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Nkana and Power Dynamos are set to clash in Sunday’s big Kitwe derby at Arthur Davies Stadium in Wusakile.
This is the first installment of the Kitwe derby in the 2021/22 FAZ Super Division campaign.
Nkana and Power have enjoyed good form their respective games in the build-up to Sunday’s showdown.
The two sides are also tied on 22 points after fifteen games played going into the derby day.
Power coach Mwenya Chipepo has predicted a tough match against Nkana after warming-up with a 2-1 home win against Kansanshi Dynamos on Wednesday.
“The midweek win has given us confidence. You know when you are going to play Nkana, Nkana is not a small team. This derby is a very difficult one,” Chipepo.
Nkana coach Beston Chambeshi has been philosophical in the build-up to the derby and come into the match after rallying from one-down to beat hosts Buildcon 2-1 in dramatic style when they scored two stoppage time goals.
“The derby is about supporters and not the inside players. We are confident but it’s up to how supporters are going to behave,” Chambeshi said.
“In a derby you have to wait until the last whistle so I can’t promise that we are going to win but this is a winning team.”
Last season, Nkana beat Power 2-0 away at Arthur Davies to avenge for the 3-0 home loss in the first round time in Wusakile.
Vice President Mutale Nalumango has called on critics of the Government not to mislead citizens by saying that the United Party for National Development (UPND) during campaigns pledged never to borrow.
Mrs Nalumango said that the new dawn administration promised not to borrow recklessly and that it would restructure the country’s debt.
Mrs Nalumango said that Government is changing the way the country will handle its debt and that the IMF programme should be viewed as a grant due to its low-interest rate.
She said this during the Vice President’s Question time in the National Assembly in response to a question by Zambezi East Member of Parliament Brian Kambita who asked for a comment on public debates on the IMF programme.
Vice President Mutale Nalumango has justified Government’s move to enter into an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saying the programme is the only remedy for the country’s debt crisis.
Mrs Nalumango said that Government incurs an extra debt every month to run national affairs as the national expenditure is higher than its income.
Mrs Nalumango said that the commercial loans acquired by the Patriotic Front (PF) Government have become impossible for the country to repay as the interest rates are too high.
Mrs Nalumango said that the IMF interest rates are lower at 0.75% and that this will allow the country to repay the loans on flexible terms as well as over a longer repayment period.
And Mrs. Nalumango said it is not the intention of the Government to have INDENI employees lose their jobs as Government has a programme for the company.
She said INDENI employees will continue to work while reforms take place at the Company and that Government will in due course make known the way forward.
Mrs Nalumango said that the Government is not closing the company per se but that it may not continue to operate fully.
And the Vice President reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to providing free education from primary school up to secondary level and that it will fill the gap that will be created by the abolishment of fees that learners have been paying.
Mrs Nalumango said that Government wants to provide relief to vulnerable members of society who have been struggling to pay fees for their children.
This was in response to a question by Bwacha Member of Parliament Sydney Mushanga who asked if Government has any plans on how schools that were dependant on PTA fees will manage to carry out their activities with the abolishment of the fees.
And the Vice President said the Government has NOT appointed any cadres to serve in the new administration and that those who have been appointed have the relevant qualifications for the positions.
She said even mature democracies have political appointments at a certain level but that does not entail appointing cadres who are not qualified to serve in certain positions.
This was in response to a concern raised by Bangweulu Member of Parliament Anthony Kasandwe.
Meanwhile, the Vice President has called on persons holding on to Government vehicles dressed with private number plates to surrender them as the law will visit them if they fail to do so.
Local Government and Rural Development Minister Gary Nkombo has said that the government will suspend non-performing contracts awarded to contractors under the feeder road project once audits are done.
Mr. Nkombo said in Ndola where he conducted physical inspections on the feeder roads that once contracts are suspended, works will only resume when funds are found.
And Mr. Nkombo has warned local authority engineers against conniving with contractors on the status of the projects.
Mr. Nkombo said the government is concerned that some contracts were signed and partly funded but contractors are not on sites.
He said once the audit is concluded, all non-performing contracts will be discontinued until such a time when funds will be available because the treasury is currently stressed.
Mr. Nkombo is on the Copperbelt conducting a physical audit of the feeder roads to establish which contracts should be closed off and those that will be prioritized in terms of payments to finalize the works.
The Minister said this when he called on Copperbelt Province Permanent Secretary, Augustine Kasongo.
And speaking when he called on Ndola Mayor, Jones Kalyati, Mr.Nkombo assured that government will ensure economic roads are worked on.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kalyati called on the minister to consider prioritizing the construction of township roads in Ndola which he said are in a deplorable state.
He said the district was allocated 20 kilometers of township roads which were supposed to be tarred but that only one kilometer has so far been worked on in the Kabushi constituency.
The Chinsali Magistrate Court in Muchinga Province has granted former Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo and Six other co-accused persons a K50 0000 bail each.
The seven are jointly charged with the offense of endangering the Safety of an Aircraft contrary to the Safety Aviation acts Chapter 445 of the Laws of Zambia.
Mr. Kampyongo, who is also Shiwangàndu member of parliament with 6 other co-accused persons appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Julius Malata yesterday and immediately applied for bail after taking a plea.
All the accused have denied the charge.
And Magistrate Malata said bail is granted in recognizance of each accused, provided they bring before the Court required documents within 24 hours.
Particulars of the offence are that on the 2nd of January, 2015 Mr Kampyongo jointly and whilst acting together with 6 others, endangered the Safety of an Aircraft in Shiwangàndu district which is contrary to the Safety Aviation act of the laws of Zambia.
The Seven co-accused persons including Mr Kampyongo have been remanded in custody until formalities of bail conditions are met.
And Speaking to ZANIS in an interview after the court hearing, Lusaka-based Lawyer George Chisanga, who is representing the seven accused persons, said Mr Kampyongo is in good spirits together with the 6 others.
Mr. Chisanga said while applying for bail, he has also negotiated with the court to continue a trial on 17 January 2022.
He added that Mafinga Member of Parliament Robert Chabinga has since signed surety for the former Home Affairs minister.
President Hakainde Hichilema has appealed to Zambians to exercise patience as the new dawn government sets on revamping and restructuring the economy.
President Hichilema said that the economic benefits from measures his government has put in place will start to be visible in a few years.
The President said that the new dawn government has embarked on economic reforms that are meant to put the country on a sound footing and underscored the importance of the devolution programme of taking resources away from Lusaka to rural areas saying the move will spur economic activity and help create jobs in the countryside.
President Hichilema was speaking when he took part in a virtual panel discussion on protecting the democratic institutions: elections, the rule of law and resilient information space, which has been organised by US President Joe Bidden.
And, President Hichilema assured Zambians that there will be no reversal of the democratic gains the country has made under the new dawn administration.
President Hichilema said the new era of openness and freedom of expression that his government has ushered in is here to be shared and enjoyed by all Zambians.
He said since coming to power in August this year, the government has set in motion measures that build a diverse and inclusive government but uphold human rights and promote the rule of law.
The Head of State said his government has also enhanced collaboration with all stakeholders such as civil society and cooperating partners.
President Hichilema also highlighted measures taken in restoring media freedom, the separation of power among wings of government and the management of public resources.
The President has been taking part in the two-day US Summit for Democracy at the invitation of US President Joe Bidden.
President Hakainde Hichilema officiating at the graduation ceremony of 1, 341 officer-recruits at the Zambia Police, Lilayi Training College in Lusaka.
Earlier in the day, President Hakainde Hichilema officiated at the graduation ceremony of 1, 341 officer recruits at the Zambia Police, Lilayi Training College in Lusaka.
At the ceremony, the President said that his administration wants to develop a robust security system capable of protecting the country and that this can only be done with well-trained security personnel who are loyal and dedicated to duty.
The President further said that the UPND administration supports the autonomy of security wings, adding that days of overbearing political influence that undermines police officers are over as the UPND administration will not allow and tolerate the vulnerability of officers, adding he will not tolerate cadreism in the police service.
President Hichilema said by protocol, he was not supposed to grace the occasion but saw it fit because of his desire to see an honourable and effective Police Service committed to serving the country.
He urged the graduands to uphold high levels of professionalism by treating people fairly and respecting rights of citizens.
And the Head of State directed the Zambia Police Command to develop a new training curriculum to turn Lilayi College into an effective in-service police training centre and that training facilities are earmarked to be moved to Chibombo.
President Hichilema further directed Police not to detain suspects for over 48 hours without presenting them to the court and that they should offer bonds were necessary unlike was the case with him being detained at Lilayi Police for eight days without app
aring before court.
President Hichilema also warned officers against engaging in corrupt practices in all forms.
President Hakainde Hichilema officiating at the graduation ceremony of 1, 341 officer-recruits at the Zambia Police, Lilayi Training College in Lusaka.
And Home Affairs Minister Jack Mwiimbu said the new dawn government will not tolerate a situation where people usurp the role of the police officers.
He said the police must take up their space of fairly and firmly enforcing the law without fear or favour.
Mr. Mwiimbu said officers should also respect the fundamental rights of citizens as they carry out their duties.
The Minister further implored police in the country to adhere to President Hichilema’s call for professionalism in carrying out their duties.
He pledged the new dawn government’s determination to address challenges such as transport and poor infrastructure as implementation of the 2022 national budget commences.
Mr. Mwiimbu said his Ministry will ask for authority to recruit more officers next year to reduce the police citizen ratio as a way of curbing crime.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Lemmy Kajoba called on new recruits to be firm in enforcing the law but fair on everyone while observing human rights.
Mr. Kajoba also urged the officers to go out there and make a difference by bringing to book lawbreakers regardless of their social status.
And Lilayi College Commanding Officer, Paul Achume said 1 347 people had been recruited but one died during training while others were ejected for indiscipline.
President Hakainde Hichilema officiating at the graduation ceremony of 1, 341 officer-recruits at the Zambia Police, Lilayi Training College in Lusaka.
The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has continued to dismantle Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds to reduce the backlog currently at about K37 billion.
The Authority has in the month of November paid K1.3 billion in refunds surpassing the usual K850 million monthly allocation.
ZRA Corporate Communications Manager Topsy Sikalinda said that the decision to refund higher figures is meant to clear the backlog of the audited refunds especially for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which have been outstanding since 2013.
Mr. Sikalinda says in the payments for the months of October and November, the Authority has cleared most of the backlog on a First In First Out basis for audited refunds below 5-million kwacha from 2013 to 2019.
He said in a statement to the media that the tax refunds are projected to rekindle microeconomic activity at the local level, push liquidity in the Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs.
Mr. Sikalinda said the Authority will continue working closely with the stakeholders to ensure the backlog is liquidated and businesses continue operating in a thriving environment.
He said as announced last month, the Authority will continue implementing a more business-oriented, transparent, and predictable refund mechanism that will stimulate the growth of the business sector.
It’s difficult to understand why our new government leaders are celebrating getting on to an IMF programme. It reminds me of the PF government’s celebrations over getting the Euro bonds. Can one really celebrate getting kaloba! Is that something to really celebrate?
In life, it is very important to be clear about things or else you be trying to decorate your tomorrow with other people’s yesterdays. Those in the dark are in no position to light the way for others.
The truth is that when a country borrows from the IMF, its government agrees to adjust its economic policies to overcome the problems that the IMF believes led it to seek financial aid. These policy adjustments are conditions for IMF loans and serve to ensure that the country will be able to repay the IMF. Conditionality covers the design of IMF-supported programmes —that is, macroeconomic and structural policies—and the specific tools used to monitor progress toward goals outlined for cooperation with the IMF.
The IMF believes that conditionality helps to stabilise balance-of-payments problems without resorting to measures that are harmful to national or international prosperity. At the same time, the measures are meant to safeguard IMF resources by ensuring that the country’s balance of payments will be strong enough to permit it to repay the loan.
Most IMF financing is paid out in instalments and linked to demonstrable policy actions. This is intended to ensure progress in programme implementation and reduce risks to IMF resources. There are steps a country must agree to take before the IMF approves financing. Examples of these are the elimination of price controls, subsidies, monetary and credit aggregates, international reserves, fiscal balances, and external borrowing, the ceiling on government borrowing, minimum level of international reserves, minimum domestic revenue collection, minimum level of social assistance spending and so on and so forth.
The most important function of the IMF is its ability to provide loans to member nations in need of a bailout. The IMF attaches conditions to these loans, including prescribed economic policies, to which borrowing governments must comply. The IMF gives loans to countries in economic trouble. In exchange, countries must implement a programme of painful policy reforms. Countries rarely complete these programmes. Countries must meet policy conditions in regular reviews to gain access to tranches of funding. Failure to implement them interrupts the programme. The high failure rate may indicate that the IMF’s programmes may be unimplementable by design. They simply entail too many policy conditions. Even neoliberal reform-minded governments struggle to implement them.
And programme failure has serious repercussions for economic development. Failure sends a negative signal to markets, causing them to lose confidence in the ability of governments to stabilise the economy and undertake reforms. The result very often is a rise in inflation and increases in capital flight that deprive countries of much-needed capital for investment in public goods and services. Some have blamed the failure rate on a lack of motivation by borrowing governments. Facing pressures from special interest groups, such as labour unions and business groups, governments often backpedal from previous commitments.
In addition, it has been have found that countries that are friends with powerful donors like the US also experience more implementation failure. They receive favourable treatment, such as regaining access to IMF loans much faster than other countries, creating a moral hazard problem. In other words, encouraging bad behaviour.
Conditions to privatise state-owned enterprises, liberalise prices and overhaul the public sector were especially prone to cause implementation failure. This is because these conditions mobilise domestic opposition that can thwart programme implementation. Usually, trying to kill this opposition some governments have turned tyrannical – denying citizens their fundamental rights and freedoms of protest, assembly and expression.
Researchers have also ruled out that implementation failure was driven by the occurrence of a financial crisis, macroeconomic instability, domestic opposition to policy reform, or geopolitical factors.
Investors rate a country lower when it had a permanent interruption of an IMF programme.
Programme interruptions lead to adverse financial market reactions. When investors lose confidence in a country’s ability to undertake market-liberalising reform, they require higher interest rates on their loans. Borrowing countries that failed to implement IMF programmes, therefore, faced the risk of more volatile capital flows and higher refinancing costs. Ultimately, higher financing costs made them even more dependent on the Fund, entrapping them in a cycle of dependency.
Given the detrimental effects of IMF programme interruptions for developing countries, it is puzzling that the reform of IMF conditionality is lagging.
The IMF has often blamed weak capacity and lack of “political will” for poor implementation. This predominant view was challenged by Horst Köhler, a former IMF managing director, who launched a “streamlining initiative”. Its goal was to reduce the number of conditions.
But the number of conditions remained high. This is partly because of the rigid process by which new IMF programmes come about.
There’s a need for greater leadership to ensure policy coherence in IMF programmes. This is even more important right now with a record-high number of 80 new IMF lending arrangements due to the COVID-19 crisis in developing countries. Under the dual COVID-19 health and economic crises, these programmes run the risk of having too many conditions. This may drive countries into financial disaster and back to the IMF again. This is the perilous path our new government is celebrating embarking on!
Zesco United this Saturday eye a rare opportunity to go up to second place this season on the FAZ Super League.
The defending champions have endured an unconvincing start to their league title defence losing four and drawing three of their thirteen games played so far this term with three matches in hand.
On top of that, Zesco made a rare continental football preliminary stage exit in October from the 2021/2022 CAF Champions League.
And so on Saturday at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, sixth placed Zesco host Nkwazi who have free fallen from second to fourth after losing their last four games.
Zesco have 21 points, one less than Nkwazi and are three points behind second placed Green Eagles who host Prison Leopards 24 hours later on Sunday in Choma.
And so a home win for Zesco over Nkwazi will see them join Eagles on 24 points and armed with the luxury of a better goal difference.’
Zesco are feeling bullish ahead of the game after collecting a 1-0 away win over Lusaka Dynamos on Wednesday that came four days after squandering a one-nil lead to lose 2-1 at home to third placed Power Dynamos.
Meanwhile, at the top of the table, leaders Green Buffaloes host Buildcon on Saturday in Lusaka battling to halt a three match drought in which period they have collected just two points.
FAZ SUPER LEAGUE FIXTURES
WEEK 16
11/12/2021
Zesco United-Nkwazi
Kabwe Warriors -Kafue Celtic
Konkola Blades-Forest Rangers
Green Buffaloes-Buildcon
Kansanshi Dynamos-Lusaka Dynamos
12/12/2021
Green Eagles-Prison Leopards
Chambishi-Red Arrows
Indeni-Zanaco
Nkana-Power Dynamos
Former National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Chishimba Kambwili has opposed the decision by Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti to prevent all Patriotic Front Members of Parliament from taking part in the business of the house despite filling appeals against the nullification of their seats by the High Court.
Speaker Mutti this week ruled that Kabushi Member of Parliament Bowman Lusambo is out of order to remain in the House after the nullification of his election victory by the High Court.
Ms. Mutti has further ruled that in view of her ruling, all Members of Parliament whose election results were nullified by a decision of the High Court, whether or not such a decision has been appealed against, shall forthwith not take part in any Parliamentary business.
But Dr. Kambwili said the Speaker’s ruling has no legal backing and must be rescinded immediately.
“When one’s case has been petitioned and nullified by the lower court which is the High Court, he cannot be removed from Parliament until all the legal protests which mean the appeal to the Supreme Court is exhausted. Anything outside that is illegal but in this country we tend to accept illegality because we are supporting that particular Government at a particular time and we only come to talk about the ideal after they have left office,” Dr Kambwili said on Sun FM Radio.
“What has happened to the MPs is exactly what happened to me (in 2019) where the speaker of the National Assembly declared my Roan Seat vacant when I had an appeal pending at the Supreme Court. And when the matter went to the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court made reference to article 73 (4) and said the Speaker had overshot his boundary in interpreting the law which he should have left to the competent court of jurisdiction and in this case which is the Constitutional Court,” he said.
According to the speaker’s interpretation of Article 73 of the constitution, when the Petition is determined by the High Court and a seat is nullified, a Member shall cease to hold the seat and shall not take part in any parliamentary business unless and until the Constitutional Court overturns the decision of the High Court, adding that, however, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) cannot proceed to hold by-elections until the decision of the Constitutional Court.
“So what the Speaker did is exactly what his predecessor did to me and was condemned by the Constitutional Court but because this thing is politically motivated. It is the Government of the day which instructed the speaker to make that ruling whether it has a legal backing or not. And if our President and I am saying our President Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, the President of the Republic of Zambia is fair enough, he should tell the Speaker that she erred and that that decision must be rescinded because it is not supported by any legal sense,” Dr. Kambwili added.
“Members of Parliament from time immemorial have been petitioned, they have lost the petition at first stage, but none of the MP has been removed from Parliament before the decision of the superior court in those days the Supreme Court. The Speaker is a very prominent lawyer and I know that making that decision she just had political pressure and what has happened now she has put her name into disrepute. She has destroyed her name which she built over a long period of time just because of political interference.”
“I want to appeal to all Zambians to condemn this. The PF celebrated when the speaker illegally removed me from office. The PF should have condemned it then but they supported it. Now it has happened to them, if they had condemned it when it happened to Chishimba Kambwili this time it could not have been done,” he concluded.
THE OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) has accused the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) of being hell-bent on intimidating the opposition.
Leader of the opposition in Parliament Hon Brian Muntayalwa Mundubile said the arrest of former Home Affairs Minister Hon Stephen Kampyongo was premeditated adding that the treatment he was subjected to was unfair.
He described his arrest as an instruction “that was included on some list somewhere” as he accused the UPND of being hell-bent on intimidating political opponents.
“His arrest was premeditated as you know we have videos from round about three years back were people instructed to put Hon Kampyongo on the list of those who attacked the helicopter,” he said.
“It was an instruction that was included on some list somewhere. It was premeditated and the treatment that Hon Kampyongo received was very unfortunate because even as his coleagues we were unable to see him when he was at Chelstone Police.”
Hon Mundubile who is Mporokoso PF lawmaker said man-handling a former Government Minister in the night like a common criminal is very unfortunate and very sad.
“But like we have said before, this is expected because our friends are bent on intimidating the political opponents. In their own wisdom, they think by doing so the opposition will stop speaking,” he said.
“But that is totally wrong because we are elected by the Zambian people and we will continue to represent them in our capacity as members of Parliament and we will also continue existing as the opposition political party.”
Meanwhile, Hon Mundubile said what the focus should be by the UPND government is simply to deliver to the people on the promises.
He insinuated that the route taken by the New Dawn Administration is not in response to what the people expected.
The leader of the opposition in Parliament said this at Lusaka High Court earlier today as Nine (9) PF MPs whose nullified seats are on appeal awaited the Court’s order over their application following the Speaker’s ruling.
The Nine MPs are seeking an order quashing Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti’s ruling which stops them from attending Parliament business while the Constitutional Court is determining their appeal.
However, the State applied for an adjournment stating that they received the instructions late and they would like to sufficiently prepare to respond.
Zambian football great Kalusha Bwalya has paid tribute to former FAZ general secretary George Kasengele who has died in Lusaka.
Kasengele died on Friday morning at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka after an illness.
In a facebook post, Kalusha described Kasengele as “an administration machine”.
Kasengele served as FAZ general secretary from 2008 to 2016 during the reign of Kalusha at Football House.
“George Mwila Kasengele, you were my brother, my friend and my colleague. An oak tree has fallen. I will never forget you GK. You shall forever live amongst us. You were like an administration machine,” Kalusha wrote.
“Your writing skills coupled with your infinite wisdom of corporate governance and leadership were second to none.”
“A real warrior of a man. You and I come from a long way. I will miss you my brother. My sincere condolences to the Family and friends and the Zambian football family. Till we meet again,” he added.
THE Lusaka Magistrate Court has acquitted Lusaka lawyer Mutemwa Mutemwa, his son, also a lawyer and a police officer Dennis Mano Kayombo who pleaded not guilty to charges of theft of US$800, 000 after the state decided to withdraw the matter from the court.
The withdrawal by the state angered the judge who warned the state to be serious with some of the matters they bring to the court, saying matters have to be fully investigated to avoid such withdrawals.
This is in a matter in which Lloyd Chinjenge, 42, a businessman of Lusaka applied for the matter to be dismissed stating that there are some ongoing transactions between him and the accused and also that he has a good relationship with the lawyer.
Mutemwa senior, his son Mutemwa Jnr and Kayombo appeared before resident magistrate Dominic Makalicha in a matter in which they were charged with two counts of theft.
However, after the court analyzed the submissions made by the complainant and the prosecutor and their reasons were given, it dismissed the matter.
“The state through the prosecutor are the ones who brought the accused to court and these are the same people who have suggested to offer no evidence against the accused, the court therein is kept with no option but to have the matter withdrawn because they have chosen to offer no evidence against the accused,” said Magistrate Makalicha.
He further said people should stop using the court as a “rubber stamp” having matters within the courts when in fact it’s the state that is not interested in prosecuting the matter.
In October, according to a Zambia Police statement, a lawyer and a police officer were on the run after they allegedly stole US$800,000 during a search party at a suspect’s home. Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga, in a statement, named the fugitives as Mutemwa Mutemwa State Counsel (SC) of Mutemwa Legal Practitioners and Detective Chief Inspector Mano Kayombo of Lusaka Central Police Station.
According to the statement, Mr. Hamoonga said that the money is the property of Lloyd Chinjenge of House number 2415 Ibex Hill Lusaka. Mr Hamoonga said the incident occurred on 19th October, 2021 in Salama Park area, Lusaka, when police received information that Chinjenge was in possession of an undisclosed amount of money on his premises believed to have been unlawfully obtained.
He said a search party of officers, among them Detective Chief Inspector Kayombo was constituted to conduct searches on two premises belonging to Chinjenge in Salama Park and another in Ibex Hill.
Mr. Hamoonga said both searches were witnessed by Mutemwa Mutemwa Junior on behalf of Chinjenge.
“Not known to the rest of the search party, whilst the search was going on at the ibex hill premise, Mano and Mutemwa SC, who was instructed by Mutemwa Jnr to assist, went to the Salama Park residence and picked up two bags suspected to have contained the sought money from one of the motor vehicles belonging to Chinjenge on his instruction for safe custody. The incident was witnessed by an officer undercover who was left to keep vigil at the said residence.
“The following day, the 20th October 2021 Chinjenge reported to the police that the said lawyers stole the $800,000=00 which he had entrusted them to secure,” Mr Hamoonga said.
He said when police summoned Mutemwa Jnr and under warn and caution, he disclosed that Mutemwa SC and Mano got the money amounting to $400,000.00 and not $800,000. Mr. Hamoonga said Mutemwa has since been arrested for theft.
Patriotic Front Member of the Central Committee (MCC) Dr. Brian Mundubile says the former ruling party must prioritise and embrace discipline in all structures as it rebrands.
Mr. Mundubile, the PF Chairman for Legal Affairs, said the internal election postmortem has shown that lack of discipline and hooliganism made the party unpopular prior to the last August general elections.
He said there is more to the PF rebranding than finger-pointing and witch-hunting.
Mr. Mundubile said the PF must strive to regain its lost popularity among the Zambian people ahead of future elections.
He also spoke on the planned holding of the PF Convention saying it is vital in ensuring that the former ruling party becomes popular among the citizenry again.
“Rebranding is a much more complex process than just removing some people from the party. We have listened to people, especially people from outside the party. Prior to the postmortem we asked people what made Zambians not to vote for us. One of the things we are working on in rebranding is discipline because the issue of hooliganism was top on the agenda to say as a party you stopped being attractive,” Mr. Mundubile said on Radio Icengelo.
“People said as a party you started instilling fear in people be it in the markets, civil service and bus stations. That fear made even the people that loved the party and what it did got fed up. So number one step is instilling discipline across all party structures. This rebranding is supposed to start with discipline at branch level with an individual member checking themselves.”
“It is easy to point fingers at others but as PF members we must ask ourselves what we did to avoid the election loss. So this issue can’t revolve around one person seated in Lusaka or three or four, five people seated in Lusaka. How about that one in Mporokoso who made votes go to the other side, what did they do to prevent us from losing the election so that rebranding is starting right at the bottom, section level, branch coming to the ward. There will also be restructuring, party structures will not be the same, party structures are going to be expanded,” he said.
Mr. Mundubile is one of the people tipped to become PF party president when former President Edgar Lungu leaves the party presidency.
Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamabo II of the Soli-speaking people says she is pleased with the New Dawn government’s response towards her request for works on the Lwimba Katoba Road to be completed.
The traditional leader said it is important for the stretch of 27 kilometers of the road which has been in a deplorable state for ten years to be worked on because it is used by many farmers to transport their produce to markets.
She said the road becomes impassable during rainy season, a situation which has disadvantaged her subjects for many years as they have to use alternative longer routes to reach Chongwe’s central business district.
Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya said she is hopeful that government will improve road infrastructure in her chiefdom which will ease movement for her subjects.
She said this after inspecting some projects in Chongwe yesterday, in the company of Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Charles Milupi, and Chongwe Member of Parliament, Silvya Masebo.
The Chieftaines also expressed concern over inadequate water supply which has persisted in the area despite the completion of the Ntanisha water project.
“The people of Chongwe deserve proper supply of clean water. Only few areas have full water supply which should not be the case,” Chieftainess Nkomeshya said.
She called on Lusaka Water and Sanitation Company to come up with long-term solutions to address the challenge.
Meanwhile, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development, Charles Milupi assured the traditional leader that government will work on Lwimba-Katoba Road because it acknowledges the role it plays to ease movement of farmers.
“It is unfortunate that the road was not attended to for a long time despite it’s commercial relevance,”
“We will work on it and put up short term measures to help the people of Chongwe,” Mr Milupi said.
He further assured the Chieftainess that government will also work on two bridges on the road in Chalimbana and Lwimba wards.
Speaking in the sidelines, Chongwe Member of Parliament thanked Housing and Infrastructure Development Minister, Charles Milupi for responding to concerns raised by people in her constituency over poor road infrastructure.
Ms Masebo said the people of Chongwe have been marginalised for many years and are eager to see development under the new government.
She said the new dawn government is a listening government which will fulfil its promise to deliver the development which her constituency deserves.
