The Anti Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) has appealed to republican President,Rupiah Banda to tone down his language towards his political opponents by using civil language. President Banda is quoted as having referred to opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) president,Hakainde Hichilema as a son of a dog.
AVAP Executive Director, Bonnie Tembo told Qfm in an interview that it is uncivilized for President Banda to begin to use foul language against his opponents simply because he has also been attacked.Mr. Tembo said the current tone of language by political leaders in the country is saddening.

And political analyst, Dante Saunders has said it is uncalled for and unjustified for President Banda to use such harsh language towards his opponents.
Mr. Saunders called on President Banda to develop a thick skin and realise that the office he occupies is subject to all sorts of criticism. He said it is unfortunate that the President decided to use strong words against his opponent.
Mr Saunders advised the President to learn to avoid any such confrontation.
[Q FM]

ZAMBIA and Malawi are expected to launch a simplified trade regime this week.

The simplified regime is a new system developed in collaboration with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to ease the cost of doing business among cross-border traders.

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Felix Mutati and his Malawian counterpart are expected to launch the system on Friday.

Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry permanent secretary Buleti Nsemukila disclosed this in an interview in Lusaka on Monday.

He said regulations and guidelines surrounding trade across borders have been so complicated and mostly are understood only by people with huge businesses, hence the introduction of the simplified trade regime.

“Now you cannot apply the same system to people dealing with less than US$1,000 in goods, so this system that has been developed in collaboration with COMESA will simplify the trade regime. This is where a trader with less than US$500 worth of goods can fill in a simple form to pass,” he said.

He said Government wants to help traders use the border post instead of them evading customs because of challenges and guidelines they continue to face.

“So we are encouraging them to use these border posts because it is so simplified that it will not take much of their time. In fact, they will be assisted much more in doing business,” he said.

Dr Nsemukila said the system will first be piloted between the two countries before being replicated at other border posts across the country.

He said that there are five areas of doing business reforms under the private sector development programme and that these are starting a business, registering business, registering property, access to credit and trade across borders.

Dr Nsemukila said Government had discovered that there is a lot of trade among Zambia’s neighbouring countries, particularly small-scale trade across borders.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

MUFUMBWE parliamentary by-election returning officer Rogers Chayang’a has said the distribution of ballot papers in the constituency which started on Monday is going on smoothly ahead of tomorrow’s polls.

Political party cadres who had set up camps in Government buildings have also been removed to pave way for the distribution exercise.

Mr Chayang’a said in Mufumbwe yesterday that the distribution of ballot papers began on Monday with the farthest polling station in Kabanga, some 470 kilometres south of the boma.

He said everything was in place and the process of distributing the ballot materials was continuing, with some being airlifted to areas that could not be accessed by road transport.

The cadres who had occupied Government buildings that will be used as polling stations were removed following a complaint from the United Party for National Development leadership that the distribution of ballot materials may be disturbed.

And Mr Chayang’a said if the violence that had rocked the constituency in recent days continued, it may scare away the voters.

He said the violence, which he described as the worst in the history of Mufumbwe, may affect the expected turnout of the 19,583 registered voters.

“We have made efforts to talk to political parties about the violence. It has been very rough and if the violence continues, it may affect the voting,” Mr Chayang’a said.

Calm has returned to Mufumbwe amidst heavy presence of paramilitary officers ahead of the by-election to fill the vacancy left by the death of area Member of Parliament Misheck Bonshe.

“So far so good, today it’s been peaceful. The situation has been okay and we hope it continues like this,” Mr Chayang’a said.
[ Times of Zambia ]

President Rupiah Banda has clarified the move by the ruling MMD to field Zambia’s Ambassador to Libya, Mulondwe Muzungu as MMD parliamentary candidate for Mufumbwe by-election.

Mr. Banda said the people of Mufumbwe demanded that Mr.Muzungu contest the seat on the ruling party ticket as opposed to reports that he

The Republican President said this at a campaign rally to drum up support for the MMD parliamentary candidate in the April 29th by election.
He disclosed that he telephoned Mr. Muzungu four times just to find out whether he was willing to respond to the demands by the people of Mufumbwe.

Mr. Banda dismissed reports that Mr. Muzungu is not happy to be in Zambia.
[ Muvi TV ]

The National Restoration Party (NAREP) has condemned the recent violence that has characterized the Mufumbwe by-elections campaigns in North Western province.

NAREP president Elias Chipimo Junior said in a statement today that if there was genuine political will at all levels to curb and eradicate violence from the political process, there would be an end to sad developments that happened to Zambezi West Member of Parliament, Charles Kakoma who was attacked, by suspected MMD cadres.
Mr Chipimo said it is deplorable that forty-five years after independence politicians could remain unacceptably silent when their followers are accused of perpetrating violence of any sort.

He added that if reports that the violence in Mufumbwe is being carried out by cadres who have been ferried from the Copperbelt and Lusaka it raises concerns about the future of the youth and how they would continue to be used by politicians to achieve their selfish aims.

Mr Chipomo noted that youths should be inspired and empowered with opportunities for training jobs rather than being used for violence.
He has demanded that political parties participating in the by-election avoid violence at all costs; stressing that violence is a clear sign of the failure to reason.

Mr Chipomo said his party believes that only constructive dialogue,promoted by selfless and value-based leadership would redeem Zambia from the bad state that currently is in.

He has further urged the police to investigate and arrest the culprits who are perpetrating the violence regardless of which political party they belong to.

NAREP leader said it is unacceptable in a democracy like Zambia that cadres could behave in such a fashion, adding that the electoral process should not be an issue of life and death.

He has since called for a national engagement for political parties and other stakeholders to reach a consensus on how violence in politics will be eradicated.

QFM

By Elias Munshya wa Munshya

When HH came onto the political front, he brought lots of promise. He was fresh, young, rich and quite educated. In fact, in spite being rich and educated, he was still very down-to-earth. These were the qualities and character that the Zambian people were looking for in a leader.

Even though his emergence within the UPND was controversial in that he is alleged to have hounded Sakwiba Sikota out of the UPND on tribal grounds, he nevertheless settled into leadership very well and inspired many both in the UPND and in the nation. He quickly worked to brush off allegations that he was a tribalist, by emphasizing quite frequently that as a Zambian he did not hail from one particular province but came from all the parts of the country—he is perhaps the only high profile political figure to emphasize that fact.

Just after coming into leadership he, however, faced Mwanawasa’s and Tetamashimba’s 2006 onslaught in that he lost the Northwestern Province and Western Provinces which with Southern Province had become the stronghold of the UPND under Mazoka. But at least, to his credit, he managed to keep Southern Province within the grasp of the UPND.

But in 2010, HH is faced with a very serious dilemma and he must do something to get out of it. This dilemma has the potential to derail him and to also derail the UPND. He has however a choice to make in the matter. And what he decides in the next few months will set him apart as a serious contender to the leadership of Zambia or he will be relegated to the would-have-beens. What then is the dilemma he faces?

First, he faces the dilemma within the PACT. Shortly, before the presidential by-elections of 2008, his UPND and PF had formed some form of a pact, and they were going to go into elections as a unified front. Some political players got excited with that prospect, and Sata was famously alleged to have finally found a young man he could train in politics. Not very long after that, the so called unity crumbled and there were some unpleasantries said from both sides.

They did not like each other that much after all. Come the by-elections and HH had a strong showing, holding on to Southern Province and came out third in the final tally. Immediately after the by-elections, however, both the UPND and PF have come to realize that the only way they could remove the MMD is if they tried to unite, and hence the formation of the so called PF/UPND pact again. But this Pact has created a serious dilemma for HH.

The dilemma is that if the Pact went on and chose Sata as its presidential candidate, Southern voters are very unlikely to vote for a Pact led by Sata, and as such the UPND risks losing that Southern support. On the other hand, if HH were elected or chosen or anointed as the Pact’s candidate, it is very unlikely that Sata would accept to serve under HH and he may then choose to break away from the pact and stand on his own. If such a division happened, it is almost guaranteed that the Pact will not form the next government.

Additionally, it is common knowledge that the PF is the stronger side of the two parties within the Pact and therefore it has more leverage than the UPND. The PF is therefore likely to use its power and influence to lobby for Sata to lead the pact more than it would willingly accept HH to lead.

And if that situation happened Southern Province will almost certainly switch its support to either Banda or a third-party candidate such as Magande. HH should therefore face the truth with courage that there is no reason why the Pact will work this time around and abandon it. The sooner he does that the better. Holding on to the promise of the pact, is wasting his time, and diluting his message.

If anything, his holding on to the PF pact as the only solution to the MMD problem sends a wrong message that he cannot stand on his own. HH should abandon the Pact immediately. This is not because he does not like unity, but rather because, the dynamics within the Pact do not favor him at all and neither does the pact favor the aspirations of the Zambian people in the long-term.

[pullquote]When Zambians enter the voting booth to vote next year, we want to remember an HH who is courteous, kind, handsome, rich, lovable and gentle. An HH who answers opponents with truth. An HH who speaks policy and not insults.[/pullquote]

Secondly, HH faces a very serious dilemma with regard to the kind of politics he is now practicing. When he came on the scene he exhibited greatness, and freshness. But a few years down the line, he has not brought any change to the political front, but instead has joined the old and finished politicians in their thinking and manner of doing politics. This is so serious in that looking at HH’s utterances today you would not differentiate between him and Sata or Banda.

HH needs to be different, otherwise if he is the same as the two, it gives no real choice among Zambians. HH must rein in his tongue and desist from insulting his opponents. He has called RB, “childish”, “small brain”, “sleepy and dozy” and so on and so forth. Honestly, this is the language we expect from both Sata and Banda and not from a young fresh mind like HH. His frustrations are understood.

Both Sata and Banda play the UNIP styled politics. In fact, their rivalry started many years ago, perhaps even before HH was born. When Banda and Sata quarrel and insult each other, it makes good comedy since it is two old grandpas quarrelling about things like who is more handsome between them.

Very petty things, but HH should not join them in those things. When Zambians enter the voting booth to vote next year, we want to remember an HH who is courteous, kind, handsome, rich, lovable and gentle. An HH who answers opponents with truth. An HH who speaks policy and not insults. HH must challenge his dilemma by looking at what he is going to say the next time he criticizes Banda.

And honestly, when HH is Banda’s age I would personally, appreciate him taking some naps and sleeping more often, because that is what old people do and they should not be criticized and insulted for being old and finished. But at least as for HH, he still epitomizes the wishes of many Zambians, and we may be on the road to political redemption if the President Hakainde Hichilema behaved a little bit more presidential!