.Mwale
THE death of Nkana Football Club coach, Masautso Mwale in a road traffic accident near Luanshya turn off along the Ndola-Kitwe Dual Carriageway on Friday night is a major blow to Zambian football and as a nation.
As a die-hard Nkana fan, I received this tragic news with profound shock, especially that I had just listened to him during the ZNBC main evening news on that fateful Friday night saying his lads had prepared well for their 2014 Confederations Cup Group B match against Sewe Sport of Ivory Coast scheduled for the following day.
Coach Massy has done a lot for Zambian football and it will be impossible to replace a spirited and dedicated man like him.
Once more Zambia has lost a football icon, pillar of joy to all Zambian soccer lovers, an ambassador, a colleague, relative, father, and a husband to our sister.
I can only wish my team God’s comfort and strength and best of success in all their future endeavours as this is what our coach would want and a fitting tribute to him.
And to my fellow Nkana FC supporters, let us be united during this trying moment and mourn our coach in a dignified manner.
Sending my heartfelt condolences to the Mwale family, Nkana FC and the entire football fraternity.
May the soul of our coach Massy rest in eternal peace.
Kampa Senkwe,
Lusaka West
Fuel from plastics: Idea worth trying
Last Sunday, the adage; “a prophet is not recognised in his own land” came to my mind when I watched Professor Samson Tembo pouring out his inventor’s heart to the Zambian people on Muvi Television’s programme The Assignment.
My mind rushed back to the early nineties when First Republican President Dr Kenneth Kaunda told the nation that it was possible to make fuel using grass. Many Zambians, including myself, laughed it off as the rantings of an ignorant man.
Dr Kaunda may have not been a scientist but more than 20 years later, I stumbled upon a January 8, 2008 article of the Scientific American written by David Biello entitled ‘Gas from Grass’. It revealed that farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas were working with the US Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy to bring the USA closer to becoming a bio-fuel economy by planting huge tracts of land with switchgrass- a native North American perennial grass- to produce ethanol.
Through Google, I have called Professor Tembo’s bluff as he dared the whole nation to that Sunday evening and discovered that last year an Indian engineer called Chitra Thiyagarajan perfected a unit that converts plastic waste into a fuel similar to diesel.
This was information was contained in an article that appeared in The Times of India edition of August 26 2013 and stated that her ‘pyro-plant’ which was not only inexpensive but also required only three hours to generate fuel had actually been patented by the Indian patent authorities.
I do not recall whether Zambians have since apologised to the old statesman, but now a son of the soil is telling the nation that he can convert plastic into fuel, and that that fuel will cost less than half the current pump price.
And this is not just a mere son of the soil; he is an inventor whose patriotic heart is bleeding for mother Zambia.
Is the nation hearing his cries?
Benson Fungai Chipungu,
Lusaka.
Repeal ACT only insurance law
The law that makes “ACT only” the minimum legal motor insurance requirement, which only covers legal liability resulting from injuries and/or death to third parties, should be repealed.
The minimum legal requirement for motor insurance on our roads should be full third party which covers legal liability for injury or death and also damage of property of the third party.
This ACT only insurance has outlived its usefulness. With the influx of vehicles on our roads, it is very unlikely for one to cause injury or death to a third party without causing damage to third party property.
In fact you are more likely to cause damage to third party property. So why not simplify things and make the third party insurance the legal minimum?
Besides very few members of the general public know the difference because it is mostly issued using the same cover note but with provision for full third party liability crossed out in ink so they walk away from the insurance company or broker thinking they are have bought third party insurance.
They only discover the difference at the point of making a claim that they will have to pay for the property damage they have caused, usually to another vehicle, because the cover they bought only covers injury or death to the human beings in the other persons vehicle but not the vehicle itself. That doesn’t make sense!
I therefore call upon, IAZ, PIA, Parliament and indeed all GENERAL insurance companies to work together to have this ACT insurance as our legal minimum to be repealed and replaced with FULL THIRD PARTY insurance as the new legal minimum motor insurance in Zambia.
Chinyemba Sovi
