The Zambia High Commission in London has expressed its disappointment to the Editorial Board of the Sunday Times UK over an article that appeared in the their newspaper dated 10 th February 2019 under the title “Zambia’s President tries to kill opponent”.

In a statement released to the media by Mrs Abigail Chaponda, the First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at
Zambian High Commission in the United Kingdom, the embassy said that they have since written to the Newspaper categorically stating that the article was malicious and did not portray a true reflection of the situation in the Zambia.

“We feel disappointed that the newspaper sensationalised accusations made by the opposition leader and his political party. Such sensational headings are not just misleading but are in bad taste given the fact that the journalist did not verify her story,” the letter.

“We take exception to the fact that the newspaper saw it fit to publish false accusations, from the political leader against a sitting Head of State bordering on liable and slander,” read the letter in parts.

The Mission advised the Sunday Times Editorial board that Zambia cherished freedom of assembly and expected every citizen to respect the rule of law irrespective of their status in society.

The Mission further advised the Sunday Times that while the Mission appreciated and espoused freedom of speech and press freedom, the Mission felt the story had not been balanced and the Sunday Times should have endeavored to get the position of Government and the police on the matter.

“In this regard, the Mission is requesting for an urgent meeting with the Sunday Times to discuss the matter and future relations. We wish to reiterate our commitment to responding to any queries from the media on issues relating to Zambia,” concluded the statement.

Yesterday the UK Zambia Times reported that Zambia’s opposition leader, Hakainde Hichilema, has accused the country’s president, Edgar Lungu, of trying to kill him.

Hichilema, 56, warned that the international community’s failure to act on state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe is encouraging other African regimes to crack down on opponents.

The opposition leader said he was holding a rally on Friday in Sesheke, southwest Zambia, when police and activists from the ruling Patriotic Front opened fire.

“We were having a peaceful meeting when about 100 heavily armed men from the ruling party arrived, escorted by police, and started firing live ammunition on us,” he told The Sunday Times yesterday.

The Sunday Times said that they obtained Video obtained that showed terrified men and women cowering behind vehicles and fleeing through the bush amid the crack of automatic gunfire.

However, Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja said that no live ammunition was fired by the officers to disperse the unruly crowd in Sesheke.

Mr. Kanganja has since warned that the police will not tolerate people perpetrating violence and that they will be sternly dealt with.

Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe has said that Government has not decided the sell of its 20% ZCCM-IH share holding. Ms Mwanakatwe said that if the decision is made it will have to go to the cabinet.

She however, said there are several companies that have offered to buy the 20% share holding of ZCCM-IH.

Speaking during the PF interactive forum in Lusaka today, Mrs Mwanakatwe also explained that the 20% is the minority sharing holding of which Zambia holds 17% and 3% is held by the French.

“We are the minority ZCCM-IH; 17%, the French 3%. As they negotiate, we sought of come together with the French who also seat on board of ZCCM-IH because they own 3%,” She said.

“We are weighing the options, should we, should we not? We have not decided to sell. If a decision to sell has to be made, I will have to go to cabinet and cabinet will make that decision.”

Mrs Mwanakatwe said First Quantum minerals (FQM) is just one of the many companies that has expressed interest to buy the shares and that government is currently weighing the offers.

“I can tell you that we have quite a few offers on the table,” She disclosed

She says this is an example that a country is attractive through the mining sector.

Meanwhile, Mrs Mwanakatwe has expressed shock and frustration at the continued propaganda by the opposition leaders that the Chinese government has taken over ZNBC, ZESCO AND KK International Airport.

Mrs Mwanakatwe who is also Lusaka Central Lawmaker said that despite the negative talk, Zambia’s economy has continued to grow at 4% adding that Zambia’s Eurobond was the best performing soverign bond on the market according Bloomberg.

Speaking, on Sunday, when she made her debut appearance on the PF interactive forum, Ms Mwanakatwe cautioned against portraying the country in bad light to the external world.

“Let’s not portray this country in bad light to the external world. Look at the Eurobond, because of all these falsehoods that we have given ZESCO to the Chinese, how dare you tell the world such a lie that we have given the Airport (KKIA) which is not even finished, that we have given it to the Chinese? How dare you tell such a lie about your own country? That we have given ZESCO to the Chinese,” wondered Mrs Mwanakatwe

“How can you tell such a lie? where was the Eurobond? 17% because of boza, falsehood!”

The finance minister also saod that government has not defaulted on any of its external debt.

“And I want to state categorically that the PF government has not and will not default on any of it external debt. we will ensure that every month when it’s time to pay the debt we will pay. when it’s time to pay the Eurobond bond we will pay”

She stated categorically that even in an event of a default it was impossible for any lender to take over the state assets because they were not offered as collateral.

“You will find that when people talk about ZESCO being taken by the Chinese, they cannot because we have a sovereign guarantee which we have put on a special purpose vehicle, outside of ZESCO. So ZESCO has not been collateralized at all. In this special purpose vehicle we have given a sovereign guarantee. The same for ZNBC, the for KKIA)international Airport.

Ms Mwanakatwe urged all well meaning Zambians to speak well of opportunities that in the country.

“Zambia’s bond is the best performing bond now according to Reuters and Bloomberg. For me, that is confidence that this economy is heading in the right direction. I urge all well meaning Zambians to speak well of opportunities that in our country

Ms Mwanakatwe disclosed that government will not be complacent with the economy growing at 4% adding that her ministry is aiming for 8 or 9%.

Green Party President Peter Sinkamba says Government should consider tabling a motion in parliament either this session or the next to put a moratorium on elections until 2021.

Reacting to the bloody violent scenes shown in some sections of the media connected to the PF, UPND and the Police, Mr. Sinkamba said politics of violence is politics of poverty which should be nipped in the bud.

“It is so disgusting to see those violent bloody scenes in some sections of the media connected to the PF, UPND and the Police. Politics of violence is politics of poverty. It should be nipped in the bud. That’s why we call upon the PF Government to consider tabling a motion in parliament either this session or the next one to put a moratorium to by-elections until 2021,” he said.

“First of all, since the advent of multi-party politics in 1990s, bye-elections have largely been extremely violent compared to General Elections. This is evidence enough that bye-elections are undesirable in our nation. In life, there must come a time for one to say, enough is enough and change strategy. I think time has come to say bye-bye to bye-elections. Let’s close this chapter and move on. After all, there is only two years remaining before the 2021 General Elections. So, even if a vacancy falls in parliament or council, there is nothing really tangible that you should expect the person elected in the remaining period which will add value to the electorates. I don’t think that any drop of blood is worth shedding for such a worthless opportunity,” Mr. Sinkamba said.

And Mr. Sinkamba says parties must spend their energies to showcase grand ideas which could turn around the economy of Zambia and uplift the poor majority from the jaws of poverty.

“Instead of spending our energies on shedding blood of our fellow Zambians, let’s dedicate that energy towards generating ideas that could turn around the economy of Zambia and uplift the poor majority from jaws of poverty. Let’s showcase our party ideas. Let’s show how our ideas are better than PF’s policies and strategies. Lets fight intellectually not through pangas and guns. Let’s be a beacon of civility in the sub-region and we can demonstrate civility if only we fight and triumph intellectually and not shedding blood,” Mr. Sinkamba said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sinkamba says if Finance Minister Margret Mwanakatwe clinches an IMF bailout package, the most likely scenario is that ZESCO will be privatized.

He said that when a country borrows from the IMF, its government agrees to adjust its economic policies to overcome the problems that led it to seek financial aid from the international community.

“The IMF works with a letter of intent written by the government receiving the programme. This letter requires prior actions, quantitative performance criteria, and structural benchmarks to be approved the IMF Board. The first two are not particularly controversial. However, structural benchmarks do contain a lot of sensitive structural economic reforms, often leading privatization, labour reform, etc.

“Since a significant component of Government indebtedness is a result of loans to ZESCO, privatization of ZESCO is likely to be part and parcel of the letter of intent. I see no way that Government will demonstrate to IMF how it will overcome the ZESCO debt besides privatization.

“Besides privatization, the IMF alternative is reducing or removing subsidies and increasing the price of utilities. Such measures seek to boost government revenue and raise export earnings by making the country’s products cheaper, while raising the prices of imports. This strategy is unlikely is no option for Zambia at the moments because power in this country is already too expensive. Therefore, increasing power any further will only result into crippling the economy. So this strategy is unlikely to be a preferred option,” he added.

He urged the Finance Minister to focus more on domestic resource mobilization, especially considering the green agenda of legalization of cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes. He also advised the Minister to consider Green Party public asset optimization strategies especially getting rid of toxic assets.

MMD Faction president Felix Mutati has called on government to quickly resolve the challenges affecting their relationship with the mines as regards the new tax.

And Mutati has outlined a 5 point 2019 strategic plan for the party.

Speaking when he officially opened the Copperbelt provincial card renewal Mutati said government and mining companies should quickly sit down and resolve the challenges in the sector saying they are not competitors but partners.

He said the challenges in the mining sector should be resolved before jobs are lost.

And the MMD leader has told the membership on the copperbelt that the leadership has come up with a five point strategic plan for 2019.

He said the party has had challenges that need to be resolved and that the five points will help to set the tone for the party going forward.

He further outlined the five point plan as Continuation of card renewal in provinces, commencement of intraparty elections, resource mobilisation, the holding of a policy conference and the commencement of preparations for the convention.

He said the policy conference will inform the party on the way forward regarding the relationship with PF and the stance of the party in 2021 elections.

He explained that his party does not make decisions without consulting the membership hence the holding of a policy conference.

On the convention; Mutati said the leadership of the party in the MMD is not won at the courts.

He said all positions will be up for grabs including the presidency and that instead of going to court people should come and compete for positions.

And speaking earlier National Secretary of the party Rapheal Nakacinda called for discipline and unity.

He urged the membership to maintain discipline and unity as without the two things all their hard work would amount to nothing.

He told the membership to stop pitting the leadership against each other because that would only destroy the party.

Former Republican President Rupiah Banda has urged Zambians to protect the image of the country by not issuing reckless statements which can impact on the country’s economy.

Mr. Banda said Zambians should be patriotic and protect the integrity of the country.

He said it was embarrassing to see how some Zambians had resorted to denting their own country’s image by issuing reckless statements.

The former Head of State said he was becoming fatigued of responding to questions about the purported sale of the airport and ZESCO by people outside Zambia.

He said some Zambians had gone on a campaign to lie that government had mortgaged its state owned enterprise when in fact not.

And the Former President has called for peace in the on-going political campaigns in Sesheke. Mr. Banda has urged political players to maintain peace and resolve their differences through the ballot.

He further urged the youth to desist from being used as tools of violence.

Mr Banda is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to chair the Eminent Panel meeting of Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank.

Meanwhile, President Edgar Lungu has arrived safely in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He travelled from Harry Mwaanga International Airport in Livingstone to Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.

President Lungu also met Zambia’s 4th President Rupiah Bwezani Banda who arrived from south Africa.

President Lungu is expected to attend the 32nd African Union Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government Summit.

President Lungu is also expected to hold various bilateral meetings including with United Nations Secretary General,Antonio Guterres and others.

Today’s Scripture

“But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”
(1 John 3:17, NASB)

Open Hearts

Everywhere you go these days, people are hurting and discouraged; many have made mistakes; their lives are in a mess. They need to feel God’s compassion and His unconditional love. Is your heart of compassion open to them? Do you take time to make a difference in others’ lives? God has given you a heart of compassion, but you must decide to keep it open and allow the love of God to flow through you to those around you. In order to experience God’s abundant life, you must keep your focus on helping other people. Don’t allow the enemy to keep you so busy that you overlook the needs of those around you. Make a decision to show God’s love and goodness wherever you go. Be on the lookout for people you can bless. Go out of your way to show God’s compassion, and as you do, you will rise higher and experience the best plan God has for your life!

A Prayer for Today

“God, you have my best interests in your heart. I want to learn to show that love to the people in my life. Help me to open my heart and find ways to show compassion and love to those around me. In Jesus’ name – Amen.”