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Sata is unstoppable - Mulemfwe

Sata is unstoppable - Mulemfwe
By Lambwe Kachali and Mulimbi Mulaliki in Solwezi
Wednesday October 22, 2008 [04:00]

SATA is unstoppable in the province, Patriotic Front (PF) North-Western provincial coordinator Friday Mulemfwe declared yesterday. And PF North-Western youth chairman Richard Kayumba said party president Michael Sata has no match in the province.
Meanwhile, MMD and PF cadres on Monday clashed at Changa-Changa Motel in Solwezi.

In an interview, Mulemfwe said North-Westerners had now realised that Sata was the only hope for Zambia. He urged MMD presidential candidate Rupiah Banda, UPND candidate Hakainde Hichilema and Heritage Party leader Brigadier Godfrey Miyanda not to allow themselves to be cheated that they would defeat Sata in the province.

"In 2006, North-Westerners voted for MMD thinking that MMD would change things here. But with the demise of our late president Levy Mwanawasa, we discovered that not much has been achieved in the province in terms of development and other economic programmes," Mulemfwe said. "So the situation in 2006 and now is totally different. There was little or no presence of PF that time. But now you can go to the deepest or remotest village in North-Western Province, people will welcome you once you mention PF and Sata."

Mulemfwe said MMD had taken North-Westerners for granted and time had come to boot them out of power.

"You see, you can't take people for granted. Our members of parliament and our leaders from the ruling party have been cheating us throughout. They have been canvassing for votes because they think people of North-Western Province are only there to take them to Parliament. They don't know that people of North-Western Province require to be represented in full by attending to their local problems," he said.

Mulemfwe assured Sata of total victory on October 30. He further urged local government minister Benny Tetamashimba to stick to his words that he would resign as MMD Solwezi central member of parliament once Vice-President Banda lost the October 30 election.

"As PF in the province, this time around we are very ready for the election and we are saying anybody who is soliciting that this is a no go area for Sata is lying. And that person is violating the Zambian laws. We have made up our minds and we want to teach MMD a lesson for non-performance," said Mulemfwe.

And Kayumba, who is former MMD provincial chairman, said no political party would defeat Sata in North-Western Province. Kayumba said PF had gained ground in the province and was headed for victory.

He said North-Westerners; particularly Solwezi residents, were eagerly waiting to be addressed by Sata tomorrow.

"We are very much prepared but unfortunately Solwezi police have not given us the permit yet because they are anticipating that UPND will be in Solwezi at the same time. President Sata is supposed to address a rally at 10:00 hours in Mwinilunga and 14:00 hours in Solwezi the same day. We are very popular on the ground... actually it's like during 1991 when we were coming into multipartism because people need change now," Kayumba said. "They are fade-up with poor governance of MMD. We have been to every district and PF has been accepted by all the people in the province. Sata is very much accepted, people are eagerly waiting for him here. He will see when he arrives in Solwezi, it will be like...I don't know," he said.
Meanwhile, Kayumba said MMD was scared of PF, that's why they were engaging in violence.

"We have a Mr Mutale under the Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) who was assigned to North-Western Province for all political parties to come to Solwezi and be trained. So our cadres from Kasempa district came early because their busses arrived around 09:00 hours," Kayumba explained. "So the driver took them to Changa-Changa Motel so that they could book for their accommodation; not knowing that MMD were holding their workshop there. So when the driver arrived with some people on the back of the van, MMD just stormed the driver and started beating everybody who was in the vehicle. They broke the screen of the vehicle and took one of the speakers from the vehicle. I was coming from home when I saw our vehicle reversing from Changa-Changa; I stopped, and went to intervene. But MMD cadres became very unruly, and so I went to report to the police. When I reached the police station, I was told to go and see the second commanding officer. While there, another group of MMD officials also arrived, which included, Emmanuel Chihili (Solwezi mayor), district chairman a Mr Kalengwa, provincial youth chairman a Mr Malwa and two other officials."

Kayumba said although he was detained by the police, there were no apparent reasons. He complained that police were not performing their duties properly as they had failed to act on the over 14 cases of assault they had reported so far involving MMD cadres attacking them whilst campaigning.

"So what happened was that everybody started talking and one of the ladies from MMD camp joined and we were made to start talking at the same time. And in the process, I stood up and shouted at the mayor because he said that our people wanted to provoke them. That's when the second in command officer instructed Mr Lumbeta, the chief superintendent to detain me and charged me for misconduct at the police station. I was detained until around 13:00 hours, that's when I was released on police bond. And today Tuesday I appeared in court for plea and the case has been adjourned to 21st November for mention and then 9th December for trial," said Kayumba.

And when contacted for comment on Kayumba's allegations, North-Western Province police commanding officer Fabian Katiba denied allegations that police had failed to take action on the assault cases reported by PF. Katiba urged political parties to stop their cadres from engaging in violence as police would not sit and watch them disturb the peace of other people.

"If they are complaining that as police we have failed to protect them, let them write to me and specify the cases reported to police and then I will investigate to establish if no action was taken," said Katiba.

Labels: ELECTIONS, FRIDAY MULEMFWE, NORTHWESTERN PROVINCE, SATA

posted by MrK @ 1:27 PM