The statement by one Vernon Johnson Mwaanga urging stakeholders to watch the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) ahead of the printing of the ballot papers in Dubai cannot go without a comment.
The thrust of Mr Mwaanga’s statement is that the choice of the printer has the capacity to poison the electoral process on account that the ballot papers the company, Alghurairi Printing and Publishing had supplied to the authorities in Uganda were allegedly pre-marked.
The UPND are on record as having opposed the use of Universal Printing Group (UPG) of South Africa and they have now turned their guns against Alghurariri.
This is manifest absurdity and will not change the fortunes of UPND especially that Zambians are aware that the attacks are effectively null and void.
As a party, we wish to take a strong exception to attempts by Mr Mwaanga to issue inflammatory statements deliberately coined to alarm the nation. The statement is careless, mischievous and laced with the worst level of malice. Mr Mwaanga should know that there is no one in PF with a history of rigging elections.
PF remains a very strong force in the country’s politics and does not have any reason to rig elections which are already in our favour going by popularity and practical works done for the benefit of the Zambian people.
Mr Mwaanga, as a veteran politician, must offer hope and unity to the Zambian people instead of setting them against one another just to win favours from the UPND. We are very disappointed with Mr Mwaanga’s careless talk and wish to forsake his attacks on ECZ.
We wish to remind Zambians that in almost all the previous five presidential elections, ECZ has been opposed by the UPND without any proper justification. In 2008, they almost burnt a truck laden with lights for election monitoring in places where there is lack of electricity. We are suspicious that Mr Mwaanga can issue such a statement barely four months before elections. Clearly, the statement has the capacity to poison the atmosphere instead in order to agitate chaos.
The kind of politics being promoted by Mwaanga of wanting to generate negative opinions against a credible and transparent process is barbaric and unreasonable to say the least. Mr Mwaanga is aware that ECZ invites all political parties, the media and civil society to monitor the printing of ballot papers to promote transparency.
The fact that the government is protecting freedom of expression does not mean that politicians should speak carelessly.
As the party in government, we wish to maintain that there will be no rigging and the UPND must just brace for a heavy defeat instead of peddling lies out of fear and cowardice.
Mr Mwaanga should not abuse the tag of veteran politician to malign people involved in election management but must use it to unite Zambians.
I am therefore calling on genuine opposition political parties to remain calm as ECZ will afford them an opportunity to monitor the whole printing, packaging and transportation of the ballot papers as has been the case in the previous elections.
Mr Mwaanga’s statement must therefore be ignored because it lacks merit and weight and remains very speculative. His statement lacks the chemistry of authenticity which is a requirement for credibility.
VJ had his time. This time is surely not his as he is becoming irrelevant to the country’s present political scene. He is a senior citizen and well respected and should by all means avoid issuing comments that may injure innocent lives. He went to Uganda as an observer, if I am not mistaken and did not comment whilst there. We have not forgotten how he manipulated the votes when he was in power and he thinks that the same ways can be used now. Shame!
I am disappointed and embarrased that a senior politician of uncle VJ background can stoop this low in a quest to prove relevancy to UPND. His statement is empirically inflamable by taste and motive. I know that’s it’s him and Simutayi cooking up false news feed to foreign media houses including the April EIU fake intelligence report. Why betray national peace?
Uncle VJ knows that he miscalculated in 2015 bye-election by buying into Munkombweism of putting off nationalist jacket for tongaism which he knows is futureless. It is anchored on wishful dream of Balkanization of Bembas and their cousins tongaism calls none Zambian migrants that should leave the country to natives. There is no way Zambia will fall for and buy blindly in tongaism.
Ba PF, Just change bafhikalah to the South African firm which has been doing the job all along. Why are you so insisitance on the crooks of Dubai doing the job? We the stakeholders object bcz we do not trust you at all, you are capable of anything to win an election, if you can kill (ritual killings) for an election what can stop you on having an easy way out by rigging?
Just becuase he was a chief Rigger he thinks everyone thinks and behaves like him. People with rotten mind will always produce rubbish. He has given up his status of a senior citizen for the sake of supporting his relative’s party. These people have a very big problem. They cant see anything beyond their tribe. SHAME
Former ECZ Deputy Director convicted over $90,000 bribe. Details are that Mr. Mfula between 1st May 2006 and 31st December 2006, being a public officer namely Deputy Director Information Technology at the Electoral Commission of Zambia, did corruptly receive a total of US$90,000.00 cash as a gratification from Vik Vaid a Project Manager at Universal Print Group of South Africa. The payment was made through a company called Aeron Limited of Mauritius as a commission for the supply and delivery of disposable booths, chairs and tables relating to the contract between Electoral Commission of Zambia and Universal Print Group.Source Lusaka Times
WRONG, we should listen to V J he was there seen it all and i m sure done it before.
I find VJs comments MOST relevant and very cautionary indeed.
Only those “whose God is their belly” who have precarious incomes that may stop coming after August will find fault with VJ.
Democracy requires persistent vigilance otherwise unprincipled !mbeciles and highway robbers will steal and mess up the little progress made.
Thank you Uncle VJ. Don’t let small minds deter you from the principles you stand for.
HH has become like that product in a shop or market that people keep looking at without buying it and all what the seller does is to dust it everyday.VJ is just dusting HH, he knows HH can’t win.
Ati ba Dr Mwaanga. Ba lipwa.
As expected the PF can now not utter a single sentence without mentioning the UPND. VJ did not single out UPND to watch ECZ. This is what worries H. E. Emmanuel Mwamba. Arising from VJ’s statement as well as the document discovered at Counsel Mushipe’s offices, it is abundantly clear that the PF has abandoned their strategy and are operating on an emergency response basis. They have moved from articulating political issues to attacking whoever says anything they do not like.
NO PF. WHY AWARD A COMPANY WITH SUCH A REPUTATION THE CONTRACT??? ANY QUESTIONABLE COMPANY SHOULD NOT EVEN BE SHORT-LISTED. YES MR. MWAANGA IS RIGHT – WATCH ECZ VERY, VERY CAREFULLY.
Comment: pf is the one babaric and un reasonable. you are looking for all means how you can rig elections. now you want to try your luck in dubai at a questionable company. we shall not allow that. if you want to see how Zambians react then try to attempt the rig and you will regret. we don’t want to continue with this suffering we are in now after 11 august 2016. are you the only leaders in Zambia.? you always want to force yourselves into power nowonder you fail to lead. we are not asleep we altered watching you. if you force yourselves into power again, just know that Zambia will be divided more than the way it is now.
Who is the writer of this comment? The writer is whaffling and digressing. Zambians want ECZ assurances that their votes on 11th August 2016 are safe. On this basis Zambians want to know whether the Dubai Printer selected by ECZ is the same Printer which printed controversial ballot papers for Uganda? If so why is ECZ selecting a Printer with a tainted reputation? The Dubai Printer’s reputational risk is high so why is ECZ opting to use this Printer if not to rig elections as alleged in Uganda? ECZ must justify to Zambian voters why they are using this Dubai Printer as a matter of urgency.
VJ has out lived his usefulness. To borrow GBM language he is not using his 5 brains CH***LA.no wonder he was found pursuing Tshala mwana after MMD fundraising concert
@Ernest mbulo
You only outlive your usefulness when you are dead. VJ is as relevant now if not more than ever before. A brain dead person can see the evil machinations of the PF govt. ECZ must take into consideration stakeholder’s interest in the electoral process, they must be transparent, explain why a corrupt company is being offered the contract to print. What is being asked by all except PF is transparency. This election is critical to the survival of Zambia. All people want is a free and fair election. The whole process shouldn’t be shrouded in mystery. Is this too difficult to understand?
this man has always denied of ever being an archtect of rigging and is on record saying it’s not possible to rig elections in Zambia. today he can unashamedly close his eyes and tell us the opposite just so he can curve out a niche of relevance for himself.sadly he’s apart from trying to fuel agitation also hopelessly trying to raise some issue for the opposition that has seemingly run out of fresh ideas.
But want if VJ is right?
Ba VJ amaule yali myonaula. Nashininkisha abalwele ba AIDS balasabaila. You are not even a model to any sane young man.
@Zed Ways:
Ar.sewhore!! I know you very well….you are the one that is sick with AIDS which you got in Botswana! How many victims have you given your illnesses already and what is your targeted number! Mother fu.cker!!
Don’t talk like that, there over 1.5 million people living with the disease in Zed, how do u think they feel with such stigma coming from people like you?
Be careful with what u say or u bring bad lucky on yourself, at least VJ is over 60 and has seen all his daughters to the altar, a fit you may fail to attain!
Like Edgar Lungu who is an AIDS carrier and is spreading it like wild fire. That is why he is now demented
It is hard for PF cadres to see sense in what VJ has said. Printers for Election materials are supposed to be agreed upon by all stakeholders and not PF alone to go there secretly. PF and ECZ should not be allowed to print the papers in Dubai.
This is how stu.pid the PF Mother fuc.kers have become! In reality, who is more civilised between VJ and the entire PF Party members? Of course it’s VJ.
The fact is that the PF is treating Zambians as if we are living in the 19th Century by literally telling lies after lies after more lies!! Fortunately, experienced politicians, like VJ (not RB) are guiding the less educated voters on the real and deliberate pitfalls and manipulations of the political process by Lungu and the ECZ.
Akufuna is a discredited Very Old GIT that has become senile and Priscilla Mulenga (wh.ore of Isaac) is a known prostitute that has bonked anyone for money such as Indians, Zambians, Chinese, Europeans, Arabs and unclassified (including Isaac (Isaac is not a European name). Now this arrogant prostitute has…
…..Now this arrogant prostitute has sold her soul to the Devil PF for money and patronage.
But nothing will stop the coming change and even PF thugs know this. People will sort out issues at ECZ after the election and that includes Akufuna and the who.re Priscilla Mulenga (who.re of Isaac)!!
Let’s put this argument into proper context; VJ is a self-confessed drug dealer who has nothing to lose even if Zambia goes on flames. Check at how many women he has divorced and frankly he has no moral right to comment on anything. The elections in August will be rigged. That is the red herring fallacy from a mercenary minority engineered out of an inherent inclination to rule Zambia by any means necessary to consign majority of the Bembas and Easterners to the margins of the country’s economic nucleus. ECZ has no case to answer for the rigged elections -case charge.
This is the language i dont like from UPND. Insults and Insults. From the President all the way down it is insults. What kind of people are these who cannot have an intellectual discourse? UPND has been talking of rigging from its Inception. Where do they want the Ballot Papers to be printed. In Bweengwa? Iam disgusted?
pf as usual known for such renting responses to genuine concerns by the Zambian citizens, VJ is a senior citizen & his concerns are actually genuine. Pf what else are you known for apart from failure? As Zambians we are not going to tolerate this dangerous move by the pf.
We should desist from blaming the Dubai company or even the regulations surrounding elections. The weakness is that most institutions are weak and have been manipulated by BIG men since UNIP days. We need to move away from the habit of thinking that any one man or one office has oversight over everything. VJ knows he is part of a rotten past so he does believe this rot is being perpetuated. Use a thief to catch a thief, they say.
But who is issuing this statement? The Editor of LT? Chishimba Kambwili? It’s not attributed to anyone
ECZ is part of Government , so they wld want to do what PF demands for them to be in office beyond 11 August 2016.
VJ is no longer a model in modern politics. Am sure what he used to do when he was in government is what he is expecting PF to do! Careless talk is dangerous especially addressing the public! Get a leaf from what is happening in some compounds in Lusaka where an individual or just a group of individuals have fabricated a story about the Police and how people have reacted destroying the police post! Is this what VJ wants to happen in our country? Let him close his mouth if he has nothing credible to inform the public!!!!
Every reasonable Zambian will be concerned about going to Dubai printing company with a proven record of supplying pre-makes ballot papers in Uganda. Why is PF speaking on behalf of ECZ? What is their involvement in this? They say the guilty are always afraid. VJ is right why should ECZ go to the printer that has a record of supplying pre-marked ballot papers? PF should just keep quiet.
The Ugandan ballot papers were not printed in Dubai but in South Africa. You can scan the Ugandan news and find this for yourself. This VJ of yours is a liar. He does not even bother to verify his facts. HIV must have screwed up his brains.
Zambians should not ignore VJ’s comments. He is talking from experience. When you look at how the PF have been mistreating the opposition, you would be very naive to expect that PF will not attempt to rig the elections. In fact the opposition must take all steps necessary to counter the PF rigging schemes, which include where the ballots will be printed?
This is what counts as Zambian High Society. Citizens should refuse to uphold these type if warmongers among us. The papers gave not even been printed yet surely, and therefor the assertion is an old man’s drug-addled nightmare. Don’t turn the streets in Zambia into Blood.
VJ cautioned the opposition against ECZ’s intentions to print ballot papers by a Dubai company of known disreputation. Surprisingly anonymous PF rises to defend ECZ!
The problem with Zambian is that they are not able to identify a senile VJ and a normal one. VJ certainly lost his marbles some time ago. He is not the same man. RB who was his best friend saw this long time ago and decided to rest his friend. He stopped using him when he saw that he was slowly losing it. Even Chikwanda who is the other friend of VJ saw that VJ was not the same man. He thought his friend would take it easy and concentrate on looking after his health. I am appealing to both Chikwanda and RB to come and get their friend out of the limelight before he completely makes a total F.O.O.L of himself. It is sad to see VJ as a cadre of any party.This is a “SAVE VJ Campaign”. Why cant he learn from people like Grey Zulu who left politics and became friends with every new…
I fail to understand why PF is against what other stake holders are saying regarding the printing of papers. If it is okay with you … stop talking!!!. Let ECZ talk to aggrieved parties. PF… think about the consequence of failure. PF narrowly beat UPND in last election. The 50%+1 could be disastrous to PF. If the result is 49%PF and 30% UPND, we shall vote again, but remember which party will the ‘failed’ parties vote for? Watch your tongue otherwise you end up de campaigning PF.