Cannabis Bill nod cheers Peter Sinkamba

By KETRA KALUNGA GREEN Party president Peter Sinkamba has commended Government for approving the introduction of bills in parliament to provide for the cultivation, processing and exportation of cannabis. Mr Sinkamba said in an interview that the move was a step in the right direction in sorting out the missing links in the registration of cannabis as a business. “We are very excited that finally we are almost there because it has taken a long time to materialise,” he said. Mr Sinkamba said about 20,000 hectares had been secured for the production of hemp for medicinal and industrial purposes across the country with support from chiefs Kaputa, Chikan- ta and Chipepo. He said ZamHemp was working with traditional leaders across the coun- try through the Traditional Authorities Association of Zambia.The 18th Cabinet meeting held on Monday approved the bill on cannabis in ac- cordance with the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961. “We have 5, 000 hectares allocated in Luapula Province by Chief Kaputa for that project, we have also another almost 5, 000 allocated by Chief Chinakila, Northern Province, and we have a huge chunk of land allocated by chiefs Chipepo and Chikanta for Southern Province,” Mr Sinkamba said. He once implemented the project would create about 100, 000 technical jobs and two million labour based jobs countrywide.