National Milling Company has announced a major reduction in mealie-meal prices across the country.

Company Managing Director, Peter Cottan, says the new prices with a minimum of eight thousand kwacha reduction, will be effected on wednesday.

He said at a press briefing in Lusaka that a 25 Kilogramme bag of breakfast mealie meal will now be selling at K45,000 while roller meal will be selling at K35,000.

Mr. Cottan said on the copperbelt breakfast mealie-meal will be selling at K49,500.

Roller meal will be sold at thirty nine thousand kwacha per twenty-five kilogram bag.

Mr. Cottan said in the other outlying areas breakfast will be selling at K52,500 while roller meal will be selling at K42,500.

He attributed the variation in prices to transport costs.

Mr. Cottan said the company has reduced the prices of the staple food following governments agreement to subsidise maize by 100 percent.

Patriotic Front (PF) officials and cadres in Kasama have rejected the reconciliation between party leader, Michael Sata, and Kasama Central Member of Parliament, Saviour Chishimba.

The PF officials and cadres resolved during a heated meeting called on Saturday that they will not recognize the reconciliation.

Northern Province PF chairman, Frederick Chisanga, said the truce is between the two leaders and the party has nothing to do with it.

Mr. Chisanga said as far as PF members in Kasama were concerned, Dr. Chishimba is expelled from the Patriotic Front.

He said Mr. Sata should have consulted the grassroots before deciding to pardon the rebel MP.

And Kasama District PF chairman, Evaristo Bwalya, said the people of Kasama will not forgot the abusive language that Dr. Chishimba used against them in the recent past.

[ ZNBC]

President Rupiah Banda is expected in Kasama tomorrow for a four-day official visit during which he will, among others, inspect the abandoned tourism infrastructure at Kasaba Bay in Mpulungu District.

Acting Northern Province Permanent Secretary Gabriel Kaunda confirmed the development to Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in Kasama today.

Mr. Kaunda said the President is expected to touch down at Kasama Airport at 16:30 hours tomorrow before proceeding to Kasama Lodge where he will have a meeting with MMD party officials.

He said on Wednesday morning President Banda leaves for Chitimukulu in Mungwi district to pay a courtesy call on the paramount chief.

Mr. Kaunda said Mr. Banda will later return to Kasama to officially open the Provincial Auditor General’s office in the afternoon.

He said in the evening, the President will have a meeting with church leaders at Kasama lodge.

Mr. Kaunda further said the President will leave for Kasaba Bay on Thursday morning to inspect infrastructure and return to Kasama for a night stop.

President Banda will on Friday morning inspect works on the Kasama-Luwingu and Kasama-Mporokoso road projects before flying back to Lusaka in the afternoon.

The acting PS has since appealed to Kasama residents to give President Banda a thunderous welcome by turning up in numbers to welcome him when he arrives tomorrow.

ENDS/HM/AM/ZANIS

POLICE in Choma have picked up and detained a 24 year-old woman to help them with investigations into the suspected murder of another woman.

Police officer-in-Charge Victor Mateyo who confirmed this to ZANIS in Choma today said the named woman of Overspill compound was apprehended last evening.

Mr. Mateyo explained that the move follows the death of a woman who was six months pregnant in Choma general hospital from suspected injuries inflicted on her by the suspect during a fight that took place two weeks ago.

He explained that the deceased is suspected to have suffered injuries which forced her to go into early labour in which the still fetus was also found with bruises and was blood stained.

Mr. Mateyo said the husband to deceased told the police that his pregnant wife had complained of abdominal pains before being rushed to hospital.

He said the suspect is alleged to have picked a quarrel with the deceased over an issue in which their children had fought.

Mr. Mateyo said a scuffle ensued in which the suspect is said to have assaulted the deceased by repeatedly hitting her in the stomach despite her state of pregnancy.

Mr. Mateyo revealed that the suspect is a neighbour to the deceased woman.
ENDS/CM/AM/ZANIS

THE Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has completed evaluation of two firms short listed to undertake the concession of Njanji Commuter Railway Services and is expected to make a decision soon.

ZDA communications manager, Margaret Chimanse, said the board was currently reviewing a report submitted by the technical committee which evaluated the bids.

Ms Chimanse said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the board was still looking into the matter and was expected to make a decision anytime soon.

“The board is reviewing the situation and looking into it. It has not yet decided but will do that once it sits next time,” she said.

Last year ZDA was evaluating bids from two companies that showed interest to undertake the concession of Njanji Commuter Service (NCS) assets.

The assets are mainly the railway line within Lusaka covering a distance of 13.5 kilometers.

The two bids evaluated were one from a consortium of Lusaka Metro Limited with Circle Capital Global a South African company and City Rail Limited of Lusaka.

If the technical committee appointed to evaluate the bids failed to select a final bidder from the two submitted, the concession would have to be re-advertised.

The ZDA board is expected to approve selection of the final bidder to carry out a concession of NCS.
The concession period is for 15 years renewable based on performance.

According to the agency, bidders were free to propose the development and restoration of the original NCS railway line from Chilenje to George townships.

The technical proposals were to address possible re modeling and rehabilitation and investment methods such as Build and Operate and Transfer and variants of BOTs schemes.

The agency says the operator would be expected to invest in rolling stock and rehabilitation of the rail track.

Recently, two firms expressed interest to undertake the concession of NCS assets after ZDA invited qualified operators to undertake the concession.
The NCS has been dormant for 11 years after it ceased operation in 1996.

Government has also noted encroachments on the railway track route through the residential areas east of the city center.

At the peak of its operations, the commuter served the needs of thousands of passengers who found it cheaper than buses.

Zambia Daily Mail

Attorney General Mumba Malila says the Zambian government is satisfied with the pace at which courts are handling cases of plundered resources.

Mr. Malila says government is satisfied with the way the courts handled cases of corruption last year.

He said government will not interfere with the manner the courts are doing their work.

Some sections of society including the Human rights Commission are concerned with delays to dispose off cases of plunder of public resources.

[ZNBC]

Dear bloggers,

My name is Mulenga (not real name). I grew up in Kabulonga Lusaka.My father was a businessman in the mid 80s to mid 90s. He was quite successful in what he did. I apparently had 6-8 siblings. Lost count through the years. The youngest of my fathers children JJ and I are from the same mother.The rest have different mothers. Most of my brothers and sisters lived with their mothers. My father however supported them.

Having a stranger show up with bags at our house with a claim that he was my fathers child was a normal occurrence in my childhood. Sometimes it was fun discovering I had a “new” big brother. These new big brothers always made my holidays interesting. My mother was never amused though and it was a source, I suspect, of the many quarrels my parents had.

When I was in grade 8 my father started falling ill. At first he would fly out of the country for weeks on end for treatment. Later he turned to Chinese medicine and witchdoctors. As he was spending more and more time from his business his business started failing. His brother used to help run things and I become aware that his brother was actually stealing money but my dad was too sick to do anything about it. My mother also become ill. She deteriorated more rapidly than my father and died within a year. By that time my grandmother had thankfully come to live with us. I was numb to any feelings. My younger brother stopped speaking for a long time. I think he was also very traumatized. He still behaves like he has a few screws missing upstairs to this day.

One by one relatives and friends abandoned our family as my father got worse. As a young man, I had to take care of my father. The big brothers who used to frequent our house were nowhere to be seen now. I was exposed to things a boy of 15 shouldn’t be. I was so disgusted with this man. How was it possible to hate someone and love him at the same time?

I got to know HIV/AIDS intimately if I can say so. It took both my parents. I vowed I would never walk in my fathers footsteps. As years went on I turned to alcohol to numb the pain I had. Soon I found out that women were a welcome accompaniment to the alcohol. Without realising it, I had become my father. I am so disgusted with myself, I drink to numb those feelings of shame. Its a vicious cycle.

Dear readers, this is a letter I wish my cousin Mulenga could admit to himself and write. I have watched him self destruct through the years and become the man he wished he would never become. I have tried talking to him. I’ve even invited him to go to church on numerous occasions. He says church is for losers. I joke that, that’s exactly why I’m inviting him! I pray constantly that one day he will change. Every night I know he is out drinking I pray for him.

Parents your actions will have an impact on your children and grandchildren long after you are gone. Are beer and women with the resultant HIV/AIDS worth destroying so many lives? Think about it.

Ruth

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