INSPECTOR General of Police Kakoma Kanganja has offered a K50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprits involved in the ritual killings that have recently rocked Matero Township in Lusaka.

Mr Kanganja said police had declared war against the ritual killers and promised confidentiality of sources that would bring information leading to the arrest of the criminals.

The police chief has, meanwhile, urged residents of George, Mwembeshi, Chunga and Matero townships to be vigilant since the killers were within their townships.

Kanganja said this when he toured all police stations in Matero Constituency, including the recently-burned down Mwembeshi police post where some rehabilitation works have commenced with funding from business persons in the locality.

Members of the public mobbed the police chief and shouted “baza gwiliwa, boma ni boma” (they will be arrested, the State is powerful).

Mr Kanganja urged the residents not to attack police officers who were working in the area and asked them to cooperate and furnish them with necessary information since security had been beefed up in the area.

Mwembeshi Ward 10 councillor Chrispin Kabole thanked the police for intensifying security in his area, saying the killers would be caught soon.

Audio Courtesy: Pan African Radio Journalist Hermit Hachilonde

COUNCIL of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) has castigated clergymen prophesying confusion and bloodshed in Zambia ahead of the August 11 General Elections.

CCZ general secretary Susanne Matale said some people who were calling themselves prophets were actually alarmists who should not be entertained.

And Reverand Matale has appealed to political leaders not to listen to such alarmists but uphold peace and not to use violence in an effort to win elections.

Rev Matale said Zambia was a Christian Nation with credible men and women of God through which God could speak and that it could not take foreign pastors to predict doom in a praying nation.

She was reacting to a ‘prophecy’ by a Nigerian Prophet Isaac Amata currently circulating on social media in which the clergyman was quoted as saying that he saw stockpile of weapons ammunition and plans to shed blood ahead of the August 11 election and that this could only be avoided by a 21-day prayer and fasting.

“We have too many of these prophets and most of them just enjoy alarming, confusing, and influencing people usually in the wrong direction. I think Zambians should be given an opportunity for God to speak to them. We should be allowed room to make a decision through the ballot,” she said

Rev Matale warned people against believing false prophecies but instead ask God to give them wisdom of assessing different manifestoes to make their own choices.

“ We will not be paying attention to the so called prophesies but continue praying so that God gives us Grace since we don’t need outsiders to tell us what we should do and who they think has been chosen for us already,” she said.

Rev Matale said it was not right for some Nigerian clergy to interfere with the smooth way Zambia had been conducting its politics and elections, stating that Zambia was a prayerful country where God would speak in His own way.

“Who said God does not speak to Zambians? In fact God has already spoken and He has already intervened against bloodshed,” she said.

THE Higher Education Authority (HEA) has registered 19 private universities in Zambia under the 2013 Higher Education Act, which replaced the 1999 University Act.

Out of the 19 registered private universities, 10 are new while nine are old and were part of the 33 private higher learning institutions registered under the Repealed University Act No. 11 of 1999 as at December, last year.

HEA director general Stephen Simukanga, who confirmed the development to the Sunday Times said applications from the other private universities were being verified.

Professor Simukanga said the HEA’s directive for all private universities to re-apply in accordance with the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013 provisions was to guarantee quality tertiary education in Zambia.

“Yes, we have had this influx (of universities), but we have started the process of ensuring quality in the delivery of our learning programmes,” he said.

Prof Simukanga said in June, this year, the Authority would have all registered private universities gazetted and published in the press for the public to know the higher learning institutions which had met the minimum requirements in accordance with the Higher Education Act.

He said the Authority would not allow private higher learning institutions to operate if they were not registered under the Higher Education Act and it would dispatch inspectors to the registered universities to verify the given information in their applications.
Prof Simukanga, the former University of Zambia vice chancellor, said the other way the Authority was promoting quality higher education was by harmonising the universities’ learning programmes which it was accrediting and sending to the Zambia Qualifications Authority.

“If another university comes to say they want to accredit a similar programme (as that of another university), we will tell them ‘No, this programme has already been accredited, you have to use that programme that was accredited, you have to use that content of that programme.’

“The idea of doing that is if 10 universities are giving the same programme, it will be the same content instead of having different variations, at least the basic curricula will be the same, you can add one or two things, but you have to give the basic curriculum that has been accredited,” he said.

He said accreditation of university programmes, including those offered by public universities, was expected to start in June, this year, as the Authority was currently creating a data base for committees of experts in various fields.

The Authority was established to, among others, set standards for higher education, quality assurance as well as to register and accredit private higher education institutions.

THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has described as erroneous online media reports suggesting that inspection of the voters’ register will be conducted from April 17 to 24, 2016 and that the total number of voters is 3.3 million.

ECZ public relations manager Crispin Akufuna said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday that the correct position was that inspection of the voters’ register would be conducted from May 15 to 21, 2016 in all the 7,700 registration centres (polling stations) countrywide.

Mr Akufuna said contrary to assertions by Zambia Reports, the number of newly-registered voters captured during the voter registration exercise from September 14, 2015 to February 29, 2016 was 1,695,580.

Mr Akufuna, however, said that number was provisional and might change after the ongoing cleaning-up and inspection of the provisional register of voters from May 15 to 21, 2016.

He also said that registered voters would be allowed to inspect the register during that period and ensure that their particulars were correct.

Mr Akufuna further said the Commission recorded 1,634,288 voters who were transferred from one polling station to another or replaced their voters cards or made changes to their particulars in the register.

“These were voters who are on the register of voters but needed to update the register. The total number of registered voters on the provisional register of voters will be confirmed before the commencement of the inspection of the voters’ register.

“The current register of voters has 5,166,088 persons and the Commission had targeted to increase this figure to 6,866,088 voters,” he said.

Mr Akufuna also challenged the United Party for National Development (UPND) to provide evidence indicating that the Commission would disenfranchise some of the opposition party’s prospective voters during the inspection period.

THE Copperbelt Museum has said the bill of quantities for use in the periodic valuation of a multi-billion Kwacha science and technology museum will be submitted by the ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications in the next two weeks.

Copperbelt Museum director Charity Salasini told the Sunday Times during the week that this was as a result of the successful compilation of a conceptual framework which would generate and institutionalise a comprehensive design plan of the modern museum.

Ms Salasini said the team of experts from the ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications were engaged by the Copperbelt Museum to conduct the feasibility study and survey of the museum of science and technology to be constructed near the Mufulira round about close to the Levy Mwanawasa stadium in Ndola

The museum and related infrastructure shall be designed with the ‘homestead’ concept in consideration.

The first part would present the practical definitions, passion, motif and concept regarding the museum of science and technology while the second measure would constitute galleries and museum interactive spaces with the associated collections and operational spaces.

The third segment would be the community interactive forums and corresponding infrastructure while, the fourth fragment would be the complimentary services to the museum establishment which would include the hotel, conference hall, restaurant and auditorium.

“The concept is derived from the traditional technique of arranging family homes in most villages in Zambia which depicts an assemblage of structures each with its own function independently united with the whole,” she said.

Ms Salasini said the financing of the development of the museum and associated infrastructure would be achieved through the Private Public Partnership.

“Furthermore, different partners would be able to fund areas of their interest independent of the other,” she said.

Many stakeholders’ and tourists have complained over the size of the Coppperbelt Museum and how inhibiting it had been to the institution to conduct its operations.

They have since called on Government to accelerate the development of the Museum of Science and Technology.

MMD National Treasurer Elizabeth Chitika has issued a stern warning against expelled Lunte Member of Parliament Felix Mutati to desist from his desperate acts of lawlessness which he is engaging in by going round the country, calling for an MMD Convention because he and two others, who campaigned for the UPND in 2015 and which they have now formally joined, have taken the matter to court and should now be patient to wait for the courts to rule.

She said Mutati now risked being cited for contempt and being locked up since the matter is now before a competent court.

In a press statement released to the media, Mrs Chitika said that Mr. Mutati cannot be championing a sudden zeal to mobilize MMD structures which he personally destroyed when he took the same structures to the UPND in January 2015 when he decided to campaign for the UPND abandoning his own party the MMD.

She wondered why Mr. Mutati had never offered himself to help mobilize and rebuild the party ever since he lost MMD elections to Dr. Nevers Sekwila Mumba in 2012, but instead was now pretending to be mobilizing the same party, just four months before the elections.

She challenged Mr. Mutati to stop fooling himself and openly campaign for the UPND since it is common knowledge that he is a member of that party.

Mrs Chitika said Mr. Mutati had deceived the nation by threatening to sue the UPND for using his picture on the UPND 2016 Campaign calendar without his permission, but as was suspected, it was merely one of his usual gimmicks as that issue has now died a natural death.