Chiluba seeks votes for Rupiah in Luanshya

Chiluba seeks votes for Rupiah in Luanshya
By Zumani Katasefa
Sat 30 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

FORMER president Frederick Chiluba on Thursday pleaded with farmers and ex-miners in Luanshya to vote for President Rupiah Banda in next year's general elections.

Chiluba, who addressed farmers from Mpongwe, Luanshya and Chingola during a clandestine meeting at Luanshya's Cholwa Guesthouse, assured the audience that he would deliver all their concerns to President Banda.

According to a source, who attended the meeting but declined to be named, the farmers and ex-miners complained that the government had neglected them and the leaders merely visited them during election campaigns.

“But Chiluba assured them that he would deliver their concerns to President Banda. He Chiluba urged the people to vote for President Banda during the 2011 elections,” he said.
The source said the farmers complained that there was no link between the government and people at the grassroots level.

“But we are not happy with Chiluba, we are going to vote for a leader who we are going to identify. If you remember Chiluba caused a lot of damage to this town Luanshya, especially when he privatised the Luanshya mine to Binani Group of Companies. People lost jobs, children stopped schools. Here people were feeding on wild fruits. This man is not ashamed of himself,” the source complained.
The source said Chiluba was just wasting his time by campaigning for President Banda who had failed the country.

And Copperbelt Province UPND chairman Elisha Matambo warned Chiluba that he would face the wrath of the PF and UPND youths if he continued with his clandestine campaign meetings on the Copperbelt.
“Chiluba is wasting his time. I have heard right now Thursday afternoon he is addressing a meeting at Cholwa in Luanshya. We are going to face him, he should not think Zambians are foolish,” he said.

Matambo said Chiluba was a finished politician who was just after his selfish interests.
Chiluba has been on the Copperbelt Province for over a week now campaigning for President Banda under the guise of attending funerals.

Sources last week revealed that State House had bankrolled Chiluba's trip to the province to decampaign the PF-UPND pact and campaign for President Banda. According to the sources, Chiluba was also expected to travel to Northern and Luapula provinces on the same mission. But when contacted, his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba said Chiluba was on the Copperbelt to attend to family bereavements.