The crucial MMD National Executive Committee meeting held Sunday afternoon elected Muhabi Lungu as its National Secretary.

Mr Lungu went through unopposed for the position during a meeting held at Kapingila House.
Before his election, Mr Lungu was a member of the NEC and doubled as Director of Communications and Spokesperson for party President Nevers Mumba.

The meeting was attended by over 37 NEC members out the 62 that make up the NEC.

Meanwhile, the MMD faction against Dr Mumba’s leadership is claiming to have obtained a court injunction restraining the party from going ahead with the NEC meeting.

The injunction which is said to have been issued Sunday morning by Judge E.N Sikazwe was served on acting National Secretary Chembe Nyangu.

In an interview, Mr Nyangu confirmed that he received the court papers and advised Dr Mumba and his group not to go ahead with the meeting as they risk being cited for contempt.

“I am not attending the meeting myself because I don’t want to be cited for contempt. I told the other group to respect the court but they have gone ahead,” he said.

On Thursday the anti Nevers Mumba faction of the MMD officially submitted petition from six provinces calling for the National Executive Committee (NEC) to go for a convention to elect new leaders to propel the party in the 2016 general elections.

THE faction also rejected suggestions to endorse Muhabi Lungu as the new national secretary emphasising that there was no need to do so, as the party would be going for a convention in about 30 to 40 days’ time.

Party vice president for administration Brian Chituwo said at a press briefing held at the Party secretariat that six petitions had been handed to the acting national secretary Chembe Nyangu Dr Chituwo was flanked by other senior party members calling for a convention Michael Kaingu, Dora Siliya, Kapembwa Simbao, Lucky Mulusa, Situmbeko Musokotwane and Kenneth Chipungu.

“We have officially handed over six petitions to the national secretary, what is now remaining is to hand over these petitions to the party chairman who is currently out of the country for him in collaboration with the secretariat to set the date for a convention,’ Dr Chituwo said.

He named the six provinces that had petitioned the NEC to hold a convention as North Western, Western, Muchinga, Eastern, Central and Luapula.

The MMD constitution states that the party could go for a convention upon one third of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) petitioning NEC to call for such meeting.

Dr Chituwo confirmed that the faction would attend the NEC meeting which had been rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday.

He said the NEC meeting whose agenda had not been confirmed was rescheduled for Sunday from Saturday following the declaration of national mourning in honour of the late Dennis Liwewe.

“We have not been given the agenda but am told one of them is to endorse Muhabi Lungu for the position of national secretary, however, this is not necessary because will be going for a convention in 30 to 40 days time, and this position would be filled in at the convention, he said.

He also said the members were of the view that Mr Nyangu should act as national secretary until the convection.

Meanwhile Dr Chituwo and Ms Siliya threatened to drag MMD Chembe MP Mwansa Mbulakulima to court for singling them out as having been given K50 000 by the Patriotic Front (PF) to distablise the party.

“We want him to prove these claims in the court of law, our actions are for the love of the party and our desire to save this it from collapsing,” he said.

United Party for National Development (UPND) has called on workers throughout the country to boycott this year’s Labour Day celebrations as a way of protesting what the Patriotic Front (PF) Government has done to the country’s labour force.

In a statement released to the media, UPND Chairman for Labour and Social Security, Percy Chanda said that the country was facing abject poverty due to PF’s poor economic policies, which has led to the eroding of the take home pay for the Zambian worker.

Below is the full statement.

CALL FOR BOYCOTT – LABOUR DAY CELEBRATIONS

Workers throughout the country should boycott this year’s Labour Day celebrations as a way of protesting what the Patriotic Front (PF) Government has done to the country’s labour force. The country is facing abject poverty due to poor economic policies, which has led to the eroding of the take home pay for the Zambian worker. Surely, you cannot celebrate poverty.

Since the coming of the PF Government the workers in this country have in one way or another been punished for voting the PF into Government. Miners on the Copperbelt have been punished by the abolishing of a superior pension scheme and replacing it with an inferior one through the recently gazetted Statutory Instrument No 1 of 2014, which came into effect on 1stFebruary, 2014. This SI forces all mining companies to abandon their in-house pension schemes that are much more superior compared to the inferior NAPSA scheme.

Mopani Copper Mines, Konkola Copper Mines and Luanshya Copper Mines have all been forced to abandon the Regina Surtuna Pension Scheme which was far more superior in terms of the final pension payout. Under the Regina Surtuna scheme an employee contributed 5% of his pay and the employer contributed 11% as opposed to the NAPSA scheme where an employee contributes 5% and the employer contributes 5%. Clearly you can see that the PF Government is not concerned about what becomes of a miner after retirement.

For many years the pension for a miner has been nothing to talk about. This has led to a miner being a destitute after contributing to the economy of the Nation through his sweat throughout ones working life. The quality of life of a miner after retirement has been very poor. In extreme cases, this has contributed to a high number of deaths of former miners as they are depressed and live like people who have never worked before. It is therefore shameful and criminal for the PF Government to sentence the miner to death after his working life.

For the public workers it is only recently that the PF Government did a Donchi Kubeba on them by promising them a hefty salary increment only to end up with peanuts. This led to the dismissal of several nurses across the country after they decided to exercise their right to strike. Now the same public workers face a wage and employment freeze. In Unionism they say an injury to one is an injury to all. Up to date only a handful of the fired nurses have been reinstated.

As if the foregoing was not enough all workers in the country had their buying power eroded after the PF Government removed subsidises on fuel and maize and the poor performance of the rebased Kwacha. The cost of living has been beyond the average worker in Zambia. The Zambian worker has been further thrown into perpetual misery by the recent increase in the pump price of fuel, which in turn will instigate a spiral increase in prices of goods and services.

In our view workers might even be risking their lives by attending Labour Day celebrations especially if suspected to belong to the opposition. Remember the PF Police will not come to your rescue when you will be battered by the PF militia. Numerous examples are there for you to see.

It is therefore safe for the Zambian workers to stay away from the Labour Day celebrations as a way of sending a strong message to the PF Government that things are getting worse for a Zambian worker.

PERCY CHANDA
UPND Chairman for Labour and Social Security

Bank of Zambia Governor, Michael Kaumba has warned Commercial Bank foreign exchange dealers against engaging in any conduct that can destabilize the economy.

Dr. Gondwe says dealers should act within the foreign exchange market code of conduct and the interbank foreign exchange market framework.

He said this during meet the Governor Dinner hosted by the Financial Markets Association of Zambia also known as the ACI Zambia.

Dr Gondwe also warned against mispricing or artificially inflating the size of demand or supply volume the intent to mislead market participants.

He also warned against conniving with major suppliers of forex with a view to create an artificial shortage of Foreign Exchange in the market.

And the Bankers Association of Zambia Chairman, Shankardas Gupta says Zambia financial sector need to diversify financial products.

He says at the moment both the money and capital markets are underdeveloped.

And ACI Zambia President, Mwape Kambafwile says members of the association will uphold the highest ethical standards.

On proposes that Commercial Banks list on the Lusaka stock Exchange, Mr. Kambafwile says this should not be imposed on banks.

The Southern African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) says the resolution by the 16 opposition political party leaders that form part of the Grand Coalition to shun its organized Constitution Indaba slated for 30th April is an unfortunate setback.

The 16 opposition political party leaders that include among others, that of the MMD, UPND, NAREP, ADD, FDA, PDP and ABZ announced on Friday at a media briefing that they will not take part in the SACCORD Constitution Indaba as it undermines their objectives of having the final draft constitution released.

SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe says his organization would have preferred that opposition political parties take part in the Constitution Indaba as it is gathering where stakeholders can voluntarily attend to discuss all burning questions on the constitution.

He says his organization however respects the decision that has been made by the 16 opposition political party leaders as that is what the country’s democracy entails that people are free to make choices such as they have done not to be part of the Constitution Indaba.

Asked whether the Indaba will be put off in view of the setback by the opposition’s shunning it, Cheembe says the gathering will take place as scheduled because it is part of SACCORD’s 2014-2018 strategic plan which seeks to create a platform where important national issues are discussed on a face to face interaction.

He says his organization is merely rolling out its strategic plan on various activities such as the Constitution Indaba which among other major national issues.