By NATION REPORTER
THE Patriotic Front (PF) says it will contest any seizure or forfeiture of its assets including motor vehicles by state agencies.
And the party has described the demolition of over 340 houses in Chingola as inhuman and hypocritical.
Vice chairman for information and publicity Emmanuel Mwamba said in Lusaka on Tuesday there was no law in Zambia that compelled a political party to disclose the sources of campaign money and equipment.
Mr Mwamba, who is one of the PF presidential aspirants, was speaking when he featured on a special programme on Hot FM radio station.
“We are putting the investigative wings on notice, that we shall contest in court the seizure or forfeiture of our vehicles,” he said.
Mr Mwamba wondered why the investigative wings were being selective, only targeting PF vehicles when the UPND had almost the same number of vehicles.
“We know that they are just being used to cripple the PF ahead of the 2026 elections,” he said.
The claim that Government was seizing vehicles from the PF because it had been the party in power before the 2021 elections was ridiculous because no state money had been reported missing.
“No audit has been done and money reported to be missing. Political parties receive campaign money from well-wishers and donors in many ways. PF vehicles were legally bought and registered either directly or indirectly by supporters and donors. It’s the same with the UPND. So why haven’t they seized UPND vehicles?” Mr Mwamba said.
“We know that the investigative wings are just being used as political tools to weaken the PF ahead of the 2026 elections.”
He warned that the PF would get back its assets through court action the same way UNIP and the MMD did theirs after they were seized by new governments.
And Mr Mwamba has condemned as inhumane and hypocritical the demolition by the UPND regime of over 340 houses in Chingola leaving over 1, 500 citizens homeless using aviation safety as the excuse when City Airport in Lusaka was the most dangerous.
He said the government should have started with the demolition of buildings built close to City Airport in Longacres because it did not meet the minimum safety standards.
Meanwhile, Mr Mwamba has rated the performance of the UPND government as three out of 10.
While he welcomed the increase of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) he described its implementation as “disastrous.”
Mr Mwamba also said by employing 30, 000 teachers and over 11, 000 health workers, the UPND was simply completing programmes the PF had started.
He condemned the seizure of a legal car wash business belonging to PF youths in Lusaka by UPND cadres as an indication that caderism has not ended but just changed colours.
The project was one of those that benefitted from a programme in which the PF gave each constituency K75, 000 for youth empowerment when it was in power.
Mr Mwamba said President Hakainde Hichilema should have the decency and humility to recognise the work of his predecessor, Mr Edgar Lungu, and the PF the same way he was boasting and gloating over the increased CDF and employment of over 42, 000 civil servants.
He said Mr Hichilema would be commissioning projects started by Mr Lungu for the next four years.
