President Sata to sworn-in Taima, Phiri amid protests from MMD

Republican President, Michael Sata is on Tuesday expected to sworn-in two embattled MMD members of Parliament, as deputy Ministers. These are MMD Solwezi East Constituency Member of Parliament, Richard Taima, whose portfolio remains unknown and his Mkaika’s David Phiri, as tourism deputy Minister. This comes at the time when the MMD plans to expel seven of its Members of Parliament (MP) for accepting to serve in the PF government. On Sunday MMD President, Nevers Mumba stormed State house in an attempt to seek clarification from Mr. Sata over his continued appointment of MMD members of Parliament to the PF Government without consulting the party. Both Taima and Phiri have since accepted the presidential appointment defying their party’s directive not to do so. Mr. Taima says his appointment is constitutionally supported, while Phiri justifies his acceptance of his appointment as purely on principle and desire to serve the Zambian people to the best of his ability. The duo contends there is nothing sinister in accepting Presidential appointments because he is not narrow minded like other politicians. The duo spoke to this reporter in a telephone interview.

“BABYISH” HH ADVISED TO GROW-UP

United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Hakainde Hichilema has been advised to stop his babyish approach towards issues of national importance. This follows the opposition leader’s correspondence to the head of state advising him to stop demeaning and insulting other people with impunity. But in his response to Mr. Hichilema, Mr. Sata has advised the opposition party leader to overcome his bitterness following his crashing defeat in last year’s elections. Mr. Sata says Mr. Hichilema’s attempt to hoodwink Zambians that he cares for them demonstrates self-centeredness and lack of humility. He also accuses the UPND leader of being a principle beneficiary of the country’s fraudulently economic policies that resulted in reckless privatization of companies. Ends………Dry

ZDDM accuses presidential aide of unproffessional conduct

Zambia Direct Democracy Movement P.O Box 34553 Lusaka Zambia E/mail: sakalaedwin92@yahoo.com PRESS STATEMENT We are extremely disappointed with Special Assistance for Press and Public Relation to President Michael Sata, George Chela’s behaviour towards Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) president Dr. Nevers Mumba last Sunday when he attempted to pay a surprise visit to Head of State to talk things out surrounding their differences. George Chela’s job does not include castigating leaders that go to see president, but to create an understanding between the people that have issues with the president and the president himself. In our view, the manner Chela behaved last Sunday when Dr. Mumba attempted to call-on the Head of State to talk things over with the Head of State can be described as unprofessional. If Chela behaved like a professional civil servant of which, he is supposed to be, he should have sat down with Dr. Mumba and taken note of his complain and advise Dr. Mumba that, since he did not have an appointment with the president, he was going to present his complaint to him and arrange for a meeting with him and would get back to him with a good reply than castigate him in front of cameras the way he did. One thing Chela need to know is he was employed a Special Assistance for Press and Public Relation to the president of the republic of Zambia and not president of the Patriotic Front which is the party in power. Chela should know that, Mr. Sata may be the president of the PF but his function as the Head of State supersede those of the party and when it come to performing those functions, and is required to perform as such. When it come to perform the function of being Special Assistance for Press and Public Relation to the president of Zambia, Chela should behave as a civil servant and not cadre PF. It was not PF that employed him. He was employed by the republic of Zambia. Chela should know that, Dr. Mumba is the not the first opposition political party president that went to see the president without an appointment. Prior to 2008, Mr. Sata made a surprise visit to late president Mwanawasa Levy at State house. Special Assistance for Press and Public Relation to Dr. Mwanawasa arranged that he (Mr. Sata) meet the president then and they talked things over and in the end the two leaders reconciled. The whole nation was happy that the two leaders’ people perceived to be sworn enemies had reconciled. The credit went to the person who facilitated the action. Supposing president Mwanawasa’s Special Assistance for Press and Public Relation, Jack Kala had prevented Mr. Sata from meeting the president then or had behaved the way Chela behaved towards Dr. Mumba last Sunday, what could have been the results? Perhaps, president Mwanawasa could have died without reconciling with his sworn enemy, president of the opposition Patriotic Front (PF), now president of the republic of Zambia, Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata. As a result of this action, President Michael Sata received credit from people as a person who loves peace. This act widened his chances of making it to the presidency in the just ended elections. People saw him as man of peace. Today he is president. It was folly for Chela to have prevented Dr. Mumba from talking things over with President Michael Sata. Who known the meeting he aborted could have been the beginning of many good things to come between President Michael Sata and the former ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). We as a political party condemn the action of performed by Chela to preventing Dr. Mumba to meet the president. We further condemn Chela himself because he is a danger to our growing democracy in Zambia. Our democracy depends on the dialogue Chela is trying to mutilate by preventing a progressive meeting between the president and the opposition political leaders. Edwin Sakala National Coordinator

Speech delivered by Zambia’s President, Michael Chilufya Sata, At The 6th Stop Cervical Cancer In Africa Conference On The Theme “A New Era In Cervical Cancer Prevention” In Lusaka

on behalf of the people of zambia and indeed on my own behalf, i have the pleasure to welcome you all to the 6th stop cervical cancer in africa conference whose theme is “a new era in cervical cancer prevention”. it is important to note that cancer is the world’s biggest killer and yet remains one of the groups or conditions which include preventable diseases. it accounts for approximately 250,000 deaths each year worldwide, over 95 percent which are in low and middle income countries. by 2030 cervical cancer is expected to kill 474,000 women per year. there is therefore need to prevent cancer at all cost, hence the need to take this conference seriously, as we aptly address this year’s theme. we in zambia, consider the hosting of this conference an honour. we hope that the experiences we will share will be of benefit to you. equally, we look forward to learning the progress made in other countries in the fight against cancer of the cervix. cancer in zambia, especially cervical cancer, is emerging as a major public health problem which can be attributed to rapid change in lifestyles and infectious agents like the human papilloma virus and hiv pandemic. although the focus of this conference is cervical cancer, i am equally concerned about cancers in men like prostate cancer. since there is an increase in cancers in men, efforts to address this scourge should also be heightened. ladies and gentlemen the holding of this conference is in line with the call for the african region to respond to this epidemic which is a serious challenge to the attainment of internationally agreed development goals. the government of the republic of zambia has a vision of making zambia attain the status of a higher middle income country as enshrined in the vision 2030 document. zambia is also on the race to meet the millennium development goals and indeed implement the recommendations of the world health assembly on non-communicable diseases including cancer. it is important to mention here that the first un high level meeting on non-communicable diseases and the signing of the political declaration supporting prevention and control of these devastating conditions was held last year. heads of state recognised the importance of having an international community and international cooperation assisting member states in the developing world to complement national efforts in generating an effective response to non-communicable diseases such as cancer of the cervix. good health is an essential prerequisite for national development. the government is committed to increase the budgetary allocation to the health sector from the current levels to at least 15 percent of the national budget in accordance with the abuja protocols and ensure actual releases. i am pleased to inform you that this year, we increased the funding to health by 45 percent. ladies and gentlemen our vision is “to provide the people of zambia with equity of access to cost effective, quality health care as close to the family as possible”. the vehicle to achieving this vision is primary health care. to achieve this, i am proud to say that one of the first things my government did when we came to power was to set up the ministry of community development maternal and child health. undoubtedly, this will facilitate more women accessing health services including screening for cancer of the cervix since this ministry interacts with mothers and children at community level. we believe women and children are cardinal to development. ladies and gentlemen infrastructure development is key in the dispensation of health services. my government is therefore constructing hospitals, health centres and health posts all over the country. currently, we are building 21 hospitals and 125 health centres. a further 650 health posts will be built. it’s worth mentioning at this point that we have embarked on the expansion of the cancer diseases hospital to strengthen provision of quality care for our people. as a matter of fact, government opened a centre of excellence for cancer control, screening, treatment and capacity building and we hope to take these services to lower facilities. the government is furthermore re-aligning the essential medicines like anti-cancer drugs, arv’s, anti-malarials, anti-biotics and commodities for emergency obstetric care. for transparency we have rationalized the procurement and supply chain for medicines and have developed a medical equipment policy to standardize procurement and maintenance of all hospital equipment in the country. ladies and gentlemen government is committed to promote functional and organizational reforms in the health sector in line with the overall strategy of increasing efficiency and improving standards in service delivery. we should eliminate corruption at all levels of health care so that we promote prudent use of resources to benefit those who are targeted and build confidence in our cooperating partners. the patriotic front government is determined to address and remedy the implementation of coordinated social and economic initiatives through the empowerment of zambians while recognizing the important role the donor community plays in complementing these initiatives. government is working with various cooperating partners, local and international, to fight cancer of the cervix. of note, is the support provided by president bush of the united states of america through the pink ribbon red ribbon initiative. in addition, pharmaceutical companies merck and gsk have contributed vaccines against the hpv virus to vaccinate 66,000 school going girls. we shall therefore promote access of cost effective vaccinations to prevent infections associated with cancers, as part of national immunization schedules. in conjunction with our partners we are also scaling up cost effective cancer screening programmes. this, as i mentioned earlier, is not a fight for the ministry of health alone! strong advocacy and commitment by all stakeholders is needed for cancer prevention and control. together we can do it! yes together we can defeat the scourge. distinguished ladies and gentlemen let me commend you for your attendance at this meeting. i am confident that with this level of commitment we will forge ahead to safeguard the lives of our health especially those of our women. defeating cancer will take all the commitment and ingenuity that we can summon; it is time to think creatively and to break paradigms. lastly, i will pay attention to all the activities and interventions that will follow this conference in zambia and will expect reports on the progress of all the interventions that will be undertaken following the knowledge and skill that will be acquired from this very important conference. my government and i will strive towards making zambia cervical cancer free. it is now my singular honour and pleasure to declare this meeting officially open. i thank you and god bless you.

"Childish" Mumba disappoints PF

The Patriotic Front (PF) is concerned about the desperate behaviour exhibited by MMD leader Pastor Nevers Mumba, whose decision to storm State House in the company of well-known thugs and violent gangsters like Scorpion Kadobi is aimed at instigating violence and is a deliberate attempt to undermine, harrass and bring the Office of the President into disrepute. These schemes by Pastor Mumba are cheap and desperate schemes under the guise of dialogue. If Pastor Mumba's visit to State House was in good faith, he would have silently sought for an appointment using civil channels without dragging the media along and accompanied by thugs. Mr. Mumba was looking for cheap publicity as a way of inciting people against a duly elected President. We in the PF would like to know if this is the "punch-for-punch" politics Pastor Mumba has been talking about. We want Pastor Mumba to tell the nation if this is the pattern of behaviour he wants to use to resolve issues - The pattern of mobilising thugs against a Head of State. Since yesterday when this incident happened, we have received a lot of messages from well-meaning MMD members, who are embarrassed by the conduct of their leader. Many of them are regretting the day former president Rupiah Banda handed pastor Mumba the party leadership. But then we also, in some way, sympathise with Pastor Mumba, because he is a troubled man. He has found himself alienated from his own party that he is claiming to be leading. He has just realised that the MMD has been transferred to Mr. Hakainde Hichilema by his own former president Mr. Rupiah Banda, who handpicked him. This is a frustrating situation for Pastor Mumba, but we urge him to be strong and redirect his battles to those who have pulled the carpet from beneath his feet, and not to PF. President Sata or PF has nothing to do with the schemes that are going on between MMD and UPND. PF is in government and the focus right now is to deliver to the Zambian people. That is why we strongly urge Pastor Mumba to stop this disruptive behaviour and allow government to do its work while he sorts out his problems with Mr. Banda and Mr. Hichilema. Mr. Wynter M. Kabimba, ODS Secretary General Patriotic Front (PF)