Chimwemwe constituency wrangles deepen
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) Kawama ward councillor Bonnie Kaonga in Kitwe has been accused of organising party members to rise against Chimwemwe Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Mwila Mutale.
PF Chiluba branch chairman Jeff Phiri said Mr Kaonga was interested in contesting the Chimwemwe parliamentary seat in 2021, the reason why he is allegedly organising people to antagonise the MP.
But when contacted for a comment, Mr Kaonga dismissed the allegations, saying Mr Phiri was the MP’s stooge.
Mr Phiri insisted that the MP had been working with all the party structures in the constituency and that during the donation of books, he was accompanied by constituency chairman Alfred Kaira, Vicechairman Brighton Chifunda, Secretary Emmanuel Sampa.
Others were constituency Information and Publicity Secretary a Mr Malaya, Constituency Vice-chair Lady Beatrice Chipoya, constituency Treasurer Esther Miti and others.
He explained that the books were not supposed to be given to wards, but to the schools which the MP did. The books were donated to Chibote Girls Secondary School, Twatasha, Kawama primary school, Mwambashi Primary School and Salamano primary schools.
On Friday, some ward chairmen accused the area MP of side-lining them whenever he visited the constituency.
The sentiments from the ward chairmen were supported by the five ward councillors namely, Itimpi`s Mpasa Mwaya, Michael Mbulo who is Race Course councillor, Bonny Kaonga of Kawama ward, Buntungwa`s William Nyirenda and Kateule Mulenga from Lubuto ward.
But Mr Phiri said the ward officials, who were accusing the MP of not working with the party structures, wanted to be given books so that they go and give them to their children.
“The issue is not that the MP was not working with the wards, but the issue is that those ward officials wanted to be given the books to give to their children,” he charged.
Mr Kaonga on the other hand said Mr Phiri was a stooge for the MP and was using him to create an impression that he was more PF than the councillors.
“The problem with our MP is that he does not want to admit when he has made a mistake. When he makes a mistake, he would like to blame others for his mistakes. So he is using Jeff Phiri to make counter accusations,” Mr Kaonga said.