The recent presidential by-election won narrowly by Rupiah Banda exposed glaring weaknesses in the Zambian electoral process, Catholic bishops said.

The election, following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa, has left the country more divided than before, the bishops said in a pastoral statement issued on Sunday. They warned that, ‘If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.’ (Mark 3:24).

As in previous elections, the prelates said, the pattern of voting on October 30 was along very partisan, regional and tribal lines. “We now appear more divided and polarized, as a nation, than we were before multi-partyism was re-introduced in 1991. This state of affairs is worrying and should not be allowed to continue.”

While commending the people for voting peacefully, the bishops expressed concern about the high level of apathy – only 43 percent of the voters bothered to cast their ballots, compared to 70 percent in 2006.

Voter apathy is partly the result of thinking that one’s vote does not count. It is also due to the public perception of alleged irregularities in the conduct of elections, the bishops said. “Our message to all Zambians is: Never get tired of voting, as your apathy will only deny you the choice of your preferred candidate.”

Bribery and other forms of corrupt practices were used to induce votes during the campaigns, the bishops said, and warned that the vices were increasingly being seen as normal during election campaigns.

The bishops called for continuous voter registration in accordance with a law that was passed in 2001, but which has never been implemented. They also proposed far-reaching electoral reforms to enhance credibility of national elections in Zambia before the next polls in 2011.

The bishops urged the new government to ensure that a new Constitution is in place by the end of 2009, at the latest.

They also said they were available to facilitate reconciliation between leaders of political parties. The opposition presidential contender Michael Sata who lost narrowly to President Banda rejected the results.

A Kitwe based politician has called on government to quickly take measures to reduce prices of commodities, such as mealie meal.

Kalumbwa Kaputo says the prices of fuel, mealie meal and other foodstuffs have continued to rise.

He says there is need for quick response from government to address the situation.

Mr Kaputo was speaking to ZNBC news in an interview.

He said President, Rupiah Banda, and his cabinet should act decisively to ensure most commodities are affordable.

Meanwhile a civic leader in Choma, whose remote ward has been hit by severe hunger, has claimed that people have resorted to surviving on wild roots and raw Masuku fruit as the only alternative.

Kauba ward councillor, Harry Hamuntanga, said the hunger situation in the hilly area of chief Moyo has reached alarming proportion, and warned of imminent starvation is there is no prompt government intervention.

Mr Hamuntanga told ZANIS in Choma that children have been the worst victims of hunger with most of them exhibiting signs of malnutrition.

Officials from the World Food Programme (WFP), who paid a courtesy call on the district administration in Choma, announced that relief food would be distributed only to 9 wards out of the 27 wards in the district.

But Mr Hamuntanga, whose ward is located in Pemba constituency, wondered what would happen to the rest of the wards that have left out of the distribution programme.

He said the sky-rocketing price of mealie meal and maize makes it impossible for villagers to buy food.

Mr Hamuntanga called upon government to move in quickly and address the hunger situation.

District Commissioner, Laiven Apuleni, last week told ZANIS that the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit was making frantic efforts to deliver 300 metric ton of relief maize to the district.

Pupils at most schools in Mungwi have abandoned classes in preference to collecting caterpillars in the forests.

And education authorities in the district have recorded a high number of pupil absenteeism during the just-ended grade 7 final examinations.

A check at various schools in the township by ZANIS found very few pupils attending lessons while many of them were out harvesting caterpillars.

And some teachers talked to said the practice has been going on for the past two weeks now.

The pupils are said to have been enticed into collecting caterpillars because of the bread and other essential commodities that traders were offering in exchange with the insects.

The harvesting of the wild, season caterpillars has also affected other social aspects as men and women have abandoned their homes in order to catch caterpillars for economic reasons.

Currently, traders from other parts of the country, especially from the Copperbelt, have invaded Mungwi and have set-up camps in various villages where they are exchanging goods with caterpillars from the locals.

ZANIS/ENDS/WS/EB

The Movement for moral rearmament has appealed to president Rupiah Banda to unconditionally pardon second republican president Frederick Chiluba.

Movement chairperson, Kelvin chulu, says president Banda should use his constitutional rights to pardon the second republican president.

Mr. Chulu told znbc news that the seven years, which the former president has lived in confinement, is punishment enough.

He said pardoning Dr. Chiluba will also save resources being used in trying to secure a conviction against the former head of state.

Mr. Chulu said the government is spending huge sums of money on trying Chiluba instead of channelling the money to needy areas like health and education.

He also said Zambia is Christian nation, which should uphold the tenets of Christianity by forgiving and loving one another.

[ZNBC]

The UPND has dispelled media reports suggesting that the party is pondering on an electoral pact with the Patriotic Front (PF).

Party Secretary General, Tiens Kahenya, said in a statement to ZNBC that his party is not contemplating entering into a pact with any political party.

Mr. Kkahenya said UPND is currently conducting a postmortem of the last presidential election.

He said the party is also focusing on the 2011 tripartite elections.

Mr. Kahenya however, said his party will always remain committed to genuine proposals for alliances.

[ZNBC]

A Ndola Senior Citizen has advised the losing political parties in the just ended October 30 presidential by-elections to have a fair election postmortem before pointing an accusing finder at anyone.

Mr. Humphrey Ngulube told ZANIS in Ndola that the opposition was fragmented and needed to learn from what they did in 1991 to unseat the all powerful UNIP regime.

He said the opposition strategy was faulty because they did not have one message for the electorate as one party promised more money in people’s pockets without explaining where the money would come from.

He said the other promise was the lowering of taxes, also without explaining how this was going to be done, when it is known that governments raise money through taxes.

He added that some messages scared investors and eroded investor confidence which played badly on the electorate’s minds engaged by the investors in various sectors of the Zambian economy who felt their jobs would be at stake when the investors decided to go away.

He advised the opposition to learn from the American politics where only two major parties contest and the defeated candidates congratulate the winners because they know they want to serve the same people and there was only one chance at a time for a person to become president.

He said the ruling MMD had only one message of development and continuity from where the late president left and people understood such that message without remaining with unanswered questions.

He advised that the church should remain neutral on issues that had the potential of dividing the nation and provide Godly counselling which would build the nation because there were many factors and issues that unite Zambians than losing an election.

He said the division that existed in some people’s minds in the opposition political parties was not real to many Zambians because the country was more united now than before.

He said the opposition should also consider formulating a workable strategy for rural Zambians where experience has now shown than they were not performing and their strategy was either non existent or adversely poor.

ENDS/CN/PK/ZANIS.

SECRETARY to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja says government through the the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has developed a draft National Anti Corruption Policy and Strategy aimed at harmonising and coordinating efforts in the fight against corruption.

Dr Kanganja disclosed that one of the key elements of the policy was that of institutionalising the prevention of corruption adding that this called for individual institutions to develop and implement corruption prevention mechanisms.

He said while investigations and prosecutions would continue, it was better to prevent corruption in the first place because investigation and prosecution was not easy given the nature of the crime.

The Secretary to the Cabinet was speaking in Livingstone today when he swore in 22 integrity committee members drawn from the Judiciary, Kitwe City Council, Livingstone City Council, Zambia Police, Immigration department, National Registration and Pssports and the Ministry of Lands.

Dr Kanganja said he was confident that the draft National Anti Corruption Policy would be approved before the end of this year as it was just pending approval by Cabinet.

He said the policy was meant to remove opportunities for corruption and ultimately improve service delivery in public institutions.

Dr Kanganja noted that the concept of institutionalisation of corruption prevention through integrity committees was not unique to Zambia as there were other jurisdictions around the world who had similar arrangements in place.

He said although the National Anti-Corruption Policy has not yet been approved, the government gave a go ahead for the implementation of the institutionalisation of corruption prevention through the formation of integrity committees.

He said this is because of the importance government attaches to the need for improved service delivery in public insitutions.

Dr Kanganja observed that during the FNDP , government will have to undertake a number of policies and key reforms in the area of transparency and accountability adding that some of the issues to be addressed through the ACC would include the revision of the ACC legislation so as to strengthen it and bring it in line with internationally accepted best practices.

He said the other issues included the placing of the emphasis on prevention of corruption and related malpractices in public and private institutions and to institutionalise corruption prevention in both public and private institutions.

Dr Kanganja called on the newly sworn members to spearhead and facilitate the process of preventing corruption in their respective organisations and providing information on what the integrity committee would accomplish in their organisations.

Speaking earlier, ACC Acting Director General Mrs Rosewin Wandi said the commission stands ready to work with government and all stakeholders in both private and public institutions to see to it that the government’s goal of enhancing governance and service delivery through integrity committees is achieved.

ENDS/FM/PK/ZANIS/.