MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya says she has earned her positions in government through hard work.

Ms Siliya who is also Education Minister said she has been in the party for a long time and that she had added value to it.

She was responding to a question that she is untouchable in President Rupiah Banda’s government. This was when she featured on Zambezi FM, a local radio station in Livingstone over the weekend.

Ms. Siliya noted that people had become opinion makers, a vice which the MMD fought. She said she was a hard worker who managed to get votes in the Eastern province when she ran for parliamentary elections.

Ms. Siliya pointed out that she was first appointed as a Deputy Minister by late President Levy Mwanawasa.

”Political space should be filled with issues and not what people think about me,” she said.

She said her job as MMD Spokesperson was not to sell herself but the party brand.

And reacting to a question that some chiefs in the province had branded the MMD a violent party following some threats by some MMD cadres to gang rape opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) leader Edith Nawakwi, Ms Siliya described the statements as unfortunate.

”That statement is unfortunate that is why I have said space should be filled with issues. Every party has a following and when we insult leaders we forget that there are people who support them passionately,” she said.

And commenting on whether the expulsion of Livingstone MMD Constituency Chairman Capt John Mwamulima still stood since he had rejected it, Ms Siliya said there must be discipline in the party since the MMD had been in existence for a very long time.

She said that there was no political problem within the MMD adding that there was also no insurmountable problem in the party but that discipline must prevail.

Ms. Siliya observed that President Rupiah Banda believed in dialogue and that what the people of Zambia wanted to see from the party was development. She also said at the moment, government was concerned with the implementation of its programmes.

She said the President was concerned about implementation because when the election time comes, the MMD would be able to point at the programmes that it had implemented.

”We have a plan and we know where we are going,” she said.

ZANIS

Justice Florence Lenganga has expressed concern over deplorable conditions in which inmates are living in the country. She said that there is an urgent need to improve prison conditions country-wide.

Justice Lenganga expressed her concern during the ceremonial opening of criminal sessions for Eastern Province at Chipata High Court yesterday

“This address would be incomplete if I fail to mention the deteriorating conditions of our prisons, both in terms of infrastructure in most provinces, the quality of food, lack of beddings, and in some cases non-availability of water, such that sometimes inmates have to walk long distances to fetch water and not forgetting the congestion of most of the prisons,” she said.

She also noted that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and Legal Aid Board had serious manpower problems. She revealed that there was only one legal aid counsel servicing the Eastern jurisdiction.
She said as a consequence of the manpower crisis, even home sessions which normally take four weeks have been affected, adding that sometimes the advocates handling these sessions and the session justice come from outside the station and were under immense pressure.

“Turning to the judiciary there has been a serious shortage of manpower in terms of judges and magistrates in all the provinces and some stations only have one judge or magistrate,” She said.

Justice Lengalenga also revealed that the police and the prison services have not played their roles effectively and efficiently in the criminal justice system because of lack of transport. She said if remandees and witnesses could not be brought to court because of lack of transport, it became exceedingly difficult for the court to discharge its functions and dispose of the cases quickly which in the end brought congestion in prisons.

And Eastern Province Minister, Isaac Banda, said government was putting in place measures to decongest and make prisons more habitable.

Mr Banda said that government was putting up measures to improve prisons infrastructure and create more accommodation.

“Government is aware that due to population increase which has consequently given rise to the crime rate and other related social economic vices, the prisons infrastructure today accommodates more or less double the number they were initially designed for,” he added.

He said government was also aware that just like at the prisons, the current court infrastructures do not have holding cells that separate juvenile offenders from adult prisoners.

Mr Banda noted that government, through the Prisons Service, had also introduced the parole facility which begins this year.He said names of the inmates who were to go on parole have already been submitted to the parole board for further action.

“This is a facility where inmates who have served three quarters of their sentence will be released to join their families and they will be monitored from time to time,” Mr Banda said.

He said government was also working hard to ensure that adequate transport was given to the Prisons Service.

Meanwhile, Eastern Regional Commanding Officer for Zambia Prison service, Sainani Manda, said there were 1,445 inmates in the province.

Mr Manda also complained of transport problems in prisons.

ZANIS

More than 600 members of the UNIP revival Forum from seven Districts of Northern Province have defected to the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) citing poor leadership in their party.

UNIP revival forum provincial secretary Thompson Nyirenda confirmed the development in a statement released to ZANIS in Kasama today.

Mr. Nyirenda, who led other defectors, said the UNIP revival forum members who resigned where from Chinsali, Chilubi, Isoka, Kasama, Mpika, Mporokoso and Luwingu Districts.

He claimed that UNIP has lost support in the province due to poor mobilization.

Mr. Nyirenda, who was flanked by provincial Information and Publicity secretary Francis Mulenga, said the former UNIP members have lost confidence in their party hence their decision to defect to the PF.

He charged that the UNIP top leadership has continued to hold-on to power illegally despite the expiry of their legal mandate in 2005.

Mr. Nyirenda accused the current leadership of the former ruling party of not being sincere in its dealings because it has failed to call for a General Conference to elect new office bearers ahead of the 2011 general elections.

He also alleged the sale of UNIP assets was done illegally and out of selfishness because the sold property was still viable.

And Northern Province Patriotic Front provincial chairman Fredrick Chisanga has welcomed the UNIP defectors to his party.

Mr. Chisanga commended the defectors for joining the PF and urged them to contribute towards the strengthening of the party in the province.

He further revealed that the PF has already started mobilizing members at grass-root level in readiness for the 2011 tripartite elections.
ZANIS

THE Government has said the country has not violated the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights by allowing the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) to adopt a clause that requires a presidential candidate to be a holder of a university degree because it is the citizens themselves that demanded that their presidents be degree holders to articulate issues intelligently.

Chief Government Spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha said the citizens were well represented in the NCC and that the decisions made by the conference were a reflection of what the people of Zambia wanted.

Gen Shikapwasha was reacting to Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata who yesterday said that Zambia had violated the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights by allowing the NCC to adopt a clause that requires a presidential candidate to be a holder of a university degree.

“Zambia has not violated any charter because it is the Zambian people that want the presidential candidate to be a degree holder and so whatever Mr Sata is talking about has no substance,” Gen Shikapwasha said.

He said that by the NCC recommending that a presidential candidate should be a degree holder, it was merely stating that whoever wanted to aspire for the office should be an enlightened person.

Gen Shikapwasha compared the person seeking the office of presidency to an individual looking for a job either in the private or public sector.

“There is no such a thing as violation of the charter in as far as qualifications are concerned, otherwise people would not have been getting jobs.

If you are looking for a job and the employers are saying you should have a degree there is no way you can say no.

In this case, the Zambian people who are the employers are saying they want a degree holder to aspire for presidency,” Gen Shikapwasha said.

Similarly, Gen Shikapwasha said it would be illogical for any Christian to claim that he would go to heaven if such an individual has not come to know Jesus.

Gen Shikapwasha said that for as long as anybody that claims to be a Christian does not know Jesus, such an individual would not go to heaven.

Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Sata said Zambia had violated the charter to which it was a signatory under the African Union (AU). He said the nation had violated Article 13 of the charter. “Zambia has violated the African charter which allows for the various forms of freedom.[quote]

In the past 45 years, we fought against the white minority to rule so that the majority can rule but now we are going back to the situation where the minority should again rule. The country has violated Article 13 of the charter,” Mr Sata said.

Article 13 of the charter states that every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the Government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Mr Sata argued that by restricting the position of presidency to a degree holder, Zambia was now allowing the minority to rule.

Meanwhile, Lusaka lawyer Christopher Mundia has supported the degree requirement for a presidential candidate saying the move was not in any way discriminatory.

Reacting to the NCC’s adoption of an article that requires a presidential candidate to have a minimum qualification of a first degree, Mr Mundia said that the article was important.

He said by adopting the article, the NCC acted in line with the aspirations of the Zambian people because the world had become complicated and ill-qualified persons could not articulate development issues.

He said in the era of a global village, there was need for enlightened leaders because the days of the blind leading the blind were long gone.

Zambia had seen positive sustenance of the economy because of enlightened leadership of late president Levy Mwanawasa and the continued leadership of President Rupiah Banda who was not only a degree holder but an experienced economist.

He said the degree requirement for a president entrenched the wishes of the Zambian people and that it was interesting to hear that some aspiring candidates felt that the clause was targeted at them.

On the 50 per cent plus one clause, Mr Mundia said it was unnecessary as it would be expensive in the event that a re-run was to be conducted.

He explained that next year, 2.5 million people were expected to vote when the population was about 12 million and issues of legitimacy could not arise and therefore, the simple majority should be the best.

[Times of Zambia]

Former Defense Minister Ben Mwila has alleged that allowing Patriotic Front President to become republican president will be allowing Zambia to experience civil war.

Mr Mwila who is also National Democratic Focus president alleges that Zambians will be making a grave mistake by voting for Mr Sata to be republican president saying he will be abrogating the constitution with impunity which is not in the best interest of the Zambian people.

He said Mr Sata is not fit to lead the country adding that he is only fit to lead Patriotic Front.

And United Party for National Development (UPND) President Hakainde Hichilema said today that the PF/UPND Pact will not be coerced into choosing its presidential candidate for 2011 elections.

Speaking this morning on JOY FM’s The Platform Programme, Mr Hichilema said the PF/UPND Pact has taken a decision not to preoccupy itself with the presidency at the moment.

He said what they are preoccupied with is ensuring that there is unity in the membership of the two political parties. He accused the MMD of trying to stir trouble in the UPND/PF Pact by suggesting that particular tribes have their preferred candidates for the Pact’s 2011 presidential candidate.

Mr Hichilema said the PF/UPND Pact has nothing to do with tribe as is being portrayed by the ruling party. He wondered why the MMD is concerned about the PACT’s presidential candidate when they have been spelling doom for the PACT.

Mr Hichilema said the MMD are irked because they know that the exit doors are widening and time is running out for them.

QFM

The opposition Patriotic Front (PF) says the PF/UPND pact is not shaken by the defection of more than 20 of its members to the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in Lusaka’s Munali constituency.

PF Spokesperson Given Lubinda told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the pact is not shaken because there are more people who are willing to join them.

Mr. Lubinda said members defecting from the pact to join the MMD would regret their decision in 2011 claiming that the PF/UPND pact will emerge victorious in the general elections.

He said those who are leaving the party for the MMD do not realize that the PF/UPND pact was the rightful party with a vision.

More than 20 members of the opposition PF/UPND pact on Saturday left their parties to join the ruling MMD while over 80 more are said to have indicated their intentions to leave their parties and join the MMD.

ZANIS