Zambia’s Performing Artiste, Producer, and Human Rights Activist, Miko Zulu has said that it is very clear that the failures of privatisation and the adverse effects thereof can be attributed to selfish capitalists who manipulated the system by undervaluing prime public assets and then benefitting from the scam by selling the cheaply priced companies to themselves thereafter.

In a post on his Facebook page and reacting to revelation by Forum For Democracy 9FDD) President Edith Nawakwi on HotFM yesterday, Mr. Zulu said that in as much as the processes may have been legal, there was absolutely no morality on the part of the actors and that is the moral compass which must be used to determine in whose hands the future of the country will be safer come August 2021, adding that some things are legally right but morally wrong.

“Let us not forget the poverty, lost lives, destroyed futures, destroyed families and lost jobs that were as a result of this pure capitalist approach to national development. Ghost towns were created in many provinces as a result.

“In the end the wealth was simply transferred from the people to few individuals whose loyalty to the country is now cast in doubt whichever way you look at it.

Mr Zulu further said that as Zambia heads towards a major Presidential election, it is absolutely important for citizens to know who was part of the privatisation process and how they made their wealth because this would give Zambians an indication to where their hearts lie, adding that this was more so for those who wish to rule or continue to rule this country.

Yesterday, FDD leader Edith Nawakwi charged that the conduct of Hakainde Hichilema during the privatization exercise bordered on theft of public resources and that he is lucky he has never been arrested so far.

Mrs Nawakwi charged that Mr Hichilema should not stretch his luck too far as one day he will be made to account for the theft he allegedly committed.

She said as a Managing Partner at Grant Thornton, Mr Hichilema used his position as an adviser to the Zambian government during the privatization period to enrich himself.

Mrs Nawakwi was speaking on the Hot Seat radio programme on Hot FM in response to Mr Hichilema’s call that she and other lawyers who participated in the privatization exercise should explain their roles.

She said the mere fact that Mr Hichilema sold himself a House in Serval road in Kabulonga and ended up as Chairman of Sun Hotels, the hotel chain that bought off Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone confirms that he is thief.

“When I was Agriculture Minister, we engaged Grant Thornton as receivership manager, we were expecting a receivership report but we ended up receiving a liquidation report. What Hakainde should explain is how he ended up acquiring a Lima Bank House in Serval road where he lived until he moved to Lusaka East without any public bids for the sale of that property was engaged. That is theft of public funds,” Mrs Nawakwi said.

She added, “secondly, Grant Thornton was engaged to handle the sale of Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone which became Sun Hotels. We asked Mr Hichilema whether the 6 million dollars offered was a good prize and he told us it was a good price and the following day, he became a Board Chairman of the same Hotel. That is conflict of interest and that is theft.”

The FDD leader said Mr Hichilema should also be questioned over the handing of the RAMCOZ in Luanshya receivership.

She revealed that Mr Hichilema’s Grant Thornton was paid 10 million dollars for the RAMCOZ receivership which has not even benefited the local miners.

Mrs Nawakwi said because of stealing from the government, Mr Hichilema has now amassed millions of dollars in offshore accounts.

“One day, the law will visit him. He shouldn’t think he is very smart.”

Chief Justice Irene Mambilima has called on High Court Judges to ensure that the law is interpreted in a manner that reflects the needs of society.

Speaking during a webinar launch of the High Court Amendment rules Statutory Instrument Number 58 which stipulates the management of cases, Justice Mambilima indicated that High Court Judges should not be passive.

The Chief Justice explained that the power and discretion of case management reside in the High Court Judges, hence they are expected to manage cases at every step of the proceedings.

She however emphasised the need for High Court Judges to be conversant with cases before them so that they can interpret the rules accordingly and guide counsels as well as litigants.

The Chief Justice added that the High Court should provide efficient services by delivering judgment and rulings within a specific period of time.

Speaking earlier, High Court Advisory Committee on Training and Continuing Education Chairperson, Mungeni Mulenga noted that SI No. 58 of 2020 is a progressive amendment to the previous rules.

Judge Mulenga disclosed that after a long process of consultations with various entities, the amendment rules were passed by the Chief Justice and later came out in June this year.

She indicated the critical role played by the judicial system in the country and that the SI will enhance case management.

Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi has said that United Party for National Development(UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema should should not think Zambia is nothing without him.

Speaking when she featured on Hot FM’s ‘Hot seat programme’ Ms Nawakwi said that Mr.Hichilema is a ruthless, violent and greedy man determined to obtain wealth at all cost, charging that her experience with Mr.Hichilema depicted a man who was violent, brutal, tribal and lacked respect for his colleagues in the opposition and was unfit to be leader of Zambia.

Ms. Nawakwi further said that Mr.Hichilema lacked humility and regarded everybody else with contempt and reminded Zambians that the UPND leader unleashed violence on her, over political differences they had when 3 political parties, UNIP, FDD and UPND came together in 2006 to form an alliance called United Democratic Alliance (UDA), adding that previous presidents from Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda, and Michael Sata tried to court him but Mr.Hichioema lacked humility and was full of himself.

“There are people, even in the Bible, who think, when they have money, no one else matters and everyone is useless. This idea of thinking that you are the most intelligent and no one else has brains, I think that is self-defeating”, Ms Nawakwi said.

“HH must learn that building bridges and making relationships is important in politics. Each time UPND makes statements to talk about me it’s either, No Nawakwi is going to be a Minister of Finance for Lungu, No Nawakwi has now defected, I have even been appointed by websites such as Koswe, but this is in their attempt to bring others down, this should stop,” Ms Nawakwi said.

Ms Nawakwi further said that Mr Hichilema should not get angry when Zambians ask him how he amassed his wealth. Ms Nawakwi said that Mr. Hichilema benefited from the privatization assets as a consultant and ended up owning many assets he was entrusted to sale such as those belonging to Lima Bank and that he obtained the house belonging to Lima Bank situated on Serval Road, Kabulonga, from an entity, Lima Bank, that he was privatizing. Ms Nawakwi further said that Mr Hichilema also obtained state ranches that he has tasked to sell, including the sale of Musio-O-Tunya Intercontinental Hotel sold at $6million, a Hotel valued at more than $26million at the time, and became a Board member and part-owner Sun International.

Ms Nawakwi said that Mr.Hichilema is lucky not to have been probed by law enforcement agencies and therefore, should not start to vilify her and saying she was sleeping when the privatization of public assets was going on, adding that Mr. Hichilema should have declared interest in some of the asserts he privatized on behalf of the government.

“He said I was sleeping, thieves come when you are sleeping, that’s why they break in and come with guns. However, the very next day we had finished the transactions on Intercontinental hotel and it had moved to be Southern Sun Hotel, Mr.Hichilema became the chairperson of the new owners isn’t that conflict of interest, what is wrong is that the very next day he became part and parcel of the people who had bought the assets and he didn’t declare that he would have an interest in the Hotel,” Ms. Nawakwi said.

Ms Nawakwi further charged that the conduct of Hakainde Hichilema during the privatization exercise bordered on theft of public resources and that he is lucky he has never been arrested so far. Ms Nawakwi charged that Mr Hichilema should not stretch his luck too far as one day he will be made to account for the theft he allegedly committed.

She said as a Managing Partner at Grant Thornton, Mr Hichilema used his position as an adviser to the Zambian government during the privatization period to enrich himself.

In response to Mr Hichilema’s call that she and other lawyers who participated in the privatization exercise should explain their roles. She said the mere fact that Mr Hichilema sold himself a House in Serval road in Kabulonga and ended up as Chairman of Sun Hotels, the hotel chain that bought off Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone confirms that he is thief.

“When I was Agriculture Minister, we engaged Grant Thornton as receivership manager, we were expecting a receivership report but we ended up receiving a liquidation report. What Hakainde should explain is how he ended up acquiring a Lima Bank House in Serval road where he lived until he moved to Lusaka East without any public bids for the sale of that property was engaged. That is theft of public funds,” Mrs Nawakwi said.

She added, “secondly, Grant Thornton was engaged to handle the sale of Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone which became Sun Hotels. We asked Mr Hichilema whether the 6 million dollars offered was a good prize and he told us it was a good price and the following day, he became a Board Chairman of the same Hotel. That is conflict of interest and that is theft.”

The FDD leader said Mr Hichilema should also be questioned over the handing of the RAMCOZ in Luanshya receivership. She revealed that Mr Hichilema’s Grant Thornton was paid 10 million dollars for the RAMCOZ receivership which has not even benefited the local miners. Mrs Nawakwi said because of stealing from the government, Mr Hichilema has now amassed millions of dollars in offshore accounts.

“One day, the law will visit him. He shouldn’t think he is very smart.”

“There are further stories, you talk of RAMCOZ on the Copperbelt, these are issues people want HH to clarify, she said, before adding that the UPND leader should explain at what point he became a millionaire and started to have money in foreign accounts.

“They were the receivers, they should explain to say this is what we did, this is how we got our money and this is where we got the millions from. Prior to privatization how much money did HH have, he should say that, prior to him moving to Sable road where was he living, what was the value of the house he got from Lima bank,how much did he pay,was the bid advertised, was it solicited bid within their firm, all those issues need answers.”

President Edgar Lungu has expressed deep displeasure that a lot of projects have stalled in Lunga, due to inadequate and lack of proper monitoring capacity by leaders to oversee the implementation of the projects that have been initiated by the government in the district.

The Head of State said this in Lunga district earlier yesterday after he visited the area where Lunga Chiefs outlined several challenges being experienced in the region among them, lack of communication connectivity, water channels, education and health infrastructure.

President Edgar Lungu has assured the people of Lunga district in Luapula province that he will ensure all developmental projects that have stalled on the Island are completed.

Lunga district is an island with a population of more than 60,000, lying along the shores of lake Bangweulu and can only be accessed by Water or Air Transport.

Chief Nsamba who spoke on behalf of Senior Chief kalimankonde and Chief Kasoma Lunga, however, expressed extreme happiness that ever since the district experienced disastrous floods last year, government has come to the aid of the people in terms of relief food distributions among others.

“This government has done a lot for this district especially on youth empowerment and relief food distribution after the disaster of floods, also the construction of Nsamba Secondary School, we are just requesting for Teacher’s Houses there. Please similarly open up accessible channels they are our only mean of transport,” Chief Nsamba requested President Lungu.

“In the past we have requested for the creation of the Land and Channel Agency to ultimately manage the transportation sector on the island and we are still waiting,” Chief Nsamba stated.

And President Lungu responded that he is in the district to check on how project implementation is going on in the area.

“I have seen that the major problem in this district is transportation because of its terrain, and perennial floods, but we will ensure that we find a permanent solution to floods by opening of water channels for easy transportation. But I’m not happy with what is happening here, a lot of projects have stalled and this is because leaders here do not push for developmental projects from concerned line ministries,” President Lungu complained.

“If the member of Parliament does not persuasively push for her constituency’s growth, absolutely, the area can rally behind in terms of development, but where the area representative is perpetually lobbying for development, definitely the area will receive development,” he lamented.
A visibly annoyed President Lungu, refused to give chance to area member of Parliament Hon Emmerine Kabanshi when she wanted to explain as to why the area is not connected with network even though the towers have been erected.

“Nooo, you’re not pushing for development, I’m not happy, there must be a proper linkage between an MP and a Minister and my Job is to coordinate and ensure that I make you work,” President Lungu angrily stated.

The Head of State has since directed the Minister of Transport and Communications Hon Mutotwe Kafwaya to ensure that Lunga district’s communication towers are fully operational and the area is promptly connected, saying that there is no way that Lunga is not connected when government has installed One Thousand and Nine communication towers country wide.

And after the Chiefs complained that the area has no District Hospital, President Lungu instructed the Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Chitalu Chilufya to respond.
“Mr President, this area, because of its terrain, a district hospital cannot be accessed by all, we have decided to construct mini-hospitals in each of the four islands and in all these hospitals we have ensured that we deploy qualified health workers,” Hon Chilufya explained.

On Education infrastructure, Minister of General Education Hon Dennis Wanchinga, explained that the Ministry intends to recruit 15,000 Teachers, out of the 44,000 earmarked to be employed, to counter the impact of COVID-19, and that some Teachers will be deployed at Nsamba Secondary School in Lunga.

The Head of State also met Village Headmen in Lunga district and promised to attend to their concerns.

“My government will ensure that we take development to all the corners of this country, because I want when elections come next, I will just be pointing at what I have,” he stated.

President Lungu later, flew to Chief Mponda’s Chiefdom where he distributed food ration among other items to flood victims and visited Chief Bwalya Mponda at his Palace, who expressed excitement to see President Lungu in person.

And the President has promised to improve Chief Bwalya Mponda’s Palace after noticing that it is not in good condition.
President Lungu is in Luapula province for a four-day working visit and he is expected to visit six districts, among them Nchelenge, Chiengi, Samfya, Lunga, Mwense and Chipili.