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By TROY MUKUPA
I AM challenging Honourable Ackson Sejani to come out in the open and point at the ministers he says are involved in the alleged infighting, Partriotic Front (PF) Secretary General Davies Mwila has said. Mr Mwila said as far as the party was aware, there was unity both in
Vol. 6. Issue 2601
Monday May 18, 2020
the party and government and that there are no fights in Cabinet. He said the alleged in fighting by Mr Sejani was just cheap propaganda aimed at misleading the nation and to create a bad impression among the people. - TO PAGE 5
NAME THE MINISTERS Ackson Sejani
Davies Mwila
“Politics of today are about development and President Lungu has done extremely well in terms of development. He took over Government in 2015 and look at what he has done so far.
....Stop fake news, Mwila tells Sejani. Story on Page 5
‘HH can’t work under anyone’
753 Cases 10 0 0 900 800
Covid-19 stats
70 0
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
50 0 475
ANYBODY who thinks they can form a coalition Government with the UPND is an illusionist because Hakainde Hichilema can never allow anyone to lead him, one of his former lieutenants, Mr Edward Mumbi has charged. He recalled that the UPND president attempted to hoodwink Michael Sata into believing he was more popular, but the pact crumbled after his true colours came out. To Page 6
Story on Page 6
Cases
Recovered
Deaths
New Cases
135,000
12,229
3,172
630
510
12,093
753
124
7
74
Egypt
450 425 400 375 350 325
Zambia
Covid-19 update Cases
300 275 250 225
‘National Budget to be revised’
…alert cops keep vigil. Page 4
Total test
600
20 0 175
• • • • •
Deaths
Discharged
753 total cases recorded 882 tested in the last 24 hours 5 patients discharged 74 new cases in the last 24hours 188 recovered
150 125 10 0 75 50 25 0 Days
Surging Tanzanians repelled
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53
HOME NEWS
Monday 18 May, 2020
DAILY
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Surging Tanzanians repelled By SANFROSSA MANYINDA
A
HORDE of desperate Tanzanians on Saturday attempted to break the Nakonde lockdown but quick action by alert police kept them at bay as disinfection of the border town continued. Perched on scooters and from Tunduma, the Tanzanians attempted to ride past law enforcement officers at the border with their merchandise but were immediately repelled. Had they managed to enter, they still would not have fulfilled their mission because all Zambians were indoors. Tanzanians peddle their merchandise in Zambia at Nakonde where they usually cash in on travellers from Lusaka and the Copperbelt. The popular trading items include rice, potatoes, clothes, cosmetics and building materials such as tiles and many others. Muchinga Province Minister, Malozo Sichone, said police officers and Government officials were stunned that foreigners could attempt to get into Nakonde at the height of a total lockdown when no one could have transacted with them. Meanwhile, the disinfection and screening which started with Tazara railway station, the bus station, the border, shops and markets was yesterday extended to Mwenzo, ulongo and Chilolwa villages in chieftness Waitwika where screening was also conducted. Mr Sichone said the multi-sectoral team had selected strategic and critical areas for screening as well as disinfecting. With a population of over 150,000 people, authorities would ensure that critical areas were covered to capture possible infections. "With such a huge population, we cannot manage to screen everyone but rather use the method devised. But we will not leave any place without being disinfected so today (yesterday) we are touching Chiefdoms," Mr Sichone explained. He said that the lockdown had given an opportunity to continue with effective disinfecting of public places without any challenges. He said that the disinfection of public places would continue for seven days on any infrastructure as the past o days only the outer parts of the shops has been done. The Minister said that the people in the border town were cooperative and placed the compliance levels at 100 percent.
Sunday
Monday 18, May 2020
Home News
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DAILY
NATION TANKER DRIVERS WARN GOVT
Tel: 0211 - 243527, P.O. Box 34553 Plot No. 5152 B Mukwa Road, Heavy Industrial Area Lusaka. E-mail: editor@dailynation.news www.zambiadailynation.news
REALITY MUST DAWN WITH the systematic mass screening and accompanying lockdown, reality must dawn among many citizens that, indeed, fighting corona virus (COVID-19) is no child’s play. The presence of police officers, health front-line staff in conspicuous Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and senior Government officials in Nakonde sent a clear message: that COVID-19 is a serious ailment which requires a serious and multifaceted approach. This was the same approach employed in Kafue town recently. Yes, it was a lockdown; no one on the streets; shops closed; the border heavily guarded and life, as we know it, was at a virtual standstill! It appears that some people have not been able to grasp awareness messages about COVID-19 because they have taken a casual approach to all preventive measures. Some individuals have to be policed to wear face masks. The social distancing rule has been ignored with impunity as some people still gather in crowded places without masks on their faces. In Nakonde, guzzlers sauntered to the Tanzanian side to drink safari and other alcoholic beverages from overcrowded bars and also ventured into restaurants where hand-washing is not so much an issue. Others thronged hide-outs in highly populated townships to drink locally-brewed wine from hastily washed containers. On ordinary days, the border town is always teeming with a multitude of people of all shapes and sizes, most of them engaged in cross-border trade. They come from as far as Dar-es-salaam, the COVID-19 epicentre in Tanzania, to interact at length with their counterparts from the Copperbelt and Lusaka. But the lockdown has set them apart, sending a strong message to enterprising citizens in the East Africa country and their opposite on the Zambian side. Even for the incorrigible, the message must have registered that the Zambian authorities are intent on eliminating the devastating pandemic. Reality has dawned! But for those who might elect to be stubborn in Nakonde and elsewhere, the message is that they will not only be endangering their lives, but those of others. This is because the virus moves with people; wherever they go, it goes and spreads rapidly. Some people have contended that they need to move and interact with their business partners in order for their families to have a livelihood, but they must strike a balance. They need to strike a balance because moving about and interacting with locals and foreigners is one of the fastest ways of catching and transmitting the disease, which may eventually kill. Such highly-mobile entrepreneurs may end up getting infected, and if they are confined to an isolation centre for 14 days, their business undertakings would suffer gravely. If such individuals have underlying conditions, then it even becomes complicated. Therefore, everyone must adhere to the regulations in order to stay safe and sustain their families’. All Zambians must cooperate and join in the fight against this fast-spreading virus; we must eliminate it, living with it is highly-dangerous. It is not necessary for anyone to become difficult for nothing when, in fact, the preventive measures are meant to safeguard their own lives. Why should people wait to be forced to safeguard their own lives when, evidently, COVID-19 is claiming thousands of lives in countries with advanced health systems? Mass screening and lockdown, therefore, is an effective measure as well as awareness tool. Reality must dawn!
PURSUING JUSTICE AND EQUITY WITH INTERGRITY
… to paralyse transport sector if illegalities allowed
By BENNIE MUNDANDO PETROLEUM transporters have threatened to paralyze the subsector by parking their trucks if Government does not stop foreign transporters who are allegedly getting contracts for local fuel distribution. Petroleum Transporters Association of Zambia (PTAZ) secretary general Benson Tembo yesterday told the Daily Nation that his association has unearthed a scam in which foreign transporters, in connivance with some civil servants, are getting contracts for local fuel distribution ahead of local transporters. Mr. Tembo said the foreign registered tankers bringing Government-procured fuel into the country were allegedly given contracts to haul fuel from designated depots to both commercial and retail sites across the country, the business he said was reserved for local companies. He said the development had impacted negatively on the Zambian companies, most of which were reportedly contemplating laying off drivers and parking their trucks due to loss of business. “If they don’t stop these foreign tankers from crisscrossing the country and distributing fuel to commercial and retail outlets, we will paralyse the economy. We will simply park our tankers and we will not allow any of these foreign registered truck
Mr Tembo to distribute any fuel. “We don’t want to be confrontational. We are very patriotic to this country and we are grateful to Government for building capacity among local petroleum transporters but there are people within the civil service who are sabotaging these efforts,” Mr. Tembo said. He said it was only in Zambia where foreigners did as they pleased as no foreigner would attempt to do that in other countries in the region. “If a Zambian truck is found delivering fuel to any commercial or retail site in a
foreign country, that vehicle will be seized to the state but here in Zambia, hundreds of foreign registered trucks are all over the country distributing finished petroleum products. “These are being graced by Government institutions. These same institutions that are even going to different parts of the country to go and mark the fuel. It is very disheartening and unfortunate that we have allowed foreign registered vehicles to take away the oncome for the local transporters,” he complained. He said even when Government was talking about providing a stimulus package, it will not benefit the most local transporters in their current state as their businesses had been taken over by foreigners. “Honestly, how can we be this reckless to allow foreign registered vehicles to start delivering finished petroleum products to commercial sites and filling stations across the country? Where have we gone wrong as a nation? “We are pleading with the Ministry of Energy to do the right thing. What they are doing is wrong. Whoever is doing this just wants to destroy the local transporters and we will not sit and watch. If they want us to paralyze the sub-sector, we will park our trucks and see what will become of this economy. We don’t want to be confrontational but we have been pushed too far,” he warned.
‘We have not bought any military uniforms’ By NATION REPORTER
The new normal: President Edgar Lungu driving while wearing a mask.
Name the minister By TROY MUKUPA
I AM challenging Honourable Ackson Sejani to come out in the open and point at the ministers he says are involved in the alleged infightings, Partriotic Front (PF) Secretary General Davies Mwila has said. Mr Mwila said as far as the party was aware, there was unity both in the party and government and that there are no fights in Cabinet. He said the alleged in fighting by Mr Sejani were just cheap propaganda aimed at misleading the nation for cheap political mileage and to create a false impression among the people. “ That’s just some cheap propaganda amid at misleading the people. It’s so unfortunate that a senior member in society can stoop so low as to be making misleading information for cheap political mileage,” Mr Mwila said. He said the party and government were both intact and that President Lungu has proven to everyone that he was the right man for the presidency. “Politics of today are about development and President Lungu has done extremely
well in terms of development. He took over Government in 2015 and look at what he has done so far. Roads have been done like the L400 in Lusaka, C400 on the Copperbelt. Mpolokoso, Kaputa, Kayambi, Nseluka and in Chilubi roads are currently being done just to mention a few,” he said. Mr Mwila also said President Lungu’s vision was to develop the country as can be seen from the various development projects across the country. “So what vision is Mr Sejani talking about? Let him and his party reorganize themselves by first appointing a vice president. This is the same man who is coming from a party which has no vice president. You cannot have a party that changes a vice president every 2 years. Let them concentrate on reorganizing themselves and not to bring up issues that can’t hold water,” Mr Mwila said. Mr Mwila was reacting to Mr Sejani’s claims that President Lungu should dissolve cabinent because of alleged infighting among ministers. In the tabloid story where Mr Sejani was quoted, no single minister’s name was mentioned, a pointer, according to Mr Mwila, that the information was just `cooked’.
GOVERNMENT has dismissed reports suggesting that it procured uniforms for the defence forces at the cost US$1.2 billion. Defence Ministry, Permanent Secretary Stardy Mwale said in a statement that the document circulating on social media with tender number MOD/CABOF/012/2020 purporting that government has procured defence force military uniforms amounting to US$1.2 billion was false. He said at no time did the Ministry of Defence purchase uniforms under the purported tender number being circulated by unscrupulous people. Mr Mwale dismissed the social media reports saying that the Ministry does not conduct its business on social media but through professional channels. He called on the general public to ignore the fake tender copies on social media stating that there has never been any thought by either the Ministry of Defence or Cabinet Office to procure uniforms worth US$1.2 billion for the defence forces. “In this regard, I wish to inform the members of the general public that there has never been any thought by either the Ministry of Defence or Cabinet Office to procure uniforms worth USD 1.2 billion for defence force. The information circulating concerning the procurement is not only fake but malicious and meant to damage the standing of the defence force,” he said. He said the Defence force has adequate clothing in stores for all seasons for issuance to the men and women in uniform and therefore there was no urgency on the part of Government to procure extra uniforms for army of the Air force. Mr Mwale warned perpetrators circulating fake news that the law will soon catchup with them.