MMD parliamentary chief whip Vernon Mwaanga has said that the impeachment plan by the opposition is baseless because they have failed to tabulate the breaches they allege President Rupiah Banda has committed.

Patriotic Front (PF) chairperson for local government and housing, Wynter Kabimba has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, stating that he has been instructed in his capacity as a lawyer to give a notice of motion for impeachment of the president.

Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Mwaanga said if the PF and United Party for National Development (UPND) were serious about impeaching Mr Banda, they could have tabulated all the alleged constitutional breaches.

He said to the surprise of the MMD, the said letter was only on one page and without substantiating the claims against the president.

“They should also know that Mr Wynter Kabimba has no standing to write about the impeachment because he is not an MP. According to Article 37 of the Constitution, impeachment proceedings can only be started by an MP and Mr Kabimba is not an MP,” Mr Mwaanga said.

He said according to the Constitution, the impeachment proceedings could be started when the letter handed over to the Speaker had been signed by one third of the MPs but that had not been done.

He said that the impeachment of a head of state could only be commenced if the office holder had violated the Constitution and in this case the opposition parties had failed to state what violation had been committed.

And Chief Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha said that the Government was ready to defend itself as President Banda said on Tuesday.

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said the opposition were merely playing to the gallery and advised them to desist from entertaining the public through cheap politics.

MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga said the opposition has failed to offer justifiable reasons for their calls to impeach President Banda.

In a letter dated July 21, 2009 to the speaker, Mr Kabimba of WM Kabimba & C
ompany said his law firm had been instructed to advise its clients the various breaches of the articles of the Republican Constitution by President Banda for presentation of the motion for impeachment.

“These breaches cover the period from August 2008 when Mr Banda was acting as president of the Republic of Zambia following the demise of president Levy Mwanawasa in Paris, France todate,” reads the letter in part.

In his letter copied to PF leader Michael Sata, his UPND counterpart Hakainde Hichilema and what he termed MMD client members, Mr Kabimba stated that he was acting for the PF, UPND and ruling MMD MPs.

“We shall forward the motion to your office for presentation by our clients within 14 days from the date hereof,” reads the letter to the speaker.

UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma in a separate interview said members of the pact were still looking for evidence of the alleged violation of the Constitution by the president

Mr Kakoma said the grounds included the alleged violation of the Constitution, m
ismanagement of the country’s affairs and gross misconduct, among the said charges.

[Times of Zambia]

Justice, has today told Parliament that the National Constitution Conference (NCC) will continue sitting up to 2010 in order for it to come up with a constitution that will stand the test of time.

Mr. Kunda was responding to a question raised by Chipili Member of parliament Davis Mwila who wanted to know how much money will be spent on NCC and how the disbursement of funds to the conference has been.

Mr Kunda told the house that about K52 billion has since been disbursed to the NCC for 2008.

He explained that the Ministry of Finance and National Planning gives the money to the Ministry of Justice, which is later taken to Bank of Zambia and then to NCC.

Mr. Kunda said government will ensure that the NCC does a commendable job and comes up with a constitution that will stand the test of time in order to benefit and serve the nation.

He further said about K50 billion was allocated to NCC for the 2009 budget, noting that this would be the last allocation to the conference.

He noted that government was committed to providing Zambians with good governance of the country and improving the electoral process to serve the nation.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has not formally received any complaints of alleged violence and other electoral malpractices in Chitambo Constituency.

ECZ Public Relations Manager Chris Akufuna said in Lusaka today that no political party has lodged a formal complaint of alleged violence and other electoral malpractices in Chitambo.

Mr. Akufuna said the ECZ expects political parties to formally register complaints of electoral malpractices to the ECZ for the commission’s conflict management committee to deal with them.

He said the ECZ has a conflict management committee in Chitambo which the political parties could have used to formally bring their concerns to the attention of the commission.

Mr. Akufuna disclosed that last week the commission met with the various political parties participating in the Chitambo by election during which they were told the procedure on how to formally register their concerns with the commission.

He said political parties and their candidate agreed to abide to by the electoral code of conduct.

“We had a briefing with political parties on 14th July and they were told what the commission expects of them during the campaign. And these political parties and their candidates signed to abide by the Electoral Code of Conduct. We therefore expect them to respect the Code of conducts and abide by its provision. They should follow procedure and report any violation to the conflict management committee in the district,” he said.

He has since advised political parties to respect the electoral code of conduct.

Recently there has been accusations and counter accusations of electoral violence and other electoral malpractices in Chitambo.

The Chitambo parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of Area Member of Parliament Nasim Hamir on May 1 this year. Four candidates are vying for the seat in the by-election scheduled for August 13, 2009.

These include Dr Solomon Musonda of the MMD, Evans Chola of FDD, Chanda Mutale under the PF/UPND pact and Timothy Kapolo of UNIP.

ZANIS

Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Development (UPND) cadres have allegedly joined their MMD counterparts in collecting levies at City Market Bus Station.

Lusaka City Council Assistant Public Relations Manager Habeenzu Mulunda confirmed the development in Lusaka today.

Mr. Mulunda said PF and UPND cadres have taken over the collection of levies on the northern gate while MMD cadres have been collecting levies on the southern gate.

He appealed to leaders of the three political parties to intervene in the matter as the council was loosing out on the much-needed revenue.

Mr. Mulunda lamented that the move by cadres was illegal and against the court injunction obtained by the council to stop cadres from collecting levies.

He said the council has lost colossal sums of money which could have been used by the council for service delivery

Last Week the Lusaka High Court granted a mandatory injunction to the Lusaka City Council (LCC) restraining individuals masquerading as MMD cadres from collecting bus station levies at Lusaka City market.

Delivering the ruling, High Court judge Nebert Mutuna also directed the defendants to leave the city market bus station and be restrained from interfering with the council’s conduct of affairs until further notice.

According to a statement of claim, the defendants on July 9, without the consent of the LCC trespassed the city market bus station by entering the premises and started collecting monies and levying bus operators, premises owned by LCC.

This current move is a clear violation of the High Court ruling by the cadres from the three major political parties in the country.

PRESIDENT Banda says he is not worried about plans by the Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Development (UPND) to impeach him.

Mr Banda, who was speaking to journalists at City Airport upon arrival from Eastern Province yesterday, said the two political parties can go ahead with their plans to impeach him.[quote]

“Let them go ahead. Do I look like someone who is scared of their plans? The Zambian laws allow that,” he said.

The President said the political parties involved have a democratic right to go ahead with their plans in Parliament.

Mr Banda arrived at 17:30 hours and was accompanied by his wife Thandiwe.

He was received by Minister of Foreign Affairs Kabinga Pande, Lusaka Province Minister Charles Shawa, and Secretary to the Cabinet Joshua Kanganja, other senior Government and MMD party officials and cadres.

MMD Lusaka Province chairperson Cleophas Chimembe has warned the PF and UPND to stop inciting the people of Zambia to rise against President Banda.

He said the PF went to court to challenge last year’s Presidential by-election but withdrew.

Mr Chimembe said the fight should have ended there after the court case was stopped.

He said it is sad that the opposition have resorted to desperate ways of diverting people’s attention from real issues affecting their lives.

“I would like to tell the nation that this evil scheme will fail, but only succeed in dividing the nation and scaring away potential investors,” Mr Chimembe said.

He reminded Zambians that President Banda was democratically elected and deserves respect and support from well meaning Zambians.

“Politics of comedies should be discarded. There is a lot of comedy in the ranks of some opposition political parties, at the expense of the politics of development. While we appreciate the freedom of expression, we should be aware that there is no absolute freedom, it is relative,” Mr Chimembe said.

He said President Banda and his government are working to ensure that they tackle the challenges the country is facing.

Mr Chimembe said impeachment calls are desperate attempts aimed at dislodging President Banda at all costs.

“This is a recipe for confusion in the country because President Banda has not failed the nation in his nine months rule.

“Zambia’s young democracy and unity of purpose is at stake and risks to be derailed if the disgruntled behaviour is going to be used as a yardstick to settle old scores,” he said.

Mr Chimembe said Zambia will only benefit if all citizens come together in unity.

Christopher Zimba, Lusaka-based youth said it would be immoral and insensitive for some opposition leaders to go ahead with plans to impeach Mr Banda when there are a lot of sectors in the country that need attention.

He called on Mr Sata to have a critical look at article 67 of the Zambian constitution to learn more about what it stipulates regarding impeachment.

“The article states that two thirds or 53 MPs need to pass a vote of no confidence in the President for him to be removed,’’ Mr Zimba said.

Mr Zimba said Mr Sata should inspire youths and citizens by talking about issues that are development-oriented.

He appealed to UPND president Hakainde Hichilema to dissociate himself from the PF-UPND pact to retain his integrity.

“I urge Mr Hichilema to analyse the pact critically. I believe Mr Hichilema is a man of integrity and he is able to analyse issues,’’ Mr Zimba said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

Lukashya Member of Parliament, Alfridah Mwamba, has called for the
urgent arrest of a police officer who allegedly defiled a 14 year-old girl of Chief Nkolemfumu’s area in Kasama district.

Speaking in an interview, Ms. Mwamba said the police should not protect the named officer from prosecution but should arrest him and let him answer the charges of defilement.

She was reacting to reports that the police officer disappeared after he allegedly defiled a teenage girl in Nkolemfumu village recently.

Ms. Mwamba advised the police command to be proactive and ensure that the suspect was brought to book.She charged that members of the public would want to see justice prevail in the matter, adding that anything to the contrary would not be accepted.She said it was unfortunate that some police officers, who were supposed to protect the public from criminality, were in the forefront of sexually abusing young girls.

Ms. Mwamba, who is a Lawyer by profession, has since pledged to follow up the case at Kasama police station and ensure that the law takes it course against the named police officer.She further expressed displeasure that it has been one week now after the matter was reported to police but no headways have been made towards apprehending the suspect, who is still on the run.

Recently, a named police officer allegedly defiled a 14 year-old girl in chief Nkolemfumu’s area.Northern Province police commanding officer Charles Lungu confirmed the incident and said a manhunt for the suspect has since been launched.

He further appealed to members of the public with information regarding the whereabouts of the police officer to report to the nearest police station so that the suspect could be apprehended and charged for defilement.

ZANIS