By ROGERS KALERO
THE two newly elected Members of Parliament for Kwacha and Kabushi constituencies have no mandate of the people in the two constituencies because they were elected by a minority percentage of the electorate, veteran politician, Mwenya Musenge, has said.
And Mr Musenge has raised serious concerns on the number of issues on how the two by-elections were prepared and also wondered what sort of coincidence that both winning candidates got slightly above 6, 000 votes, saying one would not be wrong to conclude that the whole thing was stage managed.
Mr Musenge said the two newly elected UPND MPs, Mr Charles Mulenga polled 6, 596 votes to be elected Kwacha Member of Parliament in a constituency which has more than 60, 000 voters, while Mr Bernard Kanengo polled to 6, 533 votes as Kabushi MP in a constituency which has 49, 000 voters.
Mr Musenge said the two men were elected by a minority percentage and so they will have no mandate of the majority in their respective constituencies and may end up having problems to hold meetings.
“A candidate polling 6, 000 votes to become an MP in a constituency of 60, 000 voters or 50, 000 voters? No, that is a joke man. Yes, it is a joke. Who is he going to represent? The 6, 000 voters? I can tell you that these newly-elected MPs for Kwacha and Kabushi do not have the mandate of the people in the two constituencies because they were elected by a minority percentage.
“It is really shameful what is happening in this country. Yes, shameful in all areas and it is unfortunate that President Hakainde Hichilema is allowing such abuse of the law in this country. Before he became republican President, President Hichilema promised to govern this country by rule of law, but what we are seeing is something else,” Mr Musenge said.
Mr Musenge also said the judiciary has not performed their noble duty as adjudicators when Zambians, particularly those in Kwacha and Kabushi constituencies would have appreciated them as the highest court in Zambia.
Mr Musenge said he suspected that the whole thing of the two winning candidates having above 6,000 was stage-managed, adding that it was impossible for the two candidates to poll as much as 6, 000 votes.
He said one cannot rule out the possibility of stage-managing the by-election results, especially that the ballot papers which were used were dated September 15 instead of October 21.
