THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) says the Patriotic Front’s (PF’s) application in the Supreme Court to stay the Zambezi West by-election cannot stop the election from proceeding.

On Tuesday, PF Zambezi West losing candidate Christabel Ngimbu asked the Supreme Court to stay the by-election until determination of an appeal against the judgment which allowed former member of Parliament Charles Kakoma.

But ECZ public relations manage Cris Akufuna said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that an application cannot stop the election from proceeding but the commission can halt the poll if the Supreme Court orders for them to be stayed.

“We are going ahead with the election because what compels is the ruling of the court and what is in court at the moment is just an application. So that does affect us,” Mr Akufuna said.

AN operation by a combined team of security agencies shifted to Ndola yesterday where 680 foreign nationals were rounded up for screening and 200 have been detained after failing to provide sufficient documentation.

The door-to-door operation on houses suspected to have foreigners which was conducted in Itawa, Kansenshi, Ndeke, Skyways, Twapia townships and the industrial area began in the early hours of yesterday and lasted until midday.

The joint operation involved police, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), the Immigration Department and the Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS) officers who rounded up foreign nationals and took them to Musa Kasonka Stadium in Masala for screening.

Immigration Department public relations spokesperson Namati Nshinka said yesterday that 200 foreigners, mainly Somalis, were detained after a screening exercise for failure to provide documentation of their stay in Zambia.

“The operation has been concluded and a total of 680 people of different nationalities were apprehended and of those, 200 are detained,” he said.

Mr Nshinka said those detained are Egyptians, Ugandans and Somalis.

He said some of the detained foreigners failed to provide any documentation while others will have their documents verified with the Immigration Department head office in Lusaka.

At Musa Kasonka Stadium, there was heavy presence of police in riot gear while the screening exercise went on inside the stadium, disrupting Ndola United Football Club’s training session.
Players, who were reporting for their daily practices, were turned away by police and later officials came to collect the club’s cooking utensils.

After undergoing screening, some foreigners were released and walked home freely with curious Masala township residents flocking to watch the proceedings.

And 136 illegal immigrants have been apprehended in the recently-launched countrywide clean-up operations aimed at getting rid of illegal immigrants.

Ministry of Home Affairs head of public relations Moses Suwali has advised members of the public to ensure they carry valid personal documents all the time to avoid being mistaken for illegal immigrants.

Mr Suwali said in a statement yesterday that the operations are being undertaken by the police, Immigration and Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).

“On Tuesday, a combined team of officers from the immigration, DEC and police swung into action in Emmasdale, Matero and Chaisa townships and apprehended suspected illegal immigrants mainly Somalians,” he said.

Mr Suwali said after the screening process that about 136 illegal immigrants were found with no documents and have since been detained in various police stations across Lusaka.
He said the screening process will continue because some of them claimed that they left the documents at their homes.

“Some of them were found with drugs, large sums of money and IT equipment suspected to be used for pornographic materials,” Mr Suwali said.

“The Immigration department will consider removing the illegal immigrants from the country to their countries of origin to cut on time and money and avoid congesting police cells and prisons which are already under pressure,” he said.

Mr Suwali commended the public for availing intelligence information regarding illegal immigrants and encouraged them to continue.

He said it is through such tips from the public that operations of any kind can yield positive results, adding that the exercise will continue until the ministry is satisfied it has removed all illegal immigrants.

On Tuesday, the team conducted a similar operation in Lusaka’s Chaisa Township were hundreds of fore

The Humans Rights Commission (HRC) says it will soon establish if there was any human rights violation during the recent apprehension of the illegal Somali immigrants in Chaisa Compound.

Humans Rights Commission principal information officer Simon Mulupi said the commission is committed to promoting legality in any nation.

“It is the duty of the police to maintain law and order in the country and to ensure that the human rights of every individual are respected,” He said.

ZANIS reports that the Humans Rights Commission principal information officer said this in a telephone interview in Lusaka yesterday.

Yesterday , a combined team of the Zambia Police, Drug Enforcement Commission ,Immigration Officers and other security wings raided Chaisa compound in the heart of the Capital where they apprehended and arrested hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants .

Meanwhile, The Immigration Department said it will provide a number of screening processes to confirm if those apprehended are in possession of legal documents.

Immigration Department public relations officer Nshinka Namati has since appealed to individuals harbouring illegal immigrants to desist from such vices because it is a serious offence.

And

Republican Vice President Guy Scott says there is no common solution to challenges facing individual countries because of the cultural difference.

And Dr. Scott has observed that the country’s “traditional safety net” is threatened due to large scale land transactions involving both local and foreign investors who are raiding rural areas enticing traditional leaders with money for land.

Speaking when he launched the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report on Global Human Development at Lusaka’s Raddison blu hotel today, Dr. Scott said the country’s solutions to its challenges are different from those of other countries with similar problems because of the different cultures of individual countries.

Dr. Scott explained that just because a solution worked somewhere does not mean that the same solution can work in Zambia even if the problem is similar due to the cultural differences that exist in countries hence the need for the country to apply its own solutions to the challenges it faces.

“The first thing that strikes me is I have a fear of copying what our friends are doing, my other fear is people saying; we have experienced this in a certain sector or a certain part of intervention in Indonesia and we think it should be brought to Zambia and used here.

“The World Bank representative came to me and said let us do that for you(coordinate the drought crisis in 1992) and I complained and asked him if it will work and he answered yes it is working nicely in Indonesia I said yes but I’m not the Minister of Agriculture in Indonesia or the future vice president in Indonesia I’m a Minister in Zambia,” Dr. Scott said.

Dr. Scott added, “I think we should be aware that there are cultural differences within Zambia that you can spend your entire life understanding so the idea that you can go and work outside the country for two or three years and then take the whole baggage of what you have developed and bring it to Zambia or Zimbabwe is something that must be taken down.

He noted, “We can’t solve this problem just by saying 7 billion are people starving or so many zillion dollars is required to be handed out because life is too complicated and reality is too complicated; so I want talk about something more important to the Zambian situation.”

Dr. Scott also called for consistency in addressing local requirements and circumstances.

“At the same time as we have flexibility to the data to local requirements and circumstances. We must also have consistency all the time because the other danger as I see it from policy making and donor interventions especially in Zambia we seem to be experimenting. I have been experiencing it for over 24 years that I have been in politics;there has been the tendency for ideas to run dry. You have a new idea, new words, new concepts and you use words like adaptability, resilience and sustainbility then you give it up after three years or four years,”Dr. Scott said.

Meanwhile Dr. Scott said the country is at a risk of losing its traditional safety net (land) due to investors buying large chunks of land from traditional leaders.

Dr. Scott explained that land has always acted as a traditional safety net for people in the country as it was common for people to go back to their villages after retirement where land was always in abundance for people to cultivate and earn a living but that this is being threatened by the continued selling of land to local and foreign investors who are chasing away local people from their land.

He added that due to indiscriminate selling of land by traditional leaders such as Village headmen, government has put a ban on large scale land transactions until it puts in measure to curb the problem.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has advised Zambians to ensure that they carry their valid personal documents all the time to avoid being mistaken for illegal immigrants.

This is contained in a press statement released to the media by Head-Public Relations Moses Suwali.

Below is the full statement:

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS ADVISORY: CLEAN UP OPERATIONS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

===========================================

Owing to the country wide Clean-Up Operations the Ministry of Home Affairs has embarked on, we wish to advise members of the public to ensure that they carry their valid personal documents all the time to avoid being mistaken for illegal immigrants.

The operations are being undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs through its departments which include Police, Immigration and Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), hence members of the public should expect more of such.

Recently, our officers raided two churches in Chibolya and Kabwata compounds and apprehended foreign nationals mainly from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and will appear in court soon.

And on Tuesday 12th August, 2014, a combined team of officers from Immigration, DEC and Police swung into action in Emmasdale, Matero and Chaisa compounds and apprehended suspected illegal immigrants mainly Somalians.

After the screening process, about 136 illegal immigrants were found with no documents and have since been detained in police custody spread in various police stations in Lusaka and the screening process will continue because some of them claimed that they had left the documents at their homes.

Some of them were found with drugs, large sums of money and IT equipment suspected to be used for pornographic materials.

It must be noted that under the Immigration Laws, staying in the country without documents is in itself a criminal offence which gives Immigration powers to Remove such illegal immigrants from Zambia to their countries of origin even without the due court process.

In this regard, our Immigration Department will consider removing the illegal immigrants from Zambia to their country of origin to cut on time and money as well as avoid congesting police cells and prisons which are already under pressure.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs wishes to commend members of the public for availing us intelligence information regarding illegal immigrants and we implore them to continue doing so if we are to win this fight.

It is through tip-offs from members of the public that operations of any kind can yield positive results.

Once again, we urge members of the public to ensure that they carry their personal documents whenever they leave their homes to avoid being mistaken for illegal immigrants.

Further, this exercise will continue until we rid the country of illegal immigrants and that, we will not be announcing dates and times to avoid alerting the criminal elements.

Illegal immigrants may expose themselves and citizens of the countries they enter to dangers while entering into another country such as spreading of diseases like Ebola, being trafficked for exploitation including sexual exploitation and labour as well as being involved in criminal activities, hence the need to get rid of them.

Moses Suwali
Head-Public Relations
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

13th August, 2014