By SIMON MUNTEMBA
UPND has extremely funded voter registration in its strongholds and if not careful the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) will be shocked in next year’s elections, Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) president Wright Musoma has said.
Mr Musoma said UPND was ferrying people in rural areas to registration centres and accommodating others so that they could register in large numbers.
He said in an interview that if the PF was not alert, it would wake up to a rude shock in 2021 just like it was the case with Bill 10.
Mr Musoma said UPND was doing everything possible to ensure that electorates in their strongholds registered as voters.
“As ZRP, we would like to caution PF to be extremely alert, yes they are strong on the ground and things being equal, they are certain of victory in 2021, but this is no time to sleep and start living in fantasy.
“PF MPs should also go in their constituencies to help the electorates register like others are doing. For example, the UPND MPs are busy transporting their people to register. We have information that these guys are well-funded and if PF will remain ndwii (idle), they will have themselves to blame when they lose next year,” Mr Musoma said.
And a PF official, Lemmy Bwalya has called on party leadership to take the ongoing voter registration seriously and ensure that more supporters register.
Mr Bwalya said this was one way to secure more votes for the President in the upcoming 2021 elections.
“This is the deciding crucial time of which party officials should know how many votes are expected to be garnered from party membership, before soliciting votes from well-wishers and party sympathizers.
Mr Bwalya also said he had witnessed other political parties ferrying their supporters to registration centres to be processed.
“Government must also express interests in knowing what’s prevailing at NRC issuance centres. One NRC number will have about 4 or five people and as a result people fail to register. This is mostly happening in our strong areas. The party should also be observant and question the ECZ why voter registration officers are not looking at faces but only interested in the information behind the NRC,” he said.
Mr Bwalya also called on the President to bring back frustrated officials who lost favour with the party due to intra party elections, in order to return the ruling party into a united system
WAKE-UP, PF TOLD
