EDGAR and MUGABE CONFER

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Edgar Lungu has met Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to exchange notes on the happenings in both countries’ ruling parties.
Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba said Mr Mugabe’s ZANU-PF was a sister party of the PF and that both parties recently came from holding general conferences, hence the need for them to meet and brief each other.
“The meeting was meant to provide an opportunity for the two leaders to brief each other on their respective just-ended party conferences and current issues affecting the two parties.
“This meeting was important in many respects, including the fact that Mr Mugabe is SADC chairperson,” he said.

Mr Kalaba dispelled rumours that Mr Lungu had travelled to Zimbabwe to source funds for elections and that the PF had received enough support from well-wishers locally and would not need external help.
Mr Lungu also told Mr Mugabe he was confident that Zambia’s democracy had matured and that the country’s politics had become positively competitive.
He assured him that unity had returned in the ruling party and the January 20, 2015 presidential election would be held under a free and fair environment.
Mr Lungu, who is minister of Justice and Defence, said the PF underwent a sad period of internal wrangles and needed to demonstrate that the issues were now resolved.
“I, therefore, expect that we should all have this confidence and be ready to accept the outcome of the January 20 presidential election results,” he said.
PF secretary general Davis Chama said that PF had initiated a lot of development in the country which had made it easy for the party to campaign and be able to convince the electorate that once Mr Lungu was elected it would continue.
University of Zambia (UNZA) students pledged to support Mr Lungu because he was coming from a party which had shown serious vision to develop the nation and that voting for another party would jeopardise the development that had already been seen.
Goodhope Mwewa, who represented other students, said the students decided to come out in the open at this stage because it had become evident that PF was the only party with convincing and genuine ideas on how it hoped to further develop the country.
“We are not bought, we have been waiting because we wanted to listen to what other political parties have to offer. So far it is just the PF who have convinced us that they can deliver,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Kalaba received credentials from two honourary consulate generals for Greece, Michail Knoupnik and Guinea Bissau’s Franco Nulli, respectively, and asked them to continue strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.
Mr Knoupnik and Mr Nulli pledged to improve the economies of the two countries through increased economic ties in agriculture, mining and exchange of school programmes which had existed for years.
Mr Kalaba also advised newly-appointed International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) representative Abla Benhammuche and her counterpart at International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Abibutou Wane to be abreast with both agriculture and migration matters in order to know how to handle such matters amicably.

Times of Zambia