Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Sarah Sayifwanda has disclosed that Government has slashed the proposed K58 billion recapitalisation budget by Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ)to K8 billion.

And Government has disclosed that it would start distributing fertiliser for the 2008/09 farming season to small scale farmers by July and has invited private companies to bid for the supply of fertiliser and that NCZ was also free to apply.

Speaking when Mrs. Sayifwanda addressed NCZ management and Union officials in the company boardroom yesterday (Friday),the Minister disclosed that the move was made because most of the items on the budget were irrelevant.

The Minister also disclosed that she had called NCZ Chief Executive officer Richard Soko in the presence of Minisiter of Finance and National Planning Ng’andu Magande so that he could explain how the K58 billion meant for recapitalisation adding that he had to convince Government on expenditure for the budget to be approved.

She said this was done because Government was trying to avoid another misapproriation like the incident regarding the K24 billion which was given to the company between 2000 and 2003.

She observed that Government has been spoon feeding NCZ for a long time now and that it was now up to the company this time around to seek other sources of revenue for it to become self reliant.

But the Minister assured that it still cared for NCZ and was doing everything possible to address problems affecting the company and maintained that Government will not privatise NCZ because it played a very important role in the agriculture sector.

She called on workers to be patient as Cabinet was still reviewing the operations of NCZ in order to chart the way forward.

Government’s intention, the Minister stated was to start distributing fertiliser for the 2008/09 fertiliser farming season to small scale farmers by July hence it has invited private companies to bid for the supply of fertilizer and NCZ is also free to apply.

And the Minister has advised the National Union of Comemrcial and Industrial Workers at Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia to use her office when expressing their grievances regarding the situation at the company instead of them taking the law into their own hands.

Ms Sayifwanda said it was wrong for the NUCIW to write directly to State House asking the Republican President Dr. Levy Mwanawasa to address the plight of the workers at NCZ when her ministry had not failed to do so.

She noted that it was not right to by pass her office when the President had entrusted her with all the powers to run the ministry of agriculture and advised that any future correspondence over the company should be addressed to her office for speedy resolution of problems.

But speaking earlier at the same meeting, NUCIW National President Seth Paradza told the minister that the union had decided to write to the Republican President Dr. Levy Mwanawasa because in 2001 he promised that he will be helping NCZ when need arose.

He warned that workers would soon start holding peaceful demonstrations and called on the President’s intervention in the problems that had dogged NCZ.

ZANIS/ENDS/BS/SC/CLM

President Robert Mugabe on Friday said Britain will never colonise Zimbabwe again as the country is ready to take up arms and defend its independence.

Addressing the National Youth Convention, President Mugabe said Zimbabwe is a sovereign state and would never betray its foreign heroes who lost their lives during the liberation struggle.

” This is our Zimbabwe,” President Mugabe said, ” We cannot allow the British to once again dominate us through their puppets.”

He said no white man would ever be boss over Zimbabweans as Zimbabwe is a liberated country.

The President urged Zimbabweans to be wary of the opposition MDC as it was working with Western countries to force regime change in Zimbabwe.

” Voting for the MDC in the June 27 second presidential election is voting for the British to once again have power over Zimbabwe,” he said.

He said Zimbabweans were aware that white former farmers came back to Zimbabwe after MDC claimed to have won the March harmonised elections.

The independence of Zimbabwe was now being put under test by its detractors and therefore people should unite and defend their sovereignty, he said.

President Mugabe said Britain and her allies were envious of Zimbabwe’s independence and natural resources.

” Britain does not want Zimbabwe to enjoy total independence, it only wants to have total control of our wealth,” he said.

Students from all the country’s tertiary institutions and universities and senior Zanu PF officials attended the convention.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe government said on Friday the order suspending all field operations of Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) related to movement of their personnel into communities and not operations at offices.

In a circular to all PVOs and NGOs to clarify the issue, Public Service Labour and Social Welfare acting permanent secretary Sydney Mhishi said the suspension did not imply banning or deregistration.

” The government has received information that some PVOs and NGOS involved in humanitarian operations were breaching terms and conditions of their registration as embraced in the PVO Act by engaging in political activities,” said Mhishi.

” In order to allow for fair and transparent investigations, field operations of all PVOs/NGOs had to be suspended,” he said, adding the government was desirous to complete the investigations to allow the organisations to resume normal operations.

Mhishi said in terms of the suspension letter, field operations implied movement by NGOs/PVOs personnel into communities to mobilise, organise or bring together large numbers of people.

He said the suspension did not prohibit those on Anti-retroviral therapy and those benefiting from Home Based Care programmes to continue accessing drugs and therapeutic feeding from clinics and hospitals.

Supplementary feeding programmes for children were also not covered by the suspension since these were community based and did not entail community mobilisation.

Churches were also not covered by the suspension since the Zimbabwe Constitution guaranteed freedom of worship and they were not registered in terms of the PVO Act.

The Office of the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs organised a meeting of United Nations agencies and NGOs/PVOs on Thursday to seek clarification from the government on the suspension of field operations of all civic organisations.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations has welcomed the clarification, saying it assisted in clearing the air over the issue.

In an interview, the organisation’s advocacy and communications manager Fambai Ngirande said the association was however urging the government to expeditiously conduct the investigations to pave way for the organisations to resume operations.

The umbrella body, which initially refused to respect the order arguing that it was not covered by the PVO Act, has since filed an application in the High Court contesting its legality.

The organisation is arguing that the instruction is not legal as the PVO Act provided for cancellation of registration and not suspension of operations.

ZANIS/New Ziana/ENDS/MM

Katanga province Governor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Moses Katumbi has hailed the bilateral cooperation existing between Zambia and his country.

This is contained in a press statement delivered to ZANIS offices in Ndola by Ndola City Council Public Relations Manager, Roy Kuseka.

Mr. Katumbi expressed happiness at Zambia’s democratic dispensation from which he said he learned immensely during his stay in Zambia.

He said this when a delegation from Ndola City, led by the deputy mayor, Charles Chiwaya, paid a courtesy call on him at the City Hall in Lubumbashi recently.

Mr. Katumbi pointed out that there was a lot of knowledge in various fields of social and economic development which Lubumbashi and Ndola could share.

“To this end, I request the two cities to closely work hand in hand to cement the existing ties,” Mr. Katumbi said.

He said this in reference to the Lubumbashi/Ndola sister relationship which were formerly established in 1964.

And Councillor Chiwaya thanked the governor and Lubumbashi mayor, Floribert Makunilo for the warm reception that was accorded to his delegation.

Mr. Chiwaya said the objective of the visit was to strengthen the sister city cooperation of Ndola and Lubumbashi and to share experiences especially on the management of markets.

This was in view of the impending formation of market boards in Zambia.

“There is need for Lubumbashi and Ndola cities to share experiences and exploit the vast potential within the framework of the peer review mechanism,” he stressed.

ZANIS/CN/CMM/KSH/ENDS.

Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande says the call for a United States of Africa can not succeed without free movement and interaction of people.

Mr. Pande who is also Southern Africa Development Community-SADC Foreign Affairs Chairperson said free movement and interaction should be tolerated between and among all people from all countries around Africa, if Africa is to talk about a successful United Sates of Africa.

Mr. Pande who described the violence that displaced a number of foreigners resident in South Africa is a sad development said if Africa is to be united that there was need to build bridges within regional bodies before talking about a United States of Africa.

The SADC Foreign Affairs Chairperson said United States of Africa calls for serious sensitisation of people so that they understand what it is all about saying if it was going to be difficult to implement it amidst xenophobic acts.

He told ZANIS in an interview that SADC region needs to free from problem so to foster development..

Referring to the situation in Zimbabwe, Mr. Pande said the recent wave of violence in the neighboring country was a source of concern to the region.

He appealed to the Zimbabwean authority to ensure the June 27th Presidential elections are free from violence if they are to be credible.

And Mr. Pande said the opening of missions abroad has tremendous benefits in enhancing economic development in the country.

The Foreign Affairs Minister who revealed that Zambia will soon open an embassy in Malaysia said previously the emphasis was opening of mission abroad for economic foreign policy reasons but now the emphasis is on economic gains.

The minister stated Zambia can not be an island in this globalize world.

ENDS/CBM/ZANIS…………………PIX

The Food Reserve Agency, FRA, will only purchase 32,900 x 50 Kilogramme bags of maize out of the over 112,000 bags projected production for the district.

Acting District Agriculture Coordinator, DACO, Ng’onga Musonda, confirmed this at the District Development Coordinating Committee, DDCC, held at the council chambers yesterday.

Mr Musonda said the FRA has indicated that it will only purchase 32,900 bags of maize and that over 60 per cent of the commodity will not be bought as it is not budgeted for by the agency.

He was, however, quick to note that his office is trying to look for the market for the maize that the FRA will not purchase.

And Mr Musonda explained that efforts are being made to pursue the FRA on the possibility of increasing the amount of maize to be bought from farmers in the district.

And some members of the DDCC told ZANIS in a separate interview that the decision by the agency to reduce the amount of maize it is butying from farmers, would force most farmers to sell the grain to briefcase businessmen.

And Kawambwa district still has 11,435 bags of maize that was produced in the 2007/2008 farming season.

And more than Eight thousand empty grain bags belonging to the Food Reserve Agency, FRA, valued at K14 million are missing at Solwezi FRA Depot.

North Western Police Commanding Officer, Fabian Katiba, confirmed to ZANIS that a total 8,299 empty grain bags valued at K14.4 million have been reported missing from the FRA depot.

Mr Katiba disclosed that Police has, however, received reports of suspected FRA empty grain bags being sold at a local black market.

Mr Katiba said Police were holding three FRA employees to help with investigations.

The Police chief added that one bale containing 500 empty grain bags has since been recovered from one of the suspects.

Meanwhile, FRA authorities in Solwezi said they had noticed a presence of Beige FRA printed empty grain bags on the markets in Solwezi, and they suspect they were illegally taken from the warehouse.

FRA authorities have since requested for assistance in establishing the source of bags sold on the black market.

Kasempa Mp Kabinga Pande says the opening of the Kasempa constituency office has enhanced the participation of the electorate of issues of national development .

Mr. Pande who is also Foreign Affairs Minister said the electorate in Kasempa constituency now under stand the role of the Member of Parliament and are able to positively and effectively contribute to any developmental activities.

Mr. Pande told ZANIS in an interview that as a result of the easy access to the office and information exchange with the electorate, a number of projects have been identified and implemented.

“I am happy therefore with whatever achievements we have scored. It’s because of the full involvement of the people and government efforts,” said Mr. Pande.

He stated that it is important to put service above self if development is to be achieved saying what drives him to serve the people of Kasempa is hard work.

“I love hard workers and focussed people. And its only through hard work that we can achieve something. And hard work must be seen and not pretended,” emphasized the Kasempa MP.

Mr. Pande is in Kasempa to check on development projects embarked on by government and those being worked on by cooperating partners.

Meanwhile, Kankolonkola clinic in chief Inguleka area has been operating without either hydro or solar energy for over three years.

This come to light light when Mr. pande visited the Clinic yesterday.

Clinical officer in-charge Lickswell Phiri told Mr. Pande and his entourage that though the staffing level is adequate and the supply of drugs effective, the clinic has been operating without electricity for a long time.

Mr. Phiri said the clinic which has a catchment population of over 6,000 has been doing delivery works using candles.

Mr Pande who also toured the Kankilonkolo Police Post, pledged to liaise with the Ministry of Home Affairs to see what can be done to alleviate the hardship the officers were facing especially that of non availability of water and transport.

He said it is government’s plans to improve the living conditions of police officers where ever they may be.

The National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) has directed the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) to exempt from paying new water tariffs, customers that received water for less than guaranteed hours.

The directives come in the wake of findings that the LWSC has been providing water below the guaranteed service hours in some areas within its jurisdiction.

NWASCO management says provision of water by Lusaka water and sewerage has not been done in good faith because it has consistently provided water below the guaranteed services hours in certain areas.

NWASCO Public Relations and Communications Officer Katendi Wandi disclosed this in press statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today.

Ms. Wandi said water tariffs must be adjusted in areas where the guaranteed service was not provided.

She said the approved tariff was based on the said service level guarantee, which indicated that the Lusaka water utility company has not provided the tariff.

“In order to protect the customers from exploitation, NWASCO has directed that all customers receiving water supply for less than the guaranteed hours of supply and are on fixed tariff rate, will not be affected by the new approved tariff that is expected to be implemented by June 2008,” she said.

Ms Wandi explained that NWASCO would ensure that customers that were not getting water for the guaranteed hours were not affected by the new tariff until the time the water regulatory body would be satisfied with the services of the LWSC.

The areas affected by the tariff sanction are Chilenje areas, Sanduluka, Burma, Mosi-O-Tunya and Muramba roads. Others are Garden site three and four and Lungu area.

She said NWASCO would continue with it’s inspections in order to isolate other areas that may be included in this tariff sanction.

She has since informed all customers to look out for the service level guarantee display that specified the service they should expect.

ZANIS/VP/KSH/ENDS