United Progressive Party President Saviour Chishimba has defended his decision to contest the Lusaka mayoral election.

Dr Chishimba contested the last presidential election and finished sixth with 9,221 total votes representing 0.25 percent.

On Tuesday, he filed in his nomination papers for the vacant position of Lusaka Mayor.

But Dr Chishimba says there is nothing wrong with going for a much lower position in politics saying service is service, whatever the level, and must not be limited to the Presidency.

“2021 is three years from now. We want to implement what we have been proposing in terms of transforming councils into “counties” or “city states. Councils are statutory corporations that must generate revenues for various projects for service provision. Local authorities must also be the major boosters for small businesses, which is essential in job creation,” Dr Chishimba said in an interview.

He added, “I was in Israel for three months and returned last week. Councils run major investment projects. They also have major industries in industrial parks. Mayors are more powerful than ministers.”

Dr Chishimba said a mayor with a vision and direction can transform a city and results can be seen in a year adding that Lusaka is the heart of Zambia.

He said there is nothing that will stop his party from organising for 2021 elections while transforming Lusaka.

“We had initially adopted our SG and all his papers were cleared, but this position changed when senior members of the council including the SG himself Cde Mainda Simataa, reviewed and decided that Lusaka needed to be put on fast track path of transformation and as such it needed my direct involvement in view of the direct positive relations that I have built with agencies locally and internationally.”

Dr Chishimba maintained he will still run for the Presidency in 2021.

“There are many leaders around the world who have served their countries as Prime Ministers before, but they have also taken up ambassadorial positions after leaving office. Abraham Lincoln served as senator. He made attempts to run as President several times but when it never worked he continued as senator. When his time came, he won the presidency,” he said.

Dr Chishimba said, “It beats my mind how we want to belittle the mayoral position in the Capital City of our country. Nigeria has a full Cabinet Minister in charge of Abuja. The position is called Minister of the Capital (Abuja). The Capital City is not like any other.”

He observed that some of the political party presidents have never even entered parliament, but that all they want is to rise directly to the presidency.

“Why should I wait until 2021 if I believe that given an opportunity to run Lusaka, there are massive development projects that can be executed without waiting for central government funding. I literally mean these words – there are multiple alternatives of resource mobilisation. I will be taking about them soon.

The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) Mayoral candidate for Lusaka Miles Sampa has unveiled his plan of action for the transformation of the city of Lusaka in the first 100 days upon being elected into office.

Speaking at the Party’s interactive Forum at Crismar Hotel in Lusaka this morning, Mr. Sampa stated that the first thing he would do would be to enhance communication between the Council and Lusaka residents by establishing a call centre at the council.

“The way the police have a call centre, that’s how the council will operate to carter for inquiries 24/7. It shall be a full fledged and operational call centre. Not when one is calling, one is greeted with no response. If you find a dead dog on the road, you should be able to call the centre and inform us and we should immediately respond and send someone to clear up the dog,” he said.

Mr. Sampa stated that the second aspect would be to de-congest the roads in Lusaka because the congestion was making business suffer in the CBD because it was increasingly difficult to move from one point to another and that within the 100 day framework, he would come up with a realistic solution to the problem.

Mr. Sampa also announced that the third thing would be to introduce free WiFi in bus stops, at train stations, at the airport and other public places to make electronic communication channels easier for the residents of Lusaka in line with the Smart Zambia that is being encouraged by government.

“When one arrives in Zambia at the airport, there will be free WiFi and one can immediately log in to ones preferred services. Similarly, when one goes to Intercity, there will be free WiFi, so that when one is travelling and one is delayed, it should be possible to log in to free Internet and inform ones relatives of the predicament. There will also be free WiFi at the council premises and many other public places,” he said.

Mr Sampa stated that within the first 100 days, he would also ensure that there is improved health services which should fall under the council. He stated that he would ensure the council health posts are fully functional to carter for the health needs of the residents. Mr. Sampa stated that within the 100 day framework, he would also introduce town hall meetings.

“Every six months, as Mayor, I will be meeting all residents under the town hall meeting scheme, to have one on one meetings. And, we will agree with the councillors that they too have town hall meetings every three months within their wards,” he said.

Within 100 days, Mr Sampa said that he would ensure that the process of issuing of tittle deeds to all houses in Lusaka is done, stating that that a house is a major asset which should enable the owner to access bank loans as houses could be used as collateral for a bank loan, adding that computerisation and valuation of houses would be done

“If your house is not valued, you won’t know its worth and so when you go to a bank seeking a loan using your house as collateral and the bank asks how much your house is worth, and you don’t know, they won’t give you a loan,” he said.

Mr. Sampa also stated that he would look into the improvement and upgrading of markets to allow marketeers to trade in a conducive environment. He stated that he would also move the council from being a red council to a black one which he stated meant taking the council from being a broke council to one that was financially viable through stoppage of revenue leakages.

“I will ensure that all revenues that are due to the council, are collected. And also the correct rates for that matter,” he said.

The three Church Mother Bodies in Zambia, namely: the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) have issued a communique on the national dialogue and reconciliation process.

The Church Mother Bodies stated that they are aware of the immense expectations and trust people have put on the Church in Zambia to lead the much talked about dialogue and reconciliation process.They have however refused to be drawn into the discourse of who should lead the process and which other religious organisations should be part and parcel of the leadership in facilitating the dialogue and reconciliation.

The Church Mother Bodies said they take the responsibility of leading the dialogue process as a calling from God to reconcile the nation in order to bring peace and harmony among God’s children in Zambia. In so doing, they neither seek political mileage nor publicity.

The Church Mother Bodies said they have learn from the recent past in which our political leaders failed to abide by what was agreed upon during the Inter-Party Dialogue meeting held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on 29th March 2016, which the Church organized in order to respond to the many electoral and human rights issues that were troubling the nation.

They attributed the current state of political division and socio-economic decline in the country to failure by leaders across the political divide,to abide by the very commitments they made to end political violence, misapplication of the Public Order Act and electoral corruption. The Church Mother Bodies believe that the peace accord brokered in that dialogue meeting should have marked a new beginning.

Despite this the Church Mother Bodies said they will draw valuable lessons learnt from their historical success in 1991, when the three Church Mother Bodies, brought Dr.Kenneth Kaunda of UNIP and Dr. Fredrick Chiluba of MMD to a round table dialogue meeting at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross which resulted into Zambia welcoming the multiparty dispensation in a peaceful manner without bloodshed.

Below is the Full Communique

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18)

We the leaders of the three Church Mother Bodies in Zambia, namely: the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB),AWARE, that immense expectations and trust by the people, have been put on the Church in Zambia to lead the much talked about dialogue and reconciliation process, and that the nation is going through a difficult period economically, socially and politically, and that some of the root causes of the social economic problems emanate from disunity,continued state of political tension and the blatant lack of political will by
our leaders to address the root causes of what is obtaining, and that many public pronouncements have been made by various stakeholders regarding this dialogue process and how it should be moved forward.

However, we refuse to be drawn into the discourse of who should lead the process and which other religious organisations should be part and parcel of the leadership in facilitating the dialogue and reconciliation.

We CONSIDER reconciliation as our duty, given to us by God in exercising our mandate in the prophetic mission of the Church. We are reminded of what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:16 “From now on, therefore, we
regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:16-18). Thus, we take the responsibility of leading this
dialogue process as a calling from God to reconcile the nation in order to bring peace and harmony among God’s children in Zambia. In so doing,we neither seek political mileage nor publicity;

We are CONFIDENT that we can draw valuable lessons from our historical success in 1991, when we the three Church Mother Bodies, brought Dr.Kenneth Kaunda of UNIP and Dr. Fredrick Chiluba of MMD to a round
table dialogue meeting at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross which resulted into Zambia welcoming the multiparty dispensation in a peaceful manner without bloodshed. We also believe that we can learn from the recent
past in which our political leaders failed to abide by what was agreed upon during the Inter-Party Dialogue meeting held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on 29th March 2016, which we organized in order to respond to
the many electoral and human rights issues that were troubling the nation.

We further believe that the peace accord brokered in that dialogue meeting should have marked a new beginning. However, as you are all aware, our leaders across the political divide, failed to abide by the very
commitments they made to end political violence, misapplication of the Public Order Act and electoral corruption. Because of this failure, the country is in this state of political division and socio-economic decline;

We therefore RESOLVE to continue the work of preparing a clear road map for a genuine process of dialogue that will be Zambian owned and driven and will be aimed at national reconciliation. As we indicated in our
joint statement of 8th January 2018, “true dialogue means a change of heart, attitude and behaviour. It is a project, an ongoing process and effort. It is the way of life for us Christians which should be heard in our
words, seen in our faces and actions because it is in our hearts”;

We LOOK FORWARD to serious commitment from ALL stakeholders in this process as we call upon them to remain focused and avoid political expediency that may derail the entire process.

We, ON OUR PART, are full of hope for a successful process and remain committed to carry out this mandate entrusted to us by the Zambian people, and with the help of ALL well-meaning Zambians and the mighty
hand of God, Zambia will be set on a new trajectory that will ensure that we truly live in peace, unity and harmony by promoting a culture of true dialogue, good governance, the rule of law and respect of human rights.

Signed
Bishio G. Zumaile Lungu (ZCCB President), Bishop Alfred Kalembo (CCZ President),Bishop Paul Mususu(Board Chairperson-EFZ)