NCC plenary opens

Headlines

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May 6, 2009

NATIONAL Constitution Conference (NCC) Chairperson Chifumu Banda says he is hopeful the plenary of the conference will work with caution and great speed in adopting the recommendations of its 11 committees into the country’s new draft constitution.

Mr Banda urged members of the NCC to ensure they work hard in adopting the recommendations to come up with a good constitution for the country.

“We should, therefore, be prepared to work extra-hard to ensure that we fulfil our mandate to deliver to our people a good constitution,” he said.

Mr Banda said this during the opening of the NCC plenary at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka yesterday.

He said this is because the nation is focussing on what the conference will put into the new constitution.

“Let me state from the outset that we are convening at a time when the entire nation is focussing on what we are going to factor into the new constitution. It, therefore, goes without saying that there is indeed a lot of hard work ahead of us for the time we will be here during this session of the plenary,” Mr Banda said.

He said the beginning of the plenary session has triggered the commencement of the drafting of the new constitution despite what he called heavy criticism from various stakeholders who have been anxious to have a new constitution before the next general elections.

Mr Banda lamented that the NCC has lost its pioneer, late President Levy Mwanawasa, through death since it adjourned on May 9, last year.

He commended President Mwanawasa for having been the first President in the country to allow a popular body to adopt the republican constitution.

“As we recall, Dr Mwanawasa, SC, was the first President in Zambia to authorise a popular body to adopt the republican constitution. I believe that this paradigm shift constituted one of his most important legacies, thereby enabling the people of Zambia to participate fully in the constitution-making process from the beginning to the end,” Mr Banda said.

He also bemoaned that the conference has been robbed of a number of its members by death since it last adjourned.

“ It is also unfortunate that since we last adjourned, death has robbed us of our distinguished members such as Mr Charles Saviye, who died on the 11th July, 2008; Mr Bob Litana, who died on the 12th February, 2009; and his royal highness, Senior Chief Chiwala who died on 11th April 2009,”Mr Banda said.

He also welcomed the new members of the NCC, among them Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane (Minister of Finance and National Planning), Ms Chileshe Kapwepwe (Deputy Minister of Finance) and Mr Vernon Mwaanga (Parliamentary Chief Whip).

“We welcome you all to the National Constitution Conference and we look forward to your active participation,” Mr Banda said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

Porn and pirate studio in Chunga Compound raided

Headlines

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May 6, 2009

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A house fitted with four CCTV cameras was unearthed which was being used to produce pirated music and movies

A COMBINED team of officers from the police and Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in Lusaka has uncovered a concealed studio in a house in Chunga township where pirated and pornographic materials are suspected to be produced.

The owner of the house, a former Copperbelt University student who was found in the house during the raid, was yesterday picked up to help with investigations.

The studio is fitted with a fully-computerised ultra-modern surveillance system comprising six miniature video cameras connected to a CCTV (closed-circuit television) system, an intercom system on all doors and a touch-sensitive alarm system, which is wired to all windows.

CCTV is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors.

It is often used for surveillance in areas that may need monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations and convenience stores.

Using the surveillance system around the house, the occupants managed to disconnect and dismantle one of the computer hard discs when they noticed the police approaching, but the equipment was later re-assembled and pornographic material was discovered on it.

A plain clothed policeman inspect a room where fake music and movies were being pirated

Acting DEC Commissioner Solomon Jere said the commission was concerned about the pornographic materials, and the discovery would be followed by a seizure of the house, the equipment and all the items discovered inside.

He said some people had already been arrested and more were likely to be picked up as investigations progressed.

Intellectual property specialist Kingsley Nkonde estimated the value of equipment found in the hidden studio to be about US$ 50,000.

Among the items found were multi-media computers with a capacity of duplicating 48 DVDs or CDs per minute, colour printers for printing the covers of the pirated materials, and laptops.

Hundreds of movies on DVDs, blank CDs, copied items, cover printouts and cuttings were also found in three of the rooms in the house.

The house was fully equipped with monitors for the CCTV system as well as different types of uninstalled surveillance cameras.

Mr Nkonde said it took police four days to investigate the goings-on at the house before the raid was effected around 03:00 hours yesterday.

He said although the team disturbed the surveillance cameras by pointing them upwards to avoid detection, the law enforcement officers experienced difficulties in entering the house because of the alarm system on the window panes.

He said the house was conveniently built without a wall fence in order for surveillance cameras to detect all approaching objects and persons.

Mr Nkonde said that because of the suspected illegal activities discovered in the house, the officers believed that the surveillance system was meant for detecting approaching law enforcement officers rather than criminal elements.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Emmanuel Nyirenda, who rushed to the scene, commended the law enforcement officers who made the raid, saying the discovery was a major bust.

Mr Nyirenda said the Government had for a long time thought that the pirated materials were being imported into the country.
He said the discovery showed that the offensive materials were locally manufactured.

The ministry would now be more alert in detecting the local sources of the pirated materials and ensure that the producers were dealt with.

He urged the public to report whoever was suspected of being involved in the scam, saying the owner of the house and the studio in Chunga would have to help the police with investigations.

The owner of the house denied that he operated an illegal studio and explained that he and his partners were in the process of forming a company related to studio work.

[Times of Zambia]

Health officials urged to intensify surveillance measures on Swine flu

Health

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May 6, 2009

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Copperbelt Permanent Secretary, Villie Lombanya, has urged health officials to intensify surveillance measures against any possible outbreak of swine flu and other diseases in the province.

Speaking when he officiated at the provincial epidemic preparedness committee meeting in Ndola today, Mr. Lombanya said Zambia is prone to disease outbreaks such as malaria, cholera and even the current global threatening swine flue, hence the need for stakeholders to take the epidemic preparedness committee meetings serious.

He said government through the ministry of health attaches great importance to disease control through development of emergency epidemic control measures.

Mr Lombanya implored all government departments, civil society organisations, and the church to partner with government in efforts of enhancing the performance of the provincial epidemic preparedness.

Meanwhile, swine flu screening facilities have been placed at Ndola Internatioanl Airport in an effort to detect any possible swine flu cases among the traveling public.

Copperbelt provincial health office Clinical Care Specialist, Chungu Chama, disclosed in Ndola today during the provincial epidemic preparedness committee meeting.

Ms. Chama added that Masala clinic has also been identified as an official place for quarantining suspected swine flu patients in an event of any swine flu outbreak.

She added that a provincial Rapid Response Team has also been formed to handle and investigate suspected swine flu cases as well as the strengthening of all Copperbelt province ports of entry such as Kasumabalesa border in Chililabombwe and Ndola International Airport among other intervention measures.

And a Communicable Disease Control Specialist at the provincial health office Dr. Clara Nauluta confirmed that the country has some stocks of Amantadine and Lemantadine, the recommended swine flu treatment drugs.

Meanwhile, all districts on the Copperbelt have been directed to identify places that could be used for quarantining suspected swine flu patients.

Copperbelt Provincial Health Director Dr. Chandwa Ng’ambi gave the directive at the epidemic preparedness committtee meeting which was attended by all district health directors from the province.

Dr. Ng’ambi also called for the formation of district health task forces to coordinate Swine Flu detection, monitoring and prevention.

The provincial epidemic preparedness committee is a team of officers from the provincial health office and the district health offices and other stakeholders from the private sector.

ZANIS

Poor wages for scribes in private media are a threat to freedom of information

General News

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May 5, 2009

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The Press Association of Zambia, PAZA, says poor working conditions that journalists are subjected to are a threat to freedom of information.

PAZA vice president, Amos Chanda, told ZANIS in an interview today that reports that journalists in the private media were getting as low as K150, 000 were regrettable.

Mr Chanda observed that a free press could not exist with poor working conditions as journalists would not be motivated to work hard and save society diligently.

He added that good working conditions were an essential component in advancing calls to have a free press in the country.

He appealed to private media institutions to consider improving working conditions for journalists saying journalists played an important in the development of the country as they kept the nation informed on issues of national interest.[quote]

Mr. Chanda said PAZA would continue playing its advocacy role for better working conditions for journalists in the private media for the development media fraternity.

Mr. Chanda, however, said PAZA hoped that the Zambia Union Journalists and Zambia Union of Broadcasters and Information Disseminators, ZUBID, would quickly start negotiations with the managements in the private media.

On Sunday, Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ronnie Shikapwasha, called on the private media to improve working conditions saying some journalists were being paid as low as K150, 000 per month.

ZANIS

About 100, 000 MT fertilizer in place for 2009/2010 farming season

Economy

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May 5, 2009

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About 100 000 metric tonnes of fertliser meant for the 2009/2010 farming season is in the country.

Fertilizer supply companies disclosed the development when they together with other stakeholders in the agriculture sector appeared before the parliamentary committee on lands and agriculture chaired by Kalomo MP, Request Mutanga.

Others that appeared included Agriculture PS Bernard Namachila and his team, officials from the Agriculture Consultative Forum, ACF, Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia, NCZ, and the Zambia Co-operative Federation, ZCF.

Nyiombo Investments have about 40 000 metric tones, Omonia Zambia Fertilser Limited 45 000, Bridgeway 10, 000, Zambian Fertliser 3000 and Castex 2000 metric tonnes of fertliser.

Nyiombo Investment Managing Director, Morris Jangulo, disclosed that the company is further expecting about 35 000 metric tones of fertliser to arrive in the country by next month.

Mr. Jangulo has, however, attributed the late delivery of the commodities to farmers, to late tendering process and implementation of delivery of input modalities by government to farmers.

He observed that last year, the tendering process was opened by July while the delivery of fertliser was being done in November.

He said Nyiombo had by August last year positioned its quantity of fertilizer for delivery to farmers.

And Omonia Managing Director, Bertie Serfontein, challenged other suppliers to bid for the supply of fertilizer under the Fertliser Support Programme, FSP.

He said the country has an open biding system , which other suppliers should make use of other than complaining about alleged uneven level playing field.

Earlier, ACF Co-ordinator, Hyde Haantuba, proposed for the adoption of the Voucher system which he said has worked well in Malawi.

He said the system would remove government from the tendering process of fertilizer as the suppliers would have to deal directly with the farmers.

Mr. Haantuba added that the system would also reduce the cost of transportation on the part of government as suppliers would be required to deliver the commodity to satellite depots.

But the ZCF proposed for the review of the bottlenecks in the FSP so as to strength the programme.

They, further, proposed for the ‘exist strategy’ where farmers would only be supported under the programme for two years after which they should be linked to banks.

ZCF Managing Director, Mary Ngoma, said the federation was ready to work with government to identify viable farmers that should be benefiting under the programme.

And Mr Namachila blamed the poor performance of the FSP on dishonest Co-operatives that were selected to assist in the administering of the programme.

Mr. Namachila, who admitted that the programme though has succeeded to some extent, faced a number of challenges.

He cited the targeting of farmers, late delivery of farming inputs, in appropriate utilization of farming inputs, lack of extension service to educate farmers as some of the challenges.

He, however, stated that government was looking at the voucher system applicable in Malawi to be used as a pilot project in the country.

He said if the programme succeeds, government would consider it, which would eventually replace the FSP.

He added that government has this year recruited about 1700 extension workers that have been posted to various parts of the country.

ZANIS/MKM/ENDS/SJK

Bishop Mambo urges Zambians to rise above politics to confront economic challenges

General News

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May 5, 2009

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Chikondi Foundation President Bishop, John Mambo, has urged Zambians to avoid partisan politics in order to answer to the various challenges that the country is faced with.

Bishop Mambo said in an interview in Lusaka today that the nation should remain united and focused in implementing programmes that would help overcome negative effects of the current global economic recession.

Bishop Mambo, who is also Church of God former Regional Overseer, said the people concentrate on issues that would significantly contribute to efforts of fostering economic development in the country.

“Partisan politics should be avoided at all costs if the global economic crunch is to be effectively and meaningfully addressed in this country,” Bishop Mambo said.

He also urged government to put in place stringent measures that would add value to the effective implementation of existing development policies.

He said the country is lagging behind in development due to alleged failure by past administrations to effectively implement development programmes.

Meanwhile, Bishop Mambo has called on government to implement the Irrigation Fund Facility with a view to enhancing development in the country’s agriculture sector.

He said the effective implementation of the Irrigation Fund Facility, which was launched in 2007, will enable the vulnerable but viable farmers contribute effectively to national food security.

Bishop Mambo stated that Irrigation Fund Facility could also help address the challenges associated with the global economic recession as farmers will be growing enough food for export and local consumption.

Bishop Mambo, who is also a livestock farmer, has since urged other farmers in the country to embark on crop diversification to help enhance food security both at household and national levels.

ZANIS

Mabenga advises former catholic priest to use palatable language

Headlines

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May 5, 2009

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MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga is flanked by party cadres when he was interviewed by reporters on Father Frank Bwalya

Ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) national chairman, Michael Mabenga has urged former Catholic priest, Frank Bwalya to stop using the language that could perpetrate anarchy in the country.

Mr. Mabenga said father Bwalya is a man of God who should administer his duties as a true servant instead of him changing from priesthood to politician.

He said father Bwalya should speak for the voiceless instead of resigning from priesthood.

Mr. Mabenga, who reiterated that he has been a catholic all his life, bragged that he understands the social teachings of the Catholic Church which include teaching members self reliance.

Mr. Mabenga said that people presenting their opinions in the letters to the editor in newspapers should also beware of what they write about, adding that they should get their facts right.

Mr. Mabenga said the social teachings of the church have nothing to do with politics, noting that people supporting father Bwalya might also be among those perpetrating anarchy in the country.

He said the Catholic Church is orderly in the manner it administers duties and if there are pertinent issues in church, parish leaders are informed and matters are resolved amicably.[quote]

He said there is no need to bring trouble in the nation because people should exercise their freedom of expression.

He was reacting to a letter to the editor in one of the daily papers which alleged that he had been hiding in the name of Catholic Church to perpetrate injustice.

ZANIS

49 vulnerable children in Solwezi to be sent for skills training

Rural News

Guest Editor

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May 5, 2009

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The Provincial Child Affairs Department in Solwezi will this week mobilize 49 vulnerable children be sent for skills training in Kitwe and Chivoko campas.

Provincial Child Affairs Coordinator Peter Kabaso disclosed this in an interview with ZANIS in Solwezi, today.

Mr. Kabaso mentioned that the department has the responsibility to provide services for stranded children to equip them with skills for their sustainaibility rather than being in the streets.

He said that out of the vulnerable children, 33 are boys and 16 are girls who were expected to be in Solwezi by Thursday this week. Provincial Permanent Secretary Dr. Eusten Mambwe would address them before departure for their various training camps.

The Child Affairs coordinator pointed out that the required children for the training skills would be between he age of 15 and 25 years old.

Mr. Kabaso observed that the promotion and protection of the welfare of children requires the performance of duties of every Zambian and appealed to all District Commissioners to send the identified children to Solwezi as soon as possible.

Last year, Northern Province sent 19 vulnerable children and youths for skills training who completed their training in Kitwe and Chivoko camps and some are in informal employment now.

ZANIS/CK/EML/ENDS/MM.

Shawa calls for blacklisting of under performing contractors

General News

Guest Editor

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May 5, 2009

14

Northern Province Minister Charles Shawa has directed the Provincial Tender Committee to blacklist contractors’ carrying out shoddy work on capital projects in the province.

Mr. Shawa has given a Chinsali-based contractor a two month ultimatum to complete the construction of offices meant for the Office of the President Special Division in Isoka District.

In an interview with ZANIS, Mr. Shawa said he was disappointed with some local contractors who have continued to do shoddy work on infrastructure development.

He said it was unacceptable for government to spend huge sums of money on poor workmanship.

Mr. Shawa said as a way of safe guarding public resources, the provincial tender committee must identify and blacklist contractors involved in shoddy works.

The minister explained that the move would help to bring sanity in the execution of projects in the Province.

Mr. Shawa also said the failure by K.C. Mukosa Enterprises of Chinsali to complete works on the K900 million building for the Office of the President Special Division in Isoka was worrying.

He said the project should have been completed in August last year but that works were still going.

Mr. Shawa warned the contractor that if he fails to complete the project within two months, his contract would be terminated.

The Minister has since urged contractors to carry out quality workmanship on capital projects such as roads and bridges in order to enhance development in the province.

ZANIS/WS/ENDS/MM.

Activist urges government departments to budget for gender activities

General News

Guest Editor

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May 5, 2009

5

The Copperbelt provincial Gender Sub-Sommittee has called on departments to include gender activities in their annual departmental budgets.

Committee Chairperson Janet Chongo said gender programmes must not be left out of the budgets of government departments and NGOs because they were critical to the development and implementation of programmes.

She said it was important to raise awareness on the gender roles in the development process so that both sexes were treated equally and accorded equal oportunity and participation.

She said leadership structures at every level should address gender imbalances that have been responsible for women’s low participation and involvement in the development process.

She made the call in Ndola when she closed a Gender Mainstreaming Orientation Workshop which included some provincial Committee members and some Gender Focal Point Persons from five districts.

Committee Vice Chairperson Weddie Kalumba said gender was a serious component in national development because there was need to see a larger percentage of women in decision making positions at all levels.

Mr. Kalumba who is from the NGOCC, said the civil society and government needed to raise awareness on gender issues in their work place and programmes.

He said he had observed with concern that many civil servants and government workers were very ignorant of gender issues. He added that there was need to promote meetings that were addressing gender imbalances at work places and community leadership structures.

Mr. Kalumba said time has come when the positions of Resident Development Committee Chairpersons should be given to women and see how they could perform because they also have the capacity to move the community developmental agenda forward.

He called for women’s effective participation in the developmental agenda of the country at all levels so that they should not just be waiting for their men folk to make decisions for them and only exercise their rights at implementation stage.

But one member Ms. Sharon Chitalu expressed concern that as much as women wanted decision making positions, there was a limit as far as they could go because the men folk were generally advantaged than the women.

She said women rights should be exercised within the context of what they could handle because competing with their men folk might not be a useful path to pursue with conviction.

ZANIS/CN/EML/ENDS/MM.

LT Update

Feature Lifestyle

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May 5, 2009

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Well, we must admit, version 3.0 upgrade has been the most criticised upgrade we have ever done. Since the day we rolled it out, based on the feedback we got, we have been tweaking and trying to make it incorporate as many features of version 2.0. as possible. Case in point is the threaded comments that we discontinued.

Having said that, the constant upgrade in any software based operation is a must. We can’t keeping standing and enjoying the experience while the ground underneath us is shifting at such a fast pace. The situation is compounded further by the attention of attacks and hacks we get from all sorts of bots on the INTERNET. Being one of Zambia’s top sites comes with problems. We are easily visible to attackers and it is a lot of fun for some people to bring down a top site.

The new upgrade was necessary and has given us the opportunity to carry out day to day maintenance without subjecting the site to long spells of disruptions. Since the day we did the upgrade we have put in a lot of plumbing work, chopping and changing of things in the background without disrupting access to the site.

Just a number of issues we want to update you on:-

Viruses

We have seen claims in the posts that the site is dishing out viruses. This is totally untrue. As every astute computer user would know, the best way to beat viruses on the client side is by using a not so common operating system. We follow the same policy on the server side of things with Lusakatimes. We use the least popular web server and don’t use the common and popular version of Linux on the server side. Lusakatimes is not even hosted in a shared environment. It has its own dedicated server. Sites virus are largely transmitted using .htaccess and Lusakatimes does not run any .htaccess which is largely responsible for redirecting users to virus sites. For in house testing purposes we have Linux, Mac, Ipod, Iphone and three versions of windows. We have not experienced the viruses issue.

Chat

The Chat is still experimental and we have noticed that the latency is just too high and makes it unusable really as a chat. We are still actively looking for a solution that we feel will deliver true chat experience. People online does not necessary mean number of people in the chat room. It simply means the number of people who have landed on the first page of Lusakatimes.

Content

Well, as we said in the about us, our content comes from established media houses in Zambia and a few individuals. Why do we do that, well we feel we have a small market gap to cover. And the gap we cover is the provision of an opportunity to Zambians to know what their fellow Zambians think about the current issues. Its that discussion platform that gives us that unique addition to the excellent work the other media houses are doing. Why don’t we publish stories from the Post Newspaper? Simple. The post runs a subscription model and sells their content. We believe those subscription sales are important to the Post and it is very important for us that the Post remains profitable, sustainable and operational for two reasons. First, they get into places nobody can and the rest of us are able to feed on the crumbs that fall off the table when they bring out big issues to the table. As LT we value that. Secondly, they provide everybody in this gane the best competition you can get on the Zambia scene. This helps to keep our team awake and innovative.

Are we Shushushus?

Looks like this debate is ragging at neck breaking speed in some of the online forums. Well, we wish we were. Then we could do with some GRZ money and get rid of all the adverts on the site and never worry about profitability. And we could reclaim our old dispatch.co.zm domain without fear of thinking we could get shutdown. 90% of the comments on this site are anti-establishment. Why the establishment would want to run such a site still beats us. We shall leave that debate to father time who will ,undoubtedly, reveal the truth in his own time. We shall continue doing what we are good at-providing a platform that provides a true freedom of speech experience for many Zambians around the globe.

LT is blocking my comments

No we don’t, actually. We have filters that block certain words that we feel are inappropriate. Why do we have filters? Well, once in a while we get new people who get too excited with the freedom of speech and think they can post all the unprintable things that run through their heads. We need filters to take care of such cases.The filter list has been developed over the years with the help of people who visit this site. Yes, sometimes our filters get it wrong and wrongly puts the comments in moderation which sometimes can take time for us to attend to. All in all, We all agree that we need to create the forum where decency in comments prevails. This is vital if your comments are to be taken seriously by the people you address. And please familiarize yourself with our comments policy. We have the capacity to outrightly ban anybody who goes against our policy or just drop their comments.

Twitter Twitter Twitter

Finally, we have been doing some work on the social networking front lately. We are now on twitter. http://twitter.com/lusakatimes. Looks like everybody is going there. What in the world is twitter, anyway? According to Wikipedia:,

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications.

What does this mean in English? It simply means that if you follow lusakatimes on twitter, every time we post a new story, you will be immediately notified. Twitter also enables you to post your comments or tweets using sms from your cell phone. Currently, we are working on integrating all tweets into our comments on the website. This will open up the comments system to people using the cell phones as well. So, stay tuned and be on the look out for these features.

Good day
LT Team

Parents advised to protect their children through education

General News

editor

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May 5, 2009

4

A Kasama clergyman has advised parents to protect their children from vices by supporting them in their education to enable them grow responsibly.

Kasama Archdiocese Caritas Director Nicholas Kaliminwa says children should be protected and guided in their lives if they are to grow into responsible people in the society.

Fr. Kaliminwa added that Christian children do not conform to Christian lives because they are not guided and spend a lot of time without parental touch like a flock without a Shepard.

He appealed to children to obey their parents who are their earthly gods to provide for them of their needs.

Fr. Kaliminwa said although children are facing a lot of challenges they should still accept guidance from their parents.

He urged the Government to play the role of a good Shepherd to the people of the nation by addressing their needs.

Fr. Kaliminwa also said even if the nation is experiencing the world economic melt down, the Government should strive to direct its resources to resolving people’s burdens.

He called upon Christians to pray for the nation and its leaders to promote continued peace and prosperity of the nation.

ZANIS

Chief Mwanachingwala snubs HH

Headlines

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May 5, 2009

53

Chief Mwanachingwala of Mazabuka District says he refused to attend the wedding ceremony where UPND leader, Hakainde Hichilema was invited as guest of honour because he does not want to be used by the opposition party to destroy the MMD.

The wedding ceremony was organized by outspoken chairperson for the Mwanachingwala Indigenous People’s Rights, Mr Joshua Ng’andu and was held at Village Six in chief Mwanachingwala’s area.

Chief Mwanachingwala told ZANIS in Mazabuka today, he is aware that for some time now, Mr Hichilema has been scheming to create divisions between him and President Rupiah Banda by engaging him UPND party functions.

He said he will neither join UPND nor support its programmes because of its leadership does not accept advice especially on the need to work with government in finding solutions to the global financial crisis.

The Chief also took a swipe at Mr Hichilema for accusing traditional rulers in Magoye constituency of exercising double standards in support of the party during elections.

He said the accusations of traditional rulers playing double standards where pointing at him as he was the only one who has been criticizing the opposition party.

He urged Mr Hichilema to accept the fact that the party in the province is now becoming unpopular because people are tired of being in the opposition.

The traditional ruler said he will continue supporting President Banda and his administration to foster development in his chiefdom.

He said government has injected colossal sums of money in infrastructure development in the education and health sectors adding that the opposition parties have done little to assist his subjects in mitigating their suffering.

Over the weekend, Mr Hichilema told over 30 village headmen during a meeting at headman Lisulo that his poor performance especially in Magoye constituency was as a result of double standards being played by traditional rulers including headmen.

This was after village headmen asked to explain why the opposition party failed to win general elections.

[ZANIS]

Judge Florence Mumba clinches Cambodian job

Headlines

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May 5, 2009

87

A Zambian Judge, Florence Mumba, has been appointed as International Reserve Judge of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the courts of Cambodia for the prosecution of crimes committed during the period of Democratic Kampuchea (ECCC).

United Nations (UN) Assistant Secretary General in charge of the Office of Legal Affairs, Peter Taksoe-Jensen disclosed this in a statement today.

Mr. Jensen said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has since received notification from Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia that the Supreme Council has appointed Judge Mumba o be part of the team to prosecute the leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime for the crimes they committed.

He said according to the terms of the Pre-Trial Chamber of Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Judges are appointed by the UN Secretary General.

The Cambodian government has invited international participation for the sake of its people and because of the perceived weakness of that country’s legal system and the nature of the crimes.

This is contained in a statement released Moses Walubita, First Secretary for Press at Zambia’s permanent mission to the UN in New York.

In 2001, the Cambodia National Assembly (NA) passed a law to create a court to try serious crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge Regime in 1975 to1979.

The Khmer Rouge regime took over power on April 17, 1975 and was over thrown on January 7, 1979.

The end of the Khmer Rouge was then followed by civil war which finally ended in 1998 when the Khmer political and military structures were dismantled.

In 1997, the government requested the UN to assist in establishing a trial to prosecute the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

This special new court was created by the government of Cambodia and the UN to be independent and would provide new role model for court operations in that country.

Judge Mumba is currently the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).

[ZANIS]