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The ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in Mazabuka district has refuted allegations that it has endorsed the candidature of Chilanga Member of Parliament Ngandu Magande as the party’s presidential candidate at the forthcoming party convention.
District Chairman, Trywell Himoonga told ZANIS in Mazabuka yesterday that it was not possible for the district to endorse Mr. Magande’s candidature because he had been rejected in Magoye where he hails from.
Meanwhile Mr. Himoonga has said the ruling party in the district is intact despite the dissolution of the district and constituency executive committees by provincial chairman, Solomon Muzyamba.
He said the district has welcomed the decision to dissolve the committees because this will strengthen the party especially when a new leadership is ushered into office.
Mr. Himoonga said contrary to reports that Mr. Magande was the favorite, the district and constituency officials are in full support of President Rupiah Banda as the sole Presidential candidate in the 2011 General elections.
And Mazabuka Central constituency chairman, Davis Bbilika said party officials are only engaged in party campaigns in readiness for the forthcoming party elections.
Mr Bbilika said the party in the constituency is intact and in support of RB.
The Forum for Political Parties (FPP) says it will next week petition the Pope over the continued involvement of some Bishops in partisan and politics.
Forum Chief Spokesperson, Charles Kafumbo, said FPP will present the petition to the Pope Benedict the XVI (sixteenth) through his representative in Zambia.
He said FPP has decided to seek the Pope’s intervention in order to restrain some Bishops from participating in active politics.
Mr. Kafumbo disclosed this in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday.
He has meanwhile challenged the Bishops to come out in the open and announce the name of their political party or completely stop their involvement in politics.
Mr. Kafumbo said Bishop Duffy’ s attacks on government have openly shown that the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) is compromised and actively participating in politics describing the situation a shame.
He has since advised the church to stop making statements that incite people to rise against the government because this can be a receipt for chaos in the country.
He said the church is divine and should help in uniting the country and not be seen to be agitating for any form of division and chaos which undermines the country’s security.
All is set for the official launch of Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) new Television channel Two (Tv2) today, January 15, 2009.
Vice President George Kunda is expected to commission the new national TV channel on behalf of President Rupiah Banda.
ZNBC Public Relation Manager Mirriam Tonga confirmed the development to Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in an interview in Lusaka yesterday.
Ms. Tonga said the opening of the new TV channel is part of the Corporation’s commitment to give both the listeners and viewers an improved programming and provide a variety of content.
Ms Tonga noted the new channel is also expected to give the audience an expanded coverage and compete effectively in the modern broadcasting era.
She further said the new channel prepares Zambia to migrate from manual to digital transmission before 2012 like other countries in the Southern region that have already gone digital.
According to Ms. Tonga, ZNBC’s stance is to retain audience market leadership in all platforms in radio and television thereby giving the listeners and viewers a greater choice to tune to.
Tv2 the second television channel for ZNBC will be a 24-hour entertainment channel with a news segment.
A man in his early 80s today appeared before Livingstone Magistrates Court Mumba for mention in a drug trafficking case.
Benson Ngombo of Saw Mills Township in Livingstone was arrested and charged for trafficking in 120 grams of cannabis.
Particulars of the offence are that on August 5, last year, the Drug Enforcement Commission, (DEC) Livingstone Regional Office got a tip from members of the public that they suspected Ngombo was trafficking in Cannabis.
The following day, Stanley Muyinda a DEC Investigations Officer in the company of two other DEC officers carried out an operation at Ngombo’s house around 03:00hr and found Ngombo and one other person identified as Lubinda fast asleep.
And state witness Paul Kamanga who was also in the company of Muyinda and Kaluba told the court that while they waited for Muyinda and Kaluba who were inside the house, they saw a brown sugar plastic bag being pushed out of the house through a gap between the wall and the roof.
Kamanga said he then picked up the plastic bag and took it to Muyinda and Kamanga who were still inside in the house.
The duo (Ngumbo and Lubinda) were then asked who had thrown the bag outside but they all expressed ignorance saying they did not know who the owner was.
The DEC officers then apprehended the duo and took them to Livingstone Central Police where they were later arrested and the suspected cannabis taken to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) for examination.
When the results of the test were brought back, it was confirmed that the material in question was in fact cannabis.
Ngombo who understood the charge said he did not know about the cannabis which was contained in the plastic bag.
Magistrate Mumba adjourned the matter and reserved ruling for tomorrow, Friday January 15, 2010.
Mwinilunga Soccer fans were yesterday treated to a rude shock when the ZESCO thermal propelled generator went off , plunging the whole district in darkness.
The sad ordeal happened minutes after the Zambia and Tunisia match kicked off after half time.
The district was in total darkness for over 40 minutes before power was restored by ZESCO.
Meanwhile, police used tear- gas canisters to displace angry soccer fans who wanted to riot in protest against the power blackout.
The angry fans who were watching the match from the council rest house , resolved to follow the ZESCO manager at his resident to register their displeasure over the power blackout, but quick action by police displaced the angry fans.
And one of the soccer fans who stormed ZANIS offices this morning Katizi Chinganbu wondered why the ZESCO manager opted to be home instead of being at the plant monitoring the machine.
Mr. Chingambu said government and the corporate world played their part by ensuring that the matches are televised on ZNBC so as to allow soccer fans to watch the match.
He wondered how the soccer fans in Mwinilunga will manage to support the national team with the negligence exhibited by ZESCO.
Mr. Chingambu said soccer have the potential to cause serious damages, if ZESCO will continue denying power to the residents during critical matches involving the Zambia National Soccer Team.
Meanwhile maize loaders in Mwinilunga district have called on the Food Reserve Agency FRA to pay them their dues.
Speaking on behalf of the maize loaders, Charles Kajimbala complained that FRA has not paid them their dues.
He said loaders were depending on the money from FRA to pay for their school going children.
Government has castigated Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata for suggesting that the recent 15 percent fuel hike is aimed at subsiding thieves that are involved in oil procurement.
Chief government Spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha says the statement by the PF leader is untrue, highly irresponsible and provocative.
Lt. Gen Shikapwasha adds that the Mr. Sata’s Statement is only meant to mislead Zambians and promote hatred against President Banda.
In a statement issued to ZANIS in Lusaka last evening, Lieutenant General Shikapwasha explained that the increase in fuel prices has not vindicated Mr. Sata from anything because he still remains an insensitive, hypocritical and manipulative politician who can say anything to gain political mileage.
Lt Gen Shikapwasha said as a government, the regulation of fuel is solely managed by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) and not as insinuated by Mr. Sata.
He said having been a member of Cabinet in 1998 when ERB Act Cap 436 was enacted, Mr. Sata is aware that ERB is responsible for regulating fuel prices.
He explained that the nation should know that the last fuel prices were reviewed on 22nd December 2008 when petroleum products pump prices were reduced by an average of 24 percent.
Gen Shikapwasha added that this was on account of the dramatic decline in international oil prices and favourable exchange rate of the kwacha against the US dollar.
He noted that since December 2008 both the average international oil prices and cost of feedstock cargoes have gone up significantly as much as 72% while the average international oil prices have increased by an average of 110% over the period February 2009-January 2010.
“Going by the above stated figures, price increases would have averaged 32% as opposed to 15% as announced by ERB on 12th January 2010,” explained Gen Shikapwasha.
Gen Shikapwasha who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister stated that to cushion the economy, the government subsidised the high costs of fuel so as to make it affordable, especially in the context of the global economic recession that characterized the global economy in 2009.
He pointed out that as the global economy is slowly moving out of the recession, the demand for petroleum products is beginning to increase, the international prices of oil have also began to rise.
He disclosed that this is why government cannot continue to subsidise the pump prices hence the 15% average increase instead of the 32% increase that is warranted by the economic fundamentals.
Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha has since expressed sadness at Mr. Sata’s remarks adding that they do not add value to raising a well-informed society.
On 12th January 2010 the Energy Regulation Board announced an increase in fuel pump prices a move that has attracted attention from various sectors of the economy in the country.
Mr. Sata is quoted in yesterday’s edition of the Post Newspaper a having said that he has been vindicated over recent revelations that President Banda would hike fuel prices and that Zambians will now subsidise the President’s corruption.
1998_googleUnlike other countries in Africa including Kenya, where the cost of Internet connectivity is falling sharply, Zambia’s connection fees have remained high and are impacting the country’s economy, despite competition among ISPs and efforts to promote local content.
Google products manager for sub-Saharan Africa, Divon Lan, recently told local media that the country has the highest Internet connectivity costs in the world, and that they are embedded in the high cost of bandwidth for end users. Recent studies have also shown that Zambian Internet connectivity can cost as high as US$6,000 per megabyte — double the cost in other African countries.
Google is planning to introduce Zambian languages, including Bemba and Nyanja, on the Internet, claiming the Web is a force for societal change as it provides access to information without barriers. Lan, who is based in Israel, said Google wants to promote ICT in Zambia.
Due to the high cost of Internet connectivity, Lan said access has been restricted to the capital, Lusaka, and other urban areas. Other than mobile commerce services being provided cheaply by mobile service providers, very few Zambians are able to do online transactions because of the high cost of access.
Last year, Google released map information for Zambia for the first time on Google.com and is now trying to find ways of making the search engine more relevant to local consumers by integrating Zambia’s local languages.
Milner Makuni, the past president of the Computer Society of Zambia, said that despite Zambia having 14 ISPs competing for business, the connectivity costs have not declined significantly. This is mainly because Zambia has been relying on satellite for Internet connectivity, Makuni said. Secondly, the cost of bandwidth from the undersea cables running under the India Ocean is still very high.
“But I think very soon we will see a reduction in Internet connectivity because Zamnet, Zesco and Zamtel have now connected to the international undersea cables,” Makuni said in an interview.
Zambia also has an agreement with the East Africa Submarine Cable System to get cheaper bandwidth from the cable once it becomes operational in June this year.
Plans by Kasama Municipal Council to construct a Civic Centre have received a major boast following the release of K500m by the government. Acting Kasama Municipal Council Town Clerk Gift Kakoma confirmed the release of the funds to ZANIS today.
Mr. Kakoma also revealed that Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Housing has given his Council a grant of K900 million for the payment of retirees and outstanding salary arrears. The Acting TC has since commended the Government for the financial support saying it will go a long way in enhancing the local authority’s operations.
He said the long awaited construction of a Civic Centre estimated to cost about K2.3 billion, will now become a reality following the release of K500m which will be used to construct the sub structure.
Mr. Kakoma revealed that his council has since started the process of verification of ownership of the plot where the Civic Centre will be constructed. He said the Civic Centre project was a priority as it will resolve the current office accommodation the council was facing.
Mr. Kakoma also revealed that the council was in the process of reviving its carpentry workshop as a way of increasing its revenue base. He said plans were under way to procure equipment for the carpentry workshop.
Currently, Kasama Municipal Council is using offices for the District administration.
Government has also released K47 million towards the rehabilitation of Chitimukulu police post and a staff house in Mungwi district.
Mungwi District Commissioner Fanwell Bwembya disclosed the development when he inspected the police post.
Mr. Bwembya said as soon as the construction company finishes the works, police officers will be sent to the area to curb crime which he said was rampant in the area.
Pamoja Construction Company has been awarded the construct to carry out the rehabilitation works.
And Pamoja Construction Director, Misheck Mulenga, assured government that the rehabilitation works will be completed in the shortest possible time, since money was readily available.
A Police Officer in Lundazi district in Eastern Province died after falling off a moving police vehicle at Kuwowo village near Kanyanga Hospital in chief Magodi’s area.
Inspector Wilford Mwila died on Sunday when a Police Vehicle he was in careered off the road and hit into a pillar.
It is alleged that on Sunday morning, Mwila, 35, in the company of Acting Officer-In- Charge Chief Inspector Elias Zulu, District Prosecutions Officer Inspector Hosea Kabwe, Sub Inspector Kelly Manda and Gerald Mwenya a Procurement Officer from Ministry of Health, had gone to Magodi at a place called Directors bar where they were drinking beer.
An eye witness told ZANIS that as the group was driving back to the BOMA, Chief Inspector Elias Zulu lost control of the Tata Van registration number ZP 506B and hit into a pillar.[quote]
In the process, the vehicle hit an 80 year old woman, Tamalanji Kumwenda, of Chitembo village in Chief Magodi’s area causing her injuries on the right leg. She was, however, rushed to Kanyanga Hospital where she was treated. Mwila later died at home.
However, a ZANIS check at Lundazi Police traffic section yesterday revealed that there was no report of an accident involving the Police vehicle. The Officers did not also book out of the station as they went to Magodi.
And when contacted for a comment yesterday, Eastern Province Commanding Officer Mary Chikwanda expressed ignorance over the matter saying she was only told about the sudden death of a Police Officer and not the accident.
She expressed surprise that no one informed her of the accident until she got it from the press. Ms Chikwanda has since dispatched Traffic Officers from the Division Headquarters to Lundazi for investigations into the alleged accident.
She promised to issue a comprehensive statement once investigations are completed.
Albidon Munali Nickel mine in Mazabuka has not yet surrendered back the 1,000 hectares of land to the community despite a commitment made by the management last year. This is because modalities of sub dividing the 2,100 hectares have not yet been completed by the Ministry of Lands.
Mazabuka Mayor, Shadreck Mwiinga, however, told ZANIS in Mazabuka that the local authority is closely monitoring the developments to ensure that the affected families are given back their land. He said the new Chinese management has committed itself to implementing the decision made by the previous Albidon management to surrender the land which the mine does not intend to use.
Mr. Mwiinga also revealed that the construction of a school, clinic and rehabilitation of the road network for villagers who were resettled at the inception of the mine will continue under the mine resettlement plan.
He said the new management has assured both his office and government through the Ministry of Mines that the commitments made by the previous management will be implemented.
Meanwhile, Mayor Mwiinga has disclosed that the re-opening of the Albidon mine has cheered the community especially that the Chinese investor has also promised to create job opportunities for the local people.
He said the local leadership are particularly happy with the Rupiah Banda administration for working round the clock to ensure a genuine investor to run the mine was found.
He said the closure of the mine at the height of the global financial crisis that resulted in the mine being put under care and maintenance had severely affected the economic status of the district. Production at the only nickel mine is expected to start this month.
A farm worker in Mazabuka has allegedly been killed by an angry cow as he was dipping animals at a named white commercial farm.
Police sources in Mazabuka who confirmed the development to ZANIS in Mazabuka today, said the cow, a Brahman, allegedly descended on the deceased who was alone dipping the animals between 14:00hrs and 16:00 hrs.
Police sources further said the body of the deceased which had severe body injuries was only recovered the following day by fellow farm workers who conducted a search for the man.
According to Police, Brahman cows become violent when they are being driven to a dipping facility and can descend on anybody seen on sight.
The body of the deceased is lying in Mazabuka hospital awaiting a postmortem.
President Rupiah Banda talks to Vice President George Kunda and Secretary to the Cabinet Joshua Kanganja at Lusaka International Airport
President Rupiah Banda today attended the Inauguration ceremony of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza who was sworn in for a second and final five year term of office in Maputo.
President Banda who arrived at Maputo international airport at 09:00 hours this morning joined several other SADC Heads of State and government in witnessing President Guebuza’ s inauguration.
Mr. Banda joined President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Hefekapunya Pohamba of Namibia, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, SADC Chairperson Joseph Kabila of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Bingu Wa Mutharika of Malawi.
The ceremony which was held at Maputo civic centre which is also the Independence square was characterized by performances from the military and traditional dancers.
In his speech President Guebuza called on the people of Mozambique to put aside their political differences and together concentrate of fighting poverty and other challenges facing the country.
Mr. Guebuza said although his country made tremendous economic, social and political developments during the first five years in office, there was need for the citizenry to continue working hard in order to register more development.
President Banda is accompanied to Maputo by Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande and former president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda.
Later in the day President Banda and other heads of state attended a luncheon at State House in Maputo.
This evening the President attended a closed door double troika SADC summit at Joachim Chisano International conference centre.
And Dr. Kaunda is among some former heads of state and government in the SADC region who have been invited by the Mozambican government to attend the ceremony.
Among the former heads of state that attended the ceremony are former South African president Thabo Mbeki and his counterpart from Botswana Festus Mugea.
President Guebuza won at least two-thirds (77 percent) of valid votes in Mozambique’s October 28, 2009 general elections after garnering 2.3 million votes.
He beat Alfonso Dhlakama of the opposition Mozambique National Resistance party (Renamo) and Daviz Simango of the newly formed Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), who polled 420,000 votes and 280,000 votes respectively.
Out of a total of 250 parliamentary seats, Frelimo got 192, Renamo fell in the second position with 48 constituencies while MDM trailed behind with eight seats.
In his election for the first term of office in 2004, President Guebuza’s Frelimo party had 160 seats while Renamo had 90 seats in the National Assembly. The recent election means that Frelimo increased its representation in parliament while Renamo reduced from 90 seats to 48.
In their pre-October 2009 campaign messages, President Guebuza pledged to continue addressing many issues among them poverty and unemployment while Mr. Dhlakama promised among other things, to abolish party branches in state institutions and to promote peace and stability in the country.
MDM’s Simango campaigned on the promise of modernizing agriculture, promoting rural trade and reducing unemployment.
Mozambique uses an electoral system of Proportional Representation.
LivingstoneLivingstone Mayor Joram Mwinda says incompetence and negligence of duty were major factors that contributed to the city council’s failure to submit its 2010 budget to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing.
Mr. Mwinda said he was particularly disappointed with management at the Livingstone City Council (LCC) for failing to submit its 2010 budget by October last year, as the development had resulted in the public and Local Government Ministry losing confidence in the institution.
The mayor said this in an interview with ZANIS in Livingstone on Wednesday January 13.
He said failure by LCC to submit the budget was a draw back to the tourist capital and had impacted negatively on the esteem with which people regarded it.
Mr. Mwinda however, said the Local Government and Housing ministry was kind enough to give the local authority an extension period in which they were required to submit their budget by January 14, 2010.
To that effect he revealed that, a delegation comprising of the Chairman for Finance and Deputy Director of Finance among others had been sent to the Ministry Headquarters to make certain that the budget was submitted.
And Mr. Mwinda said measures had since been put in place to ensure similar occurrences did not repeat themselves in future.
Recently Local Government and Housing minister Eustacio Kazonga announced that while other councils and municipalities in the country had submitted their budgets to his ministry, Livingstone had not handed over its budget to his ministry.
In the same position as Livingstone City Council are Sinazongwe District Council, Mungwi District Council, Mansa Municipal Council and Mwense District Council.
STANDARD Chartered Bank says Zambia’s copper output this year is set to exceed the peak of 720,000 tonnes recorded in the 1960s when the country was the fourth largest world copper producer.
The production estimate is against 644,000 metric tonnes projected for last year.
Speaking during an economic forum in Lusaka, Standard Chartered Bank Africa regional head of research Razia Khan said Zambia has continued to register good growth in the last couple of years with mining in 2009 accounting for 21.4 percent, construction 15.5 percent and agriculture 7.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
Ms Khan said the commodity price boom on the international market has led to greater investment in Zambia’s mines.
She said the metal recovery on the international market will help generate wealth and create confidence.
“The price of copper is being supported by the Chinese economy and their demand for copper in auto production, property market, power equipment products and home appliances output,” she said.
Ms Khan said there are concerns about copper inventory levels in China and whether the price of copper would finish at around US$ 7,500 per tonne in 2010.
She said although Zambia is headed for a boom in the mining sector, there are structural bottlenecks that could affect growth, citing poor infrastructure like roads, railway and availability of power.
She said it is important to know whether the state of roads and railway system will sustain growth in copper.[quote]
“2010 outlook is good and mining sector need to think long term. There is need to take into account the fluctuation, productivity and look at contribution of mines into a more holistic manner,” she said.
Ms Khan said there is a strong view from the civil society to ensure that there is some payback from the mines.
“Zambia’s biggest problem is the large informal sector. There is need to widen the tax reform,” she said.
She noted that if Zambia could grow its economy at 6.3 percent during the global crisis period, there is potential for double digit growth, which needs holistic contribution from all sectors.
“Its not just what is happening to copper that matters but what is happening to the exchange rates which have an impact on trade. Zambia has had trade surplus since June and our analysis is that trade balancing will remain in surplus,” she said.
Ms Khan said the Bank of Zambia now has a healthy reserve position and its activity in the market will help in smoothing Kwacha volatility.
She also noted that maintaining single digit inflation would require hard work on the part of Government.
“If the labour unions continue to demand double digit figures, a wage growth of 20 percent will have inflationary pressure,” she said.
HOME Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani has directed the registrar of societies to come up with details about the Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) executive committee to ascertain the leadership’s legality. But former PAZA president Hicks Sikazwe cautioned against losing focus on the current debate on media regulation by politicising the collaboration between PAZA and the Press Freedom Committee of The Post.
The Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) also defended the association saying there was nothing sinister about signing a memorandum of understanding with another professional association. Mr Mangani said in an interview yesterday that as far as the Government was concerned the association’s executive committee could have been operating illegally.
“As far as we are concerned the operation of PAZA is illegal and it is for this reason that I have asked the Registrar of Societies to establish when the association held the last meeting,” he said.
He said he wanted the law enforcement agencies to establish if receiving money from another institution was not tantamount to corruption and if there was no motive in giving the association money.
Mr Sikazwe, who is immediate past president of PAZA, said politicising the PAZA-PFC relationship would shift attention from the important issue and derail the establishment of the much needed self regulatory media body.
“Since the Government has provided leadership by embracing dialogue over the matter (media regulation), calls to impeach the PAZA executive are against the very spirit of dialogue fostered by Government early this month,” he said. He said only PAZA members can remove the executive and not external political interests.
He said the current executive must be given a chance to put its house in order but implored them to call for an annual general meeting earlier than November this year.
Mr Sikazwe said there was nothing wrong with a media organisation collaborating with another on a common issue adding that when he was PAZA president, the association worked with the Media Institute of Southern Africa to lobby for media reforms. “It was that collaboration between MISA and PAZA that we formed the MECOZ which appears to have taken a back seat,” he said.
And ZUJ said the attacks on PAZA executive were uncalled for and an infringement on the rights of media bodies. ZUJ president Morgan Chonya said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday the association was concerned at the present debates.
