SENIOR Chief Bright Nalubamba has been challenged to either join politics or stop engaging in political battles to avoid bringing his reputation as a traditional leader into disrepute.

Authentic Advocates for Justice and Development (AAJD) said this in reaction to Chief Nalubamba’s statement that President Rupiah Banda should stop associating with former president Frederick Chiluba because donors still perceived him to be corrupt.

In a story published last Friday, Chief Nalubamba was quoted as saying President Banda should not associate with Dr Chiluba because the donors did not regard the former president as an innocent person even after his acquittal.

“We read with a great sense of shock and fear sentiments attributed to Senior Chief Nalubamba that it was wrong for his excellency President Rupiah Banda to fraternise with former president Chiluba.

“Unless Senior Chief Nalubamba is saying that he does not respect the jurisdiction and verdict of our courts that acquitted Dr Chiluba, we are not surprised by his novel support and desire for donors to try and decide on matters that are purely Zambian,”

AAJD general secretary, Laiford Mwanza said.

Mr Mwanza said AAJD would have expected Senior Chief Nalubamba to put the interests of his subjects above those of the donors and was surprised by his failure to respect and uphold Zambia’s sovereignty.

He said Chief Nalubamba’s personal negative opinion of Dr Chiluba could not supercede the positive discernment of the former president’s personality by the majority Zambians.

He said Chief Nalubamba should have embraced and promoted the friendship between President Banda and Dr Chiluba if he was a fair-minded person.

He wondered why Chief Nalubamba had suddenly thrown himself into political battles that were likely to damage his image.

“Just a few weeks ago the same chief was quoted as saying that chiefs in Southern Province were not in support of President Banda when in fact it was not the case,” Mr Mwanza said.

[Times of Zambia]

MMD acting spokesperson Mike Mulongoti says Change Life Zambia founder Frank Bwalya should clear concerns that his organisation could be a political party.

Speaking in an interview yesterday, Mr Mulongoti said father Bwalya should state the objectives of his organisation.

“He should come out in the open so that people understand his organisation,” he said.

Mr Mulongoti was reacting to calls by Copperbelt MMD youths that Father Bwalya’s organisation must be scrutinsed to ensure that it is not a political party under the guise of a non-governmental organisation.

Mr Mulongoti said Father Bwalya owes the youths an explanation regarding their fears that he is using Change Life Zambia to realise his political ambitions.

“It is incumbent upon Father Bwalya to clear the concerns of the youths so that there are no questions about his organisation being a political party,” he said.[quote]

MMD youths have challenged Father Bwalya to declare that he has allegedly joined politics through the formation of his organisation.

Father Bwalya launched Change Life Zambia in Ndola on Saturday, saying formation of the organisation has been necessitated by continued poverty levels and other challenges the country is facing.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Write the vision [dream] and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.”
(Habakkuk 2:2, NKJV)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Have you ever known someone who had an exciting dream to do something great but did nothing to make it happen? It’s so important to act on the dreams that God has given you. You can take ownership of your dreams by planning and preparing for them. Remember, success is not accidental. Where do you see yourself in your career, finances or relationships? Put some action behind what you’re believing for. Maybe you don’t see how it can happen in the natural. The good news is you don’t have to have it all figured out. With your faith and obedience, God will work supernaturally in your situation to turn things around for good.

Believe in your dreams today. I encourage you to write down your short and long-range goals. Keep them in front of you so you will stay focused. When you make a move, God will direct your steps. He’ll make sure you come across the right people, at the right time. God will give you wisdom, insight and favor as you take steps to bring your dreams to pass.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

“Heavenly Father, thank You for the dreams You have given me. Today I will take steps toward seeing them come to pass. Help me to set goals and map out steps for victory so that I know where I’m going and how to accomplish my dreams. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Henry Kyambalesa

The National Constitutional Conference’s proposal to increase seats for Members of Parliament from 158 to 280 makes very sad reading, especially that it is coming at a time when tens of thousands of Grade 7 and Grade 9 students have continued to be spilled onto the streets every year, the healthcare system cannot meet the basic needs of the majority of citizens, the majority of Zambians have no access to clean water and electricity, a critical shortage of decent public housing has compelled so many of our fellow citizens to live in shanty townships nationwide, public infrastructure and services are still deficient, civil servants are still not adequately compensated for their services, crime and unemployment are still widespread, and, among many other socio-economic ills, taxes and interest rates are still very high.

It seems the huge allowances which members of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) are receiving have intoxicated them so much that they have become incapable of thinking about the catalogue of socio-economic woes which cannot be addressed mainly due to the lack of financial and material resources.

Zambia cannot afford to implement the proposal they have recommended. There is really no wisdom in seeking to increase the number of constituencies when some of the existing constituencies cannot even generate enough tax revenue to meet the cost of maintaining their MPs.

Rather than increase the number of MPs, we should actually have been considering the prospect of reducing the number and restricting their functions to legislative matters. Parliament would still be representative and able to function effectively as the legislative organ of our national government with only 72 elected MPs, for example, so that 1 MP could be elected from each of the existing 72 districts.

If we cannot reduce the number of MPs, we need to continue to have a Parliament with 158 members.[quote]

And MPs should not be involved in the implementation of development projects; this should be the function of government ministries and local authorities. Besides, the provinces are already saturated with such portfolios as District Commissioners, Provincial Ministers and Provincial Permanent Secretaries, all of which are supposed to complement the executive branch of the government in the implementation of development projects. To reiterate, we need to restrict the role of Parliament to legislative functions — that is, law-making.

Our country’s meager tax revenues will not be sufficient to maintain such a large Parliament and the highly bloated Cabinet. And we cannot continue to borrow until we push the country back into the debt trap. Besides, donor countries, too, are not likely to continue extending a helping hand while we continue to misuse our meager resources.

There is a need for NCC members and the government to realize that donor countries, like Zambia, do not have unlimited resources. They have to make do with scarce resources by going through public expenditures line by line, program by program, agency by agency, department by department, and ministry by ministry in order to eliminate unnecessary application of public funds.

We need to start doing the same in order to wean our country from its current addiction to loans, its over-dependence on donor funding, as well as attain economic independence and sustained socio-economic development mostly with our own local resources.