Top news items in major Zambian media outlets

The following are the highlights of Zambia's major media outlets on Thursday

-- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Rwanda counterpart Paul Kagame have commended the African Development Bank (AfDB) for initiating the "New Deal on Energy", a venture through which the bank will invest 12 million U.S. dollars in the delivery of electricity for all Africans by 2025.

The two leaders, were speaking during a CNBC-Africa live television debate at the ongoing AfDB annual meetings in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, commended the bank for coming up with an initiative that will unlock Africa's energy sector.

Kenyatta said Africa has a lot of potential in renewable energy sources which must be harnessed while Kagame said the energy deal brings a new momentum in the efforts to do what Africa should have done a long time ago. (ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL)

-- Church leaders are planning to organize another meeting of political leaders who will contest in this year's polls.

Last month, 18 political leaders met under the auspices of church leaders and agreed to end political violence. (DAILY NATION)

-- The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has refuted allegations that it mobilized people from neighboring countries to register as voters in order to win this year's elections.

The Post, the country's leading private newspaper, recently revealed that hundreds of foreigners were mobilized by the ruling party and registered as voters in order to take part in the August 11 polls so that it retains power.

The paper conducted investigations which revealed that hundreds of foreigners from Malawi, Mozambique, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been registered as voters. On Monday the paper talked to some Malawians who confirmed that they have been registered to vote in Zambia. (THE POST)

-- The Zambian government said it has reserved one million hectares of land for investors in the agriculture sector.

Minister of Agriculture Given Lubinda said the government has since started receiving and processing applications from investors who had shown interest to invest in agriculture.

Speaking when he met a group of South African farmers who have shown interest to invest in agriculture, he said Zambia was currently in the process of breaking the barrier of becoming a food basket on the continent and hence needs more investors in agriculture. (DAILY NATION) Endit