The Lusaka high court has dismissed a petition to remove chief Justice Ernest Sakala and Supreme Court Judge Peter Chitengi from their offices.

High Court Judge Munalula Lisimba dismissed the petition by Lusaka lawyer John Sangwa after a two hour judgement on Thursday.

The Judge dismissed the petition on grounds that article 98 of the Zambian constitution does not provide for ratification of re-appointed judges.

He told the court that this is not with-standing that article 93 of the Zambian constitution requires judges appointed for the first time to be ratified by parliament.

Judge Lisimba said relying on article 98 of the constitution, a Supreme Court judge can be re-appointed under the president’s pleasure, without parliamentary ratification.

He further contended that Supreme Court judges cannot be subjected to the judicial service commission for scrutiny, before being re-appointed because they are members of the commission.

Judge Lisimba rejected the petitioners’ submission and contended that the petition was calculated to embarrass Justice Sakala and Judge Chitengi.

Recently Lusaka Lawyer John Sangwa petitioned Chief Justice Sakala and Judge Chitengi to vacate their offices.

Mr. Sangwa submitted that the two have attained retirement age and have not been ratified by parliament.

[ZNBC]

President Rupiah Banda is on Saturday expected to leave for New York to attend the 64th Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

This is contained in a statement made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere.

Mr Jere said the President is expected to deliver his maiden address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly under the theme ”Effective Responses to Global crises: Strengthening Multilateralism and Dialogue among Civilizations for International Peace, Security and Development.”

He said President Banda and other World leaders will also attend a High Level Dialogue on climate change, which will assess the progress in the implementation of the programme of action and dialogue in preparation for the forthcoming Copenhagen conference on climate change.

Mr Jere further said the President and other African heads of State and Government will later travel to Caracas, in Venezuela to participate in the 2nd Africa-South American Summit.

He added that after the summit President Banda will travel to Cuba for a three-day State Visit at the Invitation of Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz.

President Banda will return to Zambia after the state visit in Cuba.

ZANIS

Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) aspiring candidate in the Solwezi Central Constituency by-election has said the flourishing mining activities at Lumwana and Kansanshi mines have influenced the political climate in the district.

Mufulira District Party Secretary, Esiyasa Mwelumuka, said the mines have made Solwezi district economically competitive and therefore in need of a person with eloquent and vibrant leadership qualities to aspire for the seat.

He said the battle in the constituency by-election would be an uphill one, but expressed confidence that the MMD would scoop the seat despite the PF/UPND pact having a bit of a following.

In a statement to ZANIS in Mufulira today, Mr Mwelumuka said with that scenario in mind he has declared his intention to contest the forthcoming Solwezi Central parliamentary by election.

Mr Mwelumuka stated that party members in Solwezi and his relatives from Chief Kapijimpanga and Kalelemba villages have endorsed his candidature after wide consultations with them.

He said his intention to contest the seat has also been prompted following the death of the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Benny Tetamashimba, who passed away early this month.

He said he has adequate experience to win the by-election if nominated as he has closely worked with the former MPs, including Dr Ludwig Sondashi and the late Humphrey Mulemba under the National Party, as a strategist.

He added that he is a founding member of the ruling party in the province and had equally worked with the late Mr Tetamashimba.

ZANIS

The Christian Coalition (CC) says the proposal by the Kitwe City Council (KCC) that dead bodies should be cremated and not buried is unfortunate.

Christian Coalition Pastor Clergy Chombela said that Zambia being a Christian nation such a proposal should never be allowed due to culture complications.

Mr Chombela pointed out that Zambia should not imitate other countries as it is their culture to burn dead bodies and not Zambia’s.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today Pastor Chombela said even in the Bible it is not written anywhere.

He also said that the dead deserve respect hence the need to bury them honorably.

Mr Chombela urged the council to take responsibility by allocating enough land where the dead are to be buried.

He said that Zambia is blessed with plenty of land and there is no need to burn dead bodies but bury them.

Pastor Chombela advised the council to be consulting Christian Mother Bodies and Non- Government Organizations (NGOs) every time they come with a complicated proposal.

He explained that may be in the near future the proposal can be adopted when every one will be convinced that there is no more land left for burial sites.

ZANIS

EVANGELICAL Youth Alliance (EYA) president, Moses Lungu has said former Defence minister George Mpombo and other senior MMD members allegedly approached him requesting that he launches a series of attacks on President Rupiah Banda shortly after the elections last year.

Speaking at the lapse of the 48-hour ultimatum that he gave Mr Mpombo to resign from the MMD and state the reasons for quitting Cabinet and the national executive committee (NEC) of the ruling party, Reverend Lungu said leaders should strive to remain with integrity.

He said Mr Mpombo was part of a group that paid him and another non-governmental organisation (NGO) about K2 million for them to start attacking President Banda.

Rev Lungu said he declined to embark on the mission despite getting the money.
He challenged Mr Mpombo to explain queries raised at the Ministry of Defence over unretired imprest when he was still minister.

He said the tension the former minister was causing against the MMD and President Banda was unnecessary and that he should respect people elected into public office.[quote]

“I expect Mr Mpombo to speak the truth, all I request him to do is to tell the nation the true reasons for his resignation,” he said.

Rev Lungu dismissed allegations of receiving financial aid from Mr Mpombo on account of destitution.

He also denied ever being excommunicated from the Baptist Association as alleged by Mr Mpombo, saying he was still a credible clergyman.

However, Mr Mpombo described Rev Lungu’s allegations as cheap and unsubstantiated propaganda.

He said Rev Lungu was being used for negative propaganda by some MMD members.
On allegations on unretired money, Mr Mpombo said Rev Lungu should know that imprest was recoverable and not treated as a crime.

“I was just informed of the unretired imprest money by my former PS [permanent secretary] long after I had resigned, so that cannot be a reason for my resignation,” he said.

He said a month ago, he held a meeting with Secretary to Cabinet, Joshua Kanganja, Ministry of Works and Supply Permanent Secretary, Bizwayo Nkunika, and his former PS to resolve the matter.

“This matter was resolved because unretired imprest is recoverable anywhere and is not a crime,” he said.

Mr Mpombo said it was even laughable that Rev Lungu could talk of such petty allegations when he threatened to spill the beans about him just a few days ago.

He described Rev Lungu as “toxic political material trying to earn a living through impersonations and malicious attacks”.

Mr Mpombo said whoever had evidence linking him to any malpractices when he was at the Ministry of Energy was free to take him to court.

He also said he was aware of an article on the Internet suggesting that he had oil dealings with former first lady, Maureen Mwanawasa when he was Energy minister.

[Times of Zambia]

I wish to comment on Vice-President George Kunda’s shameless call for a financial stimulus package financed by Western countries, which appeared in the Times of Zambia of September 15, 2009 under the title “Africa deserves financial stimulus package – Veep.” He made the call during a high-level meeting of Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (ESA-IO) regions and the European Commission.

The call is an embarrassment to the people of Zambia. It shows that we have actually failed to govern ourselves almost 45 years after independence. Besides, the Honorable Vice-President should know that some leaders in developed economies are being accused by their people of misusing public resources by bailing out failing local companies. One can easily surmise what would happen to such leaders if they decided to bail out mismanaged African economies.

As I have often maintained, donor countries do not have unlimited resources; they have to make do with scarce resources by going through public expenditures line by line, program by program, agency by agency, department by department, and ministry by ministry in order to eliminate unnecessary application of public funds. We need to start doing the same in order to wean our beloved country from its current dependence on donor funding.

In January 2009, the Vice-president was quoted as having defended the bloated Zambian Cabinet as follows: “I believe that our government is of the right size, representative and effective. I know that there have been calls from many sections of society to reduce the size of our Cabinet, but I think it is the right size.”

There is a need for the government to perform existing and planned essential government functions with a smaller number of Cabinet Ministers by abolishing some of the government ministries which do not seem to add any value to the dispensation of public services, and merging some of the ministries which have similar functions.

Civil servants in ministries to be abolished or merged should be encouraged to seek early retirement with full benefits. Professional and skilled civil servants should be re-deployed in the new government ministries, as well as in government agencies.

There is also a need to abolish the positions of Deputy Minister, Provincial Minister, Provincial Permanent Secretary and District Commissioner, as well as reduce the number of Zambia’s foreign embassies by having clusters of countries to be served by single embassies.

To paraphrase Mr. Bill Clinton’s words, there is a need for us to create a government that is smaller, that lives within its means, and that does more with less. Otherwise we will continue to embarrass ourselves by continuing to beg for assistance from wealthy nations.[quote]

And we will continue to be chastised by some officials in donor count­ries who rightly or wrongly believe that Africa lacks compe­tent people to provide sound leadership in commerce, industry and government. The follo­wing words of an unnamed aid official quoted by Timberlake on page 199 of his book entitled Africa in Crisis: The Causes, the Cures of Environ­men­tal Bankruptcy (published by New Society Publishers in 1986) should, therefore, not be surprising: “In a sense, we’re talking about … sending smart white boys in to tell them how to run their countries.”

Clearly, we need leaders who are willing to develop new attitudes, skills and strategies in order to wrestle successfully with the complex and volatile socio-economic conditions of our time. And such leaders should be technocrats, and not clueless figureheads like a good number of those incompetents who are in President Rupiah Banda’s administration who seem to be preoccupied with promoting the interests of the ruling party and its members.

Zambians are fed up of government leaders whose functions seem to be that of whining and bickering day in, day out.