United Party for National Development (UPND) Spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa has dismissed assertions that President Hakainde Hichilema has breached the Constitution or any law in his work or appointments.

Reacting to assertions by Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) President Sean Tembo that the President has appointed a person who is facing criminal charges for the courts, Mr Mweetwa said that the newly appointed Deputy Inspector General of Police, Fanwell Siandenge has no pending criminal cases before any competent court of law.

Mr Mweetwa called on the citizens to ignore PeP President, Mr. Sean Tembo as he was a busy body.

UPND National Youth Chairman Gilbert Liswaniso

And UPND National Youth Chairman Gilbert Liswaniso has warned PeP leader Sean Tembo to desist from issuing careless and unwarranted attacks on President Hakainde Hichilema.

UPND youths across the country wish to advise, PeP leader Sean Tembo to desist from issuing careless and unwarranted attacks on President Hakainde Hichilema and wondered if he was he is being sponsored by the Patriotic Front and its surrogates who are mute to comment on national matters for fear of being arrested hastily, knowing that they have possible corruption cases and must return money for the citizens as indicated by President Hakainde Hichilema.

In a statement to the media, Mr. Liswaniso said that Mr. Tembo who he accused to have taken issues so personal to an extent of demonizing the tribe of Mr Hichilema, would force the UPND youths to take on him thus making him credible opposition when infact he is not.

As Youths across the country, we have vowed no one is going to mislead President Hakainde Hichilema on his path to deliver the aspirations of the Zambian people.

” As Youths across the country, we have vowed no one is going to mislead President Hakainde Hichilema on his path to deliver the aspirations of the Zambian people.

“We are on the ground in both rural and urban communities to interact with the people on the UPND well spelt manifesto to rebuild and reunite Zambia.

“But we want to caution Pep leader Sean Tembo, Raphael Nakacinda not to abuse their freedom under the new dawn and divide the country based on their illogical rantings against UPND.

“President Hakainde Hichilema’s victory to the highest public office is through the courtesy of the Zambian people and confidence in his leadership. Since power lies in the people, President Hichilema and his team will continue to give credit to the Zambian people and a real celebration is that in the new dawn everyone is going to be free and enjoying liberties and equal opportunities,” he said

Bogus company was awarded a contract worth $30 million

THE Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has revealed that in 2020, a government entity awarded three contracts amounting to over US$30 million to an individual and two companies which presented falsified documents to show that they were qualified when in fact not.

And the FIC says in the same year, two Prominent Influential Persons (PIPs) holding positions in public institutions and political parties realised K160 million from illegal mining activities.

The two case studies are contained in the FIC 2020 Typology Report which also shows that in 2020, the country lost about K3.1 billion through corruption, tax evasion, fraud, illegal mining and other vices, with corruption alone accounting for over K2.2 billion.

In the first case study, FIC reported that an individual, Company A and Company B presented forged audited financial statements and falsified documents pertaining to their experience and technical capabilities among other illegalities.

“Case 1: Suspected Procurement Corruption. The FIC analysed an STR bordering on suspected corruption and money laundering against an individual DZ, PIPs, Company A and Company B. The suspicions pertained to the awarding of three public contracts in excess of USD 30 million to individual DZ, Company A and Company B. The analysis revealed the following: 1. (a) The bid criterion required the bidders to have a 3 year average turnover which is at least three (3) times the total value of the bid. Bidders were required to submit a copy of their bank statements as evidence of their turnover. It was noted that individual DZ, Company A and Company B failed to meet these requirement. 2. (b) The bid criterion further required audited financial statements for the past three (3) years. Individual DZ, Company A and Company B failed to meet this requirement. Further, Individual DZ and Company A presented forged audited financial statements,” read the report.

“(c) Individual DZ, Company A and Company B, falsified documents pertaining to their experience and technical capabilities. (d) The ill-gotten funds were invested in real estate and hospitality industry. Despite the cited irregularities, individual DZ, Company A and Company B, were awarded the contracts. The analysis revealed influence peddling by PIPs and suspected abuse of office by using strategically appointed officials. The analysis in the case above shows methods and techniques that perpetrators of corruption employ to launder ill-gotten proceeds.”

And according to the second case study, two PIPs engaged in illegal mining activities and later invested in fixed term deposits liquor store businesses to launder over K160 million which they realised.

“Case 2: Suspected corruption, theft and money laundering. The FIC analysed STRs on suspected illegal mining and trade in precious metals involving Individuals ZZ and Individuals QQ. Individuals ZZ and QQ are prominent influential persons (PIPs) holding positions in public institutions and political parties respectively. Members of the local community were induced to illegally mine precious metals by individuals ZZ and QQ. Individuals ZZ together with individuals QQ would transport the illegally mined precious metals either by public transport or through use of private vehicles. The precious metals were sold domestically to Zambians and foreign nationals. Analysis by the FIC further revealed that over ZMW 160 Million was realized. It was observed that the subjects acquired property which included land, buildings, motor vehicles and houses,” read the report.

“The analysis further showed that some of the proceeds were invested in fixed term deposits and in liquor store businesses. Some subjects incorporated companies and opened company accounts in which large cash deposits and withdrawals were made by either the subjects or third parties. Further analysis showed that there were some transfers made using money value transfer services (MVTS) platforms. The case above shows how perpetrators of corruption use corporate vehicles and formal financial services to launder ill-gotten proceeds.”

Meanwhile, according to a case study on tax evasion, a cross border trader declared an annual income of K70,000 when opening an account but within a year, his accounts had a credit turnover of K199 million.

The cross border trader, according to the case study, was using a personal account to conduct business and would send funds to an Asian country.

“Case 1: Suspected tax evasion. This is a case in which the subject who is a cross border trader, declared an annual income of over ZMW 70,000 at account opening. The subject had a number of accounts which were receiving huge cash deposits. Within a period of one year, his accounts had a credit turnover of more than ZMW 199 million. The funds were utilized through outward transfers mostly to an Asian country. It was noted that the subject was using his personal accounts to conduct business transactions and had no registered business. The analysis presented shows that the subject was evading tax,” read the report.

The FIC also highlighted another tax evasion case in which some individuals were sending money to Asia after using personal accounts to conduct business in Zambia.

“Case 2: Suspected tax evasion. The FIC analysed an STR on suspected tax evasion on Individual F, an employee of Company Y, on suspicions that individual F was using their personal accounts to conduct business transactions. Analysis revealed that: (i) Individual F was a director/ shareholder of Company H despite being on a work permit. (ii) Individual F declared a monthly income of over ZMW7,800 at account opening. (iii) Individual F’s accounts had credit turnovers in excess of ZMW 19.82 million and USD 4 million in the period under review. (iv)Individual F received USD 125,000 and ZMW 500,000 from Company H during the period under review. (v) Company H had credit turnovers of USD 2 million and ZMW 6 million in the period under review,” read the report.

“(vi)Company H was not compliant for tax purposes. (vii) There were no salary credits into any of Individual F accounts from company Y, her purported employer. viii) Individual F made transfers of over USD 2 million and ZMW 3 million from her personal account to various companies in Asia to purchase goods.

(ix) Individual F was using their personal accounts to conduct business transactions on behalf of their company. The analysis in the case above shows methods and techniques of tax evasion.”

The report indicated that the value of disseminated intelligence reports in 2020 increased to ZMW 3.1 billion compared to ZMW 984 million in 2019.

It was reported that 24 cases of tax evasion were disseminated to law enforcement agencies in 2020 valued at K717 million compared to K144 million in 2019.

Only 14 corruption cases were analysed and disseminated to Law Enforcement Agencies but valued at a whooping K2,228,000,000.
According to the FIC, about K165 million was lost to illegal mining in precious stones and metals while Fraud accounted for 26 million from only six cases.

HH HAS MADE HISTORY WHICH WILL TAKE TIME TO ERASE

“He is the first President to clock almost a month without a cabinet after being decared winner”.

There’s been a sustained demand for the President to name his Cabinet, which demand has not been made on any other President we have had. He has been accused of ‘delaying’. What benchmark are people using to say this?

The Constitution of Zambia does not prescribe a timeline for a President to name a Cabinet. Articles 113 – 116 state the establishment, composition and functions of Cabinet. That’s all. Therefore, it can be said that time is the President’s discretion.

So, what is being called a ‘delay’ is just a product of people’s high expectations and anxieties, but also the understandable urgency to get government business going after the election.

In the last 30 years, our presidents have taken between five and eighteen days to complete Cabinet appointments. So what’s the basis for the ‘delay’ claim?

Chiluba took office on November 2, he had Cabinet on the 8th – six days.
Mwanawasa was inaugurated on January 2 and unveiled his Cabinet five days later on January 7. He was sworn-in for a second term on October 3 and announced Cabinet on the 9th, six days after.

RB took over on November 2 and named his team on November 14. That’s 12 days. Cabinet remained in place after Mwanawasa’s death.

Sata was inaugurated on September 23 and announced Cabinet on the 29th – six days.
Lungu was inaugurated on January 25 and announced the first group on February 12. That’s 18 days. Like in the 2008 case, Cabinet remained in place after Sata’s death. Sworn-in for a second time on September 13, he announced part of it a day after and the remainder two weeks later on the 29th.

Hichilema got into office on August 24 and more than a week later, he has one Minister.
I have no idea what’s going on in Hichilema’s office, but here’s my take on the so-called delay.

First, there’s a view that having waited this long to be President, Hichilema should have had his list in place by now. Fair point. But it’s not that elementary. It’s not just typing names. Also, decisions at that level can change so fast in a short time as informed by emerging dynamics.

For instance, what he knew about some people (even his closest allies) may have changed in the last one week now that he has access to more information as supplied by The System.
Second, having assembled an alliance, he has several interests to take care of. This comes against his promises of a “lean Cabinet” and “a Cabinet from all the corners of Zambia.” It’s a tough balancing act that he must address.
Forget about what the alliance members are claiming that they are not there for positions. I don’t think even Hichilema himself believes that. Should
they get nothing, the mockery from the opposition will be too much to deal with. They will be told, ‘He used and dumped you’. That can threaten the alliance and Hichilema should know that too well.

Third, let’s put Chiluba aside, he’s probably an outlier on this one. Hichilema finds himself in a unique position. Mwanawasa, RB, Sata and Lungu had been in government (and Cabinet) before they became President and had an idea of the Cabinet dynamics, experience and capacities of the faces they had to choose from. Hichilema doesn’t have that. If he gets a second term, he will not have that problem.

Fourth, as a first timer he’s under so much pressure that he’s being too cautious and is aiming for perfection to confound critics. Unfortunately, that will not happen. There’s no perfection in this business and critics won’t keep quiet even if he assembled angels for ministers.

My conclusion is that the accusation of ‘delay’ is unfounded and misplaced. If he needs another one week to get what he wants, let him have it.
Credit: Reginald Ntomba

UPND media team unhappy with appointment of Anthony Bwalya by President Hichilema

Some members of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) have issues with the appointment of Anthony Bwalya as Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, by President Hakainde Hichilema.

A source in UPND has told The Candidates that the UPND media team has not hidden their hatred for the appointment of Bwalya.

According to the source, official announcements from State House which are firstly supposed to be made by a Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations are being hijacked and are released by party media team members.

Earlier today, a Mr. Clayson Hamasaka who is part of the UPND media issued an official statement through Zambian Watchdog disputing a social media rumor that President Hakainde Hichilema would be appointing his cabinet tonight.

Hamasaka’s statement preempted the official State House statement of Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Anthony Bwalya which was released much later.

According to the UPND source, there have been many incidents where the party media team has done things to calculatedly aggravate Anthony Bwalya because some people are still sulking over his appointment.

“There is a problem in the media team. They do not like the young man Anthony whom they say is a hijacker. Those that do not like him are saying he came late in the party and shouldn’t be made to handle such a high position above those that have been with the President for some time. But even if it is like that, like the President has said that he will appoint based on competency, I think Anthony is the best guy for that position because he is competent, brilliant and assertive. It’s only that people have their own petty issues which is annoying if you ask me. If they are fair they must allow him to do his works. But from the look of things the entire media team is unhappy, they are against. They are doing things deliberately to frustrate him and to undermine his works. Imagine official statements about government from State House are made by people without any position in government. That is too indicative f their lack of support for the guy” the source told The Candidates.

-The Candidates

THE ANXIETY IS REASONABLE, HOWEVER, PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA’S CABINET IS WORTH THE WAIT

Well, I wish to add my comment on the calls for the Republican President Mr. HAKAINDE HICHILEMA to quicken the appointments of his cabinet ministers.

As much as the calls are reasonable. it’s however, important to consider giving the Head of State ample time to come up with a team that will work to supplement his efforts to deliver on the promises he made to the Zambian people, especially the main drivers of the new dawn who are the YOUTHS of this country.

President HICHILEMA appreciates the enormity of the task ahead hence he is taking every minute to examine who is appropriate and qualified to take up, let’s take for instance the Ministry of Health. It needs not just a politician but also a qualified person with vast experience who will be able to provide a policy direction on how best we as the country will conquer the pandemic.

In the other words, the country doesn’t just need a cabinet but instead, a formidable team (cabinet) that shall provide competent leadership and oversight across all social-economic sectors.

We don’t want to rush and as a result, we go back to the country in which its affairs were been managed by individuals in ministerial positions with unknown track records, qualifications, and experience.

The expectations of the Zambian people from the UPND government led by President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA are quite outstanding, such being the case a more reasonable timeframe for the Head of State to constitute his cabinet wouldn’t be a sheer waste of time.

Moreover, the president has just been in office for about 14 days, yet to clock even a month, and the quality of his speeches so far exhibits selflessness being most valuable for his people.

President HICHILEMA has also portrayed a spirit of professionalism above politics of patronage which has continued to inspire new hope in every citizen that the best for our country, is yet to come.

Just that alone indicates that president HICHILEMA is the right man for the job and it’s beyond any reasonable doubt that he has taken time to announce his cabinet because he wants to select a team (Cabinet) of experienced specialists that will work to improve the living standards of our people. A team that will ensure no one goes to bed with hunger. A team that will ensure school-going children have access to the best schools and the best teachers. A team that will ensure access to good healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Create equal opportunities and new jobs for our people, especially for youths.

More so than any else President, HICHILEMA wants to put up a team (Cabinet) that will work to build a system that will work together and supports one another to diligently deliver on the promises made to our people.

YOU HAVE CROSSED THE LINE – Open Letter to Sean Tembo.

Dear Mr. Sean Tembo

First, I want to let you know that my readers have been urging me to ignore you for a long time. However, I have learnt in life that it’s okay to sometimes ignore ignorance, but one should never ignore parasites. The only thing they do when ignored is multiply.

Second, I want you to know that I acknowledge in full your constitutional right to criticize the government of the day. Even when we know that your arguments are cheap, shallow, stunted, and patently ridiculous, you must be allowed to enjoy your free right to be heard. Even when your political ideas have a Soviet flavour and are generated from textbooks written in the 1950s, you have a right to express them. Every citizen enjoys that right. Those threatening violence on you for exercising your right must be caged.

I read all your recent criticisms of HH and watched one of your recent TV interviews. As I did so, I found it difficult to choose between laughing out loud and sympathizing with you deeply. No one with a brain half the size of a rice grain will struggle to see the childishness of what you write (by the way, you are worse when you speak. You send me to sleep). But I am not here to defend HH. I will leave that to Anthony Bwalya.

What has made me hot under the collar are the tribal slurs you keep lacing your so called checks and balances with. Your recent utterances about cows (in a country where this euphemism has been used to denigrate a population), your imaginary fears about a certain language being made national, your reference to you still belonging to Zambia despite HH being president (as if that was ever in question) – all these, among others, carried sinister tribal undertones. Enough already, sir! You need to stop it!

Mr Tembo, history is a good teacher. If we pay attention to her, she reminds us that populations don’t become monstrous overnight, that nations don’t abandon humanity in a single moment, that generational human rights atrocities don’t form in an instant or in a vacuum. National sickness is never sudden. There is always a slow, deliberate, almost imperceptible pattern. And right now, you are cunningly trying to usher us there.

The metamorphosis of a people begins with an opportunistic leader who understands the power of weaponized fear, who feeds them a steady diet of the things that terrify them: misinformation, tribal sentiments, and abject lies all designed to create anxiety in them and to make them feel unfairly assailed. Kambwili tried it. You are now trying to emulate him. That is a dangerous path. Stop it. The nation is trying to heal.

Inciting tribal feelings with thinly veiled toxic insinuations is appalling. Your alienating language is consistent with the zeroes the people of Zambia allocated to you. Do you want progress for Zambia as your party name suggests, Mr Tembo? Do you want economic success? Do you want social cohesion in Zambia? Do you understand that the vast majority of Zambians want all of these things? Do you want to get into power some day? It’s not actually that hard. Treat us all with respect. Equally. As citizens.

I want to believe in the goodness of all Zambian, but right now I’ll have to settle for the goodness of some. As for you, Mr Tembo, and the direction you are taking the PEP, you are digging deep into a pitiful hole of pathetic zeroes. Hopeless, hapless, helpless. And, apparently you’re not shy about advertising the fact.

I hope, though, that you now get the feeling of what it is like for someone to look down upon you with contempt. That is what we, the Tonga speaking people, have been feeling for a long time. Stop it. It is parasitic. No tribe in Zambia deserves that. But if you think that the tribal line is too far to cross, then I will have you know that some of us will be here to call you out for it. We know you are a PF proxy. Lick your wounds in peace. If you will sling mud, leave us out. And remember, you can always rule without dividing first.

Yours Truly

Patrick Sikana .

Dear Mr. Sean Tembo

First, I want to let you know that my readers have been urging me to ignore you for a long time. However, I have learnt in life that it’s okay to sometimes ignore ignorance, but one should never ignore parasites. The only thing they do when ignored is multiply.

Second, I want you to know that I acknowledge in full your constitutional right to criticize the government of the day. Even when we know that your arguments are cheap, shallow, stunted, and patently ridiculous, you must be allowed to enjoy your free right to be heard. Even when your political ideas have a Soviet flavour and are generated from textbooks written in the 1950s, you have a right to express them. Every citizen enjoys that right. Those threatening violence on you for exercising your right must be caged.

I read all your recent criticisms of HH and watched one of your recent TV interviews. As I did so, I found it difficult to choose between laughing out loud and sympathizing with you deeply. No one with a brain half the size of a rice grain will struggle to see the childishness of what you write (by the way, you are worse when you speak. You send me to sleep). But I am not here to defend HH. I will leave that to Anthony Bwalya.

What has made me hot under the collar are the tribal slurs you keep lacing your so called checks and balances with. Your recent utterances about cows (in a country where this euphemism has been used to denigrate a population), your imaginary fears about a certain language being made national, your reference to you still belonging to Zambia despite HH being president (as if that was ever in question) – all these, among others, carried sinister tribal undertones. Enough already, sir! You need to stop it!

Mr Tembo, history is a good teacher. If we pay attention to her, she reminds us that populations don’t become monstrous overnight, that nations don’t abandon humanity in a single moment, that generational human rights atrocities don’t form in an instant or in a vacuum. National sickness is never sudden. There is always a slow, deliberate, almost imperceptible pattern. And right now, you are cunningly trying to usher us there.

The metamorphosis of a people begins with an opportunistic leader who understands the power of weaponized fear, who feeds them a steady diet of the things that terrify them: misinformation, tribal sentiments, and abject lies all designed to create anxiety in them and to make them feel unfairly assailed. Kambwili tried it. You are now trying to emulate him. That is a dangerous path. Stop it. The nation is trying to heal.

Inciting tribal feelings with thinly veiled toxic insinuations is appalling. Your alienating language is consistent with the zeroes the people of Zambia allocated to you. Do you want progress for Zambia as your party name suggests, Mr Tembo? Do you want economic success? Do you want social cohesion in Zambia? Do you understand that the vast majority of Zambians want all of these things? Do you want to get into power some day? It’s not actually that hard. Treat us all with respect. Equally. As citizens.

I want to believe in the goodness of all Zambian, but right now I’ll have to settle for the goodness of some. As for you, Mr Tembo, and the direction you are taking the PEP, you are digging deep into a pitiful hole of pathetic zeroes. Hopeless, hapless, helpless. And, apparently you’re not shy about advertising the fact.

I hope, though, that you now get the feeling of what it is like for someone to look down upon you with contempt. That is what we, the Tonga speaking people, have been feeling for a long time. Stop it. It is parasitic. No tribe in Zambia deserves that. But if you think that the tribal line is too far to cross, then I will have you know that some of us will be here to call you out for it. We know you are a PF proxy. Lick your wounds in peace. If you will sling mud, leave us out. And remember, you can always rule without dividing first.

Yours Truly

Patrick Sikana

WAITING FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF A LEAN OR JUST A CABINET?

There have been anxieties among people esp politicians for the President to APPOINT his cabinet ministers while others demanding for a lean cabinet.

A lean cabinet is not just arrived but needs the approval of the National Assembly once the President dissolves some ministries (Art 92(1).

The previous government had 34 ministers inclusive of the vice president and the Minister in the office of the President.

Unfortunately, this is so because the dissolution of ministries and the appointment of ministers are guided by the constitution and legal dictates and so is the number of ministers to be appointed by the President.

We have not changed the law to make it promote the desired realisation of a lean cabinet in the country and until we change the existing laws, Presidents will be at liberty to appoint the legally prescribed number of ministers which bloats the Cabinet.

This is what the law prescribes in Article 116(1): *the president shall appoint a prescribed number of members of Parliament as Ministers*

Article 117 further directs the President to *APPOINT a provincial minister for each province from among members of Parliament*

Section 3 of the Ministers (Prescribed Number and Responsibility) Act No 26 of 2016 states that *for the purpose of Article 116(1) of the Constitution, the number of ministers to be appointed by the President shall not be more than thirty (30)*

GIVEN the above prescription, the direction of how many ministers the President is expected to appoint and regardless, the 10 provincial ministers is a non negotiable addition to any number of cabinet ministers the President will appoint.

So in essence, Zambia is supposed to have 40 ministers (not more than 30 cabinet ministers and the guaranteed 10 from provinces.

However, the President in Article 92 (1)(c) unfettered powers to establish, merge and dissolve government ministries subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

We wait to see and hear the number of Cabinet ministers from the President under the existing legal framework until the desire for a lean cabinet is approved by the National Assembly after dissolution of some ministries if that is the route the President wants to take.

In addition, the President can use the law of minimum by appointing only one minister which, under the Cabinet Handbook 2010 constitute a cabinet quorum.

The handbook on Chapter 4 (Quorum at Cabinet Meetings) stipulates that *the President and one other minister of Cabinet form a quorum of a cabinet meeting because cabinet is advisory to the presidency. Although cabinet makes its decisions by consensus, the President has the final say on any matter presented to Cabinet*

Now you must understand why the President is not in hurry to appoint ministers esp with the appointment of the Finance minister and the vice-president who are both cabinet ministers, in this case, help the President meet the quourum for any Cabinet meeting.

I submit

McDonald Chipenzi

I STARTED DRINKING AFTER HUBBY TOLD ME I PERFORM WELL IN BED WHEN DRUNK, WIFE TELLS COURT

A WOMAN of Chazanga Township has narrated to the Matero Local Court that she started drinking beer after her husband told her that she performed well in bed when drunk.

Anna Phiri, 25, said she had not been drinking beer when she got married to Standford Njobvu, 28, in 2015.Phiri, who was on the verge of losing her marriage for alleged heavy drinking, said it was her husband who started buying her beer and introduced her to bars and other clubs.

Phiri was testifying in a matter in which Njobvu sued her for divorce. The couple has one child together.“I never used to drink beer, it is my husband who introduced me to it, saying I perform well in bed when I am drunk. I am wondering why he is now blaming me for drinking.

“However, I am willing to stop drinking so that I could keep my marriage because I don’t want to lose my husband,” Phiri said.She told the court that her husband was short-tempered and beats her whenever they had a misunderstanding.

Phiri also said Njobvu no longer trusts her and suspects that she was still going out with her former boyfriend.Earlier, Njobvu in his testimony, told the court that Phiri disrespects him when she is drunk.“My wife becomes provocative when she is drunk, as if this not enough, she goes an extra mile to insult my parents.

I used to love my wife, but I can no longer cope with her behaviour,” he said.Njobvu said he had tried to take his wife to different elders for counselling but that she was not changing.He said in 2019, he separated from his wife, hoping that she would make amends, but to no avail.

“I thought she would change when she went back to her parents, but it seems she has become worse. I receive reports from people that she patronises bars and drinking places almost on a daily basis,” Mr Njobvu said.He said his wife had been telling people that they had divorced when in fact not.

For these reasons, Njobvu felt that it was better for them to go separate ways.In passing judgment, magistrate Kaputo Ng’andwe reconciled the couple and urged them to live in harmony.He encouraged the couple to forgive each other and start afresh.

SIANDENGE HAS ARMED ROBBERY CHARGES, HE CAN’T BE IN THE POLICE- SEAN TEMBO

“Let the law clear him before he takes up any role”

“Police must arrest Siandenge immediately and present him before court”

PeP STATEMENT No.70 ISSUED ON SUNDAY, 5th SEPTEMBER 2021: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1. As Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) we are shocked that President Hakainde Hichilema decided to appoint Mr Fanwell Siandenge as Deputy Inspector General of Police for Special Duties when he still has aggravated robbery charges pending before the Lusaka Magistrates Court. In August 2016, Mr Fanwell Siandenge was charged with aggravated robbery together with four others, and he proceeded to go on the run while the Zambia Police put up a reward of K100,000 for his capture and arrest.

2. Our expectation is that even if President Hichilema views the aggravated robbery charges against Mr Siandenge as politically motivated, he still needed to allow the due process of the law to take its course. The correct way of doing things is that Mr Siandenge should have been arrested and presented before the Lusaka Magistrates Court after which the State should have either dismissed the charges unconditionally or conditionally through a nolle prosequi. It is not acceptable for President Hakainde Hichilema to just ignore that Mr Fanwell Siandenge has aggravated robbery charges pending before the Lusaka Magistrates Court.

3. As Patriots for Economic Progress we remember vividly how Mr Hakainde Hichilema promised the Zambian people that he will respect the rule of law if elected into office as Republican President. We also remember vividly how President Hakainde Hichilema swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia on 24th August 2021 when he was sworn into office as our 7th Republican President. We are therefore shocked that barely 2 weeks later, President Hichilema is in the forefront abrogating the same Constitution that he swore to protect and defend. By appointing a fugitive from the law the President has not only breached the Constitution but has also seriously undermined our criminal justice system. The fact that the Police did not arrest Mr Siandenge when he showed up to be sworn in as Deputy IG at State House, despite there being an active warrant for his arrest, means that the Zambia Police Service in particular and law enforcement agencies in general will not be allowed to operate freely under President Hakainde Hichilema’s tenure of office. It also means that the President’s colorful speech during his inauguration about allowing law enforcement agencies to operate freely was mere rhetoric.

4. As Patriots for Economic Progress we call upon the Zambia Police Service to immediately arrest Mr Fanwell Siandenge and present him before the Lusaka Magistrates Court. If the State wants to drop the charges against Mr Siandenge, it should be done properly and in compliance with the Criminal Procedure Code Act, Cap 88 of the Laws of Zambia. It is unacceptable for President Hakainde Hichilema to undermine the laws of the Republic of Zambia just so he can accommodate a particular individual, regardless of whether he feels that the individual in question is not guilty of the offense that he is charged with. Mr Hakainde Hichilema should stop acting like a King and start acting like a Republican President.

Thank You and May God Bless the Good Citizens of the Republic of Zambia and our Hopeful Nation.

YOURS SINCERELY

SEAN E. TEMBO
PARTY PRESIDENT
PATRIOTS FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS (PeP)

OUR TREASURY IS EMPTY – UNDERSTANDING HH.

4th September, 2021

New Zambian President, H.E. Hakainde Hichilema, made two shocking revelations on a BBC interview he recently held…

1). That he inherited coffers that were literally empty.

2). That the debt situation was understated by the previous government.

Government critics have taken turns at lashing out on the President for revealing that the coffers were empty, citing loss of investor confidence as a consequence.

Others have even gone further to accuse him of lying because the government has foreign reserves amounting to US$2.9 billion.

The Zambian situation cannot be looked at with such simple lenses. If it were that simple, our past government would not have defaulted on its US$42.5 million debt payment, our country would not have slipped into a recession last year and our government then would not have repeatedly gone back and fourth to the IMF in search of a bailout.

So why did we default when we had reserves, why didn’t the government get a chunk of US$42.5 million to pay it’s debt from it’s reserves?

We need to understand, as a country, that foreign reserves amounting to as low as US$2.9 billion are shameful, and that is being very broke. We can not boast of having an import cover of five to six months, that is being broke.

What this means, for instance, is that if we had a calamity of some sort, especially in this pandemic era, we only have money enough to feed us for only 5 months. After that, we would starve to death. Does that give you confidence? Of course not.

If the government, therefore, dips into those reserves anyhow, then our import cover will further reduce say to 3 months or less.

Also, reserves are called reserves because they are reserves. By the time you reach to using your reserves then you’re BROKE!! Even the so-called critics who keep referring to the reserves should understand that going into the reserves to support our normal operations as a country means that we are heavily broke and should not reach that point.

Simple logic shows that having a debt burden of over US$27 billion while having a foreign reserve of US$2.9 billion is being broke. It can not be as empty as that.

The Patriotic Front Government survived on borrowing and heavily taxing the citizen to remain afloat. That is why the new Minister of Finance also revealed that the PF had borrowed more during the run-up to campaigns. The full extent of the debt remains unknown, but it is far much more than previously thought.

When Hichilema says that he has inherited empty coffers, he means just that.

Our External debt to GDP ratio is close to 100% if not already above 100% and that explains why the IMF had trouble striking a deal with the PF government. Our debt became unsustainable because we are broke.

The first step to recovery is accepting our real status. Once we do that, we will then begin to tackle our problems with the right energy and vigor. It does not help anyone to sugarcoat our distress levels, that in itself, is a recipe for failure.

The Government of Hakainde Hichilema has promised us transparency at all levels, we need to brace ourselves as a Citizenry because some transparent news will be too transparent and painful for us, but we need it.

Twaambo Hamakuni
UPND Member.

Open Letter To United Party for National Development

Dear UPND

Am writing to you to express my concerns over the growing sense of abandonment,the coldblooded intuition of betrayal filtering among UPND cadres, am not writing this letter as advocacy for Cadrism in markets and bus stations for i have always been an outspoken advocate against the Cadrism predatory system, our marketeers and drivers are already struggling to put food on the table it would be a merciless betrayal to our voters to allow our UPND cadres to usurp local government’s revenue stream by taking over and mismanaging markets and bus stations.I would like to reaffirm categorically that i support president HH’s nonsense stance that only councils will manage all trading places as stipulated and mandated by the constitution of Zambia.

My main area of concern is the communication breakdown between UPND National Management Committee and our devoted countrywide grassroots movements. Many UPND cadres feel marginalised,unseen,unheard, unrecognised,undervalued and forgotten, which isn’t the fault of the senior UPND leadership structure but the fault of the grassroots movement committees. Now that elections are over many UPND cadres expected the party to transition from politics to economic activities but the grassroots structures have become inactive and dormant and only seem to become hyperactive and visible when a senior member visits the secretariat.

I would like to remind UPND that when there was a rallying call for martyrdom for a new dawn it’s this same UPND cadres who took up the call, when nobody wanted to offer their lives to protect and defend president HH it’s this same cadres who created the human shield with their bodies to protect president HH, many became martyrs like Mapenzi, Lawrence Banda,Joseph Kaunda, Carlance Zulu and many other unsung revolutionary foot soldiers….Those that survived still bare scares of Patriotic Front’s gruesome violence while others still experience the trauma of Zambia police torture.

The point of my letter is it’s time for UPND to lunch it’s internal youth empowerment programs to calm the anxiety of the cadres, those empowerment programs can be jobs opportunities for cadres who qualify based on their academic qualifications not partisan affliction while those who are uneducated but talented can be empowered with talent equipment and those with business acumen should be assisted with business startup capital….UPND should realize if they fail to create a livelihood for their own children (party youths) how will president HH create jobs for other nonpartisan youths?

Let me concluded by stating this UPND cadres are the lifeblood of the party, this UPND youths are the political muscle of the time for change movement and this UPND grassroots are the vision carriers of president Hakainde Hichilema,It’s the duty of the UPND grassroots leaders to improve on their information management skills in order to recommit president HH’s promise that their undying devotion, unconditional love and tremendous sacrifice for the party for 23 years in opposition wasn’t in vain but worth their trust, energy, commitment and lives.

Yours Sincerely

Peter Shamasapo Becks

UPND Diehard

IMF wants fuel & electricity prices increased, FISIP & Social Cash transfer scrapped- Sean Tembo

“So far we have strongly advised President Hichilema against the idea of getting an IMF and putting the country on an IMF programme.

We have also strongly advised the President against making careless statements about things such as our national debt and the level of corruption to the outside world the way he did during his interview with the BBC.

Like l have said before, the reason we give this advice to the President is because we want him to succeed. It is not because we are undermining him. But despite our advice, it appears that the President is very strong-headed and incapable of listening to advice from us lesser beings.

He has made it clear that the issue of getting an IMF loan is non-negotiable despite the likely retrogressive IMF conditionalities such as employment freeze, wage freeze, privatization of parastatals such as ZESCO and Zamtel, scrapping of social welfare schemes such as Farmer Input Support Program and Social Cash Transfer and yesterday the former Minister of Finance Hon.

Bwalya Ng’andu told the nation that the IMF also wanted Government to increase the prices of fuel as well as electricity tariffs as a conditionality of getting an IMF loan.

A certain self-proclaimed “Economist” who once worked for ZNBC was arguing that the conditionalities which l had earlier listed was mere fear-mongering, so with the confirmation from the former Minister of Finance who had directly engaged the IMF, I wonder what this “Economist” would have to say.

To say that these impending IMF conditionalities are retrogressive to the nation is an understatement. You see country men and women, the only way to develop our country is to do two things; seal all tax and non-tax revenue leakages and increase domestic production.

For us to increase the productivity of our economy, the key production inputs such as electricity and fuel have to be affordable. What the IMF is asking us to do by demanding that we increase the prices of fuel and electricity is to undermine the growth potential of our economy. Already the price of electricity is too high and we are supposed to be talking about reducing it and not increasing it.

Most households now only use electricity for lighting and have gone back to charcoal for purposes of cooking and heating water, which is causing serious damage to our environment due to the cutting down of trees. Now can you imagine what the further impact to the environment will be if Bally gets his way and we go on an IMF program and we increase the price of fuel and electricity as per IMF demands? Brothers and sisters, the IMF programme is wrong at so many levels.

Let us keep our fingers crossed that President Hichilema will listen to our advice and have a change of heart on this matter. Otherwise we are doomed.

“And blasts Chibamba Kanyama as a self-proclaimed economist”

THE RISE AND FALL OF A PRESIDENT

By Sean Tembo – PeP President

1. One thing that is for sure is that successfully running the affairs of a nation is a lot of work. If you are going to be a successful President then you need to do a lot of things right. Among those things however is appointing competent people into decision-making positions, listening to advice without feeling undermined, being sincere when you talk to the people and focusing on the way forward as opposed to dwelling on the past. However, our new President Mr Hakainde Hichilema appears to struggle to tick these boxes so far.

2. On the issue of competence, l have argued in the past and l wish to argue now that one of the reasons why our country has failed to make any significant economic progress 56 years after getting independence is because various successive Presidents have not made it a priority to appoint the best and brightest Zambians to decision-making positions. Instead of advertising vacancies so as to give all Zambians an opportunity to apply, they share these jobs quietly and secretly like roasted groundnuts at an overnight village festival. Successive Presidents would appoint people who are either in their phonebook contacts or those who are whispered to them by their close advisors, friends or family relations. What this means is that those Zambians who do not have any political connections never have a chance to be appointed to a top decision-making position regardless of how competent they might be. The end result is that you end up with a Government that has a sub-optimal pool of skills. Or to put it in simple English, you end up with an incompetent Government. And it does not matter how competent you the individual President is, if the people that you appointed to decision-making positions are incompetent, the quality of decisions that trickles down is poor and consequently the entire Government is set for failure. I was hopeful that President Hakainde Hichilema with his colorful CV would be the President that would change this trend by extending a fair opportunity to each and every Zambian to be employed to decision-making positions. But it appears evident so far that my hope is misplaced. There is no change in this area and consequently Zambians should not expect much difference to the way our economy will be managed going forward compared to the way it has been managed for the past 56 years since independence. All because we have yet again failed to assemble a group of the best and brightest citizens to help in converting our economic potential into actual wealth for the benefit of our people. All because the President has decided to run the nation like a personal farm where jobs are given in order to settle personal favors instead of on merit. Whereby Zambians with no political connections stand no chance of contributing to the countries development, no matter how competent they might be. It is really sad.

3. On the issue of the President being able to take advice without feeling undermined, it is evident that we again have a problem in this area. I have argued in the past and l wish to argue again here that a President should never be filled with self-importance if he is going to succeed. When people advise you, there is need to pay attention to what they are saying than being strong-headed and always believing that they are trying to undermine you and your plans. So far we have strongly advised President Hichilema against the idea of getting an IMF and putting the country on an IMF programme. We have also strongly advised the President against making careless statements about things such as our national debt and the level of corruption to the outside world the way he did during his interview with the BBC. Like l have said before, the reason we give this advice to the President is because we want him to succeed. It is not because we are undermining him. But despite our advice, it appears that the President is very strong-headed and incapable of listening to advice from us lesser beings. He has made it clear that the issue of getting an IMF loan is non-negotiable despite the likely retrogressive IMF conditionalities such as employment freeze, wage freeze, privatization of parastatals such as ZESCO and Zamtel, scrapping of social welfare schemes such as Farmer Input Support Program and Social Cash Transfer and yesterday the former Minister of Finance Hon. Bwalya Ng’andu told the nation that the IMF also wanted Government to increase the prices of fuel as well as electricity tariffs as a conditionality of getting an IMF loan. A certain self-proclaimed “Economist” who once worked for ZNBC was arguing that the conditionalities which l had earlier listed was mere fear-mongering, so with the confirmation from the former Minister of Finance who had directly engaged the IMF, I wonder what this “Economist” would have to say. To say that these impending IMF conditionalities are retrogressive to the nation is an understatement. You see country men and women, the only way to develop our country is to do two things; seal all tax and non-tax revenue leakages and increase domestic production. For us to increase the productivity of our economy, the key production inputs such as electricity and fuel have to be affordable. What the IMF is asking us to do by demanding that we increase the prices of fuel and electricity is to undermine the growth potential of our economy. Already the price of electricity is too high and we are supposed to be talking about reducing it and not increasing it. Most households now only use electricity for lighting and have gone back to charcoal for purposes of cooking and heating water, which is causing serious damage to our environment due to the cutting down of trees. Now can you imagine what the further impact to the environment will be if Bally gets his way and we go on an IMF program and we increase the price of fuel and electricity as per IMF demands? Brothers and sisters, the IMF programme is wrong at so many levels. Let us keep our fingers crossed that President Hichilema will listen to our advice and have a change of heart on this matter. Otherwise we are doomed.

4. On the issue of sincerity, it is evident that President Hakainde Hichilema struggles with telling the truth. I wonder whether this is because of his prolonged stay in the opposition where he had made it his lifestyle to exaggerate the bad and underplay the good just so as to remain relevant. But Mr Hakainde Hichilema should know that he is no longer an opposition leader now. The people of Zambia elected him as Republican President on 12th August. Therefore, the President must learn to act presidential. First he lied to the world that he had inherited empty coffers. And when he was challenged that he inherited about US$3 billion when he was sworn into office on 24th August 2021, he then switched his narrative and said his statement that the country’s coffers are empty was said in the context that we have US$3 billion in reserves but we owe US$12 billion. Well, as a Chartered Accountant of many decades of experience in public practice, l want to tell you sir that that is the most silly explanation ever advanced in the history of finance. You see, you cannot compare what is in reserves to what we owe which is due at various intervals into the future, without taking into consideration the fact that Zambia is a going concern and will keep generating revenue going forward. Already we are told that the Zambia Revenue Authority has exceeded its targeted revenue collection for the year and yet we still have 4 more months to go. What this likely means is that we are going to have a budget surplus this year. Since ZRA had collected about ZMW60 billion as at 31st August 2021, we can estimate the quantum of the surplus as ZMW30 billion. At today’s exchange rate, that is approximately US$2 billion which is enough to pay the Eurobonds that are due in 2022 and 2023. The expectation is that the UPND Government should ensure that the nation records another budget surplus next year and the next year and the next year so that we can build our reserves. So tell us again Bally, why do we need an IMF loan? Please sir stop lying to the world that our economy is in a crisis because it is not. Just work had to make things even better from where you found them. In fact, based on your flip flopping the past few days whereby one minute you something on BBC and the next minute you tweet something else, another minute your Press Aide says something different, the nation and the international community is beginning to have doubts about your competence. Everyone is wondering whether you’re really the finance whiz kid that you had portrayed yourself while in opposition? And also stop sending people to harass us when we expose your untruths and inconsistencies. You are our President now and you swore an oath to protect each and every Zambian including those of us who challenge you. So don’t pay lip service to the issue of our security. Tell your supporters to stay away before we have a major security incident. If they want to challenge us, they should do so with sober counter-arguments and not threats, insults and innuendo. The fact that you are now the President does not mean that Zambia is now no longer our country. This is our country too.

/// END

SET 04.09.2021

WE CAN’T GO BACK TO A ONE PARTY STATE – HON. MUMBA

… says the decision by the UPND to petition 54 parliamentary seats held by the PF makes a sad reading.

Mufulira … Saturday, September 04, 2021 [Smart Eagles]

Kantanshi member of parliament Hon. Anthony Mumba says the country can’t afford to go back to a one party State.

Speaking when he featured on Mafken radio in Mufulira, Hon. Mumba said the decision by the UPND to petition 54 parliamentary seats held by the PF makes a sad reading.

Hon. Mumba said the fact that the UPND won the Presidential seat does not mean that they won all the parliamentary seats.

He said the PF accepted defeat despite having evidence of electoral malpractice by the UPND.

” We can’t go back to a one party state. It is sad that the UPND has decided to petition 54 seats held by the PF. PF has accepted defeat despite having evidence of electoral malpractice by the UPND,” Hon. Mumba said.

” I got the highest vote in the district and just because the UPND won the Presidential seat does not guarantee that they won all the parliamentary seats. We need to put national interest first,” He said.

And Hon. Mumba said President Hichilema needs a coordinated approach to how he manages the affairs of the nation.

He said President Hichilema should desist from issuing statements away from written speeches.

” President Hichilema needs to read from speeches because that will be used as reference for us in parliament. We need leadership that is accountable, ” Hon. Mumba said.

Meawhile, Hon. Mumba said the PF will rise if the leaders listen to the grassroots.

He said the people that made the PF to lose the elections should step aside.

” PF is a loved party and it will rise if our top leaders listen to the grassroots. Those that made us to lose power should step aside,” He said.

And Hon. Mumba said he will not accept any ministerial position in the UPND Government because he does not believe in their ideologies.

” We will give President Hichilema chance to rule and people that will make him fail are his members. President Hichilema is failing to come up with a cabinet because most of his members are expectant for positions,” Hon. Mumba said.

LAW ON DECLARATION OF ASSETS & LIABILITIES: A FIRST STEP TO A TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT BY THE NEW DAWN GOVERNMENT.

After nominations, citizens demanded that presidential candidates’ assets and liabilities be made public by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), but this demand was resisted by the ECZ.

In its argument, the ECZ argued that the law did not compel it to make public the declared assets and liabilities of candidates.

However, ARTICLE 263 demands that a person holding a public office SHALL, before assuming office or Leaving office, make a declaration of their assets and liabilities, as PRESCRIBED.

Appreciate the use of “SHALL” in the supreme law of the land entailing that declaration of assets and liabilities by public officers is mandatory to do so. But the question will be to who should these public officers declare their assets and liabilities?

Is it to the ECZ alone who are also required by Article 266 declare their assets and liabilities but have not done so for years now or to the judiciary?

The constitution under Article 82 (2) (e) also demands that a person to qualify to be elected as Speaker of the National Assembly that person must declare his/her assets and liabilities, as PRESCRIBED.

This also applies to a person to qualify to be nominated as a candidate for election as President (Art. 100(1)(h), member of Parliament (Art. 70(1)(e) and only the office of a councilor is not demanded to declare these assets and liabilities.

And what is a public office by the Constitution definitions/interpretation?

Art 266 of the Constitution defines public office to mean an office whose emoluments and expenses are a charge on the consolidated fund or other prescribed public fund and includes a state office, constitutional Office and an office in the public service, including that of a member of a commission.

Further Article 266 defines *State Office to include the office of President, vice-president, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Member of Parliament, Minister and Provincial Minister.*

In with Art 263 that demands for declaration of assets and liabilities for outgoing and incoming public officers, It is therefore imperative for the public to demand to know the assets and liabilities of the former President, EDGAR CHAGWA Lungu and the current president HH.

This also applies to current and former vice-president, current and former Speaker of the National Assembly and current and former Deputy Speakers, current and former Members of Parliament, current and former cabinet Ministers and Provincial Ministers, the current and former members of the Commissions e.g ECZ, HRC, ACC, TSC, CSC, LGSC among others.

With the New Dawn government’s emphasis on transparent, accountable and servant leadership, rule of law and constitutionalism, public declaration of public officers’ assets and liabilities will be a demonstration of commitment towards accountable, transparent and servant leadership, Zambians have yearned for years.

The constitution clauses and the relevant Acts of parliament on the declaration of assets and liabilities must be respected by all.

Let us know your assets and liabilities and ECZ must be honourable enough and published the declared assets and liabilities by all contestants to the position of President and MP.

The clerk of the National Assembly must publish the declaredassets and liabilities by the outgoing and incoming speakers.

And those institutions receiving these declarations of assets and liabilities of these public officers must do the same.

We are itching to hold them accountable. it is the New Dawn.

I submit

McDonald Chipenzi

By Kapya Kaoma

President HH’s BBC interview, in which he skunked Zambia’s creditworthiness to creditors while undressing himself as ignorant of International Relations and Global Financial workings, only proved my initial assessment of his candidacy–unless he grows up, Bally will remain a Baby President. The poor man is erratic, insecure, and mostly pitiable whenever he faces cameras. Walking back his rants on Twitter will only make him a Trump in African skin.

I refuse to be part of the myth that HH must be given time–he is the President and must be held to account. I won’t join the HH cult. Just as I called out Lungu’s poor leadership, corruption, the rottenness of the Judiciary, the Police, the Big Man money wasting kantemba called Anti-Corruption Commission–it is stinkingly corrupt and only works to punish enemies of the President, I won’t treat President HH otherwise. The Presidency is not an internship. President HH is already making executive decisions with a lasting impact on the Nation. He must be held responsible from the word go. As I argue in, “Raised Hopes, Shattered Dreams,” “dictators are made and not born.” Our failures to hold Presidents accountable from the moment they take office is what creates monsters–I refuse to be part of this horrible tradition.

Despite his worshipers’ denials, the President himself understood his pathetic performance in that interview. Sending another childish tweet to assure creditors not to “worry about [Zambia’s] current financial position,” and to end with, “As the youth of Zambia would say, “Bally will pay,”‘ however, says much more about his priggish attitude, than advance the nation’s cause.

Presidential interviews are meant to promote the interests of Zambia at all costs. Creditors are waiting to see how he acts on arresting corruption, increasing accountability and transparency. They are not interested in what the youth say–but what the Zambian President says. Zambian youths can shout” Bally will pay”–another lie aimed at promoting his egocentric imaginations. Bally won’t pay Zambia’s debt, the nation will pay. To the Baby President, such praiseworthy shouts would entice more tantrums against the PF. The problem is, the PF doesn’t exist on contract national debt, Zambia does. Presidents rarely take policy-related foreign interviews for this reason.

President HH may have run the UPND alone, but he won’t govern alone. He needs professional policy analysts to make him look intelligent; they have to tell him how to prevent such embarrassing scenarios. He needs a good media team to vet which interviews to take or pass, and tell him what to say. Moreover, Presidents are prepared for big interviews–this is how the media world works. Presidents rarely write their speeches, but have experts do it. They only deliver them. If HH has such a team, he must replace it as soon as possible. Not every foreign media will be kind to him, another reason his team must vet interviewers in advance.

Let me bring it home. Assume someone asks to borrow your money after revealing that they are drowning in debt. “I thought I owed creditors K13,000, but after looking at the books, I realize my debt is much bigger than that. My account has only K2000, and my workers are stealing even as I speak. Please lend me some more money to help rebuild my business.” Unless you are a fool, lending is off the table. President HH had an opportunity to prove to creditors that under his leadership, Zambia will manage its debts, and responsibly contract new ones. Instead he told them Zambia is a skunk. It is what it is, our President junked Zambia’s credit worthiness.

The BBC interview was simply shameful, Ignominious and shockingly humiliating. Worse still, the developing trend in the HH Presidency of ignoring the facts is worrying. Why announce to the world what Zambians don’t know? It is bad PR. Besides, if he didn’t know, why didn’t he ask for the information during the transition? Maybe he does not read, or he is simply ignoring the facts. It is one thing to mislead Zambians during the campaign, but when the President misleads the world, the National economy is the victim.

Bally worshipers think the President simply told the world the truth about the rotten Lungu administration. But this is not what the world heard. To Creditors, our President warned them to lend Zambia at their own risk. This unmeasured statement would reduce Zambia’s bargaining power in contracting new debts, as well as invite high interest rates with short term payments. But who cares? He is Zambia’s Trump–his followers will remain loyal as long as he can tweet!

President HH narcissistic behavior needs taming before it explodes into an unmanageable crisis. The collapse of the Bond forced HH to tweet “Bally will pay,” but the damage is already done! .Unless you’re Trump, the world does not run on tweets, but on disciplined policy.

International Relations and Foreign Policy 101, is this–always put the interests of your nation first. As President, HH does not represent himself or the UPND, but the Nation. I understand his obsession with the PF regime, but there is only one President, Hakainde Hichilema. We have mechanisms in place to deal with the PF corruption and ; he is in charge of all instruments of power. What the world wants to see is actions, as opposed to shameful and unmeasured rants.

I am afraid, the FTJ Chiluba reincarnation is before our eyes. Like erratic HH, President Chiluba didn’t understand the workings of government either. His first years were all about the KK regime. Like HH, he imprudently revealed state secrets to the outside world for his own egotistical interests–he was the best. We now know that Plot 1 has tunnels and Broadcasting equipment. We know where the Presidential banker is–the very banker he needed in an attempted coup. The reason? To show Zambians and the world how evil the KK regime was, and how Chiluba would clean it up. Did he? History can’t be rewritten.

President HH represents Zambia and has the role of selling it positively. In fact, he is Zambia to the world. Until his followers help him to know this basic truth about the presidency, Zambia will be in a fix as Bally continues to rule as an opposition leader. Sadly, like a toddler, he is opposing himself against himself. Is this another psychological problem Bally should fix in himself?

KAPALASA’S REPORT TO ACC:

TALE OF BILL 10 CORRUPTION INVOLVING FORMER FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER, MR GOODWARD MULUBWA, SWIFT CARGO LTD, ZAMBIA POLICE OFFICERS AND RTSA OFFICIALS”.

A story by Bampi Kapalasa.

I wish to report activities of alleged abuse of authority of office and alleged offenses as narrated below.

Sometimes in January, 2017 when I was a Patriotic Front (PF) member, I renovated the toilets of at at the Patriotic Front Secretariat as a gesture of goodwill using my own personal resources because the said toilets where in the dilapilated state.

Later on, the same year 2017, the PF Secretary General Mr Davis Mwila wanted to have the said toilets commissioned before the works were completed. I objected to this and this brought about alot of tension between myself and him. In the same year I decided to leave the Patriotic Front and joined the United Party for National Development (UPND) were I was adopted to contest as a Member of parliament following the subsequent death of the area MP Hon Patricia Mwashingwere and I emerged winner of the said by election.

In 2019, whilst being a member of parliament I met Hon Joseph Malanji the then Minister of Foreign Affairs and we established a good relationship aside from being Members of Parliament. Thereafter, our friendship grew to an extent that we would even visit each other’s homes and share presents.

In the same year, Hon Malanji brokered a reconciliation between myself and Mr Davis Mwila. Arising from this reconciliation Hon Malanji offered to give a friendly gift as a token of our friendship and reconciliation. I did not even know the type of a gift it was going to be. In April ,2020 he hinted to me that the present will be in the form of a motor vehicle and further requested for my TPIN and other details. I then requested that I give him details of my wife instead because she was much in need of a car than I was. He did not object to this.

In July 2020 I received a call from Hon Malanji asking me to go to his home and pick up the said present. When I got there ,I was handed over a brand new Isuzu DMAX and inside the said motor vehicle was a copy of the motor vehicle registration certificate (White book) which was bearing the names and details of Fanny Madzi who happens to be my wife.

In October 2020 Hon Malanji approached me and requested that I support and vote for the infamous and failed Bill 10 which was to be tabled before parliament. Due to personal and political reasons I declined the said request and consequently I did not vote for the said Bill 10 which failed to pass to the next stage. Arising from this, Hon Malanji called me and expressed serious displeasure and disappointment and he further warned me that there would be severe consequences.

A few days later , I received an anonymous phone call from an unknown person claiming ownership of the said motor vehicle that was earlier given to my wife through me by Hon Malanji.

The caller further went on to shower me with various insults and threats. I later came to discover that the said caller was Mr Goodward Muluba the priopriator of Swift Cargo Limited. Later on, I received a phone call from Assistant Supritendant Uyoya from Zambia Police Service Headquarters summoming me to appear before him. When I went there I was informed by Mr Uyoya who was in the company of other officers that there was a complaint of Theft of motor vehicle involving the said Isuzu DMAX against myself.

The complaint was lodged by Mr Goodward Mulubwa claiming that the motor vehicle in question belonged to Swift Cargo Limitied. Thereafter the police officers requested that I hand over the car to them for investigations to which I objected . They later threatened me using AK rifles that they where going to bundle me in their vehicle to lead them where the car was. I was then forced to comply and later called my wife who brought the said motor vehicle to Zambia Police Heardquarters. The officers then seized the motor vehicle using a seizure notice and informed me that they would inform me of the outcome of the investigations upon completion.

When I noticed that there was no progress , my wife who was the rightful owner of the motor vehicle decided to write to the inspector General of Police Mr Kakoma Kanganja to have the vehicle released on a temporal basis as it was getting worn out where it was parked.
However, there was no response to this effect and this prompted me to make a physical follow up. When I got there, I discovered that the vehicle was no longer in the custody of the Zambia Police and after further inquiries, I was informed that the vehicle was released to the absolute owner who was Swift Cargo Limited. When I later checked the details of the said motor vehicle in the RTSA system,I discovered that ownership was changed without the consent of my wife who was the real owner.

It is against this background that I am urging your able institution to investigate the following allegations.

1. Abuse of Authority of office against Mr Uyoya and other unknown police officers in the manner they arbitrary seized and released the motor vehicle to Swift Cargo Limited without a proper conclusion to the investigation and any other offenses that may arise in the course of your investigations.

2. Forgery and utterring of false documents against Hon Malanji and Goodward in the manner in which they facilitated the the change of ownership of the said motor vehicle without consent of the real owner who is my wife.

3. Abuse of authority of office against unknown RTSA officials in the manner in which they arbitrary and fraudulently changed ownership of the said motor vehicle without following the laid down procedure.

4. Willful failure to comply with applicable procedure by both officers from the Zambia Police Service and RTSA in the manner the motor vehicle was released and ownership change respectively.

Yours in service

Signed…

Hon Aubrey B. Kapalasa (Mr).

*CIC PRESS TEAM*

By Chimweta Luyando

WYNTER Kabimba says the unattainable promises made by the UPND will haunt them now that they are in government.

Kabimba, an ex-justice minister under Michael Sata’s government, is the Rainbow Party general secretary.

He also argues that an International Monetary Fund programme is equivalent to handing over an economy to foreigners.

“The first enemy that the new dawn administration has, created by themselves, are the campaign promises they made to the Zambian people. That is what is going to haunt them throughout the term of office of this administration,” Kabimba said in an interview. “The campaign promises will haunt them because they are not achievable, in practice. What the new dawn administration has as campaign promises, in my view, are nothing but a dream.”

He said what UPND officials were promising, while in the opposition is a figment of their imagination as to how Zambia should be in an ideal situation.

“They will not translate into something meaningful on the ground. The backlash they are going to face will come from the people in challenging them on their campaign promises,” he said. “The Minister of Finance (Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane) says that the IMF package is going to resolve the economic problems that were created by PF. [But] nowhere in Africa has an IMF package resolved economic problems of a nation?”

Kabimba added that if anything, an IMF problem hurts the ordinary people – the poor – whom it is supposed to save.

“That’s the record of the IMF. And it’s not as if the IMF is coming to Zambia for the first time. It was here during the MMD administration,” he noted. “In fact, MMD had more goodwill in 1991, than the goodwill that we are seeing during this era of the new dawn administration. MMD had more goodwill from donors, citizens, the international community.”

Kabimba recalled that Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s administration withdrew from the IMF in 1988 but that the MMD administration: “rushed back to the IMF.”

“What happened was the dismantling of the whole parastatal sector, which was a major employer of the ordinary people. Poverty levels escalated under the IMF programme in MMD. Unemployment figures went up under that programme,” Kabimba explained. “There was a team of IMF ‘experts’ who were based at the Ministry of Finance in Lusaka. They were referred to as the Harvard boys. They actually had offices at the Ministry of Finance to try the help the MMD government to navigate the economy to something that would lead to prosperity.”

He continued, saying: “that’s why Sean Tembo argues, and rightly so, that an IMF programme means you hand over the management of your economy to foreigners i.e. to the IMF.”

“You are no longer in charge of your economy, and that’s what will happen. There is no way that the IMF programme is going to create employment, to reduce poverty because the austerity measures that come with those conditionalities are not intended to alleviate the suffering of the poor of any country,” he noted. “So, they have created their own enemy, under the circumstances.”

Kabimba pointed out that when one listens to Dr Musokotwane, they will hear that: “he is talking about creating employment, which they have promised to the youths, by way of bringing in foreign investors that will come and set up factories.”

“And it is those factories that are going to employ people, and hence solve the youth unemployment. [But] Zambia has a very small market, in terms of population. That in itself militates against major foreign investments,” Kabimba said. “Why would somebody want to come and set-up a factory in Zambia to make $17 million if he sold his product to every Zambian at $1? Why would he want to set up that factory in Zambia, instead of setting it up in Tanzania which has 45 million people, South Africa which has 55 million, Kenya 48 to 50 million?”

He underscored that Zambia’s population, as a market, is not attractive to any investor who wants to make a profit.

“That’s why you see the Americans, even as they have differences with Chinese, they still can’t afford to do away with China with a population of 1.3 billion,” he said. “It’s a huge market! If you went and sold a pen to every Chinese at $1, you’ll make $1.3 billion and you walk away.”

About adding value to copper, as per Dr Musokotwane’s intimation on Sunday Interview, Kabimba said: “we have heard that song from MMD time.”

“It’s like the name Phiri in Eastern Province or Patel amongst the Indians, which you find across almost every family. We have that parlance from MMD – value addition. We have seen no technology that can translate into value addition in this country,” noted Kabimba. “There is nothing new that I have heard from President Hakainde that I have not heard before. So, I’m not moved by words. I want to be moved by action. I bet my last dollar that the new dawn administration has planted its own ilomba (charm).”

Sean Tembo
PeP STATEMENT No.69 ISSUED ON FRIDAY, 3rd SEPTEMBER 2021: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1. As Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) we are extremely disappointed with the continued failure by President Hakainde Hichilema to declare his assets to the public upon ascending to the Presidency. This is despite the promises that Mr Hichilema made while in opposition that he will run a transparent and accountable Government whereby all senior public officials including himself will declare their assets upon being sworn into office. Despite being a moral obligation, declaration of assets is also a legal obligation.

2. Declaration of assets to the public by any President is critical because it unveils how much of his own money a President has entered State House with. This will help the nation to determine how much money the President accumulated while in State House, at the end of his tenure in 2026. We expected President Hakainde Hichilema to make a declaration of his assets on 24th August 2021 when he was sworn into office as Zambia’s 7th President, but we have seen that he is quiet so far. We wish to put it on record that all of Zambia’s former Republican Presidents declared their assets upon ascending to the Presidency and we are at pains to understand why President Hichilema is resisting to do so.

3. As Patriots for Economic Progress we are getting increasingly unsettled with the shadowy manner in which President Hichilema and his UPND Government are running the affairs of the nation so far. We are also concerned with the violent manner in which UPND supporters are responding to those who are providing checks and balances to the new Government. Our message to President Hichilema, his Government and their supporters is that if they do not want us to criticize them, then they should learn to do things properly without being reminded. For as long as they do wrong things, we shall not be shy to tell the Zambian people that what President Hichilema and his Government are doing is wrong.

4. As Patriots for Economic Progress we hereby give President Hakainde Hichilema a 14 day ultimatum for him to fulfill the constitutional requirement to declare his assets to the public. If upon expiration of 14 days the President continues to resist to declare his assets to the public, we will be left with no option but to approach the Constitutional Court and file a petition against his non-compliance with constitutional provisions. No one is above the law.

Thank You and May God Bless the Good Citizens of the Republic of Zambia and Our Hopeful Nation.

YOURS SINCERELY

SEAN E. TEMBO (SET)
PARTY PRESIDENT
PATRIOTS FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS (PeP)

Chibamba Kanyama
THE BOND MARKET VERSES IMF

Speaking on Radio Phoenix ‘Let the People Talk’, PEP President Sean Tembo encouraged the new Government to resist taking on an IMF Programme, emphasizing the benefits of the commercial (Eurobond) Market as a much more flexible source of funding to Government. He said several things that were not realistic such as Zambia’s financial position, saying there was no debt problem.

Just yesterday, President Hakainde Hichilema revealed the level of debt was much higher than communicated. There could be some truth in the statement because Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane hinted on the prospect on ZNBC Sunday Interview. This communication led to panic among bondholders who repriced their assets.

The President was signaling the intention of the government to be much more transparent about the debt position than before as has been demanded by the bondholders five years now. The bondholders always suspected the debt position had all along been under-stated and their behaviour yesterday to react the way they did was expected. It was merely a matter of time. We have just been postponing the obvious by announcing figures that may not have been correct. I expect that when the actual figures are communicated (if they indeed exist), there is likely to be a further impact on bond prices as well as our own exchange rate except the movements will be moderated.

In my virtual presentation to offshore investors yesterday on Zambia’s political transition and policy outlook, a question was asked as to whether the revelation of the new debt would further stall IMF programme discussions or even lead to total call off. My response was that the opposite would likely happen; that the IMF would be much more forthcoming with the transparency that is now coming out of government. The suspected lack of transparency does in part explain why the programme has dragged seven years. With much more openness, the programme discussions for an Extended Credit Facility will be concluded sooner than later.

The point here is that there is always a higher price to pay accessing funding from the international commercial market than borrowing from multilateral creditors like the IMF. Though seemingly efficient and without obvious conditionalities, commercial creditors punish borrowers severely in more ways than one. Since we accessed Eurobonds, Zambia has been exposed to the global world, limiting its capacity to engineer practical actions to grow the local economy. Every statement by local authorities is watched and gets transmitted to the market, including exchange rates. Even my simple tweet on the recall of IMF Resident Representative Alfredo Baldini is said to have cost the country between US$9 and US$27 million.

The impact of Eurobonds to the local economy cannot compare to the effect of the IMF programme on the health of the economy. The latter is more than accessing money for balance of payments support; it unlocks opportunities that lead to long term economic stability, a condition necessary for economic growth and employment. Like Dr. Musokotwane stated, the IMF conditions will even be less tough than the conditions Zambia will set for itself.
Zambia will do well to speedily restructure the commercial debt and pay it off via the IMF programme (that sets the right conditions for either restructuring or refinancing).

We should, therefore, quickly ascertain the true level of the external debt. President Hichilema has also done well to communicate to investors via a tweet that the issue now is not so much about the magnitude of the debt but strategies to dismantle it. That is what matters now to arrest a potentially disastrous situation in terms of bond prices.

Chibamba Kanyama

Kasebamashila Kaseba
REMEMBERING FANWELL SIANDENGE BUT FORGETTING GREGORY CHIFIRE ETC

President HH 7 who partly ran his campaign on being arrested 15 times, one of which last for 127 days has re-appointed and promoted some officers based on restitution for his mistreatment or their mistreatment as opposed to merit or qualifications.

Firstly, both HH’s 15 arrests and 127 days treason detention are not even a record.

In fact, HH was but one of more than dozens political party presidents arrested and detained by PF EL regime.

It was not who was arrested and detained but who was not arrested and detained?

Others arrested with HH for 127 days or more than the 15 times are not recognised or mentioned.

For example, Obvious Mwaliteta even as former Home Affairs deputy Minister, who was with Fanwell Siandenge was arrested and detained for about 365 days or one year that is about three times more than HH’s 127 days.

Mwaliteta and his group are yet to be recognised or mentioned or compensated.

In one of an unrelated combination, the U.S, in 2019, and Cuban, in 2017, ambassadors were expelled by PF EL government without UPND HH solidarity.

There were Edward Roy Makayi and Sikaile Sikaile etc were arrested and detained many times and many days.

There are others like Brian Mwiinga himself or Clayson Hamasaka also arrested.

There was a UPND group of cadres arrested and detained in the round up after HH’s detention.

Kankomba Mumani II was brutalised by both PF and UPND cadres in turns depending on which side he was found.

Gilbert Liswaniso is fortunate to be alive.

There are those who even died or were killed.

There is the group of Bishop Mambo, Derrick Sinjela, Gregory Chifire.

In the media, beyond Prime TV, is The Post, Lowdown, Bulletin & Record.

Muvi TV on its last IBA warning towards license cancellation.

So when the president appoints officers for past personal favours without recognition of others who similarly suffered even worse loss and pain or sacrificed themselves, he is making his case difficult and not very different from EL personalisation of the State.

One difference between HH and EL is HH is making or repeating the mistakes at the beginning of his term with popular approval while EL made the mistakes at the end of the term with popular disapproval.

Now, forner fugitive Siandenge returned from hiding to be appointed or promoted on the basis of restitution or HH’s personal interest than on merit or public interest.

Let the president not continue to play victim but put others ahead and above of him especially, according to Mwaliteta, there are some prisoners who are 10 or 15 years unfairly imprisoned without trial because their files are lost or something. That is what called human rights.

In short, while we all have suffered PF EL brutalisation and humiliation, at different degrees, let’s recognise others who have suffered and are still suffering more than ourselves.

I have made it nothing of the fact of the Prime TV case of unforgiving servant that suffered and pardoned for its one year closure has continued to suffer me evil for three years.

BOZ Admits Serious Cash Shortages – Institutes Investigations

The Bank of Zambia (BOZ) says it is aware of reports of cash shortages and has instituted a thorough analysis and investigation at some of the banks and areas where there is a higher demand for cash in order to ascertain where the huge demand for cash is coming from.

In response to an enquiry, BOZ Deputy Governor-Operations Dr. Francis Chipimo said there has been a big increase in demand for cash from the financial sector since the beginning of the year, which increased further in August.

Speaking at the Monetary Policy Committee Announcement and Press Briefing, Dr. Chipimo said the central bank has been providing banks with more cash in order to deal with the issue and has always emphasized on the fact that banks need to manage cash better.

He said the Bank of Zambia does not impose limits on what banks can give to their clients but always tries to understand why large withdrawals of cash are made when the central bank has been trying to promote the use of all other means of digital financial services, transfers and mobile money.

He stated that the Bank of Zambia had received complaints that some banks have run out of cash.

In further response to the ZBT question, BOZ Governor Christopher Mvunga noted that the country is now going through the crop-purchasing season and some farmers are in areas where banking facilities are not available therefore, as cash is dispatched to farmers for purchases it takes longer to come back into the banking system.

Mvunga said the bank has not limited note circulation or implemented any limits and does not intend to do so adding that the temporal situation is being addressed and is confident that the issue would be sorted out by Friday.

On the question of why only lower denomination notes were available which has resulted in inefficiencies and higher ATM fees for customers?, BOZ Assistant Director in the Banking and Currency Department Raphael Phiri said the central bank has consistently tried to ensure that there is a balanced denominational mix within the economy.

He noted that there is no shortage of K50 or restrictive K100 bank notes but the bank tries to ensure that there is a denominational mixed balance in the economy.

He said the central bank works with all the banks to ensure that sometimes they are able to use the market itself to move money from banks sitting with excess balances to other banks as opposed to going to the central bank.

Phiri mentioned that the central bank supplies most banks with money on a daily basis in order to be able to meet the demand in the economy.

Sources in the banking sector however have said that the central bank is simply not meeting cash orders from financial services providers.

The Central bank need to come out clean as they know the real reason why we have a cash shortage, a source who is not authorized to speak publicly.

Opposition People’s Alliance for Change (APC) president Andyford Banda, has charged that President Hakainde Hichilema’s statement that his government has inherited an empty treasury is a lie.

Reacting to statements by the president that his government found the treasury empty, Mr Banda said that this was a mere excuse not to fulfil some of the United Party for National Development (UPND) campaign promises such as Free Education and Youth Employment.

The president told the BBC that he had inherited an “empty” treasury, while “horrifying” amounts of money had been stolen.

“I don’t want to pre-empt things but what we are picking [up] is horrifying,” the president said. “You’ll feel nobody can do a thing like that but it’s being done. People have done it. They are still trying to do things now.”

Yesterday Bank of Zambia (BoZ) data showed that Zambia’s international gross reserves increased to US $2.9 billion by the end of August, 2021, representing 5.4 months of import cover, from US $1.2 billion three months prior, the highest level since 2015.

The Kwacha appreciated by nearly 30 percent against major currency convertibles between July 1 and August 31, this year, mainly boosted by significant inflows from non-resident investors in government bonds and improved market sentiments.

Meanwhile, the Opposition leader of the Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) Sean Tembo has wondered why the president is unnecessarily alarming the world by making wild claims that he has not fully determined.

In a long post on his Facebook page, Mr Tembo said that yesterday he debunked the empty treasury claim by the President and according to his estimate, on the day of his inauguration on 24th August 2021, there was approximately US$3 billion in the coffers.

“And for sure, during their quarterly media briefing this week, the Bank of Zambia indicated that our gross foreign reserves were standing at US$2.9 billion, which is not too far from the US$3 billion that l had estimated earlier. Suffice to mention that the $2.9 billion reserves that we have at the moment is largely due to the SDR allocation that we received of US$1.3 billion. But this is the largest amount of reserves that this country has had in the past 13 years or so.

“Even in 2011 when the PF took over, the MMD Government only left about US$2.4 billion. So the question then becomes; if the US$2.9 billion reserves is the highest that we have had in 13 years, why is President Hichilema insisting and telling the world that he has inherited “empty coffers”, he asked.

Mr Tembo said that while it is too early to stand up and criticise the new Government, it was also too early for them to start messing up the country.

[Chief Pilgrim Dr Canisius Banda writes]

I REGRET NOTHING, I HARBOUR NO GRUDGES
———————————-

I did my part whilst on the field. I helped build Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND.

That I helped make Hakainde Hichilema Republican President is an indelible national historical record.

To me his becoming Republican President was merely fulfilment of my own prophesy I made to him on 25 December 2006.

How can I regret occasioning success in his life and the life of the UPND? I do no such thing. Instead, I have an enduring smile in my heart. I rejoice.

I am rejoicing for him.

I was tear-gassed for him. I suffered insults, shame and ridicule for him. I was called a Judas Iscariot for working with him. I sacrificed my all for him.

With Chakawa, his cousin and ADC then, as an act of extreme economy, I ate unbuttered local buns with him on aeroplanes.

In pursuit of a worthy life for others, seeking a better Zambia, at one time I nearly died with him as our helicopter began to smoke in the air, and had to make an emergency landing in a forest.

In the end, he/they rejected me.

I give thanks in all situations realizing that my having been hounded out of the UPND in 2016 was the will of God for me at the time.

It is well for me for all things happen for good for all those that love and trust God and are called according to His purpose. And I am one of these people.

I occasion good in the lives of others wherever I go. I build lives. I emit light. I am a pilgrim.

I wished Hakainde Hichilema well then, and I still do now.

To illustrate this, every year since I ceased to be his vice president, without missing a year, on the 4th of June, his birthday, I have written profound and heartfelt messages to him and his family, wishing him and his family well.

I was among the very first citizens to congratulate him both privately and publicly on his ascendance to the republican presidency.

I take no credit for anything. I am merely one of God’s vessels. The glory for all I do belongs to God.

For as long as I live, I will remain grateful to Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND for having afforded me a platform to serve my country.

I did all I did NOT for me but primarily for country and him.

For now, allow me to decrease, let them increase and govern Zambia and occasion good in the lives of God’s creation.

Much national work remains undone.

Every dog has its day. And indeed, time and chance happen to all.

Even if he tried, Hakainde Hichilema will never forget me. It is finished.

Dr Canisius BANDA
Development Activist
Pilgrim

30 August 2021

THE UNITED PARTY FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (UPND) IS SET FOR WOMAN SPEAKER.

UPND chairperson for elections GARRY NKOMBO says the party is optimistic that the female candidate that it has nominated for the position of speaker in tomorrow’s elections will go unopposed.

The National Assembly will tomorrow hold elections for the position of speaker, first and second deputy speakers.

Nkombo who is also Mazabuka Central member of parliament, told Diamond TV shortly after he was sworn –in, that the candidate that had been picked but yet to be unveiled to the public was as good as unopposed.

“The issue of the speakers here is a foregone one now, because I can confirm to you, as at not so long ago. 10 minutes ago, the speaker who is our nominee is not opposed, so there is no counter nomination,” Nkombo said.

“She is as good as gone through, the second is the deputy speaker alike, because the closing day for the deputy speaker was today, we are yet to check if there is any other nominations, so far the indications are that we are going to have a plain selling tomorrow in terms of who is going to be presiding over the people’s house.”

And veteran politician VERNON MWAANGA has proposed an additional qualification for the position of speaker of a minimum of five years’ experience as Member of Parliament.

“Candidates for the position of speaker, first deputy speaker and second deputy speaker, file nomination papers with clerk of the National Assembly, who is the returning officer. If only one person files in any of the three positions after the close of nominations, that candidate will then be declared unopposed. In the last election involving the speaker was Dr Patrick Matibini and Richard Kapita, this current speaker who is outgoing speaker won by one vote.” Mwaanga said.

Whatever candidate they have, will have to be subjected to an election. They have to elect the speaker, the first deputy speaker and the second deputy speaker. The second deputy speaker is nominated among members of parliament, while the speaker and the first deputy speaker can come from outside parliament, he or she becomes member of parliament on appointment.

And Dr Mwaanga said under normal circumstances the ruling party should pave way for the opposition to float a candidate for the first deputy speaker.
“Under normal circumstances, the first deputy speaker is supposed to come from the opposition.” There is room for them to accommodate the opposition although in the last election five years ago, CATHERINE NAMUGALA had come from MMD.

“PF considered her as a user friendly person. They are the ones that nominated her instead.”

Meanwhile Mwaanga has observed that the UPND would enjoy a working majority in the house.

UPND have got 82 members, and PF will have 60, petitions will come later, you have independents and one member of parliament from PNUP. The ruling party are also privileged to have an opportunity for the President to nominate 8 (members of parliament) meaning that will be 90, but even amongst the independents, they are what is called ‘friendly forces’ so they have a very comfortable working majority,” he observed.

– Daily Nation

PRESIDENT HICHILEMA’s INTERVIEW WITH THE BBC WAS WRONG

By Sean Tembo – PeP President

1. When you are President of a country, it’s the same as when you’re a CEO of a company; your job is to paint a good picture about the country that you’re leading, in the eyes of your own people and the international community. That is because you need to build confidence. When you build confidence, local investors will bring back the money that they had stashed away and invest it locally because you as the President has painted a rosy picture about the country’s future outlook. Similarly, foreign investors will make the country to be their number one investment destination, because the future outlook is bright.

2. That is why l was shocked when l watched President Hakainde Hichilema’s interview yesterday with the BBC’s Lukwesa Burak. The President painted Zambia’s future economic outlook in the eyes of the world as black. Not grey or brown, but black. He did this in two ways; firstly by saying that Zambia’s debt burden is bigger than the PF government had disclosed. In other words, that there was hidden debt, but without revealing how much that hidden debt was. The journalist asked him how much is the hidden debt that we are talking about here, and the President said that his Government is yet to determine. So why go to the media to alarm the world if you have not yet determined the exact amount of the so-called hidden debt? How do you even know that the debt is hidden before you confirm it with the actual creditors? In auditing we don’t take any debt on face value until such a time that you meet the creditors and they confirm the details of the debt and they have provided its amortization schedule to-date. So far President Hichilema’s Government has not convened any creditors meeting that we know about. His alarmist statements are based on the small bits of exaggerated information that his “sources” are giving him in the system, in a desperate quest to save their jobs under the new Government.

3. The total effect of the President making such a wild statement about hidden debt, which is not quantified is that he is leaving up to the world to speculate about the quantum of the alleged hidden debt. The world is now thinking; could the alleged hidden debt be US$1 billion? Maybe US$5 billion? Or perhaps it is US$15 billion? Or maybe US$75 billion? Well, nobody knows for sure but one thing is certain; there is no investor from anywhere in the world who will want to come and invest in Zambia. No one. And for sure, immediately after the President’s alarmist statement, the yields on our Eurobond dropped by about 600 basis points which is a bigger fall than that which was caused by pre-election uncertainty. This means that we will now struggle to refinance our Eurobonds when they fall due in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

4. When l featured on Radio Phoenix “Let the People Talk” earlier this week, l made it clear that the international community had a lot of confidence in the new administration as witnessed by the gain in the yield of our Eurobonds the moment that Mr Hichilema was announced the winner of the general elections. I also made it clear that such investor confidence will make it easier for us to refinance our Eurobonds once they become due in the next couple of years, and that it will remain until such a time that the UPND Government messes it up themselves. Unbeknown to me that the President was actually planning to do just that; mess up the investor confidence through unsolicited wild statements that are not backed up by any actual figures!

5. Suffice to mention that the issue of hidden debt is not the only unsubstantiated wild allegation that the President has made. During the interview President Hichilema repeated his previous baseless claims that he was inheriting an “empty treasury”. During my interview on Radio Phoenix on Tuesday, l debunked that claim by the President and l estimated that on the day of his inauguration on 24th August 2021, there was approximately US$3 billion in the coffers. And for sure, during their quarterly media briefing this week, the Bank of Zambia indicated that our gross foreign reserves were standing at US$2.9 billion, which is not too far from the US$3 billion that l had estimated earlier. Suffice to mention that the $2.9 billion reserves that we have at the moment is largely due to the SDR allocation that we received of US$1.3 billion. But this is the largest amount of reserves that this country has had in the past 13 years or so. Even in 2011 when the PF took over, the MMD Government only left about US$2.4 billion. So the question then becomes; if the US$2.9 billion reserves is the highest that we have had in 13 years, why is President Hichilema insisting and telling the world that he has inherited “empty coffers”? Why unnecessarily alarm the world?

6. That is the question which the Zambian people should be asking themselves. Why is President Hichilema unnecessarily alarming the world? In my view, it is because of self-aggrandizement. President Hichilema wants to exaggerate the extent to which the economy was damaged by the PF so that he can use it to escape some of the grandiose promises that he made to Zambians before elections such as free education from nursery school to University. And to some extent, the BBC’s Lukwesa Burak was able to figure that out and decided to pin him with a question of whether he will still go ahead with his promise of free education in view of the extremely bad state of the economy, to which he started making it conditional that free education will be provided to bright students only. But why is President Hichilema playing politics with our economy so early in his tenure of office? Why is he putting his personal and partisan interests ahead of the national interest? Where is he going to take this country in the next 5 years if politicking is more important to him than genuinely turning around the economy and improving the lives of the Zambian people? And when we stand up and condemn such selfish actions, they say it is too early to criticize. Well, it is also too early for them to start messing up our country.

I am very worried about where we are going.

/// END

SET 02.09.2021

Vedanta Resources Limited has said that it is keen to open a dialogue with ZCCM-IH holding and has stressed the company’s commitment to invest $1.5 billion into the operations, communities, and local economies around KCM.

In a salesman pitch statement to the media, Vedanta Group CEO, Sunil Duggal said that as Zambia embarks on an exciting new chapter in its history under the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema Vedanta is keen to open a dialogue with ZCCM-IH.

“As Zambia embarks on an exciting new chapter in its history under the leadership of His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema, President of Zambia, Vedanta is keen to open a dialogue with ZCCM as we today re-iterate our commitment to invest $1.5 billion into the operations, communities and local economies around KCM,” Sunil Duggal, Group CEO, Vedanta, said in a statement.

Mr Duggal said that Vedanta is looking forward to working with the community in the Copperbelt and collaborating with the new government in any way necessary to ensure that a stable and beneficial future is achieved for all stakeholders at KCM.

Mr. Duggal said that his company is committed to making KCM and Zambia world leaders in copper production once again hence the company remains committed to re-investing $1.5bn into KCM, supporting the community projects and local suppliers.

Mr. Duggal said that this investment will go into continuing to operate the integrated asset, leading to a significant improvement in business and stability in jobs for employees which will positively impact the lives of many Zambians.

“Vedanta is committed to making KCM and Zambia world leaders in copper production once again and we look forward to working with the community in the copper belt and collaborating with the new government in any way necessary to ensure that a stable and beneficial future is achieved for all stakeholders at KCM,” he added.

Mr. Duggal said that this will aid in rejuvenating the country’s economy and will place Zambia firmly on the map as one of the world’s leading suppliers of copper, a critical mineral for the green economy of the future of our planet.

Mr. Duggal clarified that the investment of $1.5bn in the operations at KCM will include $200m to pay the local suppliers of the mine in addition to the significant sums of $400m to bring in best in class ESG practices to improve health, safety and working conditions for employees as well as the allocation of $100m for community projects.

In May 2019 the Government of Zambia placed KCM under liquidation sparking a legal dispute with Vedanta. Provisional Liquidator Milingo Lungu in December announced a restructuring plan involving splitting KCM into two subsidiary companies.

Vedanta, the world’s sixth largest globally diversified natural resources company, has operated for over a decade in Zambia. Vedanta Resources holds 79.4 per cent stake in KCM, while the Zambian government through its state mining investment firm ZCCM-IH holds the remaining 20.6 per cent.

By Kalani Muchima

Appointment of my primary school junior Fanwell Siandenge as Deputy Inspector General of Police for Special Duties at State house.

So during the the 2016 general elections and it was day five (5) in the election, I received a call to duty from Mr. Kambuku, one of President HH’S trusted body guards.

It was a brief call, he said Mwanta its time to roll and gave me the condinates which pointed at ECZ headoffice. I rushed there and found obvious Mwaliteta and Siandenge among others.

They had already cast the nets in readiness for ambush. In such operations you don’t spend time greeting people or hovering around. Instinct told me to go in my car and wait for a signal for the next coarse of action.

Note that we had received intel that two ZAF choppers carrying pre-marked presidential ballot papers had left Ndola for Lusaka.

After minutes of waiting, boom, two choppers following each other were seen landing at the ZAF longacres base.

As the two choppers were landing, I then saw two landcruisers coming from inside ECZ head office driving into the ZAF base.

For the sake of some Kaondes and Tonga’s who have never been to Lusaka, ZAF head office and ECZ head office are just next to each other just surrounded by the Auditor general’s office and the Ministry of Health.

Then the mood at the scene started becoming tense. I could feel it although I was alone in tha car just observing what was going on.

The entrance to ZAF was highly guarded by assault riffle officers.

In the waiting game, I saw the very two landcrusisers which came from ECZ making their way out of ZAF.

As the cruisers made their way out and few meters from ZAF, I saw a Toyota Macky2 rushing towards the cruisers and blocked them from proceeding.

Then hell broke lose at that point but the situation just became something else.

The boys who in a bus quickly moved in to grab the contraband and boom it was pre-marked presidential ballot papers.

That incident lasted for very few minutes and it was game over. THE operation however went wrong when Mr. Siandenge failed to reverse his car to escape and ended up leaving it behind and if am not mistaken jumped on the bus.

Those pre‐marked ballot papers were part of the 2016 presidential petition.

After the operation, I thought it was wise to call colleagues from the media but at that stage most institutions were siding with the PF so I called colleagues from the Post Newspapers Zambia namely Justinah Kapambwe Mukuka Chambwa Moonga, Melony chisanga and can’t remember others who came.

As the situation unfolded, madam Mumbi phiri who was and still PF Deputy Secretary General was seen emerging from the ECZ offices accompanied by Eddie Gowa and other guys I couldn’t recognise. At this point I had gathered some courage to film.

I walked to Mrs. Phiri to find out what she was doing at the ECZ offices when all stakeholders where at Mulungushi International Conference centre, her response was that she went to the ECZ offices to collect her Identity card which got lost.

As I was having an interview with Mrs Phiri i saw two hard body landcruisers driving at very high speed with lights on.

It was Kaizar Zulu I have even tagged him so that he can neither confirm nor deny.

When KZ arrived, he was tensed up, he was in no mood of joking and ready to do anything. By this time the whole entire area was now painted green with police uniforms.

The place was officially a crime scene.

Kaizer asked where Mwaliteta was and he was told he had fleed the scene.

He kaizer ordered that mwaliteta be found and killed. Those were his exact words.

As the situation grew more tense, I and colleagues opted to go and sit in their bus. Then I saw Eddie Gowa approaching our bus, luckily the bus was not branded and the guys hid their ID’S mind you this was the time when the relationship between the post and PF had reached dangerous levels.

So Eddie or Commando from Intercity then, came looked at us with his pistol visibly showing. I remember asking my colleagues not to say anything though I could see Justinah shivering.

When Eddie saw me he relaxed and just “ahh kanshi naimwe mwalitwalukila “so even you, you are nolonger with us” my response was that we are still together.

He then left and went to jump into one of the cruisers which came with KZ.

The following day I met Mwaliteta at HH’s House and the next thing I heard he was arrested for Aggravated robbery a case i covered from day one till he was released.

By this time, my junior Siandenge had sort refuge at some village in the south and was also caught but survived by a whisker.

He then exited Zambia and only returned when HH was declared winner.

Reddies and Jentrimen a round of applause for a man who risked his life to liberate Zambia Fanwell Siandenge.

Congratulations on your appointment as DIG for special duties at state house..