Mazabuka Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo has distanced himself from a Facebook page which he said is circulating false information about him complaining about people who have continued to join the party.

In a statement to the media the Mazabuka law maker accused the ruling PF of having created the fake page in his name and of using it to circulate false information.

Mr Nkombo said it was unfortunate that the PF can sink to such low and disgusting levels.

“It has come to my attention that some crooks from the other team – PF, have created a fake Facebook page in my name about 3 hours ago and are since posting items seemingly being spoken by myself.

“The circulating post is trying to show me as complaining about Ambassadors of Change joining our ever growing party. I want to take this opportunity to distance myself from that fake PF propaganda Facebook Page. I have been offline for some time and extremely busy welcoming the Big Fish to our very strong party – UPND.

“It is extremely unfortunate that the PF have degraded to such low and disgusting levels as impersonation all in a futile bid to divide the UPND. After such a big day as we had today, it is expected that the PF where going to embark on some form of cushion so it is not at all surprising that they have done this evil,” he said.

He added “I am a man of Integrity and very loyal to UPND, I can NEVER reduce myself to such levels as to post such rubbish. May it also be known that I am in the UPND entirely on Principle and not for positions, so PF better try another place.”

Meanwhile Dauglas Syakalima had this to say on the alleged Facebook page.

Dear colleagues

Am sure you all know that I don’t really participate on many of these fora but am an ardent reader of such.

What makes me write is because of what has been said of Hon Gary Nkombo over the Ambassadors of change.

May I state that Gary has been heavily involved in the negotiations of many of these, sometimes breaking nights. So to launder cheap propaganda to make him look like a villi among our in suspecting members is immoral but very irresponsible.

Gary has been hard working in many spheres of our party too numerous to mention. I therefore would like our members to treat such stupid propaganda with the contempt it deserves and throw it in the political dust bin because it does not fit in the civilization of the twenty first century.

The desperation of the PF is unimaginable. But we shall keep on pounding them until they hang their gloves on 11 August. In fact by the time we reach 11 August, the PF will be a shell of its past.

UPND be vigilant, courageous and never to yield to intimidation. And some of us lead by example on that score. God bless you all.

Douglas Syakalima.
Senior Advisor to UPND President.

Gen Muchopa, who until his death, on March 23, served in the Zambia Army.

President Lungu said he was attending the funeral service as a friend of the departed as they have known each other for a long time.

He said Gen Muchopa was his long-time friend and neighbour, hence he could not afford to miss his funeral service.

Speaking in an interview after the funeral service at St Ignatius Catholic Parish in Lusaka today, President Lungu said all is set for the interparty dialogue scheduled for March 29, 2016.

President Lungu has called on his party cadres not to attend the gathering as it is strictly for party leaders and has since urged other political parties to do the same.

He said it is important that political cadres observe the hierarchy of party structures and stay away from the meeting.

According to Winfield Kunda, Communication Director for the Catholic Media Services, Zambia’s Episcopal Conference plans to meet with all political parties and their Presidential candidates in a move to help curb politically motivated violence before the August 11general elections.

Zambians have expressed concern about clashes between supporters of political parties as the groups get ready to begin official campaigns for the elections.

Local media organisations have often reported incidents of inter-party clashes often between the governing Patriotic Front (PF) and opposition parties including the United Party for National Development (UPND) and the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD).

Incumbent President, Edgar Lungu, and main opposition leaders, Hakainde Hichilema from the UPND and Nevers Mumba from the MMD, have agreed to be part of the meeting with the Roman Catholic bishops.

In an Episcopal letter early this year about the state of the nation, the Catholic bishops urged the political party leaders to tone down their rhetoric before the elections.

The bishops urged the politicians to ensure their supporters do not engage in violence.

And Saint Ignatius Catholic Parish Priest, Charles Chilinda, is positive that the March 29 dialogue meeting called by the Catholic Bishops for political party leaders will yield positive results in uniting the country.

And Fr Chilinda says political cadres should not be allowed to be above the law and create anarchy among Zambians.

Minister of General Education, Dr John Phiri said this when he paid a courtesy call on Kaoma secondary school head teacher Mulambwa Nawa today.

Dr. Phiri said government is on course to ensure that all the schools that were built in the UNIP regime receive a facelift.

And addressing teachers and pupils, Dr. Phiri encouraged teachers to work very hard to ensure that pupils’ performance is improved in the district.

He said that teachers should do their best in ensuring the pass rate of pupils is heightened adding that in 2015 about 35, 000 grade seven pupils did not make it to Grade eight and 138, 000 Grade nine pupils also did not make to Grade ten and a paltry 48 percent got Grade 12 school certificates in the country.

Dr Phiri said teachers have a huge task of ensuring that boys and girls from various schools dotted in all the districts of Western province get good marks from committed teachers.

He advised teachers to avoid engaging themselves in active politics as the move will greatly annoy the system and that whoever will be found being partisan shall be discarded.

Dr Phiri said teachers should not join politics because the country has enough political cadres adding that teachers should remain as consultants.

He implored teachers to change their mind sets and concentrate on imparting pupils with proper so that educational standards are improved in all the schools in the province.

Dr Phiri also implored pupils from Kaoma secondary school to avoid engaging in riotous activities that will spoil their educational future endeavors and commended the school authorities and the PTA for reducing the number of pregnancies among the girls.

And speaking earlier, Kaoma Secondary School head teacher, Mulambwa Nawa said that the sewer system for the school has been blocked and in a deplorable state as people have encroached making the disposal of effluent difficult.

Mr Nawa said the school buildings which have in existence for over fifty years requires a major rehabilitation and requested government to reduce the pupil-book ratio especially with the coming of the revised school curriculum.

Livingstone Press Club President, Brian Hatyoka, said the weekly forums set to begin next Friday would give an opportunity to those aspiring to the position of councillor, Executive Mayor and Member of Parliament, to sell themselves and their parties.

Mr Hatyoka said invitations had been extended to all political parties and independent candidates.

He said this in Livingstone today at the launch of the public forums for aspiring candidates in the August 11, 2016 General Elections.

Mr Hatyoka said the aspiring candidates would be asked to state their strategies on fighting unemployment, street vending, solid waste management, poor drainages, early marriages and corruption among other social and economic topics.

He further said the candidates would need to display their knowledge of the contents of the amended constitution.

“Aspiring candidates will be asked to debate on issue-based matters, going by the subject on the floor and this means that character assassination and the use of provocative language will not be tolerated during the debates,” he said.

Mr Hatyoka, however, said party regalia would not be allowed at the forums while each political party would be asked to sponsor 20 supporters to each forum but they would be expected to be in ordinary clothes.

And Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) Chairperson for Livingstone, Gideon Musonda, said the forums presented the best opportunity for members of the public to engage and scrutinise the would-be leaders at various levels of governance.

“Forums provide the electorate an opportunity to ascertain in advance candidates’ ability to debate and articulate issues in the council chambers and Parliament if voted into power,” he said.

Mr Musonda was also hopeful that the forums would promote dialogue and denounce any form of violence and character assassination as these posed a serious threat to the country’s democracy.

He also expressed concern over political parties and aspiring candidates who shunned such events.

“Candidates who shun such events do not deserve to be elected. This is because they show disrespect to the electorates who gather and eagerly wait to listen and question them on how they intend to run developmental programs if elected,” he said.

Meanwhile, Patriotic Front Livingstone Constituency Chairperson, Elias Mwila, denounced violence and stated that peace was cardinal to a Christian nation like Zambia.

Mr Mwila challenged political party leaders not to be hypocritical by condemning violence in public but privately encouraging it among their respective followers.

He also said the ruling party was yet to announce the list of aspiring candidates for Livingstone, as applications were still being received from interested individuals.

And UPND Livingstone District Spokesperson, Neto Halwabala, said having peaceful and violence-free campaigns and elections as the country goes to the polls was everyone’s responsibility.

“In the past we have insulted and hated each other but as we gather here today, I want us to realise that the biggest enemy the country is facing is not MMD, UPND, PF or UNIP but poverty,” he said.

Mr Halwabala said the country’s common enemy consisted of hunger, disease, illiteracy and youth unemployment.

He said it was time for all political parties to fight the common enemy instead of fighting each other.

THE extraordinary performance of President Edgar Lungu in infrastructure development within a year in State House is choking UPND president Hakainde Hichilema with envy, Patriotic Front (PF) deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri has charged.

She said Mr Hichilema’s ambitions to take over the presidency of the country have been severely fractured and that was why the UPND leader had resorted to insulting President Lungu.

Mrs Phiri said the ruling party was not surprised with the pettiness of Mr Hichilema who has now begun to see the reality that he would never become president of the country.

She said that in the next coming months, the UPND leader would be foaming from the political amnesia he has been attacked with because of the massive infrastructure development which Zambians were happy with. Mrs Phiri said in an interview yesterday that Mr Hichilema and other politically dwarfed opposition leaders were ashamed that all the infrastructural programmes that were started by President Michael Sata (late) were expeditiously being completed and commissioned.

She said the PF celebrates the type of President it had in President Lungu who had remained humble, sociable interactive and at ease with the people he was governing and that the ruling party had no apologies to Mr Hichilema for having a leader whose presidency Zambians were appreciating.

She said Zambians had always known Mr Hichilema as a leader with a ‘wooden personality’ and advised the UPND leader to keep his ‘hands of steel’ to himself because citizens would want to have a President who was down to earth.

Mrs Phiri said if Mr Hichilema was a genuine leader who cared about the welfare of the people, he should have been the first to celebrate that the police officers had decent accommodation, clean water, electricity which they had been crying for in as many years. “We are not surprised with the pettiness and uncivil behaviour of Mr Hichilema over the infrastructure development President Lungu and the PF are implementing. Mr Hichilema is being choked with envy over the extraordinary performance of President Lungu and the PF and he has resorted to pettiness and insults. Reality is now dawning on him that he will never become President of Zambia as his ambitions have been shattered by the massive infrastructure development.

“The PF celebrates to have such type of a President in Mr Lungu who is sociable, interactive and down to earth. The Head of State has taken the presidency closer to the people and let Mr Hichilema keep his wooden personality and hands of steel to himself,” Mrs Phiri said.

She said President Lungu would continue delivering to Zambians and that it was not difficult to understand why the UPND and its leader did not want to see good things being extended to the poor on the social ladder.

Mrs Phiri said President Lungu would soon be going to the Copperbelt for similar programmes as the police housing project and that if Mr Hichilema was unhappy about it, it would be a demonstration that the UPND leader only cared about his wealth.

She said the Head of State had demonstrated that he did not believe in material wealth and had since given up the presidential retirement house and that if the UPND leader had a heart for Zambians, he should have demonstrated by surrendering even one percent of his wealth she said he accumulated through the privatisation of State assets.

“Mr Hichilema’s wealth exclusively comes from the privatization of State assets and Zambians know about this. Let Mr Hichilema know that from now on, in every week, President Lungu will be launching one project after another while commissioning those that are completed. We are going to have the construction of one of the best modern airport commissioned soon and Mr Hichilema would aware of this if he swallowed his bitterness,” Mrs Phiri said.

PF Lusaka Province youth chairman Kennedy Kamba said Bishop Chihana was nothing but a hired gun serving the interest of the opposition and it was not surprising that he was being used to disparage President Lungu.

Mr Kamba said while the PF was reluctant to comment on the attacks against President by Bishop Chihana, it was regrettable that the man in the collar was being used to propagate hate messages against the leadership of the country.

Bishop Chihana who is International Fellowship of Christian Churches (IFCC) president has embarked on a campaign to malign President Lungu for closely interacting with citizens during the handing over of police houses to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Bishop Chihana was yesterday quoted in the Post Newspaper demeaning President Lungu by alleging that the Head of State was suffering from midlife crisis, a statement Mr Kamba said had annoyed the PF.

Mr Kamba said the IFCC president was morally incompetent to criticise President Lungu considering that he was just coming from a background of social challenges.

“We are appalled as the PF that Bishop Chihana has accepted to be hired as a merchant of hate speech by his pay masters in the opposition. He has chosen to demean President Lungu who has taken the presidency close to the people he is governing. We expect men of God like Bishop to be preaching peace as the country is going towards the general elections but he has turned himself into hired gun by the opposition to slander President Lungu. It is not morally and religious correct and we are not happy,” Mr Kamba said.

He said Bishop Chihana had a history of choosing to be used for the wrong reasons by politicians and that the IFCC president had become discredited because of his desire to sow seeds of hatred among citizens.

Mr Kamba said the PF was proud to have President Lungu who had proved that he was physically and mentally fit and would be able to energetically govern the country for the next five years after renewing his mandate in the August general elections.

“When President Lungu fell ill, they (opposition) celebrated because in their evil thinking, they thought they had a chance to take over the governance of the country. Now President Lungu has demonstrated that he is as fit as a fiddle, they are maligning and disparaging him. We are aware that Bishop Chihana is not new in such kind of acts but we ecclesiastically ask him to refrain from attacking President and allow him to govern,” Mr Kamba said.

UPND Sinazongwe Member of Parliament, Richwell Siamunene, says he has no regrets supporting President Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front (PF)’s development agenda.

Mr Siamunene, who is also Defence Minister, says this is because President Lungu is the only one among all Presidential contenders who is capable of providing sound and visionary leadership.

He was speaking at Chikuni in Monze yesterday when he and Agriculture Minister, Given Lubinda, addressed a public rally in the area where 250 UPND cadres also defected to the Patriotic Front.

Mr Siamunene said since aligning himself with the PF Government, Sinazongwe has seen unprecedented levels of development which have changed the development landscape of the valley district.

He told the meeting that there is no need in clinging to the opposition UPND which he said would never form government.

Mr Siamunene encouraged all the people of Southern province to emulate him and support President Edgar Lungu’s visionary leadership.

And Agriculture Minister, Given Lubinda, said he is disappointed that Monze UPND, Jack Mwiimbu has failed to deliver development to the people.

Mr Lubinda said the opposition MP has lamentably failed to improve road infrastructure in the area.

Some workers complained that they had worked for more than ten years but were still being treated as causal workers in contravention of the law.

The workers who spoke to Sunday Times during the week complained that they could not continue to be working as casual workers for more than 10 years as would be eluded of their entitlement in an event they were not given permanent jobs.

The workers have since accused senior members of staff at the institution of having fired long serving workers and employing new ones.

“We have worked for this institution for the past 10 years and no one has been put on permanent employment, we are tired of this kind of conditions of service and we want change,” said the workers.

And UNZA public relations manager Damaseke Chibale said in a statement that the UNZA council and management were aware of the new amendments in the labour laws particularly on casualisation.

Mr Chibale said the university and the labour commissioner’s office had reached an advanced stage in discussing the modalities of dealing with casualisation at the higher learning institution.

“We are aware of the new labour laws and UNZA Council and Management are doing everything possible to end this issue,” he said.

UNZA has since appealed to the affected workers to remain calm as discussions were underway with various stakeholders.