UPND NOT USING MINGALATO
And Mr Mweetwa has said that President Hakainde Hichilema has refused to cause or induce a single by-election at any level in almost three years because he is not interested in political numbers but economic advancement of the country.
Mr Mweetwa, the Minister of Information and Media says the UPND government did not have any particular interest in the deputy mayoral elections and could not therefore engage in any act of political machinations against the PF.
Mr Mweetwa, who is also the Chief Government Spokesperson said the deputy mayoral elections in Ndola and Kitwe were a contest between the UPND and the PF but was an electoral process in which the civic leaders were electing each other within the councils.
He said the Kitwe councillors and the Ndola mayor were arrested because they had committed certain transgressions and should not blame the police or government for having been arrested on the day the deputy mayoral elections were supposed to be held.
“The arrest of the Ndola mayor and the two councillors in Kitwe had nothing to do with mingalato at all. As the
UPND government, we have no scheme to disenfranchise any political party from participating in the deputy mayoral elections.
The arrest of those people should not be construed as mingalato by the UPND at that level. But at the same time, when certain things are done to create a perception that the UPND is creating a non-level playing field in elections, we shall take responsibility,” Mr Mweetwa said.
He said the UPND was however not going to protect or shield citizens who committed certain transgressions for the sake of electioneering, stating that what happened in Ndola and Kitwe should not be associated with the central government.
“These elections were not between the UPND and the PF but were between the councillors in their respective municipalities. I know that in Choma, we had only one PF councillor in 2015 who became the chairman of the lands committee. In Serenje, where the council is dominated by the UPND, it was the PF who won the elections. So, the UPND has no policy of interfering in local government elections because they are determined by the councillors as peers in councils,” Mr Mweetwa said.