Rupiah Banda Rais mpya wa Zambia

[Ladslaus Modest]

Wakuu wote JF, salam
Habari nilizozipata muda mfupi uliopita ni kuwa Mh. Rupiah Banda aliyekuwa anakaimu nafasi ya uraisi nchini Zambia, amechaguliwa kwa kura za kishindo kuwa rais mpya wa nchi hiyo na ameshaapishwa

Chanzo: BBC

 

[Ladslaus Modest]

Banda wins Zambia presidential poll
3 hours ago

LUSAKA (AFP) — Acting President Rupiah Banda on Sunday scored a narrow victory in Zambia's presidential race over fiery rival Michael Sata, whose supporters have staged protests over alleged vote fraud.

Banda won 40.09 percent of the vote to Sata's 38.13 percent, with nearly 1.8 million ballots cast, said Electoral Commission of Zambia chairwoman Florence Mumba.

Voter turnout out was 45 percent, she added.

Sata had been in the lead in the initial returns, but when Banda overtook him late Saturday, scores of opposition supporters marched through a crowded Lusaka slum, setting fire to market stalls and throwing stones in the streets, witnesses said.

Riot police fired tear-gas at the Patriotic Front (PF) supporters, who quickly dispersed, police spokesman Benny Kapeso told AFP.

"We intervened quickly and managed to bring the situation to normal," he said.

Sata won strong support in Lusaka and in copper-mining regions, which host most of Zambia's jobs, but Banda's support in rural farming areas boosted him to victory.

Zambia's security forces were put on high alert earlier this week, after opposition supporters and police scuffled in the tourist town of Livingstone.

Police maintained a strong presence at key points around the capital as the final results were announced.

Banda is expected to be sworn in later on Sunday as Zambia's fourth head of state, and some regional leaders are expected to attend the inauguration ceremony.

The Patriotic Front has already said it will not accept the results, launching fresh claims of vote fraud on Saturday and announcing that it would ask a court for a recount.

"The PF will not recognise Mr Banda until the court gives us reason to do so," party spokesman Given Lubinda told reporters Saturday.

Sata himself stormed into the Lusaka vote centre earlier Saturday and accused the ruling party of being "a bunch of thieves," saying the voter roll had been inflated in Banda's favour -- a charge denied by the election commission.

The African Union and the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) have also brushed aside claims of fraud, saying their observers declared the vote free and fair.

Banda will serve through 2011 to fill out the term of late president Levy Mwanawasa, who died in August after suffering a stroke.

Banda, 71, is a Western-educated former diplomat who campaigned on promises to maintain Mwanawasa's economic policies, which led Zambia through years of sustained growth.

He made his own populist pitch to rural farmers, slashing the price of fertiliser by 75 percent in the week before the election.

Although Mwanawasa reined in inflation and built up impressive foreign reserves, Zambia remains one of the world's poorest countries with more than 60 percent of the population living on less than two dollars a day.

Sata, also 71, ran on an anti-poverty campaign promising better jobs and housing.

He had also vowed to force foreign companies to hand 25 percent stakes to local investors, and is an open admirer of neighbouring Zimbabwe's controversial President Robert Mugabe.

Although he has little formal education, Sata is a shrewd political operator who rose to top level government before breaking off to form his own party.

He took several days to concede defeat after losing the last election to Mwanawasa. His supporters rioted for days in protest, but Sata says he never condoned the violence.

Source: AFP: Banda wins Zambia presidential poll

 

[Ladslaus Modest]

Banda sworn in as Zambian leader

Rupiah Banda has promised to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor
Zambia's acting head of state, Rupiah Banda, has been sworn in as president, just two hours after officials said he had narrowly won Thursday's election.

According to final results, Mr Banda beat the main opposition candidate, Michael Sata, by 40.1% to 38.1%.

Earlier, Mr Sata rejected the result, saying a "bunch of thieves" had stolen the vote. His Patriotic Front said it would go to court to demand a recount.

But African regional electoral monitors said voting had been free and fair.

The governing Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) said it recognised this was a moment of high emotion and tension, and urged all Zambians to calm down and work for unity and peace.

Security has been stepped up in the capital, Lusaka, amid fears of further unrest.

On Saturday evening, riot police fired tear gas at Mr Sata's supporters, who marched through a crowded Lusaka slum, setting fire to market stalls and throwing stones in the streets.

Mr Banda took over from President Levy Mwanawasa, who died in August having suffered a stroke a few months earlier.

The 71-year-old former diplomat and ex-vice-president has promised to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor.

Although Mr Mwanawasa reined in inflation and built up impressive foreign reserves, Zambia remains one of the world's poorest countries with more than 60% of the population living on less than $2 a day.

Mr Banda will serve until 2011, when Mr Mwanawasa's term would have ended.


Source: BBC NEWS | Africa | Banda sworn in as Zambian leader

 

[Ladslaus Modest]

Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata in Lusaka.
Zambia's opposition leader Michael Sata in Lusaka

 

[Ladslaus Modest]

Kaimu rais wa Zambia, Rupiah Banda ameapishwa kuwa rais wa nchi hiyo, masaa mawili baada ya maafisa kutangaza kuwa ameshinda kwa tofauti ya asilimia ndogo sana na mpinzani wake.
Kutokana na matokeo ya mwisho, Bw Banda amemshinda mpinzani wake mkuu Michael Sata kwa asilimia 40.1 kwa 38.1.

Hapo awali, Bw Sata alikataa matokeo hayo na kukishutumu chama tawala kwa kuiba kura.

Chama cha Bw Sata cha The Patriotic Front kimesema kitakwenda mahakamni kushinikiza kura hizo zihesabiwe upya.

Hata hivyo, waangalizi wa Jumuiya ya maendeleo na biashara ya mataifa ya kusini mwa Afrika, SADC wamesema uchaguzi huo ulikuwa wa huru na wa haki.

Chama tawala cha MMD kimesema kuwa kinatambua kuwa huu ni wakati wa wasiwasi mkubwa na hisia kali.

Lakini kimewasihi Wazambia wote kutokuwa na shaka na kufanya kazi kwa umoja na kwa amani.

Ulinzi uliongezwa mjini Lusaka kwa kuhofia kuwepo na ghasia.

Bwana Banda alichukua nafasi ya ukaimu rais mwezi Agosti kufuatia kifo cha rais Levy Mwanawasa.


Chanzo: BBCSwahili.com | Habari | Banda aapishwa kuwa rais Zambia

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Ladslaus Modest,

Shukran kwa hizi updates na tunaona kwa mara nyingine tena demokrasia ya
nchi za kiafrika zikichukua mkondo wake.

 

[Masatu]

Tusubiri series of vikao vya kutafuta "muafaka"....


Only in africa

 

[Ladslaus Modest]

Zambia president under fire as he is re-elected by narrow margin
The leader of Zambia’s ruling party has been accused of rigging elections after he was sworn back in as president after victory by a hair’s-breadth.

By Sebastien Berger in Lusaka
Last Updated: 5:10PM GMT 02 Nov 2008


Rupiah Banda beat Michael Sata — who had earlier had an advantage of more than 100,000 votes — by just 35,209 ballots out of almost 1.8 million cast.
The closeness of the result raised fears of possible violent outbursts by the populist opposition leader’s supporters and police used tear gas to disperse scores of protestors in the slum of Mandevu.
At the ceremony Mr Banda, 71, was watched by his 21-year-old wife Thandiwe, with Robert Mugabe sitting next to her.
Pledging to be “president of all Zambians”, Mr Banda appealed to the opposition: “For Zambians’ sake we will look forward, not back. The campaign is over, what is in the past must remain so. I offer my friendship to Michael Sata. It is not my intention to govern a divided nation.
As the Banda, of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), appeared to be on course for victory, Mr Sata, 71, a fiery populist, stormed into the results centre to denounce the vote as rigged.
Incandescent with rage, he brandished a column of numbers he said were “evidence”, without clearly explaining why.
He cried: “These are inflated figures. These are criminals, all of them, these are MMD criminals,” he said of the electoral commission. “They can fool others but they can’t fool me any more. The AU [African Union] and other monitors, they just came here for a holiday.”
With only one result to come, Mr Banda, 71, held an unassailable lead of 32,262 votes, out of almost 1.8 million cast. There were two other candidates and turnout was a poor 45 per cent.
“As the world turns, this is the victory we have been waiting for,” said Aka Mbikusita-Lewanika, founding national secretary of the governing Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD). “We have crushed the snake,” he told a colleague.
Under Zambian law Mr Banda cannot formally be declared winner until all the results are in, and various heads of state and their representatives were waiting in the capital today for the final tally and the ceremony.
But Mr Sata’s Patriotic Front, which claims the poll has been rigged, rejected the results and said it would challenge them in court.
“The elections have been very unfair,” said William Nsanda, its election chairman. “We know we won these elections. The figures have been manipulated. There’s a lot of evidence.
“We use the same symbols in parliament but African politics are completely different to European politics.” Nonetheless several observer groups, among them the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, have given the vote a clean bill of health, and Western diplomats said they had seen no proof of anything untoward.
Asked whether he would accept defeat, Mr Sata said: “I have not bloody lost so don’t waste my time. How do I accept it when I have not lost? These are fake reports, the results, the whole thing, the whole election is not free and fair.”
Mr Sata, an admirer of President Robert Mugabe, added: “You can run down Zimbabwe but you can’t run down me.”
It was an extraordinary performance, but observers pointed out that it could act as a signal to his supporters, many of them poverty-stricken residents of urban slums, to take to the streets if he loses.
“It’s in character, he’s not a calm person,” said Shambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika, founding national secretary of the MMD. “He’s normally disruptive, he’s an exhibitionist.
“It’s irresponsible for someone who was a government minister and who has ambitions to be leader of the nation.
“Thank God democracy does not discriminate at the point of giving everyone a chance to stand. Thank God a wide population are given a chance to choose.”
Eventually it emerged that Mr Sata had been referring to increased numbers of registered electors paving the way for ghost voting, even though the voters’ roll was supposed to be the same as 2006 – and in almost all constituencies that appeared to be the case, albeit usually by fewer than 50. His Patriotic Front party demanded that the count be suspended, citing that and other allegations.
But election commission officials explained that after the last vote, the register was updated with the names of those who had voting cards but did not appear on the lists.
“The changes that are being referred to as discrepancies are updates and corrections,” said Chris Akufuna, spokesman for the election commission, adding that all the parties had long been aware of them. “Alarmist statements,” he said, were “not good”.
Several monitoring groups have given the election a clean bill of health.

 

[AbdulKensington]

Why dont African leaders learn to concede defeat? Tatizo letu ni ubishi!

 

[Ben Saanane]

Hapa nina mashaka makubwa