TONSE PROBLEMS ENDED WHEN I WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT – MUNDUBILE

TONSE PROBLEMS ENDED WHEN I WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT – MUNDUBILE

TONSE Alliance faction President Brian Mundubile says the alliance’s problems ended when he was elected leader.

Mundubile says those who accuse him of being a UPND project are actually the ones doing paid-for tricks with the ruling party to cause confusion in the opposition.

Meanwhile, Mundubile says the current ECZ cannot be said to be independent and has demanded that changes be made to remove “UPND cadres” from running the commission.

Speaking when he appeared on BM8 Unfiltered, Mundubile said as Tonse president, he was talking to PF members and those outside to work with him.

“Problems in Tonse ended. There was a congress last week on 28 January where president Brian Mundubile was elected Tonse president. The process was credible, transparent and accountable, that is where all Tonse problems ended. There could be others who are trying to [bring confusion] but don’t worry about that. As regards Tonse, the fact that it went through a conference and a leader was elected means problems in Tonse ended. What is important to know is how we are going to work with other political leaders. As president of Tonse, who was elected at the congress, I have started talking to other leaders, those we are with in PF and those outside. We have started talking so that we can come together and work,” he said.

“I know that many others want to see the UPND out of power, it’s urgent. The UPND should be removed from power but we can’t guarantee an environment which will be perfect, very quiet, no noise. Because the same people we want to remove from power are the ones who are going behind to sponsor people, that’s why there isn’t total calm. But we will try to unite, that’s why we made sure that we went for the congress and chose a leader, but we can’t achieve that 100 per cent because the people who are sponsoring confusion are the same people who want to remove government through an election, so that is likely to continue”.

Mundubile accused some senior opposition leaders of holding meetings with the UPND to cause confusion in the opposition, adding that they would be flushed out soon.

“You would be very disappointed where we are going. You will find that even senior leaders are compromised. They have been meeting with UPND doing imingalato and when they come around, they want to point at us innocent ones that we are a project [of the UPND]. The same ones saying that, check them properly, they are causing confusion because they are funded by the UPND. So you must be very careful, look out for such leaders who are causing confusion, they are actually funded, those are the ones on a project and they are in the habit of calling others projects, yet they are the projects themselves. So, through my leadership we will ensure that we flush out these elements to stop causing confusion in the opposition,” he said.

“And we will be able to make progress as opposition political parties together with other like-minded people. People who would want transparency, people who would want to act above board, people who would like to provide checks and balances as it were. So check your leaders, try to interrogate them, especially those that are in constant confusion, check them”.

Meanwhile, when asked to comment on recent remarks by President Hakainde Hichilema that the country would have free and fair elections, Mundubile claimed that from the time UPND got into government, the country had never had free and fair elections.

“You have ECZ that is headed by a known UPND cadre, member of the Central Committee of the UPND, madam [Maria] Zaloumis. She’s been a member of the UPND. There is another gentleman who attempted to stand in Chirundu. So it’s managed by party cadres. When we talk about free and fair elections, when you talk about credible elections, what exactly is the President talking about? From the time that they got into government there has never been credible elections held under the UPND, there has never been a free and fair election held under the UPND,” he said.

“Some of the reasons are the reasons I’m giving you. If you have your commissioners coming from a Central Committee of a political party, whether or not they are acting independently, the independence that we expect to see from an electoral body is not enough. To be independent, it should be seen to be independent. In this particular case, you cannot say that you see ECZ to be independent on account of the people that are running it, and by conduct we have seen a number of things go wrong”.

Mundubile demanded that some changes be made at ECZ to ensure that it was run by independent people.

“If you look at the comments that came from the Ghanaian President, I don’t want to put words in his mouth. We live in a global village and the fact that we know what happens in Ghana, what’s going on in Ghana, it’s also possible that the Ghanaians know what’s happening in Zambia.

It’s possible that the Ghanaians have been concerned with how the country is being run. It’s possible that the Ghanaians could be worried with how ECZ is being run. So the statement by the President of Ghana, we really take our hats off to him. The statement is very timely and I hope that government will move in swiftly to make certain changes. We demand that changes be made at the Electoral Commission of Zambia to bring in neutral people, preferably retired judges, people who are going to come in and work and discharge their duties with impartiality,” said Mundubile.

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