PF,ECZ Set to Frustrate Voter Registration in UPND Strongholds Warns Simataa
“SOUTHERN IS A PF TARGET, BUT WE WON’T ACCEPT ANYTHING SHORT OF 1.2M REGISTERED VOTERS THAT SIDE”
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By CIC Reporter | 27 Oct, 2020 | Lusaka
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Firebrand aspiring councillor for Kamwala Ward 5 Mainda Simataa has warned that the chaos, corruption and utter criminal behavior that characterized the NRC excercise is bound to repeat itself in UPND strongholds, in more subtle, but nonetheless deadly ways as the physical voter registration excercise kicks off tomorrow, 28 October 2020.
Simataa who is also Kabwata Constituency Information and Publicity Secretary was responding to the PF SG Davies Mwila’s statement to the effect that PF will continue to reduce UPND numbers in their strongholds.
“Mwila is a dangerous half-witted political demagogue intoxicated with the trappings of power, he’s the architect of the issuance of NRC’s to underage children and foreigners in the North, and of course he’ll do as he pleases. He executed phase 1 which limited the issuance of NRC’s in UPND strongholds, and now he’s using ECZ to execute phase 2, which involves drastically reducing the number of people with voters cards in the South to fall below those in the North” said Simataa.
“We all know for a fact that PF cadres in ECZ like Nshindano, Judge Chuulu and Emely a suspected foreigner from Malawi, will deliberately frustrate the voter registration excercise in UPND strongholds by creating logistical hiccups such as delayed deployment of ECZ agents, followed by hidden registration centres, lack of transportation, equipment, manpower, materials, gensets and/or fuel” said Simataa.
He adds that the UPND will closely monitor Southern Province as a benchmark to determine whether the voter Registration excercise has been conducted effectively or not – “we expect a 40% increase of registered voters in Southern Province from the 800,000 recorded in 2016, to over 1.2 million projected in 2021. We won’t accept anything short of that” said Simataa who recently concluded a tour of Pemba in Southern Province to assess the failures of the ECZ online pre-registration excercise.