The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) says there is need to intensify road safety awareness following an increase in the number of traffic accidents in recent weeks.

RTSA Board Chairperson, Cornelius Chipoma said the agency is concerned with the rise in road carnages that have claimed lives.

ZANIS reports that Dr Chipoma was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Northern Province Permanent Secretary, Charles Sipanje today.

Dr Chipoma also expressed concern over the high levels of non-compliance to road safety regulations among road users in rural areas.

“We know that roads are socio-economic spaces but we need to raise awareness among citizens so that we can protect lives and address concerns of road safety,” said Dr Chipoma

He revealed that RTSA will ensure that it carries out an all-inclusive road safety sensitization campaign as part of efforts to reduce accidents.

Dr Chipoma further said the Agency also intends to engage key stakeholders such as traditional leaders in road safety campaign activities.

“Typically, in rural areas compliance is very difficult. We see corollas carrying mattresses, iron sheets with maybe eight passengers. Corollas are doing things that not even a canter can do. So this is a huge concern for us as RTSA,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Chipoma has appealed to members of the public to make use of the recently introduced online payment system on the government e-service bus.

He said the Agency is concerned that motorists are not utilizing the platform to pay for services such as road tax, driver’s license renewal and motor vehicle registration.

And Mr Sipanje said the Provincial Administration is equally concerned with the increase in road accidents saying RTSA should scale up safety awareness and road patrols.

He added that the huge investment made by government in road infrastructure development will not bear meaningful results if people do not follow road safety regulations.

“You know the country has been experiencing road accidents and Northern Province is not an exception. Of course RDA is doing everything possible to improve our roads but we need our people to be cautious as they use these roads,” Mr Sipanje said.

Mr Sipanje further called for emergency works on damaged sections of the Kasama-Mpika and Kasama-Mbala-Mpulungu roads which are posing a danger to road users.

The Northwestern Province Council of Chiefs has called for the reopening of Kalengwa Mine in Mufumbwe District.

Provincial Council of Chiefs Chairperson Senior Chief Kanong’esha of the Lunda speaking people in Mwinilunga District said it is important that the mine is operationalized in order to improve the economy of Mufumbwe and the country as a whole.

The Traditional leader said through the Council of Chiefs consultative meeting held last year, Chiefs in the province resolved that the mine be reopened in order to provide jobs to the local people.

“Chief Kizela called for a consultation meeting for all chiefs on 15 April 2019 and all chiefs in this province want that mine to be opened, people in Kalengwa have suffered since the closure of the mine,” he said.

Senior Chief Kanong’esha presented a petition to Minister of Mines Richard Musukwa, signed by all Traditional leaders in the province seeking the immediate reopening of the mine.

He said any matters before the courts of law concerning the mine should be resolved quickly so that benefits from the mine starts accruing to the residents.

Meanwhile, the traditional leader has applauded the government for the massive infrastructure development.

He said the government has achieved most of the programs outlined in their manifesto such as building of hospitals, roads and communication towers.

And Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Richard Musukwa assured the traditional leader of government’s support with regard to ensuring that benefits from all mining activities in the province accrue to the local people.

Zambia Airforce (ZAF) Deputy Commander, Major General Benedict Kalinda has assured the public of a transparent and fair recruitment exercise of officers.

Maj Gen Kalinda said all applicants will be given equal opportunities regardless of which province they hail from provided they meet the requirements.

He said the recruitment exercise will be done on merit in a manner that will not discredit the integrity and name of the institution.

“As regards the recruitment exercise, let me assure you, sir, that the Airforce will consider all applications from across the country and give due diligence to each and every applicant, those that will be selected will be done so on merit,” he said.

Maj Gen Kalinda was speaking in Solwezi today when he called on Northwestern Province Permanent Secretary, Willies Mangimela.

And the ZAF Deputy Commander appealed to the Northwestern Province Administration to consider securing land in resettlement schemes.

He said the Airforce would like to contribute to the nation’s food basket by engaging in farming activities especially during times of peace.

He said the Airforce would like to respond to the call made by President Edgar Lungu on the need for the defence and security wings to play a role in contributing to the food basket of the country.

“We appeal to your administration to consider securing us land in resettlement schemes where we can be doing some farming in peace times, we have started in Chisamba and we would like to expand to all the ten provinces since we now have formations,” he said.

Mr Mangimela thanked the ZAF Deputy Commander for the assurance, saying there has been complaints in the past regarding the recruitment exercise.

He appealed to the command to consider decentralizing the process of receiving applications through the formations in provinces so as to enable would-be applicants in far flung areas to lodge in their applications.

“I’m grateful for the assurance deputy commander, but I would like to state that consider using your formations to receive the applications then forward them to Lusaka. If our people from Ikelenge or Chavuma send the applications to Lusaka it would take one month for them to reach. Again consider making the application period a bit longer in the future so that our young people in far places can also have an opportunity to apply,” Mr Mangimela said.

Meanwhile, Mr Mangimela thanked the Zambia Airforce for the services it has continued to render to the province when called upon in times of disasters.

The ZAF Deputy Commander is in the province to check on projects as well as the operational activities and welfare of officers.

The Socialist Party (SP) says the country is in deep crisis due to reckless borrowing by the government, which requires about 119 percent of the countries income to repay the debt in 2021.

Speaking on 5FM’s burning issue radio programme party, General Treasurer Dr Chris Mwikisa expressed concern that the country’s debt situation would compromise social sector service delivery.

“If you pay all your debt, how are you going to manage your social sector requirements? How are you going to meet your health requirements? You must buy the medicine, you must buy the equipment that you require, you must buy all that is required for hospitals, if you are paying all your money, how are you going to meet your education requirements, it means that you are drying up, you are not able to meet your requirements,” said Dr Mwikisa.

Dr Mwikisa charged that the country is not utilizing the resources that it has borrowed effectively and prudently.

And Dr Mwikisa said the 2021 National Budget failed to address people’s expectations.

“If you look at the allocations of some of the key sectors, let’s take the social sectors, the allocations have declined over time, how are they going to resuscitate the economy,” he said.

He noted that once the Socialist Party forms government it would address the question of debt that had caused so much distress and anxiety in the country.
Dr Mwikisa said once in power, the SP would renegotiate the loan repayments and ensure that the working class were not further as they were already the most affected by the current government’s poor decisions and inconsistent policies.

He added that the country needed to reduce on unnecessary costs such as international meetings where the country government diplomatic representation.
Dr Mwikisa outlined areas such as procurement of expensive automobiles for government officials as being wasteful.

He said the government needed to raise revenue from the mines by introducing policies that would bolster efficiency and productivity.

The Zambian government has completed feasibility study and cost analysis for connecting the three refugee settlements to the national electricity grid.

The settlements include Mantapala in Luapula province, Meheba in North-western and Mayukwayukwa in Western Province.

ZANIS reports that Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo has told the 71st Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme (EXCOM), in Geneva, Switzerland that his government has done the assessment for connecting the refugee settlements to the national electricity grid.

“In order to fulfil the pledges we made during the global refugee forum, Zambia has completed a feasibility study and cost analysis for connecting the three (3) refugee settlements to the national electricity grid,” Mr Kampyongo said.

The Minister disclosed that the government through the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) will contribute US$ 2 million to the electrification of refugee settlements and requires a contribution of US$1.5 million from cooperating partners to fully implement the project.

Refugees, former refugees and the host communities in the settlements in Zambia have lived for decades without electricity, a situation which has hampered their productivity.

High Commissioner, Fillipo Grandi, last year visited one of the settlements in northern Zambia, namely Mantapala which hosts Congolese refugees and assured that the UN Refugee Agency will find a way of electrifying the refugee settlement to brighten the lives of refugees and their hosts.

Mr Grandi said his visit had given him an insight of the challenges refugees face in Zambia, one of them being the lack of electricity which he said required urgent attention.

And Mr Kampyongo has also called on all international partners to assist Zambia in strengthening service delivery in health, water, sanitation, education and protection to the refugee population in the three settlements in view of the growing numbers that have continued to put pressure on the country’s already strained service delivery systems.

“Chairperson, the world is witnessing extraordinary times, facing challenges such as financial crisis, climate change, and changing technologies and now the global health pandemic. It is in such times that countries tend to allocate resources to their own citizens and leave out vulnerable people, such as refugees that are being hosted within their territories “he said.

“It is, therefore, important to remember that even in times of crisis, our international responsibility to ensure refugee protection remains an unequivocal binding obligation. It’s at this time that our humanity is truly tested,” the Minister added.

He further disclosed that due to the health crisis, the Zambian government and its partners has lagged behind in implementing refugee programmes, and has in some instances have had to cancel or suspend some programmes.

He re-affirmed Zambia’s full commitment to completing the local integration of Angolan and Rwandan refugees.

He informed the meeting that the government, with the support of the UNHCR, has completed a pilot project to issue 150 residence permits to former Angolan refugees and will issue an additional 2,000 permits by the end this year.

The Minister of Home Affairs said this in a country statement presented to the 71st Session of the EXCOM on his behalf by Zambia’s Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Martha Mwitumwa.

The EXCOM which opened yesterday, October 5, 2020 will run up to October 9, 2020 with delegates outside Switzerland participating remotely via online platforms.

MINISTER of Water, Sanitation and Environmental Protection Hon Jonas Chanda has urged the Chilanga Town Council to demolish all structures that have been built on water installations in the district.

Speaking when he toured Chilanga to Assess the water supply situation in the district, Hon Chanda expressed displeasure with the rate at which some unscrupulous people have encroached on the Kafue Bulk water supply projects.

“I am urging you ba Chilanga town council and all other authorities that are relevant in this matter of dealing with encroachment on water installations to quickly convene and device a plan on how you are going to bring sanity here with regards to people people putting up structures in areas they are not supposed to”Hon Chanda said.

He said that water installations and water bodies are supposed to be left secure without anyone having to build houses and all sorts of illegal structures on them.

Hon Chanda said that in order for the water challenges to end in chilanga there is need to secure designated water bodies from contamination and encroachment.

Meanwhile Hon Chanda has paid glowing tribute to Lusaka Central Constituency Member of Parliament Hon Margerate Mwanakatwe for coming up with alternative solutions to the water challenges that her constituents had been faced with since time in memorial.

He said that water supply and sanitation are a huge part of the development of the country hence the need to improve the two components in Lusaka central.

And Lusaka Centrel Member of Parliament Hon Margerate Mwanakatwe reiterated her commitment to providing clean and safe drinking water for her constituents in Bauleni Compound, Zimbabwe Village in state lodge and other areas around.