Ex-ZNCB workers seek Mwanawasa’s help

By Patrick Kangwa

AFTER waiting for nine years without being paid their terminal benefits, which amount to K30 billion, 500 ex-Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZNCB) workers have now resolved to seek President Levy Mwanawasa’s intervention.

The group which is led by Enock Sitibekiso says that they were retrenched in 1996 under the expired collective agreement of 1995 and are blaming the then Geoffrey Alikipo-led executive of Zambia Union of Financial Institutions and Allied Workers(ZUFIAW) for the suffering they are going through.

The group vice-chairperson Mary Kalumbilo said that the workers are owed 40 percent housing allowance and 100 percent basic salary and benefits, which were integrated by then board of Zambia Industrial and Mining Corporation Limited (ZIMCO) in 1995 and this has amounted to about K30 billion.

“We are owed about K30 billion for our separation benefits and allowances which were incorporated into basic salaries in 1995 by the ZIMCO board and we are now tired of being mispresented. We are now appealing to President Mwanawasa to help intervene as we have waited and suffered for nine years without getting our benefits,” Ms Kalumbilo said.

Ms Kalumbilo was speaking in an interview with the National Mirror in Lusaka recently.

She said that the delay has caused a lot of hardships among the former workers who can not afford to provide for their families and about 300 of their colleagues have since died of depression.

She said that the bank retrenched them on the expired collective agreement but also calculated and paid them their pensions benefits using wrong factors and figures that were not under the ZIMCO group pensions scheme conditions. She added that the bank could not give any reasons as to why it has failed to pay them the correct amount.

“Imagine for the 20 years I worked for the bank, they paid me K1, 299,406 as my pension’s contributions and this was my life time investment.

The bank introduced its own figures and it used wrong factors altogether,” she added.

She further said her group had sought the intervention of late Labour Minister Lt.Col Patrick Kafumukache. She said the report was made to this effect and it was supposed to be presented to the President in 2004 but since the death of the minister nothing has been done.

Mpulungu farmers receive training

By Francis Lungu in Mpulungu

MPULUNGU District Agriculture and Corporative department has embarked on an agricultural training programme for peasant farmers within the eight agricultural camps on the need to improve and diversify on farming methods.

According to Mpulungu district agriculture information officer, Ernest Mwape, after Zambia reached the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion point in April this year, funds started trickling down for agricultural extension programmes in the district. Mwape in an interview said the training programme among other things aimed at empowering farmers with rudiments on how they could move from rainfall-dependent kind of cultivation to irrigation methods and conservation farming.

“After HIPC completion point we have seen activities such as visitations of agriculture camps, funds for fuel and the training programme. We are trying to teach farmers to move away from agricultural periods of planting and marketing only.

Agriculture should be throughout seasons by embarking on irrigation methods,” Mwape said.

He said promotion of conservation farming was part of the training programme for it was more sustainable and less costly because it did not require usage of farming inputs such as fertilizer.

Part of the programme is the promotion of cultivating of drought resistant crops such as cassava, millet and sorghum.

L/stone no-go area for Levy, says Sikota

By Hone Liwanga

LIVINGSTONE Member of Parliament(MP), Sakwiba Sikota has said that Livingstone will soon be a no-go area for President Levy Mwanawasa if he fails to go with solutions to numerous social and economic woes facing ordinary people in the area.

President Mwanawasa is scheduled to storm Livingstone to defend his alleged hatred for the people of Livingstone at a public rally debate where he is expected to dress-down Sikota for allegedly inciting people to rise against his leadership.

Sikota, who is also opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) vice-president said that unless Mwanawasa goes to Livingstone with solutions to poor roads, lack of hospitals and drugs, he will be humiliated hands down at the imminent public rally debate.

“I have agreed to Mr Mwanawasa’s challenge to a public debate and I am prepared to be dressed down so long it is for the good of the people of Livingstone. The people are only interested to hear what Mwanawasa’s government will do to improve their lives,” he said.

Sikota challenged Mwanawasa to immediately give a definite time frame when his government is going to pay terminal benefits to the long suffering Livingstone City Council retrenched workers.

“He must explain why he is telling investors not to invest in Livingstone when the MMD government is failing to bring back to life companies which were closed down. He must come and tell the people why his government is not releasing the fuel levy which is supposed to be used for road rehabilitation in Livingstone.

“We also want him to reduce the cost of electricity for the people of Livingstone because electricity is produced at the Victoria Falls which is less than 15km from Livingstone town. Why should the people of Livingstone who live where electricity is produced be made to pay the same amount with the people in Ndola which is 800km away from Victoria Falls and yet the people in Ndola pay less for petrol and diesel than the people in Lusaka or Livingstone because INDENI Oil Refinery where petrol and diesel are produced is in Ndola,” Sikota said.

Mpulungu Fisheries scouts for US$1m

By Francis Lungu in Mpulungu

MPULUNGU District Fisheries Department is scouting for US$1 million (about K4.8 billion) to purchase equipment for usage in fisheries activities and detection of fish breeding in Lake Tanganyika.

In a recent interview, Fisheries Research Officer, Harris Phiri said the needed equipment included under water video cameras to be used in studying fish behaviour and machines to detect the age of fish.

Dr Phiri said funds sought would also assist in computerizing the data system at the fisheries department for processing information and easily study the entire lake on the Zambian side.

He said the department had already gone into bilateral agreements with the University of Zambia (UNZA), MacMaster University of Canada, three universities in Japan, University of Bern in Switzerland and Namur University from Belgium for staff exchange training programmes.

The training exchange programme, according to Dr Phiri would mainly focus on limnology, which is the study of fresh water, fish stock assessment and general fish biology.

He noted that the fisheries department was constrained in its operations by lack of adequate water transport like boats and fuel allocations for patrols of the lake on the Mpulungu side and Sumbu on the northwestern part of Mpulungu.

The department needs 200 to 250 litres of fuel per quarter to cater for the Mpulungu side patrols only and almost the same quantity is required for the Sumbu side of the lake, unfortunately, the allocation is always lower than the needed quantity.

“Sumbu is 87 kilometres away from Mpulungu and to get there on land we need about 10 litres of fuel but on water we need about 60 litres of fuel,” said Phiri whose department requires an establishment of 40 workers but currently has only 17, a situation he said compounded the difficulties in operations.

Moreover, Dr Phiri observed that Lake Tanganyika was under-utilized in terms of tourism promotion noting that infrastructure in the district should be a preliquisite. “I personally believe that Lake Tanganyika could be more than just fish if well marketed. It has the tourism aspect of it, water spots, but of course this has to be marketed for people to invest in,” he said.

Meanwhile, Phiri said the Zambian government was supposed to domesticate the convention on banning bad fishing methods signed in 2003 with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Burundi, the three countries sharing the waters of Lake Tanganyika with Zambia.

Immigration Office bemoans inadequate funding, lack of staff

By Precious Mwewa

THE Immigration Office has disclosed that inadequate funding and staff is hampering effective operation of the office.

Speaking in an interview with the National Mirror, Immigration Office Public Relations Officer, Mulako Mbangweta explained that the office only had 500 officers across the country whereas the ideal situation required about 800 officers to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of operations.

“We do not want to wash out dirty linen in public but it is true that we are under-funded and we have a lot of problems in such areas as transport.

“We are also understaffed with only 500 officers countrywide but in an ideal situation we should be having about 800 officers for efficiency and effectiveness. Despite all that we have been trying to do a good job to curtail the increase in number of illegal immigrants,” she said.

Mbangweta however hastened to disclose that her office would soon be carrying a recruitment exercise that is expected to enhance its capacity.

She further implored officers to remain alert and patriotic in carrying out their duties.

“We are also about to have a recruitment exercise and we hope that with adequate manpower we will be able to enhance the effectiveness of our operations,” she explained.

She implored Zambian citizens to work in collaboration with her office by adhering to the directive of carrying National Registration Cards (NRCs) for easy identification, adding that it was difficult to tell people apart in the absence of relevant identification papers.