Solwezi goes to the polls tomorrow
Solwezi goes to the polls tomorrowBy Joseph Mwenda
Wed 18 Nov. 2009, 15:20 CAT
All is set for the Solwezi central parliamentary by-elections tomorrow despite the persistent violence that has marred the campaigns.
Residents will be electing their new leader to replace Benny Tetamashimba who died after an illness two months ago.
Four candidates are in the race for the Solwezi Central seat and its from these that electorates will chose one as their area member of parliament.
Ruling MMD is in the race with Albert Chifita, a carrer teacher. He has worked as district inspector of schools in Serenje, assistant secretary at the Ministry of Defence before joining Mulungushi Textiles.
Watson Lumba is the PF/UPND alliance candidate. He is an accountant by profession and a board member at Saint John’s Medical Center in the area.
The Forum for Democratic Alternatives (FDA) has floated Muhammed Kalela, a human resources practitioner. He worked for the then Indeco Limited and Lonrho Zambia.
The fourth candidate is an Independent, Thomas Kafula, a miner at Kansanshi Mining PLC.
Meanwhile, Anti-Voter Apathy (AVAP) director Bonnie Tembo has said political parties vying for the Solwezi Central parliamentary seat have failed to seize an opportunity to address issues affecting residents in the area.
And Tembo told the Post On-line this afternoon that his organisation has gathered evidence of vote buying by the ruling MMD in Solwezi ahead of Thursday's by-elections.
Speaking in an interview, Tembo said AVAP was concerned with the persistent violence in the campaigns ahead of the by-election.
“AVAP is concerned with the spark of violence in Solwezi and this has been caused by the desperation of political parties.”
“These parties have failed to seize an opportunity to address issues affecting residents in Solwezi, things to do with water and sanitation, education, health and washed away bridges. Instead, they are busy with verbal attacks on each other,” he said.
Tembo said even Vice-President George Kunda had also been using bad language in his campaign massages.
“I am just from monitoring an MMD rally addressed by the Vice-President who is calling PF leader Michael Sata a thug, he is calling HH a corrupt man. And then you saw that picture were cadre s were displaying placards saying “MMD for sale K100...) and so on, so when the opposing supporters see that they start drinking beer and start stoning each other,” he said.
Tembo further observed that by nature of MMD distributing food materials to the electorates, the November 19, 2009 by-elections may not be fair or credible.
“Our monitors are just returning from Mulenga village where the MMD was distributing fertilizer in exchange for voters' cards. They are being told that the cards will be kept safe until time for voting.”
“Another observer was among residents who attended a meeting by the MMD who gave out K5, 000 notes to all the people who attended. We have that money and we are keeping it,” he said.
Tembo said the electoral code of conduct had been heavily abused in the Solwezi campaigns.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, SOLWEZI COUNCIL
posted by MrK @ 4:45 PM
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