sinjeladerrick2011
THE RAINBOW NEWSPAPER - PAGE 15
Just Why Is Xavier Chungu Back In Town
By Comrade Derrick Sinjela
BETTER late than never is a British parlance of old that to greater extents explains the return of Zambia's much revered and feared past immediate Director General of the Zambia Intelligence Security Services (ZISS).
While one independent media columnist, hits the nail on the head that the Almighty Great Shu Shu Shu (James Bond 007), is back on account of preparedness, speculations are mounting that perhaps the compromised stance taken by Rupiah Bwezani Banda and his henchmen, could have prompted the Zambian Spy Wiz kid to return home.
Another political school of thought attributes the development to the uncontested fact that since the demise of the anti-corruption stalwart, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, to date it is difficult to find a determined anti-graft personality in the Zambian Government of Bwezani Banda.
Our court and prosecution system seems to be very much political as more often than not only those that are targeted by the state face the wrath of the law as evident by the manner characterising the run-up to the controversially held Presidential Bye-Elections on October 30, 2008.
Thus with little explanations bearing fruit on the timing of Xavier's return, many fear that the political grape vine will have a field day speculating.
Just as in politics itself, it seems in matters of graft they are neither permanent friends nor enemies given the realignments that were characteristic of the re-alignments that held sway in Zambia recently.
For the uninitiated, we saw, the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) patching up differences with Second Republican President, Dr Frederick Chiluba, and ironically witnessed First Republican President, Dr Kenneth David Kaunda, sharing the platform in support of Rupiah Banda. Perhaps with Rupiah in the saddle at State House, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) is equally comfortable eating on the same table with the MMD and of course sharing a bed.
The realignments are not limited to UNIP and Dr Chiluba, as Sakwiba Sikota, leader of the Liberal Party, yet another die-hard critic of the MMD Government, wholeheartedly supported Rupiah and the ruling party.
CSO Roundtable Post Election Update 2009
By McDonald Chipenzi
THE three (3) Election Monitoring Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) namely Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) and Zambia National Women's Lobby (ZNWL) organized a round
table discussion to review the 2008 presidential election.
The objective of the discussion was to allow participants to take stock, reflect and share experiences on the election and devise common strategies on the way forward. Among the participants present were from the Zambia Police Service, UPND, MMD, PF and Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Others were from the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), AVAP, FODEP, NGOCC, TIZ, MISA-Zambia, MECOZ and ZNWL. It was observed during the discussion that overall, the 2008 election results showed the ruling MMD was no longer enjoying its usual share of
nationwide support. On the ECZ results map, the discussants noted that the map to some extent misrepresented the actual status quo because the MMD support base in the last election reduced, in some cases with a big margin.
Nationally, the MMD's support base had dropped by three (3)
percent i.e. from 43% in 2006 to 40% in 2008. The discussants also noted that PF and UPND commanded significant support in the country which the map could not capture.
The low voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election reduced Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata's chances of winning the election and that had the voter turnout been high, Mr. Sata would perhaps have carried the day.
However, comparatively, from 2001 to 2008, PF is the only party that has been gaining in its vote share across the country. In the 2008 Presidential Election, PF was the only party that gained support in almost the nine (9) provinces. The UPND gained more support in Northwestern, Western and Southern provinces while the MMD gained more in Eastern Province, Lusaka and Southern provinces.
Media Ethics Council of Zambia (MECOZ) noted that specially on the complaint lodging structure and editorial comments. MECOZ attributed these weaknesses in the Code together with the
weaknesses in MECOZ's constitution to its failure to enforce the Code on media bodies to adhere to the acceptable ethics in their coverage of elections. The Council also noted that the lack of a media body to monitor media coverage during elections complicated the situation.
THE RAINBOW NEWSPAPER - PAGE 15
Just Why Is Xavier Chungu Back In Town
By Comrade Derrick Sinjela
BETTER late than never is a British parlance of old that to greater extents explains the return of Zambia's much revered and feared past immediate Director General of the Zambia Intelligence Security Services (ZISS).
While one independent media columnist, hits the nail on the head that the Almighty Great Shu Shu Shu (James Bond 007), is back on account of preparedness, speculations are mounting that perhaps the compromised stance taken by Rupiah Bwezani Banda and his henchmen, could have prompted the Zambian Spy Wiz kid to return home.
Another political school of thought attributes the development to the uncontested fact that since the demise of the anti-corruption stalwart, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, to date it is difficult to find a determined anti-graft personality in the Zambian Government of Bwezani Banda.
Our court and prosecution system seems to be very much political as more often than not only those that are targeted by the state face the wrath of the law as evident by the manner characterising the run-up to the controversially held Presidential Bye-Elections on October 30, 2008.
Thus with little explanations bearing fruit on the timing of Xavier's return, many fear that the political grape vine will have a field day speculating.
Just as in politics itself, it seems in matters of graft they are neither permanent friends nor enemies given the realignments that were characteristic of the re-alignments that held sway in Zambia recently.
For the uninitiated, we saw, the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) patching up differences with Second Republican President, Dr Frederick Chiluba, and ironically witnessed First Republican President, Dr Kenneth David Kaunda, sharing the platform in support of Rupiah Banda. Perhaps with Rupiah in the saddle at State House, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) is equally comfortable eating on the same table with the MMD and of course sharing a bed.
The realignments are not limited to UNIP and Dr Chiluba, as Sakwiba Sikota, leader of the Liberal Party, yet another die-hard critic of the MMD Government, wholeheartedly supported Rupiah and the ruling party.
CSO Roundtable Post Election Update 2009
By McDonald Chipenzi
THE three (3) Election Monitoring Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) namely Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) and Zambia National Women's Lobby (ZNWL) organized a round
table discussion to review the 2008 presidential election.
The objective of the discussion was to allow participants to take stock, reflect and share experiences on the election and devise common strategies on the way forward. Among the participants present were from the Zambia Police Service, UPND, MMD, PF and Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Others were from the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), AVAP, FODEP, NGOCC, TIZ, MISA-Zambia, MECOZ and ZNWL. It was observed during the discussion that overall, the 2008 election results showed the ruling MMD was no longer enjoying its usual share of
nationwide support. On the ECZ results map, the discussants noted that the map to some extent misrepresented the actual status quo because the MMD support base in the last election reduced, in some cases with a big margin.
Nationally, the MMD's support base had dropped by three (3)
percent i.e. from 43% in 2006 to 40% in 2008. The discussants also noted that PF and UPND commanded significant support in the country which the map could not capture.
The low voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election reduced Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata's chances of winning the election and that had the voter turnout been high, Mr. Sata would perhaps have carried the day.
However, comparatively, from 2001 to 2008, PF is the only party that has been gaining in its vote share across the country. In the 2008 Presidential Election, PF was the only party that gained support in almost the nine (9) provinces. The UPND gained more support in Northwestern, Western and Southern provinces while the MMD gained more in Eastern Province, Lusaka and Southern provinces.
Media Ethics Council of Zambia (MECOZ) noted that specially on the complaint lodging structure and editorial comments. MECOZ attributed these weaknesses in the Code together with the
weaknesses in MECOZ's constitution to its failure to enforce the Code on media bodies to adhere to the acceptable ethics in their coverage of elections. The Council also noted that the lack of a media body to monitor media coverage during elections complicated the situation.