Three opposition political parties have urged other opposition parties not to boycott continental and national events held at State House once they were invited.

United Liberal Party (ULP) President, Sakwiba Sikota, National Democratic Focus leader Benjamin Mwila and All People’s Congress leader Kenneth Ngondo, told ZANIS  in separate interviews that non-partisan events such as African Freedom Day should be celebrated by everyone.

The trio, who were among many invited guest to the commemorative celebrations of
African Freedom Day at State House today, said this day was meant to only remember
the struggle for freedom in Africa.

Mr. Sikota said the event was not for a political party or an individual but for all Africans, that appreciated the role of freedom fighters in the continent.

“We should recognise those that fought for freedom in Africa. Let us make that dream
of those people who fought for freedom come true,” he said.

He said that everyone, regardless of one’s political affiliations, should unite and work towards achieving economic independence.

Mr. Mwila stated that African Freedom Day was a continental affair and therefore,
every African should take part in remembrance of those who fought for the continental freedom.

He urged all political party leaders and their members to reconcile their political difference and unite for the common good of Zambia and the African continent as a
whole.

Mr. Ngondo said political party leaders should respect invitations that come from the President by responding positively to them.

“This is a national event. Apart from receiving an invitation from cabinet office, I received a personal invitation from President Mwanawasa and I think we should respect the presidency,” he said.

He said African Freedom Day was a reminder of founding fathers and therefore, it should be commemorated by every peace loving African.

He however, urged cabinet office to identify all those people who contributed to the
liberation of African countries, and honour them.

In the recent past, most opposition political parties used to shun continental and national events held at State House, some demanding that such should be held at neutral venues.
 

President of the opposition United Liberal Party (ULP), Sakwiba Sikota has advised former president, Frederick Chiluba to accept the London High Court judgment and pay back over US$40 million he allegedly misappropriated from Zambian government during his reign.

Mr. Sikota told the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in an interview
today that Dr. Chiluba’s attempt to defend himself now was totally misplaced.

He said Dr. Chiluba was accorded an opportunity to defend himself in the courts of law but he refused to so during trial.

“He should have done that in the courts of law, not now because the judgment stands
and it will be acted upon,” said Mr. Sikota.

Mr. Sikota, , who is a prominent lawyer,  said the former president should stop making attempts to explain the outcome of the London Court judgment as it was irreversible.

He said people in leadership should always be made to account for public resource and avoid plunder.

“Plundered moneys should be returned and put to good use,” he said.

About 20 days ago, the London High Court ordered Dr. Chiluba to pay back 85 per cent
of what he, together with nine other people, allegedly misappropriated from government’s ZANTROP account within a fortnight of receiving the judgment.

In another development, Dr. Chiluba, who collapsed in his bedroom at his Kabulonga
home yesterday morning, is still admitted to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH)
in Lusaka.

Dr. Chiluba’s Spokesperson, Emmanuel Mwamba, told ZANIS today that the former
president underwent several medical tests ever since he was admitted yesterday.

“He remains in hospital under observation. He underwent several medical tests but
the Doctors have not yet advised what the problem is, but it is related to his heart
condition,” Mr. Mwamba said.

Last year, Dr. Chiluba was diagnosed with a cardiac problem at South Africa’s Garden
City Clinic.

On March 20 this year, Dr. Chiluba again went to Johannesburg for treatment and
returned on April 24th.

Dr. Chiluba was due to appear before the UTH ad hoc committee of medical Doctors
next Monday, after the Lusaka Magistrate court ordered that it he acquires fresh reports to ascertain he was fit to attend court proceedings.

The former President, who is jointly charged with former Access Finance directors
Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu, is still facing charges of theft by public servant in the Lusaka magistrate court, involving over US$500,000.

ZANIS
 

Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba’s condition has stabilised after he was rushed to the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka shortly after collapsing at his home on Thursday. Dr.Chiluba will remain in hospital for treatment and further medical tests.

“Dr Chiluba will remain in hospital until doctors advise when he should be discharged. However, his condition is now stable,” Mwamba said on Friday.

Chiluba, 64, was due to appear before a team of Zambian doctors on Monday to determine whether he is fit enough for a corruption trial which stalled in May last year due to his ill health.

Three weeks ago British judge Peter Smith said Chiluba must personally pay back $41 million of the $46 million he and 19 other former senior government officials are accused of siphoning from the Treasury.

Smith gave his ruling in a case that Zambia brought in a British court, a move officials said was aimed at recovering properties Chiluba and his associates bought in that country, Belgium and other European nations using stolen public funds.

Chiluba has denied he or his associates stole funds during his decade-long rule and accuses and accuses his successor Levy Mwanawasa of a political witch hunt.

UNIP in Luapula says it will go it alone in any by-election that may arise in the province in future.

UNIP provincial chairperson Mwansa Musunte said during the party’s extra-ordinary
provincial council in Mansa that the former ruling party will not contest any election on the United Democratic Alliance, UDA, ticket to which it is a member.

Mr Musunte said UDA was formed for the purpose of winning the 2006 general elections
which the alliance however lost to the ruling MMD.

He said as such every party in the alliance would remain autonomous and that UNIP
will continue with its programmes of strengthening itself.

Reacting to UDA President Hakainde Hichilema’s displeasure against UNIP contesting
the Kapoche by -lection disregarding the UDA alliance, Mr Musunte said the fact the
party decided to field its own candidate does not mean that it has pulled out of the
UDA.

He said the party will concentrate on building its popularity countrywide by contesting by contesting elections on its own ticket.

He urged the UNIP membership at all levels to contest any election on the party’s ticket.

And Mr Musunte has declared that UNIP remains strong in the province and its structures are intact at all levels.

And Luapula province UNIP membership has implored the government to put in place a
new republican constitution before 2008.

At the end of the party’s provincial council meeting in Mansa, members resolved
that the new constitution should be adopted through a constituent assembly and not
through the Indaba.

Former president Frederick Chiluba was admitted to hospital after collapsing  this morning, just days before he was to undergo medical tests to see if he was fit enough to face a graft trial.

His spokesman, Emmanuel Mwamba said Chiluba, who has previously been treated for a heart ailment while under investigation, collapsed in his bedroom on Thursday morning.

“The doctors are still conducting various tests to ascertain the cause of his collapse and whether his condition is serious,” Mwamba told Reuters.

Next Monday Chiluba, 64, was due to appear before a team of Zambian doctors to determine whether he was fit enough for the trial, which stalled in May last year due to his ill health.

Chiluba, has been restricted in his movements by government pending corruption cases against him.

The government has allowed him to travel to neighbouring South Africa where he has been receiving specialised medical treatment since May 2006. Mwamba said Chiluba was due to go to that country in June for review and treatment.

Three weeks ago British judge Peter Smith said Chiluba must personally pay back $41 million of the $46 million he and 19 other former senior government officials are accused of siphoning from the Treasury.

Smith ruled in a case Zambia brought in a British court, a move officials said was aimed at recovering properties Chiluba and his associates bought in that country, Belgium and other European nations using stolen public funds.

Chiluba has denied he or his associates stole funds during his decade-long rule and accuses Levy Mwanawasa and the British government of “engineering” the judgment against him. Chiluba also says he is also a victim of a political witch hunt by the president.

Zambia has begun exporting maize, although the government has yet to ascertain how much of the staple food has been produced during a season that was severely disrupted by widespread flooding.

There is growing concern over the government’s failure to release the scheduled official crop figures for the 2006/7 agricultural farming season, which are now more than a week overdue.

“This delay is making it difficult for us to plan ahead in terms of maintaining the prices of mealie meal in that we don’t know how much crop is out there exactly. We have been assured by the government that there’s a good crop but that’s only as far as we’ve been told,” Peter Cottan, vice president of the Millers Association of Zambia, told IRIN. “Of course, a number of millers are still hoarding some maize stocks from last year, but we still need the estimates for the new crop before we can decide on how best to maintain or adjust the prices of mealie meal.”

The recent price volatility of maize meal saw its price increase at least three times in the last quarter of 2006, with a 25kg bag selling for as much as US$11, making it unaffordable for the majority of the population.

“Most of us can’t afford a 25kg bag of mealie meal because we have no money… and there are no jobs, we are forced to buy pamelas  every day. We don’t see the reason for celebrating the (past) national bumper harvests announced by the government as mealie meal prices always remain expensive,” Martha Daka, a street trader in the capital Lusaka, said.

Even without an accurate assessment of the expected harvest, the government has begun exports to neighbouring Zimbabwe, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Agriculture minister Ben Kapita told local media recently that about 700 tonnes of maize from the latest harvest had already been exported to Zimbabwe, with a further 300,000 tonnes earmarked for export to provide Zambia with foreign exchange.

“We have allowed this exportation of part of our surplus crop through our various co-operating partners purely as a way of getting more value from our crop,” Kapita said.

According to Kapita, the government’s Food Reserve Agency was expected to export 226,000 tonnes to raise money for the purchase of crops from local farmers, while the Zambia National Farmers Union, the millers association and the Grain Traders Association would export about 48,000 tonnes in total.

Kapita said the delayed release of government’s crop assessment was because “I simply haven’t got the figures as yet on my table! We released the money late for this exercise and I am very sure that the field officers would only be coming from the fields about now. We need a bit of time before they can compile the figures, but I will certainly be informing the nation as soon as they are ready.”

Zambia has over the last three years posted a surplus harvest on the back of a number of reforms introduced by the former agriculture minister Mundia Sikatana, now foreign affairs minister, which included subsidising farming inputs by 60 percent, buying off the crop from small-scale farmers and encouraging conservation farming practices.

But, although the country in 2006 posted a crop surplus of 300,000 tonnes above its annual consumption requirement of 1.2 million tonnes, analysts said the torrential rains late last year and earlier this year, which swamped thousands of fields in at least five of the nine provinces, would likely hit maize production. About 1.4 million people were affected by the flooding and about 300,000 people, mostly in the agricultural producing rural areas, required food aid.

While president Levy Mwanawasa’s administration has generally drawn praise for its agricultural reforms, farmers have alleged that the government was giving them a raw deal by fixing the maize marketing price at a non-negotiable US$9 per 50kg bag.

“We find the pricing of maize unfair in many ways, and discouraging to the farmers too,” Guy Robinson, president of the Zambia National Farmers Union said. “It costs us a lot to produce the crop but the price at which we are required to sell it does not tally with the cost of production. We are urgently calling for the establishment of an independent crop costing exercise to critically look at the cost of production for maize against the price at which we are selling the crop.”

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