THE Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has castigated the United Party for National Development (UPND) for allegedly telling its supporters not to participate in the referendum process.
When contacted for a comment, UPND Livingstone district spokesperson, Neto Halwabala said his party had made it clear that it would only participate in the referendum if it was conducted as a stand-alone and not alongside the general elections.
FODEP Livingstone chairperson Gideon Musonda said his organisation was very disappointed that some senior UPND officials were going round telling people not to participate in the referendum process, claiming that the process was meant to help the ruling party to rig the 11 August general elections.
Mr Musonda said it was unfortunate that a political party, which claims to have a huge following, could be peddling lies on an important national exercise such as the referendum.
He said the referendum was a very important exercise in any democracy as it enabled citizens to make informed choices on matters that concerned them.
He was speaking in an interview in Livingstone yesterday.
“I was disappointed and disheartened when I attended a UPND rally that was addressed by a very senior official from Lusaka where he was peddling lies that the referendum was a gimmick by the ruling party to rig the elections, telling people not to participate in it.
“Such kind of lies should not be entertained and it is unfortunate that political parties are not willing to help educate the citizenry, ”Mr Musonda said.
Mr Musonda however said FODEP would not relent in its referendum sensitisation campaigns because the nation needed about 3,750,000 people for the referendum exercise to be a success and called on political parties to help civil society organisations in educating the masses on the importance of the referendum.
“Political parties need to help by sensitising their members on the need to participate in this year’s referendum and we urge them to also participate in the referendum unlike misleading people because it is their democratic right to have a voice in the whole process,” he said.
And Mr Halwabala said his party had made it clear that it would only participate in the referendum if it was conducted as a stand-alone and not alongside the general elections.
“Our position as a party is, we can only participate if the referendum is done as a stand alone, not alongside general elections. We are not going to spend time on this stage managed referendum to confuse voters,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Musonda also disclosed that FODEP plans to train 119 election monitors on 3 August in readiness for the 11 August general elections.
PND is planing to rig the elections.Infact ba PF should be very careful especially in southern province,part of wetern,North western part of central province.UPND is planing to engage all UPND supporters to conduct elections.They will be jst marking voter registers and ballot papers.UPND is planing to use southern province to win elections .PF should send monitors who are not tongas in these areas.According to the information on the ground,they want to use some pipo who are who tongas who claim to be PF but are UPND.Therefore we urge govt to send men n women in uniform who come from other areas to monitor the elections.This what they did in 2015 jan but it couldn’t work coz they failed to get enough votes in Lusaka and CB.This party is so violent and can kill to send a tribalist to state…
the UPND leader is an *****.
way to go UPND..don’t even try to touch it..why waste time..vote no
This is a major let down on the part of UPND & a true reflection that the party has no interest whatsoever in the welfare of Zambians. What benefits Zambians such as the Bill of Rights, the new Constitution, good roads, hospitals, schools, bumper harvest are all useless things to them which they will never recognise. In fact only the election of their president is the most important thing for them. I never knew some Zambians could be this sadistic & selfish in propelling self interests. God forbid & God Bless Zambia!
THE UPNDESTRUCTION IS THE MOST EVIL PARTY ZAMBIA HAS NEVER WITNESSES BEFORE ========================================================================= “The UPNDestruction or the UPNDown or the “PUll them Down” had made it clear that it would only participate in the referendum if it was conducted as a stand-alone and not alongside the general elections.” This is very sad indeed and I bet you on my life that the regional voters will heed that unfortunate call. I wonder why and how this extremely undemocratic party has survived to this date. They incessantly…
THE UPNDESTRUCTION IS THE MOST EVIL PARTY ZAMBIA HAS NEVER WITNESSES BEFORE ========================================================================= They incessantly preach hate, anarchy, lawlessness, bitterness, unreasonable defiance, divisiveness, arrogance, evil and violence at every chance they get. This UPNDoom is really unrealistic and its supporters and sympathisers exhibit appalling ignorance and evil sarcasm with chilling traits of cold hardheartedness devilish envy. God bless Mother Zambia.
JUST SENSED DEFEAT HOW CAN AN OPPOSITION PARTY OUTSMART YOU,IS THE UPND IN POWER TO RECRUIT PERSONEL?11/08/2016 KUYABEBELE WETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.SINCE THE START OF THE CAMPAIGNS YOUR PRESIDENT HAS ONLY TOUCHED 3 PROVINCES OUT OF 10 MEANWHILE UPND HAS COVERED ALL THE 10 PROVINCES.
open eyes
My fellow Zambians just as you have seen politicians posturing & back peddling on many important things is the same way they calculate their manipulation & propaganda tactics for their own selfish interests. All you need to do is read the bill of rights on the ECZ website for yourself. Don’t rely on unstable & selfish politicians. The bill of rights is for you & not only protects you from abuse by GRZ but guarantees you basic rights which GRZ must give you including education, health, information, etc. No sane person should tell you to vote ‘no’. Such people don’t have you interests & are happy to see you suffer. They will not even be there for you when you need these rights observed. God Bless & protect Zambia!
Citizens will have a right to sue the Government if there’re rights such as Education, health,.. are not provided unlike in the current constitution… Hence the need to amend that article in the current constitution thru’ the referendum… UPND must be sensitised on that score its not only about the Supreme Leader HH going to State house but also that the Supreme Leader HH and his Government in the event that they won the election,will be sued if they did not provide education ,health, etc as these will be rights of citizens… Therefore if the Supreme Leader HH is not ready to face the wrath of ordinary citizens to account for the promises he’s making, then he’s not ready yet to govern Zambia…
PamaFi promised to gives the new constitution within 90days,looking at what is in the bill of right which is the subject of the referendum,about every thing is all uplifted from superior constitutions around the world where our legal officials went galavanting for allowances.It was clearly possible to present us with the plagiarized document within 90days of their coming into power, like they are doing right now only snag they have chosen the last 90days of their term of office.This is a bit strange coming from a govt that has failed completely to respect the lesser rights contained in the existing bill of rights.The proposed rights shall require alot of resources to implement,meantime they have ransacked the treasury,so how do we actualize the, I must confess very welcome, rights…
this party is always out of touch with electorates with its dununa reverse
we have bn telling u abt the lies of upnd nomba BA fodep mwaimwena .this party can even start a civil and said TT its pf plz b careful
Why saying yes to the thing you don’t know
Educate the public please
Y do it on the 11th hour . it’s a pity
Where were you. 90 days has gone already.
That’s how it goes when you cheat people