National Democratic Congress Party (NDC) vice president Joseph Akafumba has described the arrest and charge of the party’s president Chishimba Kambwili as persecution from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) that stand to benefit from the matter.

Mr Akafumba told journalists in an interview that magistrate in his judgment Magistrate Simusamba made it clear that the case was first reported to Amos Chanda who was at the time press assistant to president Lungu and what followed was the arrest of Dr Kambwili.

Mr Akafumba said by this implication the arrest of Dr Kambwili was a project for the ruling Patriotic Front who stood to benefit from its outcome.

Mr Akafumba said that when the matter started, Dr Kambwili not only reported Magistrate Simusamba’s bad conduct the Chief Justice but also asked the ACC carry out an investigation to establish whether or not there was any wrongdoing in the conduct of Dr Simusamba, adding that Dr Kambwili did not only end at reporting magistrate to the authorities but also sued him in the high court of Zambia.

Mr Akafumba regretted that this is the same magistrate who went on to hear and determine the matter involving Dr Kambwili, adding although what has happened at court yesterday was extremely saddening.

He observed that from the word go, the magistrate had scores to settle with Dr. Kambwili and the fact that he was reported to the chief justice, suggest Magistrate Simusamba was not the right magistrate to hear the matter.

“Even today when reading out the judgment, it was clear that Magistrate Simusamba was settling scores on the perceived conduct of Dr Kambwili especially when accused Kambwili making moves to delaying the court and was going to punish him for it,” he said.

Mr. Akafumba said this was not the way it should be because in all court systems, the magistrate is required to have what he described as water in the mouth.

“Regrettably, magistrate Simusamba had to swallow the water and jumped into the arena to fight Kambwili and for this reason that the judgment came out in the manner it has come, ” he said.

Mr. Akafumba said the party has instructed the lawyers to appeal against the conviction and sentencing all the way up to the supreme court and that he is sure that the facts before court does not support the judgment and this made the chances of succeeding very high.

Mr. Akafumba urged members countrywide not to lose hope because what happened is but just a temporal set back which has come from the PF.

The United States Government has given a K39 billion grant to Zambia under the new five-year Country Development Cooperation Strategy.

And President Edgar Lungu says government appreciates the support rendered by the United States of America in different sectors of the economy.

President Lungu has cited health, education and social protection as among the key sectors of the economy that have received tremendous support from the US government.

The Head of State made the remarks when United States Embassy Charge d’Affaires, David Young paid a courtesy call on him at State House today as part of the celebration of the new five year Country Development Co-operation Strategy agreement between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Zambian government.

“The United States of America’s support has been essential in complementing the Zambian government’s efforts in preserving lives, particularly human resources required for economic development,” he stressed.

“More recently, the United States pledged $14.5 million to Zambia for the COVID-19 response. The support has been earmarked, among others, towards the purchase of medical equipment, such as oxygen machines, testing equipment, and other supplies aimed at combating the pandemic,” added President Lungu.

The president emphasised that the health sector has been the greatest beneficiary of the support from the U.S. government especially in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Malnutrition, among others.

Meanwhile, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires (CDA), David Young explained that the K39 billion represents a renewed commitment by his country towards Zambia’s journey to being self-reliant.

Mr Young has stated that the long-term strategy will benefit more than 2.5 million citizens in the areas of health, education, economic development, and democratic governance.

“Subject to continued availability of funds from the U.S. Congress, the agreement signifies the total amount of planned funding the United States has pledged over the next five years to implement development assistance and programmes in support of the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which serves as a blueprint on how the U.S. government will help Zambia ultimately end its need for development assistance,” Mr Young underlined.

And speaking later in a discussion with cabinet ministers, Mr Young pointed out that the new USAID strategy helps support a road map towards Zambia’s self-reliance, aiming for a time when the country will no longer need to rely on foreign assistance.

The U.S.Embassy Charge d’Affaires affirmed that his country’s vision aligns with and supports Zambia’s Seventh National Development Plan and vision 2030 that aspires that the country attains its middle income status.

“Over the next five years, through USAID, the United States is committed to working with the Zambian government, its citizens, the private sector, and other donors to improve health, literacy, and food security for the most vulnerable Zambians,” Mr Young added.

In response, Finance Minister, Bwalya Ng’andu disclosed that the K39 billion grant that was signed in July this year, will go a long way in improving the health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene sectors.

Dr Ng’andu has assured the U.S. government of prudent use of the resources as enshrined in the Public Financial Management Act of 2018 that provides for an institutional and regulatory framework for management of public funds through the strengthening of accountability, oversight, management and control of public funds in the public financial management framework.

Cabinet Ministers that attended the ministerial discussion with Mr Young include Ministers of Agriculture Michael Katambo, General Education Dennis Wanchinga, Foreign Affairs Joseph Malanji and Presidential Affairs Freedom Sikazwe.

In 1977, the U.S. government first established the USAID presence in Zambia.

Since then, USAID has invested more than K80 billion ($4 billion) towards Zambia’s economic, political, and social development, and helped the country respond to major crises such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, periodic droughts, and the current coronavirus disease.

National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Dr. Chishimba Kambwili has been jailed for 1 year.

This is in a case where Kambwili was charged with three counts of forgery, uttering a false document, and giving false information to a public officer.

It is alleged that in October 2013, with intent to defraud or deceive, Kambwili allegedly forged a ‘No change return’(companies form 71) purporting to show that it was genuinely signed by his son Mwamba when it was not.

Lusaka Principal resident magistrate David Simusamba has since jailed Kambwili 1 year for forgery and another year for uttering a false document.

Magistrate Simusamba ruled that the accused person was behind the fictitious person called Mwamba Chishimba and therefore found him guilty of the charge

Kambwili has however been acquitted of the charge of giving false information to a public officer.

The two sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will only serve a year.

Magistrate Simusamba further said the excuse that the accused signed under a power-of-Attorney when Mwamba Chishimba was fictitious can not stand.

His lawyer, Musa Mwenye State Counsel pleaded with the magistrate to exercise leniency on Mr. Kambwili as he is a family man.

Dr Kambwili was accused of tampering with evidence in a case in which the latter was facing three counts of forgery, uttering false documents and giving false information to a public officer.

The Zambia’s Economic and Equity Party (EEP) Leader Chilufya Tayali, who was a key state witness said during the trial that it was for a fact that Kambwili uttered with the documents which were the board resolutions signed by the accused as chairman of the meeting that sat to utter the records at PACRA.

Mr. Tayali has maintained that the fact that Kambwili had chaired that meeting confirmed that he caused the alteration of the documents even though he did not physically file them at PACRA.

“By the fact that he chaired the meeting that resolved. I confirmed that he chaired because the board resolutions were filed with other documents at PACRA which counsel brought out when I was being cross-examined,” he said.

“Sometimes, like in this case, people made a resolution to file documents at PACRA but they did not themselves to PACRA to file the documents. However, they sent someone else to go and file. And from my knowledge, this agent acts on behalf of the people that have sent him. Therefore in as much as they did not go to file physically by themselves, I concluded they filed in the documents to utter the records at PACRA.”

The EEP Leader further said he had lodged the complaint against Kambwili because the records from PACRA that he was shown by the police, were different from what he had testified earlier in magistrate Simusamba’s court.

Mr. Tayali added that he was concerned because if anyone went to PACRA to get a print out of the records, they would be different from what he had testified earlier.

Mr. Kambwili has alleged that it was State House victimizing him through EPP leader Chilufya Tayali, adding that the EPP leader reported him to State House that he uttered documents at Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) in 2013.

The Zambian Government has informed its creditors including Eurobond holders that it will not be able to meet its obligations if they do not agree to its proposed interest payment holiday on debt.

Government announced last month it was seeking about $120 million in deferrals from holders of its $3 billion in Eurobonds for six months, while it works on a debt-restructuring strategy.

In a statement, Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba says all creditors have been asked for similar relief, after some non-commercial creditors agreed to a payment freeze under a G-20 plan.

Mr. Yamba explained that due to governments’ limited fiscal space, it will be unable to make payments and therefore, fail to forestall accumulating arrears.

He said the only foreign-currency debt that Zambia will continue to pay on time is to multilateral agencies and debt for a few priority projects that have an immediate economic and social impact.

Eurobond holders are due to meet on 20th October 2020 to vote on the proposal, and a group of holders already said they could not vote in favor without further assurances and transparency from the Zambian government.

Below is the full statement

COLLABORATIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE WITH CREDITORS

Lusaka, 13 October 2020 – Following the presentation by the Minister of Finance Dr Bwalya Ng’andu, MP, to Creditors on September 29th 2020, the Government of Zambia and its advisers (Lazard Freres and White and Case) have received a number of questions from creditors asking for further clarification on the Republic’s debt strategy, notably in respect of how it intends to approach the servicing of its external debt in the current environment.

As explained in the Minister of Finance’s Presentation to the Creditors, Zambia is confronting considerable challenges and liquidity difficulties compounded by the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic that has led the Government to request the cooperation of all its creditors. In this regard, the Government is negotiating debt service suspension agreements under the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) with all its official creditors and has requested comparable treatment from commercial creditors.

In that connection, the Government has sought the consent of the holders of Zambia’s outstanding Eurobonds to a standstill on debt service for a period of six months until April 2021 while it finalises its Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) and seeks to put the country’s debt on a sustainable trajectory.

In view of the urgency of the current situation, the Government has determined to ask all its external creditors to agree to debt service suspension on the same terms. The only FX denominated debt that Zambia will continue to pay on a current basis is debt from multilateral agencies and debt for a few priority projects that have an immediate economic and social impact. More information about the perimeter of such priority projects will be provided separately. To be clear, such suspension will apply to all scheduled payments of principal and interest, including accumulated arrears, for a six-month period while it completes its DSA.

Should Zambia fail to reach an agreement with its commercial creditors (including holders of its Eurobonds) on the terms of the appropriate standstills, as previously stated, the Republic with its limited fiscal space will be unable to make payments and, therefore, fail to forestall accumulating arrears.

The debt service suspension period that the Government is requesting will allow us to work, with the assistance of our financial and legal advisors, and in cooperation with the IMF, and all our creditors including the Noteholders and their Ad-hoc committee, to design a sustainable and equitable debt management strategy. Our common objective will be to normalize our relationship with our valued financial partners as soon as circumstances allow and to orderly address Zambia’s debt challenges. We remain committed to ensuring equitable treatment of all our creditors and ensuring transparency in our engagements.

Should the Noteholders consent to the standstill, we will recognize interest accruing on deferred coupons in the restructuring process, at a rate to be determined in good faith with Noteholders.

The Government would like to take this opportunity to reiterate its strong desire and willingness to use this standstill to engage, with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors, in a collaborative and constructive dialogue with all its creditors to design a sustainable debt strategy in the weeks and months to come.

Issued by:
Fredson K. Yamba
SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY