Friday, July 31, 2009

(TIMES) ‘Explain Zamtel sale’

‘Explain Zamtel sale’
By Times Reporter

SPEAKER of the National Assembly AMUSAA MWANAMWAMBWA has ordered Communication and Transport Minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa to update Parliament on the stage at which the privatisation of Zamtel has reached.

Mr Mwanamwambwa said that it was imperative that members of Parliament had first hand information on the stages at which the privatisation of Zamtel had reached as opposed to getting information from members of the public.

The speaker made the order after Chipili Member of Parliament Davies Mwila (PF) rose on a point of order as to whether it was appropriate for the minister to be quiet particularly when debates on Zamtel were at the peak among members of the public.

Mr Mwila said that as MPs, it was appropriate for them to have first hand information on the privatisation of Zamtel and not to rely on information from members of the public.

“What is important is for the minister to update or appraise the House on what is going on regarding the status and the future of Zamtel. This House needs to be updated and the minister does not require several days. As early as next week let this House have an update,” Mr Mwanamwambwa said.

He also advised members to desist from participating in debates by the public saying their best medium of debates for MPs was in the House.

“I encourage members not to participate in debates because this is the best forum,”Mr Mwanamwambwa said.

And in a ministerial statement on the 13th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) summit and the 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in Sirte, Libya and Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt respectively, Foreign Affairs Minister, Kabinga Pande said that the two were beneficial to the nation.

Vice-President George Kunda represented the Government at the two summits.

He said that the AU summit whose theme was ‘Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security’ emphasised on member states to address the root cause of hunger and accelerate means of reducing poverty among the citizenry.

Member states, Mr Pande said, agreed that the continent should by 2015 improve productivity of agriculture to attain an average annual production growth rate of six per cent with particular attention to small-scale farmers, especially the women.

Mr Pande said that the theme for the NAM summit was ‘International Solidarity for Peace and Development’ as well as the current ‘Global Economic and Financial Crisis.’

He said that leaders discussed a number of issues particularly of maintaining peace among member countries.

Mr Pande said that the leaders also resolved to work together to tackle the numerous challenges that member states were facing.

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