Mr Mwamba said people should stop making speculative comments on the printing of ballot papers because doing so was damaging ECZ’s reputation for holding credible elections.

Mr Mwamba was speaking when he featured on Muvi Television live programme, dubbed Zambia’s Foreign Relations on Sunday evening.

He said comments by politicians who are alleging that a Dubai firm that the ECZ proposed to use as the company to print ballot papers were irresponsible and could plunge the country into chaos.

“Please let us not scandalise our institutions. We need to trust ECZ and if there are any irregularities, let us report to law enforcement agencies,” Mr Mwamba said.
He said politicians and other stakeholders should trust ECZ to conduct free and fair elections because its autonomy was enshrined in the Constitution.

Mr Mwamba said the media had a role to play in national building by counter-checking every statement which was published to avoid publicising unfounded rumours.
He said some political parties were promoting hatred and violence during their political campaigns.

Mr Mwamba said Zambia should maintain its reputation as one of the most hospitable countries in the world.

He said the recent attacks on Rwandese in some parts of Lusaka were acts of criminality contrary to assertions by some politicians that the people rioted because of high poverty levels in the country.

Mr Mwamba said recent statistics had shown that Zambia had recorded improvements in poverty reduction efforts.

He said Zambia hosted people from several neighbouring countries, including South Africa and Zimbabwe during their liberation struggles, because it was a nation of loving and peaceful people.

Kitwe District Commissioner and Patron of the Northern Media Club, Chanda Kabwe, has urged the media proprietors in the country, especially in the private sector, to stop misusing their Journalists by paying them slavery wages despite the journalists doing their level best in the gathering of news and providing better stories for their respective media houses.

In a statement released to the media in commemoration of World Press Freedom day, Mr Kabwe strongly warned the media owners who do not pay well their Journalists to change for the better because a financially challenged Journalist can plunge the nation into turmoil by writing false news due to lack of motivation at work.

Below is the full Statement

Hi colleagues

Media Statement
Ma y 2, 2016

KITWE
P.O BOX 20070

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2016 – PAY JOURNALISTS WELL.

THE media plays a pivotal role in the development of the country hence media owners should pay well their journalists because a hungry and desperate Journalist is a danger to society.

It is unfortunate for some media proprietors in the country especially in the private sector who misuse their Journalists by paying them slavery wages despite them doing their level best in the gathering of news and providing better stories for their respective media houses.

Journalism is a noble profession because the Journalists provide checks and balances in the governing of the country but some private media owners do not have respect for their Journalists because they treat them like slaves subjecting them to inhumane and pathetic conditions of service.

The media owners should always treat their Journalists with respect because the nation depends on such people as they disseminate information to masses on various issues affecting the people in their respective environment.

It is also disheartening to observe that some media houses in the country are in the habit of not paying their Journalists on time and yet they expect them to contribute stories on a daily basis whilst they are facing financial challenges.

Am strongly warning the media owners who do not pay well their Journalists to change for the better because a financially challenged Journalist can plunge the nation into turmoil by writing false news due to lack of motivation at work.

The issue of some media houses paying Journalists meagre salaries is an insult to the profession because Journalism is regarded as the fourth estate in any country in the world.

Media owners should not be disrespect journalists working in their respective institutions by paying them low salaries because a lowly paid Journalist will easily fall as a prey in the hands of some selfish politicians and individuals who will only use their financial muscle to put the Journalists in their pockets by instructing them to write stories against the hardworking Government of the Patriotic Front led by his Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

The Journalists should further be wary of some unscrupulous individuals who are only interested in using them to write false and malicious stories to suit the agenda of some of their media proprietors who do not even pay them according to their expectations.

Some media houses in the country should also change the way they report about the economical, political and social affairs in Zambia because irresponsible and unconstructive reporting can dent the image of the country to the international community.

Please media owners pay the Journalists better salaries because the nation highly relies on them and without Journalists no sustainable development can be steered in the country.

Lastly let me urge the Journalists in Zambia to always adhere to the ethics of the profession by reporting objectively and constructively as they are the mirror of the nation to the outside world.

HAPPY 2016 WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY TO YOU ALL, ENJOY YOURSELVES.
Best Regards colleagues and work well.
Issued by
Chanda Kabwe
Kitwe District Commissioner/Patron Northern Media Club.

ZNBC Corporate Affair Manager Masuzyo Ndhlovu says the meeting will be held at Mass Media Complex at 09:00 hours.

Mr Ndhlovu said the corporation has sent invitation letters for the meeting to Chief Executive Officers of Political parties.

He says the meeting will provide a platform for ZNBC to roll out programmes that have been lined-up before the 2016 General Elections.

Mr Ndhlovu says the stakeholders ‘ meeting with political parties will further discuss other matters of Radio and Television Programmes.

And ZNBC has apologised to Patriotic Front-PF Deputy Secretary General Mumbi Phiri and her family for airing her recorded Sunday Interview whilst she had a bereavement.

ZNBC Corporate Affairs Manager Masuzyo Ndhlovu says the Public Broadcaster apologises for any inconvenience the development might have caused to Ms Phiri and her family.

Mr Ndhlovu says the Sunday Interview where Ms. Phiri appeared yesterday was recorded two weeks ago and would have been aired a week ago, had circumstances allowed.

Mr Komaki claimed that it was during the time Mr Kabimba was Justice Minister and secretary general of the PF with Dr Scott as PF and republican Vice-President that the ruling party experienced the worst form of chaos because the duo had created parallel structures within the ruling party.

He has also demanded that Dr Scott should be made to account how he single-handedly managed the funeral of late President Michael Sata because he had banned all Cabinet and PF central committee meetings at the time.

Mr Komaki, who is former PF Lusaka district youth vice chairman, said Dr Scott and Mr Kabimba had allegedly betrayed Mr Sata even before he died and that the two men would be politically haunted by their actions.

Mr Komaki said the confusion and chaos in the PF reached its peak when President Sata travelled to Israel for medical attention and left Dr Scott and Mr Kabimba, who was then acting President at the time, in charge of the party and government.

He said in an interview that threats by Dr Scott that he together with Miles Sampa and other disgruntled former PF members were going to cause chaos in the PF until President Edgar Lungu was defeated would be met by equal political force because the ruling party had managed to rebuild and rebrand itself under the leadership of President Edgar Lungu.

“Guy Scott and his progeny Wynter Kabimba caused a lot of chaos when they were in the PF. The PF was deeply divided and we remember that it was Dr Scott who announced that there was the A-Team in the PF which included Mr Kabimba, Dr Scott himself and President Sata.

‘‘Dr Scott and Mr Kabimba failed to hijack the PF at the time and if he thinks he will be able to cause chaos in the PF and the country as a whole, let them be advised that he is of no political consequence.

The PF has been rebranded by President Lungu and no amount of propaganda will destabilise the party and the Head of State,” Mr Komaki said.

He said it was not a secret that when Dr Scott and Mr Kabimba were members of the PF, the ruling party was deeply divided because a surrogate government was created within the PF government.

Mr Komaki recalled that it was during the time Mr Kabimba was secretary general of the PF that he almost lost his life after cadres who were championing for the second term for President Sata clashed with those who were opposed to the campaign for the re-election of Mr Sata.

He said he was lucky to have survived the bloody clash and that the divisions in the PF were largely created by Dr Scott who had formed the A-Team in the PF which was rejected by genuine and loyal members of the ruling.

He said following the death of President Sata, Dr Scott fought the adoption of President Lungu with all his mighty but he was defeated by the mighty of Zambians who were determined to protect the PF from being taken over by a clique of individuals whose agenda was to turn Zambia into a dictatorship.