The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has concluded investigations into recent fire incidents involving four fuel tankers and left one driver dead in the light industrial area in Lusaka.

ERB Communication Officer Mwila Kombe said the board established that the fire incident involved two petroleum tankers belonging to Hamington Global Logistics Limited, Mpanshya Oil Transporters Limited and a trailer belonging to Oasis Filling Station, while the fourth truck was a South African registered motor vehicle.

Mr. Kombe said the evidence gathered by the ERB shows that the fire incident occurred during the illegal decanting of fuel between the petroleum tankers belonging to Hamington Global Logistics Limited and Mpanshya Oil Transporters Limited.

“The indicative results show that of illegal fuel decanting which is contrary to initial reports of the fire having been triggered by a mechanical fault as had been alleged by the drivers,” he said in a statement made available to the media.

He further said the board also established that the source of the fire was a spark from one of the two generators that were found at the accident scene with two hose pipes connecting the two vehicles still attached.

He explained that in view of these findings, the ERB will further engage Hamington Global Logistics Limited and Mpanshya Oil Transporters Limited to show cause why enforcement action should not be taken against them for various breaches of license conditions.

“Offloading fuel in an undesignated area is contrary to clause 2.2.2 of their transportation license condition which states that, “the licensee shall only offload petroleum products at the consignee’s designated place,” Mr. Mwila said.

He said the licensee is not supposed to engage in any activities that impede or may impede either proper implementation of the licensed activity or any licensed activity of other licensees.

Mr. Mwila further said engaging in such activities impedes proper management of licensed activities contrary to clause 2.2.3 of the transportation licence condition.

He said failing to report an incident to the ERB and submit a written comprehensive incident report to the board within seven calendar days is contrary to clauses 2.1.4 (C) of the licence condition.

Mr. Mwila revealed that the ERB will soon be engaging Oasis Filling Station, whose trailer was caught up in the fire with, regard to parking at premises that do not conform to the requirements of the local authority.

He explained that parking premises should be equipped with the necessary safety equipment and measures for vehicles transporting petroleum products

Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) announced today that it has started supplying oxygen to Government run hospitals and health facilities on the Copperbelt as part of the concerted efforts in the fight against Covid-19.

At the end of June, the Company indicated that its subsidiary, KCM SmelterCo Limited, had offered to supply oxygen for medical interventions, particularly to enhance oxygen saturation and breathing in patients infected by the Covid-19 from its 750 tonnes per day Oxygen Plant at the Nchanga Smelter.

KCM now informs that it held successful meetings with officials from the Ministry of Health, who also conducted on the spot checks at the Oxygen plant and were satisfied with the quality of the oxygen available and the process of filling cylinders at the plant.

KCM Chief Executive Officer Christopher Sheppard said he was pleased to announce that after receiving a green light for KCM SmelterCo Limited to supply the oxygen to the Ministry of Health, the Company filled 20 oxygen cylinders for the Ronald Ross Hospital of Mufulira on 26th July 2021. The KCM SmelterCo has capacity to fill up to 200 oxygen cylinders in a day.

Mr Sheppard commented that, “Saving lives has always been our priority as reflected in our safety and health policy, whether it is for our employees or people in our communities because every life matters. Mr Sheppard has further called on like-minded organisations to join in the efforts to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic by donating medical oxygen cylinders to the Government in order to boost oxygen supply to the health facilities.

“If we have more organisations coming on board to procure oxygen cylinders to donate to the Government, then we will be able to give out more oxygen to the public hospitals and save more lives, together,” Mr Sheppard added.

Recently, an analysis of oxygen samples delivered for testing from the Oxygen Plant at the Nchanga smelter in Chingola to the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) were returned with results of 95.7 percent and 97.8 percent, respectively.

KCM and the Ministry of Health have agreed a roadmap for delivering the oxygen to public hospitals, which will culminate into the signing of an agreement for long-term oxygen supply to enable the country to effectively deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first batch of 95 pallets for 40 constituencies containing ballot papers for next month’s August 12th 2021 general elections are expected to arrive in Zambia on July 28th 2021 at approximately 12.40 hours Zambia time aboard an Emirates Sky Cargo air plane.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) says there will be four flights to airlift the ballot papers whose schedule has been sprayed over three days, with the first batch of pallets arriving in Zambia on Wednesday July 28th 2021, to be followed by the second consignment on Thursday July 29th aboard two planes on same day, and the last dispatch will be on Friday July 30th.

Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano announced today in Dubai that the printer as of yesterday Monday, had transported the pallets for 40 constituencies to the airport for screening and other formalities as per that country’s protocols in readiness for dispatch on Wednesday, July 28th 2021 aboard an emirate’s cargo plane.

“Packaging including the first batch which we did see yesterday was taken to the airport. Its currently under quarantine as per advised in readiness for transportation,” Mr Nshindano announced.

Mr Nshindano addressing stakeholders at Al Ghurair Printing factory stated the pallets will leave Dubai international airport in the early hours of Wednesday, 28th July, aboard Emirates Sky Cargo flight number EK9542, and is expected to touch down at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport at 12.40 hours Zambian time.

“The first flight which will depart in the early hours from Dubai, will arrive tomorrow at 12.40 hours and the commission will be sharing with you as stakeholders the list of what is packaged in the pellets,’’ he said.

The Chief Electoral Officer explained that the transportation of the second and third batch of pallets for 80 constituencies will be dispatched on Thursday,29th of July, 2021 aboard two cargo planes under the same carrier and will arrive at 12.40 hours.

Mr Nshindano further added that the last consignment of pallets for the last 40 constituencies will be dispatched on Friday 30th July, 2021 and will arrive on the same day by 12.40 hours the same day, concluding the exercise of dispatching the election ballot papers for four election type.

“We are going to have to two flights on 29th July which should arrive on the same time as well and the last flight will be on the 30th Friday. In total we are going to have four flights and this will mark the end of that exercise,’’ he stated.

Mr Nshindano said the commission is already in the process of making arrangements to inform stakeholders in Zambia on formalities of who will receive and witness the consignment of pallets whose total tonnage is 49, 236 kilograms, as it arrives in the country.

Amongst the first constituencies to receive their pallets include Katuba, Keembe, Chisamba, Chitambo, Itezhi-Tezhi, Bwacha, Kabwe Central, Kapiri Mposhi, Mkushi South, Mkushi North, Mumbwa, Nangoma, Lufubu, Muchinga and Serenje.

The other constituencies are Mwembezhi, Chililabombwe, Chingola, Nchanga, Kalulushi, Chimwemwe, Kamfinsa, Kwacha, Nkana, Wisakile, Luanshya, Roan, Lufwanyama, Kafulafuta, Masaiti, Mpongwe, Kankoyo, Kantanshi, Mufulira, Bwana Mukubwa, Chifubu, kabushi, Ndola Central, Chadiza and Chapata central.

Meanwhile the Churches Coalition Monitoring Group (CCMG) has disclosed that the coalition will carry out a paralleled vote tabulation during this year’s polls based on random selected sites.

CCMG delegation leader Emmanuel Chikoya revealed during a stakeholder meeting in Duba with ECZ, that the organization is however facing challenges in accrediting monitors who are critical to the success of the PVT with respective districts managing the electoral process.

Father Chikoya appealed to the commission to consider extending the period of accreditation whose deadline is this on Friday July 30th 2021 and started on July 1st and standardize the requirements.

CCMG delegation leader Emmanuel Chikoya said whilst the commission had set a deadline, it was important stakeholders were given time to accredit as notification was not received good time.

Father Chikoya said the process in the past was not restrictive but would close a day before polls adding that district electoral officers were as well issuing conflicting positions on the accreditation process from that which is guided by ECZ.

In response, ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano noted the concerns raised by CCMG but explained that there were reasons for the commission to have set a deadline 12 days before the elections’ day.

Mr Nshindano said there were a number of aspects that the commission had looked at such as adequate time to screen applicants and verify their backgrounds so that they do not repeat past mistakes of accrediting people with questionable character.

Mr Nshindano said the commission had done enough notification of the process of accreditation which started at the time of holding nomination of candidates participating the elections, and that it was not fair to accuse the commission of wrong doing.

Mr Nshindano advised that it was important stakeholders adhere to the guidelines set by the commission in ensuring that they prepare adequately as the date of elections is well known in advance.

Scheduled to run for close to 400 kilometers from Chipata to Luangwa Bridge in Luangwa District, Morgan ‘Katatala’ Banda says his next long run is aimed at raising awareness on violence-free campaigns ahead of the 12 August polls.

ZANIS reports that Banda revealed this when he was welcome by his traditional leadership at Chief Chanje’s palace in Chipangali District.

Several people gathered at Chief Chanje’s palace to listen to Mr. Banda who narrated his exciting story after running from Chipata to the country’s Capital.

Soon after his arrival in Lusaka, Mr. Banda received accolades from not only government officials but the general public who awarded him several gifts and cash.

And announcing his next ran for the violence-free campaign ahead of the August 12 general elections, Banda re-emphasized that Zambians should always remember to guards the nation’s peace which they must jealously protect.

He charged that One Zambia, One Nation motto, as advocated by late first President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda country apart from Zambia and so we must guard this nation jealously by conducting violence-free campaigns as the country draws near the polls,” Banda said.

And thanking Mr. Banda for promoting the chiefdom with what he has embarked on, Chief Chanje advised him to work with his Indunas to ensure they send messages of peace during this time of campaigns.

“When we think about people like Dr. Kaunda, they never used violence when they were fighting for the freedom of the country and so, we must emulate them, ” he says.

Meanwhile, there was jubilation at Chief Chanje’s palace when word went round that the man who ran from Chipata to Lusaka was in the chiefdom.

A lot of people thronged the palace to catch a glimpse of Morgan Banda who hails from Muzilwa village near the border with Malawi in Chief Chanje’s area.

The Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) in Shiwang`andu district has commended the government for implementing the debt swap initiative for civil servants.

ZNUT chairperson in Shiwang’andu district, Stephen Kangwa, told ZANIS that the debt swap initiative will greatly help liberate teachers and other civil servants who borrowed from various financial lending institutions.

Mr. Kangwa observed that the teachers and other civil servants were overburdened with servicing concurrent loans. He said the debt swap initiative will therefore be a relief to the highly indebted workers and motivate them as they carry out their duties.

He said the teachers are the majority of the workers who were affected by loans adding that some of them were having zero net pay due to over-borrowing.

“Most teachers who were affected by loans were demoralized and this resulted in poor delivery of services and poor learner performance,” he said.

Mr. Kangwa has since assured the government that the teaching fraternity will retain integrity as their loan burdens have been lessened following the debt swap initiative. He said the move by the government to carry out a debt swap is timely amid the economic downturn. Mr. Kangwa further commended the government for its relentless effort towards improving civil service.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kangwa has cautioned teachers and other civil servants not to borrow money from unregistered money lenders. And some civil servants have appreciated the government for implementing the debt swap initiative.

Traditional leaders in Muchinga province have resolved to support President Edgar Lungu and his Patriotic Front (PF) party because of their good performance in the last 10 years.

And the traditional leaders in the province have called for peaceful campaigns ahead of the August 12, 2021 polls.

Secretary of the Muchinga Provincial Chiefs Council, chief Lundu has told the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) at his palace today that traditional leaders in the region have resolved to continue supporting President Lungu and the PF party.

Chief Lundu said the traditional leaders’ resolution to support Dr. Lungu was as a result of the good performance of the PF administration in the last 10 years.

He said chiefs in the province are confident that some development projects, which have not yet been completed, will be worked on in due course hence the need to support the ruling party and ensure that it is voted back into office during next month’s polls.

“We are happy with the extent of development in all the chiefdoms and where projects are still running, we know that they will be completed because even Rome was not built in a day,” said chief Lundu.

The traditional leader cited infrastructure development in the education and health sectors as some projects that have positively impacted the local people.

He added that every chiefdom now has a secondary school and a min hospital or a health post.

He observed that the maternal mortality rate has drastically reduced in rural communities because of the huge investments in the health sector through infrastructure development and employment of qualified staff.

“As chiefs in Muchinga Province, what we are saying is that we are rallying behind President Edgar Lungu in the August 12 general election because of the past performance,” said Chief Lundu.

He also said it is good that the contractor, China Jiangxi, who is working on the Lot 1 of the Chama-Matumbo road, will be moving back on site to complete the remaining 62 kilometres (km) of the road project.

And the traditional leaders in Muchinga have appealed to political parties taking part in the August general election to ensure they engage in peaceful campaigns.

Chief Lundu of the Senga people of Chama district said traditional leaders in the province want peace before, during and after the August polls.

He said it is important that the peace that the country is enjoying is safeguarded at all costs.

Meanwhile, Chief Lundu said traditional leaders in the province are also happy with President Lungu for choosing another female as his running mate.

He said traditional leaders in the province have confidence in President Lungu’s running mate Nkandu Luo because of her past achievements and performance in various positions she held in the government.

He said President Lungu’s decision to settle for another female as a running mate in the August general elections confirms the President’s commitment to support women by appointing them in various positions.