Secretary to Cabinet Dr. Simon Miti has cautioned civil servants across the country that appropriate action will be taken against those found wanting for the irregularities in the management of the payroll, Farmers Input Support Programme (FISP) and social cash transfer.

Dr. Miti urged the Public Service Management Division, Accountant General’s Office, all Service Commissions and the Smart Zambia Institute to set-up their efforts which are showing very positive results by deploying the biometric and another innovative system to curb fraud in the management of the public resource.

The Secretary to Cabinet said this in Lusaka during the firth public senior management meeting.

“I am also directing all Permanent Secretaries to profile funded projects and implement measures to increase the absorption capacity and expedite project implementation. Take note that at the next cluster reporting, you will be required to demonstrate an improvement in this area,” he said.

“Further, concerns have been raised over continued invitations by various ministries for His Excellency President Edgar Lungu to commission projects or programs that are still in conceptual stages and are not ready to commence implementation. This must stop with immediate effect. Let us utilize the services of the public investment planning department in the Ministry of National Development Planning to ensure that our projects are fully appraised and avoid funding gaps during implementation.”

Dr. Miti observed the need to pay particular attention to the recent report of the Auditor General and ensure that issues raised in the report are addressed with the urgency they deserve.

He further directed the Internal Audit oversight committee to ensure that decisive action is taken to resolve the queries raised by the Auditor-General in the report and commend appropriate action against erring officers.

Earlier, Dr. Miti launched the Public Service Vision with an emphasis that the Cabinet Office will put in place a monitoring and evaluation system to track the operationalization of the vision at all levels.

“My office will ensure that necessary measures are taken against individuals or institutions not taking measures to support the attainment of the vision,” said Dr. Miti.

Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya has said that the Access to Information Bill once enacted will stiffen punishment for people who publish false information.

Ms. Siliya, who is also Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, also said that the government would proceed to put in place a Self-Regulation Mechanism for journalists, adding that journalists have failed to meet the deadline to present their own Self-Regulation Mechanism.

Mrs. Siliya said this in parliament when she made a Policy Statement on the Ministry of Information budget.

22, 734 candidates failed the General Certificate of Education Examinations in 2019 showing an increase in the failure rate to 13 percent from 6 percent last year.

Of the 127, 456 candidates that sat for the exams, 96, 019 candidates obtained the GCE Certificates of which 31, 682 were male and 64,337 were female.

Announcing the results in Parliament yesterday, General Education Minister David Mabumba said the best pass rates were in practical subjects at 68.3 percent followed by Literature and Languages at 47.07 percent and Social Sciences and Business studies category at 33.83 percent.

Mr Mabumba told the House that Natural Sciences category was the least with pass rates of 14.9 percentage points.

Meanwhile, Mr Mabumba said 23,969 candidates that sat for 2019 Grade 9 external examinations have failed showing a failure rate of 30 percent.

He said 55,721 out of the 79, 690 candidates that sat for the 2019 grade 9 external examinations have passed representing an increase of 8 percentage points from 2018

Mr. Mabumba said out of the 23, 969 that failed 10, 658 were males representing a 44.4 percent while 13,311 were females representing 55.5 percent respectively.

The African Union has called for the immediate removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

In supporting the Communiqué of the Southern African Development Community-SADC- on the issue, African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said the continued economic sanctions on Zimbabwe have a negative impact on the economy and the people of Zimbabwe.

He commended SADC and relevant organs of the Union for their efforts to mobilize support for the country’s recovery.

The Chairperson further commended the Government of Zimbabwe for efforts that it is making in creating a conducive environment for economic growth.

And Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Emmanuel Mwamba stated that President Edgar Lungu has joined other SADC leaders in calling for the lifting of the sanctions.

He said it is imperative that Africa speaks with urgency and in one voice to ensure that sanctions are immediately lifted.

Mr Mwamba said the political landscape of Zimbabwe has changed and the conditions for which sanctions were placed no longer existed.

This is according to a statement issued by First Secretary for Press and Tourism at the Zambian Embassy in Ethiopia Inutu Mwanza.

Zamtel says children should be introduced to a culture of saving money in order to create a financially literate Zambia.

In commemoration of this year’s World Savings Day which fell on Thursday, Zamtel Head of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations Reuben Kamanga said children should be oriented on the benefits of saving money at an early stage.

This year’s global commemoration of World Savings Day is being held under the theme ‘Be Money Smart: Savings Give Life a Lift!’

Mr Kamanga said Zamtel is proud to be actively playing a role in the promotion of financial inclusion through the use of digital channels such as Zamtel Kwacha and ZamPay.

He said saving money for the future is important as it acts as a buffer against some of life’s eventualities.

Mr Kamanga said Zamtel, as a Prime driver of digitalTransformation has developed innovative platforms and channels that make it easier for people to save a portion of their incomes using their mobiles devices.

“We realise that a well-entrenched savings culture will go a long way in deepening our financial sector in line with the National Financial Inclusion Strategy which targets to increase financial inclusion from 59% to 80% by 2022. Using Zamtel Kwacha, our customers can save up to K10,000 for individual accounts and K250,000 for Small to Medium company accounts with ease from within the comfort of their homes or offices,” Mr Kamanga said.

He added, “Since Zamtel Kwacha is easy to use, we are encouraging parents and guardians to open savings accounts for their children and jointly manage them in order to inculcate a savings culture in children.”

Mr. Kamanga said using Zamtel Kwacha, the company is moving into a new era of mobile savings and loan products using Patumba, which is a partnership with Hobbiton.

He said the partnership enables any active Zamtel mobile money customer to earn attractive interest on any deposits into the Hobbiton Savings and Credit account.

“This is another partnership that provides an end to end social security platform consisting of investments, savings and credit towards education or retirement plans. We are committed to an inclusive agenda in the financial sector as we strive to make Zambia a cashless society,” Mr. Kamanga said.

He said Zamtel is encouraging savings while improving access to microcredit for the unserved and underserved population, thus bridging the savings and credit provision gap.