By Lusakatimes staffer
President Rupiah Banda has retired all the top defense force commanders and their deputies from the Zambia Army, Zambia Air force, and the Zambia National Service (ZNS) and replaced them with other officers with immediate effect.

Those retired include Zambia Army commander General Isaac Chisuzi,Zambia Air force commander Lieutenant General Samuel Mapala, and Zambia National Service commandant Major General Raphael Chisheta.

Speaking at the press briefing at State House today President Banda retired the Zambia Army Commander Isaac Chisuzi and replaced him with Brigadier General Lopa who he has promoted to the rank of Major General and was until his appointment Defence Attaché at the Zambian Mission in Ethiopia Addis Ababa.

At Zambia Air Force (ZAF), President Banda retired Lieutenant General Samuel Mapala and replaced with him with retired Brigadier General Andrew Sakala who he has recalled and promoted to the rank of Major General.

Zambia National Service (ZNS), Commandant Major General Chisheta has been retired and replaced with Brig Gen Yeta, who has since been elevated to the rank of Maj General.

President Banda retired ZNS deputy commandant Brig Gen J.M Miti and replaced him with Brig Gen Nathan Mulenga who was until his new appointment ZNS secretary at the Ministry of Defence headquarters.

The President told the gathering that he made the changes to ensure that young officers were given chance to hold decision making position and to boost their moral.

He said the men chosen merit their positions because they were experienced officers and had performed well in their previous positions.

The President noted that his appointment of the defense force represent all the regions in the country to ensure that every one contribute to the national duties.

All the appointed defense force commanders and their deputies would be sworn in today.

Mr. Banda thanked the retired officers for working well with him and for the support they gave him at the crucial time he was elected as republican President.

However, President Banda has disclosed that the campaign to destablise his government by some Non-governmental organizations and some political parties has failed.

The President warned that he would not allow any person to destablise the peace that Zambians have continued to enjoy during the presidential elections next year in 2011.

He charged that some political parties have failed to win past elections because they use tribe to climb the ladder adding that his ruling Movement for Mult-party Democracy (MMD) was a national party that articulates the issues of all Zambians.

Editors note:We sincerely appologize for the errors in the previous article

The government has charged that the United Party for National Development (UPND) vice-president Richard Kapita is ignorant of the activities at Lilayi Police Training College, hence his baseless allegation that cadres are being trained there.

Home Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani said it was wrong for Mr Kapita to mislead the nation by accusing the MMD of training cadres to cause confusion during the forthcoming by-elections in Mufumbwe and Milanzi constituencies.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Mangani said it was not true that the MMD was using the college to train cadres and appealed to politicians to avoid misleading the public.

Mr Mangani said politicians should avoid raising unnecessary alarm on important institutions like police colleges and called on them to stop involving police in politics.

“I think Mr Kapita is ignorant because how can he say that cadres are being trained at Lilayi? This just shows how desperate he is, he lacks information on what goes on at Lilayi,” he said.

Meanwhile, the UPND/Patriotic Front Pact has dismissed reports that the opposition is plotting violence during the forthcoming elections but instead accused the ruling party of being behind the act.

UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma said the pact was aware that the people planning to cause confusion belonged to the ruling party and wondered why the MMD was accusing the opposition parties.

He said the pact had information about several people some of whom were already in Mufumbwe with a view of causing confusion.

And PF secretary-general Wynter Kabimba said it was saddening that the MMD was allegedly witchhunting as it had failed to provide details on the people planning to cause confusion.

Recently, MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya disclosed that the ruling party had uncovered a scam in which some opposition parties taking part in the Milanzi and Mufumbwe by-elections were recruiting cadres from Lusaka and Copperbelt to cause confusion.

[Times of Zambia]

THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has assured the electorate it will deliver credible elections in the coming Milanzi and Mufumbwe parliamentary by elections.

Speaking in Lusaka yesterday, ECZ public relations manager Cris Akufuna said the commission would conduct a briefing for candidates that had already filed in the names in readiness for the elections.

Mr Akufuna said a briefing for monitors would also be conducted to enlighten them on their role and that copies relating to codes of conduct would be distributed to remind and correct them about their duties.

“Cadres and police officers who go beyond their duties do not mean the commission has failed to perform, the codes of conduct will alert them on the do’s and don’ts so that we have peaceful by-elections,” Mr Akufuna said.

Mr Akufuna said the commission would also conduct a briefing for conflict management committee and that voter educators would be on the ground to sensitise voters on the dangers of conflicts during elections.

He said some observers during election come with hidden agenda to blemish the good image of the commission and that it was not easy to deal with them because they added credibility to their work.
“Observers are like our witnesses, we cannot do away with them.

Mr Akufuna said accusations of the commission being partisan were mere perceptions and that the commission had performed its duties effectively and independently despite criticism from stakeholders like some political parties.

“As a commission, we involve political parties during our discussions, they are aware of the mandate of the commission which was stated by the Zambian law to propose names of candidates, appointment of members of the commission by the president. I am very sure that criticism comes as a result of those laws,” he said.

And Mr Akufuna said the continuous voters registration (CVR) exercise would start in June this year, and that the commission had met with members of Parliament including other stakeholders like the media and civil society to brief them on the exercise.

The commission would sensitise voters on the CVR a month before and that the communication techniques would be through radio stations in all districts, music, drama, and that voters education facilitators would conduct door to door campaign.

[Times of Zambia]

The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has seized property belonging to GBM Trucking Limited in Lusaka to recover more than K2 billion owed to the agency by the company.

The seizure of the building in the capital city comes in the wake of the company’s failure to settle about K522 million with interest, which the company had borrowed from the Government’s crop marketing agency in 1998.

GBM Trucking and GBM Milling had in 1998 deposited title deeds for the building as collateral for a K522 million loan from the FRA but failed to settle the debt when it was due.

A Times reporter who toured the premises, which are also used as Patriotic Front (PF) secretariat in Vila Elizabetha, found the gates locked with security officers manning the building.

FRA legal counsel, Chola Kafwabulula said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the company had failed to settle the K522 million with interest, which made the agency seek legal redress.

Mr Kafwabulula said the agency then took the company to the High Court where GMB Milling lost before appealing to the Supreme Court where the lower court’s ruling was upheld.

“This is purely a commercial transaction without any political inclination to it. This is as a result of the failure by the company to settle the loan even after losing in the courts and we now want to recover our money,” he said.

Mr Kafwabulula said the money would be recovered with interest and now amounts to more than K2 billion.

He said the agency would start evaluating the property before advertising the sale of the building.

“If we find that there is any change after evaluation, then they will get it but soon you will see the adverts in the Press on the sale of the seized property,” he said.

Efforts to get GBM proprietor, Geoffrey Mwamba failed by Press time as his mobile was switched off.

And PF spokesperson, Given Lubinda said he could not comment on the matter as he had not been to the seized building.

[Times of Zambia]

Lusaka residents trying to acquire Green National Registration cards under the third phase of mobile registration exercise have expressed their frustrations over the slow pace at which the exercise is moving.

The mobile issuance of NRCs under the third phase started on the 1st April 2010 covering Lusaka, Luapula and Copperbelt provinces.

A check by QFM News both at Matero Hall and the Boma found long queues of people trying to acquire the NRC’s.

Some revealed that they have been forced to spending more than one night at the centers in order to obtain to obtain their NRCs.

Those spoken to, mostly secondary school going pupils, said that the exercise has forced them to abscond classes for more than a day.

Others wondered why the Government did not opt to open mobile registration centers at almost every school to deal the congestion and enable as many people as possible to acquire the NRCs.

Some parents who escorted their children also complained of having the details such as the age of their children rejected fearing that some of their children may end up without NRCs.

The Lusaka residents have since called on Government to assign more people to the mobile issuance exercise of NRCs and create more centers to decongest the existing centre.

QFM

The United Party for National Development (UPND) has dared the Zambia Police to arrest the PF/UPND Pact leaders Michael Sate and Hakainde Hichilema.

Responding to MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya’s call on the police to visit the two pact leaders on allegations of accusing President Rupiah Banda of planning to eliminate them,UPND Secretary General Winstone Chibwe saidc that the police could go ahead and arrest the two leaders.

He said there was nothing wrong for what the two pact leaders said by stating that president Banda has intentions to eliminate them as his political opponents.

Mr Chibwe accused the MMD of desperate and capable of doing anything that would keep them in power.

He said the UPND/PF pact is not scared of the calls by Ms Siliya to arrest the two pact leaders because such threats are expected in the political arena.

Mr. Chibwe reiterated that UPND was ready to defend itself from any form of provocation in the forth coming Mufumbwe and Milanzi Parliamentary by elections.
QFM

MMD Kafulafuta Member of Parliament George Mpombo has reiterated his intentions to challenge President Rupiah Banda at the party convention.
Mr. Mpombo has said that his supporters are on the ground and indications are that he will put up a good fight at the convention. He said his suspension by the party will not intimidate him in his quest to challenge President Banda. He added that he will go ahead with his intentions despite the suspension announced recently.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mpombo has dismissed claims by National Revolution Party (NRP) president Cosmo Mumba that he has shown interest in standing in the 2011 polls on the NRP ticket. Recently, Dr Mumba hinted that Mr Mpombo had agreed to stand as NRP president in next year’s general elections.
But in an interview with Muvi TV news yesterday, Mr Mpombo described NRP as a briefcase party which he would not associate himself with. Mr Mpombo denied ever talking to Dr Mumba in the recent past.

[MUVI TV]

Homes Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani has charged that Wynter Kabimba is the most inept secretary-general the Patriotic Front (PF) has ever had.

Mr Mangani has also revealed that he has impeccable information that Mr Kabimba was only hanging on in the party because PF president Michael Sata was keeping a damning dossier on his dealings while he was Lusaka town clerk fearing that it may be exposed if he dared cut links with him.

In apparent reference to sentiments attributed to Mr Kabimba in the Press which described Mr Mangani as acting like a rottweiler which was on the loose, Mr Mangani said the PF secretary-general was himself behaving like a dog going by the petty comments he had been issuing in the Press of late.

The minister said Mr Kabimba should also tell Zambians the truth about a house he allegedly purchased at a scandalously reduced price when he was town clerk.

He added that Mr Kabimba instead of generating frivolous law suits on inconsequential matters which did not have a bearing on his party, should be organising the PF now that it was apparent Mr Sata and Dr Guy Scott were tired, going by the loss of steam in their programmes.

“His party is not thriving because he lacks stamina and on the issues of loyalty, he is behaving like a bigger dog because he knows that Mr Sata has a dossier on him and he knows he will be finished if this information is released in public domain. He is hanging on to the PF for personal reasons. Tell me, who is the dog in this regard,” he said.

Mr Mangani said the art of organising a party could not be likened to experience in superintending over garbage collection exercises, but required a lot of tact, wit and patience, vital ingredients that lacked in Mr Kabimba.
[Times of Zambia]

MMD Copperbelt provincial chairperson Joseph Chilambwe has advised Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata not to mislead the youth with promises on employment which he may not fulfill.

He said the opposition leader was so desperate to become Republican president that he was making promises that he could not fulfill.

Mr Chilambwe was speaking yesterday in Kabala area in Chimwemwe Constituency during a meeting with residents who complained of being neglected by the opposition area member of Parliament.

The residents complained of the poor state of roads, the non-functional boat which was damaged by a hippo and the clinic which was only operating during day time because of security reasons.

Mr Chilambwe said he was hopeful that the people had learnt a lesson from voting for an opposition MP who had not fulfilled his campaign promises.

“I get surprised that the people, especially you the youth, get excited when the PF leader says he will create employment and put more money in your pockets.

“You the youth should support the MMD Government because it has a manifesto and policies to improve people’s lives. We have a lot of policies that aim at empowering the youth,” he said.

And MMD Copperbelt task force member Joe Malanji promised the people that a boat worth K72 million would be purchased to replace the damaged boat in the next two weeks.

Mr Malanji, who also donated 1,000 Chitenge materials and K1.5 million to the people in the area, advised them not to fall prey to the promises of opposition politicians.

He advised the youth to desist from involving themselves in violent activities and pursue dialogue with Government on various issues affecting them.

Mr Malanji said the Government was ready to dialogue with anybody and was disappointed that some clergymen were in the forefront of agitating for violence in the country.

[Times of Zambia]