President Edgar Lungu has urged traditional leaders in Lumezi District in Eastern Province to continue working together, in order to achieve meaningful development in the area.

The President has also indicated that the government remains committed to addressing the hunger and drought situation in the area and other affected parts of the country.

President Lungu said this in Lumezi yesterday when he met the six traditional leaders in the district.

The Head of State noted that the government is encouraged and always ready to work with traditional leaders when they show dedication towards working together, in promoting development in their various chiefdoms.

He added that the government will continue working hard to ensure that the promises made to the people are delivered.

The Head of State stated that when chiefs are organized, it is easy for the government to come in and implement developmental projects that improve the livelihood of the people.

Meanwhile, President Lungu has called on the traditional leadership to continue advising and encouraging politicians, noting that they often differ on various issues at various times.

And representing the chiefs, Chief Kazembe thanked President Lungu and government for the developmental projects being implemented in the area.

Chief Kazembe said the road network has been worked on and that the network system has also been improved.

He indicated that because of such development, movements and communication have equally improved, due to the Zamtel towers that have been installed in the area.

Chief Kazembe also appreciated the government for having distributed relief food to the people in the area.

The traditional leader further thanked President Lungu for declaring Lumezi as a district and added that the traditional leadership has agreed that the district administration is situated in the valley.

Members of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy have said that they have appealed to the Court of Appeal and applied for a STAY because of the contradictions that characterised the November 5th Ruling that installed Nevers Mumba as party president of the former ruling party.

And the members of the former ruling party have expressed sadness at the happenings in the once might party as a result of greedy individuals whom they said want to use the party for personal benefits.

Speaking during a media breakfast engagement at Melsim Lodge in Lusaka Friday, Chishala Chilufya who spoke on behalf of the members said the judge contradicted herself by saying that Dr Mumba engaged in a number of illegalities when he presided as leader of the party while in the same breath reinstated him as president even when he himself had argued that his term was ending in 2017.

He said the members are going to the higher court because not only do they want justice for their party but to ensure that the party Constitution is respected as their party is governed by the said document.

“I am very happy that the party membership conducted themselves very mature on that particular day because if it was in other countries or other political parties which are not matured it could have created a very big chaos there.

“When you look on the judgement and I am inviting the Zambian people to look at the judgement, go on page 137 read through what the judge said, it was very clear that what Nevers Mumba was doing was totally illegal,” he said.

“We are appealing because we just want justice. We want our party Constitution to be respected.

“We have also made a very interesting observation, everytime we submit our papers before courts pastor Nevers Mumba comes out confident as if he already has the ruling. He says what we are doing is just a formality or an academic exercise, even when we were in the High Court he was busy boasting in churches everywhere that I know what will come out from the court.

And Chishala said founder members of the party were saddened with the happenings in the party.

He said the people who formed the party sacrificed a lot including braving the lethal UNIP leadership hence their discomfort with the continued wrangles in the party.

“We have people who are founder members who participated in forming the MMD, they are still alive, we have Akashabatwa, Teddy Mulonga, Mbita Chitala, Edith Nawakwi, to mention a few. Those people went to Garden House to come up with something that would help the Zambian people.

“It’s a very sad moment in the history of our political party today. It sad that a few individuals want to personalize the party. Individuals who were not even there when MMD was formed, they don’t even understand the party’s ideology yet they are trying to claim ownership of the party. People like Nevers Mumba were busy preaching the gospel but today he wants to start fighting for MMD and trying to kill all the ideologies.

“Some of the founder members are so saddened with the happenings in the party and I know at one time they will speak about the issues in the MMD because some of the people who sacrificed to form MMD are still living and it was not easy to challenge the one party participatory democracy,” he said.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority has with immediate effect suspended the broadcasting license for Lutanda Radio Station in Northern Province for 30 days after the station aired a story with the potential to promote hate speech.

IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma says the aired story had potential to put the peace and security of the nation at risk.

Ms Mapoma says the decision to suspend the license was arrived at today during the emergency IBA Board meeting.

Briefing the media this afternoon, Ms Mapoma says IBA found Radio Lutanda to have breached the airing of a programme deemed to promote tribalism and hate speech, failure to moderate a programme and failure to follow guidelines provided for a Religious Broadcasting Stations.

On 12th November, 2019 the Authority followed a breaking story that alleged that Lutanda radio in Kasama was promoting tribalism on air.

This prompted the Authority to investigate the matter further and obtained soundbites of the programme.

“After conducting its investigations and analysing the recordings, the Authority found the following breaches: I. Airing a program deemed to promote tribalism and hate speech. The guests together with the presenter of the program were mentioning individual names (Hakainde Hichilema) and a particular ethnic group (Tongas) by passing derogatory, demeaning and tribal remarks likely to result into disorder and disrupt the peace of the public,” Ms. Mapoma said.

“This was in breach of Section 33 of the Principal IBA Act of 2002 which stipulates that …… ‘’every licensed broadcasting service, shall develop a code of professional standards which shall have respect for human dignity and rights and freedoms, and contribution to the tolerance of different opinions and belief.”

Ms. Mapoma said, “In addition, the station was deemed to have breached the provision of the IBA Act which discourages programming that can threaten the public safety, security, peace, welfare or good order.”

“The Authority also found that the Station had violated Regulation No. 3.2.1 of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which states: material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder must not be included in broadcasting services.”

“Furthermore, the Station could not adhere to its own developed code of Practice/Ethical guidelines which state that ‘’every person is created in the image of God and as such, has value in his/her own right. In addition, the station discourages hate speech and encourages the promotion of the One Zambia One Nation motto. It also has a guideline on callers which prohibits any caller from using hate speech or bad language’’.

“II. Failure to the moderate a programme
The Authority found that the moderator appeared to be perpetuating the discussion based on tribe instead of curtailing the debate. III. Failure to follow guidelines provided for a Religious Broadcasting Station. The Station aired a political program which is not in line with the License category which is a violation of the provision of the IBA Act. The IBA ACT has stipulated the type of content expected to be broadcast by a Religious Radio Station.”

She said the suspension has been done under Section 29 (1) (J) of the IBA Amendment Act of 2010 which prescribes that the ‘’Board may cancel a broadcasting licence if the cancelation is necessary in the interest of peace and security, welfare or good order’’.

“In addition, it has also been done under Section 29 (1) (k) of the IBA Amendment Act of 2010 which provides that, ‘The Board may suspend a broadcasting licence if it considers it appropriate in the circumstances of the case to do so.”

She said Lutanda Radio may appeal against the decision of the IBA Board to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services within 30 days pursuant to section 31(1) of the IBA Amendment Act of 2010 which provides that ‘’a person who is aggrieved with the decision of the Board under this part may appeal to the Minister within 30 days’’.

“During the suspension, the Station is expected to engage qualified and professional staff, conduct in -house training on basic journalism ethics, programme moderation skills, script writing and ethical broadcasting.”

“The Authority wishes to appeal to all broadcast stations to be careful in the way they handle programmes. Broadcast stations must operate in accordance with the existing broadcasting regulations and guidelines. Further, the Authority also wishes to appeal to members of the public and guests of stations to be mindful of their speech on air, as not doing so may have serious consequences for broadcast stations.”