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By GRACE CHAILE

TEN UPND cadres who were accused of burning Lusaka City Market in 2017, will be compensated K1 million each by the State for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

In a consent judgement dated July 13, 2023, signed by Lusaka High Court Judge, Situmbeko Chocho, the Attorney General, Mulilo Kabesha, agreed to compensate the plaintiffs K1 million each and K700, 000 for legal fees.

“That the defendant shall pay each plaintiff the sum of K1 million as damages. That the defendant shall pay costs in the sum of K700, 000. That the above shall be full and final settlement of all the claims in this matter,” read the document.

The 10 are Michael Tembo, Njwau Sitali, Mainza Chongo, Mulenga Chileshe and Wonder Nakazuba.

Others are David Samba, Sitali Mukuni, Biggie Mubanga, Zhyinga Kahiata and James Hambulo.

In a statement of claim filed last year, Tembo and others stated that they were not only members of UPND but also businessmen. They were on different dates between June and July, 2017 arrested on allegations of burning City Market.

The litigants said they were arrested and detained without committing the alleged offence but for merely being suspected members of the then opposition UPND.

“The plaintiffs shall aver that during their time in detention they were subjected to inhuman, degrading and ill treatment at the hands of the Police officers. The plaintiffs shall further aver that they were subjected to humiliating treatment and torture,” they stated.

Tembo stated that after 112 days without charge or being accorded an opportunity to appear before any court of law, they were released unconditionally on August 16, 2017.

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By NATION REPORTER 

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema says efforts must be made to ensure that there is peace and security in the SADC region.

Mr Hichilema, who has officially assumed the chairmanship of the SADC organ for politics, defence and security cooperation said like his predecessors he would strive to ensure that stability was maintained in the SADC region.

The President has taken over from Namibian President Dr. Hage Geingob.

He said stability was key to economic growth in SADC countries and that it was important for leaders to ensure that they maintained peace.

President Hichilema said instability anywhere is instability everywhere and that Africa had seen instability in West Africa, including in the SADC region in Mozambique.

He said instability made it impossible to deliver better lives and that it was important for countries to rise to the occasion and ensure that peace prevailed.

President Hichilema said he would work closely with his predecessor, Dr. Geingob, to gain from his experiences.

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…but Stafford Mulusa, the North-West UPND boss says Kanema remains suspended and on his own for illegally collecting money against President Hichilema directive

By NATION REPORTER

BRUCE Kanema, the UPND North-Western province youth chairperson has declared his suspension from the ruling party null and void because Stafford Mulusa, the government Chief Whip has no powers and authority to excommunicate a senior member of the party.

But Mr Mulusa says the UPND is done with Mr Kanema and he shall therefore remain suspended from the ruling party until he successfully appeals to the national management committee  

Mr Kanema, the North-Western UPND strong man has fallen out of favour with the ruling party for openly criticising the its leadership and Cabinet Ministers whom he has accused of collapsing the party.

On Wednesday, Mr Mulusa suspended Mr Kanema on allegations that he had collected K2, 700 from bus stations, which allegations he has rubbished.

But Mr Kanema said Mr Mulusa had no powers to suspend him and therefore the disciplinary action was null and void.

“Tell Mr Mulusa that he has no authority to suspend me from the UPND. When I was supporting and sponsoring the UPND, Mr Mulusa was eating in the MMD. When I was struggling to ensure the UPND grew strong, Mr Mulusa was with the Patriotic Front. 

He has no powers to suspend me and such a disciplinary action can only be taken by the national management committee. So let him know that my suspension is null and void,” Mr Kanema said.

He said Mr Mulusa had a personal grudge against him and that he had been grabbing businesses and sharing it with his family members.

But Mr Mulusa said Mr Kanema had transgressed against President Hakainde Hichilema’s directive against party cadres abusing government institutions by illegally collecting money.

Mr Mulusa said the UPND was formed on the platform of discipline and that any member who would be found disrespecting public institutions should know that they would not be protected by the party.

“Let Mr Kanema deal with his suspension and stop accusing people of things that are not there. He is not a member of the national management committee and I, as the North-Western UPND provincial chairman has suspended him and he shall remain suspended. We are done with him.”

The UND was formed on the platform of discipline and respect for government institutions. We do not want to leave government as the Patriotic Front did because of indiscipline. We are building a disciplined youth leadership that will respect government institutions and not abuse them,” Mr Mulusa said.

He said the UPND shall not allow its youths to be collecting from government institutions and that any youth who shall be found to be transgressing the party manifesto should know that they would be on their own.

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…as the five foreign nationals detained in connection with the gold scandal reject attempts that their aircraft be searched the second time three days after it was grounded and shipment seized

By NATION REPORTER 

THE search and seizure of the aircraft together with its cargo by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in the raging gold scandal has been described as irregular by the five detained foreign nationals including the crew.

And attempts by the DEC to conduct a second search on the seized aircrafts, 72 hours after the planes were grounded and had its shipment emptied and confiscated has been rebuffed.

The five foreign nationals through their attorney, Eric Silwamba, Jalasi & Linyama Legal Practitioners intend to take out the ancient Writ of Habeas Corpus Ad Subjiciendum and are now demanding that they should be released from dentation immediately.

Michael Adel Michel Botros, Walid Rafat Fahimi Botros Abelsayed, Yasser Mokhtar Abelghafor Elshishtawy, Mounir Shaker Gerges Awad and Mohammed Abdelhak Mohammed Gouda have warned the DEC director general, Mr Nason Banda that should he fail to release them, they would have no option but to drag him to the High Court in Zambia to show cause why he (Banda) had continued to detain them without charge.

The five foreign nationals have stated that they were detained on August 13, 2023 and that were still in custody of the DEC and that on Monday, a combined team of the law enforcement agents conducted rigorous searches on their aircraft which they used to land at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA).

“The said searches lasted until the night when the DEC issued a seizure notice wherein several items were purportedly taken custody of by your officers, including cash, passports and the aircraft itself. We wish to add that our clients and the crew were denied access to counsel during this whole process contrary to the Constitution of Zambia.”

“Upon issuing the seizure notice, and gaining possession of all the items contained therein, our clients and the crew on the aircraft were detained at Chelstone Police Station without being charged,” a demand letter from the lawyers states.  

The five foreign nationals stated that their aircraft had remained in possession and control of the DEC and that they had been denied access to the plane, including the crew. They complained that on Wednesday, the DEC administered warn-and-caution statements on allegations that they  were investigating a matter of giving false information to a public officer contrary to the provisions of section 106A of the Penal Code.

“We wish to confirm that we have had occasion to review the provisions of the law and would like to state that the purported warn-and-caution statements are incompetent and irregular as the same is premised on repealed law. Clearly, the continued dentetion of our clients is now illegal as the latitude you have to detain a person without charge has lapsed,” the lawyers stated.   

They revealed that yesterday, the officers from DEC approached them demanding that they (five foreign nationals) accompany them to the aircraft for an intended search of the aircraft three days after the seizure.

They stated that the intended search which was ex post facto seizure was procedural and a complete departure of established standards of conducting searches as the vessel in question had been during the material time under the custody and control of the DEC to their exclusion.

“Clearly, this process is characterised with gross irregularity as in reality, there is no new issue arising ex post facto and the purported searches cannot be conducted retrospectively. Our clients will not participate in a process that is characterised with gross illegality and you may proceed with your searches of the aircraft which in any event you have purportedly seized. All subsequent searches conducted after the seizure will not in any way invite our clients to be held liable in any way as the responsibility of any outcome thereof solely lies on DEC,” the lawyers stated.

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What if we could identify the earliest warning signs of cardiovascular disease from a simple saliva sample? Scientists think they have found a way to do so. Gum inflammation leads to periodontitis, which is linked with cardiovascular disease.

In trials, the antipsychotic drug brexpiprazole (Rexulti) failed to provide a clinically meaningful benefit and increased the risk of death. Yet the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has fast tracked its approval, making Rexulti the first antipsychotic for treating agitation in elderly patients with dementia.

Spectacles that are marketed to filter out blue light probably make no difference to eye strain caused by computer use or to sleep quality, according to a review of 17 randomized controlled trials of the best available evidence so far.

Aedan Donovan hadn’t been to the beach in years. Jesi Pick can finally comfortably take trash to the curb without a shirt on.

Crigler-Najjar syndrome is characterized by hyperbilirubinemia. If it is not treated quickly, the build-up of bilirubin, due to a deficiency in the enzyme UGT1A1 which is responsible for metabolizing it into a substance that can be eliminated by the body, can cause significant neurological damage and become fatal. At the current time, the only treatment is phototherapy of up to 12 hours per day or a liver transplant.

A new type of medication, JAK inhibitors, can effectively treat moderate to severe alopecia areata, a hair loss condition that has been historically hard to treat.