THE Parliamentary committee on legal affairs has said that it will recommend to Parliament to propose lifting the employment freeze in the Judiciary because the shortage of staff in the department was affecting the delivery of justice to the Zambian people.

The committee’s chairperson Jack Mwiimbu said after touring the Ndola High Court and the Ndola magistrates court on Sunday that the shortage of staff in the Judiciary was affecting the delivery of justice to the Zambian people.

Mr Mwiimbu said the committee would recommend that the employment freeze for judicial workers be uplifted in order to improve the delivery of justice.

He said the committee was aware of the challenges that the judiciary faced in the delivery of justice.

Mr Mwiimbu said the challenges facing the judiciary would be tabled before Parliament in June this year.

“We are aware of the challenges that the courts are facing. The major challenges which include shortage of staff and infrastructure would be presented in Parliament in June this year for consideration,” he said.

The parliamentary committee was currently on a countrywide familiarisation tour of the courts.

And Ndola High Court Judge-in-charge Isaac Chali has said challenges that the Judiciary staff was facing should not deter them from delivering timely justice to members of the public.

Mr Justice Chali said when he met the Parliamentary committee members that the many challenges that the judiciary was facing should not deter the workers from helping deliver justice services to members of the public.

He said employees in the judiciary should work with passion in the delivery of justice and not for monetary gain.

Ndola Chief Resident Magistrate Paul Chisha told the committee that his office was utilising 40 per cent of court charges to address some challenges that the court was facing.

The opposition Movement for Multi-party Democracy says the two vice presidents, Dr Brian Chituwo and Michael Kaingu, had meetings with Post Newspapers Editor Fred M’membe and PF Secretary General Wynter Kabimba in an attempt to destabilize the former ruling party.

Director of Communications in the party president’s office Muhabi Lungu has also revealed that he has been approached by the Patriotic Front several times to defect to the ruling party.

Featuring on online based Cross Fire Blog Radio, Lungu said the party had irrefutable evidence that two of the leading officials in the revolt against president Nevers Mumba had been feted at State House several times.

Lungu said party vice presidents Kaingu and Chituwo had confessed to having held clandestine meetings with Kabimba but had not divulged the details of the meetings.

“We discovered that our two vice presidents (Kaingu and Chituwo) had been having meetings with Fred M’membe. Of course meeting Fred M’membe is not the problem but he has made it clear that he does not want the MMD to survive and he wants it obliterated,” Lungu said.

“As a result Fred M’membe arranged for a meeting for our two vice presidents to meet Wynter Kabimba and they did not tell the president that they were going to meet Wynter Kabimba and what the agenda was going to be. When it was broken by the people from the Watchdog they wanted to hide the story. And I am the one who tried to get them so this whole thing looks suspicious.”

He added: “We approached Dr Kaingu and he agreed that they had a meeting with Wynter Kabimba. When the UPND discovered about the meetings, the UPND refused to give details with the two vice presidents present saying we know your members as MMD have been meeting Wynter Kabimba and other people at State House.

“When the president called them to find out what the meeting was about they became defensive and it is part of the reason we have this situation.”

He said the PF had not relented in their quest to weaken the MMD and was approaching its members with promises of rewards.

“We know that State House sent a vehicle trying to pick up Scorpion Kadobi and also trying to compromise Bowman Lusambo with promises of greater wealth telling them that now that you have been suspended we could do this for you,” he said.

“We know that two vocal members in this fight have been to State House several times and the information we have is that they have been given money.”

He said there were elements that were resisting the restoration of the MMD because some members were still obsessed with their former privileged status.

“We lost an election and he (Nevers Mumba) has been trying to build a new image of the political party and some of the old habits have been fighting him.

“I think that it is really unfair for them to blame him for the failures of the MMD, celebrate with him when we win an election and blame him when we lose an election,” he said.

“Dr Mumba had started that process by holding a retreat earlier on in his presidency and the people who are resistant are the people who feel they are important, they were ministers and Dr Mumba is a foreigner he has just come. They have constantly resisted him.”

He said, “So you can see that the first resistance was from Major Kachingwe who tried to use an illegal method to get rid of the president. He was collectively expelled by the individual NEC and the next one was Namugala and the president has had consistent pressure to re-organize the party.”

Lungu said, “Then there is my sister Dora Siliya who was perceived by most people in Zambia that she was the most corrupt. I am not saying she is guilty. The perception is that she together with others like Peter Daka are the ones who brought down Rupiah Banda. She was aware of this and made an attempt to reduce her visibility. She took offence when I took over the role of defending the party and a vacuum was created.”

He said the PF had approached him several times to offer him positions.

“I have been approached by the PF several times, I have been approached several times by the UPND offering great things,” he said.

Lungu said the next MMD convention was due by April 2016 and asked members that were agitated to wait for that term.

The MMD has been engulfed by a potential revolt led by the two vice presidents and Siliya who are believed to have been heavily funded to undertake the destabilization of the former ruling party.

[Zambia Reports]

EXPELLED MMD national secretary Richard Kachingwe has formed a movement dubbed “Save MMD from Nevers Mumba” which he says is aimed at hounding party president Nevers Mumba from presidency.

Maj Kachingwe contends that the movement is not meant to fight for positions in MMD but to liberate it. He said that names of members of the movement will soon be announced.

He said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that all democracy-loving Zambians must invest in people calling for the removal of Dr Mumba from MMD leadership.

“Very shortly we are starting a movement ‘Save MMD from Nevers Mumba’. Just now, we are calling upon all people to put our hands together to save MMD from total collapse,” he said.

The former MMD national secretary said if he can find K1 billion he would organise an extra-ordinary convention and usher in new leaders of the party.

Maj Kachingwe said Dr Mumba’s allegation that State House is sponsoring people to cause divisions in the MMD is “cheap politics”.

“Anybody who loves democracy in this country must invest in us who are fighting Nevers Mumba. For me, if anybody had money today to give me – like K1 billion – I can get rid of Mumba in the next one week.

“I only require K20 million for a provincial conference and K800 million for a convention. If anybody had invested in this process by now we would have gotted rid of Nevers Mumba,” Maj Kachingwe said.

Maj Kachingwe said Dr Mumba has been accusing some MMD members of being sponsored by the Patriotic Front (PF) to cause confusion in MMD.

He said that the movement is a pressure group, which will carry out a number of activities and will work with all members of MMD and independent citizens throughout the country.

Efforts to get Dr Mumba failed as he gave his mobile phone to one of his aides, who said Dr Mumba was not available to give an interview.

Oasis Forum Chairperson Suzanne Matale says the scattered, uncoordinated and incomprehensible statements government officials are making on the constitution are a clear indication that the constitution is no longer a priority of the Government.

Reverend Matale says the PF Government should be reminded that the people of Zambia were attracted to the PF party’s agenda in the run up to the 2011 elections mainly because of the promise to deliver a people-centred constitution.

She says the people of Zambia strongly believe and know that a people-centred constitution is not only a pre-requisite but the most dependable guarantor of a democratic, sustainable and equitable development environment.

She says it is meaningless to continue issuing statements that are aimed at misinforming, misguiding and confusing the people of Zambia, adding that the claim that there are no resources to deliver the constitution and furthermore, to conduct a referendum is baseless.

Reverend Matale says resources would be mobilised if there was political will to do so at leadership level.

She adds that it is untrue and mischievous of the PF government to continue giving the people of Zambia the impression that the Technical Committee on Drafting the Constitution is still working on the document, when the people are fully aware that the Committee is no longer sitting, and that the document has been ready to be handed over to the Republican President for a long time now.

Reverend Matale further stresses that it is not helpful for Government to start insinuating that the people of Zambia now have different priorities than those expressed during the run up to the 2011 general elections.

She states that delivering a people-driven constitution was and is still part and parcel of the top list of the priority needs of the majority of Zambians.

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has accused Vice President Guy Scott of practicing vulgar politics, replete with bullying Hichilema said that Dr. Scott ‘s only descriptions for other people were derogatory names to disrespect them.

In an interview, Hichilema said that Dr. Scott’s likening of Patriotic Front Kabwata Member of Parliament Given Lubinda to a dog with a bone was an insult to the people of Kabwata, to his family and clan.

He said that Dr. Scott was a bully who wanted to scare Zambians by using derogatory remarks such as the ones he used against Lubinda.

“I was shocked that Dr. Scott as Vice President could use such derogatory remarks against one of his senior members in the PF. Lubinda worked hard for the PF to be where it is today. Why likening Lubinda to a dog? Where are the morals in that man (Scott) he thinks Zambia is still in colonial days where racial and insulting remarks should be tolerated? Dr. Scott has just proved to be uncalled for, what he sees in people is colour and tribe,” said Hichilema.

The outspoken opposition leader said that PF leaders must be kept in check to avoid abusing Zambians, “they know no kind words apart from insults. The PF is an insulting party. A few months ago when I made a comment about people condemned me but what has happened now that he is likening Lubinda to a dog?”

Hichilema said Zambians should wake up and defend the country from people like Scott who did not have respect for his fellow human being.

“What Scott sees in other human beings are dogs, animals. It is not me that is what he said. He was quoted by his friends as saying that Lubinda should not be like a dog with a bone that has lost its flavour. Honestly is that the language which must be encouraged coming from number two in government? How did Lubinda and his family feel about this statement by Scott? These are racial remarks and Scott should grow up and stop abusing people in such a manner,” said Hichilema.

Hichilema said that he was compelled to speak out on this matter because Dr. Scott had continued insulting Zambians at will.

He said that Scott has been insulting Zambians on various fora when he has an opportunity to do so without any challenge.

“It is up to us to stop this bullying especially from our leaders, they have to be responsible enough in the manner they respond to people. There is no way Zambia can develop with people like Scott at the helm of the governance of the country,” said Hichilema.

Hichilema wondered why President Sata had continued keeping an insulting and disrepective Vice President.

Queen mother of the Bemba Royal Establishment, Chieftainess Mukuka Mfumu has defended the appointment of Henry Kanyanta Sosala as Paramount Chief Chitimukulu and has castigated Chief Chewe Kamponge of Chinsali whom she has accused of misleading the nation and causing acrimony in the Bemba Kingdom.

Speaking when she made a rare appearance on Kasama’s Mano Community Station on Thursday the Queen mother said Sosala’s appointment went through her, contrary to Chileshe Yulaya Yumba’s claims on Tuesday.

She accused Yumba who reigns as Chief Chewe Kamponge (IV) of doing things that disregarded the Bemba traditional set up on such matters.

“Ba Yulaya Yumba bacita ifya kuipangila abene ifishili fya ntambi shalubemba, ba Sosala ba sontelwe naine (Yulaya Yumba does things as he pleases contrary to the Bemba tradition, the appointment of Sosala had my blessings),” she said.

The Queen Mother who was flanked by the spokesperson of the Bemba Royal Establishment and other royal members added that the unfortunate behavior of Chileshe Yulaya Yumba could be evidenced in the manner he was jostling for the throne of Chief Nkula which led to acrimony.

Earlier on Tuesday, Yumba charged that ba Shilubemba had no authority to appoint the Chitimukulu and that the responsibility lay with the Bemba Queen mother.

He also threatened to take legal action against the spokesperson of the Bemba Royal Establishment Washanga Impika-shalubemba, for claiming that President Michael Sata had erroneously appointed him (Yumba) as Chitimukulu. But Washanga said the action will be the first one in the history of the kingdom and accused Yumba of masquerading as chief Chewe.

He further said that it would be shocking for someone who claims to be Chief Chewe to take royalty to court.

Washanga has since challenged Yumba to tell the nation who appointed him Chief Chewe Kamponge (IV) and why he was bent on bringing confusion in the Bemba kingdom.

President Sata has refused to recognize the traditional appointment of Sosala as Chief Chitimukulu Kanyanta Manga (ii) of the Bemba people, insisting that he was not properly initiated but the establishment has challenged the President to clearly state the personal differences he had with Sosala which has led to the deployment of policemen at the palace to block Sosala from occupying it.The head of state has however not offered convincing reasons for his rejection of Sosala, an action which led to the royal establishment accusing him of having a personal preferred candidate in mind and has vowed not to reverse the appointment.