Today's letters

Sun, 29 Jan 2017 10:43:34 +0000

LAZ president’s deluded semantics

Dear Editor,

I had a wry smile on my face as I pored over PF Lusaka Province youth chairman Kennedy Kamba’s “LAZ chief must go, demands PF” article in the January 27, 2017 issue of the Daily Nation.

Suffice it to say that Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Linda Kasonde should resign on professional grounds for failing to interpret the Constitution on President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility to contest the 2021 general elections.

Strange as it may appear, the LAZ president decided to remain mute even after she was asked to provide legal advice over the

constitutional interpretation of the matter.

But predictably, she was quick to condemn the PF secretary general Davis Mwila of allegedly having said that land, markets and bus stations should be given to the PF members and supporters to administer and asked President Edgar Lungu to discipline the PF secretary general over the same allegations.

But cynics and critics have labelled her a sanctimonious hypocrite with a habit of demonising the ruling party and exalting the UPND as legal fantasy for the UPND top honchos.

In spite of her anti-PF leanings, she still wants to continue leading LAZ right up to the end of her term in office.

Can we just say that the argument that this brand of deluded semantics packaged in the LAZ president’s legal opinion has failed to win some of us over?

By and large, our attitude is that Linda Kasonde paints a picture of the UPND being law-abiding and how conflicts erupt because of the PF’s wrong-doing.

Seriously, I would say hard luck to Linda Kasonde not because I want to see a dying LAZ in the country, but because I think it is time for her to get real about the subject of President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility to contest the 2021 general elections rather than deluding herself with fantasies and accusations of the PF secretary general of having said that land, markets and bus stations should be given to the PF members and supporters to administer.

Mubanga Luchembe

LUSAKA

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It is unfair to label all drug stores illegal

Dear Editor,

The Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (AZMRA) says all drug stores in Zambia are operating illegally because they are not covered by pharmacists.

I find that unsettling and absurd.

Drug stores are an integral component of Zambia’s private sector that is complementing government efforts in providing medicines to our people in areas that government is not able to reach and service.

The mere fact that drug stores are not able to afford or have access to pharmacists is not their fault.

How many pharmacists does government churn out every year? How many pharmacists can one find in a place like Soft Katongo in Kasama, for example? And how many of our small drug stores can afford a pharmacist?

When regulatory authorities are formulating regulations, it is imperative that they take into consideration the prevailing social economic situation on the ground instead of dreaming on AGOA-like draconian rules that tend to favour the rich and Zambians of Asian origin in our case.

I personally find our ZAMRA regulations to be so prohibitive in almost all facets.

I also do not agree with the assertion that drug store owners are involved in illegal activities such as procuring of stolen medicines from government health institutions.

These people are hardworking Zambians that buy stocks from reputable sources. Of course, we have a few exceptions.

Going forward, I propose that ZAMRA takes frantic steps in regularising operations of all drug stores by giving training to all drug store owners in the country.

John Noel Lungu

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Can HH please stop dreaming?

Dear Editor,

Now that the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) has again pointed out that President Edgar Lungu won the August 11 general elections despite the pre and post-elections being characterised by violence, that should be enough to make UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema go to bed with the truth.

It is as bold as brass, HH lost the 2016 elections to President Edgar Chagwa Lungu-thanks to regional voting pattern which left HH smarting in minority regions. He sincerely forgot that politics is about numbers-not anger or use of tribe or regions. That does not always work.

So for the sake of him and those who are still in a fantasy world, CCMG  has just released a report  in which it says it observed that procedure was followed on the day of voting and counting of the ballots and that the announced results reflected the ballots that were cast at each polling station.

According to CCMG Patriotic Front (PF) President Edgar Lungu scooped the general elections with 50.2 percent followed by the United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema who got 47.8 percent of the votes.

It can’t be clearer than this unless someone wants to be difficult for nothing.

So, if HH continues to claim that he won the 2016 presidential elections, one can only assume he wants to create anarchy in the nation for his benefit.

He knows that if Zambia becomes ungovernable, even President Lungu will find it hard to reign, but luckily for Mr Lungu he was elected by the majority of Zambians. The beauty of figures in politics.

UPND in its present form will not go into government because it is terribly tribal. It needs to go national.

Let the party go for a convention to start with so that it can elect new leaders with a national character; men and women who will be able to sell themselves in any part of Zambia not because they are this or that tribe but because they have what it takes to be a leader.

In any case if HH thinks he is that popular why is he scared of a convention? Let him prove his popularity although I personally doubt that he could make it this time round.

But with the kind of opposition Zambia has today, President Lungu will easily sail through in 2021. It is just a matter of time.

Julius Bwalya