FORMER president Frederick Chiluba raised a number of issues about the moral conduct and leadership qualities of Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michel Sata and United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema which must exercise the minds of many Zambians.

As Mr Hichilema observed (Post Newspaper) “I am assuming that Mr Sata will respond to those many, many issues … because it is important that he responds to these matters.”

It is significant to note that what Dr Chiluba raised were not accusations, but issues that require explanations.

They are not matters that can simply be wished away by saying the former president is a trickster or be dismissed as revival of long forgotten history – true or distorted.

They are matters that have a bearing on the choices people will be asked to make in the forthcoming presidential and general elections.

In his Press conference at his home in Kabulonga on Sunday Dr Chiluba questioned the morality of Mr Sata in passing moral judgment on others and challenged him to explain his relationship with a Ndola woman.

On Mr Sata’s marital status, the public wants to know if it is true that he has two wives although, according to The Post newspaper (February 22) he denies being a polygamist. He did not comment on his relationship and the two children allegedly sired with the Ndola woman Dr Chiluba referred to.

Those who know that he divorced his first wife to marry the one he lives with now would like to know if it is true that there is a third woman in his life.

Further, in view of the overt hostility exhibited against the MMD and President Rupiah Banda by some priests in the Roman Catholic Church, many wonder if this is because the woman in question is a biological sister of one of their bishops. It is important that this is explained as some people may be forced to speculate.

In respect of Mr Hichilema, Dr Chiluba wondered what morals he had if he could conceal the truth when a Zambian is wrongfully accused.

The public would thus like to know if Mr Hichilema was a senior official of Grant Thornton when the firm was appointed receiver of Luanshya Mine’s Ramcoz. Mr Hichilema has to explain what he knew about the payment of US$12 million referred to and why he did not tell his firm to state the truth as stated by Dr Chiluba.

This is the only way he can allay fears that his former company or himself may have been undeserving beneficiaries of the money. Since he seeks to be president of Zambia the issue is about why Zambians should entrust their lives on him as president if he does not have moral courage to say the truth when a citizen is wrongfully accused.

[Times of Zambia]

The Air Force officer who last year dashed to the rescue of two Zambian girls drowning near Victoria Falls will be honored by Zambia’s president.

Col. Keith E. Andrews is to receive a medal in May for pulling the teens to shore after they fell into the fast-moving waters of the Zambezi River, just 180 feet from where Victoria Falls plunges 360 feet.

“People keep calling me a ‘hero.’ I don’t want to be a hero,” said Andrews, chief of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance with the 607th Air and Space Operations Center at Osan. “I tell everybody the same thing: I just know that God put me in the right place and the right time.”

At the time of the March 8 rescue, Andrews was a lieutenant colonel and a student at the U.S. Air Force’s Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. He was one of about 20 students in Africa on a two-week regional studies trip.

The trip included a sightseeing stop at Victoria Falls. It was a hot, sunny early afternoon with a heavy mist thrown up by the cascading falls.

“Very beautiful,” he said. “You see the falls coming down. Water’s everywhere.”

He was about 10 feet from shore when he stopped so a companion could snap his photo, with the river and the falls in the background.

A teenage girl sat on a rocky outcropping near the water talking on a cell phone.

“Being a dad, I had my dad radar on, thinking she’s close to that water,” Andrews said.

Two other young women came along and the three chatted. Just as Andrews turned away to take the photo he heard two splashes, then loud screams.

“I saw big eyes, and they were reaching for their life,” he recalled. “The water was sweeping them away.”

One girl clung to the leg of the one nearest shore, who in turn was straining for a handhold but couldn’t reach shore because the current was drawing her back. The third stood on the shore nearby, screaming hysterically, Andrews said.

He said he dashed to the girls in about two bounds, clasped a rock to anchor himself to shore, and thrust his right arm toward them.

He caught the nearest girl’s wrist, and, in a single motion, lurched rearward, hauling them both from the water.

“I don’t know where I got the strength to do that,” he said. “[The current] was sucking her away pretty fast.”

Shaken and crying, the girls bowed their thanks and said something in a local dialect.

The morning of graduation day at the air war college, the student body handed Andrews a framed photo of the rescue, signed by all of them. More recently, he learned that Zambian President Rupiah Bwezani Banda is to present him a medal May 25 in Lusaka on Africa Freedom Day.

Although the incident occurred nearly a year ago, Andrews can still choke up when he thinks about it. He has a 15-year-old daughter.

“Couldn’t sleep at all that night,” he said. “Thinking what would have happened if I hadn’t have been there, if those two girls went over the falls … and thinking, if something like that happened to my daughter, hoping someone would be there to help her.”

Source [Stars and Stripes.]

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Bellevue office held an open house Thursday that featured a Snoqualmie Indian family singing a tribal song, a Zambian dancer doing a traditional dance and a U.S. congressman urging residents to fill out their census forms.

The open house helped underscore two key points about the constitutionally-required head count: The county is diverse, and the work of counting everyone in it holds a great deal of political importance.

The last American Community Survey — a snapshot of the population that’s done by the Census Bureau — showed that 31 percent of the Bellevue population is foreign-born, and one-third of the population speaks a language other than English. Of cities in Washington with a population of more than 20,000 people, Bellevue has the largest percentage of residents that are foreign-born.

That diversity presents a special dilemma for the census bureau, however. Immigrants “tend to not to understand the importance of the census,” said Bellevue Councilman Conrad Lee, himself an immigrant (Lee was born in China and moved to Bellevue in 1958). “We tend not to be counted.”

Each uncounted person means a loss of about $1,400 in federal money per year, according to the Census Bureau. The census is also used to apportion congressional seats, and Washington may be large enough, population-wise, to qualify for a tenth congressman, if the count is high enough.

So the open house at the Census office in on 120th Avenue Northeast was also something of a pep rally for ethnic communities, faith-based and immigrant groups to help them organize a strong response to the census.

“It’s just a real simple deal,” said U.S. Congressman Dave Reichert. “Fill out the questionnaire. Send it in.”

Most people will be counted by mail. The census form will arrive in mailboxes around March 15, and census organizers expect most people to drop the return envelope in the mailbox.

But for those who don’t respond right away, census workers will be sent out to try to find out why a response wasn’t returned. And census-takers are also needed to count people at nursing homes, prisons, halfway houses, soup kitchens, even the race track — places where people don’t live in single-family homes or apartments with clearly-defined mailing addresses.

If you’re looking for a job, the census office is still hiring; in fact, they are expecting to employ 1,200 people at the office in Bellevue, and many of those positions are still open. Call the 2010 Census Jobs Line, 866-861-2010, for information.

What skills are required? The census is “looking for people who are friendly,” said recruiter David Higgins. “Most of the jobs are door-to-door.” It’s a bonus if you speak more than one language.

Bellevue census office director John Saul says he’s expecting the count will show 600,000 people live in the area served by the east King County census office, which includes everything from Bellevue east to the county border, and south to the southern border of the city of Renton.

But getting a head count of the exact number — well, that’s what the census is all about.

[Seattle Times]

The Ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) has said the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) is panicking following second republican President Fredrick Chiluba’s declaration to support president Rupiah Banda in the 2011 general elections.

MMD national Chairperson Michael Mabenga said it was surprising that the PF is jittery with Dr Chiluba’s support for president Banda by condemning him, when the party did not condemn him when he supported PF leader Michael Sata in the 2006 elections.

“ PF is panicking, its leaders are now condemning Dr Chiluba because they are aware that the MMD will retain power after the 2011 elections,” Mr Mabenga said.

Mr Mabenga noted that in 2006, the MMD allowed Dr Chiluba to support the PF because he has a democratic right to support whichever party he feels like supporting.

PF President Micheal Sata has ordered Dr Chiluba to aplogisewithin seven days or be dragged to court.

And Chiluba has vowed to defend every statement that he made against Sata during his press briefing last week.
According to a letter written to Dr Chiluba by Sata’s lawyer John Mulwila from Ituna Partners, the law firm had been retained in connection with the alleged innuendos and remarks that were also published by the Times of Zambia.

Mr Sata was particularly concerned about the allegations by Dr Chiluba that he was dismissed by the Northern Rhodesia police force and that he was arrested and imprisoned because of some criminal offences committed in the police force.

He was further concerned about Dr Chiluba’s allegations at the same Press briefing that he led a polygamous life and had a relationship with a woman in Ndola, yet he was receiving Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.

And Mr Sata’s lawyer stated that the words complained of by his client were in no doubt defamatory and the estimation in which he stood in the opinion of others had been affected by false statements.

QFM

SECOND Republican president Frederick Chiluba has said he will defend his statements against Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata even if he was dragged to court.

Dr Chiluba acknowledged yesterday, through his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba, that he had received a letter from Mr Sata’s lawyers demanding an apology for the allegations stated against him during a Press briefing.

Dr Chiluba said it was a gamble for Mr Sata to even threaten to take him to court over remarks he made at a Press briefing held at his residence on Sunday last week, and that he was ready to defend every statement.

According to a letter written to Dr Chiluba by Mr Sata’s lawyer John Mulwila from Ituna Partners, the law firm had been retained in connection with the alleged innuendos and remarks that were also published by the Times of Zambia.

Mr Sata was particularly concerned about the allegations by Dr Chiluba that he was dismissed by the Northern Rhodesia police force and that he was arrested and imprisoned because of some criminal offences committed in the police force.

He was further concerned about Dr Chiluba’s allegations at the same Press briefing that he led a polygamous life and had a relationship with a woman in Ndola, yet he was receiving Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.

And Mr Sata’s lawyer stated that the words complained of by his client were in no doubt defamatory and the estimation in which he stood in the opinion of others had been affected by false statements.

Dr Mulwila said the statements by Dr Chiluba were an infringement on Mr Sata’s rights.

Mr Sata was now demanding a retraction of the words by Dr Chiluba within seven days and an apology through an appropriate media approved by his lawyers.

He warned that legal proceedings would commence should a favourable response not be made.

Meanwhile, a Ndola-based Bank of Zambia (BoZ) employee alleged to have two children with Mr Sata has not been available to give her own side of the story following Dr Chiluba’s revelations.

A Times reporter who went to the BoZ regional offices in Ndola on Monday was initially informed that she was available but security personnel later made aU-turn and said she was not on duty.

Efforts by the Times yesterday to either see the woman at the offices or meet her at her residence in Itawa proved futile as the reporter was told that she had shifted to Kansenshi.

Later in the day, the reporter learnt, through further investigations that the woman had travelled out of town for official duties.

[Times of Zambia]

Chief Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha has dismissed allegations that government is not taking action on the Auditor General’s report because it is shielding some people.

Lt Gen. Shikapwasha says government does not take action before the report is released but only does so once information is availed to all ministries and government departments.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka that government will never do things without following procedure.

He explained that government was merely waiting for the right time to take action against those mentioned in the Auditor General’s report as opposed to assertions that it is trying to protect some people.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha noted that government understands that any misapplication or misappropriation of public resources is retrogressive to the development process of the country.

He explained that when the report is released it is taken to all the ministries so that each ministry is aware of issues that concern them.

He has since advised people to desist from blaming government on issues they do not understand properly.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha has since appealed to the public to have information on issues before issuing any statements to safeguard the peace the country has continued to enjoy.

On Thursday last week, Luena Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Milupi accused government of not taking action on revelations in the Auditor General’s reports as a way of protecting some people.

Mr. Milupi said issues of misappropriation of funds, non retirement of imprest and projects not being completed on time contribute to the country’s underdevelopment.

ZANIS

Immanuel Church of the Nazarene in Towamencin will see close to 400 youths shoot free throws into 18 basketball nets in order to raise money to build dormitories for students in Twachiyanda, Zambia, and to provide for care centers for orphans in Swaziland.

Hoops of Hope will run from 1 to 7:30 p.m., and all of the participants are the 400 or so youths in the church’s Upward Basketball League.

The event can be attributed to coincidence and being at the right place at the right time.

When Richelle Holnick, 13, a Pennridge Central middle schooler, attended a Revolve concert in Philadelphia, she witnessed a speech from 15-year-old Austin Gutwein about his nonprofit organization he started in 2004 called Hoops for Hope, which raised money for children in Africa orphaned by AIDS.

“That experience showed me what one kid can do,” Richelle said. “If we wanted he said he would e-mail everyone a way to start their own Hoops of Hope and the money will go to his organization to send over. I really wanted to help them out.”

At around the same time, Marie Jansen was reading “A Hole in Our Gospel,” which mentioned Gutwein and his effort.

Jansen and Holnick, unbeknownst to one another, approached the youth pastor at the church with the same idea and the same message.

“We got together,” Richelle said, “and now we are getting to do this.”

Each child participating in the event will get a sponsor to donate money toward their day of standing at the free-throw line shooting 1,000 baskets in honor of the children of Zambia and Swaziland.

“After I found out I was able to do this, I was happy that I could help and that other kids could help too,” Richelle said.

Youths will be broken up by groups and proceed to shoot hoops. Each one will try to sink 1,000 baskets.

“The idea is kids are coming in and getting sponsors to raise money, and that money will go to build a dorm in Zambia, where Austin Gutwein has raised money to build a school,” said Richelle’s mother, Cathy Holnick. “These kids have to walk so far for school, that they are sleeping in the school. They want to build a dorm so they have a place to sleep and they can go home on the weekends.”

Hoops of Hope “shoot-athons” have funded the building of a high school for 1,000 students, a medical lab and a counseling center, according to Holnick.

Most recently, Hoops have helped fund a water project in Kenya and a second medical clinic in Zambia.

The Hoops of Hope universal goal is to raise $580,000 to complete dorms for the high school.

All money collected through Hoops of Hope go to World Vision, a nonprofit that facilitates the building of Hoops of Hope projects.

Because it is in its preliminary year, the church’s Hoops of Hope event will feature only youths in its Upward league.

“Let’s see how we can do with this the first year. In subsequent years, we are hoping we can open it up to the community,” Cathy Holnick said. “Certainly, people can come from the community and be supportive at the event and they can donate as well.”

Individuals can also show up and sponsor a child through World Vision, she said. A World Vision table will be at the event.

Businesses in the community have asked to either be sponsors or to donate prizes.

“We want to make it a festive event and keep kids motivated,” Cathy Holnick said.

[MontgomeryNews.com]

By Tony Di Domizio
For North Penn Life