Alliance for a Better Zambia (ABZ) leader Frank Bwalya has given Times Printpak the publishers of Times of Zambia a nine-day ultimatum in which to retract a malicious story written against him.
And Fr Bwalya is also demanding payment of damages in the sum of One Million Kwacha (K 1,000,000.00) plus an appropriate apology whose wording and manner of publication should be expressly approved by him.
According to the letter written to Times of Zambia News Editor, Fr Bwalya said the his demands should be fulfilled within nine days from the date of this letter of demand failure to which he will have no option but to instruct his lawyers to commence legal proceedings against the publishers without any further recourse.
“I refer to an article that you published in your newspapers namely “Times of Zambia” on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 edition No. 15,884 on page 2 under the headline ‘ABZ breaching Electoral Code’.
“Motivated by your habitual malice against me you published the following libelous words against me quoting one Cosmo Mumba who is leader of a political party in Zambia called National Revolution Party (NRP); “… but we are having a problem with Father Frank Bwalya. “He is breaching the Electoral Code of Conduct. We passed through Situmbeko Market on Saturday and people there are wondering why we were just passing through without leaving them with any money.”
“You went ahead to publish the following words, “He (Cosmo Mumba) accused the ABZ of trying to corrupt the electorate in Katuba Constituency by allegedly dishing out money and challenged relevant authorities to investigate the matter,” the letter reads in parts.
The ordinary meaning of the words you published is that I Father Frank Bwalya is a lawless person or law breaker who has been breaching the Electoral Code of Conduct and that I am a corrupt person who has been dishing out money to voters to induce them to vote for the candidate that our party ABZ has fielded in the Katuba parliamentary by-election.
Fr Bwalya said these words published against him are extremely libelous and highly injurious because the obvious inference from these malicious words is that he is a corrupt person who is not fit to be a priest and Republican President.
He said the article and Times of Zambia have succeeded in lowering his image and character in the eyes of right thinking people.
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