The United Party for National Development has accused the Speaker of the National Assembly Amusa Mwanwambwa and the ruling MMD of unjustifiably protecting expelled Namwala Member of Parliament Major Ronnie Chizyuka from losing his seat in parliament.

UPND Vice President for administration Richard Kapita says Major Chizyuka has been expelled from the UPND and his Parliamentary seat should be declared vacant by the speaker of the national assembly.

He says if Major Chizyuka feels he is popular and his decision to allegedly discredit the UPND-PF pact them he should go for by elections and see if he has the backing of the people of Namwala.

Mr. Kapita wonders why the speaker of the national assembly is not declaring the Namwala Seat vacant when Major Chizyuka has been expelled by the political party that sponsored him to parliament.

He says the speaker said he cannot declare the seat vacant because he heard the case was in court a position Mr. Kapita says is not true.

Mr. Kapita says the speaker of the national assembly cannot keep major Chizyuka based on hearsay.

QFM

FINANCE Bank Zambia Limited board chairperson Rajan Mahtani has resigned in order to protect the interest of the bank and to also defend himself from allegations made against him.

According to a statement released by Finance Bank last night, Dr Mahtani’s resignation is with immediate effect and the board of directors has since accepted his decision.

“In his letter of resignation addressed to the board and copied to Dr Caleb Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, Dr Mahtani said the decision to resign was entirely in the interest of the continued prosperity of the bank and in order to freely defend certain allegations made against his person and thereby protect his integrity and that of the bank,” the statement reads in part.

According to the statement, the Finance Bank board of directors convened an extra-ordinary meeting during which they accepted Dr Mahtani’s resignation.
They thanked him for the decision he made in the interest of the bank.

Dr Mahtani thanked Dr Fundanga and his team, the board, management and staff of Finance Bank Zambia for the support and understanding during his tenure of office as board chairperson.

A suitable replacement for Dr Mahtani will be announced soon by the bank’s board of directors after consultations with various stakeholders.

Dr Mahtani is one of the people appearing before the Magistrate court for the alleged money laundering case by Zambezi Portland Cement Limited, which is a subsidiary of Finance Bank Zambia Limited.

Last week, the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers raided Zambezi Portland offices housed within Finance Bank Limited office on Cairo Road to carry out investigations.

Later, Finance Bank Zambia Limited corporate affairs manager Mr Noel Nkoma released a statement categorically stating that the developments at Zambezi Portland Cement Limited had nothing to do with his bank as the company was just a subsidiary of his bank.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

By Henry Kyambalesa

It is unfortunate that our brothers and sisters in Milanzi constituency in Katete district will again be going to the polls to elect another Member of Parliament (MP) after the passing of their area MP, Mr. Reuben Chisanga-Banda, who had served his people for less than two years, just like his predecessor, the late Dr. Chosani Njobvu, who died in Slovenia where he had gone to attend the APC-EU joint parliamentary assembly in March 2008.

But while we await the announcement of the date for the by-election by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), I wish to urge candidates who are going to be fielded by their political parties to engage each other on issues rather than on personalities.

There are a lot of important projects and programs in Eastern Province which the candidates would do well to explain the role they would play in implementing them. Such projects and programs include the following:

(a) Maintenance of the just-completed Chipata-Mchinji railway line—a project initiated in 1982 as a joint venture involving Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique during the UNIP administration; and facilitation of the creation of the planned Shire-Zambezi Waterway designed to open up a cheap transport route for imports and exports by connecting Zambia to the Indian Ocean port of Chinde in Mozambique through the inland port of Njase on Shire River in Malawi.

(b) Construction of an international airport in Chipata district similar to the Chileka Airport in Blantyre in neigboring Malawi.

(c) Upgrading of both Chadiza and Nyimba clinics into district hospitals, and enhanced control of mosquito breeding throughout the province.

(d) Provision for the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation dams, canals, bridges, and trunk roads.

(e) Promotion of the small-scale mining industry through low-interest loans, and processing industries to process cotton, tobacco, sunflower, groundnuts, and other products within the province.

(f) Improvement of the availability of safe and clean water for both rural and urban areas through boreholes, dams, water pipes, and protected shallow wells, and provision of modern sewage facilities and both public and private conveniences.

(g) Upgrading of resettlement schemes in the province by providing financial and material resources for constructing and/or rehabilitating boreholes, water wells, irrigation dams and canals, feeder roads, culverts, low-cost houses, clinics, schools, police posts, and other essential public services and facilities. Such schemes include the Chipangali-Madziatuba, Chipangali-Rukuzye, and Petauke schemes.

(h) Improvements in conditions of service for healthcare personnel, employment of more healthcare personnel, and ensuring that healthcare facilities throughout the province have adequate stocks of medicines and medical supplies and equipment regardless of whether they are operated by missionaries or the government—including the Mwami Mission Hospital, Lundazi District Hospital, Kamoto Mission Hospital, Nyimba Hospital, Minga Mission Hospital, Njanje Hospital, Petauke Hospital, Chipata General Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, and all rural heatlth centres.

(i) Construction of more educational and training institutions in the province and rehabilitation of existing institutions in order to make it possible for each and every child in the province to have access to education near their homes in all the districts—that is, in Chadiza, Chama, Chipata, Katete, Lundazi, Mambwe, Nyimba, and Petauke districts.

(j) Addressing the problems facing educational and training institutions in the province, including the lack of teachers, housing, educational supplies and equipment, inadequate salaries and allowances, and entertainment at all the educational and training institutions.

(k) Ensuring that salaries and allowances are timely disbursed to all the districts so that teachers and other civil servants will not have to trek to designated locations to pick up their money only to be told that their dues are not yet available.

These kinds of projects and programs can be funded through financial and material resources which could be saved by getting rid of top-level sinecures in government, merging some of the government ministries and agencies which have similar functions, reducing the number of foreign missions, reduction in the number of foreign trips, and so forth.

Similar projects and programs nationwide can be funded by creating a government that is smaller, a government that lives within its means, and a highly innovative government that would do more with less.

THE National Constitutional Conference (NCC) yesterday rejected a clause that could have allowed political parties to merge, saying the exercise would be costly because of by-elections.

Debating article 162 which said Members of Parliament whose parties merged should not lose their seats, most delegates said that a merger amounted to dissolution of parties and such MPs should seek a fresh mandate.

Namwala MP Robbie Chizyuka said the article to allow for political party mergers should be dropped because it would be costly for Government to hold by-elections for 100 MPs.

Bishop Harrison Sakala said the merging of political parties should be avoided unless coalitions while deputy chairperson of parliamentary committees Mkhondo Lungu said that although merging before elections was good, merging just after elections was costly.

Chifunabuli MP Ernest Mwansa said in case of a merger, MPs should have an option of joining the merger or remain as MP for their constituencies and lawyer Patrick Matibini also said MPs should remain as independent in case of a merger.

Vice-President George Kunda said the norm in Zambia was such that those who joined a merger should lose their seat while UPND vice-president Richard Kapita also said no MP should keep a seat when they changed or rejected their parties.

Pastor Godfridah Sumaili said that it was in order that MPs lost their seats in case of a merger while Chieftainess Nkomeshya said the clause to allow merging of parties should be dropped but another delegate Dan Musenge said mergers should be allowed because of the right to association.

Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe said the article to allow for political party mergers would weaken the stable political system while Works and Supply Minister Mike Mulongoti said MPs would be endangered if mergers were allowed.

The NCC also adopted article 99 (1) which states that a general election would be held every five years on the last Wednesday of September after the last general elections.

Meanwhile, the NCC yesterday adjourned sine die to facilitate for the sitting of the National Assembly which resumes on Tuesday.

NCC chairperson Chifumu Banda told the conference that yesterday’s sitting was the end of the session and that the House would adjourn sine die.

Mr Banda said while it was true that the NCC had not concluded all matters, it should be acknowledged that it had made several achievements in debating various committee reports.

The NCC had considered the legislative, executive, local government and democratic governance committee reports while three quarters of the human rights report had been covered leaving the general constitutional principles report to be tabled later.

“We intend to call the House in April. You know we cannot sit when Parliament is in session,” he said.

He said that after concluding all committee reports the NCC would prepare a draft report and Constitutional bill, adopt them and publish them for the public to make comments.

After that public comments would be considered and then the conference would present its draft Constitution to the minister of Justice for onward considerations.

[Times of Zambia]

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo (DRC) Katanga Province Governor Moses Katumbi has described as cheap politicking allegations that he travelled to Mwansabombwe in Luapula Province to drum up support for President Banda.

Mr Katumbi told journalists in Ndola yesterday that he was a foreign national who cannot influence internal political matters of Zambia.

“To say that I went to Luapula Province to give support to the President (Banda) is cheap politics,” Mr Katumbi said.

He said DRC and Zambia share the longest border which stretches from Chililabombwe on the Copperbelt Province to Mununga in Luapula Province and his visits to Zambia are on mutual relations.

“So every time I come to Zambia, it is because of the mutual understanding between the two governments. I cannot have any influence over politics in Zambia because I am Congolese just like no Zambian can influence anything in the Congo,” Mr Katumbi said.

On his impromptu visit to Zambia, Mr Katumbi said he was in the country on the continued development understanding which exists between the two countries, especially the Copperbelt and Katanga provinces, respectively.

He said the bilateral relationship between Zambia and DRC will continue to benefit the people in the two countries through projects such as the tarring of the Pedicle Road which links the Copperbelt and Luapula provinces through the enclave of the DR Congo.
“We want to improve the Kasumbalesa border post,” he said.

Mr Katumbi, who was accompanied by Copperbelt Province permanent secretary Villie Lombanya and officers from the DRC consular office in Ndola, also held a meeting with officials from Gecamines at Bangala House before returning to Katanga Province.
Gecamines is a DR Congo-owned mine in Katanga province.

Earlier, Mr Lombanya said Zambia and DRC have for a long time enjoyed the bilateral and cordial relationship which exists between the two countries.

[Zambia Daily mail]

The wife of televangelist Benny Hinn has filed for divorce from the high-profile pastor, whose reputation as an advocate of prosperity gospel has attracted millions of followers and criticism from lawmakers and watchdog groups over his lavish lifestyle.

Suzanne Hinn filed the papers in Orange County Superior Court on Feb. 1, citing irreconcilable differences, after more than 30 years of marriage. The papers note the two separated on Jan. 26 and that Hinn has been living in Dana Point, a wealthy coastal community in southern Orange County.

“Pastor Benny Hinn and his immediate family were shocked and saddened to learn of this news without any previous notice,” Benny Hinn Ministries said Thursday in a statement. “Although Pastor Hinn has faithfully endeavored to bring healing to their relationship, those efforts failed and were met with the petition for divorce that was filed without notice.”

Hinn is one of the best known advocates of the prosperity gospel, which teaches that Christians who are right with God will be rewarded with wealth and health in this lifetime.

His TV broadcasts on the Trinity Broadcast Network, a Pentecostal broadcasting juggernaut, and other TV networks are seen by millions of people around the world nearly every day. He travels the globe in his ministry’s plane, named Dove One, holding events he calls “Miracle Crusades” that include spiritual healings.

Hinn has never fully publicly disclosed how he spends the money he raises, but his vast ministry is believed to be a multimillion-dollar operation. There was no mention of finances in the court filing, which listed three recent Southern California addresses for the family.

Over the years, Hinn has been the target of intense criticism from fellow Christians and watchdog groups who call his teachings false and accuse him of raising money only to enrich himself.
He is one of six televangelists under investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, over whether he complied with IRS rules for nonprofits. Hinn has said on his Web site that external auditors ensure his compliance with IRS regulations and that in 2008, 88 percent of the money he collected was spent on ministry.

Benny Hinn Ministries is based in Grapevine, Texas, and operates a church and television studio in Aliso Viejo in California’s Orange County, according to its Web site.

Sorrell Trope, the attorney with the law firm representing Suzanne Hinn, did not return a call for comment. A woman at his office said the firm does not comment on divorce filings without the client’s approval.

J. Lee Grady, contributing editor of Charisma, a news magazine on the Pentecostal community, said Hinn’s divorce is the latest in a string of high-profile ministry divorces and moral failures among the Pentecostal leaders, beginning with Ted Haggard’s fall from grace in 2006.

Haggard, who is married and has five children, admitted to receiving a massage from a male prostitute and buying drugs from him, but denied allegations he paid the man for sex.

Grady said in an e-mail Thursday that Hinn’s followers will want an explanation for the divorce because of the high profile the couple had.

“It will be devastating to the people who have supported Benny Hinn’s evangelistic work around the world,” Grady said.

“Obviously because their ministry has been very public, they will need to issue a statement to their supporters to explain how this happened,” he said.

[The Washington Post Thursday, February 18, 2010] Initial info by LT Blogger Chapwa

Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has expressed displeasure on the proposal by the National Constitution Conference (NCC) to pay Lusaka based Parliamentarians facilitation allowances amounting to K 5 billion.[quote]

FODEP Information Officer Chipenzi McDonald said in a press statement released to ZANIS today that the proposal demonstrates the misplacement of priorities by those entrusted with the management of public resources.

Mr. Chipenzi said the proposal is both ill-conceived and a clear manifestation of imprudent financial management of public resources.

He said government should refrain from the tendency of utilizing public resources for the benefit of few elite individuals.

He suggested that the K5 billion should assist government to hasten the implementation of projects particularly those that address the needs of the majority poor.

Mr. Chipenzi stressed that FODEP expects Cabinet and President Rupiah Banda to ultimately reject the proposal to save government’s integrity and retain people’s confidence in it as regards to financial management.

He has since implored the Zambian people to take keen interest in the management of their resources and demand for accountability from their leaders.

ZANIS