PATRIOTIC Front (PF) Chimwemwe member of Parliament Willie Nsanda has maintained that he does not have a child with a Mufulira-based woman who has sued him for child maintenance.

This is in a case in which Ingrid Strattman has sued Nsanda for maintenance of a child she claims was fathered by the MP ten years ago.

Nsanda said when the matter came up for continued hearing in Lusaka yesterday that he is not the father of Ms Strattman’s child because he was in South Africa when his former wife fell pregnant.

“I was out in South Africa for four solid months attending to my business and Ms Strattman was not pregnant by then. When I left for South Africa she had monthly periods, which is an indication that she was not pregnant,” Mr Nsanda said.

He said when he returned from South Africa, he called for a family meeting to determine the biological father of the child.

He told presiding magistrate Elijah Sandu, sitting with senior local court magistrate Hope Mwila, that a family meeting was marred with confusion arising from the behaviour of Ms Strattman’s relatives.

Nsanda said because of the confusion, the meeting was not concluded.

He said Ms Strattman could not have waited for over ten years to sue for child maintenance if the child was his.

Nsanda said he only has one child with Ms Strattman and not two as she has alleged.

“I only have one child named Elizabeth, with Ms Strattman and I love this child from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

Nsanda said in cross-examination that because the child in question is not his, she was named by her mother.

And Ms Strattman said in her statement that she was married to Nsanda for 10 years and has two children with him.

She said when she was living with Nsanda, he was supportive of the child in question before and after she was born.

“He did everything for our second born child, that is buying baby clothes, paying hospital bills and naming the child,” Ms Strattman said.

She said Nsanda denied having fathered the child when they divorced in July 2002.

Ms Strattman said she was surprised when Nsanda denied having sired a second child with her and that this prompted her to sue for child maintenance.

She said she has stayed with her child for nine months without Nsanda’s support but was forced to sue for child maintenance because the child is growing up.

Mr Sandu adjourned the matter to August 12, 2010, for continued hearing.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

CHIEF Mwanachingwala of the Tonga people in Mazabuka District has said he has been vindicated by his earlier statement that the Patriotic Front (PF)-United Party for National Development (UPND) Pact was headed nowhere as the two leaders rushed into an arrangement which was not supported by the majority.

And former PF general secretary, Edward Mumbi has said the emerging cracks in the pact had proved to his critics that he was right when he said it was not workable.

Chief Mwanachingwala said what was currently happening in the pact was merely the beginning of more problems to come.
Commenting on the apparent cracks in the PF/UPND Pact by competing against each other in Kaoma and Chadiza local government by-elections, Chief Mwanachingwala said yesterday that PF president Michael Sata had once indicated to him that UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema was an inexperienced politician.

“You just watch, some more problems are coming. For me, I knew that Mr Sata was not going to accept to be led. The whole arrangement was just a cheat,” he said.

He said Mr Sata went into the pact with the UPND just to marshal support from voters in Southern Province, a UPND stronghold.

Asked on what advice he would give Mr Hichilema, the traditional leader said there was no way he was going to counsel the UPND leader as he had insulted him.

He said Mr Hichilema should have apologised for the remarks he made against him. PF Matero Member of Parliament Faustina Sinyangwe echoed Chief Mwanachingwala’s sentiments over the happenings in the PF-UPND pact.

Ms Sinyangwe said there was no reason why two big parties could enter into a ‘gentleman’s’ agreement when forming a pact.

[pullquote]“You just watch, some more problems are coming. For me, I knew that Mr Sata was not going to accept to be led. The whole arrangement was just a cheat,” he said.He said Mr Sata went into the pact with the UPND just to marshal support from voters in Southern Province, a UPND stronghold.[/pullquote]
She said it was clear from the beginning that the two leaders were interested in contesting the Republican presidency. She said party members from both parties should have been consulted before the two leaders agreed to form a pact.

MMD youths on the Copperbelt have said the pact has no capacity to form Government. Provincial youth chairperson, Evans Chibanda said the pact leaders had been living on pretence even when they knew that there were serious problems within their party structures.

And Mr Mumbi said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday that what had happened in the pact was something many people foresaw because the pact had no foundation.

[Times of Zambia]

The Movement for Multiparty Democracy MMD says it has been vindicated that the PF/UPND pact is headed for doom.
Party National Chairman Michael Mabenga who is in Mongu to drum up support for the MMD parliamentary candidate in the Luena by-election said Zambians must now realize that the Pact has no agenda is only meant for taking over the nation for selfish reasons.

He stressed that Zambians must now make the right choice on who to vote for now that they know that the Pact has deceived them enough.

Mr Mabenga said the MMD is now even more optimistic of scooping the 2011 presidential elections with the emerging cracks in the PF/UPND pact.

His comments come in the wake of divisions that have emerged in the pact following the two parties’ fielding of separate candidate in the Chadiza and Kaoma ward elections, violating the 2009 agreement they signed not to compete against each other in successive elections.
[ QFM ]

Zambia has cut its economic growth forecast for 2010 to 5.8 percent from 7 percent due to the possibility of a sluggish global economic recovery, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said.

The government and Bank of Zambia are also aiming for inflation of 8 percent by the end of the year, Musokotwane said in a letter to the International Monetary Fund seen by Reuters on Monday. Annual inflation stood at 7.8 percent in June, slowing steadily from double-digit rises last year.

Despite the lower economic growth forecast, outlined in the June-dated letter, senior Treasury officials said growth was likely to come in above the new forecast.

“We revised the target downwards because of the global economic crisis but agriculture and mining have performed very well and we expect to grow the economy beyond 5.8 percent,” , Secretary to the treasury, told Reuters.

In the letter, Musokotwane said growth in Africa’s biggest copper producer would be driven mainly by new investments in mining, power generation, construction and agriculture.

“As agricultural output reverts to trend levels, real GDP growth is expected to fall marginally to 5.8 percent in 2010 before rising to 6 percent thereafter,” Musokotwane said.

“A number of large investments in the mining and energy sectors are expected over the medium-term.”

Musokotwane also said Zambia would start financing talks this year for the 600 megawatt Kafue Gorge Lower power project and the 120 MW Ithezi-Tezhi project. Both are expected to be completed by 2017.

Mines mothballed during last year’s global economic slump have reopened, while tourism may receive a boost in the wake of the soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Musokotwane said domestic revenues were expected to rise to 16.3 percent of GDP due partly to better tax collection and an increase in excise tax on diesel from 7 to 10 percent.

“Downside risks, however, still remain amidst uncertainties about a full-fledged global recovery in 2010 and rising oil prices,” Musokotwane said.

Musokotwane said the government would reduce its spending by 0.9 percentage points of GDP relative to 2009 to allow for more capital spending, which was expected to rise to 4.6 percent of GDP.

“The overall fiscal deficit is expected to remain at 2.5 percent of GDP, and domestic financing is expected to remain as programmed at 1.9 percent of GDP,” he said.

Musokotwane said the government’s spending plans were consistent with a year-end inflation target of 8 percent

[Reuters]

Luapula Member of Parliament (MP) Peter Machungwa has said the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF)-Pact is doomed because there is no harmonisation of the manifesto between the two.

And Dr Machungwa has said there would be more cracks in the UPND/PF Pact as the country heads for 2011 general elections.

Commenting on the apparent crack in the PF-UPND Pact by competing against each other in Kaoma and Chadiza ward by-elections, Dr Machungwa said the developments were a clear indication that the pact was heading for a demise.

He said him and his fellow MPs foresaw that the pact would crack because none of the two leaders was ready to step aside and give chance to the other to contest the presidency.

“We knew and we have always stated right from the beginning that there is no pact. So what you are seeing is just the beginning of many more to come, especially as we head towards elections,” Dr Machungwa said.

He said it was also surprising to see that the mouthpiece of the pact, one which fully supported the pact and reported in their favour was the same paper that had stated that no true pact could be built on the shifting sands of evasions.

Dr Machungwa said UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema should have announced that he was going to contest the presidency in 2011 or that his PF counterpart Michael Sata would contest as that would have established the credibility of the pact’s existence.

He said the determinant of the pact was who was going to contest the presidency between the two leaders but that none of them was ready to step down.

The MP said the violation of their own pact agreement of not competing against each other in the by-elections was evidence enough that the pact existed only on word and was not going anywhere.

Dr Machungwa said the only thing the duo could do was to start working independently and build on what they already had because all the stakeholders knew that the parties which existed would work independently.

And Kawambwa MP Elizabeth Chitika-Mulobeka said it was just a question of time and the pact would be grounded.

“We all know and everybody is talking about it. There is no pact and there has never been one,” she said.
[ Times of Zambia ]

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has said he is only interested in unifying the MMD as opposed to discussing the imminent cracking of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF) Pact.

Speaking to journalists at the Lusaka International Airport shortly before his departure for Turkey yesterday, President Banda said the preoccupation of the MMD leadership and him was to unify the party at all the levels.

Mr Banda, accompanied by First Lady Thandiwe, was seen off by Vice-President George Kunda, Information Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha, Mines and Minerals Development Minister Maxwell Mwale, Secretary to the Cabinet Joshua Kanganja and Lusaka Province Minister Charles Shawa, among others.

“Whatever is happening in the pact is not our business. Like you and I have just read that in the papers but that is not our business. What we are interested in is the unity of our party,” President Banda said.

On his trip to Turkey, President Banda said Zambia was bound to learn a lot from that country considering that Turkey’s economy was one of those emerging in the world.

For the last one year, he said Turkish President Abdullah Gul had been inviting President Banda to that country and it was, therefore, an honour for him to accept the invitation.

“As you know, Turkey is an emerging economy and I feel greatly honoured to be invited. We are going to see how we can benefit from the visit,” President Banda said.

Speaking in an interview, Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said the MMD and the critics of the pact had been vindicated following its cracking.

[pullquote]“We have been telling them that the entire pact is a useless thing and they have not understood us,” Gen Shikapwasha said.[/pullquote]

Gen Shikapwasha said for a long time now, there had been a prediction that the pact would crack but the leaders of the PF and UPND pretended that all was well in their alliance.

“We have been telling them that the entire pact is a useless thing and they have not understood us,” Gen Shikapwasha said.

He claimed that the decision to form the pact was pushed by UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema because of his realisation that he could not stand and win an election without entering into an alliance.

“It’s Mr Hichilema who has been pushing for the pact because he knows that he has no legs to stand on his own,” Gen Shikapwasha said.

Gen Shikapwasha, who is Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, said as a result of the cracks in the pact, the MMD would emerge victorious in both the Luena and Chifubu parliamentary by-elections.

“We are going to win handsomely,” Gen Shikapwasha said.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia has set August 5 as the election date for the by-elections in the two constituencies.

[Times of Zambia]