Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) has appealed to mining companies in the country to allow their employees to exercise their right to vote next Tuesday.

MUZ Acting president Charles Mukuka says all mining companies should consider declaring the Election Day as half day to allow all miners to cast their vote.

Mr. Mukuka said this in a statement released to ZANIS in Kitwe on Wednesday.

Mr. Mukuka further appealed to the miners to ensure that next week’s elections are held in a peaceful, free and fair atmosphere.

He urged miners to vote for parliamentary and presidential candidates that are going to spur the country to greater development, peace and stability.

He says the country has been holding peaceful, free and fair elections in the past.

He says this time again peace should be guaranteed by ensuring that all leaders of participating political parties lead by example and denounce all forms of violence.

ZNBC

LAWYERS representing the MMD have demanded payment of K6.475 billion from Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Wynter Kabimba as costs after the Lusaka High Court dismissed a matter in which he sought to restrain the MMD from distributing its campaign materials.

According to a letter dated September 14, from SBN Legal Practitioners representing the MMD and addressed to AMC Legal Practitioners and Ellis and Company, who represented Mr Kabimba, the lawyers were demanding payment of the amount within seven days.

The lawyers represented the MMD, through its national secretary Richard Kachingwe, as third defendants in a case they were jointly charged with the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and the Attorney General as first and second defendants respectively.

The letter stated that the lawyers were demanding payment of K6.475 billion from Mr Kabimba, who had sued in his capacity as the PF’s secretary general, following the dismissal of the case by the High Court and order to pay costs.

“Please note that while we appreciate that the case was determined and has ended at a preliminary stage, there is an undeniable fact that the level of responsibility and care required and involved was very high,” the letter reads in part.

The letter also states that the case required a considerable amount of legal skills to be applied and that the fee earners in the case were two former solicitors general, Patrick Mvunga and Sunday Nkonde, former Justice minister Eric Silwamba and two assistant advocates Lubinda Linyama and Bwalya Mubanga.

Meanwhile, some Lusaka-based lawyers have questioned Mr Kabimba’s credibility as a lawyer following his string of failed legal suits against the MMD. Welcoming a Lusaka court’s dismissal of an injunction by PF, which was filed by Mr Kabimba, to restrain the MMD from distributing campaign materials, Hobday Kabwe said yesterday the PF secretary general should have known from the beginning that the matter was frivolous.

Mr Kabwe described the action by the PF to drag the MMD and ZRA to court as a sheer waste of time and resources. He said the whole process was of no benefit to the PF and MMD.

He wondered why PF leaders decided to waste time instead of channelling their energies and resources to campaigns considering that time was not on their side. Mr Kabwe said it was surprising that Mr Kabimba, who was a senior lawyer, could allow the matter, like others before it, to reach the courts despite lacking merit. “I mean the whole process was extremely frivolous and of no benefit to both parties. Actually the end was known from the beginning.

“Mr Kabimba should have advised his party officials accordingly but now they will end up paying costs instead of channelling the same monies to campaigns. This is a serious miscalculation,” Mr Kabwe said. State Counsel Sakwiba Sikota from Central Chambers described the action by PF as one which had only worked to deplete the opposition party’s resources.

Mr Sikota said yesterday that the PF should have used the money it was spending on legal suits to buy campaign materials which the party was allegedly struggling to purchase. He said he was surprised that Mr Kabimba found it fit to take such a matter to court before conducting any research so that he could offer correct advice to his party.

Mr Sikota said the PF was using such tactics to sway people’s attention and described them as kicks of a dying horse. He said it was clear that PF had lost popularity and confidence from the people of Zambia.

The Lusaka High Court on Tuesday dismissed an injunction by PF restraining the MMD from distributing campaign materials. That was in a matter in which PF had sued ZRA, the Attorney General and MMD national secretary Richard Kachingwe.

Mr Kabimba, in his capacity as PF secretary general, had sued the ruling party and ZRA for allegedly failing to collect import duty from the party for importation of campaign materials worth about K3.5 billion brought into the country. High Court Judge Florence Lengalenga threw out the injunction restraining the MMD from distributing motor vehicles, bicycles, chitenge materials and T-Shirts until the duty payable was assessed by ZRA and payable by the MMD on grounds that the relief sought was not practical and was unsustainable.

Judge Lengalenga in handing down the judgment stated that she dismissed the PF’s action due to its irregularity and that it was not properly brought before the court.

[Times of Zambia]

Some unknown people are circulating a statement purporting to be from first republican president, Kenneth Kaunda’s office.

In the statement dated 14th September 2011, Dr Kaunda is allegedly appealing to the ECZ to deal with electoral stakeholders’ concerns.

The statement further states that Dr Kaunda has also said peace and stability would only be guaranteed when the ECZ listens to the stakeholders.

Dr Kaunda is also quoted saying the controversy surrounding a named ECZ contractor is one of the grave indictments on the electoral process.

But the office of the first Republican president has said a statement purported to have been issued by Dr Kenneth Kaunda regarding a perceived impasse at the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) was a forgery.

Chief of staff in the former president’s office, Godwin Mfula said he was not aware of any statement in that regard and described it as bogus. Mr Mfula said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that it was unfortunate that people bent on causing confusion would come up with such a statement that did not represent the views of Dr Kaunda.

“It is not our statement. I am not aware of that statement. I am the one as chief of staff who prepares statements for Dr Kaunda and I don’t know the motives of the people circulating that statement. “We refute that statement and we are not part of that statement. It’s unfortunate that people can put their thoughts in the mouth of an innocent person,” he said.

The statement was also not on the letterhead of the office of the first republican president, but on a plain paper. Mr Mfula said Dr Kaunda was not In a position to have issued the statement as he has been indisposed.

Mr Mfula said his office only learnt about the statement through a reporter from Yatsani Radio who wanted to obtain more details. He said the language in the statement did not reflect that used by the former president.Mr Mfula said the office would study the matter today to decide the way forward. It is believed that the statement was authored by an editor of a private newspaper.

Below is the refuted Statement in full;
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First Republican President Dr Kenneth Kaunda has said that revelations that Universal Print Group the printers of ballot papers for next week’s election has been involved in acts of corruption with Electoral Commission of Zambia officers is a grave indictment on the electoral process.

In a statement released to QFM today, Dr Kaunda said that this in itself threatened the peace and stability of the country because it undermined the credibility of the electoral process in the eyes of the Zambian people.

Dr Kaunda said that this bred justifiable suspicion of possible collusion and electoral malpractices that may lead to the election result not being accepted by both the losers and the winners.

The first president said that it was therefore in the interest of everyone that the ECZ rose to the challenge and dealt with the complications that have been created by the revelations of the character of UPG to the reasonable satisfaction of all key political players.

He warned that ignoring such a serious problem may prove to be a naive and costly mistake that the country cannot afford.

Dr Kaunda called upon the ECZ, on whose behalf he said had advocated for peace to act in a way that made the preservation of peace possible regardless of the outcome of the elections.

He said this will require that the Electoral Commission of Zambia urgently sits with all key political players, including the church, to ensure that this problem is resolved in the best way possible for the country.

The former president explained that such an approach will ensure that as the country goes to the polls next week, all people will have reason to believe that their concerns have been dealt with.

Dr Kaunda added that the will and interests of the Zambian people prevail without let or hindrance so that Zambia can maintain its historic reputation as an oasis of peace and tranquillity.

He further stated that if his appeal for peace through the media and bill boards is to accompany next week’s elections, the primary requisite is to eradicate the causes or possible causes of dissension among key political players and their supporters.