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A LUSAKA man has been sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labour for issuing death threats to Republican President Michael Sata.
In handling down judgment yesterday, Magistrate Jennifer Bwalya sentenced Andrew Msiska to three years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to the offence of issuing death deaths to the President contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars alleged that Msiska, a businessman of Lusaka’s Rhodes Park area had written a letter to Mr Sata and his cabinet ministers where he issued death threats to him and others on unknown dates but this year concerning an oil exploration deal.
He pleaded guilty to the offence when the matter came up for plea early this week.
“After you readily admit the charge leveled against you, you have not wasted the court’s time and you are entitled
to leniency, but the offence committed is grave and others need to learn from you, I accordingly sentence you to three years imprisonment with hard labour with effect from today,” said Magistrate Bwalya.
In mitigation the accused said asked for leniency from the court saying he was the first offender, was married and did not mean to do what he did.
He said he did not know that what he was doing might land him in trouble and asked the court not to slap him with a custodial offence.
But Magistrate Bwalya advised him to always think of the repercussions of his actions to avoid committing similar offences in future.
Protesting nurses at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka relax under a tree shade.
VICE President Guy Scott has said Government is negotiating with the Zambia Union of Nurses and others to resolve the work stoppage by nurses at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka.
Dr Scott said during Parliamentary proceedings in Lusaka yesterday that Government was working round the clock to address the current impasse leading to nurses withdrawing labour at the UTH.
“We are currently talking with about 12 unions concerning the issue and it will be addressed as soon as possible. Most of the nurses are reporting for work and only a few have gone on go-slow,” Dr Scott
said.
And the Zambia Union of Nurses (ZUNO) has appealed to the nurses to resume work as their grievances were being looked into.
ZUNO president Tom Yungano said the nurses had expressed discontent at the narrowing of the gap between their salaries and that of their juniors who had received a substantial salary increment.
He said some nurses claimed that their payslips had anomalies as new allowances announced last month were not reflecting.
He said his Union had since approached Government to address the issue in view of the recent increment adding that the matter would be tabled when talks for new salaries and conditions of service commenced in November this year.
“We can only appeal to the nurses to resume work because all their issues are being looked into, the major issues were the 21 percent collective increase, some got less and Government has finally agreed to rectify the anomalies in the September salaries so one can claim that they will get less than 21. They are also not happy that the gap between themselves and maids or cleaners who have gotten a huge increment because they believe they (nurses) are trained professionals,” Mr Yungano said.
And Government released the press statement yesterday appealing for nurses to go back to work
PRESS STATEMENT BY PERMANENT SECRETARY, PUBLIC SERVICE MANAGEMENT DIVISION, DR. VELEPI C. MTONGA, ON THE PROTEST BY HEALTH WORKERS IN SOME HEALTH INSTITUTIONS
Friday 4th October 2013
Government has noted with regret the ongoing protest by nurses and midwives in Lusaka. We note that the protests relate to anomalies in the implementation of the revised salaries especially Salary Grade F and G.
I wish to inform the nation that Government is addressing all genuine anomalies and affected workers shall be paid correctly in the month of October, 2013 but effective 1st September, 2013 as per 2013 Collective Agreements.
It is therefore imperative that all protests are called off immediately following today’s meeting held between Government and the health sector unions.
Further we wish to assure that all the genuine anomalies relating to the new salary grades will be rectified immediately and will be paid in October 2013.
In March 2013, Government and the Public Service Unions in the Health Sector signed Collective Agreements for 2013 Negotiations for improved Salaries and Conditions of Service and agreed on the following:-
a. that the revised salaries be based on the Evaluation and Re-grading Exercise;
b. that the lowest salary increase for Health Employees be at the rate of 4 percent;
c. that Health Personnel shift differential Allowance be introduced and paid to all Nurses, Paramedics and Midwives who were formerly in Medical Scales (MS) at the rate of 15 percent of the basic salary; and
d. That commuted Night duty allowance paid to eligible Health employees be increased from 5 to 7 percent of basic salary.
Government implemented the 2013 Collective Agreements with effect from 1st September, 2013.
Government therefore wishes to appeal to the affected workers to resume work as the anomalies are being addressed.
Dr Velepi Mtonga Permanent Secretary PUBLIC Service Management Division
THE Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has recorded a warn and caution Statement from suspended Copperbelt Province Police chief Mary Tembo.
Ms Tembo was recently suspended by the Republican President to pave way for investigations into alleged corrupt activities after she received a motor vehicle from a mining company for her personal use without declaring it to her superiors, which was against the code of ethics for public service workers.
ACC public relations manager Timothy Moono confirmed the recording of a warn and caution statement in the corruption related case from the former Copperbelt police chief at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Moono said the warn and caution statement from Ms Tembo was recorded early this week after investigators completed their investigations.
Mr Moono said what was remaining was for ACC legal department to study all the documents given to them in order for the department to give the commission credible guidelines on the next move to be taken.
“ Yes I can confirm that ACC has completed investigations instituted against the suspended Copperbelt Police chief, Ms Tembo and we have to that effect recorded a warn and caution statement from her, what is remaining now is to hear from the legal department what next move must be taken,” he said.
He said Ms Tembo’s alleged act of converting the motor vehicle donated by well-wishers to personal use without declaring the property to superiors contradicted the code of ethics for the public service.
The code of ethics states that a public service employee shall not accept gifts, rewards or hospitality or receive benefits of any kind from any person or organisation which might compromise or reasonably be seen to compromise one’s personal judgment or integrity.
CORRUPT Cabinet Ministers will be dropped immediately they are identified, Vice President Guy Scott has warned.
Dr Scott said this in Parliament yesterday in a response to MMD Sikongo Member of Parliament (MP) Ndalamei Mundia, who wanted to know, what would be the fate of Cabinet Ministers allegedly involved in corrupt practices.
“As soon as corrupt elements are known, they will be removed from Cabinet,” Dr Scott said.
Dr Scott said the fight against corruption also required sufficient budgetary support to help investigation agencies such as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) carry out their works efficiently.
He said it was only through financial support that research experts in the investigative wings could also boost their performance.
This was in response to a question raised by Lubansenshi Independent MP Patrick Mucheleka, who wanted to know how the effectiveness of the ACC would be triggered so that the fight against corruption yielded the desired results.
Dr Scott also told Parliament that the tribunal set-up to investigate the conduct of two suspended High Court judges and one Supreme Court Judge was still active and had been delayed to court litigation.
He added that the findings of various commissions of inquiry set-up by President Michael Sata would have its findings known soon.
The Vice President in responding to Chipili Patriotic Front (PF) MP, Davies Chipili on why President Michael Sata during his attendance of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, lobbied for two permanent seats on the UN Security Council, said this would help Zambia participate in global issues including those concerning security among others.
Dr Scott said it was vital for Zambia to have her voice heard on the international scene on matters such nuclear proliferation.
Wynter Kabimba
THE Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) has advised Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary General Wynter Kabimba to desist from dragging the media into trying to solve his political problems.
Reacting to Mr Kabimba’s letter to Information and Broadcasting Services minister Emmanuel Mwamba accusing him of polarization of the public media, PAZA President Andrew Sakala said the public media should never be dragged in political disputes.
“It is unfortunate the Secretary General who is also the Justice Minister has chosen to attack the media. It is surprising that this coming from Mr Kabimba who has received enormous positive coverage,” he said in an interview.
He said the fact that Mr Kabimba had in the past received coverage which he perceived as negative did not mean that the public media was being unprofessional.
He said the public media should be left to exercise professional judgment in the manner they selected stories for publication or broadcast.
‘As PAZA we don’t want to see a situation where the media should be dragged in political disputes. The media should be left to do their job,” he said.
Mr Sakala said politicians should endeavour to create policies and laws that would enable the public media serve all members of the public objectively and professionally regardless of their status in society.
“The status of a person in society should not be a factor as regards to coverage in the public media. PF should continue with the media reforms so that the public media serves public interest not the status of a person,” he said.
In a strongly worded letter addressed to Mr Mwamba and copied to the minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Mwansa Kapeya and public media heads dated October 3, 2013, titled ‘politicisation of the public media’, Mr Kabimba said in the last week he had seen several headlines against him in the public media.
He accused Mr Mwamba of trying to, “destroy the public media in order to please your paymasters and their cronies.”
“As secretary General of the Patriotic Front, I shall not sit back and allow such a situation to continue unabated to the detriment of national development. I have a duty to protect the majority interest of this country against turncoats whose objective is to serve narrow personal interests of their paymasters.”
He said he had seen several headlines against him in the Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia which were so personal in nature and style that they were unexpected from the Government media against a sitting minister of Government.
And in a press statement Mr Sakala warned politicians to not to drag the media in political disputes.
“We must state here that politicians should desist from dragging the media into political disputes and let the media exercise their professional and ethical judgment when covering issues including controversial political conflicts,” he said.
Mr Sakala said that politicians, who in the past have received more than their fair share of coverage from both the public and private media, have the tendency to change positions and attack the media when they face public scrutiny or opposition from their colleagues.
And Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) general secretary Angela Chishimba said the media should be left to operate professionally and not drawn into political divisions.
Ms Chishimba said politicians should not drag the media into political matters but leave the journalists to operate in an environment that was free from intimidation.
She advised politicians to desist from interfering with the work of journalist as doing so would affect their ability to objectively inform the public.
“This is really unfair, journalists are always vulnerable, even when they are just trying to do their jobs, so our advice is please leave the journalist to do their work,” Ms Chishimba said.
Meanwhile, Alliance for Better Zambia president Father Frank Bwalya has condemned attacks by Justice Minister and Patriotic Front Secretary General Wynter Kabimba on the Zambia Daily Mail over the stories the newspaper has been publishing about him.
Father Bwalya has told QFM News that the media must be left to do their work without any intimidations or interference by the powers that be.
Father Bwalya who is also a journalist by profession notes that there should be a better way of handling such issues if Mr. Kabimba is injured with the manner the newspaper has been covering stories related to his predicament.
The ABZ leader says issues affecting Mr. Kabimba should not affect the operations of the Zambia Daily Mail or individual journalists.
Information and broadcasting services Permanent Secretary Emmanuel Mwamba has expressed sadness at the level of harassment by Mr. Kabimba on individual journalists at the Zambia Daily Mail.
Mr Kabimba is also said to have threatened to close down the Government owned newspaper.
Nkana and Power Dynamos undertake important dates in their respective FAZ Super Division Week 24 games this weekend.
On Saturday, Power travel to Ndola to play second from bottom Forest Rangers who are now coached by the visitors ex-assistant trainer Hector Chilombo who was fired by the Kitwe side in June.
“I know it will be a crucial game and I know their coach was coaching Power and he knows the players so we will work hard to reach our target in that game,” Power coach Tennant Chilumba said.
Chilumba is finally winning the hearts and minds at Arthur Davies after a forgettable first six games just after he took over from Beston Chambeshi.
Chambeshi picked up just four points from that poor run.
However fortunes have changed and 10th placed Power are looking to stretch their unbeaten run to six games away at Forest who have not lost a home game in their last eight matches in Ndola.
Meanwhile on Sunday, their archrivals and second placed Nkana are in an awkward situation at Wusakile in their home game against third Nchanga Rangers.
Nkana have 45 points from 22 games with a match in hand and are tied on points with leaders Zesco.
But the thing is Zesco will also be in action at the same venue in the earlier kickoff when they play struggler’s Kalulushi Modern Stars.
Victory for Zesco will keep them top even if Nkana beat Nchanga whom they defeated 1-0 in the first leg meeting in Chingola last May.
And a win or draw for Nchanga will see them stay third for another week.
President Michael Sata and First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba leaves New York Palace Hotel during his departure from New York on September 28,2013- Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
Scores of Patriotic Front cadres thronged Kenneth Kaunda International Airport this afternoon to give President Michael Sata a thunderous welcome back home.
The PF cadres clad in party regalia went wild signing solidarity songs as the President alighted from the Emirates Airline plane at about 16:00 hours.
President Sata took time to greet the cadres shortly after greeting Ministers and other government officials who had gone to welcome him at the Airport.
President Sata was in New York where he had gone to attend the United Nations General Assembly which he addressed.
The President in his address to the UN General Assembly called for the need for Africa to be given permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
The Three Church mother bodies namely the Council of Churches in Zambia, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia and the Zambia Episcopal Conference will be holding an interdenominational national prayer service to pray for our country Zambia.
The prayer service which is open to all citizens of the country has been called by the three church mother bodies to pray to lift the nation to God on issues that have affected the nation in the recent past.
We shall be praying for peace in the nation as we celebrate the 49th independence anniversary, political harmony in the country, transformative leadership at all levels of society, the national leadership in government, csos and traditional leaders.
Other issues the church will be praying for are the rule of law, governance and governance institutions, road accidents, constitution making process and corrupt free school examinations.
The church will also be praying for the national budget, favourable rainfall, timely distribution of inputs, job creation and the media.
All peace loving Zambians are invited to this National Prayer Service to be held at The Cathedral of the Holy Cross this Sunday, 6th October, 2013 starting at 14:00 hours.
To this effect every church in the nation is requested to take a moment during their Sunday worship services to pray for Zambia’s peace and tranquility.
Love Joy and Peace
Rev Suzanne Matale
General Secretary
Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ)
The University Teaching Hospital, the nation’s highest referral hospital, was yesterday paralysed after midwives and nurses downed tools over a wage dispute with the government.
A check in Ward CO3, the hospitals maternity wing, found that medics had refused to attend to pregnant women and other patients as they were not happy with the way the new salary increments had been effected.
“Tatuli fipuba, twalisambilila, sendeni ba cleaners mubabofye kubalwele (We are not fools, we are learned, get cleaners you use them to treat patients for us we are not ready to get back for work not until you address the increments).
Where on earth does a cleaner get more than a nurse? Which country is that? Yaba Sata na Kabimba fye,” one of the nurses said.
[pullquote]Tatuli fipuba, twalisambilila, sendeni ba cleaners mubabofye kubalwele[/pullquote] And the work stoppage by nurses and other health workers in Lusaka has spread to Southern, Western, Copperbelt and Eastern Provinces.
Another check at UTH children wing found nurses waiting to be addressed by their union representatives and other senior managers, while others walked away saying that they did not have time to listen to lies by those that were paid to convince them to get back for work.
Nurses and other health workers among other things are demanding decent salary increment saying that they felt insulted by the PF government to equate them to cleaners and others who were non-professionals.
After the PF government increased salaries cleaners are getting K2.900, while nurses are between the range of K2.900 and K3.100.
According to sources at the hospital, nurses were infuriated after realising that their salaries were equated to cleaners, security guards and other classified daily employees at the institution who were now getting K2.900 on average.
Nurses and midwives who have described the recent salary increment shameful and lack of respect by the Patriotic Front (PF) government to professionals said that they would not get back to work until government review the increment.
The nurses also said that they felt betrayed by their union leaders who went for a raw deal which has created confusion and discontent in the manner the health sector would operate.
A group of nurses went round all the wards removing all nurses who were working at UTH both at the main hospital and the children wing.
About midday yesterday, health workers mainly clinical officers and nurses in Monze, Mazabuka, Choma and Livingstone were waiting for instructions to stop work until the matter is resolved.
In Chipata nurses, Mongu and Kitwe nurses had actively joined the strike demanding for a serious increment saying that the PF government will not get away with what they described cheap lies.
But Civil Servants and Allied Worker Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) public relations Alphas Munakaila said that nurses and other aggrieved workers should understand the negotiation process.
Munakaila said that those striking should also understand that workers such as cleaners, guards and others who were getting little salaries have been put in lime light for them to also have an equal share of the national cake.
“The union is aware about the strike or work stoppage by some nurses, our appeal is to our members to be patient. They need to understand the negotiation process and above all we were informing them about the discussions that we were having with government.
Nurses should also understand what is at stake, these people (CDEs) were least remunerated in terms of salaries and government was trying to bridge up the gap between the lowly paid and others. We know that they are not happy-we shall talk to them to understand the whole issue,” said Munakaila
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Mkhondo Lungu has ordered Minister of Health Joseph Katema to issue a comprehensive statement next week on the status of the health sector in the country with respect to reports of strikes by nurses and midwives.This was after Chipata Central member of parliament Reuben Mtolo Phiri stood on a point of order to find out whether the government was in order to keep quiet on the matter when nurses had downed tools.
In his ruling, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Mkhondo Lungu ordered that the ministry responsible issues a statement on the matter next week, amid mummers from the opposition who wanted the matter to be addressed urgently.
File Picture:President Michael Sata and his entourage at the New York Palace Hotel when he arrived in New York for the 68th General Assembly session on September 23,2013 -Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
Vice President Guy Scott says President Michael Sata’s absence from the country is nobody’s business.
Responding to a question by Bwacha Member of Parliament Sydney Mushanga who asked him to inform the nation where the president is and when he is coming back to Zambia, Dr Scott said President Sata is in communication with government officials.
Dr Scott said President Sata managed to call him and is in touch with everything that is going on back home.
He added that it is not anyone’s business to live in the president’s pocket.
President Sata was recently in New York where he went to attend the United Nations General assembly which he addressed but did not return to Zambia thereafter.His whereabouts are unknown to the country.
File:President Michael Sata takes the Oath of Office as Chief Justice Ernest Sakala looks on at the inauguration ceremony in Lusaka
Barely two years ago, the architect of the PF Movement was ceremoniously welcomed with such a huge sense of anticipation by a cross-culture- diversity of Zambians.People lined up for hours to cast their bet on the supposedly messiah who would redeem them from the economic oppression they had endured under the Banda government.
People had such an enormous optimism in their upcoming savior.Zambians were hungry and desperate for a leader who would not only redeem them from the corrupt, immoral and economic treacherousness of the previous government, they wanted a strong leader who would navigate them through the economic wilderness into the land of prosperity.
But did Zambian people get the leader they bargained for? It suffices to say that the messiah they had hopped for has turned out be nothing but an absentee father who has abandoned his children in the wilderness to protect and fend for themselves.
People did not vote for a leader who would only surface when it is time recommission some overdue project or leader who would only appear during times to appease some recycled politicians at ridiculous swearing in ceremonies.
The biggest problem in Zambia isn’t necessarily so much about economic mismanagement than it’s about lack of skilled leadership, particularly lack of presidential leadership skills in the current government. People want a virtuous, a forthright and a strong leader and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand. Mr. Sata, please show some leadership.
A 44 year old man from Nakonde,Eliya Sinkala who was recently detained by police was reported dead not long after.Mr Sinkala’s relatives collected the body for burial but after postmortem, they went with it to the police station demanding that whoever killed their relative in the cells be released so that they could bury him together with their relative.
The group of mourners comprising mainly of the dead suspect’s family went on rampage throwing missiles at the police station and stoning vehicles before blocking one of Nakonde’s main streets. Several window panes at the police station were broken though no casualties were recorded.Two police vehicles including a private saloon car had their windshields shattered.
Police fired teargas canisters to disperse the missile throwing mob that descended on the police station demanded justice for the deceased suspect.
Police rounded up and arrested the 44 mourners following the riot.
Muchinga deputy police chief Chileje Nyirenda confirmed the riot and arrests that followed the fracas.
“Police had arrested Eliya Sinkala, 44, but he was beaten by fellow inmates. When officers heard the commotion they rushed to the deceased’s rescue but he was pronounced dead at the hospital,” Mr Nyirenda said.
Mr Nyirenda appealed for calm among Mr Sinkala’s family as police had launched investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death.
“Now to our surprise, when we thought a golden opportunity had occurred for a Bemba to rule us, a tree fell on our foot, lamented one of the Bemba traditional councilors known as bashilubemba. In other words, the Bembas have shot themselves in the foot.”
It has since become clear that President Michael Sata has ruffled the Bemba kingdom and fallen out of favor. He has drawn much blood and needs to suture the gaping wound before it becomes cancerous and spreads to his own party. His interference in the kingship of the Bemba is so offensive that an outraged Bemba council is prepared to die for its king.
If Sata does not gazette Henry Kanyanta Sosala as Paramount Chief Chitimukulu, and make peace with him, bashilubemba, who comprise Bemba chiefs and influential elders (bachilolo na bakabilo) will sink the already rocking Patriotic Front boat, and president Sata’s 2016 re-election bid will go down the drain. When he’s out and done, bashilubemba will declare him a pariah, and caution him never to step a foot in Mpika—remember KK?
The Bemba council has made it categorically clear:
[The Bemba council is the only assemblage empowered to appoint a paramount chief and other chiefs]. This is in accordance with the Bemba tradition, and has been from time immemorial. The decision of the council is unquestionable. No one, in the more than forty exogamous matrilineal clans (imikowa), has a right to object, including Sata who belongs to the mushroom clan out of which a chiefdom was carved by Bemba princes, putting the Bisa in line of a distant succession to the paramountcy.
Executive Power versus Customary law
But what bashilubemba are forgetting is that their subject is the head of state. The Constitution is on his side for it stipulates that “the institution of chieftaincy together with its traditional councils as established by customary law and its usage is hereby guaranteed, subject to the Constitution.” Besides, the president has far-reaching powers to administer national affairs and can apply his executive powers to nullify the appointment of a paramount chief.
It has become apparent that the president is against the installation of the current paramount chief. He will not gazette a man who, according to him, has been “masquerading as Senior Chief Mwamba,” a man who has confessed that, as Chief Mwamba, he did not undergo “the traditional initiation as required by the Bemba tradition.” Bashilubemba think this is a ploy. Rumor has it that the president prefers young brother of Professor Nkandu Luo, Bob, who is from the Bisa cluster. This unilateral intention is at odds with the customary laws of inheritance because Bob is not a mwina ng’ona, a special type of clan that is a pathway to succession. Umwina ng’ona has to be a son of a woman, and not a man, who belongs to the Bena ng’ona. If the president appointed him, he would have overlooked this fact.
The die is cast. The question is who will blink first in this highly explosive wrangle? Will it be Sata, a suave tactician adept at the use of theatrics? Many a time he has astounded us with his ability to walk on fire and emerge unscathed. Will he brazen his way out of this and make bashilubemba cow, stoop to instinctive obedience and for the first time in the history of the Bemba chiefdom, nullify the appointment of a chief picked in accordance with the Bemba tradition? Or, will bashilubemba stand their ground and force the president into submission, castigate him, demand an apology, and make him swallow his ego and bow before Chitimukulu Henry Kanyanta Sosala? Still, will Sata, known to be unpredictable, raid the palace and arrest bashilubemba and the paramount chief for insubordination?
The Bemba vote
The crowd during the inauguration ceremony raise the PF symbol as they sing the national anthem.
In all this kerfuffle (yes, kafwafwa is an English word), the loser is Sata. It has become evident that he’s better an opposition leader than a president. Before he was elected he was tenacious, indefatigable, imposing, convincing, omnipresent, timely, and often splendid. As president he is irresolute, lackadaisical, and complacent. Hallowed with the aura of incontestable authority, he has become the colossus who never admits to being wrong; one who takes people for granted; one who makes choices based on his ideas and judgment, and who thinks his actions have no consequences because they are a matter of prerogative.
Well, the interference in the Bemba chiefdom at the level of paramount chief is unprecedented and could have dire consequences. What the president is forgetting is that he owes a life-time allegiance to the Bisa tribe that falls under the suzerainty of paramount chief Chitimukulu. As a subject of the Bemba kingdom, the moral and practical rightness of his actions is beyond his presidency. If things went really bad between him and the paramount chief, he would tarnish the name of his family.
He must also not forget that he owes gratitude to the Bemba people for putting him in State House. The president and his PF were ushered into power, in most part, by Bembas. By the 2010 census, the population of Northern Province was 1,759,600, predominantly Bemba. Luapula Province had a population of 958,976. Add the population of the Copperbelt 1,958, 623 of mainly Bembas, and a large number in Lusaka (population 2,198,996), and you have the largest ethnic group in the country.
In the 2011 election, the majority of the Bemba people voted PF. The president’s ingratitude has brought about discontent and resentment in the Bemba kingdom. Bembas in every riding have not taken kindly to the way he has publicly defamed, antagonized, humiliated, and dishonored their current paramount chief. Their infuriation began when Sata refused to recognize him [paramount chief] as Senior Chief Mwamba and informed the press to shun him. They are further riled by the president’s failure to attend the burial of the previous Chitimukulu, something they regard as highly disrespectful. Further, they are incensed that he has continued to subject the paramount chief to ridicule by refusing to gazette him.
The president can’t read the tea leaves from the infusion. He can’t see the irreparable damage he is causing his political career and future. He can’t see that the lamentations of bashilubemba have been heard throughout Bembaland and are drawing sympathy and solidarity for the paramount chief. He does not know that the paramount chief is now in a position to fight back—that he is already fighting back. It is his lack of an avenue for the expression of his displeasure at the president that has led to the audio tape being covertly released on the Internet and other media.
The call for the Bemba people to rally behind the new Chitimukulu
Let me comment on the audio tape. The sound is so crisp it could only have been handled by a professional. There is no loss of quality in the voices of speakers like Ba Masembe, and Chief Chimba. They were speaking in the microphone inches away. Each speaker’s pitch, volume, and rhythm, conveys a clear denunciation of the president. And the fact that not one of bashilubemba has come forward to deny or condemn the audio tape is a clear testament that the recording was done with the full knowledge and permission of bashilubemba.
What does all this mean? It means that bashilubemba have risen against the president for attempting to desecrate the Bemba traditional laws of succession. They want to publicly and courageously express their contempt for him. They want to show him that they are impregnable. They want to assure their subjects around the country that they are diligently performing their duty of protecting the Bemba chiefdom. They are asking the Bemba people to rally behind the new Chitimukulu. Also, they are intimating that they may withdraw support of the president and his party in future elections.
In other words, bashilubemba have put their indelible stamp on the Bemba kingdom, for better or worse. They are tough men with profound influence. They believe they have a mandate from their people and see themselves as defenders of the kingdom. If they choose to withdraw support for the president, they will do so with tremendous backing. This possibility is inwardly welcomed by political opportunists within the PF party. Some, including confidants of the president, see this as a window of opportunity to succeed him. They are praying that he does not append his signature and gazette the man he has rejected so they can exploit the mess for their political gain.
President Sata’s trial of strength is his own making and has come too soon in his reign. The paramount chief succession cockup and the latest fiasco between the “endorsers” and “successors” have weakened him. The latter underscores the deep divide in the PF party. Geoffrey Mwamba and Wynter Kabimba have started a fight that might splinter the party. Even if they make up and shake hands, they would have caused irreparable damage. It is possible another political party might emerge out of this fracas or mass defections might occur. And if the president does not gazette the new paramount chief Chitimukulu, Bembas will be crossing over to other parties. In the end, the crocodile would have wrecked the boat.
Promising youngster Nawa Nawa says he is enjoying his current stint at FAZ Super Division side Nchanga Rangers.
Last July, Nawa’s parent club Brave Tigers -a club owned by Kitwe City Council- loaned him to Nchanga after two seasons at Kalulushi Modern Stars.
Nawa said he was happy with the game time he is getting under coach Fighton Simukonda.
” I am settling in well and enjoying myself. The coach and my new team mates have welcomed me well,” he said.
Nawa has commanded a place in the Nchanga starting 11 since making his dream debut on July 27 when he scored in the 2-1 win over Zesco United in Ndola.
“I will work extra hard to help the team perform well in the league,” he added.
Nawa has played for Kitwe United and Mining Rangers.
