By Isaac Zulu
Patriot Front national chairman for elections Remember Chanda Mutale has accused the UPND of trying to bribe its candidates in the forthcoming Mongu mayoral and Luputu local government by-elections.
In an interview, Mutale disclosed that a day before nomination day some UPND members humiliated and intimidated PF members in their campaign centres in Mongu, with the sole purpose of instilling fear in them.
The Chitambo lawmaker explained that in Monze the ruling party approached the Patriot Front local government candidate with a view to bribe him so that he can withdraw from the race.
“In Mongu a day before nominations, our members were humiliated, they suffered intimidation so that they cannot campaign freely. In Luputu ward they approached our candidate in the night and offered him K10,000 so that he shouldn’t file in his nominations,” said explained Mutale.
He said if the UPND is popular, “as they claim, they should stop engaging in political intimidation.”
Mutale said that all things being equal, PF will scoop the Mongu mayoral by-election.
“This arrangement of pretending during the day whilst they are doing the complete opposite in the night should come to an end. The UPND should stop this thing of intimidating our members ahead of the by-elections. If they are popular as they claim, they square off with their political opponents, based on the exchange of ideas. If the by-elections won’t be characterised with what I have talked about, the Patriot Front will carry the day,” stressed Mutale.
The PF member of central committee charged that the UPND lied to the people and know that people have started “losing hope and confidence that the Zambian citizens had in them before last year’s general elections.”
“This issue of lying through your teeth, cheating through your teeth is slowly catching up with the UPND government. They are now failing to deliver on their campaign promises. Late Michael Sata told and taught us that you can’t eat with both hands. Choose which one you can eat better with,” said Mutale, who is also PF Central Province chairman.
