Zambia has acquired four concessional loans and a grant worth K326.9 billion from the Chinese government.

The concessional loans include K139 billion for the completion of conference facilities at the Government complex in Lusaka and K109 billion for an ultra modern stadium in Ndola.

President Rupiah Banda, cabinet ministers and other senior government officials witnessed the signing of the loan agreements at State House in Lusaka, Thursday.

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane who signed on behalf of the government, explained that the loans are meant to improve the welfare of Zambians.

Speaking during the signing ceremony at State House, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said his country is determined to further strengthen its relations with Zambia.

Mr. Deming said there is need for China and Zambia to strengthen their unity in the wake of the global financial meltdown which has not spared the two countries.

He said that his country is confident that Zambia like China will overcome the negative impact of the global financial crisis under President Rupiah Banda’s leadership.

Mr. Deming said his team is also in the country to further establish other areas of cooperation and help finance some projects in the country.

He expressed delight that ten companies have so far established economic zones in the country with an investment of over 700 million dollars creating thousands of jobs in the country.

Mr. Deming disclosed that China’s trade with Zambia recorded a total of more than 810 million dollars with Zambia recording over 540 million dollars in exports to that country.

And speaking after the signing ceremony Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane explained that the concession loans and grant agreements will go towards construction of infrastructure and technical support.

He said 63 billion kwacha of the funds will go towards the construction of new grain storage facilities to increase food security in the country while approximately 110 billion kwacha interest free loan will go towards the construction of an ultra modern stadium in Ndola.

Mr. Musokotwane said the third concession loan of approximately 140 billion will go towards the completion of an international conference center at Government complex building with a capacity of hosting two thousand delegates.

He said 20 million US dollars grant will be used for other projects to be agreed upon with by the two governments while 1. 6 million Chinese Yuan will go towards providing agriculture technical support.

Mr. Musokotwane disclosed that China will dispatch a team of experts in agriculture to offer technical expertise in irrigation and other agricultural services.

And the Finance Minister noted that the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will secure more grain for the country’s food security once the new grain facilities are constructed.

Mr. Musokotwane said the sports infrastructure will significantly contribute to sports infrastructure with a bigger capacity to hosting more games.

He urged investors to construct hotels to complement the infrastructure that will be constructed with the funds that have been provided.

Mr. Musokotwane noted that the country will increase its capacity in hosting international games and conferences with the construction of the stadium and conference center.

Meanwhile, President Rupiah Banda has commended the Chinese government for the gesture.

Mr. Banda said he was happy that the Chinese government has helped finance various developmental projects in the country.

He said China and Zambia has continued to share and strengthen long standing relations that have resulted in various developmental projects including the Tanzania-Zambia Rail line.

ZANIS/CM/AM/ENDS
Under the financing agreements, the Food Reserve Agency has also been given K63 billion for up-grading and construction of grain storage sheds.
ZNBC

THE draft of the new Zambian constitution will be published by July this year, the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) has revealed.
And NCC spokesperson Mwangala Zaloumis says no one has the power of altering the draft constitution once adopted by the NCC.

Mrs Zaloumis was speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday.

She said once the draft constitution is published, it will be in circulation for 60 days to allow for public comments before the adoption of the final version.

“The NCC secretariat wishes to register its appreciation for the interest that a good number of people of Zambia have shown and continue to show in the constitution-making process.

“We hope that the NCC will receive useful public comments when the draft constitution is published this July and we can assure them that all their comments will be taken on board,” Mrs Zaloumis said.

She said six of the committees concluded their work last year. These are the citizenship, public service, public finance, judicial, local government and democratic governance committees.

Mrs Zaloumis said the remaining five NCC committees were currently meeting to debate and make recommendations on parts of the contents of the
Mung’omba draft constitution.

The committees are the general constitutional principles, human rights, executive, legislative and land and environment.

Mrs Zaloumis said issues discussed and debated on by the committees which concluded work last year included the 50 per cent plus one for a winning presidential candidate and the composition of board members of the Electoral Commission of Zambia.

She said these and many other recommendations were awaiting approval and ratification by the conference.
She said the process will be completed by March this year, after which the conference will be convened to approve the work of all the 11 committees that were constituted by the NCC under statutory instrument No. 25 of 2008.

Mrs Zaloumis said the NCC would endeavour to complete the constitution-making process within the stipulated time-frame of 12 months after it started deliberations last year.

“The constitution-making process was temporarily curtailed last year due to the death of Dr Mwanawasa and the presidential election that followed. However, we shall ensure we finish the process within the time-frame,” she said.

And Mrs Zaloumis said there was no provision in the NCC Act for the executive to alter the constitution to be adopted by NCC members.

She said the NCC was saddened with negative criticism being perpetuated by some opposition political

party leaders over the constitution-making efforts.
Mrs Zaloumis said Zambians should realise that the adoption of the constitution through a popular body such as the NCC was a fundamental departure from the previous mode of adopting the constitution through the government White Paper.

“Contrary to what is being speculated in some quarters of the media, I wish to emphasise for the general information that there is no provision in NCC for anyone to alter the constitution once adopted by the NCC.

“The criticism is aimed at denying the people of Zambia an opportunity to have a good constitution that will stand the test of time,” she said.

Mrs Zaloumis said the constitution to be adopted by the NCC would not be a recommendation to the Minister of Justice but rather a final submission to either the national referendum or Parliament, depending on the decision of the conference in accordance with section 25 of the NCC Act.

“The adoption of the constitution is being made by various stakeholders both in Government, non-governmental organisations, the church, civil society and the private sector and I can assure members of the public that no stakeholder will prevail over others over the constitution-making process,” she said.

And Mrs Zaloumis says it is wrong for opposition
Patriotic Front president Michael Sata to agitate for the dissolution of the NCC when the process received blessings from all political parties.

She said the agreement to have the NCC constituted arose from the summit of all political party presidents who are members of the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue.

“Therefore, it is unpatriotic for the same people who supported this idea from the onset to raise dissent.
Such people should know that propagating for the discontinuation of the NCC will only deny Zambians a chance to have a constitution that can enhance our current multi-party democratic environment,” Mrs Zaloumis said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

Defence Minister George Mpombo has called for the improvement of infrastructure at Kipushi border post in Solwezi.

Mr. Mpombo said it was embarrassing to have ram shackled infrastructure on the Zambian side, while the Congolese side has very modern infrastructure.

He urged departments operating at the border to work hand in hand with the Provincial Administration in improving the existing infrastructure.

Mr. Mpombo said this when he toured Kipushi border post in Solwezi today. He was accompanied by the Deputy Army Commander, Major General Mutwale, Commissioner of Police, Willies Manjimela, North-Western Province Permanent Secretary, Jeston Mulando and other senior security officers both from the

Ministry of Defence Headquarters and the province.

He also called for the beefing-up of the manpower at the border post to curb smuggling, especially now that Solwezi has become a hive of activities due to the economic boom in the district.

Mr. Mpombo said smuggling at Kipushi border post is rampant because of lax control due to inadequate manpower and the porousness of the border area.

The Minister also cautioned the government departments operating at the border post to avoid being compromised by their Congolese counterparts just because the water and electricity they use comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He urged the North-Western Province Permanent Secretary to find a lasting solution to the problems of the officers not being supplied with water and electricity from the Zambian side at the border. In response, Mr. Mulando said there are plans to tap water from the Kafue River about 15 kilometres away because sinking a borehole has yielded nothing as underground water has been drained by mining activities going in nearby Kipushi town in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr. Mulando further said government was planning to renovate the structures at the border post next year, adding that the focus for this year is to improve the infrastructure at Jimbe and Kamapanda border posts and the opening of a new one at Kambimba in Mwinilunga.

He appealed to the Minister and the Ministry of Home affairs to support the 2010 provincial budget in order to achieve some of the planned programmes for that year.

On water, Mr. Mulando said, as an interim measure, government introduced water harvesters at the border post but those were only reliable during the rain season when heavy rains are received.

On staffing levels, Mr. Mulando said the workforce was small as a result of suspension and charge cases affecting some officers and the transfer of others.

He said the Provincial Administration was making arrangements with the Ministry of Home Affairs to have some more officers sent to the border post to fill the gap.

Speaking earlier, Regional Immigration Officer, Hachibamba Munamonga told the Minister that Kipushi border was the busiest border post in the province recording the highest revenue collection, seconded by Kamapanda in Mwinilunga.

He said the problems they were facing were inadequate staffing resulting in a number of illegal entries, lack of water, inadequate transport and the place has seen no rehabilitation of the infrastructures for a long time now.

ENDS/WN/PK/ZANIS

The Presidential Affairs Minister has cautioned members of the National Constitution Conference (NCC) against including the fifty percent plus one in the constitution on Presidential elections.

Gabriel Namulambe said the current system of a Presidential candidate winning with a simple majority is good for Zambia.

Mr. Namulambe said Zambia has no resources for holding Presidential election re-runs as demanded by the fifty percent plus one alternative.

He said its inclusion will be a burden as the government will be forced to use funds for development for re-runs in case the winning President does not secure the required percentage.

Meanwhile United Party for National Development vice president Richard Kapita has urged NCC members to support the inclusion of the fifty plus one percent.

Mr. Kapita said Zambia can only have a majority President using the fifty plus one percent.
ZNBC

The demand for condom use in Mazabuka has increased tremendously among the sexually active group.

Total Control of the Epidemic (TCE) Mazabuka District Deputy Commandant, Jabez Kanyanda said today that his organisation has doubled its allocation of condoms in Itebe- Kafue gorge area to 4 million from the previous two million.

Mr. Kanyanda said the increase in the condom use meant people are now responding well to the HIV/AIDs prevention measures.

He said TCE will continue supplementing government’s efforts in sensitising people on the dangers of contracting HIV/AIDS by providing rural communities with information that would prevent the wide spread of HIV/AIDs such as the Prevention of the Mother to Children transmission of the pandemic, bad traditional practices such as sexual cleansing and conducting HIV/AIDs mobile tests.

Mr. Kanyanda further said his organisation has embarked on a sensitisation programme targeting Commercial sex workers in the district.

He said the increase in Commercial sex in the district is worrying his organisation and should somehow be stopped. Mr. Kanyanda said high poverty levels and high unemployment are attracting most women to engage in commercial sex business.

He urged the Immigration Department to investigate the high influx of Zimbabwean women reportedly tactifully availing themselves to clients in Guest houses and bars.

Mr. Kanyanda said unconfirmed reports suggest that some Zimbabwean women are allegedly engaging in commercial sex business.

ENDS/HC/PK/ZANIS