POLICE in Chipata have arrested United Party for National Development (UPND) Rukuzye ward Chairman in Chipangali Constituency Tumeyo Phiri who is village headman Mbobo and Alaina Phiri who is village headwoman Katamanda and charged them with the offence of illegal Practices relating to the poll contrary to section 86(1) and section 87 of the Electoral Act number 12 of 2006.
And two female teachers of Katete Primary School in Katete Districy namely Punji Chona Malata and Caroline Munyumbe were on the run over the matter.
Eastern Province Police Commissioner Alex Chilufya said in a statement yesterday that information gleaned by the investigators suggest that voters cards have been collected from areas considered to be strongholds of the Patriotic Front(PF).
“The two suspects,Tumeyo Phiri and Alaina Phiri have been arrested and charged with the offence of illegal practices relating to the poll.The two will appear in court soon,”he said.
Mr Chilufya said the collaborative action of the UPND and the Post newspaper in the case was meant to disenfranchise the voters and ultimately disadvantage the PF in the forthcoming elections.
He said the village headman informed the police during the investigations that the teachers in question,had gone to the area to conduct a voters sensitisation workshop under the UPND at a Church building in Mafuta village.
That it was then when they asked the village headman to take them to the village headwoman Katamanda’s house of which he did.
Mr Chilufya said the the teachers approached headwoman Katamanda with a proposition that she would be paid a sum of K 2,500 if she collected as many voters as she possibly could from her subjefts and delivered the cards to the two women.
He said the initial amount of K500 was paid to the headwoman as a down payment.
The police said Headwoman Katamanda went on to procure the services of Mary Manda and Lena Nkhoma of Yakuda village within Katamanda area and they collected over a hundred voters cards details of which they recorded in an exercise book.
Mr Chilufya said on the 1st of July,the two women went back to the headwoman to collect the cards but without the agreed balance of K2000 and when she refused to give them the cards,they took them by force.
Three armed men bearinv a firearm and sickle suddenly appeared on the scene and ordered headwoman to give up the cards which she did.
Mr Chilufya said the following day,the headwoman reported the case of aggravated robbery at Mgubudu police post indicating that two women and three men armed witb unknown type of firearm and using two motor vehicles went to her house threatened to harm her and her spouse then stole her travelling bag in which she had put K5000 cash she had collected from the sale of tobacco and the voters cards she had received from Nkhoma and Manda plus the ones she personally collected from some of her subjects.
He said both Nkhoma and Manda stated that the headwoman promised to pay them alot of money once they have gone round the villages collecting voters cards.
He said the entries made by Nkhoma and Manda of the collected voters cards into their exercise books had been found to match with the names and particulars listed in the Post Newspaper.
He said the scheme was both unconstitutional and criminal, consequently the security of the state risks being compromised on the back of eventual public instability or civil unrest.
Mr Chilufya said contrary to the Post newspaper edition number 7200 of 5th July 2016,all the people whose particulars were listed and published as such under Chipangali constituency were in fact Zambians.
He said the story carried by the Post newspaper listed 207 names of people,29 of which were alleged to be Tanzanians and 178 were alleged to be Malawians.
He said police command responded by constituting a tean of investigators which established that all the people listed were Zambians.
Mr Chilufya said the police diligently conducted investigations which inter alia included Chief Chanje and Chieftainess Mkanda of the Chewa people.
The desperation of the UPND desperados has been laid bare. It is now clear to all and sundry that it is actually Hungry Hyena (HH) and his UPND who want to rig elections.
We all know who want’s to rig this election……….they have gone as much as registering children as young as 12 years old in their strongholds as voters using the influence of chiefs prevail over registration officers. In the last election they were busing voters which is against the electoral code of conduct. ECL is winning this election.
Could it be that ‘America’ and ‘Britain’ have not been very hard on ZRA to ensure that The Post is opened because of the intelligence information they have and have refused to be a part of Membe’s manipulations?
UPND 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 making 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…
The article is baseless and lack seriousness. Just waited my time reading it. Meanwhile chilling by enjoying PF money … its operation Watermelon !!!!
The truth always hurts and that is why self denial becomes a remedy.
Its interesting, PF used to move cash in their hands paying voters the police turned a blind eye, now they jump to arrest the UPND. This cadre police force that EL has created will need to be cleaned after elections.
the person behind watermelon does not think? even when the pf cadres cause violence, they will be saying its upnd because they are also put on PF Regalia.
Thats what i have also been saying that they didnt critically think through it.
The kanchemas caught red handed involved in corruption
Why haven’t the police arrested those illegal voters from Malawi on the voters register or those who helped register foreign voters? So these could just be intimidation tactics as usual. USELESS REPORT.
the post & UPND are really trying to frustrate the electoral process in the perceived PF strong hold so that they paint the picture that they want to rig the election. but what they are forgetting is that these allegations has always been there during elections.
What a story. Let those involved be investigated. The truth is always bigger than lies and light better than darkness.
@7 do u really understand? they are telling you that, foreign voters on the register is only in the UPND minds & post who have been buying voter’s cards that they published in their now gossip circulation paper called the post.
YOU ARE JOKERS. LET LUNGU BE THE FIRST ONE TO BE ARRESTED FOR VOTER BUYING. ONE OF THE PEOPLE LUNGU HAS BOUGHT IS CHIEF MPENZENI OF THE NGONI PEOPLE IN EASTERN PROVINCE, AND THESE SO-CALLED CHRISTIANS FOR LUNGU. VIVA CHANGE VIVA! GO GO GO GO GO GO GO UPND GO! GO ZAMBIA GO. DON’T FEAR ANY INTIMIDATION FROM THESE FAILURES. LUNGU WILL GET 20% VOTES THIS AUGUST. THE PEOPLE OF ZAMBIA HAVE REJECTED THIS LOOTER, AND I AM SEEING THIS REJECTION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, EVEN KAUNDA WAS NEVER REJECTED TO SUCH EXTENT. VIVA CHANGE VIVA!
@11 Truth, please face the issues in this report not diverting other readers to your hallucinations. The report here has mentioned names and sums of money involved and how they have used voters details to publish a fraud in that discredited newspaper – the Post! Only that these guys in power are too disorganized to punish these criminals. All the time the ECZ has challenged those claiming to have foreigners on the voter’s role to show proof but they have failed since their evidence has to be fabricated! Where Intelligence and Police were efficient this info.was going to be well coordinated and real culprits brought to book. May be the stupid US and EU representatives have now been fed the right information that is why they are quiet on the post.
that money should have gone to zra for post paper tax debt
I’m vindicated by this story regarding what I said a month ago. Its the the same voters cards these Upnd 1mbeciles bot from the cadres that they published in the post as foreigners. Those still in doubt should wait for more details soon.
Police should arrest PF leaders who have been registering Malawians including Mumbi who is encoring them to come and vote. They can’t come and vote without them being paid. PF has spent a lot of money bribing people including pastors and no one has been arrested. Shame on PF police
@14,Thank you…why then don’t you take that evidence to the police and ECZ so that we can have a report like this one! The crooks at the post and in UPND created this fraud and psychologically worked on people’s minds to make it look real. Always rigging has been UPND’s story because they know what they are up to,now bit by bit the truth has started to come out!! Just face the truth and bring out facts like this report has done instead of hallucinating! We are going to hear more and after elections if Lungu is a serious person must jack up the police and intelligence so the nation can really know where all this is starting from!