.Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe

By CHILA NAMAIKO and ANDREW PHIRI –

CHINA Jiangxi International Corporation (CJIC), a company engaged by Government to construct a six-storey provincial administration in Choma, has increased salaries for its general workers to K910 per month from about K570.
This follows a protest by more than 25 workers on Monday at Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe’s office against low wages and lack of protective clothing.
The locally employed workers are paid about K22 per day, but effective next month, they would be getting K35 per day.
Government, in July last year, engaged CJIC to construct the
provincial office complex at a cost of K31 million which was scheduled for completion by December this year.
The giant provincial administration was being constructed adjacent to more than 60 housing units ranging from high, medium and low costs under construction by different contractors for civil servants.
The workers, who stormed Mr Munkombwe’s office complained over low wages and lack of protective clothing.
Meanwhile, Mr Munkombwe has advised young politicians who want to be in Government to seek wisdom from veteran politicians.
He said young politicians who wanted   to  go  it  alone in their political journey would never form Government.
Speaking during a prophecy service at the Zambia Air Force mess in Livingstone, Mr Munkombwe said all genuine leadership came from God and hence it was important for young politicians to interact with veterans.
He said the bible recognised three mountains which he named as the mountain of money, politics and influence.
Mr Munkombwe, who is a veteran politician and Patriotic Front (PF) provincial chairperson, said President Michael Sata was a mountain of influence and that was why he won the 2011 general elections.
“Mr Michael Sata is a mountain of influence and he has all the provinces of Zambia supporting him,” Mr Munkombwe said.
He asked the Church to continue praying for President Sata to continue having wisdom as well as pray for the peace of the nation.
“We need to pray that our President continues to have wisdom. Let us also pray for peace that this country has enjoyed because it is not by accident,” Mr Munkombwe said.
He also said it was not by accident that Zambia had 72 languages and yet the people were all united and that everyone was equal in the eyes of God.
And Prophet Sheppard Bushiri from Malawi prayed for Zambia’s peace and good governance under President Michael Sata.