By Kasebamashila Kaseba
WHEN HH PREFERRED ONLINE TO OFFLINE.MEDIA; INTERNATIONAL TO LOCAL MEDIA; PRIVATE TO PUBLIC MEDIA; PHOENIX FM TO ZNBC/ZANIS

Some UPND cadres before elections approached me, a few times, to consider becoming one of HH’s advisers because the advisers around their boss were either ineffective or were only telling the boss what the boss wanted to hear.

I generally answered that it was the boss who actually chose and appointed the advisers to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear and not what he did not want to hear.

That advisers were appointees serving at the pleasure of the boss. (I was a critic and not an adviser.)

The last conversation was outside the UPND Secretariat when I went to do some political analysis for ON-TV online during the UPND General Assembly.

Now, UPND and HH are receiving praises they want to hear even for mistakes because it is what they want to hear and it is still during their honeymoon.

HH, like MCS or EL, shall dearly pay, sooner or later, for squandering the honeymoon goodwill.

FJT in 1991 was the most popularly elected president in defeating KK to one EP region as FJT ended up the most unpopular or hated former president as KK became the most popular former president.

UPND are receiving praises for mistakes because they cannot be criticised or corrected for their mistakes.

(They are conscienceless to tell a right from wrong. HH even thinks a mistake is style.)

UPND and HH are bashing and gagging criticism, dissent and opposition.

For example, HH media priorities are upside down in as far media strategy is concerned, yet he is praised for that.

Firstly, HH who as president is active online as he was as opposition president granted interviews to international media ahead of local public and private media.

Secondly, with local media, HH is in charge as a producer, running commentator, self interviewer, latecoming and overrunning, he doesn’t do with International media, I can guess.

Thirdly, he has since preferred to start with local private media to local public media.

Fourth, and importantly, if what HH says is policy and record, it has to go through mainly ZNBC especially ZANIS where it shall be transcribed and printed in a booklet, published and filed.

ZANIS is even supposed to be under the president (HH) or State House or he can re-transfer there.

Otherwise, let HH himself and his advisers be oriented even by ZANIS of how the offline public media works before he is further embarrassed or suffers backlash and setbacks.

Lastly, unstrategic ruling through the conventional and social media is a bad thing. As bad as it was to POTUS Trump who rejected defeat at one term. Trump lived in this reality and alternative facts.

HH shall suffer a media burnout or defeat he cannot reverse. Just as HH cannot speed up the slow civil service he slowed down. Or he didn’t know the public complaint against the civil service is slow speed which helps corruption that HH is fighting.

By Simon Kabanda
SHOULD SOME POLITICAL PARTIES STOP CONTESTING IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS?

YES! Some political parties should just stop contesting in presidential elections because they are a waste of time and a waste of resources, and they do not add value to the presidential elections. They just escort other political parties.

YES! Some presidential hopefuls should just stop contesting in presidential elections because they are a waste of time and a waste of resources, and they do not add value to the presidential elections. They just escort other presidential candidates.

Which are those political parties that should stop contesting in the presidential elections?

I invite you to analyse with me the performance of political parties and presidential elections from the 1991 elections to the last one, which took place on 12 August 2021.

12 AUGUST 2021 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Hakainde Hichilema, United Party for National Development (UPND): 2,852,348 votes (59.02%);
2. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, Patriotic Front: (1,870,780) votes (38.71%)
3. Harry Kalaba, Democratic Party (DP): 25,231 votes (0.52%);
4. Andyford Banda, People’s Alliance for Change (PAC): 19,937 votes (0.41%);
5. Fred M’membe of the Socialist Party (SP): 16,644 votes (0.34%);
6. Highvie Hamududu, Party for National Unity and Progress (PNUP): 10,480 (0.22%);
7. Chishala Kateka, New Heritage Party (NHP): 8,169 votes (0.17%);
8. Charles Chanda, United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia (UPPZ): 6,543 votes (0.14%);
9. Lazarous Chisela, Zambians United for Sustainable Development (ZUSD): 5,253 votes (0.11%);
10. Nevers Mumba, Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD): 4,968 votes (0.10%);
11. Enock Tonga, Third Liberation Movement (3rdLM): 3,112 votes (0.06%);
12. Bishop Trevor Mwamba, United National Independence Party (UNIP): 3,036 votes (0.06%);
13. Sean Tembo, Patriots for Economic Progress (PEP): 1,813 votes (0.04%);
14. Stephen Nyirenda, National Restoration Party (NAREP): 1,808 votes (0.04%);
15. Kasonde Mwenda, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 1,345 votes (0.03%); and
16. Richard Silumbe, Leadership Movement (LM): 1,296 votes (0.03%)
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 4,832,763
INVALID VOTES: 126,569

11 AUGUST 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Edgar C. Lungu (PF): 1,860,877 (50.35%);
2. Hakainde Hichilema (UPND): 1,760347, (47.63%);
3. Edith Nawakwi (Forum for Democracy and Development – FDD): 24,149 (0.65%);
4. Andyford Banda (People’s Alliance for Change – PAC): 15,791 (0.43%);
5. Winter Kabimba (Rainbow Party): 9,504 (0.26%);
6. Saviour Chishimba (United Progressive People – UPP): 9,221 (0.25%);
7. Tilyenji Kaunda (UNIP): 8,928 (0.24%);
8. Peter Sinkamba (Green Party): 4,515 (0.12%); and
9. Maxwell Mwamba (Democratic Assembly – DA): 2,378 (0.06%).
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 3,695,710
INVALID VOTES: 85,795

20 JANUARY 2015 PRESIDENTIAL BY-ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Edgar C. Lungu (PF): 807,925 (48.84%);
2. Hakainde Hichilema (UPND): 780,168 (47.16%);
3. Edith Nawakwi (FDD): 15,321 (0.93%);
4. Nevers S. Mumba (MMD): 14,609 (0.88%);
5. Tilyenji Kaunda (UNIP): 9,737 (0.59%);
6. Eric M. Chanda (4th Revolution Party – 4R): 8,054 (0.49%);
7. Elias C. Chipimo Jr. (Narep): 6,002 (0.36%);
8. Brig. Gen. Miyanda (HP): 5,757 (0.35%);
9. Daniel M. Pule (Citizens Democratic Party – CDP): 3,293 (0.20%);
10. Ludwig Sondashi (Forum for Democratic Alternatives – FDA): 2,073 (0.13%); and
11. Peter Sinkamba (Green Party Zambia – Greens): 1,410 (0.09%).
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 1,654,349
INVALID VOTES: 17,313

20 SEPTEMBER 2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Michael Sata (PF): 1,170,966 (42.85%);
2. Rupiah Banda (MMD): 987,866 (36.15%);
3. Hakainde Hichilema (UPND): 506,763 (18.54%);
4. Charles Milupi (ADD): 26,270 (0.96%);
5. Elias Chipimo Jr. (Narep): 10,672 (0.39%);
6. Tilyenji Kaunda (UNIP): 9,950 (0.36%);
7. Edith Nawakwi (FDD): 6,833 (0.25%);
8. Ng’andu Peter Magande (NMP): 6.344 (0.23%);
9. Brig. Gen. Miyanda (HP): 4,730 (0.17%); and
10. Frederick Mutesa (ZED): 2,268 (0.08%).
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 2,732,662
INVALID VOTES: 39,602

30 OCTOBER 2008 PRESIDENTIAL BY- ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Rupiah Banda (MMD): 718,359 (40.63%);
2. Michael Sata (PF): 683,150 (38.64%);
3. Hakainde Hichilema (UPND): 353,018 (19.96%); and
4. Brig. Gen. Godfrey Miyanda (HP): 13,683 (0.77%).
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 1,768,210
INVALID VOTES: 23,596

28 SEPTEMBER 2006 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Levy Mwanawasa (MMD): 1,177,846 votes (42.98%);
2. Michael Sata (PF): 804,748 (29.37%);
3. Hakainde Hichilema (UDA: UPND, FDD, UNIP Alliance): 693,772 (25.32%);
4. Brig. Gen. Godfrey Miyanda (Heritage Party – HP): 42,891 (1.57%); and
5. Winright Ken Ng’ondo (All People’s Congress – APC): 20,921 (0.76%).
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 2,740,178
INVALID VOTES: 48,396

27 DECEMBER 2001 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Levy Mwanawasa (MMD): 506,694 votes (29.15%);
2. Anderson Mazoka (UPND): 472,697 (27.20%);
3. Lt. Gen. Christon Tembo (FDD): 228,861 (13.17%);
4. Tilyenji Kaunda (UNIP): 175,898 (10.12%);
5. Brig. Gen. Godfrey Miyanda (HP): 140,678 (8.09%);
6. Benjamin Mwila (Zambia Republican Party – ZRP): 85,472 (4.92%);
7. Michael Sata (Patriotic Front – PF): 59,172 (3.40%);
8. Dr. Nevers Mumba (National Citizens Coalition – NCC): 38,860 (2.24%);
9. Gwendoline Konie (Social Democratic Party – SDP): 10,253 (0.59%);
10. Inonge-Mbikusita Lewanika (Agenda for Zambia – AZ): 9,882 (0.57%); and
11. Dr. Yobert Shamapande (National Leadership for Development – NLD): 9,481 (0.55%).
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 1,766,356
INVALID VOTES: 28,408

18 NOVEMBER 1996 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Frederick J.T. Chiluba (MMD): 913,770 votes (72.59%);
2. Dean N. Mung’omba (Zambia Democratic Congress – ZDC): 160,439 votes (12.75%);
3. Humphrey Mulemba (National Party – NP): 83,875 votes (6.66%);
4. Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lwanika (AZ): 59,250 votes (4.71%); and
5. Chama M. Chakomboka (Movement for Democratic Process – MDP): 41,471 votes (3.29).
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 1,258,805
INVALID VOTES: 66,248

31 OCTOBER 1991 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS:
1. Frederick J.T. Chiluba (MMD): 972,212 votes (75.76%)
2. Tilyenji Kaunda (UNIP): 311,022 votes (24.24%)
TOTAL VALID VOTES: 1,283,234
INVALID VOTES: 41,531

With this trend in the presidential election results since 1991, when Zambia reverted to a multiparty system of governance, some political parties and some presidential hopefuls should just be realistic and stop contesting in the presidential elections.

UNITED NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE PARTY (UNIP)

After losing to the MMD in 1991, getting only 24.24% of the valid votes cast, UNIP boycotted the 1996 presidential and general elections due to a retrogressive amendment to the Constitution. However, after resurfacing in 2001, UNIP got 10.12% in the presidential election. In the 2011 presidential election, UNIP got 0.36% of the valid votes, but gained a bit of momentum in the 2015 by-election, getting 0.59% of the valid votes. With 0.24% in the 2016 presidential election and 0.06% in the 2021 presidential election, UNIP should bid farewell to contesting in the presidential elections.

MOVEMENT FOR MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY (MMD)

After losing the power of governing to the PF in 2011, with 36.15% of the valid votes, the MMD got a paltry 0.88% of the valid votes in the 2015 presidential by-election, and did not contest in the 2016 presidential election. With only 0.10% of the valid votes, in the just ended 2021 presidential election, the MMD should simply say “goodbye” to contesting in the presidential elections.

THE FATE OF FORMER RULING PARTIES

Since independence in 1964, the country now has three (3) FORMER ruling parties. These are UNIP, MMD and the PF. While UNIP stayed in office for twenty-seven (27) years, the MMD ruled the country for twenty (20) years, while the PF was in office for only ten (10) years.

Stating that “UNIP and the MMD are now on the verge of EXTINCTION” is not far from the truth. Their performance in the elections attest to this ASSUMPTION. The two political parties are now existing only in NAME and not in SUBSTANCE.

The latest FORMER ruling party, the PF, should watch out for this trend. If the PF does not learn lessons from UNIP and the MMD, they may follow suit and become extinct in the next few years.

(If you have any socio-political question that you would like to be discussed on this column, kindly send a message to me either through sms, WhatsApp or email).

SIMON KALOLO KABANDA
Whatsapp: +260-761-206353
Email: shimwenya@gmail.com
12 October 2021
__________________________________

SOSHOPOLITIKO QUESTIONS
with Simon Kalolo Kabanda
Simon Kalolo Kabanda is a Human Rights and Development Consultant. He is also an analyst of governance and socio-political developments.
___________________________________

WE ARE NOT WEAK AND OUR MEAKNESS SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED – HON. LUBINDA

… says it is totally unacceptable for President Hichilema to ask his people to seek revenge, adds that the PF will forever not manage to tame it’s people.

Lusaka … Thursday, October 14, 2021 [Smart Eagles]

Patriotic Front party vice president Hon. Given Lubinda says it is totally unexpected and unacceptable for President Hakainde Hichilema to call for an eye for an eye.

Addressing the media at the PF secretariat in Lusaka, Hon. Lubinda said it is disturbing that President Hichilema openly encouraged UPND thugs to continue hacking and harrasing innocent Zambians and PF members.

The PF vice president said it is unacceptable for the Head of State to ask his cadres to go and seek for revenge on PF members.

” President Hichilema should not reduce himself to be a partisan President. The remarks that attacks on PF are expected human nature makes sad reading. The extremely unguarded statement made by the highest office of the land must be condemned in its entirety,” Hon. Lubinda said.

” PF cadres are being attacked ruthlessly, tortured at the the hands of UPND cadres and our complaints to the Police, Human Rights Commission and the International community are being met with defeating silence,” He said.

Hon. Lubinda reminded President Hichilema that he was elected by Zambians and he is a President for all including criminals.

” On the hand President Hichilema is saying there is need for rule of law and on the other hand he is calling for a law of the jungle. I want to remind President Hichilema that he is a President for all including criminals and not only for the holy ones. He swore to defend the constitution of the country.

And Hon. Lubinda said the PF is not weak and its meekness should not be taken for granted.

He said the PF will forever not manage to tame its cadres.

” We are not weak and our being meek should not be taken for granted. We dont want to act the same way the UPND behaved while in opposition where they encouraged their members to defend themselves, because we will be adding fuel and recipe for anarchy,” Hon. Lubinda said.

” President Hichilema must not encourage Zambians to ignore the provision of the justice system. He must be reminded that if people committed atrocities against each other, there are procedures to follow and an eye for an eye is not one of them,” Hon. Lubinda said.

ECL WAS BETRAYED

By IPS EASTERN PROVINCE WILLIAM PHIRI

Betrayal of trust by Eastern Province political Gurus can never be ignored especially after ECL lost an election in a painful way.

It is embarrassing and disgusting to see high levels of betrayal of trust of former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu by Eastern Province political Gurus.

The former president thought he was well represented by Eastern Province political leaders when infact he was being stabbed in the back everyday. They never loved him nor supported him. The biggest issue was petty jelousy and luck of appreciation. Even some clergy fought their son during every mass or preaching instead of embracing him as their own.shame.

The people that ECL entrusted with leadership in the province were living double standard. It is surprising that even those that were trusted to be presidential campaign managers decampaigned the President by dinning with UPND Candidates during the general elections.

Today people like Peter Daka have the audacity to talk ill about the former president ECL just because he wants a job from HH. UPND should never trust Peter Daka,he is a snake in green grass.Even when ECL has done so much for him,he is going round Lusangazi and kaumbwe insulting ECL and the PF leadership.
The man has no sense of pride or shame, he is a shameless pathological liar who can not be trusted by anyone. He is a betrayer who deserves no forgiveness. How can a normal person betray his own brother who meant well for him? Such politicians have the potential to sell their soul to the devil just to see their own elder brother suffer more.Peter Daka is not a good example of principled leaders but one who is misleading young politicians who are just starting their political journey.

Eastern Province has always been led by elders in politics who have failed to unite it. It has always produced leaders who are always indecisive,people like Peter Daka, Panji Kaunda, Mkondo Lungu, honorable Lameck Mangani,Bizwayo Nkunika, Alexander Miti to mention but few,have failed to show proper leadership to the young generation.

We have people still serving as members of the central committee in PF when infact they are of no tangible use in the party because of their double tongued dealings. It’s no secret that honorable Vincent Mwale is the biggest political terrorist in PF and a danger to the party. He messed the election and surprisingly,was appointed elections chairperson of the prty.wherr are we going with such leaders? Is the the rebranding we want?

Many, including the former president, were deceived by his sweet eloquent talk, sugar coated with fake loyalty.

If the party has to rebrand, the party President should understand the pain of the people in the structures.

We have nothing to lose now and let us speak in a painful way because we want to correct the mistakes that made us to lose the elections. Actually I warned the party in 2019 that losing was going to be painful. Here we are now. The people or leaders that bootlicked the President are nowhere to be found.

As if that was all, Zumani Zimba, Political Advisor to the President,was the worst person we all hated with passion. Everytime that the President visited the province, Zumani behaved as tho he was President himself. He insulted and shouted at the party officials and no one had access to the President except him and a few selfish individuals around the President. We hated our own President because we felt orphans.

Zumani was the worst choice the President made to manage the political terrain of the PF. He messed up. Only God can forgive him not us. We are hurt that our president lost an election which zumani and Siyo mismanaged. The PF Secretariat was reduced to a mare office and did not even know what was happening during elections. The Secretariat was in the dark as Zumani ran the campaigns from State house.

The Goza issue that Zumani Zimba managed was an animal which ate us at the end because they used it to milk the President of millions of kwachas just to enrich themselves.The president was vulnerable because all the people he trusted had schemed against him instead.

When PF lost,only the disgruntled and distressed few individuals gathered around ECL everyday because he was lonely. Those he trusted could not pick up his calls anymore.Beyrayal of trust.

Selfishness killed us.we had stopped listening to the structures on the ground

Thank God for a few bold members who have stood the test of time,people like Given Lubinda, Steven kampyongo,Raphael Nakachinda,masuaso Tembo to rebrand the party in times of tribulations.

CROOKS ARE UNDERMINING PRESIDENT HICHILEMA’S FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

The Candidates’ Comment

The slow pace at which our investigative wings are conducting their activities in their bid to bring to book crooks is worrying. President Hakainde Hichilema has shown so much political will to fight criminality, corruption. His stance, often than not, over these vices has created a conducive environment for a robust fight against corruption and stealing of public funds by elements of the previous administration of the Patriotic Front (PF).

However, the slow pace at which investigative wings is worrying to the public. We all know that there was massive theft of public funds in our country by thieves in the previous administration. This is not a secret. And when one takes a very small investigation, it is not very difficult to trace where some of those crimes were being committed. We believe our investigative wings have enough know-how and resources to establish where corruption and thievery was taking place in the PF administration. Why are we not seeing serious arrests yet?

We are beginning to think – and we strongly believe we are not far from truth that – there is a systematic way which some compromised elements within the investigative wings in partnership with crooks are doing to undermining the corruption fight of Hakainde.

Everyone knows, including children, that PF housed a number of serious thieves. They inflated figures on tenders where most of the monies paid do not correlate with actual prices of goods or services in question. Most of that money ended up in the pockets of these criminals. It is only in Zambia where government, under the PF administration could procure a fighting fight truck at $1 million yet, fail to secure insurance for that truck at its said market price. That alone tells you that the real cost does not reflect the amount that such items were purchased on by tax payers through their representatives in government.

Further, a number of them were given contracts of all sorts and paid monies but have not delivered anything. Look at the thieving that took place at Food Reserve Agency (FRA) where a PF Provincial Chairman obtained tons of maize to sale to Congo but did not pay FRA the money! Look at the thieving that took place over the Higer Buses which PF elements on structures begun to run and manage them, and pocketed all the monies.

This country is damaged because much of the debt which the PF administration acquired ended up in the pockets of few crooks. These are very well known facts but until now, investigative wings seem to be doing nothing worth talking about despite that Hakainde has created a very fertile environment to prosecute thieves.

Ironically, thieves are regrouping and asking Hakainde to deliver certain things overnight when we all know that Zambia is broke because they stole all the monies. It is the same money which these thieves plundered which should be used to offer free education and meet other promises. If Hakainde is going to fulfill most of the promises he has made – which we all know are in the interest of Zambians – there must be a robust fight against corruption, against endemic plunder which we experienced in the PF administration. Therefore, investigative wings must not fold arms and take all their time in visiting thieves. They must do things with a sense of urgency because so much is highly dependent on them. Hakainde has provided enough leeway and support and has shown enough as well as necessary political will to ensure that what was stolen from Zambians in brought back. Do not let Hakainde down and consequently, let the people of Zambia down.- The Candidates

DESTROYING CHOMA DEBONAIRES DUE TO ALLEGED NON DISPLAY OF PRESIDENTIAL PORTRAIT IS MERE POLITICAL HOOLIGANISM

What happened in Choma where UPND cadres, harrassed and attacked the Choma Debonaires branch, belonging to PF MCC Kebby Mbewe, for not displaying President HH’s portait was unfortunate, barbaric and a display of lawlessness.

There is no law that requires that businesses and offices must display such as it is a mere practice and not legal requirement.

Just to remind Zambians that this is not the first time that overzealous cadres have misbehaved and misconducted themselves in this manner just to attract political attention.

On Monday 5 January 2018, then Kitwe District Commissioner, Binwell Mpundu while inspecting business houses in Kitwe, expressed disappointment that some prominent institutions were using the 2015 Presidential portrait which has been done away with.

Mpundu, ignorantly said it was an offence for any institution not to display the new presidential portrait which Cabinet Office issued to the public over a year ago further warning them by issuing a 21-day ultimatum to business to adhere to his directives failure to which government would act to enforce the non existing law.

Clearly, Mpundu acted ignorantly because perusing through several pieces of legislation including the Constitution, the Penal Code, Public Order Act and the Local Government Act, there is no section contained on presidential portrait display to that effect.

On Friday 24 June 2011, Given Lubinda then opposition PF member of parliament for Kabwata raised this issue with the Vice President and Minister of Justice, late George Kunda in the National Assembly.

Lubinda wanted to know whether or not (a) under what law the portrait of the Head of State and Government was displayed in public places; (b) if no law existed, when the practice of displaying the portrait had started and what the rationale was; and (c) whether there were any penalties for failure to display the portrait.

In response, Todd Chilembo, then Deputy Minister of Justice responded that, *there was no law requiring the portrait of the Head of State and Government to be displayed in public places.*

*It is a practice* and “the practice of displaying the portrait of the Head of State and Government in public places was inherited from the British and is encouraged as a means through which the public is made aware of who the Head of State is and who constitutes Government explaining that this practice is particularly helpful in settings where the general public may have no access to this kind of information via television, newspapers and radio.

Chilembo further guided that there could be *no penalties for failure to display the portrait of the Head of State as there was no law requiring the displaying of the portrait.*

Since this question was raised in parliament, there has been no law enacted to criminalise the no display of a Presidential portrait in public, business and govt places.

So the incident in Choma was clearly more of political one than legal and therefore, the cadres just used the presidential portrait issue to reach at Kebby Mbewe, the PF MCC whose conduct before, during and after election could have been injurious to them.

Now that barbaric conduct by cadres destroying private properties to reach at a political opponent and a place that benefited many regardless of their party affiliations is evil and must be condemned and culprits brought to book.

Civil ways of reaching at each other as politicians can be explored than destruction of property in the name of party vigilance.

I submit

McDonald Chipenzi

By Ulande Nkomesha,

UPND deputy secretary general Patrick Mucheleka speaks to News Diggers! at the party secretariat on June 27, 2018 – Picture by Tenson Mkhala
UPND secretary general Patrick Mucheleka says the party is confident that it will scoop the Kaumbwe seat.

And Mucheleka says PF should be grateful that they are able to campaign freely without being harassed during by-elections.

In an interview, Mucheleka said the UPND government planned to take development to that area without discrimination.

“You know dreaming and hallucinating is free, the PF can express confidence it is their right to do so. What is important is that in Kaumbwe we are campaigning and as UPND we are confident of taking that seat so that we bring development to the people of Kaumbwe without discriminating against anyone. So, we can only appeal to our people in Kaumbwe to vote for the UPND party and its candidates. We are very confident that we are scooping that seat,” Mucheleka said.

He said UPND was working hard to repair the damage that had been done in the last 10 years.

And Mucheleka said the PF should be grateful that they were able to campaign freely without being harassed.

“What mistakes have we made in two months? They are trying to save face by hallucinating, we have only been in power for two months and we are working very hard to repair the damage that was done in the last 10 years. First of all, we have been able to restore democracy, rule of law. They are campaigning freely in Kaumbwe which would not have been possible if it was them. By now you would have heard police brutality in Kaumbwe or indeed everywhere where by-elections are being held. That is not the case, they are campaigning freely, they are free to even say whatever they are saying, no one is even harassing them. We have not used the police to advantage ourselves, they must be grateful for that,” said Mucheleka.

“Secondly, we have not gone into Kaumbwe to abuse the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit to distribute mealie meal there. They must recommend us for that. Those people in Kaumbwe the PF, they can move and they can say anything against the President and the UPND without being summoned to the police.”

Meanwhile, speaking in Kaumbwe, Monday, Shiwang’andu PF member of parliament Stephen Kampyongo said MPs should know how to work with people in their constituencies.

“I come here so that we can help each other. The one who is standing here on the PF ticket will be lucky because we will teach him how to work as an MP. An MP should know how to live with people. When I was Minister, I never forgot the people that voted for me. Us as MPs we are the ones who receive the funds which we call CDF, from that CDF that is where [there is] money that should go for the construction of clinics. There are a lot of MPs who don’t know how to work, others the moment they are elected their body even changes. When you see an MP looking like me just know that the MP is working with the people,” said Kampyongo.

NO ONE WILL EVER HELP YOU IN LIFE OTHER THAN YOURSELF-TUTWA

Former Kabwe Central Member of Parliament Tutwa S. Ngulube wrote: AM I TALKING TO SOMEONE STRUGGLING WITH LIFE

WHERE I COME FROM in Chama District, Mphyanakunda village of Chief Lundu, we dont beat our own drums but today allow me to speak to that Person suffering, struggling with school fees, rentals, Business capital, medical bills etc.

In my humble journey through life i want to confess that Life is what you make of it and not what people see on Social media.

Many people feel discouraged whenever they want to start a business or to buy land to build a house. When you are not doing well friends shun your calls they rarely visit and life passes on.

From the humble beginnings of my youth to the apex on my career as a Lawyer i have done business and have learnt that no single Friend or family member will carry your burdens with you.

I suffered as a boy and told myself that i needed to lift myself out of poverty with God’s hand.

I proudly started street vending with 8 points waiting to go into the university of Zambia looking for school fees.

Friends and family said i needed a mental checkup for becoming a street vendor. I ignored them all. People laughed and mocked me. I did not mind.

Today Student bursaries are not very easy but you can do your best to help yourself.

I raised University fees from one of Africa’s dirtiest markets that time. Soweto Market in Lusaka in 1998.

I went to university not knowing who will pay the next semester fees. At University of Zambia i used to sell Popcorns every evening to raise money for school and that time we had thousands of students buying popcorns everyday. During the day you are on class and at night you are raising school fees. Not very fashionable that time.

I graduated with my own sweat and hardwork. My experience is that no business is too small for you. Do it now.

INNOCENT FARMERS ARE DYING BECAUSE OF UPND’S DECISION NOT TO BUY THEIR MAIZE – NAKACHINDA

The Patriotic Front (PF) leadership has said that the United Party for National Development (UPND) government is punishing innocent farmers by failing to provide Food Reserve Agency grain bags.

PF Member of the Central Committee in charge of Information and Publicity Rapheal Nakachinda said it is unfortunate that farmers have stayed for two months in depots without being given grain bags.
He said the UPND promised to be there for the people but the current situation is unacceptable.

He appealed to President Hakainde Hichilema and Minister of Agriculture to ensure that the situation is resolved.

Meanwhile Mr Nakachinda has given the new dawn government 48 hours ultimatum to start giving out farming inputs to farmers.

“By now farmers should have farming inputs in their homes but what is being said is that they are auditing FISP,” he said.

And Shiwang’andu Member of Parliament Stephen Kampyongo said it is saddening that farmers can be subjected to such suffering.
Mr Kampyongo said farmers will lose out if the situation is not resolved.

He said farming season is around the corner but farmers are languishing at depots.

Meanwhile, Some farmers in Ngwezi ward in Kazungula district, who took their maize to Ngwezi satellite depot, have asked government to provide them with empty grain bags as soon as possible.

The farmers complained that they have been sleeping at the depot for over three months now waiting for the Food and Reserve Agency (FRA) to purchase their produce.

A check by ZANIS at Ngwezi depot yesterday revealed that most of the grain bags are damaged and the maize might go to waste very soon.

Sydney Siantwala, who spoke on behalf of other farmers, requested the new dawn government to quickly address their plight.

And Kazungula District Cooperation Union chairman Elias Muluwa said farmers in the area were suffering and needed urgent help from the government.

“Farmers have brought their maize here for three to four months now. The rains are coming very soon. Look at the bags of maize which are tearing up resulting to maize pouring out. This situation is unacceptable to hard working farmers,” Mr. Muluwa lamented.

He said farmers were suffering hence government should assist them by providing them with empty grain bags.

Meanwhile, Katombola Member of Parliament Clement Andeleki assured the farmers of Ngwezi ward that government will purchase empty grain bags for their maize.

Dr. Andeleki, who addressed the people of Ngwezi ward at the central market yesterday, bemoaned the poor leadership of the previous regime saying the Patriotic Front (PF) government did not plan properly about the procurement of maize in the area.

SLAPDEE SHOULD WITHDRAW HIS APOLOGY, IT’S A BETRAYAL OF ARTISTIC CONSCIOUSNESS – BOWMAN LUSAMBO

One of the most prized possessions of an artist in whatever form or shade is the ability to express oneself artistically without undue internal or external pressures. When you have a horde of people descend on an artist to an extent of forcing him or her to denounce their own artistic creations, then such action cannot pass without a comment.

The events of the past two days following Slapdee’s AFRIMMA nomination and the cyber bullying that he has been subjected to leading to him apologizing for having provided artistic services to the PF during the elections campaign have left me saddened.

As someone who has supported Slapdee’s career from the early days, I was proud to see his nomination for the prestigious award and I quickly voted for him and mobilized several friends to equally do the same as an act of patriotism and as a contribution towards the growth of the creative and arts sector.

It is therefore despicable that some Zambians can find joy and ecstasy in decampaigning Slapdee, voting for a rival artist from a foreign country and forcing him to apologise for using his art in a way he saw it fit, both commercially and artistically.

When an artist is stripped off his artistic consciousness, his entire body of work becomes redundant and orphaned. Our artists should be allowed to enjoy absolute artistic freedom as long as it sits within the framework of what is legally permissible in the land.

Furthermore, those that have the mandate to provide leadership in this country should quickly implement measures that will reunite this country. The unnecessary debates from the so called 2.8 and the 1.8 is unfortunate, irritating and should not to tolerated. Zambia is bigger than these two groups of people put together.

Over 14 million Zambians did not want to have anything to do with the past elections and reducing every national debate to how the 2.8 and the 1.8 million people would feel is shallow mindedness of the worst form. To be fair to Slapdee, he owed no one an apology.

As an artist, he should be at liberty to exercise his freedom of free thought and be allowed to express it in the best way he knows-through art. I therefore wish to advise him to retract his apology and maintain his nomination for the award and remain an influential and incredible artist that he is.

By Chamuka Shalubala,

FORMER attorney general Musa Mwenye says a lot of presidents have been destroyed by praise singers.

And Mwenye says he has noticed a growing trend where judges are not appointed based on their capabilities but because of their closeness to power.

Meanwhile, Mwenye says the Judiciary should not be isolated from criticism.

Speaking when he featured on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview, Mwenye said informed criticism should be promoted as it helps to build Presidents.

“Our commitment as citizens should be to keep our government honest because you see, I have always been of the view that sycophancy destroys presidents. Praise singers are the worst people because a lot of presidents are destroyed by praise singers. Principled and informed critics are what builds presidents. If I flag off something early, you give the politicians time to self correct before it becomes a problem. So informed and respective criticism must be promoted and encouraged because it helps us as long as we hear the criticism and act upon it,” he said.

And Mwenye said judges must not be appointed based on patronage.

“Of course the way we appoint judges, we must not appoint judges simply based on patronage. To be honest, in the recent past that has been a huge problem. I know that as a young lawyer, one of the things we saw was some of the most strong practitioners would be enticed to take up appointments in the judiciary but we saw a growing trend in the last few years where it was not about the capability of the judges but it was closeness to power. That should never be the case,” he said.

He agreed with Constitutional Lawyer John Sangwa that there was need for transparency in selecting a chief justice.

“I think we must put everything in context. As far as I can hear John’s arguments, Mr Sangwa’s argument is that of transparency and openness. Anything that engenders transparency ought to be embraced. But having served in government, I do know that a lot of things before they are implemented need a bit of due diligence. There is need of a bit of care before you move quickly to implement some issues. Going to his core argument about having more transparency, having more accountability in the appointment of important officers such as the chief justice, he is correct that the move worldwide is for more transparency and we have seen that in Kenya, we have seen that in South Africa. To that extent, I am in agreement with anything that engenders more transparency, that builds more trust in the institutes, especially in the institutions such as the Judiciary,” he said.

“Whether we should implement it now is a matter that really requires a bit more introspection. For now, it is a good recommendation but I am not yet at a place where I have heard enough arguments and have accessed the surrounding circumstances enough to be convinced one way or the other whether it should happen in this instance. But I do agree completely with more transparency, with more accountability. It is the way to go with the modern recruitment of judges. The thing is that when you open it up and you publicize and open the interview process, you let the people see for themselves the competencies of the people being appointed.”

Meanwhile, Mwenye said the judiciary should not be isolated from criticism.

“The constitution is very clear that one of the principles by which the delivery of justice and the systems that are set by to deliver justice is to abide by accountability. The constitution itself says the judiciary should be accountable. So we can’t have a system where the judiciary is not accountable to the public. Now we should not insult the judiciary, we should not get to a place where we reduce the respectability of the important institutions such as the judiciary but we should not isolate the judiciary from criticism,” Mwenye said.

Mwenye also said those who were in the previous government should be the first ones to be subjected to lifestyle audits.

“If you recall, I had offered myself to be the first person to be checked because I served in government. I served as solicitor general and then I graduated to serving as attorney general. So I shouldn’t be so sensitive to being asked questions about what I have and how I acquired it during the period I was in government. Whether it was after government or before government. There is nothing wrong with transparency and there is no way we can fight corruption unless we go beyond looking for specific crimes. Those who were in government should be the first ones. I think it should be extended to those who were in government, at the end of the day if you have wealth that you can’t explain there is prima facie criminal offence there. A person who can’t explain the wealth they have is potentially in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime. Whatever I have I should be able to explain it. Why is it so difficult in this setting that we are in to just explain our wealth? We start from the previous government, that’s where we start from,” said Mwenye.

“I agree, we should come up with a formalized process, we should perhaps make it clear to everyone, it shouldn’t just be in the mind of ACC. The South Africans are implementing it already, it is not difficult to do a case study and to bring the experiences from there to here. But what is clear is that we must have this because you just can’t wait for a silver bullet to say ‘Musa Mwenye has committed a crime and here is the evidence’. If you don’t have the evidence, look at my lifestyle. I’m saying to the new government that we should start with the immediate past government because they haven’t had enough time for us to say their lifestyles have changed, but there will be a time when we shall ask them those questions as well.”

KELVIN Bwalya Fube (KBF) should just come back home if things are not okay for him in the UPND Alliance than throwing tantrums against Patriotic Front (PF) members, PF Secretary General Davis Mwila has said.

But Mr Bwalya said he could not “jump into a sinking boat” whose future was doomed.
In an interview, Mr Mwila said Mr Bwalya should apologise and rejoin the former ruling party if he missed being PF.

He was reacting to remarks by Mr Bwalya that he would finish and bankrupt PF if the party failed to pay monies owed to several citizens, including musicians.

Mr Mwila said Mr Bwalya should concentrate on building his alliance with UPND instead of wishing to have PF deregistered on grounds that it owed a lot of people millions of Kwachas when in fact not.
“Let him just concentrate on his alliance with the UPND because if he wants to join the party, let him just come quietly, apologise and join PF. How does one talk about money and at the same time urging members to leave the party? Then, he is mixing business and politics,” Mr Mwila said.
Mr Mwila said as the Chief Executive Officer of the party, he never signed any contract with the musicians.
He challenged Mr Bwalya to produce the contract that he signed with the people fe is claiming were owed by PF.

“By law, all the contracts are supposed to be signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the party, which was myself. So ask him who signed the contract. Let him produce the contract that I signed. Legally, there must be a signed contract. If that was done, then the party will pay but if the contract was not signed, how do we pay?” Mr Mwila said.

He said if Mr Bwalya was engaged as lawyer by those handling musicians to demand for payment from PF, he should not make it appear as if we are owing him because the party did not owe him anything.

“And if he is talking about recovering the money from the party, why targeting the people that are leaving the party? Those are now politics. He is mixing business and politics .He is talking about us owing the musicians, but let him prove by producing a document where I signed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Bwalya said Mr Mwila should not pretend not to know about the debts that PF owed to several people because he had written not only to him but also party national chairman Mr Samuel Mukupa.

He said that the PF owed people millions of Kwacha, warning that if they do not pay, he would personally ensure that it was made bankrupt and have it deregistered.

“Davis Mwila knows what I am talking about. The party national chairman Mr Samuel Mukupa also knows what I am talking about because they were served with letters. I do not fear anybody and I will make sure they pay or make PF bankrupt, they won’t exist,” Mr Bwalya warned.
Asked if he would rejoin PF, Mr Bwalya said there was no future in the former ruling party and he could never rejoin them.

“Even those that are still in PF should just ditch the sinking boat or else they will capsize. Lunshi wachimpwena bamushikakumo nechitumbi. The future is with us with brains and vision for Zambia. Actually, let them join us in the Zambia Must Prosper so that we can work together because most of them know how good-hearted I am,” he said.-Daily Nation

THE CIVIL SERVICE & CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT. WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

IT is common in a country that conducts regular elections to change governments every so often and so is the composition of the civil service.

In Zambia, regular elections and change of administration have been an entrenched democratic practice since 1991.

The main casualties at every change of govt outside the politicians ‘re the civil servants at State HOUSE or public officers ie. Permanent secretaries, heads of state owned enterprises (SOEs), service Commission heads, Diplomats, DCs among others.

Delaying replacing these heads of SOEs, PSs, Diplomats and DCs among others is usually regarded as a “weakness than strength” to the new administration/Govt.

Already huge national debate is raging as to why the new President has not replaced diplomats who were recently recalled, PSs recently fired and DCs who have continued to enjoy free salaries as they continue to be on paid leave.

With the assumption of a party whose focus was to politicise all govt and state institutions, public service and public officers had become more vulnerable, manipulative and more aggressive in recruiting people in govt offices who Support the party for continued stay in their offices.

Except for the Bank of Zambia Governor, Christopher Mvunga who resigned on his own, the rest have waited to be fired or recalled even when they engaged in active partisan politics.

But should new administrations/government always fire public officers whenever they assumed office?

This should not be case if recruitment of these was based on merit, competence and relevant experience that political, familial, tribal, ethnicity, regional affiliations.

Service Commissions Act, 2016 spells out values and principles of the civil service but alas these are never respected due to politics.

The way forward is to respect the values and principles of the civil service which include but not limited to: impartial and equitable provision of services, efficient and economic use of national resources, integrity and professional, inclusive and accountable.

Other values are qualified, meritorious, competent, relevant experience and good conduct.

Do these values and principles reflect in appointed persons to run the civil service, if not then changes at every regime that comes into office shall be our portion?

To this end, the President must be decisive on whether to maintain or replace some of the public officers such as the DCs than extending their leave while they get paid free monies meant for national development.

I submit

McDonald Chipenzi

WHAT HH’S FIRST BUDGET WILL NEED TO IMPRESS THE IMF

Upon his return from the United States last month, President Hichilema explained that part of his mission in the country had been to engage the leaders of the IMF and World Bank in order to “restore credibility” for Zambia, particularly with regards to the enormous foreign debts.

Since then, the IMF has conducted a virtual staff visit to Zambia, which wrapped up on October 1st. Following the trip, the Fund’s Mission Chief for Zambia, Allison Holland, observed that in light of the “deeply challenging macro-economic environment”, HH’s government would need to take “urgent steps” to restore sustainability.

The government’s inaugural budget, which is due at the end of this month, provides the ideal opportunity to lay out which of these steps it will take. This budget will be vital to achieving successive administrations’ goal of a $1.3 billion bailout package from the IMF, as well as fulfilling HH’s personal election promise to put Zambia back on the road to financial prosperity. While it will certainly be no mean feat, this budget should ideally tackle three main issues: high debt, government waste, and a lack of private sector confidence.

TACKLING THE DEBT CRISIS

Under the previous administration Zambia’s debts ballooned: growing from 66% of GDP in 2011 to 113% by 2021. Since President Hichilema took office, a more transparent audit of the government’s accounts shows that Zambia owed $14.3 billion to foreign lenders – many of them Chinese state institutions.

In the past the IMF has been clear that Zambia must control its rampant borrowing if it is to stand any chance of receiving a bailout package. This budget, therefore, must spell out strict limits on future government borrowing, which should never be used to pay for day-to-day spending.

Furthermore, the president will have to sit down with his foreign creditors – especially the Chinese – in order to rebuild Zambia’s credibility and negotiate as favourable interest rates as possible. By showing that Zambia can once more be held to account, President Hichilema will help to bring the debt situation back under control.

ROOTING OUT CORRUPTION AND REIGNING IN SPENDING

To avoid exacerbating the debt situation by borrowing more, President Hichilema will also need to conduct a review of government spending, as well as prioritise regaining any revenue that has been lost through corruption.

As things stand, the government spends roughly 40% of its tax income on salaries for civil servants – an unacceptable figure for any modern nation. The budget, therefore, will need to spell out means to streamline the work of government, as well as mechanisms to help civil servants be more efficient.

President Hichilema has himself led the way in terms of government frugality, famously flying to New York in a commercial airliner last month and bringing with him only a small retinue of staff. This kind of restraint will need to be exercised across the entirety of government if the country stands any chance of reducing its debt.

Furthermore, the government urgently needs to take a firmer stance on corruption; translating its tough words into action. When President Hichilema first took office he told reporters that the country’s coffers were “literally empty” and that PF cadres were still drawing government salaries and trying to hide their cash overseas. While the president has since pledged to take a “zero tolerance” approach to corruption, there have been few high profile arrests for this kind of behaviour.

RESTORING FAITH IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Finally, it is not enough for the budget to merely reduce borrowing and cut down on spending. The government will also need to find ways of increasing its revenue if it is to sufficiently impress the IMF ahead of a bailout.

For this, President Hichilema should turn to Zambia’s wealth of natural resources, and in particular copper. Under the Patriotic Front the government soured relations with the country’s copper producers, buying out Mopani Mines from Glencore and forcing Konkola Copper Mines into liquidation.

Since then little has been done by the new administration to improve these relations and boost copper production. Mopani, for instance, is still lacking a private backer to make the mine sustainable, despite the government taking on some $1.5 billion in debt to purchase it in the first place. KCM, meanwhile, remains embroiled in an arbitration feud despite the fact that a tribunal in London ruled that ZCCM was in breach of its shareholder agreement and that the state-appointed liquidator should be discharged immediately back in July. The urgency of a speedy resolution has since been further highlighted by the arrest of the liquidator, Milingo Lungu, on charges of theft and money laundering worth millions.

All the while global copper prices continue to climb but productivity at the country’s largest mines remains low. Since the government effectively took over production at KCM in May 2019, production has slumped by some 70%. This kind of missed opportunity is unacceptable, particularly in a country trying to climb out from under a mountain of debt.

Prior to his budget this month, President Hichilema should pledge to resolve disputes in the sector as a matter of priority so as to secure jobs, investment and the revenues his administration will need of it is to avoid further borrowing. He will need to rebuild trust with both the private sector and employees so that the sector delivers mutual benefits for all. To achieve this he must use the budget to promise cooperation with mining companies, as well as ample employment opportunities for skilled workers throughout the value chain and fair remuneration. In this way, exports will soar and the government’s tax revenue will rise dramatically.

This kind of trust with the private sector will doubtlessly be difficult to rebuild, but as a former businessman President Hichilema has promised numerous times to establish a stable regulatory environment in Zambia to help companies grow. If he can signal this in his inaugural budget, as well as provide measures to clamp down on high rates of borrowing and spending, then his government might stand a chance of securing a brighter future for Zambia.

Zambians are regretting for voting for the UPND, says Elizabeth Phiri.

And Phiri has bemoaned the decision taken by President Hakainde Hichilema for aligning the Ministry of Gender to the Office of the Vice President.

Speaking with Daily Revelation, Phiri, who is immediate past Gender Minister, said that the Zambian people are anxiously waiting for the UPND government to start delivering on its campaign promises, stating that citizens will soon run out of patience.

She pointed out that the UPND administration has already started backtracking on the promises it made to the Zambian people prior to the August 12 general election.

“We were promised a lot of things and that is the more reason why most Zambians voted for this [UPND] government. I know that people might be telling me that it’s too early for me to comment on the UPND administration. They promised us that once they are sworn in at 10:00 hours at 14:00 hours the US Dollar will drop. Before the Patriotic Front could leave government, the Dollar had started dropping. But today the rate at which the US Dollar is going up. We were promised free education; but recently we heard our Vice President Her Honour Madam Mutale Nalumango saying that no, we meant to provide bursaries for the poor. The UPND government is already backtracking on this campaign promises. And yet this is the programme that the Patriotic Front was implementing. That’s not what we expected,” Phiri explained.

Phiri also pointed out that the New Dawn government has also failed to address the issue of party cadres patronising markets and bus stations.

“We were promised that there will be no cadreism. I am the immediate past member of parliament for Kanyama Constituency and I see a lot of violence, not only in Kanyama, but in other constituencies as well. Kanyama houses a lot of markets and UPND cadres are in the markets as I speak. We saw how bus drivers protested and they went to meet Minister of Local Government Honourable Garry Nkombo because of cadreism in bus stations and markets,” she recounted.

She also stated that the UPND administration is not paying attention to the numerous challenges facing small scale farmers.

“We were promised that [the price of] fertiliser will drop. I am yet to see and know how much the farmers are buying fertiliser at. I also want to know when farmers will start receiving [subsided] fertiliser for this [farming] season,” Phiri explained. “We have also witnessed situations where farmers that have supplied their maize to FRA [Food Reserve Agency] is being soaked by early rains…it’s going to waste. And yet farmers have not been paid their money for the farm produce supplied to FRA. And no one in the UPND government is paying attention to that. So, when you look at all these things; I can see that there’s nothing we can call something nearer to what we can call truth. So, I think that people are now regretting for voting for the UPND under the impression that they were voting for change that would improve their livelihoods.”

Phiri has bemoaned the decision taken by President Hakainde Hichilema for aligning the Ministry of Gender to the Office of the Vice President.

The former PF Kanyama lawmaker stated that the Ministry of Gender should have remained a stand-alone Ministry instead of aligning it to the Office of the Vice President ad a Department.

Phiri explained that Zambia has scored a number of successes in gender equality and gender mainstreaming when it had a stand-alone Ministry of Gender.

She said that the Ministry of Gender was going to discharge its functions efficiently and effectively if it remained a stand-alone Government Ministry.

Phiri stressed that the UPND administration has given advocates of gender equality a raw deal by aligning the Ministry of Gender to the Office of the Vice President.

“We have been taken aback…this is a step backwards. As advocates of gender equality and gender equity, I think we have given a raw deal by the move taken by the UPND regarding the Ministry of Gender,” Phiri said. “Countries in the SADC region and at international level of late have been paying particular attention to issues of gender equality and, usually, have established stand-alone Government Ministries to address issues surrounding gender equality and gender equity,” she said. “Now that the Ministry of Gender has been aligned as a Department to the Office of the Vice President, I am not sure if our country, Zambia, will be effectively represented at international fora that are converged across the globe to deliberate on gender issues when you just send a director in the Department of the Office of the Vice President.”

Phiri has since appealed to President Hakainde Hichilema to reconsider re-establishing the Ministry of Gender as a stand-alone Ministry.

CREDIT: Daily Revelation

WE WILL SEND OUT OFFICERS TO RECOVER LOANS FROM YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES – MINISTER NKANDU

……those who squandered empowerment funds will be reported, prosecuted.

By Julia Malunga

Youth and Sports Minister Elvis Nkandu at the induction meeting of Ministers and Provincial Ministers at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka on September 13, 2021 – Picture by Tenson Mkhala
YOUTH, Sport and Arts Minister Elvis Nkandu says his ministry will send out officers to recover loans from the youth empowerment programmes, warning that anyone who fails to pay back will be reported to relevant authorities and prosecuted.

The Auditor General’s Report on accounts of the Republic for the financial year ended December 31, 2020, revealed that the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development implemented youth empowerment programmes totalling K88,916,306 but only K5,947,567 was recovered.

The report revealed that government also disbursed K52,000,000 in form of loans to 2,750 youth groups throughout the country but only K2,800,000 had been recovered.

But in an interview, Nkandu said his ministry expected to make recoveries and would not spare anyone who got money from the empowerment programmes and allocated it to other things.

“I want to assure you that those that got money wherever they are, let them pay back otherwise, we will not spare anyone that got money from the well intended projects for other things. Our intention is to make sure a lot of youths are empowered. That should be a concern to every Zambian. When you dish out taxpayers money on empowerment programmes, I think the primary objective that we have is to start absorbing the unemployment levels that we have in the country. If we start saying a lot of money has not been recovered, it becomes a concern to everyone,” Nkandu said.

“We still have our officers at the ministry who we will send to go and look for those that had acquired these empowerment loans. We expect to make a lot of recoveries. It may not be 100 percent but I know there will be a lot of recoveries that we will make as a ministry because the people that were given money should be located. It is a human being who was dishing out money and those people knew where they were dishing out money so it is just a matter of time. If those that were allocating money cannot find those that benefited, then there must be something wrong with those that were dishing out money. So for now, I know they are still on top of things and they will be looking for these people who got the money.”

Nkandu said individuals who would failed to pay back the loans would be reported to relevant authorities and prosecuted if they squandered the money.

He said most of the empowerment funds were given to PF cadres.

“What is correct is that a large percentage of those empowerment funds was given to the PF. That government was very brutal. It was very difficult even for a professional to give advice. Even where a professional would know that this will not work, they would choose to remain mute. A lot of that money was given to PF cadres. Those people are Zambians at the end of the day. If there are youths, they also have the right to obtain money from the government but the bottom line is that, that was a loan and if it is a loan, people should pay back. If we find that someone cannot pay back, that is why we have these institutions that will look into these issues. We will report them to relevant authorities and they will be prosecuted if they have squandered that money. That money was meant to revolve and also to upgrade people,” he said.

Nkandu said the UPND government would start implementing the empowerment funds as soon as possible.

“It was difficult to differentiate money being given as campaign and empowerment funds because the timing was not good. That is why we need to do things differently. Just after coming into office, we need to start these empowerment funds as soon as possible. Rather than waiting for one year before elections, people will misinterpret the whole thing. People need to be empowered now. We should not wait for election time,” he said.

Nkandu further warned that adults who got money on pretext that they were youths would also not be spared.

“And let me take the opportunity to warn the adults who want to get money out of the youth ministry. There is a clear policy that the people that should be empowered should be 35 and below. After 35, they need to go to the Small and Medium Enterprise Ministry. So those that use youths as a front to acquire empowerment funds, we will not spare those people. The Zambian people should assist the ministry because that is their money. They should not be lying to the ministry that they are 32 and yet they are 50 something. We need youths to be empowered,” said Nkandu.

By Julia Malunga,

TOURISM Minister Rodney Sikumba says his ministry notified the National Prosecution Authority on prosecutors that were drawing double salaries and deductions are currently running.

The Auditor General’s Report on accounts of the Republic for the financial year ended December 31, 2020, revealed that 50 prosecutors were drawing double salaries from the Ministry of Tourism and Arts and National Prosecution Authority amounting to K2,706,005.

Responding to a press query on this issue, Sikumba said the ministry had further engaged NPA to take action against the said officers.

“The ministry has further notified NPA on the drawing of double salaries by these officers. A request was made to effect recoveries and deductions are currently running through the NPA payroll and funds are being remitted to the Treasury. The Ministry has further engaged NPA to take appropriate action on these officers as the pay slips are self-guiding in the event of wrong or over payment and it is the responsibility of each officer to report such anomaly.

Members of the Public, since these officers were transferred fully to the NPA in 2017, the Ministry of Tourism has initiated jurisdiction over them, hence any other appropriate remedial action on them has to be collaborated through their employer who is NPA. In this regard, I am pleased to mention that NPA has been of great help in ensuring the right thing is done,” Sikumba said.

He said the NPA was granted Treasury Authority by Ministry of Finance in 2017 to migrate all prosecutors and subsequently completed the transfer process of all prosecutors to their payroll but that the information was not shared with the ministry.

“The Ministry acknowledges the Auditor General’s Report indicating that 50 prosecutors who were based at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (NPA) and DNPW after their transfer to NPA. The public may wish to know that government had transferred all prosecutors to the NPA whilst awaiting the granting of the Treasury Authority to recruit and transfer all prosecutors.

During this transition period, the NPSA was paying the prosecutors the difference of NPA prosecutors salaries, whilst they remained on their substantive payrolls. In 2017, the NPA was granted Treasury Authority by the Ministry of Finance to migrate all prosecutors and they subsequently completed the transfer process of all prosecutors to their payroll,” said Sikumba.

“However, this authority and information was not shared with the ministry. In November, 2020 the ministry received directives from the Public Service Management Division (PSMD) informing the ministry that 45 prosecutors had been transferred to the NPA. Members of the public, this is the authority upon which the ministry relied upon to terminate the officers from the payroll.”

Allegations of gross abuse of worker’s rights by Zambia Airways Chief Executive Officer Bruk Edeshaw and rampant commercial and financial irregularities at the yet to be launched airline have emerged.

And investigations have shown that the Zambian Government through the Industrial Development Corporation has since has so far made a capital contribution of over US$4.5 million and has been paying Ethiopian Airlines $240,000 per quarter as Expert Fees even before the airline takes off.

Documents seen have shown gross abuse of worker’s rights, glaring commercial and financial irregularities which have seen the IDC paying legal fees for Ethiopian Airlines to resolve the issue of aircraft leasing because the airline would like to lease aircrafts to Zambia Airways which do not belong to them and the leasing company has not accepted their proposal.

Board Chairman Bonaventure Mutale confirmed in a phone interview that a Committee has been set up to investigate the allegations against the CEP and that the outcome of the investigations will be availed later.

According to a source with full knowledge of the matter, the work environment at Zambia Airways is allegedly a toxic, one-man show coupled with abusive and derogatory language from Mr Edenshaw.

The source revealed that since commencement of operations in 2019, Zambia Airways has not availed any written conditions of service to employees, disciplinary code or code of conduct to its employees.

The situation has since seen an over 50% average employee turnover rate at Zambia Airways in the past two years.

The majority of workers have since resigned and those that have remained have written to the Board of Directors informing the Board of the insults they are subjected to and passed a Vote of No Confidence in Mr Endeshaw’s leadership.

The Board has since constituted a team to investigate the allegations. The workers also wrote to the Ministry of Labour to air their grievances.

As the investigations against the CEO are ongoing, the HR and General Services Supervisor was fired last Friday.

Investigations also revealed that since commencement of operations in 2019, Zambia Airways has not availed any written conditions of service to employees, disciplinary code or code of conduct to its employees.

The work environment at Zambia Airways has been described as toxic by people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The workers are not allowed to act professionally but are rather coerced into carrying out directives. All those that attempt to resist are either fired or frustrated into resignation. There are no management meetings but only one to one sessions in which staff are given directives to follow. The general feeling among Zambia Airways staff is that their CEO does not have their welfare at heart. Officers use their personal vehicles to carry out company duties. There is no provision for company vehicles or staff loans to acquire vehicles. Zambia Airways offices are located at KKIA, the distance is too long and depleting the little income staff are paid,” a leaked internal document shows.

Further inquiries shave shown that the income gap between ET seconded staff and Zambia Airways staff is huge and may need to be realigned to address pay inequalities and the current organization structure of Zambia Airways Limited does not provide for a clear succession plan with a deliberate focus on knowledge transfer to local officers.

A detailed investigation has revealed that even before the airline could take to the sky, the Zambian Government through the Industrial Development Corporation has so far made a capital contribution of over US$4.5 million and has been paying Ethiopian Airlines $240,000 per quarter as Expert Fees even before the airline takes off.

And documents seen have shown that the IDC paying legal fees for Ethiopian Airlines to resolve the issue of aircraft leasing because the airline wanted to lease aircrafts to Zambia Airways which do not belong to it and the leasing company has not accepted the proposal to release the aircrafts to Zambia and now the IDC Is paying huge sums in legal fees to resolve this very strange decision.

There are number of commercial irregularities that have been unearthed at Zambia Airways beginning with the Commercial Contract signed between Ethiopian Airlines and Zambia Airways which was structured to favor E.T in all aspects and this contract is valid for 5 years.

In this Joint venture, the total expected capital is $30 million. The is expected to raise $16,500,000 while Ethiopian Airlines is expected to contribute $13,500,000 in the form of leasing the aircraft.

For instance, Ethiopian Airlines (E.T), according to the shareholders agreement is mandated to appoint a CEO despite E.T. being a minority shareholder.

E.T. is mandated under the commercial contract to provide consultancy services to Zambia Airways such as P.R, Marketing, Branding etc. at a contractual sum of $240,000 per quarter in the first 2 years, and $1,200, 000.00 in the subsequent years.

The contract also stipulates that ET shall provide Commercial support and trainings and yet Zambia Airways is made to pay extra such as Simulator training at $18,046.52, Pilots training at $85,000.00 and Cabin crew training at $1,535,312.50.

Investigations also show that the quarterly amount of $240,000 which Zambia Airways has been paying is way above the legal threshold for the CEO to authorize, nevertheless payments have been done and there are some pending invoices as E.T has continued billing Zambia Airways.

Furthermore, the flight schedule has also been designed to support E.T. as if Zambia Airways was a subsidiary of E.T.

E.T. has been appointed as G.S.A (Ground Sales Agents) in Harare and Johannesburg.

And plans to contract a local PR and Marketing Agency to help with timely roll out of marketing activities and branding works for Zambia Airways offices and the Trade have been unsuccessful.

The procurement process for this was conducted by IDC and an offer sent to a local Agency but Zambia Airways CEO refused to engage the Agency, which was charging an amount of $11, 000 and opted for $240, 000 fee to ET.

This has meant long turnaround times for tasks requiring feedback from ET Marketing Team and the substandard work being done by ET in branding and the lack of creativity which can be seen in the Zambia Airways logo and branding which are below standard despite the huge payment to ET.

The source is calling on President Hakainde Hichilema’s administration to immediate dissolve Board and put the entire Zambia Airways project on hold and restructure the shareholders agreement.

There is also an appeal to the government to remove Mr Edenshaw from his post as CEO or send him on leave pending review of the operations of the airline.

A source also revealed that there is a meeting for staff of Zambia Airways at Mulungushi International Conference Centre on Monday morning at which workers are expected to face disciplinary procedure for airing out their grievances.
SOURCE: Lusaka Times

By Isaac Mwanza

Introduction

Leading a country like Zambia is what we all aspire to do one day and when the time dawns and the sweetness of power is tasted, the journey towards failure of leadership begins. Society contributes generally to the failure which our leaders experience. We are all a part of the problem.

Past Multi Party Presidents

1. Fredrick Titus Chiluba

In 1991, Frederick Chiluba was popularly elected President of Zambia by an all-time large number of voters in our country’s first election after Zambia reverted to multi party participatory democracy. His first 3 years were probably the best years compared to the last 7 years, not to mention that FTJ, as he was popularly called, accused his predecessor of stealing public funds while in office and called in the UK’s elite Scotland Yard unit to investigate, at a huge cost, the alleged theft of public funds by Dr. Kaunda and his team. The only thing KK was found to have “stolen” were two or so reading books, mistakenly packed by his staff on departure from State House.

2. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa

Mwanawasa, solely handpicked by FTJ for the top job, emerged President with extremely low numbers and rating among Zambia’s presidential candidates to date. This was after 10 years of MMD rule under President Chiluba. Mwanawasa tried to increase his popularity by going after his predecessor whom society was made to believe, had stolen from Zambians.

Mwanawasa’s reign turned the whole country into a courtroom. He died half way into his second term and could not see the conclusion of the allegations he made against Chiluba and lost an opportunity to put Chiluba behind bars. For 7 years, his sanctioned investigations against FTJ could not be concluded. There is no guarantee that if Levy had concluded his 10 year as President, his successor would not have treated him way he treated Chiluba.

3. Rupiah Bwezani Banda

Rupiah Banda, during a follow up Presidential by election after the demise of Mwanawasa, was elected into office through a sympathy vote by the Zambian people and became Fourth President of Zambia. Within 3 years, he tried his best to do some development projects. The leader of the main opposition, Michael Chilufya Sata, who became his successor after he won the 2011 presidential election, took the lead in accusing Banda of having had a hand in the acquittal of FTJ. When RB left office, ending the 20-year reign of the mighty MMD, Rupiah too was prosecuted but his prosecution was short-lived and yielded no results as he was acquitted by the courts.

4. Michael Chilufya Sata

Michael Sata, popularly known as King Cobra, had his chance to turn around the country when he was popularly elected into office in 2011. Sata can be credited with the manner the country was beginning to open up with new roads built to a bituminous standard or upgrading of old ones. He too spent part of his energies in prosecuting or persecuting his predecessor, without success.

5. Edgar Chagwa Lungu

President Edgar Lungu’s 6½ year reign, which also saw the end of the 10-year reign of the Patriotic Front, was a continuation of the foundation laid by late President Sata. The governance style of President Lungu was no different from his predecessor. He kept key institutions of governance in the same order his predecessor had reorganized them. He took the same path to accelerated development, albeit with accusation led by his now successor that he promoted corruption, which the former President disputes.

6. Hakainde Sammy Hichilema

We now have a new administration led by an economist, Hakainde Hichilema, elected by the 2,852,348 million majority out of the 4,959,332 voters who turned up. This was a similar victory pattern when the PF took over the reigns of power in 2011.

The New administration, which prefers to call itself New Dawn Administration, has just been in office for a month and a few days – the honeymoon days. It is not clear as yet nor easy to judge where the New Dawn administration is taking the county, but it can be said the new President has kept key institutions of governance, that is, Anti-Corruption Commission, Drug Enforcement Commission as well as the newly-created Anti-Financial Crimes Commission, very much to himself as did the PF administration. He remains Chairman of the Industrial Development Commission. They are early signs that he too may go on the long path to try and prosecute and persecute his predecessor.

The Big Question

The question is, how do Zambia leaders, who come on the scene with a popular mandate, get to quickly lose the confidence of the majority voters?

Again, I say much as these leaders contribute to their own failure, we all contribute towards leadership failures.

First, soon as a President is ushered into the high walls of State House, they quickly become “deaf” and “blind” to realities facing the nation. More and more, these leaders begin to hear views of those who surround them than the majority views of Zambians; they became deaf and blind to the sufferings of Zambians, probably because of the work pressure associated with their office but, more probably, due to the arrogance that comes with the possession and exercise of immense power and unlimited influence..

The President seems to begin to believe that they have ministers as their eyes – ministers who usually nod to everything the Great Leader says, the “all-wise Father” behind the walls of State House says. The Great Leader becomes pre-occupied with fighting their predecessor and other perceived enemies who threaten their continued enjoyment of power, as can be seen by examples above.

(a) Role of Praise Singers

Secondly, we as society also contribute to the failure of leadership partly because of the high standards we set for these leaders and the high goals we think they can get the country to achieve. But most importantly, it is those of us who sing praises to these leaders, and the leader’s enjoyment of our praises, that fail them.

The propensity by leaders to want to listen to niceties about how good they are, how special they are, and how Christ-like the Great Leader is as opposed to being told where the Great Leader is going wrong, or what they are doing wrong, also adds to the probability of their failure.

Of course, I, without much regret, have been a part of those who praised both President Sata and Lungu for the development they had continued to rightfully steer this country towards but may not have highlighted other things where society generally thought was going wrong with their presidency, thereby robbing them of an opportunity to correct themselves.

(b) Role of Media

But this issue of singing praises is not limited to activists – hired or not, sympathetic to a ruling party or not – but also includes the media which influence what these leaders do when they are comfortably seated behind the high and long walls of State House. President Bally, as Hakainde Hichilema is now called by his supporters, has deliberately created new offices of Media Analyst at State House because he understands the influence the media has in shaping society’s opinion or in collapsing an administration.

We cannot forget how, at one point in history, the Post Newspapers and it’s famous Editor-in-Chief, Fred M’membe (no offence intended by this reference) had in particular assumed the role of mouthpiece on behalf of the late Michael Sata. At one point, the Post run an editorial about, “Michael (Sata) the Archangel’. When Mr. Sata was sick and alleged to have died in London, it was comrade M’membe and not the Chief Government Spokesperson who responded to insinuations by the then Opposition UPND, that Mr. Sata had died. It was M’membe of the Post newspaper who told the nation that it was not true that President Sata had died, a matter which ought to have been handled by the Chief Government Spokesperson.

So how will the Great Leader know that they are doing something wrong when the media is full of praise and adulation for the new and all-wise Father, especially in this honeymoon period shortly after being elected? How will the Great Leader know that the failures of other leaders before them could have been about their decisions to put institutions such as RDA, ACC, DEC etc under their foot?

(c) Role of society generally

Our society and democracy will continue to remain the same if we continue with the practice in which political parties or Presidents are supported based on the temporary benefits one can get from the president. The new wave of defections has not yet started but it will start soon and two of our women – Ms. Charity Lumpa and Ms. Charmaine Musonda – wanted to take the lead.

Much as people have a right to associate with political parties of their choice, the swift change to support leaders in power contributes to taking leaders backwards. Presidents begin to pay more attention to the flattering praises they get from the very people who had shaped the views of previous, fallen regimes than embracing new views from those whom they shared views before they took over power.

The practice by those who defect in search of temporary benefits from a new ruling party, tends to also weaken opposition parties. It is better to stay in opposition, as did HH than to jump on the bandwagon, for the sake of temporary benefits.

Conclusion

All in all, our leaders are capable of being themselves only if they choose to begin to promote and listen to criticisms more than they would want people to ululate for and flatter them with endless praise. Leaders should realise that they are not angels who know it all; they must learn to listen to everyone, including the fools in the village. We are all part of the failure of leadership in Zambia but we can all become part of a successful leadership for Zambia. When an administration succeeds, Zambia succeeds.

THE CASE FOR FREE EDUCATION IN ZAMBIA.

By Charles Kakoma, Senior Citizen.

There is hope and despair about the case for free education in Zambia. Debate is still raging on whether it is feasible to provide free education in our country or not. For me, whether I’m a capitalist or Socialist, whether I’m UPND or PF , whether I’m an economist or not, I support free education in Zambia.
Here is why. It is practically impossible to develop the country with a huge population of uneducated people. The economy needs skilled people who will drive the wheels of industry. And the brains and intelligence to succeed in education are not a preserve of people with money.

I’m a beneficiary of free education. Despite coming from a poor family, I was able to go to the University of Zambia and obtain a Degree in Economics and Business Administration. Without free education policy by President Kenneth Kaunda , I would probably be heading cattle in the village by now. Indeed, many of the leaders in our country today are products of free education in Zambia, including the current Finance Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, Education Minister Hon Douglas Syakalima and Republican President , His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema. It will be immoral for those of us that have climbed to the top using the ladder of free education to cut and throw away the ladder so that other poor children don’t climb to the top. Education is the greatest equaliser of opportunities in life.

Perhaps the question many critics of free education are asking is; do we have the resources in Zambia to re-introduce free education? For me, the starting point in attempting to answer the question is to ask ourselves what it costs to educate a child in Zambia. What are the components of expenditure in the provision of education in schools? Going by the estimates by the Ministry of Education, it costs about K650 per year to educate a pupil at secondary leve in a day school and K1200 per pupil per term to educate a pupil in a boarding school. At least, that is what parents are being asked to pay for pupils at secondary school level.

By far the biggest component of expenditure in running schools is salaries for teachers. Salaries are already being paid by government. The same scenario is existing even in the private sector where salaries for teachers constitute the biggest component of the school’s budget. Many of the children that are failing to go to school are doing so because of failure to raise even examination fees of about K60!. Why should a child drop out of school because of examination fees of K60?. Is that being serious as a country?

If the government is already footing the bigger bill for educating the Zambian child, why should we fail to give a little push to the children to get education?

There also appears to be a policy mix-up in the education of the Zambian child. The government is already providing free education at primary school level and giving loans or bursaries to college and university students. There is a yawning gap in this kind of education system. The government has left out the secondary school pupils in the provision of free education or bursaries.

I have not yet understood why the previous government did this. In my opinion, the current government needs to review this policy to include free education for secondary schools.

In order to provide free education for secondary schools, the country needs to take practical steps to achieve education fall all. Given the financial and budgetary constraints the country is taking, there should be a phased approach in the provision of free education for secondary schools. Phase one should provide for free education to all pupils in Day Schools. It is cheaper and feasible. Phase two should provide for free education to all secondary pupils in boarding schools.

Infact, government should minimise boarding schools and place more emphasis on day schools. Some of the student hostels in boarding schools should be converted into class rooms to increase enrolment of pupils in day schools.

Obviously, with the increased enrolment of pupils in day schools, more teachers will be needed. Government should employ more teachers to handle the increased enrolment in day schools.

Chapwa, kwasira, kunahu.

WHY IS VITCOR MUNDENDE STILL AT ZESCO AS MD?

The Candidates’ Comment

It is said that one’s words are less significant than one’s actions. President Hakainde Hichilema’s words that he wants to fight corruption in Zambia will only mean anything worth talking about if actions are seen in that regard.

It is not a secret that ZESCO is one of the most corrupt institutions in Zambia. That institution is very viable but continues to produce loses year-in, year out. Of course ZESCO is strategically placed in the African region and that presents an opportunity for this power utility institution to sell electricity to other countries in need and still be able to supply Zambia without interruption.

The only reason that ZESCO is today in a mess so much that it owes $797 million to its suppliers and record loses as K4.9 billion is because that institution is being managed by morally bankrupt characters.

In 2012, ZESCO was given a sum $255m by the previous administration – money from the Euro Bond. What has ZESCO, under the leadership of Victor Mundende, done with that money? Are there any success stories from all that money which this public institution obtained? The answer is categorical no.

We all know that over time, ZESCO has been used as a cash cow by the previous regime of the Patriotic Front (PF) where they drew monies to finance their party functions through all sorts of corrupt tenders. We know that ZESCO was also highly involved in supplying vehicles to PF to use for campaigns. We also know that there are many unqualified elements who are employed at ZESCO in various critical roles merely because they were girlfriends, relatives or associates of characters of the previous government. All this is happening at ZESCO because those at its helm allowed such nonsense to take place. Just look at the nonsense in the board of ZESCO! ZESCO board chairperson is Chibwe Mwlewa. This is someone who was actively involved in politics. While Chibwe is ZESCO board chairperson, he wanted to stand as Member of Parliament under the PF in the previous elections. Is it right for a boar chairperson of a public institution to take active role in politics?
If a board chairperson of ZESCO can exhibit such moral bankruptcy then what can stop those he supervises from equally behaving like him or her? The truth is that, majority – if not all – elements running ZESCO today are cadres of the previous administration. We retaliate; Hakainde has started on a very good note and seems to be approved by many people but that approval is not his birth right. It is conditional. It is premised on him doing things that find expression in the interest of the people in whole. If there is an institution that deserves the quickest attention above all other, it is ZESCO. This is so because that institution has been infested. It needs a very serious clean up if at all we are going to have a conversation about fighting corruption and moral ills in Zambia. It is very easy for Hakainde to lose the love that he enjoys from the people. Allowing morally bankrupt characters at ZESCO to continue running that institution undermines the fight against corruption.

We dare say – and we know we are not far from truth that -corruption is a two way undertaking. One cannot be corrupt if the other party on the other side is not corrupt. For PF elements to corruptly abuse ZESCO in ways that we have heard, means those running this institution are equally corrupt.

If Hakainde is very serious with fighting corruption, his administration must not only be seen to be targeting political characters. The fight against corruption must extend to institutions like ZESCO in haste. And that fight cannot be won where characters like Victor and the league in his management get-together, continue to preside over the power utility institution. If a person like Kingsley Chanda could be fired from Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) despite that the tax authority impressively exceeded its revenue targets while the former Director General led it, why should Victor be allowed to continue running ZESCO when that institution is nothing but an embarrassment? – The Candidates

By Natasha Sakala,

VICE-PRESIDENT Mutale Nalumango says putting investigative wings such as the Anti-Corruption Commission under the Office of the President is only meant for oversight functions as there will be no invisible hand interfering with their operations.

And Vice-President Nalumango has urged public office holders to be ready for lifestyle audits as they are not in those offices to enrich themselves.

Speaking during the Vice-President’s question time in Parliament, Friday, Vice-President Nalumango said the investigative agencies would maintain their independence in their operations despite being under the Office of the President.

She was responding to a question from the Leader of the Opposition in the House, Brian Mundubile on what motivated the President to move away from the conventional way of fighting corruption through independent bodies.

“It is true that these institutions, including at the time the colleagues, including the leader of government business, were in government, these institutions fall under the supervision of the President. This does not mean robbing or taking away the fact that they should operate independently. If we say that the independence that the member is referring to, to which maybe I didn’t fully understand, this independence is in operation because whether we like it or not, even the budgets for these institutions come through the House. Otherwise, if there is nobody to represent them here, then they will need to come here and defend their budgets. That is just how far belonging or being under the Office of the President means. It doesn’t mean daily interference in the operations of the DEC, the ACC and of the FIC. They will remain with their independence in operation,” she said.

In a follow up question, Shiwang’andu PF member of parliament Stephen Kampyongo wondered how autonomy of the investigative institutions would be guaranteed when the Statutory Instrument No.1123 of 2021 suggested that they would now be accountable to the President.

In response, Vice-President Nalumango said she would come back to the House to clear the misunderstanding on the SI but noted that what was stated was oversight and not the issue of controlling.

“I would say the interpretation of the SI is a concern, again I will say we will relook because if you are saying that it is contrary to the aspirations, and probably there is a misunderstanding. If you are saying this is the way they had operated earlier, I should think that Zambians were comfortable with that kind of oversight on them, not the issue of controlling but the oversight. In fact, Madam Speaker, the honourable member may know that in the past few years, there was more of an outcry of the invisible hand in these investigative wings and also there should be no contradiction with how the prosecution’s authority comes in because there is still a relationship on how that is reported. Again, I think I am humble enough as government that I will go back next week, you may frame it even better so that we are able to speak to this issue if it is of concern. But we have no intention, Madam Speaker, to interfere. We want when the honourable, who is my son is prosecuted, he is properly prosecuted and can answer for any alleged crimes,” she said.

And in response to a question from Mwembeshi UPND member of parliament Machila Jamba on whether government would put in place any law to allow for people to account for their wealth, Vice-President Nalumango wondered why politics had become lucrative when it was meant for service.

“To start with, it is not easy for me to pick the actual law that compelled people to show how they amassed their wealth. Probably that could be a very good proposal but we have heard the outcry indeed by the people. Being a politician, I will say this completely as we stand, politics is not [a] money making calling. It must be seen as service to the people. I heard the honourable minister yesterday saying ‘if you want to be rich, be a businessman but even in business, you should do it with integrity’. You don’t go to acquire something that you have not worked for. Politics has become extremely lucrative instead of being a service to the people,” Vice-President Nalumango said.

“Probably the honourable member for Mwembeshi may continue the call that people have been talking about, the lifestyle audits. Probably we should all be ready, we enter public office indeed as poor people, within five years we are multi-millionaires, it should be questioned if such a thing happens, how are we amassing wealth? I can’t remember the actual law but I will encourage honourable members as leaders of our society that [politics] is not for money making. It’s for you to serve the people and the people’s expectation should not also be that when you elect a member of parliament he must be rich, that is the confusion in our society. We don’t have to be rich, if you come rich, continue to be rich. If you find a new source of income, use it but don’t use your political office to acquire wealth that you have not worked for.”

In response to Sikongo UPND member of parliament Mundia Ndalamei, who wanted to find out the progress made in ensuring looters were brought to book, Vice-President Nalumango said results would soon be seen as investigative wings were now free to do their work independently.

“It is not the government’s direct executive duty to go on a witch hunt. The investigative institutions are doing their work and we believe a lot has been done. Sooner than later, Madam Speaker, we may start seeing certain fruits. Zambians are anxious, Madam Speaker, to find out what is it that went wrong. Is it indeed that there was a hand in the institutions that were supposed to lead in the fight against criminality? But because this government has come in and totally released their hands, we believe that they are working and we believe that results will be seen and people will answer for their lives and things that they may have done. I can’t give you the actual time line but surely I believe we will see the results of their work,” she said.

Responding to a question from Kantanshi PF member of parliament Anthony Mumba on when President Hakainde Hichilema would present a dossier on corruption to Parliament, Vice-President Nalumango said the President would not go to the House to be interrogated as she was available to speak for what the government stood for.

She said government was committed to ensuring that domestic arrears were dismantled but noted that the process would be done gradually as the debt was not accrued in one day.

Meanwhile, Vice-President Nalumango said government would ensure that an enabling environment was created so that jobs were created in the private sector.

“That is one area by the government itself but you have also said and the minister did mention that the private sector will create jobs. Our duty is to create an enabling environment where those private investors, entrepreneurs grow and therefore create jobs. Many jobs in the different sectors include agriculture, including mining, when those sectors grow, then jobs will be created. It is one of the things top on the agenda that our young people get jobs but let us not do politics with the lives of people, Madam Speaker. Coming into government this month will not create jobs, [we] will not create jobs using the same budget which was formulated using our colleagues’ policies. Jobs will be created as we continue,” said Vice-President Nalumango.

“I think it is not fair for us to say ‘now you have come, where are the jobs’? The jobs we promised, honourable members, were to be created not to be picked. That’s why we are not just firing people all over the place to put in people, it is creation. Even God Almighty took six days to create which is an equivalent of 6,000 years but this government is going to create jobs just watch the space. We [will] start from next year as we do our budget, even in the budget you will see the components of job creation. When the economy is growing, jobs come.”

By Kapya Kaoma.
President Hichilema’s New Dark Regime: UPND Cadres Worse Than PF!

As a nation, we are at an inflection point. The election of President HH seems to erase moral accountability–the hatred of Lungu and the PF has become a justification for lawlessness. Since when did we see cadres beat suspects at the High Court while in Police hands?

President HH should not sing the rule of law and human rights, while allowing his cadres to terrorise other citizens. The recent video of a PF suspect in Police hands being escorted to the High Court, and physically beaten by UPND cadres at the High Court in broad daylight made me afraid–the UPND regime has brought the New Dark era in Zambian politics. President HH promised to restore the rule of law, but that video is embarrassingly humiliating to his Administration, which vowed to promote human rights for all Zambians. Under no administration has this ever happened, Mr. Hichilema must tame his followers–we are a nation of laws!

What is shocking is how a group of civilians could attack a detainee, when being escorted by the police. One could see other police officers watching as if nothing was going on. But even more embarrassing is when an officer attempts to arrest a civilian, and the mob starts fighting the police officer. The entire incident is recorded on video. If this event took place during the Lungu administration, President HH would be calling for the resignation of the Minister of Home Affairs, the Inspector of Police and the chain of others. He would be on CNN and BBC too.

Despite the crime committed by the suspect, what we are witnessing is a clear lack of respect for human rights, and poor leadership in the HH administration. As a democratic nation, we believe that every citizen is entitled to a fair trial. That the person was attacked while in police hands should be embarrassing to the President’s moral cause. There is no other way to describe this than call it for what it is–tyranny! We may hate Lungu and his administration, but allowing lawlessness on sacred grounds of justice is simply immoral and unacceptable.

Didn’t President Hichilema promise to be the president of all Zambians? Didn’t he promise to defend the rule of law, and protect human rights? Yet HH has been vague on taming UPND cadres, who have seen his actions as inciting them to persecute those who differed with them during the elections. This is true on the streets as on social media. In fact, UPND cadres are proving to be worse than the PF. No one should bear the blame for this than President Hakainde, he has nurtured this culture in his cadres for 15 years–disrespecting those he differed with, was and is, his modus operandi. The violence being employed by his cadres on PF cadres has rendered HH impotent–he cannot stop what himself gave birth to. Hence we should not be surprised to see him call on the police to arrest his cadres, while HH’s cadres beat up the police as fellow officers watch. For a New Dark government blinds them all!

The lawlessness we face is personified in Plot 1. The president has disgracefully undressed the police to UPND cadres. Yet the rottenness of the Police system is exactly what he is doing by turning the Anti-Corruption Commission, Financial Intelligence Centre, and the Drug Enforcement Commission into his tuntembas. Our officers are corrupt because they know that only poor citizens are put in prison, while the presidential allies are left to roam the streets with heads high. And who can work under such demoralizing ethics? That is why they ask for bribes–they rather get something than waste time knowing too well that there is no law aside from the president and his cadres.

Under the New Dark administration, UPND cadres are untouchable–they are invisible to the law. That is why they are able to storm State House, Stations, Markets, Courts, and now the High Court. The President has accorded them power over law enforcement officers. In fact, it is now common to hear them threaten to report law enforcement officers, ZRA officials, Permanent Secretaries and other Career civil servants to the President. And when the Zambian Watchdog publishes the threat, that individual is fired. Until the 2026 sunset, cadres determine who should be punished and who should be rewarded in the New Dark government.

UPND cadres may terrorise people today, but ascribed power is what it is –temporary. As soon as HH realizes the international community is watching, he will throw some of these cadres under the bus. Remember the Mwanawasa “Chiluba” card–sacrificing an ally to remain in power. So we may see some arrests sooner rather than later. If not the rope of justice may appear to be broken, but it is kept alive by the human spirit. It was not long ago that I told the PF cadres that pay time would come. Today’s UPND may think it is the police, but those videos are out to put all those criminals in prisons for crimes they committed in front of the law enforcement officers.

Unless the New Dark President pardons them, time for reckoning awaits.

THE PILLARS OF OUR CHRISTIAN NATION STATUS – DR NEVERS MUMBA

A Debate has ensued, and continues to do so, about the upcoming National Day of prayer with opinions split about the intent or real objective of its declaration by the previous President.

I thought I might help outline and affirm, the various Milestones or beacons that our country has gone through leading to the infusion of Christian Values in our National Identity, as a Christian Nation. I hope this will show that despite the fact all of us have fallen and have come short of the glory of God, God has been using the same fallible human agents to bring about a positive change in our country, and that none of these key milestones should be taken in isolation, but must be seen as the steady development of our CHRISTIAN NATION heritage.

1. We affirm the prayer of David Livingstone, before he died at modern day Chitambo Mission, that, “On this land where I rest my bended knees, let it become a mighty Christian Nation.” A beacon of hope to the African continent and a light to the rest of the world.”

2. We affirm the prayer of our first President Dr Kenneth David Kaunda who said: “Zambia shall honor and uphold the Christian faith.”

3. We affirm the declaration made by a young Tele – Evangelist, One Nevers Sekwila Mumba, born on the same place that David Livingstone made his declaration nearly 100 years earlier, through his herald message that “Zambia Shall Be Saved”!!!!

4. We further affirm the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation by our second President Dr Fredrick Chiluba.

5. We affirm and celebrate the declaration of October 18th as a Day of Prayer, Fasting, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness as announced by the sixth President Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

Today, we hold ourselves accountable to the solemn vows we as a Nation made to God. We promise to govern ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We dedicate the Presidency, Cabinet, the Civil service, the legislature, the Judiciary and the people of Zambia to the Lordship of Christ.

We vow to fight to end corruption. We vow to be just and to defend the weak. We vow to ensure that this country is governed in morality and integrity of heart.

Amen🙏

Dr.Nevers Sekwila Mumba

IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS STORY- SAD ENDING

“I met Sylvester Mumba in 2012 when I went on vacation in Africa. Sylvester used to sell things made out of wood at a park. He was a talented woodcarver. He used to make nice looking decorative crafts out of wood.🥰

I got his phone number after I asked him to make a wooden map of United States Of America with my names written on it. From that day, he became my friend and we started communicating even when I came back to USA.

I was 23 years old and single when I met him. I just did not feel happy. I was basically lonely and I would call Sylvester whenever I felt lonely. We would chat for hours non stop. He had broken english but I understood everything.

He used to tell me that we were meant to be because only I understood his bad english. We then started dating six months later. I started saving enough money working as a Host in at a SteakHouse. I went to a travel agency booked a plane ticket and was off again to Africa.

But this time not to see the Victoria falls but to see Sylvester. The ticket was $1,357 dollars at the time round trip. I stayed in Zambia for a month and we quickly got married. Then after the wedding, i left him in Zambia and flew back to USA.

Back home in USA, I paid an Immigration lawyer to help me with visa paper work for Sylvester. To make the long story short, Sylvester was finally given a green card and that’s how he came to USA in May. We did another wedding in USA. We were so Much in love.

All was well in our marriage. I even helped him get a Job at Target Store and helped him buy a car to ease his movements. He slowly started adapting to the American culture and his English Improved. He also met some Zambians living in USA and together they became one family.

We started attending functions organised by the Zambians in USA. I was even there in Florida to support Zambia National Soccer Team when they took on Japan. And after the match there was a party where we interacted with the Soccer players and other people.

I have attended many independence functions organised by the Zambian community in Atlanta. I started noticing one thing, the Zambians in USA like Gossiping and do not like to see their fellow Zambians (Friends) prosper in Life.

Sylvester’s Zambian friends, Women inclusive would call and tell me that Sylvester did not marry me because he loved me, but because of poverty and papers. They would tell me that he was going round the Zambian community telling people that he was just using me to become a citizen

They told me that he will leave me once he is given a green card valid for 10-years. Some of his Male Friends would call me asking me to divorce him and marry them instead, and some would call asking me for sex. I did not care about what people were telling me.

I loved him so much and he meant my world to me. Up todate I do not understand why some Africans in diaspora are jealous of each other. My step sister is married to a Nigerian man and the Nigerians are so supportive of each other.

Sylvester and I then decided to isolate ourselves from all the Zambians in USA because their gossip had started affecting our marriage. We were happy once again until in June this year when Sylvester was arrested for being in possession of drugs.

That day, he had gone drinking with some of his trusted Zambian friends. After around midnight, they all decided to call it a day. Sylvester was the only one driving so he had to drop his friends at their various homes.

And after dropping his friends on his way back home, he was stopped by a police patrol car. His friends had planted some drugs in his car and called the police. And that’s how he was arrested in June and was deported back to Zambia Three weeks ago.

I tried to fight his deportation for 4 months but it couldn’t work out as you know our immigration laws are tough. People get deported for minor offences. And the sad part is that his friends were asking me to date them since the time he was detained.

My husband Sylvester was deported back to Africa and 3 weeks later on Friday 24th November he sadly committed suicide. Sylvester was laid to rest on 27th of November 2018 at his parent’s village in Northern part of Zambia. I Was left so heartbroken upto now. 💔😭”

PF RENDERED HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TOOTHLESS, THANK GOD HH HAS FIXED THE INSTITUTION- ACTIVIST

A human Rights Activist Nsama Musonda Kearns says the Patriotic Front (PF) led Administration had turned the Human Rights Commission (HRC) into a toothless bulldog.

In a post shared on Dynamic Analysis Zambia (DAZ) WhatsApp group this morning, 9th October, 2021, Ms. Musonda who is also former Mansa PF Mayoral aspiring candidate said even reporting a matter to the commission seemed hopeless during the last seven year reign of the Patriotic Front (PF).

Ms. Musonda however expressed happiness that the Hakainde Hichilema led New Dawn Administration has shown political will to fix such institutions.

She noted that under the PF regime it seemed like it was just a sheer waste of time to report human rights violations as institutions mandated to promote and protect such rights for all people in Zambia were being undermined by those in authority.

Ms. Musonda who is also an environmentalist has observed that so far the Commission is working independently, affirming that it is now responding to Human Rights violations as it should be.

“Our previous regime had made the Human Rights Commission toothless, even report a matter to them seemed hopeless but thankfully it wasn’t a waste of time, they have the records and now that Bally has fixed these institutions dentures, let them bite.”

“So far the Commission is working independently and they are responding to Human Rights violations as it should be…” Ms. Musonda said

Meanwhile, commenting on the arrest of kabushi MP Bowman Lusambo Ms. Musonda said it is a lesson to leaders in Zambia never to abuse Authority given by God and the people because there is always a time for reckoning.

Below was her post on the same platform;

The biggest lesson in all this to our current leaders is never to abuse Authority given by God and the people because there is always a time for reckoning.

For a long time in Zambia people lived under bondage because those entrusted to protect the people and serve justice failed the people of Zambia and I can only imagine how many more people have died, been injured both physically and psychologically or lost their livelihoods because of the political atmosphere we had in Zambia.

A lot of poor people who cannot afford lawyers have suffered injustices from politicians who became like gods, but thankfully there is a time and season for every activity under heaven.

If ba Lusambo is charged accordingly, it will help to reduce political violence in Zambia and even those who killed Kungo should be brought to book so that Zambians can regain confidence in our judicial system.

Justice is justice regardless of who is involved and what political party they belong to.