Republican President Edgar Lungu has expressed concern that some politicians in the country are harbouring too much bitterness.

President Lungu says such politicians are power hungry, advising them to wait for 2016 and see what will happen.

President Lungu says the opposition sees nothing positive in the PF government and criticizes everything without considering the strides made by the ruling party.

He states that the opposition will see what will happen to them in the forthcoming parliamentary by-elections in Bangweulu and Solwezi West constituencies.

And President Lungu says there is need to keep traditional leaders out of politics and allow them to concentrate on progressive matters.

He said the agenda of his meeting with traditional leaders from Southern province today is to promote oneness.

The Head of State said this at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport this morning before departure for Livingston where he is expected to meet Chiefs from Southern Province.

Zambia’s kwacha advanced by the most in three months against the dollar because of sustained inflows of the greenback, according to Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc.

The currency of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer rose 3 percent by 10:54 a.m. in Lusaka, the capital, to trade at 7.44 per dollar. That’s the biggest gain since April 10 and the strongest level since July 3. The kwacha has climbed 5.7 percent since it reached a record low of 7.89 per dollar on July 15.

“In the short term, the kwacha is expected to continue its bullish run against dollar on the back of sustained supply and the possible unwinding of long dollar positions,” the bank said Tuesday in an e-mailed note to clients.

The kwacha has struggled against the dollar this year amid broader U.S. currency strength and the falling price of copper, which accounts for about 70 percent of Zambia’s foreign exchange earnings. The metal closed at $5,480 per metric ton in London on Monday, a 22 percent drop in the past 12 months.

Cavmont Bank said in a Monday report that dollar supply increased as local companies prepared to meet month-end payment obligations. FNB Zambia said Tuesday some of the dollar inflow could be because of demand for the treasury bill sale later this week.

Officials from the Bank of Zambia and Finance Ministry are in the U.S. this week to market a planned $2 billion Eurobond, a person familiar with the matter said July 14.

Bloomberg

‘I was raped and kept the baby’….Four months after she was sexually assaulted, Keisha Fisher, 34, a midwife from Ohio, USA, realised the unimaginable – she was pregnant ‘When I look at my five-month-old baby son Hans-David, I feel a wave of love, a surge of pride and immense gratitude for the happiness he’s brought me.

Normal emotions for any mum – even though he was conceived in the worst possible circumstances.

A child of rape, he came out of the darkest experience of my entire life. Growing up in the American Midwest, I’d always dreamed of going to Africa. I knew there was so much HIV there and I just wanted to help those in need.

So, when I was 26, I packed my rucksack and went to work with different charities across Zambia, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Zimbabwe, before settling in South Africa to train as a midwife.

When I’d finished my placements at the end of 2013, I decided to go home to visit my parents Dwight, 62, and Nancy, 61, before looking for a job in Tanzania.

I had to travel through Zambia to catch my flight in December, so I went to visit some friends I’d made while working there a few years earlier. I stayed with several families who lived together in a small cinder block house with electricity, but no running water.

I was overcome with exhaustion from my bus ride, so they gave me my own room – a big mark of respect and kindness in such basic conditions – and I crashed out.

A few hours later, I was startled awake by a dark figure on top of me. Mute with terror, I tried to fight him off, but he was too strong for me. In the moonlight, I thought I recognised him as a man from the village but it was so surreal, like a nightmare.

His hand clamped over my mouth, he started raping me, mumbling words I couldn’t understand as I wasn’t fluent in the language.

I squeezed my eyes shut in absolute horror, praying someone would hear what was happening over the noise of the radio playing in the living room and come to rescue me.

But no one did. I kept telling myself not to do anything that would make him hurt me more.

A few minutes later, it was over. As he fled, I curled into the foetal position and cried until the sun came up. The next day, I told my friends nothing of the attack – in total shock, I just wanted to forget it had ever happened.

I knew if I went to the police, I’d have to stay there while they investigated, and I was desperate to get away. So I plastered on a fake smile, waved goodbye and jumped on a bus. As I travelled to the airport, I felt sick with mixed feelings of guilt and disgust. Why hadn’t I fought harder?

Was all of this my fault somehow? Even though I had worked with AIDS sufferers, it didn’t occur to me that I might be infected – or pregnant. I just shut down and refused to think for a moment longer about what had happened. Back home in the US, I pretended everything was normal.

My mum was having surgery on her foot and my dad has multiple sclerosis, so for the next few months I focused all of my energy on helping them. I didn’t let myself dwell on that terrible night – not even when I missed my period. With all the travelling I did, my cycle was often erratic, so I put it down to that. However, by March 2014, my period still hadn’t arrived.

To put my mind at rest, I did a pregnancy test. It was positive. Shell-shocked, I convinced myself that I must have conceived and miscarried, as I had no other symptoms – and I couldn’t face the alternative. Tearfully, I told my parents the bare minimum of what happened in Zambia.

They were devastated, and urged me to go to a pregnancy crisis centre. It was then, on March 18 2014, that my fear became a reality when a scan revealed I was 17 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby. Watching the foetus wriggling on the screen was one of the hardest moments of my life.

I’d always dreamed of having kids some day, but not like this. The love I instinctively felt was tinged with a sense of terror. I considered two options: adoption or abortion.

Deep down, I felt this baby had a right to life, no matter what his father had done, but could I keep it? Could I live with a constant reminder of the rape? How would I even support us both?

The staff at the crisis centre were amazing, counselling me and gently explaining that I needed to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Thankfully, the tests were all clear for both me and the baby, but I still didn’t know what I was going to do.

Back at my parents’ house, I thought about the baby growing in my womb. It was a part of me, as well as my attacker, and I realised that no matter how hard it was, this baby’s place was with me.

So I broke the news to my friends, although I didn’t go into details. I couldn’t bear saying the word ‘rape’, so I said I was ‘taken advantage of sexually’ and left it at that.

Some cried with me, others were speechless with shock. It was horrible reliving it each time. When I went into labour, with my mum at my side, I struggled when I had to push at the end. My body was in so much pain and I wasn’t able to control it.

The last time I felt that way was during the rape, and the connection was too much to bear. The midwife, who I’d explained everything to, had warned me that might happen, but there was no way I could have prepared myself for it.

I battled through the mental and physical agony until Hans-David Munana Joy was born, weighing 8lb 7oz. Before the birth I’d prepared myself that he could look like his father, with dark skin and African features, but gazing at his beautiful face didn’t trigger flashbacks – I just felt grateful he was mine.

Since then, the bond I feel with him has grown stronger. He’s a constant source of joy to me, healing the scars left by the horror of rape. In a few months, I’m planning to return to Tanzania to work as a midwife with Hans-David in tow.

I want to build a life for us on the continent I still love, even though I know it’ll be hard to manage on my own. While I understand that other women might find it too hard to keep a child conceived in such traumatic circumstances, it was the right decision for me.

I try not to think about the man who raped me, and I don’t want to report him to the Zambian authorities. If found guilty, he might be stoned or beaten to death by his community, and I don’t want his death on my conscience.

When Hans-David is old enough to understand, I’ll tell him the truth about his conception. I know it may hurt him and, of course, that worries me. As his mum, all I want to do is protect him from pain. I can only wish by then I’ll have taught him that it’s possible to find hope and happiness in the darkest of things, like I have done.”

The Sun

A YouTube video showcasing a heartbreaking tale narrated at a popular church in Lagos has been uploaded to the internet, a Nigerian lady confessing her sordid journey into lesbianism and its horrific consequences upon her young family.

According to Mrs Blessing Okoma, a happy marriage blessed with five children was thrown into turmoil at the premature death of her husband. 

Whilst mourning his demise, Blessing had a sickening nightmare. An elderly lady slept with her, ending the inhumane act with the weighty words, ‘Do you know your husband gave you to me?’

Blessing awoke in a cold sweat. She knew that gnarled, ugly face. Casting her mind back to their initial courtship, Blessing recalled a ‘covenant’ her husband insisted she agree to. “He took me to a spiritualist in his village,” she recounted to the sombre congregation.

“That spiritualist then took my blood and my husband’s, cooked it with soup and we ate it together.” The same female witchdoctor who intimated the ‘covenant’ was the one that intimately met her that fateful night.

From that day forward, ‘the spirit of a woman’ entered Blessing and everything changed. “I no longer had affection for men,” she confessed.

“I used to go for beautiful girls. Because of this power in me, when I approached a girl, she would accept immediately and I would behave as a man to her. I am the husband; she is the wife.”

Blessing would prowl schools to seduce secondary school students, under the ‘spell’ of a force beyond her control. “I felt like a man and behaved like a man,” she said, introducing countless young ladies in school and university into lesbianism.   

Infatuated with a certain lady she encountered, Blessing took her home one day. “My children were outside praying,” she slowly recounted, wincing in remembrance of her dirty past.

Her youngest daughter walked into the house minutes later and met her mother in bed with her lover. She screamed. Embarrassed and incensed, Blessing’s partner gave her an ultimatum – ‘It’s either you choose me or your children.’ 

“Because I loved what I was doing, I sent my children away,” Blessing admitted, much to the shock of the crowd. “I didn’t care about them or have any motherly love. That spirit would make me beat the hell out of my first daughter. I wanted to kill her.”

Blessing dispatched her five children to be ‘house-helps’ across the country. Robbed of both fatherly and motherly care, her young children were scattered, all of them leaving school to become domestic servants.

“Free from my children, I went out fully as a prostitute for women like myself,” she continued. For four years, Blessing’s children were separated from her and each other. Four years of pain. Four years of heartache. Four years of brokenness. And for four years, Blessing did not even care.

However, after a dramatic ‘deliverance’ at The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), Blessing said her eyes had opened. “When I see a woman now, I know you are a woman. I don’t have the urge for women again in my life. I want my kids back.”

The clip fast-forwards to a week later, Blessing standing next to five young individuals in the same church. “These are my children,” she told the congregation, the family standing together for the first time in four years.   

“Before, I didn’t differentiate between a man and a woman. Now, the spirit of a woman has gone from me. Man of God, help me to beg my children because I know I have suffered them.”

Happiness, her eldest daughter, didn’t mince her words as she addressed the church. “My mother is so wicked to us,” she said, tears streaming from her innocent eyes.

“She beat me up and broke my head,” she continued, showing a large scar close to her eye.  “Since four years, I have not seen my younger siblings. I thought they had died.”

Tears peppered the face of Amaka, her next daughter. “She suffered us as a slave,” the little girl told the quiet church. “She used a table to hit my younger brother; he almost died.” Ebuka, Awele and Ifeanyi all echoed the sentiments of their sisters. “We hate her so much.”

Addressing the young children, Pastor T.B. Joshua spoke softly. “After prayer, the spirit of this past pain will be removed,” he assured them. “We will ensure you all go back to school.” Joshua then prayed for the young children, all of them falling to the ground.

The touching story does not end there however. The clip continues to show the family reunited in a new house, purchased for them courtesy of Pastor Joshua and his ‘Emmanuel TV partners’.  

“This is not a house; it is a palace,” beams Blessing as she looks around at the fully furnished apartment in Lagos. Smiles lighten the faces of her five kids. With scholarships to continue their education provided, hopes for the future had been remarkably reawakened.

The nightmare had finally come to an end…

Ihechukwu Njoku – freelance Nigerian journalist

Starting antiretroviral therapy early is highly effective in preventing sexual transmission of the virus in heterosexual couples where one person is HIV-infected and the other is not, according to results of a decade-long clinical trial involving participants from India, among other countries.

The findings were presented on Monday at the 8th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment & Prevention (IAS 2015) in Vancouver, Canada.

“The study now makes crystal clear that when an HIV-infected person takes antiretroviral therapy that keeps the virus suppressed, the treatment is highly effective at preventing sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected heterosexual partner,” said Anthony Fauci, director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US.

“For heterosexuals who can achieve and maintain viral suppression, the risk to their partners is exceedingly low,” Fauci added.

Beginning in April 2005, the study enrolled 1,763 heterosexual couples ages 18 or older in Botswana, Brazil, India, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, the United States and Zimbabwe.

Each couple included one partner with HIV infection and one without. Infected participants were assigned at random either to start antiretroviral therapy right away, while their immune system was relatively healthy, or to delay starting treatment until their immune system weakened or they developed an AIDS-defining illness, consistent with WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines at the time.

All participants received condoms and counselling on how to protect their partners from sexual transmission of HIV. At the end of the study, 1,171 couples remained in the trial. Starting antiretroviral therapy early reduced HIV transmission by 93 percent over the course of the study, the findings showed.

Only eight cases of HIV transmission occurred in uninfected partners of HIV-infected participants who received antiretroviral therapy.

Geophrey Bwalya Mwamba commonly known as GBM is being unveiled as the new UPND Vice president for Administration.

GBM who has quit as Patriotic Front Member of Parliament for Kasama Central takes over from Richard Kapita.

GBM is being unveiled at a press conference underway at Cresta Golf View Hotel in Lusaka

MKANDA Mateyo School deputy head teacher Nelson Tembo on Tuesday shed tears after the Chipata Magistrates’ Court acquitted him of the defilement charge he was facing. And the mother to the victim says it is shocking that her daughter has been denied justice. Magistrate Philip Mpundu acquitted Tembo, stating that the state had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. After judgment, Tembo, who was in the company of his relatives, hugged his mother and wept outside the courtroom. In his judgment, magistrate Mpundu said the prosecution had difficulties establishing a case  against Tembo as evidenced by the testimony of arresting officer, Grace Katyaka, who testified that she failed to connect the accused to the alleged offence but made up her mind to arrest him. He disclosed that despite the victim having being found in the accused’s house, the court had difficulties finding overwhelming evidence to prove that Tembo had sex with the minor. Magistrate Mpundu said the inconsistency exhibited by the arresting officer and revelations during cross-examination were that after visiting the scene of crime, there was no proof that Tembo had carnal knowledge of the minor. And the victim’s mother said her daughter had been denied justice by the court as the medical report indicated that she had been defiled on the material day when she was at Tembo’s house. She wondered who then defiled her daughter, adding that the family would analyse the judgment before taking the next step. – See more at: http://postzambia.com/news.php?id=9942#sthash.cmKIg3Yg.dpuf

Her husband announced the news yesterday 22nd July with the photo above. Big congrats to the couple.

President Muhammadu Buhari has told Barrack Obama-led United States government that he will not sanction gay marriage in Nigeria, saying ‘sodomy is against the law of the country and abhorrent to our culture’.

The spokesperson of the president, Femi Adesina said that the issue of gay marriage was discussed during one of the meeting Buhari held in the US but he rejected the offer.

“The issue of gay marriage came up here yesterday. President Buhari was point blank… Sodomy is against the law in Nigeria, and abhorrent to our culture.”

UPND Vice President Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba says he will not relinquish his Kasama Central parliamentary seat following his move to join the opposition UPND.

Mr. Mwamba told a media briefing in Lusaka yestereday  that for as long as opposition MPs working with the PF government do not quit their parliamentary seats, he will also not relinquish his position.

Mr. Mwamba, popularly known as GBM, says there a number of UPND and MMD MPs who are currently working with the PF even campaigning for the ruling party and that he sees nothing wrong with him working with the UPND while still remaining a PF MP.

My sister is cheating on her husband. She brings the man to the house. My in law is not around, he works in another country(one month in, one month out). He is a nice person and has been taking care of my family and also his wife and their kids. He gives her money a lot and they travel out for vacations, but since this year, my sister has been dating a married man, brings him to the house and cooks for him. Neighbors are noticing. She no longer shows her hubby love. I am scared because if my in law and his family find out about her affair, he will definitely leave her and I don’ even know how our lives will become. How do I get her to stop?

Sent by a female reader

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Proflight Zambia has teamed up with MTN Mobile Money to offer customers an additional payment solution when buying tickets.

The service enables customers with an MTN Mobile Money account to pay for their Proflight tickets at any Proflight office or from their MTN smart phone.

The mobile money service allows travelers to conduct transactions on the move anywhere in Zambia.

Commenting on the development, Proflight Director of Government and Industry Affairs Captain Philip Lemba said: “Our relevance in the industry will only be ensured by delivering value-added services to our customers. This collaboration will allow us to provide them with a more convenient, safer and faster way of making payments.”

The airline introduced the service in a bid to make its services more accessible and safer for customers across Zambia.

“This will save our customers time and money as the whole ticket procuring process can be done from the comfort of their homes or work place 24/7,” added Captain Lemba.

MTN Mobile Money National Manager Wane Ng’ambi said Mobile Money brings convenience to the Zambian travelling public adding that the facility aims at enhancing people’s lives.

“As well as being fast and convenient, MTN Mobile Money is reaching millions of people who don’t have bank accounts, giving them access to a variety of life-enhancing financial services including savings and insurance schemes.”

MTN Mobile Money is currently used by over 22 million customers in 16 countries across Africa; Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, (Cyprus), Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda and Zambia.

“The partnership with Proflight is yet another important step in our journey to enable our customers make travel arrangements conveniently.  Our strategy places the customer at the heart of any offer we introduce as MTN and, working with Proflight, we intend to further extend the convenience of MTN Mobile Money to our customers,” said Mr. Ng’ambi.

MTN Mobile Money enables users to perform local money transfers, make utility payments, save money in their interest bearing mobile wallets, purchase airtime and access a range of mobile financial products.

Meanwhile, MTN Mobile Money has launched a promotion to reward customers who buy air tickets using Mobile Money.  The promotion which will run for two weeks from 21^st July 2015 (Mondays to Fridays only) will reward K200 cash to the first 10 customers.  The prize money will be sent to their Mobile Money accounts within 48 hours of winning.

“We are starting on a high note and as the country’s leading communications solutions provider with the largest market share, it is our mission to make our customers lives a whole lot brighter,” said Ng’ambi.

Notes to Editors

Customers making bookings by phone or online can also select the ‘Pay Later’ option and confirm the transaction by paying using the MTN service through their phone or at MTN paypoints. They will then receive a virtual ticket on their mobile phone.

Proflight intends to make the MTN Mobile Money a standard payment option on its online and mobile booking platform for customers using a computer or smart phone to book their tickets.

Travelers can also look forward to various exclusive promotions and discounts that Proflight will be launching in collaboration with the mobile phone service provider.

Fares can be viewed and booked on the airline’s website at www.flyzambia.com or by calling the reservations team on 0211 252452/476; 0977 335563; e-mail: reservations@proflight-zambia.com

-Ends-

Zimbabwe ruling Zanu-PF party has sent congratulations and best wishes to the First Lady Grace Mugabe who turns 50 today.

The party’s spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo was effusive in his praise of the philanthropist, businesswoman and politician and said the ruling party felt inspired by her works.

Grace was born in South Africa, where her father worked.

She married President Mugabe in 1996 and the couple has three children together.

Meanwhile, Grace Mugabe’s much talked about birthday Fundraising Dinner Dance to be attended by most of Zimbabwe’s well-heeled and who’s who of politics and business, will be held on Saturday. And for the privilege of attending the 50th birthday dinner date with President Robert Mugabe’s controversial but increasingly influential wife, the hundreds of invitees will each cough up a whopping $2 000 for a seat.

Chongwe member of Parliament Sylvia Masebo yesterday appeared for questioning before the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on alleged corruption.
ACC acting public relations manager Dorothy Mwanza confirmed in an interview yesterday that Ms Masebo reported herself at the ACC for questioning on alleged corrupt practices.
Mrs Mwanza could, however, not divulge any additional information, saying this could interfere with the investigations.
“Yes, I can confirm that Ms Masebo was summoned today [yesterday] to report at our offices and she did turn up. I will, however, not give you more information on the matter,” she said.

Choma General Hospital has been sending away patients scheduled to undergo ultra sound due to load-shedding. And a medical officer at Choma hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the biggest health institution in the provincial capital was lucky that it did not have an Intensive Care Unit because people in critical conditions would not survive.
Operations at some departments, such as the ultra sound, are paralysed because the hospital has one generator, which only supplies power to the theatre. A check at the hospital found patients who were expected to undergo ultra sound scans being turned away because of power outages.
A resident, Margaret Simenda, said it was disappointing that the hospital could be closed to the public because of power cuts when the government could procure the much-needed generator for the hospital. “I have been having abdominal pains and I was scheduled for a scan but when I went there on Friday morning, I was told that there was no power and I was told to go later around 15:00 hours when power would be restored. Now this is an inconvenience because some of us come from far-flung places and we have to be attended to quickly to ease transport costs. The relevant authorities should look into this matter.
A health institution like this one should have back-up when there is no power,” she said. Another Choma resident, Mary Muchindu, said a big hospital like the one in Choma should not be left to operate without power, especially that it is supposed to deal with complex conditions compared to other health institutions in the district. “Sometimes you are left to wonder what government is thinking about this issue because I am sure it is aware of it.
Patients cannot undergo certain procedures because of power cuts…it’s really inconveniencing.
We need to work towards making people’s lives better and not making them worse because they can’t access certain services,” she said. And a medical personnel at the hospital said: “Some departments here are paralysed when there is no power and you can understand the complaints from the people.
We are just lucky that we don’t have an ICU here.” Recently, Choma district commissioner Sheena Muleya said the hospital was using lamps during load-shedding and assured that her office would try to access resources from the Constituency Development Fund to procure a generator for the health institution.

he Patriotic Front -PF- has applied to the Lusaka High Court for an order of interim injunction restraining Geoffery Mwamba from attending parliamentary sittings as Member of Parliament for Kasama Central.

According to an affidavit signed on July 23, 2015 signed by PF legal Council, Tutwa Ngulube and obtained by ZNBC news, the party argues that there is no dual membership in the Zambian National Assembly.

Mr. Nguluwe said Mr. Mwamba should be stopped from attending parliament until the courts determines the legality of his dual membership.

He said Mr. Mwamba was elected on the PF ticket and by accepting the position of vice president of the UPND he has contravened the provisions of Article 71 sub section 2 (c) of the Republican Constitution.

Mr. NGULUBE said the violation of Article 71 sub section 2 (c) renders his Kasama seat vacant.

Here is the video that musician Mirriam Mukape aka Mampi recently shared on Facebook. The video shows Mampi in bed with no make-up singing to a gospel song. She can really sing, she has it all…..

President Lungu says Kasama Central Member of Parliament (MP) Geoffrey Mwamba does not represent the Patriotic Front (PF) in Parliament following his appointment as United Party for National Development (UPND) vice-president.
The President said the Zambian constitution is clear about MPs who cross the floor and that it does not allow dual membership.
The head of State said this in an interview with journalists in Lusaka yesterday at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport before his departure for Uganda for a state visit.
“I didn’t know that Mr Mwamba is still a member of the PF. In the interest of democracy, let him go in peace. It is up to him to choose between the PF and the UPND.
“It is either he remains in the PF or goes to the UPND but he should understand that the constitution does not allow dual membership and it is very clear about that,” President Lungu said.
He, however, said he would allow legal minds and Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini to guide on the matter.
The President wished Mr Mwamba and the UPND well, saying the country’s democracy needs a strong opposition.
“I wish Mr Mwamba well with his money and his arrogance and I hope he is going to make the UPND popular just like Mr Richard Kapita has done to the PF,” the head of State said.
Meanwhile, President Lungu said his visit to Uganda is aimed at reviving the two countries’ relations.
He said the meeting with President Yoweri Museveni is a follow-up on the various engagements the two heads of state have had.
Among the President’s entourage were State House officials and PF Bwana Mkubwa MP Emmanuel Chenda.
He was seen off at the airport by Minister of Justice Ngosa Simbyakula, PF deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri, defence chiefs and other senior Government and PF officials.