_”We need to have our own developmental state as the Eastern Asian dragons and China have demonstrated”_

Former Deputy Minister of Finance and academic, Dr. Mbita Chitala has rejected the proposals from four fellow economists proposing that Zambia begs to go back to an IMF program and abandons all borrowing until the economy improves.

But Dr. Chitala says the IMF program is neo-liberal in nature and is likely to be harmful to the economy, to the security of state assets and may lead to numerous job losses as witnessed in the past IMF programs.

Former Ministers of Finance, Situmbeko Musokotwane, Ngandu Magande, Felix Mutati, and former Minister of Commerce and Trade, Dipak Patel and former Bank of Zambia Governor, Caleb Fundanga have signed an open letter to President Edgar Lungu and Minister of Finance Bwalya Ngandu  suggesting the primacy and importance of clinching the IMF deal.

But Dr. Mbita has proposed that Zambia still had an opportunity to go back to bilateral and international capital markets to contract long-term debt.

Dr. Chitala Wrote;

Running the risk of offending some of you may I say this.

The prescription suggested by those colleagues that our government adopts a humiliating IMF programme when we know that such a scheme would bring untold suffering, instability and worsen the poverty in our country is not smart at all.

The neo liberal Washington Consensus is dead. Such a humiliating programme would mean surrendering our governance to Washington technocrats, reducing public investment in health and education, stopping deficit financing to tackle any recession, place our trade unions to be at war with the state as we reduce the wage bill, freeze wages and salaries, eliminate subsidies to our small farmers FISP, petroleum, electricity, education etc which will tend to increase poverty and cost of living, abandon most capital expenditure such as construction of roads, schools, clinics and public goods such as Kafue Lower Power etc, further selling off to foreigners of our strategic companies and institutions such as NAPSA, ZESCO etc that will result in more unemployment and underemployment, reducing recurrent budget spending on goods and services that will mean weakening the state and making it vulnerable, devaluation of the Kwacha and increasing costs in our economy.

All these negative social outcomes will lead to people rage as Africa and other developing countries witness in the 80 and 90s leading into state instability and downfall of governments.

There is a solution to all this. We need to have our own developmental state as the Eastern Asian dragons and China have demonstrated.

We can still go to International capital markets or bilateral partners to contract long term debt.

There is nothing wrong with this.

More importantly we should have our own middle class on which our development will be anchored. We must have our own cobalt and copper mines owned by Zambians.

We must rejuvenate our manufacturing and agro business. We must stop capital flight and introduce smart capital controls.

We must create employment creating programmes such as the national service, small enterprise promotion, local banks etc.

We have largely not been successful so far because we failed to be patriotic, never provided incentives for our people to save, invest and innovate and so we are poor because our leaders so far have made this choice.

POLITICAL commentator Sishuwa Sishuwa says by closing down Prime TV, President Edgar Lungu is priming Zambia for a ‘civil war.’

He says after closing The Post newspaper on June 21, 2016, using the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), President Lungu appears to have learnt from that experience that shutting critical media organisations boosts an incumbent’s chances of retaining political power.

Meanwhile, Dr Sishuwa has asked: “how bad do things have to get in Zambia before we stand up to Lungu and the PF, and say ‘enough and no more?”

Dr Sishuwa notes that while the President closed The Post six months before the August 11, 2016 general elections, the closure of Prime TV has been done: “earlier this time around.”

He said if democracy was about the competition of ideas, politics was about the struggle for power – social and economic.

Dr Sishuwa noted that the struggle for power could not be waged without the media and that: “Lungu knows this, and he is crudely making impotent his opponents by demolishing their access to this tool.”

“Incidentally, by eliminating the possibilities the media offer for non-violent competition for power, Lungu is priming the country for civil war – the only other means for struggling for power,” Dr Sishuwa wrote in an article titled ‘Lungu’s strategic march to 2021: the shutdown of Prime TV.’

Using the so-called Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the PF government shut Prime TV on Thursday last week.

Dr Sishuwa said the first point to note about the cancellation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence was that it was illegal.

“This is because the decision of the Board did not comply with a mandatory provision of the very section that the IBA Board cited to explain their action,” he said.

“While the quoted Section 29 (1) (j) and (k) of the IBA (amendment) Act of 2010 empowers the IBA Board to cancel a broadcasting licence, Section 29 (7) of the same IBA (amendment) Act of 2010 provides that “the Board shall, before cancelling or suspending a broadcasting licence under this section, give the broadcasting licensee an opportunity to be heard”.

Dr Sishuwa insisted that the cancellation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence was a political decision and part of President Lungu’s wider strategy for the 2021 election.

He said those who were calling on the IBA to reverse the illegal action it had taken against Prime TV were missing one crucial point that was likely to render their appeals futile.

“The prime mover of the decision is almost certainly the President of Zambia. By closing the country’s leading independent television station, Lungu may be seeking to remove one more hurdle in his strategic step-by-step march to retaining power and extending his rule.

He explained that Prime TV had provided an important platform for the expression of a plurality of views and the discussion of issues that matter most to the public.

“These include the performance of the Patriotic Front (PF) in power, the viability of opposition political parties, the implications of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 10 of 2019, and the question of whether Lungu is eligible to stand for another term of office,” Dr Sishuwa said.

“The station has also regularly televised paid-for rallies of opposition parties that are denied access to the State-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation. Furthermore, Prime TV, sometimes in conjunction with other institutions, has organised and broadcast a series of public discussions that have raised public awareness and understanding on different subjects of mutual interest. Such was Prime TV’s influence and rising appeal that even ministers and ruling party officials regularly abandoned the public media and queued to appear on this private television station, seeking to tap into its distinct viewership.”

Dr Sishuwa noted that worried that the disenchantment arising from an informed public may damage his re-election prospects and work against the PF, President Lungu may have exerted pressure on the IBA to shut down Prime TV: “in order to strike a serious blow to the electoral chances of opposition parties.”

He indicated that the closure of Prime TV had removed the opposition parties’ most effective platform that enabled them to connect their agenda for political change with the concerns or demands of the electorate.

“By closing Prime TV 16 months ahead of Zambia’s next election, Lungu and the PF are also seeking to deceive many into thinking that the decision is totally unconnected to the 12 August 2021 election, when, in fact, it is the underlying motivation,” Dr Sishuwa said.

“It is worth noting that when Lungu and the PF, in another move that was meant to boost their re-election chances, closed The Post newspaper on 21 June 2016, only about six weeks had remained before that year’s election.”

Dr Sishuwa recalled that despite great attempts by the government to present the action to close The Post newspaper as a result of its failure to settle a disputed tax debt, “it was quite obvious to many that the decision was linked to the election and was difficult to explain for any other reason.”

“Lungu appears to have learnt from that experience by closing yet another critical media organisation much earlier this time around,” he said. “As well as seeking to conceal the obvious link to next year’s election, notwithstanding the fact that it is the primary motivation behind the move, he has decided to take an early decision in order to leave sufficient time to exhaust possible legal challenges against the cancellation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence.”

Dr Sishuwa pointed out that in 2016, President Lungu took a gamble in closing The Post based on the expectation that the newspaper would not have enough time to exhaust the legal processes before it could be allowed to resume operations.

“This time, with the executive’s capture of key State institutions, Lungu and the PF may have the confidence that the courts are on their side and that the final judgment has probably already been written in their favour,” Dr Sishuwa argued, further decrying the increasing deployment of lawfare to undermine democracy in Zambia.

“Lawfare, in this case, refers to the strategic use of the law and legal institutions by actors in the executive to achieve political goals, obscure their authoritarian tendencies and enhance their grip on power. By using the IBA to remove a significant hurdle in his bid for absolute power, Lungu could be attempting to wrong-foot his critics by arguing that the closure of Prime TV was a legal decision, even if the directive may have come from him and the motivation was entirely political.”

He added that the closure of Prime TV demonstrated the increasing authoritarian and extra-constitutional exercise of State power in the interests of the ruling cabal.

“Moments after the IBA Board announced the cancellation of the station’s broadcasting licence, about 15 to 20 heavily armed police officers moved to seal off the premises of Prime TV and chased away all the workers. This action was as lawless as it was reckless and represented the highest expression of State-sanctioned impunity,” Dr Sishuwa said. “The occupation of Prime Television premises by police officers is a violation of the right to privacy of property protected by Article 17 of the Constitution of Zambia, which states that “Except with his own consent, a person shall not be subjected to the search of his person or his property or entry by others in his premises.”

He believes that not even the law, including the Constitution of Zambia, could stop the PF from doing what it wants.

“Their ultimate goal is to create a fear-driven society where no public criticism of the government and President is possible. Freedom of speech will not be directly outlawed but there will soon be no media outlets willing to print or broadcast any critical views,”

“As the country heads towards the 2021 election, Zambians should not be surprised to wake up one day and learn that the government, for one manufactured reason or another, has closed the remaining critical newspapers such as News Diggers or The Mast. The struggle on the mass front – mass consciousness against oppression and the possibility to rise against them – is what Lungu and the PF are preventing by shutting down the independent media.”

Meanwhile, Dr Sishuwa reminded Zambians that it was their responsibility to stop the country from sliding into authoritarian rule and “prevent our descent into a darkness we may never recover from.”

“Time is running out, fast! How bad do things have to get in Zambia before we stand up to Lungu and the PF, and say ‘enough and no more’? Yesterday, it was The Post and then John Sangwa. Today, it is Prime TV. Tomorrow it will be YOU,” warned Dr Sishuwa.

“We commit the greatest crime as we consent to the status quo by remaining silent and doing nothing in the face of serious democratic backslides, injustice, abuse, corruption, and glaring inequality. This is our challenge: we Zambians are complicit in our brutalisation because we choose to be spectators in our own torture at the hands of Lungu and the PF.”

MOST OF OUR POLITICIANS HAVE SHORT MEMORIES THAT’S WHY THEY SUFFER AFTER LEAVING OFFICE

To people with low thinking capacity, whenever I voice out for this nation under oppression, they always think I have been hired to speak on behalf of HH and UPND or any other political organization.

I am not that gullible because this is my only motherland that needs to be defended against those who want to destroy it.

I don’t need to be paid in order to save Zambia’s dying democracy.

Of course, as a patriot of Zambia, it is my responsibility to educate citizens on the importance of good decision making so that their tomorrow can not be in a mess like it is now.

My job is to educate citizens to vote for any political participant in this country irrespective of their regions or tribes but based on one’s capabilities to foster national development to all provinces without discriminating others.

The country needs leaders with a record of success even at personal level. So, if HH, CK, Milupi, Siwale, Lukaku, M’membe, Kalaba, Kabimba and Nawakwi; if any of these Zambians show the capacity to govern us well; vote for them based on their capabilities and not tribe.

How do you expect me to develop the entire Zambia when at personal level I lamentably failed to make it even raising ten village chickens or proving that I am a lawyer?

If one has been successful in their private life, what would stop him or her do great in public life? absolute nothing.

My warning goes to all politicians in this country, whether in the ruling or opposition. Be reminded that when you are in office, formulate rules and laws that when you leave office you won’t be affected if the same rules are to be implemented on you.

I say so because some of you our politicians today, had a great chance to stop what Edgar Lungu and PF are doing to innocent Zambians.

Some of you had that great opportunity and influence God had given you to install something good that would have benefited all Zambians.

Simply because at some point you did not do the right thing, now here we are dancing to the same song as oppressed people. Even those in PF who have ganged up together to fight Zambians by implementing bad laws, such as Bill 10, one day they will cry to this song by the same rules and laws they feel are great now.

Support laws that you would wish to be applied on you even when you leave office without feeling ill-treated by those who shall take over power.

President Edgar Lungu and his corrupt PF government need to rest; it’s the only way normalcy will be restored in this country because he (Lungu) has captured all arms of government.

Our politicians and all those serving in public and private institutions, learn the importance of doing the right thing when you have instruments of power on your table so that when you no longer have the privilege of serving in that position, you will have nothing to be afraid of.

The sad reality is that most African leaders have a poor memory like that of a chicken. They don’t learn from their predecessors. The moment one become an abuser of authority, that person should know that someone is watching.

When you ascend to power or authority, don’t forget that your next door readily available for you is the exit door.

The question is what type of life are you going to live outside that privilege you did not use wisely when in power?

Zambians, we are in trouble. The only way to kick out PF is to rally all opposition parties and the majority Zambians for a common purpose of liberating Zambia once again. Failure to do that, then we are all doomed.

Even UPND should not be living in a dreamland because PF have said it right on Zambians’ faces through their Secretary General Davies Mwila and other senior officials that they are not ready to give out power, even if they lose. They will not surrender power just like Edgar Lungu did in 2016. The scenario is about to repeat itself if we don’t act quickly as citizens.

Not even our brothers and sisters in uniforms have an understanding of this ploy ahead of us. Most people in all key arms of government have been compromised. This is why I have been encouraging Zambians to pray for our comrades in security wings to have extra Wisdom from God.

Sikaile Sikaile

Good Governance and Human Rights Activist

NATIONAL Democratic Congress leader Chishimba Kambwili says the closure of Prime Television by the PF government is illegal, an abuse of state institutions which should not be entertained by Zambians.

He has appealed to the diplomatic community to immediately put pressure on the “president of the PF, the government, to rescind their decision of cancelling the licence of Prime TV”.

Reacting to the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s cancellation of Prime Television licence, Kambwili said the act was not in the interest of the nation but PF’s scheme to rig the 2021 elections.

He asked the entire board of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to resign on moral grounds.

“First and foremost I am reliably informed by two board members that the decision was not done in the interest of the nation neither was it backed by law but it was just an instruction from State House and the Ministry of Information. The board must resign because instead of following the laid down procedures and the law, they decide to succumb to pressure by the minister and State House. What they have done has no backing of the law,” Kambwili said in an interview.

“The idea of behaving like this will put President [Edgar] Lungu as the most gallant president Zambia has ever had, a dictator that Zambia has ever had because in the history of Zambia it is only him who has closed two media houses so far – The Post and now Prime TV. What is he scared of? Let us learn to coexist and accept divergent views. If you just want people to be listening to your own voice always then you are a wrong leader because a good leader listens to criticism and is able to make amends based on the criticism.”

He said section 29 of the IBA Act which was quoted as a basis to revoke Prime Television’s licence did not in any way prove either how exactly the station was promoting terrorism, doing something illegal that affected state institutions, endangering state security and endangering the sovereignty of the state as provided in the section.

“It can never be evoked if there is no evidence to prove that the station is involved in the things I have mentioned. Therefore, they have abused that provision. And even if they have evoked that provision, the laid down procedure is that IBA should write to the station giving details of the involvement of those four things I have mentioned and ask them to show cause why their licence cannot be terminated,” he said. “In short they need to be heard by giving their side of the story of abrogation of licence provisions. All what the board did was to evoke the provision of Article 29 of the IBA. In doing that the board abused their authority and failed to live up to the provisions of that Act. Therefore, if the board cannot observe their legislation or cannot interpret their own law, they are not fit to be a board and they should resign on moral grounds.”

Kambwili said the closure of Prime TV was nothing but a political scheme by PF to start rigging the votes ahead of 2021 by silencing the voice of the people because they knew that the station covered everyone including the opposition political parties.

“If you read the letter that they wrote to Prime TV it will even show you that the letter was irregular. Prime TV has not been charged with any case which they included in their letter. Now how do they write that in the letter? Even the way the letter was written was all illegal and wrong. We call upon the President, Edgar Chagwa, Dora Siliya, Amos Malupenga to advise the board to rescind that decision and give back the licence to Prime TV,” he said.

Kambwili noted that there has been a vigorous outcry by the people although IBA was saying the decision to revoke the licence of Prime TV was done in public interest.

“In whose interest if the public is condemning the closure of Prime TV? They have done that in their own interest and against the interest of the people and that should not be allowed. The mere fact that [Gerald] Shawa (Prime TV proprietor) spoke on behalf of independent media houses alluded to the fact that they were not ready to give free adverts does not amount to the offence under the IBA. In any case Shawa was speaking on behalf of all broadcasting organisations, why go and target him alone because the associations had made it very clear that Shawa was speaking on behalf of the organization and he was merely a communication tool of the government?” he asked. “But because they want to close Prime TV the way they closed The Post newspaper, they have gone ahead to do something illegal. I appeal to the diplomatic community to immediately put pressure on the president of the PF, the government, to rescind their decision of cancelling the licence of Prime TV.”

Kambwili also said a mere cancellation of a licence cannot make the State takeover the premises of the private entity the way the Police have.

He said a cancellation means stopping broadcasting and not a company takeover.

“Like what has happened with Prime TV, the police have taken possession, removed the employees…and by the way that premises also houses Joy FM which has not been sanctioned. It has to be allowed to be operational. I demand that the police must hand over the premises to the owners. They have stopped the broadcasting but leave their premises and equipment alone,” Kambwili said.

He said silencing of Prime TV was a timing for 2021 elections because the PF knew that the opposition would be heard and Zambians would know the truth.

“No wonder they have closed Prime TV and intimidate other media houses not to cover the opposition,” said Kambwili.

A COWARDLY JUDAS SPIRIT: THE SELF-CONTRADICTING WORDS FROM THE FORKED TONGUE OF DIRTY HARRY

By Sunday Chilufya Chanda

Harry Kalaba’s recent personal attacks on the President of the Republic of Zambia His Excellency President Edgar Chagwa Lungu shows just how low he has steeped himself in the gutter of irrelevance, and how treacherously confused he has become in the process.

His disrespectful statement against the person of Reverend Godfridah Sumaili -the Minister of National Guidance and religious affairs also confirms how vulgar and devious he has turned out to be, and why he has earned the moniker “Dirty Harry”.

Isn’t this the same Harry Kalaba that on many occasions publicly applauded and acknowledged the performance of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu in terms of Governance and the Socio-Economic development of Zambia?

Isn’t it Harry Kalaba that brought it to the attention of not only Zambians, but the entire world, that because of his exceptional leadership, President Lungu has been recognised as an exceptional leader even by Pope Francis at the Holy See?

In case he has “Self-isolated” his memory in the gutter, Harry needs to be reminded of the many truths about the Head of State which Kalaba himself voluntarily and repeatedly shared not long ago.:

I quote:

_” Zambia’s record under President Lungu’s leadership is impeccable. We are now a choice of destination for investment”_ _”Our Head of State has marketed Zambia abroad very well and everybody stands to benefit._

_”President Lungu has profoundly raised the image of Zambia in the eyes of the international community’”_, _” He is liked everywhere and in turn Zambia is liked and attracting huge investments, which will soon create wealth for our people.”_

_”Out of the 54 African countries, the Pope told us that there are only eight countries that have never experienced civil strife and Zambia is among those eight. The Pope will only meet people with good governance record, hence meeting our President,”_,.

_”Any country has its ups and downs, I therefore appeal to Zambians to practise mature politics because there are many positives about Zambia under the leadership of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu”_.

End of quote. (There are many more)

Now Kalaba tell us; were you lying when you said the afore-mentioned things? Were you tipsy or just blissfully schizophrenic? Which is which ol’ chap?

Whichever way he responds, it is clear that Harry Kalaba’s politics have mutated into some kind of irrecognisable being…whatever it is, with a forked tongue; He is like a slippery serpent that cannot be trusted.

And because of that, he will never be trusted (whether in the tall grass or in plain sight) by anyone, least of all the Zambian electorate…not even Himself.

Dirty Harry is a type of Judas re-incarnate.

But thank God; Easter marked a triumph over the treachery of Judas.

The truth always prevails!

Ends…//…

Sunday Chilufya Chanda
Patriotic Front Media Director
Lusaka

By Sishuwa Sishuwa

On 9 April 2020, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), Zambia’s broadcasting regulator, cancelled the broadcasting licence of Prime TV, the country’s most popular and leading independent television station, established eight years ago. In a letter to Prime TV Executive Director Gerald Shawa, IBA Board Secretary and Director General, Josephine Mapoma, stated that the action has been taken in the ‘public interest’ and pursuant to Section 29 (1) (j) and (k) of the IBA (Amendment) Act of 2010. This Section, Mapoma wrote, “provides that the Board may cancel a broadcasting licence if ‘the cancellation of the licence is necessary in the interest of public safety, security, peace, welfare, or good order’”, or if “the Board considers it appropriate in the circumstances of the case to do so”.

She advised Shawa, if he was aggrieved with the decision of the Board, to appeal to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services for redress, as per the provisions of the Act.

What do we make of this move by the supposedly Independent Broadcasting Authority?

The first point to note about the cancellation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence is that it is illegal. This is because the decision of the Board did not comply with a mandatory provision of the very section that the IBA Board cited to explain their action. While the quoted Section 29 (1) (j) and (k) of the IBA (Amendment) Act of 2010 empowers the IBA Board to cancel a broadcasting licence, Section 29 (7) of the same IBA (Amendment) Act of 2010 provides that “The Board shall, before cancelling or suspending a broadcasting licence under this section, give the broadcasting licensee an opportunity to be heard”.

The hearing safeguard provided in this provision is important for, among other reasons, enabling the IBA to draw specific charges against the licensee (otherwise how does one defend themselves without written charges?), determining what constitutes, for instance, ‘public interest’, establishing the facts behind the alleged conduct of the station that amount to the violation of public interest, and deciding whether those facts were so grave that they warranted cancellation of the station’s licence. By cancelling the licence of Prime TV without according the station, or its representatives, the opportunity to be heard, the Board disregarded an express provision of the law. As a result, the actions of the IBA are illegal, as the body does not have the legal power to close down a TV station in this manner.

Were the station to appeal against the cancellation, any level-headed Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services would swiftly overturn the IBA’s decision and sack all the Board members who supported it for testing positive to the more lethal ignorance virus disease – IGVID20. Of course, this then raises the question of whether Prime TV will be lucky enough to find a level-headed Minister of Information when their appeal is finally heard. Few people would be willing to accuse Dora Siliya, the current occupant of the office, of possessing an independent judgement – independent in particular from the desires of the appointing authority.

The other problem is that while Section 31 (1) of the IBA (Amendment) Act of 2010 stipulates that “A person who is aggrieved with a decision of the Board under this Part may appeal to the Minister within thirty days” – after which they may appeal to the High Court if left unsatisfied – it does not provide for a specific timeframe within which the Minister must decide the matter. This is an institutional loophole that the Minister may take advantage of to unduly delay deciding the case, one that should be rectified urgently because it potentially undermines the efficient administration of justice and enables a minister who is susceptible to external influence to hide behind its ambiguity.

The second point is that the cancellation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence is a political decision and part of President Edgar Lungu’s wider strategy for the 2021 election. Those who are calling on the IBA to reverse the illegal action it has taken against Prime TV are missing one crucial point that is likely to render their appeals futile: the prime mover of the decision is almost certainly the President of Zambia. By closing the country’s leading independent television station, Lungu may be seeking to remove one more hurdle in his strategic step-by-step march to retaining power and extending his rule.

Over the last few years, Prime TV, competing against 41 other officially licensed television stations in Zambia, has emerged to become the channel of choice in most Zambian households. It has provided an important platform for the expression of a plurality of views and the discussion of issues that matter most to the public. These include the performance of the Patriotic Front (PF) in power, the viability of opposition political parties, the implications of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 10 of 2019, and the question of whether Lungu is eligible to stand for another term of office.

The station has also regularly televised paid-for rallies of opposition parties that are denied access to the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation. Furthermore, Prime TV, sometimes in conjunction with other institutions, has organised and broadcast a series of public discussions that have raised public awareness and understanding on different subjects of mutual interest. Such was Prime TV’s influence and rising appeal that even ministers and ruling party officials regularly abandoned the public media and queued to appear on this private television station, seeking to tap into its distinct viewership. Of particular concern to the PF is that the channel, available on the decoders of DStv, Top Star and GOtv, is most popular in the urban centres of Lusaka and Copperbelt, where the party’s support has become shaky.

Worried that the disenchantment arising from an informed public may damage his re-election prospects and work against the governing party, President Lungu may have exerted pressure on the IBA to shut down Prime TV in order to strike a serious blow to the electoral chances of opposition parties by removing the most effective platform that enabled them to connect their agenda for political change with the concerns or demands of the electorate.

If democracy is about the competition of ideas, politics is about the struggle for power – social and economic. This struggle cannot be waged without the media. Lungu knows this, and he is crudely making impotent his opponents by demolishing their access to this tool. Incidentally, by eliminating the possibilities the media offers for non-violent competition for power, Lungu is priming the country for civil war – the only other means for struggling for power.

By closing Prime TV sixteen months ahead of Zambia’s next election, Lungu and the PF are also seeking to deceive many into thinking that the decision is totally unconnected to the 12 August 2021 election, when, in fact, it is the underlying motivation. It is worth noting that when Lungu and the PF, in another move that was meant to boost their re-election chances, closed The Post newspaper on 21 June 2016, only about six weeks had remained before that year’s election. Despite great attempts by the government to present the action as a result of the failure by Zambia’s then leading independent newspaper to settle a disputed tax debt, it was quite obvious to many that the decision was linked to the election and was difficult to explain for any other reason. Lungu appears to have learnt from that experience by closing yet another critical media organisation much earlier this time around.

As well as seeking to conceal the obvious link to next year’s election, notwithstanding the fact that it is the primary motivation behind the move, he has decided to take an early decision in order to leave sufficient time to exhaust possible legal challenges against the cancellation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence. In 2016, Lungu took a gamble in closing The Post based on the expectation that the newspaper would not have enough time to exhaust the legal processes before it could be allowed to resume operations. This time, with the executive’s capture of key state institutions, Lungu and the PF may have the confidence that the courts are on their side and that the final judgement has probably already been written in their favour.

It is this perceived inability of the judiciary to salvage its independence from the executive that may explain why the IBA Board decided to overlook the procedure laid down in the Act for the cancellation of a broadcasting licence. Here, we see another point: the increasing deployment of lawfare to undermine democracy. Lawfare, in this case, refers to the strategic use of the law and legal institutions by actors in the executive to achieve political goals, obscure their authoritarian tendencies and enhance their grip on power. By using the IBA to remove a significant hurdle in his bid for absolute power, Lungu could be attempting to wrong-foot his critics by arguing that the closure of Prime TV was a legal decision, even if the directive may have come from him and the motivation was entirely political.

The third point to be made about the closure of Prime TV is that it demonstrates the increasing authoritarian and extra-constitutional exercise of state power in the interests of the ruling cabal. Moments after the IBA Board announced the cancellation of the station’s broadcasting licence, about 15 to 20 heavily armed police officers moved to seal off the premises of Prime TV and chased away all the workers. This action was as lawless as it was reckless and represented the highest expression of state-sanctioned impunity.

Section 29 (5) of the IBA (Amendment) Act of 2010 stipulates that “Where a broadcasting licence is cancelled under this section, the broadcasting licence shall be void and shall be surrendered to the Authority”. This means that the only thing that belonged to the government on Prime TV premises was the broadcasting licence. Even if the cancellation of Prime TV’s licence was legal, the government, based on the cancellation of a broadcasting licence alone, has absolutely no right to take over private property.

As a matter of fact, the occupation of Prime Television premises by police officers is a violation of the right to privacy of property protected by Article 17 of the Constitution of Zambia, which states that “Except with his own consent, a person shall not be subjected to the search of his person or his property or entry by others in his premises.” In other words, every person is protected from violation of their right to privacy through entry by others in their premises without their consent. The police had neither consent nor licence to enter the premises of Prime Television. In the absence of a licence issued under a written law or an order issued by court of law, their action was both unjustified and unconstitutional.

Here, we see that the PF does what the PF wants. Not even the law, including the Constitution of Zambia, can stop them. Their ultimate goal is to create a fear-driven society where no public criticism of the government and president is possible. Freedom of speech will not be directly outlawed but there will soon be no media outlets willing to print or broadcast any critical views. As the country heads towards the 2021 election, Zambians should not be surprised to wake up one day and learn that the government, for one manufactured reason or another, has closed the remaining critical newspapers such as News Diggers or The Mast. The struggle on the mass front – mass consciousness against oppression and the possibility to rise against them – is what Lungu and the PF are preventing by shutting down the independent media.

How bad do things have to get in Zambia before we stand up to Lungu and the PF, and say ‘enough and no more’? Yesterday, it was The Post and then John Sangwa. Today, it is Prime TV. Tomorrow it will be YOU. We commit the greatest crime as we consent to the status quo by remaining silent and doing nothing in the face of serious democratic backslides, injustice, abuse, corruption, and glaring inequality. This is our challenge: we Zambians are complicit in our brutalisation because we choose to be spectators in our own torture at the hands of Lungu and the PF. We have a responsibility to stop Zambia’s slide into authoritarian rule and prevent our descent into a darkness we may never recover from. Time is running out, fast.

IBA BOARD IS A BAND OF LEVERAGED REPROBATES WORKING WITH THE PF TO SUBVERT DEMOCRACY IN ZAMBIA.

By: Anthony Bwalya – UPND Member

I woke up to a message, impossible to fathom, yet not exactly unusual in a country like Zambia, where every action and decision made in the public arena is anchored on corruption, deception and manipulation; and all for the sole purpose of assisting the Patriotic Front (PF) cement their unholy grip on power and control.

Revelations that a serving IBA Board Member, Chalimba Phiri, is actively in bed and screwing around with the PF by actively providing them with “consultancy services” principally aimed at undermining our democracy by silencing the media, should be a wake up call for any sane Zambian, that our public institutions of governance are under a hostile, state capture takeover.

These institutions, such as the IBA, do not exist to serve the public and national interest as purported under the law that creates such creatures. The IBA is a working arm of the PF regime and will act and only act for and on behalf of the PF regime, and only in the interest of the PF regime.

How does an individual, who is either in the process of soliciting for work from the PF, or actively receiving payment from the PF, act impartially and professionally when his impartiality and professionalism can harm the people who are paying him?

Chalimba Phiri is NOT the only reprobate on the IBA board. They all are. If any one of them disagrees with my tagging them REPROBATES actively working to strangle our democracy by shrinking the private media space, and therefore working for the PF regime, let them come out in the open and justify their immoral conduct exercised in the closure of Prime Television.

This is the problem we currently have in Zambia: all frontline institutions of governance, including the courts, Electoral Commission of Zambia, the police, the IBA and several others are peppered with PF operatives and cadres who ensure that the agenda of the PF regime goes unchallenged.

The country witnessed an unplanned, unauthorized protest on the Copperbelt calling for Mopani Copper Mines to leave and the police allowed it. The reason is simple: the plan of the PF led cartel is to force the closure of not only Mopani but other viable mining corporations so that the cartel can take over. The takeover of the mines will NOT be for the benefit of Zambians. Any takeover will be for the benefit of the state capture cartel with PF at the heart of it.

Zambian workers will be worse off if and when we allow state capture cartels takeover our mines because our people will have no recourse to justice.

The reason I have mentioned protests on the Copperbelt against Mopani is to demonstrate that any protests against the closure of Prime TV will never be tolerated because it will fly in the face of the agendas of the PF regime.

This is why K13 million from City Market can be plundered without consequences because that money ended up at the PF Secretariat, and the market is under the leadership of known PF operatives.

And this is the sort of country we have been creating since 2011. And this is the sort of country others want to continue with post 2021.

This is not a Zambian Republic.

This is a PF mafia state.

PF GOVERNMENT’S BRUTAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM AND DICTATORSHIP CAN ONLY BE TAMED BY A COLLECTIVE AND GENUINE CITIZENS SOLIDARITY – A PRIME TV CASE

By Friday Kashiwa

Currently what we are witnessing worldwide is that all the normal and functional Governments have completely suspended or shelved all politically inclined and related battles and have instead shifted the focus of the day to day governance priorities and programs towards combating the DEADLY Convid 19 pandemic.

The immediate and most important steps and preoccupations being implemented by these serious Governments and administrations are the enhancement of the information dissemination associated with community education and awareness.

This is being done through the approval of expanded budgetary allocations to the existing media platforms or if necessary urgent creation of other new awareness communication conduits or channels like arts, theater and music.

In Zambia unfortunately its a different and sad story, always dununa reverse as the government of the day, the PF administration is hugely concerned and preoccupied with the checking and silencing whoever they perceive to be a threat and stepping on their political toes.

PRIME TV, the most popular, locally owned and nationally followed station has been a victim and has been closed by the Government arm of Independent Broadcasting Authority, citing very foolish and flimsy grounds that even its Director General, Josephine Mapoma ironically is finding difficulties in justifying.

SOLIDARITY WITH PRIME TV:
Since we are dealing with a very stubborn Government, we the zambians citizens, as the majority Shareholders of this enterprise called GRZ, should all come out and give moral and financial solidarity to Prime TV.
Solidarity is normally driven by Union Movements but we all know that our Union Movements in Zambia are dead and buried. Of course some Union leaders will argue and insist that they still exist but that IT’S BAD MANNERS TO TALK OR CONDEMN GOVT WITH NICE FOOD IN THE MOUTH.
Understandable, no wonder we haven’t seen any statement from any Union body.

So that leaves the burden and onus on us the well meaning zambian citizens to stand up and defend PRIME TV against the dictatorial decision of the PF Government.
As a matter of consolation and relief, we have a legal professional voice from the Law Association of Zambia who have come out strongly to rubbish, as unconstitutional, the closure of PRIME TV.

Should the matter go as far as the High Court, let’s organize ourselves as concerned citizens and help out with the Legal fees, with contributions to be channeled through the Legal firm to be retained by PRIME TV.

We are our own Brothers and Sisters Keepers. So let us rise to the challenge.
God bless Zambia.

Friday Kashiwa.
Shiwangandu.

By Stembridge Sikalundu

The situation is becoming tenaciously critical the party in power is ready for a no contest in 2021. It is moving step by step and smartly to the objective. I.have taken very serious evaluation from the happenings in the country , at this critical time HH is the most influential leader of the biggest opposition political party in Zambia.

His resilience from the torment by leaders in govt has given him a status of a leader by way of his charismatic quietness in responding to the street politics being used against him. HH was called a satanist , apprehended at his home like a criminal , denied citizenry rights to donate anything to the Zambian people.

The PF moved a propaganda story to demonize HH as the one who was funding the gassing project which failed. They jailed him for 127 days , all these activities may not be enough ,HH must not be complacent with what his doing now and before the general election in 2021.He needs adequate and accurate information for security purpose as he moves forward to challenge this regime , this regime is capable of doing anything just to remain in power , as they are , there is no sorry to them when they plan to do anything bad .

The united party for national development should always recall that HH was beaten by 150 thousand votes by president Lungu during the last election. The nation is aware that ECZ has failed to release the percentages of the previous election , the petition was not heard ,the chairperson of ECZ went on to announce wrong figures and a constituency which never existed ,they considered the matter as human mistakes yet they advantaged President Lungu , it is possible to believe what the UPND said after the deceleration ,that the victory was stolen.

This exercise was not easy for the PF to go away with it , they are very insecure on how they are going to manage these coming elections with HH coming stronger than before.They understand how they have failed the people economically because that is the basis of livelihood for every Zambian.The task for HH might be simpler because the situation in the country is determining itself for leadership change.

Zambians can not continue being haunted by politics of stupidity. Where are the promises PF made before elections ?.HH advised what the debt would do on the effects to the economy ,he was named a bitter person. HH went to the USA on invitation to an Economic forum ,he got pledges of USD 25.8billion in foreign direct investments. These are not loans PF is associating the country with China which may mortgage the future of this country. HH was insulted for giving the image of possibility in our nation.

The PF has been relying on grants and loans which have been misapplied or embezzled.These are some of the factors which should create awareness on how HH manages his political endeavours without anything happening to his personal life. As the situation obtains HH is likely to unseat the state president .

By Patrick Sikana

Dear Ms Josephine Mapoma,

I had a lot of things to say, but I will keep this short. Today is Good Friday. As a Christian Nation, our preoccupation should have been to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

The problem, though, is that while we find ourselves compelled by a marauding virus to stay at home, we can’t stay tuned in because you closed our favourite TV station. In case you wonder why I’m angry, that’s the first reason.

The second is even worse. You lied. You lied when, in your brief statement revoking the licence for Prime TV, you claimed to have done it in “public interest.” Every square centimeter of that claim is a lie. And do you know what you have done to yourself by letting a disgraceful lie sandwiched between your logo and your signature get out to the public? You have impugned your own reputation and reduced it to that of a press freedom hypocrite, unfit to serve as a defender of an independent media. What an unfortunate scar on both the conscience and CV of a seasoned scribe like yourself!

Clamping down on media houses is not defending free speech, madam Mapoma, that’s stifling dissent, muzzling the press and assaulting the truth. You want to limit our options so that the powers that be can have the monopoly of pumping brazen lies into the water supply that corrupts the most important choices we make as a nation.

The IBA, in case this has slipped off your mind, is supposed to, among others, guarantee that the freedom of the media is protected and to make sure no one is getting punished for saying or writing something unpopular. IBA was not created to ensure that lies of the incumbent have unfettered access to the Zambian public.

It seems you want to wind the clock backwards. Here is my free advice. Zambia today isn’t what it used to be in your hay days. Our appetite for variety has evolved and grown in size and sophistication. We can no longer survive on the malnourished diet of ZNBC monologue, epilogue and national anthem. We have moved on as a nation. Catch up, or drop out.

You claim you want to want to protect public interest? How about you begin by defending a TV station whose words make your blood boil, a station that’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of its voice that which you and your paymasters would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to see the public “stand and sing of Zambia proud and free?” Then the symbol of our freedom cannot just be a national anthem; the symbol also has to be that we, as citizens, are exercising our right to sing and listen to other songs. Show me that, Josephine, defend that, celebrate that in your board room. Then, I can stand up and sing of Zambia proud and free.

You know what I think? I think you are no longer competent to lead the IBA. Nor is that all. I think you are a clear and present danger to the orderly cultivation of a free, open and independent media in Zambia. I will not ask you to re-instate the licence because I know that is above your pay grade. However, before the poisonous hemlock of your opaque intentions spreads further to cause irreparable harm beyond Prime TV, please do the only remaining thing with an ounce of honour: resign.

THE REASON I CAME BACK TO FACEBOOK BEFORE 10TH APRIL

Good morning Facebook FAMILY. How are you?

First of all, thank you so much for your warm birthday wishes. I really appreciate that very much.

As many of you know, 40 days ago I announced that I’d take a break from Facebook and that I would only return on the 10th of April 2020. I said that because, at the time, I’d posted several videos on the gassing epidemic that had ravaged our country. I disagreed with the notion that there were ritual killers mysteriously entering peoples homes, putting them to sleep and drawing their blood.

I believed then and still believe now that the whole fiasco was perpetrated by common criminals that were taking advantage of our peoples fears.

The backlash was ferocious, so I decided to pull back and take a break. It also saddened me to see that some of our people, while claiming to be Christian, were actually paralyzed by superstition and imaginary wizards.

The other reason was Chilufya Tayali. He had published a list of salacious falsehoods about me and my family, and I must tell you…it hurt me deeply and angered me profoundly. As controversial as some of my posts may be, I have never published outright LIES about someone. My posts are crafted as strong opinions…but I have never posted MALICIOUS FALSEHOODS ABOUT SOMEONE.

The case is still in court and we are waiting for a court date so that trial commences. I fully intend to see that matter reach its logical conclusion.

Lastly, I felt disillusioned because in some strange way, Facebook was like a FAMILY…That’s the reason I would organize lunches and dinners. I wanted to physically meet you. I wanted to hear your stories. But later on, I decided to stop calling you guys my Facebook Family because of the insults and backlash…Now I have come to a new realisation…SOME of you are like my FAMILY.

We disagree, but we disagree respectfully and to tell you the truth, that’s all I’ve ever wanted. A place where we can interact, disagree strongly but no insults…I know that’s a stretch for some of you because “mwalibelela insele” [ you’re so accustomed to insults ] but I’ve decided not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Anyway, I came back because “you only live once” and life is too short to allow people to define you. So here I am…I never really left, and I’m glad.

I Love you guys [ well, some of you, not all of you🤣 ]

HAPPY EASTER

SML

#10April #TheFacebookFAMILY #AtHOME

CLOSURE OF PRIME TV

Fellow Zambians, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today is a very sad day in the history of Zambia. The closing of the biggest Zambian owned TV station by the PF government without cause is not only an unfortunate incident, but an act of cowardice, impunity and desperation by an unpopular government which has out used all its unwitty government survival ploys and now resorts to dictatorship.

The Prime TV was the only TV station which got to the community and showed the world how you live, your sufferings and your happiness moments. Today the Patriotic Front government is using the same old MMD tactics which President Sata, and all of us fought. How many Zambian companies are we going to allow President Lungu to destroy. Dora Siliya destroyed Zambian Airways, President Lungu got her to destroy the Post, and today they have managed to destroy our community pride Prime TV.

The closure of prime TV demonstrates that president Lungu is not interested in your well fare. How does he close Prime TV for no reason when Prime TV is a Zambian employer of youth. How does he destroy prime TV and yet he went to China to broker a loan for digital migration, a loan of $274 Million, when we had the option of going digital with no cost to government. President Lungu brokers and guarantees a loan for Top Star a Chinese company to come and regulate and carry content for Zambian companies. Is President Lungu president for Zambians or for Chinese?

The Chinese have their own very good president who takes good care of his people. He provided funds for his Chinese people to build business enterprises in China and all over the world. Yet the Zambian president is all out to destroy the businesses facilitated by his predecessors.

Country women and men,
I am not one to judge good and evil.
And I don’t want to judge the religious convictions of President Lungu, the religious minister and all concerned, as I have no authority over that. However, the behavior of our own leadership does not reflect the behavior of a government of a Christian nation.. I call upon the religious minister my mother whom I respect so much, to resign if she is not effective in providing guidance on morals and values for the leadership to which she is party to. If your own leadership cannot rule the country on values, how do you expect the people to live by proper values? My mother Madam Sumaili, we know that the PF dirt is not yours, please resign as you are being smeared with this dirt.

Country women and men,
President Lungu has destroyed more jobs while he has failed to create jobs for the suffering youth and the people of Zambia.
He has failed to control the price of mealie meal. He has failed to control the economy which is completely dead. The only thing he wants to control is you and I. Is that what we voted him for?

The closure of Prime TV is not about Mr. Shawa and his people. Its about President Lungu not wanting the Zambian entrepreneurs and Zambian business men and women to survive and thrive. It’s about president Lungu sending a message to you and I that only he and him and what he wants matters. It’s about taking you and I back to the days when Zambia was a one party state when no dissenting voice was allowed. It’s about President Lungu’s cowardice and desperation of losing the elections next year, the fact which is well known to him and his colleagues.

We had made so much progress as a country since 1991.
Today President Lungu has managed to reverse all the gains of the multiparty state in just 6 years of his rule.
This is the fastest collapse of any economy in the history of the world. He has taken us back to pre 1991 where we were queuing up for mealie meal.
He has added another element which has never been seen in Zambia before, he is a dictator in all its forms.
Zambians have more than suffered under President Lungu’s leadership. Corruption, Intimidation, political violence and killings , Arsons, gassing of people and dictatorship…it’s all under PF.

I call upon all the people of Zambia to stand with Prime TV. I call upon the Church to stand with Prime TV. I call upon all the politicians to stand with Prime TV. We must show Madam Dora Siliya that Zambia is bigger than her. We must show President Lungu that Zambia is bigger than him.

Let us all join hands as brothers under the sun at this crucial and defining moment of our time

Let us defend the values and morals of our country. Today its prime TV, tomorrow its you and you and you and me.. It’s all of us.

Let us defend the principles on which our beautiful precious Republic of Zambia was founded upon, the principles which makes us to stand and proclaim the pride and freedoms of us as a people. The freedoms our fore fathers fought for. The principle of fairness and equality.

Harry Kalaba
President
Democratic Party

Let’s believe again!!

By: Anthony Bwalya – UPND Member

Zambians need to learn very quickly, how rogue, unpopular regimes seek to consolidate power and control.

This is often achieved through the hostile takeover of an entire economy by agents of the regime, acting together with members of the regime, to systematically paralyze and then take over key sectors of the economy under their unfettered control.

Once all economic power has successfully been moved away from microeconomic actors and placed into the command and control of state capture elements acting for and on behalf of the regime, then that is it: the country and it’s people and well and truly done.

Now, the state capture cartel at the heart of the PF regime intends to, and have for a number of years now, been creating a hostile business environment for both local and international investors, targeting ALL critical sectors of the economy from energy, agriculture, mining and manufacturing.

Once the business environment becomes becomes too hostile and key players start pulling out, the cartel will move in with a combination of their stolen billions and conniving investors to take over the Zambian economy.

Then they will be able to control forex, exports and consumption patterns within the economy. They will also be able to control wages and other compensation, just enough to keep the people loyal and foolishly silent.

For example, while Zambians are complaining about the expensive pump price of fuel, what they don’t know is that the Energy Regulation Board no longer sets the pump price of fuel. The ERB us used to rubber stamp the instructions of the cartel that has taken over all oil procurement, supply and distribution channels.

The more Zambians pay for fuel at the pump, the more money the cartel makes.

As we speak, oil is currently trading at less than $25/ barrel and the cartel are using public resources to cheaply procure oil and then feed it into the local market at a premium!

I am sure many of you have seen a huge number of filling stations popping up everywhere…These actually belong to members of the cartel and are intended to maximize economies of scale.

The failure by ZESCO to successfully renegotiate and renew the Bulk Power Supply Agreement with the CEC is not an accident. The regime cartel intended for the BSA to be sabotaged, frustrate CEC and launch a hostile takeover of the over $500m worth of private assets belonging to CEC. Once they have successfully taken over the supply of the critical production component of the mining industry, they can then use predatory energy pricing tactics to force the closure of key mining corporations and then the cartel will pick them up for close to nothing.

Today, there is a screening headline in one of the local tabloids, suggesting “fraud” on the part of Mopani, and another calling for them to “hand over the mine” if they have failed to run it. All this is music to the cartel because that is the precise intention.

This is also how the cartel moved to illegally take over the Mukula business, destroying a lot of legitimate local timber companies.

Zambians need to open their eyes and never take a chance on a morally bankrupt PF regime.

2021 will be a monumental year for our country. Reclaiming our country will be tough, even at the ballot, because the PF regime has already signalled an intention never to give up power; whatever the consequences.

In the same breath, Zambians must commit to getting rid of the mafia regime of the PF, whatever the price… because this now will be a battle for the heart and soul of our beloved country.

This is, must be, and will be for our independence.

By Sikaile Sikaile

Please note that we have survived so many temptations not to be part and parcel of the ongoing injustice in Zambia we sing about everyday.

Believe you me, if I was that stupid immediately after the 2016 fraud general elections, I was going to be a PF government vuvuzela just like Antonio Mwanza who is defending the undefendable after I denied an offer of a vehicle, house and a monthly salary of K20,000. We know that some of you they pay you every month, so that you can praise them for destroying the nation with impunity.

For me, Zambia comes first and not these blood moneies you get bribed with to praise oppressors. I would rather die poor together with the undermined citizens than praising wrong doings.

There is no way I can team up with such evil people who have no heart for Zambians and feel comfortable that I’m able to eat. God will punish all those who have taken this route.

People remember where you come from. Some of us grew up in the bush. The village where we walked over 20KM daily to go to School and those villagers depend on us to stand up for them and defend them from such wicked men. Because to date life has never changed if not worsened in my village and chiefdom.

To this effect, my first loyalty goes to the entire Chiefdom of Nyawa and Zambia at large. Therefore, no amount of bribery can sway my vision for this great nation Zambia, that needs a serious team of leaders to alleviate poverty.

By the way, Iam a senior headman without portfolio in my Chiefdom.

My people share drinking water with animals, and we only have one health post without medication and all necessary equipment. We don’t know what a tarmac looks like. We have no electricity nor proper roads.

And you foolishly expect me to praise oppressors and looters of public resources! that treat other citizens as second class! Not with me, try another person. I refuse to be part and parcel of this madness of praising failures who have abused poor citizens, because God created me normal with five senses to think and do the right thing to benefit humanity.

Sikaile Sikaile
Good Governance and Human Rights Activists

By Anthony Bwalya – UPND member

Let’s be very clear: Mr. Hakainde Hichilema is the epitome of the kind of ethical leadership Zambia requires in order to regain the faith and trust of our Bi and Multilateral partners, as well as restoring the confidence of private sector investment partners; as a prerequisite to kick-starting a fast dying Zambian economy.

Ethical leadership is all about trust, honesty, fairness and consideration and clarity of purpose. And when ethical leadership fails, no credible investment partners, either local or foreign, will have an appetite to do business with you.

The failure of ethical leadership under the Patriotic Front (PF) has occurred at organizational level, to the extent that the leadership and general membership of the PF has failed to hold itself up to the highest standard of public leadership integrity and morality.

While high ranking members of the PF establishment and government have repeatedly failed the ethics and integrity test of public leadership, the organization has applauded and defended acts of grand corruption, deception, manipulation and bad judgement of it’s high ranking members at the expense of safeguarding the wider interests of the Zambian people.

The PF, as a political establishment, has build and entrenched a culture of defending impropriety while attacking the ethical conduct of our public institutions of governance.

When the FIC report of 2018 revealed staggering acts of political grand corruption involving K5 billion, as well as revealing how the PF received K10 million as a kickback payment for the award of public contracts, the chorus to attack the integrity of the report was led by President Edgar Lungu himself, while ALL his lieutenants, either joined in or remained SILENT in this matter.

No one person in PF stood up to defend the ethical standing of the party by condemning this blatant theft of public resources.

When government Ministers connived to steal over $30m in the fraudulent procurement of Fire Tenders, the entire PF was unanimous in defending the cost of a Fire Tender at $1m each.

When Dr. Chitalu Chilufya paid out $288,000 for each ambulance that NEVER arrived, the entire PF applauded and defended his actions!

When $4m of social cash transfer money was stolen and diverted to stealing By-elections across the country, the entire PF defended this thuggery and said no money had ever been stolen, even when international development partners issued independent reports to the opposite.

The country remembers most recently, when high ranking government officials were mentioned in a dirty scam involving the illegal cutting and export of Mukula trees in which over $38m in bribes were paid, while the country lost over $1.5bn in revenue over 7 years…the PF and it’s members defended their paymasters and dismissed the report as innuendo, despite other international reports corroborating these findings.

In 2016, we all remember when government refused to obey the legal advice of the Attorney General and illegally allowed Ministers to remain in office at the height of a general election. These people not only abrogated the Republican Constitution, they also stole from the Treasury by illegally drawing salaries and allowances.

The PF establishment was again unanimous in defending the illegal assault on our constitution.

Today, Zambia sits on close to $13bn worth of very expensive, non concessional debt. All the debt contracted after 2016, close to $8bn, has been contracted without parliamentary approval and thus illegal.

The PF establishment defended this act of constitutional lawlessness and now want to legitimize it by removing parliamentary oversight around debt contraction, using another illegal avenue called Bill 10.

And how can we forget the marriage of ZNBC and TOPSTAR – over $100m stolen in this scam.

Today, we have senior members of the PF, wanting to oust President Edgar Lungu and become President when they are ALL complicit and beneficiaries in the destruction of our country.

Can any honest Zambian, put their hand on their heart, and cite one member of the PF, senior or otherwise, who PUBLICLY, TIMELY and CONSISTENTLY condemned these acts of sabotage by the PF against Zambians?

Those who are “speaking out now” against the collapse of ethical leadership in the PF are doing so because it serves their own personal interests, and it’s understandable.

BUT, this is not patriotism. This is deception and manipulation of the Zambian people.

Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, on the other hand, has consistently spoken out against ALL of the above crimes in defense of the Zambian Republic; and history has vindicated him.

Mr. Hakainde Hichilema has better served the collective public interest in opposition, than those we have actually elected and entrusted power and authority to govern.

In 2021, Zambians have an opportunity to put the ethical leadership of Mr. Hakainde Hichilema to the test and allow him to become President…then let us watch the economy turn itself around because ethical leadership is not only the anchor but also the catalyst of private investments for the creation of jobs and wealth for our people.

AN AUDIT Report for the financial year ended 2018 has revealed that the University of Zambia owes ZRA, NAPSA and Workers Compensation over K2.8 billion in statutory obligations.

And the report has revealed that there were 30,657 favourable changes to student results without supporting documentation in 2018.

Meanwhile, the audit report has revealed that UNZA Vice-Chancellor Professor Luke Mumba has been paid a special allowance totalling K111,832 from September 2016 which is not in line with his terms of service.

This is according to a review letter signed off by Director – Public Debt & Investment Audits Rinniah Zulu on behalf of the Auditor General, detailing the findings by Grant Thornton who were subcontracted to do the audit.

The findings of the preliminary report revealed that UNZA accumulatively owed ZRA K1,607,660,000, NAPSA K1,201,980,000 and Workers Compensation K9,800,000 from 2013 to 2018.

“A review of records at the University revealed that amounts totalling K2,819,440,000 were deducted from the employees’ emoluments as Pay As You Earn, NAPSA and Workers Compensation during the period under review…However, these amounts had not been remitted to ZRA, NAPSA and Workers Compensation as of 31st December 2018,” the report read, stating that there was a risk of penalties and interest charges as well as increased government domestic debt.

But the UNZA management blamed this debt on government’s failure to adequately fund the institution.

“The auditor’s observation is noted. Failure to pay statutory obligations as and when they fall due is as a result of liquidity problems. As stated in your analysis, Government funding to the University is below operational costs rendering the University incapacity to dismantle statutory obligations. However, the University anticipates that most of its debt shall be liquidated by the Government of Zambia as per the Public Universities New Financing Strategy Cabinet memo of 2017. In December 2018 treasury released K23million for dismantling of arrears. In 2019 a total of K20.9 million was released towards dismantling of arrears. Evidence is available for verification,” read management’s response.

And the audit revealed that there were over 30,000 favourable changes to students’ results without proper justification.

“According to the University procedures on results management, entry of results on the Students Information System is done by authorised personnel who have been appointed to enter results. After results are entered, respective schools will meet to review and moderate the results where possible and then the Board of Examiners will also review and moderate where possible as well. The Board of Examiners will then print the results to be submitted for Senate’s approval. The Senate Committees reviews the results and produce a publication list that is approved by the Vice Chancellor. The results are published and student are given a two-week window period to appeal. All successful appeals will be amended after approval of the Vice Chancellor. The following was however observed; Favourable Moderation to Students Results without Supporting Documentation,” the audit read.

“A review of the system logs for the years 2015 to 2017 revealed that there were thirty thousand six hundred and fifty-seven (30,657) favourable changes to student results. As of November 2019, no supporting documentation to support the above changes to students’ results were availed for audit. (Schedule IT15).”

But management blamed this on a system glitch.

“The system was designed to auto-save in real-time as results are being keyed in by the user. A review of the schedule indicates that a number of records were as a result of the auto-save function. Furthermore, we are limited to provide appropriate answer to the query because the log in Schedule IT15 did not have adequate information to indicate the stage at which the log was produced in the results management process. Results can be changed at four stages (Departmental, School, Senate and Appeal) with supporting documentation. In addition, a log is a track of changes to the record and therefore an appropriate conclusion would have been drawn if the results in the system were compared with the publication list,” read management’s justification.

Meanwhile, the audit revealed that 4,070 results were changed from a higher mark to a lower mark while 7,938 results were changed from having a mark to null.

“An analysis of the results revealed that during the period under review, four thousand and seventy (4,070) results were changed from a higher mark to a lower mark while, seven thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight (7,938) results were changed from having a mark to a NULL,” the report read.

However, in its response, management said it could not provide an appropriate answer because the log being cited did not have adequate information indicating at which stage it was produced in the management process.

“On the 4,070 students, we are limited to provide appropriate answer to the query because the log in Schedule IT18 did not have adequate information to indicate the stage at which the log was produced in the results management process. Results can be changed at four stages (Departmental, School, Senate and Appeal) with supporting documentation. In addition, a log is a track of changes to the record and therefore an appropriate conclusion would have been drawn if the results in the system were compared with the publication list,” read management’s response.

“On the 7,938 students, the change of results was not effected in the system. The system is designed to auto-save in real-time and the users only logged in the system but did not change any results.”

Meanwhile, the audit findings revealed that Professor Mumba been paid a special allowance totalling K111,832 from September 2016 which is not in line with his terms of service.

“During the period September 2016 to December 2019, the Vice Chancellor was paid through the payroll a special allowance at the rate of K3,994 per month. It was however observed that allowance was not stipulated in the terms of contract for the Vice Chancellor and neither was it approved by Board. In this regard, amount totalling K111,832.00 that was paid for the period September 2016 to December 2018 was irregular,” read the report.

In its response, management said the money was meant for the Vice-Chancellor’s maid and chef.

“The special allowance paid to the Vice Chancellor relates to the salaries for a Maid and a Chef. However, due to limitations of codes in the payroll system, the special allowance code was used to pay this allowance to the Vice-Chancellor instead of creating a new code. The contract supporting the payment of allowance is available for verification,” the report read.

The audit also indicated that Prof Mumba and his deputy had received salary increments which were not supported by any documentation.

“The University entered into a contract of employment for the position of Vice Chancellor for a contract duration of five years running from 1st July 2016 at a salary of K68,390. A further scrutiny of the personal file and payroll revealed that in January 2017, the salary was adjusted to K75,229 indicating an increase of K6,839.00 However, no documentation was availed to support the salary increment of 10 per cent of the initial contract. The University entered into a contract of employment for the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor for a contract duration of four years running from 28th January 2016 at a salary of K61,219. In July 2016, the salary was adjusted by K1,426 to K62,645. Further in December 2016, the salary was adjusted by K6,264 to K68,909.50 representing a 10 per cent increment. However, no documentation was availed to support the adjustment by 12.5 per cent of the initial contract,” read the audit.

“On 8th June 2017, a contract of employment was signed for the position of Bursar with a contract period of four years (1st November 2016, to 31st October 2020) at an entry salary of K42,365. A scrutiny of the personal files and payroll revealed that in December 2016, one month after the engagement the salary was adjusted to K46,601.50 indicating an increase of K4,236.50. Further, in January 2017, arrears in amounts totaling K6,353.30 (salary arears of K4,236.50, Fuel K1,270 and housing K847.30) were paid. However, no documentation was availed to support the salary increment and payment of arrears for the salary. The University entered into a contract of employment for the position of Dean of Students for a contract duration of four years running from 1st March 2016 at a salary of K38,024. A further scrutiny of the personal files and payroll revealed that in December 2016, the salary was adjusted to K41,826.40 indicating an increase of K3,802.40. However, no documentation was availed to support the salary increment of 10 per cent of the initial contract.”

But in a brief response, management stated: “The contracts provide for amendments to the terms by Council. The documents supporting the adjustments are available for verification.”

THE Hong Kong Bar Association has called on the Judiciary of Zambia to seriously reconsider the barring of constitutional lawyer John Sangwa, State Counsel, from appearing before any court in Zambia.

In a letter to the Judiciary of Zambia acting Chief Registrar Prince Boniface Mwiinga, Hong Kong Bar Association chairman Philip Dykes, State Counsel, expressed concern that the rights of audience have been suspended even before the complaint of professional misconduct has been determined.

“The Hong Kong Bar Association writes to express concern at the circumstances in which Mr. John Sangwa S.C. has, at the direction of the Judiciary of Zambia on 13 March 2020, no longer been allowed to appear before any Court in Zambia. We are troubled that the rights of audience of Mr. Sangwa S.C. have been suspended by the Judiciary notwithstanding that the complaint of professional misconduct (also made by the Judiciary) to the Law Association of Zambia against him had yet to be determined at the time of suspension (and indeed, remains to be determined as of even date),” the letter read.

He stated that the reasons for Sangwa’s suspension raised apprehension regarding due process, fundamental rights and the rule of law, particularly in light of the principles set out in the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.

“We are further troubled by the suggestion that the suspension may in some way be associated with comments made by Mr. Sangwa S.C. concerning the presidential term limits set out in the Constitution of Zambia and the appointment of Members of the Constitutional Court. These matters raise for us apprehension regarding due process, fundamental rights and the rule of law, particularly in light of the principles set out in the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (1990), including Articles 23 and 27-29 therein. As a member of the international community of lawyers, the HKBA supports the adherence to these principles which are crucial to the independence of lawyers in all jurisdictions. The HKBA therefore urges the Judiciary to give serious reconsideration to the notice issued on 13 March 2020 in respect of the suspension of Mr. Sangwa S.C., with the aforesaid principles and imperatives in mind,” stated Dykes in the letter copied to Chief Justice Irene Mambilima, Law Association fo Zambia president Eddie Mwitwa, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Diego Garcia-Sayån and Sangwa.

PF ATTEMPTS TO BUY OFF A UPND COUNCILLOR IN WESTERN PROVINCE WITH A TEACHING POSITION BACKFIRES

LUAMPA – 06/04/20

Attempts by the Patriotic Front to create an induced local government by-election in Luampa district of western province has hit a snag after the area councilor who is a secondary school teacher by profession refused to resign despite being given a letter of appointment to a school in Kapiri Mposhi district of central province.

According to Shinganga Sandu,the female UPND councilor for Luampa Central ward, the PF provincial leadership working with an Office of the President Special Branch Officer in Charge for Luampa identified as Sinkala on Thursday last week drove her to some lodge near Mongu’s old shoprite where she was told to resign from her position as councilor and get appointed as a teacher to a school of her choice within mongu

Ms Sandu said she was then driven to the office of western province permanent secretary Danny Bukali by PF Provincial Chairman KUFUKA who assured her of a vacancy in mongu to which she refused opting for a school in kapiri as she intended to join the husband that side, a request which was quickly granted through Kapiri District Commissioner.

According to the civic leader, Mr Bukali at this point rang some senior official at the Ministry of Education headquarters to prepare a letter of appointment as they asked her to draft a letter of resignation from her civic position.

“The PS at this point requested me to write the letter of resignation as the letter of appointment would be ready before the end of business that day and that I should travel back to Mongu on Wednesday this week with my resignation letter enroute to take up my teaching position in Kapiri Mposhi. On our way back to Luampa, Mr Sinkala from the Office of the President then handed over my letter of appointment at which point I lost it and told him that I was not for sale and would never betray my party,the UPND”,she said.

Ms Sandu has since reported the matter to her relatives who have since summoned the Intelligence Officer for a family talk and to ask him to lay his hands off the councillor but had by press time not responded to the summon.

According to the letter of appointment signed by Ministry of General Education Acting Director Human Resource and Administration Kapulo Musonda, Ms Sandu was to take up a teaching position at Fibale School in Kapiri under PMEC ID number 20213532 and was required to report herself to the Central Provincial Education Officer upon completion of all formalities in line with the Teaching Service Commission.

Meanwhile,UPND deputy chairman for Local Government and Housing Brian Ndumba has commended the civic leader for demonstrating a rare character full of integrity and principle.

Mr. Ndumba said it was his and the UPND’s prayer that other councilors would take a leaf from the Luampa councillor’s loyalty to the party and the electorates.

End/

(c) UPND MEDIA TEAM

By: Anthony Bwalya – UPND Member

There are only THREE words that perfectly describes the Patriotic Front (PF) reign in office since 2011: MANIPULATION, DECEPTION, CORRUPTION.

Zambians must also be reminded, that right now, the PF regime has embarked on a dirty scheme of leveraging international investment banking laundering platforms, to divert our $11.6 billion external debt into the hands of vultures in exchange for millions of US dollars in commission.

What the Zambian public do not realize is that the rapid, illegal accumulation of public debt by the PF regime, in the name of infrastructure development, was a long-standing calculated move to defraud the Zambian treasury and allow our country and our people to be held at ransom by international lending vulchers, all in exchange for quick cuts in commission.

This is how the PF regime sought to back Zambians into an impossible public debt position, entrench poverty and destitution, and then continue to hold themselves out as the Messiahs of a highly impoverished country whose most vulnerable now exist merely on handouts from corrupt, thieving government politicians of the ruling regime.

It is worth mentioning, that the regime has now effectively cut all productive debt restructuring engagement ties with our multilateral partners such as the IMF, a path that demanded fiscal discipline and sobriety, and instead opted for an international investment banking route which puts the interests of vulchers ahead of our country, while ensuring that Zambian politicians within the PF regime get paid handsomely for accepting to launder the lives of Zambians!!!!!

We cannot be stupid enough, to forget that anything and everything that the PF regime has done, has always been aimed at consolidating the power and influence of the Patriotic Front and it’s high ranking members while weakening the underlying fabric of our public institutions.

Today, our public institutions are struggling to pay our hardworking civil servants and yet PF officials, government Ministers can afford to make “donations” in their millions. These individuals are no longer repentant about flaunting their unexplained wealth – they wear the most expensive suits, shoes, cologne; drive the most expensive vehicles, build the biggest mansions. They do all this while our mothers give birth on filth hospital floors, while hardworking Zambians die without ever receiving their pension benefits, while council workers go unpaid for months, as well as while students meal allowances are withdrawn.

These are the same people who have gone after our protected forests such as Forest Reserve #27 and started building mansions against the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act. These are the same people who confiscated thousands of tonnes of Mukula trees from legitimate permit holders, exported the logs and shared the proceeds among themselves. In aggregate, the regime has failed to account for over $1.5bn in Mukula revenue since 2012!!

And do Zambians want to know why the PF regime has spent close to $7bn “investing” in hydroelectric projects while foolishly making noise about climate change? Corruption and kickbacks. This regime could have installed 347MW of solar power in each one of our 10 provinces with this kind of money, but instead they decided to launder our public resources by tieing our nation to foreign debt that delivered maximum kickbacks to members of the regime while delivering little economic freedoms for Zambians.

If Zambians think all our sufferings have happened by accident then we never learn and we probably do not deserve this country.

The PF regime has been waging war against this country since 2011 and they will not stop.

For the PF, their continued stay in office is no longer about service; it is about power and control.

In 2021, Zambians will have a choice: either we take our country back or we must willingly accept to be slaves and live a life of slavery in our own, independent country…

LUNGU’S PRESIDENCY IS COMING TO AN END

By Sara Imutowana Yet II

To respect the dignity of the presidency also means accepting the end when it comes.

Hence, it is also normal that a flower blooms and fades, the sun rises and sets, lovers love and go, dew gathers and vanishes, waves rage and level, and life is born and dies.

This is the way life is designed.

There is nothing permanent in this life.

Similarly, presidents come and go.

No matter how good and great a president is, he will not last forever.

We had Kaunda, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, Banda and Sata as republican presidents, and, where are they?

Good or bad, the office of the president outlived them all.

As long as we dwell in the body, space and time makes our life transient.

If presidents were to understand that their offices will outlive them, maybe they would behave better.
It is true that many people show a president respect because of the office he is holding and not the individual.

It is when that office leaves them or leave that office, whichever comes first, that a president knows his true worth and what people think about him.

Former president Banda, and Chiluba, if he was still alive, would attest to the fact how they understood their true worth when the office of the president outlived them and were being investigated for corruption-related offences.

Their innumerable supporters became less both in quantity and quality, than desired.

That is why a president should never be carried away by political praises.

A president should be careful when aides or people praise him too much because they see him as their pot of soup and they will do anything to keep him even when his term of office has ended or when incapacitated because of sickness.

Therefore, a president should not confuse people’s loyalty to their own personal interests with loyalty to him.

In this life, very few presidents make new genuine friends.

Most of the new friends are allured by power not the person holding power.

Many years ago, my mother told me that I was beautiful to attract any man on earth, but she was quick to state that my beauty is fluid.

She wanted me to attract men because of my brain and not beauty which is fluid.

Indeed, presidential power attracts, but the same power is fluid.

A wise president should know that pictures of former presidents titivating the walls of the office he is occupying tell a story.

The story is simple, that someone was there yesterday, he is there today, and another person will be there tomorrow.

This is what we mean when we say that nothing in this life, really, lasts forever.

The same applies to those appointed as presidents’ aides or assistants, they need to learn from their predecessors.

As aides, they should defend the president responsibly and do their work with caution.

When sent on slavish errands, they should discharge their responsibilities guided by their consciences.

Aides are not slaves to be used for dirty work because one day like Richard Sakala and Amos Chanda they will have to account for all their actions.

Besides, no wise aide should fall into the temptation of inheriting the enemies of the president because when they make up, the aide may not be there.

As a Yeta II of this world, I will continue to criticise the president.

Please desist from turning the president into a demi-god and never turn critics to demons.

Remember there is life after office in the presidency.

Therefore, be careful how you climb and ride the horse because you will come down someday.

You have the right to enjoy the benefits of your office but not at the expense of your sense of what is right and wrong.

These are President Edgar Lungu’s last months in the office.

It must be hard for him to stomach professional advice that he has to leave the presidency, or the presidency will leave him, whichever will come first.

Indeed, these are tough times to our brother Lungu.

But then again traditional wisdom holds that leaders come and go, and people remain.

I pray that those that sung praises for Lungu will be his source of support when he leaves office.

He needs the praise singers’ support to fight loneliness that characterises the former head of State status which makes it difficult to maintain and form meaningful relationships.

Life is like a book with many chapters, when one chapter ends the other one starts, and the other way around is true.

Sir Isaac Newton said that whatever goes up must come down.

The Finance Minister Does Not Need Any Parliamentary Approval To Procure Public Debt

The State has submitted before the Constitutional Court that Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya Ng’andu and the Attorney General do not need any parliamentary approval to procure public debt for Zambia.

This submission was made by Solicitor General Abraham Mwansa in response to a petition filed by former Commerce minister and UPND member Dipak Patel in which he has challenged government’s move to procure public debt, saying it was done without the approval of the National Assembly and therefore illegal.

Constitutional Court judge Anne Sitali has since set April 16 for status conference.

The petition by Mr. Patel has raised constitutional matters touching on the interpretation of, among others, Article 63 of the Constitution of Zambia on public borrowing by the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

Mr. Patel is represented by Mulambo Haimbe of Malambo and Company and Jeah Madiaka of J and M Advocates in this matter where he has cited Dr Ng’andu and Attorney General Likando Kalaluka, who are represented by the Attorney General’s Chambers.

Mr. Patel is seeking an order that public debt, whether local or foreign, sought to be contracted on behalf of government, must be presented to the National Assembly for prior approval.

However, the Solicitor General has stated that Mr. Patel is not entitled to any reliefs he is seeking and the petition should be dismissed with costs.

He explained that sections three and seven of the Loans and Guarantees (Authorisation) Act chapter 366 of the Laws of Zambia do not require the Attorney General and Dr. Ng’andu to obtain any form of approval from National Assembly as is being claimed by Mr. Patel.

“There has been no failure, neglect or refusal by the first and second respondents to obtain prior approval from the National Assembly as the law requiring the same has not yet come into effect,” Mr. Mwansa stated.

He stated that he was denying Mr. Patel’s statement to the extent that it is alleged that in the correct scheme of the law, prior approval of the National Assembly is required before local or foreign debt may be contracted by the State.

He also denied that Dr. Ng’andu ought to be signing bills for presentation to Parliament for purposes of scrutiny before any debt is contracted by the government.

Mr. Mwansa explained that the proper and correct legislation required and in use for purposes of procuring loans by the government is the Loans and Guarantees (Authorisation) Act, Chapter 366 of the Laws of Zambia.

He stated that this is until the provisions of the Constitution referred to comes into effect through an Act of Parliament.

• THE Zambezi River Authority, which manages Kariba Dam and its catchment, says the inland lake has recorded a significant increase in water level as a result of improved inflows, although water for power generation remains generally limited.

Kariba Dam is fed by Zambezi River which starts from northern Zambia and passes through Angola, Namibia, Botswana into Zimbabwe before flushing out to Mozambique into the Indian Ocean.

In a statement, ZRA chief executive Munyaradzi Munodawafa said dam water is now two metres above operating water level.

“The Zambezi River flows monitored at Victoria Falls rose from 349 m3/s at the start of January 2020 to 3,890 m3/s recorded on 27th March 2020. The flows are now 54 percent above the recorded long-term average flow of 2,522 m3/s for this station.

“The lake level rose by 97cm between 1st January 2020 and 27th March 2020. As of 27th March 2020, the recorded lake level at Lake Kariba was 477.64m, signifying 14.86 percent live storage or 9.63 billion cubic meters of usable storage with the lake being just over 2 metres above the Minimum Operating Level (MOL).

“However, this recorded volume of stored usable water is 60 percent lower than that recorded on the same date last year at a lake level of 480.73m with 24.16 BCM or 37.28 percent usable storage with the lake being 5m above the MOL,” said Munodawafa.

Last year, on the same date, the recorded flow was 800 m3/s.

Munodawafa said the increase in the lake levels at Kariba is attributable to the improvement in the inflow from the upper Kariba catchment.

He said during the period October 2019 to Mid-March 2020, the total inflow into the Lake stood at 10.54 BCM when the historical average for this period is no less than 14.39 BCM.

“The below average inflow recorded to date under the 2019/2020 rainfall season accounts for the low water levels that continue to be recorded at Kariba,” he said.

The Zambezi River flows rose from 236 m3/s at the start of January 2020 to a peak of at 5,006 m3/s recorded on 25th February 2020 after which the flows receded, ZRA stated.

The water levels at Kariba are mainly influenced by the inflows into Lake Kariba from the Zambezi River and its tributaries located in the Kariba catchment.

ZRA has 14 gauging stations located within the Kariba catchment including Chavuma and Victoria Falls upstream Munodawafa said ZRA allocated 22 Billion cubic meters to be shared equally between the two power stations at Kariba hence limiting the combined power generation output to an average 550MW for both stations.

“The Authority has maintained this water allocation for the remainder of the 2020 period in the wake of the below average lake inflows under the 2019/2020 rainfall season in an effort to ensure build up the reservoir storage.

The river authority has however said significant water level increase has been recorded upstream at Chavuma Station where on Friday the river flow was at 4,559 m3/s while last year same date it was 732 m3/s.

The current flows at Chavuma are so far the highest in the last twenty years as water level rose by 523 percent better than in 2019, Munodawafa said.

This has seen the Victoria Falls regaining its volumes with the thundering falling water and showers returning.

ZRA authority says it will take four weeks for the flows at Chavuma to reach Victoria Falls owing to the significant influence of the Barotse Flood Plains in Zambia which are now full.

ZRA is a jointly and equally owned organization Zambia and Zimbabwe and is tasked with managing Kariba dam and develop additional water storage infrastructure along the shared river.

KBF IS JUST A SHOE RACE TO HH IN TERMS OF INTEGRITY AND LEADERSHIP

_James Kasanda Musendeka Lukuku, RPP President_

KBF demeaned the Alliance and President HH yesterday when he featured on a platform.

He can’t just pass and get away with it unanswered.

This is a KBF who is political party less since the PF has expelled him.

KBF claimed to be intelligent which is true because records at unza speaks so. But KBF is not the only intelligent Zambian. We are a country of countless intelligent people which includes me with my Distinction-and-Merit only academic record. KBF should also understand that classroom intelligence is different from applied wisdom and leadership.

Rigging elections for PF is not leadership and there is no leadership in rigging elections.

KBF is just a rigger and cunning lawyer and absolutely nothing else.

The Law Association of Zambia has closed his Law firm a record 20 times for duping and crooking his client. How can such a crook and a father of a thief arrested in America say President HH takwata amano.

If HH takwata amano, why is KBF’s always cooking HH’a beaf which she buys from Spar, Shoprite and Pick n Pay. How can KBF leave HH’ beaf bought from shoprite and go to the media and say HH takwata amano?

KBF is talking about Zambian politics based on the book he has written. We don’t know if he is going to contest as a president on the ticket of his book since he has no registered political party, as the PF has expelled him.

If KBF is a man of exceptional intelligence and integrity then why has the PF expelled him. And why is his son a thief in America?

How can you be a man of integrity when your son is a thief in America?

Going by the number of times that KBF has crushed with the Law Association of Zambia, its clear and open to all Zambians to see that KBF is just a thief and a cunning law who can not be trusted with national leadership.

This is a thief who has a record of having stollen money from his clients after crooking them with fake legal representation. Records are there.

That’s for you KBF. Only the gullible and foolish ignoramuses can listen to your lies. We shall see if your poorly researched and useless books will vote for you since you don’t even have a political party and you cant even form one.

You are challenging HH when you don’t even have a political party? You cant even see the gates of the mulungushi rock of authority because PF cadres will skin you alive and hung your liver on zesco power lines if you attempt going to the PF convention, but you are putting yourself in a game that you cant even play since you don’t even have a political party.

Form your own political party then start talking about us. The electoral commission does not deal with book writers. Form a party and call yourself a politician.

You just participated in rigging elections with PF and you call yourself a leader?

Leave President HH alone.

*James Kasanda Musendeka Lukuku, RPP President*

NDC VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH ALLIANCE SPOKESPERSON JAMES LUKUKU, RECOMMEND HIS IMMEDIATE REMOVAL

01/04/2020

The National Democratic Congress, NDC, is very disappointed with the Alliance Spokesperson James Kasanda Lukuku and would like to recommend his immediate removal from such a sensitive position.

Mr. Lukuku should bear in mind that the job of a Spokesperson is to speak for and on behalf of an organisation and not his personal opinions.

Mr. Lukuku has written several articles and made statements without the blessings all Alliance presidents and his conduct is becoming very detrimental to the unity and integrity of the Alliance.

If left unchecked, his conduct will be the downfall of the Alliance and not any PF manoeuvres that he is hallucinating about.

Lukuku should know that the PF are scared of the Alliance and will do anything to destabilise or destroy it. So it is very sad for a man holding his position to be responding to the PF propaganda instead of checking for facts among the Alliance partners who are supposed to be his friends and allies.

The Alliance had Sean Tembo as Spokesperson and all the business and statements of the Alliance were conducted in a very professional manner. This childishness from Lukuku should be addressed by the Alliance, otherwise the Alliance and the people of Zambia in general will lose out on a good thing that the Alliance brings.

To begin with, our President Dr. Chishimba Kambwili never met up with former President Mr. Rupiah Banda and all that is propaganda meant to destabilise the Alliance. So we would really want to know his sources that gave him that hogwash.

We have desisted from responding to Lukuku for a while now, but his position in the Alliance make some of his statements believable to people that may not know the truth and therefore are very damaging to the reputation of our president.

Secondly, on the day of voting for Bill 10, Chishala met our president and vice president and the clear instructions given to him were that he should not vote for Bill 10.

Chishala has clearly stated that his remaining in Parliament was not with the blessings of the party but he did so on his on. He has insisted that the people of Roan wanted him to remain in Parliament, though of course we have seen people from Roan deny that assertion.

When Chishala remained in Parliament, three UPND MPs also remained in Parliament. Would Lukuku tell us what that means in terms of what the position of UPND is regarding Bill 10? The PF, in opposition had 21 MPs defy party position and that of founder president Michael Chilufya Sata on the constitutional making process because the MMD had put a lot of money attached to the process.

So sadly, MPs will always defy party positions at some given times for reasons best known to themselves, but we shall not allow Lukuku to continue demonising our president over our MP’s disloyalty.

If Lukuku also followed our President’s interview and heard the voice note, president Kambwili was very clear that he does not want to return to the PF, so we really wonder where is is getting is authority to speak all this rubbish.

Lastly, his assertions yet again that senior NDC members have pledged to remain loyal to the Alliance even when president Kambwili is arm twisted to rejoin the PF is yet another bunch of nonsense. As NDC, we know the stance of our president and we do not doubt him even for a second. So this divide and rule that Lukuku wants to play is very unfortunate. And he should also know that we have unwavering loyalty to our president and I doubt that there is any senior member of the NDC that could have said that to him.

We know how much our president loves the Alliance and how he wants it to work. Our daily discussions with him all boarder on how we shall make Zambia a beautiful country once elected in office as an Alliance, without any option of him going back to PF.

Therefore, as an Alliance, we should not play in the hands of the PF because the destruction of the Alliance will only benefit them and cause more chaos for the country. We should be united now more than ever and continue to strategise ways of strengthening the Alliance and not to break it with our own hands due to listening to too much propaganda.

*Issued by Saboi Imboela*
*Spokesperson- NDC*

The Zambian government has asked banks for proposals on reorganizing as much as $11.2 billion of foreign debt as its debt-service costs rise and metal prices plunge, hurting its economy.

The country “intends to implement a liability management of its external debt portfolio to lengthen maturity and enhance its capacity to meet debt-service obligations,” the finance ministry said in a request for proposals sent to lenders, seen by Bloomberg and verified by two of the recipients.

The advisers’ mandate would include assisting the government in negotiations with creditors, as well as “formulating restructuring plans for loans” where creditors agree, according to the document.

The request for proposals is part of Zambia’s plan to put in place measures to ensure debt sustainability and deal with liabilities that will become due in the medium term, Finance Ministry Spokesman Chileshe Kandeta said in an emailed response to questions.

“The government has no intention of unilaterally restructuring its debt without consulting creditors,” Kandeta said. “The government will respect agreements and use market-based instruments where applicable.”

The document was sent to lenders including Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The ministry also sent it to Greylock Capital Management LLC, an investor in emerging-market distressed debt.

Any restructuring plan will include debt held by multilateral and bilateral lenders, commercial banks, capital-market investors export-credit organizations and others, the document said.

Zambia’s foreign debt amounted to $11.2 billion at the end of 2019.

Zambia’s currency is the world’s worst performer after Brazil’s this year, and foreign-exchange reserves have fallen to a record low and cover less than two months of imports.

Its $3 billion of Eurobonds have been trading at distressed levels, with yields on notes due 2022 rising above 50%. The bonds extended losses Tuesday.

The selected advisers will “review the entire debt-loan portfolio to identify loans that are plausible for liability management,” according to the request for proposals. They will also “formulate restructuring plans for loans where liability management terms have been agreed to by creditors,” and help arrange financing, it said.

Zambia debuted in the Eurobond market in 2012, when low interest rates in the wake of the global recession and the ensuing hunt for yield among investors meant it could borrow more cheaply than Spain at the time.

Two other Eurobond sales followed in 2014 and 2015.

It’s also contracted billions of dollars in loans for infrastructure projects from lenders including Export-Import Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Saudi Fund for Development.