BAD ELEMENTS REGROUPING IN PF – UPND

By SUFZ Staff

The United Party for National Development (UPND) has said people that made the MMD unpopular are now regrouping in the Patriotic Front (PF) and urged Zambians to reject them.

UPND President Hakainde Hichilema’s spokesperson and special advisor Douglas Syakalima said the people that had defected to the PF were responsible for the suffering of Zambians.

He said President Banda could not be blamed for the mess in the MMD in the last twenty years but people like Mbita Chitala, Mike Mulongoti, Sylvia Masebo and Lameck Mangani were responsible.

He said Zambians should not vote for the PF because all the bad elements that were denting the MMD had regrouped in that party.

Zambians had not forgotten that PF President Michael Sata was a corrupt person who deposited government money in his personal account to earn him interest, he said.

Mr. Syakalima said in Lusaka that most of the people that are defected to the PF from the ruling party were responsible for the liabilities that the MMD was blamed for in the last 20 years.

“President Rupiah Banda has only been in the MMD for the last two years and most of these elements that are today defecting to the PF together with Mr. Sata are the people who actually made Zambians to suffer.

“These are the bad elements that were reliabilities to the MMD and now they want to reinvent themselves and they are regrouping in the PF,” he said.

He said that Zambians were not dull to easily forget that it was these same people who were responsible for the hacking of people in Chawama and had deposited government monies in their personal accounts to accumulate interest.

“They are the ones who messed us up and now they are gathering in the PF,” he said.

He said the defections had nothing to do with the ideology but personal preservation so that they could continue to abuse Zambians.

“As UPND we shall not allow that to happen.  We are not stupid that we can be deceived by these fake politicians in the names of Mbita Chitala, Mike Mulongoti, Sylvia Masebo and Lameck Mangani.

“Not long ago when we were in the pact with the PF Mbita Chitala asked me why we had decided to enter into a pact with a lunatic.  So today what has changed that he Chitala is singing praises for the same person,” he said.

He said Zambians should not be deceived by the 90 days projects that the PF was preaching during their campaigns.

“In fact it is 90 days of destruction.  The power of social shame doesn’t seem to dawn on Mr. Sata, he said.

LAZ HAS LOST CREDIBILITY

By SUFZ Staff

Global Justin Zambia advocacy campaign manager Samson Zulu has written  to the Law association of Zambia (LAZ) questioning the credibility of its president Musa Mwenye as a result of his membership of the opposition Patriotic Front (PF).  Mr. Zulu who was founding member of the opposition Patriotic Front said in Lusaka July 15, that Mr. Mwenye was a known PF member who would not be objective as President of LAZ especially as the country went to the polls.  “The credibility of LAZ is under serious question with Mr. Musa Mwenye at the helm because he is a well known member of the Patriotic Front (PF).  Whatever he is saying should be seen in that light “whatever he says is in line with what his party is championing.  So it wouldn’t be wrong to say that now LAZ is an appendage of the PF with Mr. Mwenye at the helm,” he said.  He said it was mischievous for the PF through Mr. Wynter Kabimba to have written to LAZ over the parentage of President Rupiah said.  “Mr. Wynter Kabimba has written to LAZ giving seven days ultimatum over the allegations of MR. Milton Phiri.  I find that to be mischievous.  “There are a number of issues on which LAZ has failed to categorically help the Zambian public.  For instance LAZ has failed to explain to the Zambian people whether it was in order for Mr. Sata to mislead the public through a Radio Phoenix program that President Banda should have pardoned the late President Fedrick Chiluba when he had been acquitted by the courts,” he said.  He said LAZ had also failed to explain to Zambians why two of Mr. Sata’s bodyguards who were on the police wanted list has continued to walk around freely when they are known dangerous criminals.  “I have the documents to the effect that the two of Mr. Sata’s bodyguards are wanted by the Police.  LAZ should also explain why Mr. Sata has maintained Roy Mulenga Kasama and Clement Nchinga as his personal bodyguards when these are known dangerous criminals,” he said.  Mr. Zulu said that the two had been involved in his abduction at the investigation of the PF leader.

PF rejects Luo, Mumbi

By Times Reporter

GRASSROOTS members of the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) have rejected former Health minister Nkandu Luo, who is PF leader Michael Sata’s preferred candidate for Munali Constituency to take over from incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Mumbi Phiri who has also not been interviewed because of opposition from the members.

The development comes a few days after some PF members of the central committee told the Times that PF members in Munali Constituency had also rejected former Chongwe MMD MP Sylvia Masebo, whom Mr Sata wanted to impose on them after the people of Chongwe preferred Geoffrey Chumbwe.

Kalingalinga Ward chairperson Emmerson Mbewe and Munali Ward 3 chairperson Theresa Changachanga said all the wards and constituency officials in Munali Constituency had resolved to back former PF national youth chairperson, Erick Chanda who won the adoptions conducted last week and would not accept imposed candidates.

And PF insiders said yesterday Mr Sata allegedly organised special interviews specifically and exclusively for Professor Luo at the party secretariat in Villa Elizabetha, which they found strange and undemocratic.

Prof Luo was interviewed on Sunday by the constituency, district and provincial executive committees after she missed the scheduled interviews last week where six candidates were
interviewed.

Those interviewed last week included Paul Bupe, Ricky Mhone, former UNIP secretary general Alfred Banda, a Ms Kaluba, a Mr Nkole and Mr Chanda won the primaries.

"On Mumbi Phiri, we decided as constituency and ward officials that she must be dealt with by the central committee because she is not wanted here.

"Besides she is a central committee member so our leaders should deal with her," the officials said.

And Ms Changachanga said the party was headed for a serious defeat should Mr Sata impose Prof Luo on the people of Munali because the MMD had adopted a strong candidate, Majory Mwape.

"Erick is our preferred candidate because we have worked with him for many years and he knows how to work with people. If they want to lose let them bring Nkandu Luo. We will campaign for her because we are members but chances of winning are very slim," she said.

Munali Constituency youth chairperson, Felix Chewe said Prof Luo was not wanted in Munali and that some members on the ground had threatened to resign and join other political parties if Mr Chanda was not adopted.

The PF leadership is expected to announce the list of its adopted candidates before the end of this week or next week and the delays have been caused by poor response in some constituencies mainly in Western, North-Western and Southern provinces.

In Mandevu Constituency, Joseph Mwansa beat the rest of the applicants but the ward officials feared that Mr Sata may want to impose incumbent MP Jean Kapata whom the grassroots had rejected.

Others who applied for adoption in Mandevu Constituency but were left out were Patrick Katyoka and a Mr Banda.

In Lumezi Constituency, Mr Sata’s preferred candidate, Clement Mwale lost the primary elections to a local business executive Ezekiel Lukhanda while former Zambia Federation of Employers president George Chabwera also lost to a business executive, Evans Ngoma.

When the list was taken to the provincial executive committee in Chipata, the applicants who were preferred by the constituency officials were unsuccessful.

But Mandevu MP Jean Kapata said as far as she was concerned the party leadership had not announced the list of the selected candidates and the official results were unknown while Ms Phiri (Mumbi) declined to comment, saying she was actually surprised that she received a telephone call from the Times of Zambia, before she hang up.

"You know I am surprised that you have called me because I told you people that I do not talk to people from the public media. Thank you," she said.

But impeccable sources from the central committee said the confusion which had marred the PF adoption process had worried Mr Sata.

"If you remember very well, it is now close to one year since the PF adoption process started. We started early last year when the party leadership invited applications from interested members in all the constituencies.

"That was long before even the MMD and United Party for National Development (UPND) started their adoption process but to date nothing concrete has come out. We are in trouble," they said.

And the names for UPND selected candidates have　been forwarded to the party’s national management committee for final scrutiny.

UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma said yesterday the party had almost completed its adoption exercise of both parliamentary and local government candidates who would stand in various constituencies during this year’s polls."So far, we have done what we call primary levels which involve councillors and MPs. We have done the selection process and interviews.

"The names of selected candidates have since been forwarded to our national management committee," Mr Kakoma said.

Down Memory Lane: Zambia presidential poll marred by opposition rigging claim

by Sahil Nagpal on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 02:37.

Lusaka - Allegations by Zambia's opposition leader Michael Sata of vote rigging cast a pall over Thursday's election to choose a successor to deceased president Levy Mwanawasa and stoked fears of violence in Africa's largest copper producer. The mood on voting day itself was calm as Zambians made their way from dawn to over 6,000 polling stations nationwide to choose a successor to Mwanawasa, who died of a stroke in August. The election is a two-horse race between ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) candidate, acting president Rupiah Banda, 71, and opposition Patriotic Front leader Sata, also 71. Two other candidates are also running.After casting his vote in the capital Lusaka, the populist Sata accused the police and army of working with the Zambia Electoral Commission (ZEC) to rig the elections in Banda's favour. The ZEC has persistently rejected allegations by Sata of plans to rig the vote. Sata also said threats by army commander Isaac Chisuzi this week to deal harshly with people inciting violence were aimed at intimidating voters. Early voter turnout was sluggish in much of the country but the pace picked up during the day. An outdated voters roll of only 3.9 million voters for a population of around 11.7 million people was blamed for low voting levels in some areas. An electoral officer in the Copperbelt town of Kitwe said some voters there were turned away because they did not have the proper ID or their name was not on the voters roll. The number of such disenfranchised voters was not known. Police were deployed at all polling stations amid fears of a repeat of the violence that gripped the last presidential election in 2006. Sata's initial refusal that year to accept defeat at the hands of Mwanawasa sparked days of rioting that ended only when the army was deployed. Buoyed by two pre-election opinion polls showing him winning, Sata has threatened to again reject the outcome of the election if he suspects vote rigging. Nicknamed King Cobra for his attacking political style, Banda has attracted large crowds at his rallies with his promises to cut taxes and give Zambians a greater stake in mining companies and parastatals. At a school in the low-income Garden Compound district of Lusaka, where Sata is popular, a timber trader who had just voted for Sata, said the country needed change after almost 17 years under the MMD. "It is like Zambia has been turned into a one-party state and democracy no longer prevails," Chisomo Tembo told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa. Banda has campaigned on a theme of continuity with Mwanawasa's prudent economic policies, which won over foreign investors, particularly Chinese investors in mining, and Western donors who forgave Zambia millions of dollars in debt. The economy has weighed heavily on the election. Copper prices are plummeting as slower global growth depresses demand for commodities. While posting strong growth in recent years, Zambia is still ranked among the poorest countries in the world, where about 65 per cent of its people live on less than a dollar a day. ECZ spokesman Chris Akufuna said counting would begin directly after voting ended at 6 pm (1600 GMT). The ECZ has said the first results could be in by Friday.

Zambia’s Opposition Leader Michael Sata Claims Gays Already Have Legal Protections. They Don’t!

By Max Simon

Bishop Peter Ndhlovu, of Zambia’s Bible Gospel Church in Africa, is doing god’s work: Through a network of prayer sessions around the country he’s encouraging the devout not to vote for lawmakers that support gay rights. “The church is coming together to hold powerful prayers and public meetings to educate people on the dangers of voting for leaders advocating gay rights. It is cross-denominational,” he says. His main enemy: The Patriotic Front, the opposition political party, and its president Michael Sata, who claimed to Danish media that existing Zambian laws protect gays. While an admirable argument to make, the only laws we could find, in the Penal Code’s Section 155, are those criminalizing gay sex. And religious leaders and the political incumbents fighting to keep their jobs are now using Sata’s position on the gays to paint him as an out-of-touch outsider heading into this year’s elections.

Down Memory Lane: SATA'S BEHAVIOUR PROVOKES OUTRAGE

THE WEEKLY POST NO. 115 SEPTEMBER 17 - 23, 1993.

Cabinet Minister insulted airline officials and passengers on London Flight

When Michael Sata, Minister of Labour in the cabinet arrived in London on British Airways flight 052 from Lusaka last Friday, he left behind him a wake of angry passengers and airline officials in both Lusaka Harare and on the plane itself.

There was widespread outrage at the minister’s unruly behaviour at the airport on Thursday on the flight to London.  A team of the airline’s customer Relations Officials apologised to first class passengers on arrival to London.

Sata is reported to have pushed a British Airways hostess, shouted racial slurs at another employee and insulted dozens of white passengers on the plane, according to eyewitnesses.

His behaviour, initially reported in the Sunday Times of Zambia which did not name the minister, was variously described by eyewitnesses as “disgusting”, “embarrassing”, “disgraceful” and unbecoming of a Cabinet minister”.

He was apparently angry that he had not been given the seat he wanted and was booked on seat no. 4K by travel agents Stamul Travel and tours.  He told an airline official: “ In Britain ministers choose their own seats.  I don’t see why I should not choose my own seat here.”  Sata was reported to have said.

When he was told there were no seats for him to easily change, the minister accused local airline officials of favouring Zimbabwean passengers, even though the airline claimed fourteen first class seats were reserved for Zambian travellers and only four for Zimbabweans.

Eyewitnesses said Sata told Nikki Roberts, a coloured employee of British Airways based in Lusaka: “ Your problem young lady, is you think you are closer to the British (Whites) than I am.  But your grandmother will not even see this money which British Airways are making.”

Sata said he should be taken off the flight if the right seat was not found for him.  When the airline official asked whether he really wanted to be taken off the flight he reported:  “ Do you know who you are talking to?”  And addressing the crowd around him, he added:  “That coloured girl has no respect.  Does she know who she is speaking to?’

Carrying two bags himself, Sata barged on to the plane nearly knocking over the air hostess who intended to welcome him aboard the flight.

“Does he think he is minister of the world?” the hostess exclaimed.

He threw his bags on the seat that was not reserved for him and refused to move out.  He took off his jacket and threw it in the face of the air hostess who had politely asked if she could take his jacket.

“I know Mr. Sata is a bit vocal but I have never seen him like that before.  He has travelled on British Airways previously and nothing happened.  He really surprised us.  This time he went too far,” an official said.

The Captain threatened to throw Sata off the aircraft, but apparently decided not to because of the delay it would have caused. Sata was also reminded that once on the plane he was subject to British Law.

In Harare Sata’s performance continued.  He not only refused to leave the seat he had earlier occupied but further asked a couple to vacate their seats for him.  When they refused, he demanded to see their marriage certificate for him “to believe they were married”  A report telexed from Harare revealed that British Airways staff there were totally embarrassed.

Allan Solloway of British Airways in London confirmed in a telephone interview that there was an “incident” involving Sata.  He declined to provide details.  “we are not prepared to give details of the incident but we have drawn it to the attention of the British High Commission,” he said.

He dispelled speculation that British Airways would take legal action against Sata.  “we are not contemplating legal action,” he said, adding that the presence of customer relations staff at the airport in London was normal.  “They are there to handle any complaints passengers may have.

A senior airline official in Lusaka confirmed that a report of the incident was on Monday handed to the High Commission, but emphasised that the airline did not want to draw into the matter because it was “political.”

“We don’t discriminate, especially for the first class passengers because people can reserve a seat months in advance.  This cannot be changed, not even because one is a minister.”

Tim Andrews, Information Secretary at the High Commission, said:  “we have received a report from British Airways about an incident at the airport-we await a decision from British Airways head office on whether or not they wish to make a formal complaint.”

PF HAS LOST NORTH STRONGHOLD

By SUFZ Staff

Former Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary- General Charles Chimumbwa has said former party has lost popularity in its one time stronghold, the Northern Province.

Mr. Chimumbwa who recently visited the province said he met most of the chiefs in the area who openly declared their support for President Rupiah Banda on account of the developmental projects he is implementing countrywide.

“I met almost all the chiefs and sub-chiefs in Lupososhi, Lubansenshi and Luwingu and what I discovered on the ground is the opposite of what people think.  The chiefs I spoke with gave me a proverb which states that a bird in hand is better than one in a bush.  They said that this country already has a President in Mr. Rupiah Banda so why should they go fishing around?” he said.

“They said they wanted roads President Banda is working on them, fertiliser and the government is giving free farming inputs.  They said they do not need any other person because President Banda has proved to be a president for all Zambians, “Mr. Chimumbwa said.

He said he went around schools and markets and discovered that the situation in the province had changed in favour of the ruling MMD.

“The people of Lubansenshi said they made a mistake in 2006 to vote for the opposition PF.  They said they were voting for a party without regard of the calibre of the candidate for Member of Parliament (MP).  They have since realised that an MP from the opposition cannot bring development to the area.  I found the area to be fertile for the MMD, “he said.

He also visited Lunte Constituency where he said people were ready to vote for president Rupiah Banda and the Ruling MMD.

“The people I interviewed told me that the MMD is very popular now in the area because people now understand what President Banda stands for.  People in the Province now understand that they were being cheated by PF leader Michael Sata and his MPs who promised to implement development in 90 days, “he said.

“Let them continue making noise that they have their strongholds in Lusaka, Copperbelt, what they don’t know is that things have changed.  I visited this province to see what chances President Banda and the MMD have in the so called PF strongholds.  I can assure people that come election date, PF will come out crying,” he said.

He said Lubansenshi had a PF MPs who had done nothing for the people in that area.

Mr. Chimumbwa however said government had put up a High School in Lupososhi and had worked on the road from Luwingu to Nsombo and that the road into Lubansenshi had also been done.

He said that there was a programme to electrify Shimumbi School which the PF MP did not follow up.

He also disclosed that there were 27 schools in Lubanseshi  and farmers had formed co-operatives to enable them access the farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).

In the telecommunication Sector, Mr. Chimumbwa said four towers had been erected in Lubanseshi and three in Lupososhi, to enable the areas to be covered in terms of the telephone networks.

“President Banda should not worry about Northern Province, there are a few pockets of the opposition but predominantly, he is popular and will win genuinely because of what he has done,” he said.  Some of the chiefs that have endorsed President Banda include Chiefs Chabula and Mutondo of Lupososhi, and Chiefs Tungati, Mucheleka, Chipalo and Ndoki, all of Lubasenshi.