Muvi Television Owner Steven Nyirenda is the new opposition National Restoration Party Leader.

This was after the other candidate Maybin Kabwe withdrew his candidature for the role of Presidency at today’s NAREP extraordinary convention.

Mr. Nyirenda takes over from Founder and first NAREP Leader Elias Chipimo Jnr, who stepped down a few months ago.

In his inauguration speech, Mr Nyirenda said he will not allow Zambia to be governed by a foreigner.

He has promised to amplify the values of the NAREP in order to grow the party.

Mr. Nyirenda added that the Patriotic Front administration has no vision to propel Zambia’s development in all sectors of economy.

He said he has a plan that can sort out the current electricity rationing within eights months.

Mr Nyirenda boasted that NAREP will form the next government in 2021.

By Media Editor, Barotseland Post

National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader, Chishimba Kambwili, has charged that the incoherence of statements over the pardoning of prisoners on the presidents birthday is proof that there is a chipante pante govt in place.

“It’s unfortunate that the other prisoner (Afumba Mombotwa) who has been left is being tortured because when you are informed that you are going to be pardoned by the President and later on you hear a minister say that ‘you have not been pardoned’, its torture of the worst kind, ” Chishimba Kambwili said.

On Monday, State House Press Aide Isaac Chipampe announced in a statement that the President had pardoned 5 prisoners from various correctional facilities to mark his 63rd birthday.

“To mark His 63rd Birthday which falls today, His Excellency Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu has pardoned five inmates from various correctional facilities. The President has pardoned Chief Mulongwe, Former Minister in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Government Maxwell Mwale, Journalist Derrick Sinjela, Afumba Mombofwa, and former Zambia Airforce Commander Christopher Singogo. The President’s action is in line with Article 97 of the Constitution of Zambia Chapter (l) of the Laws of Zambia which provides for Presidential Pardon and Substitution of Severe Punishments imposed on the convicted,” the statement read.

But later the same day, Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo during a press briefing announced only 4 names leaving out Mombofwa, and when asked, the minister said his statement superseded the earlier statement issued by State House.

“The list I have given is the final official list and I am sure you are aware, over the years you have come here yourself as a senior journalist any pardons, are released in this manner just like I have done. That’s the official list that you should take. It’s signed by me here so if there was any other statement, maybe, it’s overtaken by this one that I have released,” said Kampyongo.

And in an interview, Kambwili noted that there was no consultation over the matter as a minister’s statement can never supersede that of the President.

“It is a sign of an uncoordinated government and if a government is uncoordinated it simply means they have failed to govern. I mean, its confusion of the worst kind that state house which is the Presidency, announces that we have pardoned 5 prisoners and the Minister of Home Affairs says ‘no we have only pardoned 4 and my statement supersedes the statement from state house’. Sure how can a ministers statement supersede the State House [statement] which is the Presidency because the minister operates under the President? This means there was no consultation and what kind of a government is this government which doesn’t consult. I have said and I want to say it again, this government is chipante pante government,” he charged.

“And you see, God the way he operates, he will not come and tell you that these people have failed, he will just bring calamity, mistakes that people must see that this government is tired and God is no longer interested in them and that the favour of God has moved away from them. This is what is happening, in my language they say Lesa nga alefwaya uku fumya umuntu pa chifulo, ala mu lowa ichilafi pa kutila fyonse ifyo alechita fibe ifya lubana (when God wants to remove someone from a position, He strikes him with forgetfulness to make mistakes). You can see that the person does not know what they are doing. This is what is happening.”

Kambwili, however, sympathized with the prisoner who has been left behind describing the act as a torture of the worst kind.

“It’s unfortunate that the other prisoner who has been left is being tortured because when you are informed that you are going to be pardoned by the President and later on you hear a minister say that ‘you have not been pardoned’, its torture of the worst kind. So we must think of others, do unto others what you want them to do unto you. So it’s quite unfortunate that we have a situation like this in our country coming from the government,” said Kambwili.

By: Anthony Bwalya

I write this, not as a member of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), but rather as an aspiring candidate for my home Constituency of #Kabushi at the next coming general election in 2021; as well as a concerned citizen deeply worried about the unimpeded, long-standing plunder and theft of public resources at the hands of public officers.

A few weeks ago, we had a high profile case in my local Constituency where staff at my local clinic at Lubuto were left to work under very difficult night conditions owing to the absence of alternative energy sources each time the health facility was loadshedded. It had to take a “donation” from the area Member of Parliament Bowman Chilosha Lusambo, apparently at the instruction of the PRESIDENT, for a Genset to be delivered to the facility.

Incidentally, Lubuto Clinic was just one among several other local health facilities with this problem.

Kabushi Constituency also has a number of critical roads that have not been worked on for a very long time, and with the advent of the rains, will become a real challenge for our people to navigate; which will make doing business a chore for our people.

The reason for all these Constituency challenges is that the national fiscal space is thin, with nearly 91% of it now taken up by a combination of debt service repayments and public sector emoluments.

But, it is the public sector emoluments component that concerns me the most, because even at political party level, the UPND believes Zambia can and should be able to achieve a public sector wage bill of 30% – 35% of our total fiscal space. Yet, these expectations are constantly threatened by the unscrupulous, unchecked, undeterred corrupt and pure thieving activities from within the civil service.

My contention is that with the right kind of public sector management systems anchored on enhanced accountability, there would be enough money to go towards actual community development activities in places like #Kabushi and many others across our vast country.

Public sector payroll scandal is a multidimensional problem that involves a lot of people across the public sector, and this scam has been going on for many, many years. The problem has also evidently been exacerbated by multi system failures in the manner the public sector handles recruitment, deployment, personnel monitoring, payroll management; as well as there not being present the right tone at the top of the highest level of government.

What is most worrying is that the same people who have been at the center of either perpetrating this evil, or at the heart of a failure to manage public systems to protect public reaources, are now the same people telling the Republican PRESIDENT that they will fix the rot.

It will not work.

For them, it will be all about burying the skeletons and covering up for each other so that accountability on their part is never attained.

The public must reject that.

To get to the bottom of this issue, an independent public inquiry is needed in order to completely lift the lid off this dirty scam. We need to know how this has been possible, how long it’s been going on for, who has been involved, what the current systems weaknesses are, control environment remedies and how we shall recover these stolen resources promptly.

Some of the fundamental questions we need answers to are:

1. How does PSMD account for deceased employees to ensure that these are promptly taken off payroll? Who ensures that this is done and how do they evidence it?

2. How does PSMD account for transfers and ensure that payroll stations are timely changed for employees? Who ensures that there is no duplication of payroll lines for transferred employees across multiple stations and how do they ascertain this?

3. How does PSMD account for new recruits and ensure that these are actually promptly put on payroll and that they actually start receiving their salaries on time? We have had numerous instances where new recruits – nurses, doctors, teachers, have been assigned work stations, placed on payroll and yet they do not start receiving their salaries and other benefits for several months after the commencement of their assignments. How does PSMD ensure that unscrupulous officers do not divert salaries meant for new recruits into their own personal and other ghost accounts?

4. How does PSMD manage payroll? How do HR personal account for every head on payroll and how do they evidence this? How is this payroll reviewed, what are they doing when reviewing this payroll and how are they evidencing this?

5. How does PSMD pick up duplicates and other irregularities in public sector payroll? Is there an inbuilt automatic system to flag irregularities off and how are these dealt with?

6. Who has the authority to create and change payroll accounts and what controls or checks exist to ensure that these individuals do not abuse their assigned authority?

7. Was there a specific failure of duty on the part of officers, both junior, middle management and Senior civil servants? Are we able to identify where this failure occured and how it occurred?

8. This problem appears to have been going on for more than 10 years. How did it happen that no one saw this, or could this have been a well designed thieving syndicate involving senior civil servants?

9. Is there a system in place specially for identifying ghost workers? If so, how does this system work? If not, why when we have known for a very time of the existence of this problem?

But after all these questions have been answered, PSMD needs to be given SMART performance objectives and targets which they must deliver without fail; or there must be a heavy price to pay by those in charge.

When over 60% of Zambians live beneath the margins of poverty, less than $1.25 per day, it is unfathomable that in a country that boasts of being mounted on Christian morality, such open season plunder, theft and abuse of public systems and resources can be permitted.

We need an independent, public inquiry to get to the bottom of this problem.

The Author is a Candidate for Kabushi 2021 and Member of the UPND.

Patriotic Front Secretary General Hon Davies Mwila says if the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema was serious about dialogue, he should have written to the PF Secretariat.

Hon Mwila stated that the PF has always been willing to dialogue but that Mr. Hichilema has always found excuses with conditions.

He indicated that Mr. Hichilema can NOT summon the Head of State who is also President of the ruling Patriotic Front for a meeting through the media.

Hon Mwila also said the party is happy that President Lungu is ‘game’ to contest on the PF ticket in 2021.

The ruling party Chief Executive Officer further stated that the PF Government has put Agriculture at the top of its agenda for Economic Diversification and will therefore continue supporting eligible farmers under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).

Hon Mwila said timely distribution of inputs across the country is underway with the direct input supply model targeting 60% of the one million eligible beneficiary farmers.

He said the remainder of the 40% of the eligible beneficiaries will be covered under the E-Voucher System.

He said this in Lusaka at the PF Secretariat when he addressed the media on the outcomes of the Central Committee meeting held on Tuesday, 12th November, 2019.

Hon Mwila also disclosed that the PF Central Committee examined various challenges facing citizens across the country including the climate change induced power deficit, drought and high mealie meal prices.

The Secretary General further disclosed that for the Milenge Council Chairperson by-election in Luapula Province, the party’s adopted candidate is Mr. Benny Chola Mibenge, while the Campaign Manager is Hon Dr. Chitalu Chilufya, who will be deputised by Hon Anthony Kasandwe of Bangweulu Constituency and Hon Anthony Malama from Nchelenge Constituency.

The President of the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) struggled and failed to clearly explain to the Constitutional Court whether by inviting institutions and persons to make submissions, the National Assembly attempted to involve the people in the legislative process.

In a matter in which LAZ has challenged the enactment of the Constitution of Zambia Amendment Bill 10, Solicitor General Abraham Mwansa asked LAZ to read paragraph 8 of their Witness statement in which he stated:

“[8] I note that the Third Respondent in an effort to involve the public in the legislative process in line with the provisions of Article 89(1) of the Constitution wrote to the Petitioner and many other institutions and persons inviting them to submit memoranda on the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 10 of 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the “Bill”)

When asked whether he agreed the National Assembly made efforts to engage everyone in the legislative process, including LAZ, Mr Mwitwa said the institutions and persons are not the people.

This prompted the Solicitor General to ask him to read the definition of persons in the Constitution and the question was repeated to him whether Parliament made efforts to engage the people including LAZ, to which he said he doesn’t know.

Another lawyer from the Attorney General, Francis Mwale asked the LAZ President to whether there was a standard procedure of amending the Constitution to which Mr Mwitwa responded by referring to the Technical Committee process preceding the 2016 amendments as the standard.

Mr. Mwitwa belaboured to explain processes which included consultative forums and conferences.

The Principal State Advocate Mwale asked him to explain which law provided for that process, Mr Mwitwa said there was none.

Mr Mwitwa also told the Court that when Parliament invited them to make submissions to the Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the Constitution of Zambia Amendment Bill, Parliament did not invite them to a legislative process but a consultative process.

When shown Article 89(1) of the Constitution on the provision for Parliament to engage in a legislative process, Mr Mwitwa maintained that the process to scrutinise the Bill by a Parliamentary Committee is not a legislative process but consultative one.