Top news items in major Zambian media outlets

The following are news highlights in Zambia's major media outlets on Friday.

-- An opposition leader has challenged President Edgar Lungu to explain how he had amassed so much wealth within a year of being in power before he can talk about corruption.

On Monday Lungu revealed that there was so much among his ministers and senior public officials and that some of them had amassed so much money within a short period of time.

But Mike Mulongoti, leader of the People's Party, said Lungu should explain how his wealth jumped from 10 million Zambian Kwacha to 23 million within a year. (The Mast)

-- Speaker of the Zambian parliament has cautioned lawmakers against promoting hatred among citizens through their debates.

Patrick Matibini has guided the lawmakers to use their privilege of fire speech to promote unity and love among the Zambian citizens instead of hatred. (Zambia Daily Mail)

-- The Zambian government has started reviewing a farmer support program following concerns from stakeholders that it has not achieved its intended objectives.

The government has been implementing the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) to provide subsidized inputs to smallholder farmers in order to improve productivity.

Minister of Agriculture Dora Siliya said since 2003, the government has been allocating huge sums of money to the program while beneficiary farmers had remained marginally poor. (Times of Zambia)

-- Zambia's ruling party has alleged that fires hitting private prosperities and government departments after the August 11 general elections were politically motivated.

Patriotic Front (PF) deputy spokesperson Frank Bwalya said an opposition party was behind the mysterious fires in an effort to discredit the current government.

He said it was strange that most of the fires targeted properties of people linked to the ruling party. (Daily Nation) Endit