It’s going to be rough for us - Kasama MMD chairlady
Written by Patson Chilemba in Kasama
Saturday, October 10, 2009 4:31:00 PM
In an interview, Sefuke said it would be rough for the MMD because they had a very weak campaign manager, Lusaka Province minister Charles Shawa.
Asked how she rated MMD's chances in Kasama Central with regard to what was obtaining on the ground, Sefuke responded: “We have a very lazy campaign manager. Shawa has never escorted the candidate in the campaigns. He always stays at the Guesthouse, sleeping. So what can you expect?”
Asked to categorically state her position on the matter, Sefuke said: “It's going to be rough [for MMD] but I can't predict. But it will be rough because Shawa is too lazy and Mugala is just fighting on his own.”
Sefuke said Shawa was so stingy with the party's resources and had acquired nicknames from the MMD cadres in the process.
“He just wants to benefit alone. At the command post, they are calling him King Herald or bashi Chola, because he has a bag of money that he is carrying all the time,” Sefuke said. “I am the district chairlady of Kasama. I am even more senior than Shawa, politically.”
Sefuke further said she could not take part in the MMD campaigns because she and the other party members were told to stay away.
“After Mugala filed in the nominations, I went to attend a party meeting of which Shawa was chairing as campaign manager. Then Fred Mukuka [MMD provincial secretary], stood up and told the members that they had decided that Simunyola should not be part of the campaigns, and they had spoken to him,” Sefuke narrated. “Then he went on to say, 'the second person we don't need in this campaign is this madam seated here, Brillian Sefuke. We don't want you here because you were an interested party and applied to contest, and now since you are the losing candidate, we feel you will be filtering information to the PF because of your in-law [PF candidate Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba]. You are not the only one we are chasing; we don't want Bernard Mpundu in the campaigns and many others'.”
Sefuke said she was then asked to leave the meeting and she thanked them for being honest for telling her to stay away from the campaigns.
“They want to put me in this position so that after elections, they will come and tell me that 'how can you campaign for a member of another party and probably suspend me,” Sefuke said. “So these people are victimising me to the highest point, and I feel they are doing this because I am a woman.”
Sefuke said she and her late uncle Emmanuel Kasonde had spent so much on the MMD and newcomers like Shawa would not push her out of the party.
She said Shawa came from UPND and wanted to contest the Luangwa seat on the same party ticket in 2006.
“He was a headmaster, so he wants to bring that school mentality to the political scene,” said Sefuke.
Labels: CHARLES SHAWA, KASAMA, MMD
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Use CDF to develop your areas – Shawa
Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 16:22
Government has urged civic leaders and parliamentarians in Lusaka province to utilize the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to develop their areas. Lusaka Province Minister Charles Shawa said there is need to unlock the potential of Zambians to enhance the promotion of economic growth and diversification.
Mr. Shawa noted that this would also help to improve the quality of public service delivery to the people. The Minister said this when a group of councillors from Kafue District Council called on him at his office today.
He advised civic leaders to work closely with their area Members of Parliament in the use of funds from CDF to improve the social services and infrastructure development in the district.
Mr Shawa added that government is in hurry of extending benefits of economic growth and development to the people through the involvement of key stakeholders.
Earlier, Kafue District Council Chairperson, George Muleya said the council was working had in reviving the manufacturing industry in a bid to make the district an industrial hub of the province.
Mr Muleya said the construction of Universal Mining and Chemicals Industries, a major hotel and a cement manufacturing company would revive the economic activity in the district resulting in job creation among the people.
He commended government for injecting capital into Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ).
The Coucil Chairman said the move would help the fertiliser company resume full production.
Mr Muleya however, bemoaned the decline in the collection of council levy from firms that have closed down, such as Abion Nickel Mine.
He noted that the development has negatively affected the revenue base of the council leading to failure by the council to provide quality service to the people.
ZANIS
Labels: CDF, CHARLES SHAWA, KAFUE, NCZ
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Nakonde should be made tax-free zone – Shawa
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:51:04 AM
NAKONDE town should be made a tax-free zone, Northern Province minister Charles Shawa has said. And some Zambian traders have complained that Tanzanians were monopolistically determining the foreign exchange rate without following the recognised rate. Analysing Zambia’s trade relationship with Tanzania and Malawi, Shawa said there was a lot of trade among the three countries.
He, however, said Zambia and Tanzania traded more with each other, although the latter had an upper hand because it had declared Tunduma a tax-free zone, hence goods were cheaper, forcing Zambians to order goods from there for resale in the country.
"So many people from the Copperbelt, from Lusaka are going into Nakonde to do business but what happens there is that they cross into Tunduma and there is a big market there and on that market, the Tanzanian government has designated Tunduma market as a tax-free zone," Shawa said.
He therefore said the Zambian government should declare Nakonde a tax-free zone to level the playing field.
Shawa said trade among Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi was very high.
"Nakonde border line is so wide and there is a lot of trade; there is a lot of money that is going into Nakonde. There is a lot of trade; people are going into Tanzania, others are going into Malawi through Nakonde," he said.
Shawa observed that the border at Nakonde was so porous, leading to rampant smuggling.
A recent check at the border area revealed several Zambians trooping to Tunduma while others proceeded to Mbeya to buy goods for resale in Lusaka and Copperbelt.
Various goods such as clothes, foods, drinks, beer and bedding were bought from Tunduma at relatively low prices. There is also a high volume of vehicles being transported from the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), making Nakonde a hive of activity day and night.
Some Zambians talked to supported Shawa's call for Nakonde to be turned into a tax-free zone.
"I think it might help to declare this place a tax-free zone," said Joyce Musonda of Kitwe, who was found buying goods in Tunduma. "Tanzanian traders are making a lot of money out of Zambians."
Another trader who declined to be named complained that Tanzanians had the monopoly in determining the exchange rate between Tanzania's shilling and the Zambian kwacha without necessarily following the recognised international exchange rate.
"Tanzanians determine at how much you will buy the shilling. Tanzanians have formed a cartel that determines the exchange rate. If Tanzanians want the kwacha to fall, they will just tell you that your currency has depreciated and when they want to please you they will say, 'now the kwacha has appreciated’, but that will be by a very small margin. As Zambians, we have no say," said the trader.
Labels: CHARLES SHAWA, MALAWI, NAKONDE, TANZANIA, TAX FREE ZONES, TRADE
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We did not promise magic - Rupiah
Written by Chibaula Silwamba in Kasama
Wednesday, January 07, 2009 3:10:36 PM
WE did not promise that we will be magicians to solve all problems overnight, President Rupiah Banda has said. And Northern Province minister Charles Shawa has complained that farmers in the province have difficulties to access subsidised fertilizer due to low supply of the commodity.
Addressing his supporters and government officials who welcomed him at Kasama Airport on Tuesday for his four-day official visit to the province since his election in October last year, President Banda bragged that his government had started implementing some developmental projects he promised Zambians during his campaign for the Republican presidency.
"We promised you in the last campaign that we are aware that our country has many problems; that our people are facing a lot of problems especially those related to poverty. We promised you that we will do our best to help make the lives of our people better," President Banda said.
"We did not promise you that we will be magicians and that overnight, one month or two months after we have been elected all the problems of the country will be solved. Nobody can do that! We promised you that we will do our best and I am proud to stand in front of you that certain of these problems have been solved, and nobody can argue."
He said his government had reduced prices of fuel and was reducing prices of mealie-meal.
"We can stand in front of you and say that we promised we will keep the peace of this country and you have seen that the people of Zambia prefer peace to anarchy. Despite the calls by those others for people to go out there and demonstrate, the people of Zambia wherever they are have said they prefer peace, which we preach, to anarchy," President Banda said. "We promised unity of the people of Zambia. We promised to serve all the people of Zambia regardless of whether they voted for us or did not vote for us, that is exactly what we are doing."
He said Zambians had a constitutional right to elect whoever they wanted to be their president.
"But at the end of the day the majority will rule this country... fortunately for us we are the majority and those others are the minority," President Banda said. "There are nine provinces in this country. Despite the holiday I have had in Eastern Province, this is the first province that I am visiting to see the development programmes that we have started and most importantly to open a very important organ of our governance, the Auditor General's office."
He said the office of the Auditor General was very important in ensuring accountability in the use of national resources.
"When the Auditor General invited me, I told her, 'oh yes I'm going to Kasama.' I am here madam to open this office because we believe that we must be accountable to the people of Zambia," President Banda said.
And President Banda said there was need to open up the hidden tourism attractions in Northern and Luapula provinces.
"We want to open the Northern Province because we believe that the tourists have not seen yet the beauty of this country until they see the beauty of the Northern and Luapula provinces," President Banda said. "I am happy that the airport terminal building is almost finished and that this airport will soon be completed and we will see a lot of tourists coming in here; going to Mbala, Mpulungu, Isoka and all the wonderful spots hidden in the Northern Province."
And President Banda - in an apparent reference to his tribal cousin, Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata - wondered why some losing candidates in the presidential election were claiming that they were popular when in fact they got zero votes in some parts of the country.
"Most importantly I want to thank you people of Northern Province for the support that you gave me in the last election. I know some of you are saying, 'what support did we give you? You didn't win here.' Of course I won here. I didn't come out with zero; I came out with a lot of votes from you people of this province. Were it not for those votes, I most probably would not have won the national election," President Banda said.
"That is why my friends who lost, who didn't get anything in certain provinces, they had to lose. Myself I got everything everywhere. In the whole country, I was either number one or number two, nowhere number three. So I get surprised when my cousin [Sata] and the other people that lost the elections are boasting about their popularity. How can you be popular when you got zero in certain provinces?"
President Banda said he was the only one who could boast of being popular because he got votes in all parts of the country.
"I can boast that I was truly popular because...thus why they didn't like that blue map [Electoral Commission of Zambia's map showing election results per constituency], which shows that our party and your candidate everywhere we went we got something. Even where they won, Rupiah Banda of the MMD was always number two, themselves were number three, number four or number zero if there is such a number in the elections," President Banda said.
"I want to promise you something, next time around the MMD is going to scoop Kasama, and we won't allow them [the PF] to get away with it. We are coming back here and that is why I have started my visit to the provinces with this province because I can feel it that we are very welcome in this province. We will perform; we will do the best that we can so that you can appreciate us as a party."
Meanwhile, President Banda said Shawa's quick adaption to the linguistic of Northern Province proved that he made a right choice when he transferred him from Eastern Province.
"People of Northern Province, I sent you an eastern bull, he is very quick to learn, he is already speaking Bemba fluently so that those others cannot say, 'you sent us somebody who cannot speak our language.'" said President Banda. "I know him well, he performed in Eastern Province, and I know he will perform well here because he is in front of his own cousins."
And Shawa expressed concern at the shortage of subsidised fertiliser under the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP).
"In the agriculture sector, the province continues to record progress in line with the MMD agriculture policy. The province is posed to record a bumper harvest in the 2008/2009 agricultural season. However, like all provinces in Zambia, our farmers have difficulties in accessing subsidised fertiliser due to low supply of the commodity," Shawa said.
"We are delighted to learn that pricing of fuel will be standardised throughout the country. This will result in the reduction of production cost of the rural provinces."
In the tourism sector, Shawa said the province was encouraged by the proposed development of the Kasaba Bay integrated development plan.
"We hope it will result in considerable spillover effects in terms of investment across the province," he said. "In education, K15 billion was released for the construction and rehabilitation of basic schools in the Province. The government is constructing new high schools in Isoka, Kaputa and Mpulungu districts as well as houses in various districts. In health, government is building hospitals in Kaputa, Mpulungu and Isoka. Kasama General Hospital is being rehabilitated."
Shawa also said rehabilitation of roads and bridges in the province was progressing well.
And MMD provincial executive committee representative Gaston Sichilima called for improvement of the road network and fertilizer distribution.
Those accompanying President Banda aboard a Zambia Air Force plane are MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga, finance deputy minister Chileshe Kapwepwe, finance permanent secretary Dr Wamundila Mbikusita-Lewanika, MMD chairman for elections and works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti, MMD spokesperson and local government minister Benny Tetamashimba, tourism minister Catherine Namugala, presidential press aide Dickson Jere and President Banda's political advisor Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika.
Labels: CHARLES SHAWA, FERTILIZER, FSP, RUPIAH BANDA
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There’s no need for NCC to extend its mandate – Sata
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Sunday, December 07, 2008 6:36:56 PM
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday charged that the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) delegates want to extend their mandate to 2010 to enrich themselves.
And Sata expressed surprise at the circumstances that have led to former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu's return after being on the run for over four years.
Commenting on the NCC secretariat's proposal to the general purposes committee of the NCC asking for the extension of the constitution-making body's mandate by 12 months from next year to 2010, Sata challenged the NCC to show the Zambians what they had achieved so far before they could ask for an extension of their mandate.
"Everybody in NCC, they are not there to produce a constitution, they are there to share the K400 billion. They will use every excuse to 'burn' the K400 billion which was budgeted for [the NCC]," Sata said. "Why do they ask for the extension when they haven't done anything? They should say this is what we have done but not extensions for drinking tea and having banquets because their tea break is a banquet.
"The reasons which they have advanced are not convincing. What have they done? The year 2009 has not come; we haven't seen what they have done. Why are they jumping to 2010 and October? If they say 2010 October, when is the report going to be ready? Is Cabinet going to look at that report? We were told there will be a referendum. Where will they find time for a referendum if the elections are towards the end of 2011?"
Sata accused NCC delegates of only being interested in making money for themselves and not making the constitution.
"I will be producing documents in due course where they have even proposed increase of allowances. They are only there to become rich. They have already written and approved the constitutions for their pockets and handbags," he said. "All that these people want is to make money and leave that document as it is."
He said it was strange that NCC delegates wanted more money when the people they represent were wallowing in poverty.
"They want to make extra money when people cannot afford to buy meali- meal, electricity, fuel, fertiliser...that is plunder of the worst nature during broad daylight," Sata observed. "The tax payer is suffering while they are making money Chifumu Banda is getting K25 million, Faustina Sinyangwe K18 million, [Regina] Musokotwane K18 million and Leonard Hikaunda K18 million, then the gang led by Peter Machungwa of 18 committee chairpersons and deputies get K17 million and K16.5 million. If you calculate that between now and 2010, how much are they going to make?"
On Chungu's surprise home-coming and corruption charges, Sata said all forms of corruption should be eradicated.
"It's very difficult to make a comment on the return of Xavier Chungu, I don't know the circumstances in which he left Zambia and I don't know the circumstances which has brought him back. So at the moment, all what it remains is speculation. I am not going to participate in the speculations, we shall wait and see," Sata said. "Corruption in any form must be eradicated, institutional corruption must be eradicated."
Meanwhile, Sata said Luapula Province minister Dr Boniface Kawimbe is not a founder member of the ruling MMD as claimed by President Rupiah Banda, a new comer to the party.
"Dr Boniface Kawimbe is not founder member of MMD. Boniface Kawimbe was a member of NADA, which was led by Reverend Mumpansha. It's me from my house who convinced Kawimbe to leave NADA to come and join MMD. Kawimbe left MMD together with General [Christon] Tembo when they were protesting against third term [bid of Frederick Chiluba]. Dr Kawimbe left FDD after he was defeated when he was aspiring to become president of FDD. He drifted back to MMD and he was defeated by Michael Mabenga at the MMD convention as national chairman, Boniface Kawimbe disappeared in thin air," Sata explained. "Now, Dr Kawimbe has found an indirect way of bouncing back to party power knowing very well that RB is not MMD. Dr Kawimbe would like to use Luapula as a spring board to come to the top leadership of MMD."
Sata also questioned President Banda's appointment of Dr Kawimbe and Charles Shawa as provincial ministers for Luapula and Northern provinces respectively.
"When Kenneth Kaunda created the position of provincial minister or minister of state, one of the national councils of UNIP which I attended, resolved that these positions must be given to local leaders who are fully conversant of the problems in that particular province," Sata said.
"The appointment of Boniface Kawimbe in Luapula Province and Shawa in Northern Province is an insult to the local leadership in the two provinces. Although Boniface Kawimbe may speak the same language as they may speak in Luapula, he doesn't know the problems of Luapula. And Mr Shawa will have to spend time to learn Northern Province before he can be effective. Is Rupiah Banda telling us that Northern and Luapula provinces do not have capable leaders who can be appointed to the simplest job of provincial minister?"
Sata said Northern and Luapula provinces had immense problems and that those problems needed to be dealt with by people who understand the areas.
Labels: BONIFACE KAWIMBE, CHARLES SHAWA, CORRUPTION, LUAPULA PROVINCE, MMD, NCC, NORTHERN PROVINCE, SATA
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Inspire young ones on corruption, justice Chileshe urges leaders
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Tuesday June 03, 2008 [04:00]
LEADERS need to ensure that young people are inspired by their exemplary conduct in the eyes of the public, Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) chairperson justice Valentine Chileshe has advised. And Eastern Province minister Charles Shawa said the government had endeavoured to fight corruption in order to achieve a significant reduction in its incidence.
During the official opening of the ACC Eastern Province Youth Festival at Chipata College of Education yesterday, justice Chileshe said young people needed direction if they were to uphold society values such as integrity.
"This festival whose theme is 'Young people against corruption' brings young people together, giving them an opportunity to express their feelings on the devastating evils of corruption. It is also an important occasion because it spells out the various roles that are supposed to be played by all of us in the fight against corruption. It is therefore incumbent upon us to instill such senses in them so that the country can have a better and corrupt-free future," justice Chileshe said.
He urged the young people to take advantage of the festival and become anti-corruption campaigns activists.
"It is from such festivals that the youth can gain as much knowledge as they can for the creation of a sober society free of corruption and other malpractices. The anti-corruption artworks also provide a basis on which the commission is able to assess the levels of understanding of corruption issues by the youth," justice Chileshe said.
ACC director general Nixon Banda said the commission had designed different programmes aimed at inculcating moral uprightness and integrity in the youths.
"This falls under one of the commission's statutory function of educating the community on the causes and evil effects of corruption and so solicit for support in fighting the scourge. From the previous festivals that we have held, we have been very impressed with the way youths think about corruption and its impact on society, and more so on how to curb the scourge," Banda said.
And Shawa, who was represented by Chipata district commissioner Nicholas Banda, said a lot of programmes aimed at fighting corruption had been put in place.
Shawa said the festival was one of the programmes aimed at equipping young Zambians with knowledge for them to avoid and report any form of corruption thereby helping to build a generation that would strive to be corrupt-free.
"This is a welcome initiative by the ACC in helping to shape the character of our youths so that they grow into responsible, caring, honest and accountable persons," Shawa said.
Eastern Province education officer Pilila Jere, who was represented by Chipata District Education Board Secretary Patrick Zulu, said the ministry was happy with the ACC because it was helping in moulding the character of the youths in issues of anti corruption and values such as integrity.
"The ministry has always been faced with serious challenges in this area due to pressures that the youths face in the midst of many social challenges out there. The school may do its best in instilling the moral attributes that are valuable to society but these are soon eroded because of the wider society," said Jere.
The event, which will run for a week, has attracted participants from 20 schools from Chipata, Katete and Chadiza districts.
Labels: ACC, CHARLES SHAWA, VALENTINE CHILESHE
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