Contact : UPND, Lusaka Province Chairperson, Obvious Mwaliteta 0976423380 /0977780397
Email : info@upndzambia.org
PRESS RELEASE
SUSPENSION OF GUN LICENCING WELCOME!
…but disarm PF cadres first!
Lusaka ( 8.08.2020) United Party for National Development-UPND-wishes to cautiously commend the Zambia Police Service for its timely move to suspend the licensing of firearms ahead of the highly anticipated 2021 general elections.
However, the realization of a safer society free of illegal firearms would always remain a pipe dream if the Police do not strive at stamping out the root cause of the widespread gun culture that has taken centre stage in the country, which is PF cadres having access to guns without any restraint, whatsoever.
It is very laughable and regrettable that the Police Deputy Inspector General for Operations, Bonnie Kapeso has continued making rubber-stamping pronouncements that sound too-good-to-be to the citizens’ liking at the expense of taking punitive measures against gun-totting ruling Patriotic Front-PF-cadres.
If Mr Kapeso and his Police Command have failed to apprehend, late alone bring to book criminal elements who have been hiding behind the veil of politics such as Max Chongu who shot at an unharmed UPND youth during the 2016 Presidential Nominations; Emmanuel ‘Jay Jay’ Banda who carried out a movie style attack on Lusaka Central Police Station and Francis Muchemwa, the notorious PF thug alias America 1 who shot at Lawrence Banda in Kaoma a few months ago, how would he manage to control a huge battalion of highly militarized PF cadres when they go on a shooting spree during the 2021 general elections?
Time and again, the UPND has made endless pleas to the relevant authorities particularly the Zambia Police to arrest the unbecoming behaviour of gun culture in the country which has seen a number of PF cadres brandishing guns in public with impunity, howbeit with little or no success at all!
Furthermore, could the police inspectorate make known to the general public how many firearms have been surrendered to the Police during the gun amnesty which is set to expire next month because the UPND has intelligent information that the Police Command has commenced the sale of surrendered firearms back to the communities!
So, if what the overzealous deputy police chief is championing is to be useful and yield the intended results of having violent-free 2021 general elections, the Police must act swiftly and disarm PF cadres who are in possession not only of guns but other offensive weapons such as tesser guns, hand made grenades and other offensive weapons.
SIXTY four former cabinet ministers and their deputies who illegally continued in office when Parliament was dissolved ahead of the 2016 presidential and general elections are now demanding K15,000 each as repatriation allowances.
The 64 have however not objected to paying the K4.7 million proposed by the state, being the emoluments they are required to pay back for staying in office illegally.
This is according to a notice of non-objection to the quantum settled by the state.
“Take notice that the respondents represented by Messrs Ellis and Co, Messrs D.H Kemp and Co and Messrs Lungu Simwanza and Company did not object to the quantum of emoluments as quantified by the first respondent (state),” read the notice.
” Save that the said respondents were not paid their repatriation allowances in the sum of K15,000 per person.”
The notice further indicated that Obius Chisala, the 31st respondent did not receive his salary and allowances for two months in June and July 2016 because his contract of employment was terminated on June 8, 2016.
In July this year, the State suggested that the total amount recoverable from Ngosa Simbyakula and 63 others was K4.7 million for the period of May to July 2016. In this matter, the Law Association of Zambia and the UPND had petitioned the 64 in the Constitutional Court in 2016 for failing to vacate office when their mandate had expired prior to the elections.
In November 2019, Attorney General Likando Kalaluka had asked the Constitutional Court to compel the Registrar of the Constitutional Court to assess the amount of money that the Patriotic Front ministers were required to pay back as directed by the court.
The State claimed that it had challenges in both addressing the recovery of emoluments and or considering the question of indemnity as the exact emoluments (salaries, allowances and per diems) to be recovered have not been agreed by the parties, three years after judgment.
This followed an order by the Court to refuse to reopen its judgment of August 8, 2016 in which it ordered Ngosa Simbyakula and 63 others to pay back the allowances and salaries they illegally accrued when they decided to remain in office during the dissolution of Parliament ahead of the 2016 elections.
The ministers asked the court to review its decision as it was not in their own making but Constitutional Court judge Enock Mulembe on behalf of others indicated that the Court’s adjudicatory function could be defeated if its final decisions were open to casual challenge in form of applications for revisiting or setting aside part or the entire judgment at the instance of an aggrieved party.
And in a further affidavit in support of assessment of amount due pursuant to the judgment dated August 8, 2016, filed on July 16, 2020 and sworn by Fides Kalangwa, a director of policy research and standards in the office of the accountant general at the Ministry of Finance, the State indicated that the emoluments have been duly computed by the policy research and standards for the period of May to July 2016.
“As can be seen from the said computation, the total amount recoverable from the former Cabinet ministers and former Deputy ministers for the period of May to July 2016 is in the sum of K4,778,664.10,” said Kalangwa.
“The computation was arrived at after looking at the payslips of the former Cabinet ministers and former deputy ministers.”
THE Lusaka High Court has ordered that Steven Nyirenda continues to perform his functions as NAREP president.
This is according to an order of ex-parte order of an interim injunction granted to Nyirenda and three others prohibiting NAREP vice-president Charles Maboshe from interfering with the affairs of the party and use of its secretariat.
“Upon reading the affidavit on ex-parte summons for an order for an interim injunction deposed by NAREP national chairperson Jimmy Mubambwe, it is here by ordered that an ex-perte order of an interim injunctions is and be hereby granted to the plaintiffs restraining the defendants whether by themselves or by their employees or agents or whosoever from interfering with the administration, governance and the use of NAREP secretariat situated at plot no. 2386 Tuleteka Road, Lusaka,” ordered justice Wilfred Muma.
“It is further ordered that the defendants be and are here by prohibited to issue out statements regarding National Restoration Party and its leadership.”
Judge Muma further directed that the matter shall come for inter-parte hearing on August 27, 2020.
In this matter, Nyirenda and three others have sued Maboshe and six others challenging his dismissal from the party.
Nyirenda, together with NAREP secretary general Ezra Banda, Mwelwa Ngosa and Mubambwe have sued Maboshe, Ezra Ngulube, Maybin Kabwe, Frank Sichone, Evelyn Malango, Susan Chipeta and Thomas Kayola in the Lusaka High Court seeking a declaration that he (Nyirenda) was duly elected as National Restoration Party president.
Nyirenda and others want a declaration that the purported decision by the defendants to fire him be declared null and void.
The plaintiffs also wanted an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants, or their agents from interfering with the party’s administration and governance.
They are further seeking an order of injunction prohibiting the defendants and their agents from using the party secretariat.
On August 15, NAREP spokesperson Frank Sichone announced that the party’s central organ had expelled Nyirenda from his position for allegedly causing division in the party and for failing to follow party procedures, among others.
Sichone further indicated that the party had decided to replace Nyirenda with Maboshe.
In their statement of claim, Nyirenda and others have argued that according to the party constitution, he cannot be removed from his position through a vote of no confidence without justification, as it was contrary to the said constitution.
“The defendants, prior to the arranged meeting which was scheduled for August 15, 2020 had a parallel meeting and that its main agenda was to ratify the new NEC members and adopt that NAREP joins the Zambia Opposition Alliance for 2021 election,” read the statement of claim. “The Plaintiffs will show proof that the reason for the division in the party is that the defendants want the party to join the said alliance for the purposes of 2021 elections.” Nyirenda and others stated that the leadership of the party had different ideologies of governance on the said alliance.
The plaintiffs said after the failed meeting which was slated for Saturday, the defendants regrouped on the same day and purportedly resolved that Nyirenda was no longer the president of NAREP and he was with immediate effect replaced by Maboshe.
They stated that Sichone issued a misleading statement with regards Nyirenda’s presidency. The complainants argued that according to the NAREP constitution, there was no provision for the removal of a sitting president through a vote of no confidence than what was indicated under Article 37.
The plaintiffs said no justifiable reasons have been given to warrant Nyirenda’s removal from office as indicated by the defendants.
“The plaintiffs contend that Nyirenda was duly elected as president of the party on November 14, 2019 by the supreme body of the party which is the National Convention under Article 43 and 47 of the party’s Constitution and that its decision binds all organs of the party, including the defendants,” the statement of claim read further.
“It is the plaintiffs’ position that the action taken by the defendants is frivolous and has affected the good will of the party and its leadership. By reasons of the same, the party and the plaintiffs have suffered damages.”
I SEE NO REASON WHY HH SHOULD NOT BE ALLIANCE’S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
…if indications are showing UPND is more popular, says Kambwili
By Patson Chilemba
I see no reason why Hakainde Hichilema should not be the presidential candidate of the alliance if indications are showing that UPND is the most popular opposition party, says National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Chishimba Kambwili.
According to Daily Revelation, Kambwili says he saw no need why opposition UPND leader Hichilema should not lead the opposition alliance if indications were clear that his party was the biggest opposition organization.
He said he hoped the irresponsibility which led to the breakup of the pact in 2011 between the PF of Michael Sata and UPND, would not repeat itself.
Kambwili explains that there should not be issues such as those in 2011 about which party was a bigger ahead of the 2021 elections.
He said in 2011 Sata and Hichilema argued that they were both better positioned to lead the pact, but that if Hichilema had agreed to be vice-president then, he would be Republican President right now.
“And I advise that that should not happen, as long as it is an alliance based on truthfulness,” Kambwili said. “If the indications are that UPND is the biggest party, I see no reason why HH should not lead the alliance.”
Kambwili said in a genuine election there was no way the PF could defeat his party on the Copperbelt, Luapula, Northern and Muchinga provinces, just as they could not defeat the UPND in the other areas, saying uniting the opposition vote would concretise their gains.
He said those who were saying they would go it alone, were cheating themselves and were being sponsored by the ruling party.
Kambwili said the recent losses suffered by the opposition in ward by-elections were cosmetic, as the ruling PF was using hunger and starvation to bribe the electorates with mealie meal and other stuff.
He called out People for Economic Progress (Pep) president Sean Tembo for cheating himself, claiming he could not even garner four people to attend his rally if he called one on the Copperbelt.
“You know mu opposition mwaliba confidence yabupemfu (some people in the opposition can have the confidence, stubbornness like that of cockroaches),” Kambwili said.
Kambwili said there was an urgent need to change government as the country had now gone to the dogs, where even cadres were now crying wolf, wolf, “ba Bowman uyu (traffic police officer) alelanda ati ba President tabakapite (this one is saying the President won’t win) and the officer gets transferred to Western Province in an instant without even hearing his side of the story.”
He said Zambians were docile in that wrongs were being committed right before their eyes but they were quiet, and when people like himself who were being prosecuted for talking spoke out, citizens could not come in to help them.
Kambwili questioned the absurdity of Presidential Affairs minister Freedom Sikazwe’s claim that the cost for constructing a toilet had been exaggerated in Mpulungu, something which moved the President to say people were just raising corruption issues with his ministers. He said instead of doing something about it, President Lungu seemed excited with what Sikazwe was saying.
He further said a minister, like Lusaka Province minister Bowman Lusambo, who was just a pauper yesterday had now gotten filthy rich, and making huge donations all over and yet the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was ndwii, quiet.
Kambwili also said people must take certain matters into account before accusing those in the opposition of sleeping, citing the recent example where a prosecutor for country’s prime investigations agency (ACC) cleared Health minister Dr Chitalu Chilufya over the corruption charges he is facing before the courts of law.
“They tell us the man has been suspended. If indeed he has been suspended what action has government taken? It simply means the man committed perjury,” he said.
NOMINATED member of parliament Raphael Nakacinda has sued the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in the Lusaka High Court challenging his expulsion from the party on June 20, 2020.
Nakacinda, who has cited MMD national secretary Elizabeth Chitika in the matter, is seeking a declaration that his purported expulsion from the party is invalid and void.
He wants the court to declare that his purported expulsion from the MMD was illegal by reason of procedural impropriety and absolute defiance of the established rules of natural justice.
He also wants an order of interim injunction restraining Chitika either by herself, agent, servant or otherwise howsoever from continued interference with his membership in the MMD.
Nakacinda is further seeking any other reliefs the court may deem fit plus costs.
According to his statement of claim, Nakacinda stated that in a letter dated June 22, 2020, Chitika informed him that he had been expelled from the party on allegations of arrogance, insubordination and disregard for the party leadership among others.
Nakacinda stated that Chitika indicated in the said letter that the party was unable to serve him a letter requesting him to attend a disciplinary hearing on November 15, 2019 based on an exculpatory letter rendered by him (Nakacinda) sometime in 2016 and by their own admission the party proceeded to consider its failure to notify him of the then pending disciplinary hearing with regards to arrogance, insubordination and disregard for party leadership.
He claimed that Chitika accused him of holding meetings in Lusaka, Chipata, Luangwa and other places in the country and that he continued to bring the name of the party into disrepute and slander thereby injuring the name of the party and abrogating sections of the MMD constitution.
Nakacinda said he was alleged to have failed to adhere to the conditions of his suspension restraining him, his agents and servants from having any dealings and contact whatsoever with party structures during the period of his suspension.
He explained that in the said letter the party through its national executive committee (NEC) using their supposed coherent powers purported to be vested in them by Article 52(2) and 19 (n) of the MMD party constitution resolved to expel him from the party with immediate effect from June 20, 2020.
“The defendant neither formally charged him on any of the grounds alleged in the defendant’s letter nor was he ever given an opportunity to be heard on the allegations levelled against him by the defendant,” Nakacinda said.
He claimed that he only became aware of the purported alleged offences against him on June 22, 2020, the date he was informed of his wrongful purported expulsion from the MMD.
Nakacinda said the allegations levelled against him were never communicated to him prior to his wrongful purported expulsion from the party.
He added that no formal charge of any purported misconduct was ever preferred against him or if preferred the same was not communicated to him before his wrongful purported expulsion from the party.
Nakacinda further contended that by reason of the aforesaid he had suffered loss, damage and inconvenience.
“The loss I continue to suffer at the hands of the defendant will be irreparable unless the defendant is restrained. No prejudice will be occasioned to the defendant by the grant of an injunction but the interest of justice will be saved,” said Nakacinda.
“I undertake to abide by the conditions which may be imposed by the court as to damages should this injunction be deemed to have been erroneously obtained.”
I HAVE BEEN CRITICISED BY THE SOCIETY FOR SELLING CHARCOAL
20 YEAR OLD BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL TAKES A UNIQUE VENTURE OF CHARCOL BUSINESS AND GIVES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY DESPITE TOUGH CRITICISM
“You are never too young to set an empire and never too old to chase your dreams”.Milimo Munkombwe
20 years old Milimo Munkombwe is a highly self movated young girl who doesnt only sell Charcoal but is also a CEO of Milimo foundation, a foundation that looks at walfare of youths and children she says “One thing i have learnt in life is to take a step in all that you believe in and work towards it, because your first step is a step closer to success and personally I started my business in July 2020 and what made me start is i saw value in been self reliant as a girl and i didnt always want to ask from people or my parents because I knew that some day it won’t work out ,i looked at myself and thought i should find something that will help me be an independent young girl to inspire others.
I was really inspired to start this business by myself and though encouragements of my mother and been the hardest worker herself who has been working hard for everything gave me the courage to stand strong despite the criticism,when i got started i managed to penetrate and take myself out of a cycle because I believe people will always want to bring you down if you are not strong enough to conguer your vision,and because of hardwork this business has helped me improve my personal finances and allowing me to take care of my needs and been able to connect with different people who have been able to support me Financially and through donations (getting more bags for me).
My future plans are to be a pilot and I plan on Building an orphanage to help vulnerable children and my encouragment to other women and girls is do not fear failure and don’t entertain criticism even as you start up something. People will criticize you for everything you do because you don’t have the same vision with them and most of the times, it’s an outcome of their own insecurities in life and when they see others achieving, the envious feelings emerges words of criticism. But your mind should be open to new opportunities and ideas. Dear women the reality of life is that we will all hear more NOs than we hear YESSES. Don’t be afraid of the NOs but be focus clear your journey and make progress in your life .
SOCIALIST Party leader Fred M’membe says the country has a lot of selfish and greedy traditional leaders who have succumbed to political manipulation.
He has also wondered where President Edgar Lungu is getting money from that he has been distributing across the country.
But Dr M’membe warns that, “impunity is a hyena that has no relative or friend. The system that they thrive in to subvert good leadership, good governance and the rule of law is the same system that will come for their necks tomorrow. We shouldn’t support any form of impunity; thrive in impunity; propagate impunity and grow impunity. This corrupt government will not be here forever. Governments come and go. Even the President will not be president forever”.
Last week, Socialist Party general secretary Cosmas Musumali accused President Lungu of destroying traditional leadership structures around the country.
He said days after President Lungu had left Lukulu district and the hand-outs he had given had all been spent, the traditional leaders were not themselves.
“Their people were calling them all sorts of names. They had been reduced to leaders without authority!” said Dr Musumali.
In his reflections on the manipulation of political, traditional and religious leaders, Dr M’membe said it was disappointing that most traditional and religious leaders could not show integrity in how they conducted themselves.
“Abija makani! Dr Musumali’s concerns are very legitimate. With a few exceptions, what we have today are traditional rulers who are selfish and greedy. They are busy accumulating wealth, building private houses for themselves. We have traditional leaders who care only about themselves and do nothing for their subjects,” he said from Mwika Royal Village in Chinsali. “They are more concerned about their palaces and personal comfort than the plight of their subjects. What they corruptly receive from these politicians they don’t share with their subjects – it’s for them alone. It’s not different for our spiritual leaders or guides. Many of them have been manipulated and have surrendered their churches and congregations to politicians and crooked businessmen with money.”
He said people would never have respect for manipulators.
Dr M’membe said such institutions were losing public respect.
“But, as I have already pointed out, people have no respect for manipulators and those who allow themselves to be manipulated. As a result, veritable chaos is created. All these institutions – state, traditional authorities and churches – are today increasingly losing public respect and support. They are being destroyed,” Dr M’membe noted. “But if you destroy the prestige and authority of the state, the traditional authority and the Church, the consequences are terrible. This may not be the intention of those leaders, but that is the final result of their corruption, selfishness, greed and manipulation. They are making enormous mistakes by failing to see the consequences of what they are doing. And all these things are being done with so much impunity. But impunity is a hyena that has no relative or friend. The system that they thrive in to subvert good leadership, good governance and the rule of law is the same system that will come for their necks tomorrow. We shouldn’t support any form of impunity; thrive in impunity; propagate impunity and grow impunity. This corrupt government will not be here forever. Governments come and go. Even the President will not be president forever.”
He cited several traditional leaders who in the past resisted bribes and slavery from colonialists, saying, “this is not something new. In our history many of our traditional leaders were manipulated in this way by slave traders and colonialists.”
“But we also had those like Mpezeni and his son, Nsingu, who resisted, refused to [be] manipulated, to take bribes and paid the ultimate price – death.
Chitimukulu Sampa for ten years refused to be manipulated with all sorts of ‘gifts’ by white capitalist traders and missionaries. He was rejecting bribes of all sorts, telling his people, ‘Fibwesheni, nshilefifwaya’ (Take them back, I don’t want),” Dr M’membe said. “How many of our chiefs today can do that, can reject bribes and return them like that dignified Bemba leader of the late 1800s? The Lozis had Mulambwa Santulu (Sipopa Lutangu), the tenth Litunga, who stopped the selling of human beings – slave trade. He became known as Muule Ambwa, loosely translated as ‘buy dogs’ instead of human beings – sell dogs instead of human beings. This was a decree he issued at the peak of Portuguese slave trade in his kingdom.”
He wondered how many chiefs could today show such resistance to manipulation.
And citing Socialist Party general secretary Cosmas Musumali’s statement last week that President Lungu had nothing to show other than corruption, Dr M’membe questioned the source of such money that the Head of State was dishing out.
Recently, Dr Musumali accused President Lungu of distributing money in areas such as Lukulu as a way of buying political support.
But Dr M’membe reminded President Lungu that manipulators had never commanded respect in society.
“But where is President Lungu getting all this money from? From which budgetary allocation is this money coming? Tusakanshi bakwete bakateka? Twafumakwi?” Dr M’membe asked.
“What kind of manipulation is this? What abracadabra is the President playing? But manipulators have never deserved anybody’s respect or been successful anywhere. Manipulators are like little canoes that go with the wind and the waves. Manipulation is synonymous with opportunism. Manipulation doesn’t have substance; it doesn’t have roots.’’
He said it was common that those with money manipulated every weak leader and system.
“We don’t think a leader – political, traditional, religious or otherwise – would be respected if people thought he or she was a manipulator. And by the same token no citizen, subject or congregants would have any respect for a leader if they thought that he or she was being manipulated,” said Dr M’membe. “I think that everything – respect, relationships, serious analysis and understanding – is possible among people who are honest with themselves and others. Today those with money are manipulating those of our leaders with weak souls, who are hungry for money or are greedy. Today our political, traditional and religious leaders are being manipulated by those with money. Today crooks of all hues with money are manipulating our politicians. They give them money and all sorts of things. In return, our politicians tailor government policies to suit their interests; they are awarded lucrative government tenders or contracts.”
WE have had enough of disputed elections, which are a prescription for violence and instability, says Vernon Mwaanga.
The veteran politician said there was need for more transparency in the election process, by having it observed at each and every point.
“This will reassure the country and election participants of a fair process. As Zambians, we must have a shared vision for a free, fair and just society for all our people,” he said.
Mwaanga said part of the reason for the struggle waged against colonialism and apartheid, was to give the people of Africa, the right to choose their own representatives and leaders, who would have their best interests at heart.
He said this includes election of political leaders at all levels from branch to the national level.
“We recognised that charity begins at home and hence the importance of intra-party democracy. More importantly, we wanted to institutionalise the culture of holding free, fair, transparent and democratic elections which meet international standards as prescribed by SADC, the African Union and the United Nations,” Mwaanga said.
He said Africa went through the dark era of military coups and big men rule, which grossly undermined democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
“Fortunately, African leaders realised the folly of such systems and decided to embrace democratic governance and made it mandatory for African countries to hold free and fair elections. Both the African Union and SADC came up with very clear and identical election guidelines and protocols in 2004 for member states, which include the duties and responsibilities of governments, political parties, electoral commissions, the media, election observers etc,” he said.
Mwaanga said the SADC principles and guidelines governing the holding of free, fair and democratic elections were adopted by heads of state in Mauritius in August 2004.
He said the principles aimed at enhancing the transparency and credibility of elections and democratic governance in the SADC region as well as ensuring acceptance of election results by all contesting political parties and individuals who contest elections from local councillors right up to the presidency.
Mwaanga said it was the fervent hope of African leaders that the principles and guidelines would promote common political values and systems which would help consolidate, defend and maintain democracy, peace, security and stability in the region and in Africa as a whole.
He said a great majority of African countries had modern constitutions which in theory, guaranteed equal opportunities and full participation of all citizens in the political process of their respective countries.
Mwaanga said some of the fundamental issues underlined in the protocols include; full participation of citizens (all citizens) in the political process of the country, freedom of association, political tolerance, equal opportunity for all political parties taking part in elections to access the state media, equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for and independence of the judiciary and impartiality of electoral commissions, which must maintain strict impartiality in the conduct of their duties and which should not at any time express any bias or preference in relation to ruling authorities, political parties or candidates taking part in elections.
He said the role of election observers was also spelt out in great detail. Mwaanga said the role of election observers had recently come under severe scrutiny, following their flowed election reports in Kenya, Malawi and elsewhere.
“Sadly many countries observe these protocols to which they are a party in breach rather than in compliance. One just has to look at what has been happening in Zambia, which is a signatory to both AU and SADC protocols for the holding of free, fair, transparent and democratic elections,” he said.
Mwaanga said during the by-election in Chilubi Constituency, which attracted a lot of national, regional and international attention, opposition leaders were being forcibly escorted out of the constituency by the police, simply because President Edgar Lungu was going to be campaigning there.
He said there was no such law which says that when the President of Zambia was campaigning in a particular constituency, district or province, no other political leaders should campaign there.
“During the time of MMD in government 1991 to 2011, our presidents Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda, used to campaign in the same constituencies with opposition leaders notably Anderson Mazoka, Michael Sata and Hakainde Hichilema,” he said.
However, Mwaanga noted that in the recent past, junior officials of government and the ruling party have been preventing opposition leaders from being interviewed on private or community radio stations across the country.
“At times claiming that the stations had no ‘police permits’ to air live interviews which had been paid for in advance. They even threaten to close radio stations, which is something beyond their powers. What kind of nonsense is this and what law are they using? Police permits were struck down by the Supreme Court of Zambia in 1996, as being inconsistent with the rights and freedoms of citizens to freely assemble, as provided for by the Constitution of Zambia and the Bill of Rights,” he said. “The police permit for public meetings, demonstrations etc, were replaced by merely notifying the police. What is more disturbing, is that the lowly placed government officers and party cadres who infringe the laws are not being punished. Party cadres have become a law unto themselves and are even assaulting police officers. What kind of madness is this? No one is above the law. For all practical purposes, the electoral process for August 2021 has already began with issuance of National Registration Cards, which must be done fairly in all parts of Zambia. This will be followed by voter registration, verification of registers by voters, to ensure that their correct particulars are reflected in the registers. The first time young voters must register as voters and turn up to vote.”
Mwaanga said young people must not allow politicians to continue telling them that “you are the future leaders”.
“Your future is now. Stand up and be counted. After candidates have been selected by political parties, the campaign field must be level and equal for all without exception. The vote count, vote verification, must be fully transparent and observed by representatives of political parties and civil society, to prevent possible vote tampering. We have had enough of disputed elections, which are a prescription for violence and instability,” said Mwaanga.
Statement of the Socialist Party on the death of Comrade Grey Zulu
Comrade Grey Zulu, the revolutionary freedom fighter, born September 3, 1924, breathed his last on August 16, 2020 at his home in Makeni, Lusaka.
The Politburo, the Central Committee and all ranks of the Socialist Party membership mourns the great freedom fighter Grey Zulu who spent a greater part of his life in the struggle to free our people from the British colonial domination, humiliation and exploitation and to build us a nation – Zambia.
The Socialist Party joins the Zulu family and the nation in mourning our great freedom fighter and nation builder Grey Zulu.
His patriotism and sacrifice will continue to inspire generations of Zambians, especially those committed to building a more fair, just and humane society – a socialist Zambia.
We deeply mourn the death of Comrade Zulu, one the last three remaining members of our country’s first Cabinet. With his death, the nation has lost an illustrious founding father who dedicated his whole life to the cause of the people. Death, especially of freedom fighters, is always unacceptable; it is to them that we owe our existence as a nation.
Comrade Grey Zulu was a sincere, selfless, humble, incorruptible and reliable leader of our people.
This strong, honest and wise man always looked into the future with confidence.
He embodied the high ideals of a politician, citizen and patriot who wholeheartedly believed in the cause of the people, to which he devoted his life.
Socialists in Zambia and beyond will always cherish his memory in their hearts.
We are fully confident that this spirit will never die and that it will continue to enlighten and inspire our people, especially the youth, for continuing to peacefully campaign to finally liberate our nation from neocolonial domination, humiliation and exploitation.
In this mournful hour, we pass on our members’ words of sympathy and support to his widow, Comrade Mary, and all members of his family and all who knew, loved and respected Comrade Zulu. We wish them courage and tenacity as they face this irreparable loss.
At times like these words seem inadequate to convey the sense of loss.
We have lost a comrade and friend. May his spirit live on in the struggles of our poor people.
Issued by Fred M’membe, President of the Socialist Party
Great coincidences exist between Christianity and socialism – a reflection by Dr Fred M’membe
There are thousands more coincidences between Christianity and socialism than between Christianity and capitalism.
Responding probably to different motivations, they both advocate attitudes and behaviours that are quite similar.
There’s great coincidence between Christianity’s objectives and the ones we socialists seek, between the Christian teachings of humility, austerity, selfishness and loving thy neighbour and what we might call the content of a revolutionary’s life and behaviour. For, what is the Socialist Party teaching its members and the Zambian people? To kill? To be selfish? To exploit others? Just the opposite. We are teaching them unwavering commitment to honest, equity, humility and solidarity.
We are telling them that our country right now may be too poor to give our people great material wealth, but it can give them a sense of equity and of human dignity.
We socialists believe that Christ was a revolutionary par excellence. His entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and the degradation of human beings.
There’s a lot in common between the spirit and essence of Christ’s teachings and socialism. And the Bible has very revolutionary content. The teachings of Christ are very revolutionary and completely coincide with our aims as socialists.
That is why we believe and openly say that we socialists are not the only revolutionaries. All those who truly follow Christ’s doctrine and devote themselves to the cause of the humble, the poor; and devote themselves to fighting against injustice, abuse and the degradation of human beings and to helping them liberate themselves are all revolutionaries.
Like we socialists, the Catholic social teaching does advocate the protection of property rights, but only when strongly situated within what is called the universal destination of goods. That is, “Christian tradition has never recognised the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: ‘On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone.” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 177, quoting St. John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens). And because God intends the world to provide for the needs of every person, the distribution of resources must allow every human person with what is needed for a full life. Isn’t this what we socialists are advocating for?
In his encyclical “Pacem in Terris,” St. John XXIII explained: “Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood” (No. 11). Isn’t this what the Socialist Party’s manifesto is advocating for?
A defense of property, absent that context, functions to absolve those who own property from responsibility to those in desperate need. But Catholic teaching treats the withholding of resources from those in need as a failure of justice, and so private property always comes with a “social mortgage.”
Pope Leo XIII explained in his encyclical “Rerum Novarum”: “[W]hen there is a question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State” (No. 37). Isn’t this what we socialists are seeking?
And what is being advocated by the Catholic social teaching is not consistent with the capitalist social order.
Even on religious liberty, the Catholic social teaching is saying that it must also respect the common good.
As capitalists, with their religious agents, seek to accord special recognition to Christianity or section of it, the “Compendium” says, “Such recognition must in no way create discrimination within the civil or social order for other religious groups” (No. 423). The church’s witness to the Gospel always requires (and Catholics must acknowledge that it often has failed in this) the defense of the well-being of persons who do not accept the Gospel, in keeping with the commands to love both neighbour and enemy. The purpose of the right to religious liberty within Catholic thought is both to make room for the church’s freedom to give witness to the Gospel and also to honour the call of God for every person to freely enter into communion with the divine life. These two purposes are not at odds. The church’s witness to the Gospel always requires the defense of the well-being of persons who do not accept the Gospel.
The document “Dignitatis Humanae,” promulgated at the Second Vatican Council, explains it thus: “It is…completely in accord with the nature of faith that in matters religious every manner of coercion on the part of men should be excluded. In consequence, the principle of religious freedom makes no small contribution to the creation of an environment in which men can without hindrance be invited to the Christian faith, embrace it of their own free will, and profess it effectively in their whole manner of life” (No. 10).
This makes it important to remember that Catholic teaching says the right to religious liberty “is not of itself an unlimited right. The just limits of the exercise of religious freedom must be determined in each social situation with political prudence, according to the requirements of the common good, and ratified by the civil authority through legal norms consistent with the objective moral order” (No. 422).
And speaking for myself, I can say that the ethical values that are propelling my revolutionary, socialist work came from my Catholic upbringing and education, from my teachers – the Capuchin Fathers, the Irish Christian Brothers and Sacred Heart Brothers. I would even say from my Christian family, home.
I was taught very early in my life that I should not lie. I was taught what was right and wrong, things that should and should not be done. I remember being punished by my Form 1 mathematics teacher at St John’s Secondary School to write 3,000 times, “Oh what a web we weave for ourselves when we first practice to deceive.” I had not done my homework and when asked about it, I lied that I had left it in the dormitory. I was told to go and get it. And immediately after I left classroom, the teacher told the class I was not going to come with any homework. He asked for a bet on it. When I came back empty-handed, the whole class burst into laughter. I have carried these words and memories of that day with me wherever I am and in whatever I do. And I remind my classmates of this incident whenever we meet. That was my baptism out of lying.
Later on, my revolutionary and political involvement began to create in me a feeling of what was wrong, the violation of an ethical standard, an injustice, abuse or fraud. I began to have an idea of what was fair and unfair. I began to have a concept of personal dignity. I think I have always had a sense of justice – from very early on – because of what I saw and experienced.
Undoubtedly, my Catholic upbringing and education influenced me a lot. The Capuchin Fathers, the Irish Christian Brothers and Sacred Heart Brothers inculcated a very strong sense of personal dignity in me, regardless of their political ideas which quite often I didn’t agree with. They valued character, rectitude, honesty, courage and ability to make sacrifices.
The Irish Christian Brothers definitely influenced me with their strict organisation, their discipline and their values. They contributed to my development and sense of justice. Following that path, I came to view abuse, injustice as unacceptable.
If you mix ethical values with a spirit of rebellion and rejection of injustice you begin to appreciate and place a high value on a number of things that other people don’t value at all. A sense of personal dignity, honour and duty form the main foundation that enables people to acquire political consciousness and a revolutionary spirit.
Date: August 9, 2020 Mwika Royal Village, Chinsali.
FAST TRACK TRANSFER OFFICER INCIDENT SENDS WRONG SIGNAL TO HARDWORKING OFFICERS
By Shapa Wakun’guma
need to realise that the direction of our lives is controlled by the magnetic pull of our values. They are a force in front of us consistently reminding us to make decisions that create the direction and ultimate destination of our lives. This is true, not only for us as individuals but for the organisations, companies and the nation of which we are a part.
AnthonyRobbins
Professionals must be driven by values; carefully thought about, selected and internalised values. The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of a professional person.
The incident trending in the past hours of an officer accused of allegedly uttering disparaging words against our Commander in Chief in which the DIG – OPS reacted upon with the speed of light without allowing the due process of investigations to take effect sends a wrong signal to the hard working officers. It is such impulsive actions that have left many officers vulnerable. It is now a typical case of; ‘Everyone for himself, God for us all.’
Officers were slowly feeling the protection that was once lost when he suddenly resurfaced with the ‘Wazakaza’ spirit. For a brief moment, there was hope for the restoration of law and order. Some of us were quick to conclude – here comes a man cut from a different cloth; devoid of the belief in the efficacy of patronage.
That behaviour as reported by various media platforms, if true, does not authentic him as a law enforcement officer; not even in the slightest.
The Zambia Police Standing Orders on page 25 Order 18 (1) and (2) states that:
(1) when an adverse report is made on a member of the police by his superior officer, the substance of the report will be communicated to him in writing if the report draws attention to faults or shortcomings which it may be within his power to remedy.
(2) the officer will be required to acknowledge receipt thereof and the receipted copy of the report will be forwarded to the Inspector General for retention in his staff file.
Further, the Disciplinary Code and Procedures for Handling Offences in the Public Service (A booklet which is a summary of section 21 of the Civil Service Commission Act, Cap 259 of the Laws of Zambia) is very clear.
Likewise procedures for handling offences in the Civil Service are well explained in the booklet as follows:
The case must be investigated, page 13, section 27 (a)
There must be a hearing, page 14 section 28
Right to appeal, page 15 section 29
Officers have been hurt for far too long a time. Elenour Roosevelt observed; ‘No one can hurt you without your consent.’ This behaviour by command confirms that we are consenting to being hurt. And we may add Ghandi’s counsel also; ‘They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.’ Unfortunately, there is no self-respect to brag about anymore.
Police Chaplaincy National Coordinator and your team, please continue praying for our Command.
I had stepped out of my UNZA lectures to hussle my for weekend entertainment money, like I always did every weekend. My Dad was in Charge of the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA – Customs and Excise) Port Office on Dedani Kimathi Road.
And on the ground floor was a long queue of clients at the ZRA office who had come to clear their motor vehicles, and in that queue was Grey Zulu, and this was about 1992-4.
My Dad was pleading with Grey Zulu to leave the queue and go upstairs into my Dad’s office for special customer attention.
Grey Zulu was not taking any of the preferred customer service from my Dad, instead he engaged my Dad in talking about a close friend of his, Mainza Chona (another story for another day) and the lesson that Grey Zulu learnt from Mainza Chona, that despite being highly educated, Mainza Chona never looked down on opinion from the less educated; in fact, Mainza Chona was eager to learn from the wise but uneducated people.
And so Grey Zulu, with his quiet tone of speaking, told my Dad, “I’m learning quite a lot from this queue, these are the same Zambians we served as Government and today I’m getting feedback both good and bad. Mr Mwiinga, if I go upstairs into your air-conditioned office, all I will hear is praise, deceitful praise”.
My Dad stepped into the ZRA Cash Office and he created another queue and called Grey Zulu, as his first customer.
Grey Zulu collected all the papers from the people in the queue in front and handed them over to my Dad as he took front position in the new queue.
I sat watching my Dad sweat and panic and after Grey Zulu had been attended to, of course after the whole queue had been cleared, my Dad explained to me, “Grey Zulu was clearing a car he recently bought from South Africa, and he bought the car from his taxi business where he was a Taxi driver of the other car that made money to buy this new car”.
Years after UNZA, I had fallen into circumstances that made me realise that I could convert my Toyota Mark II into a Taxi.
And I realised that Taxi business was very lucrative especially in Eastern Province.
I proudly drove my Taxi and by mid day would make K250.
I learnt that from Grey Zulu.
And a few years ago, I met Grey Zulu at the Government Dental School in Thornpark, in quite some pain. I offered my seat to Grey Zulu, he declined and took up his position and patiently waited in the queue for his turn to be attended to, yet I could see that Grey Zulu was in more pain than anyone else in the queue.
I could not remind Grey Zulu the ZRA story nor could I relate my Taxi experiences to Grey Zulu, because of Grey Zulu, I share the story on facebook.
ZAMBIA’S RULING PATRIOTIC FRONT CADRES HIJACK FUNERAL OF BAROTSELAND INDEPENDENCE LEADER
Monday, 17 August 2020 | By News Editor, Barotseland Post
Some known Patriotic Front (PF) cadres, who are related to deceased Barotseland leader, Likando Kalaluka, have threatened to involve Zambia state police to arrest all Barotseland activists who will insist on according Likando a heroes’ funeral and burial.
The named family members, Washanga Eddie Maswabi and a former District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) – now Commissioner at the Teaching Council of Zambia, Mulonda Sendoi, who are known active members of Zambia’s ruling party, want to bury Likando Pelekelo early Tuesday morning without involving Barotseland Political leaders in a low key family procession while threatening to call on state police to arrest all those who will insist on making any other arrangements.
The latest turn of events has emerged after the duo was informed that the Barotseland activists had requested for a parcel of land from the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) to serve as a memorial park where heroes like Likando Pelekelo would be put to rest.
And some close family members are shocked that the two named party cadres who never cared for the deceased throughout the time he was on trial or in prison have suddenly come from nowhere to deny their relative a befitting burial as the hero that he is.
The family source has accused the duo of rejecting the funeral program proposed by Barotseland activists and backed by the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) only to advanced their selfish political ambitions as parliamentary candidates in the coming 2021 general elections.
“How can they threaten to use state police to arrest people who wish to mourn their departed compatriot and accord him a burial befitting his status?” lamented the close family member, stating further that Mr Sendoi Mulonda may be working with the ruling party to quicken the burial process, so that Barotseland activists would not have a hand in the burial whatsoever.
The duo wants Likando buried hurriedly in Senanga instead of the BRE allocated heroes memorial park.
Meanwhile, Barotseland Transitional Government (BTG) spokesperson, Lubinda Kunangela, has confirmed that some family members are opposed to the BTG arrangements to accord Likando a national funeral.
He said, however, that further consultations are still underway so that Likando’s burial will not be rushed to allow for the nation to adequately prepare a befitting send-off.
Mr Kunangela is hopeful that a more reasonable compromise will be reached with the family to allow for a better-arranged funeral program that will take at least a week.
Likando Pelekelo died on 15 August 2020 in a Zambian state maximum prison, and his body was today transported back to Barotseland where he is expected to be buried at a hero’s memorial site.
It is not true that the ACC or indeed the FIC or any other Law enforcement agencies wants Mr Lungu out of office. it is in fact the people of Zambia who want him out of that office like yesterday.
It is the President’s own conduct that has brought him on the collision path with the law enforcement agencies and the Zambian public.
The people feel hurt and extremely disappointed and cheated by his inability and failure to deal firmly with the unrestrained abuse of public resources and the corruption taking place under his watch and encouragement. In any case the ACC is being used as a dipping tank to wash clean his dirty Ministers.
The office of the DPP has similarly become useless and is openly interfered with to help secure the indicted criminals through the infamous nolles. The poor governance styles have indeed rendered Mr Lungu extremely vulnerable to survive in any future properly organised elections.
In a nutshell it is now the people -vs -Mr Lungu and his cronies. The matrix has dramatically shifted in favour of regime change and nothing can atone for this poor governance styles and the general lawlessness we have witnessed in the country than legitimately changing the government. It is highly unlikely that his distribution of gifts will change the minds of many Zambians pushing for regime change. It is rather too little too late to mitigate the potential loss of the 2021 elections.
No serious President in any case can sink so low as to start attacking the very state institutions which are directly under his charge which he himself swore to protect and defend. Clearly the man is in breach of his own oath of office he undertook to protect and defend the constitution of Zambia.
Surly you can’t have a government in which corrupt Ministers openly flaunt stolen resources and mock citizens for being poor without attracting censorship from his office. Unless there is a dramatic paradigm shift of doing government business, certainly he will be long gone before September 2021.
Not even bribery and corruption will help him survive the eminent defeat unfortunately. That is assuming that he is eligible to stand for which he is not.
He has undoubtedly messed up and tragically betrayed the electorates. Issued: Nason Msoni President All People’s Congress APC
Bowman Lusambo is rubbing more salt into his insults against us, First Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s son, Kaweche has said.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kaweche said he, and his siblings were disappointed that Lusambo failed to apologise over his remarks that they were idiots for failing to put their lives in order during the 27-years their father was in power, and should therefore not feel jealousy of Tasila. He said the Kaundas were still demanding an apology from Lusambo as the statement he posted on his Facebook page was not what had been agreed to.
Kaweche narrated that he received a phone call from Lusambo last week, where the Lusaka Province minister requested that they meet so that he could apologise. Kaweche said he agreed to Lusambo’s request, leading to their formal meeting. He said Lusambo went with a lady to the meting, while Kaweche also invited an official from Dr Kaunda’s office.
“He said I am very sorry if I said something that sounded like I insulted you. I said if you are genuine then I am happy.’” Kaweche said, saying he then asked Lusambo to draft a statement and send it to him for onward transmission to his siblings, and if they approved, the statement was going to be sent back to Lusambo for publication.
He said both parties agreed to do that, with Lusambo requesting for a photo opportunity so that he could show that the meeting did indeed take place.
Kaweche on that very day, he was due to appear for an interview with Frank Mutubila, but he put the engagement on hold because of the new developments with Lusambo. He said instead of him appearing, he asked Lusambo to call Mutubila so that he could appear for that interview instead and use the platform to apologise, something Lusambo agreed to.
He said he also called his brothers and sister to tell them that he had met with Lusambo who had apologised and was going to issue a statement concretising that apology. Kaweche, said he however, received a phone call later in the day from Col Panji, who sounded upset over the statement he had read on Lusambo’s page, over the purported apology.
He said he was also upset when he read the same message, and immediately tried to reach out to Lusambo, who was however unreachable.
“Then I called the lady he came with. I said what is this you have out on social media…he has put things which we did not agree with. I said this is not right,” Kaweche said, adding that the Lusaka Province minister acted deceitfully.
Kaweche said since Lusambo could not do as agreed, he was advised by his siblings to feature on today’s interview with Mutubila so that he could clear the air over the matter.
“Because this is rubbing salt in the wound, because he did not do one thing we agreed…he made fools of us,” he said. -Daily Revelation
ENVIRONMENTALIST William Harrington says he has strong reservations on a proposal made to President Edgar Lungu to change Dedan Kimathi Road to Willy Nsanda Road.
Harrington has however made a counter-proposal that a street or “some landmark structure” in Chimwemwe Constituency on the Copperbelt be identified for naming after the late former deputy minister.
He said whilst noting the contributions that the late Nsanda made to the transport sector, it would be opening a Pandora’s Box and setting a precedent because there are many other patriotic and committed citizens whose contributions must also be recognised.
“With all due and well deserved respect to late Willy Nsanda (MHSRP), I have strong reservations, as a matter of principle, on the proposal made to President Edgar Lungu by one Frank Mulala to change Dedan Kimathi Road to Willy Nsanda Road,” he said. “Our founding fathers under the leadership of Dr Kenneth Kaunda who fought for and brought about Zambia’s independence from colonial rule saw it befitting, and very correctly so, to name the road which runs from Church Road at Central Police up to Independence Avenue past Intercity Bus Station after a great son of Africa who sacrificed his life for the emancipation of his homeland Kenya.”
Harrington said Dedan Kimathi was a senior military and spiritual leader of the Mau Mau uprising.
“He was widely regarded as a revolutionary leader who led the armed military struggle against the British colonial regime in Kenya in the 1950s until his execution in 1957. It is people like Dedan Kimathi who inspired Kaunda and other freedom fighters to fight for independence of their countries. Our continent’s rich political history cannot and must not be wiped away by such proposals as being made by Mulala,” he said.
“It would also be a great insult to the people of Kenya to remove such the name of one of their heroic nationals who contributed so much and in fact sacrificed his life for Africa in general and his country in particular. Our First Republican president Dr Kaunda has roads and other infrastructure in certain countries in the region and other parts of the African continent – how would we as Zambians feel Kaunda’s name was to be obliterated?”
Harrington counter-proposed that a street or landmark structure in Chimwemwe Constituency be identified for naming after Nsanda.
“It would be more appropriate and non-controversial. It is my prayer that President Lungu does not entertain the proposal by Frank Mulala,” said Harrington.
PF Cadres don’t respect Zambian Presidency through harassment of Zambia Police officers: NDC
Lusaka, 17/08/2020.
The continued intimidation and harassment of the police by PF cadres is getting out of hand.
It is insulting, demeaning and disrespectful to the commissioning office, the Presidency. Police officers are a pride of the nation. Men and women trained to maintain law and order in the country regardless of individuals involved. The uniform and duties they have, are commissioned by the president. Any kind of assault on the police is a direct assault on the presidency. Therefore, the PF must not allow cadres to treat the police like their pets. That treatment is actually directed on the head of State.
It is unacceptable to see police officers being disregarded by PF cadres every day. Besides being civil servants, they are humans with emotions. Their fear to react is not a sign of being stupid or weak, it is because of the fear to be retired in perceived national interest when they act professionally. A precedence was set in Sesheke.
Zambia Police officers need respect and protection from the head of state through the ministry of home affairs. It will be sad to see police run a mutiny because of being frustrated by PF cadres at the protection of the Government. This is totally unacceptable and an act of assault on the civil security wings. Ala nakanyelele ngawakapatikisha, kalasuma!.
It is only under the PF Government that we have seen cadres abusing the police. Unfortunately, they are being empowered by the executive. One thing that the government is aught to know is that they are breeding a crop of hooligans that will turn on them soon.
As NDC, ask the government to limit cadres in slapping its ministers and insulting them, but let them keep a distance from the men in uniform. We also ask the police to endure their hard working conditions but remain professional. Change is coming. The Police can not only be tough on the opposition by abusing the Public Order Act at the instructions of PF Government. They need to operate freely without fear and intimidation.
Chipoka Mulenga, National Democratic Congress (NDC), Deputy Spokesperson. Cell: 0965114749
ONCE VOTED INTO GOVERNMENT, UPND WILL IMPROVE THE THE ECONOMY – UPND OFFICIALS
UPND Lusaka province deputy youth spokesperson, Phinias Pumulo has bemoaned the economic challenges the country is facing under the Patriotic Front government. Mr Pumulo cited among many, the high unemployment rates among youths, lack of empowerment, bad working conditions, high prices of basic commodities and load shedding.
Pumulo was speaking yesterday afternoon on UNZA radio where he featured alongside Melvin Chisanga, a political activist ans Isaac Sulwe Hamuche the Kabwata Constituency Chairperson on a programme dubbed ‘tough talk’ .
The UPND deputy youth spokesperson, said that once UPND is elected into office come next year, it will work to improve the economy through many interventions like empowering private entrepreneurs, and reducing load shedding through meanfull investment in power generation and transmission
Unlike the PF, in order to achieve this, UPND will have zero tolerance to corruption, the ACC and other bodies that fight corruption and enforces laws will be independent in order to allow them do their job away from politicians.
Meanwhile speaking on the same programme, UPND Kabwata Constituency Chairperson, Mr Isaac Sulwe said the UPND is determined and capable of improving the economy of this country. He said UPND will make agriculture to be the driving engine of the country’s economy. He said the UPND will reduce the farming inputs such fertilizer and seeds which will in turn help the farmer to farm more.
When asked whelther UPND was going to bow down and support Bill 10, UPND Kabwata chairperson categorically made it clear that the Bill was evil and UPND was not going to support it! He said the PF were pushing for this Bill because the bill once passed would benefit them by giving Lungu a third term chance when he does not qualify.
Commenting on the working conditions of the police. The UPND youth said that UPND was sad at the working conditions of the men in uniforms. He said that despite the police on several occasions blocking the UPND from exercising their democratic rights, the party was not bitter as they know that they are only receiving commands from the PF government. Further, Mr Pumulo said that, once UPND in government, the police will get back their power which they have lost the PF government that has put more power in the cadres.
Pumulo has since urged all Zambians to cry no more as hope and help is almost reaching.
MY Catholic upbringing and education influenced me a lot, says Socialist Party president Fred M’membe.
In his reflections on the coincidences between Christianity and socialism, Dr M’membe says socialists believe that Christ was a revolutionary par excellence while stressing that the distribution of resources must allow every human person with what is needed for a full life.
“I think I have always had a sense of justice – from very early on – because of what I saw and experienced. Undoubtedly, my Catholic upbringing and education influenced me a lot. The Capuchin Fathers, the Irish Christian Brothers and Sacred Heart Brothers inculcated a very strong sense of personal dignity in me, regardless of their political ideas which quite often I didn’t agree with. They valued character, rectitude, honesty, courage and ability to make sacrifices,” Dr M’membe said. “The Irish Christian Brothers definitely influenced me with their strict organisation, their discipline and their values. They contributed to my development and sense of justice. Following that path, I came to view abuse, injustice as unacceptable. If you mix ethical values with a spirit of rebellion and rejection of injustice you begin to appreciate and place a high value on a number of things that other people don’t value at all. A sense of personal dignity, honour and duty form the main foundation that enables people to acquire political consciousness and a revolutionary spirit.”
He said there were thousands more coincidences between Christianity and socialism than between Christianity and capitalism.
Dr M’membe noted that responding probably to different motivations, Christianity and socialism both advocate attitudes and behaviours that are quite similar.
“There’s great coincidence between Christianity’s objectives and the ones we socialists seek, between the Christian teachings of humility, austerity, selfishness and loving thy neighbour and what we might call the content of a revolutionary’s life and behaviour,” he explained. “For, what is the Socialist Party teaching its members and the Zambian people? To kill? To be selfish? To exploit others? Just the opposite. We are teaching them unwavering commitment to honest, equity, humility and solidarity. We are telling them that our country right now may be too poor to give our people great material wealth, but it can give them a sense of equity and of human dignity. We socialists believe that Christ was a revolutionary par excellence. His entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and the degradation of human beings.”
He said there’s a lot in common between the spirit and essence of Christ’s teachings and socialism.
Dr M’membe said the Bible has very revolutionary content and that the teachings of Christ are very revolutionary and completely coincide with “our aims as socialists”.
“That is why we believe and openly say that we socialists are not the only revolutionaries. All those who truly follow Christ’s doctrine and devote themselves to the cause of the humble, the poor; and devote themselves to fighting against injustice, abuse and the degradation of human beings and to helping them liberate themselves are all revolutionaries,” he said. “Like we socialists, the Catholic social teaching does advocate the protection of property rights, but only when strongly situated within what is called the universal destination of goods. That is, ‘Christian tradition has never recognised the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: ‘On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone.’ –
(Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 177, quoting St John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens). And because God intends the world to provide for the needs of every person, the distribution of resources must allow every human person with what is needed for a full life. Isn’t this what we socialists are advocating for?”
Dr M’membe noted that, in his encyclical “Pacem in Terris,” St John XXIII explained that: “Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood”.
“Isn’t this what the Socialist Party’s manifesto is advocating?” he asked. “A defence of property, absent that context, functions to absolve those who own property from responsibility to those in desperate need. But Catholic teaching treats the withholding of resources from those in need as a failure of justice, and so private property always comes with a ‘social mortgage’.”
He equally noted that Pope Leo XIII explained in his encyclical Rerum Novarum: “[W]hen there is a question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State”.
“Isn’t this what we socialists are seeking?
And what is being advocated by the Catholic social teaching is not consistent with the capitalist social order. Even on religious liberty, the Catholic social teaching is saying that it must also respect the common good,” Dr M’membe said. “As capitalists, with their religious agents, seek to accord special recognition to Christianity or section of it, the ‘Compendium’ says, ‘Such recognition must in no way create discrimination within the civil or social order for other religious groups” (No. 423). The church’s witness to the Gospel always requires (and Catholics must acknowledge that it often has failed in this) the defence of the well-being of persons who do not accept the Gospel, in keeping with the commands to love both neighbour and enemy.”
He argues that the purpose of the right to religious liberty within Catholic thought is both to make room for the church’s freedom to give witness to the Gospel and also to honour the call of God for every person to freely enter into communion with the divine life.
“These two purposes are not at odds. The Church’s witness to the Gospel always requires the defence of the well-being of persons who do not accept the Gospel,” Dr M’membe said. “The document “Dignitatis Humanae,” promulgated at the Second Vatican Council, explains it thus: “It is…completely in accord with the nature of faith that in matters religious every manner of coercion on the part of men should be excluded. In consequence, the principle of religious freedom makes no small contribution to the creation of an environment in which men can without hindrance be invited to the Christian faith, embrace it of their own free will, and profess it effectively in their whole manner of life” (No. 10).”
He said it was important to remember that Catholic teaching says the right to religious liberty, “is not of itself an unlimited right. The just limits of the exercise of religious freedom must be determined in each social situation with political prudence, according to the requirements of the common good, and ratified by the civil authority through legal norms consistent with the objective moral order.”
“And speaking for myself, I can say that the ethical values that are propelling my revolutionary, socialist work came from my Catholic upbringing and education, from my teachers – the Capuchin Fathers, the Irish Christian Brothers and Sacred Heart Brothers. I would even say from my Christian family, home. I was taught very early in my life that I should not lie. I was taught what was right and wrong, things that should and should not be done,” Dr M’membe said. “I remember being punished by my Form 1 mathematics teacher at St John’s Secondary School to write 3,000 times, ‘Oh what a web we weave for ourselves when we first practice to deceive.’ I had not done my homework and when asked about it, I lied that I had left it in the dormitory. I was told to go and get it. And immediately after I left classroom, the teacher told the class I was not going to come with any homework. He asked for a bet on it. When I came back empty-handed, the whole class burst into laughter. I have carried these words and memories of that day with me wherever I am and in whatever I do. And I remind my classmates of this incident whenever we meet. That was my baptism out of lying.”
He said later on, his revolutionary and political involvement began to create in him a feeling of what was wrong, the violation of an ethical standard, an injustice, abuse or fraud.
“I began to have an idea of what was fair and unfair. I began to have a concept of personal dignity,” said Dr M’membe.
Seeing that weather entails the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, among others, how would you as an individual describe the Zambian political weather?
Have you not wondered how, on a freezing cold winter day when you feel like wearing all your warm clothes, you will meet someone dressed as if they are on the opposite hemisphere where it is summer? The opposite is also very true. Just when you feel it is too hot to put on warm clothes, do not be shocked when you meet someone dressed in winter style.
No matter how extreme it may be at a given time and place, one interesting thing I have come to know about weather is its relativity. This reminds me of the adage which says a gentleman knows no weather. Whether by design or by default, there is abundant evidence that people will always hold opposing opinions about some aspects of weather.
Borrowing from the scientific definition, politicians have adopted the usage of the various aspects of weather to help them describe different political conditions in their own weldi (world). One such aspect, which makes today’s subject matter on Vantage Point, is wind.
In political circles, wind is used to describe the inclination or general desire of the people that cannot be resisted: the wind of change.
In one section of our society, there is a general feeling that the wind of change is blowing across the width and breadth of this country and yet in another, you will hear people say the purported wind of change is wishful thinking, as it is only blowing in the minds of those that think they would benefit from it. Typical of even other aspects of weather, isn’t it? Very relative.
Fair enough! But just like scientists have tools they use to come up with accurate weather readings, politicians too can use certain tools to determine political atmospheric variable readings such as the wind of change itself.
Before we take an in depth analysis of this wind of change itself, it is important to establish its existence and confirm it as such, to ensure that it is not just a hoax created by one opposition leader to put the government in bad light. This can be done by not only determining whether the conditions that would necessitate it do exist, but also ensuring the authenticity of its origin.
Whilst most dangerous winds trace their origins in water bodies, most winds of change do trace their origins in bad governance, and without an iota of malice, I would say Zambia is ripe for a wind of change because it meets all the necessary conditions. But what are these conditions?
Well, though even this could be subject to relativity too, I want to believe we can build consensus on a few vices that have become endemic in this country under the PF regime that we citizens feel we can no longer put up with, hence the wind.
Zambia’s rating on the Global Corruption Perceptions Index attests to the extent of the vice in this country. With the procurement of ancient fire tenders marred with such irregularities that no one can justify no matter how much time they are given, the inflated price for ambulances, a toll plaza constructed at the cost of a shopping mall, the germination of the infamous 48 houses, to mention but a few, corruption under the PF regime has become a religion and we are watching.
As if corruption was not causing enough damage to our economy, the PF augmented its effects with their incompetence and poor decision making, much to the escalation of our economic problem. With the interest and exchange rates so high, all businesses are wallowing in the economic quagmire which the PF would have avoided if only they had the interest of the people at heart.
Imagine how inconsiderate and insensitive to people’s suffering they can be to even have the guts to open their corrupt mouths in public to tell Zambians that K2,000,000 is nothing more than shopping money, when retirees are dying without getting their benefits? We have also seen them flaunting wealth that cannot be accounted for without any sense of fear or shame.
How about the many stage managed arrests which mostly end up in nolles and/or acquittals that are clearly only meant to shield thieves from future arrests should the wind blow them out of office, as it looks set to do?
Where are the proceeds of the mukula trees harvested to the point of almost causing a desert in Luapula and other places? How did the Zambian mukula logs find themselves in Singapore when there was a ban on the exportation of the same?
When electricity load-shading got to its apex last year, the PF blamed it on climate change, almost to the point of blasphemy. Seeing that even the Victoria Falls had dried up, we cut them some slack and exercised maximum patience though we knew they as a government should have exploited other alternatives sources of energy if only they were not corrupt.
As if to expose their lies, God gave us abundant rains as can be seen from the restoration of the waterfall curtain at the Victoria Falls, signaling the pregnancy of the Zambezi River with water. Whether this has ended the load-shading or not is a direct indictment on the lies and incompetence of the PF. Today we are told to brace ourselves for longer countrywide blackouts, much to the shame of the PF praise singers, if they have any at all.
Almost humble to a fault, we Zambians are also peaceful people who are not used to seeing blood, maybe even of animals. The amount of blood that we have seen being shed over the past few years by PF cadres is unprecedented, to say the least. In today’s Zambia, political hooliganism has become a career with violence occasioning bodily harm as an accepted norm. Our societies are no longer the heaven of safety and rest they used to be.
Our leaders from the party in power have also become so arrogant that they seem to no longer care how we feel about the things they say. For example, in an intended-rigging self-confession style, both our Republican President and his number one bootlicker, on two separate occasions could not contain their inner desire to remain in power forever by saying they would continue to rule even if we did not vote for them, and through the chicken soup analogy respectively. What can be more daring to the people who put you in power than that?
From where I stand, these, among others, are the issues that constitute the origin of the wind of change that those in power are refusing to acknowledge, though at their own peril. In any case, how can they even feel the wind even as it is gaining momentum, when they are living in opulence at the expense of the suffering masses?
However, even if peradventure the PF owns up to acknowledge the political wind of change which they themselves created, they have already been caught up in a catch 22 kind of situation, as there is nothing much they can do to change the course of this wind on account of time.
In the same manner that the PF did not do all the wrongs in one year, but over a period of time, so can’t they undo them in, in fact, less than a year of their remaining in government? Tricky on their part, isn’t it? Like someone who has taken poison to commit suicide but rescinds their decision when it is too late, they are merely waiting for the wind to take them home to be with their political ancestors.
Going to vote with all these things in our minds, we Zambians are ready to sponsor their trip through the ballot and pay for their accommodation at their political morgue, as this is the only thing that will liberate us from this multifaceted knee of oppression that has weighed so heavy on our necks for a long time. Blow wind blow… The countdown to 12.08.21 is on! chisangamelvin@ yahoo.com
CORRUPTION FIGHT IS ANCHORED ON POLITICS, THEY WANT ME OUT OF POWER – LUNGU.
THOSE in charge of fighting corruption know where to find it, but they can’t dare go there because all they want is to remove Edgar Lungu from power, President Lungu said, Sunday.
Speaking when he toured Chifuba Market in Ndola where market shelters were being built, the Head of State said the fight against corruption in Zambia has been anchored on politics, accusing anti-corruption advocates of scheming for regime change.
President Lungu said this after he was informed that the shelters in Bwana Mkubwa were being constructed at a cost of K15 million, while a market in Mpulungu was costing about K28 million.
The President was further told that another market shelter was being built in Chifubu at a cost of K2 million.
In response, President Lungu wondered why the contracts were not being investigated.
“So those who are fighting corruption, where are they? …I have always said that the fight against corruption is anchored on politics trying to get rid of government and those who are doing well. They know where corruption is happening but they don’t even dare to go there because all they want is to get Edgar Lungu out of power,” President Lungu said.
And speaking earlier at the Catholic Diocese of Ndola, President Lungu said the Church should not be involved in politics.
” Ndola on the Copperbelt is a big part of my constituency of the Republic of Zambia and therefore, to say bye is not the right thing but to say I will come back soon because power belongs to you the people of Copperbelt because you influence change. I hope this time around, the message has sunk that don’t be political. That is what the Bishop said, don’t be political. If you want to be politicians, be Christians first. All the good Bishop was saying is take Christ with you in you’re hearts as Christians before you embark on your political careers,” President Lungu said.
“So even as you serve in your politics, you will remember the love of Christ and then you will be able to bring out the best for yourself and the people. I am saying so because I am taking advantage of the homily here yesterday, the homily today, that we belong to one family, the family of Christ. Because of that, there should be no friction because of politics. My appeal all along is that may the Church give its daughters and sons to politics so that we crystalise politics. Only then can we talk to each other on politics without trying to shed blood.”
He said the general election in 2021 could divide the country if the politicians did not put Christ first.
“So ndemilomba mwelukuta lwakwa lesa kuno ku copperbelt ukutila nabalanda bashi kofu ukutila uku tuleya twilasha ubu christu twafwala ama politics, twabikapo nolubuli. Pantu ngauli umwina christu inshita yonse tawakwate ukukwatamo ulubali mukufumya umulopa wenu (So I am kindly asking that the congregation here on the Copperbelt, just like the priest said, as we head towards elections, let us not put our Christianity on hold and involve ourselves in political violence. If we behave like Christians all the time, we will not take part in any bloodshed). Ba Mumbi Phiri muleumfwa (are you listening),” President Lungu said.
“This message should sink in deeply because we are getting into 2021 and 2021 can be the year that can separate this nation if we do not carry Christ with us, especially us who are practicing politics. Let us take Christ into politics; that is the only way we can bring sanity to politics.”
NDC CASE STUDY – LEARNING FROM HOW PRESIDENT KAUNDA STRUCTURED THE ZAMBIAN ECONOMY IS THE KEY TO FUTURE SUCCESS
There was once a time in history when Zambia was a prosperous country, with many job opportunities, a high standard of living, good hospitals, good schools, good roads, a strong currency and a strong economy. This was during the time that Dr Kenneth Kaunda was president. Indeed there were shortcomings to his strategy that led to inefficiencies in the economy, but the overall idea was great.
SO HOW DID DR KENNETH KAUNDA DO IT?
Dr Kenneth Kaunda from the onset of his presidency identified that the key to Zambia’s success was through the country’s mineral wealth.
He nationalized the mines, and took control of the mineral wealth revenues for and on behalf of the people of Zambia. He created ZCCM to manage the country’s mineral wealth.
WHAT DID HE DO WITH THE MINERAL WEALTH?
1: He used the mineral wealth to build hospitals, schools, roads, railways, libraries, parks, local banks key infrastructure and other social services.
2: He used the mineral wealth to create industry all over the country. First and foremost he established Ndola city as the manufacturing hub of Zambia, while Lusaka was developed to be the administrative and political centre of the nation.
For those who are young, you may wonder why Ndola city has so many old ghost buildings especially as you enter Ndola from Kapiri Mposhi. All those used to be busy factories and plants, employing hundreds of thousands of Zambians in well paying jobs. Dr Kaunda also established many trade schools that trained Zambians in blue collar jobs such as carpentry, bioler making, artsisanship and operating various types of machinery. NDOLA had dozens of big manufacturing companies such as Dunlop, Colgate Palmolive, Rover Zambia Ltd, Mazembe, TATA Zambia, ROP, Johnson & Johnson and other manufacturing industries including steel and pharmaceutical companies.
In addition to this Dr. Kaunda established at least one big industry or company in many districts, which would produce goods that would be sold in other parts of the country. For example, we had Luangwa bicycles, Mununshi banana scheme, Mwinilunga Pineapple canneries, Mansa batteries, Kalulushi clay bricks, Kapiri Glass, Zamefa in Luanshya, Mpulungu Harbour, Mumbwa cotton ginneries, Zambezi saw mills, Mulungushi Textiles, Kafue Textiles, Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia, Zambia Sugar, UBZ, Mulungushi Travellers etc.
This was a very smart strategy that achieved two very important objectives, these being ;
1: It enables the development of rural distant towns by allowing them access to the national wealth. In short, he was able to distribute the wealth of the country to areas that could not generate their own wealth.
2: It reduced on mass migration from rural towns to cities like Lusaka and the Copperbelt. People were able to find employment within their own home districts.
WHERE WOULD THE PRODUCE FROM THESE FACTORIES BE SOLD?
The KK economic structure was very robust and well organized, he established state owned supermarket chains like ZCBC, NIEC and Mwaiseni Stores. They were dotted all over the country. For those who are too young, you may wish to know that alot of the old Shoprite and PEP shops once belonged to ZCBC or Mwaiseni Stores. These supermarket chains were equally as strong as Shoprite is today, and they stocked almost 100% locally produced goods.
HOW DID THESE INDUSTRIES COLLAPSE?
Quite simply it was for a few reasons ;
1: Most of them operated as monopolies, they had no competition, as a result they were not innovate enough to move with the times, they started to become obsolete.
2: They were heavily subsidized, the heavy subsidies meant that management of these companies were not held accountable when the companies were making losses because the subsidies would keep the companies afloat.
3: When President Frederick Chiluba came to office, his goal was to destroy and dismantle every single thing that Kaunda had built. Instead of restructuring these companies to overcome their inefficiencies, he opted to privatize these companies to foreigners and strip them of their assets. This along with government corruption in successive governments has been the cause of suffering, unemployment, poverty and lack of investment in Zambia. Hundreds of thousands of Zambians lost their jobs during the privatization process, many were never paid their benefits as these companies were liquidated.
This opened the door to foreign companies like Shoprite, foreign banks and foreign institutions to move into Zambia and suck the wealth out of this country. While our local companies and local banks which provided employment and cheap loans to our citizens collapsed, foreign entities moved in to fill the void with exploitative and slave wages for our people. This was also the beginning of the collapse of the kwacha, whose impact we still feel today.
WHAT DOES THE NDC LEARN FROM THIS, WHAT’S THE WAY FORWARD?
History is the best teacher, we know what went right and what went wrong, we now know the dos and donts.
As NDC our key message focuses on industrialization. The NDC President Dr Chishimba Kambwili has declared that once the party is elected to government, we will embark on an ambitious program to industrialize the country. We will adopt many of the ideas of the Kaunda government such as establishing state owned enterprises and factories, and spreading them out all over the country in order to provide employment, distribute wealth and make all corners of the country economically active. This is the only way that Zambians will have employment, hunger ended, good Healthcare and good educational facilities.
We don’t propose to nationalize the mines, we will simply restructure the national budget to free up resources to establish these industries. For example, instead of building a $320 Million airport in Ndola, we would use that money to establish 30 massive agricultural ranches around the country similar to the Mpongwe development scheme.
The simple rule is that we will only invest national funds into investments that offer good returns, if it’s not profitable for the country, we won’t invest in it. For example, we would not build a railway line from Chipata to Serenje for $2 Billion because it’s not viable, that money will be better spent establishing factories in towns like Serenje to provide employment to local people,and these companies will be able to sustain themselves and generate revenue to repay the loans, the loans would not be repaid from tax revenues.
We won’t operate monopolies, we will operate in a free competitive market, so that our companies can be innovative and managed efficiently.
We will establish large retail chains that will rival Shoprite and that will sell predominantly Zambian goods, that way we can preserve jobs for Zambians and reduce on the bleeding of foreign currency to other countries, and thus strengthen the kwacha in the long term.
To conclude, we are asking Zambians of all walks of life to put faith in the NDC, we are the only party that has the drive, vision, will and ambition to transform this country into an industrialized country, we have a party president in Dr Chishimba Kambwili who has a heart for the people and who is determined to industrialize this country.
We are in the final stages of developing our party manifesto, and once it is unveiled you will see for yourselves how superior our party manifesto is compared to other political parties. It is a thorough document that explains in logical detail our plans of how we will develop Zambia.
Women in Munali Constituency, say money and mealie meal will not make them forget the hardships and poverty PF government has inflicted on them.
They were responding to UPND Media Committee, member Chella Tukuta who asked them if they were going to forget all the hardships they are passing through once they receive donations from the Patriotic Front.
This happened this afternoon when UPND received more than 60 members from Patriotic Front, Forum for Democratic Development and Democratic Party.
Mr Chella told the ambassadors of Change that UPND is not a tribal party and no one should be misled because it embraces everyone and that can be seen from the structure of its National Management Committee including him and many others from eastern and the Northern part of Zambia
He expressed happiness when the ambassadors of Change agreed with him that no money or gift can make them forget their struggle to raise their family and also earn a descent living.
They shouted Don’t ‘Kulaba’ , ‘Sitizaibala’, ‘tatwaka labe’ meaning we will never forget what we passed through under the Patriotic Front government while they have turned themselves into beourgeosis using tax payers money.
Mr Chella narrated his stay in detention and encounter with UPND President Hakainde Hichilema , who risked his life by visiting him at the police station,where PF could have planned anything to harm him.
“If he was tribal would he have come to visit me a bemba? he risked his life because I know PF would have charged him with criminal trespass, am so indebted to him because he was by side when I was at my lowest,” said Mr Chella.
He said he was proud to belong to a Party that, puts the people and the country first, contrary to the Patriotic Front whose focus is power and to feed their bellies.
He also said President Hichilema possesses all qualities a leader needs and that is the kind of a President, Zambia needs.
“Meet HH in person and you will understand what kind of a person he is, this is why the PF are trying by all means to dent his image, but I want to tell you, that it will not work because those qualities he possesses are inborn,” said Mr Chella.
Philemon Mutema Matabila III writes: IGNORANCE AND OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. I have been watching Zambian comedians on Facebook make fun of our Zambian education system and curriculum. I couldn’t hide my sadness to how Ignorant they are with how knowledge and learning works. They keep on making fun of the fact that we learn parts or the anatomy of the grasshopper and term it to be useless.
They say learning history is useless, Shaka and European history is a sheer waste of time. They say the Quadratic Equation in Mathematics never helped them in any way of life. But i say, no wonder we are in this mess as Africans and Zambians. You see, studying Parts of a grasshopper may seem basic but Osteologists at UTH use that knowledge to make Prosthetic legs and arms for people who had been in accidents and decapitations. This is because the Legs and hands of a grasshopper are Prosthetic in nature, studying them has helped many doctors get patients on their feet.
The Quadratic equation was perfected by a Mathematician named Peter Shor whose algorithm is used in computers and phones that those same Facebook comedians are using to make videos. Any button you press on a phone or laptop solves the Shors algorithm in 0.001 seconds making you be able to see letters and words on your computer screen or phone.
And about history, there cannot be the future without History. We learn about Hitler so that when we see signs of another Hitler in 2020,we will know how to contain him before he kills another set of 6 million Jews again. No knowledge is useless, if you failed Grade 12 and cannot use any of the knowledge you were taught in school, its not everyone, some of us use Mathematics, History, Science and Geography in any area of out life and its working and making money out of that.
English is not useless, in America and other technologically advanced countries, they use Forensic Linguistics to catch criminals, remember how the “Unabomber” was caught using how he spoke and wrote? Changing and Implementing a curriculum is not easy, it takes years. Zambia is slowly bending towards changing Obsolete topics from the curriculum and moving onto a Vocational and Skills route. With time, it will change. So before you expose your Ignorance in front of thousands of people, ask us, we will tell you.
Even Trevor Noah, as a comedian is well read in History and he uses it to make us laugh. That’s why he managed to get that Job with Comedy central in USA. Ati am Bill gates didn’t go to University but he’s rich, Lol, he was accepted at an Ivy League university mwana, one of the best in the world, and he dropped out to concentrate on business. So tell those Facebook Comedians to Keep Mimicking voices with their dry Jokes… 🙄🙄
Police camera video of George Floyd’s arrest and his chilling final moments has now been made public. The video, about an hour in length, comes from the body cameras of former officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. The two were the first to arrive on the scene following a complaint that Floyd had tried to pass a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at Cup Foods, a store in Minneapolis.
The footage begins at the store where Floyd allegedly tried to buy goods with a fake $20 bill. After about 36 seconds, 46-year-old Floyd is told to get out of his car as he is approached by the officers. He is then seen pleading with the officers in the minutes leading up to his death.
Floyd died after another officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for several minutes while cuffed. Around 16 minutes into the footage, Floyd says the words: “Man, I can’t breathe.” Paramedics later arrived. The footage ends with the police gathering further details from the store.
The videos were filed with the court last month by Lane’s attorney as evidence supporting a motion to dismiss the charges against his client, the CNN reported. Only transcripts from the tape were released but a judge later allowed journalists to view the footage by appointment. Media outlets subsequently called for the release of the videos until they became available Monday after a Hennepin County judge ordered them released.
Floyd’s killing on May 25 sparked protests across the U.S. His death is just one example of the ongoing systemic racism in America where black people find themselves being killed during encounters with white police officers.
Kueng and Lane, along with another officer, Thomas Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting in the crime. Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
The body camera footage below from the two officers capturing Floyd’s final moments is unedited. It also contains graphic language and material that is disturbing:
Lionel Messi has told Barcelona he wants to leave the club this summer following their Champions League failure on Friday, according to reports in Brazil.
Messi cut a disillusioned figure as the Catalan giants crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage in Lisbon after suffering an 8-2 hammering by Bayern Munich.
It has reportedly led Messi to consider his future – and Brazilian outlet Esporte Interativo claim that he is demanding an immediate exit having grown frustrated at the lack of planning at the club and caused him to lose faith in their sporting plans.
The report – which comes from the same source that first reported Neymar’s move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 – adds that Messi has become more isolated at the club than ever before after his wait for his first Champions League title since 2015 continued on Friday.
Messi also cut a desolate figure last month after his side were pipped to the LaLiga title in by arch rivals Real Madrid, which was their first league title since 2017.
The 33-year-old criticised his team-mates after conceding the title to Zinedine Zidane’s side and warned them they would have to perform much better in Portugal this month.
But despite a Messi-inspired performance seeing them past Napoli, they were embarrassed by the Bundesliga champions to leave Messi further frustrated.
In the long-term, Messi has spent 12 months battling club president Josep Bartomeu and the Nou Camp hierarchy regarding the direction the club is heading in currently.
The news comes after reports that Manchester City believe that they are best placed to sign the Argentina star.
The report claimed Man City would pay ‘whatever it takes’ to lure him over to the Etihad Stadium and reunite with former manager Pep Guardiola.
City could however face competition from Inter Milan, with their former director Massimiliano Mirabelli claiming his signing ‘is more than a dream’ for the club.
But City’s reportedly believe that they will be at the front of the queue if the six-time Ballon d’Or winner decides to seek a new challenge.
But Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness believes city rivals Manchester United should make a sensational move for Messi.
He told The Times: ‘This would be the perfect week to put a bid in for the 33-year-old Argentinian and I could easily see him playing in Manchester — at either United or City.’
Messi has spent his entire professional career with Barca, but with one year remaining on his contract he could be eyeing the exit door.
He has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for free at the end of every season but that expired at the end of May.
His current £635million buy-out clause is a concern for most potential suitors, but Barcelona may be forced to sacrifice their most precious asset to make bring about the desired summer overhaul at the Catalan outfit.
Mundo Deportivo reported that the club only consider Messi and four others as unavailable for transfer, but their hand could be forced if Messi pushes for a move.
President Lungu’s copperbelt donation has vindicated Seer 1
By James Kasanda Musendeka Lukuku RPP President
When Seer 1 says there is confusion in PF we tend to think that he is just saying things just for the sake of it.
But this whole reasoning of K490million to 150,000 youth groups on the copperbelt is subject to a very serious chainama examination.
K490million divide by 150,000 will give you a mere K3266 for each youth group.
What tangible project a youth group can do with K3266 is definitely a double chainama examination. For the whole copperbelt pf to line up and celebrate a K3266 donation worsens the subject to a tripple chainama examination.
I have said time and again that there is no sustainability in donations. The people who received empowerment from the hope Foundation of Vera Chiluba and the Maureen Mwanawasa Community Initiative are still wallowing in poverty.
These are clear examples that there is no sustainability in donations and fake empowerment programs.
To think that you can give your own economic power to foreigners and then you start distributions of fake empowerments is a subject of quadrupled chainama examination.
We changed from state owned enterprises to privately owned economic determinations. But we forgot to change the education curriculum. Our graduates are still expecting to come and work instead of graduating to come and set up factories and many manufacturing plants like the case is for China.
So now you have a below average performing President with a below average government that only thinks inside the box. This makes it a subject of pentagon chainama examination.
What next? Is the President going with another K490million to Luapula, another same amount to southern, northern, western, eastern, muchinga, northwestern, central, Lusaka. Subject of Hexagonal chainama examination.
Now if the President can go to distribute money like that, what’s the purpose of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Fund which is a constitutional Institution mandated to empower citizens? From which account has the K490million been drawn and is it a revolving Empowerment fund? And what criteria was used to arrive at the would be beneficiaries?
Look at how Mufulira has turned into a ghost town. Look at how Masala and Mangwana look like there in ndola?
Please get the economy from foreigners and give it to Zambians. That’s the only solution. Otherwise stop wasting people’s time.
PARAMOUNT Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people in Eastern Province says people who insult Dr Kenneth Kaunda should be disciplined.
And Mpezeni says government should rescind its policy of confiscating maize and vehicles involved in smuggling.
Commenting on Bowman Lusambo’s recent remarks that Dr Kaunda’s family, especially his children failed to take advantage of his 27-year reign to enrich themselves, Mpezeni said such remarks amounted to insults on the first Republican president.
“Mwanuonera neo pankhani yamunthu otukwana kholo, ndaba Kaunda nikholo, tili naufulu kupyolera kwa Kaunda. Kaunda ndiye etisegula meso pankhani yaukapolo. Lomba ningadabwe kuti bandale okutukwana Kaunda. Mubalekelela bana kuti okotukwana tate waziko (The way I look at any person who insults Kaunda, the parent of the nation; we’ve freedom because of Kaunda. Kaunda is the person who opened our eyes on slavery. Now, I get surprised that politicians start insulting Kaunda. Do you leave the children to start insulting the father of the nation)?” he asked. “Lomba munthu okotukwana Kaunda, ndiyekuti nimunthu osokonezeka. Paliye munthu angakondwe kumtukwanila a tate bake. Uyu munthu enzotukwana Kaunda ngati ochokela ku UPND kapena PF olo tyani, azitsogoleri bake ofunika kuti amuonepo ndaba alibe ulemu. Kulibe munthu angakambe so kutukwana kholo lake (Now for somebody to insult Kaunda, it means he or she is confused. No one can be happy to have their father insulted. This person who was insulting Kaunda, if he is coming from UPND or PF or any other party, his leaders should deal with him because he has no respect. There is no person who can talk like this, insulting his parent).”
Mpezeni said those who insult Dr Kaunda would even insult their biological parents.
“There is no difference between the father of this person and KK. If it’s politics, let politicians do their politics among themselves, without involving a parent. I am bitter with this development because even me I have never insulted KK. I have worked with KK since 1982 up to now, you’ve never heard me insulting him,” Mpezeni said.
He implored young ones to respect elders.
“Lomba pala Kaunda wasala masiku angati kuti azivwa matusi yamunthu kuti okomutukwana so? Pakuti Kaunda pala niosila sila so. Osati tikanvweko soti munthu otukwana so. Munthu ngati otukwana kholo ofunika kuti apasiwe chilango, osati kumulekelera so. Banthu olanga so akuti alipo omutuma (Now, KK is remaining with how many days for him to be hearing insults from a person like that? K K is already finished. We don’t want to hear anyone insult KK. Any person who insults a parent should be punished, not leaving him. Those who are looking at this issue are saying that the one who insulted KK was sent),” he said.
Lusambo on Friday posted that he had held a successful meeting with one of Dr Kaunda’s children, Kaweche, to iron out the issue.
And Mpezeni complained about the poor state of the Chipata/Vubwi and Chipata/Chadiza roads.
“These Chinese contractors just dug the roads and we expected them to tar the road, but many years have elapsed without doing anything to the road. Again, next year, we are going to elections. Now in other areas they are putting tar but here they are not doing it. What is happening? Which roads are we going to use when going to vote? People want to use these same roads when going to vote: Vubwi Road, Chadiza Road no tar!” Mpezeni said.
He advised President Edgar Lungu to check some of the roads to avoid being misled.
“Obanama boza mwina. Kapena one day nikayikope miseu yamene iyi nikayiike pa media yamene iyi miseu yasu, simiseu nikisi. Nichimodzi modzi kuti muuza munthu kuti nyama yako iyi koma nyama mubweza soti mupoto, manje ninyama yake ula munthu? Siyake (May be, he is being lied to. Perhaps one day I should take pictures of the roads and put them in the media, these are not roads. It is the same as promising to give someone meat but you put it back in the pot. Does it mean that the meat belongs to that person? It’s not his),” he said.
Mpezeni said he was pleading for the people on a number of issues, including the low maize prices.
“People follow where there is money. Now, the government is buying at K110 but the briefcase buyer is buying at K200. Where can a person go? They go where there is good money because fertiliser is expensive, it is over K500,” Mpezeni said. “Now you are grabbing maize from those who want to sell to the private sector through Zambia National Service. Now is that not destroying the nation? Who is killing the nation? You know who is destroying the nation. The farmers grow crops so that they sell and buy fertilizer which is expensive.”
He said government should stop restricting farmers from selling their maize to the private sector.
“Let them not grab maize, if they do this, they should also stop us from buying fertilizer in Malawi because three quarters of the people buy fertilizer from Malawi. Why can’t they stop them? Muzaleta njala muno muziko. Ninjala ikulene yamene azabwelesa (You’ll bring hunger in this country. It is huge hunger that they will bring),” he said.
“Nthawi ziyake banthu onyatiwa naba ZNS, koma katundu uli wao. Apa peve boma ionepo bwino (sometimes some people are beaten by ZNS officers when the property is theirs),” said Mpezeni. “Banthu ambiri alira, alira. So, aoneshepo bwino apa panthu. Banthu okamba kuti ni Lungu koma Lungu alibwino. Koma kaili nthawi zina sayendamo a President, lomba amene aba oyendamo abauzya wenye (Many people have cried, they have cried. So, authorities should consider this matter. Some people say its Lungu, but Lungu is okay. But most of the time, the President doesn’t tour and those who tour tell him lies).”
The Civil Society Constitution Agenda (CiSCA) has cautioned youths calling themselves Bill 10 Advocates to stop harassing Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu or any other citizen opposed to Bill 10.
And CiSCA vice chairperson Judith Mulenga says it is ignorance of the highest order to equate Bill 10 to a youth empowerment document.
In a statement on the Bill 10 advocates’ attacks on Archbishop Mpundu, Mulenga said during the launch of their translated Bill 10 into 7 local languages, the Bill 10 Youth Advocates singled out Archbishop Mpundu as a target of their diatribe.
“This is clear hindrance and interference of Archbishop Mpundu’s exercise of his right to his opinions and expression and a gross violation of the Constitution which guarantees the Archbishop justiciable civil and political rights, including the right to his opinions without interference,” she said.
Mulenga said Article 20 of the Bill of Rights bestows on Archbishop Mpundu, and every Zambian, the right to full enjoyment of the fundamental right to freedom of expression without any hindrance or interference from anyone, be they pro or anti Bill 10 individuals or groups.
She said CiSCA further reminds the “clearly ignorant” Bill 10 Youth Advocates that the Bill of Rights under which fundamental rights sit had not been tampered with by the “manipulative PF government” and these rights are as intact as they were in 1996.
“How then do they justify pushing for the so- called improvement of the Constitution while violating its core content? In singling out the Archbishop, the Bill 10 Advocates further violated Article 11 sub section (b) which is designed to ensure that only limitations prejudicial to the rights and freedoms of others or public interest are allowed. In speaking out against Bill 10, Archbishop Mpundu did not in any way prejudice the Bill 10 Advocates’ freedom of expression and neither did State Counsel John Sangwa. Therefore, in their pathetic, clueless efforts to limit the freedom of expression of Archbishop Mpundu and those opposed to their views, they are in direct violation of the Bill of Rights and our Constitution,” she said.
“How then can such ‘advocates’ lay any claim to furthering the tenets of democracy as per their leader, Prince Ndoyi’s assertion? The usual hypocrisy of pro-Bill 10 voices was embarrassingly manifest in Ndoyi’s assertions. In one breath he advises Sangwa to seek audience with his area MP because Bill 10 is now under the MPs’ purview but in the same breath he himself is speaking on Bill 10 when he nor any of his cohorts are MPs! What lack of depth is that? Why can’t the Bill 10 Advocates let the translated Bill 10 speak for them? In the same way they are expressing themselves through their translated copies and other platforms, the Bill 10 Advocates must respect other citizens’ right to express themselves against Bill 10. “
Mulenga said it was ignorance of the highest order to equate Bill 10 to a youth empowerment document.
“We challenge Ndoyi to unequivocally point to youth empowerment provisions in Bill 10. We know there are none! We advise Ndoyi and his cohort to just enjoy the change from the translation and printing costs. The real focused youths in Zambia require real empowerment. They require support to develop the necessary knowledge and skills for today’s labour market. They require job opportunities and they require that they be part of the decision making in public structures and processes,” said Mulenga.
PF should be ready because Zambians will fight back in 2021, says Obvious Mwaliteta.
And Mwaliteta, who served in Southern, Central, Western and Lusaka provinces as minister under Michael Sata, says amnesty will be given to PF leaders to return whatever they have stolen failure to which the law will take its course.
Meanwhile, Mwaliteta says: “Zambians are now regretting why they did not make Hakainde Hichilema head of State 20 years ago because Zambia would not have been what it is today.”
Reacting to Southern Province PF chairperson Lawrence Evans, who said it is becoming more clear that the UPND will not dislodge President Edgar Lungu in 2021 because it is becoming weaker as the year draws near, Mwaliteta said Zambians have lost faith in the ruling party.
“The PF has not managed to attract any investors apart from dealers whom they are looting the country’s wealth with…this government has no vision and it’s sad that we still have people like Evans who was a deputy minister and thinks the UPND is becoming weaker everyday. It is not the UPND that is weak; it is the people of Zambia who are weak because they have nothing to eat. They have no food and we as UPND are their only hope. PF will be shocked [with] what will happen in 2021. Zambians know when to fight back and they will fight back in 2021, the PF should be ready. PF should watch out,” Mwaliteta said.
He added that the PF under President Lungu had made Zambians very poor.
Mwaliteta, who is also former Kafue member of parliament, said the PF had turned the Disaster Mitigation Managment Unit (DMMU) into a campaign organ through which it distributes free food in areas where by-elections are held.
He said Hichilema was the only economist who could fix the failed Zambian economy.
“Hakainde Hichilema is the only doctor who understands the problems of Zambians, he is the only person who can fix the economy, because the problem of Zambia is the economy. The PF has made Zambians very poor and with this poverty, who can refuse to get a 12 and half kg bag of mealie-meal for free from DMMU which the PF has turned into a campaign organ during by-elections?” Mwaliteta asked.
He said Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia was now selling scrap metal to Kafue Steel in order to pay workers’ salaries.
“The PF has not attracted any investor, they have only brought in dealers whom they are plundering the nation’s wealth together with…look at Nitrogen Chemicals, instead of making fertiliser, they are now selling scrap metal to Kafue Steel to pay workers…. PF is the enemy of the people because of the high poverty levels, lack of medicines in hospitals, high youth unemployment and power load-shedding…. Zambians have lost faith in them and they should know that the 2021 elections are not ordinary ones, they are a revolution because the people are very, very annoyed. They have no food on their tables because of high corruption levels which even a grade one school child can see, they can’t cheat Zambians anymore and they should just accept the results that will come in 2021. We as UPND are the only hope for Zambians. There is no way one can wake up in the morning and there is no food in the house, no electricity and when one is sick there is no medicine in a hospital while the PF ministers and the President are very, very comfortable from the wealth they are amassing through dubious deals…we will give them amnesty to return whatever they have stolen, but those that won’t they will face the law,” Mwaliteta said.
He added that the PF was dividing Zambians on tribal lines.
Mwaliteta added that greediness reigns among PF leaders.
“They just talk about tribe, they are dividing us on tribal lines instead of giving hope and the youths are the hardest hit. Greed, greediness reigns in PF while Zambians have no money in their pockets…we as UP D will win in 2021 just like Sata did with just 15 members of parliament,” said Mwaliteta.
Miles Sampa has cried foul to the Zambian Attorney General Likando Kalaluka protesting that the Local Government Minister has withdrawn his entitlements that includes a Government Vehicles and allowances among other things.
Sampa complains that the Minister of Local Government Charles Banda wants him to be walking on the foot when visiting the Seven (7) Lusaka Constituencies that ushered him in office.
We don’t sympathize with Mr Sampa on this one because he saw it coming the very day he accepted to be bullied and chucked out from his offices.
Sampa, in the first place could have not agreed to be suspended by his “junior”, Charles Banda. We say his junior because Sampa is the father of the capital city and got his mandate from the Lusakans.
In fact, Sampa is wasting his time to write to Kalaluka, seeking legal advice. What he is supposed to do is to report for duty on Monday morning because staying away from office is a great disservice to the Lusakans who put him in office. Miles was not employed by that Charles Banda, it was thousands of Lusakans who elected him and they are the ones to decide his fate and that is in the next few months.
What Charles and his friends could have done was first of all mount a serious campaign against Miles and ensure that the Lusakans give him a vote of no confidence, alas they called a press conference to announce that they had suspended the elected Mayor of Lusaka.
Who doesn’t know that Miles was slowly proving to be a threat in the PF and beyond following his resort to be on the side of the Lusakans. Instead of siding with the powerful Chinese, Miles chose to be a pillar of the weak and this cost him dearly to the powers that be.
Now, since he crawled back to the PF, begging to be accepted and later on adopted for a lucrative mayoral job, Miles was easily pushed out and if he is not very careful, this can signify his downfall in the mighty Patriotic Front.
Miles does not believe that he was accepted back in the PF and that is a reason he lines up for the President at the Airport to the point of being humiliated when he was not too long ago overlooked by Edgar Lungu, the Great Leader of Zambia. We urge the PF to reconcile and revoke the suspension of both the Lusaka and Kitwe Council because it is bleeding confusion in the great PF.
To start with, I want to acknowledge the power of God for making this day possible, for making our release from detention following our brutal arrest and extended detention. Only God makes such things happen so once more, thank you to our heavenly father for this day. I call it a day where we commence our walk towards true freedoms; walking in the path of 1963, in the path of 1991 and now, this day onwards, we want to bring true freedom, justice, equity and fairness to all our people.
I think it is in order for me to thank all of you who are assembled here today for coming out in the midst of great danger, you managed to come out to receive us today. Thank you.
I know what is obtaining out there under the invocation of Article 31. Though I have been in prison, we have been sneaking in information in our cells so we know what has been going on and we thank you for your strength. I want to continue in expressing our appreciation to our party leaders across the country for having been very strong despite the circumstances.
All our membership structures, national executive, through to our branches, thank you for your strength, your prayers and your hope. Without your prayers, without your hope, it would have been very difficult for the six of us and many others who are in detention.
To our friends across our community in this country, thank you. To the clergy, I want to single out Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu and his Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops for their courage. Under these circumstances, you need people with courage, with clarity of mind as to what is right and what is wrong. I think Archbishop Mpundu provided leadership in this area.
Thank you so much to the CCZ, to the EFZ, other churches, thank you for your support. Very difficult and trying times but you were there for us. We appreciate that support. We want to thank the regional community. I am sure all of you now understand that we have a lot of friends in the regional community. Our friends in the southern African side of our continent, our friends in east Africa who did a lot, I know many of those things they did are not known to you but they did a lot. Our friends in West Africa, our friends in Europe, the European community, our friends in America including the American congress and the senate, they did a lot behind the scenes I can tell you that. And on that score, we also want to thank the local representatives of the international community. The embassies that again were working silently but doing a lot of work behind the scenes, we acknowledge your efforts, we thank you so much.
I deliberately return to the civil society in our country. CiSCA, and I want to single out the leader of CiSCA Bishop [John] Mambo, thank you.
Thank you to the Law Association of Zambia, thank you to our traditional leaders, I won’t mention the key leader who stood up for us in the traditional leadership but you all know him, thank you very much.
I want to thank, if you allow me, a lot of friends, I want to say to you, I didn’t realise that we have a lot of friends even in the PF, I want to thank those people in the PF who were on our side.
I want to thank senior citizens in our country who were also courageous, extremely courageous, issued statements, you know them, and I have some tasks to do to thank them individually after today, lots of work we have to do after today. Thank you to our members of parliament, councilors, mayors, I know 47 members of parliament sacrificed for us. But if your president can sacrifice, why shouldn’t you sacrifice? But I thank you for that.
47 of them were suspended, you are aware of that, so I am thanking them for being strong and I want them, we want them to remain strong going forward. I want to thank in a special way our opposition alliance leaders, I think it is befitting to single them out, honorable Charles Lubasi Milupi, my brother Dr Nevers Mumba, my brother honorable [Mike] Mulongoti, I want to tell you, my brother Saviour Chishimba; I am glad you are out of prison and I want to thank my brother Sinkamba, president of the Green Party, I want to thank honorable Wynter Kabimba, thank you my brother, I want to thank my brother who got incarcerated just for talking about my case president [Chilufya] Tayali.
I thought many others who are in the opposition but may have had no opportunity to express their appreciation, I know you were there for us, we thank all of you. I think it is also in order, I want to tell you that my colleagues in the business community were doing a lot of things underground, I thank you so much. I know you know that your businesses will be better under our stewardship.
I think it is in order for me to thank my fellow detainees, five of them, together we were six; Chakawa, Haloba, Hamusonde, Muleya and Mulilanduka. Have you ever seen a treason case involving family members only? Have you ever seen that? I want to thank all of these gentlemen that when we agreed things in our cells, they respected what we agreed. And we strengthened each other, it would have been very difficult. When I was detained in Lilayi for eight days, I was in solitary confinement, it was a bit difficult because you don’t speak to anybody but when we linked up, we were able to speak to each other, thank you so much, thank you to them and thank you to their families and I thank their families for the support that they rendered to the fellow detainees. I want to thank Mwaliteta group, I want to thank the Matambo group on the Copperbelt and I want to tell you that a lot of our people are in detention across the country and I have made it my responsibility, it should be your responsibility, it should be our responsibility to secure the release of all our people that are in detention across the country. That is our duty. I cannot say I am free when a lot of my members are in detention, then I am not worth being a leader.
I can go on and on but I would like to also indicate my special appreciation to President Obasanjo, you know Nigeria has 200 million people so he is a great man, to lead 200 million people is not a joke. I want to thank a few friends around, Mmusi Maimane of the DA, a good friend of ours, I want to thank Julius Malema of the EFF, I want to thank Prime Minister Raila Odinga, I want to thank my good friends across the Zambezi Tendai Biti for the tremendous support and others I do not want to mention, including certain people that you many have never understood that they did something but they were doing something. So thank you to all of these people.
I say the list can go on but you have been anxious for many months, I need you to rest. But before you rest, going forward, we have a primary duty, we who are in the UPND leadership and membership across the country, we have a very serious responsibility to work towards bringing back serious responsibility to work towards bringing back order and stability in our country, very very important. But I have already said that the starting point is to make sure we secure the release of many of our people who are in detention. And even today, a few of our people were detained, even yesterday, so this thing has to come to an end because if it doesn’t come to an end, in am willing to go back to those cells.
That is our primary responsibility, in addition, I want to say here and thank the Rt Honorable Patricia Scotland, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. And I want to say here publicly that we have very good discussions with her, very intelligent woman, and straightforward discussions. And we are committed, as everybody should be in this country committed to peace, stability for development, we cannot continue living the way we are. It is uncomfortable. But I want to commit that we are committed to the principles of the Commonwealth and their values on the rule of law, on good governance, on human rights, and basic freedoms, universal freedoms, that’s why we are seeking the release of all our people who are in incarceration. I want to say to you, it is also our collective duty to bring back unity in our country, we are so divided today, we cannot run a country in this manner and for us in the UPND, we must call out to our opposition colleagues to come together for a unity of purpose and bring order in our country. It is not correct for our people, for my young friend Clance Zulu to be buried the way she was buried. It is not correct. We have to do something and we are committed to do something. Just watch what we are going to do in a couple of days and months, just watch. There are many people who were saying ‘oh, aza choka mu jele abeba [he will come of prison a tired man]’, Hakainde, oyembela ng’ombe angabebe? [Hakainde who herds cattle can he get tired?].
I want to assure you that we are stronger now than before, we are 10 times stronger than before we were incarcerated. But our strength will be used in a correct manner because we do not want to be as weak as others, we don’t want to be as wicked as others, we want to make sure that we provide leadership in this country so that our people can benefit from good leadership. So I ask all of you to be strong. If your president can be out there for 126, 127 days, we can all be strong. That is all I ask you and I want to close by once again thanking you so much and I want to thank at the end my wife. I didn’t know that she was this strong. I am lucky that I married this woman, I am very lucky. So once more, God bless Zambia, God bless all of us. We shall take leave now, going home, I know you know that there will be a lot of people coming to say hello to us but you must be patient, in the next few days, we are going to have a fully blown press briefing where we are going to address each of the fundamental issues that affect you and that affect this country because you know that the criminal justice system has broken down in our country starting from law enforcement, the police, total breakdown, to the prison, those prison cells are death chambers, people are dying in those chambers every day. We have to address the prosecution, we have to address the Judiciary side, so many things are wrong in our country but we are going to assemble and discuss those issues with you with diligence. Otherwise, once more, I look at you, I am humbled for your support. I was worried that you may be dismantled in my absence. God bless you all.
THE Constitutional Court says it will not conduct oral hearing of the matter in which the Litunga of the Lozi and three other paramount chiefs have petitioned it seeking a declaration that their traditional authority to recognise, install and discipline including dethronement of any of their subordinate chiefs in accordance with customary law shall continue to be exercised by them.
Constitutional Court judge Enock Mulembe on behalf of others has ordered that there being no dispute by the State on the facts filed by the Litunga and his counterparts, the matter would be disposed of entirely on the basis of the petition, the answer, the affidavits and written submissions.
Justice Mulembe said in his orders to the paramount chiefs and the Attorney General, evidence shall be in form of the chiefs’ affidavits verifying petition and the respondent’s affidavit in support of answer.
“The petitioner shall file submissions within fourteen (14) days of the date of this order,” judge Mulembe said. “Submissions in reply, if any, should be filed within seven (7) days of receipt of the respondent’s submissions.”
He said judgment shall be delivered on a date to be communicated by the court.
In this matter, the Litunga and three other paramount chiefs (Mpezeni of the Ngoni, Gawa Undi of the Chewa and Chitimukulu of the Bemba) have petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking a determination and declaration that the institutions of paramount chief, senior chief and other chiefs continue to exist and are guaranteed under article 165 (1) of Constitution of Zambia.
They have cited the Attorney General challenging the decision by government to remove chiefs from the pay roll.
The Litunga and his counterparts in their petition said that according to Article 165 (1) of the Constitution Act No.2 of 2016, the institution of chieftaincy and traditional institutions are guaranteed and shall exist in accordance with the culture, customs and traditions of the people to whom they apply.
They said that according to article 167, a chief may own property in a personal capacity and enjoy privileges and benefits bestowed on the office of chief by or under culture, custom and tradition and attached to the office of chief as prescribed.
The Litunga and his counterparts said that article one (1) and (2) provides that the constitution is the supreme law of Zambia and any other written law, customary law, and customary practice that is inconsistent with its provisions is void to the extent of inconsistency and further that any act or omission that contravenes it was illegal.
They stated that the position taken by the Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs was different not only with the provisions of Article 165, 166 and 167 of the constitution of Zambia but also the definition of “chief” in Article 266.
They said that Article 2 of the constitution says that very person has the right and duty to defend the constitution as well as resist or prevent a person from overthrowing, suspending or illegally abrogating the constitution.
And according to their individual affidavits in support of the petition, the four explained that from the time Article 165 of the constitution became operational, there had been scramble for chieftainship proven by declarations of illegal chiefs now claiming that they no longer need to be recognised by senior chiefs under article 165 of the Constitution.
“It is important for Government to pay necessary subsidies to chiefs to enable them discharge their functions diligently and maintaining their dignity,” said the Litunga and others.
They want the court to determine and declare that when a paramount chief recognises or dethrones a subordinate chief in accordance with the traditional and customary practices and informs government accordingly, the State shall acknowledge and accord to such chief or in the case of dethronement cease to accord to the chief, the honour and dignity befitting a chief.
The quartet further want a declaration that they have authority to continue to administer and resolve traditional matters according to customary law in their traditional courts.
They are seeking a declaration that every chief and deputy chief shall be paid for the purpose of enabling them to maintain the dignity and status of the office of the chief and discharge the functions of the offices of the chief under African customary law in a fit and proper manner.
The four want the court to determine that section 2 of the Chiefs Act in so far as it defines the word chief is unconstitutional and therefore null and void. In his answer to the petition, Attorney General Likando Kalaluka said the Litunga and his counterparts were entitled to the reliefs sought that the traditional authority of the paramount chiefs should recognise, install and discipline including dethronement of any of their subordinate chiefs in accordance with customary law shall continue to be exercised by them.
The state confirmed that Section 8 of the Chiefs Act was not declared unconstitutional and void by the Constitutional Court in the case of Webby Mulubisha Vs the Attorney General therefore the four paramount chiefs were entitled to the reliefs sought.
“The petitioners are entitled to the reliefs sought save for costs as the petition raises serious Constitutional issues and the said costs should be in the cause and for the reasons that the same issues raised were canvassed in the Webby Mulubisha V Attorney General judgment,” said Kalaluka.
Handouts in whatever form cannot take people out of poverty. PF is giving fish to people instead of teaching them how to fish. PF should consider equipping the youths with survival skills that will sustain them for the rest of their lives. PF should revamp the dead industrial base to support the mining industry in order to create jobs. Giving people pocket money is not sustainable. The hostile economic environment under PF is such that the majority of those receiving handouts will end up extremely poor. With this kind of approach the dreams of Zambia reaching a middle income country are very slim. PF is using handouts as a campaign tool.
When empowerment is driven by a political agenda it produces very poor results. The black mountain was mismanaged because of politics. The big question is who has ultimately befitted from that black mountain? MMD tried to cheat people especially the youths with political empowerment, the same people who were so called empowered are still queuing for empowerment from PF. Meaning; people are just being used for political gains, we are not achieving anything. They say you cannot do the same thing over and over but expect different results, unless if you are not normal.
We therefore ask PF to be sincere and serious and find a lasting solution to the high unemployment and poverty levels than giving people pocket money. If PF is serious about helping the youth they should support those already in the manufacturing sector with the right equipment and tools. For example, Government can procure equipment and tools for those making door and window frames and many others for them to improve productivity and quality of their products. We need to properly equip such small scale industries.
While it’s true that not all people will be employed, it’s also true that not all the people will be successful entrepreneurs. Empowerment should be designed to make people sustain their lives and contribute significantly to national development. Already PF has created a problem where everybody has become a trader. You cannot have an informal sector full of traders only, by so doing you are creating jobs where those products are manufactured. It’s like PF cannot think beyond trading. This mentality has destroyed the country.
TWINS: ‘BORN ON DIFFERENT DAYS, DIFFERENT HOSPITALS…’
A rarely scenario for most born twins and if not first in Zambia for multiple births, hence beating the record of a pair of Indiana twins who were born just a half hour apart, but entered the world on different days, months, years and even decades from one another.
In this circumstance of Lusaka’s born dizygotic twins, Lisa and Linda Kumwenda, a pattern that takes worlds bizarre in giving birth in multiple babies’ cycle, and is on the map for the hypothesis.
But how was it possible for 27-year-old twin sisters to be born on different days, different hospitals at a time Zambia, when so little technical support existed? As they say nothing is impossible, there are way that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always sufficient means.
In 1993, same year, when these twins were born, Zambia was greeted with sad news, with silence and enveloped with a thick blanket of pain and sorrow that the Zambia Air Force plane that carried the football national team to a FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Senegal in Dakar crashed into Atlantic Ocean near Gabon.
Fast-forward, on Wednesday, August 9th, Lisa popped first around 20:30 p.m., at Chilenje Hospital level-1 then Chilenje Clinic whereas Linda could not be delivered hence making medical practitioners panicking and rushed their mother to University Teaching Hospital-UTH for emergence operation.
Then, early hours of Thursday, around 04:00 a.m. after the calendar rolled over to August 10th, Linda, entered the world in a normal delivery on their way to the theatre room before the operation commenced and which was lined to be caesarian operation.
“I felt it that I had two babies in my womb yet the scanner could not prove it and no sign was being showed about it would. But here I delivered with twins, though my blood pressure was high.” Mrs. Rhoda Chanda Kumwenda told the author on the telephone interview. “We were kind of speechless because the doctors were not expecting it and thought its one baby,”
It goes without saying that twins are generational case, Lisa, who’s a teacher by professional and Linda an entrepreneur has their sister Thoko Kumwenda with a set of girl-dizygotic twins; Wezianji and Izukanji Nakamba.
Hence, an English proverb says a joy is shared is a joy made double.
Author: Walusungu Silweya Twins Plus Foundation Co-founder/Media and Communication Director For more: WhatsApp line +260965000755
IT was in November 2018 when almost from nowhere, Niza Simukonda released a song titled Tata Wandi. Even without any introductions, the connection was apparent – the song was a reply to Ackim Simukonda’s Bana Bandi, released two decades earlier. And because of his surname, it was easy to conclude that Niza must be a relation somehow of the late legendary musician.
But there was no need for all these speculations, the team behind Niza, who included South Africa-based media personality Chilu Lemba, knew something about the music business – they were building a brand here. But they also knew that he was likely to suffer from the burden of comparison.
Introducing him, they said although he had the burden of carrying on the legacy of his late father, he considered it a beautiful burden. Fortunately for him, he had the passion for playing the guitar, just like his father. Even more, vocally, he was smooth.
On Tata Wandi, he responded to his father, saying and his siblings have heard what he told them to do in the song – and that is to love one another. “What I talk about is more like I’m responding on behalf of me and my siblings,” he explained. “Dad left us a song and in his last song, he tells us that we have to love each other and stay united, so in my version, I simply say we heard what you said and that’s what we are doing.
“I’ve always wanted to sing the song because over time people recognise me and they want me to play the song on guitar or want me to sing it for them, so I ended up saying I’ll do the song one day but then James Sakala is the one who produced the song and his idea was to respond to the song instead of doing it exactly word for word and it sounded better.”
The song was produced by James Sakala and co-produced by T-Sean and Ben Banda. Ben Blazer did the mixing while the mastering was done in the United States of America by Dave Collins, who has worked on the music of D’Angelo, Linkin Park and the late Luther Vandross among others.
The song was just a single, but Niza said he was going to work on an album. Niza certainly knew what he was about. “I don’t want to be in a box, I’m a lover of all kinds of music,” he shared. “I have a message in my music and my main message is bringing hope because growing up in an environment where you’re always far from your siblings, I had gone through a lot of things especially that dad passed on when I was very young, so music is what kept me going. “I feel there’s a kid somewhere going through what I went through and if I tell them in song that there’s hope and you’ll make it, they’ll keep strong. So that’s the main thing I want to do, I can put it in a reggae, R’n’B, hip-hop song and still say there’s hope.”
Niza’s debut single and video for Tata Wandi, which to all intents and purposes is a tribute to his late father but with a new take on his late dad’s swansong Bana Bandi, was released to much fanfare.
Born on December 20, 1991 in Livingstone, where he was bred although he briefly lived in Lusaka’s Kabwata, his dream was to pursue music. Niza lost both his mother and father early on in life and was raised by his late mother’s family.
His past musical exploits included being a voice coach and a music director at a church. However, his journey saw him gainfully employed in other fields including a stint once as a chef, for which he received training.
But in 2018, with the help of a collective calling itself Team Niza, which includes mentors such as businessman Muunda Palale Jr, songwriter and recording artiste James Sakala and Chilu Lemba, Niza’s inroads into the Zambian music scene steadily saw him become a significant feature.
Niza was counting on the support of his family, whom he kept updated with his strides in the industry.
Musically, he found inspiration from artistes such as R Kelly and Frank Ocean. He credited music for seeing him through some of the toughest moments of his life and hoped his music could have a similar impact on others.
Locally he was inspired musically by the likes of James Sakala and Pompi. In his short time as a recording artiste, he worked with among others Magg44 and T-Sean.
After Tata Wandi, he followed it up with a love song titled Eco Nkwete, released in December 2018.
But all this came crashing down on Monday following his death at the age of 28 in the University Teaching Hospitals (UTH) where he was being treated for malaria.
Niza was buried on Wednesday at the Old Leopards Hill Cemetery in Lusaka.
Chilu Lemba, who had been coaching him since 2017, told Weekend Mail that he first encountered Niza when he was around four years old. At that time, he used to visit the late Ackim Simukonda in Kabwata.
“I used to visit Ackim together with my friend Allan Mvula, who is currently at 5FM radio. We worked briefly with Ackim,” he said.
“Later, after he passed on and many years later while I was writing my book, I wondered what became of Niza. I then searched Facebook and found his profile. I reached out to him. I did not know he sang at the time.
“Then in chatting, he [Niza] shared a song later via my WhatsApp of him singing. I asked whether he had been in studio and he said not yet.” Chilu said at that point, he reached out to James Sakala who was willing to produce and write songs for Niza.
“He was still on a journey of finding his own sound,” Chilu Lemba said. “His last desire was to make a big impact. Last year he decided to be more hands-on with his career. “He released a song on his own accord and would still reach out for advice. His last message to me was two weeks ago. He was sharing that he had acquired some equipment, he did not tell me he was ill, I was not aware sadly.”
James Sakala told Weekend Mail that he met Niza in 2018 after an introduction by Chilu Lemba and right away he became his songwriter and producer for some time.
“What I know is he really wanted to carry on his father’s legacy and he did it from his heart,” James said. “He was a young talented guy and very humble, focused and hardworking.”
Credit: Zambia Daily Mail/By Kelvin Kachingwe and Zio Mwale
Self-exiled former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has sensationally claimed that ex-Energy minister Fortune Chasi was fired by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for allegedly attempting to block the theft of US$ 1,2 Billion by the Zanu PF leader.
Moyo implicated Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and Mnangagwa’s ally Kudakwashe Tagwirei as benefactors of this illicit lucrative deal.
According to Prof Moyo, Chasi sought to bar the US$ 1,2 billion Sotic International deal pursuing national interest without knowledge that Mnangagwa, Tagwirei, and SB Moyo were the benefactors.
“In May 2019 Mnangagwa and SB Moyo stole USD 1,2 billion disguised as a State loan from SOTIC INTERNATIONAL, fronted by Kuda Tagwirei. The theft was structured by SB, using NOIC assets as mortgage. Chasi found out, tried to reverse it and got fired yesterday.
“So, Fortune Chasi was fired not because of #Zesa affairs but because his conduct in investigating & seeking to cancel the USD 1,2 billion SOTIC deal at NOIC is INCOMPATIBLE with Mnangagwa’s EXPECTATIONS as a beneficiary of the SOTIC deal along with SB Moyo & Kuda Tagwirei!
“Criminally, the SOTIC USD 1,2 billion was structured by @MinisterSBMoyo, who got USD 12 million for “structuring it”; and it was sent to #NOIC after it had already been approved by @edmnangagwa, @FinanceZim & @ReserveBankZIM; with USD 1,2 billion paid to PRIVATE ACCOUNTS!
“Either bravely or naively, after his investigation, @fortunechasi sought an alternative to the SOTIC deal & negotiated it with GLENCORE. But no alternative was possible to implement; without costing SOTIC its USD 12 million a month or refunding the USD 1,2 billion advance!” Prof Moyo said.
Prof Moyo added that under the deal, the USD 1,2 billion “loan” would be paid back with interest over a 10 year period in monthly installments of USD 12 million and NOIC assets were mortgaged to secure the “loan”.
On Friday, Mnangagwa fired Chasi from the Energy Ministry and replaced him with Muzarabani North Zanu PF legislator Soda Zhemu.
Some reports claim that Chasi was fired over his recent squabbles with suspended ZESA chair Sydney Gata.
Prof Moyo added that Mnangagwa did not want Chasi to fight his so-called relative, Gata.
“In May 2019, Mnangagwa ordered then tourism minister Mupfumira to appoint to the EMA board his customary wife Moline Mayahle, sister to Gata’s wife Angeline Mayahle, with whom they have several children. So, Mnangagwa did not EXPECT Chasi to cause Gata’s removal from Zesa!” Moyo added.
On Thursday last week, Mnangagwa suspended ZESA Holdings Executive Chair Sydney Gata, the entire ZESA Holdings board and “unconstitutionally” directed Zacc to investigate corruption allegations levelled against him by Chasi.
Gata, besides being fired, had claimed that his fate was going to be decided by Mnangagwa. Gata accused Chasi of undermining efforts to curb corruption at ZESA. Nehanda Radio
Wifey and I had a little argument over breakfast on a Monday morning while we were both preparing for the day’s job. My anger was with the way she spread the butter on the bread that morning, it was quite rough and not pleasing to the eyes though I corrected her with my voice sounding like a thunder all over the room but I never knew it would lead to this, if I had known, I would have overlooked and ate the bread without uttering a word after all, I ate it still.
Hearing the way I rose my voice at her, really made her mad and she left the dinning without having breakfast that morning and off she went to work without me that day not even saying goodbye to each other. I was mad, she was mad too and our mistake was that none of us was willing to come to like terms. We returned from work that evening without talking to each other, we had dinner separately and went to bed without exchanging pleasantries.
Tuesday came and passed on, so was Wednesday and Thursday morning. Thursday evening at dinner, she said “hi” but I was too proud to respond so I mumbled on my meal and left the table hurriedly but all along, she was simply smiling at her “Baby Husband “. Wifey is truly a great beauty to behold. Her smiles melts every tough heart so in a bid to avoid “falling my own hands”, I hurriedly left the table.
If at all we’ll end this war, she’ll be the one to say sorry, not me. I won’t let her beauty lure me into saying sorry – these I murmured as I left the dinning to the bedroom but she kept on smiling. She got into the room and straight she went into the bathroom, while bathing she kept singing. If we were in good terms, I’d have sang along since that was my favorite song but my pride robbed me the opportunity to end the drama I had with her.
Before she could get to bed that night I was fast asleep. It was some minutes past 3am that Friday morning when I felt her hands on my body tapping me non stop. I quickly pushed her hands away and got myself covered with the blanket. Sincerely, I thought she was tapping me just to get into Jerusalem, I never knew that would be the last time I’ll feel her touch.
I fell asleep in the process and woke up fifteen minutes past 7am and I quickly dived into the bathroom cos we were almost late for work, I woke up got dressed, had breakfast and Wifey was fast asleep still, my pride never gave me the opportunity to talk to her so I left her in bed and off I went to work.
Long story cut short, I returned home on Friday evening meeting virtually everything at the same spot I left it that morning. The doors were wide open, the table was left unkept. A cold chill ran through my vein. I dived for the stairs, having my Wife in heart. On getting to the room, the door was wide open, Wifey was still in bed and at the same position I left her before leaving the house that morning.
My phone fell from my hand as I muttered indistinctly rushing towards her…”Baby” I stuttered as my hands went all over her. Her body was cold…unknowingly, I peed on my trousers instantly. I placed my head on her chest and realized she wasn’t breathing…I shouted the name of Jesus at the top of my voice as I brought her closer to me having her in my arms. My Baby was gone already. There was no life in her. Her body was terribly cold.
It was still like a movie to me not until her body was being laid to rest; at that moment I realized my Wife died on my bed. I couldn’t cry nor laugh, my head was spinning like I was gonna go mad anytime soon. I feel terrible on the inside, if only I could turn back the hands of time.
Wifey was asthmatic. When she was tapping me that morning, she was having a crisis which only her inhaler could solve. She was probably tapping me to help get it for her but my pride kept me away.
I lost the Woman I truly love to the cold hands of death carelessly. Ah! If there was no quarrel that morning my beautiful Wife will still be among the living today. It’s been three cold weeks she left. My world is shattered! I am void of love if only I could turn back the hands of time, I would have right my wrong!
Bottom Line: Dear courting and married people, never should you let the night fall without settling that misunderstanding between your spouse and you. Never give the Devil a chance to prove himself in your home and relationship. Your spouse is your partner, not your competitor. No one has ever been awarded for being the best grudge keeper. Wise people keep their home and relationship, careless people gives the devil a chance to prove himself. Choose wisdom over anger today…
I HAVE heard it said many times by those in government that they run a pro-poor government – to mean that their policies are directed at alleviating the suffering of the masses and pull them out of poverty. I want to contend that if a government is pro-poor and its support base is from the poor masses, it makes me think that those in government would systematically keep the numbers of poor people high so that they continue to get support from them. The more poor people there are, the more votes they get during elections. For, if people were financially independent and had many options, they would cease to look up to politicians for crumbs and our politicians will have no one to manipulate. So you see that pro-poor government is politics of the belly. A hungry person is very easy to buy. Actually, examples are obvious: we see politicians dig a borehole – fifty five years after independence – and call a TV crew to tell the world that they are working. We see them ferry truckloads of mealie-meal bags to give to members of their constituency and call that development. If you don’t believe me, wait and see what happens next year during election campaigns. But these elections will come and go and the poor may still continue to walk the streets of the capital.
I would love to see a government that works to create job opportunities for all, empower its citizens to be self-sustaining and not to make us live in utopia land that government will give me a job or a market-stall if I support them. I would love to see a government that does not segregate when giving contracts to small and medium enterprises. I would love to see government officials that do not use religion as a cover up of their dirty schemes.
But what do we see every other day? We see our elected officials get richer every year that comes. It’s only after the dawn of multiparty politics in Zambia that you see that every politician who has served for a mere five years will come out richer than he went in. The founding fathers of this great nation, those who fought for our independence never became millionaires even after being in office for 27 years.
How do you explain someone becoming a millionaires for being in parliament just for ten years? How much do parliamentarians earn? What businesses do politicians do that gives them millions, when others have tried all kinds of business but are just getting by?
I’m given to think that many politicians have business smokescreens which they use to hide their ill-gotten wealth. With so many government projects going on in the country, some of our politicians receive kickbacks, and since they may be running some small family businesses, the Anti-Corruption Commission fails to prove the sources of their wealth when brought before courts of law.
Now, if you ask me, this ACC is a toothless, moribund institution that is wasting taxpayers’ money. They only specialise in arresting small fish who have no political connections. We have cases of corruption that drag for years until people forget about them. What happened to the 48 mysterious houses? Why should an accused senior government official continue in office while appearing in court?
Today every politician is a business person – if not, then they use their relatives as fronts to get government contracts. Hence politics of the belly will continue if nothing is done to change the current situation.
HARRY Kalaba says he does not tolerate tribal politics.
Kalaba, the Democratic Party (DP) president, says his party will not go into an alliance where the DP will be subservient to any party.
He said, on Phoenix FM radio’s ‘Let the people talk’ programme yesterday, that the DP would not be like the PF government whose senior officials are from two provinces of Zambia.
On Wednesday morning, a picture circulated on social media of Kalaba, lawyer-cum-politician Kelvin Fube Bwalya (KBF) and former finance minister Felix Mutati.
The trio’s picture was indicative of a breakfast meeting but fuelled speculation of a possible political alliance.
But some social media commenters have branded the picture a tribal one.
“Even if we allow an alliance to be formed in future…And I pray that something tangible will come out of our consultations. But I don’t think we’ll remain naïve to allow ourselves to behave like the way the PF is behaving where you have only about two provinces running the country,” Kalaba said. “We can’t do that. So, those who are propagating that [tribal grouping], that is their own thing and they have got their own agenda. All we can tell you is that look at our party, Democratic Party. We are a party that does not tolerate tribal politics. I don’t tolerate tribal politics.”
He regretted that Zambia was more divided today because of tribal sentiments.
Kalaba, however, indicated that there was no caveat within the constitutional framework of Zambia that stopped him from consulting somebody from the same region as him.
“I know comrade Mutati comes from the Northern, the other one is from Muchinga and myself from the other side. But it doesn’t stop us from making consultations,” he said.
Kalaba emphasised that for now, “for reasons of clarity,” there was no alliance that had been created.
“Please, take it [that way]. When there will be an alliance, we’ll tell you that that is an alliance. Our meeting was just consultative and it was not the first we have had,” he explained. “We have met I don’t know how many times. It was not the first time we were meeting. But because somebody had that picture, they thought it was the very first time [of meeting]. ‘Oh yes, they have an alliance.’ No! Wait a minute! Something even bigger than what you saw is happening!”
He added; “we have told Zambians [that] some of us are not jokers; we can’t start a race we can’t finish.”
“We can’t begin chasing an animal we cannot catch. Never! This animal is being caught next year and the people of Zambia will have relief,” Kalaba said, adding that his and others’ job in the DP now was to bridge the divide. “We’ll seek to talk to everybody that we should talk to. There are people who were accusing us that why don’t you work with your friends. But when you see us talking to other people, again you are the ones who are saying ‘oh! They are tribal!’ If there is a person that doesn’t like tribalism, it’s me.”
He underscored that the DP would not go into a political alliance where it would be underestimated.
“I want to reiterate this point; we have said [that] we are not going to go in any alliance where people will be treating the Democratic Party…Or where our interests will be subservient to their own interests,” said Kalaba. “[But] we’ll go in an alliance where there is mutual respect, where there is no presumption of who is going to be this and that. That is the spirit in which you see discussing amongst us.”
![Full-length police bodycam footage of George Floyd’s death now released to public [Watch]](https://i0.wp.com/zambianobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/maxresdefault-15.jpg?fit=696%2C392&ssl=1 "Full-length police bodycam footage of George Floyd’s death now released to public [Watch]")
