Book Review: Nyaradzo Mtizira - The Chimurenga Protocol
Nancy Pasipanodya
Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:12:00 +0000
THE Chimurenga Protocol is a factual historical narrative that traces the origins of the struggle for land in Zimbabwe as exemplified by the First, Second and Third Chimurengas. The narrative highlights key events in the history of Zimbabwe.
It begins with the initial racist-inspired arrival of the Pioneer Column on Zimbabwean soil in 1890 under the auspices of the British South Africa Company to the heroic passage of the Land Acquisition Act of 2001 that unequivocally restored both land and dignity to the indigenous Zimbabwean citizen.
Throughout the narrative, great emphasis is placed on the relentless treachery of the former colonial power, Britain, in its relationship with Zimbabwe.
The Chimurenga Protocol is a gripping narrative that is a searing indictment of colonialism and its dark practitioners in post-colonial Zimbabwe.
It will set the reader thinking about the importance of sovereignty and the true reasons behind the imposition of illegal country-specific Western sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Ultimately, the book relates the victory of Zimbabwe’s visionary leadership over the decaying forces of imperialism as represented by Whitehall and Washington.
About The Author
Mtizira has written four books on HIV and AIDS His two fictional books deal with the subjects of stigma, the importance of voluntary testing and the need for behavioral change.
‘Lethal Virus’ is about a young man whose risky lifestyle leads to him contracting the disease, while the second book, ‘A Deadly Twist of Fate’ concerns an innocent young girl who receives a tainted blood transfusion and contracts the disease through no fault of her own.
The two non-fiction reference books centre around the core aspects of HIV and AIDS, as well as human reproductive biology, with the aim to provide relevant life-skills information and AIDS awareness in schools.
Forthcoming books by Nyaradzo Mtizira include The Ebola Conspiracy
Labels: BOOKS, HISTORY, NYARADZO MTIZIRA, THE CHIMURENGA PROTOCOL, ZIMBABWE
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Mugabe congratulates Malawi for 45 years of freedom
Mutsawashe Makuvise
Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:21:00 +0000
PRESIDENT Mugabe congratulates Mama Cecilia Kadzamira after she was conferred with a National Achievers Award by President Bingu wa Mutharika at Malawi’s 45th independence anniversary in Blantyre yesterday. — (Picture by Joseph Nyadzayo).
PRESIDENT Mugabe has congratulated Malawi and its people for attaining 45 years of freedom from British colonial rule. He said the struggle for self-rule in Malawi inspired the fight for freedom in Zimbabwe. Malawi was under British colonial rule for 70 years. She became independent in 1964 and a republic two years later.
The country has so far had three presidents: Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Mr Bakili Muluzi and Dr Bingu wa Mutharika - the current re-elected president.
Speaking at a State banquet hosted by President Bingu wa Mutharika on Sunday night ahead of yesterday’s independence celebrations, President Mugabe said
Malawi’s 45th anniversary reminded him of the road Zimbabwe travelled to freedom, drawing both support and inspiration from its neighbour.
He said this was the reason he felt compelled to attend the 45th independence celebrations despite a busy schedule.
“I have been associated with the leadership of Malawi for over 45 years and regard Malawi as a second home," said the President.
"I found it a great honour indeed to come and be present, it’s a great joy to join you and rejoice with you over this great day.
“Historically, I feel it is an reincarnment of what happened here in 1964. I was then secretary-general of Zanu which had been formed a year before in 1963 and that party had been formed with the assistance of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
"I was here in 1964 when independence was celebrated and people were rejoicing a new dawn because they now owned Malawi,” said President Mugabe.
He said the first Land-Rover Zanu owned was donated to the party by Malawi and the late Dr Kamuzu Banda.
He added that Ghana’s founding president, the late Kwame Nkrumah helped facilitate the training of the liberation movement’s first guerillas to fight British colonial rule in Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe said it was because of this fight for freedom that enabled all Africans to be "masters of our own destiny”.
The president also used the occassion to congratulate President wa Mutharika and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for winning May’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
President Mugabe said the elections were free and fair as declared by Malawians themselves but warned against Western interference in African elections.
The Government of Malawi conferred President wa Mutharika with the Grand National Achievers Award while former president Dr Kamuzu Banda and a former member of his government Mama Cecilia Kadzamira, among other Malawians were honoured for their contribution to the growth and development of the country. President Mugabe and his entourage returned home yesterday.
Labels: CECILIA KADZAMIRA, INDEPENDENCE, MALAWI, MUGABE
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MDC-T needs to restrategise
Felix Nyathi -- Opinion
Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:56:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR - Last week we read on various online sources that the Movement for Democratic Change party led by Prime Minister Morgfan Tsvangiorai was going to hold a two-day strategic meeting starting Friday. As a member of the MDC-T party here in the Diaspora, I think there is also a need for such a meeting.
The party here in the UK needs some direction. The leadership now seems bent on just producing endless documents that do not contribute anything to the efforts that are being made back home.
With all the negative press the party has been getting in the press, I think these meetings are important. Many politicians in the party are failing to speak with one voice. We don't know who to believe anymore on a variety of stories.
The confusion created in the media recently regarding the stories of Dr Chihombori, whose identity up to this day is suspect, the Chinese loan, and many others, will only destroy the MDC-T party.
It would be a good idea for us to have information on how the "strategic meeting" went on.
Labels: MDC
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Zim to withdraw troops from diamond fields
by Nelson Banya
07/07/2009 00:00:00
ZIMBABWE is to make a phased troop withdrawal from poorly secured diamond fields in the eastern part of the country after a Kimberly Process review team -- mandated to monitor and regulate diamond trade globally -- called for "immediate demilitarisation" following a visit to the region.
The Kimberly Process team also
wants the Zimbabwe government to put measures to stop smuggling in Marange fields.
Zimbabwe deployed troops to seal off the Marange diamond fields in 2008 to clamp down on illegal mining and smuggling after some 30,000 panners descended on the area. Human rights groups accuse the army of committing atrocities in the fields.
Last week Human Rights Watch released a damning report alleging that about 200 people had been killed during a military crackdown in the diamond fields.
Zimbabwe's deputy mines minister Murisi Zwizwai, whose department has denied charges of killings by soldiers, said the army would be gradually pulled out of the diamond fields, which cover 66,000 hectares.
"We agreed to remove soldiers but it will be done in phases while proper security settings would be put in place," Zwizwai said after meeting the Kimberly Process team.
The Zimbabwe government also asked for assistance in modernising the Chiadzwa diamond mining operations in Marange, currently being conducted by the under-funded state firm Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
Industry experts say official diamond sales account for less than 10 percent of Zimbabwe's mineral earnings, but have the potential to join gold and platinum among the country's main earners if the government clamps down on smuggling.
Zimbabwe's unity government, formed by rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in February, is battling to raise $8,3 billion to rescue the country's economy after years of contraction and hyperinflation.
Western donors, whose financial support is seen as key to economic recovery, remain sceptical and have demanded broad reforms and an end to rights abuses before providing aid. - Reuters
Labels: BLOOD DIAMONDS, DIAMONDS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, ZIMBABWE
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MDC fury over PM's boycott 'apology'
by
06/07/2009 00:00:00
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is taking political brickbats from his party’s senior leadership after apparently apologising to President Robert Mugabe over a boycott of last week’s cabinet meeting by MDC ministers.
Furious officials have sought a clarification from Tsvangirai amid rising tensions in the party following another row last week pitting him against Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
MDC ministers pulled out of the Cabinet meeting after it was brought forward by a day because Mugabe was leaving for an African Union summit in Libya.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe said the decision to hold the cabinet meeting on Monday and not the traditional Tuesday was a Zanu PF plot to deny Tsvangirai an opportunity to chair cabinet.
Tsvangirai publicly supported the boycott by his ministers, saying he “understands their frustrations and concerns”.
But President Mugabe, in an interview with the state-run Herald newspaper on Monday, claimed Tsvangirai had apologised to him.
He told the Herald: “We talked a bit about it with the Prime Minister and he apologised for it, and thought they should have come and if they had any grievances, aired their grievances in the meeting.
“It was a surprise to me to tell you the truth. I don’t know whether this is going to be the order of doing things. It’s insolence on one hand, but it’s also abysmal ignorance on the other.”
The report sparked feverish activity among senior MDC officials who say the Prime Minister’s message is increasingly at odds with the party line.
One minister said Tsvangirai was “causing agony” in the party.
“It’s a big problem. The team in cabinet is not speaking the same language as the Prime Minister and if Mugabe’s statement is anything to go by, then expect fireworks in the party,” said the minister who spoke to New Zimbabwe.com on condition of anonymity.
Late Monday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman James Maridadi said Tsvangirai had no recollection of the said apology.
Maridadi said: “What informs me is what the Prime Minister said at the press conference (last week) that members of cabinet have a right to disengage if they so wish.”
But a steady group of disgruntled MDC supporters are gathering around the abrasive Biti who last Friday accused Tsvangirai of lying over a US$950 million loan from China.
Tsvangirai told reporters Biti had secured the massive credit line, a statement Biti dismissed as “without foundation”.
New Zimbabwe.com now understands that while the credit line has been secured, Biti played no part in it and had not been fore-warned that Tsvangirai would give him credit for it.
While there is no immediate move to challenge Tsvangirai’s leadership, an MDC insider said: “If someone challenges leadership, then they invite it upon themselves.”
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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MDC fury over PM's boycott 'apology'
by
06/07/2009 00:00:00
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is taking political brickbats from his party’s senior leadership after apparently apologising to President Robert Mugabe over a boycott of last week’s cabinet meeting by MDC ministers.
Furious officials have sought a clarification from Tsvangirai amid rising tensions in the party following another row last week pitting him against Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
MDC ministers pulled out of the Cabinet meeting after it was brought forward by a day because Mugabe was leaving for an African Union summit in Libya.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe said the decision to hold the cabinet meeting on Monday and not the traditional Tuesday was a Zanu PF plot to deny Tsvangirai an opportunity to chair cabinet.
Tsvangirai publicly supported the boycott by his ministers, saying he “understands their frustrations and concerns”. But President Mugabe, in an interview with the state-run Herald newspaper on Monday, claimed Tsvangirai had apologised to him.
He told the Herald: “We talked a bit about it with the Prime Minister and he apologised for it, and thought they should have come and if they had any grievances, aired their grievances in the meeting.
“It was a surprise to me to tell you the truth. I don’t know whether this is going to be the order of doing things. It’s insolence on one hand, but it’s also abysmal ignorance on the other.”
The report sparked feverish activity among senior MDC officials who say the Prime Minister’s message is increasingly at odds with the party line.
One minister said Tsvangirai was “causing agony” in the party.
“It’s a big problem. The team in cabinet is not speaking the same language as the Prime Minister and if Mugabe’s statement is anything to go by, then expect fireworks in the party,” said the minister who spoke to New Zimbabwe.com on condition of anonymity.
Late Monday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman James Maridadi said Tsvangirai had no recollection of the said apology.
Maridadi said: “What informs me is what the Prime Minister said at the press conference (last week) that members of cabinet have a right to disengage if they so wish.”
But a steady group of disgruntled MDC supporters are gathering around the abrasive Biti who last Friday accused Tsvangirai of lying over a US$950 million loan from China.
Tsvangirai told reporters Biti had secured the massive credit line, a statement Biti dismissed as “without foundation”.
New Zimbabwe.com now understands that while the credit line has been secured, Biti played no part in it and had not been fore-warned that Tsvangirai would give him credit for it.
While there is no immediate move to challenge Tsvangirai’s leadership, an MDC insider said: “If someone challenges leadership, then they invite it upon themselves.”
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Zimbbawe moves closer to rand
by
07/07/2009 00:00:00
ZIMBABWE will look into the possibility of adopting the rand as an alternative to the country's existing multiple currency regime, Zimbabwe's Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube said on Tuesday.
"We cannot re-enter the Zimbabwe dollar without the economy to support that, we need another solution. We cannot continue forever with multiple currencies," Ncube told an Africa forum in London.
"If we can at least join rand monetary union, we will have money allocated to Zimbabwe through that system. No decision has been made, we will debate it and see what the best alternative is."
Finance Minister said on Monday that the country not return to using its own currency in the near future, and any move back to the Zimbabwe dollar will be linked to export strength.
“It is not our intention to depart in a hurry from the regime of multiple currencies that we are using at the present moment,” Tendai Biti said in an interview with Reuters television.
“There is no reversion to the Zimbabwe dollar at all. If it happens, it will depend on the performance of our economy, the performance of our exports. We are still a very, very long way to the return of the Zimbabwean dollar.”
Zimbabwe has allowed the use of multiple foreign currencies since January to stem hyperinflation which has left the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless in the midst of a severe economic crisis.
President Robert Mugabe has said Zimbabwe may revive the use of its own currency because the U.S. dollar was unavailable to a majority of people in the countryside.
Biti also told Reuters that inflation would reach 3-4 percent this year, after averaging 2.0 percent over the January-June period. He said Zimbabwe needed budgetary support.
“We expect our 2009 budget to be $1 billion, I expect to collect $800 million by the end of the year. This will leave us a shortfall of $200 million.”
Zimbabwe recorded a monthly inflation rate of one percent in May.
The last inflation figure announcement before the country permitted the use of foreign currencies was in October, which showed prices racing along at a record 231 million percent. - Reuters
Labels: SOUTH AFRICAN RAND, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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Unity and political opportunism
Written by Editor
Today, July 7, is Unity Day in our country. It is a special day that requires all of us to deeply meditate over the issue of unity. Despite our country’s social diversity, we have been able to hold together for over 44 years as citizens of Zambia.
Today many Zambians have married or have strong friendships across ethnic or racial lines. Many Zambians have also settled in different parts of the country which are not their native homes without any feeling of insecurity or not being accepted. Zambia also has become home to people of different racial backgrounds who play an active role in our country’s social, political and economic spheres.
This achievement has by no means been accidental, but a result of great vision and determination on the part of our founding fathers and mothers, those selfless heroic freedom fighters, to build one nation – Zambia – from numerous ethnic and racial groups. We should cherish and nurture this bond and never take it for granted. We should diligently guard against anything that would, through political expediency, threaten it.
Yes unity, itself is an expedience and not a principle, but a very important and necessary one. And it is imperative to overcome anything that impairs this unity because it is the only basic guarantee for the progress of our people and our country. Only through unity of all our people, of the whole nation can we overcome our poverty and backwardness.
But unity can only germinate from the seeds of unity. Like if you plant the seeds of tomatoes, you cannot expect to harvest maize, if you plant the seeds of disunity, division, you cannot expect to end up with unity in the nation.
We know there are many politicians in our country who go round talking about unity when they are actually planting seeds of division. But they expect to harvest the fruits of unity at the end of the day. Yes, they may want unity, but a different kind of unity. They want a type of unity that perpetrates them in leadership, that gives them what they want from the people. We have heard Rupiah Banda eloquently talk about unity, propounding all the good virtues of unity. But we have also heard the same Rupiah preaching, planting the seeds of division, of tribalism and regionalism. Rupiah last year, out of political expediency, went and told the people of Eastern Province in Chipata that they chase away anyone coming from other regions of our country to campaign there; they should tell them to go back where they come from. This is not a concoction on our part. We have repeated this statement several times because it is true; we have it on tape. And Rupiah has never denied or repudiated this statement. And worse still, Rupiah has never apologised for this barbaric statement. What does this mean?
The unity which all our people seek – and not that of Rupiah – can only be built on honest dealings, honest politics. It cannot be built on deceit, manipulation and lies. Those who seek unity by trying to manipulate and deceive others so that they get a lion’s share out of this political dispensation will not achieve much in terms of unity. What we are saying applies even to the pact between the Patriotic Front and UPND.
If this pact, this unity is simply a matter of opportunism for one individual or two or three to make themselves presidents, it will not work. If it is simply a way of trying to manipulate the situation to revive declining political fortunes and throw themselves on top of our politics again without much merit, it won’t work. Meaningful unity cannot be built on the shifting sands of evasions, manipulation, deceit, lies, illusions and opportunism. The challenge is to move from rhetoric to honest action, and action at unprecedented intensity and scale.
Meaningful unity is only possible among people who are truly honest with themselves and with others. Yes there is need for unity because no man is an island, and there are no men of stone who can’t be moved by the noble passions of love, friendship and human compassion. We need unity among all our people because where there is no unity, the possibility of conflict is very high. And as we know, conflict threatens not only the gains we have made but also our collective future. And we should therefore treat the question of unity in our country as a common challenge.
Let’s not forget that the driving thrust of the leaders of our independence struggle was to forge pride and unity amongst all the oppressed people of this territory, to foil the strategy of divide and rule, to engender pride among the masses of our people and confidence in their ability to unite and throw off their oppression. Unity was therefore a weapon in the struggle for independence and it still is a weapon in the struggle against poverty, disease, ignorance and backwardness in our country.
We should not fear to discuss the issue of unity in an honest manner and to openly criticise those who violate it. One of our strongest weapons in the defence of unity is our ability to speak out whenever it is threatened.
Let us now, drawing on the strengths of the unity that our heroic freedom fighters have helped forge for our country, together grasp the opportunities and realise their vision of One Zambia, One Nation. What is important is not only to attain unity at independence and a few decades after that, it is to retain national unity forever. Unity and progress are inseparable because those who are ready to unite, to join hands can overcome the greatest challenges. And for us, our independence means nothing if we will not be able to live in a way that deepens our unity and enhances the lives of our people. Again, political honesty is a necessity in sustaining national unity because as long as legitimate bodies of opinion feel politically cheated, vile minds will take advantage of justifiable grievances to totally destroy whatever unity we may today enjoy. Clearly, the important thing is to give happiness to all our people in their complexities and diversities.
We detest tribalism, regionalism and racialism because we regard them as barbaric. And this is why we have never spared Rupiah on his reckless statement on this score. Tribalism, regionalism and racism pollute the atmosphere of human relations and poison the minds of the backward, the bigoted and the prejudiced. It is therefore intolerable and unacceptable that the cancer of tribalism, regionalism should be allowed to eat away the fabric of our society today – almost 45 years after independence because of the political opportunism of characters like Rupiah. We must ensure that tribe, colour become only God-given gifts to each one of us and not an indelible mark or attribute that accords a special status to any. We should never allow our country to play host to tribalism, regionalism or racism nor shall our voices be stifled if we see that one of our politicians is stupidly and dangerously engaging in it. This cancer must be consciously combated and not discreetly tolerated. The very fact that this cancer degrades both the perpetrator and the victim commands that, if we are true to our commitment to national unity and dignity, we should not spare anyone who engages in tribal or regional politics. All of us know how stubborn the cancer of tribalism or regionalism can cling to the mind and how deeply it can infect the human soul. We hate the practice of tribalism or regionalism, and in our hatred, we are sustained by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the people of this country hate it equally.
Tribalism and regionalism are not different from the cancer of corruption becasue they are a product of corruption themselves. And as we have stated before, if you are honest, truly honest, you won’t be corrupted, you won’t fall into the barbaric practice of tribalism or regionalism. If you are unassuming and have a clear understanding of the worth of people and of yourself, you won’t be corrupted, you won’t engage in this barbaric practice.
Therefore, we should be unassuming and limit ourselves to doing our duty to the best of our extremely limited possibilities instead of engaging in barbaric and corrupt political practices of tribalism and regionalism. We think human beings should never draw away from the honest goal they seek and let themselves be influenced by political opportunism to indulge in tribalism and regionalism. Political honesty is the surest way of guarding oneself against these vices.
Labels: NATIONAL UNITY DAY
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Remember Levy during Heroes, Unity days - Bishop Chihana
Written by Agness Changala
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 3:12:39 PM
Zambians must commemorate Heroes and Unity days to reflect on the good works late president Levy Mwanawasa did for the nation, International Fellowship of Christian Churches president Bishop Simon Chihana yesterday said. In his message to commemorate the Heroes and Unity days which fell on Monday and today respectively, Bishop Chihana said as the country remembered the fallen heroes, it was important to remember Mwanawasa because he died as a hero owing to his fight against corruption, poverty and many other evil vices.
“Mwanawasa is a hero. We can remember so much even as we commemorate these important events because of the work he did and I urge all Zambians to reflect on the good things he did,” he said.
Bishop Chihana said it was also an opportunity for politicians to exercise a sense of forgiveness towards one another.
“Despite their political differences, it would be nice for once to see Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata, United Party for National Development president Hakaiinde Hichilema, President Rupiah Banda and many others sit at a round table and drink some tea together and reflect on the peace and unity that the country has had,” he said.
Bishop Chihana said Zambia was a country that had not allowed the division of people on political and tribal lines. He also urged the church to continue speaking against vices, preach love for one another and help the vulnerable in society.
Bishop Chihana further urged the police service not to be partisan because of the important role they played in maintaining peace in the country.
Labels: HEROES DAY, MWANAWASA, NATIONAL UNITY DAY, SIMON CHIHANA
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Judges are afraid of Rupiah – Sondashi
Written by Speedwell Mupuchi
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 3:05:38 PM
JUDGES are afraid of President Rupiah Banda and are finding ways of acquitting those he favours like Dora Siliya, Lusaka lawyer Ludwig Sondashi has charged. Launching his political party, the Forum for Democratic Alternatives (FDA) at Kitwe’s Hotel Edinbugh on Sunday, Sondashi said those who hoped that President Banda would improve on the Levy Mwanawasa legacy were disappointed at the level of incompetence, mediocrity and discrimination prevalent in the new government.
“The current government does not inspire confidence in Zambians. It would appear impunity and misuse of public resources is the other name for the MMD. It is criminal for the government to allow so much impunity and abuse of public resources, especially with what happened at Ministry of Health,” Sondashi said.
He said problems in Zambia were as a result of excessive concentration of power in the presidency adding that his party would clip those powers. Sondashi said Parliament and the judiciary could not flourish in a country where the President enjoyed excessive presidential powers.
“That’s why you see when the President says, uyu (this) Dora is the best woman I want to be in government, what has happened? … Everyone, including judges, is fearing the President. Judges are finding ways to acquit Dora,” Sondashi said.
“Follow me very carefully, I am the only one who is prepared to reduce presidential powers when I become president. Once we reduce presidential powers my brothers and sisters, this country will be a very progressive and developing country.”
Sondashi said excessive presidential powers undermined development and good governance.
“The President is easily compromised because of being both Head of government and head of state. The current arrangement makes the President the dispenser of patronage which potentially makes him corrupt,” Sondashi said.
“We advocate the separation of functions of head of state and head of government with the creation of position of prime minister as head of executive powers to run government. The President must remain without executive powers and should not be political. If government does not move. National Assembly can move a vote to remove the prime minister with his government. But under the current arrangement, you can’t remove a president from governing because he is head of Parliament and head of the party and head of state. Why give one man all these powers? That’s why we are in dilemma.”
Sondashi said the MMD must be removed from power saying 20 years was too long a time for a visionless party to monopolise national politics.
“There is no doubt about that and I know that that is what other political parties are agitating. But with FDA, we go further than just removing MMD out of power. If you remove it out of power, what next?” asked Dr Sondashi.
He said the MMD must be removed and replaced by a government that would rule properly. Sondashi said the eight months of President Banda’s rule had witnessed political acrimony, corruption and abuse of office by public officials and reduced confidence in the MMD government.
“We are convinced that the MMD has lost its national appeal, it no longer enjoys its popularity it had in the period 1991 to 1996 and it has run out of ideas to govern. In two years time, MMD would be in power for 20 years. That’s too long for a party which has no vision to monopolise national politics,” Sondashi said.
“It would be understandable if MMD policies contributed to social economic transformation but instead we have witnessed an increase in poverty in the country whereby eight in every 10 Zambians live in abject poverty.”
Sondashi promised to devolve power to provinces and districts for effective governance. He also promised to introduce a system where Presidents come from provinces on rotation basis.
“We propose that ministries be reduced to 14 and that this be provided in the constitution to avoid a President creating ministries. This will also involve establishment of regional assemblies just like in South Africa. … The current concentration of power in Lusaka undermines popular participation and has led to most resources being given to urban areas at the expense of rural areas,” he said.
Sondashi said leaders who despised debate and harassed those that opposed them had seriously compromised Zambia’s democracy.
“As a result, our people have lost confidence in politics and politicians in general. Politics has acquired a dirty meaning, it is associated with dishonest, sycophants, demagogues and bootlickers,” he said.
And Sondashi said Copperbelt residents had gone through trials and tribulations at the hands of the MMD coupled with the global crisis that had seen in excess of 90,000 people affected. He said the government had been silent on problems and destitution resulting from retrenchments as if everything was fine.
“While we recognise government efforts to find an equity partner to take over Luanshya Mine, FDA believes that the problems of the Copperbelt are much more complex than simply replacing one investor with another. It is our pledge to the Zambian people that once elected we will review the mines and minerals development Act to ensure that investors will not close at the slight sign of trouble,” Sondashi said.
“We shall ensure that when a person or company wants to open up a mine, that person or company should deposit money which that company will not take away once they close the mine, it will remain in Zambia.”
Sondashi also said the strike by nurses and teachers exposed President Banda’s lack of political skills saying the matter was poorly handled and showed lack of compassion and sensitivity. He said it should have been possible to adjust the salary from 15 per cent to 20 per cent especially when one considered the high tax levels and inflation in this country.
“For sure the 15 per cent which has been given is a mockery as it will be wiped out by tax and inflation. To appreciate the demands by teachers, one needs to know their take-home-pay against the cost of transport, rentals, food and other basic necessities. It should be recognised that our teachers and health workers and even police officers are among the least paid civil servants and often work in deplorable conditions. A responsible government should listen to their plight than threaten them with dismissals,” Sondashi said.
“Listening from Rupiah Banda, he was even saying we could even recruit people from Zimbabwe where he was born. Now if you consider recruiting people from Zimbabwe and you leave your own nationals suffering, these nationals have children and relatives to look after, then you bring in people from Zimbabwe who have buggered their country to come here and start working and enjoy life. Can you think that you have entrusted responsibilities in the hands of a right thinking person?”
Sondashi said it was paradoxical for government not have money and but pay mid-term gratuities for members of parliament and also set up a salaries review commission that would gobble billions of kwacha. He said savings could be made through reducing government ministries to 14 and government fleet of motor vehicles. He said the government was top heavy and the treasury could not sustain it.
He also promised to integrate the chiefs’ roles into the local government system, enhance role of House of Chiefs by raising it to an upper chamber of Parliament to be called senate to have legislative powers.
“The senate will be expanded to include other members like eminent persons, like former presidents, vice-presidents, judges, so that it is a reservoir of knowledge,” he said.
Sondashi also said his government would improve agriculture and food sufficiency by distributing free fertiliser to rural people to be administered by chiefs.
“We shall ensure with that free fertiliser, an individual will be able to grow at least one hector of food crop,” he said.
Asked why he did not join the Patriotic Front and UPND pact, Sondashi remarked: “You can only go to a party with similar ideology and ideals as yours. I haven’t seen their ideals. If they ask me, I will say I have to be the leader because I have a vision.”
Sondashi also claimed there were big names and businesses behind him but were not willing to come out in the open for fear of presidential powers.
Labels: FORUM FOR DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVES, LUDWIG SONDASHI, RUPIAH BANDA
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Tsvangirai explains his Europe, US trip
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Marondera, Zimbabwe
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 3:03:48 PM
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said he did not undertake a trip to Europe and the United States to borrow money for Zimbabwe, but to re-define the country’s foreign policy.
He told a rally that he was neither sent by President Robert Mugabe to the US and seven European countries to canvass for international aid nor to negotiate for the lifting of sanctions but that he took it upon himself to build relationships following a decade of Zimbabwe’s isolation.
“I did not go to look for money but to build relations which were lost in the last 10 years,” said Tsvangirai of his tour of the US, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway the United Kingdom and France.
“You can’t just go and say, ‘give me money’ without first building friendships.”
He was addressing hundreds of MDC supporters who braved the chilly weather to attend the MDC party’s 10th anniversary celebrations in Marondera, about 50 km east of the capital, Harare.
Tsvangirai said he was surprised to learn from the state media that he had been sent by the President to ask for aid.
“We wanted to redefine the foreign policy of this country, and we achieved that successfully,” he said. “I was not sent by Mugabe.”
Tsvangirai said the message from the Western countries whose money the government required to run government business was very clear.
He said Western countries needed to see concrete political, governance and economic reforms before they could assist.
Tsvangirai said Western leaders were not interested in rhetoric but wanted to see real change on the ground before they could commit themselves to giving the country any financial assistance.
“The leaders of the countries I visited told me that they are not interested in what we say but what we do,” he said. “It’s up to us to make reforms and get help.”
According to the Ministry of Finance, Zimbabwe requires a total US$ 8.5 billion to fund crucial reforms.
Western donors, key to the revival of the battered economy, have demanded substantial democratic change before they could provide aid to Zimbabwe.
During his trip to Europe and the United States, Tsvangirai managed to raise up to US $500 million but none of it is budgetary aid.
The bulk of the money will be channelled through non-governmental organisations.
And referring to contradictory statements the parties to the unity government have been issuing recently, Tsvangirai said since there was a unity government between his party, the MDC faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and President Mugabe’s ZANU-PF, it was therefore important for the leaders to speak with one voice.
“There is confusion but we should speak with one voice,” he said. “We cannot have discord; we have to communicate a uniform message.”
He admitted, without elaborating, that there were still a lot of problems facing the all-inclusive government.
“There are issues that we are still facing but these can be solved politically,” Tsvangirai said. “Conditions of the global political agreement must be fulfilled in full and we will do that.”
Tsvangirai blamed the state media for publishing falsehoods about his trip.
“There are some who are still resisting this change but only the will of the people will prevail not even that of individuals or an army,” said Tsvangirai. “There is no greater enemy of Zimbabwe other than those who don’t want the will of the people to prevail. The MDC has never had any media. And we have been scolded over the past 10 years. The media might lie but the people know the truth. If we are in a government together, then why should we separate and compare who is doing the best? We want change in the media.”
Perturbed by what the MDC refers to as negative reporting about the Prime Minister by the state media, Tsvangirai’s office recently started publishing a pamphlet that details what the MDC is doing in the inclusive government.
Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Kikwete complains over Zesco outages
Written by Mutuna Chanda and Zumani Katasefa in Ndola
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 3:00:49 PM
TANZANIAN President Jakaya Kikwete has complained that Zesco Limited’s unstable power supply to his country’s south-west towns was making him unpopular. And President Kikwete has said trade between his country and Zambia is shamefully low.
President Kikwete who officiated at this year’s Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Ndola on Saturday, which is being held under the theme ‘Investment in Infrastructure for Competitiveness’, said during a tour of the stands that he could not brag about the funds he secured from the Norwegians for electricity supply to the south west part of Tanzania while he served as energy minister because power supply to the area was unstable.
He told Zesco customer services director Teddy Mwale to resolve the problems that made power supply to the area unstable.
This was when Mwale guided President Kikwete through the Zesco stand and pointed to the power company’s network on a map.
“The power in this area is not stable,” President Kikwete said as he pointed at the towns of Sumbawange and Mbozi where Zesco exports power. “There are so many complaints that every time I visit the place I am not scoring points.”
President Kikwete said Tanzania even considered supplying thermal power to the area to solve the electricity problems.
“I am still resisting thermal power but when power is unstable you can’t resist much,” President Kikwete told commerce minister Felix Mutati and tourism minister Catherine Namugala as they walked away from the Zesco stand. “You need to resolve that.”
Mutati and Namugala pledged that Zambia would solve the problem.
Later in an interview, Mwale said Zesco supplied power to Sumbawange and Mbozi at a low voltage of 66 Kilovolts (kV).
Mwale said the areas experienced low power especially during peak periods.
He said the long-term solution to the power problems in the area would be to uprate the electricity supply to 132 kV.
Mwale also said the other long-term solution would come with the implementation of the 330 kV power interconnector to east Africa because the substation at Kasama which was responsible for electricity supply to the Tanzanian towns would be of bigger capacity.
And President Kikwete said Tanzania and Zambia could do more to increase the official statistics of trade between the two countries.
“The trade between our two countries is a mere US $20 million and is declining,” President Kikwete said. “I know someone may say that there is trade that is not captured, these are official figures but there is much more going on. We need to make the official statistics better.”
He said the two countries’ ministries of trade needed to be more proactive and interact more.
President Kikwete also said it was undisputable that most African states had inadequate infrastructure.
“Poor infrastructure makes the cost of transporting goods in Africa among the highest if not the highest,” he said.
He said the cost of transporting a 40-foot container was US $2,000 more in Africa than other regions.
President Kikwete said improved road infrastructure could contribute two per cent to Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.
He said African countries needed to correct the mistakes made by their long departed colonial masters who built infrastructure to facilitate the exit of raw materials.
President Kikwete said the infrastructure built by the colonial masters was meant for exploitation and that to improve on it needed enormous amounts of investment of between US $18 million and US $25 million per year.
He said much as raising such amounts of money was a tall order, African countries needed to be innovative in sourcing the resources.
“Governments have to give infrastructure development the priority it deserves in their national budgets,” President Kikwete said. “ODA (Overseas Development Assistance) will continue to be an important source of financing for infrastructure development.”
He cited the recent North-South Corridor meeting which Zambia hosted in Lusaka at which donors pledged funds amounting to US $1.2 billion for the rehabilitation of infrastructure.
President Kikwete said the rehabilitation of infrastructure in the North-South Corridor would reduce the travel time between Dar-es-Salaam and Lusaka by 25 per cent.
He said the problem of infrastructure in Africa could not be solved by one or two sources of income.
President Kikwete said there was room for private sector participation in infrastructure development.
He however expressed fear that the private sector would only invest in infrastructure projects that had quicker and higher returns.
President Kikwete invited Zambians to participate in the Dar-es Salaam International Trade Fair and pledged that there would be increased participation of Tanzanians in coming Zambia International Trade Fairs.
And President Rupiah Banda said African countries were responsible for their own destiny.
During a luncheon hosted in honour of President Kikwete on Sunday, President Banda said African countries should secure their future by creating opportunities that would promote job creation and wealth.
“In this regard, Zambia and Tanzania should therefore strive even more to remove all impediments to development cooperation and trade opportunities for our two peoples,” President Banda said.
President Banda said the Zambian government was confident that following the tripartite COMESA-EAC-SADC conference which was held from April 6 to April 7, 2009 in Lusaka, at which US $1.2billion was pledged by cooperating partners, railway, road and energy infrastructure would be developed in the North-South corridor, saying that this would improve regional infrastructure and facilitate trade in the region.
“Achievements have been scored in the past, notably among them, the construction of the great Uhuru or Tazara railway line and the Tazama oil pipeline. We are proud of these infrastructure projects as they are a manifestation of what can be achieved between two countries through cooperation,” he said.
President Banda said sustained economic growth and development could not be attained without a vibrant private sector.
He said his government would continue to improve the business environment so as to enable the private sector to thrive and reach its full potential.
“It is in light of the foregoing that I am pleased to inform this August gathering that plans are already underway to establish a one-stop-border post at Nakonde on the Zambian side and at Tunduma on the Tanzania side. It is in this regard that I appeal to the business sector in both our two countries to take advantage of conducive environment to create joint ventures in both countries which will enhance the social and economic well-being of our two peoples,” said President Banda.
Meanwhile, ZITF board chairman Phesto Musonda said the cost of moving exports to ports was prohibitive, making products for landlocked countries such as Zambia less competitive.
“With regard to our roads, the road density in Zambia and the region at large is still very low and the main export routes suffer from overloaded trucks and heavy traffic which damage our road infrastructure,” Musonda said. “The answer to this problem in my humble view lies in investing in the rail networks in order to decongest the roads and avoid transportation of bulk goods on roads thereby prolonging the lifespan of our roads.”
He appealed to the Tanzanian and Zambian governments to urgently come up with measures that would resuscitate the operations of Tanzania Zambia Rail Line (TAZARA).
“So that it can take off the pressure being exerted by trucks on the Great North Road especially that this route leads to sea ports and is vital not only to Zambia but the entire SADC and Comesa regions,” said Musonda. “The investment in rail systems construction and rehabilitation will lead to reduction in transport costs hence making our region more competitive.”
This year’s ZITF has attracted 500 local companies and 120 foreign exhibitors from 14 countries.
This compares with over 300 local companies and 130 foreign exhibitors from 12 countries that took part last year.
The overall best exhibit award was scooped by Ndola City Council while the chairman’s special award went to Zambia Revenue Authority.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) won the international award, while Kenya got the second prize, with South Africa coming third.
Labels: JAKAYA KIKWETE, ZESCO
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ZNFU to stock 20,000 metric tonnes of wheat
Written by Nchima Nchito Jr
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 2:58:28 PM
ZAMBIA National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has revealed that there are plans to have the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) take up 20,000 metric tonnes of wheat into its strategic reserves.
In a statement, ZNFU stated that a meeting had so far been held among stakeholders, that Minister of Agriculture Brian Chituwo and representatives from FRA and ZNFU to chat the way forward on possibilities of having strategic reserves for wheat to avoid imports of the commodity.
“This development will be an important one because it further strengthens the no-wheat- import stance, as the FRA Act requires that all designated crops under the Act cannot be secretly imported,” ZNFU stated. “FRA intends to source the funds for this transaction from the commercial market.”
ZNFU however cautioned that it was too early to celebrate over this plan as they were detailed discussions that still required to be done on both sides.
“From the ZNFU side, a wheat committee meeting will be required to be called and discuss this matter further, but this is also dependent on the progress to be made by FRA, which tentatively should in the next 2 weeks,” stated ZNFU.
Recently, President Rupiah Banda directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives to ensure that there were no more wheat imports allowed and to cancel all import permits already issued. He said this was in an effort to stabilise the wheat market.
President Banda further called for an effective crop marketing institution and consideration of the possibility of establishing a private public partnership (PPP) marketing institution in which ZNFU and the government could work together.
Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, FRA, WHEAT, ZNFU
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Stronger Chinese manufacturing data buoys copper
Written by Maytaal Angel
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 2:56:48 PM
LONDON (Reuters) - Copper prices bounced on Wednesday as stronger Chinese manufacturing data and a weaker dollar helped boost sentiment, but gains are expected to be capped by a seasonal lull in demand.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $5,130 a tonne at 1351 GMT, from a close of $4,970 on Tuesday when it hit a session low of $4,910. China's manufacturing sector extended a steady recovery in June, adding to evidence across Asia that the regional economy is finally strengthening. China is the world's largest consumer of industrial metals.
"The Chinese PMI has helped, everyone is looking to China to remain a positive factor but we are talking about a market slowing as we go into the summer period," said Alex Heath, head of base metals trading at RBC Capital Markets.
The market is tracking the dollar and waiting for the June Institute for Supply Mangement's survey of manufacturing in the United States, the world's largest economy.
The dollar slipped against the euro as improved manufacturing data in the euro zone helped boost the single currency. A lower U.S. currency makes metals priced in dollars cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Also lifting sentiment in copper is falling stocks of the metal in LME warehouses, which at around 266,000 tonnes compare with levels around 500,000 tonnes in early April.
LME copper has gained about 60 percent in the first half of this year, driven primarily by Chinese buying for stockpiles.
HELD TIGHTLY
In other metals, aluminium traded at $1,665 from a close of $1,630 on Tuesday.
Inventories held in LME warehouses fell by 3,525 tonnes but remained near record levels near 4.4 million tonnes.
The long-term demand outlook for aluminium, used in transport and packaging, remains grim because of the turmoil in the auto industry and record stock levels.
Tin traded at $14,600 a tonne against Tuesday's last bid at
$14,150.
Worries about nearby supplies have have pushed the premium for cash material over the three-month contract to around $82 a tonne from a discount of around $40 a tonne in the middle of June.
"Tin is not fundamentally tight but the feeling in the market is it is held tightly," said BaseMetals.com analyst William Adams. He was referring to dominant holdings of tin stocks in LME warehouses earlier this year.
Elsewhere, zinc traded at $1,574 a tonne from $1,545, battery material lead at $1,706 against $1,690.
Steel ingredient nickel hit a nine-month high of $16,200 a tonne and was last at $16,115 from $15,350 on Tuesday.
Traders said the cheaper dollar had triggered a flurry of buying from funds which trade using buy or sell signals from mathematical models.
Labels: CHINA, COPPER, GREAT DEPRESSION II
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Interview: Pres Mugabe on AU, neocolonialism, Chinese loan, MDC-T
Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:00:00 +0000
PRESIDENT Mugabe was in Sirte, Libya, for the 13th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly this past week. He answered questions from Zimbabwean journalists on the outcome of the summit, the US$950 million Chinese facility to Zimbabwe, his meeting with the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and the MDC-T boycott of the last Cabinet meeting, among other things.
Here, we reproduce the full transcript of the interview held at Al Kabir Hotel in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
Question: Your Excellency, you had three days of intensive discussions in Sirte, we recollect sometimes you had to go to sleep in the early hours of the morning. What came out of Sirte (venue of the just-ended AU Summit)?
Answer: Well, quite an exercise it was, but at the end of the day we are happy about the result, we are very happy with the result indeed. The entire exercise was about the transformation of our body, we have moved from the OAU (Organisation of African Unity) to the AU (African Union), then its administrative body as the Commission.
True we have had alternating chairpersons, but overall it was the administrative organ that determined the levels that we were going through.
Whether those levels were qualitative or transformative enough to enable us to say we are moving towards the goal of a real Union with political power or not, it remained to be decided. But this time, a definite decision was made to turn the organisation now into an authority.
And so you have now these levels that have been built; right at the top, the president and the deputy president, and, of course, you have the administrative subordinates, and each subordinate in charge of a different function.
Previously there were commissioners, about eight of them.
Just now the commissioners are secretaries responsible for the various portfolios assigned to them, but we have added two more: defence and foreign affairs, but coordinating functions only.
Co-ordinating defence and co-ordinating foreign affairs, that means consulting with, firstly the regional bloc organisations, and then, in a subsidiary way of course, with the nations themselves in regard to those portfolios.
They are sensitive ones, as you might have heard or seen.
Of course, countries were very sensitive about defence, the area of defence being completely an area where total authority was ceded to the new African Union Authority, and countries would not want that.
But they would want certain aspects of defence in the event, of course, of our taking action as the Authority, an African Authority, to naturally be co-ordinated somehow by an authority hence the creation of that portfolio, as well as the creation, of course, of the foreign affairs portfolio.
Q: We collect that the operationalisation of this new animal (AU Authority) has got to have ratification by individual parliaments of the 53 member-states. Does it still hold that we have to go to our parliaments to ratify this?
A: I suppose that’s purely now the arrangement to ensure that there is concurrence on the part of everybody, we have all voted for it, we have all agreed and ratification is a matter of procedural nicety, it’s a technicality so I think countries will ratify.
Q: Still in Sirte, agriculture was at the centre of your discussions?
A: Yes, we had agriculture; that was a project that was meant to be discussed, yes.
Q: Any experiences drawn from the Zimbabwe Land Reform Programme?
A: Well, we are not the only ones who have had experiences; other countries had their own experiences. But it was a combination of experiences that we were pooling together, and, of course, taking into account also the climatic vicissitudes that we have now which have yielded for us in Zimbabwe more drought seasons than rainy seasons and what we should do in those circumstances.
What it meant was we must gather the water that falls, little though it may be, and be able to conserve it, and then from it naturally we can gain the life of our crops through irrigation and utilisation of that water in various other ways.
So that is irrigation, mechanisation of our agricultureand making our agriculture really, really the basis of the transformation of our economy.
And you noticed that FAO was there also. The Food and Agriculture Organisation, yes, it’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, but food comes from agriculture.
Q: We came to Sirte, but we could have been in Antananarivo where a coup happened, and you had to change the venue of the summit. Any hotspots you discussed, Madagascar for example?
A: Madagascar, you recall that Sadc decided there should be mediation, mediation through a facilitator and we chose former president Chissano, former president of Mozambique to be the facilitator of the mediation that we believe will bring about some understanding between the two sides; that of former president Ravalomanana and the other rebel, Rajoelina, who is only 35 years old and is barred by the constitution from assuming that role as the president but he has the support of the army.
We said it’s not yet a moment for us to think of military intervention, let’s try a peaceful thrust and that thrust should be regulated, supervised by a facilitator. Chissano is the right man because not only is he fluent in Portuguese and English, but he also speaks French fluently as well.
Q: Your Excellency, what is happening in Africa seems to be a realisation of the Pan-Africanism ideology.
Would you say that, that idealism about bringing Africa together is still alive or it’s something that is being pushed by what is happening somewhere else?
A: I think over the recent few years gone by there has been a development, a development I think which was more determined by the economic situations of our countries and a situation that greater reliance on Western funding would assist our economies in transforming, and because of that naturally if you are a beggar, you cannot at the same time prescribe, you see, the rules of how you should be given whether it’s food or any items at all.
So we were subjected to certain conditionalities as a basis on which whatever was paid, be it food, be it humanitarian aid in other directions, was sent to us.
And in some countries, you see, they did not have even the necessary economic capacity, which could enable them to sustain their civil service, their security arms — the army, airforce and the police force —without outside help.
And once you are inadequate in terms of funding yourselves monetarily and you have got to look outside for someone to assist you, and that someone outside naturally dictates conditions on you, and the moment that happens you have lost a bit of your own sovereign right to determine how you run your affairs.
Those who give you money will naturally determine how you should run your country, and through that we tended to subject ourselves to the will of outsiders, to the will, even, of our erstwhile colonisers. It was neo-colonialism back again, what Nkrumah called neocolonialism. There it was, it was crammed into our system, they were deciding how we should run our elections; who should be in government, who should not, regime changes, that nonsense.
So our Pan-Africanism was lost because Pan-Africanism was based on the right of Africa determining its own future, the right of Africa standing on its own, and being the master of its own destiny, master of its own resources that had been lost.
But I think it is coming back because many countries have now realised that the West does not give money to enable us to build the capacity we require to be independent.
They will give you little funds, you know. ‘Yes, you are afflicted by this epidemic, we will give you a bit of help here and there.’
‘You are suffering from the effects of drought, yes, a bit of food here and there et cetera, et cetera’, but with conditions that you run your system in a given way. That now is our realisation. The funds we have been getting are, by and large, little humanitarian bits and pieces of funds. This has not helped Africa to industrialise.
Just look around and tell me which country in Africa has industrialised?
Yes, you have South Africa, which has inherited that ystem of development, but the rest of Africa; we are still where we were.
There is no funding with an investment capacity from the West that will enable us to move from primary agriculture to secondary stages of development.
They do not want us, the West, to be that.
They do not want us to be their equals, they enjoy being masters over us and this is what Zimbabwe rejects.
Q: Zimbabwe recently got an injection from the Chinese facility. How far do you think it will go for us?
A: Well, it’s a fund that was negotiated long ago, and all that nonsense that it’s the MDC and so on is just politicking. It’s a fund also that is targeted, it will come variously.
There are amounts for the various sectors, for agriculture, for health, for mechanisation et cetera and so on, and they will cover energy as well and so we are happy.
But you don’t get the political conditionalities from the East. Look at what has happened?
Look at the fund, that US$950 million, and we know there is more, there will be more; is given in circumstances quite different from what the West prescribed for the mini-funds that attended, you know, all that venture that the Prime Minister went on from the Netherlands to the United States, the United States back to Europe.
And they treated him in a mean way, very, very mean way even to the extent of trying to divide the inclusive Government as happened in America where they wanted just the non-Zanu-PF side, which meant the MDC side led by the Prime Minister, to accompany him to a meeting with Obama.
Fortunately, that did not happen elsewhere in Europe, but still in Europe look at the little funds that they were giving, and giving mainly for humanitarian purposes.
And how given?
Through NGOs and what do NGOs mean in our own situation where Government is running a country, running a country with definite demands, you see, in various sectors?
What they think of first is their own NGOs so that the money is absorbed by their own agents in the first place. Or it comes in a crooked way to serve their own political objectives in our country.
The Chinese fund does not come in that way. It has been targeted rightly, it’s a fund coming to Government not NGOs, to Government, an inclusive Government, towards development and will assist us in turning around the economy, and that is the kind of help we would want to get, and not the Western dictates.
Q: Do you think there has been a realisation within the parties in the GPA that the West is only there to dictate the pace at which Africa develops, especially when you consider that the Prime Minister had gone for two weeks in Europe and America and got back with virtually nothing?
A: The lesson is there for everyone with a bit of brains to learn, and those who have not learnt the lesson that the West is always up to mischief, if they have not learnt that lesson, then they won’t have any lesson to learn or they are hand-in-glove with the enemy.
Q: The American Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs sought an audience with you in Sirte. Anything which came out of that meeting?
A: No, you wouldn’t speak to an idiot of that nature. I was very angry with him, and he thinks he could dictate to us what to do and what not to do in the inclusive Government.
We have the whole of Sadc working with us, and you have the likes of little fellows like Carson, you see, wanting to say ‘you do this, you do that’.
Who is he? I hope he was not speaking for Obama. I told him he was a shame, a great shame being an African-American, an Afro-American for that matter.
Q: On Monday, just the day before you left for Sirte, you had a Cabinet meeting which was boycotted by a section of the MDC-T. Any lessons which they learnt from that boycott, probably?
A: We talked a bit about it with the Prime Minister and he apologised for it, and thought they should have come and if they had any grievances, aired their grievances in the meeting.
It was a surprise to me to tell you the truth. I don’t know whether this is going to be the order of doing things. It’s insolence on one hand, but it’s also abysmal ignorance on the other. -- Herald
Labels: CHINESE, MDC, MUGABE, NEOCOLONIALISM
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MDC-T needs to restrategise
Felix Nyathi -- Opinion
Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:56:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR - Last week we read on various online sources that the Movement for Democratic Change party led by Prime Minister Morgfan Tsvangirai was going to hold a two-day strategic meeting starting Friday.
As a member of the MDC-T party here in the Diaspora, I think there is also a need for such a meeting.
The party here in the UK needs some direction. The leadership now seems bent on just producing endless documents that do not contribute anything to the efforts that are being made back home.
With all the negative press the party has been getting in the press, I think these meetings are important. Many politicians in the party are failing to speak with one voice. We don't know who to believe anymore on a variety of stories.
The confusion created in the media recently regarding the stories of Dr Chihombori, whose identity up to this day is suspect, the Chinese loan, and many others, will only destroy the MDC-T party.
It would be a good idea for us to have information on how the "strategic meeting" went on.
Labels: MDC
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MDC fury over PM's boycott 'apology'
by
06/07/2009 00:00:00
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is taking political brickbats from his party’s senior leadership after apparently apologising to President Robert Mugabe over a boycott of last week’s cabinet meeting by MDC ministers.
Furious officials have sought a clarification from Tsvangirai amid rising tensions in the party following another row last week pitting him against Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
MDC ministers pulled out of the Cabinet meeting after it was brought forward by a day because Mugabe was leaving for an African Union summit in Libya.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe said the decision to hold the cabinet meeting on Monday and not the traditional Tuesday was a Zanu PF plot to deny Tsvangirai an opportunity to chair cabinet.
Tsvangirai publicly supported the boycott by his ministers, saying he “understands their frustrations and concerns”.
But President Mugabe, in an interview with the state-run Herald newspaper on Monday, claimed Tsvangirai had apologised to him.
He told the Herald: “We talked a bit about it with the Prime Minister and he apologised for it, and thought they should have come and if they had any grievances, aired their grievances in the meeting.
“It was a surprise to me to tell you the truth. I don’t know whether this is going to be the order of doing things. It’s insolence on one hand, but it’s also abysmal ignorance on the other.”
The report sparked feverish activity among senior MDC officials who say the Prime Minister’s message is increasingly at odds with the party line. One minister said Tsvangirai was “causing agony” in the party.
“It’s a big problem. The team in cabinet is not speaking the same language as the Prime Minister and if Mugabe’s statement is anything to go by, then expect fireworks in the party,” said the minister who spoke to New Zimbabwe.com on condition of anonymity.
Late Monday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman James Maridadi said Tsvangirai had no recollection of the said apology.
Maridadi said: “What informs me is what the Prime Minister said at the press conference (last week) that members of cabinet have a right to disengage if they so wish.”
But a steady group of disgruntled MDC supporters are gathering around the abrasive Biti who last Friday accused Tsvangirai of lying over a US$950 million loan from China.
Tsvangirai told reporters Biti had secured the massive credit line, a statement Biti dismissed as “without foundation”.
New Zimbabwe.com now understands that while the credit line has been secured, Biti played no part in it and had not been fore-warned that Tsvangirai would give him credit for it.
While there is no immediate move to challenge Tsvangirai’s leadership, an MDC insider said: “If someone challenges leadership, then they invite it upon themselves.”
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, TENDAI BITI
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Meaningless Heroes holiday
Written by Editor
The Heroes holiday is now almost meaningless in Zambia. It doesn’t seem to be there to honour the efforts, the sacrifices, the selflessness and the memory of those who fought, those who struggled for our freedom, for the independence of our country and for our collective and individual dignity. It seems to be much more a holiday for us to drink beer and have some rest from work. It is something that we seem to be continuing just because we found it on our calendars and we don’t seem to have a good reason to remove it.
We say this because of the way we have treated and are continuing to treat the people who struggled selflessly, sacrificing everything – their lives, their education, their jobs, traditional or other privileges – for the independence of our country. A big number of that selfless and heroic generation are dead, buried in unmarked graves – most of them don’t even have a stone on their graves to just say ‘the remains of heroic freedom fighter so and so lie here’. And those of that generation, who are singled out to stay the longest and bear the pain of seeing their comrades go, are today living in abject poverty, with no respect, dignity or identity accorded to them.
We shouldn’t forget that these heroic fighters fought a noble battle and lived their lives in pursuit of a better life for all of us. The democracy in which we have buried them, in which we are making some of them suffer while we enjoy and live in comfort is the sweet fruit of their lives of struggle and sacrifice.
And here we are not talking of young people. The majority of these heroic fighters are over 70 years old, they are old people with no jobs, no pensions, no discernible source of income whatsoever. And we shouldn’t forget that when Frederick Chiluba came to power in 1991, he took away even the little benefits, the extremely modest retirement benefits the law had provided for them. And these same characters that robbed those humble fighters of their meagre benefits are today paying themselves all sorts of benefits, including mid-term gratuities for people who do nothing of benefit for the nation. They even shared the houses and parastatal companies these same freedom fighters had with extraordinary effort built. Is this the way to reward the efforts, the sacrifices, the selflessness of these apostles of our nation?
Is this the way to treat old people, especially old people who have given so much to us? In this country, old people are entitled to nothing. Even in terms of paying taxes on their income, if they have any, there are no exemptions, they are not treated in any favourable manner. They are not treated favourably anywhere or over anything. This is truly a society under the leadership of extremely selfish wolves who think of nobody else other than themselves.
It is said that a society that does not value its older people denies its roots and endangers its future.
Even when it comes to naming streets, buildings or other infrastructure, they have rushed to name them after themselves and their friends. They seem to live only in the present. The past seems to owe them nothing. Even the future doesn’t seem to owe them anything. All they think about is the present and themselves in that present.
When these mercenaries came to power, their first act was to remove the face of Dr Kenneth Kaunda from the national currency. They should be ashamed that Kwame Nkrumah’s face is on Ghana’s currency. Instead of putting monkeys, buffaloes and other creatures on our currency, wouldn’t it be a befitting tribute to our freedom fighters to have the faces of Dr Kaunda, Harry Nkumbula, Simon Kapwepwe, Reuben Kamanga, Sipalo Munukayumbwa, Julia Chikamoneka, Mukwae Nakatindi, Mary Fulano, Fines Bulawayo, Aaron Milner, Arthur Wina, Humphrey Mulemba, Mainza Chona, Grey Zulu, Sikota Wina, among many other freedom fighters, on our currency? We have so much infrastructure in the country that has meaningless names. Yet we have so many names of heroic freedom fighters that we need to remember.
There is need for a change of attitude. We are teaching our children a very false history of our country. They will never truly know what it took to get our country where it is today. This requires a leadership that is humble, that is selfless and is able to place the dignity of others before self. We may be asking too much from this generation of vampires that knows nothing but to suck the blood of the suffering masses and lord over them. It’s only a humble person who is able to live with great respect for his neighbour and others. A leader with humility lives an ordinary life, not trying to be distinguished, except by his great diligence in the practice of common virtues. He practices the daily duties of his state of life. His main goal is first of all the sanctification of his interior thoughts and sentiments. A humble leader is fore-bearing and accepts crosses.
Truly, we have no right to be ungrateful to this generation that has given us so much, that has given us everything we have and asking nothing from us in return. Just look at the way we live today and the way they live today – and even the way they lived when they were in power. This is a generation that had total control of the 755,000 square kilometers of the land of this territory, but look at how much land they took for themselves and compare that with what we have taken for ourselves since 1991! Who is more selfless – us or them? Who selflessly honoured a public duty – us or them? Certainly there is something wrong with us as a people, as a nation that needs urgent correction. We are a disgrace and we should be very ashamed of ourselves over the manner in which we are treating these heroic fighters and builders of our country, of our nation. Until we start to address the plight of these freedom fighters and give them the respect and dignity they deserve, Heroes Day will continue to be a meaningless holiday in this country. It will actually be a day of mocking these heroic fighters instead of honouring them. These selfless human beings are not asking for too many things from us, they are not asking for the impossibilities. They are asking for very basic things that constitute the dignity of any human being. And as freedom fighters and old people, they deserve our respect and compassion. Let’s give them what is legitimately due to them.
Labels: HEROES DAY, NATIONAL UNITY DAY
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Sikota urges inclusive commemoration of Heroes, Unity days
Written by Agness Changala and Mwala Kalaluka
Monday, July 06, 2009 12:04:17 PM
VETERAN politician Sikota Wina yesterday said freedom fighters in the country’s rural areas have been left out in the commemoration of Heroes and Unity days. And a former councillor in the UNIP days, Patrick Makukisi, also complained that Heroes and Unity days have been turned into an event for the urban-based freedom fighters.
Wina said in an interview that it was extremely important to re-organise the commemoration of the days to encompass the rural liberators because they were the true freedom fighters and owners of the struggle.
“Let the celebration go to the people in rural areas because it belongs to the nation,” Wina said. “I was so touched when I went to Ghana to see the change of currency and they were using Nkwame Nkhrumah’s portrait on its currency as a sign of tribute, when most of them seem to have forgotten these most important events.”
Wina said as Zambia celebrates Heroes Day today, it was important for the leadership to enhance service delivery to the people for the country to continue to be peaceful.
He noted that Zambia was one of the few countries that had not experienced any trauma of bloodshed since its independence as a result of peace. Wina also said it was a wonderful thing to celebrate the day because Zambia was renewing its dream of a united nation and delivering the promises of its founding fathers.
And Makukisi, who witnessed the forced relocation of the Tonga-speaking people from the Gweembe Valley to pave way for the construction of the Kariba Dam, said rural-based freedom fighters had not been sufficiently recognised and considered.
“We have Heroes and Unity days for the haves and the have-nots have nothing in terms of recognition for the job well-done of liberating the country,” Makukisi said from his base in Siavonga’s Lusitu area. “My observation is that there should be consideration and recognition of those people who fought, not only those in town. Those in town are just political.”
Makukisi, who is now a senior advisor to chief Chipepo of Siavonga, said there were some rural-based freedom fighters that were wallowing in poverty despite losing their limbs during the liberation struggle.
“There is one old man in Siavonga who lost his legs during the fight for independence and I want the government to support him with a wheelchair or something else,” he said. “The rural people must be considered ...”
Makukisi said the people in his area gave up their land to pave way for the construction of the Kariba Dam before the country’s independence from Britain, but had not benefited from that displacement.
“Up to now, we are languishing in poverty,” said Makukisi, a former Zambia Air Force officer.
Labels: HEROES DAY, NATIONAL UNITY DAY, PATRICK MAKUKUSI, SIKOTA WINA
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Current happenings in judiciary worry Malila
Written by Maluba Jere
Monday, July 06, 2009 12:02:30 PM
CURRENT happenings in the judiciary will erode public confidence in the legal profession, Attorney General Mumba Malila has observed. Commenting on the recent exchange of words between some lawyers and Chief Justice Ernest Sakala, Malila yesterday advised legal practitioners in the country to desist from washing dirty linen in public.
“All the recent happenings are not healthy to the judiciary.
This is a profession that cherishes integrity and honesty and so if we begin washing dirty linen in public, we will erode the confidence that the public has in the profession,” Malila said.
Malila, who is also chairperson of the judiciary’s disciplinary committee, said there were always ways of dealing with misunderstandings without tarnishing the image of the profession.
“…If we follow those, I am sure we can find solutions without tarnishing the image,” Malila said.
He urged legal practitioners in the country to use available channels of dealing with matters whenever aggrieved and not resort to attacking each other in the media.
“Let us use the available channels quietly. Let the bodies deal with these matters. It is not healthy for exchanges to continue publicly,” he said.
Malila, however, said the judiciary’s disciplinary committee had not received any formal complaint from either the Chief Justice or Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) on the matter.
“As Attorney General, I am chairman of the disciplinary committee so we will wait until a complaint is lodged,” said Malila. “Then the committee sits down and looks at the complaint. But we have not received any complaints formally from the Chief Justice or LAZ but if we did, we would sit down and give chance to the legal practitioners to explain themselves...”
In his letter to Chief Justice Ernest Sakala dated July 3, 2009, Lusaka lawyer Wynter Kabimba described justice Sakala’s recent attacks on another lawyer John Sangwa and himself during the bar-bench conference in Chisamba recently as a kangaroo debate, which made LAZ a circus and a tool for those in authority.
Kabimba stated: “I refer to the above article in The Post newspaper which I did not have the privilege to read until Thursday 2nd July 2009 as I was out of town. Let me state on the onset that I have made a decision to forward my views to Your Lordship over this matter with a heavy heart. Firstly, because I think I have had a personal and professional relationship with you over the years. Secondly, because at no time did I ever think I would engage with your office in such a manner of communication.”
Kabimba stated that it was patently saddening that he and justice Sakala now stood apart over a question of principle.
Officiating at the second bar-bench conference for lawyers at Protea Hotel in Chisamba recently, justice Sakala said the legal profession was one envied by many adding that lawyers should be proud of what and who they had chosen to be.
Justice Sakala said integrity was an urgent and special matter and said preserving it must be at any cost.
He said it was no longer strange for a lawyer to address the media and insult the judiciary that it was compromised.
Chief Justice Sakala also described Sangwa’s decision to report him and Lusaka High Court judge-in-charge Esau Chulu to the Judicial Complaints Authority as unprofessional and most unacceptable conduct at the bar.
Labels: ATTORNEY GENERAL, MUMBA MALILA
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Lifuka calls for thorough probe into hearses saga
Written by George Chellah
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:59:03 AM
TRANSPARENCY International-Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka has said it is strange that local government minister Benny Tetamashimba is trying to distance himself from the procurement of hearses in the ministry. And Lifuka said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) should clearly establish the role that both Tetamashimba ad his predecessor Sylvia Masebo played in the hearses saga.
Lifuka said TIZ had observed with sadness the exchanges of words between Masebo and Tetamashimba over the decision and subsequent purchase of 100 hearses for distribution to various local authorities in Zambia.
"We find the exchange unfortunate and a sure sign of the weaknesses that are inherent in the manner that public affairs are being managed. First and foremost, while we question the rationale and appropriateness of purchasing 100 hearses, we find it strange that Hon Tetamashimba would like to distance himself from a decision taken by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing at the time that Hon Masebo was Minister,” Lifuka said.
“What is even more intriguing is that Hon Tetamashimba is on record as supporting the principle of acquiring the hearses and that he would hasten to deliver these vehicles to all the councils. It is clear therefore that both Hon Masebo and Hon Tetamashimba are seemingly of one mind on the need to procure hearses.
"What seems to be the point of departure among these erstwhile colleagues, from our reading of the situation, is firstly the amount paid for each of the hearses - is it US$9,300 or is it US$29,000. Secondly, the mode is which payments were affected - was this done in a manner that provides rent seeking opportunities in terms of corruption?”
He said from their perspective, both Masebo and Tetamashimba took part in the procurement of the 100 hearses.
"What this means to Transparency International Zambia is that both Hon Masebo and Hon Tetamashimba have had a role to play in the procurement of the 100 hearses and it is necessary therefore that the Anti Corruption Commission in their investigations clearly establish the role that both of these Honourable Members played in this saga," he said.
He said it was also necessary for Tetamashimba to explain to the public the whole procurement process followed for the hearses.
"Such as, was there an open or selective tender for the purchase of these vehicles? How many companies submitted bids? What was the result of the evaluation of the bids received and what role did the Zambia National Tender Board (ZNTB) as it was known then - play in this whole process? Further, did the Ministry of Local Government and Housing do any due diligence of the winning bidder to ascertain their credibility and track record?" Lifuka said.
“It has been brought to our attention that Top Motors Ltd were awarded a contract for supply and delivery of 100 hearses at a tender sum of USD2,920,000 meaning that each Hearse cost USD29,200, and between December 2008 and May 2009, the Ministry of Local Government and Housing paid a total of over K14.9 billion for these hearses."
He said the question to be asked was where the figure of US $9,300 was coming from.
"We believe the explanation should come from both Hon Masebo and Hon Tetamashimba - should we as Zambians assume that the bid from Top Motors Ltd was inflated and in actual fact the unit cost should have been US $9,300 and not US $29,000? If this is the case or even a possibility, ACC and the Drug Enforcement Commission should thoroughly investigate Top Motors Ltd for possible money laundering activities as well," Lifuka explained.
"And it is in everyone's interest to know who benefited from the difference? Could it also be a question of Top Motors Ltd deliberately declaring a lower unit cost for the purpose of paying lower duty and other taxes to Zambia Revenue Authority? We want to urge that all suspects - whether individuals or organizations involved in this saga should be thoroughly investigated and culprits brought to book."
Lifuka urged the office of the Auditor General to be actively involved in the matter.
"Especially, the manner in which payments to Top Motors Limited were executed - did these follow standard procedures or was quick payment facilitated in order to benefit some people within the Ministry? Did Top Motors Ltd meet all the necessary obligations before receiving their payments or were some standard rules of procedures ignored for due to personal interests i.e. did Top Motors provide a valid bank guarantee for all the payments received?" said Lifuka.
"Another critical question that begs an answer is why was Top Motors Ltd paid US $2,900,000 in a period of 7 days (in late December 2008 and early 2009) - is this the way government handles payments to suppliers - even before full delivery of the vehicles?
The significance of this saga should not be lost on the Zambian people because it is clear that again, another Ministry and now Ministry of Local Government and Housing, albeit with the full involvement of the Zambia National Tender Board, did commit the Zambian government to another controversial contract of over US $2.9 million in the last quarter of 2008."
Labels: BENNY TETAMASHIMBA, CORRUPTION, REUBEN LIFUKA, RUEBEN LIFUKA, SYLVIA MASEBO
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Banda has run out of ideas – Nalubamba
Written by George Zulu in Monze
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:57:30 AM
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has run out of ideas on how to govern the country and has resorted to harassing The Post by using law enforcement agencies and MMD cadres, senior chief Bright Nalubamba of Namwala district has said. And opposition Patriotic Front (PF) in Southern Province has described the warn and caution statement recorded from Post news editor Chansa Kabwela by police in Lusaka as a threat to press freedom and the democratisation of the nation. Nalubamba of Namwala district has said.
And opposition Patriotic Front (PF) in Southern Province has described the warn and caution statement recorded from Post news editor Chansa Kabwela by police in Lusaka as a threat to press freedom and the democratisation of the nation.
In an interview in Monze, chief Nalubamba said President Banda and his government were in a hurry to silence The Post through the abuse of law enforcement agencies at the expense of addressing serious issues affecting the country.
Chief Nalubamba was commenting on the warn and caution statement recorded from Kabwela on Thursday at Lusaka Division police headquarters on allegations that she possessed and distributed obscene materials.
“I am very saddened by the desperate path President Banda and his administration has decided to undertake on various issues of national interest. From the look of things, it is like His Excellency has run out of ideas on how to run the country. We are made to understand that those pictures of a woman in labour were sent to the Head of State in confidence through the office of the Vice-President and other relevant offices with the intention of persuading government to resolve the issues of the strike by health workers. As a traditional leader, I don’t see any wrong doing by The Post and if anything the paper was helping President Banda to see what was on the ground than the reports he was receiving that the strike was not as serious as reported in the media from his political cronies. The questioning of Kabwela by police is not just harassment but also abuse of the powers and the law of the land,” he said.
Chief Nalubamba said the path President Banda had taken of trying to silence The Post by the use of the police and other law enforcement agencies was self-destructive and impacted negatively on the sustainability, development and growth of democracy in the country.
“It is unacceptable that the Head of State will always instruct police to launch investigations against The Post and arrest Post journalists on frivolous issues. The matter of the strike and the deaths that occurred due to the strike by health workers are some of the issues President Banda and his administration should be addressing such that situations of that nature do not repeat,” chief Nalubamba said.
He wondered whether President Banda did take time to listen to the cries of Zambians when he was surrounded by people of low caliber in his administration.
“I wonder if President Banda listens to the advice we give him. People like Benny Tetamashimba have misled him on various issues. Such people with low caliber should not be near a Head of State because they are too destructive,” chief Nalubamba said. “The issue should not be about pictures of a woman, no! The issue is the effects of the strike by nurses and other health workers.”
Chief Nalubamba challenged police to take The Post news editor to court if there was any crime committed and for the truth to come out.
And Southern Province Patriotic Front co-coordinator Opper Hamiyaze said police should exhibit high levels of professionalism.
“The police in Zambia is compromised by the MMD. People have lost the little confidence they had in the police because of partisan attitude they have towards the ruling MMD and its cadres. But they should not forget that regimes come and go so they need to be non partisan and professional in the manner they handle issues,” he said.
Hamiyaze said the warn and caution statement recorded from Kabwela was a clear indication of interference in the operations of the police by the ruling MMD, adding that President Banda was desperate to divert attention from real issues.
Hamiyanze also expressed sadness at the move taken by the NGOCC to betray the confidence of the women they claimed to represent.
“Am actually perturbed to hear that NGOCC condemned the decent action taken by The Post to send the pictures to their office, the church and to the Vice-President for an immediate action over the strikes by health workers…NGOCC should come out in the open and tell the womenfolk they claim to represent what they discussed at State House with the President,” said Hamiyaze.
Labels: CHANSA KABWELA, RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST
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Rupiah angers C/belt PF mayors
Written by Mutuna Chanda and Zumani Katasefa in Ndola
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:55:28 AM
ALMOST all Copperbelt PF mayors on Saturday boycotted the groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the ultra modern stadium in Ndola following President Rupiah Banda’s attacks on PF leader Michael Sata on his arrival at the Ndola International Airport. And President Banda has urged MMD cadres to make sure that the opposition never rules Zambia.
Meanwhile, Copperbelt MMD chairman Joseph Chilambwe ordered civil servants to lift the MMD symbol when singing the national anthem at the airport after President Banda addressed cadres upon arrival.
In an interview yesterday, Chingola mayor Simon Chanda, in the company of other PF mayors, said the civic leaders could not stand President Banda’s encouragement of insults against Sata. Chanda said this in reference to President Banda’s reaction to a song which MMD women were singing at the airport that Sata would never rule Zambia.
While the women sang, President Banda mumbled along.
“Chipongwe chi Sata iyaya tawatekepo icalo twakana iyaya (Talkative Sata, you’ll never rule the country; we have refused),” the women sang as President Banda remarked: “Ah! That’s my song.”
Chanda said the PF mayors were upset that President Banda encouraged insults against their leader.
“We were very disappointed yesterday when we came to the airport to welcome the President that he was encouraging insults against our president,” Chanda said.
“…In our coming to welcome him, we are just following the law but if he continues insulting our president, we’ll be boycotting.”
He said the PF mayors almost boycotted welcoming Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete but changed their minds.
“And for the President to say that ‘I like that song’, we were upset and decided not to even go to the groundbreaking ceremony,” said Chanda.
And Chililabombwe mayor Ben Mpande said President Banda should differentiate between state functions and those of the party.
“If it’s an MMD function, they can say whatever they like,” said Mpande.
And addressing MMD cadres on arrival, President Banda, in reference to PF and UPND pact, said the opposition would never rule the country whether individually or collectively.
“Make sure they never rule the country,” President Banda said. “Our party, as long as we are there, they will never rule … because we are together. That’s why they are looking for little cracks that ‘they are fighting in MMD’, we never talk about them.”
President Banda also said he had heard that some opposition leaders were demanding the truth over what he was suffering from when he underwent knee surgery in South Africa.
“I am going to tell the truth; I am not suffering from what they are suffering from,” President Banda said.
And after President Banda addressed the cadres, Chilambwe asked them to lift the MMD symbol when singing the national anthem including civil servants whom he said were appointed by President Banda.
And President Banda said the MMD would continue to be in power until 2011.
During the ground-breaking ceremony to mark the commencement of the construction of the ultra modern stadium in Ndola on Saturday, President Banda said MMD’s political opponents were hoping that the party would crumble, but that would not happen.
“…We are determined, it is us who are running this country. We are going to rule until 2011…We will fight for our independence,” he said.
President Banda said the MMD was a democratic party, adding that some opposition political parties had mistaken this to confusion.
President Banda said he was a true party cadre who knew what he was doing in politics.
“That is true, I am a cadre. I became a cadre at 17, I see young politicians they think they can play politics. I may be quiet but at the end of the day, I know what to do,” he said after MMD cadres praised him through a song that he was a real party cadre.
He also said health workers who went on strike would not be paid for the days that they downed tools so as to discourage more strikes in the country.
President Banda said the government would not dismiss the workers who went on strike but would allow them to go back for work.
He said health workers who would fail to go back to work should consider themselves dismissed.
Labels: MAYOR, PF, RUPIAH BANDA
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