PF CONDEMNS 5FM INCIDENT

Lusaka, Zambia, 14th December 2017 – The confrontation that happened at 5 FM where NDC Secretary General Hon Mwenya Musenge’s vehicle was damaged by unknown people has made sad reading for all who believe in the freedom of expression and deepening of the country’s democracy.

We wish to distance the Party from the reported incident. The Party Secretariat was a hive of activity as we received former Matero MP Hon Miles Sampa and others back into the Party and at no point was any member given any directive to cause any form of disturbance anywhere. In this regard, we are calling on the Zambia Police consider the matter with the urgency it deserves.

PF values its working relationship with the media fraternity and the incident at 5 FM is regrettable. As a Party, we always ensure that our members conduct themselves in ways that promote the ideal of a free, thriving and robust media space devoid of intimidation.

PF continues to call for tolerance within the democratic space we have chosen for ourselves as Zambian. Further, we are calling for cessation of politics of character assassination and provocation. We believe that it’s possible to sustain healthy debate void of insults. After 53 years of Independence, Zambia should be characterised by issue-based politics, where different players can disagree on issues affecting the nation without becoming personally disagreeable.

Issued by:

Sunday Chanda
PF Media Director

Police in Kabwe are investigating reports that a 27-year-old illegal miner believed to have drowned in a disused mine is actually alive and in hiding from people he owes thousands of Kwacha.

Geoffrey Mwansa was reported dead about a month ago after a group of rival illegal miners attacked him at one of the mines they were wrangling over, forcing him to dive into an abandoned mine full of water to escape.

The incident happened on November 20, 2017 and prompted police and concerned local people to mount a search to find him or retrieve his body, but drew a blank.Two people accused of causing his ‘death’ are still being held although police say they may have to let them go, in the absence of evidence that Mwansa was indeed dead.

Speculation has since begun to circulate in some quotas that Mwansa actually managed to swim out of the highly polluted dam and had moved out of town to escape the people he owed money.

A funeral atmosphere hangs over Mwansa’s mother’s home in Makululu township, and she says while he remains missing, the family will continue to mourn.
Joyce Mwansa told the Times in an exclusive interview that the family was still holding a funeral because they believed her son was dead.
“We have heard these rumours that he is alive as well, but no one has come to us to officially tell us or provide the evidence, so as far as we are concerned, Geoffrey is dead unless someone proves to us otherwise,” she said.

“We have even stopped going to look around at the dam in the hope that the body may have floated to the surface. We are told, meanwhile, that police are still investigating so we don’t know what to do next.”

Ms Mwansa dispelled rumours that her son had not died but was hiding from people pursuing him for money he owed them but admitted that he had some differences with fellow illegal miners who were fighting for the control of the site.
Central province Commissioner of Police Joel Njase said the police have received reports that Mwansa was alive in Lusaka but there was no evidence to prove the speculations.

“As police, we don’t deal in speculation, so we will continue with the search; but we are not ignoring any possible links. We want to work with the military to help us with the marines to search because we are all concerned that it has taken long; so let’s wait and see what will come out of the search,” he said.
Mr Njase said the police was also contemplating releasing the two people that were accused of causing the death of Mwansa who have been in detention for almost a month now without a charge.
[Times of Zambia]

A rumour that a tourist had drowned at the Victoria Falls in Livingstone yesterday morning ignited some frenzied activity by security and emergency services as they rushed about looking for the body.

Information given to the emergency services was that a tourist had slipped from the edge of the falls and that the body had been spotted at the bottom of the precipice, some 108 metre down.

Officers from the Livingstone fire brigade, Department of National Parks and Wildlife, Zambia Police and medics from private hospitals all rushed to the falls to help retrieve the body.

At the falls, a crush of local residents joined other tourists on the famous Knife Edge bridge, staring down at the bottom of the waterfall, eyes locked on an object that looked like the floating body of a human being.

Efforts by the Livingstone City Council Fire Brigade to get down the gorge to get to the body were hampered by lack of appropriate equipment.
All the while, the anxiety levels were growing among the ever-swelling crowd on the narrow bridge, most of them snapping away with their mobile phone cameras at the figure in the swirling waters.

Some people, eager to satisfy their curiosity, went as far as hiring binoculars.After hours of frustratingly little progress by the emergency services to find a way down the gorge, Bundu Adventurers Water Rafting Company was approached to help.

Staff from Bundu, an outfit specialised in swimming and water rafting as well as managing bungee jumping at the Victoria Falls Bridge, went down the gorge through the ‘boiling pot’ together with officers from the fire brigade.

The anxiety among the gathered crowd was palpable as the team came back with the news that there was a body all right. A hippo’s. Dead hippo.

[Times of Zambia]

The fight against corruption in Zambia is a farce says Green Party President Peter Sinkamba.

And Sinkamba says the fight against corruption in Zambia is a charade provided the vice remains embedded in the Electoral Process Act and the Zambia Public Procurement Act.

Commenting on last week’s International Anti-corruption day, Sinkamba said if Zambia is serious about fighting corruption, the starting point should be reviewing the Electoral Process Act and the Zambia Public Procurement Act to remove corruption-enabling clauses.

“Corruption in this country is embedded in laws. Provided corruption is embedded in such laws as the Electoral Process Act and the Zambia Public Procurement Act, the fight against corruption shall remain a farce,” he said.

“Take for instance the Electoral Process Act. You think that fight electoral corruption can be won with a corruption-enabling law like that? That’s a joke. The fight shall remain a charade provided the electoral laws are enablers of corruption.

“When you take a look at the Electoral Process Act No. 35 of 2016, the High Court or an election tribunal has no power to declare an election of the candidate void if the only reason is a corrupt practice or illegal practice. If the corrupt practice or illegal practice was not committed by the candidate personally or by that candidate’s election agent, or with the knowledge and consent or approval of such candidate or the candidate’s election agent, then the High Court has no power to declare the election void.

“So what this means is that provided a candidate, and his or her election agent pretend in public that they resent corruption, and they pretend to have taken all reasonable means to prevent the commission of a corrupt practice or illegal practice at the election, when in actual fact they personally fund corruption in dark corners, then the election of that candidate cannot be nullified. Not even when their members are caught in corruption acts, that is of no consequence on their election.

“So, how do we stop corruption like that? Instead of making empty speeches on December 9, it would be more desirable that more valuable and concrete measures are triggered aimed at ending corruption. Target number one should be decoupling embedded corruption in the Electoral Process Act and the Zambia Public Procurement Act,” he added.

Zambia’s state owned telecoms provider Zamtel says it is confident of jumping to the number 1 position as the country’s largest network provider when ongoing investments into core network upgrade are completed.

Zamtel currently occupies the third slot after Airtel and MTN.

As part of its US$280 million investment in the network, Zamtel is installing 1009 new communication towers and upgrading existing ones which will see the company stand at 1,793 sites, more than any other network provider in the country.

The firm is also modernizing its Woodlands Technical Center in Lusaka at a cost of K7 million by transforming it into a Cloud Data Centre.

Zamtel is also rehabilitating and modernizing Lamya House in Lusaka at a cost of K30 million and upgrading its power solutions and also transforming it into a Cloud Data Centre.

The company is further putting up a new state of the art Call Centre whose works are 75% complete aimed at improving customer care.

Zamtel Corporate Communications Manager Kennedy Mambwe disclosed when he featured on a live Consumer Feedback radio programme on Hot FM on Tuesday evening.

Mr Mambwe said the projects have been initiated to improve coverage, increase capacity and place Zamtel at the centre of the country’s digital transformation.

He said the company is confident that the network improvement projects will catapult Zamtel into the number slot in about 30 months after the ongoing works are done.

“If you have been in Zambia for a long time, you will realize that of the three operators, one of them was number one, they are no longer number one; they are on number two position, Why? Because there is movement in numbers. We may be third placed right now but guess what, anyone who is really watching the trends must be worried about Zamtel because of the momentum at which we are moving we will soon most likely be number one and that is not like a farfetched idea, it’s a reality,” Mr Mambwe said.

“I don’t want to be a Prophet but I can make a statement of fact that once we are done with these projects, Zamtel is going to climb to the top slot as the number one network provider in this nation,” he said.

He further described the year 2017 as phenomenal for the company.

“The growth has been great. In February of this year, the company was struggling to pay certain bills and to meet certain obligations but there has been a complete turnaround, the performance has been great both in numbers and revenue and we have been able to meet our commitments to institutions such as the Zambia Revenue Authority,” he said.

Mr. Mambwe has since assured that Zamtel will continue on this growth trajectory in 2018.

“We went past the 2 million mark and we were upbeat about ending the year at 2.5 million subscribers but we may not end the year with that. By the time we switch on all the sites we are rolling out we will be able to accelerate our growth, perhaps double our growth, within a short space of time because we have put in a number of strategies and interventions to make sure we are catapulted into the numbers that we are looking at.”

‘KOSWE MUMPOTO’, ANOTHER ABUSE OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION VIA MUSIC – ZAM

The Zambia Association of Musicians (ZAM) would like to acknowledge that musicians across the world are important agents of change through the contents of their music, songs and personal character. Zambia, being a democracy, ZAM encourages its members and all artists to continue exercising their right to comment on social and political matters with full citizen responsibility, professional objectivity and mutual respect for everyone. Despite Pilato not being our member, ZAM would like to make its official position on the song as it concerns our sector.

In this regard, ZAM would like to disapprove of the latest song ‘Koswe Mumpoto’ done by Pilato as we deem it to be another abuse of freedom of expression using music.

As it is very clear that the song in question is meant to demean the Head of State and President of Zambia, ZAM finds the song to be too politically vindictive, judgmental and one that fosters character assassination, political hostility and division in the country.

As a matter of fact, ZAM believes that music should not at any given time be used as a tool to propagate hate speech, citizen hatred and bitterness.

To the contrary, ZAM is of the view that, music is a tool to be used for promoting unity, love, peace and oneness in the spirit of ’ONE ZAMBIA, ONE NATION!’ This is in reference to Page 44 of our Strategic Plan and I quote,” ZAM and its members, through music, can play an important role as positive change-agents in Zambia by commenting on social issues and raising awareness in such areas as politics, health, education, and gender issues, and spur action for positive change.”

The last time Pilato did a similar song, ZAM distanced itself even against a background were some sectors condemned us. However, we were happy to have learnt that Pilato demonstrated some level of maturity and responsibility by openly apologizing to President Edgar C. Lungu and the first family.

However, it is regrettable and unfortunate that Pilato’s current song is once more against the core values of ZAM and does not help to steer positive change in society apart from being too politically malicious, defamatory and hostile.

Therefore, ZAM would like to both denounce and distance itself again from this song and only believe that in due course, Pilato will find the right Christian and democratic reasons to openly apologize as he has done before.

The Young African Leaders Intiative (YALI) has commended President Lungu for following laid down procedures in the appointment Judges which marks a departure from what from what would happen with past appointments before the Constitution was amended.

While Article 92(2) (e) of the Constitution has vested powers in the President to appoint persons including Judges as are required by the Constitution or any other law, presidential appointments of Judges are not done by the President selectively handpicking nominees.

President Lungu does not singlehandedly pick persons for appointment as Judges as the nominees for appointments as Judges are recommended by the Judicial Service Commission in accordance with Article 140 of the Constitution.

Under the repealed Article 46(6) of 1996 Constitution, the President was not obliged to follow the advice tendered by any other person or authority in the exercise of any functions conferred upon him as he was allowed to rely on his own deliberate judgment.

The current law in Article 140 is that the President appoints Judges on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission and subject to ratification by the National Assembly.

It is thus unfounded for anyone to accuse the President of selecting persons for appointment as Judges of his choice when the recommendations are made by the Judicial Service Commission chaired by former Chief Justice Mathew Ngulube.

We believe that persons who have been appointed and ratified by the National Assembly have carefully been scrutinised by the Judicial Service Commission as the responsibility for their appointment lies with them. We are so far confident that the appointment of Constitutional Court Judge Martin Masaluke has merits in it and we hope the new Judge will exercise his independent mind on the bench.

SIGNED
Isaac Mwanza
Governance Advisor