PATRIOTIC Front (PF) leader Michael Sata has sued the publisher of Stand Up for Zambia (SUFZ) News, Chanda Chimba III for allegedly publishing defamatory articles about him, including his sickness.

Mr Sata claimed he had been seriously injured in his character, credit and reputation and was demanding damages and an injunction restraining Mr Chimba and his servant or agents from distributing, circulating or selling the said tabloid until determination of the matter.

He said Mr Chimba’s publication alleged that his sicknesses had led to fears that he might not lead the country longer due to his serious medical condition.

In a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court yesterday, Mr Sata said the defamatory articles were under the headlines “Sata is a sick man”, “Close encounter with the Cobra” and “King Cobra spearheads homosexual campaigns”.

Mr Sata indicated that the first article stated that he was diagnosed with four threatening diseases in September 2009 after undergoing 22 different medical tests at a named clinic in Lusaka.

He said a tube was inserted to pump out some fluid around the heart as a consequence of his heavy smoking and that there were fears that even if he was elected as president, he would not lead the country for a long time because of the serious medical condition.

Mr Sata said the second article stated that he would make a dangerous leader should Zambians make a mistake of voting him into office because he was exceedingly tribal and a reckless dictator.

“That Mr Sata lacked any qualification to be head of State and his understanding of issues was limited to attacks, insults and lies,” he said.

Mr Sata said the third article indicated that his desperation for power had turned him into a pro-gay activist.

“Sata is desperate because the Orange Party in Taiwan which bankrolled his last three attempts at the presidency is out of power and is demanding back the money that they spent on him and the land and other things that he had promised.

“Following the loss of power of the Orange Party in Taiwan, Mr Sata has now turned to gay activists and countries that support homosexuality to fund his campaign so that in return he would enhance gay rights in Zambia.

”The PF leader said the article also indicated that he had promised to remove from the Statutes the sodomy and bestiality laws as contained in Chapter 87 section 155 of the Penal Code so that gay rights would be guaranteed and enshrined in Zambia.

Mr Sata said the articles in their natural and ordinary meaning were understood to mean that his health had considerably deteriorated, and that the Zambian electorate should not vote for the plaintiff in the forthcoming presidential election as he was unlikely to conclude his term of office due to poor health.

[Times of Zambia]

The United Party for National development (UPND) has charged that President Rupiah Banda’s regime has lost credibility in the eyes of Zambians and that no amount of damage control will change that perception.

Commenting on the formation of the MMD taskforce in Lusaka province aimed at winning support for President Banda ahead of the forthcoming tripartite elections, UPND Spokesperson Charles Kakoma described the idea of the taskforce as an exercise in futility.

Mr. Kakoma told Qfm that the formation of the MMD task force will not change the people’s perception of the MMD.
He says people are tired of the inefficiency of the MMD government and that nothing will stop Zambians from effecting the change of regime in this year’s elections.

And Mr. Kakoma has accused the MMD of using people purporting to be former high ranking UPND members in order to win support.

He says such political gimmicks will not work as the UPND is getting stronger every time the MMD announce fake defections.
[ QFM ]

PRESIDENT Banda has trashed allegations that he was involved in the US$98 million deal between Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) and National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA) for the rehabilitation and upgrading of Society House.

Mr Banda told journalists in Lusaka yesterday that he had nothing to do with the deal.

He said as head of State, he is briefed before parastatals embark on such big projects but he has no role to play in tender processes because Zambia has procedures on public procurement.

“I don’t do things that way. In this country we have procedures but of course people say a lot of things.
And when I look at a project and approve it, the rest is up to the technocrats,” Mr Banda said.

He said this at Lusaka International Airport on arrival from Turkey where he had gone to attend the United Nations conference on least developed countries (LDCs).

Mr Banda said as head of State, he neither participates in nor interferes with tender procedures.

“I don’t participate in tender procedures. It is illegal for anyone to interfere with tender procedures just as it is illegal to interfere with the judiciary and Parliament. It is not right. You know this is life and somebody has to be accused,” he said.

Mr Banda said he saw the initial story carried by The Post and response from both ZNBS and NAPSA. He said what the two parastatals have said on the matter is the correct position.

Early this week, The Post alleged that the President was involved in awarding a US$ 98 million tender for the rehabilitation of society house to a Kenyan firm without following tender procedures.

But ZNBS and NAPSA dismissed the allegation and produced a copy of the advertisement for the tender.

The advertisement, issued by the Zambia Public Procurement Authority in the Zambia Daily Mail edition dated August 11, 2010, called for tender applications from interested parties.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) leader Michael Sata has proved that he will be a danger to national security if entrusted with power to run the country going by his failure to uphold confidentiality in his own party.

Lusaka Province MMD task force spokesperson Chiwele Maimisa said it was not surprising that Mr Sata had been discovered by his own central committee members to cause confusion in the opposition party because the PF leader did the same way back during the days when he served as a constable in the colonial government in which he used to leak information leading to the arrest of Zambians.

And United Party for National Development (UPND) national youth chairperson, Joe Kalusa said Mr Sata was a danger to State security and should not be allowed to become Republican president after admitting that he had been personally leaking sensitive information against rival individuals in the country’s biggest opposition party.

On Wednesday, Mr Sata admitted that he had been leaking confidential information within the party’s central committee, saying he had been doing so to promote transparency.

Mr Sata also said he used to do the same when he was MMD national secretary.

Mr Maimisa said it was pleasing to note that Mr Sata had finally chosen to expose his true character of being a danger to national security and an untrustworthy person by admitting to leaking information which had in the end cracked his party hierarchy.

“It is not surprising that Mr Sata’s tricks have caught up with him because this is the man who used to report to the colonial masters every bit of information when others met to liberate the country.

“Zambians should be extremely careful with this man because the liberation he is talking about now may just mean taking the country back to his colonial masters going by the issues he went to advocate for during his recent trip to the United Kingdom,” he said.

Mr Maimisa said it was true that some PF Members of Parliament were currently disgruntled and were planning to leave the party, especially that Mr Sata did not seem to be set to go to the party national convention.

“In fact some MPs are now planning to petition the PF central committee to elect a person to be floated as a presidential candidate in this year’s elections because they feel Mr Sata is undemocratic and wants to continue imposing himself on the members,” Mr Maimisa said.

And Mr Kalusa said an opposition leader who admits having leaked information that is responsible for causing divisions among his leaders could plunge the country into chaos should he assume State power.

Mr Kalusa said even when UPND and PF ran the pact, Mr Sata leaked sensitive information to a private newspaper, a habit which showed lack of leadership skills. He warned Zambians that the country could degenerate into turmoil against other states should the PF leader become president.

He said Mr Sata should know that he would not become president of Zambia and that the challenge would only be between President Banda and UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema.

Mr Kalusa said the weaknesses that had exposed Mr Sata, including his support for homosexuality, should make the PF leader forget about becoming president of this country.

Mr Kalusa also said in his usual dictatorial way of running the party, Mr Sata whose party had failed to hold the national convention, recently appointed Rebby Chanda as PF Copperbelt provincial chairperson despite having been rejected by the PF members who attended the provincial conference in Mufulira, in preference for former Masaiti PF secretary Sturdy Mwale who had since been suspended for challenging Mr Sata’s preferred candidate and tribesman.

[Times of Zambia]

Dr Machungwa said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that those who supported MrSata have learnt a lesson and the divisions are likely to continue.

He was commenting on divisions which have rocked the opposition party.

“More members will leave the PF because of the bad leadership exhibited by Mr Sata. He will only remain with people who have accepted to be insulted and shouted at,” he said.

He said Mr Sata’s negative attitude towards his members will cost him in the 2011 elections.

Dr Machungwa said Mr Sata’s dictatorial leadership will force all good members to leave the PF.

And Committee of Citizens (CoC) executive director Gregory Chifire said the divisions in the PF are a sign of Mr Sata’s type of government should he be elected president.

Mr Chifire said Kafulafut amember of Parliament George Mpombo, former works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti and former ambassador to Libya Mbita Chitala have contributed to divisions in the PF.

He said the three individuals and Mr Sata practise ‘politics of lies and fabrications.’

Mr Chifire said Mr Sata is good at using people to advance his cause.

He said Zambians are not ready to vote for Mr Sata because he has never been democratically elected at a party convention.

Mr Chifire said Mr Sata’s support for gay rights will extensively divide the party. He said MrSata has nothing to offer and deliver to the people of Zambia as he lacks leadership qualities.

Mr Chifire urged PF members who are still reluctant to leave PF to do so as MrSata is just wasting their time.
[ Zambia Daily Mail ]

Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing Moses Muteteka says the Patriotic Front (PF) in Northern Province has continued to sponsor hooligans who are disturbing MMD meetings at which the ruling party is explaining to the people the projects it has implemented in the area.

Mr. Muteteka said in a telephone interview from Chinsali yesterday the PF is unsettled by what the MMD has done for the people of Northern Province, and has therefore resorted to violence.

He said the reason for that behaviour is that the PF has no issues on which to campaign, and has chosen violence as a way of venting its frustrations on the MMD.

He said on Wednesday night the MMD uncovered a ploy in which some PF youths in Chinsali were strategising on how to disturb the MMD meetings, and threatened Minister of Education Dora Siliya, who is in the same entourage as Mr Muteteka and Minister of Labour and Social Security Austin Liato.

Mr. Muteteka said the youths became unruly, but police managed to apprehend some of them in connection with the violence.

“It is just normal for the PF to appreciate that we have delivered development, but what they are doing is backward type of politics,” he said.

Mr Muteteka said he has also discovered that PF MPs in the province are abusing Constituency Development Fund (CDF) money by engaging their relatives and friends and giving them money for contracts that they are not executing.

He said in one incident, he discovered that a named MP paid a purported contractor K60 million for the construction of a clinic, but the project has been at foundation level for the past seven months. Nothing is happening at the site.

Mr. Muteteka said it is unfortunate that the PF MPs have taken advantage of the huge allocations of CDF, which is supposed to benefit the people in the communities.

But he warned that any contractor who will be discovered to have got CDF money for unexecuted projects will be dealt with accordingly.

And Mr Muteteka has said as MMD youth chairman, he is disappointed with the PF leadership for abusing youths to work against the government, which is working hard to empower young people with survival skills and resources.

He urged the PF to discipline its cadres involved in acts of violence against the MMD.
[ Zambia Daily mail ]

THE Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has been challenged to publish the grounds on which the association wanted the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to rely on in appealing against the judgment involving former president Frederick Chiluba.

Former Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Edward Mumbi has also challenged the association to publish the entire judgment so that members of the public can read and make informed decisions on the acquittal of the former Head of State.

In a letter to LAZ president Musa Mwenye dated May 11, 2011 concerning his statement of May 10, Mr Mumbi said it was surprising that almost two years after the judgment was passed, the association had failed to publish the said judgment from which calls for the resignation of Chalwe Mchenga had emanated.

“Publishing the judgment would have greatly assisted the public make informed decisions on the case of Dr Chiluba.

“In fact, the failure by LAZ to publish the judgment in the case of Dr Chiluba is what has led to unjustified and misguided attacks on Mr Mchenga, magistrate Jones Chinyama and the judiciary,” he said.

Mr Mumbi said LAZ was perceived to be in the forefront of attempting to destroy the credibility of the judiciary and the justice system in Zambia.

“In order to restore the credibility of LAZ and show that the association believes in fairness and justice, I challenge you as LAZ president to ensure the entire judgment in the Chiluba case is published for people to make informed decisions on the acquittal of Dr Chiluba and the reasons or grounds which LAZ expected that the DPP should have relied on in appealing the judgment are published immediately before issuing any further misleading statements,” Mr Mumbi wrote.

He also challenged Mr Mwenye and LAZ to behave differently from uninformed civil society organisations by ensuring it published judgments in which the public may have interest so members of the public could read on their own and appreciate the contents.

[Times of Zambia]