The Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ) General Secretary Susan Matale has advised political parties to educate their cadres against engaging in violence.

And Reverend Matale has observed that ferrying party cadres from one place to another creates an enabling environment for political violence.

Rev Matale said peace is an ingredient for development advised party presidents to strongly condemn the violent acts ahead of the forth-coming Chilanga and Mpulungu parliamentary elections set for next month.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka on Friday, Rev.Matale said Zambia needs peace and it should not be deliberately spoiled for the sake of an election.

Rev Matale said political leaders should strongly come out in open in condemning violence perpetrated by their members.

She hoped that the parliamentary elections in the two constituencies in Chilanga and Mpulungu would be held in a free and fair environment adding that the violence that rocked Mufumbwe to the run-up parliamentary elections were unfortunate.
[pullquote]
“ There is no reason for hating or causing harm to each other for a sake of campaigns because this country needs peace. It is our sincere hope that the elections in Chilanga and Mpulungu will be conducted in a free and smooth atmosphere,” Rev Matale said.[/pullquote]
“As a Church, we are asking the party presidents to restrain their cadres from engaging themselves in violent acts. Party leaders should come out in open and denounce violence because this country needs peace

“ There is no reason for hating or causing harm to each other for a sake of campaigns because this country needs peace. It is our sincere hope that the elections in Chilanga and Mpulungu will be conducted in a free and smooth atmosphere,” Rev Matale said.

The CCZ-GS advised political leaders to talk about development as opposed to advancing petty issues based on individualism.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia has set October 28, 2010 as the date for holding the parliamentary by-elections for both Chilanga and Mpulungu seats respectively.

The Mpulungu seat fell vacant following the death of area MP Mr Chibombamilimo while the Chilanga seat fell vacant after the expulsion of area MP and former Finance and National Planning Minister Ng’andu Magande from the ruling MMD party for gross indiscipline.

Mr Chibombamilimo who passed away in India after an illness was Deputy Minister of Energy and water Development.

Meanwhile, the Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) Executive Director Lee Habasonda has bemoaned the lack of implementation to translate the election materials into Braille to be used for people with disabilities.

Mr Habasonda told ZANIS in an interview that ECZ should consider meeting the demands of disadvantaged people in society.

He urged government through the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into the plight of people with disabilities noting that such people are denied secrecy during election periods because their ‘tools’ for reading and writing is usually not available at Polling Stations.

“It is common knowledge that people with disabilities here in Zambia do not vote because of lack of Braille materials. As SACCORD, our concern is the lack of the Electoral Body to translate the election materials into Braille to benefit the people with disabilities,” Mr Habasonda lamented.

According to Mr Habasonda, people with disabilities use other people to vote during elections which he described that the vote is ‘no longer a secret’ because it has been exposed to the second party.
[pullquote]”It is common knowledge that people with disabilities here in Zambia do not vote because of lack of Braille materials. As SACCORD, our concern is the lack of the Electoral Body to translate the election materials into Braille to benefit the people with disabilities,” Mr. Habasonda lamented.[/pullquote]
He further said some of the people with disabilities do not go to vote because they are frustrated in the first instance.

[ ZANIS ]

The Movement for Multi -Party Democracy (MMD) says it is not scared with its expelled Chilanga Member of Parliament Ngandu Magande forming a political party.

MMD National chairman, Michael Mabenga said the party will not be affected but remain intact.

Mr. Mabenga who welcomed the decision of its former MP forming a political party said he has a democratic right to do so adding that the ruling MMD is unmoved by the development.

He told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the party is not concerned adding that it was the party that chucked him out in the first place.

“We welcome the formation of his party it is his democratic right. If we were scared of him impact we would have not chucked him out of the party but the reason that he was expelled shows that we are unmoved.” He said.

Meanwhile Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) Information Officer, McDonald Chipenzi said the proliferation of opposition political party is only adding misery to the opposition.

He said the formation of more opposition political parties are giving an upper advantage to the ruling MMD.

He doubted whether the new party formed by the former Finance Minister will have an impact on the Zambian political scene saying all other parties formed in the past have failed to produce expected results.

Mr. Chipenzi added that the formation of more opposition political parties only shows the desperation of people to go to state house.

“It is sad that Zambian politicians think that going to plot one is the only way to serve the people, but there are many other ways you can serve the people. This development of every person who is disgruntled form a party is retrogressive to our politics” he said.

He has since called on people who want to form political parties to first reflect on whether they will add value to the Zambian democracy.

Former Chilanga MP is reported in the media to have launched campaigns for his presidential bid for 2011 and distributing fliers in Southern Province under his party the National Movement for Progress (NMP).

ZANIS

The united party for national development UPND has denied media reports that the party has resolved to pull out from the UPND/PF PACT.

It has been reported that The United Party For National Development (UPND) has resolved to withdraw from the electoral pact with the Patriotic Front (PF).

It is said that National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Management Committee (NMC) have rejected the alliance with the PF describing it as not workable because of serious differences which have spilled to the media.

But UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has described the reports as misleading.

He says that the UPND has not resolved to break away from the pact and that it is sad that certain media houses are fabricating stories.

He however says that the pact is currently standing on sick ground because of certain members who are issuing statements that have potential to undermine the pact.

Mr. Mweetwa says that such a decision to break away from the pact can only be arrived at under a high level meeting.

QFM

This is in response to claims by the acting MMD national secretary, Chembe Nyangu that it is too early for Mr Kavindele to declare interest to contest the MMD vice presidency at the convention given his membership status in the party.

Mr Kavindele said that it wrong for people to question his membership of the ruling MMD.

He said that his decision to declare interest in running for the MMD vice president position is on time.

The Former republican vice president has since said that he is ready to contest the party position whenever the NEC chooses to announce the date for the national convention.

[ QFM ]

The MMD has called on Zambians to continue rejecting Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata in next year’s elections because he has caused deep divisions among Zambians.

Addressing a rally at Zyamba primary school in Mpulungu yesterday, MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya said Mr Sata’s style of politics and campaigns has led to some areas of the country to support his politics while vast areas of the country have widely rejected him.

She urged people of Northern Province to join the rest of the country in rejecting Mr Sata because he had been promoting bad language, which had led to him being resented in Eastern, Southern, Central, North Western and Western provinces.

“Mr Sata uses fists and bad language to promote hate against the Government, but the good part is that the major parts of the country have rejected his politics,” she said.

Zambians had an opportunity to continue with the current President Rupiah Banda who had continued to unify the country under extreme difficulty because of Mr Sata.

Ms Siliya was in the Northern Province to tour development projects and also hold public rallies to woo support ahead of the parliamentary by-election set for October 28.
“[pullquote]Mr Sata uses fists and bad language to promote hate against the Government, but the good part is that the major parts of the country have rejected his politics,” she said.[/pullquote]

Ms Siliya also announced that K3 billion had been disbursed for the payment to farmers who supplied maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

“For the first time, Mpulungu is getting a high school which has been constructed already and the Government will enroll 7,250 teachers next year which is a serious jump from the 2,500 employed this year,” she said.

She explained that the current leadership is doing everything possible to reduce the cost of living for all Zambians and the first step was the uniform fuel price announced by the president last week.

Earlier, Ms Siliya urged civil servants aligned to partisan politics to immediately quit and join full time politics ahead of the 2011 presidential and general elections.

She said this when she addressed hundreds of teachers in Mpulungu yesterday where a by-election takes place on October 28, 2010 following the death of Lameck Chibombamilimo who held the seat under the ruling MMD.

Ms Siliya, who is MMD chairperson for information and publicity, said the Government wanted such civil servants to be bold and face an open competition instead of frustrating Government development efforts using covert political methods.

There had been reports that civil servants were deeply engaged in aligned politics to an extent of attending planning meetings at the expense of service provision to the people.

This had compromised their integrity and reduced the balanced trust they held among the people they served.

Ms Siliya said the code of conduct for civil servants was clear and intended to promote integrity among the bureaucrats who had stead taken to political activities.

She also challenged opposition political party leaders to ensure that the campaigns for the Mpulungu seat were violent free to serve children and women who were the most affected by the violence in Mufumbwe in North-Western Province.
[ Times of Zambia ]

THE United Party for National Development (UPND) has said statements by Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata and his secretary general, Wynter Kabimba on the status of the pact go against the spirit which prompted its formation.

And the opposition party has said PF is no longer as strong as it was in 2006 and 2008 and therefore cannot claim that only its president could lead the pact.

Reacting to statements by Mr Sata and Mr Kabimba in yesterday’s Post, UPND acting party spokesperson Douglas Syakalima said by their own statements, the two did not believe in the spirit of the pact.

“By saying that UPND should accept that PF has more MPs than the UPND and the issue of presidency only means that they don’t believe in the pact,” Mr Syakalima said.

But when contacted for comment, Mr Sata said his party was still strong.

“If they respect the pact they would not speak like that. We have helped them to condemn Chizyuka (Namwala Member of Parliament Robbie Chizyuka).

“Those rebels in PF are our problem. We went to Chifubu where there was a rebel MP and we won,” Mr Sata said.

But Mr Syakalima said the pact had never discussed the issue of presidency as claimed by Mr Kabimba.

He said in Lusaka yesterday that the claim by the PF that it had more Members of Parliament (MPs) was wrong.

[pullquote]“As an old man, we expected Mr Sata to provide wisdom in the pact, but he has failed. If anything his statements in the media are showing that he is losing wisdom every day,” Mr Kalusa said.[/pullquote]

“The reason why people enter into pacts or alliances is because they realise that they cannot single-handedly win and form Government.

“That’s why we have had a slogan in the pact that if it is not Michael Sata as president then it should be Hakainde Hichilema,” Mr Syakalima said.

He said PF was no longer strong because most of its MPs voted with the MMD in Parliament and wondered why the PF could not accept reality that they had been losing to the MMD in Luapula Province.

Mr Syakalima said that PF could no longer bank on its past glory because the “political pendulum is emotional and unpredictable.”

He said while the Liberal Democrats were a small party in the United Kingdom, they determined who formed Government in the last elections.

UPND chairperson for energy Garry Nkombo said it was wrong for Mr Sata to create an impression that PF was larger than the pact.

Mr Nkombo noted that the more than 70 per cent of the people who voted against the MMD were more than the share of the PF.

He maintained that Mr Kabimba was an enemy of the pact and that the Zambian people would blame him for breaking the opposition alliance.

And UPND national youth chairperson, Joe Kalusa has claimed that Mr Sata has lost wisdom despite having served in Government for a long time.

“As an old man, we expected Mr Sata to provide wisdom in the pact, but he has failed. If anything his statements in the media are showing that he is losing wisdom every day,” Mr Kalusa said.

And Copperbelt UPND chairperson Elisha Matambo said in Ndola yesterday that the party grassroots members were “sick and tired” of the attitude of the PF bigwigs who had continued to issue statements that belittled the UPND.

[Times of Zambia]