President Rupiah Banda has declared a state funeral for former Minister of Finance Emmanuel Kasonde who died at Lusaka’s Trust hospital yesterday.

Mr. Banda said the late Mr. Kasonde has been accorded a state funeral in recognition of his distinguished service he rendered to the nation while in service.

This is contained in a press release signed by Secretary to the Cabinet Joshua Kanganja and made available to ZANIS this evening.

The late Mr. Kasonde’s funeral service will be conducted at Cathedral of the Child Jesus in Lusaka on Monday, December 15th 2008 at 09:00 hours.

Dr. Kanganja said the body of the late Mr. Kasonde will thereafter be flown to Kasama where it will lie in state awaiting burial at Malole mission in Mungwi district on Tuesday, 16th December.

The burial day has been declared as a day of national mourning from 06:00 hours in the morning to 18:00 hours in the evening.

Dr. Kanganja said flags will on this day fly at half mast while public functions and activities of entertainment nature should be cancelled or postponed.

ZANIS/KSH/ENDS

The Ministers’ Spouses Club have received assorted goods worth millions of kwacha and K10 million cash from three different private companies.

Speaking during the handover of a K10 million cheque at Government House in Lusaka today, RB Technical Services Managing Director, Reinhard Bonkat said the company is committed to helping the needy people in the country.

Mr. Bonkat has since urged other companies to ensure that they fulfill their corporate social responsibility in order to help the underprivileged ion society.

Cyclone Construction and Hardware Representative, Sam Zulu, whose company donated construction materials towards the refurbishment of some toilets at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), said the company was willing to contribute towards the well being of the needy.

And later at the same occasion Makora Investments Representative, Ameeral Dalal handed over assorted goods worth about K4 million.

Speaking after receiving the goods and handing them over to Luyando Orphanage in Kanyama, Republican Vice President George Kunda’s wife, Irene, expressed gratitude to the three companies for the gesture.

Mrs. Kunda said the Ministers’ Spouses club will remain focused in ensuring that the needy in society are helped.
She received the donations on behalf of the Ministers’ Spouses Chairperson, First Lady Thandiwe Banda.

Speaking after receiving the goods, Luyando Orphanage Manager , Normy Kapindi expressed gratitude to the club, adding that the donation was timely as the orphanage is currently faced with many challenges.

ZANIS/CM/KSH/ENDS

Former Church of God regional Overseer, Bishop John Mambo, says there is a  need for political leaders to start mobilizing people to grow more food so that Zambia could come out of the food crisis. He said there is need for government to devise an effective mechanism that will help in controlling the prices of staple foods even in the face of high inflation in the country.
Bishop Mambo told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that government must look at ways of heavily subsidizing the farming inputs as a unique way of addressing the soaring prices of essential foodstuffs in Zambia.

Bishop Mambo, who is also Chikondi Foundation President, expressed concern at the insistence by some political parties and organisations to hold countrywide demonstrations saying protests will not achieve anything tangible to change the state of the economy.He said the people of Zambia were already facing many hardships which required solutions, therefore, threatening the peace, love and unity that exists in Zambia was a situation that must avoided at all costs.

Bishop Mambo said the soaring food prices were a global problem which had also affected Zambia as a player in the world economy. He said  his organisation would continue advocating for a special meeting between government, the opposition, civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations and the church to look at the problems affecting the nation.

He has since appealed to government and the opposition political parties to meet and discuss matters of national concern.

And Bishop Mambo has advised government not to extend the process of the National Constitution Conference (NCC) after its mandate comes to an end.

Bishop Mambo, who is a former Willa Mung’omba Constitutional Review commissioner, told ZANIS  that calls to extend the NCC process were uncalled for since Zambians were eagerly waiting to have a new constitution.

He said there was no need to extend the NCC process as government was spending huge resources that could be channeled to other national development programmes.

ZANIS/TK/KSH/ENDS

By Mingeli Palata

The other day I got on a bus from Stanley bar in Lusaka town and if you have been on a woodlands flash bus at 9pm then you know what my experience was like. There were two or three drunk guys headed for Kabwata, the ‘working class and a couple of other nobody’s like myself. I sat in the corner making sure my phone was hidden from the infamous Staley Bar phone snatchers while getting some fresh air from the open window.

The late night bus discussion started soon after we took off and this time around it was about the extension of the proposed National Constitutional Conference mandate by twelve months. I was surprised to learn how the chaps I stereotyped as loud and drunk possible PF cadres articulated themselves in their arguments against the extension of the NCC’s mandate. In their opinion, the extension of the National Constitutional Conference is not in the best interests of Zambians seeing as the country is facing a number of problems like the souring food prices and lack of fertilizer in the districts. In their own wisdom, they noted that the NCC costs K300m every year and that the money could for instance help the homeless in Mazyopa. (Internally displaced people)

The debate got sweeter by second and I was getting tempted to get off my shelf so as to add to the discussion. But before I could put my thoughts together, the discussion switched to the issue of the so called rebel PF MP’s and so I quickly lost interest and put my i-pod on- pressed play on a song by the Mulemena boys- intambi. Yet soon thereafter, a commotion developed in the bus- forcing my attention. Apparently a big argument was taking place between some MMD and PF cadres. The two parties obviously disagreed on some issues and were now venting out insults against each other. What really bothers me is that this is not the first time I have heard or witnessed party cadres squabbling. You may be saying come Mingeli! What do you expect? Those are just party cadres! But wait a minute! Can RB stand Sata’s presence or the other way round? Why is it that the two cannot stand on one platform to debate issues of national importance?

There is grave lack of intolerance and reason in the way Zambian politics are played. You may say that’s it’s the way politicians are and call me naive but I think its much more then politics because its starts with you actually. Some of you may recall the articles I wrote prior to the October 30th Elections, it was quite interesting how when I criticized RB- I was called a PF sympathizer, when I questioned HH- I became tribalist and when I ridiculed Michael Sata- I was called RB’s boy. Ironic, isn’t? Now imagine if any of the operatives belonging to the aforementioned political parties took the questions I raised into serious consideration, the political landscape would have been a little different. As I speak there is trouble in the UPND camp, the same questions we raised are being echoed by some prominent UPND members. Sata lost the elections due to the same regionalism and the personality cult mentality we spoke about and RB’s image is not the best today because of the companions we had warned him about.

If only we could debate constructively, this country would go a long way. Instead of completely brushing aside views that seem to challenge your own, it will be good to try and listen. There was a cheaper way of ushering a new constitution, if only the civil society, politicians and leftist commentators like the author were heard.The situation would have been different but now we may not even have the 2011 elections under a new constitution. Further to which one wonders what is wrong with PEACEFUL demonstrations calling on the government to put their act together visa-vies the food, employment and fuel situation in the country. This is the same freedom of expression that we keep talking about. What harm does a hungry person demonstrating his displeasure over the fact that he can no longer afford a bag of mealie meal cause to a mighty state?

We are way past political and social infancy and should now strive towards embracing divergent views and putting politics aside to focus on making ours a better country. This calls each and every one of us to focus on the more important things; the welfare of the Zambian people and not politics. Did you notice that a combination of the MMD, PF and UPND manifestos is actually the panacea to Zambia’s economic misfortunes? Yet before we put shallow politics aside, before we concentrate on the gist and not the pizza and before we open our arms to opposing views; we are but miles away from reaching the Promised Land.

Government has withdrawn the offer to host the 2011 All Africa Games. Chief Government spokesperson, who is also Information and Broadcasting services Minister, Ronnie Shikapwasha, said  the decision to withdraw the offer has been made to save money towards enhancing food security in the wake of the current global economic crisis.

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha said government decided to channel resources towards the provision of essential services to cushion the impact of the rising food prices in Zambia and the rest of the world.

Gen. Shikapwasha said the escalating food prices, declining commodity prices which have affected copper earnings and the decline in government revenue, which are due to the global financial crisis, have forced the Zambian government to forgo the hosting of the games.

Gen. Shikapwasha announced the decision at a press briefing in Lusaka today.

The minister, however, noted that government has re-prioritized it spending plans for the 2009 to 2011 Medium Expenditure Framework to concentrate on a few important programmes.

He stressed that government has decided to shift about K800 billion to identified priority areas, which include food production, hospitals, schools, water and sanitation and roads.

He  noted that government will continue to finance the construction of hostels at all the universities and colleges that were to have been used by participants as the contracts have already been entered into and infrastructure would benefit the institutions

Government says it has received information indicating that some political parties will go ahead with planned demonstrations this weekend over mealie-meal prices.

Home Affairs Minister,Kalombo Mwansa, says the law will deal firmly with people agitating violence over mealie-meal prices.

Dr. Mwansa says law enforcement agencies will not allow anyone to disturb the peace that the country has enjoyed over the years.

He said Ring Leaders of the planned demonstrations will face the wrath of the law.

Dr. Mwansa said there is no need for people to demonstrate as prices of mealie-meal are slowly going down.

He said opposition political leaders should not resort to organising demonstrations but advise government on how best the prices of mealie meal can be reduced further. President, Rupiah Banda, says demonstrating over critical issues affecting the country can only plunge the nation into chaos.

The President says dialogue is the best alternative to addressing national challenges.

He says his door is open to opposition leaders and other stakeholders for dialogue on national issues.

President Banda was speaking in Chongwe on Friday when he called on Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamabo of the soli people.

The President also said government will ensure that the effects of the global economic crisis are mitigated.

And Chieftainess Nkomesha said she is confident President Banda will address the problems that the nation is facing.

She said her chiefdom is ready to support government in its efforts towards develop the country.

ZNBC