Zambian Chronicle

Lusaka –

According to Africa News Report, Zambian first lady Maureen Mwanawasa, widely tipped as a possible successor to her ailing husband, Said that she would not contest the presidency despite receiving support from several provinces.

“I have told them I am not standing …,” she told the privately-owned daily, The Post, in an exclusive interview.

 “I think I belong to the reservoir (of future leaders) and I want to be considered as such …,” she stated.  

President Levy Mwanawasa last month asked his party to begin looking for a successor to take over when he retires in 2011, though there has been speculation that he may step down early due to poor health. Four cabinet ministers had announced their intention to succeed Mwanawasa, and the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy was set to pick a presidential candidate at a national convention next year.

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PRESIDENT Mwanawasa has described the performance of the Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ) as shameful because of its failure to deliver on the rosy promises management made when it won the concession.

The President has since instructed new Minister of Communication and Transport, Dora Siliya, to establish why the company has failed to tick and if it is incapable of delivering the required services.

Dr Mwanawasa said this at State House yesterday when he swore in Ms Siliya, Southern Province Minister, Daniel Munkombwe and senior private secretary, Florence Chawelwa.

“The performance of the Railway Systems is very shameful.

It is in a deplorable condition, especially between Livingstone and Chingola,” Dr Mwanawasa said.

“It has been turned into a trap. Many lives and goods have been lost in derailments,” he said.

The President said he had earlier indicated that Government would repossess the company and give it to another investor capable of delivering expected services.

But he decided to suspend the decision after getting some advice, which he was still studying.

Dr Mwanawasa said the railway tracks and the wagons themselves were in bad shape and could possibly be described as being unfit for use.

When Government signed the agreement, the RSZ managing director made promises that the company was going to give small-scale loans to people living along the railway line to enable them venture into viable farming activities.

“But what happened to those promises? Were they proposing love to me? It is important that we find a solution to the problems facing the company,” Dr Mwanawasa said.

And the President told Ms Siliya to look into the operations of Zamtel, which needed to be reorganised for it to meaningfully contribute to the country’s development.

Dr Mwanawasa said he was against the liberalisation of the international gateway because countries that did so were performing far worse than Zambia.

He said Celtel and MTN were foreign companies that should first ask their countries of origin whether or not they had liberalised their international gateways before requesting Zambia to do the same.

“In the case of Celtel and MTN, let them begin with persuading their countries to liberalise international gateways before convincing us.

We do not want to tamper with our security,” he said.

Dr Mwanawasa also urged Ms Siliya to ensure that telecommunication services reached rural areas so that small-scale farmers could access Internet facilities and be able to communicate with their markets that were far from where they lived.

The President said the condition of some roads in the country left much to be desired because they were becoming worse.

And Dr Mwanawasa was confident that Mr Munkombwe was going to excel in his duties although some people were saying he was too old to perform his duties as minister.

The President said he was impressed with Mr Munkombwe’s performance in the MMD, as he had managed to penetrate all political parties in the province.

Dr Mwanawasa said it was important that regions benefited from the country’s economic development and would ensure that he appointed people who knew their localities well.

And the President told Mrs Chawelwa that there was a lot of work at State House and she should not complain of being over-assigned because her job demanded just that.

Dr Mwanawasa said all workers at State House were expected to work hard for them to give a good example to their colleagues in other Government departments.

Before her appointment in the new job, Mrs Chawelwa was Africa Wildlife Foundation regional internal auditor for 11 countries in East and Southern Africa.

Zambia Daily Mail

Copyrights © 2008 Zambian Chronicle. All rights reserved. Zambian Chronicle content may not be stored except for personal, non-commercial use. Republication and redissemination of Zambian Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Zambian Chronicle. Zambian Chronicle shall not be liable for any errors, omissions, interruptions or delays in connection with the Zambian Chronicle content or from any damages arising therefrom.

Zambian Chronicle is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microplus Holdings International, Inc.

Copyrights © 2008 Microplus Holdings Int., Inc.  

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Report by ZNBC- Lusaka

Delegations from Kenya’s government and opposition have resumed talks aimed at ending weeks of post-election violence.Friday’s talks are aimed at fine tuning a power-sharing plan that would involve the creation of a prime minister’s post to be held by the opposition.

The session was delayed by the late arrival of the government delegation.

Mediator and ex-United Nations chief Kofi Annan said the deal showed progress towards ending violence in which 1,000 people have died since late December.

The opposition alleges widespread rigging, and international observers said the poll was flawed.

The prime ministerial post that could be created as a result of the deal is likely to be held by opposition Orange Democratic Movement,ODM, leader Raila Odinga.

Report By : ZNBC

February 27 2008

Nearly 145,000 people have been left homeless by a cyclone that tore through Madagascar, killing 44 people. The figures double previous estimates of the havoc wreaked by the category three cyclone and have raised fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.Cyclone Ivan struck the island’s east coast yeste rday, and was followed by torrential rains which caused flooding, leaving many communities cut off.

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by Belliah K Theise

February 26 2008

Great Leaders Debate with Great Ideas, with common interests. It is happening on  this Debate. It was not a fight people had anticipated. Health Care and NAFTA was the main topic of the debate.

The two opponents disagreed and agreed in a civilized way, Very good example to the world.

It was the most harmonious debate between the two candidates.

Obama:” she will be worthy as a nominee, but I think I am better;” Says Obama.

“The reason I think I can be a better nominee is that I can bring change to this country in a unique way.” says Obama.

Clinton said that there is no doubt that both Obama and herself will bring change to the country, especially that she is a woman. Both Obama and Hillary will make history to the United States. She emphasized that she will do what ever it takes to bring stability to this country. Concluded Senator Hillary Clinton.

Thanks a trillion

Belliah.

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story by CNN:

Clinton raised Obama’s subcommittee chairmanship at Tuesday’s debate.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign Wednesday pounced on Sen. Barack Obama’s acknowledgment that he has yet to hold a substantive hearing since becoming chairman of a Senate subcommittee on Europe.

The admission during Tuesday night’s Democratic debate offered a “glimpse of the real Barack Obama,” and was emblematic of the Illinois senator’s light record of results, the Clinton camp said in an e-mail.

Obama “did not hold a single oversight hearing because he was too busy running for president; the Barack Obama who spends his time talking about change you can believe in instead of change you actually can count on,” the e-mail stated.

Clinton herself raised the issue at the debate in Cleveland.

‘”He chairs the subcommittee on Europe. It has jurisdiction over NATO. NATO is critical to our mission in Afghanistan,” she said. “He’s held not one substantive hearing to do oversight, to figure out what we can do to actually have a stronger presence with NATO in Afghanistan.”

In response, Obama noted he has only served as the committee’s chairman since January of 2007, just when his presidential campaign was beginning — a fact the Clinton campaign’s memo also highlighted.

“But by his own admission, he was too busy running for president to conduct a single substantive hearing of the committee he chairs,” the memo stated. “So he would rather talk about what he would do rather than do it through the responsibility he had.”

For the record, Obama has held two hearings on ambassadorial nominations, but no oversight hearings.

– CNN

Copyrights © 2008 Zambian Chronicle. All rights reserved. Zambian Chronicle content may not be stored except for personal, non-commercial use. Republication and redissemination of Zambian Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Zambian Chronicle. Zambian Chronicle shall not be liable for any errors, omissions, interruptions or delays in connection with the Zambian Chronicle content or from any damages arising therefrom.

Zambian Chronicle is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microplus Holdings International, Inc.

Copyrights © 2008 Microplus Holdings Int., Inc.  

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IMF board members were in Zambia to assess economic progress made since the fund, the World Bank and other western financiers reduced the southern African country’s foreign debt to $502 million in 2006 from $7.1 billion.

“We acknowledge that despite the impressive economic performance and positive medium term outlook, challenges and risks remain,” the IMF directors said in a statement after a meeting with President Levy Mwanawasa.

Zambia’s economy has grown by an average 5 percent in the past six years and it has brought inflation to single digits for the first time in three decades.

The Fund said Zambia needed to manage windfall from higher commodity prices wisely to maintain steady economic growth. Copper mining is the cornerstone of the Zambian economy.

Video Clip Add By Us - Underground Mining in Chingola

“We would note two important challenges … the first being how to manage the macro impact of large foreign exchange inflow,” said Miranda Xafa, an IMF director.

“You certainly do not want to get into a boom (and) bust cycle that others have found themselves in, in that while the boom and bust lasts, they try to spend it all at once and while commodity prices fall, they slow down in possible recession.”

Treasury data showed Zambia received nearly $1.5 billion in foreign direct investments while earnings in copper exports were around $4.7 billion in 2007.

“The second challenge is building the infrastructure and removing impediments to private sector development . . . to improve the business climate by facilitating investments and growth,” Xafa said.

The IMF also discussed a new financing package of a “small” undisclosed amount with Zambia after the expiry of the $320 million three-year poverty reduction growth facility.

The IMF warned Zambia about managing its debt.

“We are aware that the government is now seeking a sovereign credit rating that will facilitate access to international capital markets and we are confident that the government will use these funds wisely,” Xafa said.

“We would caution that after this debt forgiveness, it is important to maintain debt sustainability by using non-concessionary borrowing to finance viable projects (that) have a rate of return high enough to justify the borrowing.”

Mwanawasa told the board members that Zambia would continue with prudent macroeconomic management and economic reforms to attract further foreign direct investments.

© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.