UPND RECRUITING MILITIA - PF
WE have evidence that the United Party for National Development (UPND) has recruited militia men who include former soldiers, police officers and ex condemned prisoners, the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) says.
And the PF has demanded the immediate sacking of Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja for his alleged incompetence to tame the scary political violence perpetrated by the UPND.
But UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma denied recruiting any criminals to cause mayhem but instead blamed the political violence recorded in Lusaka and Kaoma on the PF.
At a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday, PF Lusaka Province Chairman Paul Moonga said it is clear that the UPND is determined to use any bloody method to win the 2021 elections.
“Today I am a very sad person, sad in the sense that the opposition UPND has introduced the gun culture in today’s politics. They won’t stop at anything even if it means killing for the sake of satisfying their ego. Their hands drip of blood, blood of their youth whom they slew in Kaoma just for them to win a seat.
“They have gone a step further, they have recruited former soldiers, condemned ex-prisoners and police officers as their militia men. They have an evil agenda of wanting to cause havoc in the country and we have evidence to that effect,” Mr. Moonga said.
He advised the UPND to tame its enormous appetite for power, saying no normal person can send another person’s son to kill for the sake of seeking power.
“When your children are safe at home you send another person’s son to go and get killed, when your wife is nicely dressed, you send women to go and undress in public. You are a sadist, a wicked rich man, a psychopath with impaired empathy.
“It is not by the bullet but by the ballot that one wins elections. If you have been rejected by the Zambians respect that. The bullets will never take you to State House. Stop venting your anger on innocent Zambians and accept your mediocrity in politics.
“Shame on you, how on earth can you start running with a coffin in town? It is unAfrican, it is against our culture, the dead need to be respected. You slay someone then you start celebrating his death, have respect for his family,” Mr. Moonga said.
He said this is what saddens President Lungu and the entire PF when youths are used as tools of violence.
And PF Lusaka province secretary Kennedy Kamba said the party has reported to the police the alleged recruitment of the said militia by UPND Lusaka province chairperson Obvious Mwaliteta to attack innocent people in markets and bus stations “so that our party members may look bad in the eyes of the public when they react or defend themselves.”
But Mr. Kakoma described the statement as fake.
“That is fake. They are just scared of their own shadow. There is no violence that has been caused by the UPND anywhere in Lusaka.
“The only violence that was there was the one caused by the PF during the funeral procession of Lawrence Banda. They wanted to block the funeral procession and later on went and ransack and burnt the house,” Mr. Kakoma said.