Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) spokesperson MacDonald Chipenzi says the Solwezi Central by-election, slated for November 19, will be marred by serious electoral malpractices.
Mr. Chipenzi attributed his prediction to the on going violence, food distribution and vote buying that has characterized the campaigns in the constituency ahead of the elections.
He said in an interview with ZANIS, today, that there cannot be any level playing field when political parties vying for the Solwezi Central seat were all engaged in serious electoral malpractices like violence and vote buying.
He said the Solwezi Central by-election will not be free nor fair as all parties contesting in the by-election have abrogated the electoral code of conduct through their involvement in violence and other electoral misconduct ahead of the by-election.
Mr Chipenzi said that there will be need to strengthen the electoral code of conduct before the 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections in order to punish political parties found wanting for abrogating the electoral code of conduct.
He said this would save the country from going through expensive appeals, saying the current indication would be that the losers in the Solwezi Central by-election would not want to concede defeat because of the alleged electoral malpractices.
The spokesperson noted that the Solwezi Central by-election should make politicians to start appreciating each other and desist from politics of character assassination.
He said the Solwezi Central by-election should offer a perfect example for political parties to go back to the drawing board and learn to promote peace, dialogue and co-existence before the nation goes to the polls in 2011.
Mr Chipenzi further urged eligible electorates in Solwezi Central constituency to turn up in their numbers and vote for their preferred candidate who could serve them better.
ZANIS
MMD Wafwa iwe…Enough of this bulls.hi.t, Out you Go!!!
WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE WE WANT CHANGE. YES WE CAN CHANGE ZAMBIA
Typical of zambian politics ala twalibelela.But anyway if someone brings a beer or a bag of mealimeal and tell me to do him a favour by voting for him i can gladly accept but secreatly do the opposite in the ballot box
FODEP……………….to tell us that elections will not be free and fair, like you have told us so many times before, will not help matters. Just do your work and make a difference. Go to movie tv (which is free to air) and tell us what you know.
Yes mr Chipenzi….we want peace in our country. Let MMD go out in peace just like what UNIP did. UNIP went away in peace , let MMD emmulate UNIP. CHANGE IS WHAT WE WANT.
So both parties are culprits? Interesting.
Fodep is right,how can George go all the way to Solwezi 2 buy Fish..but ma politics yamu Zambia awe mwandi…anagula zazingati???????????hahahahahahaha…violece is caused buy cadaz who don’t even reside where the by election is..while locals are peaceful..why fighting when yo leaders are biz hagging in front of yu.,by the way when did George last eat from the street,but 2de he is buying popcorns in solwezi..yaba ba george…………. kaya!!!!!!!!
zwa zwa zwa zwa MMD it is wise to be forewarned
MMD PLEASE LET PEOPLE CHOOSE WHAT THEY WANT NOT WHAT YOU WANT YOU FOOLS.
We want change we want change we want change we want change we want changeeeeeeee e want changeeeeeeeeeeeee changeeeeeeeeeeeeeee we want changeeeeeeeee
There we go again. This UNPD/PF PACT sponsored mouthpiece is already claiming rigging even before a single vote is cast!! Can you believe that!! Oh please give us a break, will you? In Kasama there was everything: violence, bigotry, tribalism you name it and MMD lost and we never claimed unfairness. We accepted defeat and congratulated the so called PACT. Now that they smell defeat, their mouthpiece have now started beating the rigging/not free and fair drums. I would even be surprised if somebody claims VJ was spotted in Solwezi. What an opposition PACT!! Lets the people of Solwezi vote tomorrow and may the best party according to solwezi win.
Zambians have learnt and are well informed though im yet to be proved wrong,they will get free food,tshirts,vitenge and whatever gifts po[iticians can offer,but when it comes to voting,those gifts and intimidations are meaningless,interesting times coming,people want change and its coming slowly but surely
Change change Solwezi uko have you heard viva pact come 2011 we are crossing the river more paddlers please!
If the PACT win, which is unlikely as this is our strong hold, we shall concede and congratulate them and if we win we expect the same from them. This is What Democracy is all about that is why it is the last name of our great party because we practice it. No fake excuses if we loose and please don’t even think of starting trouble tomorrow when you lose. We have our honorable men in uniform to sort out any funny character who will try to disrupt the peace we have maintained in the country
FODEP should state categorically who ( and we all know who) will make it difficult for the Solwezi bye-election to be free and fair. They don’t have the courage but to go about generalizing the situation and talking from a very tight corner.
Any one who has been in an election knows that voters consider elections as an opportunity to make a killing. So you can’t step anywhere without being asked for money, chitenge, beer etc,, by voters. No candidate or political party can afford such an avallance of demands whether governing party or opposition. The NGOs know this situation very well but they think it is more credible and profitable to blame political parties. They should in all honesty also blame voters and ask their sponsors to give them money for civic education, directed at voters. If voters stop asking for money, beer etc… I assure you most candidates would be over the moon. Money does not grow on trees.
Nga ba UPND/MMD/PF baleshita ubwalwa, kunwa! ………….But inkama ni paku vota! That’s why they call it secret ballot.
MMD is the mother and father of this country’s young but steadfastly growing functional. Democracy. Unlike the two kaponyas Sata and HH who have imported loads and loads of their fellow kaponyas with the chawama and mapatizyo thuggery option, tenaciously MMD has its eyes on the ball with issue based campaigns.With much restraint it has an enduring and trust worthy alliance with real voters.It campaigns with dignity and takes the ballot verdict with dignity.Imported kaponyas are not voters but a bad value for money the HakaSata kaponya seems not to know.MMD will respect the ballot power with dignity as always.
Our greatest enemy as zambians is that we get too polarised over our political choices. Politics is not everything. And it is always advisable to know that in politics you may not get the choice you desire because others have expressed a different opinion. The different opinion is not any worse than another person’s opinion. It is just different. So my advice to the good people of Solwezi is to vote according to your conscience. There is no wise vote. There is only your vote and if it is coprrect by you, then it is fine.
Democracy dictates that there can only be one winner and the secret ballot verdict must be respected by any democrat excerpt anarchist who later realise their unrealised value for their injected money.Anarchists are naturally one dimension minded chaps. They are “sole losers”. They have no respect for voters’ right of choice. Any loss is because of rigging.We should all emulate MMD in taking defeat with dignity. Kaponyalism has no place but failure.
In my opinion the UPND/PF are heading for a victory because the MMD has completely done away with the fight against corruption in fact North Western province was once a strong hold for UPND , please just check the recent ward by election .If MMD was popular then why did George Kunda went back to Solwezi , this shows that MMD is feeling the heat. Solwezi people save the masses enough is enough.
so what has ECZ done / doing about this revelation?
In a democratic space, its honorable for democrats to bump into all kind of individual street based opinions.
Why do election monitor NGOs patronise people to think that food distribution affects the way people vote? On the other hand, in an election year why is it not considered as bribery when a government announces tax cuts?
#18 VETRAN. If you were an animal you would be a CHIMBWI. Hyna has no tactics only following the real hunters so that he can scavange the left overs. KK was truthful because he came out in the open that he was wa muyaya. Your MMD comes in office with fake promises of Democracy only to start raping the consitution, propagating 3rd term nonsense, waking up people at mid night to take over the presidency without other party members knowing, bringing us a peasant farmer who doesnt want a convetion and having 99% NEC of unelected members. What democratic s- h- i- t are you talking about? Are you normal? Or havent someone to advise you?
Come on people, there is no such thing as Free and Fair election, just like there is no such thing as a husband who does not admire other women’s backside. just don’t get caught, that is the name of the game. All elections all over the world are not free and fair. Just don’t get caught as you tilt the playing field in your favour. You think a poor guy in the US can win an election? Just get on with the voting it is a massive fraud the public have endorsed
#25, Ba Deja vu, It might be good to remember that the real tool behind the Third term was Mr Sata. He supported it and hired thugs to beat and intimidate those who opposed the third term. The Constitution that Zambians want to change was championed by Mr. Sata. He was at the core of the Regina Mwanza scandle. He was at the centre of the slush fund prorramme and was one of the reasons for Levy Mwanawas’s resignation. In all the ten years of Chiluba’s corruption, Mr. Sata was by Chiluba’s side. Mr Sata should thank the Zambian people for being so magnanimous that they have not held him to account. Can Mr. Sata really bring real change?
I think the pact smells defeat. These reports usually come in full swing when defeat is looming. People are saying the presence of certain individuals in Solwezi last week, threw the vote in mmd’s direction. reports say, chiefs and a number of lunda and luvale people felt offended to hear that a certain person who had vogorously insulted them had the gutts to walk around their home ground. That last election had vowed never to step there where people will always lagg behind like battocks, this has really angered them, they saying that is why those stones were directed at that person to show him their displeasure. He is the only one who has received stones coming from the voters in that manner, the people are angry, aand have not forgetten at all!!!!
This is the same every election. When did Zambia ever hold free and fair elections? We are not surprised.
#27 Kamutanda- You remind me of some man who slept out for the 1st time and told his wife that it was his friends who made him do it. Chiluba was old enough to say no to all that nonsense, but because he wanted it he allowed it to go on.
I believe the starting point is for Zambians to take responsibility everytime something goes wong. This is the only way that those in office will work hard and for the people. Things do not just go wrong on there own like a natural disaster. Let us only allow those who are up to the job to take up offices of responsibility. How does a serious person take foreign travel as a priority??? Attention is only paid to a problem when lives are lost!!!! Funds released for roads rehabilitation after 3 fatal road accidents!!! Newspaper headlines “Government has prepapred enough for Cholera outbreaks this rain season”. Smart guys would prevent it!!!
PF/UPND stop buying people’s voters cards in Solwezi and distributing food and money at night. People please wake up, it is better to side with the evil you know than that which is a hypocrite like the pact. until we have a better opposition, its MMD all the way!
Iwe #28 napapata wilalanda ifyo. Defeat wont be good for the PACT at the moment because twalachula nefi fibantu fi MMDl. I hope these chiefs will be embarassed like chitimukulu in Kasama.
It seems GK has been told to deliver Solwezi or leave the seat for Saki. He is so desperate.
I am in the PACT only because I can never be in MMD.Inkalamu ngayapelelwa,ilalya nechani! …its not that I like the pact leaders NO,its because I have no other alternative
iwe LT ,Y moderating my bemba? I am not talking about g.a.y but N.G.A.YAPELELWA
Viva Cobra,Viva the Chawama-machettes,viva Scopion Kadobi,viva the pact.
#37 wantinya boyi…olo chikashana
#35..SURE,HOW OLD ARE U,I DONT THINK WE STILL HAVE MATURE PIPO WHO THINK LIKE U..WHO JUST GO ANYWHERE COZ THEY DONT HAVE WHERE 2 GO..BUT ‘BAFANA’ BENANGU……..
Nabampelako 25kg bag yabunga ba Chifita from an MMD house down the road ya Shoprite, all those in need of ubunga mu Solwezi, just go seven houses ku left shoprite raod, kuli ubunga,sugar no bwalwa but mailo we all know where to put our vote!
Goodevening
FODEP should know that elections or not, politics always come with malpractices like dirty campaigns, violence and vote buying.
#27,BA KAMUTANDA BAPITA BAYA,
Detailed post. Ignore # 25 he is a limited kid soliciting for my audience in a wrong way.I would be sinking to waste my time on him unless he makes debatable posts. He doesn’t know that its Sata who started calling KK kumulu lesa panshi Kaunda to no veil for a ministerial job he wanted.Its Sata who chased Mazoka and all heads of the now MMD offshoot parties.He was the architect of the third term, discriminatory 1996 Kaunda walala constitution not forgetting his chawama massacre.Thank God Kaondes have not forgotten the insults they took from Sata that they are Nyamazais he would never visit and ask for votes from.
I am very glad to read Veterans view that its game on. There should be no claims of rigging when MMD lose – because lose they surely will. Zambians have woken up to the fact that politicians feel they can use them for their own political ends. The strategy is now to accept gifts, make promises, but ultimately not vote for MMD. This happened in Kasama Central and we’ll repeat it in Solwezi. MMD think they have monopoly of intelligence locally and internationally, guess again. Even their tactics using the internet, Lusaka times, Funny organisations masquarading as NGO led by very questionable characters, are well known and will yield nothing.
42## Why tribalism dont use our tribe Iwe bakaonde fwebo niba sata bamwisho
VICE-PRESIDENT George Kunda says Government has engaged Kansanshi Mine management to resolve the issue of giving jobs to people coming from other areas at the expense of local people.
Today that when you remember us ba kaonde because tommorow ku voter. GK. Veteran. MMD booteriker and BA KAMUTANDA BAPITA BAYA bujibwepi bebo bamwisho?
I’ve just seen a story in The Post stating that WILLIAM BANDA is a member of the MMD!!!???? Unbelievable!!! That UNIP thug, that intolerant ***** who should face a human rights tribunal…I give up on Zambian politics. Ki Loam ni Haneu, mwan’esu!!
If William is a thug, then what is of Sata who was both the UNIP and MMD chief National vigilant?. May you were still a kid. Its Sata who coined the kumulu ni lesa panshi Kaunda, it pays to belong to UNIP and orchestrated the the third term debacle with all his grand scale Chawama Macabre, mass expulsions including Anderson Mazoka and assassinations of Paul Tembo, Ronald Penza and incarceration of late Dean Namulya Mung’omba till death.You think its for nothing that he is today cursed with useless kids dying left right like pigs from drugs, ifyamba and alcoholism? Blood of Zambians is upon him.
Who ever posted under Jazzie Jazzie on the g a y topic cheap pool bar sarna.
VIVA PF/UNDP PACT. WISH YOU THE BEST. TULI PA BWATO
The post the paper that digs deeper “And Tembo told the Post On-line this afternoon that his organisation has gathered evidence of vote buying by the ruling MMD in Solwezi ahead of Thursday’s by-elections.Tembo said even Vice-President George Kunda had also been using bad language in his campaign massages.
“I am just from monitoring an MMD rally addressed by the Vice-President who is calling PF leader Michael Sata a thug, he is calling HH a corrupt man. And then you saw that picture were cadre s were displaying placards saying “MMD for sale K100…) and so on, so when the opposing supporters see that they start drinking beer and start stoning each other,” he said. “
“Tembo further observed that by nature of MMD distributing food materials to the electorates, the November 19, 2009 by-elections may not be fair or credible.
“Our monitors are just returning from Mulenga village where the MMD was distributing fertilizer in exchange for voters’ cards. They are being told that the cards will be kept safe until time for voting.”
“Another observer was among residents who attended a meeting by the MMD who gave out K5, 000 notes to all the people who attended. We have that money and we are keeping it,” he said.
Tembo said the electoral code of conduct had been heavily abused in the Solwezi campaigns.”
I know Vernon Mwaanga has very little education and is the least read of all people in this government of Kanitundila but I wonder whether Kansundila himself has ever read Chinua Achebe’s classic novel “Things Fall Apart”. The man has lost Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt and today North-Western province. If the sentiments rising from Western province are anything to go by, he has completely lost it there and thanks to Milupi’s ecumen and Banda’s himself’s failure to write the facts as they are presented to him that if he does not appoint their own for VP, he will not see their vote. He seems bent on sinking with Kunda and sink he will.
What does one expdct from MMD and PF-UPND Pact. These 2 parties are infamous for fanning violence. Both have the same background. The only problem is ECZ is not independent per see. Its a GRZ department and its operations are funded from the treasury. The likes of br. Chris Akufuna are just small men who speak but rhe big men do the opposite when it comes to real issues. Wait and see. 2011 elections will be held under the same weak and unindependent electrol commission. The levels of electrol malprctice are going to be higher than the years before. The Solwezi Central elctions campaigns were based on emotions and lies instead of real issues. Just wait and hear Friday 20th the rsults.
The main thing is that William Banda in 1990-91 had vowed to annhilate the MMD. So what has made him join the party which infact deported him to Malawi? What has changed? The “LEADER” of MMD is Unip and there may be plot to revive unip using STATE HOUSE power. How come KK an advocate of anti corruption and anti privatization is so quiet?
Is it true that VJ is in Solwezi right now???
VIVA the PF/UPND!!! Viva LUMBA! mmd go and do your home! Why do people want change? mmd what have you done for the people of Zambia?