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Auditor-General exposes RDA’s ills

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FLASHBACK: Engineers inspecting Lusaka roads work

THE Auditor-General has queried the Road Development Agency (RDA) for delaying in commencement of road works in some parts of the country even when the Government had paid colossal sums of money.

According to the latest Auditor-General’s report, more than K14 billion was paid for some roads in Lusaka Province but the RDA had not commenced work.

The RDA has also been questioned over some various cases where contractors were being overpaid for some work done contrary to the initial agreements.

The report that was obtained by the Times yesterday raises several other concerns on how the road sector funds were being managed in the country.

The report reveals that the RDA over-committed the Government by over K1 trillion on various road contracts.

The approved budget for 2008 was K685 billion but the agency committed the Government to contracts in the sum of K1.643 trillion resulting in an over-commitment of K1,015 trillion.

“Contrary to the Appropriation Act of 2008 and the Public Finance Act of 2004, it was observed that the agency committed Government to expenditures in excess to money appropriated by parliament,” the report says.

The report also observes that five road projects in the sum of more than K182 billion were procured outside the 2008 work-plan and the authority to procure the same projects was not availed to auditors.

It was also discovered that the auditor-general’s clause was omitted on four projects when the Public Audit Act required all contracts to have a provision empowering the auditors to have access to all documents related to public expenditure.

[pullquote]The report also says the RDA paid K2.6 million for INTERNET services at the board chairperson’s private premises while another K17 million and K20 million was paid as a group personal accident policy for members without the authority of the minister.[/pullquote]

The RDA had started the tendering process for 16 contracts totaling K644 billion without designs or drawings which were supposed to identify the scope and cost of the projects in order to eliminate errors and help in preparation of the bill of quantities.

The absence of designs led to preparation of wrong bills of quantities that resulted in variations of contracts and extension of time of completion.

The report also says the RDA paid K2.6 million for INTERNET services at the board chairperson’s private premises while another K17 million and K20 million was paid as a group personal accident policy for members without the authority of the minister.

Although the contract for the manager – corporate services expired in July 2009, the agency did not withdraw his Tom Card and he drew fuel amounting to K6 million although part of it had been recovered while a former director-general drew K86 million worth of fuel when on forced leave.

It was also discovered that the board chairperson was also heading the finance and administration committee while the sitting of the same committee also constituted a quorum of the board.

Despite the requirement that the bidding period should be between four to eight weeks, it was discovered the majority of the bidding period had been 25 days irrespective of the project size.

Government stops subsidizing fuel

Entertainment Editor
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FINANCE minister Situmbeko Musokotwane

Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has said the Government will no longer subsidise the fuel costs in the country.

Speaking in Lusaka on Sunday, Dr Musokotwane said Government’s continued subsidy on fuel would impact negatively on other key sectors of the economy.

Dr Musokotwane said the Government’s decision to stop subsidising fuel prices was in order for it to address other needy areas such as education, health and roads.

He said the Government had been spending so much on fuel subsidies leaving very limited resources for other sectors of the economy.

He explained that Government had been subsiding the fuel for a long time now at the expense of other needy sectors of the economy that have been lagging behind.

Meanwhile, United Party for National Development (UPND) spokesperson Charles Kakoma has said the move by the Government not to further subsidise fuel, would negatively affect the economy of the country.

Milupi cast doubt on UPND/PF pact survival

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Luena Independent Member of Parliament, Charles Milupi
Luena Independent Member of Parliament, Charles Milupi

Former Luena Member of parliament Charles Milupi has expressed doubt whether the United Party for National Development and Patriotic Front pact will survive during the 2011 elections.

Mr. Milupi said that the PACT will not survive because of the different objectives that the two parties stand on.

Mr. Milupi claims that the UPND president has never mentioned the name of the PF leader Michael Sata in his campaigns.

He adds that if it true that the PACT is meant for the Zambians, UPND president would have been co-campaigning for his counterpart.

Speaking on Monday Nite Live last evening, Mr. Milupi said that Zambians should not be so sure that the pact will survive to the run up to elections.

He stated that some of the members of the opposition UPND indicated to him that they only joined the pact to get access to other areas.

[pullquote]Eddy accused Mr. Milupi of working to divide the votes of the opposition in next year’s parliamentary and presidential by elections.[/pullquote]

On the programme, One caller, Eddy advised the Mr. Milupi to think twice on his formation of the new political party.

Mr. Milupi resigned his parliamentary seat to take up the leadership of Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) party which he officially launched last week.

Eddy accused Mr. Milupi of working to divide the votes of the opposition in next year’s parliamentary and presidential by elections.

He added that Mr. Milupi should learn from the parties that have been launched and nowhere to be seen.

However Mr. Milupi defended himself saying that they are not dividing but only offering his services to the Zambians.

Mr. Milupi says that the whole political mood is shaken up, as the party was formed in addressing real issues.

QFM

42 nabbed over Solwezi riots

Entertainment Editor
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POLICE in Solwezi have arrested 42 people after riots that ensued following a road traffic accident in which four people were injured.

North-Western Province police chief Fabian Katiba said those arrested have been charged with several offences including arson, assault of police officers and riotous behaviour.

An angry crowd on Sunday ran amok and set a car ablaze after its driver ploughed into a crowd near a church.

Police had to fire tear gas canisters to quell the riot, which also saw a police post being set ablaze.

Trouble started after a woman ran over four people after she lost control of the car she was driving.
Mr Katiba named the victims of the accident as Frank Kalaba, Patrick Mpande, Nelson Sanyiwangu and Jessy Mundengu.
[pullquote]An angry crowd on Sunday ran amok and set a car ablaze after its driver ploughed into a crowd near a church.[/pullquote]
He said the driver, who fled the scene after the accident, will be charged with dangerous driving.
Mr Katiba said five police officers were injured, one seriously, while the owner of the car, Mwika Mulao, was badly beaten after he was dragged out of the car.

He said the angry mob turned its wrath on police officers who were trying to rescue the owner of the vehicle from being beaten.

Police fought running battles with rioters but failed to contain the situation and had to call for reinforcement from other security wings.

Close to 40 heavy duty trucks that transport copper concentrate from Lumwana in Solwezi to the Copperbelt for processing were marooned as the road between town and Kyawama township was blocked with logs and rocks.

Mr Katiba said police have a duty to protect everybody and that people should not look at them as enemies.

He said everybody seeks protection from police and that when officers rescue someone from injustice, people should not think that they are siding with the offender.
[ Zambia Daily Mail ]

How to make a Cannes movie for almost nothing

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CANNES — You, too, can make a movie and get it into the exclusive Cannes Film Festival, all for $1,504.

ZedCrew Trailer from ZedCrew on Vimeo.

Here’s how: Pay your lead actor $400, your two main supporting actors $200 apiece, and your two secondary actors $100 each.

Then shoot the film in Zambia and impress your country back home enough that it pays for the pricey digital-to-film conversion that Cannes demands.

It worked for Canada’s Noah Pink, whose ZedCrew premieres this week in the festival’s Directors Fortnight section.

Here’s the budget-saving catch: Pink, 27, already had a job in Zambia to shoot a documentary for an organization called Transaid. It paid for the flight from Pink’s base in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also got to borrow the camera he used to film the documentary. Then he took road shots for his 44-minute movie as he traveled for Transaid.

“Hopefully this will be the next step to go on and make a feature,” he told WalletPop at the beachside Canadian Pavilion.

Resourcefulness won’t be an obstacle. He auditioned his lead actor, Alvin Fungo, via MySpace, and told Fungo to round up other capable hip-hop artists who could act. ZedCrew centers around three young men in Zambia determined to become rappers in New York. The idea percolated for a while, but Pink didn’t write the script until he met his actors in Zambia and hashed out the story with them.

As soon as he finished his job for Transaid, he and cinematographer Christopher Porter began filming the movie in Lusaka, the capital. They finished in two weeks, spending an additional $300 on taxis, $100 for food, $100 for hiring a truck and paying off a security guard to let him film on a rooftop, and $4 for a makeshift boom pole.

When Pink showed the edited version back home, Film Nova Scotia chipped in $14,000 for the 35-millimeter conversion. When Cannes accepted the film, Telefilm Canada donated marketing funds and the festival gave him €500 for expenses.

Now he’s a filmmaker in the Fortnight, the same category that launched Spike Lee with She’s Gotta Have It. Pink questioned whether he would again try to make a film on such a frayed shoestring, but he made the most of it.

“Technology is changing and it’s allowing almost anybody to pick up a camera and make a movie,” he said. “The downfall is people don’t check through their story enough.”

Here’s the math for you doubters:

$400 for lead actor
$200 supporting actor
$200 supporting actor
$100 secondary supporting actor
$100 secondary supporting actor
$300 taxis in Zambia
$100 food
$100 hiring a truck and paying off security guard
$4 makeshift boom rod
———————————–
$1,504 total cost to make Zedcrew

See full article from WalletPop: http://srph.it/asqAAZ

Low, unsustainable maize prices threaten next year’s output

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Zambia’s maize harvest for the 2010/11 marketing season is likely to fall from output of more than 1.9 million tonnes expected this year because of low, unsustainable maize prices, an industry official said on Monday.

Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) President Jervis Zimba said the maize price had dropped from about $285 per tonne at the end of March to $249 per tonne as of May 11 after Zambia’s Food Reserve Agency (FRA) offloaded maize onto the market to keep prices low.

Zimba said farmers were failing to find a market for their irrigated maize which required huge investment in drying facilities as it was normally harvested between March and April with very high moisture content.

“The future of both early maize production and rain-fed maize production hangs in the balance,” Zimba said in a statement.

Zimba said production costs were rising owing to a hike in fuel prices and a planned increase in electricity tariffs.

Maintaining the price of maize below the cost of production would hurt future production, he said.

“Should this situation remain (unchanged), maize production will drop drastically next farming season and the country risks having to return to importing maize,” Zimba said.

He said there was a need to adequately fund the FRA so that it could participate more effectively in the market in buying excess crop which was depressing the price of maize.

Zambia plans to export between 50,000-80,000 tonnes of maize this year but Zimba urged the immediate export of up to 178,000 tonnes of 2009 carry-over stocks to ensure better local prices for this season’s crop.

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane told Reuters the government was presently not in a position to allocate additional resources to the FRA but may do that next year.

Musokotwane said the government would consider additional maize exports to protect the local grain industry.

[Reuters]

The Charlatans of our Democracy

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By Kahlatswayo Cele

It was not long ago when every news edition on the Local TV and Radio broadcast was intermittent with the salutation ‘One Zambia, One Nation’. No sooner had this disappeared than in came the matured ‘Cadre Politician’, at the same time, the private media.

All was well until the day when Eve was found wanting, deceived by the Serpent, eating of the forbidden fruit, of glamour and wine sipping. Her husband she also entrapped to partake of her sins resulting in unfettered appetites to the extent of exchanging his birthright for a pot of porridge.

Since then, each taste of forbidden fruit has led to more and more lustrous desires, culminating in the couple literally flying high on the wings of the fornications of their luxuries. By the loss of their ZA, enraged and bitter, they pointed an accusing finger at innocence.

And so since then, the couple of the glib tongued and advocates has sought to bring down the hierarchy, pulling along all who share their grief- from ‘cadre Politician’ to rascals and scoundrels, to run-away Priests, a bunch of the disgruntled.

The ‘cadre Politician’ has natured a brutish instinct, which enables him to benefit from anything and everything that will give him the desired advantage – even to the extent of telling open lies to snare a following, promising to build Power Stations in every Province within 90 days of being elected into Office. The cadre to feign support has whispered to undo the couple’s misery.

I fear the beast of a single horn has invaded our Democracy, ready to ravage this beloved Country to bits and pieces. The scarlet wine of its people, it desires above anything else, to present and hallow before the beast by the agent of whited sepulchers.

Zambia has amongst both its young and old, Citizens who hold true to the virtues honesty and fairplay. All that is needed is guided nurturing and the fruit will surely bear-the fruit of a thriving Democracy.

The True Patriot stands un-swayed, unmoved by the whispers of the Political harlot, remaining firmly footed in the belief that virtue will ultimately prevail, of honesty and simple belief, of upheld principles, of shared Prosperity envisioned in the spirit of our Constitution.

Currently, the ‘cadre Politician’ is thriving amidst mediocrity and concomitant ignorance, relegating the principles of true Patriotism to a silent last. The Patriot holds on and sows by miniature steps, the seed of dignity. The harlot is a charlatan hybrid democracy void of issue driven Politics hijacked in the public discourse by a rogue media who careless but their own survival.

Such is a rogue media, that defrauds the public purse, refusing to remit taxes by the blackmail of a head of state, a media that delights in inciting insults and throws the first stone of biased judgment?

Tribalism and bigotry are now a platform for the cabal using the rogue media to lure a following and steer resentment against opponents. That they intend to exploit tribe is not surprising, their desperation is great. They intend to funnel the public into a perception that Politics of tribe, discarding merit is at play in the appointment of public officers. That is their launch pad.

For this reason, they have suspended their pretensions to champion media ethics, usurped by the expedience to tarnish Political enemies in tribal garb.

It is a high indictment against us as a people that some have ascended to Political leadership by open practice of tribalism. Worse, the stale public reaction towards the media who elect to overlook such brazen tribalism only to be quick to condemn those who refuse to practice tribalism in the appointment of public officers.

Worse still, these same media have elevated Political nonentities, well known to have previously thrived on account of tribe, to high platforms that they occupy day-to-day headline space – to spearhead tribal attacks.

Mr. Mpombo, a man ever wearing a bushy chin by all appearance is a disgruntled man, seething in anger, for being ‘left out’ and who is yet to awake from the self-importance stupor of belonging to a favored tribal nook of the previous regime, is now the taming of handlers scheming a tribal discourse.

The private media engaged in machinations have deliberately chosen to throw ethics out threw the window regarded by such as religious garb to be dumped at the doorway of media Practice. “By their fruit you shall know them,” the Bible says.

Zambians can all laugh at Mr. Mpombo remembering that he especially had the habit of groveling at the feet of our late ex-President. Our ‘king-makers’, would have us kiss his feet. Is this the type of democratic legacy we hope to leave behind, the applauding of Political gangsters and tribal bigots? Surely, our Posterity deserves better than that.

We deserve a Democracy that thrives on honesty, dignity and issue based Politics and whose subjects are not swayed by the ethnicity or colour of an individual but by fairness and justice, a Democracy that does not allow exploitation, favoritism or a system of the Political bourgeoisie.

MMD’s Luapula developmental meeting, is a sham-UPND

Entertainment Editor
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Second republican president Dr Fredrick Chiluba greets MMD cadres

United Party for National Development (UPND) has described the just ended development consultative meeting of chiefs and parliamentarians from Luapula province, as a sham.

UPND Spokesperson Charles Kakoma toda that the meeting was a sheer waste of tax payers’ money.
Mr. Kakoma said the meeting was exclusive in that it was not meant for all the people of Luapula but only for a few MMD sympathizers.

He said any developmental matter which is meant for all concerned people must be inclusive.
Mr. Kakoma has also described the meeting as too political adding that it had nothing to do with development of Luapula province.

He said the meeting was staged in the name of development consultative to campaign for President Rupiah Banda.

The UPND Spokesperson accused the MMD of abusing public funds because the resources that were used to organise a meeting belong to government.
[pullquote]Mr. Kakoma has also described the meeting as too political adding that it had nothing to do with development of Luapula province.[/pullquote]

He said it was wrong for the MMD as a party to use government money to campaign for President Banda.

The MMD development consultative meeting came to a close yesterday at Mansa Hotel with Second Republican President Dr. Frederick Ciluba pledging to score a second term for incumbent President Rupiah Banda.
[ QFM ]

Pregnant woman found dead in a Kalingalinga lodge

Guest Editor
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A five months pregnant woman aged between 21 and 25 years old has been found dead in a room at Nkhumanyandine lodge in Lusaka’s Kalingalinga compound.

The woman only identified as Elizabeth of Lusaka’s Mtendere compound allegedly went to the lodge around 02 hours in the company of a man who is yet to be identified.

A friend to the deceased, Rose Phiri told MUVI TV news that her friend was picked up around 02 hours by a taxi driver from Mayela bar.

And a receptionist at Nkumanyandine lodge, Patrick Mwambafula said an unknown man booked the room where Elizabeth was found dead around 23:30hours on Saturday night.

He says Elizabeth was found dead yesterday morning after the cleaner went to knock but there was no response prompting them to break the window as the door was locked and the key missing.

In a related development a 51 year old man of Lusaka’s Mtendere compound has allegedly committed suicide in unclear circumstances.

Faxon Lukanga who used to stay alone was discovered hanging in his house on Saturday.
A neighbor, Luckson Mumba says Mr. Lukanga was well, but had only complained of lack of food the previous day he spoke to him.
[MUVI TV]

DEC dragnet claims five students

Entertainment Editor
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The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested five students in separate incidents for drug trafficking.

DEC public relations manager John Nyawali said in a Press statement three of the five students were from Mansa Trades Training Institute while the other two were from Lukashya Trades Training Institute in Kasama.

He urged authorities in learning institutions to report all suspected cases of drug trafficking to help create a drug-free learning environment.

“The commission would like to urge authorities in learning institutions to be vigilant with activities that happen in their institutions,” he said.

Mr Nyawali also said the commission had in the last seven days seized half a tonne of cannabis and arrested 90 people from across the country for trafficking in various quantities of the psychotropic substance.

[ Times of Zambia ]

No vote for insolent politicians-Luapula Chiefs

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TRADITIONAL leaders in Luapula Province have resolved that they will not support political leaders who insult chiefs.

And Vice-President George Kunda has assured the chiefs and members of Parliament who attended the two-day consultative forum in Mansa that Government will implement the resolutions of the forum to promote development in Luapula.

Senior Chief Mushota, who read out the 14 resolutions from the just ended conference at Mansa Hotel yesterday, said traditional leaders will not support leaders insulting them irrespective of their political affiliation.

“As chiefs, we have resolved that we shall not support leaders who are fond of insulting us because when one chief is insulted, it is all chiefs that are insulted. This includes insulting chiefs from other regions,’’ Chief Mushota said.

He urged political leaders who have insulted chiefs to apologise publicly.

The conference also resolved that the people of Luapula Province will only support a presidential candidate associated with development in the province.

Other resolutions were that members of Parliament from the province should speak with one voice irrespective of political affiliation to help steer development in the province.

“We want our MPs to speak with one voice because that is the only way we shall develop the province and the purpose of unity should underpin development projects in the province,’’ he said.

Chief Mushota said the conference also resolved that the province be sensitised so that they can only vote for a leader who will bring development to the province.

He said the conference also agreed that MPs and traditional leaders in Luapula should work together for the benefit of the people in the province.

The conference also resolved to continue working with former President Frederick Chiluba whose contribution to the conference has been described as immense and helpful.

The forum also urged Government to speed up the construction of a bridge on Luapula river to connect Kashiba and Kasenga in Mwense and rehabilitate health, transport and education infrastructure in the province.

Other resolutions called for foreign investors to invest in the mining and tourism sectors in the province.

And Mr Kunda said Government will consider implementing the resolutions from the conference.
He was speaking when he officially closed the conference.

Mr Kunda commended the chiefs and MPs for their participation in the conference.

He said such an initiative should be supported by all key stakeholders because it is aimed at bringing development to the province.

“I wish to commend the conveners of the conference for their foresight in coming up an agenda focusing on the development of Luapula Province,’’ Mr Kunda said.

He also commended the chiefs and MPs for allowing Dr Chiluba to attend the conference.

Mr Kunda said Dr Chiluba has immense experience having served as head of State for 10 years.

He appealed to other provinces countrywide to emulate MPs and chiefs from Luapula Province in order to steer development in other provinces.

Mr Kunda said Government will consider the resolution and will include them in the Sixth National Development Plan which is currently being worked on.

He said Government is happy that the leaders of Luapula Province have taken an initiative to determine and prioritise the development needs of the province.

“This conference is historical and unprecedented. You have met with your MPs so that you can direct them on issues of major interest to the province,’’ Mr Kunda said.

He also said Government is committed to efforts aimed at improving the welfare of the chiefs countrywide.
Mr Kunda appealed to traditional leaders to seek dialogue when dealing with succession disputes to avoid wrangles.

He said Government will soon purchase vehicles for the traditional leaders who did not benefit from the initial empowerment programme.

Mr Kunda said the resolutions will be presented to President Banda and Cabinet so that they can be considered in the Sixth National Development Plan and next year’s national budget.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

Bus drivers vow to vote MMD out.

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Some minibus drivers in Lusaka say the MMD government under President Rupiah Banda has been corrupt and that corruption in the country will never end as long as government does not improve the conditions of service for police officers.

Complaining to QFM over the weekend, the mini bus drivers who declined to have their identity revealed said the government has not been fair on the way it has been treating them through traffic police officers.

They said the traffic police officers have been demanding money from them at every road block, adding when they are given money they let them go.

They complained that there is no justice in government depriving the poor mini bus drivers by demanding money in place of the government to provide employment to them so that they can be paying lawfully through tax.

They threatened to work towards changing government in the forth coming tripartite elections next year, alleging that the Rupiah led administration has failed to run the country.

QFM

HH is old enough to lead Zambia,Saunders

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United Party for National Development (UPND) party president Hakainde Hichilema
United Party for National Development (UPND) party president Hakainde Hichilema

A political Activist says it is taboo for any one to call UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema as a young man who cannot manage to lead the country as president.

In an interview with QFM, Dante Saunders says Mr. Hichilema’s age is in line with national leadership and complements with what is going on around the world today.

He says a man of his age is able to handle national issues because he still has fresh thinking and fresh ideas which can transform the country.

And Saunders says those agitating that PF leader Michael Sata is not fit to be president of Zambia are not fair.

He says despite Mr. Sata’s age, he is still fit to be president of the country.

He says people ought to understand that all people advanced in age have a health complication of one way or another.

He says there is nowhere in the world where one can find an old man without a health complication.

He says Mr. Sata’s health complications should not be used as an excuse for him not to contest for the presidency.

He says the issues of health and age should not be factors in determining who should be president of the country.

He says power to choose leaders lie in the hands of the people, adding no political party should be master of who should be president of the country.

He says in addition to people’s wishes, God ordains leaders hence no one should judge the conditions of other people on issues that affect national leadership

QFM

Another Colour campaign launched by NRP

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The National Revolution Party has launched its Green Card Campaign condemning both the Red Card and the White Card Campaigns.

In a telephone interview with Q fm this afternoon, Party Secretary General Kelly Walubita Junior says the Green Card Campaign whose aim is to promote peace and tranquility in the country has successfully been launched at Makeni Islamic Center in Makeni.

He called on Zambians to support the Green Card Campaign because it is meant to promote peace among all Zambians regardless of their origin.

He reiterated that the Red Card and the White Card Campaigns should be condemned because they are a recipe for violence and anarchy in the country.

Meanwhile, Mr. Walubita has called for a revisit of the national constitution to make some reforms to make the Zambia Police Service an autonomous wing.

He says once this is not done, the Zambia Police will always operate under instruction from the appointing authority and hence shall always be toothless.

He says the action by the MMD to send 250 cadres to Luapula to protect Dr. Frederick Chiluba is a sign that the police have failed to protect the former head of state.

QFM

FJT calls for unity in Luapula

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Dr Chiluba

FORMER President, Dr Frederick Chiluba, has urged the people of Luapula Province to unite and speak with one voice if they are to overcome the numerous challenges they face.

And Dr Chiluba was yesterday given a thunderous welcome at Mansa Hotel, the venue for an inaugural provincial consultative forum for members of parliament and traditional leaders of the Province.

The former President received a similar rousing welcome on Friday night when he arrived in Mansa from Lusaka.

Dr Chiluba said unity and co-operation are the only ways in which the province will find solutions to difficulties.

[pullquote]“Why should people question my coming here to Luapula Province where I come from? Without Luapula there could have been no Chiluba. Surely can’t I even visit my home province,” Dr Chiluba asked.[/pullquote]

Officially opening the consultative forum, Dr Chiluba said: “This is a big meeting and it will help in bringing development to this province, and development can only come through such gatherings.”

He said the meeting will help to establish the needs for the province and these will be presented to government. Dr Chiluba wondered why some opposition politicians criticised his invitation to the meeting.

“Why should people question my coming here to Luapula Province where I come from? Without Luapula there could have been no Chiluba. Surely can’t I even visit my home province,” Dr Chiluba asked.

He said his visit to the province has sent shivers in the opposition rank and file but he assured that he was not in Luapula to campaign but to thank the chiefs and MPs for the support he received when he was being prosecuted for seven years.

He revealed that PF president Michael Sata asked him to campaign for him in the 2006 Presidential election and in the event that the PF won, he would drop the court cases.

Dr Chiluba said he turned down the offer and asked Mr Sata to allow the court process to take its course.

“So why should Sata today say that my cases should continue when he came to me and promised to end the cases if I supported him? This shows that he does not understand the governance system of the country,” Dr Chiluba said.

He urged the people of Luapula Province to support President Banda in the forthcoming 2011 elections because he was a working President.

“I have not come here to campaign but to thank the MPs and chiefs that supported me during the seven years I was in court for offences I did not commit, so the opposition should not panic.” Dr Chiluba said.
He also wondered why some people in the province are supporting a person who has failed to become head of state on three attempts.

[pullquote]“So why should Sata today say that my cases should continue when he came to me and promised to end the cases if I supported him? This shows that he does not understand the governance system of the country,” Dr Chiluba said.[/pullquote]

Dr Chiluba arrived in Mansa on Friday night to a thunderous welcome by hundreds of residents. Police had a tough time in controlling the ecstatic crowd.
Meanwhile, traditional leaders have commended MPs in the province for organising the consultative forum.

Luapula Province Chiefs committee chairman, Chief Chisunka, said the traditional leaders in the province are happy that what was proposed last year in October has come to fruition.

“We want to commend our MPs for this initiative which will bring development to the province. Such meetings should continue instead of chiefs and MPs working in isolation,” Chief Chisunka said.

He wondered why some opposition party leaders were opposed to such a consultative forum.

Chief Chisunka said such meetings should be held frequently for the benefit of the people.

Speaking earlier, organising committee chairman Mwansa Mbulakulima said the criticism by some opposition politicians will not discourage the MPs and traditional leaders in the province from discussing development issues.

“We shall not relent because this is what we discussed when we met after the Chabuka ceremony. We are glad that this meeting has been held. This is good for the development of Luapula Province,” Mr Mbulakulima said.

PF Kawambwa Central Member of Parliament Elizabeth Chitika-Molobeka said the meeting will help enhance development.

Among chiefs that attended the forum were the Mwata Kazembe, Kashiba, Puta, Kasoma Lwela, Kayembo, Munkanta and all the sub chiefs from the province.

Other MPs in attendance included Mr Besa Chimbaka (Bahati), Mr Ernest Mwansa (Chifunabuli), Dr Kalombo Mwansa (nominated), Dr Peter Machungwa (Luapula), Mr Joseph Kasongo (Bangweulu), Dr Bernard Chishya (Pambashe), Mr Chrispine Musosha (Mansa Central), Mr Ben Mwila (Nchelenge), Dr Katele Kalumba (Chiengi) and Mr John Chinyanta (Mambilima).

[Zambia Daily Mail]

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