THE National Constitutional Conference (NCC) has agreed to include in the Constitution a clause that will categorically state that a former president who loses immunity should have it restored if he is cleared by the courts of law.

The NCC plenary also adopted a clause that will give former presidents the right to appear before a parliamentary ad-hoc committee to give their side of the story on criminal allegations before the whole Parliament considered the motion for the removal of immunity.

Debating Article 136, the NCC plenary observed that the Constitution had been silent on a president that had been cleared by the courts on whether their immunity could be restored or not.

Vice-President George Kunda said, in order to remove any doubts, there should be a clause that would say immunity should be restored to a former president after he had been cleared by the courts of law.

Defence Minister Kalombo Mwansa agreed and said there should be a clause for the restoration of the immunity.

Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice-President Gaston Sichilima said if a former president was cleared by the courts, then the immunity should automatically be restored.

Lawyer Patrick Mvunga concurred with Mr Sichilima and explained that if someone was cleared by the courts then there should not be talk of immunity.

But Mbabala MP Emmanuel Hachipuka said Parliament was procedural and if a former president was cleared by the courts of law then there should be communication between the courts and Parliament.

Katuba Member of Parliament Jonas Shakafuswa said the ad-hoc committee was a democratic idea as it would give Parliament both sides of the accusations before removing the presidential immunity.

Parliamentary chief whip Vernon Mwaanga said there should be at least one third of all MPs to move a motion to remove a former president’s immunity to avoid frivolous motions.

Bahati MP Besa Chimbaka said former president Chiluba had his immunity removed without prima facie evidence.

Mr Chimbaka said Dr Chiluba had his immunity removed as a result of some allegations which were different from the ones that he appeared in court for.

Chief Kashiba said the country should be careful with the way it treated its former presidents because mistakes should not be repeated.

The clauses that were adopted say not less than one-third of the MPs should petition the Speaker stating allegations that a former president had committed a criminal offence in his private capacity during his tenure in office.

The notice should specify the allegations and the Speaker would within seven days serve the notice to the former president and the National Assembly.

After that, the National Assembly would then constitute an ad-hoc committee to determine the matter on whether immunity should be removed or not and the accused president should be given a right to be represented to give his side of the story.

The NCC agreed that the select committee would recommend to the National Assembly for the removal of the immunity but the resolution should be supported by a vote of not less than two-thirds of all MPs and the court would only try the president on charges for which the immunity was removed.

[Times of Zambia]

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday held closed-door talks with a delegation of bishops of the Roman Catholic Church where they discussed wide-ranging issues concerning the nation.

Special Assistant to the President for Press and public relations Dickson Jere, said in a statement that the meeting between the president and the representatives of the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), at State House lasted for about three hours.

“Some of the issues discussed at the meeting concerned education, health, infrastructure, politics and the economy,” he said.

Mr Jere said President Banda and the bishops agreed to have another meeting at a date to be communicated.

He said the president thanked the Catholic bishops for the meeting and urged them to feel free to engage Government on any issues concerning the nation.

President Banda was accompanied by Vice-President George Kunda, Works and Supply Minister Mike Mulongoti and State House aides.

ZEC was represented by its president Bishop George Lungu, Bishop of Ndola Alick Banda and the Archbishop of Lusaka Telesphore Mpundu.

And MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba has said he has lodged a complaint to ZEC seeking the Catholic Church’s official position on the priests who have become partisan through their conduct.

Dr Kalumba said in an interview the party was seeking clarity from the ZEC, which should state the official church position over some Catholic priests who have continued displaying partisan tendencies.

He said, as a Catholic and MMD national secretary, he wrote to ZEC through Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu.

He said the partisan conduct of some priests was offending some church members who expected them to be non-partisan because the church drew its members from different political parties.

Dr Kalumba, who refused to give the full details of the letter because he was still waiting for a response from ZEC said the MMD, wanted the matter to be dealt with locally and that was the reason why the party was not part of the group, which wrote to the Vatican complaining about some partisan priests.

But ZEC spokesperson Paul Samasumo said some priests who were alleged to be partisan were only doing so in their individual capacity and whatever they said was not the official position of the Catholic Church.

“The official position of the Catholic Church on various issues is only expressed when bishops speak collectively as ZEC through a statement or a pastoral letter which is used to express the church’s concerns on political and security issues which affect the country,” Father Samasumo said.

{Times of Zambia]

Over 113,200 pupils who sat for their grade nine school examinations last year have been selected to grade ten.

This is out of 247,247 pupils that sat for the grade nine examinations in 2009.

Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary James Mulungushi announced the results in Lusaka today and said the selection of 113,241 pupils to grade ten represents a progression rate of 45.8 per cent compared to the 39.8 in 2008.

Dr. Mulungushi said out of the 247,247 candidates selected to grade ten this years, 51,921 are girls while 61,320 are boys.

He also announced that 128,467 candidates have obtained full certificates out of the 247,247 pupils who sat for the 2009 grade nine examinations.

This represents a pass rate of 51.96 per cent in 2009 compared to 48.57 per cent 2008.

He said 72,445 out of 130,224 boys who sat for exams last year have managed to obtained full certificates while 56, 022 out 117,023 girls have also managed to get full certificates.

Dr. Mulungushi however disclosed that all the candidates who have obtained full grade nine certificates in Northern, Luapula, North Western and Central provinces have been selected to grade ten while in Western province all the female candidates who obtained full certificate will been admitted to grade ten.

The overall results show that the Copperbelt Province has recorded the highest pass rate of 59.19 per cent while Northern Province recorded the least pass rate of 43.44 per cent during last year’s grade nine examinations.

He said only 62 candidates were involved in examination malpractice, some of whom were being assisted by teachers in the examination rooms.

He also announced that out of 196 candidates with education special needs that sat for grade nine examinations last year, 188 candidates have been selected to grade ten.

Dr. Mulungushi has since appealed to the members of the public to obtain the results from the schools where the pupils wrote their examinations.

He said no results will be given by his ministry headquarters or the Examination Council of Zambia (ECZ).

Dr Mulungushi has also announced that grade ten classes will open on February 8, 2010 adding that pupils, who will fail to report to their respective schools by February 19th, will lose their place.

ZANIS

The Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) has expressed worry at the announcement that the newly opened First Quantum Minerals Bwana Mkubwa mine in Ndola will close after operating for only 11 months.

MUZ president Rayford Mbulu has also expressed disappointment that Bwana Mkubwa has decided to close when metal prices on the international market are picking up.

Mr. Mbulu said the closure of the mine will have negative effects on both the workers and the infrastructure at the mine.

He was reacting to Mines Minster Maxwell Mwale’s announcement that the mine in question will close after 11 months of operations due to limited feedstock for the processing plant.

Mr. Mbulu told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today, that the reason for the closure of the mine would have been avoided if the mine had established local sources for their raw materials.

He said there is need for mining companies in the country to come up with local sources for their feedstock so that their mines can remain operational for many years.

He noted that the country has a lot of firms that have potential to supply mining companies with raw materials for them to continue with their production.

Mr. Mbulu noted that the closure of the mine after 11 months will have devastating effects on the welfare of workers who have no other alternative sources of income.

He said mining companies should emulate Chambeshi metals that has remained resilient in achieving its full production capacity by having constant feedstock suppliers.

He further urged the mining companies plan for long term operation employing the local people in order for them to make positive contributions to the economic growth of the country.

He has since advised management at the company to come up with stringent measures that will ensure that the infrastructure at the site is kept in good condition for the benefit of the investor and Zambians.

He has since challenged government to come up with strict policies that will discourage mines from closing after making profits.

ZANIS

The 16th ordinary session of the Executive Council, comprising foreign affairs ministers, opens here tomorrow to pave way for the official opening of the 14th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) summit, which is scheduled to take place on January 31, 2010.

This follows the meeting of the Permanent Representative committee (PRC) comprising ambassadors accredited to the AU.

The PRC concluded its deliberations yesterday at which the ambassadors adopted their report that would be presented to the 16th ordinary session of the executive council.

The two high level meetings are expected to feed into the agenda of the heads of state and government summit.

The summit, which will be held at the AU headquarters here in Addis Ababa, will be held under the theme, ‘New Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Development’.

President Rupiah Banda will be among 50 African heads of state and government expected to jet into Addis Ababa to attend the continent’s highest profile summit.

The summit is going to witness the change of guard between outgoing chairperson Muhammar Gaddafi of Libya and Malawian President Bingu Wa Mutharika.

According to the AU commission here, Representatives from the United Nations (UN), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Bank are also expected to bring their respective competences and knowledge to this unprecedented debate.

Apart from political issues related mostly to the resolution of conflicts on the continent, the heads of state and government are expected to unpack the theme of the summit which has been widely viewed as one of the areas that hold a lot of potential for development on the continent.

The summit is also expected to discuss the report of the commission on unconstitutional changes of governments before considering adopting various reports, among them, the peace and security situation in Africa.

In addition, the summit will discuss the report of the ministerial meeting on the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The summit will also launch the AU flag and present awards to two African scientists who won the continental science prizes before climaxing into the 14th ordinary session of the heads of state and government summit.

As chairperson of the Great Lakes Region, Zambia’s president Rupiah Banda is expected to report to the summit on the progress made so far from the time he took over the chair.

For Zambia, which launched the ICT policy in 2007 and is considering the global imperatives of digital migration, the theme for this summit comes will be appropriate for the Zambian head of state and his delegation because it will offer an opportunity for them to refine the policy in order to respond to the dynamism in the sector.

ZANIS