A group of grade nine students from Shanalumba Basic School in Livingstone, who visited the Livingstone Museum, recently appealed to government to ensure that the real Broken Hill man Skull is retrieved from the British government.

The pupils, who where on an educational tour demanded to, see the actual skull of Broken Hillman instead of the replica that is kept in Museum.

The Broken Hill Skull was discovered in Kabwe, 1921 at the first lead mining site. It was the first early human fossil to be found in Africa and was taken to the United Kingdom for carbon dating. The Skull is today housed in the British Museum in Central London.

The teacher, Macbeth Mwangala, who was their leader in the educational tour, said it is important that the pupils learnt more about their ancestors and their heritage.

Ms Mwangala said the tour was one of the practical undertakings that the school has put in place to equip the pupils with observational learning.

ZANIS

The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Board of Directors has seconded Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Director for Press and Planning, Juliana Mwila to act as the Director General of the corporation.

ZNBC Board of Directors Chairperson, Augustine Seyuba announced the development in a statement t ZANIS this evening.

The appointment of Mrs. Mwila follows the going on forced leave of ZNBC Director General, Joseph Salasini after workers at the institutions held sit-in protests alleging that the latter and his management had failed to run the institution.

Mr. Seyuba said there was need to appoint an acting Director General for ZNBC following the commencement of the audit at the corporation.

“Mrs. Mwila will co-ordinate operations at the corporation during the time of the audit to ensure that ZNBC continues to carry out its mandate,” Mr. Seyuba said.

A fortnight ago, ZNBC workers demanded the removal of their Director General, Mr. Salasini, whom they accused of having failed to run the institution and further called on the Auditor General to audit the corporation.

Mr. Salasini was subsequently put on leave to pave way for an audit.

ZANIS

Teacher in Chibombo district of Central Province have resolved not resume work after schools opened today for the second term until their needs were addressed.

This is according to a press statement made available to ZANIS in Kabwe this afternoon and signed by Secondary Schools Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) district Chairperson Morgan Muchindika, Basic Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ) Chairperson Bright Anusa and Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) district Chairperson Edward Phiri.

The teachers stated that they were owed huge sums of money for various entitlements.

They said some teachers needed to be paid rural hardship allowances, settling allowance, housing allowance, leave travel benefits and other allowances.

The three unions also stated that the Ministry of Education should do away with the use of coordinators as a measure to pay rural and remote allowances.

“We demand that government should deduct rentals on housing allowance and not the basic salary as indicated in their memo,” the three unions further stated.

ZANIS

Zambians living in Namibia have donated 10,000 Rands to supplement government’s efforts in mitigating the plight of flood victims in some parts of the country.

Receiving the donation in Lusaka today, Vice President George Kunda said there is need for Zambians in the Diaspora to identify themselves with the sufferings of the people affected by floods in the country.

Mr. Kunda said government needs the support of others to mitigate the effects of calamities such as floods. He noted that Zambia and Namibia have both been devastated by floods.

Mr. Kunda has since thanked Zambians resident in Namibia for the gesture.

And speaking earlier, Zambia’s High Commissioner to Namibia Marvis Muyunda said Zambians living in Namibia are concerned with the happenings in Zambia.

They are currently about 1,200 Zambians living in Namibia.

ZANIS

The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has pledged to continue to protect all its members and ensure that they were independent in their execution of duties in various institutions.

In a statement released in Lusaka today, newly elected LAZ president Stephen Lungu, said the association would also respect President Rupiah Banda’s recent call to re-organize the Attorney General’s (AG’s) chambers.

President Banda made the call following the recent findings of the tribunal that investigated former Communications Minister, Dora Siliya for alleged irregular tender procedures.

Mr. Lungu said LAZ was of the view that constitutional offices such as the Attorney General’s and the Solicitor General’s chambers should continue to enjoy independence in the execution of their duties.

He added that his association also acknowledges the constitutional powers vested in the Republican President to appoint and remove persons to the respective offices as provided for in the constitution.

Mr. Lungu explained that the association could not find it prudent to comment on the issue without analyzing President Banda’s statement and the context in which it was used.

He said LAZ would further continue to endorse principles on the role of lawyers as adopted by the eighth United Nations (UN) Congress in Havana, Cuba in 1990.

Mr. Lungu said this was in order to ensure that lawyers performed professionally and without intimidation and improper interference.

ZANIS

Commonwealth Secretariat Governance Advisor, Roger Koranteng says the commonwealth enjoys cordial relationship with the Zambian government because of the country’s good governance policies.

Dr. Koranteng observed that the Zambian government has shown its determination for good governance by among other things, approving the anti-corruption policy, which is aimed at providing integrity to the country’s public service.

He was speaking at the opening of a one week workshop for the civil service’s integrity committees organized by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) at Fairmount Hotel in Livingstone today.

Dr. Koranteng said the Zambian ACC was one of the key players in the promotion of good governance in the African region.
“The ACC is one of the agencies throughout the region that have played an important role in the promotion of good governance in the region and as such the Commonwealth is proud to be associated with the ACC in Zambia through the Zambian government,” he said.

He however said presently, the ACC agencies around the world have a huge challenge because pervasive abuses of offices have become rampant partly due to the economic recession.

Meanwhile Southern Province Permanent secretary, Darius Hakayobe said government attaches great importance to the issues aimed at fighting corruption in the country.

Mr. Hakayobe said training of integrity committees in the public service will automatically help reduce corruption in the public service sector.

“What I see here is the team of young men and women capable and able to make this training very helpful because these men and women will be very important in the fight against corruption in their various institutions,” he said.

He also said there was need to harmonize and strengthen further, anti-corruption laws in the country in order to effectively fight corruption.

And ACC Commissioner, Webby Kalikiti thanked government for showing commitment to the fight against corruption in the country.

Dr. Kalikiti said government’s introduction of the anti-corruption policy was clear testimony of its concern for good governance.

“This move has set the tone for the country’s good governance landscape .The policy identifies the institutionalization of the integrity committees,” he said.

He advised the 27 integrity committee participants at the workshop to utilize the knowledge they will acquire by applying an effective tactic of identifying corrupt practices.

ZANIS

Mazabuka District Commissioner, Tyson Hamaamba, has called on the Ministry of Health to urgently send independent auditors to Chikankata Mission Hospital to investigate reports of abuse of the K1.5 billion released to the institution for the construction of a school of bio medical sciences.

Mr Hamaamba said in Mazabuka that he has constituted a team of government officers to look into the reports of alleged financial mismanagement and theft of building materials at the health institution before evidence is destroyed by the suspected culprits.

The suspected financial scam at Chikankata comes barely five days after another scandal was uncovered at Mazabuka District Health office in which government was swindled out of K300 million through unauthorized salary advances paid to some named senior managers, programme officers and other staff.

Mr Hamaamba, who confirmed the financial scam in Mazabuka yesterday, said some named senior managers at Chikankata Mission Hospital had allegedly shared part of the money and building materials from the K 1.5 billion.

He said some of the suspected culprits had allegedly been caught red handed ferrying building materials for their private errands.

Mr Hamaamba warned that he would not tolerate theft of public funds by public officers charged with the responsibility to administer government programmes.

He said government had sponsored the construction of a School of bio medical science because of the importance it attaches to human resource development as a solution to the shortage of personnel facing the health sector.

Mr Hamaamba said staff at Chikankata Mission Hospital petitioned him to lobby government to send auditors to investigate the alleged financial mismanagement.

Health workers in Mazabuka have also called for independent auditors to be sent to Mazabuka District Health Office to look into the books of accounts in the wake of reports of financial irregularities discovered.

According to some staff, senior managers allegedly paid themselves subsistence allowance during the cholera outbreak when they did not spend nights while funds released by the Centre for Infectious Disease and Research in Zambia had also been abused.

ZANIS