President Lungu Sworn In, Promises To Utilise Nuclear Energy

President Lungu takes oath of office

By Paul Shalala

President Edgar Lungu has been sworn in for a full five year term following the dismissal of several opposition election petitions which were aimed at stopping him from taking office.

This follows his victory in the August 11 general elections.

Last year in January, Mr Lungu was elected to serve the remaining term for his predecessor Michael Sata who died in London in October 2014 after an illness.

President Lungu took his oath of office before Chief Justice Ireen Mambilima at exactly 11:00 and his running mate Inonge Wina also took her oath as Vice President 4 minutes later.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, his Botswana counterpart Ian Khama and Vice Presidents from Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya were part of the international dignitaries who attended the inauguration which took place at the fully packed 60,000 capacity National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.

Several opposition leaders among them FDD’s Edith Nawakwi, Fourth Revolution leader Eric Chanda and Elias Chipimo of NAREP attended the event.

After being sworn in, President Lungu gave a 43 minute speech on a wide range of issues.

Its central theme was the need for unity, peace and development in the next five years.

Below are the summaries by sector:

Industrialisation

In his speech, President Lungu said Zambia needs to improve his manufacturing sector.

He further declared Kafue town, an iron and steel economic free zone.

This means that investors in this sector can now set up plants in the riverside town and exploit its huge potential.

Kafue hosts the country’s largest steel plant which is owned by Trade Kings, a holding company for several subsidiary companies involved in several businesses.

The largely agricultural district also has a fertiliser manufacturing plant run by government.

Opposition

President Lungu thanked a number of opposition parties like the MMD and Christian Democratic Party which went into an alliance with the ruling Patriotic Front during the campaigns.

Vice President Wina with Presidents Khama and Mugabe

“There are no winners or losers at the moment. Zambians are the winners…….. No group of people will hold me ransom to serve their interests,” said President Lungu.

He said he will not disappoint all those who supported him and he will work hard to leave Zambia a better place than he found it.

President Lungu also paid glowing tribute to other opposition parties that contested against him.

He said they fought a good battle and he had nothing against them.

President Lungu also announced that he would visit all areas including Dundumwezi Constituency in Kalomo were he got 252 votes against 30,000 votes which UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema got.

“Am coming to Dundumwezi to thank those 252 voters. Without them I would not have won by 50 plus one. I want to develop all areas including where people did not vote for me.”

Energy

President Lungu announced that in the next five years, Zambia would invest in nuclear technology to boost its capacity to produce power.

With the current energy crisis which has been characterised by loadshedding, President Lungu hopes nuclear energy is the answer.

Zambia has huge deposits of uranium, a mineral which is used to produce nuclear energy.

 “I also have good news, exploration for oil and gas in underway in block 31 in the north of the country.”

Currently, the country heavily relies on hydro power whose equipment were installed over 50 years ago and are in desperate need of re-investment.

Post Election Violence

With the reports of people’s houses burnt and some displaced following the announcement of the election results last month, President Lungu has announced a commission of inquiry.

He says the inquiry will help the country learn lessons from what transpired.

A scene at the National Heroes Stadium

“We cannot look away when such things happen. Violence will not be tolerated,” he said.

Road Safety

This year, Zambia has recorded hundreds of deaths on the road and operating licences for some bus companies were even suspended.

In his inaugural speech, President Lungu vowed to use technology to protect travelers and reduce road accidents.

“No life must be lost carelessly on our roads. My office will work closely with the road traffic agencies to ensure we reduce on road traffic accidents.”

Earlier this year, the Road Transport and Safety Agency announced plans to pilot the use of Global Positioning System to detect over speeding buses especially on the Great North Road which annually claims hundreds of lives.

Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who had a thunderous welcome at the stadium, spoke on behalf of other international leaders who graced the event.

President Mugabe’s speech was punctuated by cheers from the crowd, the same way Zambians did two years ago when he spoke at the same venue during the country’s Jubilee celebrations in October 2014 when President Lungu was acting President.

In his unscripted speech, President Mugabe paid glowing tribute to Zambia for its historical role in the liberation struggle.

“The voice of freedom which started in Zambia became the voice of freedom to the whole continent of Africa.”

He also had words for Zambians: “This victory is the people’s victory. I congratulate all Zambians because this is your victory.”

The veteran Zimbabwean leader added that organisations which were trying to violently take over power must not be tolerated in a democratic country.

Zambia Adopts New Electoral Rules, Sets Elections On 11 August

By Paul Shalala

President Lungu assenting to the Constitution Bill

Zambia has today adopted a new set of electoral laws that has set a new date for the forthcoming general elections and introduced what has been described as 'progressive clauses.'

This afternoon, Zambian President Edgar Lungu assented to the Constitution of Zambia Amendment Bill of 2015 which has come with several laws that had been eluding the Zambian people for decades.

Since the 1990s, Zambians had been submitting to countless Constitution Review Commissions to amend the electoral laws which date back to the colonial days.

Some of the laws Zambians have been seeking to be done away with include the first-past-the-post-takes-all electoral system and the appointment of a republican Vice President by the head of state.

Despite draft constitutions and reports being produced and circulated, successive governments have not been acting on the recommendations, rendering the whole constitution making process dead for years.

The signing ceremony was held this afternoon at the Chinese made National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, a site where the Zambian head of state was inaugurated as the country's sixth President 12 months ago after winning a tightly contested poll following the demise of Michael Sata.

"There comes a time when people's cries on an issue must come to an end....... As leaders, we have to listen to the voice of the people..... When i was being sworn in as President last year, i promise to give you a new constitution and here it is," said President Lungu.

He also reiterated his desire to have the rest of the draft constitution be passed through a referendum that he has tied to the next general elections set for later this year.

When the bill was tabled before parliament at the end of 2015, the ruling Patriotic Front allied itself with the opposition MMD to gunner the much needed votes to pass the bill which was opposed by the opposition UPND, FDD and ADD.

And in his speech, President Lungu acknowledged the role the MMD parliamentarians played.

"The MMD gives me hope with its civic roles it played in the house," he said as MMD President Nevers Mumba who was seated in the VIP section of the stadium nodded his head.

Among the electoral reforms the new law has brought is the 50 plus one majoritarian election of a president and the Vice President Running mate clause.

The new laws have set second Thursday of August every after five years as the election date.

This means that this year, Zambians will vote for their new President, Members of Parliament and Councillors on 11th August.

In the old constitution, Zambia's Presidents had the power to set an election date which stakeholders had complained that it was being used to disadvantage the opposition.

Further, the law has also adopted dual citizenship, a concept that scores of Zambians have been crying for, especially those in the diaspora.

To the delight of many, the requirement for all presidential candidates to have both their parents being born in Zambia has been scrapped off.

This is a law that was passed in the 1990s which many say was targeted at Zambia's founding father Dr. Kenneth Kaunda from participating in elections after he lost the 1991 democratic elections.

Despite this milestone for good governance campaigners, several civil society organisations and opposition political parties were opposed to the adoption of these progressive laws through parliament.

Operating under a loose consortium calling itself the Grand Coalition on The Enactment of a People Driven Constitution, non-governmental organisations even picketed parliament to block the bill last year.

On 23rd October 2014 when the final draft constitution was released, government announced it will adopt the contentious closes through Parliament and later subject the whole document to a national referendum.

But the Grand Coalition opposed the move opting for a referendum to adopt the whole document before the general elections.

Even after the bill was passed by law makers, the Grand Coalition even called on President Lungu not to assent to it.

With the enactment of these laws, the bigger job of enacting the whole constitution still lies ahead.

Zambia Parliament in session

The Bill of Rights, whose review triggers a referendum, is yet to be put on the ballot and as promised by President Lungu, will be voted together with candidates for President, Members of Parliament and Councillors on 11th August.

In May 2015, Justice Minister Ngosa Simbyakula announced that government had appointed Commissioners of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) as members of the Referendum Commission.

This means that the ECZ will conduct the 2016 General Elections simultaneously with the referendum on the constitution.

According to the Referendum Act, all Zambians in possession of the green National Registration Card are eligible to vote in the referendum which is usually conducted in a YES or NO fashion.

Paul Shalala Scoops 2014 ZANEC Online Media Innovation Award

ZANEC Chairperson Elly Mwale handing over the award to Mr Shalala

Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) reporter Paul Shalala has scooped the Best Online Media Innovation Award at the 2014 ZANEC Media Awards held last night in Lusaka.

The awards where hosted by the Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) to award journalists who have showed excellence in reporting on education issues this year.

Mr Shalala’s award winning story was published on his blog The Zambian Analyst on 12^th September, 2014 and it profiled over 20, 000 teachers who have formed a facebook group and a WhatsApp group to share best practices of teaching pupils across the country.

The story also showed how the interaction among teachers through social media was improving education standards as veteran teachers where using these platforms to mentor the new comers in the fraternity on how to come up with lesson plans and how to teach in class.

The Zambia Teachers Forum Facebook group has over 15,000 members while the WhatsApp group has over 5,000 members.

The award winning story can be read here: http://paulshalala.blogspot.com/2014/09/over-20000-teachers-using-social-media.html

This is the second media award Mr Shalala has won this year.

On 14th November this year, Mr Shalala received Second Prize during the 2014 Africa Fact Checking Media Awards held in Nairobi, Kenya for his story on the impact of multi-national mining investments on Zambia's food security.

ZNBC Deputy Assignments Editor Jeff Banda also scooped the overall award for the Television category.

Mr Banda’s story on the challenges faced by school going pupils to access education in Vubwi District of Eastern Province, earned him the award.

Paul Shalala and Jeff Banda (left) during the awards gala

The duo of Doreen Nawa and Violet Mengo of the Zambia Daily Mail scooped the overall prize in the print category while Lawrence Lihusha of Radio Christian Voice walked away with the overall radio award.

Henry Kabwe, Chairperson of the 2014 ZANEC Media Awards Committee, told the awards gala that 15 entries here submitted by seven journalists for judging.

“We looked for quality of the stories, innovation, impact of the stories and whether they raised issues of human rights. It is from this criteria that we chose the winning entries,” said Kabwe,  who is also chairperson of the Media Network on Children’s Rights and Development.

Meanwhile, during the awards gala, ZANEC Executive Director Grace Manyonga called for more efforts by Zambia stakeholders to achieve several goals on education set at the international level.

And opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) President Edith Nawakwi, who spoke during the awards, said there was need to decentralize decision making in the education sector to the district level.

“Western Province has one of the lowest pass rates in the country because the Ministry of Education has not understood what is going on. The area floods a lot and pupils are cut off from schools. So we need to decentralize so that education authorities in Kalabo District can set the education calendar for themselves,” said Nawakwi, who is for the second time in three years running for Zambia’s presidential elections in 2015 as the only female candidate.

Sata and the Hang Parliament

By Paul Shalala

With the current composition of parliament were the ruling Patriotic Front has no two thirds majority, an alliance or a coalition government now looks likely.

According to official results, the PF has 60 seats; the MMD has 55 seats while the UPND has 28 seats.

The ADD and FDD has one seat each while three seats are held by independents.

Two more seats (Magoye, Nakonde) are yet to be decided following deaths by some candidates in the run up to the 20 September 2011 general elections.

This means that the country has a hang parliament, a situation were no party has the two thirds majority in the house.

According to the full list of recently elected Members of Parliament as released by the Electoral Commission of Zambia, no party gunnered the two thirds majority needed to control the house in terms of voting power.

Unlike the last parliament were the former ruling party MMD had more than 70 MPs including more opposition rebel lawmakers who used to vote with them, the current ruling party the Patriotic Front, does not have enough numbers in parliament.

Despite President Michael Sata having the privilege to nominate 8 more people to parliament which will bring the number of PF MPs to 68, the numbers will still be short of the two thirds of the voting power in the house.

Therefore, to avoid a crisis in passing laws in the house now that it is a hang parliament, the ruling PF is likely to enter into an alliance with one or two of the opposition parties with representation in parliament.

The most likely partner will be the UPND whose 28 MPs may help increase the PF’s control of the house way beyond the two thirds majority needed to pass laws and avoid what happened in Malawi were the opposition dominated parliament was refusing to pass laws proposed by the government which had few MPs in parliament.

Despite falling out earlier this year after the break up of the PF-UPND Pact, the two parties may still burry their differences, make it up and form a coalition government or an alliance for the smooth running of the legislature.

The other option would be to co-opt moderate or first time lawmakers from the former ruling MMD or co-opt the three independent MPs as well as the FDD and ADD whose seats may increase the PF’s grip on the house in parliament.

Despite being a new phenomena in Zambia, hang parliaments are a common occurrence after elections in many parts of the world.

Britain has a hang parliament following the failure by any of the major political parties to win with an absolute majority in the House of Commons after the last elections and that situation forced the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition government to avoid a constitution crisis.