The opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) says it is disappointed at the directive by acting President Wynter Kabimba to District Commissioners to get customary land for development without the consent of traditional leaders.

UPND vice president Richard Kapita cautioned Mr. Kabimba to exercise the delegated Presidential functions with extreme responsibility and restraint to avoid planting dictatorial tendencies that are not supported by any law.

Mr. Kapita stated in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today that it is regrettable that the acting President, who is also the Minister of Justice could misinterpret the administration of the constitutional provision that states that all land is vested in the President.

He said this constitutional provision is operationalized by the Town and Country Planning Act, Chapter 283 of the laws of Zambia, particularly Section 3 of that Act.

Mr. Kapita said the legal procedure of getting customary land by the state requires that consultative meetings which involve the Chief and his or her subjects, provincial administration and the councils among other stakeholders should be held.

He explained that an Application Order should then first be signed by the concerned Chief giving consent, then the respective Council and Provincial Administration and finally the Republican President.

Mr. Kapita said it is after this and many other processes are done that the President can sign a Statutory Instrument to facilitate physical planning and township boundaries in an area that was under customary custody.

The UPND vice president said customary land cannot be converted to state or private land by a mere word of mouth from the President on the mere premise that all land is vested in the President.

He said it is therefore wrong for the acting president to issue a directive to District Commissioners to arbitrarily grab customary land no matter how legitimate the intended purpose is.

He said the UPND appreciate Mr. Kabimba’s instruction that since new districts were created, there is literally no development to talk about such as in Shibuyunji District where the District Commissioner works from either a private home or from his vehicle.

Mr. Kapita however stated that that scenario should not be a justification for unlawful and arbitrary instructions to violate with impunity the established procedures of converting customary land to state land.

He noted that after declaring new districts, President Michael Sata himself has been following the laid down procedure of consulting chiefs and other stakeholders before establishing township boundaries.

He then wondered what was so special about Shibuyunji district, that the district commissioner should get the traditional land without following the legal and administrative procedures.

Mr. Kapita said in any case councils are responsible for township planning and boundaries and not party cadres.

He warned the acting President to desist from sowing seeds of conflicts over a sensitive issue such as land administration and allocation by his use of the delegated presidential functions.

Mr. Kabimba recently stated that Government does not need permission from chiefs to get land to build its offices.

The acting President then directed the District Commissioner for the newly created Shibuyunji District Fanwell Mweemba to find land on which government was going to build offices.

Prior to the directive, Mr Mweemba had complained that the new district still had no offices as the district administration was still awaiting the chief’s authority on where to build new offices.

THE ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has wished President Sata God’s continued guidance on his 77th birthday, which fell yesterday.

PF national chairperson Inonge Wina told the Daily Mail yesterday that the party wishes Mr Sata God’s continued blessings and guidance as he leads the nation.

“As national chairperson, I would like on behalf of all party structures and entire membership to wish our President a blessed birthday,” Ms Wina said.

She said the nation is aware of President Sata’s determination to develop all parts of the country.

She said President Sata has held the country together in unity for the past two years he has been in office.
Ms Wina said the PF is happy with President Sata’s leadership.

And former MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba says all Zambians must celebrate President Sata’s birthday because he (President Sata) is a great man.

Dr Kalumba says he owes his political life to President Sata and regards him as his teacher.

“President Sata has inspired many youths to take up leadership roles. His tenacity to get things done still inspires me to this day,” Dr Kalumba said.

Dr Kalumba, who served under Mr Sata as deputy minister of Health in 1994, said the head of State always got the impossible done.

“Whether you hate Sata or not, let’s celebrate his life. Don’t be upset when he tells you, for example, that you are an under-five. He is simply telling you to evolve and improve.

“I appeal to Zambians to encourage President Sata so that he continues to lead us,” he said.

Dr Kalumba said when he joined the Ministry of Health, he was a mere technocrat, well-educated but not in touch with ordinary people and it is President Sata who turned him into an orator and politician.

President Sata was born on July 6, 1937 in Mpika.

THE Patriotic Front (PF) Government has achieved its campaign promises of job creation and lowering of taxes.

Commerce Trade and Industry Minister Robert Sichinga said during a Professional Insurance-sponsored cocktail at Mukuba Hotel that Government through its policies and innovations, had achieved job creation and had reduced taxes.
This, he said, had achieved the ‘more money in your pocket’ slogan.

“No economy can survive if its citizens have no resources to spend. With job creation and reducing taxes, people have resources to invest in business,” Mr Sichinga said.

He said lower taxes helped businesses and foreign investors in the country to create jobs.

Earlier, during a minister’s open forum, Commerce, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, Miles Sampa said Government would continue supporting trade fairs because they promoted domestic and regional trade which would in turn lead to the creation of jobs.

Mr Sampa said in a speech read for him by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Siazongo Siakalenge at a Professional Insurance-sponsored event that Government supported platforms like trade fairs because they increased opportunities for private investment and trade.

This, he said, resulted in increased domestic, regional and global trade which would in turn lead to more jobs being created.

Mr Sampa said promoting trade through fairs would enable Zambia improve its competitiveness through targeted business environment reforms.

He said Government had embarked on licensing reforms and labour law reforms which promoted an enabling environment for doing business in Zambia.

At the same forum, Zambia Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI) president, Geoffrey Sakulanda said Zambians needed to engage relevant bodies like ZACCI to find sustainable ways of doing business.

Mr Sakulanda said Zambians should also be ingenious in the way they came up with business ideas to run their businesses effectively and cheaply.

He said ZACCI had come up with the Private Sector Alliance to promote dialogue between public companies and private investors.

Mr Sakulanda said there were a number of issues that needed to be tabled between the public sector and the private sector for both parties to run profitably.

“For example, while the private sector wants to invest in electricity generation, they want the tariffs to be hiked because they will not make returns on the current tariffs.

“On the other hand, the manufacturing sector is complaining againstthe current tariffs saying they are high. So there is need for dialogue to see the way forward,” he said.

The Opposition Forum for Democracy and Development has accused the Patriotic Front Government of lying to nation and the farmers in particular on the commencement of the purchase of maize.

Speaking in an interview FDD spokesperson Antonio Mwanza said the PF should stop deceiving farmers with cheap excuse of maize having high moisture content when the real reason is that government is broke hence has no money to pay the farmers for their maize.

He wondered why the minister announced that government will commence buying maize last week when he knew that the moisture content was still high.

He also questioned whether the information the Agriculture Deputy Minister Greyford Monde was giving to the nation regarding the maize moisture content levels was accurate as country did not experience late rains last season.

Mr. Mwanza added that the failure by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to commence purchasing maize is an indication that the PF does not care about the farmers in the country.

“The failure by the FRA to commence purchasing maize after the Minister announced that government will open the crop marketing season on 1st July 2014 is a clear indication the PF is a “paya farmer” government. The PF has no policy direction, no consistency in as far as the agriculture sector is concerned,” Mr. Mwanza said.

“The cheap excuse the PF is using that the moisture content is high is not true; are we being told that the Minister did not know that the moisture was high when he announced the commencement of the marketing season,” Mr. Mwanza said.

Mr. Mwanza also said government should tell the nation the truth that it has no money to purchase the maize from the farmers.

“The PF government should come out very clearly and tell the nation that it has no money to purchase maize from the farmers. It has to tell the farmers the truth instead of lying to them,” he said.

He advised the ruling party to take leaf from the opposition party’s manifesto and check how the agriculture sector should be in the country.

Mr. Mwanza added that agriculture is the centre of main livelihoods hence the need to ensure that it is well taken care of by the people in charge.

Meanwhile, the hike in the maize floor price by Five Kwacha has been described as worthless by Chief Maguya of the Ngoni speaking people of Chipata in Eastern Province.

The traditional leader says the Five kwacha increase has no impact because of the unstable Zambian Kwacha against the United State Dollar.

Recently, government increased the Maize price floor from Sixty Five Kwacha to Seventy Kwacha.

THE Patriotic Front will take the matter of electoral petitions to the High Court in line with the Supreme Court ruling.

PF secretary-general Wynter Kabimba said members of the central committee met on Friday and unanimously agreed to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court.

“It was a unanimous decision and I, as secretary-general of the party, have written to our lawyers to proceed with the matter to the High Court to bar those whose elections were nullified because of corruption,” Mr Kabimba said.

Mr Kabimba, who is also Minister of Justice and acting President, said the move is a matter of principle and President Sata’s promise of stamping out corruption in all forms.

Mr Kabimba said the decision is not targeted at individuals but is aimed at stamping out corruption in all its forms.
“Since 2001, we used to complain about losing the elections and we believe there were electoral malpractices and so when we won in 2011, we didn’t want to use any underhand methods. We decided to go to an independent tribunal. We filed in 55 petitions,” he said.

Mr Kabimba said the party does not hate the United Party for National Development or the MMD candidates by petitioning results but merely wanted to prove a point.

He said the PF believes President Sata got more votes than was announced.

Mr Kabimba said PF views corruption as corruption irrespective of its form.

“There is no small corruption or big corruption. Corruption is corruption is corruption,” he said.

Mr Kabimba said some people have accused the PF of depriving people of certain constituencies of members of Parliament through litigation.

He said Transparency International Zambia also petitioned the Electoral Commission of Zambia through the courts of law to bar those whose elections were nullified on account of corruption.

Mr Kabimba said the party agrees with other stakeholders who have praised the independence of the Judiciary and non-interference by the PF Government.

“We praise the independence of the Judiciary like those other stakeholders,” he said

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that opposition MPs whose elections were nullified on account of electoral malpractices can re-contest their seats.

The court, however, advised the parties involved to pursue the matter in the High Court if they so wished.