The Lusaka Magistrate Court, heard, Thursday that Fugitive former Zambia Intelligence Security Services Director General Xavier Chungu advised the government to deposit funds meant for servicing debt owed to two United States firms through the ZANACO bank London branch known as ZAMTROOP account.

Bank of Zambia Assistant Director of Banking, Fabian Hara said Mr. Chungu in a letter he authored in 1995 to then Finance minister Ronald Penza advised the that funds to service the debt owed to Wilburn incorporated and Systems Innovations be deposited in the ZAMTROP Account.

Mr. Hara was testifying in the case against Former Finance Minister, Katele Kalumba and six others.

Dr. Kalumba is jointly charged with former Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary, Stella Chibanda and five others for charges of corruption and abuse of authority of office involving overpayment of about US$20 million.

The others include former Secretary to Treasury, Benjamin Mweene, former Chief Economist in the Ministry of Finance, Bede Mpande, former Director of Budget, Boniface Nonde and Access Financial Services Directors, Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu.

They are accused of having, jointly or individually, facilitated, authorised and signed for the release of funds from ZAMTROP account to pay Systems Innovation and Wilbain Incorporation, an act that resulted into an overpayment of about US$20 million.

Mr. Hara also told Principle Resident Magistrate, Edward Musona that there was nothing irregular in the payments of debts to the Two United States Firms hence the reason the Bank of Zambia Governor and his deputy authorized the transactions.

 The opposition Patriotic Front (PF) in Mufulira districton the Copperbelt Province have scooped both the position of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in civic polls held yesterday.

PF Kamuchanga ward Councillor Stanley Kaluba was re-elected as Mayor after polling
18 votes against his MMD rival Mwamba Mulenga from David Lunda ward who polled 10
votes.

This now means that Councillor Kaluba will continue as mayor for the second term
running having served the Municipal Council as mayor for the civic year 2006/07.

And the position of Deputy Mayor was scooped by PF Mulungushi ward Councillor Tomson Ngulube who won the seat with 16 votes against Joseph Mueya of the MMD who managed to capture 10 votes.

Returning Officer fo rthe elections who is also Mufulira Town Clerk  Charles
Mwandila declared the polls free and fair and confered the two Councillors in their
respective positions.

Mr. Mwandila told the Councillors that they shall be installed in due course after
his office received instructions from the ministry of local government and housing.

And speaking when he addressed Councillors on his latest victory, Mayor
Kaluba thanked them for their support and called them to work even much harder as
the council  begins the 2007/08 civic year which started on September 1.

Deputy Mayor- Elect Tomson Ngulube in his address noted that development
will only come to Mufulira if both the ruling and opposition Councillors worked
together.

By Tovin Ngombe:-

United Liberal Party (ULP) president Sakwiba Sikota has said the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) should have been paying a percentage of money to the Valley Tongas for the sacrifice they made when constructing of Lake Kariba.

The ULP leader who was in Sinazongwe to welcome members from UPND that had resigned last month told the gathering that Zambia owes them a debt and it should be paid.
Mr Sikota said the mines were able to tap power on the Copperbelt and the modern buildings in Lusaka because of the sacrifice that Sinazongwe people made to leave their fertile land and migrate to the dry land where rainfall was erratic.

“All the high buildings in Lusaka such as the five star hotels will not have been constructed without the sacrifice that the valley Tongas made. Zambia owes you a very big debt and it should be paid,” Mr Sikota said.

He said ZESCO would have alleviated the suffering of the people in the district it it was paying even a one or two percent of money to the trust.

Mr Sikota the bottom road should have been constructed if ZESCO had established the trust to help the people living in abject poverty.

He noted that most people were not having access to the electricity generated from Lake Kariba as their pylons passes on ‘people’s heads.’

The ULP president said he would ensure that there was fairness and justice in the distribution of public resource once his party comes to power.

When parliament resumes seating after Mr. Sikota said he would move a motion to ensure that places that were near the electricity power stations should be paying a small amount of ZESCO bill until the corporation stops taping power from those places.

He named areas to be exempted from high ZESCO bills such as Livingstone, Sinazongwe, and other areas that have electricity power stations.

“I am going to move a motion, places such as Kabwe, Sinazongwe, Livingstone, and those in Kalambo falls should be paying less money because they are the owners of the resources that ZESCO was exploiting,” Mr Sikota said.
On political scenario Mr Sikota explained that what occurred in Sinazongwe where people resigned own their own to join his party was a decision made out of principle.

He pointed out that the scenario has also encouraged other districts such Mazabuka , Siavonga, Itezhi tezhi, Choma, and Namwala where people have left UPND to Join ULP.

“The fire has gone beyond Southern, and Lusaka, the next fire will be heard soon on the Copperbelt,” Mr Sikota said.
Speaking at the same function ULP Acting Provincial Chairperson who led the people that resigned from UPND to join ULP said the majority of Sinazongwe people were now under ULP.
Mr Sitwiinda who was the Sinazongwe Constituency Chairperson said the entire UPND executive resigned because the party has lost direction.

He said they opted to join ULP leadership because he had the vision for the late Anderson Mazoka.
Sitwiinda said most of the ward councillors under UPND in the district where for ULP as they failed to declare their interest for fear of having by-elections and to allow them to bite the ‘cake’ in the meantime.
/TN/END

Commerce Minister, Felix Mutati says there is an urgent need to speed up the process of setting up the two multi-facility economic zones.

One will be in Chambeshi and the other in Lusaka
as agreed by the governments of Zambia and China.

And Mr. Mutati said it is important to include
Zambian experts in the management structure from the
initial stage of setting up the economic zones so that
there is quick transfer of skills to Zambians.

He was speaking in Xiamen, when he met the management of China Nonferrous Mining Company CNMC which will spearhead the establishment of the multi-facility economic zone in Chambeshi.

The Minister said the government will identify
qualified engineers, accountants, economists and other
local professionals who will work with the Chinese.

The President of CNMC, Luo Tao agreed with Mr. Mutati
on the need to include Zambians in its management
structure in Zambia.

The Chambeshi multi-facility economic zone will be the
first of its kind in Africa to be set up by China.

And CNMC President said his company has already agreed with a Chinese firm that will set up a factory to manufacture malaria and HIV/AIDS drugs in Zambia.

Mr. Luo said many Chinese companies are interested in investing in Zambia because of the country’s conducive investment policies.

Zambia has started to reduce short-dated Treasury Bills and is issuing long-term instruments as it strives to cut its huge domestic debt, Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande said on Friday.

Magande said in a statement that the 8,9 trillion Zambian kwacha  domestic debt would be reduced by eliminating outstanding debt that had built up over a number of years.

He added that the government would maintain its debt loads at sustainable levels by “observing a strict reduction strategy for domestic borrowing and curtailing the accumulation of new debt while clearing existing arrears in a phased approach”.

Zambia has this year received $77,1-million (about R558,2-billion) in new loans after multilateral lenders and western donors cancelled the bulk of the country’s debt in 2006 as part of a global plan to reduce debts owed by some of the world’s poorest nations.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and Western donors provided Zambia with massive debt relief last year.

Zambia’s strategy for managing debt is to regularly allocate funds in the budget to the reduction of outstanding debt through the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), a government economic management strategy for the 2007/09 period.

“In the case of government securities, the strategy in the medium-term is to manage domestic debt through prudent cost and risk management rather than reduce it,” Magande said.

“In managing the risks, the government is restructuring the domestic debt by reducing short-dated instruments, such as 90-day, 180-day, 270-day Treasury Bills and increasing long-dated instruments such as 7-year, 10-year and 15-year bonds,” he added.

Commercial bank officials say the government has stopped issuing 28-day Treasury Bills.

The concessionary loans from the AfDB and World Bank have terms of repayment of 40 years after a 10-year grace period and a commitment fee of 0.05 percent per annum, Magande said.

The loans received this year will help fund road rehabilitation and maintenance, poverty reduction programmes and improvement of water supply and sanitation.

Zambia’s external debt stood at $957,4-million at the end of 2006. A total $562,4-million of that amount was owed to multilateral creditors, while $395-million was owed to bilateral creditors.

It is time for Chinese investors to go to Africa, a growing market where they can get promising profits, a senior official from Zambia said Saturday.

Newly emerging economic powers of Asia such as China should consider Africa as a profitable investment destination, or they would feel regretted if they do not seize the opportunity, said Felix Mutati, minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry of Zambia, at the International Investment Forum held in the coastal city of Xiamen, southeast China’s Fujian Province.

Many African countries, sharing characteristics of an emerging market, are becoming more democratic and open, while trying to improve their administrative frameworks, the minister said.

Africa needs massive infrastructural projects, particularly roads, power plants, airports, and new mines to meet the demand of industrial development over the past decades, he explained.

“We would like Chinese people to build up factories in Zambia instead of simply selling commodities, so that we can develop ourselves,” said Geoffrey Mwamba, executive chairman of G.B.M Group of Companies from Zambia, who came to China to seek business partners on shipping and cement production.

“There are some Chinese investors in Mozambique, but we want more to help us develop industries like agriculture, fishing, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation and tourism,” said Martinho Assane Muatxiwa, director of Tourism of Inhambane Province of Mozambique.

Promising that Africa boasts highly rewarding opportunities due to massive demand for ordinary consumer goods and bit-ticket items like houses and cars, Mutati encouraged Chinese and other world-class prospective investors to explore numerous opportunities which remain untapped in Africa to realize mutual economic benefits.

Direct investment by Chinese firms in Africa surged to 480 million U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, and the overall investment from China totaled 11.7 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2006, official statistics show.

Chinese government has launched fund of 1 billion U.S. dollars to finance trade and investment by Chinese companies in Africa, in a fresh effort to facilitate Sino-African business relations.

Investment from China to Africa is expected to reach 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, according to Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank.

The forum was held on the sideline of the 11th China International Fair for Investment and Trade, an annual event held in this coastal city.