The Young African Leaders Initiative has labeled the Law Association of Zambia and the UPND as enemies’ of democracy and anarchists for refusing to support the Bill to amend the Constitution of Zambia.

YALI President Andrew Ntewewe says the Constitution of Zambia does not belong to LAZ alone but belongs to all Zambians who want to see this Bill thoroughly debated by their representatives in Parliament.

Mr Ntewewe said the only form of dialogue which has remained on the constitution reform process is Parliament and MPs are the only legitimate representatives of the people and not NGOs or Council of NGO who speak for their sponsors.

He alleged that for the UPND and NGOs who follow whatever position the UPND takes do not support the Constitution-making process not because they have seen bad provisions which they could have cleaned up later, but they do not support this process because it does not help Mr. Hichilema as an individual.

Mr Ntewewe said Mr. Hichilema cannot continue with his history of stopping his Members of Parliament from having an independent mind set at a crucial time like this one.

He has reminded Mr Hichilema that the Constitution of Zambia is bigger than him, his egoistic interests and his insatiable lust for power.

Speaking at a media briefing in Kasama today, Mr Ntewewe says what LAZ and UPND should have been doing is not necessarily worry whether parliament has powers to amend the Constitution but have failed to participate in coming up with a constitution that can stand the test of time.

He said YALI is not surprised that the UPND has chosen to boycott the process at all because, there is no time the UPND have supported such a process as long as it does not give Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, the man who has entrenched himself as life president of the UPND, an easy leeway to step into power.

The Patriotic Front in Lusaka Province says the Church must be ashamed for keeping quiet over the insults showered on President Edgar Lungu by National Democratic Congress President Chishimba Kambwili.

PF Lusaka Province Chairperson Paul Moonga says the Church should have been in the forefront to condemn the NDC Leader instead of keeping quiet on the matter.

Speaking at the PF Secretariat where the party members from Kanyama presented a petition to the Secretary General over Mr Kambwili’s dog remarks directed at President Edgar Lungu, Mr Moonga said the Church has failed on its mandate to promote peace in the country.

And PF Deputy Secretary General Mumbi Phiri who received the petition on behalf of Mr Mwila said Mr Kambwili’s bitterness should come to a stop.

She accused institutions of Governance of failing to protect the President and Zambians in General from the insults coming from the opposition political parties.

And presenting the petition on behalf of PF members from Kanyama, Constituency Chairman Chanda Chilufya said the PF will confide Mr Kambwili to his home and warned that he will be followed if he continues insulting.

Mr Chanda said Mr Kambwili’s insults have cause irreparable damage to President Edgar Lungu’s reputation both locally and internationally.

He appealed to the party Leadership to issue a directive to all party structures to protect President Edgar Lungu from insults coming from the opposition.

Meanwhile Member of the Central Committee Kebby Mbewe urged women to rise against Mr Kambwili’s insults on President Edgar Lungu.

Kanyama Constituency becomes the second to protest against Mr Kambwili’s dog remarks after Chawama Constituency in a series of protests that will take seven days.

The PF structures from all the seven constituencies will tomorrow match to the airport to show solidarity to President Lungu against insults from the opposition.

It is often said, and I have always emphasized, that freedom is never something that is freely given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed.

And when I have said on the record and on more than just one platform, that the rule of law in Zambia is broken; and further that the PF administration have created a class society of two different kinds of citizens and laws – one for themselves and those who wear their political colors, and another for the rest of us, Dr. Chishimba Kambwili’s unfortunate episode has more than provided the required clarity on my concerns.

The pictures herein more than demonstrate what I have always tried to explain.

When Laura Miti Pilato and Maiko Zulu wanted to galvanize free citizens for a peaceful protest against what has now become routine, rampant, government sponsored and institutional corruption, the police command under the very bad and questionable leadership of Hon. Stephen Kampyongo and his Ministry of Home Affairs, took close to a whole month trying to make up their dysfunctional minds, whether or not to grand the Human Rights Defenders lattitude to do so. After permission was granted, we were still surrounded and policed like DOGS by the police while we turned up to make our voice heard during the #YellowCard event.

And here now, merely less than 48 hours after Dr. Chishimba Kambwili of the NDC got himself entangled in language semantics that did not flow very well with the PARTE, we have a fully fledged protest authorized in every respect, for PF CADRES and their leaders to walk the streets of Lusaka making themselves heard on the issue.

To be fair, I admire their resolve. I truly do. Because these CADRES understand one thing: in a police state, nothing is given. And you do not ask for it. Go out and get it done.

The police, under the leadership of Mr. Kakoma Kanganja while working under very difficult conditions, are an absolute disgrace. They have, without any amount of shame, carved themselves a demonstrably partisan niche where they only exist to frustrate, suppress and oppress the voices of those who are OPPOSED to the party in power.

Zambians must resist this systematic institutional stupidity of the Zambia Police and retake our constitutional rights and freedoms to free assembly and speech without having to beg for them.

A Zambia in which fundamental Constitutional rights to free assembly and speech are only guaranteed for a few, does not deserve to exist. This is not the country our forefathers died for.

We have to take our country back.

By Anthony Bwalya
UPND Member and Aspiring Candidate for Kabushi

National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Chishimba Kambwili has pleaded not guilty to one count of defaming President Edgar Lungu.

This is contrary to section 69 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the laws of Zambia.

Kambwili pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Magistrate Lameck Mwale.

Meanwhile, Magistrate Mwale has granted Kambwili a K50, 000 bail in his own recognizance with two working sureties.

Lawyers Christopher Mundia, Gilbert Phiri, Keith Mwemba and Clement Andeleki are representing Kambwili in this matter.

Kambwili has been in police custody since Wednesday.

The matter will come up for mention on September 13, next month and trial in this matter has been set for September 30, 2019.

Kambwili’s other case involving Mwamona Engineering has also been adjourned to September 6, 2019 for continued trial.The magistrate handling this case is Mwaka Mikalile. This is the case where his company was allegedly paid US $566,579.75 by a Chinese company in a transaction over which he has been charged with abuse of authority of office, forgery, uttering a false document, obtaining pecuniary advantage, and possession of huge amounts of money suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Scores of NDC members led by NDC Vice president Joseph’s Akafumba were on hand to give solidarity to the NDC leader.

Regarded as Zambia’s top DJ/Producer, El Mukuka drops his latest single ‘Colder’ across all digital platforms today. Have a listen to ‘Colder’ HERE.

He has joined forces with Gallo Record Company to release his latest track ‘Colder’ and the single is everything but what the title suggests. The powerful upbeat dance track is another brilliant club banger from El Mukuka and this time he has created something unique with this single.

“Colder is one of those songs that in a way wrote itself. It’s so personal and straight forward that all I really had to do was allow the words and music to flow out of me uninterruptedly. Something really unique about this song is that I both wrote and sang it, which is something I rarely do. Initially, during the writing process, my vocal takes were only meant to serve as guiding vocals for whoever was eventually going to sing the song. Over time however, my vocals stuck because I later realized just how much the song needed vocals that were rustic, emotive and full of expression,” explains El.

El Mukuka is an unusual story. Born in Lusaka, Zambia to a Greek mother and Zambian father, his appreciation and love for his two diverse cultures not only enriched his identity but also inspired him deeply. The rising African star is regarded as Zambia’s top DJ/Producer and is best known for fusing African music with European deep/melodic house. The young DJ has performed at some of the biggest festivals in sub-Saharan Africa alongside A-List African acts such as Black Coffee, Mi Casa, Goldfish and DJ Maphorisa. Mukuka’s 2016 release “Bottle of Loneliness” earned him a place in the international house scene with various iTunes, Spotify and terrestrial radio chart rankings in Spain, Argentina, Estonia, Russia and Zambia as well as millions of streams worldwide. The song later caught the attention of the European smash hit DJ duo Filatov & Karas who remixed it in 2017 driving the song’s success even further. Since then El Mukuka has had releases on some of the biggest labels in the dance music scene and has signed a multi-year endorsement deal with Budweiser Zambia.

Durban fans can catch El Mukuka on the decks for the Corona Sunsets Festival in Durban on Saturday 28 September. All info HERE.

‘El Mukuka – Colder’ is out now across all digital platforms – http://africori.to/colder

Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema had a torrid time to have his letter to the Anti Corruption Commission received and stamped on when he visited its Headquarters Thursday morning.

In his letter, Mr Hichilema was urging the ACC to speed up its investigations on the 48 Houses and provided evidence that will help the Commission to expedite the investigations.

But when he arrived at the Commission Headquarters, Mr Hichilema was met by scared ACC officers who refused to receipt his letter.

The officers kept referring Mr Hichilema from one office to another while the people working in the Office of the Director-General reportedly ran away from the office upon seeing Mr Hichilema and his team.

In the process of waiting, some unruly PF cadres mobilised from Kulima Tower Bus Station attacked Mr. Hichilema’s team injuring three in the process.

After an hour-long wait, Mr Hichilema’s request letter was reluctantly stamped on and left the premises shortly after giving some interviews.

“This morning we went to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) to deliver a letter regarding the 48 properties whose owner has not been identified to date. We would like the ACC to continue investigating this matter to its logical conclusion. It is a matter of public concern and we shall ensure we keep it in the public space,” Mr Hichilema said.

“However, we regret to inform fellow citizens that we struggled to have our letter delivered to the ACC as all officers took to their heels when they saw us, and we don’t blame them for this.The levels of intimidation by this Government are unbelievable. This is the reason why all civil servants in our government will have the protection of tenure. The civil service is there to safeguard and serve the interests of the public and not to run away from these responsibilities that citizens hired them for at great cost.”

He emphasized, “We shall continue pursuing this matter until we have answers. Let us all stand together and root out corruption in our society, this cancer is eating us all, alive.”

Patriotic Front members will today match from Soweto Market to NDC President Chishimba Kambwili’s residence in Woodlands in their continued protests against the dog remarks issued on President Edgar Lungu by the opposition Leader.

PF Lusaka Province Secretary Kennedy Kamba said this will be done to show solidarity to President Edgar Lungu and the Party Leadership who have continued to be insulted by Mr Kambwili.

Mr Kamba told a media briefing in Lusaka that party members will not sit idle and watch Mr Kambwili continue to insult President Edgar Lungu.

He said the insults showered on President Edgar Lungu by the opposition leader have not gone well with the party hence their decision to protest at his residence.

And Lusaka Province PF Chairman Paul Moonga said this is a political matter will be dealt with politically.

Mr Moonga said there is no need to notify the Police describing them as toothless in the matter.

But NDC National Youth Chairperson Charles Kabwita has alleged that PF carders are planning to torch the residence of Mr Kambwili.

He said the party has reliable information that the PF plan to burn motor vehicles and the house and have since reported the matter to woodlands police station.

Mr Kabwita said the NDC abhor politics of violence and intimidating and urge police to quickly move in and arrest all the culprits involved in this plot.

PF Secretary General Davies Mwila announced yesterday that the PF will protest for seven days starting yesterday against the dog insults showered on President Lungu by the NDC Leader.

Mr Mwila also directed all its structures countrywide to institute a citizen’s arrest on Mr Kambwili wherever he is found.