The National Constitution Conference (NCC) is happy that institutions that initially boycotted its existence are indirectly participating in the deliberations.

NCC spokesperson Mwangala Zaloumis says some organizations which boycotted the conference are commenting and making recommendations on the deliberations of the NCC.

She said that some institutions are even allowing their members to debate on certain clauses when asked by the NCC.

Meanwhile Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) has welcomed the proposal by the Democratic governance committee of the NCC that the President be elected by a 50 plus one majority vote.

TIZ Executive Director, Goodwell Lungu says the proposal by the committee should be commended because the 50 plus one clause helps the country to have a President who is elected by the majority.

Mr. Lungu hopes the proposal will be upheld by the NCC plenary when it meets later this year.

He told ZNBC News that it is important the clause is even maintained and included in the constitution when the conference takes its recommendations to parliament.

On Monday the Democratic governance committee of the NCC proposed that the 50 plus one election vote for the President be included in the constitution.

Ndola City Council has warned all would be developers in the city to abide by Council approved boundaries failure to which they risked their buildings being demolished.

Council Spokesman Mr. Roy Kuseka told ZANIS in Ndola that the council would not hesitate to demolish any structure in the city that was not built in conformity with council guidelines.

Mr. Kuseka said he was saddened by the presence of some buildings in the city which were built to completion without leaving any space to the public road users thereby posing a danger to public health.

He said some buildings put the lives of the people occupying them in danger as they were being built so close to the roads.

He wondered how one named woman built her extension structure beyond her approved space into the road

Mr. Kuseka said the council will not hesitate to pull down such structures especially that they were posing a danger to public life.

He warned other developers who were making extensions to their buildings in residential areas even after buying houses from the council to seek advice from the local authority

He said council was mandated to ensure that city development was being done in line with the country planning act and certain pieces of legislation which were in place.

The council spokesperson added that the trend of people ignoring council approval before embarking on building works would only prove costly on their part .

ZANIS/CN/MK/ENDS

The Lusaka High Court has set aside a statement of claim filed by Lusaka Lawyer Christopher Mundia in the case where he sued Second Zambia Republican President, Frederick Chiluba for defamation.

This was after Dr. Chiluba’s lawyers applied to Lusaka High Court registrar Egypso Mwansa that paragraphs 10 to 18 of Mr. Mundia’s statement of Claim be struck out as they were offensive and scandalous.

Mr. Mwansa struck out the paragraphs after agreeing with Dr. Chiluba’s lawyers that the said paragraphs were not only scandalous and offensive but also prejudicial.

Mr. Mundia sued Dr. Chiluba, his press assistant Emmanuel Mwamba and the Post Newspapers for defamation.

He sued Dr. Chiluba for defamation after a comment attributed to the former president that described Mr. Mundia as an incompetent lawyer.

This was shortly after the state had entered a nolle prosecqui in the case against his wife before a Ndola Magistrate Court.

However, Dr. Chiluba’s lawyers deem paragraphs 10 to 18 of his statement to the Court as offensive and scandalous on account of describing the Ndola magistrate that handled Mrs. Chiluba’s case as having been biased against the state.

Mr. Mundia is seeking damages for the alleged defamation, which he says, has compromised his professional standing and brought him to scandal and ridicule.

Opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) has opposed the suggestion by Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata that Cabinet should ask the Chief Justice to constitute a Medical Board to be flown into Paris to go and inquire into the condition of the President Mwanawasa.

UPND President Hakainde Hichilema described such calls as untimely and insensitive as the nation is at the moment pre-occupied with praying for the quick recovery of Dr. Mwanawasa.

Briefing the press in Lusaka today, Mr. Hichilema said a Board constituted under article 36 (1) of the constitution is not for patients who are still receiving treatment in hospital but those reasonably suspected to be incapable of ruling after receiving treatment beyond a reasonable time.

He said those who are in a hurry to invoke the provisions of article 36 of the constitution should hold their fire and wait for a reasonable period of time to allow the treatment to have its full course.

Mr. Hichilema pointed out that the nation will need to be satisfied that the treatment given to Dr. Mwanawasa has failed after which the relevant constitutional provisions can be rightly invoked.

He urged the Zambian people to be calm and commit Dr. Mwanawasa to prayers and also urged government through Cabinet to continue providing the necessary leadership in the absence of Dr. Mwanawasa who is hospitalized in France.

The UPND leader charged that Mr. Sata was evacuated to South Africa using tax prayers’ money and no-one championed calls to set a Medical Board to purportedly declare him unfit to run the PF party.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hichilema has said the food crisis Zambia is allegedly experiencing threatens household and national stability.

He blamed the food crisis on government’s bad policies in the agricultural sector.

Mr. Hichilema also said the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) and the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company hiking of electricity and water tariffs is unacceptable.

THE MMD has charged party chairman for information and publicity, Benny Tetamashimba, for allegedly bringing the party into ridicule and giving out false information.

But Mr Tetamashimba said in reaction that he had not received the charge letter and that it was only President Mwanawasa who had the power to discipline him as the appointing authority.

MMD deputy national secretary, Jeff Kaande, said in Lusaka yesterday that the party national chairman, Michael Mabenga, would constitute a disciplinary committee of six national executive committee (NEC) members to look into the case.

Mr Kaande said at a Press briefing that Mr Tetamashimba had breached the party constitution through statements he issued regarding President Mwanawasa’s health and succession.

Mr Tetamashimba, who is Local Government and Housing Deputy Minister, recently said there was need for the party to consider President Mwanawasa’s successor once he returned from France where he is undergoing medical treatment.

Mr Kaande said the party had charged Mr Tetatamashimba with two charges, which he was required to respond to as soon as possible.

“Under our disciplinary regulation 7 (B), Mr Tetamashimba has been charged with conduct likely to bring ridicule and contempt to the party and under 7 (J) for giving out false information,” he said.

Mr Kaande said it was not right for Mr Tetamashimba to talk about the party president’s succession now as it was premature.

“The President has only been sick for two weeks. It’s normal for anybody to be sick. Does that period really call for succession?” he asked.

“Doctors are advising that the man (the president) is improving. Our leader is capable of leading and he is still there,” he said.

Mr Kaande also refuted claims by Mr Tetamashimba that party national secretary, Katele Kalumba, had invited women and youth leaders from all the provinces as his campaign strategy for the presidency.

Mr Kaande said the people that Mr Tetamashimba claimed to have been invited by Dr Kalumba were supposed to attend a meeting organised by the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID), which had been put off because of the President’s ailment.

Mr Kaande said the party could not expressly suspend Mr Tetamashimba as he was also deputy minister who was appointed by the President.

“We have opened a disciplinary action against him and the national chairman will constitute a committee to sit and decide his fate. We hope by that time our president will have come. If they say suspend him, we will have to suspend him and then explain to the HE (His Excellency),” he said.

Mr Kaande said the party did not mind whether Dr Kalumba was campaigning or not as there were so far 19 other people who indicated that they wanted to contest for the presidency of the party.

He said in an event that the party had no vice-president, the party national chairman took over as acting president in the absence of the president.

Dr Kalumba has since recommended that Mr Tetamashimba’s fate be decided by a committee comprising chairman for security, Ronnie Shikapwasha, chairman for legal, Bwalya Chiti and chairperson (women), Vera Tembo.

According to a letter dated July 14, 2008 obtained by the Times of Zambia written by Dr Kalumba to the national chairman, others recommended are chairman for youth, Patrick Musonda, chairman elections, Mike Mulongoti and trustee, Grace Njapau.

Mr Tetamashimba said the committee had no power to suspend him as he was a Government official.

“It’s only the president who can suspend me. The appointing authority is not here and no one can disappoint me until after elections,” he said.

He said he was against the idea of Dr Kalumba becoming party president as he was facing corruption charges in court and had allegedly taken advantage of Dr Mwanawasa’s absence to launch his campaign.

Mr Tetamashimba said he had evidence that Dr Kalumba had called for a meeting for the provincial leaders.

He challenged Dr Kalumba to come out in the open instead of speaking through Mr Kaande.

[Times of Zambia]

MMD National Secretary, Katele Kalumba has questioned why party chairperson for Information and Publicity Ben Tetamashimba is making Presidential ambitions an issue.

Dr. Kalumba says the issue currently is praying for Dr. Levy Mwanawasa’s quick recovery.

Asked whether he has any presidential ambitions, Dr. Kalumba said it is not an issue now.

He explained that people who have Presidential ambitions have announced their intentions.

Dr. Kalumba said he has NEVER said anything against Mr. Tetamashimba and advised him to STOP putting words in his mouth.

Mr. Tetamashimba, at a press briefing in Lusaka Tuesday, accused Dr. Kalumba of using President Mwanawasa’s illness to further his presidential ambitions.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kalumba says he has written to the party disciplinary committee to examine the petitions received from provincial and district party members countrywide against Mr. Tetamashimba.

[ZNBC]

President Levy Mwanawasa has called for the eradication of corruption on the African continent.

President Mwanawasa says corruption needs to be eradicated from the continent because it resulted in the misappropriation and misapplication of scarce resources.

Dr. Mwanawasa said this in a speech read on his behalf by Vice-President Rupiah Banda at the official opening of the 39th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Africa Region Conference in Livingstone today.

President Mwanawasa said in order to develop and attract the needed levels of investment, the countries needed to aggressively fight corruption in a concerted manner.

Dr. Mwanawasa said Zambia was determined to relentlessly fight and root out corruption in the country.

‘’We in Zambia are determined to relentlessly fight and root out this scourge. It is not easy, but it must and shall be done,’’ he said.

Dr Mwanawasa urged delegates to actively participate in the exchange of views on corruption so that a workable solution to weed out the vice on the continent can be found in a bid to make the CPA Africa region corrupt-free and a better place to live in.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mwanawasa has said the theme of the conference ‘Global Warming: Challenges for Parliamentarians and Parliaments’ was a very important theme because the issue of climate change was now considered to be one of the defining issues which pre-occupied the minds and activities of world leaders.

Dr Mwanawasa added that the issue of climate change required sustained, concerted and high level political attention and intervention.

He said dramatic changes of climate were already visible adding that the impacts were increasingly becoming severe.

‘’Notable among these and close to home are the devastating floods and droughts affecting most parts of our continent, especially the Southern African sub-region,’’ he said.

President Mwanawasa observed that the consequences of climate change caused largely by developed countries were more severe for the developing countries and the continent.

‘’This is because our means to adapt to, and mitigate the effects of climate change are limited, thus worsening the plight of poor on the continent,’’ he said.

Dr Mwanawasa also observed that climate change caused social, economic and security dislocations for humankind.

He said the Zambian government was doing all it could to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change in accordance with the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol which seeks to cut greenhouse emissions.

Dr Mwanawasa said government through the National Adaptation Programme of Action of 2007, has identified health, agriculture, forestry, wildlife, water and energy as sectors mostly susceptible to climate change.

He noted that recent research by the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa in conjunction with the University of Zambia on the economic impacts of climate change on Zambian agriculture had revealed that the country has been experiencing an increase in drought frequency and intensity in the last 20 years.

He observed that this had led to detrimental consequences for the agricultural sector and had threatened food security for vulnerable groups.

Dr Mwanawasa observed that the study had revealed that temperatures had been increasing by 0.6 degrees Celsius per decade since 1970 adding that the increase in temperatures had slowed down the regeneration capacity of the local Miombo forest which was traditionally a resilient and balanced eco-system.

He said the objective of government was to strengthen national coordination of efforts intended to respond to the climate change and integrate climate change responses into the national development process.

He said government intends to put in place coordinated mechanisms to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on the country’s national development.

And on conflicts on the continent, Dr Mwanawasa bemoaned the conflicts that have continued to rock the African continent in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Darfur region of Sudan, Chad and Somalia.

He said the situation prevailing in those countries were unacceptable because Africa needed peace and harmony to develop.

He expressed happiness that Kenya had put up a practical resolution to the problems in their country to ensure that peace and development continues.

He urged the CPA Africa region to lend its voice of encouragement to all the people of Zimbabwe so that they could resolve their political challenges amicably.

Dr Mwanawasa said the region and the rest of the world were doing their best to assist Zimbabwe but noted that it is themselves who must initiate the reconciliation process.

The conference was attended by over 300 delegates. The countries represented included Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
ENDS/FM/AM/ZANIS