UPND Alliance chairperson Charles Milupi has promised that the new government will not entertain unruly cadres in markets and bus stops.

And Kelvin Bwalya Fube says PF has hit a snag and their abuse of power has come to an end.

During a press briefing, Sunday, Milupi said Hichilema and the alliance were committed to ensuring that marketeers and cadres were empowered to help them grow and have a stake in the country’s economy.

“The reason why we have cadres in markets and bus stops is the desire to make a living. Mr Hakainde has made it very clear, in restructuring this country economically there will be no section left behind. We talk about big businesses, medium scale businesses, small scale businesses but it talks also about people in markets, that there will be funding schemes set up so that they can grow. The bus drivers, the taxi drivers, there will be funding schemes so that they can also run their businesses. Give Mr Hakainde Hichilema an opportunity first to be sworn so that we can begin the process of ensuring that everyone has stake in the economy of this country,” Milupi said.

Milupi said illegalities in the PF such as caderism would have to go away so that governance institutions were strengthened and the rule of law restored in the country.

“On bus stops and markets, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, the seventh Republican President and madam Mutale Nalumango, the incoming Republican Vice-President, the UPND as a party and indeed the UPND alliance partners, we have made it very clear that one of the key things, the critical things that we promised when we were seeking power was not only do you reunite this country, reconstruct this country from an economic perspective but also rule of law. Over this, we are absolutely serious. Many of the illegalities that were taking place during the governance period of the PF will have to go away because by empowering and strengthening the institutions of governance, whether it’s councils, whether it’s the police, whether it is Anti-Corruption [Commission], DEC and all these other institutions of governance, every time we have spoken to Mr Hakainde Hichilema, he emphasizes these issues and we are 100 percent in agreement with him,” he said.

And Milupi urged the ECZ to urgently finalise the process of announcing results to foil the plans of those who wanted to use the delay to temper with the results.

“We are getting results from the wetlands, those results being announced by ECZ and yet Munali Constituency where the Mulungushi totalling centre resides, that is still yet to be announced. In the past, this has provided an opportunity, this delay, piecemeal release of results has provided an opportunity for those that want to manipulate results as happened in 2016. Why is ECZ allowing this to repeat itself five years from the 2016 election? We are asking, as a UPND alliance that these results be released immediately so that Zambia can know the results of this election and we can get on with the business of doing to this country or for this country that which we promised as a UPND alliance,” he said.

Milupi further urged the ECZ Chairperson to avoid delaying the process any further and asked the commission to detach themselves from having a partisan posture in the way they were dealing with the announcement of results

He also wondered why President Lungu would allege that his polling agents were discharged from three provinces when police officers and soldiers were deployed to police the elections.

“All the Zambians who are here, almost all of you voted. The polling agents sit inside the building where there is polling. Mr Lungu sent the police throughout and soldiers, for the first time we had soldiers patrolling and so on. What was the purpose for that? In his own view, was to maintain law and order. As I have said, polling agents sit inside the polling station, not outside, there has been no single report anywhere in this country including those three provinces where any of those polling stations was overrun, in other words, going inside to chase people out. Where is he getting this hallucination? Losing is difficult but we ask him please, be a statesman, there are other things to do after that, people write books, make speeches, make money,” said Milupi.

And during the same briefing, Fube said it was not the problem of the ECZ nor their opponents if the PF did not have polling agents in Southern, Western and North-Western Provinces.

He said the “mwaloba ilyauma, nachipwa” (you have hit a snag, the end is here).

“Each political party is mandated to train it’s polling agents and make sure they are available at each polling station. It is not the duty of ECZ to have polling agents at the polling stations. Whether they are there or not, the results will be announced and verified and sent out. So if the PF didn’t have polling agents in Southern Province, they did not have polling agents in Western Province, they did not have polling agents in North-Western Province, that is not the problem of the ECZ nor is it the problem of the UPND alliance. It is a failure in the system of the PF to train their polling agents and ensure that they are at those various polling stations. If the polling agents on the other hand were also afraid to go to the polling stations, that cannot be blamed on the alliance, that is their failure,” said Fube.

“We were ready for these elections from the conception but they made it difficult for us to campaign. Circumstances were very difficult but we persevered and we ensured that our presidential candidate and all of us scattered across the country and we went firing left, right and centre. You saw how we hammered them, we were curving it like Beckham so at the end of the day we were scoring. Now If they have failed to score when the goal was open that is not our problem. Our business was to get the goal there. We have gotten Hakainde Hichilema in State House which was our aim. So if their polling agents were not there, I am saying to President Lungu and everyone, mwaloba ilyauma, nachipwa.”