Vice President George Kunda says the corrupt honeymoon is over as government is committed to the fight graft with full vigour.

Mr Kunda said honeymoon is over for corruption perpetrators as government will not relent in the fight until it is completely stamped out.

The Vice president was speaking at a rally to drum up support for MMD candidate Albert Chifita for tomorrow’s Solwezi Central by election, at Kandundu School in Solwezi this afternoon.

Mr Kunda said the country has continued to enjoy tremendous support from the donor community because of government’s commitment to the fight against corruption adding that recently the World Bank rated Zambia as one of the most improved country.

The Vice President said the opposition is jealous and bitter about the way government is fighting corruption and are therefore criticizing it.

Mr Kunda said corruption perception indexes are not scientifically ascertained but are rather based on people’s perception of government and service delivery adding that assertions are not a basis for measuring corruption in the country.

Meanwhile, the Vice president has urged the media to be professional and not listen to lies coming from politicians.

Mr Kunda said the media is a partner in development and is so far doing well although there are a few trouble makers.

He condemned journalists who are unprofessional as they are damaging the image of the profession.

Speaking earlier MMD deputy National secretary Jeff Kaande said it is wrong for opposition leaders to say the MMD government is doing nothing about fighting corruption.

Mr Kaande said the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema is the most corrupt as he has failed to declare money due to government when he privatized companies.

Four candidates are contesting this Thursday’s Solwezi Central seat which was left vacant after the death of area MP Ben Tetamashimba.

MMD has Albert Chifita, Watson Lumba is standing on the UPND/Pf pact ticket, FDA has Muhammad Kalela and Thomas Kafula is standing on an independent ticket.

ZANIS

Government says the gutted Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) building will be developed into a modern building once a partner is found.

Finance and National Planning, Minster Stumbeko Musokotwane, said government has instructed ZNBS to find a partner to construct and develop the building into modern shopping complex, offices, and car park.

Dr. Musokotwane said this in response to a question from Mazabuka Member of Parliament (MP) Garry Nkombo who wanted to know what plans government had for the building which was gutted by fire in 1997.

The minister said government has no funds to rehabilitate the building and has thus instructed ZNBS management to look for a partner who will help rejuvenate the building into modern one.

He was responding to Chipili MP, Davis Mwila question who wanted to know the total number of ZNBS assets as of December last year, and on whether the parastatal has plans to open branches countrywide.

Meanwhile, Finance Deputy Minister, Chileshe Kapwepwe said the Zambia National Building Society’s assets were worthy K171.3 billion as of December last year.

Ms. Kapwepwe said ZNBS will not open more branches around the country as it does not have money to carryout the exercise.

She further disclosed that the society has started renovating its buildings countrywide while rehabilitation works in some places have already been completed.

ZANIS

Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) spokesperson MacDonald Chipenzi says the Solwezi Central by-election, slated for November 19, will be marred by serious electoral malpractices.

Mr. Chipenzi attributed his prediction to the on going violence, food distribution and vote buying that has characterized the campaigns in the constituency ahead of the elections.

He said in an interview with ZANIS, today, that there cannot be any level playing field when political parties vying for the Solwezi Central seat were all engaged in serious electoral malpractices like violence and vote buying.

He said the Solwezi Central by-election will not be free nor fair as all parties contesting in the by-election have abrogated the electoral code of conduct through their involvement in violence and other electoral misconduct ahead of the by-election.

Mr Chipenzi said that there will be need to strengthen the electoral code of conduct before the 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections in order to punish political parties found wanting for abrogating the electoral code of conduct.

He said this would save the country from going through expensive appeals, saying the current indication would be that the losers in the Solwezi Central by-election would not want to concede defeat because of the alleged electoral malpractices.

The spokesperson noted that the Solwezi Central by-election should make politicians to start appreciating each other and desist from politics of character assassination.

He said the Solwezi Central by-election should offer a perfect example for political parties to go back to the drawing board and learn to promote peace, dialogue and co-existence before the nation goes to the polls in 2011.

Mr Chipenzi further urged eligible electorates in Solwezi Central constituency to turn up in their numbers and vote for their preferred candidate who could serve them better.

ZANIS

Vice President George Kunda has urged the electorate in

Solwezi central constituency to turn out in large numbers on Thursday and exercise their right to vote.

Mr Kunda has directed Solwezi Municipal Council to use the K6.5 billion paid by Kansanshi mine as land rates for improving service delivery in the district.

Mr Kunda said the council should work out a plan of how they are going to use the money for the benefit of the people in the district.

The Vice President was speaking when he addressed a rally at Mushitala Basic School to drum up support for MMD candidate Albert Chifita in Solwezi last evening.

Speaking at the same rally Education Minister Dora Siliya said K42 million from the Constituency development fund has been allocated to for the electrification of Mushitala basic school.

Ms Siliya said government is committed to ensuring that all children including girls get good education by constructing more classroom blocks.

She said government also realizes that education is a centre of all development adding that it is committed to ensure that all children including girls get good education by constructing more classroom blocks.

Ms Siliya urged the people of Solwezi to vote for the MMD candidate Albert Chifita in the November 19th by election.

Solwezi Central seat fell vacant following the death of area Member of Parliament Ben Tetamashimba and November 19th has been set as poll day.

UPND/PF pact has filled in Watson Lumba, Muhammad Kalela is standing on the FDA ticket while Thomas Kafula is standing as independent.

ZANIS

Kent Kamasumba, a 20-year-old from Zambia, is delighted to have been admitted to Seoul National University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in October, only seven months after he left his home to come to Korea. Kamasumba is the first student from Jirisan High School, a small country school of 53 pupils in Sancheong, South Gyeongsang Province, to enter Korea’s most prestigious university.[quote]

Jirisan High School admits bright students in poor and developing countries through recommendations from Korean missionaries and associations there. If these students perform well in their studies, the school pays for their tuition and living expenses throughout university up to doctoral studies on one condition — they must return to and work for their countries after completing their studies.

Kamasumba lost his father at a young age and had to rely on his relatives because his mother remarried and could not afford to look after him. “Often I had just one meal a day,” he recalls. In February this year, he graduated from a high school in Lusaka, the Zambian capital. A Korean missionary who had noticed Kamasumba’s qualities recommended him to Jirisan High School.

Park Hae-sung, the school’s principal, says, “We select students based on two criteria only — whether they have a strong desire to study, and whether they’re really from a poor family. We have produced 40 graduates, and all of them went to university.”

Kamasumba took classes in English for three foreign students and studied Korean in the school’s library after class. Living in a dormitory and participating in volunteer work after school, Kamasumba befriended his Korean classmates with ease. “Once I graduate from university, I’m going to go back to Zambia and contribute to my country’s economic development,” he says. “My dream is to become president of Zambia.”

What he fears most for the time being is Korea’s cold winter. The first snow on Mt. Jiri will be the first snow he has ever seen.

[The Chosun IIbo]

A Ndola resident has urged the National constitutional Conference to ensure that they include the heterosexual marriage practice for Zambia to the exclusion of all others which should be seen as Constitutionally illegal.

Mr. Isaac Kanyanta told ZANIS in Ndola that it must be a Constitutional matter to make illegal all other crazy forms of marriage inventions which were inimical and contradictory to the bible provisions of marriage.

He said Zambians were fond of copying practices without taking time to look at the effects in the light of biblical and cultural wisdom that have been guiding the African life from time immemorial.

He said many concepts invented in the West and those which were being tried for their practicality were finding the African soil fertile for experimenting.

He said Zambia should have a Constitutional provision that should only allow heterosexual marriage and make all other forms of marriage versions illegal and if one practicing such was found should be prosecuted by the courts of law.[quote]

Mr. Kanyanta said there should also be provision to ensure that the judiciary should not be lenient with people who should be using the human rights tag to mislead innocent Zambians into committing heinous crimes before God.

He said heterosexual relationships were the only order that traces its origin from God and all other forms were just perversions with far reaching negative effects on the practitioners.

He added that the Clergy should not keep quiet on the matter because they were key stakeholders in upholding the morality of the nation and practices of the people.

And a marriage counselor Mrs. Elina Nakamba said marriage should only be practiced by married adult male and female because they were biologically different but compatible to each other.

He said any other invention that was not God ordained would attract the wrath of God.

She said she could not imagine how she could call a fellow woman a spouse because even the laws of procreation had no genesis for operation in such a perverted and weird arrangement.

She called on both men and women to stick to what was biblically acceptable and socially supported and resist the temptation to fall prey to weird inventions of the West.

ZANIS