Posts in category: Uncategorized

New research indicates that for patients with advanced skin cancer, it may be important to maintain normal vitamin D levels when receiving immunotherapy medications called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

For children under age 18 years, a single computed tomography (CT) scan is not associated with an increased risk of brain tumours, leukemia or lymphoma, but exposure to 4 or more scans before adulthood more than doubles the risk, according to new research in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

A major international trial has concluded that, where possible, surgeons should replace the removed section of the skull following surgery to treat a form of brain haemorrhage. This approach will save patients from having to undergo skull reconstruction further down the line.

Despite the promise of new medications that promote cancer cell death in people with acute myeloid leukemia, leukemic cells often adopt features that let them evade the drugs’ effects within a year.

By GRACE CHAILE

SENIOR Chief Nkula and Chief Kabanda have been sued in the High Court for allegedly encroaching on the lands belonging to the Mwenge Mando chiefdom of the Bisa people.

Chief Mwenge Mando whose name is Jonas Kangwa Chanda, has accused Chief Nkula whose name is Peter Mwila, of the Bemba people from Chinsali and Chief Kabanda (Dickson Chiluba), of the Bisa people in Shiwang’andu of also interfering with his chieftaincy.

According to a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court, Chief Mwenge Mando stated that when his predecessor, Mr Malama- Nsunge died, on November 17, 2022, there was a year-long mourning period. 

He said it was during the mourning period that Chief Kabanda was appointed as caretaker chief.

Chief Mwenge stated that on November 28, 2018, he was installed as Chief Mwenge Mando in line with the Bisa tradition and custom of installation of a traditional leader.

Chief Mwenge Mando submitted that his chiefdom existed in Shiwang’andu before the Bemba’s arrived in the area and continued to exist, independent of any other chiefdom, even after their chief, Mr Nsunge died in 2017.

He however stated that Senior Chief Nkula and Chief Kabanda entered on his lands and continue to do so with the duo claiming that the lands therein belonged to them instead of Mwenge Mando chiefdom.

“According to the defendants, Mwenge Mando chiefdom does not exist and that the plaintiff was not Chief Mwenge Mando or even a chief for that matter,” he lamented.

Chief Mwenge Mando claims that the wrangles have made it difficult for him to concentrate on developmental issues in his chiefdom.

He is therefore seeking an injunction restraining Senior Chief Nkula and Chief Kabanda from encroaching on his lands and interfering with his chieftaincy.

He is seeking a declaration that Mwenge Chiefdom is a legitimate chiefdom. 

Chief Mwenge Mando also seeks the court’s declaration that he is the legitimate chief.

Self-fitting, over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids produce self-reported and clinical outcomes similar to those of audiologist-fitted hearing aids for adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, according to a study published online April 13 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

By GRACE CHAILE

THE Lusaka High Court on Friday heard that Lusaka lawyer Namweene Kamoto Phiri, who is alleged to have poisoned her son and attempted to commit suicide, told her sister that the child had drowned in the bathtub.

Esther Phiri testified that her sister, Namweene, decided to take a pesticide called Doom after she failed to resuscitate her son.

In this matter, Phiri on February 15, 2022 is alleged to have killed her two-year -old son by administering a pesticide to him and later consumed the same in an attempt to commit suicide.

She, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.

When the matter came up for defence on Friday, an emotional Ms Phiri described her sister as a loving mother who took good care of her son, Eden.

“She told me that the baby drowned in the bathtub and when she noticed that, she got him and tried to resuscitate him. She tried to pray for him to come back to life, but he didn’t. So, she decided to take Doom, which she had mixed with some Domestos so she could end her life.

“She felt she had no purpose to continue living because the son she was living for was dead,” Ms Phiri said.

She told the court that friends of Nawa Sipalo, the child’s father suggested that Phiri could have poisoned herself and the child when they went to the hospital.

Ms Phiri, however, said that the allegations did not make sense because there was no substance on the boy’s body to show that he had been poisoned.

“I went to see Eden (boy), he was just there sleeping peacefully, no substance on his body. He was clean,” she said.

Ms Phiri, however, testified that Namweene would suffer from depression and that she even sought therapy with a Dr, Folotiya and Psych Health Zambia.

With tears in her eyes, she told the court that Namweene suffered mental, verbal and physical abuse during her childhood at the hands of their late aunt.

Mr Phiri said at some point, the accused even ran away from home to live on the streets.

“She was abused mentally, verbally and physically by my late aunt, who was married to my late mother’s younger brother,” she narrated.

Ms Phiri attested that in 2004, Namwene attempted to commit suicide by taking an overdose of Panadol.

“In 2005, I got married and took her in. During this time, I noticed she was battling with anger issues,” she stated.

By MUBANGA LUCHEMBE

SPEAKING during a joint press briefing with Home affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu, Defence Minister Ambrose Lufuma announced the government’s cross-cutting measures to curb the smuggling of mealie-meal and maize. 

He said among the measures that Government had put in place was the heightened security and patrols on the Copperbelt and the Northern circuit.

Mr. Lufuma fadded that anti-smuggling teams have been formed in the affected districts. He had since directed the Zambia National Service and Zambia Correctional Services to deliver more mealie-meal to the affected areas to stabilise prices. 

He disclosed that the government would carry out an audit exercise to ascertain the maize stock in the country. 

Mr. Mwiimbu on his part added that the government would not allow the export of maize or mealie-meal due to the deficit being experienced.

Not only that, Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane also signed a statutory instrument to provide for suspension of duty on mealie-meal imports. 

In response to the mealie-meal shortage, President Hakainde Hichilema convened multiple consultative meetings with both government and private sector officials at a high level. 

Dealing with the unknown is always precarious. Accordingly, the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) was reportedly planning to use aerial surveillance to track individuals who were smuggling mealie-meal into neighbouring countries. 

Apparently, ZAF officers were aware that smugglers had found other routes away from the established border posts to smuggle mealie-meal. 

By the look of things, soon the war against smuggling of mealie-meal and maize will be ending. As a senior citizen, I have lived through a lot of our country’s political history and I find myself living through events that closely align with what I had experienced in the past.

I vividly remember, when rioters rampaged through Lusaka in 1990 to protest against government-ordered increases in mealie-meal prices, one of the first targets of their rage was a little brick-house located in Chilenje.

Dozens of rioters stormed it, prying open a steel-fence, shattering windows and dishes and setting furniture and cars ablaze. The building was not a grocery or departmental store prime for looting as was witnessed elsewhere countrywide, but the former pre-independence home of President Kenneth Kaunda. 

A national monument, it was where the nation’s first president, helped lead the struggle for Zambian independence from Britain in 1964.

Twenty-six years later, the smouldering ruins at 34 Burma Road testified to the sharp conflict and discontent many Zambians felt over the leadership of a man fondly known as “KK” and considered one of the founding fathers of modern Africa. 

Those were some of the darkest and most trying days in KK’s long political life, whose decision to more than double prices of mealie-meal and other consumer commodities in an effort to restructure Zambia’s woeful economy led to riots in which at least 23 people died. 

The crisis inspired an army lieutenant to take over then-Radio Zambia for several hours and announce – inaccurately – that KK had been overthrown. Whilst the coup-attempt was easily crushed by then-Zambian security forces, it triggered a stunning response in the streets. Upon hearing that the military had overthrown KK, hundreds of people marched downtown and cheered. 

In the 1991 general elections that followed the food riots, President Frederick Chiluba of the MMD was ushered into office when we all tasted the yellow maize which was imported from America in the aftermath of regime-change and period of severe drought.

In 2002, the then-MMD government allowed millers to import maize and mealie-meal duty-free to ensure sufficient supplies at affordable prices. 

The Ministry of Finance was requested to facilitate the inclusion of non-members of the Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) to bring in maize and mealie-meal. 

The millers were asked to bring in 300, 000 metric tonnes of maize to meet the shortfall the country was facing but they did not meet the target.

Timing is everything. Back in 2005, the then-Zambian government extended its commercial maize import programme by three months in a bid to ensure adequate tonnages to feed 1.7 million food insecure people. 

MAZ welcomed the extension of the import programme, originally scheduled to end on December 31, because it would allow millers enough time to bring in much needed stocks. 

According to then Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) officials, of the 200, 000 metric tonnes of duty-free maize that the then government had allowed millers to import from then Africa’s largest maize grower, South Africa, only about 7, 000 metric tonnes had been trucked-in by December 6, leaving a shortfall of about 193, 000 metric tonnes. 

ZNFU officials attributed the delay to government’s “red tape,” logistical problems and the fact that other countries faced with shortages, such as Zimbabwe and Malawi, had placed orders for maize long before Zambia admitted it had a food problem. 

The then President Levy Mwanawasa declared a national food crisis on November 21 and appealed for international assistance. 

A 15 percent duty on imported maize was also scrapped to encourage commercial imports. Hoping to speed up the importation process, the then-government removed a requirement that imported maize be tested for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on   December 13, and asked the Zambia Revenue Authority at border posts to give clearance priority to trucks carrying maize. 

Although the food crisis had hit rural southern Zambia hard, it had remained unnoticeable in the capital, Lusaka, where fast-food shops were packed with diners and supermarkets were buzzing with big-spending Christmas shoppers. The announcement of commercial imports occurred less than a year before the 2006 Election Day. I am sure historians would agree that if this announcement was not actualised prior to the Election Day, it would have not given the then-incumbent President the momentum needed for a significant difference in his re-election.

The media writes the news and eventually writes the historical accounts, and they know how to produce their desired results. History is the darnedest thing. Live long enough and you get to see everything, sometimes repeating itself several times.

By LUCY PHIRI 

A BANKER and six others have pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of unlawful access to data, theft involving US$92,000.

Appearing at the Lusaka magistrate court before Irene Wishimanga was Costain Ngoma 37, a Banker who is jointly charged with Augustine Njobvu 37, agent of Chawama, Elena Mwanza 30, Unemployed and Happy Sichone, 48, Sales man.

A discovery about gene variants of an inflammation ‘brake’ brings scientists a step closer to personalised treatment for patients at risk of kidney disease and kidney failure.