NASTY ACCIDENT AT JOHN CHINENA ON GREAT NORTH ROAD - ZAMBIA

PRESIDENT LUNGU ADVISES YOUTHS NOT TO BE USED BY POLITICIANS

President Edgar Lungu

President Edgar Lungu has challenged university and college students in the country not to be used by people wanting to make political mileage.

President made the challenge yesterday when he addressed a youth rally at Freedom Park grounds in Kitwe.

President Lungu advised the students as technocrats to use their knowledge to champion the development of the country.

“Let me challenge our university and college students not to allow people wanting to make political names to use you for their benefits, you are our technocrats, use your expertise for the development of this country, don’t entertain those that are coming to entice you at night,” he said.

The President further advised youths in the country that are not in formal employment to take advantage of the informal sector and help grow the economy.

“Not all of you are in the formal sector, so those of you that are not should take advantage of the informal sector and take up businesses like chicken rearing, brick making and others,” he said.

And Information and Broadcasting Minister Chishimba Kambwili explained that the load shedding that the country was facing was because of natural occurrence.

Mr Kambwili said there is no way any one can blame the load shedding on President Lungu because it was a problem that most countries in the region were facing.

“How can you blame load shedding on President Edgar Lungu? Last rain season we did not have enough rains, Zimbabwe has the same power deficit, and South Africa has the same power deficit so why would you listen to someone blaming the President for a natural occurrence?” he asked.

The President is expected to hold other rallies in other districts in the province.

PRESIDENT LUNGU EULOGISES SATA AS ARCHITECT OF DEVELOPMENT

President Edgar Lungu says Late President Michael Sata will forever be remembered as an architect of development.

 

President Edgar Lungu 

Mr. Lungu said during Mr. Sata’s three year tenure as republican president, the country recorded unprecedented massive development particularly in rural areas.

President Lungu said the creation of new districts, construction of roads among other infrastructures embarked on by the late Mr. Sata has greatly contributed to improved service delivery.

The Head of State said the best way to honour the late Mr. Sata is by following his legacy of ensuring that the livelihoods of the vulnerable people in the country is uplifted.

Late President Michael Sata

Mr. Lungu said this at the memorial service in honour of the late president Michael Sata at Saint Ignatius Parish in Lusaka.

And Mr. Lungu said Mr. Sata was an inspirational leader who embraced values that were common to every ordinary citizen of this country.

Mr. Lungu said he will forever remain indebted to the late Mr.  Sata for inspiring him with his ability of providing political character that enabled every citizen of this country to actively participate in national affairs.

And speaking on behalf of the Sata family, former vice president Dr. Guy Scott said the late Mr. Sata brought a new dimension to the country’s political arena.

Dr. Scott said Mr. Sata was a selfless politician who spoke courageously for the majority poor in the country.

The former Vice President further said Mr Sata’s capability and courageousness saw him rise to serving in different government portfolios until his death as Head of State.

And in his homily, Fr. Charles Chilinda called on all Zambians to emulate Mr. Sata’s life of loving one another.

Fr. Chilinda urged politicians to put aside all personal differences and aim at tackling national issues that will improve the country’s economy for the betterment of all Zambians.

He said the needs of the people of Zambia are enormous hence the need to priorities national issues that will benefit the poor in society.

Fr. Chilinda also described the late Mr. Sata as a loving family man whose delicate sense of charity influenced many people in the country.

Fourth republican President Rupiah Banda, former first lady Maureen Mwanawasa, Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Patrick Matibini were also present during the memorial church service.

United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema, Fourth Revolution Party president Erick Chanda, Zambia Direct Democracy Movement (ZDDM) president Edwin Sakala and All Peoples Party President Mike Mulongoti were among opposition political leaders present at the memorial church service.

BILL GATES CALLS FOR RETHINK ON CLIMATE CHANGE CASH

Bill Gates has weighed into one of the most fraught climate change debates by calling for a rethink of how rich countries can help poorer nations deal with the effects of global warming.

The billionaire philanthropist — ranked the world’s richest man — says a new $10bn Green Climate Fund about to start handing out millions of dollars must focus on the 1.5bn people in poor farming families who face some of the biggest risks from a changing climate

He has urged the South Korea-based fund to adopt the “super clear metrics” his Gates Foundation uses to assess aid requests and look hard at funding agricultural crop research.

He has also questioned the long-term impact of some of the first projects the fund is looking to support with the money that 37 countries have pledged for it since it was founded at UN talks five years ago.

“This fund is unique,” the co-founder of Microsoft said in an interview with the Financial Times, explaining it was the only sizeable source of money that could potentially help millions of people adapt to the heatwaves, ​droughts and flooding that scientists say will be more likely as the atmosphere warms.

He said one “mind-blowingly underfunded” area was research to make crop seeds more productive, heat resistant and drought tolerant.

“I’d put a huge percentage of the money into that,” Mr Gates said.

The Gates Foundation gives about $100m a year to agricultural research centres around the world and has met Green Climate Fund staff to discuss such work.

However, the centres are not among the first batch of eight projects the fund has shortlisted for approval. Its board is due to consider them at a meeting in Zambia next month.

The projects include a $23.6m plan to manage climate-induced water shortages in the Maldives, an effort Mr Gates said may mean “you’re going to have to spend this $23m again and again and again”.

Money spent improving a relatively small number of seed types used by poor farmers for crops such as cassava and sorghum would have an enduring global benefit, he said.

“Then you’re affecting literally hundreds of millions of farmers,” he said. “Once you do the R&D, that seed is there every year.”

Mr Gates said he was not proposing the Green Climate Fund back genetically modified crops, which are contentious in many countries. Rather, he wants more support for conventional breeding techniques that can significantly enhance farmers’ yields.

Héla Cheikhrouhou, executive director of the Green Climate Fund, welcomed Mr Gates’s suggestion, adding he and his foundation were “an inspiration”.

Because the fund is only just starting to operate, it is going to be “learning by doing”, but it does have a rigorous set of criteria for assessing applications, she said.

Although agricultural research centres have not yet been formally accredited for fund support, this is likely to change in future and vulnerable farmers are very much a focus of the fund’s work, she added.

They would be helped by some of the fund’s eight shortlisted projects, including an early warning weather forecasting system in Malawi and a salinised land restoration plan in Senegal.

Mr Gates, whose net worth is just under $80bn, declared in June he would double his personal investment in innovative green technologies to $2bn in the next five years.

That move raised eyebrows in the lead-up to the December UN meeting in Paris that is due to strike a new climate change accord, and his latest comments are likely to attract more attention.

The UN climate talks have been overshadowed by controversy over whether wealthy countries will meet a vow to deliver $100bn a year in climate funding from public and private sources to poorer nations by 2020.

The Green Climate Fund has been at the centre of the debate because it is expected to help channel much of the $100bn.

Poorer countries want the fund to help them adapt to the impact of global warming and half its money will be directed to such work.

The rest will go to systems that cut greenhouse gas emissions, such as renewable power or energy efficiency projects, efforts many rich nations favour.

 FT

MAN WHO STOLE AN ENTIRE STUCK OF MAIZE BELONGING TO FRA VALUED AT K598, 910 JAILED

The Itezhi Tezhi magistrates’ court has sentenced a 29-year-old man of Basanga area in Chief Musungwa’s area in Itezhi Tezhi district in Central Province to three years imprisonment for stealing 9,214 by 50 kg bags of white maize belonging to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

Magistrates Munalula Mubita convicted Nella Kasamu Cheelo, 29, of Basanga area in Chief Musungwa’s chiefdom after a lengthy trial which begun in 2013.

Cheelo, who was employed as depot clerk by FRA, stood charged with theft by servant contrary to Sections 278 and 272 of the Penal Code of the Laws of Zambia.

Particulars of the offence are that Cheelo, on a day unknown but between 27 July 2012 and 9 December, 2012, in Itezhi Tezhi at Itezhi Tezhi district, being a person employed by FRA as a depot clerk, jointly while acting together with others unknown, did steal 9,214 by 50 kg bags of white maize together valued at K598, 910.00, property of the said FRA, his employer.

Cheelo pleaded not guilty to the offence but after many testimonies from witnesses brought by the prosecution, he was found guilty.

In mitigation, Cheelo pleaded for maximum leniency on grounds that he was a first offender, married and that he regretted his actions.

Delivering judgment, magistrate Mubita said, “The offence you committed was a serious one. Government bought that maize at huge public expense and for you to steal such a staggering number of bags you need to be punished,” he said.

‘I have noted that you are a first offender and you wasted the court’s time  by pleading not guilty and that you are  entitled to leniency  but the offence of theft is too prevalent in Itezhi Tezhi district, therefore, the court will punish you to deter would-be offenders.

Magistrates Mubita then sentenced him to three years imprisonment with hard labour but informed him that the sentence is subject to high confirmation.

The sentence is with effect from October 15, 2015

MAN WHO STOLE AN ENTIRE STUCK OF MAIZE BELONGING TO FRA VALUED AT K598, 910 JAILED

The Itezhi Tezhi magistrates’ court has sentenced a 29-year-old man of Basanga area in Chief Musungwa’s area in Itezhi Tezhi district in Central Province to three years imprisonment for stealing 9,214 by 50 kg bags of white maize belonging to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

Magistrates Munalula Mubita convicted Nella Kasamu Cheelo, 29, of Basanga area in Chief Musungwa’s chiefdom after a lengthy trial which begun in 2013.

Cheelo, who was employed as depot clerk by FRA, stood charged with theft by servant contrary to Sections 278 and 272 of the Penal Code of the Laws of Zambia.

Particulars of the offence are that Cheelo, on a day unknown but between 27 July 2012 and 9 December, 2012, in Itezhi Tezhi at Itezhi Tezhi district, being a person employed by FRA as a depot clerk, jointly while acting together with others unknown, did steal 9,214 by 50 kg bags of white maize together valued at K598, 910.00, property of the said FRA, his employer.

Cheelo pleaded not guilty to the offence but after many testimonies from witnesses brought by the prosecution, he was found guilty.

In mitigation, Cheelo pleaded for maximum leniency on grounds that he was a first offender, married and that he regretted his actions.

Delivering judgment, magistrate Mubita said, “The offence you committed was a serious one. Government bought that maize at huge public expense and for you to steal such a staggering number of bags you need to be punished,” he said.

‘I have noted that you are a first offender and you wasted the court’s time  by pleading not guilty and that you are  entitled to leniency  but the offence of theft is too prevalent in Itezhi Tezhi district, therefore, the court will punish you to deter would-be offenders.

Magistrates Mubita then sentenced him to three years imprisonment with hard labour but informed him that the sentence is subject to high confirmation.

The sentence is with effect from October 15, 2015