THE Bankers’ Association of Zambia (BAZ) has welcomed the creation of the K8 billion COVID-19 bond, but has warned that it may cause liquidity challenges in the short-to-medium-term. And the Association says interest rates on loan facilities linked to the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) have been reduced by a margin of the corresponding 225 basis...

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu says youths should take advantage of opportunities which government is providing instead of protesting in the bush and taking pride in how many views their protests got on social media. And President Lungu says the cavalier attitude by some businessmen and women who have opened their bars and nightclubs will not be...

RESIDENT Doctors’ Association of Zambia (RDAZ) president Dr Isaac Sakala says health workers that are at the front-line of the fight against the COVID-19 crisis have still not received their incentives. In an interview, Dr Sakala said when the Association queried the Ministry of Health seeking clarification, they were told they were equally still waiting...

LABOUR Commissioner Givens Muntengwa says Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general Cosmas Mukuka cannot continue to serve in that capacity because his primary employer has retired him in national interest. In a letter addressed to the Union president Nkole Chishimba and copied to the office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Labour, General Education...

SPEAKER of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini says "there is something unusual about Bill 10 which has confounded us as a nation". And Justice Minister Given Lubinda says Bill 10 debates will commence as soon as parliamentarians familiarise themselves with the new environment in the House. Rendering a ministerial statement to Parliament, Thursday, Lubinda...

GOVERNMENT Chief Whip Brian Mundubile has admitted that Bill 10 had lapsed on June 4, 2020 but says the parliamentary Standing Orders Committee decided to extend it because it has powers to change its own rules. Speaking at a press briefing at Parliament Building in Lusaka, Thursday, Mundubile said the parliamentary practice and procedure provided...

COPPERBELT Police Commissioner Charity Katanga says police are still waiting for a "response" to take photographer Chellah Tukuta to court. And Ndola Central police have restricted visits to only Tukuta's family members and lawyers. On Monday, Tukuta was transferred from Lusaka to Ndola where four more new counts of criminal libel were slapped on him....

WILLIAM Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law Muna Ndulo has wondered what Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini has been eating for him to become so arrogant. In an article titled "On What Meat Doth Matibini Feed?: MATIBINI AND THE COURTS", Thursday, Prof Ndulo said the Speaker's claim that he had powers...

THE annual rate of inflation has decreased to 15.9 per cent in June, down from 16.6 per cent recorded in May, mainly triggered by price decreases in food items, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZSA). Announcing Zambia’s annual rate of inflation for the month of June, ZSA Interim Statistician General Mulenga Musepa said that...