Opposition Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) President Charles Milupi says the 2016 elections cannot be described as fair, credible and transparent due to the many flaws and the alleged collusion between the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the Patriotic Front.

Mr. Milupi has cited the issue of the G-12 form which was not available in most polling stations in Lusaka, which he says led to open manipulation of results.

He says it is also sad that the ECZ has ignored what was agreed with stakeholders that the Lusaka results should not be announced without resolving the issue of the -12 forms which is a legal document in an election.

Mr. Milupi adds that the elections were characterized by, amongst others; lack of transparency, reported incidents of intimidation and harassment among other things.

THE United Party for National Development (UPND) says it will not protect any of its members engaging in political violence.

UPND deputy spokesperson Edwin Lifwekelo has urged party supporters to refrain from using violence to express their grievances following the party’s defeat in the August 11 general elections.

Several UPND cadres in different parts of the country ran amok damaging property in protest against the re-election of President Lungu.

Mr Lifwekelo said in an interview yesterday that the opposition political party does not condone violence and those perpetrating the vice are doing so at their own peril.

“It is not right to take the law into your own hands and as a party we are against those engaging in violence to show displeasure of losing an election,” he said. “There can only be one winner after an election and that is President Lungu.”

THE Constitutional Court has stayed President Edgar Lungu’s decision to remove Mutembo Nchito from the position of Director of Public Prosecutions.

Last week, President Lungu wrote to Mutembo, informing him that he had been relieved of his duties, in accordance with Article 144 of the amended Constitution, following a recommendation from the justice Annel Silungwe led tribunal.

But Mutembo asked the Constitutional Court to nullify President Lungu’s decision on grounds that Article 144 of the Constitution does not give powers to a tribunal to recommend the removal of a DPP, but instead gives such powers to the Judicial Complaints Authority, which never sat to hear his case.

Constitutional Court judge Enock Mulembe granted Mutembo the order to stay the President’s decision and set August 19, for inter parties hearing.

Former First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa’s quest to become the Mayor of the city of Lusaka has ended in defeat at the hands of Patriotic Front(PF) candiate Wilson Kalumba.

PF’s Wilson Kalumba has been declared Mayor of Lusaka after he polled 270 161 votes in the August 11, general election.

The former first lady standing on the United Party for National Development (UPND) came second with 150 807 votes.

Lusaka Returning officer Alex Mwansa declared Mr Kalumba as Lusaka Mayor at around 09;00 hours.

And Mr Kalumba has pledged to ensure smooth operations at the local authority. He said he will not relent in developing Lusaka and the local authority.

Going into this election, the former first lady was confident of victory for both her candidancy and her party UPND when he spoke to tyhe Post newspaper last week.

“You don’t need a magician or a prophet to tell you that PF has lost this election; all odds are against PF and come Thursday, PF will be history,” Maureen said.

“And the other thing PF should know is that no Zambian will stand in a polling booth on an empty stomach and cast a vote for them, unless something is wrong. People don’t have food in their homes; life has become extremely expensive and you expect them to come and vote for you on an empty stomach after you created that hunger for them? It doesn’t work like that.”

The former First Lady urged voters to give her chance to transform Lusaka city by voting for her in the mayoral elections.

“Everywhere you look around in Lusaka, there is garbage and this should change starting this week when we form government. There is no way our beautiful city can be floating on garbage,” Maureen said.

“The levels of indiscriminate disposal of garbage in Lusaka city are alarming. When you are on the streets of Lusaka, you look west you see garbage, you look east you see garbage, you look north, it’s garbage, you look south it’s garbage. This is unacceptable. Would you like it if your house was filled with garbage and there is bad odour all around? The answer is no. We need to maintain our hygiene and stay healthy and fit. It is our duty to keep our city clean not only for us, but also for the people visiting our city and also for the future generations.”

She promised to come up with an efficient garbage collection system that would make the city clean.

“When you vote us into office for mayor, we shall ensure that uncollected garbage and indiscriminate disposal of waste becomes a thing of the past. We will ensure that Lusaka has an efficient garbage collection system and we shall bring to book anyone found throwing garbage indiscriminately. We shall also carry out a sensitisation programme on the dangers of indiscriminate disposal of garbage. We want to see a Lusaka where households will throw garbage in dustbins and not on the road,” said Maureen.

“Lusaka city is dirty and it is dirty everywhere. I know many of us are yearning to live in a clean city, free of uncollected garbage and indiscriminate disposal of waste. So let us work together and to achieve this, on August 11, vote us into the office for mayor, we promise you to clean the city of Lusaka.”

Former President Rupiah Banda has congratulated President Edgar Lungu for emerging victorious in the August 11 general election.

Mr. Banda says President Lungu’s victory is a confirmation of the confidence that Zambians have in his leadership.

He has further praised opposition political parties that took part in the election for conceding defeat.

Mr. Banda said this in a congratulatory letter addressed to President Lungu made available to ZNBC News.

Meanwhile Mr. Banda has praised Zambians for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner during the entire election period.

And newly elected Kabushi Constituency Member of Parliament Bowman Lusambo has congratulated President Edgar Lungu on his re-election.

Mr. Lusambo says the people of Zambia turned up in large numbers to vote for President Lungu because of his track record of hard work and resolve to improve the living standards of the people.

Meanwhile the Kabushi lawmaker has pledged to work hard and deliver development to the people of his constituency.

Mr. Lusambo says he will closely work together with his 8 councillors to provide clean safe drinking water and descent sanitation facilities for his constituents.

He was speaking in a walk interview with ZNBC News.

And the National Traders and Marketeers Association of Zambia -NATMAZ- has congratulated President Edgar Lungu on his re-election.

In a congratulatory message NATMAZ President Goodson Mofya says President LUNGU deserves the victory.

Mr Mofya says President Lungu’s re-election is a true demonstration of the confidence and trust that Zambians have in his leadership style.

Meanwhile, the Zambia National Marketeers Credit Association-ZANAMACA- has congratulated President Lungu on his election victory.

ZANAMACA president Mupila Kameya says the Zambian people have exercised their democratic right and that they have spoken through the ballot.

Mr Kameya said opposition leaders that suffered defeat should accept the will of the people.

He said in a statement to ZNBC News that Zambians should support the government of the day regardless of their political, religious or tribal inclination.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. Ban Ki Moon has congratulated the people of Zambia for the peaceful and orderly presidential, parliamentary and local government elections, as well as the referendum on the Bill of Rights, held on 11 August.

According to a statement released to the media by Zambia’s First Secretary for Press and Public Relations Permanent Mission at the United Nations Mr Chibaula Silwamba, a message from the Office of the Spokesperson of Mr. Ban stated that the Secretary-General recalls Zambia’s history of peaceful elections, and the democratic transition he witnessed when he visited the country in 2012.

In this regard, the Secretary-Secretary reminds all parties, especially political leaders and their supporters, of their responsibility to reject violence and to refrain from the use of inflammatory and incendiary language.

He also reminds them to resolve differences or disputes through constitutional means and in line with international norms and standards.

Mr. Ban says the United Nations remains committed to supporting Zambia’s democratic governance and sustainable development and will continue to work closely with the African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Commonwealth and other international partners in this regard.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on Monday 15th August, 2016 declared His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia, winner of the presidential elections after he amassed over 50 per cent of the total valid votes cast, in line with the new Constitutional requirements.

President Lungu scored 1,860,877, which is 50.35 per cent of the 3,695,710 total valid votes cast. He defeated eight other presidential candidates.

Under the new electoral laws, the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) [No. 2 of 2016] Article 47. (1), elections to the office of President shall be conducted directly, under a majoritarian electoral system, where the winning candidate must receive more than fifty percent of the valid votes cast, and in accordance with Article 101. President Lungu obtained 13,022 votes above half.

President Lungu was on a joint ticket with Her Honour Mrs Inonge Wina, Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia, as his running mate.

The Zambia Road Safety Trust (ZRST) would like to congratulate His Excellency, the President Elect of Zambia, Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, for his re-election on 11th August 2016.

Recent figures estimate conservatively that some 2100 persons in Zambia are killed each year in road crashes and a further ten thousand people are injured (Zambia Police, 2015). These numbers are likely to almost double by 2020 unless urgent action is taken. A prevalence of under-reporting of serious crashes means that the actual number of deaths is likely to be much higher than that reported by the Police.

And according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), between 2010 -2012, injuries and road traffic accidents were the 3rd ranked cause of deaths, accounting for almost 10% of all fatalities in Zambia. At present trends, with no effective mitigation, we project that within the next four years, road traffic injuries will rank as the 2nd leading cause of death in Zambia after HIV/AIDS, killing more than double the current number.

While, over half of the Zambia’s road deaths are vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists), the majority of those killed are men between the ages of 15 and 44, mostly breadwinners, adds the CSO 2014 annual report.

Road Accidents are often covered in the media simply as events—not as one of a leading killer of people and an enormous drain on a country’s human, health and financial resources. In addition to the tremendous traumatic and emotional impact of road crashes, there is a vast economic consequence. Nationally, road crashes typically cost the equivalent of 1-3% of our country’s Gross Domestic Product. Personally, road crashes can be the trigger that plunges a family into poverty. Every case involves someone’s life, their family and friends, and personal suffering.

The Zambia Road Safety Trust would like to appeal to the President Elect that having been given a new mandate by the Zambian people, he appreciates that road death and injury is not inevitable. Road trauma is a preventable public health challenge which can be halted with amenable actions.

As currently six to seven people are killed every day, and more than 20 seriously injured from road accidents on Zambia’s roads, President Lungu needs to act immediately as he takes office. The numbers speak for themselves: this is a public health and development crisis that is expected to worsen unless action is taken.

Political will is needed by the President Elect to ensure appropriate road safety legislation and stringent enforcement of laws by which we all need to abide. We call for capable leaders, institutions and strategies that can ensure reduced likelihood of accidents occurring and minimise the severity if a crash occur. If this cannot be ensured, families and communities will continue to grieve and our health systems will continue to bear the brunt of injury and disability due to these road accidents.

In line with the World Health Organisation, the Zambia Road Safety Trust endorses a comprehensive approach to road safety, called the Safe System approach, which recognises that, as the human body is vulnerable to injury and humans will always make mistakes, the safety of all parts of the system (e.g. road users, vehicles and roads) must be improved to help minimize the impact of those mistakes.

Daniel Mwamba

Chairman

Zambia Road Safety Trust

The Patriotic Front says the impending election petition by the UPND will help show that it also suffered due to election malpractices.

The UPND has confirmed that it will file petition papers this week in the constitutional court hoping to overturn the election victory of President Edgar Lungu.

But in an interview, PF Deputy Spokesman Frank Bwalya said the party is excited that the UPND intends to petition the outcome of the presidential election.

Mr Bwalya said the PF is confident that the Judiciary will handle the matter judiciary and expeditiously.

He said the party will comply with the provisions of the amended constitution and allow the Speaker to act as President once the petition papers are filed in.

Mr Bwalya said the PF will use the petition process as an opportunity to highlight the many injustices that some of its election agents faced intimidation and some were beaten up in UPND strongholds.

He said the party’s legal team will be on hand to defend the re-election of President Edgar Lungu.

And Mr Bwalya has advised PF members to celebrate the victory responsibly and not mock the losers.

He said President Lungu does not want to see mock coffins in UPND colours saying such celebrations are provocative.