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THE Patriotic front (PF) presidential elections shall be tough and it shall not be a walk in the garden because it is a contest of political heavyweights and it is my advice that Mumbi Phiri should have taken time before entering the ring, George Mpombo has said.

Dr Mpombo says Ms Phiri should critically reflect on her decision to contest the PF presidency because the former ruling party had political heavyweights who would be battling it out with the UPND leadership at the 2026 general elections.

Dr Mpombo said in an interview that while Ms. Phiri enjoyed her constitutional rights to contest the PF presidency, it was his opinion that the race for the PF presidency was not going the an easy one for the former PF secretary general.

 “I do not know if 12 months in prison is the basis of contesting but my opinion is she has a constitutional right to contest. Maybe she should have opted for something else because there are people who have been out there campaigning. She is welcome to contest, because we cannot stop anybody from contesting the presidency,’’ Dr Mpombo said.

Dr. Mpombo disclosed that what Ms. Phiri went through was a political affliction and the government used dubious ways to prevent the Mongu High Court to deliver its judgement on Ms Phiri.

“The whole process was a political affliction and the government used dubious ways to enter a nolle and how they were postponing the judgement and from the blues she was released,’’ he said.

Dr. Mpombo stated that if Ms. Phiri met the qualification, she should contest, she has all the right but she needs to be screened.

By SHERRY CHABALA

UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) National Trustee Grace Chivube has warned that the ruling party will have no option but to react to opposition political parties that are abusing their freedoms and disrespecting President Hakainde Hichilema.

Discovery of a gene in multiple mammalian species could pave the way for a highly effective, reversible and non-hormonal male contraceptive for humans and animals.

By NATION REPORTER

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema and his predecessor, Edgar Lungu should work together during this troubled period in which everything is seemingly falling apart, Nkana Member of Parliament Binwell Mpundu has said.

Mr Mpundu said the country needed to see a situation where the two senior states men held hands and talked to each other and work together to stabilise the country.

He said his call was not political but patriotic and that despite being young, his vision had so far seen so much and his mind was able to see trouble when it loomed.

Mr Mpundu said it is only issues above and many other issues that are going wrong that can only see the need for unity, especially among people whose voices and political stamina can add more meaning to efforts aimed at resolving these challenges. He said the state of the nation now was not about “these versus those” but about all Zambians.

“We are not doing ok with regards to food security and if this is not resolved, trouble looms and not far from now. The debt restructuring efforts are not going okay unless one chooses to be economic with the truth and the longer it takes for us to conclude these debt negotiations the more trouble this country will have because we may not even be able to have money for social spending let alone be able to meet the public wage bill obligations,” he said.

Mr Mpundu said the country last made its debt obligations in 2020 and when the debt obligations resumed the national purse would become so constricted that we may have trouble to breath.

He said the health sector vis-a-vis the drug situation was also another area that needed salvation and only God knows what is happening in the ministry of health despite allocating so much money towards the procurement of essential drugs.

A Purge of senior professional staff is underway at the Ministry of Health which has resulted into mass demotions and transfers of senior doctors to make way for preferred “politically inclined” candidates.

Details of how the gut microbiota changes during the first three months of life will be presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April).

COVID-19 vaccination directly saved at least 1,004,927 lives across Europe between December 2020 and March 2023, according to new research being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April).

In the highly vaccinated population of Queensland exposed to the Omicron variant, long COVID appears to manifest as a post-viral syndrome of no greater incidence or severity than seasonal influenza, according to new research being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April).

Metagenomic sequencing can provide rapid and actionable antimicrobial resistance predictions to treat bloodstream infections much faster than conventional laboratory tests, and has the potential to save lives and better manage the use of antibiotics, according to new research being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April).

Newborns of non-refugee immigrant females are at overall lower risk of serious illness and death than those of Canadian-born females in low-income neighborhoods in Ontario, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).