Mr Hikaumba said the congress does not negotiate for the workers’ conditions of service and salaries but it helped affiliate, unions to resolve such matters and only intervened when they reached a deadlock.

The ZCTU President was reacting to media reports that employees at a pharmaceutical company in Ndola have not been paying workers for months and workers have threatened to protest if the situation was not resolved.

He said the congress was waiting for the union which represents the workers to make attempts to negotiate for them or report to its mother body, which is ZCTU.

Mr. Hikaumba however wondered as to why the problem had been left unattended to for such a long time adding that the situation was abnormal and should be resolved urgently.

He described it as unusual for workers to remain silent when they were not being paid their dues for a long period of time adding that they should have protested when the problem started rather than doing so now.

He has since pledged to make a follow up with the union to get to the root cause of the problem in an effort to finding a lasting solution.

ZANIS

Police in Lusaka has arrested a named pastor’s wife from Chawama compound in connection with alleged food poisoning of 14 unsuspecting members of one family. Zambia Police Deputy Spokesperson, Ndandula Siamana has confirmed the development to ZANIS in Lusaka today.

According to a source who sought anonymity in an interview in Lusaka today the arrest of the woman follows an incident in which six members of one family were on August 17, 2010 rushed to University Teaching Hospital (UTH) filter clinic after suspected food poisoning. The source said other eight members were also taken to Chawama clinic the following day after eating the same food adding that this prompted hospital authorities to investigate the cause of sickness.

According to her, investigations revealed that the food and water had some poison and that an inquiry into the matter pointed to a named pastor’s wife of an identified local church. The source further disclosed that the identified woman between 15 and 17th August allegedly hired another female, a neighbour to the victims to lace their food with poison.

The Pastor’s wife is in custody and will according to the source appear in court on Monday while the husband is away in Kapiri Mposhi where he is said to have gone for two weeks to open new church branches.

According to the source, the Pastor’s wife was behind all this incident. She used a friend who is a neighbor to put poison in the food. This was known after a child in the house who is also a victim told the family that she saw the neighbour putting something in the food. After questioning, the neighbour revealed that it was the Pastor’s wife who sent her and she did not know that it was poison , the source said.

And one of the victims, Mrs. Carol Banda who also confirmed the incident wondered how the woman who is a pastor’s wife would want to kill them. Police Deputy Spokesperson, Ndandula Siamana who confirmed the development to ZANIS said the police received the information on Monday this week that the family was having their late launch when they stopped eating to welcome relatives who visited them.

Ms Siamana said after escorting the same visitors, the family members continued with their lunch and they complained of running stomachs in the evening and were immediately rushed to UTH.

Ms. Siamana said Police suspected foul play saying investigations into the issue to determine whether there was poisoning had continued.

And efforts to get UTH Public Relations Manager Pauline Mbangweta proved futile as her phone remained unanswered.

ZANIS

THE youth wings of the United Party for National Development (UPND) and the Patriotic Front (PF) have clashed, pushing the shaky pact into further disarray.

UPND national youth chairman Joe Kalusa, in an apparent response to a scathing attack by PF youth national secretary Eric Chanda yesterday, has maintained that the MMD is poised to scoop the 2011 general elections because it has a good working manifesto compared to the PF-UPND pact which has no clear set programmes.

Mr Kalusa charged that he will not be intimidated by any PF machinations to silence him because he is simply stating the truth.

[pullquote]“ I cannot resign from the pact or UPND and if these people want, let them take me to a disciplinary committee that is if there is a disciplinary committee in the pact. If there is one then, I am ready to appear on that committee together with the likes of Mwenya Musenge (Copperbelt PF provincial chairperson), Guy Scott (PF vice-president) and Wynter Kabimba (PF secretary general) for issuing unwarranted remarks against the pact,” he said.[/pullquote]

Mr Chanda, in an angry response yesterday, called for Mr Kalusa’s resignation after he made his controversial prediction. However, in an apparent departure from his seemingly unflinching support to the pact, Mr Chanda told the PF-UPND leadership to step aside and allow the youth wings to take over the reigns of power because they have allegedly failed to steady the shaky pact.

Mr Kalusa said in an interview yesterday in Ndola that he does not regret his remarks at a press briefing on Sunday in Kitwe and dared pact officials to drag him to any disciplinary committee and wondered whether the pact has such a committee to deal with offenders.

“Let me tell these people in the pact that I am a fearless man and I cannot be bought by anyone. I stand by what I said during the press briefing in Kitwe because I believe that only the truth can set me free. I cannot resign from the pact or UPND and if these people want, let them take me to a disciplinary committee that is if there is a disciplinary committee in the pact. If there is one then, I am ready to appear on that committee together with the likes of Mwenya Musenge (Copperbelt PF provincial chairperson), Guy Scott (PF vice-president) and Wynter Kabimba (PF secretary general) for issuing unwarranted remarks against the pact,” he said.

Mr Kalusa said those calling for his ‘blood’ are wasting their time and warned that if the pact does not heed to his one-month ultimatum of coming up with a clear manifesto and a working programme, he will announce the next course of action against the alliance.

He said unlike the MMD which is effectively campaigning at grass root level countrywide, the pact is using radio stations and the press without the leaders explaining what they will do if elected into office.

“Our colleagues, the MMD are campaigning by holding huge rallies countrywide, they are telling people what they have done and what they intend to do for them but the PF-UPND pact is busy campaigning through some radio stations and the press without a manifesto. When the MMD wins the presidential elections next year, these are the same people who are going to be crying that the elections have been rigged,” Mr Kalusa said.

He charged that the pact only becomes active when the country has a by-election in a particular constituency.

[pullquote] “As PF youths we are challenging him to resign from the pact because he is acting like one who has been bought,” Mr Chanda said.[/pullquote]

Mr Kalusa said the pact does not have a working programme and wondered why PF leader Michael Sata and his UPND counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema have allegedly failed to hold a rally together to thank the electorates in Chifubu for voting for the pact’s candidate, Susan Kawandami.

“People must not pretend. There are problems in the pact. Currently, the PF is carrying an advertisement saying they are holding a rally on the Copperbelt, why can’t they hold a rally together with the UPND.

The same PF has already declared that they will contest the Mpulungu by-election without consulting the pact members in the UPND. These are some of the things that show that there are problems in the pact,” Mr Kalusa said.

He said he consulted widely before holding the press briefing in Kitwe and urged pact officials who are calling for his resignation to address the concerns he raised instead of calling him names.

[pullquote] “This young man has gone too far and I think there is need for us in the UPND to deal with him. I am going to phone him so that I talk to him,” he said. [/pullquote]

But Mr Chanda urged Mr Kalusa to resign from the pact instead of causing confusion in the alliance. “As PF youths we are challenging him to resign from the pact because he is acting like one who has been bought,” Mr Chanda said.

Mr Chanda on Monday appealed to PF-UPND pact leaders to allow their youth wings to take over the running of the alliance until all the pending issues surrounding the partnership are resolved.

He urged Mr Sata and Mr Hichilema to hand over the management of the pact to the youth wings so that other leaders who issue unwarranted statements can be disciplined.

And UPND chairman for education science and technology Luxon Kazabu has urged Mr Kalusa to stop misleading the youths and called on his party to discipline him for allegedly ‘insulting’ the alliance leaders.

Mr Kazabu said there is need for Mr Hichilema to discipline Mr Kalusa for issuing disparaging remarks. He said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday that Mr Kalusa is causing unnecessary confusion in the pact. “This young man has gone too far and I think there is need for us in the UPND to deal with him. I am going to phone him so that I talk to him,” he said.

[Zambia Daily mail]

THE Lusaka High Court has restored an injuction case involving United Party for National Development (UPND) Namwala Member of Parliament (MP), Robbie Chizhyuka.

Major Chizyuka’s lawyer Lisimba Mutakela confirmed in an interview yesterday that the case was active and that they were just waiting for Judge Evans Hamaundu to communicate to them on the dates to commence hearing.

“This case is very active in court, it was struck out but we managed to file for the restoration which the court accepted and allowed the restoration, we speak with my client and we are just waiting for the dates to commence hearing,” he said.

The MP had applied for an injunction restraining acting party secretary general, Winstone Chibwe from banning him from the party.

He is seeking an order restraining party agents, servants or anybody else from suspending him from the party until determination of the matter by the court.

He is also seeking another order that dissenting views should be accommodated in a democratic country such as Zambia and another order that any party member is entitled to be heard before any disciplinary decision is made.

In a statement of claim, Maj Chizhyuka contended that the party entered into a political alliance with another party called Patriotic Front (PF) which he did not support.

“That I now pray to this honourable court and entreat it to grant me an order of injunction restraining the secretary general, his agents or servants and whomsoever from suspending me until the determination of the main matter.

“That unless the acting party secretary general is restrained, irreparable damage would result as right thinking people of society will no longer hold me in high esteem. There are no grounds for any charge or disciplinary action to be instituted against me,” he said.

He states that the UPND, through the defendant, viewed his dissenting views as not in line with its democracy and yet the Zambian Constitution enshrined the right and freedom of speech of all individuals.

And in an affidavit, Maj Chizhyuka states that he only saw an article in the Sunday Post in which it was alleged that he had spoken against the alliance of his party and the PF, which led to his suspension.

[Times of Zambia]

PATRIOTIC Front vice- president Guy Scott has said PF president Michael Sata is the most suitable and widely accepted leader to assume the Republican presidential candidature for the PF-UPND pact.

Dr Scott said the results of the recent opinion poll were consistent with the 2008 presidential election results in which Mr Sata got twice higher votes than his partner Hakainde Hichilema who trailed in a distant third.

Mr Hichilema has viciously condemned the research results and accused CPD of receiving funding from the MMD to discredit the pact formed last year with the main objective of fielding one candidate in the 2011 presidential elections.

The opinion poll, conducted in Lusaka, Southern, Copperbelt, Luapula and Northern provinces—PF/UPND pact strongholds—found that Mr Sata was the most preferred candidate compared with Mr Hichilema and that the alliance was not sustainable because of the politics of ethnicity.

Dr Scott said it would not make sense to disregard the research findings having observed the previous election results where the PF leader had always garnered the highest number of votes than Mr Hichilema.

“The research shows that nothing much has changed in terms of the popularity of the two candidates,” Dr Scott said in an interview.

The PF vice-president said the technical committee in the pact would not select the candidate on the basis of the CPD research findings but form the basis of factors to be considered in its search for a candidate.

“That cannot come as a surprise to anyone because Mr Sata got twice as much as Mr Hichilema in the 2008 presidential elections. But we cannot make a decision on the basis of the research we will continue talking,” Dr Scott said.

Dr Scott said the results could not have changed because the same people who voted in 2008 were the same ones who were contacted during the research.

The Lusaka Central MP said Mr Sata was clearly the most popular leader between the two leaders and that such results would always reflect in any future election.

During the 2008 presidential by-election held after the death of president Levy Mwanawasa, Mr Sata got 38.13 per cent (683,150) while Mr Hichilema received 19.70 per cent (353,018).

The election was scooped by President Banda who got 40 per cent of the total votes cast representing 718,359 votes.

Meanwhile, United Liberal Party secretary general Langton Sichone has said the anger expressed by Mr Hichilema against the opinion poll results was not the solution to the issues raised.

Mr Sichone said ethincity would always be a factor in the sustainability of the pact because of its history and also the history of the two political parties.

He said Mr Hichilema should avoid burrying his head in the sand but seek solutions to the findings of the opinion poll.

[Times of Zambia]