Two political parties have so far declared interest to support opposition candidates in the forthcoming Kabushi and Kwacha Parliamentary By-Elections slated for 15th September, 2022.

The Socialist Party and the New Heritage Party have both vowed to support the strongest opposition party.

Socialist Party Zambia President Dr Fred M’membe announced yesterday during a media briefing that his party’s Central Committee has unconditionally resolved to support Patriotic Front’s Bowman Lusambo in Kabushi Constituency and Joseph Malanji in Kwacha Constituency in the coming By-Election.

Dr M’membe noted with concern the unjust treatment that both Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji have been subjected to, as the country is not going to be a good place to live in for any of the citizens if it’s not a good place for all of us to live in.

“Yes, we would have loved to have a seat in Kabushi or Kwacha, but not at the expense of Justice,” he noted

Dr M’membe added that the opposition leader made an assurance that the Socialist Party structures in both Constituencies will be mobilized to support the duo.

Dr M’membe explained that noble sentiments are worthless if they are not inspired by correct ideas, selfless ideas, just ideas and humane ideas, thus the Socialist Party believes in justice, equity, peace, and principles anchored on honesty, humility and solidarity and based on these values, and ideas, the Central Committee of the Party has taken a decision to act in solidarity with Mr Malanji and Mr Lusambo.

He stated that like many other well-meaning Zambians, frowned at the ruling of the Constitutional Court made in the case of Mr Malanji, the Socialist Party feels Mr Malanji has not been treated fairly as the Party does not agree with the decision of the Constitutional Court.

“We are not the only ones who don’t agree with the decision, even the Judge of that Court also disagrees with it, so it is an unfair, and unjust decision that is not humane,” he stated

“Those who are Christians will agree with us that to be like Christ is what Christianity is about. And we ask ourselves, what would Christ do in this situation? Would he wash his hands and say crucify Malanji?” he said

Dr M’membe lamented that the Party has looked into the looked into the situation of Mr Lusambo in Kabushi, and the Party feels that there has been an attempt to squeeze Mr Lusambo at any cost and in every aspect of his life, an act that is deemed to be barbaric and the Party is aware of the attempts to stop Mr Lusambo from contesting.

Dr M’membe said that the decision to support the duo is not taken out of a tactical political move but it is a decision that is anchored on Socialist Party principles, and also to help the duo reclaim their seats.

The opposition leader cited that there is information that both Hon Malanji and Hon Lusambo are likely to be charged with unbailable offenses such as theft of motor vehicle, and murder so that they do not contest or recontest these seats.

Dr M’membe stated that the support the Socialist Party will give to the duo does not mean that the party has formed an alliance with the Patriotic Front.

Meanwhile, the New Heritage Party Deputy Secretary General-Political, Gershom Kapalaula, highlighted that their Party will not participate in next month’s Kabushi and Kwacha Constituency Parliamentary By-Elections but will instead support the strongest possible opposition candidates in these constituencies to minimize the chances of splitting the opposition votes.

Mr Kapalaula stated that the move is aimed at preventing a situation where the country could turn into a de-facto One-Party-State, although the two upcoming By-Elections are not adequate to afford the ruling party a majority in Parliament, a win in the two constituencies could lead closer to a One-Party State.

He explained that the decision must not be seen as supporting the party represented by the individual candidate but rather, supporting what he terms as “the Zambian Agenda” which requires a selfless and serving approach to governance.

“The Zambian Agenda requires that at every juncture, individuals and parties make the right decision for the country regardless of political party, tribal or economic groupings,” he said

Mr Kapalaula noted that the New Heritage Party’s position is in accordance with a resolution of opposition Parties which emphasize the need for opposition unity and standing on one platform in matters of national significance.

“Our Party will announce the strongest opposition member after an assessment of the candidates that will successfully file in their nominations,” he noted

Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) has put on care and maintenance its bio-fuel plant in Kitwe due to inadequate availability and unstable price of soya beans, the commodity it uses to produce bio-diesel.

Speaking to journalists in Kitwe today, CEC Chief Projects Officer Vincent Nyirenda said the company has for some time been producing bio-diesel which was being used in its company vehicles as the project was still on pilot.

He said for the past four years, the company has failed to run the plant at a commercial rate because the price of feedstock which is soya beans has exceeded the company’s projected price for the project to run profitably.

He said another reason for the failure to sustain the plant operations and expanding it to a commercial level is the fact that the company does not yet have a government mandate for blending of bio-diesel which has creating a challenge of a market off-taker once the bio-diesel is produced.

“As for the future of this plant, we are waiting to see how this pans out given the direction of the world in general as regards bio-fuels, however, CEC is doing other renewable energy projects in the meantime, principally solar and wind,” Mr. Nyirenda said.

And Mr. Nyirenda has disclosed that CEC is expanding its one megawatt solar plant on Jambo Drive in Kitwe by 33 megawatts.

He said the USD$22million expansion programme is expected to be completed before the end of 2022.

And on hydro power generation, Mr. Nyirenda said its Kabompo Power project has stalled due to the macroeconomic challenges the country has been facing in the last few years and various other issues pending government resolution.

He further stated that CEC is ready to partner with government and other players in power generation on the Luapula River which he said presents great hydro power potential.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nyirenda has projected a bright future for CEC under the New Dawn government saying the operating environment has improved tremendously with government making it clear that it supports private sector participation in growing the country’s economy.

He explained that the cancellation of the statutory Instrument that declared CEC transmission and distribution assets as common carrier at the end of 2021 and the recently signed Bulk Power Supply Agreement (BSA) between ZESCO and CEC will propel the business sustainability and growth of the private power utility.

“As a company, we are encouraged by the signing of the new BSA with our counterparts, ZESCO, going forward, we can leverage this mutually supportive framework to invest more in the power sector in Zambia,” He said

In March 2020, the Patriotic Front (PF) government refused to renew the BSA between ZESCO and CEC and in the same year, government declared the CEC transmission lines a common carrier, a situation which negatively affected the operations of the private power utility.

Police and Ndola City Council say the cause of the fire at Kapalala Market in Masala Township, Ndola is not yet known.

Assorted goods worth thousands of Kwachas were destroyed on Tuesday night as fire swept through part of Kapalala Market which is located in Kabushi Constituency.

The fire which started around 20:00 hours has reduced part of the makeshift Kapala Market to ashes.

Fire fighters, who arrived at the scene after more than an hour, struggled to quench the spreading fire as traders and onlookers watched helplessly.

Ndola City Deputy Chief Fire Officer Mukaya Malwela said Council is still investigating the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage caused by the inferno.

“At the moment the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage is still being investigated,” Mr. Malwela said.

Meanwhile, Copperbelt Police Commanding Officer Sharon Zulu said police have instituted investigations into the fire incident to determine the cause and also to bring the culprits to book.

“Brief facts of the matter are that on 16/08/22 at about 20:30hrs fire started at an unknown point which later spread out to one side of the Market. The fire was later quenched by a combined team of fire fighters drawn from other fire stations based in Ndola, Luanshya and Kitwe. The cause of the fire is not yet known .Police have since instituted investigations into the matter to determine the cause and also to bring the culprits to book. The value of the destroyed properties is yet to be ascertained too. Meanwhile Police officers will continue guarding the premises to prevent the would be looters,” Ms. Zulu said.

Meanwhile, Ndola City Council has announced that over 1,200 traders have been affected by the fire that swept through the Kapalala Market.

Council Public Relations Manager Rebecca Mushota said the area which has been affected is the wholesale area for tomatoes, cassava, charcoal and some makeshift restaurants.

“Other places affected by the fire are the Masala Cultural Village which is next to the charcoal wholesale area and fences of a few houses which are also close to the affected areas. Preliminary investigations conducted by the Ndola Fire Brigade indicate that the fire started around 20:00 hours and is suspected to have emanated from one of the restaurants. The Fire Brigade was alerted at 20:50 hours and fire fighters arrived at the scene within four minutes. Fire fighters made frantic efforts to quench the fire which spread quickly because of the strong winds experienced last night as well as the trade shelters which were made of wood.The affected charcoal also fuelled the fire,” Ms. Mushota said.

“Fire fighting teams from Indeni, Luanshya Municipal Council, Kitwe City Council and the Zambia Airforce joined the Ndola City Council Fire Brigade while a Front-end loader was used to grade around the affected area to avoid the fire spreading to the rest of the wholesale depots and the rest of the market. The fire was put out around 02:00 hours. The Ndola City Council is grateful to all the fire fighting teams that combined efforts with the Ndola Fire Brigade to prevent further spread of the fire. It is however, regrettable that some members of the public stoned the Indeni fire fighting vehicle in the process. The Council sympathizes with the affected traders who have lost goods worth millions of Kwacha in the fire and is collaborating with the Copperbelt Province Administration and other stakeholders to ensure that displaced traders are supported by placing them in the newly constructed Kapalala Market as soon as possible,” Ms. Mushota said.

Kapalala Market was again gutted by fire in August, 2017.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has arrested Clever Mpoha, Director and Shareholder of Savenda Group of Companies for corrupt practices involving US $927,448.00 Mpoha, of flat F104 Bank of Zambia Flats in Fairview, Lusaka, has been arrested and charged with three counts of corrupt practices.

Mr. Mpoha is a Shareholder and Director of two other companies namely Eagle Trading International and African Security Academy (ASA) of Zambia.

The arrest comes in the wake of a contract which was single-sourced and signed between the Ministry of Defence and the African Security Academy (ASA) of Poland for the financing and purchase of military uniforms for the Zambia National Service at a contract sum of US$47million.

Investigations have revealed that Mpoha’s company, African Security Academy was the representative here in Zambia of the parent African Security Academy of Poland and financial transactions were facilitated through Mpoha’s other company Eagle Trading International.

Consequently, in the first count, Mpoha has been arrested and charged with the corrupt transaction by a private person contrary to section 20(2) as read with Section 41 of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 3 of 2012.

Investigations have revealed that between 1st March 2018 and 30th June 2018, Mpoha, through his company Eagle Trading International, attempted to pay US $200,000 into the bank account of the Australian owners of Simonga Farm in Chikankata District, for and on behalf of Mr Sturdy Mwale, former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, as part payment for the purchase of the said farm.

Mr. Mpoha was in the second count arrested and charged with corrupt practices with by private persons contrary to Section 20(2) as read with Section 41 of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 3 of 2012. Details are that Mpoha, through his Eagle Trading International, offered and actually paid US $200,000 into a bank account for the Australian owners of Simonga Farm on behalf of Sturdy Mwale as part payment for the purchase of Simonga Farm for facilitating the signing of the contract by Sturdy Mwale.
The payment was an inducement or reward for Sturdy Mwale for the supply of military uniforms for the Zambia National Service In the third . count, Mpoha has been arrested and charged with reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime contrary to Sectio possession of property n 71(1) of the Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime Act No. 19 of 2010.

Details are that Mr. Mpoha, being a shareholder and Director in African Security Academy , did receive a total of US $527,448, funds which were fraudulently paid by the Ministry of Finance as pa fees for the delivery of the subject contract payment of the arrangement.

The funds were paid by the Ministry of Finance outside the budget line of the uniforms despite that the contract was to be financed by the supplier

Mr.Mpoha is expected to appear in court soon.