The National Assembly of Zambia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with various cooperating partners for financial and technical support amounting to US$ 6.5 million for the implementation of phase three (3) of the Parliamentary Reforms Program (PRP).

Clerk of the National Assembly Doris Mwinga signed on behalf of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Amusa Mwanamwambwa while United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative, Aeneas Chuma signed on behalf of the cooperating partners.

Speaking after the signing ceremony at National Assembly buildings in Lusaka today, Mrs. Mwinga said the financial and technical support from the cooperating would run for a period of four years, starting with this year.

Mrs. Mwinga said the funding would be in form of direct support under a special account at the Bank of Zambia and indirect funding through a trust fund administered by the UNDP.

She explained that phase three of PRP would focus on building capacity of the National Assembly in the areas of human resources of Members of Parliament and staff, infrastructure and facilities and systems development.

Mrs. Mwinga said the National Assembly would be fully accountable and responsible for the implementation of the program and for the management of the financial contributions of the cooperating partners.

“National Assembly of Zambia will keep financial records of the support provided in accordance with international, financial reporting standards and government of Zambia financial regulations” she said.

The Clerk of the National Assembly of Zambia has since assured cooperating partners that adequate and qualified personnel would be assigned to effectively implement the program.

Mrs. Mwinga however appealed to the cooperating partners to quickly submit the nominations of the members to sit in the parliamentary steering committee, which is responsible for the technical aspect of the implementation of the program.

And speaking on behalf of the cooperating partners, Mr. Chuma said there was need to increase the effectiveness of the National Assembly in order for parliament to fulfill its constitutional mandate of monitoring and advising government on how to use its financial resources.

Mr. Chuma was confident that the MOU which has been signed would deliver meaningful results that would deepen the democratic governance in Zambia.

The cooperating partners that will provide financial and technical support to the National Assembly include Irish Aid, UK Department for International Development (DFID), European Union (EU) and the UNDP.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia, ECZ, has cautioned political parties taking part in the Milanzi by-election in Katete to desist from engaging in malpractices such as grabbing voters’ cards from the electorate.

ECZ Commissioner Joseph Jalasi says grabbing voters cards was a criminal offence that attracted not less that two years imprisonment if found guilty.

Mr Jalasi was speaking when he addressed political parties, election monitors, observers and the media at Kafumbwe Boarding High school in Katete’s Milanzi constituency today.

Commisioner Jalasi said there was need for all political parties to familiarize themselves with the Electoral Code of Conduct so that they did not fall prey to electoral malpractices.

He said the Commission was aware that such malpractices happened during elections, hence the emphasis to warn political parties against the vice.

Mr Jalasi said it was the duty of political leaders to educate their cadres to refrain from such practices as it undermines the country’s democratic dispensation.

The ECZ Commissioner also urged political parties to desist from destroying each other’s campaign materials such as posters and banners.

“Let’s avoid name calling and disruption of other peoples meetings. Your campaigns should be issue based,” he said.

Mr Jalasi also appealed to police to accord all the candidates equal opportunity and time to carry out their campaigns peacefully.

“I call upon all candidates to submit their campaign time tables to the police for easy planning and monitoring of their campaigns,”, he said.

Mr Jalasi also urged the media to provide equal coverage to all political parties contesting the by-election so that the electorate can make informed choice.

And in Mkushi, the ruling MMD and opposition Patriotic Front, PF, cadres have resolved their differences following the reconciliation between President Mwanawasa and PF leader Michael Sata recently.

Mkushi MMD chairman Webby Kamwendo disclosed this to ZANIS in Mkushi today.

Mr Kamwendo who is also former Mkushi North Member of Parliament said the two parties decided to bury their differences soon after the reconcilliation of their party presidents about two weeks ago.

Mr Kamwemdo noted that lack of dialogue had taken root and mushroomed into conflicts, hatred, and divisions among political parties in the area.

He said however that early this week, the MMD and PF executive committtee members held two special meetings that saw the two parties reconcile.

Mr Kamwendo said during the meeting, the two parties decided to follow the gesture shown by President Mwanawasa and Mr Sata by reconciling and agreeing to work together for the development of the district and the country at large.

Mr Kamwendo has since urged other political parties to emulate President Mwanawasa and Mr. Sata by reconciling for the benefit of the country.

And PF District Chairman Peter Kasamata has said he was happy that his party had reconciled with the MMD and pledged to work together in developing the district.

Government has provided 164 ambulances and utility vehicles in all the nine provinces at a cost of K25 billion.

The government has also installed theatre, x-ray and ultra-sound machines in 71 hospitals countrywide under the ORET project, a GRZ-Dutch government initiative.

Officiating at the graduation ceremony of general nurses, midwives and theatre nurses in Lusaka today, health minister Brain Chituwo said government’s investment in the health sector is beginning to bear fruit.

This was in a speech read for him by his deputy Dr lwipa Puma.

Dr Chituwo said as a result of various measures the government has continued to place, maternal mortality ratio has since dropped from 729 to 449 per 100,000 live births.

The Under-Five and Infant Mortality rates have also improved from 168 per 1000 to 119 per 1000 and 95 per 1000 to 70 per 1000 respectively.

Government was happy that besides medical doctors and other health workers, all tutors of nurses at every level have been put on the retention scheme.

Dr Chituwo said because of this, schools of nursing that had at one time been closed, are now being re-opened.
The treasury authority has therefore been given authority by the Ministry of Finance and National planning to employ 5,263 health workers.

He said government is aware that to realise the vision of a prosperous and middle income nation by 2030,a vibrant health workforce is extremely vital.

Dr Chituwo said the nation requires a total of 51,414 health workers to be able to provide optimal health services to the citizenry but presently there are only 26,523 workers.

He said however that the ministry has embarked on the recruitment of more health personnel folowing the granting of treasury authority by the ministry of finance and national planning.

In accordance with this authority, the ministry last year recruited 1,300 new health workers out of a total of 5,263 authorised to be employed.

And speaking earlier, University Teaching Hospital, UTH, Executive Director Peter Mwaba commended the government for releasing K200 million to enable UTH acquire a piece of land in Lusaka’s Libala area to build extra infrastructure and students hostels.

The government’s plan to break up the financially troubled Zambia Telecommunication Co. (Zamtel) in a bid to save it from collapsing is moving forward, as company officials move ahead on a financial management plan.

Zamtel acting CEO Mukela Muyunda said last week that the government wants to separate CellZ from Zamtel. CellZ, a mobile service company, is Zamtel’s sister company, operating under Zamtel management for more than 10 years. The Zambian government wants the two companies separated so that they can be operated under different management.

“The government is working at ways of unbundling the company so that it is operated efficiently and effectively,” Muyunda said.

Early this month, Zamtel workers went on strike for almost a week after learning that management was planning to lay off 800 workers in a bid to save the company. In addition, the company froze wages this year.

The company management and the National Union of Communications Workers (NUCW), a union that represents telecommunication workers , have agreed on a monthly program to reduce the deficit through March of next year. The company management has since halted the planned retrenchment of workers but has instead cut down foreign travel of directors as part of the program.

Up to now, Zamtel management has not explained why the company has not been profitable despite providing fixed, mobile-phone and Internet services, and collecting revenue from other service providers for facilities including the Mwembeshi satellite station.

A senior government official, however, told IDG News Service that the government — through its various ministries — owes Zamtel billions of Kwacha in unpaid telephone and Internet bills.

[IDG News Service]