Russia says it is unprepared to make a financial commitment towards the construction of a US$10 billion nuclear power plant in Zambia.

And Zambia says it lacks adequate funds to finance the project.

This was part of an in-depth discussion on the construction of nuclear plants when Chairperson of Russian Federation Council Matvienko recently met President Edgar Lungu at State House.

The Zambian Government hopes that upon commissioning of this project, excess power generated from this plant could be made available for export to neighbouring countries under the SADC Power Pool framework arrangement.

Under the agreement that was concluded in December 2016, the construction of the nuclear plant was estimated at US$10 billion.

The processes of design, feasibility study and approvals regarding the project have been concluded.

Mrs Matvienko said Russia and Zambia both agreed that they will find options for financing nuclear science and technology in the country.

“Now the start of the construction of a center for nuclear science and technology has been suspended due to financial issues. I would like to say that the request submitted to the Russian president is being carefully considered by the ministries and departments. I’m confident that we will jointly find options to promote funding to roll out the construction of a center for nuclear science and technology,” she said.

According to the Russian official, there are necessary conditions for the development of cooperation on high technology between Russia and Zambia.

She called the construction of a center for nuclear science and technology a priority bilateral project.

“We know that Zambia considers the construction of a center for nuclear science and technology as the first step in the development of the peaceful use of the atom and plans to consider the construction of a nuclear power plant in the future. Of course, this will qualitatively change the economy of Zambia: not only it will be able to fully meet its electricity needs, but also to export it to other countries,” Mrs. Matviyenko continued.

Mrs. Matviyenko, recently headed a Russian delegation on a three-day working visit aimed at strengthening parliamentary diplomacy with Zambia.

According to an official release from the Federation Council, the visit was within the broad framework mechanism of parliamentary consultations between Russia and African countries.

State House issued an official statement that said the high-level visits between Zambia and the Russian Federation “is a demonstration of the warm relations that exist between the two countries.”

President Edgar Lungu says his government’s vision is to have a Zambia free from gender inequalities. The President says in this regard, Zambia has pursued the gender equality objective since the holding of the first world conference on women in 1975 in Mexico which declared the first decade for women, and the holding of the fourth world conference which came up with the Beijing declaration and platform of action.

He, however, said that realizing this objective of gender equality has not been easy because society is still strongly patriarchal and is governed by male values that fight a woman.

President Lungu said the government is committed to ensuring that women and men, girls and boys are given equal value and opportunities in all areas of socio-economic development.

He has since called on traditional leaders to help the government achieve gender equality in our society.

President Lungu said this year’s theme for international women’s day “ I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”, draws the government to the importance of driving the gender equality agenda across all generations hence the need to carry everyone along regardless of age.

President Lungu said this year marks 25 years since the adoption of the Beijing declaration and implementation of the platform of action and progress has been made in critical areas of action on the promotion of gender equality.

He added that the review of progress in the implementation of the platform of action in the last 25 years indicates that Zambia is progressively realizing the aspirations of the declaration and platform of action across all areas.

Speaking during the International Women’s Day Celebrations in Lusaka, President Lungu said this has been demonstrated by a positive trend in the gender inequality index which has continued to fall.

He said in addition, Zambia has strengthened its policy and legal frameworks with Gender having been mainstreamed into the long-term development planning process including, the current 7th national development plan.

President Lungu said with regard to the legislative framework, the constitution of Zambia, as amended, alludes to the equal worth of women and men and their rights to freely participate in all spheres of the economy.

He said as a result of the many interventions the government is implementing, there has been an increase in the reported number of cases of gender-based violence, from 15,153 in 2014 to over 22,000 to date.

President Lungu said this is a good indication of the people’s positive response towards this scourge but the increasing numbers are a source of concern to the government, hence, more needs to be done to ensure that this is curtailed.

He said the Government is further putting in place interventions to empower women, especially, those in rural areas to address the critical challenges that they face which include a project called girl’s education and women empowerment and livelihoods, providing agricultural equipment to chiefdoms to support women’s cooperatives to improve agricultural productivity, the program for eliminating child marriages in Zambia and offering scholarships to child marriage survivors and many other programs aimed at fighting gender-based violence and early marriages.

He has since asked leaders, traditional leaders and marriage counselors to ensure that they all help to address the ills of Gender-Based Violence and early marriages.

“I have come across traditional counselors who promote gender inequality such as inculcating wrong messages among young girls. Please stop it. You are embarrassing us. This message is also for the church. The church has a role to play to promote gender equality within the scriptural context”, he added.

UPND Secretary General Stephen Katuka has demanded that the Police clarify the release of Malon Banda and Given Phiri from Police Cells.

Mr Katuka said the UPND is concerned that the gassing suspects who were nabbed in Eastern Province have reportedly been released by the Police in Lusaka.

He said the Party has been reliably informed that Malon Banda Who was in the Ibex Hill Police cell was released unconditionally, with the inmates having been subtly told that he was being taken to Mukobeko prison by the police.

Mr. Katuka said Given Phiri, who claims to be Edgar Lungu’s nephew was also unconditionally released by the Police.

“Malon Banda and Given Phiri were arrested in Eastern Province a few weeks ago and were found with new fraudulently acquired UPND cards which were meant to be used to implicate the UPND in the gassing scheme. We wish to seek clarification from the police command under what terms the duo have been released”, said Mr. Katuka.

“What is amazing is that the police have not taken the duo to court. This is a serious indictment on the rule of law”, he added.

Police are yet to comment on the matter.