Posts in category: Uncategorized

…but the New Congress Party leader threatens he will launch a crusade to ensure the UPND Alliance government is finished before 2026

By Nation Reporter

XPELLED UPND Alliance partner Nason Msoni has vowed to embark on a crusade to finish and extinguish the UPND government which he claims to have worked hard to ensure it won the 2021 general elections.

By GRACE CHAILE

CHAPTER One Foundation Limited and Bloggers of Zambia limited, have filed a petition in the High Court, asking it to order ZICTA to stop the collection, processing and retention of live facial photographs as a precondition to registration by mobile network providers as it amounts to invasion of privacy.

The petitioners want a declaration that the said directive by Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) requiring that mobile network operators collect and process live facial photographs of natural persons who are mobile service subscribers as a prerequisite to registration of mobile network services is unconditional. They also want the already collected photographs removed from all records and systems.

Chapter One Foundation Limited and Bloggers of Zambia Limited in their petition stated that ZICTA issued a directive to all mobile network operators allegedly pursuant to SI no.65 of 2011 to ensure that all Sim card registrations and replacements conducted from September 1, 2019 to date contain live facial images as well as identification.

And that subscribers who fail to comply with the directive would result in disconnection from services.

Chapter One Foundation stated that after a meeting with the respondent on June 7, this year, the regulator said it would  halt registration stating that it was in the process of enhancing the methods being used to conduct sim card registration and would direct mobile network operators to suspend the live facial photographs exercise.

But to date, the petitioners contended that ZICTA had not communicated the suspension of the exercise to the general public.

The petitioners contend the exercise was in violation of articles 17 and  20(1) and (2).

“The intended and unlawful suspension of mobile network services for people who have already registered their sim cards who fail to submit live facial photographs will cut countless citizens off from communications and various services associated with their sim cards such as mobile banking and other financial services. As such, importance of mobile network services to the exercise of freedom of expression and access to information cannot be overstated,” they stated.

…Brian Mundubile says CDF projects are not financed by the UPND as a private political party but by government to which Mr Imemnda does not belong

By SHERRY CHABALA

BATUKE Imenda is not a government official to have embarked on the monitoring and inspecting of developmental projects under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and should therefore curtail his marathon tour across the country, Brian Mundubile has said.

Mr Mundubile, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament says Mr Imenda should instead expend his partisan energies on mobilising the ruling party, for that was his main mandate as the chief executive officer of the UPND.

Mr Mundubile said Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Gary Nkombo was the one with the mandate and responsible for monitoring CDF projects and that the UPND officials should not have usurped his responsibilities.

He said Zambia had long dispensed with the philosophy of the party and its government and that government functions should never be performed  by party functionaries such as Mr Imenda.  

“My dear comrade Imenda may have been tipped privately that he is the next Minister of Local Government but I want to advise him that no matter how strong that rumour is, for as long as he has not been sworn in, for as long as he has not taken oath, let him take it easy and wait.”

“That is how people have lost positions in the past because of being excited. Somebody comes to you and they tip you and you begin to carry out the functions. Mr Imenda, we are pleading with you.  I know that the rumour is strong. We have been hearing these rumours that you are about to be appointed, but you have not yet been sworn-in my brother.  So just stay home until you are sworn-in,” Mr Mundubile said.

 Mr Mundubile said Government was not using funds from the UPND as a private political party to build infrastructure using CDF and Mr Imenda should not be the one to inspect government financed developmental projects.

Mr Mundubile advised the UPND not to politicise CDF because the money being used to empower members of the ruling party was public.

He was reacting to Transparency International Zambia’s call to Mr Imenda to desist from politicising the CDF programme through his nationwide tour of projects.

…we will not let them go free like we did the last time, says National Union of Miners and Allied Workers president,  Saul Simujika

By SHARON ZULU

VEDANTA Resources Plc will have to be “policed” to ensure that the investor does not breach any of the terms of its shareholding agreement in Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) president, Saul Simujika has said.  

Mr Simujika said NUMAW was available to work with Government to ensure that Vedanta fulfilled its promises when it returns to KCM as the 80 percent majority shareholder.

“We are available to police and also looking at those issues that Vedanta has promised, we are together with Government. I think we need to police them on what they will be doing, we should not let them free like we did last time, they must be policed,” Mr Simujika said.

He was speaking when he featured on Millennium TV’s Business Day programme under the topic: The State of the Mining Sector.

Mr Simujika also said the loss of value and deterioration at KCM was worrying, which required to be urgently resolved.

He said miners were now being assigned to cut grass instead of doing the jobs that they were engaged for.

“Instead of doing the jobs that they were engaged to do, they are assigned to go and cut grass. You are a mine captain then you go and start cutting grass. So they know what is happening. Productivity has terribly gone down, KCM does not meet the production targets anymore,” Mr Simujika said. He, however, said the possible return of Vedanta to KCM had brought renewed hope to the workers because the investor would restore productivity.

“Primarily, what we need to see is that Vedanta must come quickly and reinvest and put in capital in this asset so that we start development. We have gone away from developing the mine and we are just processing, so we need to get there and start developing so that we start producing our own copper instead of relying a custom copper, which is coming from other countries,” Mr Simujika said.

He said NUMAW expected Vedanta Resources on its return, to immediately improve the conditions of service for the workers who  had suffered and stood with the company to sustain it to its current state. “We also want them to really handle the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility, which we had lost on the Copperbelt in the towns where KCM is operating, so they need to quickly bring back that face, bring back that CSR.

“We are also expecting that when they bring in their resources, they must not forget the contractors that have done a lot of work for them… for the company and the mine, those that have not been paid. There are some huge sums of money that the contractors are being owed by KCM so they must come and resolve all these issues so that they can also now be able to manage their employees,” Mr Simujika said.

By SHERRY CHABALA

THE Lusaka Central Business District (CBD) had been converted into a haven of criminal activities such as drug abuse and trafficking as a result of increased street vending that had been abated for decades, Parliament heard yesterday.

Garry Nkombo, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development told Parliament yesterday, that illegal street vending in Lusaka had not only become a health hazard but a security risk as the streets had become unsafe for citizens.

Delivering a Ministerial statement on the government’s effort to remove traders to designated trading places, Mr Nkombo vowed that as long as he was going to remain the minister in-charge of Local Government, illegal street vending would not be tolerated.

Mr Nkombo said consumers of illicit substances did not only desensitise the plight of other citizens but were also inebriated continuously with most degenerating into a state of junkies who disrupted the peace of citizens.

“People started feeling unsafe because these consumers of illicit substances and illegal alcohol not only desensitise the plight of other citizens but they also became inebriated continuously and most of them have moved into a state of junkies who disturbed the peace of citizens.”

Madam Speaker, crime ranging from petty pick pocketing to knifing and they kept the Zambia police busy over this period. Children who are juveniles have become delinquent…they drink endlessly, they become high, they blackout, they wake up and now their docility that has what has become their normal life” Mr Nkombo said.  

Mr Nkombo said the problem of street vending had reached its record high during the time of the previous government.

“I should be excused because am not passing blame to anyone but stating things as they are, because in the previous government, they started allocating land in the central business district and road reserves, erecting clutters which they described as temporary development became order of the day,” Mr Nkombo said.

And Mr Nkombo has announced that the crusade against street vending which saw thousands of Lusaka street vendors removed will be rolled to all the other provinces.

Mr Nkombo who yesterday undertook an on-the-spot check tour of the CBD said that the removal of vendors from streets would roll out to other provinces.

Mr Nkombo has become a hero and a darling of many for having courageously taken the decision to remove illegal street vendors from the streets of Lusaka, a feat many before him had failed to achieve.

The Lusaka CBD had been an eyesore for decades with mountain of garbage while most of the illegal trading places were also open taverns and restaurants.  

But Mr Nkombo had to hold the bull by its horns and moved to ensure the vendors were gotten rid from the streets and corridors to bring sanity to the city centre.

By NATION REPORTER

THE UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) should stop blaming the previous government but should ensure that it fixes the economy as it had promised Zambians while in opposition, Lubinda Haabazoka has said.

NAKONDE Member of Parliament Lukas Simumba has been sued for allegedly failing to provide K3000 monthly child maintenance he allegedly pledged to be giving the mother of the child. Elizabeth Mwansa of Woodlands Extension nows wants the court to compel the lawmaker to obey the law and provide K5000 maintenence for his son born on February […]

TWO witnesses told a magistrate that the court record Amos Chanda is accused of stealing is missing, not stolen. The two witnesses separately said this during cross examination by the former presidential press aide’s defence lawyers. The first witness was Annie Mweemba, a registry clerk while the second was Catherine Tembo, a Network support staff. […]

IT seems Copper Queens players cannot stop talking about allowances ahead of the World Cup with skipper Barbra Banda being the latest to seek clarity over the matter. Minister of Sport,Youth and Arts Elvis Nkandu has assured the players that they will get US$5,000 as a winning bonus for each victory they record at the […]

A new study in a preclinical model, by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, demonstrates the potential for restoring fertility when the ovaries have stopped working. The researchers found that adult stem cells could restore healthy hormone levels after chemotherapy and lead to natural conception resulting in the birth of live mice. Techniques based on the study could revolutionize fertility options for women with premature ovarian failure. The results are published today in the journal eBioMedicine.