“We find it totally unacceptable that a Junior member of the Party such as Hon Tutwa Ngulube should take to the media to attack the Secretary General of the Party and National Youth Chairperson, who are both members of the Central Committee. It is a lie that he was elected at the General Conference – in what capacity and under which provision of the Party Constitution does he continue to hold that position as Returning Officer? Further we wish to warn Hon Ngulube to stop masquerading as PF legal Counsel because he no longer serves in that position as he rightfully knows. It is unbefitting of lawyers to create distortions as he is doing in the media. The last General Conference only elected President Edgar Lungu as Party President and Hon Tutwa played the role of returning officer which is not a permanent structured position in the Party. That role ended with the election of the Party President and it’s beneath the conduct of Counsel to create wrong impressions in the public space”, said Mr. Chilando.

The Central Province Youth leader has also wondered how Hon Ngulube could question the powers of the Secretary General of the Party who is also Chief Executive Officer of the organization in removing him from his role as Legal Counsel. He said it is common knowledge that services such as legal are engaged by the Party through the Secretary General. “While the MP is speaking the same language as his preferred candidate for the Party Presidency, Article 56 of the Party Constitution is very clear about the powers of the Secretary General and as such we find the behaviour of Hon Tutwa Ngulube unbecoming and totally unacceptable.

It is indiscipline for an ordinary member of the Party such as Hon Ngulube to conduct himself in the manner he has done against Central Committee Members. It borders on gross indiscipline which the Provincial Executive Committee of the Party should not tolerate. We are hereby calling on the Provincial Executive Committee to take interest in this matter and instil discipline”, he has said.

Central Province Youth Chairperson has clarified that the Secretary General and National Youth Chairperson were simply reaffirming what the PF structures have demanded for without exception. “We wish to also make clear that the Secretary General and National Youth Chairperson reaffirmed what has been demanded for by the structures of the Party as the Chief Executive Officer has been touring the Provinces, having done seven out of 10 Provinces so far. We are alive to the matter before the Courts and its common sense that what is before the Courts is the question of Republican President and not Party President. Unless and until the Courts rule otherwise, the Party structures have said that they endorsed President Lungu for the 2020 Party General Conference and as the subsequent Candidate in the 2021 elections”, Mr. Chilando clarified.

Mr Kambwili said in an interview yesterday that he could not respond or give a view on Mr Kabimba’s opinion about him because the Rainbow Party leader was not worth it politically.

The former minister of Information and Broadcasting was responding to a comment by Mr Kabimba on Thursday saying that firing Mr Kambwili from cabinet was the best thing that President Lungu had done since taking up office.

Mr Kabimba said that Mr Kambwili should not condemn President Edgar Lungu and the PF for the choices they were making with regards to choosing a candidate for the 2021 elections and other matters because he had no moral right to do so.

He said Mr Kambwili supported the party choices when it suited him previously and should not therefore complain over similar decisions now.

The Rainbow Party leader was responding to a question on the ‘Burning Issue’ 5FM Radio programme on what he thought about the in-house differences in the PF involving Mr Kambwili.

Mr Kabimba said Mr Kambwili should not complain over the decisions of the party because not so longer ago, he supported the same decisions.

He said Mr Kambwili was complaining because he had been fired as Information minister by President Lungu.

But Mr Kambwili said yesterday that he would not respond to Mr Kabimba.

“Go tell Wynter that he is a political nonentity on whom I can’t waste time responding to,” he said.

Mr Kambwili said people would not notice the difference between him and Mr Kabimba if he responded to the allegations.

The Roan MP has clashed with the PF leadership on many occasions after he was fired in 2016 and has issued various statements condemning PF and Government.

INSPECTOR General (IG) of Police Kakoma Kanganja has told a Lusaka magistrate’s court that he is still hurting from allegations made against him in Facebook posting by Chilufya Tayali that suggested he had something to do with the Mongu incident over which opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has been accused of treason.

Mr Kanganja said Tayali’s posting made in April in the aftermath of the incident involving Mr Hakainde’s motorcade and that of President Edgar Lungu as they headed for the Kuomboka ceremony, was ” 100 per cent criminal” and a clear indictment of him to be charged with treason.

Mr Kanganja testified that the posting brought ridicule, hatred, contempt and uproar in society as most people were calling for his resignation.

“I was shocked when I read the article. It is still paining me. I swore to protect the Constitution of Zambia and the President as well as everyone, Hichilema included. This article brought hatred were people started calling for my resignation,” he said.

Tayali has been charged with the offence of libel, under section 191 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

This is a substituted offence and when the matter came up yesterday for opening of trial, the accused took a fresh plea and denied the charge.

Particulars are that Tayali on April 13, 2017 with intent to defame Mr Kanganja did unlawfully write and publish on social media, Facebook a defamatory statement saying:

“Kanganja is just covering his inefficiency to charge Hakainde Hichilema with treason, otherwise he should be an accomplice, where was his police to clear the way long before? “That should have never happened, but maybe Kanganja planned it that way to kill the President or frame Hichilema…which statement injured the reputation of Kanganja by exposing him to hatred, contempt and ridicule,” read the particulars of the offence.

The IG said he became aware about the writings through numerous phone calls from a cross-section of the society and was forced to ask for a printout from Zambia Information Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA).

And in cross-examination Tayali sent the court into laughter when he said that he felt not protected by the court as he felt intimidated to cross-examine the IG because of the way he was responding.

Magistrate Felix Kaoma then told him that he was protected by the court and asked him to go ahead.

The accused applied for an adjournment because he wanted to come with some audio and visual recordings to defend himself.

Matter comes up on July 17 this year for continued trial.

In a letter dated 2nd June 2017, RTSA Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Zindaba Soko has stated that findings from the investigations into the Luangwa accident involving a Kapena bus registration number ABP 6303 have proved that the operator neglected or failed to ensure that the bus in question was fit to be used to carry passengers after the change of the brakes was done and thereby occasioned danger to the travelling public.

It has also been established that the driver and the operator defied the provisions of the Statutory Instrument (SI) No. 76 of 2016 which restricts the movement of Public Service Vehicles (PSV) at night.

The Agency has given Kapena Bus Company 24 hours to cease operations and thereafter none of their buses shall be expected to be on the road.

The RSL will only be restored subject to the operator meeting the conditions that the Agency has set to address the findings from the accident investigations.

On the 23rd May 2017, a motor vehicle Scania Marcopolo Bus registration number ABP 6303 operating under a road service licence No. 163140 was involved in an accident were 17 people died and several injured at around 21:00 hours few kilometers before the Luangwa Bridge.

Accident investigations conducted by the RTSA have established that the accident was caused following the re-adjustment of the brakes by the bus crew as the bus was reported to be brake binding. The findings from the preliminary investigations also indicate that the bus crew were seen under the bus possibly re-adjusting the brakes so as to minimise brake binding.