Patriotic Front president Michael Sata has pledged that his first task would be to restore the dignity of the Zambian people within 90 days of the PF coming to power.

The PF leader has since declared that the country’s largest opposition party is ready for the 2011 elections.

Mr. Sata says no matter how long it takes for Republican President Rupiah Banda to announce the date of elections, his party is ready to give the MMD a good run for their money.

He has accused president Banda of trying to catch the opposition political parties unaware.

Mr. Sata says the PF is aware of the tactics the MMD wants to use before the announcement of the election date.

He says his party will bench the MMD this time around so that the Zambian people can witness development under the PF government.

Meanwhile Mr Sata says the MMD has started implementing initiatives aimed at disturbing the holding of free and fair elections.

He has however urged the Zambian people not to allow the MMD hoodwink them into voting for them back into power.

[pullquote]Mr. Sata has dismissed the purported email allegedly written by Kabwata Member of Parliament Given Lubinda to PF secretary general on the $45 million it has allegedly received from Taiwanese and Afghan businessmen.[/pullquote]

He explains that if PF loses this year’s election, it will not be the party that will lose but the suffering Zambian people themselves.

And Mr. Sata has dismissed the purported email allegedly written by Kabwata Member of Parliament Given Lubinda to PF secretary general on the $45 million it has allegedly received from Taiwanese and Afghan businessmen.

He has since challenged those circulating the reports to report the matter to the Drug Enforcement Commission.

Mr Sata says Mr Lubinda does not deal with issues of finances in the party, adding that the authenticity of the said email is also highly questionable.

Mr. Sata was speaking this morning when he featured on Hot Fm’s Hot seat programme.

QFM

THE World Bank has said the launch of Zambia’s new tourism brand name and slogan ‘Let’s Explore’, will increase foreign currency earnings and make the country a preferred tourism destination.

World Bank senior private sector development specialist Marie Sheppard said Zambia’s new brand is a creative innovation that will attract more tourists from across the globe.

Ms Sheppard said the tourism sector will generate more jobs for the locals as more local and foreign tourists sample the unexplored tourism sites.

She described the re-branding initiative as a potential foreign exchange earner, saying many people will visit areas they have never seen before resulting into more viewing of wildlife and waterfalls among other tourist attractions.

The country had been marketed for over 30 years under the brand name and slogan ‘Zambia the Real Africa’, which has since been replaced with ‘Let’s Explore Zambia’ as of last week.

“The re-branding of ‘Zambia the Real Africa’ into ‘Let’s Explore Zambia’ is timely because even before the brand was launched, over 10,000 people across the world participated in the initiative during the pre-launch period,” she said.

She said the World Bank was one of the partners the Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) engaged in coming up with a new brand for the sector.

She said the sector will flourish under a new brand name but urged Government to ease the cost of doing business, which is still high for most tourism operators.

Ms Sheppard said doing business in the country is still high considering the poor state of the road network and lack of air transport to tourism attraction areas.

She said frequent changing of policies such as taxes, visas and levies in the sector are making it difficult for the tourism operators to price their products favourably.

“The poor state of Zambia’s roads in most tourist attraction areas is negatively affecting tourism operators who are currently struggling to price their products so that they can attract more local and foreign tourists,” she said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

Supporters of the Opposition Patriotic Front (PF) yesterday harassed a MUVI Television crew which was assigned to cover the party’s general Conference in Kabwe.

Inutu Mwanza and Bruce Mwale were verbally harassed by convicted PF leader, Michael Sata’s body guard, Judge Ngoma in the presence of Post newspapers journalist, George Chellah while covering the proceedings of the conference.

Ngoma, who was last year convicted on two counts of assault in the Lusaka Magistrate’s court further issued death threats to defenceless, Inutu Mwanza.

The Crew was accused of filming for freelance journalist, Chanda Chimba III’s controversial programme “Stand Up for Zambia”.

The duo confirmed the development in Lusaka.

And Muvi Television Management described the action by the cadres as unfortunate. Company Director for Human resource and Administration, Alfred Tembo has since demanded an apology from the opposition party with immediate effect.

A visibly annoyed, Mr Tembo added that journalists should be allowed to operate in an environment which is free from political interference and intolerance.

But the Patriotic Front(PF) has Unreservedly apologized to MUVI Television for the incident. Secretary-General, Wynter Kabimba issued the apology in Lusaka.

[MUVITV]

Patriotic Front Kabwata Member of Parliament Given Lubinda has called on Zambians to be steadfast in the quest to remove the MMD from power.

Mr. Lubinda says it is clear that the MMD government has completely failed the Zambians.

He cited the failure by the local authorities to deliver necessary services to the people as an example that the MMD has failed.

He added that the continued blame by the ruling party on the Patriotic Front run-councils is an indication of failure on the part of the MMD.

Mr. Lubinda says Zambians should wake up and turnout in numbers on the day of elections to remove the failed administration of the MMD from power.

He says the failed developmental policies of the MMD have resulted in the ruling party hoodwinking Zambians with last minute promises of development such as the installation solar geysers.
[ QFM ]

Hope for Human Rights has advised managements at the Zambia Daily Mail, Times of Zambia and ZNBC to take the barring of their Editorial staff at the just-ended PF conference as a wake-up call.

Organization’s executive director smart Chanda said that the PF cannot be blamed for having barred that reporters from the public media because they have in most cases been used to scandalize the PF leader Michael Sata.

He said that what the public media needs to do is to ensure that it upholds high professional standards by giving equal coverage to people with divergent Views saying this will help in restoring public confidence.

And Foundation for democratic process has observed the need for the media bodies such has Media institute for Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia, and the Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) to mediate for reconciliation between the media and political parties in the country.

FODEP executive Director McDonald Chipenzi says that the journalists are committed to their job and that they have nothing to do with the biased editorial content that is published.

Mr. Chipenzi has since called for harmony between the political parties and the media in the country especially at a time when the country is heading to the polls.
[ QFM ]

HANGOVER 2

Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) are back. This time they travel to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. After what happened in Vegas, they are playing it safe, this time and are planning simple pre-wedding brunch. But things don’t go as planned.

This film is darker , but is almost a scene for scene remake of the first.

PRO’S

• There were some very funny moments in the film.

• There were very few original funny situations, the majority were simply copied from the first movie and pasted here.
• Some scenes in the movie were unnecessarily crude, instead of being funny, they were just disgusting.
• The producers of this movie had no original ideas; even the music was the same as the first movie.
• No meaningful additions were made to the cast, just the same characters ….and mike Tyson …really ? it was nice when he was in the first one , as it was so unexpected . But in this one, it’s a case of been there done that.
• The ending of the movie was exactly the same as the first one.

CONCLUSION

If you have watched the first Hangover, there is no real reason to watch this one, as it is basically a carbon copy. It does have some hilarious moments, though they are few are far between. It is a movie to watch, have a few laughs, then forget about it, unlike its predecessor which I have personally watched over 10 times.

FAVORITE QUOTES

Stu: Oh my god. Alan, your head!

Alan: No, your head.

Mr. Chow: Did you die?

Phil: No, but i was shot.

Mr. Chow: But did you die?

RATING

1 out of 5

BY KAPA187