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.

Elias Chipimo Jr. Suspends His Presidential Campaigns

Chipimo campaigning in Mansa last week

By Paul Shalala

National Restoration Party (NAREP) presidential candidate Elias Chipimo, Jr. has suspended his campaigns ahead of the January 20, 2015 presidential election.

Mr Chipimo, who just returned from campaigning in Luapula and Northern Province, says he has suspended his campaign in order to sit by the bedside of his father Elias Chipimo Sr. who was diagnosed with stomach cancer and is admitted to a South African hospital.

He has however urged his supporters to continue campaigning in his absence.

Mr Chipimo says he has not endorsed any one of the other 10 presidential candidates as he still remains on the ballot paper.

This is the second time Mr Chipimo is contesting the presidency.

In 2011 he contested and lost.

Below is the press statement Mr Chipimo issued in Lusaka this morning:

Press Statement

SUSPENSION OF CAMPAIGN - Elias Chipimo

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We are entering the final phase of the presidential by-election and the stakes for our country remain as high as ever.

I became involved in politics in order to bring something fresh to the electorate - politics of ideas and solutions, not the hate and violence that has continued to dominate the news headlines. The journey has not been an easy one. It was never expected to be. We came into this process with a lot of hope but with no illusions.

I have visited rural community upon rural community over the course of the last five years since we launched our Party. As recently as yesterday, I visited a small village that borders the vast plains of the Luapula River in Samfya District. Learning that women in this village are still dying in childbirth because the nearest clinic is more than 13 kilometers away reminded me of what triggered my decision to join politics in the first place - the death of my mother in an appalling road accident along the Mpika/Kasama road in 2008 and the sad reality of our broken healthcare system.

That accident nearly took the life of my father as well. He survived only because through the sheer grace of God, we were able as a family to fly him to Lusaka and therefore save his life.

I knew in my heart that it could not be right that just because I had an education, a good income and a privileged upbringing, I should live in hope while others suffered needlessly. I therefore made the choice from the day we buried my mother, to do everything within my power to make a difference for those communities that have no chance of surviving a road accident or being able to save a dying relative.

My dedication to the journey we started nearly five years ago is as firm as ever and will never waiver. We shall continue to campaign and spread our message of hope and economic freedom for every Zambian, firmly believing that our approach and commitment have touched and will continue to touch the hearts of many.

Chipimo campaigning in Samfya last week

In the nine days of the campaign remaining, I have chosen to make an important decision - to temporarily suspend my campaign in order to spend time with the man who gave me life - my father. Just over three weeks ago, Dad was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Given his age and the extent to which the cancer appears to have spread, the prognosis does not look promising. I have had to come to terms with the prospect of sooner or later saying goodbye to an inspirational giant of a man whose lone voice spoke out bravely against the tyranny of the one party state in Zambia, at great personal cost.

My father has never looked back on his life with regret. He remains the fighter he has always been. But he needs his family around him now. He is currently in a cancer hospital in South Africa and being looked after by my sister who lives there and my other brothers and sisters that have travelled to be by his side. He needs to experience the blessing of having his three daughters and four sons by his side as he prepares to celebrate his 84th birthday. I do not know how many more days, weeks, months or years God will grant him. All I know is that there is a time for everything and I want to spend whatever time he has left on this earth assuring him, along with my brothers and sisters, of my love, support and admiration.

I ask that you all pray for my father as he battles through his cancer and that you respect my time away from the campaign to be with him. My time away does not amount to the end of our participation in the forth coming election and should not be read as a sign of endorsement of any candidate. I urge all our supporters across the country to continue with the campaigns in my absence and ensure that peace prevails wherever they go.

May God's grace be with you all.

Elias C. Chipimo, Jr

President
National Restoration Party

Sunday 11 January 2015

ECZ Runs Out Of Money For Continuous Voters Registration

Priscilla Isaac

By Paul Shalala

The Electoral commission of Zambia (ECZ) has disclosed that it is unable to conduct the continuous voter registration this year due to lack of funding.

ECZ Director Priscilla Isaac says the unending by-elections the country has witnessed this year have contributed to the loss of funds for voter education.

"This year we are unable to continue conducting the continuous voter registration exercise mainly due to lack of funds," said Isaac in an interview.

According to the Electoral Act, the ECZ is supposed to conduct voter registration through out the year.

The law however provides that the electoral body must halt the exercise in an event of parliamentary or local government by-elections.

Hakainde Hichilema

Meanwhile, Ms Isaac has disclosed that the commission will next year conduct a massive voter registration exercise ahead of the 2016 General Elections.

"For 2015, we are expected to conduct voter registration for the 2016 General Elections. This will be after we get funding from the National Budget," she said.

This year, the Electoral Commission of Zambia has conducted dozens of local government by-elections and several parliamentary by-elections which include Katuba, Kasenengwa, Mkushi South, Solwezi Central, Vubwi and Zambezi West.

Elias Chipimo Jr.

Currently, the ECZ is using the 2011 voters register which has 5, 167, 154 registered voters.

Opposition political parties have reacted angrily to this revelation.

"This shows how PF lacks priorities. If indeed government had priorities, continuous voters registration would have been well funded and supported," said Hakainde Hichilema, UPND President.

The failure by the ECZ to conduct continuous voter education is worrying because young people who have reached voting age will be defranchised," said Elias Chipimo Jr, NAREP President.

But ZADECO President Langton Sichome seems to have a solution to the problem.

"Let government come up with a supplementary which parliament can approve to allow the ECZ to conduct voter registration," said Sichone.

THE BATTLE FOR CHILANGA AND MPULUNGU

The battles for the Chilanga and Mpulungu parliamentary by-elections have now been declared following the filing of nominations on 7th October, 2010.

In Mpulungu, five candidates successfully filed in to replace late area parliamentarian Lameck Chibombamilimo who died in India a month ago.

These were ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD)’s Given Mungomba, Alex Mwazia of the National Restoration Party (NAREP), Freedom Sikazwe of the Patriotic Front (PF), Germaniko Simusokwe of United National Independence Party (UNIP) and Chilobwela Sinyangwe of the newly formed Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD).

Bearing in mind that the ruling MMD will be campaigning to retain ‘their seat’, the party will fight to the last blood to maintain its dominance in terms of the parliamentary seats it holds in the Northern Province.

Currently, the party has eleven of the 21 parliamentary seats in that province.

Most of these seats are in the northern part of the province and they stretch from Kaputa constituency in the west to Isoka East in the East. 

This means that all parliamentary seats bordering with neighbouring Tanzania are all held by the ruling party.

Mpulungu is right in the heart of the MMD ‘strongholds’ as it is sandwiched between MMD constituencies such as Chimbamilonga, Senga Hill and Mbala.

However, the opposition PF is said to have made impressive in-roads in Mpulungu though they expect a stiff fight if they are to turn the tables to their favour.

The PF is likely to use the hounding out of the late area MP from the MMD as one of their campaign issues.

Late Chibombamilimo was expelled from the party after President Rupiah Banda sacked him as Energy Deputy Minister when he accused him of being loyal to the media and not him.

The President vowed to follow him to his constituency in an event of a by-election but that day never came as the late MP died before his appeal against his expulsion could be disposed off by the courts of law.

In Chilanga constituency, four candidates have entered the race to replace former area member of parliament Ng’andu Magande who was expelled from the party a month ago.

These candidates are ruling MMD’s Keith Mukuta, United Party for National Development (UPND)’s Captain Cosmas Moono, Valerie Mukeleni of NAREP and UNIP’s Henry Silumesi.

With the campaigns already under way, all parties have what it takes to upset tables but the main contest (I think) will be between the MMD and the UPND as these seem to be well grounded on the Chilanga terrain.

This is so because the MMD will be riding at the back of incumbency while the UPND has a former area Member of Parliament as its candidate who a number of electorates may still remember. 

The vast Chilanga constituency borders the following constituencies both in Lusaka and Central Provinces: Katuba, Mwembeshi, Kafue, Kanyama and Chongwe.

It is this vastness which defines the distinct nature of voters in this constituency.

From what I can call Chilanga proper are people who are mostly civil servants and the working class, to the western part of the constituency are farmers and villagers.

Among these people are these various issues that may be at the heart of voters in Chilanga: poverty, farming, security and education.

It is this background that will help any of the four candidates to woo voters and win the seat.

In terms of the significance of the seat to the various political parties, if UPND’s Capt Moono wins, he will be getting back the seat he lost in 2006 and it will be his party’s only seat in the province at present.

If MMD’s Mukata carries the day, he will maintain a seat that his party has held tight since 2006. He will also ensure that the party maintains its five ‘rural’ seats in the entire province.

For NAREP’s Mukeleni, this is the first election the party is taking attempting since its inception early this year. She is likely to be the happiest of all looking at the possible historic significance of this seat to her party.

The country’s independence party UNIP is looking at Chilanga as the second seat they may have in the 150 seat Parliament of Zambia aside of Lundazi which is held by Home Affairs Minister Mkondo Lungu. The Chilanga seat will also help the almost forgotten and once ‘almighty’ party to rekindle its old glory.

As the people of Mpulungu and Chilanga cast their ballots on 30^th August 2010 (if at all the date won’t be changed), their task will be to choose an MP who will listen to their cries for development.

Pundits, commentators and political observers like me will keep an eye on every twist and turn on the campaign trail till the end.

For now, I expect the candidates to campaign wisely with issues and not character assassinations, so that voters can vote wisely irrespective of their party affiliations.

By Paul Shalala