ZCCM-IH mulls diversification
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Mon 05 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT
ZCCM-INVESTMENT Holdings is touting starting up manufacturing companies to produce some of the inputs for the mining sector, says executive chairman Willa Mung'omba. ZCCM-IH, a custodian of Zambia's investments in privatised mines, has
launched an exploration company called MAWE.
"Apart from doing general exploration, the company ZCCM-IH, has been mandated to exploit the significant opportunities that exist for the establishment of local industries to produce some of the inputs into the mining industry as well as add value to the output from the mining industry beneficiation," Mung'omba said during the ongoing 87th Zambia Agriculture and Commercial Show.
"The inception of this company will allow for ZCCM-IH to effectively change the company's technical activities to suit patterns of business as well as make an effort to suit the environment."
And Mung'omba said the local mining sector continues to suffer acute shortage of skills for sustainable development of the mining sector.
"ZCCM-IH recognises the importance of skills development within the industry in Zambia," he said.
"The shortage of skills impedes innovation for our country and causes the private sector to struggle to attain high levels of productivity. The goal is for our industries to strive to contribute to economic development."
Mung'omba said lack of skills had constrained the efforts of key sectors such as mining and agriculture to achieve real economic integration.
"Industry deserves technical competence and suitably qualified personnel," said Mung'omba.
"ZCCM-IH, along with key stakeholders, is taking progressive steps in finding solutions to the skills deficit in the mining industry. We will deliberately, continue to invest in skills development and engage the key training providers in order to address the country's human capital shortage."
Labels: MAWE, WILLA MUNG'OMBA, ZCCM-IH
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(STICKY) (LUSAKATIMES) Management failure at ZCCM-IH has lead to a loss of $1 billion income
Time Posted: August 7, 2013 11:54 am
Long-term minority shareholders of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines-Investment Holding (ZCCM-IH), the investment holding company of the Zambian Government have urgently appealed for intervention in the corporate governance and management of ZCCM-IH as Zambia continues to loss colossal sums of money through mismanagement.
This is according to an Open letter addressed to Vice President Guy Scott and made available to the media. How GRZ and the Zambian people continue being cheated and short changed by Foreign mining companies
The Long-term minority shareholders raised concerns over the ineffective management of the company that has led to ZCCM-IH and through it the GRZ and the Zambian people being cheated and short-changed by the foreign mining companies in which it is invested.A few examples are:
1. According to the international auditors Grant Thornton, Mopani Copper Mines fraudulently avoided $175 million in corporation tax to the ZRA in the 5 years from 2003 to 2008, by various fraudulent procedures including transfer pricing to the Swiss parent company Glencore and misrepresentation of production figures and production costs. In this same period ZCCM-IH also lost $50 million per year in profits from Mopani
source:
appendix 1
appendix 1.1
Questions
* Why has ZCCM-IH together with the Government and the Zambian Revenue Authority failed to take any action whatsoever to recover these fraudulent losses?
* Why has no pressure been put on Mopani to come clean or otherwise lose its mining licence?
Recovering these fraudulent gains from Glencore along with due penalties would make a big difference to the well-being of the Zambian people as well as dissuading other companies from doing the same.The shareholders reminded Vice President Guy Scott of what he once said.
“We don’t want to destroy the cow that produces the milk but we want to make sure that you get your share of the milk”Post
* Why does Government let Glencore take our share of the milk?
* Why has the new audit of mines initiated by the former Mines Minister Wilbur Simuusa not been finalised and made publicsource: Reuters
* Why has the current Minister of Mines Yamfwa Mukanga failed to take action on this scandalous situation, whereas in 2011, he stated
“no government official must protect Mopani Copper Mines for violating the law and Mopani should be punished”Post
2. In 2007, the Zambian Task Force on Corruption investigated a fraudulent loss of $ 100million at the expense of ZCCM-IH. These investigations helped to identify those responsible, as well as the banks that received the stolen funds but as surprising as it sounds, no action was taken!All the investigations that were started during the presidency of the Late President Levy Mwanawasa have been stopped. Why were they not taken up since the election of the new President 18 months ago?
Source:APA
APA – Port Louis (Mauritius) Zambia and Mauritius, within the framework of the MutualAssistance Programme are working to retrieve 100 million dollars alleged swindled from theZambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), APA learnt here.The Zambian government holds 85 percent of shares in the ZCCM.A high level delegation of the Zambian Task Force on Corruption, Tuesday arrived inMauritius to pursue the matter. Rama Valayden, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to reporters Wednesdayin the capital, Port Louis, that he will hold a working session in the evening with theZambian delegation to discuss the follow up of the case which implicates offshorecompanies incorporated in Mauritius.He said about 100 million dollars have been transferred through the Bank of ButterfieldAccount in London, before being invested in the banking system in Mauritius and saidthe suspects in the scam are known by Zambian and Mauritian authorities.At the beginning of the year, at the request of the Zambian government, the MauritiusSupreme Court issued an ’Attachment and Freezing Order’ to several banks here onthe accounts of the suspects, Mr Bernard Mungulude, Mr Kazhi Kateke and the Laxidiamond company.The duty of the Zambian Task Force on Corruption now was to seek to identify the localagents and representatives of the suspects so as to be able to recover and repatriate themoney.Hence, local banks have been assigned to submit documentary evidence to expose thecriminal gang, or else the banks will face dire consequences, Valayden said. SR/daj/tjm/APA 02-05-2007
3.ZCCM-IH hold a 20% stake in Kansanshi Mining, the most profitable Mining Company in Zambia. The ZCCM-IH stake in Kansanshi currently represents $550,4 million in undistributed profits attributable to the Zambian holding. FQM 2012 Annual Report (see page 56). Non-controlling interests are the Minority shareholders’s benefits after investment. ZCCM-IH is the only Minority shareholder in FQM accounts.The amount of non-controlling interest (for ZCCM-IH) is $550.4 million, a sum that increases by more than $100 million per year. However the majority owner First Quantum Minerals (FQM) insists on conserving this money as a legal reserve and only distributes derisory dividends to ZCCM-IH in spite of having made more than $2,5 billion in net profits in recent years and having totally recovered its investment in the mine.
Question:
1. Why does the ZCCM-IH management and the GRZ fail to put pressure on FQM to distribute fair dividends to ZCCM-IH and so get its proper yield from the most important investment held by ZCCM-IH on behalf of the GRZ?As this scandal continues, FQM is using Zambia’s money to build the world’s largest mining corporation by buying othermining companies outside Zambia.
2.When will the GRZ take action to get its fair share from its vast mineral wealth and put a stop to foreign companies plundering its resources? What will the Zambian people have to live on once these resources are depleted?
Opacity in governance of company as well as infringement on shareholders rights
The long term minority shareholders also raised concerns over the persistent bad governance of ZCCM-IH with respect to minority shareholders as demonstrated by the way the selection of the eighth board member has been handled.
Early last year ZCCM-IH launched a call for nominations to elect a representative of minority shareholders to the Board of ZCCM-IH. The GRZ holds 7 seats on the board and the nomination of an eighth member to represent minority shareholders was seen as a significant effort improve the corporate governance of the company by letting minority shareholders have their say in company matters in proportion to their holding (12.3% of ZCCM-IH shares traded on Paris Euronext, the London and the Lusaka Stock Exchanges)
Use of an obsolete Register of shareholders
The minority shareholders made a very strong and co-ordinated response to this call despite starting from the considerable disadvantage of not being recognised as registered owners of ZCCM-IH shares.The Company Secretary, Mr Chabala uses an obsolete Register of Shareholders which does not list the owners of any ZCCM-IH shares bought through the Paris Euronext Stock Exchange (the most active of ZCCM-IH’s markets). Strangely, shares of the old ZCCM bought decades past in the UK and whose owners died many years ago are listed as registered shareholders.
To compound this failing, Mr Chabala is said to refuse to recognise official bank or broker’s certificates attesting to the ownership of ZCCM-IH shares.
The minority shareholders have repeatedly asked the Company Secretary to correct this failure and have explained the procedure to be followed to update the register, without success. As a consequence of this attitude, most minority shareholders are denied their legal right to attend company meetings or to vote directly on company matters.In order to respond to this “Call for nominations” minority shareholders had no choice but to adopt avery laborious and indirect voting procedure (via their stockbrokers, banks and Euroclear, theInternational Share Depository that records all share ownership and transfers) to ensure that their voteswere registered.
Secrecy
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the company refused to make public the result of this vote (even though the minority shareholders gave a clear mandate to their chosen representative by a very large majority of the votes submitted). Since then the Executive Chairman Mr Wila Mung’Omba, in what the shareholders describe as a totally unacceptable act of bad governance, has postponed indefinitely the nomination of the eighth board member to represent the minority shareholders.
It is not known the reasons why the Executive Chairman wants to keep minority shareholders excluded from exercising their democratic rights in matters of governance of the company of which they, alongside the GRZ, are the owners and who have the same reasons to make sure that this company is properly run for all the stakeholders.
The minority shareholders fear that the Executive Chairman may be planning a biased and unethical conversion of government debt into ZCCM-IH shares
ZCCM-IH Cautionary Announcement leading to severe dilution of the minority shareholding thus making the nomination of the eighth board member no longer an issue and giving him the freedom to run the company single-handedly.
The opacity of the companies intentions and the past years of poor (or corrupt) governance give credence to even the worst scenarios. Having exhausted all other avenues of intervention (letters to successive Chairmen, the Zambian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Lusaka Stock Exchange etc.), the long term minority shareholders humbly asked for the Vice President to help to ensure that the legal rights of the Minority Shareholders of ZCCM-IH are upheld and that the company finally applies the rules of good corporate governance. The credibility of foreign investment in Zambian securities is surely weakened by the failure to ensure high standards of governance of this most emblematic government-controlled Zambian company and can only bring dishonour to the Zambian Government.
Conclusion
Without all these management failures, ZCCM-IH would have been able to register income of more than $1 billion and so refund the long-standing debt of $425 million to the GRZ as well as paying dividends to shareholders (including the GRZ) and investing in the Zambian economy. Had ZCCM-IH benefited from good governance, good management and strong support from its majority shareholder the GRZ, to make sure that it got its fair share from its mining investments, it would now be a flourishing company providing wealth, employment and pride for the Zambian People.
Time for us to develop ourselves
President Sata once said “Zambia was tired of moving with a “begging bowl” from one developed country to another as the country had the capacity to become self-reliant and lift its millions of unemployed youths out of poverty if its vast natural resources were exploited to the benefit of Zambians”. He added “Time has come for us to develop ourselves and let others come to beg from us because we have more resources than the people we are begging from”. The minority shareholders expressed extreme disappointment that the Executive Chairman Willa Mung’omba has not put all his efforts into ensuring that ZCCM-IH lives up to the expectations of President Sata.They said this lack of action, hesitations, incomprehensible decisions and lack of transparency only serve to create suspicion about the intentions of the company and the government-appointed officials that runit.
The long term minority shareholders acknowledged however, that since the nomination of the CEO Mukela Muyunda in June 2010, the management has made unprecedented efforts to catch up on no less than 5 years arrears in the publication of the company’s accounts. They encourage him to finally get the the accounts up to date in2013 and to make sure, as promised, that the company’s assets are listed in the balance sheet at fairvalue. Until now these have been incomprehensibly listed in the company balance sheet at minimal cost valuations (approx. year 2000), which massively undervalues the company and disastrously distorts its balance sheet.
Promises can not hide a woeful performance
Changes have also been promised since more than 40 shareholders sent emails in November 2012 to the executive Chairman W. Mung’Omba expressing their dissatisfaction about the management of the company. The shareholders now fear that these may be hollow promises to calm the reactions of the shareholders.Only time will tell.
In any case these hypothetical promises cannot to hide the woeful performance of ZCCM-IH. At a time when the GRZ is considering quoting other para-public companies and inviting Zambian citizens to invest their hard-earned money in such companies, should it not first take a close look at its most emblematic para-public company and ensure that ZCCM-IH sets an examplet hat others can follow? There is still so much to be done here.
The minority shareholders stated that have exactly the same interests as the majority shareholder, the GRZ: that ZCCM-IH becomes one of the leading companies in Africa. It has the means to achieve this, but so far,as a result of weak direction, it has lacked the will to make significant progress. They therefore humbly asked the Vice President to consider taking an active part to ensure that the corporate governance and management of ZCCM-IH are of the highes torder and above suspicion so that the Zambian people can once again be proud of this flagshipcompany and reap the benefits that should be theirs.
Labels: CORRUPTION, GUY SCOTT, MINING, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE, WILBUR SIMUUSA, WILLA MUNG'OMBA, YAMFWA MUKANGA, ZCCM-IH
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Nchito's appointment is well-deserved - Wila
By Roy Habaalu, Bright Mukwasa, Moses Kuwema and Ernest Chanda
Wed 21 Dec. 2011, 14:00 CAT
WILA Mung'omba says Mutembo Nchito's appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions is well deserved. Parliament yesterday ratified the appointment by President Michael Sata of Nchito as DPP and Musa Mwenye as Solicitor General following a vote.
And Mung'omba said the government would benefit from the experience of the Law Association of Zambia president Musa Mwenye, who has been appointed Solicitor General.
In an interview yesterday after the ratification, Mung'omba said Nchito had sacrificed a lot for the country in his private practice as a lawyer.
"Mutembo Nchito is an outstanding lawyer in this country. He came out with a wonderful record, not only when he was at the Task Force on Corruption, but throughout his practice. So I welcome his appointment as DPP. It's a deserved position, it's a sacrifice on the part of Mutembo Nchito, knowing just how well he can do as a private practitioner in the country; I'm delighted by that," said Mung'omba.
"I also welcome the appointment of Mwenye as Solicitor General. He is also an outstanding and courageous lawyer. And I believe that the Ministry of Justice will benefit from his experience."
UPND and MMD members of parliament led by former vice-president George Kunda rejected Nchito's appointment over allegations that he had not been cleared of criminal investigations.
After Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini asked parliamentarians who agreed with the appointment to say "aye" and those who disagreed to say "no" and the "ayes" carried the motion but the opposition called for a division which was allowed.
The division was carried out and parliamentarians voted through electronic voting. The "yes" vote had 86 members against the "nos" 50. Five members abstained from the vote.
Earlier objecting to the motion, Kunda said all members of parliament from the opposition would vote against the ratification of Nchito because he was a businessman who had not been cleared by investigating agencies for various allegations.
"We're ratifying a businessman for the position of DPP. There's irresistible public perception or there's a dark cloud hanging over Mr. Nchito's head. The character and integrity has been discussed throughout the report," Kunda said.
"Issues of the Development Bank of Zambia, Zambian Airways; these are investigations which will be carried by the police."
Kunda said it was public knowledge that immediate former Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde was updating the public on the status of investigations regarding Zambian Airways.
Kunda further said Nchito was also being investigated for theft by agent by the Drug Enforcement Commission for non-remittance of fees to the National Airports Corporation and the allegations involving former finance minister Ng'andu Magande for allegedly influencing the postponement of payment of US$2 million owed to National Airports Corporation.
"Mr Mutembo is not suitable for the position of DPP. We must caution the executive; you may be shooting yourself in the foot if you're not careful. Some of these institutions may be running your government together with some newspapers. We are warning you, some of these people we have dealt with them, we know them," said Kunda.
But in supporting the motion, UPND Kalomo parliamentarian Request Muntanga said he had no issues with Mwenye but urged Nchito to be above board and not be used to persecute people perceived to be anti-government.
Nkana PF parliamentarian Luxon Kazabu said none of the witnesses gave adverse evidence regarding civil or criminal cases being investigated or tried against Nchito by the courts of law.
Chongwe PF parliamentarian Sylvia Masebo said the Daily Nation newspaper was responsible for the so-called public perception that had been created about Nchito.
Masebo said the newspaper had been running stories about Nchito for the last one week or so since his nomination in order to create a wrong perception about him.
"Somebody was saying there is perception, and I brought this newspaper Mr. Speaker because it is important and I will lay it on the floor of the House. There is a paper here called Daily Nation and it says ‘will the speaker Patrick Matibini save Nchito? And it says ‘Mutembo Nchito in trouble', this newspaper has been running stories about Mutembo Nchito for the last one week or two weeks since the nomination, to try and create a perception," Masebo debated.
"I want to tell you Mr. Speaker that the people behind this newspaper, one of them was convicted by Mutembo Nchito and he served three years in jail.
So how can you give credence to a person who was prosecuted and successfully jailed for three years for corruption or abuse of office and he comes and starts writing stories about an individual and you come and tell us that a perception has been built; by who? And you want us to be swayed by such people, is that fair Mr Speaker? Mr Kunda?"
Masebo said it was not fair to try and destroy innocent people because of personal agenda.
She said there could be nobody better than Nchito for the job of DPP and that this showed that President Michael Sata was serious about fighting corruption.
"For him to nominate, select Mutembo, shows that he is serious because there are many leaders who would like to appoint weak people whom they can control, but Mr Sata clearly, he is not scared of anybody because he knows his position. Those who are crying and worrying about Mutembo, they are just worried about what might happen to them because of what they have been doing. That is the only reason," she said.
Masebo said Nchito had worked for the country, had experience and integrity even in his past life where he served for free with the Anti-Corruption Commission.
"How in one vain can you say he is doing money laundering and then at the same time you say he is going to be bankrupt? This man can make more money without being a DPP, even in the past he showed us that he could make more money than the job that he was given but because he wanted to serve his nation, he just went on and on. Even at the time when people were changing goal posts, he still stood firm…that is the type of people we want, not those who change goalposts because the person who is paying you is different," Masebo said.
Meanwhile, UPND Mbabala member of parliament Ephraim Belemu opposed Nchito's ratification, saying he was not a straightforward nominee and that he was tainted and could not be appointed to the position of DPP.
Labels: DPP, MUTEMBO NCHITO, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Sata's win is refreshing - Wila
By Ernest Chanda
Mon 03 Oct. 2011, 16:30 CAT
LUSAKA lawyer Wila Mung'omba says the desires of many Zambians could be met by President Michael Sata's administration. In his congratulatory message to President Sata, Mung'omba said the Patriotic Front's electoral victory was refreshing and provided a new start.
"
Our country has enough resources to take care of our entire population, to create hope for everyone. Our children and grandchildren deserve quality health and education; they deserve to be employed when they have been trained. These desires now appear implicit in President Sata's appointment of his Cabinet," Mung'omba said on Saturday.
"I like the combination of education and science and technology. I also like the new Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health. These are landmark innovations in Zambia's health sector. Zambia still loses too many mothers at childbirth, and too many of our children even before they reach five years. I hope this new ministry will deal with these eradicable health-related problems."
Mung'omba said in the past administration, the Ministry of Community Development had been abused by the ruling party to distribute money and food to fictitious women organisations during campaigns.
He said the transfer of Early Education to the Ministry of Local Government was also significant.
Mung'omba said the move paved the way for local authorities to start getting involved in providing early education exposure to children.
"Whereas there are limited pre-school facilities in certain urban areas, there are absolutely none in rural areas. I hope the new ministry can deal with this deficit," he said.
"I congratulate President Michael Sata very heartily on his election as President of the Republic of Zambia. I also hasten to congratulate him on his perspective and well-balanced Cabinet. There could have been more women in it, but on the whole, it is a Cabinet that for a long time comes with fewer ministers carrying their own tags of corruption and incompetence."
And Mung'omba said the new Ministry of Labour, Sport, Youth and Gender must be looked at in terms of expanded education and health policy.
He said when the youth get trained, they must look forward to making a decent life for themselves and contribute to the development of their country through decent jobs.
"Social security is still too weak in Zambia and I hope that these reforms are aimed at reducing the current uncertainty. The levels of poverty we have seen since 1990 have been a result of poor policies. Education had stopped to be a priority and jobs were for the favoured few," said Mung'omba.
"Every Zambian has a right to employment. A nation that fails to prioritise education cannot develop and will always remain vulnerable to poverty. Every government ministry must endeavour to exploit any educational component in it to advance knowledge and, therefore, efficiency and productivity. The winning of elections by the Patriotic Front is refreshing. It is a new start. The President deserves support of the Zambian people. There is always strength in unity. So I congratulate the President and his cabinet."
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, MICHAEL SATA, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Kunda's stay in office is unconstitutional - Wila
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 10 Sep. 2011, 13:59 CAT
WILA Mung'omba says Vice-President George Kunda's stay in office after the dissolution of parliament remains unconstitutional. Giving his opinion on President Rupiah Banda's decision to keep Vice-President Kunda in office after dissolving Parliament on July 28 this year, Mung'omba who is a senior lawyer said the appointment was void.
He said both Vice-President Kunda and the Attorney General should have told President Banda that there was no constitutional provision for that appointment.
"It is puzzling how this strange appointment could have been made. One accepts that presidents are human beings and are therefore prone to human mistakes. But in this case, one would have thought that the President would have been assisted by Kunda himself, a lawyer, a former Attorney General and former minister of justice," Mung'omba said.
"Kunda was morally obliged to remind the President that there is no constitutional provision for that kind of appointment. It is the major function of the Attorney General as principle legal advisor to stop the Head of State from breaching the Constitution. The Secretary to the Cabinet as the number one mandarin in the public service ought to have whispered to the President that the appointment may not be in public interest. It would be incomprehensible if the President ignored all these advices and went ahead with the appointment. His intentions would then have to be scrutinized."
Mung'omba said since Vice-President Kunda's appointment was unconstitutional, it also followed that any act he performed was void.
"The appointment of Mr. George Kunda Kunda as Vice-President by President Banda after dissolution of Parliament is blatantly unconstitutional and therefore void. Any act performed by Mr. Kunda in the pretended capacity of a Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia is also null and void. This is because his appointment as Vice-President ended on 28th July 2011 when the President dissolved Parliament," Mung'omba said.
"Article 45 of the Zambian Constitution states as follows: (1) There shall be an office of Vice-President of the Republic. (2) The Vice-President shall be appointed by the President from amongst the members of the National Assembly. When Parliament has been dissolved it means that there is no pool in our country from which a President can hook out a Vice-President. Mr. Kunda ceased to be a member of the National Assembly from the moment Parliament was dissolved and it is in fact for that reason that he is seeking re-election in Muchinga Constituency."
Mung'omba said the unconstitutional appointment of Vice-President Kunda had enormous implications.
He said people should consider the unfair competition the Vice-President would give to his contenders in the constituency by virtue of his office.
"First you have a Vice-President who is in law not a Vice-President but acting as one. In effect all activities he performs in the capacity of a vice-president are void as a result of his defective appointment. Second, he continues to consume public resources to which he is not entitled. But most importantly, it makes Zambia appear like an animal farm where the rule of law is irrelevant. No other law in our land is more important than our Constitution. If favours are to be done, they must be done within our law, for how else could such an appointment be made if not to do Mr. Kunda a favour!" Mung'omba said.
"On a larger scale Zambians should be mindful that provisions of Article 36 and 38 of the Constitution always loom large and can be invoked at any time in the country's life, and, if before September 20 2011, George Kunda SC cannot automatically be the acting President, because he is not a Vice-President according to the constitution of the Republic of Zambia.
Other implications people should consider involve the fairness and ‘freeness' of elections in the constituency where Mr. Kunda is a candidate. The seat is being contested by other candidates from other parties. They are using resources either from their own pockets or their parties, whereas Mr. Kunda is campaigning using state resources. One question is whether that constituency is going to have free and fair elections."
Mung'omba said if the country had an independent Electoral Commission, it would have questioned Vice-President Kunda's candidature and possibly disqualified him from standing on grounds that he posed a huge disadvantage to other candidates.
Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Defeat of Kunda’s bill should end govt - Wila
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wed 06 Apr. 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE defeat of the constitutional amendment bill in the House warrants the resignation of the Vice-President and Cabinet as well as dissolution of Parliament, says Wila Mung’omba.
In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mung’omba said he agreed with lawyer Dr Rodger Chongwe that the government does not take constitution and budget bills to Parliament to go and lose and expect to stay in office.
“A vote on a constitution or a budget bill in all Commonwealth Parliamentary practice is a confidence vote. If a government loses on a confidence vote, it must resign and the House dissolved,” said Mung'omba, who chaired the Mung'omba Constitutional Review Commission (CRC).
“In Zambia where both parliamentary and democratic practices are still a threadbare pretence, the defeat of a constitution bill which was apparently intended to usher in a new constitution, is a matter of no consequence and a minor setback.”
Mung'omba said Speaker of the National Assembly Amusa Mwanamwamba must have told the members of parliament the implication of the defeat of the motion.
“When the vote had been counted, it was the duty of the Speaker of the House to explain the serious implications of that defeat: (a) that the bill did not command the confidence of the House and, therefore, of the nation; (b) that he was going to advise the President accordingly and that dissolution of the House was the expected consequence according to Parliamentary practice.”
Mung'omba said it would then have been President Rupiah Banda to take the most appropriate action to accept the resignation of the entire Cabinet, from the Vice-President downwards.
He said President Banda would have considered the efficacy of calling early elections when the tripartite elections were being anticipated in the next few months, but only after consulting with the opposition parties.
Mung'omba, a lawyer of more than 40 years experience, said it was not enough for Speaker Mwanamwambwa to only announce that the next elections would be held under the 1991 Constitution.
Mung’omba was first admitted to the English bar as a lawyer in 1968 before being admitted to the Zambian bar the following year. He also served as a member of parliament from 1972 to 1979 in the UNIP government. Mung'omba, said Mwanamwamba's announcement that this year’s elections would be held under the 1991 Constitution was too obvious a statement to convey the seriousness of what had taken place in the House. He said Mwanamwambwa’s lucid explanation of the implication of the vote would have prevented government chief spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha and MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya from trivialising a tragic national event.
“When a bill of that importance has been lost in the House, it is totally repugnant to parliamentary practice to start extolling its virtues at press conferences. That is the job leaders of the House do before debates open by way of lobbying and consultation with other parties,” Mung’omba said. “In any event, even after six months period has lapsed, government or MMD will not be expected in terms of our Constitution and parliamentary practice to reintroduce the same bill; it will have to be a Constitution bill of a different nature and substance.”
Mung’omba said it was not the opposition parties, Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Development (UPND), that defeated the constitutional bill but the whole House and it did not matter which party spear-headed the defeat.
“The House considered that it was not in the best interest of Zambia to vote for such a bill. The bill was a threat to Zambia’s democracy and it had to be stopped by the people’s representatives,” Mung’omba said. “Members of parliament are elected for that purpose, to protect the interests of the nation. When we decided to operate within institutions of democracy we must also accept to live with some of the most painful demands that democracy imposes on society.”
Mung'omba said the constitution bill was not defeated by PF leader Michael Sata or UPND's Hakainde Hichilema. He said Sata and Hichilema did not even sit in the House.
“The bill was defeated by the House comprising representatives from PF, UPND, UNIP, Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) and MMD - all exercising their free conscience in accordance with the trust placed on them by the electorate,” said Mung'omba. “Information making rounds is that although a three-line whip was expected on MMD members of parliament, some of them, including ministers, stayed away from the House when the vote was being taken. So what is the point blaming the opposition for the failure?”
Last week on Tuesday, the Banda-MMD-led government failed to garner the required two-thirds majority vote to pass the constitutional amendment bill to second reading in the National Assembly.
The ruling MMD that has lost some parliamentary seats in by-elections has 78 legislators in a 158-member National Assembly.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, NCC, ROGER CHONGWE, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Chiluba’s aide ‘confessed he wrote the articles’
By Namatama Mundia
Fri 19 Nov. 2010, 04:02 CAT
A WITNESS yesterday testified that former president Frederick Chiluba’s spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba confessed to him that he had authored two contemptuous articles relating to the Mathew Mohan trial.
In this case, Mwamba is alleged to have authored and published two contemptuous articles that circulated on the Zambian Watchdog web site which analysed Mohan and his co-accused Idris and Shabia Patel’s murder case.
During examination-in-chief led by Supreme Court judge Gregory Phiri, who sat as High Court judge, Post managing editor Amos Malupenga, told a packed courtroom that Mwamba had confessed having authored the two contemptuous and scandalous articles.
He narrated how Mwamba phoned him on the evening of October 18, 2010 asking if he had heard of the drama that took place earlier in court when Mohan commenced his defence and implicated some judicial officers and Lusaka lawyer Robert Simeza. He said Mwamba told him that Mohan’s testimony was the worst version of James Lukuku and that he was just a crook and liar bent on implicating innocent people like Simeza.
Malupenga said because he had arrived at Wila Mung’omba’s residence where he went for a function, he told Mwamba that they would speak later. After about two hours, Mwamba phoned back asking if Malupenga was free to talk but Malupenga was still busy and he didn’t phone back that evening.
The following morning, Mwamba sent a text message to Malupenga’s phone indicating that he had sent him a document. A short while later, Mwamba and Malupenga spoke. Mwamba said what he sent to Malupenga’s email box was just a summary of what he had wanted to discuss with him and that the two should talk after Malupenga had read the article.
Malupenga said when he opened his mailbox, he found the first anonymous article titled, “Sajid Murder - The Plot Thickens”, which was also sent to Amos Chanda.
Malupenga said he later sent a text message to Mwamba asking if the analysis on The Watchdog did not amount to contempt and that if it were The Post doing that, its editor could have been cited for contempt. This was on October 20 when he saw the same article published on The Watchdog.
He said Mwamba’s response was, “Aaaa. I have encouraged Simeza to meet with you.”
Malupenga had earlier phoned Simeza asking for a meeting.
Malupenga said he had several conversations with Mwamba who accused The Post of giving undue prominence to Mohan’s testimony because they had seen an opportunity to prove their corruption allegations against the judiciary using Mohan whom everyone knew to be a crook and a liar.
Malupenga dismissed Mwamba’s claims saying people at The Post were not cowards to hide behind Mohan as the newspaper had shown in the past that it could criticise the judiciary without hiding behind anyone whenever criticism was due. He said for now, The Post had no issues with the judiciary.
Malupenga said a few days later, he heard from colleagues in the newsroom that there was another analysis of the Mohan trial on The Watchdog but he did not check it on the very day because he was busy. He said he visited the Zambian Watchdog website on October 27 and read the article together with the accompanying comments.
“I was very upset when I saw how the author was cleverly trying to link The Post to the ‘scheme’ as it was referred to,” Malupenga said.
He said he phoned Mwamba asking him why he had proceeded to link The Post to the Mohan ‘scheme’ when the newspaper had clearly no interest in the matter.
“I briefly referred him to our earlier conversation but he said he was ignorant about what I was talking about. I asked him not to pretend that he didn’t know what I was talking about. I told him the first analysis; I was not concerned because he didn’t link us. But in the second one, he linked us and that is why I phoned because I was not happy,” he said.
Malupenga said Mwamba said he was surprised that Lloyd The Watchdog editor had decided to publish the article because he sent it to him on Sunday October 24, “just for his information”.
He said Mwamba said in any case, there was no need for The Post to worry because his reference to the newspaper was very innocent and in passing.
“He said The Post were never the target and there was no reason for us to overreact or to be sensitive over the matter,” Malupenga narrated.
He said he warned Mwamba that enough was enough and The Post was going to expose him because he had warned him earlier.
“He Mwamba said he could not understand why we were over-reacting because according to him, he had done bigger things against The Post and Fred M’membe in the past and we didn’t react the way we were reacting this time,” Malupenga said.
He said after about 30 minutes on the same day, he phoned Amos Chanda to inform him about his conversation with Mwamba but Chanda said he had already been contacted by Mwamba who told him that The Post were angered by the articles in question.
Malupenga said Chanda said Mwamba could not understand why The Post was angered by the two articles because according to him, his reference to the newspaper was very innocent. Mwamba asked Chanda to explain to The Post the context in which his harmless reference to the newspaper was made.
Malupenga said he told Chanda that they could meet although a decision to expose Mwamba had already been made.
He said he phoned Mwamba the following day, October 28, based on the information he had received and took him back to his previous conversation with him on the two articles. He said he decided to record this conversation with Mwamba.
Malupenga said when he put it to Mwamba, during the conversation which lasted for about 20 minutes, that he had a scheme to put a wedge between The Post and the judiciary, the latter responded that it was a pity there was such an interpretation because it was never The Post under attack in his anonymous article but the scheme meant to frame Simeza, that is what he was fighting.
“We ended the conversation with him saying he would rather discuss the matter in person and that he could come to my office so that we discuss face-to-face,” Malupenga said. “Up to now, Emmanuel has never come to discuss this issue.”
Malupenga said later in the evening, he received a text message from Mwamba saying he was going to discuss the issue with Chanda in the hope that the misunderstanding could be cleared.
He said he responded by saying that Mwamba should go ahead and discuss with Chanda but as far as The Post were concerned, there was no misunderstanding because they had always known his schemes against them.
Malupenga said after his meeting with Chanda, Mwamba sent a text message to his phone saying, “Actually, there was no meeting. I was just reprimanded. I think for a good cause.”
Malupenga said on November 2, 2010, he implemented what he had promised Mwamba by way of writing to him to put on record what was discussed concerning the two anonymous and contemptuous articles and also expressed anger at his conduct, which The Post considered to be habitual.
Malupenga said he indicated to Mwamba that he would be discussing with The Post lawyers on the way forward. He said he copied this letter to the Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde and judge Phiri.
Malupenga said after Mwamba received the letter, he had another meeting with Chanda and that Chanda later informed him that Mwamba felt excessively and unfairly attacked and that he denied being the author. He said Mwamba had even issued a statement on the Zambian Watchdog to that effect because he had some integrity to protect.
Malupenga said he was very upset with Mwamba’s position and thought of phoning him so he could tell him off but later decided to send him a text message just to create a record because he had heard that Emmanuel was ready to repudiate his own confessions.
Malupenga’s text message to Mwamba on November 2, 2010 read: “My namesake Amos Chanda tells me u feel excessively and unfairly attacked and that u deny being the author and accuse us of wrongly accusing you. I am told u have issued a statement on the Zambian Watchdog in the bid to protect your so-called integrity. Surely, u cannot shamelessly repudiate your own confessions which will be collaborated corroborated by independent evidence.
“I hope u recall my earlier warning to you that u will accuse us of fighting u when we respond to your attacks. Its ok for u to attack us but it is wrong for us to defend ourselves. I kept warning u against linking us to Mohan issues because we have nothing to do with them but u were determined to do so. U should now justify why u only talked about The Post in your analysis and excluded other media houses that covered Mohan’s defence,”
Malupenga said Mwamba has never responded to his text to date. He said he still had all the text messages he referred to in evidence on his phone. He also had a CD containing his phone conversation with Mwamba together with its transcript and printouts from his mailbox showing the anonymous article he received from Mwamba’s mailbox.
Malupenga is this morning expected to tender all these before judge Phiri as part of his evidence. Judge Phiri said court officials should make arrangements to provide all the necessary equipment to enable the court to listen to the recorded conversation this morning when the matter comes up for continued hearing.
And Malupenga told judge Phiri that should need arise, he was able to prove that Mwamba was behind most of the anonymous articles although for now he would confine himself to the two articles which were of interest to the court.
Mwamba remains remanded in custody.
Labels: COURTS, EMMANUEL MWAMBA, FREDERICK CHILUBA, MATTHEW MOHAN, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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It’s vital to register as voters - Mung’omba
By Patson Chilemba
Sun 14 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT
WILLA Mung’omba yesterday said it is extremely important for Zambians to register as voters. Willa, who attended the swearing-in ceremony of his young brother Given as deputy science and technology minister at State House, said it was key for people to register because elections could be won with a difference of one vote.
“It is very important that people register as voters and express their will at every election. And I hope you guys are encouraging them to register,” said Willa the former Constitution Review Commission chairperson.
Asked to comment on the MMD’s narrow victory in the Mpulungu by-elections, Willa said elections were all about competition.
He said the MMD had worked hard to keep the Mpulungu seat and the opposition needed to work harder to get it.
On Given’s appointment as deputy minister, Willa said the Mung’omba family was not a dynasty despite their involvement in Zambian politics.
He said people joined politics by choice.
Willa said the family was pleased with Given’s victory in Mpulungu and the honour of being appointed deputy minister.
“We hope that he can live up to the expectation of the people. The important thing is not just being appointed but delivery of services to the Zambian people. That is what we expect him to do as a family. If he fails, then he has failed us,” said Willa.
And Given said there was need for the MMD to address their weaknesses in Mpulungu.
He said the MMD lost in the central parts of Mpulungu Constituency because of problems such as water supply.
Also sworn in yesterday by President Rupiah Banda were Domiciano Mulenga as national coordinator at the Disaster Management Unit, Lieutenant General Samuel Mapala as Ambassador to Italy and Daniel Bowazi as North Western Province permanent secretary.
Labels: GIVEN MUNG'OMBA, VOTER REGISTRATION, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Mung’omba must avoid presidential campaign politics, says Katele
Written by Patson Chilemba
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 5:25:06 PM
MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba yesterday said Willa Mung'omba is a senior leader and must avoid getting into presidential campaign politics in the party.
Commenting on MMD member Mung'omba's statement that the party should obey the constitution by allowing members to contest for positions at the convention and that President Rupiah Banda should be challenged, Kalumba said this was not the right time to start talking about campaign politics in the MMD.
He said MMD members like Mung'omba should be more preoccupied with service delivery to the people rather than talking about positions in the party.
"I have ordered party members formally and publicly about the need not to get into this campaign talking. I have told all, and Mr Mung'omba is a senior leader and I think he must understand the need not to get into these political campaigns now," Kalumba said.
Kalumba said it was also imprudent politically for members to start raising issues of whether the party should have a convention or not.
Kalumba said party members should learn to raise these issues at an appropriate time.
Commenting on the endorsement of President Banda as MMD's sole candidate by NEC and the statement by party spokesperson Benny Tetamashimba that the presidency would not be contested for at the convention, Mung'omba asked the MMD to obey the constitution by allowing members to contest for any position in the party.
Labels: KATELE KALUMBA, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Rupiah should be challenged – Willa
Written by Patson Chilemba
Saturday, July 04, 2009 3:14:14 PM
MMD member Willa Mung’omba has advised the party to allow President Rupiah Banda to be challenged at the convention. Commenting on the endorsement of President Rupiah Banda as the MMD's sole candidate by the national executive committee (NEC) and the statement by Benny Tetamashimba that the presidency would not be contested for at the convention, Mungo'mba asked the MMD to obey the constitution by allowing members to contest for any position in the party.
Mung'omba, who applied to be adopted as presidential candidate for the MMD in 2008, said MMD was an open party and people should be allowed to contest positions in the party.
"I hope everybody knows that there are constitutional provisions for different positions and those have to be studied and obeyed. I think that MMD remains an open party and should try to encourage as many members as possible to contest for certain or any positions in the party according to the constitution," he said.
Mung'omba said the MMD constitution stipulated that people would contest for positions at the party convention.
"I think that is my statement from a legal point of view," said Mung'omba who is former Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) chairperson. "The MMD should obey the constitution by allowing members to contest for positions at the convention."
Asked if he were still interested in the Republican and party presidency, Mung'omba said it was still too early as elections were still ongoing at the lower organs of the party.
Recently, the NEC endorsed President Banda as the sole candidate for the MMD ahead of the party convention and the 2011 elections. Following the resolution, party members on the Copperbelt Province and other parts of the country advised the party to defer the convention since a candidate had been identified to save money for election campaigns.
In response, MMD chairman for elections Mike Mulongoti said it would be unwise to ignore the calls to defer the convention while Tetamashimba said the convention would go ahead and all positions would be contested for except for the presidency.
Former finance minister Ng'andu Magande said he was still interested in the Republican presidency another MMD presidential aspirant Professor Clive Chirwa said it was undemocratic for the NEC to have a sole candidate because the final decision lay with the convention.
However, Tetamshimba said Prof Chirwa was not a member of the MMD. Tetamashimba maintained that the presidency would not be contested for and all party members should support the NEC's decision.
Labels: MMD, NEC, RUPIAH BANDA, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Unsettling extension
Written by Editor
The proposal by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) secretariat for an extension of their mandate by 12 months is unsettling. We say unsettling because we feel the initial period that was given to the NCC from inception - September 10, 2007 to September 2009 - is enough to complete its very expensive work.
The NCC was constituted under an Act of Parliament of 2007 to examine, debate and adopt proposals to alter the draft Constitution submitted by the Willa Mung'omba Constitution Review Commission (CRC). The Mung'omba draft report recommended that the Constitution should be adopted through the Constituent Assembly and when the issue of forming the NCC arose, various stakeholders, including the Oasis Forum, opposed the idea.
They insisted that the constitution should be adopted through the Constituent Assembly. However, the MMD government maintained its stance over the NCC and a bill was drafted after some consultation.
Some sections of the Church and some civil society organisations accepted the idea reluctantly but called for further consultation over the matter. The people's fears were that the bill, which was formulated on the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) road map, advocated piecemeal amendments of the Constitution and reserved the right of Parliament to debate and amend the recommendations of the constitutional conference. The stakeholders felt that the bill was retrogressive as it merely limited the NCC to making recommendations to the Minister of Justice.
However, the government ignored the people's wishes and went ahead to take the NCC bill to Parliament. When civil society threatened to demonstrate over the constitution-review process, then justice minister George Kunda - now Vice-President - accused the Oasis Forum of derailing the process and said the intention of the government was to achieve a comprehensive review of the Constitution in a less costly manner. The bill sailed through Parliament and late president Levy Mwanawasa accented to it, making it law.
Stakeholders such as the Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC), the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Patriotic Front (PF) boycotted the NCC. Nonetheless, the NCC - with about 496 members, was then set up. At the time, we made it very clear that the NCC was not for consensus building or a negotiated approach to constitution review.
We had said it was simply a mechanism for the deception of people. We had a problem with composition of the NCC and we stated that there would be no real participation by the people but that what would be there would be the MMD's participation, its dominance or hegemony over the whole process.
The NCC then commenced its sittings on December 19 and the rest, as they say, is history. Now it is unsettling to hear that this Conference wants an extension of 12 months. According to the NCC's letter addressed to the General Purposes Committee on November 17, 2008, they had lost over eight months due to various factors such as the initial preparation during the setting up of the Conference, president Mwanawasa's death and the elections.
Valid as their reasons might be, we feel the demand for an extension by 12 months is unsettling and raises a lot of questions about its efficiency, effectiveness and orderliness.
The NCC should be able to finish its work within the stipulated time because the country cannot afford to buy time on the Constitution. People have hoped for a new constitution for a long time and actually offered alternative road maps which indicated that the constitution could be finalised within a shorter period of time but the government decided to go its way.
We were even recently assured by Kunda that the document would be ready on time so there should be no need for the NCC to continue to 2010. Setbacks will always be there in life but there is need for us to plan in such a way that we meet our set goals. What guarantee do we have that there will be no setbacks in 2009, which will lead them to asking for an extension to 2011 - the year of general elections?
We need a lot of seriousness on this matter because the constitution, which is being formulated is not for the MMD or an individual. This is a document for the people and it is needed urgently.
When the Oasis Forum presented an alternative road map through which to adopt the constitution, it was rejected on grounds that it would be an expensive exercise. The government came up with a 'cheaper' way of enacting the constitution by forming the NCC.
A lot of concern has been raised over the money that is being spent on this body. According to the 2008 budget, in excess of K300 billion was allocated to the NCC and definitely they will receive an allocation next year since their mandate spans up to September 2009. This is understandable but to think of another allocation in 2010 is unsettling.
Where will the country get the money? In view of the global financial crisis, the country is likely to see reduced revenue in form of taxes. This crisis will lead to job losses thus reducing the number of taxpayers, the country might not get as much money in aid as the developed countries are very much hit by the credit crunch and are trying to bail out their own companies.
The country might see reduced investment which could have helped to create more jobs and the economy is not likely to perform as projected. This precarious situation calls for a lot of foresightedness, prudence, thriftiness and good planning to ensure that the little money that the country has is spent wisely.
It will be unwise for us as a country to take the route of "business as usual" when the entire world is gearing up and finding ways of mitigating the effects of the global economic meltdown. And it will be unfair to continue milking the taxpayers who at the same time have to struggle with the rising cost of living - high prices of food, rentals, fuel and so on and so forth.
Such an extension should only be tolerated if members of the NCC decide to go for 12 months to serve the country - without any allowances being paid to them. As long as it involves the hard-earned taxpayers’ money, an extension will be difficult to support. It is sad that in these hard economic times, people can entertain such very expensive schemes.
We have always called for an acceptable constitution-making process and we have always encouraged consensus in the process. And we strongly feel that the country can have the new constitution by September 2009. Those sitting on the NCC should ensure that they deliver a good constitution that meets the people's aspirations. They should ensure that the defeat that people suffered over the Constituent Assembly is avenged, is reversed. This requires a high sense of selflessness, maturity and humility.
We need to remember that our people wanted a new constitution before the 2006 elections and the government refused. The government pushed the deadline to 2009 and it will be immoral to push it to 2010. Everything has a limit and people should not be pushed further than they already have. Pushing the deadline further is unacceptable. We need a new constitution not later than 2009.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE, CORRUPTION, NCC, OASIS FORUM, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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Willa Mung'omba joins MMD presidential race
By Brighton Phiri, Patson Chilemba, Kelvin Tembo and Simon Mut
Thursday August 28, 2008 [04:01]
Lusaka lawyer and former Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) chairman Willa Mung'omba has joined the MMD presidential race. And MMD presidential aspirant Ng'andu Magande's campaign team has proposed a nationally televised debate about President Mwanawasa's policies among all party presidential candidates.
In his letter of application to MMD national secretary dated August 26, Mung'omba stated he was in a position to provide leadership over the country's continued search for a durable constitution.
"The rule of law, democracy, good governance and respect of human rights should be in the forefront of MMD leadership in order for us to build a just and equitable society. A free society that values human life is essential to progress. These can be assured by a predictable and respected constitution," read Mung'omba's letter in part.
"I am in a position to provide leadership in Zambia's continued search for a durable constitution. As chairman of the Mung'omba Constitution Review Commission, I remain mindful of people's aspiration for a constitution written, adopted by, and delivered to themselves. This is an urgent matter which MMD must undertake to deliver to the people of Zambia without much delay. If granted opportunity by the party, I will do that as a matter of priority."
Mung'omba stated that he had and continued to have a rare privilege of not only knowing, but of working with some former and present heads of state in Africa.
"As leader of MMD and president of Zambia, I would use my knowledge of the world to enhance Zambia's respected profile abroad," he stated. "I am pleased to offer my services to our party and through it to the People of Zambia."
Mung'omba stated that he had been an unwavering member of MMD since the time it was founded in 1991 and that in a modest way, he had continued to support the ruling party whenever he had been called upon to do so.
Mung'omba further stated that he believed that MMD was a dynamic party that should continue calling upon committed and intelligent leadership that would provide hope to Zambia's youth and future generations.
"I have been one of the few privileged Zambians to have visited and worked in all provinces, all districts and all parliamentary constituencies of this country. I have the full picture of our country's natural resources, the disparities in their exploitation and the full potential and its richness. I believe that MMD leadership must possess this picture in order to build a comprehensive framework for Zambia's development," stated Mung'omba.
And MMD presidential aspirant Ng'andu Magande's campaign team has proposed a nationally televised debate among all the party's presidential candidates.
In a press statement yesterday, former commerce minister Dipak Patel ,who is also a member of the Elect Magande Campaign Team, stated that Magande was ready, able and willing, to such a debate.
"In consultation and agreement with Hon. Magande, the MMD presidential aspirant, he and his campaign management team believes that it is not only in the interest of MMD but in the interest of all Zambians for all MMD presidential candidates to have a nationally televised debate among all candidates on 4th of September 2008, a day before the MMD national executive committee meets to decide on the MMD presidential candidate," Patel stated.
"We live in modern times and the generational shift in politics necessitates such a debate. Hon. Magande is ready, able and willing, to such a debate. We also have no doubt that all aspiring candidates would also be willing to such a debate in national interest."
Meanwhile, the MMD in Luapula Province have unanimously endorsed the candidature of Acting President Rupiah Banda as MMD presidential candidate in the presidential by-election.
Magande this week applied to be considered as MMD presidential candidate for the forthcoming presidential by-election.
And finance deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa yesterday said he was shocked that some cabinet ministers who knew that President Mwanawasa preferred Magande as his successor were either quiet about the matter or had betrayed him even before his burial.
Labels: MMD, PRESIDENCY, WILLA MUNG'OMBA
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