Zambia national football team coach Patrice Beaumelle says he is confident that many English Premier League clubs will be chasing clubless Jacob Mulenga’s signature.
The Chipolopolo striker has left Dutch side Utrecht FC following the expiry of his contract.
According to the club’s official website, Mulenga, 30 is one of seven players and coach Jan Wouters who bade farewell to the club after its final league game against Vitesse which they won 2-0.
In an interview yesterday, Beaumelle said Mulenga had all it took to play in the English Premiership.
“I am very close to Jacob. I knew that he was leaving Utrecht FC a long time ago. I wish him all the best. For any player when you have a will and you want to go somewhere, it is always good to go,” he said. “For me, he can do well in the Premier League. He has the strength; he has everything to do well in the Premier League. So, I wish he could go there.”
Beaumelle said he was confident that Mulenga would weigh his options in the EPL.
“Jacob did well last season; he scored a lot of goals. This season, he was injured. I am sure he has some good options in Europe. He was motivated to go to Europe. It is never easy to go that side. I wish him the best,” he said.
Beaumelle also said he would be happy to have the striker in camp for the June 6 international friendly against Japan in the US.
“I wish (Jacob) gets away from any injury because he was injured at sometime. I wish he will enjoy his football now. I am sure he will enjoy very soon with a new club. I am very happy for him and I am looking forward to have him with the Chipolopolo,” he said.
Beaumelle said he had been monitoring the performance of all Chipolopolo players abroad.
“When they are on the field, they just have to concentrate. Of course, I am following them. I know that he scored two or three goals in the last three weeks. Just like James Chamanga scored a hat-trick 10 days ago. I am very happy when any Zambian boy performs; (Emmanuel) Mayuka scored last week as well. I am following every player,” he said.
And Beaumelle said the national team, comprising local players, would regroup this weekend for their monthly camping at the Olympic Youth Development Centre.
“On Sunday we regroup and start training on Monday up to Wednesday. I will have the meeting today yesterday with the president Kalusha Bwalya and we will let you know about the players that will be in camp,” said Beaumelle.

This is too much for me to take, says mother of the 10-year-old girl of Ndola’s Kaloko area who has been forced out of school after discovering that she is pregnant.
In an interview in Kaloko on Wednesday, the girl’s mother said she was now a laughing stock in the community because her daughter was pregnant at a tender age.
“Which parent would be happy that their child is pregnant at 10 years for that matter? I am disappointed and I don’t know what to do. This child developed breasts when she was three years and at the age of seven, she became of age. I had no idea that she was pregnant until last month when my neighbours noticed some changes in her body and she was always sick. One of them took her to the hospital and she was told that the child was expecting,” she said.
She said she could not believe her ears when she learnt that her daughter was pregnant because she was too young to be a mother and that the community would laugh at her.
“I don’t know what to do. This child is too small to have another child. The bad thing is that the pregnancy is too advanced. She is over five months. I don’t know if she is able to deliver well. This is too much for me to take as a mother. Help me, please,” she said.
And the girl said she did not know who impregnated her but that she would know the person if she saw him.
When probed more on the matter, the girl stopped talking.

Anil Agarwal’s story about how he has dribbled the Zambian people and their government to make a fortune is annoying.
But the anger should not be wholly directed at him. A greater part of it should be directed at ourselves, our leaders and our government. Agarwal knew what he was doing and we should also have known what we were doing. In fact, the Zambian government and the Zambian people were warned about how poor this deal was. On November 9, 2004, we carried an editorial comment titled ‘Zambia’s careless privatisation’. And in that comment, we stated the following:
“Zambians cannot in any way claim to have benefitted from the privatisation programme started by Frederick Chiluba’s administration in the 1990s.
The Zambian people have, in fact, suffered the adverse effects of what is clearly a failed privatisation programme which was heralded – and stupidly so – as the fastest privatisation programme in the world. There were even some careless statements to the effect that there would be no sacred cows in the privatisation programme.
Sadly, we seem to have continued on the same path. The government seems to have learnt no lessons even with over a decade of implementing the disastrous programme.
The most notable results of the fastest privatisation programme in the world had certainly been the huge job losses and the countless collapse of companies, some of whom were stripped of equipment and relocated. This has been the ‘benefit’ to the Zambians.
We are certainly concerned that there appears to be no worrying about the continuing trend to just give away our treasured national resources, especially in the mining sector, for almost nothing. And a classical case is the just signed deal with Sterlite’s Vedanta. Through this deal, government has given away a 51 per cent stake in Konkola Copper Mines for US$25 million, a mining venture that just recorded US$60 million in its half year results this year.
Government has certainly continued to play its father Christmas role and managed yet again to offer a gift to foreign investors.
The deal is certainly equivalent to selling KCM’s 51 per cent for the mine’s own 2004 half year profit.
The sale is almost giving away KCM to Vedanta unless there are other hidden benefits which are yet to be disclosed. Zambians should start to question the government on the continuing practice of giving away national assets even if there is pressure from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
It is indeed difficult to understand why mines minister Kaunda Lembalemba had welcomed and vehemently defended the Vedanta deal as a good one. For the government to consider US$25 million as a worthwhile amount for Sterlite to have a majority stake in our largest assets, may be an indicator that things are very bad in the country. We really cannot accept the argument that there were no alternatives to the Vedanta deal.
We did raise similar sentiments over the sale of Baluba mine to J &W Investments. We still maintain that the two deals have merely been gifts and definitely not sales. And it is time the Zambian people started to question the justification of the father Christmas attitude by the government leaders.
It is not long ago that government sealed a US$7.5 million deal with J&W for Baluba mine. To make it worse, J&W Investment group only paid the Zambian government US$750,000 as a 10 per cent down payment.
We regret that our government has again hastily signed another poor deal which would sadly not benefit the Zambian people and indeed the country as a whole.
When one takes a critical look at the manner the privatisation process is being handled and the clear hurry to bring on board foreign investors to take over our national assets, one could simply conclude that there seems to be a misconception about privatisation. A common argument advanced for privatisation is that this is a means to mobilise private sector investment, including foreign investment, for developmental goals. This argument is not necessarily wrong. Where it is wrong is when it assumes that this is the only possible way to mobilise capital resources.
The privatisation route must always be weighed against the advantages and disadvantages of other possibilities of raising investments. Governments are able to access major relatively low interest loans on foreign capital markets, of course ignoring the International Monetary Fund and World Bank restrictions. While this will increase the public debt, it may well prove to be financially more prudent in the medium and long term. International examples abound of privatisation projects designed to relieve governments of financial burdens that have back-fired.
A common argument for privatisation is that government should best occupy its time and resources with setting strategic objectives, leaving management and ownership to the private sector. This might, in many cases, be the most feasible option, not least in a national and global economy that is dominated by capitalism.
Attempting to regulate the private sector might prove to be more complicated than actually owning and managing an entity – numerous international examples of concessions, and other restructuring projects raise questions about the complexity of regulating private entities, and of ensuring that they do indeed deliver efficiently and that they do effectively carry risk, the ostensible reason for being ‘rewarded’ with profits. All too often, private entities nominally carry risk, until there are losses, then they expect to be bailed out with public subsidies.
It is true that we often lack capacity and resources in the public sector and parastatals, but it might, in the medium term, prove to be more reliable building such capacity and resources. The task of regulating major transnationals might be more daunting than improving your own public service capacity.”
This is what we stated in 2004 when the Levy Mwanawasa government was giving away KCM to Agarwal for a song. And throughout that period, the government defended whatever KCM did. When there were industrial disputes, the government always took the side of Agarwal. Even when KCM polluted the Kafue River, they literally got away with it.
Today, Agarwal is mocking the Zambian people and their government. And these are the same people and government that still want to extend more concessions, favours and subsidies to KCM. As it was in 2004, there are still people today speaking for Agarwal and his company. They have hired literally every known expert in mining, business and economics, law and politics in this country to speak for them, to defend their interests. And the people don’t seem to have such experts to speak for them, to defend their interests. The few who attempt to defend the people and their interests are dismissed as charlatans who know very little, if not nothing.
We hope there will be a national awakening in the light of these experiences and that we will start to do things in the right way and act in the best interest of the people.

ONLY a shallow-minded person can condemn me for showing off my pregnancy in a magazine, says singer Dambisa Lunda.
And Dambisa says there is nothing wrong with her exposing her ‘baby bump’ topless.
She was yesterday reacting to comments on social media condemning her for posing topless in an online magazine.
Dambisa, who is eight months pregnant, is appearing on the front page of Exclusive Zambian Magazine (above), wearing a chitenge (wrapper), topless and only covering her breasts.
Most people on social media have received this with mixed feelings, wondering whether she was married or not.
Mwa Bana TK commented on Joyce Mbilika Lemba who posted the picture on her Facebook wall that there was need for Dambisa to brace herself for serious criticism.
Lemba also commented on her own posting, wondering what Dambisa’s in-laws would think of her after seeing the picture on the front page of an online magazine.
When contacted for a comment, Dambisa said she was not bothered by the many phone calls that she had received concerning the picture.
“Is there anything wrong with that picture…what do you think? If you were to come to me as The Post Newspaper and told me that since you are a public person, we want to cover you…promoting motherhood, healthy eating…stuff like that, I am not going to refuse because you people promote us; you make us what we are,” Dambisa said. “Being pregnant is not a crime at all. Supporting someone who is proud of what they have become is not something wrong at all. It’s not like I am exposing my boobs, or exposing my private part.”
Dambisa said she only agreed to feature in a magazine that was promoting motherhood and healthy eating because she was a proud mother-to-be.
“If I was somewhere else, still Zambian and took this picture and someone publicised it, we would not have had this problem. It is only a shallow-minded Zambian person who would condemn me for that picture,” Dambisa said. “Let us look at it from a positive side and not a negative side. If people are not proud of who they are and what they become, then there is something wrong. Why should we be hiding ourselves when we become pregnant?”
Dambisa said she wouldn’t feel embarrassed to swim at a public swimming pool because she was pregnant.
“…what if someone took a picture of me swimming and posted it on Facebook? Would it be a problem? I don’t think it would be a problem. It is so irritating ….In fact, I am not even irritated and I am not bothered,” she said.
Dambisa said she had received many phone calls from people asking why she agreed to have such a picture taken.
Asked whether her husband had seen the picture, Dambisa said, “My husband was with me when I went for the photo shoot.”

Nigerian Nollywood ACTRESS Uche Jombo ventured into the Nigerian movie industry in 1999 in the movie Visa to hell and since then has over sixty movies to her credit.
As a screenwriter she has written and co-written several movies some of which include: The Celebrity, Games Men Play, Girls in the Hood & A Time to Love. Jombo went to produce films such as Nollywood Hustlers, Holding Hope and her latest work Damage which deals with the issue of domestic violence in homes.The actress And her Husband Celebrated their 2nd Year Wedding Anniversary yesterday.
The couple who got married in 2012 celebrated their second wedding anniversary yesterday May 16th, 2014. Big congrats to them..

Given Lubinda says President Michael Sata’s reference to him as a rebel was done as a joke.
In an interview, the Kabwata PF member of parliament said those who think he would leave the ruling party were wrong.
“Those who think I will leave PF have it totally wrong. I won’t abandon the ship because one or two of my passengers are uncomfortable with me. It will be irresponsibility to the party. Should I also leave Zambia because one or two people don’t like me?” he asked.
Lubinda said there was nothing that had happened to him to warrant his leaving the party.
He said was not worried about his PF membership in 2016.
Lubinda said he was more concerned about today and not what would happen in 2016.
“I am not worried about 2016 but worried about today. My worry is, am I representing the people of Kabwata? Am I inspiring them? Am I contributing to the spreading of love?” asked Lubinda after being asked if he would still be a PF member in 2016.
He said the general membership of the PF would be the best judges.
Asked about President Sata’s reference to him as a rebel, Lubinda responded: “He says things in jest, especially if he says it in my presence. It is not the President’s attitude towards me, no! The President has on a number of occasions referred to me as zayelo (coloured), you have not reported about it. But because he refers to me as rebel then it makes headlines.”
Lubinda said what was in the PF was much bigger than that which he said was against him.
“I enjoy fraternal relations with the majority members of the PF,” said Lubinda.
On the road developmental projects taking place in his constituency, Lubinda said the people of Kabwata were very excited with the projects on Chilumbulu and Burma roads.
He said once completed, the two roads would improve the floor of traffic within the constituency.
Lubinda said traffic congestion was a huge drain on national productivity and that an improvement in the congestion would have a direct impact on productivity.
“Kabwata Constituency has been the fastest growing constituency over the last 10 years and it will be the first constituency to have dual carriageways. This will increase the value of properties along these roads,” he said.
Lubinda further said he was in constant touch with the contractors working on the roads to ensure that most of the people engaged to work were from the constituency.

MMD president Nevers Mumba says he will not give in to pressure by those demanding that he leaves his position.
The former ruling party’s vice-presidents, Michael Kaingu and Dr Brian Chituwo and spokesperson Dora Siliya, senior member Kapembwa Simbao and former Solwezi member of parliament Lucky Mulusa want Mumba to step down, accusing him of failing to manage the party.
Addressing cadres at Choma Hotel on Thursday, Mumba said he was determined to take on challenges from within and outside MMD.
He said he would no longer tolerate indiscipline at all levels of the opposition party.
He said he was working on rebranding the party in readiness for the 2016 general elections as well as to enable it stand attacks from internal and external opponents.
Mumba said MMD would be the only party in Africa to bounce back to power in a short period of time after losing elections.
He said the continued talk about MMD, despite not being in power, was a clear indication of how strong it was and that it was a threat to the ruling party.
Mumba boasted that despite Southern Province being a stronghold of the UPND, he was enjoying massive support from the area than any other province in the country.
He thanked MMD members in Southern Province for being with him by defending their decision and party from fellow members who he claimed wanted to cause confusion to allow PF to rule without any opposition party offering effective checks and balances.
Mumba urged the members not to despair with the continued election misfortune the party had experienced recently.
He said winning a by-election was not as important as a general election.
“These colleagues fighting me are like children throwing stones at a mango tree with the view to get a ripe one. So I’m aware that they want what I have, but I shall not give in to their pressure even if they team up with PF. My Bible tells me that, ‘no weapon fashioned against me shall prosper’,” Mumba said.
Mumba urged party members in Choma to remain united and focused, adding that he had also extended an olive branch to those rebelling against him within the MMD so as to promote peace as well as love for one another.
And MMD Southern Province chairperson Oliver Pelete said people in the area viewed Mumba as the only person who could redeem the party in 2016, hence their support for him.
Pelete said the party in the province was still intact and would always remain solid.
Meanwhile, Mumba says it is a fallacy for one to think they can make a better president because he or she is an economist.
Mumba was responding to a UPND symphathiser who phoned in to Monzes Sky FM Governance Programme” where he was featured, suggesting that the country currently needed an economist to run the country in order to propel its economy.
In response, Mumba said the notion that the country should have an economist for a president was incorrect as witnessed in some countries.
“If you say we need an economist, in some of the countries where we have had economists, that is where you have had terrible economic growth or lack of growth actually. It doesn’t necessarily translate into that because the (President) economist is not the one who goes to the Ministry of Finance and starts to run the economy single-handedly,” Mumba said.
“He (President) has got other issues, of dealing with international relations. He has got other issues of ensuring that he joins the global community, to become an effective president, not necessarily a Jack-of-all-trade.”
Mumba said that God was the One who gave leaders responsibility over other people.
He said effective leadership was the ability to maximise the talents of the people that one worked with and not the credentials that one had.
“My role is that of a pastor or a clergy, but I am a qualified person in public policy with a Masters degree in issues of governance. Even all that is insufficient in running the country single-handedly. You run it with different people that are qualified in different areas,” he said.
“It is a fallacy to assume that somebody has to be a good teacher or an economist in order to be a good president because all of us have done economic policy. I am a graduate in economic policy myself, but that doesn’t mean it’s enough to be able to govern,” Mumba said.
He said the country’s first president Dr Kenneth Kaunda was a teacher, who provided leadership for 27 years.
He said late Frederick Chiluba was a trade unionist who was not necessarily an economist or a teacher.
“We have got Dr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, he was a lawyer. He was not a teacher, a doctor or an economist. President Rupiah Banda was a diplomat, a person whose concern and understanding was in international relations. And for Mr Sata, I don’t know, I think Mr Sata was a policeman from the beginning and he has also been given an opportunity to govern this country,” said Mumba

West African leaders are meeting in Paris to discuss the threat posed by Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants.
Thousands of people have been killed by the group in recent years. Last month it abducted 223 schoolgirls in north-eastern Nigeria, where it is based.
As Saturday’s summit began, news of fresh violence emerged.
An attack in northern Cameroon, near the Nigerian border, targeted Chinese workers. In Nigeria, 11 people were reported killed in a separate incident.
In that attack Boko Haram fighters are said to have targeted a village a few hours’ drive from the Cameroonian border on Friday.
A relative of one of the victims said a woman and a child were among the dead.
The attack in the far north of Cameroon occurred at camp run by a Chinese construction company.
Chinese diplomats said 10 people were missing and one person injured. There are reports that one person was killed.
As the Paris meeting opened, French President Francois Hollande called Boko Haram a “major threat” to West and Central Africa, and said it had “proven links” with al-Qaeda and other militant groupsUK Foreign Secretary William Hague says Nigeria must work with its neighbours to tackle Boko Haram
The summit is also attended by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his counterparts from neighbouring Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Representatives from the UK, US and EU are also taking part.
-BBC News

The observations made by Given Lubinda, Kabwata PF member of parliament, that there is no opposition in Zambia and that the current opposition political parties should not even think they can remove the PF in 2016 should not be dismissed as cheap political propaganda.
Given is not much of an enemy of the opposition. In fact, in a number of things, he is much closer to them than he is to the ruling Patriotic Front. So when he speaks in a manner that appears to be critical of them, or is indeed critical of them, it would be wise for them to pay a lot of attention to what he is saying and deeply meditate over it.
Of course, what Given is saying about the opposition’s dim prospects is not new; similar sentiments have been expressed before by many other people, including George Mpombo and Daniel Munkombwe. What is probably new is that this time, these views are coming from a member of the ruling party who is actually more disposed towards them than he is towards his own political party. So it is important for the opposition to pay attention to what their own friend, Given, is saying. They can dismiss him at their collective peril.
Despite all sorts of declarations to the contrary, the truth is that there is presently no credible, organised and viable opposition that truly can be said to threaten the Patriotic Front’s grip on power. And the elitist and antagonistic approach that the opposition has taken on many national issues has only served to alienate them even further from many of our people. The culture of opposing and condemning everything for the sake of opposing or condemning simply because it comes from the ruling party has often proved to be retrogressive and counterproductive in our politics.
When one listens to most of the criticism coming from the opposition ranks, you would think the Patriotic Front has done absolutely nothing since September 2011 or that they were elected to only pass a new constitution!
If one listened to UPND leaders speak about their prospects in 2016, you would think they are so popular that you wonder how this very popular party – even when historical evidence suggests that they are a party in decline – lost the previous presidential elections!
And if one considers the results of the parliamentary by-elections held since 2011, one will note that the UPND is mainly regaining its seats previously lost to the MMD, not necessarily gaining new ground. It is the MMD that is on the decline and the Patriotic Front and UPND are reaping the rewards of MMD’s disintegration. The so-called ‘rise’ of the UPND should be contextualised and measured against the steady decline of the MMD. Notwithstanding the possible revulsion against the incumbent, we do not think many see Hakainde Hichilema as an alternative outside his ethnic enclave.
As for Nevers Mumba and his MMD, it is difficult to know what they really stand for. They are failing to justify their relevance outside the idea of their party having brought back multi-partism over two decades ago. And moreover, the people who dominate the politics of MMD today, including Nevers himself, were not there when the MMD was formed to champion the return to multi-party politics. All you hear from them nowadays are attacks on Michael Sata devoid of substance. If one listened to the MMD leadership, one would be forgiven to think they are not the authors of the misery that the Patriotic Front is trying to rectify. If the frightening ethnic commitment and pomposity of the UPND and its leadership is off-putting, the hypocrisy of the MMD is breath-taking.
There is need for the opposition to rethink their strategy and to pay more attention to the legitimate needs, aspirations and most pressing concerns of the masses of our people. The arrogance of deciding on behalf of the electorate what they think is an important issue, especially when backed by some Western patrons, may in the end prove very costly for them politically. The energy that opposition parties devote over the enactment of a new constitution, for instance, deflects their attention away from grassroots mobilisation efforts that may allow them to capitalise more fully and effectively on the Patriotic Front’s weaknesses or failures. By focusing their energies on things that are not of immediate concern to the great majority of the masses of our people – the constitution rather than jobs and provision of social services – and on the wrong audience – the donor community rather than the electorate – opposition parties leave the field open for an easy Patriotic Front victory.
It is also important for the opposition to learn to focus their campaign messages on what they intend to do for the people rather than on the Patriotic Front’s highly contestable alleged failures. In other words, the opposition should try to give the voters a reason to vote for them and not reasons why they should hate the Patriotic Front. They should attempt to talk more about what they intend to do for the country and the masses of our people than spend too much time emptily criticising and condemning the Patriotic Front. Mere condemnation and unconstructive and even constructive criticism has limitations and limits. Even though many Zambians may be critical of the Patriotic Front on a number of issues, and they should be, that does not automatically translate to their endorsement of the UPND or MMD.
There are lessons to be learnt from the just-ended elections in South Africa. We saw a similar pattern where Jacob Zuma and the African National Congress emerged victorious despite a vicious and sustained opposition campaign against them, largely focused on one main issue: Nkandla – the charge that Zuma “benefitted unduly” from using state money estimated at US$23 million to improve his rural private residence. The South African people made it no factor and communicated the message that voters’ irritability and discontent with the ruling party does not translate into love or votes for the opposition. As one of the ANC voters put it, “I am very unhappy with ANC and Zuma, but I will still vote for them. Just because I am angry with my husband does not mean I will take another man.”
Similarly, we are of the view that some Zambians, including those who voted for the Patriotic Front are not completely happy with this party, but that does not result or warrant an automatic shift of political loyalties. Their criticism of the ruling party and its leadership is expected and normal in a democracy, and for a large part is in good faith; it is about people asserting their voices rather than being passive followers. The other week Edgar Lungu, the Minister of Defence and a member of the Central Committee of the Patriotic Front, was encouraging and inviting the Zambian people to criticise them. Criticism is good for any organisation or individual and when it is valid, it must be made. There are many good things that this government is doing, of course, sometimes not doing them so well, and the Zambian people are aware of them. And although the country is facing challenges and setbacks like the poor performance of the kwacha, high prices of fuel, these are things that can be explained in a manner that will not break the bonds of support.
The Patriotic Front government, for instance, has continued to scale down the high rate of unemployment left by the MMD by creating both casual and permanent jobs, especially in the construction sector, the public service and parastatals. It has lowered taxes for the workers whilst attempting to increase wages. It has embarked on improving the road infrastructure throughout the country – even without elections in sight as per MMD practice – and providing better quality social services such as education and health. The country has also recorded increased production in the agriculture sector, including a historic maize harvest.
Even the urban poor and rural dwellers, for whom UPND and MMD are also allegedly speaking, are not dull and fickle. They have eyes to see what is going on. They have a sense of judgement and know what is possible and not possible. They are not carrying wild expectations of the 90 days this, 90 days that. They are able to distinguish rhetoric from reality. They understand things more than we sometimes do and are not easily swayed. What will determine the Patriotic Front’s stay in power is not necessarily what the opposition says but what the Patriotic Front itself does.

THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested a 40-year-old man of Lusaka’s Matero township for corruption involving K1,500.
This is contained in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday by ACC public relations manager Timothy Moono.

Mr Moono said the suspect, Bright Mukuma, of house number 4705 B, is alleged to have committed the offence on unknown dates but between January 1, 2104 and February 16, 2014.
“Mukuma, a private person, jointly and acting together with Jusiyele Banda, a customer service assistant at Public Service Pensions Fund, and other persons unknown, corruptly solicited and received K1,500 cash gratification from Mervis Daka as an inducement or reward for having processed terminal benefits for her late husband.
“It is a matter of transaction concerning the Public Service Pensions Fund, a public body,” Mr Moono said.
Mr Moono said Mukuma appeared in the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court before resident magistrate Boniface Mwiinga on Thursday and was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment while his co-accused, Banda, was acquitted.

THE opposition in Zambia will cry like their colleagues in South Africa who wasted time talking about irrelevant things instead of addressing real issues, says home affairs deputy minister Nickson Chilangwa.
Chilangwa, who is Luapula Province PF chairperson and the ruling party’s head of research bureau, said opposition political parties in the country were wasting time talking about the constitution just like the South African opposition, which concentrated on the Nkandla saga thinking they were decampaigning ANC’s Jacob Zuma.
Chilangwa said it was a sheer waste of time discussing the constitution, which the PF would deliver.
He further said the issue of the constitution had become the opposition’s Nkandla in Zambia.
Chilangwa said the opposition had abandoned real campaign issues and decided to spend most of their time ‘jumping about the constitution issue’.
“The opposition in Zambia has a lot to learn from their South African colleagues who bored the voters with cheap talk about the Nkandla saga without realising that people believe so much in the ANC and Jacob Zuma. What happened last week in South Africa is a big lesson to the opposition here whose Nkandla is the constitution. The so-called opposition want to be jumping about the constitution issue….” Chilangwa said.
“It is a waste of time for the opposition to think that they can use the constitution debate to decampaign the PF and President Michael Sata. Everyday, they are talking about the constitution, which is already a done deal. What they are forgetting is that the people of Zambia are not interested; they want real issues. They know the PF under President Sata’s leadership is delivering,” he said.
Chilangwa said people were now tired of some opposition leaders ‘singing about the constitution, an issue which is not even controversia.’
“Nobody amongst the so-called opposition told President Sata to constitute the technical committee on drafting the Zambian constitution within 90 days of forming government. Why would they want to be champions now?” asked Chilangwa.
In the week, Given Lubinda said there was no opposition in the country and that there would be no change of government in 2016.

CHIPOLOPOLO striker Jacob Mulenga says he decided to leave FC Utrecht because he was not happy with the terms of his new contract.
In an interview yesterday, Mulenga said the Dutch side wanted to renew his contract, but he turned downed the offer because he was not happy with the terms which he did not disclose.
“They are trying to find a solution. They want to offer me a new contract but the terms are not good. I am just waiting until we negotiate on what is best for me,” he said. “It is about agreeing on what is best in my career. I have to look at all angles and see what is best for me.”
Mulenga said he was not worried about being clubless.
“I know God will answer me as long as I am happy here. The club has offered something. I am not worried for as long as I am enjoying playing football and happy. I just concentrate on my football,” he said.
Mulenga said he had engaged his agent to explore other options in his career.
“The important thing for me is training. I am enjoying training and looking forward to the next game. My agent is doing everything. It is not a problem and I am not worried about it,” said the 30-year-old.
Mulenga said so far, he had not received offers from any team.
“I have not heard about teams interested in me. It is not just automatically that teams will sign me, there a lot of processes in football. I hope one day people will be able to understand from the player’s point of view,” said Mulenga.
On Thursday, Chipolopolo coach Patrice Beaumelle said he was confident that many English Premier League clubs would be chasing the striker’s signature.
Beaumelle said Mulenga had all it took to play in the English Premiership.
“I am very close to Jacob. I knew that he was leaving Utrecht FC a long time ago. I wish him all the best. For any player when you have a will and you want to go somewhere, it is always good to go,” said Beaumelle. “For me, he can do well in the Premier League. He has the strength; he has everything to do well in the Premier League. So, I wish he could go there.”
Utrecht announced on its website that the Chipolopolo striker would leave the club at the end of this season when his contract expires.
According to the website, Mulenga, six other players and coach Jan Wouters bade farewell to the club after its final league game against Vitesse which they won 2-0.

A 32-YEAR-OLD commando of Kalewa barracks in Ndola who battered his wife for allegedly denying him sex, about a week ago, has appeared in the Ndola magistrate’s court for plea.

Luckson Malanga, 32, a soldier, of Kalewa barracks in Ndola, who is facing a charge of assault told the Ndola magistrate’s court that he assaulted his wife because he found her with a taxi driver in the house who is believed to be her boyfriend.
Malanga also told the court on Thursday before magistrate Chitundu Chongo that he assaulted his wife because she wanted to suffocate their four-month-old daughter with a pillow and told him that she would tell police that he was the one who had killed their baby in the event that the baby was to die.
He told the court that he assaulted his wife using fists and kicks after he received a phone call from the people manning the gate at Kalewa barracks that they had seen his wife with a taxi driver whom they alleged to be her boyfriend.
“Your honour, I received a phone call from my friends in Kalewa barracks that they had seen my wife with a taxi driver who is her boyfriend. So when I went to the house to check, I found them in the house but the man fled,” Malanga said.
Malanga also told the court that his efforts to apprehend the man proved futile even after giving chase.
Particulars of the offence are that on May 4, this year in Ndola, Malanga assaulted Hezel Mbewe, his wife, thereby occasioning her actual bodily harm.
He admitted the charge.
But Ms Chongo said the court would enter a plea of not guilty against the accused as his plea was equivocal.
And the state has rejected Malanga’s application for bail on grounds that the safety of their daughter was at stake.
In objecting to Malanga’s application for bail, public prosecutor Michael Mwalila told the court that the accused always got involved in fierce fights with his wife hence the safety of the baby was not guaranteed as long as the accused remained outside.
The matter comes up on June 13, for mention.

POET and rapper Pilato is tonight performing at Club La Face VIP Room in London, United Kingdom at a show dubbed ‘A Night with Pilato’.
From there, Pilato, who is also an actor and film director, is expected to perform at the SANAA (Sejima And Nishizawa And Associates) Africa Festival 2014 to be held at Moyo, Zoo Lake in Johannesburg, South Africa from May 21 – 24.
SANAA Africa is a yearly four-day cultural festival recognised by the City of Joburg as the official Africa Day celebration.

In the spirit of celebration, Africa’s most talented performers and artistes will take to Moyo, Zoo Lake in Parkview for a vibrant, one-of-a-kind experience.
The idea behind the festivities is to create an event that exposes a cross section of the vastly multicultural continent, ranging from visual art, craft, song, story-telling and film.
Using global networks established over several years, Sanaa Africa Festival 2014 has invited the most creative out of African youths from Mozambique, Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, to South Africa, to collaborate with the most creative of that country’s ”Born – Free” Generation.
Performances include HHP, Uhuru, Teargas, Molemi, M.I (Nigeria), Fena (Kenya), Pilato (Zambia), Nhatty Man (Ethiopia) and Mimae (Mozambique).
In total, 10 artistes and eight poets will produce and present works from established and up-coming backgrounds. On the other hand, brand new theatre productions will make their presentations and the best of new African cinema will be put on screen for SANAA 2014 to further enhance the holistic scope that it takes when it comes to the continent, its people and the arts.
Apart from promoting awareness and appreciation of Africa’s arts and culture, SANAA also has a strong focus on ensuring the sustainability of the festival by entering into strategic partnerships with sponsors.
MTN is the major sponsor.
“The MTN SA Foundation is honoured to be a strategic partner for the SANAA Africa Arts Festival 2013. We support the development of the arts, including skills development initiatives offered by SANAA across all genres – targeting not only creativity but also business and entrepreneurial skills.
“Through our involvement, we hope to play a role in helping artists to showcase their work, but to also create wealth by stimulating sustainability through expression. We believe and support SANAA’s vision of establishing an artistic library for the future, to preserve indigenous knowledge and expression, and to also create a commercial benefit for all our communities,” says Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi, the general manager of MTN South Africa Foundation.
Johannesburg has been the host city for the SANAA Africa Arts Festival since it was launched three years ago.

Former Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande has charged that government should state clearly its position on worries by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Zambia will slip into another debt trap.

Speaking in a telephone interview with QFM News, Mr. Magande says it will only be fair and good enough for government through the Ministry of Finance to tell the nation if Zambia’s debit is sustainable.

Mr. Magande explains that he is on record having advised government several times not to continue over borrowing as the country risks falling in a huge debit trap.

He says he is only hopeful that government will now take the words of the IMF more serious and stronger as they have failed to listen to advice from different stakeholders on continued borrowing.

The IMF fears the 10 per cent increase in total public debt in the last two years might plunge Zambia into another debt trap.

And International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Zambia will next year borrow money at a higher interest rate after rating agency fitch downgraded the country’s credit rating to b from b-plus on the country’s crumbling government finances and expectations that the deficit will remain high.

MORE pupils are going on maternity leave with the latest being 12 at Mitenge community school in Mwekera in Ndola.
Five other pupils at the school have been married off by their parents.

This comes barely a week after the Sunday Mail revealed that 19 pupils at Hillside Girls Secondary School in Eastern Province will be going on maternity leave.
It also comes a few weeks after another revelation that 30 pupils at Kaoma Secondary School in Western Province left school in the first term of this year because they are in the family way.
Mitenge Community School coordinator Innocent Kampompole said the five girls are not pregnant but their parents have willingly married them off.
Mr Kampompole said the girls, aged between 14 and 18, were in grades five, six and seven.
He said in an interview that these statistics are as of May this year, adding that girls at his school get pregnant as early as grade five forcing their parents to marry them off at a tender age.
“We have been operating our community school since 2007. It runs from grade one to seven but what is shocking is that pupils start getting pregnant as early as grade five,” Mr Kampompole said.
He bemoaned the high levels of teenage pregnancy and early marriages which he attributed to the lack of a secondary school in the area.
He said girls who manage to go to secondary schools at Chifubu, Kansenshi and other schools are ejected and sent back to the community school when they fall pregnant.
“When they go to secondary schools, they live in boarding houses because the schools are far. There is no adult supervision in the boarding houses hence the girls are free to do anything they want,” he said.
Mr Kampompole appealed to Government to consider constructing a secondary school in the area to increase literacy levels and encourage the young girls to remain in school.
And Mr Kampompole commended Government’s intension to relocate Mwekera forest reserve residents to Maposa area.
He said Government’s decision to relocate the illegal settlers to Maposa area will enable them own land.
Mr Kampompole said Government has assured the settlers of three hectares of land each in Maposa where they can build permanent structures.
“As a community school we are excited about Government’s intensions to relocate us because that way we can expand and build permanent structures. This will make it possible for donors to fund our expansion project because we will have our own land on title,” Mr Kampompole said.
He said he is dismayed by the behaviour of some unscrupulous people inciting settlers in Mwekera forest reserve to defy a Government order to relocate.
“Mwekera reserve residents need to understand that they have settled on illegal land. No one should talk them into defying Government’s relocation order because they will never have land ownership if they fall for those lies,” he said.

By NANCY SIAME
AN illegal miner has been shot in the buttocks by a security guard after he was found illegally mining in Chingola.
The incident happened on Friday around 15:00 hours at old Luano open pit mine in Kapisha.

Copperbelt commissioner of police Joyce Kasosa confirmed the incident in an interview from Ndola yesterday.
Ms Kasosa said Jackson Muchape, 37, of D15 Kapisha was allegedly found mining by Edingtone Sikazwe, a security guard with Target security firm.
“When the security guard saw the illegal miner, he shot him on the left buttock,” Ms Kasosa said.
Muchape is admitted to hospital for treatment.
Ms Kasosa said Muchape is out of danger and will be charged with criminal trespass.
Meanwhile, a 24-year-old woman of Kaloko Township in Ndola has been arrested for allegedly dumping her new-born daughter in a pit latrine.
Ms Kasosa said Dorothy Kumwenda allegedly dumped the baby yesterday around 11:00 hours.
“When members of the public heard the baby crying, they mobilised themselves and retrieved it alive from the pit latrine,” Ms Kasosa said.
The baby is currently, to Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital.
Ms Kasosa said the matter is under investigation and the suspect is remanded in custody.

CHISHIMBA Kambwili says he is disappointed with the manner his labour counterpart, Fackson Shamenda, is handling miners’ affairs in Luanshya.
But Shamenda says he has his own style of doing business and that he will not be instructed on how he should work.
And Kambwili, the sports minister and Roan member of parliament, insinuated that Shamenda was not being proactive in dealing with the affairs of Luanshya Copper Mines.

Savior Chishimba [l] and Chishimba Kambwili [r]

THE mother of the 10-year-old pregnant girl of Kaloko compound in Ndola says doctors have advised that her daughter delivers her child through Caesarian section.
In an interview after she took her daughter to Ndola Central Hospital, the mother of the girl said the pregnancy had reached an advanced stage.
She said she took her daughter to the hospital on Thursday and a scan showed that the baby was fine.
“The scan shows that the baby’s head is facing downwards, meaning that her pregnancy is advanced. The doctor told me that the girl cannot deliver normally because she might be damaged, so she will have to deliver through a Caesarean section,” she said.
Hospital authorities refused to comment on the matter and instead referred all queries to the family.
The girl was impregnated by someone she does not know but whom she says she can recognise.
Meanwhile, Lusaka obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Mutinta Muyuni says the pregnancy of the 10-year-old girl should open society to realities around early contraceptives and safe abortions.
In an interview, Dr Muyuni said whereas there was a lot done to oppose safe abortion, very little was done to offer social support to unwanted babies who ended up dumped in toilets or discarded in inhumane ways.
“My challenge to those opposing safe abortions and access to contraceptives is to stop being armchair critics,” Dr Muyuni said. “Roll up your sleeves and do your part for Zambian women and children. Help children like this 10-year-old from Ndola have access to school, psychological therapy, support for her family and newborn. Otherwise the more we stigmatise and isolate these girls, the more unsafe abortions and latrine babies will be seen.”
Dr Muyuni explained that Zambia had many minors falling pregnant through defilement.
According to the Zambia Central Statistics figures 2009, three out of 10 girls had experienced child bearing by the age of 19.
She said there was need for a practical approach on prevention of early pregnancies through contraception, access to safe abortion as well as options for women with advanced unplanned pregnancies to give up their children for adoption.
“The 10-year old had no idea like many young girls that she was pregnant,” she said. “What is happening with sex education in schools and contraception for those who are sexually active? This is sadly interpreted as encouraging the young to continue having sex, but quite the contrary, it may prevent sexually transmitted infection, unplanned pregnancy and even reduce high risk pregnancy in underage girls. But even so, sex education has to start from the family. I note also that information concerning available options for unplanned pregnancy is scanty and a thing of whispering behind closed doors. The onus of raising a child is as per our culture strictly not for one family unit
but for the community at large.”
Dr Muyuni observed that there was huge gap between the country’s social welfare services and provision of reproductive health services.
“It is through these comprehensive abortion care services and indeed other reproductive health services that women can receive information on options and those with advanced pregnancies can be guided on where they can safely deliver and give up their babies, as opposed to just rebuking them and later having to fish babies out of latrines,” she said.
She regretted that there were a lot of debates on what was wrong or right when for centuries no answer had come forth.
“It is easy to talk if you have never lost someone to a preventable tragedy such as death from unsafe abortion, or if you have never had to wash faeces off the body of a dumped baby fished out of a latrine and had to pick the maggots from its ears and nose and wished the baby’s mother had access to information on access to options,” said Dr
Muyuni. “We have seen that apart from harsh criticism of those who provide contraception and safe abortion services, armchair critics help no further to safeguard this unprepared mother and her baby. And I hope through social welfare and cooperating partners this will not be the end of the Ndola girl’s education and future, and that her mother will be encouraged to be strong and stand by her daughter through this.”

Opposition National Restoration Party (NAREP) Vice President Charles Maboshe has advised his fellow politicians not to mock President Sata’s health stating that he is still the head of the state.
MMD Vice President Michael Kaingu is quoted in some sections of the media saying that what happened to late President Levy Mwanawasa was because of the selfish people who had ignored Mr. Mwanawasa’s health because of personal interests of protecting jobs cautioning this should never repeat itself.
But Mr. Maboshe has told QFM news in an interview that remarks attributed to Dr. Kaingu that President Michael Sata should be allowed to take a rest or he will die like the late President levy Mwanawasa are unfortunate and should be condemned.
Mr. Maboshe states that President Sata should be accorded the respect he deserves as the head of state and politicians ought to watch their language.
He has since advised government to hold a press conference and address these reports that are circulating that president Sata is unwell.
Mr. Maboshe says this is the only way the issue that president Sata is sick can be addressed.