UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema yesterday said he will continue to offer himself as a presidential candidate to lead Zambia because the Pact has not chosen a candidate for the 2011 presidential polls.

And All People’s Congress (APC) leader, Ken Ngondo has said political parties in Zambia that have formed a pact were just wasting their time because people of Zambia do not want a pact but an alliance.

Mr Hichilema said yesterday he had ambitions to take over Government next year considering the immense qualities and capabilities he wields but Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata was also allowed to express his desire to lead.

The UPND leader said candidacy for the UPND and Patriotic Front (PF) Pact remained open to any of the two partners in the alliance formed in 2008 but only announced last year.

His declaration was based on the fact that a candidate to run the Pact into the 2011 presidential election had not been chosen by the technical group involving the two parties.

Asked when the two leaders would announce the candidate, Mr Hichilema said it would remain a secret until the right time came.

“The message is that we have not chosen a candidate for the Pact. When a candidate is chosen things will be clear,” Mr Hichilema said.

Mr Hichilema on Sunday declared he was the best candidate to lead Zambia next year because of the younger age and urged Zambians to take a leaf from countries like Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States of America and Germany that had elected leaders with modern leadership postures.

Mr Sata has also made similar declarations, raising questions about the extent of confusion and power struggle between the two leaders as the election fast nears.

Mr Hichilema said suggestions by 11 districts in Southern Province for his party to forge an alliance with the MMD lacked background and clarity considering that his party already has an alliance with PF.

He said the resolution to forge an alliance with PF was passed by the national management committee in consultation with the general membership and the new dimension by Vernon Mwaanga had never been on the party’s agenda.

Mr Ngondo during a Press briefing in Chipata on Thursday said he would not support any pact because the current pact could not form Government even in 2011 tripartite elections.

He said the current pact (UPND/PF) was not a factor in the Zambian politics because there were two leaders who had different divergent views with different manifestos.

[Times of Zambia]

THE Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) says the country recorded about US$1.3 billion in investment pledges for the first quarter of 2010.

ZDA communications and public relations manager Margaret Chimanse said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday that the investment pledges were mostly in the tourism sector.

The investment was mostly targeting the tourism sector and specifically infrastructure and services.

Ms Chimanse said the pledges were in view of the forthcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the tourism opportunities that it promised the region.

She was speaking from the ZDA stand at the on-going Copperbelt Mining, Agricultural and Commercial Show (CMACS).

Ms Chimanse emphasised that the pledges did not mean the actual investment but simply plans for investment.

She noted that 50 per cent of last year’s investment pledges were not implemented in various sectors.

“Last year we undertook a check on the pledges and established that not all the pledges had been implemented,” she said.

And the agency said K24 billion had been reserved under the Business Development Services (BDS) programme to assist small-scale organisations develop their businesses.

She said the money was made available by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Finnish and Netherlands governments and Government contributed K3 billion.

Ms Chimanse said the funds were being used to train small-scale entrepreneurs in business and the beneficiaries received services and not the actual money.

She said the agency was also encouraging rural entrepreneurship because the businesses were not required to pay income tax for five years from establishment.

[Times of Zambia]

WORLD acclaimed gospel musician Michael W Smith, who has sold over 15 million CDs, arrives tomorrow evening around 17:00 hours from South Africa for Sunday’s concert at Woodlands Stadium in Lusaka.

The US Grammy-award winning artiste, best known for his highly awakening worship and praise songs like Above All, Healing Rain, Love Me Good, Draw Me Close, Let It Rain, will perform from 14:00 hours to 20:00 hours.

The high definition music equipment for the concert arrived yesterday by road in four heavy-duty trucks from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Andrew Chola, director at Christian Arts Promotions (Chapro), the organisers of the show, told Times Entertainment that Zambians should look out for what he called an “explosive Sunday.”

Smith, who is on a New Hallelujah world tour, remains one of the most popular artistes in contemporary Christian music with 21 albums to his credit, three Grammy Awards and 13 nominations, 36 Dove Awards and five Platinum and 15 albums.

“All is set, it’s a great achievement to have Michael come for a concert in Zambia. After listening and watching his music on CDs and videos, Zambians will have a chance to watch the man live,” Chola said.

“The guys from South Africa will set up the stage and put up all the lighting and other technical equipment needed to produce quality sound.”

The concert, which Chapro is organising in conjunction with Bizlink, a South African music promotion company and Sounds Investment, will also feature local gospel artistes like BM Sampa, Suwilanji, Zambian Voices, Potipher and Mweshi Mulusa among others. Charges for the concert are K50,000 for ordinary seats and K100,000 for VIP.

“Those in the VIP section will have a chance to shake Michael’s hand,” said Chola.
Besides, the one-day concert, Smith also holds a workshop with local artistes on Monday morning at Southern Sun Hotel in Lusaka.

In his two-decade career, Smith, born in 1957, has had the opportunity to sing for presidents, national leaders, community gatherings, memorials, the Billy Graham Crusades and on national and international television.

[Times of Zambia]

The Anti-Voter Apathy Project(AVAP)has urged youths in the country to avoid being used as mercenaries of political violence during the forthcoming 2011 elections.

AVAP Director General Bonnie Tembo told youths from various political parties in a training workshop at Fairmount hotel in Livingstone to desist from politics of insults and violence.

Citing the example of what transpired during the Mufumbwe by-elections in Solwezi recently,Mr Tembo advised youths to be messengers of democracy and not perpetrators of lawlessness.

“You see if you are sent to electorates in certain community you do not have to go there with pangas,machetes,stones and the likes because you are not going to the game park but you are going to a community where people live so avoid such kind of intolerance,” he said.

Mr. Tembo also challenged political parties in the country to place youth leadership skill at the centre of the 2011 elections.

He said AVAP wishes to see a country where political leaders are democratically mature unlike ones who breed politics of violence.

And government has pledged to support organizations that aim at promoting democracy and good government in the country.

Southern Province permanent Gladys Kristafor thanked AVAP for its consistence in supplementing government’s effort towards the realization of a liberalized Zambia.

“We must work together for us to make this country a better place so say no to violence we do not take pleasure to see what happened in Mufumbwe,”she said.

Ms Kristafor also urged the youths to take keen interest in understanding issues in politics such as the K5 bn that government allocated to the youth empowerment fund.

She said this when she officially opened the AVAP training workshop in Livingstone.

Recently President Rupiah Banda pledged to rebuild the churches and shops that where destroyed during the Mufumbwe by-elections.

ZANIS

The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) has warned that it has enough tools and machinery to silence all those insulting President Rupiah Banda.

MMD Lusaka Province Information Publicity Chairperson Greenock Lupambo said the opposition have not seen any reaction from MMD cadres yet but warned that what the party will do to those insulting the President will be regrettable.
He said the ruling party will not continue to have the President ridiculed in the media, stating that they are ready to protect, at any cost, the President from being insulted.

Meanwhile, Mr Lupambo has said the MMD Leadership in Lusaka is optimistic that the party will this time win back all the lost parliamentary seats in Lusaka Province during the 2011 elections.

He said the ruling party is working hard and seriously to ensure that they win all the seats at all costs.
He added that the party is receiving a lot of both financial and moral support from its partners to facilitate the party’s success in the 2011 elections.

[Q fm]