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Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) spokesperson MacDonald Chipenzi says the Solwezi Central by-election, slated for November 19, will be marred by serious electoral malpractices.
Mr. Chipenzi attributed his prediction to the on going violence, food distribution and vote buying that has characterized the campaigns in the constituency ahead of the elections.
He said in an interview with ZANIS, today, that there cannot be any level playing field when political parties vying for the Solwezi Central seat were all engaged in serious electoral malpractices like violence and vote buying.
He said the Solwezi Central by-election will not be free nor fair as all parties contesting in the by-election have abrogated the electoral code of conduct through their involvement in violence and other electoral misconduct ahead of the by-election.
Mr Chipenzi said that there will be need to strengthen the electoral code of conduct before the 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections in order to punish political parties found wanting for abrogating the electoral code of conduct.
He said this would save the country from going through expensive appeals, saying the current indication would be that the losers in the Solwezi Central by-election would not want to concede defeat because of the alleged electoral malpractices.
The spokesperson noted that the Solwezi Central by-election should make politicians to start appreciating each other and desist from politics of character assassination.
He said the Solwezi Central by-election should offer a perfect example for political parties to go back to the drawing board and learn to promote peace, dialogue and co-existence before the nation goes to the polls in 2011.
Mr Chipenzi further urged eligible electorates in Solwezi Central constituency to turn up in their numbers and vote for their preferred candidate who could serve them better.
Lusaka City Council (LCC) Public Relations Officer Henry Kapata says a total of 169 underage patrons that were recently apprehended for patronizing bars have been counseled.
Mr. Kapata told Zanis in an interview in Lusaka today that the juveniles were counseled by a combined team of LCC personnel, a clergy, and representatives from the Victim Support Unit of the Zambia Police Service.
Mr. Kapata explained that 69 of those that were counseled were 13 years old and the rest range from 15 to 17 years old.
He said after this exercise the LCC will get the necessary information from the juveniles because at some point they will be used as witnesses against the bar owners that allowed them to drink on their premises.
Mr. Kapata said the cases will be heard in camera and will strictly follow the laws that govern the rights of juveniles. He further said the juveniles will be allowed to go back to their respective homes during this period because they will have been reformed.
He said they will also help identify the bars that do not follow the rules of the land by admitting underage patrons.
And Mr. Kapata has appealed to the Grade 12 school leavers of this year to celebrate their completion with their parents at home in a peaceful manner. He said the local authority will not relent in arresting lawbreakers in the country in an effort to bring order and sanity in the country.
Recently a combined team of LCC police and the Zambia Police Service pounced on bar owners that were admitting and selling alcohol to underage patrons. The juveniles were detained at LCC in an effort to get them counseled.
Vice president George Kunda cheering an MMD dance group
Vice President George Kunda has urged the electorate in
Solwezi central constituency to turn out in large numbers on Thursday and exercise their right to vote.
Mr Kunda has directed Solwezi Municipal Council to use the K6.5 billion paid by Kansanshi mine as land rates for improving service delivery in the district.
Mr Kunda said the council should work out a plan of how they are going to use the money for the benefit of the people in the district.
The Vice President was speaking when he addressed a rally at Mushitala Basic School to drum up support for MMD candidate Albert Chifita in Solwezi last evening.
Speaking at the same rally Education Minister Dora Siliya said K42 million from the Constituency development fund has been allocated to for the electrification of Mushitala basic school.
Ms Siliya said government is committed to ensuring that all children including girls get good education by constructing more classroom blocks.
She said government also realizes that education is a centre of all development adding that it is committed to ensure that all children including girls get good education by constructing more classroom blocks.
Ms Siliya urged the people of Solwezi to vote for the MMD candidate Albert Chifita in the November 19th by election.
Solwezi Central seat fell vacant following the death of area Member of Parliament Ben Tetamashimba and November 19th has been set as poll day.
UPND/PF pact has filled in Watson Lumba, Muhammad Kalela is standing on the FDA ticket while Thomas Kafula is standing as independent.
Kent Kamasumba, a 20-year-old from Zambia, is delighted to have been admitted to Seoul National University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in October, only seven months after he left his home to come to Korea. Kamasumba is the first student from Jirisan High School, a small country school of 53 pupils in Sancheong, South Gyeongsang Province, to enter Korea’s most prestigious university.[quote]
Jirisan High School admits bright students in poor and developing countries through recommendations from Korean missionaries and associations there. If these students perform well in their studies, the school pays for their tuition and living expenses throughout university up to doctoral studies on one condition — they must return to and work for their countries after completing their studies.
Kamasumba lost his father at a young age and had to rely on his relatives because his mother remarried and could not afford to look after him. “Often I had just one meal a day,” he recalls. In February this year, he graduated from a high school in Lusaka, the Zambian capital. A Korean missionary who had noticed Kamasumba’s qualities recommended him to Jirisan High School.
Park Hae-sung, the school’s principal, says, “We select students based on two criteria only — whether they have a strong desire to study, and whether they’re really from a poor family. We have produced 40 graduates, and all of them went to university.”
Kamasumba took classes in English for three foreign students and studied Korean in the school’s library after class. Living in a dormitory and participating in volunteer work after school, Kamasumba befriended his Korean classmates with ease. “Once I graduate from university, I’m going to go back to Zambia and contribute to my country’s economic development,” he says. “My dream is to become president of Zambia.”
What he fears most for the time being is Korea’s cold winter. The first snow on Mt. Jiri will be the first snow he has ever seen.
A Ndola resident has urged the National constitutional Conference to ensure that they include the heterosexual marriage practice for Zambia to the exclusion of all others which should be seen as Constitutionally illegal.
Mr. Isaac Kanyanta told ZANIS in Ndola that it must be a Constitutional matter to make illegal all other crazy forms of marriage inventions which were inimical and contradictory to the bible provisions of marriage.
He said Zambians were fond of copying practices without taking time to look at the effects in the light of biblical and cultural wisdom that have been guiding the African life from time immemorial.
He said many concepts invented in the West and those which were being tried for their practicality were finding the African soil fertile for experimenting.
He said Zambia should have a Constitutional provision that should only allow heterosexual marriage and make all other forms of marriage versions illegal and if one practicing such was found should be prosecuted by the courts of law.[quote]
Mr. Kanyanta said there should also be provision to ensure that the judiciary should not be lenient with people who should be using the human rights tag to mislead innocent Zambians into committing heinous crimes before God.
He said heterosexual relationships were the only order that traces its origin from God and all other forms were just perversions with far reaching negative effects on the practitioners.
He added that the Clergy should not keep quiet on the matter because they were key stakeholders in upholding the morality of the nation and practices of the people.
And a marriage counselor Mrs. Elina Nakamba said marriage should only be practiced by married adult male and female because they were biologically different but compatible to each other.
He said any other invention that was not God ordained would attract the wrath of God.
She said she could not imagine how she could call a fellow woman a spouse because even the laws of procreation had no genesis for operation in such a perverted and weird arrangement.
She called on both men and women to stick to what was biblically acceptable and socially supported and resist the temptation to fall prey to weird inventions of the West.
The Ant-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director General, Godfrey Kayukwa says the institute has changed the way of fighting graft from investigations and prosecution to prevention.
Mr Kayukwa said the move is aimed at cultivating a culture where citizens will freely report corruptions cases to the commission.
He said the ACC has in its new approach also incorporated many institution in accordance with the new anti-corruption policy.
Mr. Kayukwa said this when he opened a three days training workshop for the focal point persons of the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) integrity committee in Lusaka today.
He said the fight against corruption needs to start with the prevention of very small issues adding that it becomes difficulty to control when it has taken roots.
He said government has attaches a lot of importance to the fight against as seen from the launch of the Anti Corruption policy which coordinates all efforts in the fight against corruption.
He said meanwhile challenged the integrate committees of the ZRA to spearhead and facilitate the process of preventing corruption by providing vital information to the public on the operation of the institution.
Meanwhile, ZRA Commissioner General, Criticles Mwansa has urged his staff to change the perception that the general public has on the institute being the the most corrupt in the country.
He said his staff should ensure that they operate professionally in accordance with the code of ethics to win the trust of the general public.
He has also said that ZRA has embarked on a program where they are working with the public on curbing corruption at ZRA adding that it has so far received massive response from the public.
He said this helped the public develop confidence in them adding that they have in the last eight months recorded 129 complaints cases with 85 percent of the cases already attended to.
He said there is need to create a corruption free environment which will make it hard for the staffs and the public to engage in corrupt practices.
Vice President George Kunda says government will spend about US$ 1.2 billion on the Lumwana Multi-Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ).
Mr Kunda said the certificate has already been approved for the project and preliminary works have started, adding13,000 jobs will be created for the people.
The Vice President said this during a Solwezi Radio special interview programme prior to his tour of markets in Solwezi today.
Mr Kunda said the Lumwana MFEZ will have manufacturing and Agro-processing companies among others and 90 companies will invest in the project.
He said government is committed to attracting foreign direct investment in the country so as to grow the economy and create employment for its citizens.
Mr Kunda said the MMD government is the only one which has viable, formidable and predictable policies that can improve the lives of the people and take the country to greater heights.
He said government has a lot of developmental programs going on aimed at wealth creation adding that this can be seen from the economic stability in the country.
Mr Kunda encouraged people in Northwestern province and Solwezi district in particular to take advantage of the Lumwana MFEZ project and form companies that can be supplying into the investment and accomplish development in the area.
He stated that government has a systematic way of planning and is already preparing the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP) and other national developmental programs.
Eight people died in Kapiri Mposhi district in the early hours of today in a road accident at
Mangala area along great north road.
Central province police commanding officer Simon Mpande who confirmed the accident to ZANIS in Kabwe today said the eight died at about 02:30hrs when a Scania Iriza bus belonging to Sumina company of Lusaka
rammed into a stationery truck.
Mr. Mpande said among the deceased eight people, were one woman aged 50 years and five males all from Mangala and a truck driver and a 14-year-old boy believed to have been a passenger on the truck and
another one passenger from the bus.
He said a co-driver of the bus, that carried 51 passengers, Dickson Mukuka 33, sustained a fractured leg while the rest of the passengers on the bus came out unhurt.
He explained that the truck overturned at Mangala area and covered part of the road and when the bus arrived, rammed into the trailer which went spinning and hit the villagers, six of them died on the spot including a woman.
Mr. Mpande, who wondered what the villagers went to do at the scene, said nine were seriously injured and some admitted to Kapiri hospital while others had been rushed to Kabwe general hospital.
Mr. Mpande said all the bodies of the deceased, are lying in Kapiri Mposhi hospital mortuary.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mpande has advised bus drivers not to travel in the night to avoid accidents.
He also urged villagers not to be so excited to rush to accident scenes unless they were called in to help.
The Committee of Citizens ( CoC ) Executive Director Gregory Chifire says his organisation needs a proper explanation of how the US$ 13.5 million spent on second republican president Fredrick Chiluba’s corruption case was used.
Mr.Chifire said this following government’s revelation of the amount used by the Task Force in Dr. Chiluba’s case on both local and foreign lawyers recently.
He expressed concern that the amounts mentioned were huge and Zambians deserved to know how they came about.He said it was surprising that former Chairperson on Task Force Max Nkole who was in charge of the case was disputing figures released by government.
Mr. Chifire was speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today.
He said that the committee is in possession of the letters written by Mr. Nkole asking for the discontinuation of cases.
Mr. Chifire has therefore asked Mr. Nkole to come out clean because the committee and Zambians as a whole need to know how exactly the money was spent.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chifire has called for a thorough audit of the Task Force for Zambians to be able to decide if corruption was fought in a holistic manner.
Mr. Chifire observed that the huge amounts of money that were used could have benefited a lot of Zambians through social infrastructure.
He stated that the money could have been used to build about 210 medium sized schools and 126 medium sized health centers which could have benefited the Zambian people.
Mr. Chifire also expressed concern about what he called the luxurious lifestyles of former Task Force officials which is way above what they were earning.
He has called on parliament to pass legislation that will ensure that civil servants get to account for their assets by declaring what they own in a transparent manner.
Mr. Chifire also stated that there should be a law to compel civil servants to lead lives that conform to their incomes.
Samfya Magistrate Chimuka Mutafela has sentenced a 23 year old man to 78 months imprisonment with hard labour on three related charges of impersonating a public officer contrary to section 102(b) of the penal code.
And Magistrate Mutafela has also sentenced on a third count, a co accused, Lackson Mwenya 23 to nine months imprisonment and adjourned his full sentence on the first and second counts of the three slapped charges.
Passing the sentence, the magistrate said considering the mitigation of the first co-accused Kennedy Chisala, he found the duo not to be first offenders in all three counts that they had been charged with.
Magistrate Mutafela said Chisala had also been found to have breached conditions for a suspended sentence on all the three counts hence the courts conviction of Chisala on all counts.
The duo, both of Chashele Mutepuka village in Chief Kambwali’s area in Nchelenge district were brought before the courts after being arrested in Samfya on charges of making false documents in the form of identity cards as public officers contrary to section 354(a) of cap 87 of the penal code of the laws of Zambia.
In the second count the duo were charged with uttering false documents contrary to section 356(b) of cap 87 of the penal code with the third count being impersonating public officers by purporting to be Drug Enforcement(DEC) and Anti Corruption Commission(ACC) officers while on their errands in Samfya District.
The fuel situation in Luanshya has become desperate forcing motorists to the queue for the commodity overnight.
A check by ZANIS at all the three filling stations revealed that only one filling station had petrol while the other two had run out of the commodity.
The situation has put most motorists in panic buying with some buying in 210 litre containers for storage.
Some taxi drivers found at Chisongo service station complained that their business had been affected negatively by the shortage of fuel.
Peter Bwalya, a taxi driver, said he spent a night at the filling station waiting for his turn to refuel adding that he feared to leave the queue because of the scarcity of fuel.
In the other two filling stations, the fuel attendants were ignorant on when there will receive the commodity.
Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Director Research, Planning and Policy Muhabi Lungu says the process to sell off some ZAMTEL shares is moving in the right direction.
Mr. Lungu said 8 companies that have been short listed have reached an advanced stage and are now doing due diligence and collecting data and making proposals.
He said every thing is going on steady adding that on 23 December the initial bid will be done at ZDA head quarters publicly.
He said that the sell of ZAMTEL will not be done privately because ZDA was keen to control the system to the satisfaction of the general public.
Mr. Lungu said his organization is doing everything possible to ensure the system is controlled such as the value of properties.
He said several committees have been set up to look at the welfare of workers and those pending retirement they too have set up committees saying no one will be left out.
Mr. Lungu said Zambia has learnt how to go about privatization since it’s initiation in 1991
Mr. Lungu was speaking to ZANIS in interview in Lusaka today adding that there will be no mistake in the sell of ZAMTEL because so far all the technicalities are in place.
By Henry Kyambalesa
Vice President George Kunda’s visit to Southern Province (reported in the Zambia Daily Mail article of November 16, 2009 by Wallen Simwaka entitled “UPND ‘Sold’ to PF) is worrisome, especially that it is designed to sensitize people in the province “about the evils of the pact between Mr. Sata and Mr. Hichilema.”
In the article, Kunda is quoted as having “urged [UPND MPs] … to join the ruling party.” In the same article, he is quoted as having accused some private media institutions as “promoting anarchy by their failure to observe professional ethics.” In other words, he seems to be suggesting that the private media should only cover stories which shower praises on the unseen accomplishments of the MMD like the Zambia daily Mail, Times of Zambia, ZNBC, and ZANIS. That, to him, is professionalism; any news media which engages in anything else is deemed to engage in “quack” journalism![quote]
It is now becoming clear that the MMD wants to take us back to 1972 when Zambia became a single-party system. This can be interpreted from the contemplated legislation of the independent media and NGOs to an overt attempt to swallow up major political parties!
If the MMD government cannot re-think the idea of limiting the operations of NGOs and the media, and the apparent swallowing up of major political parties, Zambia is clearly headed toward dictatorship! And there seems to be no way in which the government’s intentions can be thwarted, since the vibrant civil society and independent press which helped us secure a multi-party system are seemingly under the threat of rules and regulations designed to limit their operations.
There are a lot of important projects and programs which Kunda would have have gone to Southern Province to tell the residents how and when such projects would be started and/or completed—projects and programs which would improve the socio-economic well-being of residents. These projects and programs include the following:
(a) Hiring of more healthcare personnel, and ensuring that healthcare facilities throughout the province have adequate stocks of medicines and medical supplies and equipment. Healthcare facilities in the province are in dire need of personnel and supplies—including the Gwembe, Kalomo, Zimba Mission, Kafue Gorge, Mazabuka, Chikombola, Research Station Clinic, Riverside Farm Clinic, Chikuni Mission, Stage II, Namwala, Itezhi Tezhi, Mtendere, Siavonga, Maamba, Choma General, Macha Mission, Livingstone, Chikankata, and Monze Mission medical centers.
(b) Construction of more primary and secondary schools in the province (and rehabilitation of old ones) 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 Choma, Gwembe, Itezhi-Tezhi, Kalomo, Kazungula, Livingstone, Mazabuka, Monze, Namwala, Siavonga, and Sinazongwe districts. Further, there is a need to address the problems facing educational and training institutions in the province, including the lack of teachers, instructors, housing, educational supplies and equipment, inadequate salaries and allowances, and sports and recreation. It is also important to ensure that salaries and allowances are timely disbursed to all parts of the province 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.
(c) Planning adequately for both the prevention and the containment of diseases like the Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia (CBPP) disease (which hit the border area between Kazungula district in Southern Province and Sesheke district in Western Province in recent years) and effective control of the tse-tse fly in order to reduce the incidence of sleeping sickness.
(d) Improvement of the availability of safe and clean water throughout the province through boreholes, dams, water pipes, and protected shallow wells, and also provide for modern sewage facilities and both public and private conveniences.
(e) Completion of the construction of irrigation schemes at Simupande, Nzenga and Sinazongwe, including the electrification of the three irrigation schemes. Moreover, there is a need to ensure that the dam at Buleya Malima irrigation scheme in Sinazongwe district is rehabilitated and maintained on a regular basis.
(f) Provision of incentives for the exploration of gas and oil deposits at Kanesiya stream near Sianeja in Senior Chief Mweemba’s kingdom in Sinazongwe district.
(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, basic schools, police posts, and other essential public services and facilities. Such schemes include the Masasabi scheme in Itezhi Tezhi district, the Kasiya scheme in Livingstone district, the Harmony scheme, and the Siamambo scheme in Choma district.
Funding for these kinds of projects and programs in Southern Province, and in other provinces as a matter of fact, can come from savings which can be realized from reducing the number of Cabinet portfolios by merging and/or abolishing some government ministries and agencies, abolishing the positions of Deputy Minister and District Commissioner, reducing the number of foreign missions by having single embassies to cover clusters of countries, and initiating many other cost-cutting measures.
It is high time the MMD and its leaders started considering criticism of this kind with an open mind. Otherwise our beloved country will continue to move backwards in huge steps.
Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) spokesperson MacDonald Chipenzi says the Solwezi Central by-election, slated for November 19, will be marred by serious electoral malpractices.
