DEVELOPMENT Bank of Zambia (DBZ) board chairperson Noel Nkoma says the bank is targeting to secure not less than $50 million for lending next year. In an interview, Nkoma, however, said the bank was currently focusing on attaining optimum recapitalisation of about K1.2 billion, which would help strengthen its balance sheet. "As you know, the...

BRITISH High Commissioner to Zambia Nicholas Woolley says the UPND government's corruption stance has boosted British investments in the country. And German Ambassador to Zambia Anne Wagner Mitchell has urged government to walk the talk and scale up interventions that curb corruption. Speaking during Zambia Anti-Corruption Conference, Thursday, Woolley said British companies avoid investing in...

FINANCE and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane says government and citizens are depending on the private sector to create meaningful jobs that will reduce poverty levels. Speaking at a sensitisation workshop on leveraging private sector engagement in implementing the Eighth National Development Plan, Dr Musokotwane said the private sector served as an untapped resource...

THE Public Accounts Committee has heard that Mika Motors Ltd was awarded a contract worth over US$1 million to provide clearing and shipping services for 387 government vehicles despite it not indicating that it had any experience in that field. The committee further heard that Mika Motors' sister company, Mikalile Trading, on the other hand,...

DEC Director General Mary Chirwa says lack of ethical leadership from politicians and fear of losing jobs by investigators has worsened corruption in public procurement. Chirwa says law enforcement agencies will investigate matters backwards, warning that those who want to cry, should do so. Anti-Corruption Commission Director General Gilbert Phiri, on the other hands, has...

HEALTH Minister Sylva Masebo says the UPND administration is doing better in terms of medical supplies, arguing that the story of 'no drugs' is just being used for political mileage. And Masebo says the UPND government has a visionary leader and not just a dancer. Speaking in Parliament, Tuesday, Masebo said government had provided resources...

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has expressed confidence that the re-introduction of meal allowances in universities will help reduce the vulnerability of female students to transactional sex and intercourse with older men. The President has further urged the menfolk to not only love and cherish women and girls but to also dignify and protect them. Meanwhile, the...

TWO Lusaka men who were allegedly involved in the abduction of Pamela Chisumpa and 12 others in Lusaka’s Chalala area yesterday appeared before the Lusaka Magistrates' Court, facing 53 counts of aggravated robbery, abduction, assault, and rape, among other charges. James Mulenga, 22 and Matthews Sikaonga, also 22, appeared before magistrate Trevor Kasanda who explained...

A DEC investigations officer has narrated to the Lusaka Magistrates' Court that between March and May 2020, former defence minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba's personal account received about K20 million from Curzon Global Limited Zambia. The witness has testified that the Ministry of Defence awarded three contracts of about US$6 million to Curzon Global Hong Kong...