VICE President Guy Scott has urged Zambians to avoid animosity on pertinent matters of national development especially the Constitution making process to enable the country move forward.

Dr Scott said the current animosity and lack of consensus from various stakeholders on the Constitution making process was not healthy for the country.

He said the Constitution making process was currently being used by some opposition political parties to discredit the Government.

Dr Scott was speaking in Livingstone at Zambezi Sun Hotel on Saturday night when he officiated at the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) Annual General Meeting Gala Dinner.

“If we are going to use the Constitution making process to gain political mileage by engaging in careless talks, we might as well forget about the whole process and save money.

“If there is no consensus, you may have people who don’t want to vote for a referendum on time and those are my fears and our fears as Government,” he said.

He urged LAZ to lead all stakeholders including the Government in the consensus building on the Constitution because the Association was neutral as well as highly respected and professional.

[pullquote]If we are going to use the Constitution making process to gain political mileage by engaging in careless talks, we might as well forget about the whole process and save money.[/pullquote]

“LAZ has credibility to call Zambians to come together and take an amicable basis on the Constitution making process. If we don’t build consensus, some of us may be reluctant to be part of the process,” he said.

Speaking at the same function, outgoing LAZ president, James Banda urged the Government to create room for dialogue and make the governance of Zambia a reality.

“As LAZ, we need to constantly talk to Government officials to effectively achieve what is good for the country. Our particular concerns are legal and judicial reforms which affect our professional body and the people we represent,” he said.

He urged the incoming LAZ leadership and members of the legal fraternity to jealously guard the unity the association was enjoying and maintain high standards of integrity.

Newly elected LAZ president, George Chisanga paid tribute to Mr Banda for leading the Association well during the last two years.

“Mr Banda leaves an indelible mark on the presidency of LAZ. We take the confidence bestowed in us with humility and we promise to start working immediately,” he said.

Linda Chishimba was elected as LAZ vice president while Likando Kalalaluka was elected as honorary secretary and Clement Tefeni was elected as honorary treasurer.

THE United Party for National Development (UPND) has urged MMD president Nevers Mumba to concentrate on quenching the fire that has currently engulfed the former ruling party as opposed to attacking innocent outsiders like the UPND.

UPND secretary general Winstone Chibwe said in an interview that Dr Mumba had enough enemies at present and should therefore concentrate rebuilding friendships.

He was reacting to Dr Mumba’s remarks in some sections of the media yesterday that UPND cannot win in 2016.

Mr Chibwe said UPND was not in contention with MMD but PF which was a party in Government.

“For us, we are not in contention with MMD but PF which is the party in Government. We can only advise Dr Mumba that he has made enough enemies so he should just concentrate on quenching the fire within his party.

“Our target at present is the PF, which is in Government but if Dr Mumba wants to fight both PF and UPND, he is welcome,” Mr Chibwe said.

He said Dr Mumba had no support from his two vice presidents and some other prominent MMD members therefore he should not go outside the MMD to destabilise other political parties.

Mr Chibwe said the UPND had no time for Dr Mumba as it was concentrating on organising the party.

He said Dr Mumba should wait for 2016 in order to know which political party was more popular in Zambia.

[pullquote]“I think it will be very complicated for UPND to find the numbers to hit 40 or 42 per cent of the vote that is needed to form government,” he said.[/pullquote]

On Friday, MMD president Nevers Mumba said that MMD had a more statistical advantage to win the 2016 general elections than UPND. R. Mumba said the UPND did not have adequate numbers to win a general election but that MMD was still popular in most regions of the country citing Northern, Muchinga, Copperbelt and North Western provinces.

“We think that of the three major political parties, MMD has more statistical chances of forming government than either PF or UPND. And I think that in the PF, you find a similar problem because of under-performance. I think MMD has enough tentacles across the country with a proper campaign that we are putting up to be able to go beyond 42 per cent of the vote,” he said,

Mumba said statistically, MMD stood as the strongest party of choice for Zambians in 2016 and that the party would go on a country-wide tour to rally support and reaffirm its commitment to the people.

“I think it will be very complicated for UPND to find the numbers to hit 40 or 42 per cent of the vote that is needed to form government,” he said.

And Dr. Mumba said he would not sit back and watch UPND destroy MMD structures in North Western Province.

“We will not sit back and watch UPND coming to convert our structures here. This is our stronghold. North Western has always been conservative. It will take 10 years for it to change to another political party. If HH Hakainde Hichilema comes here and I see that our position is threatened, that time I will even start learning Kaonde,” said Mumba as the MMD members cheered him.

He said Zambians should not try to vote UPND into power because they would regret experimenting like they were doing with the PF. According to Mumba, UPND could try to do many things to get into power but it would fail because Zambians were fed up with experimenting and wanted to go back to MMD which they knew very well.

Civil Rights Activist Brebner Changala has observed that the attack by suspected Patriotic Front(PF) cadres on United Party for National Development(UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema and his entourage in Ndola on Saturday is an unacceptable criminal act.

Mr. Changala says with such a continued trend of the suspect PF cadres attacking opposition leaders when they want to exercise their constitutional rights is a further demonstration that the ruling party has now allegedly become a militia that is violent and outside the rules of natural justice.

Mr. Changala says Mr. Hichilema like any other leader of a registered political party in the country has the right to associate, assemble and communicate and does not need permission to do so from either the Police or PF cadres.

The Civil Rights activists however notes that with such trend that PF cadres have continued to infringe on people%u2019s rights in the country has already spelled the beginning of the down fall of the ruling PF.

He says his appeal to the people of Zambia thus is for them to stop such infringements of their rights by removing the ruling PF from power.

And Mr. Changala has observed that the Zambia Police Service has also been compromised under the leadership of Stella Libongani her Deputy Solomon Jere.

Mr. Changala warned that time will come for both Ms. Libongani and Dr. Jere when they both in their individual capacity will take a stand in Court as accomplices to the crimes that are allegedly being committed while the police look on without taking any action under the PF government.

Opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema has disclosed that the suspected Patriotic Front (PF) cadres that attacked his entourage and interrupted an interview he was attending at a radio station in Ndola on Saturday yesterday were armed with among other things guns and machetes.

Mr. Hichilema said that he suspects that the PF cadres whom he has referred to as being thugs may have come from Kitwe and Luanshya specifically sent to allegedly kill him.

Mr. Hichilema told Qfm news that his conviction that the said suspected PF cadres came for his life is based on the fact that even after he left the radio station to open up his party’s new office in within Ndola, the same cadres pounced again on his entourage discharging fire arms while the Police watched the ordeal.

The UPND leader has also wondered why up now the Police have not arrested any of the suspected PF cadres when they were present at both incidents when members of his party were being attacked by the suspected PF cadres.

Asked whether he was injured during the fracas, the opposition leader said that whether he was injured or not is not the issue but that what matters is the fact that members of his party were injured while they tried to defend themselves adding that the fact that they were injured he too has been injured.

He said that this is why he does not think it is necessary to file a formal complaint to the Police over the attacks as the Police were present during the two incidents.

He said that President Michael Sata is however the one to blame as it is within his powers to stop such thugarism amongst his party members if only he wanted.

Mr. Hichilema has however warned that his party members should not blamed next time if the defend themselves to same extent as their attackers would be armed.

clip of HH escaping from PF cadres