President Michael Sata has announced that government will open a mission in Poland to strengthen bilateral relations with that country.

President Sata said there was need to open a mission in Poland because Zambia’s relations with that country date back to the 1960s.

He said this when he and First Lady Christine Kaseba hosted a luncheon in honour of the visiting Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his wife Malgorzata Tusk at State House today.

President Sata thanked the Mr. Tusk for visiting Zambia.

And Poland Prime Minister, Donald Tusk said there was need to base future bilateral relations of the two countries on genuine friendship.

Mr. Tusk said he appreciated the warm welcome that he and his wife received during their visit to Zambia.

He has since invited President Sata to also visit Poland in future.

Meanwhile, President Sata has received a tea set from late Cardinal Adam Kozlowiecki Foundation and Fine China, a company which manufactured the tea set.

Fine China has been in existence for more than 200 years.

Earlier, President Sata held a closed door meeting with the Polish Prime Minister at state house before hosting a luncheon for him and his delegation.

And President Sata has called on the Polish business community to explore several areas of investment in Zambia.

President Sata said government was committed to providing a conducive environment for trade and investment because Zambia was endowed with abundant natural resources.

He has therefore implored the Polish business community to take advantage of Zambia’s good investment climate and quality manpower to explore various areas of investment especially in infrastructure and agriculture.

President Sata extended the invitation to the Polish investors when he held a closed door meeting with that country’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his delegation at State House today.

The President said he recognised Poland‘s impressive economic growth in the European Union (EU).

Mr. Sata has consequently called for increased exchanged of trade delegations between the two countries.

And Poland Prime Minister, Donald Tusk assured President Sata that the Polish government was ready to see strengthened
bilateral relations with Zambia such as increased economic, social and political relation with African countries.

He said Poland was ready to assist Zambia in the agriculture, education and scientific research sectors.

Mr. Tusk further said Zambia was included in his regional visit because of its growing reputation of being a symbol of stability and predictability on the international arena and the Southern Africa region.

Meanwhile, Zambia’s first republican President Kenneth Kaunda has extolled the late first Bishop of Lusaka, Adam Kozlowiecki, for the role he played in promoting unity in the country.

Dr. Kaunda said Zambians must emulate the late Polish missionary by promoting love for each other.

He said this in Lusaka today at the art exhibition which was attended by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in honour of late Cardinal Kozlowiecki at Lusaka Museum.

Dr. Kaunda, who midway in his speech, broke into his trademark song ‘Tiyende Pamodzi’ (Let us move in unity), called on all Zambians to love one another.

He said the country should embrace the spirit of the ‘One Zambia! One Nation motto’ which he said came about because of inspiration from the late Cardinal Kozlowiecki whose work was centred on loving other people.

And speaking during the same occasion, Deputy Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Susan Kawandami said there was need to provide more financial resources to museums in Zambia.

Ms. Kawandami said museums play an important role in documenting and preserving the culture and history of any nation.

She said Lusaka Museum was currently faced with challenges hence it was difficult for the institution to execute its mandate.

Ms. Kawandami said lack of resources has hindered the museum from carrying out research that can help the country’s future generations.

She also pointed out that members of staff need training so that the museum can compete internationally.

NATIONAL RESTORATION PARTY
PRESS STATEMENT TOLL GATES

The introduction of toll gates by the Patriotic Front government is unacceptable. These electronic barriers should only be applied on new roads and not old roads. It is unfortunate that funds are always misapplied.

It is unfair for the ruling party to introduce toll gates for Zambians because they pay the highest taxes interns of road tax for using roads in the country. This is just another way of getting money from people’s pockets by making Zambians pay a double fee.

As National Restoration Party youths, we highly disagree with the introduction of toll gets on our roads in the country. Transport is already expensive for a common man hence introducing another form of Road tax will make transport even more expensive.

The rainy season is around the corner and some roads are still in a bad state. Motorists will have a hard time getting to their destinations yet they are subjected to so many taxes such as carbon emission tax when government cannot be accountable for all these monies.

We are calling on the Road Development Agency (RDA) to tell the nation whether they want motorists to stop paying road tax through the current system and pay through toll gates. RDA should clearly state what these monies are for because we do not know where they will be taking these monies. In the midst of employment and wage freeze, government must not put more economic pressure on its citizens.

Toll gates only work well in countries where the government is accountable. NAREP is appealing to the PF administration to have pity on the people because no Zambian deserves this from a government people thought came to liberate us.

Bwalya Nondo
Secretary General
NAREP National Youth League
21st October 2013

The Zambia Prisons Service has disclosed that it will this Friday commission its K 2.5 million Kalonga milling plant in Kabwe.

And Commissioner of Prisons Percy Chato has clarified that the milling company will only be producing 80 metric tonnes of mealie-meal per day for consumption by prisoners in various prisons.

Mr. Chato said the commission will in future carry out an expansion project that will see more milling plants established in other provinces for both consumption and commercial purposes.

Mr. Chato said the plant will be ready for commissioning by June this year for full operations to begin.

He explained that the major consumers of the mealie meal from the plant will be prisons and excess supply will then be sold to the public.

Mr. Chato said the prisons want to do away with the issue of buying mealie meal for inmates but resort to producing its own using the maize grown by the prisoners throughout the country.

The Kalonga Milling plant is one project aimed at increasing sustainability in the provision of food to the prisoners.

The construction of the Milling plant is in line with the Zambia Prisons Service commitment to improving its services, value addition and self-sustainability.

Luapula-bound travellers passing through the pedicle road in the Democratic Republic of Congo have expressed happiness at the progress of road works on the road.

The travellers on the Thursday Post Bus said the Patriotic Front Government was delivering on its promises because the pedicle was one of the roads that caused worries to the travellers in the past and but expressed happiness that the story will soon change.

Peter Bweupe stated that government had done well to ensure that the pedicle road was raised to the bituminous standard because of the amount of traffic that used the road throughout the year.
Mr Bweupe said the pedicle was a critical connector between the Luapula and the Copperbelt provinces and it was busy throughout the year.

He added that the people of Luapula Province will remember president Sata for a long time because of giving them a reliable pedicle road which will enhance business transactions between Luapula and the Copperbelt due to shortened time of travelling between the two provinces.

Mr Bweupe said it was good that the contractor has put his mind to the job because already, some material for tarring the 79 km stretch has been delivered to the site and some stretch was being covered.

He said a reliable pedicle road will not only enhance trade and commerce between the two provinces but also result in increased investments in the tourism sector.

The traveller said once tarred, pedicle road will add value to social outings and interactions between the peoples of the two provinces.

And Philip Chimbwe said the road will also promote weekend ventures by Copperbelt residents to the mouth-watering Lake Bangweulu beaches in Samfya District where a dive into the natural waters by the beach engraves an indelible memory on one’s life experience.

Mr Chimbwe added that the road will also become a catalyst to opening up the ten waterfalls of Luapula Province to the outside world because tourists wanted to go to a place where they are assured of a reliable road that should help them to plan and manage their time effectively.

And Bibian Kasonde said a tarred pedicle road will benefit not only the business people in the transport sector by their buses reducing on maintenance costs but also all private vehicle owners traversing the two provinces for various reasons.

Ms Kasonde said she was overjoyed that materials for tarring the road were already being levelled on some stretch of the road, saying the act has demonstrated the seriousness that government attaches to the road.

And Mary Mulenga argued that the Contractor should move quickly with the works because the rainy season was almost setting which will make the work difficult if some things were not done within the dry season.

Ms Mulenga said road works were a challenging task when being undertaken during the rainy season and might cost more on the movement of materials and earth moving machinery breakdowns.

She said it was a good that the tarred pedicle road will finally become a reality unlike in the past when the issue was just on the lips of politicians at public meetings without corresponding action on the ground.

GOVERNMENT has released K40 million to Mulungushi University in Kabwe to enable the institution complete works on pending infrastructure projects.

The University has since paid tribute to the Government for releasing K40 million to enable the institution complete the construction of hostels, a laboratory among other facility whose works had stalled due to lack of funds.

Vice Chancellor Hellicy Ngambi said she was confident that the works would be completed before the end of the year and reaffirmed commitment to ensuring that the funds were put to good use to improve the infrastructure at the university.

“We are happy that the government has released K40 million to complete the infrastructure works which were abandoned due to lack of funds. And we have no reason not to finish the works, “she said.

Speaking during the 5th graduation ceremony of over 200 students, Professor N’gambi said the release of funds through the Ministry of Education was a sign of the government’s commitment in ensuring the lecture theatre, library, dining hall were completed for the benefit of the students and the institution as a whole.

Prof Ngambi said she had no doubt that the remaining K10 million would be released soon and assured the government that the university would ensuring continues to provide quality education to students.

She said that once works on the hotels were completed, bed space for students wishing to stay on campus would ultimately be increased.

She said the university ‘s plan was to become one of the most respected learning institution not only in Zambia but Africa. She maintained that the university was the cheapest in terms of tuition fees contrary to the perception by the public that it was the highest.

She said what seemed to be expensive was the lodging and meals and that was as a result of inflation.

She said the number of students had doubled since it opened in 2008 which started with 460 but was now over 3000.

And speaking t the same function, Chancellor Oliver Saasa challenged the grandaunts to settle for nothing less than excellence and should use the knowledge acquired to contribute to the country’s development.

Prof Saasa reminded the grandaunts that the sacrifices their families and government made could only be paid back by demonstrating that they were capable of taking up the rightful place and develop Zambia.

He urged them to use their skills to make a difference.