Former University of Zambia Students’ Union (UNZASU) President Solomon Ng’ambi has expressed concern at the simple sentence slapped on Patriotic Front (PF) Ndola Central Parliamentarian Mark Mushili.

Mr N’ambi said Mr. Mushili as a law maker was an example to society especially youth hence stiffer punishment should be meted out on him to deter would-be offenders.

In an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today, he challenged Mr Mushili to resign on moral grounds following his 6 months imprisonment with hard labour by the Ndola Magistrate court for attempting to swindle Government out of more than K300 million.

The former UNZASU leader said Mr Mushili was not fit to represent the people of Zambia as he could not inspire people or embark on real development in his area because of his theft record.

He said the people of Zambia deserved better representatives and not those with tainted records and selfish motives to defraud the country out of its meagre resources using their position.

He cast a doubt on whether the opposition was capable of providing alternative leadership as they had started swindling the country even before they formed Government.

Mr Ng’ambi called on Zambians to be wary of such people adding that it was not possible for Mr. Mushili to serve his sentence and at the same time attend parliamentary sittings.

He challenged Patriotic front President Michael Sata for being silent over the matter. He said if the PF leader was credible, he should come out in the open and condemn the act by his MP like he has been taking interest on other high profile cases.

[pullquote]He cast a doubt on whether the opposition was capable of providing alternative leadership as they had started swindling the country even before they formed Government.[/pullquote]

And Mr Ng’ambi welcomed calls by Transparent International Zambia to impress upon the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to appeal against the sentence describing it as weak and likely to encourage crime in the country.

Mr. Ng’ambi has also called on law makers to come with a law to prevent MPs serving sentences from attending Parliament as they were not free citizens.
In a separate interviews with ZANIS today, SACCORD Information Officer Oby Chibuluma called on the Drug Enforcement Commission (ECZ) to appeal against the six month suspended sentence slapped on Ndola Central MP Mark Mushili.

Mr. Chibuluma said it was shocking to see a person in a scandal involving colossal sums of money to be slapped with a minor sentence when other people in society were jailed for just stealing a small amount of money.

He has since called on other stakeholders to join in this fight so that Government could appeal. He further urged the DEC to thoroughly investigate the matter to the latter.

Mr Mushili was last week slapped with six months imprisonment which was suspended for one year.

ZANIS

THERE was drama in Kitwe’s Ndeke township yesterday when a woman caught her husband having sex with another woman suspected to be a sex worker.

Copperbelt Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) provincial co-ordinator Jurita Mutale confirmed the development in an interview yesterday.

She said the woman mobilised about 10 call-boys who went to the house of the alleged sex worker and burst into her bedroom where they found the two in the act.

Ms Mutale said the youths started whipping the two after which the man bolted through the back door with his clothes in his hands.

She said the youths dragged the suspected sex worker outside the house in full view of the members of the public and whipped her.

She said some elderly women who attempted to cover the woman were threatened with a beating.

“What happened is shameful and embarrassing. The call boys whipped the woman after they accused her of being a prostitute,” Ms Mutale said.

She said in the ensuing confusion, the alleged sex worker sneaked away and sought refuge in the neighbour’s house.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

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]