Zambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, UK Anderson Chibwe has urged Zambian Nationals living in UK illegally to take advantage of the new British Immigration Amnesty and return back home before October 1, this year.

Ambassador Chibwe said the new British rules give migrants living illegally in UK an incentives to return to their respective countries on their own.

He said those that comply with the rule will be given a shorter ban than those that will wait for the UK border agency to remove them.

Mr Chibwa has since appealed to all Zambian in the UK to respect the British Laws to avoid coming into conflict with the law.

He has also urged all those that intend to travel to the UK to be conversant with the new immigrations rules.

This is contained in a statement issued to ZANIS today by the second Secretary for Press, in London, Rejoice Lukumba.

Ambassador Chibwe however noted that the new rules will not be applied to migrants who were in the UK as at March 17, 2008 and those that will return on their own to their respective countries before October 1, this year.

This follows the new immigration rules that the British government introduced to ban people who break the immigration Laws from returning to UK.

Mr. Chibwe noted that the new rules also provide that anyone who had previously used deception in an entry clearance application will have all future applications to travel to UK denied for 10years.

However the High Commissioner emphasized that migrants who breached UK immigration laws such as over staying, illegal entry and breaching the conditions of their leave by working illegally will be banned from returning to UK for one year and those that left voluntarily at their own expense, five years while those that were deported will be banned for 10years.

According to the letter from the Head of Unit UK Border Agency Mr. Mac Owen, the new immigration rules seek to provide a stronger sanction for breaches of the British Immigration Laws and reinforce the message that the people intending to travel to the UK obey the Laws or face the consequences.

He however stated that this follows last months warning statement that was issued by the British High Commissioner to Zambia Mr. Alistair Harrison that all Visa cheats who try to travel to UK by use of false documents will face an automatic ban.

Mr. Harrison stated that all applicants for the UK Visa will be required to provide finger scans as part of application process which will be used to identify the previously broken rules in the UK.

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF has accused Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa of siding with the opposition in its bid to oust President Robert Mugabe, in yet another sign of worsening relations between the two countries. Relations between the two countries have been deteriorating since Zimbabwe accused Zambia of trying to block its maize imports in the run-up to the March elections

The ruling party, which is gearing up for a bruising presidential election run-off between Mr Mugabe and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, said it was disappointed with Mr Mwanawasa because he had failed to call for the lifting of sanctions imposed by Western countries.

It said that, as the chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mr Mwanawasa had been tasked to ask the United States and Britain to scrap the “illegal” sanctions.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr Patrick Chinamasa, who chairs Zanu PF’s media sub-committee, said the sanctions had contributed to Mr Mugabe’s embarrassing defeat in the first round of the elections.

“SADC undertook to call for the lifting of the illegal sanctions but Mr Mwanawasa, as the chairperson, has not done so yet,” he said.

“It is his obligation to implement the resolution issued at the extraordinary summit held in Tanzania last year to remove immediately all forms of the illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe.

“We have not heard him calling for the lifting of the sanctions … we have been adversely affected by the sanctions, as they are creating an uneven playing field.”

And the Zambian Government responded by saying the Zimbabwean government is not being fair to President Mwanawasa as chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) by heaping abuse on him and then asking him to assist the country.

Chief Government spokesperson, Mike Mulongoti said that Zimbabwe should quickly resolve its problems by holding free and fair elections before talking about the sanctions that have been imposed on that country.

He said it was surprising that the Zimbabwean government had allowed its newspaper, The Herald to heap abuses on President Mwanawasa and at the same time ask him to assist the country.

“The Zimbabweans need to exercise humility and show decency because they cannot insult President Mwanawasa and at the same time ask him to help them because as SADC chair he has done what he can,” he said.

He said Zimbabweans should hold the elections and whoever would emerge winner would then talk much about sanctions because to talk about sanctions now may be premature. He said the issue of sanctions was for Zimbabweans which they understood better.
He said President Mwanawasa from the on-set had done everything possible to help resolve the problems in Zimbabwe and the entire world was watching the situation.

“It is surprising that Mr Chinamasa, the man who lost an election is very vocal and bitter,” he said.

ZANAMA Chairman General Elvis Nkandu says there are many Zambians who sub-let their shops to foreigners as compared to marketeers only.

ZANIS reports that Mr Nkandu said that the warning by the President to marketeers in the habit of sub-letting shops to foreigners was commendable because it has been observed that some people were abusing the facilities which were meant to benefit them by sub-letting to foreigners at exorbitant rental charges.

He explained that sub-Letting has given advantage to foreigners than the locals as people from outside brought in goods which attract customers, thereby disadvantaging locally manufactured goods.

Mr Nkandu warned that his association would not protect any of his members who were sub-letting their stalls and shops.

He commended government for responding to the people’s cries that traded in the streets, who wanted more conducive trading places.

Caritas Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) Livingstone Diocese Coordinator John Mwewa has urged government to
be realistic when dealing with labour matters.

Mr Mwewa said union leaders have been pressurizing government to give an increment to public workers that was in accordance with the prevailing food basket.

He said it was important that government invests in its workforce because it is cardinal in the implementation of most government programmes.

Mr Mwewa noted that the 15 percent salary increment still presented a big margin in meeting basic household food levels.

He said in Livingstone, the food basket stood at K1, 620,000 in March.

Mr Mwewa said in order to meet these needs, there was need for government to look at the issue morally and
give public workers a decent increment that would go a long way in meeting the cost of the food basket.

Meanwhile, the Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) in Kawambwa has supported its National Executive Committee(NEC) for rejecting the 15 percent increment.

CSAWUZ Kawambwa Branch, Mathews Mushibwe commended the executive in a press release to ZANIS in Kawambwa today.

Mr. Mushibwe said the 15 percent increase is a mockery to civil servants hence the support to the NEC for rejecting the increase.

He said NEC should go ahead and fight for the reasonable increment so that its members are compensated for the suffering they went through during the wage freeze and HIPC completion point.

Mr. Mushibwe urged NEC to stick to the 2002 collective agreement which gave members K150, 000.00, K250, 000.00 and K450, 000.00 respectively.

He said his branch has asked NEC not to stand back over housing allowance because this was settled and re-affirmed its support to NEC.

And Mr. Mushibwe warned that his branch is ready to take part in the strike which might be declared by NEC if the reconciliation fails to resolve the salary negotiation stand off.