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President Rupiah Banda President Rupiah Banda today swore in five High Court Judges who are part of nine judges that were recently appointed.
Those that have been sworn in today are Justices Justine Chashi, Isaac Kamwendo, Flavia Chishimba, Petronella Ngulube and Mugeni Mulenga as High Court Judges.
Out of the total of nine judges, two are for the Supreme Court while seven are High Court Judges.
The four judges that were sworn in yesterday are Justices Muyinda Wanki and Gregory Phiri as Supreme Court Judges while Gaundentia Salasini and Anessie Bobo were sworn in as High Court judges.
President Banda said at the swearing in ceremony today that government and the judiciary had a deliberate programme to ensure that women that are suitably qualified were appointed to perform such functions.
President Banda said he was well satisfied with the loyalty, integrity and the ability of the people he appointed to the positions of judges.
He urged them to work hard and according to the provisions of the constitution.
The judges swore and affirmed to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the President and to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of Zambia as by law established.
They further swore to deliver justice in accordance with the constitution when discharging their duties.
Chief Justice Ernest Sakala, Lusaka Province Minister, Charles Shawa were among other senior government officials that attended the swearing ceremony at State House today.
Labour and Social Security Deputy Minister Simon Kachimba
Labour Deputy Minister Simon Kachimba has warned Shoprite Zambia to desist from engaging workers on casual bases on the pretext of studying the country’s labour laws.
Mr. Kachimba said government will not allow the company to continue engaging workers as casuals and ripping from them while alleging to be waiting for guidance from the ministry.
He said government is concerned that the chain store has not implemented the agreement that was made despite assurance to do so.
Mr. Kachimba said this when he meet Shoprite Zambia management to follow up on issues which were agreed upon between the two parties. The issues agreed upon among others last year include casualisation and contracts.
He has since directed officials from his ministry and Shoprite management to quickly start working on the labour agreement and terms of contracts for workers.
“I call upon you (Shoprite management) to take the worker’s contract to my office on Monday and immediately start solving this problem of fixed term contract and casualisation. We need seriousness in the way we handle our issues because this will also avoid protests” he said.
He also asked the management to table the company’s Zambianisation report that was agreed upon to incorporate Zambians in senior management positions.
The Minister also toured Shoprite Manda Hill branch were some employees expressed dissatisfaction with their salaries and other conditions of service.
Ms. Tubesebo Musialela an Account Clerk said workers were made to work for long hours but were receiving little pay.
She said the chain store has ignored government advice to improve the conditions of service for workers despite repeated calls.
And Shoprite Zambia Acting General Manager, Charles Bota said the company has not resolved the issues of casualisation and fixed term contracts because it wanted guidance from the ministry.
He however said that Shoprite has clear laws on the treatment of workers such has discouraging the use of abusive language and any mistreatment of workers.
Mr. Bota who could not respond to many of the minister’s concerns however promised that the company would write to him once the General Manager comes from vacation.
Shoprite Zambia has over 1,000 casual workers countrywide.
FIVE Patriotic Front (PF) Chililabombwe councillors have been expelled while a councillor in Luanshya was arrested for alleged corruption as turmoil continues to haunt the opposition party.
The five councillors were expelled from the party for allegedly voting for MMD candidate Trudy Ng’andu as mayor early this week.
Ms Ng’andu was elected new Chililabombwe mayor after she got 12 votes when her party has only eight seats in the council.
Copperbelt Provincial Local Government Officer, Solomon Sakala, who confirmed the expulsion to the Times, said it was regrettable that the PF could exhibit such partisan politics.
Chililabombwe has 13 PF councillors, eight MMD councillors and one from the United Democratic Alliance.
An effort to get a comment from the Chililabombwe PF chairperson failed.
In Luanshya, police on Wednesday arrested and detained a PF councillor for alleged corrupt activities during the mayoral elections won by MMD’s Peter Phiri.
The arrest prompted the PF councillors to boycott the elections.
Adam Zulu, who was aspiring for the position of mayor, was arrested and detained in police custody when he allegedly offered K2 million cash as inducement to another councillor who he wanted to vote for him.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) spokesperson Wezi Chomba and Luanshya District police chief, Hudson Namachila confirmed Mr Zulu’s arrest in separate interviews yesterday.
Former Patriotic Front (PF) general secretary Edward Mumbi has said expelled Kafulafuta Member of Parliament George Mpombo should not accuse President Banda of being tribal because late president Levy Mwanawasa was the one who had more relatives and friends in Cabinet.
Mr Mumbi said it was shameful that Mr Mpombo wants to challenge his expulsion at the convention and yet he dared the party to take action against him.
He said Mr Mpombo should not accuse President Banda of being tribal because it was alleged that late president Mwanawasa was the one who had more relatives and friends in Cabinet.
Mr Mumbi challenged Mr Mpombo to produce a list of President Banda’s relatives who were in Cabinet so that it could be compared with Dr Mwanawasa’s list.
“President Banda has made minor changes to the same Cabinet but the majority were still (late) president Mwanawasa’s contrary to Mr Mpombo’s assertion,” Mr Mumbi said.
He said Mr Mpombo and his Chilanga counterpart Ng’andu Magande should stop using late Dr Mwanawasa’s name because others who mentioned the late president were told to stop talking about the dead.
The two MPs should not talk about democracy because they adulterated the constitution so that they could succeed late president Mwanawasa.
“These people claiming to be relatives of the late president influenced him to adulterate some tenets of the constitution so that they could succeed him, Mpombo even claimed that (late) president Mwanawasa left instruments of power to him when he went to Egypt,” Mr Mumbi said.
Mr Mumbi said because of these reasons, Mr Mpombo and Mr Magande criticised Mr Banda.
But Mr Mpombo said it was out of principle that he challenged the expulsion to avoid leaving a bad precedent.
Mr Mpombo said he was waiting for instructions from his lawyer in Lusaka because he was at the farm in Ndola.
He maintained that he would beat the MMD should there be a by-election.
Mr Mpombo wondered why Mr Mumbi had become the spokesperson for MMD and Government.
First Lady Thandiwe Banda giving a hammer-mill to women in Luapula
Change Life Zambia executive director Father Frank Bwalya has warned First Lady Thandiwe Banda, that she risks being Zambia’s first former First Lady to be prosecuted.
Father Bwalya says if the money Mrs Banda was dishing out to women’s clubs in the northern and Luapula provinces is not accounted for, she will be prosecuted.
Father Bwalya says it is clear that the reason the first lady had gone to the two provinces was to campaign for her husband.
He says though it is not a problem for the first lady to campaign for President Banda, the gimmick used was wrong.
In an interview with QFM, Father Bwalya questioned Mrs. Banda’s failure to give money through NGOs for women’s support programme.
He said it is now clear that the first lady has become an MMD cadre from the way she has been questionably giving money to purported women’s clubs.
Football fans pondering their next move after the Zambia-Comoros Islands match was put off at Nkoloma stadium.
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Some players from the Zambia National soccer team in training for the Africa Cup qualifier match against Comoros Islands.
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Some players from the Zambia National soccer team in training for the Africa Cup qualifier match against Comoros Islands
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Some players from the Zambia National soccer team in training for the Africa Cup qualifier match against Comoros Islands to be played at Nkoloma Stadium
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Zambia Felix Katongo (centre) is brought down during the African Cup qualifier match played at Nkoloma stadium. Zambiw won 4-1.
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Zambia's James Chamanga under pressure from Comoros Islands' Muhamad Ali during the African Cup qualifier match played at Nkoloma stadium. Zambiw won 4-1
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Zambia skipper Christopher Katongo in action during the African Cup qualifier match played at Nkoloma stadium. Zambiw won 4-1.
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Police officers watch over at Nkoloma stadium after the Zambia-Comoros Islands match was postponed.
Lusaka lawyer Chifumu Banda (l) with businessman Geoffrey Mwamba (GBM)
Kasama Central MP Geoffrey Mwamba has with immediate effect relinquished his parliamentary position.
Mr Mwamba said he has resigned to concentrate on his business.He claims that his business has been affected due to his involvement in politics.
Mr Mwamba however regretted quitting without consulting the people in his constituency. He said he will soon travel to Kasama to explain to the people the circumstances regarding his resignation.
Mr Mwamba thanked the people of Kasama for electing him as MP. This is contained in a resignation letter addressed to Patriotic Front-PF President Michael Sata.
He thanked Mr Sata for according him chance to serve in the PF as Chairperson for Elections and member of the central committee.
Earlier, Patriotic Front President Michael Sata temporarily relieved Mr Mwamba of his position as Party Chairperson for the Elections portofolio.
This followed the assault and wife battering charges levelled against him. PF Secretary General Winter Kabimba confirmed the development.
Mr Mwamba popularly known as GBM is accused of having battered his wife Chama, on Sunday following a marital dispute.
Police yesterday recorded a warn a warn and caution statement from Mr Mwamba
There has been widespread condemnation of Mr Mwamba from a cross-section of society following the incident which left his wife with a cut on her forehead.
The Human Rights Commission who has called on the Zambia Police and the Inspector General in particular,to show that the behavior exhibited by the Kasama central Member of Parliament is not to be condoned and that penal consequences follow.
And the Law Association of Zambia has described the conduct of Kasama central Member of Parliament Geoffrey Mwamba who on Sunday battered his wife as unacceptable.
LAZ, Convener of the women’s rights, Kondwa Chibiya says violence against women cannot and should not be condoned.
Mrs Chibiya said that LAZ is saddened by the report of such an act as it touches on the very core of the fight to end violence against women in Zambia.
Mrs. Chibiya said as Zambia is considering the creation of the gender based violence legislation, such reports were very disturbing.
She added that it is the hope of LAZ that the relevant law enforcement agency will take this matter seriously and ensure that the law takes its course.
Samuel Matete has said he is looking forward to the challenge of helping discover the next 400 meters hurdle prospects from Zambia.
The 1996 Olympic Games 400 hurdles meters silver medalists has been invited by the management of the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka to offer technical help for the recently launched junior track and field academy at the facility.
Matete said he was excited about working with junior prospects during his brief visit back to Zambia while on break from Mauritius where he works as a coach at the IAAF Centre.
“We have never done this in Zambia. It will be the first time the kids will be interacting with the hurdles and that’s the part am really excited to see and what their reaction will be,” Matete said at a media briefing at the OYDC on Thursday.
Matete said the program wasn’t for instant results but to stimulate junior track prospects to hurdles now that Zambia had a world class facility for the event.
The OYDC has a world class eight-lane synthetic track, the first of its kind in Zambia.
“Then we will see their interest that will be developed over time,” Matete said.
“We are still a long way from that but the great part of all this it is the beginning. You know kids grasp things easily you never know what happens after that.”
He said the junior prospects will not run the 400 hurdles but start with the 300 hurdles because of the physical demands on athletes in the former.
Matete said he will also be taking the junior academy camp of athletes aged between 7 and 15 through the paces in 100, 200, 300 and 800 meter races.
However, the 3000 meters and 400X 4 relays including the hummer will be overlooked also because the juniors have not yet physically developed for the rigors of those disciplines.
And OYDC director Clement Chileshe said they were delighted to have Matate, who is also the centers’ ambassador, to help with his expertise at their junior academy.
Chileshe said the objective of the academy was to expose the juniors to training under professional guidance and the best competition opportunities at an early age.
He said the periodic training camps will also be graced by USA-based former runner Alick Musukuma.
Utility midfielder Noah Chivuta is a doubt for Zambia’s friendly international away to Yemen in Sanaa next Wednesday.
Chivuta is one of three Zambia first team players based abroad who are currently clubless and have been called up for the friendly game against the Middle East team ranked 109 in the World.
The midfielder said he was not sure he would be available for the game because he was currently in the process of finalizing a deal with a new South African club after being released by Maritzburg United in the off-season.
“I don’t know if I will come,” Chivuta said. “I am in the last stages in negotiations with a club.”
The two other clubless players called up for the match against Yemen are midfielder Rainford Kalaba and goalkeeper Kalililo Kakonje.
Meanwhile, the team comprising of 17 home-based players is expected to go into camp in Lusaka this Saturday for a brief triaining camp under coach Dario Bonetti before leaving for Sanaa at the start of the week.
Teams
Goalkeepers: Kalililo Kakonje (unattached), Jacob Banda (Zesco United)
Defenders: Billy Mwanza, Nyambe Mulenga (Both Zesco United), Jimmy Chisenga (Red Arrows), Derrick Mwansa (Nkwazi), Dennis Banda (Green Buffaloes) Stephen Kabamba (Kabwe Warriors), Moses Mulambi (Nchanga Rangers)
Midfielders: Rainford Kalaba (unattached), Innocent Mwaba (Zesco) Kennedy Mudenda, Joseph Sitali, Simon Bwalya (All Power Dynamos), Noah Chivuta (unattached), Thomas Nyirenda (Zanaco), Kennedy Chola (Green Buffaloes).
Strikers: Luka Lungu (Power Dynamos), Cosmas Kabaso, Felix Sunzu Junior (Both Konkola Blades).
Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata has called for an end to bickering in the PF/UPND pact using the press.
Speaking when he featured on the special edition of the Public’s Last Say on QFM today, Mr Sata said if there are weaknesses noticed in the PF/UPND pact, they should not be brought out using the media.
Mr Sata said he agrees with the concerns of the Zambian people on the pact.
He said there is also need to bring about discipline in the membership of both the PF and UPND by ensuring that no member of any of the two parties issue media statements about the pact anyhow.
Mr Sata added that there is need for the UPND and PF to reorganize themselves following their poor performances in the recent ward by-elections in which the MMD won most seats.
He note that the two parties did not do well in the local government ward elections hence the two parties need to reorganize instead of bickering.
that picking the pact’s presidential candidate today before the two parties reorganize will not help.
Meanwhile Mr Sata said he hates violence regardless of who is perpetuating it.
He said he could however not say much on the case in involving PF Kasama central Member of Parliament Geoffrey Mwamba who battered his wife on Sunday in order not jeopardize the investigations by the Police in the matter.
Mr Sata said it is for this reason that he has always condemned any acts of violence.
Yesterday Police recorded a warn and caution statement from Mr Mwamba for assaulting his wife, Chama following a domestic dispute.
ACTING Health Minister Brian Chituwo has said the upgrading of five clinics in Lusaka into mini hospitals and the construction of Lusaka District Hospital, are among the intermediate measures Government has undertaken to address congestion at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
Speaking in Lusaka yesterday when he toured UTH to check on progress and challenges the institution was facing, Dr Chituwo said the Government was committed to ensuring that quality health care delivery was maintained at the country’s highest referral hospital.
“The upgrading of five clinics in Lusaka into mini hospitals would drastically reduce congestion at UTH because we will have specialists offering quality health care to people as close to their homes as possible. This will mean we will see the number of patients flocking to UTH, reduce,” he said.
Dr Chituwo said the hospital had a mandate to offer health care to all patients in need, and that even when the hospital was filled to capacity, they could not turn away patients.
He said media reports that UTH was heavily congested could not be denied, but was quick to mention that congestion at places such as the Filter Clinic, was only a temporary measure, as patients were quickly evacuated to other wards for admissions, within a space of 24 hours.
He said the Filter Clinic seemed congested because that was where patients in need of emergency care were attended to and once stabilised, they were evacuated to other wards.
Dr Chituwo, who is also Science and Technology Minister, said Government was also in the process of re-opening some of the closed nursing training institutions and that Government had plans of establishing another school of medicine in order to address the shortages of staffing levels in the health sector.
Meanwhile, Dr Chituwo was elated to find that hospital equipment worth billions of dollars were being properly utilised at the hospital.
He was referring to diagnostic machines such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the computerised tomography (CT) scanning equipment.
And Dr Chituwo maintained that government would not reverse its decision on the procurement of mobile hospitals.
He said the procurement of the mobile hospitals had reached an advanced stage.
[Times of Zambia]
75-year old Besinati Zulu votes during the Milanzi by-election
By Henry Kyambalesa
I was personally delighted by the relatively peaceful parliamentary by-elections held in Luena and Chifubu constituencies on August 5, 2010. I hope the forthcoming Mpulungu parliamentary by-election slated for October 28, 2010 will be peaceful as well. We need to refrain from the savage behavior that was exhibited by some political cadres during the Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election held on April 29, 2010.
We need to ensure that the campaigns in support of our respective candidates are conducted in a civil manner. After all, the individuals who are going to be selected by political parties as candidates in the by-election are not enemies; rather, they are all members of the Zambian family seeking to serve their fellow citizens as Members of Parliament.
We should, therefore, insist on having each of the candidates to explain to the voters in the Mpulungu constituency what his or her role would be as their representative in the National Assembly, and/or the development agenda of his or her political party in Northern Province.
There are a lot of important projects and programs which need to be pursued in Northern Province, such as the following:
(a) Upgrading of the transportation infrastructure to facilitate and expedite the ferrying of agricultural produce, inputs and machinery and equipment by providing for an inter-modal network of all-season feeder roads, trunk roads, and bridges—including the Mbesuma Bridge in Chinsali district on the Chambeshi River that has already been earmarked for construction.
(b) Introduction of widely accessible credit schemes, and provision of incentives for the establishment of privately owned facilities for processing, packaging and canning agricultural produce—including beans, carrots, cabbages and other kinds of vegetables, cassava, coffee, fish, fruits, groundnuts, maize, millet, potatoes, pumpkins, sorghum, sugar cane, and tomatoes.
(c) Provision for seed and fertilizer subsidies at 50% or more in order to facilitate the growing of crops that are currently being grown through the citemene system mainly due to the high cost of agricultural inputs.
(d) Provision for the construction of a magistrate’s court on Chilubi Island so that the police will not have to transport suspected law breakers to Samfya for court sessions.
(e) Upgrading of resettlement schemes by providing financial and material resources for constructing and/or rehabilitating boreholes, water wells, irrigation dams and canals, feeder roads, culverts, low-cost houses, clinics, basic schools, police posts, and other essential public services and facilities. Such resettlement schemes include the Lufubu Resettlement Scheme near Luwingu; the Lukulu South Resettlement Scheme in Kasama district, the Kanchibiya and Mufubushi schemes in Mpika district, and the new scheme based in Chief Katyetye’s area in Isoka district. And
(f) Provision of material and financial support to facilitate the construction and maintenance of irrigation canals, dams, furrows, and boreholes throughout the Northern Province. Successful irrigation schemes are an important element in efforts aimed at reducing poverty nationwide, as demonstrated by the Ngulula Village scheme situated 25 km from Kasama—which was initiated in 1955 and has continued to sustain local households through the growing and selling of beans, cabbages, carrots, fruits, groundnuts, maize, potatoes, sugar cane, tomatoes, and other crops.
Eventually, one would expect the agricultural schemes at Phillip Village in Chinsali District, the Kabila Village in Kasama District, the Bulunda Village in Chief Mukonge’s area along the Luwingu road, and other similar sites and communities in the Province to be as productive as the Ngulula Village scheme.
There is also a need to ensure that the tourism potential in the Northern-Luapula Circuit is fully exploited through projects and programs like the following:
(a) Improved airport infrastructure at the Kasama Airport, the Kasaba Bay Airport, the Samora Machel Airport, and other airfields in the northern region, and the opening up of the Samora Machel Airport to civilian aircrafts;
(b) A network of well-maintained roads leading to waterfalls, lakes, beaches, wildlife sanctuaries in national parks, and other heritage sites—including the Chishimba Falls National Monument in Kasama, Kalambo Falls and the Moto Moto Museum in Mbala, the Ntumbachushi Falls in Kawambwa, the Lumangwe Falls in Mporokoso, the Nachikufu Cave in Mpika, and the Mwela Rock Art site in Kasama; and
(c) Inducement of private investments in the establishment and maintenance of tourism camps, lodges and hotels mainly through the Tourism Development Credit Facility (TDCF).
These kinds of projects and programs can be funded through financial and material resources which could be saved by getting rid of top-level sinecures in government, merging some of the government ministries and agencies which have similar functions, reducing the number of foreign missions, reduction in the number of foreign trips and the size of delegations, and so forth. Similar projects and programs nationwide can be funded by creating a government that is smaller, a government that would live within its means, and a highly innovative government that would do more with less.
In 1997, a 19-year-old English girl, Cecily Eastwood, was teaching at Lechwe School in Kitwe and volunteering with CINDI (Children in Distress) at a homework club for orphans during her gap year between school and university. Tragically, she was killed in a traffic accident before the year ended.
Cecily’s parents, Basil and Alison Eastwood, requested donations at her funeral to help the orphans she had been working with. They were amazed to receive over £6,500 (ZMK 48,750,000) from friends, family and strangers who were moved by the story in the paper. The following year they visited Zambia and learned that CINDI had used the money to put the orphans into school for one year, but did not have funds to continue their schooling. The Eastwoods decided to establish Cecily’s Fund in their daughter’s memory, to keep these children, and others like them, in school. They continued working with CINDI until 2007.
Cecily in Scotland
Cecily’s Fund works in close partnership with the Ministry of Education and with Zambian organisations; Hodi (who took over Cecily’s Fund’s Kitwe education programme in 2007), CHEP (Copperbelt Health Education Project) and, in Lusaka, Bwafwano. Together they are now supporting well over 9,500 children through school and college and are helping to increase young peoples’ awareness of HIV. Earlier this year, Cecily’s Fund signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education to formalise their partnership and to help facilitate the work of its non-government partner organisations at individual school, district and national level.
Cecily’s Fund’s partners work with school-based committees to identify the most vulnerable children and provide them with shoes, uniforms, books and pens, and help with fees. With CHEP, they train 50 young people whom they have supported through school as peer health educators, and support them to teach Kitwe school children how to stay safe from HIV. They also support some of their school graduates and former peer health educators to train as teachers.
The children they support have faced much trauma and disruption from the illness or death of their parents. Many are living with elderly grandparents or chronically ill parents, or have no adults to care for them. Cecily’s Fund and its partners work with specially nominated “contact teachers” (the role is usually assumed by Guidance and Counselling teachers) to monitor their children’s progress in school and provide extra support if needed. They are also developing links with government and other non-government organisations who can help children’s households with issues such as housing and nutrition.
The majority of their supported children are in Kitwe, but since 2002 Cecily’s Fund has supported Bwafwano Community School in the Chazanga suburb of Lusaka. Bwafwano was set up in 1996 by local nurse, Beatrice Chola. Initially it focused on providing home based care for neighbours suffering from tuberculosis and other chronic illnesses. It now offers the community a range of services including a clinic, a legal advice centre, a vocational training centre and a school. Cecily’s Fund pays for teachers’ salaries, educational materials and a daily meal for all 756 children in the school, which runs from pre-school up to grade 4.
Once children are academically and emotionally ready, Cecily’s Fund and Bwafwano support them to move on to local government schools; paying for uniforms, materials and helping with fees. They also work with contact teachers to monitor progress and give guidance and support. Despite the challenges they face, 100 of the 162 Bwafwano children at government schools passed grade 8 entrance exams this year, many with results among the best at their school. Bwafwano’s Education Officer, Bambala Kataso explains; “Our focus at Bwafwano is that orphans and vulnerable children reach grade 12 and fulfill their dreams.”
For more information about Cecily’s Fund, please visit www.cecilysfund.org
THE National Union of Communication Workers (NUCW) has said the breakdown of payments to the retrenched workers of Zamtel is what was agreed between the union and the Government.
But NUCW branch officials in Ndola have challenged the NUCW executive to avail a copy of the actual agreement that they signed on behalf of the workers in view of the partial privatisation of the telecommunications firm.
NUCW Secretary General Clement Kasonde said yesterday that the breakdown of payments that the retrenched workers were given was what was agreed between stakeholders before the retrenchment was implemented.
Mr Kasonde said the stakeholders entered into an agreement that said the retrenched workers should get three months basic pay multiplied by the number of years worked by an employee.
He said the workers were also to receive two months worth of salaries as repatriation and an extra one-month salary.
He said leave days accumulated should be paid in cash and the whole redundancy package was tax-free as Government was to pay the tax on behalf of the workers.
He said most workers had earlier thought that as part of their package, they would be paid compensation equal to 20 months of their basic salary as it was done in 1996 when excess workers were retrenched from Zamtel after the unbundling of the Posts and Telecommunication Corporation.
In addition to the compensation at the time, workers received one-and-a-half months basic salary for every year worked as retrenchment.
Mr Kasonde said even though his union would have wanted to get more for the workers during negotiations, circumstances were different now compared to 1996 when the retrenchment was internal, management was more willing to give into the union’s demands and the company was solvent..
The branch officials, however, said in a letter addressed to the general secretary and made available to the Times in Ndola yesterday that about a month before Zamtel was officially handed over to LapGreen Networks, they had observed the alleged failure by the executive to avail the actual agreement to the workers.
The branch officials of the Ndola Central Branch said they had received several queries concerning the nature of the document from the members.
Branch chairperson Chilyobwe Mwape and branch vice-secretary Henry Nsama signed the letter.
“On several occasions we have asked you to reveal the entire document to us as branch leaders and of course to the general membership since this document is purported to have been signed on our behalf, but alas you have time and again failed to bring out the entire document except for a few selected clauses you have revealed at your own discretion,” reads part of the letter.
[ Times of Zambia ]
THE MMD in Masaiti District has said Kafulafuta Member of Parliament (MP) George Mpombo’s challenge of his expulsion from the ruling party is a mark of cowardice and proof that he has no capacity to re-contest the seat.
And MMD deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu has said the expulsion of Mr Mpombo from the party is legal, and the MP is ignorant on the party constitution.
Masaiti District chairperson Michael Katambo said it was shocking for the former Defence minister, who had routinely bragged that President Rupiah Banda and the MMD leadership were scared of him because he was a political heavyweight, to protest his expulsion from the party.
“Mr Mpombo said he was fully armed and ready to defeat his political rivals but we are now wondering that the man who claimed he was game is now rushing to engage lawyers to challenge the decision to expel him from the MMD,” he said.
Mr Katambo said Mr Mpombo was scared of the by-election because he had realised that he would be defeated, and the grassroots support he boasted about was non-existent.
He said even the seven ward councillors Mr Mpombo said would resign and align themselves to his interests were still loyal to the MMD leadership.
Kafulafuta Constituency is in Masaiti District.
“The man has not done any serious development projects in Kafulafuta and he is obviously having difficulties to woo supporters from among the local people,” Mr Katambo said.
Kafulafuta Constituency MMD chairperson, Abraham Mwape said the people in the area now knew the true colours of Mr Mpombo, and he could no longer be taken seriously.
Mr Mwape said MMD members in Kafulafuta were ready to face Mr Mpombo and prove to him that he was simply a political lightweight.
Mr Nyangu said the decision to expel Mr Mpombo from the party was legal because the current National Executive Committee (NEC) office-bearers had the mandate to execute their duties until the next party convention was held.
He said contrary to Mr Mpombo’s assertions that his expulsion was illegal because the current NEC members acted outside the party’s constitution following the expiry of their mandate on July 17, NEC’s mandate and all decisions made by its membership remained valid and legally binding.
“What is Mr Mpombo talking about? You see it is because he is so new in the party and in politics.
“In 1995, we had our party convention in December, and this did not stop NEC members from executing their duties, just because the convention had not yet been held,” he said.
Mr Nyangu said the process towards the holding of the party’s convention was on-going.
Mr Mpombo has engaged his lawyers to challenge the decision by the MMD NEC to expel him because it was unconstitutional.
The Kafulafuta MP and his Chilanga counterpart, Ng’andu Magande were last Saturday expelled from the ruling party for gross indiscipline.
Mr Mpombo could not be reached for comment.
