Maravi

Release Zambian Airways probe report, FFTUZ challenges govt

Release Zambian Airways probe report, FFTUZ challenges govt
Written by Katwishi Bwalya
Wednesday, April 08, 2009 4:51:26 PM

FEDERATION of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) vice-president Charles Phiri has given a 48-hour ultimatum to the government to release its findings of The Post dealings with Zambian Airways.

In an interview yesterday, Phiri said the failure by the government to publicise its findings would force Zambians to conclude that the allegations against The Post were all lies.

He said the investigations had taken long to be concluded and that Zambians were anxious to know the truth.

"Let the government come up with what they have investigated, we want to know as interested parties. And as Zambians within the next 48 hours, government must come up with a report over what they have found out because we are all anxious," Phiri said. "If there would be nothing that is coming up in the next 48 hours then we are concluding that it has been all lies because this government is full of lies and cheats."

He said the silence on the investigations was a clear sign that the people alleged to have been involved in wrongdoing were innocent.

"The long silence in our view is clear indication that The Post and its directors including Mr. [Mutembo] Nchito are not guilty of what Rupiah Banda and his colleagues are talking about the misappropriation of US $30 million," he said. "The investigations that were instituted, everyone of us who are interested in the happenings in this country, we were looking forward to a very quick and expeditious investigation and the outcome of those investigations. Now it is quiet. In our opinion, there is really nothing that The Post has committed especially with its managing director Mr Fred M'membe and Mutembo Nchito, they have not committed anything because if you want to investigate even at the police station they are only allowed two days to investigate and come up with evidence and take the person to court."

Phiri said the labour movement was disappointed that the government wanted to suppress its opponents through threats.

"We feel very disappointed that government in its quest to pursue opponents is targeting institutions like The Post and Zambian Airways to try and incriminate people so that they silence people who are speaking on behalf of the silent majority," Phiri said. "Government should not be targeting institutions simply because they have got problems with the people that are running those institutions. We are worried that the results have taken long and it is not only one wing of government that has been investigating. I am sure all the security wings of government have been involved in these investigations and we are wondering as to why they are failing to finalise the outcome of whatever they investigated so that the people of Zambia and indeed all the stakeholders interested in hearing the outcome are given the results."

Phiri said justice delayed was justice denied.

"As the labour movement, we are saying can we know what has happened to Zambian Airways through those investigations otherwise we are wasting our time investigating things which are not even there. We are supposed to be investigating real issues of plunder, of cheating, of stealing government resources as reported in the Auditor General's report; not people and not just people we are just suspecting because they have different views from us as politicians," said Phiri "Should the government fail to publish the findings then we are going to conclude that the allegations made against The Post were all lies and we will not trust people who will be telling the nation lies because when there are allegations, they must be probed and the results must come forward. Cases must be prosecuted in the courts of law and people must go straight to the courts of law and let justice save its course.

"The Post can't be silenced. We are living in a liberalised economy. It will be taking the country 25 years backwards. We will be going back to the UNIP era. We as Zambians we can't allow such a situation to happen to silence the media."



http://www.postzambia.com/content/view/7167/

Cuba doesn’t fear dialogue with US, says Fidel
Written by Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba

CUBA does not fear dialogue with the United States, former president Fidel Castro has said. Fidel said the Cuban revolution does not need the confrontation with the US to exist as some foolish people think.
Commenting on US Indiana Republican Party Senator Richard G. Lugar's call on President Barack Obama to appoint a special envoy to initiate direct talks with Cuba, Fidel said Senator Lugar was walking on solid grounds and not afraid of the silliness of being described as soft or pro-socialist.

"Those who are capable of serenely analysing the events, as is the case of the senator from Indiana, use an irrefutable argument [that] the United States' measures against Cuba over almost half a century are a total failure," Fidel said. "There is no need to emphasise what Cuba has always said. We do not fear dialogue with the United States. Nor do we need the confrontation to exist as some foolish people think. We exist precisely because we believe in our ideas and we have never feared dialogue with the adversary. It is the only way to secure friendship and peace among peoples."

He asked President Obama to reconcile his goodwill message and the continued blockade of Cuba by Washington.

"If President Barack Obama travels the world asserting, as he did in his very own country, that it is necessary to invest the sums needed to pull out of the financial crisis, to guarantee the homes where countless families live, to guarantee jobs for the American workers who are becoming unemployed by the millions, to install health services and quality education for all citizens, how can he reconcile that with blockade measures to impose his will over a country like Cuba?" Fidel asked.

He said today drugs were one of the most serious problems in the Western hemisphere and in Europe.

Fidel said in the war against drug trafficking and organised crime encouraged in the enormous US market, the Latin American countries are now losing almost ten thousand men each year, more than twice the number lost by the United States in the Iraq war.

He observed that the number continued to grow and the problem was very far from being resolved.

However, Fidel said that phenomenon did not exist in Cuba although the island was a closer neighbour of the US.

He said on that thorny subject and in the war against illegal migration, the US and Cuban coast guard services had been cooperating for many years.

"On the other hand, no American has ever died as the result of terrorist actions coming from our country because such activities would not be tolerated," said Fidel. "The Cuban Revolution which has not been destroyed either by the blockade or the dirty war is based on ethical and political principles that is the reason why it has been able to resist."

Senator Lugar argued that America's measures against Cuba puts the United States at odds with the views of the rest of Latin America, the European Union and the United Nations (UN) and also undermined its broader security and political interests in the Western Hemisphere.

Senator Lugar urged President Obama to use the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago to build a more hospitable climate to advance US interests in the region through "a change in our posture regarding Cuba policy."

Labels: CHARLES PHIRI, FFTUZ, THE POST, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS

posted by MrK @ 4:03 PM