By Oliver Chisenga

MATERO PF member of parliament Miles Sampa says there is no “good” that can come out of the Lower Zambezi National Park mining project as long as shareholding is not “by and for Zambians”.

In a Facebook posting, Sampa noted that Luangwa and Feira Constituency was “indeed a dead district economically”.

“There is zero industrial or macro commercial activities. Even the confluence of the two big rivers Zambezi and Luangwa has done little thus far to uplift the lives of over 150,000 resident inhabitants in Zambians. It’s even easier to access fresh fish in Matero than locals do in the river waters across borders of Zimbabwe and Mozambique,” Sampa said.

He noted that there are a number of exotic lodges on the river fronts owned by non-Zambians and exclusive to tourists but regretted that majority residents have hardly accessed the lodges as they have no ‘visas’ given that prices are in dollars.

“Once on a political escapade there I booked in one of the Zambezi river lodges for air condition’s sake given the lower Zambezi valley is extremely hot. I had to check out next day as my Visa card began to issue decline receipts overnight,” he stated.

Sampa noted that locals can hardly farm due to harsh valley soils and climate conditions.

On the other hand, Sampa said mine investment would ideally make sense to the lives of people that God made born in the Lower Zambezi.

Not sure of which side of the coin ‘shines’ better, Sampa also figured a mine investment would not make sense to the animals in the area whose existence attracts tourists for the said lodges.

“Herein is the conundrum [conundrum]…Local human home economics benefits from the few mine jobs or cash spill vs wild animals to macro tourists economic benefits. It would be interesting to note the GDP or BOP contribution to our Treasury from the tourist activities in the Lower Zambezi. My instinct is that it’s minimal because most is paid in offshore bank accounts,” he said.

“Then there is the view from the Lumwana Copper and Kasenseli gold mines where locals have equally not benefited economically because payments for minerals dug out from their land is paid for in accounts outside Zambia. Transfer pricing it’s called. Blindfold Zambia out of their minerals and only declare a bit for wages and suppliers.”

He concluded that any foreign contracts signed for mining in the Lower Zambezi by previous regimes can be cancelled by current authorities if they choose to.

“So what’s good for Lower Zambezi?” Sampa asked. “For me none as long as shareholding is not by Zambians and for Zambians. Forget one or two Zambian fronts speaking on their behalf as they are our own economic snipers or mercenaries. They are paid to pose as in charge just to keep us quiet and yet majority locals remain in perpetual abject poverty.”

He said it would be good to consider new local investors with names like Libangila, Tikambenji, Daka, Mbololwa, Siampondo, Hamaleka, Chandalala, Shakafuswa, Sampaula, Kasongo among others.

“Economically, Lower Zambezi born Zambians (Goba, Soli, Sala, Tongas, Nyanjas) should be able to say ‘kuli bonesha ta’ both with tourism lodges and the mine ownership in their God given land,” said Sampa.

AMOS CHANDA CASE OF INSULTS CLOSES AS ANOTHER WITNESS CONTRADICTS OTHERS

8 February 2022 — The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has closed its case against Amos Chanda with another of their witnesses contradicting five earlier witnesses and himself repeatedly when he gave testimony before court.

Arresting officer Joseph Mbewe also caused laughter in court when said he did not know whether Amos Chanda broke the law or not because they are thousands of laws in Zambia and was therefore not definite what to specifically narrow his answers to regarding the charges he laid against Amos Chanda, his wife Mable, and sister-law Ruth Mulenga.

This is the trial in which Chanda and the co-accused have been charged with insulting language against ACC officers who violently searched his properties on October 27,2021.

In response to defence lawyer Timmy Munalula during cross examination, state witness Mbewe said in the video in which Amos Chanda is alleged to have insulted ACC officers, Mbewe said with regard to the charges before court, I don’t know which law he broke.

He also said said he does not understand the difference between “one idiot” and “one of these idiots” but later said he wishes to keep both statements on the court record.

The witness said he did not visit any of the alleged crime scenes at all because it was not necessary to do so since he had made up his mind to arrest the accused based on the testimonies of his fellow ACC officers who undertook to the searches against Mr Chanda.

Asked what he understood the word idiot meant, the witness said “it is someone who is not wise, my Lord.”

The witness also said he grew up in a home where he had sisters and had access to drawers where where they kept their underwear.

“Oh, you are one of the kind witness” the defence counsel retorted. The witness was insisting that it was normal for male officers to search a woman’s room in their absence.

The witness said it was not necessary to visit the purported crime scenes before charging the accused.

Mr Mbewe also said Amos Chanda did not insult any of the officers in their personal capacity but generally as officers from the commission.

The witness also said officers identified themselves to Chanda, contradicting five other earlier witnesses who said the officers did not produce the identity cards.

But he later said it was right for the ACC officers not to cooperate with Mr Chanda and therefore their refusal to produce identity cards was in order.

He later retracted and said the officers did not introduced themselves and that the law did not allow them to refuse to identify themselves.

He said the identity card was the only way to identify themselves and that the person under search was entitled to demand for the identity cards.

The defence also reminded the arresting officer did not carry out an objective investigation because all his witnesses but one were ACC officers, some of them his seniors who could order him to do something.

The defence lawyer said failure to interview other independent people other the accused and investigators amounted to dereliction of duty.

Chief Resident Magistrate Dominic Makalicha has set March 23,2022 as the date for ruling for case or no case to answer.
Ends

The arrest, detention and illegal interrogation of Aide-De-Camp of former President Lungu – Chisanga Chanda from a human rights and law enforcement perspective

Without interfering with the laid charges, let me submit that the arrest, detention and illegal interrogation of Aide-De-Camp of former President Edgar Lungu – Mr Chisanga Chanda raises some serious human rights and law enforcement issues that require very sober interrogation.

a. Denial to consult Counsel

Learned Senior Counsel Makebi Zulu discloses that Mr Chanda was denied access to legal representation while in detention and under interrogation. This was a clear violation of a detained suspect’s right to be afforded reasonable facilities to consult a legal representative of his own choice.

Article 26 (1) (d) of the Constitution, Chapter 1 of the Laws of Zambia is instructive on this matter. It provides as follows:

“26. (1) Where a person’s freedom of movement is restricted, or he is detained, under the authority of any such law as is referred to in Article 22 or 25, as the case may be, the following provisions shall apply–

(d) he shall be afforded reasonable facilities to consult a legal representative of his own choice who shall be permitted to make representations to the authority by which the restriction or detention was ordered or to any tribunal established for the review of his case.”

The above provision further overrides what is contained in Article 18 (11)-(12) of the Constitution (Article 26(6)). This entails that a detained suspect’s right be afforded reasonable facilities to consult a legal representative of his own choice cannot be derogated from.

b. Interrogation panel involving non-law enforcement person

Law enforcement agencies in the exercise of their interrogation powers are guided by the Judges’ Rules. Judges’ Rules are rules of practice drawn up by the English High Court governing the questioning and charging of suspects by the police.

In Chilufya v The People (1975) Z.R. 138 (S.C.), the Supreme Court guided that Judges’ Rules are not rules of law: they are rules of practice drawn up for the guidance of police officers and a statement made in breach of such rules is not ipso facto [because of the fact mentioned] inadmissible if it is a voluntary statement although the court has a discretion to disallow it.

In their very opening words, the Judges’ Rules state that they are published for the instruction of members of the Force when they are interrogating suspects and accused persons. This entails that members of the Police Service (formerly, Police Force) and other law enforcement officers cannot allow non-members of their number to interrogate suspects or accused persons. This is because civilians are generally not persons in authority for purposes of law enforcement interrogations.

In the recent Ruling of the High Court in the case of Maxwell Chungu v the People (2021)/HP/13A/23, the Court reprimanded Enforcement Officers to refrain from unlawfully punishing, humiliating and degrading suspects during the course of executing their mandate of enforcing the law which is critical in the criminal justice system of our society.

Signed:

Hon Sunday Chilufya Chanda, LLB
Member of Parliament
Kanchibiya Constituency
08.02.22

WHERE IS THE PROBLEM?

I think our political culture and paradigm is where the problem lies…

By Chanoda Ngwira

Zambia and Africa as a whole needs no change of political players if its citizenry ought to have a benefit from us politicians, otherwise we shall keep taking 100% steps back thinking we are changing things through voting. We are basically making politics and elections as an exercise to fulfill each election year without the necessary change that our citizens are eager and desirous to see as they wake up early in the morning to go and cast a vote.

Politics in Africa, Zambia in particular have basically been reduced to merely a Constitutional mandate that has to be fulfilled especially in Africa. All we do is change the colours of T-shirts and party gear, we see nothing significant in terms of the much needed change because after all, us politicians are practically dwarfed regards making our voters realise the main importance of changing leadership at all levels.

What changes mainly are slogans, dances and above all colours. Look at what has really been achieved in the many times we have changed Presidents from 1991 to date.. Has anything meaningful been attained? Are we really politically independent? Can we say we are proud of making the changes in leadership regards real development despite having all the necessary natural resources given to us by our God? Have the mineral resources really made us have an impact? Have the citizens really benefited from our arable land that China and many other developed countries doesn’t have?

Every five years we go to a general election and us politicians come to you the citizens to beg for a vote, promise you heaven on earth, call other political players as heartless, saying only us have solutions. Citizens listen, they go out in numbers to vote for us, they give us the support we need and we get to leadership. Do we fulfill our promises? Do we deliver on our slogans? THE HOUR HAS COME, MORE MONEY IN OUR POCKETS, ZAMBIA FORWARD.. Have we really seen more money in our pockets? Hass the much said hour has come really come? Has Zambia gone forward? The answer is a categorical NO..

The solution lies in us politicians, our culture, our way of doing things, our way of looking at politics, our way of viewing politics as a conveyor belt to political power, taking politics as a way to cement our connections, a way of cementing our wealth and establishment in society. To some it is basically a journey to cement importance and earn a name as a politician. We are basically wicked people, people that have taken citizens for granted for a long time now, people that have no hearts at all(I mean us politicians)..

Truth be told, we need a change in culture when it comes to politics, otherwise Zambians and Africans will simply be doing an academic exercise without getting the real change that they desire. All what our voters do is to change from one colour to another when the behavior by those privileged remains the same. The status quo remains unchanged. We are still the liars, the deceivers, the crooks and sweet talkers who have no shame to stand on the podium and lie to the citizen. What a cancer.

What we need now or never is a paradigm change, we need to look at the needs, we have to be directly proportional to the dynamics of the world, we must look at how the world has evolved. We must move with time if we are to make meaning and get appreciated by those voters out there. The culture of just having power is not helping our people.

CRY MY BELOVED ZAMBIA AND AFRICA….

The Author is Chasefu Constituency Aspirant for 2026

‘SHADY’ DEALS OF MPs EXPOSED

……..One Town Clerk threatened to resign from his position more than two weeks ago because of the pressure from MPs who were sending him to go and solicit deals from private companies

By ROGERS KALERO

Some Members of Parliament are allegedly sending council officials to solicit for deals from private companies in exchange for favours or special treatment from government institutions.

One Town Clerk threatened to resign from his position more than two weeks ago because of the pressure from MPs who were sending him to go and solicit deals from private companies.

The council officials had suggested that the MPs solicit for deals on their own and then only send officials to collect after everything was concluded, but the MPs objected to the proposal.

PF Copperbelt Media Director Munalula Moola said UPND cadres who were not happy with the greediness and selfishness of one of their MPs informed the PF structures on some of the scams within the ruling party.

Mr Moola said, according to the UPND informers, the MPs were scared of being trapped and caught if they go to solicit for deals in private companies by themselves hence sending Town Clerks.

“They are sending Town Clerks to go and solicit for deals from various private organisations because they fear that if they are seen frequently at one company, they may be trapped and caught. So Town Clerks are under pressure from these MPs and ministers.”

Mr Moola disclosed that one of the MPs was allocated a plot near Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, a move which annoyed the cadres, saying he was stingy and that he should not be given a plot.

He said, instead they (cadres) should be given plots so that they sell them and share money equally among themselves as opposed to giving the MP.

Mr Moola said the corruption and theft scandals of UPND have started to explode.

Mr Moola said the PF was aware that in less than six months of being in government, the UPND had done worse things, but the former ruling party was waiting for Zambians to see for themselves.

“No one can teach or introduce UPND government officials to stealing and corruption because some of them were already involved in a number of illegal activities like smuggling before they became ministers in the New Dawn government,” Mr Moola said.

By Julia Malunga,

ECONOMIC Front leader Wynter Kabimba says UPND was just envious of the indiscipline in PF, going by the behaviour of some of its party members.

And Kabimba says PF’s loss of the Kabwata by-election has nothing to do with lack of money but is a message from party members who do not agree with the manner in which the rebranding process is being done.

In an interview, Kabimba said the UPND had failed to discipline its members.

“It is obvious to me that the UPND was very envious of the indiscipline in PF and that they want to perpetuate that indiscipline. From the time UPND won the elections in August last year, we have seen a lot of incidents regarding their party members that border on indiscipline and interference with the duties of civil servants.

A matter which HH as a leader in the opposition at that time condemned PF about very strongly. What we have seen is that UPND has failed to discipline its members. The members that went to harass Raphael Nakacinda at Chelstone Police, no disciplinary action has been taken by the party. The youths that beat up that poor lady in Kasama, no disciplinary action has been taken against them within the party,” he said.

“What we saw was a lukewarm statement from HH to the effect that party cadres should not be allowed to go into government offices to harass civil servants. He did not condemn the action. And this Chikota incident two days ago is yet another one. They have been given police bonds and they will continue performing their functions as party functionaries. UPND itself is failing to take action to tell the public that they don’t agree with what these cadres are doing.”

Kabimba said that President Hakainde Hichilema simply made “lukewarm” statements which did not deliver any message to his party cadres.

“And this goes against the undertaking by President Hakainde Hichilema when he was in the opposition, in fact even after he was sworn in that the UPND cadres will not be allowed to do what PF cadres were doing. It is so frightening that five months into the term of UPND and HH as President, we are seeing levels of indiscipline, of harassing citizens and civil servants, of intimidation of law enforcement agencies at the scale that was achieved by PF in three to four years,” he said.

“If you exponentially look at that one year from today, we are going to be living in a society of complete lawlessness with HH making lukewarm statements that don’t deliver any message to his party cadres, statements which indirectly turn a blind eye to these wrong things that the UPND are doing and this is a man who says ‘I have come to promote peace in the country’. I don’t know who told him that there was no peace in Zambia. And this is the man who said, `I have come to promote the rule of law in Zambia’ when what we are seeing is the opposite and this is the man who is saying I want to promote unity in the country, I don’t know who told him that Zambia was not united.”

Kabimba said nothing had changed under UPND as the culture of indiscipline and harassment by party cadres had continued.

“And this is the man riding on pronouncements which are clearly meaningless and he rode on this mantle to get into power and this shall haunt him up to the end of his term in 2026 when the Zambian people pass the same judgement against him like they did against the PF. One of the things that Zambians were nauseated about with PF was this type of culture of indiscipline and harassment by party cadres. Nothing has changed; we have changed guard but with no change. That is typical of African democracy and elections,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kabimba said PF’s loss of the Kabwata by-election had nothing to do with lack of money.

“My view is that their loss in Kabwata is actually a message from their members that we do not agree with this rebranding you have done and if they don’t listen more to their members, PF is headed for extinction. It has nothing to do with lack of money, the fact that they are broke, no. It is because the senior members of the party have not listened to the rank and file of the party. When you look at the performance of PF, it comes in the work of the rebranding process. It is clear that their members and supporters do not believe that their rebranding process has been done in the interest of the party,” said Kabimba.

“From the time this rebranding process was introduced, party members have been complaining that they did not think that this was being done in a proper way, they did not think that was being done with the participation of the general members of the party and they demanded that if there is any rebranding to be done, then the rank and file of the party should be allowed to participate in that rebranding. The said members of the party have turned a blind eye to that.”

UPND HAS NEVER BEEN READY TO GOVERN, SAYS GEORGE MPOMBO

…as Msoni takes left jibe at former leaders asking them to tone down and give UPND chance to deliver campaign promises

FORMER Defence Minister George Mpombo says the ruling UPND was better off and more effective while in the opposition as compared to being in government running the affairs of the nation.

Dr. Mpombo has observed with sadness that the ruling party looks totally disorganized and unprepared for governance since forming government.

“It’s like the UPND were totally unprepared for governance, you know here, they have indicated that they will embark on a moral crusade as a new government and that they are going to fight reckless expenditure in government, now what is sad and shocking is that you are having ministers having their wives appointed to various sensitive positions and that is nepotism,” Dr. Mpombo charges.

He says the UPND has shown a picture that is becoming a face tool of corruption and nepotism itself, a trend he describes as dangerous to the existence of the party and the country.

“You cannot have a situation like that, this government is giving a picture that it is becoming a face tool of corruption and nepotism. Once they start appointing Ministers wives to sensitive positions this doesn’t add up. When you talk about the fight against overspending, this government has the biggest civil service establishment, look at state house, the President has created and duplicated so many positions in order to accommodate his boys. For instance, he has so many aides, he has permanent secretaries who are party cadres, he has District Commissioners who are party cadres, this is strange to me especially from a man who promised to do things differently from the past regime,” said Dr. Mpombo.

However, All Peoples Congress (APC), a party that is in an alliance with the UPND has asked people who once served in Government and failed to deliver to tone down and allow the party in power to deliver its promises.

APC leader Nason Msoni says the UPND alliance is far much better than the PF administration.

“In a nutshell we are in a far much better position than we were before under the PF administration. It is rather premature and too early to pass such a harsh judgment on this relatively new government,” Msoni said.

Msoni says the UPND administration has so far demonstrated political will in the fight against corruption.

He says it is only prudent to give the current leadership room and space to fulfil its campaign promises.

“The damage that was inflicted upon this economy by the previous regime will take time to repair. Those of our friends who had an opportunity to be in government before and did not deliver deliverables to our people must now tone down and give the UPND administration an opportunity to deliver their campaign promises,” he said.

Msoni acknowledged that every government will make mistakes, however, it only takes a good administration to listen and fix it.

“Every government will certainly make mistakes but it takes a good government to listen and acknowledge a mistake and fix it. This government has so far demonstrated that capacity to listen and attend to the people’s grievances. We must now start moving away from politics of confrontation to politics if development and above all to collectively assist to enhance national cohesion and unity of purpose. Unity of purpose is a prerequisite to sustainable development,” said Msoni.

Credit: The New Dawn Newspaper

By MacPherson Mutale

“During the campaigns leading upto the August 12, 2021 elections, the United Party for National Development (UPND), made so many promises to their members.

The members have not forgotten those promises while some of the now ministers and other presidential appointees have already forgotten.

Many UPND members paid a huge price for simply identifying themselves with the party. Some lost their lives and yet many more became maimed in the process.

There is still over a 100 youths in Zambian prisons who were arrested for simply being UPND. The sad reality is that, 5 months after the UPND won the elections, most of these youths are still languishing in jail.

Many people lost their jobs, their careers, their businesses and some had to abandon their families to go and hide from the torment of the PF thug cadres.

Belonging to UPND made anyone seem and feel like a third class citizen. Wearing a UPND attire was booking a date with death. Being UPND was a risk and one that was punishable by grievous consequences.

The kind of terror that hit our country was so massive that the whole country went into silence save for the UPND youths who stood tall and met this barbaric regime head on.

Those who were sympathetic to the UPND were threatened and stalked and their phones tapped.

I recall an encounter with one of the presidential aids who summoned me to see him because I had called them a mafia.

When I go to the meeting place, he had a pistol on the table while he questioned me why I had called them a mafia. I was not moved and I told him that it was acts like that which made me call them mafia.

Long story short, I was told in no uncertain terms that I would never enter a government office, get a government job or any government contract.

True to his word, a little consultancy contract I had with one of the agencies that was working with Ministry of finance was put on ice despite having a contract fully signed even by the office of the Attorney General.

When president HH and his team were campaigning, they made a great deal of promises to not just liberate Zambia but to also provide a level playing field for all Zambians to succeed.

It is those promises that the youths are asking for. They want to be part of the national cake. They have been at the peripheral of the food chain for two decades.

When president HH and his team were campaigning, they respectfully called those young people as freedom fighters and youths. Today because president HH and his team are in government, they should not turn around and call these youths as cadres.

They are the same youths who sacrificed their comfort to see this country get a better leadership.

Not all those who stood with UPND were graduates. Most are just young people without any post high school qualifications. What they want are opportunities and a chance at life.

Not all of them will find jobs and not all of them can create opportunities for themselves. They need to be empowered and they need to be constantly engaged.

Today we have heard from some of President HH’s team calling these youths as cadres who want to destroy the party.

They have become detestable and the leaders want to keep them at arm’s length. Some of the ministers don’t want to identify with these young people anymore.

When the president and his now ministers were campaigning and urging these youths to campaign, they told them they will be empowered and they will enjoy a better Zambia.

It is that promise that these youths are demanding for. Yes it is too early but we need to see signs that the needs of the youths will be taken care off.

Out if the current cabinet, how many youths below 35 are there? Show me just two. From the current crop of DCs, show me how many are youths.

From the appointments to the so many portfolios, commissions, boards, diplomatic jobs, how many youths can you show us?

What is going to define the success of the UPND is not the cosmetic economic turnaround at the very top, rather it’s the economic empowerment of the youths of this country.

I said it way before the elections that the biggest challenge the UPND will face after winning elections is managing expectations.

When the UPND came into office, they found a system that was build around the PF as a party. Most senior government officials and administrators are those who were appointed on the basis of their political correctness.

These are the same people who are 5 months after the change of the party are still controlling the system. What the PF created was literally a mafia system and if the president think he can cleanse this system using the rule of law, he has to scratch his head everyday.

Some of the people who continue to hold senior government jobs are PF cadres. They may try to pretend that they are civil servants and they will align themselves with the government of the day, but, that will be HH,s undoing.

The new Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are already getting compromised. These are people who have been in opposition for over 20 years and some of them are hungry.

They will learn from those crooks how to siphon and chop government resources. This is a cancer that needed amputation and not drugs to relieve the pain as the president is doing.

This cancer will eat the UPND from inside out. These people are selfish and self serving. They want everything to themselves. Anything that the president and his team will do to upset the existing status quo will be fought aggressively.

The PF people are the same who want the oil deals, the mining deals, the supply deals and contracting jobs. Yes they have the capacity because they stole so much money.

The contractor who billed us $1.2 billion dollars to do the Lusaka- Ndola Dual Carriage today has come back that they can do the same project with same specifications at half the price. That should tell you how deep rooted the corruption was.

When the UPND youths demand for certain incentives, they are not being entitled as other people want it to seem. They want to be equalized. They want to also begin to benefit from this project called Zambia.

It should not be just the UPND youths making these demands, but every Zambian youth. The youths of this country have been marginalized for way too long.

The UPND Secretariate should stop behaving like an extension of cabinet office. Their job is to fend for the needs of the UPND youth. President HH and his ministers and other appointed leaders can fight for the needs of the rest of us.

This is what politics is all about everywhere. The party in power enjoys certain privileges. They are given priority in certain things. This is the truth not even the UPND leadership and the youth leadership are not brave enough to speak out.

President HH,s promises were fiesta and foremost to his own youth and later to the rest of Zambia. He better not forget that. There is a stack reminder of that in Malawi.

Youths are not tired to demand for what they want. It does not matter how long you have been in office, you have to demonstrate willingness to address youth matters.

Let me remind the UPND as a party that, your youths are looking to you to provide opportunities for them. You have removed them from markets and bus stations.

You call those who want to do mining as illegal miners, you protect the foreigners who are mining without licenses and yet you are so aggressive against your own young people.

Do you know that most of the so called foreign investors in the lower Zambezi have actually been mining precious stones?

The Kabwata by- election was a protest from your members just in case you did not know. It had to take the president and the Veep to camp in Kabwata to salvage this election.

The earlier you wake up the better. Some of us will tell you the truth as it is on the ground. If you buy it, that is fine, if you don’t, it’s your loss. We advised your predecessors in similar fashion and they thought we needed jobs.

No, we want the best for our country. When HH succeeds, Zambia success and we all win. In our own small way, we stuck out our necks for his election, not because needed anything in return, but to get back our country from the hijackers.

You have been in office for this long and you still don’t seem to know how to use the mandate give to you by Zambians.

The PF are still ruling and you are busy negotiating to get the authority Zambians already gave you.

The president should be brave and fire all those sleeping ministers. Let him stop babysitting adults. He is micro managing most of them. They will tire him and make him unpopular.

There is no lack of human resource in this country. We want to see a Breethe Zambia and we voted Bally for that.

Wake up UPND and stop eating yourselves from inside out. You have no competition, you are you own competitors and your own enemies.”

IG MUST SUSPEND OFFICERS INVOLVED IN THE INVESTIGATIONS AND ARREST OF MR. CHANDA- AMB. EMMANUEL MWAMBA

Lusaka -8th January 2022

The revelations made by renowned Lusaka Lawyer, Makebi Zulu that a well-known United Party for National Development (UPND) cadre was present and participated in the interrogation of Police Deputy Commissioner, Chisanga Chanda is extremely worrying.

Further, the facts that have emerged that Mr. Chanda, who is also the Aide de Camp(ADC) to former President Edgar Lungu, was held at a private place in Kalundu during the entire ordeal, is highly concerning.

As if this was not enough, Mr. Chanda’s wife, her friend and the garden boy were also rounded up and detained in this bizarre case.

During the entire period, the officers also refused Mr. Chanda access to his lawyers and the lawyer’s numerous efforts to locate his client didn’t receive any cooperation from the Police command.

Police have since charged Mr. Chanda with a case of an accessory after the fact to a felony contrary to Section 397(1) and 398 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

It is alleged that Mr. Chanda received or helped a wanted person of interest to the Police.

DEMANDS

It is clear from the above that the police and investigative officers involved in this case acted with impunity and outside the law.

The officers also breached criminal investigations standards and rules of engagement in handling of a suspect.

The Police also breached Mr. Chanda’s fundamental rights and access to legal counsel.

The officers must be investigated for clear cases of kidnapping, abduction and holding a person against their will as Mr. Chanda was taken to a non-designated law Enforcement Agency premises and kept there for over 3 days.

Further the involvement of a known UPND cadre in Police investigations raises serious concerns and is a clear violation of the law.

This contaminates the entire case as it appears that this process is maliciously being driven by a political party and is not informed by evidence.

The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Lemmy Kajoba must immediately act to curb this wanton lawlessness displayed in this case.

If done so, this may in some how restore confidence against the background that law enforcement agencies are acting with impunity, and politicians are driving the cases during the on-going investigations against cases of corruption and political violence.

Zambia is a Democracy and the Rule of Law is sacred to its survival and must never be compromised by the Police or any other institution.

Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba

The government has said that domestic debt increased from K53.3 billion in January 2019 to K198 billion at the end of 2021.

According to the latest White paper published by the Ministry of Finance, the government attributed the rise in domestic debt to increasing recourse to domestic financing; impeded by high debt levels and debt servicing requirements that resulted in the debt standstill from October 2020 amidst reduced fiscal space.

The paper further said that the government’s foreign debt as of September 2021 now stands at $12.99 billion.

The government says commercial debt accounts for 45 percent while multilateral and bilateral debt accounts for 24 percent and 30 percent.

The government’s stock of publicly guaranteed external debt was $1.5 billion as of the end of September 2021.

The bulk of the guaranteed debt relates to the state-owned power utility company, ZESCO Limited.

Meanwhile, Government has published the 2022-2024 Medium Term Budget Plan -MTBP- also known as the White Paper.
The 2022-2024 White Paper firms up the fiscal position of the approved 2022 Budget and outlook for the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. The 2022-2024 White Paper will also be the basis for the formulation of the 2023-2025 Medium Term Budget Plan.

The White Paper provides Government’s performance in the 2019-2021 medium-term and policy direction for the 2022-2024 medium term.

In addition, it details the fiscal framework within which these policy objectives will be met.

This is according to a statement issued by Ministry of Finance, Secretary to the Treasury, Felix Nkulukusa.
Mr. Nkulukusa said despite the pandemic having a huge impact on economic growth, and posing additional challenges to creating fiscal space for delivery of public services in the previous medium term, government remains optimistic with economic fundamentals over the period 2022-2024.

He said government policy is now anchored on restoring macroeconomic stability, attaining fiscal and debt sustainability, restoring economic growth and improving the livelihoods of the Zambian people.

Mr Nkulukusa further said the 2022-2024 MTBP framework is predicated on the objectives that were set out in the 2022-2024 Budget Policy Concept Paper which was approved by Cabinet in September 2021 and on which the 2022 National Budget was based.

He also said the MTBP will provide a review and ensure the Government’s policy objective of restoring economic growth and safeguarding livelihoods for a prosperous and equitable Zambia is achieved.

Mr. Nkulukusa said this will be done by ensuring there is private sector-led growth, where the private sector will be facilitated in playing a significant role in the area of production, trade, enterprise and job creation.

MANDATE GIVEN TO UPND NOT WITHOUT A COST – DR NEVERS MUMBA

By Charles Tembo

MMD president Nevers Mumba says the UPND must ensure that things that made PF fall are neither repeated nor entertained as the punishment would be the same.

He said the door to PF’s return to power remains effectively closed.

In his congratulatory message to the UPND over the victory in the Kabwata parliamentary by-election, Mumba notes that the victory affirms the type of Zambia people want.

“However, this mandate given to the UPND is not without cost. UPND must ensure that those things that made PF fall are neither repeated nor entertained as the punishment would be the same.

UPND must ensure the campaign promises to the people of Zambia are delivered and where there is a delay or failure, communicate with the people, as they are your bosses,” Mumba urged. “Zambians are decided to become the success story that Africa seeks to see and no politician or political party will stand in the way of their quest for greatness.

The outcome of the Kabwata by-election is a critical part of the new political dispensation we have been waiting for. MMD did not participate in this election, but the party made a conscious decision to fully support and endorse the UPND. Our partnership is historical as we share common values and aspirations for our country.”

He said the electoral victory of Andrew Tayengwa and the UPND underscores the decision Zambians made in August last year.

“A decision to choose a new path of governing ourselves based on a set of values of equitable justice, the rule of law, transparency and accountability in public finance and a democratic culture that works for all Zambians. This victory is for all Zambians,” Mumba said.

He said the victory confirms that Zambians are determined to start afresh and move forward in developing the nation.

“To forever depart from politics of disrespect for one another, insults, violence, public theft, corruption, hooliganism and hatred for those who do not belong to your group. Our colleagues in the PF showed us a side of our society which we did not even know existed.

A side which believed that you can insult and corrupt your way into power. A side which believed that political power exists for personal gain at the expense of the greater good of national unity,” Mumba noted. “Under our colleagues the PF, we learnt how to hate and kill one another.

We learnt how to glorify ignorance and reward incompetence. We learnt how to punish those who chose to live by the law and promote those who criminally disregarded the law.

We learnt that to be in power is to enjoy unlimited immunity against prosecution. Most of the arrests done after the last election could have been done before the elections, but this could not happen as our colleagues enjoyed a self-awarded immunity.”

He said the door to PF’s return to power remains effectively closed.

“The door to PF’s return to power remains effectively closed until such a time our colleagues decide to change both their language and conduct.

A time when they shall be bold enough to say sorry to the Zambian people. A time when they realise that Zambians have moved on to new politics of honesty, respect and honour,” Mumba said.

He congratulated President Hakainde Hichilema for creating a fresh conducive environment for free and fair elections.

Mumba further congratulated all parties and candidates who participated for enhancing the democratic credentials of the country.

“Congratulations to the New Hope MMD for your decision to support the UPND and for having put your boots on the ground to push for renewed politics of morality and integrity.

It’s now over to you Honourable Andrew Tayengwa to show us what you’ve got and deliver what you promised to the people of Kabwata,” said Mumba.

FORMER PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU’S LIFE IN DANGER LAMENTS PF

…..adds that it is extremely disturbing that the State would choose to interrogate the former President’s chief Bodyguard on the source of funding for the former ruling party.

LUSAKA, Monday, February 7, 2022 (SMART EAGLES)

THE Patriotic Front (PF) party is perturbed with the lengths at which the ruling UPND is willing go to endanger the life of former Republican President Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

This follows the arrest and unfair treatment of the former Head of State’s Aid de Camp Chisanga Chanda on alleged offence of accessory after the fact to a felony contrary to the Laws of Zambia.

During the period of his apprehension at an unknown location, Mr Chanda was largely interrogated on source of funding for the Patriotic Front, a matter which is not related to the charge.

PF Information and Publicity Chairperson Raphael Nakacinda said the former ruling party is interested because of the continued harassment of different individuals in the name of trying to find out the source of resources used during the 2021 general election campaigns.

He said it was reckless to question a Police Officer whose job was to offer security to the former Head of State over the activities of the party.

He said the PF has got members who can respond to questions regarding party activities provided the law permits such an action.

Hon Nakacinda said what has happened is of great concern to every Zambian and has urged the international community to take keen interest

“The arrest of the ADC or the person in charge of security to the former President is utter reckless endangerment of the former President’s life. The UPND seem not to sleep as a result of paranoia and obsession towards the former President and the Patriotic Front,” he said.

Hon Nakacinda has maintained that there is no law compelling a political party or organisation to disclose its source of funding.

He said this is the more reason he does not talk about organisations or people who may have funded the UPND.

“I want to disclose that In 2014, myself, President Hakainde Hichilema, Muhabi Lungu, Nevers Mumba met in South Africa in negotiating what was to be an alliance before the election. The people that the President went to launch a book for in South Africa, were pledging to support that Alliance with $25 Million dollars,” disclosed Hon Nakacinda.

“We don’t talk about this because there no law that compels disclosure of funding for political parties. Is it only good for the UPND to be supported by their well wishers and bad for the PF?”

WYNTER KABIMBA REVIEWS HH’S POLITICAL JOURNEY

HH is a political rookie, overrated, refuses to congratulate winners of elections and presents himself as a savior to Zambia’s challenges.

Now he is in charge and failing all around.

The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born: The Story of HH.

By Wynter Kabimba

It is interesting to read about the emerging disillusionment of those who believed and invested their hopes so much in Hakainde Hichilema during the run-up to the 12 August 2021, elections and after.

Their unwavering belief and confidence as mortals in the man is, however, understandable. To those who did not delve into his background and his past HH presented himself as the only messiah given the political free fall of the ruling PF under the weak leadership of Edgar Lungu mistaken for the humility of the man’s character.

The PF as the ruling party under ECL did not guarantee any future for the Zambian people.

The intra party violence and systemic indiscipline amongst the rank and file of its members coupled with inter-party violence perpetuated by its militia generated consternation and dismay within and beyond the country and hence cometh one HH.

In 2006, HH came like a whirlwind to win the leadership of the UPND in an election bedrocked by ethnicity following the death of its founder Anderson Mazoka. He came from the private sector where he was a partner in the audit firm Grant Thornton.

As a strategy to attempt to oust MMD from power, HH forged an alliance with UNIP and FDD to form the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on which ticket the three contested the 2006 presidential and general elections.

Despite having no political experience or service in government compared with Edith Nawakwi who had served as minister of energy and later minister of finance under Chiluba, HH demanded to lead the UDA as presidential candidate.

He could not bring himself to say “Sir’’ or “Madam’’ to Tilyenji Kaunda of UNIP or Edith Nawakwi. Although he did not congratulate Levy Mwanawasa on winning the 2006 elections, he later offered him the position of vice president which he declined to take.

In 2009, he lobbied Sata’s close friends for an electoral pact with PF. In one of the meetings I had with him at my office, I implored him to accept the position of vice president to Michael Sata.

In his reaction to my proposal, HH urged me to request or persuade Sata to become his vice instead and not the other way round.

It was this impasse which contributed to the collapse of the UPND/PF pact in 2011. Although PF won the election with a landslide, HH did not send a congratulatory message to Sata and refused to attend any PF state function.

When Edgar Lungu won the 2015 and 2016 elections, HH refused to accept the results alleging fraud and the loss of his presidential petition in 2016, which he attributed to a biased judgment by the Constitutional Court.

For the seven years when Edgar Lungu was head of state, HH refused to acknowledge or recognize him as such and at no time did he refer to him by his official title.

He only did so when he was declared winner of the August 2021 elections because he was now above Edgar Lungu as outgoing president.

Between 2019 and 2021, PF saw its unprecedent rapid decline in public support never seen in the history of the ruling party save for UNIP in 1990/91.

It cultivated conditions similar to the political vacuum which obtained prior to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933.

HH filled this vacuum by projecting himself as the antithesis of everything that had gone wrong with Edgar Lungu and the PF.

He seized the opportunity using political rantings which were unrealistic in practice but resonated well with a gullible constituency of voters across the country.

He condemned the arrests and detention of political figures and artists as acts of authoritarianism and dictatorship by Edgar Lungu and, therefore, an affront to democracy.

HH promised the restoration and promotion of the rule of law, individual freedoms of expression and that of the media.

It was this political mantra which projected Edgar Lungu to the voters as the devil and monster reincarnate.

In this vein, therefore, the 2.8 million votes do not represent the popularity of HH but reflect instead the number of angry voters against Edgar Lungu.

We saw this parallel in the Joe Biden / Donald Trump election in November, 2020 in the US.
Against this background, it is now easy to see the real and actual HH outside the sheep’s skin in only 5 months of his reign as president.

HH does not and has never believed in the respect for those in power and authority unless that power and authority are ultimately possessed by him.

His deliberate architecture of the UPND Alliance where his alliance partners do not enjoy any security of tenure but are mere appointees testifies to the man who does not believe in any power sharing arrangement in a democratic fashion.

HH the president has refused to condemn political violence by his members.

Instead he always takes comfort in issuing lukewarm directives which leave law enforcement agencies confounded regarding his real initiation.

In the view of HH democracy depends on who you are, what you are and what you mean to him at a particular time. It is also dependent on his audience and space of time.

Whether his message is for the donor community or not shall determine his definition of the word. He has remained mute over the leaked audio in which he is implicated by his State House Special Assistant for Politics, an incident very similar to the Watergate scandal events which led to the impeachment and downfall of Richard Nixon in America.

Hichilema’s rhetoric and hypocrisy on democratic values vis-à-vis voter promises and expectations are now turning into public pain and awareness, one of the major themes in the Ghanian writer Ayi Kwei Armalis novel “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.

Wynter M Kabimba.

By Kombe Mataka

Mines minister Paul Kabuswe says political party cadres will not be allowed to invade mines in the name of exposing illegalities.

He was responding to the action by UPND youths led deputy national youth chairperson for administration Stephen Chikota in which they attempted to gain access into a mining area heavily guarded by police in Mwense district, Luapula Province based on information that illegal mining was taking place.

In a video that has gone viral, youths led by Chikota are seen having an altercation with police who had stopped him from entering the mining area, stressing that procedures were not followed by the angry mob.

But a visibly angry Chikota accused some ministers whom he called criminals for ordering state security to protect ‘criminals’.

“As deputy youth chairman of UPND party, which is the ruling party, I am going into the mine,” Chikota told police manning the entrance to the area. “…You are too young to be protecting foreigners. Excuse me, which procedure? The only people that are supposed to be here is you (police) not those idiots who are there. The licence of that Indian never included…You swore to the President. I also swore when he appointed me. I can only report the the Republic President who is also the party president. So questioning my capacity, I think you are taking us for granted. I will not allow a situation where a Zambian steals you arrest but when a foreigner steals you even give state security.”

Chikota warned police not to frustrate his efforts, before he turned his anger to some government ministers.

“You (police) have continued frustrating our efforts. In the opposition you were beating us but now we are in government, you are protecting criminals. I am telling you heads will roll,” Chikota warned. “It’s either I lose my my appointment or you lose your jobs. I have a list of criminal ministers and I have capacity to organise 200 trucks…even more than the police. I don’t want to go that way. Allow me to the site.”

He later addressed the press and said that he has information that the Indian who had a licence to mine manganese, cobalt and copper had illegally started mining scheelite.

“We have tried to sit down with this Indian man so that we resolve…and see how he may partner with Zambian youths. He has been adamant because he is working with disgruntled ministers. He has never paid attention to us,” Chikota said.

“As I speak to the President and the people of Zambia, these police officers are protecting a criminal. A thief who is mining without documentation. We are not going to sit idle as a party. I have brought in public…we have tried to engage government. The two ministers we have all your information of your manoeuvres…if it means losing my position in the party, I better lose it.”

He announced that he would expose some ministers at a press briefing on Sunday (yesterday).

“I am now going to mention you and the money that you have eating from this Indian. I have the full information,” charged Chikota.

But Kabuswe said President Hichilema was very clear when he said that he would not allow caderism in the country.

He warned that his office would not tolerate invading of mines in the name of exposing illegalities.

“That ministers are corrupt is not the correct position. Zambia is a country of laws and the President has made it clear that he is going to be methodical and he is going to have systems in the way that he runs the country. He has ministers and ministries. So in interns of mining issues, the only ministry that is mandated to determine legality or illegality of any activity is the Ministry of Mines,” Kabuswe said in an interview. “The minister is the issuer of licences to various stakeholders. No political cadre has the mandate to determine whether operations are legal or illegal. It is only the relevant officers in the relevant ministry who report to me and we make a decision. If someone is in breach of any licence, we have the power to revoke that licence.”

And Kabuswe said a company had been given an exploration licence to prospect in the area in question and not mine.

“So what is happening at that mine is that youths who have also sent that video are accusing ministers of criminality have no competence to determine whether the person is exploring or mining that,” he said. “Before this noise started, I had already sent officers on the ground to go and check what is happening. I haven’t even watched the video because I rarely want to get things on social media. I am a minister and I need to get facts. We say ‘can we follow due process and do due diligence’, youths begin to say ‘you are supporting ABCD. You are compromised’. Due process has to be taken so that we are not unfair to investors and government. So anything to the contrary is hearsay. It is fake news. This is trying to twist government and twist the arm of the minister so that someone can benefit from resources by invading mines. They are trying to use illegal means to benefit. Sometimes it is informed by greed.”

He said the licence of the prospector is valid.

“Youths have gone to invade and disturb because they suspect that that person is mining. As ministers we will not work on hearsay. If we make decisions based on rumours and innuendos, we will find ourselves in court and government will lose money compensating that individual,” Kabuswe said.

And concerning mining in Lower Zambezi National Park, Kabuswe said his ministry would give a position on the matter next week.

MINING ACTIVITIES IN LOWER ZAMBEZI WILL SPUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – MTAYACHALO

By Daily Star Reporter

PF Chama North Member of Parliament Yotam Mtayachalo says mining activities in the lower Zambezi National park will spur economic development.

Mtayachalo said he is in full support of the stance taken by Feira Parliamentarian to support mining.

“I would like to take this opportunity to come in full support of the stance taken by Feira member of parliament Hon Emmanuel Tembo and other interest groups in the district for supporting large scale mining activities in the lower Zambezi on condition that the company shall be compliant with the benchmarks set out by the Zambia Environmental Management Authority (ZEMA) in order to ensure that the environment is protected. The mining investment in the lower Zambezi whose inhabitants are very poor will undoubtedly bring a lot of maximum economic benefits to the country and the local people in as far as contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP),job opportunities and wealth creation at household level is concerned,” said Mtayachalo.

“… it is indisputable fact that the wildlife sub sector has been dominated by white foreigners at the expense of indegenous Zambians and above all these wild animals are being conserved for the foreigners to benefit as local people who stay near Game Management Areas(GMA) recieve lip service from hunting safaris and as such the local people are not deriving maximum economic benefits from their God given wildlife resource.However in the olden days the government used to authorise the department of wildlife to accassionary crop some wild animals on yearly basis especially those animals which had multiplied in numbers in order to ease man-animal conflict and the meat was given to the local people and this used to be a source of protein but nowadays it is a different story such that if a person is found with a mere bird or a skin of a duicker or rabbit just to mention but a few custodial sentences are being imposed on them once convicted and on the other hand accused persons waiting for trials are confined in remand prisons for a long period of time and some of these charges maybe based on trumped up wildlife related crimes therefore making so many families to suffer and thereby congesting our correctional facilities.”

He said it should not be business to just watch people suffer and treated like slaves.

“This cannot continue while we watch helplessly and seeing our own people being treated like slaves in their own country and needless to say that while I support conservation of wildlife the same must not be done at the expense of the local people because suspects are being searched in their homes in the midst of the night or at dawn and as the results there are being dehumanized by some of these wildlife scouts and this is a gross violation of human rights.”

“There are reports in chama district in eastern province of wildlife scouts planting evidence such as animal skins and game meat on homes of suspected poachers and unfortunately some of the accused persons are currently serving prison terms on crimes they did not commit because they do not have access to legal representation to successfully defend them in our court,” he said.

Mtayachalo is asking the Government to launch investigations and find out what is happening to the local people.

“Therefore, I want to appeal to the government to launch investigations in these serious allegations and ensure that it gets to the bottom of this matter so that those officers involved in this scam are dealt with severely because it is evil or inhuman to plant evidence on suspected poachers leading to their arrests and ultimately being jailed in Lundazi,Mpika and Chinsali prisons while their families back home suffer and as a member of parliament I want this matter investigated thoroughly because some people are in jail not that they committed crimes but for the offences they did not commit which is not right,” he said.

Mtayachalo is further asking President Hakainde Hichilema to consider pardoning people arrested for wildlife related crimes.

“I also want to make an earnest appeal to His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema to consider pardoning a long list of people convincted of wildlife related crimes in chama district who are currently serving jail sentences in the correctional facilities in the districts I have mentioned as above because we don’t have a correctional facility in the district in order to decongest these facilities so that these people can reunite with their families and as such the affected families will highly be indebted to the President should he consider pardoning our people who are languishing in various correctional services.”

STOP THE BLAME GAME AND PROVIDE POLICY COHERENCY ON KANGALUWI COPPER MINE IN LOWER ZAMBEZI

Government needs policy consistency to nip in the bud the environmental disaster that will engulf Lower Zambezi National Park should Kangaluwi open-pit copper mine go ahead.

It is clear that public opinion outweighs any business interests the protagonists of this ill-conceived mining project are advancing. It is unfortunate that the Minister of Green Economy and the Environment has given a go-ahead to Kangaluwi Copper Mining Project while the Presidency says they are opposed to this project.

For nearly 100 years since commercial copper mining started in Zambia in 1925, the country has been left with gaping holes, broken roads, limping railway systems, environmental pollution in mining communities and a huge public debt. One need not look further than the lead-poisoned town of Kabwe, the stunted trees and malnourished vegetation of Chambishi, Kansuswa, Wusakile and Roan mine townships to understand the price we have paid in terms of environmental degradation.

This is what open-pit copper mining will do to the fragile eco-system in Lower Zambezi National Park and the surrounding game reserves of Chiawa, Luano and Rufunsa. It is a well-known fact that in open-pit mining, 90 percent of what is mined is soil which has to be dumped somewhere while about 10 percent of copper ore has to be smelted to extract copper.

Whenever the rains fall and whenever the winds blow, the toxic elements in the mine dumpsites and the Sulphur emissions from copper smelters find their way into river systems, underground water and surface soils. So toxic are these elements that even iron roofing sheets on houses built West of copper smelters in mine compounds on the Copperbelt have been corroded and destroyed.

Should Kangaluwi Copper Mine project be allowed to straddle the middle of the Lower Zambezi National Park, where the Zambezi and the Kafue River systems converge, the damage to vegetation, aquatic life, flora and fauna will be so huge that human-animal conflict will be exacerbated as the animal population in that fragile eco-system scatters in search of food. As for the anticipated job creation, that would not be realized because digital mining has made it possible for machines – huge one for that matter – to dig, carry, crush and smelt copper ore with fewer human beings at the controls.

Such is the heavy price we have paid for embracing automation without paying much attention to a just transition and appropriate technologies that can deliver jobs and investments in the so-called green economies and green jobs. The UPND Government will do well by levelling commercial gold and manganese mining which are being done in a haphazard manner.

Existing large copper mines also need to pay fair taxes given the high demand for copper and super commodity prices on the international market.
Getting our act right on gold, manganese, copper, cobalt and gemstones mining is a lesser evil than the blame game we are seeing from Kangaluwi Copper Mine Project.

Where public opinion outweighs business interests, the presidency has but one option – which is – to cancel the mining license in Lower Zambezi National Park. We cannot afford to have the Minister of Green Economy and the Environment saying one thing while the Presidency says another thing.
Policy coherence is needed on this matter.

Monday, 7th February 2022
By Hon. Pavyuma Kalobo
MP – Wusakile Constituency
Chairman – Mines and Minerals Development, Patriotic Front (PF) See less

IT’S OVER FOR PF
…it’s finished, can’t become formidable opposition – Chisala

By Charles Tembo

THIS is the end of the PF, says Bishop Timothy Chisala.

And the Overseer of All Nations Church International insists that the Socialist Party is the next viable opposition party in the country.

Commenting on the Kabwata Constituency parliamentary by-elections results, Bishop Chisala said the PF cannot rebrand with leaders who were rejected and have a tag of corruption, violence and criminal records.

The ruling UPND’s Andrew Tayengwa emerged victorious after receiving 13,574 votes followed by the PF’s Clement Tembo who polled 11,192 with SP’s Tripher Ng’andu obtaining 1,849. Others are Chilufya Tayali with 420 votes, Sydney Zyambo (PAC) 222 votes, Fred Mubanga (DP) 124 votes, Engiwe Mzyece (UNIP) 63 votes, Kennedy Muyowa (New Heritage Party) 46 votes and Henry Muleya of PeP with 30 votes.

Bishop Chisala said the election defect of the PF has completely buried the former ruling party.

“So now this is the end of the PF. The PF is history for now. You can’t rebrand a party with the same rejected leaders. The PF is just a group of arrogant guys. The people who were rejected, can’t come and be the champions of rebranding,” he said.

“It is now clear that the PF is finished and has no chance of coming back or becoming a formidable opposition party.”

Bishop Chisala, as three weeks ago, said Zambia was in safe hands under the opposition leadership of the Socialist Party and Dr Fred M’membe as its leader.

“First, let me congratulate the UPND for winning the Kabwata parliamentary seat. Well deserved. But my interest is in the performance of the opposition. I still insist that the Socialist Party is the new opposition hope for Zambia. Inspite all the challenges, the party has proved to be a darling of the people. What makes a party to be a darling of the people is the quality of leadership,” said Bishop Chisala.

“Going into the by-election in Kabwata was not going to be easy for the opposition especially new parties. The performance of the Socialist Party is so overwhelming. That is good for a small opposition party.”

LOWER ZAMBEZI: Money or Box

By Miles B. Sampa
Sunday 5 February, 2022

Luangwa and Feira Constituency is indeed a dead district economically. There is zero industrial or macro commercial activities. Even the confluence of the two big rivers Zambezi and Luangwa has done little thus far to uplift the lives of over 150,000 Residents inhabitants in Zambia. It’s even easier to access fresh fish in Matero than locals do in the river waters across borders of Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

There are a number of exotic lodges on the river fronts owned by non Zambians and exclusive to tourists. Majority residents have hardly accessed these lodges as they have no ‘visas’ to given prices are in Dollars.

Once on a political escapade there, I booked in one of the Zambezi river lodges for air condition’s sake given the lower Zambezi valley is extremely hot.
I had to check out next day as my Visa card began to issue decline receipts overnight. Lol.

The locals can hardly farm due to harsh valley soils and climate conditions.

A mine investment would ideally make sense to the lives of people that God made born in the Lower Zambezi. A mine investment would not make sense to the animals in the area whose existence attracts tourists for the said lodges. Herein is the conondrum. Local Human home economics benefits from the few mine jobs or cash spill vs wild animals to macro tourists economic benefits.

It would be interesting to note the GDP or BOP contribution to our Treasury from the tourist activities in the Lower Zambezi. My instinct is that it’s minimal because most is paid in offshore bank accounts.

Then there is the view from the Lumwana Copper and Kanseli Gold mines where locals have equally not benefited economically because payments for minerals dug out from their land is paid for in accounts outside Zambia. Transfer pricing it’s called. Blindfold Zambia out of their minerals and only declare a bit for wages and suppliers.

So what’s good for Lower Zambezi? For me non as long as shareholding is not by Zambians and for Zambians. Forget one or two Zambian fronts speaking on their behalf as they are our own economic snippers or mercenaries. They are paid to pose as Incharge just to keep us quiet and yet majority locals remain in perpetual abject poverty.

Hitherto any foreign contracts signed for mining in the lower Zambezi by previous regimes can be cancelled by current authorities if they choose to.
It will be good to consider new local investors with names like Libangila, Tikambenji, Daka, Mbololwa, Siampondo, Hamaleka, Chandalala, Shakafuswa, Sampaula, Kasongo etc. etc

Economically, Lower Zambezi born Zambians (Goba, Soli, Sala, Tongas, Nyanjas) should be able to say ‘kuli bonesha ta’ both with tourism lodges and the mine ownership in their God given land.

(The author is MP in the Zambian Parliament)

Mubita C. Nawa Writes”

“The Day I Met Knack Unity

I was on my way from Western Province to the Democratic Republic of Congo. I had entered Copperbelt via Kaoma and Kasempa and I had entered DRC via Mufulira.

I had passed through Chembe hours earlier and was now going to Congo up via Lake Mweru. My mission was to diffuse the influx of NRCs that were issued to minors and foreigners. I would often sneak in border towns to campaign for UPND and HH and to show the illegality of what I personally believed were atrocious deeds.

As I entered Mansa I heard that the then President of Zambia was also in Mansa. A reliable source told me (allegedly) that Knack Unity were part of the people he was targeting to meet. It was 09:00am when I got this tip off. To be honest with you, part of how we managed to evade the many traps was cooperation without compromise.

I knew I had to make a move. I made a U-turn and I had to be first to meet them. I knew that if PF got to Knack Unity before us (UPND), then we were finished. Not because I doubted the credentials of Knack Unity, but because I doubted the integrity of PF.

I have never driven so fast. By 11:07 I was with Knack Unity. I was in Samfya. I had beaten the then president of Zambia to them.

“I am here in my personal capacity. President HH has not sent me though I wake under his office. I have come on my own to appeal to you to remain neutral and to never ever entertain PF. And by the way we have a rally in Kitwe in five days time and I have arranged for your accomodation, Transport etc…” I made a few calls to a wonder UPND member of Parliament who helped me pull this off.

They were and still are wonderful guys. I also told them I needed to go Live on Facebook because I did not want any PF to beat me or the UPND to them…

We went live. After that we took this picture. Unfortunately the Kitwe rally was eventually cancelled by the then government with another lame excuse 😡.

After going live I had to leave Samfya immediately. Using another vehicle and to avoid ECL I changed vehicles, used a boat and came out via Luwingu. Few hours later I got a tip off that I had pissed off “big boys”. I said “good for them.” In politics you have to be swift, sober, and subtle. I intended to have all three virtues.

To this day I thank God for this talented gents. They played a big role in sensitisation, mobilisation and they remain one of my heroes. They are simply powerful.

Have a beautiful day and never underestimate the power you have to add value and flavor to life.

MCNLIVE

gorillamarketing

..Baninano alalee”

HH, FELLOW LEADERS PONDER BETTER FUTURE FOR ALL

President Hakainde Hichilema has held bilateral talks with several other Heads of State at the ongoing African Union Heads of State summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The talks centered around peace and unity while fostering trade and investment.

The President writes below….

Fellow citizens.

Every discussion we have and every step we make is to explore and establish trade and investment opportunities for you all.

While here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we have done exactly that with our fellow African leaders.

And the desire for peace, unity and true democracy for development in Africa was top when we held a conversation with President Macky Sall of Senegal who is the new African Union Chairperson.

With President Felix Tshisekedi of Democratic Republic of Congo, we made follow ups on our recent trip to his country.

What we seek is trade opportunities which will allow our citizens and brothers and sisters in that Republic transact with much ease.

Our focus is capitalising on Zambia being a land-linked country that offers trade opportunities which lead to job creation.

We had talks on the importance of peace and security with President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo of Somalia. While with President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana we discussed the value of our African culture and its likely opportunities.

With President Muhammad Buhari of Nigeria we talked about entrepreneurship between our nations.

We discussed trade links with Comoros President, President Azali Assoumani and with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, we discussed the importance of unity within countries and ultimately neighbouring countries as this fosters both social and political growth.

Our country is richly endowed with natural resources and this is why we are very confident that during our tenure, Zambia has to get better and will indeed be better.

May God bless Zambia and May God bless Africa.

Hakainde Hichilema
President of the Republic of Zambia

LUANGWA PF MP THREATENS TO STAGE DEMOS IN SUPPORT OF MINING IN LOWER ZAMBEZI

By Kombe Mataka

FEIRA PF member of Parliament Emmanuel Tembo says the people of Luangwa will fight until the last drop of blood to ensure that Mwembeshi Mineral Resources starts mining in Lower Zambezi.

Addressing journalists in Lusaka on Saturday, Tembo said the continued campaign against mining activities in the Lower Zambezi National Park by various civil society organisations and environmentalists was based on misinformation and ignorance.

“As the people of Luangwa we are ready to fight for that mine until the last drop of blood and if the doomsayers are ready, we will take them on: whether, legally, physically or whichever way. When they demonstrate, the people of Luangwa are ready to come and demonstrate,” he said. “The entire population will be brought here (Lusaka), that is how much we want the mine.”

Tembo described those opposed to the development of the mine as ignorant.

“Mining in the Lower Zambezi should continue with strict adherence to environmental requirements,” Tembo added.

And indeed the entire population of the people of Luangwa than anyone else welcome this development. The people are celebrating as the same will have a positive impact on their lives.”

He said Luangwa residents could not be lectured on conservation.

“The adherence to environmental guidelines is what we are also concerned about. We’re conservatives naturally, no one has to tell us to be conservationists. We have preserved our environment for years,” Tembo said further.

“Even our forefathers never went to school but they had their own methods of preserving the environment. So, no one can come from far to come and tell us how to preserve the environment.”

He said while environmentalists were opposed to mining activities in the area, foreigners were conducting illegal activities through transportation of rare animal species at the expense of residents.

Tembo said it was time for Zambians to wake up and reclaim what rightfully belonged to them.

“At the banks of the the Lower Zambezi are lodges and resorts exclusively owned by Whites. These lodges are unreachable to ordinary Zambians and we have rooms that cost US$ 2,000 dollars which translates to K40,000 per night,” he said. “It is not clear what other activities are conducted in these areas. The owners exhibit apartherd tendencies which are against the Zambian culture. The Lower Zambezi has many private airports which are not fully monitored by the State. There is need to know who lands on these airports and what is airlifted on the Lower Zambezi.The lower Zambezi deposits precious and semi-precious stones and minerals. The area has reptiles with precious skins that are on demand in China, Europe and Asia. This business is out of reach of Zambians but this illegal business in being conducted in Lower Zambezi even as we speak: special species of animals are collected from this country.”

He said the employment figures accruing from tourism activities were so insignificant.

“When we talk about jobs, there is nothing significant. Most of the lodge owners are employing Zimbabweans because these, even if they are mistreated, they have no where to go to get relief…so in tourism, we are not getting any benefits. If the mine is not opened, Luangwa will be turned into a dessert. In Luangwa, people have turned to charcoal burning,” Tembo said further.

He said it was the view of the affected chiefs of the district that mining activities would trigger economic activities in what he said was a poverty stricken area.

“The district is one of those in extreme poverty and under development despite its potential and endowment of various mineral resources. The district has no industry, people have basically settled there,” he said. “We have a challenge of farming because of human-animal conflict and challenges of climatic conditions. Poverty in the district is well above 80 per cent. Thus, the people of Luangwa are in need of that mine.”

Tembo said the continued campaign against Mwembeshi Resource’s Limited’s intentions to set up a mine in the Lower Zambezi was misleading.

He claimed that the whole of Luangwa district was sitting on several mineral deposits which could be utilised for the benefit of the locals.

“It is true that the Lower Zambezi covers 4,000 square kilometers. The mine is situated at area covering 12 square kilometres which has now been reduced to 9 square kilometres in view of the Environmental Impact Assessment,” he said. “So, it is less than one per cent…at the tip of Luangwa and Rufunsa. Secondly, the mine is 40 kilometres away from the Zambezi River, so we are wondering why they are saying it will pollute the river. So we see that narrative as very questionable. The animal settlement is also far from where the mine is, so the mine can co-exist with animal life.”

And Tembo urged government to comb the area and investigate illegal mining currently taking place.

And Chairman of the Luangwa Establishment Joseph Felemenga commended government for allowing the a mining project to go ahead in line with the court judgement of February 21, 2021

“Why do we support mining in Lower Zambezi? It is our view that apart from employment and other social services, the developer shall pay taxes to government and improve government’s revenue base. Surounding districts like Chongwe, Rufunsa and Chirundu will also feel the benefits of this project once it takes off. I am therefore urging government not to listen to propaganda sponsored by a click of foreign interests, some of whom may not be genuine investors, but doing illegal activities in that area. They will not have it easy this time around,” said Felemenga.

“They picked some of our youths and citizens, put them on boat cruises in Lower Zambezi, fed them and pointed a camera at them. What did you expect these poor fellows to say? The people of Luangwa have lived side by side with these animals for more than 200 years. Go to Luangwa and you shall be greeted by animals. We are in support of minister of Green Economy (Collins Nzovu) that there should be compliance with what is in the Environmental Impact Assessment Report before commencement of any mining activities. Luangwa Establishment will follow up with the developer, Mwembeshi Mineral Resources Limited, to ensure that they put in place all these recommendations without any excuses.”

On Wednesday last week, Nzovu said mining in Lower Zambezi would go ahead but with strict conditions.

DRAMA UNFOLDS AS OWNER OF ZAMBIA WHISTLEBLOWER SUMMONED TO POLICE

But Thomas Zgyambo says Police should give him call records of Clayson Hamasaka and others, before he can report.

NATIONAL ADDRESS BY TZ TO THE NATION.

WARNING. NOT FOR LAZY READERS.

This is an address to the people of Zambia by Thomas Allan Zgambo. The allegedly, proprietor, founder, master minder, brain child of the ZWB.

Insinuations, inneundos, facts,threats and any other vices can not change anything. ZWB is here to stay.

Today a Deputy Director of CID called Mubita Nawa grabbed two phones from a Detective Inspector Chiza Mkandaware of Woodlands Police Station.

Chiza’s crime is that he communicates with me and I write about State House on the Zambian Whistleblower.

Chiza is like my young brother. His late father and my Father were friends. Dad is around, he turned 90 two weeks ago. Someone even requested me to post it on ZWB.

Did you see that post? No.

When ZWB wrote about Nepotism, you brushed it aside. Thomas Allan Zgambo is one of the 2.8 million.

This is the Thomas whom when Clayson Hamasaka, Dean Mwaanga, Brian Mwiinga and any other Bantu Botatwe was not ready to report Dora Siliya and Brian Hapunda to the Police for alleged hate speech that they assigned to handle tasks. Alone.

I remember Mr. Mwaliteta volunteering to escort me. I refused.

Today that any of my keen and…….. desire to harm me because of my profession is not fair.

My young brother was about to be scammed. He has spent his entire career in the Civil Society group.

These people are quite good in good corporate governance unless it is a one man or woman’s show.

He was about to be scammed and he consulted me as an elder brother.

I asked him to report the matter to the Police. He reported the matter to Woodlands Police and Chiza was around.

Chiza is actually younger than my young brother.

So he called to give me a brief. The Police got my call records. My number is +260977228718.

The Police want to know who writes stories on the Zambian Whistleblower about State House.

So they grabbed Chiza’s phones. I will tell you who else they should grab phones from later.

There is a reason why they are doing this. They are also becoming tribalists and corrupt.

This Mkandawire officer is the one who was accused by the Patriotic Front of attempting to poison President Sata under instructions from HH. Mkandawire had nothing to do for two years.

The PF wanted to fix HH before the treason thing.

He was called UPND and Micheal Nsofwa and the rest victimised him like a fool.

Today the young man can not have his phones because he communicated with me?

This is being evil. When Fanwell Siandenge resurfaced, one of the first persons he met was me.

I have spoken to Nawa after several attempts and he thought I was from Lilayi or Sondela. I’m a simple journalist. He may be tougher.

I have to find out again from Airtel how my communication to Mr. Mkandawire were intercepted.

Offcourse, I will ask for some search warrants. What where the reasons and who requested the information.

The 5 W’s have to key in here. I will make myself available to the Police on Monday 13hrs.

I will not go with any lawyer but a group of friends.

13hrs because I was supposed to meet the Acting Director General of the Anti Corruption Commission.

He called me on Friday that he wanted us to meet and that he was given my number by Honourable Mulambo Haimbe.

I did not meet him on Friday because I was not feeling well. I wanted to rest. My phone is ever busy. I switched it off.

I will go see the Police on Monday after considering what is important.

National duties first. However, before I go to the Police, I demand the following, that phones be grabbed from anyone I communicate with in this government.

1. Clayson Hamasaka. My lovely elder brother whom I wish well and would want to succeed.
2. Levy Ngoma. Asogoleli.
3. Christopher Mundia. Counsel.
4. Anthony Bwalya. Bakalamba.
5. Brian Mwiinga. TZ.
6. Hon Mulambo Haimbe. Counsel/ Honourable.
7. John Msimuko. My brother.

Let me have phones from all these people before I come to the Police.

When within the UPND circles Mlewa as an independent candidate worked with now two Cabinet Ministers to block one Mula from standing in Lusaka Central, it is Inspector Mkandawire who served him.

Do not doubt everyone who does not come from where you come from. Some have even sacrificed more than you fools.

Bally is aware of this. Do not be excited. You need a strong media now to check you. PF is gone. Almost everyone will be in jail.

When PF came into power, it killed MMD, luckly UPND was getting strong. That is how we are here now. If PF died today and there is no ZWB, these guys will steal big.

I will go to the Police. Kaya if they will fulfil my demands. Watch the space. I support fair play. A friend from the intelligence community said this ” Instead of consulting you they want to arrest you”.

Thomas Allan Zgambo
Ends.
©Zambian Whistleblower

3 Abortions and two painful miss-carriages, my cousin Carol decided to end her life.

Carol was a graduate of Laikipia University.
She had successfully finished a degree program in human resource management before relocating to Nanyuki town in search of work opportunities.
Carol’s life at Laikipia University was a troubled one, to say the least.
She was reckless and with a severe alcohol problem.
Nearly all her campus relationships failed as most men she dated accused her of either infidelity, party addiction or general emotional absence in the relationship.
Twice during her stay at Laikipia University, she appeared before university’s senate disciplinary committee to answer charges on drunkardness and gross miss conduct at the university’s halls of residences.

Carol was fighting bad drug addiction.
She needed money to satisfy her lethal addiction to substance.

It’s during her reckless partying in Laikipia town that my cousin Carol sometimes slept with strangers just for quick cash to purchase her drugs. Sadly, most times, our Carol engaged in unprotected sex with these random men.
Twice, she confessed to me that she had fallen pregnant, without knowing who really was responsible for each of the pregnancy. Sadly, during the two times she had concieved, she had moved with speed to terminate the said pregnancies through (un)safe medical Abortions.

One day,

During her final year at Laikipia University, Carol met a gentleman who Supringly, she decided to settle with.

John was a final year medical student. He too was a student at Laikipia University.
John had fallen deeply in love with Carol despite her glaring struggles with life and morality.
He didn’t care about her alcohol problem. He didn’t care about her drug addiction, he didn’t care about her partying tendencies. All he wanted was to be with her, to love her and to renew her perception about life.

As her cousins, we knew that indeed John was God sent.
That finally, our cousin Carol had finally gotten herself a true gentleman who was going to not only forgive her filthy past life, but also love and care for her unconditionally.
True to his word, John gave Carol his all.
He Selflessly paid for her rehabilitation sessions in Nanyuki and promised to be by her side during her drug recovery journey.
In their relationship, Carol got everything she wanted.
For her 27th birthday, Carol received a brand new car and without a doubt, our sweet cousin Carol begun living life on the first lane.
In John’s eyes, Carol wasn’t a recovering addict with questionable morals, but a queen who deserved all the very best that life had to offer.
Countless number of times, John spoke so highly of Carol. He beamed with the plans of raising a beautiful family with her. He asserted that despite a troubled past, she would blossom to be a perfect wife, a loving mother and ultimately, the cornerstone of a beautiful and blessed family.

2 years into their relationship, something bad happened.

Carol was not able to carry any pregnancy to term.
The first one was miss-carriaged at the seventh month while the second pregnancy had to be surgically terminated as she was severely bleeding internally and doctors advised that if she continued carrying the baby, it would be fatal to her life at the due month.
These two miss-carriages dealt a huge blow to both my cousin Carol and her fiancée John.
Carol felt defeated. She questioned God. At some point, the melt downs were so bad that she contemplated suicide. John experienced a very tough time trying to comfort her from the loss of her two unborn babies. Consequently, he had to bare the demanding task of dealing with the loss of his unborn children and also consoling and renewing the hopes of his torn fiancé Carol. It was indeed a very difficult moment for the two.

Assumptions rose that maybe Carol was paying dearly for the countless Abortions that she had procured during her reckless days at Laikipia University.
Others theorized that the bitchy karma was dealing with her, and that the fruit of her womb had been destroyed long ago when she used to misuse her body for whatever reasons.
Albeit all that, Carol’s Fiancée who was now a full practicing doctor in Nanyuki hospital assured her that all these baby loses were as a result of medical complications and soon, they would get the right medication that would restore the health of her womb and finally enable her to carry a baby to full term.

Sadly, no amount of Consolation would help Carol stop grieving on her two miss-carriages. She spent her days in bed, and with zero zeal to eat. She occasionally cursed and regretted her reckless days back at college.
The good life that her fiancée Dr. John was offering stopped making sense to her. All she wanted was to be alone.

Then the worst happened.

Out of emotional distress, my cousin Carol slipped back into heavy drugs consumption. Upon Dr John going off to work every morning, she would slip out of their Nanyuki home, contact her former drug plugs for a joint or two.
According to Carol, the illegal joints would help her to temporarily escape her painful realities of failed pregnancies.
She soon graduated into sneaking bottles of alcohol into the house. Our Carol was soon high on substance most part of the day. She became so thin and physically frail that her own fiancée felt the alarm.

Attempts to get to a psychiatrist failed terribly.
The sun had finally set on her sanity and she made the most dreaded desicion ever!
Carol decided to break up with Dr. John.
She decided to call it quits and relocate to Nairobi in search of a new life. A life of freedom and singlehood.
She felt that her two miss-carriages had left her ripped apart and she had nothing to offer her fiancée at all.
All she wanted to do was to go away. Far away.

This break-up desicion by Carol completely killed Dr. John inside. This is a lady he had done for everything.
He had literally helped Carol piece up her life at a time when she was living a complete lie. This is a lady he had dreamt of a life with, despite the two painful miss-carriages.
And yet this day, Carol was betraying his undying love for him and choosing to go away.
Dr. John’s world came crushing. He knew better not to try to beg her not to leave. He believed he couldn’t force her into returning his deep love for her.
Though painful, he knew that her mind was made up. The short love story was done and Dusted.
Dr. John was left heartbroken, he could just never love a woman again!
He was left battling the loss of two children and the pains of betrayal.

Fast foward.

My cousin Carol relocated to the busy city in the sun, Nairobi!

She reconnected with old campus friends and begun her life afresh. However empty she felt inside, she was determined to settle into a private life, get a stable job and live a happy fun filled life. She hoped that despite a troubled past and a great sense of loss, the years ahead of her would offer sufficient grace.
Deep in, she knew he had truly heartbroken her Ex fiance, Dr John. But again, her love for the good doctor had drastically ended after her miss carriages. Or so, she had convinced herself.
Despite not wanting to ever date again, deep inside she really wanted to try one last endevour to have a baby. She wanted one of her own, despite having aborted 3 and miscarried 2 babies. She wanted to try one last time, atleast with the option of a sperm donor.

Two years on,

My cousin Carol finally raised the required amount to successfully register for artificial sperm insemination. Lucky for her, her close friends had also gone into an arrangement with an unknown male to potentially come through as a sperm donor for her. Though expensive, all the artificial insemination processes went well and with renewed hope, my cousin Carol was finally going to fulfill her wish of becoming a mom, without a man being in her life.
Carol prayed and hoped that this particular pregnancy would not develop any complications.
This was her last bet with both the fruit of her womb, and with God.
This was her last spirited attempt to make sense of life as a mother, being single not withstanding.
As family, we also prayed with her, and hoped that in the fullness of time, God would come through for her despite a pained past!

October 3rd,Carol went into labor!

This was exactly 8 months and 3 weeks after the artificial insemination.
The monthly clinic visits showed that indeed Carol was carrying a healthy baby and every passing month renewed her hopes of carrying this particular pregnancy to term.
We were happy and excited for her. Friends and family looked foward to that day that she would be taken in for delivery. Every close person crossed their fingers for her.
Finally, in the fullness of time, God was going to bring her to motherhood.
On this afternoon, Carol went into severe labor pain and was rushed to Nairobi hospital by friends.
Upon arrival, the nurses asserted that indeed the baby was due for delivery.

However,

So as to increase the chances of a very safe first time delivery, Carol was recommended to have a C-section instead of the normal delivery. This expert advice from the nurses assured her that everything was going to be okay, at the end.
Carol was booked in for the surgery the same day, 6pm.
That evening, she was wheeled into the theatre room as we waited anxiously at the hospitals waiting Bay.
The labor pains were taking a toll on her. She was screaming with pain while praying to God to accord her a safe delivery.
As she waited on the suggery bed for the 2 natal surgeons to arrive, her nurses encouraged her to relax and that in no time, she would be a proud mother to a bouncing baby girl.

6:20pm

The two surgeons walked in the surgery rooms to kick start the delivery process.
As a standard procedure, the doctors first had to introduced themselves to her.
As they were introducing themselves, Carol immediately recognized the lead surgeon for her delivery process, Dr. John! Her Ex fiance!

Dr. John had been transfered to Nairobi hospital from Nanyuki level 3 hospital the previous week.

Written by Socrates

It is safe to say that February is the odd one out when talking about the months that make up a year. With just 28 days, it stands different from other months that ranges from that which has 30 days to some with 31 days.

Though February sometimes has 29 days but this only happens occasionally, perhaps only once in a few years when the world enjoys the leap year.

However, the question on the minds of many has always been if this event is naturally occurring or if it is simply man-made?

The answer to this is that it is truly man made and one can always trace the reason for February’s short number of days to the Roman Empire, the very empire that came up with the calendar the world now uses.

To understand the case of February and how it eventually came into existence and obviously has now taken the form of a 28 day month, one needs to understand that the calendar that mentions the use of February was created by the Romans, who at the time of its creation initially used a calendar that had just ten months.

This special or perhaps old calendar was measured or calculated using the moon cycle, which is why it is called Lunar Calendar.

As a ten month calendar, it started in March and ended in December. However, the Romans encountered a problem in the calculation system and a need to review their calendar became obvious.

The reason for the error they encountered in their calendar was because they only attempted to measure the summer and avoided measuring the winter because they believed it was inconsequential to their harvests.

Nonetheless, the important thing to note is that the Roman calendar has always possessed months with just 28 days and according to sources, the month of January and February were both once calculated by the Romans as having just 28 days.

Eventually, a king came into the scene who believed that the number 28 is perhaps responsible for the bad luck Rome was enduring at the time, in his attempts to avoid the harvesting issues that the Romans endured, he added a few days to January but left out February.

Asides from the issue of idea of harvesting issues, the addition of a few days to January as well as other months but leaving out February, managed to help the Romans solve their ten month drifting calendar for a while.

Unfortunately, in the future they encountered the same issues, so they had to go back to retracing their calendar and began to attempt to add or remove from the existing days in an attempt to solve the errors in their calendar.

They soon realize that the ten month calendar was responsible for the errors. So at the time, they added a new month called Mercedonius.

However, the addition of this new month came with a condition; only Roman priests could determine when they month would be added in each year.

What this means is that in each year, a Roman priests would often have to determine, in his discretion what period of the year, be it winter or summer, where the newly added month would come to be.

This manner of additions and subtractions only ended up bringing more errors and the Romans soon realize that a long term solution had to be scheduled or brought in place.

Thankfully the first ever considerably best or good enough calendar was created by the administration of Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, who based the new Roman calendar on cycles of the sun, rather than the moon as previously done.

This was when he came up with 365 day calendar, of course without the famous Mercedonius special month that occasionally appeared in every year.

However, the Romans soon realized that they have miscalculated the solar cycle. This was obvious when they realized that each year, one day keeps disappearing which either makes the calendar deficit by one day or the solar cycle goes beyond the calendar by one day.

Fortunately, this was fixed using February. When this error was to be fixed, the Romans decided not to add any other day to other months, which had already been calculated to have 30 or 31 days, rather, they decided to add it to February since it was missing a few days already.

The birth of the Gregorian calendar fixed the issue of the disappearing day by creating a leap year, this idea of leap year only adds a day to February’s during this special years.

President Hakainde Hichilema has called on African leaders to embrace a new paradigm anchored on trade, investments and partnerships to end poverty on the continent.

President Hichilema says Africa must be tired of talking about its potential because it needs to be actualized now.

In his maiden address to the African Union assembly at the 35th ordinary session currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Hichilema said Africa is endowed with vast resource to produce foods and other needs.

He, however, lamented the lack of value addition adding that increased value addition has the potential to lift Africans out of poverty and develop the continent.

The President further called for value addition of African raw materials before being exported.

President Hichilema, who is among the three newly elected African leaders making a maiden appearance at the AU Assembly, stated that challenges of instability, corruption and poverty need to be fought with vigor and change the narrative.

He said the current crop of African leaders has a new opportunity to be a generation of leaders that will thrive on economic success and change narrative once and for all.

The President said that instability anywhere is instability everywhere hence needs to be curtailed.

The President said the Assembly’s theme, “Building Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent: Strengthen Agriculture, Accelerate Human Capital, Social and Economic Development,” aligns with his administration’s key priorities of dev

development which is increasing contribution of agriculture to economic growth.

He also stated that African leaders should not expect to be respected by citizens if they cannot respect the rule of law.

Earlier, during the official opening of the assembly Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called on the African Union -AU- to establish a continental media house that wilol diffuse negative publicity by Western media.

He lamented that the stereotype kind of reporting in Africa as being a hub of poverty, disease, wars and hunger by the western media is retrogressive and portrays a wrong image.

Mr. Ahmed said the AU continental media house should give as many voices as possible to share the various opportunities that Africa offers.

He also called for the continued push for Africa’s representation on the United Nations Security Council and other organs.

Mr. Ahmed said the huge population of young Africans is key in driving the continent’s prosperity.

And AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said Africa’s greater challenge remains realisation of the autonomy of its economy.

He, however, noted that expansion of acts of terrorism of the economy has been a challenge to economic and social development.

Mr. Mahamat also added that growing interest in Africa has not so much been in favour of Africa’s development.

He, however, challenged African leadership to mobilize resources to harness the continent’s potential by taking appropriate decisions that stakeholders expect them to take.

The AU Commission Chairperson further stated that the African Medicines Agency -AMA- is ready to play an active role in fighting disease outbreak and promote manufacturing of medicines and vaccines in Africa.

And UN Secretary General Antonio Guterez, who was virtually represented by his Deputy Amina Muhammed assured the AU of the UN’s support in its transformative agenda of Africa.

LETTER TO PRESIDENT HH

Dear Mr. President

REF : YOUR POSITION ON THE REMARKS OF YOUR PARTY OFFICIAL ASKING THE POLICE TO ALLOW HIM TO STEAL

For a few days now Social media has been bombarded with videos of your UPND Deputy National Chairman by the name of Stephen Chikota implicating your Ministers in illegal mining and smuggling of gemstones.

Sir you are on record accusing the “click” of teaching your Ministers how to steal but the revelations of your Party Deputy National Chairman suggests that your “disgruntled Ministers” as he refers to them in the videos are working with foreigners in stealing from this rich yet poor nation.

My main concern regarding this subject in question, Sir, is your position on your Party official’s plea to the Police to allow him and his fellow cadres be allowed to steal because they can not fail to share “peanuts” with the Police if allowed to steal.

You and your Party Sir, promised Zambians that there will be no Police harassments by cadres cadres once you formed Government alas we have seen videos of your Party cadres beating up an humiliating defenseless Governments officials, rubbing names of Police stations with black paint and now (the subject matter) your Party Deputy National Chairman threatening Police officers with dismissals if they don’t allow him an his cadres to steal.

Sir, the intentions to steal by your Deputy National Chairman are documented therefore with all due respect you and your office do not need the ACC or the Police to investigate the gentleman before he can be visited by the law.

What we are witnessing as a nation together with you Sir is a cancer slowly but seriously growing to a serious cancerous cadrism problem hence my honest and earnest desire to know your position because your quietness on this matter literally amounts to your seal of approval.

Personally I don’t want you Mr. President going forward to embarrassingly put the blame on the click of teaching your Party officials and Government Ministers how to steal when there is evidence of them pleading to be allowed to commit crimes.

Mr. President Sir, please deal with the criminal asking the Police to allow him to steal and by doing so – you will be sending a strong signal not only to your Party members and Ministers but the entire nation. Until then your fight against corruption will continue to be called “selective” and “vindictive.”

Looking forward to your reaction Mr. President. I thank you Sir.

Yours faithfully

Bruce Maketo
(Kabwe)