MMD spokesperson Raphael Nakacinda yesterday told the Cornelius Mweetwa-headed Parliamentary committee on legal affairs, governance, human rights, gender matters and child affairs that Parliament is best suited to enact the constitution.

“Parliament is in order to look at the constitution and so we are in agreement with this process embarked on by the Patriotic Front government,” Mr Nakacinda said.

He said the MMD understands the mistrust the PF has faced over the constitution-making process because it faced similar opposition when the party tried to put in place a new constitution.

“As MMD, we hope members of Parliament will rise above partisan politics and support the Bill. We now see a ray of hope because the PF has taken it to Parliament. Do not shoot the Bill down because it is progressive,” Mr Nakachinda said.

He submitted that the PF has done a noble thing by taking the constitution Bill to Parliament.

Mr Nakacinda said the MMD does not want the PF to fail in its quest to give Zambians a lasting constitution because, when it (MMD) was in power, the party wanted to give Zambians a people-driven constitution.

“We hope PF will learn from us and not repeat our mistakes,” Mr Nakacinda said.

Earlier, Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) appealed to the MPs not to alter the Bill.

“Parliament, you have a noble duty to ensure that the Bill passes. Please do not let Zambians down,” said FDD administrative executive, George Phiri.

VETERAN Politician and diplomat, Dr. Vernon Mwaanga has advised Zambians to realise that the economic challenges the country was facing were global and not unique to Zambia.

Dr. Mwaanga said it was not just the Zambian Kwacha that has depreciated against major international currencies but several other countries in Africa and other continents have had their money affected by the current economic trends.

“Zambia is facing challenges like any other country due to the slowing down of the economy in China which has become a major player in international economics. And because of the globalisation of the world, in which we live, everywhere you go on the continent and elsewhere, you will find that it’s the same situation. It’s not just Zambia; these things are not just exclusive to Zambia. African currencies are getting a bashing where ever you go,” Dr Mwaanga said.

He pointed out that he, however, was optimistic that African economies whose growth rates have been revised downwards, will always rebound, partly because the continent still had a lot of natural resources which the rest of the world was after.

Dr. Mwaanga noted that the level of investment into Zambia was high such that everything found in developed economies such as South Africa could be obtained even from Zambia.

Dr. Mwaanga was speaking during a meeting with diplomatic staff at the High Commission of Zambia in Pretoria and some executive committee members of the Zambia South Africa Business Council (ZSABC). Dr. Mwaanga, former diplomat Ms. Chilufya Kapwepwe, Historian Professor Yizenge Chondoloka and First Republican President Dr. Kenneth Kaunda’s son, Kaweche are in Pretoria to make presentations at a seminar organised by Freedom Park on the role Zambia played in the liberation of Southern Africa.

And Dr. Mwaanga said Zambia’s participation in the liberation struggle was driven by the country’s conviction that it would not be free until other African countries gained their independence as well. He said Zambia was not looking at being rewarded by those countries that it assisted. He was quick to point out that it was up to individual countries to identify Zambia’s role and recognise it in the manner they deemed appropriate.

Dr. Mwaanga narrated his experience as a diplomat from the time he took up his appointment at the age of 20 years as deputy head at Zambia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York until he moved to Russia as head of Mission.

He disclosed that he signed the agreement that abolished the requirement for Zambians to hold visas when travelling to South Africa with then South African Foreign Minister, Pik Botha.
Ms. Kapwepwe said she was asked by Freedom Park to organise Zambians who could tell the story about Zambia’s role in the liberation struggle so that it could be documented.

And Mr. Kaunda (Kaweche), who will represent his father at the seminar, took the opportunity to dispel what he described as a long-held myth suggesting that the Kaunda and Kapwepwe families have been at loggerheads from pre-independence times.

“I want to correct this myth that has been there for a long time that the Kaunda family and the Kapwepwes don’t get along. It is not true. The two families come a long way back and we have always been supportive of each other,” Mr. Kaunda said while gesturing at Ms. Kapwepwe who nodded to affirm the remarks.

Matero Member of Parliament Miles Sampa says his purported emissaries to President Edgar Lungu should be arrested for impersonation and misrepresentation.

Mr. Sampa has told Qfm News by telephone that this is because he has never sent any emissaries to speak on his behalf to State House.

He says he does not have any spokesperson and usually speaks for himself when he wants to speak.

Mr Sampa has since called for the publication of the names of his supposed emissaries to State house.

He says he made it clear when he stepped down as Deputy Minister that he wanted to serve the ruling party in a different way as an ordinary Member of Parliament.

And Mr. Sampa says he still the campaign Manager for PF candidate in the anticipated Kasama Central Parliamentary by-election Kelvin Sampa.

Over the weekend President Lungu’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda said that President Lungu had rejected a proposal by a group of different emissaries who went to state house to suggest he should fire Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda or Minister of Information and Broadcasting Service Chishimba Kambwili and appoint Matero Member of Parliament Miles Sampa in either positions.

THERE was drama at Parliament yesterday when Mufumbwe Member of Parliament Stephen Masumba challenged Law Association of Zambia president George Chisanga who claimed that the Constitution Amendment Bill process being heard by the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs was illegal and a waste of time.

Mr Masumba was incensed after Mr Chisanga described as illegal the Constitution Amendment Bill process being heard by the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and appealed to the chairperson of the committee, Cornelius Mweetwa, to stop the proceedings.

This submission angered the former deputy minister of Youth and Sport who described the LAZ president’s submission as disappointing and provocative.

Mr Chisanga had earlier said although the association decided to appear before the committee, LAZ was not in support of the process, arguing that the process was undemocratic and did not represent the will of Zambians.

He told Mr Mweetwa that the committee should immediately stop the process as it was illegal.
But a visibly angry Mr Masumba said he was disappointed with the behaviour exhibited by LAZ during their submissions.

“The submission by LAZ is quite compelling and to some extent very provocative. This committee which is here is just another arm of Government. We have three arms of Government.

“I become very disappointed to hear that what we are discussing here is more partisan. Why should you drag the issues that are supposed to be discussed as professionals, you come and dilute them into politics?” Mr Masumba said.

He told LAZ that they should not have decided to talk about partisan politics in their presentation.

But Mr Chisanga said the process must be stopped because it would not reflect the will of the people.

“As LAZ, our humble but highly considered view is that the most adequate, legitimate and democratic means of consulting the people of Zambia is through holding a national referendum which the Government has failed or neglected to do before deciding to table the Bill before the National Assembly,” he said.

Mr Chisanga told the committee that any consultations hitherto done by the Government of various stakeholder groups was not sufficient to satisfy the requirement for consulting the people of Zambia.

Mr Chisanga said Government had created a legitimate expectation that a national referendum could be called to allow the people of Zambia to adopt the final draft by the committee appointed because PF was elected on a campaign promise that they would give the people of Zambia a people-driven Constitution.

He said LAZ was of the view that in the absence of any public policy justification for not consulting the people of Zambia through a national referendum then the Bill should not be passed by the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Economics Association of Zambia (EAZ) has backed the 50% plus One clause which is contained in the Draft Constitution.

EAZ founder member Chiselebwe Ng’andwe said the proposed 50 percent plus One clause was justified.

He said it gave the electorate the satisfaction that the elected President enjoyed the support of the majority of those that cared to vote.

“There is no question about the value of 50%+1 to the democratic ideals. However, when this entails a run-off presidential election within 90 days after the general election, we should carefully compare the cost of a run-off to the perceived benefit of the run-off election,” Dr Ng’andwe said.

Ms Nawakwi said President Lungu and his Government has told the whole world that mealie meal prices in Kasama had gone down when the truth was that nothing had changed as people are still buying the commodity at K90 to K100.

She charged that President Lungu was dreaming of a day when prices of the commodity will go down but that there won’t be any change in the prices because the President is not putting up measures which would lead to the reduction of what his dreaming of.

“There is no mealie meal here in Northern Province which is going at K45 and the truth is that the President is not telling the truth and he should come out in the open and apologize to the people of Northern Province especially those in Kasama that he is lying or he was misinformed or he is dreaming of a day when mealie meal will be at 45.

I have gone around Northern Province and I have not found any shop selling mealie meal at the price our President is broadcasting to the Nation and what he has been doing can only described as lies and what I’m talking about is not politics but the truth and it is wrong for a President of the Nation to be broadcasting falsehoods to the world,” she said.

She explained that prices of most commodities will continue raising due to PF’s reckless borrowing which has induced the high inflation in the country.

She wondered how some people have continued to praise the PF Government with the prevailing high cost of living and the economic hardships in the country.

And the opposition leader has charged that the PF have ceased to be a government but a political party in office preparing for the next elections.

“How can anybody say that these people are working with this kind of suffering in the country. Commodities have sky rocketed, people are losing jobs everyday and somebody has the audacity to tell us that the PF Government is working. Just look at the price of cooking oil and soap, the prices have doubled and in some cases tripled in the last three months our people are hardly affording three meals a day.”

She also noted that the reconciliation prayers was mockery to God and a move meant to deceive Zambians that the President was a peace loving person.

“Mr. Lungu called for peace and reconciliation prayers on 18th October but that was just for show and a mockery to God because how can a person who genuinely called for reconciliation prayers be the one insulting and harassing his people. He went to Copperbelt and told the teachers in Chingola that he will smoke them out and that if chases them “nishi kutumpa kwabo” just a week after prayers.

A CHIPATA man narrated how he found his wife in bed with a neighbour and watched the two secret lovers until they finished their act.
James Shumba, 30, told the Chipata Local Court that he found his neighbour, Lameck Banda, 34, in bed with Phelile Mwale, the plantiff’s wife, but despite being caught pants down, they just went on, and on and on.
After the act, a fight broke out at Shumba’s home and the plaintiff hit the defendant on the forehead with a brick. The court was not told at what point the plaintiff fetched the ‘weapon’.
Shumba of Nabvutika township told the court that he caught the two in the act one night after returning home from watching a Manchester United game at a nearby bar.
Shumba was narrating before Senior Court Magistrate Leonard Nkhata in a case in which he sued Banda of the same township for compensation for adultery.
“I had gone to the bar around 20:00 hours to watch my favourite team Manchester United on the big screen. An hour later, I went home but the door was locked. I could hear a man’s voice inside. I knocked non-stop until I broke the door down and found Banda on top of my wife in the act. Shockingly, they continued in my presence,” he said.
Shumba said Banda, with no remorse, arrogantly tried to fight him when he was through with the act. The visibly annoyed Shuma told the court that out of anger, he hit the defendant on the forehead with a brick.
And Shumba’s wife, Phelile, who testified against Banda, admitted to being caught in a sexual encounter with Banda.
Mwale said the affair with Banda started two years ago when she was pregnant.
“Banda is my lover and he pays me when I sleep with him. The fees range from between K20 and K50. It is true we were caught having sex that night. Banda came to our house after he discovered my husband was not home,” she said.
Mwale, who begged Shumba for forgiveness, told the court that she still loves Shumba despite cheating on him.
But Banda, who had a bandage on his forehead, denied sleeping with Shumba’s wife. He said the plaintiff found them chatting outside their house.
“I was at Shumba’s house to ask his wife to wash my clothes at a fee like she does for other people because my wife is away,” Banda said.
Passing judgment, the court upheld the claim and ordered Banda to pay Shumba K4,000 as compensation. The money will be settled in two instalments.

(DailyMail)