CIVIL SERVANTS NEED TRANSFERS

Some Civil Servants in Milenge District of Luapula Province have appealed to the Patriotic Front Government to consider transferring civil servants from one district to the other in order to give officers a fresh minds and career enhancement.

An officer in the Ministry of Agriculture Jackson Mukanzo made the appeal to Luapula Province Minister Rodgers Mwewa who visited the district recently and addressed civil servants on the need to change their attitude towards work and dedication to provide quality service to the public.

Mr Mukanzo said he had been working in the district for many years and there was nothing new that he was looking forward to in his present station.

He said he wanted to go for further training and enhance his career prospects but Milenge district was too familiar an environment to him for any prospects of improvement in his work.

He said he knew every corner of Milenge and all the people and their shortcomings which did not inspire him anymore adding that once transferred to a new environment, he could even become a better performer because he will face new challenges with a fresh mind.

Mr Mukanzo volunteered to be transferred even to the newly created Lunga district in the Bangweulu swamps where he said his mind could open up saying in Milenge his mind is confined to a limited radius.

He said it was difficult to appreciate working in Milenge because there was no radio and television signal and that even newspapers never reached the district.

“We are backwards here and there is no source of news from anywhere and we do not know what is happening in the Zambia. It is difficult to make any progress in this environment,” he said.

And Luapula Province Minister Rodgers Mwewa agreed with Mr Mukanzo that transfers were important because they bring new challenges and new ways of thinking to people.

He said the PF Government will support the decentralization policy because it will help in addressing issues of local transfers and other disciplinary cases as opposed to centralised system in Lusaka which delays decisions and implementation of programmes.

Mr Mwewa said it was important for every civil servant to feel motivated to do their work and the PF Government will soon embark on building houses for civil servants countrywide.

“We want to put a smile on your faces by improving your conditions of service and building decent houses for all civil servants countrywide,” he said.

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REVIVE ARTS AND CULTURE - MINISTER

Luapula Province Minister Rodgers Mwewa has called for the revival of culture and the Arts at Mansa College of Education where the department dealing with the Arts has been abandoned and neglected for a long time.

The Minister made the appeal when he visited the institution recently during his familiarization tour of public institutions in districts of Luapula Province.

He said it was sad that the open theatre facility that used to be a hive of activity when he was a school pupil in the 1990s had been abandoned and the space was overgrown with stubborn elephant grass when the facility was still essential for training teachers and pupils in the various arts from which they could develop skills for  a living in later life.

He said the Arts department at the institution should be revived because not all pupils could be good in science subjects but those good at the arts should be encouraged to take the arts and earn a living from their talents.

The minister said he noted with was sadness that the musical skills of playing a guitar, banjo, malimba, meaningful beating of drums and other skills were dying out and no one seems to be concerned.

He said he observed that in many public functions, singers were just miming as musical tunes were already inbuilt in the musical organs which was not the case in the past.

He said the College should give special attention to the revival of the Arts Department so that the talents and skills become students’ tool for their artistic abilities.

And College Principal Tresford Musakanya admitted that the Arts department of the Institution has not been given the required attention as it should have been.

He acknowledged that the arts played a meaningful role in the development of a human being and that the department should be given the prominence that it had in the past.

“Though the department was not taken seriously in the past, we feel that something could be done to bring it back to its earlier prominence,” he said.

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MINISTER DEMANDS DISCIPLINE AND HARD WORK

Newly appointed Eastern province Minister Charles Banda has called for discipline and hard work from PF party cadres and government workers in the area.

Mr Banda took a swipe at party cadres in Chadiza who locked out the newly appointed District Commissioner Paul Phiri adding that he will not tolerate that kind of indiscipline.

Mr Banda said the action of locking out the District Commissioner was tantamount to insulting President Sata who is the appointing authority.

Mr Banda was speaking in his office this week upon taking over the office from Solomon Mbuzi who has been deployed to the foreign service.

The Provincial Minister said the party had structures in which cadres can air their grievances as opposed to exhibiting such indiscipline.

He challenged party cadres who are not happy with the president and party’s actions to resign before their hounded out of the party.

He said party cadres and civil servants should work hard to develop Eastern province adding that unity was paramount to achieve the goal.

And outgoing Provincial Minister Solomon Mbuzi called on all government and party officials to give the new minister the support.

Mr Mbuzi said he will be available for advice from time to time should Mr Banda need it.

Meanwhile Mr Banda was received to a rousing welcome by a mob of cyclists and some taxi drivers who escorted him from Lundazi turn off to his office.

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WOMEN ASSOCIATION GIVEN GRANTS

The Zambia Agribusiness Technical Assistance Centre (ZATAC) has  signed grants agreements between Africa Development Foundation(ADF) and three District Women Associations based in the Eastern province of Zambia.

The grants of 1371,000,000.00 kwacha which were granted by United States African Development Foundation (USDF) are meant for three ground nuts processing projects in Eastern Province which are to last for two farming seasons.

The Associations which were awarded with the grants include Petauke District Farmers Association (DFA), Chipata District Women Development Association (Chipata DWDA) and Katete District Women Development Association (Katete DWDA).

Speaking at the award ceremony ZATAC Chief Executive Officer Likando Mukumbuta explained that ZATAC is USDF partner in Zambia with the responsibility of facilitating USADF projects in Zambia.

He said the USDF is an independent Federal agency established to support African designed and driven solutions that address grassroots economic and social problems.

 Mr. Mukumbuta said the Associations were given a period of two years to develop business plans before granting them the money.

Petauke DFA was awarded a sum of K457 million, Chipata DWDA was awarded K454 million and Katete DWDA was awarded 460 million.

Mr. Mukumbuta added that ZATAC is aimed at taking technology to all parts of the country especially in rural areas so as to create more jobs for the youths.

And Chairperson for Chipata DWDA Annette Soko thanked the ADF for granting them the funds for their projects.

She further said the project will greatly help the woman at grass root level as the project also help woman fight gender based violence.

Chipata DWDA will make sure to improve the Chipata DWDA’s prospects for sustained expansion of their projects.

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NGOCC CONCERNED WITH STATEMENT MADE ON ACN FLATS

The NGO Coordinating Council says it is deeply concerned with the statement issued by former African Nation Congress (ANC) Flats Tenants Committee insinuating that Women for Change is involved in a fraudulent purchase of the property.

According to a statement issued in Lusaka today, Board Vice Chairperson Mary Mulenga said the statement was malicious and damaging to Women for Change and the entire Women’s movement as it insinuates that the actions of the organisations are at the expense of the deprived and poor women that they are supposed to serve.

Ms. Mulenga added that the purchase of the real estate was for the benefit of those they serve because the good work has to be sustained beyond donor financing.

“We would like to state publicly that there is nothing sinister about an NGO owning property”, Ms. Mulenga said.

She said it was unfortunate that tenants were personalising the purchase of the ANC flats by the NGOCC Member organisation Women for Change.

She said the act is totally uncalled for and further added that Women for Change like any other NGO is legally registered under the laws of Zambia and obliged to submit returns to the registrar of Societies.

Ms. Mulenga has further disclosed that the organisation has learnt in dismay that the same tenants are not as innocent as they portray.

She said the tenants have not paid rent in the past ten years even when the courts of law asked them to pay through the courts pending the resolution of the case, while some of them have been subletting the flats for years.

Ms Mulenga said as the umbrella organisation, it has been closely following the issue of Women for Change and the ANC flats over the last 12 years and have been eagerly waiting for the matter to be finalised in the courts of law.

She said personalising the issue will not help hence she has asked Chifumu Banda and Company, ANC lawyers in Zambia to issue a public statement on the matter.

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