The opposition MMD has continued to plunge into deeper trouble following calls from its leadership in Muchinga province for president Nevers Mumba to step aside and allow national chairman Kabinga Pande to lead the former ruling party until after a convention is held.

MMD Muchinga province chairlady Janet Mulenga said in Mpika today that due to the wrangles which have engulfed the party, members at the grassroots level feared that it might die if no serious measures are taken.

Ms. Mulenga said the party in Muchinga province was petitioning the National Executive Committee (NEC) through the national chairman to ensure that Dr. Mumba is relieved of his party duties with immediate effect.

Ms. Mulenga was supported by provincial information and publicity secretary Listo Ng’onga and provincial youth information publicity secretary Geoffrey Kapengwe.

The party leadership in Muchinga province has also petitioned the NEC to call for an urgent convention to elect new office bearers because the current leadership was allegedly heading nowhere.

Ms. Mulenga said in order to avoid further resignations of committed members from the party, it was important that new office bearers who love the party were allowed to lead the MMD

The MMD provincial leadership has since threatened to force Dr. Mumba out of the party it the NEC fails to heed to their demands.

She said Dr. Mumba was suspending and firing party members that have different views thereby making the MMD weak.

She claimed that the latest member to be suspended was national chairlady for women Catherine Namugala who is also Mafinga Member of Parliament.

Ms. Namugala has however expressed ignorance about her reported suspension but said she would not be surprised if at all the rumours were true.

But when contacted for a comment, Dr. Mumba maintained that he will not step down until after the next scheduled convention is be held.

He told ZANIS that the party would stick to the current leadership adding that there were no plans to hold an urgent convention.

On the reported suspension of Ms. Namugala, Dr. Mumba referred all queries related to this matter to the acting national secretary, Kapembwa Simbao who could however not be reached for a comment.

ZANIS

THE Kitwe magistrate court yesterday slapped a six months simple imprisonment sentence to the woman that allegedly poured hot porridge on her husband.

Two months out of the six would be suspended for 12 months meaning that she will only serve four months simple imprisonment.

Mavis Mwansa,29, of house number 692, Bulangililo was facing one count of causing grievous bodily harm contrary to section 229 of the Penal Code Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

On October 12 this year Mwansa, unlawfully did grievous bodily harm to Nelson Mwanza after pouring hot porridge on him.

She however denied the charge But in his judgment, senior resident magistrate Daniel Musonda noted Mr. Mwanza was grievously harmed by Mwansa.

The court also noted that Mr Mwanza sustained burns on the left side of his body and part of his face.

In her mitigation , Mwansa said has learnt a lot from the time she was remanded at Kamfinsa prison and asked for lenience. She also said that she was sorry for whatever she had done.

The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has expressed worry at the continued trend by parents and barons to use children as illicit drug couriers.

DEC Commissioner Alita Mbahwe said recently, a 14 year old girl was arrested in Serenje district where parents left over 50 kilogrammes of cannabis with her to sell to the abusers, while they went into hiding.

ZANIS reports that Ms. Mbahwe was speaking in Kabwe at the just ended two days sensitisation workshop for chiefs in Central province, whose theme was, ‘one chief, five Industries’.

She called on chiefs to sensitise their subjects against using children in drug related issues.

She said chiefs’ voices were very much respected and can help to prevent the abuse of children in drug trafficking.

Ms. Mbahwe further said Central province has continued to record a high number of people arrested for trafficking in cannabis and miraa, adding that the province was also the hotbed spot concerning the growing of the psychotropic substances.

The Commissioner has further called upon chiefs to work with DEC in order to effectively preach the message that will make communities free of illicit drugs such as cannabis and miraa.

She added that a fight against the scourge of illicit drugs will be in vain without the chiefs’ support as their role in the battle goes to the root of the problem when it comes to cannabis cultivating and trafficking.

Ms. Mbahwe also urged chiefs to guard the communities against falling prey to vices such as white collar crimes.

According to the 2011 DEC report, Central province was leading in the amounts of cannabis seizures, accounting for 58 per cent of 83 kilograms of cannabis seeds seized countrywide.

And from January 2012 to date, a total number of 358 people have been arrested for drug related offences and a total of seven tonnes of cannabis has been seized in Central province.

ZANIS

Minister of Defence Geoffrey Mwamba has said tremendous progress has been made towards capturing the notorious Mailoni brothers in Mkushi district.

Mr. Mwamba assured the nation that the trio will sooner or later be captured by government forces that were deployed to Luano valley to clamp them down.

He said the forces have made inroads in tracing where the Mailoni brothers may be hiding and that it was just a matter of time before the killer brothers are brought to book.

Mr. Mwamba could however not divulge much information concerning the matter for fear of jeopardizing operations to arrest the three ‘blood-thirsty’ brothers who have caused untold terror to the people of Luano valley of Mkushi district of Central Province.

He was speaking to journalists in an interview in Lusaka today shortly after presenting Christmas hampers to patients at Maina Soko Military Hospital.

And Mr. Mwamba has urged citizens to always have a heart for patients and other vulnerable people in society by sharing the little they have especially during the festive season.

He urged citizens in the country to cultivate a heart of giving as it was more joyous to give than to receive.

Speaking earlier, Maina Soko Military Hospital Commandant Panganani Njobvu thanked the minister for the gesture saying the gift hampers would significantly help in quickening the recovering process of the patients.

Brigadier General Dr. Njobvu also disclosed that the maternity wing at the hospital, which was undergoing renovations, was ready for use and had been fully refurbished.

He said what was lacking was staff of at least ten medical officers to work in the maternity wing.

ZANIS

Patriotic Front cadres this morning heeded to party Secretary General Wynter Kabimba’s directive not to block embattled Kabwata Members of Parliament and Foreign Affairs Minister Given Lubinda from entering his office as planned.

Mr. Lubinda told Qfm News in an interview this morning from his office that he does not expect anyone to block him from carrying out national duties.

He says he will continue serving the people of Zambia despite the continuing pressure on him to resign from the ruling party.

And speaking in a separate interview, PF Kabwata Constituency Chairman David Silubanje said he has withdrawn his cadres from blocking Mr. Lubinda to allow the disciplinary committee take necessary action against him.

Mr. Silubanje says it is the will of the people that Mr. Lubinda is reprimanded by the party’s disciplinary committee on allegations of divided loyalty.

Yesterday PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba called on party cadres to exercise patience and wait for the disciplinary committee to hear cases instead of locking suspected offenders outside their offices.

[pullquote]“This is not my party and I am equal to every one of you here. Therefore, I have no reason or objective to hound anyone out of this party. People will hound themselves out, not me. They will also be hounded out by members who want to defend the party,” Kabimba said.[/pullquote]

“I want to urge you colleagues that we should allow the process to take its course,” Mr Kabimba said. “May I also state that a disciplinary committee was constituted to look at all pending issues,” he said.

The Justice Minister added, “I would urge you to exercise patience and do not lock anyone out of their offices,” he said.

He said the ruling party will act to protect itself from anyone who attempts to frustrate its efforts and this must not be mistaken for hounding out foes.

Mr Kabimba said the PF is presently going through a defining moment to protect its ideology which requires it to correct erring members.

He said he has been accused of trying to hound out and victimise some party members but that these are the people who do not want to repent about bad situations they have created for themselves.

“This is not my party and I am equal to every one of you here. Therefore, I have no reason or objective to hound anyone out of this party. People will hound themselves out, not me. They will also be hounded out by members who want to defend the party,” Kabimba said.

Mr Kabimba said the PF has to cleanse itself in order to be strong.

“We want people to be members because of what they can do for the party and not what the party can do for them,” he said.

Mr Kabimba said while Government makes up the administrative structures of the country, the ruling party is the political authority of the country.

“The ruling party is important and supreme. It has nothing to do with the one-party state because before Government, there was a party,” he said.

He said President Sata founded the PF for the poor, not the rich.

He asked ministers to serve interests of the poor, adding that if they have missed that point, they will not last. He cautioned Government leaders not to take anything for granted.

Opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) women have defended party president Hakainde Hichilema over his alleged remarks advising single women in the opposition to deny their Patriotic Front boyfriends sex.

Speaking at media briefing in Lusaka this morning, UPND Chairlady for Women Affairs Namakau Kabwiko says Mr. Hichilema never insulted the women when he made the alleged statement under scrutiny.

Mrs. Kabwiko says it is shocking that instead of the PF government concentrating on real issues affecting the country, they have resorted to attacking the UPND leader.

She says UPND women will stand by their leader, adding that Mr. Hichilema does not owe anyone an apology for his remark.

Mr. Hichilema was on Thursday quoted by some sections of the media as having appealed to single women in the opposition political parties to deny their boyfriends sex in protest over the PF governance system.

The statement has prompted condemnation from the ruling party with Gender Minister Inonge Wina describing the remarks alluding to women as sex objects as unacceptable.

QFM

MMD President Nevers Mumba has refuted the reported defection of the entire MMD leadership in Luapula Province.

Dr Mumba said the MMD leadership was intact in Luapula province contrary to media report.

Over the weekend, some media houses reported that the entire MMD Leadership has defected to join the ruling Patriotic Front.

He however admitted that four people defected from the party and their planned defection was known long before they did.

He named the four defectors as the Provincial Party Chairperson and the Vice chairperson, the Provincial Chairlady and the Youth Leader.

Meanwhile Dr Mumba has accused the Patriotic Front government of having released K1 billion for buying MMD Members of Parliament to either defect or engage in activities aimed at destroying their party.

He further alleged that the PF government has also given K20 million to councilors in Lufwanyama for them to defect from the former ruling party.

Dr Mumba warned the Members of Parliament or Party members who have received the money that it will work against them as it is tax payers’ money which should be used for national development.

He urged government to use that money to address the food insecurity looming in the country.

And Dr Mumba has announced that the MMD together with some civil society groups were in contact with the international community over the violation of human rights in Zambia by the Patriotic Front government.

He said the MMD and some civil society groups were making arrangement to have a meeting with the international community in Zambia for the later to get a full report of what is happening.

The embattled MMD leader vowed that he will continue to speak and defend all those afflicted by the Patriotic Front Government.

Dr Mumba was speaking in Kitwe today shortly after he appeared for plea in Kitwe Magistrate court in a case where he is charged for unlawful assembly.

Earlier, . MMD President Nevers Mumba and eight others who were recently arrested for unlawful assembly in Kitwe today appeared for mention in Kitwe Magistrate Court.

The eight are charged for unlawful assembly, a charge they denied when they appeared for plea two weeks ago.

The matter has since been adjourned to January 29, 2013 for commencement of trial.

Dr Mumba was recently arrested together with three MMD MPs and four party officials after they paid a courtesy call on Senior Chief Nkana of the Lamba people in Lufwanyama.

They were later released on a K2million bail each.

The accused include Dr Nevers Mumba, Howard Kunda MP for Muchinga, Anne Chungu for Lufwanyama and Michael Chishiba for Masaiti Constituency.

Others are MMD Copperbelt Women chairlady Elizabeth Mataka, MMD deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu and Greenford Zondani who is Dr Mumba’s assistant

ZANIS