And the German Government has pledged three million euros, out of which two million euros is meant for budgetary support and one million will be dedicated to strengthening the decentralisation policy.

President Banda said Zambia is committed to the fight against corruption. He said while efforts to fight corruption are being recognised by institutions such as Transparency International, there is still more to be done to conquer corruption.

President Banda said Zambia’s record on fighting corruption has improved, according to the Transparency International corruption index.

Mr Banda said this at State House yesterday when visiting German Minister of Economic Co-operation and Development Dirk Niebel called on him.

“Zambia will continue upholding the principles of good governance by strengthening watchdog institutions such as the civil society and the media.

We have made some successes in the fight against corruption and this has been evidenced by the improved record on the Transparency International corruption index. But there is still more to be done and we are committed,” Mr Banda said.

President Banda said Zambia and Germany have continued to enjoy cordial relations for more than 40 years.

He said Government appreciates the assistance the German government has been rendering, particularly to water and sanitation, which has increased the number of people having access to clean water and better sanitation.

The President said Government has approved the decentralisation policy and implementation has already started.

Mr Banda said the country has been making steady progress in the development of the education and health sectors through infrastructure development.

“It is Government’s intention to replicate the construction of economic infrastructure in other sectors. The German people have to be thanked for the sacrifice they make on behalf of the people of Zambia,” Mr Banda said.

And Mr Niebel said his country will continue supporting Zambia to fight poverty and improve the lives of the people.

Mr Niebel said corruption has remained the biggest challenge in many countries in the world and that it is important to put more effort in fighting the vice.

[pullquote]“It is Government’s intention to replicate the construction of economic infrastructure in other sectors. The German people have to be thanked for the sacrifice they make on behalf of the people of Zambia,” Mr Banda said.[/pullquote]
The German minister is in Zambia with a 40-man delegation to look at the development programmes Zambia is implementing.

He said his government would like to see rural communities benefit from the economic progression Zambia is making.

Meanwhile, the Government of Germany has said Zambia has a lot of potential in agriculture and tourism, which Germany is ready to explore.

Mr Niebel said in an interview on Thursday that Germany is impressed with the economic development in the two sectors.

He said the German government is happy with the application of donor funds from Germany in water and sanitation. At least two million people now have access to clean drinking water and better sanitation as a result of the financial support from Germany.

“We think that Zambia has great potential in the agriculture and tourism sector and the Government of Germany is willing to explore the two sectors. In water and sanitation, there has been a lot of success and I am told that over two million Zambians now have access to clean water and good sanitation,” Mr Niebel said.

He said the water sector has recorded a lot of success during the time the German government has been supporting it.

He said a lot of children are now able to attend school as a result of improved social services such as water and sanitation.

Mr Niebel said Zambia and Germany have been working together on a bilateral basis for the last 40 years and hoped that the relationship would continue to grow.

He also called for improved trade between Germany and Zambia.

Last year, the German government bought about 99,000 euros worth of cobalt, which is below what Germany intends to buy.
[ Zambia Daily Mail ]

Mrs. Banda said this in Lusaka today when she met Gender in Development Division (GIDD) officials and Corporate Executives at State house.

The first lady said as Zambia prepares to hosts the national conference for women in January 2011, it is important to realize the harsh realities that women undergo in various aspects of life.

She said it is high time that society begins to appreciate women adding that with the upcoming conference, affirmative action should be taken in alleviating the sufferings of women.

And GIDD Permanent Secretary Gabriel Kaunda said the forthcoming conference would create an opportunity for women in rural areas to share their experiences.

Mr. Kaunda said the conference would attract about 1, 500 participants from across the Sub region of which 500 will be drawn from the rural areas in all the 72 districts of the country.

The conference whose theme is “women’s empowerment, leadership development, maternal health and climate change,” is slated for Lusaka from January 11 to 14 2011.
[ QFM ]

Luapula Permanent Secretary Jazzman Chikwakwa has said there is strong political will in the country for the government to fight corruption and improve service delivery.

Mr. Chikwakwa said government has remained steadfast in fighting corruption, as evidenced by the various measures and interventions put in place to stem the scourge.

He was speaking yesterday, when he addressed a gathering of Mansa residents who joined the rest of the world to commemorate the United Nations International Anti-Corruption Day.

Mr. Chikwakwa said that the launching of the National Anti Corruption Policy (NACP) this year was enough testimony of the government’s commitment to the fight against corruption.

He said the Policy was meant to ensure that the fight against corruption was well coordinated and meaningful.

He further said that, at the regional level, government had already ratified the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Corruption, while at the continental level Zambia was a signatory to the African Union’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

Mr. Chikwakwa further pointed to the institutionalizing of Integrity Committees in 17 government ministries as another clear indication that the government was committed to eliminating corruption through the promotion of transparency and accountability aimed at improving service delivery.

Mr. Chikwakwa said government was encouraging the private sector to also establish Integrity Committees at places of work, which action Konkola Copper Mines had already taken.

He said the Millennium Challenge Corporation Report indicated that Zambia had made tremendous progress in reducing the level of corruption during the period 2009/2010.

He said urged the members of the general public to support government in its initiatives aimed at fighting corruption.

“To achieve the desired results, it will require all Zambians to take a keen interest and support the various institutions and individuals involved in the fight against corruption,” Mr. Chikwakwa said.

And Anti Corruption Commission Luapula Regional Manager, Chola Kasongo said, the inclusion of the private sector in the fight against corruption demonstrated how effective the National Anti Corruption Policy was in curbing the scourge.

Mr. Kasongo also stressed the need for every Zambian to be actively involved in the fight against corruption, to pave way for faster social economic development in the nation.

ZANIS

The Ndola High Court has sentenced a 41-year-old woman of Luanshya to death for killing her husband with a pounding stick.

Supreme Court Judge Muyinda Wanki sitting as Ndola High Court judge sentenced Jennifer Chipasha, a trader of 141/22 Mpatamato Township to death after he convicted her of murder.

Facts of the case are that Chipasha on June 12 last year in Luanshya murdered her husband of 24 years, Timothy Mwansa.
When delivering judgment, Mr Justice Wanki said according to the evidence in court, Chipasha and the deceased had six children and had conducted business together.

They had two houses, one in which they lived while the other was for storing the merchandise that they were selling.

On May 25 last year, Chipasha gave her husband K20 million to travel to Nakonde and buy beans and groundnuts.

She warned her husband that he should use the money wisely bearing in mind that there were school fees to pay and warned him against using any of it on alcohol.

The day before he died, the children informed Chipasha that their father had returned and when Chipasha went to see the merchandise he had bought from Nakonde, she found that it was only rice and beans worth K1.5 million.
[pullquote]“No one saw the accused beating her husband with a pounding stick but she has been linked to the offence by circumstantial evidence which shows that she was not happy with the way her husband handled the money and that she told numerous people that she was going to kill him with a pounding stick once she found him,” he said.[/pullquote]
That incensed Chipasha who started looking for her husband in bars he patronised and informed a number of people that she was going to kill him with the pounding stick once she got hold of him.

Later in the night, around 23:00 hours, Chipasha finally found her husband at their house where they stored their merchandise.

He was in the bathroom and she pushed the bathroom door open and injured him. They left for their other house and in the morning, he was bleeding and later died.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Wanki said the prosecution had proved that the deceased was beaten by a pounding stick resulting in injuries that killed him.

“No one saw the accused beating her husband with a pounding stick but she has been linked to the offence by circumstantial evidence which shows that she was not happy with the way her husband handled the money and that she told numerous people that she was going to kill him with a pounding stick once she found him,” he said.

Mr Justice Wanki said Chipasha was the last person to be seen with the deceased.

He said it was difficult to believe her story that he fell when she pushed open the bathroom door because injuries he sustained could not result from a fall.

In mitigation, defence counsel Kelvin Msoni said Chipasha was a first offender and that some of her children were young and required parental care.

He said Chipasha loved her husband and regrets having caused his death which was punishment enough.
Mr Msoni urged the court to consider the extenuating circumstances and mete out a lesser punishment than death.

He said Chipasha was a resident of Mapatamato Township where words that insinuated killing were said on a daily basis and never meant to actually kill anyone.

Mr Justice Wanki said he had listened to the mitigation but did not find from the evidence any extenuating circumstances.
[ Times of Zambia ]

THE Committee of Citizens has lashed out at Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka and SACCORD information officer, Obby Chibuluma for criticising President Rupiah Banda over the acquittal of Regina Chiluba.

Citizens Committee executive director, Gregory Chifire said the committee was saddened by statements attributed to Mr Lifuka and Mr Chibuluma that the acquittal of Mrs Chiluba was because of the good relationship between Dr Chiluba and President Banda.

The TIZ president and Mr Chibuluma were yesterday quoted in some sections of the media as saying the acquittal by the Lusaka High Court of second Republican president’s wife was as a result of the close relationship between the former president and President Banda.

“Their assertions that Mrs Chiluba’s acquittal is because of the warm relations between President Banda and Dr Chiluba are dangerous. The panel of High Court judges looked at the charges, evidence and facts, and made their findings based on these issues,” he said.

Mr Chifire said as interested groups, the TIZ and the SACCORD should help the country by issuing statements that were factual and without undermining public institutions such as the judiciary.

He said his organisation welcomed the decision by the High Court to overturn the judgment of the lower court that had sentenced Mrs Chiluba to three years in prison.

“We wish the nation will finally put behind the issues relating to Dr Chiluba and allow him to enjoy a peaceful retirement,” he said.

The Lusaka High Court on Tuesday acquitted Mrs Chiluba on grounds that the lower court erred in law to convict her.

Justice Hamaundu said the lower court should have acquitted her on all counts and the appeal against the sentence would be academic.
[pullquote]“We wish the nation will finally put behind the issues relating to Dr Chiluba and allow him to enjoy a peaceful retirement,” he said.[/pullquote]

Justice Hamaundu said the moment the prosecution adduced evidence pointing to Dr Chiluba as being the source of the other money, which could not be accounted for by the appellant’s business then the suspicion that the appellant had stolen or unlawfully obtained the extra money, was effectively removed.

The judge said this evidence, therefore, destroyed a key ingredient required to establish a prima facie case for the offence of being in possession of property reasonably suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained.

“Had the court below been alive to the effect of that evidence, it would have noted that a key ingredient to establishing a prima facie case was missing. Therefore, at the close of the prosecution’s case, the court below ought not to have called the appellant to explain how and from where she got the money.

“It was open to the court, at that stage, to consider whether or not the evidence adduced did disclose another offence. The court was empowered under Section 213 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to do so,” he said.

Mr Justice Hamaundu said if that was the position the court would have ordered an amendment of the charge to that offence and taken a fresh plea from the appellant and allowed the appellant to recall any witness.

“In our view, only one other offence could possibly have been disclosed by the evidence before the court below, namely, receiving money from Dr Chiluba knowing or having reason to believe that Dr Chiluba had feloniously stolen or obtained it. However, no attempt was made by the prosecution to show that Dr Chiluba had stolen or unlawfully obtained that money,” said Mr Justice Hamaundu.

On the last count where the appellant is alleged to have received the television set from Dr Chiluba knowing or having reason to believe the same to have been feloniously stolen or obtained.

The judge said the law stated that “Any person who receives or retains any chattel, money valuable security or other property whatsoever, knowing or having reason to believe the same to have been feloniously stolen, is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for seven years, the prosecution had to prove that Dr Chiluba stole or unlawfully obtained the television set.

The court below found that the television set was ordered by State House and that upon its arrival, Dr Chiluba gave it to the appellant and that the court clearly misapprehended the facts relating to the television and did not address the important legal requirement for the prosecution to prove the ingredients of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.

“We have considered the evidence on record and are of the view that there was no proof at all that the television set was feloniously stolen from State House by Dr Chiluba because, in this case, no prior complaint had been lodged by State House or Government that a television set destined for State House had gone missing,” he said.

He said the investigators, stumbled on documents which showed that the television set which was in the appellant’s possession had possibly belonged to State House and that even after the investigators had come across the television set, no one from the Government came forward to file a formal complaint and proved that the television set was ordered and intended for State House.

He said considering that the appellant had given an explanation as to how the television set came to be in her possession, there was need for the prosecution’s evidence to have something more than just those documents.

“Consequently, the findings of the court below were not supported by the weight of the evidence on this charge, as regards the ingredient the appellant knew that the television set was stolen or feloniously obtained, the appellant could not have suspected that the television set might have been stolen because she directly dealt with the supplier of the television set a Mr Tampiyappa and paid the television set with the money given to her by the former president who used to reside at State House.

“Under the circumstances, there was nothing unusual about the television set having been sent to State House. Mrs Chiluba could not have suspected the television set which was not even marked with letters ‘GRZ’ probably belonged to the Government of Zambia, her explanation was not rebutted, the lower court misdirected itself when it rejected the appellant’s explanation as to how she came into possession of the television set when in fact her explanation might have reasonably been true,” said the judge.

This was in a case in which Mrs Chiluba was facing three counts of failing to account for properties involving US$188,000 suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained, one count of failing to account for a motor vehicle in her possession, receiving a Toshiba 61 inch colour television set suspected to have been feloniously stolen or obtained and failing to account for cash amounting to K474 million suspected to have been stolen.

Meanwhile, some relatives of Dr Chiluba have said God has redeemed the former head of State and his wife Regina.

Speaking on behalf of Ndola-based relatives, Joshua Mubanga said the relatives and family friends of the former president had for a long time been praying to God to reveal the truth on all the charges which were levelled against Dr Chiluba and his wife.

“We thank God for answering our prayers and for setting free the former first family from a difficult and trying time,” Mr Mubanga, who is Dr Chiluba’s uncle, said.
[ Times of Zambia ]

The president has since assured the nation that the amendment of the Act had ensured that the fight against corruption had been strengthened.

Mr Banda said in a speech read for him by Vice-President George Kunda that section 38 of the ACC Act now covered everyone both from the public and the private sector as opposed to section 37 which only targeted civil servants.

“There are no sacred cows in the fight against corruption and as we fight corruption, we also do soul-searching of ourselves,” he said.

He said if a member of the civil society pays a civil servant to steal a document which is later given to a newspaper then that would be fighting corruption using corruption.

He said what the Government had done was to harmonise the laws and that they were now up to international practice because when amending Section 37 of the ACC Act research was conducted and it was not different from what obtains in Britain and other countries.

President Banda said Zambia was also making arrangements for the pending United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) peer review mechanism and that Transparency International Zambia was involved in the process.

He said in line with UNCAC, the country had launched the National Anti-Corruption Policy (NACP) to coordinate the corruption fight and at the same time a national steering committee chaired by the secretary to the Cabinet had been put in place to oversee the implementation.

To achieve the desired results, it would require that all Zambians took interest in anti-corruption work and support various institutions and individuals involved in the implementation of the NACP.

He said the institutionalising of the fight against corruption through integrity committees was a sign of Government’s desire to eliminate corruption through promotion of transparency and accountability leading to improved public service delivery.

Mr Banda said integrity committees had been set up at 17 institutions and were not limited to public institutions but it had been extended to private companies such as Konkola Copper Mines.

He said in 2008, the Government launched the public service code of ethics to instill professionalism in the public service while the Millennium Challenge Corporation report indicated that Zambia had made progress in controlling corruption.

The progress had been assessed as having improved from 71 per cent in 2009 and 74 per cent in 2010 to 77 per cent in 2011 although there was more work to be done.

Because political support was crucial to the fight against corruption the Government would continue to strengthen the ACC and other governance institutions in order to meet the UNCAC demands.

He said the Government had strengthened the Prohibition and Prevention of Money Laundering Act and had also enacted the forfeiture of proceeds of Crime Act to enhance the recovery of stolen public resources.

ACC director general Godfrey Kayukwa said the commission was satisfied there were now sufficient legal provisions to deal with public officials, private individuals and corporate bodies that engaged in corrupt practices.

Colonel Kayukwa said the fight against corruption required the involvement of head of State, senior Government officials and the people including civil society organizations.

United Nations Development Programme country director Viola Morgan said that corruption was a scourge that should be addressed because it affected fundamentals upon which the nation was built.

Meanwhile, ACC Copperbelt regional manager, Trevor Nyoni has called for concerted effort from all stakeholders in the fight against corruption.

Mr Nyoni said following Government’s launch of the implementation plan of the national anti-corruption policy which aims to harmonise strategies in the fight against corruption, there was need for participation of all stakeholders in its implementation in order to realise the desired results.

He was speaking in Kitwe yesterday during the commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day activities that were conducted in various localities of the city.
( Times of Zambia ]