Neglect of youths saddens Open Society Foundation
By Allan Mulenga
Wed 14 Mar. 2012, 11:59 CAT
ZAMBIAN youths are condemned to a life of squalor, characterised by high levels of unemployment, poverty and many diseases, says Sunday Chanda.
Launching his Open Society Foundation and a red card campaign for youth jobs in Lusaka on Sunday, Chanda also welcomed "with conditions" President Michael Sata's directive to his Minister of Youth to present a
National Action Plan on Youth Employment in Zambia.
"The President has picked one of the things we have called on government to do, which could be a sign that he is listening. Our hope is that it was not done for political fronting. However, we are opposed to the time frame given, which is September 2012. The question of youth is an urgent one and youths cannot be expected to wait until September 2012," he said.
Chanda also challenged the government to respond to the hundreds of youths offloaded onto the labour market every year.
"They have no labour movement to speak for them but themselves.
He said his organisation was aiming at reversing the injustices committed to the youth by previous and current regimes.
"The youth agenda has never taken centre stage. This must change. The number one priority of any normal country is employment creation and not focusing entirely on consequences resulting from the right issues we have failed to address as a nation," he said.
Chanda said unemployment levels had been building up over time and it would not be fair to apportion the entire blame on the PF government.
"It is again correct to state that had the levels of youth unemployment not escalated so high, the PF would not have formed government in the last election. The PF formed government because their message to the nation, but especially the youth, resonated so well and provided hope for a hopeless generation," said Chanda.
"More jobs and more money in their pockets was the basis on which Zambian youths woke up early in the morning to make their vote historic. Today, we come to remind the PF Government of their solemn commitment to the younger generation and asking them for one very simple thing: how do you plan to fulfil your campaign promises to the youth of Zambia now that you are the government?"
Chanda said his red card campaign would roll out to sensitise pupils, students and youths from the wider community, to make them appreciate Zambia's wealth and why they were not benefiting.
"Presently, youths see poverty while foreigners see wealth. This, we are determined to change. Once youths understand how rich their country is, they will make informed and great demands," he said.
Chanda said Zambia was Africa's largest producer of copper with most benefits accruing to the investor, with China leading.
He advised the government to re-introduce the windfall tax in resonance with its campaign promise to do so once in government.
"Government must honour this commitment, unless they have been rewarded in another way by China. We are sad to note that after so much spirited talk about creating jobs and putting more money in people's pockets, there is less and less of policy formulation and implementation to convince the youth that government is still committed to honour its campaign promise on jobs," he said.
Chanda also clarified that the red card campaign on jobs for youths was not inspired by Fr Frank Bwalya and merely an initiative under his organisation.
"There are hundreds of red card campaigns across the globe and ours was never an inspiration of Fr Bwalya's work, much as we have no issues with his work," said Chanda.
Labels: MICHAEL SATA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, YOUTHS
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Cops censure Fr Bwalya over honking
By Fridah Nkonde in Ndola
Thu 01 Sep. 2011, 12:00 CAT
COPPERBELT police on Tuesday cautioned Get Involved Zambia executive director Fr Frank Bwalya against honking unnecessarily and killing animals in public. Copperbelt police commanding officer Dr Martin Malama on Sunday summoned Fr Bwalya to his office over some statements he was making against elected leaders.
Dr Malama told journalists in Ndola after meeting Fr Bwalya that he was concerned about the utterances the cleric was giving at public rallies about elected officials and how he would forcefully remove them.
He said Zambia had laws and if anyone felt the elected officials were fraudulently chosen, they were free to go to court.
"Elections will be conducted in a free and fair manner and if one decides to take the law in his hands, he will be to blame," Dr Malama said.
He said he cautioned Fr Bwalya about honking, which was an offence, and about him killing animals in public.
Dr Malama said people campaigning should obey laws during campaigns because the law reigns supreme.
And Fr Bwalya described the discussion with Dr Malama as cordial and reciprocal.
In an interview after the meeting, Fr Bwalya who was accompanied by PF provincial chairman Rebby Chanda, PF district chairman George Chisulo and Get Involved Zambia members said Dr Malama expressed concern over what he (Fr Bwalya) said in Luanshya's Mpatamato area about removing President Rupiah Banda from State House once re-elected after the September 20 elections.
"I said to the people of Luanshya that I was prepared to die there at State House," he said.
Fr Bwalya said the second issue was about what he did at a rally in Mpatamato where he killed a chicken and broke its eggs to illustrate a point that those who wanted change should avoid vote splitting as a way of counteracting rigging.
Fr Bwalya said Dr Malama also wanted to remind him that honking unnecessarily was an offense.
"It is about the ‘Rupiah achoke' campaign which we have started having every Friday that the police wanted to remind me that unnecessary honking is an offence," he said.
Fr Bwalya said he would pray over what was discussed and issue a comprehensive statement about his views on the three points that were discussed.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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Solwezi red card campaign annoys MMD
By David Chongo in Solwezi
Wed 26 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE red card campaign has infuriated the MMD in Solwezi and the party has declared the district a no-go area for initiator Fr Frank Bwalya (below). The party is enraged with Fr Bwalya’s distribution of red cards and whistles including sentiments that North Western Province had accepted the red card campaign.
According to a statement by MMD Solwezi district leadership, the party would not allow Fr Bwalya to ‘confuse’ the people in the area.
District chairperson Jackson Kakoma and secretary Chris Wasema warned that Solwezi district should not be the starting base for all those who wanted to aspire to higher office.
And MMD provincial youth chairperson Stafford Mulusa warned Fr Bwalya not to concentrate his red card campaign on President Rupiah Banda or he would not have it easy when he visits again to launch the campaign next weekend.
Last week, MMD youths calling themselves ‘the crack squad’ searched for Fr Bwalya in Solwezi after word went round that he was in town distributing red cards.
And an eyewitness said cadres had planned to beat Bwalya up if they had found him, warning that he should not step back into the province, or they would teach him a lesson.
But Fr Bwalya said no one could stop the red card campaign as it was guaranteed under the constitution of the Republic as a means of expression.
He said it was illegal for any individual to suppress another’s freedom of expression.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, STAFFORD MULUSA
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Red card campaign in N/Western Province impresses Fr Bwalya
By David Chongo in Solwezi
Mon 24 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
FR Frank Bwalya says he is overwhelmed by the response to the red card campaign by the people of North Western Province. Fr Bwalya said he was amazed by the popularity of the red card campaign in North Western Province saying people were clearly showing that they wanted change.
“For me as Change Life executive director, I am amazed to see the popularity of the red card campaign in North Western Province. It means that people are ready for change. And change is what we want.
People in North Western Province will come clear that they want change; the change that will deliver a people-driven constitution with renewed commitment to fight corruption, advocate for good governance and a Zambia where resources are shared equitably.”
In an interview when he visited Solwezi, Fr Bwalya said MMD strongholds would be the first to reject President Rupiah Banda’s government during this year’s general elections.
He said President Banda would be greatly disappointed with the regions that the party regarded as its strongholds.
Fr Bwalya said the President was banking on false hopes that the party had a strong presence in North Western and Western provinces because they delivered victory for him and the party in previous elections.
But Fr Bwalya said the two regions had changed significantly as dissatisfaction and dissent was slowly growing in people and in the coming few months the MMD government would find out the true feelings of the people.
“We are anticipating more expressions of dissatisfaction with the MMD mainly in the traditional strongholds of the MMD. Zambians feel neglected and betrayed. In the coming few months,````` it will become clear that more and more people are not in support of Mr Rupiah Banda’s government. More and more people will join the red card campaign,” he said.
“North Western and Western will be the first ones... in the forefront to reject MMD this year. It’s because people in North Western and Western Province cannot experience the benefit of economic boom that that Mr Rupiah Banda has been talking about because they are poorer now than they were last year.”
Fr Bwalya said the price of copper had gone up, creating more wealth for mining companies but there was little in people’s lives showing that the country was one of the highest producers of copper in the world.
And Fr Bwalya said President Banda would pay for embracing former Republican president Frederick Chiluba over the latter’s record on good governance and the fight against corruption.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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Zambia in a mess - Fr Bwalya
By Mwila Chansa in Kalulushi
Mon 15 Nov. 2010, 03:59 CAT
FR Frank Bwalya has charged that President Rupiah Banda has put Zambia in a mess. And a Chingola-based pastor, Justin Chilufya, has observed that fear will not bring the change that people want. Speaking at a meeting in Kalulushi, Fr Bwalya, who is Change Life Zambia (CLZ) executive director, cited a number of shortcomings to justify his statement.
As Fr Bwalya spoke about President Banda’s failures, people in the audience flashed red cards. Fr Bwalya then told the people that he had a song to teach them.
“Nganalanda ati 'Rupiah', imwe kwasuka ati 'atubika mundoti', elo nganalanda ati 'mwebamuvotele', imwe kwasuka ati 'mwatuletelela' When I say 'Rupiah', you should say 'he has messed us up'. When I say those who voted for him, you should respond: 'you have put us in problems',” Fr Bwalya said as people chanted the slogan.
He said it was wrong for President Banda’s government to have sold Zamtel when the problems at the parastatal arose from the huge debt that the government owed.
Fr Bwalya said the government had not even bothered to disclose the findings of Zamtel’s valuation to the public.
He said the new investors at Zamtel did not want to employ a lot of people, and more Zambians, especially those that studied telecommunications, would now find it harder to get jobs.
Fr Bwalya said the inability by many people to find jobs would entail more poverty, hunger and unemployment. He said poverty, unemployment and hunger had led many youths into vices such as prostitution and stealing.
Fr Bwalya said President Banda and his supporters had removed the abuse of authority clause from the ACC Act because they did not want to be pursued after leaving office.
He urged people to deliver change next year, saying they did not pay taxes for others to steal and enjoy the country’s resources alone.
Fr Bwalya said it was sad that despite having abundant water, some parts of the country lacked the commodity.
He said chiefs in areas such as Lufwanyama were not benefitting from the rich minerals because investors just bribed politicians and never paid any royalties to traditional leaders.
Fr Bwalya added that Zambia was in the dark ages because it had reached the climax of ‘useless’ leadership.
Fr Bwalya encouraged Kalulushi residents to register as voters and ensure that they deliver change next year.
And pastor Chilufya said there was a cause for the clergy to speak against the ills in the country.
Pastor Chilufya said Zambians needed to speak out against selective justice because some people were easily victimised by police while known thieves were walking the streets.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, JUSTIN CHILUFYA, PRIVATISATION, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, ZAMTEL
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Anglican priest calls for more red cards
By Misheck Wangwe
Tue 02 Nov. 2010, 04:02 CAT
AN Anglican priest Fr Richard Luonde has said
Zambians must continue flashing red cards at President Rupiah Banda and the MMD leadership for failing the nation.And Fr Luonde has called on Zambians to begin evaluating political leaders ahead of next year’s presidential elections and identify who could lead the country to prosperity.
In an interview, Fr Luonde said all well-meaning Zambians must focus on saving the integrity and moral values of the nation by showing the MMD a red card because it was full of dishonest people who had continued to manipulate the poor majority.
He said President Banda had left many people hopeless because of his failure to uphold the country’s integrity.
Fr Luonde said it was sad to note that corruption and outright theft under President Banda were perceived as normal, and prominent individuals with such cases were walking freely on the streets and making noise in the political arena.
He said flashing red cards was the only demonstration to President Banda and the MMD that Zambians wanted to see positive change and morality in the governance of the nation.
President Banda recently complained that people were flashing red cards at him. “Why shouldn’t they flash red cards when it was clear that he has failed the nation in many areas? The fight against corruption is no more; he is busy shielding thieves, people with divergent views are being persecuted despite Zambia being a democracy. What kind of society does he want to create for us? They (President Banda and the MMD) deserve nothing but a red card,” Fr Luonde said.
He said it was the duty of every Zambian to ensure that people holding government power were serving the interests of the people, adding that selfish leaders should not be allowed to form the next government.
And Fr Luonde has called on Zambians to begin evaluating political leaders and identify who could lead the country to prosperity.
He said it was unfortunate that under President Banda the country had seen politics of tyranny and selective dispensation of justice where those that criticised him were met with persecution.
Fr Luonde said such leadership necessitated flashing of red cards by the general citizenry as a way of expressing their distaste with the manner in which government was handling national affairs.
He said there was nothing wrong with people flashing red cards at the MMD leadership because it was not about removing the sitting government but expressing their displeasure with the way national affairs were being run.
Fr Luonde said the country was in need of leaders who would serve God’s people with undoubted commitment and sacrifice.
Labels: RED CARD CAMPAIGN, RICHARD LUONDE
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Red Cards irritate Rupiah in Mpulungu
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mpulungu
Sun 24 Oct. 2010, 04:50 CAT
File Picture: A PF supporter flashing a red card againts the MMD government in Kitwe
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda on Friday asked why a group of young Mpulungu residents had been allowed to stand in a small corner of the town and flash their “silly” red cards at him and his motorcade.And before addressing his last campaign rally in Mpulungu town, President Banda called for a minute of silence in honour of the late Mpulungu MMD parliamentarian, Lameck Chibombamilimo, whom he unceremoniously sacked and expelled at a State House MMD rally last year.
Meanwhile, Mpulungu’s Stella Maris Catholic Church parish priest Fr Chisanga Takuyamabwe said he is of the view that President Banda’s MMD did not do its homework when it sacked the late Chibombamilimo.
Addressing a rally at Muzabwera Grounds in Mpulungu town, President Banda said he had observed that whenever he passed through a certain point of Mpulungu on his way to campaign, a group of people usually flashed red cards at him.
President Banda was referring to the area around Mpulungu’s Chamuluzi Guest House, where the PF have mounted a symbolic boat along the road, which they guard for the better part of the day with or without police watching them.
The cadres take advantage of the spot to jeer and flash red cards at the MMD and government leadership.
President Banda described the group as ba mambala (crooks).
“You know we have got four, three or four days before the voting on the 25th for the new member of parliament for Mpulungu. Ourselves from the Movement for Multi-party Democracy since I came here, since my colleagues have come here our business is to go round,” President Banda said.
“You don’t see us standing in corners and waving red cards as if we are from a football match. Why are you flashing me your silly red card? Why are you allowing young people who have been given tujilijili by the leaders of the other opposition party to be waving red cards to people who are campaigning?”
President Banda said he was surprised that the young people were flashing red cards at him when he did not even vote in Mpulungu but in his hometown, Chipata.
“I don’t want my colleagues, my party to go anywhere where Mr. Sata is campaigning,” President Banda said. “Leave them alone and please leave us alone as well.”
President Banda, who described PF leader Michael Sata, as a chisilu (a mad man), said campaigning was not about castigating somebody else but telling the people what you were going to do for them and how.
“Let them (the opposition) tell you the truth whether we haven’t built anything for the benefit of the people here. How can they come here and say as they call me, to say Rupiah, RB has done nothing. Is that nothing? Are you not the people who said to me in 2008 that you want the road from Mbala to here to be fixed.
Didn’t you want this road to be fixed? Is it a bad thing that we have built a road?” President Banda asked. “I know you are happy and I am happy that this happened under my leadership.”
President Banda said he was happy that Sata and him were not young people anymore and both would be judged on their current and past records.
And President Banda said he had realised how important it was that the MMD majority should continue in parliament. He said for as long as he was President, Mpulungu Harbour, which the government repossessed recently, would never go back to its previous owner, as he was claiming.
Meanwhile, Fr Takuyamabwe said President Banda’s government should have consulted the people of Mpulungu before sacking the late Chibombamilimo.
“I think this by-election was unforeseen in the sense that we lost the area member of parliament in the name of Honourable Chibombamilimo and the Honourable was quite loved by the people. You would see how the masses voted for him,” Fr. Takuyamabwe said in an interview.
“I think as a church and as a church leader, I wouldn’t be in a position to state why the Honourable was fired but the sacking came as a shock to the entire citizenry in the constituency,” Fr Takuyamabwe said. “Maybe the man spoke his mind and maybe we can’t speculate. We leave that to the politicians.”
He said at the end of the day it was up to the people of Mpulungu to choose their best candidate in the by-election.
“People are crying for change not because they are fed up of the system but because we have turned the system. They are talking about personalities and not issues,” Fr Takuyamabwe said. “We don’t want people who come here to castigate others, to insult others.”
Fr Takuyamabwe said the MMD government was talking about the road that had been resurfaced, the high school that was being built in Mpulungu, as pointers to the development it had brought.
“If that is the development they are talking about but we need programmes that are pro-poor,” Fr Takuyamabwe said. “Programmes that trickle down to people and the community. We have got a lot of poverty in Mpulungu.”
Labels: MPULUNGU, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, RUPIAH BANDA
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Fr Bwalya to counter Chanda Chimba’s documentaries
By Kombe Chimpinde
Thu 19 Aug. 2010, 14:10 CAT
Change Life Zambia (CLZ) Executive Director Fr Frank Bwalya has disclosed that he is set to produce and release a series of documentaries focused countering issues raised by freelance journalist and MMD sympathiser Chanda Chimba III. And Fr Bwalya has said the MMD will feel the impact of the red card campaign in the 2011 elections.
Speaking in an interview, Fr Bwalya said his decision follows a series of documentaries produced by Chimba and aired on ZNBC and MUVI TV denouncing him and the Catholic Church, the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) and Post Newspaper editor-in-chief Fred M'membe.
“Am collecting as much information as possible from various sources in order to expose Chanda. The Catholics and I have been greatly injured by those documentaries aimed at scandalising my name and my church and even imputing criminal conduct on my part,” Fr Bwalya said.
Fr Bwalya said his documentary would be limited to his what he termed “findings on Chanda Chimba's dirty dealings” and his association with the ruling MMD who he accused of having funded his operational and production costs stressing that the documentaries will also signify the disgust by him and the Catholic church.
In his text message to Chimba accessed by The Post online last month, Fr Bwalya warned Chimba that he would soon “taste the bitter taste of his own medicine.”
“Dear Chanda Chimba III, thanks for scandalizing my name and my church. I have a lot of information about you from people that have been hurt because of you defaming them. I can't believe that many people know your scandals.
I am making a documentary on you. It will be ready soon. So look out for it. You will soon taste your own bitter medicine,” the text read.
Fr Bwalya said he his main objective was to reveal the motivation behind the documentaries that have so far been produced.
He cautioned however that the documentary is only an action that has been taken by him to defend himself and the Catholic church emphasizing that others have since taken legal action against Chimba.
And Fr Bwalya has disclosed that he has circulated 50,000 red cards since his famous red-card campaign kicked off.
He said that this figure excludes cards produced and distributed by other civil society organizations and the public.
“The red card campaign is still on and strong contrary to assertions by President Rupiah Banda that people have shunned the campaign. It may seem like we are not working but we feel we are on course .
People appreciate that the objectives of the campaign is anchored on strong principles which is to denounce the government's failure to govern the people of Zambia according to expectations. The campaign is unstoppable and is spreading like a bush fire,” said Fr Bwalya.
Labels: CHANDA CHIMBA III, CHANGE LIFE ZAMBIA, FRANK BWALYA, MMD, PROPAGANDA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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Ndola mother, son 13, arrested for ‘red-carding’ Rupiah
By Abigail Chaponda and Kabanda Chulu in Ndola
Thu 05 Aug. 2010, 04:01 CAT
POLICE in Ndola on Tuesday arrested and detained a 13-year-old boy together with his mother for allegedly flashing a red card at President Rupiah Banda’s motorcade in Chifubu Township.
And a man was beaten and left for the dead at Chifubu market after five MMD cadres allegedly mistook the polony he bought for a red card.
The boy, his mother Avis together with two other women, Annie Mbewe and Angela Siachinda were going for lunch when they met their fate.
The boy’s mother told The Post at Kansenshi Police Station, after Ndola District PF officials paid for their release, that she was disappointed with the police for arresting them.
She accused the police of being unprofessional, saying they had all turned into MMD cadres.
“I was going somewhere and my son was following me behind. There were two people who were drank and they started flashing red cards at President Banda’s motorcade. The police ran after us and told us that we were flashing red cards at the motorcade. From there, the police accused us of flashing the red cards,” she said.
“They put me and two other ladies in a van, but when I looked behind, I saw that my son was arrested too. I told the police that my son was young and should not be arrested, instead I told them to arrest me, but they refused and we were arrested and detained at the police. We have been at the police since 14:00 hours on Tuesday.”
She said she was only helped by PF officials who organised a lawyer to have them released.
The boy’s mother said she was disappointed with the police because her son was emotionally disturbed with what they had done and she would ensure that the officers were disciplined.
The boy failed to talk as he broke down.
Lawyer Derek Mulenga of Derek Mulenga and Company said the four were charged with conduct likely to cause the breach of peace.
Mulenga said the four paid K50,000 each as guilty fee to avoid spending a night at the police.
Meanwhile, a man was beaten and left for the dead at Chifubu market as MMD cadres were waiting for President Banda to tour the market.
It was reported that the unknown man bought polony from Quick Save Butchery and when he walked out, some cadres mistook the polony he was carrying to be red cards and started beating him.
“The man was badly beaten, when he was being taken to the hospital, he was almost dead. These unruly cadres beat him because he bought a polony which cadres thought was a red card because it was wrapped in a red cover,” said Chanda Bupe, an eyewitness.
Copperbelt police commanding officer Antoniel Mutentwa confirmed that police in Ndola had arrested ten taxi drivers for allegedly blocking Vice-President George Kunda’s motorcade on Monday.
“We have managed to get 24 registration numbers that taxi drivers were driving when they blocked the Vice-President. They have been charged with disobeying police officer’s instructions,” Mutentwa said.
Meanwhile, President Banda on Tuesday visited four markets in Chifubu Constituency and hundreds of Chifubu residents flocked to get a glimpse of him.
Labels: CADRES, POLICE CORRUPTION, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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Fr Bwalya to distribute one million red cards
By Moses Kuwema
Tue 08 June 2010, 11:30 CAT
CHANGE Life Zambia (CLZ) executive director Fr Frank Bwalya has said his organisation intends to distribute over one million red cards countrywide before next year’s general elections.
In an interview, Fr Bwalya said people getting red cards needed to be in possession of the National Registration Card (NRC) and voters’ card.
“Don’t just get a card when you don’t have a National Registration Card and voters’ card or you are not planning to register as a voter. All those three should be there, three cards you need,” Fr Bwalya said.
He said the red card campaign would be unstoppable in that the MMD were bent on denying Zambians the constitution they wanted.
“The government is proving to be purely unstoppable in refusing to appeal against the acquittal of Dr Frederick Chiluba, they are unstoppable in continuing to shield criminals, they are unstoppable in enacting laws that are bad and taking away from the gains that we have scored so far in terms of entrenching good governance and democracy in our country. So this campaign is going to last and succeed,” he said.
Fr Bwalya said contrary to President Rupiah Banda’s remarks on the Copperbelt Province that the people had refused to be part of the campaign, the red card campaign was gaining popularity each day.
“What you need to understand is that Mr Rupiah Banda engages in cheap propaganda so when he says the people on the Copperbelt and Zambians in general have refused to be part of the red campaign he thinks in that way people will refuse to be part of it. But the people have not refused, it’s the people who are flashing red cards not me,” Fr Bwalya said.
He said more meetings would be held to distribute the red cards.
“What we are focusing on now is that all Zambians should have a National Registration Card to show that they are Zambians, secondly they should have a red card to show that they are a frustrated Zambians but thirdly to have a voters card to show that despite being frustrated they can change their situation by voting the right way in 2011,” he said.
Fr Bwalya said Zambians wanted a people-driven constitution that could stand the test of time and support plural politics.
“We are demanding for commitment on the part of government to fight corruption and theft of public resources. We are also demanding for good governance and to ensure that justice and the due process of the law prevail over the acquittal of Dr Chiluba,” he said.
“These issues government may not respond to them in the near future, meaning therefore, that this will be a protracted campaign and we need the people to have durable cards that can last. Some of the cards actually are not being distributed by Change Life Zambia or our partners, people themselves are making these cards and we are encouraging them to do so to make a card out of any durable material or paper as long as it is durable and can last up to next year.”
He said what was witnessed during the launch of the PF-UPND Pact was just a tip of the iceberg.
“There are a lot of people out there who are flashing red cards not by way of raising it but because of the way they feel about this corrupt, selfish and inept government,” said Fr Bwalya.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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Fr Bwalya has the right to demonstrate - Col Kaunda
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Thu 13 May 2010, 03:00 CAT
COLONEL Panji Kaunda has said the government has mishandled Fr Frank Bwalya’s issue. And Col Panji said the language which was currently being used by political leaders was unZambian. In an interview, Col Panji said Fr Bwalya had the right to demonstrate.
“I think the authorities have mishandled it. Fr Bwalya, you like him or you don’t, he has a right to demonstrate for as long as it is done within the law,” he said. “There is no law which says that you can’t use a colour to demonstrate.”
Col Panji said MMD Lusaka Province chairperson William Banda is not a policeman to deal with Fr Bwalya.
And Col Panji said if the leaders were not showing love to their followers, it means they were now sowing the seeds of hatred in the country.
“Hatred brings in violence. For the last few months, the language between our leaders from government and vice versa has been very unZambian. I hope and pray that somebody somewhere from the church will get hold of our leaders, put them together and see if they can come with an agreement that politics are not personal but politics are about issues,” Col Panji said.
“We differ in issues but we still remain friends, I would like to walk hand in hand with an MMD person. I would like to walk hand in hand with a UPND person and walk hand in hand with a PF person because we are all Zambians but we differ in our approach to issues.”
Col Panji said those in the opposition should be telling people what they would do when they form government while those in government should do what their manifesto say.
“As of now, what we are listening to are personal attacks,” Col Panji said.
“I hope and pray that Zambians will not concentrate on that, come 2011. What we saw in Mufumbwe might be 150 times and that will be bad to Zambia. I have just come back from Nigeria where I went with the old man (Dr Kaunda). People admire the peace that is in Zambia.” He said the constitution law of first past the polls brings a lot of anxieties in the country.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, PANJI KAUNDA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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Fighting corruption to please donors
By Editor
Wed 31 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT
THERE’S clearly no commitment on the part of the key leadership of this government to fight corruption.
So far, all their actions are in the direction of defending and perpetrating corruption. It is very clear that the key leadership of this government seeks to benefit itself from tenders. It is in league with those who tender for government business and is out to assist them in all sorts of ways to secure government contracts. Its lack of commitment to fighting corruption is also evidenced by the way it has handled the prosecution of and litigations against Frederick Chiluba and those close to him.
And we agree with Wynter Kabimba when he says that Rupiah Banda’s government only shows signs of fighting corruption when they want to get some money from donors who they think are better placed to extend funding to a government that is seen to be fighting corruption. But the fight against corruption should not be reduced to pleasing donors because its consequences have far much wider implications for the present and future of our country.
To us, and indeed it should be so for the majority of Zambians, the fight against corruption is in the first instance not merely a tool to use to obtain donor funding. And it is not merely a moral issue, but a political struggle. By political struggle we do not mean just party political activity, but a struggle to defend our independence and the process of democratisation that our people are seeking and have embarked on. The struggle against corruption is therefore a struggle for the deepening and consolidation of our democratic processes. The struggle against corruption is a struggle for the accelerated implementation of the priorities of our people for increased employment, access to quality education and health care for all, and a struggle against poverty.
We all know that too many heroic struggles and promising democracies on our continent and in other parts of the world have been compromised or even degenerated as a result of attempts by those who are politically and economically powerful to grab power in order to pursue their narrow, selfish and greedy interest. The struggle against corruption is therefore fundamentally a political struggle since it must involve the whole nation in defending, consolidating and deepening our democracy. It is for this reason, among others, that we should intensify the struggle against corruption and build a broad front against this scourge.
Clearly, the struggle against corruption is political also because it is aimed at building the confidence of our people to tackle corruption, to expose it, to be whistle blowers without fear of being victimised. The corrupt will always seek to intimidate our people, so that they do not have the confidence to confront their actions. There is need to mobilise our people to stand and confront corruption wherever it occurs, be it in State House, in the National Assembly, the Judiciary or indeed the private sector. Our workers and their organisations in particular have a special role to play of being in the forefront of this struggle, as they are located in all our workplaces both in the public and private sectors.
However, in elevating the political nature of the struggle against corruption, the moral dimensions of this struggle must not be lost. The struggle against corruption must also be a struggle against values that are alien to those that guided our people’s struggle for independence. And these are the values of social solidarity, selfless commitment and personal sacrifices to addressing the needs of the poor, and to defeat the “dog eat dog” and “get rich quick” mentality.
Our struggle against corruption must also be turned into a platform for the forging of common societal values that should underpin the governance of our country and our relations with each other. At the heart of these values must also be the fact that there can be no meaningful democracy, human rights for our people unless there is drastic improvement in their socioeconomic conditions. Corruption is theft from the poor, as it undermines our efforts as a nation to build a better life for all, by diverting our country’s resources away from the poor into the pockets of a few well-placed characters.
Therefore, intensifying the fight against corruption is not just about defending our democratic aspirations in the present, important as this may be, but it is also about building a better Zambia for generations to come.
It is indeed a truism that our young people have become particular targets for the corrupt and other malfeasance in society. Our youth today is a particular target for all sorts of corrupt elements. They are also a target of the decadent values of “get rich quick” and the idolisation of wealth. It is for these reasons that we should be paying particular attention to fighting corruption among our young people in all that they do, be it at work, college or university or in youth organisations and even in our national politics where they participate.
Our young people are very vulnerable precisely because of the conditions of poverty that the great majority of them face. They are the most affected by unemployment and poverty. It is for these reasons that particular attention must be given in targeting young people in our fights against corruption. Our young people must not merely be treated just as a passive lot, but must be mobilised and be made to be at the centre of the struggle against corruption for the sake of their future and that of their country. Let’s help them to rise against corruption.
Let us not spend all our time lamenting about corruption; let us spend our time more fruitfully by focussing attention on finding ways and means to tackle this scourge of corruption. Let us analyse critically the sources and patterns of corruption in both our public and private sectors in a way that is action and solution-oriented.
And in doing so, let us turn our attention to how we can strengthen the state agencies that are in one way or another involved in the fight against corruption – the Anti Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement Commission, the police, the office of the Auditor General, our entire criminal justice system, the Zambia Revenue Authority, and so on and so forth – to be more effective in fighting the scourge of corruption. Our fight against corruption should not be seen or thought of to be a substitute for these state agencies, but to assist and work with these agencies in order to defeat this scourge. We must also seek ways to forge a partnership between the people and these institutions. We should therefore in our fight against corruption seek to protect the integrity of these institutions and ensure that they do their work without fear or favour.
We must also seek ways of combating corruption in state institutions, especially around tenders and government services and programmes in general.
One of the matters that require special attention is that of tenders and of finding alternative ways to them, where possible. Not every government service must be converted into a tender. For instance, there are many government services that can be given to communities directly, non-profit organisations and cooperatives to run, without the involvement of middlemen through tenders.
Whilst tenders will always be there, but we must watch against the tenderisation of the state. We have to find ways to halt this growing tenderpreneurship.
By tenderpreneurs we mean the corrupt collusion between business, politicians and civil servants and other public workers to capture government tenders.
Tenderpreneurship also pauses a threat and is an obstacle to a specially genuine small and medium entrepreneurs who get deprived of government work just because they do not have political connections. We must defend and promote genuine and clean entrepreneurs, and they are many of them in our country, and defeat tenderpreneurs.
This struggle must also entail that we have the courage to even act against our friends, relatives and political allies who have been caught with their fingers on the till. Working together, in this way, we can end corruption. Let us carry this struggle without fear or favour. Without eternal vigilance, corruption will devour our country.
There are many Zambians serving in positions of responsibility in both the public and private sector who abhor corruption and are determined to go about doing their work in the most honest manner. In the public service in particular, we can highlight and salute the role of thousands of public servants who do their work honestly and are totally dedicated to serve our people, whatever it takes. We have seen some of them in action against corrupt politicians and their agents. We saw some of them in the Dora Siliya Tribunal.
Similarly, in the private sector there are many workers and professionals who are only interested in doing an honest and good day’s work. Corruption must be fought wherever it occurs, both in the private and public sectors. As a matter of fact, it is very difficult to separate or distinguish between corruption in the public and private sectors, as there is often collusion and overlap between the two. It is often the private sector that identifies corrupt characters in the private sector, and vice versa, that is the source of much of the corruption we are witnessing. It is for this reason also that when we talk about tenderpreneurs – those who corruptly seek to capture tenders, especially government tenders, in cahoots with public servants and private companies – we talk about this phenomenon as it cuts across both the public and private sectors. All this paralysis we are witnessing in our country is in one way or another a consequence of this cancer in our midst.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DONORS, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Govt has no conviction to fight corruption – Kabimba
By Moses Kuwema
Wed 31 Mar. 2010, 04:01 CAT
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) general secretary Wynter Kabimba has said President Rupiah Banda's government only gets serious with the fight against corruption when they want to extort money from the donors.
Commenting on the launch of the red card campaign against corruption by the South African Communist Party (SACP) in which they are targeting young people in their messages, Kabimba said President Banda's fight against corruption was only meant to please donors.
“The Zambian government is not serious in the fight against corruption, they are only seen to be serious when they want to extort money from donors and they actually obtain money by false pretence,” Kabimba said.
He said there was no conviction from the government inasfar as the fight against corruption was concerned apart from making statements to please donors.
Kabimba said there was more corruption in government institutions than any other organisations.
“The launch of the red card campaign against corruption by SACP only shows you the difference in the manner in which the two groups of people are running government,” he said.
“The South African Communist Party supported Zuma South African President to get into government but now they have realised that corruption was high and have taken action through this launch…they are not living in denial.”
Kabimba commended SACP for bringing to the attention of the South African public the levels of corruption which had become endemic. He said the opposition political parties in Zambia should take a leaf from what SACP had done.
“I am glad that the South African government has not called these people SACP anarchists like the way our government here has been behaving. Since the red card was launched here, George Kunda the other day was saying that the red card campaign was annoying as if Fr Frank Bwalya lives in his house. Who is Kunda to get annoyed as if he owns this country?” asked Kabimba. “Without shame, he commended the MMD for flashing the white card and Kunda doesn't know that the white card is actually a sign of surrendering, so we are happy that they government have surrendered to Fr Bwalya's cause through his red card campaign.”
Labels: CORRUPTION, DONORS, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Fr Bwalya writes First lady Thandiwe
By Zumani Katasefa in Kitwe
Tue 30 Mar. 2010, 04:02 CAT
CHANGE Life Zambia (CLZ) executive director Fr Frank Bwalya has asked first lady Thandiwe Banda to ask President Banda to cut down on his trips abroad and reserve the savings as money for transport for released prisoners.
In his open letter to Thandiwe reflecting on his stay at Kamfinsa State Prison where he was detained for allegedly distributing red cards against President Banda's administration, Fr Bwalya observed that prisoners were going through serious difficulties which the government should look into urgently.
“Madam first lady, please be informed that when prisoners are released, they are not given transport money to go back to their homes. Some of them get stranded and start begging for transport money. Kindly ask your husband to cut down on trips abroad and allow relevant authorities allocate some of the savings to prisons as transport money for prisoners when they are released,” stated Fr Bwalya.
He asked Thandiwe to plead with President Banda to ensure that prisoners have basic necessities they are entitled to such as clean water, food, proper healthcare and beddings.
“As a mother of the nation, I urge you in the name of Jesus our Lord to convince your husband to pardon terminally ill inmates, especially those with little hope of surviving. I visited at least two of such ailing inmates,” Fr Bwalya stated.
“I also urge you to speak for those taking ARVs so that they can have required food supplements.”
He said that many prisoners at Kamfinsa State Prison are still mourning late president Levy Mwanawasa.
“Please, let your husband know that many prisoners at Kanfinsa State Prison are still mourning late president Dr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa SC, may his soul rest in peace, who they describe as a good man. They told me that Dr Mwanawasa regularly pardoned prisoners that had served the greater part of their long prison sentences. They convinced me that many inmates that had spent many years in prison had reformed and needed to be pardoned after remaining with a few years to finish their terms. Unfortunately, since your husband came to power after hoodwinking Zambians that he would maintain the legacy of Levy, he has not shown the same love and compassion towards prisoners that deserve pardon throughout the country. Instead your husband has been pardoning those with shorter sentences who return to jail for similar offences shortly after being released,” he stated.
Fr Bwalya stated President Banda was labelled as a defender of the rich that had money to buy their innocence and freedom. He further stated that President Banda was also disparaged as a committed advocate and protector of one unrepentant serial plunderer of public funds.
“Many prisoners wondered how some of their colleagues found themselves in jail for stealing a tin of shoe polish or toothpaste while somebody who had stolen millions of US dollars continued to enjoy eating cake at state banquets. They wondered how a certain white man who brutally murdered a defenceless Zambian woman in 2005 was pardoned and released this year after serving only about five years in prison. This prompted me to start asking some prisoners about the offences they committed and how long they had stayed in prison. I cried as I listened to their testimonies and I convinced myself about the significance of the Red Card. Indeed the Red Card that your husband fears like death is a sum total of the frustrations of millions of Zambians,” read Fr Bwalya's letter.
“Dear Madam First Lady, please understand that the point is not that prisoners that committed grave crimes should be pardoned and released. Not at all! The issue is that there seems to be a different law for the rich and powerful who enjoy the favour of your husband and his government. Convicts that committed similar offences to the said white man continue to languish in jail having served far more years. In fact, some prisoners that committed less serious crimes have stayed in prison beyond six years. So you can understand why the Red Card Campaign has found fertile ground.”
Fr Bwalya had vowed to write open letters to Thandiwe to influence her husband whom he said was hard of hearing.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, PRISONS, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, THANDIWE BANDA
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Rupiah has launched red card campaign in Mazabuka – Nkombo
By Mwala Kalaluka
Mon 29 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda unknowingly launched the ‘red card campaign’ on behalf of Fr Frank Bwalya to the people of Mazabuka’s Mugoto area last Friday, area UPND parliamentarian Gary Nkombo has stated.
Nkombo stated in a press release yesterday that President Banda forgot his main purpose of re-commissioning the Albidon Nickel Project and launched the Red Card Campaign to people of Mugoto who had never heard of it.
“Bickering has become the order of the day,” Nkombo stated. “The President in his quest to remain in power forgot the purpose for which he went there and opened his speech by seeking re-election in 2011, and then unknowingly launched the ‘red card campaign’.”
Nkombo stated that Mugoto people were asking him what the President’s business was talking about Father Bwalya; a man they had never heard of.
“I say well done Sir for now they know what the campaign is all about as I was duty bound to explain a little further to them, being their faithful servant,” Nkombo stated. “Bravo Your Excellency, Father Bwalya’s job was done so articulately.”
Nkombo pointed out that the people’s expectations during the re-commissioning ceremony were very clear.
“We thought the President would insist to Jinchuan, the new majority shareholders of the investment, to immediately commence the fulfillment of the social obligations that went with the displacements of the traditional owners of the land at Mugoto,” Nkombo stated further. “Alas, our head of State was seen on National TV at Munali relishing admonishing Mr. Sata and calling Mr. Hichilema and the UPND that he leads as a tribal party.”
Nkombo charged that this was an example of poor leadership on President Banda’s part.
Nkombo stated that US President Barack Obama was an inspiration to the UPND-PF Pact as he had just realised his political dream barely a year into office.
“President Obama’s latest historic triumph in pushing the health bill through the senate must inspire leaders around the world, especially Zambia to concentrate on issue-based politics rather than rhetoric,” he stated. “Under the landmark health bill, up to US$950 billion will be spent immediately on capturing an estimated 32 million previously uninsured Americans over a period of 10 years.”
Nkombo indicated that these are the politics the Pact wants to play ahead of the 2011 elections, not trivial and personal issues.
“We shall beseech people to give President Vasco Da Banda Red Card constitutionally in the next polls and bring sense to politics,” Nkombo stated.
Nkombo condemned the vehement manner the government shot down a private member’s motion to streamline health delivery in the nation recently.
“These are the issues we ought to be discussing ahead of the 2011 elections, not whether our Pact partner Mr Michael Sata was arrested 50 years ago or not; it’s a waste of time and a campaign in futility,” Nkombo stated.
Labels: GARY NKOMBO, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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A hopeless and shameless campaign against Catholics
By Editor
Sun 28 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT
RUPIAH Banda and his friends are behind the attacks and the hate campaign against Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu and the Catholic Church.
There’s no way Rupiah and his friends can divorce themselves from this because they themselves have in the past incited this hatred and today they are not saying anything to stop the madness of their agents who are attacking Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church. Why are they silent in the face of this vicious and malicious campaign against Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church? The simple reason is that they support it; it is their campaign.
We don’t understand the reason behind this hatred for Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church. We can understand feelings of hatred which are grounded in ideology, which stem from the frustrations aroused by the failure against the leadership of the Catholic Church and their capacity to hold their ground against all this malice and calumny against the forces of evil that are trying to tarnish and destroy this image. Their frustration and propaganda that knows no bounds explain this hatred.
The Catholic Church has both the right and duty to participate fully in building a just and peaceful society with all the means at its disposal.
But it will be naïve for anyone to expect Rupiah and his friends not to attack the Catholic Church given what they have been doing against the poor of our country. Today the Catholic Church in our country is seen as the most trusted defender of the poor. It is something new among our people that today the poor see in the Catholic Church a source of hope and a support for their noble struggle against poverty, marginalisation and humiliation; the struggle for their own liberation. And the hope that the Catholic Church encourages is neither naïve nor passive. It is rather a summons from the word of God for the great majority of the people, the poor, that they assume their proper responsibility, that they undertake their own conscietisation. And it is support, sometimes critical support, for their just causes and demands. The hope that they preach to the poor is intended to give them back their dignity, to encourage them to take charge of their own future. In a word, the Catholic Church has not only turned toward the poor, it has made of the poor the special beneficiaries of its mission because “God takes on their defence and loves them”.
The Catholic Church has not only incarnated itself in the world of the poor, giving them hope: it has also firmly committed itself to their defence. The majority of the poor in our country are oppressed and repressed daily by economic and political structures. The terrible words spoken by the prophets of Israel continue to be verified among us. Among us there are those who sell others for money, who sell a poor person for a pair of sandals; those who, in their mansions, pile up violence and plunder; those who crash the poor; those who make the kingdom of violence come closer as they lie upon their beds of ivory; those who join house to house, and field to field, until they occupy the whole land, and are the only ones there.
Amos and Isaiah are not just voices from distant centuries; their writings are not merely texts that are reverently read in the liturgy. They are every day realities. Day by day, we live out the cruelty and ferocity they excoriate.
In this situation of conflict and antagonism, in which just a few persons control economic and political power, the Catholic Church has placed itself at the side of the poor and has undertaken their defence. The Catholic Church cannot do otherwise, for it remembers that Jesus had pity on the multitude. But by defending the poor, it has entered into serious conflict with the powerful who control the politics and wealth of our country.
This defence of the poor in a world deep in conflict has occasioned something new in the recent history of the Catholic Church: persecution. There have been threats, arrests, humiliation of many priests. It is, then, an indisputable fact that the leadership of the Catholic Church is being persecuted in this country. Not any and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every institution of the Catholic Church has been attacked. That part of the Catholic Church has been attacked and persecuted that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people’s defence.
Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of the Catholic Church in this country: the poor. Once again it is the poor who bring us to understand what has really happened or what is really happening. That is why the Catholic Church has understood the persecution from the perspective of the poor. Persecution has been occasioned by the defence of the poor. It amounts to nothing other than the Catholic Church’s taking upon itself the load of the poor.
Real persecution has been directed against the poor, the body of Christ in history today. They, like Jesus, are the persecuted servant of God. They are the ones who make up in their own bodies that which is lacking in the passion of Christ. And for that reason when the Catholic Church has organised and united itself around the hopes and the anxieties of the poor, it has incurred the same fate as that of Jesus and of the poor: persecution.
The political dimension of the faith is nothing other than the Catholic Church’s response to the demands made upon it by the de facto socio-political world in which it exists. What they have re-discovered is that this demand is a fundamental one for the faith, and that the Catholic Church cannot ignore it.
That is not to say that the Church should regard itself as a political institution entering into competition with other political institutions, or that it has its own political processes. Nor, much less, is it to say that the Catholic Church seeks political leadership. We are talking of something more profound, something more in keeping with the gospel. We are talking about an authentic option for the poor, of becoming incarnate in their world, of proclaiming the good news to them, of giving them hope, of encouraging them to engage in a liberating praxis, of defending their cause and of sharing their fate.
The Catholic Church’s option for the poor explains the political dimension of the faith in its fundamentals and in its basic outline. And because the Catholic Church has opted for the truly poor, not for the fictitiously poor, because it has opted for those who really are oppressed and repressed, the Catholic Church lives in apolitical world, and it fulfils itself as church also through politics. It cannot be otherwise if the Catholic Church, like Jesus, is to turn itself toward the poor.
The course taken by the Vatican Ambassador to Zambia, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli and the entire leadership of the Catholic Church in Zambia is clearly issued from their faith conviction. The transcendence of the Gospel has guided them in their judgment and in their action. They have judged the social and political situation in our country from the standpoint of the faith. But it is also true, to look at it in another way, that the faith itself has been deepened, that hidden riches of the gospel have been opened, precisely by taking up this stance toward socio-political reality such as it is.
In the first place, they have a better knowledge of what sin is. They know that offending God is death for humans. They know that such a sin really is mortal.
Not only in the sense of the interior death of the person who commits the sin, but also because of the real, objective death the sin produces. Let us remind ourselves of a fundamental datum of the Christian faith: sin killed the Son of God, and sin is what goes on killing the children of God.
We see that basic truth of the Christian faith is the daily situation in our country. It is impossible to offend God without offending one’s brother or sister. The worst offence against God, the worst form of secularism is to turn children of God, temples of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ in history, into victims of oppression and injustice, into slaves to economic greed, into fodder for political repression. The worst of these forms of secularism is the denial of grace by the objectivisation of this world as an operative presence of the powers of evil, the visible presence of the denial of God.
It is not a matter of sheer routine that we insist once again on the existence in our country of structures of sin. They are sin because they produce the fruits of sin: the deaths of Zambians – the swift deaths brought by oppression or the long drawn out, but no less real, death from structural oppression. That is why they have denounced what in our country has become the idolatry of wealth. No matter how tragic it may appear, the Catholic Church through its entrance into the real socio-political world has learned how to organise, and how to deepen its understanding of, the essence of, sin. The fundamental essence of sin, in our world, is revealed in the death of Zambians.
In the second place they now have a better understanding of what the incarnation means, what it means to say that Jesus really took the human flesh and made himself one with his brothers and sisters in suffering, in tears and laments, in surrender. We are not speaking of a universal incarnation. This is impossible. We are speaking of an incarnation that is preferential and partial:
incarnation in the world of the poor. From that perspective, the Catholic Church will become a church for everybody. It will offer a service to the powerful, too, through the apostolate conversion – but not the other way around, as has often been the case in the past.
In the third place, incarnation in the socio-political world is the locus for deepening faith in the world and in Christ. They believe in Jesus who came to bring the fullness of life and they believe in the living God who gives life in the men and women and wants them truly to live. These radical truths of the faith become really true and truly radical when the church enters into the life and death of these people. Then there is put before the faith of the church, as it is put before the faith of every individual, the most fundamental choice: to be in favour of life or to be in favour of death. We see, with great clarity, that here neutrality is impossible. Either we save the lives of Zambians or we are accomplices to their death. And here, what is most fundamental about the faith is given expression in history: either we believe in a God of life or we serve the idols of death.
When the church inserts itself in the socio-political world, it does so in order to work with it so that from such cooperation life may be given to the poor. In doing so, therefore, it is not distancing itself from its mission, nor is it doing something of secondary importance or something incidental to its missions. It giving testimony to its faith in God; it is being the instrument of the Spirit, the Lord and the giver of life.
This is what Rupiah and his friends need to understand in their attacks and attempts to try and character-assassinate and humiliate Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church. They cannot deny their complicity in all that is happening on this score. They have given those who are attacking Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church unlimited space in the state media they control and direct.
Nobody gets such coverage unless their blessing is given. But this is cheap politics which only goes to show their baseness.
This is a true reflection of the calibre of Rupiah’s leadership. But all this will backfire because it is not Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church that are getting discredited, it is Rupiah and his league whose low calibre and lack of leadership is being exposed. It is actually revealing their desperation.
They are running around in all directions like rats caught in the light. This is not the way to govern a country. This is a recipe for disaster.
Labels: CADRES, CATHOLIC CHURCH, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Mufulira residents scramble for red cards
By Zumani Katasefa in Mufulira
Sun 28 Mar. 2010, 04:01 CAT
CLOSE to a thousand Mufulira residents on Friday scrambled for red cards from Catholic priest Fr Frank Bwalya who was in the area to distribute the cards in protest against President Rupiah Banda’s administration.
Fr Bwalya who is also Change Life Zambia (CLZ) executive director had earlier distributed the cards to passengers on a minibus that he boarded from Kitwe to Mufulira.
Upon reaching Mufulira, Fr Bwalya went straight to Malela market where scores of residents scrambled for the red cards from him.
The residents also got whistles from the priest which they blew while others were chanting slogans against President Banda’s administration.
“Twanaka nabo kuya bebele! (We are tired of them, they must go)” shouted some residents as the priest continued distributing the cards.
As Fr Bwalya was distributing the cards, some police officers by-passed him and laughed as the priest was busy giving out the cards.
From Malela market, Fr Bwalya walked passed the Mufulira main bus station attracting taxi drivers and other on lookers who also joined in the scramble for the cards.
“Father Bwalya! Father Bwalya! Utulandilako kanshi mulumendo fye! (Fr Bwalya, the one who speaks for us, is just a youngman),” shouted the residents as they followed him and blew whistles against the government.
Some of the residents were even heard saying that they thought Fr Bwalya was an old man when they first heard him on Radio Icengelo.
And Fr Bwalya vowed to continue distributing the red cards to Zambians, saying that he would not succumb to any intimidation.
He said he was determined to ensure that the campaign spread across Zambia like a bush fire before 2011 elections.
He said on April 17, 2010, he would launch the red and campaign in Chililabombwe and on April 18 the same campaign would be launched in Chingola.
He said after Chingola, the campaign would be launched in Luanshya.
Fr Bwalya disclosed that on the same day the campaign was launched in Mufulira CLZ members in Mansa were also flashing reds in public.
Labels: FRANK BWALYA, MUFULIRA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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Ministers and the fear of losing their jobs
By Editor
Fri 26 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT
THE holding of public office should be motivated by intrinsically noble aspirations, by ideals of justice and equity.
If this is lost or is not possible, one should not hold public office for a second longer. A politician holding public office should passionately believe in what he does. And his enthusiasm should move wills. Those holding public office should welcome debate. In fact, they should require it, encourage it.
And they should be prepared to discuss with anyone; they should be very respectful of their interlocutors. Those who hold public office should be very cultured, and the only things they should detest are bad faith and hatred.
Nobody should be in public office, even for a second, because of ambition or pleasure. They should hold office for only one reason – fulfilling a duty to the Zambian people; they should only hold public office for a single purpose, which is to serve the cause of our people.
And if you are a politician you must be prepared to suffer for your principles.
Politicians must follow the dictates of their conscience irrespective of the consequences which might overtake them for it. If a politician’s attitude is to do things which are going to please his community and human beings, then he is likely to last longer in politics and be of value to his people. To go to bed feeling you have done some service to the community is very important. The important thing is to give happiness to people. And therefore the mark of good political leaders is the ability to understand the context in which they are operating and act accordingly. And more often than not, an epoch creates and nurtures the individuals who are associated with its twists and turns; who cohere the wishes and aspirations of the people.
There are men and women chosen to bring happiness into the hearts of people – those are the good political leaders, the good government officials. But it’s always important to bear in mind that the ways in which we will achieve our goals are bound by context, changing with circumstances even while remaining steadfast in our commitment to our vision. It is always better to live and work in a way that respects and enhances the lives of others. Too many have suffered for the love of justice and there is no easy walk to justice.
Chrispine Musosha is certainly not a model politician for our people. But today this humble deputy minister has taken a position that deserves emulation.
Musosha has stood by his platitudes despite being threatened with dismissal from his position as deputy minister. He has not in any way repudiated what he believes in and said. He says he is ready to be fired by Rupiah Banda from his position of deputy minister and he has no problem with that. Musosha is not a rich man but he’s ready to lose the benefits and privileges of being a deputy minister. This contrasts very well with the unprincipled and mercenary position taken by Michael Kaingu who sees his ministerial job as everything and he’s ready to reduce himself to the status of a dog if that helps him to keep the benefits and privileges that go with holding the office of minister. Whereas Kaingu is ready to grovel before Rupiah whom he sees as his master, Musosha is ready to be fired rather than reduce himself to the status of a dog to keep the public office he is holding at the discretion of Rupiah.
Musosha’s position may seem nothing in countries where politicians resign from public office if they disagree fundamentally with the positions being taken by those wielding more power in government. But here, it is something very big because it is very rare that people leave public office because of disagreement over policy direction or the conduct of the affairs of government. Here they have to be fired. But even when this happens, they still find it hard to accept because holding public office means more than an opportunity for them to serve the Zambian people, but a source of livelihood, an opportunity for self-enrichment, even a chance to plunder the resources of their poor people and abuse their people in all sorts of ways.
And this is why to such politicians loyalty to the president, the appointing authority, the one who makes them ministers – fake, superficial as it may be – takes precedence over obligations to the people.
We have very few politicians of the George Mpombo type who can resign public office with very little money in their pockets, with their total wealth fitting in the pocket of the shirt they are wearing. Such people, whatever their other weaknesses or defects, deserve our respect. Mpombo left government on his own out of disagreement with the way Rupiah and his friends were running the affairs of our country. They tried to find ways to scandalise him but they failed to stick any dirt on his character and conduct. Again, politicians of that type deserve our respect and support. Mpombo may not be rich in material terms, but that man is much richer spiritually than all these crooks that masquerade to be staunch Christians, followers of Christ, when they are nothing but shameless thieves. We say this because being a Christian means being like Christ. Now, Jesus Christ was humble, most pure, poor, meek: how can His disciple and imitator be dishonest, be a thief, a plunderer, arrogant, angry and greedy? We can only remind them of what Alexander The Great once said to a soldier who also had the same name but was sluggish, mean and cowardly: “Either change your name or change your behaviour.”
It’s not difficult to understand why politicians and other people who take the position that Musosha and Mpombo have taken are subjected to such bad treatment, to such hatred; why there’s a permanent quest to bring them down.
Our own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum.
Good governance will only come to our country when we manage to put into public office honest and humble leaders who see politics as a vocation to serve the people and not as a job for them to enrich themselves. Most of our ministers and other politicians today don’t see politics as a vocation to serve. They may say this as a matter of political rhetoric, but in their hearts of hearts they see their holding of public office as an opportunity to earn a good salary and enjoy other benefits that go with it and if possible enrich themselves corruptly. Such politicians cannot be expected to take positions that are sensible, that are intelligent and that conform to the interests, desires and aspirations of their people. Their loyalty will never lie with the people but with those who give them the opportunity to fill up their pockets. In this case they will go down like dogs before anyone who appoints them to such jobs and keeps them there, regardless of how useless and treacherous that person may be to the people they are elected to serve.
No individual, no matter what merits they possess, should be elevated above the people. There’s a tendency in this country to elevate the presidency above everybody else and everything else. But if one has a true measure of the power of people as individuals, they will realise that it’s so fragile and such a small thing that it really doesn’t make sense to magnify the role of any individual, no matter how intelligent, brilliant or able they may be. Humans make a fool of themselves when they start to think too much about their self-importance.
We think politicians like Mpombo and Musosha are defending certain principles that are of tremendous value at a time of confusion and opportunism in our country, a time when many politicians are feathering their own nests, are ready to stoop down to the status of dogs, a time when we might call the deification of political power. And for this, they deserve more and more of our respect and support. We need politicians who can stand up and defend what they believe in and not hungry dogs that blindly follow anyone with a plate of food no matter how bad that food may be. We need politicians who are ready to make sacrifices to prove their platitudes.
Labels: CHRISPINE MUSOSHA, GEORGE MPOMBO, MICHAEL KAINGU, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, RUPIAH BANDA
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Musosha not bothered by ‘fire him’ calls
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 26 Mar. 2010, 04:01 CAT
SCIENCE and technology deputy minister Chrispine Musosha yesterday said he is not bothered over calls on President Rupiah Banda by those in the MMD to have him fired from his ministerial position.
Several MMD members, particularly the Luapula Province youth chairman David Chanda, asked President Banda to fire Musosha because his tribal statement was worse than the one former science and technology minister Gabriel Namulambe issued.
But when asked in an interview if he was bothered by the calls to have him fired by President Banda, Musosha said he was not.
He said he was appointed deputy minister by the President and would not blame people for expressing their opinion over the matter.
"Not at all, no I am not bothered. My friend, I have a job to serve the people of Mansa Central," he said.
Asked what he would do if the President went ahead to implement what the cadres were calling for, Musosha responded: "When the President appoints people to various positions, he sits to think, and certain times he consults...and it's not every time he consults. So those are his powers. So when he appoints, he says 'according to the powers conferred on me, I have appointed you to do this and that,' and if he decided to drop me, you see I shouldn't blame the President. There are times when you have a coach of a particular team...for dropping this and that player, that is the choice of the coach because he knows how well the game should be delivered."
Musosha said President Banda, just like late president Levy Mwanawasa, did not consult him to be appointed to the deputy ministerial position.
Musosha said calls by some people for President Banda to fire him only showed that they had little respect for him.
"You see, one thing and quote me correctly, the Presidency is an institution, and if we want the President to be behaving like a small boy, we are making a mistake. Let's all respect him, and by respecting him, I mean respect even his decisions, yes," he said.
Musosha said those who were asking President Banda to fire him were only undermining the President.
"Why don't they leave him to use his independent mind to do what he wants?" asked Musosha.
Recently, Chanda and other MMD members asked President Banda to act by firing Musosha because his tribal statement was worse than the one Namulambe made.
"What is he President Banda waiting for? Because it will show that there are more sacred cows than others," said Chanda.
Chanda said President Banda fired Namulambe for issuing tribal remarks.
Chanda also appeared on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) television where he issued the same statement.
Chanda was reacting to Musosha who earlier said nomads who were non-Ushis wanted to take over the leadership in Mansa in Luapula Province.
Labels: CHRISPINE MUSOSHA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, RUPIAH BANDA
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Nalubamba ready for red card
By Patson Chilemba
Thu 25 Mar. 2010, 08:20 CAT
SENIOR chief Bright Nalubamba of the Ila people of Namwala district yesterday said he will not be left out from participating in the red card campaign. In an interview, chief Nalubamba said as a way of information delivery to the government, he would not be left out of the red card campaign.
“When people want change and they deliver the message, surely is it criminal or disloyal to the government if you join that campaign to help the government change its ways and means?” chief Nalubamba asked.
“Is it being disloyal? You are not being disloyal. The person who is disloyal here is someone who is a bootlicker, one who is an appeaser of the government even when they are wrong."
Chief Nalubamba said men and women of value would be frank with the government when they saw that things were not going well.
"Those who are not men and women of value, they will appease you because maybe they have got something to gain out of it. What is better, to gain the peace of the country or the money that you are given? If I were them, I would fight for peace and good governance," he said.
Chief Nalubamba said if Zambians fought former president Frederick Chiluba's third term bid, they should do the same with the read campaign. “When we fought the third term issue, we were together with people. I mean we have said enough and we were thinking that government will listen, but it doesn't seem to be listening," he said.
Chief Nalubamba said those in government should do what the people who elected them to office wanted them to do. He said President Rupiah Banda's government was in a position to make corrections on most issues people had expressed their disgust.
He said Zambia was a democracy and people should be allowed to express their views on any issue.
Chief Nalubamba said the red card campaignwas one way for people to express their views to show displeasure on how they were being governed. He advised those in government to learn to listen to people's wishes because they were there to serve the people.
On the instructions to police by home affairs minister Lameck Mangani to arrest those who will demonstrate in favour of the red card campaign, chief Nalubamba said those in government had gone too far.
Chief Nalubamba said arrests would only produce more Nelson Mandelas and Mahatma Gandhis.
Labels: CHIEF NALUBAMBA, RED CARD CAMPAIGN
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