Auditor General Anna Chifungula said auditing Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is expected to take 30 days. Mrs Chifungula said this at the commencement of the auditing of national broadcaster following alleged financial mismanagement at the institution.

“I can assure all the interested parties that the auditing will be thoroughly done,” she said.

She said a detailed report will be compiled and submitted to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Ronnie Shikapwasha after the work is completed.

A team of six officers from the Office of Auditor General yesterday started auditing ZNBC.

Last week, Lieutenant General Shikapwasha directed the Office of the Auditor General to carry out a financial and performance audit at ZNBC.

And the Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) has welcomed the move by Government to have all the public media institutions audited.

ZUJ president Morgan Chonya said auditing at the Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail will enable transparency in the running of the institutions.

“We are happy with the minister’s move to audit all the public media organisations and his insistence that unionised employees should have improved conditions of service,” Mr Chonya said.

He said there is need for managements of public media organisations to pay their employees living wages.
Mr Chonya also called on managements of public media to uphold safety standards for workers.

Government said it will extend the financial and performance audit to all public media organisations after completing with the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC).

The son of second Republican President Dr. Frederick Chiluba, Castro, has died.

Castro, 33, died on Tuesday at the University Teaching Hospital-UTH- in Lusaka.

Dr. Chiluba’s Press Aid, Emmanuel Mwamba, says Castro was admitted to the UTH on Tuesday morning where he died later.

He said Dr. Chiluba who is currently in South Africa on routine medical review is expected to cut short his schedule and return home for his son’s funeral.

[ZNBC]

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

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

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.

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.

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