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Janza’s dismissal comes just five days before Zambia plays Guinea Bissau in the two sides opening 107 Africa Cup Group E qualifier this Saturday at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
Janza was dismissed upon arrival on Monday afternoon from Addis Ababa just 24 hours after beating Ethiopia 1-0 in a friendly.
He has been replaced by George Lwandamina.
The Zesco United coach will be interim charge of the team and will be assisted by Fighton Simukonda.
Assistant coach Kampamba Chintu and goalkeeper trainer Davies Phiri keep their jobs
“The Football Association of Zambia has made a change in the top leadership of Chipolopolo. Honour Janza has reverted to his position of technical director and in his place we have appointed George Lwandamina,” FAZ executive committee member Happy Munkondya said during a press briefing at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport in Ndola just after Zambia touched down from Ethiopia ahead of Saturdays game there against Guinea Bissau.
“We thought it was inevitable that at this period in time of our football in Zambia to make this change. We are very mindful of the fixture that is coming.This decision was important to make because of certain obvious issues we could not ignore as the Football Association of Zambia.”
Janza was not on the flight with the team and instead took another direct flight to Lusaka to meet his fate.
Janza has won eight, draw and lost five games.
Meanwhile, Lwandamina was introduced to his players at the airport in Ndola and will hold his first training session on Tuesday at Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe where the team will be camped.
A highly disturbing video showing a police officer harassing kids at a pool party has been making rounds on social media.
The video shows a police officer of the Dallas suburb of McKinley shoving teenage kids at a local communal pool to the ground and handcuffing them.
Police were allegedly called to the community pool because teenagers were causing a ‘disturbance’ in the area.
According to Brandon Brooks, who uploaded the video on Youtube, the police were called to the predominatly white suburb following a fight between ‘a mom and a girl’.
“A fight between a mom and a girl broke out and when the cops showed up everyone ran, including the people who didn’t do anything,” he wrote on Youtube.
“So the cops just started putting everyone on the ground and in handcuffs for no reason. This kind of force is uncalled for especially on children and innocent bystanders.”
The police arrived and commanded everyone to ‘get on the ground’. The officer in question then handcuffs a couple of the teenagers.
The video also shows the said police officer shoving one teenager to the ground and yelling at him to stay down before rushing to a teenage girl in a bikini, grabbing her by the arm and shoving her to the ground.
He then places his knee on her back.
Two black guys came towards the officer to help the teenage girl and he pulled a gun on them.
Police in Lusaka have formally arrested Copperbelt based Musician Chama Fumba over his politically charged song ‘A Lungu Anabwela’ for allegedly defaming President Edgar Lungu.
The musician arrived at Lusaka Central Police Station with two lawyers and has been denied bond. He is expected to appear in court soon.
In the track, the artist chronicles the rise of a little known politician from the sprawling Lusaka township of Chawama to become Zambia’s President in waiting after the PF’s founding leader Micheal Sata’s death.
In apparent reference to President Lungu, he goes on to mock the recent merger of the vanquished former ruling party the MMD with the PF through numerous by-elections.
Meanwhile MISA Zambia says individuals should not be criminalised for merely expressing themselves.
MISA Zambia Chairperson Hellen Mwale said Freedom of Expression is a fundamental right to be enjoyed by all citizens regardless of their background and political orientation as provided for under the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which Zambia ratified.
Ms Mwale said this in a statement in Lusaka following the decision by the Zambia Police to summon and arrest controversial musician Pilato.
“Freedom of Expression is a hallmark of Democracy as its unfettered enjoyment contributes to functional democracy that encourages citizen participation for good governance and accountability.
Good governance and accountability requires that leaders must be amenable to criticism and would thus need a high level of tolerance,” Ms Mwale said.
She added, ‘ It is for this reason that MISA Zambia has continued to advocate for the repeal or amendment of certain sections of the penal code that impede the enjoyment of freedom of expression. These include provisions in Section 69 on Defamation of the President, Section 53 on Prohibited Publications, section 60 on Seditious Practices among other laws such as the Public Order Act.”
“These legal provisions have been used on several occasions by government functionaries to suppress dissenting views and there by oppress individuals perceived to be opposed to the party in power,” Ms Mwale.
“We therefore call for these laws to be re-examined to allow for increased citizen participation without fear of unnecessary retribution at any given time. MISA Zambia remains committed to its vision of a region in which members of society, individually or collectively are free to express themselves through any media of their choice without hindrance of any kind.”
She said MISA further believes in a system in which Access to Information is unhindered and must be readily available.
United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has accused PF Secretary General Davies Chama of attempting to assassinate his party’s candidate in the Mulobezi constituency parliamentary by-election Hastings Sililo.
Briefing journalists this morning on the Mulobezi political violence, Mr Hakainde said Mr. Chama aimed at shooting the UPND candidate when he allegedly fired his gun, but ended up hitting an innocent person who is now in hospital nursing a gunshot wound.
Mr. Hichilema said it is unfortunate that Mr. Chama’s driver is the one has been implicated in the shooting when it was Mr. Chama who allegedly discharged more than five bullets from his firearm.
Mr. Hichilema said the violence in Mulobezi was perpetrated by the ruling PF contrary to reports in some sections of the media that it was the UPND which instigated the violence.
He has since challenged Inspector General of Police Stella Libongani to tell the nation why Mr.Chama was not arrested and his gun released after it was confiscated following the shooting incident.
Mr. Hichilema said President Edgar Lungu ought to know that he will be judged harshly when he leaves office for failing to govern the people of Zambia as expected.He added that there is no doubt now that the PF are serious about reverting Zambia to a one party state.
Speaking at the same event, Friends of Edgar Lungu Director Emmanuel Chilekwa who recently defected to the UPND, has challenged the PF Secretary General to tell the nation the source of the 150 vehicles the ruling party recently imported into the country.
Mr. Chilekwa has alleged that part of the recent loan contracted from China is meant to be used for the PF campaigns for 2016 general elections.He said President Edgar Lungu will be answerable to the people of Zambia when he leaves office.
Local fisherman on Zambezi-Kafue River intersection near Kiambi Lodge, Lower Zambezi
WEEKLY POLICY ISSUE
Recently, the Deputy Minister of Energy announced that Zambia plans to reduce its hydropower generation by up to 600 MW if water levels continued dropping. Similarly, the Minister of Agriculture told us that one of the reasons for reduced crop output in the 2014/2015 agriculture season was the poor distribution of rainfall and prolonged dry spells. Load shedding and increased food insecurity will be experienced despite the country having 40% of the fresh water in Southern Africa. This water is contained in our lakes, rivers (surface and underground), and streams that snake around the width and breadth of our country. The Zambezi River boasts of being the fourth longest river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Lake Tanganyika is the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume and is also the second deepest lake in the world. Lake Kariba is the largest man-made lake in the world. These water bodies and hundreds of others make up the 40% fresh water of Southern Africa.
Despite this abundance of water, a recent UNICEF report says that 4.8 million Zambians have no access to clean water and 6.6 million people are without access to sanitation facilities.
These are startling figures. It is almost unbelievable that after 50 years of independence and relative peace, so many people still have no access to clean water and sanitation. This is not surprising as we are dealing with a PF government that is founded on false promises, no discernible vision or agenda and indeed led by a president who has time and again professed that he has no vision for the country. It should not surprise us when in this trial-and-error approach we are being led to policies that were rejected by the Zambian people in 2011. So, it does not surprise us that a lot of our people, especially in the high density areas, struggle to find water to drink and for basic home chores. We must hasten to point out that even those who live ‘ku mayard’ sometimes go for days without a drop of water from their taps. We have already demonstrated in our previous policy issue on “Cutting Your Coat According To Your Cloth”, how money to buy one Landcruiser for a senior government official can be used to sink 60 boreholes that would provide safe water to hundreds of people in our villages. Lack of access to safe water has consequences, especially on the health of the citizens.
Beyond domestic and industrial use, water conservation should be our default way of life. How can this water that we let flow to the Indian Ocean in millions of liters each day add value to our economy? This water can be conserved and be used for irrigation in order to boost our agriculture. As it is, planting of most crops in Zambia is seasonal, meaning we mostly depend on rainfall, yet our weather can support crop production throughout the year. Let me give you an example: we produce our maize once every 12 months yet with a crop that matures at 150 days it is possible to grow maize three times a year. Imagine us ideally producing 9 million metric tons of maize a year. This is not theory, it is being done; go to Soweto Market anytime of the year, there will be fresh maize, so it just requires scaling up. We have enough expertise in the country to build dams and canals to harvest the water that we are letting off and produce enough food for domestic consumption and export. We must point out that this aspect of infrastructure creation presents an opportunity for enterprising Zambians to build the dams and canals. They can then go into joint ventures with farmers to produce food using their water.
A key cornerstone of regional projects is finding one country’s competitive advantage that has a potential to benefit neighbouring countries.
Zambia can, through the construction of pipelines, export water to the water-deficient neighbours.
Some countries are already in negotiations with Angola to have Angola export water to those countries. A project like this has great potential to generate foreign exchange for Zambia. Lesotho Highlands Water Project, by which the Mohale Dam was constructed through a joint venture between Lesotho and South Africa, supplies water to South Africa is one such project. In Europe too, Russia exports natural gas to Western Europe via a pipeline that is several thousands of kilometers long. It has been and it can still be done. Abundance of water is the major component of any hydroelectricity generation project. This country has not exploited the full potential of its body of waters, especially in the northern part of Zambia, to be self-sufficient in electricity supply. It is amazing that with such potential, power black outs have become the rule rather than the exception in this once net exporter of power.
Another point; have we explored our water bodies to determine what kind of marine life they contain? Do we have all our species of fish well documented? What is the potential for aquaculture in our lakes and rivers? Fish is a very good source of protein. There is no reason we would not have enough of it to meet our nutritional deficit. Zambia consumes 100,000 metric tons of fish every year, yet it only produces 70,000 metric tons. The rest is imported, further putting pressure on the already weak currency. What about extensive geological surveys to determine whether we have minerals or oil under our river beds? These activities are all potential sources of employment for our youth. I also see the need to diversify our faculties at institutions of higher learning to include Marine Biology, Limnology – the study of inland waters – and other related disciplines in order to impart water management skills.
Lastly, our lakes and rivers can be used for transportation and recreation. People and goods can move from one town to another using boats. Travelling from Samfya to Chilubi is being done by boat albeit being unsafe. Our responsibility is to ensure that water transport is very safe. Water sports such as swimming, canoeing, boating and jet skiing could provide recreation. This is what happens in Durban, South Africa. Why can’t we have power boat racing on Lake Bangweulu?
There could be other uses for the water that Zambians can think of. We have more than enough of it. The problem is the PF Government spends too much time on non-developmental matters, such as enforcing the Pubic Order Act and pursuing absurd ideas like a return to a one-party state instead of providing an environment for creative thinking. Zambian are not short of ideas, it is the PF Government that has failed to provide a platform for Zambians to freely express themselves.
Would Bob Marley have been singing about our situation when in the song “Rat Race” he says, “In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty?”
Here are a few ways a UPND led government would harness this resource:-
Investment in irrigation. This is one area that has been totally ignored by successive governments. Zambia cannot be importing potatoes when they can be grown all year round. Basically Zambia should not import any agriculture food stuff except that which cannot be grown in Zambia. I spoke about this in my previous submission on agriculture reform
Water, like every other natural resource, can be exploited for export. Zambia can export water to any of the neighbouring countries. Zambezi is a shared river, but Kabompo, Kafue, Chambeshi and Luangwa are not, so why can’t we export the commodity.
Water can be harnessed to bring in tourists. These water bodies are potential sources of therapy from the ever stressful world. That alone can earn us foreign exchange if marketed properly.
We take water seriously. Water is life, so the saying goes. If you dispute this seemingly innocuous choice of words, try to go a few days without water and you will value the wisdom therein. If water is life, it therefore goes without saying that we must protect and harness this resource. We are blessed and endowed with a lot of natural resources, to therefore explain the poverty in this country is difficult. The level of tardiness and lack of commitment by politicians is appalling to say the least. It’s time for a fresh start and to have a cup of fresh water from the UPND cup of life.
Roberto collaborated with Rwandan duo Two 4real and RAY Signature of Uganda. It’s a good dance-able afro love song titled “Never Let You Go” sec-titled “Sinamureka“,
audio produced by Pastor-P and video directed by Ma-Riva.
Often times stories that come out of Zambians abroad do not reflect the unity that actually exists in our community. On June 3rd Christopher Chibuta died in his sleep. He was only 26 years old at the time of death and he was in the final year studying economics in Canada. His body had to be shipped to Zambia and Sunday June 7th the community started raising money. We needed $5000 to finance the shipping of his body back to Zambia. As of now 11:54 pm on a Sunday the Zambian community in the USA, Canada and UK organized themselves to raise $5000. The entire amount was raised in one day.
Living the diaspora, although its cheaper to bury a Zambian here; often always their family is back in Zambia and we have developed a concept called ” No Zambian left behind;” and through donations we have always managed to send bodies of Zambians who pass while they are abroad back to Zambia. We do this as a community; and we unite all our resources to achieve this.
Christopher was a very ambitious man and had high hopes of becoming an economist as he pursued developmental studies in Canada. He will be missed dearly as he brought wonderful insight to our community. Often times it used to take us about a week to raise $5000; This is the first time that we have managed to raise the entire amount that was needed in one day.
Iam writing this so that we can show what Zambians who are united can achieve. If we transcend this inorganic division such as tribalism or political partyism we can achieve far much greater good for our communities. These divisions only serve to take away from our destinies. I certainly encourage our community in Zambia and other communities of Zambians living in other countries to always look to the shared roots that we all have for our great country and unite to achieve greatness together.
I have included the picture of Christopher as well as the amount that we raised through donations. I think this is a true reflection of what Zambians who are united can achieve.
Police officers from Lusaka Central Police yesterday evening stormed MUVI television, in search of controversial Zambian musician Chama Fumba, alias Pilato.
The plain-clothed officers stormed the Nangwenya road based television station at exactly 21:00 hours on information that the musician was featuring on a programme dubbed the” Assignment” in the studios.
The horde of Officers later demanded for a register from Manager-On-Duty, Mabvuto Phiri to verify the entry points and possible whereabouts of Pilato.They later left in frustration following Mr. Phiri’s refusal to release the register without the presence of the company lawyer and general manager, Costa Mwansa.
The police officers wondered why Muvi TV did not offer a helping hand in alerting of the presence of the musician on their premises.
And Speaking on the Assignment programme from unknown destination, Pilato vehemently denied ever defaming President Edgar Lungu in his hit son, Alungu Anabwela.The Zambian musician justified that the song was meant to send a message to the Zambian people.He accused some people of being the ones who are defaming the President for misinterpreting his song.
Singer Pilato with HH at the Kanyama rally
The opposition UPND has defended controversial musician Pilato who is expected to be questioned by police this morning after releasing a song mocking President Edgar Lungu.
UPND Chairman for Legal Affairs Jack Mwimbu said the state is harassing an innocent person by summoning Pilato to the police for questioning.
Mr Mwimbu also revealed that the UPND will provide legal assistance to the Copperbelt musician as he faces the police today.
Pilato has not defamed anybody. That song he released was all satire and everybody is entitled to an opinion,’ Mr Mwimbu said.
He added, ‘Unless the PF don’t understand what satire is, they should seek guidance of those who are knowledgeable. He has not defamed anyone as far as we concerned.’
THE Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) Board is planning to start holding prayers as one of the several strategies to curb the increasing road accidents in the country.
Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Minister Yamfwa Mukanga said the RTSA Board told him that they would soon start holding prayers to seek God’s intervention on increasing road accidents in Zambia which have claimed many lives of citizens.
Speaking in an interview in Livingstone, Mr Mukanga said the first day of prayers was expected to take place on June 14, 2015 in Lusaka
“The RTSA board has told me one of the measures they want to do to mitigate road accidents is that they will be conducting prayers.
“I think they have set June 14, 2015 to pray for this country and move forward. We want to see a difference because we don’t want to lose more lives,” he said.
Mr Mukanga noted that many people had lost their lives due to road accidents which were caused by drivers.
“RTSA will be carrying out a number of big operations because of what is happening where we have continued to lose a lot of lives.
“We have to start doing 24 hours of checking what is happening on the roads as some of these road accidents would have been avoided. How do you expect nine people to travel in a Corolla and survive? That is seriously overloading and these are some of the issues we have been putting a blind eye and the effects have been very disastrous,” Mr Mukanga said.
He said if the probability of accident increased, there would chances that every person boarding a bus or taxi might not come back home.
“We don’t want to have such a probability. We want Zambians to take ownership and responsibility on the roads.
“Some of these young people who are dying in road accidents could have been our future doctors, engineers, teachers and politicians just to mention a few,” he said.
Mr Mukanga said it would be difficult to talk about sustainable development for the future at the rate in which a lot of people were dying through road accidents.
“We need to sustain these precious lives. It is unacceptable to continue losing lives especially through human error, overloading and careless driving.
“For parents who have money, they should not give their unlicensed children to drive their vehicle as this is risky. There is also need to stop the habit of drinking and driving as this is also a source of many road accidents,” Mr Mukanga said.
Meanwhile, Mr Mukanga said it was unacceptable that some police officers were ignoring the directive issued by Home Affairs Minister Davies Mwila recently for them not to mount unnecessary roadblocks.
“If there is a security check on the road, it should be a security check and not where police officers are asking for other questionable things.
“Unnecessary roadblocks have been addressed by the Minister of Home Affairs and everybody should follow what the Minister has said. We are not going to accept a situation where the Minister has issues an instruction and some police offices are not following it,” Mr Mukanga said.
Lewanika General Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr. Kambinda Likambi (r) explains to Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary for Special Duties Bert Mushala (l) the construction progress of maternity wing which is near completion soon as Mongu District acting Commissioner Alice Mutemwa (c) and Lewanika General Hospital Senior Environmental Officer ChilwanaJunist (2nd l) listen during the tour in Western Province to compile major developmental projects,
Mongu Central Member of Parliament Nathaniel Mubukwanu has called on the management at Lewanika General Hospital in Mongu to improve the delivery of health services to the people of Western province.
Mr Mubukwanu said his office has received numerous complaints from the surrounding community on the poor services that the hospital was offering.
ZANIS reports that speaking when he addressed Lewanika General Hospital management after touring the institution, Mr Mubukwanu, who is also Southern province Minister, said failure of the hospital management to perform to people’s expectations will make the people translate it as a failure on part of the Patriotic Front (PF) government.
“ I agree that the hospital is the second oldest in the country, but this should not give you an excuse to fail to meet your mandate of providing quality health care services to the people of Mongu district and western province as a whole”, he said.
Mr Mubukwanu said people have complained about the attitude of the health personnel at the hospital and called on management to quickly address the issue.
He also urged the hospital management to establish a public relations office at the hospital in order to improve communication with the public to reduce complaints.
“If Lewanika General Hospital does not communicate well with the public, this being a government institution people will rise against Government for the failure of the hospital management to perform”, he said.
The Member of Parliament was also not happy with the dirty walls and floors he noted during the tour of the hospital and called for an immediate clean-up of the health institution.
He said Government believes that a hospital should provide a clean and healthy environment for the patients.
“I understand the challenge of water the institution is facing, as such I will purchase a booster pump at the cost of K2000 to ease this water challenge on condition that you clean up the hospital and repair all leaking taps”, he said.
Meanwhile, Lewanika General Hospital Medical Superintendent Muntanga Mapani said the institution has a shortage of staff.
Dr Mapani said although the hospital has expanded it has continued to operate under the old establishment making it difficult for to perform to expectation.
She said the hospital had a challenge of accessing drugs through medical stores saying instead it has to buy the medicines resulting in a debt of about K1.2 million.
Dr Mapani however appealed to Mr Mubukwanu to help the hospital address some of the challenges that are hindering its service delivery.
And in response, Mr Mubukwanu assured the hospital management that he would help the institution table its operational challenges to the Ministry of Health.
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) secretary-general Davies Chama says the ruling party will from now on expend its energies on delivering development to all parts of the country instead of responding to President Lungu’s critics.
Mr Chama said the PF leadership has realised that politicking is taking a toll on the pace of development in the country.
He said this in Mulobezi yesterday when he addressed PF members.
“The PF has embarked on a programme of transforming the country by way of taking development to all the parts of the country.
“We want to make Zambia a better country for people to live in,” Mr Chama said.
He said the culture of bickering is highly pronounced in Zambia, a trend he said is negating development.
Mr Chama said Zambia has continued to lag in development because of political bickering.
He said it is important to unite for the purpose of promoting the country’s development instead of engaging in abstracts.
Mr Chama also said the PF government will not embark on projects that will have a negative bearing on the country’s resources.
He said the PF is interested in implementing programmes and projects that will help uplift the living standards of all Zambians regardless of their political, religious or ethnicity affiliations.
“We want to run away from by-elections because they have proven to be a waste of resources which can even be channelled to programmes that can uplift the living standards of our people,” Mr Chama said.
He urged the people of Zambia to continue supporting President Lungu’s efforts of developing the country.
Meanhile, about 1,000 United Party for National Development (UPND) members in Mulobezi have defected to the PF.
Among those who defected to PF are former UPND Sichili ward co-ordinator Charles Munyamu, former Sichili ward chairman Martin Mubita and Sichili ward vice chairlady Matilda Mawanga.
Others are Sichili ward publicity secretary Gilbert Simonda, Sichili ward youth chairperson Nyowa Mundongo and chairlady Christine Sayizamba.
Mr Munyamu, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, cited poor leadership in the UPND, among the reasons he and his colleagues decided to join PF.
He said he and the rest of the group decided to join PF because of the good leadership President Lungu and his administration have exhibited.
‘’We are happy with what is happening under the leadership of President Lungu.
“We are seeing development coming to this area and this is what the people want from the government,” Mr Munyamu said.
He appealed to people in the region to vote for President Lungu in the 2016 general elections.
And Western Province PF chairperson Charles Mututwa said people in the region are joining PF because of the massive development projects that Government is implementing.
“We are receiving a lot of development projects in Western Province and people are happy.
“The people have promised to vote for the PF and President Lungu in the 2016 general elections,” Mr Mututwa said.
He urged the people in the region to continue supporting President Lungu and his administration to help foster meaningful development in the area.
Sunday Chanda
THE Patriotic Front (PF) has urged the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) to provide guidance in the constitution-making process instead of allegedly promoting lawlessness.
PF vice chairperson for the media and publicity committee Sunday Chanda told a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday that it is not good for LAZ to slow down the constitution-making process.
He was reacting to the move by LAZ to urge members of Parliament (MPs) to reject Government’s proposal to amend the constitution in a phased manner by taking non-contentious clauses to Parliament and subjecting contentious ones to a referendum.
Mr Chanda said it is wrong for LAZ to call on elected MPs to abscond their duties in Parliament when they are elected to make laws.
“We want to invite LAZ to lead the way in opening up the debate on the details of the final draft constitution. It will be regrettable if LAZ is going to be like NGOs which are not professional bodies,” he said.
Mr Chanda called on LAZ to highlight the contents of the final draft constitution so that the general public can understand the contents.
Mr Chanda also said it is unfortunate that the Grand Coalition on a people-driven constitution is advocating the holding of a referendum before debating the contents of the final draft constitution.
Meanwhile, the PF has described as false and malicious reports by some sections of the media targeted at First Lady Esther Lungu.
Mr Chanda said in a statement yesterday that PF is dismayed at the malicious attacks in Friday’s edition of The Post newspaper editorial targeted at Mrs Lungu.
The Post accused Mrs Lungu of allegedly launching President Lungu’s early campaign.
“Firstly, other first ladies that have gone before Mrs Lungu each did some kind of charity in their own capacities. First ladies the world-over play a critical role in supporting their spouses,” Mr Chanda said.
He said it is important to accept that the country has a first lady who does not sit idly by but reaches out to the needy and vulnerable communities across the country.
“While we do not expect everyone to commend the charitable works Mrs Lungu is doing for the vulnerable across the country, it is desired that commentators rise above pettiness and sheer malice,” Mr Chanda said.
FILE: Police officers push former Zambezi West Member of Parliament Charles Kakoma out of the Lusaka Central Police Station.
United Party for National Development (UPND) spokesperson Charles Kakoma has disclosed that Mulobezi parliamentary candidate Hastings Sililo has gone into hiding.
Mr Kakoma said that Mr Sililo has allegedly gone into hiding and that this defeats the essence of having elections because the UPND has been disadvantaged.
Mr Kakoma was reacting to news of the arrest of UPND members by the Police.
On Saturday , Police in Western Province arrested UPND Sesheke Central member of Parliament (MP) Siyauya Sianga for allegedly being part of a group of machete-wielding thugs who attacked Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Davies Chama and his entourage in Mulobezi.
“The MP did nothing to be arrested,” Mr Kakoma said. Mr Kakoma called on the police to ensure law and order is maintained.
Mr Sianga, Gerald Imanda and Godfrey Likamba were arrested on Saturday and are detained at Sichili Police Post in Mulobezi while Mushaukwa Mushaukwa is nursing a gunshot wound under police guard at Sesheke District Hospital.
Inspector-General of Police Stella Libongani and Western Province commissioner of police Standwell Lungu confirmed Mr Sianga’s arrested along with the two UPND cadres.
Ms Libongani said the three were arrested after Mr Chama and PF officials reported the attack to Sichili Police Post.
“Police officers found offensive weapons in Mr Sianga’s vehicle after searching it,” Ms Libongani said.
She warned that the police will firmly deal with individuals perpetrating violence in Mulobezi.
Mr Lungu said the police arrested Mr Sianga, who is UPND parliamentary candidate Sililo’s campaign manager, because he was found at the scene where Mr Chama and his entourage were attacked by suspected UPND cadres.
“We have arrested and detained Mr Sianga because he was found at the scene where Mr Chama was attacked.
“After searching his vehicle, the police found a panga, an axe and a pistol. So, he is in police custody,” Mr Lungu said.
And police spokesperson Charity Munganga-Chanda said in a statement yesterday that police have apprehended Mr Sianga and Mr Likamba along with Mr Mushaukwa, who is nursing a gunshot wound in hospital.
“A pistol with seven rounds of ammunition and other offensive weapons were recovered from a Toyota Hilux registration number ALD 9469 belonging to honourable Sianga. The Hilux was one of the vehicles that were used to block the road when the attack happened,” Mrs Munganga-Chanda said.
She said the vehicle has been impounded and investigations into the matter have continued.
Meanwhile, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema is expected to hold a media briefing today at 09:00hrs at the UPND Party Secretariat
Zambia have beaten ten-man Ethiopia 1-0 in a friendly played away on Sunday in Addis Ababa.
An Allan Mukuka goal handed Zambia coach Honour Janza’s his eighth win from 18 matches at the helm.
The Green Buffaloes winger headed-in the winning goal in the 45th minute to score his second goal in a Zambia shirt in 2015 since ending his five-year exile in March when he also scored in a 2-0 friendly win over Rwanda in Lusaka.
And the day also marked striker Emmanuel Mayuka’s return after a six-month layoff following his recent recovery from a groin injury he suffered in January at the 2015 Africa Cup in Equatorial Guinea.
Mayuka came on i the 65th minute after replacing Lubambo Musonda.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia wasted a great opportunity to get an equaliser in the 75th minute when Binyam Assefa missed a penalty.
Ethiopia were later reduced to ten men in the 85th minute after Mujib Kasim was sent-off for a second booking after receiving his initailly yellow card in the 27th minute.
Zambia head back home on Monday and will fly straight to Ndola from Addis Ababa to set up base ahead of their 2017 Africa
