The Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has expressed concern at what it has termed as premature campaigns being conducted by the opposition UPND and the ruling Patriotic Front ahead of the 2016 General election.

FODEP Executive Director MacDonald Chipenzi says this is why his organization has been calling for the enforcement of the Electoral Code of conduct throughout the year and not just during the campaign period.

Mr. Chipenzi states that it is unfortunate that the two political parties are busy campaigning for 2016 polls acts which are disadvantageous to other political parties.

He says there is need therefore, for civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders to be on the lookout and ensure public resources are not wasted during these premature campaigns.

Mr. Chipenzi states that this is another reason why the country should have a new constitution to regulate the conduct of political campaigns.

And Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) President Charles Milupi has charged that the resolution by Cabinet that the 2016 national budget should focus on completing projects currently underway will mean that only areas the PF thinks are their strongholds will benefit.

Mr. Milupi says infrastructure development is only being carried out in areas the PF consider to be their strongholds.

He states that there many areas in the country where there is totally no infrastructure development taking place.

Mr Milupi notes that with the Cabinet resolution, the 2016 budget will be more of a campaign budget to be used to attract more support for the ruling party and will not be based on doing what is right for the country.

Mr Milupi further states that the decision will also mean that the economy will continue to perform very badly and poverty levels will continue to be on the rise in the country.

But National Movement for Progress President Ng’andu Magande says the idea of completing infrastructure projects currently underway is welcome.

Mr. Magande says it makes sense to ensure that the projects that are currently undertaken are completed before embarking on new ones.

He however points out that this needs serious planning and not mere pronouncements

The Patriotic Front (PF) has said that it’s former Secretary General Wynter Kabimba was a man who was seen as arrogant and pompous for a party he never founded, and despite never winning an election his entire political career, failing twice as MP in his own home town.

In a statement released to the media marking the one year anniversary of his dismissal, Vice Chairperson for Media and Publicity Committee Sunday Chanda said that Mr. Kabimba was blinded by power and fake popularity in his friendly media in their futile attempts to sell him to the nation as a successor to late President Sata.

Below is the full statement

WYNTER KABIMBA’S DISMISSAL FROM PF ONE YEAR ON, AS DR. MUMBA IS ADVISED TO LOOK AT THE MAN IN HIS MIRROR – SUNDAY CHANDA, VICE CHAIRPERSON, PF MEDIA AND PUBLICITY COMMITTEE

Lusaka, Zambia, 28th August 2015 – Today August 28th marks exactly one year since our late Patriotic Front (PF) and Republican President His Excellency Michael Chilufya Sata (MHSRIP) fired Mr. Wynter Kabimba as Patriotic Front General Secretary, Minister of Justice and nominated Member of Parliament. President Sata replaced Mr. Kabimba with current Republican President His Excellency Edgar Lungu as the then new party Secretary General and Minister of Justice, in addition to his portfolio as Minister of Defence. This showed President Sata’s huge trust and confidence in President Lungu. Mr. Kabimba had been a destabilizing figure within both Government and PF due to his arrogance and failed schemes to hijack the Presidency together with a group of cartel members supported by a known media which still spews hatred towards President Lungu and the PF on a daily basis out of frustration and anger at their failed political project.

The country vividly recalls how within seconds of the statement being made public that the unpopular PF Secretary General and Minister of Justice had been fired, thousands of Zambians from across the country in all 10 provinces spontaneously and jubilantly celebrated and danced, with traffic being disrupted. The reason people celebrated his sacking was because this was a man who was seen as arrogant and pompous for a party he never founded, and despite never winning an election his entire political career, failing twice as MP in his own home town. Mr. Kabimba was blinded by power and fake popularity in his friendly media in their futile attempts to sell him to the nation as a successor to late President Sata. Hence he became a Hated Figure in PF and the entire nation.

Mr. Kabimba was always given wide press coverage by his friends at a known media house, as they still do today, portraying him and his cartel friends to public as President Sata’s chief praise singers, while demonizing those within PF who were perceived to be their political opponents like President Edgar Lungu, minister of finance Hon. Alexander Chikwanda and others. The result of Mr. Kabimba’s acidic politics was serious divisions within PF with intraparty and interparty violence. Even some opposition leaders who today are quiet hated Mr. Kabimba, with UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema even stating that even if Kabimba was the last lawyer on earth to represent him in Court HH would prefer going to Prison.

Mr. Kabimba was a man that had the audacity to play ping-pong with progress in the Constitution making process, which was only reversed when President Lungu became Justice Minister and Zambians are hopeful of ensuring key constitutional amendments this year and a referendum on the remainder of the Constitution to run side by side with elections next year.

President Sata’s decision to appoint His Excellency President Lungu stabilized the PF and healed wounds and divisions caused by Mr. Kabimba and his cartel friends. Despite the cartel fighting tooth and nail to hijack power once again following the unfortunate death of President Sata last October 2014, PF members and Zambians rallied behind President Lungu and defeated those forces of evil. Against all odds, President Lungu was first elected as PF President and subsequently as Republican President 7 months ago.

Even today as Mr. Kabimba serves as Rainbow party leader, his supporters at a known media house with equally inflated egos and huge financial liabilities have not given up their intentions as can be seen by their unprincipled and pathetic personal attacks on President Lungu and the PF government on a daily basis. Fortunately, Zambians have seen through the cheap lies and hatred of these scandalous individuals who are being made to account to the Zambian people for the billions of kwacha they owe in unpaid taxes and public loans. We welcome Mr. Kabimba, his Rainbow party and their media friends to the democratic arena where they can prove their popularity to the Zambian people through participation in elections.

Lastly, we take great exception to MMD leader Nevers Mumba sentiments in the Post Newspaper today. While his remarks remain inconsequential and not worth responding to, we advise him to look at the man in his mirror and ask that man to change his ways. It’s sad that Dr. Mumba is mistaking the man in his mirror for President Lungu. It is also not surprising that MMD under Dr. Mumba has remained a sinking Titanic. Dr. Mumba cannot play victim by apportioning blame on others for MMD’s haemorrhage. His leadership has failed to pass the test and let him gather courage and take responsibility for what he has done to the former ruling party.

In this regard, we therefore appeal to all PF members and Zambian citizens to rally behind the leadership of President Lungu who has proven to be a UNIFIER of both party and country, rather than practicing politics of hatred and division.

Issued by: Sunday Chanda, Vice Chairperson, PF Media and Publicity Committee

In the face of an ever-rising cost of living and falling Kwacha, Zambians are becoming increasingly alarmed at the state of the economy. This concern is very understandable and justified. After all people across the country are struggling to keep their businesses open, failing to make ends meet and going without meals. I do not need to rehearse the various impacts in this statement, as readers will know the cost for themselves, their families and their communities. The question now is what can be done.

I do not deny that the falling Kwacha and our current economic woes are related in part to external events over which we have little direct control, for example the movements in the Chinese economy which are impacting the global economy and are particularly damaging for the copper prices we rely on for foreign exchange earnings. The UPND does not pretend it is possible to tackle such trends directly. However, we cannot simply blame our current situation on external factors alone and it is laziness and ignorance to do so, just as it is to only blame our current power crisis on low water levels without considering the impact of failed management.

Rather than seeking to blame forces beyond our control, which are just one piece of the puzzle, let me explain what can be done. Firstly, we can take measures to limit the impact of one country or variations in one commodity price on our economy; measures such as diversification and the development of value-addition industries. The underlying potential for these already exists in Zambia, in our large amount of arable land, vast water bodies and large youthful population. Government needs to unlock these areas by creating a stable policy environment that minimises the cost of starting and running a business. Government also needs to consider providing incentives to value-addition industries, after all such businesses will deliver high rewards other than tax revenues as they create jobs and lower pressure on the Kwacha through reducing our reliance on imports. We cannot continue to import everything and export nothing – no wonder there are too few jobs and the Kwacha is weak!

Government must consult business and investors on how expansion of emerging industries can be achieved and supported by Government, and it must use that insight to set out a vision that inspires confidence. They must work hard and quickly to deliver on that vision because time is not on our side. Too many sectors with great potential have been woefully neglected for too long, tourism, manufacturing, agribusiness… the list goes on! If we had spent time building these up we’d be much better insulated from current external events by now.

A second avenue, which must be pursued alongside the first, is to plan ahead for such variations. After all we have been here before when copper prices fell in the 1980s and left us struggling, yet we still depend on the mining industry for the vast majority of our foreign exchange earnings. Preparing in advance for possible fluctuations will enable Government and public bodies to react quickly to minimise the harm of fluctuations and at the same time inspire confidence in its ability to navigate any uncertainty it presents. It is important to know, as any business professional or economics professor in Zambia will already know, that uncertainty and instability come with additional costs and that Government must inspire confidence in its stakeholders if it wants to weather such storms.

It is only with strong, informed leadership that inspires confidence in its vision for the economy and country, and with a Government that focuses its energies tirelessly on creating an enabling business environment, facilitating investment in emerging industries, and providing incentives for value-addition enterprises, that we will find ourselves less and less vulnerable over time. We can take back control and move Zambia forward.

Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President

The Grand Coalition on the people driven constitution has demanded that government respects the wishes of the people of Zambia by delivering a people driven constitution.

And the coalition says taking the draft constitution to parliament is meant to make the public believe that the PF government means well.

Grand Coalition Chairperson Father Leonard Chiti says Zambians must realize that the PF has a majority in Parliament and will use this as an opportunity to undo the people’s submissions.

Briefing journalists in Lusaka today, Father Chiti says the coalition supports the Law Association of Zambia’s position to do all they can to ensure that government delivers a new constitution.

He says the Grand Coalition stands ready to support LAZ and any efforts of all well-meaning stakeholders to ensure the country has a new constitution.

Father Chiti has reiterated that the coalition is against plans by government to adopt and enact the new constitution through parliament with the exception of the Bill of Rights which government plans to subject to a Referendum.

He says the coalition has accessed and read the Draft Constitution Bill expected to be tabled in parliament and maintains its position that this parliamentary route is treacherous and not in line with the Zambian people’s aspirations.

Fr Chiti says the parliamentary route will dishonor the interests of Zambians who validated the content of the draft constitution through local, regional and national consultative meetings.

Yesterday I spent part of my morning with an old man as he moved around in a field searching for traps that he had laid to catch mbeba (field mice). He is well past retirement age. He has no pension. He has no income.

He owns one bicycle. His only source of accessible protein and carbohydrates is the few mice he traps each day and the little rain-fed maize he managed to farm on an illegal plot of land.

How did we get here? 50 years since we completed our nation’s walk to freedom, we are facing a major energy crisis, our kwacha has weakened to the lowest levels in our history, costly by-elections continue to rob our treasury of scarce resources, joblessness haunts the average home. We are now accustomed to living with poverty, poorly educated children, an outdated constitution, a bloated civil service, a huge and ever growing national debt, corruption on a scale hardly seen before and a political system that concentrates power in the hands of the few who routinely abuse it with impunity.

[pullquote]instead of working for the nation, PF ministers spend their time camped in the field campaigning to win every by-election.[/pullquote]

Given this background, it is amazing that there are not more of us running through the land looking for field mice.

How many more jobs need to be lost before we realise how serious the load-shedding has become? How many more trees need to be cut down to provide charcoal for the millions of homes that no longer have regular power? How many more businesses need to lose money before we wake up to the reality of life under the Patriotic Front?

Judging from their responses, the PF seem to feel that everything is alright. Earth to PF:

– people are being laid off because of the unstable power supply
– the cost of living is rising because of the high costs brought about by our failing kwacha
– by-elections have robbed the nation of the money you have been borrowing on behalf of our children and grandchildren
– instead of working for the nation, your ministers spend their time camped in the field campaigning to win every by-election.

In the middle of all this, you dare to arrogantly complain about the opposition attacking your incompetence?
NAREP may not have money to dish out to every voter whose support we need but we have a power more potent than the money and corruption that seems to pervade our land. We have the power of prayer and the conviction that one day, God will answer the prayers of the silent majority and give us a leader who truly fears Him.
A leader who will put country before Party and nation before self. A leader who will seek to truly empower his people not because of the riches and fame he he can gain from being elected but because of the selflessness and sacrifice he is personally willing to undergo in order to deliver on the fading hopes of our nation.

Elias C Chipimo
President
National Restoration Party
25 August 2015

Kay Figo is back with another hit song titled “Mutima Chabe”. She continues to prove that she is one of the best female musicians in Zambia and forever puts her country on the world map. Song produced by Raydo of Digital X studios.

BY KAPA187

RAINBOW Party leader Wynter Kabimba is the architect of the constitution-making problems and other governance challenges President Edgar Lungu inherited and it is morally and politically incorrect to blame the Head of State for problems he did not create, the Foundation for Demo

FODEP executive director MacDonald Chipenzi said if Mr Kabimba had morals and genuine about the welfare of Zambians, he should have shown remorse and apologized to the nation instead of blaming President Lungu over the country’s political and economic malaise.

Mr Chipenzi said it was unfair for Mr Kabimba who was one of the senior-most in Government and the Patriotic Front (PF) to blame President Lungu for the economic and political challenges currently facing the country.

He stated that the constitutional impasse started long before President Lungu had any form of influence in the process because Mr Kabimba as Justice Minister had adopted an antagonistic and acrimonious stance on the matter which had angered a lot of Zambians.

The FODEP chief told the Daily Nation that it was shocking that Mr Kabimba could attempt to distance himself from the economic and political problems Zambia was going through when he (Kabimba) contributed extensively to what was happening in the country.

Mr Chipenzi said Mr Kabimba as secretary general of the PF administered the affairs of the party with an iron fist and terrorized all leaders he suspected were a threat to his ambitions of tasking over the reins of the ruling party.

“It is very unfair for Rainbow Party leader Wynter Kabimba to heap the blame on President Lungu for the economic and political problems facing the country. Mr Kabimba was such a powerful man in government and the PF and he was the architect of the current constitutional impasse and other governance problems.

President Lungu has been governing for only the last seven months and he inherited the confusion that Mr Kabimba created. If Mr Kabimba had remorse and genuine about the welfare of the country, he should have apologized to Zambians before asking them to vote for him so that he could take over the governance of the country,” Mr Chipenzi said.