Zambian, Botswana ex presidents in Malawi for HIV cause
By Nyasa Times
Published: May 24, 2011
Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and his Botswana counterpart Festus Mogae are in Malawi for a five-day visit in their quest to advocate for an HIV free generation. While in Malawi, the two illustrious former southern African leaders will carry out various official engagements in their capacity as Champions of HIV Free Generation.
Kaunda: Aids campaigner
They arrived in the country on Tuesday, May 24th, through Kamuzu International Airport and will wind up their tour of duty on May 28th. However, their itinerary was not readily available but among their engagements, the two Champions will have an audience with the HIV and AIDS Committee of the National Assembly on 28th May.
Speaker of Parliament, Henry Chimunthu Banda, told Parliamentarians on Tuesday as he adjourned the House for the day’s business, the meeting with the two Champions will start from 9.00am.
Chimunthu Banda also said as a remembrance for their visit, the two distinguished visitors will also plant trees on the Western side of the Parliament Building.
Mogae, who is also a member of the UNAIDS High Level Commission on HIV Prevention, leads the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation campaign which also has other former leaders like Kaunda, former Presidents of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa, Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano, South African Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu, among others,
The Champion’s team has already visited a number of Southern African countries such as Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho on similar visits to convince the leadership to adopt effective strategies and actions to reduce the rate of new HIV infections.
During their visits, the Champions have been engaging top government leaders, development partners and members of the civil society, among others, to encourage them for an accelerated response to the AIDS epidemic.
—(Reporting by Wanga Gwede, Nyasa Times)
Labels: FESTUS MOGAE, HIV/AIDS, KENNETH KAUNDA
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Mogae urges govt not to criminalise homosexuality
By Chibaula Silwamba
Tue 19 Oct. 2010, 16:00 CAT
FORMER president of Botswana Festus Mogae has urged President Rupiah Banda’s government not to criminalise homosexuality and sex work because that would make the fight against HIV/AIDS difficult. And President Rupiah Banda said he understood the need not to criminalise homosexuals.
Speaking when he led a group of prominent Africans that include Dr Kenneth Kaunda, former Vice-President of Uganda Dr Speciosa Wandira and former chairperson of Kenya’s National AIDS Control Prof Mirriam Were, who are calling themselves Champions of an HIV-Free Generation, Mogae said there was no need to enact laws that criminilise homosexuals and sex workers.
He explained that the Botswana constitution criminalized homosexuality and sex work but since he left office he had been arguing with the government to repeal the law.
Mogae said over the last three years nobody had been prosecuted for being homosexuals or sex workers in Botswana.
Mogae said there was no need to discriminate and stigmatise homosexuals and sex workers because they were part of the society.
In response, President Banda said it was difficult for him when it came to the laws, whether or not to permit homosexuality in the Zambian society.
“What is worse is that our cooperating partners, who are much more influential than us because of their money will influence, they actually glorify it, they talk to our young people and making them believe that homosexuality is a human right and that if you appear to speak against it then you are a reactionary and you don’t understand the world etcetera etcetera,” said President Banda.
“But hearing it from the position of the Champions in the fight against AIDS then you understand why we should not criminalise them, understand them and at the same time try and sensitize our children, young people.”
Northmead Assemblies of God overseer Bishop Joshua Banda, who is also National AIDS Council (NAC) chairperson, said it must be made clear that the Champions of an HIV-Free Generations did not come to Zambia to promote homosexuality.
“We must be very careful, especially my colleagues behind me journalists that we must be extremely careful on how we project this because we have not come here to promote that. Except that they are saying, ‘these are the areas where we really need to discuss’. It’s very strong on my side. We must be able to see the side of the church, how the church should respond to this. What the churches have done,” said Bishop Banda.
“There is nothing that prevents those who may be for instance homosexual; there is nothing that requires that they disclose how they got the HIV infection. In that sense, we think that there is a slight misplacement in the way some of the international partners are projecting it. But I really like the dialogue aspect from the approach of the Champions. I think we must listen to the people.”
And speaking when Champions of an HIV-Free Generation met Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa, Mogae urged African governments to aim for zero tolerance on the HIV transmission from mother to child.
He said children should not have a misfortune of being born with a virus when that could be prevented.
Mogae, who cited Botswana which had reduced the mother to child HIV transmission rate from 40 to about four per cent, further said AIDS was no longer a killer disease but a chronic disease because it is preventable.
Labels: FESTUS MOGAE, HIV/AIDS, HOMOSEXUALITY
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'Zambia, Botswana have big challenge'
By Joan Chirwa
Tuesday August 07, 2007 [04:01]
Botswana’s President Festus Mogae, who graced this year’s 81st agricultural and commercial show which ended yesterday, said Zambia and Botswana had the biggest challenge of turning their vast natural resources into wealth. And Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show Society president William Saunders has said the implementation of the recently enacted Citizens’ Economic Empowerment (CEE) Act was the most difficult task for the government.
During his official address to the show, President Mogae said the immediate challenge of the two countries was the fight against poverty and under-development.
“For countries that are richly endowed with natural resources such as Zambia and Botswana, the challenge is also how to turn that blessing of abundant natural resources in to tangible benefits for our people,” President Mogae said. “I therefore find the show’s theme of ‘Economic Empowerment’ to be most appropriate.”
President Mogae further indicated that his country has joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) that seeks to promote transparency among countries rich in natural resources such as minerals.
Zambia is yet to join the EITI, an institution that seeks to resolve one of the most striking paradoxes of the African continent where countries with vast natural wealth are among the poorest in the world.
“We have nothing to hide. That is why our countries have readily submitted to rigorous checks as under the Kimberly Process with respect to the sale of diamonds. Botswana has also joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to assure the world that its resources are for development and the economic empowerment of its citizens,” Mogae said.
He further said Botswana and Zambia should be proud of the successful eradication of tsetse flies along the border areas.
“Our 2006 aerial spraying on Botswana side also covered a small portion of about 200 square kilometers of Western Zambia. We are of course fully aware that the destructive tsetse flies do not respect political boundaries. Botswana stands ready to co-operate further with Zambia in its eradication efforts,” said Mogae.
The Agricultural and Commercial Show is an annual event that sums up activities of the district and provincial agricultural shows held usually after each harvest period across the country.
There has been an enormous growth recorded in the agriculture sector over the past few years, with the industry generating between 18 to 20 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
And Saunders in his address to the just ended 81st Agricultural and Commercial Show themed ‘Economic Empowerment’, noted that the legislation of the CEE Act was not as tasking as the implementation of the legal document.
“Legislation of the empowerment Act was the easy part, the hard part is ensuring that empowerment truly empowers the grass roots of our society and this requires a commitment from us all. But it must be workable in a natural way-that is to say all successful development occurs because it is easy to embrace by us all, it is not forced upon any of the participants at any stage,” Saunders said.
‘This is a challenge to us all. I am extremely honoured that the President of Botswana is gracing us with his presence to officially open the show. Since independence in 1966, Botswana has transformed from a near-subsistence economy into one of the wealthiest and fastest growing countries in Africa.”
Saunders further said the discovery of mineral resources and the growing livestock sector accounted the large portion of Botswana’s exports.
“Although the agriculture sector now accounts for less than five per cent of your total exports, it is an important source of employment in your country. All these achievements made by Botswana cannot come on a silver plate, but are a result of sound economic management by the people of that country,” Saunders said.
“I have no doubt you (President Mogae) have a deep understanding about the economic turmoil Zambia has gone through but also that you would recognise the benefits are ultimately greater than pain.”
Zambia’s President Levy Mwanawasa who also attended the show said: “I hope that this show will contribute to the regional economic integration especially that the number of foreign exhibitors has increased. The show will help boost business opportunities and thereby contributing to regional economic integration.”
Labels: BOTSWANA, EITI, FESTUS MOGAE, MINING
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