President Mwanawasa has taken a swipe at the Oasis Forum for teaming up with people facing corruption charges, to undermine his Government over the constitutional making process.

The President said this in Mazabuka, Southern Province, Tuesday on arrival at Nakambala football ground.

He said he was disappointed to see photographs of Oasis leaders hand in hand with people accused of plundering the economy.

Mr. Mwanawasa who was addressing Mazabuka residents, also accused the Oasis Forum of failing to support his crusade against corruption.

He charged that the Oasis Forum has never condemned corrupt people publicly but were quick in criticising Government.

Mr. Mwanasawa accused the Oasis Forum of having a personal hatred against him.

He wondered why the Forum invited Former President Frederick Chiluba to be their consultant and advisor on matters relating to the Constitution when he is accused of having stolen colossal sums of money.

The President said the country is dogged with so many problems which need support from all stakeholders.

The President who described those criticising his administration as being unpatriotic, said Government will not change its position on the constitutional making process.

He complained that some members of the opposition and Civil Society were fond of changing goal posts each time Government accomodated their concerns.

The President observed that even if people criticising his Government take to the streets to protest against the adoption of the constitution through the National constitutional Conference (NCC), Government will not reverse its decision.

He regretted that the constitution making process has taken four years because of unreasonable opposition to the process.

The President advised Zambians not to follow what the Oasis Forum was doing because doing so would make the country unstable.

The President said the country has enjoyed peace and only requires good leadership to chart the way forward.

He advised Zambians not to make leadership experiments because they may end up regretting.

Mr. Mwanasawa said the argument advanced by the Oasis forum that the NCC Chairperson and his vice should be appointed by members is unrealistic and Government would not succumb to their demands.

He said the NCC was instituted to adopt the republican constitution but regretted that the Non Governmental Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has withdrawn on grounds that they are just escorting the MMD.

Mr. Mwanawasa said he was disappointed with the NGOCC and his administration will ensure women are given more rights.

The President urged NGOCC to rescind its decision and re-join the NCC and support Government on matters relating to women rights.

And MMD Southern Province Chairman, Daniel Munkombwe, informed the President that the ruling party has been overwhelmed by the increased number of opposition United Party for National Development (UNDP) party officials resigning to join the party.

The president is in Mazabuka to launch the Zambia Sugar expansion programme.

ZNBC

Zambia is set for the construction of a new 40,000-seater before 2010.The stadium will be built by the Chinese and both the Zambian and Chinese governments have entered an agreement for the construction of the stadium in the northern part of the country.

The estimated amount to build the stadium is $70 million.

A Chinese delegation led by Zhang Zijun visited the country to carry our feasibility studies at the site where the stadium is to be built.

Zijun and Bizwayo Nkunika, permanent secretary in Zambia’s ministry of works and supply signed the agreement on behalf of the two governments.

There is already excitement in the air following the positive development.

“The signing ceremony marks the beginning of the construction works,” Sports minister Gabriel Namulambe announced at the signing ceremony in Lusaka.

“This country will benefit from South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup if the stadium is completed.

“I am calling upon the private sector to come on board because we need a five-star hotel next to the stadium.”

The stadium will be built in Ndola in the Copperbelt Province.

Trial in the Kapoche constituency by-election petition has continued in the Lusaka High Court, with the petitioner, Charles Banda telling the court that the pre-election campaigns in the area was marred with irresponsible, improper behaviour by senior members of government and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD).

Mr. Banda of Chilobe Farm, Chief Nyanje’s area in Sinda, who contested the June 5,
2007 by-election on the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) ticket lost the
election to Fashion Phiri of the MMD.

The June 5 election was as a result of a successful petition by the same Charles
Banda in the High Court against the MMD candidate, Nicholas Banda, who had won the
September 2006 parliamentary seat on an MMD ticket.

Mr. Banda, 51, told Judge Charles Kajimanga that President Levy Mwanawasa and his
vice, Rupiah Banda threatened the people of Kapoche constituency during public
rallies that they would not receive relief food if they voted for the opposition
candidate in the area.

He testified that President Mwanawasa said at two public campaign rallies held at
Nyanje headquarters and Mwanjawantu headquarters that it would be wise for people of Kapoche to vote for Mr. fashion Phiri and the MMD.

He told the court that President Mwanawasa said at the public rally that if they
voted for Mr. Charles Banda or any other opposition party candidate, they would not
get relief food from government and that there would no form of development that
would be done in the area.

Mr. Banda said it was a violation of the electoral act number 12 of 2006 for the
President to issue threatening statements at a public rally during the campaign
period.

He said the electoral Act prohibited people from issuing threats or intimidation
during campaign rallies.

He also said at one of the rallies, President Mwanawasa directed the Minister of
Agriculture, Ben Kapita to direct the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to start buying
crops from farmers in the area.

He told the court that this was began to an extent where in some instances, crop
markets were being opened in the area even on the election day.

“I was disturbed by the pronouncements because I didn’t expect Republican President
Mr. Levy Mwanawasa, who is the custodian of the constitution in this country to be
the first person to violate the law, which is the electoral Act, which prohibits
threats and intimidation during the campaigns,” he said.

The petitioner further told the court that during the same campaign period,
government deployed two earth-moving equipment in form of graders to Kapoche
constituency to grade the Sinda-Nyanje road and the Petauke-Mwanjabantu road, via
chief Mumba.

He said road works were commenced in the area but were abandoned immediately after
elections.

“No grading was done in chief Mumbi’s area, which is in Petauke Central
constituency. Grading started from Nyamasase bridge, which creates a boundary
between Petauke and Kapoche constituencies up to Wankhala,” he said.

When asked how he understood such kind of development by his lawyer, Chifumu Banda, Mr. Banda said “In my opinion, that kind of development was vote buying by the MMD candidate Fashion Phiri”.

Mr. Banda further said Vice President Rupiah Banda said at his first rally at
Kamjoma in chief Mwanjawantu’s area said government would develop the area if the
electorate voted for the MMD candidate in the June 5 by-elections.

He said to substantiate the Vice President’s statement a borehole was sunk at
Kamjoma on June 3rd, two days before the by-election.

He said the borehole is there at Kamjoma but it was not yet in use because the hand
pump has not been fixed.

Mr. Banda attributed his loss to Mr. Phiri (Fashion) to what he termed as malicious
and irresponsible type of campaigns by the MMD officials.

He said the people of Kapoche district could easily believe the promises because
they were facing hunger and were generally poor.

During cross-examination by the respondent’s (Fashion Phiri) lawyer, Hobday Kabwe,
Mr. Banda said he won in Nyanje area while in Mwanjabantu area, Mr. Phiri won.

Earlier, a 48 year old Irack Ngoma said on May 9th, 2007, he was given a cell phone
by former Member of Parliament for Kapoche, Nicholas Banda and a Mr. Dryford Mwanza.

He said he had been a member of the opposition United Party for National Development
(UPND) but defected to the MMD, together with several others.

He said Mr. Banda (Nicholas) had promised to buy him a sim card for the phone but
this has not been given to him yet.

Trail continues on September 21st, 2007 at 09:30 hours.

President Mwanawasa has urged investors in the country to attend to concerns raised by local people.

And Mr Mwanawasa has urged Zambia Sugar Plc to ensure that Zambians are given a top priority in the award of contracts by the company.

Speaking when he officially launched the Nakambala expansion project held at
Nakambala Estate in Mazabuka today, Mr Mwanawasa said there was need for investors to pay attention to concerns raised by the local people.

He, however, said the local people should also pay attention to concerns raised by
investors in order to reach a mutual understanding.

Mr Mwanawasa said there was need for investors to protect the interests of Zambians.

He told Zambia Sugar company management that the award of contracts in areas like
transportation must continue to support Zambians because government had passed a law on the Citizenship Economic Empowernnment of local people.

Mr Mwanawasa called on the Sugar company to work hard and assist local people to
take advantage of the business opportunities that the company will present.

He also challenged local businessmen to position themselves so that they could
benefit from the project.

He said Zambia Sugar had made impressive strides in increasing the production of
sugar adding that it was pleasing to note that the programme was expanding further
thereby making the company one of the largest sugar producing companies in Africa.

He urged management at Nakambala to also expand westwards in order to benefit most
of the small scale farmers.

Mr Mwanawasa said the annual production of sugar at Nakambala will now stand at
440,000 metric tonnes annually which will put Zambia in the league of major
producers of sugar in Africa.

He said the expansion of the sugar project would diversify the country’s exports
other than just copper.

Mr Mwanawasa said the fact that sugar produced at Nakambala would be exported to the European Union meant that the incomes of the outgrower farmers would also increase.

And speaking earlier, Zambia Sugar Plc chairman, Paul De Robillard, said the
Nakambala Expansion Project was approved at a capital cost of K840 billion.

He said the project was based on a 50 percent increase in the cane crushing capacity
of the factory.

Mr Robillard said the anticipated growth in production would come from a combination
of Zambia Sugar’s own estate operations, commercial outgrowers and small schemes
totalling about 10, 500 hectares.

He said as a result of the expansion, sugar production was expected to increase from
200,000 tonnes to 440,000 tonnes of sugar per annum.

Mr Robillard observed that Zambia’s proximity to large deficit regional sugar
markets in Sub-Saharan Africa provided a high potential outlet for the company’s
increased copper production.

He said molasses production would increase to 95,000 tonnes by the end of the
project adding that feasibility studies would be undertaken to investigate the
production of alcohol for the national fuel pool.

He said it was envisaged that if viable, an ethanol plant would be able to supply
approximately 10 per cent of the country’s fuel requirements.

Mr Robillard reiterated his commitment to working with traditional leaders and the
civic authorities in the development of the district.

At the same meeting Southern province minister, Joseph Mulyata, disclosed that
Mazabuka this year produced a total of 312,000 x 50 kilogram bags of maize, as
opposed to 205,840 bags produced last year.

He said government had already paid a total of K6.1 billion to farmers.

And Mr Mulyata noted that the livestock ban that has been lifted has cheered farmers
but emphasised that animals should not be moved outside the province.

He said the only areas where the ban was still in effect was Livingstone and Kazungula.

Adolescents who claim they are “madly in love” might not be too far off the mark: a new study suggests that they show almost manic behaviours.

Serge Brand of the Psychiatric University Clinics in Basel, Switzerland, and his colleagues surveyed 113 teenagers at around 17 years of age, asking them to complete questionnaires about their conduct and mood and to keep a log of their sleep patterns. Of those, 65 indicated they had recently fallen in love and experienced intense romantic emotions.

The lovestruck teenagers showed many behaviours resembling “hypomania” – a less intense form of mania. For example, they required about an hour less sleep each night than teens who didn’t have a sweetheart. They were also more likely to report acting compulsively, with 60% saying they spent too much money compared with fewer than 30% of teenagers who were not in love.

Moreover, the lovestruck teens were more than twice as likely to say they had lots of ideas and creative energy. Worryingly, they were also more likely to say they drove fast and took risks on the road.

“We were able to demonstrate that adolescents in early-stage intense romantic love did not differ from patients during a hypomanic stage,” say the researchers. This leads them to conclude that intense romantic love in teenagers is a “psychopathologically prominent stage”.

They add that psychiatrists should take this information into account when assessing adolescent patients who are having trouble sleeping and are showing other behavioural changes.

The symptoms of hypomania overlap with those of mania, which is diagnosed as bipolar disorder when accompanied by periods of depression.

Journal reference: Journal of Adolescent Health

Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mike Mulongoti has taken a swipe at civil society organisations which are dragging the implementation of National Constitution Conference (NCC) and challenged them to disclose the source of their funding.

Mr Mulongoti said the pulling out of Non-Government Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC) from the NCC meant that the council was fighting the cause of its funders not the people of Zambia it claimed to represent.

Speaking on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC)’s “Open Line” programme yesterday, Mr Mulongoti said the NCC was now law and dismissed fears of the NGOCC that the Government would dominate the Constitution debate at the NCC once it became operational. “The Government is not being rigid in the Constitution making process. We have refused to take the suggestion by NGOCC that we discuss social and economic rights as pre-determined issues. The conference will debate these issues,” he said. Mr Mulongoti said the Government would spend K202 billion to facilitate the NCC session which had to sit for 12 months with the chairperson being elected by NCC members themselves.

He accused the NGOCC of protecting its own interests and challenged the council to come out in the open and disclose its funding while describing fears of civil society as unfounded. He said the focus now should be on the content and urged all stakeholders to prepare because the minister of Justice would soon announce the establishment of the NCC secretariat and people will express their views freely in the conference. But NGOCC chairperson, Marian Munyinda, on the same programme said it was not fair for the minister to attack the civil society and described the pullout of the council as not the end of the Constitution fight.

Ms Miyanda said the council would continue to educate its members on the Constitution debate countrywide outside the NCC. She said the council would not go to the conference just to escort politicians hence, the decision to stay away. She said the council had no hidden agenda on the Constitution-making process and maintained that the new document would not be people-driven if the current composition was not revised and social and economic issues not taken on board.

Times of Zambia

PRESIDENT Mwanawasa is on Tuesday expected in Mazabuka to officially launch the Sugarcane Expansion Project at Zambia Sugar Company Plc.The President would depart Lusaka at 07:30 hours by helicopter and conduct an aerial view of the Kafue river, Delta farm, Manyonyo, Chilala, Nanga and Magobbo settlements before landing at Nakambala football ground at 08:00 hours.

Zambia Sugar Company Plc managing director, Paul de Robillard would accompany the President during the aerial viewing of farms and areas where the expansion programme was being implemented.

The President will then proceed to Kaleya Smallholders by road where he is expected to tour the Sugarcane Outgrowers Scheme before unveiling the project.

Zambia Sugar Company Plc has pumped K840 Billion into the expansion project which has gained momentum.

Production of sugar is projected to increase from the current 260,000 to 440,000 tonnes due to the additional 10,500 hactares of land under the expansion programme.

Construction of water canals will cover 30 kilometres from the Kafue river, which is the source of water for irrigation for sugarcane.

So far the digging of canals has covered a distance of three kilometres while on bush clearing, eight kilometres have been done.

ZANIS