JUSTICE Minister Edgar Lungu has described his meeting with the Grand Coalition on the new Constitution as a step in the right direction, meant to build consensus in the Constitution-making process.

The Grand Coalition also described the meeting as fruitful with a call for the release of the Draft Constitution and the setting up of a referendum commission, among other issues.

In an interview after the meeting which was held at the Ministry of Justice headquarters in Lusaka yesterday, coalition chairperson Leonard Chiti described the meeting as the best way to go towards having the new Constitution for Zambia.

Fr Chiti said at the meeting, the Coalition presented their roadmap to the Government, while the Mr Lungu presented the State’s roadmap to the coalition.

Mr Lungu, who is Defence minister and Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general, had invited the Grand Coalition for the meeting following an earlier meeting he had with Attorney General Musa Mwenye on the Constitution-making process.

Other issues discussed at the meeting with the Grand Coalition were timeliness to the Constitution-making process with the coalition members asking the Government to immediately release the Draft Constitution.

The coalition also called for a national census which would lead to the proper hosting of the referendum to adopt the new Constitution.

“We are happy about the meeting. It was the first of its kind where there was no lecturing or confrontation, and the differences were sorted out in a good manner,” Mr said.

He said the civil society organisations would next week hold a strategic meeting where, among other things, the Constitution-making process and yesterday’s meeting with the Government would be discussed.

Fr Chiti said the two parties would soon meet again to discuss questions that had arisen in the meeting held yesterday.

Later in an interview, Mr Lungu described the meeting as having been held in a friendly environment and that the two parties would meet again soon.

He said the meeting was all about consensus building, adding that from what he saw, Zambia was on the right track towards having the long-awaited Constitution.

“The meeting went on well under a give-and-take situation and after reflecting on the views of both sides, we will get back and discuss again,” Mr Lungu said.

CHIKONDI foundation president bishop John Mambo has appealed to former President Rupiah Banda to stop the debate on his possible come back to active politics.

Bishop Mambo said in an interview that Mr Banda had contributed enough to the Zambian politics hence the need to allow him to rest.

He said Mr Banda’s peaceful hand over of power in 2011 had proved him to be a good leader and he should now concentrate on being Zambia’s ambassador to the international community.

“While we appreciate that Mr Banda has a right to stand l do not support that move. I have a problem with that because l believe he has played his part and should be therefore allowed to retire,” he said.

He said Zambian politics were not entirely clean and Mr Banda should not allow himself to be drawn into the mud.
He said ” instead of encouraging him, as people who love him, let us encourage him to rest,”.

The Foundation for Democratic process (FODEP) has disputes claims from opposition political parties that the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s (ECZ) pilot electronic transmission of results will jeopardise elections.

Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) president Shepard Chilombe appealed to electorates to avoid succumbing to unfounded fears from opposition political parties.

He said this in a telephone interview with ZANIS today.

Mr. Chilombe, who is currently in Vubwi revealed, that the counting of ballot papers will be manually.

He explained that the electronic counting of votes was merely a test and preparation for the use of the system in 2016 elections to speed up the transmission of results.

He expressed surprise at opposition parties rejecting the system when initially they accepted the use of the electronic transmission of results.
Mr. Chilombe wondered who could have misinformed the political parties to change at the eleventh hour.

“I have operated the system trial version which is systematic in its operation and has no room for election rigging because it does not determine results,” said Mr. Chilombe.

He has since disclosed that the Vubwi parliamentary by-elections voting, which is currently taking place, is peaceful despite low turnout.

A WITNESS from Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has told the court that freelance journalist, Chanda Chimba and his Phibajo Production, a company that produced the ‘Stand Up for Zambia’ programme in the run-up to the 2011 general elections, evaded paying tax.

ZRA assistant inspector, medium tax office, Dennis Banda, also told the court that there was no activity on Phibajo from the time it was opened in 2005 to date.

But Chimba, through his defence lawyer Charles Lisita, objected to the line of evidence by the State witness, saying the offences he was facing had nothing to do with paying tax.

The visibly annoyed Chimba later, after the court adjourned to the chambers, lashed out at some investigation officers who were in court, accusing them of investigating him even when he was already undergoing trial.

This is in a matter in which Chimba is jointly charged together with former Information and Broadcasting Services minister Ronnie Shikapwasha and his former permanent secretary Sam Phiri with abuse ofauthority and being in possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Chimba is charged with three counts of unlawful printing, publication and possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Mr Banda, 33, told principal magistrate Obister Musukwa yesterday that a search he conducted on Chimba and Phibajo’s accounts established that they did not meet their tax obligations.

Mr Banda said that this meant that Chimba and Phibajo, who are the tax payers in this case, had not been remitting their tax obligations from February 17, 2005 to date.

But Chimba objected to the testimony adduced by Mr Banda, saying he was not in court for the charge of evading tax and could not see how that was becoming an issue.

At this point, Mr Musukwa invited the defence and the State to his chambers for a private discussion.

Chimba later instructed his lawyers to seek an adjournment as he wanted to consult over confidential issues.

But the State objected to the application saying there was no specific reason given to the court for want of an adjournment and that the same was aimed at delaying the case further.

Mr Musukwa in his ruling said it was Chimba’s constitutional right to consult with his lawyer at any stage of the case and granted the application.

Earlier, the matter delayed to take off because Shikapwasha was not before court. He finally arrived around 10:40 hours and apologised to the court that he had mixed up the dates.

Trial continues on September 30, 2014.