Concerned residents of Nyawa area in Kazungula District have expressed their concern at the on going trend of political cadres who are allegedly going round in the area collecting details of voters’ cards.

This came to light yesterday when a ZANIS crew was in the area to publicize the on going inspection of voter registration exercise that commenced on Monday this week accross the country.

Concerned residents in the area expressed disappointments in the manner in which the suspected political party cadres are convincing the registered voters to surrender their voters’ cards to them.

They questioned the motive behind the exercise saying it may be one way of disenfranchising them ahead of this year’s tripartite elections.

And two teachers from Nyawa Basic School confirmed the development in separate interviews with ZANIS yesterday.

Mr. Owen Mooya suggested that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) should have deployed Voter Education Facilitators prior to the voter register verification exercise so that the the electorate could be educated on various issues.

He said the people who are surrendering their voters’ cards are doing that out of ignorance saying the culprits behind that are using sweet talk in order to convince them to do so.

Meanwhile, one of the registered voters in the area has complained to the officers stationed at Nyawa central polling centre that some people’s voters’ cards have been ‘ confisticated ‘by the named culprits hence making it difficult to verify their details in the voter register.

When contacted for a comment, Chief Nyawa confirmed receiving the report and described the happenings as politically motivated.

The Chief told ZANIS that he would soon make a follow up on the matter.

Nansongwa and Chilli areas in the Nyawa Chiefdom are some of the places where such reports have been happening.

ZANIS

Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) has launched a holiday loan facility which it has said is aimed at boosting the domestic tourism.

The Tourism Board has said that the involvement of local people as tourists will enhance growth and sustainability of the tourism sector.

ZTB managing director Felix Chaila said in Kitwe during the launch of the holiday loan package that domestic tourism has the potential to contribute effectively to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) .

“Tourism is a sustainable resource which local people can explore to increase productivity as it would enable them to refresh after taking time off on holiday with their families,” Mr.Chaila said.

He noted that despite Zambia being endowed with diverse tourism attraction sites local people do not have an opportunity to go on holiday as compared to foreign tourists because of financial constraints.

Mr. Chaila stated that this situation prompted ZTB to partner with local and international financial institutions to introduce the holiday loan package to enable local people who are in employment and have an opportunity to go on holiday.

“This way the employers and their workers will be engaged to actively participate in the tourism sector and also promote domestic tourism through local work force, ” He said .

ZTB chairperson Timothy Mushibwe said the involvement of local people as tourists will enhance growth and sustainability of the tourism sector.

Mr. Mushibwe said the sector needs full participation of the Zambians as key players through service provision such as catering and travel agency institutions.

” The Tourism Board would like to provide an equal opportunity to the local tourists and partner with them so that an economic value can be realized, ” He said.

Mr. Mushibwe said the response from local and international banks on the loan package has been overwhelming and hoped other banks can come on board to promote local tourism.

ZANIS

VICE-PRESIDENT George Kunda yesterday told Parliament that the homosexual pictures distributed by the MMD delegation in Northern province recently was meant to sensitize people on the illegality of Homosexuality in Zambia.

Mr Kunda said during the ‘Vice-President’s question time’ that a leader of an opposition party has been promoting homosexuality and urged all Zambians to reject this because Zambia is a Christian nation.

Mr Kunda said this in response to a question from Lukashya MP Elfreda Mwamba (PF) who wanted to know why an MMD delegation which recently visited Northern Province was distributing pictures of an “obscene nature” as it showed two men in a compromising situation.

The Vice-President said the reason the pictures were being circulated was to sensitise the people. He said the laws of Zambia do not support homosexuality, which is illegal.

Kunda also told Parliament that the MMD government will take the Constitution Bill back to Parliament soon after winning the 2011 tripartite elections. Mr Kunda said that the Draft Constitution rejected by Parliament has many good clauses when responding to Chongwe MP Sylvia Masebo (MMD), who wanted to know what would happen to the Constitution-making process after the rejection of the Mung’omba Draft.

“We will bring back the Constitution when we win elections this year. There are a number of good clauses that were lost in that document and we will make sure that we bring it back,” Mr Kunda said.

Mr Kunda further said that the newly created districts of Ikelenge and Mafinga would not have their own constituencies. He said the Mung’omba Draft, had it been adopted by Parliament would have provided for more constituencies to accommodate new districts.

He was answering a question from Zambezi West MP Charles Kakoma (UPND), who wanted to know whether the new districts would have their own Constituencies like all other districts.

[pullquote]“We will bring back the Constitution when we win elections this year. There are a number of good clauses that were lost in that document and we will make sure that we bring it back,” Mr Kunda said.[/pullquote]

“Some members of this House sabotaged the Constitution-making process by voting against the Draft Constitution as recommended by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC). We shot ourselves in the foot by rejecting that draft, and we lost a lot of new clauses including some that would have promoted women’s rights,” he said.

And Mr Kunda has reiterated that the kind of parallel vote tabulation (PVT) that some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) want to conduct during the forthcoming elections is illegal.

He, however, said that this does not stop political parties from collecting results as they come in as long as they do not release them to the public because doing so may mislead some people and cause chaos.

Mr Kunda was answering a question from Mandevu MP Jean Kapata (PF) who wanted the Vice-President to state Government’s position on PVT.

On roads, the Vice-President told Parliament that the money government is using to improve the infrastructure throughout the country has been budgeted for.

This was in response to a question from Luena MP Charles Milupi (ADD) who asked where Government is getting funding for road works.

Mr Kunda said the funding is perfectly legal, adding that supplementary budgets are requested for when actual allocations are exhausted.

Vision 2011 and Beyond Coalition says it will soon start conducting nationwide opinion polls on Presidential, parliamentary and local government elections.

Vision 2011 and Beyond Coalition Executive Director Patrick Mukosha said the opinion poll will be conducted monthly until elections through mobile cellular phones.

Mr. Mukosha said the opinion polls will be conducted among the three major political parties United Party for National Development (UPND), Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and Patriotic Front (PF).

He said the opinion polls are aimed at monitoring and ascertaining the popularity of political parties and their candidates in all the nine provinces.

“During our preliminary research, we discovered that only three political parties namely MMD,PF , and UPND has representation in all provinces and are the ones claiming to be popular than the other and each one is bubbling with confidence that they will form the next government. It is for this reason that our research was narrowed to these three political parties” he said.

He added that the opinion poll is also aimed at stimulating interest and boost morale among the electorate in the country.

Mr. Mukosha said in a statement to ZANIS in Lusaka today that this will be one way to encourage the spirit of togetherness, co-existence and reduce violence among the general populace.

“We will give the general public a true and fair view of the popularity of the political parties and each aspiring presidential candidate every month leading to the 2011 polls.” He said.

He explained that the research project will help the country in building confidence and credibility in the country’s electoral system.

Mr. Mukosha said the opinion poll exercise have been prepared in a manner that is easy for anyone to participate using the Short Message System (SMS)

Meanwhile, the Vision 2011 and Beyond Coalition Director observed that stakeholders and political players in the electoral process have been compromised.

He said the stakeholders have divided with others supporting the ruling party while some are supporting the opposition.

Mr. Mukosha added that this scenario has resulted in the country having uneven level political playing field.

ZANIS

Fast and Furious 5: FAST FIVE

This movie is jammed up with testosterone, excellent action packed movie. It starts off where the last movie ended, with Dom (Vin diesel) being transported to prison. They pull off a daring escape then it’s off to Rio de Janeiro.

While in Rio, Dom makes an enemy out the city’s biggest drug lord. So he assembles a dream team consisting of O’Connor (Paul walker), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Han (Sung Kang), Gisele (Gal Gadot), for the heist of a life time. It won’t be that easy, as DEA agent Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), who is built like a tank, is hot on their trail.

PROS’

There is great chemistry among the cast members, no one gets over shadowed.
There is never a dull moment in this movie, so much fast passed action and some terrific stunts to keep your eyes glued to the screen.
The throw down between Vin diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was just incredible.
CONS’

Fans of the previous movies may be disappointed that there is not much car racing in this installment.

CONCLUSION

This is without a doubt the best movie I have watched this summer. Highly recommend everyone to watch it.

FAVORITE QUOTES

Dom Toretto (Vin diesel): “Money will come and go? We all know that. The most important thing in life will always be the people in this room. Right here, right now. Salute, mi familia”.

Tej (Ludacris): “Did he smack that? Or did he grab it?”

By Kapa187

Government has urged mining companies in the country to continue nurturing the emerging local entrepreneurs who it says help in reducing production costs.

And Mopani Copper Mines says the financial turnaround in the mining sector has helped its increased sizeable contribution to the community.

Mines and Minerals minister Maxwell Mwale says following the liberalization of the economy, most members of the general public are at liberty to engage in meaningful business related to mining industry, among others.

Mr Mwale said this during the Copperbelt mining agriculture and commercial show ( CMAC ) luncheon hosted for him by Mopani copper mines held at jubilee lodge in Kitwe’s show grounds. This year’s theme is : 2011 ‘prosperity on the Copperbelt’.

‘I thank the management of our mining industry for supporting our local business community. I implore you to continue to nurture this emerging force of entrepreneurs whose role you must insist, must be to help to you to cut down on cost of production,’ he said.

He urged the emerging business community to diversify their businesses so that it is able to survive in an event of a global crisis and continue to run their business beyond the life of the mines.

Mr Mwale said the fruits of the growing mining industry must be seen in the increased employment levels among our graduates.

He said the sharpening of technical and administrative skills must match those found in operations with the best practices anywhere in the mining world.

” I urge the CEOs to collaborate through the chamber of mines to take action immediately to close the skills gap that has emerged following a change of training policy after privatization in 2000.

” Create room in your operations for our school leavers to train from apprenticeship to mangers and executives so that they are fully equipped with requisites skills to competently run your operations,|” he stated.

Mr Mwale said government is developing a multi economic facility zone on the Copperbelt and advised the Zambian business community to cease the opportunity to establish themselves.

He noted that the supply, construction and financial services in Kitwe have become much stronger than was the case at the time of privatization in 2000 considering the uncertainties brought about by the decline in the performance of copper mining industry.

And Mopani chief executive officer Emmanuel Mutati said the financial turn-around in the mining sector has enabled the company to increase its already sizeable contribution to the community.

Mr Mutati said his company has taken advantage of the current good metal prices to expand on production capacity by investing in new projects that will increase not only production levels but also extend the life of the mines.

He said people have started seeing the prosperity on the Copperbelt which is the theme for the show and hoped that it will stand in good stead as the country moves forward.

He also said the work on the Kitwe bypass road has commenced and the planned road rehabilitation works in Kitwe.

On the Sabina Mufulira road, Mr Mutati said mopani will spend K10.5 billion on road works which are expected to be completed within 12 months.

ZANIS