The pass-port office says 630 people renounced their Zambian citizenship last year.

Deputy Chief Pass-port Officer, Brenda Kabemba said these acquired citizenship in other countries.

Mrs. Kabemba said this, when she appeared before the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Citizenship Committee.

And Chief Immigration Officer, Ndiyoyi Mutiti said there is need to review the immigration and deportation act to enable Zambians, who have renounced their citizenship to automatically acquire entry permits when they decide to come back.

Mrs. Mutiti also said the current law makes it possible for a child who is born from a Zambian and a foreigner to be a citizen.

She said though dual citizenship is legal in Zambia, the trend has a number of disadvantages such as compromise to the national security and divided allegiance.

Mrs. Mutiti also said a citizen, who has dual citizenship can easily sneak out of the country and find his way to another country if he commits a criminal offence.
[ZNBC]

Education Minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa says it is outlawed for any student to opt to rent an apartment outside the campus unless he is staying with genuine guardians or parents.

This follows an uproar over accommodation by students at the recently upgraded Mulungushi University in Kabwe where students protested against management’s decision to stop them from renting accommodation in the lecturers’ township.

Professor Lungwangwa maintained that students should be accommodated in hostels within the campus.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today, Prof. Lungwangwa said government would not condone a situation students abandon hostels within campus in preference for apartments outside campus.

‘’I condemn the behaviour of Mulungushi University students in the strongest terms. It is illegal for any student to rent a house outside the campus. Appropriate action shall be taken against the concerned students,’’ Prof. Lungwangwa said.

The students at Mulungushi University protested that it was not right for Mulungushi University Management to stop some of the colleagues from renting accommodation in the lecturers’ township because they could not afford to pay the high fees that the University is charging for the hostels.

The students blocked the main entrance to the University with logs and lit bonfires in front of the main gate stopping any vehicle from entering the campus on the Great North Road.

Other students besieged the main administration, pulled the national flag to half-mast and chanted anti-management slogans against their Vice Chancellor Vernon Chinene.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa has maintained that government is not in a position to scale up the meal allowances for students at the University of Zambia.

Prof. Lungwangwa said an agreement between the students and Bursaries Committee states how much government can afford to extend to the students.

He said government has limited recourses which are spread to many other competing needs.

And Education Minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa has challenged the media to write positively on the education sector.

He observed that Journalists have a tendency of writing negative stories on the education sector despite positive gains scored in the sector

The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) has castigated the Catholic Church, for opposing the reconciliation between President Mwanawasa and Patriotic Front (PF) President Michael Sata.

MMD Spokesperson Benny Tetamashimba says it was disappointing that the Catholic Church was questioning the reconciliation between the two leaders instead of preaching peace and reconciliation.

Mr. Tetamashimba, who is also Local Government and Housing Deputy Minister, said the church should learn to promote reconciliation and peace instead of dwelling on issues that bring instability.

He said in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today that the MMD party was surprised that the Catholic Church was questioning the reconciliation of the two leaders instead of encouraging forgiveness and reconciliation.

Mr. Tetamashimba charged that Bishops in the Catholic Church have no authority to judge any person except God and that there is need for the nation to pray so that the wishes of the two leaders can be fulfilled through the grace of God.

He wondered why it was difficult for the Catholic Church to accept the reconciliation of the two popular leaders when the church had an obligation to preach peace and reconciliation.

Mr. Tetamashimba observed that in all churches that included the Catholic Church, when people come to confess their sins for forgiveness from God and not to the Bishops, they do not state all the sins that they had committed against God, but the words from their mouths are enough for God to forgive them.

He said the MMD is aware that there are fathers in the Catholic Church who have children when they are not supposed to have children adding that some fathers were dismissed but that after a year they were recalled back and are preaching in the churches as fathers and that Bishops have not asked the fathers to tell the nation of the same.

Mr. Tetamashimba stated that it was discouraging for the Church to be against decisions aimed at bringing peace among political leaders in the country.

He questioned why it was difficult for the Catholic Church to ask to meet President Mwanawasa and PF President Michael Sata even at State House to learn more information about the reconciliation if ever they have the interest.

Mr. Tetamashimba has since challenged the Catholic Church to tell the nation the Commandments they got from God through Jesus Christ if they can’t preach peace and reconciliation because there existence as a church based on preaching peace and reconciliation.

Vice President Rupiah Banda has asked people of Milanzi constituency to vote for the MMD candidate, Reuben Banda, in the forthcoming Milanzi Parliamentary by-election in order to accelerate development in the area.

Speaking when he addressed a rally at Kawaza Basic School in Milanzi Constituency in Katete today, Mr Banda said the people should vote for the MMD candidate to enhance proper and faster handling of development requests submitted to government for consideration.

The vice president noted that the MMD government is already implementing various developmental projects that include the rehabilitation of roads and bridges in the area.

Meanwhile, Mr Banda has assured the people of Katete and Milanzi in particular that government under the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, DMMU, will soon send relief food to the area because it is aware that people in the area have no food due to poor crop yield in the last farming season.

And earlier, the vice president paid a courtesy call on Senior Chief Kawaza of the Chewa people, who however, appealed to government to consider Chewa chiefs in the distribution of vehicles bought for traditional leaders.

The chief also asked government help rehabilitate his palace which has remained in a dilapidated state for a long time.

And vice president assurred the chief that government would not consider the Chewa chiefs whenm it embarks of the distribution exercise of the procured vehicles.

He also assured the chief that his palace would be reconstructed and roads worked on in his chiefdom.

And Local Government and Housing deputy minister, Eustancio Kazonga, who accompanied the vice president, said plans are underway to address the water problem in the area immediately.

Meanwhile, over 40 headmen in Milanzi constituency have pledged to support the MMD candidate in the by-election which takes place on June 26 this year.

Speaking on behalf of others, when vice president met them at Kawaza basic school, Village headman Mutamba Phiri, said the headmen have pledged to rally behind the MMD because of the developmental programmes that government has implemented in the area.

Mr Phiri cited the construction of schools as among some of the significant projects implented in the constituency.

The vice president is in Katete to drum up support for MMD candidate, Reuben Banda, in the by-election which is also being contested by the UPND, FDD, PF and UNIP.

The Milanzi seat fell vacant following the death of MP Chosani Ndhlovu.

Ex-communicated Catholic Archbishop, Emmanuel Milingo says the Movement for Married Priests is in the process of establishing the third Vatican Council to shape the future of the renewed Catholic Church.

Archbishop Milingo said the third Vatican Council will be launched in South Korea before the end of this month.

He told ZNBC news shortly before he and his wife Maria Sung left for South Korea that proposals for the foundation have already been made.

Archbishop Milingo also said the movement is preparing for the Universal Peace Federation meeting.

He indicated that faith based groups will soon hold a symposium on Catholicism.

Archbishop Milingo boasted that his organisation will provide air tickets for delegates from the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) if they are willing to attend the ceremony.

The Archbishop, 78, leads 150,000 married priests across the world.

He was ex-communicated for holding divergent views from the Catholic Church and marrying priests.

Government has dismissed statements carried in the Herald Newspaper of Zimbabwe alleging that some SADC Heads of State and Government quashed President Mwanawasa’s attempts to convene a special meeting to the review the political developments in Zimbabwe prior to the presidential run-off elections set for June 27, 2008, during the 4th TICD meeting in Yokohama, Japan.

Chief Government spokesperson Mike Mulongoti says government further strongly refutes a report carried in the same Newspaper on June 2, 2008, stating that Britain had engaged the leaders of Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia and other African countries to press for a speedy regime change in Zimbabwe.

Mr. Mulongoti said the truth is that President Mwanawasa convened a SADC consultative meeting on the margins of the 4th summit of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) held in Yokohama, Japan to review the political developments in Zimbabwe before the presidential run-off elections scheduled for June 27, 2008.

Briefing the press in Lusaka today, Mr. Mulongoti, who is also Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, named those in attendance as King Mswati 111 of Swaziland, the presidents of Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia, the Vice President of Botswana, the Prime Ministers of Lesotho and Angola, as well as the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Zimbabwe.

He said during the meeting, President Mwanawasa as the current SADC chairperson reminded the several SADC Heads of State and Government present about the resolutions passed at the SADC Extraordinary Summit that was held in Lusaka on April 13, 2008, during which a decision was made to send an observer mission to Zimbabwe to observe the run-off elections to ensure the elections were free and fair and to avoid possible disputes over the results.

Mr. Mulongoti said this was in the aftermath of the delay by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission releasing the results of March 29, 2008 in Zimbabwe as after the results were announced, it was clear there was no outright winner, calling for a rerun.

He said it was unfortunate to observe during the consultative meeting that some leaders concentrated on a procedural debate, with the Zimbabwe Minister of Foreign Affairs by referring to the Dar-Es-Salaam organ summit in March, 2008 during which President Mbeki of South Africa was as mediator to resolve the political impasse in Zimbabwe, instead of giving an update on the electoral process in Zimbabwe as was expected.

Mr. Mulongoti said President Mwanawasa was not wrong in raising the matter of sending the SADC observer mission to Zimbabwe without further delay and therefore it is not proper to allow bureaucratic considerations derail efforts aimed at finding a solution to end the political problems prevailing in Zimbabwe.

“To say the least, as President Mwanawasa realized, the procedural debate was counter productive and an indication that some members present did not want the situation in Zimbabwe to be discussed during the consultative meeting in Yokohama, Japan,” he said.

Mr. Mulongoti said it must be realized that Zambia, through President Mwanawasa’s leadership, was among the country’s that were against the isolation of Zimbabwe by the Western World.

He said Zambia has made several attempts to advise some government leaders in Zimbabwe to stop the uncalled for attacks on President Mwanawasa and his administration as well as the protest by Zambia through a notevebal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Mulongoti said President Mwanawasa found it difficult to reconcile with his conscience when some Heads of State and Government spoke at length deliberating on the procedural debate and consequently ended the meeting inconclusively.

And Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande dismissed allegations that Zambian leader and SADC Chairperson President Levy Mwanawasa threatened to resign as SADC chairperson.

Mr. Pande said at no time did Dr. Mwanawasa indicate to resign.

Government will this year further subsidise the farming inputs from the current 60% under the Fertiizer Support Programme (FSP).

Vice president Rupiah Banda disclosed this on arrival in Katete, Eastern province today.

He is in the area to drum up support for MMD candidate Reuben Banda in the Milanzi constituency by-elections billed for 26th of this month.

Mr Banda said government will further subsidise the farming inputs and also improve the crop marketing system in order to improve the agriculture sector.

The vice president expressed satisfaction at the support the MMD has recived from the people of Milanzi and was optimistic the the party will emerge victorious in the by election which arose following the death of incumbent MP Chosani Njobvu in March this year.

He noted that the MMD government has implemented several development projects in the constituency such as rehabilitation of roads, bridges and construction of schools and clinics which the people of Milanzi have appreciated.

Meanwhile, MMD deputy National Secretary Geofrey Kaande has said the ruling party is a waging an issue-based and non-violent campaign in the Milanzi by-election.

Mr Kaande urged other contestants to do the same.

Other candidates contesting the seat are UPND’s Chimwala Phiri, Francis Phiri for FDD, Peter Phiri for PF, APC’s Stephen Phiri and UNIP’s Ahmed Randera.

The Vice President arrived in Katete around 13.00 hours and will be in Katete until Sunday.