For a long time, I have argued for the decentralisation of power to local government level. One reason is the clear danger posed by devolution of power to the provincial level, which is enshrining tribalism into government structures, and the creation of local ethnically based elites, like the BRE.
I think this is a recipe for disaster, and the use of real issues of poverty and exploitation of the people of the country to rally around the Barotseland issue is proving this out. People should not die for the right of some local elite to increase it's power in the hope that some of it will come to them, but that is what this is pointing toward.
The national government is to blame for thinking that they can hang on to power indefinitely. Where the NCC was an opportunity to decentralise power to local government, instead the VP directed NCC left devolution in the hands of parliament, instead of enshrining it in the constitution.
What we are seeing now is that very poor people can be mobilized to 'make a change', any change, irrespective of whether that change presents the best change for them, or whether it mainly benefits some local elite. This is what the result of neglecting the people is - it leaves them open to manipulation by people with their own agendas.
The people would not be this susceptible if they had good jobs that paid a living wage. Instead, they are out on the street, without hope for improvement in their or their children's lives. Children are out on the street instead of in school.
This is a recipe for rebellion.
It is also the direct result of the government's choice to follow neoliberal economic policies which benefit only foreign corporations.
Enough is enough. We should not stand by and watch Zambia descend into unrest and rebellion. This government ran out of ideas as soon as it achieved it's goal of getting into power in 1991. Well that is 20 years ago. The Finance Minister stated that, following the present economic policies, there will be no significant reduction in poverty for another 30 years.
The eagerness of the people to join these Barotseland people shows you, that you do not have 30 years, or 20, or 10.
We need a 180 degree change in economic policy - TODAY.
We need to:
* tax the mines at $1.2 billion a year or more, or renationalize, to finance the policies below:
* start spending 50% of national revenues directly at local council level
* spend money on works projects - farms, dams, roads - productive infrastructure
* raise people's incomes by instituting and enforcing a living wage, instead of having a 'minimum wage'
*Foreign corporations should not be allowed to pay Zambian workers less than the minimum wage in their own country, or the Zambian living wage, whichever is higher
* unionise every worker in the country
* lower bank lending rates to below the rate of inflation so small and medium size entrepreneurs and farmers can emerge
* universal healthcare
By diverting revenues from the mines into productive infrastructure and businesses, the country will develop. When that development comes with Zambian ownership, wealth creation will be a continuous process, rather than a gimmick.
Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, DECENTRALIZATION, WINDFALL TAX
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COMMENT - I agree that violence is not the way, but that must be accompanied by the profound understanding on behalf of our leaders, that not all acts of violence include the use of force. Poverty is an act of violence. Not ensuring that all children are in school and learning is an act of violence - robbing people not at gunpoint, but of their futures and incomes. When someone is robbed of their life in a hospital without medicines, that is as tragic as when they were shot by the police or robbed at knifepoint. When ministers prance around in shiny suits while people are going hungry, that is an act of violence. So let's stop the violence and start taxing the mines.
Stop setting motor vehicles alight, burning tyres on roads
By The Post
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
Faced with the deplorable reality of violence in Mongu, we wish to express our view clearly. Condemnation is always the proper judgement on violence, on loss of life. If these crimes are committed by the authorities entrusted with the task of safeguarding the common good, then they defile those who practice them, notwithstanding any reasons offered.
We are just as decisive in condemning protest violence, which become cruel and uncontrollable when it is unleashed. Criminal acts can in no way be justified as a way of making political demands or even as a way to “liberation”.
Violence inexorably engenders new forms of repression, which usually prove to be more serious than the ones people are allegedly being freed or “liberated” from.
But most importantly, violence is an attack on life, which depends on the Creator alone.
And we must also stress that when any form of political demands or protests appeal to violence, they thereby admit their own weaknesses and inadequacy.
No crimes can be committed in the name of maintaining peace. The killing of that youth in Mongu by the police cannot be justified in any way.
That youth was unarmed and threatened no one. He could have been apprehended without being shot at.
Some teargas or shots in the air could have done the job for the police. Those who are responsible for this death must be made to answer for it.
A human being cannot be killed like a dog!
And those criminals masquerading as activists for the Barotse Agreement or freedom fighters for the liberation of Barotseland, setting alight motor vehicles, burning tyres on roads and harassing innocent people, should not be tolerated.
These rogues have no place in the struggle for the restoration or honouring of the Barotse Agreement.
Freedom without civility, freedom without the ability to live in peace, was not true freedom at all.
Although we understand the anger of our people in this very important part of our country, we must make it clear that resorting to violence is unhealthy and must be stopped as a matter of urgency.
The right to assemble and demonstrate in support of their just demands for the government of the Republic of Zambia to honour the Barotse Agreement was not a favour to be granted by the government at its discretion.
They cannot talk about peace on the one hand and murder an unarmed youth on the other.
Our responsibility as good citizens is to use all possible means to promote the implementation of non-violent tactics in the effort to re-establish justice in economic and socio-political relations in our country.
We cannot fail to praise those who renounce the use of violence in the vindication of their rights and who resort to methods of defence which are otherwise available to the weaker parties too, provided that this can be done without injury to the rights and duties of others or of the community.
We are obliged to state and reaffirm that violence is neither good nor moral, and that brusque, violent structural changes will be false, ineffective in themselves, and certainly inconsistent with the dignity of our people.
The fact is that we realise that even the best structures and the most idealised systems quickly become inhuman if human inclinations are not improved, if there is no conversion of heart and mind on the part of those who are living in those structures or controlling them.
Violence constitutes one of the gravest problems in our politics today.
A decision on which the future of our country and our people will depend should not be left to the impulses of emotion and passion.
We would be failing in our duty if we were not to remind the conscience, caught in this dramatic dilemma, of the need and necessity for peaceful politics and change.
No one should be surprised if we forcefully reaffirm our faith in the productiveness of peace.
This is our ideal. Violence is neither good nor moral.
Zambians have been known to be peaceful people and we shouldn’t be ashamed of it. We are not simply pacifists, for we can fight for our rights, but we prefer peace to violence.
This is because we know that violent changes in structures would be fallacious, ineffective in themselves, and not conforming to human dignity, which demands that the necessary changes take place from within – that is to say, through a fitting awakening of conscience, adequate preparation and effective participation of all, which the ignorance and often inhuman conditions of life make it impossible to assure at this time.
As we believe in the productiveness of peace in order to achieve justice, we also believe that justice is a prerequisite for peace.
We recognise that in many instances, our country finds itself faced with a situation of injustice that can be called institutionalised violence, when, because of the structural deficiency of our economy, of our cultural and political life, whole towns or districts lack necessities, live in such dependency as hinders all initiative and responsibility as well as every possibility for cultural promotion and participation in social and political life, thus violating fundamental rights.
This situation demands all-embracing, courageous, urgent and profoundly renovating transformations.
We should not be surprised, therefore, that the temptation to violence is surfacing in our country.
One should not abuse the patience of a people that for more than 40 years has borne a situation that would not be acceptable to anyone with any degree of awareness of human rights.
Facing a situation which works so seriously against human dignity and against peace, we address ourselves to all our people, asking them to assume their responsibility in the promotion of peace in our country.
We would like to direct our call in the first place to those who have a greater share of power.
We know that there are leaders in our country who are sensitive to the needs of the people and try to remedy them.
We urge them not to take advantage of the peaceful nature of our people in order to oppose, either actively or passively, the profound transformations that are so necessary.
If they jealously retain their power, and defend it through violence, they are responsible to history for provoking violence of despair.
The peaceful future of our country depends to a large extent on their attitude.
Also responsible for injustice are those who remain passive for fear of the sacrifice and personal risk implied by any courageous and effective action.
Justice, and therefore peace, conquer by means of a dynamic action of awakening and organisation of the popular sectors, which are capable of pressing public officials who are often impotent in situations like these.
We address ourselves finally to those who, in the face of injustice and illegitimate resistance to change, put their hopes in violence.
If it is true that violence can be legitimate in the case of evident and prolonged tyranny that seriously works against fundamental human rights, and which damages the common good of the country, whether it proceeds from one person or from clearly unjust structures, it is also certain that violence generally generates new injustices, introduces new imbalances, and causes new disasters; one cannot combat a real evil at the price of a greater evil.
If we consider, then, the totality of our circumstances, and if we take into account our preference for peace, the logic of violence, the atrocities it engenders, the difficulty of building a regime of justice and freedom while participating in a process of violence, we earnestly desire that the dynamism of the awakened and organised community be put to the service of justice and peace.
And to all our people in Barotseland, our people will be able to understand their afflictions and change them, not into hate and violence, but into strong and peaceful energy of constructive works if they approach everything calmly and peacefully.
As for the government, the way they are approaching the tensions around the Barotse Agreement is not right.
They are operating as if they have declared a state of emergency when there is none in place.
They have no right to round up innocent people in the night, detain them knowing very well that they will not be able to bring prosecutable charges against them.
This arbitrariness should have ended with the one party state and the permanent state of emergency that accompanied it.
If they want to be doing what they are doing in Mongu, they should be courageous enough, abide by the law and declare a state of emergency in that area of our country. But they know that this will not be an easy thing to do and manage politically and otherwise.
So, they are resorting to illegal acts and arbitrariness. This is not a way to maintain peace in the country.
This is a recipe for lawlessness on the part of the government and indeed on the part of the people they are trying to control.
But whatever the provocation, the injustice and inhumanity that they are subjected to, we urge our people in Mongu in particular and Western Province in general to avoid violence, to stop setting alight motor vehicles and burning tyres on our roads and harassing innocent people.
Those who seek justice should not resort to barbaric means, to unjust practices.
Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, MONGU
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Cops shoot dead Mongu youth
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mongu
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:02 CAT
A MAN was shot dead in Mongu town after a fracas erupted between scores of irate residents and police officers over the Barotse Agreement. And police yesterday took Mongu's community station, Radio Lyambai off-air, for broadcasting materials from one of the groups advocating issues of the Barotseland Agreement.
The unidentified man was shot dead by police officers at Mongu's BP Station, as they tried to push the irate mob further away from the town centre. By 13:20 hours, the man's body was still lying uncollected at the spot as some residents surrounded it. Three other people were shot and wounded by police in separate incidents.
One of the injured was 22-year-old Caleb Ng’andu of Winela area.
Armed police reinforcement had been conducting patrols in Mongu and Limulunga hours before the Barotse activists were expected to gather for their January 14 public meeting in Limulunga.
Other police officers were stationed at Kaande on the Mongu-Lusaka road where they were spotted checking every vehicle that was arriving in Mongu on Thursday.
Police officers were seen at various vantages around the provincial capital searching and screening people that were headed in the direction of Limulunga where the Barotse activists' meeting was supposed to take place.
Roadblocks were mounted at the Limulunga-Airport road junction, Mabumbu and two more were mounted within Limulunga itself.
Confusion started when police officers, led by their head of operations Dr Solomon Jere, picked up male passengers from about four buses headed for Limulunga at Mabumbu.
The police officers were heard asking the men who were made to sit on the grass by the roadside why there were no women among them.
The passengers were ordered to get into the minibuses and taken to Mongu Central Police Station under police escort.
On the way to the police station around 10.00 hours, the convoy of vehicles, among them the minibuses with the suspects found a barricade of a gutted motor vehicle on the road near OK Restaurant.
Police officers had to get out of the vehicles to clear the barricade. They also had to put out a fire at Blue Gum grounds where they found burning tires.
Several youths blocked the roads with stones and at Kapulanga junction, a mob of irate youths pelted some police officers that wanted to disperse them from the area using teargas. The officers had to speed away to safety.
The police officers managed to disperse people from the town centre, but within 30 minutes the youths had taken over the town while engaging in acts of vandalism along the way.
At about 12:30 hours sloganchanting youths were heard putting up resistance against police officers that were shooting in the air and firing tear gas on Independence Avenue.
According to residents spoken to, the situation in Mongu had become tense and blamed the police officers and President Rupiah Banda's government for what was happening.
Business came to a standstill in Mongu in the morning, as shops, schools and offices were closed in view of the anticipated violent exchanges between the police and the activists.
By noon, sounds of gunfire were still being heard around the town.
A check at Limulunga Royal Village found increased police presence in the usually quiet village.
A group of youths had converged at the local bus station waiting to attend the public meeting as vehicles loaded with armed police officers drove by periodically.
Police officers were seen searching pedestrians who had resorted to walking from Limulunga to Mongu due to the absence of public transport.
A male youth, only identified as Teddy, was picked up by police officers who were in an unregistered Toyota Land Cruiser outside the shops at the village's shopping centre.
As they bundled him behind the open vehicle, one police officer was seen hitting Teddy on the back before stepping on him.
The number of police officers at the Litunga's palace had been increased, with armed mobile police officers patrolling the palace. Movement close to the palace was highly restricted.
Later in the afternoon, youths took over most parts of the town, blocking the roads with logs, vehicle wrecks and various objects. Police were still patrolling the area and they were later joined by the Zambia Army officers.
And about five police officers broke into Radio Lyambai studios around 09:00 hours yesterday and removed a console and computers, cutting off the station's broadcast.
At the time of the incident, the station was broadcasting a pre-recorded interview from the Barotse activists about the Limulunga public meeting.
Radio Lyambai station manager Mukeya Liwena confirmed that the police officers had earlier gone to the station, demanding the compact disc.
Liwena said this was not the first time police were trying to interfere with the operations of the radio station.
Liwena said the police officers were not given the CD because the person who was on duty said it was not there.
Meanwhile, police in the early hours of Friday picked up the husband of BFM national coordinator Grace Muyangana, Pastor Muyangana Muyangana from his Mongu house before taking him to an unknown place. A local musician's family was also harassed by police officers after the artiste known as Skwiz released a song over the Barotse issue.
Kaoma-based BFM national chairman Namushi Nyambe was also picked up in Kaoma around 18:00 hours on Thursday after a meeting with young people.
Around 23:00 hours on Thursday night, unknown people put up burning barricades at a section of the Limulunga-Mongu road at Winela area.
Motorists that went close to the barricade were stoned by unknown people standing at the roadside.
Motorists had to immediately reverse before hastily driving back to Mongu as the unknown people continued to throw stones at them.
The same night, a spokesperson for one group advocating the Barotseland Agreement went on Radio Lyambai, and told the people that the planned Limulunga public meeting would continue as planned despite the intensified security situation.
Another group of Barotse activists calling itself the Barotseland Freedom Movement (BFM) on Thursday night announced a last minute withdrawal from the public meeting on grounds that it had not been sanctioned by the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE).
Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, MONGU, POLICE BRUTALITY
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Cops shoot dead Mongu youth
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mongu
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:02 CAT
A MAN was shot dead in Mongu town after a fracas erupted between scores of irate residents and police officers over the Barotse Agreement.
And police yesterday took Mongu's community station, Radio Lyambai off-air, for broadcasting materials from one of the groups advocating issues of the Barotseland Agreement.
The unidentified man was shot dead by police officers at Mongu's BP Station, as they tried to push the irate mob further away from the town centre. By 13:20 hours, the man's body was still lying uncollected at the spot as some residents surrounded it.
Three other people were shot and wounded by police in separate incidents.
One of the injured was 22-year-old Caleb Ng’andu of Winela area.
Armed police reinforcement had been conducting patrols in Mongu and Limulunga hours before the Barotse activists were expected to gather for their January 14 public meeting in Limulunga.
Other police officers were stationed at Kaande on the Mongu-Lusaka road where they were spotted checking every vehicle that was arriving in Mongu on Thursday.
Police officers were seen at various vantages around the provincial capital searching and screening people that were headed in the direction of Limulunga where the Barotse activists' meeting was supposed to take place.
Roadblocks were mounted at the Limulunga-Airport road junction, Mabumbu and two more were mounted within Limulunga itself.
Confusion started when police officers, led by their head of operations Dr Solomon Jere, picked up male passengers from about four buses headed for Limulunga at Mabumbu.
The police officers were heard asking the men who were made to sit on the grass by the roadside why there were no women among them.
The passengers were ordered to get into the minibuses and taken to Mongu Central Police Station under police escort.
On the way to the police station around 10.00 hours, the convoy of vehicles, among them the minibuses with the suspects found a barricade of a gutted motor vehicle on the road near OK Restaurant.
Police officers had to get out of the vehicles to clear the barricade. They also had to put out a fire at Blue Gum grounds where they found burning tires.
Several youths blocked the roads with stones and at Kapulanga junction, a mob of irate youths pelted some police officers that wanted to disperse them from the area using teargas. The officers had to speed away to safety.
The police officers managed to disperse people from the town centre, but within 30 minutes the youths had taken over the town while engaging in acts of vandalism along the way.
At about 12:30 hours sloganchanting youths were heard putting up resistance against police officers that were shooting in the air and firing tear gas on Independence Avenue.
According to residents spoken to, the situation in Mongu had become tense and blamed the police officers and President Rupiah Banda's government for what was happening.
Business came to a standstill in Mongu in the morning, as shops, schools and offices were closed in view of the anticipated violent exchanges between the police and the activists.
By noon, sounds of gunfire were still being heard around the town. A check at Limulunga Royal Village found increased police presence in the usually quiet village.
A group of youths had converged at the local bus station waiting to attend the public meeting as vehicles loaded with armed police officers drove by periodically.
Police officers were seen searching pedestrians who had resorted to walking from Limulunga to Mongu due to the absence of public transport.
A male youth, only identified as Teddy, was picked up by police officers who were in an unregistered Toyota Land Cruiser outside the shops at the village's shopping centre.
As they bundled him behind the open vehicle, one police officer was seen hitting Teddy on the back before stepping on him.
The number of police officers at the Litunga's palace had been increased, with armed mobile police officers patrolling the palace. Movement close to the palace was highly restricted.
Later in the afternoon, youths took over most parts of the town, blocking the roads with logs, vehicle wrecks and various objects. Police were still patrolling the area and they were later joined by the Zambia Army officers.
And about five police officers broke into Radio Lyambai studios around 09:00 hours yesterday and removed a console and computers, cutting off the station's broadcast.
At the time of the incident, the station was broadcasting a pre-recorded interview from the Barotse activists about the Limulunga public meeting.
Radio Lyambai station manager Mukeya Liwena confirmed that the police officers had earlier gone to the station, demanding the compact disc.
Liwena said this was not the first time police were trying to interfere with the operations of the radio station.
Liwena said the police officers were not given the CD because the person who was on duty said it was not there.
Meanwhile, police in the early hours of Friday picked up the husband of BFM national coordinator Grace Muyangana, Pastor Muyangana Muyangana from his Mongu house before taking him to an unknown place. A local musician's family was also harassed by police officers after the artiste known as Skwiz released a song over the Barotse issue.
Kaoma-based BFM national chairman Namushi Nyambe was also picked up in Kaoma around 18:00 hours on Thursday after a meeting with young people.
Around 23:00 hours on Thursday night, unknown people put up burning barricades at a section of the Limulunga-Mongu road at Winela area.
Motorists that went close to the barricade were stoned by unknown people standing at the roadside.
Motorists had to immediately reverse before hastily driving back to Mongu as the unknown people continued to throw stones at them.
The same night, a spokesperson for one group advocating the Barotseland Agreement went on Radio Lyambai, and told the people that the planned Limulunga public meeting would continue as planned despite the intensified security situation.
Another group of Barotse activists calling itself the Barotseland Freedom Movement (BFM) on Thursday night announced a last minute withdrawal from the public meeting on grounds that it had not been sanctioned by the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE).
Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, MONGU, POLICE BRUTALITY
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Cops shoot dead Mongu youth
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mongu
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:02 CAT
A MAN was shot dead in Mongu town after a fracas erupted between scores of irate residents and police officers over the Barotse Agreement.
And police yesterday took Mongu's community station, Radio Lyambai off-air, for broadcasting materials from one of the groups advocating issues of the Barotseland Agreement.
The unidentified man was shot dead by police officers at Mongu's BP Station, as they tried to push the irate mob further away from the town centre. By 13:20 hours, the man's body was still lying uncollected at the spot as some residents surrounded it.
Three other people were shot and wounded by police in separate incidents.
One of the injured was 22-year-old Caleb Ng’andu of Winela area.
Armed police reinforcement had been conducting patrols in Mongu and Limulunga hours before the Barotse activists were expected to gather for their January 14 public meeting in Limulunga.
Other police officers were stationed at Kaande on the Mongu-Lusaka road where they were spotted checking every vehicle that was arriving in Mongu on Thursday.
Police officers were seen at various vantages around the provincial capital searching and screening people that were headed in the direction of Limulunga where the Barotse activists' meeting was supposed to take place.
Roadblocks were mounted at the Limulunga-Airport road junction, Mabumbu and two more were mounted within Limulunga itself.
Confusion started when police officers, led by their head of operations Dr Solomon Jere, picked up male passengers from about four buses headed for Limulunga at Mabumbu.
The police officers were heard asking the men who were made to sit on the grass by the roadside why there were no women among them.
The passengers were ordered to get into the minibuses and taken to Mongu Central Police Station under police escort.
On the way to the police station around 10.00 hours, the convoy of vehicles, among them the minibuses with the suspects found a barricade of a gutted motor vehicle on the road near OK Restaurant.
Police officers had to get out of the vehicles to clear the barricade. They also had to put out a fire at Blue Gum grounds where they found burning tires.
Several youths blocked the roads with stones and at Kapulanga junction, a mob of irate youths pelted some police officers that wanted to disperse them from the area using teargas. The officers had to speed away to safety.
The police officers managed to disperse people from the town centre, but within 30 minutes the youths had taken over the town while engaging in acts of vandalism along the way.
At about 12:30 hours sloganchanting youths were heard putting up resistance against police officers that were shooting in the air and firing tear gas on Independence Avenue.
According to residents spoken to, the situation in Mongu had become tense and blamed the police officers and President Rupiah Banda's government for what was happening.
Business came to a standstill in Mongu in the morning, as shops, schools and offices were closed in view of the anticipated violent exchanges between the police and the activists.
By noon, sounds of gunfire were still being heard around the town.
A check at Limulunga Royal Village found increased police presence in the usually quiet village.
A group of youths had converged at the local bus station waiting to attend the public meeting as vehicles loaded with armed police officers drove by periodically.
Police officers were seen searching pedestrians who had resorted to walking from Limulunga to Mongu due to the absence of public transport.
A male youth, only identified as Teddy, was picked up by police officers who were in an unregistered Toyota Land Cruiser outside the shops at the village's shopping centre.
As they bundled him behind the open vehicle, one police officer was seen hitting Teddy on the back before stepping on him.
The number of police officers at the Litunga's palace had been increased, with armed mobile police officers patrolling the palace. Movement close to the palace was highly restricted.
Later in the afternoon, youths took over most parts of the town, blocking the roads with logs, vehicle wrecks and various objects. Police were still patrolling the area and they were later joined by the Zambia Army officers.
And about five police officers broke into Radio Lyambai studios around 09:00 hours yesterday and removed a console and computers, cutting off the station's broadcast.
At the time of the incident, the station was broadcasting a pre-recorded interview from the Barotse activists about the Limulunga public meeting.
Radio Lyambai station manager Mukeya Liwena confirmed that the police officers had earlier gone to the station, demanding the compact disc.
Liwena said this was not the first time police were trying to interfere with the operations of the radio station.
Liwena said the police officers were not given the CD because the person who was on duty said it was not there.
Meanwhile, police in the early hours of Friday picked up the husband of BFM national coordinator Grace Muyangana, Pastor Muyangana Muyangana from his Mongu house before taking him to an unknown place. A local musician's family was also harassed by police officers after the artiste known as Skwiz released a song over the Barotse issue.
Kaoma-based BFM national chairman Namushi Nyambe was also picked up in Kaoma around 18:00 hours on Thursday after a meeting with young people.
Around 23:00 hours on Thursday night, unknown people put up burning barricades at a section of the Limulunga-Mongu road at Winela area.
Motorists that went close to the barricade were stoned by unknown people standing at the roadside.
Motorists had to immediately reverse before hastily driving back to Mongu as the unknown people continued to throw stones at them.
The same night, a spokesperson for one group advocating the Barotseland Agreement went on Radio Lyambai, and told the people that the planned Limulunga public meeting would continue as planned despite the intensified security situation.
Another group of Barotse activists calling itself the Barotseland Freedom Movement (BFM) on Thursday night announced a last minute withdrawal from the public meeting on grounds that it had not been sanctioned by the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE).
Labels: BAROTSE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, MONGU, YOUTHS
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Sichinga calls for time frame on abuse of funds cases
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
THERE is need to set a time frame within which investigations involving abuse of public funds should be completed, says Bob Sichinga.
In an interview, Sichinga who is a former parliamentary public accounts committee chairperson said parliamentarians had always been critical of the length it takes to address issues they raised.
He said whenever queries were raised, each ministry was supposed to give an answer on the action it had taken and state the timeframe, which in most cases took longer than the required time.
However, Sichinga said most of the responses were not on the queries and the action taken.
Sichinga said there were many cases pending because there was no law that stipulated the timeframe of investigations.
He said there was no feedback on the process of investigations and what had happened to the people involved.
Sichinga said there was poor and no accountability and queries were gathering dust.
Sichinga’s comments come in the wake of the Anti Corruption Commission’s remarks that investigations into the procurement of police escort vehicles by the Zambia Police were still going on and no arrests had been made so far.
ACC corporate affairs officer Wezzy Chomba on Tuesday said a team had travelled to get the necessary information on the procurement and the results remained in the confinement of the investigative wings.
The investigating wings are probing the police high command for the irregular and overpayment in the purchase of escort vehicles and three bulletproof presidential vehicles in 2006 during the reign of Ephraim Mateyo as inspector general of police and Francis Kabonde as commissioner of police.
Chomba also said investigations into the procurement of hearses at the Ministry of Local Government were still ongoing.
Labels: ROBERT SICHINGA, WEZZY CHOMBA
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Katema asks govt to protect Zambians from KCM
By Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
CHINGOLA parliamentarian Joseph Katema says the government should protect the lives of Zambians from KCM’s quest to reap abnormal profits at the expense of polluting the environment.
And some government officials have said
Chamber of Mines of Zambia general manager Frederick Bantubonse is a wrong person to sit on the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) board.
Reacting to the latest pollution incident where Konkola Copper Mines has polluted the Kafue River with preliminary ECZ results indicating a presence of heavy metals in the River, Katema said government should intervene and protect the lives of people especially Chingola residents.
“These are the issues we expected Vice-President George Kunda to address when he visited Chingola but he kept quiet and focused on trivial issues and when government keeps quiet people will draw up conclusions that government is ‘eating’ those abnormal profits with KCM because why should government turn a blind eye when KCM is polluting the environment at the expense of making profits,” Katema said.
“We want somebody senior like Vice-President Kunda or President Banda to take leadership and demand substantial compensation from KCM the way President Obama did with BP during the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico .”
[Nice hope, except that the MMD is bought and paid for. - Mrk]
And Chingola’s Twatasha Ward councillor George Sichula accused the MMD government of having a ‘dirty covenant’ with KCM.
“This is why KCM is doing everything with impunity and it is not only polluting the environment but also disregarding labour laws and related Zambian regulations,” said Sichula.
“Since we have weak laws that results in K21 million fines, government should put in place measures that will compel offenders pay compensation towards victims and rehabilitation of affected area.”
And Nchanga parliamentarian Wilbur Simuusa said continued pollution of the environment by KCM was getting out of hand.
“It is barely a few weeks after a similar incident occurred and it is strange that this is happening only in Zambia because where Vedanta (KCM holding company) operates they follow regulations but here KCM is putting at risk the lives of many people,” said Simuusa.
And some government officials said Bantubonse should be removed from the ECZ board where he is the vice-chairperson.
“ Bantubonse is representing the chamber of mines where he is general manager and is saying the law should be lenient in addressing cases of environmental pollution. But in another breath, he is on ECZ board where he has to push for higher penalties for environmental pollution. Since 2009 or so, ECZ has had no board chairperson, so in essence, Bantubonse is the ECZ chairperson. He appeared at Parliament and made submissions that the law should be considerate on pollution. But ECZ, which he represents, the council is saying the law is not deterrent enough. Companies that pollute are charged very small amount,” said one official.
The official said there was clear conflict of interest on Bantubonse’s part.
Labels: FREDERICK BANTUBONSE, JOSEPH KATEMA, KCM, POLLUTION
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Rupiah-Chiluba alliance will destroy Zambia - Fr Luonde
By Misheck Wangwe
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
RUPIAH Banda will one day pay heavily for allowing Frederick Chiluba to steal from Zambians twice, says Fr Richard Luonde.
Commenting on Lusaka High Court judge Philip Musonda’s judgment in which he ordered the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) to surrender properties to Chiluba’s company Tedworth Properties Inc, Fr Luonde, an Anglican priest based in Kitwe said posterity would judge Chiluba and President Banda harshly for manipulating Zambians.
Fr Luonde said President Banda would also leave the office as a leader who shielded Chiluba from being prosecuted for stealing from Zambians.
He said Chiluba would remain guilty in the hearts of many people despite the ruling in the High Court that properties that were seized be given back to his company.
“Chiluba was just in ZCTU before he became president. Where did he get billions to acquire those flats that were published in The Post.
Rupiah wants to create two laws for this country; one for his friends who stole money and another for we the poor. Zambians should resist this Rupiah-Chiluba alliance because it will destroy the nation further before he leaves office,” he said.
Fr Luonde said it was distressing that President Banda decided to protect Chiluba instead of siding with the people and respect the constitution that gave Zambians the right to appeal cases of plunder of national resources to a higher court.
He said it was clear to many Zambians that President Banda’s government stopped the appeal against the ruling that was passed in the magistrates court in order to protect Chiluba.
“The cries of the poor and people who manipulate the poor for selfish gain will never go scot-free. He may fight for innocence and succeed but he remains guilty in the eyes of people and before God. Many people have continued to suffer because Chiluba and his friends plundered the economy but one day justice will be done,” Fr Luonde said.
He said as the country goes to the polls, people must begin to identify leaders who would put a stop to the rampant corruption that had manifested in the MMD government.
Labels: CORRUPTION, FREDERICK CHILUBA, RICHARD LUONDE, RUPIAH BANDA
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ZRA assistant commissioner found with case to answer
By Namatama Mundia
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
ZRA assistant commissioner George Siame has been found with a case to answer for allegedly assaulting a female workmate. Siame is facing one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
It is alleged that Siame assaulted Roselyn Raelly, a human resources director at Zambia Revenue Authority, on November 30, 2009 at ZRA head offices in Lusaka thereby occasioning actual bodily harm.
Ruling on whether Siame had a case to answer or not, magistrate William Banda said he had found him with a case to answer after considering the evidence of the nine prosecution witnesses and the submissions.
Magistrate Banda has subsequently placed Siame on his defence.
And Siame’s lawyer Milner Katolo said his client would give sworn evidence and indicated that he would call five witnesses.
Katolo, however, applied for adjournment which the court granted in order to prepare the defence.
The case will come up on February 22, 2011 for opening of defence.
Labels: COURTS, ZRA
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Shamenda to engage ILO on weak labour laws
By Moses Kuwema
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
IT is a total violation of the international covenant on labour to stop people who are not in employment from representing workers as trade union leaders, says Fackson Shamenda.
Reacting to labour minister Austin Liato’s statement that the government would not allow people who were not in employment to represent workers, Shamenda said trade union leaders by virtue of being full time representatives of workers, were in employment.
“The majority of countries where the trade union movement is active, leaders who work full time as union representatives are not employees of any government or private firms,” said Shamenda who is former Zambia Congress of Trade Unions president.
“And this allows them not to get insulated by the government or their employers, which is why we don’t allow civil servants to engage in active politics.”
He said in some exceptional cases where there was freedom and independence of the trade union movement, union leaders were allowed to take leave from their workplaces so that they could independently carry out their activities.
“But immediately the government starts asking for payslips from trade union leaders, that is interference and there is nothing personal. It is illogical for anyone to tell someone who pays tax as an employee of the trade union they represent,” he said.
Shamenda said the trade unions could actually take up the matter with the International Labour Organisation.
He said the Zambian labour law, which Liato referred to which did not allow union leaders not in employment to represent the workers, was very bad in that it was enacted to weaken the trade union movement.
Shamenda said the Ministry of Labour and Social Security had a duty to protect jobs in the country.
He said even when people were dismissed from their companies, the labour ministry should act as an arbiter.
“The ministry should protect jobs and not instigate people to go on the streets out of employment. The ministry should even protect a union leader if he is dismissed by his employers. If the arbiter is not there for the workers, who will protect them,” he said.
And Shamenda agreed with Liato that the labour movement was weak at the time he served as ZCTU president because that was when government interference started. He said the interference had continued until now.
“But the minister should avoid being personal because in my earlier statement I didn’t say it was Liato who had weakened the labour movement but the government, and he knows what I’m talking about,” he said.
Shamenda said the country had continued to experience numerous problems because people always rushed to personalise issues.
Labels: FACKSON SHAMENDA, ILO, LABOUR
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Maamba demands real issues from Kunda
By George Zulu in Maamba
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
MAAMBA residents on Friday demanded that Vice-President George Kunda address real issues affecting their wellbeing as opposed to preaching tribalism.
During a rally at Kanzinze grounds, the residents made running commentaries as Vice-President Kunda (right) talked about PF leader Michael Sata and the UPND-PF pact. Vice-President Kunda described Sata as a tribalist who did not believe in the One Zambia, One Nation and could not unite the country.
“Don’t allow Cobra Sata … to cheat you that they will unite this nation. Where have you seen Sata working with other tribes? This man has hatred for Tongas. He cannot work with you Tongas. He is a tribalist,” Vice-President Kunda said.
As Vice-President Kunda said this, some residents were heard saying the Vice-President was instead promoting tribalism.
One of the residents, from the crowd, demanded that Vice-President Kunda explain the unfair retrenchment of workers at Maamba Coal Mine and the package instead of talking about Kariba North Bank, which was of no interest to them.
“Let him tell us what will happen to the retrenched miners. Let him tell us what government will do about the looming displacement of the people because of the planned construction of a water pipe from Kariba to Maamba by Bharati investors not shouting and insulting Sata…,” another resident said.
The shouts from the crowd caused panic among security personnel and police started trying to identify the culprits.
However, Vice-President Kunda said the MMD would rehabilitate the Bottom Road because it was important.
Earlier, former Namwala District commissioner Eunice Nawa, Mbabala MMD Constituency chairman Chileshe Mwamba, former Sinazongwe MMD District chairman Foster Siapwaya, Kazungula MMD chairperson Malumo and other branch and ward officials were forced out of the meeting at Izuma Lodge on the basis that they were Bemba and Lozi.
Sinazongwe District MMD chairman Dodo Sindaza directed that all those who do not hail from the province should not attend the meeting with the Vice-President.
Sindaza ordered his youth wing not to allow anyone not in support of the sole candidature of Vice-President Kunda and President Rupiah Banda.
The officials said President Banda should not allow tribalism, which the party would not handle.
However, the officials who were barred from entering the closed-door meeting, said Vice-President Kunda had messed up the 2011 presidential campaigns for President Banda by promoting lawlessness, hatred and tribalism.
“We are very surprised that we have been stopped from entering the meeting on the basis that we are not Tongas and we don’t hail from here,” said the one of the angry officials.
One of the officials, Mwamba refused to comment on the matter, saying only God and time would tell the conduct of party officials.
Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, MAAMBA COLLIERY, TRIBALISM
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TAZARA workers will not be undermined - union leader
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
WORKERS Union of TAZARA vice-president Aaron Tiza says the aggrieved workers will not be undermined for demanding their rights to safety attire and other conditions of service.
Commenting on Tanzania Zambia Railways Authority (TAZARA) head of public relations Conrad Simuchile’s statement that their strike was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the operations of the company, Tiza on Thursday asked Simuchile to shut up.
“We are asking him to shut up. It’s embarrassing for management to present itself against the union in The Post. We are disappointed with the public relations manager who is defaming workers by calling them saboteurs,” said Tiza.
Tiza said some workers in TAZARA had worked for over 30 years and could not be called saboteurs today.
“The head-public relations should know that managers go but workers remain. We’re asking the MD managing director to tell the public relations manager, Mr Simuchile, to shut up and not to draw the workers in a public fight through the media,” said Tiza.
“If workers’ problems were attended to, truly were they going to be on go-slow? He (Simuchile) himself is a saboteur who wants the workers to react. The workers will not be undermined for demanding their rights over safety attires and any conditions of service.”
Tiza said TAZARA workers were very dedicated to work so as to see the company improve, hence the increased tonnage it had hauled.
TAZARA workers are demanding Leave Travel Assistance, safety attire which have not been given to them for three years and a salary increase.
Simuchile in a statement from Tanzania stated that the workers flouted procedure for presenting grievances and that there was no compelling reason to warrant withdrawal of their labour.
He said TAZARA management was urging unionised workers in Kapiri Mposhi who downed tools this week to respect procedures and support management in its efforts to turn the company around.
“It is worth noting that while management is doing all it can to turn around the company, this steady stride towards a turn-around is being thwarted by deliberate attempts to sabotage the operations of the company, such as the illegal work stoppages recorded in the recent past in Mbeya, Dar es Salaam and now Kapiri Mposhi,” he stated.
Labels: LABOUR, TAZARA
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MMD cadres’ stealing of food at convention
By Lungu HK
Sat 15 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
Editor,
I refer to the story that appeared in the post of january 12, 2011 headlined ‘cadres steal food at MMD conference’.
My question is, what makes one to steal things like food? It’s a simple thing to understand, it is as a result of lacking food in the house or money to buy food and provide for one’s family.
The action by MMD cadres is an indication that something is wrong in the MMD government.
The MMD has been boasting of great achievements like job creation and bumper harvest, to mention only a few.
Honestly, can cadres be forced to steal food in a country where they are able to find employment and where prices of mealie-meal have been reduced as a result of bumper harvest?
This event should make every member of MMD start telling the truth and accept failures, unlike what even Rupiah Banda is doing, telling lies that they are building roads.
This was his speech on the January 11, 2011 at the airport in Solwezi while addressing MMD officials and cadres.
One day Rupiah should travel on one of the roads in Ndola like Commando Road from Kabwe road.
This road that passes through Mushili Kansengu up to Commando, Kalewa road is full of potholes.
Also, the road going to Chondwe prison is almost impassable. So where are Rupiah’s achievements?
Lungu HK,
Ndola
Labels: CADRES, POVERTY
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Tomana denies WikiLeaks probe plan
by Staff Reporter
14/01/2011 00:00:00
ATTORNEY General Johannes Tomana was sucked into a political storm on Friday after distancing himself from state media reports that he was putting together a commission to look into “treasonous collusion between local Zimbabweans and the aggressive international world” over the WikiLeaks cables.
The state-run Herald newspaper quoted a statement allegedly issued by Tomana during the Christmas holidays announcing the commission.
Part of the statement said: “The WikiLeaks appear to show a treasonous collusion between local Zimbabweans and the aggressive international world, particularly the United States.
“With immediate effect, I am going to instruct a team of practising lawyers to look into the issues that arise from the WikiLeaks.”
This week, the Herald penned a follow-up story claiming the commission would be announced on Wednesday.
But Tomana threw the cat among the pigeons on Friday after declaring that he had never considered appointing such a commission, and denouncing the comments attributed to him in the Herald as a fabrication.
“I do not have the powers to appoint a commission or committee,” Tomana told the Zimbabwe Independent on Friday. “If you look at the scenarios around the appointment of commissions, it must be of national importance and it is only the president who can appoint a commission. Our powers are vested in Section 76 of the constitution. I do not know where all this is coming from.”
Tomana’s denial will spark new fears that political actors may have tried to use the AG’s office to institute a commission that would rack up damaging claims made against several senior opposition figures, including Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, in the United States embassy cables posted by the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks.
Questions would also be asked why the attorney general – who has admitted being a supporter of Zanu PF – did not move swiftly to distance his office from the initial Herald report and waited for prompting from journalists.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party, at its December conference, passed a resolution calling for the prosecution of individuals accused of making "treasonous" statements to foreign governments, including agitating for sanctions.
In comments at the conference, Mugabe declared: "It should be treasonous to do so; treasonous to call for sanctions on the people and anyone doing so is inviting punishment … we want to have laws to deal with this."
WikiLeaks published US embassy cables in which Tsvangirai appeared to be privately urging the United States to maintain sanctions on Zimbabwe, while publicly calling for the embargo to be lifted.
The cables also showed some MDC officials, including Energy Minister Elton Mangoma, discussing various options with US officials on how to remove President Robert Mugabe from power – including military action. The MDC officials however refused to consider taking up arms as an option.
Mangoma was also said to have called on the United States to set-up a fund to bribe military and police chiefs who are seen as loyal to Mugabe. Mangoma, who is the deputy secretary general of the MDC, has since denied making the request.
Labels: JOHANNES TOMANA, WIKILEAKS
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Ncube denies Zuma attack
by Staff Reporter
14/01/2011 00:00:00
MDC leader Welshman Ncube on Friday rejected a newspaper report claiming he described South African President Jacob Zuma’s mediation efforts in Zimbabwe as “disgraceful”.
“Anyone who knows me would not associate that type of language with me, even if I were talking about Robert Mugabe,” Ncube said in response to the Zimbabwe Independent’s lead story.
The Independent reported that Ncube “recently went public with his frustrations with South Africa’s facilitation efforts ...”
“South Africa’s conduct in respect to Zimbabwe is nothing short of disgraceful. South Africa rather than SADC should be blamed for the Zimbabwe crisis,” Ncube was quoted as saying.
The Independent claimed the newly-elected MDC leader made the comments on Twitter in a response to another Twitter user called ‘minyango’, adding that Ncube had confirmed posting it when contacted by phone last week.
But Ncube told New Zimbabwe.com in an interview Friday that the views attributed to him were “totally inconsistent” with his public stance on the Southern African Development Community’s three-year-old effort to end Zimbabwe’s decade-long political crisis, with Zuma as its pointman.
Ncube, who maintains accounts on both Facebook and Twitter, added: “I made no such comments on my Twitter. It’s a total fabrication.
“The journalist who wrote the story did not at any time ask me to confirm whether that statement came from me. He just asked me a broad question about whether I was happy with the manner in which SADC is handling the Zimbabwe situation.
“I told him, as I have said at every platform, that before we talk about foreigners, we have a primary responsibility to talk among each other and solve our problems as Zimbabweans.
“I went on to say we must stop running to foreigners and start looking at ourselves for being the ones who caused the crisis and the ones failing to talk to each other.
“Foreigners are exasperated by our behaviour of constantly running to them. That SADC are the guarantors of our power sharing arrangement is not a licence for us to relinquish responsibility as Zimbabwean leaders.
“Of course South Africa can do more, but we should be spending more time on ourselves.”
The colourful language attributed to Ncube would have been certainly surprising, given his personal relationship with Zuma. His son, Wesley, is married to Zuma's daughter, Gugulethu.
Ncube’s denials expose difficulties faced by journalists in reporting comments put online by public figures who compete with several other fake accounts in their names -- highlighted recently when ANC Youth League president Julius Malema threatened action.
On Facebook, there are SIX Welshman Ncube profiles but only one is legitimate, the MDC leader said. Twitter, however, only turned up a single account in Ncube’s name on Friday – his official account.
Labels: ANC, JACOB ZUMA, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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MDC congress aftermath: implications for democracy
by Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
14/01/2011 00:00:00
THE cat is out of the bag. The MDC congress held last weekend has delivered for the tribal supremacists and the anti-democrats the result they dreaded most and as expected, they have come out guns blazing.
The attack on the MDC following its congress raises three fundamental issues. It puts a spotlight on the unresolved ethnic issues, the one-party state ideology and the adherence to peaceful and democratic transference of power.
The Ethnic Debate: debate on issues of tribe is shunned in Zimbabwe and yet it dominates our local politics. The tribal sentiments expressed over the election of Welshman Ncube attest to this. It is revealing that there is now a growing consensus in the stables of Shona supremacist that the fact that a Ndebele is president of a political party means that the party is regional.
Interestingly, the fact that the MDC-T and Zanu PF have Shona leaders makes them national. Is the verdict, therefore, that a Ndebele cannot as a matter of fact be considered for President in Zimbabwe? And that therefore those of Ndebele descent have been disqualified from a national leadership contest?
One-Party State Ideology: the second issue that arises from the post-congress debate is the role and relevance of ‘third parties’ and the emerging reasoning that Zimbabwe is not a multi-party system but is, in reality, a contest to replace Zanu PF with another party.
The Zimbabwe democratisation political script has been fundamentally flawed in that it is a versus Mugabe script and not necessarily a creation of multi-party free world. We are focused on the removal of Mugabe and not on a creation of an alternative political system with alternative value systems.
We, as a nation, are bound in this romantic myth of a little girl who is waiting to be saved from a monster by a knight in shining armour and unfortunately it can only be one ‘knight’ in shining armour and not knight(s) in different shades. Anything that does not conform to that romantic image we hate and despise.
For a long time we have continued to romanticise the year 2000, where a united movement almost delivered the ultimate victory. We all secretly still yearn for that period even though the current reality demonstrates that the conditions and circumstances that prevailed in 2000 do not exist. We also, unlike what we publicly profess, have not embraced the concept of multi-partism, we sadly, in our actions, are in fact zealots of a one-party state ideology which seeks to remove Zanu PF replacing it with another party.
The year 2000 was not only miraculous but an aberration, never to be repeated. The coming together of all democratic forces to deliver a NO VOTE response to the referendum was magical. This came exactly after two decades of general disorientation and the trauma of the Gukurahundi.
In what we, in the born-again movement call a ‘vuselela’ (a revival/a rebirth), the NO VOTE campaign inspired a confidence in the Zimbabwean people that just perhaps, it was possible to dislodge Zanu PF. The nation was therefore divided into two camps, those for Zanu PF and those against. For some in the frontlines of that referendum, we know that the vote was simply an anti-Mugabe vote and less about the constitution.
The violence that followed that referendum shifted the power dynamics, to try and ignore the impact and the rupture that violence had on that unity is to live in cuckoo land. It is that denial of that shift that perpetuates the anger against parties that refuse to fit the 2000 mode.
Since the MDC split in 2005, an epitaph or obituary is written on the MDC. Opinion polls are conducted all to justify the issuance of burial orders. After the 2008 elections, we all were put into political dustbins, if not political museums. Ironically, the very same party today continues to dominate the Zimbabwean political discourse.
Is it not a paradox that a party so allegedly insignificant, a party so unlikely to impact on the future politics of Zimbabwe can dominate political debate? The only explanation for such behaviour is that the obsession is driven by our inability to understand a different script, a script that does not make Zimbabweans a choir with one song, but a script that says it is in our difference that we find our strength – celebrating our diversity.
It is tragic that a public service career one once admired and is a part of, is now dominated by a group of people who have no shame in giving blatantly false figures of congress delegates to mislead a nation. How it is possible for someone who attended that event to continue to perpetuate a falsehood of 1,000 delegates is not only sad but frightening.
Any journalist worth their salt only needs to check with the accommodation venues where delegates from outside Harare and Chitungwiza were accommodated. In fact, Harare Polytech alone had over 1,800 delegates, with Belvedere, HIT, YWCA, ZWB and Adelaide accommodating the rest. As is the norm in all political parties, delegates to congress are specified and determined by political parties. The MDC National Council resolved that congress would have a total of 5,200 delegates.
To seek to extrapolate the MDC’s nationwide support base to the number of delegates at congress is pure madness. The lie that delegates were not fed when we had three professional caterers is the limit of gutter journalism. No single delegate slept outside, no-one went hungry and there were no fights. In fact, all journalists were properly accredited and treated with the utmost respect, unlike other congresses we have observed.
Transfer of power: the third and final myth dismissed at the MDC congress was the notion that it is impossible in Africa, let alone in Zimbabwe, to experience a civilised, dignified and descent transfer of power. It is surprising that those who over the years have claimed to be true democrats now describe the change of leadership as a humiliating experience.
Instead of applauding Arthur Mutambara, he is now being portrayed at most as a victim, and at worst as a weakling. Is it our belief now that had there been a change of leadership from Mugabe to Tsvangirai in 2008, that act would have been humiliation for Mugabe? If so, why then are we against those that sought to protect Mugabe’s honour through beatings and the maiming of people?
If the election of Welshman Ncube is now being described as a boardroom coup or a demonstration of a power-hungry individual who has always harboured presidential ambitions, why then should we have a problem with those in Zanu PF who believe that any election that does not produce a leadership from those that held the gun in the liberation struggle is illegitimate or treasonous?
We should, therefore, now accept the notion that it is a crime to aspire or to participate in a leadership contest unless the incumbent have voluntarily relinquished power.
The political world is a moral terrain; you can’t demand from others what you can’t do in your personal sphere.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga is the Secretary-General of the Movement for Democratic Change party led by Welshman Ncube
Labels: MDC, MDC TRIBALISM, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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KCM pollutes Kafue River again
By Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
KONKOLA Copper Mine has polluted the Kafue River again. And Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) northern region manager Patson Zulu has called for the imposition of serious punitive measures against KCM for its continued pollution of the Kafue River.
But KCM head of corporate affairs Jacqueline Kabeta requested for a written press query before commenting on the matter. In an interview yesterday, Zulu said KCM informed ECZ about the incident on Tuesday.
“KCM reported that they had a problem with a Zesco power line to one of the pumps and they shut down the concentrator and the tailings leach plant but we suspect that by the time they took this action, impurities had already over flown into the river since preliminary results indicate the presence of heavy metals in the Kafue River ,” Zulu said.
“We are waiting for latest results to ascertain the level of contamination but as at last night (Wednesday) the situation was the same and we are not thinking of taking KCM to court but we shall impose serious punitive measures which I can’t disclose now.”
Nkana Water and Sewerage Company on Wednesday, temporarily shutdown water supply in Kitwe as a precautionary measure following reports of suspected pollution of the Kafue River by KCM.
Mulonga Water managing director Manuel Mutale said operations were normal since the company was able to treat the levels of impurities in the river.
“But we are still carrying out tests and also waiting for ECZ to complete their investigations and advise what to do. We only shutdown when our tests reveal higher levels of impurity content which we can’t treat,” said Mutale.
And Earth Organisation Zambia executive director Lovemore Muma said it was unfortunate that KCM had failed to keep its assurances that pollution of the Kafue River would not happen again.
Labels: KAFUE, KCM, KITWE, MANUEL MUTALE, NKANA WATER AND SEWAGE COMPANY, POLLUTION
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Barotse meeting illegal – Police
Friday, January 14, 2011, 7:37
THE Zambia Police Service has maintained that the planned meeting today by a group calling itself the Linyungandambo and the Barotse Freedom Movement (BFM) remains cancelled and protesters will be arrested if they go ahead. Western Province police commanding officer Peacewell Mweemba said the police will arrest anyone who will attempt to assemble in Limulunga.
“The organisers of the meeting have been informed that their meeting has been cancelled and those who will attempt to defy the order should be ready to collide with the law,” Mr Mweemba said.
He said the message of the cancellation of the meeting planned for today is clear and those who will want to test the law will find out what it means to break the law.
Northern Rhodesian provinces in the 1920s
The Linyungandambo group and the BFM are insisting on a meeting which they are calling the Limulunga Declaration.
Sources within the Linyungandambo and the BFM say the planned meeting will go ahead with or without a police permit. The sources said the Linyungandambo is not calling for violence and that there is no need for the police to surround the Limulunga Village, the royal home of the Litunga.
“We are peaceful people. We have always been peaceful and all we want are our rights,” one source said.
He said the message of the cancellation of the meeting planned for today is clear and those who will want to test the law will find out what it means to break the law.
So far, the situation is calm. In the market place in Limulunga, some people are not even aware of what is going on and are wondering who the Linyungandambo is representing.
Some teachers at Limulunga Basic School described the planned meeting as a scandal which Government should not allow.
The teachers said it is not right for the Linyungandambo and the BFM to cause confusion and panic in Mongu because Zambia is a country of many tribes.
The teachers said those who are threatening to expel non-Lozi-speaking people from Western Province should also start calling for Lozis outside Western Province to go back to the province.
The Western Province administration has named a Mr Maxwell Mututwa as the man who is allegedly behind the clandestine acts of calling for secession. A team of senior citizens in Mongu early in the week went to Senanga to meet Mr Mututwa to urge him to stop his activities.
The Linyungandambo and BFM have been going around homes in Mongu and Limulunga asking for donations towards the planned meeting.
Meanwhile, REBECCA CHILESHE reports that the Kuomboka Kufuluhela Committee of Lusaka has endorsed the stand of the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) that discussions on the Barotseland Agreement should focus on a unitary state.
Committee chairperson Oliver Saasa said during a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday that it is important to resolve the issue.
Professor Saasa said as a cultural association, the Kuomboka committee would like to assure all ethnic groups in Western Province and outside that anyone who recognises past kings of Barotseland who brought tribes together must recognise members of these tribes as equals.
He said besides, there is no such tribe as Lozi as the Lozi group consists of many ethnic and tribal groups and the Lozi language itself is not even originally Zambian but a derivative of the Sesotho language following the invasion of the Barotseland by Kololos.
“The committee would like to call upon both Government and the BRE to provide the needed leadership in facilitating dialogue as this is the only way that unresolved issues can be dealt with,” he said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, PEACEWELL MWEEMBA, ZPS
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Why ban phone-in programmes on the Barotse Agreement?
By The Post
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
It was shocking to hear
Dora Siliya announce that the government had with immediate effect banned the media in Zambia from airing phone-in programmes on the Barotse Agreement. She says the measure is aimed at maintaining peace in the country as dialogue continues on the issue.
What are things coming to? What has happened to the freedom of speech, the freedom of the media?
For Zambia to grow and prosper, ideas must be nourished through free discussion. A bad idea will find few takers. There is nothing in or about the Baroste Agreement that should not be discussed freely on radio or television phone-in programmes.
This is a clear case of violation of freedom of speech and of the media in one stroke. There is need for full and free discussion of the Barotse Agreement by all our people. We say this because full and free discussion keeps a society from becoming stagnant and unprepared for the stresses and strains that work to tear all its achievements to pieces. However, for full and free discussion, one needs a vigorous, flourishing, pluralistic press that is not told what to publish or broadcast by the government.
Is this the type of media freedom that this government wants to introduce in this country through legislation? A media regulation system under which those running government can wake up every morning and announce what they don’t want to be published or broadcast! The media is supposed to be independent.
And the media should not be there to protect the government from critics. It should be there to protect people from government, and not government from people. From what they are trying to do on the Barotse Agreement issue, it is clear why we need a free media which is capable of checking the arrogance of government and why such a media is essential to our democratisation process. Since informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment, what the government is doing cannot be regarded otherwise than with grave concern.
The whole point of a free media is not to make the policies and actions of the government exempt from public scrutiny, discussion and criticism but to expose them to it. And this right should not be taken away arbitrarily under the guise of maintaining peace in the country. Wrong or right, our people have the right to discuss the Barotse Agreement. This is not just a matter for those in government and those they have chosen to discuss with privately.
It is a matter that affects the destiny of our people, of our country. As such, every citizen has the right to take part in all issues that affect their lives. And in the exercise thereof, our people have an inviolable right to express their unbridled thoughts on all issues that affect their lives. And the freedom we are talking about is one that should protect unpopular and even inaccurate speech. Such freedom is a farce if it means merely freedom to talk about pleasant things.
It is often said that a free media – which often forces us to confront that which we may find unsettling – is the price of a democracy. We believe it is not costly to society, it is, in fact, a reward of democracy because it is basically for the protection of the public by making the widest possible flow of information a cornerstone of their democracy.
This naked censorship of the media that this government has embarked on is unacceptable. The tensions around the Barotse Agreement cannot in any way justify such repressive and tyrannical rule where those in government want to limit our freedom of expression as and when they so desire. But surely, the mere fact that speech is accompanied by conduct does not mean that speech should be suppressed under the guise of prohibiting the conduct. Moreover, ideas don’t generate crises; it is crises that generate ideas. The Barotse Agreement crisis is generating ideas. It is not the ideas this government is trying to ban that are generating the crisis surrounding the Barotse Agreement. But we who so staunchly espouse free media and then seek to edit it must be wary that from today’s decision might leach tomorrow’s hypocrisy.
As we have stated before, the suppression of the speech that we find offensive today is potentially a threat to our exercise of free speech tomorrow – which perhaps you or someone else might find offensive or threatening the peace. All our people are harmed by the government’s ban on the airing of all phone-in programmes about the Barotse Agreement. We say this because if the opinions that were to be expressed on these phone-in programmes were right, all our people will be deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth about the Barotse Agreement. And if wrong, our people will lose the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth about the Barotse Agreement produced by its collision with error.
Clearly, freedom of speech and expression is the lifeblood of any democracy. And this is why it is said that “democracy is communication”: people talking to one another about their common problems and forging a common destiny. Before people can govern themselves, they must be free to express themselves. Citizens of a democracy live with the conviction that through the open exchange of ideas and opinions, truth will eventually win out over falsehood, the values of others will be better understood, areas of compromise more clearly defined, and the path of progress opened. The greater the volume of such exchanges, the better.
In contrast to authoritarian states, democratic governments neither control, dictate nor judge the content of verbal or written speech. Democracy depends upon a knowledgeable citizenry, whose access to the broadest range of information enables him to participate as fully as possible in the public life of their society. Ignorance breeds apathy. Democracy thrives upon the energy of citizens who are sustained by an unimpeded flow of ideas, opinions and speculation.
Clearly, the cure for the speech that we don’t like is more speech. It may seem a paradox, but in the name of free speech, a democracy must sometimes defend the rights of individuals and groups who themselves advocate such non-democratic policies as repressing free speech. Citizens in a democratic society defend this right out of the conviction that, in the end, open debate will lead to greater truth and wiser public actions than if speech and dissent are stifled. Democracies rest upon the principle that government exists to serve the people; the people do not exist to serve the government. In other words, the people are citizens of the democratic state, not its subjects. While the state protects the rights of its citizens, in return, the citizens give the state their loyalty. Under an authoritarian system, on the other hand, the state, as an entity separate from society, demands loyalty and service from its people without any reciprocal obligation to secure their consent for its actions.
It is not difficult for anyone to see why freedom of expression is said to form the backbone of democracy. Demoracy will only become a reality in our country when there is freedom of speech, including the freedom, on the part of each individual and the media, to criticise the government and political parties and other authorities; the freedom of each individual to hold a political opinion that differs from that of the ruling party; the freedom of each individual to express a political opinion that is different from that of the ruling party; that is, the freedom to have a different line of political thinking and expression. And this freedom of thought and expression includes the freedom of the media. This freedom is realised when the media undertakes to restrain the excesses of the politicians and public officials by making the public aware of abuses, corruption and incompetence; promoting and animating public debate on policies and issues that are of public interest; and educating the public on matters of general interest.
The freedom of the media implies freedom from undue control and constraint, especially by the state. It implies the freedom to broadcast, publish and communicate information without undue constraint. The freedom of the media is violated when the government imposes restrictive controls over the media like what this government has done to ban the airing of all phone-in programmes on the Barotse Agreement.
Our people want to be heard, to take part in discussion and in the decisions which affect their own lives within the national community. Our people desire to take part. Our country is firm and united insofar as our people feel that they have a choice in its affairs. This requires that each citizen be allowed one’s own opinion and the right to act with full responsibility and without fear in matters that affect him or her intimately. We should not follow leaders blindly; we should critically examine their true intentions, and the direction in which they are leading us. Is it to a richer, more satisfying life? To a life in which we are masters of our own destiny? Or, is it to new forms of repression and tyranny?
And as we have stated before, no one person can claim to have monopoly of truth and wisdom. No individual – or group of individuals – can pretend to have all the resources needed to guarantee the progress of a nation. The contribution of the most humble members is often necessary for the good running of a group.
We all know that freedom of expression is a fundamental right of every human being. This right is also enshrined in our Constitution. While this right is not absolute, it is a matter of justice that it is given to all without discrimination and irrespective of the issue involved.
Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, CENSORSHIP, DORA SILIYA
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C0MMENT - A few months ago, Dora Siliya was on ZambiaBlogtalkRadio, and no one was allowed to ask her any questions on, say ZAMTEL. I hope they weren't left with the message that censorship works for them. She is corrupt, and as an elected official, she should always be ready to answer questions on everything.
Banning discussions on Barotse issue not a solution - SACCORD
By Sututu Katundu
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
BANNING Barotseland Agreement dicussions on radio stations is not a solution, says SACCORD.
Southern Africa Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) director Lee Habasonda yesterday said much as the country appreciated that the government was allowed by a section in the Constitution to override certain issues, banning radio stations from discussing the Barotseland Agreement debate was not the solution.
"It is regrettable that the government is using high-handedness to handle the Barotse issue. I think the government is taking a wrong direction by not letting people speak," he said.
Habasonda said it was not enough to thrash those calling for the agreement without listening to their grievances. He said most people in the country did not understand the issue and gagging the media would not help.
And Radio Ichengelo station manager Fr Wilbroad Mwape said the issue had nothing to do with the radio station. He said the government must face reality and tell the people what they wanted to know.
He said many people wanted to be educated and the government should explain and not infringe on their rights by asking them not to discuss the matter.
Fr Mwape said ignoring the problem was not a solution and people would begin to wonder what the government was trying to hide.
Meanwhile, a regular caller to radio programmes, Felix Konoso, who was speaking in his capacity as a direct descendant of King Lewanika Lubosi, said he was surprised that the announcement came at a time when he and others had scheduled to discuss the Barotse Agreement today.
He said the government announcement was an abrogation of human rights as they would not be able to express themselves freely.
Konoso said he did not support those fueling violence, as the agreement was a document that called for peace and unity. He said that was why it should be discussed for Zambians to be educated on how it started. He said in Tanzania, children were taught how Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to become one country.
Acting information minister Dora Siliya on Tuesday announced that all radio stations in the country should not conduct phone-in programmes to discuss the Barotseland Agreement as people were becoming violent and using bad language, among other issues.
Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, LEE HABASONDA, SACCORD
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Chiluba, explain your properties - Mpombo
By George Chellah
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:02 CAT
GEORGE Mpombo has warned people trying to shield Frederick Chiluba that they will not manage to extricate themselves from future consequences of their actions.
Mpombo was commenting on PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba's statement on Wednesday that former president Chiluba is the 'Godfather' of the Panamanian registered company, Tedworth Properties Incorporated, which he used to purchase properties in Lusaka using public funds. Mpombo, who is Kafulafuta MMD member of parliament, said the matter was a clear case of money laundering and that the government should ensure that justice prevailed.
Kabimba made the remarks following Lusaka High Court judge Philip Musonda's judgment in which he ordered the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) to surrender properties to Tedworth Properties Inc, which Chiluba used to acquire properties in Lusaka.
"Even the so-called offshore companies, let the local agents of Tedworth Properties Incorporated, if they exist, come forward and explain how these properties were acquired," Mpombo said. "Mr Mulenga and others should also exonerate themselves from Mr Wynter Kabimba's challenge because at the moment there is a lot of fog surrounding these issues, everything is wrapped up in mystery."
He said it would not be in the best interest of anyone to shield Chiluba.
"Those who are trying to shield Mr Chiluba cannot extricate themselves from future consequences of their actions. Society is very dynamic, things change. Kaondes say bintu bikingya. There is so much unquenchable thirsty for Zambians to know the truth and if not satisfied, the same people can come and demand for the real truth later on," Mpombo said.
"As a country we must avoid making reckless decisions because these things boomerang and that cannot be denied especially in Zambia. We have seen issues being resuscitated when there is a change of guard. There must be a lot of prudence in these issues."
He said Chiluba must come out boldly and state his position on Tedworth Properties Incorporated and its properties in contention.
Mpombo said Chiluba and everybody mentioned should speak out on the matter.
He said this was a very straightforward matter if all those mentioned handled it with utmost sincerity.
"The challenge is to everybody, including Mr Chiluba, to come out and set things clearly. Let him deny if those are not his properties. Mr Chiluba should come out very boldly and state his position on this Panamanian registered company, Tedworth Properties Incorporated and the properties in contention," Mpombo said. "Let Mr Chiluba do that so that the disquiet or anxieties in the minds of many Zambians are put to rest. Even the former Lusaka Province minister in Mr Chiluba's administration Mr Sonny Mulenga, let him also deny that at one point he collected US $300,000 cash from Mr Chiluba to pay the liquidators of Meridian Property Fund for the properties in Lusaka."
Mpombo said the properties belonged to the Zambian people and that they should not be returned to an individual.
"There is incontrovertible evidence that public resources were used to acquire those properties and therefore the Zambian people have a right to know why there are these political shenanigans with regards to the issues of Mr Chiluba and those properties," said Mpombo.
Labels: FREDERICK CHILUBA, GEORGE MPOMBO, WYNTER KABIMBA
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State concedes Mpombo’s sentence was excessive
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
THE state yesterday conceded the 60 days custodial sentence imposed on George Mpombo following a fine for a dishonoured cheque was excessive. And Ndola High Court judge Munalula Lisimba adjourned the matter to February 14 this year for judgment.
This is in a case in which Mpombo was charged with an offence of a dishonoured cheque contrary to section 33 (1) of the national payment systems Act as read with the Bank of Zambia Act.
It was alleged that Mpombo, on December 18, 2009 with intent to defraud, issued cheque number 00014 worth K10 million to Colwyn Limited of Ndola on an insufficiently funded account, number 0100260696200 at Standard Chartered Bank, which rendered the cheque dishonoured.
Mpombo was sentenced to 60 days simple imprisonment and fined K4 million by Ndola chief resident magistrate Kelvin Limbani, subsequent to which he appealed to the High Court.
And the state, in its submissions by Nkumbiza Mumba, fully supported the conviction of Mpombo by the lower court.
“We fully supported the conviction by the lower court and partially support the sentence as the same related to the fine that was imposed. But we do concede the 60 days custodial sentence; it was excessive for the court to give a custodial sentence after giving a fine,” Mumba said.
And Mpombo’s lawyer Bonaventure Mutale said he had seven grounds of appeal and submitted that the court should uphold the appeal.
He said the finding of a dishonoured cheque was equally without basis and there was no evidence to show that the offence was prevalent in the country.
“I am not aware of any case of dishonoured cheque that has been reported in this country. This is the first case so far,” he said.
Mutale said Mpombo was a first offender with no aggravating circumstances and a sentencing court should always mete out a fine.
Mutale said the magistrates’ court wrongly relied on some civic authority and failed in its judgment.
Meanwhile, judge Lisimba thanked both parties for their submissions and adjourned the matter to February 14.
Labels: GEORGE MPOMBO
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Rupiah, Kunda should not be challenged - Munkombwe
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
President Rupiah Banda and his vice George Kunda should not be challenged at the convention because they have performed, according to Daniel Munkombwe.
Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Copperbelt minister Mwansa Mbulakulima, Munkombwe, the deputy minister in the Office of the Vice-President, said Kunda was a genuine and robust Vice-President who should not be challenged at the MMD convention because he had done wonders for the country.
“You can only challenge a person who is not a performer. It is not always right to challenge a performer. Why should you put another person when there is already a relevant person? President Banda has performed and he has been rated as the most performed President,” Munkombwe said.
“How do you throw sand in the porridge, anyway? We will be there at the convention to see because I don’t see anyone challenging the two.”
Munkombwe said Vice-President Kunda had demonstrated his loyalty to President Banda, the MMD and Zambians.
“Why then should we go and put somebody else whose works we have not even seen?” he asked.
He said many people thought of challenging Vice-President Kunda because they had fantasies and dreams of becoming vice-presidents.
Munkombwe, who said he was one of the original politicians in the county, said the MMD had worked hard during the last few years to embarrass its critics.
“Those who criticise the MMD party cannot close their eyes because whatever they see is development. MMD is moving at fast speed. Some critics’ ears don’t even want to hear about the MMD government’s development,” Munkombwe said.
“President Banda is working hard and his government has performed. And this is because he is being assisted by a very robust and genuine Vice-President.”
And Mbulakulima said the MMD would take the opposition head-on and he was assured his party would win the general elections.
Labels: DANIEL MUNKOMBWE, GEORGE KUNDA, MMD, MWANSA MBULAKULIMA, RUPIAH BANDA
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Zambia needs a better leader - Magande
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
ZAMBIA needs a better leader than Rupiah Banda because he does not have the capacity to carry the nation forward, says Ng'andu Magande.
In an interview, Magande, a former finance minister, said prominent personalities like Dr Rodger Chongwe were now backtracking on their support for President Banda because
they had realised that what they supported in 2008 was not real.
"Let Rupiah Banda finish his term and that is what he had promised. And when elections come, the Zambians must look for a better person who will move the country forward and they will be greatly helped by those who thought that what they supported before was a real thing," Magande said.
"Dr Rodger Chongwe must know Rupiah Banda extremely well. So he just perhaps didn't know his capacity on certain things. And one can be forgiven. So we forgive all those who thought what they knew was correct...they have seen that he is not the right person to carry the country forward."
Magande said President Banda was a pretender who had failed to fulfill what he promised Zambians.
"He is losing their confidence and trust," he said.
Magande said President Banda was the same President who was pretending to start projects which were initiated by late president Levy Mwanawasa and claiming credit for them.
"If only at Ndola stadium they put a picture of him talking to president Mwanawasa as saying 'this is when we were discussing this stadium'. But you see there is a very big portrait of him saying 'your government and your money at work'," Magande said.
"He didn't initiate. So to me even the projects that he is claiming he has done them, he didn't do them."
Magande said the decision by President Banda to go for another term when he promised to only finish Mwanawasa's term showed that he was not prepared to tell the truth but to hoodwink the people, and the same could be done on some other important national issues.
Labels: NG'ANDU MAGANDE, RUPIAH BANDA
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Inaction against violence worries Kabanda
By Roy Habaalu
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
VIOLENCE is not likely to come to an end because political leaders are not taking action against culprits, says Simon Kabanda. In an interview, Kabanda, who is executive secretary for the Citizens Forum, said some politicians believed that they could only win an election through violence. He said those who were known to be violent should be expelled from their parties.
“We have not heard of any political leader, especially the MMD, disciplining anyone involved in violence. The MMD has not expelled those who have proved to be violent,” Kabanda said.
Kabanda said it was shameful that violent MMD members were being promoted to higher offices.
He said as a result of accommodating brutal people, the country would lose an opportunity to end violence.
He said it was not enough for President Banda to condemn violence at airports and rallies.
“We have seen that violent cadres from the MMD have not been disciplined or arrested. They boast that ‘boma ni boma’ government is government. We have seen that violent people in MMD have been given high positions and task forces are being created for them,” he said.
He said the President had a big role to play in ending violence.
He said the police should not wait for the President to issue instructions for them to act.
Kabanda said the police should be seen to be firm in dealing with violent politicians regardless of their affiliation.
Labels: POLITICAL VIOLENCE, SIMON KABANDA
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ZULAWU queries non-funding of Local Government Commission
By Bright Mukwasa
Fri 14 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
THE government should explain how the newly set up Local Government Commission will operate without a budgetary allocation, ZULAWU has demanded.
Zambia United Local Authorities Workers Union (ZULAWU) president Misheck Nyambose said the government needed to make serious efforts to ensure that the new commission was functional.
“We are facing a lot of challenges in dealing with staff matters because the new Act took away all the powers. But the commission has no budgetary allocation in the yellow book. We wonder how it will operate,” Nyambose said.
Nyambose said in the absence of the commission, many local government issues had stalled.
“Let the commission start work so they look at improving conditions of service. The current conditions in the local government are still very poor to attract qualified staff,” he said.
Nyambose said nothing had happened despite the government’s announcement on the appointment of the commission.
He praised the local government for effectively disbursing funds last year but complained of rampant misapplication.
“Some of the money, however, has not been used for intended purposes. There’s a lot of misapplication of money,” said Nyambose.
Labels: LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ZULAW
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