The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has expressed concern at the high levels of people driving while drunk in Lusaka.

RTSA spokesperson Mukela Mangolwa said it was very unfortunate that even with the education programmes on the dangers of drunken driving the agency has put in place some people have ignored the messages.

Mr. Mangolwa told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today, that it was important for people to always adhere to RTSA guidelines , which he said was for the good of members of the public.

He urged members of the public to immediately report such drivers adding that RTSA would not hesitate to deal with them.

He stated that the agency alone cannot manage to identify all drunken drivers hence the need for members of the public to help by reporting such poeple..

Mr. Mangolwa said the agency has now re-enforced its patrols on roads to ensure that drunken drivers are brought to book..

The RTSA spokesperson said drunken driving was not only dangerous to the person driving the vehicle but also other road users.

He advised those who like driving while drunk to value their lives by desisting from driving under the influence of alcohol.
And Mr. Magolwa has disclosed that breathalyzers have been very effective in catching drunken drivers .

He disclosed that the Agency has so far spent K5billion on the breathalyzers.

ZANIS/AJN/MKM/ENDS

HOTEL Inter-Continental has sued the defunct Zambian Airways for non-payment of rentals for their three offices amounting to over US$11,000.

According to summons filed at the Lusaka High Court, the applicant wants Zambian Airways to pay the five months’ rental arrears of $11,344.32 in full.

The applicant is also seeking an order that it be granted leave to levy distress on the respondent’s goods to recover the said outstanding rentals, further relief and any other interests.

An affidavit of originating notice of motion, sworn by George Joseph, assistant manager for finance and business support, states that on May 1, 2006, the applicant leased its three shops to the defunct airline at monthly rentals of $2,893.62.

He says Zambian Airways failed, ignored and/or neglected to settle rentals since October last year and had locked up the shops and abandoned them without explanation.

“According to the certificate of exhibits, the lease period was four months two years and Zambian Airways only paid $6,600 as deposit and monthly rentals were at $2,893,62 excluding VAT and payable on a quarterly basis,” said Mr Joseph.

He says on February 10, counsel for the hotel, Nhari Musheni, wrote to the airline’s chief executive officer, Mutembo Nchito, to inform him that the hotel wanted immediate settlement of the debts and an explanation regarding the airline’s position over the abandoned offices.

“Take note that our client requires your response within seven days to the demands alluded to failure to which they may commence legal actions,” he said.

[Times of Zambia]

National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) has recommended to government on the need to implement a time frame policy that would discourage the would-be investors to easily pull out of the country.

NUMAW president, Mundia Sikufele, said that once the time frame policy is adopted, investors coming into the country particularly in the mining sector would not be running away whenever they felt like as the would-be investors would only be free to leave the country after a specified period.

Mr. Sikufele said in an interview with ZANIS that this would guarantee the job security of the Zambians.

He added that any investors who would intend to leave the country before the contract expired would have the assets forfeited among other things.

Mr. Sikufele said although the mining sector was greatly affected by the falling copper prices, that there was need for the interests of the Zambians to be protected whenever government is bargaining with the foreign investors.

He said the current job losses that the country is facing are as a result of the mine closures that did not only hinder individual progress but also impacted negatively on the country’s economic development.

Mr. Sikufele however said government was responding positively to the recommendations that the union had made.

He said government should involve the Union leaders whenever it signed agreements with investors so that unions are able to table their concerns and see to it that the interests of the Zambians are taken into consideration before deals are signed.

Other recommendations were that government should see to it that the foreign investors complied with the country’s labor laws as well as adopt a work culture that would not exploit the workers.

He also said that government should include health and safety policies in the agreement, which he said needed to be improved.

ZANIS/MP/MKM/ENDS.

Kafue District Council has commended government for creating the rural water supply and sanitation programme which will ensure equity in service delivery in terms of water supply and sanitation.

The council is this year under the programme expected to drill 80 boreholes in the district at a cost of more than K2 billion stating in the first week of April. Priority of the programme will be given to unsupplied areas and rehabilitation of broken water points.

Kafue District Council Vice Chairman, Harry Baron, disclosed this in Kafue at the weekend during the district’s world water day celebrations held in Kabweza area under the theme “shared water, shared opportunities”.

Mr. Baron said the programme will among other things focus on developing dams for productive use such as irrigation, promote sanitation and hygiene as well as fight the HIV scourge in beneficiary communities.

Mr. Baron called on communities to benefit under the programme to take a central role in planning and maintaining the facilities once government drills the boreholes.

Kafue acting District Commissioner, Henry Bowa, said water was critical to the country’s sustainable water development and in poverty eradication.

He said government was committed to addressing the problems of water scarcity in the country.

Mr. Bowa also noted with happiness that government through the ministry of local government and housing was implementing the rural water sanitation and supply programme in the district.

He said his office was aware that billions of Kwacha have been pumped in the programme by the Danish government to ensure the country attains its millennium development goals on water.

He said with this programme in place, many people in Kafue rural will have water closer to their homes.

Mr. Bowa appealed to every Zambian to support government in ensuring that water resources are well managed.
ZANIS/BS/MKM/ENDS.