A breast-cancer patient in Ndola’s Kaloko Township of Bwana Mkubwa Constituency is struggling to get treatment due financial challenges.

42-year old Mercy Mwewa, who had tumor on the right breast, has appealed for financial assistance to enable her continue cancer treatment in Lusaka.

This information came to light when Independent Bwana Mkubwa Member of Parliament Warren Chisha Mwambazi donated a wheelchair to Ms. Mwewa at her home in Kaloko.

Cancer has confined Ms Mwewa in the house for more than six months.

Mwambazi donated a wheelchair to Ms Mwewa with food stuff and blankets.

Ms. Mwewa thanked Mr. Mwambazi for the donation and asked for further help to enable her get treatment.

“I am very happy to receive the wheelchair because I am now able to come outside the house. Today I am able to see outside and now my child will be moving me outside unlike in the past. I thank all who have brought me this wheelchair they have done a good job. May God bless them,” Ms. Mwewa told reporters with difficulties.

“Let them also help me to buy divine none medication for my problem. The medicine will help me recover. Let them just buy me four bottles of the medicine, it is K750 each. Please let them help me the same way they have helped me with the wheelchair. May God touch them to help me. Please people help me,” she said.

Mr. Mwambazi said leaders such as councilors and Members of Parliament have a duty to help the needy in society.

“We are here in Kaloko Ward this morning to visit a community member who has been suffering after undergoing two operations due to breast Cancer. We in the company of area councilor Mathew Musonda delivered some food stuffs to help her and her family. We also gave her a wheelchair to help with Mobility. This is our mother, she is from the constituency and our ward so when we saw his appeal on news, I think it was imperative that we just come and visit looking at her condition so that we can help. These people are relying on us civic leaders as Members of Parliament, there Councilors so that we can see how we can render help,” Mr. Mwambazi said.

“You can see she is in pain and she has been suffering for a long time. She has done chemotherapy, she can’t walk so we thought let is help her with a wheelchair so that even people who are helping her can have easy access because she was just being lifted. Now they can have access to move in and out of the house. I also came with the councilor because he is always there in the ward so going forward he can be coming to check on her, we give her some supplies, from the clinic they can give us some pain killers and bandages. It is a very sad situation but for us we have come to see what we can do and help,” Mr. Mwambazi said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Mwewa discovered her condition in 2018 after giving birth to her sixth child and she underwent surgical operation at Ndola Teaching Hospital.

She explained that in 2019 she observed a growth on the breast which had been operated on and upon bringing to the attention of hospital staff.

Ms. Mwewa was transferred to Lusaka for treatment.

She said her husband abandoned her six months ago after giving birth to a visually impaired child whom she has since given out for foster care to the Social Welfare Office

Ms. Mwewa says her firstborn son aged 17 who is in grade 10 and is visually impaired has since dropped out of school to nurse her since her health has deteriorated.

Rupiah Bwezani Banda’s former Press Aid and confidant Dickson Jere says the Fourth Republican President died a peaceful man after hearing that the people of Zambia cherished his contribution to national development.

Mr. Banda died last Friday evening at his residence in Lusaka aged 85.

He had been undergoing cancer treatment after he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon.

Featuring on ZNBC Television’s Sunday Interview, Mr. Jere, who appeared emotional during the interview anchored by Grevasio Zulu, revealed his last encounter with Mr. Banda a day before his death.

“A day before he died, I took Fr. Thomas Charlie from the Anglican Church. I didn’t tell him that I was coming with the Pastor or the Priest. I went there with Fr. Thomas and when I walked in the room, he was seated in the chair, bright of course and he said huh….Dickson mwaniletela a Pastor, I said yes he has not seen you in a long time and we sat for about a good 30 minutes just chatting different things. Then we went into prayer so we prayed and he said ‘I am at peace’. Then he turned to Fr. Charlie and he said Dickson always knows what to bring to me so he knows the best guy to come and have a prayer with me. He is my own Thomas Charlie so we chatted, we discussed the weather, and that there was a nice breath coming,” Mr. Jere disclosed.

“That was the same day the President (Hakainde Hichilema) was coming to see him, he had been talking about his daughter singing, and showed us a video. It was a normal day. That was a day before he died. I mean he was not doing too well but we were all pretty sure that he was going to come out,” he said.

“A day before he died when I said I took Fr. Charlie Thomas that is what exactly he told him. Fr. Thomas said ‘President, you know it is only now that most of us Zambians are appreciating what you have done for the country’. It is only now that when we look at the figures, the inflation, exchange rate, GDP of the country, the bumper harvest, all indicators are beautiful.

And he said I wanted you to know telling President Banda, I wanted you to know that we are appreciating the role you played and he (RB) turned he said my young friend here Dickson records everything, he is my recorder, he knows about how passionate I feel about that. I hope one day, Zambians will wake up and say I meant well but now that Father you are telling me people are appreciating me, I am at peace,” Mr. Jere narrated.

RB facilitated a smooth handover of power after the last August general election in which President Hakainde Hichilema defeated incumbent Edgar Lungu.

Mr. Jere said he did not know whether to mourn or celebrate RB.

“I have been struggling. I have had a split personality ever since he died. I don’t know whether to continue breaking down crying or to celebrate. You know first and foremost I got touched. I got a voice message from one of his sons, Nenani. You know when he (RB) died he just decided that he was going to do this voice note to me as a thank you from the family that the role you played nobody can explain it and before we all get into this funeral thing I wanted to say thank you. You looked after the old man; you did what you could and if you didn’t know this man appreciated it. And he said let’s celebrate his life,” Mr. Jere said.

Mr. Banda was a politician and diplomat.

The former Republican Vice-President ruled Zambia from 2008 to 2011 after the death of then President Patrick Mwanawasa.

Kapiri Mposhi Magistrate Courts has sentenced a 28-year-old Livingstone man to one-year imprisonment for breaking into his elder sister’s house and stealing a safe containing K 21,000

Before Magistrate Edward Banda was Peter Chiinda of Highlandss compound in Livingstone, who was visiting his sister in Kapiri Mposhi when he committed the offence and was indicted on one count of theft contrary to Section 272 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

Particulars of the offence are that Chiinda, on 2nd March, 2022, broke into his sister’s bedroom and stole a safe in it was K 21,000 cash, academic certificates and a Passport the property of Mercy Chiinda, 48, the complainant in this matter from Riverside compound in Kapiri Mposhi.

According to written facts in the matter, on the said day, Mercy Chiinda secured her bedroom and went for work but upon returning home around 18:00 hours discovered that the safe where she keeps money and personal documents had gone missing.

The complainant reported the matter to police having in mind the visiting brother from Livingstone, who had remained home at that time, as a prime suspect.

And upon being interrogated by police Chiinda admitted to have stolen the safe which he later forcibly opened to steal the money from it.

Chiinda further disclosed that he discarded the safe into a shallow well at a home in Riverside compound but police could not retrieve the safe as the well was too deep.

However, police managed to recover only K 9,400 from Chiinda upon which he was formally charged for the subject offence and arrested.

Chiinda pleaded guilty as charged.

In mitigation Chiinda asked his sister for forgiveness and the court to exercise maximum leniency on him as he was keeping two young children orphaned by his other sister.

But in passing judgement, Magistrate Banda wondered why Chiinda decided to steal from his sister instead of protecting her from thieves.

“Why would you do that to your sister? You are supposed to protect her instead. And the rest of the money where did you take it? In future, be your sisters protector because money is so hard to come by nowadays. She had plans to use that money but you have put her in a bad situation now,” Magistrate Banda said.

Magistrate Banda then condemned Chiinda to a one year imprisonment with hard labour sentence and ordered that the K 9,400 recovered money be returned to the owner forthwith.

The House of Chiefs has described the demise of the fourth republican president Rupiah Banda as heartbreaking despite knowing the disease he succumbed to.

House of Chiefs Chairperson, Senior Chief Luembe says the house mourns the ‘iconic leader who immensely contributed to the well-being of the chieftaincy across the country.

ZANIS reports that Senior Chief Luembe has described the late President as a down-to-earth man whose life was never characterized by dull moments.

He added that President Rupiah Banda was one of the Heads of State that treated traditional leadership with utmost respect.

‘We know he was sick for some time but the news of his death was very devastating and wished he could pull through but you know our wishes are not God’s,” he said.

The traditional leader said RB was a man of the people whose selfless service to the country does not need any form of research but that they are writings on the wall.

“He was a man of the people, it came to show when he was called upon to serve as vice president of the country. RB was a selfless leader who embraced everyone,” Senior Chief Luembe said.

The senior chief has implored the current leadership to learn something from the RB’s lifestyle by making sure they are not self-centered but put people first.

He urged that the country should mourn the fallen hero in a dignified manner that will befit the kind of life the late President left.

And Lamba-Lima Royal Council of Chiefs chairperson, Chief Nkambo said President Banda had a lot of respect to the traditional leadership.

Chief Nkambo described RB as a unifier who had a great sense of humour which helped to relief tension where there was turmoil.

“He made a lot of selfless contributions to the nation and his leadership quality is what Zambians should embrace,” he said.

Chief Nkambo said Zambians should learn from President Banda the spirit of magnanimity and forgiveness if the country is to develop.

Meanwhile, the Lunda Cultural Association of Zambia- LUCAZ has described the late fourth Republican President as a solid vessel of wisdom, and iconic pillar of democracy.

LUCAZ Chairperson, Anthony Samuhandu said RB was the kind of leader who loved his people all heatedly, thus accepting defeat in 2011 to PF to avoid plunging the country into chaos.

“Just like he fondly called himself as President for all Zambians, president Banda traveled to all parts of the country, including North Western province just to appreciate the challenges Zambians were going through,” Mr. Samuhandu said.

And Traditional leaders in Southern Province have joined the rest of the country to mourn the late former 4th President of Zambia Rupiah Banda who died on Friday, March 11, 2022.

Chieftainess Mwenda of the Basanje Tonga speaking people of Chikankata District, Chief Cooma and Chief Monze said Zambia has lost a gallant President who ruled the nation with dignity.

Chieftainess Mwenda said Zambians should mourn the late President with dignity while Chief Cooma said the late President Rupiah Banda will be remembered for his good works.

And Chief Monze said the late President Rupiah helped to liberate the nation from the colonial masters.

President Rupiah Banda died on Friday, March 11, 2022, aged 85 after a battle with Cancer.

A civic organisation in Ndola says it has commenced a Zero teenage pregnancy Campaign aimed at reducing cases of teenage in the provincial capital.

Youth Changing the Mindset organization (YCMO) Executive Director Comfort Mwansa says his organisation will soon be going around schools and communities in a bid to sensitize adolescent girls and boys on the impact of teenage pregnancies and the importance of education.

In a statement made available to ZANIS in Ndola today, YCMO Executive Director Comfort Mwansa explained that the objective of the campaign is to reduce the numbers of teenage pregnancies among young people.

Stating that lack of information about sexual and reproductive health and rights amongst the adolescents is the leading cause of unplanned pregnancies in the country , Mr Mwansa expressed hope that a Zero teenage pregnancy Campaign will be successful in Ndola.

“The campaign is aimed at reducing the increasing number of teenage pregnancies in our country to Zero because as an organisation we understand that once a young girl becomes pregnant at a tender age, the young mothers are more likely to drop out of school, “ he said.

He added that because of their low self-esteem and commitment to get educated, most teenagers are often exposed to Sexually Transmitted Infections ( STIs ) and HIV/AIDS he said are major contributors this country’s underdevelopment.

The YCMO Executive Director at this juncture called on government, chiefs, parents and other stakeholders to come on board and work with the organisation to fight teenage pregnancies in the country.

He said the nation as a whole needs to stand up and fight teenage pregnancies as it is hindering a lot of teenagers from becoming future leaders.

Mr. Mwansa said the Zero teenage pregnancy Campaign is his organisation ‘s contribution to the 2022 youth day campaign held under the theme: ‘Enhancing Youth Participation at all levels of National Development ‘.

And Andrew Mwaba a Ndola based youth said a number of teenage pregnancies keep rising in communities due to various factors such as peer pressure, inadequate information about sexual reproductive health.