Maravi

Hichilema accuses Rupiah of trying to disrupt his campaigns

Hichilema accuses Rupiah of trying to disrupt his campaigns
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mansa and Mwiinga Mukuwa in Lusaka
Sunday October 12, 2008 [04:01]

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema yesterday threatened to defy instructions from the MMD government aimed at disrupting his campaign activities countrywide. And Hichilema has charged that MMD presidential candidate Rupiah Banda opted to commission the Mwanawasa Bridge in Luapula Province at the height of an election campaign to get some advantage in the October 30 election.

Meanwhile, UPND Southern Province vice-information and publicity secretary Jacob Mungunje has charged that the MMD's personal attacks on Hichilema and others during campaigns was evidence that the ruling party had run out of ideas to solve problems in the country.

In an interview in Mansa yesterday, Hichilema said he did not believe that instructions to disrupt his campaign activities, which he said were first noticed in Western Province, were coming from the police.

He said the people behind the efforts to block him were coming from Vice-President Banda's campaign team.

“From today, we are defying these useless instructions,” Hichilema said. “We were supposed to have been in Luapula Province two days ago, but they blocked us from landing at the airport because RB was in Luapula.”

Hichilema said such tendencies were taking the country back to the era of dictatorship. He said the same thing happened in Senanga, where the permit issued for the UPND to hold a rally was cancelled because Vice-President Banda was in the district.

“I told them that I would not agree to that and we had a successful rally at another place. So how can someone close the whole Luapula Province to the opposition?” Hichilema asked. “This is certainly not a fair way of conducting an election.”

And commenting on the government's decision to commission the K46 billion Mwanawasa Bridge in the midst of a presidential campaign, Hichilema said Vice-President Banda was trying to use the event to get an edge over his competitors.

“He is trying to take advantage of the commissioning of the bridge, but the people of Zambia are very clever; actually that bridge is long overdue, we need to do more,” said Hichilema.

And in a statement, Mungunje accused Vice-President Banda of focusing on character assassination, which did not benefit Zambians.
“The MMD presidential candidate is quoted in The Post of Wednesday, October 8, 2008 referring to UPND presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema as “Mpempa mamina” (someone young with a running nose) during a rally in Choma, through his interpreter Daniel Munkombwe in Tonga,” he stated.

Mungunye stated that what Zambians needed were serious issues and not derogatory statements.

“At the same rally, Rupiah and ULP president Sakwiba Sikota decided to mislead the people of Zambia by indicating that parliament makes laws based on party interests instead of interests of the people,'' stated Mungunje.

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, RUPIAH BANDA, UPND

posted by MrK @ 4:38 AM