The Human Rights Commission has strongly condemned the killing of two suspected Patriotic Front (PF) supporters in Kanyama Township in Lusaka on July 30, 2021.

Human Rights Commission Spokesperson, Mweelwa Muleya has described the killing as a horrendous act of depriving the victims of their right to life and has called for the perpetrators to be punished in accordance with the law in order to end impunity and prevent further criminal acts and grave violations or abuse of human rights.

“The brutal killing of the duo is repugnant to the fact that all human beings are endowed with reason and conscience and must act towards each other in a humane manner,” he said.

Mr. Muleya has advised that the country seriously assess the negative impact of drug abuse on crime and violation of human rights and develop a robust national rehabilitation programme, to create a humane society as a long term solution to the violence.

He said it is extremely regrettable that the apparent politically-related murder happened barely three days after the Commission called on all political party leaders to order their supporters to lay down their weapons of violence and stop all forms of violence.

Mr. Muleya has commended the Zambia Police Service for swiftly arresting the suspected perpetrators.

“The Commission commiserates with the families of the deceased male citizens. It is regrettable that life deprived can never be restored but the Commission prays that the unfettered wheels of justice will contribute to compensating their pain caused by the unbearable loss,” he said.

Mr. Muleya has appealed to various interest groups and institutions to allow Police to professionally and independently deal with the criminal matter without any form of interference or influence.

He has reiterated the commission’s call to all political party leaders to order their supporters to stop all acts of political and electoral violence and contribute to creating a peaceful environment for democratic and popular participation of the electorate to vote for candidates of their choice on August 12, 2021.

Meanwhile, Patriotic Front (PF) member of the Central Committee, Brian Mundubile has condemned the violence which took place in Lusaka’s Kanyama Constituency that led to the death of two members of the party.

Mr. Mundubile said such barbaric behaviour must be condemned in the strongest terms. He said it is sad that lives could be lost in such a manner adding that no elective position is worth human blood.

“It is unacceptable that human life could be lost in that manner. No seat is worth blood. This cannot be condoned,” said Mr. Mundubile Mr. Mundubile, who is also PF Mporokoso Parliamentary candidate, has challenged opposition party leaders to emulate President Edgar Lungu who has strongly condemned violence.

He noted that the peace agreement that was signed by the political parties will not be meaningful, if leaders do not take responsibility to curb violence.

“If political leaders don’t take it upon themselves to stop violence, the peace accord that was signed will remain an academic exercise,” he said.

Chief Simamba of Siavonga District has castigated those who took part in the privatization exercise in the late 90’s.

Speaking when the PF Presidential running mate Professor Nkandu Luo paid a courtesy call on him at his palace Chief Simamba said a few unpatriotic Zambians enriched themselves and left a lot of Zambians in misery

He said the architects of privatization did not study to see whether it was workable or not.

“There is no way you can sell national assets to foreigners. A lot of Zambians were left in misery because the privatization exercise was badly implemented. They did not study whether the exercise was workable or not,” Chief Simamba said.

“It’s only Zambians who can develop this country and we need to make Zambia a better place. Let’s work as a team and develop Zambia,” he said.

And the traditional leader called on Zambians to put politics aside and focus on development. He said politics cannot exist without development. Chief Simamba said as a traditional leader he has put development as a top priority because he wants to see an improvement in the lives of his people.

“Southern province is a province for all the 73 tribes and every Zambian is free to come and settle and invest here. As Zambians let’s put politics aside and focus on development. Politics will not exist without development and development is my first priority,” Chief Simamba said.

“A lot of development has taken place here in Siavonga. We had no electricity but this time we have and companies are coming up. I want to leave a legacy and make a difference in my chiefdom hence my desire to work with the Government of the day,” the traditional leader said.

And PF Presidential running mate Professor Nkandu Luo said the major focus of the Patriotic Front is to develop Zambia. Professor Luo said Zambians should continue with the PF because it is the only party with a tested leadership, adding voting for the opposition party will take the country backward.

“We have laid a strong foundation in infrastructure development in agriculture, energy and people are seeing the fruits. We have a tested Government in place and it is time for our wealth to be enjoyed by Zambians. We will continue deliver,” Professor Luo said.

“Change in the early 90’s was not premised on research.Voting for UPND will take the country backwards because all national assets will be in the hands of foreigners. We can only develop if the assets are in the hands of Zambians, otherwise we will always remain spectators,” She said.

” Let’s not experiment with leadership, our friends, the UPND got 100 vehicles from their funders in exchange for national assets should they win the elections, ” Professor Luo said.

Zambia has committed to supporting the national education sector by protecting and increasing the share of the national budget dedicated to education towards the global 20 percent benchmark.

According to a press statement released to the media by Abigail Chaponda, the First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the Zambia High Commission in the United Kingdom,
Ministry of General Education Permanent Secretary, Jabbin Mulwanda made the commitment in a video, during a two-day Global Partnership for Education (GPE) summit held in South-West London.

“The Republic of Zambia is committed to supporting our national education sector by protecting and increasing the share of the national budget dedicated to Education towards the global 20% benchmark. The education shares in 2021 was 11.8 percent, in 2022, it will be at 13.19 percent and by 2023, we commit to increasing this by 14.25 percent. These projections are aligned to the country’s medium term expenditure framework,” he said.

The Summit was attended by a host of developing world leaders and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK had pledged £430 million last month to the global partnership for education (GPE) in the face of “difficult financial circumstances” after the coronavirus pandemic.

GPE has launched an ambitious financing campaign to raise at least US $5 billion over 5 years to change children’s lives through education. The funds will help transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories, which are home to more than 1 billion children and more than 80% of the world’s out-of-school children. An equally important campaign goal is to ensure that domestic education expenditure is protected.

Fully-funded, GPE will leverage the partnerships and mobilize the resources needed to enable 175 million girls and boys to learn, reach 140 million more students with professionally trained teachers, enroll 88 million more children in school – including 46 million more girls – and help governments save $16 billion through more efficient spending.

GPE calls on countries to prioritize, protect and increase domestic financing towards the global benchmark of 20% of total public expenditure to leave no one behind and mitigate potential for huge losses in human capital.

GPE is also calling on countries to ensure education budgets are more equitable, allocated and spent to reach the most marginalized, and efficient, every dollar spent goes as far as possible to improve learning.

Issued by: Abigail Chaponda (Mrs.)
First Secretary | Press and Public Relations
Zambia High Commission in the United Kingdom.

The Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit DMMU says the unit is incurring a huge cost of transporting political party cadres who are left behind after party events.

DMMU National Coordinator, Chanda Kabwe disclosed that the trend of transporting cadres has proved to be a huge cost to DMMU as cadres are left stranded after the events.

Mr. Chanda has called on political parties to desist from ferrying cadres from one district to the other if they have no means of taking them back.

“The government through DMMU is compelled to transport stranded cadres back to their various districts after being used and left stranded by mostly the opposition political parties,” he said.

He said political parties should be responsible enough to take care of their cadres after their political activities as opposed to what has been happening where cadres are left stranded with no food and transport.

Mr. Kabwe mentioned incidents such as the nominations of Presidential candidates for the August 2021 elections where the DMMU repatriated over 100 cadres to Northwestern Province after they were left stranded by a named party leader and the recent incident in Chipata where the Unit has had to make arrangements to repatriate cadres to various districts of Eastern Province after they were left stranded.

He has since directed Eastern Province DMMU Regional Coordinator and Chipata District Commissioner who is the District Disaster Management Committee Chairperson to identify where the stranded cadres hail from and the cost implication for their repatriation.

Mr. Kabwe has since appealed to members of the public not to fall prey to political parties whose aim is to use them to show popularity and later dump them on the streets.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kabwe has expressed regret at the political violence which led to the demise of two alleged Patriotic Front (PF) cadres in Lusaka’s Kanyama Township, allegedly murdered by cadres from a named opposition political party saying government will render support to the two families.

This was contained in a statement issued in Lusaka today by Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit Senior Communications Officer, Mathews Musukwa.

Forty-three people have been apprehended, after police raids last night in various parts of Lusaka, following yesterday’s killing of two people in Kanyama, during rival political party cadres clash.

Police have also apprehended 4 suspects, in connection with the Kanyama murder case, in which 2 male adults, aged between 20 and 30, were killed, during the violent political clash. During the raid, police also recovered various offensive weapons, among them machetes and knives, as well as some various illicit drugs.

Lusaka Province Police Commissioner, Luckson Sakala has confirmed last night’s police operation, saying the apprehended suspects include 3 females and 1 male, who was found in a military uniform.

Mr. Sakala has also confirmed the apprehending of the 4 suspects, in connection with the Kanyama murder, who he says are members of a named political party. He has explained that earlier yesterday, the political rival groups clashed around 16.30 hours in Kanyama’s Mbasela area, during which the two deceased were hacked to death.

Speaking today, when he addressed the media, Mr. Sakala has said that 2 of the murder suspects were apprehended by members of the public and the other 2 by police, who rushed to the scene. Mr. Sakala has since warned against political violence, saying police will continue conducting operations to maintain law and order.

Yesterday, two Patriotic Front Members in Lusaka’s Kanyama Township were allegedly murdered by suspected UPND cadres after sustaining multiple deep cuts. Deputy Inspector General of Police Charity Katanga disclosed to ZNBC News last evening that the two were murdered in their camp as they prepared lunch .

Mrs. Katanga said that Police rushed to the scene after reports of a clash between PF and UPND to disperse the cadres. She has identified the deceased as Danny and Teddy both aged between 20 and 30.

Mrs. Katanga says the police have since arrested 4 UPND suspects for the murder of which 2 are in hospital after the public descended on them while 2 are in police custody. Those arrested include Geoffrey Chikoti, Samson Mumba, Namushi Chikunona and Francis Chabala.

Mrs. Katanga explained that the police will ensure that all those behind any form of violence are held accountable for their action.

And, Mrs. Katanga said it is unfortunate that some political parties continue to engage in forms of violence. She has since advised political parties to tame their cadres so that such incidences are not recorded.