THE Grade 12 certificate qualification for anyone aspiring for elective political office was initially targeted at president Michael Sata and it is unfair to blame the Patriotic Front (PF) for the political mistake that was made by the previous Government, Jean Kapata has said.

And Ms Kapata who is PF elections chairperson said the ruling party was not moved by the defection of Kafue member of Parliament Obvious Mwaliteta to the UPND because the ruling party was expecting mass defections from both the MMD and the UPND.

Ms Kapata said the PF MPs boycotted the National Constitution Conference (NCC) in 2011 because one of the contentious clauses at the time was the Grade 12 certificate which was largely an attempt to knock off president Sata from contesting the presidency at the time.

She said the PF was opposed to the Grade 12 certificate clause in 2011 because of the realization that the law was going to disenfranchise a lot of citizens from participating and contesting elective political positions.

Ms Kapata who is Minister of Tourism and Arts Minister said Mr Mwaliteta was ill-informed about the history of the Grade 12 certificate clause and should therefore not blame the PF as having knocked him out of the race to the National Assembly.

She said had Mr Mwaliteta taken time to find out the proponents of the Grade 12 certificate, he would have discovered that in fact the UPND was at the core of formulating and drafting such a discriminative clause. Ms Kapata said the UPND should be blamed for the inclusion of the Grade 12 certificate because the opposition political party strongly supported the clause during the last constitutional review commissions.

“It is shocking that Mr Mwaliteta would want to blame the PF for the Grade 12 certificate clause and have it as an excuse for defecting to the UPND. The PF had nothing to do with the Grade 12 certificate clause and that is why we boycotted the National Constitution Conference (NCC) set up by late president Levy Mwanawasa. We had realized at the time that the Constitution with such discriminative clauses was not going to be universally accepted. If Mr Mwaliteta cared to know the truth, he would have found out that in fact the UPND, his new found love were responsible for the clause,” Ms Kapata said.

She said Mr Mwaliteta should avoid temptation of demonizing the PF and President Edgar Lungu for his political woes but should appreciate that the ruling party gave him the rarest opportunity to serve the country as a deputy minister.

And Ms Kapata has charged that there was no way the UPND was going to win the August general elections and that the recent defections of the MMD MPs to the opposition party were not a sign that the party had become popular.

She said it was disappointing that Chilanga MP Keith Mukata had decided to resign from his position as Justice deputy minister when he was one of the first MPs to have been given the privilege of serving in the PF Government.

She said Mr Mukata was a leader who was not principled and that his act was nothing but opportunism and that the UPND should not be celebrating that they were gaining popularity.

“As PF, we are expecting mass defections from the UPND and the MMD and we are not moved about the defection of people like Mr Mwaliteta. These people have miscalculated that the UPND is forming government. There is no way the UPND is going to win this election because they have not become such a political force yet. We are continuing after elections and we have no permanent enemies in politics and some will come back,” Ms Kapata said.

THE story that Government plans to sell its external debt to Vulture Funds is a fabrication and the alleged source, Lucky Mulusa, now plans to sue the publisher, Post Newspapers, for criminal libel for deliberately twisting his statement.

Mr Mulusa who is special assistant to the President for Project Monitoring and Implementation said he gave the Post Newspaper a story in good faith but twisted it to suit their desired agenda of casting aspersions upon his persona so that he can be viewed as a reckless public officer.

Mr Mulusa charged that the story concerning Government having allegedly received offers from Vulture Funds to buy off its debt bordered on economic sabotage and had the potential to compromise State security.

He charged that the Post Newspaper had on countless times deliberately misrepresented his statements to suit their miscued agenda and could no longer stand by and watch the newspaper work to damage his persona.

Mr Mulusa said the Post Newspaper had deliberately twisted his statement over Zambia’s debt in which the newspaper reported that Government had been approached by the Voucher Fund to buy off its debt. Mr Mulusa stated that the Post Newspaper story concerning Government approaching the Vulture Funds to buy off its debt was not only misleading but inappropriate, factually wrong and portrayed ignorance on the part of the newspaper how the Vulture Funds operated.

He complained that as a public official, he had always found it difficult to avoid questions from journalists from the Post Newspaper but that he was aggrieved that each time he had offered an answer to their queries, their stories had always been crafted in a manner that twisted the content.
Mr Mulusa said it was time the newspaper realized that professional journalism entailed responsibility and genuineness in the provision and dissemination of information to the general public.

He stated that he had given the statement to the Post about Zambia’s debt long before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came to Zambia but that the newspaper had conveniently waited until the team was in the country to publish their twisted story so as to create anxieties among bond holders.

“I have now resolved that I am suing the Post Newspaper for deliberately twisting every statement I have issued in good faith. From the time the Post Newspaper started covering me, they have twisted everything I have said to suit their desired agenda of casting aspersions on my persona and portray me as a reckless public official. The story concerning Government approaching the Vulture Funds to buy its debt is misleading, inappropriate, factually wrong and portrays ignorance how Vulture Funds operate,” Mr Mulusa said.

He explained that Vulture funds were investment agents who were in the business of buying off disgraced debts from the lenders and it did not make sense for the borrower to approach the one who was in debt to consider selling of the debt. Mr Mulusa explained that in capital and financial markets, it was normal and a statement of fact Government was receiving unsolicited offers from investment houses for private placement of debts but that it was wrong for the Post Newspaper to insinuate that private placement could be replaced with Vulture Funds.

He said he was ready to lay evidence against the Post of the numerous times where the newspaper had deliberately twisted his statements he had genuinely given to journalists to question and queries that had always appeared well-meaning.

“The wrong reporting and deliberate twisting of stories caused jittery among the bond holders and Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba was forced to issue a statement to calm economic verves,” Mr Mulusa said.

I work independently and at no time did President Edgar Lungu’s press aide Amos Chanda instruct me to punish UPND vice president for administration Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba so that he can serve as a lesson to others, says Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja.

He was reacting to an article published in the Post suggesting that Mr Chanda had instructed Mr Kanganja to punish Mr Mwamba so that he could serve as a lesson to others.

According to the article, Mr Chanda was alleged to have told Mr Kanganja to show a difference and sort out Mr Mwamba because his predecessor Stellah Libongani was allegedly too sympathetic to them.

But Mr Kanganja said it was not true that he had received instructions to lock up Mr Mwamba.

“All those are lies, they must leave the President out of this; it is all propaganda,” Mr Kanganja said. He said President Lungu was a lawyer and that at no time could he do such a thing.

And Mr Kanganja told Daily Nation that the police service has deployed over 200 police officers to be patrolling Lusaka following the suspected ritual killing of four people in George compound.

“We have heavy presence of police officers in Lusaka. Our appeal to the people is that they must minimize making unnecessary movements in the night,” he said.

Mr Kanganja said on Thursday evening recruits from Lilayi Training College had also been deployed in Lusaka to beef up manpower.

He said the Zambia Police Service was equally not happy with the killings which have in the recent past characterized Lusaka.

“But we have put in measures to curb the vice,” Mr Kanganja said.

And Mr Kanganja has called on leaders of political parties to engage their supporters on the need to stop violence ahead of the August 11 general elections.

Mr. Kanganja urged all political leaders to strongly condemn violence.

He noted that the violence that has been witnessed in the country of late had the potential to disrupt the peace the country has enjoyed over the years.

Mr Kanganja said the police were however on high alert to maintain peace and order in the country before, during and after the August general elections.