The church says it will campaign against political leaders advocating gay rights and has embarked on sensitising and educating members of the public on dangers of voting for such candidates.

The stance follows Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata’s statement that homosexuals have rights in Zambia.

Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA) overseer Bishop Peter Ndhlovu said in an interview that the church has embarked on programmes aimed at sensitising and educating people on the dangers of voting for leaders advocating for gay rights.

Bishop Ndhlovu said prayer meetings will be held around the country based on various themes to preach on peace, harmony, unity, and reconciliation as Zambia heads for the general elections due this year.

Bishop Ndhlovu said Zambia needs leaders who are biblical and have values. He said it is inhuman and an abomination for the country to have advocates of gay rights.

“The church is coming together to hold powerful prayers and public meetings to educate people on the dangers of voting for leaders advocating

gay rights. It is cross-denominational,” he said.

Bishop Ndhlovu said his church will go flat-out to campaign against the PF and any other political party promoting gay rights.

He said Mr Sata has run out of ideas and if he and the Danish journalists want to promote gay rights, it will not work in Zambia.

Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) executive director Pukuta Mwanza said in a separate interview that the prayer meetings are aimed at educating the general public and voters on how to identify qualities in leaders in the coming elections.

“We want members of the public and voters to know what to look for in leaders and we will continue campaigning against leaders advocating gay rights because we do not want our country to have such bad laws that promote inhuman ways of life,” he said.

Rev Mwanza said he will ensure that gay rights are not enshrined in the Constitution of Zambia.

Meanwhile, Government has asked the church in Zambia to reject people who want to defile society with evil and immoral practices such as homosexuality.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Ronnie Shikapwasha said the church must stand up and rebuke homosexuality because it is unChristian, unholy and ungodly.

“Homosexuality is not only abominable but also criminal in our society,” Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said.

He called on Christians to keep praying for peace and unity ahead of presidential and general elections due this year.

Rev Shikapwasha said Christians should pray for President Banda and his government so that he continues to lead this nation in peace and prosperity.

“We want members of the public and voters to know what to look for in leaders and we will continue campaigning against leaders advocating gay rights because we do not want our country to have such bad laws that promote inhuman ways of life,” he said.

He said this in Lusaka yesterday during the graduation of Omega Global University of South Africa.

Gen Shikapwasha urged the graduates to be the light of the world.

“The degrees you are getting today are not for prestige but they place a heavy and noble responsibility on you in guiding our society and being partners with government in the development of our nation Zambia,” he said.

Omega Global University Chancellor Vusumuzi Sibiya challenged the church leaders to become biblical and develop spiritual intimacy with God.

Professor Sibiya said this is the only way they will overcome challenges and temptations in their endeavours.

[ Zambia Daily mail ]

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesetrday pleaded with opposition political parties to help his party win this year’s tripartite elections by forming loose political alliances with his party.

Mr Sata, during his address, bragged that the PF is the undisputable leading opposition political party that should be assisted by what he termed “small opposition political parties” to oust the MMD from government in this year’s general elections.

Mr Sata, who claimed the PF is the biggest opposition said his party needs to accommodate smaller opposition political parties to strengthen his chances of winning the elections this year.

He made the plea to other opposition political parties when he opened the Lusaka Province PF conference at Garden House Hotel on March 19.

The PF leader said opposition political parties can co-operate and unite even after the alliance it entered into with the UPND collapsed.

Mr Sata has blamed the MMD for the demise of the PF-UPND pact, alleging that the ruling party manipulated the opposition political party.

PF Lusaka Province chairperson Davies Chama has said his party regrets the collapse of the pact it formed with the UPND.

[pullquote]Mr Sata told Mandevu member of Parliament Jean Kapata to stop threatening the police that she would undress but should instead go to the Inter-City Bus Station and undress in protest against the suspension of the council.[/pullquote]

The UPND and the MMD have in recent weeks stated that the PF is not as strong as its leaders claim it is.

The PF has reportedly been sending emissaries to the UPND to try and keep the pact alive, but the UPND has categorically stated that the alliance is dead.

Meanwhile, Mr Sata has castigated PF Lusaka members of Parliament for not protesting against Government when the Lusaka City Council was suspended.

Mr Sata described the MPs as docile.

Mr Sata told Mandevu member of Parliament Jean Kapata to stop threatening the police that she would undress but should instead go to the Inter-City Bus Station and undress in protest against the suspension of the council.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

Unruly Patriotic Front cadres, this morning attacked and nearly lynched a ZNBC crew that went to cover the PF Lusaka province conference and launch of the party manifesto.

The visibly drunk cadres, who where deployed at the entrance of Garden house motel blocked the crew from entering the venue and threatened to burn the vehicle together with the crew inside it.

The PF carders who were armed with sticks and stones harassed the journalists accusing them of not covering the PF leader Michael Sata.

Some cadres also attempted to grab the camera from ZNBC cameraman Cuthbert Miti.

One cadres hit the cameraman on the shoulder while others vented their anger on the vehicle banging it with sticks and fists.

When asked why a crew that was invited to cover the PF function was harassed, Patriotic Front Secretary General Wynter Kabimba claimed the cadres were not from his party.

Mr Kabimba told ZNBC by telephone that he had given strict instructions that all members of the press be allowed passage into the motel.

He said he was sorry that such an incident had occurred.

ZNBC

United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema has said that there is no possibility of reviving the political alliance with the Patriotic Front. Mr Hichilema said his party feels betrayed by the PF.

He said the PF has not been sincere in the way they have been handling the political pact for the past one year.

Mr Hichilema said his party will not reconcile with the PF over the Pact because the PF’s intensions of forming the Pact were not genuine.

He said the PF’s wish of wanting to go it alone has been granted and that the UPND will move on as a single party.

Mr Hichilema said accusing the UPND for the collapse of the pact is a mere public relations tool which the PF is putting across.

Mr. Hichilema was speaking to journalists in Lusaka today during the UPND’s card renewal exercise held at Mulungushi International Conference centre.

Early this week the PF General Secretary Wynter Kabimba accused the UPND of undermining the pact.

The UPND and PF formed a pact in 2009 with a view to remove the MMD from power.

ZNBC

The MMD Presidential candidate aspirant Nason Msoni has charged that Republican President Rupiah Banda does not qualify for gratuity under the current Presidential emolument Act.

Mr. Msoni says it is,therefore, an abuse of legislative powers if parliament goes ahead with the ongoing amendment of the Presidential emoluments Act.

He says dismantling existing laws for the purpose of accommodating individual interests is a dreadful way of enacting laws of the land.

The Presidential aspirant added that the essence of making laws is to protect the common good by disqualifying and barring those who do not qualify for certain privileges.

Mr. Msoni has also urged Members of Parliament not to amend laws in defiance of common sense.

The Bill that seeks to allow a serving head of State access benefits even if they have served less than three years has gone through to the committee stage.

Vice President George Kunda told parliament on Wednesday that the current presidential emoluments amendment Bill is unfair because it does allow a president who has served less than three years in office to access gratuity.
[ QFM ]

Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata says he can not call for negotiations to revive the PF/UPND pact because he still has a written memorandum showing that the pact is still on.

Mr. Sata maintained that as far as he is concerned the pact between his party and the UPND is still intact.

He said he can not start resolving problems that he did not create and that he is not interested in saying anything on the pact because he has not received any complaints from the UPND.

He added that based on the good leadership of late founding UPND leader Anderson Mazoka and the strength they had together, the pact can not just break like that.

And UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma says Mr Sata should ask his secretary general Wynter Kabimba over the collapse of the PF/UPND pact.

Mr. Kakoma says Mr Kabimba was the first one who announced the death of the PF/UPND pact before the UPND.

The UPND Spokesperson says Mr Sata has now realized the value of the pact which he allowed to collapse.

Mr. Kakoma added that there is no chance that the PF/UPND pact will be revived.
[ QFM ]

MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya has asked Col. Kaunda and his brother to stop making wild allegations against the President and the party in the private media without providing proof.

Ms Siliya said in an interview in Lusaka that Zambians are not interested in Col. Kaunda’s tantrums because they want to see development.

She was reacting to the Kaunda brothers’ incessant attacks on President Banda and the MMD in the media.

In March 18’s story in The Post, Col Kunda was quoted as saying changing the law to give President Banda early gratuity is criminal. He also recently accused the MMD of planning to rig this year’s elections.

But Ms Siliya said if Col. Kaunda has nothing to talk about, he should go back to his farm.

“I really want to blast this Panji Kaunda. There is no way he can continue accusing President Banda and the MMD of rigging elections, which he cannot prove. It is impossible to rig elections in Zambia because every political party has monitors at polling stations and tallying centres.

“If he has nothing to talk about, he should just go back to his small farm. We are tired of his tantrums. If he thinks supporting (PF president Michael) Sata and his tolerance for homosexuality will win the PF elections, he is wasting his time,” she said.

Ms Siliya said Zambians have now realised that Col Kaunda, Mr Sata and the PF do not deserve votes.
“Panji and Sata are liars, and Zambians have realised that,” she said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

THE Limulunga local court in Mongu has warned a Catholic priest who was sued for adultery to pray for surviving the legal suit.

Senior local court magistrate Matina Mutete on March 18 told Father Leo Ululi of Saint Lawrence Catholic Church that the court has dismissed the case not because he is innocent or he knew how to testify.

Ms Mutete said this when passing judgment in the case in which Limulunga police station officer-in-charge Hector Simaubi sued Father Ululi for committing adultery with his wife, Irene.

She said the court based its decision of dismissing the case on Mr Simaubi’s failure to provide substantial evidence to prove that the clergyman had committed adultery with his wife.

She said it was important for Mr Simaubi to prove his claim by providing concrete evidence, including the room number Father Ululi and Irene used to commit adultery at a named guest house.

Ms Mutete told Mr Simaubi that he is free to appeal against the judgment within 30 days. She warned Irene to stop seducing Fr Ululi.

Ms Mutete said from the call register printout, which Mr Simaubi produced as part of his evidence, Irene made more phone calls and sent more text messages to Father Ululi than he did to her.

“You should go back home and change your behaviour,” Ms Mutete said.

She also advised her to abide by her husband’s advice of quitting the Catholic Church for the sake of peace in the matrimonial home.

After the judgment, jubilant Catholic Church members burst into celebrations and lifted FrUluli shoulder-high, while a sombre looking Irene immediately went to the police station where her husband was.

And in an interview after the judgement, Mr Simaubi said he has not yet decided whether to appeal against the judgement or not.

Earlier, Catholic Church members, mostly women, caused confusion before the court passed judgement.

The crowd broke a door panel in a dash for sitting space when the courtroom opened.

In the ensuing confusion, the court was forced to delay judgement for about three hours.

[Zambia Daily Mail]