Join our community of SUBSCRIBERS and be part of the conversation.
To subscribe, simply enter your email address on our website or click the subscribe button below. Don't worry, we respect your privacy and won't spam your inbox. Your information is safe with us.
The United Party for National Development says it will not be part of calls for President Rupiah Banda to step down because of parentage issues.
Deputy Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa says the UPND wants to champion issue based campaigns ahead of the September, 20, elections.
Mr Mweetwa says the UPND is ready to meet President Banda and the MMD in this year’s elections.
Mr Mweetwa was speaking in an interview with ZNBC News in Lusaka on Wednesday.
PF Intentions
The Patriotic Front (PF) intends to petition several international bodies over the parentage of President Rupiah Banda.
Party General secretary Wynter Kabimba says the PF will write to the African Union, SADC and the United Nations challenging president Banda’s parentage.
Mr Kabimba was speaking in Lusaka on Tuesday.
And MMD National Secretary Richard Kachingwe says it is sad that the PF wants to politicize the parentage of president Rupiah Banda at the expense of addressing issues affecting Zambians.
Major Kachingwe has urged the Patriotic Front to concentrate on issues of development instead of cheap propaganda ahead of next month’s elections.
And the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions-ZCTU says it is politically insane for the opposition to cast doubt on President Rupiah Banda’s parentage.
ZCTU Secretary General Roy Mwaba says people doubting President Banda’s parentage should be condemned because the head of state has served the country in different portfolios before assuming office as head of state.
Mr. Mwaba says it is unfortunate that some politicians raising uncertainty over Mr. Banda’s parentage worked with him at state for many years in the UNIP era.
He told ZNBC in an exclusive interview that President Banda’s parentage is not an issue as far as Zambians are concerned, because the head of state is truly Zambian.
Mr. Mwaba has called on political parties to base their campaigns on real issues affecting the people and not on personalities.
Proprietor of the Zambia-Malawi bus, which killed thirty-five people in Nyimba District in the Eastern Province, have been given up to Friday this week to submit a Report to the Road Transport and Safety Agency-RTSA explaining why they should continue operating.
RTSA Acting Director Martin Mbangu says it is clear that the driver was over speeding going by the distance covered within a short time between Chipata and Nyimba.
Mr Mbangu told ZNBC News that RTSA is also investigating allegations that the bus driver was given a time schedule within, which to arrive in Lusaka by the owner of the bus.
He also says owners of the truck, which was involved in the accident, have been directed to submit a report why the driver carried passengers.
The proprietor of the Zambia-Malawi bus which was involved in an accident last week appeared before RSTA on Tuesday.
Thirty four people died on the spot while 20 others have gone blind following the accident involving a truck and the Zambia Malawi Bus.
The truck was carrying lime at the time of accident.
HOSTING OF COSAFA UNDER 21 GAMES: Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone Six Secretary General Nvuzo Mbebe points out areas of concern when he lead a delegation on an inspection of student hostels at the University of Zambia in Lusaka
2.
HOSTING OF COSAFA UNDER 21 GAMES: Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone Six Secretary General Nvuzo Mbebe points out areas of concern when he lead a delegation on an inspection of student hostels at the University of Zambia in Lusaka
3.
HOSTING OF COSAFA UNDER 21 GAMES: Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone Six Secretary General Nvuzo Mbebe and Under-20 Southern Africa Development Community Games local organizing committee chairperson Esau Nebwe inspection shower rooms at student hostels at UNZA
4.
HOSTING OF COSAFA UNDER 21 GAMES: Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone Six Secretary General Nvuzo Mbebe leads a delegation on an inspection of student hostels at UNZA
5.
VICE President George Kunda is welcomed to cerebate mass by Father Mike Mereif at Saint Mary's Assumption Parish
6.
VICE President George Kunda donates transport money for a stranded person who could not get to Lusaka from Mansa through Catholic priest Father Mike Mereif
7.
SENIOR Chief Mwata Kazembe’s advisors receiving malaria nets and treatment medical services at the umutomboko traditional ceremony
8.
RESIDENTS jostle for untensils at one of the Bimalu Company stand at the Umutomboko traditional ceremony
9.
President Banda when he visited the central market in Monze district of Southern province
10.
Chieftainess Malembeka is carried on the hammock during the Kwilimuna ceremony of the Lamba people of the Copperbelt
11.
PF vice president Guy Scott kneels before Chieftainess Malembeka during the Kwilimuna ceremony of the Lamba people of the Copperbelt
12.
Mpongwe District Commissioner Rasford Bulaya Bulaya, former Mpongwe member of parliament Gabriel Namulambe and Masaiti District Commissioner Evan Pwele Kneel before Chieftainess
13.
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda with Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Mr.Dickson Jere during the occasion of the dissolution of the National Assembly at State House
The Movement for Mult-party Democracy (MMD) sympathiser Edward Mumbi has warned people defacing, President Rupiah Banda’s billboards against provoking the ruling Party.
Mr Mumbi said such action were barbaric and are capable of creating violence during elections.
He cited that the billboards along Great East road where the Chinama Hospital has been built as one which has been tempered with.
The MMD Sympathiser noted that the billboards where President Banda has commissioned developmental projects are indication of the government’s works.
He called on the opposition political parties to desist from destroying President Banda’s portraits.
Meanwhile, Edward Mumbi has advised late President Levy Mwanawasa’s eldest son, Patrick, to reconsider his decision to join politics and instead get back and secure his future.
Mr Mumbi said in Lusaka yesterday that President Rupiah Banda had been ready to help Patrick get back to school but it was sad that he (Patrick) seemed not to be interested.
He said having worked with the PF and its leader Michael Sata before, he was aware that the PF and its leadership was not a kind of group that would help Patrick enhance his future.
Mr Mumbi said Patrick should not allow himself to be used by politicians like Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president
[pullquote]”Patrick is still a young boy who needs to shape his future and I am advising him that it is time he got back to school. Patrick is very much aware that President Banda has always been ready to help him get back to school but it is sad that the young boy seems not to be interested,” he said.[/pullquote]
Edith Nawakwi and equally other disgruntled politicians from the PF who were bent on destroying his future.
“Patrick is still a young boy who needs to shape his future and I am advising him that it is time he got back to school. Patrick is very much aware that President Banda has always been ready to help him get back to school but it is sad that the young boy seems not to be interested,” he said.
Mr Mumbi advised Patrick to realise that Ms Nawakwi, who now wants to look as if she is a better politician by using the Mwanawasa name to gain popularity, had not allowed their children to be ruined by political demagogues like herself.
“People like Ms Nawakwi and those in the PF have already secured the future of their children by taking them to school and it is shameful that the same people who now want to show as if they are good parents, could allow the son of the late president to have his future ruined in this manner.
“I do not think it will be fair for us Zambians to sit back and watch Patrick’s future being ruined by these desperate politicians. It is really sad that Ms Nawakwi could appear on a radio programme and start the programme by first talking about Patrick,” Mr Mumbi said.
He said President Banda had always wanted Patrick to get back to school and enroll in the faculty of his choice.
Mr Mumbi challenged Patrick to deny if the president had not been willing to convince him get back to school.
He said having worked with the opposition PF where Patrick was now eyeing to contest the Kafulafuta seat, he was aware that Mr Sata and politicians like Ms Nawakwi were not capable of nurturing other people’s children in a right manner.
Mr Mumbi said Ms Nawakwi should be ashamed of herself for having lamentably failed to run her political party where she had now been left alone after all the members had run away to join other credible parties like the MMD.
Ms Nawakwi, Mr Mumbi said, had shown extremely poor leadership by failing to run a political party which was full of life with the late Christon Tembo at the helm.
“In fact it is wrong for Ms Nawakwi to even think she is a good leader going by the way she had shamelessly and lamentably failed to run the FDD. It is also surprising that she can even consider herself
to be this year’s presidential candidate with such a mediocre leadership background,” he said.
He wondered where Ms Nawakwi was basing her mandate to even think of contesting this year’s presidency when her party had never even been to any convention.
Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary General Wynter Kabimba has challenged the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) Deputy National Secretary Chembe Nyangu to preach non-violence messages to his leadership during this year’s election campaign.
In the news monitored on QFM Mr. Kabimba pointed out that Mr Nyangu is claiming to be upright when he has failed to condemn the insults that the MMD leadership has been attributing to his party president Michael Sata.
He said it is surprising that Mr Nyangu said he will report Mr. Sata to Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) for allegedly insulting President Rupiah Banda during his campaigns in Eastern Province.
Mr. Kabimba noted that it is prudent for Mr Nyangu to put his house in order before taking the matter to ECZ adding that he should instead lecture President Banda against insulting Sata.
He said it is highly hypocritical for Mr Nyangu to claim that Mr Sata has been issuing insulting statement when President Banda has been attacking Mr Sata in an abusive manner.
The PF secretary General said the MMD was afraid of losing the next month’s general elections hence they have resorted to desperate measures.
On Monday Mr Nyangu said the ruling party would write to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to complain about the insults Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata and Mr Given Lubinda have been issuing during their campaigns in the Eastern Province against the ruling party’s parliamentary candidates.
And in Mazabuka, some PF cadres allegedly stormed former PF ward chairperson Wamunyima Mubiyalelwa’s house with intent to attack him following his decision to defect to the ruling MMD.
Mr Nyangu has said the PF leadership is encouraging people to resort to electoral violence ahead of the September 20 elections.
“It has come to the party’s attention that the PF delegation currently in Eastern Province is encouraging electoral violence. The PF delegation led by its leader Michael Sata has launched its campaign based on insults.
Eleven officers from Livingstone City Council have been suspended for alleged fraudulent activities amounting to over six hundred million kwacha.
The scam involved a group of cashiers, stores and legal officers.
Local Government Permanent Secretary Christah Kalulu says the officers conspired in under receipting revenues collected mainly from charges for development of plots and change of ownership.
Ms. Kalulu noted that according to the preliminary audit findings for the period covering 2009 to June 2011 six hundred million kwacha was lost through fraudulent accounting.
She was speaking at the press briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
MUVI
The law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has said it is studying the petition from the Patriotic Front (PF) regarding President Banda’s parentage and his eligibility to stand in this year’s election.
LAZ president Musa Mwenya said the association has not yet resolved the issues regarding the contents of the letter and promised to react to it once they conclude it.
Mr. Mwenya said the PF has a right to take the step on President Banda’s parentage.
On seventh July last month PF wrote to LAZ for deliberation on President Banda’s eligibility in the 2008 presidential elections and for this year’s elections which will take place on 20th September.
On Tuesday PF threatened to write to the Southern African Developing community SADC, the African Union AU and the United Nation UN on whether the ruling MMD should go ahead and field President Rupiah Banda as its presidential candidate.
PF Secretary General Wynter Kabimba said that the party wrote to the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) to intervene in the matter of President Rupiah Banda’s parentage and his eligibility as candidate in the 2008 presidential elections as well as the forthcoming general elections but wonders why LAZ has been mute about the matter.
The Citizen’s Forum Executive Director Simon Kabanda also said the issue of President Banda’s parentage should be fully investigated.
Mr Kabanda noted that the issues surrounding President is of great concern and should not be taken lightly.
He said the PF’s decision to take the matter to the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) should be supported by all well meaning Zambians.
Mr. Kabanda said the the country’s constition is clear on who should be eligible to contest for the position of the Republican President.
[pullquote]”It is shocking that such statements are coming from a seasoned lawyer. He knows that Mr Banda qualifies but wants to cast a lot of agony and insults on him. Let him research,” he said.[/pullquote]
Meanwhile, MMD national secretary Richard Kachingwe has said that the Patriotic Front (PF) is panicking because it has become apparent that President Rupiah Banda will win this year’s presidential elections due to the systematic progress and organised moves that the MMD has made
Maj Kachingwe said in the Supreme Court there was a landmark judgment which stated that it did not matter whether one’s parents were Zambian or not but what mattered was whether the candidate was a Zambian.
“It is shocking that such statements are coming from a seasoned lawyer. He knows that Mr Banda qualifies but wants to cast a lot of agony and insults on him. Let him research,” he said.
Maj Kachingwe, reacting to PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba’s allegations that Mr Banda was not eligible to contest this year’s elections, said it was a pity that such allegations were coming from a lawyer.
“This is now evidence that PF is panicking. Let them concentrate on doing the right things. We have done our adoptions and they have not, we are ready for these elections and they are not.
“What they are now doing is attempting to shift the nation’s attention. They are used to always causing tension; let them put their house in order,” he said.
Maj Kachingwe said PF had realised that the ruling party had campaigned in all areas where the opposition party felt it would win and as a result it wanted to start causing unnecessary pressure.
[pullquote]”What they are now doing is attempting to shift the nation’s attention. They are used to always causing tension; let them put their house in order,” he said.[/pullquote]
He said everyone was now aware that there was no trace of Mr Banda’s roots in Malawi and wondered why PF had not provided the evidence for everyone to see.
Maj Kachingwe said at some point PF tried to pay a disgruntled former ambassador to claim that Mr Banda was not Zambian but failed to provide proof.
And a Lusaka lawyer, Hobbday Kabwe has clarified that one who wanted to contest as a presidential candidate only required to be a Zambian.
“Why bring the issue now, if he was eligible in 2008 what has changed in the Constitution? It is still the same I believe, these matters should have been brought up that time when Mr Banda contested,” Mr Kabwe said.
Major Kachingwe in an interview yesterday described Mr Kabimba’s statement as misleading and said it was shameful that the PF secretary general could decide to ignore what the law stipulated and decide to mislead the nation.
Patriotic Front (PF) leader, Michael Sata, has charged that the deplorable poverty levels that traditional leaders and people of Eastern province have continued being subjected to, was clear evidence that President Rupiah Banda was not Zambian.
Mr. Sata pointed out that the uncaring attitude exhibited by Mr. Banda towards people of Eastern province, where he claims to hail from, shows that the republican president was a foreigner who has only become too comfortable in a foreign country.
He said Mr. Banda’s father was Zimbabwean while his mother was from Malawi.
Speaking on Hot FM this morning, the PF leader, Michael Sata, said that it was shocking that President Rupiah Banda had failed to mourn close to 40 people who died in a road traffic accident July 27 in Nyimba area on the Great East road.
Mr. Sata said it was inconceivable that a President who claims to be an Easterner could fail to mourn his own people when he has, in the past, been finding it fitting to put together two aircrafts to travel for “funerals” in the Eastern province.
Mr. Sata has asked which people Mr. Banda has been mourning in the Eastern province if he could not see this as an emergency that needed his urgent attention. Mr Sata further said that Mr. Banda should have quickly travelled to join in the mourning of the 38 lives which were lost in what he claimed to be his province. Mr. Sata also charged that that Mr. Banda saw it fit to rush to go and commission the Dangote Cement mine on the Copperbelt because of the corrupt benefits that he has seen in the project.
On corruption , Mr Sata said that President Rupiah Banda had continued with his chain of corrupt activities since assuming office three years ago with the latest being the awarding of a K5 trillion housing project to an insignificant company to construct housing units in North Western province.
[pullquote]“If he wants, let him talk about what I did when I was Minister and what he did for the nation when he occupied Ministerial positions in the past. He cannot match my achievements.”[/pullquote]
Mr sata said that President Banda, working with one of his sons, had awarded the US$1bn contract to Savenda Management Services. Savenda, owned by a Zambian national, has a track record in providing corporate branded ware such as t-shirts to local companies.
The PF leader emphasized that this was the second huge and dubious deal involving State House and the first family in a space of four months following the awarding of a US$98 million contract to some Kenyan business people to refurbish Zambia National Building Society in Lusaka.
On his personal achievement, the PF leader said that he had achieved a lot more successes in his political life than Rupiah Banda even when the PF president has never occupied the office republican President.
Mr. Sata has advised Mr. Banda to stop misleading Zambians by challenging him to show what he has done against what he (Mr. Banda) claims to have achieved when Mr. Sata has never been President.
“If he wants, let him talk about what I did when I was minister and what he did for the nation when he occupied ministerial positions in the past. He cannot match my achievements.”
State house said that President Rupiah Banda will not stop any citizen from petitioning the United Nations or any other body to seek redress over his parentage and eligibility to run in this year’s elections.
Reacting to threat by the PF to write to SADC, AU and UN over President Banda’s parentage and eligibility as a presidential candidate, President Banda’s special assistant for press and public relations Dickson Jere in a statement released to QFM said that it was the right of any citizen to petition any relevant Tribunal if they felt aggrieved on any matter.
Mr Jere said that the President cannot stop any citizen from petitioning the United Nations or any other body to seek redress.
He said that the President is surprised that the issue of the nationality of his parents has become very important now when the PF has been claiming that they will beat the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) during the forthcoming elections.
He wondered why the PF was scared to face President Banda in the elections scheduled for 20th September 2011.
Mr Jere also questioned why the PF kept quiet in 2008 and now want to block President Banda from standing. he further added that President Banda was on record several times, including his family, as having stated clearly that both his father and mother were Zambians.
He said that if his parents were not Zambians, the PF could have raised the issue when President Banda was appointed Vice-President of Zambia by the late President Levy Mwanawasa, stating that the Constitution of Zambia requires that the Vice-President should have the same qualifications as those of the President.
Mr Jere further explained that President Banda served Zambia in a number of portfolios, including that of Ambassador to the UN, Washington and Egypt and that no one has ever raised the issue of his parentage wondering why it has become an issue all of a sudden.
Divisions in the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy MMD have reportedly emerged over the campaign strategy the party has adopted ahead of the September 20th elections.
Some members of the party feel the strategy of constant attacks on opposition Patriotic Front president Michael Sata are is not helping the party but denting the party’s image.
Sources have revealed to QFM that MMD members are blaming former education minister Dora Siliya and party national secretary Richard Kachingwe for coming up with such a strategy of attacking the PF leader.
They say the attacks on Mr Sata are not helping the party but are instead making the PF leader popular, which might cost the MMD victory in the forthcoming elections.
The sources further argue that the MMD should concentrate on issue based campaigns in order to increase the party’s chances of returning power.
During the launch of the 2011 party manifesto, Party president Rupiah Banda advised Zambians against voting for the PF leader Michael Sata who he described as a punch-drunk boxer who keeps on coming for more beating despite losing three presidential elections.
The Patriotic Front has threatened to write to the Southern African Developing community SADC, the African Union AU and the United Nation UN on whether the ruling MMD should go ahead and field President Rupiah Banda as its presidential candidate.
PF Secretary General Winter Kabimba has said that the party wrote to the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) to intervene in the matter of President Rupiah Banda’s parentage and his eligibility as candidate in the 2008 presidential elections as well as the forthcoming general elections but wonders why LAZ has been mute about the matter.
Mr. Kabimba said that in the absence of a response from LAZ, the party will take up the matter and write to SADC, AU, and UN before president Banda satisfies Zambians that he qualifies to stand as a candidate.
Speaking during a media briefing in Lusaka this morning Mr. Kabimba said that it was time the MMD started looking for an alternative Presidential candidate.
He stated that as a constitutional democracy, the eligibility of anyone to contest the presidential elections in Zambia is a fundamental question.
The PF secretary general said that the matter at hand was not political but was a legal issue of fundamental importance adding that no one should be allowed to evade the legal requirement in the constitution.
United Party for National Development spokesperson Charles Kakoma (L)
THE United Party for National Development (UPND) has said the party will this week announce the150 names of parliamentary candidates that have been adoted to contest on the party ticket.
UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma said in an interview yesterday that the party had concluded provincial interviews for people aspiring to stand on the party ticket as parliamentary candidates in this year’s general elections.
Mr Kakoma said the adoption process had been concluded at all levels, ward, constituency and Provincial and what was remaining was just the announcement.
“The party will this week announce the adopted candidates for this year’s tripartite elections. I am very sure that this week will not end without the party making this announcement,” he said.
He said the party was confident that candidates to be adopted in all the constituencies would not be difficult to sell and would win the parliamentary seats because they had not been imposed on the electorate.
[pullquote]Mr. Sata has however noted that rebel mps have been fielded in the PF strongholds are headed for doom.[/pullquote]
Mr Kakoma said the National Management Committee (NMC) of the party would soon meet to look at the list and make final recommendations before making the announcements to their members and the electorate.
The MMD has already made known their aspiring parliamentary candidates and had since introduced them to the electorate.
And Patriotic front leader Michael Sata has questioned what the adopted rebel members of parliament would offer to the electorates if they were to be elected for the second time.
Commenting on the adoption of the 5 former PF rebel MPS by the MMD party, opposition leader cautioned the people of Zambia against voting the rebel MPs in this year’s elections.
Mr. Sata has however noted that rebel mps have been fielded in the PF strongholds are headed for doom. Mr. Sata has since urged the people to carefully scrutinize the parliamentary candidates and ensure that choose people who will represent them effectively.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) says 5,167,154 voters have been certified as elligible registered voters in this year%u2019s tripartite election.
ECZ Public Relations Manager Cris Akufuna confirms this in a statement released in Lusaka.
Mr Akufuna said the final voters register has the details or the registered voters attained during the inspection and verification period.
In the final ECZ voters register, Northwestern province recorded the least number of voters of 315, 670.
The Copperbelt province has recorded a highest number of voters with 844,569 voters followed by Lusaka with 659, 670 voters.
Eastern province has 644, 725, Central province has 482, 013 and Luapula province has 408, 937 registered voters.
Southern and Western provinces have 643, 588 and 394, 660 voters respectively while Northern Province has 659, 534 registered voters.
Out of the official of the total number, 2, 590, 821 voters are female while the male voters are 2, 576, 333.
And Mr. Akufuna says people wishing to obtain a copy of the register booklet for their polling stream can purchase it from the Electoral Commission of Zambia Offices.
He added that the Commission is also selling the constituency Maps at K25 000 per copy.
The accident scene of the Zambia/Malawi Lusaka bound bus which collided with at Nyimba
By Dr. Charles Ngoma
Many years ago, I had the misfortune of being involved in a road traffic incident on the notorious ‘manenekela‘ just around Luangwa bridge on the not so ‘great’ East road! It took us 5 hours to get to an institution with a semblance of a hospital, really on a wing and a prayer with God’s good grace expressed through the kindness of passers by who offered lifts from one section of the trip to another, as long as we paid them something for fuel, although they were making the trip in that direction anyway!
The recent disaster on the Nyimba section of the GER is not the first and will not be the last. As one travels on this treacherous thoroughfare from Lusaka to Chipata, the road is litered with hundreds of motor vehicle carcasses throughout. Road traffic accidents in Zambia have just become far too common and are too high per capita of the population. This problem must be addressed with utmost urgency by the incoming government because road fatalities are depriving the nation of highly valuable human resources.
There are two main causes of these avoidable accidents.
1. The appalling state of the road infrastructure.
The Patriotic Front leader Mr Sata, has had the advantage of travelling up and down the country mainly by road rather than by air compared to the President and ministers. He has seen for himself how terrible Zambian roads are and this is not a new thing because it has been the case since Torno and ZECCO left the scene many moons ago! The funny thing is that as soon as people are elected to power, they forget about these problems as they fly 10,000 feet above the ground and every piece of the country looks ‘pretty’ from the air!
Who is responsible for this and who is to blame? Well, the country is parcelled into constituencies and each constituency has an elected representative at the Manda Hill where the national treasury is cut up for various expenses. Don’t the elected MPs know about these problems? Then, there are councils which are responsible for the roads within their district jurisdiction. All have elected representatives who drive or walk or cycle on the same roads day by day. Why is it so hard to bring these problems to the attention of government? If it is impossible, it means that we are electing the wrong people into power and we must get rid of this dead wood!
We also have the National Roads institution which should look after the inter city portions of these roads, the motorways and trunk roads.
This pathetic state of our roads is not just in relation to the road surface but warning sign posting as well. The only time one sees a road sign in Zambia is on paper during driving lessons and driving licence testing! You better memorise these signs because you will never see them again on the roads! The portion of the not great east pathway I referred to for my accident had a pool of spilled oil on it and there was no barrier on the edge to prevent one from bungie jumping but without the bunge!
2. Just Driver error and Carelessness.
It should be law to restrict public passenger service drivers to trips not longer than 4 hours to allow for rest. Bus owners are raking billions of Kwacha every year by pushing their drivers to run errands too many. The high ways have no rest facilities and service stations! There is very little one can do to prevent personal stupidity but if passengers do not complain about recklessness on the part the driver conveying them, then they should not complain if he sends them to an early death.
What can we do about this?
Managing roads is expensive business. Turning GER into a dual carriage way as Mr Sata is promising is not the answer to this. In fact it will increase road deaths because the Ndola-Kitwe road ihas seen fatalities too, and the late Nkumbula being one victim.
There are cheaper ways and means of helping reduce the carnage.
1. Re introduce the regular highway patrols. I am reminded of the Elisha Banda led team of ‘cow boys’ in the early 70s. The idea was good but premature. We need that now. If we had one patrol for each 100 kms it would help to keep drivers under check.
2. Improve warning sign posting and let these be dealt with by the local civic administration.
3. Travel and medical insurance to be included in the ticketing price. The proprietor of the bus company must also be made to contribute towards medical bills and compensation of the victims. This will make them to be careful the way they convey people and prevent over loading and ‘doba doba’.
4. Invest in rail networks. Rail travel is safer and even better for the environment. If we had adequate rail networks, it would take off the heavy cargo transport off the roads and thus giving them a longer lease of life and less cost in maintenance. The extension of the Chipata Muchinji rail to Mpika is welcome, but all other Provincial headquarters must be joined by rail to Lusaka. I would suggest more investment into the rail system to modernise and expand capacity than a dual carriage way to Chipata from Lusaka. What about Mongu to Lusaka. Kasama to Kapiri mposhi, Ndola to Lusaka? I doubt whether Zambia has enough money to do this at the present time.
5. Vehicle fitness. The law must be strengthened here. There are too many unfit vehicles on Zambia’s roads.
6. Sensitising drivers to good driving. So many Zambians are still driving while under the influence of alcohol. Road side breatherlisers at check points may help. Naming and shaming bad drivers publicly would also help.
This is something that must be looked into as a matter of urgency. We cannot afford preventable loss of life.
God bless the Republic of Zambia.
The death was announced on Monday of ex-Nkana great Wiseman Chizumira.
A family spokesperson on Monday confirmed that the former Nkana defender died in Lusaka on Sunday at the UTH after a short illness.
Chizumira, 44, played in the 1990 Caf Africa Club Champions final for Nkana that they lost 5-3 on post-match penalties after a 1-1 aggregate score line over two legs JS Kabylie of Algeria.
The player, who is survived by a wife and two children, will be put to rest on Wednesday at Leopards Hill Memorial Park in Lusaka.
Three Zesco United rejects who were let go by the 2010 league champions in the wake of coach Fighton Simukonda’s dismissal have found themselves a new home at Kabwe Warriors.
The trio includes striker Nicholas Zulu who said he was happy to have found a new home after Zesco decided to loan him out to a club of his choice.
“They will see a new Nicholas Zulu at Kabwe Warriors. I have to help this team to survive relegation,” Zulu said.
Zulu will be joined at Warriors by his Zesco teammates and midfielders Yonah Mwango and Mathews Chikwete.
None of the trio featured or were on the bench against Zesco over the weekend.
Warriors have also brought in talented winger Derrick Mulenga from City of Lusaka who made an eye-catching debut for the Railwaymen on Saturday in the team’s 1-0 home win over Zesco.
