AFTER weeks of hectic and sometimes acrimonious campaigns, the electorate today go to the polls to choose a member of Parliament (MP) for the Kasama Central seat.
It is an election where six candidates face-off, but the media spotlight has been on MMD’s Burton Mugala and Geoffrey Mwamba of the Patriotic Front. However, elections being what they are, the other four candidates cannot be written off.
The other candidates are UNIP’s Alexander Chansa, All Peoples Congress’ Maggie Ng’ona, Christey Ntalasha and Mohamed Hamir, both of whom are contesting as independents.
MMD’s Mugala, once Zesco regional manager for Northern Province, is a well-known person in the constituency.
He based his campaigns on the need for unity of purpose for the country to achieve great success and has been calling on Zambians to embrace the ‘One Zambia One Nation’ motto.
Residents of Kasama cite his able leadership in various organisations and his humility as the features that make him a potential reliable parliamentary representative.

THE PF-UNDP pact’s Mwamba, popularly known as GBM, is also confident of scooping the seat, saying he is an indigenous person who would help ease the suffering of the people of Kasama Central.
Mr Mwamba’s message has been his desire for the northern region to be represented by someone of the same origin.
Zambia’s oldest political party, UNIP’s candidate, Chansa has been promising the strengthening of agriculture by improving the cooperative movement and increasing fertiliser given to peasant farmers.
His main target has been to rehabilitate the roads in the area and improve team work to reduce unemployment.
APC’s Ng’ona, known for her heart for marketeers, is targeting to give Kasama the first bus station and ensure that children on the street are accommodated in decent homes.
Her campaign message has been a direct appeal to the people of Kasama to elect a female MP because since the country got independence, no woman has been MP in Kasama Central.
Independent candidate, Hamir, 43, has been promising improved water reticulation in the area and help peasant farmers to become more self-reliant.
He has stayed in Kasama for 17 years and is confident that he will scoop the seat.
The other independent candidate, Ntalasha boasts of being the youngest candidate of all.
At 33, he is confident of playing a leading role to the youth whom he says he will help improve their lives by engaging them in projects that will enable them easily access the Citizens Economic Empowerment funds.
Pastor Ntalasha, who is Mission Christian Church pastor, believes in changing the mindset of the people.
He says instead of giving false promises, his campaign is focused on changing the central organ of the body, which is the mind.
He says he understands the concept of development and that the path to take is to change the mindset of the people, telling them not to rely on the Government to provide everything for them.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) yesterday declared that it was ready after 50 polling stations in eight wards were checked and resuscitated.
Kasama Town Clerk, Francis Nkhoma said his office was ready for today’s by-election and that six Land Cruisers and one light truck had been mobilised for Kasama by the ECZ.
The seat fell vacant following the resignation of PF MP, Saviour Chishimba.
The constituency has 34,451 registered voters and, hopefully, the voters will turn out in large numbers.
[Times of Zambia]

Some Members of the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF) in Namwala District have advised UPND area MP Major Robbie Chizyuka to resign instead of destabilizing the UPND/PF pact.
During a brief meeting whose resolutions were made available to ZANIS today, the 18 cadres said it was wrong for Major Chizyuka to start issuing statements that are bordered on instilling mistrust among members from both parties in the country.
The cadres said it would do Major Chizyuka good to just keep quiet if he does not want to exculpate himself than issue statement that are injurious to the pact.
The cadres added that Major Chizyuka has disappointed not only the party officials but the ordinary members of UPND in Namwala Constituency going by his behavior in parliament which led to his suspension and now stands suspended in the party.
They also said the MP’s assertions during his press briefing yesterday that the UPND/PF pact was headed for doom was his only wishful thinking as the members of both parties were in full support of the pact and more united in Districts such as Namwala.
Among the cadres who signed the press statement included, UPND Constituency Chairman Mr Simon Hamweene, District PF Chairman Mr Humphrey Mayonda, UPND District vice chairman Mr Clifford Musanje, District PF Chairlady Ms Veronica Imbuwa, UPND District treasurer Ms Ruth Moonga.
Others include UPND District secretary Mr Bedson Nkolola, PF District secretary Mr jimmy Chaandwe, and several other UPND and PF youths.

[ZANIS]

VICE-President George Kunda has said that the MMD will from now onwards treat local government by-elections with the same seriousness as the parliamentary polls.

Mr Kunda, who is also trustee in the ruling party’s national executive committee (NEC), said the MMD would be paying more attention to the polls at ward level as a way of identifying the party with the grassroots and test the strength of the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF) Pact.

“From now onwards, we will pay the same attention to all by-elections, whether parliamentary or local government elections. We want to identify ourselves with the grassroots. We can’t be ministers or vice-presidents without you (the grassroots).We are also testing the strength of the Pact (UPND/PF Pact),” he said.

Mr Kunda, who made the remarks on Tuesday evening when he addressed MMD supporters who welcomed him at the Livingstone International Airport, said the party would continue to interact with people at the grassroots level to make it stronger.

The vice-president is in Livingstone to campaign for MMD candidate Mary Kaimba in today’s Kasiya Ward by-election.

Mr Kunda said the MMD had proved that it was stronger than the UPND/PF Pact during the Chitambo Parliamentary by-election in Serenje where it emerged victorious.

He said the MMD would equally scoop today’s Kasama Central Parliamentary by-election.

“In Kasama we are going to give them a good run for their money (the UPND/PF Pact). This so-called pact is very fragile. It can easily break,” he said.

He said the MMD was confident of retaining the Kasiya Ward seat, which became vacant after the former councillor Mary Mukwiza was appointed Kazungula District Commissioner.

He said Kasiya would remain the strong hold for the MMD and called on the members to remain united.

Speaking earlier, Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe said the aim of the vice-president’s visit was to remind the people in the area about the values of unity.

Mr Munkombwe said the MMD was the only party that guaranteed unity in Zambia.
He said pacts or alliances had been experimented in many countries and had proved that they were not viable.

“Whatever alliance aimed at removing people from office does not work. The MMD will continue to exist. The pact has been resisting and it is just a pact of officials,” he said.

Mr Munkombwe said there might be some small differences within the party in the Southern Province but that did not mean that the party was not intact.

[Times of Zambia]

Government has expressed optimism that business linkages would boost Zambia’s economic growth and wealth creation in the near future.

Ministry of Commerce Permanent Secretary, Buleti Nsemukila says Zambia’s economic growth and wealth creation lays partly in linking industrial growth and development to international trade hence the call for a Business Linkages Strategy.

In a speech read on his behalf by Commerce Director of Industry Siazonga Siakalenge, Dr. Nsemukila noted that business linkages unlocks the potential within the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) such as employment creation, National Domestic Product growth and export generation.

ZANIS reports that Dr Nsemukila said this at the official opening of a two-day Business Linkages Strategy Development workshop at Siavonga’s Lake Kariba Inn today.

The workshop has attracted directors from government, private sector and business associations.

He observed that the participation of business associations and private companies played a big role in nurturing and supporting MSMEs to grow hence the need for business linkages.

“My ministry is very confident that the United Nations Programme fittingly titled , ‘Broad Based Wealth And Job Creation’, borrowed from the theme of the Fifth National Development Plan is one of the interventions that is facilitating start up, growth and expansion of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises,’’ he said.

Speaking earlier, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Representative, Gerry Finnegan said the United Nations was encouraged by the zeal the Zambian government and the private sector has exhibited towards knowledge and information sharing in a multi directional way.

In a speech read for him by ILO Senior Technical Advisor Jealous Chirove, Mr. Finnegan hoped that the workshop will agree on key elements of national business linkages development strategy that will chart the way forward by drawing experiences from other countries.

Mr. Finnegan, who is also representative for Malawi and Mozambique, acknowledged the contributions made by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for supporting business linkages in Zambia and growing sustainable business model respectively.

Earlier, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Director for Micro and Small Enterprises Division Windu Matoka explained that the objective of the workshop was to create common understanding about the Business Linkages Strategy.

Mr. Matoka called for political and financial support towards ZDA, if the Business Linkages Strategy was to be a success.

At the same workshop, UNCTAD Representative on Division for Investment and Enterprise, Fiorina Mugione, observed that business linkages were not only viable in highly industrialised countries, but has also worked in low income countries such as Uganda.

The workshop, co-sponsored by ILO and UNCTAD on broad based wealth and job creation (BBW &JC) and moderated by Zambian economist Chibamba Kanyama, is being held against the backdrop of an earlier workshop held at Lusaka.

Its focus is to forge a Business Linkages Development Strategy that will draw lessons from Brazil and Uganda, who are also participating.

The strategies developed from the workshop are aimed at supporting ZDA to effectively broker business linkages for MSMEs thereby, contributing to economic growth and employment generation.

ZANIS

Vice President, George Kunda, has called for unity and hard work in the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) if the ruling party is to win all the by-elections in the country.
However, Mr. Kunda says the MMD is ready to scoop the Kasiya ward seat in Livingstone Central Constituency.
Mr. Kunda said this at Livingstone International Airport when he arrived from Itezhi-Tezhi district where he had earlier gone for a campaign rally in a local government by-election to be held in Lubanda ward tomorrow.
He said the MMD leadership will now pay as much attention to local government elections as it does to parliamentary elections.

Mr. Kunda said the party had decided to pay attention the lower organ elections in order to identify the top leadership of the party with all its membership at the grassroots level.
He explained that this is in a bid to make the party much stronger and to foster unity within the MMD.

“We cannot be what we are without you, our members. That is why from now onwards, we will be coming to Southern Province very frequently to familiarize and work with our people who voted us into these positions,” he said.
The Vice President added that the move to visit the MMD grassroots membership was also meant to examine the strength of the recently formed PF-UPND pact against the ruling party at all levels.

“We want to test the strength of the so called pact. They lost the parliamentary by-election in Chitambo constituency and we are going to give them a good run for their money in Thursday’s Kasama by-election in Northern Province,” he said.
Mr. Kunda said the MMD has so far discovered that the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Development (PF-UPND) pact was fragile and can easily break.
He was happy that the MMD was stronger and united in the Southern Province despite few internal misunderstandings.
He said Kasiya ward belonged to the MMD and therefore, the ruling party was going to retain it at all cost as Livingstone was the stronghold of the MMD in the province.

The Kasiya ward seat fell vacant following the appointment of the incumbent councillor, Mary Mukwiza’s (MMD), to the post of District Commissioner for Kazungula district.
Speaking earlier, Southern Province Minister, Daniel Munkombwe, said at the airport that the visit of Mr. Kunda to the province was meant to remind Zambians about the value of unity in the MMD.
Mr. Munkombwe said Zambians should not be worried about political alliances because pacts have always been there and failed because they lack political programmes.

“The PF/UPND political pact is an alliance of officials who are already tearing themselves apart,” he charged.
The vice president is accompanied by Agriculture Minister, Brian Chituwo, Labour Minister, Austin Liato and their Science and Technology counterparty, Gabriel Namulambe.
Energy Deputy Minister, Gladys Lundwe and her Local Government counterpart, Lwipa Puma, and other party and government officials are also on the vice president’s entourage.
Mr. Kunda is today expected to address a series of rallies in Kasiya constituency, where he is expected to explain government’s developmental programmes in Southern Province before returning to Lusaka.

[ZANIS]