FRED M’membe says politicians must learn to argue with facts and figures.

Dr M’membe is the Socialist Party president.

In a statement issued from his Garden compound office yesterday, Dr M’membe said politicians must attend to the quantitative aspect of a situation and make a basic quantitative analysis.

He said every quality manifested itself in a certain quantity, and that without quantity, there could be no quality.

“To this day many of our politicians still do not understand that they must attend to the quantitative aspect of things – the basic statistics, the main percentages and the quantitative limits that determine the qualities of things,” Dr M’membe said. “They have no figures in their heads and therefore cannot help making mistakes and wrong conclusions. Let’s learn to argue with facts, figures; let’s learn to have a head for figures.”

He added that it was: “crass dishonest” to claim that President Edgar Lungu was a blessing and has brought good to Zambia.

On Wednesday, The Mast carried a lead story where Lusaka Province PF secretary Kennedy Kamba claimed that President Lungu was a blessing to Zambia who has brought good and not misery.

“This claim is wrong because it agrees neither with facts over the years of Mr Lungu’s presidency, nor with the social facts, statistics so far known to us,” Dr M’membe argued, adding that rural poverty in Lungu’s presidency is at 76.6 per cent.

“The three poorest provinces of our country – Western, Luapula and Northern provinces – have poverty levels of 82.2 per cent, 81.1 per cent and 79.7 per cent respectively.”

He said Zambia’s maternal mortality rate was 213 deaths/100,000 live births, infant mortality rate stood at 56 deaths/1,000 live births and physicians density or doctor ratio is nine doctors/100,000 population.

Dr M’membe added that Zambia had a death rate of 11.6 deaths/1,000 population.

“Is this the good, the blessing Mr Lungu has brought us?” Dr M’membe asked. “The truth is the history of humankind is one of continuous development from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom. That is what dialectics teaches us. And this process is never-ending.”

He said in any society in which classes exist, class struggle would never end.

“The struggle between truth and falsehood will never end. Zambia’s problems are complicated, and our brains must also be a little complicated,” Dr M’membe said. “Today our population is 17,426,623 (July 2020 estimates) and at our current population growth rate of 2.89 per cent (2020 est) in the next 15 years our country’s population will more than double.”

He asked what life would be like for doubled Zambian population in 15 years, in terms of food, water, sanitation, housing, education, health, transportation and so on and so forth.

ANDREW Banda says the Patriotic Front is using illegalities to win elections.

The Patriotic Front has scooped the Kaimbwe and Kamimba local government by-elections in Kasempa and Lumezi districts respectively while the UPND has retained the Maramba seat by a small margin.

The PF has also grabbed the Loula ward of Liuwa Constituency in Kalabo from the UPND. Kaimbwe and Loula ward seats were previously held by the UPND.

Commenting on the outcome of the Kamimba ward by-election in Lumezi, Andrew, who is a UPND national trustee, said his party never lost the by-election.

“The elections in Kamimba ward were not free and fair because the electoral code of conduct requires that every political party must abide by that code of conduct,” he said. “The code of conduct stipulates that it is illegal to use government resources in an election. So this PF, the party in power is actually using illegalities to win elections, it is using government resources.”

Andrew said the government resources that the PF was using in a by-election should be used to provide social services.

“We as UPND will not allow the usage of government resources, taxpayers’ money meant for social services such as education, health, medicines, roads, reducing load-shedding, among others, to be diverted to buying unsuspecting poor voters in the villages who have deliberately been made illiterate, ignorant, hungry and poor by this uncaring PF government, which is masquerading as pro-poor government, led by Christians and yet the opposite is the case,” he said. “Further, I wish to remind our supporters and the country at large that history has a tendency of repeating itself.”

Andrew said the PF should learn from what transpired to MMD prior to the 2011 elections.

“Prior to the 2011 elections, the MMD managed to get the support of 23 PF members of parliament and were winning all by-elections using government machinery and the founding father of PF did not have as much resources compared to the MMD but 2011 came, PF won hands down,” he said. “Therefore, it is not the resources that talk but the will of the people. Remember, Mr Sata became president with only 42 per cent of the votes. In 2016, HH got close to 48 per cent of the vote despite the rigging, implying that he is more popular than the old man Sata, with due respect. Surely with the state of the economy completely broken, Zambians can vote for PF! Personally, I don’t think so and all well-meaning Zambians have the same view.”

Andrew claimed that some of the people who voted were from Malawi.

“Kamimba Ward is only one and half kilometres from Kasungu in Malawi and we are aware some people who voted in the Kamimba by-election were from Malawi. No wonder the voter turnout was higher than Maramba Ward in Livingstone which is an urban area with dense population. Close to 2,400 voters voted in Kamimba compared to Maramba where only just over 1,000 voted and yet Maramba Ward has more registered voters,” he said.

Andrew said the PF specialises in breaking the law because of what it was doing.

“When we state that the PF government specialises in breaking the law, what do we mean? Isn’t issuing of NRCs and registering foreigners breaking the law? Isn’t staying in office when there is a petition breaking the law? Isn’t using taxpayers’ money when parliament or government has been dissolved breaking the law? Isn’t shooting by PF cadres of Lawrence Banda and others breaking the law? Isn’t holding eminent lawyers’ captive, stealing their personal items and cash during the infamous bill 10 [discussion] at InterContinental Hotel not breaking the law? Instant beating of a senior police officer at Lusaka Central Police recently, isn’t it breaking the law? Isn’t the usage of government fuel, vehicles, government officials like DCs and diverting taxpayers’ money to buy voters as done in Kamimba Ward on the 4th of January breaking the law?” he asked.

Andrew challenged any PF member to challenge him on what he outlined.

“I dare anyone from the PF to challenge me on these issues. Isn’t gassing of innocent Zambians breaking the law? Where the party in power is in the forefront breaking the law with impunity, the ultimate result is anarchy and that is where the PF have led our country to,” he said.

Andrew said the UPND would effect a citizen’s arrest on any person who would be using government vehicles during the general election.

“What happened in Kamimba was illegal; all DCs, we can mention the names here, like DC Chasefu, DC Lumezi, Lundazi and many others flocked in with vehicles which were stripped of their registration numbers. We went and reported to the ECZ, they did nothing, the police never did anything,” said Andrew. “So they have not done anything but you know what that means. In the next elections, we will not allow that if ECZ doesn’t take control of this. We ourselves will start stopping these people from bribing people in elections. If the police don’t protect us or protect the vote from being stolen, we the UPND will protect the vote by ensuring that those that come in and bribe people are dealt with.”

WE are not going back, Vedanta went and they are not coming back, declares President Edgar Lungu.

And President Lungu says the more the mining companies produce, the better for the economy.

Speaking at Konkola Copper Mines in Chililabombwe today, President Lungu said Vedanta, the owners of KCM, can go to any court in the world but would not return as “the chapter is closed”.

President Lungu thanked KCM management for steering the ship and keeping the mine.

He said the management at KCM had shown that Zambia had capacity to run the mines efficiently and effectively.

He applauded the miners and contractors for commitment to run the mine.

“We are not going back. Vedanta went and they are not coming back. They can go to any court in the world, they will not come back; the chapter is closed. We want to change the mining sector. Our miners and contractors are getting paid, let us finish,” said President Lungu.

On November 20, 2020, the Court of Appeal, in its judgment ordered that the liquidation proceedings involving KCM before the Lusaka High Court be stayed to allow ZCCM-IH and Vedanta Resources Limited proceed to arbitration.

This is in a matter where ZCCM-IH has petitioned KCM for liquidation, seeking an order that it be wound up for engaging in tax evasion and being managed in a manner detrimental to the interest of government.

Meanwhile, mines minister Richard Musukwa said when the entire liquidation process started; President Lungu wanted to protect the interests of the miners.

Meanwhile, President Lungu told Lubambe Copper Mines employees that nothing succeeds like hard work.

He said once there was hard work, there was more production which benefits the entire country.

“I need to tell you that we are into this together because, the more you produce, the better for the economy, the better for the tax collector, the better for everything that you are doing. I want to assure management that we shall support you in your endeavor to expand the mine,” he said.

“I want to call upon the workers and labour unions, like I said earlier, nothing succeeds like hard work, so as you negotiate for better conditions of service, remember that success is the glory of everyone while failure is an orphan. If we fail, we will have no jobs. The price of copper is going up, so let us work hard so that we can demand more,” he said.

And Lubambe Copper Mine director of operations Tony Davis told President Lungu that production at the mine had increased by 70 per cent.

Davis said in 2017, the mine was producing one million tonnes of copper ore while in 2020 it produced 1.7 million tonnes.

He said the increase showed that the goal of producing two million tonnes of copper ore and 35,000 tonnes of copper was attainable.

“Your Excellency, allow me to say the future of Lubambe is just to the south of us in what we call the ‘Extension Project. As you are aware, the mine has completed an advanced concept study of the project. This sleeping giant is in excess of 250 million tonnes of copper with the high grade of at 3.64 per cent, making it the largest and the highest-grade undeveloped copper deposits in the world,” said Davis.

“This project once implemented will add more than 30 years of mine life to the already existing 10 years at Lubambe Mine and will provide countless opportunities for Zambians for generations to come.”

Signs are all around us that our President desires significantly to be a dictator. From what began as a joke of Bill 10, it was evident that had those changes taken place – it would have led to a severe crisis of our democracy. The people of Zambia stood together, from Milenge to Mongu, and from Chavuma to Chadiza, to resist the dictatorial tendencies. And so when October 2020 came, it was jubilation, the people of Zambia had won. But more than just the resolve of the people to resist Bill 10, there are several other reasons why the President cannot succeed in his desire to be a dictator in Zambia. With that in mind, he should really sober-up and lead this country in a very transparent and democratic manner. A dictatorship will not work. Here is why.

First, most of the dictators, particularly in Africa, start very young. Age is not on President Lungu’s side. Nearly all the dictators such as Robert Mugabe, begun their political careers pretty young. By his forties, Mugabe was already a rebel leader fighting for the independence of his Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. When he finally made it to rule in 1980, age was still on his side. The same can be said of all the other dictators: Kamuzu Banda or our very own loved former autocrat – Kenneth David Kaunda. When you realise that age is not on your side, you are supposed to sober-up and give up the dictatorship’s false ambition.

Second, President Lungu cannot succeed in turning Zambia into a dictatorship because he lacks deep military embedment. And that is perhaps a massive blessing of Zambian history – the fact that our political leaders do not have a deep historical affinity with our military. Our military is, in many ways, entirely professional and remains profoundly apolitical. This is perhaps taken from the Kaunda days – when Kenneth Kaunda, despite his go at an autocracy kept the military as apolitical as possible. Further, it appears that nations led by liberation movements who used military agitation for independence have politicians with deeper links with the military than nations like Zambia, where the independence movements were for the most civilian movements. When you realise that you have no firm military embedment, you are supposed to lead a democratic nation in a manner that is consistent with the rule of law. Given the Zambia Air Force’s push back on UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema’s sentiments that he would auction the presidential jet once he becomes President of Zambia, it is quite comforting to note that the military in Zambia remains relatively non-partisan and we hope that they will continue being so. The military statement should not in any way make us feel like the military has become political. It will all work out just fine. Indeed, suppose it is Zambia’s civilian leaders’ wish to get rid of the “amanone” excesses of the presidency, in that case, the Zambian people should be allowed to make the changes they want. Including selling the presidential jet that even if it is a military aircraft, it may have been purchased with exorbitant kaloba. Our military should really pride itself in the equipment it can actually afford, rather than the equipment it purchases using exorbitant kaloba. There is no military security in kaloba. If anything, a nation that depends on shylocks to purchase its military equipment may face serious security risks. But anyway, I do believe that if the people of Zambia were to elect Mr Hakainde Hichilema as the country’s commander-in-chief, both military and civilian leaders would find a compromise regarding that kaloba jet.

Third, President Lungu cannot succeed in turning himself into a dictator because of the Zambian judiciary’s nature. Despite our problems, the Zambian judiciary enjoys some relative independence. They do come through from time to time to save our democracy. When the ministers thought they could get away with the money they stole from the Zambian people by overstaying their political appointment, the court was on hand to provide checks and balances. And by now, all the minister should have paid back the money the Constitutional Court levied against them. When we look at our judiciary’s growing strength, I am very optimistic that President Lungu cannot succeed at entrenching a dictatorship no matter how hard he tries.

Fourth, even if Zambians do not see it, Zambian tribes are far much more united than their neighbouring counterparts. Perhaps as a blessing of a relatively smaller population in a vast land, we do not have as deadly tribal clashes as other countries. Now, I am not saying that there is no tribalism in Zambia. Of course, there is, and I have on several fora advocated for a more tribally balanced political leadership.

Nevertheless, most dictatorships flourish under cover of endemic tribalism. And endemic tribalism is impossible to foster in Zambia. Of course, we have anti-Tonga sentiments here and there mainly from the Patriotic Front leaders – but each time a reckless PF politician spews their anti-Tonga sentiments, many Zambians are on hand to show the PF tribalists a thing or two. And so there is a huge possibility that in 2021 a Tonga leader may, in fact, be elected as President of Zambia – a massive testament to the unitary strength of our republic. Without tribal appeal and endemic tribalism – President Lungu cannot succeed in planting himself as the dictator in chief. Another issue that makes tribalism challenging to prosper in Zambia is inter-tribal integrations in Zambia through marriages, work, or school.

Further, complicated traditional succession structures practised among Zambian tribes provide a considerable check on tribalism. Among Ushis, for example, succession is through the mother, and not the father. And so we do have situations in Mansa where a chief of the Ushis was actually fathered by a Tonga or a Lozi. That Ushi chief is as Ushi, and in fact more Ushi than an Ushi born from an Ushi father, but not an Ushi mother. I hope this makes sense. So good luck trying some anti-Tonga sentiments to that Ushi chief in Mansa. It will not fly as it is One Tonga One Nation. Even as some tribes practice matrilinealism like the Ushis, some practice patrilinealism, showing our diversity’s complicated nature. And it is this diversity that will make it difficult to embed tribalism or a dictatorship.

Fifth, Zambians are, by nature, overly talkative people. All Zambians. It appears like talking is their second nature. Even things that do not make sense, they still talk. And talking is an essential part of our democracy. Zambians cannot stomach the idea of one person monopolising the talking industry. No way. And so that is how Zambians democracy gets saved – by talking. By associating. By umungulu. By the human weakness of envy and jealous. By the desire of neighbours wanting some amanone. Because Zambians talk and generally desire to present themselves as leaders – it provides a considerable challenge for a dictator. How can you oppress a people that talk a lot? Just look at the PF now – what really speaks to the strength of our democracy is in how many in PF actually want to be President of PF or President of the country. They all see themselves as a president one day – Bowman, Kampyongo, Chilufya, or even Chitotela. This political competition or perceived political competition contributes to a healthy outcome that acts as a barrier to one person monopolising power. When Chiluba thought that he could get away with it – he was shocked to find that even his loyal vice-president Christone Tembo, also wanted the ka position. He too was ambitious, and that ambition saved our country. Imagine where we would have been had Tembo or Miyanda lacked the ambition to provide Frederick Chiluba’s alternative? We would all have become the Republic of Musangu, or Republic of Kafupi.

We must never underestimate the power of private citizens talking and organising. It is the Zambian way to prevent any political leader from thinking that they can turn Zambia into a dictatorship. Ifyashala lundenipo.

Elias Munshya can be reached at elias@munshyalaw.com.

FORTY-THREE former Patriotic Front cabinet ministers and their deputies have asked the Constitutional Court to allow them to pay back in instalments the money they acquired when they illegally remained in office after their mandate had expired prior to the 2016 presidential and general elections.

Ngosa Simbyakula and 42 others claim that they are unable to settle the assessed amounts in a lump sum due to a number of factors.

They have suggested that those serving as ministers and members of parliament pay back K10,000 in monthly instalments while those who are retired pay back K5,000.

Constitutional Court registrar Dorcas Malama in a judgment dated December 7, 2020 issued a 30-day ultimatum to the 64 former ministers and their deputies to pay back K4.2 million to the country’s treasury which elapses today.

However, the 43 former ministers and their deputies want the Court to grant them leave to settle the debts in monthly instalments.

According to an affidavit in support of summons for an order for settlement of assessed amounts in instalments, the 43 through their lawyer Bonaventure Mutale said their net pay is K39,122.96 according to a sample of the pay slip.

Mutale said it would be observed from the same pay slip that their net pay is K32,527.94.

He claimed that the 43 have family and other financial commitments which include school fees, tertiary education fees, medical expenses, utility charges, among others.

“That I have been advised by the respondents serving in capacities of ministers and members of parliament that they each propose to settle the assessed amounts in monthly instalments of K10,000,” said Mutale. “The rest of the said respondents are in retirement and their main source of income was derived from subsistence farming. This group proposed to settle the assessed amount in monthly installments of K5,000.”

The 43 who have not paid back the money are Simbyakula, Davies Mwila, the late Joseph Kasonde, Jean Kapata, Fackson Shamenda, Christabel Ngimbu, Professor Nkandu Luo, Vincent Mwale, Joseph Katema, Stephen Kampyongo, John Phiri, Christopher Yaluma, Michael Kaingu, and Given Lubinda.

Others are Alexander Chikwanda, Dora Siliya, Kapembwa Simbao, Esther Banda, Nicholas Banda, Gerry Chanda, Dr Chitalu Chilufya, Danny Ching’imbu, Dorothy Kazunga, John Kufuna, Evans Lawrence, Josephine Limata, Joseph Lungu, David Mabumba and Sydney Mushanga.

The rest are Richard Musukwa, Christopher Mvunga, Alfrida Mwamba, Patrick Ngoma, Lawrence Sichalwe, Forrie Tembo, Charles Zulu, Davies Chisopa, Dorson Kafwaya, Mwimba Malama, Nathaniel Mumbukwanu, Mwenya Musenge, Poniso Njeulu and Chomba Sikazwe.

THE PF says NDC national chairperson Fr Richard Luonde has no moral right to call President Edgar Lungu’s leadership a curse on the country.

The ruling party argues that, “President Lungu is a Christian and an honest man. He has been a blessing to Zambia. He has brought good to Zambia and not misery.”

On Monday, The Mast published a story in which Fr Luonde reviewed 2020 and bemoaned several challenges, which he said resulted mostly from poor leadership.

He said President Lungu had brought more harm than good to the country.

“In the struggle for independence, a lot of Zambians lost their lives just to free us from the colonialists. This freedom is now being misused by the hungry vultures who have no heart for fellow Zambians but themselves. The election of President Edgar Lungu in 2015 and 2016 has brought more suffering never experienced before since independence,” said Fr Luonde in a statement. “If anyone thinks that President Lungu has been a blessing to our country, they are wrong. To the contrary, the Lungu presidency has been a curse to our country because it has brought more harm than good to all sectors of our economy. The good governance record we have held in the region for many years has been wiped out by his dictatorship. This is the only President in our history who has thrown out the rule of law and replaced it with cadreism without shame. Zambians can’t wait to kick him out in next year’s elections so that we save the little pride there is left in our governance credentials.”

But Lusaka Province PF secretary Kennedy Kamba described Fr Luonde as a disaster.

“Instead of the ex-Anglican priest Richard Luonde calling President Lungu’s reign as a curse, the opposite is what is true. The former Anglican priest Richard Luonde is a definition of a disaster, a curse himself, who has no moral right to put to ridicule President Edgar Lungu’s name,” Kamba said. “President Lungu is a good person, a warm-hearted person who loves Zambia and its people to the core. President Lungu is working extra hard in these very difficult times the world is going through to ensure that the country is safe and people have enough to eat.”

He said President Lungu was also busy trying to spread development across the country.

Kamba said Fr Luonde’s observation was provocative to the ruling party, especially that the Head of State was working hard for the nation.

“The President is also working round the clock to ensure that developmental projects and programmes reached all corners of Zambia. We, therefore, find it extremely appalling and highly provocative that Richard Luonde has continued to call the PF and President Edgar Lungu all sorts of names and insults,” Kamba said. “Today in one of the daily tabloids, he is saying President Lungu’s presidency is a curse to the country. We know that these are irrational attempts by frustrated politicians like Luonde, to try and discredit President Lungu ahead of this year’s general elections. What Luonde should know is that President Lungu is unmatched, he is by far beyond the quality of their preferred opposition candidate.”

He insisted that President Lungu would win this year’s elections.

Kamba said to the contrary, President Lungu had been a blessing to the country.

“We have said time and again that people like Fr Luonde, with all due respect, have no moral right to call President Lungu names when he has failed to manage himself and his life as a priest which led to his dismissal from priesthood,” Kamba said.

“President Lungu is a Christian and an honest man. He has been a blessing to Zambia. He has brought good to Zambia and not misery. Luonde is just hallucinating. We have for a long time ignored Fr Luonde because we don’t want to be fighting people, especially those who are clergy aligned or affiliated because in our cultural and social set up we respect men of God.”

And Kamba doubted if Fr Luonde would stay long in the NDC.

According to him, Fr Luonde had no clearly defined ideology.

“Luonde’s moral standing is highly questionable! His hands are not clean and he has no moral right to go to the media and issue unsubstantiated remarks or to ridicule the Head of State. Fr Luonde has chosen a path of politics, jumping from one party to another,” said Kamba. “He was a PF sympathiser. He jumped to Rainbow Party, he became a socialist and joined Dr Fred M’membe and today Fr Luonde is in Chishimba Kambwili’s party, the NDC where he has been given a position of chairperson. Fr Luonde will not even stay in that NDC. His personal agenda is something else. He does not even believe in any ideology because if he did, he would have stayed may be in the Socialist Party. We say this because one cannot be both, a socialist and a capitalist. That’s confusion!”

ACKSON Sejani has requested Zambians to use next year’s general election to vote out “murderers who have taken the lives of our fellow citizens in such cold-blooded manner”.

Sejani, a former local government minister in the Frederick Chiluba administration, said it was time people punished a government that has turned against them.

“We must use the 2021 elections to vote out murderers who have taken the lives of our fellow citizens in such a cold-blooded manner. As I say this, I remember Mapenzi Chibulo, Glazier Matapa, Vespers Shimunzhila, Lawrence Banda, Mukonka Malesu, Obed Kasongo, Frank Mugala, and only a few days ago Nsama Nsama and Joseph Kaunda,” he said in a statement. “These Zambians died at the hands of trigger-happy policemen and this list is growing all the time. The next one could be me or you! In all the instances above we were promised investigations by the police. The killers investigating themselves? God will help us!”

Sejani appealed to every registered voter to use their vote to stop what he termed a senseless slaughter of innocent people.

“That war equipment was ordered for you and me regardless of whether you have committed a crime or not. We will be gunned down in their desperation to cling on to power. Let us use our hard-won vote to halt this senseless slaughter of our country men and women,” Sejani said. “As they use the bullet to maul us down let us hold on to our voter’s card and return fire through the ballot. I will not use my vote to bring back murderers, I won’t use my vote to vote for continued load-shedding, corruption, lack of seed and fertiliser, cadre harassment and general breakdown in law and order.”

He challenged every registered voter to remember the inconvenience they suffered during registration exercise.

Sejani said the 2021 vote should be used to punish the PF.

“The above are not the reasons I stayed in the queue for two days to get a voter’s card. I stayed in the queue because I want something better. If I stayed on that queue for two days only to retain murderers who would kill me tomorrow, I must be considered a fool,” he said. “If I did that, please, those who will be around me must quickly rush me to Chainama [Mental Hospital] to have my head thoroughly examined. The summoning of Hakainde Hichilema at the time that he was summoned could also be a diversionary ploy to sway our minds away from the most scandalous voter registration exercise in the history of Zambia.”

And Sejani said he would use the festive season to remind people about the pain they went through to register as voters.

He said their own government tormented them through a schemed voter registration exercise.

Sejani called on voters to remember all that on voting day and revenge their torment by voting out PF.

“I want to use this festive season to remind Zambians of the hell they went through trying to get an NRC and a Voter’s Card. Many of us spent days and nights just to try and get a voter’s card in order to take part in next year’s elections. In short, we were tormented as we endured hunger and other inconveniences in this exercise,” he said. “It should not have been that way if we had a government, a leadership, that was not scheming to stay in power at whatever cost. My appeal to Zambians therefore, is to ask them to use their vote to fix their tormentors by not rewarding them with a vote. It will not make sense, certainly, for anyone to suffer such torture on the queue only to reward the torturers with a vote.”

Sejani said there would be a dual responsibility for all voters next year.

He therefore pleaded with them to vote responsibly.

“On one hand they will be voting on their own behalf, and on the other they will be voting on behalf of their compatriots and neighbours who out of no fault of their own failed to get a voter’s card due to the manner the exercise was carried out. The second responsibility is very serious as we must be our brothers’ keepers,” said Sejani.

CHIEF Chisunka of the Ushi people of Mansa district says in view of this year’s general elections, the environment shall be tense.

He advises politicians and their supporters to “keep their emotions under control.”

Meanwhile, Chisunka says shedding innocent blood, as it happened late last year in Lusaka, is frightening.

“Certainly, in this New Year there will be a lot of political tension. It’s an election year and so, it’s expected that it shall be tense,” Chisunka said in an interview from his palace. “But what is important is for everyone to keep their emotions under control.”

He also said his fellow chiefs ought to desist from being evidently partisan.

“At the moment, it’s too much of chiefs involving themselves in partisan politics. To my fellow chiefs, be reminded that today’s politics are unlike old politics. There are a lot of insults [in today’s politics],” Chisunka said. “It’s for that reason that chiefs should be non-partisan. Let us not be used, especially this year, by politicians.”

To the opposition political parties and the ruling party, Chisunka reminded them to always know that all what “we seek in politics is development.”

“We are not seeking for war, like what has started happening now where innocent lives are being lost. It’s unacceptable! There is no chief who can approve of that,” he stressed. “Shedding people’s innocent blood; it’s now frightening! Remember that the motto of ‘One Zambia, One Nation’ is ever paramount in this country. We are one people.”

The traditional leader asked why Zambians could begin to kill each other over politics.

On December 23, 2020, riot police in Lusaka shot dead UPND supporter, Joseph Kaunda and State prosecutor Nsama Nsama Chipyoka, as they (police officers) beat up and teargassed pockets of the opposition party’s supporters.

UPND supporters had gone to police headquarters to render moral support to their party leader, Hakainde Hichilema, who was being interrogated for assumed fraud and conspiracy in relation to the acquisition of a farm in Kalomo district, Southern Province, in 2004.

“Politics is like a football match; one team will lose while the other will win. Even in politics, you can’t have one party that fights to retain power at all costs,” Chisunka noted. “Equally, you can’t have another party that fights to win at all costs. It’s not good, in either way.”

He emphasised that this year’s political campaigns must be devoid of cruelty.

Chisunka regretted that youths have been over-used to carry out nasty assignments for politicians.

“It’s too much,” Chisunka complained, further telling politicians to “please, spare us chiefs.”

“Stop abusing us [to do your political bidding]. I know of some chiefs who are no different from political cadres. They are traversing the whole country like political cadres. That’s not good. How are people going to regard us?”

He fears that continued political abuse of chiefs would result into their integrity being eroded.

“I saw even during the voter registration sensitisation that some chiefs were going everywhere to sensitise people. Why should a chief leave his palace to go and sensitise people in a different chiefdom to vote?” wondered Chisunka. “That’s unacceptable! We have been abused a lot as chiefs, by politicians. It is making us to lose integrity!”

ZAMBIA Council for Social Development executive director Leah Mitaba says ministers and members of parliament who fail to pay back what the Constitutional Court ordered them to pay back should be prosecuted and banned from contesting the 2021 elections.

Mitaba has called on ministers and members of parliament to honour and respect the rule of law for which they are sworn to uphold when taking office by paying back the emoluments they received after the dissolution of Parliament in 2016.

The Constitutional Court last month ruled that the 64 former cabinet ministers and their deputies who received emoluments after the dissolution of Parliament in 2016 should pay back over K54,000 each to the State within 30 days.

“So last week, I gathered that only three ministers that stayed in office drawing salaries when they should have not, have honoured the court judgment to pay back money and allowances they drew. One of them, well-wishers have paid for him. Another well-wisher would be paying for another minister,” she said. “You will recall that after the judgment was passed, several ministers took to the media bragging about how they will not pay back, to which the President, through his press office, issued a statement calling on his ministers to pay back and respect the court ruling.”

Mitaba said the presidential policy pronouncement had clearly been disregarded.

“And I wonder if the Head of State has noticed this and I am hoping to see his next action. If ministers can refuse to pay back money belonging to the majority poor Zambians, for whom they claim to be in office for, can these be trusted even with another term in office?” she asked. “This is your call and mine to critically look at and ensure that we call on our ministers, MPs, to honour and respect the rule of law for which they are sworn to uphold when taking office.”

Mitaba called for the prosecution of the defaulters and that they be banned from contesting the 2021 elections.

“They should not be allowed to stand because they have eroded public confidence to uphold the law they are supposed to be legislators of,” said Mitaba. “MPs are supposed to be the lawmakers and not law breakers so if the judiciary passes a judgment, as in this case, MPs must be in the forefront of leading by example in respecting the court orders.”

FRED M’membe has asked what has happened that people should be given all sorts of handouts by politicians from the PF.

Zambia is set to hold crunch general elections in August.

Dr M’membe, the Socialist Party president, regrets that Zambian voters have been made to expect feasts or handouts (tulyemo) from candidates.

In a statement from his Garden compound office in Lusaka, Dr M’membe noted that all of a sudden, the PF and its government had so much money to “throw around to the Zambian voters.”

He asked where such money is coming from in a government that is: “embarrassingly failing to meet its debt servicing obligations.”

“And why this sudden benevolence? All of a sudden people are being given all sorts of handouts and gifts! What has happened?” Dr M’membe asked. “It’s not what has happened that we should set our eyes and ears on but what is going to happen on August 12 that we should focus on. They are trying to buy our votes with money and ‘gifts’! But are we so gullible? Can these bribes blind us from seeing reality and make us vote for them despite the enormous damage they caused to our country?”

Dr M’membe asked if those in the government now are people that Zambians could trust to continue presiding over their destiny.

He said Zambia was broke because: “of the reckless way they have been spending public funds.”

“Something in the way that they have been handling public money isn’t working. Our issue isn’t just that our country doesn’t have enough money, but that when we got the money, they spent it recklessly,” Dr M’membe said. “And they spent it on anything! Truly, 99 per cent of the troubles that we as a nation have with money isn’t that there isn’t enough of it, but in that we spend it recklessly once we actually get it!”

He further explained what prompts a voter in Zambia to cast their ballot in favour of a candidate or political party, noting that typically, one’s choice would be influenced by the candidate’s identity, outlook, performance or ethnicity.

He added that cash bribes to voters were also widely thought to influence the voting choices of the poorest and most vulnerable voters.

Dr M’membe said trying to buy votes with cash and other gifts in the run-up to elections by the ruling party was not unusual in Zambia.

“One main reason is that politics has become fiercely competitive. The margins of victory are getting smaller and smaller,” Dr M’membe said.

“Our elections have also become volatile. Our ruling parties do not control voters as well as they once might have done.”

He said ruling parties and candidates were more uncertain about results than ever before, “and try to buy votes by splurging cash on voters.”

Dr M’membe said, however, that Zambia’s experience was that bribing voters in general elections may not necessarily fetch votes.

“It works much more in by-elections but not in general elections,” he noted. “Competitive elections prompt the ruling party to distribute handouts – primarily cash and gifts in kind – for strategic reasons. While knowing that handouts are largely inefficient, they end up facing a prisoner’s dilemma, when each prisoner’s fate relies on the other’s actions.”

He recalled how the 2011 cash handouts and other gifts influenced a miniscule number of voters.

“Michael Sata’s ‘Don’t Kubeba’ worked! The voters have become astute, having realised that it was near-impossible for candidates and their political parties to ‘monitor’ their voting behaviour,” Dr M’membe said. “So they pocketed the cash and betrayed even the most generous candidate.”

He said there seemed to be an overwhelming belief in Zambian ruling parties that they could buy the votes of poor people.

“That’s why they bribe voters,” Dr M’membe said. “Bribing voters could have a cultural explanation. There’s a feeling that our poor voters appreciate wealthy or generous candidates. And that in a highly unequal society, cash bribes and gifts create a sense of reciprocity. We have a long history of patronage politics.”

He further noted that Zambian electoral politics were increasingly being articulated in the traditional idiom of patronage.

“Our voters have been made to expect feasts or handouts from candidates – tulyemo! The donor-servant relation is increasingly becoming the basic formula through which people exchanged things, exercised power and related socially,” Dr M’membe said. “In specific historical contexts, bribery may make elections less predictable, dissolving the existing ties by which the electorate are already bound to those seeking office, rather than reinforcing them.”

He indicated that bribery may be considered an evil because of secondary, knock-on effects.

“The need to bribe implies the need to raise money. This may take place by corrupt means, or may produce financial and/or political debts, which corrupt the behaviour of politicians when in office,” he said. “It may be a way in which people outside the political process, whether legitimate businessmen or criminals, such as gangsters and drug-barons nowadays, seek to control it.”

He said; “if pursued on a vast scale, bribery may have unfortunate political consequences by dangerously expanding credit.”

Dr M’membe noted that moreover, if bribery was prevalent in elections, that would affect the perception of politics both by office-seekers and those who elect them.

“Office-seekers may come to despise the venality of an electorate, which may, unknown to them, be exercising a considerable degree of independent judgment; the electorate for its part may deduce from the bribes that it is offered, that those pursuing public office are merely self-seekers who are not concerned with the general interest of the public,” explained Dr M’membe. “This is the reality we have to confront as we head towards August 12.”

A Spectre is Haunting Zambia in 2021: threatened unconstitutional, treasonous 3rd Term Coup.

By Dr. Munyonzwe Hamalengwa on January 4, 2021

A spectre is haunting Zambia: the spectre of a threatened unconstitutional and treasonous coup de ^tat by President Edgar Chagwa Lungu and his Patriotic Front (PF) state and government. Any government that overthrows the constitution by unconstitutional means stages a treasonous act and therefore abrogates its right to govern and could be overthrown by any means necessary to restore lawful overthrown constitutional order engendered by the usurperous and now illegitimate government. We terminated white colonial domination using all means of protest and rejecting the straightjacket means palatable to violent colonial rulers. We overthrew Black post-colonial domination and internal colonialism by any and all available means of protest. We built a constitutional democracy beginning in 1991 on the ashes of white colonial and Black internal colonialism of Dr Kenneth Kaunda. We defeated the Frederick Chiluba regime when he wanted to regurgitate the third term two-steps back dictatorship. We defeated Bill 10 that threatened to eviscerate our 1991 foundational democracy to reimpose a facsimile of the one-party dictatorship. We are not going back. Those who think they can reimpose repression and constitutional or unconstitutional dictatorship will only do so over our dead bodies and on our pool of blood, ours or theirs. This regime is already guilty of treason for forcing us to make this deadly choice after our long and hard-won fight for democracy. The majority of the ruling cartel has never fought for anything other than the carcass of the bounty of corruption.

But as late Prosecutor Nsama Nsama Chipyoka who the present police under the present Commander-in-Chief killed on December 23, 2020, opined, “history written in blood cannot be erased by history written in ink”, and so it will be if this regime tempts the peaceful Zambian people to the brink. That is the spectre that is haunting Zambia that I wish to write about in this column.

This regime wants to drench this peaceful tribally-coexistent country in blood to impose a third term for the President when it is clearly prohibited by the two Constitutional Acts of 2016, brought about and signed by President Lungu with his eyes closed despite the caution by General Godfrey Miyanda to the effect that he must sign the Constitutional Acts with his eyes open. We cannot pay for someone’s mistakes. It is to these Acts that I now turn my attention to.

The Constitution Act No. 1 of 2016 is the interpretative instrument for The Constitution Act No. 2 of 2016 (otherwise known as the “Constitution as Amended”). The Constitution Act No. 1 of 2016 dictates how the Constitution Act No. 2 is to be interpreted. Whenever there are significant changes to the law or Constitution, the transitional interregnum is explained in the enabling act as to what the old and new legal regimes mean in the interim or transitional period before the new regime supplants the old regime.

Constitution of Zambia Act No. 1 of 2016 states as follows: “An act to provide for the printing and publication of the Constitution; to provide for the savings and transitional provisions of State organs, State institutions, administrations, offices, institutions and laws; to provide for the savings of succession of assets, rights, liabilities, obligations, and legal proceedings; and to provide for matters connected with, or incidental to, the foregoing”.

In this Constitution Act No. 1, it is clear that the word “Constitution” is used in two clearly distinct senses: “Constitution” of 1991 and “Constitution as amended” by Act No. 2 of 2016.

For clarity, let me quote the above two senses in which the word Constitution refers. Section 2(1) states unequivocally; “In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-“Constitution” means the Constitution of Zambia, 1991, in force immediately before the effective date…. This is the first sense. The second sense is spelt out in Section 4. “Subject to this Act, the Constitution as amended in Act No.2 of 2016 shall come into operation on the commencement of this Act”.

We now go back to the Preamble which states that Act No.1, among other raison detre, is to provide for transitional provisions for existing state organs, state institutions, administrations, offices, institutions and laws etc.

What does the Act say about the office of the President? Section 7 deals with the Executive; “Section 7. (1) The President shall continue to serve as President for the unexpired term of that office as specified by the Constitution in accordance with the Constitution”. This Act has already dictated in section 2. (1) that “Constitution” means the Constitution of 1991. It now spells out loudly and clearly that the President will complete the unexpired term of office pursuant to the 1991 Constitution under which he was elected.

Section 7.(1) is unequivocal that the unexpired term of office constitutes continuation without regard to length. It could be five minutes or three months or three years. It simply states that “the President shall continue to serve the unexpired term as provided for in the Constitution of 1991.

For further clarity, Section 7(2) says “A person holding the office of Vice-President, Minister or Deputy Minister shall continue to hold that position under the Constitution until that appointment is terminated by the President in accordance with the Constitution”. We know that this refers to the 1991 Constitution because under that Constitution, the VP was appointed by the President and could be fired by the President. That is not the case with the 2016 Constitution as amended where the President has a running mate whom he can conceivably not dismiss. We also know that the section is referring to the 1991 Constitution when there were Deputy Ministers. There are no Deputy Ministers under the 2016 Constitution as amended.

Section 13 dealing with the Legislature further clarifies the effect and import and relationship between the 1991 Constitution and the Constitution Act No.2 (Amendment) of 2016. No new Constitution scrapes out history. Constitutions are prospective and not retrospective. They continue what is already in existence like laws or discontinue but cannot write out of existence what has already taken place like blanking out a term of office that has already been served. A new Constitution cannot be used to interpret an older Article of the Constitution, especially one which is clear and unambiguous. In this case, Section 7 (1) is even clearer: the President shall serve the unexpired term of office in accordance with the 1991 Constitution. As already stated, this can be five minutes or any length of time. Constitutional interpretation is prospective and not retrospective as already stated.

For a person to hold office, he must have been elected and sworn into office. In January 2015 President Lungu was elected and sworn in as President and served the unexpired term of office of the deceased Michael Sata. This is recognised in Section 7.(1) of Constitution Act No. 1 enacted by the present state and government. In August 2016, President Lungu who signed the two Acts in January 2016 was elected again and in September 2016 was sworn in for the second time. In January 2016, Lungu signed the Constitution as amended which contained Article 106 (3) which provides that anyone who has held office twice shall not be eligible to run for office for a third term. Section 7.(1) recognised that the unexpired term was served by someone and we know it was Lungu. No one doubts that from September 2016 to August 2021 Lungu was and is serving a term of office. When you marry the two: Section 7. (1) of Constitution Act No.1 and the period just mentioned above, Lungu has served two terms. Under the 2016 amendments, the length of the unexpired term is specified in Article 106(5)(b) but it only relates to the Vice-President or the Speaker of the House when a vacancy occurs. This specification of a full term or what constitutes it and or how it is apportioned was not the case when Lungu assumed the Presidency in 2015. And he did not jump from the position of Vice-President or from being a Speaker. Article 106(5)(b) therefore does not qualify the holding of office twice limitation to the Presidency in Lungu’s case. Even this would not apply to him as the Constitution 1991 provided for what would happen under the circumstances. Remember Lungu was first elected under the 1991 constitution and served the unexpired term of office of President Sata. Law seeks clarity and repetition is mandated to the annoyance of non-legally trained minds. No new article in the 2016 Act No. 2 qualifies in any way that the unexpired term when Lungu got elected in 2015 was not a full term. It couldn’t because a new Constitution cannot reinterpret the meaning of a clear previous Article of the previous Constitution. Even the doctrine of the Constitution as a living tree cannot bear this burden.

The reason for the two-term limit was to prevent one-party-state dictators who stayed in power forever. It would be against the purposive constitutional interpretation to attempt to bring back surreptitiously what had been democratically and deliberately cast asunder. Africa was on the move copying the American two-term limit to engender democracy on the ashes of perpetual dictatorships. That elephant is always in the room.

Lastly we must ask the following questions: how many people who talk or write about the third term issue have actually read Constitution Act No.1 of 2016 and the Constitution Act No. 2 of 2016? Ask all of them by way of research. Or are people simply choosing political preferences irrespective of what the Constitution provides? My opinion is that this is the case. It behooves every literate Zambian to read these instruments for guidance and to interpret it to those who need help.

It is stated that the ConCourt eligibility decision of December 7, 2018 disposed of this issue. That is that the President is eligible for a third term. It is stated further that the ConCourt found that the transitional provisions are silent on the issue of length of term of office or what it means to hold office or how long. This is further from the truth. Section 7.(1) of Constitution Act No. 1 of 2016 is clear. The unexpired term is a term of office regardless of length pursuant to the 1991 Constitution under which Lungu was elected. The Constitution cannot give Lungu 11 years and 6 months when the Constitution only allows two terms amounting to 10 years.

It is also stated that the ConCourt found that Lungu is eligible for a third term. The ConCourt never did any such pronouncement. It stated that the issue of Lungu’s eligibility was otiose. This is not a pronouncement of eligibility. Lungu was not before the Court. Lungu is not eligible. If the ConCourt found Lungu to be eligible to stand a third time, which it did not, the question posed by UNZA lecturers Kaaba and Sambo would continue to arise: where is ConCourt jurisprudence taking Zambia? It would be my considered opinion that if the ConCourt found Lungu eligible for a third term, [it would] be either gross incompetence or circumstantial evidence of judicial corruption. Neither has any redeeming qualities.

If the ConCourt found Lungu eligible, that decision of December 2018 is hereby set aside as Lungu is not eligible for a third term after holding office twice.

The other important question is: doesn’t the PF have someone else to nominate because Lungu does not qualify under the 1991 Constitution or the 2016 Constitution as amended? An unconstitutional and treasonous coup de ^tat is a recipe for bloodshed in Zambia. Leave us in peace. Or simply jump over the mighty Victoria Falls, alone without involving the majority of Zambians who value the current constitution despite its flaws. There are also so many trees in Zambia for the ruling cartel to hang themselves without involving Zambians in that self-suicide.

We fought colonialism and won. We fought Kaunda, we won. We fought Chiluba, we won. Victory is certain. Or defeat over our dead bodies. But “History written in blood cannot (and will not) be erased with history written in ink”. We shall defend this Constitution which clearly and unequivocally states in Art. 106 (3) that anyone who has been elected twice to the office of President or held office twice is not eligible to run a third time. Lungu has been elected twice and has held office twice. The least I encourage you to do is read Constitution Act No. 1 of 2016 and Constitution Act No. 2 of 2016.

Dr Munyonzwe Hamslengwa is the author of “Class Struggles in Zambia, 1889 to 1989 & the Fall of Kenneth Kaunda, 1989 to1991″(University Press of America) and many other books.

FATHER Richard Luonde says the election of President Edgar Lungu has brought more suffering than economic freedom to all Zambians.

Reviewing the year, Fr Luonde, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) chairperson, said the Lungu presidency has been a curse to the country.

“In the struggle for independence, a lot of Zambians lost their lives just to free us from the colonialists. This freedom is now being misused by the hungry vultures who have no heart for fellow Zambians but themselves. The election of President Edgar Lungu in 2015 and 2016 has brought more suffering never experienced before since independence,” he said in a statement. “If anyone thinks that President Lungu has been a blessing to our country, they are wrong. To the contrary, the Lungu presidency has been a curse to our country because it has brought more harm than good to all sectors of our economy. The good governance record we have held in the region for many years has been wiped out by his dictatorship. This is the only President in our history who has thrown out the rule of law and replaced it with cadreism without shame. Zambians can’t wait to kick him out in next year’s elections so that we save the little pride there is left in our governance credentials.”

He described the year as a disaster “in terms of governance and genuine leadership in a nation that is also endowed with so much in terms of minerals and other natural resources”.

“The majority of us Zambians are today wallowing in poverty which this government has failed to address, not even for an inch. We no longer feel that we are Zambians in our own God given land, which our forefathers fought to liberate from our colonial masters on the 24th of October 1964,” Fr Luonde said.

He dug into history and highlighted how the economy sank during the UNIP administration.

Fr Luonde nevertheless attributed that to mostly physical and economic attacks from colonialists that were fighting neighbouring countries.

“But this was all because Zambia was being squeezed by colonialists who surrounded our neighbouring countries and squeezed us for supporting the liberation struggle in these countries. Today, in our country we have our own brothers and sisters who have enslaved us to a level where we cannot express ourselves, or else one is arrested, sent to prison on trumped up charges or shot dead in cold blood,” he said. “We are now getting used to lawlessness, which has now become established law where police can deny murders they commit in full public view. They are now denying their own officers who shoot innocent citizens. They want to blame that on imaginary persons. Where on earth has this happened before if not in dictatorships? Cry my beloved country, this we shall not allow in our beloved Zambia.”

He said crooks had taken over and were busy squeezing the innocent.

“Crooks are now our masters without shame. They have mobilized under this dictatorship and they are trying to make us look guilty when we are the innocent ones. When they kill, torture, maim and accuse falsely, to them it is like nothing happened,” said Fr Luonde. “My fellow Zambians, the year is ending and our experience as to what suffering is should be motivation enough to come and remove this irresponsible and lawless government on 12th August 2021. There is a serious moral decay due to poverty and lawlessness championed by PF. Let us also remember that this is the same government that was gassing us early this year so that it could help them keep power. How evil can a government be! This must be revisited by electing a new party next year, not PF, twanaka (we are tired)!”

THE emergence of another heavyweight in the race for adoption to stand in Kitwe’s Nkana Constituency on the PF ticket could further shrink incumbent Alexander Chiteme’s hopes.

Cleopas Njobvu, the current councillor for Parklands Ward and a senior manager in the supply management at Mopani Copper Mines, has entered the fray for the much-sought-after cosmopolitan constituency.

This is also where former Kitwe district commissioner Binwell Mpundu seeks to contest and he has been actively mobilising.

Mpundu’s move has unsettled Chiteme and his supporters.

Another heavyweight, Paul Chisunka, an engineer in Mopani and a long time PF member has actively emerged, pinning his hopes on the robust women empowerment programmes that he has been undertaking in compounds.

All the three aspirants are from the ruling Patriotic Front, with Chiteme also seeking re-adoption, bringing the number to four.

This clearly points to a vicious battle for adoption within the ruling party, going into 2021.

Njovu has picked up talking points which many constituents say are Chiteme’s failures in the last five years.

When asked what his priorities are if elected, Njovu said he would lobby for a secondary school to be built for the residents of Kamakonde settlement area and expand the existing primary school so that it accommodates more children.

“I will work to ensure that the existing clinic in Kamakonde works day and night every day and also expansion of the clinic because the community has grown. Pregnant mothers are being inconvenienced in the night,” he explained. “In the short term some roads will have to be graded but in the long term we’ll have to lobby so [that] these are built to bituminous standards. High density areas like Buchi, Mindolo, Miseshi will be my main focus, then we escalate it to less densely populated areas.”

He added, “we need to sort out the land wrangles for the people of Luyando and Kandabwe”. “Inasmuch as I don’t support illegality to land issues, we still need to see how these families can be assisted. We also need running water and proper drainages in most areas in Nkana. To enhance security for our people, street lighting is cardinal in places like Buchi, Miseshi, Mindolo, Parklands, Rokana. There’s need for a clinic and a police post in Rokana,” he said.

Njovu said there was need for practical empowerment programmes for women and youth under organised cooperatives.

He also promised to lobby Zesco to waive off old electricity bills which some residents in compounds were struggling to pay.

Njovu further promised to lobby the water utility to replace old sewer lines.

The PF on the Copperbelt is facing a battle within as most once-upon a time youthful members have refused to pave way for the ‘elite’ feeling their time has come to move to the next level of leadership.