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Zambia Under-17 are set to host South Africa Under-17 in a friendly game next month.
The match is planned for Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe on September 3.
It will be the second time the two teams will meet in a friendly game after previously clashing at the same venue in April, 2005 in a game South Africa beat Zambia, who were captained by one Lottie Phiri, 2-1.
CHIZUMIRA PUT TO REST
Former Nkana defender Wiseman Chizumira was put to rest in Lusaka on Wednesday.
Chizumira, 44, was buried at Leopards Hill Memorial Park on Wednesday morning.
The ex-Nkana player died on July 31 after suffering a mild stroke on July 22 and was admitted to the UTH in Lusaka.
Dario Bonetti has said he is not taking Zambia’s Brazil 2014 Fifa World Cup Group D qualifying draws for granted.
Zambia are in Group D together with Sudan and 2010 World Cup quarterfinalists Ghana and also await a third opponent from this November’s preliminary round two-legged tie between Burundi and Lesotho to join them when the group stage qualifiers kickoff on June 1, 2012.
Bonetti said in his first official statement on the draws on Wednesday during a press briefing at Football House in Lusaka that both Sudan and Ghana would prove to worthy opponents.
“I am not going to take any of the teams for granted. They are all going to be difficult games and we will treat them all the same,” the Italian said.
“The same difficult that Ghana could face with one team we could also suffer with the another team.
“Technically and physically all the teams are very organized the difference is how mentally ready the players are to play those games.
“The Sudan is good and their club football is strong so it is very competitive group yes a very tough group. I believe one of the toughest.”
Meanwhile, Bonetti also revealed that he has recalled veteran midfielder Andrew Sinkala of promoted German Bundesliga side Augsburg for Zambia’s 2012 Africa Cup Group C qualifier away to Comoros on September 4.
“Zambia needs players of that caliber that has playing at that level in top football for a long time with experience, discipline and positive attitude,” Bonetti said.
Godfrey Miyanda among the candidates who attended the briefing
The Electoral Commission of Zambia Chairperson Justice Ireen Mambilima has met the 2011 presidential candidates with a call for issue based campaigns.
Justice Mambilima said that the commission would like to see a change in the way political parties conduct their campaigns this year.
She has told Presidential candidates to avoid dwelling on personalities and instead concentrate on issues affecting people whose votes they will be seeking on the Election Day.
Justice Mambilima was speaking in Lusaka on Wednesday when she officially opened an Electoral Commission meeting with aspiring Presidential candidates on the 2011 tripartite elections.
The meeting was called to brief all presidential candidates on the requirements for lodging of nomination papers.
About 12 Presidential candidates were in attendance at the meeting.
President Banda who is the MMD Presidential candidate arrived for the meeting at about 10.05 hours in the company of MMD chairperson for elections, Gabriel Namulambe.
Opposition Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata was also present at the meeting along with UPND President Hakainde Hichilema National Movement Progress President Ng’andu Magande, UNIP President Tilyenji Kaunda.
Others were Forum Democracy and Development, Edith Nawakwi, National Restoration Party President, Elias Chipimo, New Generation Party President Humphrey Siulapwa, Alliance for Democracy and Development President Charles Milupi and Heritage Party President, Godfrey Miyanda among others.
Meanwhile, Justice Mambilima says the Commission will go ahead and print ballot papers from South Africa.
She says the commission will also invite all participating political parties to send representatives to South Africa to witness the printing ballot papers at the Electoral Commissions expense.
File:Western Province Permanent Secretary Seth Muleya shakes hands with Kalabo High School Head Teacher Nyambe Mumbuna
The Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission has approved and funded about 100 Rice farmers in Mongu district in Western Province.
Speaking during the handover of cheques in Mongu yesterday, Western Province Permanent Secretary Seth Muleya said government under the leadership of His Excellency Dr. Rupiah Bwezani Banda is committed to ensuring that the CEEC fund is accessed by the common man in the rural areas of the country.
Mr. Muleya said government has made necessary adjustments on requirements of accessing the funds coupled with the decentralization of CEEC loan approval process which is currently being done at the province level.
He said since October 2010 when the loan application process was adjusted and decentralized, a total number of 221 projects worth over K2 Billion have been approved and funded in the Province.
The PS further said from the time it was established, CEEC has disbursed a total of K8.9Billion to 268 projects which has in turn created over 700 jobs for the people of Western Province.
AND Mongu District Famers Association Chairperson Rose Mubita thanked the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission for funding rice growers
in the district.
Miss. Mubita said the decentralization of CEEC to a level where famers are able access the funds will enhance rice production in the district.
She has since urged rice farmers who have benefited from CEEC not to expose their produce to briefcase buyers and assured farmers that MODFA will buy their rice at a good and profitable price.
Earlier, CEEC Provincial Coordinator Davis Sitali said after consultative meetings with MODFA his organization decided to fund rice growers because the amounts they applied for was genuine and realistic.
Mr. Sitali noted that the funding which is meant to buy rice seed and other inputs will increase the farmer’s income at house hold level.
The Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission also funded Mongu District Famers Association with K40 Million to enable it buy rice from farmers
once harvested.
ZAMBIA Congress of Trade Unions secretary general Roy Mwaba
The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions-ZCTU has challenged contesting political parties in this year’s tripartite elections to desist from incessant attacks on the Electoral Commission of Zambia-ECZ.
ZCTU Secretary General Roy Mwaba says political leaders should not politicize the independent work of the commission.
Mr. Mwaba says the labour movement has a lot of respect for ECZ except, but is worried that some political parties are unnecessary attacking the Commission.
Mr. Mwaba was speaking in an interview with ZNBC News in Lusaka.
He also says it is regrettable that some opposition leaders are propagating negative words of violence by suggesting that elections will be rigged.
Mr. Mwaba says such leaders should not be listened to as they have no agenda for the country.
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
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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
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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
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VICE President George Kunda is welcomed to cerebate mass by Father Mike Mereif at Saint Mary's Assumption Parish
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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
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SENIOR Chief Mwata Kazembe’s advisors receiving malaria nets and treatment medical services at the umutomboko traditional ceremony
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RESIDENTS jostle for untensils at one of the Bimalu Company stand at the Umutomboko traditional ceremony
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President Banda when he visited the central market in Monze district of Southern province
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Chieftainess Malembeka is carried on the hammock during the Kwilimuna ceremony of the Lamba people of the Copperbelt
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PF vice president Guy Scott kneels before Chieftainess Malembeka during the Kwilimuna ceremony of the Lamba people of the Copperbelt
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Mpongwe District Commissioner Rasford Bulaya Bulaya, former Mpongwe member of parliament Gabriel Namulambe and Masaiti District Commissioner Evan Pwele Kneel before Chieftainess
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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.
