United Party for National Development president Hakainde Hichilema says he cannot be cheated by party members that he can go it alone in the 2011 tripartite elections.

Mr. Hichilema says if the UPND goes it alone in the 2011 elections,chances of removing the current MMD government are very slim.

He says Zambia needs a united opposition in order to remove the ruling MMD from power in the 2011 tripartite elections.

Mr. Hichilema has since called for unity among Zambians if the country is to achieve the change of government.

Mr. Hichilema says the country has continued to suffer at the hands of the corrupt MMD government.

The UPND leader further stated that the UPND/PF pact is intact despite attacks that from the ruling MMD and its sympathizers.

And ULP vice president Gabriel Chibambula has resigned to join the opposition UPND.

Welcoming Mr. Chibambula into the UPND, party president Hakainde Hichilema said the party needs more people.

Mr. Hichilema indicated that more people are going to join the UPND in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile UPND, has called on the MMD government to convene a stakeholders’ meeting to discuss how and where the ballot papers for the 2011 tripartite elections will be printed.

Party Deputy Secretary General, Sikwindi Situla, told QFM in an interview that government’s statement that some machines at government printers have not yet been serviced would demand for a stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the matter more effectively.

Mr. Situla said the issue is not about machines alone, but also to convince the Opposition political parties as to whether the printing of the ballot papers locally will not be fraudulent.

He said, it therefore leaves government with no option, but to call for a stakeholders meeting to decide whether the ballot papers will be printed locally or outside the country.

Meanwhile, Mr. Situla has accused the government of not being ready to hold elections next year.

He said government’s delay to work on the machines at government printers is a clear indication that government is thinking otherwise on whether to go ahead with the elections or not.

Mr. Situla has since advised government to quicken up the process of ensuring that machines at government printers are in good condition before the need of printing ballot papers arises.

Works and Supply Minister, Mike Mulongoti, disclosed over the weekend that not all machines meant for printing ballot papers at Government Printers have been serviced.

[QFM]

United Party for National Development (UPND) national youth chairperson Joe Kalusa yesterday said Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata was causing confusion by making decisions without consulting the UPND.

Mr Kalusa said yesterday that it was surprising that the PF had placed an advertisement calling for people to apply for the Mpulungu parliamentary seat when they had not agreed on who contests the seat.

Mr Kalusa said the PF top leadership was causing chaos in the pact formed last year by advertising in yesterday’s Post newspaper calling for applications for candidacy in the Mpulungu parliamentary by-election without a proper agreement with the UPND leadership.

In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Kalusa also said the call by Mr Sata on QFM Radio last week for Mr Kalusa to face disciplinary action from the UPND was unrealistic because Mr Sata was the one who should be disciplined by the combined leadership in the pact.

He said he would accept to be disciplined if Mr Sata appeared before a disciplinary committee for authorising an advertisement barely three days after UPND chairperson for women’s affairs Chinyama Sekeseke said the pact was yet to decide who contests the seat.

Ms Sekeseke is a member of the PF/UPND technical working group that was charged with the responsibility of making decisions including the selection of candidates on behalf of the pact.

Mr Kalusa said the Mpulungu seat was under the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) and should not be taken by PF without the consent of the UPND.

He said Mr Sata should not be selective in calling people in-disciplined and yet his vice-president Dr Guy Scott authored an analysis, which showed that he was celebrating UPND’s loss of the Luena parliamentary seat.

Mr Kalusa said PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba described UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema as a liar following a statement by the UPND leader that what led to both parties contesting the Chadiza Ward seat was that the pact never discussed and agreed on a uniform candidate.

Members of the UPND were hurt to learn that Mr Kabimba could describe Mr Hichilema as a liar when the truth was that the matter was not discussed.

Mr Kalusa said Mr Sata also questioned his background and yet it was public knowledge that he pioneered the formation of UPND in 1998 and had staunchly maintained his membership to the opposition party since then while other leaders had changed camps.

He said Nkana Member of Parliament Mwenya Musenge should be disciplined by Mr Sata for declaring the PF leader the best candidate over Mr Hichilema in total disregard of the agreement that the candidate would be selected via a transparent process.

Mr Kalusa said the leadership in PF must realise that UPND members also had feelings about who should lead the pact towards the elections next year.

He said the UPND youths have only demanded that the pact should come up with a joint manifesto, the road map, the leadership structure and rules and guidelines to create the waned order.

Mr Kalusa said the other problem that had been cited by the PF leadership was that he had demanded for an explanation on how the opposition party would put more money in people’s pockets, which is a concept that Mr Sata had been promoting.

He said UPND was ready to explain how it would offer free education to the Zambian students and pupils while the PF had failed to offer even a rough explanation on how they would put more money in people’s pockets.

Mr Kalusa said he had worked for several years for the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) and the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and was never referred to as indisciplined.

The pact has lately faced problems and inaccurate statements centered on which of the two candidates was more suitable to lead the alliance amid declarations from each camp that their candidate was the best.
[ Times of Zambia ]

Kasama Central Patriotic Front-PF, Member of Parliament, Geoffrey Mwamba has been arrested and charged for wife battery.

Mr Mwamba who is popularly known as GBM was briefly confined to Woodlands Police Station before being formerly charged.

Lusaka Division Police Commanding Officer, Greenwell Ng’uni confirmed Mr Mwamba’s arrest in an interview with ZNBC news in Lusaka Monday evening.

Mr Mwamba who was accompanied by his lawyer Mumba Kapumpa has been released on Police bond.

The PF parliamentarian will appear in the Lusaka Magistrate Court on Thursday.

Mr Mwamba last week allegedly beat up his wife, Chama, following a domestic row.

Meanwhile, The Centre for Elections and Governance (CEG) says it is disappointed with Kasama Central Member of Parliament Geoffrey Mwamba’s stand to justify domestic violence as a cultural norm in marriage.

CEG Chairperson Gershom Musonda has said it is wrong for married couples to fight adding that it was even worse when the home of an elected lawmaker is involved.

Mr Musonda said domestic violence is inhuman, cruel and degrading and that to justify it shows that the Kasama MP has no regard for basic rights of victims, be it men or women.

The CEG Chairperson said this in a statement made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today that it was also not correct for Mr Mwamba to say that no political party should interfere in domestic affairs of its violent members.

[pullquote]“We are equally surprised to note that during the interview at Radio Mano in Kasama over the weekend, Mr Mwamba was with two fellow PF MPs namely Given Lubinda and Jean Kapita as well as PF national Chairperson Inonge Wina who all opted to keep quiet about Mr Mwamba’s violent behavior”, he said.[/pullquote]

He said elected leaders, especially at Parliamentary and Presidential level, are law makers who are duty bound to protect human rights including in marriage.

Mr Musonda charged that a political party that condones domestic violence or ignores it can not be expected to protect ordinary people if elected into power.

“We are equally surprised to note that during the interview at Radio Mano in Kasama over the weekend, Mr Mwamba was with two fellow PF MPs namely Given Lubinda and Jean Kapita as well as PF national Chairperson Inonge Wina who all opted to keep quiet about Mr Mwamba’s violent behavior”, he said.

Mr Musonda said Ms Kapata and Mrs Wina should have risen to the occasion to correct their brother, saying that CEG now wonders where the PF women have placed the rights of women in their party if they fail to support their fellow woman publicly.

He said the Patriotic Front is the strongest opposition party in the country and people do not expect it to move forward without an agenda for Zambia free of domestic violence.

ZANIS

The Centre for Policy Dialogue, CPD, says Zambians are not yet convinced with government’s efforts in the fight against corruption.

CPD Executive Director, Neo Simutanyi, told QFM in an interview that despite president Rupiah Banda’s assurances that his government is committed to fighting corruption, most Zambians are still far from being convinced that the fight against the vice exists in the country.

Dr. Simutanyi says even though government might have allocated more money to the Anti Corruption Commission, there is still more to be done to convince the people of Zambia.

He explains that this has been so because there are still deals government engages itself in that disappoints the general public as to whether government is really committed to this fight.

Dr. Simutanyi however says the fight against corruption is a complicated matter that despite government’s efforts to address the issue, the country’s ranking on the global corruption index is low.

He recalls that even the late president, Levy Mwanawasa used to complain that despite his administration doing so much in fighting corruption, Zambia’s ranking on the global corruption index remained poor.

[QFM]

The United Party for National Development, UPND, has vowed to re-prosecute Second Republican President, Frederick Chiluba, for the corruption cases it says he has been dubiously been cleared of by the MMD government.

UPND Vice President, Richard Kapita, told QFM that the UPND will ensure Dr. Chiluba faces justice no matter how long it takes because the party is convinced that Dr. Chiluba stole from the Zambian people.

Mr. Kapita says it is not by coincidence that Dr. Chiluba’s aides are the only ones who have been found guilty of corruption, adding that there is therefore no way the Second Republican President can be found innocent.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kapita has advised Dr. Chiluba to keep quiet on his alleged dubious acquittal, saying he should instead sit down to reflect on the wrongs he committed.

He says Dr. Chiluba should be the last person to talk about these matters because he is at the centre of the whole episode.

Mr. Kapita adds that Dr. Chiluba remains a thief in the eyes of the Zambian people no matter how smart he might try to play his game.

Dr. Chiluba recently said he was genuinely smiling following the Lusaka High Court ruling on the London Judgment

[QFM Radio ]