Mzimba District Commissioner, Reverend Moses Chimphepo, has called on People’s Party (PP) officials to stop collecting voter registration certificate ID numbers in the two constituencies, Mzimba South West and Mzimba Central.
Chimphepo was responding to the request made by one of the independent candidates of Mzimba South West Constituency, James Nthara, on Monday during a Multiparty Liaison Committee Meeting (MPLC) held at the boma, attended its (MPLC) members and candidates for the forthcoming by election.
“Although it is not true that by collecting ID numbers, PP is planning to rig elections. As a district coordinator of elections, I would like to request PP to stop collecting the IDs of electorates in the two constituencies for other candidates to stop raising their eye brows,” he advised.
In his presentation, Nthara said it was worrisome to notice that some People Party (PP) officials were allegedly distributing campaign materials such as blankets, sugar and salt to voters at night and were also collecting their ID numbers.
“By collecting the ID numbers from the electorate, we know for sure that PP has started the rigging process. As a ruling party, they want to give those ID numbers to other people who can vote for them during the by elections slated for October 9,” he claimed.
Another independent candidate, Mavuto Kachali, who concurred with Nthara, said it was true that collecting ID numbers was a clear testimony that PP wanted to rig elections.
“Why are they giving such campaign materials at night?” he queried.
Commenting on rigging allegations leveled against PP, Mzimba South West candidate for PP Raymond Chatima Nkhata said it was not true that PP officials were collecting ID numbers from the electorate, saying they were only registering their members.
Nkhata said they were registering their supporters so that they should not have problems when distributing campaign materials to them.
He also said there was nothing wrong to give materials such as sugar, salt and blankets to party supporters during campaign.
In his remarks, PP candidate for Mzimba Central, Aram Beza, appealed to his fellow candidates to refrain from abusive language during campaign.
On venues, most candidates blamed PP for booking most venues for public meetings to be addressed by ministers, saying some of the meetings scheduled for some ministers were not fulfilled.
“PP has a tendency of booking most of the venues in the constituency with the aim of blocking other candidates so that they don’t address the meetings until the polling day,” Nthara alleged.
Nthara, who presented his program up to the last day of the campaign on October 7, said he would not allow ministers to disturb his program except the President and the Vice President.
