Kalulushi Town Clerk, Maxwell Kabanda, says the National Constitution Conference (NCC) should not adopt article 260 (1) (b) in the Mung’omba draft constitution that allows chiefs to actively participate in active politics. According to Article, a Chief may participate in political activities and stand for any elective public office.

Mr Kabanda said chiefs were supposed to be attending to problems in a particular area and needed to be readily available to resolve the differences within their chiefdoms.

He told ZANIS in an interview in Kalulushi today that it was not in order for a chief to be involved in active politics because doing so would promote divisions and such a chief would loose respect from the people.

“I would not, personally, be happy to see a chief being drawn into a political arena where he is reduced, demeaned and clustard with all sorts of aspirations and insults that go with politicking,” Said Mr Kabanda.

Mr Kabanda noted that it was not necessary for the NCC to include this clause in the new constitution as these people deserved respect and should stay in the palace where the language was civil.

Some residents of Kalulushi have said that the NCC should consider adopting clauses in the Draft Constitution which would benefit a lot of people and would not injure them.

Benny Chiyesu of Kalulushi said that it was important for the NCC to look seriously onto the issue of adopting the clauses which allowed chiefs to be participating in active politics because he thought that was not necessary as it wouldoverburden them with work.

Mr Chiyesu added that for a chief to be involved in active politics, he would have a lot of responsibilities by the end of the day and that would make him fail to deliver to the expectations of the people.

He said that if chiefs were to be participating in active politics, they would concentrate more on issues that gave them money, hence forgetting their duties in the palace.

And Marble Mironde, also of Kalulushi, said the clause that allows chiefs to be participating in active politics should not be considered as traditional rulers were above politics and looked at people’s problems.

Mrs Mironde observed that a chief was like a government worker who was suppose to be non-partisan, because if he participated in active politics, he would bring tribalism which would bring division among the people.

However, Rev Paul Bwalya of Trinity Church says that chiefs should not participate in active politics, but all that government could do was to make them comfortable.

Rev Bwalya said that government should build chiefs good houses, give them good vehicles, pay them good salaries and proper pensions so that they stop eyeing for money because they thought by joining politics , they would have a lot of money.

He said he wanted chiefs to be comfortable regardless of their tribe.

Meanwhile, Kalulushi District Commissioner, Joshua Mutisa, has said that the NCC should not allow chiefs to be subjected to political appointments because of their status in the community as that would encourage tribalism.

Mr Mutisa pointed out that involving chiefs in active politics would make them loose respect from their subjects as they were above politics.

And Chief Mwenechambo of the Butambo people in Isoka district has opposed the proposal in the Mung’omba Draft Constitution which allows Chiefs to participate in political activities.

In an interview with ZANIS in Chililabombwe, Chief Mwenechambo said traditional rulers risked loosing respect from their subjects with opposite political views once they began to actively participate in politics.

However, Chief Mwenechambo said traditional rulers needed to play an advisory role to politicians whenever misunderstandings ensued unlike actively getting involved in politics and stand for elective positions that required campaigning.

He said a situation where chiefs become active in politics would disadvantage their subjects as they would be preoccupied with political activities at the expense of serving their communities.

Chief Mwenechambo, whose chiefdom border’s Malawi, further said traditional rulers were not supposed to use their influence and support a particular candidate in an election if the country was to uphold the tenets of democracy.

ZANIS/ENDS/EZ/EB

The Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM)has disclosed that a new manufacturing plant for cellular phone handsets will soon be launched in the country and is expected to be producing about 70 000 handsets per month.

ZAM president Dev Babbar disclosed that the plant has already acquired new state of the art equipment that has the ability to manufacture hand sets of high standards acceptable on both local and international markets.

In an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today, Mr Babbar also hinted that the association has already started marketing the plant in other countries in the region, adding that this will make it easy to export the finished product.

He expressed confidence that the new hand set manufacturing plant has the capacity to meet the current local demand for cell phone hand sets in the country.

In addition, he noted that advance marketing strategies are important before exporting a product because it helps in identifying the audience.

“We have already stated marketing this plant in other countries and this will make it easy for us to know the audience that will like our local phones,” he added.

He said the plant will be producing hand sets that will be sold in all Southern Africa Developing Communities (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries.

He explained that by supplying finished products in the region the Zambian manufacturing sector is also likely to gain recognition adding that this will go a long way towards marketing the country on the world market.

“Our aim is to supply finished products so that we are known in the world and this will also contribute to the economic recovery of the nation,” He said.

However, the ZAM president expressed optimism that the new plant will also help in creating employment opportunities for the local people.

With the current global economic crisis affecting many sectors in resulting in massive job cuts; Mr Babbar said his association is determined to cushion the impact by creating job opportunities in the manufacturing sector.

He disclosed that some local technicians and electricians have already been employed adding that they have being trained to install the new machinery at the plant.

He stated that the manufacturing industry can contribute positively towards the country’s economic recovery, if properly utilised.

He has further called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders and help the association to market the country on the international scene.

“We are calling upon other partners to come on board and help us market the country world wide,” he said.

Finance and National Planning Minster Situmbeko Musokotwane in this year’s budget increased tax on imported Cell phone hand sets from five percent to 15% adding that the move is aimed at promoting the local hand set manufacturing industry.

ZANIS/ENDS/MM/CLM.

Government says it needs qualified and competent people to execute Public Private Partnerships (PPP) projects for the purpose of cutting down on appointments of foreign experts.

Commerce Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, Richard Taima, said capacity building at local level had to be a continuous process if qualified and competent individuals were to be identified for the short and long term implementation of PPP projects within the country.

Mr Taima said this during the on-going Public Private Partnerships and Project Finance workshop organized by Zesco at Chrisma Hotel in Livingstone yesterday.

He said despite PPPs being an attractive mechanism for large businesses as they were more viable for big projects, the local private sector dominated by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) still had opportunities to participate in project implementation through supply of materials and sub-contracting.

Mr Taima said government would strive to empower local entrepreneurs through programs like the Citizens Economic Empowerment fund and business development services to enhance their capacity to explore wider business opportunities.

He said government would not use the current economic problems the country was facing as an excuse to withhold support for the growth of emerging businesses since they had potential to contribute to economic growth.

Mr Taima emphasized the need for the country to counter the risks and threats resulting from the global financial crisis through stronger positive measures and increased private sector participation in economic programs.

Earlier, chairman for the PPP Working Group, Dr Francis Ndilila, called for PPPs not to end up as academic programs but to result in profit, prosperity and progress for the nation.

Dr Ndilila, who is also National Construction Council chairman, said Zambia had great opportunities for implementation of PPPs especially in the housing sector which, he said, had a multiplier effect in the economy of as much as 18 times.

Dr Ndilila said it was unfortunate most home owners in the country resorted to self-induced mortgages when opportunities for formal financing by the private sector lay idle.

He said the country had lost out on big programs like hosting of the 2011 All Africa Games and development of infrastructure to benefit from the spill-over of activities from the 2010 FIFA World Cup because government had not involved the private sector.

ZANIS/ENDS/AMM/EB

Vice President George Kunda today told parliament that government would not render any material assistance to freedom fighters who became handicapped as a result of the struggle for Zambia’s independence.

Mr. Kunda was responding to a question raised by Choma central Member of Parliament, George Chazangwe in parliament today.

Mr. Chazangwe asked whether the government would consider offering material assistance to people who became handicapped as a result of the struggle for independence.

The Vice President, who is the leader of government business in parliament, said it was not necessary to render material to freedom fighters that were injured because they were receiving awards with Zambian honours on Independence day and African freedom day respectively.

He said the freedom fighters that were detained or tortured during the struggle should have made such claims immediately after attaining independence.

Mr. Kunda further said it was not possible to set aside a day other than independence and African freedom day to commemorate Zambians who died in the struggle for independence.

ZANIS/AC/KSH/ENDS