Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya has advised Zambian journalists and bloggers to desist from spreading false news about the country’s image, especially the economy.

Ms. Siliya who is Minister of Information has wondered why some journalists are willing to destroy the country for a few favours from their masters.

She has warned that government will have no choice but to implement strict regulatory measures of the media.

Ms. Siliya has reiterated her call on genuine journalists to come together and form a professional body for self-regulation.

Govt continues to be concerned about Media reporting that puts our Economy at risk. As such, we welcome the Italian Amb’s communication to Govt today, informing of his displeasure at being misquoted by Lusaka Times. He states its not in Italy’s place to advise Zambia on its debt.

— Hon. Dora Siliya, MP (@Dora_Siliya) November 23, 2018

Her comments come after Italian Ambassador Filippo Scammarcca Del Murgo refuted an article on the Lusaka Times website attributed to him, entitled Italian government cautions Zambia against accruing more debt from the international market.

Mr Scammarcca has since assured government that he did Not make such a statement and he has written to Lusaka Times to correct the article.

He says Italy can Not give lessons to Zambia because its debt is much bigger.

Mr Scammarcca said this in a statement to Minister of Information and Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya.

He said failure to correct the article in question will compel him to abstain from issuing any statement to journalists.

Editor’s Note

LusakaTimes will republish the story on Monday together with the Audio on which the story was based on.

Following President Lungu’s nomination of opposition MMD national Secretary Rapheal Nakacinda as Member of Parliament, the opposition party in Eastern province has welcomed the move.

President Lungu has with immediate effect nominated Mr Nakachinda as MP barely a month after he ( Mr. Lungu ) revoked the nomination of MMD leader Felix Mutati as nominated MP and has since relieved him of duties as minister of Works and Supply.

Speaking at a media briefing in Chipata today, MMD vice president for politics Reuben Mtolo Phiri said his party is greatly indebted to President Edgar Lungu for nominating Mr Nakachinda.

Mr Phiri said his party will offer guidance to Mr Nakachinda during his stay in parliament adding that nominating a member of parliament is the prerogative of the President adding that the appointment shows that President Lungu appreciates his party’s support during the 2016 general elections which resulted in the Patriotic Front (PF) forming government.

The opposition party’s Vice president for politics said the working relationship with the PF is still valid because his party wants to participate in the governance of the country as it puts people’s interest first.

He was quick to add that Mr. Mutati , as the party president, is not bitter that Mr Lungu decided to replace him with his National Secretary.

Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda who announced the nomination to journalists yesterday said the move is in the spirit of sustaining the “ very , very important alliance between the Patriotic Front and The MMD.”

Mr. Chanda said President Lungu was elated by Mr . Nakachinda’s magnanimity, diginity and committement to serve Zambia.

Meanwhile Mr Phiri has announced that his party will soon go for a policy conference to discuss the future of the former ruling party.

He said the participation in by elections will be one of the issues to be discussed at the conference.

The MMD vice president said his party has not been participating in by elections in the past because it wants to channel resources towards
mobilization of the party in the country.

APC President Nason Msoni has implored citizens to be worried at what he termed the unbecoming behaviour of the country’s judiciary.

Msoni who is an ardent critic of the judiciary said there is cause for every citizen to feel frustrated and disappointed at the obvious unbecoming behaviour of the Judiciary after the Supreme court handed the the longest contempt sentance in the country’s history to Gregory Chifire.

Msoni said the judiciary has become a huge letdown and that legal and constitutional avenues for redress have been closed down.

“This institution is hugely a letdown and is seriously exhibiting biased determinations and decisions seemingly favouring the state and the party in government.

“Essentially every avenue to legal and constitutional redress has brutally been closed. The choices for citizens keep narrowing down day by day thereby discouraging even potentially law abiding citizens from pursuing the court avenue as an option of last resort,” he said.

He said the behaviour of the courts in the country was a recipe for inciting citizens to take the law in their own hands.

“The danger when the court option keeps failing citizens through stifling mechanisms to dispensing equatable justice is that this essentially is in itself the prelude to civil strife where in the end even the biased adjudicators themselves will join the masses on the run as citizens decide to take the law in their own hands to resolve matters.

“Our courts of law have never been this irrelevant before in the history of our country.
Citizens should stop wasting their time and limited resources going to courts whose Judgments are predictable and contradicts the essence of legality,” he said.

He added “certainly the first task of the next government should be to purge the benches if the institution is to win back public confidence.”

The Patriotic Front Media Director Sunday Chanda has said that the conviction of Mr Gregory Chifire on four counts of contempt of court for interfering with the judiciary should serve as a stark reminder on the need for all to respect the courts.

“The word “Contempt” in its ordinary every day usage denotes the feeling that a person or a thing is worthless or beneath consideration. In related legal parlance “Contempt” is the offence of being disobedient to or disrespectful of a court of law and its officers,” he said.

“Contempt of court is thus contempt of the judiciary which is ultimately contempt for the rule of Law. Respect for the Judicial authority vested in the courts is indispensable for the maintenance of the Rule of Law, and all regardless of political affiliation and socio-economic standing therefore have a duty to respect the independent decision-making authority of the Judiciary.”

“Sadly, there are certain individuals with political interests and agendas driven by arrogance, impetuosity, selfishness and greed that have made a sport of scandalising and belittling the courts. They will reap what they sow – it’s a natural and super natural ordinance,” he stressed.

“These individuals have deliberately set themselves on a collision course with the law by pursuing political agendas inimical to the Judiciary. They think that being arrogant and anti-establishment makes them “champions” of sorts,” Mr. Chanda observed.

“However, when the law catches up with them, they morph into wimps with a victim mentality as they whimper for attention. These misfits of law and order evidently appear to be allergic to tranquillity and all that is orderly. They are at the end of the day twisted campaigners of anarchy.”

“It is a given that as citizens from different walks of life pursuing varied interests, we will not always agree with the decisions of the courts. However, there are clear laid down procedures that provide for appropriate recourse in such circumstances. Whatever the case, being eccentric, and having a wilful disregard for the courts only breeds anarchy; we must all respect the courts of law.”

“Respect for the courts is respect for the rule of law. Respect for the rule of law is respect for our nation. Anything else is an anarchy and contempt for Zambians. As John Adams, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America once said : _“We are a nation of laws, not of men.”

“The rule of law, at its most basic, means that the law applies to everyone equally. It cannot be over emphasised that it means no one is above the law – because we are a country of laws and not of men. And, while the law may seem harsh, it is the law,” he said.

President Edgar Lungu has arrived in Northern Province for a three day working visit.

The Presidential Challenger Plane landed at Zambia Airforce Samora Machel Airforce Base in Mbala district at 15:50.

Provincial Minister Brian Mundubile , Service Chiefs and Senior Patriotic Front Officials welcomed the Head of State at the Airforce base.

The Republican President later on left for Kasama district shortly upon his arrival in Mbala district.

Whilst in the Province the Head of State will officially open the Investment Expo and the end of the first World War centenary.

The Northern Province Investment Expo and Centenary Celebration and being held alongside under the theme “unlocking the investment potential of Northern Province 100 years after the end of the First World War”.

Meanwhile, the number of local and foreign tourists visiting the Moto Moto Museum in Mbala district has increased ahead of the Centenary Celebration of World War one.

Moto Moto Museum Assistant Keeper Ethnography John Mukuka said during an interview the tourists are flocking to the Museum to learn more about the end of the World War that ended with the last gun-shot in Mbala district.