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.

[Times of Zambia]

The ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD)in Lusaka Province has joined in calls for Police to ‘cage’ Kasama Central Member of Parliament Geoffrey Mwamba for assaulting his wife Mrs. Chama.

MMD Chairperson for Women’s Wing for Lusaka Province Jane Mkalipi told journalists during a briefing at the party’s provincial headquarters in Lusaka today that as women, they were so disappointed to learn that Mr. Mwamba ,who is a law marker, could be involved in such a barbaric behavior of assaulting his wife to a point where she was admitted at UTH.

Mrs. Mkalipi said society expects Mr Mwamba to uphold and respect the rights of citizens who include his own wife.
“ Failure to adhere to such legal enforcements, the law should visit anyone including Mr. Mwamba so that a precedence is set,”she said.

She emphasized Mr. Mwamba’s ‘ barbaric action on his wife’ went against the convention on the elimination of discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and International Bill of Rights of Women which forbids all forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading forms of punishment.

She said as MMD Women Wing , they would ensure that there the interest of Women and children in general are protected, adding that fore ever, the women wing of the MMD would vow to fight for women’s rights in the country.

The MMD Women Movement has also called on parliament to discipline Mr. Mwamba for his bad behavior adding that Parliament is not for thugs but for law abiding Citizens not people like Mr. Mwamba.

She added that the Royal establishment where Mwamba comes from should take a stern action against him as he has embarrassed not only himself but many people such as parliament and his family.

She said MMD Lusaka Province Women’s Wing will follow this case with keen interest to ensure that justice prevails.

The women’s movement in Zambia has described as barbaric and dishonourable the conduct of Patriotic Front Kasama member of Parliament Geoffrey Mwamba popularly known as GBM who last Sunday assaulted his wife.

The movement has since called for the immediate arrest of Mr. Mwamba.

And the Human Rights Commission has also added its condemnation of Mr Mwamba for his behavior, describing his action as a drawback to the fight against gender-based violence.

Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) publicity secretary Juliet Chibuta said women were disappointed with Mr Mwamba’s conduct, especially because he was a law maker who is supposed to observe high moral standards.

And Police have received an official report on Mrs Mwamba’s alleged assault and have opened a docket.

The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have described Mr Mwamba’s alleged conduct as barbaric and dishonourable considering his status in society.
They said the incident is a drawback to the fight against gender-based violence.

Ms Chibuta said women are disappointed with Mr Mwamba’s conduct because he is lawmaker who is supposed to observe high moral standards.

[ZANIS]

MMD chairperson for information and publicity Dora Siliya has said the pact formed last year by United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema and Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata has collapsed because it was formed for selfish motives.

Ms Siliya also said condemnation of the recent visit to Northern Province by First Lady Thandiwe Banda was out of ignorance because every first lady had the right to donate to the vulnerable people in society.

At a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday, Ms Siliya said the pact lacked a long term vision and a plan of action on how it would deal with the politics of ethnicity and as a result, it had been reduced to a tribal pact.

Ms Siliya, who is Minister of Education, said at its formative stage, the pact leaders did not have a joint action plan to deliver development to the Zambian people but rushed into announcing even without proper regard for the grassroot members.

Ms Siliya said the first week the pact was formed, the two leaders started calling for votes and launched the alliance without announcing their road-map, manifesto and vision which showed how short sighted the two leaders are.

She said the two political parties were tribal and had remained so even after the formation of the pact which had led to its demise.

Ms Siliya said two leaders coming together for the sole purpose of gaining power would always clash as they seek to appropriate power between themselves.

She said the PF and UPND were simply tribal parties and the ruling party was the only genuine political party whose manifesto addresses the needs of the whole nation.

Ms Siliya said the pact lacked true leadership that could unite all tribes in the country and had remained strong in a selected number of provinces without a proper explanation from the leadership.

She said the fact was they remained strong in a selected number of provinces because they campaigned on tribal lines while the MMD was constructing infrastructure throughout Zambia.

The minister said political parties and civil society organisations sympathetic to the opposition were condemning Government and yet the international community was praising Government efforts in delivering development to the people.

She was optimistic Zambians would start ignoring them because they were able to see huge infrastructure development such as health centres, schools and roads being constructed.

Ms Siliya said the Government had decided to construct five health centres in the high density areas of Lusaka as it seeks further plans to reduce distances from one health centre to another.

The minister said 23 district hospitals were being constructed throughout Zambia.
Meanwhile, Ms Siliya dismissed assertions that the national executive committee had become illegal on account of the expiry of its mandate.

She said the MMD constitution allows the NEC to function in-between conventions to provide continuity.

She said letters had been authored and Mr Mpombo and Mr Magande should have received by now and they were no longer members of the MMD.
[ Times of Zambia ]

THE United Party for National Development says it is shocked that the Patriotic Front (PF) decided to contest the position of deputy

Mayor in last Monday’s Lusaka Mayoral elections, a clear departure from the mutually agreed rules as stipulated in the UPND/PF memorandum of understanding.

UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma said his party is surprised that PF has again gone against the alliance agreement, a development which has exposed deeper cracks in the fragile pact.

But when contacted for a comment, PF president, Michael Sata there was nothing wrong with the two political parties competiting against each other in an election.

On Monday, the UPND and PF competed against each other at deputy mayoral level with victory going to Kanyama ward 10 councillor, Harry Hampende of the UPND.
He polled 23 votes out of 41 cast.

Mr Hampende beat the PF’s Kalingalinga ward 31 councillor Dapson Chansa who got eight votes and the UPND’s Lilayi ward four councillor Lazarous Chulabantu who had nine votes.

Lately, the two political parties have breached their agreement not to contest against each other. Last month, they fielded candidates against each other in Kaoma and Chadiza ward by-elections.

But Mr Sata said there is nothing wrong for the two alliance parties competing against each other during elections.

Mr Sata said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that competition is healthy in any democratic society.
He said members of the two parties must be allowed to compete against each other to allow the selection of the best candidate.

“Competition is very healthy and besides that, the two parties competed against each other on the deputy mayoral position but all in all, it’s good to allow people to choose the best candidate,” Mr Sata said.
He said, however, that PF members also supported Mr Hampende as he could not have emerged victorious without PF’s support.

But Mr Kakoma said his party is surprised that the PF decided to contest the deputy mayoral position.
Mr Kakoma said the two partiers had an understanding that the PF would contest the mayoral post while the deputy mayoral position would be left to the UPND.

He said the party has not received communication why the consensus between the two parties was defied.

“If Mr Sata is saying competition is good then we didn’t know about this rationale because there was an understanding that our party should contest the deputy position while the PF would contest the mayoral post,” he said.

And MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya said the continued confusion in the pact is an indication that the leadership is disorganised.

Ms Siliya said Zambians should not trust the pact’s leadership because it has no agenda for the nation.
She said the MMD is the only organised party which Zambians should trust.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

A LUSAKA man convicted of aggravated robbery and murder yesterday confessed to killing former president Kenneth Kaunda’s son, Wezi.

Moses Mulenga told the Supreme Court sitting in Ndola that he robbed and murdered Major Kaunda and that he was not hired to do so but did it out of banditry.

This is when Mulenga, 41, appeared before the Supreme Court bench sitting in Ndola yesterday comprising Chief Justice Ernest Sakala and Supreme Court justices Lombe Chibesakunda and Marvin Mwanamwambwa for appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Mulenga appeared with Amon Banda, 43, for appeal against their conviction of robbing Major Kaunda and murdering him.

Facts of the case in the charge of aggravated robbery are that Mulenga and Banda on November 3, 1999, in Lusaka while jointly acting together and armed with an AK47 assault rifle, robbed Major Kaunda of a Toyota GX Land Cruiser, registration number AAL 5948, valued at K80 million, and during the act used violence to retain the said property.

Mulenga and Banda were also charged with murder and facts were that the two, on November 4, 1999 in Lusaka, murdered Major Kaunda.

They were sentenced to death when the Lusaka High Court found them guilty on July 25, 2003, but they appealed against both the conviction and the sentence. When the matter came up yesterday, senior Legal Aid counsel Kelvin Muzenga said he was appearing for the second appellant, Banda and that Mulenga would represent himself as he had something to inform the bench.

Mulenga then told the court that he deeply regretted the matter over which he was in court and to clear his conscience, he was abandoning the appeal.

“My conscience cannot allow me to go ahead with this appeal because everything that the judge in the lower court found I had done, I did,” he said.

Mulenga said he took part in the stealing of the vehicle and the shooting of Major Kaunda, adding that he did it out of banditry and that no one sent him or hired him to do so.

Mr Justice Sakala asked Mulenga if he had consulted widely before he decided to drop the appeal and Mulenga said he had and that he did it because of his troubled conscience.

As for Banda, Mr Muzenga said the trial judge misdirected himself when he convicted his client based on uncorroborated evidence.

He said the trial judge relied on the evidence given by three witnesses, who were the taxi driver that drove the two to Major Kaunda’s house, Major Kaunda’s wife and a third witness.

Mr Muzenga said Mrs Kaunda was traumatised at the time she was identifying Mulenga and Banda and therefore gave weak evidence while the other two witnesses were accomplice witnesses who had interests to serve.

The State counsel, Ms Phiri urged the court to uphold the conviction for Banda because while the other two were suspect witnesses, it was an odd coincidence that the two could identify the same people as Mrs Kaunda who had no interest to serve.

The judgment on the appeal was reserved to a date to be announced later.

[Times of Zambia]