STORIES FROM THE NEWS PAPERS The Zambia daily mail reports that A survey conducted by the Christian

Coalition has revealed that President Banda will win the 2011 tripartite elections with 37 percent of the vote. The survey also indicates that United Party for National Development president Hakainde Hichilema will come second, followed by Patriotic Front president Michael Sata with 21 percent and 16 percent of votes respectively. Coalition president Godwin Musonda said in Lusaka yesterday that the survey, which has been running for three months, has been conducted in all provinces in the country and will come to an end in July this year. Bishop Musonda said the survey requires that people state if they are registered voters, the province they represent and the candidate they would vote for and why. He said the survey, which is interne-based, has shown that voters would support President Banda because of his leadership qualities and sound development policies. Bishop Musonda also said some voters would opt for Mr Hichilema because they believe his party has a good manifesto. He, however, said some respondents would not state any other reason they would vote for the PF, other than political affiliation. "The voters said they wanted President Banda to continue developing the country and those who chose the PF said they would vote for the opposition party because they are members of that party," Bishop Musonda said. Bishop Musonda urged Zambians to remain calm as the country approaches elections to ensure peaceful polls. He said violence would negatively affect the development the country has achieved so far and it is important that violent activity is avoided at all costs. "Anarchy will destroy the development government has achieved and all well-meaning citizens should condemn any acts of violence," Bishop Musonda said. In another development, the Christian Coalition has urged the Catholic Church not to read out the communiqu sent to all its parishes this Sunday as planned. Coalition spokesperson John Mwendapole said reading the documents in church will just create more animosity. Mr Mwendapole said the Catholic Church should instead forgive those who have acted against it and resolve all the issues it has with government. "The Catholic Church should forgive everyone, for the sake of harmony in the country," Mr Mwendapole said.

The Catholic Church recently issued a communiqu to be read in all its parishes countrywide on Sunday, condemning critics of the church.

.. Times of zambia
THE Government has said it will soon introduce mobile kiosks at a cost of K5 billion to control vending in the country. Local Government and Housing Minister Brian Chituwo said workers had been identified as being among the major contributors to street vending in most urban areas because of their habit of buying merchandise from traders in undesignated areas. Dr Chituwo, who toured some parts of Lusaka town centre and markets to find the way forward on street vending, said the Government would not use force to remove people from streets but would discuss with them and reach a consensus on the need to regulate the street vending. Vendors cannot go to the streets if the working class buys from designated trading places. We have to operate a society guided by laws, he said. He said the council would attempt to respond to the needs of both the customers and traders by introducing mobile kiosks. He said it was unhealthy to see the amount of vending in the town centre, especially on Lumumba Road. The minister said the situation was complex and regretted the huge sums of money the Government was spending to ensure that people traded in designated and hygienic environments. Dr Chituwo said the Government would start with 1,000 mobile kiosks and the exercise would be rolled out afterwards. Each kiosk would cost K5 million but would be rented out to venders at an affordable rate. Some venders told the minister that they were on the streets because there was more business than in designated markets. Others said they were on the streets because the markets were full and that they had no trading places to go to. However, when Dr Chituwo toured some markets that included Woodlands and Kabulonga, the situation was different because most stands were vacant. Lusaka City Market manager Justin Kachinga told the delegation that the trend was the same in other markets as traders tended to abandon the markets citing lack of business as the major reason.


MMD national secretary Richard Kachingwe says dialogue is an important ingredient of sustainable economic development and democracy. Major Kachingwe said the spirit of reconciliation is good because it helps resolve issues of development amicably. He said in an interview in Lusaka on Wednesday that in the same manner the party has initiated dialogue with the Catholic Church, it has also re-opened discussions for inter-party dialogue to iron out wide-ranging issues before the tripartite elections. Maj Kachingwe said the party has also noted with sadness that it is being accused of planning to fund the parallel vote tabulation (PVT), which it has already condemned. "This is a blatant and the cheapest lie ever told by a newspaper in the recent past," he said. Maj Kachingwe said Government has stated before that PVT is illegal, and as a party that respects the rule of law, the MMD will never embark on or support any criminal activity. Meanwhile, Maj Kachingwe has said the party is disheartened by wild allegations by some former members such as Mr Milton Phiri, whose aim is to destroy the party. He said Zambians should not take Mr Phiri seriously because his attempt to resuscitate his economic fortunes using lies is dangerous. "As a party we may not rule out possibilities of dragging Mr Phiri to court so that he can prove his serious allegations against the head of State," he said. Maj Kachingwe said careless statements by politicians are dangerous and have the potential to drag the nation into civil unrest. He appealed to politicians to desist from using unpalatable language during campaigns instead of talking about developmental issues that will change the mindset of Zambians. Maj Kachingwe said the MMD has promised to lead the way like it has done before. He said the party will ensure that it sells its manifesto and promotes morality with good Christian values. Maj Kachingwe said MMD believes in the declaration of Zambia being a Christian nation and supporting Christian values. . Times

A FORMER Catholic nun and two others who have been charged with giving police false information with intent to cause fear and alarm were yesterday granted bail in the Chingola magistrates court. Appearing before Chingola magistrate Tamara Kakusa were Helen Lukanda, 43, a former nun and teacher at Sekela High School, Chezani Tembo, 36, of Ndolas Peter Singongo Township, and Emmanuel Chibawa, 30, of 20, Zambia Youth Avenue in Livingstone for mention and bail hearing. Particulars of offence were that the three between April 29 and May 14 this year jointly and whilst acting together published a rumour that Chibawa was abducted by Life Gospel Ministries Bishop Joseph Kazhila for ritual purposes, such rumour which caused fear and alarm to the public and was likely to have disturbed public peace contrary to Section 125 Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia. In the second charge, Lukanda on April 28 this year knowing that the information was false, gave it to detective Chief inspector Mwenda knowing that such information would likely cause Inspector Mwenda to act in the manner he was not supposed to have acted contrary to Section 67 of Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia. The accused persons denied the charges. Ms Kakusa granted the accused persons cash bails of K1 million each with conditions that they should present two working sureties to pay K5 million in their own recognisance. The matter was adjourned to June 13 this year for trial. And Chinese nationals charged with two counts of copper theft worth more than K250 million were yesterday granted bail by the Chingola magistrates court. In the first count, a director of a company Wu Zhi, 39, who was charged with theft of 109,000 kilogrammes of copper worth K252 million, was granted K10 million cash bail by Chingola resident magistrate Sililo Siloka. Particulars of the offence were that Zhi, a director at a company on plot 383 Solwezi Road in Chingola and a resident of 283, YWCA Hotel Road in Kitwe on an unknown date between May 1 and May 27 this year while jointly working with others not known stole 109,000 kilogrammes of Copper worth K252 million, property of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM). Zhi pleaded not guilty to the offence and his lawyer applied for bail. Mr Siloka granted him cash bail of K10 million with conditions that he presented two working sureties who should also pay a similar amount. He also ordered Zhi to hand over his passport to the authorities. The matter was adjourned to June 23 for trial.

Times
SENIOR Chief Mwewa of Samfya District has endorsed President Rupiah Banda as his preferred candidate for this years elections. The chief has also urged people across the country to vote for Mr Banda for him to continue with the good policies and development programmes for a full five-year term of office. The traditional leader said President Banda deserved another term of office because he had performed well in the last two years of being Zambias leader. He was speaking when Luapula Province Permanent Secretary Stephen Bwalya called on him at his palace. The chief cited agriculture, health and education as some of the economic sectors which the MMD Government under President Banda had improved. He said there was no need to change the Government this year because doing so would reverse the economic gains recorded so far. On agriculture, Chief Mwewa said there had been increased maize production in his chiefdom, adding that as a traditional ruler, he was now involved in maize growing due to the Farmer Input Support Programme. He was happy with the presence of water ambulances on Lake Bangweulu and the construction of a district hospital in Samfya. He said the ambulances and the new hospital would contribute to the delivery of better health services in the district. And Senior Chief Mwewa has praised President Banda for tolerating some sections of the media that have been disrespectful to him. He said if the president was not a good leader and did not respect freedom of the Press, he was going to have some community radio stations and private newspapers closed.