BRE urges peace before, after elections

BRE urges peace before, after elections
By Mwala Kalaluka in Nalolo
Monday October 06, 2008 [04:00]

THE Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) in Senanga District has said the peaceful environment that has existed in the country for the past 44 years should not be lost during the October 30 presidential poll.

And the Catholic Commission for Justice , and Peace (CCJDP) in Mongu has urged its members not to be swayed by politicians that bribe them with all sorts of items in the run-up to the October 30 poll.

Speaking when the Patriotic Front (PF) vice-president Guy Scott called on her, Litunga-la-Mboela Makwili said that politicians should ensure that even as they campaign for the presidency, the peace that has prevailed since independence should be maintained.
She said that her royal establishment did not want to see an eruption of political violence before and after the October 30 election.

She said so far the people in her area had heard from two of the presidential aspirants – the MMD’s Rupiah Banda and PF’s Guy Scott, and that they were now waiting to hear from the UPND presidential hopeful, Hakainde Hichilema.

Litunga-la-Mboela Makwili, whose 52-year reign has outlasted three presidents, said it was up to the people to choose whom they wanted to be their fourth Republican president.

Meanwhile, the United Liberal Party (ULP) members in Nalolo Constituency have distanced themselves from their leader Sakwiba Sikota’s support for the MMD presidential hopeful, Rupiah Banda.

During a meeting with area member of parliament Inonge Wina in Muyo, the party members resolved to support PF’s candidate Michael Sata.

After the meeting, some ULP members besieged PF officials to demand portraits of Sata.
And Our Lady of Lourdes CCJDP Catholic team leader Chrispin Kaseleka, said that the people should question the candidates on what they are going do for them when they are voted into power.

He said there were so many issues which needed to be addressed urgently and urged the electorate not to be compromised by offers of beer or T-shirts as they cast their votes.
He said this during Mass yesterday.