Government says Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are currently central to the process of development.

Transport and Communications Deputy Minister Mubika Mubika says it is practically impossible for the world to be what it is in terms of politics, commerce and trade, social networking and personal well being without any means of communication.

Mr. Mubika however says the current statistics on ICT as reported by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) paints a gloomy picture of Africa.

He said the reports raises doubts as to whether the continent will be able to attain the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number eight, target five, which is specific to the ICT sector.

Mr Mubika was speaking when he officiated at the International Telecommunications Regional Development Forum whose theme is “Next Generation Networks and Broadband: Opportunities and Challenges” in Lusaka today.

Speaking earlier, Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ) Acting Chief Executive Officer Judith Tembo observed that the African Continent has continued to trail far behind the developed world in the telecommunication industry.

Mrs Tembo said although efforts are being made to reduce the digital divide, the continent is constrained by lack of adequate financial and human capacity to deploy new technologies.

She said the Next Generation Networks hold significant promise for the developed world where wireless broadband access includes the use of satellite based technologies.

Mrs. Tembo said Next Generation Networks could dramatically improve access to telecommunications particularly in rural areas.

Telecommunication Development Bureau Director Sami Al-Basheer Al Morshid said Next Generation Networks and broadband services are poised to bring significant benefits to all parts of the world.

In a speech read for him by Head of the Regional Office for Africa Brahima Sanou, Mr Morshid said the provision of broadband to the masses is one of the major challenges that face the global ICT community.

ZANIS

Agriculture and Commercial Society of Zambia (ACSZ) says it is optimistic that the global economic downturn would not have adverse effects on this year’s agriculture and commercial show.

ACSZ president Paul Mumbuluma said in an interview today that several local and international exhibitors have expressed interest to participate in the forthcoming Agriculture and Commercial Show.

Mr. Mumbuluma said this was a signal that the most companies were ready to take part in year’s agriculture and commercial show.

He said the Show Society did not anticipate a fall in the number of exhibitors as most companies would want to sell their products and services even in the light of the economic meltdown.

Mr. Mumbuluma disclosed that so far about 18 countries had through the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services shown interest to participate in cultural activities during the show.

ACSZ would soon have a meeting with exhibitors after which the society would be in the position to determine how many companies would be participating at the agriculture and commercial show this year.
ZANIS

Irish Ambassador to Zambia Bill Nolan says the current shortage of accommodation in the country can be addressed through the construction of low cost houses.

Mr. Nolan advised government and private sector to engage in the construction of low cost houses to over the accommodation crisis resulting from urban population growth and unemployment

The Irish ambassador said this in an interview over the weekend shortly after a visit to the Habitat for Humanity housing project, funded by Irish Aid in Lusaka’s Chazanga compound.

Mr. Nolan said the country has continued to face problems in accommodations despite availability of vast undeveloped land. This negatively impacts on vulnerable families, including orphans.

He emphasised the need for private-public partnership in efforts of providing shelter especially to the underprivileged in society.[quote]

Habitat for Humanity Zambia Engineer, Edward Sakala, said his organization through the support of other cooperating partners is helping address the challenges of accommodation in the country.

Mr. Sakala said Habitat for Humanity Zambia plans to construct over 300 houses for orphaned children across the country this year.

He, however, appealed to government to consider allocating more land towards the project.

ZANIS

Government has warned controlling officers and heads of government departments of stern action if found entering wrong information on the government payroll system.

Public Service Management Division (PSMD) Permanent Secretary, Ignatius Kashoka, says government will not take kindly any controlling officers and heads of government departments who will be seen frustrating government’s efforts of building accountability and efficiency in the payroll system by entering wrong information into the system.

Mr Kashoka was speaking in the tourism Capital, Livingston, when he launched the Payroll Management and Establishment Control (PMEC) offices in Southern Province.

He said controlling officers and heads of government departments should be honest and exhibit a high level of discipline in order to make a new government payroll programme a success as well as to help the system build accountability and efficiency.

Mr Kashoka said some controlling officers and heads of government departments have a tendency of inputing wrong information, a move he described as detrimental to enhancing efficiency and accountability in the public service delivery.

He said that government decided to embark on a nation-wide programme of decentralizing the new payroll system with a view to enhancing efficiency and addressing other challenges that the civil service were facing, particularly in the payroll system.

Mr Kashoka said the move to introduce and decentralize the government payroll system was aimed at meeting the high number of civil servant employees that government was employing which now stood at 130,000.

He further said government was prompted to introduce a new payroll system because of the so many cases that the Public Service Management Division was facing such as the paying of ghost workers, paying of the people who already had retired from the civil service and other challenges.

Mr Kashoka also disclosed that the Division has made progress by opening-up PMEC offices in the four provinces of the country, adding that feasibility studies to set-up more PMEC offices have been completed.

He cited Northern, Southern, Central and Western Provinces respectively as some of the provinces that the Division has managed to set-up PMEC offices.

The PSMD Permanent Secretary has since urged controlling officers in government ministries and departments to be honest and exhibit a high level of discipline in order to make a new government payroll programme a success as well as to help the system build accountability and efficiency in the government payroll system.

Speaking at the same function, Southern Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Aaron Zulu, commended government for decentralizing the new payroll system to the province.

Mr Zulu said the launching of the PMEC offices in Southern Province will play a paramount role in building accountability and efficiency in the government payroll system.

The PMEC programme, which started as a pilot project in 2001 as a result of government realization of the need to improve efficiency and addressing the other challenges that the civil service was facing in the areas of the payroll system, will now roll to all the nine Provinces of the country.