By MWANGALA LISELI –

EDUCATION Minister Michael Kaingu has said the reading culture in the country has gone down due to unavailability of libraries in many places of the country.
Dr Kaingu said at the official launch of the Cherish Kids Park library in Lusaka that the non-availability of reading materials had scaled up illiteracy levels in Zambia.
“My ministry has since introduced a literacy methodology in schools which would enable learners to start reading at an early age of school-going,“ Dr Kaingu said.
The minister also stressed on the need for community libraries.
“Community libraries are facilities that would benefit people positively and enable the nation to develop,” he said.
Cherise Kids Park founder Cherise Makubale said illiteracy in Zambia was a concern and hoped that the opening of the library would contribute to lowering illiteracy levels.
She said the library was free-of-charge so as to reach out to the vulnerable.
Ms Makubale called on community groups, churches, orphanages and other organisations to register with the library.
She said the idea of the Cherise Kids’ Park came about because of a lack of such facilities in the country.

Rwandese on tree planting project

By PASSY HAACHIZO –

THE Rwandese Community in Zambia has embarked on a tree-planting project to conserve the environment.
Rwandese community representative, Kazuba Rwasibo said this during the launch of the project at Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo III’s palace last week.
The project had so far seen more than 400 trees being planted in Chieftainess Nkomeshya’s area with the first phase covering up to one kilometre.
“Today we are going to plant 400 trees with 150 being planted by the Chakwela Makumbi arena, while 250 will be planted along the road from the Chieftainess‘s palace,” Mr Rwasibo said.
He also said under the project, the Rwandese community in Zambia would also plant trees along roads in Lusaka.
Mr Rwasibo said it was his wish that every citizen planted a single tree each year to protect nature from adverse climatic changes.
Mr Rwasibo thanked Chieftainess Nkomeshya who accorded them an opportunity to start the project at her palace in Chongwe.
“We are very grateful to her royal highness to have given us the opportunity to plant these trees in the area,” Mr Rwasibo said. “We are also going to plant trees along some roads that are being constructed.“
More than 5,000 Rwandese refugees are currently living in Zambia who Mr Rwasibo said were happy with the support they received from the Zambian people.
And Chief Nkomeshya‘s representative, senior headman Kapuka Tatile was very grateful that the Rwandese community had embarked on a project that needed support from the local community.
Mr Tatile assured Chongwe residents that some people would be assigned to guard the trees jealously and support the Rwandese community in many other projects they were undertaking in the area.

LWSC to improve city sanitation

By MWANGALA LISELI –

THE Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) says it will improve sanitation levels in the city through the implementation of its Lusaka sanitation programme which will run for two years.
LWSC public relations manager Topsy Sikalinda said that in the first year of the programme, LWSC would run three sub-projects at a cost of US$13 million.
Mr Sikalinda said the three sanitation sub-projects targeted Kafue Road, Emmasdale area and Chaisa Township.
“This is a huge project because it is dealing with full sanitation for the whole Lusaka,” Mr Sikalinda said. “This project is derived from our sanitation master plan and we have divided it in two years with year one costing about $13 million.”
Mr Sikalinda said that the first phase of the project included an installation of a new sewer line on both sides of the Kafue Road from Makeni mall to Kafue roundabout.
The other part of the project would involve installing sewer infrastructure in all parts of Emmasdale that are not yet on sewer infrastructure.
“We are also putting up sewer lines in Chaisa Township at a cost of $2.5 million,” he said.
Mr Sikalinda said the third sub-project would involve working on the waste water line responsible for taking waste water to Ngwerere ponds at $4.1 million.
He said the water utility company was just awaiting clearance from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) to conduct an environmental assessment before commencing the works.

Kamwala, Misisi residents demand intensive patrols

By ADRIAN MWANZA –

RESIDENTS of Lusaka’s Kamwala and Misisi townships have called on the police to intensify night patrols to curb the high crime rate in the two areas.
The areas have been experiencing unprecedented levels of crime in the recent past in which the residents have been losing various household goods.
Some of the residents said crime had now become the order of the day as thieves were frequently breaking in people’s homes where they got away with thousands of Kwacha in cash and household items.
John Simumba, a Kamwala resident, said the situation was out of hand as petty thieves and armed robbers were in a habit of even beating up people, leaving them for dead.
Mr Simumba wondered what the police were doing in order to bring sanity to the area because if the situation continued many lives would be lost.
“The police are not doing anything to stop these hooligans because the crime rate in the area has reached alarming levels and if nothing is done we are going to lose more lives,” he said.
Frank Musumali, a resident of Misisi Township, said the situation had become dangerously serious because of the gangs that had been raiding people’s homes.
“Not long ago one gang brutally attacked and robbed a man who was coming from a drinking spree from one of the taverns in the township,” Mr Musumali said.
He said there was need to construct more police posts in Misisi Township because the area was big with a large population which could not be contained.
Mr Musumali said the crime rates were very high because the area only had one police post which could not handle the population.
Police spokesperson Charity Chanda said officers were carrying out patrols from 18:00 hours to 06:00 hours. She, however, said that the police had a limited number of officers in the area.
Ms Chanda urged local people to join neighbourhood watch committees to help the police curb the vice.
She said the Police Service had advertised for people to join the police reserve as a way of reinforcing the limited number of officers who were overwhelmed with too many tasks.