By CHILA NAMAIKO –

SPEAKER of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini has called for patience to allow the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to complete its process of selecting a company to print ballot papers for the August 11 general elections.
Dr Matibini made a ruling on United Party for National Development (UPND) Monze Central Member of Parliament (MP) Jack Mwiimbu, who rose on a point of order on why ECZ wanted to allegedly engage a company from Dubai to print the ballot papers at an exorbitant rate compared to what a South African firm could charge.
Dr Matibini said the ECZ was an autonomous body which made its own decisions without being instructed, and that instead of some people making insinuations, it was essential to give chance to the institution to operate within the precincts of the law.
“This will be the most inappropriate place to resolve an issue of that nature. In any event, we will be judges in our own case. There will be a contest which will be very difficult to resolve here.
“Let’s give ECZ an opportunity first and foremost to complete the process and, secondly, once the process has been completed, if there is dissatisfaction as I pointed out earlier, there are avenues of engagement with ECZ,” Dr Matibini said.
He said he had been following events surrounding the matter currently in the public domain in the print and electronic media and that the process by ECZ had not been concluded.
He said if there was any dispute, resolution could be pursued at two levels namely, the judicial system and the electoral body directly.
“If reference is made to the office of the Vice-President and of course you are inviting me implicitly to direct the Vice-President to respond to this particular matter, I also know that the legal regime establishing ECZ establishes it as a corporate body.
“It has its own juristic existence and further within that context of the legal regime, we as legislators, we have said that body shall not receive any direction from any person or authority,” he said.
Meanwhile, Health Deputy Minister Chitalu Chilufya told the House that numerous studies had been and were being undertaken by scientists worldwide to find a cure for HIV/AIDS.
He said the studies had focused on clinical trials of, among other areas, adaptive anti-inflammatory, anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and treatment intensification strategies.
So far, Dr Chilufya said there was still no known cure for HIV/AIDS and that what was known was that ART could lead to suppression of the virus.
“Mr Speaker, the herbal remedy study using Sondashi Formula (SF2000) is being conducted by the Tropical Diseases Research Centre in Zambia,” he said.
He was responding to UPND Lukulu West MP Misheck Mutelo who wanted to ask, during questions for oral answers, whether any scientific research had been conducted in and outside Zambia to find a cure for HIV/AIDS, and what the latest finding was.
Dr Chilufya said the ministry of Health and Higher Education had procured some of the equipment required to conduct the study and the capsules of SF2000 which were supposed to be used in the observation study of health volunteers were now in the country.
The observation studies using SF2000 were meant to verify the safety in a small number of health volunteers and once established, the formula would be tried among HIV-infected persons.