FARMERS IN KITWE ADVISED TO USE MODERN TECHNIQUES

Kitwe District Administrative Officer Mwape Kasanda has urged farmers in Kitwe District to adopt modern farming techniques.

Mr Kasanda has also urged farmers in Kitwe district to diversify in their crop production in order to enhance their productivity.

Mr Kasanda observed that the production of maize only by most farmers has led to the high levels of mal-nutrition prevailing in the district’s per-urban areas.

He said crop diversification would help eradicate child malnutrition and high poverty levels in the district and the country at large.

Mr Kasanda was speaking at a Farmer’s field day in Kitwe’s Mufuchani farming area yesterday which was held under the theme ‘Fighting Child Malnutrition through crop diversification and yield improvement ’.

He however said government will continue supporting the Agriculture sector so that the sector’s performance is enhanced to ensure food security at household and national level.

He further assured the farmers of government’s continued support to the small scale farmers through the supply of subsidized farming inputs through the Farmers Input Support Programme.

The District Administrative Officer further assured farmers that government will continue giving them guidance on good farming techniques through the Agriculture and Livestock extension workers and further urging the farmers to make use of these officers at their disposal.

And speaking earlier, Mufuchani Camp Agriculture Committee (CAC) Chairperson Dennis Yonga said farmers are facing a challenge of dilapidated roads which makes it difficult for them to transport their produce to the markets.

Mr Yonga said the roads become impassable during the rainy season.

He also disclosed that farmers in the area have a problem of land ownership insecurity because they have no title deeds for which they are occupying despite having stayed in the area for many years.

He further stated that the camp has no clinic or a school nearby which he said were important to their livelihood.

And Mr Yonga thanked Non-Governmental Organizations and the Kitwe Land Alliance for the support they rendered to the farmers through provision of farming inputs and guidance on land acquiring procedures.

ZANIS

SOLWEZI GENERAL HOSPITAL IN DIRE NEED OF DOCTORS

Solwezi general hospital Medical Superintendent Mathews Ng’ambi has appealed to government through the Ministry of Health-MOH to send more doctors to the health institution.

Dr Ng’ambi said the health institution has been operating on less than 20 percent of the staff establishment with only six out of 27 required doctors.

He said this yesterday when Solwezi Round Table Number 19 donated a fridge and blankets to Lunga children’s ward malnourished section at the hospital valued at K4.3 million.

Dr Ng’ambi said inadequate doctors at the health institution will compromise the provision of health services to the people hence need for urgent attention from government.

Meanwhile Dr Ng’ambi thanked Solwezi Round Table Number 19 for the donation saying it will go a long way in addressing many challenges the children’s ward is facing such as lack of bed linen and proper sanitation.

“Lunga children’s ward has been facing a lot of challenges because it accommodates children with both medical and surgical conditions. The ward has no geysers to provide warm water to the children and the ablution block also leaves much to be desired. We have a situation where only one toilet is operational catering for a population of about 80 to 100 children,” he noted.

Making the donation, Solwezi Round Table Number 19 Chairman Milliot Kazembe said after his organisation identified a lot of needs in the malnourished children’s ward section it saw it fit to donate a few of them.

Mr Kazembe said his organisation intends to adopt the children’s ward in the near future and pledged to support the health institution in addressing many challenges it is facing in its quest to deliver quality health services.

ZANIS

BRE REFUTES REPORTS OF THE BNC RESOLUTION RESCIND

Barotse Royal Establishment Ngambela Wainyae Sinyinda has refuted media reports that he has rescinded the March 2012 Barotse National Council resolutions.

This is according a press statement released by the office of the Ngambela and made available to ZANIS in Mongu today.

Ngambela Sinyinda said the story currently being published by various media houses in the country that the BRE has withdrawn secession calls were malicious, false and unfounded.

He said the BNC is the supreme organ of the Barotse governance system that has the final say on issues of policy and governance hence the Kuta has no right nor power to undo or alter the resolutions of the BNC.

Ngambela Sinyinda said the March 2012 BNC resolutions can only be withdrawn or be amended by holding another BNC.

“I, in the last four days chose to be silent on this matter upon realizing that the government has stopped commenting. With reference to the Times of Zambia, article of April 3^rd 2012, please note that at no time did I tell the reporter what I am reported to have said” the statement said.

He warned that media houses should exercise restraint and demonstrate sense of responsibility in a matter that is highly sensitive.

Ngambela Sinyinda has however called for peace and calm as the BRE engage the Zambian government in line with the dictates of the resolutions number nine.

ZANIS

LUAPULA PROVINCE PERMANENT SECRETARY DROPPED

Luapula Province Permanent Secretary Gabriel Kaunda has been dropped and another person to take over from him has been appointed.

Mr Kaunda announced his contract termination as Permanent Secretary for Luapula Province this morning during a briefing with heads of government departments in the province in the provincial conference room.

He said he was grateful for the cooperation that he received from heads of government departments during his brief five months stay as a top civil servant in the province.

He said he was winding up his business today and will be travelling to Kasama tomorrow to start a new life.

He said the new Permanent Secretary will be reporting next week and hoped that the heads of government departments will give him the required support as they did during his five months stay.

Meanwhile Luapula Province Minister has called for monthly meetings with heads of government departments in order for the province to move together and speak with one language regarding the developmental agenda of the province.

And the Disaster Management Unit Regional Officer Hambai Mweetwa advised that there was need to create a platform where heads of government departments could find it easy to brief provincial administration on what they were doing so that even when meetings for briefings are called provincial administration will have known the progress on most of the projects in the province.

Mr Mweetwa made the proposal in the light of several government provincial heads who were not being accorded easy access to the Permanent Secretary and were ending up being blocked by the secretary from seeing the outgoing Permanent Secretary for briefings on progress made to some projects in the province.

ZANIS

UGANDA POLICE TRUCK HITS JOURNALIST FILMING BESIGYE

A Ugandan reporter who was knocked off a motorcycle by a police tow truck on Saturday while covering the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been hospitalized for his injuries, according to local journalists. He was the sixth journalist attacked by security forces in the last 10 days, according to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Ivan Kabaale of the private broadcaster Nile Broadcasting Service told CPJ he sustained internal bleeding and will need three to five days of treatment in a hospital in the central town of Entebbe. Kabaale was filming as he rode on the back of a motorcycle alongside a convoy of security operatives who were towing Besigye's car with him inside it. One of the police vehicles swerved at the motorcycle, knocking Kabaale and his driver to the ground and shattering his video camera. The vehicle drove away. "The police will say otherwise but it was on purpose," Kabaale said, adding that officers did not allow him to file a complaint afterwards. Prior to the collision, a plainclothes security agent had ordered Kabaale to surrender a videotape of Besigye's arrest, but he managed to give the officer a blank tape instead, he said. "The collision that injured Ivan Kabaale is the latest in a disturbing series of attacks on journalists by Ugandan police," CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes said. "We're also concerned that Ivan Kabaale was not allowed to file a complaint, an experience other journalists have reported as well. We call on Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura to investigate this collision, hold the driver accountable, and end this climate of impunity that his subordinates appear to enjoy." Police placed Besigye under "preventive arrest" in Kampala on Saturday, according to Police Deputy Spokesperson Judith Nabakooba, and towed the opposition leader's car with Besigye and his political assistant, Sam Mugumya, seated inside. Police feared the opposition would disrupt an ongoing Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly, the world's largest meeting of parliamentarians, which started in Kampala over the weekend, according to local reports. Police Chief Kayihura had previously announced that no demonstrations would be allowed in central Kampala during the assembly. Besigye said at a press conference last week that he believes the police are targeting journalists covering anti-government demonstrations, according to local reports. The Ugandan Human Rights Network of Journalists is planning to halt coverage of police and security activities if the police do not apologize and investigate recent attacks, according to local reports.  For more data and analysis on Uganda, visit CPJ's Attacks on the Press.

### CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.