VOTE BUYING SCAM EXPOSED

RAMPANT vote buying in the LUSAKA Province Patriotic Front (PF) elections has been exposed. An aspiring candidate Mulenga Kayula has revealed that some candidattes were dishing out gifts and colossal sums of money to win votes from delegates. This rot, he said was pure corruption which carried the danger that those who won would use their positions to recover their investment. He called on authorities to step in and stop the rot to allow for a free and fair election that will favour merit and capacity. Mr. Kayula who is aspiring for the position of provincial youth secretary revealed that some candidates were dishing out lavish gifts and colossal sums of money to the delegates “This is corruption, which must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. “he said. “The party leadership must bring these people to book. This is pure vote buying. The party hierarchy must look into this issue seriously as these people are demonstrating that they want to win the elections through bribery,” he said. Mr. Kayula said that, the act of dishing out hand-outs to the electorate was corruption and perpetrators should be punished.. “The act of dishing out money and materials to the electorate is corruption. Our President is on record of working to stamp out corruption in all its forms. The people in this habit are working against the President’s call to stop corruption, “These people if voted into power will definitely work at recovering the money that they have invested in the campaign and not on serving the people. They will not work at delivering on the party agenda of a pro-poor party,” he said Mr Kayula said the corruptors would continue on their evil path. “Our aspiring provincial chairman, Mr. Kennedy Kamba’s team will not give hand-outs in order to blindfold the members from making a prudent voting decision,” he said. Meanwhile, Mr. Daniel Kalembe who is vying for the position of provincial youth chairmanship called on the party members to open their eyes and vote for people who were ready to serve the nation. “I would like to appeal to my fellow youths and all the delegates to make a prudent decision that will be aimed at enhancing unity and loyalty to the party and its leadership, “We need leaders who will care about the ideals of the party and will promote oneness. These are intra-party politics and as such they must be as friendly as possible so that we lead the way in promoting democratic tenets,” he said. Mr. Kalembe however hailed party members and all the candidates for exhibiting mature democracy.

We are aware that some candidates are dishing out gifts and colossal sums of money to the delegates. This is corruption, which must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.