PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has accused some people with vested interests in the fuel procurement process of blowing the current fuel shortage Zambia is experiencing out of proportion.

Mr Banda said in Chipata that Zambia had been experiencing some difficulty in the procurement of the fuel but that the Government was trying to improve the flow of fuel in the country.[quote]

“Some people who are making noise on the fuel crisis have vested interest in the procurement of fuel and they want to create a wrong impression of the matter,” the president said on a recorded programme aired on Radio Breeze in Chipata yesterday.

The president acknowledged that Government alone could not run Indeni Refinery following the pulling out of Total and called for a partnership.

Mr Banda said the disbanded Taskforce on Corruption spent US$30 million trying to recover about $500,000 alleged to have been stolen by former president,Frederick Chiluba.

“Already we have spent more than we are trying to recover and I cannot allow my Government to spend another $15 million on the matter just to satisfy a quarter of the people who were calling Mr Chiluba a thief before he was proven guilty,” Mr Banda said

The president denied playing any role in the acquittal of Dr Chiluba.
Mr Banda said the Taskforce was disbanded because it was spending more money than it wanted to recover.

He said he had allowed the three arms of Government to work independently and at no time would his Government interfere in the operations of the three institutions.

The president said his Government had allocated more money than before in this year’s national Budget to the office of the Auditor-General and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to strengthen the two institutions.

He said corruption had become so sophisticated that there was need to train more officers in this area to curb the vice.

The president said there was need to regulate the operations of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and defended the passing of the NGO Act.

On the regulation of the media, the president said he would like to see the media regulating themselves and the Government would only come in to regulate if the media failed to do so.
[Times of Zambia]

First Lady Thandiwe Banda has urged fellow First Ladies in the Sub Sahara region to double their efforts in working towards bettering the lives of women and girls in the region.

Mrs. Banda noted that if First Ladies could harness the support of governments, individuals and many other stakeholders, the campaign for the improvement of women’s welfare would be unstoppable.[quote]

She was speaking during the 10th anniversary of the White Ribbon Alliance Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, today.

Mrs. Banda said there was need for the institutionalisaton of training of midwives in order for them to provide the necessary services for women.

She said First Ladies need to advocate for the development of low cost community interventions such as the development of Mama-Kits for mothers to use in home deliveries and infection prevention.

She said there was also need for developing innovative transportation schemes such as bicycle ambulances to help women reach health facilities from distant places.

Mrs. Banda said if First Ladies succeed in combining efforts, the results are potentially phenomenal, adding that building for women will mean building a lasting future for the world.

She further said there was need to ensure that safe motherhood was a right for women in the region and appealed for unity in the quest to save the lives of mothers and their children.

The First Lady said supervised deliveries is one of the interventions Zambia and other developing countries in the Sub Sahara region have instituted to stem the maternal mortality rate.

Mrs. Banda said the maternal mortality ratio in Zambia and in other sub Sahara Africa stands at 591 per 100, 000 live births.

She however observed that the distance to health facilities, the human resources crisis that the region faces and the limited number of midwives negate the gains that may have been achieved in the recent past.

“I’m speaking on behalf of the half a million mothers who die every year from just about the most avoidable and most preventable deaths of all. And for every death, 30 more suffer debilitating and painful injury from pregnancy and childbirth. This is unacceptable”, she said.

The First Lady said it was the duty of every government in the region to move the world to action against such avoidable tragedies.

Mrs. Banda said a mother’s survival is vital in ensuring the wellbeing of families and the community at large.

“So saving the life of the mothers and reducing maternal mortality is the most central of our gathering today. It is not peripheral, not an afterthought, and not the margins”, she said.

ZANIS

President Rupiah Banda says the ruling MMD will hold a party convention contrary to allegations that they do not want to do so.

President Banda said this today, when he addressed several Solwezi residents at Solwezi airport on arrival from Chipata in the Eastern Province.
He said his party has not refused to hold a convention as being expressed in sections of society but that it was only concentrating on development.

Mr. Banda, noted that people should not be distracted by issues of the convention but instead focus on strengthening the party.
Calls for the ruling party to hold the convention have in recent months received a mix of opinions throughout the country with a number of provincial MMD committees suggesting that the convention should not be held as Mr Banda would be the sole candidate at the convention.

Northern Province MMD Provincial chairperson Grievas Sikasote said during Mr Banda’s tour to the Province that the convention will only drain the party coffers which can be used in other developmental areas.

Meanwhile, Mr Banda has thanked the MMD party membership in Northwestern Province for their loyalty to the party and the Presidency.

The President has further urged people of Solwezi not to worry about the PF/UPND pact which he said has no basis.
Mr. Banda urged Solwezi residents to vote for MMD candidate Albert Chifita during the November 19, Solwezi Central By- elections.
The seat fell vacant following the death of area MP Ben Tetamashimba.

The PF/UPND pact is fielding Watson Lumba, Forum for Democratic Alternative (FDA) is fielding Muhammed Kalela while Thomas Kafula will stand as an independent candidate.

And North western MMD chairperson Peter Patel has said that MMD will not lose the seat at any cost.
Mr. Patel said the party is strong in the province and would beat the pact come November 19th.

President Banda is in Solwezi to drum up support for the MMD candidate.
ZANIS

Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) president Joyce Simukoko has condemned the recent violence perpetuated by Konkola Copper Mine (KCM) unionized workers over salary increments.

Mrs Simukoko says violence retards national development hence the need for workers to avoid such activities for the betterment of the country.

She said this is why there is need for management and workers to consider engaging themselves in constructive dialogue and come with lasting solutions to address such problems.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today, the FFTUZ leader has since urged workers in the country to devise go channels of airing out their grievances than resulting to violence.

She said there is need for KCM management and workers to consider engaging themselves in constructive dialogue and come with lasting solutions to address such problems.

She further advised the affected workers that demonstrations and destroying of property is not a good way of resolving labour disputes if the country is to develop both socially and economically.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Simukoko also called on employers’ country to put in place effective measures of addressing workers complaints to avoid demonstrations that result in reduced production and damage of property.

She noted that workers have the right to complain or bargain for improved conditions, when they feel they salaries do not match with the amount of production that they do.

She regretted that employers in many companies do not respect the rights of workers such as improving their conditions despite them making positive contributions towards increased production and profits.

Mrs. Simukoko has further added that to this effect, workers feel that the only way their can force management to consider uplifting their plight is through engaging in demonstrations.

KCM unionized workers in Chingola yesterday downed tools and demanded to be given information on the status of 100 percent salary negotiations between management and their two unions.

10 people have since been arrested when irate KCM employees destroyed property worth millions of kwacha and blocked roads.

ZANIS

Government has dismissed media reports suggesting that President Rupiah Banda snubbed the FIFA team that brought the World Cup Trophy to Zambia last weekend.

Chief Government Spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha said in a statement to ZANIS in Lusakayesterday that reports that the organizers of the trophy tour were unhappy that Vice President George Kunda received the trophy on behalf of the President are also untrue.

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha said contrary to reports by a private newspaper, the World Cup trophy team was very pleased that the Zambian government was represented by the Vice President to receive the trophy.
“The truth, in fact is that the FIFA team that brought the World Cup want it on record that they were very pleased and thankful that the Zambian Government sent the Vice President to receive the trophy,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha, who is also Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, said the organizers of the tour have rated the reception organized in Zambia far higher than in most countries where it had been received at ministerial level.

“The story is a deliberate concoction, giving the impression that the organizers of the trophy tour, Coca Cola, did not allow Vice President Kunda to touch the cup, and yet this was merely a matter of procedure as explained by Coca Cola Zambia Head of Corporate Affairs, Chibamba Kanyama”, he said.

He said there was nothing unusual about what happened and wondered why the explanation by Mr. Kanyama was not satisfactory to the author of the media story, who he said wanted to make controversy out of a straight forward issue.

The November 10 edition of The Post Newspaper carried a story suggesting that President Rupiah Banda snubbed the FIFA World Cup Trophy, forcing organizers to deny the country’s highest representative, the Vice President Kunda, from removing the trophy from the glass seal at a ceremony at Intercontinental Hotel.

However, Coca Cola Head of Corporate Affairs Chibamba Kanyama explained that there was nothing sinister about the Vice President not touching the World Cup Trophy.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen Shikapwasha has expressed displeasure at the misrepresentation of facts over what President Rupiah Banda said about Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata, alleging that he called him “son of Satan”.

He said it was clear that the misrepresentation of facts was part of a campaign to create an impression that there was enmity between President Banda and Mr. Sata.

The President has since categorically refuted having said the alleged remarks attributed to him in a story in one of the tabloid newspapers.

“This misrepresentation of facts must thus be read with the fabrication that veteran politician Grey Zulu had been treated like a criminal and that he did not receive any support during the funeral of his late son, Agrippa,” he explained.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha said Mr. Zulu and his family categorically denied the statement, including the verbatim report.

He said the truth was that the Zulu family was very pleased with the support rendered to them by the government and President Banda in particular.

He urged the media personnel to avoid sensationalism in their reporting but to always ensure that they stick to the truth.

ZANIS

Mr. Kunda said there was need to lift the suspension of the land agency in order to allow the enterprising people of Solwezi to go ahead with their massive construction activities in the area.

He said people of Solwezi had an enterprising spirit, noting that this was manifested by the number of buildings that are being constructed in the district.

He said this when he addressed a public rally in Kamijiji ward in Solwezi to drum up support for the MMD candidate for Solwezi central constituency Albert Chifita yesterday.

Mr. Kunda said the land agency has been suspended for a long time now, a situation he described as unacceptable by the people of Solwezi who should access land all the time.

He said if the council had engaged itself into corrupt practices in the allocation of land, the matter should be reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) while the land agency continued to work.

Mr. Kunda said the district was transforming at a fast rate, a situation that gave government a challenge to provide more social services, including the development of infrastructure.

He said government was in the process of upgrading Solwezi airport into an international standard in order to develop the area more.

“Tenders have been floated for this project, designs already made and monies budgeted for in the 2010 national budget. We are just waiting for approval,” he said.

Mr. Kunda assured the people of Solwezi central that the MMD government would ensure that it addressed issues that can promote development to the area in their campaigns unlike the opposition PF/UPND pact who are inciting violence.

The Solwezi central parliamentary seat fell vacant over a month ago after the area Member of Parliament, Ben Tetamashimba died.

Other candidates in the November 19th, 2009 are Watson Lumba of the PF/UPND pact, Muhammad Kalela of the forum for Democratic Alternatives (FDA) and Thomas Kafula, who is an independent.

ZANIS