National Democratic Congress Leader Chishimba Kambwili says Government is not serious in addressing the power deficit that the country is facing.

And Dr. Kambwili has challenged Government to state the exact position on the much talked about Zesco/Eskom deal.

Dr Kambwili said the Zesco/Eskom deal seems to be a none starter because of conflicting statements coming out of Eskom in South Africa and Zesco management.

Earlier this week, Eskom officials told authorities in South Africa that they had shelved intentions of exporting power to other SADC countries including Zambia because they too are facing a power deficit.

Dr. Kambwili is urging Government to find a pragmatic approach immediately to hand the acute power shortage.

He has also challenged Zambians to be proactive and speak out on issues affecting them.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kambwili has advised President Edgar Lungu to discipline his political advisor Kaizer Zulu following latest assault allegations involving the controversial State House aide.

UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema has appealed to more cooperating partners to come through to address the US$86.3 million gap in the money required to feed the over 2.3 million hungry Zambians.

Mr Hichilema says the places he has visited are critically in need of food.

He said if not the full budget, Cooperating partners should at least prioritize the US$52.3 million required for food security.

Mr Hichilema said the Zambian Government is grappling with a huge debt repayment burden, which makes it difficult to respond to this situation.

He also urged Zambians to come through and assist the people who are under threat due to starvation saying any little contribution will go a long way.

“According to the United Nations Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Zambia 2019 – 2020, about 2.3 million Zambians will need food until the next harvest. Out of this number over 450,000 need food immediately”, he said.

He explained that the total amount required is US$89.5 million (K1.3 billion) and According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Financial Tracking Service, Zambia has pledged for humanitarian assistance of US$9.6 million, out of which US$6.4 million is for the refugee program living the HRP with US$3.2 million (3.5%) of total requirements.

Mr. Hichilema emphasized that 2.3 million people in this food crisis will need your assistance.

About 636  students at Mulungushi University in Kabwe, who were barred from writing their end of semester examinations due non payment of tuition fees have been allowed to write their examinations.

Higher Education Minister Brian Mushimba says Mulungushi University management has engaged the students and agreed on the payment plan.

Dr. Mushimba says the move taken by management is to ensure that the affected students do not lose their entire academic year.

The Minister further explained that President Edgar Lungu has in the last few years included students from Mulungushi University on the government bursary .

He said currently there are about 3 hundred and 50 students on bursaries at Mulungushi university, the first ever in the history of the institution.

He was reacting to UPND Katombora Member of Parliament Derrick Luvune, who wanted to know whether Government is aware that some students at Mulungushi University have been barred from writing their end of semester examinations due to non payment of fees.

By: Anthony Bwalya – UPND Member.

The information has emerged that the Patriotic Front (PF) government plan to leverage political arrogance to hijack the Bulk Power Supply Agreement in respect of the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) and throw it into the hands of vultures, most likely the Chinese, for the benefit of top government politicians.

With a combined infrastructure and asset value in excess of $500 million, corrupt PF politicians stand to pocket well over $50 million in bribes and kickbacks associated with any possible transfer of the energy monopoly from CEC to their preferred bidder. This is part of a long standing, calculated scheme by corrupt PF politicians to continue on their unrelenting and sworn path of peddling illegality for their own private benefit, and much at the expense of the wider economy.

This is why ZESCO has been dithering for close to a year to engage in constructive discussions with CEC for purposes of resolving the status of the BSA post March 2020 when it comes up for renewal. The truth is that this process is and has never been in the hands of ZESCO, but rather that it has been taken over by corrupt PF politicians wanting to illegally benefit from this multi million dollar agreement. This also begins to clarify the charge by the American Ambassador to Zambia Mr. Daniel Foote, who in his most recent statement, revealed that domestic politics have gotten in the way of constructive discourse involving a domestic energy reform plan drawn up with the assistance of energy experts from the United States of America. The truth is, all technical negotiations involving the energy sector are no longer handled by technocrats but by greedy PF politicians seeking a pay cheque from every single energy sector transaction.

This is the primary motivation of PF politicians to constructively disrupt the BSA in respect of CEC.

But people must realise that the culture of illegally disrupting and taking over of both public and private entities under the PF, and handing them to their friends, those of whom are willing to pay them multi million dollar kickbacks to say thank you for the dirty work, is not new.

They are at it (trying) at KCM, where a technical and business turnaround issue was turned into a highly charged political issue. So while corrupt PF politicians continue to syphon money out of KCM, jobs are being lost and household incomes placed in such needless peril. And once they are done with KCM, the economy would have lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to the reckless disruption of operations at KCM. The plan for the PF has always been to hand over as much mining control to the Chinese as possible. This is why the Chinese have taken up pole position in the possible takeover of KCM, and are presently leading the charge for the commencement of mining activities in the ecologically sensitive Lower Zambezi National Park.

It is also now in the public domain, that corrupt PF politicians, including the presidency, facilitated the casual seizure of the Mukula business from local companies by illegally taking over legally harvested Mukula logs by legitimate permit holders, and illegally sold it to their Chinese friends. This resulted in the economy losing over $500 million in revenue due to underdeclaration of exports, as well as bribes. And it is these same people who are lining up ZAFFICO for a “constructive” take over using markets as a conduit.

Today, while our local farmers are paying a premium for foreign fertilizers imported by friends of the PF, top government politicians are getting paid several millions of dollars for suffocating Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ); sacrificing several jobs and incomes for our local people.

These are criminals whose only intention is to benefit from the suffering of Zambians, and they couldn’t care less. It is visible from the amount of money the Patriotic Front (PF) injects into buying votes and disrupting our sense of collective purpose.

The PF are prepared to disrupt economic activity on the Copperbelt, jeopardizing jobs for our people; by politically interfering the BSA negotiations involving ZESCO and CEC, and instead senselessly allege that a listed entity is funding the activities of the UPND.

Nothing short of political stupidity.

And China, a country that has been a friend of the Zambian people for several decades, has now realised the duplicity of the PF government, and all signs are that China is now almost ready to pull the plug on the PF and heighten it’s financing due diligence; because the corruption of PF politicians is not only costing Zambians their economy, it is also costing China money.

By Daniel Mwamba  Chairman Zambia Road Safety Trust

Road traffic accidents are a high, unacceptable cost to society and public health. Each year at least 1,25 million people perish and around 50 million injured on roads globally. In Zambia at least 120 souls are lost every month, and these accidents having quadrupled to almost 100 % since 2010, is one of the leading causes of deaths besides HIV/AIDS and Malaria, a lead cause of death for children below the age of 16. While we cannot measure the emotional costs of losing a loved one, the economic cost to this country is estimated at approximately 3 % of GDP– around K60 billion over the last decade – more than Zambia’s real annual budget.

The problem of road accidents maybe complicated, widespread, and urgently in need of a solution—but with bold leadership, it is ultimately SOLVABLE. Fatal and long-term injury in road accidents is a largely predictable and avoidable problem, which is amenable to rational analysis and remedy. We need to focus on achieving specific results, applying system-wide, evidence-based measures, underpinned by effective leadership. Without new and effective actions, road deaths in Zambia will rise steeply. This has been emphasized by the UN in its resolution on improving global road safety in which it proclaimed that achieving road safety results requires long-term governmental ownership, leadership and political will.

We have to recognise, that road safety is a shared responsibility at international, national, provincial, and local levels. Achieving good road safety results is a multi-disciplinary activity which takes place in a complex multi-sectoral context. Multi-sectoral activity provides the opportunity for a holistic system-wide approach that provides good and broad opportunities for ‘win-win’ integration with a range of other governmental and organisational policies for example we need to acknowledge that the business sector and employers in general share responsibility for road safety and can make an important contribution to road safety when input in line with national road safety strategy. The business sector can often contribute financial support to road safety activity. In practice, in the past five years, Puma Energy Zambia Plc has been funding road safety education – through chid road safety education for 50,000 children and radio programmes, resulting in 50 % reduction in traffic fatalities among the children between 2014 and 2018. The Puma Energy Foundation, the FIA Foundation, AMEND, Vital Strategies and FED EX have all generously contributed through the Zambia Road Safety Trust in setting up School Zones, with infrastructure to reduce speed around schools here in Zambia, achieving a 100 percent reduction child fatalities in those areas. This shows that, there is an urgent need for meaningful institutional collaboration between Government and key partners in the business sector and civil society if we have to save lives on our roads.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, UN General Assembly Resolution 44/25 (1989), calls governments to work to provide a safe environment for children. The Tylösand Declaration (2007), states that everyone has the right to use roads and streets without threat to life or health. All road users in Zambia have the right to safe and sustainable mobility.

We welcome bold leadership action by Hon Mutotwe L Kafwaya, MP and Minister for Transport and Communications working with the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and the Lusaka Mayor, Miles Sampa to reduce limit speeds to 30 km/h in all urban areas and schools. Zones where speeds are set at 30 km/h (or 20 mph) are proven to be effective at reducing accidents and increasing community cohesion.

Road safety is SOLVABLE.

Zesco says it is working hand in hand with the government to mitigate and stabilize the electricity shortage in the country.

Speaking at a media briefing held in Lusaka, Thursday, Zesco Board Chairperson, Dr Mbita Chitala said as a result of the country’s dependence on hydro power generation, the water deficit at the KARIBA dam has greatly impacted the utility company’s generation capacity.

He stated that Zesco is well aware of the adverse impact that the deficit has had on all sectors of the economy hence putting in measures meant to mitigate the situation.

Dr Chitala announced that as a mitigation measure, the company commenced load management across the country to ensure that power generation could continue into the following rainy season.

“In mitigating this deficit, Zesco with the help of government paid for the importation of power from ESKOM of South Africa which began on 22 November 2019. However Zesco continues facing challenges in importing the full 300 megawatt from time to time because of the limited availability of a wheeling path during off-peak period,” said Dr Chitala.

The Zesco Board Chairperson said that as a way of further mitigating the power deficit, the utility company will be bringing on board the Kafue gorge lower hydro power station (KGL) which is a 750 mega watts power plant.

He said that the 80% complete KGL plant project is expected to be commissioned in phases, beginning with the first 150 megawatt machine by May 2020.

“Zesco is expecting to generate not less than 200 megawatts of power from the renewable solar project in Serenje by the end of 2020 which will help stabilize the power supply in the country going forward.”

He further noted that in line with government’s vision 2030 and the Seventh National Development Plan, Zesco will also continue to pursue other interventions which include the 1,200 mega watt Batoka, 1,000 megawatt Luapula basin hydro power project as well as 120 megawatt solar projects under the GETFIT programme.