a president you will be forced to do even crazy things in order to please your supporters. I tell you fellow citizens, if you are expecting any meaningful development from Sata apart from rewarding his minions, you better think again.
Sata was part and parcel of the people, if not even in forefront of the people who convinced late Chiluba to come up with the same clause, but today because he is in power and he wants to please his supporters they are campaigning for the amendment of the parentage clause.
Is it not the same Michael Sata who has just fired the judges for just ordering Fred Membe to pay back the 14 billion loan which he got from the Development Bank of Zambia in unclear circumstances when the same punishment and even harsh ones has been given to others who failed to pay back the bank the small amounts they would have been owing?
People may be wondering as to why aim mentioning Sata here, it’s very simple. Am mentioning Sata because he was one of the people who brought this law into being and because today his supporters want it changed, he is quite. He wants it changed to please ba Mwenye. What a man mother Zambia has for president?
Anyway if they go ahead and amend this clause in order to please Zukas and Dipak Partel, when ZRP gets in power we will reverse it.
Power Seek Redemption At Arthur Davies
The Faz Super Division enters Week 7 on Saturday with champions Power Dynamos confronting Zanaco at Arthur Davies in Kitwe.
Going into Week 7 encounters both Power and Zanaco are tied on 13 points though the Kitwe side has a better goal-difference and lie second on the table.
Power want to recover from Wednesday’s 1-nill loss at Nchanga Rangers in a week three delayed game.
Zanaco have so far recorded some unconvincing wins and their performance is expected to be tested at Arthur Davies.
Power coach Beston Chambeshi is once again expected to rely on exciting midfielder Mulenga Mukuka for an inspiring form while his opposite number Keagan Mumba has Henry Banda to depend on.
In other matches, leaders Zesco United, sitting on 14 points treks to Chililabombwe to face Konkola Mine Police at Konkola Stadium.
And new Konkola Mine Police coach Masautso Mwale motivated by last Satuday’s 2-0 win over Forest Rangers comes up against Zesco the team he coached as caretaker in the second half of 2011.
TABLE
[standings league_id=21 template=extend logo=false]
President Sata promises a national fire policy, creates a new District in Luapula Province
President Michael Sata says government will formulate a national fire policy to provide overall guidance in the provision of fire services.
Mr Sata says it is regrettable that 47 years after independence, Zambia still does not have a national fire policy.
He says his government will start prioritizing fire fighting and rescue services in the national planning and resource allocation.
The president said this in a speech read for him by Local Government Minister Nkandu Luo during the commemoration of the first ever celebrations of the fire fighters in Lusaka.
And the President has also declared May 4th as the officially day for commemorating the event in the country.
Meanwhile, President Michael Sata has with immediate effect created Chembe as a new district in Luapula Province.
“…Would you please liase with all the stakeholders, political parties and their Royal Highnesses in order for them to establish the centre where the district headquarters will be located,” read the excerpt from President Sata’s letter to Luapula Province minister Hon. Rodgers Mwewa.
Since taking over office, President Sata has been establishing districts countrywide in line with his campaign promise to decentralise government operations for the effective and efficient delivery of services to the people.
ZNBC
The Week in Pictures
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Nkwiza Coach warns against Complacency
Faz Division One North leaders Nkwiza coach Francis Mutembo has cautioned his side against complacency.
On Wednesday,Nkwiza opened up a two-point lead at the top of the Division One North League with 13 points after beating Chambishi 1-nill at Chambishi Grounds.
Mutembo said he was hoping that his team will maintain the lead.
“My players should continue working hard. They should not relax,” he said.
Mutembo stated that Nkwiza have a bright chance of bouncing back to the Super Division where they last played in 2001.
“The chance to win promotion is there,” he said.
Mutembo added that so far he was impressed with the performance of his side.
48 hours before recording a victory at Chambishi, Nkwiza had ended Mighty Mufulira Wanderers’ unbeaten run with a 3-2 win at Nkana Stadium.
Results
FAZ Division One Week Seven Results
02/05/2012
North
Kansanshi Dynamos 1-Chindwin Sentries 0
Prison Leopards 2- Kitwe United 0
Mumba Medix 1-Young Forest 1
Mining Rangers 1- Kalulushi Modern Stars 1
Chambishi 0- Nkwiza 1
Lime Hotspurs 3- Mufulira Blackpool 1
Mufulira Wanderers 0- Kalewa 1
Ndola united 3- Bresmer United 0
Police Blue Eagles 0 Zesco Luapula 0
South
Luena Buffaloes 2- Chilenje Youth Academy 0
Nampundwe 0- Kafue Celtic 2
Young Green Eagles 1- Nkwazi 1
Lusaka Tigers 1-Livingstone Pirates 1
Kalomo Jetters 2- Zesco Shockers 1
Kabwe Warriors 4- Kascol Rangers 1
Lusaka City Council 1- Freedom Rangers 1
City of Lusaka – Chipata Young Stars (Postponed)
Paramilitary -Riflemen*
*Abandoned
Work needs to be celebrated
By Charles Ngoma
Many years ago I used to pass by the ‘Labour Office’ to see people lingering outside this government building waiting for work. There was a black board outside the office which would have a list of available jobs written with white chalk. ‘Carpenter – 2 years experience,’ ‘Brick – 5 years experience’ and so on. In my childhood mind then, I determined that I should never have to visit a place like this in my life. I should get a good education, and have a job for life. ‘I shall not be a labourer.’
When I came to the United Kingdom, I found a similar situation but it was called the ‘Job Centre.’ I found that even Engineers and other so highly qualified people go there to look for vacancies! What is the difference between ‘Labour’ and ‘job?’ Labour has connotations of servitude, hard slog, low wages, sweat and blood. The Concise Oxford dictionary defines the noun Labour among others as ‘work, especially hard physical work and workers, especially manual workers, collectively.’ It is clear from this that to labour is to do something hard and difficult. We talk about the ‘hard working middle class’ but not of the hard working billionaires. It seems to me that the more ‘hard’ working one is, the poorer they are! Talk of a family in rural Africa. They wake up way before sunrise. Walk miles for water and firewood. To answer to the call of nature is an inconvenience and an intrusion in the cycle of life. It takes a while to find a safe private place in the dry season! Come back to the ‘house shack’, light a fire and set up for the first and probably only meal of the day before going to the fields to work on the land all day till sunset! It is not difficult for this family to fall on the mat on the floor at night and get into deep sleep. That is HARD work. The United Nations classifies these folk as ‘poor’ because they live on less than a dollar a day! I have problems with this definition of poverty, but that is not my subject at the present time. Somewhere else in the world, a smaller family is aroused from sleep by alarm clocks. Hot water bath or shower 3 meters from the bed and after a 1000 calories breakfast, ease themselves into a motorised vehicle to transport them to the work place or school. Back home eight hours later, settle down in the living room and watch television while supper is made ready and back into a comfortable bed. Life has not been so hard so it is difficult to sleep, yes, a couple of pills and a glass of wine, should do. ‘Na nite!’
The countries we so much admire were once upon a time just like us, although that is more than 500 years ago! They got to where they are today primarily because they employed cheap labour. Someone else had to do the jobs and be exploited. When their own people got fed up and began to rebel against the harsh labour conditions and demand ‘rights,’ the slave trade provided the work force needed. To enslave another human being, one has to consider them less than human. When the conscience of the slave traders and owners was smitten, slavery was abolished and colonialism took its place. The colonised peoples were human but of inferior class. They were made to work for the colonial master, but for their own good. Colonisation was a civilising factor, so the colonisers thought. Cecil Rhodes dream was to make every human being as ‘the finest of all races,’ the English man. ‘Development’ has come, has always come on the backs of cheap and exploited labour. Times have changed and it is no longer acceptable to enslave other human beings, and there are no lands to colonise.
To bring development to our lands, there must be a new thinking, a paradigm shift. Human beings cannot be exploited anymore. No matter how much you pay a human being, it will never be enough. For good profits to be gained, someone along the chain must be exploited. I am amazed that a Bank executive takes a $4 million bonus while at the same time laying off a thousand lower ranking banking staff who actually did the work day in and day out for the bank to do so well as to make a profit and give this boss a ‘bonus!’ There is nothing ‘good’ in this bonus. However, the lower paid workers are not envious of the ‘bosses’ but will do their job and carry on nonetheless with pride and dignity.
To change our thinking, we must change the words we use. That is one reason why as soon as a country gains independence, there are name changes. I believe that the first day of May should no longer be called ‘Labour Day’ but something else. If we want to celebrate what our people are doing, we could call it ‘Workers’ day. However, that would be hard on those who do not have any formal employment. If we want to emphasise ‘work’ as a right for every citizen, we could call it ‘Jobs’ or ‘Work’ day. Every government worth its salt, wants to create jobs for its people. We have to face the fact that government does not make money but spends it. Governments only get money from the taxes they impose on their people. The more people work and earn, the more money goes into government coffers. Can a government really make ‘more jobs? Politicians like to promise this and sadly the electorate believe them. A government can only employ more people by spending more of the people’s money! It is a vicious cycle. Government squeeses taxes from its citizens, then spends the money on contracts which employ more people, who are further taxed, for more contracts. At the end of the day, it is the same amount of money in circulation. What needs to be realised is that people must work for themselves.
Work needs to be a pride and a joy and not a hassle. The Jew would thank God that he was a Jew, he was a man and he had a trade. Is there any wonder that the most successful people in the history of mankind have been Jews! They value work as a blessing and not as a pain. President Sata was right when he told the Labour Day gathering that high levels of productivity could only be attained through a positive work culture and attitude. However, the theme of the ‘celebrations’ was ‘Enhancing Worker’s rights to sustain national development.’ There is an elephant in the room. The problem here is the assumption inherent in this statement, ‘worker’s rights.’ The assumption is that if you are a worker you need protection from someone else. Who is that someone? The employer! No. This is a misrepresentation of what should be. A worker does not have to be working for someone else, they should be working for themselves! The success of the company, business or government depart in which one is working has a direct bearing on the livelihood of the employee. Take for example, a medical worker who takes a call that there has been an assault and a man is seriously injured. The officer is indifferent to this call, and he cannot be bothered because of ‘poor conditions of service.’ The following day, his child returns from school early. Why? There was no teacher today because the teacher was assaulted last night and he died. Even if one is an employee, they should learn first and foremost that they are actually working for themselves.
The wealth of a nation comes through the capacity of individuals to create wealth through self or state sponsored enterprises. There is so much talk about ‘natural resources’ but that is not the real source of wealth. The little country of Gibraltar has no ‘natural resources’ at all and yet the economy has escaped the global down turn and neighbouring Spain is in intensive care. It is the only country in the world (apart from the Vatican) that has 100% employment! There are two kinds of self-employment. The formal and informal. Everyone knows of someone who has a source of income that will never be known to the tax man or come into the computers of the government statisticians. This is how many people in Africa as a whole survive! This is not only true for the lowly in the society; it is true even for the educated as well as leaders! There are engineers, doctors, teachers, nurses, accountants who have other sources of undeclared income. Many of these people are breaking the law, because they are denying the state of taxable income, but state casts a blind eye to these activities because everyone is doing it to supplement their ‘small’ salaries. I used to buy vegetables from Police men who had vegetable gardens within the Police camp! One would argue that what they earn from such enterprise is not a lot, but I say that it could enough to push one’s earnings to above the tax threshold!
We are all workers, or we should be, and we should be proud of it. Let him who does not work not eat. Let him that stole steal no more. If an able bodied person who has reached adulthood is fed, clothed and sheltered but he does not work, he is a thief. Yes, he is stealing from others. In countries that have welfare arrangements, people like this, steal from the State. I cannot understand how a 20 year old with a high school education, is happy to sit idly in his parents or guardians’ house doing nothing, because he is too proud to work as a domestic servant! Where is the pride in scrounging, compared to working? No matter what kind of work it is, we must engender in our children’s minds the honour of work above idleness! The plumber has as much potential to becoming a millionaire as an accountant. The builder can be wealthier than the teacher. It is not the type of work that you do that will earn you wealth; it is the attitude you have to your work! Let us celebrate WORK!
DEC Officer narrates how Bolivian expelled cocaine pellets
A DRUG Enforcement Commission (DEC) investigations officer yesterday recounted before a Lusaka magistrate’s court how a Bolivian allegedly expelled cocaine pellets from his body in a lavatory as he filmed the episode.
The officer said the Bolivian had pointed to his stomach and the back giving an indication that he urgently needed to use the lavatory.
The Bolivian gave the signal because he was unable to communicate in English.
Two Bolivians, Jorge Galuano Padilla, 31, a bricklayer, and Jackeline Maron Pedraza, 21, a student, are charged with trafficking and importing cocaine into Zambia.
Treford Chibase Mulenga, 32, testified before Chief Resident Magistrate Joshua Banda that Padilla started pointing to his stomach and the back.
That made him take the Bolivian to the?lavatory so that he could relieve himself.
This was after DEC intercepted the two Bolivians at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka on April 9, this year.
Mr Mulenga said he ushered Padilla into a lavatory used by physically challenged people where he squatted and expelled 13 pellets wrapped in a transparent plastic paper.
Padilla washed the pellets in a sink within the lavatory before they proceeded to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) where he expelled 19 more pellets.
Mr Mulenga said he filmed the episode in the lavatory.
[Daily Mail]
Zukas welcomes new parentage clause
Former freedom fighter and MMD founder member Simon Zukas says the parentage clause in the current Republican Constitution is discriminatory and should not have been introduced in the first place.
The just-released draft Republican Constitution excludes the clause that forbids Zambians with foreign parentage from standing in a presidential election.
The current constitution says for one to be a presidential candidate, both their parents must be first generation Zambians.
The parentage clause, introduced in 1996 during the reign of president Fredrick Chiluba was widely believed to have been targeted at former president Kenneth Kaunda, whose parents hailed from Malawi.
Mr Zukas, who was commenting on the removal of the parentage clause from the draft constitution, said there are Zambians born to foreign parents who have been discriminated on the basis of their parentage, even when they had never been to their parents’ countries of origin.
Welcoming the removal of the clause from the draft constitution, Mr Zukas said there was no justification for the qualification.
“The removal is welcome. The clause should not have been there in the first place. It was a bad clause,” Mr Zukas said.
He said the clause only managed to create two classes of Zambia, one superior and the other lesser.
Mr Zukas said all the country needs is a president who can do the job.
He said the clause discriminated against many people, including Zambians whose parents married from outside the country, despite them having international exposure which would have benefited the country.
And former Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Dipak Patel said the removal of the parentage clause is progressive.
“It’s a good thing and I hope it is approved in the final draft constitution because a lot of Zambians are affected by it,” Mr Patel said.
Meanwhile Heritage Party president Godfrey Miyanda has advised Zambians to thoroughly study the draft constitution and not be excited over the adoption of the 50 percent plus one vote threshold for a winning Presidential candidate, among other contentious clauses.
General Miyanda says he believes the contentious clauses were adopted by the technical committee drafting the constitution “to sway public attention from other pertinent clauses”.
He said this in Lusaka yesterday when he featured on a Hot FM programme, Hot Seat.
“I would like to advise fellow Zambians to study this document from the first to the last page before making any conclusions,” he said.
Gen Miyanda said government should not rush the constitution-making process as all the tenets of democracy are enshrined in the current constitution.
[Daily Mail]
Magande defends Sata’s Malawian judge appointment.
National Movement for Progress president Ng’andu Magande says there is nothing wrong with President Michael Sata’s appointment a foreign judge to head a Zambian tribunal. Mr. Magande has wondered why people should be concerned about President Sata’s move to appoint a Malawian judge to head a tribunal instituted to investigate the three suspended Judges.
On Monday, president Sata suspended Justices Philip Musonda, Charles Kalimanja and Nigel Mutuna for alleged misconduct and appointed Malawian high court Judge Lovemore Chipoka to head the constituted tribunal.
Mr. Magande says president Sata only appointed a foreign judge to head the tribunal because he wants a panel that is not dented with local politics.
Speaking to QFM, Mr. Magande says if president Sata had appointed a local judge to head the team, the same people questioning the president%u2019s move would have complained of biasness.
And Mr. Magande says the suspension of the three high court Judges is not important stating that what is more important is the investigations into their conduct.
He says what President Michael Sata should now do is to ensure that the many commissions of inquiry instituted finish the investigations on time so that the nation can forge ahead with other important issues such as employment creation.
Mr. Magande however says the three suspended judges should be given a platform to clear themselves since they are still innocent until proven guilty.
And Get Involved Zambia has welcomed the suspension of the three Judges for alleged misconduct by republican President Michael Sata.
Father Bwalya hoped that the action taken by the republican president is the beginning of the long awaited judicial reforms.
He has however cautioned Zambians against passing guilty verdicts on the three suspended even before the tribunal concludes its work.
Father Bwalya says President Sata should be commended for the action he taken, stating that he was merely responding to complaints raised by stakeholders.
He says the government should go a step further by ensuring that alleged politically engineered judgments in the past regime are investigated.
President Sata has suspended Supreme Court Judge Philip Musonda together with High court Judges Nigel Mutuna and Charles Kajimanga for suspected professional misconduct.
QFM
The issuance of mining licences is not transparent-Chief Mumena of the Kaonde people
A traditional leader says the issuance of mining licences is not transparent and lacks accountability reason why the current procedure needs to be reviewed.
There is also no consultation between government, companies involved and the communities were these licences are issued.
Chief Mumena of the Kaonde people of Solwezi says he is not happy with the current situation where licenses are given from Lusaka.
The chief says as much as he wants to see his chiefdom developed he will not consent to development that does not give preference to his subjects.
Chief Mumena was addressing his subjects during the National Savings and Credit Bank – NATSAVE feasibility study meeting in Solwezi yesterday.
He says at the moment the licenses are issued arbitrary with NO regard to the plight of the affected communities.
But Mines Minister Chris Yaluma says the government has not issued any mineral exploration license since it took office.
He says a Mining Advisory Committee has just been constituted to preside over the issuance of mineral explorations.
Mr Yaluma says the committee will be given its terms of reference next week before getting down to work.
The Minister says his government has taken measures to restore sanity in the issuance of exploration mines.
Mr. Yaluma says the new system will take care of all concerns raised by stakeholders while officers that will be founding wanting shall be dismissed.
Meanwhile Mr. Yaluma says government is in the process of revoking mineral exploration licenses for people holding them for speculative purposes.
He told ZNBC news in a telephone interview from Kasama that the PF government will NOT tolerate illegal schemes in the mining sector.
ZNBC
Government defends suspension of Judges
Government has said that it was premature for anyone to condemn President Michael Sata’s move to suspend the three Judges before the tribunal that has been put in place concludes its investigations.
Chief Government spokesperson Fackson Shamenda has justified the actions of the President to suspend the three judges stating that it is within his constitutional mandate.
He said that there have been numerous complaints from the public concerning the three Judges in question. Mr. Shamenda wondered why some opposition political parties are condemning the government on the suspension of the three judges when they are the same ones calling on the government to ensure the integrity of the judiciary is restored.
The minister said that the PF government is committed to restoring the confidence and dignity in the judiciary that was lost during the reign of the MMD.
Mr. Shamenda was speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka today
Meanwhile, Mr. Shamenda who is also information, broadcasting and labour minister has urged journalists to ensure they have minimum individual principles to guide them as they carry out their duties.
Mr. Shamenda stated that journalists in the country should not use their freedom to injure innocent citizens.
He said that in Zambia there is too much media freedom such that the likes of Chanda Chimba III have been allowed to go scot free even after having insulted President Michael Sata prior to last year’s elections.
The minister noted that people like Chanda Chiimba need to have a conscious adding that even Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus proved that he had conscious by hanging himself.
The minister was speaking during the world Press freedom day commemorations in Lusaka today.
QFM