UPND CLAIMS SOUTH MARKETS

Sat, 21 Jan 2017 12:50:14 +0000

By ANDREA MUKOMA

THE opposition UPND in Southern Province has vowed that it will instruct its youths in its stronghold to take over the running of markets, bus stations and the administration of land following the order for Patriotic Front cadres to do the same.

This comes in the wake of Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Davis Mwila’s directives to ruling party cadres and officials to take over markets and bus stations in the country as well as share land in council areas.

UPND’s Neto Halwabala says that the party in the province was disappointed with the PF SG’s statement, saying that such a statement was a recipe for anarchy.

Mr Halwabala, the provincial publicity and information secretary, expressed dismay with the way the PF secretary general has been conducting himself since his appointment.

“As a party in Southern Province, we are calling on the police to effect an arrest on Davis Mwila for propagating violence. This is because the day that those youths will wake up and say ‘we are taking over’ there will be violence in such areas. Failure by the police to arrest Mwila, we shall have no option but to sort out PF members,” he said.

“We demand an apology from the PF. Zambia is today divided as a result of such mischievous statements from leaders like Mwila. We know they have failed to govern the country and want to create civil war and use it as an excuse for their failed leadership,” said Mr Halwabala.

Mr Halwabala told the Daily Nation in a statement issues in Livingstone that “if he (Mwila) is not going to withdraw his statement, we shall reciprocate because we are not going to allow our people be denied to enjoy their political rights’’.

He said that for a long time now the running of bus stations and markets had been a source of concern because of political interference.

Mr Halwabala said that it is high time such facilities were left to operate independently by the local authorities and not PF cadres.