President Rupiah Banda today led hundreds of mourners in paying last respects to the late Local Government and Housing Minister Benny Tetamashimba during a church service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

Others who paid their last respects are Frst republican president Kenneth Kaunda, second republican president Dr. Frederick Chiluba, Vice President George Kunda, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Mutale Nalumango, cabinet ministers, defense chiefs, opposition leaders, members of Parliament, the church and civil society.

And President Banda is tomorrow expected to attend the burial of the late Mr. Tetamashimba who was Solwezi central Member of Parliament.

President Banda in an interview shortly after he viewed the body of Mr Tetamashimba, hailed the Zambian people in the manner they have mourned with government, the MMD party and the bereaved family.

President Banda observed that though Mr Tetamashimba was controversial, he greatly contributed to the nation.

He said Zambia being a democratic nation allows divergent views and he whole heatedly welcomes the description of people on the late Minister.[quote]

“Zambians are great people and I’m touched in the manner and degree of unity exhibited by the people who have come to pay their last respects to the late Mr Tetamashimba. Though he was controversial he stood for what he believed and people are free to describe him in whatever way they like because Zambia is a democratic country. I will miss him greatly because he was a hard working minister and party spokesperson. I will definitely travel to Solwezi tomorrow for the burial of Mr Tetamashimba,” President Banda said.

And during the church session uncle to the late Tetamashimba, Nathan Mulonga said the family and the nation will greatly miss Mr Tetamashimba on the political scene.

Mr Mulonga described his nephew as one of the most active servants of the nation who held various public portfolios, aggressive, forth-right, honest and sincere in life.

Meanwhile, Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia Executive Director Paul Mususu, delivering an emotional sermon in church under-scored the unity exhibited by Zambians when befallen with tragedy.

Reverend Mususu appealed to Zambians to continue uniting, maintaining peace even beyond funerals when the nation is mourning.

Rev. Mususu pointed out that the spirit of oneness is in line with the declaration of Zambia a Christian nation and also the One Zambia-One Nation motto.

Meanwhile, Mr Tetamashimba’s body has been flown to Solwezi, in the North-western province where it will be buried.

The late Mr Tetamashimba was evacuated to south Africa on August 8, 2009 for specialist treatment before he returned on Tuesday 1st September 2009 and was immediately rushed to the University Teaching Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit were he was admitted until his death on Saturday.

He leaves behind a wife, Ezzie, six children and two grand children.

ZANIS

Police in Central province have rejected the application by the opposition Patriotic Front and the United Party for National Development (PF/UPND) pact to stage a peaceful demonstration against the acquittal of former President Frederick Chiluba.

Central Province police commanding officer Simon Mpande said the demonstration, which was scheduled for Friday this week by the two political parties, would not go ahead because the police did not have enough man power to secure the demonstrators.

According to a statement from the two opposition political parties signed by UPND provincial secretary Davy Siamuzulu and PF provincial secretary Mutale Walichupa, the demonstration should have started from Lukanga grounds and end up at the provincial minister’s office.

Mr. Siamuzulu and Mr. Walichupa further said after the demonstration, the pact was going to submit a petition against Dr. Chiluba’s acquittal to the Provincial Minister Ackimson Banda.

The pact is also demanding for the immediate resignation or removal from office of Vice President George Kunda, who is also Justice Minister and Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga because of the alleged mishandling Dr. Chiluba’s acquittal.

ZANIS

President Rupiah Banda says the National Constitution Conference NCC will be finalized within four month instead of the earlier announced 10 months extension.

President Banda said the four months extension is to enable the NCC to be done properly adding that a lot of money has been spent on the process.

The President said there is need for the country to have a good constitution that will stand the test of time.

Mr Banda was speaking on arrival at Lusaka International Airport last night from a SADC conference in Congo DR.

The President was received at the airport by Vice President George Kunda, Lusaka Province Minister Charles Shawa, Home Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani, service chiefs and other government and party officials.

President Banda who is the current chairperson for the great lakes region also gave a report on the general situation in Rwanda, Burundi and Congo respectively.

Mr Banda said the situation in the great lakes region has generally improved.

Meanwhile South African President Jacob Zuma handed over the SADC chairmanship yesterday at the two day SADC heads of states conference to his Democratic Republic of Congo DRC counterpart Joseph Kabila.

President Banda said Mr. Zuma presented a report on the situation in Madagascar and Zimbabwe.

Mr Zuma said the situation has improved in Madagascar and the two leaders have agreed to meet as they are now seating to discuss the problems in that country.

He said the two leaders are meeting under the leadership of Joachim Chisano.

ZANIS

The Movement for Multi party Democracy (MMD) would soon table provincial committees’ petitions to have the party’s national convention postponed until after 2011 elections before the National Executive Committee (NEC).

MMD National Chairman Michael Mabenga said the MMD constitution provides that after more than six provincial committees have petitioned for an issue, that petition becomes valid and NEC must table it for discussion and arrive at a decision.

“You are the seventh or eighth province that has petitioned for the need for MMD convention to be deferred to a later date after 2011 elections. The party constitution says when six provinces submit petitions, that petition stands ground and must be discussed by NEC and the conclusion made,” he explained.

Mr. Mabenga said he was going to waste no time and would soon issue instructions to the secretariat to call for a NEC meeting so that the party can make a decision over the matter.

He was speaking yesterday when he addressed MMD district officials from the seven districts in the province who converged and conducted a solidarity march over the acquittal of second republican president, Dr Frederick Chiluba.

Earlier, Luapula province acting chairperson Crispin Musosha presented the petition to Mr. Mabenga demanding for NEC to defer the national convention to a later date after 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections.

And 84 opposition Patriotic Front (PF) members from Mwense district have resigned from the party to join the ruling MMD.

The 84 include PF district youth chairman Samuel Chungu, who led the defectors to announce their resignation.

Mr. Chungu said he was resigning from PF to join MMD which is a party that is governing and bringing development to the country.

In welcoming the defectors, Mr. Mabenga immediately distributed the MMD cards to all the 84 former PF members.

He said the defectors were coming back home and appealed to MMD members to accommodate them as part of the family.

Mr. Mabenga paid tribute to provincial minister Boniface Kawimbe and other well wishers who are helping to organise MMD in the province.

He said he has always worried about Luapula province because people in the area had disowned the party that they had helped to form.

He however said what he saw at the meeting was a testimony of the good work that the provincial minister and well wishers were doing to unify MMD.

He appealed to the people of Luapula to continue supporting MMD because its policies were aimed at developing the country.

Mr. Mabenga further advised the MMD members to be wary of the PF and UPND pact which he said was patched and only bent at peddling untruth that will not help to develop the country but only bring confusion.

“Be wary with the pact that is patched and full of lies. These lies never build, the lies never bring development and lies do not bring peace,” he said.

Before addressing the meeting, Mr. Mabenga was joined by deputy minister of local government Crispin Musosha, Luapula province minister Boniface Kawimbe, MMD deputy national secretary and scores of MMD cadres to observe a moment of silence for the late Local Government and Housing minister Ben Tetamashimba.

Mr. Mabenga told the MMD members that it was particularly difficult for him to stand and address them at the time the party and government were mourning the late Mr. Tetamashimba.

He said he was only compelled to address the cadres because they had already made adequate arrangements for the meeting.

Speaking earlier, MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande warned that Chilanga MP Ng’andu Magande and Kafulafuta MP George Mpombo risk being charged and expelled from the party if the duo continues insulting government leaders.

Mr. Kaande said he has been restrained from acting against Mr. Magande and Mr. Mpombo in order to avoid unnecessary by-elections which he said were costly.

However, he charged that should the two members of parliament continue with their utterances against the MMD leadership, they would be pushing NEC too far and risk being ejected from MMD.

“The two MPs, Magande and Mpombo have been insulting government, but I have resisted to charge them simply to avoid by-elections which are costly. Instead of spending resources on these elections government wants to take the money into developing the country,” Mr. Kaande said.

“But if they want to push me further, I will not tolerate them. They should take this as a timely warning,” he added.

ZANIS

CHIEF Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha has said it is puzzling that former Finance minister, Ng’andu Magande’s can call on Government to state its position on whether it will appeal against former president Frederick Chiluba when he knows the law.

Lieutenant General Shikapwasha said in Lusaka yesterday that as a former Cabinet minister, Mr Magande was aware that the Government was committed to upholding the independence of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and would not interfere with its decisions.

He said in an interview that the Government did not want to comment on former President Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal because it did not want to influence the DPP’s decision.

Gen Shikapwasha was reacting to Mr Magande who asked the Government to tell the nation whether it would appeal against Dr Chiluba’s acquittal or not.

He said the DPP was constitutionally mandated to decide on behalf of the Government on matters of appeal in cases such as that of Dr Chiluba.

“The Government does not come up with positions on matters which have something to do with the DPP. It has nothing to do with the decision on whether to appeal or not. We did not give our position on Dr Chiluba’s acquittal because we did not want to sway the DPP’s mind because we wanted to uphold the independence of the office,” he said.

He said the Government had nothing to do with the decision on whether to appeal against any court verdict or not and urged the public, especially political leaders like Mr Magande to appreciate that fact.

Gen Shikapwasha, who is Information and Broadcasting Services minister, said according to the Republican Constitution, the office of the DPP was an independent entity, whose operation should not be influenced by any other office or individual.

He said it was equally puzzling that Mr Magande, who is a member of Parliament (MP) for the ruling party, could choose to rush to the media to discuss the issue when he had access to all the relevant offices including that of the DPP with whom he could have discussed the matter.

Gen Shikapwasha called on the people to take time and study what the law stipulates on various constitutional offices for them to fully understand their operations.

He said people should not politicise the office of the DPP because it was non-partisan which operated autonomously.

[Times of Zambia]

THE Times of Zambia has maintained its stand on a story published over former first lady Maureen Mwanawasa’s presidential ambitions.

Features editor Janet Ilunga said in Lusaka yesterday that the news story dated Friday September 4, 2009 and headlined “Maureen eyes presidency” was a result of an interview the newspaper had with her in relation to her life, one year after the passing of her husband, the late President Levy Mwanawasa.

Mrs Ilunga explained that the first interview was conducted on Monday August 31, 2009 in which Mrs Mwanawasa said she had a passion to lead the country but she did not have a platform to stand in 2011 because the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) had made a decision on a candidate.

Mrs Mwanawasa also said that she subscribed to the rules and regulations of the MMD, of which she was a member, and the electoral requirement that a presidential aspirant must be sponsored by a political party.[quote]

“At no time did Mrs Mwanawasa complain about any specific portion of the story except that she had been receiving phone calls from people who were threatening her and that she has created enemies that she had no capacity to handle,” Mrs Ilunga said.

She said the newspaper decided to conduct a second interview that was recorded on tape so that she could be given an opportunity to explain herself better and even there she repeated her passion for leading the country.

She said Mrs Mwanawasa reiterated that her political ambition was not new, as people even in the MMD had called on her to stand in 2011 to take over when Dr Mwanawasa was to retire.

“For us as a newspaper, we are surprised that Mrs Mwanawasa is saying we have refused to make a clarification when she did not state what she wanted corrected. She in fact said she had no problem with the feature which was based on the second interview so then where is the misrepresentation?” Mrs Ilunga said.

Mrs Mwanawasa was quoted in The Post newspaper in a story headlined, “Maureen refutes Times story on 2011 presidential ambition” as saying she was misquoted by the Times of Zambia.

Mrs Mwanawasa said she wanted to live a quiet and private life and politics was not part of her daily life.

She said she told the Times of Zambia reporter that she wanted to lead the country but did not know when the opportunity would arise.

[Times of Zambia]

President Rupiah Banda says MMD members are free to debate growing calls to postpone the party convention until after the 2011 tripartite elections.

Mr. Banda says such a debate is within the party’s internal democratic system.

The President says he is not afraid of being challenged by any MMD member particularly former Defence Minister, George Mpombo.

Mr. Banda was speaking to journalists at the Lusaka International Airport on Monday shortly before departure for the DRC to attend a SADC heads of State and government summit.

He said the ruling party will eventually make a final decision over the matter.[quote]

Mr. Banda wondered why people were more interested in issues surrounding the MMD convention leaving out other parties that have never held conventions.

Mr. Banda will only attend Monday’s session of the two day summit and return home later in the day.

And the MMD has warned that the party will expel its Chilanga MP N’gandu Magande and his Kafulafuta counterpart, George Mpombo, if they continue insulting the party.

Deputy National Secretary, Jeff Kaande says the National Executive Committee has resisted taking action on the two because it is avoiding parliamentary by-elections.

He says the two have for a long time been quoted in the media insulting the party and its leadership.

Mr. Kaande has dared Mr. Magande and Mr. Mpombo to challenge his warning saying he will deal with them after the burial of Local Government Minister, Benny Tetamashimba.

He was addressing hundreds of MMD cadres and supporters who staged a solidarity match in support of former President, Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal by the Lusaka magistrate court.

[ZNBC]

Opposition Patriotic Front (PF) in Solwezi district in Northwestern Province is saddened with the untimely death of Local Government and Housing Minister, Benny Tetamashimba.

This is contained in a press statement issued by Northwestern province PF political secretary, Friday Mulefwe in Solwezi today.

Mr. Mulefwe said the late Mr. Tetamashimba, who is also Solwezi Central Member of Parliament, would be missed for the radical decisions he made at Solwezi municipal council.

He said had it not been for the late Mr. Tetamashimba’s radical decisions, most of the projects could not have been undertaken in Solwezi.

Mr. Tetamashimba, 53, died after an illness at Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital (UTH) on Saturday at around 19:30 hours.

Mr. Mulefwe has since conveyed his party’s heartfelt condolences to the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and Mr. Tetamashimba’s family.

ZANIS