UPND President Hakainde Hichilema took to facebook to call for calm as the country experienced a spate of xenophobic attacks on Monday which started from Zingalume and George Compound and later spread to other parts of Lusaka.

Mr Hichilema appealed to Zambians to remember that they were God’s children who should love one another adding that violence was never an answer to anything.

He said even with the current difficulties the answer can not be found in violence and destruction of property.

He also called on law enforcement agencies to proactively deal with the issues before they escalated to unmanageable levels.

Below is a posting from his page.

Our prayer this evening is for calm to return to our compounds and our homes quickly.

We pray that no one has been hurt during the riots and unrest that have spread in some parts of our capital city including this evening, as some reports are suggesting.

Our earnest appeal to every Zambian at this time is to remember that as God’s children we must always love and care for one another, and that violence is never an answer to the troubles we face. It can only bring more hurt and God Himself will sit in judgement of those who transgress.

As a society we need to broadly address poverty and inequality properly as one way of preventing these evil happenings.

But the answer can only lie in peace and unity and a cooperative spirit to change our country.

Even with current difficulties in our communities, the answer does not lie in the destruction of properties through rioting and maiming each other.

We also call on law enforcement agencies to proactively deal with these issues before they escalate to such levels.

We also encourage those who can to co-operative with law enforcement officials in returning peace and order to our streets and compounds.

And Mr Nakacinda says he feels insulted by the people insinuating that he has been bought by the Mutati lead faction because he is above being bought and that he remains a friend to Dr Mumba even though they have differed on the issue regarding the holding of the convention.

Speaking when he featured on Muvi TV’s the Assignment program, Mr Nakacinda said Dr Mumba had chosen a wrong path by choosing to listen to people who did not care about him and the party.

He explained that the party started preparing for the convention as far back as April 2015 when the Party NEC put up modalities which would culminate to convention but that they were surprised when all that changed after the NEC meeting held in January.

He said some people the President has chosen to listen to do not have the interests of the party at heart and that they are destroying both the party and the reputation of Dr Mumba in his personal capacity.

Asked if he had betrayed Dr Mumba, Mr Nakacinda said Dr Mumba had betrayed himself by not following the correct advise over matters related to the running of MMD which was given to him on several platforms.

And Mr Nakacinda said he takes great exception to accusations that he had been bought to work against party President Nevers Mumba.

He said he was one of the people who helped convince Dr Mumba to return from Canada and stand for Party Presidency but that he will not stand by and see the party constitution being abrogated as that would be misleading to Dr Mumba and his loyalty misplaced.

He said unlike others his journey with Dr Mumba is not from a year or two ago but that of 18 years hence he wouldn’t betray him for a penny nor will he depart from doing the correct thing due to misplaced loyalty.

On the purported injunction restraining Felix Mutati and 11 others from carrying out mobilization meetings across the country, Mr Nakacinda expressed disappointment that Dr Mumba would allow his advisers to sink so low as to lie to him that there was an injunction when in fact not.

He said Dr Mumba actually lied to the nation that Mr Mutati and others were abrogating the Republican Constitution because the court denied them the injunction adding that the time Dr Mumba was issuing the statement on the 13th of April they did not even know the out come of their submission as the document in which the injunction was denied was served on the 14th.

He added that whoever is advising President Mumba should stop telling him lies as doing so will only do them more harm as lies have short legs.

On the issue of the convention, Mr Nakacinda said instead of demonizing the people calling for a convention Dr Mumba should have prepared himself for the event because he knew that the day would come.

He said the excuse he is trying put across that his tenure ends in 2017 did not hold waters because he was just finishing up a term which started in 2011 when Rupiah Banda was elected as Party President.

He said it should be born in Dr Mumba’s head that he took over as President through an extra ordinary convention after extra ordinary circumstances in the party when former President resigned from active politics and that the constitution clearly states that the party shell have a convention every five years.

On whether the party will participate in the forth coming elections, Mr Nakacinda said the party will only participate in the elections after sorting out its internal problems and the holding of a convention.

He said with the current challenges within the party, the MMD would only be embarrassed if they went ahead and participated without putting their house in order.

THE Government is disappointed that veteran politician and seasoned diplomat Vernon Mwaanga is reported to have made a Press statement on elections in which he concluded that Uganda’s February election was flawed.

Dr Mwaanga is reported in The Post newspaper of April 16 this year that people should restrain the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) from using the same printing company in Dubai that was used in the February election in Uganda because the ballot papers in the Ugandan election were pre-marked to favour President Yoweri Museveni.

The ministry of Foreign Affairs has since urged Dr Mwaanga and all political players to avoid mentioning other countries and their political processes when commenting on domestic political issues.

Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba said yesterday at a Press briefing that it was regrettable and sad that Dr Mwaanga named Uganda, a sovereign State, in a matter of domestic politics.

Mr Kalaba said the matter of the Ugandan election was still in domestic courts in that country and had not been verified or concluded.

“It is regrettable and sad that a veteran diplomat that we should be looking up to is the one to say something that degrades everything he has achieved,” he said.

Mr Kalaba said Zambia and Uganda enjoyed good bilateral relations which should not be jeopardised by unverified media statements.

He said it was not in conformity with good international practice to name other countries and bring into dispute those countries’ political processes.

Lusaka Town Clerk Alex Mwansa said the local authority had engaged Sunspot Insurance Brokers to help replace the vandalised streetlight poles through insurance claims of vehicles that damaged the poles.

Mr Mwansa also urged members of the public to report to the police whenever they saw a vehicle hit into any of the poles by simply giving the vehicle registration number.

He said in a statement issued yesterday by LCC assistant public relations manager, Brenda Katongola that the council had noted with concern that most streetlights were being knocked down by careless motorists, especially during weekends.

He said that the road maintenance and street lighting installation project was aimed at improving the status of roads in the city to make them better and safer for all road users.
Mr Mwansa said AVIC International had been awarded a contract by the Government to construct roads and install the streetlights in the capital city, which was being supervised by LCC and the Road Development Agency (RDA).

He said streetlight installations would be carried out on major roads in the city, with the Great East, Chilimbulu and Burma roads receiving a facelift and later on Independence Avenue.

“Some roads such as Addis Ababa Drive, Church and Great East roads have already started receiving a facelift to enhance the safety of our road users. This is expected to continue on all the roads in the central business district (CBD), including the pedestrian or zebra crossings,” Mr Mwansa said.

He said that AVIC in partnership with LCC and RDA was expected to light up 150-kilometre stretch of the 408 kilometres of roads at an estimated cost of US$23,550,000.

Mr Mwansa said in trying to stave off the continued power outage by Zesco, the council and RDA had embarked on putting up streetlight poles, which were solar-powered on 40km of the 150km in an effort to improve lighting and security in the city even with the current power deficit.

He said the LCC had since installed conventional streetlights along Manchinchi, Dr Aggrey and Blue Boar roads through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and internal support, and that the local authority was working on modalities to protect infrastructure which was being constructed.

Mr Mwansa said that the local authority through funding from the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) was currently carrying out road markings on major roads and pothole patching on selected roads in the capital city.

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema took some time on Sunday to play some social football with youths of Bauleni compound in Lusaka.

The opposition leader who arrived at the football pitch wearing a Chipolopolo replica shirt scored the winning penalty for his team.

He said, “Despite our busy schedules, we always have time to mingle with our people in more relaxed settings by playing some games and participating in recreational activities, which are important for the health of the people.”

He said the UPND’s commitment is to continue with such sporting activities and make sure they improve compound sporting activities and facilities, rather than giving them over to cadres as plots for building illegal settlements.

“We are also urging our people, especially youths and women, to get fully involved in such activities which can also be good opportunities for talent identification programmes,” Mr Hichilema said.

“We have stated before that we can create a lot of job opportunities for our people in sporting activities. These initiatives and engagements are also good in keeping our youths away from illicit and illegal activities that are unhealthy for the country.”

We have read a statement by Rainbow Party secretary general Wynter Kabimba with interest. His call on the opposition political parties to boycott the election does not come as a surprise to us in PF because Mr Kabimba is in this election to merely escort real candidates. His party is a rejected lot that stands no chance of even coming in the third position.

The continued campaign against ECZ in the run-up to the August election is a scheme to psyche youths sympathetic to the opposition to prepare for violence. We now wish to believe that opposition leaders have launched such a malicious campaign to prepare ground for violence so that the winning candidate is affected.

Zambians are called upon to ignore these statements against ECZ but listen to candidates who have developmental issues to share. Mr Kabimba has mainly been associated with condemning companies that are preferred to print ballot papers
The continued accusations about rigging have the potential to reduce confidence in the Zambian people and perception is the most important component in achieving a credible election.

We want to tell Mr Kabimba that he is a very unpopular candidate and his chances are non-existent on the Zambian political scene. His position to withdraw from the race is the only option he has but we are aware that even his fellow opposition leaders cannot listen to Mr Kabimba.

Zambians need to be reminded that when he was secretary general of PF, streets protests were the order of the day and the capital, city Lusaka became a hive of political tension. It is therefore incumbent upon the people of Zambia to ignore Mr Kabimba who only appears to be popular in one media house.

His accusation that PF wants to rig elections is really laughable. It is laughable because it was Mr Kabimba who addressed several press conferences and meetings before PF formed government in 2013 to claim that the ballot paper printer, Universal Printing Group of Durban would rig elections. Under his charge, the PF spoke everyday against the use of UPG and said the company would facilitate the rigging of the elections.

But the PF went ahead and won the elections and Mr Kabimba went under instead of justifying his claim in light of the events that followed his empty lies.

We are therefore, challenging Mr Kabimba to boycott the elections as an individual candidate instead of misleading Zambians. Mr Kabimba cannot leave any impact if he boycotted an election where he is not even a factor.

We want to emphasise that the choice by ECZ of a printer should not be looked at from a suspicious point of view but purely on the basis of capacity to deliver in a transparent manner.

ECZ should ignore this malicious campaign because it is not the first time it is taking place. ECZ director Priscilla Isaac has been called arrogant before over UPG of Durban but liars like Mr Kabimba have no shame. They just kept quiet when the PF won the election instead of admitting that they lied. ECZ must therefore remain brave and do the right thing.
Paul Moonga

Riots have erupted in Lusaka’s Zingalume and George compounds where some Zambians have looted foreign-owned shops over suspicions of links to recent ritual murders in the area.

Police Spokesperson Charity Munganga-Chanda confirmed in a statement that some people looted shops belonging to Rwandese nationals in the area after word went round that some people found human body parts in one of the shops belonging to a Rwandese national.

Mrs Chanda said the residents are suspecting that these foreigners are the ones behind the ritual murders.

She stated that four shops had been looted, so far on suspicion that they are involved in the recent murders which have been happening in the area.

“More officers in full riot gear have been deployed in the area,” she said.

Some residents interviewed said they want the Rwandese to leave the country because they are allegedly bad people.

They complained that the Rwandese have also taken over all the business opportunities in the area adding that some of their businesses are not genuine.

By press time, the riots had spread to Lilanda and some parts of Chunga area.

At least six people have been found dead in the area since last month with body parts, including hearts, genitals and ears, removed.

President Edgar Lungu yesterday announced that Police arrested four people over the killings.
Residents in Zingalume burned down a community police station last month in protest over the murders.