I’LL ENACT LAW REQUIRING PARTIES TO DISCLOSE SOURCES OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS – MUNDUBILE
TONSE Alliance faction president Brian Mundubile says he will enact a law that will compel political parties to disclose their campaign funding sources and set limits on expenditure to prevent corruption.
Mundubile adds that all Tonse Alliance campaigns rely on contributions from ordinary members, who provide vehicles, food and water to support the alliance.
Last week, Minister of Information and Media Cornelius Mweetwa said President Hakainde Hichilema would mobilise resources locally to fund his election campaign.
In an interview, Mundubile said the strength of a political party lies in its supporters, noting that campaigns backed by membership contributions go a long way.
“One day I look forward to the time that we’ll enact a law that will compel political parties to disclose their funding. It’s important that like other countries do, they actually put a ceiling on how much a political party can put in its campaigns. This is meant to stop corrupt activities behind campaigns. When you enact a law that puts a ceiling on how much you can employ on campaigns, it helps the country, it helps the Zambian people because then you don’t have people coming in to fund these elections and later dictate policies of that particular country.
Many countries have failed to develop because of that, so when we hear that the President will fund [his campaigns] using his money and we see how well funded the recent campaigns have been, look at the money that went into Chawama, look at the money that went into Kasama, look at the money that went into Petauke, the money that went into Lumezi, Kawambwa and all these places. You clearly see that there is a lot of money that is employed in these campaigns, then one wonders where this money is coming from,” Mundubile said.
“So, as president of the alliance, we’ll endeavour to enact laws that will ensure that elections are not funded by people who will later come and begin to demand policies that favour them and not the Zambian people. That of course raises a number of questions because campaigns are very expensive as it were, if one says he’s going to fund the campaigns with his own money then you begin to wonder because it’s a lot of money.
The strength of a political party is based on the supporters. If one should say the campaigns will be supported by the supporters of the party then yes because when you have membership it goes a long way. But if a single person says I will fund the campaigns, then it raises a lot of questions”.
And commenting on social media allegations that his campaigns were funded by Agro Fuel owner Shashikant Patel ahead of the August general elections, Mundubile refuted the reports.
“I want to state that there is no truth in that and the people quoted and the company’s name, I have never had any personal engagement with them, I have never met them before. What is important to note is that people must understand that Zambians are awake, Zambians will only follow a leader that is focused, a leader that they feel will bring development to this country. A leader that they feel will unite this country, so people should desist from creating stories on account of the growing popularity of the alliance.
The alliance relies on its support from contributions of ordinary members, ordinary members of the alliance contribute their vehicles to be used by the alliance, they contribute food, they contribute water and so on. So, it must be understood very clearly that this alliance draws from pro-poor policies, it’s the strength of this alliance, [that’s] why it’s unstoppable because it is anchored on the support of its membership,” said Mundubile.
“So, ignore all social media stories alleging that there are some big funders behind us, we don’t have that money, you would have seen it. What we have is just the people’s support, and not the money that they think we have. I think I wouldn’t delve into how the President wants to fund his campaigns, because then I’ll be feeding into the people that are speculating.
You know the UPND is the party in power, the time HH was elected into power, they were sowing cash everywhere, so I’m not surprised to hear that he will fund the campaigns with his own money. So, this time around if he is funding with his own money so to speak and it’s a lot of money, we have seen a lot of money spent in these campaigns”.
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