Sport, Youth and Child Development Minister, Kenneth Chipungu has urged the Food Reseve Agency (FRA) to look for alternative storage sheds in Serenje and let the Council Hall be given back to youths as a recreation centre.

Speasking in Serenje last weekend, Mr. Chipungu said it was unfortunate that youths in the district were denied recreation by the council who rented the Council Hall to the FRA to use as storage sheds.

Mr. chipungu said the council should get back the Hall and let the youths use it to meet and share ideas including playing indoor games such as badminton, chess, pool, tennis and other games to keep them busy.

He said FRA should in fact build their own sheds in the district this year so that they should not depend on the hall.

Mr. chipungu who inspected the Hall and ball game playing fields in Serenje, said government was working hard to make sport be at the center stage because many youths were getting spoiled by engaging in bad habits such as beer drinking and illicit sex because they did not have recreation facilities.

He also expressed sadness that the council and FRA had neglected the Hall by not paying attention to the falling ceiling boards.

“I am not happy with this arrangement FRA should immediately find its own sheds and leave this to the youths. We can find some donor to fund for the renovation of this building so that it can become a good reading and recreation facility for youth,” he said.

Mr. Chipungu also challenged business houses in the district to work with sport organizers and ensure sport activities were supported financially.

He said government was concerned about the number of youths leaving school every year and do nothing.

“There are over 300 youths come out of school every year and only 40 percent find chance to get places in colleges while the rest are left out. These are the ones we want to carter for so that they also have something to do,” he said.

Mr. Chipungu also challenged the youths to take advantage of the Citizen Economic Empowerment Fund (CEEF) and apply for the fund to enable them engage in business ventures.

President Rupiah Banda has warned that there will be no sacred cows in the on-going investigations regardless of whether those involved are members of the ruling MMD or from the opposition.

And President Banda has said the on-going investigations are too serious to be trivialized or politicized because of the huge sums of moneys involved and that all Zambians should therefore give necessary support and information to the investigating agencies in order to bring those involved to book.

He said Zambians, especially leaders, should not trivialize the investigations and appealed to Zambians to refrain from making comments that are prejudicial to the on-going corruption investigations at the Ministry of Health and other government line ministries.

President Banda said this in a press statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today by his Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere.

Mr. Banda said he wants justice to prevail and the truth to come out adding that he would not shield anyone from being investigated or prosecuted once the truth is established.

He said people with information regarding the beneficiaries or individuals who were involved in the corruption allegations at the Ministry of Health should report to relevant law enforcement agencies as opposed to issuing unsubstantiated press statements.

“There will be no sacred cows in the on-going investigations regardless of whether those involved are members of the ruling MMD or from the opposition. The on-going investigations are too serious to be trivialized or politicized because of the huge sums of moneys involved,” he stated. “The investigating agencies of government are looking for evidence. Please, feel free to take evidence to these law enforcement agencies instead of rushing to the press to issue unsubstantiated statements.”

Recently, 33 health officials including former Health Permanent Secretary Dr. Simon Mitti were sent on forced leave to pave way for investigations for allegedly embezzling over K27 billion public resources from the Ministry of Health.

ZANIS

Luapula Province has the highest prevalence rate of childhood mortality in the country, with 157 and 97 deaths per 1 000 live births in under-five children and infants respectively.

This came to light during the Central Statistical Office (CSO) 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) dissemination seminar in Mansa today.

CSO Director, Efreda Chulu, however, said although the province still remained with the highest prevalence in infant mortality, it had recorded a reduction from 157 to 97 deaths per 1000 live births over a five-year period.

Ms Chulu also said there had been a decline in under-five mortality from 248 to 157 deaths per 1000 live births but said Luapula Province still ranked the highest with prevalence of childhood mortality in the country.
She also disclosed that the province also accounts for the highest cases of stunted and malnourished children.

According to the ZDHS report findings, 56 per cent of under-five children in the province are stunted and about 18 per cent are underweight and over five per cent were wasted or too thin for their height.
The report revealed that the levels of stunted and underweight growth amongst the under five children indicated that there was chronic and acute malnutrition in the province.

The ZDHS report indicated that the high prevalence of childhood mortality was as a result of lack of family planning among many families, mostly in the rural parts of the province.
It said there was low family planning contraceptive usage and unmet need for family planning amongst married women and missing of antenatal and postnatal care.

The CSO has embarked on a countrywide dissemination of the findings of the 2007 ZDHS in provinces.

Speaking at the same function, Luapula Province Permanent Secretary, Jazzman Chikwakwa, said there was need for more attention and focus in addressing the challenges that hampered the attainment of improved health care and livelihood in Luapula Province.

Mr Chikwakwa said government and its co-operating partners needed to strengthen their interventions and programs aimed at reducing the health problems that beleaguered the province.

He said this in a speech read for him by Luapula Province Deputy Permanent Secretary, Blackson Ndlobvu.

Mr Chikwakwa said the government and its partners should not lose focus due to the worsening statistical findings in the survey but work harder and focus on the raised concerns for improved lives of the people in the area.

He called on heads of government departments and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the province to study the findings of the ZDHS and assess the effectiveness of their activities on the people in their areas of operation.

Meanwhile, Mr Chikwakwa commended the CSO for initiating a program to disseminate the survey findings to provinces, noting that the ZDHS findings were vital to the development of policies and plans to tackle the highlighted challenges as most policy implementing agents were based in provinces.

And Mr Chikwakwa said that government was committed to strengthening capacity of research institutions to conduct surveys and research studies in order to meet the increasing demand for information for policy formulation, planning and evaluation of interventions and programs.

He said timely and reliable statistics would enable government and its cooperating partners and other stakeholders to make informed assessments of its programs and interventions.

ZANIS

Eastern Province Education Officer Pilila Jere says sit-in protests by teachers are not the best way of airing their grievances.

Speaking to ZANIS in an interview in Chadiza, Ms Jere said teachers should channel their grievances through their union representatives.

She said confrontation has never been a solution to any dispute, adding that solutions to problems were only achieved through amicable interventions.

Ms Jere said teachers should be patient as their union representatives were engaged in discussions with government over their concerns.
The Provincial Education Officer, who expressed sadness that teachers in some districts in the province were on a sit-in protest, said the move was disadvantaging pupils in the affected schools.

She commended teachers in Chadiza district for not resorting to industrial action even when they equally had similar grievances as other teachers in the province.

Ms Jere said teachers should have the pupils’ interest at heart as pupils suffer the most when teachers shun their teaching duties.

Some teachers in Eastern Province, particularly Petauke, have joined the sit-in protest by their colleagues in other parts of the country to press government for improved conditions of service and payment of rural and remote hardship allowances.

ZANIS

A 65 year old man of Mselela Village in Chief Mwanya’s area in Lundazi district has died after being beaten by a known person.

Chief Mwanya of the Bisa speaking people, confirmed the development to ZANIS in Lundazi yesterday and identified the deceased as Typing Ngoma and the suspect as Jackson Mwanza 45 of the same village.

The Traditional ruler disclosed that the incident happened over the weekend following the death of Gladys Mwanza a sister to Jackson Mwanza. She died of suspected witchcraft which allegedly caused prolonged labour on May 29 th 2009.

He said when the burial proceedings of the late Gladys were over on Saturday 30 th May, the body of the deceased Typing Ngoma was found lying dead in the early hours of Sunday in the same village.

Chief Mwanya said that after investigations were instituted, Jackson Mwanza confirmed to the entire village that he was the one behind the death of Ngoma after suspecting him of having killed his sister Gladys through witchcraft.

Meanwhile, the traditional ruler said the body of the deceased Ngoma is still lying at Mselela village waiting for orders from the police whilst the suspect has not yet been arrested and is currently in the same village.

And when contacted for a comment, Eastern Province Police commanding Officer Mary Chikwanda said Police have already dispatched officers to chief Mwanya’s area.