KAWAMBWA WAS NOT A WALKOVER – MULENGA
MINISTER of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipoka Mulenga says President Hakainde Hichilema’s deliverables and vision for the nation made it easy for the ruling party to scoop the Kawambwa parliamentary by-election.
Ruling UPND on Friday won the Kawambwa by-election after their candidate Nason Musonda polled 5,519 votes, with the closest rival Danstan Mwansa, who stood on New Congress Party (NCP) ticket but was de facto Tonse Alliance candidate, getting 3,896.
Kennedy Kapambwe of Socialist Party had 1,501 while United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia (UPPZ) candidate Kennedy Chomba obtained 185, with Peter Bwalya of Movement for Change and Equality (M4CE) on 68.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Mulenga, who is Chingola Member of Parliament, said voters in Kawambwa are happy about the massive developmental programmes such as the increased Constituency Development Fund (CDF), Social Cash Transfer and Cash for Work targeting to improve the lives of vulnerable people.
Mr Mulenga said the timely delivery of farm inputs in the district, which was completely ignored by the past regime, made it easy for the UPND to win the by-election.
“We must understand that it is the deliverables and vision of the President that made it very easy for us to win the election before we even stepped foot there,” he said.
“Before the 2021 elections, it was practically impossible for the UPND to go into that area because they were stopped, they were beaten, their cars were being burnt and many other bad things were happening.
Zambia Daily Mail