SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST URGES UPND NOT TO ADOPT PF DEFECTORS AHEAD OF AUGUST POLLS
By Raphael Mulenga
Social and Political Anthropologist Dr. James Musonda has urged the ruling UPND not to adopt candidates who have defected from the Patriotic Front -PF- ahead of the August general elections, warning that doing so could damage the party’s credibility.
Dr. Musonda says the UPND has spent more than four years criticizing the PF for poor governance, dishonesty, and criminality, making it contradictory to later present former PF officials as candidates for public office.
In an interview with Phoenix News, Dr. Musonda has advised that the UPND to allow defectors to join the party but not field them as parliamentary or local government candidates to demonstrate consistency and strengthen the party’s image as a movement committed to cleaning up the country’s political system.
He further argued that politicians who abandon their former parties for political convenience raise questions about their principles and loyalty.
Dr. Musonda further said leaders who defect shortly before elections should not automatically be rewarded with adoption into key political positions and has appealed to UPND members at ward and constituency level to reject any attempts to impose former PF members as candidates in the upcoming general elections.
PHOENIX NEWS