Copperbelt Police Commissioner, Charity Katanga, has expressed concern over the increased levels of political violence in the country.

Ms Katanga says it is for this reason that the police called for a stakeholders’ meeting to find solutions to the matter.

ZANIS reports that Ms Katanga says it is important that political parties and other stakeholders meet to find solutions to the matter before political violence escalates to unmanageable levels.

Ms Katanga says the police wants to ensure that campaigns are without intimidation and are done in a peaceful environment.

She said this during a stakeholders’ meeting on peace ahead of the August 11 general elections.

She further said the essence of the meeting is also to ensure that conflict mechanism resolutions are put in place and to address the issue of political party cadres contravening traffics regulations.

Ms Katanga has since warned aspiring candidates and political cadres not to use false registration number plants on their campaign vehicles.

She warned that perpetrators of this act will have their vehicles impounded whether they are from the ruling party or opposition political party.

She also urged political parties on the Copperbelt to collaborate with the police when placing notifications of political meetings.
Ms Katanga further expressed disappointment over the poor attendance of the meeting by stakeholders despite being invited.

THE Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has castigated the United Party for National Development (UPND) for allegedly telling its supporters not to participate in the referendum process.

When contacted for a comment, UPND Livingstone district spokesperson, Neto Halwabala said his party had made it clear that it would only participate in the referendum if it was conducted as a stand-alone and not alongside the general elections.

FODEP Livingstone chairperson Gideon Musonda said his organisation was very disappointed that some senior UPND officials were going round telling people not to participate in the referendum process, claiming that the process was meant to help the ruling party to rig the 11 August general elections.

Mr Musonda said it was unfortunate that a political party, which claims to have a huge following, could be peddling lies on an important national exercise such as the referendum.

He said the referendum was a very important exercise in any democracy as it enabled citizens to make informed choices on matters that concerned them.

He was speaking in an interview in Livingstone yesterday.

“I was disappointed and disheartened when I attended a UPND rally that was addressed by a very senior official from Lusaka where he was peddling lies that the referendum was a gimmick by the ruling party to rig the elections, telling people not to participate in it.

“Such kind of lies should not be entertained and it is unfortunate that political parties are not willing to help educate the citizenry, ”Mr Musonda said.

Mr Musonda however said FODEP would not relent in its referendum sensitisation campaigns because the nation needed about 3,750,000 people for the referendum exercise to be a success and called on political parties to help civil society organisations in educating the masses on the importance of the referendum.

“Political parties need to help by sensitising their members on the need to participate in this year’s referendum and we urge them to also participate in the referendum unlike misleading people because it is their democratic right to have a voice in the whole process,” he said.

And Mr Halwabala said his party had made it clear that it would only participate in the referendum if it was conducted as a stand-alone and not alongside the general elections.

“Our position as a party is, we can only participate if the referendum is done as a stand alone, not alongside general elections. We are not going to spend time on this stage managed referendum to confuse voters,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Musonda also disclosed that FODEP plans to train 119 election monitors on 3 August in readiness for the 11 August general elections.

The British Newspaper the Telegraph has issued an apology over the memoir, In Congo’s Shadow by Scottish actress Louise Linton, and taken down the excerpt, which was published this month.

According to a statement by the Telegraph published on their website, Linton has pulled the book from Amazon where it was self-published earlier this year.

Below is the full apology

“How my dream gap year in Africa turned into a nightmare” (July 1, 2016), by Louise Linton, based on her book In Congo’s Shadow, drew a number of complaints from Telegraph readers that the article mistakenly implied that the conflicts in Congo and Rwanda had spilled over into Zambia, that Zambia was a war-torn country in 1999 and that armed rebels had crossed Lake Tanganyika to Zambia that year. Other claims of inaccuracy were also made.

In the light of the concerns raised by readers, the Telegraph has withdrawn the article from its website and apologises for any misleading impression that may have been given. The author also announced that she had agreed to remove the book from sale and give the profits to charity, and issued an apology for the offence caused.

Mr Mangani said when he paid a courtesy call on Senior Chief Nzamane of th Ngoni People at his palace in Chipata yesterday that police had a duty to manage the affairs of the country in which must be respected by all the well meaning Zambians.

He explained that politicians must not entangle with the police because the police had a duty to protect all the citizens.

“As former home affairs,i know that the police had a mammoth task of managing the country and in this case police must be given time to manage the country properly,”he said.

Mr Mangani who is campaigning for President Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front said the major assignment was to go round and boost up the campaigns ahead of the general elections.

He said it was good that the campaigns have been peaceful because no major violence had been reported in the province.

He appealed to various political parties to continue with the promotion of peace during the campaigns.
He urged the the traditional leadership to help mobilising the people in voting for the referendum which was going along with the general elections.

And Chief Nzamane said it was pleasing that after the lifting of the campaigns in Lusaka and Namwala by the Electoral Commission of Zambia(ECZ),the United Party for National Development (UPND) conducted its first rally in Kanyama.

Chief Nzamane said Zambians do not want the country to be turn into political turmoil after the elections but people should continue to co-exist.

He also said chiefs had a duty to talk about politics because there was no law in the Constitution which was banning chiefs commenting about politics.

Chief Nzamane said issues such as the need to have clean water and other services was which traditional leaders were talking was all about politics.

He urged the young cadres should take a leaf from the seasoned politicians who had done politics of no violence.

Chief Nzamane has since appealed to Government to complete the construction of Chikando secondary school which he said had stalled.

A TAXI driver operating in Monze, Aron Katowa, has been shot dead by his passengers who also went away with his car, Southern Province Commissioner of Police Godwin Phiri has said.

Mr Phiri said yesterday that the murder and aggravated robbery took place on Wednesday (July 20, 2016) between 16 hours and 17hrs in Luyaba area in Chief Choongo in Monze district.

“The Police received a telephone call from Amose Kawana, a taxi driver of Nakambala Township to the effect that his fellow taxi driver Aaron Katowa aged between 27 and 33 years of Highlanders who was booked by unknown persons at Embassy station.

“The deceased, who was driving a Toyota Corolla with registration number ALD 8074 silver in colour, was shot at by the same occupants using a suspected short gun.

“He sustained some wounds in the stomach and later died from Monze Mission Hospital where he was rushed by to a good Samaritan,” Mr Phiri said.

He said the body had since been deposited in Monze mission hospital mortuary awaiting post mortem.

Mr Phiri said the stolen motor vehicle had not yet recovered while no arrests had been made and that the relatives to the deceased have been informed.

Meanwhile, Mr Phiri has named a female pedestrian was died from a hit and run fatal road accident in Pemba on Tuesday night as Gladys Choosa, 40, of Chonga in Monze.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has told the court that it cannot establish new polling centres in Zambian correctional facilities as the exercise has already closed.

This was in a petition where Prisons Care and Counseling Association (PRISCCA) executive director Geoffrey Malembeka petitioned the Attorney General and the ECZ to allow eligible inmates to vote in this year’s elections.

Dr Malembeka wanted the court to instruct the Ministry of Home Affairs which is in charge of issuing of National Registration Cards (NRCs) to immediately go into the Zambian correctional facilities and issue NRCs to those eligible to vote.

“ECZ should go into prisons through mobile voter registration and register as voters all prisoners eligible so that they too can vote on August 11,” he stated.

Dr Malembeka argued that all pre-trial remandees in prisons throughout the country were innocent until proven guilty, therefore they should enjoy their constitutional right to vote.

However, Attorney General’s chambers assistant senior State advocate, Murah Kapamba, said the prisoners’ right to vote and register could only be enjoyed in the next general election, as the voter registration, closed on February 29, 2016.

Mr Kapamba, however, submitted that the State did not oppose Dr Malembeka’s petition, because Article 46 of the Constitution permitted every eligible citizen to vote.

ECZ director of elections Chomba Chella said during preparations for this year’s elections, the elections body did not establish polling centres at any prison or detention centre.

Mr Chela said the voter registration was conducted from September 13, last year, to February 29, this year, after which, the exercise closed in readiness for the certification of the voter register.

He said that voters’ cards had already been issued to those eligible to vote and the ECZ could not register new voters as the exercise had already ended.

FIVE suspected Patriotic Front (PF) cadres in Kalulushi have been apprehended by police for allegedly attacking their MMD counterparts.

The PF cadres ambushed their counterparts as they were returning from a campaign rally in Lufwanyama.

Copperbelt Police chief, Charity Katanga and MMD aspiring parliamentarian Annie Munshya confirmed the development in separate interviews on Thursday.

It is alleged that seven MMD members were injured during the attack, but were treated and discharged from the hospital.

Ms Munshya condemned the attack on her members because the MMD and the PF were working as partners with the former also campaigning for President Edgar Lungu for the August 11, general elections.

She alleged that the unruly cadres confiscated her public address system as well as other campaign material and that her campaign vehicle was damaged during the confusion.

The matter was reported to police in Kalulushi.

Ms Katanga said the suspects were currently in police custody, but could not divulge more information.