President Levy Mwanawasa has directed the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Movement for Multi Party Democracy (MMD) to put up stern action against Finance Deputy Minister Jonas Shakafuswa for his misconduct.

MMD National Secretary, Jeff Kande said at a press briefing in Lusaka today that the President was only waiting for National assembly to do their work on the matter adding that Dr. Mwanawasa did not want to prejudice the case.

Mr. Kande said the deputy Minister of Finance’s time for discipline will soon come saying that the matter is in parliament and that if it was outside the National Assembly, the NEC would have taken action a long time ago.

He added that NEC was just waiting for parliament to do its work and then it will take action.

Meanwhile, NEC has suspended Christine Moonga, a nominated committee member for accusing President Mwanawasa of being a tribalist.

The suspension is with immediate effect.

Mr. Kanda said the MMD does not condone indiscipline from anybody in the party adding that this will not be entertained at all costs.

He said what Mrs. Moonga said in the Post of April 2, 2008 was senseless and malicious.

He further said to accuse the President that he practices tribalism was very much unfair.

Mr. Kanda said Mrs. Moonga has been given ten days to exculpate herself failure to which her case will be taken to NEC.

He added that Mrs. Moonga brought the MMD into ridicule, and contempt.

A Water Aid official has observed that Zambia would not attain the Millennium Development Goal to halve the population of people who have no access to basic sanitation in the country if efforts towards this goal remained slow.

Water Aid country Representative Maheshi Mishra said there was therefore need to urgently address sanitary conditions under which thousands of Zambians were living.

Mr. Mishra was speaking during the commemoration of the world water day which
officially fell on 22nd March but was held yesterday in Chipembele ward of Monze district in Southern province.

He said it was evident that without safe water, sanitation and improved hygiene practices among Zambians, poverty reduction efforts would continue being undermined thereby impeding efforts towards the attainment of the MDGs.

Mr. Mishra said that MDGs relating to sanitation would only be achieved in Zambia if extraordinary efforts to reverse the current situation were applied.

He said that Water Aid had been supporting district efforts to realise the MDG relating to water supply and sanitation.

Mr. Mishra said since last year, his organisation invested more than K1 billion in delivering water supply and sanitation in needy areas around the country.

He said that there was still a lot that needed to be done in Monze and other areas of the country to improve sanitation.

He said that with commitment shown by the leadership in Monze, the district had the potential to become a model for the whole country.

He said Water Aid and its partners have demonstrated their effort to reverse the problem of providing clean water and sanitation as a basic human right.

Mr. Mishra said intensive efforts and targeted investment would enable the country to rapidly scale up sanitation.

He said that if efforts shown at the district level by Water Aid partners such as Monze District Council, Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) and others were to continue, sanitation coverage would be enhance in the district in the next four years.

He said Chipembele ward was an example of how government, non-governmental organisations, local authorities, traditional leaders and local communities could work together to ensure that rural communities acquired access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.

Mr. Mishra expressed gratitude that a number of villages in Chipembele ward
in Monze district had attained almost 100 per cent basic sanitation requirements.

He said that this meant that each household had a latrine, a hand washing facility close to the latrine, a bath shelter, a dish rack, refuse pit and a clean homestead surrounding.

The Water Aid country representative further called upon the leadership in Monze district
to formulate a district wide water and sanitation plan with a clear focus on addressing sanitation gaps by having a goal aimed at bringing sanitation coverage rate at par with coverage rate for water supply.

He said that there was need to also involve traditional leaders to motivate communities on the importance of sanitation.

Mr. Mishra said formation of the district sanitation task force to spear head the scaling up of sanitation the district by involving various stakeholders that had properly defined coordinating mechanisms would be another strategy.

And Monze District Commissioner Joyce Nondo said at the same function that government’s commitment towards improving sanitation in both urban and rural areas had been unwavering in the district.

Mrs. Nondo said that efforts to this effect could be seen from the progress made
by the water sector in the district.

She thanked Water Aid World Bank and UNICEF for their efforts towards achieving a satisfactory water and sanitation development in Monze district.

The Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA) says it is saddened with the recent hike in mealie meal prices in various parts of the country.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe today, ZACA Executive Secretary, Muyunda Ililonga, said government should intervene and halt the hiking of prices of mealie meal.

Mr. Ililonga said the recent hike in mealie prices was an exploitation of the consumers.

He said that maize meal was a staple food in Zambia and therefore, it would be unfortunate to let some milling companies to exploit consumers in the name of a liberalised market.

Mr. Ililonga said consumers in Zambia should not be taken for granted and demanded governments’ action on this matter.

The Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ) has warned that it will come up with a ‘shame list’ that will expose the shortcomings of the cellular service providers

Communications Authority Chief Executive Officer Shuller Habeenzu says this is because the three cellular service providers in the country are performing below the required standards.

Mr. Habeenzu said the service providers namely CELTEL, MTN and CELL-Z were exploiting consumers because they are paying for a service which they are not getting.

He said the Authority has since embarked on an exercise to work with other stakeholders to come up with legislation that would empower the Authority to impose stiffer penalties on cellular service providers that provide a poor service.

Mr. Habeenzu was speaking in Lusaka today at a press briefing on the preliminary monitoring programme of the mobile operators in Zambia.

Government said Wednesday it had put its security forces along the border with Zimbabwe on alert as the delayed announcement of results from Zimbabwe’s elections rattled nerves internationally.

The state of alert was a precautionary measure in case tensions caused by the four-day long wait for the election results erupted into violence and an influx of refugees into Zambia, Defence Minister George Mpombo said.

‘I hope our brothers in Zimbabwe will handle the situation without compromising the security of their country,’ he said. ‘We pray that the whole issue will be handled peacefully.’

The alert related to the border towns of Chirundu, Livingstone, Siavonga and other southern border areas, Mpombo said.

Livingstone tourist resort is just across the border from the Zimbabwean resort of Victoria Falls.

Security operations would continue as normal for the moment in those areas but would be strengthened if the situation escalated in order to protect Zambians living in border areas, he said.

Four days after Zimbabwe’s elections, in which President Robert Mugabe is seeking to extend his 28-year grip on power, no official results from the presidential elections have been released.

Partial results from the concomitant parliamentary vote show the opposition with a slight lead in the House of Assembly vote.