Ruling Patriotic Front (PF) Media Director, Antonio Mwanza has dismissed the report by the Transparency International Zambia(TIZ) alleging that the party had spent K6.05 million on Billboards.
Reacting to the report by TIZ that parties spent a combined total of K10 million on Billboard advertising, Mr. Mwanza said it was political mischief for TIZ to make unfounded statements lacking sound facts, disclosing that most of the Billboards were placed by well-wishers and party supporters.
Mr. Mwanza said that said when the initial report from TIZ came out, the party did an inventory and survey on the Billboards and estimated costs and established that the report was highly inaccurate and distorted.
Mr. Mwanza expressed gratitude to the many entities that have supported the party in its campaigns through moral, material, and financial support.
Mr. Mwanza urged TIZ not to abuse processes to cast bad light in the PF and urged Zambians to dismiss the new report as it was speculative and inaccurate.
Mr. Mwanza said the PF understands that TIZ is under pressure to impress its donors in a bid to secure funding but that such theatrics should not be done at the expense of the truth.
According to the TIZ report, the six political parties spent a minimum of K10.366 million on presidential candidate billboards across the country, of which, the PF accounts for at least K6.05 million, followed by the Socialist party at K2.26 million and the UPND at K1.31 million. The least spending on presidential billboard advertising for the month of June was by NAREP at K60,000.
TIZ in their monitoring of presidential candidate billboards for the month of June in 12 districts across all 10 provinces also revealed that Lusaka has the majority of billboards in Zambia.
The report further found that out of a minimum of 674 presidential candidate billboards found in the 12 towns, Lusaka accounted for 79.5% or 536 billboards in total, with Ndola second on that list with 38 billboards or 5.6% of the 674 found in the 12 districts. Other notable districts were Chipata with 25 billboards, Choma and Kitwe with 10 each, Solwezi with 17, Mongu with 9, and Kabwe with 16. Our findings also revealed that Chinsali did not have a single presidential candidate billboard in the month of June.
In terms of the distribution of presidential candidate billboards by political party in the 12 districts, our analysis revealed that for the month of June, the PF accounted for the majority of billboards at 58%, followed by the Socialist party with 18% and the UPND with 14%. The DP, NAREP and PAC collectively accounted for less than 10% of all presidential candidate billboards in the 12 districts for the month of June.
“As we have noted, it is our hope that these findings will give citizens and interested stakeholders an idea of how much political parties are spending to try and win votes ahead of the 12th August elections. TI-Z’s monitoring of campaign expenditure will continue as we head towards the 2021 general elections, the report concluded.
Tiz are just goats with no brains
Some of these clowns should not be advertising themselves.Lungu and M’membe have proven themselves to be clueless,visionless and unrepentant liars.
Goats with no brains they may be – but they got their facts right – and as usual PF is lying about things. These guys just don’t know how to tell the truth?
But thank the Lord – August 12 is nearby and then the chief liar Edgar China Lungu will bite the dust! And the next day he will be in Lusaka Central Prison, together with these other liars GBM, CK, KZ etc.
And have you noticed? On the PF billboard it says EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU – while everybody knows that his real name is EDGAR CHINA LUNGU because he has sold out the whole of Zambia to the Chinese!
Carry out an audit and you will find all PF billboards have been paid for with state funds or by individuals with access to state funds.
The stakes are high for theives and looters and the corrupt , with a potential loss of livelihood for the par.sites should PF lose…..
Why is Antonia Mwanza disputing the expenditure on Bill Boards even if some were done by well wishers they were paid for. The TIZ is looking at an overall picture and its very simple to trace which bill board was done company by company as they are labeled. What is the problem if PF has spent such an amount because there are no traditional physical campaigns. Why the fear? Even write now PF adverts are popping up on social media so if one asks who has paid for such adverts you grow cold feet for what? Campaign materials are not cheap and if any party can afford to pay K100m if its affordable and the message gets across to the intended people then well and good. Why dispute the figure mentioned? Is the source questionable?
Wow everything is in issue here…whilst you are at it ba Tiz….do an audit spent on vitenge,…caps…scarfs…media..including interviews…provided there is no funding of eligible parties and no tax audit of earnings before expenditure….?? We shall have these discrepencies…
DID YOU FIND anywhere where this guy mentions the real figure they have spent? TIZ says PF has spent K6.05 million on Billboards, but the so called Media Director, instead of countering TIZ report with PF actual figure based on facts of howmuch PF has spent, as usua, as is a norm with our PF family, this guy resorts to attacking TIZ by spewing poizon that “…TIZ is under pressure to impress its donors…” and that TIZ is abusing the process……This is total buls.h!T
WOOOOps ! PF hee-haw at it AGAIN !! IF YOU CANT BE STRAIGHT EVEN ON SUCH A SIMPLE THING, HOW CAN YOU BE TRUSTED WITH BIGGER THINGS?
hee-haw.
GOVERNMENT CARRY OUT AN AUDIT REALLY ???
LETS NOT BE SILLY THE TRUTH IS NOT KNOWN TO THEM