Government says it is impressed with the comprehensive assessment done by the Technical Committee on Floods to ascertain the extent of damage caused to crops and infrastructure by floods in Western Province.

Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice President, Guston Sichilima, says the kind of ground work done so far by the Committee will enable government to effectively come up with stringent measures to address the humanitarian crisis caused by floods.

Mr Sichilima was speaking in Mongu today during a briefing by the Local Technical Committee on Floods.

The deputy minister, who arrived in Mongu today to conduct an on the spot check of the flood situation in the province, said government was in a hurry to respond to the desperate situation caused by floods in the Western Province.

Mr. Sichilima said government would like to quickly and effectively respond to the havoc caused by floods in a bid to reduce human suffering.

The floods which have been considered to be the worst since 1969 in Western Province has left 49 schools submerged in water destroyed about 85 per cent rice fields and 45 per cent of maize fields with a total of 1,500 households affected.

Among those on Mr. Sichilima’s entourage include, his Communications and Transport counterpart, Mubika Mubika, Works and Supply Deputy Minister, Mundia Ndalamei, Office of the Vice President Permanent Secretary, Davies Sampa, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, DMMU, National Coordinator, Dominiciano Mulenga and other senior government officials.

Meanwhile, Western Province Minister, Adons Mufalali, said the province was still expecting the worst flooding crisis as the water levels were still rising.

Mr. Mufalali said with the continued rainfall pattern in the province, the humanitarian situation could worsen.

He cited Lukulu, Kalabo, Shang’ombo, Senanga and Mongu districts as among the worst hit by floods.

ZANIS/TK/WM/ENDS/SJK.

A male Prison warder at Choma State Prison has been physically assaulted by angry prisoners during a protest.

The prisoners were protesting over the continued delay for them to appear in a magistrates court on various charges.

Both prison and police sources confirmed the incident which happened on Wednesday to ZANIS in Choma today and described the situation as unfortunate.

According to prison sources, the prisoners turned violent upon hearing that they could not be taken to court because the magistrate handling their cases had not traveled from Lusaka.

The incident happened when police and Drug Enforcement Commission officers went to the prison to collect suspects for the court session.

It was at this point that the affected prisoners demanded to be taken to court so that they could lodge their complaint about their prolonged detention.

The suspects then descended on one prison warder, pinning him down on the ground before severely beating him up.

Most of the suspects that turned violent have spent about two years in remand prison without court appearance.

The cases for affected suspected are being handled by Lusaka chief resident magistrate Charles Kafunda who was then Choma senior resident magistrate before his transfer to the capital.

Prison sources told ZANIS that the assaulted warder has since treated for wounds, but expressed grave concern at the security situation for warders at the Prison.

ZANIS/CM/ENDS/SJK

Government has disclosed that it will soon implement a new strategy policy for financing Technical Education Vocational and Entrepreneurship training (TEVET) institutions in the country.

Science , Technology and Vocational Minster Peter Daka says the new strategy will be in accordance with the national skills development plan which will be regularly revised and updated for the improved skills development in the country.

Speaking when he officiated at the opening of a one day conference for Zambia National Association of TEVET providers (ZNATP) in Lusaka today, Mr. Daka noted that TEVET has not been effective in executing its duties due to problems in financing most of the programmes.

Mr. Daka explained that despite government appointing a technical team to undertake a comprehensive review of the national TEVET policy, service delivery by providers has not improved hence the decision to have a new financing policy.

He said once the policy is implemented , it will change the way TEVET providers who include public and private colleges have been operating.

He disclosed that his Ministry is just waiting for cabinet to finalise and approve the policy document before it is made available to providers.

Meanwhile, Mr. Daka has cited lack of adequate resource as a major challenge in implementing the policy.

He assured the training providers in the country that government has started putting in place a number of inventions aimed at enhancing good service delivery by improving capacity building and strengthening management system.

Mr. Daka has since called on other stakeholders to partner with government in delivering good training skills which are in demand for the Labour force, adding that by so doing many people will be given a chance to contribute to the economic growth of the country because they will be employed.

And earlier ZNATP president Pascal Chewe bemoaned lack of government’s support to private training institutions in the country.

Mr. Chewe said most of private colleges are operating below standards because they lack proper linkages that can be monitoring them from government.

He said there is need for government to establish good working relations with training providers in the country, if the services are to be improvised.

He explained that training providers have to be made aware on the importance of working with government and contribute positively to the growth of the educational sector.

The ZNATP president however, urged conference participants to offer courses that are in line with the changing technology and compete favourably with other international private and public institutions.

ZANIS/MM/MKM/ENDS.

African Union Ministers of trade have converged in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss the financial crisis and other challenges that are being faced by the continent.

Commerce Deputy Minister Richard Taima is attending the fifth ordinary session of the two day AU conference of Ministers which opened yesterday.

The conference is also expected to reflect on developments such as increasing food prices, climate change on the continent and global trade.

This session is a key institutional framework of the AU which provides a forum to review developments on the continent, take stock and asses policy implementation.

This is contained in a statement made to ZANIS by Zambia’s Embassy in Ethiopia First Secretary for Press Dorcas Chileshe.

ZANIS/AC/MKM/ENDS.