UPND scheme to take over markets in Kitwe

Sat, 03 Dec 2016 10:15:18 +0000

THE United Party for National Development (UPND) has allegedly lined up some activities that would see the opposition political party take control of markets and bus stations in Kitwe, Kitwe district commissioner Chanda Kabwe has revealed. And Mr Kabwe has alleged that the UPND was after his life for being the patron of the Marketeers and Vendors in Kitwe and a force behind the market association.

Meanwhile, the Kitwe City Council (KCC) police officers on Thursday beat up Association of Vendors and Marketeers (AVEMA) president Able Chikwa who was expected to be one of the witnesses to testify in the case where opposition UPND vice-president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM) is facing an assault case. “We know that they have lined up a number of activities aimed at causing mayhem in Kitwe because yesterday (on Thursday) one of the top leaders gave them money to cause confusion in the city. They want to take over markets and bus stations,” Mr Kabwe said.

Mr Kabwe said the beating of Mr Chikwa by the council police when he was about to testify in the assault case of Mr Mwamba was a clear sign that the officers at the local authority were working with the opposition UPND.

He said he was aware that the beating of Chikwa by the council police officers had the blessings of management officials at the council whom he accused of working with the UPND. Mr Chanda said the incident where Chikwa was beaten was just one of the schemes the UPND had lined up to cause confusion in the commercial city of the Copperbelt. “We know that the management at the council is working with the opposition UPND and this is why they made sure that Chikwa who was the witness in the case of GBM was stopped from testifying. It was a plan between the UPND and the council. We know most of these council police officers are members of the UPND.

“I am also aware that the same UPND is after me because they think I am the force behind market associations as I am the patron of marketeers and vendors. So what this council and the UPND are doing, we are aware and it is just a matter of time,” Mr Kabwe said. Mr Kabwe said calls for the removal of market associations from Chisokone market by a group of marketeers were not genuine, but a move engineered by the council and the UPND for their political mileage.

He stated that the council and the UPND were calling for the removal of market associations from Chisokone market because the opposition party was finding it difficult to penetrate the market with the presence of market associations.

He said the idea of calling for the removal of market associations by the UPND and the council was to replace the existing market associations with the people aligned to the opposition party. Chikwa was on Thursday beaten up at the civic centre by the council police officers when he went to find out about the fracas which occurred between his members and the council police officers at Chisokone market. According to Chikwa, when he arrived at the civic centre, the council police officers told him that he was the one they were looking for and started beating him up.