Government has dismissed claims that the ruling party MMD, was not in favour of the proposed 50 per cent plus one threshold to win a presidential election.

Chief Government spokesperson Mike Mulongoti, who is also Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, said this in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today.

Mr. Mulongoti said the MMD was not scared of the proposed provision of the 50 plus one threshold.

He said, in fact, only the MMD has sufficient national support to score a 50 plus one threshold to win presidential elections in Zambia.

Mr. Mulongoti said Government further advises Zambians to read the situation in other countries where this is applicable as it is dangerous to ignore the political developments in those countries.

He said President Mwanawasa would not derive any personal gain from opposing the proposed threshold as he was serving his last term of office.

Mr. Mulongoti also said complaints by some opposition political parties that it had excluded some stakeholders from attending the National Constitution Conference (NCC) were baseless.

He said government has strove to be all-inclusive in constituting the composition of the NCC and therefore insinuations that some key stakeholder have been left out were unjustified.

He said those who chose not to be on the NCC, such as the three church mother bodies and the Non-governmental Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC), have only themselves to blame.

Opposition Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata is quoted to have recently said that it would not do for Zambians to have a constitution without addressing the issue of majority vote for a presidential candidate.

And United Party for National Development (UPND) vice president Richard Kapita is alleged to have stated that President Mwanawasa was instilling fear in the MMD members sitting on the NCC.

Mr. Kapita is said to have alleged that it would be difficult for the conference to come up with a formidable constitution because of the same threats.

First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa says Malaria should be given the same attention as HIV and AIDS.

Mrs. Mwanawasa says Malaria like HIV and AIDS requires the concerted efforts of all stakeholders.

Speaking when she unveiled the Billboard on Malaria and HIV and flagging off of the “Race against malaria in commemoration of the World Malaria Day, Mrs. Mwanawasa said people have taken Malaria for granted.

Mrs. Mwanawasa said the prevalence of Malaria has increased the Mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS.

And speaking at the same function, Lusaka Province Minister Lameck Mangani said government will not rest until malaria is completely eradicated in the country.

He observed that Malaria has since reduced because of interventions that the Ministry of Health through National Malaria Control Centre (NMCC) has put in place.

Meanwhile, Special World Health Organisation (WHO) envoy on Malaria Princess Astrid of Belgium has arrived in Zambia.

The Princes on arrival called on Africa to continue investing in awareness programmes on Malaria.

She said there is need to combat Malaria, which is claiming millions of lives in Africa.

Princess Astrid of Belgium was speaking shortly after arriving at Livingstone Airport.

The princess is accompanied by Africa’s Ambassor on Malaria, Yvonne Chaka Chaka of South Africa.

Chaka Chaka said Africa needs to step up the efforts to eradicate Malaria.

The two were received by Southern Province Permanent Secretary, Darius Hakayobe, Livingstone Mayor, Grace Shafik and other senior Government officials.

Roll Back Malaria Executive Director, Awa Marie Coll-Seck said it is important to eradicate malaria as it accounts of 90 percent of the deaths in Africa.

MMD Youths on the Copperbelt have maintained that the shortage of mealie meal on the Copperbelt was being caused by smuggling of the commodity outside the country.

Copperbelt MMD provincial youth chairman Nicolas Nzunda says load shedding by ZESCO cannot affect the production of mealie meal in milling companies on the Copperbelt.

Mr Nzunda told ZANIS in Kitwe today that there was overwhelming evidence that unscrupulous businessmen were smuggling mealie meal to a neighbouring country hence the shortage.

Mr Nzunda was reacting to Millers Association of Zambia, MAZ, Vice President Peter Cottan who is reported to have attributed the shortage of mealie meal on the Copperbelt to Zesco power outages millers were experiencing.

The provincial MMD youth chairman also accused some millers in the province of hoarding the commodity in anticipation for an increase in the price of the staple food, a charge MAZ vice president Peter Cottan dismissed yesterday.

The Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) has dismissed calls by a gender activist in Eastern province that commercial sex should be legalised.

YWCA Copperbelt Regional Coordinator Jurita Mutale says legalising commercial sex would fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.

She said in Kitwe today that Zambia as a christian nation cannot legalise prostitution.

Mrs Mutale was reacting to a statement attributed to a gender activist based in Eastern province Ms Emelda Banda who said legalising commercial sex would empower sex workers to negotiate for safer sex and help slow down the spread of HIV.

Mrs Mutale added that it was disheartening to see young girls, some below 16 years, turning to sex work a situation which ngo’s and government were fighting hard to control.

She strongly urged the law enforcement agencies to continue arresting commercial sex workers as it would deter them from actively being involved in the illegal trade.

The National Constitutional Conference (NCC) has resumed sitting in Lusaka today with its chairperson, Chifumu Banda, calling on all members to fully apply themselves during deliberations of this session because they had a ‘heavy’ programme of activities.

And the NCC delegates today observed a minute of silence in honour of three deceased members who died between January 11th and April 21st this year when the conference was on recess.

Mr. Banda informed NCC members that they had all been placed in various committees of the conference that would deliberate specific tasks assigned to them.

He said members have been placed into their committees according to their preferences.

“I must hasten to add that all committees are important and that we should apply ourselves to the tasks before us. Needless to stress that the people are looking forward to us to carryout our functions and duties with necessary speed,” he said.

He also announced that during the recess, executive members and the secretariat of the NCC undertook tours to selected provinces to sensitise members of the general public on the work of the constitution conference.

Mr. Banda said the tours revealed that there was a serious lack of knowledge and information about the NCC by the members of the public.

He has therefore urged members of the NCC to work hard and share their knowledge about the NCC with the organisations, groups and the constituencies they represent.

“These tours, to a large extent revealed a dearth of knowledge and information about the National Constitutional Conference (NCC),” he said.

The NCC chairperson also appealed to the members to familiarise themselves with the rules and regulations set to guide the deliberations of the conference.

Meanwhile, the NCC observed a minute of silence for Mr. Sylvester Tembo, Dr. Chosani Njobvu and Dr. Cornelius Matandiko who died on February 26th, March 19th and April 2nd respectively when the conference was on recess.

The conference adjourned on January 11th 2008.

Mr. Tembo was representing the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Dr. Njobvu was Milanzi Member of Parliament in Eastern province while Dr. Matandiko was representing the Seventh Day Adventist Church in NCC.

Mr. Banda also welcomed 12 new members to the NCC and asked them to work hard towards coming up with a constitution that would stand the test of time.

The NCC has been tasked to debate the draft constitution which was prepared by the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission, render a report and then adopt the final constitution.

The adopted constitution would then be submitted to parliament for enactment.

The NCC would sit up to May 14th during which period the committees would be approved, with chairpersons and their deputies elected and general orientation of the members carried out.

Other activities during the sitting would be orientation of the committee chairpersons and vice chairpersons.

“After these activities, we are proposing to adjourn the conference so that we give chance to the committees to commence their detailed work to consider matters before them,” he said.