In the current global system, a country without a vibrant financial (services) sector would be difficult to conceive because even the most obscure nations have a record of electronic financial transactions – irrespective of how small. For Zambia, the financial sector in its current form was created after the liberalisation exercise of 1991. Hitherto, the same heavy reliance on copper that we currently exhibit was more worrisome because assets were subjected to political and centralised decision making. Government owned all commercial activity to the extent that political decisions were superim ..read more

By LUCY PHIRI A STATE witness has told the Lusaka Magistrate Court that he never came across any corrupt practices in the procurement of the Gulfstream G650 Presidential jet. Mr Kennedy Chikumbi, a procurement specialist at Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) said in cross examination that he never came across any corrupt practices in respect to the proceedings and the procurement of the Gulfstream before the court. Mr Chikumbi was testifying in a case in which former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Stardy Mwale and five others pleaded not guilty to three counts of willf ..read more

By GRACE CHAILE FIVE political detainees, including Edith Nawakwi, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president, Dr Dan Pule, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party (CDP), Brebner Changala, the civil rights and political activist, Munir Zulu, the Lemezi law maker and Maureen Mabonga, the Mfuwe Parliamentarian were yesterday charged with various charges ranging from espionage, seditious practices and inciting tribal war. The five political detainees have so far remained in police custody after the State denied them bail and it is not known as to whether they will be able to be ..read more

By RICHARD MULONGA It was difficult to connect and relate the direct consequences of the Russian-Ukraine war on Zambia when the conflict began in 2022. In fact, this war was perceived as a foreign undertaking, too far away from Zambia to have any direct or potential negative impact on Zambian life. Apart from political narratives such as the expected price increase of commodities like wheat and fertilizer after Russia imposed export bans following US and European sanctions, nothing else was considered proximal to Zambia. The immediate past president of the Economics Association of Zambia, Dr L ..read more

By NATION REPORTER “HAD I known that former President Edgar Lungu was interested in remaining the leader of the Patriotic Front (PF) and consider contesting the 2026 general elections, I would have stepped aside,” expelled Matero Member of Parliament Miles Sampa has claimed Mr Sampa said he did not know that former President Lungu was interested in coming back to active politics, and that had he known, he would have stepped aside and given him chance to fulfil his desires. Mr Sampa said it was unfortunate that former President Lungu decided to declare interest after he had already staged his c ..read more

By NATION REPORTER STATE House has denied any involvement of President Hakainde Hichilema in the continued harassment and persecution of his predecessor Edgar Lungu and his family by the law enforcement agencies. But Saboi Imboela, the National Democratic Congress president says it is certain that President Hichilema is out to fix former President Lungu as a way of exacting vengeance and retribution. Former President Edgar Lungu has accused President Hichilema and the UPND regime of having gone after him and had been harassing his family using law enforcement agencies. The former head of State ..read more

By NATION REPORTER NASON Msoni, All Congress Party (ACP) president says the recent and continued arrests of opposition leaders shall be the quickest way of removing the UPND from government. Mr Msoni said the arrests of opposition personalities such as Ms Edith Nawakwi, the president for Forum for Democracy and Development, Dan Pule of the Christian Democratic Party (CDP), Brebner Changala, a governance activist, Ms Maureen Mabonga, the opposition PF MP for Mfuwe and Mr Munir Zulu an independent vocal MP for Lumezi had sent a bad signal to the international community. “But on the positive side ..read more

By NATION REPORTER DAIMONE Siulapwa, a political analyst says the systematic crackdown on human rights by the UPND has reached a critical stage and is urging Zambians to defend the country’s threatened democracy under President Hakainde Hichilema’s administration. Mr Siulapwa said he was deeply concerned that rampant human rights violations had become the norm under the Hichilema administration. “From early last year, his administration has been methodically silencing dissent and stifling opposition,” he said in his write up dubbed “I write what I like.” Mr Siulapwa said police had consistentl ..read more

By NATION REPORTER CHIEF Nkambo, the House of Chiefs Chairperson has urged Zambians to unite and focus on fighting poverty instead of dwelling on regionalism. Chief Nkambo said poverty was the country’s common enemy which every citizen should strive to tackle and not expend energies at fighting one another on tribal lines. “What united our forefathers was one enemy which was colonialism but for this generation, our common enemy is poverty and under development and these are things we should fight instead of fighting amongst ourselves,” Chief Nkambo said in an interview yesterday. He said Zambi ..read more

By NATION REPORTER THE Church should cut its rhetoric of reconciliation between President Hakainde Hichilema and his predecessor former President Edgar Lungu and directly summon the two leaders at a neutral venue and allow them to talk to each other to simmer the tension that has gripped the nation, Paradius Sakala has said. Mr Sakala, the former Sinda District Commissioner, says the Church should be at the centre of reconciling President Hichilema and former President Lungu for the political tension to be defused. Mr Sakala said the Church should not leave it up to the two leaders to reconcil ..read more