Second Republican President FTJ Chiluba’s spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba says it will be self-destruction for the Patriotic Front (PF) to sue the former.

He said intentions by the PF to sue Dr Chiluba will backfire because it will give him chance to substantiate his statements.

Speaking on Breeze FM radio in Chipata, Mr Mwamba said Dr Chiluba’s actions are as a result of unwarranted attacks on him.

Mr Mwamba said Dr Chiluba knows a lot about PF president Michael Sata because he worked with him for a long time.

He said people obsessed with attacking Dr Chiluba should remember that he has a legacy and family to protect.

“President Chiluba was forced to say what he said because of the numerous attacks on him. Sometimes, cadres are organised to talk against Dr Chiluba and he rarely responds,” Mr Mwamba said.

Mr Mwamba maintained that the office of the former President will not succumb to threats nor apologise for the statements that Dr Chiluba made against Mr Sata at a press conference last week.

He said under normal circumstances, Mr Sata should have been grateful for the things that Dr Chiluba did for him.

“Dr Chiluba, for instance, tolerated Mr Sata even when some MMD national executive committee members wanted him to be removed as party secretary,” Mr Mwamba said.

He said Dr Chiluba tolerated Mr Sata because he was loyal and hard-working and also because each human being has weaknesses.

Mr Mwamba observed that Dr Chiluba did a number of things that people must appreciate, citing the liberalised transport system and infrastructure development.

He said Dr Chiluba also ensured that most roads were rehabilitated and also clinched the multi-billion Kwacha Lumwana Mine project.

Meanwhile, Dr Chiluba has thanked Paramount Chief Mpezeni for inviting him to this year’s Nc’wala traditional ceremony.

Mr Mwamba said Dr Chiluba did not attend the ceremony to politic but said he would not shy away from listening to people’s concerns.

He said there are a number of things that the people of Chipata would like to talk to Dr Chiluba about but that this does not mean he has joined active politics.

Speaking during the same programme, PF Eastern Province publicity secretary Mungomba Ngoma said his party is concerned over attacks on PF-run councils.

He said it is unfair to castigate PF-run councils because councils can only be effective if there is collaboration with Government.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

THE Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) is working with the Government through the Financial Sector Development Plan (FSDP) to ensure that some of the bottlenecks such as infrastructure constraints are addressed to enable banks expand to rural areas.

The association has supported Bank of Zambia (BOZ) Governor Caleb Fundanga’s call for banks and other financial institutions to establish branches in rural areas to improve financial inclusiveness and ultimately facilitate national development.

BAZ chairperson Saviour Chibiya said while financial institutions considered the economic activity in an area before investing, they also had a role to play in an economy to stimulate the same economic activity.

In response to a press query in Lusaka, Mr Chibiya said providing financial services to the unbanked communities was critical for economic growth that ultimately benefits the banks.

The banking industry has been growing with over 270 branches spread across 59 districts around the country, but more branches were required as about 13 districts were still unbanked.

“There is also room for other financial institutions such as Microfinance institutions to be established as experience in Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India and Indonesia, as well as in some Latin American countries, has shown that these institutions were suitably modelled with skills and risk management products that met the unique needs of the poor in rural areas.

Banks would complement the efforts of these microfinance institutions through capital raising and funding as well as technology,” Mr Chibiya said.

He said the cost of doing business in the country was still a challenge saying banks were not an exception.

Some of the significant costs that banks were faced with were skilled human resources as the number of branches and banks had increased, security costs for the branches and cash in transit and telecommunications especially for international communication.

Other challenges were legal costs given the average time it took to enforce contracts that, coupled by the high loan default rate currently at 15 per cent for the industry and insurance costs.

Mr Chibiya said different banks had their own strategies to try to reduce the various costs so that they become more competitive and that the benefits could then be passed on to their customers through lower charges and interest rates.

Recently, Dr Fundanga urged banks and other financial institutions to consider opening branches in areas like Chavuma, Chiengi, Gwembe, Chilubi, Lufwanyama and Mufumbwe among others to tap into the vast potential in such places.

Dr Fundanga said extending braches to far flung areas would not only improve financial inclusion but would also provide banks with new customers hence a higher deposit base.

Most banks in Zambia had concentrated their branch expansion programmes in the already banked districts.

He said the Zambian economy had shown some resilient in the midst of the global economic crisis with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated at 6.3 per cent.

Both the inflation and the yield rates on Government securities had edged downwards while the exchange rate of the Kwacha against major international currencies had also shown some stability in recent months.

Dr Fundanga appealed to financial service providers, including Access Bank Zambia Limited, to make some meaningful efforts in addressing the high cost of banking.

[Times of Zambia]

PRESIDENT Banda said he is in a hurry to develop Zambia, and he has advised Zambians to unite for them to achieve prosperity.

He was speaking at the Zambian Embassy in Beijing yesterday when he met Zambians resident in China.Mr Banda said Zambians abroad, especially students, should always think about how they will contribute to the development of their country.

The President said he has placed qualified Zambians in key positions so that they can advise him on how to improve economic development in Zambia.

He hinted that when he makes the next changes to his administration, he will include more women.
And earlier in the day, President Banda met African diplomats accredited to China.

He told the diplomats that Africa has much to learn from China.

Deputy Dean of African Diplomats in China Joao Manuel Bernadro, who is Angola’s Ambassador to China, described President Banda as a model politician who inspires many.

President Banda is in China at the invitation of China’s President Hu Jintao.

Patriotic Front president (PF) Michael Sata has accepted President Rupiah Banda attacks that his party’s controlled councils on the Copperbelt and Lusaka have failed to perform.

The PF leader said when he addressed a gathering for Mayors from PF-controlled councils on the Copperbelt and Lusaka provinces to discuss issues of development and service delivery that they should use councils as the arena to advance their political agenda.

According to the POST newspaper, Mr. Sata told the Mayors that they were lucky to have inexperienced politicians in government and their associates because they would have not revealed that their councilors were not working before 2011 general elections.

“You are very lucky all of us who are here because if our colleagues in government and their associates were experienced politicians, they would not have revealed this idea now,” Sata said. “They have made this clear that this is what they are going to use for their campaigns.”

“At the moment our government has nothing to offer. They will fight you and when they fight I have told you several times, you will find President Banda saying you are not performing. I agree with him, you are not performing.”

Mr. Sata cautioned his Mayors that if they were failing to cut grass at Nakatindi hall President Banda would rebuke them because he took over from him as governor of Lusaka. He said everyone would hammer the councillors if they failed to function.

The PF Leader condemned government for evacuating people from Misisi compound to the Independence Stadium because it was not a permanent solution. [quote]

Mr. Sata urged his Mayors that when his party comes to power next in 2011 they would show Mr Banda’s government how to clean the cities.

He told them to sale themselves to the electorate on the operation constraints they were facing as councils.

The Mayors from Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe, Chililabombwe, Mufulira, and Chingola attended the meeting where they also presented their budgetary figures for the year 2010 and the disbursements of financial resources to their council for the previous years starting from 2006.

By Henry Kyambalesa

At independence in 1964, Zambia, as the World Bank once observed, was potentially the richest country in sub-Saharan Africa. Forty-four years later, however, it has become one of the poorest, with nearly 70% of its people wallowing in abject poverty.

But how could a country that is blessed with good weather, fertile soil, several perennial rivers running through it, abundant mineral endowments, and very peaceful and hard-working citizens find itself in such a predicament?

Well, we have an outdated education policy that is designed to cast nearly half of those who enroll in Grades 7 and 9 onto the streets every year. We have a healthcare system that is hardly accessible to the majority of citizens. We have so many of our fellow citizens who have no access to clean water and electricity. We have a critical shortage of decent public housing nationwide. Public infrastructure and services are deficient. Civil servants are not adequately compensated for their services. And a lot of civil service retirees cannot get their hard-earned benefits.

Further, crime, corruption and unemployment are widespread. Taxes and interest rates are extremely high. Single-source government procurements, the appointment of alleged perpetrators of corrupt practices to key government positions, and the sacking of officers who attempt to pursue or expose key government officials allegedly involved in scandals have become a normal practice. And selective prosecution of alleged offenders and the perpetration of violence and threats of violence against innocent citizens have become acceptable political campaign tools.

Besides, the National Constitutional Conference is recommending articles and clauses that are designed to exclude certain individuals from contesting the Republican presidency, and those which are designed to suit the needs and interests of the ruling political party. And rehearsed warnings that we should not experiment with leadership have started getting louder—somewhat suggesting to us that the deadwoods among our current crop of government leaders hold the key to Zambia’s future! Soon, we will be bombarded by rehearsed calls that the Republican president should be given more time to complete his projects and programs beyond 2011—projects and programs which include touring the world, and “drive-through” deliberations with chiefs designed to secure votes.

The seriousness of socio-economic woes facing my Motherland is heart-rending. Unfortunately, the Republican president and the Republican vice president are oblivious to the problems facing the common people. They seem to be more interested in lining up their own pockets, and the pockets of their sympathizers. Winning elections to them seems to be an end in itself. And they will continue to abuse the power they wield to win elections—including the divide-and-rule strategy once used by the colonial government, and the use of intelligence briefings to tell the nation upon landing at airports that they know what is happening in opposition political parties.

Does any individual or political party have the key to lock the door to socio-economic decay and backwardness, and unlock the door to greater opportunities and a higher quality of life for all Zambians in Central Province, Copperbelt Province, Eastern Province, Luapula Province, Lusaka Province, Northern Province, North-Western Province, Southern Province, and Western Province?

No sleep for my Motherland!

By Elias Munshya wa Munshya

Undoubtedly, Chiluba’s press conference speech had called into question Sata’s personal moral character, but more than that it called into question the general character of Zambian politics.

If Sata was indeed as bad as Chiluba had claimed he was, then it begs the question why he kept him as his closest confidante in Cabinet and in the MMD for over ten years. Sata’s last position in Chiluba’s government was Minister-Without-Portfolio, the third highest office.

Besides, Chiluba claimed that as former head of State he had information about each minister, and so he had some damning information about Mr. Sata. But in spite of this information he still kept Sata in Cabinet, deliberately, keeping in political office someone he knew was unworthy and unfit. We dare not forget that in the 2006 elections, Chiluba was on hand to urge Zambians to vote for Sata—that is why today, I find it rather awkward to understand how Chiluba can both say that Sata is wrong for Zambia, but at the same time urge Zambians to vote for him as president nevertheless in 2006.

Chiluba only withdrew support to Sata just about the time that Sata did the so called reconciliation with Mwanawasa. If that be the case then it should suffice for us to know that Chiluba may have withdrawn support for Sata not because Sata was morally depraved, but rather because he Sata associated with Mwanawasa. It seems Chiluba’s principle was you could not be his friend if you were a friend of Mwanawasa. But this principle did not just apply with Chiluba; Mwanawasa also used it very well. Most of Mwanawasa’s close political confidants cut their links from Chiluba. It is rather ironical that only the late Dalton Sokontwe, stayed close to Chiluba.

The speech also raises some questions about the Church and her deeds. However, the Church should not be brought into political or personal problems of this nature. This is because the Church, whether protestant or Catholic is by its nature both a human institution and a divine institution, and as a human institution it is fraught with human weaknesses, favoritism and other vices. But in spite of her weakness, the Church has been a spiritual home bestowing solace and hope to countless, and we esteem her and esteem her fellowship regardless. It is therefore, not necessary that the Church should be brought into disrepute simply because of how it has behaved towards one politician or the other.

Unfortunately, both Chiluba and Sata have used some unpleasant words against the Church. For Sata he has very little respect for Chiluba’s “born again” Christianity, whereas Chiluba from this speech does seem to call into question the Catholic Church’s attitude towards Sata’s morality. However, the best policy towards the Church should be for politicians, including Sata and Chiluba to leave the Church alone. For her part the Catholic Church may be trying to bridle in some turbulent priests within the Ndola Diocese by bringing in Dr. Alick Banda, an expert of Church-State relations, as Bishop. Nevertheless, we are yet to see the impact that Bishop Banda will have on the politically charged Ndola Diocese.

Having pointed out the above issues, however, Chiluba’s speech is a very powerful political document whose impact at taming the political venom of Michael Sata should not be underestimated. It looks like with this speech, Frederick Chiluba is coming back to fight for the MMD and for Rupiah Banda. As for Sata, he nevertheless has a lot of questions he needs to answer, and Chiluba posed the questions very well. But I wonder whether those questions are just for Michael Sata alone!