PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has directed that a special committee within the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) must meet to deliberate on the financial challenges facing the TIMES OF ZAMBIA.
Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda said this to ZANIS in an exclusive interview yesterday.
This was shortly after a cluster meeting comprising the Ministry of Communication and Transport which was represented by Former Minister of Finance and Works and Supply Minister Felix Mutati, Livestock and Fisheries, Tourism and Arts Ministry, presented a Ministerial economic cluster report at state house to President Lungu.
“I will be joining that meeting myself to work out at both medium and long term plans of salvaging the TIMES OF ZAMBIA, particularly debts related to terminal benefits and salary areas,” President Lungu said.
TIMES OF ZAMBIA has more than 200 workers and the print media is finding difficulties to meet monthly salaries and paying pension benefits.
Meanwhile, President Edgar Lungu has said there is need to have coherence and cohesion in the communication of government programmes to the public.
President Lungu said it is for this reason that Government has decided to form ministerial clusters aimed at promoting strong imperative public communication to the people and to regulate an open dialogue between ministries.
“The idea of clusters is that President Lungu hopes that it will follow budgetary provision implementation, the 7th National Development plan and within the flame work set out in the monitoring and evaluations,” Mr. Chanda said.
Cluster Chairperson Micheal Katambo who is also Minister of Agriculture said the cluster presented several programmes that ministries under the cluster have implemented and challenges faced.
“We presented programmes which we have implemented and challenges we faced among them Communication and Transport, Agriculture development and Tourism,” Mr Katambo said.
Mr Katambo further explained that government will soon discuss the issues of fish restocking in the water bodies and wildlife restocking in the game reserves and the country’s national parks. ZANIS