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Expectations are said to be high as coach Dan Kabwe starts his reign at Malawean Super League side Silver Strikers.
Kabwe late last month replaced Malawi legend Young Chimodzi as head coach of Silver on a two year deal.
The former Power Dynamos and Lusaka Dynamos coach is already in Malawi and took charge of his first training session last Tuesday.
Kabwe has a month in which to prepare Silver for the 2020 season that is commencing in March.
‘When you arrive in a strange place and rains fall, it shows signs of blessings,’ Kabwe told the club media in the interview conducted on a rainy day.
‘On targets, we are doing the target with management. You have to link the target with the vision of the sponsors,’ added the ex-Chipolopolo technical advisor.
The Bankers have won the league eight times with the last crown coming in 2014.
Malawean football journalist Peter Kanjere said:’ Expectations are high. It is for the first time that the Reserve Bank of Malawi, which sponsors Silver Striker have hired an expatriate coach.’
‘If he gets his acts right maybe he can be a success. Silver Strikers wins cups here and there but the challenge is that the team has not won the league for some time,’ Kanjere said.
Kabwe was club-less after leaving FAZ Super Division side Lusaka Dynamos over a year ago.
FAZ National Division One side Prison Leopards have reversed the dismissal of head Coach Mwenya Chipepo after an outcry from club supporters.
Prison earlier this week fired Chipepo together with his assistants Mulife Sitali and William Chinyama before replacing him with Willie Chalwe.
Club spokesperson Brian Mooya has confirmed Chipepo’s reinstatement together with his assistants while Chalwe has been made technical director.
Prisons have since pulled down the statement and pictures that announced Chipepo’s overturned dismissal from the club’s official Facebook page.
‘Contrary to what was reported on 4th February 2020, we wish to inform the general public that no changes have been made to the club’s Technical Bench and that except for the inclusion of former head coach Frank Miti to the bench, Mwenya Chipepo remains head coach,’ Mooya said.
‘This decision was arrived at after a meeting by Prison Leopards Executive Committee held at Correctional Service Headquarters in Kabwe on 5th February 2020, and further consultations with other stakeholders.’
‘During the same meeting, the Committee also decided to form a technical team and appointed Willie Chalwe as technical director. Other members of the technical team are Billy Petamoya and Rodwell Yoramu Snr,’ he said.
Promotion contenders Prison are fourth on the table with 35 points, seven behind leaders Kitwe United, after 20 matches played.
Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya says the six months extension given to UZI Mobile, Zambia’s fourth mobile operator to set up will not be extended again.
Mr Kafwaya says UZI has been given up to May 2020 to actualize their investment after they asked for another extension to set up in Zambia.
He said the government will have no choice but to find another investor should UZI fail to set up their investment in Zambia by May.
“We have given them the extension but it’s not us to give them the money to set up. All we are doing is provide a conducive environment for them to operate”, said Mr Kafwaya.
Mr Kafwaya said the six months extension is final and no other extension will be given.
Brian Mushimba, the then Transport and Communications Minister in March 2018 announced UZZI Mobile had finally been given a license after meeting the requirements from ZICTA.
UZZI committed about US$400 million investment to set up a new network across the country which would also come with 400 direct jobs at various levels.
Mr Mushimba said government was excited that a new mobile service provider would join the already existing three in the country namely Samuel, Airtel and MTN.
The fourth mobile service provider in Zambia comes as a response to outcries by local service end-users over the inept services received from the existing companies, Airtel, MTN and state-owned Zamtel.
In 2017, UZI Zambia won the licence to enter the local market after the telecommunications regulator, the Zambia Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ZICTA) floated a public tender.
According to economic experts, the UZI Zambia investment would contribute to the growth and development of the telecommunications sector in the country through the implementation of the latest LTE technology to provide reliable and high-quality products and services through a national 4G network, and investment in 5G network in the near future.
“UZI Zambia Mobile will create new jobs and opportunities in Zambia and will focus on the training and development of all its employees as well as building its relationships with the local communities through its social responsibility programmes,” John Kasanga, an independent trade and economic consultant said.
Isabel Dos Santos
According to reports, former Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos’ daughter, Isabel, Africa’s richest woman, is believed to own a stake in UZI Zambia. According to commentators, Unitel International Holdings BV, in which Dos Santos owns a 25% stake, had initially pledged to invest more than US$500 million through a local unit to be called UZI Zambia Mobile Limited instead of the proposed US$400 million.
The investment would, however, be increased based on the expansion of the business in the country, given the increasing interest in mobile communication services including money transfer services being maximised by the three service providers.
Last year, an Angolan court placed a freezing order on the Angolan assets of Isabel Dos Santos, her husband Sindika Dokolo, and one of her executives, Mario da Silva, accusing the three of engaging in transactions with state-owned companies that led to the government incurring losses of $1.14 billion.
“Freezing my accounts prevents me from being able to manage and recapitalize my companies,” Dos Santos, who has been living outside Angola since 2018, said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. “As such, they have all but been sentenced to death.”
Ms SAntos amassed a fortune during her father’s almost four-decade rule and has an estimated net worth of about $2 billion, Bloomberg data shows. In Angola, her business empire includes stakes in Angola’s biggest mobile telecommunications company Unitel, two of the country’s biggest private lenders, Banco de Fomento Angola and Banco BIC, a supermarket chain, a beer factory and a cable company.
This year the BBC run a documentary that showed leaked documents revealing how Isabel dos Santos made her fortune through what was described as exploiting her own country, and corruption by getting access to lucrative deals involving land, oil, diamonds and telecoms when her father was president of Angola, a country rich in natural resources. The documents showed how she and her husband were allowed to buy valuable state assets in a series of suspicious deals.
However, Ms. Dos Santos said that the allegations against her are entirely false and that there is a politically motivated witch-hunt by the Angolan government.
It is not clear whether the delay in launching UZI in Zambia is a result of the troubles that Isabel dos Santos is going through.
The Brazilian Bioenergy, Ethanol and Sugarcane Association has pledged to support Zambia with technological advancements in its quest to develop the Biofuel Industry.
Association President Mario Campos said his association is pleased with the interest shown by Zambia in seeking for solutions to diversify into clean energy which improves human well-being and overall welfare beyond the Gross Domestic Product.
Speaking In Brasilia when he paid a courtesy call to the Zambian Embassy, Mr Campos commended Zambia for its persistence in a bid to diversify into bio fuel and clean energy supply and reducing dependence on imported fuels.
And Mr Campos said the Biofuel Seminar scheduled for the first quarter of 2020 in Lusaka, shows consistency from Zambia with plans in setting up a biofuel Industry in the near future.
Mr Campos said that many countries in Latin America have embraced the technological processes of producing ethanol which has proved to be cheaper than other sources of energy.
He said world over, countries are seeking options of biofuel as alternatives to fossil fuels which is very expensive to generate.
Mr Campos said high oil prices have proved to be militating against economic growth globally.
And Zambia’s Ambassador to Brazil Dr Alfreda Kansembe Mwamba reiterated Zambia’s Commitment to promoting green energy that is cheaper to produce than fossil fuel.
She told Mr Campos, the President of Bioenergy, Ethanol and Sugarcane Association, to encourage more of its members to attend the Biofuel meetings in Zambia so that they can show case their products and technology.
This is according to a statement issued by Grace Makowane, First Secretary Press and Public Relations at the Zambian Embassy in Brazil.
The Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance and its partners have recommended that government should increase coverage of the Public Welfare Assistance Scheme (PWAS) to address challenges of food insecurity in Zambia.
The CSO-SUN, SPOON and the Catholic Medical Mission Board have also recommended that the Women Empowerment programmes and Social protection programmes should respond to shock like food insecurity and disasters to ensure that social protection programmes are well funded.
Making a presentation to the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Community Development and Social Services on the Social protection programmes including Public Welfare Assistance Scheme and Women Empowerment, the Organisations noted that poor Funding to the Social protection programmes has in the last three years seen a decrease in financing which has affected implementation.
“Despite recommendations by Community Welfare Assistance Committees (CWACS) to enroll vulnerable people identified, district officers have a limit to how many people they can admit to the programme”, says Mathews Mhuru, the Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance Country Coordinator.
Mr Mhuru said the programme has failed to provide guidance to partners on what support certain communities need and that to some extent, livelihood and empowerment programmes have been politicised.
He said good nutrition is the fundamental part of ensuring the needs and rights of vulnerable children are met adding that poor nutrition in early childhood can cause irreversible delays, and approximately 45% of all child deaths are related to malnutrition.
And Ms Esther Ngulube, a representative of the Catholic Medical Mission Board says vulnerable children, including children with disabilities and those without family care, are particularly at risk for child malnutrition.
Ms Ngulube said it is estimated that children with disabilities are three times as likely to be malnourished as children without disabilities, and twice as likely to die from malnutrition during childhood.
“Approximately 80% of children with disabilities have feeding difficulties, such as difficultly chewing or swallowing, which can be overcome with individual feeding support. Children without family care often lose access to the nutrition they need and to the interactions with caretakers that are critical for children’s brains to develop”, she said.
Ms Ngulube recommended that the Committee should improve availability of data on nutritional status of vulnerable children by ensuring that children with disabilities and children without family care are included in national surveillance mechanisms, and that disaggregated data is available on nutrition outcomes for these populations.
She told the Committee that this must include nutrition support for vulnerable children in relevant strategies and developing specific targets for numbers of children with disabilities and children without family care receiving nutritional support with appropriate monitoring and reporting to assess progress.
The Non Governmental Organisations, Spoon and the Catholic Medical Mission Board are partners on the safety feeding and nutrition practices project in Zambia. SPOON is a member of the CSO-SUN.
The People’s Alliance for Change has accused politicians of taking advantage of people’s ignorance to propagate tribalism for political mileage.
Party President Andyford Banda says some politicians have run out of messages and are now targeting rural areas where they are using tribalism as a tool to de-campaign their opponents and win the voters support.
Mr Banda says the sentiments attributed to Patriotic Front Mobilisation Committee Member Bizwell Mutale in a video that has gone viral on Social media where he is quoted saying Zambia is not ready for a Tonga President is retrogressive and should be condemned in the strongest terms.
He said such sentiments have potential to cause chaos in the country and if not well managed, this kind of politics will cause more divisions among Zambians especially the future generation.
Mr Banda said it is sad that politicians have continued to divide the nation on tribal grounds ignoring the efforts that were made by First Republican President Dr. Kenneth Kaunda to unite the nation under the “One Zambia, One Nation Motto”.
He has proposed that tribalism should be criminalised in Zambia to discourage politicians from preaching hatred among Zambians.
Mr Banda said when PAC forms Government in 2021, criminalising tribalism will be one of the things that will be prioritised in the quest to unite the nation that has been divided by those in power with the help of few opposition members.
Football Administrator Simaata Simaata has been fired as Secretary General of the opposition National Restoration Party.
Mr Simaata has been fired barely a month after he was appointed to the position.
It is reported that Mr Simaata has been fired because of his bad attitude which made it difficult to work with other party officials.
Mr Simaata is also reported to have created a hostile environment where he was not willing to meeting and discuss party matters with other people.
And Party spokesperson Ezra Ngulube confirmed the development and said Mr Simaata has been fired for failure to deliver.
Mr Ngulube said Mr Simaata was given targets to meet in the shortest possible time which he has failed to do.
The National Restoration Party on 20 January 2020 appointed Former City of Lusaka Football Club General Manager, Simataa Simataa as Party Secretary General.
Mr. Simataa took over the position from Ezra Ngulube who was then moved and appointed as new Deputy National Chairperson.
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) has exposed the shaky position by the United Party for National Development (UPND) who have objected to printing ballot papers, both in and outside Zambia.
YALI President Andrew Ntewewe who said his organisation considers the decision by Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to print ballot papers in Dubai as reasonable as Government Printers has not yet fully developed the capacity to print ballot papers, said Mr, Hichilema is on record to have opposed the printing of ballot papers locally.
“We are alive to fact that since 2017, President Lungu’s administration has constantly championed that Government Printers should be capacitated to enable it print the 2021 ballot papers. On the other hand, the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, on Wednesday, 22nd February, 2018, said the UPND opposes the decision to print ballot papers locally, claiming doing so would be a scheme by the Patriotic Front to steal votes.”
Mr Ntewewe charged that Mr. Hichilema is not showing any consistency on where they want 2021 ballot papers to be printed as the main opposition party neither want the voting materials printed outside Zambia or locally. He wondered where else outside the earth would ballot papers be printed to the satisfaction of the UPND.
In 2018, Mr. Hichilema had responded to the announcement in Parliament by Republican Vice President Inonge Wina that Government was working on measures to print 2021 ballot papers locally as a ploy by the Patriotic Front to rig elections and manipulate the next election.
Meanwhile, YALI said Zambians must support the decision by ECZ to halt the practice of spending colossal sums of money transporting observers to destinations where ballot papers are printed, saying the Commission must make the most of the little resources allocated towards preparing and management of the 2021 elections.
“We have noted that ECZ plans to overhaul the voters register by beginning registration in May, 2020 although we are not sure whether the available costs would meet this ambitious programs. Secondly, there have been constant reports that observers who go to monitor the printing of ballot papers don’t have a 24/7 physical presence at a printing facility but spending most of their time in hotel rooms or doing some other errands,” said Mr. Ntewewe.
YALI has encouraged parties who want to go observe the printing of ballot to take up the costs and advised ECZ to help these parties with administrative arrangements for such party-sponsored observers.
Economics Association of Zambia President Lubinda Habaazoka has predicated that Zambia’s economic situation is expected to improve in 2020.
Dr. Habaazoka said this is especially so due to favorable rainfall patterns and the expected normalization of water levels needed for electricity generation in Zambia.
He said the new hydroelectric power plants that are expected to be added to the grid this year will definitely reduce pressure in the energy sector.
Dr. Habaazoka said it is expected that the kwacha might still be under pressure threatening levels of inflation.
He said metal prices are expected to increase triggering increased interest in the mining sector by investors.
“It is advised that citizens take a keen interest in engaging in artisanal mining to ensure that wealth remains in Zambia and benefits the Zambia people. It is important to note that participants have adjusted their economic behavior given the current economic situation both domestically and globally. This means the wait and see approach will be abandoned in favor of the business must begin approach,” Dr Habaazoka stated.
“With a gold value chain coming up well, we expect full implementation by ZCCM IH and Bank of Zambia to boast lender morale. It is expected that KCM will finally be moved to more independent managers.”
He added, “Looking at increased interest for Zambia especially from non-traditional trading partners, it is expected a proper debt amortization plan will organically fall in ensuring that Zambia continues meeting its obligations as the fall due.”
Dr Habaazoka also expects that Zambia will face ideological pressures that will need a strong national sense of belonging to overcome.
“Overall, with a boom in the electrical car industry, improvements in the USA economy, expected increased raw material consumption appetite and Brexit, major global economic players will have their eyes on Africa and Zambia has a comparative advantage with only Rwanda posing competition. Very important to note that whilst other market participants might have a pessimistic approach, Asian and Middle East players remain bullish for Zambia.”
Zambia Revenue Authority Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda has said tax authorities in Africa need to collaborate and share information to ease the identification of tax evasion attempts.
He said at the on-going Africa Mining Indaba on Tuesday that ZRA is also facing challenges with auditing some companies as some put records in a foreign language.
“In our country, we even have another challenge where a certain part of our business community even keeps records in different languages. I won’t mention here, where when you go to the audit, you find that the records are just some characters. So that, apart from just the technology itself, even the way taxpayers keep their records, if it’s not standardized, it becomes a serious problem but one way of standardizing that we have done in our country is to legislate the kind of accounting packages that you should have for tax purposes,” Mr. Chanda said.
He said tax authorities in most African countries do not have reliable ICT systems.
“So auditing mining companies or ascertaining their profitability becomes a challenge and that is why you have seen countries in Africa moving towards simpler tax systems like focusing on mineral royalty taxes which are based on production. We have had countries like even ours where we have even made mineral royalty tax non-deductible so that when its paid, it is the final tax. But more crucially it’s for tax authorities and their governments to invest a lot in ICT systems for tax authorities because that’s the only way we are going to be able to deal with some of these challenges,” Mr. Chanda said.
Zambia’s renowned UK based Professor Clive Chirwa has announced that a vehicle assembly plant will soon be launched in Kapiri Mposhi, Central Province.
Speaking during the unveiling of new bus design, Prof Chirwa said the vehicle assembly plant will create about 1, 000 jobs once operational.
Prof Chirwa has designed and manufactured a high roof monocoque bus according to the Provisions of Statutory Instrument (SI) No 79 of 2016.
This is the first-ever AUVIV bus to be manufactured according to the Zambian laws.
“The reality is that this company is a global company manufacturing for the entire world. Zambia is one of the countries according to the company’s strategic plan where an assembly plant is earmarked. This will be in Kapiri Mposhi. This is where vehicle assemblies will be done from. There might be assemblies of perhaps not the entire vehicle but assemblies of AV electrical vehicle parts,” Prof Chirwa said.
He said according to the company’s strategic plan, the vehicle assembly plant is expected to begin operations in 2022.
“We are a private company, entirely a private company, therefore, we don’t need anything from the government. But if there is any tax incentives and they will not be asking for it…that would be appreciated,” he said.
Prof Chirwa said the vehicle was specifically designed to take care of the local policies.
He said the AUVIV bus was expected to be a 21st Century leading brand like Ford in the 19th Century and the Toyota in 20th Century.
Prof Chirwa said the vehicle parts that will be manufactured in Zambia will be supplied across the globe.
“Manufacturing today is simpler as everything is done by specialist industries. Every single manufacturing company today is an assembly plant. It’s much simpler today to have an assembly plant. AUVIV is coming to Zambia today as a diesel and petrol engine simply because there is no infrastructure for charging points. If we had them, we would have brought electrical vehicles…so they are taking the electrical vehicle to Europe,” Prof Chirwa said.
The launch of the vehicle took place at the Government Complex in Lusaka and was attended by Works and Supply Minister Slyvia Chalikosa and Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa other government and related industry officials.
And Kapiri Member of Parliament Stanley Kakubo described the development as good news.
“The good news today is that Kapiri Mposhi will be home to our country’s motor vehicle assembly plant.
Mr. Kakubo said AUVIV will be producing environmentally cleaner, safer, more comfortable and yet more affordable commercial vehicles like minibusses, panel vans including ambulances and refrigerated vans.
“I have to say that the AUVIV could not have come at a better time for us in Kapiri Mposhi. The plant will bring opportunities for our people especially our Youths. We are looking forward to skills training via the jobs that will come, the value chain for supplies of consumables, we also see an opportunity for small businesses opening to make bolts and nuts and other parts that will be needed,” Mr. Kakubo said.
Kapiri Mposhi Member of Parliament Stanley Kakubo with Prof Chirwa at the launch of the City Cruiser Bus in Lusaka
The enmity between Vedanta Resources and the Zambian government shows no signs of easing after Mines Minister Richard Musukwa, labelled the country’s mining sector a victim of criminal activity.
“Zambia is a victim and it needs support,” said Mr. Musukwa in a speech to delegates at the Investing in African Mining conference in Cape Town on February 5.
“We deserve African and international support to make sure Vedanta pays the price.”
Mr. Musukwa was referring to a dispute with Vedanta dating from May last year in which the state-owned copper company, ZCCM-IH, sought the liquidation of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM). ZCCM-IH has a 20% stake in KCM, which has productive capacity of about 100,000 tons of copper. Vedanta is the majority shareholder in KCM with an 80% stake.
ZCCM-IH argued at the time of starting liquidation proceedings that Vedanta had failed to deliver on its investment promises – a theme Musukwa ran with at the conference. He told delegates: “Investors must follow their [Vedanta’s] commitments.
“Vedanta Resources pledged $398m in a project and did not bring that. It pledged another $500m – it did not bring that. It pledged another $250m – they did not bring that money,” he said.
In an earlier interview with Miningmx, Vedanta CEO, Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, said the attempt to wind-up KCM was tantamount to theft.
“It is a classic example of a hijacking,” he said.
“We woke up one fine day to find ZCCM-IH had applied ex-parte to wind up the company,” he said.
In Vedanta’s view, ZCCM-IH ought to have aired its complaints in terms of KCM’s shareholders’ agreement which allows for grievances and dispute resolution – a view supported by South Africa’s High Court which last year ordered ZCCM-IH to desist its winding-up order.
There have been attempts to resolve the dispute.
In September, President Edgar Lungu, agreed to negotiate with Vedanta following a meeting with the Indian firm’s executive chairman, Anil Agarwal.
However, the negotiations lost almost immediate momentum.
Since then, there have been reports that the Zambian government has been seeking to sell off parts of KCM, a development Vedanta has so far been able to foil.
It said in a recent statement that any third party attempting to buy KCM assets from the Zambian government could be breaking the law.
Undeterred, Mr. Musukwa today also criticised Vedanta’s track-record for poor governance at the Chingola facilities, one of KCM’s assets, that last produced copper in 2014.
KCM owed creditors and its failure to operate the mine was “criminality” as the company was locking up resources that other investors could exploit.
“Zambia is open for business and is ready to welcome well-meaning investors who follow the rule of law,” said Mr. Musukwa.
“Serious investors have no cause to worry.”
His comments were met with applause.
Venkatakrishnan argues that Zambia had made it difficult to operate profitably in the country prior to ZCCM-IH issuing a winding up order.
It had imposed new fiscal changes that helped dry up cash flow whilst a 300% increase in power tariffs further hurt KCM’s ability to fund itself.
“Vedanta has continued to bankroll KCM through all of this: some $500m has been invested in the mine until May last year when we were last in control.
It’s like being evicted from your house; you can’t even go into your house and visit it,” he said.
A crushing blow for KCM has been the government’s refusal to refund VAT that Venkatakrishnan calculated could be north of $160m.
“At some stage, a dialogue will take place,” said Venkatakrishnan.
“We are speculating, but it has to happen. There is a cash crunch coming which makes us hopeful,” he said of Zambia’s increasing inability to fund KCM.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has directed Copperstone University to with immediate effect, cease offering 9 Programmes in Engineering.
This cessation is in accordance with the provisions of Statutory Instrument No. 25 of 2016 Part III Section 10 (1), which states that the proprietor of a Higher Education Institution shall not offer a Learning Programme for which it is not accredited.
Authority Corporate Communications Officer Boniface Musoba said in Lusaka that following a joint inspection with the Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ) on Friday, 31st January, 2020, HEA concluded that Copperstone University should cease to offer the Engineering Programmes until such a time that they are accredited by the Authority.
“Consequently, the Authority is urging all students at Copperstone University that were enrolled in the aforementioned Learning Programmes to enrol at alternative Higher Education Institutions that have those Learning Programmes accredited”, Mr Musoba said.
And Mr Musoba has urged all Higher Education Institutions to submit Learning Programmes for accreditation to avoid facing the same consequences.
He further explained that in accordance with the provisions of the Statutory Instrument No. 25 of 2016 Part III Section 15, the Authority shall, by 31st March, 2020, publish in the Gazette and a daily newspaper of general circulation, all the Learning Programmes it has accredited in all Higher Education Institutions in Zambia.
The Learning programmes in Engineering that Copperstone University has been directed to stop offering are Bachelor of Building & Construction, Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, Bachelor of Electronics Engineering and Bachelor of Mining Engineering.
Others are Diploma in Auto-Mechanics, Diploma in Electronics Engineering, Diploma in Mining Engineering, Diploma in Motor Vehicle Engineering and Certificate in Mining Engineering.
Football legend Kalunga Bwalya has today successfully filed in his nomination for the FAZ presidency.
FAZ will hold its Elective General Meeting on March 28, 2020 to elect new office bearers.
“My entire life I have dedicated to football and feel that I still have a lot more to offer the game. I have presided over many committees and organizations both in football and outside of football and gained even more experience,” Kalusha said.
Therefore I have decided to throw my hat back in the ring for FAZ presidency. In the game of football you need to be prepared to win and to lose,” he said.
“I believe it’s worth a try to come and help Mother Zambia reclaim its former footballing glory.”
Kalusha Bwalya briefs Journalists at Football House after filing in his nomination papers
In 2018, the World soccer governing body FIFA Kalusha Bwalya for two years from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level.
The FIFA adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee banned Kalusha, a member of the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the time, for two years after concluding its investigations.
“The investigation against Mr. Bwalya was opened on 28 February 2017, and focused principally on benefits that Mr. Bwalya had received from Mr. Bin Hammam,” a statement from FIFA read.
The adjudicatory chamber found Mr Bwalya guilty of having violated art. 16 (Confidentiality) and art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) of the FIFA Code of Ethics. A fine in the amount of CHF 100,000 was also imposed on Mr. Bwalya.
In early 2019, after protesting and appealing the ban, the FIFA Appeal Committee partially upheld the appeal lodged by Kalusha Bwalya and reduced the sanction previously imposed by the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee in its decision dated 12 April 2018.
After analyzing and taking into consideration all the circumstances of the case, the FIFA Appeal Committee decided to reduce the duration of the ban from taking part in any football-related activity imposed on Mr. Bwalya to the period already served at the time of the notification of the present decision.
As a consequence, the ban imposed on Mr Bwalya ended upon notification of the decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee and the fine was reduced to CHF 10,000.
The Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment Wednesday, marking the inevitable and historic end to a bitterly fought, divisive impeachment trial that will reverberate into the 2020 election and shape Trump’s presidential legacy.
But the final day of the Senate’s impeachment trial was not without suspense: Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, found the President guilty of abuse of power, becoming the first senator in US history to vote to remove from office a president from the same party.
The third Senate impeachment trial of a sitting president in US history concluded Wednesday afternoon with votes finding the President not guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the impeachment articles the House charged Trump with in December. Romney was the sole Republican to vote to convict the President on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, joining with all Senate Democrats in a 52-48 not guilty vote. Romney voted with Republicans against the obstruction of Congress charge, which fell along straight party lines, 53-47 for acquittal.
Mitt Romney finally drew a line in the sand against Donald Trump
Utah Republican Mitt Romney announced that he will vote to convict President Donald Trump when the Senate votes in his impeachment trial, becoming the first Republican to break ranks with his party. Senate Television via AP
The easy thing for Mitt Romney to do would have been to side with the rest of his Republican colleagues and vote to acquit President Donald Trump on the two articles of impeachment against him.
Sure, it would have earned him the disapproval of liberals on Twitter. And a few op-eds might condemn him. But a vote to acquit would have minimal actual political consequences for Romney.
Which makes it all the more remarkable that Romney announced, in a stirring and emotional speech on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, that he would break with his party and vote to convict Trump on abuse of power — a genuinely stunning moment in a process in which the ultimate outcome (a Trump acquittal) has long been known.
Romney acknowledged that he was purposely choosing the harder path in choosing the way he did. As he put it:
“I am aware that there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced. I am sure to hear abuse from the President and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?”
