A Cabinet minister has been linked to calls by the ZCTU for nationwide worker protests. Some union officials have accused deputy secretary general Cosmas Mukuka of working with the said Cabinet minister, who is alleged to have pledged to facilitate Mr Mukuka’s appointment as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education.

But Mr Mukuka has dismissed the allegation as malicious. Mr Mukuka said the reports are false, malicious and aimed at weakening the ZCTU and its affiliates’ fight against the announced salary increment freeze for public service workers.

“The decision for a countrywide protest was made by the congress and its affiliates and at no time did I receive any instructions from any person.

“These are communal matters. That is a lie and if it is meant to weaken the fight by targeting individuals, it will force us to get aggressive,” he said.

Mr Mukuka also threatened to sue the Daily Mail if it goes ahead to publish the story.

But another senior union official said: “We were surprised that ZCTU is calling for nationwide protests over the wage freeze. This is a matter Government and ourselves are discussing.”

He charged that the minister is also behind the issuance of a police permit for ZCTU to stage a protest march from Nakatindi Hall to Parliament, where a backbencher has been organised to receive the workers petition. The permit was displayed for affiliate unions to verify.

“A matter of protests should come from our members or from affiliate unions, but ZCTU called for an impromptu meeting in Lusaka and Copperbelt and just informed us of their decisions to protest and urged us to organise our members” he said.

He said that a fundamental decision to go on strike or countrywide protests requires approval from the formal structures of ZCTU.

“The issue has never come through for discussion in the ZCTU decision-making structures such as the executive board meeting, which consists of the board and general secretaries of affiliates done after demands from affiliates or extra-ordinary general council,” he said.

He stated that after the formal announcement of the nationwide protests, affiliate public sector union officials took ZCTU secretary general Roy Mwaba to task.

He said the union leader allegedly owned up and disclosed that the protests were a government project given to them by a senior Cabinet minister.

“We were shocked to learn that Government could risk the stability and health of the economy and threaten peace and public order and organise countrywide demonstrations against itself.

“It became clear that the demonstrations were a project by a certain set of ministers, working to embarrass another set of ministers due to the on-going Patriotic Front (PF) internal wrangles,” he said.

“As affiliate unions, we are enjoying cordial working relationship with Government and we refuse to be used as tools in these political games,” the union leader said.

It is alleged that a government minister urged the workers to organise mass scale protests against it, as Government was having difficulties with the International Monitoring Fund (IMF) and the World Bank over the national budget.

Mr Mwaba is alleged to have disclosed that even the issuance of the police permit and the media coverage by the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) was secured.

On Friday, October 25, the ZCTU secretary general was quoted by ZNBC news stating that the union had organised nationwide protests against government’s wage freeze as announced in the 2014 budget.

Today, Government is scheduled to meet the ZCTU and 10 public sector unions over the impending protests. The meeting is expected to be held at Government Complex at 14:30 hours.

Secretary to Cabinet Dr Roland Msiska has stated that Government is surprised by ZCTU plans to hold countrywide protests over the freeze on wages and employment, especially that the union adopted the 10-year integrated competitive remuneration strategy (ICRS) through its bargaining process with government.

He said the ICRS was approved by Cabinet and adopted by the unions.

He stated the attempts to hold public protests were, therefore, unjustified and premature.

THE Islamic Supreme Council of Zambia has urged Government to audit all Muslim organisations operating in the country.

Council president Suzgo Zimba charged that some Muslim organisations receive a lot of money from donors but these funds are not spent on the intended beneficiaries.

Mr Zimba said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that such organisations receive money on the pretext that they support underprivileged people but some selfish individuals allegedly invest the funds in their businesses.

“We are asking the Government to audit all Muslim organisations so that we know if the money is being used for intended purposes,” he said.

Mr Zimba said auditing Muslim organisations will ensure transparency and accountability in the administration of public funds.

He also said the council will continue supporting Government in the implementation of programmes aimed at improving people’s living standards.

Mr Zimba further called on the Muslim community in Zambia to continue playing their role of looking after the needy in society.

He also said the council has received US$12,000 from the Dubai Muslim Charity Association and 50,400 euros from a Turkish organisation, Hasene for hosting a four-day Qurban at which Muslims slaughter animals to feed underprivileged people in society.

Political scientist Alex Ng’oma has observed that there is nothing wrong with the statement that first republican president Kenneth Kaunda made during the commemoration of the country’s 49th independence anniversary in Kitwe last week.

Some opposition political parties in the country have cried foal that Dr. Kaunda’s speech in which he praised President Michael Sata was decisive and that the former head of state was actually campaigning for his re-election in 2016.

Dr. Ng’oma has however observed that much as he is a former Head of State, Dr. Kaunda is also a free moral agent and that he was merely giving credit where it was due in terms of how President Sata is presiding over the country’s governance affairs.

Dr. Ng’oma says the cry by some opposition political parties over Dr. Kaunda’s speech has actually exposed them of what they really are as political parties who are inclined to negativity.

Dr. Ng’oma says this is because they do not want to give credit where it is due no matter what a good thing that ruling party or the President himself may come with.

He says some opposition political parties are a kind that would prefer that the former Head of State speaks negatively about Mr. Sata even when there is some credit due to him for anything good he may do.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Mwansa Kapeya says Zambia is on course to meeting the digital migration deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Mr Kapeya said government has put in measures and a policy which is working towards meeting the said deadline which is July 16th, 2016.

He said government could not meet the SADC regional deadline for this year which was set for June as it concentrated so much on meeting the international deadline.

The minister said this in Ndola today during a live interview on Sun FM radio station.

Meanwhile, Mr Kapeya noted that it is government’s desire to ensure that every district has a radio station.

He said this is so because radio stations are the quickest means of disseminating information.

Mr Kapeya said community radio stations in the country are doing a commendable job as people including the rural populace are now able to get first hand information.

He noted that due to the commendable job that the media is doing, it prompted government to create the Information Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to be responsible of monitoring the operations of the media.

Mr Kapeya pointed out that the media in the country has expanded and government does not want to interfere in its operations in any way.

He said the PF government does not want to have any hand in the running of the media as the media cannot continue to work under the control of government.

And IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma advised the media practitioners to ensure that only balanced stories are published.

She said it is important for journalists to work according to what the code of ethics stipulates.

ZANIS