Namwala Member of Parliament Robbie Chizyuka has said the people of Namwala have the right to thank President Banda and his government for fulfilling the dreams of their ancestors of ensuring that the area received a fair share of development.

Major. Chizyuka told ZANIS in an interview in Namwala today that the people in the area were overwhelmed by the support Government had continued to give to them.

He said for close to 46 years after independence the area had not received the amount of development it had seen in the last three years and eleven months.

Maj. Chizyuka said the Ila people were happy that their support towards the freedom struggle to which they sacrificed their cattle by funding it, was now paying dividends under President Banda.

“The dream of our forefathers was to have the Choma-Namwala road tarred so that the area could be opened up for development and this we have tried several times and failed but now we celebrate this unprecedented gift from President Banda’s government,” he said.

He said the people of Namwala have since invited President Banda in their area to thank him in the Ila way.

He said the Ila people and their chiefs knew that taking development to an area such as Namwala was not an easy task because it required huge resources which the Government had willingly made available.

“For us whether or not others like it, we believe President Banda’s word is his bond and this we will eternally be grateful to him. You know that this country has had leaders but him is just a few years in office and has proved to us that he is not just our friend but a father, “said Maj. Chizyuka.

Hundreds of people from the outskirts of Namwala boma have already started arriving in the boma to witness the visit of President Banda who is expected to arrive in the area tomorrow.

Several chiefs from many parts of the country and the province have also started arriving in the area.

Over 71 chiefs from other parts of the country and over 1 000 headmen from Namwala and other surrounding areas are expected in the district by the end of today.

Meanwhile, Major Chizyuka has described as wishful thinking assertions by some senior UPND leaders that he would announce his resignation from the party to join the ruling MMD at a rally to be addressed by President Banda on Tuesday.

He said he had no intentions to do so because he was still a pure UPND member adding this was the reason he contested his expulsion from the party in the courts of law.

“I have heard about those funny rumours but I can tell you that there was no such a thing because my heart is UPND, my blood is UPND and I will not leave,” he said.

He said he had spent huge personal resources to build the UPND and that no one could easily chase him out of the party.

He said those misleading the people that he intended to resign this Tuesday should allow the people to appreciate President Banda’s support to them.

Maj. Chizyuka said he played a critical role in the initial stages of the formation of the UPND and also in the appointment of Mr. Hakainde Hichilema as leader of the opposition party.

He said President Banda had shut up his opponents because he had delivered within a short period of time.

“For example, this Choma-Namwala road is not only an economic road but a serious political road and on this shame to his critics because he has shown them how things must be done,” he said.

He advised his critics not to mistake development for politics urging them to start politics at the right time.
Maj. Chizyuka said President Banda’s visit to Namwala was purely development and was at the invitation of the people in the district.

He said people want to have him in the area so that he could see how resources that Government had been allocating to the district have been used.

Maj. Chizyuka said President Banda was selling a product in the name of development and this had sent shivers in his political opponents and critics.
[ ZANIS ]

The chairman of Transparency International (TI) in Zambia told VOA the decision by the government not to appeal the ruling clearing former President Frederick Chiluba of corruption was based on political considerations.

Reuben Lifuka said his anti-graft organization would continue putting more pressure on the government by demanding that President Rupiah Banda’s administration seek to recover the funds allegedly stolen by the former president.

“We find it amazing that government has quickly stated that they are not going to appeal, when the judgment’s validity was not tested in this particular case,” he said.

Zambia’s High Court recently ruled that the country’s laws did not allow the enforcement of judgments made in other countries. This came after a British judge ruled in 2007 that former President Chiluba pay $58-million as compensation for funds stolen while he was leader of Zambia from 1991-2001.

Mr. Chiluba denies the corruption charges and has rejected the British judge’s ruling as without merit.

Supporters of the former president say the charges were politically motivated after his fall-out with successor, the late President Levy Mwanawasa, who died in 2008.

Observers say the government’s decision not to appeal the court’s ruling is an attempt to appease the supporters of the former leader ahead of next year’s general election.

Analysts say former President Chiluba is still popular adding that the decision not to appeal the ruling could boost the chances of incumbent President Banda in the general election.

TI’s Chairman Lifuka said the government’s decision was not based on sound legal reasons.

“Every indication does show that there is more of a political reason than legal because it started with the acquittal of the former president in the court of law for criminal offenses of a similar nature, as decided upon by the London High Court. We saw the dismantling, or disbanding, of the task force. And, the task force activities have been swallowed up by the anti-corruption commission. And now, this is the latest setback that we have seen,” Lifuka said.

Meanwhile, the United States has questioned the Zambian government’s commitment to rooting out corruption.

[Voice of America]

The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in Chipata, Eastern Province has arrested two officers from the Zambia Security Intelligence Service for drug trafficking.

DEC Public Relations Officer John Nyawali said felix Soko, 37, was arrested together with Franklin Maona, 25, after being found in possession of about 7.6 grammes of cannabis concealed in their pockets.

Mr Nyawali said the duo was found smoking cannabis at the banks of Lunkhwakwa stream and attempted to escape from DEC officers by jumping into the river.

“Unfortunately their attempted escape failed as they could not swim across the stream and eventually aborted their attempt and gave themselves up to the officers” Mr Nyawali said.

Mr Nyawali told ZANIS in a statement in Lusaka today that the suspects were currently detained in Police custody awaiting trial.

Meanwhile, Mr Nyawali has revealed that 113 people were arrested countrywide in the last seven days for trafficking in various quantities of cannabis with a total weight of 190 kilogrammes.

He said among those arrested are two teenage boys of Nthindi Middle Basic School in Nakonde for trafficking in 128 bundles of mirra weighing 56 kilogrammes.

Others arrested are a trader of Samfya district who was found exchanging cannabis with fish from the fish mongers.
Mr Nyawali has since appealed to fish mongers not to accept exchanging their commodities with cannabis as the vice will not help them meet their financial requirements but put them in trouble with the law.
[ ZANIS ]

Chief Mungaila of the Tonga speaking people in Namwala district, Southern Province has said President Rupiah Banda’s visit to the area this week on Monday and Tuesday has cheered the people.

The Chief who would be installed today told ZANIS at his Palace that Maala people were also grateful of President Banda’s assistance during the death of Chief Mungaila.

Chief Mungaila whose names are Victor Chaande Makaba said his working relationship with Government was good and appealed to President Banda to attend the Shimunenga ceremony to be held in October this year.

He said people were happy that the President had recognised the decision of his royal family to inherit the Chiefdom of Mungaila.

Chief Mungaila said his royal family was united unlike other areas where succession wrangles reached the courts of law for one to be recognised as chief.

He urged other chiefdoms to have united royal families to avoid paying money to lawyers each time succession disputes ensued.

The chief noted that Southern Province Permanent Secretary Gladys Kristafor, other government officials, Chiefs from Namwala, and the Member of Parliament Robbie Chizhyuka would be in attendance to witness his installation as chief tomorrow.
[ZANIS ]

Promiscuity has cost a woman, who was married to two men, K8 million to be paid as compensation for adultery.

Kitwe local court Number Two local court senior presiding magistrate Moffat Chandenda sitting with presiding magistrates Pumulo Mutafela and Francis Munshya ordered Tumba Chikenge of Ndola to pay the money to Getrude Nyimbili who sued her for adultery.

Passing judgement, magistrate Chandenda said it was wrong of Chikenge, who was married to Ntamile Sichembe in Ndola, to get into an affair with another man, Dennis Mumba.

Magistrate Chandenda upheld Nyimbili’s claim because Chikenge got married to Mumba without divorcing Sichembe first.
The court ordered her to make an initial payment of K600,000 to be followed by monthly installments of K500,000.

Magistrate Chandenda also implored Chikenge’s uncle, Golden Mwansa, not to compromise customary law by accepting dowry from Mumba before Sichembe’s marriage to his niece was legally dissolved.

Testifying in Chikenge’s defence, Mumba told the court that she should not be accused of committing adultery because she was his (Mumba) wife and had paid dowry to her uncle according to the Bemba customary law.

But Sichembe, testifying as Nyimbili’s witness and told the court that Chikenge was still his wife.
Meanwhile, a businessman in Mansa complained in a local court that his wife is so promiscuous that she had a boyfriend while he was courting her. He urged the court to dissolve his marriage.

Chiti Mulenga, 37, of Muchinka Site and Service said differences in the marriage started when his wife, Emmah Kasapo, did an intimate marital chore on her own, contrary to Bemba customary law that required him to do that for her.

He said the matter was reported to Kasapo’s grandmother who was equally disappointed and promised to advise her to let him take care of the responsibility.

Mulenga said one day he overheard Kasapo commending another man’s bedroom skills when they had sexual intercourse in Lusaka. He named the lover as Pascal.
He said soon afterwards Kasapo packed her personal effects, left the home and resorted to excessive beer drinking.

Mulenga said at one time he saw Kasapo kissing with her father’s driver outside the family house.
He also said she is fond of insulting him without any reasons.

He said Kasapo could no longer be his wife because her father has refunded his dowry.
Mulenga further said Kasapo threatened to kill him after being sued.
Kasapo, 32, of Chibote Site and Service told the court that the marriage should be dissolved because of numerous matrimonial disputes.

She said Pascal was just a family friend in Lusaka. She denied ever kissing her father’s driver.
She explained that her father refunded the dowry because Mulenga was calling her a prostitute and that prostitution was a family disease among the Kasapos.
Kasapo also said Mulenga threatened to kill her and that he locked her out of the house before he sued her for divorce.

Senior presiding magistrate Noah Chulu dissolved the marriage without any compensation.
[Zambia Daily mail ]

Government’s absolute refusal to appeal against Lusaka High Court Judge Evans Hamaundu’s ruling on Frederick Chiluba’s London judgment has been described as recklessness.
The decision not to push this case any further when the ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) is responsible for having initiated the case is an insult to Zambia.

Southern African centre for constructive resolution of disputes (SACCORD) Executive Director, lee Habasonda said that the decision taken by government on the ruling would leave a bad dent on government.

Mr Habasonda said that this is because of the fact that government, and then led by the late president; levy Patrick Mwanawasa instigated the case in London.

He questioned how the same MMD government now seems to be incapable of implementing and finishing what it started.

Mr Habasonda has, therefore, warned the MMD government of what lies ahead of them when they are out of power with the international criminal court of justice in existence.

He has also challenged government to explain to Zambians if the fight against corruption was only for the late president.

This is because it is the second time that government has refused to appeal on behalf of the general public against any ruling taken on Dr Chiluba’s controversial corruption cases.
[ QFM ]