Fr. Bwalya’s party refuse defeat in Roan constituency Ward by-election

Our party is disgusted and highly disappointed that Patriotic Front (PF) has continued to engage in the same electoral malpractices that they condemned while in the opposition. Our participation in the just ended local government by-elections accorded us another firsthand experience of the electoral corruption and malicious campaigns PF has been perpetrating. The behaviour of PF clearly shows that the dream of better governance which made people vote for PF in 2011 has been lost.
Against this background, we wish to state that we have refused to accept defeat in the by-election of ward 22 of Roan constituency in Luanshya. The reasons for our refusal to concede defeat are in the public domain. During a rally on Sunday 17, August 2014 held at Nkulumashiba Secondary School grounds the area member of parliament (MP) Mr Chishimba Kambwili threatened to withhold development for the ward if people voted for our candidate Pearson Chikwete.
He made it clear that development projects such as water reticulation and rehabilitation of roads would be stopped. Mr Kambwili also accused our candidate of practicing witchcraft by alleging that he was using “utuhebela” and “amalomba” (African Magic) to attract customers to his shop. Mr Kambwili spoke passionately and with a lot of authority that our candidate and another for a different opposition political party were practicing witchcraft. He went ballistic and alleged that I had run made.
On the same day of Sunday 17, August 2014 Mr Kambwili sent the PF Copperbelt youth chairperson Mr Nathan Chanda to represent him during mass (church service) at the Catholic church in the ward called St. Charles Borromeo, Mpatamatu parish. Mr Chanda who was in the company of the PF candidate was given a chance to address the congregation. He thanked the choir for their good signing and said in Cibemba “Umweni mukulu litukilo” which means that a rich or powerful visitor brings benefits. He then said he was going to see the choir outside. For sure, when the church service ended the PF candidate met with members of the choir just outside the entrance of the church on the southern wing door and gave them money in an envelope. This was followed by ululations and one of the members of the choir announced that they had been given K1,000.00 (One Thousand Kwacha). Another member asked a question saying “ecinshi ico?” meaning “what is that?” Another member answered the question saying, “Ifyo balanda ati K1,000.00 mucakale ni one million” literary translated as, “By saying K1,000.00 in old currency its One Million”. This was followed by louder cheers and ululation. All this happened as our members watched.
We strongly believe that these electoral malpractices had the potential to affect the outcome of the elections and indeed made our candidate to lose. As such, we wish to announce that we are considering petitioning this election.
Despite, the foregoing, we can’t forget to thank all the people that voted for our candidates. We also commend our members for their hard work and peaceful manner they campaigned. Our party is growing and posing a serious threat to PF hence the malicious attacks on us.
We also congratulate PF for the seats they have won in a clean way and we congratulate fellow opposition parties that have won some seats. These include MMD and UPND. As opposition we should be encouraged by the fact that in many cases our votes as opposition put together are more than what the ruling PF got.
We pray that our people would not lose confidence in the electoral process and stop voting. It is also our prayer that those of us in the opposition will not be tempted to use the same malpractices to win elections since PF has been getting away with it. Hence we challenge relevant institutions to do more in dealing with curbing electoral malpractices.

Fr. Frank Bwalya
ABZ PRESIDENT