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Sport

TopStar is set to televise live the UEFA EURO 2020 final tournament play offs draw at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland slated for 22nd of November 2019 at 13:00hrs on World Football Channel.

For the first time, the European Championship finals will be spread across the continent, with stadiums in 12 different countries hosting games in the 24-team tournament. The competition kicks off in Rome, at the Stadio Olimpico which is home to Roma and Lazio, on Friday June 12, 2019.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, TopStar Public Relations Officer Chisunga Kunda said with 12 countries staging final matches in 2020, there is no automatic qualification for hosts, meaning that all 55 UEFA nations will compete for the 24 finals berths on offer.

“Twenty places will be decided by winners of a new play-off system linked to the UEFA Nations League. The group stages conclude on June 24, with no matches on June 25 or 26, before the round of 16 gets underway with matches at Wembley and the Johan Cruyff Arena on June 27, with two matches played a day until June 30,” He said

Chisunga said after a couple of rest days, two quarter-finals will be played on each day of July 3 and 4. The two semi-final games will both be held at Wembley on July 7 and 8, before England’s national stadium also hosts the final on Sunday.

Subscribers will be able to watch their favorite stars such as Harry Kane, Virgil Van Dijk, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Robert Lewandowski and Gareth Bale as they scuffle for the prestigious prizes in European football.

TopStar subscribers can also download the Star Times ON APP from either Google Play or Apple Store. Viewers can also stream or subscribe on the APP and watch all matches of the Euro 2020 tournament anywhere at any place on their smart device.

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TopStar is set to televise live the

Companies

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions – ZCTU has expressed concern at the slow pace to detect ghost workers in various institutions which is depleting government coffers. ZCTU president Chishimba Nkole said it should be every citizens worry as to why it’s taking too much time to detect and investigate ghost workers, such that by the time they discover and close the loopholes, there is a lot of damages to the treasury already inflicted .

‘‘The Government administration team is supposed to be alert. Efficiency and good administration demands that we are on the job every day. Other than only waking up when there are some whistle blowers or after you have incurred significant losses and then that’s the time you start waking up to check?, it is good that this issue has been uncovered, but in future let’s not go to sleep and only wake up when it’s too late. It should not take that long, it is something that is supposed to have been discovered the moment it happened,’’ he said.

Nkole added that in a proper administration set up, there are a lot of stages and the last stage is signing the cheques or payments, but before the cheques or transfers are signed, responsible people must know what they are signing. He said it should not just be the question of having a team of officers and append the signature, people must be concerned and must be in the culture of checking and counter checking their work. Even the officers that authorized these payments must be made to take responsibility.

‘’So there are a lot offices tasked to detect that, and each one at every stage must understand what they are doing because they supposed to have a proper database to show that these are the people that are in respective stations, that is; those who are transferred, those who have passed on and those that are non-existence. All of them are supposed to be detected,’’ said Nkole.

The ZCTU president further said the country is well developed in terms of ICT, saying all that is needed is to have good technocrats who are able to help keep the database so that each month, government can understand and know how to deal with human beings only and not ghost workers.

Nkole said it all officers in the payment process should take responsibility for their assigned tasks that they are given. The ZCTU president was speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT in Lusaka, on November 11, 2019.

The issue of ghost workers drawing salaries from government coffers is long-standing and a payroll clean-up exercise carried out recently on the Copperbelt revealed that 4,000 employees were unaccounted for while K60 million ( about US$4.6 million) was being lost monthly through fraudulent activities on the payroll.

According to Secretary to the cabinet Simon Miti, the recent clean-up exercise for the public service payroll, the Farmer Input Support programme (FISP) and the Social Cash Transfer revealed glaring cases of abuse and fraud. The government is yet to fully complete its investigation and advise what actions apart from recovery of the funds will be taken on the staff found wanting.

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The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions -

Lifestyle

Tourism and Arts Minister Ronald Chitotela, has said that he wants the ministry to work with tourism operators to go onto big international media marketing platforms to attract more tourist arrivals into the country.

In a statement to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by ministry of Tourism public relations officer Sakabilo Kalembwe, Chitotela who was speaking during a tour of Anambezi located in the Lower Zambezi National Park on November 11, 2019, where he is expected to have meetings with tour operators.

The tourism minister said showing Zambian tourism on channels like BBC, CNN and Electronic platforms would sell into a good share of the more than 700 million viewers that watch CNN and more than 6 billion people that access e-platforms. He added that there is need to also target the younger generation that now influence their parent’s decision on where to go for holiday making.

The Minister has since urged his Permanent Secretary, Amos Malupenga to engage the local tourism operators to seek support on meeting the advertising budget.

And a representative of the tour operators, Grant Cummings said private sector would be willing to come on board if the ministry came up with a good tourism-marketing plan. The Lower Zambezi is one of the four national parks that are highly visited by international tourists and major contributors to the Zambia’s tourism revenues.

The Lower Zambezi tourism offering has not been actively offering local Zambians attractive tourism packages which should be one of the agenda items so that the offering can be well appreciated across the country.

Some sections of society have welcomed the proposed copper mining in the Lower Zambezi National Park on the promise of better paying jobs for the locals when compared with the current jobs for lodge workers and tour guides.

The Lodge operators have been accused of making the offering exclusive and beyond the price points of local Zambians thereby making the tourism offering being barely unknown to a cross section of Zambians relative to other tourism hotspots like Livingstone and Siavonga.

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Tourism and Arts Minister Ronald Chitotela, has

Agribusiness, Markets

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission – CCPC has noted with concern that the Poultry Association of Zambia – PAZ and Millers Association of Zambia – MAZ have continued to exhibit behavior of agreeing and subsequently announcing the prices of day old chicks and mealie-meal.

This development comes after PAZ and MAZ were cited of having issued media statements in which they announced the possible hike in the prices of day old chicks and mealie-meal on 28th and 29th October 2019 through the media which has been construed as price signaling.

In a statement availed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, CCPC Director, Restrictive Business Practices, Naomi Fulaza said the commission has found the conduct to be likely a violation of sections 8 and 9 of the Competition and Consumer Protection (CCPC) Act No. 24 of 2010, which clearly prohibits concerted practices and cartelistic conduct by players and members of the Associations.

She added that the commission also noted that the conduct by the two Associations signals price direction and creates anticipation on the market which is unnecessary and may distort independent decision making on pricing of day old chicks and mealie-meal by individual market players.

Fulaza further stated that both PAZ and MAZ have cases before the CCPC tribunal relating to similar conduct. She said the commission has since warned PAZ and MAZ not to engage in conduct that is likely to prevent, distort or restrict competition such as price fixing.

‘‘It is very sad and unfortunate that Associations such as PAZ and MAZ can continue to make pronouncements related to price increment when the commission has engaged them on the ills of such conduct. We would expect that such Associations should be in the forefront of ensuring that their members abide by the laws of the land,’’ she said.

CCPC is mandated by law to enhance competition and promote consumer welfare for the growth of the economy and benefit of the people of Zambia. This is according to the statement on November 5 made available to Zambian Business Times – ZBT, by CCPC Public Relations Officer, Namukoko Kasumpa.

some members of the public have accused CCPC of being toothless as the commission has been more of a warning commission than taking actual fines and punitive measures to prevent market price manipulation.

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The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission -

Lifestyle

The University of Zambia fourth-year student pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy has developed a prototype of a body spray which can be used to prevent attacks on asthmatic and hypertensive patients.

20-year-old Florence Mulenga said the concept behind the project was based on the fact that most asthmatic patients were allergic to most perfumes and body spray, hence the need to develop a tailor-made body spray which would also act as medicinal agent to the patients. She said during her research, she also discovered that the ingredients used to make the spray had properties which can help to lower blood pressure, hence extending the study to hypertension.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by UNZA Communications Officer Habeenzu Mulunda, Mulenga said the prototype which has been developed so far was specifically for asthmatic patients, therefore, more research and expertise would be required to help develop the solution more on how the spray can be useful on hypertensive patients.e

“The ingredients being used in developing the spray were also found to be muscle dilator meaning the product can dilate the blood vessels, hence, lowering the blood pressure,” she said. She revealed that a lot of people were already requesting for the product, however, she added that the product still needed a lot of research to make it safe for customer use before it can be commercialized and put on the market.

During her research Mulenga was supported by WECREATE I ZAMBIA, SOUTHERN AFRICAN NETWORK FOR BIOSCIENCES (SANBio), HIVOS and many other companies. She has appealed to the research institutions, donors and well-wisher to come on board and support the project in order to make the product a complete package that is safe and effective for public use.

Recently, Mulenga participated in a national wide biosciences competition called “FemBioBiz Acceleration Program” and her project emerged as the best-student start-up, which earned her sponsorship to represent Zambia in South Africa at the African Women Innovation and Empowerment Forum (AWIEF).

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The University of Zambia fourth-year student pursuing

Tech

Media owners in Lusaka have petitioned the Independent Broadcasting Authority – IBA over Topstar for what they have termed as ‘unfair treatment’ from the signal carrier.

Speaking during a meeting with the Independent Broadcasting Authority-IBA and Topstar, Media Owners Association of Zambia chairman Gerald Shawa said it is sad that Topstar has continued to disregard the contract terms with media owners by switching off the channels with impunity.

He said a number of TV stations have been switched off from the Topstar decoder without consulting IBA which is Zambia’s only regulator. Shawa questioned were Topstar gets its powers to the extent of disregarding the authority of IBA.

But IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma said Topstar has no power to switch off any channel without the authorization from IBA. She said Topstar is just a signal carrier who should work in consultation with IBA which is the Licensing authority.

And Topstar Technical Director John  said the black out of some stations on its bouquet was as a result of technical issues with some TV stations. He said, in some cases, some TV stations have absolete machinery and were failing to send the signal to their servers. He also explained that some channels were dropped because the satellite service provider has reduced their bundle.

Meanwhile, Shawa who is also Prime TV owner said the revenue sharing model implementation with Topstar has been pending for sometime. Shawa added that the proposed carriage fees imposed on TV stations is not sustainable. He said that Topstar is paying for foreign content but imposes carriage fees on local content, this is all at the expense of local content.

But, Topstar vice president Cliff Sichone explained that the issue of carriage fees is determined by ZICTA and will continue to engage media owners on the issue of revenue sharing. ZICTA is yet to confirm on this matter.

However, in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Revelation TV owner, Stanford Chifita advised Topstar to respect local content service providers, saying once they pull off, the whole digital migration process will be a white elephant.

TBN owner Dr. Dan Pule said Topstar should respect all the license provisions while his CBC counterpart Pastor Jerome Chiluba urged Topstar not to fight local content providers but instead embrace and partner with them.

The Zambian government has pledged to implement local content laws and regulation but seem not sure on just how to go about this. However, a check across frontier African countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa show that these nations have moved at a much faster rate than Zambia.

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Media owners in Lusaka have petitioned the

Tech

The first ever Zambian Electronic Waste Recycling Company called TCH E – Waste Zambia in collaboration with the European Union Commission – EUC has been launched. The electronic waste system will focus on collecting, sorting, exporting parts of e-waste and shipping for final disposal in an environmental friendly manner.

The company is set to begin its works in the next few weeks as it is in the process of finalizing its license from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency – ZEMA.

Speaking at the launch event of the e-waste system in Lusaka on November, 7 2019, TCH E-Waste Zambia representative Malcolm Whitehouse said most individuals are bound to store e-waste due to lack of solutions hence the newly launched system will address e-waste challenges in the country.

He added that the company is further in the process of developing campaigns with government to create awareness in various parts of the country and educate individuals in communities and schools on the importance of recycling waste.

And Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority – ZICTA Director General Patrick Mutimushi said it is timely to have new partners such as TCH E-Waste on board as failure to close the loop on e-waste such as computers and other ICT equipments could lead to significant adverse environmental impact.

Mutimushi said measuring e-waste is an important step towards addressing the e-waste challenges as statistics help to evaluate developments over time, set and assess targets and identify best practices in policies.

“It is my sincere hope that TCH E-Waste will hit the ground running by putting in place a working business model that will not only clean the environment but also create employment by creating a well-defined value chain for e-waste recycling, incorporating all stakeholders,” he said.

At the same event Zambia Environmental Managements Agency – ZEMA Inspector Chrispine Simwanza said the company has fulfilled its regulatory procedures hence suitable to acquire a license adding that a lot of research was done by the Agency before the company could be allowed to handle e-wastes.

Simwanzi has since called for support from various stakeholders and players in the ICT sector towards this initiative to ensure the chain is properly managed stating that mostly waste starts from importation hence the need to regulate the gadgets before entry.

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The first ever Zambian Electronic Waste Recycling

Tech

The Zambain President Edgar Lungu has announced that government will next week pay US$14 million to add up on the already paid US$ 10 Million towards the importation of power from Eskom of South Africa.

This is after a decision by government to import 300 Mega Watts of power from South Africa of which it is expected to pay US$44 million for the importation.

Speaking when addressing journalists in Lusaka at State House on November 8 2019 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, President Lungu stated that he is aware of the current power deficit in the country and that the lasting solution is to invest more in renewable energy such as Solar.

He has since directed the power utility company ZESCO to conclude the solar project by mid-next year. “The 120MW solar PV project under the Get-Fit programme has six 20MW projects and they will reach commercial operation date in the third quarter of 2020,” he said.

The president further said that the imports of power are a stop-gap measure as the country waits for the coming on board of the 750 MW of power from Kafue Gorge Lower in early March next year adding that the project is at 80 percent completion stage.

The Zambian leader further stated that progress has been made in the energy sector including electricity and petroleum and that governments intention is to enable 100 percent Private Sector importation of fuel and get tariffs for electricity to cost reflective levels.

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The Zambain President Edgar Lungu has announced

Tech

ZESCO Director of Transmission Webster Musonda told the gathering at the public hearing held on 5th November 2019 in Lusaka attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the proposed tariff adjustment is expected to generate revenue of upto K16.056 billion in the first full year of its implementation.

Musonda who is the acting CEO stated that the proposed upward tariff adjustment is intended to meet future obligations and that it was supposed to be applied at the beginning of the year to cover 2019 costs.

He added that having no tariff adjustment will result in under-investment in the electricity sector, insufficient capacity to support accelerated growth in the economy, Unreliable quality of supply of electricity, perpetual load-shedding, unsustainable electricity supply industry and Higher energy cost among other consequences.

Stakeholders made submissions to the application to adjust the tariff upwards but the general observation was that the majority of the submissions were in opposition to ZESCO’s application to adjust Tariffs. Among the notable organizations which made submissions included Zambia Sugar, Zambia National Farmers Union- ZNFU, Lafarge, ZIPAR and  CUTS among. The event was also simultaneously taking place in two other major Zambian cities of Livingstone and Kitwe.

On 26 February 2019, ZESCO Limited applied to the Energy Regulation Board- ERB to vary electricity tariffs across all customer categories, except Mining and other customers whose supply is governed by Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). In its application, ZESCO proposed to increase electricity tariffs by a total weighted average of 113% in 2019 for Residential, Large Power, Small Power, Commercial and Services Customers.

The ERB invited members of the public to make written submissions in line with the Electricity Act, Cap 433 of the Laws of Zambia. During the review of ZESCO’s Tariff application, ERB Board Chairman Raymond Mpundu said the review comes at a time when the country is experiencing what is perhaps the worst power deficit ever, which is affecting the sub-region as a whole. He added that Climate Change has impacted the sub-region’s power generation capacity, severely because most of the power generation facilities are Hydro-based.

‘‘In line with our tariff determination process, we are taking into account the public submissions on the applications which we have received in writing from consumers and members of the public. This is a particularly fundamental aspect of the tariff review process, as our decision would affect all ZESCO customers whose views must be head before an appropriate tariff is determined,’’ said Mpundu.

The ERB chairman further emphasized that at the public hearing that the board is mindful of the concerns raised by the public regarding the performance of the Utility, especially in light of the upward revised relatively higher tariffs following the 2015 and 2017 Tariff Adjustments which had indicated that the tarrifs would then be cost reflective.

Mpundu therefore, reiterated the board’s commitment to implementing the key performance indicators in tariff determination with a view to equating utility performance to the award of tariff increases. President Edgar Lungu’s press aid has also announced a raft of energy policy amendment approvals by his government which are then expected to be implemented to support power generator diversification to thermal, solar, wind and nuclear.

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ZESCO Director of Transmission Webster Musonda told