The Zambia Youths Association in the Fight Against Corruption (ZYAFAC) has hailed the conviction of former Labour Minister Austin Liato as a great morale booster in the fight against corruption.

The Association has however called on the State to appeal against the 2 year sentence on the basis that it is too lenient.

ZYAFAC Executive Director Rickson Kanema says it’s gratifying to note that unlike during the MMD regime were high profile corruption cases used to take years to conclude, it has only taken a few months to conclude and convict Mr Liato.

Mr Kanema says while his organization does not take pride in seeing corrupt people going to jail, it is happy to see that justice has prevailed against those that use public office to illicitly enrich themselves at the expense of the majority poor.

He warns would be perpetrators of corruption that no matter how clever they may be in committing corruption, one day the law will catch up with them and pay the big price just like Mr Liato.

Mr Liato was yesterday sentenced to 2 years imprisonment with hard for being in possession of proceeds of crime involving K2.1 billion unearthed at his Mumbwa farm last November.

QFM

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) held a meeting with representatives of political parties to update them on the progress made so far in preparing for the forthcoming parliamentary and local government by-elections.

ECZ Public Relations Manager, Chris Akufuna, said in Lusaka that the gathering was also part of the routine meetings that the Commission held with political parties.

The ECZ set Thursday July 5, 2012 as the date for the parliamentary by-elections for Livingstone Central, Chama North and Muchinga constituencies while 11 local government by-elections would also be held on the same day.

“Yes we held a meeting with representatives of political parties to update them on how far the Commission is prepared for the forthcoming parliamentary and local government by-elections,” he said.

Mr Akufuna said during the meeting the political parties were also updated on the voter education resource centre that would be opened in the show grounds.

He said the political parties were also updated on the progress made in the printing of ballot papers.The by-elections in Livingstone and Chama North followed the nullification of the seats while the Muchinga seat fell vacant following the death of the area Member of Parliament, George Kunda.The vacancies in the 11 wards arose from resignations, defections and imprisonment of some councillors.

PRESIDENT Michael Sata has directed the newly-appointed Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) to address problems in land allocation which he said were responsible for the rampant corruption in councils.

Mr Sata said local government had been ineffective for many years and that it was now the mandate of the new commission to make it effective.

Mr Sata was speaking in Lusaka yesterday at State House when he swore-in chairperson of the commission, Steven Mushinge and his deputy, Charles Mwandila, who is former Mufulira Municipal Council town clerk.

Mr Sata said councils countrywide were faced with numerous challenges such as corruption and other malpractices and that the commission needed to immediately address them.

He said the commission should deal with land allocation which had become one area of concern and mired in corrupt practices.

The members of the commission are Maggie Kapiya, Daubt Phiri and Bernard Simpokolwe, while Chipili Katunasa-Magayane is the commission secretary.

Mr Simpokolwe is former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development in the Frederick Chiluba administration.

The President has also urged the commission to explore ways of making councils self-sustaining instead of depending on Government grants for operations.

“There is so much corruption in the councils particularly in the allocation of land. You don’t have houses. Mr Chiluba sold all the houses. When there were houses, councils survived on those houses but now you don’t have them.

“Find means and ways of making councils survive on their own instead of relying on grants from the Government,” Mr Sata said.

The President warned that he would dissolve the newly-appointed commission the moment it failed to perform.

He said the commission should not limit its operations to Lusaka Province only but expected the members to vigorously tour all councils to establish councils’ operational challenges.

“I will not hesitate to dissolve you. With the minister, I have no problems because I can change her any time but for you, I am going to waste time to swear you in again.

“Tour the whole country, move to rural councils, district councils, city councils and municipal councils and once they see you that’s how they are going to function,” Mr Sata said.

“The Superannuation Fund belongs to all workers. Don’t just sit in your offices in Lusaka or Ndola. Use the money to tour the whole country and see for yourselves what’s happening in the councils.

“Don’t just make transfers from your offices because today we can’t see the impact of the local government. The local government today is dead,” Mr Sata said.

Speaking in an interview with journalists shortly after she witnessed the swearing-in of the commission, Local Government and Housing Minister, Nkandu Luo said she was happy that her Ministry now had a commission.

Professor Luo said the commission had a huge task of addressing challenges in areas of human resource capacity and fostering workers’ positive attitude.

“People report late for duty and these are some areas the commission should immediately address including human resource capacity in the ministry,” she said.

[Times of Zambia]

The MMD says it is ready for tomorrow’s provincial conferences to elect a new party president as some of aspirants expressed confidence of scooping the top party position.The opposition party has opted for provincial conventions to be held simultaneously in the 10 centres, as opposed to holding one national convention which has been seen to be more costly.

National chairman and acting party president, Michael Mabenga declared that all was in place in the 10 provincial centres across the country for the former ruling party to usher in a new leader to take over from Rupiah Banda, who has retired from active politics.

Those contesting the party’s top position are leader of the opposition in Parliament and also Lunte Member of Parliament (MP), Felix Mutati,
former Republican vice-presidents, Nevers Mumba and Enoch Kavindele.Others are Liuwa MP, Situmbeko Musokotwane, Kapembwa Simbao for Senga
constituency, Moses Muteteka (Chisamba) and Kasempa MP, Kabinga Pande.

Mr Mabenga said at a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday that all the seven presidential candidates were ready for the party elections.Mr Mabenga who has been acting since Mr Banda relinquished his position said voting in the 10 provinces would start at 10.00 hours and end at 12.00 hours tomorrow.

“I wish to confirm that all the voting arrangements are in place in all the 10 provinces and here at the party headquarters. All these arrangements have been agreed by all the candidates and voting will start at 10.00 hours and end at 12.00 hours,” Mr Mabenga said.

In an event that none of the seven candidates obtained 50 per cent plus one of the vote,as per requirement of Article 38 (6) of the party Constitution, a second ballot would be conducted between 14.00 hours and 16.00 hours,between candidates that would have received the highest number of votes to determine the winner.

Mr Mabenga, flanked by MMD national secretary, Richard Kachingwe said each candidate had been permitted by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to appoint up to two polling agents at each of the 10 voting centres.He called on the party’s registered voting population of, 1,397 to turn out and participate in the voting process to be monitored by the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP).

Meanwhile, Mr Kavindele said he was confident of winning the election,saying party officials appreciated his vast experience and knew what he could do to change the image of the party.Mr Kavindele said in an interview that he was ready to take-over the party and resuscitate it so that it could be a strong opposition party.

Mr Muteteka separately said that chances of him winning the MMD presidency were very high adding that he had captured all the provinces where he was assured that they needed a youthful leader.

Mr Pande said he was confident of scooping the position because he had done enough ground work.He said on Radio Phoenix on Tuesday that some people had embarked on propaganda and were circulating false rumours that he had withdrawn from the race.

Mr Mutati said the future of the MMD would depend on the ability of the person who will take over the party leadership and was confident he was the suitable leader.

MMD presidential aspirant Nevers Mumba says forcing the Chief Justice to step-down will result in serious implications for the country’s democratic system.

Dr Mumba has also hoped that the calls for the Chief Justice to step-down are not politically motivated. He since stated that those who want the Chief Justice to go should wait for the judicial reforms to take place.

Dr Mumba says the Government should first embark on judicial reforms, before the issue of whether the Chief Justice should continue or not can be addressed.

There have been increasing calls from some stakeholders for Chief Justice Ernest Sakala to step-down as the first step towards judicial reforms.

1. Do both cardio and weights

I have taken note of the Statement authored by Mr. Siame, Special Assistant to the President, on the above subject. I would like to clarify as follows in case some of the media houses that received the Press Statement from State House did not see the Post Newspaper item that Mr. Siame was reacting to:

At no point have I said it is the PF Policy to nationalize private assets. I have, nevertheless, contended that what happened to Zamtel was nationalization however one wants to look at it. The Post Newspaper was also very clear on what I said and, as such, there should not be any misinterpretation what-so-ever. When I received a telephone call to comment on the statement attributed to the President that Government would “move in on anything which was privatized with corruption like Zanaco,” my reaction, as correctly reported by the Post, was basically as follows:

1. Giving an example of Zanaco as a company that was “privatized with corruption” does send the signal to the market that the Bank is going to face the same fate as what happened to Zamtel. I stated that a presidential statement like that is premature as it comes before the commission of enquiry that was mandated to investigate Zanaco privatization formally submits its report. Through the Post, I appealed that the Government Spokesman clarifies this statement purportedly coming from the President to allay fears and nervousness in the market, which is not good for investment.

2. I cautioned that state acquisition of private assets should be a decision of last resort as it does have the effect of scaring away investors (both foreign and local) and could affect the country’s investment attractiveness.

I believed that the President’s statement was made off-the-cuff and,hence, needed clarification. This is what I said and, indeed, reported by the Post.

In the light of the above, it is erroneous to deduce from what I said to suggest, as Mr. Siame does, that I have said it is Government policy to nationalize. I am, however, pleased that, following my statement, the clarification has now come from State House to the effect that
(a) nationalization is not PF Government policy; and (b) no decision has been made by Government to nationalize ZANACO.
Both clarifications were essentially what I requested Government to make.It is, therefore, important to understand correctly what transpired.

Oliver Saasa
Managing Consultant
Premier Consult Limited