THIS COUNTRY WILL DEGENARATE INTO ONE PARTY IF UPND MACHINATIONS ARE ENTERTAINED, CHARGES KABWITA
By Isaac Zulu
National Democratic Congress secretary general Charles Kabwita has charged that the UPND administration is engaging in machinations aimed at silencing political opponents.
Kabwita, in an interview, has said that President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND administration are using state institutions to oppress opposition political parties, with a view to ensuring that Zambia reverts to a one party.
“From there has been growing tendency by the UPND to silence opposition political parties from the time they formed government. We all remember that there is an audio that went viral where Presidential political advisor Levy Ngoma and Home Affairs permanent secretary Josephs Akafumba were consipiring to block the Democratic Party, which was then under the leadership of my brother Harry Kalaba, from contesting the Kabwata parliamentary by-election. We reported Mr Josephs Akafumba to the Anti-Corruption Commission, but to date nothing has happened,” Kabwita said. “And it is not only the DP that the UPND was trying to frustrate, but they have gone to an extent of trying to deregister the National Democratic Congress using Mr Josephs Akafumba, as permanent secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. We have now seen a situation where Patriot Front candidates that were scheduled to file in nominations in the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections have been barred from doing so. This has not happened before in this country. And if this is allowed to continue, this country will degenerate into a one party state. The UPND administration is engaging in machinations aimed at silencing political opponents. We have noticed those growing tendencies that amount to autocratic tendencies being exhibited by President Hakainde Hichilema.”
He wondered why the barring of Bowman Lusambo to file in his nominations for the Kabushi parliamentary by-election coincided with his summoning by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
“How many times are you going to summon Bowman Lusambo? Ninshi ifyo mwipusha Lusambo tafitampa, no kupwa? (You mean the issues that you have been summoning Bowman Lusambo for have no beginning and the end?). You have decided to use the Electoral Commission of Zambia to bar Honourable Bowman Lusambo and Joe Malanji from filing in their nominations and yet, the Law Association of Zambia has said that the two were not disqualified, but just had their parliamentary seats nullified,” Kabwita said. “The Law Association of Zambia has already given its interpretation of the law. So who is on the right side of law between the Electoral Commission of Zambia and LAZ? Further, I wish to state that there is a group claiming to be NDC that wrote a letter to the ECZ indicating that the National Democratic Congress party will not participate in the forthcoming Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections. We know that that group is sponsored by Mr Josephs Akafumba. And anything, any narrative from that group is coming from Mr Josephs Akafumba. Clearly, the UPND government wants to take us back to a one party state, which we rejected in 1990 and reverted to multiparty democracy.”
Kabwita further charged that GEARS Initiative executive director MacDonald Chipenzi is a UPND hired mouth piece.
“It is also in public domain that when the Patriot Front adopted Bowman Lusambo to recontest the Kabushi seat and Joe Malanji to recontest the Kwacha parliamentary seat, MacDonald Chipenzi was the first person to state that he is going to challenge the filing of nominations by the two PF adopted candidates,” Kabwita said. “And when I said that MacDonald Chipenzi is a UPND mouth piece, some people said Kabwita is mad. The truth of the matter is that Mr MacDonald Chipenzi is a hired UPND mouth piece. He does represent the views of his organisation, but the views of the UPND.”
He said that the departure of Patrick Nshindano from the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the “non renewal of the contract for Justice Essau Chulu is a ploy by the UPND government replace UPND aligned individuals to those positions.”
“My brother Patrick Nshindano did not leave the Electoral Commission of Zambia voluntarily. There were external forces that wanted him to do his job unprofessionally. Anyway, it’s good that Mr Patrick Nshindano ran his race professionally,” said Kabwita. “But we are also aware that they are doing this in order to perpetuate the UPND government’s stay in government. And that is why they want the ECZ to be run by individuals who are aligned to the UPND.” – Daily Revelation