PATRIOTIC Front (PF) leader, Michael Sata and other stakeholders have hailed the three law enforcement agencies for instituting investigations into the suspended Zambian Airways.

In a letter addressed to acting Police Inspector General, Francis Kabonde, acting Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director General, Rosewyn Wandi, and acting Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) Commissioner, Solomon Jere, Mr Sata said their joint move was unprecedented.

“I would like on behalf of the central committee, the general membership of our party, the silent Zambian majority and indeed on my own behalf to commend you on the action you have taken,” he said in his letter yesterday.

And welcoming the investigations, Federation Democratic Party president, Alfred Sayila commended the criminal investigative wings for coming together on the matter.

Mr Sayila said in a statement in Lusaka that it was good that the Government did not entertain the idea of bailing out the embattled airline as a result of its indebtedness.

“We welcome the institution of investigations into the financial dealings of Zambian Airways and right from the start, we maintained that the Government should not use public funds to bail out some parastatal organisations,” he said.

Youth and Students Movement national coordinator, Tobias Kafumukache said Zambian Airways should pay back the US$30 million to benefit the youth and other citizens.

Mr Kafumukache said in an interview in Lusaka that the money that Zambia Airways owed the public institutions could take the country to another level of development.

“Zambian Airways should pay back that money because youths need to be empowered. As youths we need that money back, failure to that it is to deny us and those people out in rural areas our empowerment,” he said.

Mr Kafumukache said the youth wanted to commend President Banda for speaking for the people of Zambia on the issue of the airline’s indebtedness.
[Times of Zambia]

The ministry of Lands has completed a land audit in Lusaka.

Lands minister, Ronald Mukuma, says notices will be given to owners of undeveloped land informing them of the repossesion.

Mr. Mukuma says the exercise to reposes unfinished buildings will be done in March this year.

And Mr. Mukuma also says his ministry will soon lift the ban on Mkushi district council as an agent for the ministry of lands.

Mr. Mukuma says he is happy with the report on the performance of Mkushi district.

The minister however says he is still looking at Lusaka and Solwezi before their status as land agents can be restored.

Lusaka, Solwezi and Mkushi were banned as agents for land on behalf of the ministry of lands.

Mr. Mukuma says Lusaka district council is still under evaluation while Solwezi district council needs to recruit exprienced people.
/ZNBC/NEWS

Zain Zambia today announced it had purchased the first ever Mobile ‘base-station’ in Zambia, and will be publicly commissioning it during this weekend’s N’cwala Ceremony in Chipata.

Essentially, this is a full-scale base-station, mounted on a heavy-duty truck chassis, which is able to provide voice and data service to customers wherever in Zambia it is needed. It has its own self- contained power supply and operations room. It can relay a mobile call from the middle of nowhere, via a Satellite Dish mounted on its roof, where the Global Positioning System (GPS), locks onto a satellite in space, and beams the call back down to Zain’s state-of-the-art operations centre in Lusaka, from where the call will be delivered to the called party. All this happens in a less than a few seconds.

Zain claims to have the largest network by far in Zambia, and now it goes truly ‘mobile’ with this high-tech base station in which it invested USD 400,000.

“It’s about the customer; with this mobile base-station, and heavy-duty truck, we can go to any remote area in Zambia, and provide relief coverage, or to a large function like football matches, ceremonies, or anywhere that large crowds might be, and if they are a Zain customer we’ll now be able to ensure they can always make calls, or send text messages without fear of congestion” said Zain Zambia Managing Director, Mr. David Holliday.

With the largest network in Zambia, which we are still expanding every day, we are committed to providing network coverage everywhere to our customers, and this a really helpful way to provide ‘on-demand’ coverage, he added.

We are now also able to play our part in the event of disasters, and help the Zambian government and other agencies with this new technology, to get to the affected area, and within minutes, establish critical communications links.

Former Zambia Air Force Commander, Christopher Singogo, has again been jailed for five years with hard labour for abuse of authority of office by the Lusaka magistrate court.

Lieutenant General Singogo was early this year sentenced to six years imprisonment with hard labour on two counts of charges of theft by public servant and abuse of authority of office.

He however appealed against the sentence and is currently on bail.

In another case, general Singogo has been convicted for giving Nassim Cleaning Services a contract for cleaning services at the Zambia Air Force.

General Singogo was one of the directors of Nassim Cleaning Services.

Magistrate, Aridah Chuulu, sent general Singogo to prison on Thursday after hearing submissions from both the prosecution and defence teams.

The Magistrate said while it is difficult to punish a person of his status, general Singogo should have known the consequences of his actions.

In mitigation, defence lawyers urged the court to consider the service that the former air commander rendered to the nation.

They also said the defence team will appeal against both the conviction and sentence.