THE Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has failed to clarify whether vehicles with “ECL 2021” number plates have been registered, but says special number plates can only be specifically assigned to one vehicle.

And PF chairman for elections Yamfwa Mukanga says he has only seen one car with the registration number “ECL 2021.”

In an interview, RTSA head of public relations Fred Mubanga could not respond to questions relating to the high number of cars on the road with “ECL 2021” number plates.

When asked whether the Agency had noticed the vehicles on the road with the “ECL 2021” number plates, whether this practice was allowed, what the Agency was doing to stop this and to state how many “ECL 2021” number plates the Agency had registered so far, Mubanga failed to address the specific questions but only said; “You can register a special number plate and that special number plate should only be one specifically assigned to one vehicle and not multiple vehicles. Going forward, we plan to engage political stakeholders through ECZ to ensure that all traffic rules and regulations are followed before, during and after the 2021 general election.”

And in a separate interview, Mukanga claimed that he had only seen one vehicle with the “ECL 2021” number plate.

“I haven’t seen them, I used to see them before the instructions were issued. I have seen one and if I see one I wouldn’t complain much because it is registered by RTSA but if they are more than one, then they shouldn’t do that. If they are not registered by RTSA, it is not right. They should follow the rules, everybody must follow the rules. We need to ensure that we do what is right. If it is registered by RTSA, there is no problem because it is in line with government regulations. And we want those vehicles, which are registered by government regulations to be used during campaigns, but officially the campaign has not started. If anything as PF, we are getting ready to start making preparations immediately after the adoptions and nominations. We need to follow rules because we are the winning team, we are the champions, we have been in government and others have not been. So, we want everybody to follow the rules so that they can learn from us,” Mukanga said.

He assured members of the public that the ruling party would hold peaceful campaigns.

“And we are going to give everybody a very peaceful campaign. We will desire that there should be no violence. Every peaceful-meaning Zambian should condemn wrong things. You saw what happened in Kitwe? We shouldn’t do that, we want to do a very good job. If it is UPND marching, leave them; let PF march. We want to make sure that everybody is happy. Our President is not interested in doing wrong things, no,” said Mukanga, a former transport and communications minister in president Michael Sata’s government.