UPND EXPLAINS FAILURE OF SOME CANDIDATES FILING IN….IT WAS CANDIDATES FAULT, PARTY WAS ORGANISED
UPND secretary general Batuke Imenda has attributed the failure by some UPND aspiring candidates to file in their nominations, to inadequate preparations by the individuals who did not carry all the required documents.
On Wednesday, Nalolo constituency UPND aspiring member of parliament Namenda Siyanga and UPND aspiring candidate for Mufumbwe Council Chairperson Kajilo Muzungu both failed to file in their nominations after they failed to produce all the documents required by ECZ.
But in an interview, Imenda explained that the candidates forgot to carry some of the required documents and that by the time they managed to gather all the papers, it was already too late to file in their nominations.
“It is true [that] in these places we have failed to file. In Nalolo, the person forgot his original grade 12 certificate in Mongu, so he was advised to go and collect it. He had to travel a long distance from Nalolo to Mongu and then back again to Nalolo. But by the time he reached, it was ten minutes to closing time and he was not allowed in. That is how we lost it. Others it was also a question of inadequate papers here and there which were delayed. In the case of the Mufumbwe [Council Chairperson candidate] the issue involving Kajilo Muzungu, unfortunately by the time we organised the papers, it was already past closing time,” Imenda explained.
“It is the individual. Here is someone with all the papers including photocopies and then later on he realises the papers were in Mongu. So that is not a party matter, it is an individual’s matter. The candidate in Nalolo, the man has been campaigning for the last 10 years, so he has wasted too much time. He has wasted a lot of money investing in campaigns only to lose it at the last minute.”
Imenda said as the party, they had strategies on how they were going to sell their president with or without a member of parliament in an area.
“What is important is that we have MP’s to support the bills in the House, but most important of all, is the presidential campaign. That is why we are concerned with how we are going to take up the presidential campaign. The members of parliament play a supplementary role of supporting the president in the campaign. For example, as the candidate was going around in the constituency, he was going to sell the name of the president and the name of the councillor. That may be the only gap that has been created,” he stated.
“But as a party we have our strategies on how we are going to sell our president with or without a member of parliament. In each polling station, we have members who will be doing the campaigns as well as constituencies who will be conducting the campaigns for the president.”