GET ENGAGED IN DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES, WIGNARAJA URGES ZAMBIAN YOUTH

UNITED Nations (UN) Resident Co-ordinator and UNDP Resident representative Kanni Wignaraja has advised the youth to get engaged and stay engaged in the democratic processes as their country goes for the presidential and general elections.
In a speech to commemorate International Youth Day, which falls on August 11, Wignaraja urged the youth to maintain Zambia’s two-decade history of pluralism, democracy and peaceful elections.
“So get engaged and stay engaged in the democratic processes of your country. Zambia, with a two-decade history of pluralism, democracy and peaceful elections, is a role model for the region and we must keep it that way,” said Wignaraja.
Wignaraja asked the youth to demand for high quality of education and job related skills that goes with it.
“It is through this that you can take in your hands the economic opportunities available and be leaders and entrepreneurs in your own right,” Wignaraja said.
Wignaraja urged the youth to stand firm for the values and principles that would ensure a society that respects human rights and stands strong against corruption, and engage with a spirit of voluntarism.
“Put your idea, time and energy to work towards the goals of human development and make sure Zambia achieves its MDGs. This requires its young people to give selflessly in the service of their local communities,” Wignaraja said. “And recognize and promote the role and contribution of girls and women in equal measure and with equal respect. A country that ignores or disrespects more than half of its population just cannot move ahead, and will not achieve a higher human development status.”
Wignaraja said the true transformations of a country were tied to the youth’s values, dreams and aspirations to always make it a better place for each and every one, irrespective of age, colour, gender, religion or ethnic origin.
“ Stand by these principles as you go to cast your vote on 20th September, and ensure not just a peaceful, just and free election, but a peaceful, just and free Zambia for generations to come. It is in your hands!” said Wignaraja.
The global theme for this year’s International Youth Day is ‘Change Our World’.

VEEP FILES IN HIS NOMINATION PAPERS FOR MUCHINGA SEAT

Vice President George Kunda today successfully filed in his nomination papers as MMD party candidate for Mchinga Constituency in Serenje district.

Mr. Kunda arrived at Kanona Basic School which is a nomination centre at 09:00 hours before he was ushered in, to file in his papers.

ZANIS reports from Serenje District that Vice President’s wife Irene, and MMD Nation Executive Committee member, immediate past Defence Minister Dr. Kalombo Mwansa and other 9 MMD supporters witnessed the nomination.

Mr. Kunda filed his nomination papers before Mchinga Constituency returning officer William Banda.

And Mr. Kunda swore before Mr. Banda to comply and observe by the provisions of the electoral code of conduct regulations.

He pledged that the MMD and its supporters will observe the electoral code of conduct during campaigns and elections.

And the Returning Officer Banda declared Mr. Kunda as duly MMD Parliamentary candidate after meeting all the requirements.

And later Mr. Kunda processed to Kanona Township to address MMD cadres after successfully filling in his nomination papers.

Addressing scores of MMD cadres and Kanona township residents, Mr. Kunda reaffirmed government’s commitment to filling its electoral promises.

Mr. Kunda told the MMD cadres that government will continue with its social and economic programmes in a bid to improve the welfare of Zambians.

He said government will also construct three high schools in Kanana, Chibale and Mailo.

Mr. Kunda further said government will continue constructing clinics in outline areas in order to provide quality health service to the people.

And Mr. Kunda took the opportunity to introduce Kanona ward local government candidate Mr. Johnson Changwe.

The Vice President urged Zambians to vote for President Rupiah Banda and the MMD in the 20^th September tripartite elections in order to ensure consolidation of social and economic development that the country has attained in the last few years.

ZANIS

RB RALLY IN GEAR IN CHIPATA AS CHIPATA ELECTORATE VOW TO GIVE RB ANOTHER VOTE

Preparations for President Rupiah Banda's rally in Chipata, Eastern Province is in top gear.

President Banda

The rally  is slated for Chipata Golf Course on Saturday August 13 and is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of Chipata residents.

A check by ZANIS at the venue in Chipata today found workers busy putting the place in order.

It  will be President Banda's second public rally after successfully filling in his nominations with the first one being in Kembe Constituency, in Central province, yesterday.

Speaking in an interview Chipata District MMD Chairperson Sinoya Mwale said MMD members countrywide are anxious and ready to kick start campaigns that will see President Rupiah Banda and the MMD being given another five year mandate.

Mr Mwale said all is set for intense campaigns in Eastern Province as the party has mobilized members at all grassroots levels, adding that come 20 September, victory for the MMD is guaranteed.

He assured President Banda that he would get 99 percent of the votes in Eastern Province because of the unprecedented achievements his administration has managed to record in the three years he has been in office.

Mr Mwale further stated that President Banda is an automatic favourite for the electorates because of his good leadership qualities.

And the Chipata District MMD Chairperson stated that his party will conduct issue based campaigns based on what on what the party has managed to do since taking over the gopvernance of the country.

Mr Mwale said the party will also conduct violent free campaigns because it believes that violence is detrimental to the social and economic development of any country.

He advised other political parties to desist from perpetuating violence but concentrate on selling themselves to the electorates, saying each political party has a manifesto that it must concentrate on selling to the people.

Mr Mwale said the MMD has so far sold its manifesto well and people are able to see and appreciate that the party has never swayed from what it has being promising the people.

Meanwhile, residents of Chipata Central Constituency in Eastern Province have vowed to give President Rupiah Banda and the MMD another term in office because of the good policies the MMD Government has being implementing.

ZANIS reports from Chipata that several residents expressed confidence in separate  in Chipata today that the MMD government under President Banda is a success story needing to be given another term.

“ The MMD government under President Banda has built roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in a short period of time that has immensely helped in uplifting the standard of living of the people throughout the country, “ they said.

One of the residents Esnala Phiri noted that the MMD government under President Banda has worked tirelessly to develop the country and that records are there for all to see.

Ms Phiri said Government's good policies in agriculture have seen the country registering two successive bumper harvests that have helped to secure food security for the country.

She further noted that there is increased foreign direct investment into the country that has resulted in wealth and job creation for the local people in the country.

“ Government's women empowerment programme has helped a lot of families to come out of poverty as women were able to access loans to start small businesses to sustain their families, “ she said .

She said President Banda therefore deserves another chance to govern the country in order for the country to sustain the achievements it has recorded so far and also to complete projects his administration has embarked on.

Her colleague ,  Rogers Soko has advised all Zambians to safeguard peace and unity as the country goes to the polls.

Mr Soko said all well meaning Zambians must come out and denounce politicians who will want to fuel violence during the forthcoming elections.

He said Zambians should not allow what is happening in other countries to be replicated in the country as the nation was a naturally peaceful country.

He further called on the youths to reject violent politicians and all that have a propensity for violence.

Mr Soko said the nation should not slumber and allow peace to be disturbed, saying if that is let to happen, the country will risk losing all the economic gains it has managed to score over the years.

ZANIS

RUEBEN PHIRI SUCCESSFULLY FILES IN HIS NOMINATIONS

MMD Chipata aspiring candidate Reuben Phiri has successfully filed in his nomination for the 2011 tripartite elections.

Mr. Phiri who arrived at the Civic Centre with a huge MMD entourage around 10:30 hours successfully filed in his nomination before returning officer Michael Ngulube.

ZANIS reports from Chipata in Eastern province that Mr. Phiri said the MMD party will easily win back the seat.

Speaking to journalist after filing in his nomination papers,  Mr Phiri explained that this is because of the various developmental projects that MMD government has been implemented in the area.

Mr. Phiri pledged to continue the developmental projects the MMD government has initiated by the MMD government in the district.

He promised to give  priority  to sectors such as health, education, and transport as theses are critical to the social economic development of the country.

He stated that he will not underrate any of his opinioned butt will campaign vigorously to win the seat.

The UNPD, and PF were this afternoon expected to file in their nomination.

ZANIS

BRITISH LAWMAKERS MEET OVER RIOTS

Volunteers (R) clean London road in Croydon,

south of London, on August 10, 2011, following riots

in the area on Monday night. Photo/AF

Britain's parliament was to meet Thursday for a special session to discuss the worst riots in a generation as Prime Minister David Cameron pledged a fightback and authorised the use of water cannon.

Bolstered police forces on Wednesday maintained calm in the worst-hit cities while courts remained open through the night to deal with hundreds of suspected rioters and looters.

Police rounded up a group of around 150 men in the south London region of Eltham while an uneasy peace prevailed in Birmingham where three Asian men were hit and killed by a car while defending their community from looters on Tuesday.

"We needed a fightback and a fightback is underway," Cameron told a news conference outside 10 Downing Street after meeting top security officials following a fourth night of lawlessness and arson.

Cameron said he would "not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets" and credited the government's decision to boost police numbers in London to 16,000 overnight as having helped stem the tide of violence.

"We now have in place contingency plans for water cannon to be available at 24 hours' notice," the Conservative premier said, adding that police had already been authorised to use plastic bullets against rioters.

Water cannon have previously been used in the troubled province of Northern Ireland to tackle sectarian tensions but have never been deployed on mainland Britain.

Apart from attending the extraordinary parliamentary session, Cameron will also Thursday take part in a second emergency security committee meeting.

Cameron's tough new line came after he flew back from holiday in Tuscany on Tuesday to take charge of the biggest challenge to the Conservative-led coalition government since it came to power in May last year.

Police have arrested more than 1,100 people across the country since the riots erupted on Saturday in the north London district of Tottenham after police shot dead a man two days earlier.

Three courts in London were to stay open all night Wednesday to deal with riot cases. Police in Manchester in northwest England said two protesters were jailed on Wednesday, one for 16 weeks and one for 10.

Manchester and towns in the industrial English Midlands bore the brunt of Tuesday night's violence.

In Birmingham, Britain's second biggest city, police said they had arrested a man on suspicion of murder after an incident in which a car was driven into a group of people and three Asian Muslim men were killed.

Witnesses said the victims were protecting local shops from rioters.

"They lost their lives for other people, doing the job of the police," witness Mohammed Shakiel said.

Tariq Jahan, whose 21-year-old son Haroon Jahan was one of those killed, appealed to locals not to take revenge and called for the law to be allowed to take its course.

"Why are we doing this? I lost my son. Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home," Mr Jahan told the BBC.

The deaths take the toll from the riots so far to four after a man was found with a gunshot wound to the head in a car in south London.

In Manchester, masked gangs set fire to a girls' fashion store and smashed the glass entrance of the Arndale Centre, the city's main shopping mall, allowing hundreds of youths to run off with armfuls of clothes and shoes.

Elsewhere 200 rioters pelted police with missiles in the Toxteth area of the northwest city of Liverpool, which was rocked by huge riots in 1981.

Hooded rioters also set fire to buildings in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton in central England and a police station in nearby Nottingham was firebombed. There was also trouble in the western English town of Gloucester.

Meanwhile Libya on Wednesday joined international outcasts Iran and Zimbabwe in voicing scathing criticism of the British government over the riots, with the regime of strongman Moamer Kadhafi saying Cameron had "lost all legitimacy."

Only eight percent of Britons think government spending cuts are behind the recent riots -- the worst in a generation -- and most blame criminality and gang culture, a poll showed Thursday.

The nation is scrambling to pinpoint the factors behind the unprecedented scenes of violence, but rejected claims linking them to the government's austerity drive.

A poll conducted by the YouGov agency for Thursday's Sun newspaper said 42 percent of Britons blamed criminal behaviour for the disturbances, while 26 percent pointed the finger at a rise in gang culture.

One in 20 believed that unemployment was the main cause of the riots, which were sparked by the death of a London man in a police shooting, with a similar number blaming racial tensions.

Most Britons do not blame his government for causing the riots but are critical of his response to the mounting crisis: 57 percent of the 2,534 people surveyed on Monday and Tuesday said he has handled it badly.

Daily Nation - Kenya 

RB FILES HIS NOMINATION FOR SEPT POLLS

President Rupiah Banda has successfully filed in his nomination at the Supreme Court this morning ahead of the forthcoming elections.
President Banda arrived at the court around 10hours accompanied by First Lady, Thandiwe Banda, Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) National Secretary Richard Kachingwe, and Keembe Constituency Aspiring Candidate Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha.
President Banda called for peace during polls and pledged to continue his developmental programs if he bounces back into power after the September 20th elections.