A Copperbelt based political Sage has called on political parties intending to float presidential candidates next year not to go for upstarts because time for political experiments was long gone.

Mr. Humphrey Ngulube told ZANIS in Ndola yesterday that the 2011 presidential elections should not be peddled by political upstarts because leadership must always have a track record.

He said 2011 was a crucial year as the country will be going to the polls to elect a leadership cadre that should steer the developmental agenda of Zambia from its current stage to a higher one.

Mr. Ngulube said Zambians should be careful with the choice of leaders that will be parading before them for votes and should critically scrutinize each candidate with care.

He said even if Zambians should not be looking for perfection in the human beings that political parties will offer for presidency, they should be looking at a political leadership track record of honesty, integrity, accountability, tolerance, humility, openness and passion to see the country moving forward in unity.

He said leadership was about offering a service to the people and any leader who wanted a position in order to amass wealth; take advantage of the privileges of the position of leadership for personal aggrandizement was seeking a position for wrong reasons.

He said Zambia needed tried and tested political leadership that was driven by the passion and conviction rooted in the spirit of patriotism and national building.

Mr. Ngulube added that there was need to promote unity, respect and the underlying values of “one Zambia one Nation” because time for tribal politics and regional isolation was over.

He also appealed to the Church to pray for the right leadership which should emerge as a result of prayer and much seeking of God about the direction of the nation after 2011.

He said the Church had a critical role to play through preaching love and unity for the nation and praying for God’s direction for the leaders that would be chosen.

ZANIS

PATRIOTIC Front Mwense Member of Parliament Jacob Chongo has predicted that the United Party for National Development (UPND) and the Patriotic Front (PF) Pact will collapse four months from now because leaders of both parties are egoistic and want the presidency.

Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Chongo said it was because of the realisation that the pact would crumble that he was concentrating on campaigning for himself for the parliamentary seat and not based on either the PF or the UPND.

Commenting on reports that the UPND was considering to give the position of vice-president to a woman, preferably from Northern Province, to enhance its chances of winning the 2011 general elections, Mr Chongo said it was clear there was a rift in the pact.

“That pact will not hold, I am not worried about them and that is why I have ensured that I deliver to my constituency. I am campaigning for myself and not to wait for anybody,” he said.

Mr Chongo said PF leader Michael Sata and his UPND counterpart Hakainde Hichilema were egoistic and wanted the presidency at all costs.

Since none of the two was willing to serve under the other, Mr Chongo said that in the coming four months, the pact would be no more.

“The pact is definitely crumbling because the PF wants Mr Sata to be president and the UPND wants Mr Hichilema. Even the two leaders themselves are not ready to work under the other,” Mr Chongo said.

He said in 1991, people came up together to form the MMD on principle and not hatred for first Republican president Kenneth Kaunda.
Unlike in 1991 when the MMD was formed out of principle, Mr Chongo said for now the PF-UPND Pact was formed out of hatred for President Rupiah Banda.

The Zambia National Women’s Lobby Group (ZNWLG) commended the UPND for its decision to reserve a position of party vice-president for a female candidate.[quote]

ZNWLG executive director Tamara Kambikambi said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, the decision by the UPND was welcome and appreciated it. She said the decision was in conformity with the international conventions on gender.

Ms Kambikambi said Zambia was a signatory to international gender conventions while at the same time ratified the Southern African Development Community protocol on gender.

Ms Kambikambi said in other bodies like the National Constitutional Conference, the nation had done well to ensure that there was equal representation in positions of authority saying the same principle should apply in political parties

[Times of Zambia]

The ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in Mazabuka district has refuted allegations that it has endorsed the candidature of Chilanga Member of Parliament Ngandu Magande as the party’s presidential candidate at the forthcoming party convention.

District Chairman, Trywell Himoonga told ZANIS in Mazabuka yesterday that it was not possible for the district to endorse Mr. Magande’s candidature because he had been rejected in Magoye where he hails from.

Meanwhile Mr. Himoonga has said the ruling party in the district is intact despite the dissolution of the district and constituency executive committees by provincial chairman, Solomon Muzyamba.

He said the district has welcomed the decision to dissolve the committees because this will strengthen the party especially when a new leadership is ushered into office.

Mr. Himoonga said contrary to reports that Mr. Magande was the favorite, the district and constituency officials are in full support of President Rupiah Banda as the sole Presidential candidate in the 2011 General elections.

And Mazabuka Central constituency chairman, Davis Bbilika said party officials are only engaged in party campaigns in readiness for the forthcoming party elections.

Mr Bbilika said the party in the constituency is intact and in support of RB.

ZANIS

The Forum for Political Parties (FPP) says it will next week petition the Pope over the continued involvement of some Bishops in partisan and politics.

Forum Chief Spokesperson, Charles Kafumbo, said FPP will present the petition to the Pope Benedict the XVI (sixteenth) through his representative in Zambia.

He said FPP has decided to seek the Pope’s intervention in order to restrain some Bishops from participating in active politics.

Mr. Kafumbo disclosed this in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday.

He has meanwhile challenged the Bishops to come out in the open and announce the name of their political party or completely stop their involvement in politics.

Mr. Kafumbo said Bishop Duffy’ s attacks on government have openly shown that the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) is compromised and actively participating in politics describing the situation a shame.

He has since advised the church to stop making statements that incite people to rise against the government because this can be a receipt for chaos in the country.

He said the church is divine and should help in uniting the country and not be seen to be agitating for any form of division and chaos which undermines the country’s security.

ZANIS

Government has castigated Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata for suggesting that the recent 15 percent fuel hike is aimed at subsiding thieves that are involved in oil procurement.

Chief government Spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha says the statement by the PF leader is untrue, highly irresponsible and provocative.

Lt. Gen Shikapwasha adds that the Mr. Sata’s Statement is only meant to mislead Zambians and promote hatred against President Banda.

In a statement issued to ZANIS in Lusaka last evening, Lieutenant General Shikapwasha explained that the increase in fuel prices has not vindicated Mr. Sata from anything because he still remains an insensitive, hypocritical and manipulative politician who can say anything to gain political mileage.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said as a government, the regulation of fuel is solely managed by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) and not as insinuated by Mr. Sata.

He said having been a member of Cabinet in 1998 when ERB Act Cap 436 was enacted, Mr. Sata is aware that ERB is responsible for regulating fuel prices.

He explained that the nation should know that the last fuel prices were reviewed on 22nd December 2008 when petroleum products pump prices were reduced by an average of 24 percent.

Gen Shikapwasha added that this was on account of the dramatic decline in international oil prices and favourable exchange rate of the kwacha against the US dollar.

He noted that since December 2008 both the average international oil prices and cost of feedstock cargoes have gone up significantly as much as 72% while the average international oil prices have increased by an average of 110% over the period February 2009-January 2010.

“Going by the above stated figures, price increases would have averaged 32% as opposed to 15% as announced by ERB on 12th January 2010,” explained Gen Shikapwasha.

Gen Shikapwasha who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister stated that to cushion the economy, the government subsidised the high costs of fuel so as to make it affordable, especially in the context of the global economic recession that characterized the global economy in 2009.

He pointed out that as the global economy is slowly moving out of the recession, the demand for petroleum products is beginning to increase, the international prices of oil have also began to rise.

He disclosed that this is why government cannot continue to subsidise the pump prices hence the 15% average increase instead of the 32% increase that is warranted by the economic fundamentals.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha has since expressed sadness at Mr. Sata’s remarks adding that they do not add value to raising a well-informed society.

On 12th January 2010 the Energy Regulation Board announced an increase in fuel pump prices a move that has attracted attention from various sectors of the economy in the country.

Mr. Sata is quoted in yesterday’s edition of the Post Newspaper a having said that he has been vindicated over recent revelations that President Banda would hike fuel prices and that Zambians will now subsidise the President’s corruption.

ZANIS

Unlike other countries in Africa including Kenya, where the cost of Internet connectivity is falling sharply, Zambia’s connection fees have remained high and are impacting the country’s economy, despite competition among ISPs and efforts to promote local content.

Google products manager for sub-Saharan Africa, Divon Lan, recently told local media that the country has the highest Internet connectivity costs in the world, and that they are embedded in the high cost of bandwidth for end users. Recent studies have also shown that Zambian Internet connectivity can cost as high as US$6,000 per megabyte — double the cost in other African countries.

Google is planning to introduce Zambian languages, including Bemba and Nyanja, on the Internet, claiming the Web is a force for societal change as it provides access to information without barriers. Lan, who is based in Israel, said Google wants to promote ICT in Zambia.

Due to the high cost of Internet connectivity, Lan said access has been restricted to the capital, Lusaka, and other urban areas. Other than mobile commerce services being provided cheaply by mobile service providers, very few Zambians are able to do online transactions because of the high cost of access.

Last year, Google released map information for Zambia for the first time on Google.com and is now trying to find ways of making the search engine more relevant to local consumers by integrating Zambia’s local languages.

Milner Makuni, the past president of the Computer Society of Zambia, said that despite Zambia having 14 ISPs competing for business, the connectivity costs have not declined significantly. This is mainly because Zambia has been relying on satellite for Internet connectivity, Makuni said. Secondly, the cost of bandwidth from the undersea cables running under the India Ocean is still very high.

“But I think very soon we will see a reduction in Internet connectivity because Zamnet, Zesco and Zamtel have now connected to the international undersea cables,” Makuni said in an interview.

Zambia also has an agreement with the East Africa Submarine Cable System to get cheaper bandwidth from the cable once it becomes operational in June this year.

[infoworld]