The price of mealie meal in some retail shops in Solwezi has been increased.

A check by ZANIS in the Township revealed that a 25kg bag of breakfast mealie meal has gone up from K65,000 to K68,000 at Antelope and Mwamba Family Shops, while at another retail outlet the commodity was being sold at K70,000.

The price of a 25kg bag of roller melie meal is ranging from K50,000 to K57,000 in some shops.

According to some traders talked to, the price of mealie meal was increased by the millers where they buy the commodity from.

Meanwhile the susponsion of sale of maize by FRA to the local community in Solwezi still stnds until all measures to restrict the commodity from being sold outside the country were put in place.

Provincial Agriculture Co-coordinator, Charles Sondashi, confirmed that the sale of the maize was still suspended because some traders, who were given the opportunity to purchase the maize in bulk, had taken it to Kipushi boarder post for reselling at a higher price.

Mr. Sondashi mentioned that Zambians were struggling to produce food for citizens and there was no way some selfish people would take it to feed outsiders.

Mr. Sondoshi stressed that the selling of maize by the FRA would commerce as soon as all measurres were put in place with the stakeholders.

The Lusaka High Court has thrown out an application for an injuction by Patriotic Front rebel MPs to restrain their Leader from expelling them from the party.

High Court Judge, Gregory Phiri, says the MPs have failed to prove irreparable injuries that would occur to them in the event that they are expelled from attending the National Constitution Conference (NCC).

This is in the case where Chrispin Lwali, and others had sued PF secretary General, Edward Mumbi, and party Leader Michael Sata.

In his ruling, Justice Phiri said both the MPs and the intervener who is the Attorney General have not proved their claims.

Justice Phiri said considering all the circumstances of the case, the MPs failed to satisfy him about the nature of injury they would suffer.

ZNBC

The Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MWUZ)and National Union of Miners and Allied Workers Union (NUMIAWU) have warned that any attempts to switch off equipment or attempts to close Luanshya Copper Mines operations would be met with maximum resistance.

The two unions have also urged its members to closely monitor operations and ensure that no materials or scrap metal leaves the premises of the company.

Addressing a joint press conference at Katilungu house today, MUZ President, Rayford Mbulu, appealed to government and the technical committee to ensure and guarantee continued Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM) operations, employment and incomes, as this would lessen anxiety and fears by members so that peace prevailed in Luanshya.

Mr Mbulu also said the two unions have rejected the putting mine assets on ”care and maintenance”.

He suggested that the shutdown schedule as outlined on 19th December be revisited and advised that no letters should be issued to employees by LCM management util things are straight.

Mr Mbulu, who was flanked by NUMAWU president, Mundia Sikufele, appealed to all stakeholders to engage in a fast tracked process to create a vehicle for continued LCM operations.

He also reminded LCM management to honour in full their obligations to employees for rendered services by ensuring that the terminations were accompanied by terminal benefits as outlined in the collective agreement.

The MUZ president requested mine owners and shareholders, whose corporate and global interests outweigh the interests of the country, to offload their shares to government and hand back the mine assets to ZCCM-IH to protect domestic economy through continued operations to safeguard mine assets, job losses and asset stripping.

President Rupiah Banda has congratulated his Nigerian counterpart Alhaji Umaru Mussa Yar’Adua for winning an election petition in the Supreme Court which was filed by the opposition parties.

President Banda said the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of President Yar’Adua confirmed the existence of a democratic dispensation in Nigeria in which the rule of law reins supreme.

He said this in a statement issued to ZANIS in Lusaka today.

President Banda hoped the court ruling will help President Yar’ Adua to enhance his noble efforts to unite and steer Nigeria to sustainable development and prosperity.

“In this regard, I wish to convey my warmest congratulations and best wishes on your victory” President Banda said.

He added that Mr. Yar’ Adua’s victory should further inspire Zambia and Nigeria to work closely together to strengthen the two countries’ bonds of friendship and cooperation for the mutual benefit of their people.

The Nigerian Supreme Court on December 12, 2008 ruled that President Yar’Adua was duly elected to the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after the opposition challenged the results of the presidential elections.

By Mingeli Palata
Just as well I was discussing the possibility of having a serious new and youthful candidate relish the prospects of presidency in the 2011 election with some youth leaders the other day. In our discourse, a number of issues came out. Of course by serious youthful candidates I don’t mean the likes of New Revolution whatever it’s called and the other self proclaimed doctor.

At this juncture, it is imperative to note that the role of the youth in politics world over has been that of agents of revolutionary change, if you look at most independence struggles and major political upsets, you will glean that the youth have played a major role in its outworking. This notorious fact is both are an asset and a misfortune for the youth. It can be used either for or against the youth as will be highlighted in the course of this article.

Today the youth are mere cadres and tools used to propel other people’s political expediency- it’s a sad state of affairs. We need not to emphasize on how the youth are sidelined in the Political realm as this has already been dealt with in the earlier article. But let’s look at this from a different perspective, what are the youth themselves doing to take a more serious role in the future of Zambian politics?

We have established that the youth are powerful forces of change; this means the onus to either be a factor or not rests entirely on us. Human beings by nature designed to be free moral agents with a free conscience- choice. Indeed the power of reasoning and choice is what differentiates us from animals. Now if the majority of the youth have chosen to be used by cunning politicians, if they have decided that it is better to drink from 6 to 6 and if they have succumbed to the dictates of politics as usual, then that is not anyone’s problem. In this case we the youth have no one to blame but ourselves because we have allowed ourselves to be used. Why do we expect the government of some super natural force to put or involve us in important national matters when we ourselves have not shown the ability or the willingness to lead?

A lot of colleagues in the various youthful circles have mooted pushing for deliberate legislation that will serve to ensure that the youth have a certain representation in key government structures such as Parliament and cabinet guaranteed. My contention is that on principle we don’t need to create space or positions for any group or association just for the sake of doing it. We already have constitutional provisions that allow each and every Zambian- man, woman, youth, disabled to participate and be represented in government structures. You can vote when you are 18, you can be a member of parliament when you are 21 and you can go for Nkwazi house when you are 35, isn’t that enough?

Yet the fact that the youth are not a factor in Zambia’s political realm is not entirely our fault. In the recent years we have seen a stronger bond between money and politics develop, the two seem to complement each other. The obviously smaller financial muscle power that most youths have has placed them at a disadvantage. The youth cannot compete on a fair and equal ground with older and much more established politicians. Sadly the marriage between money and politics is a grim reality that will continue to hinder the progress of the youth in Politics.

The challenges that face the youth in their quest to partake in the national cake are real and if let unsolved will continue to impact negatively of youth development. Until the youth wake up from their 44 year old slumber and take center stage in the affairs of this country, the situation will remain the same. The way I see it, this country is not going anywhere until, we ‘the leaders of tomorrow’ do something about the bleak fate of our country. The future is in our hands!

Finance and National Planning Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane said the Government would encourage private sector participation by removing bureaucracy and making it easy for people to start doing business.

Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) chairperson, Yusuf Dodia urged the Government to avoid borrowing from banks next year so as not to create more pressure on the financial sector.
Mr Dodia said the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) and the Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ) should be merged so that they could assist Zambians in starting up businesses.

Another businessman, Jeremiah Dauya said the Government should give local businesses incentives to enable their products to compete with imported items.

Meanwhile Dr. Musokotwane said donors have pledged to fulfill their budgetary commitments in next year’s Budget despite the global financial crisis.

Dr Musokotwane said on the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) television programme, “National Watch” monitored yesterday that donors contributed 25 per cent of Zambia’s national Budget.
He said that because of the global crisis there were fears that donor countries who were most affected would cut their support but most of them had confirmed their contribution.
“So far most donors have indicated that they will fulfill their pledges and the only worry will be about the job losses in the mines,” he said.

He said Zambia should not be scared to attract foreign investment because it accounted for the positive economic trends in countries such as China and Thailand.
“We should not be scared to attract local and foreign investment but we should just ensure that people benefit,” he said.

He said Zambia had not attracted sufficient foreign investment, especially that it came from a “commandist” economy and that since it had a small market the option was to export in order to earn foreign exchange.
He added that Zambia was not the only country that was facing job losses in the mines and the Government was monitoring mines while looking at measures of protecting jobs.
Dr Musokotwane said President Banda recently visited Luanshya Mine because the Government was concerned about the job losses.

He also assured that next year’s Budget would address how Zambia would pull through out of the global financial crisis.

Times of Zambia