By ROGERS KALERO
A FORMER minister in the PF government with skeletons to hide, has allegedly reached out to the UPND through a cabinet minister to trade in his wrongs for a massive defection from the former ruling party.
The Patriotic Front on the Copperbelt has allegedly unearthed a scam where one of its losing parliamentary candidate in Ndola has promised the ruling UPND that he will mobilise 5, 000 PF members and stage a defection to the ruling party so that he is not harassed for the offences he might have committed while in government The losing PF parliamentary candidate, who is a former minister, is alleged to have approached one of the UPND Members of Parliament in Ndola who is a cabinet minister with an idea of staging a defection so that he is perceived to be supporting the UPND to avoid being raided.
PF Copperbelt Media Director Munalula Moola said he has information about the plot. He said the party was not shaken or worried about the planned defections because they were far from the reality on the ground and were only aimed at satisfying the interests of one individual “Yes, as a party, we are aware about such plans but we are not shaken because, to start with, it is not being done in the interest of the UPND itself, but it is aimed at saving one individual who is scared to be arrested or harassed for the offences he might have committed “Secondly, where is he going to get the same 5, 000 PF members and how much is he going to give them?. To tell you the truth, PF members would rather resign from politics than join the UPND.
There is nothing attractive in UPND. From the time UPND formed government, poverty has worsened,’’ Mr Moola said He said it was shameful that the UPND which campaigned on a platform of poverty alleviation and food security had failed to lay a firm foundation of fulfilling its campaign promises.
“One funny thing is that most of those who are arrested are charged with being in possession of proceeds of crime. So it means everything which PF officials, members and sympathisers have are proceeds of crime. This kind of harassment may not end well and may actually divide the nation,’’ Mr Moola said.
