African Union Goodwill Ambassador for the Campaign to End Child Marriage, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda has called for the abolishment of a law that allows for 16-year-old to be married subject to a written consent by a parent.

In Zambia, the Marriage Act sets the legal minimum age of marriage at 21 years but a child can marry from the age of 16 with written consent from their legal guardian.

But Ms Gumbonzvanda says there is a need to have a law that protects the girl children.

The AU Goodwill Ambassador for Campaign to End Child Marriage says if the law is amended, it will protect children from the vice.

Speaking in Lusaka today during a stakeholder meeting organized by the Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Africa Trust (SAT), Ms Gumbonzvanda said the law needs to change to harmonize with African Union commitment which has set the legal age for marriage at 18.

And speaking at the same event, House of Chiefs Chairperson, Chief Chikwanda said there is a need to bring an end to traditional practices that promote children to be victim to vices such as early child marriage and teenage pregnancies.

Chief Chikwanda said cultural practices have greatly contributed towards societal vices that violate the rights of children.

The traditional leader also urged stakeholders to sensitize parents on the need to always get birth registration documentation for their children, saying the lack of this poses a challenge when prosecuting cases of child abuse.

“There is need to sensitize the parents on the importance of birth registration. We have had challenges normally when it comes to establishing the age of the child if there is a problem. When you take to court, the parents fail to produce birth certification certificates,” the traditional leader observed

And Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Africa Trust (SAT) Country Director Lenganji Nanyangwe said children need to have conversations with their parent about reproductive health.

Independent Churches of Zambia (ICOZ) President David Masupa said the church needs to strongly support the fight against child marriage and teenage pregnancy.

The Zambia National Students Union (ZANASU) and its affiliate members commend the new dawn Government for the successful recruitment of teachers across the country accounting for 30, 496 from the initial 30, 000 that was promised.

Firstly, it is important to understand that the pupil to teacher ratio was worrying before this exercise as most teachers had a load of work to meet everyday which compromised the quality-of-service delivery.

ZANASU recognizes the efforts the government has put in so far in the education sector, from the free Education Policy to the recruitment exercise, which makes our call for the Government to invest in education is yielding results, for ZANASU believes that investing in education is the best investment for any developing nation.

In a statement issued on behalf of ZANASU and its affiliate Unions, ZANASU Secretary General Mambwe Isaiah Bwalya noted that ZANASU recognizes that this recruitment and employment created will take over 30, 496 youths off the streets into the productive industry and contribute to this country’s GDP every year.

“We wish to unreservedly applaud Government for creating this huge opportunity for young people,” he said

Mr Bwalya recommends that the recruitment process should not be a once off event, but should be done every year because the population is increasing and there are new graduates every year on the professional market and the government should look beyond the civil service as it is not sustainable in job creation.

Meanwhile, Mr Bwalya has also highlighted that tertiary Education needs attention as it is still in a Limbo because of exorbitant fees, poor infrastructure, poor Education curriculum, poor accommodation and many other challenges requiring Governments urgent attention.

“We will be failing in our duty if we do not take cognizance and urge Government to further pay attention to tertiary Education,” he said

He added that ZANASU has engaged the Government in providing solutions through progressive dialogue to ensure that these challenges are addressed as soon as possible.

Mr Bwalya cited that ZANASU and its partners remain vigilant in defending students’ rights and indeed protecting the plight of young people in the country as per founding principles.

Meanwhile, Distribution of the newspapers containing names of recruited teachers has started. Jubilation among successful candidates who have been recruited in the 2022 teacher recruitment exercise remains an historical moment.

Hundreds of prospective teachers had earlier gathered outside Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia Offices where they were waiting for the release of names of successful candidates following an announcement by the Teaching service commission yesterday that it has concluded the recruitment process of 30,496 teachers.

Various education stakeholders have commended the government for the recruitment of over 30,000teachers.

National Action for Quality Education Zambia Executive Director Aaron Chansa said that the recruitment exercise responds to the challenges of teacher pupil ratio in schools.
And Zambia National Union of Teachers Assistant General Secretary Catherine Chilunda has urged the newly recruited teachers to stand up to the challenge that they will be undertaking in various Schools.
She has commended the government for fulfilling the recruitment process of over 30,000teachers as this will improve quality education especially in rural areas were most schools had less teachers with a high number of pupils.

Meanwhile National Union of Public and Private Educators of Zambia general secretary Nelson mwale urged the teachers to be ready to go wherever they are posted. Adding that a child in the rural area is as important as the one in the urban.

Hon. Minister of Education Douglas Siakalim noted that out of the 30,496 teachers recruited, 2,056 are for early childhood education,25,736 have been assigned to primary education and 2,694will be posted to secondary schools across the country, and less than 1% will be over 45 years old in September 2022, this means overall the teachers recruited are youths and 196 are teachers living with disability.
Mr Siakalima explained that the recruitment of teachers is a fulfilment to the commitment made by the new dawn government to improving access to quality education and ensuring acceptable teacher pupil ratio that is Internationally acceptable.
The teacher recruitment which started over six months was undertaken in a transparent manner and in accordance with the service commission act 10 of 2016, he said.

30,496 teachers have been recruited and names of the successful applicants to be published today Friday 15th July, 2022 across credible print and electronic media, says Minister of Education Douglas Siakalima.

Mr Siakalima noted that the recruitment of 30,000 teachers with an addition of 496 teachers has been done in line with the staffing needs analysis of teachers and the funds appropriated to this recruitment.

He added that the government has allocated additional resources for the recruitment of more teachers selected from the 1877 candidates that are already in the database.

Mr SiakaIima reaffirmed that recruitment of these teachers is a fulfilment to the commitment made by the new dawn government to improving access to quality education through the provision of free education and ensuring acceptable teacher pupil ratio.

“I am aware that members of the public have been anxiously waiting for the conclusion of the unprecedented recruitment of the 30,000 teachers,” he said

He mentioned that the selected teachers will collect their appointment letters from the District Board Secretaries across the country, thereafter recruited teachers are expected to complete processing the appointment documents in readiness to report for duty as schools open for the third term.

Mr Siakalima explained that of the 30,496 teachers recruited, 2,056 are for early childhood education, 25,736 have been assigned to primary education and 2,694 will be posted to secondary schools across the country, and less than 1% are will be over 45 years old in September 2022, implying that over all the teachers recruited are relatively youths and 196 are teachers living with disability.

“In terms of sex segregation 59% females and 41% male of the 30,496 teachers recruited,” he said

He highlighted that the during the official opening of the first session of the 13th National Assembly, President Hakainde Hichilema made a pronouncement that the UPND government will recruit 30,000 teachers, this pronouncement was in line with the party manifesto and the vision of the Ministry of Education of providing accessible, inclusive, and quality education that is relevant to the need of an individual, nation and world at large.

“My office understands the anxiety that has brought to the public because this has never been done before in our country, there has never been a government that has recruited 30,000 teachers at once,” he said

He added that in order to actualise the Presidential pronouncement, the Ministry of Finance and National Development allocated 1,594,876,000 Kwacha in the 2022 National Budget.

Mr Siakalima mentioned that the Teaching Service Commission proceeded with the setup of human resource committees in all the 116 Districts in the country, which were made to recruit the teachers in their respective Districts in accordance with the Service Commission Act No. 10 of 2016, this was done to ensure that all citizens qualified are given an equal and fair opportunity of getting employed irrespective of their geographical location.

He added that all the District Human Resource Management Committees shortlisted all the suitable candidates according to the needs of the districts and submitted them to the Provincial Human Resource Management Committees for various validation and consolidation.

Henceforth, the Provincial Human Resource Management Committees in turn submitted to the Teaching Service Commission for the technical committee at national level to subsequently undertake the national consolidation and verification.

Mr Siakalima said respective District Commissioners played an oversight role throughout the recruitment process, to enhance accountability, transparency and credibility of the process, the office of the President Special Division, Drug Enforcement Commission, and the Anti-Corruption Commission monitored the process at district, provincial and national levels.

“I am glad to mention that all the Human resource committees in all the 116 districts executed their duties diligently in processing a total of 100,877 applications,” he said

The 41st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council is underway in Lusaka with a call from Zambia for African Union countries to take full advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

And Zambia has expressed readiness and willingness to contribute effectively to the promotion of increased intra-Africa trade.

Speaking during the official opening, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Stanley Kakubo urged African states to make use of the AfCFTA by concentrating on value addition.

He said there is a need to access alternative financial resources to bolster the competitiveness of African products.

Mr Kakubo said the high cost of capital is posing a serious challenge to value addition saying it needs to be addressed.

“In order to take full advantage of the AfCTA, it is necessary for our countries to produce and trade value-added products. We are all experiencing the high cost of capital which is binding and constraining the value addition, growth and transformation agenda of our industries. To address this challenge, we need to find innovative ways of reducing the cost of capital for Africa,” he said.

And the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation further called on African countries to renew the commitments towards the attainment of Agenda 2063.

Mr Kakubo said Agenda 2063 is a huge priority for the African continent.

“The implementation of the aspirations of Agenda 2063 remains high in our organization’s priorities. It is for this reason that I wish to call upon all of us member states to renew our commitment to fully implement Agenda 2063 and all of its flagship projects,” he said.

Speaking at the same event, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said Africa needs to reduce dependence on cooperating partners.

Mr Mahamat said it is important for the continent to be self-sustaining in order to reduce external shocks.

He also observed that the African continent has been affected by crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine Russia conflict.

Mr Mahamat said despite challenges the continent is facing, Africa is still committed to attaining Agenda 2063.

He also said the Commission has in the recent past improved the image of the pan African parliament.

African National Poverty Fund -ANPF and Safer Africa Savings and Credit Cooperative Union-SASCCU have written to President Hakainde Hichilema seeking permission to operate at the black mountain for a few days to raise some funds.

The two organisations are on a fundraising venture to raise funds that will facilitate the establishment of an organic liquid fertiliser production plant in Masaiti district on the Copperbelt.

In their letter to President Hichilema, the two organisations want government through mines minister to allow them operate at the slug dump for a few days for them to raise at least K5 Million.

“We now humbly appeal to you, your Excellency that your able government through our able minister of mines, Paul Kabuswe to permit the two cooperatives (SASCCU and (LRCCMCS) to mine on the Kitwe’s black mountain for few days to raise K5, 000,000,” the letter read in part.

According Tresphord Chomba, ANPF president, the two Zambian organisations are expected to buy 20, 000 by one liter containers of organix fertiliser from Denva if the plant is to be established.

Buying the said litres of fertiliser for Zambian farmers will cost US $180m which the Indian company will need for it to be able to transport machinery and equipment needed to set up the plant.

Mr. Chomba said the two organisations do not need to invest in

anything apart from buying fertiliser from the Indian company and raise the money needed to transport the equipment for the plant to be established.

Mr. Chomba is also appealing to other stakeholders to help raise funds to buy fertiliser from India and that the company supplying will be able to set up a production plant.

The organic liquid fertiliser that is likely to be opened before the end of 2022 is expected to provide farmers with a cheaper and affordable fertiliser source.

Mr. Chomba has added that the two organisations have also signed a memorandum of partnership with Denvas Services Limited of India to help establish a plant in the border town.

He has expressed happiness that the Copperbelt Provincial Administration has already shown interest to support the project.

Mr.Chomba has disclosed that ground breaking ceremony for the organic liquid fertiliser set for July 21 ,2022.

He added that establishing the organic liquid fertiliser plant will help over 1 million small scale farmers access cheaper fertiliser.