President Michael Sata has strongly warned that the PF government will revoke milling licences and resort to price controls if millers fail to reduce the escalating Mealie meal prices.

“All of us here (State House) are getting tax payers money but what are we doing to help the poor people?” he asked.

“The price of Mealie meal goes up uncontrollably and you are all just watching and I would like to warn the millers, we as a government, we can reintroduce price controls if they want to exploit the people in the villagers, the people in township they don’t work and you say Mealie meal can cost K80, 000. Any millers selling Mealie meal at 50,000 will have their licence hanging,” President Sata said.

President Sata said his government is concerned that millers have continued exploiting consumers by selling the commodity at prices which are beyond the reach of the poor.

He said any miller selling a 25 Kg Mealie meal bag at 50,000 is exploiting the poor.

President Sata took a swipe at senior government officials accusing them of failing to address the problem of high Mealie meal prices.

President Sata was speaking at State House this morning when he swore in newly appointed Lands Deputy Minister Danny Chingimbu.

Meanwhile, President Sata has warned Mr. Chingimbu against using government resources to organise the opposition MMD.

He said Mr. Chingimbu should instead ask for resources from MMD leader Nevers Mumba whom he referred to as Jail master if he wants to organise the MMD.

President Sata also called for hard work and commitment from Ministers saying there is a lot of laziness among Zambians adding that Ministers should lead by example.

“Here at State House, coming late for work is a dismissible offence. If you come late, then you are stealing from the tax payers. Be like Honourable Chikwanda, you go to the Ministry of Finance at 07 Hours, you will find Honourable Chikwanda there,” President Sata said.

The Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) says the sacking of Ikeleng’i MMD Member of Parliament, Elijah Muchima, as Deputy Minister of Lands by President Michael Sata should serve as a great lesson to other opposition parliamentarians.

FODEP Executive Director, MacDonald Chipenzi, says opposition parliamentarians should not betray the trust and confidence of their electorate and political parties for their appetite for ministerial positions and self-enrichment.

Mr Chipenzi said circumstances surrounding Mr Muchima’s removal from his ministerial position should also serve as a lesson to opposition parliamentarians still serving in government to brace themselves of an uncertain future stay in those positions.

He further added that the ruling party’s attempt to infuse members of the opposition in government without a thorough consideration of the true position of their loyalty to government should act as a reflection point.

The FODEP Executive Director said the alleged current witch-hunt obtaining in the Patriotic Front (PF) can be attributed to the ruling party’s indiscriminate infusion of opposition Parliamentarians without gauging their true loyalty to the party in power vis-a-vis its values and manifesto.

Mr Chipenzi said divided loyalties, at most times, can lead to leakages of confidential government information to the public.

He appealed to all advocates of democracy in this country to reflect seriously on how best multiparty politics in Zambia can be protected and defended from being decimated.

Mr Chipenzi said his organisation’s earnest appeal to all opposition Parliamentarians, especially those still suffering from the syndrome of indecision, was to remain loyal to the values and ideologies of their political parties regardless of how appetizing and lucrative the temptation to serve in Government.

He said it would be wise for opposition Parliamentarians to wait for 2016 during which they may join other political parties of their choice rather than contribute to the creation of unnecessary confusion and divisions in their own parties by joining and consequently causing costly by-elections when and if expelled.

ZANIS

Police in Kitwe today arrested and charged MMD president Nevers Mumba for conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

Earlier at around 05:00 hours in the morning, police in full riot gear surrounded Bella Lova Apartments in Kitwe’s Parklands area where Dr. Mumba had lodged and asked him to accompany them to the police station.

Dr. Mumba complied with the police’s directive and reported at Kitwe Central Police around 07:00 hours and was detained until 12:40 hours when he was released on police bond.

Dr. Mumba will appear in court on January 4, 2013.

Police spokesperson, Elizabeth Kanjela, Copperbelt Commissioner of Police Mary Tembo and Dr. Mumba’s lawyer Jonas Mukumbi of Mukumbi and Company all confirmed the arrest of Dr. Mumba in an interview.

Ms. Tembo said Dr. Mumba was arrested for allegedly issuing an alarming statement on Monday that the Patriotic Front (PF) government had paid some people K1.4 billion to destabilize the MMD.

Ms. Tembo said the statement that Dr. Mumba issued was likely to cause confusion in the Copperbelt province.

She said the police arrested Dr. Mumba so that he can produce evidence concerning the utterances he made.

She said police in the Copperbelt province were not happy with Dr. Mumba’s behaviour and warned him against issuing statements that are likely to cause confusion in the nation.

[pullquote]“It is our responsibility to defend democracy. When Mr Sata was in the opposition, he said Rupiah Banda recruited policemen from Zimbabwe to come rig the elections. We never arrested them,” he said.[/pullquote]

She said Dr. Mumba has since been released on police bond and that he will appear in court on January, 4, 2013.

Ms. Tembo however said the police will not hesitate to re-arrest Dr. Mumba if he continues to issue alarming statements in the Copperbelt province.

And Mr. Mukumbi wondered why police officers had detained Dr. Mumba for more than five hours at Kitwe Central Police.

He said his client reported at Central Police around 07:00 hours and was only charged around 12:00 hours.

And speaking in an interview after being released from Kitwe Central Police, Dr. Mumba maintained that the statement he made about the PF government having given some people K1.4 billion to destabilize the MMD was true.

Dr. Mumba said as a leader of the opposition political party, he has access to intelligence information.

Dr. Mumba said he has the responsibility to defend democracy and that he had reliable intelligence information on anything that destroys the future of the country.

“It is our responsibility to defend democracy. When Mr Sata was in the opposition, he said Rupiah Banda recruited policemen from Zimbabwe to come rig the elections. We never arrested them,” he said.

He said democracy should be enjoyed by people from both the ruling class and the opposition for it to be meaningful to the country.

He was represented by Jonas Mukumbi from Mukumbi and Company, Douglas Mazumba from Douglas and Partners and Victor Michelo from Michelo and Company.

Mr Mukumbi confirmed in an interview the charge and said that it was surprising that his client was detained around 07.00 hrs and only charged at 12.00hrs.

“The police have taken unnecessary delay in charging him. Our client is denying the charge,” he said.

A fortnight ago, Dr. Mumba and some senior party officials were arrested for unlawful assembly in Kitwe in the Copperbelt province and he is still appearing in court on that charge.

ZANIS

Police have detained MMD leader Nevers Mumba at Kitwe Central Police for unspecified reasons.

Dr. Mumba’s special assistant Raphael Nakachinda confirmed in an interview that the MMD President is still detained at the police station.

“We are not sure why we are here (police station), the officers followed Dr. Mumba and surrounded the place where we were lodging in Kitwe and asked us to accompany them to the police. No questioning has taken place here and the officers who picked us up have since disappeared,” Nakachinda said.

“The officers say they are waiting for further instructions from their superiors in Lusaka.”

Nakachinda said the detention could be connected to yesterday’s move by Dr. Mumba and some senior MMD officials to donate food items to Kamfisa State Prison.

“We took some food items valued at K5.5 million to Kamfisa because Dr. Mumba saw how the prisoners desperately need help when he was recently detained there and he wanted to celebrate Christmas with the inmates there but he was blocked.”

“We proceeded and made donations to the newly born babies at Kitwe Central Hospital and Chimwemwe Clinic but it appears the government is not happy with that kind gesture by Dr. Mumba,” he said.

By mid morning , Dr. Mumba was still locked up at Kitwe Central Police Station.

Inspector General of Police Stella Libongani says investigations into the whereabouts of former President Rupiah Banda’s son Henry have not been closed.

Mrs. Libongani said Henry is still on a wanted person’s list and that the case is being handled the joint government investigations team.

She said the team is using all possible channels to see to it that Mr. Banda is brought back home to answer to some corruption related charges.

“Yes we are still pursuing Mr. Henry Banda, we have not abandoned the search,” Mrs. Libongani told Reporters Tuesday morning.

Henry Banda, a self-styled businessman was a key figure in his father’s failed bid for reelection and is believed to be living in South Africa.

Some local and regional newspapers speculated early in the year that Mr. Banda had been hiding at Kenya’s State House as a guest of President Mwai Kibaki.

He was placed on the Interpol wanted list after the PF government sought to have him return to answer questions about his alleged involvement in some corruption tainted government contracts.

His International lawyers however successfully pushed that his name be struck off the Interpol list.